Hotpants

No not the skimpy little things that Kylie loves but the latest fad in weight loss. Hot they unfortunately are not. They are made out of a material similar to that of a wet suit and make a strange swooshing sound as you walk but who cares what they look like if they actually work hey?! There has been a lot of hype about them on twitter and their facebook page is filled with girls raving over the results, but when I found out that some of the hype is likely to have come from the company giving away a large number of free pairs, I have to be honest and say that I was more than just a little skeptical. It's very easy to effectively buy positive reviews in return for a freebie so I wanted to know the truth. I bought a couple of pairs via a Groupon deal and decided to put them to the test.  I'm all for trying the latest lazy girl way to lose weight although usually the only pounds I manage to shift are of the monetary kind.

The makers of hotpants, Zaggora, claim that not only do they reduce your body fat and the visible appearance of cellulite that you can actually lose 2 jean sizes in 2 weeks. And the best bit of this is, whilst they are more effective if you wear them whilst exercising, you can obtain results by sitting on your butt watching tv in them, they sound like heaven!

For the last month or so I have been really struggling with my weight loss. I have lost, gained and maintained for several weigh ins, so to give the hotpants a fair trial the only thing that I have changed is the addition of the hotpants, my activity and food intake have remained the same. Before I started wearing them I measured each thigh, my hips and waist and stepped on those dreaded scales.

Week 1
I decided not to include any exercise in the first week of the trial in case the exercise alone had a positive result. I have been lazy recently and haven't been able to find the motivation to either go for a walk or do the 30 day shred like I normally do. I went to work and popped on my hotpants and carried about my normal day. I didn't feel hot and bothered like I expected to but when I took them off to go for lunch I could really feel the difference. I wore them whenever I wasn't in a public place over the next 7 days, on average I ended up wearing them for about 10 hours a day.

So onto the results for week 1... to be honest I am shocked but in a very good way! At weigh-in on day 7 I had lost a whopping 3.5lbs. Yep you did read that right, by changing nothing but adding hotpants I managed to lose 3.5lbs. After weeks of struggling I cannot tell you how happy this made me and it's the biggest loss I have had since my first weigh-in on Slimming World. It doesn't end there though - I also measured my thighs again and I have lost 1" off each thigh. When you're pear shaped like me being able to lose a whole inch of each thigh in just a week is nothing short of miraculous.

Week 2
Week 2 of my trial is exactly as week 1 but with the addition of 30 minutes exercise a day. I love (hate) the 30 day shred as I know it works for me so this is the exercise I have chosen.  I find that for the first week after I introduce exercise I don't really lose much weight (apparently this is something to do with muscles retaining water but who knows!) so I wasn't expecting another big loss on the scales but am hoping for some good inch loss!!

Although this is a bit too much information I feel that I owe it to hotpants to also disclose that the second week of the trial coincided with my time of the month.  Sorry for sharing that but I always gain a pound or so and suffer from bad bloating so I thought it was only fair to share!  I can also tell you that another benefit of the hotpants is they act a bit like a hot water bottle and really eased my usual cramps, a total blessing!

Again the hotpants get hot but you don't feel hotter in yourself.  When I removed the hotpants after exercise they were damp and my skin clammy, far more so than from just wearing them at work.  A great side effect of the hotpants is that your skin feels silky smooth without moisturising.  I don't want photos of my thighs plastered on the internet so you'll have to take my word when I say that my cellulite has visibly improved too.

On day 7 I weighed in and found that I had lost 0.5lb which I was really pleased with and took my measurements and found:

Thighs, the same and week 1 still -1" each
Hips -1"
Waist -1"

So in total I have lost 4" and 4lbs in two weeks whilst wearing hotpants.  I am completely sold on them and am going to continue to wear them and exercise in them.  I will keep you updated as to my progress via the usual Sunday Summary.

Would I change anything about hotpants? Yeah to be honest I would, I would make them longer so they can help sort out my fat knees and I would move the big yellow hotpants sign so it wasn't so obvious.  I mostly wear mine over tights but under dresses and that big yellow logo is a total give away.  I also really recommend that if you can afford it you purchase two pairs, they are cold handwash only with no wringing or heat drying so take quite a while to dry fully which would be really annoying if you only had the one pair.  Oh and maybe I they might fancy making something that sorts out upper arms too? Please!!

