5 Ways To Healthify Your Life

Let's be honest, being healthy is hard. It takes time and effort to make sure everything you put in your stomach is good for you and to squeeze in that 1 hour workout 3 times a week. Soon the excuses start flowing and 3 months down the line you've only moved a pinky finger and eaten at least 4 doughnuts... everyday. 

If you are finding particularly difficult to keep yourself in peak condition, do not fear. Over the last 3 years and my semi-successful journey in losing weight, I have come up with some very simple, low effort ways to keep yourself fit and keep those calories down. 

1. Drink massive amounts of water - I like to find the biggest glass in the house (usually a 2 pint glass) fill it with water and plonk it on my desk. That way I can simply reach, grab the glass and drink. No counting cups consumed, I know that once I've drank that whole glass I've had my water intake for the day, it also means that I can re-fill it and get even more water in without having to think twice!

2. Go for a walk - I noticed a massive difference in my overall health and mood when I started fitting in a 20-30 min walk a day. You can just walk around the block listening to your favourite tunes or walk to the shop and back, preferably not to get chocolate like I usually end up doing. 

3. Count calories (sort of) - This one does take a little more effort but it's definitely good if you think you eat healthily but no weight is budging. You don't have to do this to scientific precision, but using apps like MyFitnessPal will help give you a rough idea of where you're going wrong, plus it does all the complicated math for you.

4. Add fruit to everything - Having a yogurt for dessert? add some fruit. Having a sneaky bowl of ice cream after your pizza? Add some fruit. Making up a tasty bowl of cereal in the mornings? Add some fruit. You see the pattern? You can even cheat a little, if you love strawberries, cover them in dark chocolate, stick them in the fridge and have them for a tasty sweet treat. 

5. Drink fruit teas - If you are having major sugar cravings, try some sweet teas. I always make sure I have some sweet tea in the cupboard for when I return home from work at night. I always get in and immediately want something tasty so having a fruit tea helps beat that craving but without all the calories I would've taken in whilst devouring our biscuit draw. 

Everything takes effort but making these tiny changes in your everyday routine will have you feeling healthier and happier in a matter of weeks. Let me know in the comments below what little things you do to keep healthy, or what things you attempt to do to keep healthy. 

Dabble In Yoga

I've already talked about my obsession with meditation and how much it helps me. Moving on from that, I thought I'd try my hand at Yoga. Yoga is something that I've dabbled in in the past and I've always been fairly flexible so it's never been too much of a challenge. However, over the past few months my exercise regime has been speeding down hill. 

I wanted to try some form of exercise that was a little gentler on the old knees (I've basically screwed them up from running) and something that will help get me back to my stretchy self. I headed to the app store to see if I could find any good Yoga apps that would help me practice Yoga at home and voila! I managed to find an app called Yoga Studio which catered to all of my at home Yoga needs. 

You do have to pay a one off fee for this app, but in my opinion it is completely worth it. It allows you to download classes to cater to specific needs or levels. I have pretty much all of the beginner essentials classes and they come in 15-30 minute sessions that you follow along with. You can also look up a specific pose to find out exactly what benefits it has. This has to be my favourite feature, I like knowing why I'm doing a pose and what it is doing for my body. 

If you're looking for a gentle, at home workout, I would definitely recommend purchasing a comfy Yoga mat and having a go. You don't have to download an app, you can go on Pinterest and print off some simple moves to try! It is great to take time out of your day and really concentrate on your body and your breathing. Not only do you feel that post-workout feeling afterwards, you also get a sneaky bit of meditation in there as well. 

A Student's Breakfast Diary

As a student you often find yourself with limited funds and what's the first thing you cut down on? Drink? Clothes? Cinema trips? Oh no no my friends don't be foolish, food of course! We students have amazing priority's right? The point is that it can be heard to eat healthily when you have no money, no matter what people say, the fact still remains that fruit and veg is extremely over priced. 

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and is also the most overlooked, not just by late rising students but also busy working adults. I personally love cereal; I could eat it for every meal of the day if I could. However cereals are not always good for you so I had to get inventive. Muesli has been a lifesaver for me, yes it still has a lot of sugar in it but if you limit your intake it can provide lots of lovely nutrients. I love pairing it with 100g of Greek yogurt and a tbsp. of honey. But I can get a little bored so I also have it with milk and of course honey because I'm a sugar addict.

