Beyond 12 Weeks

What perfect timing to come out of a 12 week challenge and into the silly season....NOT!

I love Christmas, and for all the same reasons my body is not going to like it! So much food and drinks, so many functions, so many people to see and catch up with over more food and drinks. Work is crazy busy, time is limited for training and food prep and my will power is being tested with all the delicious treats I'm surrounded by!

When it comes to eating, I know that I fall to pieces unless I have a goal/plan to focus on, so enter 'Bec's Plan of Attack to Battle the Bulge this Festive Season'...hmm might need to work on the name but you get the idea! Let me make it clear that I'm in no way trying to lean out further/lose any more weight, I was pretty happy with where I finished up after the FTC, but what I definitely don't want for Christmas is to undo all my hard work and feel all sad and sorry for myself the way I did after our American binge eating fest honeymoon. (You can read about my post-honeymoon blues here)

So 'Bec's Plan of Attack to Battle the Bulge this Festive Season' (stop laughing now, this is serious!) is:

• Maintain my current weight as much as possible
• Relax, be merry and allow myself yummy treats at functions without feeling guilty BUT
• Eat as clean as possible in between said functions
• Limit alcohol - I've picked the main events that I want to be able to let my hair down completely and have a few drinks but otherwise (and this is my opinion for myself only) I don't see the need for it.
• Get stuck into the clean baking so I can bring a plate of nourishing goodies on Christmas Day
• Keep my training up as normal - this is my priority! I'm lucky to have a sister who's a PT, we've even planned to train Christmas morning - the second year in a row!
• Keep up the supplements - multivitamins, probiotics, CLA and I'm adding greens to my supps for added nutrition
• Stay hydrated - plenty of water, herbal teas etc.
• Fill my plate up with as much protein and vegies as I can...maybe they'll be no room left for sweet treats? (Who am I kidding here?)

And now I give you...an apple in a santa hat! Merry Christmas!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome back pumpkin, natural yogurt and peanut butter back into my life, it's a pleasure having you back! I experimented with batch of protein brownies last night which are almost ready for me to share with you and chucked my cottage cheese chocolate mousse in my new ice cream maker with some PB2 and hey presto, I've got myself some chocolate peanut butter ice cream! Woo hoo!


Enjoy the holiday season and stay awesome xx

Fenix Transformation Challenge - Final Results

This weekend saw the completion of my second Fenix Transformation Challenge. I honestly can't believe how fast the last 12 weeks have flown!

I had my final weigh in, measurements and after photos done on Saturday. I'm pretty stoked with how I did, I'm definitely in the best shape I've ever been in at the moment which is exciting.

Compared to my first challenge where I lost 64.5cm around my body, this time around was not as impressive with a total of 18.5cm lost. I did however, drop significant amounts in my skinfolds (30cm) and therefore my body fat percentage and weight went down also.

Without further adieu, here's the final results:

	Week 1 -  09/09/12	Week 12 - 01/12/12	Final Results
Weight (kg)	63.6	58.6	-5
Body Fat %	20.3	15.3	-5
Shoulder (cm)	103	103	1
Chest (cm)	89	84.5	-4.5
Navel (cm)	79	73	-6
Right Bicep (cm)	27	25.5	-1.5
Left Bicep (cm)	27	25.5	-1.5
Hips (cm)	89	87	-2
Right Thigh (cm)	53.5	52	-1.5
Left Thigh (cm)	53	52	-1.5
Right Calf (cm)	37	37	0
Left Calf (cm)	37	37	0

I love this part! Revisiting my original goals (I blogged about them here):

- Run 10km in 50 minutes - that's wiping a full 5 min 30 secs off my pb - DONE

- Get control of my nutrition - kick the sugar and binging habit in the ass - cos it doesn't matter how much I train, you can't out-exercise a bad diet! - DONE. My relationship with food is better than ever and I am so glad I was hard on myself for those final 6 weeks. It's made me appreciate foods like yogurt, dark chocolate and peanut butter as treats so I'm more likely to treat myself with foods that are good for my body rather than the junk I used to count down the days until I could eat again!
 
- Lean up quite dramatically - especially my lower body - would like to hit between 12-15% body fat - This one is harder for me to gauge, I have leaned up alot, as you can see above I'm sitting just above 15% body fat. My low body is still being difficult to respond with 15.5cm of the 18.5cm I lost coming off my upper body! Looking back at this goal now, as much as I'd like and will continue to improve my lower body, I don't think I want to be much under 15% body fat.

- Achieve a flat stomach with muscle definition - I can see some muscle definition in my stomach and on a good day, I can see my top abs starting pop out first thing in the morning, however, it was never my goal to get a six pack! So I'm going to say DONE to this one.

