Weight Loss Wednesday

Tut tut and tut. I'm forever being rubbish with blogging...mega apologies but life is crazy crazy crazy.

Anyway, in the past month or so I've got into the routine of regular exercise either using an App or exercise DVD. But I find them ultra boring after a while and loose motivation with them. However I do find that music is the best way to re-motivate my work outs, so I wanted to share some of my favourite motivational songs, artists and albums with you! 

I'm a massive spotify user and lover so I generally just listen to random playlists and hope for the best. 

If like myself you use spotify I find that just going on to Browse section and finding a workout playlist throws up some motivational songs. 

But generally I go for energetic songs to work out to, one of my favourite artists is Example and I find his songs are just fab to help get through a workout. 

Close- Subfocus is also a great song, especially for cardio workouts, Waves- Robin Schulz Radio edit, Mr.Probz is also brilliant! Basically any song you'd expect to be dancing to on a Saturday night in a club or at a party!

A bit random and possibly a bit weird is Nickelback. Now as a fan of theirs I enjoy their music for workouts because its got good rhythms which you can pace yourself to. And as weird as it sounds some of the more 'angry' songs are quite motivational to help relieve some stress. I don't know, maybe its just me!

I do think though any song/artist/album you really enjoy and can sing your heart out to is also a brilliant way to motivate yourself while working out. Although using all your breathe on singing is maybe slightly dangerous...

So there you go, motivational music is the key to a brilliant workout. If anyone has any suggestions for motivational music please let me know, I'm always on the hunt!

@littleblogx

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesday

Well well well...two missed weeks. Ever so sorry but if anyone's read the post I put up yesterday they'll know I've been super super busy! BUT in the past few weeks of not posting a WLW post I have actually been living realllllly healthy. So healthy infact I managed to loose 2 pounds in the time I've been away!

I thought I'd share a few meal ideas I've been eating over the past few weeks; I'm trying to eat a low carbohydrate and high protein diet; 

Classic pasta salad, brown pasta of course 

Fry up only nothing was fried(except the mushrooms)

 

Chinese stir fry with soy sauce and garlic sauce, egg noodles and home made burgers

My new favourite breakfast/pudding
 natural low fat yogurt and a hand full of tropical mix(dried bananas, coconut, raisins, papaya.) 

Hope this maybe gives some food inspiration for any who need it!

@littleblogx

smilingwontkillyou

P.s. How motivational is my work out shirt??

 

Weight Loss Wednesday

I am forever missing weeks with my weight loss Wednesdays posts recently! I'm terrible I know but life is crazy busy and sometimes things have to give for a little while...I'm sorrrrry! 

But aside from the apologies these past two weeks have been ultra motivated and I've been hitting goals left right and centre! I've taken up more exercise, wahoo for me, drank tonnes more water and even lost a pound! So altogether I'm super motivated now to carry on!

These past two weeks my motivation has come from realisation as to how close my holiday is; 14 weeks to go, eeek! I know it sounds like ages away but its really not! I read a post this week on instagram about how it takes about a month (If I remember correctly because I can't find the post now!) for you to notice changes in your own body, around 2 months for your family and close friends to notice changes and then 12 weeks for others to notice!  This just made me realise that I need to knuckle down and get living an even healthier lifestyle because it doesn't just happen over night! I've also purchased a very very pretty bikini for my holiday and at the moment don't feel confident to wear it but my goal is to be able to feel at least 70% confident in wearing it for my holiday! 

I'm also changing up how I 'diet', if that's what you call what I do. I've decided to cut carbs and increase exercise, both cardio and strength. I'm already enjoying Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD, which I've been doing on and off for about 3 weeks (As well as her Banish Fat and Boost Metabolism DVD), so I'm going to carry on doing those. I'm a huge apple product lover and always have my iphone with me and my ipad's always around when I'm at home. So I've downloaded a couple of apps to help me do some extra mini workouts and toning exercises; I've gone with an App called '7M workout' which does exactly as its name would suggest and another called 'six pack' which has loads of short set toning exercises. Plus it sends a notification to remind you to work out, which is really handy! And they're both free!

