Birthday sundae outfit

July 9, 2013July 8, 2013Leave a comment

On Monday last week my husband’s lovely co-workers organised a surprise trip for him to go to a local ice-cream parlour. I, of course, was a major co-conspirator, so I had to pop along as well! Here’s my outfit!

Sunglasses, French Connection / orange, blue, white and silver textured jacket, Next / orange geo top, Next / jeans, Gap / red satchel, Accessorize / cat shoes, eBay

If I’ve only learnt one thing recently fashion-wise, it’s the importance of a range of cute blazers when it comes to pepping up an outfit. I love the colours in this, and multi-coloured items make it so easy to match accessories, etc. I got this in the sale at Next, after having stalked it at full price for some time – and it was the last one left at half price. Bargain!

They also match these orange-red cat flats I bought from eBay, which are sadly starting to show their wear, but I still love them. When I bought them, I had no idea they were copies of the Charlotte Olympia Kitty flats, but in all honesty I prefer the heel height on mine – which is to say, completely flat. Of course, if I win the lottery I will purchase the originals immediately! Also, please excuse the scratches on my foot – I was attacked by a bush on my parents’ driveway recently! At least it’s not as noticeable as what’s happened to my hand…

Nope, no idea why I have cuts all over it, other than I was doing *a lot* of party prep and being incredibly careless. Good job I’m not a hand model! But ignore the cuts, check out the cute Dog Zodiac bracelet my husband bought me from Mulberry in the sale!

Dogs are my favourite animal, and I was born in the year of the dog, so of course, I had to have this… It was fate! And, it came in its own dustbag, gift box and lovely Mulberry bag, too – all for the bargain price of £20!

I’ve been wearing it every day since – I usually hate bracelets and watches because of the constant feeling of something being on my wrist, or slipping around, but this is so delicate you hardly know it’s there.

Petworth House

July 8, 2013July 8, 2013Leave a comment

In April, we visited Petworth House as part of a special offer with the National Trust. It was a lovely place with some great artwork, but pretty expensive if you’re not getting a special offer. And, unfortunately, you’re not allowed to access the top part of the house during the weekends… Considering you still have to pay full price for this and it’s not mentioned anywhere, I found this to be pretty irritating in all honesty. But if you like art there’s still a lot to see during the weekends, including a spectacular gallery full of statues and paintings. I didn’t take photos inside because I was worried about being told off!

Sunglasses, Jeepers Peepers / Boyfriend jacket, Primark / T-shirt, Warehouse / Pave button pendant, Cristalina Jewellery / Lanesley bag, Hobbs / skirt, Louche / Maddox wedge, L.K. Bennett

This was my first outing for my Maddox wedges, and I was worried whether they’d rub or be uncomfortable – but I’m happy to say they were excellent! However, I wore them with sheer tights, which I am slowly learning is one of the most effective ways of preventing blisters on your feet… Pro-tip there! These shoes also give you a lot of height without losing stability – I went through a phase of hating wedges, but now I’m back in love with them again…

Do you blame me? LOVE these shoes!

Hawksmoor Air Street

July 5, 2013July 26, 2016Leave a comment

For my husband’s 30th birthday, we visited Hawksmoor on Air Street, just off Regents Street. I’d heard this was one of the best places in London for steak, and I was certainly not disappointed.

The real stand out for the whole meal was actually totally unexpected and a real treat – cornflake milkshake!

We totally ordered this by chance but I’m so glad we did – it was delicious and incredibly unique. It was super sweet with a hint of malt to it, and the cornflakes on the top added a great texture.

Plus, gotta love those classic milkshake glasses!

At first, we just ordered one to taste, but when it came I insisted on getting my own!

If there’s a meal worth getting fat for, it would surely include at least one cornflake milkshake…

This was my husband’s starter – Doddington Caesar salad. It’s a bit of a running joke between us as the cheese also sounds a bit like his surname… It was pretty unusual to have cheddar on a Caesar salad, and it wasn’t until I tasted it myself that I appreciated the difference in texture – the waxy feel of cheddar is very different to the drier, textured feel of Parmesan.

