Hello my little cherubs…I must admit, whilst I’m writing this I’m sat in my PJ’s eating some posh vegan biscuits from Veda Soul. Conveniently Veda Soul sent over some of their sweet treats for me to test out. Post on those coming very soon so make sure you’re following me on bloglovin so you don’t miss my posts! Anyway, I’m rambling – today I wanted to have a chat about my fitness journey. I’m aware I’ve not spoken much about it since being diagnosed with Endometriosis in August. I mean, there’s not really much to tell seeing as I gave my body a much needed break. Pre surgery I documented a lot of my fitness over on my YouTube if you watch my videos you’ll know I posted a few motivational videos whilst I was on my 6 month challenge. However, I’ve recently jumped back on the fitness wagon and have been going to the gym for the past 2 weeks. I’m trying to ease myself back into it.
INTERMITTENT FASTING
I guess I should start by telling you about my most recent lifestyle change. I’ve been intermittent fasting for the past couple of weeks on and off. I say on and off because I read recently that intermittent fasting can have a negative impact on the female body affecting hormones. So whilst it was the time of the month I stopped intermittent fasting and gave my body a break. I’ve done quite a lot of research on it. With so many health benefits including cellular repair and increases levels of the growth hormone which facilitates fat burning and muscle gain.
OTHER HEALTH BENEFITS AND HOW IT WORKS?
[Sources: Health Line ]
- Insulin levels: Blood levels of insulin drop significantly, which facilitates fat burning (1).
- Human growth hormone: The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits.
- Cellular repair: The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells.
- Gene expression: There are beneficial changes in several genes and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease.
Intermittent fasting is when you give your body a break from eating and drinking liquids except from water (and coffee depending on the fast you decide to take on). People usually do a fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 which is the type of fasting I’m doing. I’m finishing eating at 9pm at night and breaking the fast the next day at 1pm.
HOW I’M FINDING IT?
At first I struggled a little because I experienced hunger pangs. Me and my other half Liam knew we wanted to get back to an early morning gym routine too so we were concerned it would be difficult to do a fasted workout. I have to say I was wrong. A couple of weeks in and my workouts are going pretty good. I don’t feel hungry whilst I’m working out. I just make sure I drink plenty of water before I workout and occasionally have an espresso pre-workout.
MY WORKOUT
I’m doing a 5 day split workout (except on the days when I have an endo flare up). I’m doing Arms, Back, Shoulders, Legs & bum & abs, chest. I’ll do cardio on one of the days too. So far, this is working for me but I may reconsider doing a full body workout in the near future. My main fitness goals are to build my strength and muscle. I’m at a healthy weight of 9 stone 7lbs so although I’d like to lose some fat I don’t want to be focusing so much on the scales. I want to track my progress through photographs. We are tracking macros on My fitness pal but I’m not being as strict on myself as I’ve mentioned earlier with me just starting this journey again I want to ease myself into it. I genuinely forgot how good the gym makes me feel. The endorphins you get from lifting weights is indescribable. Once I get my bearings back in the gym I may do some mini routines on here. I’m obviously not an expert but if it’s interesting and anyone would like me to do that I’d be up for it! Let me know your thoughts below. Thanks for reading as always! x x
