Yoghurt pancakes please!

I forgot how yummy these were. Felt like an afternoon snack. Only 4 ingredients, really easy and very delicious. Found these on pinterest http://pinterest.com/source/everydaybelle.com/ I had honey on mine and was amazing, I would have had banana too, but had already had one today. I would suggest making half of the mixture if it is only for one person, but I have made the remainder and will eat it cold as a snack:


  • 1 egg
  • 6oz fat free greek yoghurt
  • 1/2 cup of plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder.


Mix egg and yoghurt, (will be a bit lumpy), add dry ingredients, now it will be really thick. Put some in a frying pan with some spray, heat on medium/high. Cook like a pancake.



CW. x

Hangover hell or as fresh as.... fennel (?!)

So... the ‘minimise hangover’ techniques have been tried and tested at a fancy dress party last night... I did almost all of the things I said, however I didn't have toast when I got back in, as I had had a massive hog roast not long before and wasn't hungry/didn't want to add more calories to the already millions I had consumed through liquid and pig.

This morning, I had to wake up at 8 to let the dog out and feed the hens (house sitting for the parentals) and didn't go to sleep until 3, therefore only had 5 hours sleep.  I think the main factor that contributes to a hangover is lack of sleep and because I have not had a lot I still feel realllly tired/a bit hungover. But I do think all the things I tried helped me not to feel as bad this morning and I can still function which is always a plus, as it means I can now go and enjoy a delicious beanie burger at Nandos. Yum. I also had a delicious breakfast of eggs on toast and PB and banana smoothie which def soaked up some excess alcohol.

In conclusion: The tips and tricks did help to lessen the hangover, but unless you get a really good night’s sleep you are always going to feel a bit rubbish the next day. So make sure you get those extra zzzzz’s.


CW. x

Refreshing green smoothie and a bit of meal prep

After have a little (massive) slip up food-wise at the weekend, I think both CW and I dropped the ball a bit with our food planning, prepping and eating. Normally we would plan our food for the week on a Sunday but that defo did not happen since we were both hungover messes!
It's been a bit more of a struggle without everything ready to eat with work during the week but I caught up this evening and somehow created a yummy green smoothie that is really refreshing and filling too! Although I may have drunk a bit too much and now I feel sick...

Berry Nice Green Smoothie (see what I did there?)
I didn't use any measuring apparatus since I am a lazy fart so everything is approximated:


1 big handful of spinach
6 inch piece of cucumber
3 satsumas
1 large glug of almond milk
4 small strawberries
1 small handful of blueberries
1 tablespoon of flaxseeds

You could probably add some kale into this smoothie to make it even greener. I decided not to since I've one off kale following a bad smoothie that tasted like cumin when I didn't clean my blender out properly (whoops)!





Here are a couple of shots of the meal prep I managed to do this evening too

Chicken | cucumber and bell pepper / spinach and red pepper | baked sweet potato

Greek yogurt, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon and flaxseeds | Berry nice green smoothie

I love the feeling of finishing off my meal prep for the week and that I don't need to think about cooking for a few days! Yay! I have been watching meal prep videos on YouTube and for some reason they are mesmerizing! I ended up watching about 5 of them back to back in bed last night at 11pm... I need a life! You can get some really good tips from them on shortening the amount of time you have to spend fannying around in the kitchen which is always a bonus!

----

CP

Amazing peanut butter protein powder bar!

As we are always on the hunt for new, yummy things, I have just discovered this absolutely amazing protein bar! It was from pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/514325219915290144/ I think it has rivalled the tone it up protein bar!
It is so nice I'm not sure I can control myself and may end up eating the whole thing in one go, which would not be clever! I changed it slightly from the recipe I found and added in some protein powder:

mix together...

  • 1/2 cup of  almond butter/peanut butter
    There was a bit more than that but I got excited and ate some!
  • 1/2 cup of honey
  • 1 1/4 cups of oats
  • 2 scoops of protein powder (I used chocolate)
  • Half a cup (ish) of chopped up dried apricots, dried cranberries and sliced almonds
  • sprinkle until it looks enough - mixed seeds (I used sunflower, pumpkin and pine in a mixed packet I had lurking around.)
Line a tin with baking paper, it doesn't really matter what size tin as the mixture is stiff and won't run. Push it down with a fork or whatever, and put in fridge until you can't wait any longer! OHM. 

