#FridayFitness - 2 Weeks In #fridayfitness | diet | fitness | food | fridayfitness | health | loss | motivation | sportswear | vegetarian | weight | weightloss | whenflowersfall

Hi flowers!

So I'm two weeks into the vegetarian chapter of my life. I'm happy to say that I think I've done pretty well considering I just decided one day to give up meat. The only thing that I did allow myself to have, which I said I would anyway, was a small portion of sushi from Asda. 

This week though, has been a tough one. I've found myself craving meat like a mad woman and I even fell asleep thinking of steak on Wednesday night. Yup, sounds crazy, but it's true. Because of this I have decided to allow myself fish/seafood for a while, which will hopefully mean that I won't cave and stuff my face with beef one day. 

I'm not sure if it will become a forever thing, but for now I think it's best for me. 

I cannot tell you how much willpower I had to use not to make a sausage sarnie. Liam's been away this week and I, unfortunately had no petrol in the car to go to the shop to buy some veggie sausies. 

Other than that, I need to cut down on the things that I've started to replace meat with. I've found myself reaching for cheese far to often and I imagine it's one of the reasons that I haven't lost much weight in the past two weeks. 

I've only lost a pound since my last weigh in with you guys and I really feel the need to step up my game, so I've made this to spur me on...

These two jars are now sitting on my shelf until behind my desk. You may be able to see them every now and then in my videos.

The 'lbs to go' jar originally had 50 glass stones in it, a stone for each pound I would like to lose. As you can see, it's now missing a few and they are happily sitting in the 'lbs lost' jar. 

I'm hoping that now I have something visual to keep me going, I may be able to keep up my motivation. 

There's no feeling like moving a glass bead from one jar to the other. 

Today I'll be moving one more over and in my eyes, it's better than nothing.  

Start weight...

234lbs

This week...

229lbs

-5lbs

ps - I'm looking for some good quality, affordable sportswear. If you have any recommendations please leave them in the comments. If I do get my hands on some, I'll do some reviews for you guys. :)

#FridayFitness - A New Chapter

Hi beauties!

This week has been much better than the last. Thanks to the heat, I still haven't kicked up my exercise yet, but now it seems to be cooling down a little, I'm hoping I can get back on that bike. 

Eating wise, I feel like I am gaining control again. We've been trying to use up the food we have in our freezer, this way we can fill both that and our fridge with goodness. 

I've decided to begin a new journey in this eating and fitness series. Liam won't be joining me and I honestly wouldn't make him. But, I have chosen to become vegetarian, for the most part. The only thing that I think I'll miss is sushi, so I will be allowing myself that every so often. It's not really something I eat regularly though. 

I've wanted to do this for such a long time and I feel this is a good excuse to jump on the veggie bandwagon. 

This week I have managed to lose the weight I put back on last week, and I'm hoping it will continue. After looking back at the photos from last Sunday, I now realise how big I actually am. When I look in the mirror, it doesn't seem too bad, but as soon as I see a photo. I just feel absolutely sick. Does this happen to anyone else? 

From now one, veggies are my friends. 

Time to start a new chapter.

Start weight...

234lbs

This week...

230.4 

-3.6lbs

Don't forget to join #fridayfitness on facebook, tumblr and use the hashtag on twitter. 

#FridayFitness 19/07/2013 #ff | clean | eating | fitness | friday | fridayfitness | healthy | weight loss

Hi beauties!

I didn't post a #ff last week because if I'm entirely honest, I felt like a huge failure. Once again I had lost total control of my eating and gained back the weight I had lost previously. 

This week hasn't been great either and I haven't lost anything, but I haven't gained either. Which for me, is a pretty big thing. Normally I would gain steadily each week, so the fact that I haven't makes me happy even if I didn't lose. 

My huge problem at the moment is the exercise. This heatwave has killed all motivation. It seems I only have to make the bed and I'm sweating. I'm planning on moving my bike into a larger room until the heat passes as I think I'll actually use it if there's some air in the room with me. 

My plan is to do my exercise last thing, that way it really doesn't matter how stinky I get. Who knows, if I had done some exercise this week, I may have lost something. 

Luckily next week is pay week and we can finally go shopping. I'm going to rid of all of the 'bad food' we have in the house and fill the cupboards with anything and everything good for you. Liam and I were talking about it last night and agreed the only reason we eat what we do, is because it's there. If it's not there, we won't eat it. 

I wasn't going to post today; I had actually planned on taking a break until Monday. My moods have been low and I think that maybe the lack of exercise was a big factor in that. But, I didn't want you guys to think that I had given up again. I really haven't and I'm into it more than you know. 

Hope you're all well. Remember to drink lots of fluids in this heat! 

