Firstly let’s give a massive SHOUT OUT to FRIDAY!!! It’s finally here!! The final day of work until 3 sweet sweet days off! Please can the sun shine and the rain stay away!!

Okay so today’s blog is focusing on a “hot topic of conversation’ Yes it’s a blog all about the D word – No not Dior unfortunately, I am talking about the dreaded D word…… DIET!!

Its getting to that time of year for some of us ladies, the warmer weather is gradually arriving and soon it’ll be holiday time….. which means BEACH WEAR, which means PANIC!! Which means “did I enjoy more hearty comfort meals in the winter than I should have?”

How many times do you have a conversation with someone and soon enough one of you comments on either going on a diet, or your currently trying out this diet, or it’s nearly summer, you must diet? It seems that this is a hot topic of many conversations whether we realise it or not.

The diet industry is a huge money making corporation, and with new “fad” diets coming out and new dietary products hitting the market, every day, I can’t help but feel that we, as in the millions of us trying to loose weight and get fit and healthy are being exploited in one way or another.

I am very easily sold on something, so throw back to 2017 when I saw Alexandra Burke on tv tuck into her slim fast shake, and tell me how many pounds she had lost I was like “this is right up my street” so I went out and I stocked up on shakes and bars, and was so ready to see the pounds fall off.

For any of you who don’t know, Slim fast works by having a shake for breakfast and lunch, 3 snacks under 100 calories and a balanced meal in the evening.

So after doing this diet for 2 months I was really hoping to see a difference. In reality I was hungry all the time, my skin started to suffer and I lost 1 Pound, oh and I was out of pocket too as slim fast isn’t the cheapest diet to follow!

There are many many companies out there just like Slim fast, you have Diet chef , Jane Plan, Diet Now and another I recently come across called Noom weight loss! And with deals like – sign up today and save £100, 14 day trial just £29! It’s not hard to see why us as the consumer finds this appealing. I actually know someone who tried Diet Chef a few years back and didn’t even get through the box of food because it tasted so bad!

I am by absolute no means a health and fitness guru, I do 3 classes a week, I have no desire to do more, I like my feminine look, I don’t want to be muscular it wouldn’t suit my small frame, and that look just isn’t for me (all though yes I think it does suit some people) I have spoken openly about my struggles to loose weight. I am as normal as can be, and have too continually watch my weight. (Blog post here??https://lifestylelisa.com/2019/01/24/living-the-healthier-lifestyle/)

But I do always remember something Luke (my boyfriend) once said to me a few years back when I was really having a tough time with my weight was that it’s not rocket science eat less and move more, and that is something I have found to be true.

I lost weight over the course of a year and a half (you can read the blog post here??https://lifestylelisa.com/2018/04/09/lets-talk-weight-loss/) I did this by cutting down my portion sizes, I now do 3 classes a week, and Luke and I do try to be more active (although we have let that slide a little since moving into our house!) I have climbed 2 mountains and am looking to do another next year.

I still have days when I look in the mirror and panic that I’ve put on a few pounds, I’m only human after all. There are times when clothes are too big for me and I worry that I’ve lost more weight than I should have. I get told I look good and sometimes I get told I look a bit too skinny, I think it’s just a no win situation.

Luke and I also make sure that we eat really well. I always do salads for lunch, we have vegetables with dinner, and I love making a healthy smoothie for an occasional treat.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re certainly not saints and there are times when we love nothing more than a bottle of Prosecco and lots of chocolate! But to be super healthy 24/7, for me that would get a little boring. As long as Monday to Friday I’m on plan it leaves the weekend for the naughtiest little treats.

I have looked at many of these “diet plans” and honestly I can’t see how any of them work! I remember when the Atkins diet was all the rage, and everyone was doing it from Brittany Spears to Madonna and if you wasn’t already doing it you most certainly wanted to try it, but speaking with anyone who was on it I was told about the downside which was bad breath and how their skin really suffered as a result of the diet plan. And honestly does anyone even do the Atkins now?! I mean is it all really worth it? And it takes me back to my first point, eat less move more and have a nutritional balanced lifestyle with fruit and vegetables!

