Finally Getting Myself in Shape

My weight is something that I have always struggled with. As a child, I was quite chubby with a round face. My "puppy fat" phase, if you will, which kind of disappeared as I got older.

When I was in my mid-late teens I was always slim, no bigger than a UK size 10 but of course, I was obsessed with my appearance and thought I was fat back then. I definitely put this down to the celebrity culture in the 2000's making me feel like I had to look a certain way.

At the age of 17, I got my first job in a large discount retail store and that's where I met my lovely, long-suffering partner Chris. I spent a lot of time either in work, relying on Boots Meal Deals, Burger King or crisps for lunch or at Chris's house where we would sit in, watch a lot of DVDs in the evening and order takeaways. Needless to say, although I was busy on my feet and spent my time walking to and from work, the weight did pile on and by the time that I fell pregnant with my first child, I was at my heaviest weight of 11st which wasn't good for my 5'4" frame.

I didn't pile too much weight on during my pregnancy which I was really happy about but if you've read my birth stories, you'll know that he was born prematurely at 33 weeks. Both of us were very ill so we had hospital stays, meaning that I lived on hospital food for a few weeks. I ended up losing a lot of weight which I definitely put down to eating better when I was in there and I finally felt comfortable again.

I managed to keep the weight off until I fell pregnant with my second child. This time round, I had a really bad relationship with food and I definitely saw pregnancy as an excuse to eat and it has only gotten worse since I had E. I put all the weight back on, plus more. E is turning four next week and I really have no excuse - I can't call it baby weight! I don't suit carrying a lot of extra weight and I definitely don't feel comfortable in my own body anymore. It's affecting my mental health and I don't enjoy clothes shopping as I don't think anything suits my shape.

With both of my children being out at school as of next week, I am going to find myself with a lot of extra time and I will definitely be spending a lot of that getting myself in shape. I have already suggested joining a gym with Chris (I don't feel confident enough to go it alone just yet!) and I own weights and kettlebells for working out at home - YouTube is amazing for finding fitness videos!

I also want to spend some time meal planning and changing how I eat. I am terrible for skipping meals, especially breakfast, and I know it's true what they say about breakfast being the most important meal of the day. I never feel like eating proper food first thing in the morning so I may even opt to buy a My Juicer UK and make a nice fruit smoothie in the morning to kickstart my day.

I absolutely love most foods, especially vegetables, so I know I won't struggle with that but I know that I need to reduce my portion sizes and eat more frequently throughout the day. Hopefully this means that I won't find myself getting peckish and wanting to reach for an unhealthy snack!

I think what I will find most difficult is cutting out my fizzy drinks but I am hoping that with time, I won't miss it once I lose that craving for sugar.

I'll keep you guys posted with my progress!
(This is a sponsored post.)

Aldi's Fitness and Kitchen SpecialBuys are on sale!

When the New Year rolls around, especially after overindulging at Christmastime, I'm sure I'm not the only one who vows to lose a few pounds and get more in shape. Today, 2nd January, Aldi's new range of fitness SpecialBuys are available to buy instore and online.

With it still being icy cold outside, the Aldi Exercise Bike (£69.99) is perfect a cardiovascular workout in the comfort of your own home. It can clock up speed, time and calories burned as well as monitoring pulse so you can keep track of everything you need.

If you like to see your progess, you'll love the Wireless Activity Tracker (£24.99). This connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth to measure your sporting, fitness and everyday life activity 24/7.

The Bluetooth Sports Headset (£9.99) is great for blasting your motivational playlist to get yourself raring to go. You are able to stream music wirelessly from Bluetooth devices and it has a 10 metre operating range so you can listen without wires getting in the way. It's also water and sweat resistant.

The Swing Stepper (£24.99) offers aerobic exercise via a compact home toning stair climber with swing motion. Both beginners and experts can benefit from the Aerobics Stepper (£11.99) which has an adjustable height so you can increase the intensity of your workout.

For those of you wanting to tone your tummy, the Ab Trimmer (£7.99) is perfect for a quick morning workout. With a foam padded headrest, early risers can add this to their morning routine to set them up for the day.

At Aldi, you can find the basics to kit out your home gym including Fitness Mats (£6.99) and Yoga Mats (£4.99) with anti-slip foil to make stretch positions easy to hold. Choose between different Dumbbell weights (£4.99-£8.99), 1kg to 5kg, and Kettlebells (£4.99-£12.99) available from 2kg to 12kg to create the perfect resistance workout.