- Achieve an athletic body - look fit, healthy and strong to an outsider who doesn't know how hard I work - This one is hard for me to judge also, will have to ask an 'outsider' their opinion on this.

- Do 5 unassisted chin-ups in a row - Just missed out on this one - my best is a set a four in a row followed by two sets of 3.
OK so moment of truth - I think I'm feeling happy enough to share my before and after photos - I cringe when I look at my before photos but that's the whole reason they're before photos right?

Stay awesome xx

Quick Clean Recipes

During the last 10 weeks, time restraints and limited food choices have limited my experimentation with yummy clean recipes.

When time is an issue, I become a creature of habit and generally eat the same thing for the same meal EVERY SINGLE DAY! I have managed to come up with a couple of super simple, super quick, super delish recipes (they're so simple I don't know if I can even call them recipes) which are now the highlight of my every single day. So I thought I'd share...you can thank me later!

Thai Chicken Rissoles

500g chicken mince (ask your butcher to mince skinless chicken breast)
1 tbsp Thai Gourmet Green Curry Paste (no oil, no sugar, no additives, no articficial anything! - available at Coles)
Bunch of coriander, chopped
1 egg white (you could use the whole egg if you wish)
1 tsp fish sauce
Pinch of stevia (or 1 tsp of palm/brown sugar if you prefer)

Whisk egg white, curry paste, fish sauce and stevia to combine.
Add chicken mince and corriander and mix well (I use my hands).
Shape into 12 rissoles and cook on a lightly oiled (I use coconut or rice bran oil) hot pan or BBQ for approx. 3 mins each side or until cooked through.
Serve 2 rissoles with salad or your choice of vegies. YUM!!


Cottage Cheese Chocolate Mousse

100g low fat cottage cheese
1/4 scoop chocolate protein powder (I use Reflex Instant Whey)
1 tsp cacao/unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of stevia to taste
1-2 tsp water (helps blend everything)

Blend/process all ingredients in a small food processor or magic bullet until smooth.
Pop mixture into a small bowl and into the freezer for 10 mins.
Top the mousse with whatever takes your fancy - berries, banana, cherries, flax meal, cacoa nibs (as I have done here) etc.
This mousse is so YUM, I have it every single night!


In other food related news, I have become obsessed with food-ogling amazing clean food pics on Instagram and that's where I discovered the website iherb.com.
A health and clean eater's paradise and cheap! They're based in the US, there are so many products available that we wouldn't usually have access to in Aus. There's protein powders, vitamins, supplements, sugar alternatives, beauty products...the list is endless.
I placed my first order this morning and have cans of organic pumpkin puree on their way! I can only imagine what I can cook up with this! 
No, I didn't just order pumpkin puree, I will do a review of the products once my order arrives.

In the mean time, if you happen to visit, decide it's awesome and place an order, use the code RWV626 to get $10 off orders of $40 or more.

Stay awesome xx

Week 8 Measurements

Just a quick one....here's my long awaited Week 8 results:

	Week 1 - 09/09/12	Week 4 - 08/10/12	Week 8 - 11/11/12	Results
Weight (kg)	63.6	62.6	60.6	-3
Body Fat %	20.3	19.2	16.6	-3.7
Shoulder (cm)	103	102	103	1
Chest (cm)	89	87	84.5	-4.5
Navel (cm)	79	76	73	-6
Right Bicep (cm)	27	26	26	-1
Left Bicep (cm)	27	26	26	-1
Hips (cm)	89	87	87	-2
Right Thigh (cm)	53.5	53	53	-0.5
Left Thigh (cm)	53	52.5	52.5	-0.5
Right Calf (cm)	37	37	37	0
Left Calf (cm)	37	36.5	37	0

Very happy with the drop in body fat %, on track to hit 15% (hopefully under!) in another 3 weeks.

I've had good results with my navel and chest measurements but my lower half doesn't seem to be budging.

I had abit of a brain fade for second there, panicked abit wondering why my thigh measurements haven't changed at all! I considered adding more training sessions and cutting out carbs and more calories. NOT THE ANSWER! Thank god I’ve come so far mindset wise from where I was, over training and cutting out carbs would do nothing but slow done my metabolism and be completely unmaintainable once the 12 weeks are over. So I’m going to continue eating the way I have been for the last four weeks, keep up the green vegie intake and and do my best to train as hard as I can during my sessions.  

These measurements were done almost a week ago now and since last night I’m feeling and seeing abit of a shift in my body so I’m going to stick at it, I’m definitely looking forward to finishing this challenge as hard as I can.

That's about all I've got for today...told you it would be a quick one!

You should head over to my friend's new blog though, you can find it here. She's lost over 50kg's in the last 18 months and her story is super inspirational. Check it out!

