Juice Me Up Before Bikni Deadline! :D

Well, fancy meeting you here....

Okay I know... it's been a while :P

As you all know exams just took over my life recently :( 

For the last 2 months I've been preparing and sitting 11 college exams and I've been so stressed that I've really had no time to workout or come up with new recipes let alone blog :O

But tomorrow is my last exam so I thought I'd get back on the bandwagon :D

A bit of a last minute decision but at the beginning of the month we decided to take a weeks holiday after the exam, The date has crept up on me and suddenly the holiday/bikini wearing extravaganza is happening..... THURSDAY!!

Yeah that's right Thursday :(

Now don't get me wrong I'm dying to get away for a bit of rest and relaxation, but this whole bikini wearing situation?

Not going to be the highlight for me >:(

I haven't completely let my general healthy lifestyle go over study month but It's the coffee breaks, late night energy drinks, Chocolate comforting and lack of gym that have but me back a step.

I've gained 1kg on the scales (which I'm not delighted about but it could be worse) but I feel like my abs (especially obliques) have seriously suffered!

So the past 2 weeks I've really been sticking to my blogilates workouts and they've worked but I need to do something I hate and "crash diet" in the healthiest way possible...

Basically A JUICE CLEANSE!

Juice cleanse's have really become the it thing of 2014 with celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Lauren Conrad and Millie Mackintosh all being fans and admittedly this isn't my first juice cleanse this year either!

I did my first cleanse in January as a kinda new year new me attitude and  My worry about  it at the time was, am I going to put all the weight back on again?

I dropped 2 kgs and over the space of a month of normal eating only put 1/2 a kg back on, so its not only water weight your loosing!

I Know I preach about not using the fadding diets but people forget that even on a juice cleanse your consuimg 1200 calories a day and for only 3 days

And to be honest I'm just feeling a bit "meh" after all this study and I need a bit of a reboot!

I'm following the reboot with go 3 day plan that you can find here! It has loads of free advice, recipes and guidelines and it's the plan I followed for my previous juicing!

I've decided to make my own juices because:

a) I have a good quality juicer to hand

b) It's much much much cheaper(all the fruit cost me €22 in lidl!!)

c)It's kind of satisfying making your own juices and deciding which ones to drink!

So here's my break down of the day's Juices so far:

Morning: Detox juice from Jump Juice (apple,carrot,celery,cucumber and beets)

Lunch: Garden Variety

Mid afternoon snack : Apple-Carrot-Ginger

Dinner :Garden Variety

Dessert: Pine-lime-lemon

Water : 3litres throughout

The great thing about reboot with Joe's recipes is that a lot of them make double so I currently have my leftover apple-carrot-ginger for the morning!( it was definitely my favourite juice of the day! :P)

So how am I doing?

Mood:

Have to be said I'm pretty good! not feeling cranky off caffeine withdrawals or sugar lows so no complaints yet!

Energy:

A bit of a slump at 4 o clock but I had a pick me up after my afternoon juice!

Hunger:

There's this weird hunger you get on a juice cleanse, its not a physical belly rumbling hunger but it's more like you really miss food? Like I'm mentally hungry for food but my body doesn't need it! I especially get cravings when people eat around me but in general I haven't caved yet!!

To be honest I've kept myself really busy all day and as a result haven't even noticed feeling hungry or think about food etc! 

It might be the new way to help through the cleanse?

Il keep you updated on my progress ;)

 

Study month post!! :)

So long time no see... :P

Total apologise for not posting for 2 weeks you guys but I'm currently in the middle of study months before my 11 ( yes that's right 11 :'( ) exams in May!

Every waking minute is spent either studying, sleeping or gymming ! :L

So this is just going to be a quick blog about my new favourites/ what I'm up to these days!!



So let's start with the gym!

I've been finding it really difficult to fit in gym-library-friends at the minute so gym has taken a bit of a back seat currently although I still manage to make it about twice a week which I think is good going!

What I'm doing more of now is running!

I've really gotten into doing a new route that's about 6km and I've been recording some great times.

As well as running I've gotten into doing home exercise routines. Now I am a self confessed tone it up girl but my new fitness crush is Cassey Ho's blogilates!! She is a trained pilates instructor who has started her own brand of "POP PILATES" which is basically high tempo pilates done in rhythm to songs. She has loads of posts on youtude and my good guys her workouts are killer!!!

Tuesday I was too busy to gym so I decided to do Half and hour of her video's and I've been sooooo stiff the last two days! I feel like I've done so much more than I do in the gym. 
You have to try her total body workout and her victoria secrets abs workout!

They are by far the best I've ever done!!!

Find her website here!!

Victoria Secret's Abs workout

Total Body workout




 My sister Orla and I also went to Tinie Tempah concert last week!

Had such a great time and really enjoyed ourselves!

Even blagged our way into the priority lounge ;)

Also my new snack obsession are these Ryvita crisps!

They are sooooo good and a really tasty snack for work or study.

They're only 90 calories and 1.9grams of fat so how can complain!

I have the salt and vinegar multipack at the moment but I'm dying to try other flavours next week

As I've said my gym sessions have gotten a bit rare these days and when I go I usually don't have a lot of time so I've developed a love for fast sprint interval training!

Sprint intervals are a great way to get your heart and muscles pumping before weights etc. 

They also are important to help fat burn and aerobic fitness

My favourite routine so far is the toneit up cupid's cardio workout where I usually do 3km in 15mins which is pretty good!

I after 6 repeats of 30 second sprint 1 minute jog I usually up it to 30 seconds sprint 30 second jog! 
I would really recommend it to anyone who is getting bored  of just running 5km straight at the same pace or anyone who is sort on time!

That's all guys! Sorry I couldn't post anymore I'm running out of time but I'll try to blog over the weekend again! :)

LOVE!
xxx

What I've been eating post splurge :)

Hey everybody!

So I had the most amazing weekend away full of relaxation, love and you guessed it EATING

When I say I enjoyed myself I really really enjoyed myself!

I totally let go and ate whatever I wanted for breakfast, lunch and Dinner and had a few chocolate snack in between! :P

By Monday I felt like a stuffed turkey at christmas!

 

But did I regret it? Absolutley not!

Even when you're dieting you need to let loose and enjoy yourself!

Don't regret what you didn't have.

For example we had a huge meal of tapas and wine on Saturday night and enjoyed myself so much and didn't feel the need to worry about calories or fats :)

But all good things come to and end and by Tuesday I was actually craving some fresh fruit and veggies! :P

Here's a quick recap of what I've been eating the past 2 days!

So Tuesday morning I went to the gym early and didn't feel like a huge breakfast so I had a naked juice!

They are super refreshing and actually surprisingly filling! They are also full of antioxidants!

Post gym I had a nakd cocoa loco bar which is a raw fruit, nut and oat bar with some cocoa but full of goodness and really satisfying at only 100 calories a bar how bad ;)

A little pre gym selfie ( can we make a gelfie a thing? :P)

In the library I had my standard Library lunch box of fruit! Honestly I love nibbling on fruit in the library and I think it help pass the time :P

As usual I had my grapefruit, grapes and half a mango! :)

For Dinner I had roast salmon with some roasted veggies and sweet potato mash but as usual I forgot to take a photo (oopsies! )

Today for lunch I had a salad with turkey breast, leftover roasted veggies. avaocado, feta and sunflower seeds! It was honestly really good and it had loads of textures from the crunchy seeds and smooth avocado!

The leaves I used were an organic mix leaf bag from tesco's with rocket, spinach and watercress :)

Again I had another fruit box today with grapefruit, mango and grapes!

I went to Starbucks with my friend Joanne for a break and a chat but wanted to try to avoid caffeine ( I already had a large cup of coffee with lunch) So I opted for a raspberry blended juice which was basically juice blended with ice and to be honest I would get it again! It lasted ages, was very refreshing and  didn't make me feel like I was missing out by not getting a coffee!

For dinner I made a delicious honey and soy salmon with kale, mushroom, green beans and fried rice!