I think it takes me back to the desperation I felt in the early days of my weight loss journey and how I would have tried ANY diet to help me achieve my goals. Which is why I decided to waste a few hundred pounds on slim fast and I didn’t get “SLIM FAST” (pun absolutely intended!)

Diets are everywhere, on tv, in magazines, on advertising boards around towns and of course all over the internet. There is so much pressure on both woman and men today that it’s hard not to get sucked into the whole “try this for 6 weeks and see the weight fall off” But in my opinion and from my own experience keeping it simple, works better than any of these fad diets on the markets, and the truth is when you truly study them most people that have tried all of these out say the weight goes back on when you stop following the strict plan.

So Girls and Guys….. STOP obsessing, put the scales away, and don’t let it consume you!

It’s just not worth it! Love yourself, be confident and most importantly be happy and healthy!!

I am off to do my final 8 hours of work, before the weekend can begin! I will then be spending the long weekend catching up on blog posts I haven’t yet read, I have a new book to get into, I’m getting my hair and nails done, and there’s a list of other things too!!!!!!!!!

I also intend to have a few gins’s and eat a fair aloof food (keeping it perfectly balanced of course)

So whatever you are all doing, have a good one!!

Lifestylelisa

L xxx

The post The “D” Word appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

On Thursday’s I like to talk about FOOD!!!

It’s no big secret that I struggle with my weight, Last year I actually wrote a whole post all about it (you can read it here) Partly that is due to the fact that I am a small 5ft and my metabolism is slower, oh how nice it would be to be an extra 2 or 3 inches taller, but I’m not, so I just have to deal with it. The other part is due to the fact that I love food and eating! Although let’s just blame the height thing…….

So the fact that I’m short and I like my food means watching what I eat without being too obsessive!!

In 2018 I went through a transformation where I lost over 2 stone taking me from 10st to 8st! I am so much happier in my self, and I am definitely more confident too! Im even wearing jeans! And I have never worn jeans!! But I absolutely love my jeans now, how did I manage without them!

With all that said I know I cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to food, I need to watch what I eat, but I also know that if I have a muffin or a donut on a Sunday it’s not the end of the world!

I’m also not a fan of logging every little things that passes by lips, GOD it’s just too time consuming, and far too strict, where’s the fun in that?! Although hats off to anyone who is that regimented, it’s just not for me!

Instead I try to maintain my weight by eating healthy and planning my meals.

Planning is the key to stopping me coming home from work and binging on things in my cupboard. And with Luke and I soon to be living together I aim to make sure we continue to eat a healthy balanced diet!

A typical planned day

Breakfast – Porridge, I honestly can’t live without my porridge, it’s the best way to start the day! I usually have plain oats (unless it’s a weekend when I may have flavoured oats) which I mix it with 180ml of coconut milk and chia seeds, in the microwave it goes for 2 minutes, then when it’s done I top it off with frozen berry’s (usually blueberry’s and raspberries) And depending on what mood I’m in I may add a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Lunch – Most days I love a salad, nothing too fancy usually leafs, sweetcorn, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot and some olives. If I fancy something different I’ll add some pulled jackfruit and low fat pink slaw!! So delicious!!

Afternoon snack – Fruit and low fat Greek style yogurt is my go to healthy snack! I have this amazing food tin from Cath Kidston which keeps my frozen berry’s slightly frozen and even makes my yogurt freeze just a little! I’m really not a fan of mushy berry’s, so this is absolutely perfect! My frozen fruit treat is just perfect for the afternoon munches!

Dinner – Currently I am really into jackfruit (which my friend who is vegan got me into) Tesco do a vegan pulled jackfruit range with are really low calorie and come in 3 delicious flavours BBQ sauce, Thai green curry and Mexican!! Super tasty!! For a quick and tasty filling meal I usually have one of those with some Thai jasmine rice, and a falafel. Other days I like to make pulled veggie, with mushy peas and my special mushrooms (I’ll include the shroom recipe at the end of the blog post) I also serve with some falafel!! Again so delicious, healthy and really easy to make! – Other healthy options I enjoy for dinner time are – Fish, Oumph!, Quorn, home made veggie curry’s, and a collection of slimming world recipes that I collected during my stint at slimming world!

