Love from, Florence Grace

As always, my first New Year's Resolution for 2017 was to lose weight/get fit. I always find it quite hard to talk about my personal relationship with my body and weight because I'm such a strong advocate of body positivity and I feel that by talking about dieting I'm going against everything I believe in. I think everyone should embrace the body they're in, as long as they're happy and healthy. Whilst I am definitely a lot happier and healthier than I used to be, I'm still not fully happy and healthy, and that's why I'm trying to lose weight. However, it's not just about the weight for me; I want to get fitter too! Just because it would be nice to walk up the stairs without getting out of breath, you know? Anyway. Whenever I lose weight, I change my eating habits accordingly and eat a lot more 'good' food and a lot less 'bad' food (although I do still indulge in treats like pizza and crisps every now and again!) but the one thing...

I think there must  be something wrong with me, because this evening I had the urge to go for a run. Like, I actually wanted  to go running! How weird, right?  But you know, because I'm doing this whole get fit, get healthier thing, I made sure that I went. I got my work done, got into my Ivy Park gear and then went for it. I really, really went for it. Normally on my runs, I run and walk and run and walk and run and walk, using lamp posts as markers to stop and start at. However, today, I ran and walked and then ran. Yep, I only stopped once!  I ran faster than normal too, really pushing myself. I put on some really fast, upbeat music, focused on the horizon and really sprinted- I have always been more of a short distance runner than a long distance one and I find sprinting so much easier.  I also took a bottle of water along with me, something I don't normally do, and I'm wondering if keeping hydrated throughout the run actually helped m...

It's been one week since I started my new 'diet' of eating healthy foods that I actually enjoy...and boy am I enjoying it! Who would have though that I would ever enjoy eating healthy foods, and yet here I am, having eaten more fruit and vegetables in the last week than I have done in the last, I don't know, six years or so! Anyway, as it's been one week, I thought I'd share my food diary with you so you could see what's been going on... Monday. Breakfast: Bowl of Coco Pops, glass of water.  Lunch: 4 cream crackers with low fat margarine and ham, a handful of button mushrooms and some prawns with two glasses of water. Dinner: Pitta Pizzas (one pitta bread with tomato pizza base sauce, three slices of mozzarella and three slices of pepperoni), two spoonfuls of home made potato salad and some ordinary salad consisting of lettuce, pepper, spring onions and cucumber. No chips!  I also had one glass of a tropical fizzy drink from the fridge as ...

So yesterday I told you guys how I was trying out a new way of thinking about food, improving my eating habits in an attempt to help my weight loss plateau. I feel like today has gone pretty well, so thought I'd share how it went with you guys!  (P.S I know this is the third time round I've done this on my blog, I'm so sorry if you're bored!) Breakfast.  Small bowl of coco pops (I hadn't been healthy food shopping yet!) and a glass of water.  Walk to work, shopping, walk back from work- did around 3,500 steps.  Lunch. 4 cream crackers with butter, one slice of ham shredded across the four crackers, a handful of button mushrooms and some prawns. Lunch came to around 300 calories, which isn't bad at all! I also had 2 glasses of water.  Went on a Pokemon walk with my sister for around 45 minutes, taking my steps up to just over 9,000.  Dinner. Pitta Pizzas- pitta bread with pizza topping sauce, some mozarella cheese, and ...

So as you will know, I've been trying (yet again ) to slim down, tone up and boost my health. I've been trying to get in 10,000 steps a day (or as close as I can) by going on long walks, which has been especially nice now that the weather is better in the evenings! I've also done something else a little different the past two days... I have cut down on my carbs! Now, those of you who know me will know what a huge  deal this is for me. Bread, pasta, crisps , it's all my favourite! I eat carbs excessively and not much else, due to the fact I strongly dislike almost all fruit and vegetables! However, my mum has been encouraging me to cut back on the carbs and I have already  seen a difference!  Of course, I can't- and never would- cut out carbs completely. But I am trying to only have one, maybe two carb-y things a day. For example, my carbs were the bread in my sandwich, and three small new potatoes with my dinner- I had salad and a chicken breast w...