So that's what I'm going to be doing for the next 14 weeks! Well I'm going to use the next two weeks as a bit of an introduction as my mum's on holiday and wants to do it with me but as soon as she arrives home we'll be hitting the new plan hard, for 12 solid weeks before we go away! I'm super excited!!

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone's still doing well and enjoying whatever they're doing to stay healthy, leave me your links and I'll check your posts out, I love reading other peoples tips and stories! 

:-)

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesday

Now then. This post will have to be half apologies and half motivational.

I must first of all apologies for the missing post last week; I was ill YET AGAIN so both had no motivation to eat well and exercise or in all honesty write a blog post. It really took all the energy out of me. But not to worry the illness has gone and healthy living is back, woo!

I'm feeling extra motivated now as well, I used these last two weeks as a little break 1-because I was ill and 2-because I wasn't at college and had a lot of things going on. Now before you all think 'that's cheating' blar blar blar, I know it is but when I'm lacking as much motivation as I was after being ill, having a little rest to regain motivation is just what I need. I still did some exercise and ate some of the right things, but I let the carbs creep back into my diet. It's harder to eat properly and fit in exercise (I find anyway) when the weeks regular timetable is taken away; like in college half term. Not having a schedule for each day which I have to stick to just makes me think being lazy is okay...which it is for a little bit. The little break and step back from a schedule helps me to realise that I need the schedule and all that comes with it to help me feel better in myself. Motivation is therefore no problem when it comes to restarting the normal schedule. 

So my advice to you all, feeling unmotivated? Take a little break, one day, two days, a week, two weeks, one meal, however long you feel is necessary to regain some motivation. You'll see just how much your body needs and wants to live healthier. Plus a little bit of what you fancy does you good! So if you fancy being lazy for a few days, go for it! 

That's just a little tip from me to you all...It always works for me! 

Hope this helped; let me know! Have a good week:-) 

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Why the long pause?

Well as far as not neglecting my blog in 2014 goes I'm really not doing a good job. I just haven't had the time recently to sit and do a full post. But even last week was too crazy to sit and do my weight loss Wednesday post. In fairness though I didn't really do a very good job at staying healthy; life was a bit crazy, so it wouldn't have been very motivational for anyone. 

BUT it's half term now (even though we're already half way through already) so I've got a little bit of time to just sit and write some posts. So that's what I'm going to do and then I'll probably scheduled them for the next few weeks; cheating I know, but I know that I'm not going to have much time to sit and blog for a few more weeks. 

I have a few posts which I'm in the process of finishing so I'll post those in the upcoming future, but in all honesty I have (YET AGAIN) writers blog, and very few ideas for posts. So if anyone has any suggestions, tags or anything let me know! I'm pretty open minded!

So I hope everyone's okay and having a good February! 

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesday

Welcome to another Wednesday!

(I know I've only posted these types of posts for a few weeks and nothing else, and for that I do apologise again. I shall sort that out this week!)

But this week I thought I'd share with you all my new breakfast routines!

To achieve my weight loss goals(side note I managed to loose half a pound again this week, wooo) I've been cutting down on carbs. Usually on a normal college day I'd eat about 4 pieces of bread, as toast for breakfast and a sandwich for dinner. Then I'd come home and make pasta or potatoes for tea, so a pretty carb heavy diet!

But for the past two weeks I've cut down on my carbs. Especially for breakfast, which has made me feel far less sluggish and much more energised. So instead of taking toast to college I've been making fruit smoothies and/or taking natural yoghurt and fruit and taking those instead!

My favourite smoothie which I've made so far is what we like to call 'pinacolada of health' in my house....no idea why. But basically it consists of tinned peaches, fresh pineapple, fresh orange juice and a few tea spoons of shredded coconut, all blended together in the nutri bullet. 

Yes it's full of fruit sugars but it's far less carbs and far more energising than other breakfasts I've eaten!

So there you are, if you fancy a change try a smoothie of some sort! I'm loving them at the moment! I shall experiment with differnt fruits these next few weeks and report back!

