Water – The Meaning of Life

One of the most under rated fitness tips ever in my opinion is stay hydrated.

We are almost all guilty of it. We obsess over our training plans, diet, cheat meals, how many coffees we drink a day, how many units of alcohol we drink yet we frequently ignore our hydration levels.

I used to do this – I could tell you how many calories I’d consumed and burnt but it barely registered that not even a sip of water had passed my lips all day (unless you count 400 coffees and several glass of wine). Then someone pointed out how important water is, for instance being well hydrated can:

Increase energy and relieve fatigue (it helps you think, focus and concentrate better and be more alert)
Assist with achieving your body goals (fat loss for instance) – especially as we often mistake thirst for hunger
Help flush out toxins
Help improve your complexion
Aid digestion
Boost the immune system
Reduce some types of headaches (where commonly caused by dehydration)
Prevent / reduce the likeliness of cramps & sprains
Improve your mood / general feeling of well being
Save you money – the cheapest drink there is!

I found that, whilst I didn’t really notice many differences when I started to drink enough water, I DID notice that when I then drank less water I felt it! If I’ve had a day where I drink less I feel lethargic, grumpy and hungry for salty foods.

So how much should you drink?

Ideally between 30-35 ml per kg of body weight

PLUS and additional 500 ml for every hour of exercise you do.

Example – I weigh 80kg and do on average 2 hours of training a day so I try and drink 3,400 ml – 3,800 ml (3.4-3.8 litres) a day

One word of warning: You will go to the toilet A LOT when you first start drinking more water – maybe not something to coincide with a long road trip!

The Scales: My Arch Nemesis

Up until recently I have weighed myself weekly, every week, without fail, for about 19 years.

When you embark on a new regime and the scales show a downward trend consistently this is all fine. There comes a point when this stops however. Recently I have gained muscle – I know I have because I can see it. My body has got smaller / leaner/ however you want to articulate it- it has changed shape. My weight has gone up. This upset me. I complained. Quite a lot if I’m honest.

So I was advised to throw my scales in the bin. Weight is just your mass, it doesn’t take into account what amount of that mass is fat, muscle, water. It doesn’t reflect the hormonal changes of our body – women in particular are affected by our cycles and other things beyond our control (like werewolves only more vicious). It doesn’t affect how we look naked or in clothes or how strong / fit we are. I weigh 80kg now days – I am the same dress size as I was two years ago when I weighed 70kg.

I didn’t throw the scales away. Logic may be logical but 19 years of habit is hard to break. But I did hide them and commit to not weighing myself every week. That was about 3 weeks ago.

Mentally this is tough. What if I’m putting on weight? What if I have that illness where I look in the mirror and see someone thinner than I really am and so end up obese before I realise I’m doing something wrong? I know this isn’t logical but our relationship with our bodies is very often quite illogical.

Being successful with your fitness goals is as much about mentality as it is actually doing things. Right now i know I’m not ready to completely give up my scales – I’ve said I’ll maybe weight myself once a month or maybe every 6 weeks and look to cut down from there.

Climbing Over That Wall

This time last week I wrote about how I’d hit a wall. When that happens you have two choices: wallow or get over it. I chose to try and climb over it and decided to keep a diary of the ups and downs of how I went on.

Monday

My alarm went off at 5am and I immediatey started to calculate how soon I could get back into bed this evening- 8 classes over the weekend (and 18 across the week) had definitely taken it’s toll on my body. But I dragged myself into the kitchen and had a pint of ice cold water (Tip- put a glass of tap water in the fridge before you go to bed each night – it will wake you up!) and took my supplements (Omega 3- when I don’t take this I really feel a difference in my mood and a multi vitamin). Having woken up I quickly got ready and headed for the gym. The great thing about morning classes is whatever mood I’m in when I arrive I leave feeling great. My classes are filled with hard working regulars and everyone always pushes so hard it makes the early morning start worth it so I got to work determined to have a better week. I had breakfast at 10 am (pancakes, bacon and banana) and treated myself to a slice of my favourite Cosco Carrot cake mid morning (one plus of working in a big office is there is always free cake!). My plan for the week is eat well 80% of the time but not to be too hard on myself, allow treats and above all eat with purpose. The cake made my busy Monday brighter so the value it bought me outweighs any negatives (and it fit my macros anyway so win win!). My day didn’t go to plan and 3 unplanned meetings meant I didn’t get to train at lunch time, so I made sure I fitted in an intense 20 minute workout (courtesy of online coach Biceps and Burrittos – you need to follow their Instagram page: biceps_and_burritos) before my Body Combat class. Result – I finished the day feeling like I was starting to get back on track!