Hotpants retail at £44.49 and you can save 10% by liking their Facebook page and using discount code 'FACEBOOK' at checkout.  Seriously, what are you waiting for?!

So what's this Zumba thing, then?

Zumba is EVERYWHERE at the moment. So much so that it seems like it’s a bit faddish and trendy. I guess it is – but that’s only because IT IS AWESOME.

I’ve been going to classes since the start of the year and am a bit obsessed. The Rosemary Conley class that I’ve been going to on and off for the past few years replaced some of their aerobics and salsacise classes with Zumba, and I was intrigued, so went along. I haven’t looked back – it’s so much fun! I can’t recommend it enough, especially if you find exercise boring.

Do not let these people scare you off.

What is Zumba?
Zumba is Latin-inspired classes, combining dance & aerobic exercises. Classes generally play several songs, with a different routine for each – the choreography incorporates influences from hip-hop, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves.

Why is it AWESOME?
If you’ve done aerobics before, you’ll recognise some of the steps, like box steps, lunges, squats, kicks, jumping jacks, etc. But Zumba is a lot more varied, and often much faster paced. You can still work at your own level, but because the moves are more dancey, and because the routines change for every song, it’s a lot more exciting. I did an aerobics class after six months of doing Zumba and was bored stiff!

How do I know which class is right for me?
You should be a bit wary about the popularity. It only costs about £150 to do a Zumba qualification course, and so there are many instructors out there who ONLY have this qualification, without a fitness instructor or exercising to music qualification to back it up (which all gym-endorsed and Rosemary Conley endorsed instructors have) OR the necessary health & safety training. I heard a horror story about someone at a class when a woman fell and broke her leg, and the instructor just told her to wait outside until she’d finished teaching!

Um. WHAT.
I know. But don’t fret! Breaking your leg during exercise is pretty unlikely, especially if it’s taught properly. Just do a bit of research. Don’t be afraid to check out your instructor online, or contact them to query their qualifications. Or, go to a class sanctioned by an official body, like Rosemary Conley (which tends to be Zumba Gold - generally a bit slower paced and more aerobics based, but trust me, you still work hard) or at your gym. Or even see if you can sit in on a class, or do a trial session before making a commitment.

Does it work?
YES! Obviously if you are serious about losing weight you should be exercising 3 or more times a week, and backing it up with a sensible, balanced diet. But a class typically burns between 500 and 1000 calories (it’s considered ‘exercise in disguise’ according to Wikipedia), and trust me, you will SWEAT. But unlike aerobics, I don’t find that I get as achey while doing it and never feel as stiff the next day. It really loosens you up.

What should I wear?
Despite all the dance influences, it’s an EXERCISE class, so wear clothes suitable to work out in. I normally wear tracksuit bottoms and a tshirt or vest top. Some of the dances can be quite high impact so wear a good pair of trainers and a decent sports bra. There was a young girl (she looked about 15) at my other class last week wearing ballet pumps and denim shorts – definitely not suitable! Her feet must have been in agony.

How much is it?
It depends on the area and the instructor. My Tuesday class is Rosemary Conley and costs £6.50 a week, but that also includes membership of the Rosemary Conley plan – a weekly weigh-in and talks on diet tips and tricks. My Thursday class is just at a community centre near my work, and only costs £3.50 a week.

Is it easy?
Er, no! Not very – especially for people with no rhythm or coordination. But even if you are struggling to get the steps down in time with everyone else, you’ll still be bouncing around and working hard. Just enjoy it. Some of the moves are so ridiculous (I’m talking chest pumping and booty shakes!) that you can’t help but have fun. I don’t know anyone who has gone to a class who didn’t enjoy it, and at both my classes there are ladies (and one man!) of all shapes, sizes and ages.

Let me know if you have any questions – or if you’re loving Zumba as much as I am right now! There are loads of classes listed on Zumba.com so have a little look.

Fleetly

A few months ago we were contacted about Fleetly.com, a new website and iPhone app developed to make fitness more fun by making it social and by adding a bit of competition. I've been signed up to Fleetly as part of a their trial period since we first found out about it, but Friday was the first day that it finally went live for everyone to sign up to and I thought it might be of interest to some of our readers!

Fleetly is a little bit like Foursquare in the sense that you log your activities to gain points and unlock medals. Now this itself, in my opinion, would be a little bit boring and not very motivational, so Fleetly have created a 'Challenges' area. If there's something that will make me perform better it's competition!

