Overnight Oats

If you follow my Instagram account (fitter.thinner.happier) then you will have seen pictures of my overnight oats before. If you need a healthy breakfast that is prepped and ready for the morning then it really is a great option. Everything is made the night before so all you have to do is take it out of the fridge in the morning and eat it.

This is my favourite overnight oats recipe.

Ingredients

1 banana

50g oats

150ml almond milk

2 tsps honey

2 tsps almond butter

4 dates

2 handfuls of frozen berries

1. Mash the banana. Preferably use a hand blender to make sure there are no lumps

2. Chop or pull the dates into small pieces

3. Place all of the ingredients into an airtight container. I use a large lidded beaker.

4. Shake the container well.

5. Leave in the fridge overnight.

In the morning you can either eat the oats mixture straight from the container or serve it in a bowl

This is a really amazing breakfast. The oats soak up the milk and the flavours all mingle together. It's perfect too if you need to take breakfast with you as you can just carry it in a container. 

There are lots of different variations that you can try with overnight oats. I've used goats milk, fresh fruit and maple syrup before. It's worth experimenting to see what you prefer.

Let me know if you have tried overnight oats before. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 30 - Ooops!

So this week has been a blip. I put on three quarters of a pound. The good thing is that I can see exactly why it happened. It was a particularly inactive week as I was chained to my laptop trying to earn enough to get us through till the end of the month. Then I took my girls out on Monday and they really wanted to eat at KFC. I tried to pick the best option I could but in a week with no exercise it clearly made a difference. If I'm being honest then the jam doughnut I ate at the weekend probably didn't help either.

The thing to remember is that life is full of blips and this is all that this week is. I won't eat KFC every week and the week ahead promises to be much more active. So next week's weigh in should be a different story. 

The really positive thing that I have to report is that finally my knee seems to be 100% better. It has taken such a long time! So roll on 6th September when my youngest  daughter is back at school and I can really start to push my fitness levels. I am actually really looking forward to running again!

Hope you are all having a good week. Remember if you are facing a blip in your weight loss plans then don't give up, just refocus and keep going!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - Obstacles

If you are embarking on a long weight loss journey then it's inevitable that there are going to be obstacles in your way. For me the big obstacle is probably the lack of time to work out. We can also put up obstacles in our minds. That little voice that says to you that you can't do this, just give up. So my motivation this week is to look at overcoming those obstacles.

Sometimes, facing obstacles in life isn't always a bad thing. It can motivate you or help you change. When my ex husband walked out leaving me with a six year old and a three month old baby, I thought that being a single mum was the worse thing I would ever have to face. It's thrown numerous obstacles at me but it has also made me a stronger person. I'm independent, a bit bolshy and I make my own choices. 

I won't deny that it's been hard and sometimes it's taken me a long time to get over obstacles. In fact there are some that I am still trying to climb over at the moment. My weight loss is like that, it's why I describe myself as a work in progress. I know I will climb that wall even if I need a little rest along the way now and again. 

Here's some images that I made to motivate myself today

Hope you are all feeling motivated today. Remember you will get past obstacles in your way, keep focused on your end goal and accept that good things sometimes take time.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Blueberry Biscuits

This is probably one of the easiest recipes that I have ever created. It is also one of the tastiest so I couldn't wait to share it with you.

Ingredients

2 bananas

100g honey

1 egg

50g coconut oil

150g oats

150g self raising flour

1 tbsp baking powder

100g blueberries

Method

1. Mash the bananas thoroughly until there are no lumps left. You can use a hand blender if that is easier.

2. Beat the egg and mix it into the bananas.

3. Add the honey and coconut oil then mix thoroughly until combined.

4. Stir in the oats, flour and baking powder. Mix until you have a sticky dough like mixture.

5. Fold the blueberries into the mixture and stir gently.

6. Place heaped tablespoons of the mixture at intervals on a greased baking sheet. Flatten the mixture using either your fingers or the back of a spoon.

7. Cook in a preheated oven at 175 degrees for approximately 15 minutes.

8. Leave to cool before removing from the baking tray.

The recipe makes 18 biscuits and they are only 99 calories each. They make a fantastic healthy snack. My youngest daughter loves them!

