I'm going to give this blog another go.

Back in January I started exercise and evils as a means to document losing weight and my fitness journey, because of all means out there, writing is what I do best. It's what I'm passionate about, and I thought if I'm at least writing it all down, maybe, just maybe, I'll get somewhere.

And then I broke my foot.

Some people may think something so mediocre shouldn't stop you from achieving you goal. But I was only a week into starting this lifestyle change, and I suddenly went from wanting to run, to 2 weeks of bedrest. Followed by nearly 4 months on crutches or in a supportive boot.

The next few months I spent living out in France, which 100% got my fitness up again, and through riding a bike, I built up the muscle mass I'd lost in my calf in the first half of the year. I also managed to lose all of the weight I'd put on during my time as a broken human. So this summer wasn't actually the complete write off it could have been.

Which brings me to the 6 weeks at university. I've managed to lost 6lbs, and, wait for it...

I've signed myself up for a half marathon.

This is something I don't think I actually understand myself yet. But I have 4.5 months to get into shape for running 13.2 miles. And do you know what???

I think I'm going to be able to do it.

I can do this. 

Things have been a little quiet on the western front, and that's not due to me slipping up particularly, but largely due to the huge downer on life I've felt whilst being on crutches. Having worked in the Paralympic Village, I am 100% aware a) I am actually not that unlucky, broken bones heal b) the achievements of people missing legs let alone just having broken a couple of bones. But knowing the kind of drive and motivation I had at the beginning of this week, compared to now, has gotten to me quite a lot. I'm still sticking to calorie restrictions etc, and due to not properly drinking as I'm unable to go 'out out' I will probably be the first person ever to lose weight whilst on crutches! So every cloud, but I want to be going to the gym and playing football! And this thought process is causing me to feel quite rubbish of late. Which I suppose is only natural.

I really don't want this to turn into a blog about my ankle recovery, I actually run a main lifestyle blog alongside this, so that's where I'll be recording my progress with all of that. But I wanted to summarise why I've been feeling pretty awful. Starting tomorrow, I'll be back to food diary-ing, I promise.

I can do this.

Today I attempted my first real life recipe, as inspired by Deliciously Ella, and it failed miserably. I created a brown rice, sweet potato, spinach and feta risotto which logged in at 403 calories per portion, pretty good for an evening meal. However it was pretty unsuccessful! I eat brown alternatives quite a lot, and due to having tickets to the cinema I quickly did some boil in a bag brown rice, because as most people know, the real stuff takes forever. And it just didn't compare at all! I've got my parents on side of the healthy living change and it's so helpful having family support so you can all do it together! They really liked the risotto but it just wasn't for me at all! If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate them!

In the meantime this was my food diary of the day:
Breakfast:
1 wholemeal thin kingsmill toast
2 tsp peanut butter
1 low fat strawberry yoghurt

Lunch:
Avocado and chicken on 1 slice of rye and spelt sourdough

Dinner:
Sweet potato, spinach and feta risotto (brown rice)

Snacks:
1 large banana


There was a lot of carbs today which I know aren't great, I'm trying all of the healthy alternatives however rice and bread in one day was a pretty poor effort, although completely unplanned! Tomorrow is a non-carb day so let's see how that goes!

I can do this.

One of the things I always find hard when trying to lose weight, is that I tend to throw myself into it and then steadily slip and eventually after the holiday/birthday party/wedding is over, I stop the dieting and stop the fitness regime I've got going. To prevent this, I thought this year I would start to have 'monthly motivators'. Rather than going all out and buying brand new beautiful gym clothes or trainers, I want to prize them through the months as I reach my goals.

Not all of these goals are materialistic, a couple of my goals throughout the year are to run outside over the summer when I'm more comfortable with running and to start up yoga later on in the year to strengthen my core when I feel my fitness is much better. It's small steps but it's these which keep me motivated!

