Life Lately...

Saturday 21 June 2014

So I know that recently I have been absolutely pants at keeping up with my online life. To be honest it's not that I've been too busy, or that I have been lacking motivation, I have just had a terrible case of writers block. Every time I sit down to write a blog post, I start, maybe get a paragraph into it, and then give up. However I have promised myself that I am going to start getting back into this now! I was only supposed to be taking a short break whilst I moved home and settled into a new life with my boyfriend. Enough is Enough!

So I thought I'd start off with something simple and share all my instagram photos with you from the time that I have been absent on here! I am also STILL taking part in the #100HappyDays photo challenge, but it's just taking me longer than most to complete...


24th May 2014: My cousin came down to visit for her little boys birthday and we all went to Monkey World. He loves taking selfies, so I always make sure I snap a few with him. In this one he was a little distracted by the TV!


25th May 2014: Treating myself to a mini mint magnum! My first Magnum in a long time I believe!



26th May 2014: After seeing all the lovely nails that my colleagues at work have. They all get theirs done professionally once a month. I decided that it was about time that I gave myself a mani! Of course it had to be blue...


30th May 2014: We had Tim's friend, Keith over for dinner, and he bought me a bunch of flowers! He is such a sweetheart!


1st of June: Tim and I treated ourselves to a Costa, and I tried their iced mocha mint drink. It was scrummy, but so filling, I couldn't finish it!


1st of June: Tim and I had a curry, this was the night before I started the 5:2 diet and is the last takeaway I actually had!


5th of June: My second after fast day on the 5:2 diet. We had these lovely Turkey burgers for dinner, they were seriously tasty, and only had 300 calories per serving!


8th of June: I finally got around to wearing my Lion king t-shirt that I got at Primark!


8th of June: I took my nan up to Costco, and we always have a slice pizza from their 'food court', I can't believe this massive slice only cost £1.50...


11th June: I made this SUPER tasty Cowboy Chicken Stew from the Easy Cook Magazine that Tim and I have recently subscribed to. The chicken literally fell apart, it was so tender!


16th June: Tim and I got sick of ordinary pizza, so we made puff pastry pizza! this one had ricotta and caramelised onions!


20th June: My workplace had a 6th birthday BBQ and we managed to get our own personal ice cream man!


20th June: This is the ice cream that I had (courtesy of the company I work for), it's a bubblegum knickerbocker glory! I really struggled to finish it...


21st June: I posted a picture of the dinner that I had last night! Salmon, with rice stuffed tomatoes! This was my first time eating salmon in three years, and I really enjoyed it...

So there you have it, that's what I have been getting up to whilst I've been away! I'm going to try and be better with posting, but I honestly can't promise anything at the moment... I guess we'll see...
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Diet Diary #1: Introduction

Saturday 7 June 2014


I have tried many a diet before and all have failed, and the main reason for their failure has been my lack of motivation. Whenever I look in the mirror, I am unhappy with what I see. I am overweight, and I hate the way I look. I just want to go back to the size I was before I went to uni, and enough is enough, I'm finally doing something about it.

I originally heard about the 5:2 diet on Facebook, and to be honest I just saw it as another 'Fad' diet so for a long time I just ignored it. However after speaking to a girl at work who had lost a whopping 2 stone on this diet, I had to take notice of it. Since then I have read the book on it, watched a documentary on it, and finally started the diet myself.

I have to say that the documentary on fasting was pretty interesting, it turns out that losing weight isn't one of the only benefits you can get from fasting. In fact fasting has been scientifically proven to decrease your chances of getting major diseases, such as heart disease and cancer. If you want to read more on it then there are some brilliant articles on the internet such as this one.

I thought I'd share with you how my first week went, and to keep myself motivated, I'll be posting a weekly diary with my progress in it! I will also be keeping a food diary, but for my first week, concentrating on the diet was the most important thing.

So the idea of the 5:2 diet is that you eat your normal 2000 calories for five days, and then on two days you restrict yourself to only 500 calories. From the very beginning I decided I would try and stick to 600 calories on fast days, to give myself that extra boost at breakfast and lunch, however I think the more used to this I get, the more I will restrict.

