As I probably undid all my hard work over the last couple of months over two and half weeks of Christmas, I was SOOOO excited to try the 12 diets/ 6 months challenge I have set myself.

The FIRST CHALLENGE I have set myself is *drum roll*

The Cabbage Soupe Diet

This is a classic diet which I doubt any of you haven't heard of. It is known for letting you drop pounds quickly and it is meant to help detox your system and get you up on your way towards healthy eating.

Currently, I am on Day 2. To fully cleanse my system I fasted on Day 0. However, I did too much exercise (shouldn't really do this when fasting) and therefore I had an apple and a bag of lettuce to get me through the day because I was beginning to feel faint and not focus in lectures (I am at University).

Here is a list of what I have eaten the last two days.

Day 1

2 oranges

1 baby apple (i have never seen apples this small!!)

Cabbage Soup

1 orange

Cabbage Soup

Cabbage Soup

1 orange
1 apple

Exercise - FitnessBlender Kettlebell Workout
                 FitnessBlender - Tank Top Arms Workout

Day 2

Cabbage Soup
Carrot

Cabbage Soup

Handful of carrots (about six)

Beetroot Salad (so yum!!!)

Exercise: - Abs and Obliques Complete Workout (FitnessBlender)
               - Abs standing up Workout (FitnessBlender)

(I may have some more carrots or cabbage soup later).

This is what I have eaten so far on the diet. I must admit today I woke up feeling very faint and unenergised. It was weird. I also had a foggy type headache. It was hard to get the motivation to exercise but I am glad I did. I also found it hard to do university work. I kept falling asleep whilst reading and I didn't stop being hungry till 3 in the afternoon when I had about six carrots in a row. I also felt a lot weaker when doing my exercises. Tomorrow I want to do HIIT and it is routine I am used to but I wonder how tired I will feel during it tomorrow. Then i'll really be able to tell how tired I am feeling due to this diet. I am really looking forward to Friday. That'll be the day I can eat Bananas and Skimmed Milk. I am not even that big of a fan of bananas but the concept of eating them is getting me so excited!!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been mainly posting this on my blog gym-sloth.tumblr.com. However, I am now determined to update this blog as well :)
This was a blog I wrote a couple of weeks back on Tumblr. Hope you enjoy :)

This morning, I weighed myself and felt disappointed. I had only lost a pound. I had been feeling hungry all week, worked out everyday but one and I just felt really demotivated. What was the point? I felt really down and upset. I’m pretty sure everyone has been through that. 

I am eating less than anyone I know, I am not drinking during my last year of University, and when my friends and I went out for a meal I didn’t eat anything deliberately so that I could eat healthily back in my flat. I had one treat day during the week, which I feel is beneficial because it keeps your BMR (metabolism) guessing. But I began feeling like I should just give up all treats…and all meals. Or maybe just give up the diet and live happily eating what I wanted and not focusing on my weight. 

But then I stopped myself. Tumblr actually helped because I remembered all the tumblr posts I had seen about ‘not giving up’. It’s pointless to give up. Tumblr motivated me so I thought I return the favour and spread my own motivational thoughts when one feels they haven’t lost ‘enough’.

One week may not be as successful as the next or the previous one, despite having done more or less to ensure you are being fit and healthy, but you shouldn’t give up. You should be proud of yourself for not giving up, for continuing, so that in six months time you can look back and be proud you didn’t give up. Don’t bully yourself for not losing ‘enough’ either. 1lb or .5lb or even no pounds is still better than the week before. Even if you lost nothing I bet your fitness has improved that week. Or if you allowed yourself to slip for a week, eating unhealthily and not doing exercise, you can get back on the health wagon whenever you please. Nothing is the end. You can always start again. Furthermore, I’ve googled a pound of weight. 

A pound of fat is that! That is a lot!!! 

Also, maybe you didn’t lose any weight because you gained muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. So maybe you just gained some muscle? (I am not saying that’s what happened to me this week but it could be true for all of you guys!) It helps if you take pictures of yourself every week because then you can see the changes happening, it won’t happen at first because it takes roughly four weeks for you to notice the changes to your body but it will. And then if you don’t lose weight one week you can look back and think “hey, well I have lost weight since the first week so it’s silly to give up now based on a number on a scale”. 

And that is true. It is a number on a scale.Don’t let it rule your mood or emotions. I am disappointed in myself for being sad this morning because it’s not the end of the world. You just have to keep going. 

Hope this helps someone at least! Keep going everyone! x