Introducing the new “morning person” Caitlin

This will be a short one but a positive one! Today I kicked off my 12 Week Body Transformation program with Michelle Bridges. I think it would be close to a year since I signed up for updates about the program but 2 weeks ago I finally summed up the courage to enrol in the program. I’ve signed myself up to a strict schedule of 6 days of workouts (mixes of cardio fitness, toning and strength work) and a diet of only 1200 calories a day.

My first day was rejuvenating and enlightening as I learnt just how easy calories add up! As I prepared myself for the next three months over the weekend I started using the fantastic app “My Fitness Pal” which allows to to input meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks) into a diary as well as adding exercise to offset the accumulating calories. It has such a large database of food (even my specific meals today from the 12WBT menu were in there!!) and is very easy to use. You can set calorie/day goals, weight loss or gain goals and can even use it to see which areas you need to improve within your diet (like more protein, less carbohydrates!) I feel like I’ve gone back to year 10 PE and it’s been a very insightful weekend!

Today began with a 5.30AM alarm to get me to the gym by 5.45 ready for my first work-out! After 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the bike I felt anything but tired! It was a great feeling to get the exercise out of the way first thing in the day so it wasn’t on my mind all day and I didn’t have a chance to make excuses up about why I couldn’t get to the gym!

Breakfast was a delicious ‘Berry Bruschetta’, a delicious start to the morning that felt like having dessert for brekkie, only healthy!! I learnt a hard lesson with my lunch unfortunately – horseradish cream should be used sparingly – I couldn’t event eat some of my bread because it gave me such a kick in my mouth!! Enjoy the salad and roast beef though! Was feeling very hungry by the afternoon, hoping I get used to the smaller portions and lack of carbohydrates. My menu this week has absolutely no pasta in it which is unusual for someone that usually has pasta three times a week!!

Enjoyed a tub of yoghurt this afternoon before heading home to try my very first dinner – Chicken Parmigiana and salad,  a normally fatty meal made healthy! I made extra so I can enjoy it again for lunch tomorrow. It’ll definitely be one of my <300 calorie meal favourites!!

Aside from my new start with 12WBT I’ve just come out of my first weekend of my Hello Sunday Morning adventure and whilst I didn’t really feel the temptation of alcohol over the weekend, I had some interesting conversations with friends about the challenge and unsuccessfully tried to get some more people on board! So far I’ve gotten 2 people on board, 1 more and I’m doing it for 2 months, so if you’re still thinking about it, don’t put it off any longer! Sign up to make the most out of your Sunday Mornings here.

My fresh start also began with me leaving my phone at home all day today! What a difference it made! Although I realised half way to the station and could’ve gone back, I decided to challenge myself to go without it for the day, and despite needing it for a few things (like finding the location of something today!!) I was proud to say I lasted 10 hours without my phone  – definitely a day spent less distracted and more engaged with real life! Not promising I’m going to try it again tomorrow though 😉