Wearing my logo?!

Recently I got approached by College Custom and was asked if I would like to get my logo printed on a piece of clothing. Who wouldn't want to wear their own logo?!

College Custom are a company based in Brighton that personalises sports wear, clothing garments and accessories mainly for schools, colleges and universities. They are the sister company of LeaversHoodies.com.

They gave a such a professional and enthusiastic service I loved it! I was contacted the whole way through the process from the designing to the delivery. I would definitely go back to College Custom for any personalised clothing I want in the future!

I chose the hoodie in amongst the numerous other options on the website (there were loads to chose from!) due to being practical to wear during my training at hockey and wearing it to and from the gym. 

My hoodie arrived within a week of it being made and I had no problems at all in receiving the hoodie. It usually takes about 2 weeks from payment to delivery because all garments are made to the highest quality. As soon as it arrived I ripped the parcel open, I was super excited to try it on and my first impressions were very positive. The inside is like a fleecy material which is so warm and cosy and the fit is slightly baggy which I love in hoodies because it makes it easier to move when doing sports in my case.

At first I did think there was a hole in front hand pocket but then realised and was totally amazed because I had never had this little contraption in a hoodie, but it was a little incision in the hoodie to thread your headphones up the inside of your hoodie so the wire doesn't get in your way on the outside of the hoodie! I know, I was just as amazed...brilliant! 

I would definitely recommend using the College Custom service because the customer service I received was so exceptional and the garments are such a high quality. 

Go check out College Custom and Leavers Hoodies for more information and to check out their super cool range of garments to choose from! 

www.collegecustom.com

www.leavershoodies.com

Missing: Motivation!

So recently in my world of health and fitness there hasn't been a lot of fitness (boo you Shannon). In the past few weeks I have lost a lot of motivation to get my bum to the gym and sweat my ass into shape. I keep using excuses like " oh I have too much uni work to fit the gym in as well" or "ill go tomorrow and work even harder" (which 99% of the time doesn't happen either).

I don't really know why I have lost the motivation, I think maybe at the beginning the academic year when uni started again I got too caught up in the 'partying' and drinking which made me lose all motivations to keep up with my health and fitness.

I'm definitely making more of an effort to get back into the swing on things now though, I'm starting to bring back the realisation of how much I enjoy going to the gym and how much better it makes me feel after a work out. I'm still not 100% of where I want to be in terms of my body shape either, so now its all go, back to the fitness focus and keep on with my journey to living a healthier lifestyle and a fitter future. 

P.s I know I have bits of negativity in my posts here and there but this is mainly used as my diary of my journey which I can look back on to see my ups and downs and how I overcame different milestones, I wont be negative all the time because I'm not a fan of negativity but everyone goes through spells of it! ANYWAY....

I am super excited for the next few blog posts to come and to keep on with my journey!

Review: Aloe Vera Refresh!

So I got contacted by Satellite PR and asked if I wanted to try out the ‘Grace Aloe Refresh’ drinks and I was super excited to get involved!

A little bit of background about the drink…

Grace are a Caribbean food based company that have expanded to countries such as Canada, United States and the UK. They produce Caribbean based foods and drinks to allow everyone across the world to experience the taste of the Caribbean.

I received two flavours of the Aloe Vera Refresh drink. The original and a strawberry flavoured version. I totally fell in love with the drinks, in my honest opinion I prefer the original flavour of the drinks because I think the strawberry flavoured drink tasted a little bit artificial but that’s my own opinion.

So let me explain…

.

Taste?

The taste is hard to explain in words, it is a very sweet drink but not over powering due to the soothing texture. It not a ‘stodgy’ drink it has the same consistency of water.

One of the main features that plays a big part in the drink is the small segments of Aloe Vera pulp in the liquid. (So if you don’t like drinks with bits in, maybe this one isn’t for you) The only way I could think to describe the texture and consistency is it tastes like the drink has small juice vesicles in it. You know what I mean, the tiny segments within an orange segment full of the juice, it’s like that texture, but Aloe Vera pulp instead of orange juice vesicles. Basically there are soft bits of pulp in the drink. It can take a bit of getting used to the taste and consistency but I loved it from the get go.