It was actually do good I'm going to have to put up the recipe for you all!! :)

**I know it doesn't look too appetising but it was delish!**

So that has basically been my last 2 days! :)

I'm currently relaxing drinking a Gin and Tonic and painting my nails and before anyone eats the head off my for drinking alcohol (empty calories etc etc.) We're all allowed our little treats every now and again and as alcohol goes a Gin and Slim with a wedge of lemon is as good as it gets! :P

Hope everyone's having a good week so far! :)

xxxxxx

What I ate this week :)

Hello all! :)

Apologise for the lack of posting this week but its been really hectic between finish college, exams, assignments and going out with friends!

So this week I had loads of college work to finish up before we stop for study month! I had a lot of meals on the run so only took some photos of special stuff :P

Here's some chargrilled pepper and tomato soup I bought! Its actually a telco's finest range and it was really nice and rich and I added some goats cheese on top and had a low-fat yoghurt too!

All week I bought lunch boxes of fruit to the library with me. They were a good snack that gave me energy but also something to pick at (other than sweets and chocolate!! :P) 

 This lunch box was all orange fruit :L I had nectarines, cantaloupe, mango and papaya, but really you can use any fruit you have lying around!

Here is a really simple Asian style chicken broth I made late one night! It took 15minutes and lasted me 3 days! 

• I basically fried off half a chilli, some ginger, 2 cloves of garlic in a little coconut oil. 
• Then I added about 1 litre of good low sodium chicken stock, added my 2 chicken fillets , a goooood dash of soy sauce, some more chilli and garlic. 
• I cooked this at a high heat till my chicken was cooked.
•  Then I removed the chicken and shredded it. 
• While doing this I placed some noddles in  the stock, added back in the chicken and some bak choi and Voila!! 

Really filing, hearty and very budget friendly!

And of course we all deserve our treats! :P
Here is mine- a delicious chocolate creme egg cupcake!
To be honest I much preferred the icing and the inside surprise to the actually cupcake itself! :P

I promise I'll post more food next week with some more recipes!

Much love xx

Diets! : What works and what doesn't!

This is a huge topic especially going into Summer and Bikini Season so I thought I'd give my opinion!

There's always that one day when everyone looks in the mirror and sees that bloated belly, wobbly thighs and saggy bum and immediately deicide's "Thats its I'm making a change!"

Fair play if you've got the motivation to change your lifestyle but it is important that you go about this the right way and make it sustainable in the long run!

Many people want to loose weight as fast as they can but don't realise that with many of these faddy diet's you put the weight straight back on once you begin eating normally!

Being healthy and fit is a serious commitment that doesn't come easy! It's something that is painstaking and doesn't always give immediate effects and will sometimes leave you feeling gutted that you haven't lost weight but TRUST ME in the long run if you work at it you'll get much better rewards than from a faddy one month diet!

I've tried looooads of diets in my the last 2 years ( 5:2 diet, atkins, liquid diet , Paleo etc.) , have had people telling me how their moher's sisiter's son's girlfriend lost 3 stone by eating only cabbage and broccoli and have read so many stupid articles on websites boasting that "experts" say the new way to loose weight is blah blah blah!!

YOU JUST GET SICK OF IT!

But lets be realistic here guys, I'm going to break it down on a scientific level:

Human physiology is built on the basis of SURVIVAL

Our brain's are trained to eat lots when food is plentiful (traditionally the summer months) to compensate for when food is scares (in the winter) !

Our body is also trained to like sugar and crave sugary foods as glucose is our bodies favourite source of energy! Our body "treats us" to a release of dopamine ( this is a kind of pleasure chemical released from the brain that gives us a happy/uplifted feeling. The brain also releases it in a response to certain drugs like heroin) once we ingest foods like chocolate to give us a reward for providing it with glucose.

Obviously though too much glucose is a serious issue! Any leftover glucose not used for energy is converted in to adipose fats which remain in our body!

Another issue with human physiology is starvation. From neolithic times our ancestors were able to withstand long periods with little to no food. Why?

Because of something called starvation mode.

