Health update and before and after

Hello!

It's been a long break for the health and lurkers but we are back! (Well one is, the other is busy being a preegnant lady and we have recruited a new fitty (See her being all fit on instagram @healthandlurking). Life got busy and hectic and our healthiness took a back seat. However, since a holiday in March, I am on a healthy path of joy that has continued for 3 months which is the longest time I have ever not fallen off the wagon. I am feeling the best I ever have, and that includes how I felt when preparing for my Wedding day nearly 2 years ago. I have finally, finally found the balance in life and don't have uncontrollable binges!

The main difference is I am actually eating a lot of good food and exercising regularly rather than exercising less and eating less which resulted in a short term untoned weight loss result that I could not keep up. I am much more toned and have a better butt, something that I am always striving for! I will post more about what I used to eat and what I now eat on a standard day in a few post times. For now, I must go as the dog is calling and by calling I mean barking in my face cos Im not paying her attention.


Ps.  Here's a photo of a before and after so far......
Pps. Yes, that is a towel on my head.

CL
x

Post Wedding Wagon Mounting!

So I have been away for a while doing Wedding related tasks - aka getting married - and then going on my honeymoon to New York and Canada! Which, as you can imagine was amazing!

 

There was a LOT of food being consumed and none of it was in any way healthy. In the 4 weeks after the wedding, 2 of those being honeymoon, I managed to put on ONE WHOLE STONE. I am disgraced at this, but also secretly impressed that this was even possible. I love eating and if there was any time and place to go mental, then a honeymoon was it.

These are a few (!) of the amazing foods that were consumed.... 

However, I have now been back a while and the sugar intake level has not really seemed to have decreased. I can see myself getting back into old habits and although I thought that when I was married I would think: 'I can eat whatever I like cos I have captured my husband and he should love me no matter what'- turns out not to be the case and I do care a lot, still want to look good and feel good and eating crap for the rest of my life is not going to accomplish that! 

So, it begins again, another attempt to get back on the Wagon and stay on it! I am getting some help from a great book called 'Sweet Nothing' by Nicole Mowbray, who gave up sugar 2 years ago and it has changed her life. Whilst I am going to decrease my processed sugar levels as much as possible, I am not going to cut it out completely as I just love chocolate too much. Also, she gave up fruit which seems a bit silly to me, a piece now and again won't hurt and I am too obsessed with watermelon for that to happen. I may go cold turkey for a few days to try and get out of the sugar binge cycle and go from there. Watch this space.... 

A couple of Wedding pictures below: ideally the realistic size I want to return to once the 'honeymoon stone' has been shed. 

XxX

 

Healthy Banana Choc Chip Muffins

It's been a while, but we are back on it ready for summer! I found these delicious muffins on Running on real food and tried them out. They are sooooo good. I ate about 4 at once and didn't even feel bad because they have pure goodness in them, although eating 4 probably defeats the object. Butttt it's better than 4 Mars bars so I'm still winning..... Just.

They took hardly any time and don't need any special mixtures/processors which I've found a lot of recipes do, and I don't have the space or money for good ones. I also put them in fairy cake cases instead of muffins so I get more (clever). Left a couple of things out/used substitutes:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used wholemeal)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1 mashed banana
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbs flax seeds mixed with 2 tbs water
• 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• Almond/peanut butter

Preheat oven to 400F. Mix dry ingredients, mash banana, mix wet, add them to dry, mix altogether. Put dollop on cases, put dollop of almond/peanut butter on top, put another dollop on to cover it. Shove in oven for 15 mins, eat as soon as they come out cos you're greedy and can't wait and burn mouth.

Muffin Topless Challenge Update

I might have possibly maybe definitely gone a bit mental this weekend with the food intake and eaten half my weight in pies, biscuits, rocky road slices and chocolate covered ginger bites AND not gone to the gym for my leg day buuuut on the plus side I walked/Geocached 12 miles of the lovely Sussex countryside which almost makes up for it, right?! RIGHT?!

