Always be proud of yourself for trying

I do think that sometimes everyone can be a bit too hard on themselves, at some point in life. You’re only human! It’s more that you are disappointed, that you are not getting what you wanted even if you worked so hard for it. 

Sometimes as you will know in life, you don’t always get what you want. Sometimes you don’t get where you want very quickly. But you could get somewhere in the future. So don’t stop trying! 

Be proud of yourself for trying, for working hard, for getting where you are now. 

The truth is you’ll always want to do something even after completing something else. There will always be something you want to improve and work on. So be proud of that journey and how hard you are trying. 

Don’t be too hard on yourself, use your energy to work hard. At least your trying. That’s much better than not trying at all, right? 

That’s why you should be proud, you started and you’re going to get there! No looking back, just looking forward. Don’t stop what you started.

Keep trying and always be proud of your hard effort. 

Remember every time you try, you keep learning and improving no matter how bad or good it is. 

Believe that you can do it

There will have been difficult times where you probably doubted yourself a little bit. It's okay you are just being human. You’re not alone many people have felt like this at different times during life. 

If something is making you think you can't do it, tell someone your fear or if you are not sure. Talk to someone, ask them what they think. Don’t be afraid to ask or tell them how you feel, they’re just there to support you. 

You need to believe in yourself that is so important. You need to believe you can do something, trust yourself, have a go. The worst that can happen is you not trying something, as you fear you can’t. But how do you know you can't do it, if you haven’t tried? 

Tell yourself you’re wonderful, brave and strong. Tell yourself you can do it. Tell yourself that it will all be ok. Take your time and breath you’ve got this! 

Always believe you can and throw the doubt in the trash. I mean you could even write down doubt on a bit of scrap paper, and get rid of that negativity. It’s only a suggestion so it kinda feels real. 

You’re brilliant and should believe in yourself. 

Don’t forget to throw this kind of negativity in the trash! 

Why you don’t see results straight away after a workout

Some people think that if they do a workout or two, they’ll start seeing results straight away. 

Wouldn’t it be great to see results so quickly? 

Oh I hate to break it to you, but results don’t happen over night! 

The thing is fitness is something that needs to be consistent. I know that some may give up after the first week, as they don’t see many results they had hoped for.  In order to see results, I’m afraid you’re going to have to be consistent. I don’t mean workout every day, as it’s important you let your body rest and recover from the workouts you’ve done. You just need to keep at the workouts and not give up. 

Results are one of the things that will show in time. Give it a few more weeks and you’ll start to notice a lot more difference, not just from your body but the way you feel. You will feel a lot stronger, healthier and happier. That’s what I love about fitness it strengthens your mindset and then you will see the results. Then you will want to keep at the workouts. What a great feeling! 

Another thing you need is patience. Patience is sooo important when you’re working out. You can’t skip straight to the results, you have to work hard for the results. So you need to push through all the difficult parts and not give up. No those liquid diets and slimming pills are not going to speed up the results and they are not healthy at all. You just need to be patient. 

One other thing that will help you see results and no not straight away is a balance diet. A balanced diet that includes healthy carbs! You need to make sure you eat well while you train. Your balanced diet is what will help your body improve too. They do say abs are made in the kitchen! I can tell you that is very true. Also, when you workout your body needs good fuel to help you work hard during the work out. When you eat better you’ll feel less sluggish and more energetic and you’ll feel a lot stronger too. 

Don’t give up on something so positive! You’ve got this! Don’t forget stay consistent and patient, you’ll get there! 

It’ll be worth it in the end. 

My first time flying and going to Hong Kong

Your first flight probably would have been a few hours and you might have been very young. But nope mine wasn't! Mine was a 12 hour straight flight to Hong Kong and I experienced this in December last year. I know right crazy!! Was the best thing I did though and I'm glad I did it. It may not be big to you, but it is to me. Such a big thing to do and now I've done it. Yep you bet I have the travel bug now and I want to visit many more places, whoop!


Who doesn't want to see the rest of the world?

I'm not a big fan of heights but I chose to sit next to the window and looked out at the beautiful view. I loved it! Flying through the pretty clouds, seeing China from above was amazing!!


Flying with Virgin was a good experience although I can’t say loads about different flights, as this was my first ever fight, but it was a good airline to fly with! Geez...my heart was racing so fast before take off! I didn’t know what to expect on such a long haul flight. As soon as I was in the air I was just fine and my heart did not race again, not even on the way back. My ears didn’t pop or hurt which was good, as some people said they can hurt but mine were good! The air hostesses were lovely and the food was alright, just something to keep you going! It’s only plane food what do you expect?  Next time I fly I’ll bring plenty more snacks, as I love eating and can’t stand being hungry! I was so excited and didn’t sleep much the way there! But on the way back I slept so much better. There was plenty of movies to watch and decent music to listen too. It was such a great experience and I still can't believe I was on a 12 hour flight there and back and went to Hong Kong.

