Alcohol and Exercise

Hello!

So this post is about my biggest obstacle when it comes to staying fit - feckin' alcohol :P

I could be doing really well, seeing significant progress from all aspects, training most days and feeling very dedicated and motivated towards my goals..then bam, one night out and I'm laid up for at least four days. As most of you might have experienced the aftermath of a standard Saturday night out, it usually goes as follows: 

Sunday - Feeling utterly hungover and comfort eating
Monday - Feeling sorry for yourself after said hangover and trying to cut back after comfort eating
Tuesday - Comfort eating has subsided but not feeling motivated enough to work out
Wednesday - Might do a wee workout if you can get off the couch
Thursday - Back to training (if I'm lucky)!

So after one night out I usually mess up my fitness plan for the bones of a week... not good! :(

I try (now I say try haha!) to avoid alcohol as much as is possible, especially during the week. I used to have a sneaky glass of wine the odd evening with dinner simply because I didn't think of alcohol as a "treat" which I should have been. The amount of calories contained in alcohol is madness, a couple of glasses of wine or a pint of beer is the same as having a bar of chocolate or a bowl of ice cream so as soon as I thought of it in that way it was easier to cut it out! 

There is the argument that I could get back into training if I really tried but the effects alcohol has on the body makes it so much tougher because of the following aspects:

- Hydration: Your body is left severely dehydrated after a big booze bender meaning your body won't perform as well and you'll feel weak and nauseated
- Hormones: Alcohol consumption messes with your hormone levels reducing dopamine and seratonin in the body which leads to the "booze blues" and lack of motivation
- Muscle Growth: Alcohol inhibits the absorption of protein in the body so not only are you messing up your future workouts - you're hindering the ones you've already completed too
- Fatigue: After boozing, I always need at least one days sleep to recover. Working out isn't an option I'm afraid!

Now you think after all of the above that I would stop drinking and focus on training but meh that never happens! There's always something I just have to go to at least once a month and if I don't go I feel like I'm missing out. So there's the age old advice:

- Don't get into rounds - you'll drink too fast trying to keep up
- Eat a good healthy meal before you go out
- Track your drinking - try the MyDrinkAware app!
- Have a bottle instead of a pint or add wine spritzer to dilute your wine
- Have a glass of water or a "mocktail" between drinks

All of this is so easy to advise but we all know it's so hard to actually do on a night out. The simple fact is for me at the moment though, alcohol is hindering my progression and slowing it down at the very least about 50% a month. It's frustrating because I've finally got training and diet under control, I'm at a better level of fitness than I ever was but alcohol is like my kryptonite! I can have the best resolve to train at the weekend and have my workouts planned out but the minute some event comes up, I pick the boozy bender option and training goes out the window. If I want to continue to be fit and healthy, lose weight and maintain my fitness levels - I'm gonna have to cut the alcohol out alot, if not for good until I progress to near enough where I want to be. 

If you feel like you're in a similar position or if you feel like you're not making progress regardless of exercise and diet - take a wee look at your alcohol consumption. It could be the issue!

Any tips/advice anyone has or similar experiences, please feel free to share on my page, I'd love to hear them! :)

Thanks for reading, 

Aoife
xxx

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Hello!

Today I used a recipe from the Pat Divilly Flavoursome Fat Loss booklet but I made a couple of changes due to not having some of the ingredients and a fussy boyfriend!

Ingredients:

-1 Butternut Squash, peeled and diced

-1 red onion, chopped - I left this out due to fussy fella (sad face, I know!)

-2 garlic cloves, crushed

-1 red chilli, chopped - if you're not a fan of spicy dishes, don't use that much of the seeds

-Small bunch of coriander, chopped

-1/2 a tsp of cumin seeds - I used 2 tsps of cumin powder as I didn't have any seeds

-1 1/2 pints of vegetable stock (I used chicken)

-Coconut oil

-Coconut milk (approx 150ml) - I added this myself, it's optional. Again, fussy boyfriend problems, it was too spicy for him! But it does add a nice finishing touch :)

Method:

1. Fry the onion, garlic, coriander leaves and chilli in coconut oil for 30 seconds to release the flavour, add the diced butternut squash and cumin and stir for 2 minutes to coat everything in the spice mixture. 

