Week one...done!!

So the good news....I've done the level 3 diet for one whole week and I'm still alive :D
The first week is tough, I'm not gonna lie. You really don't realize just how addicted to food you can become, I have started the level 3 having already spent 2 months loosely following the level 1 diet and it was still tough! I had already given up caffeine and wheat but replaced these with rice and potatoes. I still had headaches, loss of concentration, moodiness (although some might argue that's normal :p) and hunger. These all did subside after the first 4-5 days but hunger was the strangest one....I wasn't actually hungry, in fact was stuffed but it just wasn't the yummy satisfying food that I'm used too so that was really hard.
I've pretty much lived on fruit smoothies, fruit as snacks and varied omelets with vegetables or salad and chicken or steak with vegetables. Also, lemon with hot water is yummy as I love hot drinks because I'm always cold.
I made a slight error this week and added stuffed a chicken breast with spinach and chili....after doing this twice I was chatting to a friend about this diet and realized chili's are peppers...DUH!! Never mind, I won't do it again.
The hardest day for me was yesterday as I went to a baby shower where there was tea, cakes, crisps, sandwiches and sweeties....just the smell made me want to eat but I was a good girl, the only thing that got me through was the thought that by eating one little thing would just undo all of the last week and a bloody tough week it was too so I didn't.
I measured myself this morning and here we have the week one results:
Chest 35" (Same)
Waist 29.1" (Just shy of an inch lost)
Belly 34" (1 whole inch lost)
Hips 39" (1 and 1/2 Inches lost)
Right thigh 22.3" (5/8ths of an inch lost)
Right arm 11" (Same)
So.....nothing to grumble about there, made all the hard work worth while :)

This week....I have Yoga tonight and then need to shoot across to camp for the Halloween workout (quite excited about that!) Tomorrow I have Zumba in fancy dress - Yay! Camp on Wednesday and Saturday and in the mean time a mega busy week at work and any spare time I'll be trying to pack my whole house into boxes!! Roll on a few more inches lost please!!!

After one week I would seriously recommend doing this diet, even as a diabetic, I have had no low blood sugars that I thought I would and feel so much better already :)

DO IT!!!!

Can a diabetic live without simple carbs??

So this is the start of a new Fit Camp month, so far I have really concentrated on the exercise and making more healthy choices when it comes to food but haven't really stuck rigidly to any of the diets I have been following level 1 but still had a few naughty snacks but as I managed to reduce my blood sugar level so much whilst just cutting out some bad foods and exercising I have decided this month with Christmas coming to try the ultimate detox - level 3. It's scary because for the last 18 years every dietitian, doctor and family member have been forcing crabs into my diet telling me that as diabetic it's what I need. This makes no sense, as an insulin dependent diabetic I take 5 injections per day one long acting one taken in the morning and again in the evening to act as a constant baseline as the body naturally would have plus an additional fast acting one at each meal to account for the food I eaten. Of course there is allot more room for error as the body knows what it's doing and I am just making an educated guess but even so theres nothing to say that I can not try this diet.
I have taken my measurements this time and I am going to be brave a publish these to that you can see what effect this has....here we go:
Taken in a relaxed, not breathing in state...
Chest = 35"
Waist = 31"
Belly = 35" (The bit I really want to get rid of!!!)
Hips = 40.5"
Right thigh = 23"
Right upper arm = 11"
So there you have it, each week I will update on this and hope after 4 weeks to be a bit smaller :)
Food and meals on this one seems very limited, I have meals planned for this week that I'm happy with but I'm concerned about variety and getting bored. Hey it's only a month right?.
I have yoga tonight, Zumba tomorrow and Swallowfield camp starts on Wednesday. I don't have any trips or things that should stop me making camp this month so I plan to attend all of them!
This is my biggest challenge so far.....wish me luck ;)

Results week..

Well this week has been a bit random, so far I've not made it to any camps :(

Monday camp was moved to Tuesday as Heidi was away but I started Vida's Freestyle Fitness Yoga class. This was fantastic, I really enjoyed it and can't wait until next Monday. I have been practicing the salutation we were shown every night before getting into bed. Tuesday I had my Zumba class and I haven't been in a few weeks so thought I should go and I was glad I did as I won the most Zumbalishious this week, something that the instructor gives to one person each week...you'd know if you'd ever seen me at Zumba this is not something for people necessarily good at Zumba but just awarded for effort. So a free class for me next week!! I did put allot of effort in but for me Zumba is pretty Freestyle too ;)

