Lennyloveslife

So I did it. I decided to go back-to-back on my cleanse days. It was tough, I’m not going to lie to you. I slightly cheated on my 2nd day and had a mugshot in the evening as my tummy was literally screaming out to be fed!

I feel good for it, especially as I have been for brunch this weekend (post coming soon!) and I have lost 8lbs this week, despite eating all the food when I was away with work!

I do have a feeling that one of the ‘side effects’ of the cleanse day is a rather uncontrollable need for the toilet (need I say more, in fact that is probably too much info!) but at least my system is getting rid of all the horrible toxins that my body has been storing over the past few months.

Would I do a back-to-back cleanse again? Maybe, but not this month as I feel slightly out of control when I don’t eat, as if my body is just waiting to binge at the end! So I will sitck with one cleanse a week for the rest of the month.

I feel like I need to start doing a bit more exercise to make the most of this 30 day programme, so gym, here I come!

As always, if you would like to find out more about the Isagenix weight loss programme then drop me a comment below.

Lenny xx

Disclaimer, I am not being paid to write these posts, and I have paid for the products featured in any of these posts. I just wanted to share my journey, especially if it can help someone else in the process.

First update…it’s going ok. I wouldn’t say going great, as it has been a little bit tough. Not because the plan isn’t easy or enjoyable, but because I have no will power!

The first few days, I stuck to it rigidly, mostly with a shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, low-calorie snacks between meals and a 600 calorie meal in the evening. I even whipped up some fantastic veggie food…

I tried the protein bars, which are really chocolately, the e-shots are ok in flavour, but they helped me through the day and the isa snacks are good too.

My downfall was a work event. We went out for food, I had my heart set on being good, but the food was so damn yummy I went completely overboard as usual.

With all the best will in the world I was back on it the next day, had my breakfast as my meal for the day which was very delicious, but then out came the chocolates, flapjacks and buffet at my work meeting and bam, I caved!

Before I would have just written the rest of the week off, but I am back on it with a cleanse day today.

A cleanse day is a day where you don’t have any shakes, or your 600 calorie meal. You cleanse and fast your system with a tonic called ‘Nourish for Life’ which is bursting with vitamins. You drink this 4 times throughout the day, along with your e-shot, some of the isa snacks and if you fancy, some isa delights!

I will let you know how my cleanse day goes, and I may even try a double cleanse and do two days back to back! We shall see how much I miss actual food!

If you would like to know more, then drop me a comment down below.

Lenny xx

Some of you will know that I have been following slimming world for a while now and did reach my target earlier this year, having lost around 2 stone!

The thing is, I have put it all back on and a few more pounds and I have been really struggling to get the weight back off. Not only that, I am so tired all the time and my eating habits are not even that of a normal person, it is like I’m possessed by some demon that needs to eat everything in sight to stay alive!!

A friend of mine, who also had struggled with slimming world, joined a weight management programme with a company called Isagenix. She has had great success with the programme and has so much energy, she looks healthy and happy, so I decided to give it a go.

After having a discussion with my friend on the phone, going through my reasons for wanting to lose weight, what motivated me, and going through which programme would be best for me, my friend ordered my box and I just had to sit and wait for it to arrive!

When my box arrived it was huge and heavy! But I was so excited to open it and get started!

I went for the premium pack which contained all I needed for the next 30 days.

The programme is essentially shake based, supported by cleanse days. The shakes contain lots of nutrients and the supporting products are there to help you along the way.

I thought I would document my journey here and let you know how it goes.

Day 1

I was really excited to get started! My pack came with a blender, so to start I went with the Strawberry shake. You just add water and blend. I added a few ice cubes to make it nice and cold. You can either have it quite thick (reduce amount of water) or quite thin (increase the amount of water) and blend for 30 seconds and there you go. Along with the shake, you have a supplement which is aimed at supporting your bodies metabolism and energy production and also a daily tonic which is designed to support overall well-being.

The strawberry shake was delicious! I really enjoyed how thick it was, and even got my spoon to get as much as I could out of the shaker! The tonic was ok, you can dilute it with water or drink it straight, so I decided to dilute it so I could get a good load of water down me too!

Like any weight system, you should ensure that you drink plenty of water throughout the day, which is probably the part I’m going to struggle with the most!

Lunchtime and another shake, I went for the Chocolate one this time, again fairly thick. I definitely prefer the Strawberry one, but it was still very palatable and another daily supplement down the hatch.

The plan allows for you to have a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack if you need to (around 100 cals each) but I didn’t feel the need to. They also do protein bars, which you can snack on, but I am yet to try mine.

For dinner, you have a 400-600 calorie balanced meal. You can have this at any time of the day, so if you wanted to have a good breakfast then have a shake for lunch and dinner you can. The programme is completely flexible as to how you want it to work. I do feel that I need to work on my portion control for my evening meals and get used to what 600 calories of protein carbs and veg should look like but I will get there!

For pudding, they do these little delight chocolate salted caramel squares to take that sweet craving away. Very yummy!

Then to ensure that everything functions, you have another daily supplement which you take before bed to help support your bodies natural flow.

Verdict on Day 1

I found the plan pretty easy to follow, and didn’t find that I was hungry or needed to snack between my meals. This was probably mainly because I didn’t start until mid-morning and was kept busy putting together my last piece of flat pack furniture together!

I think Monday will be more of a challenge as I’ll be at work surrounded by temptation!

Hopefully you will follow me on my journey and if you have any questions then just drop them below!

Lenny xx

 

So…It has been a while and a lot, and I mean a lot has happened since the last time i posted.

I got the keys to my first home (well first home on my own!!). This is a massive achievement and step for me, and for those that have been following me for a while will know that this is a long time coming! This time it was a much smoother operation, apart from the last week of it, where it got pretty darn stressful and I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown, well I kinda did!

During this extremely stressful life event, my boyfriend decided that after nearly 10 months together that it wasn’t going to work and left me the same week I moved! I was pretty upset about it, but having the flat to focus on took my mind of it and I have reverted back to my mantra ‘everything happens for a reason’.

New home, fresh start. No memories in the flat of us together which has helped and I have been so busy with decorating, cleaning, and if you follow me on social media, building flat pack furniture all by myself!

I’ve been here just over a month now and finally got my internet connection, hence the lateness of this post, but if you want to see some of my interior/diy pictures then go check out my instagram #lennyloveslifeblog where there are bound to be a lot more house inspired posts!

Lenny x

It took me 30 years to like coffee, and its opened up a whole new world for me. The discovery happened by accident whilst I was on holiday when I was accidentally given, or accidentally ordered, a iced mocha from the hotel bar. It was just what I needed at that time and I was addicted to them for my whole holiday.

Back at home was where the real discovery started, or so I thought. Was I a Costa, Starbucks or a Cafe Nero kinda gal. I whittled it down to not really liking Cafe Nero, I could do Costa, but Starbucks was my favourite.

Well that was until I discovered the hidden gem that is Bora Coffee based on the Stratford Road in Shirley. Run by Ross and Danielle, there little baby opened on 24th July date and all started back in 2014 and focuses on their charitable work in Uganda.

Ross is a complete coffee geek and their aim is to provide you with ‘ethically sourced, delicious coffee from the African Continent’, and I can certainly vouch, their coffee is delicious.

Having driven past their new social enterprise it pipped my interest and I decided to check them out. The coffee shop has a very basic, clean but on trend design where the main focus is the coffee. Their menu is small but concise, and their prices are extremely good considering the quality offering you are getting.

On my first visit, I took my sister and boyfriend on Saturday afternoon. When we arrived, it was fairly quiet but it soon got busier. I went for their V60 coffee with the Rwandan blend. V60 is just the way the coffee is brewed.

Perfect measures of water are poured over the ground coffee beans, which were freshly roasted only a few days before by their specialist roasters based in bradford. This method takes around 5 minutes to filter but it was worth the wait. Served in a preheated mug (no small cups here) with a talk through demonstration by Ross himself, it was a fascinating process to watch.

Once it was ready, it was poured with a little space left for milk. Now, I am normally a milky sweet coffee drinker but I am glad that I tried this coffee without adding anything except a small bit of milk, as it needed no additions. It was perfect. Smooth, balanced, fruity. Just perfect.

