2 Weeks at Slimming World

I never thought I would say the words but yup, I joined Slimming World. Josh and our sister-in-law finally convinced me to go. I was very apprehensive about it and nervous to go to a meeting for the first time but our consultant put me at ease immediately. I had such a laugh at the group.

Weight Loss Goals for May

I haven't really blogged about this yet, but Josh and I are working on the possibility of freezing my eggs so we can have a baby in the future. If you don't know why, this post explains it all. Now, I don't know why exactly but the gynaecologist in charge of it all, wants me to get my BMI down to 30 or less. I've calculated that I need to lose roughly 2 stone to achieve that. Yay.

MyProtein Review

It's been just over a month now since I shared my MyProtein Haul. I promised a review so here it is. Although it's more of a first impressions to be honest.

MyProtein Haul

I'm taking my health/weight loss journey so seriously this year, and to help me along I decided to buy the weight loss bundle from MyProtein. I originally went on the app to look for some new workout leggings and to buy more Impact Diet Whey shake powder. But me being me, I just had to look at the whole site, didn't I?

Shein Fitness Haul

As well as updating my summer wardrobe, I also decided it was time to update my fitness and exercise gear. Back to Shein I went!

August Exercise Routine & Plans

I'm back at it again! Time to buck up my ideas and get fit. It's been a while since I've intentionally tried to exercise - I last did yoga in May! I just really want to live a healthier lifestyle and feel better about myself.

Can Walking 30 Minutes a Day Make You Happy?

I saw a mutual on Twitter, looking for people to volunteer for a research project. The project was to walk daily for x amount of time, and fill in a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the experiment. I'm always up for a walk and if I'm helping someone out, why not?!

May Fitness Plan

A new month, a new fitness plan! My end goal date is getting closer but I'm not really seeing any results yet! So I need to amp up the ante this month, and start using my food/exercise diary again! I've got really lazy with everything lately. But it's a fresh month and I'm feeling good!

Diary Entry #15 | Workout Plan Update

I didn't really expect to be writing this post already but it has now been nearly two weeks since I started my new workout plan! I haven't kept to it perfectly but I'm definitely exercising much more consistently than I have in the past. It's all still hard, the yoga especially kills me, but I'm able to walk further and at a faster pace these days!

March Workout Plan

It's time to bring back the Saph Gets Fit posts! I am so determined not to give up this time. I have given up and restarted this journey too many times now! I have created a Fitness/Weight Loss WhatsApp group chat and it's really helping to keep up the motivation this time. I have also started keeping a workout/eating habits journal and created myself a workout routine for March, but since have had to rethink it.

Seven Days of Exercise

Inspired by Peshy's blog post The Time I Tried Working Out for One Week Straight, I decided to get myself moving seven days straight too! I really struggle to be consistent with working out, so I decided to switch up the rules to suit me. Any form of exercise counts, including walking, yoga and dancing if I felt like it! As long as I was moving, I was burning calories, and working towards my goal.

Day One

I was, once again, waiting for Monday to start my daily exercise regime. However, the snow started to fall Sunday morning and by the afternoon, we were itching to get out in it. Myself, Josh and Charlie went for a lovely Winter Walk in the snow. It was only a short walk, but snow is so hard to walk in! Plus we live at the top of a hill, so walking back up that was fun! Thank god it was fresh snow, so it hadn't had a chance to get icy and slippery yet. Steps; 3,600

Day Two

Another day, more snow and another walk! We went without Charlie this time as he was at nursery, so we were free to walk a bit further this time. Unfortunately some of the pavement was starting to ice over, so I really had to concentrate on where I was stepping this time! I was wearing snow boots, but that didn't mean I trusted them. Especially going up the hill again, that's hard on a normal day but I was so scared I was going to slip all the way back down it again! My calves were definitely feeling the workout though, and I did over 9,100 steps that day.

Day Three

None of us felt like going for another winter walk so I decided to do some yoga instead. I followed Yoga with Adrienne's Yoga for Weight Loss; Fat Burning Workout. Boy, was it hard. Five minutes in and I was sweating! I actually really struggled with it and couldn't do the full 40(ish) minutes, but I still felt like I achieved something! My thighs were screaming.

