OOTD| New Look makes me happy

 

I realised the other day that it has been a long time since I’ve wrote an outfit related post so decided I would write one this week dedicated to a mini personal triumph. As you all know, I have lost a lot of weight over the past 9 months and am still losing it, so I am currently in a position whereby a lot of my clothes don’t fit! I went through a phase where I was super happy I was able to fit into clothes in my wardrobe that had previously been too tight, however even my old skinny clothes are starting to become loose, so I have flogged most of my old wardrobe and have been purchasing a few new items to make do until I reach the body that I want!

As I am only buying clothes while I am in between overweight Cat and perfect body Cat I don’t want to spend a load of money on clothes that in the next few months won’t fit so Primark and New Look have been my best friends. It is New Look who this post is dedicated to. Ever since I have lost weight I have obviously been feeling more confident in my body and have wanted to see what I look like in jeans. Jeans were previously a big no no for me. I always thought they were uncomfortable and unflattering for my curvy bum and short, stocky legs. However since I have a much smaller bum and more shapely legs I have been on the search for a flattering pair of jeans, and New Look had the answer.

A few weeks ago I was amazed to find that I could fit into a size 14 jeans!! I know sizes shouldn’t matter, but for a girl who not so long ago was buying a size 18, I was shocked to find that the 14 was very comfortable. The jeans are a high-waisted, skinny leg cut, so flattering for us short girls, and the denim is super soft making them very stretchy and comfortable. The best thing about the jeans is that they are only £22… a bargain! Plus they come in black, dark blue and burgundy. So come pay day I will be buying them in the other two colours.

As I am new to the world of jeans, I figured I also needed a new t-shirt to wear with my jeans so went for the t-shirt that I’m wearing underneath the blue jumper. It was priced at £8 (i think) and came in a variety of cute prints. I also impulse bought the jumper which was only £10. It' was super soft, stretchy and perfect for spring as it’s quite thin. Overall I walked out of New Look a very, very happy girl and am now in love with my new jeans.

Have you been buying your spring wardrobe yet? How do you rate the jeans form New Look? Are there any other jeans from high street stores that you recommend for us short girls?

 

Don’t forget to check out my blogger of the week Natalia from Natalia’s Beauty Blog. She is a beautiful girl has the most gorgeous OOTD posts, writes great reviews and also blogs health and fitness… which I know you all love!

Fitness Friday| Weight Loss| Preparation & Planning

You rarely venture into anything new in life without first thinking about it. Remember back to when you started your blog, did you think about it before you started it? I bet you carefully thought about the name, what you wanted to say and what you wanted it too look like. Well if you are to start a healthier lifestyle, the same rule applies!

Success loves preparation! If you want your healthy lifestyle to be more than just a phase you need to plan and prepare throughout. This may sound like hard work, but as I always say; make small steps each day and they soon become habits.

Think about it. If you are not prepared for hunger you normally just grab something on the go. Be it a bag of crisps, chocolate bar or a shop bought sandwich. If you are prepared you will more than likely have a snack in your bag that is healthier, be it a homemade sandwich or wrap, nuts of fruit.

The same happens in the supermarket. If you are prepared, have planned your meals and have a list of ingredients you will more than likely only buy what is on the list which means your kitchen cupboards will be full of healthy food. However if you are unprepared you will venture into the supermarket and end up buying what ever takes your fancy, be it healthy or not.

I am not saying that you need to count calories, plan every single meal that you have and panic when you don’t have a pre-prepared snack, just become a little more prepared and it can make a big difference! Below are a couple of preparation tips.

