Fitness Fridays: Top Tips for Changing your Diet into a Lifestyle (1)

Hello!

A different type of post for today's 'fitness friday' theme. You can see the other posts I've written with this theme so far on this link.

Sometimes when talking to other people about losing weight, eating healthily and trying to get fit there are a lot of things we set ourselves that make it completely unrealistic to achieve which means you fail and more often than not end up going back to square one or worse.

Over the last few years I've slowly changed my diet and lifestyle which is how I believe I've been successful in losing some weight, getting fitter and maintaining it. So I thought today's post might be helpful to list a few things that I've found have made a huge difference and you could maybe try adding a different one each week or try something that you haven't before to try and make a difference.
I'm no fitness coach or nutritionist but I've found these have helped me, and maybe they'll help you too. I've split this up so there's 5 this week and 5 next week so it's not like reading an essay!

1) Never skip breakfast. This is my biggest hate, when people moan they're not losing weight when in reality their body is in slow mode because they didn't kick start it in the morning. Eat a banana if that's the only thing you can do but I'm a person that hates breakfast and I manage to eat it every morning at 6am so no excuses that there's not enough time in the mornings! Make time!
You have to train yourself but start with a piece of fruit and add in a yogurt or toast until you can eat a decent sized breakfast. This won't make you put on weight (as long as its decent food) but will kickstart your metabolism in the morning for the rest of the day.

2) Try and resist a snack in the evenings. The last thing you want to do is be really good all day and then ruin it by attacking the ice cream, crisps or chocolate at 9pm when you've got minimal chance of burning it off so it will be stored as fat. If you've been to the gym late and are having your meal late then that's fair enough, or if you are genuinely hungry try and eat some greek yogurt or something with nutritional value rather than going straight to the sweet cupboard. If you've got a sweet tooth try having a hot chocolate instead, Options do one for 42 calories per cup. Or if in doubt, clean your teeth, it will help to take the taste of sweet foods away.

3) Emotional eating - we've all been there, long hard day at work, stuck in traffic, plans are cancelled because of bad weather and you just feel crappy so you go straight to the cookie jar.
I read a quote once that was something along the lines of 'do not reward yourself with food, you are not a dog'.
I'm pretty sure we all understand that quote, filling yourself with stodgy carbs and high fat will only make you feel worse health wise and you'll feel guilty which will probably mean that you'll also decide to give up and 'try again on Monday'. Diets do not only start on Monday's, appreciate the day has been a useless one and start again in the morning, that's why there is more than one day in the week.

4) Change one meal at a time - by this I mean change breakfast or start eating breakfast, swap your crisps for fruit, chips for vegetables. If you vow to change your diet overnight it will NEVER happen. Give yourself some time to change everything and it will become habit. Change one meal or snack each week and don't forget to have a cheat meal every week so you can have a bit of what you really want without ruining your efforts.

5) Sleep! Apparently a study has shown (cannot find the source sorry) that most repair happens between 10 and 12 midnight so to maximise your body's repair you need to be asleep at this time. Not sure how true that is but we all know that 8 hours a night is the optimum time for sleeping, no longer or you'll feel sluggish and no less or you won't have recovered from the day before. I have to be up early for work anyway so an early night is usually a standard thing, but even if you're in bed earlier relaxing then that's a start.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you, I will be continuing this post next week with the second 5 tips that I've found helpful.

What would your number one tip be for changing a diet into a lifestyle? Are you a breakfast lover or skipper?

L xxx

Philosophy: Birthday Girl set

Morning campers!

Ooh that sounded happy and chirpy didn't it!

Today's post is on a gift I had from my mum last year for my birthday (FYI almost a year ago....eek!) so I decided it was about time I got my act together and wrote about it as it's such a lovely set.

First of all, who doesn't love a Philosophy gift set? Everyone goes mad for them at Christmas, they have some stunning collections and I always see people going crazy for them in the sales afterwards too.

Their packaging design is unlike anyone else's and I think they're really pretty; the balloon pattern and the bow on top is so cute!

You can see on the side of the box the contents of the gift set; Vanilla Birthday Cake shower gel, bubble bath and shampoo; and Vanilla Birthday Cake lipgloss.

Onto the main star of the show! The Vanilla Birthday Cake is a 240ml bottle of a multi purpose product. Philosophy are famous for this and their design. I love that the front of the bottle contains a recipe for a vanilla birthday cake, its so simple but fun and I'd love to know if it actually works!

This smells really luxurious and sweet, it has a very warm and comforting smell like warm cake from the oven does. It is very creamy and rich and so a little does go a long way, but I did find it hard to get the product out of the bottle as it was quite stiff and as the product is so thick it doesn't move very fast!

The lip gloss is a nice touch to add to a Birthday themed gift; who doesn't love a shiny lip on their birthday!

This looks to be a gold glittery gloss but actually comes out as a clear shimmery gloss. It is perfect to wear on its own and over other lipsticks and will give any look that little something extra.
It is SUPER shiny and I really love wearing it over a red lip like MAC's Russian Red or Kate Moss 107.

This was a lush present to recieve and I've since recommended my mum get it for many other people she knows and they've all loved it too.
This gift retails for £18 and can be found on their website here or at Boots. As I said previously they have updated the packaging to a more grown up blue and yellow design which is just as pretty.

Have you tried many Philosophy products? Which is your favourite?

L xxx

Antipodes Spree....Round 2

Morning chums!

