Sunny Magaluf, June 2013!

Last month (5th June - 13th June), my boyfriend, Jago, and I went to sunny Magaluf together. We booked it only three weeks before we left for the holiday (very last minute for us)! We booked a week, self-catering, in the Mallorca Rocks Hotel. I hadn't read any reviews on it, but out of curiousity, two days before leaving, I decided it'd be a great idea to read the reviews about the hotel on TripAdvisor... Seriously bad move! I then got myself in the biggest panic as every other review seemed to be extremely negative and talked about getting their rooms broken into, getting their money/passports/etc. stolen, being mugged on the way home, prostitutes hanging around the front of the hotel, etc. etc. I wish I never read them! I get pretty nervous when leaving home without my Mum anyway, so having this to worry about too felt awful.. Having come back now though, I'm not too sure why I got so worked up, as I had an amazing time!

Whilst rather intoxicated at the 2wenties welcome meeting (hard to turn down free, unlimited jugs of cocktails) we bought a package deal. The package included a foam party, a carwash party, tickets to the Pirates Reloaded show (which was AMAZING to watch!), tickets to BCM, a pub crawl and a booze cruise. This made us really start to get in the mood and excited for the week ahead! Also as we were staying at Mallorca Rocks Hotel, we had access to their gigs and W.A.R. nights. We saw Baauer, Rizzle Kicks, Ms Dynamite, Mistajam, etc. live, which were all pretty good! All things we booked with the package were epic and so much fun! I have never drank so much alcohol in such a short space of time. 8 days in a row I was drinking... I blame the free bars for this (after midnight, until 6am)! Outside of the package deal, we went down to the beach, went on a banana boat, dipped in the hotel pool, spent hours and hours sunbathing, went for meals together, went on the bungee ball ride thing (not sure what it's called), went on a 'bucking bronco' ride (which I was totally awesome at) and went to Western Water Park. The water park didn't have many slides, but the ones that were there were a tad crazy! One was terrifyingly high, but I managed to push myself to do it (after having a panic about how high we were half way up the stairs to the top). I'm proud that I did it, but I doubt I'd ever do it again!

Being a pescitarian, I did not have much choice in what food I had to eat. Most days we just bought food from the Spar shop to eat at lunch times, and then we ate out for tea. For lunch, every single day, I had brown bread sandwiches filled with tinned tuna and sweetcorn, mixed up with mayonnaise and slices of cheese. By the end of the week, I was sick of the sight of tuna! Meals out had a bit more to pick from, but nothing that exciting... The majority of most menus were meat dishes. I tried calamari, which I'd never tried before, but that was about it. Everything else was things that I could easily find in England. There was so many takeaway places! We had a takeaway most nights (bad, I know.. But I mainly blame the alcohol for this).

All the food and stupid amounts of alcohol throughout the week made me gain a total of 5 and a half lbs! I was a bit upset by this, but wasn't expecting much else really, considering the amount I drank each night. I have now lost all of this weight since coming home, so all is good again, and I am back on track! Last year, after returning from our holiday to Turkey, it took me a seriously long time to get back on any kind of track... I didn't manage to get back to the weight I was before leaving for Turkey at all. But this year it's going a lot better. I also came back from Magaluf with the worst chest infection (I think I may have caught it on the plane as their were a lot of sick/coughing people on the plane back). It's pretty much gone now though, thank God!

Overall it was a really fun, fantastic holiday. The mega-hangover I suffered when I got back was well worth it. We made some really great friends whilst out there too, which is a bonus! Only tiny downside is that the tan I got is rather pathetic compared to tans I've had from previous holidays, despite frazzling in the sun for hours on end.. Oh well. I would definitely love to go somewhere like this again! I really don't know what I was worrying for. Note to self: Next time, don't judge holidays by just focusing on solely the negative reviews on TripAdvisor - go experience it for yourself and make your own opinion on it!

Doing the 30 day squat challenge.

