Winter munchies

As we creep more and more into the winter months I’m finding it harder and harder to stay on track with my healthy eating. To stick to the healthy meals is not so tough, I just find myself wanting to snack a lot more between meals. A lot of the time I am snacking on the wrong things.

I assume with winter comes the need for your body to keep itself warm, this may mean that it needs more energy than it did in the summer months, more warm meals.

I’m going to take some time and redo my eating plan to suit a more winter menu, once this is done ill post it so you all can see, and keep you all posting on if its helping with the snacking problems!

Nutrition

As most of you have probably been told nutrition is a very important part of anyone’s diet but if you want to be fit and HEALTHY nutrition has to play a major part in yours.

There is a huge difference between eating healthy and just eating things that are low in calories and fat. A slice of cracker bread for lunch might help you keep the weight off but it has no nutritional value to your body. If you’re going to put all the effort in trying to mould your body into a slimmer, healthier you why not take the time to eat the right things. Not only will this help with your weight loss goals it will give you the energy
to work harder at gym and keep you healthy especially through these flue ridden winter months.

 

I have put together a three week eating plan for myself, it keeps my meals healthy and fun. Because I rotate on a three week cycle I never get board of my diet. I also calculate the calorie content of every meal so I know how many calories I eat daily which has been great for my weight loss goals.

 

I have put mine together based on a 1400cal diet, I’m also a veggie so had to take that into account. Ill post my eating plan up this week so you can get an idea and I’ll share all my favourite websites for great meal ideas.

The training has eventually begun

After my last post I managed to get some weird virus and it put me out of gym for a few days. All is well now and I managed to do my first training session at the gym last night for my running challenge.

 

I have decided to approach the first two weeks in a more relaxed manor and instead of setting myself targets everyday on how far or long I should run on the treadmill I am going to set myself the “no look challenge”.

I’m sure I’ve got you all confused now, let me explain. I find every time I run on the treadmill I stare at the screen and either I keep thinking “oh no, its only been 2minutes I’m going to die” or “oh my word I’ve run for more then 2 minutes I must be tied by now” and ultimately a few seconds later I have reduced to a walk.

 

To avoid this I’m setting the “no look challenge”. I’m going to do my warm up and then set the treadmill to a
nice jogging pace, I’m not allowed to look at the screen from here on, just keep on jogging if I feel tied I’m going to see how far I can push through.

 

Let’s see how it goes.

Its Birthday time!!!!

Today is my birthday!!! Yiiiippppeeee

 

I love birthdays, not only mine but everyone’s. They make people feel special, I day dedicated to them and only them.

 

As a present to myself I wanted to have lost 10kg, I’m not exactly there, I weighed myself last night and I’m 9kg lighter then when I started this challenge. But come on, that’s a huge achievement! Today is my day and I’m proud of myself.

 

Getting fit takes hard work and dedication. If your doing it right it also takes time. Learn to give yourself a pat on the back, a well done for all the hard work you put in. The only person motivating you is yourself and if you can’t be proud of yourself its going to be much harder to achieve your goals.

 

Ps: I’ed love to hear about your achievements!! Let’s help motivate each other

Legs, bums and tums.

Last night I arrived at gym for my usual spinning class, but noticed that there was a new class that started at the same time that targeted legs, bums and tums (LBT). Since I started the gym I have only managed to do the spinning classes as the others don’t fall into the time I can get to the gym.

 

I decided to give it a go… Well, let’s say that Mila’s class is crazy. Its a real work out, you can feel all your muscles working to keep up with her. Even though I thought I might just die half way through the class, I also realised that a few months ago I would never have been able to keep up the way I did. Its amazing to see how much my fitness has improved.

I have decided to give up one spinning class a week and replace it with the LBT class.

I’m going to have a great beach body by summer!!!

 

 

My little sugar monster won over the weekend!!

On Thursday my boyfriend and I left for a long weekend to Istanbul, it was an amazing trip. The city is filled with beautiful architecture and history. The people are very friendly and helpful.

 

My down fall came when I discovered I liked the Turkish delights, I had never been a real fan of it till now. But Turkish delights I have tasted do not compare to the locally made delights in Turkey. Wow they are amazing! So delicious. My down fall came due to walking past store after store and being offered a taster from each shop owner.

