Hello, hello!

After having a small break from my blog, I am back and I thought my first post back from said break should be something a little bit different.

Those of you that read my blog may well be aware that I have suffered with depression and social anxiety, and have done for over 10 years... which was incredibly hard to accept as I was scared of the label of "depressed" and the mental in "mental health";
But you know what? Once I did accept it, it's not all that bad... I have had an awful lot of knocks in my life, I have previously considered myself fairly unlucky for a lot of my life.

However, towards the end of last year I decided to at least try and stop being so negative, my anxiety and what not caused me to be a "glass half empty" sort of person, but I stopped and realised despite the amount of crap I've had to deal with, I've got through it and I'm going from strength to strength.

Since the beginning of secondary school, I've dealt with some bad bullying, some horrible medical issues, most of which is down to my thyroid, but hey ho, on I soldier anyway and then my self confidence issues due to my appearance, weight, past issues with bullying and people letting me down.
It's the smaller things with me that get down, even something as simple as being called "boring" or when I think people are talking about me behind my back, the smallest things can set my anxiety off, but I'm taking small steps being able to control it and feel better about myself!

But anyway, onto a more positive note (since its what this post is supposed to be all about!)

This morning when I went to the gym, I noticed they were promoting a small project called #LoveYourSelfie and I think it's a fantastic idea! You basically take a little paper heart (they have red hearts but you know...whatever you have available!) and put the heart next to a part of the body that they love/that they're proud of.

I think that it's such a good idea and I want you all to get involved with this where you can!

So on instagram or twitter or anywhere, put your "#LoveYourSelfie" it could even just be you holding a heart up to say you love yourself and that's great, we need more positivity in this world and it's a great way to start it off!

Be sure to tag me if you take part, I want to see self confidence and body positivity everywhere!

I haven't currently got any red card, so I'm going to share some images with you that show my progress and show that I am proud of my slow transformation! 

 I was featured on the "This Girl Can" campaign's social media platform, a campaign by Sport England who are attempting to get women everywhere, no matter what age, size, ability or anything to get involved and exercise and do sports, I 100% agree with the campaign, having been doing this for nearly a year now, I believe 110% that sports and exercise can make you feel a lot better about yourself, I feel more active, fitter and my confidence is getting better and better, see about their fab campaign here.

Being featured on their social media platforms was just another step in the right direction for me and if I can inspire women like myself or anyone for that matter to get up and feel better about themselves, I will!

Now to carry on with the self love and confidence theme I'm going to share this with you:

To be honest I was sat around for a good half an hour wondering as to whether or not I should actually upload it or not to any of my social media platforms, although I finally did to my instagram and even though I have a long way to go, I'm proud of my progress so far (also I need to work on my abs lol...) but my stomach and figure is getting smaller and fitter everyday with the effort I'm putting in!

The first photo was taken in May 2015 when I first started, the second was taken end of november/beginning of december time 2015 and the final photo was taken in 2016, well last week actually, I'm getting so excited about how much fitter I'm getting! I love seeing the difference between photos! Just inspires me to carry on and keep going!

Plus the best thing is, that I'm doing it all for myself, by myself (well somewhat) and achieving these is fantastic.

Actually the by myself is a slight lie, big shoutout of thanks to Beth from Tri 2 Swim who gave me the kick up the bum I needed to get started and Sian from Potential fitness who trains me and gives me 100% whatever I'm doing and of course my friends and family who have been there throughout.

To continue on as well, I have my own radio show now too, I've been doing this for a couple of months now and I love love love it, I'm basically talking to myself for a couple of hours into a big microphone but its definitely boosted my self confidence and it gets me out of the house on a wednesday night! Everyone is a winner hahaha! You can listen to me live on Redroad FM on wednesday nights between 9pm-11pm, be sure to listen and text in/tweet me, I'll give you a shoutout!
Listen live here.

So on one last note, I know its easier said than done but love yourself and brim yourself with confidence, take baby steps if you have to, because you can be whatever you want to be and you can do whatever you want! You just have to put yourself in a good frame of mind!

and #LoveYourSelfie!

Until next time,

Good Morning all!

I was hoping to post this last night, but it got late and spent most of my evening preparing my meals for the week!

I've managed to do 4 days worth of meals, well lunch and tea! as I usually have weetabix for breakfast... 

These are all the ingredients I used for my food prep, it's not an awful lot but they all make up different meals!

