My Protein/ Muscle Food Haul

So it seems that when you get into fitness the whole supplement world becomes something you like to throw your money at! Supplements are exactly what they say on the tin - they're an addition to your diet. Bit of a disclaimer here - I'm not a dietician so please don't take what I say and take it as that is exactly what you should do because its not but it is something I am learning about constantly. So yeah essentially, supplements are something you can incorporate into your diet to improve performance and to support muscle growth etc.

Now I've been buying from My Protein for around 6 months or so now and I'm a big fan of their products. I do feel that since using protein more that my body has become more shapely and I seem to be able to maintain and build muscle a lot better but these supplements simply support an already pretty clean diet. As you may or may not know, I'm a vegetarian and actually since dabbling in my fitness pal and tracking macros for a while, I have realized that I really did not used to consume enough protein- it is recommended you have 1g of protein from 1lb of body weight - in my eyes that is a lot of protein and not necessarily achievable, I mean if I didn't take supplements I would probably struggle to get a 1/4 of that into my daily intake - this is a whole other ball game and probably one for a different post!

Anyway, so recently I did a top up order from My Protein and also decided to order from Muscle Food for the first time! I thought this would be a good opportunity to show you what I picked up and my thoughts on the products:

My Protein

Gluten Free Instant Oats - Well as it says on the tin, there is not a great deal to say about these and I don't really have any issues with them, oats are oats at the end of the day! However it is worth noting that this product comes in powder/flour form and when heated it can be a bit difficult to work with compared to normal oats - it is a little stodgy in texture!

Chocolate Caramel Impact Whey Protein - This is my first time trying this flavour and I have to say I am impressed. As an overall consensus I have to say that My Protein win every time for me flavour wise. I am a massive fan of the Strawberry Shortcake & Vanilla Cookie impact diet whey. This brand of Protein definitely has the best taste in my opinion. I love to mix my protein powder in my porridge or blend to make a smoothie or just simply throw in with ice and almond/oat milk.

Raspberry Lemonade BCAA - So this is actually my first time purchasing BCAA's. I have previously had a few Grenade samples and they tasted amazing so I thought I'd give them a go. I actually found drinking BCAA's encouraged me to drink more water just because it tastes so good. BCAA stands for Branch Chained Amino Acids and essentially they promote protein synthesis with encourages muscle growth and helps your body to maintain muscle but also helps with recovery. I feel this article HERE might explain it all better to you because as I say I'm not qualified! I love this flavour and so far I have found that it does help your muscles to be less 'achey' which is a bonus!

My Bar Zero Cookies & Cream - Now I actually purchased these to go hand in hand with the Prutella following a recommendation from a Youtuber  I follow - Elle Darby. These are a high protein low carb snack and supposedly go amazing with Prutella when microwaved shortly. Now they're okay but nothing special! I don't think I would purchase them again though. Apparently the chocolate flavour is the one to go for but unfortunately they were out of stock!

Muscle Food


This was my first time ordering from Muscle Food!

Walden Farms Zero Calorie Chocolate Syrup & Mocha Coffee Creamer - To be honest I have combined the two products because my opinion for them both is exactly the same. I was super excited to try the Walden Farms products and had heard so much about them but I have to say,  I was extremely disappointed. Both products taste of what I can only describe as poison! I certainly wont be repurchasing these! I feel I must be missing something here as everyone else seems to hype about them but the honest truth is they just don't taste good.

Prutella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread & Coconut & White Chocolate Spread - So as I mentioned earlier on this purchase went hand in hand with the My Bar Zero. I actually purchased two different flavours. Now I am OBSESSED with the Coconut & White Chocolate flavour, However, a side note - these products don't taste anything remotely like Nutella and don't have the Chocolate Spread Texture you'd expect - they're actually quite stodgy if I'm honest! However the flavours are pretty good.

Please note I have some special promotional codes for My Protein for you to use at the check out but you need to follow the URL provided to benefit from them. These include:
Free Delivery when you spend over £40 Code is DELIVERYFREE - CLICK HERE 
30% off Vegan Range  Code is: VEGAN30 CLICK HERE 
25% off Food & Snacks Code is: 25FOOD CLICK HERE

These codes are all valid until 25.05.17 at midnight! :)

I hope you enjoyed this post!

