You only need to take a look at the date to note that I have seriously slacked on my postings. No other reason but for the fact that I no longer have an adviser for the technical aspect of maintaining a blog and I was unable to get help when I ran into some technical glitches. I am back on track now though, at least I hope I am!

The past 7 months have been manic for me as I started a new job and moved to the city. This meant a lot of  changes to my routines as the gym is now farther away from my house.

Once again, I am in the middle of developing a routine to follow in order to lose some more weight. But first of all, an update.

My visits to the gym have really dropped especially in the last 3 months. But for a change, rather than put on more weight when I stop visiting the gym, I have actually remained the same.  As far as I’m concerned, this is a good improvement on my past when I would add on weight whenever I slacked from the gym for a few weeks.

At the moment, I still count calories and I do minimal exercise as a result of my job. I also jog occasionally, however I am working on doing that on a regular basis now.

Once I fix my routine again, I will update y’all.

Peace

I did say I was going to go on the cabbage soup diet, but I never did because of the risks it carried ie., losing water and muscles instead of fat. What I’ve been doing for the past two weeks instead is counting calories. I didn’t really lose any weight on the scales but i feel a bit lighter. Three days to my trip, I decided to go on a no carbs diet. I’ve been eating fruits, vegetables and beans(kidney, butter and chick peas). It hasn’t shown anything on the scales, but I still have the light feeling. Anyway, what I know for certain is that my diet is going to change in Nigeria, and I suspect it’ll be for the worse because all our staples are carbs.

Plan for the next three weeks - Eat less quantity of food and supplement with fresh fruits and vegetables.

I hope that there wouldn’t be a lot of damage to rectify by the time I get back. I’m already looking forward to going back to the gym. Sweet!

Ok, I decided last week that I will start the Cabbage soup diet this week. So yesterday I bought everything I needed from Sainsburys with the aim of starting today. I then checked out some reviews of the cabbage soup diet which shows that it works, but you lose water and muscle tissues and not fat. Now this is scary, I would rather burn the excessive fat rather than muscles that I need. Besides, I don’t think I can survive on a starvation diet because I am very active.

As if that wasn’t enough discovery in one morning, I found out that my low calorie diet is not necessarily helpful as your body adjusts to the reduced calories and doesn’t necessarily start burning fat.

At this point, I feel like my entire 8 months or so stint of ‘trying’ to eat reduced calories has been a waste. I’m seriously confused now because I don’t know what to do about my diet. It’s breakfast time and I don’t know what to eat!!!

Free Online Dating Agency
Russian Online Dating
Dating Web Site Software
Colt Single Action Barrels
100 Free Adultmatch Dating Site
Meet Single Dads
Adult Internet Dating More Info
Www Single Net
Free Messaging Dating Sex Site Personal
Contact Dating Free Online Service

Whenever I visit the gym, I try to pay a lot of attention to my middle because this is where lies most of the weight I need to shift. However, I don’t use the exercise balls because I just never get my balance on it. So I looked up this site for exercises I can do at home on my upper abs, lower abs and oblique sides. What I like about it is that because there’s so much to choose from, I always find a mix of three exercises for each area. I started off doing about 10-20 counts for each one and I try to do them all in one go without taking a lot of breaks. I have to warn though, it leaves your middle sore for a few days when you initially start. Apparently, doing it at night just before bed is more effective as the fat burns even while you sleep - I was told by a friend who trained as a personal trainer.

I felt a bit unhappy today because I had missed the gym for about 2 weeks and I finally made it today. I checked my weight and I had not lost anything, even though I had tried to reduce my daily calorie intake in the period I did not visit the gym for. I have to say though, I gave myself more than a few allowances, but then I started walking for 30 minutes a day (did that for about 4 -5 days) and I still take lemon and hot water in the morning.

I am not going to let that depress me though. I still have my target for September, which is to fit into my bridesmaids dress without readjusting it. It fits around the hips and waist, it just doesn’t completely zip up without squeezing and choking me.

I plan to go to the gym again tomorrow. As I work less hours now, I should be able to make it at least 3 times a week - plus my swimming too.

When I started writing last week, I should have put a post up about my past and more importantly current stats, but I was trying to upload corresponding pictures which I failed woefully at doing. I’ve put the pictures on hold for now but here’s the stats.

Sept 2004 -

Weight - 14 Stones (91kg), Height - 5′5in

June 2005 -

Weight - About 12 Stones, Height - 5′5in

Sept 2006 -

Weight - About 14 Stones, Height 5′5in

July 2007 -

Just under 14 Stones (89kg), Height 5′5in

I’ve identified my ideal as between 8.5 and 11 Stones or between 52 and 68kg

This range is therefore my long-term target. In the short-term, I’m attempting to lose 6kgs by the 6th of September as part of a guarantee i entered into at my gym.

When it comes to burning fat or calories, walking might not necessarily top your list of activities, however, if you have a very busy schedule, then its better than nothing. After starting a second job this week, I’ve realised that my commitment to the gym will be affected. I’ve therefore decided to walk back home from work. It is usually a 15-20 minutes bus ride which will take me 45 minutes to walk. Hopefully it will help counteract the effect of my afternoon snacks at job #2 and help me maintain, if not lose a few pounds. As with every other resolution I make, the first day usually goes well, the problem is with keeping it!

I recently started taking swimming lessons. I had a serious fear of water, I mean I can splash around in a pool, but tell me to get my face in water and trouble starts. As a beginner, I can only swim with the support of floaters, but what I’ve discovered is that it takes a lot leg work to swim properly. I’m used to the gym and everything, but I was very surprised at how much my thighs hurt the following day. I was actually happy as the gym had been depressing me so it was a well needed change and I will be going back (with my floaters and all).

Days that I wake up hungry are usually my worst weight conscious days. I usually end up eating my three meals for the day but adding a lot of snacks in between. My major problem is that ’snack’ must taste good, which then means carbs and chocolate. What I’ve started doing now is keeping smoothies in the fridge and snacking on that instead. It tastes good and it’s actually filling. I can’t believe I’m saying smoothies are filling but I was amazed to discover so. I hope I can keep up the smoothie habit as I actually feel so much better about snacking now and I can have as much as I want. It’s so easy to carry around too as you can fill any bottle with your smoothie and pop it in your bag.

My reciepe

Blend together 3/4 strawberries, a handful of raspberries, 1 banana and 3/4 spoons of yogurt. Make it as thick or light as you want by mixing in water. Add sugar if you want, but it still tastes nice without.

If you want to have that as breakfast, add your regular portion of muesli and blend together. The good thing is you’ll end up eating less carbs and you would have had 3 of your 5-a-day fruits!

More smoothie reciepes

Ok, I don’t really know how true this is, but I heard starting you day with lemon juice is good if you’re looking to lose a rounded tummy. I read it first in a magazine (can’t remember which one) and some of my friends have confirmed it too i.e., that models use it too.

So I started doing it in May and as at today I can say I have lost a bit around my middle, but then I started going to the gym (again) about a couple of weeks later so I can’t really say how effective it is. I still do it, only because I guess it’s now a habit, and it beats having coffee in the morning (trying to stay away from caffeine as well).

Reciepe

Squeeze half a lemon in a mug, and dilute to about half way with hot water.

!!! Be careful if you have sensitive teeth, it can irritate.