It's Time for a Health and Fitness Overhaul!

Now that it is officially Spring in Australia, I wanted to do a health overhaul! I thought it might be useful to share with you what I’m doing, so perhaps if you were thinking of doing something similar you might be able to pick up some relevant tips.  And also give me some tips!

This post will cover Exercise, Diet and Motivation tips. I’ll do future posts on mental wellbeing and health.

Exercise:

My friend who is a very fit gym buff, has created this exercise plan for our friends to complete every fortnight on Sunday mornings at a big park near our houses. The aim is to complete the program every fortnight and try to better your times, so you can track how you are going and whether your fitness is improving.

This is the plan for the very fit members of our friendship group:

12. 50 Burpees

11. 100 Star Jumps

10. 10 Pushups (can be off knees)

9. 9 Squat Jumps

8. 20 V Situps

7. 7 Hill Sprints

6. 100 Mountain Climbers

5. 5 Lunges with each leg

4. 4 Squats with a pulse

3. 3 Squats

2. 2 Clap Pushups

1. 1 Bridge for 30 Seconds

You start at 12 and work your way down to 1, then go back to 11 and work your way to 1, then go back to 10... etc., until you complete just number 1 on its own. This took between 50-80 minutes to complete (depending on fitness levels).

My friend also kindly created one for the less fit amongst us (aka: me!). If you are going from basically zero exercise to this, it’s better not to go too crazy on the first go and gradually work your way up.

This is the easier modified version (but it's still very challenging!), which I recommend you start with unless you are insanely fit:

12. 25 Burpees

11. 90 Mountain Climbers

10. 10 Squat Jumps

9. 9 Pushups (can be off knees)

8. 80 Star Jumps

7. 17 Stomach Crunches

6. 6 Lunges each leg (Alternating)

5. 5 Hill Sprints

4. 4 Squats with a pulse

3. 3 Squats

2. 4 Leg Lowers

1. 1 Bridge for 20 Seconds

I find having this ahead of me every fortnight really motivates me to exercise of my own accord during the week more than anything else, because you don’t want to look silly in front of your friends! I’m basically going from zero exercise to this, so I’m probably one of the more unfit ones in the group, so it’s a great motivator to try to exercise in my own time between sessions. My friends aren’t competitive at all, and are very supportive with this exercise program, but you just tend to push yourself more if others are around than if you are by yourself.

It’s also a great way to catch up with friends, and we play music so it’s less boring. Plus it’s absolutely free.

Also in the days between each fortnight session, I try and do 3-4 workouts a week using Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD, as I find the workout exercises are quite similar to what we have to do in the above program. Check out my earlier post about this DVD for more information - I’d highly recommend it.

Diet:

I’m just generally trying to eat healthier. I’m not really dieting as such, just being more mindful of what I'm eating and swapping in and out things. Such as swapping hot chocolate with tea, and eating more protein rich meals to fill me up more, and eating more vegetables and fruit. I don’t deny myself sweet food (I’m such a sweet tooth), just try and be mindful if I have eaten one sweet thing in a day, to limit sweet food for the rest of the day. I think the most important thing with a general diet is to make it sustainable, there’s no point trying to do intensive dieting that you’ll stop doing after a while. You should be aiming to make a gradual health lifestyle change, not crash dieting.

I also use this great app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal. Basically you create a profile, insert your weight and basic statistics, and then it calculates the amount of calories you should eat in a day to maintain or lose weight (you input how much you want to lose at the start). It then has an enormous database of food, so you can enter whatever you eat and you can see how many calories you are eating. It also shows you the breakdown of your food, as in how much protein, vitamins etc., you are receiving from the food you are eating.

Another great thing about this app is you can add friends into it if you wish. I added my best friend so he can now see if he wants whatever I am eating every day. The main benefit of this is that you tend to eat healthier just knowing someone else can view your diet, compared to if it’s just you on your own adding food into the app. There is also a main news feed where if you have done exercise or eaten under your calories, the other person can see. So my friend congratulates me when I’ve done exercise and it makes me feel good and motivated to do more!

This app is free and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to eat better, it’s a great motivator.

Motivation:

The hardest thing about trying to being healthier is finding the motivation to stick with it.

I find the following helps me:

·      Music. Create a playlist in iTunes of motivational workout music, and play it whenever you exercise.

