Getting Strong not Skinny With Hunkemoller

Since the new year I have been making a conscious effort to be more active and to step up my exercise routines. Not in a bid to lose weight, no I just want to be as healthy as I can be and part of that means working out. I'm in the mind set of strong not skinny and that's why this year I've decided to incorporate more weights into my routines and my goal now is to increase the weights that I can lift throughout the year.

Of course part of exercising means wearing appropriate clothing. I've come to realise that there is nothing more comfortable than a pair of leggings and an exercise bra. No horrible underwire digging into your ribs and elasticated waist bands that are more than forgiving when your body betrays you and decides to make it look like you are carrying around a food baby inside of your stomach ( I can't be the only one that looks 6 months pregnant after eating certain foods?).

On top of that trying to lift weights can be tricky at the best of times but when your hands get sweaty it makes it even harder to pick them up correctly and seen as it is important to keep good form, I don't want any injuries now do I, this means also investing in some good accessories too. The thing is I'm also one of these people that like my accessories to match what I'm wearing, even if no-one else is watching me while I exercise.

Positivity, Working Out and a Virtual Helping Hand

I mentioned a few weeks ago about how I was struggling with motivation when it comes to exercise and eating healthily now that the colder months are settling in. To be honest I was really stuck in a rut and was having trouble finding a way out of it. My positivity about working out had vanished to go knows where and lazyiness was taking hold, that was until I got a virtual helping hand.

Cold Weather and Loss Of Motivation

I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels like hibernating when the cold weather sets in. Don't get me wrong I love seeing the leaves changing colour, it can be quite nice going out for a long walk in the brisk air but generally I see this time of year as a chance to get cosy infront of a fire. This however also means I get a huge loss of motivation when it comes to exercise and staying fit and unfortunately this also leads to me getting lazy with my diet too.

My normal routine for exercise is to get up early in the morning before the kids wake up and work out before I have little people requesting an array of things from me. But lets be honest at 6.30 am it is bloody freezing and quite frankly still looks like night time outside. So I do what any normal person would do, lean over, press snooze and quickly snuggle back under the covers.

But I want to change my ways. Every year I reach this point and put on ridiculous amounts of weight which makes me feel even worse about myself than I do anyway and  the silly thing is that I can't blame anyone else but myself. I'm kind of hoping by writing this down that I will persuade myself to get into a better mindset.

Junk Food, Lazy Days and No Motivation

I thought it was about time I wrote down a little update on how my health and fitness routine are doing and I'm shamed to admit it's not been going very well of late. The title says it all really, junk food, lazy days and no motivation.

I've dipped back into the world of yoyo dieting. I'll begin to make the effort again, starting a reasonably heatlhy way of eating. My most recent trial was back to eating three meals a day but only having carbs with breakfast, I managed to stick with it for 2 weeks but then I got ill with woman flu.

Yes woman flu not man flu. This made me feel awful and I really struggled to find any sort of will power to get up and do the normal day to day things. After cooking meals for the kids, I lacked any enthusiasm to cook anything for myself and I'll admit that meals for myself have kind of vanished, it is more of a case of picking at things. And the stupid thing is I know that I'm not helping myself.

My main problem is the exercise. All this year I've been getting up early religiously and exercising before the girls get out of bed but since being ill I've not exercised once, so that's 2 weeks without exercise so far. I'm feeling majorly guilty but I still an't muster up the energy to actually get off my arse and do something.

Preparing for Exercising in Colder Weather

Autumn has definitely arrived. I've already started delving into my warmer clothes. Think jumpers, hats and boots. I do like to get snug. Trouble I find with the colder weather is getting out and exercising. The cooler temperatures and also the fact that it starts to get darker of evening times, I struggle to find the right workout gear to wear so I've made myself a little wishlist of clothes, you know preparing for exercising in the colder weather.

Making a Difference to My Workouts With #PredNutrition

It is no secret that exercising can make a huge difference to your healthy and wellbeing. Over the past few months I have been trying out different workouts to not only help me lose weight but to just keep me fit in general but as I've learnt over the past few months what you do pre and post workout can affect how your body changes and recovers.

I was recently sent a hamper of goodies from Predator Nutrition to help me in my continued journey to tone up my body. This included two products. A preworkout drink and snack bars.

