12WBT Week 8 Review- Starving!

When I think about the past week, the first word that comes to mind is STARVING! 

I have been so hungry it's not funny! And tired too. I wake up fine, but then a few hours after my workout I'm feeling exhausted and want to go back to bed!

I have been noticing for a few weeks now that sticking to the 1200 calorie nutrition plan seems to be getting harder and harder. Until now, I have still been sticking to it consistently (besides a few weekend binges), but I just feel so much hungrier than I did before. It was actually relatively easy to stick to and I rarely felt hungry, but now, all of a sudden, it doesn't feel like enough food. And it's more than just wanting to eat more as well. It's more of a physical thing where it seems like I genuinely need more. My body is saying, "please feed me!"

I have never experienced this kind of situation before, and I'm not sure I have been dealing with it appropriately!

I was trying so hard to stick to the nutrition plan after all the lollies I ate last Sunday... and a few on Monday. I was dreading the scales on Wednesday, but I actually lost 800g, which I was really surprised about. That meant I had lost the 400g I gained after my birthday, plus an extra 400g.

I think the weigh-in might have been where the problems started. With all the hunger I have been experiencing lately, I have been really tempted to just increase my calories a bit, since I'm so close to my goal weight. I had decided to stick-out the weight loss plan until the end of this round of the 12WBT, but after losing 800g despite eating a lot of lollies, I started thinking in the back of my mind, "well, if I can do that and still lose weight, maybe I can slacken the reins a little". So on Wednesday night I had more lollies. And as I always do when I over-indulge, I felt super guilty afterwards. I managed to be good on Thursday and Friday, but I have discovered these amazing mini ice-creams by Cadbury that are ice-cream versions of chocolate bars! So I managed to fit an ice-cream Turkish delight into my snack allowance on both these days. I know I shouldn't do this kind of thing on a regular basis, but at least it was low fat ice-cream and only 178 calories ;).

Then on Saturday things got worse again. I woke up and had reached my goal of getting below 60kg. Awesome! Then I went to the gym and kicked butt in my SSS. 840 calories! And I was pleased to discover I can still run 5km. More awesome!
But after my giant workout, and a not-so-giant lunch, I was feeling pretty tired. By about 2pm I was exhausted and actually lay down for a nap. I woke up at around 3pm feeling really nauseous, headachy and light headed. I decided to abandon my no-snacks-on-treat-meal-Saturday rule. After eating, all my symptoms disappeared, adding strength to the idea that I need to be eating more. Then on Saturday night, under the bad influence on my boyfriend (who, despite his good intentions, just can't understand having to watch what you eat), I had more lollies and more ice cream. And then, because it's been in the house and because I've been ravenously hungry, I had more ice-cream on Sunday... and Monday... and today. Mountains of ice-cream!

And now you see what I mean when I say I haven't been dealing with the potential need to increase my calories very well. If this happened in one week, I am terrified to think what might happen if I officially went into maintenance.   

It needs to stop! Now!

So here is the plan from now until the end of the 12WBT:

The Plan:

• It is plausible that I need to increase my calories slightly, especially so close to my goal weight. 1200 calories is not a lot, after all. I also did all 6 workouts last week for the first time in a while. On top of this, I did proper strength workouts (instead of just pump) last week with the supervision of Mr. Personal Trainer Boyfriend (meaning no slacking off). This challenged me a lot more and resulted in a lot more DOMS! I intend to keep up this new workout regime, and after my post about building muscle, I'd say my muscles might appreciate some extra food. 
• Trying to stick to 1200 calories despite being ravenously hungry is clearly not working. I can make it to the afternoon/evening, but then I start stuffing my face because I'm so hungry. I would be better off planning for a slight increase in calories through healthy snacks rather than bingeing at the end of the day. 
• As of tomorrow, I will aim for 1,500 calories on the days that I exercise and 1,200 on the days that I don't. It's not a huge increase, but it should make things more bearable. I will see how this is going after a week. 
• I need to get back into the routine of planned meals and snacks. Problems start when I begin eating whenever I feel like it. 
• The main change I will make to increase my calories is adding an extra snack. Until now I have been having an afternoon snack and an evening snack. I will add a morning snack for after my workouts.
• I need to stop buying lollies and junk food! If it's in the house the temptation is too great. The main problem is if I buy a packet of something. If there's just one, you can't go back for more or have any the next day. I won't ban treats altogether (that's just mean!), but I will stop keeping them in the house. 

Oh well, I feel a lot better now that I have a plan. So this week I will focus on putting this plan into action and giving 100% in my workouts. I'm dreading the scales tomorrow. But whatever will be, will be. At least I have a plan!

I will also try to actually complete this week's challenge. 800 burpees! I should probably get started hey? I haven't done a lot of burpees in my life and I am already dreading this. I couldn't even do 20 in a row during a workout last week, and I think I'm pretty fit now! Though, to be fair, it was the end of my workout and I was pretty stuffed.

Here's a tribute to the evil master-mind behind this week's challenge:

Well I think that's all I wanted to say. But since this post has been a bit of a downer, I will end on a few positives from the past week:

• I am really loving doing real resistance training. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I did squats in the squat rack. I was so terrified of the squat rack, but it's not so bad!
• I re-did my fitness test and I have improved on everything! I ran 1km in 4mins36sec. That's 13km an hour! I was pretty stuffed after that. 
• I lost another 7cm. 
• My boyfriend is now an officially certified personal trainer. And he won the award for class champion! I'm so proud of him and I know he will be amazing.  

My brain is currently working on an insightful, but potentially controversial post about protein and high protein/low carb diets, so keep an eye out over the next few days.

Katie

E-mail: creatinghealthykatie@gmail.com
Instagram: @creatinghealthykt