Once we begin to eat below a certain amount of calories a day (usually 1000) our body will work extra hard to process and extract all the energy in the little amount of food we eat which in turn leads to less fat being converted to energy and therefore very little weight loss! Our bodies will also become accustomed to surviving on small amounts of food that the minute we begin to introduce more calories our body immediately converts them to fat because it thinks it's "saving" ourselves from starvation!

So how does that scientific information translate to everyday life?

Well it basically tell us that even though we might loose weight on 2 week or one month diets, inevitably we will begin to crave sugary/fatty foods again, cave into our cravings and our body will use all this extra food and calories to produce more fat!

So basically after working so hard at trying to loose weight for a month you usually end up the same weight or weighing more!

Totally disheartening isn't it?

But should we give up?  NO!

The reason why most of these diets don't work is because we deny ourselves soo much food! Eating tiny portions of disgusting foods will get you no where!

That's why I firmly believe in a balanced diet similar to what The tone it up plan promotes, Taralynn Mcnitt and any qualified nutritionist will tell you to follow!!

You should be eating 5 small meals a day mainly made up of fruits, vegetables, complex cards, nuts , seeds and proteins!

These meals will fill you up and not make you feel miserable and like your denying yourself from all of life's treats!

You might not loose weight fast but you will loose weight that will stay off most importantly!

And here another dieting tip: 

Enjoy a cheat or YOLO meal every once in a while! 

You can't keep yourself from all of life's little treats so one bad meal or one dessert is not going to outdo you eating well 90% of the time!

The only diet we should follow is a balanced healthy one along side with exercise! There's no quick fix method to loose weight only a very simple one that involves patience and dedication!

So that's my little rant over!

I hope I didn't bore you all too much but I feel this is an important topic that people really need to educate themselves on! :)

**One more quick Link**
My friend Maria has a seriously amazing fashion blog callled swear by the blonde! It has amazing outfits, bargain buys and loads of trend watching too. So any fashionista's out there serrriously have to check out this blog here! 

Much love all
xxxx

Seven Day slim down results!

So I finalllly got a break fro college to post my seven day slim down result.....

Lets start with the actual stats of what I lost:

In 7 days  I managed to loose 2kgs which I felt was pretty impressive!

Given that I didn't push it to an hour a day of cardio and I also managed to sneak in a few coffee's I was impressed!

My legs muscles feel very solid as do my abs!

I also don't know what muscle mass or fat mass I lost/gained over the week as we don't have a (cheap) body fat calculating facility in Cork!

Here are a few after pictures ;) ( I was after lunch so excuse the abs :P)

So lets start with the pro's :)

• The diet allowed you 5 meals a day at regular intervals which I liked as I wasn't starving throughout the day
• By following the steps it really made you take notice of what you actually normally eat through out the day!
• I generally had enough energy to do hard gym sessions and didn't feel particularly weak
• I lost 2kg's (most importantly :P)
• Now that I've finished the plan I don't crave unhealthy foods as much!

And now the con's :(

• Around day 3 and 4 I felt really drained and tired and I'm not sure was that the diet or the fact that I was sick with a headcold!
• Meal prepping took A LOT of time! I had to know what I was going to eat a day in advance!
• 2 workouts a day was also time consuming! they were difficult to fit in around college and study but I usually had to wake up super early to fit one in!
• My muscles got really stiff half way through the week and this held me back from the gym I wanted to do!
• It was expensive to buy lots of fruit and veg on the diet plan! I recommend using more seasonal green's that are cheaper!

Now the main question..

Would I do it again?

To be honest I probably would! I mean I lost weight, I wasn't too miserable and it was a balanced healthy diet

Would I do it soon? not a chance!

You need to have a lot of spare time to fit in the workouts and meal prep but I would defiantly do it again in the future! ( maybe pre-summer holiday detox?)

Well that it really! Challenge completed! 

Did you enjoy my posts? 

Do you think I could improve them? 

Comment below!

Much love!

xxxx

Seven day slim down: Day 6 and 7

I'm so sorry I couldn't actually post these on Sunday and Saturday but my internet at home was awful! So without further ado....

For breakfast on Saturday I had a bowl of alpen no added sugar museli with some almond milk which comes in around 180 calories!

