If you've seen my stories, you might have noticed I'm on a bit of a health kick!
It's something I've been meaning to do for months (years really, since I last felt fit when the twins were 2, before the PND got bad!) and I've finally stopped procrastinating and making half-hearted attempts and got myself a coach. I started working with Nicolle Smartt, NX Coaching, a month ago and still going strong I'm happy to say! Getting stronger every day in fact!
Nicolle has been amazing, she's given me a structured meal plan with variation and plenty of yummy recipes which I'm enjoying, as well as a workout plan and step and water targets too.
The teacher's pet in me can't resist trying to be "good" and impress Nicolle and get all those targets ticked off each day!
She's available whenever I need to ask a question via WhatsApp and she keeps track of everything I'm eating too. We have a formal check in every week and she is very encouraging, even when I swap out some of the hard exercises for easier ones I can actually do, lol.
While I was away in Spain, instead of spending time trying to guess and track my food, I was able to just send her photos of everything I ate and drank and she kept me on track that way with tips and advice. And yep, I even trained while I was away thanks to Gillian lending me her dumbbells and our whole group encouraging me (and some even joining in to get my steps done)! I actually lost half a kilo that week!
And I still had fun, I was up with my dodgy dance moves without having any alcohol (had to get those steps in!) although I did enjoy a couple of sangrias on the first and last day (and maybe a cheeky cocktail on the last evening too) and the food was so delicious and healthy at the villa, I didn't feel I was missing out if I skipped a couple of courses (resisting the cheese & wine was tough though)!
It's been a month now since I started and I've lost almost 5kg in total, I feel fitter, can lift more, can go upstairs without losing my breath and my clothes aren't as tight. Hopefully my belly will diminish enough that I can paint my toes with ease again without it being in the way! I'm also looking forward to fitting back into some of my favourite clothes which have been banished to the back of the cupboard for too long.
There are more reasons why I'm doing this though, it's not just about how I feel, how I look and setting a good example for my kids (who, by the way, are excellent at counting my reps and fetching me cold water mid-workout!) Heart disease has taken people from my family, and they weren't even overweight. So I need to do my best to minimise these risks to my health too.
If you'd like to know more, here's a brief rundown of what I'm doing and how you can work with Nicolle...
3 workouts a week - around 35-45 mins of weight lifting with dumbbells (because I work out at home, she can also tailor this for the gym if you prefer). She adapted this to body weight workouts when I travelled to Edinburgh without my dumbbells as the hotel had no gym either.
Currently 8000 steps a day but I feel she's about to ramp this up again - I started on 6,500 as I think she was trying not to overwhelm me in the beginning, thankfully! (Yep, I was right, it just went up today as I publish to 9.5k, eek! I had a bit of a panic and she's now changing it to a split target as I will struggle to get these done on my surgery days, phew!)
Currently 2 litres of water/day (it also just went up today to 2.5L) - something which was difficult for me but is definitely becoming easier, I'm not a huge fan of water and prefer milk or fizzy water but I am learning to love it, kinda.
Foodwise I have a calorie deficit to stick to and she's given me a meal plan and a recipe book with ideas for each meal and snacks to stay within this.
If you're interested in working with Nicolle, she's just given me 3 vouchers for £100 off! One of my friends has already claimed one so let me know if you're interested and I can send you one ;)
(Disclaimer: I had already written this post before she gave me the vouchers so it's not an ad and she didn't ask me to write this, I just wanted to write about my experience as I do recommend her if you need to get fit too! If you do sign up, I will get a free month of coaching with her.)