Weight loss, body image and feeling comfortable in your own skin is something I blog about pretty regularly. As of April 1st, I began trying a new technique for losing weight and getting fitter. Rather than restricting myself to a strict diet that I knew I would fail at all over again, I set myself something a little more realistic- doing 10,000 steps a day and eating a set amount of calories per day; 1,400 to be exact. If I go over the calories, I have to do more steps, simple as!  Well, it's been two weeks since I started this regime so I thought that I would update you guys on how it's going. I have quite often been below my calorie intake, normally consuming 1,200 rather than 1,400. Sometimes I have gone over (usually at the weekend when I have a movie night with my sister or something similar!). I have only once  hit my goal of 10,000 steps. I usually average between 5,000 and 7,000. Considering I used to do only 2,000 steps (according to the app I am using) th...

I have been blogging every single day since January 1st 2016. Trust me, this has been no easy feat, not only because it's a struggle finding time but also it can be such a struggle coming up with things to write about! I know that I am not alone when it comes to struggling with blog ideas, so I thought in this post I would share some blog topic ideas with you, to help you all out!  If you're a fashion blogger... - An outfit of the day post. - Recreate a celebrities outfit. - Review your favourite brand. - A shopping haul. - A themed shoot e.g. boho or hipster. - Do a style make over on a friend and photograph it. - Get your friend/boyfriend to select an outfit for you and photograph it.  - Buy an outfit for a set price e.g. £10 and blog about it. - A wardrobe tour. - A charity shop challenge... buy as much as you can for a set price. If you're a lifestyle blogger... - Write about your views on a current trending topic. - 10 facts...

"Flo, you should come to the gym with us" Chloe from work said.  It's not the first time someone has invited me to the gym, and it's not the first time I have declined either. I know I need to lose some weight- just a stone- to be what my doctor will consider "healthy", but I just feel too embarrassed to go to the gym, even with friends.  Initially, this is why I had joined Katie Hopkins' "Fat Club" on Facebook. The motto of the group is "Eat less, move more", and that's exactly what they all do. I've seen some amazing transformations, people who are shedding weight like nobodies business simply by walking 10,000 steps a day and eating a little less junk food than they did before. It seems so easy, so why am I still unable to do this? I've tried diets, work out DVD's, more recently I've taken to running...yet nothing seems to work. And I think it's because of this; I have an unhealthy relatio...

So, after the high hopes I had of being super productive today, I actually had a really  lazy day. Okay, okay so I kind of have an excuse for the lack of running- the weather was appalling  and so I really couldn't face going for a run in the freezing cold and the rain. However, I did take the time that I wasn't running to properly analyse other areas of my life that I need to improve on in order to become healthier generally. I have reached the following conclusion and made some small goals for myself: - Sleep for no more than 8 hours a day. I used to sleep for 4-6 hours, but more recently with my flexible work hours I've been sleeping for up to 10. I thought it made me feel better, but actually its made me feel groggy and sluggish. I'm aiming to sleep for 7-8 hours a night now! - Drink more water. I have got into a horrible  habit of drinking just one  drink a day, usually around 6pm with my dinner! I know, I know, shocking isn't it. If I drink more...

Last week seemed to fly by, and I never got around to posting my fitness updates, so this week you have the last two weeks combined- sorry about that!  The week two weeks, as it happens, have been terrible. I have stopped working out completely, with my only exercise being the occasional bike ride (three times, to be precise) and walking everywhere. My eating has been moderately okay  with me usually reaching 1,300 calories max- however, I have had a quite a few calorific meals with my boyfriend, including take out pizza and a BBQ.  So let's look at my statistics this week... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs And here is where I am now... Current Weight:  11 st 4 lbs Current Waist Measurement:  31.5 inches. Weight left to lose:  1 stone 4 lbs As you can see, both my weight and waist measurement has crept back up- this is through no ones fault b...