2. Cover the mixture with the stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Let the soup cool for a bit and then blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add coconut milk to taste, again this is optional but it makes it a bit creamier and less spicy if you've added too much chilli. Also, if you are going to add the coconut milk, hold back on the stock a bit, add approx 1 1/4 pints of stock.

I made a wee boo boo with the ingredients when I was reading them, always the case with me! I didn't add enough stock and it was slightly thicker than it should have been I think. But I don't mind a good thick soup so it was tasty all the same. It's all trial and error I suppose so I'll keep at it :)

Here's some pictures of the process and finished result:

I hope you enjoy, if you try out the recipe be sure to let me know how it went and tag my page in some photos! :)

Anyone with other tips/recipes be sure to share!

Aoife xx

Flat Tummy Workout

Heylo!

I tried this short workout today, I found it by searching google images!

Ciaran had the dinner on when I came home, it smelled amazing and I reaaaaally didn't want to do anything but get into my comfies and chill but I persevered and glad I did now!

I completed the workout and added in 20 extra squats before the run to tie in with my 30 Day Squat Challenge but I did have trouble with the 40 crunches. I think my form isn't great and I'm rounding my back causing more strain on my back and less strain where I should be feeling it - my abs! Once I started feeling pain in my back I stopped - never continue when something is painful. I'm not talking about "the burn" because that's good and you should always try fight through the burn! :P But when you feel a strain, if you feel as if you're not doing something right, then stop. Chances are, you're not doing the exercise correctly and you could cause yourself injury or even worse, long term damage.




I found this link to explain how to help if you are also experiencing this problem:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/302339-back-pain-while-doing-crunches/


 So I'm going to work on this over the next couple of weeks. It's better to do a handful of proper form crunches than 40/50 bad form ones which aren't working your muscles correctly.

After the workout, I went for a quick 15 minute run opting to run faster in intervals rather than jogging. So I ran for approx. 300M stopped for a breather, started, stopped, started, stopped etc and I won't lie, I was wrecked when I finished up! 


Moral of the story this evening is, even if you don't feel like doing anything, do something! Even something small, that way you won't keep putting it off or "leaving it til tomorrow" like I used to do so often.


I'm starting Pat Divilly's Tight Tummy Blueprint tomorrow. There's 14,000 other people doing it too and it looks pretty intense. Really looking forward to it so I'll keep you all updated on it too :D

Aoife xx

Assisted Pull-Up Progression

Hi guys!

I've been ill most of the weekend and was feeling pretty awful today in work but I got a burst of sudden energy this evening after cleaning the kitchen so I finally set up my pull up bar (Lidl) with resistance bands (Lifestyle Sports) so that I could attempt my first assisted pull-ups! The excitement!

I have been trying to use variations of pull-ups to progress to a full dead weight pull-up and I wasn't getting too far with it. Also, the machine in the gym I go to for doing assisted pull-ups isn't great so I stopped using that. 

I had one low resistance band looped around my pull-up bar and it wasn't strong enough to help me do them by myself. I got about as far up as this:

 
So pretty much nowhere hehe! Himself had to help me instead by holding my knee and giving me a wee helping hand. This was handy but it stopped me gauging my own progression because I wouldn't know just how much help he was giving each time etc so I needed to be able to do them by myself. So he had the genius idea to use two resistance bands at the same time, duh right? :P So I looped both bands around and voila! It was finally strong enough to properly assist me and I did my first few today :)

I used a chair to stand on to get into the resistance bands, otherwise it would have been too awkward and knowing me, I would have hurt myself!

To get back into the swing of things, I took it easy being careful not to over-do it after being ill for the last few days. I did a few sets of pull-ups (averaging 4/5) and switching to chin-ups on failure, I incorporated the squat challenge doing 80 normal squats and some push-ups to finish the set. Hopefully if I'm feeling much better over the next few days, I can work my way back up to more intense workouts. 

