Top 10 Workout Tips

Food is a major love of mine, along with being generally lazy and avoiding exercise. However my job as a model sort of dictates that I have to be a certain size, so I try my very best to drag myself to the gym a few times a week, hard as that may be! Here are my top ten tips for working out when you really would rather be in bed/eating pizza etc.

1. Buy cool workout accessories

It's the beginning of the year, and the shops are bursting with their ranges of 'cool' work out clothes (because everyone loves working out in their overpriced bra!) and other fancy workout gear. Yoga mats, water bottles, ipod holders - if you can think of it, they've got it.

This month I bought a water bottle juicer from Amazon and it is amazing. You can juice half a lemon, lime, whatever takes your fancy in the bottom half and have all the benefits of sipping on lemon water all day. Great if you aren't good at drinking normal water, and super cheap at £10.

Also getting a cool pair of new trainers or gym clothes really helps you want to go to the gym and show off in it! Missguided's new range is really cool.

2.Wear your gym clothes to bed

Might sound a bit 'gross' if you re-wear your gym clothes a few times before washing (errrrm no.. I don't do that) but it is literally my tip-top-tip. I used to wear my school uniform to sleep in Cyprus because we had to wake up at 6am! (But we finished school at 1.40pm and went to the beach, so can't really complain).

If you just throw on a pair of leggings and tshirt before bed, when you wake up you can literally roll out of bed, grab your pre-packed bag and sleep-walk your way to the gym. Do a sleep-workout, and by the time you are properly awake you have finished!

3. Work out in the morning 

Similar to #2, the earlier you work out the better. It is out of the way, and leaves you energized and endorphin-ed up for the day ahead, with your metabolism burning away all day. If you work out before breakfast (with still a small snack to stop you from fainting, like a banana) then you naturally will burn fat instead of energy. I've recently discovered you only start burning fat 30 minutes after you start running (quite a problem when I only used to do 20 minutes a day!) because first of all you burn the food you have recently eaten. This also means you get to look forward to an amazing breakfast afterwards.

The later you leave your work out, the more excuses you will find to put it off until tomorrow - this happens to me so much it is ridiculous!

4. Coffee

A good, but probably not 'totally' healthy tip is to drink coffee before your work out. Or eat a banana, anything that gives you a good energy hit and gets you working out twice as hard! I've recently started making use of the amazing coffee maker I bought Dima for Christmas (or making him make use of it for me, as it remains a bit confusing) and every time I drink it before a run I burn double the calories as I would normally.

Just don't make a major habit of it, it can be pretty addictive!

6. Set your alarm ten minutes earlier than you have to

I don't know about you, but once I have opened one eye and checked my phone, I can't get back to sleep. Rather than just lie in bed all morning on instagram, this makes me more motivated to actually get up and start my day! 

Pretty much my alarm!

Just maybe set a couple, incase you fall back to sleep! 

6. Get out the door

A major struggle of mine is actually getting out of the door into the freezing cold air. I usually just get changed into my gym clothes then sit around procrastinating, until I ask Dima to literally kick me out of the house! Once you are out, you're out and once you are at the gym you may as well work out before you come back. Much like diving into a swimming pool, it's not so bad once you get in. 

8. Set some goals

Achievable ones! I try and run a little bit more every so often. I used to run 20 minutes a day about a year ago and now I try to always make it 40. Generally I do it in two 20 minute bursts on the treadmill so it doesn't seem so daunting, but even a minute more each week can make a huge difference. Try on your skinny jeans every week to see progress, and your skinniest-of-the-skinniest jeans every month.

My ultimate goal - might happen one day if I revisit Cheerleading!

8. Watch TV at the same time

I get really bored exercising. It's not that I can't run, it's that moment when you check the clock and it feels like at least 20 minutes have gone by when really it has been 20 seconds of blistering hell. So I watch TV. Luckily my gym has wifi (most of the time, when it works!) so I usually watch a series on Netflix on my ipad as this means I get to catch up on my favourite shows and forget everything else. American Horror Story is a pretty terrifying one to watch (makes you run a lot faster) - at the moment I am alternating between The Good Wife and The Originals. 

My gym - Kiss Gyms in Acton

9. Join a good gym

And make sure you go! Having failed at my trying to work out at home plan, I realised that the only reason I work as hard as I do is because of the atmosphere of the gym, knowing that you have bothered to come there so you have to do something before you can plod on home. A gym that is close by is perfect as you literally have no excuses. Check out what classes are being offered at certain gyms, if they have a swimming pool, sauna, women's only section... just tailor it to what you are most likely to do. I go to Kiss Gyms at the moment and only pay £20 a month which is pretty darn cheap for London. I just need somewhere with a treadmill, couple of yoga classes a week and preferably a women's section! 

