Booty and legs killer workout!!

    Hi guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and enjoyed your awesomely fit bodies by wearing crazy costumes you wouldn't have dared to wear last year. 

    I personally didn't go to a party but to the restaurant with my man and my family for an awesome cheat meal which was very well deserved since it had been a month since I last indulged in such a treat and since I literally killed my legs on Wednesday. Believe me when I tell you that it hurt yesterday but it hurts even more today (I did workout both days though...I told you: no excuses!) I actually can't sit - it looks more like I'm letting myself fall - or go down the stairs - I seriously wish I had one of my granny's automatic chairs to do that.

    I went from this:

    To this: 

    So for those of you who really are after a great burn and a possible awesome future bum I thought I'd share my leg session with you.

A. Plyo Squats (Jump squats)

B. 16kg  Pop squats

C. Half burpees (no push ups)

D. Jumping lunges (knee to floor as much as possible)

    Do 5 rounds as follows: 1st round = 50/50/15/50

                                               2nd round = 40/40/15/40

                                               3rd round = 30/30/15/30

                                               4th round = 20/20/15/20

                                               5th round = 10/10/15/10

    I'm now going to wish you luck, go cook a yummy healthy dinner and I'll speak to you soon! Don't forget to comment and even share the blog if you like it. Thanks a lot for the support and the love guys! Mwah from Robocop!!!

Wholewheat flour sweet potato bread

    Hi guys!! 

    I'm here today with a new recipe for you. I tried this the other day and it truly is amazing! I found it on petite kitchen's blog and changed a few of the ingredientsbut it still was awesome and mouthwateringly good!! It doesn't take great cooking skills to make it so I'm sure you can all try it at home.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of wholewheat flour

3/4 cup peanut butter

4 eggs

1 cup of mashed sweet potato

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cider vinegar

a pinch of salt

Steps

Preheat the oven at 180°C

Blend all the ingredients together until batter like and smooth

Pour in a loaf tin (greased)

Bake for 35/40 mins

   

    Just a little piece of information that might help some of you if you didn't know it. You can cook you sweet potato very easily and quickly in the microwave. Just take the sweet potato and pierce it several times on both times with a fork. Then wrap it in paper towel and put it in the microwave 5 minutes on max power then flip it on the other side and cook it 5 more minutes on this side. Then it should be cooked and very easily mashed. 

    Hope this helped you and you'll enjoy this very healthy bread as a snack or in the morning as a toast with jam or fruit on it. I had mine with bananas!!!! Yummy! Speak soon guys!!

Quick but efficient cardio circuit

    Hi guys!!

    I'm here to share a new workout with you. This one doesn't require any specific items and it really makes you sweat and makes your heart rate shoot up. 

    This workout is made of 6 moves that you perform for 20sec each and after the circuit (so 20sec*6) you have a 45sec rest. The moves are:

Squats jumps (go down in the squat position and then jump to face the other side of the room)

Lunges (this time you jump to change leg)

Side to side rope jumps

Burpees

Moving push ups

Jack knives

    It is very important not to stop moving during your rest and to keep the form right. Do not do crazy or weird moves just to keep going. It will be way more efficient to do each move correctly then to do all of them wrong - plus you might end up hurting yourself more than anything else.

    If you're not sure about the moves then go check them out on youtube or on bodybuilding.com 

    Complete this circuit 5 to 7 times and don't forget to stretch well and drink loads afterwards! I'll speak to you soon!! Don't forget to comment, share etc if you liked the article. 

    P.S. I don't know if it would be motivating for you guys to see some of my before/after and progress pics. So let me know in the comments section! 

Coconutty salmon with nuts, green beans and brown rice

    Hey guys!

    I hope you're all doing awesome and you're changing your lifestyle one step at a time. As far as I'm concerned I am doing great since I'm on holidays and it gives me the opportunity to share my time only between cooking healthy yummy meals for my loved ones and working out more than usual. I really wish I had the guts to make a life changing decision and work a fitness related job so that I could make money while working out.

    Anyways, I'm just here quickly today to share with you a very easy yet savoury and balanced recipe. This is something pretty much anyone can do and it doesn't cost much. 

