My Fitness Journey Week 7 & 8

Hi Everyone,

Over the last two weeks, since returning from holidays I went a little bit off track with my workout routine, however I have still been more aware of eating right but have not been as strict as I was for the first 6 weeks building up to my holiday. I have been taking Raspberry Key-tones over the past week or so which I think have helped me keep the weight off since before my holiday, I weighed myself this morning for the first time since returning and thankfully, despite how I felt, I have not gained the weight back.

I decided to purchase a detox tea 'TeaTox' today to help boost my metabolism, but this is not a quick fix, you do not substitute meals with this tea, you drink it as well as a low calorie, healthy diet. I want to lose 3-4 stone altogether so I know this will take time and hard work but there is no harm adding a natural supplement that can help hopefully the process along :) If you have already been following my journey so far you will know that I have an under active thyroid which slows your metabolism and can cause weight gain, so I think taking something natural to help boost my metabolism might help me lose weight at a more regular, frequent pace. I purchased mine in Holland & Barret but for more info or to buy yours online click HERE!

The TeaTox I decided to go for is a 14 day natural detox by BooTea, consisting of 14 morning tea's and 7 night time cleansing tea's. The aim is to have 1 morning tea a day and 1 night time tea every second day. I am only starting tomorrow so I will be back with an update in 2 weeks to let you guys know what I thought and how I got on.

Talk to ya soon,

Lots of Love,
SassieDoll
xXxXx

Behind the Scenes...Photoshoot

Hi Dolls,

Yesterday some of my designs were featured in a photo-shoot taking place in Dublin City Centre. The theme of the photo shoot was Avant-Garde, high fashion. I am so excited that I got to be a part of it! Unfortunately I was unable to attend the photo shoot as I had to work however my friend, Avryl (who was the make-up artist and stylist on the shoot) offered to take some behind the scenes pics for me to share with you all on SassieDoll. The professional pics that I have seen so far are GORGEOUS and I cannot wait to be able to share them too, but for now here are a few sneaky BTS pics...Enjoy xXx

Photographer: Jurga Vite
Models: Jennifer Fogarty and Tiger Lily
MUA: Avryl Roche
Hair Stylist: Veronika Byrne
Dresses: ME :)

Sun, Sea, Sand...Spain

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my first post in my new 'Lifestyle' section of SassieDoll where I will be posting a bit more about my personal life, personal style and general 'Lifestyle' topics! Hope you enjoy it :)

As most of you who follow me probably know I was on my holidays last week in Puerto Banus, Spain.
I had the most relaxing week, it was so nice to get away for a bit!
Myself and boyfriend spent a night in Madrid (he supports Real Madrid so we went to a football match) and then we flew directly from Madrid to Malaga the following morning! I love Madrid, the fountains and parks are gorgeous and the weather was Amazing! It was our 3rd time there within the last year! And our hotel had a Gorgeous rooftop terrace!

 

On our rooftop terrace in Madrid!

  Having a bit of lunch in Retiro Park, Madrid. (I obviously wasn't sticking to my diet that day!) :/ 

Then onto Puerto Banus, well what can I say...Yachts, Designer Shops, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Boob Jobs, Lip fillers, you name it, you'll find it in Puerto Banus! I loved every minute of it! The port is Gorgeous, enjoying a drink or meal looking out over the yachts! And not to mention the people watching is quite entertaining! We saw a yacht one day called 'This Time Next Year' so that was our motto for the Holiday! :)

Our hotel was the Senator Banus 5* Hotel which was Gorgeous!!! It was a little bit outside of any towns but only 5 mins in a taxi and we got a great deal! There was 2 gorgeous pools, our room was like a suite and we got Champagne for breakfast...Perfect! :)

You can check out some of my pics below! Enjoy :) xXx

(Below) A few pics of our Hotel in Puerto Banus

 

 

(Below) Our Champagne breakfast in the Hotel :)

 (Below) My Boyfriend (Darragh) with his future Ferrari :P

 (Below) Some more fancy cars at the port...

 (Below) I thought this lil mini with false eyelashes was super cute :)

 

 (Below) We took a boat from Puerto Banus to Marbella, here's a few pics of the view! :)

 (Below) For anyone that's interested my make-up of choice for my holiday was BareMinerals new BareSkin foundation in colour 9. It also contains SPF which was perfect, you can read my full review on this foundation HERE! I was also wearing individual eyelashes that my sister applied for me the night before hols.

 

(Below) Having the LOL's :P

Thanks for stopping by...

Lots of Love,

SassieDoll 

xXxXx

My Fitness Journey...Week 4, 5 & 6

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to my Fitness journey, I missed the last couple of weeks as I was on holidays in the beautiful Puerto Banus, Spain.