Since this week has a bank holiday, I have been all out of sync, and I totally forgot about doing a fitness post on Monday! So here it is now, better late than never. I have been under my calories every single day, which is good in one respect, but as I only limit myself to 1200 calories a day, this isn't particularly healthy. On Thursday, I actually had minor surgery on my toes, which have been causing me grief for seven months, more so in the last two months, and this surgery meant that I have been able to move a bit more, so I have managed to do Tae Bo once, and I'm hoping to build this up over the next week and beyond. So let's look at my statistics this week... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs And here is where I am now... Current Weight:  11 st 2 lbs Current Waist Measurement:  30 inches. Weight left to lose:  1 stone 2 lbs  As per usu...

This week has been slightly better than last week's dud week; I have eaten less and moved more! I even went out in a CROP TOP which is a massive, massive step for me, so I was very proud of myself!  Due to my feet, I've still not been able to do any major work outs, but have been doing my russian twists and crunches, reverse crunches and squats and press ups too. I reduced my tummy size in inches, and remembering that I was 36 inches around the tummy before I started doing this strictly, then started this at 33 inches, to now be 31.5 inches is a huge achievement for me!  I have walked a lot this week, around my local town, to and from places, around a vintage car rally and went on a  bike ride. I had one unhealthy meal whilst I was celebrating an achievement with my boyfriend, but besides that, I have been under my calorie intake almost every single day.  So let's look at my statistics this week... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement: ...

This week has been slightly better than the last, although still not spectacular. My feet problems have deteriorated massively, making walking hard enough as it is, let alone working out properly. Tae Bo has been a massive no-no for me. However my fitness crazy mum has shown me some fab workouts to tone my tummy that don't involve using my feet, so I have been able to work out a little. My calories have all been controlled this week and there was only one day where they were really, really bad, and that was when I went out for a meal with friends at a Whetherspoons restaurant, where the high amount of calories is kindly written on the menu for you! So let's look at my statistics this week... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs And here is where I am now... Current Weight:  11 st 4 lbs Current Waist Measurement:  31.7 inches. Weight left to lose:  1 stone...

Sigh . Another dud week for me unfortunately! Not that I'm making excuses for myself, but my foot problems have got progressively worse over the last two weeks and it makes every day living hard enough, let alone working out, so Tae Bo was only done once! However I did use my Slender Tone belt 4 times...and then the batteries died!  Food this week has been average- not particularly healthy, not particularly unhealthy either, and I have still done lots of walking (trying to push through my foot pain!) So let's look at my statistics... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs And here is where I am now... Current Weight:  11 st 4 lbs Current Waist Measurement:  32.0 inches. Weight left to lose:  1 stone 4 lbs  Yes, sadly I put 1lb back on...however, I neither lost nor gained anything on my tummy measurement wise, so I'm not too down about it- I kn...

So another week has passed us by already- crazy, right?! I must confess this week, Tae Bo happened...well, just once. I know, I know, I'm awful. It's the Slender Tone belt! I can tone up whilst watching movies, tidying my room, blogging...anything! I have still been walking here, there and everywhere and have been on a bike ride this week, but I need to get back into my Tae Bo routine! My eating has been fine all week, with me reaching 1,200 calories everyday, sometimes working out less than that dependent on the exercise that I have done that day. Yesterday was a bit of a bad day as I had a picnic style lunch, and I can't control my portions well when there's finger food! For dinner, I had pizza, but portion control came into play and I had one slice instead of two! So, here are my original statistics from 4 weeks ago... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs And here is where I...

S o this week, mother nature has intervened, and I have unfortunately given in to sweet cravings and lack of exercising due to pains and tiredness... so because of this, I decided not to measure or weigh myself. Apparently you're only meant to do it every two weeks anyway, as it fluctuates a lot in women...if anyone could confirm this for me, that would be appreciated!  So here's a quick reminder of where I started, two weeks ago... Start Weight:  11st 4lbs Waist Measurement:  33 inches Goal Weight:  10 stone How much I want to lose a week:  2 lbs Here is where I am now... Current Weight:  11 st 2 lbs Current Waist Measurement:  32.5 inches. Weight left to lose:  1 stone 2 lbs  This week I have been under my calories most day, but I have had to finish off lots of my easter chocolate as it is beginning to melt in these random mini heat waves we have been having! I've been doing my tae bo, and I have also started to use a slende...