Project Barbados – Week Five

This time next week we’ll be on the plane to Barbados. I am very excited indeed. The fifth week of my pre holiday fat loss project has gone very well and I’m feeling a lot more confident about the idea of stepping onto the beach in my swimwear than I was a couple of weeks ago.

This week has also been the second week of Extreme Inferno – Julia Buckley’s fat loss and fitness programme. After an exciting first week of getting to grips with new workouts and meeting my virtual training buddies the second week has been all about digging in and getting the absolute most out of the workouts. In some ways the second week has been more challenging than the first – I’ve upped my weights for pretty much all the moves where we’re using them. Because I now have a benchmark for what I’m able to do, I’m now challenging myself to achieve more in every session. It’s been sweaty and tough but a lot of fun and my body has definitely noticed!

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while will know that I’ve been doing pull up and chin up training on and off over the last year or so. My progress with these has at times felt frustratingly slow, partly because I’ve been inconsistent and partly because they’re bloody difficult. I was incredibly pleased this week when I managed to do not one, but two chin ups with the medium resistance band. Massive progress from where I was just a few weeks ago and it just shows that persistence and practice will pay off in the end. You can see how pleased I was from the big cheesy grin in the photo.

This week I also discovered that our balcony is an amazing place for a cool down and post workout stretch. London has been bathed in sunshine, not so much so today, but the early mornings here this week have been beautiful and I’ve enjoyed lying on my mat with the sun on my face while I stretch out my legs. Bliss!

My thoughts have now turned to how I’m going to keep up with EI while we’re away. The hotel has a gym but I don’t know how well it will be equipped but as long as it has a few free weights and a gym ball I’ll be fine.

We’ve got free Wifi in our room so I should be able to log on and run Julia’s videos just fine from there. So absolutely no excuses not to keep up with the programme while I’m away. Not that I need any really. I’m loving it, and can feel the difference in my body after only two weeks so I’m actually looking forward to carrying on while we’re on holiday.

I took my measurements this week and am very pleased to say that I’ve shrunk. My tummy and hip measurements have come down by a little bit which makes me very happy indeed. The hard work is paying off. There’s more to come but it’s so much easier to stay motivated when you can see results.

Bring on the final week!