Hi there everyone – please excuse the ridiculously late (by just over a week) post to mark the end of our 12 week journey..   The last few weeks have been pretty life-changing and unexpected in not-so-pleasant ways, so I’ve been a little distracted trying to plot new courses and figure out new futures!

In regards to the end of the challenge – I have learnt so much throughout the 12 weeks (especially diet-wise) and have really managed to transform not only my body, but also my mind into a motivated and positive state!

Altogether with the help from John at Bio-Synergy & Ann from Famously Fit I have managed to really tone and cut my body through hard work, healthy and clean eating & the correct supplements to support all this!

So!  The important bit..  Results!  I have managed to lose a further 12.4 inches around my body, lost 2.3kg in weight and have come down a dress size or so too!  Not too shabby for 3 months worth of work.  I’ve checked my HR monitor and I can also report that this was achieved through only 85 hours and 47 minutes..  (Maybe a little more as I did a few workouts without it too).  Bottom line is that it’s all achievable – if I can do it, anyone can!

I have carried on with my exercise and healthy eating and plan to keep it going forever.  Why not!?!?  It’s not that hard really – I think most of the time it’s a mental hurdle – we’re blasted by “healthy” junk food from every direction throughout each waking day – the TV, advertising on the tube, buses, supermarkets – it never ends, but in actual fact everything we need to live healthy is right there in front of us, it’s just usually not as exciting looking or popular as other choices out there.  Once you start on the path though and stick to it, your body starts to react to the change – when I ate a piece of birthday cake for my son’s 3rd birthday last week I got what I can only describe as a “food hangover” – I felt awful and I can only guess it’s because the only sugar that really makes it into my diet nowadays is through fruit… Icing sugar and cake just weren’t welcome anymore in this temple..

I look forward to the future (much as the last few days events have changed it forever) and will definitely keep up with the exercise and diet!  What an amazing experience!  Thank you to everyone involved and my fellow challengers for being amazing and working through it all!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I’ve been so quiet – I’m still here, promise!  What a crazy week that’s flown by?!?  So as you may know from my previous post, I was in Germany for 2 weeks visiting various members of my family and jumping around like the sweaty, mad, yet determined woman that I am, in many a German garden, balcony, beach and road…  And I have the sportswear tan lines to prove it..  Sadly not very sexy at all, especially the white inch-wide bands I have just below each knee from my jumper’s knee straps..  Mind you, having said that, I don’t think I need to worry too much as the weather back here in England is barely worthy of skimpy summer clothing anyway, so the strange white lines shall remain hidden for now…  hehe!

So, the reason I have not written, emailed and have barely kept a food diary (sorry Ann) – is that I was a very clever little bunny – on returning to the UK with my mother and 2 year old son (with 4 bags in tow) we managed to lose a suitcase somewhere between the 2 trains and the airport…  This wouldn’t be too bad, but this particular case just happened to contain my laptop charger and training clothes..  So I didn’t have internet or indeed a computer at all until a day or two ago when I spent stupid amounts of money replacing it (twice)..

It also meant that I had a three (or four perhaps) day break from high intensity exercise while I replaced trainers, shorts, etc (thank goodness the sales are still on)..  And it was just as well really because my mother wasn’t here for long and I was starting to get shin splints in my legs…  So now, finally, after much ado, bother, sweat and tears I am more or less back on track, but with a slightly less happy looking food budget due to the unexpected expenditure and an oven that doesn’t work anymore…  Pair that up with the loving landlady who doesn’t care at all and it’s all too much going pear-shaped within a short space of time!

I have managed to lose a little weight this week though and some of my friends are saying I’m looking too skinny which is new in my life!  But I am happy, in the healthy weight range (BMI of 24) and I feel more confident than ever.  I think that Bio-synergy’s CLA has really helped me to shift the stubborn fat that I used to have trouble shifting previously when I worked out, but unfortunately I have also lost nearly all of my “female assets” (for want of a better description)…  This makes me feel a little odd, but I’m getting used to it slowly but surely..

Hope everyone else is doing well and staying positive!  I’m quite sad and upset that the end is in sight actually..  Although I will carry this on hopefully for the rest of my life, I’ve really enjoyed being part of a little team and having the support and reading about everyone’s adventures along the way!

