Every time I feel like I need some time away from everything in my life, I go to the beach. Just watching the waves come and go, listen to the sound the crashing waves make and breathing in the salty sea air calms me down. It gives me the opportunity to arrange my thoughts and come up with solutions to anything that's bothering me.

I only needed to be at work for 3pm yesterday so had a lot of time in the morning to just enjoy the sunshine. I figured that I'll take my camera with me as well, see if there's anything worth taking pictures of.


I started thinking of my weight loss journey. For the past month or so, it's just all been on pause - even though it really shouldn't. It's so easy to just slip into old habits when life gets too hectic to manage properly. This time last year I had nothing but spare time on my hands, so planning my workouts and meals was so effortless. Now I'm juggling uni and work (and so far I've had no time to touch any of my uni assignments), and most nights I'm only back home between 8 and 9 so by the time I've cooked dinner and cleaned up it's pretty much time to go to bed!

For the past week or so I've been trying to come up with practical ways to keep up with the healthy lifestyle I've been pushing for since January last year. I must admit, I'm drinking a ton of Diet Coke right now. It does get fairly hot at work so we need to keep hydrated, and most of the time Coke really feels more appealing than stale water (bottled water really does taste awful!). It's really a conscious decision to go for the "bad" drink, and I just need to find a bit of self discipline again.

And luckily for me my job involves me being on my feet pretty much the entire day. And now that the weather is getting better, we will be walking around with cameras a lot. So hopefully that'll at least keep my weight where it is now, as long as I'm smart about what I eat..


I've also kind of stopped going on the scale. I know it so well that I've been eating poorly and done next to no exercise, and that's really making the scale my worst enemy. I'm so sure that I've put on a few kilos, and just the thought of that popping up on the scale is making me feel slightly anxious.

All I really need is a motivation boost again. Would taking part in a challenge like DietBet boost my motivation enough to keep pushing? I'm such a competitive person, that doing something like that will probably be exactly what I'd need. Should I constantly be aiming towards a bigger goal to achieve what I want in life? Should my next step be a fitness competition? Should I start an active hobby that'll keep me occupied a few nights a week? Or maybe I just need a friend to go to the gym with me?

.. and saying that, my other half has actually been thinking about joining my gym. May the most epic plan of this spring commence!

I've wanted to lose weight since I was 13-14 years old. I had always been very concious of the fact that I wasn't thin, and a big part of the boys in my class sure did remind me about it on a regular basis. That kind of comments really hit you hard at that age and it did destroy me mentally.

Anyways. I've always wondered that why I didn't actually do it back then. Why didn't I just go up to my mum and tell her that I wan't to lose some weight and ask for her help. Instead I put up with the nasty comments from people at school for all those years.

I had done so much research about it all, I had such a good base for losing weight. But I just never got started. And it really kept bugging me because I just couldn't place it - why didn't I just start?! Then it hit me last night when I was watching Biggest Loser. One of their nutritionists said this:

"This is what you will eat for the rest of your life."

I realised how scary that sounds to someone who's only starting to drop weight and trying to live a bit healthier. I realised how that thought held me back all those years. Then I started thinking back to all those internet articles I read through as a kid and that same phrase keeps popping up. You must do this for the rest of your life, you must live like this for the rest of your life, this and that for the rest of your life. For a teenager that really sounds very frightening - and it still does now. You can't really grasp the concept of something that long term. You feel like you don't want to plan that far ahead because it restricts you in so many ways. 

When I help people with all this, I just ask them to change their lifestyle. It doesn't sound quite as permanent but it does give the feeling of stability. No point trying to scare people really.

And just to finish off my post, some progress pics, yay! Quite a short comparison time though, the pics on the left are from July and pics on the right from yesterday. I am quite happy though, my arms are way more toned and you can tell that my legs are getting rid of more fat as well (not that there was much of it left down there..).

Back home! This is going to be a very long post haha. A highly enjoyable weekend with family, it's lovely to get out of the house every now and then.

We left quite late on Friday, it was probably around 8pm. As we have been looking after the dogs for the past few weeks, we had to manage to fit all three in a van. It turned out to be a lot simpler than we thought. A cage in the back on top of a bench so we could put two furry ones in there and the third one was in the foot space at the front. 

