Mid-Week Catch Up

So it's come to Sunday night and as I've got a few minutes to spare before bed I thought I'd write down how I've been getting on. It's been a very interesting first few days back on it, first few days were the easiest as usual but as you all know it is getting harder each day to stay on track and to be good each time temptation is thrust in your face.

So Wed and Thursday were circuits and spin classes. Friday I was off work ill but I still went for a lovely 40 minute walk to clear my lungs and get some exercise in for the day. Pictures of walk below.

This weekend I went to visit a close friend of mine. We had a lovely time shopping; a few drinks and went  out for dinner twice.

Both times I was really good. In Zizzis I had the skinny rustica - which is like a pizza but smaller and comes with a salad and is made out of wholemeal flour. Then in Cafe Rouge today I had salmon fillet with a salad nicoise. So lovely and healthy :D Was so impressed.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and orange juice. So got lots of fruit, veg and protein in this weekend overall!

I usually find it very hard to eat healthier when I'm away visiting, so I took some food with me which really helped. Also it meant we didn't have to make an extra visit to the food shop just for me. I do hate to put people out because of my healthy eating.

We went shopping and I got a lovely jumper to see me through the rest of winter (which will go nicely under my new lovely and warm gillet). I also brought some teabags. Nice to have a selection for once, as I am rather addicted to my Earl Grey.

And here's me in my new lovely jumper (but I'm also using it to show you how I'm looking at the moment):

Lastly when I woke up this morning my voice was really croaky and it's been fading in and out all day. I'm hoping it's not something serious like laryngitis but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. So this week may be a case of just eating healthier and not much hard exercise. Keeping positive.

Good luck this week everyone. Have a great weight loss week.

Emily xxx

Hello you beautiful people!

Hello to you all :D

I hope you are all doing well and feeling good about the year to come.

AS many people have I've put on a considerable amount of weight this Christmas. Toooo many choccies and biscuits for Emily!

So I'm back ON IT!

My first port of call is sorting out my fitness regime. I'm already a member of a gym, so time to stop diddle daddling and get my ass to some classes. A goal is try as many new ones as possible this year: so yoga, pilates etc. Already tried spin, my bum hurt but it was well worth it.

So the plan is gym three- four times a week: Swimming, Body Combat, Spin and maybe yoga/zumba to shake things up!

Food is also a next massive priority, not necessarily cutting down on calories but cutting out the crap. This means eating god food and making better choices. To help me with this, I'm having a little challenge for myself. Basically I have to give up one thing a month and switch it for a healthier alternative. So first month is bread, shouldn't be too hard. See below for the years choices.

Item	Month	Alternatives
Bread	January	Rivita
Cheese	February	Grapes
Chocolate	March	Strawberries
Crisps	April	Rice Cakes
Alcohol	May	Apple Juice
Chips	June	Jacket Potatoe
Eating Out	July	Home Cooked version
Donoughts/Pasteries	August	Fruit Salad
Pasta	September	Rice
Biscuits	October	Raisins
Puddings	November	Hot Chocolate
Mince Pies/Short bread/mini chocolates	December	Carrot Sticks

I will try hard to keep to this but I know I may have to be flexible a little bit. We all know life has a funny way of surprising us.

Also got myself some new gym trousers. Hopefully these ones won't show my bum off when I do jump squats :D

I'm really going to try and blog every Wednesday :D Will see how it goes and will try read all of your amazing adventures.

WE CAN DO THIS.

Starting Weight: 13st 13lbs
Goal Weight: 12st

Emily xx

New Job....New Start? Hmmmmm

HELLO ALL!

So we always say with a new start in our lives, we are going to drastically change something. We can't help it, we always feel a renewed energy when we can start all over again. This is what I'm going to try and cash in on when I start my new job!

New job yay!!

So at the end of September I will be moving to a whole new place and I can just feel my enthusiasm to start losing a bit more weight. I really hope I can continue!

I noticed that its coming up to a year when I first started Blogging! I know I've been terrible for the past 6 months but I've just been so busy and Blogging takes up an extraordinary amount of time! You will all have experienced hours slipping by just by catching up with a few blogs, never mind writing your own blogs.

