Jamie Eason pumpkin protein bars

i have been looking to make some clean healthy protein bars and found on good old Pinterest Jamie Eason pumpkin protein bars so this morning I decided to make them

The ingredients which i adapteded slightly:
2 cups of oat flour which I made by grounding oats up in the food processor
1/2 cup of coconut sugar the original recipe is birch sugar
1 can of pumpkin
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup almond milk
4oz of apple sauce
1tsp baking powder
1tsp of baking soda
2 scoops of protein powder
4 egg whites however I have used 2 whole eggs

Pre heat oven to 350 or 170 degrees
Spray a baking dish
Mix all the ingredients together
Pour into baking dish
Bake for 25-30 minutes
Cut into 24 slices

Spanish stew

Spanish stew

Peppers

Onions

Spinach

Tim tomatoes x2

Red lentils

Chick peas

Morocan spice

Apricots

Quinoa

Fish fillets

Cook onions and peppers and spinach

Meanwhile cook chickpeas till they are soft

Add in tin tomatoes and morocan spice and red lentils and quinoa to the onions and peppers

Once the chick peas are cooked add them to the pan, along with apricots and the fish, cook till fish is cooked which takes a few minutes

Chicken fajitas

Oven baked fajitas

-peppers

-onions

-diced chicken breast

-fajita spice

Pre heat oven to 180

Put peppers and onions in the pan

Put diced chicken on top

Sprinkle with fajita spice and give it a mix

Bake in oven for 25 mins till chicken has cooked

Meal prep Sunday's

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail, if you set one day or one afternoon to prepping your food for the week you will find you stay on plan!

If you can get a slow cooker and a big pan then all you have to do is pop it all in the pan and make big batches of meals.

My favourite meals to batch cook is:

Bolognese 

Curry

Lasagne

Chilli

Fajitas

Risotto 

Spanish stew

You can buy slow cooker books and as long as you have basic ingredients in the cupboard then you are all set for prepping clean healthy foods for you and your family 

Almond butter blondies

Almond butter blondies

 

Ingredients

80 ml coconut oil 1/3 cup

195 almond butter 3/4 cups

2 eggs

185 ml maple syrup 3/4 cups

240g ground almonds 2 cups

1tsp baking powder

75g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180

Cream the coconut oil and almond butter together

Combine the baking powder and ground almonds together 

Mix with the wet ingredients

Fold in the chocolate chips

Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes

Leave to cool for 10 minutes then cut in to slices 

Lemon and coconut bliss balls

Lemon and coconut bliss balls

 

Here is a healthy snack that takes no time at all to make, filled with healthy fats which is essential for hormones, skin and hair

Ingredients

2 cups shredded coconut

1/2 cup almonds

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2tbs coconut oil

2-3 tbs honey or maple syrup

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend together for 1 minute

Then roll the mixture into little balls

Roll in extra coconut

Place in fridge until firm

Optimum nutrition

I will do a review in the proteins that I try, the one I am trying at the moment is optimum nutrition cookies and cream

I did a lot of research before hand to see how much carbs protein and fat was in the protein, read reviews on the product and decided to go and buy it

There was a few deals on this type of product which helped sway me as protein can be very expensive and sometimes not worth the money you spend

The smell: this protein smells nice you can smell the chocolate when you open the lid off the tub, some of the proteins have a weird smell which can be off putting

The mix: I normally just mix mine with water or have it in my porridge in the mornings, this protein mixed so well it didn't clump, it mixed really easily, prob the best mixing protein shake I have tried

The taste: it taste of cookies and it even leaves some chocolate chips, in the no rings it transforms my porridge and gives me that chocolate kick that I need as I have such a sweet tooth first thing in the morning, it taste nice with water and mix it with milk and you have a milkshake!

Nutritional value: 113kcal, 1.1g of fat, 1.8g of carbs 1.2 of that is sugars, 24g of protein which is one of the highest ones

Rating: 9 out of 10 and I look forward to trying the other flavours to see which one I prefer

I fully recommend this to everyone.. 

Tips, tricks magic pills for loosing weight

You have probably clicked this and thought she's going to give us tips on how to loose weight tricks and lists of magic potions

However you would be very much mistaken there is no magic pills, no tricks and no easy way to loose weight

The way to loose weight is to burn off more than you eat, I don't mean eat 1000 calories and run for miles because that is just stupid, no I mean eat properly, healthy whole foods, do a mixture of strength and cardio and to make sure you are in calorie deficit but not much as you only want to be loosing 1-2lb per week depending how much you have to loose..

Drink plenty of water to help clean your system, speed metabolism up and to make sure you are actually hungry when you think you are

There is no quick fix, it will take you a while to get where you want to be but never give up, keep on going, take your measurements, take pictures and that way if the scale starts to fail you hopefully your over measurements will help you..

Trust the process, things don't happen over night and of course things will go stale, but that's when you need to kick start your body, change your eating habits, change your exercises.. Take a day off and eat what you want and then get back on it, as long as you don't stop because it hasn't happened as quickly as you think it will

  This saying is very true, there are no shortcuts to anything in life, no magic shake, no magic pill, it will be tough, you will have set backs, but the reward of a healthy you is priceless, and more rewarding than anything. 

Go on Amazon and Pinterest and look up clean eating, healthy foods, go shopping and buy fruit, veg, and lean meats and fish or lentils and pulses if a non meat eater, cook from scratch, take it one step at a time, make it a lifestyle change rather than see it as a diet, get the whole family involved, walk places.. 

Small changes will make the biggest difference, find your weekends and turne it into your strength, rather than sit on the sofa and snack on crisps or chocolate whilst watching tv, go for a run, get an exercise bike and cycle at home, or get some new cook books and read them and start meal planning.

Acceptance

After seeing a post from someone I follow on social media, who is a PT and down to earth person, she posted about accepting her body, to you and me her body looks bloody amazing but she has flaws like the rest of us, and it has made me do this post..

I am short only 5'2, I am slim, I have stretch marks, I have small boobs, I have no figure I am straight up and down, it has taken me two hard years to slowly start building a bum as I am blessed with a pancake bum.. I hate my stretch marks, they are in my thighs, bum and hips, luckily my stoa,ch never stretched much during pregnancy so I missed out on them, however I have a scar on my stomach from an op as a baby that is still very visible and makes my stomach uneven. 

Once upon a time I would of covered up, scared very one was looking at me and judging me for having stretch marks, but over time I have slowly accepted they are part of me, and on holiday everyone is doing exactly the same as me and worrying the next person is looking at them.. 

I feel more confident in my skin now I have children then I have ever done, my body has carried two babies, grown them nourished them and gave birth to them, now you can't beat that.. Will I ever see those people on holiday again? No will they see me? No so why worry..

We live in a world where social media means we need to be tall slim with big boobs and nice figure, but that's not reality, reality is stretch marks, loose skin etc... 

You really need to accept who you are, everyone's genetic makeup is different so not everyone will have a rippling 6 pack, perfect bum etc, once we start to accept us as we are, that is when we can really start to appreciate things we like about our bodies or about us.

Health is not a six pack, health is eating healthy whole foods, being able to get up every day and do every day things, go to the gym lift heavy weights, play at the park with your children/grand children, health is not how we look aesthetically but inside and having balanced hormones.

So we all need to look in the mirror and look at ourselves, stop looking at the person on social media who may have photoshopped the pic, or who is flexing or may not even be happy with themselves, and start concentrating on ourselves, for all we know those people on social media are looking at you and wishing they had what you have, be it your family, your lust for life, your legs etc.. We will always compare our selves, because we are human but once you accept you for you you will find happiness in your self. 

Quick easy dinner

Hasslebank chicken with mozzarella and tomato

 

Ingredients x4

- Chicken Breast x4

- Beef tomatoes x2

- Mozarella

- Butternut squash

Directions

- pre heat oven to 180

- Slice into the chicken breasts to make separations

- slice the beef tomatoes in little macaroons

- slice the mozzarella up

- put tomatoes into he chicken slices skin facing up

- put the Mozarella into the gaps with the tomato

- cook for 20 minutes and then take out and push all the tomato into the chicken, put back in oven and cook till chicken is cooked through

- Mean while skin the butternut squash and make into noodles and cook them in the oven for 20 minutes until soft

This meal is clean healthy, perfect for mid week meal, it is also slimming world and Paleo friendly 

Low carb meal ideas

Meatza

I love my carbs I won't lie pasta, pizza, and the naughty carbs as well

However there is always ways to make food healthier, so to do that I make a meatza every few weeks as it is a firm family favourite, it's basically pizza on a meat base hence meatza! You can also make it in a cauliflower base.

Recipe

375 g mince meat

An egg

Mix together with seasoning and lay out on a baking tray, put in oven for 10 minutes

Toppings

Onion

Spinach

Tomatoes

Bacon

Mozzarella

(Toppings are endless and what ever yo fancy)

Cover mince base with toppings, pop back in oven for 10 minutes

Pancakes

This morning I really fancied pancakes, I have such a sweet tooth for breakfast, I would happily choose pancakes, waffles over a cooked breakfast any day, however traditional sweet breakfasts are actually worse than you than a 'fry up' due to the fat and suave and all the extra toppings that you choose

Here is the recipe that I used, I made it up but the pancakes turned out lovely

1 egg white

2 whole eggs

A splash of coconut milk

A quarter cup of coconut flour 

Make sure you cook them small to flip them over as they are thinner than normal

To make the sauce

A scoop protein powder

Splash of coconut milk

Top it off with blueberries and pear

I really didn't want to go to the gym

Today I had every intention of going to the gym, I had a healthy breakfast, a healthy pre workout, took the kids to nursery and then I carried on walking straight past the gym and straight home

The sun was shining the weather nice, and as everyone knows in England we are very lucky when we get sunshine so we need to make the most of it

So what I did was got my weights and I made up a leg workout consisting of 10x10 squats

10 x10 walking lunges

10x10 split squats

10x10 weighted hip bridges

10x5 superset 10x5 kettle bell swings and kettlebell glute squat

Safe to say I am dead, feel so much better because I exercised in the fresh air 

No excuses, even when you don't feel up to going to the gym there is always ways to exercise 

Jamie Eason live fit

I have completed Jamie Eason live fit, it was a 12 week programme split up into 3 sections, each section was broken up into 4 weeks, and the exercises changed every 2 weeks. 

Live fit is a free programme designed by Jamie Eason and is found on body building it is a website which gives free workouts, free advise, nutrition advise from top athletes in the bodybuilding world. It is great to use if you are a beginner or an expert as it give you workout videos, etc.

Jamie Eason has another workout which isn't up on bodybuilding but can be found on her page, it is called from flat to all that, I started that programme a while back to help me get back into routine after my holiday, and will be going back to follow that programme from start to finish and will write a post on it.

show me the weigh

Overview of the programme

The nutrition plan that is for the programme is a good starting point to look at, if you have been eating poorly, then I fully advise taking a look at it, and having a look at the allowed list of foods, that way you can kinda create your own plan if toy don't want to follow the plan. 

I used the allowed foods and made my own meal plan, I did try to stick to my plan as best as possible but did sway a bit but I am only human

The first stage of the programme which is muscle building: weeks 1-4

- no cardio

- 3 sets of 12, 

- exercises are simple to help build up muscle and to perfect form

- simple but effective

Second stage of the programme which is muscle endurance: weeks 4-8

- cardio is added in to help start to shed some of the body fat

- higher reps low weight

- low reps high weight mix to help keep your body functioning

- workouts are still kept simple with videos to help and also alternatives if you find something hard, or can't do due to gym

- lots of super sets which is great, but sometimes hard to do depending on your gym layout, I sometimes had to walk from 1 end of the gym to the next just to do a superset and hold both equipment which can be deemed as rude

Third stage which is the cutting stage: week 8-12

- circuits are added in which sometimes is hard because your gym layout may mean you are wandering around he gym, and having to try hold 2-3 machines at the same time which isn't really easy to do

- plyo exercises are added in which is a great alternative to weights and helps with the cardio and makes it feel like you have worked out harder

-long workout, some of the workouts can take up to 2 hours to do which isn't really something that I can do, I normally run to e gym before my shift at work so by time I have finished I would have to get straight to work which wasn't really something I wanted to do

Overall this is an excellent programme for beginners or someone that hasn't done strength exercises for a while, this programme gives you an excellent structure and each programme gets harder and progresses you, it give you chance to get stronger, build strength and also to cut body fat whilst regaining your strength

I would fully recommend is programme to any one, especially people that are just going around in circles and do not feel that they are progressing 

Homemade nakd bars

Nakd bars are great, high in sugar but only because of the fruit however they are not the cheapest to buy so making your own is great

150g cashew nuts

6 whole dates

90g cherries 

Place the cashew nuts in food processor and blend till fine breadcrumbs and then pour into a bowl

Put cherries and dates in processor and blend till broken

Slowly add cashew nuts into mixture

Pour mixture into a container or lunchbox, make sure tightly packed

Cover and place in fridge for at least 2 hours

After 2 hours take out and cut into 8 equal bars

Wrap each bar and keep in the fridge

Homemade oat bars

shop bought bars can contain a lot of sugar and added ingredients, if you make your own you can control what goes in it, especially if you are giving them to your children

Here is some basic ingredients to make your own bars, however you can go creative and add what you want

3 cups basic oats
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of nuts
1 cup of mixed fruit, such as cranberries, and raisins
1 tbs pure maple syrup or honey
1 cup of milk
1 tsp cinnamon
Protein powder (optional)

Pre heat oven to 180
Mix all the ingredients together
Line a baking tray and pour ingredients in
Bake for 40 minutes or till cooked

Multi level pyramid schemes

Herbalife, what is it? Is it good for you? Does it work?

Herbalife was fonded in the 1980s according to the website Herbalife it promises to change your life through a balanced diet and using their products and exercise. The website does a really good job at selling the product, by stating how to advancing sports nutrition through scientific research, they have done an excellent job at promoting it by stating how they have people with PhDs working for them, scientists etc, to he average,person they would be feeling very excited that they will be looked after by all these people and the products will be excellent. 

The principle of Herbalife is to help you loose weight through their shakes and their protein bars, the website has a meal plan for you to follow, it is basically shake for breakfast, which is 220kcal it does give you other examples such as porridge, scrambled egg on toast , snack is their protein bar or fruit etc, lunch is another shake, snack is protein bar or their soup, and dinner is a proper meal

This sounds ok, easy enough to do, however it is also very similar to slim fast etc, 2 shakes and 1 meal, however the products on the website do not give you the ingredients that are in them, they state they are high in protein from dairy and soy, but does not state the sugar or the fat content, or the carb content, now on other websites such as dolphin fitness which is a website that sells protein products, it states all the nutritional value of the products that you are purchasing so you can actually see what you are putting in your body.

The thing is with this is how little calories you are actually putting in your body, if you are drinking two shakes a day and having the protein bar as 1 snack, which is 140 kcal and then the soup which is 104 kcal you are only taking in 684 kcal so for dinner you are allowed a meal now even if the meal was 500 kcal you would only be taking in 1,184 kcal a day, when the average person should be taking in around 1600/2000 calories and most of that is before you do any physical exercise, not just your average days walking. 

Do you see why people see results with this product? It is to do with how little calories they are taking in, now we all know what happened if they stop the product, they are likely to pile on more weight which leads to yo yo dieting, things like is isn't really long term because your body will eventually stall and you will up your exercise, or try to but with the little amount of energy your body is taking in, you will become ill.

On the website it gives you career opportunities, and people will get in contact with you promising excellent career opportunities, excellent benefits of selling, you will see people on social media sites like Facebook saying how they are doing really well selling the product, have a great team behind them, going on holiday etc, now his makes it sound so exciting, all you have to do is promote the product and sell it, and you make money, great.. You are told that two really big stars are using the product, Christian Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, now these stars are paid millions of pounds to endource this product, but if you think about it they really won't be using it, they play football which requires 90 minutes 2 times a week, they train every day sometimes twice a day, now they need to be taking in more than 1,184 calories a day, especially as they are male, so please think about this before signing up to the product because they are promoting the products.

Herbalife is what is described as a multi level pyramid scheme, a multi level pyramid scheme is based on people distributing the products and people buying the products, the people at the bottom of the pyramid will not be earning any money and the people at the top will be he high earners, people are recruited with the promise of earning big money, working from home and being able to quickly move up the chain, the more you sell the more money you make. To join Herbalife you need to buy the products, you will then receive a discount on the products, you then have to sell the products in any way you possibly can, by door to door leaflets, by promoting he products on your social media site, pyramid schemes this website describes pyramid schemes in better detail, but basically you won't be making any money till you make your way up the pyramid scheme, and most people won't be doing that because they won't get enough people to buy he products.

Most people that distribute Herbalife are not people with any background knowledge on health, nutrition or fitness, I'm not saying that everyone should have that background knowledge, but personally if you do not know what you are selling how do you expect to sell it, I have been as,ed on many occasions to sell it, and to start with the idea of earning extra money did seem like a great idea, until I reseated the product or the lack of research I could do on the products, as the website is great at saying how they have all these amazing people working for the product but lack any information on the product it self, personally I am a big believer in eating food and exercising, the old saying eat less move more works well for me, however I certainly know I need more than 1000 calories a day to survive let alone if I am doing exercise. 