Frozen Kale, Chicken Breast Fillet, Medium Fat Philadelphia, Smoked Salmon Slices, Bacon, Frozen Avocado, Wholegrain Noodles, Wholegrain Brown Pasta, Lemon Juice, Pepper.

Not included in the photo is Semi Skimmed Milk, Chinese Five Spice and Reduced Salt soy sauce.

 

Before you start cooking, make sure you have plenty of storage for your meals, nothing worse than going and creating nearly a weeks worth of food and not enough to store it in!

 

So, onto the food...

I started off making off Smoked Salmon pasta which is actually one of my favourite meals!

Coffee Machine isn't included haha! but you basically boil the pasta, and then in a seperate pan, you create a sauce with Philadelphia cream cheese as the base, add a little bit of milk in (the more you put in, the runnier the sauce will be, but you don't need a lot!), a splash of lemon juice and a little bit of pepper then rip up the slices of smoked salmon and add in, you cook it with the sauce.
As soon as you put the pan on the heat, keep stirring until its at a runny consistency.
Once you've drained your pasta, add the sauce and the pasta together and hey presto! you're sorted!

Next I needed to cook the chicken as it was going in more than one of my meals, I had a rather large chicken breat fillet, so chopped it up into numerous pieces and then fried off in rapeseed oil (rapeseed oil is apparently better for you!) 

I then used the chicken in some wholemeal noodles with Kale, chinese five spice and reduced salt soy sauce to make some noodle dishes, which by the way taste great!

My final other dish is another favourite of chicken, bacon and avocado salad, it's a mixed leaves salad with little bits of chicken breast, chopped bits of fried off bacon and mashed avocado, no dressing needed as the avocado provides it all!

Here's the finished products:

I'm really looking forward to my meals this week now and it's so much easier for work that I can just pop in my bag for work, also I can freeze them to perserve them if necessary!

All together (including cleaning!) It took me about 2 hours, but its probably saved me a lot of time for the following week! so whether you're dieting or not, it might be worth preparing your food just to make it a lot easier for you!

Yes, that is a Bertolli Butter tub, but they're decent portion sized haha!
I'm hoping to do more of these posts in the future so I'll keep you updated with anymore other interesting meals I may prep in the future for you all!

So until next time!

Afternoon all!

Today's post is a little bit of a mish mash, I've recently bought some new gym and workout gear, and I've been meal prepping left right and centre this week! I also thought I would talk you through my PT session with Sian from Potential Fitness today too!

So first up, my new gym gear!

On Saturday I headed to Junction 32 shopping centre in Castleford, literally so I could visit the Nike Factory, Adidas and New Balance outlet stores and came away with my new gym shoes! For £45 I thought they were an absolute steal, as after doing my research it seems they were originally priced at near enough £100!

Although, they are men's 5.0 running shoes, the women's sizing was actually too small for my clown feet haha! But I absolutely love them, they're so comfy and I've felt a difference in my workouts since I got them, definitely worth the money!

Next is my new sports bra!

I saw this on ASOS for £28, which may seem a lot, but I still have a valid student card and it's again worth the money, great support and really comfy! - Would definitely recommend ladies if you're looking for a new one!

Also, I finally got my hands on a 'This Girl Can' T-Shirt!

Plus, to top it off, they featured this selfie on their social media channels! Which I was ridiculously excited about! View them here:

Facebook

Twitter
Instagram

Another ridiculously comfy piece of activewear, I also wear it for lounging about too, but I intend to wear it for when I start going to some classes which I'll be updating you on in the future!

 

So what else have I been up to?

Meal Prepping.

I wish I looked as glamourous as Beyonce when I was doing it but it was definitely far from the case!

I must of been cooking for about 2 hours but I managed to get about 4 days worth of food sorted! I did 2 lots of salmon, spinach, kale and brown rice, 3 lots of wholegrain pasta with chicken, quorn sausages, kale, basil with a chopped tomato sauce and then 2 lots of wholegrain noodles with chicken and kale with reduced salt soy sauce.

It is my first time doing meal prepping properly so I'm going to try and mix it up a bit and do some different dishes when I prep again tomorrow, I'm going to try and do a post with all my prep again if I'm not too flustered afterwards! - But so far, I'm finding it so much easier, I don't know why I haven't done this previously! But I'm hoping that this will get my eating back into good habits, especially whilst I'm at work, with the likes of subway, mcdonalds, kfc and greggs etc just across the road from where I work, it's almost too easy to give into temptation, no more when I have my prepped meals in toll! (wahey!), I forgot to take photos whilst I was prepping so I'll try and do a post on that soon!

