Losing My Mojo...

Losing My Mojo...

Hello...it's me! Not Adele, it's Emma!
Sorry I haven't posted in a very, very, very long time, I've got myself a second job; I know I'm crazy for doing so, but what else is a single girl supposed to do at the weekends? So with both my jobs & trying to make time for the gym and other things in my life, I've let my blogging take a back seat.

I feel like 2015 has been my random wandering year as I've sort of lost my mojo of healthy eating & exercise, which is sad because it's something that I do enjoy participating in & I enjoy all the healthy food I make.

Over the past year, from fracturing a bone in my foot, to having my heart broken at the beginning of the year, then having a car accident; the first six months of the year didn't go as I had hoped for. These set backs meant I missed classes & some of the classes I was attending eventually closed due to low attendance, so when I was ready to return I had no class to go back too!
Even though I had these sets backs I struggled through with the help of my friends & family. My best friend Laura & I manage to complete The Suffering 5K, which was great fun but in total was 8.5K long instead, but that's another story.

The second half of the year, hasn't been too shabby; I managed to pull myself together & get out of my funk & get things back on track. I've felt great about myself & felt more confident & have become stronger in the gym, but still I have been feeling that something isn't right. Then I lost my mojo, in October a month before I was due to go away for my holiday to Australia. It just went; I was grumpy & unhappy with myself & my body but I continued to go to the gym regardless. I don't think there has been much change to my body over the year that I can see, which is a little disheartening, when I had tried to put in so much effort. I feel like I've become exhausted & feel like I've made no progress.

The Land Down Under...

Luckily, whilst I was on holiday in Australia, not only did I get the rest I needed, but I also found myself inspired again, by my wonderful cousins! I really liked Australia as I felt that the lifestyle there is more healthy, restaurants have much more to offer in the way of gluten free, dairy free etc. and there's specialist health food shops scattered everywhere full of lovely organic & alternative foods. Also the weather really helps, not only does the sunshine help everyone's mood, but you can do more activities outside, which is what sucks about the lovely English weather...roll on summer! 
So, by talking to my cousins about their health & fitness regime's & what I do back home, really helped me refocus my mind, which is what I desperately needed.
I was eating quite healthily & enjoying the sunshine by going on lovely long coastal walks whilst I was visiting Australia, it really gave me a renewed sense of what I want to achieve & what I want to push myself to do. So, that once Christmas was out of the way I can start again in 2016 with a renewed perspective.

Peace & Love.

 

Skinny Love?

Skinny Love?

 

 

 

Skinny Love, and I'm not talking Bon Iver, or the covers by Ed Sheeran or Birdy either.

 

We are all so fascinated & obsessed with being 'skinny'. But what do people mean by skinny & how do they get there? .Over the last couple of years, learning about various lifestyle changes, fad diets, different exercise regimes, there's a few buzz words floating round one being 'weight loss' the other 'fat loss'.

As we are making changes to ourselves for health reasons, or you want to be fitter & stronger for your own personal goals, most of the time it end's up in some sort of loss over time, so what's the difference?

 

Weight Loss

 

Weight loss, is what a person see's in number's it will be that they've lost so many Kgs/lbs over a week or certain time period, this can also be measured in inches around certain body areas.

 

Weight Loss is essentially where you have a combination of diet & exercise programme to follow, that will result in a loss. But what is this mystical loss, where has it come off from.

Most weight losses, are a result of a diet where there will be no carbs or they are highly restricted, if you have a sedentary lifestyle this will work well as your body will use it's own glycogen stores for energy.

However, if you combine this with an active lifestyle, glycogen can carry 4 times more water weight which means you'll drop the weight quickly as you'll lose the water weight, unfortunately as you will have lower glycogen stores which means when you work out you will be wasting away your muscle mass & become dehydrated. 