Have a great week guys!

Sorry for the late update – off to visit family this week til the end of the month, so I’ve had to do a lot of organising, adapting and other such crazy things, but I’ve tried to keep it all together as much as possible.  Quite a bit of bread has found it’s way into my diet this week (although it’s relatively healthy baker’s freshly baked bread), but so it goes in Germany where it is unheard of (in my little village at least) to breakfast without a brötchen or two!

I’ve managed to keep up with my exercise, although it took me a couple of days to fall comfortably into a new routine at my nan’s/uncle’s houses respectively!

Other than that there’s not too much to report on..  Although I’d be interested to know whether anyone else’s family members or friends think they are “going to far” with being healthy and eating a balanced diet?  Seems to be trending in my reality recently…

Have a great week guys.

So this week was really busy (hence the late post), but also a very lucky one!  After saying goodbye to my mother on Monday, I worked out as much as I could each day to make up for the imminent Friday rest day (I was chosen to be a contestant on a Mall Mania quiz show in Wimbledon).  I thought it would be great fun, so off I went with my son, his father & babysitter in tow to try and have some fun & maybe win some prizes at the same time!

Little did I expect to end up winning all my rounds and being asked to come back the next day for the final!  So it ended up being 2 rest days on the Friday and Saturday – I made sure I stuck to my diet (with the help of M&S Simply Food’s amazing mini-salads)…  However, I ended up winning the quiz show, so I am a very happy little bunny indeed as I now have a new camera, suitcase, phone and some vouchers for new shoes..  Did NOT expect that to happen in a million years!  The sun is definitely shining down on me lately (probably why it’s not making it through to the rest of the country..lol)!

Then on Monday (yesterday) I had a pamper day with YSL and their top European make-up artist – the incredible Fred Letailleur!  What a week!  Furthermore, I am just about to jam on the exercise for the day (double whammy today and Sunday due to the extra rest days) and I have lost a little more size & weight!  The thing that makes me smile most right now though is waking up each morning to stumble out of the bedroom into the hallway and meeting my image in the mirror each time to see those six pack abs…     Never thought I’d get them back like this after giving birth to my son..  Thanks to John @ Bio-Synergy and Ann @ Famously Fit & to all my co-challengers – none of this would have happened without you!

Fingers crossed for a little bit of sunshine to come our way and make things even brighter!

Have an amazing week guys!  x

Hi everyone!

Hope you’ve all had a great week!  I’ve lost a little size again and some weight (finally!), but honestly I am getting less and less bothered about these gains/losses and more happy about the fact that I am feeling smiley, contented, fit and healthy in my life!

Thanks to Ann, John and my fellow 12 week challengers I have learnt loads, I understand more about myself & my relationship with food/exercise, I have come to accept my weaknesses – working on them day-by-day for a permanent solution and I have seriously come to appreciate my strengths which in turn has led me to become a more confident and happy person overall.  Or maybe all this has just been because I turned 30 this week…   Nah! lol!  I think it’s a mixture of everything, so here’s a MASSIVE thank you to you all!

I’ve been a bit rubbish in relation to keeping my food diary up-to-date properly this week – I had 2 different international visitors (friends and family) staying with me though, I painted and decorated 2.5 rooms in my house whilst juggling my 2 year old, did my usual studying/work and took the little one out to the park every sunny day there was as well as the big 3.0 celebrations over the weekend….  However, I am proud to say that although I went out and got a little bit drunk (vodka, slimline tonic & lime only), came back at 4.30am, slept at 6am, got up at 8.45am and then started my mummy duties with a delightful headache – I got it together, drank a good few pints of water with bio-synergys’ Pure Energy to rehydrate and got down with my workouts!  Starting my 30th year how I plan to finish it…

Have a great week guys – See you on the other side!

So, I’ve really been enjoying the challenge so far and although I’ve not lost huge amounts of weight or inches, I’m not doing too badly.  So far in total I have lost just under 6 inches around my body and only 0.4kg…  hehe..  But at least the weight’s been pretty stable, which is nice for once.

The diet is still going well, but it’s definitely (for me anyway) the hardest part of the challenge to keep up with as I had so many deep-rooted bad habits like skipping meals and eating unbalanced meals (obviously not intentionally, but mainly through forgetfulness or just being stupidly busy).