But onto today's PT Session with Sian!

I started off on the Watt Bike - Where I had a normal 5 minutes and then did 5 minutes interval warm up with 10 seconds extra effort and speed, with a 20 second recovery, repeated for 5 minutes, I also tried 20 seconds with extra effort and speed and then 40 second recovery time for a couple of minutes too, to get my heart rate going.

After the watt bike warm up it was onto the treadmill starting with a 6% gradient (6.0 incline) and increasing the gradient by 0.5% every 30 seconds until I got up to 12% gradient (12.0 incline), speed varied between 2.5 and 3.0 as I have a previous knee injury and it can hinder my exercise at times.
Once I reached my 12% gradient I could gradually bring it down back to 6% which worked my legs and got my heart beating!

This went on for around 20ish minutes, afterwards I went on to work with these:

I would of done some situps/planks/pressups etc - but a couple of weeks ago I did some ligament damage to my left wrist, so we did the following for the last part of my session.

I started with single leg step ups on each leg with 4kg weights in each hand (the green ones in the photo!), after this I went straight into 15 deep squats holding a 6kg kettlebell weight, afterwards in was straight into 30 seconds of fast step ups, 30 seconds starting on each leg.

I did this process three times with small rest periods in between to get my breath back.

I'm feeling incredibly sore but feel so much better for it! I'm looking forward to my next session already! Be sure to check out Sian's page on facebook! Potential Fitness on Facebook

I've got a lot coming up in the near future which I'm hoping to both vlog and blog about! I'll be sure to keep you all updated, but until next time!

Afternoon all!

Another day, another blog post, but today I wanted to open up about a condition that I think is often overlooked or not taken into account.

Hypothyroidism.

What is it?

Hypothyroidism is a condition of the Thyroid which causes it to be underactive, which means it releases less thyroxine or none at all in and around your body.

For those of you who don't know what a thyroid is, it's a butterfly shaped gland that sits along the windpipe and if you're male, below the adams apple, you can't really feel it.

What does the thyroid actually do?


Taken from: British Thyroid Foundation

"The thyroid makes two hormones that it secretes into the blood stream. One is called thyroxine; this hormone contains four atoms of iodine and is often called T4. The other is called triiodothyronine, which contains three atoms of iodine and is often called T3. In the cells and tissues of the body the T4 is converted to T3. It is the T3, derived from T4 or secreted as T3 from the thyroid gland, which is biologically active and influences the activity of all the cells and tissues of your body."

"The T4, or rather the T3 derived from it, and the T3 secreted directly by the thyroid gland influence the metabolism of your body cells. In other words, it regulates the speed with which your body cells work. If too much of the thyroid hormones are secreted, the body cells work faster than normal, and you have hyperthyroidism. If too little of the thyroid hormones are produced (known as hypothyroidism), the cells and organs of your body slow down. If you become hypothyroid, your heart rate, for example, may be slower than normal and your intestines work sluggishly, so you can become constipated."

This is something I have suffered with from birth and luckily it's controlled with medication, however, I have to have routine blood tests to check that my thyroxine levels are where they should be and I have to take tablets every morning and I've had to do that since I was 2 weeks old!  

It affects me in a lot of day to day aspects and it can cause the following:

Weight gain
Slow movements, thought and speech
Pins and needles
Breathlessness
Dizziness
Palpitations
Loss of libido
Dry/gritty eyes
Hoarse voice
Difficulty swallowing
Hair loss especially outer third of eyebrows
Dry skin
Muscle and joint pain
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Loss of appetite
Constipation

Fatigue
Low Metabolism
Tiredness

 

These are just a handful of symptoms that people suffer with, sources say that there is over 300 different symptoms of hypothyroidism alone and an estimated 300 million people worldwide are suffering which is staggering.

Weight gain is certainly one I struggle with, which is the main subject of this blog, it's a known fact that its a lot easier (usually) to put it on than lose the weight!
However there is a bigger struggle with my thyroid condition as I get tired very easily and my low metabolism makes it difficult to get up and go, which means I can sometimes lack motivation, luckily I only suffer from a couple of these symptoms/factors on the list, but I can only imagine that its awful to suffer from nearly all or a lot of those factors.

