Spring Series: Fitness!

This is the second in our new Spring Series of getting your body ready for some sunshine!

Last week's post was dedicated to Body Care and we discussed our favourite products we use to scrub and moisturise our skin into silkiness.

This week is dedicated to fitness, as we both have our own ways to keep fit and healthy, which all helps when you have to lessen your layers after indulging over Christmas!

My personal favourite ways to stay fit involve going to the gym, taking a range of classes, walking the dog and swimming.

A few years ago I wouldn't have been seen dead in a gym.

Just over a year ago though I signed up to a gym which has everything, a new personal trainer program every 6 weeks, a swimming pool, and a massive range of classes to keep even me entertained.

I am the kind of person who needs variety to keep me going in my quest to tone up.

I have classes that I dislike - pilates isn't physical enough for me and I love to hate spin though it is a great feeling when you've completed a class.

But there are so many that not even I can be bored!

My favourites are Body Pump (great for fat burning) and Body Combat (amazing for stress relief!).

The gym program is great, I would never have tried half the things that my trainer has given me to do and this I think is priceless.

I've tried swiss ball, TRX and more importantly kettle bells.

These are my absolute favourite as you really do see results after using them, they burn so many calories and require multiple muscle groups to work together maximising your workout time.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you were thinking about joining a gym 100% go for it!

It has quite literally changed my life and although it is very expensive I most definitely think it is worth it, for my health and general fitness, as well as how my body has changed.

However I don't think that you HAVE to join an expensive gym to get the most out of your workout.

Walking my dog or wandering around local areas such as beaches are a great way to burn calories and tone up, particularly if there's some sort of elevation involved like hill walking or hiking.

This is not my dog but I have such a similar picture I had to put it up!

The zumba classes at my gym aren't particularly energetic, so I have been to others that have a younger instructor and found these were BRILLIANT.

Zumba workouts are great fun, dancing around with your friends to the latest music is fun and burns a substantial amount of calories.

Swimming is also a great way to burn calories but I'll leave that to M to talk about as she's the bigger fan!

If you're lacking in motivation I find that Pinterest is one of the best places to look at.

They have so many pictures of inspirational women doing all sorts of exercises with beautiful bodies to aspire to and hints and tops for anything you can imagine.

If you're still lacking in motivation I find a new gym outfit or trainers always helps too!

If all else fails, I think about what makes me angry. It's a weird thing to do I know, but i think of what really gets on my nerves, things that have happened etc that I need to physically work off my stress or anger.

It works for me and I always feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders after doing it.

What are your work out tips??

If you'd like to check out my pinterest board the link is here.

(all pictures in this post are from there!)

L xxx

L was right I do love swimming. I used to run and did a lot of it during summer last year. You can read about how I got on with Couch to 10k here. This program made running so enjoyable for me and it really is great if you've not run before as it makes it so easy to build up running. 

I ran until October but by then an old knee and hip injury had resurfaced. When new year came around I decided to start again as I enjoyed going out and it's a great way to burn calories quickly. After one run my knee was hurting again so I had to find a new way to lose weight and tone up.

Since moving I was now near a great pool and after looking on line I saw a great deal for just £23 a month for unlimited swimming. Swimming is always something I enjoy and it's a great all over body tone. I tend to do 45 mins swimming and that burns around 500 calories. I favour breast stroke at the moment but need to vary my swimming to get better toning.

I'm someone who favours at home work outs to save money. One of the best work out DVDs for me is 30 Day shred. This is a great program and only takes 20 minutes a day. Until you've tried it you won't believe how much you sweat in just 20 minutes. It's also great for when you are busy. I've written about it a bit more  here.

I also recently bought an indoor skipping rope. Most people thought I was crazy but you can remove the rope and it has weighted ends. Skipping is also a great cardio exercise.

Lastly when I had the Wii I loved Wii Zumba. It's such great exercise and fun too. I'm thinking of getting it for my others halfs play station.

I like to find ways to do exercise at home and vary the types of exercise I do so I don't get bored. L is right motivation is key. I sometimes get up super early and go before work. It's nice to finish work and know I don't have to leave the house again. Also it means you can't make up excuses all day not to go. I'm great at these.

For me at the moment my motivation is Weddings. I have two this summer to go too so really want to be toned.

What's your favourite exercise? Any tips for us?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: OPI James Bond - The Living Daylights

Today I have an absolute corker of a nail polish for you!

As I have mentioned before I am a bit partial to a James Bond film, and also glitter.

When the Bond range came out just before Christmas I was head over heels in love with it all but unfortunately at the time completely penniless.

I've made a dent in collecting them since getting a job and only have a few more to get now, if anyone knows of anywhere still selling them could you let me know??

So here's my glittery favourite!

This is The Living Daylights.