• Plan your meals- One night a week flick through your favourite cookbooks for meals you can make. This means you will have meals for each night, reducing the likelihood of ordering takeaways.
• Stick to your shopping list- If you are too tempted by BOGOF offers then keep your head down and go directly to where your shopping list items will be found in the store. Do not browse every aisle in the supermarket… you will just buy more!
• Wake up 15 minutes earlier- This means you will have time to sit and have breakfast each morning, instead of grabbing a coffee and muffin from Starbucks!
• Keep a food diary- You can use a Diary, such as the Moleskin Wellness Journal*, a notepad or an app on your phone. Food diaries make you more accountable of what you put in your mouth. You will be surprised at what you actually eat when first starting a food diary!
• Prepare your lunch- A couple of nights a week get out your Tupperware and make up your lunches to take to work for the next couple of days. Lunch can be a meal that if bought on the go can have a million more calories that you would think. A sandwich bought from a shop can have around 400 calories in, add your crisps and cake to this and your lunch could amount to over 700 calories! By preparing your lunch in bulk you will have no excuse as you can simply grab it from the fridge before you leave in the morning!
• Keep and water bottle with you- If you struggle to get your 2 litres everyday, keep a 1 litre/750cl bottle on your desk or in your bag and sip it throughout the day. This saves you money and reduces the likelihood of grabbing a bottle of pop.
• Plan ahead when eating out- Most places have their menus online, and large chains even have the calories count on there. So if you are watching your waistline and don’t fancy splurging then check out the menu and plan your meal ahead. 
• Schedule in your workouts- Schedule in your workouts as if they were a meeting or dentist appointment. If you cancel a half an hour appointment to improve yourself then I’m sure you will feel guilty! Get your workouts written down in your diary!
• Set goals- Long term and short tem! Try aiming for so many inches lost by a wedding in the summer, or aim to take homemade lunches to work every day that week. If you have a goal you have something to concentrate your efforts on. Even better reward yourself after meeting goals… have a manicure, buy a new dress etc.

I hope these tips help you prepare for a healthier lifestyle. Tell me how you make sure you are prepared for a healthy week!

Fitness Friday| Freeze Your Fat| 15 Minute Isometric Workout

 

I don’t know about you but when I workout I am guilty of hammering the cardio and sometimes forgetting about strength…. which is not good! Strength exercises obviously build up your muscles and it is a fact that the more muscle you have the more fat your body will burn during the day! Now you don’t have to hammer the weights to get your strength workout in, in fact you can stay completely still and still work your body hard.

Above is a range of isometric exercises that slim you down and tone you up without moving a muscle! Isometric exercises require you to remain static and use your body's own resistance and weight to challenge your muscles. So all you have to do is hold each of the positions for 60 seconds, three to four times, will a 30 seconds rest between each.

1- Plank- Lie face down on the floor and prop yourself up on your forearms and toes. Keep your bum down and your body in a straight line. Concentrate on your abs and glutes and squeeze them as tightly as you can and hold still.

2- T-Stabilisation- Firstly get into a push-up position. Next shift your weight onto you left hand and rotate your chest to the right as the raise your right arm towards the ceiling. Keep your feet stacked. Hold for a few seconds, then try it on the other side. That’s one rep!

3- Wall Squat- Stand with your feet should width apart and back against a wall. Lower your body, slowly down the wall, until you knees are at a 90 degree angle. Push into your heels and hold still.

4- Lateral Raise- Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart with your arms at your sides and a 1kg to 2.5kg dumbbell (if you have no dumbbells, use a tin of beans). Slowly raise your arms until they are in line with your shoulders and hold them there!

5- Static Squat- Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart  or slightly wider. Extend your hands out in front of you to keep your balance. Sit back and down like you are sitting on an imaginary chair. Keep your head facing forward as your upper body bends forward a bit. Lower down so that your form a 90 degree angle with your knees and hips, ensuring that your knees never go over your toes. Press back into your heels and hold still.

Have you tried isometric exercises before? Or do you prefer to use weights? Which one of this moves is your favourite?

Primark & New Look Haul

 

If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I have been selling all my belongings on Ebay the past couple of weeks. I say all my belongings, I really mean all my “fat clothes.” As I have lost quite a bit of weight over the past few months, my clothes have been getting rather large for me, especially around my boobs! So as I have been quite successful on Ebay I decided to reward myself and go on a shopping spree!

It was great to go in a shop and not know what size I was, and in most of them I was pleasantly surprised!  Unfortunately, as always when I have money to spend I can never find something to buy, so my haul was smaller than I wanted it to be.

You can find what I bought in the video below, which for the first time is in HD! Yeah!

 

Have you got any tips about which shops have some great stock in at the moment? I really need some casual dresses, so any help is much appreciated!

Fitness Friday| Personal Weight-loss| Progress Picture

 

Firstly this post is a little bit late, my apologies, but like many of you, I have been especially busy the past week getting everything organised for Christmas. Now that I am at my Boyfriends’ parents house (where I’m spending Christmas) I can finally put my feet up and relax. I am currently writing this post while sitting in my PJ’s waiting for my tan to dry and nibbling on Cadbury’s Chocolate fingers… yum!

Anyways on to the purpose of this post… my personal weight-loss or even fitness/health journey. As you should all know by now, as I keep going on about it, I have been taking part in my own Festive Flat Tum Challenge over the past few months and although I haven’t quite achieved a flat tum tum yet I have seen some results which I wanted to share with you.

