My Fitness Journey

Intro

I recently embarked on a fitness journey after eating so much fried food when I was living in London and not exercising because I was going out clubbing and consuming large amounts of alcohol. I realised my lifestyle needed to change because I was incredibly unhealthy!

As I am really serious about changing my lifestyle, I have got myself a personal trainer and train with him once a week and working towards losing some body fat and achieving a nice toned body!

I thought I would show you a few photos I took of myself quite early on in my journey. I'm still in the early stages so there hasn't been that much physical change in my body. However, after 3 weeks, I've lost 2kg. I know that my physical appearance will not change straight away as it takes time so I am being patient!

If you want to follow my fitness journey, follow me on Instagram: click here

Day 13

Day 20

Day 25

This top is everything. It's how I feel most mornings but I still get up and get going with the rest of my day and ensure I exercise as I want to achieve my goal!

I bought these beautiful Nike trainers as soon as I joined LA Fitness to motivate me!

Diet

This is something that needed to drastically change as I am addicted to everything junk food related and love fried food! When I was in London, I would skip breakfast and just snack until lunchtime on junk food like crisps and chocolate. For lunch, I would get one of those lunch deals from Tesco where I would have a chicken mayo sandwich, a pack of crisps and a Tropicana Orange or a Fanta. I was also getting into the habit of going for lunch in a pub with my friends and consuming unhealthy burgers and chips with a plate of onion rings on the side and a fizzy drink. For dinner, I had cheesy pasta, chicken and chips or I would go dine out with friends and have fish and chips, pizza or some other fried food! Obviously, if I carry on eating this way, I think I would die!! My heart would not be able to handle all the fast food and junk food! Also, to make things harder, I really do not like vegetables and I am an incredibly picky eater therefore I really have to force myself to eat vegetables now and to not be so picky with food!

Myfitnesspal App

Now that I have embarked on my fitness journey, I was recommended by my personal trainer to download the app 'Myfitnesspal' which has helped me massively. This app allows me to keep track of the food I'm consuming and help keep track of the calories, nutrients and macros. I also bought scales to weigh my food so that it's more accurate!

Breakfast

For breakfast, I usually have Greek Style yoghurt, the original flavour. With the yoghurt, I add a selection of berries, banana and granola as seen in the photos below. In one of the photos, the yoghurt is slightly pink because I decided to mix it up a little and put the yoghurt in my Nutribullet and blended the yoghurt with some berries and banana. However, I didn't do this again as it didn't taste as nice! Also, that way, I was consuming far too much sugar according to Myfitnesspal! My personal trainer actually told me to eat Natural Greek Yoghurt and I tried the one by Yeo Valley and it made me nearly sick! It was far too strong in flavour and extremely creamy. I absolutely hated it and bought a huge tub which is so annoying but oh well. I'm going to stick with Greek Style yoghurt as I way prefer the taste.

An alternative breakfast option is Oat So Simple. I get the original flavour which has individual sachets as I find it easier to measure portions. I add semi-skimmed milk to this and warm it up in the microwave then add honey when it is hot. I also like to add a selection of fruit to my porridge as I think it tastes a lot better and makes me more full so I don't snack. This is a great breakfast option as porridge is not only good for you but oats are high in fibre and naturally contain beta-glucan which helps lower cholesterol! 

Sometimes when I'm in a rush and don't have time to make breakfast, I grab a banana and a Special K cereal bar. This isn't as good but it's better than nothing!

Blended the yoghurt with a selection of berries and some banana then added the fruit on top. This is actually far too much sugar for your daily allowance so I wouldn't really recommend it. Also, it didn't taste as nice!

Oats So Simple porridge with fresh strawberries and a banana

Lunch

I tend to mix it up for lunch. When I'm in lectures all day, I pack myself a salad for lunch containing chicken, egg, mixed salad leaves and some charlotte potatoes like in the second photo. When I'm not out, I will have either risotto that I made from the night before containing chicken, broccoli and cauliflower and add some mixed salad leaves. Sometimes, I even have salmon, sweet potato and some mixed salad leaves. I try and keep lunch quite simple.

Risotto, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower and mixed salad leaves.

Mixed salad leaves, chicken, boiled egg and charlotte potatoes

Dinner

I enjoy cooking but I find it takes up so much time and sometimes I just don't have the time to cook therefore cook in big portions then have them as leftovers in a box and put it in the fridge for the next couple of days.