10. Do classes

Classes are a great way to ensure you are working out to your full potential and doing it correctly. They can also be (whisper) fun! My favourites are yoga and pilates, and if I have something I really need to be toned for occasionally I will put myself through the hell of a legs, bums and tums class. There are literally so many out there, you are spoiled for choice! 

Ideal class!

Getting healthy - and staying that way!

Remember I said I was going to get fit in 2015? So far I have done pretty well - I gave up chocolate for 22 days (which is a huge achievement in my world), rejoined the gym and got back into a healthy mindset. 

After a few pilates class I can finally almost see my abs again after their Christmas holidays!

I've recently joined Kiss Gym in Acton, literally a five minute walk from my house. This has massively helped because not only has it got a women's section (thank the lord), all the equipment and classes you could need, it is only £20 a month!

I have porridge every morning for breakfast, and love it.That probably makes me a bit weird, but my porridge is normally my favourite meal of the day. 

I also bought this giant pack of Goji berries from Amazon for £5, and have become totally obsessed with them. I put them in my porridge (along with banana and chia seeds) and then snack on them all day like raisins. They are pretty much posh raisins with a tonne of health benefits - just be careful they don't get stuck in your teeth like mind did!

This water bottle has also massively improved my water drinking - after spotting my friend with one I found it on Amazon and bought it for a cool £10. It is pretty snazzy, it has a juicer in the bottom so you can put anything in there (lemon is probably the most obvious) and have more interesting water. 

So, all in all looking healthier! Although I did fall off the wagon this week and had a gigantic chocolate and general food meltdown. But the important thing is to start back up again and clear your mind (I hope!) - you can't change the past, but you can change the future :) 

Love your body!

With modelling, the one issue that always comes to mind is body image. Too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall. I have personally heard pretty much all of them, from all different sorts of people. 

I would say my body is 'averagely thin'. My hips are 92 cm on average which is deemed too large by the 'big' agencies and some clients, but I have gotten them down to 88 before which is the 'ideal'. This is the iridescent issue with models and the first thing that happens when you meet a new agency - their measuring tape finds its way loosely around the largest part of your hips and usually resides at 90cm or above, if you are above the age of sixteen. I know it is a huge issue for girls in other agencies, and was something I went through for a long time with a previous agency, however luckily my current one have never explicitly told me to lose weight. I have lost weight myself, for one particular client, but it was because I was very motivated to do so and I did it by eating healthily and exercising. 

Personally, I would much rather buy clothes off a girl who is more 'normal' sized - who has a body that will fill out jeans, no thigh gap and who is most importantly, happy. Happy because they aren't being hauled in to be measured every week, suffering under constant emotional pressure leading them to resort to unhealthy methods - happy because they are just allowed to be who they naturally are. As a 22 year old woman, I can honestly say that I love my body despite the fact that my thighs will always touch, that I cannot fit into size zero couture dresses and my metabolism is slowing down. It keeps me going, my bones have never broken, I have the power to walk and run and do anything I want to. 

This is such an important issue, and one to remember when you see girls in magazines and wonder why despite all of the green juice you have drunk and meals skipped, you don't look like her. It isn't because you have a lack of self control. It's because the girl in the picture doesn't even look like that in reality - she has been photo-shopped to the extreme, and this is after having her hair and make up professionally done, and being professionally styled and photographed in manipulated lighting. 

I think the biggest problem right now is that models are not being accepted at the 'medium' scale that the majority of us naturally gravitate to, There are catwalk models - scarily thin, bones protruding through papery skin - and there are plus size models, who are under as much pressure to stay within their measurement boundaries as the 'thinner' ones. If they are too thin they are deemed 'not plus size' and come under fire. Why can't they just be regular sized - a size 12 is not fat and should not be seen as plus size in any way whatsoever. The average size of a woman in the UK is size 16. Models are ideally a size 8, which is fine for slightly smaller girls, but combined with being six foot tall it can make you look slender erring on the line of ill, if it is not your natural body type. I am a size 8-10 depending on how much chocolate/running I have consumed that week, and I am proud of it. I don't want to be the model that is making others feel bad about themselves, for perpetrating a negative body image that is impossible to healthily maintain myself. I watch what I eat and exercise regularly because of my job, and because it makes me feel good - not to fit in with what someone else is telling me I should look like.

This post is about celebrating the ordinary size of women - whatever that is! If you are naturally skinny, then that is as good for you as being naturally bigger; you should love your body whatever shape it is. Exercise is brilliant, if you are doing it for reasons that make you feel good about yourself, whatever they are. Chocolate is better! Love your body because it is the thing keeping you alive, because it makes you different from everybody else, because you are you and no one can change that. 

This is a really inspirational, interesting video by Dove - definitely worth a watch! 

St Albans

I love London, but what I love even more is discovering new little boroughs of London which feel like you are in the countryside, with a village feel that leaves you feeling like you've been on holiday! Some family have just moved down to St Albans, a 20 minute train ride away from Kings Cross.