For whatever reason I was really craving some kind of cereal with milk for a change! I think I got a bit sick of smoothies and fruit all the time :P

My cat mittens was not impressed at me eating all the cereal without her! :p

For my mid-morning snack I had half a grape fruit! They were really sweet and delicious but if you prefer it sweeter than I recommend sprinkling some stevia over it :)

After my afternoon snack I decided to do my usual 5 km uphill run because the weather was absolutely smashing and I needed to get out of the house!

Here's a picture I took at the top of the hill after 2.5km! 

I also put it on my instagram page as well! There's a link for it just above my bio and you can follow it to see photos of my day-to-day life!

For Lunch, I went out with my sister to a local cafe called Jim's and we sat outside because it was so sunny!

I got a sweet chili prawn with a peach salad! It was light enough but gave me a really good kick too!

I made some plum, soy and ginger chicken for dinner!

I was craving some Chinese takeaway but obviously couldn't afford the calories so I made his healthy but just as delicious version! (many thanks to my housemate Joanne for this recipe!)

Sunday I started the day with Alpen again because I enjoyed so much Saturday morning!

For my mid-morning snack and afternoon snack I had a half a grapefruit!

I went for a 3.5 km run Sunday as well followed by a tone it up bikni series workout!

My muscles were really sore after the week long of running and exercise :/

However I struggled on with it as it was my last day! 

For lunch I was in a rush but my Mom had picked up an innocent noodle pot on Friday shopping. I was tempted to try it as it looked really good and at only 197 calories I had to try it!

It was really delicious and the shitake mushrooms and miso sauce gave it a rich almost meaty flavour! 

I must say I'd recommend it for anyone to try and I'd like to try more stuff from there range!

Like any traditional Irish family my mother was adamant we were to have a nice roast dinner!

She made a roast chicken but I opted for healthy sides! Instead of fatty mashed potatoes or stuffing I had wilted spinach, mashed carrots and parsnips, broccoli and brussell sprouts!

So it goes to show just because your dieting doesn't mean you have to avoid eating with your family or friends in case of breaking your dieting!

I celebrated St.Patricks day with a wild and rather unforgettable night with my friends last night! :P This is me and my friend Ellen celebrating our Irish-ness! :P

And so there it is folks!

My 7 day slim down completed!!

Its been really long and tough for only 1 week but I managed it!

I'm going to do a post tomorrow about weight loss results and after pictures.

Sorry I couldn't post them all tonight I just don't have time!

Much love!

xxxxx

Seven day slim down challenge: Day 2

So guys...

Woke up this morning, still a bit sore from the kettlebells yesterday, but eager non the less to go to the gym for a morning session!!

Before I went I made my kale and spinach smoothie as planned!

I love my smoothie cups because they're really hand to drink from in the car or on the go. 

I use the kenwood smoothie-go machine which usually sells for about €30 in most shops, it an AMAZING smoothie maker and come with 2 cups but most importantly its soooo easy to clean! 

It totally gets my approval! :P

At the gym I started off by doing a very handy 4km, I ran at about 10.5km/hr for 3km and sprinted at 13km/hr for the last kilometer. I also did a quick warm up/warm down!

It was a very handy pace as I was a bit sore and needed an easy cardio session! :)

Afters I went down to the weights room which is thankfully quiet in the mornings!

I'll save my fully weights room routine till my thursday post as I haven't any photos of any of the equipment or how many reps I did today but here's a guide-line if your interested!

• Lunges on a medium step with 8 kg weights ( 20 each leg)
• Double leg Lunges across the room followed by squat jumps on step (x3)
• Squat bar- 20x 20kgs and 50x 25kgs
• assisted chin lifts (x30)
• Arm weights rountine (press ups, tricep and bicep exercises with 4kg weights)
• Core/Ab work

All in all I spend about 55 minutes in the weights room and I was happy with what I did :)

**Not the best picture but this is my new top from H&M and it cost €9.95**

After gym I had my blueberry, banana and almond butter bites :)

They were absolutely delicious and tasted like a dessert and were exactly the pick me up I needed after the gym and before college! :)

I had college today till 2pm so afters I came home and reheated my stuffed mushrooms I made last night! They were pretty simple to make, I basically  mixed my tomato topping from last nights dinner, added some goat cheese and baked for 15 minutes :)

And Hey presto!

