So, who feels good this Friday?

Me me me me!

Oh Friday, How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways....

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My flexibility can reach, when feeling out of shape,
For the ends of pointing my toes for ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet free-period, by laptop screen light.
I love thee freely, as women strive for that extra mile;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Practice.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old back pains, and with those packets of Oreo cookies.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost cheesecakes – I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my journey! – and, if I choose,
I shall but love thee better after I get some sleep tonight.


Ok, so I just bastardised my favourite sonnet. I somehow feel no shame in this. Only a quiet sense of pride and self-satisfaction...

Sorry Liz.

It's Friday. This week has felt like a long time. Talking to Rosanna earlier it's evident we spend our lives wishing that Friday will come. I'm planning on working on appreciating my every waking moment. Right now, the celebrations are beginning - but what did the days of the week offer me?

Monday: REST DAY BABY YEAH. That was a good day!
Tuesday: Duh. Pole night pole night pole night.
Wednesday: I researched a (VERY) interesting looking Masters. Even booked onto an open day!
Thursday: I discovered Pilates!
Friday: Well. Friday is Friday. But I discovered that today I've ACTUALLY LOST A POUND IN WEIGHT! Whoo!

So, every day this week has offered its treasures, but today is sort of capped off by that scale moving for me. It's been SO long since it has! I mean, don't get me wrong - I don't judge solely on the scale - for instance my strength and flexibility are improving daily, but the scale moving is sort of a BIG thing xD

I know 1.2Ibs in 2 weeks and 3 days won't seem like a lot to most of you - but as some of you will know, I plateaued long and hard before actually gaining weight (which I'd like to think some of which was muscle mass!) so every bit of weight loss is a MASSIVELY exciting event!! xD

So, I think that's my most exciting thing this week. Although there's been loads of good stuff! What was your most exciting event this week? And what other amazing things did you encounter?

You can always remember when legs day was according to how well you can move:

After the workout itself: Oh this isn't too bad. I can still sit on the toilet without cringing...

A day after the workout: Do I really need to go to the toilet? I don't think so.

Two days after the workout: I'm never going to be able to go to the toilet again....

Three days after legs day (and onwards): Oh, I can sort of move again.....oh yeah, this is good. Time for legs day again...

I realised yesterday that I need to rearrange my kitchen, you see, I keep the plates on the bottom shelf of the bottom cupboards. To get to the plates you have to bend down. At least the bowls are on the top shelf of the cupboard within arms reach from standing...

I spent most of yesterday eating from bowls.

Anyway, what is today's feature all about? Certainly not my legs (although pheewwwweeee you should see the bruises people...).

Earlier today I was talking to my dear hubs and we were discussing why I think I've plateaued with my weight loss. One of the main factors came down to the fact that I've not been as rigorous or careful about my diet recently. Why is that? I have a goal in mind, I work out regularly, so why not put the requisite attention into my diet?

The factors here were convoluted and hard to explain - I felt confined by restricting calories and logging my food. Ok, but why? I did it for a couple of years with no issues. Well, you know. I don't want to lose the weight anyway.....

Is that true?

No.

So what IS the issue?

After some time and several more trains of thought we'd gone off on a tangent talking about my birthday, which is on Sunday. I'd said to him that I wished people wouldn't make so much of a fuss about it - after all, I don't "deserve" to have people make a fuss of me.

Woah.

What?

And after an hour of talking it became slightly clearer. I don't deserve to work for these things. I don't deserve success.

Do I believe that in my rational mind? No, of course not but deep under a lot of other things is this seething pit of something slightly more sinister - I don't feel like I deserve good things.

A lot of us get caught up in this undercurrent of thought - we make do with things that simply are NOT acceptable to us, but we believe (for a multitude of reasons) that we have to make do with it, that we have to get by with it, that we deserve something that is LESS than what we expect.

Why?

I don't know and I couldn't give a definitive answer even if I did. I suspect the reasons are legion. Low self-esteem, socialisation protocols, upbringing, morals, learned behaviour, low self-concept could all be factors into why we allow ourselves to settle for second best.

So sisters and brothers - what can we do to improve our celebration of success and maintain our progress?

Firstly: This is my biggest and most important tip. It's kept me on track for a long time and I have been careless to disregard it. Keep a photographic record of the things you do.

Sometimes I just need to look over my photos from the day I started logging my weight loss to the photos taken at the start of this year to remember. I've been slack in taking photos recently, because I felt like I wasn't making any progress - irrespective of how many people telling me I look different. See it for yourself guys, take the photos and take them regularly. Even if you're not changing drastically at least that will let you know you need to change something.

