Gift inspiration - the dieters edition.

Christmas is only a few days away now! This dieters edition of gift inspiration is rather late this year (sooo sorry. I've been really busy). If you do want any of these things, you could buy some of these little gems as last minute/late gifts or buy them for yourself with the Christmas money you receive this year. Some of these things are online only, but a few will be available in stores too! There's something to suit all budgets. :)

Gifts £10 or less:

1. Lunch Bunch Strawberry Snack Boxes - £7.00, Paperchase. 2. One Body Multi-functional Pedometer - £6.00, Tesco Direct. 3. Shabby Chic Fleur Measuring Cups - £6.00, House of Fraser. 4. Me To You White Bear Polka Dot Flask - £3.00, New Look. 5. Funny Calories Dictionary Quote Mug - £6.99, Amazon. 6. Blue Magnetic Notepad with Pencil (Shopping List) - £3.85, White Shore.

Gifts £25 or less:

1. The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight (Paperback) - £11.99, Waterstones. 2. Dumbbell Alarm Clock - £16.90, Amazon. 3. Moleskin Recipe Journal - £16.99, Paperchase. 4. Graze Gift Voucher, 5 Boxes - £17.45, Graze.  5. Woman's Health Magazine Subscription (12 month) - £12.00, iSubscribe. 6. Men's Health Magazine Subscription (12 month) - £23.00, iSubscribe.

Gifts £50 or less:

1. Typhoon Novo Mechanical Scale - Teal - £40.00, Lakeland. 2. Crock Pot SCCPRC507CB-060 Digital Slow Cooker, Black - £39.95, John Lewis. 3. Kenwood HM792 kMix Hand Mixer - Almond Cream - £49.99, Currys. 4. Nike Womens Flex Experience Running Shoes - Club Pink/Blue - £49.99, Tennis Nuts. 5. Joseph Joseph Index Advance Chopping Boards - £45.99, Lakeland. 6. Asics Mens GT-1000 Running Shoes - Blue/White/Neon-Yellow - £49.99, Tennis Nuts.

Gifts £50+:

1. Morphy Richards 48822 1000 Watt 16-Litre Soup Maker - Brushed Stainless Steel - £64.00, Littlewoods. 2. Confidence Fitness Magnetic Manual Treadmill Running Machine - £79.99, Amazon. 3. LA Fitness Gym Membership (12 month) - from £35.00 per month (from £420 per year), LA Fitness. 4. Vibram Fivefingers Seeya Men's Running Shoe - £107.99, Millet Sports.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Gift inspiration - the dieters edition.

Christmas day is fast approaching (only 2 weeks to go!) and whilst some of us are prepared well in advance, there are a lot of us who tend to leave everything to the last minute - well this post is for you. We all have a friend or two who are forever dieting (I know I'm always dieting and I know lots of other people who are too). If you have yet to get them a gift, why not show your support on their journey by buying them some slimming friendly/themed gifts this year? I've put together this post, full of lots of different types of gifts, to give you some inspiration. Or even to give other people ideas of some things that you'd like to receive this year (or you can just treat yourself)! All of these gifts can be purchased online, and a few can be purchased in stores, and there's something suitable for all budgets! :)

Gifts £10 or less:

1. Union Jack A5 recipe book - £8.75, Paperchase.  2. Back away fatty magnet - £3.50, Really Good Shop.  3. Retro magnetic meal planner - £7.00, Paperchase.  4. Diet cheating fines money tin - £2.99, Amazon.  5. Run Fat B!tch Run paperback book - £8.39, Waterstones. 6. Diet kit - £5.99, Amazon.

Gifts £25 or less:

1. Calorie/jump counting skipping rope - £10.98, Amazon.  2. Jamie Oliver herb display pots - £18.50, Boots.  3. The Nakd Celebration Box - £13.00, Natural Balance Foods.  4. Healthy Food Guide subscription - was £27.00 now £21.99, Healthy Food Guide.  5. Union Jack adult apron - £16.99, Joshua's Harvest Store.  6. Wooden cookbook stand - £16.99, Lakeland.

Gifts £50 or less:

1. Typhoon electronic scales - £29.99, Lakeland.  2. George Foreman 14532 10portion health grill - £44.97, Tesco direct.  3. Biosync fitness set - was £39.99 £29.97, Amazon.  4. 16 jar revolving spice jar - £35.00, BHS.  5. La Cafetiere Titania 1 litre - £26.31, Tesco direct.  6. Zumba Exhilarate DVD fitness pack - was £59.96 £48.00, Tesco direct.