Monday Training:

21 Kettlebell swings (16kg)

15 Push ups

9 Burpee tuck jumps

3 Rounds for time

5×5 Kettlebell Squats (64kg)

Tuesday

Snow day! Despite the snow my morning spin class was full and this made up for the fact I managed to leave my food for the day on the train AND loose my favourite gloves on the way to the office (cue red raw hands!). Got my new training plan through so made sure I got down to the gym at lunch time to ty a session out. For the first time in a few weeks it has started to feel good to train. Happy Heather and an evening off because planned rest is also important!

Tuesday’s Training

Bent over Rows 10×10 (30kg)

Chest Press 10×10 (25 kg)

50 Squats 40 Push ups, 30 Lunges, 20 tricep press, 10 burpees – For Time

Wednesday

Morning Spin done and a day off my own training because I teach Body Combat in the evening so find adding training to a Wednesday a bit draining. Feeling like I’m eating well- staying within an 8 hour feeding window and sticking to a 5-15% calorie deficit with lots of protien. Today was World Scouse Day, and as I work with a Scousser he made us all Scouse with Tiger Breadfor lunch- very welcome given the snow! Severe train delays meant 2 hours waiting at the station for a train before giving up and getting a taxi – really wanted to eat rubbish when I got in to warm up but resisted, had a hot shower and lots of water instead- felt angelic!

Thursday

England cannot deal with weather!!! The journey from hell to get to work (I had to get my morning classes covered) and an ice cold office (to the person who decided it was a good idea to remove the windows in the middle of the coldest spell in the UK for years – well done!) meant my motivation was severely lacking. But I got a lunchtime workout in and made it to the gym to teach Zumba to the 2 brave souls who made it to the gym! Then on the way home I fell over on the ice (doh!) Despite a challenging day (and a sore bum) I ate pretty well but realised my stretching and water consumption has been poor over the last two days.

Thursday’s Training

Sumo Deadlifts 10×10 50kg

Alternate clean front lunge 5×10 20kg

3 Front Squats, 3 Push Press, 3 Front squat, 3 Push Press x 7 30kg

Friday

I am over the weather now – the snow needs to leave!. Every journey has taken longer than normal and is mentally and physically draining and training and meal prepping time has been limited because of it so I have struggled to eat as planned. I have tried to make reasonable choices however and have definitely managed to eat better than last week and have got in plenty of good quality training sessions, including a lunch time session today and teaching a one hour class this evening. This perhaps made up for the pic n mix i scoffed at my desk this afternoon and the Krispy Kreme donught someone ave me! I was supposed to be heading to Glasgow this weekend for a Les Mills event but the weather has put a stop to that so I will spend my unexpected weekend off training, meal prepping and setting myself up for an even better week next week.

Friday’s Training

Bulgarian Split Squat 10×10 Body weight

Upright Row superset with tricep press 10×10 30kg

15 min AMRAP: 20 thruster, 20 burpee, 20 sit ups

After a rotten week last week where my mindset was all wrong I’m proud at how I’ve turned it around this week. Training has been strong, diet has been better (not perfect but that’s OK). I still have things I know I’ve neglected (water, stretching) but this week is proof that with a slight change in attitude you can feel so much better about everything.

Have a great weekend!

Coffee: My Drug of Choice

I love coffee.

I mean like more than I love most people.

Maybe more than I love cake.

It’s probably fair to say it’s a bit of an addiction.