 

Apart from weight gain and the struggle with weightloss, I can go through a lot of different emotions and phases throughout the day, I can often wake up tired and not really have the energy to get out of bed somedays (of course I do eventually!) and it has been said that you can be prone to anxiety and depression, two things I have again, suffered with for a large portion of my life, however, on a positive note, if I manage to get up easily in a morning, I try and stay positive and get through the day, no matter what it throws at me! It also means that I have a low immune system which means unfortunately for me, that if there's a bug going around, I am more than likely going to catch it! (sad face), but it can be avoided if I take extra care.

One stigma I've identified is that people use hypothyroidism as an excuse for being lazy, I can say that for the majority (at least!!) for us sufferers, this is not the case, we genuinely struggle and you need to be patient with us! I've noticed a positive change in my energy since I've started exercising reguarly, which can be a task in itself at times when I'm over tired and lack motivation, so if you're a sufferer and haven't tried doing exercise, even if its just walking or going to a class once a week, give it a go! it might surprise you!

 

The opposite to this is hyperthyroidism, which is an overactive thyroid, basically the complete opposite of hypothyroidism, feel free to research on that if you're interested, there is plenty of information online!

 

I hope this post has provided some good information about a condition that some of you probably didn't know existed and also gives you awareness as to how this illness can affect those that are suffering! 

Until next time,

Evening All!

It's Friday! Wooooo! - Well I would be happier but I work weekends too, but despite that, I'm off to a friends 21st tomorrow night so I can look forward to it all the same haha!

Tonight I'm doing my first food post in agessssss (oops).

Those of you that know me well will know that I love a good bit of chicken, and I love love love nandos.

So when my mum suggested doing a homemade version, I was both excited and slightly skeptical, because if you're a nandos lover like me, is it really possible to top it?!

Yes.

Yes it is!

 

It is chicken thighs, which I find so much nicer to eat than chicken breast, marinated in a sauce and served with spinach and a few (well four...) potato wedges.

The sauce is made up of the following:

Lemon Juice, one tablespoon of tomato puree, a teaspoon of tomato ketchup (which I usually despise!), a bit of garlic granules, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a tiny bit of cayenne pepper spice, a splash of tobasco sauce (you can add more or less depending on your heat tolerance!) and chopped parsley and spinach with salt and pepper to taste!

After covering the chicken in all of the above sauce, place on a grill pan in the oven (or just the grill if you prefer!) and then serve!

As I mentioned above, I can't stand Tomato Ketchup (I understand that it probably makes me weird, but oh well...) - but I couldn't taste, which I'm sure my mum was thinking and will probably say "told you so!" at somepoint, but its so nice!

It's probably the cheaper and healthier version of a nandos chicken, I bet most of you have most of them ingredients for the sauce already in your cupboard! 

  

If not, I looked up the prices from major supermarket asda for you!

Lemon Juice:
Asda - 50p

Tomato Puree:
Asda - 49p

Tomato Ketchup:
£2

Garlic Granules:

74p

Smoked Paprika:

74p

Cayenne Pepper Spice:

74p

Tobasco Sauce:

£1.89

Parsley:
60p (25g)

Spinach:

£1.00 (180g)

Chicken Thighs:

£2.00 (500g)

That adds up to a total of £10.70! 

With the amount of content in the ingredients you probably have more than enough to make more than one meal! 

Give it a try! You never know!

Until next time,

 

Evening all!


It's all good trying to lose weight and seeing results, but what happens when you have an off day? Or a stressful day for that matter?

Everyone has off days, especially when it comes to dieting and weightloss, a cheat meal might of turned into a cheat day (It happens to everyone!) - You might of had a stressful day at work or you might just be feeling a little bit down, the best way to get rid of any sort of stress or bad feeling is to relax.

I know it's easier said than done, take it from me who has been through multiple stressful situations, and sometimes all at once!

It doesn't hurt to try though and here's a few suggestions to help you relax! 

 First solution - A bath, even better if accompanied with a bathbomb.

A bath not only cleans you physically, but it can clean your mind mentally!
You can even put out a few candles (the smellier the candle, the better!), put on some relaxing music (or deep house... if that relaxes you?) you can contemplate life as much as you want, but a nice bath can relax your body, and just put you in a better frame of mind!
It's even better if right before bed, I find that a bath before bed often helps me get to sleep quicker! 

 A drink.

In moderation! Of course if you're feeling a bit down in the dumps, getting drunk probably isn't the best idea - as you could do or say something regret...
Anyway...
A drink (or two!) can help to relax and calm the nerves and just make you chill out a bit!
 

