Health & Fitness Update #2

This week has been an okay-ish one. Exercise-wise, I've been doing pretty well. Last Sunday was one of the sunniest days I've seen for a while (UK problems!) and I took advantage of the warm-ish weather and took my puppy for a walk through the woods. We were out for about an hour and a half, but I made sure I had a bottle of water on me! Other than that, I've been fitting in small bursts of exercise whenever I have a spare minute, whether that's a 1 minute plank, a set of 30 squats or a 2 minute jog. Diet-wise, I've been failing a little. I had a large chips from McDonalds today and two bags of salt and vinegar Kettle Crisps yesterday... see the second point below to explain why.

 

What I've Learned This Week:

 

Fit in work-outs where-ever and whenever. This tip has been a lifesaver this week. I've been so busy with stressing about college that I've barely had a minute to sit down, let alone drop 20 squats. But I've been making an effort doing simple things: lifting my knees higher whilst walking up the stairs in college, doing calf raises whilst brushing my teeth and jogging on the spot whilst I wait for my bath to run.

 

Eating healthy food I don't enjoy makes me eat more. I've noticed lately that I'll prepare myself a lettuce and celery side salad, take one bite, deciding it's too bland and boring then end up buying a bag of crisps from the vending machine at college. As weird as it sounds, eating and enjoying food does put me in a better mood so when I'm eating something I don't enjoy, it honestly does make me miserable. From now on I'm only going to pack food that I'm looking forward to eating - red grapes, pineapple and red apples are my current favourites!

 

Cute gym wear makes me want to work out. Also, the brighter, the better. I now have a purple sports bra and a neon pink leopard print one and a pair of pink and black running shoes. Cute things like that motivate me as I want to wear them!

 

Lunches This Week:

 

 

Tuesday: lettuce, sweetcorn & celery salad with breaded chicken pieces and wholemeal seeded bread croutons. As a snack I had a peanut museli bar (not pictured) and a bottle of water. This was probably my favourite lunch this week - the salad was so refreshing!

 

 

Thursday: wholegrain pasta with a side of lettuce and celery. This meal was honestly pretty damn boring to eat. I ran out of veg to chuck in with the pasta so had to have it plain, which I didn't mind as I like plain pasta, but the side salad was hardly touched. This was the day that I splurged on the two bags of salt and vinegar crisps. As a drink I had water.

 

Overall, I think I'm working at a steady pace that I'm fairly happy with. More exercise was done and a lot more water was drank (the only drink I had this week!) but the diet changes are making me unhappy. Hopefully a trip to the Sainsbury's fruit aisle will change all of that for next week!

 

xx

Health & Fitness Update #1

 

What do we have here? Another new feature on my blog? I know I said in the New Year that I would be trying to incorporate some more pieces of my life into my blog and so far I'm really happy with it! I hope you guys don't mind the change and are enjoying my new posts too :)

 

I've been trying to go on a bit of a fitness kick lately, not so much a massive diet and exercise binge but more of a gradual lifestyle change in general. I've been wanting to do this for a while after many failed attempts but the allure of Springtime and crop tops is pushing my forward. I'm going to try and stay as honest as possible when it comes to the exercise I manage to do and the food I eat, so if you spot a McDonalds on here once or twice you have been forewarned!

 

After that super long intro, let's just get onto the update.

 

To me, going back to college after the half-term break seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to indulge in some healthy eating. My college hours mean that I'm eating lunch at college twice a week, 'dinner' once a week and breakfast twice a week as I get up super early to get the bus. I used to be guilty of getting chips on two of those three days, a habit which I've now kicked completely.

 

My college lunches & snacks this week:

 

Monday:

Wholegrain pitta bread with roasted turkey breast chunks, with a few pieces of dark chocolate and a small stack of pretzels and a side of grapes. I had a bottle of water as a drink.

 

Tuesday:

Wholegrain pasta with sweet corn and broccoli, a Belvita breakfast bar (the chocolate and nuts one) and a bottle of orange juice for my drink.

 

Thursday:

Wholegrain pasta with sweet corn with a bottle of water and a small stack of crackers with cheese chunks.

 

As you can see from what I had, I've been replacing white bread and pasta with their wholegrain options. I honestly prefer brown bread to white anyway, but wholegrain pasta was a new experience for me and I can honestly say I'm converted. My boyfriend now calls me a pasta snob because I will only eat wholegrain pasta! It's much better for you as it contains more fibre and nutrients that the regular white pasta. The same goes for bread and I didn't realise how much sugar goes into regular white bread! It's insane. I still have a few treats packed such as pretzels and dark chocolate but only if I finish my fruit first (haha) as I find that if I crave chocolate at college, the prices are so expensive that I end up losing money and eating more of it than intended. If I pack myself a small amount, I can control the amount I'm eating whilst satisfying the craving.

 

Exercise-wise, I've subscribed to the Blogilates Youtube Channel which is amazing, scoured Pinterest for inspiration and routine ideas and downloaded some of my old Zumba songs and have been doing a few old routines I can remember from my classes last summer. I have also been taking part (kind of) in the 30-day Plank, which is basically where you do the plank movement daily but up your time by ten seconds each day. I'm not going to lie, I have been skipping days on this and have been stuck on 60 seconds for a while now but every time I work out I always add in the plank movement at least twice. Jogging is also on my work out list at the moment, as I'm working my way up to being able to run outdoors without becoming a tired mess within minutes.

 

I hope you guys liked this change of post, it's been a much longer one than I thought but now I've set down the basics I wont have to fill you in on as much next time!

 

xx