I just want to do a quick catch up on how I've been getting on. Obviously while on holidays I did drink alcohol (including beer) and we ate out every night (as you do on holidays) so it was hard to stick to a strict diet. Therefore as of this week I am not down any further weight since before holidays. While on holidays I did go to the gym once or twice and myself and my boyfriend would do a few crunches, planks and press ups in the hotel, but you know the saying 'You can't out run an unhealthy diet'! So on Monday, after returning I headed to the supermarket after work and picked up my usual yogurts, chicken fillets, salad and veg and am trying to get back into my routine this week. Today will be my first proper day back at the gym as-well since returning so I'm looking forward to that since my workouts on holidays weren't very intense. (I was on holidays after all) :)

I do believe that clean eating and exercise are the right way to do it but I am considering a detox after holidays to help get back on track and really push myself so any suggestions and success stories would be great?! You can contact me through private message on Facebook HERE! or e-mail me at sassiedoll.outlook.com

Until next week...

Lots of Love
SassieDoll
xXxXx

BEAUTY...Bare Minerals BareSkin Foundation

Have any of you tried the new BareMinerals liquid foundation? It is sooooo nice! I got a sample a few days ago and I LOVE it!!! So I decided to do a little review on it. It is such a silky smooth texture and is so light on your skin. BareMinerals foundations are usually in a powder form which I find quite difficult to apply and blend so when I heard they were releasing their first liquid mineral foundation I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

What makes it so special?
It is a mineral foundation and brightening serum in one. And even better, it also has SPF 20 so I will defo be picking up a bottle before my Holidays next week. Another reason I love it, it has a coconut-derived base and some of you might know from reading my posts recently that I have a new found obsession with coconut oil and coconut based products. It is just so good for your skin, hair and over all health. Another great thing about this foundation is that it comes in 20 different shades so you will be nearly guaranteed to find the perfect match for your skin. And I can't stress enough the flawless look and feel this make-up has when you re applying it! And if you are in need of a new brush, BareMinerals have also released a new perfecting face brush to go hand in hand with the new BareSkin foundation. I would definitely recommend purchasing this foundation or ask your local branch for a sample to test it out first to ensure you get the correct color and are happy with it before purchasing! I even wore a thin layer to the gym the other day just to see how light weight it really is and it felt so light, looked natural and I didn't have any breakouts afterwards so for anyone who doesn't feel confident going to the gym bare faced then I would recommend trying a thin application of this.

Above Left: Me wearing BareSkin foundation straight after a workout and Above Right: Me wearing BareSkin foundation to work.

Lots of Love
SassieDoll
xXx

My Fitness Journey... Week 3

It's Fitness Post time :) And I have just finished my 3rd week of healthy eating and exercising!
I am currently down a total of 4lb in 3 weeks which is a slow and steady pace but like I said in my first post, with an under active thyroid it can be hard to lose weight so once I see the scales going down even a small bit each week then I'll be happy! :) This day 2 weeks I will be in Peurto Banus so my goal is to lose 2lb each week before then so that I will have lost just over half a stone for my Holiday! Just think... that would be 8lb in 5 weeks, so if I keep that up (or push myself even harder which I defo think I can) I could be down nearly 3 stone by Christmas!!!

I want to start this post by saying that the support and encouragement from everyone both friends, family and readers since I started my first fitness post only 3 weeks ago have been amazing. I have received messages saying my honesty in my first post has been motivating and inspiring for others and I think that is just so Amazing and has spurred me on even more to make sure I reach my goals not only for myself but for anyone else who is struggling or has a medical condition that contributes to weight gain and makes it harder for you to achieve your goals. I am lucky that I can take tablets to regulate my thyroid but I know how much of a struggle weight loss can be for so many people no matter what their circumstance so if I can even help one person by posting both my struggles and achievements then I will be one happy Girl :)

I started my week off great with my usual breakfast of berries and yogurt, or scrambled egg on 1 slice of wholemeal toast. If I had egg for breakfast then I would sometimes have fruit and yogurt for lunch, but if I started my day with fruit and yogurt then I would have chicken salad for lunch! I think I only had egg on toast twice for breakfast this week as I am trying to stay off heavy carbs such as bread and I am not a big fan of egg on it's own so I find the berries and yogurt a better option personally! I also went to the gym this week Tuesday, Weds, Thursday and Saturday! I introduced weights into my workout this week so my typical workout has been about 20 mins of cardio on the cross-trainer and then 20 mins weight/resistance training such as the leg press, squats, arm/shoulder/chest weights, planking, press ups etc. I usually do about 3 sets of 15 reps on each machine.