I have to confess i am yet to see this film, but the nail polish is certainly making me lean towards watching it due its beautiful colours.

This is an unusual glitter containing silver, gold, bronze and teal coloured hexagon shapes.

The light hits off it wherever you are and the colours, though seemingly a bit of a different choice, actually go really well together and due to the different number of metallic glitter particles go with so many outfits!

Even in the bottle it looks like a kaleidoscope and I feel like a magpie looking at it!

It does require 3 coats for a fairly opaque covering but as you can see they are pretty big pieces and it does apply quite easily.

I find I wear this one at the weekends more, as although I do sometimes wear glitter to work this one is a little too over the top for that (unless you work somewhere that has minimal uniform rules!).

This one is best suited to a night out or a weekend out with the girls.

I am wearing it this weekend whilst meeting up with a friend I haven't seen for a while, so looking forward to it!

Have you tried this polish or any of the other Bond polishes? Do you love collections from films like this?

I'm a sucker for them and I also wanted the Snow White Diego Della Palma palette, and will hopefully getting my hands on the Urban Decay Oz palettes.....but we will see!

L xxx

Rambling

Today I have an exam...so in my stressed and 'I'm in a bad mood, have given up cake for lent and nothing else will do' kind of mentality I ended up picking up these:

For any more information on why I picked these up you can be directed straight to Caroline Hirons blog Beauty Mouth (which I'm sure most of you know by now) as she has a very subtle way of making you want things. Expensive things!

I also picked up this, as my lips have been cracking so badly due to the ice cold air conditioning we have in work that I just cannot cope with the amount of lip balm I'm putting on!

Fingers crossed this will work.

That aside, I have had a super busy week with my first work social gathering since starting my new job in January.

It involved an all-you-can-eat buffet meal out with 10 of us and I am hoping that I won't have completely embarrassed myself by piling my plate high with meat and vegetables and avoiding carbs as much as possible.

You see I have my friends hen weekend in 2 weeks, and it involves a bikini.

Yes you read that right, an actual bikini. In March.

I've been gymming and swimming it as much as I can but as my gym requires a car to get to and is in the opposite direction of my bus to work it's been a little complicated with the shocking appearance of my previously lost social life.

If all went to plan this morning I will have attempted for the first time in history, swimming before work. 

I start late today, but let's face it, after an all you can eat buffet it's probably going to be an achievement just getting to work! I'm sure you'll see tweets from me with an update on this. 

So really today's post has been a bit of a ramble but I like to keep you on your toes sometimes with a post that basically is a whole load of waffle because my brain doesn't seem to be switched on today.

Hope you're all having a great week, i will be doing a NOTD tomorrow so check back for that:)

L xxx

Spending Ban Update 6

The spending ban is definitely getting easier as the weeks go by. Is anyone else finding this? As much as I'm wanting products I'm finding it easier to just swatch all the pretty things on my hand and then put them back. I think this week is also easier as I'm off home to my parents on Saturday and have two lipsticks waiting there for me that my mum has kindly got me.

I have broke the ban this week. A deal in boots was too good for me to get for my mum and not pick on up for myself too. I love the original Stylfile (blogged about here) it's an S shaped file to easier shape the nails. So when I was in Boots and saw the Emergency Stylfile for £2 I had to pick up one for me and one for my mum. She's a fan too. I love that it's protected in a coil and has a file on one side and a buffer and smoother on the other side for any nail breaks.

This is the first beauty related item I've bought that hasn't been essential like make up pads or deodorant (both of which I had to buy this week). Apart from the shoes I showed in last week's post I've not bought clothes either.

On top of the £4 spent on the files L and I have booked to have our make up done in Mac before we go out for her birthday. We did it last year and that was what introduced me to higher end make up. So a year on we thought we'd do it again. That cost £30 and is before the ban is up it will be after 90 days so one splurge then isn't too bad. I think I'll add on a few extra weeks to make up for it.

The list of products I want is ever growing with so many new products constantly being released. I just have to keep telling myself I don't need it.

My Wishlist.

MAC Brick-O-La (this has been there since the beginning. I've still not seen it in person)

Urban Decay Setting Spray

Illamasqua Pigment Base

Origins Cheeks and Balance

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Daniel Sandler Water ColouR Blush

Elf Brush Cleaner

Stocking Tights

Maybelline Colour Tattoo

Rimmel Appocolips

Laura Mercier Undercover Pot Concealer 

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation or the Tinted Moisturiser. I want to get samples of both of these.

This time I'm adding:

Maybelline Super Stay 10 hour tint gloss. I love the formulation of these. As I'm adding these I'm taking off the Rimmel Appocolips. Here I reviewed Forever Fushia

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour lipstick. I'm a huge fan of Maybelline lip products. I love all the shades especially Always Plum

How are your bans going?

Love M

xxx