Sweating away

Started the day with an upper back session followed by some sprints today. On empty stomach since I'm not too hungry when I wake up anymore. And yes, it works perfectly fine. Estimated my calories to about 1250 yesterday, but I still managed to raise some weights at the gym today!

Morning visits to the gym are the best way I know to start the day. That's where I kinda do what I do best. I feel invincible! I feel confident! I feel strong!!! And honestly, it feels even better here in Australia since it's quite uncommon to see women lift heavy free weights. So when I am there on the floor where usually only the hardcore guys set their feet, I can notice some curious looks and I know that people are impressed :)

What's more - it slightly feels like I have seen the light and the girls on the crosstrainers or the fit balls, are living a lie. I wish everyone could begin to understand that torture will not give you the results you want. Eating real food and do more efficient training with heavy weights (no machines) and maybe some sprinting is what will get you there! And that is not torture. Well, not to me anyway. You will not be bulky, but you will finally get the results that you dream of!

Pictures of what Sofia feels like at different stages after sprinting. Dinner. And the tool that hopefully will fix my grip during deadlifts :)

No carb challenge - what happened?

I believe it is time for an evaluation of the no carb week! Report for mrs Housemate will come too, but after she's checked her weight (tomorrow).

Well well well. The adapting phase is over now, I believe. It has been a struggle the past week, but I pushed through and, considering my terrible breath, I think I've finally entered ketosis. :)

So what are the effects except bad breath and pimples (common side effects)? I am feeling absolutely fantastic! Seriously, I've felt somewhat depressed for quite some time while I've gained weight (not depressed because of weight gain... but perhaps they have a common cause). But now, after one week of extremely strict low carb high fat diet, my old energetic eyes that I've always been quite proud of, are actually back! I feel optimistic and I am getting my confidence back. This is definitely the best effect from the experiment!

Some things that I have described previously are still facts. Good results at the gym even if it's been hours since my last meal. Perfect hunger signals! It takes about 7 hours until I get hungry again after a meal, but I actually feel the hunger rather than just noticing that I have sugar cravings and that I am in a bad mood. There is no overeating either. I am satisfied with the portions I give myself and then I don't think about food until 7 hours later.

And what everyone obviously wants to know - has anything happened to my weight? Well yes it has! Not a lot, but it is going in the right direction. Minus 0.6 kg as of today. :D

This started as a one week challenge. But that was only the start. Now, since it took a week for me to get adapted, I want to keep this experiment going. The plan is to later slowly start adding things to the diet in order to see what it is that my body wants and what it doesn't want.

Fat and more fat. Some asparagus for a change instead of the same old broccoli today and the happy eyes :)

What is this magic???

I think it might be called ketosis! But I should not be there yet. So I suppose it is just a seriously kickass diet! Great results on the third day for both my wonderful housemate and me!!!!

So what happened? Well, I felt terrible all day, in a bad mood and sooo tired. But - I had brought my gym gear to uni just to be able to do a chest session immediately when I was done there. So I forced my ass there and, tadaaa, my energy magically came back to life, the weights were raised in all sets and I even managed to end it with 15 mins of sprinting afterwords! This happened after only having two meals today with the last one 4-5 hours earlier. Fuckin' kickass!!!

And you know what else is fuckin' kickass? My housemate is obviously also suffering from an adapting body. Probably a lot more than I am since she is all new to the concept. Despite this, she woke up without a headache today for the first time in three weeks!!! And she's really pushing herself with this new way of eating. She is truly amazing!! Go miss Housemate!! :D

Breakfast in the bottom (yep, that's right), post-workout snack in the top and a happy Sofia filled with endorphins to the left:)

New found love: HIIT

I have already described my overwhelming love for sir Gym. The main thing that makes me so attracted to sir Gym is the weight lifting. Heavy free weights. I've always kinda hated doing cardio though. But - about a week ago a realized that I was not as tired as I should be after a session of my new program (4-split instead of 3-split which makes the sessions a lot quicker) so I decided to try sprinting. Intervals has always been my thing since my endurance is pretty shitty and I don't know how to motivate myself to keep running when I feel like I am about to die, but it has always been longer intervals with the goal of being able to run for as long as possible without resting.

Now I've been quite inspired of the Primal Blueprint lately and by listening to their podcast I was curious to try really high intensity sprints after my workout. So I did. And then I did it after every upper body workout session this week. And I must say that wow, sir Gym - why didn't you show me this side of yourself earlier??? So what I've been doing is just 15 min sessions of 45 sec - 1 min of running at the top speed of what I have previously been capable of, followed by 1 min walking.

Why I love it you ask? Because it is over quickly so it is easier for me to push myself into both starting and continuing for the remaining time; because it releases all the happy hormones that I love from cardio exercise without being as torturous; because it is not as tough as aerobic exercise so I can do it after my strength programs which I have never managed before (I suppose - not really surprisingly - that anaerobic exercise is my thing), because I notice results after only one week of doing this!

Mark Sisson wrote an excellent post about this a while back, describing the benefits you get from sprinting. I am really looking forward to keep up these intervals and see how it will affect me in the longer run. What I can notice after only a week is: more energy and feeling a lot better mentally, starting to actually recognize my hunger signals which I haven't felt for a long time, increased speed (I suppose it is the same as when you start lifting - rapid progress in the beginning) and better focus. I mostly feel more stable mentally. I don't know if I can put all credit for that into the sprints of course, since my food intake has been really good the past week as well, I have managed to stick to my exercise routine and I have had a humane amount of things to do at uni (meaning: no stress). Although I definitely believe that the new addition of short HIIT sessions have strongly contributed to my new well being that has been absent for quite some time.

A pretty exhausted Sofia just off the treadmill. Sweaty and very satisfied with herself! And the eyes were a lot more energetic after some recovery ;)

Entering into the light

In the beginning there was darkness. But after a certain period of time, filled with mood swings, struggles, mental fist fights with miss Sugarmonster and maybe a slip or ten, after forcing yourself to stay on track - you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. And suddenly you are there. Still far away from your goal, but you have reached the light. The light where it is no longer a constant struggle to keep on trying but rather just goes automatically. The light where you notice that you actually don't really feel like trying the cake at work because miss Sugermonster has given up. The light where you actually long for kicking some ass at the gym because you know how great it will make you feel afterwords. Suddenly you are not trying to convince yourself anymore - you are just doing it and you start feeling that you can actually manage this, for real!

It is worth going through the torturous phase to get to the light. And really - it does not take that long. I have a three day rule. That is how long it takes to get past the worst of the cravings. The diet is easier after about a week. After two weeks you'll probably be in the flow, you've gotten the hang of what you can eat for your different meals, the sugar addiction is on hold, it is not a huge mission to get to the gym anymore and you're probably starting to see your first results.

I read somewhere that it takes three months for a new habit to get established. Might be true. Probably is. But it will not be a constant fight trough all that time. The fight is only in the beginning. I believe that you will find your health salvation within a month. Just give it a try. A real wholehearted try. You can do it!

Treat - no binge

Today I bought chocolate. 90% cocoa. I took two squares and now its lying here beside the computer and has been there for maybe an hour and I don't actually feel any need of having another piece. Wow. What just happened? Miss Seductive S. Monster - I was expecting you and you're not here. Fuck yeah :)

Day 3...

...Since the last carb overload. And it feels great! I am so proud of myself - after dinner yesterday I didn't actually feel like having anything more to eat. To buy strawberries and be able to leave them in the fridge for later - that's a real achievement for someone like me!

Just fried 1,5 kg of chicken. Food for a week! :)
Chicken, bacon and shredded coconut spiced with ginger - Remember that combo!

And thank you Sofia, for leaving the strawberries for post-workout snack today. Much appreciated!

Pat on the shoulder for: feeling awesome, invincible, confident and being stronger than usual at the gym! Chest day <3