Diary: Day 5.

Hello all!

It's been one of those days that has dragged on sooooo much, but you realise you have done quite a lot, which has made me feel quite proud of myself! Gym session this morning which woke me up for the day ahead and I enjoyed it very much!

The feeling after a workout is something different to any other!

I get a real buzz after a workout, especially in the morning when you don't really know what you're doing and the eyes are still puffy from sleeping. I prefer working out in the morning to any other time of day- prepared for what the day will throw at you!

 

 

 

GET UP AND GET OUT.

Food:

• Breakfast: small bowl of Tesco Fruit and Fibre with soya milk
• Lunch: 2 ryvita with tuna, Muller Light yogurt with a sprinkle of dried fruit.
• Dinner: 2 cups of pasta with baked beans and small amount of grated cheese.

I felt severly full after my dinner, but I was unbelievably hungry. The fact that I had quite a hefty workout left me feeling hungrier than I would if exercising in the evening or middle of the day (if I was playing a netball match). I always eat AFTER my workout, as I hate working on a full stomach and you enjoy breakfast more too.

Exercise:

• 15 minutes cross trainer
• 10 minutes rowing
• 10 minutes cycling (intervals)
• 10 minutes stepper
• 4 sets of 13 Bicep curls, 14kg weight.

A very sweaty workout today but it was so good to have a mix-up of exercises, as I don't like running on a machine for an hour (it just bores me!) Rowing is great for a warm up and also a brilliant all-round workout for the body. I would have liked to have done more weight training but wanted to concentrate on the CV!

That's it for today folks, lots of Uni work to be getting on with and an early night is required! Bye for now :)

Diary: Day 4

It's Wednesday, which would normally be MATCH DAY! But Bristol UWE couldn't make it to Southampton due to weather, so training was cancelled :(

Sad times...

 I know I should have gone to the gym today but the illness is still hanging around and making me feel very poo at the moment! I have one very blocked ear which doesn't seem to want to pop and is giving me terrible headache. I must admit, when I don't go to the gym I feel so guilty, but there is no way I could have done any vigorous training today, even playing a match of netball would have been hard.

Gym withdrawals.

I have been to Uni and running some errons today though, which does make up for some of it, but not as much as I would have liked to have done!

Food

• Breakfast: Conference pear, Muller light yogurt and you guessed it, a sprinkle of dried fruit!!
• Lunch: 2x small bowls of Tesco fruit and fibre
• Dinner: 1 cup wholewhet pasta with half tin of tuna and half tin of sweetcorn

Okay, I know dried fruit is VERY HIGH in sugar but I hate wasting food and it is great on my breakfast bowl so I'm not going to not have it!

 

A little bit of what you fancy is always better than nothing and giving up at the first hurdle.

As well as the dried fruit, the fruit and fibre doesn't help itself either! It has quite a lot of sugar in a 30g portion but I would rather have cereal than bread....

Cut the carbs.

2 days in 1...

 

 

Sorry I haven't been around to update my diary, I've been mega busy with netball, uni and sorting my life out (been very ill!)

Here's my diary for the past 2 days (Monday and Tuesday)...

MONDAY

Food:

• Breakfast: Conference pear with pouring yogurt and a handful of dried fruit.
• Lunch: Muller light yogurt
• Dinner: 2 Ryvita with half a can of Heinz lentil soup.

I know this is a very low calorie day of eating but I haven't been well for the past couple of weeks and really didn't fancy eating too much. I am making sure now that I eat atleast 800 calories a day  because as for many of us we get very groggy and angry (especially me) when I haven't eaten enough!!

Exercise:

• 20 minutes on the cross trainer
• 20 minutes on the stepper
• 4 sets of 25 on the leg abductor with a weight of 27kg
• 5 sets of 20 on the leg adductor with a weight of 32kg
• 3 sets of 13 on the bicep curl with a weight of 14kg
• 3 sets of 13 on the tricep curl with a weight of 36kg

I really struggled with the CV workout as I haven't fully recovered from the flu which meant I was finding it hard to breathe, but as the workout went on it helped to clear my sinuses which made me feel amazing!!


TUESDAY

Food:

• Breakfast: apple, kiwi with Muller Light yogurt with a sprinkle of dried fruit.
• Dinner: 1 cup of pasta with one turkey breast (fried with a little olive oil) and the other half of the lentil soup which I heated up and used as a pasta sauce (so good!)

I ate my dinner at 4pm because I was busy in the evening, but I didn't mind eating that early because I think it's better to eat early instead of 7pm, as it leaves me feeling full when I finally sit down at the end of the day and I really don't like that feeling!! Interestingly, I was really full after my dinner which was quite suprising and I didn't go to bed feeling hungry, yipee!

Exercise:

Tuesday is always a busy day for me at uni, so I don't find much time to exercise, but I do a lot of walking to and from places. I make sure that if I don't do vigorous exercise at the gym, I don't eat much that day and I feel better for it!

