Frustrated much?

Ok so the last few days have been frustrating, between being hungry ALL the time and being tired ALL the time i have no time to be cranky ALL the time, oh, no wait, got that covered too! Its really hard to stay positive when your body just won’t play ball. You know what I mean? I did some wiki-ing (get it?) up on what foods give you energy and also what foods make you tired, my conclusion? Well I won’t be eating that muffin AND the chocolate filled dipped doughnut for breakfast anymore. Yeah cos that IS what I was eating every morning. (I do realise that sarcasm can not be conveyed through text so for your fyi… that was sarcasm)

I usually only eat 4, maybe I should cut down to 3.5? *rolling eyes*

I do think I am slightly anemic and that does lead to being tired all the time. So I shall be like Popeye and start eating spinach… its better than liver. YUK!!!  Spinach is high in iron, which helps for being anemic.

Also, on the exercise front I feel like I am failing. I set my alarm for 5am this morning in the hopes that I would wake with a spring in my step and make some friends with that skipping rope. I barely looked at it, I treated it like that friend who got drunk and puked in your bed. I set my alarm for an hour later and went back to sleep. which by the way is a BAD IDEA! Have you ever woken up and then gone back to sleep for just and hour or so? You wake up tired after that second session. The brain is weird, mind you Pinky aint much better. (you will laugh when you get it). At this rate if I don’t start exercising on my own as well as doing bootcamp I won’t reach any of my goals. Newest goal being “I want to be toned/ripped by 1 September… what better way to celebrate spring day? But at the pace I’m going it’s not going to happen. This is the part where you yell at the screen and say “stay positive, Liezel”.

Woman, you have to keep going – otherwise what else will I read on while I pretend to work?

Actually, I think God must have been reading this post as I was writing it, cos while I was busy Someone from church, we shall cal him Mr X, showed up and asked me how bootcamp was going and naturally I had a minor non-adult moment that stopped just short of me fetal-positioning it, sucking my thumb. He encouraged me and said that it takes about 6-8 weeks for results to start showing, he also gave me some tips on what to eat for optimal GI consumption and so on. What really helped was when he measured my heart rate per minute… ON HIS PHONE (iPhone, pfft). Now I don’t know if you know this but an averagely healthy person’s at-rest bpm is 72, the healthier and fitter you are the lower it is and obviously the more unhealthy and couch potato-y you are the higher it is. Mine was at 62bpm… that, to me is pretty good, considering. Mr X said that between 50-59 at-rest bpm is the best, then you are really fit. Whhooooo Haaaaa! Romans 8:28 at its most personal… Thank you Jesus!!!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Getting Ripped… I Hope!

one slow ass muscle coming out of hibernation at a time…

I found this picture on the net and I thought that it perfectly describes my current situation. one of my best friends are getting married in a month’s time, some of my friends are engaged, some are pregnant, some have already had their little bundle of screams and poop. Me? I’m doing the lonely ranger thing of getting ripped… slowly.

VERY SLOWLY!! I’ve been going at it for over a month now and I have not really seen any results. I feel GREAT and I can feel muscles growing and forming but as for looking more toned and well yes, skinnier, nope. Nothing. the scale keeps saying sorry honey, no change. And if one more person tells me…

Say that to the scale and the measuring tape.

shits gonna go down. Cos a kg of fat still weighs the same as a kg of muscle, I found this really insightful blog about this very thing.  Muscle is leaner than fat but also more dense… SOOOOOO technically I should be losing centimeters, right? Well, in the last about 3 weeks I have lost maybe about 5cm. So I reverted to the age old coping mechanism of comfort eating. Not THAT badly but, I slacked on the watching what I eat thing.

Yeah, real comforting.

BUT Rome wasn’t built in a day, also it wasn’t easy. One day I will read this post and think… “EEEEEDJIT, you’ve only been at it for over a month, and you are stronger cos now you are doing 3 camps a day and not just 2”. I realised that exercise is way to beneficial to just give up and it is hard work, but you feel great during and after. I will not give up! I found a few funny pics about exercise that made me laugh about how stupid I’m being. 

I shall be doing this now…

Oooh this one gets me every time… but then I get sad cos that was me. (No, I wasn’t Willy Wonka)

I think I will start skipping in the mornings, gotta think of a name for my morning exercise companion… Any ideas?

The Makings of a Fitness Junkie

As you all know I have recently started bootcamping my way into shape. I have 2, 1 hours sessions a week and then I play 30 mins of fast paced action netball once a week. Last week Thursday’s workout was so intense on my legs that they had been sore till Sunday. Well so far my legs have had no time to rest, I had bootcamp on Monday and Tuesday and played netball again on Wednesday and then last night had bootcamp again. The great thing is that no 2 bootcamps are the same so the muscles are always kept on their toes. This is all part of a wee little experiment I want to do to see if I am ready to up my exercise to 3 camps a week or if my body can’t handle all that awesomeness yet, and I’m thinking that I am ready for it! I feel great this morning.