I had it with some rocket and watercress salad :)

I didn't have any afternoon snack today mainly because I forgot to bring one to the library but trust me I was starving before dinner!!

Finally, I was making dinner for myself and my boyfriend Tim tonight.

It was basically the same tomato topping as last night but I put mine on chicken instead of hake for a change.

I also made a simple salad with my watercress and rocket leaves, feta, sunflower seeds and a balsamic reduction.

I love putting sunflower seeds into my salads recently! They add a really nice crunch and are so rich in protein and unsaturated fats, I can't resist! :P

To finish it off I made some simply roasted courgettes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and peppers :)

I made Tim some cumin and paprika spiced sweet potato chips too but since I had already had a starchy carb today I decided to give them a miss

Tim's plate:

My plate:

Here's my meal plan for tomorrow:

1. M1- egg whites with spinach

        Run

2. M2-handful blueberries

3. M3- 1 mushroom with rice salad

4. M4- yoghurt, 1 piece fruit

        Gym(kettlebells)

5. M5- turkey burgers, salad

Planning on runing a 5km tomorrow morning with Tim (should be fun :P) and a kettlebells class in the evening! :)

More updates tomorrow :)

xxxxxx

Seven day slim down challenge: Day 1!

Well.......

Today was day 1 of the seven day slim down!

I found..........okay

I'm used to a relatively healthy diet, going day to day eating healthy won't be a struggle for me but I'll find it hard to last the whole week without one treat!

So lets start at the start!

Before my breakfast I fitted in my AM burn!!

I woke up at 7.20, got my ass out of bed and hit the road!!

It was actually so pretty this morning, here's a picture of the lake I run around in cork

I was so happy with my run!

I did my fastest 5km and also did my fastest ever kilometre at 4.53!! 

So I guess you could say it was a pretty good start ;)

                                                                                                                                                         

For breakfast I had my Kale smoothie I made the night before and then to ran away to lectures!    

As my mid-morning snack I had almond butter on 2 slices of unsalted rice cakes! 

I found them surprisingly filling and a really nice treat to have before lunch!!

I use Meridian almond butter as its completely natural with only almonds and a pinch of salt! You can find it at any health food shop!

                  

For lunch I had my broccoli, turkey, feta, beetroot, sunflower seed salad!

It was delicious and easy to make but I was too busy eating forgot to take a photo(awks sorry! :P)

While I was studying in the library I had a pear and before the gym I also had a low fat Glenisk blueberry yoghurt!!

For my second workout today I did a kettle bell class!

It was perfect for strengthening and toning and a class is useful as you are pushed by the instructor! 

I also did some shopping today for new gym gear as I'm sick of wearing the same clothes every day so I thought I'd treat myself!!

Here is one outfit I bought!

Pants: €19.95

Top: €9.95

Sports bra : €12.95

I bought another top and sports bra too that I'll probably wear tomorrow!

After kettle bells I had my dinner which was Baked Hake with a tomato,basil and garlic topping, roasted green beans, steamed asparagus and some leftover boiled rice :)

It was a really filling ,satisfying dinner that was sooooo tasty!!

After dinner I had a sneaky slice of melon, to help fix my sweet tooth! ;)



Another thing I found difficult today was going for coffee with my friends!
I was dying for a skinny mocha but settled for green tea that was actually pretty good!
Tomorrow I think I'll try making iced green tea because the weather is so good! :)

Here is my diet schedule tomorrow:

1.        M1-Kale smoothie

      Gym ( 4km run, 1 hour of weights training)

2.       M2- Banana + almond butter + blueberries 

3.       M3-2 mushroom stuffed with rice + tomato topping

4.       M4- fruit salad

5.       M5- baked hake, tomato topping with courgette, peppers and mushrooms

    To save on time I'm going to fit in my cardio AM burn and toning workout into one gym session!!

   Hope you enjoyed my first post and keep reading my entries!! 

     xxx