CW x

Breakfast Bonanza!

Sometimes it’s hard to begin the day eating well because you just can’t think of different things to have, so you end up having the same sugary cereals every day. CP and I have put together some breakfast options that we often have. We try to change what we have most days so we still get excited about getting out of bed (the only reason to get out of bed...food!)

Breakfast

  • 2 boiled eggs on soya and linseed toast (or poached or scrambled, hard boiled is the best though). I also like to have marmite on my toast underneath the egg that I squish on... try it, it’s amaze.
  • Overnight porridge (www.laurenconrad.com ) I like to add sliced almonds and dried cranberries on mine. Also sometimes if I’m feeling a bit crazy, almond butter mixed in too.
  • Overnight chocolate porridge www.greatist.com (similar but with chocolate protein powder mixed in.)
  • Granola, low fat greek yoghurt, fruit and flax seeds.
  • Smoothie (see top 5 smoothies post...... http://healthandlurking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-5-super-scrumptious-sexy-sometimes.html )
  • Quinoa breakfast (I can’t remember where I got it from so sorry internet person that will be angry I stole their recipe):
    • ½ a cup of cooked quinoa
    • 1 tablespoon of sliced almonds
    •  ¼ cup of raisins
    • ½ banana mashed
    • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
    • 1 cup almond  milk
    •  1 table spoon maple syrup
  • Almond butter on soya and linseed toast.
  • Omelette, spinach, ham, mushroom, anything you can find.
  • Yoghurt pancakes (from pinterest.) Makes 4 big/8small. Mix altogether, fry like pancake (surprisingly..)
    • 6oz greek yoghurt (low fat)
    • 1 egg
    •   ½ cup of flour
    •  1 tsp baking powder
  • Chocolate peanut butter protein shake and hard boiled egg (separately...)  from www.muffintopless.com           
    • 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
    • 1 cup almond milk
    • 1 table spoon almond butter
    • 1-2 stevia packets... (Think this is weird American uncalorifc sugar... That’s what I decided anyway so randomly added a bit of truvia (sounds the same so....)
    •  4 ice cubes.

Also, my minimising hangover strategies did not take place this weekend for many reasons, so I’ll definitely do it this weekend on my next fancy dress outing... and hope it helps... watch this space.

Lunch and dinner options coming soon.....
CW. x

Websites and apps that will make you feel healthier before you even get off the sofa!

CW and I like to think of ourselves as professional browsers of the Internet. I would say we normally spend 2 hours a night during the week and most of our weekends perusing for anything healthy/funny/nice looking on various sites and apps. I find that even looking at healthy recipes and workouts make me feel better before I even try them out which is probably why I spend a little too much time on the Internet in my PJs! Here is a couple of the wonderful places that we have found:

Muffin Topless
This girl is truly inspiring and positive and has a wealth of info on workouts and recipes that CW and I base our meals plans on! Just look at her body for goodness sake!!!

Lauren Conrad
If you are a girl (or sneaky man) in her twenties, you have more than likely seen Laguna Beach/The Hills you will know who Lauren is/want her life/want to look like/be her. This website is great for lots of different topics including many a creative healthy recipe and workout.

BodyBuilding.com
If you need to know how to perform a move at the gym before getting there and looking like a bit of an idiot like some of us have done/continue to do, then this is the website to go to. They have a video for every move you could want to do at the gym with men AND women showing you how it's done! There is also a motivation/transformation section which I love and who doesn't love a good transformation picture?!

Fit Sugar
More recipe and workout ideas than you will know what to do with! I think this is where I got my very first circuit set from and I always see this website pop up on Pinterest which is where I originally discovered it.

Tone It Up
CW and I have used this website for smoothie, protein shake and protein pancake ideas. There is an option to pay for the full plan but if you are Scrooges with your money like us, you can sign up using just your email address and get the free bits! Winner!

The Gracious Pantry
If you are trying to eat clean then this website is great for recipe ideas! I LOVE her 4 bean chili which is quick to make and is sooo yum! She has a whole section on getting started with eating clean if you are a total newbie too!

