Happy FRI-YAY!!!!!!

Happy Friday peeps!

In the words of Alan Carr "Well what a week its been!"

11 days and counting on my plan. 

So the dress I spoke about in the last blog post arrived

during the week. 

Good news it FITS!

All though it is a tad tight so now I'm on a serious mission!

Operation trim waist is now in progress.

I have been to the gym three times this week one AM session and 

two PM sessions. I love how great you feel on a Friday
after the gym.
I also weighed myself while I was there and 
I have thankfully lost 1 kg this week.
Hard work and willpower really does pay off!
Seeing that scales go down this week has really mad the hard points of
this week worth while.
I am chuffed!

I keep a food and exercise diary now.
I plan my workouts before going to the gym so I'm not
walking around between sets cooling down. I know I am
getting a good 50 minute workout.

Generally my food intake has not been to
different to last week,
breakfast, lunch and dinner, 2/3 litres of water per day
no sugar in my coffee, no soft drinks and some protein.
I'm also currently drinking miss fit skinny tea which I love.
Lots of people are doing the drop a dress size 28 day challenge with
Miss Fit Skinny tea. You can join the group on facebook for it here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dropadresssizechallengebymissfitskinnytea/

I'm motivated to keep going. I have one week to go
and then its party time at the club dinner dance on Saturday 
19th! I cannot wait for the event.

I'll post my food Diary for the weekend 
on facebook on Sunday.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Ciao for now 
Annie Mac
xXx

Happy hump day!

Hi Peeps!

Urban dictionary describes "Hump Day! as:

"Wednesday, or the hump of the week. The absolute BEST day of the week, the day of maximum hope that maybe, you might make it out of this week alive. A particularly good hump day can last you the rest of the week, and by doomsday morning (Monday) you survive by anticipating hump day. Nothing goes wrong on hump day"

I always thought hump day was a bad thing until today!

I had a great day and I am feeling fabulous!

My food intake for today was as follows:

Breakfast: weetabix  x2 & 1 americano

Snack:Brown bread with butter and jam (I know the Jam is bold)

Lunch: Salad no dressing

Snack: 30g popcorn & Mint choc fulfil protein bar

1 americano

Dinner: 2 Poached eggs on Wholemeal bread & 1 cup of tea

Water intake: 2ltrs

Calorie wise I had: 1239kcals

I also went to the gym 

While in the gym I did the below:

Bike 10 minutes for my warm up.

I then went into a Tabatha style routine.

This consisted of 45 second bursts as hard and fast as I could go

with a 90 second rest between each. I did this cycle 10 times.

I broke it up between the treadmill and cross trainer. While on

the treadmill I did speed 11 for my 45 second bursts 

and between speed 5 and 6 for my rest. I then finished 

on the cross-trainer doing the same as above on an elevation

 of 2 and level 5.

I was sweating I could actually feel my fat crying!

It felt great!

I then went on to do some weights, 

5kg dumbbell curls 12 reps x3.

Tricep pull down 27kg 12 reps x3.

Lateral pull down 30kg 12 reps x3.

I then finished with some ab work on the abdominal bench.

It's not the most difficult routine but it's  

a start. I'm feeling good and that's all that matters.

I bought a dress online this evening for the gala ball that

ill be going to in three weeks. It's a back up in case I do not like

how I look in any of the current dresses I have. I did buy a dress all

ready for the night but I am just not comfortable in it.

Hopefully in three weeks time i'll feel comfortable and can share 

what dress I went with for the event.

For now that's my goal. three weeks time!

I can do this!

Depending on how my body feels I might

go to the gym again tomorrow evening.

If not I will go on Friday after work.

What I'm Loving at the moment:

 I am totally loving the dark evenings! 

When I came home from work I 

went to the gym, showered, ate my dinner then sat down to

watch some TV. It was still only seven pm! 

Bliss!! It's also getting that little

 bit colder so the fire was lit which

made the sitting room so cosy. It really is the one thing I love

about this time of year! The Days feel so long! 

 Therefore I feel more relaxed.

Thanks for reading!