As if that wasn't enough, you can even find your activewear at Aldi. Choose from a selection of colours in their Women's Yoga/Fitness tops (£4.99) and Ladies Yoga Leggings/Pants (£8.99) . They even have Men's and Ladies Fitness Trainers (£14.99) with memory foam in navy, grey and pink.

On Thursday 5th January, Aldi's new range of kitchen SpecialBuys will be available to purchase instore and online. In the new year I always like to have a clear out and overhaul so for anyone buying new homeware items, this will be perfect! It also goes hand in hand with their fitness range as there are some fab bits to help you cook healthier meals.

With Aldi's Pressure Cooker (£39.99) you can create healthy family meals in no time and the high heat, intense pressure and shorter cooking time reduce vitamin and mineral loss. With two different settings, it's tough, practical and easy to clean.

An Electric Spiralizer (£29.99) is a great way to add more vegetables into their meals in fun manner. With three different steel blade cone cutters, chefs can have a choice of thickness to make the perfect courgetti or boodles, helping to make every meal a little more interesting.

The 2 in 1 Airfryer (£29.99) creates delicious meals without the need for deep fat frying. The 17 litre capacity allows plenty of room for preparing food, with a timer of up for 60 minutes. It has triple cooking power and a temperature control for up to 250 degrees.

Soup is a great way of using up veg and creating a hearty meal at the same time. The Aldi Soup Maker (£39.99) has a 1.7 litre capacity for batch cooking. Not only does it blend soups to the perfect consistency with six different blending options, it also has a lid with an inbuilt measuring cup and filling hole to prevent spillages.

Handmade smoothies couldn't be simpler with the Nutrient Blender (£29.99). With a quick push-start function and 700W power, smoothie and green juice lovers can blend their favourite drinks in seconds. It can accommodate all types of fruit and veg and it includes two different stainless steel blade attachments, large and small cups and travel lids for smoothies on the go.

Those keen to be creative with healthy cooking will love the Food Steamer (£17.99) which can steam various foods from vegetables to rice. It features and 60 minute timer with a signal sound when finished. I love steaming vegetables but I am rubbish at cooking rice so this has been a life changer for me! For the perfect omelette, Aldi's Omelette Maker (£12.99) has a non-stick, easy clean plate and also has the ability to poach eggs.

If you just wanting to kit your kitchen out for 2017, you can pick up some new pans (£4.99-£12.99) to a Bullet Kettle (£19.99) to a 4 Slice Toaster (£19.99).

Aldi's New Year Fitness SpecialBuys are available in stores and online from 2nd January and the New Year Kitchen range is availble from 5th January. Both can be pre-ordered from Aldi online but be quick, once it's gone, it's gone!

Improving Your Health Through Gardening

As a manufacturer of a raft of products, which are perfect for improving both your home and your garden, The Plastic People has plenty of insight into how gardening can be great for your health and wellbeing.

Welcome the start of summer by reading their helpful guide and become encouraged to spend the warmer weather in your garden this year:

How gardening can improve mental health

When gardening company Bakker Spalding surveyed a group of people in one of their studies, 88 per cent of respondents said that the mental wellbeing that gardening brings them was a key benefit for them to spend time in their home’s outdoor space.

Speaking to The Telegraph in regarding the positive effects that gardening can have on a person’s mental health, leading disability and gardening charity Thrive’s CEO Kathryn Rossiter pointed out:

“As well as the strong therapeutic value of gardening, it can help people connect with others, reducing feelings of isolation. It makes us more active; gaining both physical and mental health benefits.”

How gardening can reduce stress

A study titled Gardening Promotes Neuroendocrine and Affective Restoration from Stress has led to the claim that gardening is much better at easing stress than a selection of other relaxing leisure activities.

In order to reach this conclusion, those who took part in the research were tasked to complete a task that was meant to increase their stress levels. After this assignment was completed, those involved in the study were divided into two groups.

Individuals in one of the groups were kept indoors for half an hour and asked to read, while those in the other group were requested to spend the same amount of time outside doing a spot of gardening.

At the end of the 30 minutes, those who had been assigned gardening tasks outside were reported to have felt in a better mood than those who had stayed inside reading. Individuals in the gardening group also had lower levels of cortisol — the stress hormone.

How gardening can bring down the risk of a heart attack or stroke

A 12-year study headed by Dr Elin Ekblom-Bak at Karolinska University hospital's department of medicine has led to the claim that someone in the 60-plus age bracket can reduce their chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke, and prolong life by up to 30 per cent, if they carried out gardening or a spot of DIY on a regular basis.

