Fitness Friday: New Training Program

Hey there! Happy Friday afternoon!

I've been anjoying posting a lot more fitness related posts every Friday afternoon in between my usual fashion, beauty and life posts. If you've enjoyed any of them in particular and want to see more of them let me know. So far I've reviewed some products such as coconut oil and protein pancakes; shared my latest training programs; listed some of my favourite motivational blogs and fitness gurus and lastly showed you some of the recipes I've been loving lately.

Today's post is dedicated to my latest training program. I've been working hard the last few months without much in the way of change in the scales. So I've changed my routine around a bit and have started to lose some fat! I was so pleased i cannot wait to continue and lose a few more pounds of it.

My latest weigh in showed that I'd lost 4lbs which I was happy with but 1lb was of muscle which is not the way to go. Nevertheless I'm trying to stay positive, eat lots of protein, consume more protein shakes as I have slacked off on them for a bit and keep working out.

So my new program! It's very similar to the last which I absolutely loved. The last one was a full body workout with moves that incorporated multiple muscle groups at a time and it was great. This one is similar in that way. It's full of supersets where I have box step ups, squats and lunges all with heavy weights followed by the rowing machine. I repeat this circuit 4 times before getting on the cross trainer for 10 minutes for some active recovery.

After this I then use the chest press and superset it with tricep extensions, followed by the low row superset with bicep curls. This is then followed by a further 10 minutes on the cross trainer before my core work. This involves the pilates 100 and then 5 roll downs which I repeat twice.


I've only done this a few times so far as its so new to me but I really enjoyed the feeling that I could increase my weights so much from what my trainer had written down. She'd been far too lenient with me and was laughing that I'd increased them so much on what she thought. 

It's such a great feeling to know that I've improved so much on what I used to be able to do. I just wish that my running was going as well as the strength is!

I read something the other day which has stuck with me so I'll leave you with it too:

'Don't concentrate on your weight going down; concentrate on your weights going up'

L xxx

Life Update

Hi!

I haven't been up to much recently but I have had a good bank holiday weekend so I thought I'd share some photos with you. I went with my family to our caravan for the day so we could take out my dads new boat. It was a lot of fun and it was great to finally get the boat out on the water!



The beach was lovely and empty and for once the sun was out. My dog absolutely loves the beach and cannot wait to get on the sand.

As you can probably tell from my selfie below, I was a little bit excited to get out onto the boat! My dad bought it a few months ago but the weather was pretty bad every chance we had so this weekend was the first chance. It was still pretty cold and after being stood holding the boat in the water whilst my dad took the trailer back to the car park I was FREEZING! Luckily for me I could just sit back and watch after we got started.








The views from the sea were lush and all I was missing was a cocktail! It's not a luxurious boat nor is it very big but I'm sure a few cans of cider wouldn't go amiss next time ;)

My dog was shattered after running around the beach with me and looks lush and fluffy after getting soaked!



I came back on the Sunday night then to get ready for my personal training session on the Monday morning which went really well and I'm writing about my new program for this weeks Fitness Friday.

After that I felt I deserved to completely pig out so me and M met up in Barker Tea House in Cardiff which I'd never been to before but had heard of and been recommended so many times. I'd heard lots about the cake so we tucked in!

I fully recommend the lemon and poppy seed and also the brownies, unbelievably gooey! The peppermint tea was also amazing, the tea pots are so heavy though it was a bit misleading every time I picked it up.

After this we finally got to see Divergent which I really enjoyed. I recently finished reading the last book in the series and couldn't wait to see it portrayed in the cinema too. It didn't disappoint and you should all get your hands on the books too! The books are always better I think.



Lastly I also had my hair done this month and decided to go a bit lighter again. I've had an ombre look for a while, not the dip dye that everyone else has but the true ombre where your hair on the lower parts of your head are all a lighter colour. As my hair is so dark it can sometimes look like it's 'blocked out' when I tie it up so I decided to have highlights all the way through my hair instead. I don't use bleach on my hair my hairdresser uses something called high lift so it isn't as damaging on my hair but it doesn't get as light as quick either. Over time the highlights will lighten by themselves and I'm hoping it will look more natural.


I'm kidding myself that my hair is anything like the fabulous Kate Beckinsale's above; her hair is amazing and I so badly want the all over blonde highlighted look. If someone could style it like for me every day too that would be even better!

What have you lovelies been up to lately? What have you seen in the cinema?

L xxx

Dune Handbag

Morning lovelies!

I've got a beautiful bag to show you today. Me and my mum are bargain hunters, and on a shopping trip a few weeks ago I found this beautiful bag that my mum bought for me for my birthday.

Let's just take a look at it first:

Rosey blush coloured, a good medium sized bag with some beautiful golden studs. It's like the absolute perfect bag for summer. I love bags this size, big enough to fit enough items in without breaking your back like other larger bags that let's face it, you are just guaranteed to fill.

There are even studs on the base of the bag which is a nice touch and makes the bag look so much more expensive and help to stop the bottom getting scratched and covered in crap from the floor.

I also love the zip, its nice and chunky and matches the gold studs. The zip goes all the way down the sides of the bag and their are two handles also made with the same rose gold. 

This bag is absolutely perfect and replaces my other older black bag from Warehouse with gold studs for the next summer months. The only problem i have found so far is that it is susceptible to stains from darker clothing. Wearing this with my new Levi's has resulted in a few dark blue stains on the rose pink material but luckily this can be cleaned off.

Even the inside is lined! I do love the inside material of a bag, you can always tell if you've got a good quality bag when you've seen the lining.

So what's my secret? Obviously its from TK maxx! There's nothing like a bargain when you're casually wandering around the shops and find a beauty like this. I don't remember the price of this but I do remember it was discounted quite a bit and was worth every penny!

Do you like rummaging in TK Maxx? Are bags your thing or are you a shoe girl?

Trips to TK Maxx are always a danger for me, especially in the bag section!

L xxx

MAC Plumage

Hey All

Sorry for the lack of posts from me this week, exam time is here for me and my first one was today. I got lucky and what I revised came up so I could answer what I needed to! Fingers crossed I knew enough to do well!

Today I wanted to share a new purchase from a few weeks ago. I picked it up when I decided to splurge last pay day! Regretting that now.

When L and I were browsing Urban Decay the other day I decide to pick up a MAC eyeshadow as well. I've been wanting to get more colours into my everyday eye make up so was looking for a bright purple or green but none of the shades were taking my fancy that day. I think it was one of those days when no matter what colour I had in my head I wouldn't find it.

After swatching a good few shadows Plumage caught my eye! It's a matte green/blue/grey shade and I thought it would look great blended out in a smokey eye or under the eye. Mac describe it as a dusky peacock shade.

I was so impressed with the swatch as even though it's a matte shade it's well pigmented and easy to blend. It took my fancy straight away!

I decided to grab the pan version as I'm hoping to pick up a palette soon so I can start building my own dream eyeshadow mix and figured it was easier than depotting shadows! They are cheaper too.

It's a different finish to the other MAC shadows I've tried but it's just as impressive. In the photo below I've used it under the eyes to add a slight pop of colour!

Have you tried Plumage? What are your must have shades?

Love M

xxx