Ciao for now :)

Annie Mac

x

Time to wake up and get serious!

Hi All,

I know, I know! It's been a while yet again I am back. 

Halloween is over so that only means one thing... Christmas is around the corner!

In 8 weeks time it will be

done and dusted for another year!

So whats the plan? I hear you ask. 

I'll be honest I went back to see good old gym last week

I went twice both 6am sessions. I was

good last week for about 4 days then the weekend came and I

more or less undid everything! Story of my life!

Anyway, It's a new week and Monday has been and gone

Today I went for a run with  my friend Carla at lunch time.

We did bursts of 2 minutes jogging/running and 1 minute walking.

It was short but better than doing nothing!

In the morning I am heading to the gym with my mate Nicola.

I plan on doing 20 minutes of full on weights and a 10 minute

burst of cardio to finish. The gym only opens

at 6am and I need to be on the road for work by 6.45

hense why it is so short.

I feel good after today, Day 1 is over,

I have not ate bad and dinner is in the oven.

Chicken, Vegetables and sweet potato chips.

I am going to make some changes for the next three weeks. 

1. No Sugar in my coffee or weetabix.

2. No Junk food - clean eating that has to be prepared.

therefore cutting out any processed foods.

3. No alcohol, yes girls I said it!

I need to do this. I have a dress to fit into in

three weeks so I need all the help I can get and the above 

changes will help me.

In three weeks my club has its awards night which

I am really looking forward to. I want to feel comfortable 

and confidant in myself going to this event.

It's set to be a great night. My team have

three awards to collect so it will be a great end to

a great season to celebrate with the girls and the rest of the club.

Details of the O'Dwyers gala ball and Awards Night.

Todays meals:

Breakfast: Branflakes

Lunch:Salad

Snack: Fulfill Protein Bar

Dinner: Chicken, Vegetables and  Sweet potatoes

 Chips

Hopefully I am as good for the rest of the week

I am defiantly determined.

Ciao for now

Annie Mac

x

Goodbye August ... Hello September

Well August has clearly been and gone!

Not one post from myself on my so called blog! 

I keep saying "I will get back into the swing of things tomorrow!"

Tomorrow never comes!

Why??

 This is what I need to figure out....

Why do we fall off the bandwagon so easily but find it 

so hard to jump back on?

At this rate I am chasing the wagon down the road

and giving up as soon as I get out of breath! The Wagon is

long out of sight for me to jump back on again!

I started slimming world back in July (i think) and as

soon as I gained I gave up! I gave up with the lifestyle

changes, the syns and 

I  unfortunately gave up in myself more than anything....

I felt deflated and defeated 

and if I'm being totally honest

I still feel the same now sitting here in September.

For some reason as of late chocolate has become my weakness!

I have never been a big chocoholic

but as of late I find myself thinking and wanting chocolate more and 

more.

Once it's in my head that's it, I need to get rid of the craving

by having it. It's a vicious circle because once I have

it I feel guilty which then in turn makes

me eat more to cheer myself up....

Who is this chocolate beast?

I honestly do not know her!!

How can I overcome this? I have tried setting goals,

I have tried all the diets! Do I need to re-train my

brain into a different way of thinking? 

Here is my month in review.....

August was a very busy month for me. I had

my Mams 70th birthday,

Her actual birthday is on the 3rd of August which was a week

day so myself and my sisters called up to her with balloons, presents.

cake and of corse the prosecco! (this was definitely

the start of my downfall!)

Mam was over the moon and she really enjoyed 

the evening with her daughters and some grandchildren.

My sisters and I had chipped in to get my mam a special gift.

A necklace.... It has all our names and birthstones in it which I 

thought was a really nice touch. 

website for necklace: www.mynamenecklace.ie

A more detailed photo of the necklace is over on my instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJEfX4BDUSj/?taken-by=whoisshe_anniemac

The big night was still yet to come.

To this day I cannot believe we pulled it off.

We held  surprise party for my Mam in 

Kealys Pub in their new hanger 6 function room.

