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I was up nice and early this morning for my last date with Jillian for a while! I did Level 3 and the last circuit of Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred. As I'll be changing my training plan this week I'll be using a different DVD for my strength workouts. I was really craving a green monster after that so I made one using two big handfuls of spinach, frozen blueberries, scoop of vanilla whey, ground flax, hazelnut and almond rice milk and a little bit of water. It goes a bit of a funny colour but tastes very good!


I had a really stressful morning at work, I was ready to go mental at several points but I managed to chill out a bit by mid morning. It was one of the teams birthdays at the weekend so we all stopped for a tea and cake break. I didn't have any cake, it was one of those awful frozen chocolate gateux things, if I'm going to have cake I at least want it to be something extra nice! I had a quick look at the ingredients list and it was a mile long, nuff said really! I had an apple instead.


*polishes halo*
We did have quite an interesting conversation about food, healthy diet and children while having our tea. We all agreed how much we liked what Jamie Oliver has been doing both in this country and now in the US, we had all been shocked when he had visited a school very near us and all the kids had been eating chips and beans and pot noodles for dinner, its just scary.

For lunch I had some sweet potato and cabbage soup from my frozen stash, it was really tasty.


Followed by a juicy nectarine.

Mid afternoon I had another apple and two babybel lights.


I finished work a bit earlier, which makes a lovely change for a Thursday and headed to my newly refurbished supermarket. I think I'm really sad but I was quite excited to go! I got a load of stuff, including some trout and organic beef mince from the reduced to clear section. I also got some packs of miso soup to try out. I made myself a bowl when I got in to hold me over till dinner. It tasted really nice and savory so will be good for when I get those cravings for salty savory things, plus its only 26 cals a bowl so you can't go wrong!


Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

Was nicely suprised when I got home when I found that I had recieved a lovely box of goodies from the people at Natural Balance Foods! I was so excited when I opened the box and saw all this stuff!
I'm really looking forward to trying all of these things out. When I have I might even have my first ever blog giveaway! Another bit of good news, as mentioned in a post earlier in the week, is that I got an email saying that I had been choosen as Health and Fitness magazines June Issue Reader of the Month! That means a little piece in the magazine about me and a photo, plus I get a little prize. I know its not a really big deal but I've never been in a magazine before so I was quite chuffed!

Well now that we are almost offically in the Easter weekend I thought I'd end todays post with something nice and spring like. I bought myself a big bunch of flowers so that even if its raining outside it would feel a little bit more like spring.

Hope you have all had a great week and are looking forward to the Easter break! x

I was up way to early for a bank holiday due to the hubby having to be up for work so I decided to make the most of it and get in an early run. I had a green tea and one of my new home made fuel bars before I went out.


I made these fuel bars yesterday and this one tasted yummy! I had made these ones here a while ago but fancied trying something different this time.

Laura's fuel bars No 2

2 scoops of chocolate whey
1 1/2 cups of oats
4 tablespoons of peanut butter (I used smooth but you could try crunchy)
1 mashed banana
2 tablespoons of dried sour cherries
2 tablespoons of raisins
2 tablespoons of agave syrup
a little bit of water

Mix all of the ingredients together well, wait until you've given it a really good mix before deciding if its too dry as it took me a while to get everything to combine and then it was nice and sticky. Push the mixture into a baking tray (I lined mine with clingfilm to make it easier to cut later) then top with clingfilm and pop in the freezer for about an hour.


Remove from the freezer before it freezes solid and cut into squares. Wrap in foil and keep in freezer for quick snacking!

Then I went out for my run, I chose a fairly hilly route of 5 miles. It looked lovely and sunny from the flat but when I got out it was freezing cold. I didn't have my wooly gloves I sometimes wear so my hands went numb about 5 minutes in. Then the rain and wind started. It was awful, I was worried about getting my iPhone wet (which was strapped to my arm), I stopped at one point to try and make sure it was ok, but luckily the strap does a good job of keeping it dry. I did 5 miles in 47.30. There were two big hills in the last couple of miles that nearly killed me, but at least the bad weather gave me the will to move faster in order to get home quicker. I did the last mile in under 9 minutes (8.55 and this was on the flat) - a definite personal best for me.

