Skinny Coffee Club Review

Skinny Coffee Club is something you may or may not have seen trending on Instagram but now this product is being bought into Holland and Barrett stores across the country.

What is Skinny Coffee Club?

This is more than just your average coffee, in fact it has been hailed as the not so secret way to help encourage weight loss  by thousands of social media users. This is a coffee that contains coffee, green coffee beans and green tea extract with each each ingredient naturally helping to boost your bodies metabolism as well as Garcinia Cambogia which is said to reduce appetite.

The Wedding Dress Test

So a lot of people when trying to lose weight judge their figures against certain items of clothing, perhaps a favourite pair of jeans they'd like to fit back into. I know that I have lost weight, there's no doubt there. Infact I weight less now than when I was 18 years old. But weight and size don't always go hand in hand so I decided to take the wedding dress test to see just how much my figure has changed since I got married seven years ago.

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.

Holiday Indulgence

Up until now I think I've been doing a pretty good job at losing/maintaining the weight. That is until the half term holidays hit last week.

I'm quite sure I'm not the only one that struggles with food over the holidays. Whether staying at home or holidaying abroad, it is hard not to over indulge.

Days out, ice creams on hot days, take aways as treats and then of course alcohol comes into play too, well it was a bank holiday too.

I've tried to maintain an attitude of not feeling guilty for allowing myself a week off the healthy eating and if I am honest I've not been overly bad, but my efforts have slipped. The 80 to 20 ratio went to a more 50 to 50 ratio and for the first time in weeks I missed a days exercise on Sunday.

Food Is Not The Enemy

Ok so a short but sweet update from me this week. I've come to realise over the past few weeks that food isn't the enemy, yes it can be fattening and far too tempting at times but the real enemy when it comes to my body, my weight and my appearance is me.

I am my own worst enemy. We are all in charge of ourselves and what we eat and drink and how we let that affect ourselves.

I mentioned recently that I've been weighing myself less, well I actually jumped on the scales yesterday and in 4 weeks I've put on one lb, this I'm more than happy with, I'm actually hoping that gain is down to my period being on the way, yes I said the word period!!

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.

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.

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!!

Weekly Weigh In 17.03.2015

Before I even stepped on the scales this week I was feeling good in myself. I'm trying not to stress so much about the scales and the measuring tape and just enjoying what I'm doing more.

I got back to exercising on Tuesday, nothing too strenuous as I still wasn't 100% but it felt good to be working out again. I've decided like to give yoga a go as this is meant to be good for toning and destressing!!

The scales actually showed a welcome difference for a change, I lost 1 and half lbs but my measurements stayed the same (not a bad thing). 

I keep getting stuck around the 7 stone 8 mark, really want to shift those last few pounds but not sure how to kick start it?

Food wise I have stuck to a 80:20 ratio of healthy vs junk. One thing I've added to my menu is smoothies after workouts, I'm adding a scoop of protein powder to help with building muscle. I actually have a recipe from vegfest.co.uk to share with you all :

- handful of kale leaves

- short knob of cucumber

- juice of half a lemon

- knob of ginger (sliced)

- 1 teaspoon of Yaoh hemp protein powder

- 1 teaspoon of baobab powder

- 1 teaspoon of chlorella powder

- 1/2 pint of coconut water

- 2 bananas (sliced)

Simply add all of the ingredients into a blender and you have a healthy drink/snack that will help your body to recover after exercising!!

No Flour No Egg Cookies

Trying to diet can be hard, especially when you love cakes and cookies as much as I do. I mean it is hard to resist the flavours and the textures. And it doesn't help when the Great British Bake Off is playing on the TV either.

There is something about the smell of them baking in the oven that is really appealing too, and licking the bowl, this just calls to my inner child.

In an attempt to curb my cookie craving I have come up with a recipe that only needs 4 basic ingredients, there there is no flour of eggs involved so not only are they healthy, they can be eaten by almost anyone!!!

Weekly Weigh In 10.3.15

So the last couple of updates I was back on track, losing weight slowly but steadily but last week I was struck down with illness, it was like I had the flu without the cold. Constantly going hot and cold, shovers, aches and pains and absolutely no energy. As a result I have to admit I did no exercise last week. Well I walked around etc but no workouts, I honestly just couldn't manage it.

However I did stick to eating relatively healthily, I admit to making a small chocolate brownie mug cake after watching the Great British Bake Off, taps own hand.

This made be reluctant to step on the scales this week but the results are in, I put back on the 1lb and half that I'd lost over the past 2 weeks. Disappointing but honestly I kind of knew that would be the case.

