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 :)

Challenges and beginnings

So I live in Australia now. And here in Australia - people don't do low carb yet. The miracle hasn't really managed to travel to this part of the world yet. But despite this - I have managed to convince my first Australian. Here's the story:

There is a house in Melbourne where three people live. A boy and a girl who are married, and Sofia who's an international student from Sweden. The married couple have looked at Sofia's food with huge doubt without saying anything. All that fat. And seriously, why can't she have a potato every once in a while?! But the thing is, the female part of the couple is very overweight. I don't know how much, but I would guess around 140-150 kg. The boy is doing a lot of anaerobic exercising, have terrible food habits (same as his wife), seems fine and healthy enough, but has gained 12 kg since he met the girl despite the cardio. He believes in low fat diets and anaerobic exercising to loose fat.

The boy and the girl have tried to get a baby for some time, but without success. The doctor says that they might increase the chances if the girl looses some weight. They start dieting every week but give up after a couple of days.

One day, Sofia comes home and sees that something is wrong with the girl. She's not her usual happy self. Apparently, there was a visit to the doctor with more bad news. Sofia start talking about how the low carb high fat diet from Sweden has helped a lot of people loose a lot of weight when everything has failed previously. She also describe health benefits and research for studies about low carb diets and fertility (good info about that in this interview by the DietDoctor).

Anyway, I can't bother writing like that anymore. My housemate and I have now started a challenge for one week to begin with (will most likely be extended). I am cutting the carbs to a maximum of 5 grams per day (aiming towards 0), and she is starting on LCHF. This is so exciting!!! I get to follow someone who has potential to gain huge health benefits in several ways from following the LCHF diet, in Australia where people still frown at fat and believes in processed low fat food. I love that her goal is not primarily to loose weight, but to get pregnant, which also makes it even more interesting to follow. She is more motivated now than I have ever seen her before which really makes me believe that she can do it! And - her husband is completely against the whole thing and refuse to listen to my reasoning. I will love to shove his doubts in his face when she stands there with a healthy and, hopefully, pregnant wife!

What I believe my beautiful, wonderful and fantastic housemate will gain is:

• A child
• A healthy weight
• More energy
• Good sleep
• Stable mood
• Lower blood sugar
• No more headaches
• No cravings

To contrast that, this is what it is like now (a summary):

• PCOS (no trace of a child)
• Heavily overweight
• No energy - naps every afternoon/early evening
• Bad sleep - nightmares and waking up several times
• Mood swings
• Risk of getting diabetes according to doctor
• Migraines and constant headache
• Sugar addiction

I will follow this closely and support her as much as I possibly can. It feels as if I am almost as involved in and motivated by her lifestyle now as I am in my own, and it will be great to see what happens now and if she can stick to it! Second day today :)

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!

To force motivation

I have tried to lose my extra kilos that I've gained a number of times now, but I am still going to see this as a start. The last week have been absolutely horrendous in the healthy perspective with shitloads of crappy food and hardly no exercise. This means that I have to really force myself to the gym now. That's how it always is when you start. But force yourself for a couple of times and then it will be a routine and no probs at all.

It is really hard to leave the computer at the moment and get my ass to the gym so here's my strategy:

1. I put on my gym gear first thing in the morning before even having my coffee.
2. Deciding when to go - after breakfast and one episode of Big Bang Theory!
3. Write about it here with a picture of how I feel about it (so I can make another update when I come back with a new picture of how awesome I will feel then! Great for future motivation!!!)
4. Repeat all the reasons for going there as a mantra: "Sofia - you do love lifting weights, you do want to raise the weights to feel less embarrassed at the gym, you do want to look fit again, you will get rid of your headache if you go out for fresh air, you will feel awesome afterwards, it will be easier to focus on your studies when you get back etc etc..."
5. FUCKING JUST DO IT WILL'YA?!?!?!?!

Pat on the shoulder for: Pretty good breakfast with hardly any carbs. Good on ya! :)

Weight lifting - YEY!!!! :D