I feel like something out of Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading right about now - where is Sr Assumpta (and my red vest) when I need her to keep up to date on this blog!
The plus sides to keeping a training diary-of-sorts is that I can look back on my previous days worth of eating and working out and see how I'm progressing/slacking! I progressed on diet, slacked on cardio... I know I need to up the cardio, trust me I'm trying! But, with a penchant for a sadistic cardio session aka Spinning, sometimes, you are not in the mood for a punishing hour's worth of cardio!
So, for Lent '15, being the good Catholic lady that I am, I made my Lenten Promise to myself....
I decided to give up carbs and refined carbs in all shapes and forms! So far, I'm 95% carb free!
Hey, I still live at home, that 5% has to be left alone to prevent queries as to why I'm not eating my dinner!
So far, I'm sailing through this little challenge I've set myself! No bread cravings as of yet, no yearnings for pizza + chips, no longings for scones... YES!!! The only carbs that I have allowed myself to prevent me from collapsing with no energy is sweet potato, brown rice and oats for breakfast!
The first few days were the hardest, I won't lie - when you are used to consuming a certain amount of food in a day, the sudden downsized portions can leave a girl hungry! But, trust me, the rewards alone of being carb free make it so so worth it! Carb-bloat is really a 'thing' and a bad thing at that! I've noticed that along with a mainly protein+veg diet, my weights and whatever cardio I'm doing currently, the bloat is well on its way to being gone! My tightest jeans are starting to feel loose, my workout tights fight properly/are loose in places, the tummy bloat is nigh-invisible! Heaven!!! My work pants are even loose, that is always a bonus - seeing as there is a designated bread press in my job! :P Let see if I can last longer than 21 days carb free this time around!
Downside to this whole experience - as small as it was - was that I stepped onto the bathroom scales for the first time in possibly 7 months! I was not a happy girl at all - i try and go by the fit of my clothes, which have gotten looser over the last couple of months as my body has changed, but why do we, as humans, still become a slave to a number that flashes up on a battery operated machine and take it as Bible?! My bathroom scales could label me a heifer (as it did that most recent morning) yet your bathroom scales could compare me to Karlie Kloss! It, along with society, really knows how to make a girl feel beautiful... Yes, I was being sarcastic!
My self-esteem is low enough on a regular day, so I don't know why I put myself through those kind of experiences, or rather choose to put myself through them! I'm lifting weights 3 times a week, I'm building muscle and eating to try and help to build the best kind of muscle, muscle weighs more than fat so, of course, the scales won't be accurate for how I will eventually look - but still, i yearn to see the scale drop not rise!
Sr Assumpta never made me feel that bad about myself... Onwards and upwards!
Now if you shall excuse me, I've got a pair of loose skinny jeans that need some help being pulled up! ;)