I tried the drinks that contain 50% less sugar than the normal Grace Aloe Vera drinks which doesn’t affect the taste at all as I tired both of them and both the normal aloe drink and the 50% less sugar taste the same in my opinion.

Each bottle is 500ml and claims that there is 96 calories per bottle. The contents contains 30% Aloe Vera pulp and juice. On the bottle it says that the drink has ‘more than 100% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C per bottle’ BONUS! I have heard many people gaining health benefits from drinking Aloe Vera drinks, which is true as it helps towards making the immune system function properly and helps reduce tiredness and fatigue. (All of this in a bottle?! Winning)

My samples of the drink didn’t last long enough (because I couldn’t stop drinking them!) for me to fully experiment with looking at changes and benefits of my own body over a period of drinking the Aloe Vera drinks but I will definitely be buying and drinking more of the drinks because I have fallen in love with them.

I recommend this drink for everyone to try! I would try it two or three times before you make a decision because the taste can grow on you and no be put off by the slight 'yucky' look of the drink in a glass, taste it! It makes you feel super refreshed and I know how cliché that sounds but its true, the pulp really helps to boost the energetic sweet flavour of the drink.

You can find out more about Grace Products on their website! http://www.gracefoods.com/

Note: I received the drinks free of charge to try out and review in my honest opinion on my blog. All images and opinions are my own.

Little Update!

4/5 months slightly over due but I have finally organised myself into a routine to get back into what I do best and that is blogging! The past 4/5 months have been super full on with uni and a ton of other stuff which I know is no excuse to have such a long ‘break’ from blogging.

Now work load is starting to calm down with at uni I will have a lot more time to focus on the content of my blog and improving my communications with my audience.

In the essence of health and fitness, I plucked up the courage to join Coventry Uni Hockey Club and couldn’t be happier with the pals I have gained as well as being part of a team of crazy and ever so slightly alcoholic girls. Training every Monday helps to keep on top of my fitness as well as going to the gym throughout the week. I am glad I have kept to an active regime and not just packed it in since moving back to uni.

On the other hand I am not being as strict as I was over the summer with my diet. I am a lot more lenient with what I eat, not in the sense of stuffing my face with shitty foods but after spending the months from April 2015 to September 2015 with no carbohydrates or very little, I have reintroduced certain carbohydrates into my diet these include; whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread and the usual sweet potato that I love, I had to do this due to training for hockey and playing matches, I needed to re think my diet for energy levels in sport.

I still go to the gym when I can each week which is usually 2-3 times because it helps a lot with letting out stress from uni work as well as keeping the weight I have worked hard to lose, off.

I have a whole list of blog posts that I want to write each week to keep my blog active for my audience and keep my motivations going on my own journey to improving and maintaining my health and fitness. 

Confidence Is Key.

Confidence plays a rather large part in everyone's everyday life.
Got an interview? Make sure you're confident.
Meeting some one new? Just be confident.
Starting a new job/new uni/new school? Let your confidence shine through!
Peeling a potato? Let your confidence lead th ....Wait, what?

I feel like from past failed experiences of changing my lifestyle and fitness it has mostly always been about 'you must lose weight to fit in' or 'Don't be the fat friend in the group' and when I researched into a ton of fad diets and pointless easy exit ways to try and lose weight it just focused on ' lose your weight and workout and life will be just dandy' and although that is slightly true because my life has become a lot 'dandier' since I have started this journey and lost  a lot of weight and become a lot healthier and fitter, I feel like the other factors that you gain from the journey of weight loss and fitness get undermined.

