5:2 – My First Month in the Fast Lane

4 April, 2013 One excellent comment
5-2-Fast-Lane

I know you are all wondering how I have been doing on the Fast Diet. (Also known as 5:2 and Intermittent Fasting.) Has it lived up to its claims? Have I finally lost more than two pounds?! The answer is, so far... YES! Just so you know, my target weight is: 100 lbs (which is right in the middle of the healthy weight category for my height.) Here is my progress so far: Start- 28 Feb 2013 Week 1  Weight: 131.8 lbs Waist: 36.5" BMI: 27.5 (Overweight) This was a Thursday, so it was only a half a week of fasting. Week 2 2 Mar 2013 Weight: 130.1 lbs 4 Mar 2013 Weight: 129.6 lbs Waist: 35.0" 6 Mar 2013 Weight: 128.4 lbs 7 Mar 2013 Weight: 129.2 lbs Week 3 16 Mar 2013 Weight: 128.2 lbs Waist: 34.3" Week 4 22 Mar 2013 Weight: 127.6 ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

Magz and The Fast Diet

7 March, 2013 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
the_fast_diet

What is the Fast Diet? A quick way to lose weight? How fast? I found out about The Fast Diet when a friend mentioned that she was starting it a few weeks ago. I had never heard of it, and frankly, I wasn't really planning to get back into a fitness programme. I had been completely committed and motivated for 3 years and lost a grand total of 2.4 lbs! (Yes, you heard right. 3 years... not weeks... not months...years.) I had pretty much had it with all things fitness because nothing seemed to work for me! When I went to the GP and talked about it, I told her I had tried everything from 1200-1400 calories restriction, working out 6 days a week, to teaching a hoop fitness class for two hours a week! Still, the weight wouldn't budge. She suggested that I might need to go as low as 500-600 ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

Broken Mama: Eating Alone In My Car And Praying

23 February, 2013 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
Broken-Mama

The door slammed behind me and I breathed in a wave of cold air. The shock of it felt good. Walking out felt good. I got in the car, put my belt on and put the keys in the ignition. Then I stopped. My hands gripped the steering wheel and I let my head drop to my chest. I knew that if I rested my head on the wheel like I wanted to, I'd break down in tears; but I also knew that I couldn't drive off yet. Although I was in a completely emotional whirlwind, and my adrenalin was still pumping, thankfully I had enough presence of mind to know that I needed to calm down a little before driving. (Plus, if I cried, they would win. I didn't want them to break me, I wasn't giving in.) I took a few deep breaths. My heart was still racing but I was a little calmer. I turned the ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

Broken Mama: Today I Walked Out On My Family

22 February, 2013 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
Broken-Mama

Today my heart hurts. I am exhausted. Today... I am broken. It has probably been one of my worst parenting days. Ever. And it started out with such promise too... This week is half-term break for many of the schools in the UK. At the beginning of the year Chris and I had talked about making more of an effort to go out and do activities, even if we couldn't go away anywhere. It was starting to feel like we were letting life run away from us. I am not going to lie, times are tough around here and the budget is tighter than tight. But we realised that if we let that rule us, our family life would pass us by and we would have few, if any, special memories to look back on. So, today was *supposed* to be a family day out at a wonderful world heritage sight, which is set up as a ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

Life Lessons from a Blog Makeover: Be Yourself!

12 February, 2013 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
Be-Yourself

Hi guys! I hope you like the new look here on Tangerine Turtle. I've worked hard on it and am proud to say that all of the custom designing and graphics were done 100% by me! So I was sitting here this morning admiring it, (yes, really...lol) and had a few thoughts... I realised that redesigning the blog was much more than an exercise in making it look good. Why did I even feel I needed to change it? After all, it looked pretty good already. (Lots of people had told me so.) ;) Well, it turns out, that it's all part of a bigger picture. My blog is my window to the world, but it's also the world's window into me. The old design didn't really speak to my heart. I had designed it to try to appeal to as many people as possible. When I was choosing the colours, I kept asking myself questions ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]