Festive fatty

Breastfeeding two babies, never sitting down for more than a few minutes, making note of what I’m eating and roughly monitoring calories, walking everywhere because I can’t drive, pushing a big tandem pram/buggy, stress. There were various reasons I believe the weight probably came off so quick after I had the twins.

I found myself at one of my lowest adult weights I could remember, people even commented to stop and don’t lose anymore. Although to be honest I was still aiming to drop a few more pounds. Or moreso tone up my tummy, work on my pelvic floor and strengthen my core to get my lower body strong and back in shape.

After I had twins I had a bad case of diastasis recti and this resulted in me getting NHS physio to help try rectify the damage done. The lady I saw was amazing and I’d go for regular sessions to be checked and given a set of Pilates style exercises to do a few times a week. When I could fit them in I could definitely feel and see my body getting stronger.

However, after being signed off as my 4cm ab gap had shrunk to about 2cm and there wasn’t anymore guidance they could give, I suddenly just couldn’t seem to find the time to fit my physio exercises in. The result? My tummy isn’t great again and as my other half always moans I’m always going for a wee!!

Despite this a week before Christmas I had lost over 2 stone since having my twins in February (so in about 8.5 months) and in actual fact 3.5 stone if you go by my weight 12 days before the twins were born.

And what did I do? What I always do when I start to feel happy with my weight...get off the wavelength and start indulging (this time for Christmas)...I now would need to lose around 8-9lbs to be back to the lowest I’d achieved.

Doable yes. The only problem is I’m still not ‘on the wavelength’, I am firmly in eat too much territory.

Given it’s now not great weather I’m not walking as much, the twins have now stopped breastfeeding totally (another post on that to follow another time) and I’m scoffing everything in sight, it’s not a great recipe for success.

Why do we do it to ourselves? I enjoyed Christmas don’t get me wrong - all the treats tasted great and amongst all the chaos of 3 under 3 it was fab fun enjoying lots of yummy food (and drink given I wasn’t pregnant this time!)

However I’m now in a January mope and not happy with how I’m starting to look and feel. And the worst bit is despite feeling this way, I’m still wanting to eat eat eat!

So send help!

Any idea how to get back on track?? Let me know. (No fad diets, pills, juices or plans though please!)

Having a (Nutri) Blast!

This year something has changed, something which is impacting on my skin, my exercise routines and my energy levels.

It is a new arrival in our kitchen.

And I am obsessed with it.

A NutriBullet.

My fiancé asked for the machine for Christmas and after a bit of exchanging (the first one was damaged) he had one of the popular food extractors (fancy blender/juicer).

I’ll be honest I wasn’t too fussed about getting one (particularly as we’ve already got a standard blender we bought when moving in and still haven’t used) and we were given a hand blender as one of our joint gifts at Christmas.

I thought this is another one of those dieting fads. ‘But look how fast it blitzes everything up’, ‘watch the video of how little waste there is’, ‘see how you get all the nutrients direct, it’s so good for you’. And so on.

Cut to now, I am addicted to this little black machine. I look forward to thinking up juices to make and in particular pushing down the cup to initiate the blades. I am like a big kid.

And it really does blend items so quickly and so well!

The biggest thing though? I’m still at this point unsure if it’s a psychological thing, but I feel great for it. I really feel like my energy has been boosted and my skin is clearer. It could be coincidence but the eczema I often get hasn’t appeared either.

I’m also finding when working out I seem to push myself more and I genuinely find coming home to a juice is something to look forward to, not a chore.

As someone who doesn’t regularly eat a lot of fruit easily, I’m also finding the NutriBullet a great way to incorporate more fruit and vegetables into my diet.

Typically on a weekend I don’t really have fruit, when I do during the week it’s as a healthy snack for the afternoon at work and usually the same types.

Now as well as my afternoon fruit snack and my vegetables with my dinner, I’m then getting a huge boost of fruit and veg from the NutriBlast I make.

We’ve tried a few that are supposed to have particular health benefits and are now trying to mix up our own recipes too. There are so many options though and I am constantly coming across recipe ideas online.

Plus I even – yes this is how obsessed I am getting – Tweeted the NutriBullet account for recipe ideas last week.

At first buying all these fruit and vegetables concerned me since it doesn’t come cheap (along with various nuts and seeds), but we’ve had so many juices out of it that it actually balances out.

I appreciate at this point you wonder if I am being paid by the company and am doing some sort of unofficial ad! Honestly, I’m not, but I’ve been so pleased with how I feel from having these juices I thought it was worth sharing.

I’m not using it as a meal replacement right now, I’ve been able to keep within my recommended calorie intake to lose weight and still have a juice. However, I am considering trying one of the actual juice/detox plans as a boost.

The next thing now is to add some colour, we’ve been following the general guidance of 50% greens, 50% fruit, top up with water and add seeds/nuts if you wish. However, every juice so far has been green so think we might need to start getting a bit more inventive soon!

Jillian Michaels: Maximise Your Life

Slashing all the tyres. An analogy that has really struck me.

