I’ve been really excited to write this for a few weeks now, as fitness and nutrition have been a huge part of my life since the end of February this year.
I’ve never been fat-fat, but always chubby, which has annoyed me, specifically my ‘boobs’ and face. I’d say I’ve always been fairly confident, but never body confident, ever.
I’m lucky that I can build muscle relatively quickly, but this comes as a curse in disguise, as I can put on fat twice as quickly as the muscle. I also love snacking, often out of boredom, stress or frustration, which is an endless pit of empty calories. Last October I ended a relationship with my boyfriend of four years, which was amicable but still stressful. At that time I was the heaviest I’d ever been, and over Christmas I found myself stress-eating more and more. It was finally time to act.
Through the help and advice of a female professional champion body builder, a gym manager, a gym-crazy friend of mine and countless others, I’ve been able to get great information and build my own fitness and nutritional regime that has not only changed my body and skin, but also my mental wellbeing. I have more energy, I’m slightly less crabby and I can think much more clearly.
The two photos on the left are from last summer (2013) and the photos on the right from the last couple of weeks. It’s only now, putting the photos side by side, that I’ve really noticed the difference.
My diet has completely changed: cutting out complex carbs where possible and replacing them with simple carbs such as potatoes, wholemeal pasta and brown rice; lots of protein-rich meat and pulses cooked well; salads, fruit and plenty of vegetables (still aiming for five portions a day); and treats, because it’s important not to starve yourself, or to make your food choices feel like a diet. If you feel like you’re dieting, then you won’t keep it up.
My workout and weight-lifting regime has been one to two hours, four times per week: back and biceps, chest and triceps, shoulders and abs, legs. I started by running a mix of all exercises over one to two hours to build my core up, doing the same session each time, but over the last three months I’ve split it into the combinations above. After each session apart from legs, I work in 15-20 minutes of cross-training cardio, geared to burning fat.
A lot of the credit goes to some of the fitness supplements I’ve been taking, particularly pre-workout boosters as well as protein supplements to make sure I’m getting my optimum amount. If you didn’t already know, protein is key in building muscle and repairing the body after a workout.
Poised
This is less a recommendation of a particular product and more of an outstanding online store. I should stress that I wasn’t paid or sponsored to recommend Poised; this is genuinely because I think they offer an outstanding service.
Poised offer everything from skincare to sports supplements, and I have to say I’ve been blown away by the pricing, coming up cheaper on almost everything. I’ve been using Optimum Nutrition Pre-Workout from them, which worked out a good bit cheaper than elsewhere online. They stock pretty much everything you could want, including everything you see in my photo above.
Go Nutrition Volt Advanced Pre-Workout Formula
Volt by name, electrifying by nature. This was the first recommendation from a friend of mine who told me about the advantages of using a pre-workout. As I mentioned, I also use Optimum Nutrition’s Pre, as I’ve been made aware of the importance of mixing them up so you don’t get ‘used’ to one product. This is definitely one of the best I’ve used so far.
Go Nutrition, established by the same person who started the well-known My Protein, is an impressive nutrition manufacturer who pride themselves on transparency and efficacy, with solid formulations that almost always taste great.
If you’re doing solid weightlifting or a heavy circuit session, Go Nutrition Volt will let you push that extra bit harder, gain that pump and break through the wall.
It tastes pretty nice, available in both Berry Burst and Lemon & Lime. You can make it as intense as you want, but I’d suggest you start with a low dose of just three or four scoops (eight scoops is the advanced dose). Blend with 100-200ml of plain water, shake, and down around 20-40 minutes before your workout.
You’ll feel high as a kite when you start your workout, and I haven’t found there to be much of a crash; it seems to wear out of your system slowly rather than dropping you off a cliff.
Active Sports Nutrition Lean Protein
Active Sports Nutrition have been a great find. They have a good online shop, but also had a shop right here in my home town of Huddersfield. Muscle King is their exclusive brand and has to be one of the best protein supplements I’ve taken.
Not only is it a protein supplement with a really low fat and carbohydrate content, it also includes two fat-burning agents as well as the antioxidants green tea and acai berry.
Take one scoop before your workout and one scoop after, mixing with 300ml of water and shaking well.
I’ve been using the chocolate flavour, which tastes amazing; it’s actually a pleasure to drink, whereas with many protein shakes you almost have to hold your nose to get them down.
The giveaway
I promised you a giveaway. One winner received every supplement you see below, including the shakers, clocking in at over £190.
This super-sized supplement giveaway included:
- Go Nutrition Shaker
- Go Nutrition Volt Advanced Pre-Workout Supplement 0.25KG
- 3 x Poised Shakers
- PhD Diet Whey 1KG
- Reflex Nutrition BCAA Muscle Strength 500 Tablets
- Hyperstrength Strawberry Banana Protein 2.27KG
- Hyperstrength Creatine HCL 30G
- Optimum Nutrition Platinum Pre-Workout Fruit Punch 0.3KG
- Muscle King Lean Protein Chocolate 2KG
This giveaway has now ended. Thanks to everyone who entered.
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