For dinner, I always incorporate some veggies now like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, sweet potato and peppers. I always have some sort of meat like salmon, chicken and steak. I absolutely love meat and having a lot of protein is good for you as it makes you feel more full and means it will limit the chances of you snacking!

Okay the last photo there are chips in it but I never really have chips anymore as it is bad carbs. I only had it that day as I was rewarding myself for maintaining a good diet oh and it goes well with steak!

Snacking

This is probably the hardest for me as I love snacks! However, obviously with my fitness plan, I'm not meant to be eating junk food! I have a nutribullet so nowadays, I do blend a lot of fruit and water to make myself a juice. 

My go to juice has been my 'green juice' which includes lots of spinach, a banana, one apple and a handful of strawberries. It tastes absolutely delicious! I sometimes don't use apple and add mango and pineapple instead.

Types of Exercises I do

Most of my workout incorporates weights as my aim is to tone up and lose a bit of weight as I have a high percentage of body fat.

For every exercise, I do 3 sets of 15 reps and add weights whenever I can. I warm up by doing 5 minutes on the cross trainer and stretches.

Examples of the exercises:

Squats - 10kg 

Lunges - 3kgs

Chest Press - 15kg

Leg Press - 40kg

Pull Down - 25kg

Seated Row - 15kg

Slam Ball - 8kg-12kg

Kettle Bell Swings - 12kg

Vsit Rotations - 6kg ball

Sit Ups with Shoulder Press - 6kg ball

Vsit - 30 seconds hold

Plank - 30 seconds hold

Burpees

Leg Raises

Cardio:

10 mins Treadmill

10 mins Stepper

15 mins Rowing

I've also been participating in some exercise classes like conditioning where it's basically circuits containing exercises like press ups, kettle bell swings and using a rope.

I absolutely love playing with gym equipment as it makes exercise a lot more fun! I do not enjoy cardio as I find it so boring.

Also, when I feel like I'm going to skip a gym session, I go on the internet and buy myself some cute gym wear to motivate me again! Try it if you feel the same way!

Back to Blogging

Hello all!

For the past 6 months, I've been extremely busy due to work commitments and also went a little crazy with my social life! Anyway, now that I am back to being a university student (final year), I have a little bit more time so I can finally blog again! Some of the upcoming posts will be about my new fitness regime as I really let go in the summer, my life in London over the summer including some tips about London property and my recent holiday to Greece, Italy and Turkey. I'm really excited to share these with you!

Just a little update

Over the summer, I lived in Kentish Town (northern line) throughout the summer which I really enjoyed! I worked at a bank and made loads of new friends on my internship that I went out so much, probably about 3 times a week and spent barely anytime actually in my flat in London! I ate out all the time which I absolutely loved!! However, this really was bad for my diet as I started to get fatter! I tried to go for a run every so often but this was like once every 3 weeks and the run didn't last long....

When my internship finished at the beginning of September, I went on holiday with my parents and sister on a cruise around Greece, Italy and Turkey which was really fun. We actually decided to try Celebrity Cruises again even after the disaster from the last Celebrity cruise we did back over Christmas and New Year. However, this time the ship was a lot better and so were the staff which made it more enjoyable although the entertainment was still really poor. I will do a review of this cruise in a post soon!

I'm now back at Loughborough University in my final year studying Banking, Finance and Management. I also have a graduate job lined up which I am so happy about as this means I have more time to myself as I don't have to apply for jobs like crazy! I've been hitting the gym 5-6 times a week as part of my new fitness regime and meet with my personal trainer once a week for a session! I am absolutely loving the new healthy me where I eat more healthily, TRYING to stop snacking on chocolate and crisps but it is definitely proving difficult for me! I just can't resist!!! You can track my fitness journey via my Instagram account click here. A blog post on my fitness journey so far will be posted this weekend!!

Quote of the Day

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

- Walt Disney

My Allergic Reactions - Sensitive Skin

Quick Intro

This is a very difficult topic for me to talk about. I didn't really want to upload photos on the internet of my allergic reactions because they really are ugly. However, I think it is extremely important to send a powerful message across to everyone regarding products you're applying to your delicate skin.

Please do not just apply any product on your skin! Research and speak to people about the products or you may suffer long term damage to your skin!

This blog post is about a recent experience with a brand that has caused long term damage to my skin. I'm going to be telling you about my skin before the incident, a bit about the brand that caused my allergic reactions and finally my skin now.

