Wednesday Weigh In - Week 36 - Milestone

Finally I made it to 2 stone lost! 

It's taken me a while but I never set out to do this quickly. I've done the quick weight loss before and the weight has never stayed off. This time I am doing things differently. Slow and steady weight loss, educating myself about what my body needs, improving my fitness and being prepared to adjust to fit in with my life when needed such as for school holidays.

I'm proud that I have also coped with two injuries which basically stopped my fitness programme, particularly the Achilles' tendon injury. In spite of this, I never gave up.

I know that I still have a long way to go and quite a few stone left to lose. Celebrating the milestone of two stone lost today reassures me that I will suceed and I will be able to successfully carry on with this weight loss journey and achieve my goals. 

So here's to the next milestone! Speak to  you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation- Don't Defeat Yourself

I had a big argument with myself on Friday. I was driving home after dropping my daughter to school. I had always planned to go for a run on Friday but by the time Friday arrived there were other things that had cropped up. I had a conference call for work at 10am, I needed to go shopping and my daughter was finishing school early so needed to be picked up at 2:05pm. 

My mind was just full of reasons not to run and I could feel me literally talking myself out of it. It took all my willpower to force myself to run but I did it. I also managed to get everything else done that I needed to do on Friday.

This made me think about how often I can be my own worse enemy. I can defeat myself before I even get started. So my Monday motivation this week is to stop listening to those negative voices in my head and to just get out there and do it!

I do overthink and fret about decisions and can be very negative about myself. It's something I know that I definitely need to work on.

Hope you are all having a fabulously motivated Monday. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Why you should visit Mercato Metropolitano

I love food shopping. There are few things that make me happier than wandering around a shop looking for tasty things to eat and new things to try. So when I heard about a new food market opening in London, I was excited to pay them a visit.

Mercato Metropolitano is an innovative market based in South London on the site of a disused paper factory.

It specialises in small artisan producers from across the UK and Italy. The range of food available was amazing.

There is an in house bakery

A fabulous range of cheeses

Fresh fruit and vegetables

And even an Italian supermarket

I loved that it was so spacious and well laid out. There was plenty of room to browse.

One of the most innovative features of Mercato Metropolitano is the eating space.

There is a host of stalls offering different meals. The pizza was particularly tempting

My eldest daughter preferred the pasta choices and loved the gnocchi samples that we tasted.

My youngest daughter was more interest in the ice cream stall

Or the desserts and pastries for sale.

Mercato Metropolitano have great plans for the future and you can find out more information about the market and their aims at www.mercatometropolitano.co.uk

I definitely recommend a visit if you get the opportunity. We are planning to go back again and next time we will eat there too.

Speak to you soon 

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 35 - Back in Business

So it may only have been 1/4lb lost this week but I'm feeling good

It's my daughter's first full day back at school so it's day 1 of my revamped fitness programme. I started today with a run. It was hard but I was nearly 2 minutes faster than the last time I ran that route.

I find that working out really does lift my mood. After running I feel really up and positive today. I know that will help me make continual healthy choices in my diet too.

I'm aiming to run one more time before the weekend plus do some cardio workouts. The weekend will probably be rest days though as I'm ferrying my youngest daughter around plus transporting my eldest daughter back to university. So busy times!

Hope you are all have a great and positive Wednesday. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Cheesy Stuffed Tomatoes

If you follow my Instagram them you will have seen the picture of these that I posted last week. They were really lovely so here's the recipe.

Ingredients 

2 Beef Tomatoes 

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 red onion

50g cooked ham

100g low fat feta cheese

Method

1. Slice the top off the tomatoes and put to one side

2. Scoop out the insides of the tomatoes being careful not to puncture the skin so that they look like this.

3. Finely chop the onion, ham and garlic.

4. Mix together the cheese, onion, ham and garlic. 

5. Carefully spoon the mixture into the tomatoes.

6. Put the top back on the tomato.

7. Put the tomatoes on a greased baking sheet.

8. Cook at 180 degrees in a preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes.

I served the tomatoes on a bed of lettuce but you could have them with couscous or rice instead.

The recipe makes two stuffed tomatoes but they are really filling and one would probably suffice. You could also swap the ham for bacon if you prefer.

The recipe is 386 calories which makes each stuffed tomato 193 calories.

This made a nice satisfying meal and one that I will definitely try again. Let me know if you try making them.

Speak to you soon 

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - Look After Yourself

I really do not feel motivated at all today but there is a valid reason for that! My whole family has been struck down with a nasty stomach bug. My poor daughter was running in a major championship yesterday and didn't want to pull out as her team would lose points. I managed to get her there, she ran her race and then ran straight to the toilet afterwards! She is supposed to be back at school tomorrow so I'm trying to get her well for that.

As for me, I'm doing what all mums do. I'm sorting out the kids and carrying on regardless of how rough I feel. So my motivation for this week is to try and be kind to myself. Thankfully I seem to be shaking off the tummy bug but I still need a bit of tlc today. 

Here's some images that have helped to motivate me a little bit today

Hope you are all feeling week and having a great start to the week!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

A Trip To Freeport Braintree

I don't normally have the money to splash out on designer brands but I know that with fitness clothes and footwear, you may have to pay a little more to get top quality. So with this in mind and with thoughts of getting a few bargains I took my daughters to visit Freeport at Braintree in Essex yesterday.

Freeport is a designer shopping Outlet where you can find many top brands at cheaper prices. The stores include Hollister, Bench, Bose and Ted Baker But our prime interest was in visiting the sports brand stores.

Our first stop was Nike.

I love Nike, they have an amazing range of clothes and their trainers are always great. We were spoilt for choice in the store

One of the main things we were looking for was a new pair of cross country spikes for my daughter. Sadly they didn't have any but they did have a great sales section so we stocked up on leggings. 

Even though we have been to Freeport before, I hadn't actually noticed that there was an Asics store. 

These are currently my daughter's favourite brand of running shoes so she dragged me in. She knows I am going to have to replace her current Asics soon and she has now picked out her next ones. I managed just to get away with buying her some new athletics socks this time though!

Our final sports shop visit was to Adidas.

Sadly we were still not able to get any cross country spikes so we turned our attention to clothes again. 

I love adidas clothing, it's my favourite choice for workout outfits. 

If you are still plus size and on your weight loss  journey then I definitely recommend adidas. For my daughter, we stocked up on t shirts. Her training continues through the winter so we are starting to think about what warmer clothing she may need. 

Even if you are not looking for anything in particular, Freeport is a great place to visit for a browse. I love the way it is laid out like an actual village.

It was lovely strolling around in the sunshine. Freeport has lots of places to eat or just grab a coffee if you need a break from shopping. We treated ourselves to an ice cream before going home. 

If you can get to Freeport Braintree then I definitely recommend a visit. We will certainly be going back again the next time we need any fitness clothes or footwear.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx