I go on holiday TOMORROW= Final weigh in/measurements....

I realise I was MIA last week, but I still weighed in, and my weight 14 days in was 45.3kg which meant I'd lost 1kg of fat, my lean muscle mass stayed exactly the same. I wasn't very hopeful when weighing in because I'd had a few days where I over indulged, but I did make sure I reigned it in the rest of the week to make up for it.

I weighed today after 20days on the cut because tomorrow I won't have the time to blog before leaving for the airport. After 20 days of 'cutting,' where I ended up being pretty flexible with my macro's and not being super strict, I currently weigh 44kg, and my lean muscle mass STILL hasn't budged, which I am absolutely chuffed about!!!! My body fat % is 19%, which is a total reduction of 5%, and a total of 4.5kg fat loss!!!!

This cut has really taught me more than I thought it would!!! It has helped me to loosen up and shown me that being a bit more flexible with my diet isn't going to have drastic effects, along as it is all in (as cliche as it sounds) moderation. I have started looking at my diet over a 7 day period instead of a 24 hour period, which has massively transformed my mental attitude towards my diet. Once I started looking at it over a 7 day period it definitely didn't seem as hard or restrictive and has helped me to adopt a more balanced approach to my diet, whether it be, cutting, bulking or maintaining my weight. It is pretty simple when you think about it, over a 7 day period, if you know your going away for the weekend, then for the other 5 days just try and be more mindful of your eating and take into account those 2 days your away=BALANCE=SIMPLES!!!

Here have been some of my staple meals....

eggs, veg, salad, kangaroo steak (which I tried for the first time), mackerel, salmon, tuna, yoghurt, proats, fruit, options hot choc, sweet potato, paprika chicken...

Training can also be adjusted and tailored around your lifestyle, going back to the example above, if you know your away for the weekend, then try and incorporate some HIIT sessions or classes into your training. This will help to burn additional calories and limit the damage done over the weekend with over indulging. As I explained, I have been doing a lot more spin classes to help burn additional calories and prepare myself for my holiday. Once I come back from my holiday I will be reducing my cardio= less spin classes.

I've really noticed a difference this week when looking in the mirror (which I do quite often to assess my progress), I look a lot tighter and leaner, I 100% feel ready to get in my bikini's on holiday now!!! It was always about body confidence for me, I feel happy, healthy and confident now!!!

My training has been spot on this week, I've felt super motivated and determined to smash it, I managed to squeeze in 6 spin classes in total, some of which were pretty brutal after a leg session. I actually find that adding spin onto the end of a leg session helps to alleviate DOMS the next day, I don't seem to feel as sore due to the oxygen being pumped to the muscles. I have also been committing myself to using the power plate after EVERY training session to smooth out my muscles and also reduce DOMS. Both of these tactics have really been helping with recovery time, performance and range of movement.

While I am away, I will still be training, the hotel states it has a gym, although after the gym I was presented with last year I'm not holding out much hope. Regardless of what the gym is like, I will still be doing some sort of exercise, whether it be HIIT in the form of bodyweight circuits or actual weight training, all of which I will try and record and upload once I come home. I will be filling you all in on my holiday antics and training regime in 11/12 days time.

When I arrive home I will be weighing, re-calculating my macros and reassessing my training regime according to how I'm feeling/looking. I have no idea whether I'm going to start a mini cut again to lose whatever I put on, or whether I am going to try and maintain that weight, I will purely go off how I FEEL in myself. Although, a more flexible approach will be adopted regardless of my goals. I do genuinely enjoy cutting, it gives me focus, a type of structure and ignites determination and motivation and I love seeing my body change, I'm not a fan of bulking, due to my body shape. My biggest problem area is my stomach, it always sees the biggest changes, I hold onto fat very easily around that area, so when bulking I only ever manage it for a couple of weeks before I want to cut again. Maintenance is also quite a fun process, because it takes a lot of experimenting to get right(just like with cutting).

I have really been thinking about the importance of progress selfie's etc recently. I personally HATE taking selfie's and being in other people's photo's, BUT, I do think they are immensely important and DO need to be done sometimes. I will be doing a whole blog on this topic, so keep tuning in dudes and dolls!!!!!