Smookies

30 Day Shred - Day 7

I've made it an entire week! Only three more to go...

I'm really impressed that I've for the most part kept to the 30 Day Shred meal plans and exercises. I have more foresight on meal preparations and workouts. What I didn't plan for is how to balance work demands and 30 Day Shred demands.

I kind of felt sorry for myself when I had to prepare yet another salad for lunch today. I keep thinking back at my weigh in yesterday. 1.5 kgs lost in six days. Tough it out girl!

I was so tired from my three workouts yesterday that I missed running this morning - it was also raining. And I didn't get out of work till after 6pm, so I opted for the at home version. Does walking all day from meeting to meeting count for my daily 40 minutes of light cardio? Last week, I was so good about going to the gym and getting in 20 minutes of elliptical plus a fast 1 kilometer and then the shred workout. Emily Skye must have known time is a major barrier, so she created the at home workouts. I did my dumb bell and ab workouts (the dips especially burned!) right before dinner. Problem is that I ate dinner at nearly 9pm. Thankfully my dinners are light and digest pretty quickly in the two hours before bed. Ideally I'd like to eat dinner between 6-7pm, but I'm usually powering off from work. If I can just get to hump day, work will be less crazy and I can hopefully get to the gym or do my cardio and shred work out decent time so I'm not eating so late.

Smookies

Two chocolate chip cookies with melted marshmallow and chocolate in between

I'm a pretty prolific Instagram foodie. I love checking my Instagram feed everyday for inspiration, make me smile moments and food ideas. When I saw the smookie grace my screen, my mouth watered. I thought I had cut the sugar craving, but this looked too good. As someone on a shred, it's like torture seeing an image like this. It's also torture to see yourself overweight in the mirror, but damn did I want a smookie. Perhaps a celebratory treat on Day 31?

Weekend Warrior

30 Day Shred - Day 6

My Sunday morning haven

Tamarama Beach

Last night I didn't get home too late from the game. So when my alarm sounded at 8am, I didn't feel tired. I was well rested, but I definitely would have slept an extra hour if I had a free morning.

I'm glad I planned beach volleyball training this early. It forces me to get out of bed, out of the house and be active. This time, we decided to train in Tamara where one of our mates lives (plus she has a net!). On Sunday mornings, you aren't allowed to set up a net in Coogee because of Little Nippers training. For my readers outside of Australia, that's beach swimming training for kids. It's like they're training them young to become surf life savers. I'm pretty envious because I was busy eating hot dogs and ramen at that age.

Setting up a new net, it took us over half an hour to set up. But once we did, Dave went through drills, serves and finally a game. After nearly two hours of training I was wiped out. I hadn't had anything eat and I was surprisingly craving my daily four egg white plus 1 whole egg omelet. Too hungry to wait till we got home and too tired to cook (don't even talk to me about dishes), I decided we'd go out for breakfast. I directed us towards About Life in Bondi Junction. They are known as a health food store, but they have an excellent cafe attached. I was power walking there when I noticed Paleo Cafe. Having eaten the 30 Day Shred's meal plans for a week now, I can safely say my diet is nearly paleo. Gluten free, sugar free, preservative free. The franchise was impressive. It had a lot of great reading material on the benefits of paleo. It also sold a lot of health food items like coconut oil, protein powder and even gluten free pizza bases. If you were pressed for time, you could pick up pre-made meals in their fridge. I had never eaten paleo at a restaurant before. Their breakfast menu had all the typical brunch items, but were paleo friendly. I had to order the one vegetarian dish that would normally be an indulgence and in no way thought of as paleo friendly - Eggs Benedict. I have no idea what was in the hollandaise sauce because butter is not paleo. The 'savoury paleo bread' tasted delicious. Again, I have no idea what's in it. I gave myself a break from the 30 Day Shred meal plan for brunch, but didn't feel guilty about it. It was all paleo, right in line with what I've been eating for the last six days.

