12 Week Slip in to Summer Challenge - Week 1

Last week I started a 12 week fitness challenge with DW Fitness and Weird Fish. I have finished the first week, and boy was it tough!

I think, or at least I hope, that the first week is the toughest and that it will only get easier. Well, not easier because I need to push myself to my limit every week, but I started the challenge with a barrier in front of me and now that I've broken through that barrier, I should be ok.

Starting the challenge, I wasn't a big veggie eater, I didn't like salad, I preferred a big bar of galaxy over an apple any day of the week. I had become a bit lazy and had barely done a workout all year. For the first week, it's been all about changing my mindset and my behaviours. Adding vegetables to my meals, cutting down on sugary snacks, getting my ass off the sofa when all I want to do is relax.

I've eased myself in to working out this week. I couldn't make it to the gym as I just didn't have the time with the kids being off school.

I started the week with a run on Tuesday. I say run, it was more of a crawl. I was dying, I only managed about ten minutes of jogging and had to walk home because I couldn't breath! It just shows how unfit I have become in the six months since I last went out running. Midweek I did some weight training at home using my 1.5kg weights. 1.5kg doesn't sound like much but the next day I ached, so they obviously had an effect! I ended the week with a Zumba type workout at home, which I was a sweaty mess by the end of!

I have mostly been working out in the evening, but for week two the kids will be back at school so I am going to try and workout in the morning before work because I always feel so full of energy after exercising.

I have a diet plan to follow, and I have been challenging myself to eat things I wouldn't have eat before. Surprisingly, I have enjoyed everything I have made. I've been having salads at lunch time and veggies with my dinner and it's been much tastier than I was expecting. My favourite meals this week were a homemade cauliflower curry with brown rice, and quinoa, red onion and peppers with falafels.

Quinoa is something I had never even really heard of before. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it is so good, and it counts towards one of your 5 a day which is fantastic!

I have struggled quite a bit this week with sweet treats. There isn't usually a day that goes by where I don't treat myself to some chocolate, and so trying not to eat chocolate has been my biggest barrier. Have I managed? Not 100%, but I've done better than I thought I would. My diet plan allows for an extra 500 calories a week to use for a little treat if you wish to, which I love because I think if I couldn't treat myself at all over the next 12 weeks I would fail miserably. I may have had a bit more than I should have, but there were a lot of eggs left over and I could feel them looking at me so I did have some sneaky chocolate eggs at the weekend, and a chocolate eclair, but otherwise I've done ok.

On Monday morning, I did my weigh in to see how I had done on week one, and I am now 10st 11.4 so I have lost a pound. I'm pleased with that, if I lose a pound every week I will achieve my target by the end of the challenge.

I filmed a little vlog over the week, and I would love it if you had a little watch..

I hope you can come back next week and follow my journey!