I was introduced to a meal replacement plan from Juice Plus roughly a month ago now. Before I decided it was a good choice I did so much research on it, compared it to other similar plans and went back and forth with the idea of trying it out, but now that I've been doing it for a month, I'm so happy I did!



In very simple terms, Juice Plus is either natural supplement capsules or meal replacement shakes (with caps). I'm on the shake + caps plan which only costs me just over 50 pounds a month - compared to the other plan I was giving a go a while back that would've been twice as much or so.

There's such a big list of benefits of the capsules and shakes, just a few of them to mention are: better nails & skin (my hair is actually growing again!!), improved skin condition and stable energy levels.



I'm not going to lie, I've not been following the guide 100%. I'm replacing one or two meals a day with the shakes and then just have a healthy meals like normal. The guide is very low carb, no gluten and dairy etc, but I've been munching away on brown pasta and lactose free milk haha!

There's so many variations to the shakes - the flavours you get out of the pack are vanilla and chocolate, but by mixing it up with fruit, berries, veg, milk alternatives and different extracts you can mix up all kinds of flavours! I've even seen a pina colada shake, but so far I've not ventured out quite that far! ;) I'm using different extracts and berries right now, keeps it interesting!


Weight wise I've not actually lost a thing. I'm about 1-2kg heavier than my starting weight a month ago, but that hasn't slowed me down! I mean sure it does bum me out a little to see the numbers get bigger than smaller, but I'm keeping track with pictures again to keep it interesting. :)

I pulled a very old progress comparison from 2013, that also demonstrates the change between June and July. That was just clean eating and walking, that's it. Right now I'm doing my shakes and a stand-up-all-day job, with very little exercise.


I'm actually so chuffed with the plan so far that I've decided to become a rep myself! I've created a separate info page for all the essentials, so if you're interested give it a read and get in touch! I'm really looking forward to the next three months of the plan, who knows how amazing I'll look when it's over! ;)

Since last April, I haven't really had a chance to go for a run. Stupid work hours and then becoming ill on and off for the rest of the year really dropped my activity levels down, and this included running.

I've never been a super serious runner / jogger, but I like it as a method of stress relief. I've mentioned it over and over again here how walking is my way of getting away from my daily life and just think. Not saying it's to think about stuff that bothers me - although that's happened quite a few times - but just to recap the day, go through some amazing memories and so on.

Recently I've had the chance to get back to running again! Thanks to summer I've got the opportunity to go out later in the evening without the fear of it turning pitch black outside while I'm still out.  B

But unfortunately my current trainers have started giving me blisters! My wonderful blue babies I've had for a very long time, the trainers that never gave me any kind of hassle.





I suppose they've just come to the end of their lifespan, and that doesn't really surprise me. The oldest picture I found of them was December 2013, and at one point I wore them pretty much every day.

I actually saw a very nice pair of trainers when I was at Gatwick airport a few weeks back (another trip back home with the other half, writing a separate post about that) but at the time I wanted to save my money for my holiday and didn't buy them. Desperately waiting for my payday to get them! I've never imagined paying 100 pounds on a pair of trainers before but I'm starting to understand the value of a quality pair of trainers finally.

So what am I getting? ON Women's Cloud trainers! I've not quite decided on the colour yet but at the moment the grey & neon pink and horizon & coral ones look the most appealing.

... although the olive & flame in the mens selection is to die for. Shame they don't have the same colours for both ranges!

Ever get that feeling that some days you're just playing constant catch-up? Well I definitely had one of those today. My phone has been playing up pretty much since I got it (the wonders of second hand products!), it just freezes up on its own and the only way to revive it is to take the battery out completely and let it reboot itself. It does also just reboot itself every now and then when it feels like it. Well, it decided to freeze up somewhere between me going to bed and waking up this morning. As a result I woke up 30 minutes before I was meant to be at work and it completely threw my day upside down.

I'm one of those people who likes to just sit in front of the TV for half an hour in the morning while eating breakfast. And I also drink my coffee black so it takes FOREVER to cool down enough. :D Being so rushed in the morning left me really grumpy and short tempered for the entire day, it's just not a good way to start a day.

But moving on, it's not worth worrying about for too long! I've been experimenting with cooking every since we came back from holiday, and my new favourite thing is cooking salmon in one of those tin foil pockets you just chuck in the oven. All I add to it is the juice of one lemon, salt, pepper and whatever herbs I have in the kitchen at the time. It makes the fish so moist and delicious without compromising on the healthy side of it, all I need is a few more herbs to change it up every time.


