Day 117 - Garden Progress!

The garden is taking shape now, hopefully by the weekend it will be finished! We have wanted to change the patio area since we moved in, but due to other financial ties we have been unable to. I am so glad we are now getting to improve our home!



Food -

Breakfast - Porridge

Lunch - Leftover salad from yesterdays dinner at my parents. I added some coleslaw and potato salad to it for some extra crunch!

Dinner - Homemade italian thin crust vegetable pizza. I was intending to take a picture but I was just too hungry and it tasted too damn good!

Exercise -

15 minute ab workout

Today I have been spending alot of time updating my blog and getting it more user friendly, but have a long walk planned for tomorrow evening. I can't wait to get out in the autumn sunshine!

Day 116 - Family Time

Not much to report today guys, I had a lovely relaxing day seeing friends and family!

My parents cooked a lovely meal of homemade burgers, made with extra lean mince, chirizo and onion, served with some french fries (I caved and had a few) with lots of yummy salad. It was nice to get together and eat tasty food!

It was then my little niece's turn for her tea, I am glad to say I don't get in as much mess when I eat. Heck, I wouldn't waste my food like that!

After she had been cleaned up I then read her a couple of books and had cuddles. There is nothing better :)

Day 115 - Green Fingers!

Don't you just love the weekends?! Even when you spend most of your weekend doing chores, well in my case, I still love the weekends! This weekend, with the weather still being quite nice, we decided to start sorting out our garden. We have wanted to sort out our patio area for a very long time, but just haven't had the time/money/effort to do it! So we started the day like this...

We are extending our patio slightly and will be laying down gravel for most of it. We have ummed and ahhed whether to use slabs or gravel, and personally I think gravel looks better, and thankfully is alot cheaper! Here is the other half working hard laying the railway sleepers which will act as the edge of the patio. I am impressed so far!

Whilst he was hard at work laying the railway sleepers, I repainted some of the fences (we are replacing some of them shortly) and moved some of the plants we were keeping further down the garden. When we lay the new patio area we are going to have several plant pots instead of a border. I have never been one for gardening but am really enjoying this project!

This is how the garden looked after our first day of work...

The railway sleepers are place and ready for the gravel. Before that we've got to level the surface, but hopefully that won't take too long!

After spending all day in the garden I can confirm it is a very good workout! My legs were quite stiff from crouching down, and I just generally felt like I had worked very hard - which I had!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Ellie x

Day 114 - Week 16 Weigh In & Progress Pictures

Start Weight: 13st 10lbs

Last Weeks Weight: 13st 0.4lbs

This Week: 13st 0.4lbs


Measurements:

Arms - 29cm
Chest - 101cm
Waist - 84cm
Hips - 114cm
Thigh - 62cm

No change again! Two weeks without any changes. To be honest I can see why there hasn't been any change. I did over indulge on my birthday last week so am still probably paying for that!

I'm not expecting weight loss every week, but definitely want to get into the 12's very soon!!

Today was a good day, after work I went for a brief walk and then out for a few drinks with the girls to celebrate one of my best friends birthdays. It was such a lovely night and it felt good to dress up a little!

Now, it's been a little overdue but I have included some progress pictures. Below are pictures taken in the first day of my new healthy lifestyle plan, 114 days ago, and this is me today. Can you tell a difference? I think I can, and can now see where I need to make improvements!

Excuse the picture quality, I really need to teach the other half how to take pictures properly! I think from this picture you can tell there is some change in my face, not so much anywhere else though!

 Now this is my favourite picture of the bunch! I think it is quite clear to see there is some weightloss from this picture. Plus, I am in my size 12 jeans in the pictures on the right which makes me feel amazing! They are a little on the snug size, but that is only making me want to lose weight more for them to fit properly.

Urgh, this is really where I need to work hard. Even though you can see an improvement, I seriously need to work on the back fat! I have never really taken much notice about my back, and just generally concentrated on the normal areas women are concious about, waist, hips, thighs etc, but can honestly say I need to and want to work alot harder on reducing the fat on my back. I mean, it just looks horrid! Luckily I rarely wear fitted tops (I do for the pictures to help show my body shape as easily as possible) so most people might not notice it, but taking this second picture has given me the kick up the backside I needed... again!

I have decided I will now be taking pictures monthly to monitor my progress, and I would love to see any progress pictures you have!

Ellie x

Day 113 - Broccoli Addict

Do you ever get that urge, when you suddenly crave a food and you just HAVE to have it there and then?

Well I got that today... for broccoli. Of all things!

So I went all out and had a whole broccoli floret with Stilton and broccoli flavoured pasta. The instructions for this pasta says to use milk and water with optional butter, but I only cook it with water as a healthier option and it taste yummy!

I thought I wouldn't bore you with another picture of porridge and blueberries, but that is what I ate for my breakfast, and had a ham salad for my lunch.

Join me tomorrow for another weigh in!!!!