My boyfriend and sister both went for a hot chocolate, which was also pretty great and came with a nice elephant detail on top. Alongside the drinks, we opted to try a selection of their handmade cakes. My boyfriend and sister both went for the super dark brownie, and I opted for the Pear and Ginger loaf. Both were extremely good and very yummy.

I was sad to leave that day, but knew it wouldn’t be long before I would be back, and I wasn’t wrong. Just a few days later I took a few work colleagues there in our lunch break. Me and Hannah, who seems to be my partner in crime for coffee shops, decided to go for the Chemex for 2 and try the Kenyan blend. The chemix looked like something off breaking bad, but again is very similar to the v60 and is another brewing method that Bora coffee offer.

Again, there was a little talk by Ross as he was going through the brewing process which took around 6-7 minutes as there was double the amount of liquid this time.

The Kenyan blend was a touch stronger than the Rwandan, but again I didn’t feel the need to add any sugar, just a tiny bit more milk. Hannah was very impressed by the geekiness of the whole thing!

A visit wouldn’t be complete without another sample of their bakes, so I went for the toasted coconut and dark chocolate flapjack and Hannah went for the cocoa orange bar. The flapjack was lovely, not a sticky lump like a normal flapjack, I could almost get away with saying it was healthy. Hannah informed me that her cocoa orange bar was also delicious.

I do have a slight feeling that I am going to become a regular here and only hope that this lovely little social enterprise thrives in its little location in Shirley.

Lenny xx

p.s. whilst finishing this blog I am currently sat in Bora Coffee for my third visit!

 

 

I have been pretty quiet around the whole flat/moving situation and that is because it all went tits up at the very last minute. I was quite gutted at the time as it had been 11 months since I first put my offer in on this new build for it all to fall through, plus a considerable amount of money on mortgage surveys and other fees.

However, like they say everything happens for a reason, and a week after the flat fell through I found somewhere else!! This was very much unintentional as I was going to take a couple of months off and recoup some money and sanity, take a holiday and just chill, but I spotted this little place on rightmove and thought I would go and have a look and fell in love pretty much straight away.

The location of this flat is great, being only 5 minutes drive from where I am now, and is also a bit more spacious, but most importantly it has a bath!

I am hoping this process will go a lot smoother, with the mortgage offer having already been agreed and sorted and technically there is no chain as the seller will happily move out before she finds somewhere new.

I am just keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully will have some positive updates to post along with some lovely interior posts once I am in!

Who knew that buying my own place would be so stressful!!!

Lenny xx

I often travel to London for work and luckily for me I’m in charge of finding accommodation. As with all companies we have a limited budget for the rooms so finding something decent within our budget is often challenging.

Step in Hub by Premier Inn, a new concept by Premier inn which focuses on compact rooms in great locations. The rooms come with the latest technology, a hypnos bed, monsoon shower, towels, shower gel and a hair dryer, along with a 40” smart TV and free wifi. The hub hotels also house artisan delis to satisfy those coffee cravings.

London, it seems is awash with this stylish boutique-style hotel chain with locations including, Covent Garden, Tower Bridge, Westminster and Spitafields. They also have two hotels in Edinburgh, another location that can break the bank when it comes to accommodation, and more hotels are on the horizon.

The bed, which takes up the main space in the room was super comfy and access to the touch screen panel, which controls the lights and temperature in the rooms, is just at the head of the bed with USB and HDMI ports on the sideboard of the bed. All the controls can be used via an app too, which is pretty cool!

Quirky little touches include a bottle opener attached to the wardrobe area, along with under bed storage to maximise floor space and a pull out desk. My room didn’t have windows, however, this didn’t bother me as it was really just a place to get my head down and freshen up. There are rooms available with windows.

In terms of location, Tower Bridge, as it suggests was literally two minutes from Tower Bridge and also from Tower Hill underground station so really handy to get around the city either by foot or by tube.

I would definitely recommended and consider using the Hub by Premier Inn hotels again, especially if it was just for one night or somewhere to get my head down. They were clean, fresh and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, they even let me store my luggage for the day whilst I went shopping! 

Have you any great budget London hotel recommendations?

Lenny xx