Mini Ice Lollies, huge treat!

Whilst perusing the freezers in the supermarket the other day, I spotted some tiny wee lollies. Now I am a sucker for anything mini, so picked them up.

Mini fab!! Just as yummy as the full size and only 47 calories.

Mini twister! This one is 45 calories.

You get a few different flavours of each in the boxes. I think these are great if you are trying to eat healthier, as you get a lovely treat without the amount of calories in a full sized lolly. I got some mini milks too, but they are not as fun as they have always been mini!

What do you have for a little treat?

Getting back out there and my Lidl compression socks

I talked before about the knee pain I got when I started running. I think I didn't have enough rest and that made it worse. So, I had a word with myself, and properly rested. This seems to have done the trick, as I have managed runs and gym sessions since with no pain. Once that hurdle was dealt with, of course I came down with a horrible cold. I didn't do any exercise when it was at it's worst, but the eased back in with a gym session. I managed the bike, cross trainer, and did intervals on the treadmill. The ones in my gym have a handy feature where you can set a slow speed and a fast speed, and change between them at the touch of a button. This is great as no panicking when you start to tire out and want to slow down. I managed 15 mins of alternate walking and running. I find I can run for longer continuos periods on the treadmill than I can outside. Does anyone else find this?

Today I went out for a run, trying to get back into my Zombies 5k training plan. I did week 3 run 2, and was pretty knackered. I still enjoyed it though. I think the knee injury has made me appreciate running, and only fuelled my desire to run.

When shopping for bargains in Lidl the other day (£3 rump steak, yum), I spotted these-

Compression socks for £2.99! Since getting into running I have read lots about compression socks but wasn't sure if I really needed them. They are supposed to help with muscle pain during and after running. I don't think i'll be wearing these bad boys out though! I have them on just now, and they do feel nice, like a little leg hug. I spose time will tell if they actually help.  My favourite thing about them though? This-

Just in case you forget what you are doing, or have been doing. Good old Lidl. Also, they look super cool-

Do you use compression socks?

Where did you get yours?

Keeping hydrated with Camelbak bottles

Its very important to keep hydrated in order to stay healthy. Being dehydrated can lead to all sorts of complications, such as headaches, and at its most extreme, kidney problems. I know myself that I struggle to drink enough, especially at work. I developed a bad habit of mostly drinking coke zero, which is not great for you, and expensive. I did balance this out with bottled water, which can also mount up in price, and all the plastic bottles are not good for the environment. So, I looked for a better solution. I wanted to take some kind of juice, and water to work.

So in comes the camelbak bottles! I got the bigger one first, the eddy. I use this for no added sugar diluting juice, and it holds 750ml. At the same time as I got this I got a Bobble for water, but I don't find that easy to drink from. So I ended up getting the water filtering camelbak, the Groove Tritan, which is 600ml.

The camelbaks are so easy to drink from. This is due to the bite valve, which is a rubbery valve which you simply bite on to drink from. The valve doesn't leak as there is no flow when it is not bitten. It is quite like drinking from a straw, and is easy to drink quite a big volume quickly. I find this really improves my fluid intake, as I can easy drink the whole 750ml bottle in my 30min break. I then sip on the water bottle for the rest of my shift, and can easily refill when needed. The filter means that the normally icky water at work tastes good.

The bite valve then folds down out the way when not needed.  The bottles are very watertight, I carry them to work in my bag and have had no problems with leaking. The bottles are made of very sturdy plastic, which can be dropped and survive. They are a little heavy so not ideal for using when running or at the gym, but thats fine! The water filter in the Groove Tritan needs to be replaced every 3 months or 180 litres of water.  The only slight problem with the design is cleaning it properly. However, all the parts come apart, which makes this a bit easier. There is a custom made cleaning kit available, which is a bit like those wee test tube cleaners you used at school. 

I bought my bottles from Amazon, as I found that the cheapest. They are available in a range of colours, but I obviously went for the pink. The Eddy was £12.95 and the Groove Tritan was £17.99. Replacement filters for the Tritan are around £30 for 6. I think thats a pretty good deal considering the money saved by not buying bottled juice and water, and the health benefits of increased hydration!

How do you re-hydrate?

My favourite fitness apps

Now I don't know about you, but I love an app. I have apps for all sorts of things, and health and fitness is no exception. I thought I would give a quick run through of the apps I use and then give my favourites more in-depth blog posts of their own. I have an iphone, but alot of these apps are available for android phones as well.

Nike apps-I haven't actually used these apps much. The first one is used with the nike + sensor that I have in my shoes, and the second just uses the gps in your phone. These apps track runs, giving times, calories and all sorts of other things. I do like the look of the these, so will give them a proper go once I have finished my 5K training app. The nike + website is pretty good as well, as other people have uploaded run routes. More info here. Price- Free

Absolute Abs- Another one downloaded with good intentions not really followed through. This app looks really good though. It has different work out options (abs, fat burning and ultimate), and then easy to follow pictures of the moves. You play the workout, and the move is read out, with timings for the reps. I really should try this! Find it here. Price- Free (paid version available)

BMITracker- This is a simple wee app from the NHS which works out your BMI. Its easy to use as you can use metric or imperial measurements. I measure my weight loss in metric, I think because I use metric at work (I'm a nurse). With this app it immediately tells you which zone your BMI is in (It was a happy day when I got into healthy!) and you can also view a graph of your progress. You can also use this app to do quick calculate, and I use this at work when I can't find a chart and need to work out a patient's BMI. Find it here. Price-Free

MyFitnessPal- A well known one, and one I used alot in the past and need to get back into to give me a boot up the bum! Its an online calorie and activity tracker, and is great.  The app is very handy, but you can use this online without a smart phone. I'll do a more in depth review of this. Find it here. Price- Free (paid services available)

Fitbit- I LOVE this. Its the app to go with my Fitbit one, which is an amazing little pedometer and sleep meter. I got mine for Christmas last year, and haven't looked back. This will be my next post. Find out more here. Price varies depending on fitbit device, mine was £79.99.