Challenges are by far my favourite part of the website. There are already some challenges created such as 100 workouts in 2011, a 100 mille running challenge and even a challenge to see who can do the most crunches in 2011. Challenges are great motivation because you can view a leadership table which tells you how far ahead/behind you are from other competitors and there's also a wall where you can leave comments and interact with other people who are taking part.

There's also a section of the website dedicated to workouts. You can create a custom workout to log on your profile or you can pick from one of the pre-made ones. You can even filter workouts by body area or by quickness, see which ones your friends are doing or even find out what the best workouts for travelling are. Each exercise comes with a description telling you how to safely perform it and a video demonstrating it. And you can, of course, track your weight on it too.

The only downside that I can see is that the application is only available to download via the Apple app store. I use Android and I know that I'd be a lot more active on the website if I was able to access it on my mobile and update on the go.

I've gone ahead and set up our very own Where Are My Knees? challenge over on Fleetly. I know a lot of us have had great results from the 30 Day Shred in the past so I've decided to Challenge everyone to complete 30 consecutive days of the shred. All you need to do to compete is sign up to Fleetly and follow this link and join the challenge.

The challenge starts on the 1st of October and is only a bit of friendly competition and a good way to keep each other motivated. Anyone is welcome to join in and please feel free to add me as a friend - it gets a bit lonely over there when you've got no friends! ;)

What do you think of Fleetly? If anyone else has any other ideas for challenges we could set up that would help your motivation, or if you'd like to set up one yourself and share it with us, let us know!

Sunday Summary #28

How has your week been guys? We have had an amazing week thanks to being shortlisted in the Cosmo Blog Awards. If you nominated us please let us know, we would love the opportunity to say thank you!

Gemma- I stayed the same this week which is rather disappointing, I'm working a lot next week so hopefully I will be rushing around a lot burning off calories. I also get better results when I'm working everyday because I can only eat things I have packed for lunch, we don't have a canteen or biscuit tin in work so I can't pick at food. I went out for a hen night yesterday and had a chicken salad for lunch but the pub had bottomless chips and kept on filling bowls of chips for us. I also went a bit crazy in the evening drinking huge cocktails from disco balls and I'm going out again tonight. I'm going to need to hit the gym this week if I want to reach my pre wedding goal of fitting in to my dress.

Sarah - I somehow managed to lose a whopping 3.5lbs this week! Happy is not the word :) Hopefully I can keep losing every week now and have got past the little rut I had found myself stuck in. Most of the clothes I have bought recently have been a size 10, a fantastic feeling. There are still a few dresses in my wardrobe that are too tight but they should fit in another 7lbs or so. I am getting there!

Lucy - I have to say, being nominated for the Cosmo Blog Award has made me realise that I need to start pushing myself more; since I moved home from uni I haven't really been dieting at all. I haven't been eating hideously, but I on the same note I haven't been keeping an eye on what I do eat. I go to Australia a week today and I haven't lost a substantial (if any at all) amount of weight since we started this blog and the reason? It's down to pure laziness. Without making excuses, I guess the whole idea of going and the fact it's come around so quickly, hasn't really felt real, and it still doesn't to be quite honest. It's more than too late to make a difference now, but when I'm back on November 7th, and whether we win that award or not, I'm going to pick myself up and TRY AGAIN. Thank you everyone for the continuous support though, and sorry for letting you all, and myself, down.

Sarah V - I lost a pound this week which was less than I hoped. But I've stuck with the diet and apart from the odd minor blip, have managed to stick to it. Certain annoying female afflictions may stop me losing this week but at least I know that if I keep this up, I'll see the results next week! I completely agree with Lucy's above comments, my motivation has slipped a lot too, and the nomination has made me realise that there are people out there who love this blog, and I owe it to them to take it seriously and commit to this diet. Plus, I have some winter clothes I'd really like to squeeze into!


Over to you lovely lot, please fill us in on how you've been getting on this week. We'd also love to hear from you on any amazing recipes you've tried, any great tips or new exercise classes you've done - let us know!

Guest Post - From Fat to Fit

We're very happy to be sharing our first guest post written by a guy this week, Chris works as a financial blogger for moneysupermarket.com/life-insurance, and as such spends a lot of his time writing about how to save money and keep yourself protected. He’s also taking a leaf out of his own book and trying to get himself fit, as well as save a few pennies. He’s 24 now and needs to grow up now, ferchristsake.