I had the Tamworth belly ribs – I did want the potted beef and bacon with Yorkshires, but the waiter told us the chef wasn’t happy with the quality and asked us to select something else. To be honest, they were slightly dry in places, but very rich and great with the red cabbage. As usual, when serving salad and a meat dish to a table seated with a man and a woman, the waiter tried to give me the salad – this always happens when we go out together and perhaps I should take the hint and start ordering lighter options!

We opted for the express menu, which I think is excellent value, but does limit your choice of main course steak cut to just the rib eye. No matter, that’s my favourite! Here’s the piece de resistance:

Two gorgeous rib eyes, two sides of triple cooked chips, and a dish of Stilton hollandaise.

Without doubt, this was the best steak I have ever had. Meaty, beefy, robust – it was everything a steak should be. Tender in all the right places, cooked perfectly as a medium rare. If you ever wondered what aged beef tasted like, or why it was so much better than regular steak, I invite you to go to Hawksmoor and discover it for yourself. Absolutely phenomenal. It totally blew the steak I had at the Hind’s Head last month out of the water.

One aspect in which Hawksmoor couldn’t compete with Heston was on the triple cooked chips front. They certainly looked the part, but there was a suspicious taste about them which made me wonder whether they were yesterday’s batch… Anyone brought up with thrifty parents can recognise the taste of reheated potato, and that’s the taste I was getting from these. Unfortunate if they weren’t just reheated, unfortunate if they were – no win either way! But they were beautifully crunchy and did the job of soaking up the juices well.

The Stilton hollandaise was delicious – but just as with bernaise sauce, I found myself feeling stuffed after a few swipes at it – there’s something about an egg based sauce with steak that sits just on the wrong side of richness for me. Next time I’ll try the bone marrow gravy, but to be honest, I’d literally only eaten this exact same dish at the Hind’s Head two weeks’ before, so I thought I should at least chance the sauce!

I definitely recommend a visit to Hawksmoor Air Street – the express menu is just £23 for two courses, available between 12-18.30 and after 22.00. As a steak-hound, I thought it couldn’t get any better… but I was wrong. The best steak in London (so far!). http://thehawksmoor.com/

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Pride Parade and Mulberry

July 4, 2013Leave a comment

At the weekend, my husband and I went to London to see the finale of Viva Forever. So sad the show is closing because I thought it was a decent musical with some great highlights, but… I guess the press just wasn’t behind it. Bof.

Here’s my outfit for the day:

Zipper jacket, Zara / scarf, eBay / sunglasses, French Connection / mouse earrings, Hobbs / red satchel, Accessorize / jeans, Gap / leopard Indias with red trim, French Sole (via ASOS)

These shoes were a massive bargain, actually – somehow they ended up in the sale at ASOS for £67. They’d been in my saved list for ages so when I saw the price drop I ordered them right off. They’re ponyhair and I adore them – and they are surprisingly versatile even though at first glance they seem very outrageous. They’re also not at all my usual style – and in fact, a year ago I would have balked at anything animal print as being incredibly tacky – but hey… Things change!

Coincidentally, our trip was on the same day as the Pride Parade, so we stopped to watch it on Regents Street. It was awesome to be part of such an amazing demonstration, underneath the banners for the 60th anniversary of QEII’s coronation. How things have changed!

I also met this handsome chap, who totally knew he was hot stuff…

I LOVE Chihuahuas – my nan and mum used to breed them when I was little, so I spent my childhood surrounded by the critters. I’ll always have a soft spot for them.

By the end of the parade – which took about an hour and a half to filter past – I was plastered in stickers. It was great to be there to support the event, and I’m really glad we stopped to soak in the atmosphere.

Afterwards, I dragged my husband to Mulberry’s new flagship store on New Bond Street, to check out the sales.

I’m sure I’m not the only girl who lusts after a Mulberry to hang on my arm…

There were certainly plenty of goodies to choose from!