Sometimes in the evening a low calorie hot chocolate is the only thing I fancy, and at 40 calories a cup it’s not the most unhealthiest of choices either….. Marshmallows are optional!! Healthy choices and healthy foods along with a clubbercsise class on a Thursday and walking at weekends when I can has so far (touch wood) meant that I have kept the weight off without cutting out every little fun treat in life! If I fancy a chocolate I’m having that chocolate, it’s not the end of the world!

I definitely have a goal of maintaining my size 8 figure, seeing as last summer I had to buy a whole new wardrobe as everything was too big! This year I’m determined to fit into the same summer clothes as last year – especially for my 2019 holiday destination! . . . .

??????

So mushrooms, you either love them or you hate them right? Me, well I LOVE mushroom’s , raw, cooked, in a salad, in a curry, on toast, however they come!! My boyfriend Luke on the other hand likes cooked mushrooms only! So one day whilst cooking mushrooms for dinner I decided they needed a little shake up, shrooms don’t need to be boring! So I did a little experiment which turned out pretty well!!

**Shaken shrooms ? recipe**

You will need a whole punnet of shrooms, tomato and garlic purée, lazy chilli and soy sauce, salt and pepper optional.

1. Chop the Mushrooms (I usually do a whole punnet) however you like!

2. Add mushrooms to a large oven proof bowl

3. Add in 3 tables spoons each of tomato purée and garlic purée (more if needed)

4. Add in 1 teaspoon of lazy chilli’s and a little salt and pepper, I usually use flavoured salt like jalapeño or garlic

Stir all together and add some soy sauce as little or as much as you like, give it one final stir making sure all the shrooms are nicely covered, and put it into the oven for 20 minutes.

When cooked take out, leave for 5/6 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken and then serve!!

I know, I know, it shouldn’t work but I promise you it does!!! TRY IT!!! Shake your shrooms!!

Here’s to the healthier lifestyle!!

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Lifestylelisa

L xxx

The post Living the “healthier” lifestyle appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

It’s now time to get personal and talk about weight! My weight, my struggles and my journey.

I’ve decided to write this post now as I am now at my goal weight (happy face)

First off the stats – I’m a small 5ft girl (short) if I gain a pound it looks more like 2 pounds, and is really quite noticeable. So to say I’ve always struggled with my weight is a fair point to make.

Since I can remember I’ve been a standard size 12, at my biggest I was a size 14, which was back in 2009/10 I then dropped back to a size 12 and finally a size 10 which I have maintained since 2014 (ish).

I have tried dieting so many times before and always end up falling off the wagon! I even did Slim Fast back in the summer of 2017 and lost something ridiculous like a pound in 2 months!!

So here’s the thing whilst on holiday in Florida last year (2017) I had weight issues, I looked pretty big in my pictures and I didn’t feel confident in myself.

My mum who I had been messaging whilst in Florida suggested maybe trying slimming world. I immediately dismissed that idea, I just couldn’t see myself sitting there in a circle sharing weight loss tips with complete strangers (no offence).

Getting more and more stressed about how big I was looking was starting to cast a dark cloud over my amazing holiday, so I decided enough was enough, there was nothing I could do it about whilst in Florida (except enjoy myself) but when I was back in the UK I was going to (reluctantly) sign myself up for Slimming World.

I decided to sign myself up to a Wednesday night group, at 7.30pm. First of all slimming world really isn’t as bad as I had pictured it, and everyone in my group was very friendly and chatty, and I felt completely relaxed there.

I had a little chat with the group leader and was surprised to know that you can loose up to four-six lb’s on your first weigh in! Well that would suit me just fine!! I hadn’t weighed myself prior to going to SW but thought I must weigh about 9 something….. The group leader also goes through good and bad foods and syns.

So I’m not here to tell you the in’s and outs of SW but in a nutshell you get an allowance of 15 syns per day, and they can be used on anything naughty that you like! You just can’t go over your allowance.

So I’m standing in the queue waiting for the all important weigh in feeling quite smug really, it’s not like I have loads to loose, it’ll probably only take me a few weeks to hit my 9 stone goal. Stepping on the scales I was naturally pretty surprised when I was told I weigh 10st 05lbs, okay that was definitely more than I thought I weighed, but with a possible 4-6 lb weight loss in my first week it wouldn’t take me long…. Or so I thought.