So my plan is from the beginning of October to start Blogging weekly on a Wednesday to recount my week's fitness and eating lifestyle. And maybe catch up with a few of my favourites :p

I'm not going to start counting my calories so much though, just have weekly challenges i.e. no chocolate for one week, no bread for another, no pasta for another. See if I can't cut down on some of my worst habits. I will also try and exercise 4 times a week. Nothing too serious but get me moving again.

The worst point of my new job is that I'm moving away from my other half :(

This is my boyfriend Matt :D

We are going to try the long distance thing and I'm hopefully that we can make it work. The only upside is that I will have more time in the week etc to focus on my weight loss and healthier lifestyle. We all know a relationship can make us lax, especially at the beginning!

My plan is to find the local swimming pool and the local Zumba class! Then check out the gym costs etc. Otherwise I may invest in some more home gym equipment! All depends on where I live, I have some house viewings coming up.

Eeeek it's all so exciting! And everything is happening so fast! I will have started my new job in less than a month :o

So excited, I just can't wait!

So assuming everything goes to plan, I should be back before you know it and kicking ass once again!

Emily xxxx

Gym Session and.................HOLIDAY!

So I finally feel like I'm getting back into it but I'm hesitant to say anything like 'Hey, I'm back for good'. Don't want to count my chickens!

However, I did go to the gym today! It was meant to be an abs class but no-one else turned up, so the instructor decided I would be having a personal training session. Yay for me!

The trainer (Greg) started me with 3 minutes on the cross trainer to get me warmed up. We had a little discussion about my prolonged absence. He was very understanding but he was keen for me to get back into it, as was I at the time. Strange that just need someone to believe in you and encourage you and you're raring to go again!

Once warm-up was over, he had me do 20 squats with 5kg weights and then 12 lap pull downs at 55kg. I had to do this 3 times and man was it hard! I swear my face looked like this most of the time :(

Very, Very Sweaty!

After that I had to cycle 3km on the bike. A little bit of Cardio he called it! Such a charmer.

Next was 12 lunges with 4kg weights and 10 box press ups. He commented my form in my lunges was excellent :D Happy Emily.

I struggled with the press-ups. I always have and always wondered why. Recently I realised my left wrist is much weaker than my right which I think is due to my ganglion cyst (harmless, so don't worry about me) on my left wrist.

This is what mine looks like. This is NOT my wrist.

Once I told him that, he asked me to use the weights whilst doing my press-ups and it caused there to be much less pressure on the wrist. However the press-up got a whole lot harder and I ended up only doing 6 on the final round of 3 sets.

The exercise that followed was 3 sets of 20 bunny hops over the weight bench. Hard as it put pressure on my wrist but I persevered, only dropping to 10 on the last set. I'm still proud.

The last thing of my work out was reverse crunch exercises. Had to do 2 sets of 10. Painful as haven't done a whole lot of abs in a long while but I pushed through. So proud of myself. Even considering going swimming tonight.

Greg did suggest that I needed more protein in my diet, especially in the morning and recommended I try a female friendly protein shake for breakfast and after work-outs. The one he suggested is called 'Diet FX' (picture below).

Think I will try the Banana flavour.

I'm keen to try it for at least a month and see how it goes. I also plan to cut back on the pudding :(

My last bit of news for you all is that I'm going on HOLIDAY!!!! My family are going for a lovely week in the (fingers crossed) sunny Mallorca, Spain. I'm really rather excited. The added bonus... we are going to go walking, swimming, cycling and scuba diving. So we will be extremely active!

Right catch up with you all soon!

Emily xx

Eat well, Exercise strong and Be happy!

Week 6 Measurements and Week 7 Goals

Drum Roll......................................

Just to let you all know I went shopping on the weekend and I was fitting into mostly 14's (UK Size). I was so excited I actually squealed and stomped my feet in the changing room in the shop. I bet my fellow changing room buddies thought I was really crazy! :D
So happy.
I think I'm close to fitting into my goal shorts now! Woop!

So here are my measurements for week 6:

Weight: n/a
Arms: 12.5" (+0.25")
Chest: 34" (same)
Waist: 31.5" (-1")
Stomach: 40" (-1.5")
Thighs: 23.5" (+0.5")
Calf: 16.5" (same)


So I'm not weighing myself till the end of the month but the measurements speak for themselves. :D
Been a good week in the end. Rough couple of days n the middle there but feeling good overall!
I went to a new physiotherapist today (had to pay) and she thinks the sheath in my left leg is tight, which means when I exercise the muscle expands and pushes against it causing me pain. She did some of her magic on it and I'm going back in three weeks after she's had a chance to research my condition and figure out the best solution. So hopefully I'll be running in no time!

Week 6 Review
How many goals did you reach?
Water -Yes, lot's of it!.
Food - Tracked every day. Some were a bit rougher but I kept on top of it.
Fitness - Had good workouts. Loving the circuits. I feel like I've done so much work after them!
Fun - I went dancing :D Truly fantastic to get out and just dance. I was completely sober, so I was literally just burning the calories all night long :D

What are you most proud of?
I'm proud that I had half a muffin, tracked my pizza and enjoyed some good food. Most of all pleased that I didn't freak out about the calories, just tracked them and continued on.

Do you have any words of advice?
Everyone can give you advice, most of the time it is really helpful, but in the end you know what you are truly capable of. Trust in that.

Week 7 Goals
Are you keeping them the same...?
I think this week I'm going to focus on my exercise programme and try some different things.
Now I know running is definitely off the cards, I've got to up my exercise game at the weekends. Need to get some good calorie burning exercises going.

My usual routine is becoming stagnant and boring. So this weeks challenge is to shake it up from a planning point of view!

Are you switching it up?
Yes I am :D See above.

What has become like a habit?
It's become second nature for me to eat healthy now. When I go to the canteen at Lunch I no longer see just food. I see the work out I would need to do to burn off the calories in that food. It's a great motivator to eat better!

MINI CHALLENGE.... Eat with smaller platers and/or utensils
Challenge Accepted

I will be blogging a loving myself meme tomorrow and I hope you do the same! Also I've got lot's of lovely pictures for you all featuring a Come Dine with Me dinner with my house mates, pictures of my gym and some various ones of food etc. Hopefully will post them this week, as I plan to devote more of my week this week to you all and my blog!

I wish you all Happiness and Health this week!

Emily xx

Week 4 weigh in and week 5 goals!

So right I officially hates scales and being hungry :(

Weight: 13 Stone 2Lbs (+2lbs)

Oh dear after such a good week I think my naughty weekend caught up with me or the scales are stupidly silly. I really dislike them and I can't seem to get under 13 stone. It's really bothering me

It's weird if I lose weight I'm not hungry and want to exercise. If I put on weight, then I'm just massively hungry and feel extremely demotivated :( It's a cruel world!

Arms: 12.25" (-0.35")

Chest: 34" (-1")

Waist: 31.5" (-0.5")

Stomach: 41.5" (+0.5")

Thighs: 24" (-1")

Calf: 17" (same)

So some are up and some are down. I think my 3 day trial has toned me up a bit. Back on the horse I reckon. However on a bright note, my friend made me look at my beginning measurements from way back when and it turns out I've actually lost a whole 3.5" from my waist. I'm actually quite proud of that :D 

After seeing Erin's picture of herself in a swimsuit I took a better look at myself at Swimming last night and I realised I can see the differences. I may not be brave enough (Erin you are such an inspiration) like Erin but at least I can feel/see the difference. 

Things to discuss and/or consider...

What worked?

I really enjoyed having a gym buddy and going to a new gym. So I think I need to make sure I swap it up a bit. Keep it fresh!

What didn't work?

Having a treat. Apparently I still do not have any self control :(

What can you not wait to do again?

I can't wait to go back to Zumba class. I miss it soooo much!

This week has been a strange week, it started off brilliantly with my 3 day trial. I worked out so much. Then towards the end of the week I was treating myself, not just food treats but material treats and the exercise just tailed off. I need to whip myself back into Gear.

