Dieting.
It's always on my mind and although it sometimes gets me down, my general premise towards my body is that I'm not fat but I'm not skinny either. I'm kinda somewhere in between.. I'll say curvy.
I'm a real foodie, as you'll know from previous posts, and although I am happy I sometimes wish I could scroll through the likes of Topshop, ASOS and River Island thinking that I could wear everything and not have thunder thighs, expose my arms or have to get my tummy out. Crop tops are the enemy is what I'm trying to say and they are everywhere at the moment.
So when I got asked if I wanted to try out the Exante diet for a week, I thought why not. I've read some amazing success stories on their website and there's no harm in controlling my appetite for a while.They have a number of different programmes to follow, I was on Total Solution which requires you to consume just 3 Exante products a day. However they do have other programmes where meals can be incorporated into the diet.
I was given an array of shakes, soups, snacks and meals to try for 7 days. Having 3 a day totaling at 600 calories.
Daily Diary
Monday - After going from eating whatever I wanted to eating 600 calories, I definitely felt the hunger as my stomach was just craving carbs. However it wasn't too overwhelming and I quite enjoyed trying out the new food and shakes
Tuesday - Discovering the blender was a triumph for the shakes. For anyone who is going to try this, add ice and 350ml water to your shake and blend. I did this with Vanilla and a spoonful of coffee. Hello delicious Iced Vanilla Latte. I also found out that having a Coke Zero (the only drink other than water allowed) during the day kept hunger at bay and mixed things up a bit when I was feeling bored.
Wednesday & Thursday- These 2 days were a real struggle for me, all I could think about was food and nothing else. However, I wasn't feeling hungry anymore and drinking plenty of water was having a visible positive effect on my skin.
Friday - Probably a total loss of appetite on this day, purely because the shakes and meal I had were surprisingly filling now that my stomach was getting used to the amount of calorie intake. At this point I would say I was in Ketosis, the stage of a diet where your body starts to recognize weightloss.
Saturday - I was with Elliot this weekend so it was hard to keep on track. However when I was craving food I think it was purely based on how good it smelled rather than me actually being hungry.
I find that I can't relate weight loss from one person to myself unless I know their height. So for those of you out there like me I'm 5 ft 7.
The Results
Start Weight - 11.6 stone
End Weight - 11.1 stone
I feel pretty amazing that I lost 5lbs in a week, any more and it probably wouldn't be too healthy for my body.
Final Thoughts
My favourite part of the Exante Diet were the shakes and the hot meals (they do spag bol, chilli and shepherd's pie), the soups and the hunger were a definite low point for me but once the hunger subsided I was pretty much in the zone for weight loss.
Overall I enjoyed my Exante experience and would recommend it to somebody who has a lot of weight to shed or an occasion that they want to lose a few pounds for.It's not easy, but it's effective and if done with a weight loss buddy to keep you on track I reckon you'll be feeling bikini ready in no time.
Lip Smacker have brought us a lot a lip balms in some really delicious flavours. From coca cola to sprite they now have a new collection of nourishing balms inspired by the summer heat, ice lollies.
I have the Twister lip balm from this collection and I love it! It's really fruity, goes on smooth and leaves my lips feeling so soft.
I got mine from WHSmith when I was on my travels this weekend.
So I thought I would let you lovely people who read my blog learn a little bit more about me. So here are 50 facts about me that you maybe didn't know.
1. I am 21 years old
2. I live in a little town called Winsford in Cheshire
3. I live with my mum and little sister.
4. I have two mighty fine best friends called Rachel & Sophie
5. My super gorgeous bf is Elliot (aka partner in crime/Gordan Ramsey)
6. Three words to describe myself - weird, sensible & patient
7. I love cooking, hence the random cooking posts every now and then. I'm a serial diet ruiner.
8. I wear extensions occasionally (any tips on nifty hair growth are welcome)
9. I have two border collie dogs. Father & son aka Harry and Brody (The Troublemaker)
10. I also have a cat called Caesar, it's sometimes like a zoo in my house with all the pets.
11. My birthday is on May 16th
12. My favourite genres of music are hip hop, r&b, rap and pop
13. I am a size 10/12 depending on whether it's a fat or thin day
14. My favourite colour is red
15. I can't drive :( but I'm learning
16. My favourite place in the world is Paris
17. I've been a vegetarian for nearly 11 years
18. Pizza is my favourite food...EVER
19. My favourite part of doing my make up is my eyebrows
20. I have very light blue eyes
21. My second toe is slightly longer than my big toe (not weird at all)
22. My star sign is Taurus
23. I don't really watch a TV series when they're on, I wait and dedicate weeks to watching every episode of something (currently it's Game Of Thrones)
24. Love reality TV, so the likes of Towie, Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore can be found on my Sky Planner
25. Bit of a shoe addict, but I have reigned this in significantly recently
26. I like my hair to be simple. Either up in a bun or down straight or with waves. Not much effort is put into this area I'm afraid
27. Favourite make up brands are MAC (obvs), Barry M and NARS
28. Must have hair products are the L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil and the Percy & Reed Dry Shampoo
29. Serious nail biter - disgusting habit that I need to stop right now
30. My job title is SEO & Social Media Executive (how exciting)
31. I read The Londoner daily < check it out
32. I want to live in London (any tips for moving down there are very welcome also)
33. Uni drop out, I spent a year at Bangor University studying Business Studies. Wasn't for me but met some amazing people
