I’d be seriously lying to you if I told you that I started off the year with tonnes of exercise and healthy food. This has not been the case. I am lacking some serious motivation, I even weighed myself and I’ve written down everything that I’ve done and eaten but something isn’t clicking.

Is anyone else having this problem? Or is it just me?

If anyone has some great motivation blog posts or even some tips, please please PLEASE send them my way.

There’s something mentally stopping me from getting up and sorting it out. Don’t get me wrong, every other aspect of my life is sorted, thought about, planned out, you name it, i’ve done it. It’s just losing weight that has me stumped.

I’m desperate to shift this weight, so why can’t I get down the gym? I’m sat here writing when I can be at the gym. 

On another note, I do have something exciting happening from Wednesday to Saturday which you will find out all about next week. Don’t worry it’s 100% health related, I’m not giving up on myself! So all that motivation you’re going to send my way will be much appreciated as it’s going to be a tough 4 days. Apologies to anyone who has to be around me!

Get down the gym!

As I have said before the best way to maintain weight loss is by a combination of effective exercise and a healthy diet. 

Obviously exercise will increase the number of calories you burn but also strength exercises (weights etc) are crucial to increasing or maintaining your muscle mass to ensure that you can still carry out basic everyday tasks. I only say this because if you are only dieting (and not exercising) then you are reducing/not able to maintain your muscle mass. It is also important to have muscle mass so that you still burn calories while you are resting. If you were to diet alone you would need to reduce your calorie intake even more to retain muscle mass. However, you do not want to eat so little that it has negative health consequences, we want to make ourselves healthy people, not ill!!

That's really all it takes!

This is why you want the combination of exercise and a healthy diet, it's the best way to go. Personally I am going to aim for 1500 calories a day and going to the gym 4 times a week. 

Not only does exercise make you feel good, improve your social life (I need a gym buddy or two!) and improve mental health but it also prevents the development of diseases. It has been shown that there is a link between inactivity and the risk of metabolic conditions, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, cancers, neurological problems, reduced quality of life and shorter life expectancy. If that's not enough to make you exercise then I don't know what is!

Again dieting alone rarely will have a positive impact on your life. It won't really positively impact your mood (you will be left hungry!), anxiety will increase and it won't have a positive impact on your social life (you will always be worrying about what you could possibly eat). I must say, I really feel like this is true, certainly for me anyway. I do have a slight panic when I have to go our to eat as I am quite a fussy eater so finding something to eat is almost like a chore! This will then increase my anxiety which is never a good feeling and I'll be in a bad mood! So that is why I want to get back to the gym so I can enjoy myself when I want to go out for dinner with friends. 

I got the information from this website, well worth a read (though I feel as if what I have written makes it easier to understand), it's a good one.

Response

A few weeks ago I got my first negative response (that I know of) to my blog. To say the least I was shocked. To be honest, I didn’t know how to react. The fact it came from someone I could trust, or so I though, made it a little bit worse and they clearly hadn’t been reading it.

This really goes to show how judgmental society is these days and the quote ‘never judge a book by its cover’ could not be any truer in this case.

I’m sure that this isn’t the only person who has jumped to conclusions about my blog, and when I started, this is very much what I anticipated. I have put my story out there for everyone to see, which has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done and for those who are judging me, they are clearly not worth being a part of my life!

However, that aside, to all of you who keep reading and offering me an unbelievable amount of support, my family, old school friends, I could never thank you enough and its really keeping me going right now.

So as another little update, I’m keeping positive (despite negative comments) and lining up a load of dishes I want to tr. I’m also going to go cold turkey on crisps, my real true weakness, and this will be my biggest challenge yet and I will let you know how it goes.

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!!

My Confession

I have a confession to make, this last week has been completely awful. The worst week I've had since March and that's saying something considering I've had exams in that time. I caved in and cheated badly, stress got the better of me after a series of bad moments and it all went downhill from there.

It's not the greatest feeling to admit to cheating on your diet to be honest with you. It happened though and I have to live with the guilt of that. It's in the past now and there's nothing I can do about it but get over it and know that a new week is starting. All I can really say is that I will try even harder this week and hope that I can find a different way to deal with my stress that doesn't involve eating all the time.

I need to dig deep down and find the motivation I need to get myself going. Today, my mum and her friend did a triathlon, their first one and my mum is now determined to do even more! I want that kind of determination and next year me and my dad are going to do it as well. You may laugh but it gives me something to aim for, even if it is a year away.

Isn't she great?

I also need to lose a significant amount of weight before I go to Athens at the end of next month. Not being someone who likes being in the sun that much as it is, I need to lose weight to not be uncomfortable when I'm walking around. So again, it is the start of a new week and I will be starting by hitting the gym.

Give up? Not a chance.

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!