Which is so beautifully decorated. I love it.

website:http://www.kealys.ie/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kealyspub/?fref=ts

Dion who helped me organise everything was 

amazing and I would just like to thank her and 

the staff for a great night. 

Before the party I had organised the beautiful Grace Mongey

of FacesByGrace to come and do

Mams make-up along with my own.

Grace is so talented at what she does and she is

such a nice girl I loved having her over to make us up!

Thank you Grace and best of luck with BabyFaces <3

Graces amazing work above and mam totally shocked 

when she walked into the party!

Check some of graces social media outlets below;

website:http://www.facesbygrace.com/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/facesbygracexx/?fref=ts

The party was a great success and we had

120 people at it. We also had a photobooth/photobox

which my friend in work developed. We ran it on a raspberryPi.

this went down a treat and some of the photos were quite funny!

Thanks Zac!

Another big event in August was

my football teams Championship final against Na Fianna.

Final score: O'Dwyers 4-18 Na Fianna 1-06

After the win we all went back to the club for some

well deserved food and drinks. It was 

nice to sit down and have the laugh with 

the girls on the team and our management.

Well done again girls! 

So here we are September yet again.... before 

we know it, it will be Christmas and 2016 will be gone!
That means I only have a couple of weeks to
get myself sorted.
I think I need to concentrate on being happy.
If I keep on being negative I won't get anywhere.
Its time to change my way of thinking.

The club have a dinner dance coming up so
this is going to be my first goal.
I'm not going to say I want to be this weight or a certain
size. Instead I just want to be comfortable in my dress
and in my body.

I have re-joined the gym and I am going to
hopefully get a program this week if
not next week. I will do this program 20 times
and then I will re-visit the trainer for a new program.
On days where I do not feel like doing the program I will do
one of the gym classes to push myself.

I know this has been a long post
but it has been a long time since I wrote anything.
I had lots of other things and events on over the last month
or so also but I don't want to keep rambling on.

Chow for now!
Annie Mac
xXx

A fab first week! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So last week as you know I joined slimming world.

Weigh in was last Thursday evening. I was so nervous going down.
I must have been in and out of the toilet all day with nerves!!
To my amazement I shed four and a half  pounds!

I could not believe it! I still don't believe it.

I did stick to the plan 100% so for that I got rewarded.

I still could not believe one week of slimming world and

I lost that amount of weight! I did slimming world a couple of years ago
and I never ever lost any more than 2lbs in one week. 

Everyday I have my skimmed milk for my healthy extra A

and weetabix or shredded wheat with strawberries for my Healthy

extra B.

Every day I had 2 oranges, an apple, a pear and strawberries.

Dinner was a slimming world meal of some sort. Generally protein of which

was some form of meat free and speed foods. These are your veggies
and carbohydrates.

I also consumed a limited number of syns each day as I knew I had
a pretty heavy weekend ahead. Usually I would eat all my syns which is 15
per day. I was having max 6 a day and saving the rest for my weekend.
slimming world do not recommended you do this but if it works
for you there is no harm.

I also had one day of exercise as I had a football match last Wednesday.

However..... its now week 2! 

The weekend came along and so did Beyoncé in Croke Park.

She was fairly good but for €120 standing ticket I expected her production

to be alot better. It mainly consisted of her strutting up and down a catwalk like stage and a huge

screen behind her.

Myself at Beyonce in Croke park.

Its Amazing what shedding a few pounds 

can do for your confidence. I felt great at beyonce the weekend

and more importantly I enjoyed myself, There is no point in

missing out on events or things in life just cause your trying to lose 

weight. Life is still going to happen so enjoy it while you can. 

I drank by the bucket load of alcohol over the weekend. I did not however

over indulge in food I still ate as slimming world healthy as possible. I am hoping

that will somewhat stand to me come weigh in on Thursday! We will see!

 It's back to the grindstone today and I have a couple of days to real it back and hopefully
un-do some of the damage before weigh in.
So all going well I am hoping I'll stay the same!

All that is needed is a little planning. Fail to prepare
prepare to fail is what they say!
Last week at group I bought the slimming world
diary and its really good. I am definitely
going to use it to my
advantage.