Above: Scrambled egg with tomatoes and cucumber on wholemeal toast

Above: Dinner, Lemon & Thyme chicken with Roast Veg

I want to be honest in these posts so I am going to start by saying I had quite a bold weekend when it came to food and drink, On Saturday I ate well but I went to the Dublin match on Saturday evening and of course ended up having a few too many beers, which led to a hangover the following day and indulging on a few slices of oven pizza and a few oven chips (I had hardly eaten any carbs up until this point apart from brown rice and the odd slice of wholemeal toast)! Although the drinking and eating was bad I did still go to the gym on Saturday morning before going to the match as I knew I would probably have a few drinks. But if there is anything you can take from this post it is learn from my mistake, if you are serious about your health, fitness and weightloss then avoid drinking too much beer and eating hangover food :P I know I won't be doing it again anytime soon, haha! If I do want to have a few drinks I'll stick to Vodka with diet 7up, but I think it's the next day that is the worst when your body is trying to recover from the alcohol and craves carbs so probably best just to avoid drinking alcohol as much as possible until you reach your goals. I have been feeling a bit guilty about the beer and carbs, but no point dwelling on something and getting bogged down so after having 2 days off from the gym Sunday and Monday I have picked myself up and am back in the gym today putting in an extra tough session and I had a breakfast of berries, yogurt and flaxseed this morning and for lunch I had a chicken fillet with veg and brown rice.

I think that's all for this week, if you have any questions or any suggestions that you would like to see me add to My Fitness Journey than you can contact me on Facebook HERE or E-mail me at sassiedoll@outlook.com

My Fitness Journey: Week 1

As a teenager I was always very slim and never really had to worry about weight until I reached my twenties. I used to fluctuate between a size 8 to 10 until I reached about age 22/23. Over the past couple of years I have gained quite a bit of weight and have noticed my confidence slip a lot. My dream is to eventually start doing some 'What i wore' posts and personal style features on the blog. Since my background and passion are in fashion design, styling and buying it seems strange that I don't really feature my own style on SassieDoll. however this has been a bit of an issue for me since I gained weight over the last 2 years. I recently found out I have an under active thyroid and this causes weight gain and tiredness which as a young woman in your 20's these are two things that nobody wants that can really affect you. I used to love working out as well and now I had only been to the gym for a couple of months throughout the past year which I suppose some of this can also be put down to the lack of energy I've had. I can't blame it all on my thyroid either though as I am a complete Chocolate addict :P So I just thought it was about time I shared this with you all...

Anyway, you may have noticed the fact that I don't do any personal style posts and this is because I have lost a lot of my confidence and I keep saying 'When I lose weight I will start posting more pics of myself and my style for my followers' but 10 months later I have decided why keep waiting...instead I am going to start sharing my weight loss journey with you all and hopefully this will keep me motivated to keep going not only for myself but for whoever wants to follow my journey too. I am now on medication to regulate my Thyroid, however the doctor said I will still lose weight at a slower pace than an average person so I guess I am just gonna have to work super hard!!!

Above: Me as a slimmer teenager (about 16 )

Just over a week ago I was in Kilkenny with my boyfriend, the hotel we were staying in had a lovely big gym and pool area so my boyfriend convinced me to hit the gym with him. I actually had anxiety about going because I hadn't worked out in so long. But this was the first time after months of saying 'I'll start on Monday' and never really committing, that something just clicked, I felt so good after the workout and enjoyed every minute and my mind frame finally began to change. So the day after we got home, I rang my gym to see how long I had left on my membership (they said 3 months) so I made the decision to start back straight away.

Above: My Boyfriend bought me these new runners to get me started :)

Over the past week I went to the gym 4 days. I did mostly cardio and then at home have done some arm weights and squats but I will build up my weight training over the next few weeks. I also started bringing my lunch to work, I made salad at home and mixed it with pine nuts and a chicken breast marinated in lemon and herbs. And dinner has mostly been chicken with veg or brown rice. Each week from now on I will do an updated health post to share my progress, success and struggles with you all. And as I get into a routine that is working for me I will share more detailed work outs and diet plans :)

Above: Some of my lunches in work this week

I can't wait to start seeing some results over the next few months. I would love to hear any of your weight loss tips, goals or success stories, or if like me, you suffer from an under active thyroid then get in touch and share your journey with me because I find following other peoples journeys on instagram and other blogs super motivating :)
Contact me: sassiedoll@outlook.com

I find this pic of Vicky from Geordie Shore Super Motivating :)

Lots of Love,
SassieDoll
xXxXx

Above: Me getting ready for my first day back at the gym :/