I was intending on writing about my mission to get healthy and fit anyway – but now I have also done it to enter the “Get Fit and Feel Epic” competition on Sandra’s blog ( The Black Pearl), whose blog is lovely – a great mix of beauty, fashion and lifestyle (do check it out!)

The competition is being run in association with The Money Supermarket. The Money Supermarket can teach you how to save money in many different ways, its a great site! You can enter the competition too – by blogging about your plan to Get Fit and Feel Epic too (check out the link to Sandra’s blog above)!

Now…on to why I am on a mission to Get Fit & Feel Epic!

I don’t like myself at the moment. Over the last year, I have put a tonne of weight on (two stone to be exact) and my confidence has suffered as a result. I look at photos of myself and cringe….

Me – before my weight gain….

As a bit of background, I have never, until now had a problem with my weight. I have always been quite slim and a size 8. A couple of years ago I was a gym maniac, I loved the gym and I would go 5 times a week, sometimes twice a day! I took all sorts of classes – spinning, LBT, Pilates, Aqua and Body Pump which was my favourite class. Then, it was Ramadan (the month in which Muslims fast) and I stopped going to the gym…I never went back once Ramadan was over. I got lazy….even though I loved the gym so much.

This sums up what I was like for more than a year….

Fast forward to now and you have me as I am today…. Overweight, unfit and unhappy. Some of my weight gain is undoubtedly my fault. I have not been working out, eating out a lot and on top of that I was diagnosed with a thyroid condition which means I am gaining weight at an abnormal rate.

But, I have decided enough is enough. No more sitting on the sofa, feeling sorry  for myself and whining about my weight. I have decided to get back into going to the gym, and also watching what I eat.

I have been going to the gym once a day and doing a mixture of classes like Spinning and Body Pump as well as working out by myself. My gym visits coincides with my 100 Spending Ban so it makes perfect sense to hit the gym at lunch instead of hitting the shops!

I am also only eating 1400 calories a day in a bid to lose two stone in 2/3 months. My cousin is getting married in March and I would love to have lost some weight by then, to feel much better in my dress!

Being out of action for two years has had an awful effect on my fitness. I am finding it hard but I am also trying to keep it up – for me “failure is not an option” (this is something I also constantly told myself in Law School, which was the hardest thing I have ever accomplished!)

Now over to you – how do you feel about your fitness and your health? Are you in good shape? Do you work out?  Maybe its time to stop thinking about it and DO something about it – actually, not maybe, it IS time to do something!??

Is this you? Come on – be honest…this was me up until very recently!

The only person who can change things about your health, fitness and weight is YOU! Blunt but true, you have the ability to change things if you want to, no-one else!

So, come on – join me and these pointers might be helpful:

• Have a goal in mind – whether thats a target weight you want to reach or a level of fitness, having a goal keeps you focused and gives you something to work towards. It might that you want to be fitter, just tone up or lose weight (as it is in my case)

• When on the treadmill or cross trainer  etc and you feel the “ache” just try and keep going for the next 5 minutes, rather than thinking “oh my God, I have another 40 minutes of this” – if you break it down into 5 minute slots you will feel like its easier. Once you have passed the first 5 minutes then just focus on the next 5 minutes, before you know it, you will have done your 45 minute cardio workout!

• Mix up your activities – not only does this its less boring but you will increase your fitness. For example one day I like to do a spinning class, the next I like to do the cross trainer and power plates, the  following day I do Body Pump. You might want to run one day, do a Zumba workout the next day and then follow with a cycle on the next day?

• Interval training can be great for burning calories – it means you mix up the intensity of your work out. For example I will do 1 minute on the cross trainer going as fast as I can, following by 4 minutes of average speed but maintaining the same resistance, then I go back and do 1 minute as fast as I can again, and so forth.  This way you will get more out your workout, reaching your goal sooner.

• You can find work outs that you can do at home – for free just by using Youtube – I have found some awesome Zumba, Pilates and Aerobics videos on Youtube so check it out (plus if your not confident its okay as no one will see you at home!)

• Watch what you eat – crash diets don’t work and are not healthy, but eating a balanced diet with an eye on calories will help. Maybe join Slimming World or Weight Watchers so that you don’t feel like you are doing it alone.

• Check out Sandra’s Bloggers Go Skinny, which Sandra co-owns with Sophia (Tattooed Tea Lady). The blog contains lots of recipes, info on apps for fitness and weight management and sometimes guest posts from others who share their weight and fitness stories.

• Finally - don’t give up! It might be hard to begin with but soon you will start feeling really good – and eventually epic!

Finally, another reason I am focused on this is that I know long term my health will benefit. If I have children one day I want to be in the best shape possible, I also want to a good role model for my children. I know a lot of kids spend a lot of time at home watching TV and playing on computer games, but hopefully having a mum who is fit and active will teach them that their health and fitness is important too – you have to lead by example really, don’t you?!

Ultimately – I am focused on my mission to get fit and feel epic – I am not going to quit, no matter what!

I hope you guys will support me in my mission and expect some updates every now and again to see how I am doing. I hope that maybe I have inspired you to make some changes to your life style that means you will reach your fitness goals and make you feel epic too! But remember, only you can do it – no-one can do it for you!

Let me know what you think – do leave me a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget you can follow allthatslap via Twitter – Facebook – Blog Lovin - She Said Beauty or Hello Cotton!

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Grace