Check out my vlog: Confessions of a Former BBG Girl.
I have been documenting my fitness journey just short of 3 years now, when it all kicked off my goal was literally to loose weight and get skinny, as the weight was falling away my goal changed course, I wanted to tone up alongside this.
So I carried on doing what I was doing, I didn't adjust the calories I was eating in order to compensate for the level of exercise I was doing...which resulted in me continuing to lose weight, and yes grow SOME muscle, but because I was still eating a low calorie diet (with a huge calorie deficit) I got smaller and smaller....
In this photo I was consuming 1,200 calories a day and weight a mere 7 Stone 12lbs.
For a long time this picture above was my ultimate goal. When I looked at this picture I saw hard work, I saw determination, dedication and I saw will power. I was proud of how I looked in this photo and I defiantly did not think that I was 'too skinny'. When I look at it now, I wonder how I ever actually got that 'small', how I managed to stick to such a strict eating regime and how I had the energy to get through the workouts.
I have come a long way since this photo, I have been so many different weights on my fitness journey, but I am now actively gaining weight and at this precise moment in time I am 8 stone 12lbs. For a long time I held the perception that if I gained weight and ended up weight the same as I did before I started this journey, that I would look overweight and frumpy....again, and this filled me with dread. I did not want to look or feel like the old me ever again. I loved the confidence and the way exercise made me feel inside and out.
It's taken me a long time to get my head around the whole eating side of a 'healthy lifestyle', it's taken me equally as long to work out that the scale is meaningless, because it doesn't matter what digits it displays, it cannot measure how I feel, and even if I end up weighing exactly the same weight as before.... I could look entirely different.
Weight is NOTHING.
I have upped my calories from 1,200 a day to a whopping 2,300+ (usually eating over 2,500+). For me I have learned the hard way that I need to feed my body in order to grow and achieve my goals. Food is fuel, Food is energy. Food helps our bodies recover and it's what we eat that opens the doors to reaching the next milestone.
I have recently turned my workout regime on it's head, many of you know that I used to follow Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide (BBG), but I am now focusing on weight lifting. I am still doing everything from home, over the years I have invested in a lot of the weights that I need in order to be able to do this from the comfort of my own living room.
The food I am eating (no calorie deficit!) and the training I am pursuing is helping me grow muscle and with that, the scale is starting to go back up again. I no longer look like I could snap at the slightest touch and I am loving how I am starting to fill out. Once upon a time seeing this sort of weight gain on the scale would have shook my very core, but thankfully I have finally come to terms with the fact that what I weigh really does not mean anything.
This before photo was once upon a time my AFTER photo.
I am head over heels with the way that I am now training. I never go hungry, I have 3 meals a day and snack whenever I want. If I am hungry I eat. It really is that simple. If you are going through my old mindset right now, please, please, please take a moment and think about your goals. You don't need to restrict food (we all know that I have learned this lesson first hand), you don't need to diet, you don't need to go to bed hungry.
What you do need to do is eat nourishing food. Whatever your goals are, weight loss, strength, muscle...You need to eat good food.
It's been a while since I posted about my fitness, but it is still something that I am actively pursuing, and more importantly enjoying. The last few months I have turned everything I was doing on it's head, I seemed to plateau and my results went backwards instead of forwards, and I found that I was no longer enjoying what I was doing. I was disappointed in myself and realised that I needed to make some changes in order to regain the control over something that I was loving.
In hind sight I realise that I was over doing it, it's true what they say, there most certainly is the possibility of to much of a good thing. I found myself at the gym multiple times a day for the many different classes that were going on, I was enjoying them, but my back track seemed to continue. I kept ploughing forward almost trying to convince myself that more was better.
I knew that something had to change.
I took absolutely everything back to basics, I thought about what worked for me and decided to revert back to the plan that I had been using and loving before I took things a little bit to far. I decided to listen to my body and re-gain the control that I had lost.
I haven't been to the gym now in 2 weeks.
I have realised that I have everything that I need at home in order to get everything that I need to do done. I decided to restart Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide from week 1 and really get my eating back on track. I am now 5 weeks into the guide and I am already starting to feel leaner again, and it couldn't come at a better time, because in just under 5 weeks time I am jetting off to the clear blue skies of Greece, and I honestly believe that it is because of this that I have finally pulled my finger out.
To think about just how much I have turned things on their head, you really have to look at how my habits have changed. I am the perfect example of an alarm snoozer. I am the least morning person you could meet, and I have been known to leave it until mere minutes before leaving the house in time to get Leo to school. However over these last few weeks I have been making the conscious effort to get up in the morning, get outside and do some high intensity training or getting my work out's done bright and early in the lounge. Of course I can't function before I have had some caffeine, but in the spirit of being healthier I have been enjoying some Mighty Matcha Green Tea!
For me getting the work outs done and dusted in the AM, really sets me up for the day ahead. I am up hours before Leo awakens, I can finish the work out and shower before I need to awaken my sleeping beauty and get him up, fed and off to school.
I am doing all of my cardio in the great outdoors, which is proving to be a lovely way to burn those calories rather than staring at the cross trainer screen for an hour every other day. In fact I am doing so much more walking, that I am going to treat myself to a Sketchers Memory Foam Leisure Trainers!
Now once that morning work out is done, that's me done for the rest of the day. No more hours spent in the gym, I am getting everything done, seeing results and im back to enjoying it again.
Enjoying what you are doing is ultimately the most important aspect in anything you apply yourself to. It keeps you moving forward and on target.
January is the month we make resolutions and promises to ourselves. It's the start of a new year, and it's the opportunity to better ourselves and to grow. For many people health and fitness is the top of the priority list, whether it's just to clean up old eating habits and push aside the takeaways, or to make those tentative first steps to get into shape.
January is the month that we make those resolutions and promises to ourselves.
As we step further away from 2015 and prepare for another year, I think it is important to set goals so that we can try to excel ourselves and grow. I have thought long and hard about my own goals that I would like to achieve this year and they look something like this:
- Sort my skin out, Christmas has brought out swarms of spots!
- Start #TheKaylaMovement on the 11th January 2016
- Not to miss a work out
- To be stronger and fitter than 2015
- To meet and work out with many more BBG ladies!
- To step further out of my comfort zone
- Start a new class
- Push myself
I have already taken on some new challenges in 2016, just last week I joined a Cross Fit taster session that spans over the next few weeks. This alone is something that a year ago I would never have done, going along to a session where I knew nobody would have scared the living daylights out of me. Not knowing about the exercises or what is expected from me, would have put me off even giving it a go. I wouldn't have even considered it, and I would have written it off before even saying 'Wait one minute Laura, give it a go!'.
I actually saw the advert on Facebook, and instead of just scrolling past it I clicked through. I read it, and didn't think twice about filling out my details. It was something that I really wanted to try, and I crossed my fingers hoping I got the opportunity. They were searching for 10 newbies to take part in the sessions throughout January and I didn't for a moment expect to hear back from them, but I was lucky enough to be chosen to go along and take part in a training session that is completely different to anything I have ever done before.
Cross Fit is high intensity workouts that are constantly varied to ensure that the body cannot and will not get used to the routine. After all routine is the enemy when it comes to fitness, your bodies get used to what you do, and routines can became boring and mundane.
In all honesty though when I pulled up at the new gym, I sat there in my car for a little while. Would I fit in? Would I be able to keep up with everybody else? Should I just turn around and go home? As soon as those thoughts entered my mind, I got out of the car and walked towards the building. The gym is a boxed room, it looks like a real man's gym and not somewhere I ever envisioned myself feeling at home. I walked in and met some of the other newbies, some of who weren't regulars in the gym and were taking the initiative to try something new.
The session was incredible. Bloody hard work but they had me doing things that I had longed to do, but didn't want to try in my usual gym through fear of having no clue what I was doing. I did my first ever box jumps on a 16" box, it might sound like nothing, but I was so proud of myself. As I looked around the room I noticed that no one else was jumping, they were standing up and standing down. I did bar bell squats and very quickly worked the weight up to 32.2kg (over 5 stone!) which beat my personal best.
The end of the session saw us working through a circuit with 8 minutes on the clock. The name of the game was to get as many rounds in as possible. When the clock called time, everyone collapsed on the floor, and I stood there catching my breath, but I wasn't ruined. I could have carried on, and it was then for the very first time, I realised how much my stamina has improved over this past year. Once upon a time I wouldn't have been able to do that, and it was while I was jumping on the box that one of the ladies called out to me 'HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!?', but I hadn't thought twice. I guess it just goes to show that when your persistent with something, you do grow and develop.
The last session was on Thursday evening, and it focused mainly on arms. There were pull ups, reverse pull ups and Kettle Bell Snatches to name a few. This session officially kicked my bum and 4 days later my arms, chest, shoulders and back are still burning, the thought of going back and inflicting more pain tomorrow not only makes me shiver, but excites me. This after all is the only way that I am going to get stronger, and this burn means that it's working.
