So I've been a little quiet on here lately and part of that is down to me starting the 90 Day SSS (Shift, Shape and Sustain) Plan from The Body Coach and being crazy busy with college, work and well just life. Many will have heard of The Body Coach plan, but for those who haven't here is a little more about it.
The Plan
Joe Wicks AKA The Body Coach has been something of a social media sensation and has been popping up on my feeds for quite sometime. I know plenty of people who have his #LeanIn15 meal and work out books and really recommend them. For me I browsed the books and decided not to buy them as many of the meals I looked at featured nuts - which I have an allergy to - and I knew that only committing to purchasing the book wouldn't be enough motivation to keep me on a sustainable plan.So I invested in the 90 Day SSS Plan after reading loads of reviews online and doing my research into if I thought it was right for me. I'm the sort of person who needs a deadline or goal to stick to, to get things done fully, or just a receipt which says I paid hard cash for the plan so I must not waste my money.
What do I want to achieve?
Recently I have been feeling quite down about my physical appearance, I've gained weight around my waist and thighs which has had a hugely negative impact on my perception of myself. I went from a size 6 to a 10 with a refusal to buy anything bigger than a size 8. This meant many painful days of squeezing into too-small clothes. Now many will say a size 10 isn't big, and it's not, but having always been petite I don't carry the extra baggage well and mentally that impacted on me. Improving my diet was only ever going to improve my health and I am also hoping to reap all those benefits on the plan too along with improving my fitness levels which are so low you wouldn't be able to limbo them. Here are the main things I want to achieve:
- Lose a little bit of weight and tone up
- Improve my fitness levels
- Improve on my cooking skills
- Adapt to a healthier diet
- Reap the health benefits of said healthier diet (better skin, shiny hair & inner health benefits)
- Lose a little bit of weight and tone up
- Improve my fitness levels
- Improve on my cooking skills
- Adapt to a healthier diet
- Reap the health benefits of said healthier diet (better skin, shiny hair & inner health benefits)
Starting the Plan: Week 1
So I started my plan two weeks ago on Monday, because all diets start on Monday right? and I am now on day 14. To say it's been challenging is probably something of an understatement. I have found it incredibly hard and nearly fell of the wagon, twice. The only thing which kept me going was the idea of having paid so much money. I cried on day one and felt completely useless at the whole thing, by 5pm I had little to no energy left and was so bloated I thought I was going to explode like a whale carcass on a beach. If only I had been on a beach. Day two wasn't much better, I was working away on site and thought I was going to throw up in my work colleagues brand new car the entire two hour journey home from the sheer amount of food I was consuming. Both days I failed to eat my evening meal and went to sleep about 8pm without a work out.
Day three was much better, I ate all my planned meals and snacks although not to the full quantities and felt positive and good all day. Then day four hit and I had the biggest breakdown. Mentally I really didn't think I could do it anymore and physically I felt really unwell again. I went to bed not knowing if i'd continue the plan. It's always been joked about in my family that I must be made of iron as nothing seems to phase me, but it turns out if you take away my sugar and cheese I crumble.
Day three was much better, I ate all my planned meals and snacks although not to the full quantities and felt positive and good all day. Then day four hit and I had the biggest breakdown. Mentally I really didn't think I could do it anymore and physically I felt really unwell again. I went to bed not knowing if i'd continue the plan. It's always been joked about in my family that I must be made of iron as nothing seems to phase me, but it turns out if you take away my sugar and cheese I crumble.
Days five to thirteen have been much better, I woke up on day five with a steely determination that I would not quit, especially not so early on. I've now discovered the cheesy (piri piri) meatballs and all is well with the world again although I did omit the piri piri as I hate anything spicy.
My Thoughts So Far...
Currently I'm still on the fence about the plan although admittedly it's still very early days. It feels good to be cooking meals from scratch without relying on frozen foods or ready meals, I've even made homemade paté. The portion sizes are huge and I can't see me ever being able to fit in all the plan wants me to. I mean I'm only just over 5 foot and 105g of Kale is just crazy. Nobody likes kale that much. I'm enjoying the workouts although they are really pushing me to my limits but I've decided I need a few cheats here and there with the food or I won't ever sustain it (for now), I can't just go cold turkey on the sugar as it was the staple ingredient in my previous diet. I've not really seen any results weight/measurement wise but again it's early days. I've now resolved myself to completing cycle one and seeing what cycle two throws at me. Cycle three may not happen as it hit's right over holiday, christmas and new year - I may have to do this in January and sustain cycle one/two as best I can in December.
I'm going to keep updating on this as I go so make sure to follow me on Bloglovin' and Twitter for more.
Love Rachel x