I'm never good with long travel, though. I always start feeling very sleepy after about an hour, and this time was no exception. Constant yawning and incredibly heavy eyelids kept me company for most of the way there. It's a two hour drive over to the other half's brother's house.

As it was pretty late when we arrived, we didn't really do much. We fired up the Wii and did some Wii Party. Wii is probably the most entertaining console you can have when playing with more than two people. And as it turns out, I am amazing at the game in the picture. It's about chopping vegetables as quickly as possible. You wiggle the Wii remote up and down, I guess all the punching bags I've done with Jillian have made my arm muscles good. :D





Dinners are always the unhealthy ones when we go over. KFC, curry, McDonalds, pizza... You name it, we've most likely had it for dinner before. :D I was so happy to find out that KFC does salads with some of their popular chicken options. I always used to go for the spicy Zinger burger and was so happy to be able to pick the Zinger salad. :) That with a diet Pepsi and a small bag of chips, not too bad in my opinion! Could've dine without the chips but there was an extra portion of chips in the bag so went for it anyways.

Now, it's not a secret that I love mojitos. Tesco actually sells these mock mojitos (non alcoholic). Two of those after dinner while we were playing Wii. Yum! In all fairness it was just empty calories but you've got to live a little every now and then. 






I actually got rather bored at some point and started looking into my phone's camera a bit better. I've actually had this phone for over a year now and I've only just realised that it actually has proper settings. Well done me. From now on all the pictures in this blog will be a bit more vibrant in colour, hooray! I've used a pretty similar setup with my camera, it's nice to get rid of the slightly washed out pictures I've had to put up here.





Our puppy stuck to me like white on rice the entire weekend. Every time I'd sit down she would jump up on my lap and snuggle up. Maybe she just was a bit confused and unsure about the new surroundings, but it was lovely. Coco is such a beautiful little puppy, can't wait for her to be old enough to have puppies.

And we had curry for dinner! I went for chicken tikka masala, wasn't the best curry I've had in all fairness. I like my curries with a lot of sauce so I can dip the naan bread and just drown the rice in it, it's just the way to do it. Wasn't the best tasting tikka masala I've had either. I mean don't get me wrong, it was still lovely! Just doesn't compare to the one I usually order. :)



The way home was incredible. The views on the way were just so breathtaking. I've seen these views tens of times by now but it always amazes me. It's just such an unique country. The pictures don't really do it justice, though. You really need to be there to appreciate it.



As much as I loved this weekend, it's so clear that my stomach can't handle this much bad food in one go. It has been aching like mad since earlier tonight. I love it how our bodies tell us when we are stuffing ourselves with something we really shouldn't. Back to healthy eating tomorrow, I'm sorry tummy. <3

At least felt like it!! As it was raining for most of the day today I thought that it's best to wear my Doc Martin boots so I keep my toes warm and dry (and I also didn't want to ruin my suede boots). That combined with a biker jacket and my Skullcandy headphones I got really bad looks from all the old people in town! It's just incredible how people look at you so differently based on what you wear. I usually get the happy smiles from everyone so I felt so lost today! :D


I mean sure, in a way I understand it. It's not exactly a style that is associated with.. nice people. I try to dress pretty neutral most of the time, I just don't like being put into a category when I'm out and about. I don't want people to base their opinion about me on what I wear. But then again, people who judge me based on my appearance clearly are not worth getting to know.


One upside to these boots, however. Thanks to the steelcaps, they weigh a massive 1.5kg each, making walking in them a wonderful workout. I've had these boots for longer than I can remember, I must've been 15 or so when I got these. By far the most expensive pair of shoes I've bought but in this case it really shows that I've paid for quality. They are 100% cow's leather, they are nice and warm and waterproof. Or well, they used to be until I actually wore them enough for the leather to start cracking! They're still wonderful though as long as I don't step into deep puddles.

And to keep this post somewhat fitness related, I thought that it's a good time to post about my sources of inspiration again. :) There's two bloggers who just simply make me push myself harder every single day. Heidi and Monna are just incredibly fabulous, they just show how girls can kick ass just as much as the guys when it comes to fitness! ;) If I ever create a shrine (well ok not in a literal sense, like an inspiration board kind of thing) to all the people I get my inspiration from, both Heidi and Monna will be there, I wouldn't even have to think twice. Monna has this amazing aura of happiness and positivity around her and her blog posts are just such a joy to read, while Heidi has a more kickass and no nonsense attitude to fitness. :) I'd love to pick their brain one day.

