Week 1 done :)

Week one of bootcamp is done, yaaaay!!  hi5 to all the ladies that are there sweating it out, it ain't easy at all, only 5 more weeks to go... (by the way if you want to join in, check out www.exilegym.com for more details)

Everything's going well but I'm finding it a bit strange not to be absolutely starving after such a hectic workout. Is this normal? I have plenty of water and end up eating something really small like some fruit, a smoothie or just have a protein shake again. I don't know....

Healthy eating is going well and I've been having pretty much if the same pre and post-workout meals over the past 2 days. Tonight I made some amazing cuisine though and I thought I better be nice and share it with you lot lol ;p



Hope you enjoy it and do let me know if you try it out xx

Mango, avocado and red cabbage salad, garlic mushrooms and Grilled Venison steak + roasted sweet potatoes (serves 3)

For the salad
1 medium mango cut into small cubes
1/4 red cabbage finely chopped
2 carrots grated or finely chopped
1 small avocado cut into small cubes
Handful of lettuce or rocket
3 spring onions finely chopped

3 Venison steaks
2 medium sized sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into large chunks for roasting
1/2 pack mushrooms chopped in half
4 gloves garlic finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste or any seasoning of your choice
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the yogurt sauce
4 tablespoons natural yogurt
1/4 green pepper
black pepper
garlic


Mix all the ingredients for the salad gently together and set aside.  Lightly season your venison, wrap in tin foil and girll at 200 degrees for 20 mins. Par boil your sweet potatoes, drain, place in roasting tin and coat with 1tsp of olive oil and cook till golden brown.  Meanwhile, unwrap your venison and grill your venison till slightly brown. Turn the temperature down to about 100 degrees to keep venison and potatoes warm. Add 1 tsp of olive oil to a frying pan and sautee mushrooms with garlic.

Serve and enjoy!! xxx

TGIF!!!!!

Bootcamp kicked my ass yesterday!!! My gosh, lol!! We had two circuits to do, each with different exercises ranging from push-ups to rope training. But the best bit was the boxing!! It was so much fun hitting that punching bag and imagining it was someone who deserved a good beating :D

I did suffer a little bit only because I had done a kettlercise class beforehand and my arms and abs were already aching. But overall, it was worth it. Got a new kettlebell yesterday as well (woooohoooo!!). It's time to start using heavier weights if I want results right? So I visited my BFF www.amazon.co.uk. I've moved up from using 5kg to 7.5kg. Will let you know how I get on with the weight on Monday.





As you can tell by the title, I'm soooo happy it's Friday as I get a lil break from working out, well except yoga which I'll do later today *happy dance*

Well back at it tomorrow at bootcamp so I'll leave you with the meals and recipes from yesterday. Pretty much having the same today. Started the day with my usual protein shake xxxx








I lightly toasted my bread, white was all I had left :(, mashed the avocado and mackerel to make a yummy spread and scrambled my eggs.  This literally kept my energy levels up for both workouts.

Grilled Seabass with roast sweet potatoes and sauteed pak choi + a yogurt chilli and black pepper sauce (serves 2)

2 Seabass fillets
2 medium sized sweet potatoes (boiled till semi soft)
2 small chillis finely chopped
1 packet Pak choi chopped
4 gloves of garlic finely chopped
4 tablespoons yogurt
Olive oil
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Season you Seabass with with a little salt and black pepper or fish seasoning.  Place in ovenproof dish, add about a teaspoon of olive oil and grill till cooked through and golden brown.
Boil the sweet potatoes till slightly soft. Drain and place in a roasting dish with approximately 2 teaspoons of olive oil and roast.
Sautee the pak choi and add garlic.  Stir for about 30 seconds. 
For the yogurt sauce, simply add the chillis and some black pepper.
Serve and enjoy!!xxx

Recipes and more!!

Today was tough!!  Not going to lie about that.  Started the day exhausted as hell but decided to just perk up and make a yummy protein shake with a little bit of fruit to give my energy levels a little boost  My trainer decided to do Plyometric work today: squat jumps, push-up's, rotating press-up's etc. But, I pushed through even though I just about crawled out of bed this morning. 



Something strange happened after my workout today as well.  I didn't feel hungry as such but I was reaaaallly craving fruit. It was so weird, I was like the fruit monster lol.  Oh well, I guess it's just one of those things, I like it though :) I munched that mango like there was no tomorrow!! 




Tomorrow is going to be even tougher as I have Spin, Kettlercise and bootcamp.  I just have to make sure I have a shake and loads of water throughout the training sessions. Well, here are the recipe's for today's meals.  More to come so keep checking my posts xxx



Wholewheat pasta with chicken, broccolli, carrot and yogurt (serves 3)

500g wholewheat penne
300g chicken breast cut into strips
1/2 green pepper diced
2 carrots diced
1/2 tomato diced
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
300g steamed broccolli (or more if you like)
Greek natural yogurt for dressing
Salt and Pepper to taste

Fry the chicken strips until brown.  Add green pepper, carrots, garlic and broccolli and fry gently.  Cover and reduce heat.  Cook pasta according to instructions, drain and add to chicken mixture.  Stir and serve immediately. Add tomatoes and a tablespoon of yogurt.  Enjoy!!