I have heard so much about this "30 Day Squat Challenge" lately, especially on Facebook, that I have decided to give it a go for myself. I am now on day 13 out of 30. Why have I decided to join everyone else and put myself through this leg-and-bum-torture? Because my boyfriend, Jago, & I have booked a last minute holiday and we leave in just 13 days! We're going to Mallorca Rocks, Magaluf, for a week and I am battling for my bikini body back, which I had last year when I went to Turkey (click here for the blog post). As I haven't been able to attend the gym lately (recent health issues), I need something to make me feel like I'm working out and making an effort. I'm aware that I'll only get to day 26 before actually leaving for our holiday, but that isn't going to stop me. Ideally I'd like to be at the same weight as I was before I went to Turkey, but the likelihood is that's a bit unrealistic with the amount of time I've got to do it, but that won't stop me trying my hardest!

Here's a scan of my notepad with the whole challenge written out. I need to write it out myself rather than continuously keep looking up for it online each day, otherwise I probably won't do it. The first 3 days were by far the most painful. By Day 3, stairs were out of the question! I'm quite shocked at how much it actually raises your heart rate and how sweaty you get just by doing squats! From Day 5 onwards, I actually have to stop for a few seconds between every 10-20 squats as I just get so hot and bothered I can't seem to push myself up from the bottom of the squat, haha.

I didn't take a before photo, so I don't know how I'll be able to compare any real difference. I'm just going to have to try and take a photo of how it looks now (at Day 13), and then take one when it's over and see if there's any noticeable change. I'll post the results at the end of the challenge. If there is a noticeable difference, I may give myself a bit of a break and then restart the challenge all over again from the beginning.



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Happy 1st birthday & 100th post!

This post is a double whammy - yesterday was this blog's 1st birthday and this is also this blog's 100th post.

I have had so much fun writing for my blog for the past year. Making up and trying recipes to post about is probably my favourite bit of it all. I also love getting feedback and receiving comments on my posts - I don't get them very often but I appreciate them all and love seeing what my readers have to say. I look forward to continuing to write for this blog, and I hope the quality of my posts will continue to improve as time goes on. Thank you everyone for the support and views!

In this past year I haven't changed much regarding my weight, but my fitness levels have improved and I have gained a bit of lean muscle here and there. I have joined a gym this past year, even though last year I said I'd never join one because I can't stay committed enough to get my money's worth.. But I seem to have proved myself wrong. I'm finding it hard to go regularly each week now because of the new rules about parking at work (I've already received one hefty parking fine.. I don't want another), but I am still managing to go around 2-3 times a week. I've had quite a lot of hiccups lately, food-wise and weight-wise, but I refuse to give up. I'm still battling with my love for chocolate and the occasional pizza night with my family or boyfriend...  I need to try and fully regain my willpower again, as the low mood I've had lately has totally knocked it off course.

Happy Easter, by the way! I have a love-hate relationship with this day of the year.. I love chocolate, but I hate the amount of chocolate I tend to receive. I hate how Easter is all about chocolate.. I just wish Easter was about apples or bananas or something else. Then I wouldn't have to battle with my love for the dark stuff, which then puts me in another battle with my weight. Every year I try and eat all the chocolate I receive at Easter in the shortest time possible, so I just have to deal with one really bad gain, instead of a steady gain over a longer period of time. That way, once it's all gone, I can work on getting the weight off again without any chocolatey distractions (this, I know, is probably not a great technique or good advice to give (and I don't really advise you to do this), but it's what works best for me. If I have no chocolate around, I can't eat it).

Once again, thank you to all my readers, both regular and first timers. Your support continues to keep me inspired to keep this blog going! <3

Here's some stats about the blog, for anyone who's interested:

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The beautiful city of Paris!

Well we're back from our short break in Paris. Other than feeling utterly exhausted every day (late nights and very early mornings) and having to sit on the floor of our last train home, I had a fantastic time! We saw so many beautiful sights. We went up the Eiffel Tower, went in the Notre Dame and went on an evening cruise down the river Seine. We also saw the Louvre, went shopping in the most amazing "mall" I've ever been in and visited a local art gallery. It was wonderful and I am so glad I went.

