Meeting Alasdair - Impromptu newborn shoot by Bex

Like I said before, sometimes pictures just have to skip the queue!  For those of you who don't know Gemma, she's one of my most amazing friends, (3 of whom have given birth within a month of each other!), and I was so excited to see little A at just 13 days old!  I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the scrumptious new Alasdair on Friday and took my camera in case the equally gorgeous parents wanted any photos.  Not that they had much choice ;)

Not only were they keen to have a few photos taken, including their first as a family of three, they also let me have lots of cuddles with the wee man who snuggled in and fell asleep on me for about an hour and a half, lush squishy newborn-ness!  We had a good old catch up over tea and biscuits (them not me as I'm on my 90 day plan), I can't wait to see our children playing together!

Anyway, here are a few of my favourite pictures from my first meeting with wee Alasdair.  Isn't he adorable?!  Congratulations again Gemma and R!!

Seriously, aren't they just such a gorgeous family!?

Doesn't that smile just say it all?

Gemma has of course seen all of these (and the rest!) and has kindly allowed me to share my favourites here :)  I'm really pleased with how they came out and I'm SO glad Gemma likes them.  I'm really trying to learn to be a better photographer (with such inspirations as Laura, Clare and Anna, to name just a few).  Obviously having stunning subjects, their awesome flat as a backdrop and some lucky bright light helped a great deal but I'm still pretty chuffed :)  It was lovely being able to capture these precious moments with them.

Homemade Mummy's Meals - a review by Bex

One of my friend's from my post-natal class, Hannah, has set up her own business selling home-made toddler meals.  I recently bought a couple of her taster boxes and the twins loved them!  I offered to take a few pictures and write a review as I was so impressed.  Also, she's lovely!

Hannah's meals are an absolute bargain (see full price list below) and home made locally with local ingredients and no added salt or sugar.  Hannah uses eggs from Five Chimney's Farm, meat from Bird in Eye Farm Shop and organic milk and cheeses.   A taster box is just £5 and contains 2 savoury muffins, 1 chicken curry, 1 chilli con carne, 1 sausage and lentil stew, 1 haddock and sweetcorn risotto, 1 bolognese and 2 chicken nuggets!  All you need to do is add pasta, rice or, a handy tip from Hannah - couscous which is much quicker!

Considering the cost of good ingredients and the time taken to cook meals, I think they're a pretty amazing deal!  

The speedy super veggie muffins are perfect for lunchtime.  Just microwave from frozen for 1 minute.  They're jam packed with goodness, they contain peas, carrots, butternut squash, parsnip, sweetcorn and sweet potato.

As for the other meals, they all smell delicious, I had to taste a few and can confirm they are yummy!  I bought the kids an Ella's pouch once and they wouldn't eat it.  I tasted it and it was so bland.  Hannah's meals are full of flavour but still without any nasty additives.

Also, how cute is her daughter, Isla!?  Such gorgeous blue eyes...

 
The twins obviously thought so too as there was a bit of a snogging sesh before we left ;)

You can check out Hannah's Homemade Mummy's Meals page on Facebook.

Gorgeousness doubled - twin update by Bex

Despite still having a good few photos from the last few months to sort through, sometimes a batch just has to skip to the front of the queue and be edited immediately and tonight was no exception.  I love these images of, yet another, fun bath time.

He runs everywhere these days, despite the fact his feet often can't keep up!

Those little curls! 

Then we had some naked running around time...

 You know, I think he might be a dancer!

Oh and then there was tickling time!

They're 18 months today.  How did this happen?!  Proper toddlers now.

Kalyan's words are very clear now, he often says Mummy and Daddy (and Baby when pointing at pictures of himself and Priya).  

Priya still doesn't have many words but her general noises are getting more varied and she's still making herself very clear with pointing!

They're both sleeping quite a lot at the moment (which is great since I'm getting up at 6am to do my HIIT sessions, I need my nap time rests!) and I'm pretty sure they're having a bit of a growth spurt.

They're both still hilarious and frustrating and lots of fun.  

