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

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!

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CP 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

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! 

Kelsey Byers Workouts

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.

Apple and cinammon smoothie

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.

Protein Pancakes

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!

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CP

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!

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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!

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CP

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



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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

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

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/

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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!

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CW