Where does motivation come from?

I get asked so many times where I find the motivation to go to the gym so often or sticking to my diet. By now it has just become something that I do, I don't need to push myself. There is hardly ever a time when I am debating "gym or no gym?". For me it is easy, it is always gym! Yes there are occasional days when i just don't feel like going to the gym or eating right, but then i always try to go anyways and I always feel so much better afterwards!

So where my motivation comes from? I have no idea! I also don't think it is motivation, for me it's more like a choice I made which has become a habit.

Below is a video where Elan, the founder of Sleek Geek SA explains this so well. He says that it is not about finding motivation, it is more about making a commitment.

So my advise would be to not sit around waiting for motivation to come and find you, because chances are it never will, and even if it does then it will most likely not last very long. Make a COMMITMENT, and stick to it and soon it will become a HABIT. Push through trough the hard times - it will be worth it, especially when you start seeing results.

So with this thought go through the weekend and start making commitments rather waiting for motivation to come and find you.

xx

What I want my daughters to know about being fit and healthy

Last Friday my eldest daughter came with me to the gym. At first she sat quietly watching and playing with her ipad. It was legday for me, so I started with some squats and then headed to the leg press and leg extension. After this I went to check whether she was ok. She then asked if she could come with and watch. I said sure and she followed me to the hamstring curl machine. I used a lighter weight than normal as I didn't want to scare her by making it seem like it caused me too much pain.

Next up was walking lunges, she then asked if she could join. Offcourse I agreed and I grabbed some 0.5kg dumbbells for her. She was mirroring me exactly and followed me all the way. When we finished I told her well done and gave her a high five. She then told me that that was lots of fun. For the remainder of the work out she followed me around and did everything along side with me. When we got home she kept going on about how fun it was working out with mommy. I also enjoyed it! I didn't work as hard or push myself as hard as I usually do, but I think sometimes it is good to take a step back.

This also got me thinking about what kind of example I am setting for my kids. They are too young to realize anything about my weight loss but they do however see everything I eat and see me picking them up from daycare in my sweaty gym clothes. I sometimes get so wrapped up and lost in the whole process that I have never thought about how it comes across to them. I never want them to feel like they have to work out in order to not be fat or that they should eat a salad so they don't gain weight.

What I would rather want them see is this:

* Exercise should be fun and not an obligation. If they ask me why I exercise I will tell them it's because I want to become strong and because it is good for my body. The answer should never be because I don't want to be fat or "I really need to go for a run because I ate a huge piece of cake yesterday". I also take the right to brag that I am much stronger than their daddy and I never need any help carrying a heavy suitcase down the stairs!

*Healthy food is good for you. While I do try to ensure my kids get healthy foods and all their required vitamins, chicken nuggets and fries are regularly served for dinner in our household. Everything in moderation I believe. I do not believe that you can cut out sugar ect completely from their diets, this is just asking for disaster. Instead I try to keep treats like cookies and ice cream to a minimum and these are reserved for weekends and special occasions. This is a tough one as kids generally don't enjoy eating healthy! But I they see their parents eating their vegetable I think this goes a long way. If my kids ask me why we need to eat broccoli I will tell them it's because broccoli is good for our bodies and will help make us strong and grow up healthy.

Kids do as they see, so make them see that you enjoy your fitness lifestyle and they will soon follow.

Planking it!

Next to push- ups, planking is an exercise that I hate with a passion because well I suck at it. Also it is very difficult! As soon as I start it feels like torture- but this also makes me think that because it is causing such discomfort it must be having an affect surely!

What is a plank? Besides a plank of wood, there is an exercise which is supposed to give you a core resembling that of a plank of wood. It's done by lifting your body off the ground and supporting it on your elbows and toes. This is mainly good for your abdominal muscles, but it also works your glutes and hamstrings.

Me and a few colleagues started with a planing challenge awhile back. Every day (ok most days!) we meet and we plank. We started out with 30 seconds and we have worked our way up to 3 minutes. This is definitely a fun way to do it! Will this give us all tight and toned stomachs? No offcourse not, but it doesn't hurt (well maybe just a little bit!) to try!

My next challenge will be to plank every evening before bed for the duration of my favourite song. At the moment this is Cruel by the Veronicas. What's your favourite song and how long will you need to be planking? :-)

While I still suck at planing, I will continue mastering the skill untill I have a plank of wood like abdominal!

Flexible dieting (IIFYM) for dummies (like me!

I have received so many questions regarding my diet and at times it is quite a challenge explaining exactly what it entails. I have put down the basics and hope this might help explain things clearly.

*This is what has worked for me and does not necessarily mean it will work for you!

Flexible dieting aka IIFYM (if it fits your macros) is a diet based on hitting daily targets (you macros). What the heck are macros you ask? Protein, carbs, and fats are called macronutrients - hence macros. "Hitting your macros" is (in short) monitoring your intake of these macronutrients to keep the proper balance of nutrients in your body. It already sounds extremely complicated I know! But keep going, it will become clearer.

Macros are calculated individually (as we are all our kind kind of special!) based on your own goals (weight loss, building muscle, gaining weight, maintaining, ect) and activity level. There are many online calculators which can give you a rough estimate of what it would look like for you for example https://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator . I would however recommend getting this done by someone qualified in nutrition. Also you will need to invest in a food scale!