The design of the store was beautiful – of course, that was my official reason for visiting… Harumph…

When I came out, I was sure to send a photo to my fellow Mulberry-loving friend…

What was inside the bag, I hear you ask… It was leather protecting spray! Yes, those sweet shop assistants wrapped it up in one of their gorgeous bags for me. So, wrapped up in the giddy thrill and excitement, I forced my poor husband to purchase me a ‘gift’ from the sale – a Dog Zodiac bracelet, reduced from £40 to £20. I love it, I’ll post a picture later…

Next post will be all about our visit to Hawksmoor Air Street.

Outfit for Greek night

July 1, 20135 Comments

I thought I’d share my outfit for last Saturday when we popped into The Fat Fig!

Navy texture peplum jacket, Next – Red Geo print sleeveless top, Next – Jeans, Gap – Navy Myra wedges, Hobbs – Charlie clutch in raw navy silk, Wilbur & Gussie

I really wanted an excuse to wear my wedges and use my clutch, so the outfit was just built around these two items…

Ever since I saw this clutch on Wilbur & Gussie’s site I’d been lusting after it, so when it went on sale I just had to snap it up. I love their range, there are some truly adorable bags there (for example, the awesome Ruby Brown envelope clutch and the Coco cream silk clutch – although I already have that style in black velvet so shouldn’t be greedy!). I also wore by CZs by the Yard bracelet from Heavenly Necklaces.

Definitely going to be looking for some more excuses to get the bag/clutch combo out again soon, even though the heels are sky high! I used to be scared of wearing heels but I can safely say I’ve overcome my phobia…

The Fat Fig: An Epic Greek Feast!

June 25, 2013July 26, 20161 Comment

On Saturday, some of my friends and I went to The Fat Fig, a Greek restaurant in Southampton. I’d noticed it during a walk to check out a new ice cream parlour called Tooti’s and after researching it online, I found mostly glowing reviews. They offer an option on their menu called the ‘Fat Fig Meze Banquet’, which is decribed as ‘a feast, comprising of all dips, starters, a seafood course, finished with a meat platter’, priced at £18.95 per person. That seemed pretty good to me, so I booked the table and along we went! Inside, the restaurant’s decor is minimal, and the chairs and tables are canteen style – but the food, I assure you, is fantastic. Here’s what we had!

We started with some amazing houmous, tzatziki with fat chunks of cucumber and laced with mint, taramasalata, skorthalia – cold mashed potato with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, olives, and tabouleh – a zesty, juicy salad made of bulgar wheat, tomatoes and parsley, all accompanied by fluffy hot pitta bread.

Following that was haloumi and lounza, a grilled, supersalty cheese with a rubbery texture (actually, incredibly delicious despite it sounding like polystyrene) and griddled pork loin that tasted like smoked ham.

Then we had falafels – these, as I assume, most of the dishes, were homemade – piping hot and crispy with a spicy parsley and onion studded chickpea mash inside, accompanied by what I think was a tahini dip.

Following that came dolmathes and melinzanes together:

The dolmathes were vine leaves stuffed with rice, pork, herbs and spices, and topped with a fresh tomato sauce.

The melinzanes were possibly my favourite part of the meal, fried, smokey aubergine medallions topped with tomatoes, with a soft, rich interior surrounded by a crispy outer skin. I have a weakness for aubergine dishes!

Then came the chicken liver – cooked in onions with lemon and parsley. I did try this, and it was tasty, but unfortunately the smell reminded me too much of the food we gave our dogs when I was a kid, so I squeamishly skipped this one!

That was the starters dealt with, so then we moved onto the fish course. First up was a plate of hot calamari:

Then some fat king prawns covered with garlic butter, olive oil and parsley:

And finally maritha, breaded, deep fried white bait:

I’d never had white bait before, so I tried it out – it was incredibly delicious, although I do admit I removed the heads and scraped out the insides, which is not really proper white bait etiquette!

