The Importance of Sleep

August 30, 2024 / No Comments

I love to sleep. Whether it’s the 12 hour mega-sleeps, the 45 minute power nap or the tube snooze on the way home, I can’t get enough of it.

Having had a very busy couple of weeks with work and redoing our bathroom and therefore moving around various different houses, I’ve not been sleeping very well, waking up numerous times throughout the night and then finally waking up a good couple of hours before my alarm. It’s very annoying.

But more than just being annoying, I’ve noticed how much less motivated I am to workout and eat healthily. I’m craving carbs for a quick energy fix and I’m permanently hungry. Exercise has dropped off the list of priorities as it’s taking a lot more energy to simply stay awake and be coherent. My brain has also felt fuzzy and I’ve had to work that much harder to stay productive and focused at work.

All of this is because without enough sleep the part of your brain that’s responsible for language, memory, planning and sense of time starts to shut down. In fact, staying awake for 17 hours affects your brain in the same way as having 2 glasses of wine.

While some people only need a few hours of sleep a night, I need a solid 8 (at least) and to get this I’ve made an evening routine that helps me to wind down:

- Make sure the bedroom is tidy and warmly lit before having a shower

- Have a hot shower or bath (with epsom salts on work out days)

- Brush teeth, remove make up and moisturise in the same order each night

- Crawl into bed with a good book - no iPhones or lit up screens before sleep if you can help it!

If you’re struggling to sleep, try these tactics first before resorting to any pills!

A Liquid Breakfast Is Best

August 28, 2024 / No Comments

What would you prefer; to eat 2 bowlfuls of raw fruit and veg every morning or to sip the same amount slowly in a yummy smoothie? I know my answer, drink it every time!

Here’s some easy recipes for morning smoothies that I rotate throughout the week. Simply sip them slowly through the morning at work and they’ll keep you full until lunchtime. They’re brimming with natural fruit sugars, vitamins, iron and healthy fats, everything you need for a nutritious start to the day.

1) The Green One

Ideal if you’re feeling a bit tired or under the weather

½ cup blueberries

1 cup broccoli

1 cup cucumber

1 cup celery

1 cup spinach or kale

1 tsp each of chia seeds and linseed

2 tsp flaxseed

½ cup unsweetened almond milk

½ cup water or coconut water

Juice of half a lemon

2) The Protein One

Ideal for days that you workout in the mornings or during the day

2 x scoops or 50g of your preferred protein powder (I use Phd Diet Whey Vanilla Creme)

½ banana

½ cup blueberries

1 cup almond milk

½ cup water

1 tsp each chia seeds and linseed

2 tsp flaxseed

3) The Fruity One

Ideal for days when you can’t quite face the green one….

½ banana

1 cup mixed berries

½ mango or papapya

1 cup spinach

½ cup almond milk

½ cup coconut water or water

1 tsp each chia seeds and linseed

2 tsp flaxseed

Other things you can add to each of these to change things up a bit include:

- oats

- agave syrup

- herbs (parsley or mint)

- yoghurt (I prefer St Helens Farm goats milk yoghurt)

- seeds or nuts (try toasting these first, they add a great flavour)

.Let me know if you try these and if you have any other recipes!

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day

August 25, 2024 / No Comments

In the past,whenever I’ve started a weight loss journey, I’ve always had in the back of my mind that there will be this magic day when I wake up and I’m skinny, like flipping that switch from fat to thin.

The fact that this magic day doesn’t exist is the reason why I’ve never succeeded before.

It’s now been a year, almost exactly, that I’ve been striving to create a new way of life for myself and turn around my attitude towards food and my body. It’s been a journey of taking it one day at a time, congratulating myself for those tiny, almost invisible steps of progress and not beating myself up or feeling guilty when I decide to treat myself.

Here are some of those steps that I’ve noticed:

- While the first 1.5km of every run feels like I’m dying, I have now reached that point where I get into ‘the zone’ by 2km and can just keep running (and I even enjoy it, a bit…)

- I can’t wear my jeans without a belt now as they fall down and although the scales haven’t changed in a while I’m still toning up

- I don’t think twice about getting up early and going for a run or doing circuits in the rain

- Abs (they’re tiny but you can see them. If you look carefully. With an Instagram filter)

- My body feels literally poisoned when I don’t eat properly - this is how I felt all the time before!