The good news is that I have started back on my higher intensity work-outs from this week, so it should be interesting to see where these take me.  I definitely have to make an appointment for a sports massage too – although I’m not really aching on a day-to-day basis too much (lots of warm ups and stetching/cool-downs), my muscles are feeling quite taut in places!

Got a few compliments this weekend too – was asked whether I was a personal trainer by two different people on Oxford Street!  Made me laugh, but also felt quite nice!  Means something’s working I suppose!

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!  Enjoy the sunshine!

Hey guys!  I can’t believe we’re one month in already!  I have to be honest; it’s been a crazy few weeks!  This week (a little like last week and the next few weeks to come unfortunately) is set to be busier than London Bridge during rush hour…  I’ve been managing to get all of my workouts in so far and have stuck with changes to my diet (as well as working on it further obviously), but I’m having issues with missing meals occasionally – I get caught out shopping/at appointments longer than expected or end up taking my son to the promised land (the park) because he’s sat (or joined in) through so many hours of workouts in the living room and I feel guilty..        Unfortunately taking him out to the park and having a run around or doing my workouts out there are pretty much out of the question..  Too many dangerous dogs with teenagers who don’t bother putting them on leashes and the like for me to feel comfortable about it – guess that’s one of the cons for living in the big smog..

This week I’ve also been organizing my 30th birthday!  EEeeeek!  So I have tried to schedule around exercise regime and trying to disaster-control any possible diet mishaps before they occur – I am guessing that by the words many friends have had with me, that my main issue on the day may very well contain empty calories & possibly be alcohol-related..  So I shall stick to my diet plan as usual, then allow myself 1 slice of cake on the Friday (before handing it all out very quickly so there is no temptation later) and then allow myself some drinks and schedule a rest day for Saturday, which will no doubt be spent re-hydrating my body and getting it ready to hit the exercise regime again by the Sunday..  Think that should work quite well…  Does anyone else have any “hints & tips” for staying as healthy and on-track as possible throughout celebrations?

Anyhow – Although I still haven’t lost tonnes of weight or inches to speak of yet, only a couple here and there, I am happy.  I feel like I am “re-structuring” my body – fat is being replaced by muscle, muscle tone is becoming way more apparent and my confidence is flying high.  I started this challenge hoping to lose significant amounts of weight, but now I am just happy with the health benefits I’ve noticed and felt alone.  I’ve gone down a couple of clothes sizes, even though weight loss and inch loss has been slow..  Which just goes to show…  There are many ways in which to judge your own success..  Have a great week everyone!

This week has been mega-busy for me!  I’ve crammed in my exercises every day except for Thursday and Sunday because there weren’t enough hours in the day and my knees are playing up on me (been given NSAIDs from the doctor for a month).  Unfortunately I’m not seeing a huge difference in my weight or inch loss still…  I’ll admit it’s quite hard to deal with the diet occasionally – especially as my 2 year old LOVES his pasta, sandwiches and biscuits (that’s not to say I eat them, just means I am generally cooking 2 versions of every meal) which is less time all round again..

My main issue this week when I look back at my diet plan has to be the fact that I’ve fallen back into old habits through being uber-busy. I’ve skipped several meals and snacks! It’s a really difficult one as most of these times I have been caught outside of the house for longer than I anticipated originally and then don’t want to buy food-on-the-go as even the healthy stuff seems to be loaded with naughties. I then get back home really late and carry on with the next scheduled meal/snack of the day. Not the greatest thing ever, but I always end up putting Ash first (obviously), so I’ll sort his food before mine at times like this too.  Uggghhhh!  What a mess!  Any help or suggestions for this kind of situation are more than welcome! Â

I’m happy with my exercise plan and ability though – I’ve been working really hard, not only on Ann’s circuits, but also some of my high intensity work-outs from previously. My body’s definitely more toned and defined again!  Plus I have to agree with Christina in regards to the Energy drink – it really gives you that extra push when your body’s in need of a little extra push.

Anyway, this week (and the next) are looking to be MAJORLY busy too as I have my 30th birthday coming up, lots of work to do, lots of people coming to stay at mine and general mayhem!!!  It shall most likely take all of my concentration, control and motivation to make sure I stay on top of it all as well as possible!  Wish me luck!