Recently myself and my fiancé attended a motivational talk. The talk was given by American personal trainer Jillian Michaels.

Yes, the Jillian Michaels who is behind the 30 Day Shred, the workout DVD I have obsessed over, over the years! (She even jokes herself in the UK she’s known as ‘the Shred lady’).

Admittedly I’ve never really been to a coaching session like this before and I really enjoyed it. As cheesy and cliché you may imagine it to be, it was actually pretty useful and inspiring.

On her Maximise Your Life tour, the no-mess trainer covers diet, exercise and general approaches to life.

I love her no nonsense way of talking. She admits herself she can’t share a miracle cure to lose weight and that all the information and fitness basics you’ve heard before are all she can share too.

When people ask questions and make excuses she stops them in their tracks and makes them take responsibility.

I guess this is what’s behind her success.

But back to those tyres.

One of the things Jillian referred to are the air soufflé and dust dieters. This is typically me. These people are super strict and don’t eat much at all during the week and are tough on themselves. Then on the weekend they blow out on a ton of junk.

She then uses the analogy of slashing the tyres. How people take the view that when they are having a ‘bad’ day and have eaten something not so good for them or haven’t exercised that they should just go full throttle and then eat unhealthily the whole of that day as a result.

This is so me. ‘Oh well I’m eating out tonight, or I’ve had a chocolate bar I might as well pig out now and go mad’.

Jillian says this is like your car getting a flat tyre and you jumping out and slashing the other three.

How true is this for a lot of us ladies on diets I imagine?

The good thing is that now being aware of this and the useful analogy sticking in my head I’m more careful of taking this approach.

Case in point, yesterday, I knew I was having a ‘cheat’ meal for dinner. Normally I would have written off the entire day and eaten badly and had a ‘day off’ from exercise. Instead I ate healthily all day and went for a workout to help compensate for all the additional calories I’d be consuming.

Now, don’t get me wrong I’m sure this won’t always be the case, but I feel even if that’s all I take away from the session then it was worth it!

Tired of my weight

10 days into January and 10 days into my diet and exercise. Well, sort of.

I've been strict for 8 of the 10 days. To be fair the two days I didn't exercise and ate badly were days planned by others so I had no choice (well that's my excuse anyway!) 

In 10 days I've been to two spinning classes and done my workout DVD three times. 

Rushing to get ready for the gym this morning I completely forgot to weigh myself to judge progress.

I definitely feel less bloated, but sadly still feel quite big and my clothes are tight. I'm hoping being strict for the next 10 days in a row will help. 

Let's be honest two evenings of alcohol and Mexican food isn't exactly going to help my waistline!

One thing I am pleased about is my love for spinning definitely seems to have come back. I'm loving the new dedicated spin studio in our gym.

Although I've missed the usual Saturday instructor, both classes have had cover teachers so I've really enjoyed trying something fresh and new. 

I'm exhausted though, combining the first week back at work with exercise and consuming less calories hasn't been ideal.

Most days I'm struggling to keep my eyes open! 

I won't lie the two days break eating Mexican style tapas food and alcohol was very welcomed and I enjoyed it at the time. 

However, it's funny how you start to adapt to health again. After two days I was longing to eat more healthily and on buying cupcakes for my team at work yesterday I even stayed away. Whilst they tucked into the sweet delights, I snacked on my grapes! And I wasn't envious. 

Even today making a reduced fat cheese omelette for lunch when I got in from the gym, I really enjoyed it! 

We plan to go see a scary film this evening too, so maybe that might even help burn a few calories (I'm a complete wuss and jump at everything!) 

In the meantime I'm relaxing on my sofa and as sad as it is I'm seriously considering an afternoon nap to give me a boost. After my initial exercise high earlier I definitely need some form of boost before tonight.

Admittedly I've not done any of the chores I planned today, but if I'm honest I'm not getting too worked up, after doing my 60 minutes' worth of spinning earlier I would even maybe say I've earnt it! 

Day 4: Ouch ouch ouch

Well it's my fourth day of healthy eating and exercising, trying to get back in shape.

I am so so achey.

Yesterday after doing my workout DVD my legs were wobbly as I walked up the stairs, like jelly. And today I'm in pain.

It's hurt sitting down, walking up stairs, walking in general in fact. 

I know this is good and I'm feeling the burn. Right now I just feel exhausted!

However, I am feeling pleased, I started aiming to get back on track on New Years Day and have stuck within calories allowed for four days. 

I've done one 60 minutes spinning class and gone back to my old faithful 30 Day Shred. 

The plan was to do the workout DVD tonight and tomorrow evening too, but I got home pretty late from work and am just aching too much.

I'm eating so much less than I was over Christmas that I'm hoping tonight's break from exercise won't be too big an issue.

Although I have got two 'cheat' days  approaching this week so I will need to stay on track as much as possible the rest of the week.

Apart from being in agony today I am feeling a lot better already. I must admit I am not enjoying the constant getting up in the night to go for a wee from all the water I'm drinking!! (Too much information??)

I'm going to try keep updating the blog to keep myself accountable too. And my fiancé started his diet today too so hopefully we'll help each other along.

