September 2016 – DIONNELIFTS

15 Ways To Avoid The “Freshers 15” At University/College

September 22, 2016October 14, 2016Posted in DietLeave a comment

The dreaded “Freshers 15″… the notion that when you first go to university you will return home 15 pounds heavier. It’s unsurprising really; the alcohol, the late nights, the takeaways, it really is a recipe for disaster. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Here are 15 tips that will help you live a healthier lifestyle, fresher or not.

#1. Walk

Even if you are a bit of a gym-o-phobic, there is still no reason as to why you can’t get as least some exercise in during your day. Doing something small like walking to university or walking to the shops, instead of driving or getting the bus, can really help- all those steps add up!

#2. Be smart with alcohol

I’m not going to sit here and tell you not to drink…because that would be ridiculous #DownItFresher. But when you are drinking, try to be smart with your choice of alcohol. Things like beer or cider are very calorific, there is a crazy 250 calories in a bottle of Kopparberg, whereas a shot of vodka only has 55 calories.

#3. Go diet

When you are ordering alcohol with a mixer, try asking for the diet version, instead of full fat. You could be saving almost 150 calories per drink!

#4. Hydrate

This is especially important after alcohol and almost goes with saying. When you get in after a night of drinking try and chug as much water as possible. If you can down a pint of beer- you can down a pint of water! Sipping water throughout the day will keep you feeling full of energy and stop you from snacking on sugary snacks.

#5. Join a gym

If there is anything that motivates students more…it’s money. If you know that you are paying for a gym membership every month, it could well motivate you to actually go! And no excuses with it being too expensive. Some commercial gyms charge as little as £2.50/week- you’d spend more on a pint!

#6. Get a workout buddy

If you are a little worried about stepping into a gym, going with another person can make it much less daunting. You will also be able to motivate each other and it makes it much harder to slack off!

#7. Join a society

If the gym isn’t for you why not try joining an AU society! There are so many sports to choose from and not only will it get you fitter, but it’s a great way to make friends.

#8. Don’t buy crap

The easiest way to cut down on crap, is not to buy it! If you fill your cupboards with tempation then it makes it so much harder to eat well. Normally if I am craving chocolate but don’t have any it, I will be too lazy to go out and buy some, so will settle for something else instead.

#9. The “apple rule”

I saw this online and I thought it was a really good idea. Quite often most of us eat because we are bored, or we are watching TV etc. When you feel like reaching for a snack, think to yourself “would I eat an apple right now?”. If the case if no, then you are probably not really hungry and are just eating for the sake of it.

#10. Buy pizza from the supermarket instead

Whilst I am not condoning an all-pizza-diet, there are times when pizza is a necessity. If you really are desperate for a takeaway, always try and buy from the supermarket instead. A dominos veggie pizza has 1,653 calories, whereas an ASDA veggie pizza only has almost half the calories- 842- and is tons cheaper!

#11. Stir fries

Stir fries are a literally a god send for students. I mentioned this in the post I wrote last year about healthy eating as a student. Stir fries are an amazing way to get in your protein, carbs and veggies in a quick, easy and cheap way. Just watch out for sugary stir fry sauces.

#12. Buy frozen

Nope I don’t mean pizzas…I mean vegetables. This year I have decided to buy way more frozen items because not only are they much cheaper, but it stops me wasting so much fresh food. This way, it means you always have vegetables in, so no excuses for not eating your greens!

#13. Take a packed lunch

Whilst it may be easy to nip into a food outlet on campus and buy a sandwich for lunch, it will be far cheaper, healthier and probably tastier to bring your own. Even if you aren’t a culinary expert, just pack your own sandwiches in wholemeal bread with a good protein source and lots of veg!

#14. Sleep sleep sleep

I’m sure that most uni students won’t need any encouragement to stay in bed. But believe it or not, your 4am-1pm sleep is doing you no where near as much good as an 11pm-8am sleep would! Sleep is honestly one of the most important things for both your physical and mental health. When you are tired, everything seems to get on top of you more and your basic bodily functions start to suffer.

#15. Prioritise!

Instead of saying “I don’t have time to do this” say “this is not a priority for me at the moment”. This really changes your way of thinking and will help you to stop making excuses for things. Is watching Netflix in your PJs really a priority?

I hope these tips were useful, if you want any more info check out my post about eating healthy at university which shows some easy meal ideas. Also check out my IG: @dionnelifts where I post loads of easy meal ideas!