I have on this journey gained more than I have lost.. I have gain a new perspective on my health, body and fitness. I write this post as a completely different girl than what I was 4 months ago. For example, yesterday I was out in torrential rain running… I have officially turned into a mad runner… but more than that I enjoy it! It isn’t a chore, I enjoy going out and working out, I enjoy pushing my body and working hard and no matter how many pounds or inches I lose will change that.

Firstly I need to explain that I don’t use weighing scales, so I measure my progress through this progress  picture I am sharing with you, along with the inches I have lost and how my clothes fit. I used to have an unhealthy relationship with the weighting scale and would concentrate more on the pounds I lost than how I felt and looked. For example if I have a really good week where I had worked out 6 times a week and eaten healthily everyday but then I only saw a small amount of pounds lost I would feel awful, upset and demotivated. Now I concentrate on my performance in my workouts; how far or fast I run, how may squats I can do, how long I can hold a plank for. This means I end up pushing myself a little bit harder with each workout and I know the harder I work the sooner results will come.

To achieve the results I have I have simply changed my attitude; I focus on health not weight-loss. I eat healthy 80% of the time and workout 5/6 times a week for about an hour. I have not deprived myself of anything at all; If I want to go out for dinner and have a big burger I will. I just know to not have a huge big burger the next day. I eat 3 meals a day and have 2 small healthy snacks, so I am eating little but often. Because of  this constant grazing I am rarely hungry so I don’t end up binging on something I shouldn’t because I feel starving. With my exercise I aim for 30 to 40 minutes of cardio a day and 30-20 minutes of strength exercises a day. For my cardio I mainly run, but do use a mixture of workout DVD’s and games also such as Zumba. With my strength exercises I either makeup a routine of simple but effective moves such as Squats and The Plank or I use a DVD such as The 30 Day Shred.

So my results are as follows. In 4 months I have;

• Gone down about 2/3 dress sizes on my top (dependant upon the shop)
• Gone down 2 dress sizes on my bottom (again dependant upon the shop)
• Lost a total of 13 inches, including 2 inches off my boobs, hips and bum and nearly 2.5 inches off my waist!

I still have a long way to go till I will be completely happy with my body, but I am very happy with my results so far.

Have to been on a fitness or health mission this year also? Have you seen any results from exercise or changing your diet recently? I always love to hear about success stories!

Fitness Fridays| Smoothie Love

Firstly apologies for not posting any Fitness Friday posts over the past couple of weeks, I hope you understand I was busy with my dissertation. But fear not they will be continuing, and are becoming a little bit more personal, as I am currently starting a health kick, to ensure I’m looking super fit for summer. It is the perfect time to start in my opinion (if you haven’t already) as the short bursts of sunshine are really motivating to remind you that bikini season is just around the corner, June is only 2 months away!

As the title suggests this post is not really fitness, but diet related. For those of you have been a loyal follower of mine from the beginning you will remember that I adore a good smoothie, and if it is homemade even better! So for my health kick I decided the first small step I am taking is to change my breakfast from carby bread and cereals, to homemade smoothies. If you have a blender there really is no excuse, as they don’t take long at all, especially if your fruit is already prepared. And if you don’t have a juicer, you can buy them relatively cheaply on ebay for around £20.

Smoothies themselves are a great start to the day, here are some of the benefits for you;

• They are full of fibre, which will help you feel fuller for longer.
• If you add natural protein such as spinach or whey powder then the smoothie will keep you even fuller!
• Smoothies can contain 2 or 3 portions of your fruit or veg for the day… so it gets you off to a great start for hitting the magic 5!
• They are perfect for summery and spring days, as they are cool and refreshing.
• The vitamins in your smoothie will significantly improve the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails… great for us beauty bloggers especially with those close up photos!
• The high water and nutrient content will help keep you hydrated throughout the day.
• Obviously they are a low caloried option. The recipe below contains only 200 calories…great for girls wanting to shape up.

Here is a really easy one I have been making and drinking most mornings this week. It has three ingredients, and takes 2 minutes to make. Your ingredients are a packet of frozen mixed berries, a carton of grape juice, and a pot of natural yoghurt. Throw in a bit of each (I don’t know measurements I just throw it all together) and blitz… there you go breakfast! I admit this is quite a sweet smoothie, so not great if you don’t like sweet things, put you can Google recipes, or try your own!

I hope I inspire someone to give it a try. Give it a week, and you will notice your skin becoming a lot clearer, and maybe your waistline reducing.