I also retook my measurements which I'm happy to say remained the same as last week so not all bad.

Starting afresh this week, I'm slowly introducing the workouts back in as I'm still not 100% but I can't put it off any longer.

Weekly Weigh In 03.03.015

Well I've made to March and I haven't given up on my weight loss goals just yet although I have to say I haven't really noticed a change in my body over the past 4 weeks, despite continued exercise and eating well (most of the time). I tend to dread the weekly weigh in as I'm always left thinking that my efforts are never quite enough.

This weeks results are in, I've lost 1/2 a lb, a loss is a loss and I suppose slow and steady wins the race!!

However I finally remembered to buy a tape measure so this week starts the weekly measuring :

waist - 25 inches
hips - 35 inches

These measurements match up to what I managed to get down to last Summer so not bad at all, I don't want these to go down by a lot more but it would also be great to see them not go up even if the scales decide to tell me I've put on weight.

This morning I finally finished a 31 day fitness challenge, I really enjoyed a couple of the circuit training days so I'm going to keep using these to mix in with other workouts I'm doing. What I'm trying to do now is increase the size of weights that I'm using when doing weight/resistance training, at the moment the most I'm using is 1.5kg in each hand.

Weekly Weigh In 24.02.2015

It's weigh in time again, I have to admit I've been scared to step on the scales. My official "time of  the month" finally appeared on Saturday and it's still lingering now and this plays havoc with both my body shape and my weight.

So what's the results?

I have lost a 1lb since last week but seen as I'm still bloated oat from period I'm hoping to see better results next week. Will update this post with my measurements as I am going to buy a tape measure today.

I think I've become addicted to exercise, not a day goes by where I don't do something, even if it is just going for a walk with the kids. I'm a week into my kiqplan and I'm enjoying the workouts and the daily tips.

Now food, I'm still struggling with this. I love it but I hate it at the same time. With my kiqplan I have the chance to record my daily calorie intake and it has been interesting to see just how much I'm consuming, or in my case how little. Turns out I need to actually consume more calories but this leads my brain to think a chocolate bar or cake wouldn't hurt then.

Weekly Weigh In 17.02.2015

I've been dithering about writing this post today. I let myself down last week, there were a couple of family birthdays and a valentine's night out and I'm ashamed to say that I lost my will power, junk food and alcohol was consumed at the scales show it.

The weighing scales this morning let me know that I've put on 2lb, ok 2 doesn't seem like a huge number but I'm so disappointed with myself.

It doesn't help that that "time of the month" still hasn't actually reared it's ugly head so I know I'm holding onto "bloat" weight too.

I think I'm more annoyed because I didn't let myself down with the exercise, I've been exercising every day still so I thought I would have atleast maintained my weight.

As I'm writing this post I feel like I'm just coming up with excuses, trying to make myself feel better.

So how am I going to move on from this??

First things first, I need to get a tape measure, I think I might feel better knowing my measurements not just my weight because honestly even though I've put on weight, I can't see a big change in my size.

Exercise wise, I'm going strong. I'm just about to start my kiqplan and I'm continuing to mix it up with weights, cardio and resistantance training.

Weekly Weigh In 10.02.2015

5 weeks in and it is time for another weigh in. I'm quite pleased with myself that I've made it this far into the new year and I haven't given up on my goals.

So this week I haven't lost any weight, I have stayed the same. Now I'm not as disheartened as the last time this happened because of two reasons. One I have been doing more work with weights so I think I have lost any fat then I may have gained it in muscle. Two, this may be too much information but it is nearing "my time of the month" and I always seem to gain couple of lbs around then so I'm hoping I'll notice more of a difference next week.

What I have noticed, usually around this time of the month I become extremely bloated, I start to look like I'm pregnant but this month I am staying roughly the same size.

So what's my plan for this week?

Exercise wise I'm continuing to add in more weight and ab based workouts as I'm keen to tone everything up, those wobbly bits need to go!! I'm also part way through this 31 day challenge, I find little challenges keep me motivated and encourage me to do a bit of exercise each day.

Getting Started With KiQplan

Exercise is something I struggle with, a mixture of not having time and losing motivation makes it difficult to keep up a good routine. I think like many people, I find it hard to follow through with my promises to myself and what changes I make in the new year tend to slowly disappear and my old lifestyle starts kicking in.

This month I am being introduced to KiQplan. From the makers of Fitbug, this consists of a library of many interactive coaching programs which will work alongside many of the well known trackers, smartphones and smart watches to help people reach their desired fitness goals.