Gym Rat Part 2: Help!

I previously wrote a post called Gym Rat where I explained my goals for the gym and what I was doing, eating etc.

And after a long hard slog of almost 4 months, my efforts have still made minimal difference.

I am still the same weight as the last post (having lost 5 lbs from when I first started in January) and I'm still eating as healthily as is humanly possible, attending the gym 3/4 times a week and generally having a more active lifestyle.

My previous goals were:

1. Concentrate my cardio time to the cross trainer and swimming as I enjoy these and they burn the most amount of calories
2. Increase the type of arm weights and number of reps for each type
3. Complete as many crunches as humanly possible! (this is no easy feat for me!)
4. Try out new classes so I don't get bored. First up is Body Combat, an aerobics based class with lots of punching and kicking movements.

I completed tasks 1, 2 and 4, with 3 being the most complicated for me and therefore the one I admittedly slacked off on.

However, having upped my cardio a hideous amount (my body hates me!) to burn off more calories, finding myself working along all of the fixed weights in the gym a few times and attempting new classes such as Body Combat and Abs and Stretch i would have thought this would have made a difference.

I found a list of measurements that I took of myself last March (2011), and compared them to now, and in all honesty I was GUTTED.

I was exactly the same everywhere....apart from my hips and stomach which I was BIGGER on.

Bearing in mind I can't eat bread and dairy foods too much as I'm intolerant, giving me a diet of porridge, salad and a healthy evening meal, you would have thought this amount of exercise would have made a difference wouldn't you??

I've also been walking the dog once a day in addition to what I was doing during the last post.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!

So looking forward from this and trying to be optimistic...My previous aim was my birthday which has been and gone, so my new aim is my last minute admission onto a university course in the USA during the summer term.

This means i have a reason to wear a bikini that i previously did not....yikes!

The time frame I have is 6 weeks....not an ideal amount of time but I just have to work with it.

I'm going to simplify my aims this time so that i will actually do all of them (hopefully?!)

1. Up the number of repetitions and types of arm weights, arms are out all the time so anything I can do to tone them up at this late stage would be awesome
2. Crunch, plank, side plank, twist etc etc etc my way into having some sort of toned midriff. I'm going to try every damn stomach exercise I can to tighten it up, as anything is better than the current state!

I want to look like this!

Quite simply: Curves and muscle.

Do you have any tips for me? Do you have a similar problem with not being able to lose weight/fat?

Any stomach or arm exercises or weights that you love doing and know work?

It's not that I'm too bothered by the number on the scales...but I'd like to be smaller than I am whether that reduces it or not.

This is my cry for help! Seriously if you're reading this and possibly have a tip, suggestion or even a passing thought....WRITE IT BELOW!!!!

Thanks :)

L xxx

NOTD: No7 Crave Me

A few weeks ago I had a few No7 voucher lying around, so I decided it was time to add a few nail polishes to my collection!

I've heard good things about the No7 polishes, the brushes are supposed to be quite good, the colour range is quite expansive (though nothing too high fashion) and also gives a highly pigmented long lasting colour.

With this in mind, I bought a few! Of course ;)

This one is called 'Crave Me', I absolutely fell in love with the name, I'm always a sucker for them!

But also the colour is a wonderfully bright orange red that almost looks plastic-y (in a good way!)

The effect is so bright and eye catching M instantly had to go and buy it when we met up for drinks!

The colour is shown above with flash and below without, not too much of a difference which is always good as you know what you're getting.

Another good thing about this shade is that it looked equally good with a tan and without!

I was well impressed with this shade, especially with the vouchers as it only cost me £2.

I invested in a few other colours which will be sure to grace the pages of this blog soon, and also a clear top coat that is supposedly fast drying.

I'm always wary of this, as some people's 'fast drying' don't seem to be the same as others which is annoying!

However this top coat is worth every single penny of the £2 it cost me, it really does dry fast (regardless of whether it's a No7 polish or not) and makes any polish underneath looks SUPER SHINY, shinier than any other top coat I have used.