This was my first ever trip to Paris and I had never experienced a place like it. The traffic is manic - everyone drives like lunatics, as if they're all in some mad rush! They also drive on the opposite side of the road, which I kept forgetting, so I nearly got knocked over every 5 minutes! Even the cyclists ride crazily. We saw motorbikes mounting the pavements and swerving in and out of pedestrians and cars - always made my heart jump a bit, haha. Our hotel room wasn't that great (the double bed sunk in the middle and our toilet was boxed against a wall so we had to sit on it sideways, haha) but it was bearable.. We didn't spend much time in there anyway. The side alleys and the more unpopular places weren't that nice. There was a lot of tacky shops, mainly selling suits, and homeless people with their babies, cats and dogs were everywhere - it was very sad to see. There was also a lot of beggars and drunks shouting at everyone and waving wine bottles around. Not a pretty sight, but all of the landmarks were beautiful. I loved the Eiffel Tower at night - the twinkling lights looked so magical! My other favourite was the Notre Dame Cathedral. The architecture is incredible and so sophisticated. I loved the gargoyles all around the outside of the building - they reminded me a lot of a childhood film, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. The atmosphere inside was lovely too and I loved admiring the ceilings (I've always had a thing about pretty Church/Cathedral ceilings) and stain glass windows. I also really enjoyed the shopping! I bought a lovely black maxi dress, a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and a bright purple lipstick. I also bought a few little souvenirs back for my family.

I was a bit nervous about the French cuisine before arriving there, and I had a right to be. There was rarely a vegetarian option that wasn't a dessert. Thank God I eat fish, else I wouldn't be able to eat very much other than salads or brushetta. One waiter tried to persuade me that frog's legs were fish and not meat.. But I luckily didn't fall for it. I think I would have been slightly horrified to see them on my plate.  I took photos of all the foods I ate whilst there, so I could show you all! My favourite meal was probably the pastries we shared in the shopping mall. They were perfection - especially the pain au chocolate (they are my favourite, and I had one almost everyday for breakfast - as you can probably tell from the photos). I tried my first ever real, non-homemade macaroons too - they were lovely, especially the chocolate flavoured one. The price of drinks are absolutely crazy in Paris! A 45cl drink of diet coke (pictured below) cost us 6 Euros, so we rarely bought drinks, except water.

I was such a piglet whilst in Paris, and I managed to put on 2.5 lbs over the Paris trip and my birthday celebrations combined.. I'm surprised it's not more, to be honest.. But it's still bad. It's got me feeling a little down, but I am getting back on track now.

Coming up this week..

Lots of events happening for me this coming week!

For starters, it is my 20th birthday today - woohoo! Quite excited, but I feel really old! 20 feels like a massive leap from 19. I have no real plans for today other than to pop into town with my boyfriend and to enjoy a Domino's Pizza with all of my family in the evening. I know it's not a healthy meal, but it's my idea of a great birthday feast, yum yum!

Tomorrow, Jago and I are heading off to the beautiful city of Paris! We're staying for two nights. I am looking forward to it, but a bit scared about all the train transfers and having to be places, that we have no idea where they are, at certain times. Just hoping we are on time for everything. We have an extremely early start, as our first train leaves at 6:00am! The first day we're there we have a tour of the Eiffel Tower in the evening, which includes a cruise and coach trip too. The other two days we'll be exploring. Jago has been to France before, but this is a completely new country for me. I shall be taking hundreds of photos. I'm a bit nervous about what kind of food there's going to be over there, other than croissants.. I have no knowledge on French cuisine. To be honest, I have hardly any knowledge on the country as a whole - I know a couple of simple words and also a couple of the famous landmarks, but that's about as complex as it gets.. So there will be plenty for me to take in whilst over there.

The day after we come back from Paris, I am celebrating my birthday by having a drunken night with my friends. I do love a good night out! Got to enjoy them whilst I can 'cause, as they say, "you only live once". I won't be holding back on any naughty cocktails, as long as I don't have to pay for them, haha. The only drink I usually order myself is Malibu with Diet Coke - it's my absolute favourite.

I have an action packed week ahead of me and I am so excited for it all! I don't have high hopes with my healthy eating this week though. I'm not sure what the food's going to be like in France, but I want to experience the French cuisine without worrying about the calorie content in everything. I will try and not eat too much on the other days though.. But birthday cake could be an issue, depending on what type of cake I have been bought (if any)! I'll also try not to eat too much Domino's tonight, if I can help it. ;) I'm expecting a weight gain after this week, but I won't let it get me down too much. As long as I can still squeeze into my new outfit for my birthday night out, then I'll be okay. I'll just be extra good for the weeks after this week.