And now that I'm back to active working out, I felt like I could allow myself to buy a new outfit too! I've been subscribed to Fabletics for absolutely ages, but keep skipping the monthly pick because I've not been exercising enough (or at all..) to justify buying more gym clothes. I keep seeing these really cute cutout / see-through style trousers absolutely everywhere, and even Fabletics kinda picked up on it this month. The second I saw these trousers I just knew I had to buy them, and now that I'm back on the healthy wagon I decided to treat myself a bit. ;)

The top is just a very plain pink top, but in all fairness I'm not that keen on anything with too many details or straps or dangly bits. They'd just get in the way when working out, so simple tops all the way! The mesh fabric on the trousers go all the way to about half thigh, but the see-through bit only goes up to your knee. Just cute enough without feeling too trashy.



Oh and Body Revolution is going brilliantly. In twelve days I've shed 1.7kg (3.7lb) and I can already tell the difference in my energy levels. I'm glad I've been able to drop the initial bloating in such a short time again, and now I'm just fully focused to get into the rhythm of working out six days a week after such a long break. The workouts paired up with opening up my muscles with a foam roller every night is making it so much easier to stand up at work all day as well. Here's to a healthy and fit summer!

I open Blogger on a daily basis to read all the other blogs I've got on my follow list. And every day I see more and more hits on my blog, despite not writing anything for the best part of six months (again!). It's quite a humbling feeling, you know.

I've kept quiet for a reason. Since the end of last year I've been juggling all kinds of illnesses, one after another. It started with a very tough flu around Christmas, and most nights I genuinely had no voice left at all. Trying to push through work with it was a nightmare to say the least, but I refused to give up and hide in bed. In hindsight, I probably should've let my body rest. After the flu cleared I caught another virus of some sort. I did this for a good three months, finishing it all off with tonsilitis. So for over three months I was completely out of the game exercise wise.

With all of last year's stress (you can read about it here) and being so ill for ages, I'm back at square one. Not going to lie, it really made me beat myself down. How could I let myself undo all the hard work again? Why couldn't I tell my brain to stop wanting all the fatty, greasy foods when things got tough?


We also went on a two week holiday to Florida! Before we went I was joking around about coming back five stone heavier after all the junk we'd eat over two weeks. To my surprise I didn't actually gain any weight, probably thanks to all the walking we did every day! Disney is like its own world pretty much, the distances we covered each day was incredible. It's a shame I didn't use any kind of fitness tracker while we were there, I bet the readings would've been so interesting!

Speaking of fitness trackers, I've reuinted with Jawbone! I actually sold my old one a while back, but then found a second hand UP24 (Bluetooth connectivity instead of audio jack) for such a good price that I couldn't resist getting one again. And the colour is so yummy too, the official name of the colour is persimmon but to me it's just a really cute orange.


It feels great being back on the right track again. I have the added motivation of my other half working out with me now, so I've got no excuse to skip my workouts now! After we came back from holiday we just simply decided that it's time to get back in shape, so we fired up Jillian's Body Revolution and we're already a week into the program! I forgot how incredibly good you feel after one of her routines. I'm also religiously tracking my calories again! Time to get rid of this fat for good. No excuses.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope the hangovers have passed by now. ;)

I spent my night at home watching Game of Thrones and just relaxing. I was so tired after work that I barely made it until midnight haha! I was all cozy in bed before midnight and my other half actually told me to wait another five minutes before drifting off so he could say happy New Year to me.

My grand plan for today was to recolour my hair. I mean it wasn't looking bad at all, I just fancied a top-up to keep the colour looking fresh. As I wash my hair the colour keeps getting more pastel, which is very cute actually. I've been getting lots of compliments on my hair ever since I got Special Effects as well. :)


The only bad thing about SE is that it takes a lot of prep. The colour stains INSTANTLY so I needed to make sure I was all covered up (including rubbing Vaseline all over my ears and hairline), I had my gloves on, all the towels were far away from me and that I had some makeup remover (really works with SE stains) close by in case I spilled some colour anywhere. As we are renting this flat I don't want to cause any permanent damage..


Once I wrapped my hair in cling film (keeps the heat in and avoids any accidental mess) I actually sat there watching GoT for a good three hours before I washed it off. That's the wonderful thing about this stuff, it can just sit in your hair for as long as you want. Oh and the shade of my hair changes completely depending on the light - out of natural light the shade is more wine red than pink, but in direct daylight it's pretty much bright pink. In love with this stuff, honestly. ♥


As a little promise to myself (not really a resolution, though) I'm going to go back to the "old ways" of my blog - more food photos! I'm going to try and document every single meal this year, hopefully I won't fail too badly at it. ;)

Oh and I've just ordered a really cool looking fitness accessory, more on that when it arrives!

Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
Lunch: salmon, roasted sweet potato & carrots and lettuce
Dinner: meatballs made with some leftover roast veg, homemade tomato sauce and whole wheat spaghetti