The second to last course was called Greek Village Salad – a classic Greek salad with the inclusion of iceberg lettuce. I’d never had it with lettuce before, and it had been wilted in the dressing which actually gave it an amazing texture and bags of flavour:

The chunks of Feta were generous, flaky and delicious, as was the dressing and the oregano sprinkled on the top.

The final course was souvlakia, meat skewers:

We had pork, chicken and sheftalies, homemade pork sausage. Honestly, the pork was slightly overcooked, but by this point we were pretty full and past caring!

The entire meal took around an hour and a half to eat, and we enjoyed everything with the exception of the chicken liver. Considering the price of most main courses at the restaurant is £10, our feast was very reasonably priced and I would love to go again some day! I highly recommend this for a special occasion if you’re on a budget and don’t want to go to a super fancy place – it has a sense of celebration and will certainly get you talking over the table!

Visit the Fat Fig’s website here, or call them on 02380 21 21 11. They are located at 5 Bedford Place, Southampton, SO15 2DB.

Whiteley Hats

June 22, 20136 Comments

My visit to Ascot Ladies’ Day has renewed my love of hats – even though, quite blasphemously, I wasn’t wearing one on the day! (It was actually a floral headpiece, so there!). So when I spied a bunch of Whiteley hats on sale at John Lewis, I of course had to model a few in the interests of science. Whiteley has been made famous by the Duchess of Cambridge, of course, she of the many hats, and I have to say some of my favourite items of hers are either by Whiteley or Lock & Lock. Sadly, the latter is somewhat out of my price range – but trying on hats is free no matter where they’re from, right?

This looks to be a pink version of Kate’s famous swirl hat, which she has in brown, although this one is actually a slightly different shape. I LOVED this hat, and I plan to get the brown version as soon as it’s available (stalking it here).

A lot of people (including myself) get nervous about wearing hats with elastic, but if you match the elastic to your hair colour, it’s perfectly acceptable to have the band showing:

Or, if you want to wear your hair down, you can still do so with these hats – what I did was just put my hair up, place the hat, and then remove the band from my ponytail:

This side-view shows what’s happening with the band:

This hat I thought was rather unsuccessful…:

This one is very good for those that want to wear something a bit more subtle:

It’s a pretty versatile shape and colour, and I think was only about £40-45. Also, it sits on a comb, which some people are more comfortable with, although I really prefer headbands for my hats!

However, this one was my out-and-out favourite:

It looks very similar to the black one the Duchess of Cambridge has worn on a few occasions, but has a rounded top rather than a straight edge like hers (but I fully intend to make that one mine as well, so of course it wouldn’t do to have two the same style, would it?!).

As the hat was £42 in the sale (reduced from £85), I decided it would be rude not to buy it, and so I now have yet another hat to add to my collection of hats I have nowhere to wear. I am thinking of starting a hat club just to give people a reason to wear them… Who is in?!

Whiteley hats available in store and online from John Lewis and other retailers: see http://www.whiteley-hat.co.uk/ for more.

DIY Boot Camp: getting yourself back on track!

June 12, 20131 Comment

Sometimes, even with the best will in the world, you can get derailed on a fitness regimen. Even with all the support possible, with the best fitness equipment, a budget for healthy food, and plenty of time for exercise, goals can fall by the wayside. Motivation is a fleeting thing, and willpower is even more elusive. Can you see where I’m going with this? Yes, it’s true… I have been derailed…

Partially, I blame Hush’s ridiculously comfortable harem trousers. I live in them, and they are the most cosy items of clothing I own. I rarely leave the house with them but as I work from home that certainly doesn’t limit my opportunities to wear them. However, they are incredibly forgiving of the woman-slob, and very accommodating to expanding rear ends. It’s entirely possible to go up a dress size and never even realise it when you have these comfortable trousers to hand. That exactly what happened to me after I took a bit of a break from exercise due to work-related stress and a really bad cold. When it was time to reach for those skinny jeans – let’s just say they didn’t fit so well…

I also blame a lack of a real and concrete goal for my fitness – every year I go to Ascot, but this year one of my friends wasn’t sure if she could attend, and of course, I couldn’t go without her. So, I slacked off. Then, when it was confirmed we were going, and I tried on my usual dress size at the shop… It didn’t fit. No way. No how.

