Health & Happiness

Alongside exciting life events happening.. I am also on another quest of sorts. The quest to lose weight.
I have written many posts about my views on healthy eating changing lifestyles and dieting, and nothing seemed to hold my motivation for long; shakes are dull and have too many limitations, healthy eating and exercise just didn't seem to shift any weight. So i went back to my original tactics that helped me lose weight many years ago for my prom!

As a side note; can i say that I am sharing these with a little bit of discomfort; its hard to look at for me so please don't be too negative. 

 In the left photo (Dec 2014) I weighed by heaviest at 213lb, however it has been been almost 6 months of relatively clean eating (with some set backs; pizza is a dangerous enemy) and I have gone back to the lifestyle and food plan that helped me in my younger days to shed some pounds; Slimming World.
The photo on the right is what I took about 5 days ago; weighing my lightest at 189lbs! By no means am I done on my journey but it is a large step in the right direction which has made me unbelievably happy.
Clothes are beginning to fit again! I can wear dresses without worrying too much about a bulgy belly and I feel slightly sexier in nice things! Its a work in progress and hopefully i'm going to start running, 2 days a week at first and work my way up in the coming months to spur on my healthy diet.
One of my personal goals when I hit my Stone and a Half award at Slimming world (getting my half a stone this week hopefully!) is that I want to go out and buy some proper jeans! Not Jeggings but Jeans! I find them hideous to wear at the moment and am always wearing tops which are slightly baggy so I'm working on my confidence and then my wardrobe!

Finally, I'm keeping my motivation. Matt goes away for 3 months in the beginning of June and when he comes back I want one of those American sitcom-esque moments where i'm revealed as the ugly duckling into the swan with shiny lights and looking fabulous.
Obviously I know he love me now as I am, and I am not doing this for him, instead I want to start my life in my Twenties completely comfortable with myself and get myself ready for all of the important events that will be happening within this decade and when is a better time than to start now!

If you do want any information about Slimming World please get in touch; I am not an ambassador but I can help with questions about what it is like, what it requires and how to join yourself! Once you make the choice, you understand why you never go back!

The internet was made for.... Lowering self esteems & a hunting ground for disorders.

I have never had an eating disorder, ny father brought me up reminding me that we should eat to survive and to every once in a while treat myself. Paired with regular exercise, I can't damage myself. 

I was watching supersize vs superskinny, and they mentioned pro ana websites. I honestly laughed at first and thought, maybe these were a hit years ago surrounding the size zero campaign however, my curiousity got the better of me and I googled 'Pro-Ana' and the first 3 hits were pro ana tips, pro ana blog and pro ana tumblr.

 This made me feel awful, i picked the first link and i can only begin to demonstrate my horror now. 

Thinspiration

I read the list, and looked at it in horror. Without having a battle with it myself, I can only spectate at how lonely and sad individuals can feel going through any kind of disorder. But what made me angry, is that barely anything is done about the access to these sites, anyone, any gender, any age around the globe could access this horrendous content, which can cause so much harm. Why isn't more being done?! 

My faith was renewed slightly when i searched pro ana on Tumblr, and was met with this message. 

The Tell me more leads to contact lines for those suffering. well done Tumblr!



After seeing this, I re-read tumblr's terms and conditions, and it has updated them knowing what is occurring within the website, addressing it and other mental disorders as something that should not be ignored!
Sadly, I'm sure most people with disorders will say I am talking about something I have no understanding of and therefore I have no rights to comment. However what I do have is an understanding of self preservation and wanting to help others. So please, even if you do not know me, please please please reach out and talk! We have so many forms of social media these days, don't stay in silence and cut yourself off. If not me... go to the people who can really help and offer you guidance.

It's time for us all to stop suffering in silence and embrace every opportunity we have. Life is too short.

Society's Flaws. (This is not because I'm not a size 8)

Since I was a young girl, I have always been happy. I like food, I enjoy the amazing things it can do, the sense of accomplishment you get when you've cooked an amazing meal. I also know that the culture I have been raised into has shown the biggest increase in people eating fast food, and showing the ever expanding waistlines, especially in the UK and our cousins across the pond.

I'm more than happy to admit that I am 'over weight' and this isn't some fat girl crying about being thin, I believe that girls who are naturally very skinny deal wight he same anger at wanting to achieve this 'Perfect' Body.  So i just want to state that again, THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON SKINNY/LARGER/MEDIUM/ANY TYPE of girl. Or guy.

I was scrolling through my Facebook this morning and I came across a video called Instagrams Most Famous Butt. And it actually made me feel really sad, this woman stated about how she felt that she was trying to make the world healthy, that it 'touched' her that she saw girls went to the gym every day for a mont just to look like her. This made me feel physically ill, she's an attractive lady, no doubt a very lovely person, however what i am not down with is how they explained she got to the place she has.

Jen works out every morning/day for a hard work out, including eating loads of small meals a day to keep her metabolism up. 

 Not everyone can do that, some of us have other commitments be it 9-5 jobs, apprenticeships, university, or even home commitments, most of us can't afford the gym every single day or afford to do the type of shopping for food which allows women like her to get like that. Though honestly, the thing that upset me the most is that Rihanna is one of her followers. She's practically endorsing this sort of body image which led many men in the video to say Why can't there be more woman like her?

Maybe its my very small feminist voice shouting, or maybe I'm moaning about nothing, but every woman should be seen as beautiful, granted, we all have preferences to what we want in our eventual life partners, however it is wrong to suggest that everyone should look the same.

Finally. She got her fame through posting pictures of her bum, to me... thats not exactly a dignified way to shoot towards stardom.

G