Gifts £50+.

1. Delonghi 18 bar pump espresso machine - £169.97, Tesco direct.  2. Body sculpture cable rower with DVD - £99.99, Sainsburys.  3. Robert Welch signature knife block - £274.99, Lakeland.  4. Kenwood FPP225 food processor - £59.97, Tesco direct.

Another gift you can give this year is a gift card! If your friend has lost a considerable amount of weight, dropped a dress size or two, or has reached/almost reached their ultimate weight-loss goal, then getting them a voucher for their favourite clothing store (mine's Topshop, *wink wink*) will be a wonderful gift. They'll be able to buy some new clothes better fitting to their lovely new figure. Most shops allow you to load up as much or as little as you want onto the card, so another great gift for all budgets. :)

Graze day! Top tip & get your first Graze box FREE!

Today is what I call a "Graze Day" - I received my fortnightly Graze box through the post this morning! I was pleasantly surprised with the punnets I received. I LOVE seeds and Graze's flapjacks, so I can't wait to dig into them (although they are both pretty calorific compared to most other punnets..)! And I have never tried the fig and cherry one before, so it'll be nice to try something new. The dipping punnets are great to take to work to munch on, on my tea-breaks, as they're quick to eat and not too messy! I love having my snacks when I'm peckish throughout the day (mainly between lunchtime and teatime and sometimes before I go to bed). They're quite filling and very tasty - yum yum!

In my Graze box I also received a little leaflet, and in there it's saying about their new treat coming out soon - "Healthy Popping Corn"! I cannot wait until this comes out! I love popcorn! And at a bonus, each flavour popping corn, that Graze are bringing out, are under 100 calories - yay! They are going to be microwavable, so they'll also be nice and hot - how I think popcorn should be enjoyed! :)

TOP TIP: Graze always supply the nutritional information and use by date for each snack you receive, but it's written inside the little leaflet and it's not actual written anywhere on the punnet itself.. So - for all you calorie counters - as soon as you receive your Graze box, just get out a permanent marker and write the calorie content and use by date of each yummy snack straight onto the film lid of the punnet. That way you will never forget how many calories it contains or when it goes out of date, plus you won't have to carry the information around with you separately at the risk of losing it.

Here's a little treat for all of you! Enjoy your first Graze box for FREE! Just go to Graze's website and enter the code:

N6JMVCHD

Don't forget to rate/slate the punnets, so you don't end up receiving something you already know you won't like. Also use the "send soon" tick-box for things you want to try asap. You'll probably be asked to enter your card details, but this is just incase you want to continue receiving Graze boxes in the future for a cheap cost (I've been enjoying my Graze boxes since January 2012). But if you don't, once you receive your first free Graze box, you can go back to their website and cancel all future boxes - it's a very trustworthy site and it's very easy to cancel/postpone your boxes.

Enjoy! :)

TIP! Perfect portions.

I don't know about you guys, but I find that one of the hardest things to do when trying to lose weight is serving myself/others correct portion sizes. At my biggest, my portion sizes were HUGE. I probably had enough food for on my plate to feed at least 2-3 people!

Portion sizes are tricky.. But I have learnt, instead of packing your plate up high "just incase", just take a normal portions worth and eat what you have. And if you are still hungry afterwards, you can always go back for a little more. Having too much food on your plate will make you feel obliged to eat it.. Eating the correct portion sizes (correct portion sizes are often suggested on the side of food packages) are key for stomach shrinking and successful weight loss!

My Mum suggested that, when I have a spare 20-30 minutes, I prepare portion sizes in advance so we can just grab and go instead of fussing around with the scales and things - which will be especially handy when in a rush. I thought it was an absolutely amazing idea - couldn't believe I didn't think of it myself!

So before you knew it, I had set up a little work station in my living room, made up of a tray, digital scales and cheap food bags, plus whatever food I wanted to weigh. I decided to weigh out all of our cereals into the portion sizes suggested on the cereal boxes (most serving sizes were between 30g-40g), then putting them back into their boxes for easy storage. I also weighed out our uncooked fusilli pasta into 75g serving bags. So now we can just grab and go!

This has to be the best and most useful tip I've ever received and I shall definitely be keeping it up!

Linwoods - FREE samples!

