It’s week 3 of her body makeover and Anastasia, 45 is upping the game by taking her determination into the kitchen and experimenting with healthy recipes. She’s also started a food diary, making her think twice about reaching for the junk.
So onto week three of my new fitness regime and diet programme. The week began again with my ‘Inbody’ reading at the Speedflex studios. I was a little disappointed with my overall weight loss, I had not lost as much weight as I would have hoped. All is not lost though, my clothes are feeling much looser and I’m feeling better about myself and far more energetic. The Speedflex trainer that did the Inbody reading told me not to worry too much about my weight week on week, but to pay attention to the detailed statistics.
I am particularly pleased to see that my visceral fat (that’s the fat around my internal organs) has come down by 10cm squared… imagine that laid out flat on the table! And my BMI has come down by two points. After thinking it over on the train on the way home, these are great results, and it’s only been a few weeks. After doing my measurements with the tape measure, I could not dispute that all the hard work is starting to pay off and I began to feel a little more upbeat. Now, normally after such disappointing news I may have been tempted to jack it all in and reach for a chocolate bar… but not today, I went straight into my Speedflex session with a spring in my step, even more determined to put extra effort into this new week and steer clear of any temptation.
It’s been a fairly busy week and I have managed to attend three Speedflex sessions, burning 698 calories on Monday, 699 calories on Wednesday and a fabulous 740 calories in my Friday session. Sessions are just 45 minutes, so for me this high calorie burn is amazing. I also went to one circuit training class near home with some of the mums from my kids school, and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It was hard work and the format was similar to my Speedflex sessions, with short, sharp bursts of exercise that really get you working really hard.
To make sure I stay on track with my diet, I have been writing down what I eat each day. I find that this approach really helps me to stick to my calorie allowance and also makes me think twice about any treats, after all if I have to write it down, it will stick in my mind each week and I know I’ll regret it in the long run.
On my mission to prepare healthy, enjoyable meals when I don’t have a Body Plus Nutrition meal to hand, I rediscovered a dusty old cookbook on my kitchen shelf and decided to try some of the recipes. It is called ‘Top 200 Low fat recipes’ and it’s full of great recipes, from soups to puddings, and each recipe is calorie counted by portion which makes life much easier than calculating each ingredient as it goes into a dish, which is what I had been doing. I decided to try Middle Eastern Vegetable Soup (160kcals per portion) for our lunches and Lamb Tagine (400kcals per portion) for our suppers. I already have my eye on her chicken Korma for next weekend. The recipes were delicious and really easy to make with basic food cupboard staples.
So far, I have been really good and not cheated at all. In fact, I have been turning down invites as I wanted my first four weeks to be as temptation free as possible – but this coming weekend I have a party and I have three Christmas parties in December too.
To speed up my results, I have decided to up my Speedflex sessions to four per week. On advice from one of the trainers at Speedflex, Hayley I will also be halving my lunch and supper meals, to try eating more smaller meals throughout the day. I like the sound of that, as the Body Plus Nutrition lunch portions are pretty big. We will see what the results are next week.
Roll on week four!
My week in food is as follows:
Monday
Breakfast: 100g Greek yogurt, 50g oats and 50g blueberries
Lunch: Red lentil and quinoa curry (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Supper: Masala chicken with minted peas (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Snack 1: 30g nuts on tube home from Speedflex
Snack 2: small avocado and tblsp olive oil
Tuesday
Breakfast: 100g gammon steak with 2 poached eggs and some spinach
Lunch: Roasted chicken with linguine (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Supper: Moroccan lamb with butternut squash (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Snack: 100g Greek yogurt, 30g nuts
Wednesday
Breakfast: 100g Greek yogurt, 50g oats and 50g blueberries
Lunch: Paprika chicken with quinoa (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Supper: Eastern beef with sautéed kale (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Snack 1: 30g nuts on tube home from Speedflex
Snack 2: 100g Greek yogurt and some grapes
Thursday
Breakfast: 2 poached eggs on 2 slices wholemeal bread
Lunch: Red lentil and quinoa curry (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Supper: Masala chicken with minted peas (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Snack 1: 100g Greek yogurt and 30g nuts
Friday
Breakfast: 50g porridge with 50g fruit
Lunch: Roasted chicken with linguine (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Supper: Eastern beef with sautéed kale (Body Plus Nutrition Meal)
Snack1: 30g nuts on tube home from Speedflex
Saturday
Breakfast: 50g porridge with 50g fruit
Lunch: Homemade soup
Supper: Lamb Tagine
Snack: 100g Greek yogurt and 30g nuts
Sunday
Breakfast: Porridge with 50g blueberries and strawberries
Lunch: Lamb tagine
Supper: Homemade soup
Snack: small avocado with tbsp olive oil
Naughty: half a small salted popcorn at the cinema….
Speedflex combines a low impact, high intensity, cardiovascular and resistance workout with heart rate monitoring for optimum calorie burn and results. Benefits include accelerated fat loss, improved muscle tone, strength and bone density and enhanced power and speed. For more information or to find your local centre, visit speedflex.com Read Healthista’s take on Speeflex here
Body Plus nutrition offers a unique, fresh ready meal service tailored to gym goers and their goals. All freshly prepared with seriously healthy ingredients, it’s the brainchild of Amar Patel. Body Plus Nutrition prides itself in offering healthy, pre-packaged, portion-controlled ready – meals to provide health club members with a complete and convenient nutrition package to support a healthy lifestyle. See bodyplusnutrition.com for more.
Here’s a Healthista TV film about Body Plus Nutrition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgua8-iO8_8
Check out Anastasia’s other Reboot Diaries:
Check out our previous Reboot journeys…
REBOOT 1: Charmian Walker Smith
REBOOT 2: Caroline Williams
REBOOT 3: Thelma Mensah
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