The only negative I can think of is that I'm not sure it's as long lasting as I would like, I'm used to it going for 3 days before having to apply another top coat, whereas this might require an extra coat every day, but I guess it depends what you're used to.

What do you think of the colour? Do you have any No7 polishes you think I should get next??

L xxx

H and M Scarf

I love having bright scarf's for summer. I'm a fan of thin big scarf's as personally I think they look better.

After popping into town on Sunday and being cold I popped into H and M for a quick scarf purchase. I didn't expect to find such a perfect one so I had to share. It's perfect for this weather. Pretty pattern, bright colours, and gives a little warmth.

This is is folded in half so you can get and idea of how big it is, that is a double bed too. I love the tropical flowers and the bright pattern and think it looks brilliant to brighten up a simple outfit.

I wear my scarf's in two ways depending on how cold I am usually.

  

Apologies for the in the mirror photos, I don't have much space to take photos in my flat. The first way I roll it up and wrap it round the the second way I make a triangle first.

It was a only £7.99 which for such a big scarf I thought was good. Do you wear scarf's still in summer? I love them worn with outfits like this.

It's definitely worth taking the scarf's off the hanger and on I find it difficult to tell how much material is there. I picked up a few and didn't expect it to be as big as it was.

Will you be purchasing any spring scarf's?

Love M

xxx

Eeeek I'm a Make up Addict too!!

I'm sure you've all enjoyed L's Beauty Rehab series found here, when I saw how much she had I was in shock, always thinking I'd hadn't accumulated that much make up. When sorting my make up as part of my 101 things in 1001 days I wanted to have my make up collection sorted and organised. Last week I began this.

I didn't take before photos of how my make up was stored. I had most of it in the pink make up bag and in another box.

So here is all my make up minus the big eyeshadow palettes. That doesn't look too bad right?? I was shocked when I counted what I had.

I'm now using this for all my face products. I have a shocking amount of 15 foundations. Finding the perfect foundations has left me with a lot of duds and a lot that are too orange. I'm trying to mix them and work my way through. I also have 7 blushes (all bought within the last 6 months as I didn't previously use them) 4 primers and 6 concealers. It'll be a while before I need to buy foundations again.

This was my old day make up bag (actually a pencil case) but now contains lip products. 15 lipsticks which doesn't sound too bad I suppose and 8 lip glosses, seen as I don't like lip gloss I don't know how I have so many. Do you find you accumulate products you don't even use?

The eye make up. This was my most shocking hording. 11 eyeshadow palettes, 2 front cover big sets, 11 single eyeshadows, 6 eyebrow colours, 9 mascara, 14 eyeliners (9 of which are black) I always find I think I need them and buy more. I'm not sure why I don't even really use them much. Finally in there is 22 sets of eyelashes (you'd think I'd wear them daily but I only wear them for nights out, 13 of those sets are cheap ebay ones which I actually get on with but I know some people don't like them. They are great for when I'm broke). How do you store your eyelashes? I like to get more then one wear out of mine so store them in my Thomas Sabo boxes but would like a better storage method.

I don't think I need to buy eyeshadow again! I need to really start playing with my make up more and stop just grabbing my MUA palette. I do have another front cover palette not included in this photo.

Finally onto brushes. I like how these are stored, they are easy to grab. A friend sent me the brush holder as a present for Christmas and it wasn't something I'd thought I'd use but recently I've started to apply my make up with brushes so it's really handy as I can see the brushes and grab them easily.

It's made from clear perspex and is the perfect size to hold all my brushes. I only have 21 of these which is a reasonable amount in my opinion as I like to have double of my brushes so I can get away with only washing them weekly. It doesn't have a holder for my Kabuki brush though. 

How do you store your make up? I need to find a better storage method but my flat is small so these bags easily fit under the bed and I can grab them easily. Do you have any ideas?

Have you sorted out your make up and been surprised? I need to not buy any for a while, except a few more lipsticks, you can never have to many ;)

I'd love to see your make up collections. Link me below if you've done something similar!

Love M

xxx