The Recovering Diet Addict

5 months ago I gave birth to a pretty awesome human being, but if you read my last blog post you will know that I managed to gain an impressive amount of weight during my pregnancy. I am sure that many women are able to (and should) embrace their postpartum bodies; unfortunately I am not one of them. I have accepted that my body will never be the same again and I am totally ok with that. Well, I will be. But, there are a few signs that it's time to get moving and they are pretty hard to ignore: 1. Your hairdresser looks a little uncomfortable asking if you've already had the baby. I had already had the baby.... Fair enough it was only a month postpartum but seeing as I am still the same weight as I was then, I can no longer use this as an excuse.... 2. You invest in an over-priced teething necklace for your gorgeous baby as, as well as tugging at your hair, she has also begun to grasp at your newly acquired second chin. The pain is real. 3. You head out to w...

Howdy readers. So, it's been a while hasn't it? Well, I can report that a LOT has gone on since my last blog post; it's been pretty intense and, though it pains me to say it, I have completely lost my mojo. It's amazing, how easily you can slip back into old habits. If I'm feeling down then I am used to turning to exercise to pick me back up. If I'm feeling super-blue then I comfort eat and get a bit lazy; a habit that I thought I had left behind - how wrong I was. WARNING: I am about to discuss FEELINGS and incredibly honest truths. It started off around the time of my last post. Without going into too much detail, our lives were completely turned upside-down when my husband and I suddenly (and unexpectedly) became foster carers to twins. For the next 8 months of my life I had to juggle a new and demanding job, caring for the children, the dog and managing an entire timetable of access with different family members and meetings with social services. If I ...

When watching those documentaries where people have put on so much weight that they have had to be cut out of their houses by the emergency services, I have had so many conversations where I have debated: how do people let themselves get to that stage? Surely there has to be a point BEFORE then? Perhaps when they have had to go up a clothes size? When they can't ride a roller-coaster? Or when they have to buy two plane seats? How do they let it get to that stage and at what point does someone realise that enough is enough? I had my "getting cut out of my house by the firemen" moment last week: I ripped my jeans (well, they were really my favourite White Stuff jeggings but let's not get bogged down in semantics). I had been in denial for weeks. I could feel the painful 'tug' that was hinting at was about to come. But just like the guy who was finding it harder and harder to get out of the house each day until one day he couldn't anymore, I pretended it ...

We've all been there: full of optimism and good intentions, we climb into our "activewear"...then sit down for five minutes (you know, just for a cup of tea). Before you know it, Netflix is asking you if you are still watching Orange is the New Black (or any other binge-able series) and you have eaten a family sized bag of Doritos. Gym clothes are incredibly comfortable so it is easily done. It's just a shame that good intentions aren't enough to get us in shape. With this in mind, I have decided to share my top 5 tips on how to get off of the sofa and into the gym: Image courtesy of Buzzfeed. 1. Employ a motivator / torturer Mine is my husband. If I know that I am going to struggle to do my workout, I let him know my plans in advance and ask him to MAKE me keep to them under any circumstances. It has been known for him to set up my workout and   literally drag me into our studio, kicking and screaming. Yes it is painful (and you may get the odd carpe...

Very often we see health and fitness Instagram and Facebook pages full of humour and inspirational quotes and pictures/videos of "fitness goals", but is this glossy presentation of life realistic? I refuse to acknowledge that these people have never had a bad day at work, come home and consumed an entire bottle of wine, a microwave meal and/or a disgustingly gluttonous desert. They never show that, do they? Life has been pretty tough this year and what used to be a rare occurrence (grabbing quick and easy food on the way home from work) has started to become more and more regular. How is it possible to eat healthily when you can't even face a visit to the supermarket? I firmly believe that a healthy diet  =  a healthy mind, and that exercise is one of the best ways to improve mood and wellbeing. Nonetheless, when even the thought of opening a tin of soup is overwhelming, preparing three healthy meals a day (plus snacks) seems lik...

In a mission to find more time to exercise during the working week, this week I tried to wake up 40 minutes earlier to workout before work... Monday 5am alarm: OH DEAR GOD NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did I think that this would be a good idea?! Just one snooze? Go on then. Another? Oh balls, I have overslept... Cue rushing to get ready to work. That counts as cardio right? Husband was very smug tonight (he found the whole premise of this experiment incredibly comical). Determined to prove him wrong, I announced that I would be sleeping in my workout clothes. This did not go down well. Very cold night so put on extra comfy pyjamas.... Tuesday 4am wake up. I have to get up and exercise in an hour? No thank you. Immediately changed my alarm back to 5.40. Another epic fail. Clearly need more direction. Sneak into bed wearing a sports bra under my t-shirt, set my alarm for 5.15am and decide on a short morning yoga session for tomorrow - something ...

