I feel like a lot has changed since I last reported back. Here is what I have been up to…..

Exercise Regime

Our exercise regime is well ingrained in our weekly routine now and I can honestly say I am enjoying being active.

Stu and I have been having a weekly session with our trainer and then exercising 3 times a week extra to this.

Last week we both ran from our respective places of work to meet up in Hyde Park for a soft ball match….talk about how times have changed!!

We have been on a big spending spree and have brought ourselves new trainers, boxing gloves and pads, a skipping rope and a Swiss ball so we can have our own circuit training sessions at home.

It is really good training together, we are both really competitive. If Stu is running on the treadmill at level 7 I MUST run at level 8 and so on….we push each other and totally keep each other focused.

Nutrition

Last time I reported back I said that it was our new diet that would be our biggest challenge on the road to fitness, increased energy and weight loss.

I still stand by this as years of habits can take a long time to combat but we are going in the right direction.

Our nutritionist, Ann Mather, has been really good by asking us to change just one thing at a time.

We started with drinking more water and changing our breakfast. Breakfast has always been one of my favourite meals as I absolutely love cereal of any kind. Ann advised us, however, that cereal wasn’t the best thing to start the day with at all; it tends to be loaded with sugar and offers little in the way of protein – the thing that actually gets our metabolism working at the beginning of the day. She asked us to incorporate protein into our breakfast…like eggs, cold meat, fish etc. This has been a real challenge as I’m never really up and awake early enough to do anything in the morning.

The role of Supplements

This is where the protein supplements from USN (www.usn.co.uk) have come in really handy. I either have a protein shake or a protein snack bar in the morning and it really does make a difference!

I stay hunger pang free until lunchtime. This never happened when I ate cereal, I was always starving by 10am.

I know it is best to eat fresh, wholesome foods - some days if I am organised enough I have eggs as an alternative which seems to work the same – but the supplements are great first thing in the morning when I am in a hurry and rushing out to work. At least I do get a good shot of protein every morning. I have therefore overcome my fear of the USN supplements….so far so good!!!!

In Summary

We are eating smaller portions, definitely drinking less booze and doing loads of exercise. I am feeling energetic, slimmer, happy and totally focused. Come on Stu put those boxing pads on I’m ready…………….

Bye for now....Belle