As a result of my severe allergic reaction, I was prescribed steroids, antibiotics and given two different creams.

BEFORE

My skin type was combination and my skin was not sensitive. I also had clear skin luckily and never really had a big outbreak of spots. Sometimes during my period, I would get the odd spot.

This is me make-up free. I had just got my hair dyed red so you may see red around my forehead! Haha

Arbonne Incident

Back in October 2014, (one year ago) I was given the opportunity to try some skincare products from Arbonne and I took that chance to trial the products for a few days. I absolutely loved trying different products from different brands and basically thought my skin could handle absolutely everything as I didn't have sensitive skin.

Unfortunately, the experience was absolutely awful which resulted me being severely allergic to the products and now I am suffering long term damage to my skin as a result of the products. Please note that the products will not affect everyone in the same way. I did a review on my horrific experience using Arbonne skin products so if you wish to have a read of my experience, please click here. 

I'm still really unsure why my skin has reacted this way but my guess is that the products that were given to me to trial were already opened and could have been contaminated. I was stupid enough to still apply the products to my skin but the way I see it, when you go into shops and there are samples there for you to try, they are already open. I never had an allergic reaction from sample products from shops so I didn't think anything of it when I applied the Arbonne products to my skin.

The Arbonne skin care range I tried.

After

My skin type is still combination. My skin was not at all sensitive before the Arbonne incident. However, ever since applying Arbonne skin products, I have been suffering from random allergic reactions which have been so bad that I had to go seek doctors advice. My skin is now also incredibly sensitive which is really upsetting as before I didn't need to worry about what I was applying to my face. Now, I have to be extremely careful with products I pick up and try.

The photos I will be showing you really don't show how bad my skin was when I had a severe allergic reaction which is really annoying. My doctor has now arranged for me to go see a dermatologist however I have to wait a couple more months before my appointment.

Products I used in the past, I can no longer use including Johnson's face wipes (moisturising for dry skin) which I used all the time before. They are now too strong for my skin so now I have to use Simple face wipes and Johnson's extra-sensitive face wipes. I also have to look for products that are only suitable for extra sensitive skin which really limits the amount of products I can use.

The photo below shows the random severe allergic reaction I suffered. I have a feeling this was due to using the Johnson's face wipes (moisturising for dry skin) as it really felt like my face was burning when I wiped my face with it. I suffered from redness and extremely dry flaky skin for about 2 weeks before my skin got progressively worse. My face and neck started swelling up and the redness got worse and eventually my face and neck swelled so much that I could barely open my eyes and my face stung so bad. My neck was also infected from me scratching because the reaction was incredibly itchy so I scratched during the night when I slept. My face was burning so much that I went to grab ice and I iced my face and neck but the next day, my face and neck were so bad I had to go see my doctor. I actually looked like someone who had suffered from burns to my face and neck because my skin was that red raw. Unfortunately, the photos don't really show this.

I was living in London for work and my doctor was all the way in Sussex. Unfortunately, this came at the worst time as there was a tube strike in London therefore I had to get an Uber to Victoria station and of course I did not want to be seen by anyone in the state I was in so I wore the biggest sunglasses in an attempt to hide my face and neck! The journey took 3 hours to see my doctor.

Severe allergic reaction to my face and neck. You can see my face is really swollen and I can barely open my eyes.

My mother picked me up from the station and was absolutely shocked when she saw my face. Likewise, my sister was scared when she saw what I looked like. She said I didn't even look like myself. When I saw my doctor, she immediately knew it was an allergic reaction and was feeling really sorry for me.

Due to the severe allergic reaction, I was given steroids to take for 7 days along with antibiotics for my infected neck and cream to apply over my face and neck. I have now been referred to a dermatologist.

Luckily, my skin got better after about 4 days of taking the medication.

However, my skin has never fully healed. I have been suffering from random allergic reactions but luckily they haven't been as extreme as above.

Reaction on my cheek.

Redness above my eye and on my cheek.

Conclusion

Now that you've seen photos of my allergic reactions, please do not just apply anything to your face. Really research products and speak to people about the different products.

I have to be extremely careful with what I apply on my face and neck now to reduce the chances of suffering from another allergic reaction.

Also, if you have an advice for me, please post a comment or send me a message as I'd love to hear from you if you know anything about skin :)