Last May when I first started to work with my online coch I did a food diary and his first reaction was along the lines of – “Wow how muh coffee – how are you still alive?” To be fair, whilst I thought my coffee intake was average I was actually drinking around 11 cups a day (and most people’s reaction to that number tells me it probably actually wasn’t very average- if you think it is perhaps you too have a coffe addiction!).

The words adrenal fatigue were mentioned. I had to look it up.

To fix this I started by halving my coffee intake to around 6 cups a day then a week later dropping to just 3.

At first this was hell. I craved it. I am not a nice person without coffee.

For me- Decaf does not provide an adequate substitute. Trying to appease myself with decaf made me sad.

But I perstisted, adapted, and for some time I established a comfortable routine of 3 cups max.

Then I spent 3 weeks on a strict Paleo eating plan and to survive my black coffee intake went up. This was in January and although I am now back to eating everything again my coffee consumption has not gone back down.

So I am making a consious effort now to stick to 3 coffees a day. No easing myself in – just jumping straight back in at 3 a day. My sleep and hormones should thank me for it.

Do you have a coffee habit you need to get in check? How have you approached it? I was thinking green tea / herbal teas might act as a nice substitute, maybe having a mug of hot water instead. I’m not sure they will satisfy the craving for caffine but it’s a thought.

Perhaps you don’t drink much tea or coffee but always overload them with sugar and want to cut that out. I did this years ago by just going cold turkey (3 sugars to none in tea – it tasted really bad for about 2 weeks, now I can’t stand even a hint of sugar in my hot drinks – your taste buds can quikly adapt).

We all have our little bad habits and when they involve caffine / sugar I don’t think it’s an exageration to say they are actually addictions. Getting an addiction in check is a little victory you can be proud off – so if you see me this week and I’m snappy through lack of coffee maybe remind me of this please!

Hitting a Wall

This week I hit a wall!

After 9 months of focused training and good results I suddenly and inexplicably ground to a halt. The idea of training or eating a vegetable seemed impossible. My diet became 99% McDonalds with the occasional glass of water. Teaching my classes (I have 16 this week) has been mentally and physically challenging.

Perhaps this is a sign of over training? Or maybe it’s a Platau…

So I took the week off from any exercise I wasn’t being paid to do. I took the week off from meal prep and ate what I fancied. The exercise thing made me nervous. The food thing excited me.

The results? Well I do feel more rested five days in, I’ve slept better and had a bit more downtime which has no doubt helped my CNS. But … I also feel bloated and rubbish from the excessive amount of junk I’ve consumed and I can almost feel my body crying out for water! Despite this I didn’t seem to be able to stop myself buying more and more fatty, greasy, sugary food.

I feel like I’ve lost my mojo and confidence a bit. Like I’m back where I started 9 months ago. I just spoke to my coach about it. As soon as I said it I felt stupid. It doesn’t make any sense when you think about it logically, which goes to show how much your nutrition and physical activity can affect your mindset and mood. Sometimes you need to say the crazy things in your head outloud to realise the ridiculous things that are holding you back.

So tonight, I’m going to try and get my diet back on track. I’m still not going to train again until Monday but some proper meals feel like a necessity now. So on my way home I’m going to buy some nice (and microwavable because it will be 10 pm by the time I get home) meat and veg. Tomorrow I will shop, Sunday I will meal prep and I will try not to overload on chocolate or cake.

Next week I need to put my big girl pants on and get back into the gym, eat well 80% of the time and not dwell on a bad few days. I was going to weigh myself to see where I am currently at (that’s a whole other topic for a future post) but instead I’m just going to see how I feel this time next week in comparison to now.

This week I hit a wall. Now it’s time to climb over it.

Food Fitness: A Story of my Progress

My name’s Heather and this is the ongoing story of my life in food and fitness.

I work in an office by day but by night (and morning) I’m a Group Exercise Instructor and gym fanatic.

This site will detail my experiences with training and nutrition and I hope at least one person will find it interesting or useful.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on my posts and your own experiences with fitness too!

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