Well the past week has definitely not gone my way in the slightest! Maybe my happy mood and gloating was far too much for some higher power, as I have been incredibly ill since publishing my last post haha!

It started out with just a simple sore throat, nothing I should've been worried about. But then my body temperature started climbing up and by Thursday morning I was pretty much bed bound because of it. Thankfully the fever dropped back down by Friday, I actually got an invite to a wedding reception and it would've killed me to miss it! I felt priviliged to be there for the happy couple's special day, they looked so incredibly happy and I wish both of them all the best. ♥ Can't wait to see all the wedding pictures.


The dress I bought for the wedding -  I actually had to go dress hunting between shifts on Friday (yeah, on the day of the wedding!!), it was far too stressful for my liking! :D

Because of this stupid cold / flu / spawn of something unpleasant I've decided to relax with this diet plan a little bit. The good thing about this plan is that I don't have to stress about the end date at all, so if I need to take a week "off" from it, I can. I don't think I should put my body through such a strict and calculated diet when it is run down by some bug. I'm obviously still eating very sensibly, I'm just adding more carbs and fats to my diet for now and return to the plan once I feel healthier again.


A very 'I feel sorry for myself' type of meal last week - Chicken Amaras (sweet, mango based curry), pilau rice, sag aloo and a naan bread.

This is the type of plan that starts at set dates throughout the year, and all the people taking part have the chance to chat on a forum specific for that group. We actually have a Facebook group going on as well, and I've seen a lot of people say that they've fallen ill since starting the plan. Not sure if it's just coincidence or if this is our bodies' way of reacting to the new way of eating. But then again, I've been eating pretty similar to this for a very long time ande my body should already be used to it surely?

I was actually preparing myself to go to the doctor's today, as my tonsils would not settle down. I actually survived through the weekend with the help of a lot of painkillers to keep the swelling down, but thankfully it seems like they're starting to get back to normal now. I actually had tonsilitis for over a month a few years ago, was so worried I'd have to go through that nightmare again.

Oh and before I forget! My first Noom Voices article was published earlier this week! I'm so proud to be a part of the Noomily, can't wait to get started with my next article! My plan with these journal articles is to talk about the ups and downs of weight loss - and I think I know exactly what to talk about in my next one! ;)

I've been feeling really under the weather all day. Some kind of a bug has made it's way into my system, and that's just put a stop to everything today. I've felt really rotten, weak and achy, so my workout had to be pushed to the weekend. Really annoyed about that, I have such a nice workout planned and I wanted to go and do it today! Nevermind, I'll probably do it Sunday morning.

Yesterday.

I really got into a nice rhythm at the gym yesterday, and I'm still quite hyped up about it. I planned a very simple lower body workout for myself, but I'm still feeling it when I sit down haha! Like I said I would, I bumped up the weight on the leg press by 10kg (went for 52-52-61). While it felt a lot harder than last time, I reckon I could increase the weight to 70ish next week. Just to think that I'm going to be able to press my own bodyweight soon - so proud of myself!

It's really great to see progress every single week. Even if I don't increase weights, I see the definition in my muscles more and more. While it's not quite flex worthy yet, my quads are really starting to "stick out" from underneath my skin (and I'm loving it!). My other half constantly tells me to stop admiring myself, hah! My muscles are really getting to the stage I'm happy with, all I need now is to lose the fat covering them up! 

Made the mistake of buying normal yoghurt and then had some - my stomach wasn't best pleased yesterday..

As I've been feeling ill today, my day really hasn't been that productive. I've rediscovered my love for League of Legends, and happily spent my day playing and messing around. This actually got me thinking about the stereotypes attached to gaming. We can all probably agree on the stereotypical gamer - overweight, neglects personal hygiene, lives with their mum til late 20s and so on. But over the years I've played online games I've noticed that the majority of the people I know are not like this at all. And even if some people are, does it matter? Sure, it worries me if people literally spend all day sitting down and eating junk, but it's not my place to judge people and tell them what to do. I almost got to that stage myself a few years back when I isolated myself from the world, but I'm just glad my mum always cooked healthy meals and we didn't really have anything that unhealthy around the house. Thanks mum. ♥


I've really started taking advantage of leftovers. We had some nice chicken in a tomato & basil sauce with rice yesterday, and I just ended up heating up the leftover chicken with roast potatoes and red onions for dinner today. I try not to leave the leftovers in the fridge for too long, so it doesn't go bad and end up in the bin. It's easy to save money when you think ahead with cooking. Luckily the supermarket industry over in England is so competetive, that you get food really cheap in any shop you go to. In comparison Finland only really has two different chains and food is really expensive in both of them. Lidl has pushed it's way in but I don't think it's really doing that well over there.