Day Four

My ankles and abs were feeling pretty sore Wednesday morning, so I decided to work on my arms. I followed this TikTok I found on Pinterest, and used my new resistance bands for the first time! I decided to go with the medium band. I wasn't sure how I was going to get on with using it but I actually loved it! Definitely felt the burn, and was hooked on using them. But I only did one set of 25 reps.

Day Five

Day five I wasn't feeling particularly inspired, so I did the same workout as the previous day. However, this time I did two sets of 30 reps so I felt the burn a little more!

I wasn't seeing any difference in my body yet, but I was definitely looking forward to working out every day. I was aiming for at least ten minutes of movement per day, and it was so easy to motivate myself! I'm starting to think that the manifesting I had done the previous week was working! Yes, I literally asked the Universe for help with motivation for fitness/weight loss and it seems to be working!

Day Six

I woke up feeling so tired and weak today, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do anything! But once I got myself up and hydrated, I was ready and raring to go. I decided to get on Ring Fit Adventure for the first time since Josh brought it home! I also decided to wear my posture corrector while I worked out. I went hard. I was not messing about today and I was sweating two minutes in! I also leveled up three times in fifteen minutes! I had genuinely forgotten how good Ring Fit is, and I definitely want to start using it more often! If you haven't got it, I highly recommend.

I also noticed a difference in my body today! I'm actually getting really close to my milestone body image, and I'm wishing I'd taken a "before" photo at the beginning of the week.

Day Seven

Wooo, one week straight of intentional movement!! I honestly nearly didn't make it. I ended up having a really busy Saturday, and then I napped for an hour. Just before I bed, I decided to whip the resistance band out again, and did some rows. Unfortunately Josh started talking to me so I lost count, so I have no idea how many reps I did! But at least I did it.

I'm honestly feeling so proud of myself for consistently doing some form of exercise every day! I also spent the week trying to eat better and I'm feeling miles better in myself. I definitely want to keep it up - I'm so inspired! Huge thank you to Peshy for inspiring me to get moving.

Until next time,

Saph x

July Goals

Goodbye June you weird combination of happiness and despair! Hello July, you wonderful bout of hope and new motivation. 

My New Exercise Regime and Healthy Habits

Yep, yet another fitness-based blog post. How many of those have I posted over the last two years, and then totally ignored? This one is different! I'm absolutely going to stick to it this time! Today, I want to talk about how I plan to lose a little more weight, and tone up. 

Why I Decided to Throw Away the Scales

Well, I actually donated them to a charity shop but that doesn't work quite the same for a title. I digress. If you've been a long time reader of Simply Saph, you know I have been pretty desperate to lose the weight I gained after having Charlie. You'll also know, I haven't accomplished that yet.

at my heaviest, July 2019

June Round-Up & July Goals

Another month of 2018 gone! June was a bit of a whirlwind. I finally started to knuckle down on party planning, started a pin collection, went on holiday and dyed my hair red again! I even finally did another photoshoot with Charlie. 

Fitness Goals for May

Last month, I feel I made a pretty good start on losing weight. I still didn't get my daily walks in or workout as much as I said I was going to but I'm definitely getting there. This month I want to step it up a notch, and make a definitive plan towards losing my first stone. I even got myself a little health planner from The Range to help me along.

LETSCOM Fitness Tracker

The last couple of months I have been obsessed with tracking my daily steps. Normally I use my phone and Google fit to do this, but it became a bit of a pain if I forgot to pick my phone up before I started walking, or my outfit didn't have a pocket to put it in. I did consider getting a fitbit, but as I'd just paid out £200 for a car seat, I couldn't afford another £200+ for one of those. That's when Erin came to my rescue.

Managing the Mum-Tum

Throughout the years I've been underweight, overweight and everything in between. A size 6 right up to a size 16. I'm generally at my happiest between size 8-12 and after pregnancy I'm currently sitting at a size 10-12. Which would be fine if most of my clothes were that size. They are not and I can't really afford to buy new clothes to accommodate. Although thankfully now it's getting colder, most of my tops are oversized anyway so that's not really going to be too much of an issue for the rest of the year. It is however, time to lose the baby weight.