Anyway I am going to post most days from
now on. So ill keep you all
posted on my week ahead!

Chow for now

Annie Mac
x

♫ Hi July ♫

Wow The months really are flying in!

I have not been concentrating on my blog as of

late but that is about to change!

Last night I took the jump and joined slimming world.

I was at home and decided I needed to take the first step 

and think how I want to achieve any sort of goal this year.

I got into the car and went to the Bracken Court hotel in Balbriggan

where I knew there was a class on at 7:30.

I was a tad early as I just got up and left my house it was 7pm.

I went into the room and just joined there and then, I did not stop to think.

Next I knew I was a member, weighed in and sitting down 

ready for my first class of 2016. I was not at all surprised 

when I stood on the scales. I had gained 7lbs since the last time I had

properly weighed myself which was before holidays in May.

The goal over the next three weeks is too shift this "holiday/lazy mode" weight. 

Each week I am going to set myself mini targets. This week my target is 2lbs.

If I lose anymore its a bonus! 

Slimming world have two options. Extra Easy and SP. 

My plan is too the extra easy plan Friday to Sunday and extra

easy SP Monday-Wednesday. Thursday will be weigh in day.

The SP plan is a tad stricter and is 

used to boost weight loss. This is why I will use this after the weekend.

I also plan on using as little syns as possible 

and save them for the weekend. Slimming world do not recommened 

this but it is something I want to try as in the past slimming 

world has not worked for me as well as I would have hoped.

Sandra is the name of the slimming world rep 

and she is so nice! I also knew a few faces which 

really put me at ease. Some I even went to school with! 

It was nearly like a loreto convent reunion!

Everyone in the class is really nice and I am so 

looking forward to sharing my journey with them over the next

few months. 

Today is day one and all is going well!

I am actually really enjoying it. 

I did however forget my lunch going to work this

 morning :(

#clever

Its my Dad 74th birthday tonight so we are going

out to the lime kiln in Julianstown for dinner. 

As a result I have not eaten any syns

today and I have just eaten speed food all day.

I will try to choose wisely while I am out but obviously 

it wont be cooked as slimming world friendly as I would like.

I will just reign it in and pull it back the rest of the weekend and week.

The one thing we have to remember is there will always be events in

life and we have to make the best of them. That's the good thing about 

slimming world you can still eat out and just make better decisions 

about what your eating.

Well I hope you have a great

weekend!!

Chow for now

Xx Annie Mac xX

The struggle continues.... Hello May!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Irish summer 
(The sun when it's here and off course the rain!!)!

It's finally May! 

The year is really flying in. This

is going to be another honest post from me.

At the moment I am battling with my heart and head.

Why???

My heart because it longs for me to have the body

I have always wanted.

My head because I am still finding it difficult to motivate myself.

Today I came home from work with the intention of

going for a run as I really need to start training.

Instead I ended up in bed having a nap! 

What 27 year old comes home and naps?

I got up after 30 minutes and put my gym ear on

and drove to my friends house we had agreed to 

go for a run together. As its Ireland it obviously 

started raining so needless to say 

the run did not happen. I used the weather 

as an excuse not to go.

My head told me not to go because it was raining.

Exercise is the best anti-depressant and here I

am avoiding it.... 

Why?

I look at the makeup fairy (Joanne Larby) on snapchat 

@themakeupfairy

and the bodycoach (Joe Wicks) @thebodycoach 

and I long to 

have their motivation and determination. These two 

people are inspirational. I truly admire all their hard work,

willpower and determination. (go follow them!)

I know its hard work and they put in so much to

be where they are with their bodys and fitness so why can't I?

The answer is: I have no Plan.

Last week David Gillick (twitter:@DavidGillick) was in my work place

to talk about nutrition and fitness. His talk was great! Not only

was it fun and fresh but it was honest and I really enjoyed it!

One thing he said really hit home

with me.

"A goal without a plan is just a wish"

This is so true. If you do not plan how you are going to get to your
goal? Your not your just wishing.
This is what I do all the time. 
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

So I need to get my ass in gear and 
plan how I will achieve my goal.
I need to get my head in the game as they say!