*Apologies for the blackberry photos..bad quality!

Fitness Fridays| Workout at home

I know many of you can't get to the gym, or don't enjoy it, or don't have the money to go. Don't let that stop you from working out, you can squeeze in workouts anywhere. If I can workout in a tiny dorm room at uni then you can workout anywhere. Here are some little tips to help you;

• Every little helps- Even if it is just 10 minutes, 10 minutes of sit-ups or squats is better than nothing. Get into the habit of doing them before you go to bed, or when you get up in the morning. I always try to do 100 squats while I brush my teeth... its better than just standing there. 
• Mix it up- If you're easily bored, build up your own selection of DVDs, you can buy exercise DVDs relatively cheaply on Amazon and Ebay.
• Weights- You don't need to won dumbbells. I used to use tins of beans or soup, or fill water bottles with sand or stones. Use these for your weights, they are effective and a cheaper option.
• Hey Six Pack!- The plank can be done anywhere, you don't need equipment, it only takes a minute, and its one of the most effective movements for toning. It targets your core muscles, lower back, hips and bum. 
• Hula Hips- Hula-hooping is great for your abs, Beyonce apparently swears by it. A hula Hoop is a cheap buy and you don't need much room. 
• No Equipment- Create your own mini boot-camp. Do circuits of skipping, high knees, squats, star jumps, lunges. Set a timers on your mobile and do 1 minute of each exercise then go straight onto another. See how many reps you can do, you will soon tire out. 
• Up your game- You don't need fancy gym equipment to get arms like Jennifer Aniston. Make your workout harder by doing one arm press ups or decline press ups. Do as many as you can even if its 5. If you do it regularly you will soon see a difference. 

Fitness Fridays| Myth busting

I don't know about you, but when it comes to health, fitness and diets etc, there is such a wide array of information, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes conflicting. I find it all very confusing, however help was at hand. I read an article in a fitness magazine a few months ago that was very interesting. It basically told the truth on many misconceived fitness and health tips. I have picked my favourite to share with you today. 

Myth 1- Women bulk up if they lift weights.

I have mentioned this a few times, as this is one of the largest misconceptions. You will not bulk up if you lift weights (only if you do it for several hours a day.)There are many benefits to weight training; it sculpts and tones you, and it increases your metabolism. 

Myth 2- You can spot reduce just one area.

Yes you can sculpt and tone one area, but you cannot target fat loss from one area. From your birth your body is predetermined where it will store fat and which fat stores it will draw from first.

Myth 3- Eating Carbs after 5pm will make you put on weight.  

There is no evidence that you metabolise food in a different way at different times of the day. You should eat when it suits you, and concentrate on eating a healthy meal, not at what time you are eating. Many believe this myth comes form peoples tendency to snack on sugary foods in the evening, which would cause you to gain weight.

Myth 4- Eating fat makes you fat.

We need fat, the right kind of fat in small amounts, to make up a balanced diet. Good fats are needed for repair, recovery and regrowth, and can help your brain function. Consume avocados, nuts and oily fish.

Myth 5- Cardio is the best/ only way to burn fat.

Cardio is a great fat burner, while you're doing it. However the number of calories burnt after working out is higher from resistance training, so you will continue to burn calories hours later.

All you should really remember is to achieve a fit and health body, you need to burn more calories than you consume through plenty of exercise and a healthy balanced diet.
I hope these tips have helped some others.

Fitness Fridays- Jumping Jack Challenge

I am going to start a new feature on my blog, so it is a bit more organised and less random. So I present to you all 'Fitness Fridays!' Each Friday I aim to post a article on a fitness tip, review, or anything fitness related. This will hopefully inspire you to try it the next week, and we can all get fitter together :D

Right girlies, I know a lot of you may have made resolutions to get fit/ loose a few pounds/ tone up/ drop a dress size... Whatever! We would all like to find an easier way to do this. Nobody wants to spend hours in the gym, and eating salad all the time.

Through tumblr I have found a challenge in which burns plenty of calories and takes little time out of your day.

Its the Jumping Jack Challenge! the science is that for every jumping jack a person does they burn 5 calories. So if you do 100 everyday for a week you would loose a pound. (As to loose a pound a person needs to burn 3500 calories, or eat 3500 calories less, a week.)

This is just a guide, so you can tick off days that you reach your target!

100 jumping jacks is really not that much, and won't take more than a few minutes! So come on girls, what are you waiting for?!

Are Detox a sham or not?