90 day sss plan - progress update, thoughts and tips by Bex

I've now been on the Body Coach's 90 day Shift Shape and Sustain plan for 13 days.  I'm still enjoying it but have a few thoughts and tips for anyone else starting or thinking about signing up.

One of my favourites and one of the quicker meals is the Build Up Bagel - I tend to have this for breakfast as I prefer to do my workouts first thing, I swap the BBQ sauce for mustard or Cholula hot sauce (or both).  I get up about an hour or so before the twins as although the work out only takes around 20 minutes, by the time I've sorted my shakes, drunk them, taken my other supplements (vitamins, etc.), showered and prepared breakfast, it takes about an hour and a half.

Pizza Cucina Van - review by Bex

In complete contrast to this week's posts, I recently discovered there is a "Pizza Van" which visits Buxted every Thursday.  I heard it was pretty good and thought we should give it a try as we love pizza and it's very close by.  Nik was a bit dubious about a pizza van producing good pizza but I reassured him a couple of my new local friends had recommended it and I checked it out one day and saw it had a proper wood fired pizza oven on board!

A few weeks ago we finally sampled the pizzas and I could see it becoming a regular Thursday dinner!  They were the best pizzas we've had in a long time.  Very cheesy, delicious and reasonably priced too!  The fact it's close by means they're still hot when we get them home too.  We had another last week before I started my new plan, they're SO good!

Nik ordered the pepperoni (£7.50) and I made up my own topping with chicken, artichokes and pesto (£9.00).  

What we didn't expect was a couple of trips!  I checked the top box when I collected them but when I got back - only one pizza!!!  Oops!

I obviously called them immediately and explained and they found the other one in the van, they'd just given me the wrong box.  They apologised and asked if I could return for it.  As mine was there, Nik went back for his so mine didn't get cold.  They were very good and gave him a refund so we got his pizza free.  It was cold by the time he got home so he had to pop his in the oven but he loved it once he actually got to eat it!

 Despite the little mix up, we really loved the Pizza Cucina Van and will be using it again.  They were very friendly, nearby, have good customer service and seriously yummy pizzas!  We will be regular customers.

Olive Dragonfly Rating - Pizza Cucina Van

Food - 10/10

Atmosphere - n/a

Service - 9/10

Overall - 9.5/10

90 Day SSS the start - Weight Loss by Bex

So, my first day on my new plan went pretty well.  I was very worried about the volume of water I'd be required to drink, I've always struggled to drink water if I'm not thirsty.  Even then, I have to use our soda stream to make fizzy water as I really just don't like water.  I know that's weird to a lot of people but I just don't like the non-taste of it.  The fizzy water tastes different due to the fizz and I love it!  Bizarre but hey, it works for me.  Anyway, there are no specific notes about the water having to be still so I'm sticking with what I like despite the fact I will be full of bubbles!  I'd REALLY struggle to force down 3.25 litres of still water every day!  I've to try to limit my fizzy water to 50% of my intake though, I manage to have the still water during work outs but I need to work on forcing it down the rest of the time!

I found it easier than I thought to drink it all though.  Baring in mind that it's in addition to my protein shakes, I managed to have over a litre before I left for work on Monday!  I had my 275 mls when I woke, then my peach & mango BCAA shake with 300mls water, then 500mls water during my HIIT workout, then BCAA with 200mls (seriously - that stuff is disgusting so I reduced the recommended by Joe volume to the minimum it said on the packet and washed it down with more water - I've been recommended to try the berry blast instead) then my 300ml protein shake (this one was actually quite nice - I got the blueberry flavour) and another glass of water before I left.  I then managed to finish my 1L bottle of water at work by lunchtime and started my next one which I finished with dinner.

Obviously as a result of all that liquid, my kidneys are getting a good workout too and I've been constantly popping to the loo!

