♫ 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