Four days down, I imagine lots lots more to follow! 

Time to get back on the fitness wagon

A new year and I thought it was about time I get back on this blog. I know I know, I always say that and don’t worry I’m not going to start claiming my new year resolution is to blog more.

I am, however, going to be extremely stereotypical and announce how the Christmas break is over (well it is for me as I was back at work today) and that I am now aiming to get in shape. Bore. Yawn. I know I know could I be more cliché ‘new year, new me’ and all that…

However, after the vast amounts of food and drink consumed this past fortnight, something needed to be done. Well, I say past 2 weeks, what I really mean is since we moved into our house – takeaways galore and very little exercise for 3 months…

I reached that well known point we all get to after the festive indulgence, I was actually craving healthy food.

As a brand new year started yesterday I jumped on the scales when I eventually got up (after a rather late and drunken New Year’s Eve party) to survey the damage. I have to admit it wasn’t good, but it was definitely a lot better than anticipated.

Just over 7lbs put on in 3 months, bearing in mind I’ve eaten healthily for a few days out of that and only went to the gym once I’m relieved it wasn’t a lot more. I certainly feel like I’ve gained about 2 stone!!

I’m bridesmaid to one of my oldest and best friends this year too and we’re going to a wedding show at the end of the month so I really need to try and shift some of this excess fat before then – right now I don’t think any form of dress would suit me!

I have to admit (it is in all likelihood simply post-Christmas effect only and will be short-lived) I felt great yesterday. Although I was a tad hungover (mostly tired), I had healthy food and was only just over my suggested calorie allowance.

Fish, vegetables and sweet potato for dinner with a glass of water really did feel great! No fat, no booze, no junk. Lovely!

I’ve also stocked up on some more fruit and veg and low fat goodies so I plan to try and stick to this for as long as I can now.

I’d suggested a Dry January again like I did previously, however the social calendar is already against me – a team drinks thing next Wednesday and ballet (and no doubt a meal and drinks) on the Thursday! Therefore, my plan is instead to not drink alcohol unless it’s for a social occasion, I think that’s fair enough and a tad more realistic.

I’m also hoping to go to my first spinning class of 2015 tomorrow morning too to get myself back into it. I’ve already looked up the studio timetable for my gym so I can start planning visits too. I will shed this weight and more if it kills me.

A friend of mine has been dieting and exercising for a good few months now and she’s done so well she’s really inspired me. I can’t wait to be rid of this tired and bloated feeling – and also start enjoying looking good in clothes again and not wearing what’s comfortable or what I don’t look too fat in!

One, nearly two days down, and many more to go…

Boozing with a bump

There has been a lot of talk in the news the last few days about women who drink when pregnant.
The debate has been sparked after a court case whereby a baby was born disabled, following her mother excessively drinking whilst she was carrying the child. Whilst pregnant at 17 the female drank vodka and beer to extremes and now the judges are being asked to offer the child compensation and overall for women who drink when pregnant to be made illegal.

So what do you think?

I’ve not had a child or been pregnant in my life so far and it has to be said I do enjoy having a good drink – whether a nice wine with dinner or a more heavy night out with friends drinking and dancing.

However, I really do think I would be Little Miss Paranoid if I were ever pregnant and would watch what I ate and moreso drank like a hawk. I would hate to think anything I’d have done would in any way harm that baby.

Never having been pregnant I don’t feel I can really judge, but on my views as they are, I can’t imagine you’d want to drink when expecting or do anything that could be bad for that unborn child. Let alone need a legal system to be put in place to stop you.

Whether women should be arrested that do drink when pregnant is another case in point. After all there are no set rules to parenting, people choose to bring up their children as they feel best – to some this could be seen as wrong, but to others the right way.

I know some Mums-to-be who have had the odd glass of wine or even Guinness (the iron is said to be good apparently). However, I don’t know of any who went out binge drinking!

The same goes for smoking, again why would you risk harming your unborn child?

Looking online at some of the articles talking about how the alcohol can impact a baby’s growth and wellbeing I can’t imagine anyone even considering binge drinking, but then again people smoke despite horrendous images on the packs and similar. People know the risks but choose to ignore it. That said, harming yourself is one thing, an innocent life is entirely different in my view.

I do feel making this a legal issue and arresting those drinking when pregnant seems a tad extreme and it also saddens me that there are people in this country who have behaved in such a way to even cause this debate to come to light.

We don’t want to make it so that everybody’s every move is under constant scrutiny, but I do agree that if a case is found where a child has been born with a condition and it can be proved to be the result of the mother drinking excessively or smoking then some form of action should be taken.

I don’t think it works going up to anyone you see with a bump drinking something alcoholic and arresting them there and then with no context though.

Really it seems to come down to a lifestyle choice – guidance to us for all issues changes constantly – you shouldn’t drink this, you should eat this, you should have more of this but less of that and so forth. Would some argue exercising too vigorously during pregnancy is also a form of neglect and as I’ve heard others ask – where does that leave abortion too? How far do you go?

