Ok so its the september and its been a six months or so since I last posted an update. Back then I was welcoming myself to the world of size 12 and had about a stone left to lose to reach my target. Well I am still a size 12 (top and bottom) but it is fitting a lot more comfortably now. I have gone from X-Large jogging bottoms to Small!! I had a few set backs along the way, what with the wedding and then the holiday and stuff but I am now at my target weight. I have lost 11 inches from my waist, 7 inches from my bust (somewhat dissapointingly lol)and 5 inches from my thighs. I am very happy with that! I still have some wobbly bits and the weight has gone from all the bits I'm least bothered with first but now I think there is not much more to come off in those areas so other areas should start toning up pretty soon.
I am still following a mostly weights based exercise plan and I get new inspiration from magazines including Mens Health, Mens Fitness, Body Fit, and many others. I do a lot of squats and compound moves (exercises that use more than one muscle group such as press ups). I have recently introduced some kettlebell moves such as swings and windmills although I do them with a dumbbell. (You can see videos of how to do all these exercises on You Tube, it's like having your own trainer!). I have been trying to do a bit more cardio and have been doing more jogging. I ran a personal best in the race for life which I was pleased with. I managed to do quite a bit of running on holiday too, even running up the dreaded beach steps! At the moment I am keeping the runs short but including hill sprints to really work my heart.
Food wise I am operating around 1500/1600 kcals on workout days and trying to keep it lower at around 1350 on rest days. I have introduced some new foods such as Greek yoghurt to help with protein levels and I've also been really good at swapping iceburg lettuce for some leafy salad and spinach. I have not been as strict for the last few weeks and have been having a few large sunday dinners but I am holding steady and still losing the odd pound here and there. I would still like to lose another half a stone or so, that way I have room for error over christmas and such like. My goal now though is more about toning up than losing weight and I think that even though the weight loss has slowed a lot I can see improvemnets all the time in my shape. I guess I am swapping the fat for muscle as they say.
So for now, the goal is to get into the best shape possible in the run up to Christmas so that I can really enjoy it when it comes. I know I will definately feel much better than last year about how I look and I'm looking forward to wearing some nice clothes. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, a few weeks ago I bought a couple of pairs of skinny fit jeans and Darren thinks I look great in them! Oh and I bought two pairs of heeled boots too. Not so long ago I thought I would never wear heels again because they made my knees hurt so bad. Now they dont really hurt at all unless I am standing or walking a lot in them.
So as the title says, Happy days! I'll probably post again on the other side of Christmas. Oh, and we are moving in to our own place in a few weeks too so I will be able to do a lot more cooking and will definatly not have the temptation of biscuits and things in the house, which we do at the moment. Also wont have to smell my Father-in-law cooking steak at 10pm!! And if I want to do silly exercises in my living room or run up and down the stairs I can without anyone asking me what I'm doing! Again, Happy days!