It is one of my favourite places I've ever been in London - it feels like you are in a town with every thing you could need (hello Topshop, Wagamamas etc) alongside independent shops and restaurants, giving a proper village feel complete with friendly faces and pretty, narrow alleys to get lost in. 

First port of call was obviously food, we (Dima) cooked up an incredible BBQ as all of the meat was organically sourced from the local market in St Albans, which was massive. One thing you definitely notice as you leave central London is the dramatic fall in prices of general things - my aunt and cousin are paying very cheap rent to live in a cosy, pretty house which is the equivalent of the rent I paid for a single bedroom in a broken down flat on a council estate in East London. (Also very excited about moving next week to Shepherds Bush!) 

I also discovered an amazing shop called The Pudding Stop - basically they have a giant range of puddings, drinks and board games. Sounds like my ideal night, and I forced Dima to go back the next day before we left for more salted caramel ice cream and carrot cake! Definitely need one of these in central please! (Although I hear a board game cafe is opening up pretty soon..) 

We explored the local park/giant forest and I tried out my new 'Runtastic' running app (now that I have almost finished Homeland the treadmill becomes less appealing). It was huge and very easy to get lost in. 

We also made a stop off at the Park Inn, which had one of the best sasuage rolls I have ever had the pleasure to steal from Dima! 

We ventured on a giant climb up the bell tower, at £1 it was well worth the amazing views and interesting bits of history as you climb. 

and made a stop off at the beautifully huge cathedral.. 

St Albans is a lovely place to get away from the bustle of London, we had a great weekend there relaxing in the sun and will definitely be back :) 

Any other ideas of escaping London locations? x

Summer Days

Hasn't the sun been AMAZING? (for the past two days - it is probably gone for another couple of months now!) Luckily it was on the weekend, so me and Nicola headed down to Victoria Park for yet another picnic and frolic in the sunshine :)

 

Victoria Park is such a nice place to run - we used to run down this path when we lived in University, literally opposite! You can get there from Mile End tube station.

Nicola brought along a ridiculously amazing apple pie she whipped up - I ended up eating a LOT of it (theres two more layers under there!)

And attempted to work it off with some bridges!

We then headed to the Olympic Park - the swimming pool there has just opened up and it is incredible. For us, having lived in Cyprus, when it is warm we can usually just dip into our pools at home or go to the sea. So it was really nice to be able to casually go for a dip in the Olympic pool! It is huge and was quite empty, we paid £4.50 by pre-booking here.

We then explored the Olympic Park - I had never been properly before and it is looking pretty good! 

  

 

We had a lot of fun playing in the fountains...

Probably too much fun, we got all wet again after swimming! 

But it was seriously beautiful at sunset - it would be the perfect date spot (I had my best friend as the perfect date with me too luckily! :)) 

Even though I'm still not sure what the giant red statue is meant to represent?

A perfect day finished by a perfect sunset - I am SO happy that Summer has finally arrived!

May Goals

Hello May! I am SO excited that April is finally over - it was seriously one of the most boring months of my life, spending it revising everyday, going to the gym and eating healthily! In 5 days my post-university life will begin... as well as SUMMER! Just 5 more days of hell left - who invented jurisprudence anyway?!?



My Goals for this month are to sort out some things that I have neglected during this revision-frenzy!

1. Spring Clean

My room is... not nice. There is a huge pile of washing mounting up and my clothes definitely no longer fit the slightly nicer weather we are having! I am going to do a major clean out of my room when I finish, including taking ALL of my law books and notes and putting them out of sight! :) 

2. Yoga/Blogilates every morning 

I posted about the 30-day Doyouyoga challenge (completed!) and since finishing it, I have definitely missed waking up and doing something unrelated to work before I start off the day. I found some Blogilates videos on youtube and they are so much fun to do! Casey is a really good teacher - I will try and do these everyday :) 

4. Gym and Healthy Eating

Just because summer is finally here, doesn't mean I can stop being healthy. I have hardly drunk alcohol for over two months and feel a lot better for it (although I doubt there won't be a celebration when everyone finishes!) and actually do feel a lot happier and healthier after eating healthily for that time and working out. Hopefully I will start the job that this has all been for next week, fingers crossed!

5. Sort out my foot

I am pretty sure I have achillies tendonitis and it is not fun. Typically, after upping my exercise and forcing myself to run I have managed to injure myself! I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so will hopefully sort it out before it gets any worse. 

6. Drive! 

It is so bad that I have had the chance to drive for 4 years now and haven't managed to even take my test yet, despite over 80 hours! I am going to try and do an intensive course this month in automatic (hate manual!) so hopefully I will be able to pass quickly! I hate driving lessons and driving in London generally, there are so many hidden rules and people running out infront of you!

7. Sort out my life plan 

I need to apply for training contracts, internships, everything really! Modeling this year is going to be great and I'm really excited for it but it is definitely not a long term plan. 

Have a great month! Hopefully the sun comes back and stays out!