KIKO is in town

Hi dolls,

How ya doing???? So sometime ago I went to Westfield Stratford and this small shop full of make-up drew my attention. Very cheap and good quality. So I picked up few items.

The Nail varnishes were £1.50 each and they stay on 4 to five days without top or base coat.

 After 4 days of wearing the nail varnish

The Secret to losing weight...

Hello lovers,

Hope you guys are enjoying the sun and the Olympic Games.

We all want to look like those athletes don’t we? Fit and tone right? Well there is a secret or let say many secrets.

1-      Get your butt off the couch...yeah you heard me. That is the first secret. You will never, ever lose weigh if you are a couch potato. You will only get bigger and fatter. Also walk for short distance. You really don't have to drive everywhere and causing traffic jam and potlution for no good reason.

 2-      Don’t binge eating one day and starve yourself for the next two days...it doesn’t work. In fact don’t starve yourself at all. It will only make you ill. 

3-      Eat healthy food and avoid fast food at all cost. Prepare your food from fresh. Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. Listen to your body, some food might make you bloated. If there is any, find an alternative. I know that cow milk make me bloated so I drink soya milk, almonds milk or rice milk.

4-      Eat food high in proteins: Fish (my favourite is salmon), lean meat, chicken breast, nuts...etc (use Google to find out more).

5-      Eat often, that’s right, the more you eat the higher your metabolism will increase. The secret here it is in the quantity. Eat small meals every 3 hours.

6-      Avoid eating carbohydrate (Bread etc) after 6pm. I will say to only eat it at breakfast to kick start your day.

7-      Drink plenty of water and other beverage like fruit tea, herbal tea. But avoid fizzy drinks(coca cola and so on)

8-      WORKOUT...and be ACTIVE. If you aim at loosing weigh and being fit and tone, then the proportion should be 70% healthy food and 30% workout.

Hope you enjoy ready...Please comment and subscribed.

XOXO

New Running trainers in, Old one in the bin!!!

Hello dolls and guys!!!

We have a very nice weather today and I do hope you are enjoying it. As we know, nice weather don't last here in London.

Soooo exicted! Got a new pair of trainers that I can't wait to try.
I had my old some since 2007 when I started working out. I still love them but they are too old now.
Check this out...

The Running shoes that I really wanted was from NIKE, however, not only it was expensif (£95), but they didn't even have my size.

Long absence

Hello Dolls,

I have not been able to blog because I had a little accident at work and could not use my right hand fingers.

All is good now (I’m typing lol).

The weather here in London has been awful with rain every day. Not a summer weather.

I not the type that will let the weather stop me from doing what I want to do or to go to the places I want to go.

So last week end I went to a week-end spa break with my friends. I had a great time.

Hope you lot are enjoying “summer” regardless of the weather.

XOXO

Bread obsession

Yes that is right! I’m obsessed with bread. I can’t live a week without eating bread. When growing up back in Yaoundé my mum used bring 6 breads(bagettes) from calafatas.

Those breads were meant for breakfast, but my siblings and I will start eating it during the night. Bread was a most in our household. So today I find it hard to stop eating bread or crackers. You probably wonder why I want to stop eating bread. Well, when I eat bread I eat a lot of it.  Can’t control the quantity that I eat and eating too much bread on a regular basic is not good for you especially if like me you are living a healthy life style. Bread is very high in calories because of the carbs it contains.

So far I have managed to go five days without bread. The most difficult days are week-ends; this is probably because there are my cheat days. I’m sure I will quit bread all together, but it is harder than I thought. During the week I get my carbs from oat meal, potatoes, brown pasta, brown rice and from vegetables. I tend to eat a lot of carrots sticks as snack. Below is a picture of what my meals look like.

 

The great thing about living a healthy lifestyle is that you become disciplined. You have too, you need to be health conscious and eat not just to lose some few kilos but to stay young, in good health and beautiful. But remember, you don’t have to be skinny to be fit. Everything is on inside.

We all have obsessions or cravings for something on a regular basic.

What is your obsession? Please do share.

Luv u beautiful boys and girls.

PS: Follow me on Twitter for regular update.

Tips to do to avoid cheating during your diet/healthy eating.

Ok today I want to share with you some tips and things I do to avoid cheating or snacking all day.

1-Always have only healthy food and snack in your fridge and cupboard.

This is very important point. When you have healthy food in your kitchen whenever you feel the urge to snack or cheat your diet you will only have healthy food to eat.

I intend to film a video on what I put in my shopping trolley. It might help someone figure out what to eat or buy.

2-Always prepare your meal in advance for the week or just for three days.

If you are a busy person, it is always a great idea to prepare your meals over the week end and put them in small containers( find them in £1 shops). When you are hungry and you have to cook for another hour, the chance is that you will look for something to eat first before preparing. This is where the point 1 can be helpful. A slice of an apple can hold your stomach.

