Disqus for Where Are My Knees

All-Bran 5 Day Challenge & competition

Saturday 16 August 2014



Start feeling All-Bran new in just 5 Days! I'm going to be taking part in the All-Bran Challenge which aims to prove that
it's easy to set tummy niggles aside and increase your fibre intake.

Why do we need to eat more fibre?  


Many people suffer from symptoms of digestive discomfort such as bloating and feelings of sluggishness from time to time. In fact, research estimates around 40% of the population suffer from bloating regularly.

Symptoms can often becomes worse when we are irregular and have a slow digestive transit time, which is where eating enough fibre, especially wheat bran fibre may help.

Kellogg Report, 2010, Taylor Nelson & Sofres (TNS) Research International; London; UK, 2010.

You can increase the amount of fibre in your diet by making some simple changes:
  • Start your day with a cereal high in natural wheat bran fibre, such as Kellogg's All-Bran.
  • Go for brown rice or whole wheat pasta instead of the white varieties – or try a 50:50 mix.
  • Opt for a handful of nuts or fruit instead of crisps, snack bars or biscuits.
  • Switch from white bread to wholemeal, seeded or another high-fibre variety.
  • Make sure you’re eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables every day.
  • Add peas, beans or lentils to stews and casseroles.
  • Add extra vegetables when making meat sauce for lasagne, curries, chilli etc., or why not go veggie and make a meat free version for a change?
  • Choose wholemeal, oat or rye crackers instead of your usual variety.
The Kellogg's All-Bran range provides between 2.7g and 10.8g fibre per serving, which is up to 43% of your recommended fibre intake (the Guideline Daily Amount of fibre is 25g per day). In addition to the benefits of natural wheat bran fibre, Kellogg's All-Bran cereals provide an important source of folic acid, 5 B-vitamins and iron.


If you want to take part in the All-Bran 5 Day challenge like me head to this site and register. It's easy and there are lots of benefits. 

1 Sign Up for Free - It’s fast, free and you could be feeling great in no time.
2
Email Reminders - Get daily tips and delicious recipes tailored to your digestive health.
3
Track Your Progress -Use our Tummy Tracker to watch your digestive health improve.
4
Feel All-Bran New - In five days you could be feeling energised and revitalise.

All-Bran are making it easy for you to take part by offering you a chance to win 5 boxes of their cereal, that's enough for the whole family to join in with the challenge! All you need to do is fill in the form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Make sure you check back next week to see how I'm getting on with the challenge.

WIN - Tefal Infiny Press Juicer

Friday 8 August 2014

We've got a great giveaway for you today, Tefal are giving you the chance to win one of their  new juicers worth £199!

Do you juice or like to have a juice detox? It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a long time and I'm always envious of those morning juice photos on Instagram when I'm munching on my boring Weetabix. It’s super healthy, and it’s a way of sneaking fruit and veg into your diet (great to encourage kids to have more) and it would save me loads of money from buying shop-bought juice.


The Infiny Press juicer offers a great way of preparing fresh juice at home. The Infinity Press works by slowly rotating a a screw mechanism which presses fruits, vegetables and even herbs very delicately to get the best out of them, to preserve as much flavour and vitamin goodness as possible. This gentle pressing process preserves as much flavour and vitamin goodness as possible by making full use of all the resources the fruit or vegetable has to offer. This helps you to produce fresh juice that is full of nutrients and tastes delicious.


  • 35% more juice 
  • 30% more vitamin C 
  • 75% more antioxidants 


With a choice of two stainless steel filters you can have your juices smooth or with pulp, and with the compact size of the juicer it makes it easy to store. All of the removable parts are dishwasher safe, meaning less washing up too, bonus!

Compared with standard juicers, Infiny Press Revolution’s press technology can obtain up to:
 It's not your standard juicer as the Infiny Press features two removable filters which provide two functions – juice and coulis. So whether you want to make a revitalising breakfast juice or add the finishing touches to a dessert, the Infiny Press will help you achieve your juicing needs.
If you want some inspiration and ideas of what to make with a juicer head to the Tefal page here. The possibilities are endless.
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is fill in the widget below. 

Good Luck!


Bacon, feta & rocket frittata recipe

Thursday 7 August 2014


I’m back!

I’ve been very quiet here for the past few months, and the reason is that I completely fell off the wagon. I am cross with myself – it took the best part of last year to lost 2.5 stone, and only 6 months to gain most of it back. If only it worked the other way around! I’m not going to beat myself up though – I gained weight because I was in a new relationship and happier than I’ve been in a long time. And I am back on it now, I've switched to doing Weight Watchers online and my first weigh in is tomorrow! Eeep!

I’m going to start posting lots of recipes again, as last year, that’s what really helped me lose the weight. I discovered a love of cooking that I didn’t know I had, and rather than feeling sad about no more takeaways and convenience food, I’m excited to start cooking from scratch again and experimenting with tasty recipes.

With that all said, I might as well come back with a tasty recipe! And before you ask, YES. It does involve cheese. So, I’m definitely guilty of having the same thing for lunch day in, day out – when I find something that works, I stick with it. Throughout school, I was perfectly happy with my peanut butter sandwich and ready salted crisps every day, and now I’m all about my daily soup.

Pink Lining challenged me to come up with a recipe to liven up a kids’ lunchbox – now even though I don’t have any of my own, I spend a lot of time with my sister’s kids so I felt pretty equipped to come up with something. After a lot of thinking, I went for a frittata. Frittatas are super easy to make - unlike omelettes, they require very little skill (my omelettes always fall apart!). They’re a super easy dinner as they’re basically eggs and whatever else you have – but they’re also really good hot or cold. And they’re light, too! This whole recipe is only 19 points, and for lunch a quarter or half would be plenty.

