Curly Hair...

I

Having been blessed/cursed with naturally very curly hair I have spent a large amount of time searching for the perfect hair care products. I have tried many different ones from cheap own brand ones to expensive professional products but have always returned to John Frieda. 

While I like a number of his products, the two I cannot live without are Frizz Ease unwind curls and extra strength hair serum 

My routine with these products is pretty easy and simple as with my hair I have found the less I do with it the better it looks in it's curly state. I simply shampoo,  then condition (combing the conditioner through) my hair and then prior to drying I apply about three pumps of serum right through to the ends. I then wrap a towel round my hair while I get dried then simply comb my hair then apply the unwind cream with my fingers... No scrunching, I just run my fingers through with it on. Then I leave it. No hair dryer or anything as the dryer dries my hair right out.

This has been pretty much my hair care routine for the curly look since I stopped wearing it in a French plait or bun in my late teens! 

This is the only picture I could find but that is pretty much my curly look.

I do at times like a change so in order to achieve straight hair I follow the same routine, let my hair dry naturally, apply a heat protecting spray and use my GHDs

I recently purchased a hair extension piece (syn half wig in blondette) from hair rehab London which I like to use to add volume and length. I always clip bits back though and back comb them just a little as my face is quite thin so having it all down drags my face down and makes it look even longer.

Finally a third look I like to do is to use my curling tongs to achieve waves (that's right I straighten only to recurl again). I use some really cheap Nicky Clark Tongs I got off eBay about 7 years ago but they do the job. All I do is curl sections and clip a bit back then put on a ton of hair spray,! 

So these are my three main hair looks. Most of the time however it does get scraped back into a pony tail or bun in between washes! 

To anyone with curly hair... I would certainly recommend these two John Frieda products x

Keep on Running...

In my last post I mentioned that I have started to run on the treadmill at the gym. This is actually going quite well. I am able to now begin with a 5 minute warm up walk on a slight incline and then continue with a run to 5k and have started to add a few bursts of sprinting into the mix. My goal is to run 5k in 30 minutes comfortably. I would also like to build up to 10k but I will have to do this by varying walk/run/walk etc. I am not sure this will be so easy as I find once I go back down to a walk its hard to get running again which is why I simply push myself to run for 5k rather than try for a slower pace but longer distance.

I do however spend at least 20 minutes on the cross trainer in addition to my treadmill workout. I would like to introduce more regular weight based exercises too to develop my muscle tone but I have put on a few pounds over Easter so cardio and fat burning is my priority at the moment.

In addition I have been trying to do Charlotte's belly blast when I can and I am telling you, 'it is hard!'. I like it as it is broken down into three minute routines so you never feel like a routine is dragging on and they go cardio, resistance, cardio etc... The times I have done the DVD five 3 minute work outs have done me right in. Honestly it is harder than 30 minutes running or cross trainer work-not sure how it compares in terms of burning calories though. I have added an app to my phone called 7 minute workout which I try and squeeze in as and when I can as 7 minutes is nothing really.

The weather is improving so I am also going to make a conscious effort to get out more and simply walk more with the kids as at the end of the day walking is a free activity and we are fortunate to live in an area with plenty of parks and decent country side.

another gym update

It has been almost 3 months since I embarked on my New Years gym resolution. I'm pretty pleased with myself that not a week has gone by in 2015 that I have not managed at least 3 visits a week.

I'm not really on a mission to lose weight so my goal weight wise is to stay under 9st 6. My weight varies by about 3lbs throughout the week anyway. More importantly though my aim is to develop muscle tone and gain in strength and fitness.

I have been doing the same routine for a while now and while I feel I am quite fit in terms of cardio vascular exercise; as soon as anything requires any strength I struggle. I am so jealous when I see people doing squats and lunges with weights and press ups and burpees.

So I have decided to change my workout a bit. As the weather improves I want to replace gym workouts without door running so In preparation I will do 25 minutes on the treadmill (plus 5 warm up and 5 cool down) gradually increasing the length of time I can run for. Today I began by 5 minutes run, 2 minute walk on a low incline 5 minutes run etc.... Following this I will be using arm and leg machines then finally abdominal work.

I have ordered a DVD too... Charlotte Crosby 3 minute belly blast so on my non gym days I will do a couple of workouts from this. 