This is what I will do over the next few days.

1. Get the shopping in and prepare my meals.
2.Plan my fitness regime
3.Enjoy it!

Hopefully the next few days will be better for me 
and I can finally move on from where I am in my head
at the moment.

Chow for now 
Annie Mac

xoxoxo

Lack of Motivation & my mental battle......

Hi Peeps!

It has been a long time since I posted on the blog. This one is going to be

as real and as honest as I can get.

Why have I not post in so long?

Well I have an injury the last while now. I hurt my shoulder and

sometimes it flares up. When it does I am in so much pain I can't physically do anything

but rest to relieve it.

SO not last week the week before the shoulder flared up.

I stopped working out to rest it but then I just could not get back into

the swing of things when it got better. I'll be honest I let go and ate like a horse.

Pizza, Indian, Chipper you name it I had it!

Last year I was diagnosed with depression & anxiety.

Depression affects around 450,000 people in Ireland. That is one in ten people

in the country. Anyone can be affected by depression in some way or another.

Yesterday I was feeling for want of another word "CRAP!"

I didn't want to be in work, I didn't want to go to football training.

I wanted to go home, curl up into a ball in my bed and close my eyes for the evening.

I had no want nor no desire to move or even talk to anyone. 

So how did I overcome this?

Step 1: Take time to relax

I got in from work and the first thing I did was have a cup of tea.

Took ten/fifteen minutes to sit down and have a chat with my friend. 

This all ready made me feel a little better. We had a cup of tea after a long day in 

work and a good chin wag.

Step 2: Get changed,put your gym gear on!

Don't put too much thought into it just think of it as 

getting out of your work or school clothes....

 I'll admit even five minutes

before I was due to leave for training,  still had excuses in my head...

"I've felt sick all day maybe I shouldn't go"

"I'm really tired"

and so on. I stopped for a moment 

and just did not think. I picked up my keys and walked out the door.

That was 

Step 3. Walk out the door, that's the hardest part!

I know if I sat or stood there thinking about it I would not have went.

I got into my car and went straight down to my club without thinking about it.

It was cold, I cursed myself for forgetting my warm hat!

Ten minutes into training I felt so much better. Fresh air and exercise is all it took

to get me out of my slump. Not to mention the drills we did at training were

fun and effective.

Suffering from both depression and anxiety can be a mental battle

at times and can sometimes get the better of you. 

Your constantly tired,

You don't feel the need or want to do things,

You can even get ready to go for run or workout but when you reach the 

front door an overwhelming feeling of fear and panic hits you.

You turn around and run back upstairs and hide under your duvet. 

This was me a year ago. 

Now I try find a way to push through these feelings. As mentioned 

above I took everything one thing/step at a time without 

over thinking it. 

So how do I keep going....

I've set myself some goals in order to get me back

into the swing of training. You will see below I have signed up for some races.

This will make me work harder as I need to be fit enough to complete all of these.

My Goals/motivation from now until August 

I am also going to concentrate on the blog more. 

The blog I can use as an outlet as to how I'm feeling or what I did or

plan to do.

I hope other find my blog a little bit helpful. 

Chow for now

Annie Mac

xox

The horrible reality of back pain....

Hi All,

I hope you all had a great Easter and lots of chocolate has

been and gone!!

I know I ate more chocolate than usual! 

My ultimate favourite above - The Lindt bunny!

So... where have I been? I hear you ask.

No-where... is the answer. I have been recently dealing with

back trouble. About nine months ago I somehow unknown to myself managed 

to hurt my back. 

In the last nine months. I have seen the doctor three times, went to two different 

Physiotherapists, had two MRI scans and seen a consultant in the sports injury clinic.

I still do not know why I 1. have this pain! or 2.How I got the pain.

I have been told so many different things I don't know what to believe anymore.

One of the many MRI scans I had. Yes that is my insides! lol

The pain is essentially on/in the right shoulder blade area. This pain affects my neck, arm 

and shoulder. It is constant and I get no relief. 

