Round Up

This is a new weekly feature that I will be doing. I will be going over my weekly workout and food diary. This is the first of 2 new features that will really make me accountable and seeing as I only have 5 months until the big 3-0 I really need to get my head back in the game. I'm hoping that having to blog once a week about what I've eaten and done (or not done) at the gym will give me my motivation back?

To be honest this week has been a bit of a non starter. So far I've not yet made it to the gym, however I do have my PT session in the morning so hoping that will kick my ass!

Eating has also been a total joke. I spent the first half of the week, eating whatever the kids ate cake, crisps etc and then spent the rest of the week not eating any carbs to try and make up for it when I realised I'd have to be weighed on Saturday. Not an ideal way to live, however I am seriously hoping to get my lifestyle back on track next week when they return to school.

I have to keep telling myself that I do still have to live and that eating the odd cake or bar of chocolate isn't going to derail all my hard work........I need to remember to stick to one cake or one bar of chocolate though :-)

Half Term, Rain and No Gym!

This week has been Half Term for the kids! They love the break from school, I love having them at home, however my gym schedule and diet certainly don't.

The school summer holidays (6 whole weeks)  are fast approaching so therefore I figured it might be a good time now to start researching other methods of working out at home and with the kids around.

Ways to Work Out At Home

1. Running - This is clearly the most obvious choice. Going for a run can take as little or as much time as you have/want. You can burn some serious calories running so this makes it great for maintaining the weight loss. However what if you don't like running or can't run???

2. Cycling - This summer might be time to dust off the road bike and get back outside. Again I don't really enjoy this. I'm very much an exercise class kinda girl......I like the social aspect of it and find cycling quite lonely, however again the calorie burn can be huge.....guess I could go tackle a few hills and get the same effects as a spin session.

3. 30 Day Shred - This will most certainly be on my list! I need a way to still build muscle over the holidays without having to buy crazy expensive gym equipment (I'll still be paying my gym membership after all). I love the results you get with the 30 day shred however I seem to have only gotten big results when I've combined it with all of my other classes.

4. Take the kids for a run round the park - This is something my kids would totally LOVE! Any mention of the park and they are at the door, shoes on ready to go. Throw in the option to race mum around the field and they'd be more than happy!

While that covers most of my exercise needs I do still need to find away to carry on with my weight training. I also need to find a way to keep my eating habits in check....I'm finding it all too easy to just eat crap and stuff myself when the kids are off!

Detox Time - Link Love

Oh it feels like it was a long old weekend! I ate too much, drank too much and generally didn't move all that much, however during the course of the weekend I did find these links for you to have a read of.................

Up first.......the one that struck a chord after my weekend of indulgence.....

• Daylong Detox - Lemon Juice, Smoothies and Yoga, right now these sound like the perfect way to recover after the weekend.
• Fire Building Yoga - Get rid of more toxins with heat generating yoga.
• The Emotional Stages of going to the gym - LOVE LOVE LOVE this one....Has "me" written all over it.
• One Womans Experience of the Race for Life - Did me good to read this.....I'm in preparation for my first ever race for life........think I need to make sure I'm there on time and near the front!
• KettleBells - They are next on my list to learn to use.......

Neon Pink or Mums Choice?

This weekend I spent a lot of time cleaning the crap out of the Little Miss's bedroom - Cleaning burns lots of calories right? In actual fact I was still sore after my PT session and tossing things in bin bags was all I could manage.
It completely baffles me how kids can accumulate bits of broken toys, random pieces of paper and other such delights without it bothering them!
Well not now! I had a good clean out and considering her room is the smallest in the house I still managed to dispose of three bin bags worth of junk.
Now her room is all clean I really want to start decorating. The only problem is The Little Miss wants neon pink Hello Kitty (shit my worst nightmare) and I want pretty, clean and cute........How on earth do I get round this?