---------

From fat to fit - or at least most of the way there....

My BMI is 28.5; that makes me overweight. Actually, that makes me damn near obese: If I put on an extra 12 or 13 pounds I would tip over into the “obese” category. Not exactly stellar, I know. However, when you consider that five months ago my BMI was 38.4 and climbing a flight of stairs used to leave me out of breath, I think I’ve done pretty well – and at the same time I went on a financial diet too, cutting my expenses right down.

How have I done it? Well I’m afraid there’s no great secret, “one weird tip” or magic answer, I’ve done it using a combination of diet, willpower and damned hard work, but I’m here to share my story with you regardless. So basically what happened was, in March I found myself homeless, and no longer in the relationship that I had been in for the last 5 years, which I’m sure you can agree is a pretty crap thing to happen to you, and on a Sunday of all days.

I got a roof over my head pretty quickly (my friends are ace like that) and once I was settled in, began trying to decide how I was going to rebuild my life, lose a bit (lot) of weight and claw my way out of the financial hole I was in. I’d recently read this report in work as research for something else and it got me thinking about my weight, I decided that a fresh start was just what I needed. Fun, huh?

First off, smoking and drinking were going to have to go for two reasons: one, money, and two: health. A night out on the beers is complemented by 20 Marlboro, and when you actually stop and tot up just how much you can spend on the two in a single evening (Then factor in a taxi and some godawful fried monstrosity from the chippy) the numbers are pretty shocking. Further to that, we all know how smoking is bad for you, but have you ever looked at how many calories there are in a pint or a bottle of cider? The answer is bloody loads. Three or four pints are the equivalent of a decent meal. So yeah, they got cut out pronto and I also started going to Slimming World. Not the coolest thing for a guy in his mid twenties to do, I know, but coincidentally I had happened to bump into an old friend around the same time who had had great results with the plan so I thought “Sod it, I’ll have a go”.

I spent the first week absolutely stuffed (as most people do on Slimming World, I’ve noticed) and convinced I hadn’t lost anything; but lo and behold, when the first weighday rolled round, I’d lost 4lbs. Pretty good, I think you’ll agree. What was even better was the fact that each and every week, I continued to lose – still am, in fact – and at the time of writing I’ve lost 77lbs altogether and am eagerly awaiting my next weigh in!

Now, some of you are probably reading this and thinking “Hang on a minute, I thought you were supposed to be saving money here? Doesn’t Slimming World cost money?” – And of course you’re right on both counts. However, Slimming World isn’t expensive (£5 a week) and I honestly think that having a support group there if you need it and the regularity of weighdays encourages you to keep at it, meaning you consistently lose. Also, Slimming World is all about producing good food from raw ingredients which makes life far easier once you come to the end of your time on the diet. I have completely changed my attitude towards food now, and I think a lot of people who do SW (That’s what the cool kids call it) find the same thing – meaning you don’t end up spending money on special supplements, powders or shakes, or end up simply yoyo dieting - Education is very important.

The other big, big change in my life is exercise. I used to do… Well none at all, really. I owned a bike, but it sat in the shed collecting dust and not doing much else. Luckily, in my new pad there was an exercise bike which meant that I could sweat and grunt in private (Oo-er!) without anyone seeing me, and a couple of hours a week on there cut through the fat in my thighs and calves like butter; I’m in better shape now than I have ever been before which has allowed me to get back on my actual bike; Quite often I now do ten mile rides after work and before tea.

This is actually my biggest financial tip: Don’t join a gym unless you absolutely have to. Get out and go jogging or bike riding, take the dog on a good long walk, spend a day climbing trees in the park; just get active and enjoy it! The more you look at exercise as a chore, the less likely you are to take it on. I quite often stay out on the bike far longer than planned simply because I’m enjoying myself, and the longer you get your heart and your muscles going, the better shape you’ll be in for it.