It’s obviously stupid to base your self-worth on an arbitrary number in a dress. We’re always told that dress sizes are bigger now than ever. Vanity sizing is rampant and Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 anyway, so what’s the big deal? (She wasn’t…). Of course, psychology is more complex than that, and no matter how stupid and arbitrary the numbers may be, I’m not afraid to say that it had a real, demoralizing effect on me to have gone up a dress size. I hold my hands up and admit it’s ridiculous, that as an intelligent and educated woman I shouldn’t let other people define my self-worth – if I had fit into my usual size I probably wouldn’t have seen a problem, and so on. But still, the fact remains, I was faced with two and a half weeks to Ascot, and a dress that didn’t fit me. Rather than spiraling into self-hatred (again, I am not saying this is a sensible or worthy reaction, I am simply being incredibly honest about my feelings), I decided to put into action probably the most drastic weight-loss plan I’ve ever embarked on, and went for a full-on DIY Boot Camp.

Now, boot camps are everywhere in the UK and beyond, and I must confess, I’ve never been to one. Their results are legendary, and their toughness even more notorious. Hours of exercise coupled with carefully calorie-controlled food is the secret to their success, though, and I was sure I could replicate that at home. However, I am no personal trainer, nor am I a nutritionist, so I’m not going to share with you the minute details of what I did – you shouldn’t take me as the authority on this as I have no qualifications. However, I will let you know generally how I went about losing weight in my DIY boot camp so you can do your own research.

Take a look at the kinds of exercises offered by boot camps, with emphasis on duration and intensity. Taking a look at the boot camps I investigated, it looked as though 6-8 hours a day was usual. However, this mixed in everything from yoga to circuits and spinning, so there was a variety of exercises on offer, some of them fat burning, some of them more to do with sculpting muscle or relaxation. Gentle cardio and intense circuit training is something I’m familiar with doing, and have had good results from before – and more importantly, I knew I could keep it up, so I decided to opt for this for my own boot camp. A few hours of exercise biking in front of the TV, and a few work out DVDs back to back is the way I decided to replicate this at home. My go-to work out DVDs were ones I considered to be challenging but not advanced, so I stuck to Davina’s Three 30 Minute Work Outs (only cardio-box), Davina’s Super Fit, Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred (only level one), and Jillian’s Extreme Shed and Shred.
Read up about the kinds of nutrition recommended at boot camps. I already had a head start thanks to my years of dieting and following healthy eating plans. It’s all simple stuff – low carbs, high protein, and lots of fruit and vegetables. I started off with one very low calorie day to kickstart my plan, then kept my intake to 1200-1500 calories a day of good food. In particular, I discovered Nakd bars, which are all-natural, raw food bars packed with fruit and nuts. Frustratingly, no boot camp will tell you how many calories they actually give participants, and given the amount of calories I was burning, I was reluctant to go below 1200.
Hydrate. You will be sweating a lot. Drink as much as your body wants. Cut back on fizzy drinks, tea and coffee – you don’t have to cut these out, though, but I guarantee you if you do a lot of exercise, it’s water you will crave. I didn’t force myself to drink a lot at any point, but there’s no doubt I drank several liters in a day just by listening to what my body wanted. However, your body doesn’t just require water, but also electrolytes. So look into electrolyte replacement powder, sports drinks, and coconut water. Personally, my favourite way to hydrate naturally is coconut water because of its natural electrolyte content, but don’t forget that this and sports drinks contain calories that you need to count.
Supplement. Boot camps aren’t a natural state of being for your body, and put an enormous amount of stress on it. You’ll be making huge demands of yourself, so you need to make sure you pay this back. A daily vitamin is always a good idea, but even more important during this time – and I also found out about the amazing anti-inflammatory properties of fish oil capsules by reading Bob Harper’s Jumpstart to Skinny. Although most people will take 1000mg a day if they supplement with this, he recommends 3000mg a day in order to combat muscle soreness. I have to say it really helps. Fish oil tablets also have loads of other great benefits, and they won’t break the bank, either. (Plus, they do great things for your hair!)
Weigh yourself before, weigh yourself after. Do not weigh yourself during. This is something I can tell you from personal experience could derail you. In the first day on my plan, I lost 3lbs. In the second day, I lost 2lbs. I then regained everything I had lost over the next few days, before coming back to my original total loss of 5lbs. Now, for a week and two day’s worth of dieting and exercise, 5lbs loss is excellent (but not sustainable or necessarily typical). But my original 5lb loss was no doubt due to losing water weight and possibly some muscle, as well as a bit of fat. Regaining that weight over the next few days was demoralizing and painful to see, but it was just part of the process. If you weigh yourself every day during a boot camp, you might decide to give up when the pounds pile back on. But, if you stick to your guns, the weight does come off. It’s just nicer to see the progress at the end rather than that horrible up-down graph during. I am sure this is why boot camps ban scales and only weigh participants at the end of their stay. However, a slight amendment to this is measuring tape – you can use this throughout the process, because those inches will also drop off, and far more reliably than weight does.
Know when to stop. This is not something that is healthy to do for the long term. Most boot camps last for one week, which seems a reasonable period of time. Think of it as a challenge to complete, not a way of life. Do not do anything without checking with your doctor first. Your body is amazing, so don’t damage it because of vanity. If you find yourself developing an unhealthy obsession with exercising or dieting, you need to seek help immediately. The psychological implications of this could be incredibly bad for your long term health and include disordered eating, or even anorexia. Look after yourself. Don’t follow advice without researching it yourself first – this includes everything I’ve written here. Only you can be responsible for your own health, and you owe it to your body to put the time in to research. If at any point, you feel faint, stop exercising for a while and give your body something good to eat.