This is where confidence comes in.
Now this time last year, even thinking about stepping outside my comfort zone scared the crap out of me.I had no confidence in anything like talking to new people, making new friends, expressing my opinions, nothing. Nada. I just wouldn't put myself through it. I was probably at my worst during 2011-2013 in the view of my diet, lifestyle and fitness. I was very overweight for my age and that is when my confidence took a very harsh drop ( although I could talk for hours to people I already knew, but that's about how far it went.)

I can hand on heart say that starting this fitness, health and lifestyle journey that I decided to embark on at the beginning of the year has been the best thing I have ever done. Physically, mentally, personally and emotionally it has made my confidence blossom. This summer, that is coming to an end ( super sad, its been rad) has been the best summer for me to prove to myself my confidence has improved. On a recent trip to Devon I decided before we went I was determined to go surfing. no matter what. I had never done it as much as I love water sports and being in the water ( yes, I was definitely a mermaid in my past life) in the past my confidence had held me back greatly and the thought of getting in a wetsuit surrounded by beach goers didn't sound appetising to me, but this summer I wanted to do a ton of stuff I had never done before SO, I got my wetsuit, I got my surfboard and headed out to my favourite place in the world, the ocean. I spent about 4 hours non stop in the water working on my surfing on one of the days and LOVED every minute of it.

I'm not saying that if you eat a salad here and there or go to the gym once in a blue moon (is the moon actually blue though?) that your confidence will come flooding back, that's not how it works. I have been working on my confidence now for the best part of a year in my health, fitness and lifestyle as well as my everyday personal life. Its all one big journey/adventure that I am loving!

I want to carry on stepping outside of my comfort zone fitness and lifestyle wise. One thing that I want to pursue also is to get on the university hockey team. I have a big love for hockey and was always on the teams in my early high school life but it kind of faded due to my drop in confidence, and just didn't think it was 'cool' at the time. (very regretful that I even made this an excuse back then) I have been umming and ahhing all summer about joining because my confidence in my fitness is still growing and although I now have a pretty good fitness level, my critical self still compares myself to others and makes me worry that I wont be able to keep up. But I really want to push myself that bit further even if it is a challenge and I hate it sometimes, I know I will regret it if I don't sign up and challenge myself.

Keep working hard, dreaming big and being positive. Your confidence will soon come flooding in.

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Setting goals and running a full marathon in Canada?!

So from my past experiences of talking to people about them wanting to workout or go to the gym or even just work on eating healthier, the main conclusion I can make is. EXCUSES.
I feel that 101%, ( added that 1% to emphasise my feeling for this point, hello drama queen!) excuses are one of the top reasons as to why goals that people set don't get smashed.

If I ask someone to come to the gym or on a run with me or if they even ask for some advice on health, fitness and lifestyle, I watch the cogs start turning in their head and almost straight away a lot of them reel out all the things that could stop them and use an excuse as to why they "CAN'T".

So this led me to thinking that a major part of setting goals isn't just about the positives of the journey but also how you will overcome the factors that could prevent you from achieving the goal. One of the major flaws is people putting their work, social or personal life in front of their health and fitness life. You should make the swap and make your work, social and personal life fit around your health and fitness life. 

'The only bad workout is the one that didn't happen' - Unknown. 
Eliminate the excuses one by one to progress with your goal setting! Willpower
I think willpower, goes hand in hand with motivation especially when it comes to working towards goals. The willpower you build up will help to prevent yourself from skipping that workout or not running that extra mile and it will result in a massive push in the right direction of your goals. Our brains can be the biggest competitor to try and destruct your goals, we've all been there...

KEEP THOSE LEGS MOVING AND YOUR WILLPOWER WILL GET STRONGER
The achievement from having the will power to fight back to all the distraction and preventions can boost your motivation. The fact that your will be able to prove your negative thoughts wrong will make you even more determined to push the negative thoughts to the back burner. 
I'm not saying anyone is perfect and everyone gets off track once in a while (definitely including me!)but by adding will power to the 'goal achieving' equation It will be a whole lot more enjoyable seeing your progression.