The JEFIT app
Don't be scared by all the mention of body building (unless that is the look you are going for then yay!). There is a free version (hurrah!) of this which I am using at the moment to do my non-cardio workout stuff. It has preset plans you can download and use, it tells you when your rest time is up, stores stats on your progress and so much more!


With most of these websites, you can plug your email address in and then you will receive the latest posts straight to your inbox which is great for the lazy among us! 

I'm sure this list will continue to grow and I've probably forgotten a bunch of stuff but at least this is a start! Let us know if you have any other sites or apps that you enjoy using so we can share the love and give each other even more excuses to browse the web!

---

CP x

Never get another horrific hangover ever again.... hopefully!

Lately, I have not been going out drinking much, this is because I have been really busy, but also because I actually cannot take the hangovers any more. Since I turned the grand old age of 25, I swear they have got a thousand times worse and I literally cannot move or function the next day, whether I have one drink or ten. 

This does not amuse me, as I do love a drunken night out. (I know to be really healthy you are supposed to cut alcohol out completely, but that is nearly impossible and also quite boring, as your non health concious friends will tell you.) I also have the problem where I can’t dance sober, (I can’t dance drunk either, but I think I can at the time and don’t care if people think I look like a deranged monkey) so I actually have to get drunk if I know we are ending up in a club.

So, I have put together all the things CP and I have heard about minimising hangovers and am on a mission to be able to get out of bed the day after a night out and not spend it in bed feeling so ill we never want to drink again. We are going to try EVERYTHING on this list and see what happens... it HAS to make us feel better than the state we seem to be finding ourselves in the next morning! If not, then all these people/ things we heard these tips from are big liars and obviously are just lucky and don’t get hangovers.

Before the night out:

  • Drink loads of water that day so you are not dehydrated before the night even starts.
  • Eat a good meal. Some people have said to eat greasy food before going out, but I have also heard a different approach would be to eat some healthy foods, like protein rich oily fish with veg such as broccoli, as that is liver detoxifying apparently.  As eating greasy food has clearly never worked for me, I might as well try and take the healthy route.
  • Take vitamin tablets as drinking depletes vitamins and nutrients. Fight back.
  • This is one we think will help just because we love it and it feels so good and surely can’t do any damage: have a green smoothie (see post on smoothies... http://healthandlurking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-5-super-scrumptious-sexy-sometimes.html )
  • Have a glass of milk as it lines the stomach.

During night out:

  • Drink:  clear alcohol, like vodka, which is also low (ish) in calories. Don’t mix your drinks, (especially not red wine with WKD because that was the only thing available... it does NOT end well!) Drink with soda water to minimise calorie consumption too. (Or if that is too gross, diet coke).
  • Every single drink you have, drink a glass of water before the next alcoholic one. I think as well as helping you not get so horrifically drunk, it might also trick you into feeling too full to drink any more  and thus preventing vomiting and more mental dancing.
  • Stop when you are satisfactorily drunk. (May need to designate a helper to tell you when to stop... Boyfriends are good for this, as you can scream at them ‘I’m not drunkkkk, you’re trying to ruin my fun, you’re way more drunk than me anyway. Shut up. I hate you!’ rants.) Don’t keep drinking because you think the effects (affects?!) are wearing off and you don’t want to become ‘sober’ before the night ends and have to dance.

Straight after night out:

  • Apparently drinking lucozade as well as drinking more water when you get in is good as it replaces all the electrolytes you have lost... not really sure what this means, but it sounds good.
  • Eat something a bit stodge but not greasy and bad for you, like toast and marmite or toast and honey. (Replaces the sugar.)
  • Sleep loads!!! Sometimes when I haven’t even been drinking but am really tired, I feel hungover so that definitely adds to the horrific feeling.

Morning after:

  • I, like most people (I hope) crave stodgy carbs allll day and stuff my face because I’m hungover and feel gross anyway so I might as well get fat. But apparently eating greasy stodgy food is not the answer and you should eat toast again with either marmite/honey or an egg (probably poached or scrambled so it’s not fatty) and a banana as it is full of potassium: another thing alcohol has stolen from you.
  • Also eat Fruit and veg to replace minerals.
  • Drink more water to rehydrate.