The study, which was reported on by The Guardian, saw around 4,000 60-year-olds who were based in Stockholm, initially queried about their diet, lifestyle and inclusion in physical activity. A series of physical examinations and lab tests were also carried out. Following this, it was concluded that those seen as having an active daily life were at a lower risk of experiencing a heart attack than others involved in the research.

As the study progressed over the 12 years, it was also found that individuals who participated in regular activity reduced their chances of suffering from cardiovascular problems.

Do you garden? Did you know that it was good for your health?

 

(This is a sponsored post.)

Aldi's Running Range

With summer approaching many people, including myself, want to work hard to get their body beach ready. Aldi's running range will be hitting the stores on Thursday 16th April, just in time to get summer ready and jog in comfort.

Included in the range are their Premium Running Shoes for £19.99 which are have heeled cushioning, a rubber outsole and a padded tongue. If you are a beginner you can pick up a pair of standard Running Shoes for £14.99.

Their Running Shorts (£5.99) have a drawstring waistband and they offer supreme comfort. There is even an inner key pocket to keep your keys safe. You can combine these with a Running T-shirt (£7.99) to remain cool in the sun.

If you want to keep track of your fitness you can pick up a Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor for £24.99. A chest strap cleverly measures your heart rate, pace and distance with automatic synchronisation to your smartphone whilst running. Following your run, you can use Aldi's Bluetooth Diagnostic Scale (£34.99) to keep track of your weight post workout. It comes with the batteries included and it measures an impressive 8 body-based evaluations. 

If you're more of a night runner, Aldi's Running Jacket (£15.99) will help you retain some of your body heat on a breezy evening. It has a hood and side pockets alongside a reflective print for visibility. You can match this with the Running Trousers (£9.99) if it's a bit too cold for shorts. 

The Aldi Ultra Bright Summer Running T-shirt at £5.99 has a convenient clip to keep wires out of the way whilst running. Perfect got those who like to listen to music to keep up momentum. If you're out on a run in the sun, don't forget to shield your eyes with Aldi's Polarised Sunglasses (£3.99). They boast a 100% UV protection. 

Finally, you can purchase a Bluetooth Blood Pressure Monitor for £34.99 and a Short Sleeve Compression T-shirt (£11.99) but you have to be quick. They'll be in stores on Thursday 16th April but they are only available whilst stocks last. 

Full range below:

(Disclaimer: I received some samples from the range.)

Win a copy of Davina's 7 Minute Fit DVD

We're nearing the end of the second month of the year and I hope you're all sticking to your New Years Resolutions! One of the most popular resolutions is to lose weight and this leads to an influx of new people joining up to the gym.

If you're anything like me, this fills you with dread. I hate busy places, people taking up all the equipment so you have to wait and with two children, it would be hard to find the time to go.

Most people are opting to do exercise at home. It seems like every month we hear of a new celebrity fitness DVD. I have to admit that I own quite a few of these (I tend to get them from places like Cash Generator who sell second hand DVDs otherwise I'd have spent a fortune!).

If you're like me, and tend to exercise in the comfort of your own home then this giveaway is right up your street. Here's your chance to win a copy of Davina's 7 Minute Fit DVD. All you need to do is fill in the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway will end on 3rd March and it's open to UK residents only. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Shifting the Baby Weight with Diet Chef

I was in two minds whether or not to post about this topic but decided to because maybe it would motivate me. I don't want to have to write in my follow up post(s) that I'm a failure!

Just before I fell pregnant with E I weighed 9st exactly which was perfect for my height. At the end of my pregnancy I'd gone up to 11st. I now weigh 10st. 

Realistically, I want to get down to 8st. I was never comfortable with my body between my pregnancies but now I'm determined to be at ease with myself again. For me. No one else. 

I have a sweet tooth and I love chocolate and crisps. Chris and I were partial to a takeaway almost every week so that's got to change. We are buying a lot more fresh fruit and veg than what we were used to. We'd usually have more meat with dinner so we've swapped that around and are piling our plates with veggies. We don't keep chocolate, crisps or any other unhealthy snacks in the house. If we do fancy something sweet, we'll opt for fruit or low-fat yogurts. We have decided that we'll do one takeaway a month which will be on the last Friday of the month. 

Starting today, I'm embarking on Diet Chef for the next 28 days. Diet Chef will be providing me with a breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack for each day. There are a huge amount of options to choose from which I'll go into as the weeks go on. Diet Chef claim that their customers lose 50% more weight that those on their own self-directed diet because they make losing weight simple. 

I'll pop back with an update at the end of every week. 

Wish me luck!