My Goals for the training

I have added my goals for the training under a new page, just to keep it in order.

https://liftnrun.wordpress.com/my-goals/ 

I don’t think the goals are to crazy, and hopefully I will reach them easily.
Wish me luck, and join the fun 🙂

30 Days Squat Challenge

I saw somebody posting a picture about it on Facebook, so I decided to do it as well. The famous 30 days squat challenge.

Started out with 50 squats today, was a bit tougher than I like to admit, but at least I got good and warm on this chilly day. I’m going to do the 30 days plank challenge when this is over, and I have a feeling that’s going to be worse, but we’ll see. I’m not looking forward until day 30 and 250 squats.

I’m betting I’ll have a great looking bum in 30 days 🙂

Join the fun!

Sunday Training

I had such a great time at the gym, I just have to write about it! 🙂

I went there thinking it would be an average work out, at most, but it was so great, I’m so happy about it!

I started out with intervals on the treadmill (after warming up), and did 10×20 sec with 10 sec break at 16 km per hour, which would be 10 miles per hour. The fastest I’ve ever managed to complete a set of 10 intervals.

The, I did squats, 3 sets of 6, increased the weight a little bit to 32.5 kg (71.65 lb). Slow and steady is better than fast and ruining my back!
Then I went on to the dreaded plank: 2 times 40 sec, and once at 30 sec. Can never become proper friends with that exercise.
Then I increased my ‘single arm row’ from 10kg (22 lb) to 12.5 kg (27.5 lb) and did 3 sets of 7.

And ended the weights portion of the training with some triceps extensions, did 3 sets of 6 with 5 kg (11 lb).

Then I was supposed to do some ab exercises, but there wasn’t any room in that area of the gym. So I figured I could jog while I was waiting, went on the treadmill and presses ‘quick start’. It started counting down from 20 minutes. So I ended up jogging for another 20 minutes at the end of my work out, and IT FELT LIKE A PIECE OF CAKE, I’m actually getting a lot better. I’m so happy. I jogged 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) and it felt like I could have gone on and on for at least another hour. Such a great feeling!! I just want to go back to the gym and run again, but I know my body needs it’s rest, especially since I ignored the inflammation in my wrist today (taped it), and have had leg day every day since I went to the doctor.

I just can’ t stop smiling, so I’m sending a smile to you too! 🙂

Measures

So i finally managed to buy a measuring tape and measured myself friday morning, and these are the results:
Waist: 87 cm (34.25 in)
Bum: 102 cm (40.15 in)
Thigh: 54.5 cm (21.45 in)
Arm: 30 cm (11.81 in)
Chest: 96 cm (37.79in)

Can’t wait to see these numbers go down 🙂

Injuries suck!

I planned for this post to be about my training program, but went to the doctor today and she could inform me that I have inflammation in my wrists. Since I still have one more exam (number 6) she told me to try to take it easy, but not take any medication unless I really had to. Because if I did, I’d probably just camouflage the pain and inflammation, and carry on in this matter which has lead me to this point, and it would just come back after a couple of days.

But, as the creative person I am (once a year), I’m not going to give up, but the focus will be on the legs and core, and the dreadful cardio. So I managed to drag my very lazy post-exam-ass out and to the gym where I ran a little bit longer than last time,

it’s getting better every time, and I’m kind of enjoying it, which I thought I never would. Also, I need to keep the intensity a bit down, not do all the fast intervals I usually do, because I pulled my hamstring, again. Will try to find a physiotherapist to stick some needles in the muscle, usually helps.
I also did squats and the plank, and did better than last time at the gym, but I’m sticking with the heading saying injuries suck! 🙂

Regarding the food, I’m still managing to keep away from the carbs. It has been a bit harder than I thought, but I’m going strong. The past two days I’ve been under 85 grams of cardio, and that’s while cramming for an exam. I’m proud of myself, but tomorrow is weekend, so we’ll see how that goes, I do love my beer..

But this really isn’t bad at all!

Time for sleeps, it’s been a really long day.
Have a good one 🙂

Changes

Since I can’t sleep, and really should, I decided to write a post here about the changes I’m trying to make. These are changes in diet mostly. I have already changed a lot in my life, for instance I gave up nicotine 17 days ago, just a week before the first written exam. It is probably one of the stupidest and brightest ideas I’ve ever had. The first day without nicotine in 10 years was a nightmare, but I got trough it, and plan to stay this way 🙂

Anyways, that’s not what I was supposed to write about, the changes in my diet:
I have heard and read a lot about people loosing a lot of water weight by switching over to a low carb diet. So I have decided to give it a go sort of, I want to reduce my intake of carbs, but not completely. But to test the theory of loosing a lot of weight fast, I’m going to go proper low carb the first week (if I can manage it). So that means I should keep the carb amount to somewhere between 0 and 150 grams. The first day is the hardest, and especially when I’m needing a lot of energy for school, work and training, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.

The first day is over, and this is what I ate:
Breakfast: cottage cheese, half an apple, a few almonds and walnutsLunch: oatmeal with half an apple and raspberries (the meal with the most carbs)
In-between-meal at work: Cottage cheese, blueberries and a few almonds and walnuts
Late dinner: Baked chicken fillet, baked cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli and salad

To know how much I eat in calories, and in form of how many of these calories are  from fat, proteins or carbs, I use an app I found a while back, names Fatsecret. It’s a bit of a hassle registering everything I eat, but it gives me a very good picture of what I have actually put in my body. And you can also access your account on the web site fatsecret.com (might be easier to see things on a bigger screen).