Soooooo, these are ALL of the things we are going to try before, during and after our night out this Saturday and we will update with how bad our hangovers were/hopefully were not. 


CW. x 

30 day challenge!

CP and I are always on the look out for new things to try and we have heard about both of these: 30 day plank challenge and 30 day squat challenge, so thought why not kill 2 birds with one stone and get amazing abs and toned thighs all at the same time! Or try and probably fail as it does look quite hard and at the moment I practically die after 50 squats which is only day1.... Hmmm this could be interesting.

Why not give it a go with us and we can all not be able to walk or move in 30 days time! But who cares, because we will all look amazing!

CW. x

Top 5 Super Scrumptious Sexy (sometimes smelly) Smoothies

I LOVE a smoothie.  Especially in the morning as it is easy to take with you, which means more time in bed.  I always get 10 minutes extra on a smoothie morning, which is definitely worth it.... They are always packed with loads of fruit and/or veg which means you don't have to worry as much about getting your 5 a day as most of them are probably in your smoothie.

CP and I have tried a few and find that the recipe often makes 2 and then because it’s so yummy we often drink all of it, which I don’t think you’re supposed to do... So I halve the recipes so I can’t drink the world in smoothie. Also, depending on how thick/sloppy etc you like it, I always make it how it says then work out what I can do next time to make it nicer, eg add a few more oats for a more oaty/thicker texture. (Don’t forget to write it down otherwise you will probably forget, if you have a fish brain like me).

1. Almond Butter Smoothie (This is for 1glass)
Half a banana
3 ice cubes
74 mls (my stupid measuring jug is in US fluid ounces.... bought by my mum... I bet it was the cheapest. If it is, 2.5 US fluid ounces)
2 desert spoons of low fat greek yoghurt
About ½ cup of oats (I just pour it out of the packet until it looks right... not sure how accurate that is..)
Squirt of honey for sweetness
Half a table spoon of almond butter (myrotein.com)
Shove it all in and blend. Yum. It is also quite filling which is pleasing.

2. Kale and Spinach Smoothie.
It sounds disgusting but it is sooooo delicious! You can literally hardly even taste the veg, but it looks good because it’s green and is reallllly refreshing. If you are going out that night, have one. It’s so good for you it will practically counteract the alcohol...
Again this is for 1 glass:
1 cup of spinach
1 and a half cups of kale
½ cup strawberries (I use frozen ones so you can keep them for ages in the freezer)
½ cup of orange juice (I use Tropicana... maybe use an actual orange if you want to be super healthy)
½ cup of low fat greek yog.
I cup of ice.
I cut the stalks off the kale as you don’t want gross stalky bits floating around in your mouth.

3. Apple and Cinnamon Smoothie
(from pinterest, see post below...)
This is really delicious, think it may be CP’s fave.

4. Get Well Smoothie (www.toneitup.com)
Another one of CP’s favourite.
4 clementines
1 banana
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of kale (think CP leaves the kale out)
1/3 cup almond milk.
Similar to the other one (which I prefer).

5. Banana and Strawberry (Bawberry... Strawbana...) Smoothie
This one is from laurenconrad.com
Quite sweet and very fruity.
Half cup of ice (I use 3 ice cubes...)
½ cup of frozen strawberries
½ cup low fat greek yog
1 banana
½ cup oats
1 table spoon honey.

NB If there is a p missed out in any words it is because my silly computer has decided to not like the p key today...
Go and try a different one every day!

CW.

Trying out things we have liked on Pinterest

Pinterest is a great way to waste an hour or five but I've found that I just end up pinning things and not actually doing anything with them. Yesterday I decided to try a few of these out! 




I cannot stop staring at this girls face. It is amazing. This obviously made me want to copy her in any way I could so I tried out her shoulders and abs workout yesterday. The shoulder exercises went OK but I think I should have used a heavier weight than 2kg (hey, it was a Saturday morning!). The abs bit however was horrific (in a good way) and I really felt a burn.