3- Always leave your bank card, money or wallet at home.

I was sharing this point with one of my friend and she realised that whenever she has money on her she will end up spending on junk food. I leave my house with absolutely nothing, just an ID card or driving license. No money...no bank card. Whenever I have money on me I will end up buying biscuits etc...No ...no... no..

Be careful though because this is what happened to me last week. After work I was so hungry that I decided to pop to Asda and grap something. So I got wholemeal bread and some cashew nuts. I started eating the bread and the nuts when I remembered that I do not have my card with me. I started panicking...lol...Lucky enough I checked my bag and found £2...that was a lucky escape.

So be careful not to do the same mistake.

4-Always have two apples or any fruits in your bag

If I had my apple in my bag I certainly wouldn’t have gone to Asda. Unfortunately that day I ran out of fruits. When you have fruits in your bag...you keep your diet healthy and your calories to the minimum.

5- Always have a small bottle of water with you at all time

Now, most of the time we confuse being thirsty and being hungry, but when you feel hungry you can always feel that gap with water until you can have something healthy. Also water is extremely good for you when you are on a healthy lifestyle journey.

6-Do not wait for your cupboard and fridge to be empty before doing your groceries shopping.  

 I used to do that and it’s very bad habit. Imagine getting home...no meals prepared, no healthy snack...well I always end up eating a whole pack cashew nuts. Cashew nuts are very good for you but in very small amount. So a whole pack will provide me with 2000 cals.

7-Eat five small to medium meals a day

Until you start eating five small meals a day you will not understand what it feel like to have a fast metabolism. I used to have a very slow metabolism. But when I started eating 5 times a day my metabolism went through the roof. I was very hungry after 2-3 hours of eating. Until you try you will not understand. I will feel so hungry that I could eat a house. So having my medium healthy meals ready is very healthy because one thing you want to avoid is missing one meal.
My five small to medium meals are:
-Breakfast
-Brunch
-Lunch
-Tea
-Diner
There are meals and not fruits or actual tea. I prepare small meals containing veggies (20%), carbs (40%)and protein(40%). My carbs are wholegrain pasta or rice or sweet potatoes. For protein I take fish or chicken breast. You have to consider the meal quantity carefully, in time you can find what works for you.

8-Keep active

Yes keep active. I have the habit of cheating my diet on my days off. But when I keep busy by going to the mall or doing some work around the house I thing less about food.

Remember that you diet should fit your lifestyle and if you work 9-5, take your smeals and a couple of apple and a bottle of water with you. No excuse...

Theses are the things that I do and I do hope it will some some people. If you have some tips of your own, please do share by leaving a comment.

Have a great week end..with no sun..lol

xoxo

Knee Pain Workout and Healthy eating cheat day

Hello dolls.

How are you lot doing today??? I'm still recovering from the cold. This post is a combined post.
Three weeks ago I started feeling a pain in my knees and need to slow down on doing things like Step, lunges and running. When you have a pain it can easily affect your motivation, but you need to stay focus. So what I do is a lot of walking either in the gym or outside (regardless of the weather). In the gym I do power walk on elevated treadmills and I burn 200cal more than when I'm running. Amazing isn't it? I do this at 7.5km/hr and elevated to the max and for an hour. Then I do the bike for 15 mins before doing the weights. For the weight I do the usual. I will do another post with more details of my weight workout.
Whenever you have an injury it's important not to let it slow down your motivation. Believe me it did slow me down, but I always managed to workout at least 3 times a weeks. So it's fine.
My last post was about bodyrock.tv website, they have some alternatives for workout when you have knees pain.

Cheat day...when living and healthy diet, well we all do that at some point but you just have to control it. So last week end I had a big cheat day. I will not advice it to anyone who is just starting. But if you exercise regularly then you metabolism is high enough to handle this. Below is what I took (in my defence it was that time of the month when I crave for sweet food and get angry...lol)

I also went to Nandos and had chips and chicken :-). But I'm back on track now.
Hope you enjoy this post and please leave your comments.

xoxo

PS: What is up with this rain??? :-(

Workout from home, Bodyrock.tv review

Hi dolls,

Hope you are all enjoying the jubilee bank holidays. As for me, I'm feeling quite unwell because of the sudden weather change.
Today I want to briefly talk about working out at home. I came across this great website and I will like to share it with you. http://www.bodyrock.tv/ it contains great workouts and equipment for busy people.
The down side here is that I find it hard to navigate, for example when I click on nutrition, it shows articles of workout. I find it a bit all over the place. But that is just my thoughts. But the workouts are great.

Also I find the girl a bit too skinny. I mean, it's great to workout but you need to look healthy and to me she does not. That is to saying, when you use this website use it with care and do not try and be like her. That to me is not healthy. Aim to be healthy not the opposite.