It may not sound like much to someone who can jump up and do 15/20 pull-ups without breaking a sweat but being able to do ONE single pull-up has been something I've been working towards since I started exercising properly about 2 years ago. I'm not there yet but I feel more accomplished knowing I'm taking the steps toward it. No matter where you are in your fitness journey, the goals you make for yourself are what will keep you motivated to make a better you. Even the smallest little thing like running half a K more in a week, doing a pull-up, perfecting your squat form or being able to deadlift 5/10kg heavier than you've done previously - when you do it, it feels great. And you feel great! You'll be surprised at how much your body can do, you'll love it and you'll want more.

If you want to see a video to see how to progress doing pull-ups with a resistance band, I found this Youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9E4-wB7Em0

If you have any questions give me a shout on my Facebook. I hope you found this useful :)

Aoife xx

Comfort Eating While Ill & Cold/Flu Remedies

Hello! Happy Weekend all!

I'm not so much feeling the weekend vibe at the moment unfortunately, I've come down with a cold/flu that's been chasing me the last couple of weeks. Looks like my immune system finally gave in this week eh!

But it's a good opportunity to share how my eating habits usually go out the window when I feel under the weather. So when I start to feel poorly, usually my body immediately starts to signal "feed me! feed me all the food!" and in an effort to comfort myself I forget my healthy eating habits and start eating things I shouldn't. I don't mean chocolate/sweets by the way, I just mean stodgy, filling comfort foods that I usually wouldn't eat like bread, pasta, potatoes etc and of course I say "bu-bye!" to my calorie count. This means when I start to recover, not only do I feel a bit yuck after being ill for a while, I feel in worse shape and horrible after all the bad food I've been filling myself with for a moment of comfort. It's a lose lose situation, no good comes out of it!

This time I've decided not to go completely off the wagon so to speak! Yesterday I was feeling a tad too ill to even comfort eat so I had a pitta bread with tuna for lunch with tomatoe soup filled with chilli powder, chilli flakes and cayenne pepper. Chilli is great for your immune system and I always have this remedy when I'm ill, it does help immensely! As I was also too ill to go shopping or cook, it was another tuna pitta for dinner with tea (black with honey instead of sugar). Afterwards I cut up some lemon and ginger, added boiling water and a teaspoon of Manuka Honey (thanks Fitz, you're an angel!) and covered the mug to steam for about 5 minutes. This drink is so soothing for a cold/flu especially when you have a sore throat :)

So the plan for food today (himself has kindly gone to get shopping for me, thanks babe!) is as follows:

Breakfast:
Mini Fry
- 2 streaky rashers
- 2 pieces of black pudding
- 1 fried egg
- Sun stream tomatoes

Lunch:
- Chicken pitta
- Avocado
- Tomatoe soup (with all the chilli!)

Dinner:
- Fillet steak
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms

So slight cheating with the fry and pitta bread but nothing near as bad as what I used to do!

If you do feel the need to have a snack when you feel like crap then popcorn is a good, healthy snack to have. I've already told himself to pick some up on his way home later! :P

Also if anyone is interested in home remedies, in addition to the above I've been using Colloidal Silver spray, it's amazing! I spray it in my mouth and leave it to sit for a few minutes before swallowing it. Here are some of the benefits and ailments it can be used to treat:

• Antibacterial - colloidal silver's ability to control antibiotic-resistant superbugs is astonishing
• Wound Care/Skin Health
• Pink Eye/Ear Infections
• Antiviral
• Anti-Inflammatory
• Sinusitis
• Cold/Flu

Aswell as that I have Echinacea liquid in the house and that can be used to boost your immune system and reduce the severity/length of colds. 

So I hope you all enjoy your weekend, I'll be here dosing up trying to recover for Monday! :)

Any Q's, leave a comment or mail me on my Facebook page!

Aoife xx

Exercise and Meal Plan Thursday 7th May

Morning!