Let me know if you try making them. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 29 - Still Going

Only one quarter of a pound lost this week but hey, it's still a loss and takes me to 27.25 pounds in total

If you read my blog then you will know that I always like to look back on the week and think about what I have done that may have impacted on my weight loss. I have definitely been less active over this last week. My daughter is on holiday from school so there was less running around after her, also she had a heavy cold so she wasn't going to athletics training either. So we had a very chilled and sedate week mostly indoors apart from our trip to the Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium. If you follow me on Instagram you'll have already seen a picture

It was an incredibly afternoon and we got to watch some top athletes including Mo Farah

I didn't even get to do any gardening this week. So I can't even say that I got some exercise that way. I was generally either looking after my daughter or chained to my laptop working. 

So I'm not displeased about only a quarter of a pound lost. It's still a loss. I always knew that the school holidays would be hard so I will be happy with any loss or even just maintaining my weight. My knee is feeling so much stronger now so I will be ready to really push myself in September!

I think it's important when you embark on a long weight loss to recognise that there might be times when you need to go easier on yourself or it might just not be possible to push yourself as much. In my opinion, this is fine as long as you don't see it as an excuse to go completely off the rails. I may not be able to keep to an exercise routine in the school holidays but I will keep to my healthy diet and fit in exercise where I can even if it is just through walking instead of using the car or through strenuous gardening.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - Enthusiasm

Life is invariably formed of a series of routine. Even a radical lifestyle change that may seem fresh and exciting will eventually become your normal routine. In my opinion, enthusiasm is the key to keeping it exciting.

The dictionary defines enthusiasm as "intense and eager enjoyment". Therefore if you are enthusiastic about something then you are more likely to throw yourself into it fully. 

My motivation for today has been to come up with three things in my life that I am currently enthusiastic about. In no particular order, they are:

1. Writing - I love writing this blog and starting it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I'm excited to see what direction I go in next with the planned ebook.

2. Cooking - I have always enjoyed cooking and particularly baking but have never devised my own recipes before. This is something I enjoy so much and I am really enthusiastic about creating new recipes.

3. Being healthy - I started this weight loss journey because I wanted to improve my life and being healthy is a huge part of that. It's still a work in progress but I have retained that enthusiasm to better myself.

Here's some of the images that have motivated me this week.

I hope you are all feeling motivated today. Try and think of three things in your life that you are enthusiastic about at the moment. Let me know what you come up with. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Fat Shaming vs Fat Acceptance

If you have read my blog before then you will know that I have expressed concern over the Big Is Beautiful ideology and its message that basically it is ok to be overweight.

An incident tonight raised my concerns again and made me question the role of the media. An article on Facebook caught my attention tonight because of its title about not losing weight, lose the clothes you hate instead. It was about a young girl who had broke out of an unhealthy cycle of binging and dieting, put 30lbs on and then bought a new wardrobe of clothes. I felt driven to comment. While I understood the choices that this girl made, I was uneasy about the tone and impact of the article. I've done the whole hiding your weight gain under larger size clothes. There is no denying that being overweight is bad for your health and I felt that the article did not stress that at all. In my opinion, it gave the impression that buying new clothes was the simpler option. 

I was immediately slammed by vitriolic comments accusing me of judging the girl and that I should mind my own business. This was even though I clearly stated that I understood that this was the right decision for her and that my issue was with the headline and tone of the article. 

What was interesting was that upon reading through the comments, I noticed that anyone who mentioned weight gain being unhealthy or questioned the tone and impact of the article was immediately shouted down. 

There has been a lot of comments about the media promoting unhealthy body images through the use of skinny models and perhaps the media needs now to make sure that they don't swing too far in the other direction. Articles that may be aimed at promoting being comfortable with your own body still need to ensure that they are also promoting a healthy weight too! The obesity crisis is getting worse not better!

I actually deleted my comment in the end as the replies were becoming more unpleasant. I would never try to fat shame someone, it would be a bit ironic as I personally am still classified as an obese weight. In my opinion though, fat acceptance takes things too far in the other direction as it will impact on health, if not immediately then in the future.

I'd be interested to know your opinions on this. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx