Summer body (under construction)

I have been a member of "summer body gang" since my university days. Over the winter I always seem to pack on the weight and shed it over the spring (quite easily). But NOOO, not this time, I am carrying some 5 kg (11 pounds) around the place like a plate of hot jellof rice and fried plantain. The problem with me is that I love food! I will cross oceans for food, like literally I have crossed the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans for food. I will never travel anywhere if the food wasn't good and I pick the food before the destination EVERY TIME. So when people say to me "weight loss is 80% food and 20% exercise, I seriously question every aspect of our relationship, like what do we really have in common? Is this friendship even worth the hassle.

The 20% on the other hand has never been a problem for me. I was sporty person right from childhood. I am not afraid of going hard in the gym or going for an early morning run, exercise is not my problem, food is! So now that I have decided it is time to take control and lose the weight, I have put certain controls in place to help with this. These are tips from famous you-tubers that I will incorporate the next few weeks to help my efforts

 
  1. Intermittent fasting. This is when you fast for some parts of your day and have only a small window to eat daily. Some people do 16-8 or 20-4, when you fast for 16 hours of the day and eat for 8 hours or you fast for 20 hours and have an eating window of just 4 hours. Don't be alarmed, your 16 hours of fasting includes the time you are asleep as well. So typically I would have my last meal at 6pm and first meal the next day at 10am. It doesn't sound so bad now right? I have used this system before to lose weight and it is very effective.
  2. Fasted Cardio. As the name suggests, you do a cardio session while in a fasted state in the morning. I have been doing this for years but now I want to up my game for longer sessions and frequently. Studies have shown that this burns more fat than cardio after eating a meal.
  3. Make your body a burn machine. So rather than waiting on a gym session or a perfect time to exercise, why don't you burn calories all day with your regular activity. Walking a longer distance to work, climbing every stairs you come across, going for a lunch time brisk walk. These could burn up to 500 calories a day rather than 350 calories for a 30 minutes cardio session in the gym.
  4. Lastly, I am going to replace one meal with a low calorie shake and drink 3 liters of water a day.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN! (plays suspense music). Please wish me luck guys and watch me burst out of the sea like Halley Berry in Die another day in 2 months *Hair flick*

 

About this outfit

Red cat eye sunglasses here

Oversize shirt weekday store (old) similar here

Jeans here

Pretty little thing boots here (Only size 3 left), alternative here

  Until next time buttercups

Colours give me life

About this outfit

Boohoo tie white shorts (On sale)

Mango Fur mules (Sold out) similar here

Bag here cheaper version here

Top Zara here

Statement neck piece (Why not)

How is your summer wardrobe coming along. Start getting pieces together for now to avoid a sudden rush in June/July, I find that this helps put together a more coherent summer capsule wardrobe.

My holiday to Malta was amazing by the way, a proper blog post is coming up. This post is just to appreciate my dear friend GUAA collections for this beautiful hand crafted necklace she made especially for me. I intended to use it as a bikini cover up (hide my under construction summer body lol) but ended up wearing it as a statement piece with this minimal jumpsuit. Totally loved it and the compliments I got were off the scale.

Outfit deets

Necklace GUAA 

Jumpsuit Asos here

Earrings Mango here

Until next time buttercups.

I N T E G R I T Y

Growing up, my mum was very particular about certain things. She would never let up borrow ANYTHING from anybody, if you came home with a borrowed book, you will get a serious telling off not to talk of a toy or a piece of clothing. My sister and I who are 3 years apart were not even allowed to wear each others clothes, my mum hated it. Let’s just say she made no exceptions, my mum didn’t like what she hated lol. From a young age we knew to do with what we had.

Another thing is she would never let us miss school for any reason whatsoever, if you were ill, she would ask you to go to school and if it got worse tell the teacher to call her to pick you up. She would never lie on your behalf or cover up for you in any wrong doing. I remember once, a while ago when I was at university, I called my part time job to say I was ill I couldn't come in when I was just very tired from being up late the night before watching Bill Clinton confess his sins live on TV, she threatened to call my manager to tell him I was lying, the next thing I found myself at work doing an 10 hour shift with the possibility of fainting every other minute due to fatigue.

She never missed a flight; she would rather drive off and leave your ass in the wilderness than miss her flight. She always emphasized keeping your word and being on time. These little or big things shaped me in an unimaginable way.

I recently got a job where I worked with a Manager I had worked with in a former organisation. One day, very new in my role, I was down with a fever and had to stay home to recover. When I told my manager, he said "In the 18 months we worked together before, you have never called in sick, I hope you are not dying" lol. I did feel a sense of pride at that point. I was back to work the next day just so I don’t taint my almost perfect record.

I am not an expert in Parenting because at the end of the day we are all just winging it and hoping for the best. What I do know is Integrity, kindness and grit are some of the most important things you can teach your children.

Some things I implement that help build his integrity

  • Never allow him play pranks or so called April fools, I can’t stand it
  • Never allow him borrow anything, if he asks to borrow something, I just say "I will buy you a brand new shiny one, don't you want that instead?”
  • I never lie in front of him or give a false statement (which he knows is false) with the aim to avoid responsibility or commitment
  • I never let him get out of his activities like swimming, football, music etc just because he is "tired" or "doesn't feel like going"
  • I emphasize on being on time to everything
  • I teach him on knowing when to say no instead of letting people down
  • And I always emphasize on keeping his word, you say it, you do it.

This is not an extensive list but a few things I do regularly and never back away giving him mixed messages. I learnt from the best, my mum.

Comment below on what you do or what your parents did to instil certain values in you.

Until next time buttercups

 

ABOUT THIS OUTFIT

Structured blazer here or here 

Jogging bottoms also in black here or here

White cage boots here

Waist bag here Necklace here Bangle @byopaleye

Monochrome magic

Monochrome for colour lovers, we like to go overboard lol.

         

Outfit details

Beret here or here

Dress here

Jeans here, blue here, similar here

Boots here or here

“Be my BFF”

Drop your details to receive my updates!