So its that time of the year again, where health and fitness comes to the front of everyone's mind. Detoxing is obviously one of the most popular ways to kick start this phase many of us go through. From juice diets, to yoga, to beauty treatments, there are many different ways to detox. However I recently read an article in the Daily Mail saying that detoxing, in fact, had no benefit to health and is a sham. To be honest I always take any article published by the Daily Mail with a pinch of salt, as I believe they can over react a lot!

So I did some researching into the topic. Experts believe that the body is perfectly capable of ridding of all the toxins in your system without the need of detoxing. They even claim that some detoxes out there can even be dangerous. Detoxing is not what improves your body's functionality, it is the increase in the healthiness of peoples diets that make them feel better, and it is in fact bad diets and lack of exercise that make people feel sluggish and heavy, not toxins. Basically experts say detoxing is no more than a marketers dream and a million pound industry.

I personally agree that the body does detox itself, but to a degree you can help your body through many methods. You cannot cram your body full of rubbish continually, do no exercise and expect it to still function effectively and properly for the rest of your life, you need to nudge it in the right direction. I don't agree with spending large amounts of money on special products, but instead, upping your intake of vegetables and fruit, restricting carbs, taking up yoga and Pilates (exercises that concentrate on breathing and stretching), just using your commonsense. Do not buy into fads and pills, if you up your vitamins and fibre you will see more movement in your bowls (lovely I know, sorry) which will help rid the waste you have in your body.

For example my mother had a series of colonic irrigation, and the benefits she gained form this were great. When she saw the therapist she obviously listed all the possible benefits, but my mum personally lost around 7 pounds, which was most obvious on her upper abdominal area, as this is supposedly where waste in our body become crammed, and makes us look bloated no matter how much exercise and toning you try to do. She also felt less lethargic, and recommends the treatment to everyone and anyone who will listen.

A personal example of detoxing is when myself and my friend did the Maple Syrup Diet, which is famous because Beyonce used it to lose weight for her role in Dream Girls. Basically you are to drink nothing but a mixture of lemons in hot/cold water, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper (it was pretty gross). You drink this for 6 times a day for 10 days, me and my friend managed 4 1/2 days. Surprisingly my hunger disappeared after 2 1/2 days, however my humongous headache made me want to die. This is an extreme "Detox" and I would not recommend it, as personally apart form losing 5 pounds, I saw no other benefit, I think I actually looked worse.

What are your opinions on detoxing. Have you ever tried a detox, or bought any products?

Snooki's weight loss

Snooki posing in her bikini on Twitter

Snooki with her boyfriend (again a personal picture from her Twitter account)

Another shot in her bikini

So I have been following Snooki's weight loss for a while now, as she frequents my twitter, and is often mentioned on websites and magazines I read.

I never really thought she was massively huge, like the media portrayed her to be. Yes she was a bit overweight for the height she is, but not massively. Now she has been losing weight, she looks great, I just hope she doesn't go too far as I know she has had eating disorders in the past. She admitted to battling both anorexia and bulimia in high school, and once only weighed 80lbs. She told OK magazine "There were these little freshman girls, and I was scared that these little freshmen girls were going to take my spot [in the  cheer-leading squad]. I just started eating salads... and then I got to a point where I was just eating a cracker a day. I was down to 80 pounds. I almost died."

 I know that her current weight-loss is credited to weight loss tablets called Zantrex. She stated on her twitter that she eats less, workout more, but credits the pills for her transformation. The pills are fat burning tablets, which have also been used by Britney Spears.The side effects include palpitations, anxiety, cold sweats, nausea, diarrhoea, increased heart rate and irritability.

On the website it states that the tablets just cause fat loss, not body weight loss, and that they should be taken twice a day, two in the morning and two with your main meal.

Personally I admit, I have been tempted in the past to resort to miracle weight-loss tablets, but never have. I believe now that every person is capable of changing their body without taking pills and tablets that cause such dangerous side effects. I would be too scared of the side effects to take any of these fat-loss tablets. I think especially celebrities who have access to personal trainers and nutritionalists (most of us don't have the pennies so such luxuries) should be losing weight the healthy way through exercise and healthy eating. For us without these luxuries become your own personal trainer and nutritionalist, educate yourself, there are thousands of free websites to read up on what you need to do to change your body if you have the desire to.

I want to know what your reactions are to celebrities using weight loss tablets? Or even in general your opinion on the tablets. Or on Snooki, should someone with previous eating disorders be taking weight loss tablet.