I’d be interested to see what any expectant Mums think or those who have had children already.

And what about those that drink before realising they are pregnant, when you are not knowingly doing harm to your baby? I know a few people that has happened to, my Mum included and I turned out okay (well I think I did…)

Weight loss worries

This morning I've woken up and I'm feeling a little disheartened if I'm honest. This is a theme that's been present most of this week so I've been trying to tell myself to 'stop moping and just get on with it'.

As I do each week I woke up this morning to weigh myself for my weekly weigh in. Most Saturdays, plans permitting, I also get ready to go to a spin class at my local gym.

Today I've woken up super achey from last nights cardio workout. Great, I thought, I must've worked hard if I'm feeling like this. Admittedly that also made me hopeful for something positive on the scales.

I already was a bit disappointed as I really am too achey to go spinning and I've been reminded by people before to let my body rest and recovery is important too.

Anyway off I hop onto the scales. What do I see? I've put on. Yes super minimal 0.4 of a pound, but as I typically round my weight up when logging on the likes of MyFitnessPal it effectively says I've put on 1lb. 

There are two schools of thought here, some people say 1lb is nothing and not to worry if you put it on. Others show images of just how much a pound of fat is to illustrate just how much fat you've lost when you lose 1lb. So who is right?

If I don't weigh myself weekly, something others have suggested, I lose the feeling of accountability and tend to find I get lax and don't feel a sense of achievement or progress.

I've felt the last few weeks my body feels heavy and bloated and normally when I've exercised I do feel lighter. I'm not feeling that lately (and in fact have been worrying now I'm in my 30s that maybe I'm experiencing that as-you-grow-older problem people talk about where your body just clings to fat). Who knows.

So I'd purposely started to mix it up this week. In fact, including last Thursday I've made seven gym visits. That's seven times over ten days. That to me is pretty good. 

Of those seven, three have been spinning, 45/50 minute classes. The other four have been cardio. 

Each of those cardio I've tried to mix up, different machines, sometimes using weights, trying different modules on machines, different orders of using machines and times/levels. I've been feeling it each time and aching the next day most times and sweating non stop during the sessions.

Typically my fitness 'week' starts on a Saturday so if you look at it that way I've exercised five days out of seven. Two rest days. 

The only 'cheat' day I've had was on Wednesday for my Mum's birthday when we ate and drank out. 

And so after actively watching what I eat (bar one day) and made a conscious effort to push myself in exercise, I just don't understand why my weight loss is not showing an impact. 

My fiancé feels I'm stressed out and worked up about certain things (primarily our house buying/flat selling fiasco that feels like it's pretty much taken up our year and has been ongoing since March). He thinks maybe our bodies are just exhausted from it all and not working as optimally as they would typically. 

When I went through a really stressful time last year - and didn't resort to my typical comfort eating approach - I really dropped in weight (and in turn reached my lowest). I therefore don't understand why this tricky time my body is reacting differently? 

I thought why not post on social media and blog about it, in a bid to see if anyone out there has tips and can advise. 

I'm not at my ideal weight or at my lowest, I'm currently 10lbs heavier than the lowest I've preciously managed to achieve. 

As you can probably tell I truly am baffled and a tad fed up. So it's over to you. 

Please comment away and tell me what you think or what you've found works for you. I'm at a total loss and unfortunately it's not weight loss! 

My 'progress' over the last 6 months (the yellow line is the 'trend line', the average/underlying weight taking out fluctuations). 

Comfort food

This post may surprise you. 

No I'm not writing about chocolate, crisps, pizza, pasta and ice cream or drinking wine. 

I'm taking comfort from food and exercise. 

Things are going a bit off track with the house purchase (don't ask!) and I've realised I can't control any of it.

So what have I done? Returned to my trusty old friend food and exercise.

I can control what I eat and how often I try and work out.

And as I said I'd blog my progress with the 30 Day Shred here I am writing about it.

I've been completely stressed out all week, tired out and had a banging headache.

As is always the case when you get yourself into exercise you always feel better for it. 

Exercising this week has helped me de-stress and switch off temporarily. 

Tomorrow I am weighing myself to see what progress I've made this week.

I'm really hoping to see something positive.

This week I've stuck to eating healthily, within my recommended calorie allowance to lose weight, for all seven days of the week.

In terms of exercise I've done my workout DVD (30 Day Shred) for five of the seven days. 

Fingers crossed as well as benefiting me to help relax, this week's food and exercise efforts have helped me lose weight and get fitter too. 

Until tomorrow's weigh-in...

Two weeks on: bringing back the balance

I met up with a close friend a few days back and she reminded me of my plans to blog about my diet and exercise.

Of course those of you who read my posts regularly will know that I haven't actually done this.

The reason being? I didn't get off to a great start if I'm honest.

On Sunday 11th May I started off my 30 Day Shred workout DVD and in the main stuck to my calorie limit.

And then? I ate healthily but I didn't do any exercise again during the week.

I'm pleased to say that things are now looking up again (of course they are that's why I'm blogging!) 

I've now completed 9 days of level one of the 30 Day Shred and I've eaten healthily.