Chicken in a tomato & garlic sauce with roast potatoes and red onions (they're not burn, I promise! :D).

Hope you all have a great weekend! Mine will be filled with work and a family dinner on Sunday, can't wait!

Well, today didn't quite pan out the way I thought! Woke up feeling like death so decided that it was best to stay home and rest instead of going to uni for the day. My morning started with three episodes of The 4400 (amazing supernatural drama, I highly recommend it!) and now that I feel human enough to crawl out of bed, I feet like talking about yesterday and going through the first "phase" of my biotin experiment!

I really wasn't looking forward to our Ikea trip yesterday. I just dislike shopping in general, I'd order absolutely everything online if I could! Furniture and cookware just are things that I want to see before buying them, so off to Ikea we went!

And just to show off my gorgeous new tights a bit! New Look had a 3 for 2 offer the other day when I went to buy new shoes and tights, so grabbed these as the free pair. I had no idea what they'd be like, but I really love them! Sexy and quite "safe" at the same time. Paired them up with this outfit, my leather jacket and a gray/white scarf. Felt surprisingly confident walking around in that outfit! :)


It was actually really manic in Southampton, we must've waited for a good half an hour to even get to the Ikea carpark! I was hoping for a quiet Sunday but no such luck of course! I had my list all ready to go, so we'd be out of there as soon as possible. We still ended up missing a few bits and pieces, but the plan is to spend a day this week to go get them, so we can start settling in finally. :) We got our sofa and bed from Dfs instead of Ikea, as my bad back really needs a good bed and I've never been a big fan of the Ikea sofa designs. They'll still take 4-6 weeks to arrive, going to buy a new mattress for the bed this week so we might sleep on the floor for a while haha!

We unloaded all the bags at the flat last night, but I was missing scissors and dish washing liquid so couldn't do everything I wanted! Every bit of cookware I got that wasn't fully wrapped has to be washed properly before I even think about using them, I've got no idea of knowing who's touched it and what kind of bugs they've been carrying on them at the time. Just the thought of stirring some bugs in my dinner makes me shiver.


Right, it's been a month now since I started taking biotin. There's a big difference already, but let the pictures speak for themselves!

Nail casualties since start: 12.
I had no roots showing at the start of the experiment, I had literally just coloured my hair the week before. And it's worth mentioning that normally my hair growth is very slow, it's usually about 0,5cm a month.



While my nails have snapped several times, they look far healthier than they did. The skin around my nails is a lot better as well, however I'm not sure if that's actually related to taking biotin or not. I no longer get visible layering on my nails, either.


While the growth at this stage isn't madly visible, I can see a huge difference in the ends of my hair. They're not as frizzy as they were a month ago and I have less split ends to worry about. I've really struggled with my ends, as I'd get a lot of L- shaped angles that made my hair look like such a mess.

And on a slightly unrelated note, a comparison picture! I found this picture of myself the other day, it was taken in March last year. Felt like taking a picture in a similar pose was in order to see how much my face has changed, and holy cow it really has! I've still got some loose skin / fat under my skin, but thank goodness it doesn't fold quite that much anymore!

I've struggled with sleep for a few nights in a row now. I find it hard to fall asleep and then end up waking up several times over the night. Last night I was accompanied by a massive headache when I was trying to fall asleep. I've also been feeling quite odd today, my body just seemed to... crash? Was just minding my own business when this wave of tiredness just hit me. Ended up napping for 1,5 hours and after I woke up I just felt absolutely awful, light headed and I was unpleasantly aware of my stomach. Three reasons come to mind:

1) I'm coming down with something. My boyfriend's mum has been feeling ill for nearly a week now so wouldn't be surprised if I've caught the same bug she's got.
2) I'm overdoing it with exercise. Wouldn't be surprised considering how intense my workouts are (even if they are only 30mins a day!).
3) I'm not eating enough. Might up my calories slightly for the rest of the week and see what happens.

Just going to vegetate today and see how I feel in the morning, if I'm still feeling crap I might postpone starting Phase 3 til next week.

For someone who's used to having snowy winters, English winters are miserable. It's always so dark and damp and it rains a lot. I've been waiting for today for so long! It's been snowing all day and it should carry on til evening, yay! The amount of light you get when there's snow on the ground is just amazing. I feel so much happier today!

On the downside I've caught a cold. Which really really sucks. I'm meant to start Body Revolution on Monday and I really don't want to be ill. To mend my cold I made a nice lot of spinach soup and couldn't resist throwing a few croutons (mediterranean flavour, yum!) in there as well. Maybe not the best option considering I shouldn't eat 'empty' carbs, but I need my comfort food!