 

So now you've got little carbohydrate stores & feel like your becoming fitter because the number on the scales tell you that you are, you might want to try interval/tempo training to add some nice lean muscle so you look toned & defined- don't even bother, well you can try but due to low glycogen stores your muscle will fatigue and there will be an increase in muscle catabolism so your own body will start to use your muscle protein for energy, so now your losing your muscle mass, & the less muscle mass you have the slower your natural metabolism becomes. #Awkward

Congratulations! You've lost water weight & muscle mass, you've become skinny fat! You've dropped some weight, but can't seem to get the definition you'd like, but you're skinny so who cares, right?

 

 

 

Fat Loss

 

Fat loss is the daddy of all losses! Only the tough need apply, fat loss is the endurance test, it requires hard work & determination to be able to succeed. Fat loss differs from weight loss as it just isolates the fat storage on the body, and doesn't effect your muscles or your metabolism in negative ways like weight loss does. Fat loss requires a healthy balanced diet, but doesn't require you to restrict or completely drop a food group. You'll need to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism fire burning, in hand with training, to become a lean mean fat loss machine. So how do we burn fat?

 

The rules for fat burning are very simple & easy to follow, naturally with any loss you want to cut your calorie intake, the easiest way to do this is to cut excess dietary fat, fatty cuts of meat, skin off chicken, full fat diary products, but keep healthy fats in your diet such as salmon, avocado, nut butters.

Keep your carbohydrates in check, as these govern our hormone insulin that either help us break down fat or store it, carbohydrates must be slow releasing & wholegrain as they don't kick up the insulin too much & never eat carbs on their own.

Eat your protein, protein burns more calories whilst your body is digesting it, than what it contains, plus also it helps you build muscle & keeps your metabolism fired up.

Don't eat too close to bed time as this will make our insulin spike and will decrease our fat burn, throughout the day try & eat little often.

Before & after the gym, try & have protein before & protein & carbs after, as the carbs will assist the protein to repair & recover the muscles.

Fat loss requires you to retain or gain muscle mass, so lift heavy & feel the burn, work out for an hour, only one muscle group at a time, with a rest of 60 seconds between sets.

Don't forget your cardio, cardio helps release norepinephrine, which can help fat loss especially on an empty stomach e.g. first thing in the morning, or if you haven't eaten any carbs yet.
Using the fat loss method, will help you melt the fat away to reveal the god or goddesses body underneath, but don't be scared if you step on the scales & you've gained weight. As your building lean muscle mass, this will make you weigh more, but you should be able to see tone & definition & the truth will be in your measurements.

When I started this journey, I started off on a weight loss course because I didn't know any better & this is what a lot of the advertised diet groups & companies do. Over the years, I have tried various things, as I think everyone should to try & find what works for you personally, like everything in life, its trial & error.

I decided to write this blog as I've noticed people on Facebook & Instagram doing well with their 'weight loss' & when they post their food, food diaries, it made me quite concerned that they're not getting enough protein & wondering why their hair is thinning & nails have got brittle, so they need to take a different supplements that help them grow rather than having a healthier diet. Or they're not eating any carbs, then squatting wondering why they're bum isn't getting any bigger. It just see them making the same mistakes I did, in the earlier days & I'm just sat here like....

 

I also keep getting added to various groups, or invitations to pages not to be rude but I'm not interested in Forever Living, Juice Plus, The Cambridge Diet or any other faddy bullshit diets.
I just don't see how people get conned into doing these diets, why would you want to drink a natural laxative for 3 days? Or eat some fruity pills/shakes instead of proper food? Or have your calorie intake reduce to like 500 a day, not being funny but I'm pretty sure my right ass cheek eats 500 calories a day to keep it big & round. So thanks, but no thanks I'll have to decline.

 

Bootea Teatox Review

Bootea Teatox Review

So, I've been seeing this Bootea Teatox all over social media, it's been used by celebrities from those Geordies up north to those Essex birds down south and everyone in between so I thought I'd give it a try to see if it's another one of those gimmick products that's indorsed by the celebs or whether it actually works. So what is it supposed to do? 