 

I’m now back in London and determined to get back on track, off to gym tonight and back on the road

to destroying my sugar monster.
We all have our week moments and as much as we know our body doesn’t need all that sugar we all over do it sometimes. The strength is making sure you pull yourself back on track, to keep your goals in sight and everyday work extra hard to achieve them.

Give up short term pleasure for long term happiness!

It seems everyone I work with celebrates a October birthday, which makes the office very festive and social, But… With all these birthdays comes loads of cakes, after work drinks and ultimately bad news for anyone on a healthy diet.

 

So here is my trick to not packing on the pounds, learn to say NO!

 

I’m not saying I haven’t indulged in a piece of cake, my will power is not that good. But I’ve learnt when to stop and how to say NO!!! Sweets, cakes and chocolates are a short term pleasure, yes amazing as you are eating it but a few minutes after finishing it  the only thing you are left with is the gilt of eating it.

 

Think about the last time you had a piece of cake, and now think about how you felt an hour after you ate it. I’m sure you had already forgotten about the piece an hour later. Now if you hadn’t had that piece of cake you would feel the same, maybe even better.

 

So giving up a short term pleasure to reach your long term goal of a super sexy you is worth every piece of cake missed.

 

When you want to indulge in a naughty treat pretend there is a little sugar monster inside you, the only way
to get rid of the monster is to not feed it. Every time you say NO the monster dies a little. To reach a thinner you, you have to make sure you kill the monster (a little sadistic I know, but trust me it works)

Fat days!

I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s has “fat day”, days where you wake up and you just feel a million times bigger then you did before. I must be honest saying this I still haven’t had a “thin day”.

 

In stead of looking at these days in a negative way and drowning our selves in self-pity I’ve decided to use them to help me lose the weight. I know a lot of people, my self included tent to eat all the wrong things on days like this. Feeling like we are going no where, its a way our minds think we are dealing with failure.
But the difference is its not failure its just a little bit of bloating.

Use these days to be extra healthy, pay even more attention to what your eating. Use the way you feel to your advantage. You’ll feel so much better and your next day might just be a “thin one”

The power of positive thinking

I hear people say ” I haven’t  found myself yet.” But I believe its not something you find its something you create!!!

 

In the past few months I have felt very empowered and learned that with some hard work anything is possible. I have come to realise that my life can go in any direction I want it to as long as I am willing to do the work to get me there.

 

Its not so much about working hard, and more about working smart. You may not agree with me but I feel that at least 60% of hard work is created by our thoughts and not by the actual work in hand.

 

We spend more time thinking and procrastinating about what we have to do, if we just got down and did it, it would take half the time and we would experience a lot less stress. My father always says ” your life is created by your thoughts” think positive and positive things will happen to you. I believe him more and more every day.

 

I decided to make a change a few months ago and moved jobs. I wasn’t enjoying working for the company I was with and decided to look elsewhere. Well I have since moved companies and now realised the grass is not always greener on the other side. I have also realised it was not so much the company I was in but the actual job I was doing.

 

I never studied after leaving high school, the thought always scared me. I am not a very academic person and I always was scared I would fail. My biggest dream has been to be in a creative position and I’ve decided that I am going to do a few part time courses in graphics design. The only way to for fill my dream is to start taking steps to get me there!

 

I have found the first course I want to do, I will be starting on the 5th November and will attend Saturday classes for the next three months. Wish me luck!!!

 

Results

Today I had my monthly weigh in, all my hard work is paying off, I’m seeing results and feeling good. (Have a look at my “log book” page)

 

I’ll be honest I think I could be seeing better results as I didn’t push myself as hard this past month. Hitting a little brick wall on the motivation front and finding myself a lot more attracted to “junk” food.

 

But today is all about the positive! I’m almost in the seventies!!!! I can’t believe it. People are commenting on how great I look and my clothes are showing it to.

 

I have been reflecting on how much I have accomplished so far this year and WOW, I really should be impressed with myself.

1. I stopped smoking and have not looked back (it’s been a year and four months already)

2. I sold all my belongings, reduced all life to a 30kg bag and moved to another country where I have started for filling my dream of travelling the world

3. I turned vegetarian and I’m loving it.

4. I started this challenge and am really seeing results! By the end of January I want to have reached my goal of losing a total of 20kg.

 

It feels great to see that I am changing my life for the better! Can’t wait to see what else this year has install for me!