F45 Challenge | Before & After Results, My Journey & 8 Weeks Food Diary Photos.

What is F45?

F45 provides functional team training for 45 minutes, originated in Australia, specialising in HIIT workouts that will leave your body feeling invigorating or breathless panting on the floor after using the rowing machine! I've joined F45 in February 2018 after finally booking a class with my sister; we heard of F45 through Youtubers and decided we need to try this for ourselves. I use to go to the gym approximately 4-5 times per week for an early morning work out, (often struggling) waking up at 5:00 am; following my own workouts and using all resource I have. However, since joining F45 I've left the gym and attending F45 almost daily. I can really see and feel the effectiveness of these sessions and it is worth the investment. I thought I was 'fit' going to the gym until I went to a F45 class, which then made me realise how I don't push myself enough. Not only do you gain an effective workout but you also gain knowledge, correct techniques, nutritional guide, motivation and new friendly faces. Also, if you're feeling tired waking up, once you arrive in the studio, your body will naturally be motivated to start working.

Each day of the week provides a different class focusing on different results. I.e. Monday is cardio - currently the class is Firestorm, consisting of 27 stations, burning every muscle in your body. Tuesday is resistance - currently the class is All Star, using antagonistic muscle pairing techniques. Then the days alternates between cardio and resistance. Weekends are a mixture of both cardio and resistance. Their most known Saturday class - Hollywood is the topper to your weekend; as this consists of 27 stations, 2 laps, 45 seconds work, and totalling an hour workout; this will leave you feeling sweaty, looking like a well ripe tomato but feeling like you've conquered your weekend already.

This is a summary of why I absolutely love F45 and why I've become a F45 addict now...

F45 Challenge

The challenge is a nutritional 8 weeks meal plan to follow, whilst working out a recommended 5 times per week with F45. This will ensure you see effective results. The meal plan consists of breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks. After the 8 weeks, you should have lost fat and gained lean muscles. There is a global competition for the winners that achieves the best results, also there are studio prizes, this will just give another motivation to work harder and keep strong.

As you can see from the photo above, I have completed two challenges - #18 and #19. I really can see the difference in myself after entering the first challenge and finishing my second challenge. I also do feel stronger, I can see the visibility of muscle gain and clothes feels looser. I've also put my results highlighted in orange on the top right corner of the images; you'll be able to see that I have dropped in my total weight, decreased fat % and also gained a tiny amount of muscle (I do need to up the protein intake).

Before & After Results 

Below are my before and after shots of challenge #18 (April-June) and #19 (July-September); these photos are taken in a total of 5 months time period - 2 months of challenge, 1 month break then another 2 months of challenge. It is a gradual progression for myself; some people are able to transform their bodies drastically in one challenge however for me it is a slower result. I believe this is due to my existing low calorie deficit, meaning to keep to the current state I am, I have to eat much lower calorie, this is difficult as during the challenge as I was already eating approximately 1300 calorie - to reduce this I would have to increase my workout, reduce calorie intake, and/or incorporate more movements in my day-to-day life. Nevertheless, I am happy with my results as I gained positive results on both challenges. The most visual change I can see is my abdomen, muscle gained in my legs and arms, all in all - happy with what I achieved.

Food Diary 

Here are photos of challenge #19 meal plan; this is what to expect to eat during the challenge. The meal plan is generally easy quick to make recipes. A combination of protein, greens, healthy fat and all nutritional goodness.