Bootea Teatox uses natural ingredients to help cleanse the body of toxins, and built up waste matter from the body via the lungs, kidneys, bowels and skin. Bootea comes with an 

eating plan which is accessible free online, with the combination of the tea, eating plan & an active exercise regime to achieve maximum results, over the 14 days or 28 day Teatox that you purchase. 

I chose the 14 day Teatox, I looked over the eating plan which is vegetarian, they say if you are to eat meat it has to be organic and lean so chicken or turkey. However, I declined to follow the eating plan purely because there just wasn't enough protein in it for my life style, I workout & when I do it's mainly weight resistant training, if I followed their eating plan, yes my weight would drop but I would be losing my muscle mass as I wouldn't be eating enough protein to maintain or grow my muscles, no one wants to be thin & flabby. Here's the link to the eating plan https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0237/2289/files/bootea_flexible_eating_plan.pdf?1395

This is my before photo taken on the Tuesday after the Easter bank holiday, so lots of chocolate, alcohol & my mum's homemade Beef Wellington. #fattie

The ingredients are natural, but I wanted to know whether they had any other health benefits so I looked into the ingredients...

Daytime Tea Ingredients

Oolong Tea- Helps Eczema & other inflammatory skin conditions.

Mate Leaves - Acts as a weight loss tool/ suppresses appetite.

Giner Root - Anti Inflammatory & helps digestive problems.

Fennel Seeds - Reduces bloating.

Lemongrass - Rebalances internal flora.

Dandilion Leaf - Increases kidney & bowel movements.

Ginseng Root - Boots Immunity.

Gotu Kola Leaves - Helps with circulation.

Nettle Leaves - Helps with digestive system.

Nighttime Tea Ingredients

Senna Leaves - Natural laxative

Peppermint Leaves - Helps with digestion

Genugreek Seeds - Helps digestion & reduces cholesterol

Liquorice Root - Lowers stomach acid, relives heartburn/indigestion, mild laxative

Burdock Root - Anti-inflammatory

Hawthorn Leaves - Helsp with digestive complaints

Valarian Root - Helps with sleep disorders (Anyone seen Carry On Screaming - Valaria?)

Psyllium Seeds - A source of soluble fiber/ laxative.

As you can see from the ingredients its suppose to rebalance the digestive system, & with the laxatives "cleanse" the body of toxins.

The daytime Teatox takes a few mornings to get use to the flavour, I usually drink herbal teas so I'm quite accustomed to trying new ones. It smells like nettles, it tastes like nettles, it's nettles; with a hint of a citrus after taste, after a couple of mornings I got quite used to it but the first couple of days it does taste quite bitter. 

The nighttime tea, is actually quite pleasant, I'm a big fan of peppermint tea its one of my favourites, so I really enjoy the nighttime tea. You only have this tea every other night.

The Effects

So naturally by doing a detox/ colon cleanse or whatever they would like to call it, people just want the honest truth about the effects.

The daytime tea doesn't really effect you in anyway, I have the tea in the morning & carry on drinking my regular green tea through out the day. I can't agree that it suppressed my appetite, I was starving for most of the time, I don't think I've eaten so much in ages.

The nighttime tea, however, within like an hour and a half of drinking it, I was on the loo. So the next morning I had my morning tea & breakfast now I think the combination of the two teas & my breakfast, did the job it was supposed to do... I went to the loo 3 times that morning, you will shit through the eye of a needle to say the least, also have really bad farts that will leave you wondering what the hell you've eaten or what has crawled up your ass & died.

The effects of the nighttime tea only happened that badly on the 1st night/morning after, the only other time it flared up like this was about a week later, so halfway through the cleanse, when I had eaten out & had a few mojitos, but it wasn't as severe I didn't go to the loo at night I only went twice in the morning.

The Results



So I've completed my Teatox, overall I do feel less bloated which is good. My after photos were taken this morning 21/04/15, after I had eaten my breakfast & after I had been to bootcamp where we did abs! But I'm not sure whether it's made any visable difference, maybe you guys can be the judge? I've not lost any weight either. I know I didn't follow their food guide/diary thing but if I did it would make me lose weight, but not the right kind, it would have made me lose muscle rather than fat, I'm just not down with that.