Secondly: Keep a visible reminder of why you're doing what you're doing. Whether you do it to improve your time with your kids, your partner or your cats you have your own internalised reasons. Did you have a previously lower weight - if you have photos of that you could pin one up at your desk. Or maybe a picture of you and your kids together. Just keep it visible.

If you don't have a reason that's all yours - for example, you're doing it ONLY for someone elses opinion of you (e.g. my partner wants me to lose weight because s/he is not happy with the way I look) your long term success may not be as good. Try to find INTERNAL reasons to do what you do (i.e. are YOU happy with the way you look?). This is a process known as internalisation and it's important in accepting the things you need to do and actually doing them. For example: I want to feel more comfortable when I have to run for the bus, I want to FEEL like I look good or I am tired of not being able to climb the stairs to my apartment in one go.

If you're doing it for someone else you're prey to THEIR whims.

Thirdly: Take responsibility for yourself.

It kind of goes hand in hand with the last point but YOU are the only person who can change you and YOU decide whether you're going to be successful or not.

It's not up to anyone else. I always try blaming my hubs for feeding me nice food, but it's MY choice to eat it. Yes, maybe he could help by not feeding me scrummy cakes etc or bringing me chocolate (which he has done since I asked him not to and explained that in the long term THIS will make me happier) but it's ALWAYS your own choice as to whether it goes into your mouth or not. Don't kid yourself otherwise, you're cheating yourself out of acknowledging you're a powerful person.

Fourth(ly...): Don't go so hard on yourself.

Celebrate the things you achieve. Ok, so you didn't lose a pound this month. What did you achieve? Did you manage to get a lower PR for a run? Did you fit back into something you couldn't before? Did you avoid eating something you REALLY wanted to but didn't fit into your plan for the day?

These things are known as non-scale victories (NSVs) and they're just as, if not more important than what the scale says, because we all know the scale is a dirty little liar....

Fifth: Acknowledge your achievements.

Treat yourself - some people put a penny into a pot for every run they complete to buy something with it, some people have set celebrations for when they reach goals - e.g. a massage for completing a marathon.

Make sure you acknowledge the amazing things you do - every step we make, every pitfall, every mislead thought leads us somewhere. And that place is to success. You DESERVE the success you're working towards, keep rewarding yourself for doing the things that make you happy. It might seem counter-intuitive, but even though what you're doing IS to make you happy, rewarding your success and acknowledging your progress is an important step in sustaining your success and mindset.

Writing this out helped me think through the reasons I've allowed myself to fall behind. Yes, my choice, every step of the way, but understanding why we make some choices can lead us to solutions - talking these through with you for example has led me to realise I stopped acknowledging my success in weight loss. I started saying things like "oh well, I'm getting fitter surely my weight doesn't matter?" or "there's no point in setting a weight goal, I won't make it".

I've allowed myself to lose sight of one of the things I tried to achieve. Yes, I'm fitter, yes I'm stronger and more resilient and they're amazing accomplishments on their own but I've lost sight of one of the biggest factors - my lean weight and my body fat.

It's a hard journey and lots of people drop out of it, but we're not going to do that. I won't give up on my dreams - will you?

Do you agree with my five things to sustain success and celebrate yourself? Have I missed anything or do you do something that you think helps? Leave me a comment! :)

Like this and want the latest posts sent to your email inbox? Leave your email address here :)

Video courtesy of "Listen to Your Mother"

Do you do everything in your life just so other people notice? What exactly does that contribute to your life?

I know what this is trying to say, but if you're only trying to match someone elses standards when do you know when you've reached your goal? Yes, getting compliments are nice but if that's the only thing that makes you happy you may want to review what you're doing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is do it for yourself sisters (and brothers). Don't try and conform other people's expectations

Eeeeek. These ones make me cringe. Both externally and internally.

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels? Really? Surely being healthy tastes just as good as skinny feels.

Want to have control? Want a PERFECT body? And a perfect soul? Yes, we all love Radiohead but this really does smack of obsessive eating/health behaviours. How does having a perfect soul correlate to having a perfect body? Is control something that makes you perfect? I think you need to be very careful with this sort of wording, because underneath it you have an undercurrent of "eating "bad" food" makes you imperfect.

The concept of "bad" foods make me cringe (maybe) even more than these photos. I don't think it fosters a healthy relationship if you start saying "this is a good food" or "this is a bad food". Rather they need to be choices independent of how you feel about them and taking into account the nutritional value of each item.