But if you think Muesli is still a little pricey why not grab a big bag of oats. You can get stores own pretty cheap these days so there's no excuse. I like to throw in some fruit to add a bit of vitamin C and natural sweetness, I tend to get my fruit fresh from the local market these days, it's unbelievably cheap and better quality! You can also mix those oats in with an egg and some milk to make cool oat pancakes. I include oats because it cuts out the need for flour, you can even cut out the yolk of the egg and just use the whites if you want to get extra healthy. 

Of course this is all just personal preference and depends on what you like to eat and what you don't. If you're wondering I usually spend around £15-£20 a week on food, I've found that cooking with fresh ingredients from the market works out much cheaper and it's also super healthy!

What do you like to eat for breakfast? Do you eat breakfast at all? Do you food shop according to budget or focus more on nutrition?

Current Fitness Routine

I'm going to throw my hands up and admit that in the past few weeks, with the amount of work piled up on my desk, I've let myself get a bit flabby. Also the amount of triple choc cookies and sugary cereal I've been eating hasn't helped. But this week, with the weather finally starting to pick up and the good old people of Britain breaking out their shorts, I decided I need to get back into shape. 

So I started my fitness kick by joining a gym (which I haven't actually had time to go to yet but I'm planning to!) and started back on the trusty Blogilates workouts. I now can't walk very well because of a thigh video I did but I feel better for it! Kind of. I like to mix up home workouts with gym workouts to keep me motivated, I find that if I'm doing the same exercises all the time my motivation disappears. 

This video is all about my essentials for working out in the comfort of your own home. I also throw in a few tips on what I take out running with me. You don't need a gym membership to get fit and these days workout equipment like weights and yoga mats are really easy and cheap to get hold of. I find that all I really need is my yoga mat and a pair of hand weights that I got from Argos and if I'm going out running, just a pair of sturdy running shoes, an arm band and my iPhone. 

So if you want to find out a bit more about my current workout routine and hear my little tips and tricks, give this video a watch! It might motivate you to get your bum off the seat and go out running, or not seeing as I'm writing this at 11:30pm. 

What do you do to keep fit? Do you like the gym or prefer an at home workout? 

Let's Talk Anxiety

This week I decided to go ahead and film a video all about my experience with anxiety and my personal anxiety disorder. More and more bloggers and YouTubers are talking about their own anxiety issues, writing posts and filming videos to help others know they're not alone. Anxiety is becoming more and more common, more information is being circulated and the topic is becoming less taboo in society, which is fantastic! 

In this video I talk about how anxiety effects me and my experience with the medical help that is apparently out there for us. I have to say I haven't had many positive encounters with doctors and nurses regarding my anxiety, for years I've been told that I'll grow out of it and the only person who can make me better is me.  It was definitely not what 13 year old me wanted to hear at the time.

I think it's important to realise that there are thousands of symptoms caused by anxiety, dizziness, feeling faint, heart palpitations, tight chest and shortness of breath, claustrophobia and many many more. In my experience I have had agoraphobia, claustrophobia, depression, random heart palpitations and most commonly tight chest and shortness of breath. Being outside away from the safety of my own home can make me extremely anxious, mostly it is the fear that I'll have a panic attack in a public place and how embarrassing it would be to pass out in the middle of Topshop. People think I'm anti-social and boring, I frequently get called old (I am a few years older than my friends at uni) but the truth is that it's not that I don't want to go out and mingle with people, it's that I don't feel like I can. 

But enough with the 'oh woe is me' talk, I've had it for long enough to have built up a strong resentment towards anxiety. This might sound like a bad thing, but it gives me the motivation and drive to do whatever I can to kick its ass! Because I get so frustrated at always feeling trapped and panicky, I have developed techniques and sourced out tools to help combat the attacks. 