When people say keep your goals small and reachable, In my opinion I feel like they are selling people short a bit, why not have a couple of bigger goals that can get smashed by the smaller goals you set? Im not saying set unrealistic goals and it'll be rainbows and unicorns, but keeping to small goals can sometimes get repetitive. I think you need a bigger goal to set the bigger picture.
These past couple of weeks ive kind of gone running crazy and although I didn't enjoy it as much before and used to see it as a 'chore' in my workout routine, I am finally really starting to get into it since I have worked on my pace, timings and distance. This has lead me to set some new goals for me. One long term big goal that will be achieved by smashing some smaller goals along the way.

Long Term Goal:
By the time I finish my degree in 2017, I want to be able to run a full Marathon either in England or in Canada (Where I want to go as soon as I have bagged this degree)

So I wrote this goal down and then thought of all the things that can boost me towards smashing that goal. Below are the events I want to take part in to propel me into being ready for a full Marathon and of course with other frequent training in order to build up my mileage background and training tolerance.

Smaller Goals:
Tough Mudder- Mud Run 2016
Race for Life - 2016
London Royal Parks Half Marathon - 2016

Wolf Run - 2017
Full Marathon- London or Canada 2017

I know to reach these goals I am going to have to build up some more willpower to prevent myself from slacking during training.
Seeing the goals I have set myself helps me tons to keep focused on what I want to achieve.

There are loads of ways to keep yourself focused on your goals,

• Set daily/weekly reminders on your phone, computer, tablet of what you're heading for and why
• Keep a journal of the journey towards your goal! when you get to the end of the journey being able to read back over everything your achieved and overcame will boost your confidence!
• If you start to slightly slip off task, sit down and remind yourself of what you want to achieve and revamp the motivational willpower

Don't let the negatives, preventions, distractions beat you!

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This is a superrrrr way to re gain your energy after a workout as a post workout snack or just a small snack in-between meals. It takes 5 ingredients to create these balls of energy and goodness.

Below are the ingredients you will need with a jolly simple and easy method. 

• You can use any nut butter, I just prefer almond butter to peanut butter.

• You could also use agave nectar instead of honey. 

• I used double chocolate whey protein powder from My Protein 

• Put all the ingredients into one bowl and mix together until the mixture starts to stick together.
• Grab some mixture and roll into small balls, they don't need to be super big because they're just little snacks, but you can roll them whichever size you would like.
•  This mixture made about 15 balls that were quite small. 

• I like to put the protein balls in the fridge or freezer after just to keep them cool and less sticky. I have heard they can last months if you keep them in the freezer, I haven't tried that yet but mine normally last 1-2 weeks in a fridge for post workout energy or snacks.

Happy Energy Snacking!

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So It is August 1st 2015 and last night whilst watching Pretty Little Liars (My reward from me to me as long as I have worked out during the day. It works.) I was listing ideas that I could incorporate into my blog as permanent fixtures throughout this journey to a healthier lifestyle and a fitter future and to make this blog a little more 'alive'. 

The first idea that I came up with is 'Monthly Motives' ( some fine alliteration there, Shan.) the whole idea around this is to get back into setting regular reachable goals at the beginning of every month. Since being home from uni I have admittedly slacked on the mentality side of my journey. At uni I used to set reachable goals each week whilst in the gym of what I wanted that week. Some of the goals included things such as not allowing myself to leave the gym unless I have worked out for at least an hour each day or No snacking between meals, substitute with water, making sure I am asleep by 10:30pm to get the most out of a sleep ready for a workout in the morning...you get the idea. These are the kind of goals I set myself every week when I first started this journey to force myself and push me into a strict routine (I needed to do be this strict for it to work).

Since being home although I haven't given up on eating clean or working out everyday ( I never will, I love it too much). I feel I have really lacked in keeping my mentality in shape. My motto is 'Mentality Over Physicality' because I believe your body will do anything you push it to do, its the mentality you have that will make or break your dreams (cheesy but true).