The balance is still there as I pigged out last Sunday at a family BBQ and I've been out for meals. When I'm eating out at restaurants I'm staying within my recommended calorie intake this time and logging my diet and exercise on MyFitnessPal.

I finally seem to be getting back on the fitness 'wavelength' again. 

It's paying off.

Since starting 'The Shred' I've lost 5lbs in weight and lowered my body fat and BMI as a result. 

I've still made plans and kept a social life.

Yesterday I went on a bit of a shopping spree and was pleased to see I'm still fitting in size 12 clothes in the main too. 

Let's hope I manage to keep it up and keep blogging about it! 

Day 2 of bringing back the balance

In order to attempt to restore balance in more ways than one (or perhaps to get the excuses in early!) I'm thinking I may not be doing my workout DVD when I get home this evening.

Yesterday, as you'll know from my blog, I did my workout DVD (30 Day Shred, my trusty favourite) for the first time in a long time - in fact the first exercise I've done in about 3 weeks!

Today I had a course on Investor Relations and Financial Markets at work (contrary to what you'd think it was actually rather interesting). As a result I'd be on the course and unavailable 9-430, therefore I did some work on the train in and got into the office half hour early. 

As is typical with most of us these days in the working world any lunch or tea 'breaks' were spent back at my desk doing work. 

Knowing I had to be in early must have been playing on my mind as I just could not sleep last night. You know those situations where you wake up every half hour and on the hour? So much fun!

This morning as a result I awoke shattered and in turn super achey from my exercise attempt on Sunday.

Throughout the day my muscles, in particular my quads (thighs) have got tighter and more sore, to the extent as I walk it feels like my legs might burst!

I'm cranky, tired, have had no fresh air all day and am super sore. 

Add to that brain melt from all-day training and I'm not in the best of places for this evening.

Nope I'm not already talking about doing my workout.

Oh no I'm talking about the long phonecall I have this evening with my fiancé and our mortgage broker. We're going to be talking losing your job, getting injured and dying. Well, moreso critical illness cover, lifetime protection and the like.

I did thankfully leave work 15-20 mins 'early' today so am now on the commute home.

Right now I'm really not keen on doing any form of exercise when I arrive home.

Of course, as a result, I am now starting to feel guilty and to be honest a bit of a failure, for on the second day only thinking of not doing the workout.

Am I being lazy and a failure? Or am I being sensible letting my muscle repair and recognising I am exhausted?

Help! Please answer!

I either need reassurance I'm okay and doing what's best, or if not a virtual kick up the a*se to get myself in gear.

Please do tell me what one... You've got about 30 minutes before I crash on the sofa and eat my dinner (healthy of course !)

Oh and not wanting to sway your judgement or anything but I thought you should know:

At breakfast at the course there were freshly baked croissants and biscuits.

I had my light yoghurt and a low fat cereal bar

I drank over 1.5 litres of water.

Not tons of the coffee and tea in the training.

At lunch they'd ordered in Pret sandwiches, crisps, juice and biscuits/cakes/sweet treats. 

I went to my desk to check work emails and ate my homemade salad.

In the afternoon the temptations remained.

I snacked on my mango chunks and then some low fat crisps when downstairs.

So? What should I do? 

Bringing back the balance

It has been a long long time since I've blogged. I feel I spend more time writing posts apologising for not having written anything than any other subject! 

I have had good reason. Promise! 

Myself and my fiancé have literally been living and breathing property. We've been focussed on me trying to sell my flat and buying our first home together a house (more on that another time). 

However, things seem - touch wood - to be a bit more on track and I've been trying to focus on having fun and doing things rather than just making the selling and buying my whole life! 

I seem to be managing to get on a more even keel finally between that area of my life and my social life again now.

One area where I've really been suffering is diet and exercise. It's been over three weeks since I've done any exercise and food and drink seems to have become a huge focus of late.

I'm not one of these people who gets stressed and stops eating. If only! No, I'm a comfort eater, meaning the last few weeks as well as no exercise, most days I've been eating non stop junk and drinking alcohol. 

My fiancé is the same. We've been getting takeaways, eating meals out and generally consuming far more volumes of food and drink than is needed. 

I've always said when I see programs or articles on obese people who have numerous health problems caused by their weight that surely they must reach a point and realise they're going too far? 

Myself I felt I reached that a few years back where I suddenly identified I'd got pretty big in size and was pretty unfit. 

Now I've never let myself get to that point again, but over the last few days on talking to my fiancé and others it's clear I've got a bit off track.

Ironically it's whilst eating out the last two nights saying to friends how I always find it hard to be healthy and still sociable, that something has clicked. 

So enough is enough.

It's time to bring back the balance.

I've done a little plan as you can see and decided to give good old Jillian a go again.

So today I've tried to eat healthily so far, drank loads of water and have done my workout DVD.

Day one, level one of Thirty Day Shred done.

I'm going to the cinema tonight and we're going for a carvery first but I'm going to stick to my calorie limit. 