I purchased a new running top that will actually get rid of my sweat when I run :D, a new sports bottle, a new sports bra and some healthy food. I love it all but I think I now need to work hard to pay in exercise for my new stuff. Kind of like a exercise payment system! Copyright !!

In all honesty I've not eaten particularly well today but as we always say to one another 'Tomorrow is a new day".

So I say BRING IT ON!!!

Week 5 Goals

Stop snacking

Feel positive. 

Get back into my exercise routine

Love to you all :D

em x

P.S I created a list of 100 things I want to do before I die. Check it out here!

Day 2 of LA Fitness Free Trial

So day 2 complete! I'm really enjoying it so far!!

Today we had a personal training session with a lovely girl called Laura.

She got us doing a 5 min row for warm up. Then took us to the exercise floor and ran us through a lot of body exercises. It was really great to get some one on one training and to be able to ask questions. I totally milked it for all it was worth :D

I then did 1km on the cross trainer. Then about 2.5km on the bike. I had to stop early than I would have liked because my leg caused me a little bit of bother. So will stretch and massage it out again.

One really cool thing we got, before our PT session was over, was a go on their fancy little weighing scales and here follows are my statistics according to their machine.......

Weight: 82kg (will wait till monday and my own scales to do the official weigh in but woo I'm lighter)
Body Fat: 40.7%
Muscle: 26.2%
BMI: 28.2 (still overweight but its going down!)

And the most interesting fact of all:

Resting Metabolism rate: 1561kcal

So an interesting evening and I'm looking forward to the last day of the trial! Turns out though I may be able to get a free trial in another gym. :D

Emily xx

SCC Week 2 Weigh In and Week 3 Goals

So it was week 2 weigh in today with SCC update:

Weight: 13 Stone (-5lb)


Arms: 13" (+0.4")
Chest: 33" (-1")
Waist: 32" (Same)
Stomach: 40.2" (-0.8")
Thighs: 23" (same)
Calf: 17" (Same)


So most of measurements are the same, so I'm hoping when my leg is better and I can start to train again that I will trim up a bit. The big thing is the weigh loss. I'm fairly hesitant to scream and shout about the supposed 5lb weigh loss. I'm thinking I never really put any on, it was just my totm that made it seem like I had but its nice to know that I'm not that big.


SCC update:

• Losing inches - Like I mentioned staying roughly the same but think it will improve with time. 
• 1 mile time - Still 11.12, as had to take break from running
• Size - Clothes are definitely getting big, So I'm thinking this one will happen.
• Calories - Not doing calories at all. So restricting and time consuming. I'm trying to start again this week
• Water - Currently exceeding 6 Glasses a day. Whoop go me!
• Exercise  - Exercise 4 times due to injury
• Gym  - Went twice again because of injury
• Swimming - No 
• Zumba - No 
• Horse Riding - Complete for month
• Blogged - Have Blogged twice a week every week so far and have been supporting other challengers

How was week 2?


Did you have any a-ha moments?
When I went for a 7 mile walk, I realised just how fantastic it was to do exercise outdoors, even in winter.


What was your biggest success?
Got rid of the weight I had *put* on and didn't have any chocolates from the Milk tray sat in the office :D


What was your biggest struggle?
Not exercising due to my injury. I Wanted to exercise but knew it would be better to just not exercise and wait for it get better.


Week Three Goals:

• Enjoy my birthday.
• Work extra hard before and after so I can have a really good time.
• Get my leg healed up, so taking it easy and not rushing back in.
• Stick to healthy eating on non celebratory meals.
• Get into 12 stone realm on scale

Emily x

Less Exercise, Less Food?

Due to my injury, this week has been quite quiet on the exercise front. I exercised on Monday and Tuesday but had to stop because the calf muscle in my left leg developed a knot and was really tight. I realised that I wasn't stretching properly after running but I've learnt from it and won't make the same mistake again.

After three days rest, I decided I could probably exercise again (I had been stretching and massaging leg whilst time off). My house mate and I took a walk in the lovely January cold air :D We walked roughly 7 Miles. It was absolutely brilliant. It was fantastic to spend some time with her, exercise my leg out and just get out of the house and away from the television. I will be trying to take more walks and will try going with various people. It's great way to spend some quality time together.