Maybe it depends what your diet is like before the cleanse, I don't know I eat pretty healthy anyway, so it might not have worked? Maybe some of you may try it & and get different results... it kind of worked for me as I feel less bloated, but I'm not sure whether I see any physical difference in my photos, but I did enjoy the tea.

Here are my photos together for comparison....

All About That Protein

All About That Protein

Protein, the third & most important food group. Protein contains 22 amino acids, 8 of which are essential which we can't produce ourselves, therefore they must come from food. Amino acids helps us produce hormones, with brain development, healthy bones & growth. 

Sources of protein are split into two groups animal protein & plant protein, animal protein obviously comes from animals and contains all 8 essential amino acids, whilst the plant protein are known as incomplete amino acids as they don't contain all of the essentials.

Now, I don't care whether your Vegetarian, Vegan, Pescetarian, Carnivore, or an omnomnomivore, I'm not going to judge. Myself, I'm a carnivore I like to eat meat it's tasty & I get all my essential amino acids, and my protein intake for the activities that I do. I mainly eat chicken/ turkey, & I have whey protein shakes, I'll have fish a couple of times a week & steak at least once.

So the question is, how much protein should a person be having?

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 0.8g of protein per Kilo (KG) of body weight, which means that I should be eating 65g of protein a day.

Now, we all know that protein is takes longer to digest & therefore keeps us fuller for longer, that's why I have more than 65g of protein a day, because otherwise I would be starving all day & I have a strenuous workout & I need to eat to refuel & repair my body. 

Protein can also be used to help achieve your fitness goals, by weightlifting & eating a high protein diet you can increase lean muscle mass & strength, and lose fat as when you eat more protein it takes twice as many calories for your body to digest it, whilst maintaining & gaining your muscle mass.

But Too Much Protein is Bad for You?

In previous years a high protein diet gets a bad press from things like the Atkins diet where you used to cut carbohydrates almost completely from your diet. To be able to eat healthily & still lose weight you should never cut a whole food group from what you eat other wise bad things will happen.

Or a high protein diet can cause health problems, which if you eat too much of one thing it can cause some fatal disease, this rule applies to all food, especially if you eat something in abundance and then don't use it as fuel for your body. 

When changing your eating habits, I think you should try a various different eating forms as everyone is different & only you will know what's right for your body.Each body will react differently to a different combination of foods, so it's all about experimenting what works for your body & gives the best nutrition for your activity levels

Personally, I've found that if I eat protein frequently throughout the day I stay nice and full & I'm less likely to snack on crap processed foods. If some people are stuck when losing weight its good to mix it up and shock the body into something new, so if you fancy it try eating 5 small meals day & have protein at all of them, whether it's a piece of chicken, a protein shake or peanut-butter on toast. 

Mmm peanut-butter...

8 Weeks Later

8 Weeks Later

So, I've been living life the Buffmaster way for the last 8 weeks, and I feel fantastic, probably the best I've felt in ages. I feel healthy, strong, happy, and it's definitely going to continue. 

So here's my measurements since last time....

At the beginning of February                        28 Days Later.                    End of March.

Measurements (inches)

Arm: 13.5.                                                              14.                                   14

Bust: 37.                                               37.5 (Hooray for boobies).                37

Chest: 32.5.                                                          32.                                    32

Waist: 32.                                                              32.                                    32

Hips: 41.5.                                                             41.                                  41.5

Bum: 44.                                                                43.                                  42.5 

Upper Thigh: 26.5.                                                26.                                   25 

Lower Thigh: 21.                                                   19.5.                                20

So in total over the last month I've only lost an inch, and since the beginning of the year I've only lost 0.1%  body fat, now that I've found some scales that can give me an half sharp reading. What I've lost maybe ONLY be something small, but it's better than nothing at all &  because I've been eating so well, my skin, hair, general health & wellbeing is great, I'm feeling very positive for what lies ahead...

Hope you all had a lovely Easter! 

Week 8 Update

Week 8 Update

Happy Monday! 

It's that time of the week again, so last week when I updated I had been rather ill, so I lost some weight, now that I'm back on track my weight has gone back up to 81.1KG. To be honest I've not been that good this week, I have been having a few too many cups of tea with sugar in 😱.

So, today I've reset myself, & I'm concentrating on sugar reduction this week in my diet, to see if it makes a difference. I may also cut my carbs slightly lower, and up my fats a little, but I haven't yet decided. 

As I've been better this week, I attended all 3 Buffmaster boot camps 💪, my kickboxing class & yoga. 

Over the last few weeks I've been sharing my weight every week and as you can see it's up & down like a yoyo, last week it was down as I had lost my appetite & hadn't done any exercise & this week I'm healthy & I've gained. 

So I think I'm going to just do a monthly report on how I've done, because the scales are useless especially when weightlifting & concentrate on my measurements, hourglass figure here I come... ⌛ 

Oh here's the link to some of my food diary, I did forget to photography most of it, I've also included my weeks total from myfitnesspal. 

http://flipagram.com/f/SpQMT6HOuP

Obesity in the News

Obesity in the News

Forgive my ignorance, but I never knew that people who are morbidly obese could recieve benefits for this so called "disability".

I understand that people can develop obesity from an underactive thyroid, or from cushing syndrome and depression. These are valid medical reasons that warrant people to have such a benefit, if they let these conditions effect their everyday lives.

However, people who carry extra weight through no fault of their own by eating too much, shouldn't have any disability benefit; they've brought the problem on themselves, they should be able to overcome it by themselves. We all know that by becoming obese & eating the wrong foods can cause health problems such as hypertension, circulatory problems, cancer, depression and diabetes, so I don't see why people should be allowed to claim for the benefit, if they brought it on themselves. They will already be in receipt of free health care to help with the medical problems brought on by becoming obese, so they shouldn't be allowed to recieve disability benefit too.

I was completely appalled one day, I came home from work and scrolled through my facebook feed, to find someone had commented on a video from that days This Morning programme. It was a story about a 15 year old girl, who weighed 17 stone who wanted a gastric band on NHS. She claimed she'd tried everything, and that the pressure of society made her believe that gastic band was the only option left. This is a 15 year old girl, she hasn't even finished developing yet, she could easily lose all that weight with the right knowledge and a positive attitude, and to ignore what 'society' says that its all about how you look, actually it's all about being confident and not to let anyone mug you off.

Watch the interview here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcSROE0hyM

I actually felt quite sorry for her, and could relate to her situation about feeling down, inadequate in 'society's' eyes, having no self esteem or confidence. I'd actually really like to help her to let her know that actually she's not alone, and that she can do it once she puts her mind to it, and that actually she doesn't need to put her self through unnecessary surgery.

When I first started my weight loss I was half a stone (7lbs/3.1Kg) away from being categorised as morbidly obese, luckily for me I hadn't developed any physical health problems yet. I've written this blog because I believe it's important to educate people about what they're doing to their bodies. I've learnt the hard way & I also fear that if something isn't done to combat this obesity crisis that is sweeping over western civiliations we're all gonna end up like this...



I Wanna Do Bad Things....With Carbs

I Wanna Do Bad Things...With Carbs

I'm not gonna lie, I love all things made with white flour, pasta, bread, cake, biscuits...mmm donuts, & all things sugary & sweet, chocolate, sweets & ice cream. So, naturally all of these things should be enjoyed as a treat every so often, rather than everyday, as they're the wrong kind of carbohydrates we need. 

I know what you're thinking, how could some taste so good, be so bad for us? 

Well it's all a case of Simple vs. Complex carbs. The above mentioned yummy foods are unfortunately examples of simple carbs. This means that the smaller molecules of sugar are absorbed & digested quickly into our bodies. This energy is turned into glycogen & is stored in our cells. If it's not used it immediately turns to fat.  Simple carbs have usually been stripped of most of their nutrients & made more consumer friendly, their high glycemic index (GI) will cause our blood sugar levels to rise quickly causing a sugar rush, once this has ended it was cause our blood sugar levels to dip, & then we begin to seek out more sugar.