Hopefully by focusing on my weight and fitness again (which is horrendous judging by how hard I found the DVD!) I will also keep a bit calmer on the house buying and flat selling process. 

I also plan to keep blogging about it so I hold myself accountable.

Measurements have been taken and the first step is starting it so here's to getting shredded! 

Eating healthy doesn't have to be boring

Last night I was lucky to have the company of my other half for once as he was on a different shift at work.

We decided to just stay in, watch a film and have something different for dinner. 

I've been eating very healthily the last week and so we still wanted to be 'good', but thought of trying something new for a change.

My fiancé suggested healthy homemade burgers.

We ended up having homemade burgers made with extra lean steak mince in a wholemeal bun, with reduced fat cheese, onion, tomato and a tiny bit of relish. This we had served with sweet potato wedges, some salad and a dollop of low fat mayonnaise.

It was yummy! 

I have to admit it was good to have something different for once too!

I even took a photo! 

I'll post up some more pics if we try anything else out too.

Today is now the start of level 2 on the 30 Day Shred and my weigh in day.

I'm pleased to say it's going in the right direction and I've lost 1lb again. 

Although admittedly I was hoping for bigger numbers given how this week I've eaten healthy food for 6 days and exercised for all 7! 

Level one nearly done!

Day nine of the Thirty Day Shred workout. Only one more day left on Level One. 

I'm sitting here watching Supersize vs Superskinny and there's another program coming up on plus size ballerinas. 

Trashy TV heaven tonight! And about my favourite topic at the moment diet and exercise! 

I'm going to try do the full 30 days in a row as best I can and do 10 days on each level like before.

So how is it going this time round?

One things for sure my fitness levels have really dropped and I definitely found this workout more a struggle than it seemed in the past.

I find my knees and arms are pretty weak so at times the bicep curl and static lunge move really makes my knees ache. Also the side lunge with shoulder raise move makes my arms/shoulders heavy too.

Thankfully most other parts are fine and I'm getting that feeling I want to move up a level. 

I've had quite a week of it too so I'm thinking I might have had more of a struggle because that.

One things for sure I feel so much better for it, I'm sleeping more soundly, my body feels better and I'm sticking strictly to my healthy eating diet. 

It's all about balance and I don't want to become obsessive or a bore, but for now I feel I need to see some strong results before having too many treats.

Last Saturday I'd found I'd lost 1lb which I was pleased with as I'd only done 3 days of exercise and healthy eating.

This week I will have completed 7 days of exercise and 6 days of healthy eating! This would have been seven full days but I had a slight pig out at the in-laws last Sunday. 

I'm sticking at it and hoping to finish my flat declutter this weekend and burn some more calories doing that! 

Plus having a bit of a hard week I'm not just pleased I've stuck to the plan (my workout and recording my food on MyFitnessPal), but also loving the boost to my mood the exercise brings.

Now for the weigh in on Saturday and starting level two. The only problem is I've found out one of my favourite spinning instructors is covering the Saturday morning class. Do I have a day off the shred and get back to spin or not? Dilemmas dilemmas! 

Slowly but surely

Sitting on the sofa I've got the guilts a bit this evening. I'm watching trashy reality TV - the Celebrity Big Brother final (the shame!) 

In front of me is the following view:

Yes. A huge pile of cardboard boxes. My lovely fiancé went and got these for me so I can pack up all the 'stuff' I've accumulated after nearly 7 years in my flat.

I started the 'declutter' and sort out last Saturday and since? Erm, well...not a lot.

I'm so excited to move out and buy a house with my man, but I am being so lazy about the steps beforehand to get to that point.

I need to sort it out!

I also kept eating bad food and lazing about. 

However, last night I started back on the 30 Day Shred and I've been eating healthily the last two days.

To try and stay on track I've started using the MyFitnessPal App again, just to help encourage me to watch more closely what I'm eating. I typically keep a food diary and use a very old Weight Watchers points system to help guide my intake. For now I think calorie counting is needed though. 

Tonight I finished work a bit late and I was pretty sleepy when I got home. I knew I couldn't give up already though and so tonight I did my workout DVD again.

It's frightening how quickly your fitness drops. I feel such a weakling at the moment. Just doing the moves with my super light hand weights I can feel my arms, shoulders and thighs aching. And even doing squats my glutes were starting to hurt.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning at not being too much in pain. Particularly that my bad back hadn't come back! 

Part way through I was regretting starting the workout. But as circuit 3 came around I knew I was nearly done and so it wasn't going to be hard as I expected.

I think tomorrow however I will be finding myself with a few tight muscles!

So although I feel rubbish I've not made more progress with my flat sort out and some other points on my To Do list at home, I'm kind of pleased with myself for forcing myself to get back on track with my fitness and diet. 

Slowly but surely I'll get there! 

Day 20: ten days to go!

Twenty days down, ten to go.

So how am I finding this workout plan this far down the line?

At times this week I've wanted to kill Jillian Michaels I am so tired and achey and feel I can't give anymore.  Then I complete a workout and feel great and can feel areas toning up and I worship her!