Linwoods is a relatively new discovery of mine. I found it in Cosmopolitan's "reader's summer checkbook" which, I think, came free with July's issue. Inside of it are loads of competitions/money off vouchers/forms for samples, which is how I found Linwoods. They're giving away free samples of their superfood products. And, as I love free stuff and trying new foods, I sent off for one. It arrived about 3-4 days afterwards, so pretty fast delivery considering it was completely free!

I received a 'flaxseed' sample and a 'flax, sunflower, pumpkin & sesame seeds & goji berries' sample. I tried it straight away, opening the 'flax, sunflower, pumpkin & sesame seeds & goji berries' sample, sticking a spoonful of it onto my soup. It tastes alright, not much taste too it really, and it doesn't feel horrible in your mouth. It looks as if it'd be really bitty and yuck, but it's not. I'm quite happy with it actually. So happy, that I went out and actually bought a big full sized bag of the stuff from my local Holland & Barrett (it cost £5.89)! I bought the 'flax, sunflower & pumpkin seeds' one, because they didn't stock the exact one I tried as a sample.
You can add a spoonful or two to any meal throughout the day - soups, salads, stir-fries, yoghurts, smoothies, cereal, porridge, casseroles and more! It provides a nutritious addition and a healthy boost to any meal! Full of antioxidants, vitamins, zinc, iron and fibre. It gives you a boost of energy too. It's quite a lot of calories for what it is.. But if you only use 1 teaspoon (which is approx. 1g), it's only about 5kcal. So it depends how much you're intending to use, I guess.

I, personally, have added it into soups, salads, natural yoghurt, cereal, sandwiches and pasta dishes. I'm sure I'll find loads of other things to add it into as well! This soup (photo above) is just Heinz Weight Watchers tomato soup with cooked button mushrooms added into it with a bit of home-grown parsley. The bitty bits on top of it is a teaspoon of the sample. It was so delicious!

How to get a free sample:
Email them, flax@linwoods.co.uk, with your name and address.
It's as simple as that.

Enjoy! :)

Project scrapbook.

I've decided I'm going to make a personal thinspiration scrapbook! It's going to be filled with lots of old photos of myself (to remind me of what I don't want to ever look like again), current photos of myself, my weight-loss goals and reasons for doing it, healthy foods, personal photos, magazine cuttings, inspirational quotes/pictures, clothes/things I want and celeb body-crushes. Every now and again I might even scan in a page from the scrapbook to share with all of you. :)

It's hopefully going to kick start me back to how I was, as I'm starting to slack a little bit.. And also it'll give me something to do throughout the summer on my days off work, as I've now completed my first year at college and have been unsuccessful in the extra-job hunting so far.. :( I recommend anyone in the same situation(s) should give this a go! Scrapbooks are great fun and are great for getting you back in touch with your creative side! They can be found very cheap. I bought mine, which is filled completely with black paper, for about £1 - if that, in In-Excess.

Updates on this soon! :)

Fiery veggies!

If you love tomato and/or love hot food, you should love this! This dish is just something I threw together with all the random veggies in our fridge that needs to be eaten, and it actually tasted pretty good!

I fried (with "fry-light") button mushrooms and mini sweet peppers in a pan, and I cooked up some spinach. I then stuck it all together in a sauce pan with about 200g of passata, salt and freshly ground pepper and some crushed chilli, and heated it all up together (smells lovely by the way)! I then served it up in a bowl and stuck some cooked tomatoes on top. It only serves 1, and is VERY low kcal - it's only approx. 93 kcal for the whole bowl!

I know it's a lot of random foods just bunged together, but I really enjoyed it. Sometimes the weirdest things can taste so good together! So don't be afraid to experiment! For example, I like to have peanut butter with spinach in my sandwiches that I take in my packed lunch for college - sounds revolting but, in my opinion, it tastes lush! Yum yum! :)

Know of any peculiar food/drink combinations that taste rather amazing together? I would love to hear all about them & maybe even give some of them a go!

BBQ TIME!

Barbecues are definitely one of my favourite perks of summer! Perfect excuse to invite all the friends around and enjoy the sunshine! I've already had 2 barbecues this year! But the only down side of BBQ's is all the calories.. It is so easy to just sit and pick or eat far too much.. Or even worse if you get your food dished up for you, and you eat it all so you don't look rude (this seems to happen to me quite often)..

I thought I'd put together a list of my top 5 favourite BBQ foods that both dieters and non-dieters can enjoy!

1. Quorn Smoky BBQ Sticky Fillets - these are my personal favourite! And only 64 kcal per fillet! They taste incredible! If I could I'd eat these all day everyday, haha. They can be barbecued, grilled or cooked in an oven, personally I prefer them barbecued as it brings out the BBQ flavour better!