    Ingredients

Salmon fillets

Coconut milk

Cashew nuts or almonds

Olive oil

Green beans

Brown rice

Salt/pepper

Steps

Preheat oven at 180°C

Pour coconut milk in an oven safe dish

Soak salmon in milk

Crush some cashews and put them on the salmon and in the milk

Bake for 15/20mins

Stir fry your rice using olive oil

Add green beans, salt, pepper and some spices

Devour

    I hope you'll try this soon and that you'll like it as much as I did. I'm now going to put on my sports gear and start a new 60 minutes crossfit workout. I'll let you know how it goes and give you the details if it works out the way I expect it to.

    Bye guys!! Love you all and love the support!

HIIT Circuit

    Hi guys!!

    I know it's been a while since I last posted something here but since I'm not one to give up that easily or forget my promises here is the first routine I can offer you guys. It doesn't require much - you can even do it with water bottles if you don't have weights at home - and it's not very long but it will get your sweat on and give you that oh so loved burn!

    Do each move for 1 minute with 10 seconds rest between each move. Repeat this circuit 4 times with 30 seconds rest between each complete circuit. Just so it gives you some information I burnt between 200 and 250 calories doing this and it lasts around 30 minutes. Have fun!! Newt post and yummy recipe coming soon!

Clean Cookies!!

    Hi guys!! Since I've had at least two people asking me to post recipes I'm going to start right away! Let me know if you want to see sweet or salty recipes as I have quite a lot of both. I also thought I'd alternate posting recipes and workout routines that I do in order to give you both ideas on how to sweat and burn bad calories and later on how to fuel your body and fill your belly with good ones!! I hope you'll like the idea. Anyways let's get started on this very easy but yet very satsifying - at least that's what it feels like to me- cookies recipe.

    This is probably one of the first recipes I tried and let me tell you I am not a great cook - more like I can manage a microwave oven but I'm a beginner when it comes to all the rest - so if I can do it, so can you!!

    Ingredients

1 cup mashed bananas

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/2 cup raisins*

1/4 cup agave syrup*

1/4 cup olive oil

* You can switch the raisins for any other dried fruit if you feel like experimenting and also switch the agave syrup for honey if you don't mind the few extra calories.

Steps

Preheat the oven at 160°C/320°F

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix it all with your hands until a batter is formed

Form 12 cookies (use a teaspoon to make them more regular)

Flatten each one with the back of a fork

Sprinkle with oats just for the sake of decoration

Bake until golden

    I'm sorry I can't give you a precise baking time but I have a very small oven so it all depends on what you've got at home.

    There you go guys!! I hope you will enjoy this easy and quick recipe as much as I did when I first tried it out. Don't hesitate to comment if you've got any special requests or questions as I'll be more than happy to help.

A little foodporn has never killed anyone!

    Hey ho guys!! I've been really busy this past week but I have thought about you loads and wondering what I should talk about in this new post and I decided - okay, I've had a few requests - to talk about food (yummy right?!)!!

    So as I told you a few articles back I've started eating clean(er) while doing my first round of Insanity. It isn't something that I felt forced to do but more like a very natural shift in my eating habits. - probably normal to change your habits when you suddenly go from not doing anything to working out 6 days a week.

   Let me give you my definition of clean eating first because I know that we all have a different vision of this concept. To me clean eating means eating mostly things I would have been able to eat during the prehistoric era and avoiding as much as possible processed foods. I basically try to buy organic veggies, fruit and meat ( I eat turkey, chicken and more rarely beef...I don't like pork that much that's why I'm not mentionning it) and I add a few whole grains to that for the carbs but not too much.

    I know that while you reading that you're probably thinking that eating clean is boring. Well, let me tell you that I have never enjoyed food as much as those past few months. I love the feeling you get from knowing you're the one who nearly did everything (I have a very  nice friend and colleague who sometimes goes to a farm close to home and picks veggies and fruit for the both of us himself!) when it comes to preparing your food. There are no weird chemicals in my preparations and it feels awesome to realise that I'm actually capable of cooking a quite tasty dish!

