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

Meal prep and delicious food

After preparing my meals last night for today, I was so excited to get out of bed so the fun could begin! Knowing that it is all goodness I would be putting in my body makes me even more excited!!!

Meal1: 2 hard boiled eggs with soya and Lin seed toast. M2: low fat Greek yoghurt with flax seed and mixed nuts. M3: Cous Cous, broccoli and cottage cheese (not yet on it!) M4: apple and almond butter. I am then planning on going for a run and not sure what tea is as going to the boyfriends parents! But if it is carb heavy ill just have a small portion and won't feel bad as I know I've done my exercise today.

So not only was I prepared, I was excited about getting out of bed this morning due to the yuminess and that hardly ever happens so a double whammy! Fail to prepare and you're preparing to fail! (I think that's how it goes...)

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

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

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’)!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=866243

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.

www.toneitup.com

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.

http://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/556857-20-delicious-protein-powder-recipes-that-are-not-shakes/#slide-12

CW.

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

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!

---

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!

---

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

---

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…

---

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

 ---

CW

CP's Meal Plan For Week Two

I’m not sure how rigorously I’m going to stick to this meal plan this week but it’s worth a try! I’ve managed to go to Sainsburys and not buy any naughty stuff which is a good start! The next step went ok too which was meal prep! Now I have not much of an excuse to not stick to it!

Recipes used above:

Protein Bars - http://toneitup.com/blog.php?ToneItUpand-039-s-Homemade-Protein-Bars-27

Breakfast Smoothie (Peanut Butter and Banana) - http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2012/05/healthy-breakfast-ideas-slideshow?mbid=enws_row0430#slide=1

Green Smoothie - http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Stay-Healthy-This-Season-with-your-TIU-Get-Well-Smoothie-5644

Turkey Muffins - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/video-jamie-eason-turkey-meatloaf-muffins.htm

4 Bean Chili - http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-4-bean-chili/

---

CP 

Introduction

You may be wondering why we have started a blog (that is, if anyone is even reading it… it’s prob just you and me CP! ha). Well I, (and I think CP) have tried loads of faddy diets and I have never lost any weight and kept it off… not that I was fat to start with, I just would rather lose a bit of the excess, as I’m sure practically every girl would like to!

After scouring (lurking’s what we do best) the internet/pinterest for fun and diet-related things, we discovered that the girls that look best (in our opinion,) are those that are toned and not too skinny! We also found that these girls are ones that eat a high protein, low carb, (not no carb) diet and incorporate weight training in their work outs. So we started browsing recipes and getting ideas etc. 

The reasons we love this wol (way of life, a cringey term…) are:

1. You get to eat quite a lot and there is always a yummy snack juist round the corner to look forward to in a few hours!
2. Eating ‘clean’ feels really good. (God, I hate the phrase ‘clean’ but basically I think it means the less processed food the better!)
3. Making all the food/smoothies/sharing recipes with CP is really fun.
4. We are looking forward to the progress we are (hopefully) going to make, whether that be just having a healthier life style, or whether it also helps us lose a bit of weight/get toned! 

We are also trying to up our exercise and have found that there are loadsssss of weight training exercises/routines for people out there (www.bodybuilding.com) that are for beginners too. As we have only just started our new WOL we haven’t quite managed to get the weight training routine down, but as soon as we do we will share it with you. At the moment I am just trying to do as much exercise - mostly running with a bit of weights at the gym - as time allows.

The other girls that write these types of blogs already look amazing, which, in my opinion, is a bit disheartening as I feel like I will never get there. We are just two, ordinary looking girls trying to balance fitness and healthy eating whilst still enjoying busy lives.

We LOVE food, but want to feel good whilst being able to actually eat more than one lettuce leaf a day! The aim of this blog is to feel healthy, happy and more toned. If we lose weight along the way then that is a bonus and we are just beginners in this, who find all this really interesting so hopefully you can follow our journey with us!

---

CW