So apart from this two day long slip up I've had a really good week of food and exercise which included the following:

Monday - Body Pump class
Tuesday - 4 mile run with the girls from work
Wednesday - MTL Fall Challenge (scissor jumps, burpees and wall sits - ouch!)
Thursday - Mini cardio session and Body Balance class
Friday - Mini cardio session and chest workout

The challenge has been going really well and I'm still loving it but I'm a tad worried that it'll get little more tricky next week once my choco-sugar-crap-food-aholic boyfriend gets back from his American travels with SWEETS (secretly looking forward to the treats as much as seeing him again)!  Oh God this is going to be interesting!

If you fancy being nosey, feel free to keep up with how we are doing on our Instagram page!

CP x

MTL Fall Challenge

Since our last post I have fallen off/been off the wagon and nowhere near the wagon for a while. It was nice to enjoy some (lots) of naughty things and not go to the gym after work so I could go home and watch several episodes of Breaking Bad but now I'm back with a vengeance! Savannah from Muffin Topless has created a FREE Fall Challenge which I was so excited to start last week.

What is great about this challenge is that for those of us who are new to eating healthy AND working out/lifting, there isn't a strict meal plan which means one less thing to have to work on. The main thing she says to focus on food-wise is to eat in moderation (ie not eating an entire tub of Ben & Jerrys in one go which is very hard to do) and also have some sort of protein with every meal. Alsooo there is a cute calendar she has created which gives you a task/challenge for every day in the month of October as well as an exercise plan which doesn't seem too overwhelming. I think the reason I am enjoying it so much is that it gives you something different to focus on every day which means you don't get bored.

So far I'm one week in have been charting my progress via our HealthAndLurking instagram page using the hashtag #MTLFallChallenge which is also great because I can have a cheeky stalk of everyone else's progress too so I don't feel like a total loner!

I'll be doing a blog post at the end of every week on how the Fall Challenge is going. It's never too late to join me!

CP xxx

Time to get back on the wagon!

After being on holiday and not having a day to day routine I have found it so hard to stay on top of eating healthily and doing exercise. My meal prep has gone to pot as I am away a lot at the weekends and find it hard to come back late and meal prep. This has meant that instead of eating my prepared snacks I will skip them, wait for lunch and then eat the world because I am hungry and have nothing ready! Once I get into a bad routine I find it so difficult to get back into a good one and swear I get really addicted to anything containing sugar and crave it forever! Other people are satisfied with just 1 or 2 bites of chocolate.... with me, if a packet is open, it WILL be finished all in one go and then I will crave more for the rest of the day, so it is actually easier not to have it at all! (I think I have a problem.)

Back from my mini holiday holiday of eating anything and everything: 3 course meals, mountains of bread, hot chocolates galore, crispy kreme' s, Rocky roads and basically anything that is even slightly chocolatey, I have decided enough is enough! I feel a lot more wobbly especially in the thigh arena which is not the look I'm going for and my skin is terrible and feels like all the sugar is exploding out of my face. So I am going on a sugar detox and not eating any processed food, so chocolate and a lot of other food is out! As I have an actual chocolate addiction this is going to be very hard! I've done it once before and managed to not eat ANY chocolate for over a month and after the initial cravings for the first week or so it was surprisingly easy and the more I didn't have it, the less I wanted it!

This is where the boyfriend comes in handy where I force him to shout at me and make me feel guilty if he sees me with any sugar related items! However, this will ultimately end in an argument with me saying things like 'leave me alone', 'stop interferring', 'why do you think I'm fat?' and 'I just need a little bit today, goddd, why don't you understand me!' It's going to be fun for him...

So as of today, its back  to the gym and running and the aim is to get back in the jeans as they are a tad on the tight side! Once I get into a routine I start to feel good again and it gets a lot easier. These things will help me get back on track:

1) Don't skip breakfast
2) Meal prep
3) Gym
4) Cut out the artificial sugar
5) Don't forget to drink water and green tea
6) Have a goal

So these are out.....













and these are in.....










Although I have massively fallen off the wagon, I don't necessarily think it is completely a bad thing as it makes me more motivated when I get back on it and it is also nice to relax a little and enjoy all the naughty foods you know you are not supposed to have. Also, as my life basically revolves around going out to eat and food related activities, I and my friends would find me extremely boring if I refused to do these things or only ate a plate of salad every time we went out. I would like to have a six pack and no wobble on my legs but my social life is also very important and I am not willing to sacrifice the fun to get these things, so I'll settle with eating well when I'm at home and exercising, but also enjoying myself and not worrying about things when I'm out with my friends. If this means I will never get a 6 pack, then so be it, I'll settle with feeling healthy the majority of the time and not being obese!