So just in case I don't win this battle here is some of the inspiration I've been looking at:

SOURCE

SOURCE

SOURCE

SOURCE

New Favourite

Ok so time to be really upfront now......I am quite possibly the worlds worst cook - and while I am trying my damn hardest to eat clean and be healthy, when you can't cook this isn't easy.
For the last few months I've bee quite literally living off Chicken and Veg or Fish and Veg.
Well this week I finally became fed up of it and decided it was time to give something else ago.

So I bought some Turkey Mince.......I can never find this when I want it but am so glad I did this time. It was a welcome change!

So here's my new favourite meal.........

Turkey Mince

Steam Fresh Frozen Veg 

Small amount of Cheese!

I know it really isn't that exciting but at least I'm trying I guess?? Its kept me full for a while now and no snacking since I ate it so surely that can only be a good thing??

What foods do you like to cook??? Simple Ideas Please :-)

Thirty Before 30

So I have jumped on the band wagon here a bit with this post. I've seen it done a few times on various other blogs over the course of the year - must be a good year for turning 30, so thought I would give it a go.
I have only 5 short months left before I turn 30 so thought it was a good idea to keep the list achievable. For this exact reason there are only 15 items on the list!!!

No more arguing......

Before I lost weight I used to HATE clothes shopping for myself! I found it a truly humiliating horrific experience!
Going into a shop and seeing a vast array of clothes that I either liked or loved but knew, I would really struggle to get into wasn't a fun experience!
I can't tell you the amount of times my husband and I have had full blown arguments because I couldn't find anything to wear so obviously I took it out on him. In my head I knew I was being unfair and that I was the only one that could do anything to change myself and the way I looked. At the time I just was not ready for it!

Zip forward to now and for the first time in 11 years I am able to find clothes that not only fit but also actually look really cute!

At the minute I can comfortably fit into a UK size 16/14 depending on the shop and style of top/dress etc but today I managed to squeeze myself into a UK size 12 top!!!!!!! Overjoyed is an understatement.

Now to be honest I'm not one for judging someones size by their dress size - there is far too much variation from shop to shop and style to style, I mean I got in a 12 in one shop and found a 16 slightly on the tight side in another - but still this very small victory made me smile, even just for a minute!

Here's what I bought - All from Primark (cheap and cheerful) but I've found that losing weight at this speed means my clothes don't fit me for long so call me tight but I don't want to spend much. At the minute anyway, just wait until I've settled on my goal weight and I'll be shopping up a storm.

LOVE LOVE LOVE These shoes!

First Ever 5K

Ok so I know this isn't exactly a proper 5K run but it's the furthest I've ever done either on the treadmill or the cross trainer and therefore felt it was worthy of note!

I really have come an awful long way in a short space of time! I know this 5K is incredibly slow compared to most people but for the first time in my life I'm off the sofa and trying new things!

THIS!!!!

BODY COMBAT

Wow wow wow is all I can say - well not really otherwise this would be a really short blog post!

I went to my first ever Body Combat class last Wednesday and I totally LOVE IT! It was great!! I got to work out some serious pent up frustration/aggression and get a massive calorie burn at the same time.

In all honesty it was a little daunting for me - actually very daunting, but I made sure I was at the back of the class but still with a good view of the instructor. Some of the moves were a bit more complicated that I have been used to and they took me a while to get the hang of, but I did eventually get the hang of them!

I am going back this week! I've booked in for the Tuesday combat class followed directly by Body Pump......If you don't hear from me again for a while you now know the reason why!

This Weekend!

Oh my days - this weekend has been one of dreams and nightmares! The sun has finally started shinning here in the UK so the husband, kids and I headed to the beach on Saturday! 

Well no trip to the beach would be complete without traditional English Fish and Chips and boy were they good! In fact they were actually amazing............

Sunday saw us go for a Picnic at a local park - again more bad food!! Having a healthy picnic is down right hard - made even harder by the fact the park sells the most gorgeous Scones, Jam and Cream.