So this is where Monthly Motives come in. At the beginning of each month I will be setting 3 new goals for myself one for fitness one for health and one for lifestyle. Then at the end of every month I will be looking at how I did, focusing on whether I carried it out for a month, if I didn't, WHY? and if I did, what I did well and what the next steps/goals are.

So here goes...

AUGUST FITNESS:

The motive I want to set for this month is to work on my running pace to improve my running time and distance. Running outside and not on  treadmill is a lot harder because your legs have to do more work to keep pushing you along whereas on a treadmill the floor moves and your legs just go with it. I find when I run I rush, I become very impatient and try and power through the run all the way although this can be a plus because it makes me do a high intensity interval run, I want to work on my running distance and time to improve my long distance running. I was reading an article the other day on About Health on '13 Tips for Running Farther' and one of them stood out to me which is: Run at a Conversational Pace. I d never heard this before and thought it was such a good way to put it. So this is how I am going to judge my pace, if I can talk and hold a conversation easily without being out of breath my pace is good, even if it is at slightly slow pace I will be building up over 4 weeks. 

AUGUST HEALTH:

For my health motive I am going to make sure I have at least 1 glass of water as soon as I wake up. Before I have a morning coffee, my breakfast or anything else. I am following the well loved saying 'Hydrate before you caffienate' 

AUGUST LIFESTYLE:

This is a kind of big one, cutting the alcohol. Now I'm not a massive drinker I don't go on a 'mad one' every weekend but lately ive been drinking almost every weekend due to going to festivals and going out for birthdays so ive decided im going August with absolutely no alcohol intake. This is also mainly because I will be moving back up to uni at the beginning of Septmeber and although I have pretty good will power and self control, trying to go through freshers week without some alcohol induced nights out just wouldn't be the same( the excuses of a student everybody).

So... the 3 goals above will be my monthly motives... the laws of august...the great goals! that I will be working towards,at and with throughout the month of august. On August 31st I will be doing a follow up blog post to update on how I did and continue through to September 1st to set 3 new goals!

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How To: The Glorious Green Smoothie

Check out the video below on how to make my Glorious Green Smoothie!

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Healthy Ice Cream For Breakfast?!

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This is a suuuuper easy recipe to change up your normal breakfast especially as it is summer now (yes, English weather it's summer, do what you gotta do!) so ice cream for breakfast sounds pretty fab if you like ice cream!
This is not my original recipe but it's just ideas pulled from other recipes and made into a quick and easy recipe I use for breakfast

 You'll need: 

•  2 chopped bananas (or 1 depending on how much ice cream you want)
•  A choice of your own ingredient, I have used frozen raspberries but you can use anything to add flavour like cinnamon, Cacao powder or another type of fruit, anything! 
• Some toppings (nuts, dried fruit) 

 How to: 

• Chop the bananas before you go to bed and put in a freezer bag in the freezer for the night
•  In the morning whack out the food blender, and put your frozen bananas in with the other flavouring ( I used frozen raspberries)
•  Blend it all up, it takes a while to go into an ice cream like consistency, just leave it blending while your sort out your topping
• Once it's in a smooth consistency put it into a bowl and chuck your toppings on, and yes mine is ever so slightly 'Instagram ready' ( slight perfectionist) but it's just as good to chuck them on top
• Finally, grab a spoon, a glass of water and dig in!

2 Months Off the Gym!

So its now summer and I have come home from uni for 2 months and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to get a membership at a gym near home or just use the outdoors as my gym. Due to wanting to save money for when I head back to uni after summer, I've decided to take the next 2 months off the gym and make the outdoors my gym. I did buy 2 essentials that I wanted to have during my workouts over the summer as I felt they would make it more effective to what I want to carry on achieving plus I can take them back to uni with me and use them there too!
So The first thing I bought was a 5kg medicine ball. I wanted to get one heavy enough that it challenged me but I didn't want to get one too heavy that it would make it hard for me to use effectively.
I then bought a kettle bell set that included 4 kettle bells ranging from 2kg, 4kg, 6kg and 8kg.
Both purchases were definitely worth it! they make my workout routines a whole lot more fun and challenging. I just use a simple yoga foam mat for when I do exercises that involve lying down, for added padding and comfort on my back.