You're already in pain? You're already hurt? Goodness what on earth are you doing? YES working out is hard. YES you should push yourself to work hard. YES it burns. If you're in pain though you're probably doing something wrong. Don't substitute good form just to feel like you're working harder, it's a quick way to get long-term injuries.

I find this one hard to take seriously. I hope that it was written that way.

I'll often joke when someone says "omg, all you talk about is X (insert sport here. Usually pole)" that "yeah yeah, you just can't recognise dedication". Maybe that is the case. Maybe I'm a bit crazy. Maybe it's a bit of both.

I think you need to be VERY careful when using the word "obsessive" in conjunction with exercise. There are some very serious disorders associated with fitness, health and food and they can make people very ill.

This just really reads like someone trying to justify something that could be a very serious illness. Obsessed is a word that people use to describe someone they're slightly worried about.

Dedicated is a word people use to describe someone who has the balance right but they love what they're doing and work hard for it. Know the difference.

Really.

Is this all women aspire to? To be a "fit soccer mom".

Really? Is that all we are? Aspiring mothers?

How about "Reason: So my joints don't give in when I'm 40."

Jus' sayin'. I don't think I have any more words for this one.

Right. There are no excuses. I kind of agree with that. You want it, you work for it.

You need those fries? Sometimes.

You need that burger? With extra relish, cheese, salad and the bun. Yes, please.

Trust yourself - yes of course!

When I look like that? What if I don't WANT to look like that? What if I want muscles? What if I want to be ripped? What if I want to be a sumo wrestler? Who states what healthy looks like. Why should we conform to one ideal?

This one is again doing it for someone else. You're doing it to look like society wants you to. Not because you want to be happy, healthy and fit.

This doesn't ACTUALLY state what you're trying to do either. Are you trying to motivate yourself to eat *bad* things? (actually if you think about the fat and the protein in the burger and the carbs in the chips it sounds good to me!).

Think about your goals. Decide what YOU want to achieve. It's not for someone else to decide, you're the only person who can change you.

It was Monday today.

Do you know how I know that?

It was nothing to do with the calendar, or the start of the working week. Oh no. Today was Monday in every sense of the word.

As I reached into my fridge today the hinge broke. No big deal right? Except that the fridge door has to weigh a good 20kg and I was now holding the door in my left hand and my breakfast (blueberries, a yoghurt and the milk for my protein shake) in my right hand.

It's daily I thank weight training for making my life easier ;) (yes, things like this happen on a daily occurance, you get used to it). After juggling the fridge door (which I might add had a further 4 pints of milk, several packets of cheese, some chillis and a litre of apple juice in it) I managed to wiggle it back onto the hinge, all the while desperately trying not to drop my breakfast.

It was a hard decision.....do I drop the breakfast or the door? The counter is too far away for me to put the food down, but oh, the door is balanced just so against my shoulder...I chose to drop neither and did a trick worthy of a master magician.

After I left the fridge alone, very carefully replacing what I hadn't eaten I walked to work. Naturally I was late.

I got an email titled "Your Mother-in-law" which is always cause for concern and was informed by someone else that I'm on a trip next week. Ooops. Had forgotten that.

Of course the wind drove everyone crazy and there were kids running around like feral cats on a full moon, zig-zagging and practically climbing the walls. Just another day.

To top it all off it was "uppers" day. I have to admit at this point I have a varied relationship with uppers. As you're trying to bench those last two reps it's like your head is going to explode. Once you've re-racked you could take on the world!

There were some (what I can only describe as) children doing some sort of bizarre initiation ceremony involving the barbells in several weights and bopping up and down in time with each other. I can only assume they were doing calf raises. What I couldn't work out is how the 15kg barbell came into it.

The gym was packed. There was an amazing looking woman there, who is one of my gym-idols! She just looks great and lifts like a beast. Always motivating :D

We lift like beasts to look like foxes, oooh yea.

Tom also decided that I needed to man up. So I got a honorary penis for the session. I walked with a swagger and made good use of the 17.5kg dumbells. I was happy.

That is, I was happy until we decided to do some HIIT. I thought it would be "fun" to subject Tom to Sophie's HIIT pyramid....

I still ache. And my lungs hurt. Thanks Sophie :p


Anyway, in the shower after the gym I discovered that I've swapped the Zombie shuffle for the Zombie grab. You know the one, where your arms won't come above chest level.