So the first day of the low carb diet, ended on 36% carbs, 43% fat and 21% protein (which is too low). The amount of carbs in grams is 111, which is okay for a first day I guess. Will try to increase the protein portion over the next few days.

Wish me luck, and I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂

Sleepy post

Another few days have passed, I have finished another exam, been to the gym a couple of times (maybe only once), and yeah, nothing much really. My life is very uninteresting at the moment, the most fun I’ve had all week was to have coffee with a friend I haven’t seen in a few months.

Anyways, I figured I would try to tell you about my training program. It’s not the most sophisticated but it suits me fine, for now 🙂

I usually warm up on the treadmill with some uphill walking, for about ten minutes. Then, because I’m NO fan of running, I do intervals. I started a little under a month ago with 8 intervals of 20 seconds, with 10 second brakes. Started with the treadmill on 15 km/hr (9.3 miles/hr), and have now increased to 15.5 km/hr and 10 intervals. The goal is to reach 20 intervals at 16 km/hr by the end of January.

Since you should never skip leg day..

I try to start doing squats or dead lifts. I do one or the other, and always at the beginning of the weight training because it’s important to do it correctly, not get hurt because you are tired and do it wrong. I also read somewhere you have better effect of your training if you do legs before the upper body (don’t know if it’s true).

I have been doing dead lifts for a few years, so I’m quite comfortable with the technique, so I lift as much as I can do 3 sets of 5. Which as the moment is 40 kg (88 lbs).
Squats on the other hand is not my strongest suit. So when I’m alone at the gym, the most important thing is to get them right, so I just do 25-30 kg (55-66 lbs).

My goal is to do at least 80 kg (176 lbs) dead lift, and 60 kg (132 lbs) squats, by February. It’s a long shot, but if I’m able to keep training during the Christmas holiday at home, and with some help at the gym, it’s doable.

I’ll tell you more about the rest of my training program another day, right now I must sleep (all those training sessions makes me sleepy).

Sweet dreams

Study break

I don’t really have to time to write much, but I really need a break from studying. It’s been some slow days, still struggling to get energy, yesterday was very bad, but today is fortunately better. Went to the gym and had an okay session, not awesome, but good enough 🙂

I’m always super hungry after I have been to the gym, so a fast meal like this is gold

Might not look to delicate, but is is yummy and good for you. It’s cottage cheese, half an apple, half a cup of blueberries, almonds and walnuts! High in protein, good fat and sort of healthy carbs. Gave me the energy to study for a few hours, and that is not bad.

Oh well, study time again, wish me luck! 🙂

Sunday aint no funday!

The day didn’t start out great, and 6 hours later I still haven’t accomplished anything. Sorry, other than going on the scale and weighing myself, not a pretty sight, but that’s gonna change now!

So the  weight is 77.1 kilograms (169.9 lbs), with a height of 169 centimeters (5.54) it gives me a BMI of 27, meaning I’m overweight. But I’m not too concerned about the weight, it’s the measurements that are important, but being a poor and busy student I haven’t bought a measuring tape yet, hope to do that over the next few days.

The plan for this Sunday was to study and go to the gym. Since I’ve experienced lack of energy, I haven’t studied at all, I’ve been stuck on the coach or in the bed half a sleep. I’m going to go to the doctor to find out if I lack anything.

In an attempt to get something out of the day, I made some protein pancakes with blueberries, raspberries and some lean vanilla quark.

It sort of worked, because I managed to drag my ass over to the gym and the treadmill. It took me 35 minutes to get 5 km on the treadmill, which is very okay for a day like this. At least I went to the gym, and didn’t just stay at home eating. Tomorrow will be a rest day, hopefully I will go back to the gym Tuesday, but we’ll see how the studying goes.

But not I have no more energy left, so have a good one! 🙂

Day 1 (sort of)

I’m a very reasonable girl, being a master student and all, I’m starting a blog instead of studying for the exam I might fail in 4.5 days. Oh well, what can you do?!
I have decided to write this blog in English, but it is not my first language, so please keep that in mind before you get pissed about my spelling or grammar errors (which I become all the time in my native language, I’ll work on that, promise), and there is always Google Translate..

I am closer to being 30 than being 20, but I have decided not to care about that since I’m not behaving my age, or spending time with many people my age. I live in one of Europe’s capitals for the moment, a city where I have lived for a little over three months now, for the previous mentioned studies.

I’m going to start this blog without telling you too much about myself, don’t know if I want my friends or family to see this yet, so at least I can blog while I figure that out (don’t ask).

Anyways, the reason I actually started this blog is to keep track of the progress I might be making at the gym. I’m no body builder nor severely overweight, just an average girls with a little more weight than needed.

I play a sport, which I will probably reveal quite soon, but not today, it is a physical demanding sport, so i also train for that.

I’m going to publish 3 pictures of myself, which were taken a few days ago (promise I don’t look much different now). I have removed my head from them, but don’t worry, it’s still connected to my body 🙂 Don’t know my weight at the moment, but I will tell you, dear reader, as soon as I know.

So here we go, I’m going to let you see what I rarely show anyone.

It’s not that easy taking full body ‘selfies’ but I did my best, and you get the picture, literally. So I hope you will follow me on this journey to hopefully become happy with my body, for maybe the first time in my life 🙂