105. Lifestyle // Health Update No. 1

I'd like to start off by apologising for my lack of posts in the last week; sometimes life just gets in the way, you know? I have a very stressful job (woe is me, I know) and, to be honest, when I get home all I want to do is cabbage on the sofa, stick on some Breaking Bad and relax. However, I can't do this forever as I miss blogging too much!

Today is the second installement of my new Health Update series, following on from my Wake Up Call post, which I published last month. I'm trying to keep these updates fortnightly as I love to read up on other peoples progress, failures and successes, and I'd hope that people would like to do the same with me. 

It is now three weeks since I was admitted to hospital with crippling abdominal pains and suspected gallstones. After blood tests, antibiotics and painkillers, I was told that I needed to change my diet drastically. No more dairy, fatty, oily or processed foods, to cut down on smoking and drinking and - basically - to live a healthier lifestyle in order to avoid my symptoms worsening.

So what I have I changed? For the last three weeks, I've been so much more cautious about what I've been eating. I haven't denied myself anything - if I want something, I'll have a small portion - but I've cooked a lot more food from scratch, cut out tea and coffee and (apart from a few treats) alcohol, increased my fibre intake and drank a hell of a lot more water (hello 15 loo breaks a day!)

I've also become an avid user of My Fitness Pal, which is seriously amazing when you're trying to track what you eat. It's not just about calories either, which is good - it tracks your fat, carbohydrate and protein intake as well as monitoring how much cholesterol, vitamins and saturated fats, etc, you're taking in.

Over the last three weeks, I've averaged 1,750 calories per day and - on the whole - I've stuck to my recommended fat, protein and carbohydrate intake. S and I have shared a few takeaways, several bottles of red wine and even a few cheeky bars of chocolate, but I've still managed to lose 9lbs (this was my weight one week ago, so it may be even more now!) 

As it's not all about weight, it's about health, I think that it's important to mention that I generally feel much better too. I haven't got any abdominal pains, I feel far less bloated and just so much happier in myself. I've still got a long way to go and I'm, by no means, out of the woods just yet but I'm getting there...

In my next post I'll be sharing my favourite recipes from my new cookbook Skinny Weeks & Weekend Feasts by Gizzi Erskine.

Are you on a health or weight loss journey?

Do you have any tips that you'd like to share?

104. Beauty // My Top Moisturising Products

We all have our favourite moisturising products that we swear by, whether it's for our face, body, hair, or anywhere else, and today I'm going to share mine. Admittedly there are only two but, seriously, they are miracle workers.

About a month ago, I started to get really sore, cracked skin on my elbow (gross, I know, but oh-so-common) which - I figured - was a result of sitting at a desk all day, with my elbows rubbing against my clothes as they pressed against the desk. It got really painful so I went in search of something to help. In Superdrug I stumbled across a product by a brand that I really love, making all the claims that I needed to hear, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Palmers Shea Butter Formula with Vitamin E Concentrated Cream for extra dry skin well and truly came to my rescue. It's a very thick, creamy texture which takes a while to soak in and has a really bizarre smell (to me it smells of bananas, but maybe I'm just imagining that?!) but it seriously works wonders. I noticed a difference in the space of a few days, and now my elbows are 100% dry-skin-and-pain-free. I keep a tube of it on my desk all the time, apply it once or twice a day, and would recommend it to anybody with very dry skin.

Available from Superdrug, RRP £2.09/60g

As tights and boots are a major factor in about 99.9% of my outfits, my feet are - all too often - cursed with dry, hard skin, particularly on my heels and the balls of my feet. Although this doesn't cause me any discomfort, it looks horrible and when the skin on my feet started to feel like sandpaper, I knew that I had to find a solution.

Welcome Soap and Glory's Heel Genius. Round of applause, please. This product is, literally, amazing. Every night - well, almost - I apply the creamy, fresh-smelling lotion to my feet, massage it in and slip on a pair of cotton socks before bed and during the night, the magic happens (oo-er). After only a few uses, my feet were 10x softer and smoother and now, as long as I remember to use it at least every other day, they stay that way. 

I bagged this product super cheap at a car boot sale but it's something that I'll definitely be repurchasing time and time again.

Available from Boots, RRP £5.50/125ml

Have you tried any of these products?

103. Lifestyle // My Month in Movies - March

It's the start of April - SPRING, AT LAST! - so it's about time I posted My Month in Movie's for March. I didn't watch that many films last month but the ones that I did manage to watch, were some really top notch movies. Here's a lowdown of what I thought of a few of them...

Gravity

Gravity received rave reviews from both critics and the general public so, although I have no (literally, none whatsoever) interest in space or science, I thought I'd best give it a watch. S and I rented it from our local video shop and settled in for the night.

I was absolutely blown away by this movie. Seriously, I couldn't look away from the screen. Not only are the graphics outstanding, the acting is brilliant and - although in some parts there's very little dialogue (as a large part of the film contains only one character, the fantastic Sandra Bullock, whose character is just so believable) - it never feels as though it's lacking anything.

There's a lot of drama, a lot of suspense and so many moments where you're wondering 'oh my god, what's going to happen?!' I don't want to spoil the film by giving away much of the story-line but, if you haven't already seen it, you really must. (9/10)

Catching Fire

I loved the first Hunger Games movie and fell, ever so slightly massively, in love with Jennifer Lawrence in her portrayal of Katniss Everdeen, so I was super excited to catch the second installment. Unfortunately, we missed it in the cinema, so when it came out on DVD we rented it at the first chance we had.

Although I haven't read the books and get kind of confused about the politics behind the districts and the actual Hunger Games themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was just the right amount of action and gore, but with so much sentiment and some really important messages on friendship, family and ethics. (7.5/10)

The Book Thief

My favourite film of March had to be The Book Thief. I'd just finished reading the book (you can read my review here) when I saw that the film was going to be released in my local cinema. As mentioned in my Sunday Summary this week, my friend Becca and I went to see it on Wednesday. She hadn't read it, but still loved it just as much - if not more! - than me.

For those of you who don't know the story, a young girl, Liesel (played by the incredibly talented Sophie Nélisse) is sent to live with foster parents in Germany during WW2. The film tells the story of her progression through her teenage years and all the tears, adventures and heartbreak that she experiences along the way.

I know that lots of people don't like to watch a film if they've already read the book but, for me, it's all part of the experience. You read it and visualise it using your own imagination, and then you sit down and watch someone else bring it to life. The film doesn't stray too far from the original story, but there are - of course - some "Hollywood moments" added in, and , unfortunately but understandably, some of the brilliant - but not crucial to the overall story - parts of the are book missed out. (9.5/10)

Apart from the above films, I also watched some other great movies; Filth which is a dark British comedy-drama (7.5/10), the ever-so-sh*t Bad Grandpa (3/10), the eery and gripping (and also starring the oh-so-beautiful Jake Gyllenhall and total DILF Hugh Jackman) Prisoners (8/10) and - at last - the cult-classic, smack-shooting Trainspotting (8/10).

* IMAGES: SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2, SOURCE 3 *