VACATIONING: IT CAN EITHER MAKE OR BREAK YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY!!!

Hello my fitties,

I was MIA (missing in action) for about a week or more because I have decided to take a much needed vacation. I've visited my home away from home, the place that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'tropical', South Beach Miami, Florida. I know you may be wondering 'what's going on with this journey of hers?' So, I beg of you, don't panic! I am still on my journey to achieve and maintain what I think is a fabulous body by the end of this year and throughout the T&T 2016 carnival season. Despite, the good time I had in SoBe, I was able to drop three pounds through having smaller food portions, a lot of exercise and right food choices.

Food Portioning

Normally, when I travel for vacation or business I cut myself some slack and eat all the things I can't get or is rare here in Trinidad and Tobago. With that mindset I tend to have no portion control and find myself going back for seconds and thirds. This time, knowing that I am on my 'mission possible', I avoided the foods that speaks to me in the most erotic ways. Outside of me being aware of my fitness goals, this trip was very hectic. It started off with a three hour stay at the car rental section in Miami Int'l airport before the hour long drive to the hotel. During my stay I grabbed road side and on the go food. There was no sitting and relaxing and ordering more! This definitely help with my portion intake and prompted me to drink more water that anything else.

Exercise

As you may already know, I believe in going to the gym. The gym to me is essential when it comes to  fitness and weight loss. However, while on my vacation, I jammed in some business and of course hit the parties hard so I was alway active and got little time to sit on my butt. The constant moving, walking, dancing and sweating made me feel less guilty about not seeing my gym. Although I didn't get that intense workout as my body is accustomed to, I surely felt like I burnt a lot of calories.

Healthy eating

While on previous trips, I found myself having yummy left overs for breakfast. All the cheesy fries, pasta and bar b que ribs that tasted so good the night before tasted even better to me the morning after. Lol, yes, yes, I know exactly what you are thinking! Anyway this time I had proper healthy meals for breakast which included fruit, eggs, some coffee, few sausages etc. Lunch and dinner happened to be much lighter since time was limited and ,as mentioned earlier, grab and go foods!

Although I ended up in the positive zone and was able to drop a few pounds, I am glad to be back home and back to my regularly scheduled fitness program.

Thanks again for holding my hand on this journey and please view my upcoming post for more progress

Regards
Renee

I AM NOT GOING TO THINK ABOUT GIVING UP!

Hello my fitties,

Imagine, I have done fitness journeys before but none have been this hard. I am uncertain about 'why it's this difficult?' And, I can only speculate. Is it because it's being documented? Is it that age is catching up to me? Is it my obsession with food is winning the battle over self control? Is it a combination of the aforementioned reasons? What the hell is it this time? Anyway, the battle, despite how hard it is, is going to continue. Carnival 2016 will definitely see me with my 'banging Brazilian like' body. 

For the past few weeks, I have been doing everything else but hitting the gym as as regularly as I should. It has been 14 struggling days and I have been to the gym only five times during that period. School, motherhood duties, family issues, and running a small business have all taken up valuable time. However, I am not going to think about giving up. 

I am yet to pen my entire routine for the week (don't worry, I will let you guys know everything in a subsequent post) but, to give a a quick run down, I have included the following:

deadlifts

squats with free weights

hack squats

abductors

cardio (15mins max per workout)

free weight exercises for biceps/ triceps/ shoulders

leg and arm extensions

ab exercises

planking

As for my diet, I have a million excuses why I haven't kicked bad habits completely. I am not entirely worried about that since the human body needs fuel when it's involved in moderate to advance exercise. My aim is to cut down one 1 bad habit a week. 'Nighttime eating' has been the only one to date. The next one will be to abandon soda type drinks such as Coke.

I am open to diet suggestions and advice so feel free to send some fitness recipes and comments. I will definitely appreciate it!

Below are a few pics during and after last week's workout...

Regards
Renee

IN THE BEGINNING...

Hello my people,

In the beginning God said let there be light....

Okay, Okay! I don't mean to take you all to church today but I really feel enlightened, uplifted and literally lighter since I have started my fitness journey. I started my program a few days before creating this blog so now I'm going to play catch up and bring you guys up to speed.

The pics below will show you how I looked right after my workouts on the first and second day of the journey (which officially began on October 1st 2015).


Please note:

The old me used to:

-workout inconsistently (although I have been a member of a gym for approx. 12years
-eat everything in sight
-over eat, splurge, pig out, you name it and i'll eat it!
-eat late at nights
-eat a lot of cake
-drink alcohol
-get insufficient rest/ sleep
-not consume enough water
-not consume enough green leafy veggies
-be constipated
-do everything to jeopardize my fitness


The new me (as of Oct. 1st 2015) will:

-stick to my workout regime
-be selective with my food choices
-limit my caloric intake
-stop eating after 7pm
-have a slice of cake twice per month (NOT AN ENTIRE CAKE)
-limit my alcohol intake...NO MIXED DRINKS!!!!!
-get more rest/ sleep
-consume 10 full glasses of water (let me go get one now)
-increase my fibre intake
-become friends with the royal throne
-do everything in my power to be the fittest version of me


So FYI, on Oct 1st 2015 this was my gym routine:

My 2hour workout

1) 15 minutes on the elliptical machine (cardio)
 
2) 3 sets of 10's on the hip abductor machine sitting (legs)
3) 3 sets of 8's on the hip abductor machine raised (legs)
4)3 sets of 15's on the inner thigh abductor machine (legs)
5) 3 sets of 15's on calf lift machine (legs)
6) 3sets of 10's dead lifts (increased weights from 25's, 35's to 50's) (legs, lower back and hamstring)

7)4 sets 15's on row machine (upper body)
8)4 sets of 15's lat pull downs (upper body)
9) 4 sets 15's free weights shoulders (arms)

10) 30 sec plank (core)

Note:
1) "I ain't no professional eh" but after working out at the gym, over a number of years, I know a thing or two.
2) This above mentioned routine will now be done on Mondays only, from the 5th Oct.
3) I'm still working on routine for the rest of the week
4) I'm still working on my diet plan and everything in between

Thanks again for the support and hopefully results will start showing at the end of this week

Regards,
Renee

LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN!

Hi Everyone,

I am about to embark on my three (3 ) plus months long fitness journey, leading up to Trinidad and Tobago's 2016 Carnival. My goal is to look as similar as possible to the pics I have posted below, by January 1st 2016. I want to thank you all in advance for accompanying me on this long road ahead... it might be rough, it might be extremely tough but hopefully we can see the results at the end of it all.

As time goes by, I will be blogging as often as possible for you to be updated, know my routines, find out about my do's and don'ts (fails) and get the 411 about my diet, and maybe, just maybe , you might be inspired to start your own 'fat to fit' journey as well.

With all that said, it's now time so 'let the journey begin'!

Regards,
Renee