 I had a blast! 

Spending Christmas and New Year in a different country was amazing, and I feel so lucky to have had that opportunity to go during that special time of the year. I also spent it with amazing people and my amazing boyfriend. It’s something amazing I’ll always treasure. I took so many lovely pictures during my stay there, although they don’t do it justice! I also packed the right amount of clothes and took everything that was needed. Well I must say, not too bad for first time packing to go abroad!  All the places to visit there are so fun and I’ll share the places in another blog post! eeek exciting!! 

 If you haven't been to Hong Kong, you should! I'm looking forward to many more flights I'll experience in the future and the places I'll visit.

Don’t quit what you started

There will have been times where you have started something and then quit, as soon as something goes wrong. You may have quit as it felt so tough, like you weren’t getting where you wanted to be. Maybe what you were doing felt like it was not progressing at all. 

Let me tell you, you won’t get anywhere without hard work, dedication and motivation. But along the way it will be tough and challenging as you know. You have to keep at what you are doing; maybe you are not working as hard or focusing as much. That's why you need to keep going. You might need to change the way you do it or maybe you need some help. Never be afraid to ask for help no matter how old you are. You never know someone may be able to help keep you motivated, to finish what you started. At the end of the day you are the one who has to keep going, nobody will do it for you. If you want to succeed you need to keep putting the work in. 

When you start something and things get tough, you just don’t give up! You keep trying and trying until you get there it may take a long time, but in the end you’ll get there. Trust me I know what it feels like to want to quit and walk away. But you’re not a quitter you’re a fighter, you can do this! I believe you can! 

You know I didn’t pass my driving test until the second time, but I had many lessons before I passed. I wanted to give up lessons as I went through things I struggled on again and again, until I got them right! Yep parallel parking is a difficult manoeuvre! Don’t worry if you don’t get somewhere at the same time as everyone else, life is not a race. Your time will come and when it does come, you’ll be over the moon, I promise! 

Just please don’t give up or lose hope as soon as it goes pear-shaped. Just try again until you’ve tried many ways, keep going until you get there. Remember you are the fighter and fighters don’t quit they win! 

Remember why you started! 

There's more to fitness than just your appearance

There is so much more to fitness than a 'perfect' body. Actually 'perfect' bodies do not exist. You might be thinking but what about that fitness model I saw on Instagram? look at her body it's perfect!

First of all, social media is only a small part of someones life, you will see just an image. An image that was taken a few days ago, a few minutes ago or maybe from months ago. An image that can sometimes hide someones struggles, insecurities and emotions. They'll properly have a food baby, like me after eating all their meals and that's ok.  They'll have days where they're not feeling amazing, but they may not show it. To you the images they share may seem like they have a 'perfect' life. Yes maybe they do have a great life, but it may not be 'perfect'. They may chose not to share the downs in their life and you know what? that's fair enough! Sometimes some people prefer their social media to be positive and only share the ups in their life. Remember they're only human beings just like you they'll have their ups and downs.

I think its great when influencers are down to earth about their downs in life, as it really shows how they get back up again and continue to stay positive. 

Here are the four things that are more than just appearance in fitness:

That feel good feeling

You know that happy feeling you get when somethings gone great or when you've enjoyed yourself? Well that's the feeling you should have after a great workout. I can tell you that it's an amazing feeling! You feel super happy and it makes you smile lots and lots! Hello endorphins! Doing exercise should make you feel happy not leave you feeling rubbish about yourself, as you don't have that 'perfect' body yet. It's more important to have enjoyed exercising, than to be putting yourself down because your body has not changed or you have not toned up yet.

Improving your body takes time and for some a few years or months. Seeing results will also take a lot of patience and hard work. You've just got to think, that you're working towards a healthier body one step at a time.

Self-love 

Accepting your body for what it is for now. Taking care of yourself and well-being. Being happy for who you are and where you are right now. Exercise will help to make you feel more confident and happy with yourself and that's so important. Look after yourself.

Having a healthy mind 

Fitness is a great way to keep your mind healthy. It allows you to focus on improving your confidence, well-being and health. As well as being stronger physically, you'll feel stronger mentally too. You'll also be achieving something positive. You'll be proud that you're working towards your goals. Looking after your mind is so important.

Feeling less stressed 

Everyone gets stressed from time to time. There are ways to help you feel less stressed and one of them is exercise. Another way to help control the stress, is when you make improvements to your diet too. If you're feeling stressed exercise will help you get away from the stress and help you too feel much better. So if you're feeling a bit stressed out, take some time to do a bit of exercise even if it's for ten minutes. You could also go for a walk or do a bit of stretching. It doesn't matter if you don't do a full hour of exercise, it matters that you start moving and you take control of that stress.

My fitness journey so far

Before I go on I'm just going to say that at the moment I am not a qualified PT (personal trainer) yet, but I have passed a Nutrition & Health course and I'm working towards the rest. 