I’ve actually found that dieting has indirectly saved me money all over the place: I don’t have to buy clothes from “Big and Tall” shops any more with their big and tall prices, I can now pop into Primark like everybody else. I might still be a big Large, but I’m a big set guy anyway, and the fact that I can shop like normal people again is pretty nice. I’ve also found my shopping bills decreasing rapidly; a few days worth of fruit and veg will often cost you the same as a single microwave meal , and buying things like rice and pasta in bulk saves you a tremendous amount of money. I’ve become a master of producing good food using just a few cheap, simple ingredients, not to mention when you’re not ordering from the Chinese or Pizza place a couple of times a week you can save a boatload of cash.

The best advice I can offer anyone however, is this: Be determined. Yes, it’ll be hard at times. You’ll have roadblocks. You might even have a few lapses. However, just remember this: You’re doing this for yourself, not for anyone else. If you screw up don’t worry about it, but be realistic enough to know that it’s nobody’s fault but your own – just get back on the horse and keep going.

Wedding Weight Loss



High on many bride-to-be's checklist of things to organise for their big day is weight loss.  He has asked, you've said yes, the venue has been chosen and a date set and then the diet countdown begins.  It may only be for one day and yes, of course he loved you before the diet, but every girl wants to look her best on her big day.  Especially when you know that the photos will be there to haunt you forever. 

I am no different from any other bride-to-be although I did start Slimming World because I didn't want to be the fat bridesmaid at my Sister's wedding.  But I have been really struggling with motivation of late and I don't know why.  The biggest day of my life is in just over two months and I cannot stop shoving chocolate in my face.  What I really want is cake but if I give in to that then I may never stop eating.  The funny thing is I don't usually eat that much chocolate but since I realised I needed to drop a few stone and quickly it's all I can think about.  

Ask me what one thing I want most for my big day and the answer will always be to look thin.  I really want to look beautiful, as every bride does, and for me that means having that perfect nipped in waist.  So why is the only person who can achieve this so hell bent on sabotaging all efforts?  Why did I find it so easy to drop the pounds when I was trying to look good for my Sister's photos and not my own? 

It's time for me to get with the programme and stop being my own worst enemy.  So if you see me in the supermarket buying a big bar of chocolate feel free to take it from me and give me a slap.

Cosmo Blog Awards

Where are my knees? has only gone and got itself nominated for a Cosmo blog award!!

We are all incredibly excited and cannot thank whoever nominated us enough, you rock.

Please, please take the time to vote for us, it would totally make our day life.

Sunday Summary #27

Gemma- I lost 2.5 lbs this week at weigh in! Feeling way more motivated and there are only a few weeks left until my friends wedding so I want to lose another 2.5lbs this week. I'm currently -44.5 lbs and I would like to be -50lbs by the 5th of October for the wedding but there is a hen night this week which includes eating out and drinking games so 5.5 lbs in 2 weigh ins might be a bit too much to ask for.

Sarah - I feel like I am finally getting back on track.  I had lost 1lb at class weigh in and that was upto 1.5lbs this morning :) My boyfriend has also set me a few challenges which if I meet I get some surprise treats... exciting!!

Sarah V - I'm getting there, too. Lost 2lbs this week, which was less than I'd hoped but still on the right track. And after a weekend in London, I managed to resist most temptation (plus, only 2 glasses of wine all weekend!) and so I'm hopeful that in my Tuesday weigh-in, the scales will have gone down a little bit more.

Three losses from the Where Are My Knees team! How has your week been?

Guest Post - Homemade Burger and Slimming World Chips

This weeks guest post was written by Jen from Lets All Do Colouring In.

I’m Jen from Manchester. After years of yo-yo dieting and getting nowhere, I’m back on the straight and narrow and losing weight on Slimming World. I’m aiming to be a few stone lighter for a trip to New Zealand and so I can fit into more pretty vintage dresses!

Homemade Burger and Slimming World Chips

I’ve found that since starting Slimming World I have eaten burger and chips more times than I have in the last few years. “Burger and chips?!” you cry; “Yes!” I reply. Unbelievably, they are entirely free on Slimming World and probably none too bad on any other healthy eating plan you care to mention!

The chips are a creation of Slimming World (http://www.slimmingworld.com/recipes/syn-free-chips.aspx), but the burgers are my mum’s recipe. As a hater of Marmite, I know you’ll be worried about the marmite content in the burgers, but trust me, you can’t taste it (you just have to touch it).