Complex carbs, are our friends. They may not taste as great & we may not always be in the mood for them, but they are good to us. Complex carbs can be found in a more natural state foods, this means they haven't been tampered with or processed. These foods are high in nutrients & lower in calories. They're also low GI foods which means our bodies have to work harder to break the food down, to get the glycogen which means that our blood sugar levels are more stable throughout the day. 

Before I started changing my lifestyle I used to eat mainly simple carbs in abundance & not worry about it, I'd never really thought about the nutritional value of the foods I was eating before. Now, I realise how much of the simple carbohydrates turn to sugar, & this is is probably one of the causes of my own obesity, from this I have learnt the error of my ways I now eat complex carbs & because not only are they good for you, they're more dense more so you don't need as much as they fill you up. 

From being educated on carbs, I could then implement an eating plan with my training program for results. I've previously blogged about the Team Dynamix Alkaline/Acid eating plan & about Macro counting, because I'm an endomorph & my goal is for fat loss, I limit my carbs throughout they day, I also don't have any carbs with my evening meal on non-training days. However, it is important to stress that you should never cut one food group completely from your diet, the consequences not only physically but also mentally could be detrimental to you. 

As I am determined to reach my goal, & I show great willpower to be able to say 'No' to the simple carb foods, but don't get me wrong I know my history of being an emotional eater, & if I'm having a particularly bad time I could quite happily sit with a cup of tea & smash a whole packet of chocolate hobnobs, no question. But, even then I still don't display this behaviour because I understand my triggers, & willpower is a wonderful thing...

Plus, now I'm in the habit of eating well & looking after myself, I like to save my simple carb treats for something special as I love Italian food or a G&T or wine. 

Pass The Brown Paper Bag Please...

Your Skin

Throughout my teens I had quite good skin; not too many break outs which is quite a relief compared to some girls I know. 

However, when I started losing weight weight my skin became terrible, blemishes & breakouts I'd never experienced anything like it. Hence, the title, pass the brown paper bag I seriously just wanted to hide away my skin was awful, couldn't image what it would've been like if I was in my teens but now I'm an adult in my mid-twenties with acne of someone who should be 10 years younger. Each month the condition of my skin would be different & different patches on face, one part dry, another really oily I just felt like I couldn't win. 

This was something the slimming groups obviously don't tell you when you sign up. I figured out that unfortunately our skin doesn't hide all of our sins. From all the years I had been eating god knows what full of chemicals & harmful substances then stored away in my fat cells for a long time. I was now breaking these down & these radicals that been stored in my fat were now making there way to face, unfortunately there's not enough concealer to hide them. Having the skin of a 17 year old does make you quite depressed, when your 27 & getting ID'd in Asda for a bottle of voddy, when your going out later that night. 

Some months my skin, would back to its usual normal self, and I would feel great, but then it would go funny again. My mum has always taught my sister & I the importance of looking after your skin. So, I've always practised a cleanse, tone & moisturise routine, with the added in exfoliation & face mask. I found its important to try lots of different products to find the best ones that work for you. I currently use a combination of Liz Earle & Ren Skincare.

So I started to do a little research online about what else I could do, to try and help my acne/blemish problem. I found this handy little website, which uses Chinese medicine & reflexology approach to skin mapping for acne. I thought I'd try this first before going to the doctors, because as we all know the condition of someone's skin is usually a representation of what they've put inside the body. 

http://www.skinacea.com/acne/acne-face-map.html#.VODVUmIgGSM

When I returned from travelling last year my skin was bloody awful, literally the day I landed my sister made me an appointment at the doctors. It was really bad, and she didn't want me to end up like her; having just finished 6 months on Accutane & having to wait for treatment for scarring. I've been using Duac cream since November, which has worked well also now I have got my food back to normal, unlike when I was travelling it was extremely carb heavy. 

