AN EXERCISE UPDATE

Back in January I hopped right back on that Slimming World bandwagon once again to kick my new bad eating habits to the curb, it was all going great, I was down 11lbs within the first few weeks and I was back on track. Then I started a new job, my routine was all over the place and with free chocolate, crisps and biscuits at my disposable it was all too tempting and before I knew it, I was pretty close to where I was when I started, ugh. This continued for a few weeks of losing and gaining. I’m very much of an emotional eater, whenever I’m upset or stressed I turn to comfort with food. My job was both of those things and in all honesty I struggled with eating well and exercising. But with my best friends wedding on the horizon and our hen trip to Zante well within double figures now, I really needed to get my bum in to action. At the end of May I joined a new gym, a week later I lost my job. I’m a lot happier to no longer be working for this company but of course it’s been a big adjustment. To have all of this time to myself whilst I figure out what I want to do as been a positive and a negative. It’s been 5 weeks since I started going to the gym 5/6 days a week and following the Slimming World plan once again, I’m pleased to say in June I lost 6lbs and with that I’m now only a couple away from my original 11 I’d lost, once I get there I’ll start updating on here weekly again, but I am updating daily on my Instagram if you want to see what I’m eating! Hopefully I’ll be back to where I was very soon, but until then I thought I’d tell you about what I’ve been doing with my exercise...

10k 

This year I said I wanted to run a 10k, whether that be competitively or just on my own. I used to run a fair amount but I’ve been well out of that routine for a long time so I was pretty much starting right from scratch, with extra weight on top! I knew if I was going to do this properly I needed a plan so I downloaded the free Zen Labs 10k app to follow, it’s a 14 week programme (3 runs per week) and includes a mixture of running and walking whilst you build yourself up. I’m currently on week 4, and this week is a brisk 5 minute warm up walk, jog for 3 minutes, walk 90 secs, jog for 5 mins, walk for 2.5 mins, jog for 3 mins, walk 90 secs and jog for 5 mins. Luckily you don’t have to remember this all as it speaks to you through your headphones! I’m really enjoying it so far and I seem to be keeping up with it ok. I did originally start doing this on the treadmill but I was getting incredibly painful calves, since going outside I've not really had much trouble with then so it looks like outside running is for me!

Cycling/Spinning 

I really love being on the bike, I find it easier than running and often get a very similar same calorie burn, but it’s good to do both to mix it up. At the gym I will either do a 5k or 10k spin, I alternate Ks with sitting or standing and I try to keep my watt above 100. At the moment my fastest 5k is 10 minutes 20 and 10k 23 minutes exactly, my aim is to get them both under 10 and 20 minutes. Myself and James have also started going out on our mountain bikes over the weekend. He’s really in to his cycling so he comes with me to stretch his legs whereas I get a workout from it haha. We live in such a beautiful part of the country and we have a great selection of cycling paths and parks right out on doorstep so it’s very easy to do a 10 mile route with plenty of cafes and pubs to stop at on the way!

Weights

Cardio is great for getting your heart rate up and improving your fitness and of course burning those calories. But it won’t necessarily help you shape up how you want, so to get toned with your weight loss you need to use weights, which I know can be pretty daunting. I personally love weights and my gym has a great selection of free weights and machine weights. I tend to do a mixture of both, such as: leg press, leg extension, hip abductor,/adductor, calf raise, pec dec, incline chest press, bicep/tricep curler and abdominal crunch. I do 10 x 10 reps on each machine. For free weights I do Russian twists with the kettle bell, lunges and bodybar squats.I don’t have a routine at the gym and each day is different, depending how I feel on the day, but I always include cardio and weights. My workouts tend to be between 45 and 90 mins and I average about a 500 calorie burn each session.

Now I know I'm no expert when it comes to the gym and workouts, but I like to think I've found something which works for me and there really is no better feeling after you've done some exercise, even if putting on your gym it can sometimes be the hardest part! In these past few weeks I know I've made great improvements with my fitness and I can't remember what it feels like to not ache but I wouldn't swap it for anything. I feel like i'm in a good place and looking forward to making lots more personal progress with my fitness journey.

As always, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to holla!