I've already mentioned my first goal is my Dad's birthday, by which point I want to be down 14lbs-20lbs. I currently have plenty of clothes and shoes, however I am a classic girl and any opportunity for more leads me to spending money as fast as you can see French Connection. So I've decided, I'm not going to spend any money on clothes or goods until I reach my first goal. At which point I'm going to probably buy a dress for my Dad's birthday to wear! Here are a couple of dresses I have in mind...


This essentially sums up my sense of dress, I love bold prints and casual shirt dresses at the moment, my two favourites are on either end above! They're so adaptable and I feel like they suit any body shape. So it is with these dresses and February 20th at the front of my mind, I will persevere on!

I can do this.

I've always been a skinny latte girl. It's more an internal justification for buying a muffin too. Or a panini. Or both. But today I spent all day in a coffee shop, from writing an essay to catching up with friends. And whilst I did have my initial skinny latte, I went through the rest of the day on a steady stream of green tea. I know for some people this might be a bit of a challenge, with the aroma of coffee in the air, but I actually really like green tea so it wasn't a massive challenge. It's incredibly hard to resist temptation however, when you're with your friend who's having a hot chocolate with whipped cream and a flake and marshmallows. Stealing a marshmallow was definitely on the horizon when she went to the toilet, but I resisted (and I would never actually do that)!

So, Food Diary number 1 here we go:
Breakfast:
1/2 wholemeal bagel
1/2 avocado (spread onto the bagel)
1 large fried egg (fried in frylight)

Snacks:
Skinny latte
Green tea
Tyrrels vegetable crisps

Dinner:
Frylight chicken breast
Homemade brown basmati coconut rice with yellow peppers and peas
Lemon and herb sauce 1.5tsp
Philadelphia Light 1bsp

 I'm not being a total arse and starving myself, but I woke up extremely late today (gone 11) and had an even later breakfast, pushing on lunch so I wasn't massively hungry until it was actual dinner time! I would also have gone for a walk, however the weather was not having any of it today and I spent the majority of my time in the coffee shop listening to the rain.

I can do this.

One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with before deciding to lose weight, is I am never going to be one of the #fistagram, green smoothie girls. I've lost weight before through various means and at no point post-workout was I ever in a place to take a selfie or 'record my macros'. I'm under no illusion losing weight is hard, and it takes will power and a hell tonne of motivation to move your butt.

I will be the first one to say, Instagram is a huge motivator, But don't let it delude you. I'm a 20 year old student, I have next to no money and spend my time in lectures, in the library or at work. I don't have manicured nails and I can't afford a Nike running bra. The truth is, I don't just want photos of girls wearing nothing, drinking their post workout Nutribullet smoothie, I want to know how to lose weight when you can't afford a gym membership. How to eat healthily when you're constantly on the go. What breakfasts you can make the night before so you can eat it doing your makeup.

This blog is going to be a motivator for myself, because I want to prove to myself real life girls can do this, and I want to eventually be a motivator to other people. I've decided my first target date, which will be my Dad's birthday and when I will next be back home, February 20th. My aim is to lose between 14-20lbs in 7 weeks and I'll be continuing to set goals and motivate myself on here throughout this time!

I can do this. 

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Please bare with me whilst I get to grips with running two blogs. If you didn't know, my name is Alice and I also run Alice's Antics, a lifestyle, fashion and beauty blog. But this is my 2016 project. Please feel free to check out any of my links and keep up to date with how things are going. I've tried and failed many diets and lifestyle changes, but I feel like blogging is the key to success. Whether I'm talking to 2 people or 2,000, this blog is my own piece of the internet and whilst the other is mostly entertainment and very audience orientated, Exercise and Evils is directly for me and to help get me through each day, week and month. I'm not putting myself under any stress and at the beginning won't be sharing any deep secret facts about myself or my statistics. I hope, if you're reading this with the same goal in mind, to find happiness and self love through a change of habits and lifestyle, you'll come on this journey with me! Here's to eating clean and drinking green (smoothies)!