I woke up yesterday morning feeling plop...I have caught some germs from somewhere and felt rubbish all day, I got into bed at 5pm and didn't get up until this morning after an awful nights sleep so today I have done some work on lap top but from bed, I want to get rid of this as soon as possible!! I also really want to get to the last camp of this block tomorrow evening. Today I did have to go to the doctors to get my blood test results from last week...I was really pleased that my blood result has gone down to 8 already...this is incredible in just 2 months to reduce it by soooo much, it has also inspired me to, for the first time ever, get my average blood test result to the 'normal' band if 5-7. I am due back in January for this which means getting through a tempting Christmas but I am really keen to keep up my new habits and try and achieve it. I also got a flu jab while I was there so hopefully I be well enough though winter to keep moving :)

This camp I have completely forgotten to measure myself but I still have my measurements from the first camp so time will check to see how that improved too.

The important part is that my blood sugar is the lowest it's been for a long time and I feel healthy too..

Location, location, location....

I have had to move around a bit this week as Monday I felt a bit rubbish so had a nice early night...I did make up for it though by going to Twyford on Tuesday night. It was nice actually doing the class with different people and on concrete which was a new experience for me and helped me put allot more spring in my burpees :D On Wednesday I planned to go to Swallowfield but wasn’t home and ready in time but managed to get to Warfield instead. The nice thing about Fit Camp is the flexibility to go to different locations so you don’t have to commit to the same days and times every week.

After doing two camps in row I’m quite proud to say that I can actually walk today, I have that lovely ache that reminds you you did something but doesn’t have you walking around looking rather suspicious...

I had my blood test yesterday for my Hba1C so will get the results next Wednesday to see what if any improvements have been made to my blood sugar control which is exciting, I’m nervous because I have worked hard to get an improvement and will be upset if it hasn’t got better but I know it takes a long while to improve the average so we will see.

I have also signed up to Vida’s Fitness Yoga starting Monday which I’m really looking forward too, I have wanted to do Yoga for a while but it always seems all a bit mumbo jumbo to me with odd music and candle light and this sounds allot more up my street. This time in 6 weeks I should be able to tie myself in a knot...right??? ;)

Back to it..

Hello, Sorry I was away for week one of camp on a business trip and didn’t get a chance to update my blog and then last week was a whirl wind of activity!

So my week away, I was in Romania and in a very nice nice hotel which helped. It has a nice gym and swimming pool and loads of food choices. I was fairly good considering that normally taken out of my natural habitat I have less self control than normal. I chose to have fruit and yogurt for breakfast and soup for lunch and had a swim most days although the pool was a bit on the small side. For dinner I did try and make good choices but did succumb to the delicious Hilton Burger on a couple of occasions...whoops.

So I was back Monday and thought I’d have a little power nap before camp and I woke up at 8pm...double whoops. I think I needed that sleep tho.

I was back on Wednesday and with not having gone for 2 ½ weeks it was very hard work. We did one I’d never done before which was the same exercise for 30 seconds 8 times in a row and then onto the next one....very hard work and my bum was killing me the next day after all those squats and lunges!! I did go back Friday night and seriously after the warm up I felt soooo much better. Friday was different again doing all of the exercises traveling across the field and back, normally it’s static in one spot so this was a nice change. I quite like doing camp on Friday night too as it gives me the whole of the weekend to myself.

This was a busy a week as I also sold my house so started the dreaded packing process. I think on the plus side I must have burned a ton calories clearing out my loft and shed :)

I have also noticed that without really trying my blood sugars have remained allot more stable, this is due to regular sensible eating and regular exercise. I am happy to admit that I have not strictly stuck to the diet but reading about what different foods do to your body has made me very mindful about what I chose and has meant that my eating habits have changed for the better, the exercise classes have also got me out of the house and moving which is always a good thing.

Back to camp tonight to see what week 3 brings....

Little catch up...

Hello!!! Well slight technical error, most likely a user error but a technical error none the less my last blog didn’t upload and now it’s lost cyber space....so grab a cuppa de-caf green tea and I’ll try not to ramble on too much while I catch you up.

So, after Monday I did Wednesday and Saturday camps, both the normal love to hate interval workouts...while doing them you do start to wonder why, why, why but when it’s over you feel so glad you did it and it always help get a brilliant nights sleep.

