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Sunday Summary – Kayla Itsines Week 11

May 11, 2014
review Kayla Itsines Week 11 BBG

Kayla Itsines Week 11

Kayla Itsines Week 11 BBG

I literally spent Tuesday through Saturday with the stiffest and most sore legs I have EVER HAD!!! For those who follow me on my bikini body guide journey, you will know that I have now completed week 11 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide .. yay! On Tuesday, I did my leg workout and although I have done it once before in week 9, I truly pushed myself to the max this time. Hence the stiff legs for almost the entire week! It was pretty ridiculous, every night I would go to bed thinking ‘okay, so tomorrow they won’t be sore anymore’ and then wake up with equally sore legs -__-

I love the workouts for week 11 though. They are so intense and really make you realise just how strong you are. I have to say, the ab workout for this week has been my absolute favorite of the entire guide. It hits every part of my abs and makes them feel oh so tight and toned afterwards.

The arm workout is great too, although I have much more of a love/hate relationship with it. I did approximately 157 push up variations when I did my arm workout for this week, so hopefully that gives you some indication as to how ridiculous it is. But hey, at least now I can do that many push ups!! I normally do my workouts in the group exercise room at the gym, but for some reason an unannounced class was being held in there when I arrived on Friday, so I had to do it in front of all the cardio machines. A little embarrassing to say the least but I did look pretty bad ass doing all those push up variations, so it didn’t really matter in the end.

In other news, I was doing SO WELL on my #HFsugarfreemay until this weekend. It was my boyfriend’s graduation and so I wanted to bake him some yummy treats which inevitably ended up with me tasting these yummy treats too .. oops. Regardless, I think trying to stick to sugar free as much as feasibly possible as it is really quite helpful. It made me stop putting honey in my tea, stevia/brown sugar in my coffee and just made me think more about whether I really wanted that dark chocolate or not 😉 I am all about balance so having sugar/sweets/ice-cream or whatever once in a while is alright as long as you are being mindful about your choices and not completely gorging on whatever your indulgence is. With that in mind, I will leave you with a photo of my boyfriend and I at his graduation, haha.

Kayla Itsines Week 11 BBG

So all in all, it was a great week and I am so excited (but kind of sad) to be finishing Kayla Itsines bikini body guide next week. Be excited for that next week and also for a really, REAAALLLYYY exciting post on Tuesday. Trust me, you will not want to miss it!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 10

May 4, 2014
Kayla Itsines Week 10 BBG

Early happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of a victory in 1862 in the fight for independence from French forces which is celebrated by both the US and Mexico. I went to my first ever cinco de mayo party the other night and it was extremely fun. And yes, I did have some sangria and a margarita (or two) which is unusual for me since I normally do not drink. I view alcohol as a source of empty calories and as not benefiting your body in anyway whatsoever, but I will have a drink on a special occasion.

Kayla Itsines Week 10 BBG

Photo courtesy of the amazing photographer VK Ree’s 

Kayla Itsines Week 10

I have now finished week 10 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide (hands down the hardest arm and abs workouts of the entire program) and cannot believe I only have two weeks left!!! I found the gazillion snap jumps and the spider push ups so incredibly hard .. thought my arms were gonna fall off. Although my transformation so far has not been crazy and incredibly dramatic, the progress photo’s I have been taking show that my stomach is more toned and that my legs are getting smaller. I am so proud of the changes (small or not) that have happened so far plus I can do much much more push ups than I was ever able too, which is an achievement in itself. Since I had quite a lot of sugary foods and drinks this weekend, I really need to be strict for the next two weeks in order to reap the full benefits of Kayla Itsine’s workouts. I normally do eat a very healthy diet but I am just going to be stricter with counting my macro’s and calories for the next few weeks. Counting macro’s and calories may not work for some but it definitely works for me.

Kayla Itsines Week 10 BBG

Dying after week 10’s leg workout

In addition to my kick ass (literally) workouts, I was kindly invited by Project Juice to visit their Russian Hill location in San Francisco to sample some of their juices and to check the shop out in general. They gave me a few juices to take home and try and I will be doing a post on Project Juice and their delicious and very healthy juices this tuesday, so look out for that! Project Juice has fantastic values and I was truly impressed by what they had to offer .. which is quite rare in the health and fitness industry. If you follow my Facebook page and my Instagram, no doubt you will have seen what juices I have tried so far.

Kayla Itsines Week 10 BBG

 

That’s it from me! I have received a lot of questions regarding the type of equipment you need for Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide, so to get your answer please click here and scroll down to the comments section 🙂

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 9

April 27, 2014

What a wonderful week this was! I hope the same goes for all of you lovely people too.

Kayla Itsines Week 9

I have now finished week 9 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body workout and OMG .. I do not understand how I got through it. Weeks 9-12 differ from the first 8 weeks because now you incorporate 1-1 HIIT session (for an explanation of what HIIT is, click here) and the strength circuits are now fully targeted on certain parts of the body. It is such an amazing feeling to have such sore legs, arms and abs every single week. You get through one week and you think ‘surely next week, I won’t be as sore’ but you are, every single time. I love it, and I cannot wait to show you all my progress at the end of the 12 weeks. It may not be as dramatic as some of the others, but I am noticing the difference, and that makes me happier than you could know.

Whilst I am on this fitness thread, I went to a fabulous spring open house held by Mint Studio’s in San Francisco! I am planning on writing a dedicated post to the event, so for now I will give you all a quick recap. Mint Studio’s offers pilates, barre and yoga classes, and were offering free classes for the night, and had partnered with vendors such as Project Juice, Ensoma and Premier Nutrition to bring a host of complimentary goodies. I was particularly enamored with the healthy juices offered by Project Juice and definitely plan to try more! I tried my first everrr pilate’s reformer class and now I know what all the fuss is about … my abs are SORE, even now two days later, and it was such a fun and new way to workout. Can’t wait to try it again. Who wants to go with me?!

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

This photo is from Mint Studio’s website and is an example of the hardcore Pilate’s Reformer class I did

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

 Mmm, all the juices I got to sample from Project Juice!

My relationship with food has also become so, so much healthier. Instead of constantly worrying about the occasional slip up, I have a much more balanced approach to eating and just living life in general. I do not binge anymore (everytime I was presented with a tasty and ‘bad’ food I would eat it until I felt ill) and I genuinely look forward to making healthy meals and doing my food preps at the start of the week. Obviously I still have moments where I feel a little guilty, but I am usually able to stop myself eating more than I need too. I love how I have been able to shape this aspect of my life and I am so grateful for it; your body deserves to be nourished with the correct foods and kept active and in shape. I am not a fan of the whole ‘food is fuel’ thing because come on, our bodies are not machines. They are unique and INDIVIDUAL creations that require personalized attention, and only you can know what foods and exercises truly make your body flourish. That being said, I think that I do tend to eat a bit too much sugar (foods with sugar in them, I’m not knocking back tablespoons here lol) so I think I may post some of my meals in next week’s Sunday Summary as a way to keep me on track .. we will see.

That’s all from me this week! I am curious to see how many of my readers are living in the Bay Area, so please leave me a comment below if you are. I would love to meet up with you all at some point, maybe for a gym date 🙂

And as always, if you have any questions or requests for posts please either leave me a comment below or shoot me a message at honestlyfitness@live.com

Honestly yours,
Alice