    I have no idea if you're interested in recipes or any other details like a grocery shopping list but let me know in the comments and I'll just let you enjoy a few pics of the goodness that cleaneating can bring to your tastebuds!

 Sweet potato, green beans, cashew nuts, ginger, coconut milk and chicken

 Vanilla pancake with banana and peanut butter

 Whole wheat rice with green beans and coconut milk, almonds and cashews salmon

 Homemade clean banana and raisins bread

 Almond crust, smoked salmon, spinach and cherry tomatoes pie

 Clean cookies

A weekend breakfast: berries, bananas, greek yogurt, honey, grated coconut and oats!

    Don't forget to share the page if you like it!

The Insane Chapter!

    Hi guys!! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write and put this article together but as you'll get to know me you'll probably realise that I am a complete moron when it comes to computers and new technologies. It thus took me a few days to fully grasp the concept of iMovie -I told you I was a moron! But there we are so I might as well get started and tell you how I went from thin but wobbly to thin AND firm.

    Seriously who'd want to look like the one on the left when you can get the results on the right through hard work?!?

    I then decided to put myself through hell - yeah I really wanted that - since I had already paid for a gym membership but that never got me very far and moreover it didn't prevent me from ending up fat. So one day while I was very focused on looking for a great fitness programme at before/after pictures I found one that led me to a website called beachbody on which they have loads of programmes but a special one caught my eye: The Insanity 60 days workout -I know what you're thinking: maybe I just felt attracted by the name since I am fairly famous for being a complete nutter. Well you're probably right BUT the problem my friends was that beachbody do not ship to some countries (probably because we're considered retarded by most of the world) like France. But "impossible n'est pas français" so I found a way to get Insanity - eBay - and a few weeks later I got this in the mail:

    I was really scared by the packaging but very excited at the same time. You get 13 DVDs, a workout calendar and some nutrition guide I never read because it mentionned counting calories at the very beginning and I can accept going through hell while I workout but not when it comes to cooking.

    Insanity is a very intense workout that combines cardio and strength exercises for which you do not need anything but your bodyweight - let me tell you that it is more than enough. It lasts 60 days and you have to workout 6 days a week. For the first month the workouts last about 40/45 mins then there's a recovery week during which you do the same workout for 6 days and then the second month which actually gets harder - even though you think it means you're going to die on the spot- and during which the workouts last about 1h up to 1h30.

    I don't really know what else to say apart from the fact that for the first two weeks my body ached all over and I discovered lots of new muscles I didn't even know were there to begin with. I also discovered that I was a fighter since I had absolutely no idea I could push so hard and stand up again when I thought I couldn't move anymore. I also learnt that I love feeling the burn while I workout and being sore the next morning - I told you I was a nutter!

    Enough chitchat let's show you some progress pics:

    Here's my progress after one month of insanity ( I started eating really clean after that but cleaneating will be the subject of another post).

    I went from 56 to 52kg doing insanity and I really got more muscle definition and a firm body.

    Now for those of you who'd want to A) check out an insanity workout

                                                            B) make fun of my weird faces and grunts when I workout

There you go!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYRncQPGmCg

                                      

Don't forget to share and comment to let me know if you liked it or not and what you want me to discuss next!

The Weight Watchers Era (February 2013 - May 2013)

    Hi guys!! New chapter of the story today....the Weight Watcher part of my story or "How I (re)learnt to eat well".

    So as I told you in my previous post after the Pantartica episode - I know I've watched Notting Hill waaayyy too many times - I downloaded the WW app on a whim and started right away. I chose the app and not the meetings because I was under the impression that the meetings would be something of that kind:

You've got to love Little Britain

    So the app was a good compromise for me (and I know I can do things on my own when I have enough motivation since I always do what needs to be done to reach my goals) it was around 15€ per month and when you subscribed for 3 months right away you had a discount - a small one though. 