·      Having something to work towards helps, like I work towards my friend exercise sessions to improve my fitness. Or work towards being fitter for Summer, or just to feel better in general.

·      Workout with friends or do a health kick together. Like with the app, it helps if you are doing it with someone else because you both encourage each other.

·      Remind yourself with quotes and pictures that inspire you to be fit and healthy. Get pictures of your dream holiday or bikini and work towards that.

·      Choose a workout to suit your needs. During Winter and when I’m time pressed after work, a quick 26 min exercise DVD was perfect for me - I didn’t even have to leave the house. In Summer when I’ll want to get out more after being in an office all day, I can go down the beach after work and swim and relax and feel like I’m on holidays.

·      Do incidental exercise. I go out of my building every day for my lunch hour, and shop and peruse stores. All that walking around the city really helps add to your exercise in a day. When you shop it doesn’t even feel like exercising! Take the stairs, get up and walk to the kitchen and around the office every hour or so.

·      Buy inspirational gym gear that you want to wear. I went to Lorna Jane on the weekend and purchased the following:

- A gorgeous pink/magenta lightweight top that has a handy pocket in the back and a tie string around the waist so your tummy isn’t exposed whilst exercising. Cost $59.

- Matching leggings that are navy with magenta cut outs in a cute pattern. Cost $89.

Gym wear like this actually inspires you to wear it as it’s too gorgeous to leave in the cupboard. So I’m hoping it will inspire me to get out and wear it! It also makes exercising more fun if you have nice gear to wear, or colourful hand weights or a comfortable yoga mat.

So that just about sums up the main points of my health and fitness overhaul!

Let me know if you have any recommendations for other things I should be doing, and tell me how you stay motivated and what your fitness tips and plans are!

Survey Sunday - September 2nd 2012

I really wanted to do something more personal and interactive on my blog, so I thought it would be fun if every Sunday was Survey Sunday! 

I got the idea from the incredible Amarixe, and just my general love of doing questionnaires. I also thought it would be a great way that we could get to know each other better :)

I'll answer the questions myself in the post, then you can copy the questions and answer them in the comments below. I thought 7 questions would be appropriate because that's one question for every day in the week, plus it's my favourite number!

Can't wait to find out more about all of you lovely people! Let me know also if you have any question suggestions for future Survey Sundays.

So here are my 7 questions for this week:

1) What pets do you have? 

I have a floppy eared bunny called Luna. She was hence named because she is crazy and hilarious like the Harry Potter character, plus she was grey and white coloured and looked like the moon when she was little. She is very clever, insanely well trained and the loveliest, tamest bunny in the world. 

We also had a fighting fish called Zoombini (did any of you play the PC game when you were younger?!), but sadly he passed away after three happy fish years of life.

2) What continents have you travelled to in the world? 

Australia (live here!), America, Europe, Asia.

3) What are your eye/hair/skin colourings?

Brown eyes, brown hair, pale skin with reddish undertones.

4) What is your current favourite savoury and sweet food?

Savoury- Pumpkin ravioli pasta with feta and nuts

Sweet- Cupcakes

5) How are you currently feeling?

Tired, full, wishing it wasn't Sunday with a whole work week ahead of me.

6) How many siblings do you have?

A younger sister who is 20.

7) What are you looking forward to this week?

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week runway show on Wednesday, and the first week of Spring! Tuesday is going to be 22 degrees... so excited! 

_______________________________________________

Now it's your turn! 

Copy and paste your responses to the questions in the comments below: 

1) What pets do you have? 

2) What continents have you travelled to in the world? 

3) What are your eye/hair/skin colourings?

4) What is your current favourite savoury and sweet food?

5) How are you currently feeling?

6) How many siblings do you have?

7) What are you looking forward to this week?

Haul of the Week

This week I did quite a bit of lunchtime and after work shopping. I went to Chapel St twice this week! For those who don’t know, Chapel St is located a quick 5 minute train ride out of the city and it is the most incredible street packed full of the coolest shops, bars, restaurants, boutiques and everything else under the sun considered trendy. For instance it’s where the first Australian Topshop decided to set up shop, choosing this location in preference to the renowned fashion capital of Melbourne city centre.

So what did I buy this week?

