Fitness {April}

This has been the most difficult month so far. I actually am quite shocked it has only been this month that i have struggled. I finished the Kayla Itsines guide at the beginning of April and it said to give yourself a week to recover and then go back into the second guide. After exercising practically everyday to taking a week off, i struggled to get back into it after that. I will write more about this in the sections below but i am finally back on track and looking forward to what this month brings!

Exercise

As i mentioned, i finished the 12 week guide at the beginning of the month. I noticed a HUGE difference. I lost a total of 4 inches of my thighs, 4 inches of my bottom, 4 inches of my waist, 2 inches of my hips, 1 inch of my arms and 1/2 inch of my calves. The problem i had at the end was that because i have quite muscular calves, as my thighs shrunk, my calves stayed the same and i felt even more unhappy with my legs. I didn't know that certain exercises could increase the size of my calves. I just thought that i was doing a lot of exercise and fat burning and they would slim down. I did a lot of research into the calves and there is a pinching test to see if you have fat calves or muscular calves. Unfortunately for me, i have muscular which is hard to slim down. All i see when ever i look in the mirror now is my horrid calves! I read that skipping and sprinting are the exercises that can increase them and that is what i have mostly been doing! I got really frustrated and had a mini tantrum that i had been doing 12 weeks of solid exercising and eating clean and for any other person, they would loose weight and everything would slim down and they would look amazing but for me, i gain muscle and look horrible (in my eyes). I just lost all motivation and thought that anything i did would make my muscles even bigger. I struggled with doing any exercise at all as i just didn't know if i was making it worse. I stopped the Kayla workouts and took another week off and a friend mentioned Insanity. I had done Insanity last year for a week before giving it up but i thought i would give it a go as i was missing exercising and wanted to get back into a routine. I could already feel my body changing and my mind set had completely gone so i started insanity. I did 13 days in a row until i realised that my calves, yet again, were gaining muscle and i didn't like the way my legs look. I stopped and pondered again on what i could do. It just felt like i was being given a crap card to be honest as i was trying to slim down and feel good about the way i looked. For once in my life i was doing it the healthy way and being completely sensible yet it just wasn't working the way i liked. Everytime i saw someone i felt like saying "hello, please excuse my calves. I am trying to work on it!" I know i am over exaggerating and they are not huge but now my thighs are slimmer, i feel the proportion is way out and they are very noticeable.

I have decided to just go back to Kayla's workouts and start week 13 again tomorrow. I bought a foam roller to stretch and roll out my muscles and at the end of every workout, i am going to do 20 mins of calve rolling and add in doing certain stretches i have been reading to help lengthen the muscles. I am starting to realise that i cannot do anything about them. It is pure muscle and unless i just never eat again, the muscle is not going to break down. If i don't exercise at all then the rest of me will go back to how it was and i will still be unhappy so i have just made the decision to stick with it and hope the stretches and rolling will help. And if not, then what else can i do? I just have to accept it along with all my other flaws and be positive, fit and strong!

Weight/measurements

I haven't actually weighed myself since stopping the Kayla workout. I was 8 stone 5 at the end. I am going to do proper before pictures tomorrow morning before i start the guide 2 along with my up to date weight (which i know will be higher!).

Food

Over the whole of this month, i have still managed to eat well. I think as soon as my eating goes out the window, everything will have been a waste of time. I had some chocolate the other night! It was AMAZING! I actually couldn't even finish the bar where as before christmas, it would be gone within minutes! It was nice to treat myself and i am glad i did but i did feel a little guilty afterwards as i hadn't exercised at all that day. I am really really looking forward to getting back into the mind set tomorrow of the guides and eating. I found that as i was doing the guides, i felt in control of everything and i wouldn't even think about unhealthy food. I would be so good and even though i have been good all month, my portion sizes have gone up slightly and i have been snacking more. Tomorrow is a new day and i cannot wait to get back into the swing of another 12 weeks!



So here is a photograph of before, during and after the first 12 week guide. I have posted a few pictures of my progress but this one seems quite hard to post. I am not sure why but i am going to anyway. Tomorrow, i am taking a photograph of a full length body shot in my sports bra and leggings. If i didn't have these stomach pictures, i wouldn't have really believed the difference and i always wished i had done a full body shot so i could see the progress in my legs and bottom, My bottom is very much smaller and i can see how smaller my waist is compared to my shoulder width which is great so looking forward to seeing the progress over the next 12 weeks. So here is my progress shot. Please be kind!!

                                                                (march, february, january)