And just to make it clear, I do not own the rights to these pictures. They belong to Monna and Heidi. :)

And sorry to everyone who reads my blog and doesn't speak Finnish as the girls write their blog in that weird and wonderful language. But you can always look at the pretty pictures! :D

I swear I'm going insane soon if this ankle doesn't start healing. I have a strong feeling it's just a strained tendon as I can really feel the pain in a specific spot now when I move my ankle. It's just frustrating. It was such a beautiful day today and I've been stuck indoors. There's no way I can completely rest my ankle either as I do kinda need to walk during the day. Argh.

But I've suffered today!! In two ways actually, one pleasant and one not so pleasant thing haha! Our Schnauzer puppy decided to be a cat today and wanted to climb on my shoulder when I was holding her so I have mad scratches all over my chest now. And to the more pleasant suffering - squat challenge! Today's goal was 60, which wasn't too bad when I split it into two sets of 30 reps.


Other than that, it's been quite a slacky day. Just talking to a friend, playing games and chilling. Also entertained myself by putting makeup on and taking some pictures. :D Such a tart but oh well. And just because, a picture of my daily fluid intake. Coffee (with sweetener, no milk) and water is the only thing I drink during the day. No point drinking my calories.

It was definitely a fun weekend. London is always a wonderful place to visit for a long weekend, you never run out of things to do. We ate out a lot + alcohol wasn't exaclty banned, but I'm pretty happy how well I did. I did check my weight yesterday when we got home and I was quite pleasantly surprised that it was only a 900g gain from last week. I'm putting that entirely down to the alcohol and lots of sodium, it'll vanish soon enough. :) I didn't really even drink that much in all fairness, think I had about 2-3 drinks a night and after that I just had enough. Previous years I've gone absolutely mad with the booze, maybe I'm getting old?

I also had a job interview today! Went quite well, I was this splash of colour amongst all the black & white and dark colours haha.

The rest of the week is going to be very odd for me. I am going up to London tomorrow to meet up with a bunch of friends. This means alcohol, lots of eating out, no working out.. On the other hand we will most likely be walking a lot, shopping and sight seeing being something we've planned. I'm quite confident that I'll be able to stick to IF and eating healthy, just need to figure out what drinks I can have without feeling insanely guilty. Maybe vodka and diet lemonade. Or sugar free mojitos (one of my friends makes incredible mojitos, would be a crime to say no to him!). Oh we'll see.

As I'm only coming back home on Monday afternoon, I'm also skipping this week's weigh in. Even if I had a scale at the place I'm staying at, it'd give me an unreliable reading. I learned it such a long time ago that sticking to one scale is one of the most important things during weight loss. Using the same scale will give you the most reliable results, as the configuration and placement is the same week after week. We actually have two scales in the house and the readings can be incredibly different. I'll most likely have a look when I get home on Monday to see how much damage I've done, but the official weigh in will have to wait til next Sunday. :)


I also made a nice schedule for 30DS the other night but various things have just screwed it up completely. I haven't actually started the program this week, I've just gone for long walks (again). So yeah, going to start 30DS on Monday when I'm back home. I think a break from these programs will do my back good in all fairness.

Oh and I've gone pink! It's not a permanent colour, it says that it'll wash off in 6-8 washes. Just about perfect for this weekend haha! There's also a possibility of landing a job in the near future so I'll most likely have to cover it up anyways. Sad times.

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone!

Ok let's start this post with positive things. This week has been absolutely fantastic weather wise, couldn't wish for better spring really. Clear skies, sun shining and it's warm! Out of all my workouts this week I think I've only done one indoors, I've just gone for long walks every day instead. Decided to take my camera with me and took quite a few pictures! Enjoy. :)







And to the negative part of this post. I'm honestly not looking forward to my progress check tomorrow. I don't quite know why, but I'm just being incredibly negative about it. Once again I don't see any change when I look in the mirror, but that's been the case every time so far. I'm just probably overthinking it and I'm sure I'll see awesome progress when I take the pictures, but I'm just nervous! Also keep thinking that I haven't exercised enough to lose weight this week. Argh.