This was SO nice! I added some of my True Diet chocolate flavour protein powder to this which went really well. The almonds in this recipe basically remained whole at the bottom of my blender because it is so rubbish! The recipe makes a pretty big portion so I split it into two and finished it off later.








This was a really easy recipe and only took 5 minutes to make. I ended up making one huge brown pancake since the only protein powder I had was chocolate flavour. I topped it with some honey and blueberries which was really nice. 
This makes for a great weekend breakfast but next time I will make a couple of smaller pancakes rather than one monster one! 




Both CW and I like to stick to what we know, especially when it comes to food, but I would say that testing out these new recipes and the workout was a success! 

Get out of your comfort zone and try something new today!

---

CP

Top 5 ways to use up protein- powder- you –thought- you –liked- but -were -tricked -into -buying –and- actually -don’t- like -and –have- a- 1.8kg- tub - to -get-rid –of- somehow. / Other ways of using it than having a shake.

1. Protein powder peanut butter balls. (I used almond butter).

Omg these are the best things I’ve ever had which is why they have pushed their way to the no. 1 spot. I had to try so hard not to eat them all whilst I was making them and then whilst I was wrapping them up! They took about 10 mins to make, no cooking, then I just put them in the fridge to set a bit otherwise they r a bit sloppy. They don’t look very appetising (see picture..), but I promise you they are soooo moreish! Just try not to eat them all at once; otherwise I fear it defeats the object. I also made the balls smaller than what the recipe had said (and then you don’t feel bad if you accidently eat most of them, because as they are so small you tell yourself ‘it’s definately ok’)!


2. Tone it up protein bars.

These were number 1 until peanut butter balls came along. They are so delicious and full of sliced almonds and dried apricots. I always look forward to this snack! I make a batch and then wrap them up in foil and they last about 2 weeks.


3. Overnight choco porridge

I usually have normal overnight porridge (www.laurenconrad.com ) but I fancied a bit of chocolate so found this recipe instead: www.greatist.com . It’s great for a morning chocolate fix and I added dried cranberries and sliced almonds, mainly because I felt like I was making it really healthy, but also because it added a bit more yuminess to it. You will have to experiment with the ratio of oats/milk depending on how sloppy you like it. I like anything that resembles baby food so use a little bit less milk.

4. Greek yoghurt and fruit

Add 1 or 2 scoops to greek yog, add your fruit and nuts (and granola if you like) and there you have it. Easy, quick and yummy and again feels like you are being a bit naughty by having chocolate yoghurt.

5. No bake peanut butter protein powder cookies.

These are another delicious recipe from livestrong. They don’t take long and are perfect for a quick snack and if you are feeling like you want something that feels a bit like junk food, but really they aren’t even bad for you. Yum. Try them.

Gym Clothing Haul - H&M and Primark

After wearing the same tired old gym leggings for the last couple of years and probably not washing them as often as I should, I decided to treat myself to some new gym gear. The phrase 'All the gear. No idea' comes to mind here!

I like a good bargain and probably get 80% of my clothing from Primark (don't judge me!) so that was my first port of call. I actually found that quite a lot of their active range was sold out/only had the massive and tiny sizes left so only got a pair of black plain gym leggings I managed to find in my size. I COULD NOT resist these ridiculous blue leggings and I not sure if I'm brave enough to let my butt jiggle in them at the gym yet! I will just enjoy looking stupid in them at home and will ignore my boyfriend when he inevitably tells me to take them off.
Trippy blue oil affect leggings - Primark - £6
Black full length leggings with blue highlight
Primark - £9
I couldn't find any gym-type tops so just got some basic T-Shirts in black and grey and a polka dot vest. You can't leave Primark with just one or two (or several) items anyway! As long as I'm sort of comfortable at the gym and I don't look like an over stuffed sausage I'm happy so these tops are pretty good for that!

Grey Speckled and Black Pocket T-Shirts
Primark - £4 and £2.50
I then wondered into H&M which is where I got my last pair of gym leggings from so I had high hopes for another win. I got one top from their active section which fits really well and another couple of basic vests to pad my gym top selection out a bit.
Polka dot vest - Primark - £3.50
Black and turquoise vests - H&M - £1.99
Green vest - H&M Active - £7.99 
H&M had a good selection of different types of gym bottoms but I stuck to what I knew and got another pair of leggings from the same brand as my existing pair. 

