Hello petals! I’m still here and still doing the Michelle Bridges 12WBT. When I signed up for the challenge in November, I had every intention of giving myself a week off over Christmas and I did just that… but it kind of accidentally turned into 3 weeks! I still counted my calories and did my exercise, I was just a little bit more relaxed and didn’t report for three weeks. The party has stopped though and now I’m back on track to smash the last four weeks of the challenge!
Michelle Bridges 12WBT – Week Eight Results
Yays
* It’s my first full week of flawless exercise since before Christmas and I’m finally feeling as good as I was feeling before Christmas. Win!
* I’m still doing my Barre Body classes instead of the Michelle Bridges strength training. I signed for another month and I’m just loving it. It’s pretty hardcore – I’ve been wearing my heart rate monitor and I’ve been burning about 600 calories per class. On days when I don’t have Barre class, I run for an hour on the treadmill… while watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I will accept no judgement from you. It’s awesome.
* I’ve been continuing to make healthy choices and calorie count through out a very rough season to diet in. I haven’t been sticking 100% to the menu plan but I’ve been diligently tracking calories and trying my hardest to burn any extras that I consume and I’ve managed to just about maintain my weight over the holiday season.
Nays
* I gained 800 gms over Christmas which actually isn’t really a nay at all. I think it’s the least amount of weight I’ve ever gained over the holidays so I’m just going to high five myself and move on.
* I’m really struggling with not drinking alcohol. I don’t want to sound like an alcoholic but it’s really difficult to say no to an icy cold beer on a hot afternoon when everyone is on holidays and the weather is beautiful. I’ve been drinking most weekends (low carb beer and vodka lime and sodas mainly, then counting the calories and working it off again) but it really stunts my weight loss. Part of me is like ‘YOLO! Summer!‘ and the other part of me is like ‘Have some self control Smags!’. I’m working on it.
Week Breakdown
I tracked my calories all through the holiday season except Christmas Day and New Years eve. I pretty much went above 1200 calories everyday but never above 2000 so I think that’s how I managed to only gain 800gms. This was my first ‘good week’ back.
Friday – 1752 calories eaten and 1 hour Body Barre Class (Extra calories: Mr Smaggle and I cracked a delicious bottle of red that my bestie gave me. Totally worth it.)
Saturday – 2160 calories and 1 hour intense cardio (Extra calories: Wine and home made sushi. We had mates over for dinner and had the best night. Again… totally worth it. I was a good girl though and made a healthy dessert with dark chocolate and frozen banana. It’s all about being realistic and sensible.)
Sunday – 2841 calories and no exercise. (Yeah… this was cider and noodles. I’m going to pretend like this day never happened… awkward.)
Monday – 1199 calories and 1 hour Barre Body class.
Tuesday – 1328 and 1 hour intense cardio on the treadmill.
Wednesday – 1630 calories and 1 hour Body Barre class. (Extra calories – a few glasses of wine and 2 macarons.)
Thursday – 1295 and 1 hour intense cardio on the treadmill.
Week 1 Measurements
I had my 8 week measurements this week which I found super surprising. I lost more centremetres off my waist and gained a little around my hips and chest. Weird.
Chest
Week 1 – 102 cm
Week 4 – 100cm
Week 8 – 101cm
Waist
Week 1 – 98 cm
Week 4 – 91cm
Week 8 – 88cm
Hips
Week 1 – 113 cm
Week 4 – 107cm
Week 8 – 108cm
Thigh
Week 1 – 65 cm
Week 4 – 62cm
Week 8 – 61cm
Arm
Week 1 – 36 cm
Week 4 – 32cm
Week 8 – 32cm
Photos Week 4
Click here to see Week 1 photos.
Click here to see Week 2 photos.
Click here to see Week 3 photos.
Click here to see Week 4 photos and before/after comparison.
Click here to see Week 5 photos.
I’m not going to do side by side comparison shots until I’m totally finished because it will be so much more fun that way. I’ve gone back to my snake t-shirt because everyone freaked out and said I needed to keep wearing it when I changed shirts in my last post, so the snake is back until the end. I’m also so glad I’ve been taking photos because I’ve only a clocked a 3.5 kg weight loss so far and I would usually be really annoyed but I look so different to when I first started it’s really motivating. If you try 12WBT I strongly recommend taking weekly photos. Even in the last few weeks (click on week 5!) where I’ve been a bit relaxed, I’ve still stuck to my exercise and my box gap has widened. It’s all progress people!
Weight Loss to Date – 3.5 kgs
I’ve decided to start showing my per week weight loss to show the fluctuations in weight. I haven’t lost weight consistently at all and I think it’s important for people to see that. Especially plateaus.
Week 1 – LOSS of 2kg
Week 2 – LOSS of 1kg
Week 3 – NO LOSS
Week 4 – LOSS of 1.1kg
Week 5 – GAIN of 300 gms
Week 6 to Week 7 – GAIN of 500 gms
Week 8 – NO LOSS
Weight Loss
Goal – 12kgs
Lost – 3.5 kgs
Left to go – 8.5 kgs