Recipe and bootcamp feedback

Well, well, well look who made it back alive from bootcamp lol.  It was tough but defifnitely worth it. I don't know what I was so apprehensive about, I guess I just didn't know what I was in for.

Anyway, we did everything from rope training, kettlebell swings, push-ups, squats with weights etc...we were in there!!  Lasted an hour and I felt it for sure, it was a blast and all of us were determined to do our best.  Can't wait for Thursday and Saturday and see what else is in store.  I'll leave you with the recipe to my post workout meal and tonight's dinner xxx


Post-workout meal: Lettuce, avocado, mackerel and egg salad with a yogurt and honey dressing + sweetcorn (serves 1)

Handful of lettuce
1 smoked peppered mackerel
1 small tomato
1 egg boiled and chopped roughly
1/2 an avocado cut into cubes
1 tablespoon greek style natural yogurt
1 teaspoon natural honey
1 cob of corn

Combine all the ingredients and stir gently.  Steam corn till tender. Serve and enjoy!! xx

Dinner: Beef stir-fry with sweet potato mash (serves 2)

200g stir-fry beef
spring onions
1/2 red pepper sliced
1/2 green pepper sliced
2 large carrots
4 cloves of garlic
1 large sweet potato
Olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Fry the beef in a teaspoon of olive oil till brown.  Add peppers, garlic, spring onions, carrots to the meat and stir-fry for about a minute. Season with salt and black pepper.

Boil your sweet potato and mash.

Bootcamp is finally here!!!

Oh my goodness!!! Boot camp starts today and I'm a nervous wreck lol!! I just hope I can keep up with everything we will have to do. I'll keep you updated and let you know how it goes....if I make it out alive :s

Today's breakfast and pre-workout snack

Change is good + delicious fish recipe

Soooo, 2013 is here and we all want to do something different.  Resolutions are made, relationships begin or end but most of us want to shed those pounds that we gained over the festive season.

I just wonder why we torture ourselves and shove meal after meal down our guts each and every year then cry about it every January!!  Well, last year I decided to do something different.  I decided to lose a few pounds instead of gain them over the festive season.  Yep, I had had enough.  I wasn't going to be a victim of the "eat as much as you want, it's Christmas!!" tribe, no way Jose!!

Don't get me wrong, I still ate absolutely everything I wanted but cut down the portions or I waited till everyone had served themselves and got my portion then. It worked!! 5lbs were off and I got the yoga going as my "festive" exercise.  But then, the new year came and so it was back to the same old routine.  Cook, clean, school run, gym...hmmmmm gym.  Well, that had to change too.  I was getting comfortable with my regime and to be honest, my gym (which shall remain nameless) was/is getting comfortable with it's Jane Fonda-esque type workouts!! Not interested!!  I needed something tougher.  So I picked the classes where I could kinda do my own thing but use the gym at the same time.  For instance, Kettlercise is fantastic as I can bring in my own heavier kettlebells if I wanted (proud to say, I've moved up from 5kg to 7.5kg *happy dance*), recruited the most patient but tough personal trainer in the world (Paul www.total-bodypt.co.uk) so I can get a workout that focuses on the areas that I particularly don't like (my mum tum and upper body are not in my good books).  He's got me doing plyometric push-ups as my homework for the week, getting there slowly but surely :D

I've also decided to do a six week Ladies bootcamp starting tomorrow @ www.exilegym.com  to improve my overall fitness.  But the most important thing I've done thus far is changing my cooking habits.  I looooove cooking!! I am smitten with my kitchen.  So I thought why not just make good healthy stuff in there.  I mean, my cooking wasn't unhealthy,  I just cooked too much of everything and ate it too.  I bake a mean sponge cake too, actually it's the best in the country (I tell no lies) :) so that doesn't help!!

As I go through this change, I thought why not share it and hopefully inspire someone.  It could be a meal I prepared or a workout or even just some positive thoughts.  I might even post one of those before and after pics *cringe*!! But I'll stick to food for now.

Well I'll shut up for now and try my best to post as much info as I can.  Have a beautiful, positive week xxx





Tonight's dinner:

Grilled cod, roast sweet potato and steamed cauliflower (serves 3)

300g cod cut into small chunks
3 medium sized sweet potatoes cut into chunks for roasting
Cauliflower (as much as you need depending on how many you are cooking for)
1 small chilli chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
fish sauce 1tblsp (optional)
soy sauce 2 tblsp
Pure honey 2 tsps
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
set oven to 180c


Place cod, garlic, chilli, fish sauce, honey, soy sauce, 1 tblsp olive oil  + salt and pepper in a bowl and marinate for 15mins.  Place mixture onto some tin foil, cover and place on baking tray and cook covered for approx 20 mins.  Open the foil for and allow the fish to just slightly brown.

Boil your sweet potatoes until soft and place on baking tray with 1tsp of olive oil and roast

Steam cauliflower till soft

Serve and enjoy!! xx