Setbacks, Goals and another edition of Food That I Be Eating

I had abit of a set back at the end of last week – I strained the plantar fascia on my right foot (the connective tissue on the sole of the foot) which has caused me abit of pain and left me unable to run and limping around like a gimp for the last week.

It had me pretty depressed and frustrated, I was due to run the City2Sea this Sunday and I couldn’t do something as simple as taking the dogs for a walk. I was still hoping it would recover in time but I soon realised that it was going to be a slow process to heal properly. I decided that it was more important to be able to walk and run for the remainder of the challenge than to do one run and possibly cause a worse injury.

I was given a tip, and it's so simple yet briIliant that I have to share it - all experienced runners I apologise if you are already aware of this but seeing as I'm fairly new to the game, I find this absolutely genius! For relief/treatment of any sole of the foot/arch pain, fill a water bottle with water and pop in the freezer until frozen completely solid. Once frozen, roll painful area over the bottle and enjoy the massage/ice/relief! (It can be rather painful but keep persisting, it's worth it!)

Due to rest and the above mentioned tip, my foot is starting to feel a lot better today, I don’t think I’ll be in any state to run 14km’s but I’m hoping to get back into running a short distance at running crew on Monday night. In the meantime, it’s been a pretty interesting week trying to fit my cardio in around my bung foot! Between sessions on the cross trainer, a bike ride (I don't remember riding a push bike being so hard!), RPM class and a tabata class I managed to fit it all in and stay off my foot as much as possible.

Onto some more positive news – I am definitely getting closer to achieving my goals for the challenge, my week 4 results gave me the kick up the butt I needed. My nutrition has been a lot better, I have cut out a lot of foods I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to live without like yogurt, avocado, dark chocolate and less than 3 servings of fruit per day. Mind you, I have only cut these foods out because I’m being quite strict on myself in order to reach my goals, I'm not suggesting anyone else needs to do this, I will be re-introducing these foods into my diet once I've reached my goals.

Goal for the final four weeks -  stick to my plan 100%, no cheat meals; clean or otherwise.

2 weeks ago I finally did an unassisted chin up and this morning I did 2 sets of 3, so getting closer to my goal of 5 unassisted in a row J

I’ll have the results of my 8 week measurements in my next post, we’re still yet to do them as Mel has been holidaying in Bali (lucky for some!)

I am absolutely loving this challenge, I’m feeling so energetic and happy again – yes I’m super busy with balancing work, training, food preparation and a social life but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I’ll leave you with some pics of the deliciousness I’ve been eating over the past few weeks – I’m learning to love vegies more than ever!

Grilled vegetable stack with a cajun spiced chicken breast

Egg white omelette muffins

Cajun spiced chicken with grilled eggplant, roast pumpkin & broccolini

Chicken Fajita Salad with plenty of capsicum & baby spinach

My treat meal last week....the most amazing tasting protein pancakes made with coconut flour

Stay awesome xx

I Heart Quinoa

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you would have certainly heard of the superfood Quinoa by now.

Souce: http://thestonesoup.com/blog/

For those who have been under that rock, here's a quick run down on quinoa.

- It's pronounced 'keen-wah'....not 'queen-noah'

- It's gluten free and easy to digest.

- It's high in protein (4.4g protein per 100g) and is a source of calcium

- It looks like a grain but is actually a seed - and you generally cook it using the same methods as you would cook rice

- It's incredibly filling and has a light fluffy texture like couscous

- It's available whole, puffed or rolled into flakes (I'm yet to try puffed or flakes, I use the whole stuff)

I have been eating quinoa for a few years now but over the past 6 weeks, as I'm trying to eat a predominantly gluten free diet, I've been eating it more and more - it is definitely my post workout high energy carb of choice! I pre-cook one part quinoa to two parts water in my rice cooker and store it in the fridge for 4-5 days and use whenever I need.

Here's a couple of my favourite quick and easy ways to use Quinoa.

My Quinoa Porridge

75g cooked quinoa
1/2 scoop vanilla proten powder
10g flax meal
50-100mls unsweetened almond milk
Cinnamon (I like to add alot)
Berries or fruit of choice (chopped apple or pear is amazing too!)

Place all ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine then microwave for 1-2 mins.
Add extra fruit, cinnamon and almond milk if preferred.


My Quinoa Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

75g cooked quinoa
100g cooked chicken breast
3/4 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms (I like alot of mushrooms!)
Dash of gluten free, salt reduced chicken stock
Big handful of baby spinach leaves

In a pan, saute mushrooms until soft (you could add onion and garlic here too but I tend to stay away from it, doesn't agree with me!)
Add quinoa, chicken and stock, simmer until stock is absorbed.
Stir in spinach leaves until wilted. Serve with a tiny bit of good quality parmasan cheese if you like.


Enjoy xx