✌

#FridayFitness

Hey beauts! 

I have been dying to write this post all week. 

After what seems like forever at staying the same weight, I am pleased to say that the number on the scales is finally going down. 

On Monday I started drinking a different brand of shakes. I generally have 2 a day, a meal in the evening and some light snacks throughout the day. Evenings are the hardest and I tend to find myself more hungry and craving bad stuff in the later hours. But, luckily I am getting better at the whole will power thing. 

Exercise wise I have been on my stationary bike for an hour a day, with a rest day yesterday. I have cycled a total of 31 miles so far this week and I plan on getting another ten done today once I've finished with all of my housey duties. 

So, on to the important bit. I haven't had time to measure as of yet, I'm going to get Liam to help me this evening as it gets a little fiddly.

This weeks stats...

Weight - 229.8 lbs -4.6lbs

Upper arms (r) -  cm  (l)- cm

Thighs (r) -  cm  (l)-cm

Bust - cm

Waist -cm

Hips - cm

I shall update the rest as soon as I have the figures. Generally I don't feel like I have lost much in way of cm but I so happy with the nearly 5lbs off! 

How are you all getting on?

Don't forget to join #fridayfitness on facebook, tumblr and use the hashtag on twitter. 

✌

Bringing #FridayFitness Back!

Hi beauts,

I am so sorry for not posting for so long. I fell off the wagon, a lot of life things happened and I'm finally ready to hop back on it. I've gained a ridiculous amount of weight and I'm now tipping the scales at 234lbs. 

Jeez that is so scary to me. 

When I look in the mirror I don't see it, but if I see a photo of myself, it's there, staring right back at me, and I hate it. 

Liam and I were planning on getting married July next year, and apart from being far from prepared/have no money, I wouldn't be happy walking down the aisle this big. 

I'm giving myself a year to drop 2 dress sizes. That's all. I don't want to be a super skinny size 8, because it just wouldn't suit my height. But, I do think that being a size 12 again would at least make me feel good about myself again. I'm not too worried about what the scales say, but to drop a good 30lbs would make me incredibly happy. 

My plan of action...

To begin with I am going to focus on eating the right foods. With moving and everything else that has gone on, we have found it far to easy too call a takeaway and we have literally been living off of junk. It's become a horrid addiction as both Liam and I find it difficult if we go without lots of carbs of sugar for too long.

As of today I am currently drinking 2 meal replacement shakes and eating a good healthy dinner. I'm upping my protein, and lowering my carb intake. My sister has just become a Herbalife coach and has done incredible on it herself, so once we have sorted our bills and such like out, I'm hoping to change my shakes to those. They are rather pricey. If it comes to it and we still can't afford Herbalife, then I will continue with the maxitone shakes I am drinking at the moment. 

Side note - Banana is waaaay better than chocolate!

Shortly after our move I purchased an exercise bike and I'll be doing an hour's worth of cycling a day. It's scary, but at the moment I am finding it really difficult walking long distances. My leg muscles seize up all the time and make it really painful. I'm hoping that'll get better once I actually start working those muscles again; and being able to do that on a stationary bike in my own home is brilliant because it means no-one will see my 'oh my god this hurts face' and won't think that I'm a morning drunk. (I cannot walk in a straight line when it happens.)

If you want to join in...

- I shall be posting a new #FridayFitness post every Friday. I'll make it my weigh in day so anything and everything will be tracked. I will be tracking my weight, but more importantly, I shall be whipping out my tape measure every Friday morning also. 

Feel free to write about #FridayFitness yourself and link it in the comments below, or if you like just let me know what you are doing and how you are getting on. 

- You can use the hashtag on twitter and I will check it weekly and reply to any tweets. 

- I also have a Tumblr dedicated to this here.

- I have a Facebook group in which you can join here.

 - I may also turn this into a Youtube series over on my vlog channel, but I'll let you guys know in the future if this happens. 

Starting Stats...

Weight - 234 lbs

Upper arms (r) -  42cm  (l)- 39cm

Thighs (r) -  71cm  (l)- 73cm

Bust - 106cm

Waist -90cm

Hips - 129cm

Anywho, hopefully some time in the future, I will feel confident enough to post a 'before' photo. But not right now. 

Let me know if you decide to follow me on this journey!

xoxo

#FridayFitness - Smoothie week clean eating | diet | exercise | fitness | friday | fridayfitness | health | recipes | smoothie | update | when flowers fall | whenflowersfall

Well, hello there.

I decided not to include an update last week as mother nature was visiting, and if I'm completely honest, I felt like utter poo poo.

This week I haven't eaten brilliantly and I'm feeling really guilty about it. 

