My friends will tell you i lost a lot of weight prior to my wedding, so much so that my wedding dress had to have over 3 inches taken out of the boddice so it would fit me! I achieved this by eating more healthily and exercising 3 times a week at a local branch of the gym franchise Curves.
I have had gym memberships before and spent over an hour in the gym 3 times a week and not really seen any results so, having heard good things about curves I decided to go and check it out. The work out takes just 30 minutes and much to my pleasure there's not a treadmill or rowing machine in sight. It is basically a circuit of hydraulic machines which each work a different part of your body. These machines each have a recovery board in between each of them. You start at any point on the circuit using each machine for 30 seconds. The idea is that you work as hard as you possibly can for those 30 seconds and then you move onto a recovery board which allows your muscles to recover while you do some kind of cardio exercise to keep your heart rate up. In my club you go round the circuit twice and then finish by stretching. All in all you are in and out in hald an hour. I read a lot about curves before I joined and there were differing opinions of whether it worked or not with some people commenting they didn't break a sweat when working out there. I honestly don't understand these comments, my mum and I have both worked out at curves and will both admit that sometimes we've worked so hard we've actually felt sick after a session.
I joined just under a year before my wedding and was astounded with the results! I was toned and actually had abs! I came across one of my honeymoon photos the other day where I was in my bikini and I can't believe how much weight I had lost.
Unfortunately having returned from honeymoon, where we ate and drank like it was going out of style. 2 weeks in an all inclusive resort in Mexico where the food is all a la carte and having 3 courses for lunch and dinner is no friend to a trim waistline. When I got home I'd got out of the habit of going to the gym and slipped back into my old eating habits. We love eating out and so the weight slowly crept back on. Then in June I slipped on the kitchen floor and tore ligaments in my ankle and foot and was told by the dr not to do any exercise at all for 2 months. This was the final nail in the coffin and I suddenly realised that I was very uncomfortable with my size. Some of my clothes really didn't fit me any more and seeing the photos from honeymoon really gave me a kick up the back side. So now I'm embarking on a new health regime to loose some weight. I'm only doing this because I am no longer happy with the way I look and want to loose some weight. It's immensely important that you loose weight for the right reasons, I.e for yourself not for anyone else!
For the last few weeks I've been eating a lot more healthily with the help of my husband. We've been making fruit salads for breakfast, not snacking on crisps and having more balanced evening meals and virtually no eating out! I've also gone back to curves! I've thought long and hard about documenting this journey on here and have decided that I will share with you all my progress because I actually think it will help keep me motivated.
Next week I will have a weigh and measure session at curves, which I am very scared about as I have put on a lot of weight, and I will share those with you so you can follow my progress with Curves.
This evening I'm going to a BBQ for my friend Becky's birthday, no doubt she'll read this so Happy Birthday for tomorrow Becks! I've made a rice salad for this evening which is really healthy, I've stolen the recipe from my Mum so I'll give her the credit for it.
I don't have exact measurements because I sort of just eyeballed the amounts, in hindsight I think I've made quite a lot but there are a few of us this evening so fingers crossed it will all go!
You will need:
Long grain rice
Cucumber
Red onion
Sweetcorn
Peas
Coriander
Green or red pepper
Apple
Dressing - I used honey and mustard
Mayonnaise
Garlic purée
First I cooked the rice and then chopped all my veg up into small chunks. I cooked the frozen peas and then ran them under cold water to cool. I mixed all the veg and the apple in a large serving bowl and when the rice was cooked ran it under cold water until cool and then mixed this in as well. I then added about 6 tablespoons of light honey mustard dressing to the salad and gave it a good mix. I mixed a small amount of garlic purée with 3 good heaped tablespoons of light mayo and then added this in as well. Voila the recipe is complete!
I hope you all are enjoying this rare sunny day in the uk and have a great weekend!!
Lauren x x x x x