Kettle Bells: £24.99
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palm-Springs-Vinyl-Kettlebell-2kg-4kg-6kg-8kg/dp/B006LTCJ8K/ref=sr_1_88?s=fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1435241001&sr=1-88 -

Medicine Ball: £19.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medicine-Crossfit-Strength-Training-Kilograms/dp/B00KSDC9QW/ref=sr_1_10?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1435241037&sr=1-10&keywords=5kg+medicine+ball

For my runs I just go on different routes around where I live, mainly country roads and hills because I live in a village with a ton of quiet routes to run on.

My Food Shopping Habits.

When I moved out my accommodation a few weeks ago I found all my food shopping receipts from the first half of the year at uni and my gosh it was horrendous what I was eating! ranging from buying big packets of crisps to 3 packets of biscuits and numerous ready meals and fizzy drinks. yikes what was I thinking?!

So I now do a food shop for all my long lasting foods every 3/4 weeks. e.g. sweet potatoes, tins of tuna, rice, quinoa, pasta and so on... which would be an online shop because being at uni without a car makes it difficult to get 3/4 weeks of shopping in 2 hands whilst walking home, so that's done online and then every 2 weeks ill do a fresh food shop that I do myself in the supermarket (im super picky on the state of my veggies and fruits when I buy them). A lot of people think doing 2 types of separate food shops would amount to a lot of spending, when if you do it properly it definitely doesn't amount to a lot of spending.

Before I started my huge lifestyle change I made myself cut a lot of shit out of my diet which then led to me spending less money on food shops, and it was easier that I thought it would be, not having the rubbish foods in my cupboard because I cut them completely out of my shopping lists made it a lot easier to just forget about them and not be tempted by them.
The main foods that I have cut out my regular diet are:
Bread/doughy type products.
Chocolate
Sweets/sugary treats
Crisps
Fizzy drinks.

So how do I make my fresh food last 2 weeks?
Your freezer is your new best friend.
I know buying frozen vegetables wont be as fresh and as fabulous as fresh vegetables but we are students paying £9000+ a year for Uni so buying frozen veg will be a lot cheaper and will last longer in your freezer than buying a ton of fresh veg that will probably go out of date before you can eat all of it! So most of my veg is frozen, apart from spinach and the odd salad veg that I buy. I buy fresh spinach because I love spinach cooked and uncooked, however I do eat spinach like there is no tomorrow so I don't have much of a problem with it going out of date quickly.

Another tip: if you're buying fresh veg, look at the back of the product section. Whilst working in Tesco for a bit as an online shopper I HAD to pick from the back because that is where the product with the furthest away used by date is, meaning you'll most of the time get a product with a longer used by date. Don't grab from the front they are normally nearing the end of their used by date.

My fruit that I buy varies from frozen to fresh, I buy frozen fruit for my smoothies and breakfast, like blueberries and other berries because they last for agessss! and then fresh fruit for eating on a daily basis, I do keep a lot of my fruit in the fridge as I find that normally keeps it fresh for quite a while I mainly get fruits such as apples and bananas because I find they last longer than maybe a mango would.

Top Tip On Fruit: Buying un-ripe fruits, like slightly green bananas, these will slowly ripen over time meaning they will generally last longer than buying ripe or over ripe bananas which will go squashy and gross in a shorter time!

When I am fresh food shopping I often go for the supermarkets own brand purely because of money and it is often cheaper, it may seem like an effort at the time but spending more time on comparing prices of fruit and looking for longer used by dates of the fruit will definitely be worth it in the long run.

Happy Shopping!

