The WHY

I've been asked a lot lately why I'm doing my body sculpting comp. It didn't dawn on me until recently why this is such an important goal and huge milestone for me in life. Yes, I want to look good, and there is some vanity in what I'm doing, but the real reason goes so much deeper than that.

Most people won't realise this, but my passion for health and fitness came later in life. Prior to my 20's, the only regular exercise I'd participated in was dancing at nightclubs haha.

I tried and failed at sport many times as a child. One of my earliest and most painful memories is of attempting to learn to swim. Not being a naturally sporty child, it took me a long time to pick it up, and after a couple of months of a grumpy swim teacher and a grumpy mother, that was given up on. Ballet lessons only lasted a year, because again I didn't pick it up very naturally/easily.

My next failed sporting memory was at school, attempting to play a game of cricket. When it was my turn to bat, everyone who was fielding moved in close, because they already knew sport wasn't my forte. Every time there was team sports this was repeated, and it was a given that I would come last at any kind of competition like cross country (often I wouldn't even manage to finish).

Next was joining a netball team ( I think I was around 10 or 11 years old). The first time we got together as a team, I burst into tears because I had never played before and I had no idea what I was doing. All of the other girls had played before, so I was picked on and laughed at, not just by my team members, but also their mothers. We used to take along $2 each week for our end of season trip. I never missed paying, but when the trip was organised, I wasn't invited. Needless to say I didn't play a 2nd season.

High school was even worse. I would try to wag P.E as much as possible, just to avoid the embarrassment of not being good enough. When I was forced to do a beep test (where you have to run to either end of the room in time for the beep), I was always the first to be told to stop.

Lucky for me, my wonderful husband came into my life when I was 20, and he got me going to the gym. I think lifting weights appeals to me because I'm not competing with anyone else, and I can put on my music and get in my zone. I LOVE IT!

Why am I competing? This is the first time in my life that I don't feel like a failure when it comes to sport. This is pushing me to my limits and forcing me to step outside of my comfort zone. Wake up feeling tired? Too bad, I have to train. Having a bad day? Too bad, I have to stick to my diet. It is taking a huge commitment, mentally, physically and emotionally. 

My comp is still 9 weeks out and I am quite amazed at how much it has taught me and changed me for the better already. I can't wait to see what's next! Watch this space :o)

© Copyright Anna McConnell 2015. All rights reserved.

Chocolate Protein Balls

I wanted to make a sweet treat to share with some old work colleagues when I visited them. I wasn't finding what I wanted on the internet so I made this recipe up and it turned out pretty good!

Ingredients:

• 40g Raw Almonds, chopped into small pieces
• 30g 85% Dark Chocolate,chopped into small pieces
• 2 sachets Juice Plus Complete dutch chocolate
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed
• 1 Tablespoon Cocoa or Cacao
• 1/8th teaspoon Pure Stevia Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted then cooled
• 1/4 cup Almond or Coconut milk

To coat:

• About 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa and 2 Tablespoons almond meal mixed

Directions:

1. Place almonds, chocolate, complete, flaxseed, cocoa and stevia in a bowl and mix well
2. Add coconut oil and Almond/Coconut milk, mix well
3. It will seem like a very sticky mixture, but the flaxseed works as a binder. Let rest for 5 minutes.
4. Roll into 20 small balls, then coat with the cocoa and almond meal mixture.
5. Keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for an easy treat!

Calories: 56               Carbs: 3.5g                  Fat: 4g                 Protein: 2.2g

© Copyright Anna McConnell 2015. All rights reserved.

DRY July

Have you committed to dry July? I have, and to be honest I NEARLY fell off the bandwagon already!! 

We hosted a free toastmasters meeting at our house last night, which meant lots of people consuming alcohol. My first reaction when people was arrived was to seriously consider whether I could sneak a drink. But we all know one drink is very rarely one drink! 

When we consume alcohol, it is not just the empty calories to consider. Alcohol temporarily keeps your body from burning fat, explains integrative medicine specialist Pamela M. Peeke, MD, author of The Hunger Fix. The reason is, that your body can't store calories from alcohol for later, the way it does with food calories. So when you drink, your metabolic system must stop what it's doing (like, say, burning off calories from your last meal) to get rid of the booze.

"Drinking presses 'pause' on your metabolism, shoves away the other calories, and says, 'Break me down first!'" Dr. Peeke explains. The result is that whatever you recently ate gets stored as fat.

You are also far more likely to mindlessly eat when you have been drinking, as alcohol lowers your inhibitions. You are likely to eat more AND eat the wrong kinds of foods, without considering the consequences to your body. It also increases your appetite, so even if you start the night with good intentions it is unlikely you will be able to stick to them. So not only will you eat more, but everything you do eat will be stored as FAT!

Alcohol has also been proven to increase the risk of cancer. Evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time, the higher their risk is of developing an alcohol-associated cancer (including breast, esophageal, head and neck, liver and colorectal cancers).

Now let's consider hangovers. Who has woken up feeling like nothing but a big greasy breakfast? Or sugar? You are also likely to feel crappy and tired, which often leads to bad food choices (there goes that clean eating!) AND let's face it, who really feels like doing their workout when hungover?

So how did I get through the night? It was easy, once I got through that first half an hour. I reminded myself of all of the facts above, and realised I really couldn't get away with one drink, since I'll be entering my first body sculpting comp in October. Once I got used to the fact I wasn't drinking, and started having conversations with people, I was far too consumed with that, and I didn't even want a drink.

So how about considering this before you have that drink! Even if you don't have a big goal like mine, taking a month off alcohol can only be a good thing! 

© Copyright Anna McConnell 2015. All rights reserved.