When I got home I could bearly open the door my hands were so numb, I really need to invest in some proper running gloves if such things exist! I did some stretching, my new abs workout (I also managed a personal best in my plank - 1 min 20 secs!) and a few yoga poses to stretch my hips out.

Breakfast was lovely pancakes, perfect for a rainy bank holiday! I made up a pancake batter of 1 scoop of vanilla whey, 2 tablespoons of oats, 3 egg whites and a few blueberries and served the cooked pancakes with more blueberries, natural yoghurt, maple syrup and chopped pecans.


These were fat and filling little pancakes, just gorgeous!

For lunch I had a bowl of speedy soup - sachet of miso soup,  tsp of vegetable bouillion, red onion and torn spinach leaves with two savory rice cakes.


Followed by a chopped apple with cinnamon and maca and an orange.


We were supposed to be having a barbeque today at my parents with my sister, bro in law and nephew, but due to the typical British bank holiday weather we ended up just having a lovely feast indoors!


My Mam is a wonderful cook and made some home made quiche and cheese scones. There was also a pizza and some steamed new potatoes added to the table after I took this pick. I had a slice of quiche and a slice of thin crust pizza, a cheese scone with butter, loads of salad, a little bit of coleslaw and some carrot sticks with onion and garlic dip.


I then had two big bowls full of fresh strawberries, raspberries and grapes for desert (avoiding the chocolate cake and cream!) I went and picked the hubby up from work and brought him through so he could have some food too.


I had another cheese scone with butter as these were just delicious!

I decided to finish the day off with a simple green monster - spinach, frozen banana and hazelnut and almond rice milk.


Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

Well I have managed to get most of my to do list done, all thats left is getting my box of DIY stuff out ready to paint my window sills and doing my inspiration board! I still have a big pile of magazines that I'd like to sort through before I make it and as I'm not working any really late ones I should get this done by the end of the week. I also did my review of Natural Balance Foods and my GIVEAWAY post - check it out if you haven't done already! The comments have been great, I've already got loads of beauty tips!

At least this week is going to be a short one, I'm looking forward to next weekend already! Hope your all having a good week, and if you've had today off for the bank holiday in the UK I hope you've had a good one! x

I started the day off with Davina again! I'm quite happy that this is the last time I'll be doing this particular DVD for a while, as its feeling very repetative now! I'm due to review my training plan at the weekend and will be moving on to a new DVD for my strength workouts, although its highly likely to be another one of Davinas. Its a good job I like her or else I'd be pretty sick of the sight of her by now!

After doing the DVD and showering I made myself a lovely smoothie in a bowl with spinach, frozen blueberries, scoop of vanilla whey, vanilla rice milk and a spoonful of smooth peanut butter. I topped it with a sprinkling of grape nuts for added crunch.


I really enjoy having the smoothies in a bowl as I feel I can sit and enjoy eating them a lot more than having to chug them down from my shaker cup whilst getting dressed in a rush. Definitely worth trying to spare the time to sit and enjoy.

I had almost back to back meetings today, so I took a Trek Cocoa Brownie Bar with me to snack on in the morning. This was lovely and tasty, just like the nakd coco loco bar but with added soya crispies.


One of the meetings I attended were offering a buffet for lunch, but the Trek bar had really filled me up so I was happy to just snack on some fresh strawberries and grapes.

When I eventually got back to the office I had a late lunch of a wholemeal pitta stuffed with hummus, turkey and spinach, some carrot and cucumber and finished off with two small peaches.


I think that because don't eat bready stuff that often, this pitta bread tasted extra yummy!

Before I left for my late meeting I snacked on some cottage cheese and a little container of grapes and a chopped kiwi.


On my way home I hit the shops to stock up on my fresh produce to keep me going over the weekend and then headed home. I was so glad to get home I just crashed out for half an hour! I then had four rice cakes topped with savory cottage cheese (cottage cheese mixed with nutritional yeast) and an apple topped with cinnamon and maca.