- My mindset has changed - I don’t want to be thin, I want to be fit. I want to have defined muscles, strong limbs and a ‘don’t quit’ mentality

So I’ll continue taking it one step at a time, recognising the tiny achievements and building myself up mentally and physically, one squat jump at a time.

Run To The Beat 10km Training - Part 1

August 16, 2024 / No Comments

If you’ve been following this blog since the beginning, you’ll know that I started it with a post about how I was getting back into fitness through running. You might also have noticed that I have a love/hate relationship with running. Which is why I decided to sign up to Run To The Beat 10k to prove to myself that I can run and I can also ‘be a runner’.

So this is part 1 of my training route to the 10k on September 14th.

I’m following a 5k to 10k training programme to help me judge my training and pace and it’s working really well!

Week 1:

Monday - Rest day - totally nailed this one

Tuesday - 20 minute run (moderate) - skipped this and went to a 60 minute Warriors (boxing fitness class)

Wednesday - Rest day - I felt like a run so I did! 2.45km at 06:27 average pace followed by 60 minute boxing class

Thursday - 20 minute run (moderate) - skipped this for a 30 minute cycle and 30 minute PT session

Friday - 20 minute run (easy) - did this on the treadmill at the gym followed by 35 minutes of making up my own circuits

Saturday - Rest day - easy peasy

Sunday - 35 minutes long run - I did 30 minutes at 06:43 pace and then a 30 minute PT session (in the pissing rain…)

Week 2:

Monday - Rest day - which was lucky as I had a tummy bug

Tuesday - 25 minute run moderate - Skipped this to go to 60 minute yoga class which was much kinder on my tummy than a run

Wednesday - Rest day - I did a 21 minute run at a pace of 06:21 and then a 30 minute PT session

Thursday - 30 minute run moderate - life got in the way of this one but I did a 40 minute cycle instead

Friday - 25 minute run easy - did this one on the treadmill in the gym followed by a 30 minute circuit session including TRX, battle ropes and trying not to laugh at the gym posers

Saturday - Rest day - Squeezed in a 30 minute PT session

Sunday - 40 minute long run - This is tomorrow’s challenge and I’m a little nervous as it’s going to be the longest that I’ll have ever run. Watch this space!

I’ve also been making sure that I’m eating plenty of food as running on a calorie deficit is just plain miserable. I’ve reintroduced protein shakes in the mornings with salads for lunch and a good sized snack in the afternoons even if I’m not hungry followed by a dinner that includes protein, carbs and good fats.

Even though I might not be sticking to the plan exactly, my running is feeling stronger, my little legs are moving faster than they ever have before and I’m starting to believe that a 10k might actually be in my reach!

An Experiment Into Fast Food

August 10, 2024 / No Comments

Fast food has always been a treat in my life, from mum taking us for happy meals on the last day of term to hungover pizzas at university but since the beginning of the year I’ve changed my eating patterns to the point that fast food hardly figures.

So when I was on a road trip last week and the sign for McDonalds popped up, I was slightly curious (and hungry!).

I stocked up and started chowing down…. but hang on…. it wasn’t as good as I remember!

The chips were tasteless, soggy and didn’t have the same texture as potatoes. The nuggets were salty, greasy and watery. The milkshake was sugary, synthetic and sickly.

Nothing tasted or felt real compared to all of the fresh fruit, vegetables and whole foods that I’ve been eating, it was all very disappointing. I ate it at twice the speed that I normally eat and hardly tasted it.

Fast forward to an hour or two later and I was experiencing a sugar low the likes that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I was exhausted, emotional and fed up. I’ve worked hard to limit the amount of processed food, particularly sugar and caffeine, that I eat and it means that my energy and emotional levels are more level and constant than they’ve ever been. But this ruined it for the rest of the day.

And no wonder….

This is the nutritional breakdown for what I ate (in about 2 minutes). Not only is it ¾ of my daily calories (I’m on a 1500 calories/day plan) but there were 44g of fat and 1.9g of salt. And although there were 32g of protein in it, none of that was high-quality and natural. No wonder I crashed so hard and felt awful.

It was certainly an interesting experiment and one I won’t be repeating. I like my calories, fat, carbs and sugars to come from whole foods, preferably organic ones that I prepare myself so that I know exactly is going into it. That helps me to stay level without the scary highs and lows of processed foods.