I didn't expect to be hungry on the plan given the large portions of protein but I was, particularly in the afternoon.  On my first day I got up early at 6am to drink my water and BCAA, did my measurements and work out, drank everything else and had my Build Up Bagel for breakfast.  That was yummy!  I tried to find out if there was something I could substitute for the Walden's Farm BBQ sauce (low or no calorie I think) as I'm not really a fan of BBQ flavour but couldn't find any info on the website or google.  I ended up using mustard which I figured wouldn't be too bad and would be yummy, which it was!  I have ordered the Walden's farm sauce as it's used in a couple of other recipes (i.e. with mince) so I figured I should at least try it in case it's not too smoky and I like it.  (Update: it arrived yesterday and I hate it - too smoky for me.  If anybody wants mine, let me know!)

The rest of my day's menu was:
Breakfast - Bagel
Snack 1 - Salmon pate & 2 rice cakes
Lunch - Chicken stir fry
Snack 2 - Melon
Dinner - Chicken cashew curry with broccoli

I managed my 3.25L water and protein shakes and various other supplements too.  And yet I was still hungry after lunch!  The melon helped briefly but I might try the more eggy options or a protein shake next time and see if they fill me up more.

I've enjoyed all of the food so far (if you don't count the BCAA shake - reminded me of Movicol when I had to get a colonoscopy a couple of years ago!) and hope I adjust to the new menu soon so I don't feel hungry.  That's one reason why I've never dieted - I get HANGRY!  I can't cope if I'm hungry.  That's what attracted me to this plan, so many people saying they struggled to eat everything.  Hmmm, not me apparently!

I've since been recommended to try the berry blast flavour of BCAA or some of the flavours from a different website (not the one Joe recommends) so I'll give them a go.  SO far I've been making them with as little volume as possible, pinching my nose and downing them in one and quickly rinsing down with fizzy water!

On day 2  my menu was as follows:

Water, BCAA shake, HIIT workout, BCAA shake, Impact Whey shake, more water and Vit C.
Breakfast - I was going to make protein pancakes but after my sweet Blueberry protein shake I didn't fancy sweet pancakes so made another build up bagel with mustard.  Yum!
Snack - Avocado dip with celery
Lunch - Chicken Stir Fry
Snack - Boiled egg
Dinner - Spicy Turkey Mince with avocado & spinach.  (I never quite anticipated just how much spinach 175g is!  A serious mountain of it - I had to have it in a separate bowl and might stick to the other greens next time although it did help cool my mouth with the very hot mince!)
I managed my full water in take again.

The work outs are hard (of course or what's the point!?) as I am so unfit at the moment.  I'm not hating them though but I do struggle to do the whole thing the whole time.  I am definitely having to take more rest time between each exercise!  Hopefully this will improve quickly.

Today I have had my protein based breakfast as I knew I wouldn't manage a workout this morning (it's always crazy busy on the day I have to get everything ready for the childminder and get the house tidy for the cleaner coming!  I usually do as much as possible the night before for the kids and cleaner but that plus getting their lunch packed and sorting myself out takes too long in the morning on my own when we need to be out of the house before 8am!  I've discovered that sorting my shakes, workout and breakfast takes a good 1-1.5 hours even with food prep done in advance and the workout itself being about 30 mins including warm up and cool down.

This morning I had these delicious scrambled eggs with feta and spinach.  I didn't get enough of the house tidy yesterday and was knackered so ended up being in a massive rush this morning (thank goodness the twins slept til 8!) and had to shove my breakfast in a big box to take to work (I start at 8.30!) and wolfed it down when I got there with 3 mins to spare!!

I planned to do a workout this evening before dinner but Nik is on call and will likely be home late so I'm going to have a rest day today and stick to the protein based meals all day.

As for my starting point, I'm not sharing the before (bikini and workout wear) shots until I have some after shots for comparison as they're just horrendous!  My starting weight is 202lbs (91.6kg, 14.4 stones!) and my measurements are below:

	Starting	End of Cycle One	End of Cycle Two	End of Cycle Three
Weight	91.5
Chest	41
Hips	48
Waist	38
Bicep - Left	14.5
Bicep - Right	14
Thigh - Left	28
Thigh - Right	27.5

As you can see, I'm not in good shape at all at the moment and still carrying a lot of excess fat around my middle and thighs.  Fingers crossed this plan works to get me back to a fit & healthy me again!