My first week I was completely on plan, I weighed and I measured and had a few cheeky syns here and there but never went over my 15 per day allowance. I ate salads, and free foods, prepared over night oats every morning. I felt pretty good about myself to be honest, confident that I had shifted at least 4lbs I was quite excited to jump on the scales at SW on my 2nd week. So IMAGINE my face when I’m told I’ve lost 1lb, I mean are you kidding me? 1lb in a week? I consoled myself with the fact that a loss is still a loss, hopefully the week after I’ll loose big.

Sticking to plan another week, I was SURE I was in for bigger weight loss, but NOPE, I stepped on those scales, and I had lost…. 1lb.

I’m annoyed at this point, religiously measuring and weighing, being careful with what I eat, sticking to plan, and all this for a 1lb loss?! It actually got worse from there because sticking to the same plan the week after I GAINED a pound, then lost it the week after and gained the week after that!!

I seriously contemplated going to the doctors to see if I had a medical condition that was maybe preventing me from loosing weight, it was all becoming very disheartening for me and my 9st goal was getting further and further away!

I plodded along weeks after week in the hope that I might have a bigger weight loss at some point but it never happened. My last weigh in before Christmas was on 29/11/2017 where I weighed in at 9st 12lb just 2.5lb’s lighter when I started! I then decided to give up over the Christmas period, I was busy and trying to make Wednesday class in December was going to prove difficult. Instead I did what most people do during the festive period and INDULGED! I ate what I wanted when I wanted and didn’t count a single syn! It was bliss!!

Reluctantly in the new year I decided to return to SW against my better judgment I decided to try it one last time.

Before stepping on the scales I fully expected a BIG gain, especially with the amount of food consumed.

You can imagine my surprise when I stepped on those scales and and LOST 2.5lb’s! That quite literally made no sense at all.

I went home that evening and decided I would do a mini experiment, I would weigh in each week but do my own diet! No syns, no measuring, no free foods, just a normal healthy calorie controlled diet. The proof I believe is in the results

I had a consistent loss every week from doing it my way.

I believe that my diet always has been pretty healthy, I am a pescatarian, I don’t take sugar in hot drinks, I drink a lot of water and never have soft drink that isn’t diet, I don’t eat bags and crisps and bars of chocolate preferring to healthier options instead. By joining slimming world I think I was eating far more than I had ever done before and Luke actually made me aware of this.

For example I may have overnight oats and yogurt and fruit for breakfast, a yogurt mid morning, pasta salad for lunch, a SW bar mid afternoon, a jacket potato with cheese and beans and salad for dinner and possibly a meringue with a muller light yogurt and fruit for dessert. The pasta, potato, beans, muller light yogurts are all FREE, the oats are a healthy extra B (so I don’t syn it) my only syns are the SW bar and meringue. On the SW diet that is all fine, however the calorie intake is probably higher than I had ever been used too before, which is why I wasn’t loosing the weight!

I have no doubt that Slimming world does work, I just don’t think it is designed for everyone (I am proof of that) and it is so disheartening when week after week you are stepping on those scales and seeing no significant change.

I am now weighing it at 8st 12lbs, for my height I would like to go a few pounds lighter, which would put me in better proportion. I no longer go to my weekly Wednesday group, instead every week I weigh myself at home, and I can definitely notice the weight drop in my clothes. I continue to stick to my calorie controlled diet, and have the occasional blow out at the weekend.

I want to maintain a healthy balance between food and weight loss, I don’t want it to be such a big obsession, and I want to enjoy life instead of worrying about every little thing I put past my lips. Since Christmas I feel that the balance has been right for me, I am finally starting to feel more confident in myself than I have done it a long time. I feel more in touch with my body (which Oh my god even as I write it sounds laugh out loud stupid) but I now feel that I understand that my height does mean that I am not as fortunate as someone who is a few inches taller than me, who will carry the weigh better than I do. I still snack and and eat bread, but I don’t load on empty calories and would rather eat a punnet of raspberries than a cereal bar, where as before I had a never ending supply of low fat Alpen and SW bars.

with dieting it’s trial and error and working out what works best for you as an individual, I am by no means an expert, all I can say it I’ve seen the weight fall off people who go to slimming world. Unfortunately that just wasn’t the case for me.

The post Let’s talk weight loss appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.