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the chips:

908g/2lb medium sized Maris Piper potatoes
Fry Light spray
crushed sea salt and malt vinegar

For the burgers:

500g pack extra lean mince

1 small onion, very finely diced

1 tsp marmite

Salt & pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 240°C/Gas 9. Peel the potatoes using a potato peeler and remove any blemishes or 'eyes'. Slice lengthwise into approx ½in/1cm thick rectangular chips.

2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the chips and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and leave aside for 10 minutes to dry.

3. Return the chips to the dry saucepan, cover with a lid and shake to ''rough up'' the edges of the chips - this roughness is important to the texture of the chips.

4. Spray a metal baking tray with Fry Light. Transfer the chips to the tray, spray lightly with Fry Light and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally.

5. While the chips are cooking, place the mince in a large bowl and add the onion, salt and pepper and the marmite. You’re going to have to get mucky (and covered in marmite) as you need to mix/squidge all of this together with your hands.

6. When the burger mix is combined, it should stick together nicely. Form into large balls and flatten into patties (this much mince makes 4 MASSIVE burgers which is fine if you’re on Slimming World as it’s all free, but adjust the size if you’re following another programme).

7. Cook the burgers. I tend to fry them for about 5 minutes on each side on a griddle pan using Fry Lite, but you could grill just as easily.

8. When the chips are golden brown, drain them on absorbent kitchen paper and serve with salt and vinegar. When the burgers are ready, serve in wholemeal baps with salad and your sauce of choice!

OM NOM NOM!

Sunday Summary #26

Here is this weeks (rather late) Sunday Summary-

Lucy - possibly one of the worst weeks of my life, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? Why is bad food so good and why do I have ZERO will power?

Gemma - I couldn't go to class again! I had work all day Friday but I'm going to a different class after work tomorrow. I weighed at home and I lost 2lbs, it's great but it should have been more because I've not been to class for a few weeks. I had a mad moment last night and decided to go out after work and drank a lot of vodka, I then got home and ate loads of pitta bread with cream cheese (why?!) and had a bacon roll to cure the hangover this morning. There goes all my 49 weekly points! (update, weighed on Monday and lost 1lb)

Sarah - I put on 1lb at class this week but have stuck to plan ever since and am hopeful that I am now back on track and will be reporting a great weightloss next week!

Sarah V - I put on 5lbs at class this week which is horrendous. I knew I'd gained but didn't think it would be that bad. Since then I've tried to get back on track, and am fairly confident that when I get weighed on Tuesday, I'll have at least lost a couple of pounds. I'm annoyed with myself for losing track so badly over the summer so now all the fun stuff is over, I'm determined to start losing properly again, instead of having good week/bad week all the time - I'm basically where I was when we started this blog. :(

How has your week been?

Guest Post- Spark People Community- Biz from The Penthouse Clan

This guest post is by Biz from The Penthouse Clan. The Penthouse Clan is a new blog written by '2 couples - 4 friends, 4 very different people' who all live together in Cardiff.


I’m not one for dieting. I’m not good at it. The more I tell myself I can’t have that single Twix bar one day, the more I’ll be making up for being so ‘good’ the next day with 10 Twix bars. I also suffer with 24-Hour-Pound syndrome. Getting my 5 a day, drinking 8 glasses of water and exercising for 60 minutes on the cross-trainer for one day does not amount to losing 1 pound in weight. I am guilty of wanting instant results and if I don’t get them, I become despondent and sluggish and another 5 pounds heavier while I comfort eat myself into oblivion. If anything, dieting makes me put ON weight.

So I gave up on dieting altogether and decided to just be healthier. And that’s where Spark People comes in.

Last year, my previous housemate Rachel introduced me to Spark People after I had gained a rather unsightly amount of weight over the Christmas period to help me monitor what I was eating, see where I was going wrong and work on fixing it. I never really got into it. I felt like I was pressuring myself to lose weight and it put me off. (In the end it turned out that a month in China last summer hiking a mountain or a gorge everyday got rid of the Santa belly.)

Annoyingly, I had signed up to receive all the emails I possibly could from Spark People, so even though I wasn’t actually using my account the emails were a constant reminder it was still there. A couple of weeks ago after checking my email to find yet another email from Spark People I finally succumbed to logging back in and seeing what all the fuss is about. And I’m so glad I did.