I wrote about my Antipodes spree a few weeks ago in this post. I'm completely hooked and won't bang on about them as a brand too much but basically they're blooming good!

My second order from them involved another 2 raved about products and another freebie which I sent to the lovely Sasha from Ramblings from a Beauty Bird as she missed the deal.

I ordered the much raved about Aura Manuka Honey Mask and I'm a huge fan of Facial Exfoliators so snapped up Reincarnation too.

Reincarnation Pure Facial Exfoliator is an EXTREMELY gentle face scrub, the particles are so tiny that really its like rubbing a cleanser with the tinest amount of powder in. It's probably the most non-abrasive exfoliator I've ever used.

It contains avocado oil and jojoba oil to remove lifeless skin, Calendula oil to repair and carrot seed the revitalise the skins surface. Not only that but it also contains a range of essential oils to soothe the skin's surface, what a combo!

I've used this a few times over the last few weeks and can honestly say it is one of my favourites. I am a firm fan of Origin's Modern Friction and whilst the effects from both are the same, the Reincarnation exfoliator is definitely less abrasive so it all depends on what you yourself are looking for in what is essentially a facial scrub.
This retails at £20.99 and whilst this may be expensive for some the ingredients are of top quality and a little goes a very long way.

Not to mention that i love the packaging of these products, the tubes make it easy to dispense as little or as much as you want and ensures there is nothing left at the end as you can squeeze every little drop out of it!

The Aura Manuka Honey Mask has been raved about all over the bloggersphere and I knew I had to pick it up months ago but unfortunately buying a car had delayed my ability to purchase anything!

Now i know why it was raved about and how much i will always need to repurchase this!

Applied to clean and dry skin the mask not only utilises Manuka Honey (an ingredient from NZ that is famed around the world and which we always keep in our kitchen cupboards) to increase moisture it also has fragrances of vanilla pod and mandarin to balance your 'Aura'.

After my first use I was hooked. I was astonished how a hydrating mask could not only alleviate my dehydrated and drab looking skin but also reduce the size if not completely eliminate some pesky spots i had and reduce the redness. Unbelievable!

This mask retails at £21.99 and comes in the very same tubes, easy to squeeze out every last drop and I can assure I will be there squeezing until my next one arrives. I cannot ever be without it and I apologise to humanity for not buying it sooner, maybe you wouldn't have to put up with my 'pizza face' for so long eh?

Have you tried Antipodes before? Which product is your favourite? Are you a manuka honey fan?

My wishlist for Antipodes is growing at an alarming rate, but I'd love to get my hands on the Joyous Night Replenish Serum, the Kiwi Seed Eye Cream and their Immortal Moisturiser.

No doubt when I'm closer to being debt free I'll be snapping up everything I can get my mitts on!

L xxx

Life Lately!

Morning!

I came on here with the intention of sharing with you a mascara I've been loving lately but my head just isn't feeling like wanting to write it and I feel more like a life post!

Is it me or is this year speeding by! It's started well for me and I hope it just keeps getting better. A week ago I was lucky to be invited to an event in London for the launch of a new Lauren's way tan. We got to meet the Lauren who couldn't be nicer or more friendly. We were totally spoiled with cocktails, cakes and goodie bags and it was such a good night. I will be sharing the tan with you guys soon. I'm already a huge fan of the darker than dark lotion.

Last Wednesday I was tired and bored and decided to be impulsive and get another piercing (the 4th since last July!). It's becoming addictive. I finally got my nose pierced after wanting it for ages. I thought I'd hate the big bar but I actually quite like it and I'm in no hurry to change it now. It wasn't painful but did make my eyes water!

Lots of coffee and catching up with friends has been happening which I love doing. It's great to gossip over starbucks! I'm such an addict. Hello gold membership and free shots and syrups.

I'm also totally hooked on a new series! Game of Thrones has literally taken over since I started watching the TV series with a friend last Monday. In just over a week I'm 300 pages into the 1st book and 3 episodes down. For me I find it really slow to read but it's really good. I think it was much easier to watch a few episodes then read the book!

I've been absolutely loving playing with my Naked 3 palette that I couldn't resist treating myself too. It's got such gorgeous colours and is so wearable. I also can't believe how long lasting it is. This photo was after it had been on for 18 hours!

I've enjoyed playing around with make up lately and trying new looks even if it's not wearable! Sometimes it's fun to just pile it on.

On Friday I went out with my lovely housemates for drinks and to watch the rugby! I love watching rugby and it was such a great atmosphere in Cardiff. It was a great weekend for rugby especially with England winning too!

I keep day dreaming in work at moment. I'm lucky I work at the top of a hill and have the most amazing views across Cardiff! I can see right across the city centre and the landmarks. On a nice day it's so distracting to just stare out of some of the lab windows!

The most amazing dessert place from Red Hot Buffet! I love red hot buffet for when I want to pig out!

I finished off that evening with Mia wine! It had mine now on and was sparkling so would be rude not too!

It seems I've also finally got my fitness motivation back which is well overdue. I've been riding, kickboxing, pump classes, pilates, running, weights, HIIT and punch bag training. In 3 days I've done about 5 hours. If I can move in the morning I'll be surprised haha. 6 months till tough mudder!

That's my past week and a bit! I hope you've all had good weeks. Here's to the next one being better. L is coming round tomorrow and I'm cooking. Can't wait for a girly gossip!

Love M

xxx