My Health and Fitness Routine Right Now

Routine is something that has always worked with my kids and I think the same can me said to me. If I'm a bit strict and do things at certain times etc each day then I tend to stick to it. It's taken me til this point in the year to sort out what really works for me and my body so I thought I'd share my typical healthy and fitness routine with you all.

Changing Things Up

I'm becoming like a broken record but I've found myself slipping further and further into a rut with my eating habits and even though I keep talking about how much I've begun to love exercising this year, my motivation to get up and do it in the mornings is also beginning to waver.  I have been avoiding the scales for a few weeks as I've got a strong feeling that the numbers won't be what I want to see.

Exercising definitely releases those endorphins that get me feeling good however sometimes the routines can get a bit boring, the same with the foods I'm eating and I feel the need to change it up a little.

I've recently taken to buying Women's Health. There's a great mix of articles inside including some yummy recipes, health tips and exercise routines, definitely worth a read ladies.

My Top 5 Exercise DVDS

I've never been a fan of exercsing infront of people, infact I've never stepped foot inside a gym. I know,  I know, noone will be watching me or even care that I'm there but I can't stop that silly fear that someone will be looking and I'd rather not embarrass myself.

This is why I much prefer to work out in the comfort of my own home, I can do it as and I when I please, I don't need to wait for exercise equipment to become free and best of all it costs me nothing, well except for the cost of the exercise DVDs that I use but when you think what a gym subscription costs then it's a minimal price to pay really.

So today I'm sharing with you all my top 5 favourite exercise DVDs, the ones that I have tried and tested and have actually given me the results that I require.

1. 30 Day Shred by Gillian Michaels

This is my go to DVD whenever I want to get back into fitness and kick start off any sort of weight loss. With three different levels and each level giving you a beginner and an advanced version of the exercises, it certainly leaves you feeling like you've done a decent work out, be prepared to sweat!!

6 Months of Healthier Living

I can't believe we are half way through the year??!! 6 months that I've been trying to stick to healthier living and believe me that's the longest I've ever stuck to any sort of diet.

The thing is I know I was never over weight and not even fat really but as I've talked about so often, I'm just not comfortable in my own skin. Like anyone else, I've been on my own personal journey both with my weight and my attitude to my body and the food I consume.

So I think in my most recent update I was talking about maintaining my weight rather than trying to lose anymore. Well this is where I am seriously struggling.

The scales aren't my main port of call anymore but I do step on them every couple of weeks and they seem to fluctuate quite a lot rather than staying steady. I mentioned in a post about holiday indulgence but I think because of my slip up in the half term old eating habits are trying to creep in.

Got My Bikini So I'm #BeachBodyReady Right?

I think when a lot of us try to lose weight, tone up etc, we have an ultimate goal in mind. Infact I didn't just have a singular goal, I kind of had a bit of a list but ultimately it all added up to wanting to feel comfortable in my own skin. One of my targets was to be confident enough to wear a bikini on holiday, to get rid of that feeling of wanting to cover up.

Now I'm sure it didn't escape your attention when there was a media frenzy over a particular image and slogan.

Maintaining Weight After Losing It

With all my new found revalations about losing weight and my change in attitude to just what I want my body to look like I've been thinking how I'm going to maintain the weight that I've managed to reach.

I mean when you think about it maintaining a steady weight can be just as hard as the process of losing it in the first place. It all comes back to getting that elusive balance doesn't it.

At the start of the year I seemed to be exercising almost every day, this is something which was hard to keep up and to be honest now that I've lost over a stone in weight this year, I don't really need keep up such a vigirous routine.

My trouble is that I've always been a yoyo dieter and although I always manage to lose weight fairly quickly, I also allow it to creep back on far too easily as well. It is a vicious cycle that I would really like to avoid this time round.

Not Weighing In

So I'm trying something different this week. I'm not weighing in. I've decided not to step on the scales and I have to say it is strangely liberating. Continuing on from what I said in my post last week, I'm trying not to obssess so much when it comes to the numbers, the lbs and inches because as I keep trying to remember, it is how we feel that really counts.

I know I had a not so great week when it came to what I consumed. A tad to much alcohol was drunk and not all the right foods were eaten but my clothes still fit so I can't have piled on too much weight no can I?

Weighing In, The Progress Edition

Last week I talked about trying the 3 week diet plan and how I came to the realisation that perhaps I don't need to be on such an extreme diet. I want to make progress in the right way. I've always been quite hard on myself when it comes to my image and my weight, realistically I know how I see myself is not how I appear to others but I just can't get myself comfortable in my own skin.