Towards the end of 2015 I slacked, I was still working out but my food routine was shaken up and I was just an eating machine. This meant that I lost definition and put on a few lbs. I am now ready to get this show on the road and surpass where I was in the Summer. Yes I blipped, but I am taking my fitness by the horns and really pushing myself. In turn Christmas didn't help, I only took 2 days off, but those 2 days have brought some beautiful spots to the surface. Spots that won't go away, spots that are leaving dry peely skin in their wake.
I am hoping that now my diet is back on track, that normality is resuming following the Christmas period that I can start to really push myself.
I have already told myself that 2016 is going to be an incredible year, so I decided to spontaneously book a trip to New York with some of the BBG Girlies for November. You know meeting girls on Instagram and jetting off to New York is just totally normal in 2016!
I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and I hope 2016 is treating you guys well. What are your resolutions for the New Year?
Monday was your typical day, Leo had attended nursery in the morning. I had spent the day at work. After work I completed my week 11 leg resistance training as per the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide, before heading off to the gym. The evening continued much as the day had, it was all perfectly normal.
I left the gym and arrived back home, when all of a sudden my phone lights up. I open it up and read: ‘Kayla Itsines has mentioned you on Instagram’. My heart started to beat a little faster, had she really!? Had the lady herself shared my progress!?
Of course I had to have a peek straight away, and sure enough on Kayla Itsines Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds… Was me!
When I started following the guide 11 weeks ago I wanted to put my all into it, I wanted to see results. I needed to see results. I had never been ‘fit’ before. Yes back in the day I was slim and happily fit into a size 8 but I had never been healthy. I ate rubbish on a daily basis and just hoped and prayed I would get away with it, and for years I did.
I knew it wouldn’t last, and I knew that the weight was creeping on way before I had Leo. My answer? Sucking it in and wearing belts to push it in. It used to work a treat and until more weight piled on, I got away with it. You see I wasn’t bigger because I had a baby. I was bigger because of my un-healthy lifestyle.
I dreamed of losing the weight, of having a tummy I could be proud of, of wearing shorts without my thighs clapping together like an audience applauding. I dreamed of being able to wear a bikini and feel confident, of losing that double chin. I had so many hopes and dreams but it seemed impossible, un-realistic and stupid. How was I going to achieve any of that? I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, no confidence to make that initial trip to the gym because I had no clue how to use any of the equipment…I had no idea about any of it, where did I start losing weight? What should I eat? How should I train? What trained what? I felt like I was a lost cause, and that I was just going to have to accept that this was now who I was.
Until June last year that’s exactly what I did. I ate takeaways on a weekly basis and chocolate on a daily basis. My sides ballooned out, my tummy touched my thighs when I sat down and my chin wobbled when I jiggled my head. I was far from happy about how I looked. At 9 Stone 11 I was far from over weight, in fact my BMI was ideal and I was disappointed to discover that Weight Watchers and Slimming World wouldn’t help me lose any of the weight. I actually felt like I would be laughed out of the establishment had I dared go along, and all I really wanted was a push in the right direction and the support of group of people wanting to achieve the same goals.
I decided to do it myself, I was the most determined I had ever been in my life. I had started many diets that had been forgotten about as quickly as they had begun, but this time was different. Week by week my determination grew stronger as the weight came away. Month by month I re-discovered ‘Me’ again.
Then after losing pretty much all of the weight bar a few pounds, I discovered Kayla and the BBG Girls (Bikini Body Guide Girls!). I watched Kayla sharing these inspirational women who had completely changed their bodies. I was in awe and I was inspired. Once upon a time I would have seen these girls and not appreciated the time and hard work they had put into turning their entire lifestyle upside down, but now I got it. These girls were AMAZING, they were inspirational and I was going to do it to. I WAS going to do it!
I found the support I was craving with the BBG Girls, and the sense of community ploughed me through the first 11 weeks. I was feeling fitter and stronger than I ever had in my life, and people were noticing the changes I was making. My body was changing and people could see it.
Even I, my own biggest critic could see it!
Little did I know that 11 weeks later I was going to be featured on Kayla’s page, people were going to look to me in the same way I had looked to them. The funny thing is I never in a million years expected that to happen. Yes I was pleased with my results, but I couldn’t believe that Kayla had even seen them among the sea of other inspirational ladies making their own incredible transformations. The comments were surreal and it was hard to believe that they were talking about little old me, and now there are over 40,000 likes on that photo. The whole thing has just blown my mind.
Following my feature on Kayla's Social Media Channels I have been asked so many questions. So I decided to put together the below Q&A to answer all of the questions. I am no fitness guru, everything I know is down to Kayla and my own trial and error as I have progressed, and who knows I may actually be doing it all wrong, but something is working.