Today's exercise consisted of Horse Riding. I go with my work colleague and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't very happy when the horse was slipping, silly ice but cantering across the fields is just amazing! 

So at the end of the weekend, my leg is feeling ok. So I'm going to try and start easing back into exercise next week but I'll see how it goes, as my ankle is doing something funny too! :o eek!

Referring to my Blog title, I had a small revelation (very small) and realised that as soon as I stopped exercising my hunger levels went right down and I found it extremely easy to eat less food. I feel like I'm starting to be able to listen to my body and understand what it's trying to say.

On a side note, I've signed up for a 3 day free trial to a gym in town. I really fancy seeing another gym and trying out their sauna :D I only feel a little guilty!

Tonight my house mates and I cooked a Frittata with fresh veg and goat's cheese. It was absolutely amazing and so delicious. We scored it 8 out of 10. It was one of the recipes out of my cookbook that I got for Christmas. We've decided to cook one every Sunday night (as best we can). It should be a lot of fun and will definitely help me get out of my food rut.

Frittata with Fresh Veg and Goat's Cheese

I will be weighing in tomorrow night and hoping I've maintained because of my injury. I'm a little worried but we'll see how it does. I've been feeling much happier this week and as long as I'm happy that's the main thing.

My birthday is on Friday, so next weekend I will do my best but I will probably gain. Hoping to have a really good four days of exercise and eating well before and I'm using my 3 day trial in the week after. So I shouldn't get much at all and as I've learnt I will eat smaller portions. 

Everything in Moderation.

I wish all my fellow Spring Chicks good luck with their weigh ins :D

Emily xx

Back to the Gym aka Aches and Pains

Back to the Gym yesterday and my legs ACHED!! :(

I can't believe how much they ached. I thought this kind of aching was over and done with. Thankfully after today's Gym session they feel a bit looser. Will just have to work through the ache I guess, get back up to my normal work out level.

Since Christmas I've started sweating a lot more whilst exercising, a friend told me that means it means I'm getting fitter. Has anyone else heard of this?

I  ran 1.5km today in the Gym. Feeling very proud of myself. The best way to do it I'm finding is to run 1km and then assess whether I can carry on or not at that point. I'm still hoping to do Race for Life this year, so I need to train up to 5km. Once I get a date for RFL then I will figure out what 5km training programme I should do. Any suggestions?

A sad thing about this month is that I'm very poor, which means I may have to cut back on some of exercises that I pay for i.e Swimming. Thankfully after my Christmas purchases I should be able to do a mini gym workout at home instead but we'll see how this month goes.

Unfortunately I had a small Cheese binge last night. It wasn't a massive amount and it was low fat but I probably shouldn't have eaten it. I'm not going to beat myself up about it but I do feel I need to get some more healthy snacks into my cupboard to avoid such situations.

Concerning the challenge I'm doing okay but I think I'm struggling on the food part. I'm going to give it two weeks. If I feel I'm not doing well, I'm going to Blog what I'm eating and exercising every day for a week and see what you all think about my regime?

Catch up soon

Em x

Holiday Events

Today's agenda invovles running, exercise shopping and smaller clothes!!!!

So the first thing to address is that I have finally exercised. I ran on my sister's treadmill (which I've finally got the hang off). I actually ran a whole Mile, first time ever for me!! woooo! Very pleased, so in my calculations thats 1.6km. I'm hoping to run that for a week or so now! I think a goal for me is to be running 5km by Easter time.

The next thing worth mentioning is the fact instead of buying myself goodies or treats, I instead bought myself new digital scales, an exercise mat and a fit ball. Things have definitely changed in me. I would have never willingly spent money on this kind of thing a year ago. So I think it marks a significant moment in my evolution.

The last thing that has put a smile on my face, is the fact that when I went clothes shopping the other day, I could try on clothes that were smaller. It made me feel really great about myself and urged me on for the coming year.