Recently I have been told I would be good at being a coach for them, and that I am wasted in my job! I am a fitness coach I am also saving up to do a nutrition course, now I work in a gym and coaching people would be good, and giving them advise on nutrition, which I am not yet qualified to do, however the Herbalife people automatically think they are qualified to give nutritional advise to people, now unless you have done a degree in nutrition or done a course and worked your way up for 7 years, you are not qualified to give nutritional advise, also these people coach people exercise etc, just because you have done your level 2 fitness exam, which any one can do, does not mean you are greater than the next person, it is a hard job being in the fitness industry and there are always new things to be learnt and researched, Herbalife being one of them, before you decide extra income is good, make sure you research the product you are trying to sell.

Would you buy a product by someone who is just a Joe Bloggs from across the road, that has no knowledge in the fitness and nutrition industry? I know a lot of people are after quick fixes, have tried it all and are still depressed about their weight, but please do not take to shakes as a way to do it, there is enough information on the Internet, books, join a gym, even go to the doctors and get sent to a dietician who will help you! Sign up for slimming world or weight watchers which also have great results (I will do a post on them) do it as a family, just please make sure you eat.

Juice plus what is it? Will it work?

Juice plus was founded in 1993 so it is actually a relatively new product, juice plus, juice plus states how it is hard to eat fruit and veg a day, so have concentrated the best part of 30 different fruit and veg and put them into capsules, that adults take two capsules and children take one a day. 

Here is a quick run down on the programme thanks to a weigh loss website what is juice plus?

- meal replacement plan with 3 elements

- cut down on calories by substituting meals for shakes or bars

- up your fruit and veg intake

-supplement your diet with juice based tablets

How to follow the plan:

- detox for 2 weeks

-replace 2 meals a day for 2 weeks

-take the juice plus supplements

Yet again it's only around 1000 calories a day, just like Herbalife, which is why people, especially very overweight people see the results

It is yet another pyramid scheme so only the people on the top will benefit from it, it contains a lot of chemicals in the shakes and the capsules, only the people with the products can see what's in them as the website are very good at hiding them, and just promoting how amazing it is to have the products.

You will get results if you are severely overweight, the same as if you cut down to 1000 calories without the shakes, the same as if you would to just drink an average protein shake at every meal rather than food.

Please do your research properly before falling down those routes, and remember photo shop is a lot of people's best friends

Post workout meal

Post workout for me is my lunch as I tend to workout lunch time once I drop the children at nursery

So I need to make sure it has all the correct macro and micros to help repair my muscles from my workout

Veg sausages

Salad

Sweet potato

And fig jam

One pot meals

I love one pot meals, as a busy mommy it makes my life so much easier

Here is my dinner, it is chicken and chorizo jambalaya 

One onion

One pepper

Tim of tomatoes

Chorizo

Frozen diced chicken

Cajun spice

Rice

Chicken stock

Put it all in the pot and cook till the rice has cooked takes about 40 minutes in total