Source


Spark People is so much more than an online food diary. It’s a community. And an active one at that! There is of course the online food diary which tells you exactly how many calories you’ve consumed for that day. However it will also calculate you food plans if you request (dietary requirements taken into consideration if required) and there is a nifty recipe calculator where you can enter your own recipe in to find out the nutritional information. The fitness tracker lets you put exercise that you’ve done for the day and will even come up with a fitness and strength training plan for you if you want. The weight tracker is a useful resource if you’re trying to lose weight. You can input starting weight and body measurements in and it will calculate it on various charts for you to see your progress as time goes on. My personal favourite part of this website is their recipe section. Being a bit of a foodie myself I love to try new recipes. Of course being primarily a dieting website, everything is low fat and are original recipes submitted by members of the community. The blog section is full of very inspiring stories about losing weight but also nice anecdotes about everyday life and reviews of films etc. And the articles section has some excellent information about leading a healthier lifestyle. 

Spark People isn’t just a website for dieting or losing weight; it’s also designed for people who just want to be healthier. You can set your own goals when you start an account. The most appealing thing about Spark People is the fact that all this is free!

If Spark People something you would be interested in, you can check out the website here. Feel free to update me on your progress! I would love to hear your experiences.

Biz x

Broad Bean and Rocket Linguine

We asked all of our twitter followers what they would like to see here on Where Are My Knees and we got a few replies asking for more vegetarian recipes so here is a  lovely veggie recipe from the Weight Watchers Simply Enjoy cookbook.

Linguine with broad beans and rocket

8 Pro Points Serves 1

 

60g shelled broad beans

60g dried linguine
calorie controlled cooking spray
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
2 tablespoons of low fat soft cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
25g rocket leaves
salt and freshly groung black pepper

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the broad beans and cook for 2 minutes then refresh under cold water. When cool, slip them out of the grey inner shell to reveal the bright green bean inside.

2. Meanwhile, bring another saucepan of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.

3. Heat a non stick frying pan and spray with the cooking spray. Cook the garlic for 1 minute then add the soft cheese, lemon juice and reserved water. Add the pasta and broad beans and toss until combined and warmed through.

4. Remove from the heat stir in the rocket. Season before serving. 

I found this recipe cheap, easy to make and very tasty. Let us know if you make it or any of the recipes on Where Are My Knees. Have you tried any of the recipes on this blog? My favourite is Charlene's Crispy Greek Pie.

If you have any healthy recipes you would like to share with us or an inspirational health or weight loss story then send an email to wherearemyknees@gmail.com and you could be our next guest blogger.

Sunday Summary #25

Wow! Another week already!

Gemma- This week has been a bit of a disaster, I couldn't go to my weigh in this week because I had to work but I weighed at home and my trip to Torquay had caught up with me, I put about 3 lbs on. I have been very good with counting all my points this week and I think it will all come back off. I have work again this Friday which clashes with weigh in so I'm going to try and go to another class, I really find that my week goes so much better if I attend Weight Watchers. I've got a hen night and a wedding coming up soon so I better start dropping some serious lbs!

Charlene - It's been an okay week for me - better than last week at least. I hit absolute rock bottom this morning when it was pointed out to me that I actually have stretch marks on my hips. I swear they weren't there yesterday! Made me feel awful and gave me a bit of a kick up the bum as I do feel a bit chubbier around the tummy so starting tomorrow it's exercise, exercise, exercise all the way! Didn't bother weighing myself because I already feel like crap!

Sarah V - Dreadful week. I've been mega stressed at work, been away a lot and haven't had any time to exercise. Plus I've been eating my feelings. Not good. But had a fun weekend (not a healthy one) - which was the last trip away for a while so it's back on the weightloss kick as of tomorrow! Hopefully a string of quiet weekends means I can finally get back on the weightloss wagon again. :)

Sarah - I managed to lose 1.5lbs this week!! I also re-measured myself and since I started Slimming World in March I have managed to lose 5" off my hips - this makes me very happy!! I have been shredding and have also started using a vibro plate again. I know some people do not think that these things work but I know that they help me. I used on a few years ago for about a year and for the first time in years I was cellulite free so I am hoping for the same results this time. The salon I am going to also only charge £20 for a months unlimited use, bonus!

Lucy - another work and alcohol filled week, this is all that my life consists of at the minute! I haven't eaten particularly well though, my parents are away and you know when you just can't be bothered for a while? That's me, I'm going through a horrible stage and I need to snap out of it. I'm the one letting the team down here, aren't I?!