A Haircut

I went to Chapel St to get my hair cut from my new hairdresser who I’ve only been to once before. He considers himself to be a hair stylist rather than a hair cutter, and the way he works on your hair more resembles an artist than man with scissors. He is all about texture and shaping your hair so it’s so full of movement and body.

My hair is naturally very thick, straight and long with grown out long layers. After cutting the basic shape whilst dry, he then washed my hair with incredible products, threw in a scalp massage, and then cut my hair wet and followed that with a blow-dry. My hair was left more layered, with softer ones around my face that frame my features really well. My hair feels so much lighter, sits naturally so much better, and just looks a lot healthier and shinier. I’m really happy with my haircut!

Orofluido Shampoo and Conditioner

When I was there my hairdresser recommended some shampoo and conditioner to me. It contains three natural oils - Argan, Cyperus and Linseed, and is said to leave hair silky, loose and shiny.

I bought it and after one use I’m unsure whether I love it. The packaging is gorgeous and it smells absolutely divine. I was told I only need a small coin sized amount of both, so tried that. But I found that the shampoo formula did not froth or lather up, and due to this, such a small amount just shampooed one small section of my hair. And my hair is so long. I ended up having to use a lot more than that and even when I had a lot it never seemed to froth up! For some reason I felt it didn’t clean as well due to the lack of foaming. 

My hairdresser did say it was a very natural product free from chemicals, and chemicals aid the frothing in the formulation so perhaps this is why. The conditioner felt very moisturizing and conditioning which was a plus. Afterwards, my hair smelt beautiful, shined like no other shampoo has made it before, had minimal frizz and was very sleek, and felt so much lighter and healthier. So I guess it really did work and did what it claimed on the packaging. I think the shampoo just really let down the products, and the actual shampooing experience was less enjoyable than usual with no foaminess! 

I most likely wouldn’t repurchase as at $25 each I feel you can get better products for your money. I’ll let you know in an update on here if I continue to use it and my experience with it improves.

So so shiny!

Topshop Shop

Nail polish - Flamingo Coral 

I love this colour, I’ve been searching for a medium toned peach pink warm pastel for ages, and this one just looked perfect in the bottle. It looks even better on my nails, and somehow makes my pale skin look more tanned which is always a plus! Brilliant Summer/Spring colour, and loving it on my nails right now. It cost about $10 and the colour is Flamingo Coral. Love it, lasts ages with my Seche Vite topcoat, and applies beautifully. Highly recommend.

*Looks slightly more corally peach than here

Earrings trio

I really wanted a few more small earrings that don’t dangle on my ear lobes, and I fell in love with the bigger dusty pink ones in this trio. And for only $12, it was a great buy to get three pairs of earrings. Really happy with them, they're cheap, look great on, go with everything. Very satisfied with this purchase. In general though I really don't like Topshop jewellery, so it was good to finally find something in the range.

MAC All That Glitters Eyeshadow

One of my four pan palettes had one spot free and I’ve been dying to buy a refill pan for it for ages to complete the foursome! After a long peruse in the MAC Pro shop on Chapel St, I managed to narrow it down to this colour. I really wanted a champagne neutral colour that stood out a bit more than a more subtle colour like Naked Lunch. And I loved the swatch of this on the back of my hand. This refill pan cost $26.

I’m quite happy with it, but think it has a slight orange tinge against my pale skin which I don’t entirely appreciate. Perhaps this will look better on me in the upcoming summer with more of a tan. I also think this suits my blue eyed and/or blonde haired friends better than me. I’ll have to keep playing with it and see how it goes, but I’m slightly disappointed. Any suggestions on what you wear this colour with or how you wear it would be appreciated... I really want to love it! 

Tony Bianco Flats

I fell in love with these taupe leather black bowed flats in the store, and even more when I tried them on. They have an incredible cushioned sole which makes them the most comfortable flat I’ve ever worn. I just had to buy them, plus they match my much worn favourite Mimco Taupe bag. I tend to wear pretty flats to work then change into high heels for the day, because my commute does not mix well with heels. So these will be great to wear with my office clothes every day (my office dress is quite semi-formal, and more stylish than full suits etc). These flats cost me $75.

So that's about it! Let me know if you have any comments about any of these purchases, or any recommendations about the All That Glitters eyeshadow - I really want to love it! 

Hope you guys all have a great weekend, and depending on where you are in the world - happy start of Spring/Autumn/Fall! :)