Day 15 - TLT

So I've decided to in a way blog retrospectively! It'll be easier to blog about yesterday during the day today and so on as I'm just too tired by the time I get to the evenings that I just sink into bed!! So...yesterday was a pretty good day...other than being super hot and humid!!

Started my first foray into raw uncooking. Had Zane's apple breakfast bowl. Think I chose the wrong type of apple to use though as it was way to juicy for my liking!! Hers seemed a lot dryer and more sticky than mine. Maybe I'll add less almond milk to the next one! Had a salad for lunch with bacon and then dinner last night I made chicken mince rissoles. Never made rissoles before but they turned out great! Just had a few rissoles with a big salad. I don't think I drank enough water yesterday though...just felt like I didn't have enough. Went walking last night and did some uphill work and ran the last 5mins or so.

Things have been crazy lately. I feel like I haven't dedicated enough to the challenge the last 4-5 days. Need to get myself back into the right mind frame. It's just been hard with 2 sick kids etc. the house is kinda falling apart so need to get stuck into that too! The list is neverending...

See you tomorrow
Crystal

Days 11-14

As you can see I've broken my habit of blogging every day. *sigh. There really is no 'excuse' but it's been a rough few days! Sick kids (and still sick!!), birthday party at the coast, catching up with a friend whose just separated from her husband etc etc. it's been stressful, tiring and I'm glad to try and get back to some normalcy! I've cheated with food, and feel horribly guilty but at the end of the day I need to forgive myself and move on. It's really hard when things are outside of your control!! minor going to list all my foods over the last few days. I'll just start fresh tomorrow. On a good note though I went to the raw food uncooking class Friday night and it was awesome!! Learned heaps and starting tomorrow I'm trying out some raw recipes! Should be fun!!!


Until tomorrow!
Crystal

Day 10 - TLT

Wow! 1/6 of the way through the challenge!! Go us!! A good day today! Stuck to my ins and outs. Had a chocolate craving today though!! I'm not a big chocolate person anyways but knowing that I couldn't have it I think made me crave it more!! Didn't give in of course! Much easier to not give on when it's not in the house anyways!! Went for a 5k run tonight and actually felt super! It's still 'hard' for me to run 5k but tonight was the 'easiest' 5k run I've done so I must be getting fitter in my body and mentally stronger as well!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - lemon water, green hydration drink, bacon, egg
Lunch - tuna salad, lemon water
Dinner - slow cooked turkey breast, olives, salad

Off to bed! Feeling a bit weary tonight!
Crystal

Day 9 - TLT

Had my 'cheat' day today. Wasn't planning on having it today but had a friend over for morning tea and I wasn't even thinking and I had a slice of apple cinnamon cake! Lol. There goes my no refined sugar rule so I decided well I might as well have my cheat day today. Didn't have a cheat meal...just cheat snacks. Meals were still within what my ins and outs are. Did an earlier hot yoga class today at 4:30 and I felt really good doing it. Back on the wagon properly tomorrow though with my food!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad. Lemon water, green hydration drink
Morning tea - apple, apple cinnamon cake slice, crackers
Lunch - bacon and mushrooms
Dinner - green smoothie after yoga, ham and mushrooms

Crystal

Day 8 - TLT

Well today was a better day than yesterday. I stuck to my plan and felt pretty good today. Went out for my run tonight and did a 5k run and felt good afterwards. Mentally in a good place today overall. I'm hoping to start seeing some real results on the scale this week. I'm exercising a lot and quite intense and watching my food intake so it has to start coming off sooner or later hopefully! I'm feeling so much healthier though and that's so much more important!

Food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad, lemon water, green hydration drink
Lunch - tuna salad, lemon water
Afternoon tea - 1/4 apple
Dinner - homemade chicken mince rissoles

Yoga tomorrow afternoon! Can't wait!
Crystal

Day 7 - TLT

Today was a rough day. Today was the first day that I felt hungry. I was so hungry!! Not sure why because I didn't change anything I was doing. Not only was I hungry but I just felt off this afternoon. Funny tummy, massive headache. Maybe it's my body finally showing signs of withdrawal from the various foods I've eliminated for this challenge. Still went for my run tonight but it made it 25muns rather than my normal 30-35mins. At least it's something though!!

On the up side I turned down cupcakes at a friends place this morning and afternoon tea this afternoon of chocolate cake  with family visiting. Felt good to say no and the craving wasn't actually too bad!

Food for today...
Breakfast - veggies, bit of left over fish, sautéed mushrooms, lemon water
Morning tea - apple, grapes
Lunch - egg salad, lemon water
Dinner - chicken breast with natural Greek yoghurt and Parmesan crust, lemon water
Snack - nuts, seeds, dried cranberries

Tomorrow is my 500calorie day...

Bye for now
Crystal

Day 6 - TLT

Short post today!! Very busy day! Shopping in the morning, grocery shopping, took the kids to the park and went out to a friends in the evening. Very proud of myself as my friend had chocolate pudding slow cooker dessert with ice cream there for us and I politely declined and proceeded to tell her about my 60 day challenge! It was hard because it did smell SO good!! Another thing I have to note is how long it takes me to grocery shop now! Since I'm
Much more aware of labels, ingredients etc it's quite a mammoth task!!