Clean eating meal plan week 1

Day One   Meal 1 3 egg scrambled 2 slices whole meal bread Meal 2 Banana and peanut butter Meal 3 Chicken salad with feta cheese Meal 4 3 oat cakes with tbs hummus dip Meal 5 Pork steak 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato 1 cup cauliflower Meal 6 Almond milk/low calorie hot chocolate	Day Two Meal 1 Peanut butter pancakes  Meal 2 Protein powder 8 oz water or almond milk Frozen fruit Meal 3  Sweet potato Salad  Tin tuna Sprinkling of cheese Meal 4 Carrot and cucumber sticks 2 tbs hummus Meal 5  Cottage pie Side salad and balsamic dressing Meal 6 1 cup Greek yogurt
Day Three Meal 1 Overnight oats Meal 2 1/2 cup almonds Meal 3 Chinese style steak 1/2 cup couscous  1 cup broccoli Meal 4 1 string cheese 1 apple and peanut butter Meal 5 Turkey chilli Meal 6 Protein powder 8 oz water or almond milk	Day Four Meal 1 Strawberry smoothie Meal 2 Mango  Cheese string Meal 3 Chicken salad with feta cheese Meal 4 1/2 banana Protein bar Meal 5 Salmon fillet 1/2 cup couscous 1 cup steamed beans Meal 6 Low calorie hot chocolate
Day Five Meal 1 1 slice whole meal bread 1 egg scrambled 1/2 avacado Meal 2 Protein powder Frozen fruit Pineapple juice Meal 3 Grilled chicken Breast in bbq sauce 1/2 cup brown rice 10 asparagus spears  Meal 4 1 tbs almond butter 1/2 banana Meal 5 Pork tenderloins Sweet potato baked Cup mixed veg Meal 6 Cup Greek yoghurt	Day Six Meal 1 Banana nut oatmeal ( 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup almond milk, 1/4 pecans 1 small banana) Meal 2 1 cup chocolate almond milk Meal 3 Chicken breast stuffed with sun dried tomato and feta cheese Spinach and balsamic vinegar  Meal 4 Cucumber and carrot sticks Hummus Meal 5 Turkey steak 1 cup broccoli 1/2 cup brown rice Meal 6 1/2 cup almonds
Day Seven Meal 1 Three egg omelette with cherry tomatoes, half an onion, half a pepper and asparagus Meal 2 1 cup Greek yoghurt, 5 dates and handful of almonds Meal 3 2 slices of whole meal bread, chicken breast, lettuce, cucumber, grilled bacon medallions and tomatoes Meal 4 Protein powder, fruit juice, frozen raspberries, frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries (smoothie) Meal 5 Sweet jacket potato Steak grilled Corn on the cob 1 cup of mixed veg Meal 6 Low calorie hot chocolate with almond milk

Rice crispy cakes

This post is not fitness I'm afraid but it is a little insight to my life with a toddler

All you need is a bar of chocolate melted, cereal and cupcake 

I let her tip the cereal into the melted chocolate and for her to mix it

Then she got to put it in the cases, of course some got eaten

Then they go in the fridge!

It's very simple and easy and fun for them to do, and once they have set gives them a little treat!

Smoothie

People that say clean eating is boring is very much mistaken

Here I have a mid morning snack, I have frozen raspberries, apple juice, protein powder (optional) and oats

Where do I start?

A question that gets asked a lot is where do I begin?

Well the honest answer is you and you finding your motivation and reasons to want to begin!

I previously shared my story on how I began, when I was pregnant was when it hit me that I needed to do something, I was slim to start with so lucky in that sense but definitely skinny fat, yes that really is a term! I was slim but had no definition to my body and was soft! I also ate what I wanted and when without a care in the world! 

However being pregnant changed hat, make de realise what I was eating was going to my baby and if I wanted a healthy child I needed to eat healthy..

My exercise love started after he was born, I did lots of cardio was a cardio bunny my love for weights didn't start till I was pregnant with my second child...

I am still a long way and rom where I want to be but closer to my goals with every work out that I do

So once you have found your motivation and reasons why you want to change your life then it's how to go about doing it..

If you want to join a gym see if there is any friends that you can join with which will help you stick to going to the gym! See if there is any classes at your local community centre to start going to..

But a DVD and start exercising at home, that way you can start exercising and get a feeling for it and then once you are ready then join a gym!

Take photos and measurements which will help you stay accountable and keep reminding you why you started.

There is a lot of information in nutrition and fitness and lots of it contradict it self so I can fully understand why it is so confusing.

I fully belive nutrition is the key, if you can get your eating habits sorted first then your exercise will follow as you will feel a lot better about your self and more confident. I fully belive that abs are made in the kitchen and built in the gym, so 80% is nutrition and 20% is exercise.

Start by researching clean eating, I will do a post on this for you, throw away rubbish from your cupboard, but fruit and veg and lots of lean meats, stock up on Greek yoghurt and honey to help your sweet tooth and get meal planning.. 

But remember we are only human and everyone slips so and to take it day by day and to not beat your self up if you slip up

Home gym

If you are one to sit there and say you don't have time to exercise then making an home gym is for you, I will give you a list of the equipment that I have got at home

An exercise bike bought from Amazon it folds down small, you can exercise whilst watching your tv programs

An ab wheel looks easier than it is, great way to get a good stomach burn going on

A medicine ball, excellent and versatile can be used for abs and other exercises

Exercise bands, can be used for arms, back, legs, great way to feel the burn and do a quick exercise

Anothe band this one can be used to help with pull ups and also be used to wrap around legs for leg banded exercises, to help target the glutes

Dummbell a, I have 3kg, 6 kg and an adjustable one which is great! You don't need much weight just keep your reps higher 

Kettlebells, I have 4kg 10 kg and 16 kg, pop in a kettlebell dcs or just make up your own for a weighted cardio session that will burn calories and build muscle 

A Bosu ball this is great for core strength as requires lots of balancing whilst doing exercises on it, can be turned the other way as well! 

