I’m not sure if many of you know but over the summer I’ve been working in a local convenience shop (which I cant name or I’ll be in trouble!). So while I’ve been working there, I’ve really noticed the eating habits of some of our customers.

Now I will just add in here that I know it is quite hypocritical what I am saying and that I shouldn’t be so judgemental when I know that I have also been out and spent £5 or even more at a time on junk food. However, saying that the whole point of my blog is that I am on a journey to a better life, and by the time I have children I will have figured out a good balanced diet for them! I certainly don’t want them having sweets every night…

I mostly work evenings, which obviously doesn’t always paint a very good picture as the customers are normally there for the chocolate or alcohol.

But this is honestly not the most shocking part. The amount of sweets that parents buy for their children is incredible, incredibly awful that is. We often have our regular customers come in on a daily basis and since I work 4 or 5 days a week I do pick up on what they buy quite a lot.

Cringey I know but with obesity in the news headlines more and more frequently, it’s interesting to observe families to see what they’re like! And who doesn’t love a good bit of people watching.

Anyway there’s one particular family that comes to mind as I’m writing this. As far as I’m aware I have only met the two sisters and their mum.

The sisters argue like crazy, even in the shop, I even get embarrassed serving them – it’s that bad!

Every day that I work, they come in a buy so much junk food, it makes me feel sick even thinking about it. Obviously the shop has a small chilled section and we have steak slices or chicken and bacon or chicken tikka, you name it! The girls also buy these because they are normally on offer…they have got to be the most awful looking things ever!  Plus the thought of all the calories, fat, carbs and processed meat that goes in them makes me feel quite nauseous!

I’m going a little bit off topic here. So out of the two sisters, one must be about 14 who is a pretty average size (surprisingly because of what she eats) and the other is about 15 but she is without a doubt overweight, obviously at no surprise to any of us. I think its really sad that this has happened to her but whenever they come in with their mum, it’s not like she does anything about it and still lets them buy it.

No their mum is a different case, the complete opposite to myself, where she doesn’t eat enough…and it’s pretty obvious.

I think its pretty bad that we live in a society where eating disorders are so common nowadays. Yes, the NHS say that they are addressing it but they clearly aren’t or obesity cases wouldn’t be rising so rapidly and unfortunately it’s something I see everyday. I’m only one person out of thousands who are obese but I am slowly getting there and one day I hope to be able to influence and help people on their own journey to a better life.

Also, if you actually read this, please let me know! I have no idea who really reads it so it would be nice to actually thank whoever you are. (sorry family, you don’t count because I give you no choice but to read it!)

Time To Be Honest

This is going to be the hardest blog post I've written so far and I'm still unsure of how people will react to it. To be honest, I'm disappointed in myself, the last month or so has been quite difficult on many levels and as you've probably noticed I haven't posted as regularly as I would have at the start. I love writing on here, getting supportive comments from friends and family so its been a shame I haven't been able to keep up.

However, I haven't been sticking to my diet or even going to the gym, yet I have noticed that my portion sizes have decreased and with all the stress I've put myself under over the past few weeks I haven't resorted to comfort eating as much as I would have before March. Yes, I'm upset that I haven't kept up with losing weight, but this isn't to say I have gained weight, I've actually lost 4 lbs in the last 3 weeks!! This has really helped me to know that the way that I see food has in fact changed and also having a more active job, where I stand on my feet for hours on end instead of sitting down all day, actually makes a difference and I've seen that my legs have gotten slightly more toned just from this!

I've got a few recipes lined up that I want to try out and I'll be doing so in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Other than that, I'm going to keep it short and sweet as this has been hard enough to admit to and I need to get on with revising! I promise that I'm going to make more of an effort to keep posting, and I'll be changing the name of my blog to something more appropriate (any ideas will be more than welcome). Much love.

Mid Week Positivity

This week I've felt loads better I must admit. Yet again I've tried so much harder, tried new recipes (which always boosts my mood) and spent time properly talking to people I wouldn't normally talk to. All of this has really lifted my mood and made me feel more positive about the coming days and the future. Sure there are still moments where I hesitate and think 'what if...?' but I've managed to pass that and think more about the present moment.

It makes a difference being able to stay positive most of the time, it means more good days than bad days, which obviously means getting closer to my goal! 

I am doing this purely for myself, to get a better quality of life and for a better future for myself. The last thing I want is to not be able to live my life to the fullest because I'm overweight or I'm so self conscious of the way I look. It's not a good way to live, so why should I have to live like that? The answer is I won't compromise my life in that way.

I started a new job this week and I've already agreed to work all kinds of hours so coffee is officially my new best friend to get me up early for the gym. Wish me luck!

So here's another progress picture, the first was taken at the beginning of March and the second was taken this morning. I'm not going to lie I was quite disappointed as I couldn't see of much of a change as I thought I would have. However, I went to the gym after and did a HIIT workout. I cam out feeling better and more determined! Roll on tomorrow!

A Quick Update

Last week I confessed that I had had a bad week, cheated on my diet and promised to try harder over the next coming days, and that I did. I haven't cheated on my diet and I've actually been to the gym, a much greater success than the week before. I've been told this week that I look skinnier as well which is a great compliment that I will never get tired of hearing! However I still feel like its not enough, obviously I know I could have gone to the gym more and stayed for longer when I did go and that will be my aim for this week. I never really know which equipment or machines to use in the gym though, to maximise weight loss (any advice would be greatly appreciated).

It's tough sometimes, I could have 1 or 2 great days that are really productive but after that I could end up having 2 or 3 really awful days that seem hard to get out of. I'm sure I'm not the only person that has this problem, and as these other people, you feel like you're the only person that this happens to, in that sense I guess we are not alone!

I'll keep this short and sweet and stop complaining now! I'm getting up extra early tomorrow to go food shopping and to the gym, starting the week the right way!!

An Active Weekend in Centerparcs

So last weekend my family and I took a trip to centerparcs in Longleat. It was definitely one of the most active weekends I’ve ever had. We just so happened to have a villa that was in the furthest corner the village meaning it was trek to get anywhere! On the first day we already had to walk the length of the village from the car park to the Indian restaurant! I’d already had a pt session first thing that morning so I was already exhausted. I did treat myself with a couple glasses of wine and managed to eat quite a bit for dinner but I did resist the naan bread and poppadoms. However I did feel a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to keep up with everyone when we were walking back.

On the second day we went to collect our bikes and cycled the length of the village at least 3 times!! I have the nicest massage and a tuna sandwich for lunch. We had a very competitive game of badminton and I was completely exhausted after but felt so good. Then went for a swim to cool off, anyone whose been to centerparcs will know that there are rapids which are so much fun but I came out with loads of bruises after. I had a couple of drinks again and decided to have a healthy steak for dinner.

Exhausted!

Obviously after 2 days of non stop exercise I needed a bit of a lie in, so a late start on the Sunday that went very similar to Saturday except we also played table tennis and went on a pedalo around the lake which was so much fun. For dinner I had a prawn caesar salad but without the dressing which was absolutely amazing. We then play bowling, obviously not the most athletic game, but I won!!

Nailed it!

By the Monday when we were going home, I was aching like crazy (and for several days after!). I burnt way more calories than I ate or so it felt anyway. I ended up with a ridiculous amount of bruises and it took several days for me to recover however there was no stopping me and I carried on working out through the pain and it certainly paid off.

For anyone who wants a weekend away and loves being active then you should really consider centerparcs. I’m completely biased anyway as my family and I completely love it there but there’s so much to do and its so much fun!

Delicious!