The H&M pair feel slightly more comfortable than the Primark ones and I think look more professional with the different paneling and zips at the back of the ankle but I guess you get what you pay for. As long as you can't see my pants when I'm bending over I'll be alright!
Black full length leggings with reflective
orange highlight - H&M Active - £24.99
I haven't been shopping in quite a while so this was a nice treat and also gives me more incentive to go to the gym!

---

CP

Diets, Diets and MORE DIETS!

I think I have spent most of my life from my late teens up until now consciously thinking about my weight and how I look as most girls/women do! CW and I spent many a time at university trying out new things at the gym, doing Davina workouts in the living room to hilarious effect and attempting to be healthy food-wise but nothing ever really stuck. Although spending most weekday evenings out at the union bar doing shots and living opposite a corner shop in our final year probably wasn't the biggest help! At one point we were having a chocolate bar a day which I would like to blame on one of our friends for starting as she is one of those lucky people who doesn't seem to gain weight! Anyway, we seemed to be constantly trying new things including some rather scary diets that, looking back on them, were mental! One of them had me only eating 500 calories a day and taking a herbal spray (what was I thinking...). They all seemed to work at the time but none were something I could stick to in the long run and the weight slowly sneaked back on. My love of food was too great to deny eating a whole bag of chocolate raisins!

The latest tipping point was when I met up with CW and some of our other uni housemates a few months ago and we all decided it would be a good idea to weigh ourselves. OH GOOD LORD. I nearly cried! CW had been trying out this snazzy new diet called the 5:2 diet which is basically 2 fasting/500 cal days a week and then 5 days of normal eating. This went well for a while until I thought it would be a good idea to have a bunch of chocolate on my fast day and then be really hungry the next day because my body hadn't got the goods it wanted. I would end up demolishing even more food than I normally would.

Then a few weeks ago, CW spotted a girl on Instagram who had an amazing body AND got to eat loads of food every day. We were sold at 'food'! Since then we have been eating whole/'clean' foods (raw foods, as they are or put into a meal) and trying to include weights into our exercise routine. I have to admit I live with a guy whose whole family run off this WOL (way of life) (minus the exercise) and not a single one is fat! I don't know why I didn't start doing this earlier?! Since starting this, CW and I have constantly been messaging each other with recipes and a LOT of photo's of our food/meals which I think has really helped us stay on track. 
Dinner tonight - Tomato and Red Pepper Omelette with Courgette
In summary, fad diets do not work as a long term lifestyle. All you need to do is eat the foods your body loves (no your body does not want a whole family sized bag of Malteasers) and get moving!

Some of the good points I have noticed since starting are:
- Increased energy levels
- Rarely hungry
- The bloated/food baby/stomach pooch has gone down
- We have lost weight without really thinking about it
- My skin is looking better (I think this might be the reduced amount of sugar in my diet)
- I look forward to going to the gym - WHAT?

I think the only downside is that you will end up buying more fresh produce which is more expensive than canned/processed stuff and the time you have to put into the meal prep but I think we secretly enjoy that, right CW? Sunday = Meal Prep Day = Yay! PLUS, once you have done all your meal prep you don't have to think about it for the rest of the week!

If you have any questions on how/what we are doing, feel free to comment below!

---

CP

Twitter!

Follow us on twitter for updates of our meals and tasty snacks to try! @healthandlurkin (it wouldn't fit the g on lurking....)

High protein snack!

Just tried these from livestrong! So yummy! If you make the balls even smaller, even more perfect for a small protein fix before exercise! (or just eat more and not feel bad because they are so small.)

Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used almond butter)
1 cup oats
1/2 cup raw honey
1 cup protein powder (I used chocolate)

Directions:
Combine peanut butter, honey, oats and protein powder in medium bowl. Mix well. Roll into small balls, put on grease proof paper. Put in fridge to set a bit and don't eat them all at once.



CW

Free Weights Section Virginity

When psyching myself up to try out the free weights section for the first time yesterday, my thought process went something like this:

'I'm just about the go into the gym and I'm really nervous! I don't want to look like I don't know what I'm doing!'

4 minutes later...

'Why do men have to take over the whole weights arena?! I wish I could go to the gym with CW and then we could tackle the weights at the same time and look clueless together!'

20 minutes after sitting on a bike still deciding what to do I brave it into the machine weights section (or whatever those machines are called that you do weight exercises on) which is next to the free weights are...

'There are so many boys/men in here... I swear it's all men!!'

2 minutes after fannying around on one of the arm machines that I don't know the name of...

'Why do they (the men) all look at each other at the gym?! Just keep your eyes on the floor! Waaa I am so scared to try and get a bench!!'

I stand up and look over to the free weights section to not find a free bench in site. After all that panicking/worrying/procrastinating, I can't even use the man area if I wanted to (which I secretly didn't)! I resided to the usual floor space which only seems to have the odd man in and always has space on the floor for me feeling very annoyed with myself! Darn it! I was so sure I was going to do it! I explained to CW what had happened and she told me that her boyfriend had just had a really good Intro/Personal Training session at his gym which was the same chain as mine. YES! What a great idea! Someone can help me not look like an idiot and as a bonus I can rope in a girl from work to come with me and look silly with me too! Hurrah! So this time next week I will be a pro! :D

Until then I have my circuit that I am loving at the moment (apart from the final move that make me lie face down and look like I've had a few too many glasses of wine!) - http://www.fitsugar.com/Full-Body-Circuit-Workout-Dumbbells-2825394



---

CP

Green Tea Goodness/Forcing Yourself To Like It!


I hate tea. Weird, I know. To me, it tastes of watery grossness with a bit of weirdness added in. It becomes a tiny bit better when sugar's involved but I’m still not a fan. I don’t think CP is either, which makes us both weird, which we knew already.

So,  I started trying to drink green tea... My mum has drank it forever and swears by it, she hardly ever gets ill and she thinks that is why! The first, I’m not going to lie, 25 times I tasted it, it was so gross and I was trying to convince myself I liked it! But as time went on, I found myself beginning to actually look forward to it and found it quite refreshing. I’m not going to pretend it’s my favourite drink, because... well, it’s not, hot chocolate it. But, it is drinkable and you do get used to it after a while, so stick at it.

There are many benefits that are believed to be associated with green tea which is part of the reason I think I like it – because it makes me feel like I’m putting goodness into my body.
·         It is believed to boost your metabolism.... and   who doesn’t want that to happen?! (Except maybe those lucky ‘I can never put on weight people’ (annoyiinngg))
·         It is an antioxidant against cancer.
·         It helps prevent wrinkles... obviously at the age of 25 it is time to add that to the list of life worries.
·         It helps prevent depression.
There are probably loads more, but those are the ones I’m most interested in.

However, most importantly to me, it really does suppress my appetite! So when I’m feeling peckish (all of the time...) I try and drink a green tea rather than reach for the biscuit tin.... and then the chocolate bar... and then the ice cream.... and then binge for a week because 'I've ruined my healthy eating anyway so I might as well get be fat.'

Which to buy:
I personally don’t like the flavoured ones so I opt for the standard green tea bags. I did, however, think I was being really clever and buy loads from a bargain shop and once they had ran out decided that I couldn’t be bothered to troop all the way back there so went to a standard supermarket instead. Whilst there, I discovered that my bargain wasn’t such a bargain and actually I could get 100 green tea bags by Tetley for about £4, which I think was a better deal than the ‘bargain’ ones I got from the ‘bargain’ shop. Also, they are a MUCH nicer flavour which was a nice surprise.
So, basically, don’t be scabby and buy things from nice shops.

In conclusion, you should definitely try green tea and force yourself to like it....

(picture from http://www.city-connect.org/green-tea-versus-coffee/ )

CW.