I hope everyone had a good week and are achieving their goals! I know I am, and I'm feeling so much happier and healthier for it!

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesday

This past week has possibly been the best so far; filled with motivation and healthier living! Yipee!

This week I've managed to loose half a pound, which isn't quite my 1 pound a week goal but I'm still pretty impressed! Me and my mum have purchased a nutri-bullet blender type thing so have been perfecting all sorts of smoothies and juices in it this week. I'm loving having a fruit smoothie instead of my usual two slices of toast in a morning. Cutting down on carbohydrates(although I may have increased my sugar intake, through fruit sugars, you can't win them all!) and eating more fruit and vegetables has given me so much energy and motivation to start working out and doing more!

I have also purchased Jillian Michaels 30 day shred exercise DVD, which I'm quite looking forward to starting; bit of cardio and muscle work should be quite fun. Especially considering I'm pretty motivated! 

My advice for getting motivated is finding something that you enjoy and finding something that works for you...yeah okay it might take slightly longer to reach your goals but at least you'll be reaching them in a way you feel motivated to carry on doing and feel happy doing! That way they'll be so much easier to reach as well, enjoyment makes everything that more bearable!

I hope everyone else is having a good and motivated Weight Loss Wednesday!

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

P.S. I'm going to post some other things on my blog again soon, I've just been super super busy :-)! 

Weight Loss Wednesday

Another week done. Where on earth does time go? But that's a whole other topic eh?

So after an awful first week this week has been SO much better! I've managed to eat healthy all week, do some walking(not quite as much as I'd have liked but I'm still ill so I'm letting myself off...) and I've managed to get my mum motivated too!

I've found in the past that having someone to exercise with or eat healthily with is great motivation, but my mum is currently on a meal replacement diet, which involves no food and 3 milkshake type things a day. As much as the results are both amazing and motivating I don't really fancy not eating at all. But she's also started exercising which means I've got a little partner, woo! We've started this week by doing about half an hour on the Wii fit twice in the past week, which is fun as well as (hopefully) beneficial. 

One of my close friends asked for a running partner the other day and I said yes so hopefully I should be going out running a couple of nights a week too soon!

Next week I'm looking forward to my nutri-bullet arriving which my mum ordered as a surprise for me so I can start juicing and making smoothies! yum yum yum(I'll post some recipes or ideas when I perfect a good mix for anyone else who juices!)

So all in all I'm feeling positive this week! I'm going to think of something else to post next week instead of just a huge bulk of text about how the weeks gone. 

I hope everyone's had a good week and has a brilliantly motivated week! 

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesdays

Weight Loss Wednesday number 2.

First week done. And lets just say its been a pretty crappy week.

The week started well(...2 days), however I went out for a friends birthday celebrations and got a little too drunk, so obvious calorie, sugar etc etc overload which is ridiculously unhealthy! I then spent the next day eating slightly unhealthy... When Saturday came around I was feeling good and I ate healthy all day, even did some exercise and then BOOM I went to another friends 18th and yet again consumed too much alcohol. This week shows a bad week for alcohol for me, usually I go for weeks even months on end without touching any! I know I can go to these places and not drink, but sometimes I feel that its what I need after a stressful week at college or with things going on at home. I really must find a different outlet for stress though(any tips would be highly appreciated!), especially a more healthy one!

Then my week just got even worse! I got home after work on Sunday to find my Grandad had made a Pie for us....and cakes. I was starting to feel crappy so ate with my family. I didn't go overboard but it wasn't exactly the healthiest of nights. 

When I woke up Monday for college I felt awful. Aching from head to toe with a banging headache and a somersaulting stomach, so I decided to stay at home. Safe to say the last few days in bed have done me wonders but what little food I have eaten has been unhealthy. 

So this week I feel like I've really cheated and not taken anything seriously. I've tried but it seems the illness gods have been against me! So for this next week I'm going to get back on track and not give up just because of a crappy first week, I'd never get anything done if I gave up every time I got ill; plus being healthier should help my immune system and stop be being ill all the time. 

