Time to reveal the damage! In the end I didn't feel too disappointed (I mean, obviously a little bit), but I suspect a lot of this is just water weight and easily fixable with a few dietary changes. :) Shouldn't take me too long to drop this weight I've gained and carry on.

As usual, numbers in brackets are from the previous progress check - which in this case was April.

Weight: 74kg (69,9kg)
Arms: 30cm (30cm)
Bust: 97cm (95cm)
Waist: 71,5cm (71cm)
Belly: 91,5cm (89cmcm)
Thighs: 56,5cm (55cm)

I've also set myself a target as a result of this slight dip - I want to be at 65kg by the end of the summer! As I really didn't hit my last target, I'm so determined to stick to this one. I might even get a detailed exercise / diet plan from a PT to really get going with this.

Lately I've been really proud of what I've cooked, and tonight really wasn't an exception. I wanted something light so I ended up making a very yummy roasted sweet potato salad with meatballs (recipe, without the grated sweet potato). Sweet potato really has replaced regular potato in our home, I just prefer the taste of it and being the healthier option also makes it so very lovely in my eyes. The meal is really filling despite not really looking like it, and really doesn't add too much to the calorie budget either. :) And now that it's getting quite warm outside I don't want to fill up with "heavy" dinners either.



Next week will be more inactive again, as my dear brother is coming over to England for the week! It's going to be one busy week with lots planned, including going to Download festival for the Friday! Can't wait to see Powerman 5000 play live, they're by far one of my favourite bands and it'll be so exciting to see them perform. If any of my lovely readers are heading to the festival and recognise me, please do come and say hi!

We spent the day in Chessington yesterday, and I finally got the chance to properly test my new lens! The entire album can be viewed here, below are some of my absolute favourites from the day. Enjoy! :)

Please no copying without permission! Email me if you'd like to use any of these pictures.

It's probably really obvious to most of you that I've kinda fallen off the wagon since before Easter. Deadlines and work left me with not a lot of spare time to exercise, and junk food became my friend again. It's incredible how easy it is to pick the bad but quick option instead of thinking about the choices you make when buying lunch.

I actually got on the scales this morning, only to see a 4kg gain since I slipped. Quite depressing in a way, but so expectable. I've not treated my body the way it deserves lately, and this is definitely its way of saying that this is enough. And for the past week I've really done all I can to get back to the healthy train, and having a bit of discipline is finally starting to show results.


I suppose it was just so easy to think, that because I walk to work and stand up pretty much all day, I don't need to exercise. But at the same time I've upped my food intake slightly to be able to cope with the long work hours I do. It's just not a match made in heaven, is it?

In a way it feels odd, I've gained weight but at the same time someone I know keeps saying that I just keep getting thinner and thinner everytime he sees me. I know it's not true and it does stab me in the heart a bit, because I've not followed the healthy lifestyle I've been working so hard towards since last year. 


But you know what? Dwelling in it is not going to fix things, I need to be the one to decide to be good again. Since starting to use my UP band again two weeks ago, I've hit my step target nearly every day and also actually gone for walks again. The weather being amazing definitely helps, as I just can't sit indoors when the sun is shining and it's so warm that you don't need a hoodie anymore.


I also made a promise to myself to stop buying Coke when I'm at work. I've actually ordered a new stainless steel water bottle and I'm going to start using that at work, instead of constantly buying bottles of water or juice. I'm cautious of both BPA in the bottles and the amount of sugar in bottled juices, so going for a stainless steel bottle will definitely make me feel better about myself.

This doesn't mean a complete ban to everything that isn't a vegetable or source of protein, of course. I've never been one to follow strict diets and I don't believe in denying guilty pleasures completely, as it's about a lifestyle, not just a quick fix.


