Where it all began

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog!!

I have been meaning to blog my journey for a while however I have been busy losing the weight and keeping it off!!!

So where did it all start? I have been battling being overweight for a long time I'd probably say most of my life! But I finally got serious on the 27th June 2012 when I looked myself in the mirror and hated what I saw:

I was 81kgs here (178 llbs or 12 Stn 10llbs)  

For my 5'4 frame I was well over weight and I knew something had to be done sooner rather than later because it just wasn't healthy! As an African we are more prone to Diabetes and heart related diseases (which I believe is due to the fact we eat so much carbohydrates and fatty foods and tend to be less active) this is not an option for me so I decided to take control!

I had lost weight before and gone down to 75kgs, but I wasn't ready for a new lifestyle, so I put it all back on! That is key people....you need to be ready for CHANGE! A change in your overall lifestyle because fad diets do not work! We do not gain weight over night and you certainly won't lose it overnight unless you go for surgery and I don't believe that is needed!

So I decided to research on google and youtube which have been amazing tools through out my journey! I got a lot of nutrition advice and also stumbled across the Shaun T Insanity Program!  This is an AMAZING program and from the picture above to 19 days later this is what I looked like:

Day 19 of Insanity and improved  eating

I can't remember how much I weighed in this picture but you can all tell the difference! During this period I followed the Insanity nutrition guide which was 5 small meals a day, I was eating a total of 1400 calories a day. I still wasn't satisfied and kept on researching about nutrition mainly on youtube, then I came across a video in which this guy explained that having 5 or 6 small meals didn't actually do much for the metabolism and eating constantly actually prevents the body from going into 'fat burning mode' (think about it, if you are constantly eating every 2-3 hours all you burn is food you just ate!) So I went back to eating 'normally' 3 meals a day with a 5 hour rest period. 

I was losing weight but still wanting the pounds to drop off quicker; then BOOM! I heard the HodgeTwins on youtube discussing their experience with a new lifestyle called 'Intermittent Fasting' (IF) they went into depth about how they lost so much fat and they were finally down to 9% body fat. I was on this like a rash! I purchased Brad Pilons 'Eat Stop Eat' In which he went into great details of the health benefits of IF and how it is a sustainable lifestyle and not just another fad diet, there was also some science and research to back up this new lifestyle. I also looked at the Lean Gains website (http://www.leangains.com/) by Martin Berkhan a nutritionist and personal trainer.

Brad Pilons 'Eat Stop Eat' is based on fasting for 24 hours on alternate days: i.e fast from 6pm Monday, to 6pm Tuesday, then you eat normally 6pm Tuesday to 6pm Wednesday and you then start the cycle again.

Martin Berkhan takes a different approach in which you fast every day for a set amount of time and you have a specific 'eating window' people usually start with 16 hours fasted and have a feeding window of 8 hours. You can decide what ever times suits you to fast and when to break your fast, you can also choose whatever diet  suits you! Whether its Low Carb/High protein/Low fat you choose whatever you want, as long as you are eating clean 80% of the time you will see great results. This is the lifestyle I follow and I have always had a 20 hour fasting period and my 4 hour eating window is between 1pm and 5pm; during this window I eat 1200 calories. Your thinking how is this possible? I have been able to adapt and it is also key that you drink a lot of water whilst in your fasted state! I will go into more depth about IF in my next post I just wanted to give you an overview of how I started my journey! 

I am not a nutritionist! Everyone is different so you really need to research what nutrition plan works for you! What works for me may not work for you and vis versa. But IF has been a wonderful lifestyle and I will continue eat this way. Please pregnant women/feeding mothers do not follow IF!

With regards to work out I started off with insanity only! I am embarrassed to say I only got to day 40, but that's because I got bored * embarrassed smiley* So I started going back to the gym, initially 6 times a week. In the past 8 weeks I have incorporated spin classes (mon - wed twice a day) and boot camp on Saturdays. I also do resistance training and a lot of abs work! 

I now weigh 62kgs (136 llbs, 9 stones 10llbs) this has been through 80% clean eating and also hard work at the gym but most of all will power! 

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took recently

I am now within my healthy BMI however I do want to lose about 3kgs (mainly fat) so those abs can become more defined.

Leave your comments or questions below! I will be posting regularly and will provide a separate section about my nutrition for those interested about IF.

Have a blessed weekend!