Me yesterday… (not REALLY me)

The Phoenix-effect was also proven when my best friend (we shall call her Phoenix, cos you know, it works) came camping with me on Tuesday, she had not done such intense exercise for a while and said that she really enjoyed it. The day after I asked how she was feeling and she said great… phoenix-effect (don’t you dare steal that phrase!) is proven. You die during the exercise but you rise up stronger the next day. Although 2 days later you feel like a train had hit every individual cell in your muscle, you crash harder than a junky on E!!

or like Jim Carrey on Red bull…

I’m starting to like exercise so much that our instructor gave me a spare skipping rope she had so that I can do some skipping in the mornings. What is 5 minutes out of my day anyways? Who knows maybe I will be doing exercise every day soon… I’m on the way to Fitness Junkie club, on a slow-ass party bus, but I’m on my way! I’m even getting better with burpees, even with all the leg pain. I felt like I had phantom legs on Tuesday, you know like they are going to give in on me at any second and make me fall flat on my face. But alas, they didn’t, Gravity you lost that round!

I heard somewhere and read a few places that the goal “look” I have, Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby, was due to injectables… what a dream killer! But hey, she still looked great and if I can look like her without sticking myself full of hormones then I think that’s pretty awesome, I mean who needs MORE hormones anyways? Just wait a few weeks, those hormones kick in like clockwork. Then I might not look like Swanky here but I sure as hell will fight like her, you know what I’m saying?

Every girls thoughts. Period!

Bootcamp = MUSCLES BABY!!

Not at all related to the post, its just classic!

“I can feel whats happening, and they don’t have a clue, the muscles are forming and bootcamp is all good…. Caaaaaan you feel the buuuuurn toniiiight”  Aaand you now have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You. Are. Welcome!

I know, I know, this is my 3rd post about bootcamp (or buttcamp as a friend calls it). You probably think, has this girl got nothing else to talk about. Well I do BUT, this is too exciting to not share with you guys. I have muscles, yes I know everyone has muscles by I have tight bicep muscles, they aren’t that visible yet but everyone who felt them (yes I let people feel my muscles like a 5 year old) said they were impressed, Million Dollar Baby 2, here I come. Now all I have to do is get to Hollywood. I also feel more fit, at yesterday’s netball I wasn’t as tired from the fast paced game like I was 2 weeks ago. When the outcome of a game is based on your ability to stick to your opponent, it doesn’t help if your opponent outruns you because you are unfit.

The ball is in the other team’s hands if you aren’t fast enough…

This made doing, wait for it…… can you guess? YES, BURPEES, again on Monday a breeze (not physically) but I had a smile on my face, because the results are coming, slowly but surely and the motivation is building up. Its a slow journey at the moment but really so worth it. Eating right and exercise is not that difficult if you apply your mind. I figured a while back that one can not rely on people around you to motivate you, the motivation needs to come from within, because if people can motivate you they can also demotivate you.

I will be sure to hydra…. wait what!!?

That being said the last few days have been tough what with wanting to eat everything in sight, seriously, if it moves I get a knife an fork ready. So what if its still breathing, Ive always wanted to try blue! (I jest) I suppose I just have to remind myself that its a war out there, private!! And also, food doesn’t control me, neither does chocolate or biscuits, or even ice cream… although imagine a life controlled by ice cream… Aaand we’re back, what I try to do when the cravin strikes, chug a tall glass of water. It doesn’t always help but it distracts the body away from the craving.

Bootcamp… The Return

So most of you have read my first post about bootcamp, if you haven’t, here you go. In yesterday’s session I really felt like I was going to die, it was not as bad as Monday’s session tho… ons het maaikies met n springtou gemaak. I have not skipped that much since I was in primary school and doing cartwheels as part of playing. We have not done Burpees again yet, which is good because I saw a video on youtube on what a burpee is supposed to look like… and I cringed. Oh how I wish I never grew up, as a child I was so active, all over the freakin place all the time. I look at my niece who is 5 now and she DOES. NOT. STOP!!! she climbed a mountain top to bottom and still had energy afterwards. Then I think to myself, a few years ago I was like that. I am very hyperactive, but when you aren’t eating healthily and not exercising regularly your body starts to change I suppose.

Anyways, as I was laying in bed this morning I was thinking that, every time I go to bootcamp I think, surely I WILL DIE!! But then I get home afterwards, and I feel amazing, my skin even feels softer. Go figure! I think exercising is like what happens to the phoenix when it dies… It burns up and then rises out of the ashes, healthy and strong. Same thing with bootcamp, during every session I die, but by the next session I am stronger and can push myself further.

It is kinda like this, but with less burning and you know… you don’t REALLY die!

I made a goal for myself for this year, not a new years resolution, cos that is crap. My goal started out as wanting to have a bod like Mrs. Hilary Swank…

Those arms, those abs!!! Your argument is invalid!

Oh you know exactly what I’m talking about. Million Dollar Baby. Oscar winning performance. ^Dat Body!

Ok, back to the goal, then I read THIS BLOG, the blogger calls himself a muscle nerd and he is basically talking about how we need to just focus on getting fit, toned and being healthy, and explained how peoples bodies are different. Go read it yourself to get the full picture. So I decided that I will for now just concentrate on rising up out of the ashes, stronger and fitter than last time.  Yes I still have a long way to go but what is the journey if you don’t have a destination? Or better yet why race if there is no finish line?

To end I’d like to leave you with this video…

One day I will be able to do at least 10 of these, as a start.