CW

Our Top 10 Favourite Yummy-And-Good-For-You Snacks!

We both have loads of yummy snacks we love, so we thought we would compile them into a list!

Our top 10 tried and tested, which we have usually between breakfast and lunch and then lunch and dinner.


1. Fruity Protein Bars. 
The absolute fave. Try not to eat them all at once. 
1/2 cup almond butter, 1/2 cup of honey, 2 scoops protein powder (I use choc). 1 1/4 ish cups of oats, half cup of dried apricots, cranberries and sliced almonds. Mix altogether, sprinkle a few mixed seeds in and put in a baking tray and squish down with a fork, put in fridge until a bit set. Wrap them up individually in foil and keep in fridge. Usually makes about 12.

2. Apple Slices with Almond Butter. 
Easy to prepare and tastes sooo good: 
Yum yum.

3. Protein Powder Peanut Butter Balls. 
Very Moreish!
Makes about 12. 2 cups almond butter, 2 scoops of protein powder (again I use choc,) 2 ripe bananas mashed, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds. Makes walnut sized balls, place in container, put in fridge, wrap individually once a bit set.

4. Graze Box
This is a bit cheating but you don't have to prepare them and they are delicious. Order a graze box,  it's relatively cheap and you have 4 snacks prepared for you straight away! Our favourites are flapjack, chocolate pudding, and chocolate brownie.

5. Turkey Muffins

Don’t forget, like I did, that they are meat based and not just muffins and leave them out of the fridge for days.... Go to eat one and find it’s extremely sweaty and nearly makes you sick... Results in a lot of wasted muffins. Woopps.

I left out chipotle pepper spice (I had no clue what it was)

Celery (I didn’t have any and don’t like it)

Added 1 tsp of mustard for extra flavour.

Also will get you boyfriend points (if you don’t give them gone off ones...)

6. Tone It Up Protein Bars
So yummy and a good way to use protein powder other than having a shake.
(see post on top 5 ways to use protein powder)

7. Greek Yoghurt Pancakes

Make lots, eat cold.

Add honey/almond butter/fruit/nutella for extra yuminess.

8. Greek Yoghurt with Honey and Fruit
(I like strawberries best) - so simple but very delicious.

9. Frozen Nutty Banana Nibblers
These are AMAZING. Such a good snack and one serving allows 7 which is actually really generous and you feel very satisfied afterwards. However I didn't put the 2 halves on top of each other, I kept them separate and topped them all with the mixture.

10. Cottage Cheese with Pepper and Cucumber or Reduced Fat Hummus with Cucumber and Grapes. 
I've tried a couple of different cottage cheeses and found that the plain one is definitely the best, but there are a few to try out there if you don't like one, don't be put off!

If all else fails and you don’t like any of those, then these really-not-good-for-you-but-so-good-and-ok-for-a-treat cookies are THE best cookies in the world. Loads of people have said so. Got the recipe from Tanya Burr (beauty you tuber/blogger/lots of other things. Check her out). She got it from Anna's cookie blog post and Anna got the recipe from here (I def can’t get sued.)  Just don’t eat them all at once.... you may be sick and will definitely get fat. Makes 12...

• 200g unsalted butter.

• 300g caster sugar

• 1 large egg (protein... they must be quite good for you then.....!)

• 275g self raising flour

• 75g cocoa powder

• 2 big bars of chocolate (one milk, one white, or whatever you like best)

• Splash of milk if mixture too dry.

Put the butter in a bowl and mix to make soft. Mix in the sugar until creamy.Crack the egg and mix that in. Throw in the dry ingredients. If dry add few drops of milk. Line 2 baking trays. Scoop mix into 12ish balls (about a handful). Place far apart on tray 200 degrees centigrade in the oven for only 10 mins.... they will look super sloppy but after half an hour will be at the perfect consistency to eat! I suggest inviting some friends round as soon as you get them out of the oven, or there is a massive chance you may devour them all in one go.

CW. CP. x