Mentality Over Physicality

In this blog post I really want to talk about how I have kept the right mind set for the past 4/5 months in sticking with working out 6 times a week and improving my general lifestyle.

For a pretty competitive person that hates quitting or failing I am surprised its taken me this long to get my shit together and stick at this new, much better lifestyle but I’m finally there and sticking to it because of how much better I feel now.

So the major point that I have noticed is for me it is definitely my mentality over my physicality, since going to the gym I can quite happily say my body will do most things I push it to do, but its the mind set that you’re in that is the most important, by far!

I’ve tried numerous times in the past to diet, exercise and all that jazz but looking back now I definitely did not have the right mind set in making sure I reach my goals and that ultimately made me fail in keeping up the diet and exercise. ( I hate failing).

What was the thing that kick started your new lifestyle? 

If I am being totally honest, the boredom I had of my degree. Yes, I am paying £90000 a year for a degree that I am quite bored of BUT I came to uni to get a degree and that is what I am going to leave with. I do Graphic Design, so there is a lot sitting on your arse all day in the studio in front of the computer or sketchbook and I was so bored of not doing something physically active with my days. SO off I went to the gym one evening and came out feeling so much better! not only does exercise make your fitter and healthier but it can help clear your mind of all the unnecessary shit, which is what that evening did and I have been going 6 days a week ever since because I love the refreshing feeling after. 

In my previous blog post I explained how I fit time for the gym with going to uni every day too. ( My Morning Workout Routine)

After cracking down on myself to get my butt to the gym 6 days a week I then went onto dealing with my lifestyle and my key word for this change is 

STRICT!

I am uber strict on myself, not as much as I was at the beginning of this journey because my body has adjusted. To change my sleeping routine and eating routine I had to make sure I stuck to it. So from going to sleep at 2/3ish in the morning and getting up at 8 for uni (wild one, yes I know), I had the big change of making sure I was trying to get to sleep by 10pm each night, it was not easy but I kept at it and now I have a much better sleeping routine getting 8 hours of sleep a night and I am not tired during the day.

Eating routines were not as hard to change, two of the major changes I made was cutting snacking out completely and replacing it with drinking water and not eating after 6:30pm until the morning for breakfast which can be challenging but I occupied myself with either going to see friends for the evening or doing work until l went to sleep to keep my mind off having that cheeky mid evening snack (don’t do it)

Being in the studio all day at uni with Cost Cutter just over the road also made it very easy to snack throughout the day and just generally buy shit foods due to boredom and just generally being sociable with others in the studio often turned to eating. As well as filling myself with crap I was spending ridiculous amounts of money each day on food, and looking back I can see how horrendous it looks on my bank statements (sorry HSBC x)

I managed to cut that whole shabang out my day pretty abruptly due to being very strict on myself and felt a lot better for it knowing my money was better in my bank and not CostCutters pockets.

so yeah thats kinda how all this came about, im going to do another blog post on how I eat when I have uni all day and don’t have time to go home and use the food in the cupboard instead of spending money and things like that. 

My general advice after doing it myself and changing my whole lifestyle is be mega strict, if you feel like you cant maybe get a friend of a family member to help you out/keep reminding you of what you want, because I promise you will feel 100% better. Its probably not the most appealing thing to do as a student but for myself it is definitely what I wanted/needed to make me happier, not that I was unhappy before but I definitely feel happier now rather than before.

Mid Morning Smoothie Recipie

1 handful of ice 
1 handful of strawberries 
1 banana 
1 handful of frozen blackberries 
Adding water is optional for a smoother blend

Saturday Morning Breakfast

So the gym opens a little later on a Saturday which means I get a lay in and can spend more time on my breakfast.
Today I’ve put together:
1 poached egg
2 slices of roasted sweet potato
½ an avocado and ½ a tomato mashed together
Handful of spinach

A lot of people have bread instead of sweet potato but because I’ve totally cut bread out my daily diet I didn’t have any so I opted for sweet potato which works just as well