the challenge: week 8 - an update

Can you believe it�s been 8 weeks since I started blogging again, and started my new kick ass fitness plan? So 2 months seemed like a good time to do an update on all things health and fitness.

As I type this, my bum, my legs and my back are aching.  I did a body pump class yesterday and upped my weights.  It�s not a painful ache, just a dull �I know I've done some awesome exercise� kind of ache, which is no bad thing.

So how am I getting on? If you�d told me a year ago, that in 12 months� time, I�d be working out 6 or 7 days a week, I�d never have believed you.  For my first 29 years I�d got through life doing the minimum amount of exercise I could get away with.  Approximately once every 6 months, I�d realise perhaps I should do something, so I�d go to one class, or attempt a run, and that would be it, one exertion would be enough to put me off until the next year.

And now I'm doing all types of exercise I never thought I�d do, I'm running (although still not yet enjoying it), I'm lifting weights (seriously, wtf?!) and I'm going to body combat kick-ass style classes that involve me pretending I'm repeatedly punching someone in the face.  I'm also following a relatively clean, high protein diet.

So what is the reality looking like?

The exercise?  In the main, I'm enjoying.  It�s become such a habit that I don�t really think twice about it.  I go to classes straight after work, and I walk past the gym to get home�so no excuses.  However, I'm wondering if maybe I'm doing too much? I really feel like I need to though to progress, I need to get my stamina and endurance levels up, so figured this is the best way to do it.  It�s probably not the right answer, but it�s helping to keep me focused.

The diet?  Is good, I'm enjoying everything I'm eating, I'm allowing myself one cheat day a week (although I think I probably eat a week�s worth of calories in one day) but I�d like to learn more about what I should and shouldn't be eating.  I drool over pictures of �flex bowls� on Instagram on a daily basis, I don�t know what a flex bowl is, and when you�re counting calories like I currently am, it seems unattainable? I still have some serious sugar cravings, which I give in to, and nothing will make me give up my daily Diet Coke, but I'm trying to better understand what my body needs when I'm burning so many calories.  Help?

The weight? I've been disheartened because I'm not losing any.  I weigh myself once a week, and I know my body is changing, I'm building muscle which again I know is heavier than fat, but reading scales and calorie counting is always how I've measured myself in the past, so it�s really hard to get out of that habit.  The Mr tells me I'm looking good and looking slimmer, but I find it hard not to get down about the fact I'm still a stone heavier than I was six months ago... any suggestions?

The running? I can now do 5k without any walking! Now that ISprogress.  My first run (6 weeks ago) I barely managed 3k, and half of that was walking, so it�s really satisfying to see such an improvement.  For the next 2 weeks I'm going to focus on speed, and then I'm going to try and increase my distance.  I'm purely using Strava and the hubby for my running progress and motivation, but if anyone else can recommend anything works for them, I�d love to hear it.

The prospect of Total Warrior? Still shitting it.  Run 10k? Climb over 10ft walls? Swim through mud? Are my yoga classes going to help with any of this? At some point I'm going to have to try and do some kind of training that is vaguely in line with the Total Warrior obstacles.  I'm determined to be able to complete a set of monkey bars by August, but my first attempt at a pull up last week was a disaster, so there�s some upper body strength work to be done there.