I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve, where I can have some fun. All in all, feeling very positive at the end of the year. I have treated myself this Christmas but it just makes me feel more determined to get back on it now.

Emily x

P.s You'll be proud of me. My family had an indian last night but I had a salad instead!!

Food, food, food everwhere :o

So I'm home for xmas and I must admit I've snacked a lot :o I had a party at mine last night. The food wasn't exactly healthy but I relaxed myself and indulged. I know One of the reasons I lost all the weight was because I didn't want to have it still all on when this xmas came around.

I went for a walk today with my dog and I ran for a mile yesterday. I'm hoping to run tomorrow as well. I'm going to eat what I want but I'm going to keep eating some nice food :) I know I can get it off in the new year. Saying that I'm not giing to go wild but we all know what we are here for :)

One thing thing worth mentioning that shocked me was the fact the treadmill at home is so different to the one at my gym. As a beginner at the Gym this really shocked me. My first mistake was to think the running speeds would be the same. They were NOT. Nearly fell off the damn machine.

My second mistake was to assume they would both be in Km. Wrong, the one at home uses miles and I almost didn't notice. I think the lesson from this story is to make sure you understand the equiptment you are using before you get on :D

I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!! Emily xxx

Illness

So I'm ill, the thing people losing weight dread the most and I'm afraid to admit I'm not doing so well. I haven't massively overeaten or anything but I've been unable to exercise, which makes me sad and paranoid that I will put on lots of weight.

I'm hoping to be better by tomorrow but you never know with these things. I don't want to be ill on Christmas day. I don't want to miss seeing my Grandparents.

Not been keeping on top on my calories as much, but as I don't have a lot of bad foods in the house, it's hard for me to snack too badly. I think preparation can help avoid temptation. Having no bad food in the house means I have to consciously go out and get bad food, which in turns deters me from getting it.

I think that is why people put on weight at Christmas because there is so much food around and available to eat.

Just got to try and not eat it.

Emily x

Weekends

I'm not sure how it's happened but I seem to be getting incredibly incapable of exercising at the weekend.

I think I excuse myself by saying stuff like, 'Oh, I walked into town and back. I walked there..etc' but in reality, I'm simply not doing my usual exercise at the weekend. Before I was making sure I exercised at the weekend, either a run on Saturday or just popping on my Exercise bike on Sunday but every weekend it seems that it's over before I've even considered exercising :(

So bad weekend for Emily.

I had my *final* physio session on Friday (trying to sort out my tight calf muscle in my left leg) and my leg was really painful after the session. He had stuck needles in my leg and given them a right good old bashing. So I was bruising. I almost didn't exercise but thankfully I actually went to the Gym. AFTER work on a FRIDAY, I know go me :D

The Gym was really quiet, which was nice. Still only running 1km max at the moment. So I'm hoping to attempt a 1.25km or even a 1.5km this week... wish me luck.

In total I have been invited to/organised 3 Christmas dinners. The first one was at the weekend and man it is hard not to overeat. I managed to snack only a wee bit and I didn't have any meat (as I'm a vegetarian and they killed my fake meat). My plate consisted of Roasted Potatoes, Parsnips, Carrots and Brussels sprouts with some Stuffing. So I think I ate far less calories than everyone else but I still feel like I ate bad food. I skipped Christmas pudding but I couldn't turn down the cheese board. I definitely had less than I would've had last year, so that's a postivie point. The alcohol consumption probably didn't help either though but in preparation I had only eaten a salad.

I'm very scared to weigh myself at the moment as I feel as if I haven't lost any weight in a while. I think, as I've said before, the main goal around Christmas is to not put on weight or as little as possible. I'm hoping to at least stuck to that. Unfortunately the next two Christmas dinners are both on the same day :o So I'm going to have a fat day :(

My plan is to come into work early that day to go to the Gym and get a good workout done before I even begin eating. Then I will just make sure that I exercise every day this week, even Christmas day!

Are other people exercising on Christmas day?

Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid eating mince pies etc? Feeling very tempted and failing more often than usual, which is depressing me.

Why in the back of mind do I keep saying, 'I can get back on the horse in January'... I don't want to even fall off :(

Emily x