Given I'm still bending like an old lady the zombie grab should be fun instilling "fear" into my class tomorrow. Ha. As if. Apparently the thought of me being scary is funny to them. I'll have to do my Yoda impression. That will get them.

Anyway, short and sweet today. I'm starving. I'll leave you with this though.

gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge #fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer

6 months ago I started weight training. I mean, "properly", weight training.

When I started this endeavour I wondered about the possible consequences of what taking a load of cardio out of my routine would do to me.

I've always watched the debates on the forums on MFP where the newbie female weight lifter/possible weight lifter is having the benefits of weight training explained to her whilst also having the concepts of muscle VS fat density and why "muscle doesn't weigh more than fat" and trying to explain why she won't get "bulky" there is always someone who throws their toys out of the pram and exits the conversation.

The effect is always somewhat diminished by the plethora of silly gifs and memes that follow the declaration that everyone in the world is stupid and that they are going to lock themselves away forever.

I enjoy watching these debates but I try not to get involved in them. I've identified myself as a "lifter" for over a year now, but today marks my 6th month "properly" weight training. Properly weight training. Whoa, loaded phrase huh. What I mean by this is being consistent and working my ass off lifting weights that always look far to heavy to bother lifting up in the first place.

This year I discovered the benefits of having a gym buddy. We train hard. Six months ago I believed that my arms were too weak to do a bench press. Now I'm sitting on a PB of 50kg. Maybe that's not so much compared to what you lift, maybe it's loads - that's not my point. My point is that until you put the effort in you never know what you're capable of.

I don't see the reason in leaving the gym until I'm covered in sweat, you all know this - I like to be "positively amphibious" before leaving the gym and this time, working with a partner I've made real gains.

I actually upped my caloric intake for a while, putting on in total 10Ibs mass. 10Ibs. You should have seen my face when I got on the scale after bulking. I would like to say that I took it in my stride and accepted some of that would be muscle. I would be lying.

I then panicked a little bit (and by panic I mean sobbing wildly that I'm "too fat to fit anything" and by little bit I mean "give me an Oscar people, it was a performance worth watching") when it didn't start coming back off with a caloric deficit but with Kenny's challenge (thanks Kenny!) the increased protein diet appears to be shaving that excess fat off nicely.

I have to confess, I had been plateued for over a year when I started weight training (weight loss plateaus SUCK). And then I gained 10Ibs. Not selling the weight training so well am I - but when the water weight had settled it was a mild (MILD....MILD?!)
8Ib gain but the most important discovery for me was in that balanced macros are more than essential in weight loss!! My 60% carb diet was just leading to increased fat stores. No matter how much I worked out it wasn't working. Play with your macros till you hit something that works!


Anyway, I've been dying to have "guns" to show off and finally some of the largest gains can be seen in my arms. According to my darling hubs I could pass for a 15 year old boy now. Thanks hun.

Anyway, thought I'd show some progress pictures - the first picture (top left) was taken on 15th January this year and the last picture (bottom right) was taken today....

Go for those boy arms :P

Today I said "yes" to a 10k run :D

After finishing the 10k run (ok, when I say run I'm REALLY using that term loosely - what I mean by run is more "run for about 5 minutes and then disintegrate into a puffing heap of sweat dragging my feet behind me") and an uppers session at the gym I have to confess that my bum is totally dead.

It's the same muscle you need for handstands....I swear....if I could just find that muscle I'd train it but I've no idea where it is in my body ;) It's like a magic muscle - I only know it's there when I try to do handstands or do legs day followed by a run. Otherwise it just doesn't exist!

Anyway, that's me done for today. I'm going to take my bottle of frozen milk that I'm currently sat on (apparently it needed defrosting and my pain is helpful for that....) and nurse my bum muscles with another protein shake and some football. Hopefully it'll rain again. I like it when it rains in the football....

Before I go lets do all of the important announcements:

HUGE thanks to Lewis - I'm amazed that you'd sponsored us again and you're one of our largest benefactors. Your support means so much <3 £40 is a massive chunk of fundraising done and the whole team sends massive virtual hugs. We're also waiting for that video of you doing a handstand...(and Kel has assured us that this would be good entertainment ;) ).

Also, we're £2.50 into Google Ad-sense funds so keep checking out those links, it's all for a good cause!

We're also adding stock to our handmade gifts/jewelry so please keep checking out our shop here or on the Etsy site here!

We also have some great #Fitspo, funny memes, current health news and lovely quotes - not just a pretty blog peeps check em all out!:)

#gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge #fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer #porn #bum #weighttrain #lift heavy #weight loss plateau

Oh it's Friday it's Friday gonna get legs day on Friday....

