Week 2 - Jamie Eason 12 Week Live Fit Challenge

So I'm on day 11 of the Live Fit Challenge, with the first 2 weeks' workouts in the bag. I'm actually a day ahead of schedule, as I couldn't sit through 3 whole days of rest before starting week 2's challenges. And I know this is ok, as the first month of the challenge is really to help people new to lifting weights find their way in gently, and make sure they have recovered from the first week's activity before beginning the next.

Altogether I've done 2 rounds of the same exercises, concentrating on 2 different body parts each day, namely Chest & Triceps, Biceps & Back, Legs & Calves and finally Shoulders & Abs. The one I've been most sore after is the Chest & Triceps day. I seem to have been a little sore in the front delts, which is probably a muscle you also use when doing chest press, and in the chest muscles themselves. Chest is the part when if left to my own devices I work the least, probably as there aren't so many visible signs of muscle there. So this program is at least getting me working on ALL of myself!

In terms of the eating plan part of this plan, I don't think I've been eating as much as I should have. I've certainly not been eating the required 5 egg whites both morning and night, that still seems way over the top, especially the evening portion, which people are saying they have right before bed. Wow. And although I have been eating protein with every meal, I've probably again not been eating as much as is recommended, so I'm not sure how this will affect my muscular development.

Today I managed to find egg whites in a carton by 'Two Chicks' - 15 egg whites in a carton for about £3. This is roughly the same value as buying whole eggs, only it means I don't have to cook them to eat them as they're pasteurised, and I don't have to go through the whole cracking eggs & separating the whites palava every time. So I bought 3 cartons to start with, I hope they're good.

Another success this week was finding a pancake recipe that works AND tastes good - I found a fab recipe on Natalie Hodson's Facebook page (thanks for the link Wendy!), and it makes the most light and fluffy pancakes you've ever had. The recipe is here for anyone who would like to try... I'm sure Natalie won't mind me sharing...

Blueberry Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites
• ½ cup old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I like Almond Breeze brand)
• Dash of salt
• 2 tiny scoops of KAL brand stevia (or you could use 2 packets Truvia)
• ½ cup applesauce
• Dash of cinnamon

This is one of my favorite ways to eat my egg whites in the morning! I put 6 egg whites, 1/2 cup old fashioned oats, dash of salt, 1 tsp baking powder, stevia (or Truvia) and probably about 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I just eyeballed it). Blend together for about 20-30 seconds or so or med-high speed. You actually can mix in a bowl, I just find it easier to use my blender.

Cook it just like a regular pancake. Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray and cook on med heat on stovetop. Measure out 1/4 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen will work). This recipe will make two pancakes. After you pour the liquid into your pan sprinkle half of the blueberries into the batter so the blueberries cook into the pancakes. Sometimes I have a hard time getting these to flip without breaking, but usually they turn out pretty good.

I used 1/2 c. of unsweetened applesauce and sprinkled cinnamon on top instead of syrup (this picture was taken before I got to the cinnamon). You could do sugar free syrup if you wanted, just use very sparingly and don't use sugar-free syrup every time you make these. One of my favorite breakfasts!

Having raved about the above recipe yesterday I thought I'd make the pancakes again today, seeing as I have more time at the weekend too cook this type of breakfast, only... DISASTER! I thought I'd add a tablespoon of ground flax seed to the mixture, thinking I still want to keep up my flax intake, and maybe I added a little more coconut milk than last time, but the darn things stuck to the bottom of the pan, were too liquidy, and then wouldn't flip, so all I ended up with was a mushy mess of 4 wasted eggs. That'll teach me for getting all blaze about things, thinking I know what I'm doing. SO back to square one with the recipe, I will follow it to the letter next time again. Lesson learned.

This week has also brought new protein powders into my kitchen so I am hoping that changing the taste and texture up between the new ones will keep me from getting bored of the same old chocolately taste of the pHd Belgian Chocolate one I got the last two times from Tesco. I still need to get a new vanilla one but I think I've more or less decided on one so that will follow this week. I tried to get ones with high proportion of BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acids) in it, as I don't want to have to take separate supplements too. Hate taking tabs.

So, today was rest day, even though I cracked off a Bodyrock.tv workout first thing, just a 550 rep challenge - 11 different exercises, 50 reps each, I did it in 19 mins 37secs, which apparently is quite good. See if you can beat this by clicking here:

550 Killer Reps Workout, from Bodyrock.tv

Another 2 rest days to follow, but knowing me and seeing as I'm not entirely new to this lifting malarkey, I will probably just take one more day out (I'm visiting a friend for the night anyway), then it'll be onto week 3 on Tuesday. It's a 5-day lifting week this time, wish me luck!

Janice.