I'm definitely getting more converted on the taste of the nutritional yeast, the extra savory flavour of the cottage cheese seemed to make this even more filling. I also plan on eating this vanilla chia seed pudding before bed.

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you have all had a great day. My day has been totally filled with chocolate, which I'm guessing many of yours will have been too! I'm posting a bit earlier than usual today so I can spend a bit more time with the Hubby before he's back at work tomorrow.

I had started out the day with good intentions. I was due Tae Bo, strength and yoga workouts today but I knew that I would be pushing it on the time front as I wanted to make sure I spent some quality time with the Hubby as well as going to my parents for lunch. Instead I decided that I would do a quick 2 mile run followed by just 2 sets of each of my strength routines. Before I headed out I thought I would try out one of the Nakd Cocoa Orange bars as fuel along with a cup of green tea.


This was delicious! It was not what I was expecting at all, it was soft and had a beautiful chocolate orange flavour. I could easily replace a chocolate bar with one of these and still feel satisfied. I will definitely be buying some more of these! However, delicious as it was, it didn't make the greatest pre run fuel, I think it was just a bit too heavy.

I headed out for my run and the weather was beautiful. I really pushed myself as it was only the two miles, and I did it in 18.23. My runkeeper app was a bit glitchy so I didn't get my mile times but they must have been somewhere around 9 minutes a mile which isn't too bad for me, especially as my tummy felt a bit off. When I got back I did my strength routines followed by some stretching.

Breakfast was really good, I had been inspired by a recipe for a smoothie I had seen which included blueberries, pecans and maple syrup. I made up some porridge with water and added a scoop of vanilla whey along with some frozen blueberries then returned it to the microwave for a minute to warm through again. I then topped it with pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup. Yum!



After breakfast me and the Hubby just chilled out and watched a couple of old episodes of Lost. While watching that he got the Cadburys Creme Eggs out! I had two (!)


I felt like a totally piggy after eating them (and a bit bloated and sickly), although Easter wouldn't be Easter without Creme Eggs. I eventually got myself ready and dressed and headed to my parents for lunch. My Sis and Bro in law also came along with my little Nephew Harry and my Grandma came along too. For lunch I had two thick slices of roast beef with gravy and some steamed brocolli and carrots (I passed on the mashed and roast potatoes).


Followed by a slice of lemon meringue roulard with some fresh raspberries (I went back for more raspberries)


I also had a couple of spoonfuls of homemade triffle! After lunch my Mam made up an Easter Egg hunt for my little Nephew. He was running around the house finding mini eggs and just chucking them everywhere! I had two of them, they were chocolate with a praline filling and absolutley gorgeous!


I was also given a Lindt Dark Chocolate Bunny from my parents as my Easter gift.


It didn't last very long!



I thought that I might as well have my chocolate blow out today and just get it all eaten in one go however, one thing about dark chocolate is that I just can't stomach great quantities of the stuff like I can with milk chocolate so I only managed to decapitate the bunny (I took its whole head off after taking the pic!), saving its body for another time.

After I'd eaten that I had a bit of a tummy ache (unsuprisingly!) I drank loads of water and green tea and snacked on an apple to prevent me from going back for more chocolate!


Right now I'm really not hungry but I expect that I will be a bit later, even after my day of total over eating! I think I might have a bowl of miso soup, some rice cakes and a bit of fruit if I fancy it.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

As I feel like I've really overindulged this weekend, I'm going to try and be extra good for the next few days, watching my carbs and trying not to snack between planned meals.

I also had some fantastic news today, my cousin and close friend Catherine got engaged today! Her Fiance had 'Will you Marry Me' iced on to a chocolate egg! How sweet! I'm totally made up for her, she really deserves happiness so a big congratulations to Catherine and Gareth!

How has all of your Easter Sundays been? I hope you've had a good one and have enjoyed plenty of chocolate just like me! x

Back at the beginning of the month I received a lovely box full of goodies from Natural Balance Foods to review -


I've been eating these throughout the month as well as sharing them with some of my family for them to have a try too. Have a look over at the Natural Balance Foods website for more info. Basically all their stuff is based on dried fruit and nuts, no artifical nasties which is right up my street!