Hi everyone!

So, week 2 is over and I’ve worked my bottom off this week with all my exercises!  I actually also made a load of Ewelina’s homemade protein bars with a slightly tweaked recipe to allow for what I had in the cupboards (less light condensed milk, more oats, water & dried fruit) – they look pretty good though and don’t taste bad at all!  In fact I believe I got about 36 bars out of one lot!  I now have containers full of protein bar goodness ready for if I ever need a quick and healthy filler!

Actually, my diet plan was a little off this week due to some unforeseen circumstances (I had fraud committed on my account, so my cupboards were a little emptier than usual while I waited for my money to be recovered) and I ended up skipping a few meals due to having to go and sort out a load of things that came up from this and other problems which meant I was away from home longer than I anticipated.  A tough and rather emotional week really!

One thing I did find this week, however, is that anger and frustration can easily be recycled (through exercise) into much more useful things like muscle & strength – Ann’s exercise ball workout has really strengthened some of the muscles I was perhaps not able to work out as much in some of the other workouts and was a great help when I was releasing all that pent-up anger!  I also dug out some old Tae Bo extreme workouts that I used to use and had a go at them too on the back of the prescribed workouts.  You gotta love a little bit of Billy Blank!

The only thing I have not yet been able to manage is the running…  My son is NOT a fan of sitting in his buggy for longer than 2 minutes and unfortunately the thing is on it’s last wheels, so doesn’t work too well when pushed at speed, lol!  I need to see if I can get a babysitter a couple of times a week so I can take a run round the local park. If it counts though, I have run about 2 miles each week (up and down a long hill) trying to make the train for my Spanish lessons in central London every Thursday!  I even run up and down all the escalators on the way, to the bemused and often confused glances from other commuters (perhaps it’s not entirely normal to run outside of rush hour  traffic in London – my lessons being later at night and all).

Other than that though – I’ve been working, working, working and I can’t seem to see much of a difference in my weight or size yet…  I feel great though and my body certainly looks and feels firmer and tighter… I seem to have gained quite a bit of muscle mass – but I guess we’ll see what next week brings..

Maybe I ought to get more sleep in the nights (I read somewhere that getting at least 7 hours a night significantly changes the body’s aptitude – up to 15% difference – for weight-loss as part of a diet and exercise regime).  Guess my 3-6 hours a night might not be sufficient then.

Hey everyone!

Eating healthy looks awesome!

Hope you’ve all had a great week!  It’s been an interesting one for me.  I started off by tweaking my diet and trying to focus much more on making sure I have the right mix of carbs, proteins and fats at every meal.  (I’m terrible – sometimes if I don’t make an effort I often would skip meals, or miss one of the major groups out of a meal completely).  So, it’s been difficult – I still almost skipped a couple of meals, although I blame Transport for London on those accounts completely!  Getting home at 11pm when you left London hours earlier (and somehow end up waiting 2 hours in the freezing cold) does not lead to a good balanced meal…  So I ended up waiting til breakfast came again. Â

I must say that I am feeling a lot more bright and chirpy since the diet shake-up and a large part of this is probably also to do with the copious amounts of water I am drinking.  Water = amazing!  Since starting with Bio-Synergy’s recommended supplements I am also feeling like I could work-out all day long!!  (Much to the frustration of my son – “No more, mummy!  No more! Finished?”)  He does get up and join in with me though which is hilarious!

So far I have exercised every day and I’m thinking I might take a rest day on Sunday and just do some yoga and stretching. I’ve got my Polar FT40 (a heart-monitor watch) as my own personal work-out buddy as most of my friends either work out at the gym or are working during the times I have to workout! (I live in a flat on the 3rd floor, so I can’t jump around too much early mornings or evenings – poor guys downstairs might think an elephant’s going to fly through their roof otherwise).  Has anyone else got a HR monitor that they use?  I find it incredibly motivating to be able to monitor my progress like this, more so than constant weigh-ins as during my last high-intensity program I found I lost barely any weight, but loads of inches.  Fitness & health are definitely more important to me than weight!

Got some photos coming soon too – a few silly pics of food, workouts and general sillyness!  Hope to hear from you guys soon and hope you all have an amazing weekend!