Evening all, I thought we'd go for a picture book format tonight! :)

But first, I need to say a few things!

• Thanks again to one of my year 13s for donating another 20p - Hi Colette :P You're now famous - officially!
• Thanks for all of the advert clicks, keep investigating peeps - it's all for fundraising!
• If you want to talk about sex roles and babies, check out today's health and fitness article ;)
• And finally, the whole team will be at Horsham Boot Sale tomorrow - check out the details on our events page (here) and come buy some stuff and contribute to our fundraising whilst getting cool stuff!! We'll have all of our arts and crafts on display - all hand made, excellent cheap gifts and free sweeties!
  

So...today was legs day :D Whoop.

When I got home I looked at Simon and said...

And he said "aren't we supposed to do some cardio today?"
So I responded...

He even suggested we skip legs day...

So I explained the rules of legs day

And as I left the gym...

But it had started after the deadlifts and was recognisable now as I walked across the car park....

Climbing up the stairs to the flat....

And this is what I'll be like tomorrow at our boot sale event!

But always remember people...

Afternoon all.

Apologies for being absent yesterday - we had a rather jam packed day with a trip out to London and some perfectly bad news to complement the way the rest of this week has been going so far.

There was even a moment I feared for my work laptop's life today. You've all known that moment. It's the one where you've been working on a document for ages, go to print something else and word closes. Ooops. Didn't save it. Crap. Then the printers don't work and chew the paper up, so what you're left with is actually only a ball of inky paper that you've crumpled up and jumped on in frustration and a half a document. Saving work saves lives people!!

But you know how it is, chin up and stay chipper.

I have been looking at our Google Ad-Sense account and then I made a Google Webmaster account. And THEN I made a Google Analytics account and they all have really pretty graphs on them BUT I DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT ANY OF IT MEANS!

The graphs are in blue and red. And that's about it. So yeah, any ideas about what it all means are welcomely directed to our comments box below. Remember also to keep clicking and checking out the links around the site! All pennies go into our pot and there are some great offers :)

Anyway, so. Today we're going to talk about pole dancing and utter bliss. If you want to try pole but don't know what to expect check out my resource page by clicking here!

Pole. Ah, my love.

Pole this week was an amazing awakening. I felt strong, I felt sure, I felt reassured that all was right with the world. For those of you who are into a routine with exercise you'll know the feeling - that yearning, the gnawing restlessness in your body before you work out and then that amazing, ecstatic feeling of release when you get the feeling of being completely centered, concentrating not on who said what or what's going to happen tomorrow or when will the funeral be but just on BEING.

There's nothing like it. Even as I write this I'm itching to be there, zoned and completely blissful.

I know that people who don't workout, or who are very new to working out or even those people who are doing something they truely despise won't understand what I'm talking about. I remember people saying that exercise was addictive and that it gave you peace, but I always dismissed it with a wave of my hand and a can of coke.

This week was a perfect example of this phenomena. It could be blowing a gale, or even raining horses and I wouldn't notice so long as I'm in that zone. Perfect. It's like being asleep but you're in control of what's going on. Bliss.

So this week we started as usual and something different happened. I went to invert and my legs just shot up without me even really thinking about what I was doing. All of a sudden, in one smooth movement I was hanging upside down. It surprised me so much I slipped off the pole.

It was the only time that happened - the rest of the evening went as usual, a bit like a monkey gaining purchase - the utter stubbornness to make sure I get upside down (you'll see what I mean when I post the video!).

Then even MORE strange things started happening. All of a sudden my butterfly seemed easy and the gemini didn't seem impossible any more!

Impossible? Try I'm possible.

I have the bruises to show it ;)

Then Karen suggested doing "Geneva". Ah, I looked at her like she'd gone perfectly mad - I'm not ACTUALLY going to let go of the pole with my legs and swing it round so that I'm sitting up.....how on earth am I going to do that?

Then the best thing of all evening occured. I nodded confidently, got up onto the pole and did it. I just did it.

Excuse the monkey imitation at the start. And the cleavage - not much to do about that when you're hanging upside down on a pole by one leg. Jus' sayin'.

The bruises may look like I've been run over by my amazingly fat cat (he really is - but don't worry, he's on a diet....) but they're worth it. I FEEL strong. I feel confident and there is NO-ONE that can take that away from me.

#gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge
#fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free
weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money
#free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny#cleavage #hiking #walking #hand made #gifts #new