The last couple of days I will admit I've found tough. My muscles are just so tight, doing exercise continuously for this long really does push you and I am feeling very stiff and tired as a result. Some days I go to the DVD and my achilles, shoulders and abs are so tight I think I'm never going to do it.

However the American trainer is right once you train your body and push it to adapt you feel better and you feel stronger about lots of things you can achieve.

It goes to show you can do workouts when you're still feeling the pain from the day before. And being 20-25 minutes in duration you finish just when you do feel like you're about to pass out! 

So this morning I had a major lie in.I have been feeling very tired this week. I did my workout DVD and boy was it tough. You know you're feeling it when the warm up is killing you!

However before doing it I needed a push and realising it was day 20 and I could measure some results I jumped on the scales and took out my tape measure.

You can see the results for yourself in the picture below. What better motivation than that?! 

Now though I'm at the next stage, well the final stage. The last 10 days. Tomorrow I need to move on to level three. I'm scared.

Scared how tough this is going to be and can I do it. Also scared how jumpy it is as my neighbours (who we know like to moan about my jumping about!) are going to react... 

It's just ten days though and if I can get even more results by final day it'll all be worth it.

Yes I ache it but I'm healthier and fitter for it overall. I've been better this week on my diet, I've had no alcohol and eaten healthy every day.

I wasn't too bad last week but did have some alcohol on both Saturday and Sunday and ate out Saturday night (I did try to pick healthier options though) and had a picnic on Sunday (although that was pretty healthy).

Let's hope this hard work and commitment continues to pay off. I need all the strength and motivation I can get to make it through level three! 

The mysteries of weight loss

I know I've blogged about this topic before, but as I'm lying here in bed debating whether to go to spin this morning (third day in a row), I'm completely baffled.

The last three weeks I've lost 5lbs in weight (3lb loss, stayed the same, 2lb loss). This is great and really keeps me going trying to get in shape.

However, it doesn't seem to make sense. Over said three weeks I've been eating lots of fattening foods, drinking alcohol and not exercising as much.

Yet weeks where I've been super strict with diet and exercised almost every day I've on occasion not lost or put on?

I appreciate I am guilty of overanalysing my progress somewhat and should just be happy I'm doing well, at my lowest weight now. Being someone like me who likes to be in control and know what's happening though I find I want to understand how to keep making positive progress, perhaps by noticing patterns and following them moving forwards.

How on earth you do that when trying to lose weight and get fitter is beyond me right now. Nothing seems to make sense.

I'm having a BBQ today and alcohol and am currently debating whether or not to go spin. Do I have a break - as I have done well - as a treat and also give my body a chance to rest (particularly before a pressured week ahead at work)?

Or am I viewing it all wrong and should keep up with my spinning and start the week off as I mean to go on?

Sitting here feeling tired, a bit stiff from yesterday's session and also somewhat dehydrated from the sun yesterday I know what answer I'm veering towards.

If only I knew what impact it was going to have...but that's never going to happen with this mystery surrounding weight loss!

Creatures of habit

As I've recently blogged, I've just finished reading a book on habits. How they work, how people use them in life and business and how to change them.

This morning as I got up for spin class, put on my gym kit, boiled the kettle for my coffee and put my one Weetabix in the bowl, I laughed to myself. Habits.

Chatting to my friend this morning she commented "we are all creatures of habit" and how true those words are.

Duhigg in his book talks about recognising those habits and breaking them down, into what cues the habit, what action you take the reward at the end. You repeat this and it becomes a recognised habit and viewing it in this way you can start to change/develop habits into the way you want them.

I've realised this is so true in my healthy eating and fitness. In particular on weekends I've developed a strong habit on a Saturday which helps me stick to my plan.

Cue - Saturday morning and I know there is a spin class on at the gym, my alarm goes off at 920 every Saturday, I get up, get dressed, pack my gym bag, fill my water bottle, drink a coffee and eat 1 Weetabix for breakfast. This all in my head now means I am going to spin class.

Process/action - I go to spin class, the same teacher is there, the class starts the same time and I pick a bike and warm up. I take part in the spin class.

Reward - I feel the buzz from the endorphins of exercise and it helps burn calories.

In turn, other habits I've developed are:

Cue - I've been spinning/for a run/workout at the gym

Action/process - I've exercised and so feel I want to eat healthily and not waste the hard work I've just done. I eat healthily

Reward - I feel full from the food but positive I've picked a healthy option

Long term this is why I think this time round my healthy eating and exercise has worked.

I've got into a habit whereby I exercise and eat healthily since I wasn't happy with my health and body shape. So I exercise and eat healthily, my reward is a new body shape and compliments from people on how I look now. Which in turn spurs me on to continue.

I guess a lot of this is common sense, but in turn I suppose I'm trying to advise that if you set a process up and stick to it so that it in fact becomes a habit, then it really is true you can change key aspects in your life.

Clearly it's important you recognise bad habits and try to get out of them. In addition, some habits (such as bad ones) seem easier to develop than others.

Things in life can become habits, such as relationships, and then you are so used to that person being in your life you can't think of doing things without them.