Don't get me wrong I am by no means the Batman of the anxiety world, fighting off evil panic attacks with my super breathing technique powers. Sometimes I do get defeated, I feel hopeless that there may be nothing I can do to prevent an on coming panic attack.  One of the most helpful tools I use is a simple yoga breathing technique. Breath in through your nose for four counts, then out through the mouth for four counts. Focusing on your breathing will occupy your mind and get the oxygen circulating around your body, effectively calming you down. Another technique that I use is meditation. I had tried meditation many years ago and actually got fairly good at it, but I got a bit lazy and kept forgetting to do it. Now through the magic of smartphones and their handy apps, not to mention the wisdom of the YouTuber Tanya Burr, I have discovered Calm. Calm is a meditation website and app, it gives you a whole host of music and sounds to meditate from and allows you to set a time limit for your meditation. You can also choose to have a lovely lady guide you through if you need a little help focusing. 

The one thing to remember if you are suffering from anxiety is that it isn't your life; it's a part of your life. Don't let your anxiety define who you are as a person, no matter how hard it might be. I also need to remember this sometimes. When you feel anxious or depressed it does feel like there is nothing else to focus on. The key is to take one day at a time, deal with the bad as it comes, but remember that tomorrow is a brand new day and no day is ever the same. 

 (p.s. If you want to talk about your experiences you can leave a comment down below or you can tweet me @lilacghosts1990 or message me on tumblr)

Don't Beat Yourself Up, Have A Cookie!

This is a good thing to remember when trying to lose weight or even just eat healthily. I think sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves when we slip up, it's not the end of the world if we have a takeaway or a piece of cake. That one slip up isn't going to erase all your hard work, in fact a little bit of what we crave can be good for our body and soul. You'll drive yourself crazy denying yourself the foods you love or crave, allow a good chocolate eating session once in a while!

I'll be the first to throw my hands up and say I often suffer with the yummy food guilt (feeling guilty after eating bad foods). It's ridiculous that we program ourselves to feel like we need to be punished for eating the foods we love. As long as you're eating healthily more days than your eating unhealthily, you'll be fine. So don't force yourself to be a rabbit if you're a cookie monster, have a cookie every now and again, stick your head under a chocolate fountain if it kills a craving, you're only human, don't beat yourself up about it!

 

A Spot Of Fitsperation

Something a little different for this fine evening. I saw this little fitspiring pic on a blog and it really struck home for me. 

I posted a pic of me on facebook a few months ago comparing what I looked like a year ago to now. I reached my heaviest weight ever, an uncomfortable 192lbs (approx 13st 7lbs) and decided I had to do something. 

How did I do it? Well by living my life by the above quote! You don't diet and exercise till your fit or skinny (If that's what your aiming for) it really is a lifestyle change. And that has proven the most successful and long term solution for me. Swapping the regular cake and chocolate bars for various fruity goodness. I also go the gym 3 times a week, doing a mix of cardio AND muscle training (very very important). Before I couldn't even be bothered to get of the sofa, now I can't imagine NOT exercising regularly. 

You'll be glad to hear I'm at a much healthier (and happier I must add) 154lbs (11st) and still going down, my goal is 149lbs (10st 6lbs). Here's a little pic to show how far I've come on my continous journey.

 

What's your attitude to a healthy lifestyle? Do you exercise regularly? Eat pretty healthily? 

   

Spotlight On... Green Tea!

Wow! It has been a while since I actually posted anything!

But today I wanted to do another health post for you all. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my complete obsession and love for… wait for it… GREEN TEA!

When I first heard about the benefits of Green Tea I was very skeptical, can a tea really give you all these lovely benefits?!

The main benefit of Green Tea that attracted me the most, was of course its claim to help boost your metabolism. It claims to help lower blood fat, cholesterol, bloating, speeds up the bodies calorie burn, detoxifies and hydrates!

That seems like a lot of stuff for a tea bag to do! It also can not taste overly lovely jubbly. However these days, Green Tea comes mixed with all different types of flavours. Here in the UK, Twining’s make a whole range of Green Tea mixed with tasty ingredients as do Clippers (my favourite brand for Green Tea!) making it super easy to incorporate Green Tea into your diet.

Now onto my experience with this wonder drink. I have always drank some form of flavoured tea, summer berry, peppermint for after heavy meals, chamomile. I started drinking Green Tea frequently a few months ago. I had gained a lot of wait over Easter (I have no willpower when it comes to chocolate) and was also looking for a way to get me to drink more water. I usually drink 3-4 cups a day, I do however have a very large mug each time so I always end up using two tea bags, so you could say I drink about 4-6 cups a day. It is recommended you drink at least 3-4 cups every day to see any real benefit.