My first fast day was Tuesday, and I cannot lie, it was horrific. I made it through breakfast, only eating a small bowl of cheerio's and half a banana, and at lunch I had a tuna salad, which to be honest I didn't really enjoy, and left me feeling a little miserable. By the time I got home I was seriously hungry. It was Tim's turn to cook, and he likes to take his time when it comes to completing any task, so I was getting very stressed and very hungry! Finally dinner arrived, I ate a small bowl of beef and pepper stir fry, and it barely touched the sides. I wanted to give up then and there, I was so hungry and I literally couldn't take it. I ran myself a bath and tried to relax, but I found myself getting more and more stressed. Tim was trying to calm me down, but I was just too angry with myself. I had a good cry to myself, and wondered if I could honestly carry on with this diet.

The next day I felt much better, and I felt very refreshed, and silly for making such a fuss the night before, but needless to say I wasn't looking forward to my next fast day. I managed not to overeat on this feast day, and I stayed just below my 2000 calorie target. This was the day that I joined the 5:2 diet Facebook Group, and I posted on there about my struggles and got a lot of support from the lovely women in that group, and they definitely spurred me on!

My next fast came on Thursday and this time I felt much more prepared. This time I had soup for lunch, and that was much nicer, and filled me up nicely, and best of all it was only 123 calories! I had to admit I was pretty excited for my dinner of home made turkey burgers with salad and a tomato salsa. I can't believe it only came to 299 calories a portion, and it was totally delicious!


I was advised by the lovely ladies in the Facebook Group to weigh myself the morning after my second fast day, and to be honest I wasn't getting my hopes up. However I was shocked to see that I had lost 3 Ib's since my last weigh in! That was encouragement enough to reassure me that I am definitely doing the right thing.

Since then I have been on feast days, so I have been eating normally and making sure I stick to my 2000 calories and don't pig out. I even have plans to move onto a 4:3 fasting set up as I think there are far too many feast days in between my second fast day one week and my first one the next week, but we'll see how I get on. Next week Tim is even joining me on my venture, he's more interested in the health benefits than the weight loss though. To be honest I can't wait to see how he copes with his first fast day, I foresee it being very tricky for him!

Have you tried the 5:2 diet before? I'd love to hear how you got on!


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Primark Haul #3

Sunday 1 June 2014

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I'm alright, been very, VERY busy the past few weeks, and I've been taking some time to try and get my life in a little more order. Now I'm back and I'm kicking it off with something nice and easy, a Primark Haul!

The first items on my list were some new cardigans in summer colours for work.



These were £4.90 each, and of course I had to pick up a blue one to wear. Although I did surprise myself by picking up a pink one, especially as pink isn't normally a colour I chose.

Next up I headed over to the t-shirts section, as I always tend to pick myself up a new t-shirt when I go to Primark, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.


This gorgeous Pug t-shirt was only £5, and will pair with most of my outfits! Plus who can resist pug faces?


As soon as I saw this Disney tee I knew I had to have it. The Lion king is one of my favourite Disney films, and this t-shirt is just too cute. It came in at £6 so it didn't break the bank either!

Something else I was on the hunt for were some light summery cardigans to wear over bright summer dresses, or even in the cool summer evenings, once again Primark delivered.


This beautiful large lace crop cardigan was a must have item for me. It cost me £10, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my holiday to Wales in August.


As well as the lace cardigan I wanted something a little bit heavier, but still light, for when the summer breeze gets a little chilly, and this cardigan covers me perfectly. I went for white as it will go with everything and will be perfect against any summer colours. This one set me back £8.

The final items on my list was Summer footwear. My last favourite pair of sandals managed to last me a good 2 years, but they just fell apart, so I knew it was time to move on.


These laser cut sandals are feminine but at the same time not too girly. I'm not a massive fan of fake flowers or pearls on sandals as I think they look super tacky, so this is the perfect amount of feminine for me, and at £4 I couldn't leave them there.


I tend to buy a new pair of flip flops every year, normally because by the time autumn comes around they get thrown into a cupboard and forgotten about, and 9 times out of 10, they disappear. However Primark always have flip flops for £1, so it doesn't bother me too much that I buy a new pair each year. This year I went for this turquoise colour (obviously).


Finally I laid eyes on these beauties and I fell in love. I'm a big fan of gladiator style sandals, and I was devastated when I lost my last pair. However as soon as I tried these on I knew I had to make them mine. These came in at £10, but in my opinion they are totally worth it!

So there we have it, that's what I sneakily bought the last time I went to Primark. Next time I'm sure I'll be picking up even more summer goodies for my holiday in August!

Have you been to Primark recently? What did you buy?
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