This week it is at its worst and I could not comfortably 

sit at my desk in work. it's affecting my day to day life and routine. 

All I want to do is get it sorted as I'm sure anyone else with

back pain or any constant pain in day to day life will know you don't feel normal.

This injury is affecting my weight loss journey essentially as I

cannot train. I cannot go to GAA training, I also cannot go to the gym when the pain

is this extensive.

I joined Flyefit in swords last week 

check it out www.flyefit.ie

I really love it. Not being able to go is very annoying.

I may have to pause my membership until I am able to go back again.

I really want to do well this year as I have promised myself

I will be more motivated and determined to lose weight and feel better about

myself.

I have also signed up to Hell and Back

which I should be training for!

Anyway hopefully I get sorted soon and I

can continue properly with my blog and weightloss journey.

Chow for now

Annie Mac

xoxoxox

Happy St Patricks Day!

Well hello there peeps!

Long time no blog! Sorry about that! 

Happy St Patricks Day

Over the past five weeks 

I have been training four times a week.

Mondays - Thursdays

This consisted of strength and conditioning class 

for one hour a week.

One GAA pitch training session for one hour a week

and two gym 30 minute gym classes twice a week.

needless to say all the training I lost sight of my blog.

I have a fitness test the weekend with my GAA team. We previously

had one eight weeks ago so it will be good to see if

there is a difference. I feel I have come on a lot but only 

the test results will tell me this.

I hope to become more active on this over the 

coming days as the holliers are fast approaching!

My eight weeks in the gym is finished with the team 

so I am going to join the gym for two months and take up

some of the classes they have to offer.

This should help with loosing some of the excess baggage I'm 

carrying (heres hopping!!)

I attended the Irish beauty show the weekend.

It was a great girly day out. Needless to say I am now broke!

I'll post what I bought in my next blog post as they really are great

products.

I hope you all have a fab weekend.

Slán go fóill!

Annie

xoxox

Enjoyable training....

Hey peeps!!

I never thought I would say this but I am loving training!!

GAA training this year is so enjoyable. Every Monday we do

a strength and conditioning class in Platinum Gym Balbriggan with

one of their trainers Sinead! She is fab a she comes from a GAA background she knows exactly

the type of training we need.

on Monday she changed it up again, it was another level if I'm honest.

We did the below:

1. Gobblet squats with 10kg kettlebell

2.Single arm swings 5kg weights

3.Lunges

4.Side lunges

5. Alternating arm plank

6.Mountain climbers

7.T push-ups

8.Russian twist lunge

9.Bent over row with two 5kg weights

10.Squat with over head kettlebell lift

We went through the circuit starting from the top

each exercise was 1 min long adding the next exercise on each time.

So it went like so:

Exercise 1 for one minute ,then 20 second break

Exercise 1 and straight into 2, 20 second break

1,2,3 then break

and so on adding one exercise after each break and starting at number one each time.

It was tough but I loved it.

Our finisher was the up-right plank.

The whole team paired up and faced each other in two lines.

We had to move into the middle tip our partners hand and move back while staying

in the upright plank position. 10 tips in the middle was the aim. 

I am going to join Iornworx Gym tomorrow I love it down

there!

Anyway time for me to sleep I promise i'll post more

about my training and food over the coming days.

Chow for now

Annie

X

One bad week...

Hi Peeps!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

The Dubs sure did! Three wins this weekend with Dublin v Kerry senior footballers, Dublin v Wexford in the hurling and the Dublin ladies beating the kingdom also.

I was in Croke park the weekend to support the boys in blue.

So as you know I have not updated the blog in about a week. So sorry!

I'm not going to lie sticking to plan when I was sick did not exactly happen. All I wanted was energy and I found myself not being as strict with my food choices.

It's also exactly a week since I did any training, I'm better now as it was just a head cold but I didn't want to risk it getting worse and going down into my chest. Hense why I didn't workout.

So today I am back on track. I also have my strength and conditioning class 

with O'Dwyers ladies. I am dreading it as tonight I will see and feel the effects of no training 

last week. I will more than likely be even sorer than usual tomorrow.

Chow for now

Annie

x