A plan to kick start clean eating & working out

So if you've been reading my occasional blog posts for a while now you would know I started off the year with so many good intentions, especially in the fitness & nutrition department.

 I was also going to blog super regularly. As always I haven't followed through on ANY of these plans. I am really disappointed in myself for this as I don't even have a real excuse, other than I have over promised & under delivered.

No point whining, it is what it is & I am the only one that can change these things.

You can go back to January read about my original plans on how I intended to get Fit & Healthy if you like or we can just start from scratch, togethor,today.

I have a few issues that hold me back from achieving my goals, the biggest one of all being terrible sugar cravings. That stuff really is addictive & the more of it you eat the more you crave it & the more you make it TABOO, the more you crave it.

I read this great article

So you want to stop craving junk food

from the My Fitness Pal blog & it really makes a lot of sense in saying that we need to learn to just allow ourselves to have a small serving of the foods we crave & even if you feel like more give yourself permission to have another helping on another day.

No more TABOO foods should help minimise those cravings, time to action some portion control instead.

Next up its time to tackle the exercise situation, the plan here is to just make sure I do something 3-4 days per week rather than 6 days a week sometimes twice a day.

I am a real self punisher, so I set these harsh, unrealistic goals of  an extreme exercise regime & perfection in the clean eating department & when I don't achieve it I punish myself with lots & lots of negative self talk & I don't allow myself any luxuries, like new clothes, shoes, haircuts or even a massage on an aching body. This sets off a vicious cycle then of stress & emotional eating, followed by bloating, weight gain & more negative self talk.

How am I going to tackle this craziness, by being kind to myself, loving the body i am in & trying to add some sort of consistency to my training.

My training program is going to consist of a minimum 4 workouts a week. To start I don't care what the workouts consist of, as long as its challenging at the time. It could be weights, a circuit, a brisk walk or some interval training. As long as I am moving & breaking into a sweat it doesn't matter.

I know when I get into the habit of exercising regularly my body then craves water & good clean food, so one really does help the other.

So thats my plan to kick start clean eating & working out

No TABOO foods just portion control & healthy choices 

Workout consistently 4 times a week with reasonable intensity. 

Do you suffer from these issues as well?

How do you tackle the problem?

CHEERS

Trish xx

Fit bodies are built in the winter

I have just embarked on what I believe will be an annual event for me

Maxines Challenge

I participated in this challenge last year & one of my girl friends actually won the event so I can say without a doubt that the results you see are real.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience  & whilst I have regained a small amount of what I lost in last years challenge it only happened recently when I got sick & was unable to exercise for 3 months.

So this year I have bigger goals to kick .

I am aiming for ABS, I haven't seen them since my late 20's so its time to rid them of 15 yrs of padding....eeek!!!

I am going to post the occasional recipe or update on how I am going with it all, from time to time to share with my challenge buddies & anyone else that likes to follow a clean eating lifestyle.

Don't worry, there will still be plenty of the usual stuff as well.

I try to be a little thrifty on the challenge & still follow the nutrition plan as close as possible, after all its a system that works so why mess with it.

This is my version of a protein ball recipe that I use to replace protein bars

Enjoy!!!

Choc Chia Protein Balls

¾ cup Protein Powder(Vanilla or Choc)

½ cup Almond meal

½ cup Coconut

1 heaped tablespoon of Tahini Paste or Organic Peanut butter

3 tablespoons of Cacao Powder

2 tablespoons of Stevia or Natvia

3 tablespoons of Chia Seeds

Cold Water

Mix all dry ingredients, then peanut butter. Slowly add water until you make a sticky  paste. Be careful not to add to much water or you wont be able to roll it into a ball.

Roll into balls just like you would a rum ball & roll in some extra coconut, it makes approx. 20 balls

I sometimes add peppermint essence or even 3 tablespoons of goji berries to change up the flavour.

Macro breakdown is approx. depending on how many you make

Calories.per ball 64

Protein 5.5g

Carbs 1.5g

Fat 4g

Feel free to follow the challenge over on the Maxines Facebook page.

CHEERS

Trish xxx