I'm on lates in work this week so it's handy to have a bit of time in the morning for exercise and food prep. I'm not feeling great today, a bit under the weather with a sore throat/head which would have usually meant I'd opt to stay in bed a couple of extra hours and snooooze but I opted for early morning yoga instead! I have a yoga mat here at home, I think I picked it up in Heaton's a year and a half ago for €10 so that and a laptop/computer/phone with Youtube is all you need. I simply searched "Morning Yoga" and this is the video I chose:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UpWgS7WtGg

"Morning Yoga For Weight Loss - 20 Minute Workout Fat Burning Yoga Meltdown Beginner & Intermediate"

I'm not sure why I was kidding myself into thinking it would be really serene and relaxing - yoga is tough! There's not alot of jumping/running around as you can guess but it does involve holding poses which require a certain amount of body strength. It's not easy so if you're a beginner, don't lose hope you will get better at it! It's great for flexibility, relaxation, stress, anxiety, depression - so many benefits of yoga which is why I love it. 
If you are doing the squat challenge with me, I'd advise to get your squats over and done with before you start because there's a rest/relaxation cool down period of the yoga and you won't want to get hyped up with 50/60 squats after that :)
I had my little friend Puddin who likes to watch me do yoga and sometimes join in! And a lovely view on a sunny morning that made it a great start to the day :)

For meal prep, I consult my Fitness Pal app with my food ideas for the day to see how my calorie count is looking. Fitness Pal is brilliant and so easy to use, if you want to keep track of your diet I would definitely recommend downloading it. There's too much I can say about it so I will leave it for a future blog post!

Breakfast:
Frozen Fruit Smoothie (320 calories)
- 1/4 cup frozen berries
- 1 banana
- Orange juice (add depending on how you like the consistency of your smoothie)
- 1 tablespoon of Greek Yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of Chia seed mix

Lunch:
Tuna Salad (280 calories)
- Half tin tuna
- Sweetcorn
- Balsamic vinegar (as a substitute for mayo, I am a mayo fiend!)
Lettuce
- Sun stream tomatoes
- Gherkins
- Small sprinkling of grated Parmesan Reggiano

Snacks (210 calories):
- Sesame Crispbreads (2) (like Ryvitta) with the left over tuna
- Banana

Dinner
Himself is cooking dinner tonight so I'm off the hook! I usually have fresh fish or chicken and veg like asparagus, mushrooms or broccoli. Or if he cooks something that he likes, I'll try to have an amount of that which matches my calorie count which today is around 400 calories.

This is what my usual diet looks like, a salad for lunch and meat/fish with veg for dinner. If I have a heavy workout, like if I'm lifting or have done a vigorous HIIT session I will allow myself slightly more calories. Usually some carbs (sweet potatoe) with dinner or natural protein (chicken/tuna etc) after working out. It's not very adventurous, I like to keep it simple because it's easier to prep and I don't like to spend too much time cooking hehe!

I'll keep posting meal plans and if you guys like them, you can mix and match and take what you like from them. Plus if you have any tips or easy meal plans that you use, I'd like to hear from you! :)

I hope you enjoyed today's post, have a great day everyone!

Aoife xx

30 Day Squat Challenge!

Hi ladies!

To kick off my fitness blog, myself and a friend have decided to start the 30 day squat challenge to get our bums ready for the summer. To be honest I have tried this challenge about 5 times and I have never finished it so the blog is my motivation to actually finish it this time! :)

Even if you don't normally exercise or workout, this is a great way to start off working exercise slowly into your daily life. If you do regularly exercise, this is a good chance to up your squat game and get that booty you've always wanted!So there is a beginners challenge and an intermediate challenge, both go as follows:

 With the beginners you don't have to do the 2 sets if you don't want/need to and with the intermediate, you can split it into 2 sets if you can't quite reach the higher numbers in one go.

Don't laugh but I do mine before getting into the shower in the bathroom! My squat form isn't great (I am working on this!) due to ankle/calf flexibility so I use the closed toilet seat as a reference of how far to go down. If you need to do this, you can use the bed, chair or anything that is at a comfortable height for you. But just barely tip the reference, don't sit on it. 

Here's a video I found on Youtube to explain the squat if anyone needs to improve form or see how it's done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXJrBgI2RxA

The main thing to remember when doing these everyday is that you don't want to rush them to just get through them but to try and feel which muscles are being worked so that you can properly engage and strengthen them. To emphasise the booty effect, at the top of every squat I clench my bum, this also helps to keep my glutes activated during the squat.

So if you're gonna try this, good luck and I hope it goes well for you! If you want to share your progress, just post how you're getting on - feeling the burn! - and tag my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/sparklingroguefitness


Good luck ladies, happy squatting!

Here's some motivation for you! ;)

Aoife x