So, on my epic weight-loss tour I gave myself two and a half weeks to lose enough weight to fit into my usual dress size. I exercised for hours, passed up roast dinners and doughnuts, and ate a healthy, low calorie diet. I lost 5lbs in total in ten days, and now I fit comfortably into my dress for Ascot, well before my deadline. I will continue to maintain my usual 1200 calorie budget per day and exercise for around 30-60 minutes a day between then and now, but I am amazed at my progress in such a short amount of time, and I feel pretty proud of my achievement. Yes, it may be vain and vacuous, but on the other hand, it has reminded me that weight-loss can be simple and, dare I say it, easy, when you have a clear, concrete goal and no excuses.

Disclaimer: none of this is intended as a regimen for you to follow, it is merely my account of my own personal experiences and should not be used for your own weight loss plan. Consult your doctor before starting any weight-loss plan and please do not consider me to be an authority or expert on weight-loss.

Jillian Michaels’ Body Revolution Kickstart, Days 1-2

March 24, 20132 Comments

It’s the end of the second day of Jillian’s seven day kickstart to the Body Revolution, and I am really, really tired. I cheated and jump started the workouts on Wednesday, when I got my kit through, but I had to wait until Friday to get all my groceries. So, I decided to do an extra couple of days of doubled-up exercise before I actually began the programme, and I’m really feeling it today – my fourth day of hour-long exercises. I did not want to get up today, but I did, because I had to go into town with my parents to help my mum pick out some new clothes. Then, I got back and did workout 2 and cardio 1. I have to do them back to back, otherwise there’s just no psyching me up for it! I was totally prepared to half ass it, but Jillian managed to shout me out of that idea, and I gave it as much as I had.

So, that’s where I am with exercises – I thought it was a bit of a pushover at the start, to be honest, but now I’m rethinking slightly! I think a lot of Jillian ‘veterans’ find the first couple of workouts to be fairly easy, but I know she’ll be stepping it up a notch towards the end of this month. I was particularly unhappy to hear the phrase ‘jump lunges’ – probably my least favourite exercise bar cardio in plank (mountain climbers and the like!).

Food wise, it’s going really well actually. I started off on Friday with some delicious bacon, eggs, tomatoes and… avocado…

Jillian demands nitrate free bacon, so that’s what I got. Very expensive, and thick cut too. I much prefer thin cut bacon, but weirdly it seems like the more expensive the bacon, the thicker the cut. I’d happily pay for thin cut fancy bacon but you can never seem to find it! This was hard enough to find anyway, I had to search through all the product details to find one that’s nitrate free. An unfortunate side effect of this is that the bacon comes out slightly grey when you cook it – the pinkness is mostly due to the addition of nitrates.

Still, I’d eat it… wouldn’t you? I added some delicious lemon pepper that we bought on holiday in Cornwall last year. I knew that would come in handy! I wasn’t just buying it willy nilly, promise!

Even though there’s not really much reason to do this, I’ve been logging my calories with MyFitnessPal as well as following the diet. I was fairly concerned when my breakfast came up as 343 calories, rather than the 269 calories it was listed as. Yikes! Luckily, it seems as though the rest of the recipes come in way under the estimates given… Or at least, my versions do!
Lunch was the grilled salmon citrus salad – loved this. I really love salmon!

I probably shouldn’t have, as sodium is a bloater if ever there was one, but I used a simple Japanese recipe to perk this up and really bring out the flavour of the fish. I salted it 15 minutes before eating, then right before cooking, just wiped the salt away, and grilled it. The flavour is amazing.

I have to confess, I slightly overcooked this, so I’ll keep the cooking time to a minimum the next time I make it! It came in at just 184 calories, which is amazing – and I felt full until dinner. Well, the story there is that I didn’t get to eat breakfast until 1pm, so lunch was at 5… Let’s say, I broke Jillian’s ‘no eating after 9pm’ rule right out of the gate, and I also managed to end up eating my snack *after* dinner. I only have myself to blame! I had an epic cleaning session with my mum on the Friday morning, so I just didn’t eat until late. Oh well – you can’t always control the circumstances, but you can control the damage, right? Right!
Dinner was more fish, this time, tilapia!

I really like fish, and capers, and rosemary… So this was delicious! The rocket was pretty ropey, though – wild stuff from Ocado, it was absolutely full of insects and had to be washed several times and picked over leaf by leaf before I was happy to eat it. I wasn’t so crazy about having to do this, but there was no way I was chucking it all out!

It came with the now-familiar salad with dressing and tomatoes – something makes me think I’ll be sick of lettuce by the end of the week! I tried to buy plenty of varieties, so let’s hope I can stave off the boredom. I also bought Waitrose’s low fat essential vinaigrette, which I quite like, and some low-fat Caesar dressing (in place of Ranch, which really isn’t common in the UK) for the Chef’s Salad later in the week. Again, the calorie count for this was much lower than was listed, at just 184 calories. Then, after that, I had my snack of hummus and veggies.
I am cheating somewhat here, because I just can’t give up tea. I have milk in it, which amounts to a serving of dairy, which on the days where I also have yogurt, is not recommended in the plan. I also have a couple of sugars and some sweetner along the way… GASP! No one’s perfect. That’s right, not even me – I just seem perfect. Big distinction! Needless to say, any failures as a result of this are squarely on me. No one can say I wasn’t warned. I am prepared to face the consequences of my tea drinking like a true Englishwoman – with a stiff upper lip!
Today was Saturday – I cheated again a little bit with my breakfast and had the Greek yogurt, cinnamon and almonds – WITH HONEY! Yes, a teaspoon of honey. I’m so sorry… No, I’m not, because sour Greek yogurt actually makes me feel a tiny bit sick, and I can’t eat bacon and smoked salmon all week long, as much as I’d love to.
Lunch had to be out, because I was in town all day, but luckily, Pret a Manger came to my rescue with their tuna salad, a fair substitute for the Chef’s Salad:

It does help that I *love* this salad, and it’s only about 315 calories with the dressing included.
Now, another confession – I had a cappuccino when I was out. I counted this as my snack, does that make you happy? I sure hope so, because by the time I got home I was starving and exhausted, but I had to grit my teeth, knuckle down, and exercise until I felt like I was going to black out. It was 8pm before I ate, but if that’s okay with Jillian, then I’m counting it as a minor victory. It did help that dinner was steak.

Mmm, steak! I put steak seasoning on some sirloin and fried it with cooking spray. I’m not grilling a steak in our grill – it’s a pathetic, fake grill and I only honour steak with the mightiest of kitchen utensils – the frying pan. The salad of tomatoes and olives was delicious, and the spinach was pretty good too. Although the recipe title says it comes with wilted spinach, the recipe itself doesn’t really get you to wilt the leaves (other than with the heat of the steak sitting on top), so I took the liberty of wilting them in the pan while the steak was resting. Calorie count: 299 calories.
So, two days down. I’m definitely missing puddings and Coca Cola Zero, although I’m not missing carbs that much. I could eat some fries and bread, but I’m not going to kill my cat to get them. I can’t believe how satisfied I’ve felt just eating various types of salad and a protein portion every meal, it’s really eye-opening. Having the recipes has definitely helped me stay on track in that respect, but then it’s still early in the process and I’ve not had to repeat any meals yet… So, we’ll see! But so far, other than my weary body and aching muscles, I’m feeling very positive and motivated to continue!

Jillian Michaels’ Body Revolution: Preview

March 21, 2013Leave a comment

I finally ordered Jillian Michaels’ Body Revolution! I’ve been hankering after this for a long time, and I’m so pleased that I finally got around to getting it. It’s very pricey compared to Jillian’s other products (at £99), but I think it’s a worthwhile investment…

The programme lasts for 90 days, and contains 12 different weight workouts and three cardio workouts. The reason I was keen to try this particular programme is that it alternates muscle groups – something which Jillian’s other DVDs don’t do. The idea is that you work one group of muscles, and then give them time to rest so that they can rebuild stronger. As I understand it, when you lift weights, you create tiny tears in your muscles, and it’s the rebuilding process, when your body repairs itself, that actually makes your muscles stronger. With more intensive workouts like the 30 Day Shred, you don’t stop to rest between working out groups. I hope that the Body Revolution actually tones my muscles more than I’ve experienced in the past – but first of all, of course, I need to do the workouts first!

The kit comes with three cardboard sleeves, pictured above, which have the DVD collection inside. There are also various booklets that go with it, including a meal guide for her 7-day kickstart programme.

Inside are a range of meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for you to eat during a week-long period at the start. Jillian is very clear that you only do this once during the 90 days, as the diet is restrictive, and the exercise schedule is pretty intensive.

This is the diet plan I’ll be starting tomorrow, along with the exercise plan. I’m waiting for my shopping to arrive! I’ve bought items to make most of the things listed – the recipes are in the back of the book – so we’ll see how I go from tomorrow… The hardest thing will be avoiding tempting Easter treats! The recipes aren’t low in calories, but I do think they’re very low in carbohydrates. Hopefully there’s enough protein in there to keep me going!

Here’s the workout plan for the first week – I’ve cheated a little bit and I already started yesterday, doing cardio 1 and workout 1. But I aim to start properly tomorrow and then work through until next Friday. Over the weekend I’ll perhaps do cardio again and rest on Sunday, so that I can then start Phase One as it should be on the Monday after Easter.

Here’s what the first month of work outs looks like:

As you can see, it follows a neat pattern which is pretty easy to understand! I really want to make sure I start it on a Monday, because having a real, set in stone schedule is very important to my ability to stick to it. I think that if I alter the schedule in some way, I’ll start making excuses as to why I can put off doing one of the work outs, so I want to eliminate that risk before I even start! Anyway, each block of exercise is approx 30 minutes, which really isn’t a lot to ask in a day!