MapMyFitness- Another well known good 'un. Its a GPS sports tracker, which you can use for running, walking, cycling, amongst others. I use this for walks and cycling, as I am interested in distances. The website is good for planning routes in advance to work out distances, as well as searching for routes others in your area have done. Find it here. Price-Free (paid services available)

Zombies 5K- Another one I LOVE. Its the beginner version of Zombies run, and is a 5K training app. Its all based on a story, with voiceovers and run/walk drills designed to train you for a 5K. I've been using this for my running and will do a full review of this as well. Find it here. Price- £1.49

Tracker Lite- This is a really simple app, basically a calendar which you can track something on. You can set a goal and tick every time you do something. I tick when I exercise, and have set a goal to exercise 20 times, then I can treat myself to some new exercise clothes. Yes, I need to bribe myself. In the free version you can only track one thing, but can track multiple things in the paid version. I may splash out in future. Find it here. Price- Free (Paid version available)

LFconnect is an app for the machines at the gym which I haven't got working yet. Price- Free

Nike Training- Is another on the 'to do' pile. It has loads of work outs for free, and looks really good.  I have this on my ipad too, as it will be easier to watch the video's on that when working out. Find it here. Price- Free

Wow, that took a while! I hope it has been of some help to you, and please come back for the more in depth reviews.

What are your favourite health and fitness apps?

Starting over

So I set up this blog a while ago with all the good intentions of getting fitter and eating better. That didn't go brilliantly, but now i've started over. I've started running, joined the gym and bought a bike! I've been really enjoying my running, and have been using a new app that I will blog about soon. We have a brand new gym in our city, so I have joined there and have been using the bikes, cross trainer, treadmill and even some of the previously scary weights machines.

The only problem with all this new found enthusiasm for exercise is that my knees don't seem to agree. After a week or so of short runs they began to ache and are now agony after any running. I need to get this sorted as its holding me back! I am going to try swimming and gym, and hopefully the lower impact will help it mend. Otherwise its off to the Dr's I go.

I have been using a few apps and products since I started exercising so will be reviewing these on here soon.

Do you have any tips for knee pain?

Salad lunches for work

In my job, I work shifts, and lots of different shifts at that. I do earlies (07.30-15.30, lates (13.30-21.30), Twilights (16.00-00.00 or 18.00-02.00), and nights (21.00-08.00 and occasionally 22.00-06.00). This makes eating sensibly quite difficult, and without forward planning I end up eating junk, canteen food, or overpriced costa food. I find eat sensibly particularly difficult when I do nights, as I do 7 in a row. I try to eat a normal dinner before I go, and then we always bring in snacks for through the night, and then I try to eat something before bed or else I wake up due to hunger.

When I am on early shift, I always say to myself that I will get up and make lunch, but I never do. Then its off to the canteen for a baked potato, or something naughty from costa. This wastes money, and isn't always a healthy option. Sometimes, a treat is well needed though, and a costa lunch goes down great!

So, last night I made two salads up, for today and tomorrow's lunches. I love salads, but it does take a while to cut up and prepare everything. To make it more worthwhile, I usually make two servings, either for dinner one night and lunch the next day, or like this, two lunches.

This salad contains (per box)-

Mixed salad leaves

1 tomato

6 Cherry Tomatoes

Half a red pepper

Quarter of a mozzarella ball

olives with feta

Tinned anchovies

Served with honey and mustard dressing.

Using my favourite weight-loss tool, the myfitnesspal app and website (more about this another day), I worked out the calorie content as 314. I love salads, and with the olives, anchovies and mozzarella, this was tasty with a good variety. It is perfect for a low calorie diet, as its a balanced and tasty meal, and pretty low calorie. I had the first salad for my lunch, on its own, and as the second was for dinner on a late, I added some weightwatchers tomato soup. I also love my little pink salad box, which I will give its own special post.

What healthy lunch ideas do you have?

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! I have writing a beauty blog for a couple of years- here. Although I am not the best at updating it, I enjoy it when I do, and love reading other blogs. I do however get very stressed about not posting, about posts being perfect and so on. I want this blog to be different, more personal, and on my terms.

So whats it all about? Well, like the title suggests I need to shape up. I am currently overweight, and unhappy about that. I am by nature a lazy person, and I enjoy eating! I am not looking to have some completely dramatic life overhaul, where I spend all my waking hours exercising and only eat lettuce. I know that is not realistic, and I'd be miserable. Instead, I want to make changes where I can, try to do at least some exercise, and be more aware of what I eat. By writing this blog and tracking my eating and exercise, I hope that I will be able to loose some weight and increase my fitness. I'll still eat crisps and junk food sometimes, cos I enjoy them! However, I need to learn to use them as treats, and stop at one.

As a background about me, I have just turned 30, and I am a Staff Nurse in A&E. At least my job keeps me very active. I am from Scotland, but currently working in England, and living in hospital accommodation. However,  I have recently managed to get a job back in Scotland, and am going to be moving in with my boyfriend for the first time. Although we do have bad eating habits when we are together, we are both looking forward to this as a new start, and plan on doing weekly shops and menu planning.

So, on this blog i'll be talking about my progress, things I use to help me, foods and recipes, and whatever else I think of. If anyone else is embarking on a similar journey i'd love some pals for support!

Anna x