A Day of Food 10th June 2013

Today was the first day of week two of our new WOL (Way Of Life (ha)) and I had already prepped all but dinner the day before. Being this organised makes me feel like I don’t need to worry about maybe buying that sneaky chocolate bar on my lunch break on Monday morning when I would normally be stocking up my snack drawer with all sorts of processed junk from the shops. As CW said in her last post, the great thing is that another meal or snack is just around the corner which I think is why this suits us so well! 
Breakfast - Greek yogurt, cinnamon, blue berries and flaxseed
Mid-morning snack - an apple and a homemade protein bar


Lunch - Tuna, wholewheat pasta, cucumber and sweetcorn



Afternoon snack - Carrot sticks and Be Good To Yourself Red Pepper houmous


(Snack before cardio - Homemade turkey muffin)

Dinner - Grilled chicken, broccoli and sweet potato. There was a lot of food on this last plate which I didn’t quite manage to finish! 



I feel really full from all this food and I know exactly what’s gone into it since it’s all homemade (apart from the houmous!). All i drink during the day is water, although I am trying to get into green tea!
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CP

Protein Powder Trickery!!

CP, I will take the blame for your dislike towards true protein! (Pink one.) I ordered a sample sachet and I can honestly say it tasted EXACTLY like a yummy chocolate milkshake! I could have had it every day, just for fun. So I thought I would buy the 1.8kg bag and save money as it was £30, which seems like a lot, but my boyfriend has a different one and he says it lasts about 3 months. Plus, I only used 1 scoop as opposed to 2, therefore hopefully would last me 6 months!
Anyway, I got this yummy protein…. tried it and it tasted NOTHING like the previous tester one! I really really think they gave me a different one to trick me into buying a huge bag!!!
Basically, I am not amused at all about this purchase and won’t be re-buying it! I will still drink it though and hopefully use it in protein recipes to get rid of it!
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CW

Protein Powder Review - Active Woman Refuel vs. MyProtein True Diet



I am totally new to the protein powder game so it’s really interesting to see the huge variety of different options out there! I’ve only tried out chocolate flavours so far and I prefer the Active Woman - Refuel which I found in Holland and Barrett during a lunch break last week while I was waiting for the True Diet to be delivered. It’s more chocolatey and sweet than the True Diet one but does that mean more sugar? I should really look at the ingredients!The True Diet one I have only tried once so far with almond milk which was still lovely so the jury is still out on this one.
I’m really enjoying having one after a workout at the moment and it feel almost like a reward for the hard work!
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CP

Meal Prep for Week Two

Breakfast and snacks
Turkey Muffins
Turkey Muffins, Lunches and Snacks
Food prep seems to be becoming my Sunday ritual and I love it because it makes me feel organised for the week ahead! I really struggle to not eat half the yummy stuff I am preparing though, especially those turkey muffins which I could demolish in under 2 minutes!

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CP


Green Smoothie

The best smoothie ever…. Can’t really taste the veg, it’s just refreshing and so good for you! 
1 cup spinach leaves
1 cup kale
Half a cup low fat Greek yog
Half cup orange juice
3 ice cubes
Half cup strawberries (I used frozen)
Half a banana! 
Amazeeee


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CW

Almond Butter

I changed my overnight porridge to boiled eggs on toast on Monday as I am already having almond butter that day and don’t want to have too much even though it's amazing!

I bought it for £10 for a 1kg tub… (see below for website.) Not bad when I think how much that amount of pb would be from the supermarket and it’s better for you! (review coming soon...)
I love to have it with apple for a yummy snack and add it to my overnight porridge (Laurenconrad.com) for a bit of extra taste! Ohm.

I got almond butter from here


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CW

CW's Meal Plan and Food Prep Week Two

Wow, meal plan looks good! Now all we have to do is…. Do it!!! Here’s mine for the week…. 





As u can see I have 2(ish) fast days, (a review on the 5:2 diet coming soon....) but if this week goes well I may reduce down to one! Also I’ve got a busy weekend which often proves problematic as I eat the world! Hopefully I can control my urges as I will have been eating high protein food and snacking, unlike usual where I’ll starve so I can eat the entire world at the weekend!


Meal plan and meal prep for some items!
Protein bar - http://toneitup.com/blog.php?ToneItUpand-039-s-Homemade-Protein-Bars-27
Overnight porridge - www.laurenconrad.com
Breakfast Smoothie (Peanut Butter and Banana) - http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2012/05/healthy-breakfast-ideas-slideshow?mbid=enws_row0430#slide=1
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CW