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 5

October 26, 2014

I cannot believe it has already been a month since I have started! This month has been so full of workouts, food, friends, ups and downs. It is amazing how much can happen in a month.

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 5

I was really nervous for this week because even though all of the Kayla Itsines workouts are hard, things really get turned up a notch for weeks 5-7 and weeks 6-8. Needless to say, my body felt like lead for most of this week! The arm workout was definitely the most challenging for me though due to the crazy combo of mountain climber push ups, decline push ups, and tricep dips with legs raised. I was only able to get through 1 and a half sets of each arms and abs workout and it was so hard driving back home after lol. I am excited to see how much stronger I get over the next few weeks though and I welcome the challenge (and having my arms more toned!). The abs and cardio workout wasn’t bad at all although I still couldn’t get through 2 sets of each circuit :/ One circuit had 3 minutes of jump rope (which only gave me 4 minutes to run through the rest of the exercises) and in the other circuit, the raised leg sit ups really take me a while to get through. Does anyone else take a while doing raised leg sit ups?

Food wise, this was a great week. I have been obsessed with eating warm brown rice and chicken salad with this fabulous sun dried tomato and herb goat cheese that I picked up at Safeway. It is delicious, healthy and surprisingly quite filling. I also picked up some sprouted ancient grains tortillas at Whole Foods on Friday and have been using that to make delicious turkey wraps with tzatziki. I was particularly hungry during the weekend (think ‘that time of the month’) so I ate a little more than usual. Ooh, and I got an amazing health package delivered to me on Friday by the kind people at Purity Organic! Purity Organic are a local and San Francisco based company that make organic juices, teas and coconut water. Everything I have tasted so far has been so delicious and I am excited to slowly make my way through everything they have to offer 🙂

[Tweet “Make this easy & healthy salad – 2C salad leaves, 1/2C brown rice, grilled chicken, sundried tomato and herb goat cheese!”]

Along with the usual 10 million hours of studying in the library, I attended the Breast Cancer Walk in golden gate park this Saturday morning. It was so much fun! A family friend of mine died from cancer not too long ago and my godfather died of throat cancer, so I loved to think that I was helping out a great cause today. I gave my friends some juice and coconut water which the kind people over at Purity Organic gave me, and they loved them!