It always happens towards the end of the month, whenever money is starting to get a little low.

But, yesterday was pay day, and I relished in buying tons of fruit and veggies, ready for a week of smoothies. 

I've done this before, I lost a bit of weight, but the bigger advantage was that I felt amazing for it. 

This time I'm not going as hard with it as I did before. Last time I was having 4 or 5 smoothies a day and nothing else. It was bloody hard. 

This time I've decided to have 2 or 3 smoothies a day, and a small evening meal. 

Weight wise, I'm still sitting at 217lbs, the same place I was last time I weighed in.

I'm hoping this will get me off this plateau and help me lose a little before my birthday. 

This mornings smoothie consisted of

four strawberries

half a mango

a handful of spinach

almond milk 

natural sweetener

It honestly looked disgusting, but tasted amazing.

If you're a fan of smoothies, please leave your favourite combos in the comments below and I'll be sure to try them out. 

#FridayFitness - Official Week one & Sportswear picks asda | community | diet | facebook | fitness | friday | fridayfitness | george | hastag | health | kick | sportswear | tumblr | twitter | whenflowersfall

Hello, my lovelies!

This week has been the first week I have been able to put a huge effort into this, since being incredibly ill.

Eating wise, I've kept within my Myfitnesspal limits, and I haven't actually been too hungry. I imagined I would be forever scouring the fridge and cheating left, right and center. But, so far so good.
That's not to say that I haven't had moments of hungriness, but it's been nice being able to eat when I'm hungry, not just because I want to/feel like it. This way I know that I'm eating for a purpose.

Exercise wise, I have started walking again. After my chest infection, it's been pretty hard going on the old breathing, but I've done 3 miles every other day so far. I'm hoping to get into a routine of doing it at least five times a week, meaning I will be walking 15 miles more than I would have last month.
3 miles usually takes me about an hour, so it really doesn't take up much time in my day. If I get up and do it first thing in the morning after breakfast, I find it doesn't interfere with anything else I plan on doing that day.

My official starting weight was 220lb.
I went down to 208lbs the week after I suffered with norovirus, but I have a funny feeling that I managed to put all of that weight back on, once my normal eating/binging cycle had returned. So I'm going back to my starting weight and working from that.

My weight today is 217.3 lbs.
I'm happy with that. It's healthy weight loss, so hopefully something that will stay off.
Also, does anyone else find that special occasion days always fall the day before weigh in?

Below I have included a little mini post that I thought may interest some of you.

I'd love to know if any of you have decided to join in with #FridayFitness.
Don't forget you can find me at any of the following links.
TWITTER - use #FridayFitness
FACEBOOK
TUMBLR

Sportswear @ George

1 // 2  // 34 // 5 // 6A couple of days ago I posted a George wishlist. Whilst having a mooch online, I thought I would have a quick look at the sportswear and I was pleasantly surprised. As I'm in need of some new bits to keep my going, I figured I'd share my favourites with you. As well as the bits above, there is also a great selection of sports bras and other joggers. I picked out the more fitting bottoms, such as the yoga pants and 3/4 length legging style. I love the fact that for the most part, the sportswear is black, but it does have some great pops of colour. Solid coral tops are also available. 

This months Lily advertiser is Sarah of www.bowsandblushx.blogspot.co.uk

The new and improved #FridayFitness community | diet | exercise | facebook | fitness | friday | fridayfitness | help | inspiration | lbs | lose | recipes | support | twitter | weight | weightloss | whenflowersfall

Previously known as, Friday Fitday. 

Now, you guys know that I've been atempting some kind of weightloss for the past year. For the past year I have failed! But, now I have an incentive. 

My brother has made a group on Facebook called 'The Challenge'. He has challenged myself and a few of his friends to a weight loss mission. We have six months to healthily lose as much weight as we can. The one who loses the biggest percentage by then will get a prize from him. 

This week I have been tracking my food on MyFitnessPal, which you can feel free to add me as a friend on, and I've also been walking the dog every day. Which, if I'm totally honest, I haven't been doing until now. 

#FridayFitness will now become a weekly post where I can update you on my activities and favourite meals of the week, and of course any weight lost. 

I'd love to create a little community here, where we can all help each other and keep each other motivated. 

If you want to get involved, make sure to use the hashtag #FridayFitness on twitter and let me know how you are getting on. 

In the comments, feel free to leave inspirational quotes, meal ideas, recipes, or even exercise ideas.

I've also created a group page on facebook for anyone wanting to get involved. It's a closed group, meaning that anyone can see the group and join, but only members of the group can see what is posted. 

I hope to see some of you doing this with me! I think it'll be a great way to make friends, even if some of us struggle to shift the lbs!