So now you have your macros, now here comes the fun part. You can eat anything you want as long as it fits into your macros. Anything? Yes anything! Now this does not mean that I am filling my diet with cookies and pizza as things such as fiber intake are also counted for. Have you been hit fit a wave of disappointment now? IIFYM can be misleading as social media is flooded with photos of donuts, cookies and chocolate with hastags #iifym , but this is however not the reality and once again your macros are based on you individually. Now,  not all hope is lost! My diet consists for about 80% out of wholesome and healthy foods and this leaves room for some "treats"(as long as they fit into my macros offcourse!). In short I eat healthy, and I can eat 2 Oreos (unfortunately for me the whole pack does not fit into my macros) per day and still lose weight for example.

Why IIFYM then? Well take a Grilled Chicken burger and put it next to some brown rice and tuna. Both of these contain the exact same amount of macro ingredients (25grams of Protein, 33grams of Carbs and 15 grams of fat). When you eat this your body will not know which one is healthy and which isn't and it only breaks down the exact same macro nutrients. For me the choice is easy - hand me the chicken burger! Another point to consider is that you need to know what you are eating. The only way to lose weight is with a calorie deficit (basically burning more that what you are consuming). If you’re not in a calorie deficit you can eat all the “clean foods” you want and go nowhere.

I use my myfitnesspal  to track my food intake. This is a great tool, but there are many other ones available too.

I know that IIFYM can seem daunting and complicated. But once you get started and get used to it it becomes easy and is now a part of my daily life.

My next post will give you an insight into exactly what I eat per day. (there will be cookies, but in moderation!)

How I lost 50kg / 121 lbs

Hi! And welcome to my personal blog! I will dive straight into business here, I have lost 50kg in a little bit over a year's time and decided it has become time to start about blog about how much my life has changed. I wish I started this from the very beginning, but if I have learned anything from this journey, it is that it is a process and it's never too late to start! So here goes:





My name is Natasha and I am a 28 year old South African living in the Netherlands. I am also a mommy to a nearly 4 year old and a 14 month old.I currently weigh 60kg (132lbs). I used to however weight 110kg (242lbs). This is how I lost it: I grew up in South Africa and I always played sports and we ate like a normal average family would. I was always abit chubby and bigger than my friends, but as I participated in sports my weight never seemed to be a concern. When I finished school I moved to Germany and here I continued to play hockey but I kept piling on weight (thank you pretzels and beer!). During this time I met my husband and eventually we moved to the Netherlands. We enjoyed going out for dinner often and our kitchen cupboards were always filled with chocolate and chips. I got pregnant and then offcourse saw this as an excuse to stuff my face even more as I was eating for 2 after all. I had an extremely tough labour and delivery with many complications and I do believe that my weight played a big part in this. Being a new parent was tough, I was constantly tired and this lead to convenience food and basically eating crap. During this time I believe I was the heaviest I have ever been but I never stepped foot on a scale so I can't be sure exactly but I estimate that I was weighing around 125kg (275lbs).






I decided to join a gym and I even joined weight watchers (this lasted for 2 months before I gave up!). I did however continue going to the gym, I was mainly doing group lessons like Club Step and Spinning. I did lose some weight but again I would not know as I never weighed myself. I then unexpectedly got pregnant again. This time I decided that I did not want to eat as much as I did the fist time round and I continued doing Step aerobics up to 37 weeks! The pregnancy was alot easier on me, but I did however need a c-section this time. 5 weeks after baby 2 was born I was back in the gym and I am not sure what made me do it but I decided to weigh myself. I got on the scale and i looked down in horror as it showed 111kg. I knew I was heavy but I never expected to see these numbers. My thoughts were that people on TV-shows like obese and the biggest loser weighed this much and I didn't believe that I looked like any of those people. I started doing some research and I came across a Facebook group called Sleekgeek. Sleekgeek is a South African social community offering support on healthy lifestyle goals. I joined the group and was amazed at all the unbelievable transformations people had already achieved. I started going to the gym more regularly (I was still only doing group lessons) and I decided to start paying attention to what I eat. The weight quickly started dropping and I was enjoying going to the gym. At this point I was eating clean unprocessed foods and this was a big struggle as I constantly craved my usual yummies like Oreos and pizza. I would end up binging and then after feeling guilty I would change back to my clean eating habits. I was still however steadily losing weight and starting following fitness related pages and people on Facebook and Instagram. I desperately wanted to look like these girls and from my research I learned that lifting weights was the way to go to achieve this. I never sat foot in the weight section of a gym and always believed it was only meant for men. I mean women who lift weights are sure to become big, scary and overly tanned bodybuilders? I am unsure of what convinced me to try this, but I decided to give it a try. I was offcourse still terrified of the man-section of the gym, so I decided to get a personal trainer. This poor man has had to put up with me moaning and cursing for the last year, but I am so grateful to him! He opened a whole new world to me and slowly the men with their big dumbbells and huffing and puffing noises started to become less scary. He introduced me to flexible dieting aka IIFYM (if it fits your macros). I was training with him 2 a week and I was continuing with my group lessons like Step Aerobics. The weight started coming off and I started to see definition in my body. I slowly started trading in my group lessons for an hour of training in the scary man part of the gym and my weight continued to drop. 10months into weight lifting and I feel amazing-strong and lean! (And I have not turned into a overly tanned big and scary bodybuilder chick yet!) I am in the gym 5-6 times per week and I am in control of my diet. Flexible dieting has kept me from binging as If I feel like having chocolate I can calculate it into my macros and this has worked great! My original goal was to get down to 75kg (165lbs) but I have gone down to 60kg (132lbs) with ease. For me the weight does not matter as much any more as I just want to become lean and strong. Also a visible 6-pack would be great. This is my story of how I lost it, now follow me in my journey as I maintain and improve!