The Body Coach 90 Day Shift Shape & Sustain Plan - Weight Loss by Bex

A few things have been getting me a little down recently, mostly regarding lack of meaningful friendships, loss of old friendships and how I'm worried I am failing at being a friend since having the twins.  I wrote a blog post about it and then decided it probably made me sound a bit paranoid (maybe I am) and all woe-is-me.  It remains unpublished for now but the main thing getting me down was to do with the friends where I feel I have tried to make an effort only to be repeatedly left hanging and feeling left out.  (I do want to emphasise these are not the friends who I've made arrangements to see and one or both of us has had to cancel or postpone!  We all have busier lives these days with families to care for and so many things crop up, I'm not unrealistic!)

One of the main points though is that I'm choosing to change things to try to be happier.  I've decided that to be happy, I need to let go and accept that certain people just don't want to be a part of my life.  It's difficult moving so far away from my home and friends at a time when so much in life changed, trying to make a new life from scratch with two babies in tow.  I need to focus my efforts on my family, making new local friends and myself.  One of the big changes I am making is sorting out my body now that I've (mostly) claimed it back from the twins!  I am so bored of wearing the same old big baggy things and miss my old clothes.  I need to get back in shape with the added bonus of hopefully getting fitter and being less tired!  Especially now we're coming into summer, it would be nice to feel good about myself again and to have more energy for playing and running around with the twins!

I've been thinking about signing up to the Body Coach 90 day Shift, Shape and Sustain plan for a few months since I saw someone I know on instagram start it and discovered Joe's page.  The transformations are really inspirational and although I know it'll be hard work, especially with the time I'll need to dedicate to prepping food and fitting in workouts (although they are shorter intense ones luckily) around the twins, I feel like I'm ready to work hard and make the changes.  I took the plunge and signed up because I get it.  The plan makes sense to me and isn't a diet, there is plenty of food involved and all the sorts of food I like to eat so I hope I find it easy enough to stick to.

I have read a few reviews of the plan online and found mixed opinions.  The negative ones I found were both from people with good levels of fitness already who wanted to tone more.  They didn't notice any dramatic results and missed their usual exercise (running, etc) and food.  As I currently have a terrible level of fitness with next to no exercise for 18 months, fairly healthy eating but with too many naughty treats and hardly any water and have no energy, I think (and hope) I will notice a big difference.  There's not quite as much explanation of the theory behind the plan as I hoped (enabling me to learn more about what foods to eat when and sustain it after) but I guess this might come in cycle 3.  I suppose he doesn't want to give too much away either since first and foremost, this is his business and he doesn't want everyone copying his principles.  I'd read about how much reading is involved when you get the plan but to be honest, I didn't find it to be that much, nor too taxing.  The majority of my 99 page Cycle 1 PDF is recipes.  I've chosen my favourites and printed them off as well as my list of supplements and when to take them.

I have been getting organised behind the scenes, deciding which recipes I want to eat and when, cooking them, making and portioning out my snacks for the week and sorting out my supplements.  One of the things I wondered about before signing up was how much extra it was going to cost on top of the cost of the plan itself.  The additional supplements (protein shakes and vitamins, etc) are optional but I figure if I'm committing to this plan, I may as well do it as fully as possible and again, the theory behind it makes sense to me.  I spent £72 on the tablets and powders I was recommended to buy (and that was with 40% off!) and I've spent more on food of course as the protein content (i.e. met and fish) is much higher than before.  I can't give you a direct comparison as we never regularly bought the same foods from the same places anyway so I don't know how much higher it is.  Oh, and I also got a discount code by signing up for Joe's free 14 days of tips!

I started today, wish me luck!  I'll share more soon regarding my starting weight, measurements and my first thoughts on the food and exercise.  I'll let you know how I get on!!