Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 7

November 9, 2014

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 7

I am once again in Salt Lake City (November is a good month) to see my lovely boyfriend and have been surprised at how well I have managed to stick to healthy eating this week. We discovered a lovely bakery that was walking distance from my boyfriend’s apartment called Emulsions & Fillings, and had to have a few cheeky macarons. My cheat meal 🙂 For any macaron lovers, I really recommend this bakery; the shell was perfectly textured and the filling was delicious. There were two different fillings – a cream filling and a fresh fruit filling, yum! Tonight we are planning on going to an Indian restaurant called Copper Bowl which was recommended to my boyfriend by a friend, so hopefully I can control myself haha. I LOVE indian food; the naan bread, creamy curries and sweet mango lassi … drool. Gets me every time. It’s the British in me 😛

Earlier on this week, I tried out a local and healthy spot in San Francisco called Blue Barn Gourmet on Polk Street. We both got salads and the portions were huge! My salad was absolutely delicious (if a bit expensive) and consisted of spring mix, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted artichokes, roasted mushrooms, pomegranate seeds, and roasted chickpeas. Hands down best salad ever. I then went next door to Project Juice and I picked up some of their new products 🙂 My favorite of the new batch is definitely the vegan cacao protein shake. So delicious and incredibly filling.
Who else has tried Blue Barn or Project Juice before?

Unfortunately I seemed to have developed a mild case of peroneal tendonitis. I was very lucky in that I seemed to get it after my Kayla Itsines legs and cardio workout this week! I was able to do my arms and abs, and abs and cardio workout although I was a little nervous about doing the abs and cardio workout since it involved jump rope and burpees which are a little harsh on the foot. Didn’t seem to cause any problems though thank goodness. I am still deciding whether I should take next week off and do some less high impact workouts to let my foot recover more and then do week 8 the following week.
Thoughts? Have any of you ever had tendonitis before? I would love your input and recommendations for a speedy recovery 🙂

Legs and cardio workout – The day before my crazy tendonitis flared up

That’s all from me! Flying back out to San Francisco bright and early tomorrow morning which always results in an early night for me. Hope you all had a wonderful week and let me know what you got up to in the comments below.

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness

Interview with Natalie: Kayla Itsines Transformation

November 5, 2014

Natalie Butterfield is a familiar face for those of you who are fans of the Kayla Itsines bikini body guide workout program. She has been featured many a time because of her incredible body transformation from Kayla Itsines bikini body guides (get the guides here)! I wanted to share Natalie’s story with you all to inspire you and to provide a motivational boost for anyone who might be struggling in their journey for health and fitness.

Natalie: Kayla Itsines Transformation

HF: Hi Natalie! Most of us know you from Instagram, where you have shared your journey using Kayla Itsines’ workout and H.E.L.P. guide. Tell us a little bit about yourself 🙂

N: I’m a qualified dance/preschool teacher but currently nanny. I am soon to be leaving Sydney for the beautiful country side with my amazing fiancé. It will be very different to my coasty lifestyle but I’m always up for an exciting new adventure!! I love the outdoors, love love love the beach and leading a healthy lifestyle.

HF: What made you decide to use Kayla Itsines guides?

N: I’ve always been into fitness classes and structured programs, but usually failed because of the unrealistic guidelines I had to follow. I’d been following Kayla’s Instagram page for a while and we all know the results she posts are phenomenal! I was ready for a change and one day just thought I’m going to try this out!

HF: How does the new BBG 2.0 (bikini body guide 2.0) compare to BBG 1.0 in your opinion?

N: They are both very different; at first I wasn’t to sure about it and it took me a little while to adjust but as it progressed I realised just how much harder it was – I still can’t lift my arms and it’s been 3 days since arm day. It’s as hard as you make it with increasing weights etc. I love it and I’ll be repeating it again.

HF: What would you say was the hardest aspect about your transformation?

N: Probably the mentality change you undergo on a fitness journey! Working out what’s right for you and your body, your emotional state, and understanding that carbs are in fact your friend and that less is more! (HF: I totally agree!)

HF: What does a typical day of food look like in the life of Natalie?

N: This one’s a little hard. I follow Kayla’s food guidelines, but as I’m maintaining my weight, I eat more than suggested. I tend to eat 6 meals a day and 3 litres of water. I get a healthy balance of all the food groups!!

HF: There’s a lot of confusion surrounding health and fitness. What tip would you give to those trying to start a healthier lifestyle?

N: Don’t be so harsh on yourself! Be patient and trust the process, you are your own biggest critic.D on’t feel bad for eating “cheat meals” or just eating a biscuit or ice cream here and there as it’s meant to be a lifestyle change and not a diet. If you deprive yourself it’s just not sustainable!! And most of all, love your body while you work for the body you want – as long as you feel healthy and happy within yourself then nothing else matters.

HF: What song always motivates you and gets you pumped to workout?

N: Nervo – Reason is my jam at the moment.

HF: If you could pick anywhere to go on holiday, where would it be?

N: Back to the Greek Islands. I absolutely love it there it, is one of the most amazing places on earth.

HF: What can we expect from you in the future?

N: I’m currently studying sports nutrition so hopefully that leads me down an amazing career path! I want to travel, will be marrying the man of my dreams, and have plenty of new and exciting adventures with lots of laughter along the way!!

Thank you so much to Natalie for her time and for sharing her story with us all! I think she is a fantastic health and fitness role model, with a great and balanced attitude to match.

Do you have any questions for Natalie? Let her know in the comments below.

Honestly yours,

Alice

Fitness

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 6

November 2, 2014

Happy second day of November everyone! The temperature has definitely started to cool down in San Francisco and honestly, I do not mind at all. San Francisco is not equipped to deal with hot weather and I was finding it really hard to sleep during our brief heatwave. I am currently in Salt Lake City for the weekend (visiting the boyfriend) and it is starting to feel really cold here. My nose does this weird thing where it feels like it’s been punched if it gets ‘hit’ by a cold gust of wind. That only happens when it gets to a certain temperature!

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 6

Okay enough moaning about the weather, onto health and fitness. I weighed myself a few days ago and I have maintained my 7 pound weight loss which is awesome. The abs and arms workout for Kayla Itsines this week were not as bad as I thought they were going to be; which means I have gotten stronger! The leg workout was crazy though. I was really proud of myself because I pushed myself incredibly hard on Friday to complete as many exercises as possible, and my legs are actually still sore! The leg workout this week was full of big explosive plyometric moves such as tuck jumps, jump lunges, and split squats (to name a few). I feel like I have hit a bit of a plateau unfortunately. Eagerly awaiting abs, haha!

I’ve been having a lot of wraps this week with that yummy wrap I told you all about last week, which has been a nice change of pace from the pita wraps I was eating. I went to this amazing Japanese BBQ place in San Mateo on Monday called Gyu-Kaku and loaded up on protein for the week 😛 Has anyone else ever been? I am so obsessed. And this weekend, my boyfriend and I had some fun dining experiences. We went to get Japanese food at Tsunami on Saturday night and got an amazing spread of sashimi, sushi, ahi tuna poke, gyoza, miso soup, and mussels. I LOVE Japanese food!

And this morning we tried out a breakfast hot spot called Penny Ann’s Cafe. My boyfriend and I have heard that it was really popular and had won a lot of awards. Since it is right by where he lives, we decided to check it out. Be prepared to wait if you do! We arrived at 10:30am and had a 45 minute wait for a table of two. Worth it though! I got the pork chili verde skillet with sourdough toast, which was absolutely delicious, and my boyfriend cot the corned beef hash omelette with hot cakes. The hot cakes were really moist and fluffy … I am glad I only had a few bites of his and not one for myself! I didn’t manage to get any photos because we had already dug right into our food before I remembered. Sorry!

How was your weekend? What do you usually do if you hit a plateau?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway with Harmless Harvest so you can win some delicious coconut water! Enter here

Honestly yours,
Alice