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Today has just been one of those great days when I have been able to do exactly what I've felt like, cook good food and enjoy myself. I've basically spent most of the day lying in bed watching TV off the BBC iPlayer and 4On Demand and reading old cookery books. That sounds so bad! I feel like I should be doing something constructive with my time, but I think a bit of relaxation is what I've needed.

Thanks for the comments on my last post about me being in Health and Fitness Mag!

The hubby was off work today (and for the next two days) which is very rare as he usually has to work bank holidays, this meant that we could both have a lie in! When I did eventually surface I had my weekly weigh in and was happy to have lost 1lb. This puts me at 10st 1 which is the lightest I've ever been in my adult years. I'm still trying to figure out this weight maintenance stuff, I always seem to be gaining or losing but the trend over the past couple of months has been that I'm getting lighter. I don't actually want to get any lower than 10st, however I still freak out when I gain, even though I need to recognise that my body changes and my weight is going to naturally go up and down. I think I might still be addicted to the elation that follows a weight loss and this is something I'm going to have to keep an eye on if I ever want to successfully maintain my weight and have a healthy attitude towards it! I think the acceptance of being happy with my weight is what is leading me to enjoy exercise more for the sake of fitness rather than weight loss. I do still exercise to maintain my weight, but I'm increasingly enjoying it for how it makes me feel and for my increased fitness and strength. A good example of this is my running!

Friday would be my normal rest day but as me and the hubby are going to be out for the day tomorrow I switched. Before I headed out for a run I had a cup of green tea and the last of my home made fuel bars.


I ran 3.86 miles in 40.47 which is the longest distance I've ever ran, I felt really good on this run and I enjoyed the route I took, it had a good mix of uphill, downhill and flat sections. My times weren't as good as I'd hoped (not as good as last week), however I know that I could have easily pushed myself harder, I think in the back of my mind I was worried about the extra distance and didn't want to push too hard then not be able to finish, which is just daft as I was totally fine!
To reward myself for my run I made a fabulous breakfast. I made some vanilla pancakes using 3 egg whites, a scoop of vanilla whey, a tablespoon of spelt flour and a little rice milk (makes two pancakes). When the pancakes were made I spread them with almond butter and a dollop of 100% fruit strawberry jam and served them with two chopped pears. These were just so tasty!


Lunch was a huge bowl of chilli bean soup followed by an apple.


Mid afternoon I had some cottage cheese with lemon flavoured Nakd raisins and an orange.

I decided to mix the raisins in with my cottage cheese.


Yum! Out of all the flavoured raisins these were the ones I was expecting not to like but they were great and went very well mixed into the cottage cheese, it kind of reminded me of lemon cheesecake filling! For my reviews of the other Natural Balance Food products I posted about yesterday I'm going to try (or rather taste!) them out over the next month then I'll do a proper review (I will also give them mini reviews as I go, like above) and a giveaway! I'm really excited to be able to have a giveaway, and its not going to be just some of the Natural Balance stuff, I'm going to get creative! Just to note as well that I will be completely honest in any reviews I do.

I decided to have myself a lovely relaxing bath before dinner. Theres something so decadent about having a bath in the middle of the day, love it!

For dinner I made up some more Sesame Ginger Maple Tofu and served it with stir fried brocolli, pak choy, orange pepper and carrot with added soy sauce. So good!


And since it is now officially the Easter break I thought I'd treat myself to some chocolate for desert. I had a few squares of Green and Blacks Hazelnut and Currant Chocolate, the first of lots of chocolate this weekend!


Drinks - water, sparkling water, green tea, decaf tea, hazelnut and almond rice milk heated up with a peppermint tea bag.

So have you any big plans for the Easter weekend? Me and the Hubby are getting the train into Newcastle tomorrow to have a browse around the shops then meet up with my in laws for lunch (probably Italian) and some drinks. Then Sunday its lunch at my parents. I'm really looking forward to it, I just hope the weather holds up! Hope you have all had a lovely day and have a great weekend planned! x

Enjoyed another lie in today, its going to kill me when I go back to work! Decided to go to the gym so had a quick choco banana muffin as a snack (I had frozen some of the muffins I made last week, they freeze very well) to give me some energy along with a cup of warm water -
Hit the gym and did my usual cardio workout for 80 mins followed by my abs sets. Was starving when I got home so made a big bowl of porridge with skimmed milk and added a chopped apple and tablespoon of peanut butter, I'm on a nut butter kick this week!
While I was at Ikea yesterday I picked up this brilliant little kitchen gadget - an apple slicer. I love it! I know I can get way too excited about kitchen utensils but this is fab!
After I got showered from the gym I got straight back in my PJ's! I just love days like this when you can just chill out. The Hubby and me have had a great time watching movies and eating! For lunch I made a tuna salad with 1 tin of tuna, light mayo, chopped red onion, grated carrot, rocket and salad leaves

It was tasty but I bearly managed to eat half of it, I think I was still full from my porridge! A bit later on I had a bowl of chopped nectarine and white grapes
About mid afternoon I was in experimenting mode. My delivery of whey protein powder had arrived and I was keen to give it a try. I decided to make some more banana chocolate ice cream like last week but this time with a couple of tweeks.

Choco Banana Fudgey Protein Ice Cream!

1 Banana
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
2 tablespoons of hazelnut and almond rice milk
1 tablespoon of cocco powder
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter

Mix all ingredients in a blender till smooth (I got to try out my new blender, it worked great and was much quieter than the other one) then pour into a container suitable for the freezer and leave to freeze for at least 3 hours.
When its frozen it has a lovely fudgey texture, it was delicious and the protein in it really fills you up! I'm looking forward to trying out different flavours, going to try a vanilla berry one next I think.
I also got my food processor delivered today. Its just a fairly cheap model to keep me going.
Getting Lean made a great suggestion that I should ask all of you guys for recomendations on what blenders and food processors you use and how good they are so when I come to buy something perhaps a little more expensive I make the right choice! So please leave me a comment with any recomendations!
For dinner I made some mince and onions (lean beef mince and quorn mince) with chopped carrot and steamed brocolli and cauliflower, lovely comfort food!
Drinks - Water, green tea, decaf tea

Now I'm off to look through our DVD's and select another movie, ahh bliss!