Tried the bonfire teriyaki fish last night! OMGosh!!! DELICIOUS!! My almost 5 year old devoured it and went back for seconds!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - 2 eggs, sautéed mushrooms, lemon water, green hydration drink
Lunch - tuna salad, cucumber, tomato, carrot, beetroot, lemon water
Dinner - teryiki fish, veggies (broccoli, carrot, zucchini)

See you tomorrow!
Crystal

Day 5 - TLT

So today is my 'cheat' day. To be honest I wasn't overly excited about it. Kind of dreading it really. But I've had so many people say you need to have a cheat day or cheat meal. It helps your body get better accostomed to the lower caloric intake on the other days etc etc. But I still wasnt happy about it. I feel guilt for cheating...I feel like I've let myself down by cheating. I only had 1 cheat meal today. Couldn't handle cheating anymore than that!! It's bee a tradition in our household that Friday night is pizza night. So I are normally for breakfast and lunch and then went for my 5k run and had pizza for dinner. Did it taste awesome and remind me of all the things I've been missing the last 5 days...nope. To be honest it made me feel like crap. Yes slightly physically sick but more mentally like crap. Not sure what I'll do with my other cheat days/meals because I really don't want to do THIS again. As punishment (lol) I'm going to do the 6am hot yoga class in the morning. I'm sure I'll feel sick there after eating pizza tonight. Lol. Really though..,what my 'cheat' day has made me realise is that I don't really want that 'stuff' anymore at the moment. I'm liking how I'm feeling by all the healthy eating etc and I don't like how the crap makes me feel! Just another reinforcement that I'm making positive changes in my journey I guess!

My food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad, lemon water, green hydration drink
Morning tea - handful of crackers, nuts, seeds
Lunch - chicken salad with cucumber, carrot, beet root, tomato, cheese
Dinner - UUGGHHHH Pizza lol

See you in the hot yoga room in the morning!!
Crystal

Day 4 - TLT

I can't believe we have hit day 4 already! Only 56 days to go! Lol. No seriously though the last 4 days have actually been 'easier' than I thought they would be. Today Dr Espen posted a short video saying people were emailing saying they were struggling a bit, feeling overwhelmed etc.  It got me thinking today. Why am I not feeling those things??! I'm giving up a lot of bad habits food wise yet my body seems to be handling it well. I've already noticed a big increase in energy, mentally more aware and not a huge amount of cravings. I thought the cravings would be bad. Especially since I'm still having to  cook meals for my family that include some of the  things I'm not able to have.  But I'm doing ok! I'm assuming my exercise has helped curb cravings, help with energy etc as well but I'm sure others are exercising too!  I'm honestly not sure why I'm not 'suffering' like those people!! Maybe I should just be thankful but in the sane respect it makes me wonder if I'm doing something 'wrong' here! I suppose everyone's journey is different and this is just that very thing rearing it's head.

It was a positive day again with my food and exercise. I was able to get to an earlier hot yoga class late this afternoon rather than the evening class which I usually do so that meant I could go out for a nice 40min power walk tonight. I took a break from running tonight. I want  to do another 5k run tomorrow night to make 4 for this week!! Weighed myself today as well. Found out I'm 1.7kgs down since Monday so that's pretty awesome!!

Anyways, food for the day...
Breakfast - lemon water, egg salad with carrot and celery, green hydration drink
Morning tea - apple
Lunch - salad with carrot, beetroot, tomato, cucumber, cheese, left over steak from the family's dinner the night before
Afternoon tea - nuts and seeds, dried cranberries
Dinner - green smoothie after my hot yoga class, last serve of the egg salad!!

Tomorrow is my 'cheat' day. The handbook says a cheat day is good for you. I'm having a bit of trouble processing what I want to get out of my cheat day. I don't want to gorge myself all day on all my forbidden foods. I don't think that's the point. But I'm also not craving things in a big way either so I'm not sure. I was thinking I might have a cheat meal rather than a day. Friday is normally our traditional pizza night. Might have some pizza and hope it doesn't make me feel ill!! :/

See you tomorrow
Crystal

Day 3

Day 3 is almost done and dusted! Lemon water...tick. Green hydration drink...tick. Fish oil supplement...tick. Green veggies...tick. Today was my first fasting day under the 5:2 diet. It's actually been a lot easier than I thought. I didn't feel hungry during the day. But I did feel hungry when I went for my 5k run tonight!! But that passed after I got home, had a good drink of water, showered and  organised things for tomorrow.

Food for today was obviously less due to the fasting but here it is...

Breakfast - egg salad, apple, lemon water
Lunch - chicken salad with carrot, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber,

Day 2

Hello friends!! Day 2 of my 60 day challenge is now complete!! And it was a pretty good day!! Started the day with my lemon water and then mixed up my green hydration drink for the first time ever!! Talking a look at it it looked pretty gross I must admit but it actually tasted pretty good!! Even Eve was taking swigs of it and didn't want to give it back!! Also had my fish oil supplement today and my coconut oil so I'm well on track for my 7 food/substances in!!