But on the plus side, I have drank a huge amount of water this week which is one of my goals, so I'm quite pleased with that!

So here's to another week!

I hope everyone else had a better week than myself and I hope everyone's hitting their goals!

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou

Weight Loss Wednesdays

Today is the start of Weight Loss Wednesday! What are you talking about Hannah? Well the lovely Jennifer of  barelytherebeauty has created this weight loss group (if you will) to help motivate and support others in the blogging world. So basically this means that once a week, on a Wednesday, hence the Weight Loss Wednesday name, I'll be(along with a lot of other bloggers, who can be found on the page linked below) posting help/inspiration/tips/motivation/progress etc etc about weight loss and living healthier. Don't get me wrong though I'm no expert at these types of things but as someone who wants to feel and look better I thought it'd be a fab idea to join in and share my experiences and minimal knowledge with others. 

I also know that weight loss and body image is a sensitive topic for many, but this isn't meant to offend or make anyone feel pressured, and isn't meant to induce poor weight loss techniques but to encourage healthier living and maybe loose a few pounds on the way!

Each Thursday at 8pm GMT there will also be a #bloggersWLW chat on twitter to give everyone involved that added bit of support from the community! 

So from today there will be a post every Wednesday about my journey to help and inspire(I hope) others and of course to document how I'm trying to help myself to change my unhealthy ways, and shed a few pounds along the way if I can. 

If you fancy getting involved with this then check out the original post with all the information about joining on here; http://www.barelytherebeauty.com/p/bloggerswlw.html

So I suppose I best set some goals;

• I want to loose around 1 lb a week, I know its not always easy to do this so its just a bit of a suggestion, I'd be happy if I lost anything at all!
• I also want to do at least 1 hour of walking 3 times a week, whether this be when out in the day, at work or taking an evening stroll.
• I'm also very weak(in strength terms) and lack definition, so another one of my goals is to gain some strength and tone up my stomach and arms with some exercises and strength training, including weights, zumba and resistance training.
• All in all though my main goal is to be able to feel happier and healthier in my self because at the minute I feel ridiculously unfit, hopefully through eating healthier, drinking more water and being more active!

As a bit of inspiration (some for myself, tehe) I've added some 'motivational pictures' to the post.

       

I hate a lot of the 'ideal body' photos and the idealistic thoughts on body image; skinny skinny girls. However this one(the first picture) I found on Tumblr speaks volumes to me; its what I would love to achieve as it still looks to be a healthy size, however I know that I won't be able to...however its still a little bit of inspiration for me to stick to this and get healthier!  (Source; found on tumblr, original source; c0ldweather)

The second is my prom picture from 2 years ago(how time flies!) and at the time I was a size 8/10 and I'd love to be back at that size, just so I can feel better in myself because I remember at the time I was very happy with my body but after prom I just got lazy...oops.

The third is also a picture of Torre de la Horadada where I'm hopefully jetting off to in June this year! It's such a lovely place and although I'll be with family and family friends I'd love to feel confident enough to wear a bikini on the beach! For me feeling confident in a bikini isn't being skinny with bones sticking out at every angle, but feeling like I can actually wear a bikini without feeling that people are staring and judging. So that's something to look forward to and work towards aswell! (Source, found on google)

     Finally, I found this quote on google and I thought it was the post motivational thing I've read in a long time and thought it would probably apply to some people, because I'm sure it's not just me who's been putting getting healthier off!

Source, found on google

For a very long time I have been wishing that I felt healthier and felt happier in myself, as I'm sure others have to, but now's the time I need to stop doing that and make it a reality! So whatever it is you may want to achieve you just have to stop wishing it would happen and do it, because it won't happen by itself!

So there it is, my first Weight Loss Wednesday post! I hope some of you get involved; don't forget to check out the original post; http://www.barelytherebeauty.com/p/bloggerswlw.html on how to join the community! And again I know this can be a sensitive topic for many but I hope this hasn't offended anyone or made anyone feel uncomfortable because that is the last thing I want to do!

Happy getting healthier:-)

@HanMcFly

smilingwontkillyou