A lot of my blemishes & acne breakouts were on my chin, with a combination of my skin routine, the Duac cream from the doctors, and with help from the skin map, I've finally got my skin under control. I've realised that I probably wasn't having enough omega 3's in my diet to regulate my hormones properly. As I make sure I have oily fish a couple of times a week, and I also have a flax seed mix I put in my porridge most mornings, this has helped my skin improve considerably. 

(Gorgeous, Aren't I?)

Food Glorious Food

Food, Glorious, Food 

When I was using Slimming World, I found it quite a useful tool as it taught me portion sizes, to set limits to things like dairy, sweets, chocolate; it taught me about delicious new foods,   & swap sugar for sweetener & making low-fat or no fat choices; it still allowed me to eat a little bit of what I fancied by using the syn system. 

When I started Team Dynamix, it used the acid/alkaline diet, which was completly new & terrifying to me but actually it wasn't that bad; it actually made me think more about what I was putting in my body, and that I needed the right nutrition to fuel my body for the exercise I was doing. 

It works on the principle that the body is made up of alkaline cells, and that if we eat more acidic foods our cells will swell & bloat with the acidic foods because it takes longer for our bodies to process them, where as if you eat mainly alkaline foods, our bodies will return to & maintain at an alkaline state.

For this I had to give up all man made processed foods, anything white, caffeine, alcohol, all refined sugars & sweeteners, and red meat (but only for the first two weeks) & I went gluten free. 

This is a food diagram of what you can eat, you should aim for 80% alkaline 20% acidic.  

So, I swapped my breakfast for gluten free granola with almond milk, my builders tea (milk & 2 sugars)  for  green or herbal. You could have one portion of fish & one portion of poultry a day, so I alternated my lunches & dinners, with a portion of complex carbs so I used sweet potatoes, quinoa & couscous. For my morning snack I had one portion of fruit to stabilise my blood sugars throughout the day, eventually I cut this out. The good thing about this diet is that you could have some full-fat products such as yoghurt, houmous & milk, the reason for this is you need fat to break down fat. If you have low fat & no fat products basically it's had  all the good fats taken out and replaced with several "ingredients" or chemicals that you can't pronounce. The basic rules are, if it has more than 5 ingredients don't eat it & if it has anything in the ingredients list that you can't pronounce, you probably shouldnt eat it either.

                                        

For the first 3 days I was walking around like a zombie, I was lethargic, had a headache & chills. This was my body's response to going cold-turkey to my caffeine addiction, I like drinking tea; only I used to drink it in bucket style mugs, several times throughout the day.

I now had zero caffeine & it was awful, I now see why drug addicts don't quit, it's bloody horrendous, however, after 3 days I felt fantastic I had all this energy, because of this diet & no caffeine meant that my body was using energy from my fat stores (yay!).

I think I got away lightly as some other members of my group not only drank loads of coffee, they drank coke so some of them had to ween themselves off of it which took a few days longer, so I would cut the fizzy drinks out as soon as possible.

At home we have steak night once a week, it's like an unwritten law. So for the first two weeks of Team Dynamix I could've cried everyone else was eating steak & I had chicken, it sucked. However, after that you could have it once a week, so having a steak for dinner became my treat meal of the week, with sweet potato wedges & cheesy 'slaw.

My sweet tooth has got better over time, I still have days where I could totally eat a whole cake, but I have a new love now, Green & Blacks dark chocolate is divine. Dark chocolate that uses 70% cocoa solids is also good for you! As it's a purer form of chocolate is has some fat burning properties, and also because it's bittersweet you don't need much to satisfy your cravings! 

I've also tried doing this diet on the 5/2 theory for 2 weeks after I completed bootcamp, so every other day I ate 600 calories after 2pm, to shock my body again, it did work & the first day is always the hardest, I drank water & green tea until 2pm & I found the trick is to have your first meal prepped ready to go, so I had my porridge ready to go for 2pm on the dot, that way I knew I wouldn't binge on my first meal. 

