Healthista’s Vicky Hadley signed up to a five month journey to compete as a bikini model at Miss Galaxy Universe’s bikini competition on a purely vegan diet. It’s week nine and she’s finding it tough…
Week nine of my bikini diary has come around so quickly and I’m starting to realise just how close away Miss Galaxy Universe actually is. Since my last Bikini Competition diary entry my diet plan and exercise regime has changed enormously although I think the change isn’t so massive on my body just yet…
In case you missed my journey so far you can catch up week by week of my bikini diary here:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 4
Week 6
I have dropped inches off my arms, waist, hips and arms, including over an inch from my waist going from 27.5cm to 26.3 cm. This week I’ve been eating a lot less, and like I assumed I would in my last bikini diary entry I definitely over indulged on my recent trip to Ibiza. I think in my head I was thinking, ‘this is my last chance for freedom, make the most of it’, so I definitely slightly binged. I’m talking paella and maybe one or two alcohol drinks…
Understandably I felt extremely guilty and have jumped back on the bandwagon knowing that I need to pull my finger out and work much harder going forward. No more cheat meals and no more indulging – although, yes, this is much easier said than done. I have been following my meal plan for the past nine weeks pretty much to a T – minus the odd mistake. But having broccoli and sweet potato every single day repeatedly just gets tiring and boring and you can’t help but crave something sweet. I have a huge fruit tooth and love nothing more than a sour apple and some berries, or some frozen banana ice cream so the lack of sweetness in my diet really stirs my cravings.
After I returned from Ibiza, Lee Contantinou, my Bodybuilding.com coach took my weight – it was 53.1kg – and reduced my calories further because I hadn’t lost enough. Lee is an expert in bikini transformations and ideally wants me to be losing around 0.5kg on average a week at this point. I am now down to 1598 calories on training days and 1300 on rest days. I would like to clarify by rest days, which I’m sure you would assume are days off – they aren’t. On rest days it simply means I do a low intensity workout or a 15 minute core workout designed by Lee. 1300 calories is low, and it definitely takes it toll during the workouts. On rest days when I’m heading to do core workouts after my morning smoothie I really struggle to find the energy and motivation to actually get to the gym let alone actually do my exercise plan.
For fitness tips and advice follow Lee Constantinou on instagram and snapchat: leetino
What am I eating now?
My diet now included 23 grams of oats with protein powder for breakfast, I mix my oats with Reflex Nutrition’s strawberry flavoured protein powder from Bodybuilding.com (£32.10) which actually tastes like a delicious pudding. Midmorning I have 20 grams of avocado and a handful of raspberries, I have lost the apple in my diet because of the sugar content – this was a very hard transition for me as like I mentioned before I love fruit. It even got to the point where I would be sitting next to the fruit basket and be picking up the apple and putting it to my mouth, sighing, then placing it back in the fruit bowl – how sad am I?
At lunch time I have 100 grams of sweet potato, 150 grams of broccoli and 100 grams of kidney beans. I’m not going to lie it’s not very satisfying and when I train in the mornings I often feel like it hasn’t even scraped the sides. Thank goodness for my pre-workout supplement by Optimum nutrition (£15.64) that is filled with caffeine which gives me a massive energy boost when training as with just my diet I definitely wouldn’t be able to find the energy or motivation to train. The real issues begin when I forget my pre-workout as I’m guaranteed to have a low mood and a bad gym session because I haven’t got the motivation to train properly and normally I just want to go home and eat something.
After my workout I have five grams of BCAA’s. BCAA’s (Branch Chain Amino Acids) are a supplement that helps the body build and repair itself after a workout so that we don’t lose our muscle mass.
At dinner, normally around 5.30pm for me because I am so hungry, I have kale, tofu, lentils and more sweet potato. Followed by a bowl of oats and protein powder as a pre-bed snack to keep me full and my muscle mass up throughout the night, I mix 30 grams of porridge oats with Reflex Nutrition’s strawberry flavoured protein powder (£32.10) and microwave it for two minutes with water.
What I eat in a day:
Morning: 23 grams porridge oats and strawberry protein powder mixed with water
Snack: 30 grams of Avocado
Lunch: 150 grams kidney beans, 150 grams sweet potato, broccoli and Kale
Dinner: 150 grams sweet potato or butternut squash with 50 grams cooked lentils, 200 grams tofu and spinach
Pre-Bed Snack: 23 grams porridge oats and strawberry protein powder mixed with water
My new exercise plan…
My new exercise plan is broken down into four days of weighted training: A ‘pull day’, a ‘push day’ and two ‘lower body’ days. Pull day consists of exercises that draw the arms into the body, this will therefore target the back muscles, Lee tells me.
Push day consists of exercising all muscles in the upper body. The exercises include pressing a bar, machine or a dumb-bell away from the body, this will work the arms and shoulders, Lee reveals.
The ‘lower body’ days target all the muscles in the legs and glutes, normal exercises tend to be squats and lunges.
Along with these trainings days I also do two days of low intensity cardiovascular exercises such as a 30 minute walk on the treadmill on a low incline, or a yoga class. As well as two days of core workouts and 2 days of HIIT (High intensity interval training workouts) that I can do as a 10 minute workout at the end of any of my training days.
In this week’s diary entry I am going to show you the typical exercises I do in my ‘Pull Day’ workout, I will show you a different training days exercises in each diary entry.
I have four different ‘Pull’ weighted exercises to do for four sets. This means that I will do each exercise 12 times then rest and do it again four times whilst upping the weight on each set.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEoNFsdDfi3/?taken-by=fitness_foodie_vicky&hl=en
Follow my journey on my instagram: @fitness_foodie_vicky
MORE: The home workout that brings the gym to you
The first exercise I do is a ‘Lat Pull Down’. Which is where I pull down a weighted bar to build the muscles up in my back, I start on a 25 kg weight for 12 reps then up the weight by five kg each set for four sets.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDx3-_ADfqm/?taken-by=fitness_foodie_vicky&hl=en
The next exercise I do is the ‘Dumbbell Row’, I hold a weight in one arm then with a bent elbow pull my elbow back. This exercise really works the tricep muscles in the arms whilst helping to grow lean muscle mass. I start with a eight kilogram weight for 12 reps then move up by 2kg for four sets.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEs08UwBk8Z/?taken-by=healthistatv&hl=en
Chin Ups are another exercise I practise on my pull days, I can now do four chin ups which you can see in last week 6’s bikini diary entry video. I am trying to master wide grip pull ups which are proving exceptionally hard but I’m determined to get them.
The third exercise of my pull day is called an ‘Underhand Barbell Row’. I do four sets of 12 reps on this exercise as well, starting with a weight of 10 kg and going up by five kg each set. You can watch the break down of how to do the underhand barbell row from my coach Lee below.
What exercise I do in a week:
Monday: Pull Day (One hour)
Tuesday: Lower Body Day + HIIT (One hour and ten minutes)
Wednesday: Core day + Low Intensity Cardio (One hour)
Thursday: Push Day + Core (One hour)
Friday: Low Intensity Cardio, for example incline treadmill walk (30 minutes)
Saturday: Lower Body Day + HIIT
Sunday: Rest day
Stay tuned for the first of my lower body workout exercise plans in next weeks Bikini Diary Entry… plus a sneak peak into how my competition T Walk is doing.
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