The meal plan is sectioned into three phases;

• Spring Training - Week 1-2 - Alkalise and detox the body.
• Regular Season - Week 3- 6 - Defining our physique and focusing on building lean muscle.
• World Series- Week 7-8 - Ultimate fat stripping phase. 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 

Week 8

Tips and Advice 

• Be Tupperware ready as you need a lot for each meal and snacks per day. 
• Buy lots of lemons for your daily dose of lemon water. 
• Get a 1.5 L bottle, ensure you drink two bottles of these daily. A big bottle allows quick easy measurement of your water intake. 
• Buy a few bottles of kombucha to help your digestion *Do not drink too much of this though. 
• Stock up on coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil as you will use these daily.
• Drink green tea and/or ginger tea throughout the day also. 
• To lower the grocery shop price tag - buy frozen vegetables, bulk buy meat and shop in a few shops. I shop in Aldi for my protein and greens, Tesco/ Sainsbury for frozen goods, and Sainsbury - healthier produce. 
• If you want to time save. Shopping in Ocado is great - for the organised easy shop (if I have no time to pop to the supermarket).  
• Buy a few bottles of magnesium spray as you would need this for your post shower regime. Spray this generously as your body will need it! This will help prevent soreness. *I bought mine from Hollands & Barrett. 
• Meal prep on a Sunday saves me a lot of time for the weekday. I tend to meal prep all of Monday's food which keeps me a day ahead. 

My Journey

How strict do you have to be?

Often people are put off with these challenges because they think of how difficult it could be. However, just try it and aim to be strict but if you cannot resist more food, add a snack or extra protein/greens to your meal. I wasn't "too" strict on myself, in my first challenge I had a week holiday on an all inclusive cruise, in my second challenge I allowed myself to eat more in restaurants and enjoy the weekends but choose the healthier option; I did have the occasional bad choices. There are always options but choose the better one, resist confectionery temptation but a dark chocolate here and there would be deemed as 'okay' for me. I did however be as strict as I can from Monday-Friday as this is the easiest time to be strict, as I am sitting in an office all day I won't be out and about seeing any temptation. I meal prep for the entire day, if you can see the food you'll consume you won't eat anything extra. Although if I was hungry, I eat fruit, homemade seed and nuts bar and any healthy snacks (although this isn't really in the diet).

What have I learnt?

From my first challenge, I learnt that I needed to increase my water intake as I was struggling with this. In the second challenge I ensured I filled my 1.5 L bottle twice a day and aim to finish this by the end of day. This did become difficult as I also drank green teas throughout the day as well.

I do need to increase my daily body movements, as I am sitting in an office all day, drive to work, and there's no high street to ponder around. I literally don't do any other movements other than the session in the morning. Therefore, I do need to take half an hour of my lunch to walk or move around at a minimum.

My downfall

I struggled with sleeping 8 hours per night, as the F45 owner would tell me off for this! (haha). However, it is important as your body needs sleep to recover from the workout, also if your body doesn't recover, your body won't intake the effectiveness of the workout and nutrition. I generally sleep approximately 6 hours per night, some nights even less.

How many sessions did I do per week?

In my first challenge, I only did 3-4 sessions per week on average. However towards the end of the challenge, I increased my sessions to 5-6. In my second challenge, I learnt the global winners did an average 10 sessions per week. I went a little session crazy and tried to take my body beyond its limits. I did multiple double sessions per week, some weeks  I did approximately 8-10 sessions. I was overdoing it as my mid scan showed I dropped a lot of weight quickly. After this, I did less double back to back sessions but continued with double resistance sessions. My body did feel exhausted towards the end of the challenge and I took a step back and listened to how my body felt.

Setting goals

I did not know what goal to set myself at the beginning of challenge #19. However, in the Wednesday's cardio Varsity session, there is a 60 second rowing competition board. In April I was only able to row 252 metres at the fastest. By September, I can row 290 metres in 60 seconds. On the average, female's goal is to row 250 metres and male's 300 metres. Therefore, beating the average is beyond an achievement to me. My next goal is to row 300 metres in 60 seconds. 

My next goal should be to increase my arm strength, by using lower resistance bands for chin ups and pull ups. I do struggle with this station every time but I am gradually improving. 

Next Challenge?

I am considering taking on challenge #20, which starts October 8th - December 2nd. As I made a difference to my body in the last two challenges, I hope by the next challenge that I can continue the good results and work on areas that I struggle with. If I do choose to do the next challenge, I won't go as crazy on the double sessions and also try to get good sleep.