Ever since I was fourteen (a very long time ago now) I have loved keeping fit and healthy. It took one day to make me realize that I actually had a passion for working out. I followed others on Instagram who influenced me to workout then and I'm glad there are such inspiring people like that out there. When I was younger I did't have as much confidence and I wanted to do something that made me feel confident and fitness has done that. I'm not going to lie I never fully enjoyed some PE lessons at school (yep you're probably thinking well why is fitness your passion now then?!). To tell you the truth when I started working out I had control of the workouts I loved that and still do. I didn't have that control when I did PE lessons and I disliked running laps around the field, it felt more like a punishment than a PE lesson.  

Now I work on building muscle and I still do cardio in workouts which is much better. I love how strong working out makes you feel I don't just mean physically! I'm talking about how strong it can make you mentally. You can feel more confident as a person and that's just so wonderful. 

I'm not one of those people who works out just for a bikini body, I mean its up to you if you want to do that but it's not for me. I'm interested in fitness all year round. I love to workout every time of the year to keep myself feeling good. Now I usually workout four times a week I'll do a 30 minutes workout or a 1 hour workout, depending on how busy I am or how I'm feeling that day. I enjoy doing more challenging and intense workouts these days. I definitely feel amazing after them! I do have rest days as it's so important to let your body recover if you workout. I also type up and plan my workouts before I do them so I know what day I'm working on abs etc. I find it's great to change workouts each week as it helps to keep me more motivated. 

Now fitness is so important to me and over the years I have learnt so much about it. There's so much more to fitness than gaining a nice toned body its about happiness, feeling good about yourself, that after workout feeling where you feel so much happy energy after and the progress you get is so rewarding. I enjoy working out and I would enjoy motivating others, helping them feel great too. 

I can definitely say that I've enjoyed my fitness journey so far and will continue to look forward to it. 

Eating healthy on a budget

Since inflation, the food prices have been pretty expensive. Like is that food really worth that price? You'll know what I mean if you buy your own food. The prices soon add up. Eating healthy is not always expensive, most things can be expensive but you've got to be smart about it. 

Here are my five tips to help you eat healthy on a budget: 

Shop smart

Sometimes you'll find that some shops and supermarkets can be better at certain times than others. Maybe your local shop is lacking fresh produce or frozen fruit and veg, maybe the shop is too pricey, why not try another place? Looking around other shops or supermarkets can give you more of a wider choice, sometimes you may find another shop that sells food at more reasonable prices. Don't always go for the first price you see compare the prices first. 

Although not everyone will have the time to do this, but it can really help to know the differences of  prices on food and the amount you'll save. If you are budgeting working out how much you'll save will help you feel less stressed about money, plus you'll save money for things you want to do! maybe a holiday or a day out etc. Also, if you have a local market, there may be a fresh fruit and veg stall. These stalls will sell the fruit and veg usually at kind prices, I mean three large lemons for a pound! bargain! They are so much better than small supermarket ones. Not only are the prices generous but the fruit and veg tastes delicious! oh the people who own the stall, they are such lovely, honest and funny kind of people. Oh yeah they let me try some fruit for free too!

Buying frozen veg and fruit 

Sometimes I find that fresh vegetables don't last very long and you end up throwing some away. Plus sometimes you'll find that organic veg and fruit is more expensive in certain supermarkets. You'll have then wasted money on unused veg, which can be pretty annoying. Although you can get cheaper organic fruit and veg, you just have to look at different supermarkets in your area and compare prices. You can get a range of frozen fruit and veg and it's also still healthy!

Saving leftovers 

There will be times where you'll cook way too much food (just like when I cook way too much pasta). Instead of throwing the food away save it for the next day or week. However, do not put the food in the fridge straight away if it is boiling hot or warm. You must let the food cool down first, as if you place it directly in a fridge it can cause condensation that may contaminate other foods. So if this happens other food must not be consumed. Saving your leftovers will help you save money and time as you won't have to buy another meal.

Prepping meals for work

Not only will you save money on buying your lunch, but you can also eat better by preparing your work meals the night before. Yes fast food can be tempting but if you want to save money and eat better, you better start prepping those meals. I mean we all love a cheat day but during the week you could aim to stay healthy. 

Writing a food list 

Writing a food list will help you know what you're looking for, stop you overspending and also help you not forget something you needed. We've all done that at some point, forgot something that was needed from the supermarket and coming home with something we didn't need. Yep I can totally relate! Anyway sticking to a food list will help stop you spending your money on unnecessary and expensive food. I mean your on a budget, you need to stick to it. Yes it can be so easy to get sidetracked in a supermarket, I can't blame you to be honest! surrounded by donuts and cookies sounds good. But you must ignore those temptations, because you won't have that spare money to eat them nice ice creams or any other treats on holiday. I'm just being honest!

Hoped this has helped!

With lots of love,

Brontë
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