34. Subscriber to Cosmopolitan and you should be too. Love it when it arrives at the start of the month
35. Fake tanner - St Moriz medium mousse is my shade of choice
36. I pin A LOT of food recipes on Pinterest. Check them all out here
37. I started my blog at the beginning of this year and I LOVE it
38. My favourite online shops are ASOS, Topshop & Kurt Geiger
39. My favourite youtube channel is from Jenna Marbles, she is just hilarious beyond belief
40. My friends would describe me as Funny, Beautiful and Crazy
41. Elliot would describe me as gorgeous, smelly and stubborn. The babe.
42. My favourite number is 16
43. I love hot weather!
44. My favourite album at the moment is Jay Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail
45. My favourite song is We Found Love by Rihanna, going to take a corker to beat that one
46. My iPhone has bunny ears
47. I work for a company called TheHutGroup
48. I wear extensions from Lush Extensions in 15" Lightest Brown
49. Favorite make up product is my MAC lipstick in RiRi Woo
50. The camera i use is the Nikon Coolpix S9500 and I love it.
Another week, another chance for motivation.
Starting the gym and starting Exante (post coming soon) this week, so hopefully some major changes will occur.
"If the earth's not nourished, you'll never grow beautiful flowers"
I've been looking forward to trying the Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment for a while now. As some of you might know, I don't have amazing hair and this is due to the fact that over the years I have severely neglected my hair.
So here's a bit of hair history for you - To start from the age of 17 to 19 I had white blonde hair... which took a lot of dying and left my hair really dry and damaged. This style eventually lead to my long hair becoming shorter and shorter. Not good.
I then went on to commit further hair sin by gluing in extensions. As a stupid 19 year old I just wanted long hair but gluing in extensions left my real hair in the worst condition ever! Knotted with glue and left with bald patches I can't stress this enough, don't glue in extensions. It's definitely not worth the grief you get throughout and after doing it. Stick to clips or use the Halo to prevent damage.
And last but not least, constant dying of my hair, after having been a blondie for many, many years I decided that I wanted a taste of the brunette lifestyle and opted for a rather gorgeous chocolate brown. I loved this colour for ages and because of my hair being blonde before, I was left with rather natural looking highlights that looked sunkissed and rather gorgeous. Then I went really dark, not intending to, but I was left with almost black hair. Rocking this look for a few months I then stripped and dyed my hair to it's current shade of dark blonde. After a few months of leaving my hair alone it's now in a good condition.
It's just not long enough.
So as well as occasionally wearing extensions to feed me my long hair fix I've decided that I need something to work on my hair to really work in some magic.
This is where the Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment comes into play. As a preliminary post I'll just say that I love the packaging and I want so hard to believe in the hype surrounding this hair miracle. After first use I notice my hair feels less tangled and the smell is divine.
I'll try this product out for a little while and let you know the results. But I'm excited to say that I hope this gives my short/medium hair a boost and that long locks are soon on their way for me.
What a gorgeous day the 12th July was for a graduation.
The sun was beaming and everyone was dressed in their best to see their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters graduate from Newcastle University. I wore this dress from Primark at ASOS with New Look Cork Strappy Heels. Whilst Elliot wore a navy slim fit suit from Next.
I swear to god, our little group was the unluckiest of the day. You'll see throughout this post the reasons I say this, but it seemed like the odds were against us when it came to Elliot's big day.
To start we were the last family to enter the hall, where we were lead to our seats all the way on the other side of the hall. Meaning that we had to let the entire hall know that we were the hold up family. As soon as we sat down they started...Obviously waiting for us VIP's to get there :P
We watched as the teams of students made their way to the front to have their gowns put on them and shake the hand of the head of the school.
I was so proud seeing Elliot go up there, pulling a clearly embarrassed expression as he got on the stage I couldn't help but laugh.
After this all of the family and friends were lead out to a lovely courtyard at the back of the university, where a huge gazebo filled with champagne, orange juice and a gorgeous buffet had us all chatting and munching early in the morning.
This is where the second clumsy event took place, as we were queued up behind the many other guests attending, Elliot's dad must have took on board too much stuff and ended up smashing a glass of champagne as he went to pick it up. I just find things like this hilarious, everyone jumping in to mop and make sure no mess is left. We had the staff working to capacity I can tell you that.
We were then joined by the graduate, where pictures were taken in their plenty and chat was flowing.
We didn't stay too long, noticing that the crowd was dying down we then took ourselves to a lovely Turkish restaurant called Red Mezze for lunch. Plates filled with spiced meats, hummus, vegetables and rice on our table, we were all well and truly stuffed by the end.
It's easy to say that everyone was proud of Elliot that day.
Well done Gorgeous.
I love liquid eyeliner.
I love creating new looks with different shapes and flicks for different events. I've never stayed true to one eyeliner. Having fallen in and out of love with many from Soap & Glory, Collection 2000 and my most recent affair with CCUK liquid eyeliner.
I have now moved on to the Rimmel London Scandaleyes Thick & Thin Eyeliner, with a thick felt tip pen tip design that allows you to make clean lines. I found this really easy to use, avoiding the usually smudgy mistakes and getting perfect flicks on my first go without having to do some retouching or whipping out the make up wipes for a do-over.
I did find the coverage of the pen a little less pigmented than others I have used before, but you simply have to paint a few more layers to get a true black shade that I love.It also lasts all day, so even in this heat that the UK is experiencing at the moment I'm not worrying about colour smudging.
Honestly one of the cutest creatures alive. I thought I'd share with you some of the fun and mischief this little bijon frise got up to this weekend.
Our first trip was to Preston park, having a few games of tennis on the grass whilst Tigger founds some good sniffs and had a wander.
The second trip was to Stockton park again, accompanied by the live music being played on the park. We relaxed while Tigger kept guard, barked away bigger dogs and went to find new adventures. Not before he was brought back by Elliot.
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