Snack

Snack

Apple

1 tbs peanut butter

Perfect afternoon/morning snack or can be used as a pre workout if your not feeling very hungry before you workout

Tips, tricks magic pills for loosing weight

You have probably clicked this and thought she's going to give us tips on how to loose weight tricks and lists of magic potions

However you would be very much mistaken there is no magic pills, no tricks and no easy way to loose weight

The way to loose weight is to burn off more than you eat, I don't mean eat 1000 calories and run for miles because that is just stupid, no I mean eat properly, healthy whole foods, do a mixture of strength and cardio and to make sure you are in calorie deficit but not much as you only want to be loosing 1-2lb per week depending how much you have to loose..

Drink plenty of water to help clean your system, speed metabolism up and to make sure you are actually hungry when you think you are

There is no quick fix, it will take you a while to get where you want to be but never give up, keep on going, take your measurements, take pictures and that way if the scale starts to fail you hopefully your over measurements will help you..

Trust the process, things don't happen over night and of course things will go stale, but that's when you need to kick start your body, change your eating habits, change your exercises.. Take a day off and eat what you want and then get back on it, as long as you don't stop because it hasn't happened as quickly as you think it will

Meal diary

I will try to do a meal diary today

Lunch 

Dinner

IIFYM

IIFYM or if it fits your macros, now you probably know all abut this, or maybe your thinking what are you going on about?

Lets break it down food is made up of macronutrients called fats, carbs and protein, all of them make up the calories in the food you are eating or drinking.

Fats are 9 calories, carbs and proteins are 4 calories.

So your probably sat there thinking so what? well our bodies take in the macronutrients, everybody's break down is different and I will get to that in a minute, but you have probably all heard of don't eat carbs after 6, make sure you only eat x amount of protein. Well truth be told our bodies don't know if its 6pm or 8pm so you can eat carbs after 6, and for protein our bodies only use a certain amount at a time so its best to break up protein and spread it out through the day.

As long as you eat roughly the right amount of macros that are set then you are going to loose weight/gain weight or what ever your goals are, as long as you hit your calories through your macros then you will be fine.

IIFYM makes life easier for you, you can eat cake or ice cream as long as it fits your macros, it means that you don't have to deprive your self any more, if you fancy a bowl of cereal at 9pm have a bowl of cereal as long as it fits your macros..

The downside is everything needs to be weighed to get accurate results, so if you are new to this it will take a little while to get used to it, however you will probably be shocked at portion sizes when you weight things properly as I am sure I am not the only one that over estimates a 30g bowl of cereal, once measured out it really is about two mouthfuls and this will explain how some people cannot lose weight because they are not eating the correct portion sizes.

Once you have been doing it a while you wont need to measure out some foods as you will be able to do it by eye, but it does take time and practise, do make sure you do not get obsessed with it though because it is flexible dieting and it does mean you can be more relaxed and start to enjoy foods again, and if you stress about it not only will it effect your results it will effect your mentality and you will start feeling guilty again.

I want people to enjoy food, it as taken me a long time to enjoy food and realise eating more foods is actually a good thing, you cannot gain muscle if you don't eat foods, and the more muscle you have the more fat you burn. Also carbs are not your enemy, I will do a post on carbs.

Now lets work out your macros, this is a basic calculator and I am no expert so you will need to play around to find what suits you, as some people are more sensitive to carbs and need higher fats whilst others work better lower fat higher carbs, basically give it 2 weeks on the numbers before playing around.

First we need to work out your calories that are needed each day we are going to use the basic formula which is the Mifflin, M.D, St Jeor formula

For females 10xweight (kg) +6.25 x height (cm) -5 x age (y)- 161=REE
males is 10xweight (Kg)x height (cm) -5 x age (y) +5=REE

ill do mine to show you 10x50+6.25 x 157- 5 x 28 - 161 = 1180 basically that's how many calories my body needs if I was to lie in bed and not move for 24 hours

next we need to work out if your sedentary- office job, little walking (REE x 1.2)
light activity- light walking, activity that burns 200-400 a day (REE x 1.375)
mod activity- waitress, on feet for most part of the day (REE x 1.55)
very active - professional sports person, or a manual labourer (REE x 1.725)

Heres mine: 1180 x 1.55 = 1829 so basically if I want to maintain weight I eat this amount, if I want to loose weight I eat less etc.