FitCon 2017 - Olympia London

So on the weekend just gone I headed to my first Fitness Expo in London- an event called Fitcon! I went with a new friend from the gym who - to be honest I didn't know really at all before the event but we were both extremely keen to go and so we decided to go together. It was honestly such a good decision and I'm really glad I went with her. For one, it meant pushing my self out my comfort zone which is something I think is soooo necessary in order to grow, and also because it turns out we have a lot in common and had such a great time. 

At the time of writing this post I am tucked up in bed after a day of the exciting events and honestly I can't even describe how fired up I am. Fitcon was such a great event where by I was surrounded by amazing athletes including Amanda Bucci, Michelle Lewis, Simeon Panda etc. These  people are truly dedicated and disciplined but also so full of passion for the industry. I never thought anything like this would appeal to me but I absolutely loved it and felt so in my element. 

I got the opportunity to meet two amazing youtubers I follow - Lauren Tickner & Elle Darby (pictured below), who keep me constantly inspired and motivated which was pretty cool. I also got the chance to watch some amazing bikini and body building competitions which, for me was such an eye opener. I literally just watched the whole thing in awe of them. 

There were so many familiar brands exhibiting there such as PEScience, Grenade, USN etc and I also picked up a few freebies along the way. I also purchased a few naughty snacks including the new Bounty Protein bar, Lenny & Larry's Cookies - which, by the way are Vegan! They don't have the best macros but they're pretty delicious! 

We also had time to quickly head to central London and get some food at Whole Foods (aka my fave place on the planet). After sampling protein snacks all day and downing BCAA shots, we both felt like we just needed some vegetables- so that's exactly what we got. It was amazing!  

Before we headed back to Kings Cross we also stumbled upon this huge American sweet shop - that even had its own resident Dj! The old me would have gone wild in here, and whilst I resisted temptation, I could have quite happily consumed the majority of the Reeses Section & Lucky Charms cereal!

How To Stay Motivated To Workout

So something that a lot of people say to me is 'I need your motivation!' or 'how do you stay motivated?'. Very good question! Now, motivation comes from within, you have to want something to make progress each day. However, a quote by Zig Ziglar always sticks in my head, which I think it very apt - 'people say motivation doesn't last, well neither does bathing so I recommend it daily'. I feel like this quote really sums it all up and you need to feed your brain with motivation each day.

So here a some of the ways I stay motivated:

1. Progress pictures - For me, these are absolute key! I struggle to see changes in my body as I see it everyday and in my head I'm still that girl who is 30lb heavier. There are so many ways to track your progress such as - trying old clothes on, taking pics each week in the same outfit, taking measurements (something I regret not doing) and weighing yourself - which by the way you should take with a pinch of salt and the only time I recommend you to weigh your self is as soon as your wake up, before you've ate and after you've been to the toilet. Just to prove how much weight can fluctuate - I weighed my self before and after eating a big bowl of porridge and a green tea and there was 5lb difference on scale- crazy! 

2. Follow like-minded people on social media- There are numerous accounts I follow to keep me motivated - some influencers such as Zanna Van Dijk & Lauren's Fitness. Others I follow are people just like my self who are also on a fitness/weightloss journey. I always make sure to keep up to date with YouTube videos each day and always like to scroll Instagram first thing in the morning as this helps to set my tone for the day. 

3. Educate yourself - I've always been like a sponge and enjoy finding out information, so recently I have been listening to Podcasts each day. I would highly recommend Ben Coomber. He has a wide range of podcasts where he covers different topics. He interviews variety of athletes and influencers in the industry. I think these podcasts to be super informative and much more productive way to spend my time instead of listening to music on my walk to work etc. 

4. Planning ahead - I have personal training sessions twice a week planned in so I simply cannot skip these, particularly when I pay for them. I also find paying for my PT sessions helps me to keep on track better with diet as I think I've paid all this money and worked really hard in this session, why would I want to throw it all away?! Same goes for booking classes at the gym. Tell your friend you'll be there and then you have no excuse not to turn up! 

What helps you to stay motivated?