If I don't post much, or even at all, this week, this post explains why! Have a great week everybody. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

"T'is the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la laaaa!"

Today's the day! It's finally here. How exciting?! :D

I'm a little nervous about how much I might pig out on (any dieter would be).. I don't intend to pig out, but Christmas Day is always so hard compared to every other day in the festive period.. With the sweet, homemade breakfast, the big lunch roast dinner with homemade dessert for afterwards, the buffet-style tea and alcohol flowing throughout - it's going to be difficult! But I won't not let myself enjoy it all.. If I want something, I'll have it. But I just won't go stupid and stuff my face to the point where I'll feel I'll need a fork lift to move me afterwards! Then tomorrow, I shall start a fresh. I can't wait for New Year, as it always helps me get back to my healthy eating, a bit more strictly, and gets me motivated to lose more weight!

I haven't been feeling overly festive this past week.. Partially because of family stuff and also because I've been working a ridiculous amount of overtime. But I'm sure when the morning comes, I'll feel just as excited as I use to when I was a child! The pile of presents downstairs is huge, under our twinkling, little Christmas tree. I can't wait to hand out the presents I've bought everyone! Giving can be such a great feeling. :)

By the way, I don't normally stay up until 3am on the computer Christmas morning.. I am writing this in the middle of the night because I'm currently in the middle of baking my family a surprise Christmas Day breakfast, of banana baked oatmeal (the smell is lingering through the house and it smells delicious, mmmm!). I hope they all enjoy it. I seem to be the baking fairy in my home - I always like baking in the middle of the night as a surprise for everyone the next day, especially on people's birthdays!

I wish all of you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all get what you wished for. I'll write soon. :)

Homemade mince pies!

Mince pies are one of my favourite Christmas treats. The taste of mincemeat is just gorgeous! The only downside I can think of when it comes to mince pies is their calorie content, which is pretty high! So I was very determined to find a low-kcal mince pie recipe to help me and my waistline out this year. Luckily for me there was one in my new issue of Healthy Food Guide (Winter 2012 issue, page 72/73). I can't tell you how excited I was just thinking about making them! So as soon as I got paid I went out and bought all the ingredients I needed so I was prepared (I had to work a lot though, so I couldn't make them straight away..). My sister and I made them together earlier today. They were a lot of fun to make and they tasted absolutely wonderful. Such a Christmassy, heart warming taste. Mmmmm!

These taste great both warm and cool. They could be served as a pudding, eaten as a cheeky snack, put in yours or a kid's lunchbox or even leave some out on Christmas Eve for Santa and his elves! ;)

This recipe makes 12 mince pies and is apparently 164kcal per mince pie, but I make it out to be approx. 183kcal. So I'm not sure, but I'd go bang in the middle (178kcal), to be safe. They're best eaten within two days or can be frozen for up to three months, then defrosted at room temperature.

Ingredients:
(for the pastry)
- 125g Flora Light (the original recipe uses Flora Original, but I chose to use Light)
- 275g plain flour
- 1 egg, beaten
(for the filling)
- 175g mixed dried fruit
- zest and juice from 1 lemon
- 50g dark muscovado sugar
- 1.5tbsp rum or brandy (I used dark rum)
- 1.5tsp mixed spice
- 1 small dessert apple, coursely grated and excess juice squeezed out
- 1 tsp icing sugar, to dust (optional - I chose not to)

Method:

1. In a bowl rub the Flora into the flour and baking powder until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg with 2tbsp cold water. Reserve 1 tbsp and add the rest into the flour mix. Bring the mixture together to make a smooth dough - you may need to add a little more cold water or a little more flour. Wrap in clingfilm, and chill for 20 minutes.

2. Put the filling ingredients into a saucepan and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until the apple has broken down a little. Leave to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 190°c/fan 170°c/gas 5 and grease a 12-hole muffin tray, or fill the tray with 12 foil mince pie cases (which is what I did). Roll out the pastry on to a floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 12 x 7cm discs/circles and use to line the tins. Spoon the cooled filling into the pastry cases.

4. Cut out 12 x 3-4cm stars from the remaining pastry and put on top of each filled pie. Brush with the reserved egg mix and bake for 18-20 minutes until the pastry is golden. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and dust with icing sugar (optional). Enjoy! :)

Let the festive countdown begin!

Christmas lights decorate the streets of Salisbury (taken 6:30am today)!

Happy 1st day of December everybody! Only 24 more days until Christmas! And only 30 more days until New Years Eve - it's crazy how fast this year has flown by!

Being a dieter/calorie counter is a struggle at times, but I find December is the most difficult month of the year. There are so many temptations everywhere you look! Scrummy Christmas drinks in coffee shops, chocolate and cake offers everywhere you look in supermarkets, advent calenders to open throughout the month (I've got my Mars Bar advent calender!) and of course hundreds of alcohol and parties - and hardly any of it's low kcal, boohoo! This can all be a bit too much for someone who has been minding what they eat for so long.. But stay strong! I'm not saying don't indulge at all, as it's Christmas - you can't forbid yourself a few treats around Christmas time (mince pies are a massive weakness of mine, this time of the year), it's just not natural! I'm just saying don't over-do it, as when you do your dreaded after Christmas/New Years weigh in, you will kick yourself! Everyone's bound to put on a few pounds though - I know I will, but you don't want to be setting yourself back too much. But even if you did, don't beat yourself up too much about it. Use it as the push you need to get back into the dieting game! Maybe even make it a New Years resolution to lose the weight plus more?

I have some great thoughts for festive posts in my noggin that I'm hoping to share with you all over the course of this wonderful, wintery month, so keep your eyes peeled! First one should be posted on Monday (if all goes to plan)! :)

Been a naughty girl..

I'm sorry for not posting as often as I usually do.. This last week has been a hard one! I've slipped up, pretty badly.. Working so much lately (had a 13.5 hour shift Saturday), a friend's 21st birthday party (involving a lot of alcohol and a massive hangover), 2 days at Alton Towers theme park (with a 4 hour drive each way) and a night at a hotel - sticking within my calories for each day has been pretty much unrealistic.

Normally I kind of enjoy having a naughty meal/snack or two for a change from all the healthy eating.. But for some reason I haven't enjoyed any of it really. After eating all this rubbish, I have been really desperate to just dig into loads and loads of healthy veggies! I feel so fat, bloated and tired after eating so badly for just under a week.. But now I'm home, with nothing but work in my way, and I can eat absolutely anything I want - yaaay!

I am expecting to put on about half a stone from all the rubbish I've ate - a fish burger, vegetable crisps, munchies, a cookie, chips, pizza/pasta/salad buffet, alcohol (lots of it), a sandwich, etc.! Very ashamed of myself and very anxious about weighing myself tomorrow. But I'm only human and can't beat myself up too much about it. What's done is done - I've got to face the consequences and guilt of my bad choices, suck it up and start a fresh. Next week I will lose whatever weight I've put on this week, for sure! :)

Jubilee weekend!

Happy Diamond Jubilee everybody! I hope you have all enjoyed the 4 day bank holiday weekend that the Queen has given us! Got the bunting up! ;)

I have been a very busy bee over the last few days. I've been rubbing down/prepping the walls in my Mum's living room, getting ready to decorate it! I've also gone to a jubilee tea party/get together which was lovely! Got fed lots of naughty foods though.. My favourite naughty food being tea and scones, of course! Yuuum! Last night I went to Hudson's Field with my boyfriend and best friend, where there was literally the biggest jubilee event celebration ever! Over 12,000 people passed through the gates! I got rather drunk though - much more drunk than I planned to get!

I've not been so good with the calorie counting the last few days.. As I was also taken to Pizza Hut earlier today by my boyfriend, where we tried the new crown-crust pizza (which was not as amazing as it looks or sounds by the way, so don't waste your money on it)! But I lost 4lb last week! So I guess being a little naughty won't hurt too much.. I hope, anyway. We're having a party tomorrow night and I've been invited to town on the weekend.. So the calories aren't going to be getting much better, by the sounds of it! But I guess every now and again you have to let your hair down a bit.. I'm just going to have to get off my lazy bum and exercise a bit more the next few days, and be more strict with my food next week to make up for all my naughtiness!

Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed yourself and had a lovely jubilee bank holiday!

M&S scone (190 kcal each) & Tetley green tea.