Now we need to work out proteins, and fats and carbs:

Protein is the fixed number, you either eat .8 to 1g of body weight, if you haven't been eating much protein then start at 0.8 and slowly add protein in overwise you could get stomach problems

so .8xbody weight = RDA of protein or 1g x body weight

For me I do 1g x 109 = 109g protein so that's my protein macro sorted

Now lets look at fats, fats are essential for hormones and brain function and every body takes to fat differently lets look at body structure,

Ectomorph: naturally lean person, about 25% of your diet

Endomorph: naturally heavier person, so more likely to utilize fats from diets, so about 35% of daily diet

Mesomorph: average body type and is inbetween the other two so about 30% of daily diet

Ectomorph = TDEE x .25
Mesomorph = TDEE x.3
Endomorph = TDEE x.3.5

Mine example would be 1829 x .25 = 457/9= 50 g fat

To find carbs its TDEE - protein- fat

1829-436-457= 936/4 (4 g of carbs to calorie) = 234 g of carbs

If you have any questions just ask, or you can go to iifym calculator to get it done for you

Progression

We all beat out self a up and see the negatives, stand in a scale and get disheartened because we have put on weight or maintained.

Pictures say a thousand words and there is no better way to track progression then pictures

Here is my progression from March to May, I have been ill in between those pics, but pic on left I'm tensing and have little muscle pic on right is today I am not flexing but my arms are more toned and a lot bigger.. 

Don't quit keep going even when you feel like you haven't made changes, go back and look at old pics and I'm sure you will all be surprised 

Jamie Eason live fit phase 2

I am on week 2 of phase 2 and I can def feel that I am getting stronger in all my lifts! I'm very pleased with how things are working out, my body fat is slowly lowering but my weight isn't changing much which is what I am aiming for as I don't have weight to loose

I now have little bit of definition in my arms without tensing which is great as I always had very skinny arms 

Ambassador

My hard work has finally paid off I am now ambassador with gym monkee www.gymmonkee.co.uk it's an up and coming clothing brand from the uk

My code for discount is leannefowler15

Measurements

I did my measurements before starting Jamie Eason live fit here they are:

Arm 10in

Waist 27in

Hips 31in

Thighs 20in

Shoulders 39in

Jamie Eason live fit week 2

Ok well I maybe had to skip out on a couple of workouts last week as I came down with a bug, however this week I have done back and biceps and felt so much stronger on my back than I have previously done.. Shoulders still my weak point but I will make them stronger 

Food this week and last week has been very healthy and full of micronutrients 

Meal diary

Here is my food diary for the last few days

Breakfast: 3 egg omelette with bacon medalions tomatoes and spinach

Snack: soya almond yoghurt porridge oats and chia seeds

Lunch: salmon fillet with sweet potato and asparagus

Snack: rice cakes with protein peanut butter

Dinner: wholemeal pasta with tin tomatoes and gammon steak

Pudding: chocolate cake/protein shake 

Jamie Eason live fit

I have decided to do Jamie Eason live fit with a mixture of volume training thrown in, I am really just trying to lean out my legs and keep my workouts mixed out a bit, as a mummy who works it's not always easy to get to the gym so rather than beat my self up or do nothing I fit in homework outs with lighter weights but more reps to feel the burn

Meal plan

I'm normally very good with meal planning but lately I have been terrible and just throwing things together, this week is my last week of normality before partner goes away with work for 2 weeks so I have actually planned my meals:

Left over roast

Gammon steak sweet potato chips and egg

Turkey steak with jacket spud and onions

Turkey schnitzel with mash and veg

Chicken strips veg and chips

Very simple but then as long as you have carbs protein fats and micronutrients with every meal then it really doesn't have to be hard work 

Glutes

Today I did glute workout

Leg extensions 4x12

Leg press 4x12

Squats 4x12

Lunges 4x12

Hack squats 4x12

Glute bridge 4x12

I have been off plan for ages due to being ill for ages so starting a fresh this week