I don't even want to weigh myself this week - I am actually far too scared. It's gotten to the point where I am considering not eating until after my PT session on Friday! Yes I know this probably won't help but having to stand there and feel miserable about my one weekend of fun isn't going to make me feel good.

At the very least I plan on drinking as much water as humanly possible to flush all the bad crap out of my system. 

While I had a great weekend I actually feel pretty crap from all the shit I've eaten!

Back to taking it one day at a time again!

5k is a coming

The race for life 5K is coming - Its only roughly 3 weeks away and my training has come to a grinding halt! I was happily training on the road, but in doing so I managed to mash my knees up. The result being I'm struggling to run without being in pain. So for the next few weeks I will be running as much as I can on the cross trainer! This is something I really really do not like doing - I've never been a big fan of the cross trainer but I'm hoping it will make me fit enough to run the 5K without any actual training.

The plan then is to turn up on the day and run as much as I possibly can - I'll deal with my knees the following day!

Don't forget you can sponsor me at just giving

Motivation

My motivation is seriously lacking again! I've eaten rubbish this past weekend, and although i've still done a fair bit of exercise I'm back to feeling fat and really unmotivated.

I seem to go through phases. I'll go from smashing every gym session to not being in the mood and having a few bad days! However when I have big goals to achieve and not a massive amount of time to achieve them in, I can't afford to go back to the unmotivated me!

I've got it in my head that a "little won't hurt" or "one day off is ok". I don't want to fail and I somehow need to move on from this asap.

When I'm actually at the gym there isn't a problem. I know I'm getting stronger, I know I'm getting smaller and fitter and one hell of a lot healthier. Getting myself to the gym and to keep up with my diet is the problem.

Over the last 2 weeks I've been told by numerous people that I'm looking amazing, and to be honest while I totally love the compliments I think the pressure is getting to me. I want to look good for my 30th and I want to prove that I can do this, but I am also mega scared of failing!! I've spent a lot of money and taken a lot of time to get this far - what if I balls it all up now?

At the end of the day I have 2 choices....either I ignore the niggling doubts and chose to get on and smash it again or I decide now to fail.........For me failure is now not an option, I've come to far to let it be.

Life isn't all rainbows, unicorns and flowers.....just really wish it was sometimes!

cardio vs strength training

This is something that took me a while to get my head around! For a long long long time, I genuinely believed the only way to shed any of my weight was to spend hours and hours pounding the treadmill. So when i first started back at the gym this is what I did. However I very soon go bored and would talk myself out of going! I then found spin, and fell in love and whilst I was really pleased I had found some cardio exercise I liked, again I found myself getting fed up in the gym!

Until I found the confidence to head into the weight room. Now, other than my warm up I maybe only do 1-2 sessions of cardio at the most and 9 times out of 10 those cardio sessions involve HIIT training.

Since I started using weights both in body pump and with my trainer my entire body composition has changed! I have muscles in places I never knew existed!

Honestly when I started I was terrified, it can be really intimidating and complicated looking. There are still certain times of the day when I avoid the weight room - you'll never catch me in there in the evening! 

Even taking all this into account I still believe the benefits of weight training (see below) outweigh the hours of boredom pounding a treadmill:

Weight Training Build Lean Muscle - Increasing muscle mass, increases your metabolism. The long and short of it - you burn calories even while resting (all good in my book)

Boost Stamina - Essentially the less tired you will be! Being able to train for longer helps burn more calories!

Decreased Risk of Osteoporosis

Builds Confidence

Makes you happy - Lets be honest any exercise lifts the happy hormone in you so get moving!

Seriously though, why not give it a try????

I AM BACK!

Once again sorry for not posting in a while! I really do need to sort this out! 

I've still been working out and the results keep coming so I decided to start again with a new results post!

So here goes.......

Here is me 2 weeks ago on 22nd April 2014

Here I am now....another 2 weeks on.....

Here are some more comparison pics....

STARTING WEIGHT - 259lb

CURRENT WEIGHT - 207lb