I'm just hoping I can develop a habit now to keep me writing more regular blogs!


Pic: Wonder if I can ever get the habit of water not wine? I've managed it today at least (well because it's weigh-in day tomorrow!)

This temple needs a break

We're here in the Easter bank holiday weekend, four days off from work and an excuse to chill out and stuff our faces!

As per my last post I was super keen and excited to get to Good Friday so I could indulge in my Mum's yummy roast lamb dinner.

Originally I'd planned to unwind on Thursday night and go to spinning to get my metabolism working before the onslaught of fattening food up ahead. However, I'd ended up leaving work late and missed my spin class so I was soon easily swayed to instead join my work lot in some pre-bank holiday drinks.

The end result? No surprise here, what it always is... I drank lots of wine, Prosecco and of course jägerbombs were involved and then when my boyfriend came to get me I needed some junk food - cut to McDonalds and chocolate! Not the original healthy evening planned, but I realised I needed it and I was glad I went.

So the Thursday night spinning got dropped. Fair enough. Oh well on Good Friday we had until 2pm until we needed to be at my parents so plenty of time for some exercise beforehand. What really happened? We got lazy and instead got up late, had hot cross buns for breakfast and also had some chocolate Easter treats before leaving the flat!

Oh well yet again I have to say it's Easter. I'm entitled to have a break and not stick to eating healthily and exercising all the time.

I wasn't let down by the meal at my Mum's. I didn't think I would be. Oh boy did I make the most of a day off from eating healthily though! We had a huge roast dinner, alcohol, homemade baklava for afters. Then later in the evening we had some nibbles (spring rolls, tempura prawns etc).

By the time we made our way home in the early hours I was so full up!

There was no way I was missing my spin class this morning after all that food, so off I went.

And that is when I started to suffer. They say the body is a temple. Well this one well and truly needs a rest.

From just two days off from exercise and eating lots of fattening food, I found spinning was a real struggle. I was really sleepy and felt so lethargic. Don't get me started on how dehydrated I was either!

So right now my pile of Easter chocolate goods is staying on the side in the kitchen Already it's been added to with two small Easter eggs each from my parents.

However I think for now today and tomorrow is going to be booze free and full of healthy food. I've already consumed lots of water today and its starting to make me feel better.

Then bring on Easter Monday, at that point I'll allow myself again to indulge in some chocolate (and I feel with the amount we've got I'll be planning in chocolate treat days for the next few weeks!)

Obviously the fact that Monday is weigh in day has nothing whatsoever to do with this planning...

Easter eats

I'm sitting here watching MasterChef on TV and yet again I'm thinking about this weekend.

After making it through one more day of work most of us can look forward to a long weekend ahead, a whole four days to rest up.

I for one can't wait. I feel so rundown right now I feel fit to drop!

Plus, I won't lie, I'm not religious. So this weekend is Easter and it should mean thinking of stories from the Bible and what this time of year is really about. However like many people nowadays, I'll admit I'm focused more on seeing family and Easter eggs.

In fact at work today after our team meeting I gave my team a selection of Easter gifts, well treats. What were they? Various animal shaped chocolates - various bunnies, chicks, carrots (well carrot shaped) and eggs. Everyone in our team has a pretty sweet tooth it has to be said so they were all pretty pleased.

As I've been counting down the days until this break a key item in my mind is food.

Yes, eating healthily and exercising regularly clearly food or rather 'naughty' food is going to be top of my mind.

This week has been ridiculous, I have constantly found myself daydreaming and fantasising of all sorts of culinary delights.

The other night when my boyfriend got home from work, we found ourselves giggling away at how food-obsessed I've become this week. I just kept reeling off item after item of food I could eat.

And what's started this all off?

My Mum. Well, my Mum's roast dinner.

Recently I blogged about childhood memories and I have to say Mum's roast dinners would certainly be a key one. They always say you always love your Mum's roasts the best and for me that is so true. Nothing can beat it.

In particular roast lamb. So when my parents invited me and my boyfriend over for a meal on Good Friday and then told me it was going to be roast lamb I became a woman obsessed.

I am actually counting down to when I can eat that mouthwatering meal.

We are spending time with my family on Friday and on Easter Monday I've talked everyone in to going to our local theatre to try out some ballet. Otherwise we don't have much planned since as per usual my boyfriend unfortunately has to work most of it.

Both of us are watching our weight and trying to keep on track so I didn't want to go overboard, but it wouldn't be Easter without some basics. So of course I've got some hot cross buns, Cadbury Creme eggs (my fave), Cadbury mini eggs (my man's faves) and some Malteaser mini bunnies (which we can share).

Aside from desperately trying to get hold of some Cadbury Egg n Spoon (if you haven't tried them do it, they are gorgeous!) these are the only treats I plan to have in my flat. Of course if my Mum wants to stuff us silly on Friday I'm certainly not going to argue!

So whilst I sit here admiring the talent in front of me on MasterChef and look forward to getting tomorrow's working day out the way, the main thing in my mind right now is without a doubt that roast dinner meal.

Mum, don't let me down!