Bye for now x

Pure Blend Co. Protein Powder Review

September 4, 2016September 22, 2016Posted in ReviewsLeave a comment

Hey guys! Today I thought I would do something a little different and review a protein powder that I recently tried. I absolutely hate trying new protein powders, because unless you get a sample, you have to buy a huge quantity and spend loads of money and yeah yeah yeah….basically I can’t commit to that shit. So I thought this review may help any other indecisive people out there!

I discovered this amazing brand on Instagram, who very kindly offered to send me a free sample of their protein powder to try. I did ask to try a product from their vegan range, but unfortunately they had run out. Instead they sent me one of their most popular flavors – Acai Berry, Blueberry and Camu Camu Whey.

MACROS…

With almost 21g protein per 25g serving, the blend is extremely high protein.
Aside from protein, the blend is very low in most things, including calories, carbohydrates and fat.

GOOD BITS…

This product is made from NOTHING artificial.. which is super rare for a supplement.
Instead of being made from whey liquid (the by-product in the cheese making process), the protein is produced directly from skimmed milk.
I haven’t actually been consuming milk at all recently, but the company assured me that the milk they use comes from grass-fed cows who roam outside pretty much all the time.
Most other proteins undergo heat treatment to remove bacteria from the whey liquid, however this also destroys the vital amino acids. This protein goes through a cold process instead which does not destroy the amino acids.
Aside from providing a source of protein, the superfoods in the blend have their own health benefits including protecting your heart, lowering cholesterol and aiding weight loss.

BAD BITS…

The only thing which may let the product down is the lack of flavour, which was of course to be expected in a product with no artificial colors or flavorings.
This didn’t bother me too much as I mainly added it to pancakes or smoothies, but if you wanted to drink it on it’s own with water I can’t imagine it would taste of much.

If you fancied giving the blend a try check out thier IG page or message info@pureblendco.com

Thank you for reading this and give it a share if you found it interesting! Leave any suggestions in the comments below and make sure to follow my IG @dionnelifts for more food and exercise ideas.

Overcoming Negative Thoughts

September 3, 2016September 4, 2016Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

If someone walked up to you in the street and insulted you, what would you do? I’m sure most of us would get pretty angry, right? So why is it that we let ourselves, talk to ourselves, like crap on a daily basis, and do nothing absolutely about it. Sometimes we have to accept that what we’re thinking, or what our heads are telling is not correct.

For some reason just because thoughts come from our own heads, we deem them to be correct. I can stand in front of a mirror and my brain can tell me that I’m fat, and I’ll believe it. But why? Why am I allowed to be an asshole to myself?

Last year I attended CBT, which whilst being painfully awkward, actually taught me one pretty clever thing, how to overcome negative thoughts, or at least to an extent. The idea is to try to constantly question negative thoughts.

Low self esteem and self worth can effect all aspects of our lives, our relationships, our work life and of course our training. If you’re going into the gym expecting to pull a PB feeling, mentally, like crap, it’s probably not going to happen. Megsquats put it pretty well in her Youtube video about wearing makeup to the gym.

Wearing makeup makes me feel good about myself, and when I feel good about myself, I perform better. Simple really.

I’m in no way some sort of psychology expert, but I’m just going to share a few examples of how I try and challenge my own thoughts, and how it helps me.

#1. I would often get really anxious in big crowds of people, particularly girls my age, and think people were looking at me thinking how “ugly” I was. But now, I will take a look around and instead think “I’ve just looked at about 50 people and I don’t think any of them are ugly, so why would they think that about me?”.

Questioning your thoughts with factual evidence also helps a lot.

#2. When I walked down the street by myself I would feel like everybody was staring at me. But then I started to think “Why would they be staring at me? Do I stare at anyone else? Nope.” and then I’d look around and physically see that nobody actually really was staring at me. That was a fact.

#3. Just like a lot of people, I would often look in the mirror and call myself fat. But now I am able to question this with evidence, for example my clothes size. “I wear size 8 clothes, how can I be fat?” Or if I was getting ready to go out and felt self conscious in an outfit I could say “I wore this exact outfit two weeks and felt great in it, what’s different?”

Of course it’s normal to have negative thoughts from time to time, but when these thoughts are a regular occurrence and having a profound effect on your life, it can be really debilitating.

I’m more than aware there are much more important things in life than your appearance, but let’s try and tackle one thing at a time!

I hope this post was useful, if you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to send me a message on my Instagram or leave me a comment on here! Bye for now X