Gone are the days when I was willing to prance around my living room to the latest Ministry of Sound workout. Over the years I have given so many of them a good go: Pump it Up, 10 Minute Solutions, Patsy Palmer's Urban Workout and (please don't judge me here) I even owned one of Jade Goody's on VHS..... You dancing? You asking? I'm asking. Then I'm dancing! Workout DVDs are a great idea: if you can't get to the exercise class then bring the exercise class to you. But the problem is, they're boring. No one wants to do the same exercise class again and again and again. Not only that, but if you're doing the same exercises day in day out then you won't see results. As someone who struggles to make it to the gym in time for classes, there has to be a better way. Enter YouTube. Now, I may be a little slow on the uptake here but YouTube is incredible for fitness. It is accessible, there is an endless array of workouts and, most importantly, it i...

After promising my good friend Jones* that I would write a series of blog posts about finding time to fit exercise into a busy schedule, I felt galvanised - ready for action! Seeking some inspiration, I turned to the one thing that promises to solve so many of our problems in modern society: THE SMART PHONE. With a world of applications just a few taps away, I immediately headed to the App Store. There are countless fitness apps out there - so, being the penny-conscious recovering diet addict that I am, I decided to focus on the free ones! By the time that you have scrolled through the couch to 5ks, step trackers and calorie counters, many of the apps seem pretty much the same. Most of them provide a 7 minute workout that you can do once for a quick 'blast' or repeat numerous times like a circuit. They need very little equipment and, being on your phone/iPad, you can do them any time / anywhere. I once signed up to FitStar Personal Trainer but found t...

My life was turned upside down last year. Overnight, our family went from two to four when we agreed to care for our nieces for six months. I can now assure you that it is true what they say: NOTHING can prepare you for having children. I used to think that I had a busy life but now I have experienced "the dark side", I will never complain about being busy again! The first thing that I started to neglect was my exercise regime. When you are up at 5.30am and in work by 7.30am, a morning workout is not the most appealing. Similarly, with my husband at work most evenings, by the time we have done some chores, the reading, cooked, bathed the children and put them to bed, I don't sit down until 8pm - never mind trying to fit in the dog walks and the vast amount of school-work that I need to take home every night! If I ever get five minutes to myself, I want to read, I want to watch television, I want a glass of wine, I want to SLEEP. Not only do I have a new found respect fo...

This morning I woke up, scraped my hair into a ponytail and wiped the remains of last night's mascara from under my eyes. I threw on my running gear and decided to head out with Bear for a morning run along the river before it got too busy and there was a possibility that I would run into someone. Clearly I was a little optimistic as it was the busiest that I have ever seen the area on such a cold day. One thing I love about having dog is the amount of people that you meet on a walk; people are so friendly and you never know who you are going to get chatting to. Today I met a woman called Suzie*. As I was running (jogging...slowly), Bear leapt on her dog and they began to have an incredibly energetic game of chase. So, I took a welcome break for a chat; little did I know that this woman would completely change my day. Suzie* was fascinating. We talked for ages and for some reason the conversation moved on to body image. She told me a story about her two...

I had a fantastic day at the spa recently: good food, relaxation and quality time with friends. After a particularly enjoyable full-body massage, I brewed myself a green tea and settled down with a trashy magazine in the "relaxation room". Now, I don't read these often and when I opened to the two-page spread on 'How Jennifer Lawrence gets her body' it reminded me exactly why that is... Now, I love Jennifer Lawrence and this post is in NO way meant to body-shame or undermine who she is or what she does. I mean, look at her, she is bloomin' gorgeous! Image courtesy of GQ However, it is magazine articles like this one that continue to perpetuate unrealistic ideals and strip many women (and men) of the little body confidence that they have remaining. Let me paint you a picture: you open a magazine to a 2 page spread of the beautiful woman above who is looking particularly fantastic in a body-con dress that us mere mortals would struggle to pul...

Anyone who knows me can testify to the fact that I am the most accident prone person known to man. Over Christmas, I managed to break my toe whilst putting a bed together, then I severely sprained my ankle after falling down the stairs. Last week I managed to cover myself in bruises after an epic fall in the bath, and on Monday I face-planted the pavement whilst running, once again spraining my ankle in the process! Now, I am currently on my second day off of work, with my leg elevated and dosed up on ibuprofen (it is pretty difficult to spend a full day in a classroom when you are struggling to weight bear on your leg). I admit it, I am feeling pretty sorry for myself. There is only one way to get out of the doldrums and that is exercise! I'm not sure if you have ever tried to workout with a sprained ankle - it's pretty hard. So, I have knocked together a quick tabata-style workout, focused on upper body and core, that won't put any pressure on my injury. Tabata-styl...