Workout Wednesdays... Progress, Recipes & Fitspo

So last week I was moaning about having hit a plateau (sorry).
 
This week I'm feeling much more positive. Despite being at my mum's for the weekend (which means missing workouts & not eating clean), I've had a good week. I've managed to compensate for missed workouts by combining two into one on a couple of occasions. I've been really good with food prep & only had one little slip up - an emotional day + a bag of mini eggs = a binge. But I've forgiven myself for it and moved on. I am only human, after all.
 
I don't want to boast but I'm proud of myself today. Last night, I did my first set of measurements since Christmas. So...
 
Left bicep: 0.5 inch loss
Right bicep: 0.5 inch loss
Chest - 1 inch loss
Waist - 2 inch loss
Hips - 1 inch loss
 
I'm seriously impressed with this! My thighs have each gained half an inch but, judging by the feel and the slight definition in my quads, this is muscle and not fat so I'm happy with that!
 
Most weeks, I feel like there's no change on the scales and my jeans aren't getting any looser so monthly progress checks like this are really good for me. I shall be taking another set of progress pictures soon too but these are for my personal gallery; I'm nowhere near confident enough to reveal them to the world just yet!
 
Part of why I feel successful this week has been down to being prepared. I'm finding it easier and less time consuming each week, now that I know what I'm doing and how much to prep of what for when. Being a lot more confident in all of this has led me to deviate from my original basic diet and experiment & research new recipes.

Yesterday I found this recipe for Omelette Cupcakes from a lovely lady that I follow on twitter (https://twitter.com/HHH_Dannii).

Mine didn't come out quite as perfectly as hers but that's natural for a first bake! They came out huge & fluffy and subsequently sank quite a bit. Shallowness aside, they were super yummy! I made 10 to have for breakfasts over a few days and chopped up some mushrooms and peppers into the mix to give it a bit of a boost. Very impressed with these, especially as they don't taste too egg-like!

 

For the final part of this blog post, I wanted to give you a list of some of the accounts that I follow on Twitter that keep me motivated. Whether it be by posting their workouts, recipes, pictures, or just telling me to get in the gym when I'm feeling lazy, these people really make a difference. This list is neither definitive nor exhaustive but they are people who have inspired me in the last week or so!

 

https://twitter.com/RightHealth

https://twitter.com/wceagles929406

https://twitter.com/hanaxfitness

https://twitter.com/LolaFitHD

 

and, of course, my favourite FitLads of all time...

https://twitter.com/LDN_Muscle

Get following and get inspired!

Workout Wednesday... When did this happen?

 

Yesterday I had the biggest grump on. I was in a foul mood all day. I even clocked myself pouting with my arms crossed.

This time last year, if I had been in the same mood, I would have gone home, binged and cried a lot. The bad mood would have hung over me like a dark cloud for days and the last thing on my mind would have been the gym.

I don't know when it happened but I have already made my biggest transformation - my mental one. I have no idea what clicked or when but something has changed and I am in a much better place. In my funk yesterday, I knew it would dissipate once I got myself to the gym and got some endorphins running through me. I didn't come out smiling and bouncing but I did no longer feel like the entire world was against me as I had during the day. I even managed to ring my mum and laugh at my sorry state, something which seemed impossible a year ago.

Earlier in the week, I remember tweeting about joining "the fitfam", the community of fitness enthusiasts on twitter and other blogospheres. I'm not sure at which point I entered the Fit Fam but I'm so happy I did. I'm part of a community of peers from around the world. We're not defined by our gender, our class, race, ethnicity, hair colour. There's no negativity and insulting each other. There's nothing but love and support for each other's journeys.

Searching #fitfam on twitter brings up a multitude of entertainment. It can be motivational quotes and pictures, new exercises, recipes, tips, seminars or a simple progress pic. If you need some fitspiration to get you to the gym, want to check a technique or ask for advice, you need only add the hashtag to your tweet and a strong stream of useful, knowledgeable people will reply in an instant.

Sometimes, battling your inner demons can feel like a long, lonely task. Some days, mustering the energy to even walk to the gym can seem like a painful endeavour in itself, let alone managing to workout once there. You can feel that people you know well aren't noticing your progress or that people around you who don't understand your diet or training regime do nothing but criticise you because it's different to what they know. One quick tweet can release all those negatives and bring light a positivity into your virtual world, giving you the determination to make another success of your day, no matter how small.

For those of you who are fitness enthusiasts, I strongly urge you to use twitter as another training tool. There are a lot of accounts that are "anonymous" and dedicated just to fitness. I decided to not start a separate 'fittie' account and use my main account. After all, the gym and the new love of health and fitness is just another extension of me. Why should I put it in a separate box?! You can follow my waffle on all things in my head at https://twitter.com/23HRH23

I love the Fit Fam!