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!

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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!