The thing about the alkaline/acid diet, it may have a funny name & the word diet in the title but really it teaches you to eat clean. By not having any man made processed foods & it teaches you to be more wise about your food options throughout the day, to actually think about what you're going to eat next. 

I've found from being on this diet, well it's not really a diet to me anymore it's my lifestyle now & over time my tastes have really changed, I can no longer stomach a takeaway, as all I can taste is the grease they've cooked it in, I also no longer have extreme cravings for sweets & chocolate.

I contantly think about food but for the right reasons, about my next meal what can i make next, I have a pinterest board dedicated to health food inspiration, which really comes in handy. https://uk.pinterest.com/emmalbrown87/healthy-foods/

Weekly Update

A quick one...

So it's been a week since my first blog, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read it, it means so much to me. The feedback I've had is brilliant I'm glad people enjoy reading it & that I hope you find it useful or insightful, as I enjoy writing it's very therapeutic. 

In my first blog, that I published last Sunday my weight was 81.9 Kgs, since then I have kept my eye on my food diary the last 7 days & I went to weight resistance boot camp on Thursday & had a PT session on Saturday. I weighed myself yesterday to find that I've lost 1.7Kgs or 3.8lbs in the last week! 

Throughout the last seven days I've kept my food diary, I have also taken pictures of what I have eaten, although sometimes it would get to a meal time & I would be so hungry I'd forget (sorry), so to give people an idea of what I eat throughout the day & snack on please follow this flipagram link. Don't forget to wash all you food down with at least 1.5 to 2 litres of water a day, I also have about 5 cups of green tea a day too. http://flipagram.com/f/QYIPeApBkL

Fat Fighters

"Half-The-Calorie Diet' so you can have twice as much"


                                        
"Hello Fatties" 

When you think of joining a slimming club, you think of Majorie Dawes ("I just love a bit of cake, yeah") but honestly it's not that bad, you're with people who want the same goal as you, to lose weight.
I had completed my first step and joined Slimming World. When I joined I was 17 stone and half a pound (238lbs - 108Kgs) & I'm 5ft 6in (167cm) tall, so according to my body mass index (BMI) was obese, if I was 6.5lbs heavier I would have been classed as morbidly obese, I look back now & I'm glad I started when I did, who knows what would of happened too me?
Dust? Anyone? No?

I used Slimming World for about 18 months I was using their extra easy plan, which was extra easy to follow; you have super free & free foods which you can eat in abundance and healthy options A & B you pick one of each a day & you had 15 syns a day to be naughty if you wanted to use them. The recipes online & in the magazine are really tasty & get people back in the kitchen & cooking using fresh ingredients, that makes loads of dinners & I took the leftovers for lunch at work the next day. It also encourages you to keep a food diary so you know what you've eaten. I never stayed for the actual group as I got back home from work late, if I had stayed at the group it wouldn't have been 9pm before I had any dinner, so I'm not sure what they do at group (it could be a cult, for all I know!?)

I've never tried Weight Watchers or Rosemary Connolly so I'm not sure how they compare. For me Slimming World felt like the right platform for weight loss, it was simple & easy to follow, and it helped me gain control of what I was eating & the portion size of what I was eating & re-educated me about what I was putting in my body & I was enjoying all these fresh fruit & vegetables. I've never been so full in my life, that first week I was on slimming world I thought I would burst, before I started the plan I had cut my meals down in size in an attempt to lose weight, I now know that this is considered an extremely bad move, as it slows your metabolism down & mine is slow enough as it is! I would definitely recommend Slimming World to anyone who wants to loose weight as a starting platform. 

Towards the end of my time on Slimming World, I had lost about 3 stone (19Kgs) my weight loss had started to plateau & I wasn't seeing the results I wanted when I had been good with food all week, and been to the gym 3-4 times a week, so it was time for a change, I saw that by this point that Slimming World would no longer help me to achieve my goals & that it was just making me loose pounds in my bank account. It was time for something more dynamic...