I have to say since I have started drinking Green Tea, I have definitely noticed my weight either decreasing or staying the same (if I have not been eating so great). I have managed to lose about 5lbs in 3 weeks, which is a very healthy rate of weight loss for that time period. I have been feeling a lot more hydrated and not had half as many cravings. I also love that they make Green Tea with peppermint, as I did miss my mint tea after heavy meals. 

 

Overall, I love this stuff! I love the variety of different flavours available now, it makes it so much more interesting to get this Tea into your diet without it becoming boring. I would definitely recommend adding this to your everyday drinking list, it’s super good for you so why not! 

Get Fit At Home! It's Possible I Promise!

So now that Easter has been and gone, it has most likely left you with a few extra pounds. I know it has for me!

It can be hard to get the motivation to get up and go to the gym. After all it takes energy to get in the car and drive or get on the bus or even walk to the gym! So what is the advice given to you to solve this dilemma? Work out in the comfort of your own home of course!

I’ve previously posted a video on my vlog channel about my weight loss story, so I won’t go into massive detail. Around about January last year, I reached my all time highest weight, 192lbs. So I finally decided to lose weight, but I wanted to do it in a healthy way, a good balance of healthy eating and exercise.

Because I’m a student I can’t spare the extra dosh needed for a gym membership, so my only other option was to workout at home.

I thought I would share some of the at home fitness tools I use and have used to lose the weight and keep it off. Of course you need to eat well to get results but I’ll address that in a separate post.

First major tool, which initially helped me lose weight and spark my fitness motivation, was the NHS Couch 2 5K Podcast. This is only available in the UK however there are HUNDREDS of apps available that are pretty much the same thing. This podcast helped me build fitness by gradually increasing how long I could run for. Ultimately it helped me reach my main fitness goal, to be able to run for more than 1 minute without feeling like my lungs are trying to escape my body. Because this helped me increase my fitness it allowed me to be able to do a wider range of fitness activities! 

YouTube! The second in command to my Couch 2 5k plan. YouTube is an excellent place to get free fitness videos. This allows you to switch up your exercises so that they don’t get repetitive and boring. It keeps fitness fun and interesting and your motivation going. So here’s three of my favourite YouTube channels to use.

Blogilates

Cassie is super duper perky and creates some killer pilates workouts. Not only does she do fun pilates videos, but she also does bite size HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) videos. HIIT is the BEST form of exercise for burning fat, the speeding up and slowing down of the moves really gets your heart pumping. One thing I would say, is make sure you do her stretching video at the end of every workout to prevent injury. 

BeFit

There is such a wide variety of routines on this channel, you can be a little spoilt for choice. Some of the videos are a bit too short so would have to be compiled into a playlist. It does however have every type of exercise ranging from yoga to full on cardio workouts. A host of different trainers gives this channel the ultimate variety if you get bored with routines quickly.

LiveStrongWoman

Another channel that has a wide variety of videos. This channel promotes not only healthy and regular exercise, but also healthy eating and healthy thinking. Some of my favourite videos have to be the Tara Stiles Yoga for beginners. Super easy to use and in lovely little 10-15 minute chunks. They also have some really delicious food recipes on there as well as little fitness and nutrition fact videos. 

Moving on to at home fitness DVD’s. There are a handful that I keep going back to and never get tired of.

Jillian Michaels (pretty much all of them)

30 Day Shred – Great if you’re pushed for time, these 20-25 minute HIIT exercises are fantastic! 

No More Trouble Zones – Great for toning those problem areas, Jillian always includes cardio to burn off the fat surrounding your beautiful muscles.

  

Banish Fat Boost Metabolism – By far, in my opinion, the hardest of them all. This one is a 50 minute HIIT routine which will most definitely bring you close to death. I know it did for me, but once you have recovered and are no longer seeing spots in front of your eyes, you feel fantastic!

Ministry Of Sound – Pump It Up

One of my all time favourites! This is an amazingly fun dance workout and is pretty hard going in some parts. If you really work with this one it can really change your body. It’s just a bit hardcore to do it every day.

 

I hope this has been helpful if your looking to shift that Easter egg weight. I’m not sponsored by any of the company’s or channels mentioned, this is just me telling you guys what I like to use to keep fit and healthy. Enjoy!