I didn’t get a chance to try this out on any children but I put together this as my own lunchbox and very tasty it was too! (Plus, this Pink Lining lunchbox is way too adorable to give to a kid, right?) Along with my frittata portion, I bought a little box of green salad, some cherry tomatoes, a bottle of water and a couple of pieces of fruit. Super tasty!

Bacon, Feta & Rocket Frittata
Half a small red onion - 0PP
2 mushrooms
A couple of handfuls of fresh rocket - 0PP
4 large eggs - 8pp
100g crumbled feta cheese - 7pp
50g bacon lardons - 4pp
19PP / 10PP a half


1. Turn on your grill and let it heat up while you prepare everything else.
2. In an oven-proof frying pan,* thinly chop your mushrooms and onion, then dry fry (add a little water if it starts to stick)
3. Throw in your bacon and let everything cook away while you prepare everything else
4. In a jug or bowl, break your eggs and whisk up with a little salt and pepper until combined
5. Chop up your feta and add that to the bowl, then add your rocket.
6. Stir it all together, and then add to the frying pan.
7. Remove your frying pan from the heat and pop it under the grill for 5-10 minutes until it's cooked through - the egg should be solid, not liquid, all the way through.
8. Chop into quarters and serve, or leave to cool and have it for lunch tomorrow!

*If you don't have an oven-proof frying pan, you'll need to decant this into a baking tin, but it may not work as well.


Post in collaboration with Pink Lining.

Say hello to a familiar face... guest post by Lauren.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Hi there – remember me? I can’t believe it’s been 18 months since I was last here!
For those of you who are new to Where Are My Knees, my name is Lauren and I was a member of the team for a few months back in 2012/2013. Unfortunately due to other commitments I wasn’t able to stick around longer, but I had some great experiences while part of the team and I was thrilled when Gemma got in touch to ask me if I wanted to do a guest post for the girls.

My story is one most people will have heard in some form or another – I lost 100lbs on Weight Watchers over the course of two and a half years while I was at university. After graduating and starting full time work the weight started to creep back on slowly…a year after I graduated I fell in love with a wonderful man and suddenly the weight wasn’t creeping on so much as piling on – a result of too many meals out and too many nights on the sofa with ice cream and sweets!


At my heaviest, I weighed 19st 11.5lbs – a number that will be ingrained in my memory for the rest of my life. At my lightest, I weighed 12st 9.5lbs. I was within the healthy weight bracket for my height (5’11) but still around 7-10lbs heavier than I wanted to be. As of this April, when I re-joined Weight Watchers and really re-committed myself to losing the weight again, I weighed 16st 5lbs. At first I was mortified that I had allowed myself to regain so much of the weight that I worked so hard to lose, but I’ve come to accept that this is just one stage in my journey. The truth is I will struggle with my weight for the rest of my life, and that is just something that I’m going to have to accept and learn to live with. What matters is that I re-dedicated myself to losing weight and living healthily, and in the last 14 weeks I’ve lost just over 15lbs. Not a miraculous weight loss by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s been consistent and I’m actually enjoying being back on track.


So, what changed? Well first of all I’m very lucky to have the support of my wonderful boyfriend. We recently made the decision to move in together, and we’re currently living in his lovely little house in a small town in Lincolnshire. It’s a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the busy commuter town in Essex I grew up in, but I’m loving being surrounded by gorgeous countryside and will soon be starting a brand new job about two miles from our home. Moving in with my boyfriend and out of the family home has had a huge impact on my weight loss because I have been able to take control of what food is in the house. Living with my mum, stepdad and brother was always problematic for me weight loss wise. Not only were the cupboards full of sweets, crisps and chocolate but my mum is an excellent cook and is not a fan of weighing or measuring – so while I knew that my meals were made from lovely fresh ingredients I never had any idea of how much was on my plate. Since moving in with Pete I have almost completely taken over shopping and cooking (even though he’s a better cook than I am!) and having this control has really helped keep me on track.

Probably the most important thing that happened was that I was finally honest with myself about how I felt about my body. Because I’m tall I can get away with carrying more weight, and even at just over 16st I was only wearing a size 16. I spent a long time trying to convince myself that my weight didn’t matter and I was happy with how I looked. I have a boyfriend that loves me no matter what size jeans I’m wearing, and it wasn’t like I’d regained all the weight after all…maybe this was just the size I was meant to be. I was wrong though, and I had to realise that and break the cycle of denial before I could really get re-focussed on losing weight. If I hadn’t, I have no doubt that I would have ended up back where I started in 2010.

As I said previously, mine is a story that most people will be familiar with. Almost everybody knows somebody who lost a significant amount of weight and then re-gained some or all of it. Gemma herself has spoken about her struggles with maintaining her weight loss and there are plenty more people out there in the same boat. If you’ve found yourself in this position, or even if you’re new to the weight loss game, I would advise you to above all else be honest with yourself. I spent two years pre-Weight Watchers telling myself that I didn’t care about being the fat friend, but it was a lie. It sounds shallow, but I was at my happiest in myself when I was at my slimmest. I was brimming with confidence, I smiled more, I laughed freely, I made friends easily. Over the past couple of years as the weight has crept back on I’ve found myself making excuses not to go out, shying away from the colourful and fun fashions I used to love, and generally withdrawing more and more. Being honest with myself about what the weight was doing to my happiness was the best thing I could have done, and I’m now looking forward to shedding even more pounds and re-embracing the slim, happy, confident girl I was a couple of years ago.

If you’d like to keep up with my weight loss journey and see a little more of what I’m up to now I’m living in the Lincs countryside then please stop by my new blog Life In Lincs, or say hello on Twitter or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you :)