2. Grilled Portobello Mushrooms - stick a large portobello mushroom onto the barbecue and just let it cook! It's approx. 76 kcal per. large grilled mushroom. I had my first one the other day and it was amazing! I can't believe I never thought of sticking these on the barbie before! Nom!

3. Barbecued Bananas - these are DELICIOUS! You can do these 2 ways.. One: you can just leave the banana in their skins, stick them on the barbecue and once the skin starts going black and blistering them turn them over and cut them down the middle long ways (you can then add things into the middle of it, like chocolate, if you wish). Then once the other side has blistered, pick it up with oven gloves or tongs, and use a spoon to scoop the banana out into a bowl. Two: peel the bananas out of their skins, wrap the banana in tin foil (if you want fillings cut the banana long ways down the middle and then fill, before wrapping with foil). Stick them on the barbie for approx. 10-15 mins, then unwrap and serve. Yum!

4. Vegetable Skewers/Kebabs - These are so tasty and low-kcal! Just get metal skewers (with non-metal handles) or wooden skewers (if you use wooden ones, wet the skewer before putting veg on it else the skewer will burn on the barbecue). Stick vegetables on them, such as green, red, orange and yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, bits of onion, aubergine, etc. If you're a meat lover, you can also stick chicken, turkey, or any meat on there really.. But you'll have to cook them for longer and they'll obviously be higher calorie.

5. Strawberries and Splenda - No barbecue is complete without strawberries for desert! Always goes down well. Instead of cream or sugar though, buy some granulated splenda sweetener. It tastes like sugar, maybe even sweeter than sugar actually, and looks like it too, but it's calorie free! Just cut up the strawberries and sprinkle a tea spoon over each bowl and serve! Mmmmm!

Shakeaway tip!

I know having a Shakeaway whilst on a calorie counting diet may sound a bit absurd, but it IS doable! I have found a way to make it far less calorific than an original shake and in my opinion it tastes ten times better anyway!

The secret is to ask them to replace the milk (they tend to use semi-skinned) with soya milk. And then ask them to replace the ice cream with frozen yoghurt! And then have whatever chocolate/sweets/fruit/etc. you want in it - obviously the fruit is better for you and has less calories, but sometimes a chocolate bar is more tempting, especially when you're there with friends who are all ordering fatty chocolatey shakes.

I normally get 'Reece's Cups' in mine! I have a slight addiction to peanut butter and Reece's Cups at the moment - not good as it's very fattening.. But I can't help it. I just have to hope it doesn't last long and it doesn't get out of hand!

Anyway, if you're planning to get a Shakeaway soon, try this tip out - even if it's just the one time ever! You will feel far less guilty! Think of all the calories you'll save! ;)


P.S. I survived the charity skydive by the way! I should hopefully be getting the photos by the weekend so I will post photos when I get them. Keep your eyes peeled for them).

Mini-gym!

Look what I haveee! We are being lent an exercise bike and a rowing machine, long-term, by my Grandad. So now I can work out more often, and in the comfort of my home - yay! He used to have a "mini-gym" in his house, but has now changed it to a small spare bedroom, so he's letting us borrow these! He also has a treadmill, but I'm not too keen on those, plus it's a lot bigger to store than these two are. Hopefully, by going on these 2-3 times a week, I may actually start toning up my yucky, flabby body a little!

Yesterday I did 35ish minutes on the exercise bike & about 15 minutes on the rowing machine. And the day before I did roughly 20 minutes on each of them. I'm not sure if I'll do any today or not yet.. I might give my legs a rest. But I shall be doing another load tomorrow, for sure.

I find purchasing your own equipment is a lot cheaper than any gym membership! You only pay once and if you look after the equipment properly, it should last years! Where as a gym membership, you pay £30-£40ish every month and hardly ever get your money's worth of exercise before the next payment is due! I would like to purchase my own exercise bike, I have wanted to for a while, but I just haven't had the money. So I guess I'm just lucky to know someone who could lend us one!

TIP: A great way of making the exercising a little less boring is by sticking the equipment in the living room, which is what I have done! That way you can watch television, watch a movie or listen to music channels whilst you're working out!

Green tea!

GREEN TEA IS A DIETER'S BEST FRIEND!!!

Green tea has lots of health benefits! It is full of antioxidants and helps aid weight loss (thermogenesis, keeps fats from oxidising). It is also thought to give you a lower possibility of getting certain cancers and improves cholesterol levels.