Mentally I was a bit fatigued today. Not sure if that's a result of cutting out refined sugars or the no carb thing!! I went grocery shopping today as well. Omgosh it was quite eye opening to stand there and actually read the labels thoroughly!! It seriously seems like everything has sugar in it!! Was trying to find an alternative 'snack' to things like crackers and potato chips and found these chickpea crackers and was like yum!! But then I checked the ingredients and yup...sugar added. Darn it!! Crazy how it's added to almost everything!! I did get a chance to make the bonfire egg salad today though!! And all I can say is yum, yum, yum!! Even Mia said to me at dinner "this is awesome mum!!"

Also did some reading today about the fast diet or the 5:2 diet. Definitely seems like something I want to experiment with during these 60 days. So tomorrow will be one of my 2 'fasting' days. Should've interesting to see how I feel after doing this for a while!!

Here's my food intake for the day...
Breakfast - lemon water, green hydration water, 3 hard boiled eggs
Lunch - salad with baby greens, carrot, beet root, cucumber, chicken, lemon water
Dinner - about 100gms of oven baked chicken breast, small amount of bonfire egg salad. Only had a small dinner as I went and did my hot yoga class tonight. Also had the green smoothie after my class.

Tomorrow is coming so it's time to get some all important zzzzzz's!!

Bye for now!!

Day 1 - TLT

Day 1 is almost complete!! How exciting to be embarking on this journey!! I can't say that today was easy. But in the same respect it wasn't too hard. I was able to stick to my foods out list. I did my daily exercise by running 5k plus I did the push up exercises that were sent in the first daily email. What I DIDN'T do though is have my green hydration water. Wasn't organized enough in the morning between getting the kids sorted at breakfast, getting school lunch done, etc etc that I forgot to get it ready. I won't be making the same mistake tomorrow though!! For me planning is key!!

Here is my food intake for the day...
Breakfast - tbsp coconut oil, lemon water, 2 hard boiled eggs
Morning tea - apple
Lunch - salad with baby leaves, spinach, carrot, beet root, cucumber, tomato, grated cheese, organic steak, lemon water
Dinner - juicing (beet root, carrot, apple etc), nuts and seeds, dried cranberries

After hearing Dr A talk about the 5:2 diet I have set a task for myself for tomorrow to research that approach as I'm very interested in trying it for this challenge!!

Until tomorrow!!
Crystal

60 Day Bonfire Total Life Transformation

Tomorrow I'm embarking on a journey...a 60 day journey!  It's called the Bonfire Total Life Transformation (TLT). It's not about weight loss...it's a complete transformation (although I'm hoping weight loss will be a component for me!!).  The staff at Bonfire will be guiding all us challengers through the entire 60 day process. Equipping us with tools, knowledge, recipes, motivation etc etc to help us complete our own individual challenges.  It's all so exciting!! I'm excited to be a part of this awesome experience!! My team leader Dr Espen (who's also my chiropractor) will be an essential part of my journey.

As part of the journey you have to set goals. Achievable goals! Habits you will change. Foods that will be eliminated during the challenge and foods that will be added. You also need to identify your motivations for doing this challenge.  One habit for my challenge that I want to start is daily blogging about my challenge journey. A form of accountability really. I want to be able to track how I'm going, how I'm feeling, how I'm looking and my struggles and triumphs.

So this is the start...my first blog entry for this challenge which officially kicks off tomorrow. Here are my lists of things for the challenge... I'm so ready to get started!!

7 HABITS
1. Make sure I exercise in some form every day .
2. Make sure I eat a proper breakfast every morning.
3. Look myself in the eye every morning and say 'you are worth it' and 'you can do this'
4. Focus on my positive attributes and not my negative ones
5. Involve my girls in the healthy changes as much as I can
6. Make dinner my lightest meal and breakfast my heaviest each day
7. Keep a daily blog about my challenge.

7 FOODS/SUBSTANCES IN
1. Coconut oil
2. Lemon water
3. Fish oil supplement
4. Green hydration water
5. Juicing
6. More green veggies!
7. Nuts

7 FOOD/SUBSTANCES OUT
1. Potatoes
2. Pasta
3. Rice
4. Bread
5. Soft drink
6. Refined sugar
7. Potato chips/snack foods

My Motivation Statement
"My motivations for doing the TLT are quite 'simple' to express. As a mum to 2 young girls I want to provide a good example for them. I want to model for them what a healthy mind, healthy body and healthy life means. I want to learn how to be the best me I can be so that I can be the best mum I can be. I want to learn healthy habits I can implement for the rest of my life. Most of all I need to start making myself a priority again. After having kids (and even before!) I always put myself at the end of the list. Bottom priority. It's now MY time. And I can't feel guilty for making myself a priority. I need to believe in me."

So until tomorrow my friends, take care!

Love Crystal