Eggs Benedict at Paleo Cafe, Bondi Junction

Dave and I went to Kmart to pick up $8 sunglasses for beach volleyball - it's brutal out there in the Australian sunshine! By the time I got home at 12:30pm, I was wiped out. I had already been out for over four hours and I still had a 90 minute yoga session at 3:30pm. I laid on my couch watching TV shows, but not actually absorbing the storyline. I was exhausted and wanted to stare blankly at the screen. I dozed off for a quick 15 minute power nap and when I woke up I was refreshed again. I try hard to never miss a Sunday arvo yoga session. It's my way of resetting for the week. I work out the knots from the week prior's tension and stress and expand my body so I can take on the pressures of the week coming.

Third workout of the day...

After beach volleyball and yoga, you'd think this was a shred rest day...but it wasn't. I still had to do my shred workout. Thankfully it was all stationary requiring only myself. It was a lot of squats and lunges. I was recovered from Day 1's leg machine's workout so was ready  to do more legs. It took me only 25 minutes to complete. I ended my session with a weigh in. Drum roll...I'm down 1.5kgs! I know that it's not all about weight loss (more of inches loss), but I was stoked. This is real and all my hard work is paying off. If I can cut down 5kgs in 30 days, that'll be a win for me.

What would also be a win is if I didn't have to cook and clean all the time. Emily Skye should really look into a meal preparation service.

Beating cravings

30 Day Shred - Day 5

After last night's rich French 3-course meal, I needed to get back on track today.

I woke up at 10:30am. The week must have taken a toll on my body because I was absolutely exhausted. Was it the shred or my brain sucking week? It didn't matter now because I'm not at work and I have two full days of beach time ahead of me.

I started my day with a huge bowl of quinoa with shredded coconut, one green apple, soy milk and cinnamon. It took me over an hour to eat!

Breakfast

Coconut Quinoa Bowl

After, loading the laundry cleaning up the kitchen and making Dave a beetroot juice...and then cleaning up that too, I was finally outside by 11:30am. I met Dave at the beach volleyball courts. He was already playing a game so I chatted to some of his mates. They're encouraging me to play a game with actual players. I told them I wasn't ready yet because I had only started playing at the net last weekend. If I want to get good though I'm going to have to jump into a game. Soon.

My friend met me at the beach and we had a good catch up. I had to leave her early because I wanted to get a new bathing suit, meet my other friend for a coffee and also do my shred training all before 5:30pm.

I was in the market for a one piece, but I managed to find three bikin bottoms and a bikini top. There's something about the shred that makes me want to show off my body...soon to be bikini beach volleyball body. A girl can dream right? It's unrealistic to think I'll have ripped abs in 30 days, but after five days, I can already tell a difference. There's less flab around my waist, chest and arms.

I managed to see my friend for afternoon tea at her place while her kids were asleep and had enough time to meet another friend at beach who brought along her little brother and niece. Three separate dates in one afternoon - is this what being single is like?

By the time I got home, I was hungry again. It's 4pm and I've only had breakfast. The 30 Day Shred requires you to eat five times per day, but to be honest the day itself gets in the way. I can't seem to find time to eat all the meals nor am I hungry enough to eat them all. But after only having breakfast today, I was ready for my daily salad. I had to multi-task because I knew if I didn't get my daily shred workout in, I'd fall behind the next day. So I lifted those dumb bells while the broccoli steamed. I made a double portion of salad so Dave could have some and I could take the rest to the game. I managed to do the entire workout except one set of abs which I'll squeeze in tomorrow.

Off to the game!

Asian Cup Final

Australia v South Korea

Outside of Stadium Australia

There was so much traffic on e way to the game. It took us nearly an hour to get to the stadium when it would usually take 30-40 minutes. The entire time, I was thinking about eating. After blasting through my workout, by body was hungry for sustenance. Those two boiled eggs I didn't eat at work yesterday are sounding real good right about now.

We got to the game 40 minutes before kick off. While the boys ate food truck wraps and gozleme, I ate half my salad and one of two boiled eggs. I was full, but I knew I'd be hungry in an hour or two so I saved the other boiled egg and last half of my salad for half time.

It was so worth it because I was hungry again as predicted. 

The best outcome so far is that I don't crave typical late night food. I have curbed my appetite after dinner. And I no longer want sweets!

Australia defeated South Korea, the better team (with better chants and fan unity!), but I am beating late night cravings and my sweet tooth. Not gonna lie though...at the half time I was tempted to get fries, but I'm glad I didn't.

Australia wins 2-1 in overtime

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