So here it is, my very first Q&A.
About me
How Old are you?
I am 25 years old.
How much do you weigh?
I currently weigh in at 7 stone 12lbs.
This goes up and down. I usually weigh in at around 8 stone.
How tall are you?
I am 5 foot 5 inches tall.
Food and Diet
Do you follow Kayla’s HELP Guide?
I follow the basis of the HELP guide, but I don't follow it religiously. I eat as clean as I can and incorporate all of the foods that are within the guide, but I don't follow it meal by meal.
Did you have to maintain a strict diet to get results?
Now this is a question that would vary on who you ask!
I wouldn't say it's a strict diet but I guess in reality it probably is. I can't remember the last time I ate chips, drank pop or over indulged in chocolate! I do count my calories, and I do watch what I eat. I do believe that you are what you eat, and as I want to see results I have been pretty set on doing everything I can to get those results.
What kind of things would you eat on an average day?
On an average day this is a common line up.
Breakfast: A fruit smoothie in my Nutribullet or a bowl of porridge with my favourite fruit.
Lunch: I am a big fan of omelette right now. They are quick easy and filling. They are such a versatile food and you can put so many different toppings with them. Aside from omelette I also LOVE Dark Rye Crackers with low fat Philadelphia Cheese and salad. Throw in some Jalapenos and you have one of my favourite lunches!
Dinner: Dinner is my favourite meal of the day, and I have found myself getting more adventurous as the weeks have gone on.
Courgette Pizza, Chicken Stir Fry, Spinach Crepes, Omelette, Quinoa and Lentil Burgers, Pesto Chicken, Pesto Pasta and Chicken Salad. There are so many tasty combinations and recipe ideas out there, I am always finding new things to try and experimenting!
What snacks do you eat?
I LOVE my snacks! I have a snack mid morning following breakfast. It ranges from a piece of fruit such as a Banana or some Blueberries, to a Nakd Bakewell Bar (My absolute favourite!) which I would usually have alongside a protein shake, home made treats such as Cookie Dough (which is actually made out of Chickpeas!), Home made fruit crumble, Almonds or even a fruit smoothie!
I eat a second snack in the afternoon which again could be anything as listed above! I am a firm believer in giving your body what it needs, and I enjoy my food!
Do you eat much fruit?
I do eat a lot of fruit, so much more than I used to. I eat fruit on a daily basis, in my morning smoothie, or in my porridge. I eat fruit as snacks during the day and have been known to devour a punnet of Grapes or Blueberries! I do try and keep it in moderation, but fruit to me now is like popping sweets!
How many calories do you eat?
I eat a minimum of 1,200 a day, it varies on a day to day basis. Sometimes I eat a lot more than that.
Did you cut out cheat meals completely?
The last cheat meals I really ate were back in December. Over Christmas I managed to put on 6lbs and I was eating and drinking pretty much anything that I fancied. I was eating out way to much and this was probably the last tie I ate chips! I have however been out recently and indulged in a big pizza all to myself, and then followed that up with deep fried Brie Wedges! I ate the LOT! That was a few weeks ago now, so cheat meals do happen, but I do try to behave for the rest of the time!
Exercise
Do you do anything else alongside the BBG?
I go to the gym on top of the Bikini Body Guide on a daily basis. I complete the resistance training as per the guide at home and then head to the gym where I then add in weight training to that days particular agenda.
Do you do cardio or only weights?
I do both, I follow the guide religiously. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are resistance training, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are LISS (Low Intensity Steady State), or cardio days.
Did you find it hard at the beginning?
When I started the BBG I was 8 months into my weight loss journey. So I was already in a habit of watching what I ate and going to the gym. It was more a case of polishing up what I was already doing. Of course I have days where I completely fall off the wagon, days where I want to eat all the food in sight and then some! There are always going to be harder days than others, but I want my results more than I want the chocolate!
How much do you exercise?
I exercise 6 days a week. Sunday is my designated day off. However if for any reason I cannot make LISS on the Saturday, I switch it to Sunday.
When did you notice your body changing?
I noticed changes by week 3, my body lost some of the chub and I saw the start of my baby abs. I feel like I may have accelerated the process by having lost a lot of my weight before starting the guide. Everyone is different, so even if you aren't seeing the changes as quickly as you might hope, it doesn't mean that they aren't happening! Trust the process and keep working hard!
Disclaimer: I purchased the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide and all views and opinions expressed in this post are completely honest and my own.
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