Xxx

Healthy biscuits

These are pretty much my own concoction of various healthy ingredients thrown together. The dough was delicious raw and they are pretty yummy when cooked too. 

Here we go:

Ingredients: 

100g whole meal self raising flower

1 teaspoon cinnamon, 

teaspoon of cocao powder 

3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil,

3 table spoons of honey or maple syrup, 25g designated coconut, 

splash of coconut or almond milk if it's a bit dry

Dried fruit and chopped nuts (to decorate)

Simply mix and push the ingredients together until they form a ball of dough

Roll out the dough and cut out shapes and place them on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Decorate if you wish with dried fruit and chopped nuts

Bake at 200 in the oven for 10 minutes x

Healthy baking...

Since I have been trying to stop eating so much pre prepared convenience food I have been trying out some clean eating baking.

My total favourite is banana bread. It is absolutely yummy and I make about 3 loaves a week. Me and the kids eat it for breakfast and I give it them for supper too. I cannot in anyway take credit for it so here is the link http://thekitchenshed.co.uk/clean-eating-wholewheat-banana-bread/

I have been experimenting to try and make some kind if healthy cereal bar. I tried one concoction with loads of mashed banana and oats but it didn't turn out very well. 

I therefore decided it needed something to bind it together more so I increased the amount of coconut milk, honey and coconut oil and it's actually turned out rather nice. I didn't weigh the ingredients but kind if added what I thought best to achieve a nice consistency. Basically I used:

Oats probably about 150g

Small amount of granola (as this does have added sugar)

Desinated coconut (again small amount as it's high in fat)

Honey (about 75ml)

Coconut oil (about 75ml)

Splash of coconut milk

Dried fruit (handful)

1 mashed banana 

I melted the honey and coconut oil in the microwave then added into the other ingredients in a mixing bowl, smushed them all together and spooned into a baking tray, flattening them out and baked at 200 for 15 mins. 

They taste really yummy :)

It's official

At last I have received my certificate for my Level 2 Beauty Specialist Diploma. I completed my practicals and submitted my portfolio a few months ago but fir various reasons it's taken a while for my certificate to actually come through! 

Anyway I am delighted to have finally received it. It's funny because I have A levels and a degree but I actually think I worked harder for this than I did for either of those not only because I fitted it in with children and a job but because I really really wanted this. 

I am half way through my level 3 beauty massage award and about to embark on a nail qualification tomorrow and of course I have my makeup qualification. My dream would be to combine all these qualifications, my life experiences  plus aspects of my psychology degree, counselling qualification, teaching qualification and passion about nutrition and fitness. I'm just not quite sure how I would do this yet but being a firm believer in fate maybe one day this will all fall into place 

Keeping motivated

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. Since I went back to work after Christmas on January 5th I've managed to keep up my three times a week gym visits. I don't do loads as mentioned in a previous post (although I've now started to include the stationary bike too as it's so easy to just add in to burn some extra calories). 

Anyway here are a few things that have helped me keep at it:

1. Always do the first session of the week - my first work out session is on a Monday after work and I think if I missed that then I would probably miss my other sessions too and soon get out of my routine. 

2. Never miss a session for no reason- I've changed my gym times around some weeks because of my childcare or work commitments but I think once I start missing to simply lounge around or go shopping then the gym turns into something negative. It's the same really with any commitment though like my college course. If I started to skive I would see it to be something negative

3. Motivational music - it helps to have some of my favourite songs to listen to on my iPhone and if I'm feeling a bit demotivated I will treat myself to a couple if new songs

4. Positive mantra- my fav is 'you'll never regret going for a work out' and I also like to check out Instagram for positive quotes and motivational images

5. Eating good food- working out means I can eat more which is good as I love eating . Although now I've started to eat less chocolate and crap and my regards are things like banana bread or a feta cheese omlette. 

6. Being realistic- I hate running so instead I walk on a steep incline on the treadmill which when I have my music on passes quickly. If I was running with my boobs bouncing up and down I'm sure the time would go much slower!!!

7. A nice shower-doesn't sound much but my own shower can only be likened to an old man weeing on my head so a washing my hair under a hot power shower is bliss. Plus it's saving my electricity bill and my time cleaning my shower and bathroom after I've washed my hair in there!

That's it so far... Even though 7 is a rather odd number to end on but here is a picture of my slowly developing six pack