You can get lots of different brands and flavours of green tea, but my favourite is most definitely 'Tetley Decaf Green Tea'. It's not very bitter compared to a lot of the other green teas I've tried before. Also I can drink it any time of the day, even just before I go to bed, because it has no caffeine in! I don't mind the non-decaf Tetley green tea, but it is a little bit too bitter for my liking, so I only have it if I feel I need the caffeine/energy. I barely brew my cuppa at all.. I literally just pour the boiling water over the teabag, use the spoon to squeeze the bag to death against the side of the cup and then take it out and stir.

I always have mine with 2 teaspoons of 'granulated Splenda sweetener'. I do love a sweet cuppa! And this sweetener is calorie free and is so much sweeter than actual sugar, which is why I love it so much! I've tried tea, even normal tea, with no sugar/sweetener many of times but I just can't drink it. I end up drinking a sip and then leaving it to go cold. I can have between 1 and 5 green teas a day. I think the most I've had in a day is about 7/8, I think..? I love the stuff! And the fact it helps weight loss is a mega-bonus!

FREE Graze box for everyone!

**I'm reposting this post again and deleting the old one, as I got told from a friend that the code I gave you guys didn't work! I'm very sorry about this! I've added a new code. If this happens again please let me know!**

I loveeee Graze! I've been receiving Graze boxes since the beginning of January 2012, and definitely don't regret it! They are weekly/fortnightly/one off (depending on which you choose) boxes full of delicious natural snacks. They give you the calorie content for each punnet too, so I never have to worry about not knowingly going over my daily calorie allowance. Yay!

I really feel Graze boxes have, in a way, helped me on my weight loss journey. Whenever I feel like snacking, instead of reaching for my secret stash of chocolate (which I do actually have, hidden in my wardrobe, haha) I can reach for my Graze box instead - saving me precious calories and the guilty feeling I often get after pigging out on chocolate. Although some of the Graze punnets actually have chocolate in them - yummmm! My favourite punnets are most definitely the flapjacks - especially the 'apple cinnamon flapjack'. It tastes heavenly!

You can rate the punnets at any time! So if, for example, you hate coconut, you can go through all the punnets and bin the coconut ones so you never receive them in your deliveries, which I think is very handy! There's a 'send soon' option too, so if you are desperate to have a certain punnet just select 'send soon' and where possible they will try and get you that punnet in your next delivery! You can also pick your delivery day. Mine's fornightly on Thursdays (it use to be weekly but I didn't eat them quick enough and ended up with piles of Graze boxes everywhere). You can cancel or postpone the deliveries at any time too, so you don't have to worry about being tied down to this forever.


If you would like a totally FREE Graze box, just go to their website - www.graze.com - and enter the code:

N6JMVCHD


TOP TIP: a great way of remembering the use by date and how many calories are in each punnet is by writing them both directly onto the lid of the punnet with a permanent marker on the day you receive your box. That way if you lose the piece of paper with the information on, you'll still know. Also if you take the punnets with you somewhere as a snack you won't have to worry about bringing the piece of paper with you!

Far too much chocolate!

I love the idea of Easter. Until it actually is Easter Sunday that is.. and then I hate it. I hate the feeling of feeling so sick for eating that one little tiny bit too much chocolate. And that guilt that comes with it is even more awful! I work so so hard to get all this weight off and then Easter comes along and BAM - hello fat belly!

I received far too much chocolate this year. I know - the words 'far', 'too', 'much' and 'chocolate' shouldn't even be seen anywhere near each other in the same sentence.. But it's true. I feel soooo sick.. I've eaten one whole Green & Blacks milk chocolate egg, which I received from my lovely boyfreind, and a tiny caramel mini egg thing today and it was just way too much. I feel so fat right now - yuck.

This is all the chocolate I received this year (minus one Easter egg and dairy milk caramel chocolate bar, cos I ate them yesterday *slaps wrist*). The half eaten egg is now gone though - I ate it.. The rest has now been put with my secret stash of chocolate. I know if I leave it out for me to see, it'll all be gone before I know it. I know this because it happens every single year! This is a great tip by the way. I still have chocolate hidden in my stash that I must have put there in January/February.. I completely forget it's there half the time because it's not in my face all the time. I highly reccommend that all dieting chocoholics do this - or atleast try it. Hopefully I will forget all about this chocolate within the next week so I don't ruin my diet even more.

Anyway, HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY! I hope you all had an EGG-cellent day! ;)