There's so many things I need to catch up with (a few reviews and such), and hopefully I will start having more time for my precious blog. It has after all given me so many good things over the 1,5 years I've been doing this. One of the latest being an invite to become a part of the Noom community as a guest writer! I'm really excited about this opportunity, as I do love the app and being a writer for such a bit community will be so rewarding for me! :)

I think I will actually do a proper progress check on Sunday as well, being the first Sunday of the month and my usual progress check day. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it's exactly what I need for that final kick to the butt to start working towards a healthier me again.

I'm such a lazy cook, and most nights I just have a look in the cupboards and throw stuff together. I made this gorgeous chicken stew last night and wanted to share it with you.


Dead easy chicken stew

500g diced chicken breast
1 big sweet potato
1 bell pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 tin of chopped tomatoes & equal amount of water
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
50g couscous
salt & pepper
seasoning of choice (I used paprika and chilli powder)
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

In a big pan, heat up the oil and add chicken. While the chicken is frying, chop up sweet potato and peppers to small chunks. Add the veg, garlic and seasoning and mix well. Leave the veg to cook for a few minutes and add the chopped tomatoes and water.

Once it's all in the pot, all you need to do is cover the pan and leave it be for at least 20 minutes. Drop the heat to low and mix occasionally. When all the veg is tender and chicken cooked, add the couscous and sweet chilli sauce. Give the couscous a few minutes to absorb the liquid and serve.

This stew is definitely a great option for a nice comforting dinner, without the massive calorie tag! This makes enough for four servings, and the nutritional values per serving are:

266 kcal
7.1g fat
18.3g carbs (1.6g sugar)
31g protein

Every now and then I have people ask me about my leg workout, and every time it kinda catches me off guard. My legs are nowhere near "finished", and believe me my exercise trousers create a far smoother look than they should! :D


Anyways, I felt like I should show you guys what I do when I actually get the chance to do a lower body workout. This is just the bare basics everyone should know really. There's no shortcut to good legs and bum, just a lot of hard work and good diet. All of these exercises are great with or without extra resistance.

What I find really important with my leg workouts is that I need to maintain good posture. If you let your back drop, you lose form and can really injure yourself. So suck your bellybutton in and keep it there!!

A gentle reminder: Please do not see my form & technique as the way to go, I recommend going through it with a trained PT first! These pics aren't screengrabs off a video, I was literally just holding the pose for 10 seconds while my camera was beeping away. And believe me, especially holding a squat for that long without a warmup was quite interesting!

Squats


People swear by squats, and I really don't blame them! There's so many ways of doing squats, so it's a very versatile exercise to do. You can do three different stages with it - above parallel, parallel and below parallel. As I was feeling rather stiff this morning, I didn't dare to do parallel haha!

Lunges


Forward lunges, backward lunges, side lunges, crossover lunges (backwards and forwards), lunges with rotation... Go nuts! Always remember to keep your knee in line with your ankles, never go over that line or you can do some real damage to both your knees and ankles!

Deadlift


I only started doing these babies about two months ago, but they're definitely my favourite already! This is a great guide for a proper deadlift with a bar, I only have dumbbells to use at home so I didn't actually go quite that deep (like you're meant to). When I use dumbbells I lower the weights to about halfway down my shin and then come back up.

Leg raise


Ok, this one is probably more for the ladies, but this is a killer for your bum! I love sticking a weight in there for the extra resistance, it really gives you a great burn towards the end of the set. I don't recommend trying to lift your leg above parallel, I've noticed that I start arching my back if I try it and especially for me and my back injury it can cause quite a bit of damage. Just be sensible!

On top of these four exercises I do a set on the leg press (if at the gym). I'm currently doing my reps with 60-70kg. I also walk a lot. I've been using my UP band again and I easily hit my 10k steps every day. I walk to work and back, and on top of that I stand up at work all day, and having to kneel down and get back up during some photo shoots when taking pictures of the little ones.

I'm hoping to get more active with blogging again, I really miss it! I've only got two more weeks of uni to go and then I get more free time in the evenings! With summer on its way as well I get a lot more daylight to use, meaning more time to exercise and enjoy the outdoors before it gets dark!