Writing it down...
Writing down your thoughts and feelings whether it be negative or positive is good for the mind, you can release any anxiety or troubles and it feels like someone is almost listening to you, and it's a good way to get any bad energy especially off your chest!

 

 

Go for a walk...

A nice walk with the right music in your ears can lift your mood and soak in the views, these are round near me, I really ought to take more of advantage of them! but whether it be for 15 minutes or an hour, it can really clean your mind and give you some thinking space!

 

 Films.

A great film can chill you out! I wouldn't really recommend the slasher/horror types (unless that relax's you? I'm not judging haha!) having said that, if you're going through something like a break up or boy/girl issues, I wouldn't suggest a romantic comedy or anything a bit mushy, in a time where relaxation is in need or you need cheering up, I suggest a good old comedy film to give you a good laugh!

 

Finally...

 

 Music...

It goes hand in hand with a lot of the relaxation techniques that I've mentioned but even just music on its own is just a great way of relaxing - Spotify is a great tool for this, as in the 'Browse' there's a lot of playlists done by the spotify team for any mood, occasion or situation! Use it to your advantage!

 

I'd love to hear some of the ways you relax!

 

Until next time...

 

Afternoon all!


Today's post is all about choosing the perfect playlist for your workout!

I've always gone with more upbeat tunes, something that you can sync with, but of course it may or may not depend on what sort of your exercise you're doing.

Whether it be weights, HIIT or Cardio, without the right music, going to the gym on your own might feel a bit like this:

I've been there, it's important to have the right music, the right music can give you that pumped up feeling and might even help you to push you to your best!

I'm putting together a selection of songs that could (hopefully!) work for most types of workouts.

Like I said, I'm always a fan of some upbeat music to keep me going, as when you're you're on your own, it can be hard to stay or keep motivated, so enjoy! These songs will also be available on a playlist on spotify for you to enjoy, link at the bottom of the post!

Workout! Playlist:

She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks
Hold Back The River - James Bay
Do I Wanna Know? Arctic Monkeys
Africa - TotoClassic - MKTO
Shut Up And Dance - Walk The Moon
Parklife - Blur
99 Red Balloons - Nena
Pretty Young Thing - Michael Jackson
Our House - Madness
Zombie - Jamie T
I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) - The Proclaimers
Don't You Want Me - The Human League
Waiting For A Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl
We Built This City - Starship
Take On Me - Aha
Hey Ya! - Outkast
Gangsters Paradise - Coolio
You Don't Own Me - Grace
The Girl Is Mine - 99 Souls
Sorry - Justin Bieber
Peanut Butter Jelly - Galantis
Sax - Fleur East
Turn The Music Louder - KDA
Runnin' - Beyonce and Naughty Boy
Kickstarts - Example
Stay Awake - Example
Pompeii - Bastille
Worried About Ray - The Hoosiers
Titanium (Alesso Remix) - David Guetta
Riptide - Vance Joy
Bump and Grind - R.Kelly
Can You Hear Me? - Wiley
In Da Club - 50 Cent
Alright - Supergrass
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
Dilemma - Nelly
Black Widow - Iggy Azalea
Lets Go - Calvin Harris
Dark Horse - Katy Perry
I'm Still Standing - Elton John
Eye of The Tiger - Survivor
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
Gonna Fly Now - Bill Conti
Jump - Van Halen
What A Feeling - Irene Cara
So What - P!nk
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
Everybody Talks - Neon Trees
Automatic - Don Broco
Ignition - R.Kelly
Million Voices - Otto Knows
Black Magic - Little Mix
Glitterball - Sigma
Timber - Pitbull feat. Ke$ha
Whip It! - Lunchmoney Lewis
Bills - Lunchmoney Lewis
Love on Top - Beyonce
Bootylicious - Destiny's Child
Single Ladies - Beyonce
I'm So Excited - The Pointer Sisters
Mr Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
Star Girl - Mcfly
Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
What The Hell - Avril Lavigne
Bang Bang - Jessie J
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
Starships - Nicki Minaj
Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
Desire - Years and Years
Saving My Life - Gorgon City
Get Up (Rattle) - Bingo Players
Wake Me Up - Avicii
Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia
Nobody To Love - Sigma
Bangarang - Skrillex
Fester Skank - Lethal Bizzle
Focus - Ariana Grande
Fancy - Iggy Azalea
R U Mine? - Arctic Monkeys
Wanna Be Starting Something - Michael Jackson

You can access this playlist here:
Workout! Playlist

Got any other favourites you'd love to listen to whilst working out? Let me know! 

Until next time,