{Weight Loss Inspiration}

I've reached my target weight, and my personal trainer has now featured me on her list of success stories on her website! Here are the before and after pics:

3 July 2011

3 July 2011

11 Oct 2011

I have achieved the following results:

• lost 6 inches from my waist
• lost 5.75 inches from my hips
• my body fat % has dropped 11%
• lost 33lbs (however I've lost in total 3 stone since having had baby 5.5 months ago)
• dropped from a size 16 to a size 10

All in just 3.5 months!!

The key has been to eat healthily, no crazy diets, and to do a bit of exercise.

A number of people have asked how I've done it, so I want to share with you some of the tips I've learned from Maria.

• Keep a food & exercise diary, and be honest with yourself
• Eat little and often
• Watch portion sizes
• Have something to eat as soon as you wake up in the morning to get your metabolism going
• Choose the healthy option where possible
• Limit bread, pasta & potato intake (I had no bread or pasta to start with)
• Choose wholemeal where possible (brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholewheat noodles, seeded brown bread)
• Avoid or limit bananas (as far as I'm aware they slow metabolism - not sure if this is true or not. This is the only fruit that I've been told to avoid)
• Avoid or limit red meat 
• Eat lots of fresh fruit & vegetables
• Eat lots of fish
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day (I struggle with this one!)
• Avoid Coke & Diet Coke
• Avoid alcohol (I'll have a soda & lime when out)

Here's what I would eat in a typical day:

7am - couple of spoons of low fat natural yoghurt

8.30/9am - museli (one with nuts and seeds rather than dried fruit e.g. Jordans Nut & Seed) with skimmed milk & lots of blueberries & raspberries or porridge

10.30am - snack (handful almonds; crudites & hummus; oatcake, fruit salad, yoghurt & berries; sugar snap peas or handful popcorn)

12 noon - vegetable soup; chicken, tuna or prawn salad (with salad leaves, beetroot, pine nuts, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives and drizzle of dressing); ryvita & cottage cheese or Food Doctor pitta bread with chicken and salad

3pm - another snack

5pm - fish with lots of vegetables; chicken stir fry with brown rice/noodles or homemade chicken curry (tomato based sauce) with brown rice

8pm - another snack

If I'm feeling hungry at any point I'll grab a handful of Food Doctor seeds or Munchy Seeds or a handful of cherry tomatoes or sugar snap peas.

I still have the occasional cake (there is no point trying to cut out everything 'bad' - it's got to be a realistic diet so that you can stick to it), I'll also still eat chocolate occasionally (80% cocoa dark chocolate and I'll only have 2 squares) and if I do have a take away then I will have a chicken kebab (salad, no sauce!).

In addition to the healthy eating I've been exercising approximately 5 times a week. I've joined Maria's running club which meet on a Sunday morning and I've started a Pilates class too which is a Monday night. In addition to this I do a Davina workout DVD at the house (Davina's are the only DVDs that my personal trainer recommends by the way). I've also been trying to do a run when I can, but at the moment it's becoming difficult as the nights are getting really dark, as are the mornings! To start with I went out for brisk walks with the kids in the buggy and I'm now able to run (I did 5.37 miles this morning at running club, and before August I had never really run before).

Davina Fit DVD

Hope this is helpful? Any questions, do let me know.

{Groove on}

I'm linking up again this week with Kate on Thin Ice for her Getting Your Groove Back Blog Hop.  Week #3 already!!

So, what have I done this week to get into the groove...?

I had my most enjoyable breakfast of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs & toasted pitta bread on Wednesday last week and thoroughly loved every bite, despite having to make it myself! I actually had it for brunch rather than breakfast - hope that still counts!? By the time I had been to the supermarket to get the salmon and eggs it was too late for breakfast! I also went to Aberdeen for the weekend to stay with my sister and her boyfriend, and get this - I was made smoked salmon, poached eggs & toast for brunch on Saturday... so I've had my special breakfast twice this week!!

Whilst I was in Aberdeen, my sister took my photograph in her home studio. So, here I am in my size 10, yep you read correctly...size 10 jeans! I can't believe that I was a size 16 just three months ago. I'm uber chuffed with myself. Excuse the pose...I'm not good in front of a camera and didn't know where to look etc!!

I've not been great with the healthy eating this week... I indulged in a bag of Jelly Belly's whilst watching X Factor (they were good!! - the jelly beans, not the X Factor contestants!!). I also had a banoffee pie... oops!! Oh I'm forgetting, I also had a few bits of dark chocolate, on a number of occasions!! I'm dreading my weigh in today (it's at lunchtime!).

I continued with my running though. I didn't make it to running club on Sunday as I was in Aberdeen but my sister and I did a 4.67 mile run on Friday night (I know this because I track my runs using a fancy app on my phone!). I did however get poked in the bum (!!) by a drunk teenager as I ran past him. I suppose that's going to happen when you go running at 9pm on a Friday night! I've also been to Pilates this week and I'm really enjoying it. 

My friend Becky has also kindly booked me onto a flower arranging course. As far as I'm aware it's a one-off 2 hour course at a local florist. I thoroughly enjoyed the cupcake course I went on and due to other commitments these days I can't really attend regular night classes so a one-off course suits me perfectly. So I'm looking forward to learning some much needed flower arranging skills. I'm rubbish when it comes to flowers and end up just plonking them in a vase and they are typically left there until they wither and die!

Another course I would love to do is the Jane Means gift wrapping course...however at £110 it's a bit pricey for a day workshop.

I do really enjoy being creative and so this week I took some time to indulge in my hobby and I made my first free printable to share with my blog readers. It's a Halloween design that could be used for stickers, cupcake toppers or gift tags. I could have spent hours playing about with Illustrator and Photoshop. I wish I had the time to do a digital design course but unfortunately I don't think it's viable.

I'm looking forward to the week ahead...

Let's get grooving ladies :-)