The following week I had a work trip to Germany, whilst I had planned to be good, eat healthy and do the hotel room workout at least 3 times I feel compelled to be honest with you and say I was a bad egg!! Firstly there is the social aspect of going out for meals with colleagues and selecting food off the menu depending on where we the group decided to eat – in Germany it seems that putting salad or vegetables with baked potatoes or grilled meats is slightly alien...I had some delicious food don’t get me wrong but it wasn’t something that would be considered healthy. The office was in the middle of a trading estate so the lunch option was a supermarket or what was essentially an off license so naturally in the interest of keeping my job and my some of dignity I selected the supermarket where you could get sandwiches, pizza, cakes & pretzels – It was a wheat fest!!! I just had a salad and cheese sandwich each day so not too bad in scheme of things. The other black hole I fell into was alcohol – you can’t go to Germany and not have a one litre beer right?? and I can’t go anywhere it seems with out having a few....it was a jam packed week with work and then going straight out for meals so I was naughty I admit it. So, I guess you want to know what effect this week away had on my body...as you might suspect the tummy area increased (although all other areas arms, legs etc stayed the same) and worse than that my blood sugars were all over the show! Up and down and out of control. This obviously isn’t healthy but also has a massive effect on my energy levels. I got home late Friday night with all good intentions of going to camp Saturday morning but slept through my alarm and didn’t wake up until 11:15!

I spent the rest of the weekend washing of course and shopping to top my fridge back up with healthy foods again. I missed smoothies so much, I’m considering getting shares in Innocent! I was so happy to see the smiling face of innocent smoothies in Tesco I can’t tell you.

Monday I was back on the wagon with a bag full of fruit and nuts to take to work for snacks and healthy meals back on the menu I headed to camp on Monday evening....man alive was my punishment waiting for me. From Holland with Love...that wasn’t love I’m sure :D I found it really hard because of my laziness from the previous week more than anything I think after completing the 45 minute work out I headed home for a shower and bed! I felt great for doing it though so it was all worth it. I did have a hypo in the night that night, I think this was down to my body forgetting what exercise is and me over doing my insulin forgetting that I’m not eating starchy foods and exercising, it was easily resolved with a glass of sugared water and a fruit smoothie.

On Wednesday night we re-did the fit test from day one and that was well exciting for me...I love it!! We were given our results for week one I planned to beat every single one no matter what. I psyched myself up and went for it, I really surprised myself how much I’d improved for the past 3 & ½ weeks I have been thinking about how fit camp has effected my blood sugar, how it effected my weight, how many inches I’d lost but I’d completed ruled out how much fitter I was becoming...silly as the name does suggest that fitness would be a side effect of a fit camp by hey I’m blonde and it can’t be helped. I will be getting my results back so will share them with you as I can’t remember off the top of my head but I can tell you I smashed the hell out of that fit test and I was very happy with myself.

I have a big party to go to this weekend so I think I might head to camp tonight to give me all day tomorrow to get myself sorted for the party so this is the last one. I had only planned to do one but I have to admit I am addicted and I have signed up for September camp already and can’t wait.

We have a week off next week but I am going to try and do a couple little 2-3 mile runs to keep me in the mood especially as the first week of September camp I have another week long work trip away with work which means I’ll miss the whole first week...After next camp I will be booking in for my blood test so we can really see how I’m doing...scary spiders :)

Feel the burn...

Oh my goodness, Wednesday’s camp last week almost killed. I found it really hard after 2 days of exercise but it felt good to do it and feel proud that I did manage to get through it. I did make a slight error...I had a soup for dinner about an hour or so before and it made it’s presence know. Naughty soup sloshing around my tummy. Anyway alls well that ends well by Saturday my body had recovered after 2 much needed days of rest and by sticking to the food plan and eating healthy meals and snacks my blood sugars have remained the most stable they have in months which is great news and means I have allot more energy.

I am such a womble that I forgot I couldn’t make Saturday mornings camp but hadn’t swapped it for another day so I completely missed one last week. I was really mad with myself but I have allot on my mind at the moment and it’s not the end of the world I guess. Over the weekend I have a few naughty little treats but this is real life and my main purpose for attending fitcamp is to improve my health so I wasn’t too hard on myself and I didn’t go made but I had a glass of wine with my dinner and a lovely Sunday roast. My blood sugars did increase slightly over the weekend so this just means me learning from what I did wrong and making the changes in the future. Bigger, fatter meals require more insulin..simple really but the body is a strange thing.

Then it was Monday and one week down, I have measured myself and have lost all told a full inch over the whole of my body. Not bad considering I have enjoyed all of the food I have eaten and had a lovely but not excessive weekend.

Last night’s camp was really fun too, using different equipment. It made it a bit different and I thought less about about what I was doing and enjoyed it. I don’t ache as much today as I did this time last week. I think this is mainly due to the exercises being more aerobic last night and also an improving fitness level.

I need to make the most of this week as I will miss two camps next week due to a work trip to Germany, that’ll be a real test.....