After submitting cycle 1 on day 28, I stayed on cycle 1 until I received the next part of my plan. Luckily it only took 2 days to arrive so I was able to start cycle 2 on day 31 as planned. I was so nervous about lifting weights in this cycle but I have to say, having now done arms on Thursday and shoulders today, I am quite enjoying it! My workouts do still incorporate HIIT exercises in two 10 minute slots but the overall session is mainly lifting weights. Because it's not fast paced like the HIIT alone, I decided to watch TV during my workout rather than just listen to music. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't get bored lifting and found it the perfect distraction to concentrate on when it got difficult! I've moved the small TV from our bedroom (which hasn't been watched anyway since I stopped breastfeeding during the night, months ago) to the garage where I have set up my weights and new bargainous cross trainer (seriously - £10!!) so I can watch Netflix while I work out.
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| My new "gym" in my "craft room" garage! |
The principle this cycle is based on volume resistance training so I have to do 10 sets 10 times of each exercise, including rest time between, the whole thing now takes 55 minutes instead of 20-30. Obviously this means getting up even earlier to make sure I get it all done and I am definitely more sore afterwards since my muscles aren't used to this AT ALL. The trade off is the food! I noticed some people complaining about the food and switching back to eating C1 food but I LOVE IT! I have so much freedom now as I have a list of ingredients and quantities and can pick and choose, mix and match to make anything I want. I received a few recipe ideas with my plan and found some more on the unofficial Facebook page but I've enjoyed making up my own and basing some on things I used to cook before the plan.
On rest days I avoid carbs but can have more fats so I get to enjoy olives and cheese! On training days I now get carbs with every meal and can enjoy lots more berries as well as bread, pasta and potatoes! It's awesome and I still get big portions so I'm never hungry. In fact I often forget to have my snacks and have to fit them in later! Oops!
So far my favourite meals have been:
Chicken & Broccoli Bake [R] (my adapted take on the one sent to me by Joe)
Spag bol [T] - pretty much the same as I used to make but with wholemeal spaghetti and without the wine (apparently even though the alcohol evaporates off, there are too many sugars) :(
Sausage sandwich/bagel [T] with fried mushrooms & onions
Chicken Stroganoff [R] (above)
Chicken Saag [T]
And I've made up some BBQ friendly recipes too!
Burger [T] (complete with bun and salad)
Sausages in honey & mustard with baked new potatoes and barbecued asparagus [T]
I plan to post a few of the recipes here, including the basic broccoli soup for when I just don't fancy a pile of greens with my meal, I have a cup of this instead.
I've tried a few more of the protein powders from My Protein now, I ordered some sample sachets as I wanted to try some different flavours before committing to any more big packs. I FINALLY received my replacement chocolate brownie flavour after the hair debacle (apparently the replacement got lost in the post, hmmm) and I'm not even that keen on it. It smelled nice but I obviously didn't taste it after finding the hair and I find this one has an obvious taste of sweeteners which I dislike.
I ordered sample pouches of the Raspberry, Vanilla, Latte, Salted caramel, Strawberry (stevia), Vanilla (stevia) and Apple crumble & custard. The apple crumble one is far too sweet, I loved the salted caramel (surprisingly not too sweet) and raspberry and quite liked the vanilla as well.
I wrote the above last week just a few days into Cycle 2. I'm now half way through week two and I'm still enjoying it, both the food and exercise but I have struggled to stay on plan this week. On Sunday evening I hosted Baking Club with an awesome theme of boozy bakes. I made my most favourite cake, Chocolate Guinness Cake and there were 5 other delicious cakes to try as well. Although I've been very determined to avoid temptation most of the time, I have allowed myself the odd little treat like a slice of FIL's birthday cake and a glass of fizz. Since then I've had no alcohol which to be honest, I haven't missed except when cooking spag bol and Nik had a lovely glass of red which I smelled from across the kitchen! I have missed cake more and planned to enjoy small pieces of each at the club meeting.
As I was going to be having the carbs from sugar and flour and fat from butter in the cakes, I decided to remove them from my evening meal to help balance out the effects. Obviously the carbs and fat from cake are not ideal, nor in the correct amounts for the plan but I just had some baked turkey breast and broccoli soup for dinner. And the cakes were amazing by the way!
I actually ended up having a tiny sliver of the birthday cake I made for Leasa at our latest WI committee meeting and there was yet another cake temptation at MIL's house today which I had a sliver of also. I've struggled to get up early a couple of days this week and have been feeling really tired as I've had a lot of work to do so haven't been going to bed early enough, as well as being hormonal! The cold, wet weather doesn't help either! However, I have done it and completed all of my workouts as planned and apart from the cake, I've stayed on plan and I'm still genuinely loving the food on both training and rest days. I'm always satisfied by my meals and have managed to finish them all easily.
I have managed to resist all other temptations too, like what was left of the Guinness cake in my fridge for a week, and all of the nibbles and treats at both our last WI meeting and the committee meeting, right in front of me and all things I love. I've surprised myself and I'm very proud at sticking with this but I really want good results from this plan so there's just no point in cheating. It helps that I and others are starting to see a difference now too as that's really encouraging me to keep at it. I've heard others talk about all the carbs in Cycle 2 making them bloated and feel lethargic so I don't know if it's that or just my crazy hormonal week (and added cake) making me feel tired so I'll see how I find it next week and try getting to bed earlier!
So, here I am, Cycle 2 Day 11, 41 days into my 90 day plan and still going strong. And surprisingly still loving it. Hopefully I'll have some time to write about my new fitness clothing and recipes next week too!
As I was going to be having the carbs from sugar and flour and fat from butter in the cakes, I decided to remove them from my evening meal to help balance out the effects. Obviously the carbs and fat from cake are not ideal, nor in the correct amounts for the plan but I just had some baked turkey breast and broccoli soup for dinner. And the cakes were amazing by the way!
I actually ended up having a tiny sliver of the birthday cake I made for Leasa at our latest WI committee meeting and there was yet another cake temptation at MIL's house today which I had a sliver of also. I've struggled to get up early a couple of days this week and have been feeling really tired as I've had a lot of work to do so haven't been going to bed early enough, as well as being hormonal! The cold, wet weather doesn't help either! However, I have done it and completed all of my workouts as planned and apart from the cake, I've stayed on plan and I'm still genuinely loving the food on both training and rest days. I'm always satisfied by my meals and have managed to finish them all easily.
I have managed to resist all other temptations too, like what was left of the Guinness cake in my fridge for a week, and all of the nibbles and treats at both our last WI meeting and the committee meeting, right in front of me and all things I love. I've surprised myself and I'm very proud at sticking with this but I really want good results from this plan so there's just no point in cheating. It helps that I and others are starting to see a difference now too as that's really encouraging me to keep at it. I've heard others talk about all the carbs in Cycle 2 making them bloated and feel lethargic so I don't know if it's that or just my crazy hormonal week (and added cake) making me feel tired so I'll see how I find it next week and try getting to bed earlier!
1 comment:
You look amazing! I've only just started cycle 2 and feel so overwhelmed by it! I can't seem to grasp the pick n mix concept. Can you still have overnight oats? I loved them from cycle 1 and don't want to give them up. I'm interested to see what recipes you come up with :)
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