Even last week I happened to mention that I didn't really see any difference in my body. I mean I've lost almost a stone in weight since January so you'd think that there would be a noticeable difference right?

I've been taking photos to document my journey, up until this point I'd not put them together, only ever looked at them separately and I suppose that made me more blind to the reality that my body is infact changing.

The photo below shows me in January, at the end of March and last week.

Weighing In and Changing My Mind

Last week I mentioned that I was going to be following the 3 week diet plan. Today is supposed to be day 8, I've managed a full week on this plan and as proud as I am of myself for sticking with it, I have to admit it's not been easy going.

For the past 7 days I've had no carbs, no fruit, no junk food, no alcohol and no caffeine. My will power has been really tested. Just vegetables and meat/fish and even then only certain ones of these were allowed and they could only be cooked in a certain way.

My meal times have been shifted around, a lot of fasting which has left me feeling hungry more often than not and there was quite a few moments where I considered stopping, as really why I am putting myself through this, to lose a couple of lbs?

Weekly Weigh In 21.04.2015

So last week I said I was going to have a week without alcohol, turns out I have no will power when it comes to wine, although I did make a bottle of wine last over 4 days so it wasn't all bad.

Jumping on the scales this week I was feeling more positive, exercise has been going well and for the most part I've been eating really well, I may have snuck in an ice cream or two, well it was extremely warm weather.

So this week I stayed the same with my weight and my measurements which I guess I should be happy with.

Weekly Weigh In 14.04.2015

Ok so I'm going to put my hands up and say I struggled last week. The husband was off and my will power failed. I indulged in all sorts of treats, which included far too much alcohol. With all this in mind I was fully expecting the scales to throw out some evil numbers. However I actually managed to lost 2lb!!!

My measurements on my waist stayed the same but I've lost and inch on my hips which I'm really happy with.

Great results for a change.

So exercising this week I'm continuing with the Bikini Guide workout that I started, yesterday saw the start of week 3 and even though it is tough it is certainly worth the effort. I'm also making more of an effort on the running front, each time I go out my pace is getting faster and the distance I'm running is increasing.

Weekly Weigh In 07.04.2015

I can't believe we are into the month of April. I'm admitting straight away that my will power failed last week and I couldn't resist the Easter eggs but I am not going to feel too bad because the chocolate tasted good!!!

So the scales this week said that I had put on a 1lb, now the chocolate eating combined with the two bottles of wine I consumed, I was expecting a lot more put on so I'm not overly disappointed.

And I measured myself too with my waist and my hips measuring the same as last week. All in all not too bad and the photo below shows just why I'm not beating myself up about a gain.

I took a photo last week and shared it on my facebook page so I thought I would share here too. I know I'm not wearing the same clothes but I can see a noticable difference both in my hips (the love handles aren't as wide) and my stomach, definition is beginning to appear.

Weekly Weigh In 31.03.2015

I can't believe we are 3 months into the year already. It has flown by, I don't feel like I've been trying to lose weight for that long and I'm surprised that I've managed to keep up doing a weekly weigh in and blogging about it. I think this is the longest I've ever stuck at being healthy.

So with my period out of the way I was hoping for good results on the scales but the scales didn't budge, I stayed the same however my measurements went back to what they were 2 weeks ago minus all the bloat.

This week I'm starting a new exercise challenge, I've downloaded the ebook from Kayla Itsines and I'm hoping to stick with this 12 week workout. I've seen lots of amazing photos on her instagram account of brilliant body transformations, a great motivation so fingers crossed these exercises will make a difference.

Weekly Weigh In 24.03.2015

Almost a quarter of the way through the year and I'm still sticking with this whole weight loss thing even though I don't feel like any big changes have happened so far.

I was talking to my husband the other day and I said despite not really changing my body, I actually enjoy the lifestyle I've taken on. The healthier foods are far tastier, I'm cooking a lot more fresh foods and being more adventurous with my recipes and most days I actually look forward to doing some exercise.

Weighing in this week, I was scared to step on the scales as my period is trying to make an appearance so I was expecting a couple of exra pounds to go back on but surprisingly I lost 1/2 a lb.

My measurements altered slightly on the waist, putting on 1/2 an inch but my hips are still the same
slightly disappointing but I'm using the excuse of bloating!!