Tour Diet&Exercise plan: Day 1

Starting weight: 10st 8lbs and a half.


So today was the start of the all important detox and diet/exercise plan that will hopefully whip me into shape and get me looking amazine (relatively) for my netball tour in April. My aim is to lose the 8 pounds that seems to just be an annoying number hanging off the end of the 10st.
 
I'll give you a list of what I will eat everyday and also the exercise that I undergo. I believe that sharing your thoughts and actions with others makes you more truthful in what you say, whereas if I was just doing this everyday and not writing it down I would have already failed!

 

Here is what I ate yesterday...

Breakfast: Conference Pear with a Muller Light yogurt.

Lunch: 1 cup of wholewheat pasta with tuna, cucumber and celery.

Dinner: English muffin with bacon (which I grilled on a George Forman, just to make it that bit healthier.)

 

Exercise:

Stepper for 25 minutes, level 13, random setting.

Cycling for 5 minutes, level 6/14, interval every minute.

Leg abductor, 5 sets of 20, using 32kg weight

 Leg adductor, 5 sets of 20, using 27kg weight

Chest fly, 4 sets of 12, using 32kg weight

Bicep curl, 3 sets of 13, using 14kg weight.

 
As you can see, I like to use weights as well as doing cardio as I believe (and others have told me) that incorporating weights into your regime will help to raise your metabolism, therefore burning more calories for up to 24 hours after you have exercised (which is AMAZING!)
 
I use the facilities at my local gym which is really convenient and cheap and I do enjoy going there, and yesterday I felt that I could have gone on for another hour doing cardio but it's better to not push yourself really hard at the first step otherwise you won't be able to carry on the next day due to DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness)
Oh, and another point, I like to take a small towel, not only to mop up all the sweat that I produce, but also to cover up the display on the machine which tells you how long you have left doing the exercise, which I get really put off by!!!!
 
But infact, I found that eating less wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I definitely feel that drinking more water fills you up, so if you feel hungry drink a glass of water and wait for 15 minutes before thinking of sneaking into the fridge to indulge on not-needed food.
 
So, here goes day 2. I will be gyming and netballing today even though it feels as though I am carrying led weights on my shoulders, grrrr!

Happy Sunday, everyone :)

Let's hope this one will last!

A brand new incentive to lose the weight, this time I WILL maintain the motivation!

The time has come in the University netball calendar where I have paid for my first 'Tour' to Spain in April, this fills me with both excitment and dread as I can't wait to be sunning myself for atleast 12 hours of the day, but on the other hand I don't want to look like a fat Umpa-Lumpa in my bikini!

I'd rather not, thanks!

Cambridge, Atkins or Caveman...?


I've always been a great believer of leading a healthy lifestyle and making sure I go to the gym atleast four times a week (well, try anyway). My Mum always taught me that being healthy will give you an advantage in every day life and when studying, as it's a great stress-reliever and I really do believe that.

However, every teenager and especially the girls that will be accompanying me on Tour this year are already having minor panic attacks over their 'rolls' and how many Spinning classes they will be attending every week, but they already have bodies to die for.



Do I dare??

The thought of stepping out onto the poolside infront hundreds of other girls and especially boys is literally killing me inside, I know most people would say, "just be comfortable in yourself and the body you have", but that isn't easy, especially for a self-concious 18 year-old like me.

So this is the point where I say to myself: "If I really want to look the best that I can, I will go all out and give 100%."

I will be writing up weekly updates on my progress/weight loss and will put up a daily diary of exercise and food, so hopefully if anyone wants to join me on my 'wondeful' journey they are more than welcome!

If you have any comments I would love to hear from you!

Surviving Semester 1

 

Semester 1 was full of surprises, new experiences both good and bad, but ones that I will never forget.

One step at a time.

When applying for the course, I didn’t expect to be bundled with the amount of essays, assignments and other numerous tasks, but I suppose that’s the life of a journalist! As soon as one assignment was completed, another popped out from nowhere.

 

 

Work hard, play even harder.

Many people who have ventured to University, always seem to go on and on about the ‘student lifestyle’ and how mind-boggling and amazing it is. Well, let me tell you, if there is one night where you don’t go out because you can’t take the smell of a drop of alcohol, you will be punished by your housemates- whether or not that is a good thing, I really don’t know. It’s crazy to think that before I came to University and started to live with a bunch of strangers (that I have grown to love) that I wouldn’t be doing half of the things that I am doing now, e.g. dressing up as a zebra and downing Jager-Bombs until 3 in the morning and also making beans on toast when I come in from a night out, very unhealthy but so worth it!

Stressful times mean for more amazing nights out.

Every so often, me and my new friend Beth (who comes from the same City as me, which I didn’t know until 2 weeks into the course) we would treat ourselves to coffees in Costa and cocktails and Caribbean food in the most amazing restaurant, Turtle Bay. These I would describe as our ‘wind down’ moments, where we could forget about all the stresses of work and concentrate on gossip, caffeine and legal substances (yes, I do mean alcohol!)