    It's very simple to use since it kind of works like a diary in which you register everything you eat. When you first get the app you need to answer a few questions about your eating habits, type your age, height and current weight and they then ask you to set a goal. According to all those previous things they allow you a certain amount of "points" per day which you can use in any way that you like. As far as I'm concerned, I quickly got to using most of my points during breakfast and lunch and had a very light dinner (veggies, soup...). This might explain why I felt hungry for the first week or so around bed time.

    I believe that the app somehow helped me know what was high in "bad" calories - yes, there are good ones in fruit and veggies for example - since all the greasy or sugary foods were very high in points ( a regina pizza is 12 or 14 points if I remember well and I was allowed 29 a day at first...that gives an idea of how bad it is). Most fruit and vegetables on the contrary are "point free" (they cost zero) which means you can eat as much peas, mushrooms, salad, beans, apples, bananas etc as you like very day!

    So I found that Weight Watchers also helped me keep track of what I was eating - writing all your food down helps you realize that you've probably had enough even though you're used to eating more and since we mostly eat the same thing every week I quickly memorized the point system and I knew what to eat or buy or cook without looking at my phone constantly. It finally was very helpful in organizing and managing to keep a normal social life - I found that very hard to do when I did my first "bad" diet since it was very strict - since you have "bonus" points when you exercise and a sort of weekly allowance in case you need or feel like indulging in a little treat. You then only need to eat veggies or fruit the whole day so you can have pasta at the restaurant or even a burger for dinner with your friends.

    Finally, I lost 8 kilos doing it and went from 64 to 56 kilos and I can assure you that I never felt like I was on a very strict diet or anything of that kind. I then decided that it was time for me to start working out again and that's the story I'll tell you in my next article!!

    PS: I'm very sorry for the length of that article but it felt like I really needed to give you specific details about how WW works plus I'm very tired so I can't focus as much as usual. Hope I didn't bore you though!

Don't forget to comment and share both the link of the blog of you like it and your suggestions if you think I should change anything!

    

My epiphany: why and how it all started

    Hi guys! So as I promised yesterday here's the first chapter of my story. 

    I'm not the kind of person who's always been overweight. I was very sporty and thin as a child and during my teenage years. It all changed during a year spent as an Erasmus student in England which felt to me like that:

but I somehow have the impression that it was more like that:

    

So one party after another and one burger or pizza -you need these more than drugs when you're drunk it's actually unbelievable!- leading to another I came back home with at least five added kilos (no no, I'm not talking about my luggage here...)

    Then, there was the usual first diet in your life which for me happened to be a very extreme, very bad and unhealthy diet thanks to which I lost five kilos I gained ten kilos. Add to this already wonderful picture a bad and very painful breakup and you get something like this:

  

  But rest assured, it all changed some chilly day at the end of January 2013 thanks to a teeny tiny little thing called MY EGO. I have never been a very confident person neither do I have a huge ego but I'm very thankful to this day for the small yet existing one that I have because it saved me from obesity -let's face it that's where I was heading. What happened is quite silly and will probably make you laugh but there you go: one day on my way out of the toilets when I tried to pull up my jeans I literally tore them...I felt so humiliated even though I was all alone at home that I decided it was more than enough and I needed to pull myself together and start taking care of myself and my body again.

    So I took my phone and downloaded the Weight Watchers app..... This will be the subject of my next post!

    Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope I'll read your feedback soon! 

A little about me and this blog

      Well well, here we are. I guess it's time for me to introduce myself and get out there.

    First of all, let me tell you that I am not a native English speaker so you'll have to excuse those few mistakes when they happen (they will that's for sure). 

      All you need to know about me is that I am just a normal girl who realised one day that she'd let herself go and that she had become overweight -okay let's say the word: I was fat. It took me a very stupid moment to have an epiphany and start taking care of myself and loving my body again (I'll tell you about that special day in my next post). 

         I thought I'd start this blog to tell my story without forgetting any ups or downs I've been through and also because it fuels me to know that maybe my story can motivate some of you to start their own or not give up on the one they've already started.

       Be warned: it was not easy and there is absolutely no miracle cream or pill that took me through this much change:

So if you want to know more about what I did and why then keep reading.
PS: Any comments and suggestions on the blog, its look and content will be read and most appreciated! See ya!!