Have fun and stay healthy.

luv u.
xoxo

YOUR ARE BEAUTIFUL

Hi dolls,

Hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather...well I am, big time. I just hope we have a longer summer like we had a longer winter.
Today I want to tell you and to myself "you are beautiful". That is right. These days the medias and the fashion industry make us feel fat and not pretty. Well, we are pretty. The most important thing is the inside. If you feel pretty inside it will show on the outside and you will be confident with your weight and the way you look.
If you are in a friendship or in a relationship where the person is always putting you down, then that person is not worth your time and your breath. And remember that you will find someone who will like you just the way you are.

Ok my lovely dolls!!!

Enjoy the sun and please drink plenty of fluid.

Have a great week.

xoxo

Supplements and Healthy lifestyle and fitness

When working out and eating healthy it is important to take supplements because one way or other we all miss out on some important vitamins etc. Supplements are also important for muscle restorations.  So below is my list of supplements that I take. 

-Omega 3 Fish Oil

- Calcium +Magnezium+Zing

-Iron tablets

-Multivitamins

I find it very important for me to take calcium because I need it for my bones and muscles. The only time I take cow milk it is in my coffee. Whenever I do oats or have weatabix I use Unsweetened Almonds Milk or Unsweetened Soya Milk.  Almonds milk contains more calcium than cow milk and cow milk give me bloated stomach so I try to take it very little.

When buying supplements always check the labels because it helps you save money and still get the quality. 

 Below is a picture of my supplements. I ran out of multivitamins.

My healthy breakfast

Hello dolls,

Hope you lot have a great start of the week, as for me, I super busy.
Today I want to show you what I eat for breakfast. For those of you who read my previous post, I eat five small/medium meals a day. It helps boost my metabolism.
Whether you are trying to loss weight or just healthy eating, it's important to consider the size and the calories contain of what you eat. Because I exercise first thing in the morning, I have my breakfast after workout. I need something that will fill my energy tank. So for breakfast I have oatmeal for my carbs and 5 whites eggs for my protein and an apple. Oatmeal is great, but I have to be careful with the quantity. So I have a trick to eat a small amount and still feel full. I just soak it in water.

For my breakfast I need:

1/2 glass of oat

1 Glass of water

1/2 Glass of unsweetened soya milk or unsweeteded almonds milk

I mix the water and the oat in a pot and let it soak for 15-30 mins. Then I will add the milk and just cook it. To make it a bit sweet you can add honey, but I used sweeteners, 3 of them.

So my breakfast will look like the pictures below.

 

 

By the way, I use one tea spoon of vegetable oil to do my eggs.

Bon appetit!

Please leave a comment or give me tips on how you do your breakfast.
Please do just my blog.

luv u doll!

xxx

My Workout Part 2

In my previous post I talked about my workout when I started. With time I was able control my breathing and exercise more. But it takes time and it is not adviced to started running hours and hours when you have not been exercising before. And whenever I don't exercised for 1 day or more, I always start slow before increasing the speed and the time.
So my workout after sometime changed to a more challenging and demanding. See below

-Running for an hour
-Cross trainer for 45 mins
-Bike for 15mins
-weight for 15 mins

I did the above workout routine for a long time and for 5 to 7 days a week and I ended up having the overtraining syndrome without even realising it. I personnaly will not advice anyone to workout this much.
After sometime, I become very bored of the workout and I needed to make some changes and I have. If you read my old post, you will see that I have a new workout. I will talk more about it in another post. But I most say that in this workout I do different training each day and I will not get bored easily.

There you have it my lovely people. Please do leave a comment or questions. Have a nice bank holiday.
xoxo

PS: Excused my English...my first language is French. And to French people, please leave comment in French.

My Workout part 1

Hello everyone,

Today is bank holiday and my gym opens at 9am. So I decided to go a bit later.
Now I had people sending me email to find out about my workout. For those you read my old post, I have now changed my workout.
I started working out in 2007-08. And below is what my workout used to be

-Jogging 30mins
-Cross-trainer 20 mins
-Bike 10 mins

As you can see my workout was simple and for just an hour. At the time I was not thinking of eating healthy. It is only with time and research that I started eating healthly and before I knew it my clothes started becoming big and I was running more than I used to. The most important it's to take it as a lifestyle.

Cardio day with HIT(High Intensity Training)

Hello girls!
It's friday yayyy! We love fridays because the week-end is here. But what is up with this April showers?  I don't know about you, but as for me I have enough. I need the sun to be out already...
Today is a HIT(High Intensity Training). As you may know when I started working out back in 2008, I used to do HIT. But since I changed my workout routine two weeks ago, I do less cardio. So I have decided to do HIT because I feel like I need it to burn some stubborn fat. Here is what I'm going to do today.

1 hour run on the treadmill
20 min on a Cross trainer without the hand
45 on crosstrainer with hand

I will do another 30 mins of weight just to work out my back as I have not done that this week.

I know it's sound too much, but it works for me. And I will not to cardio during the week-end.
I will do all of this at a medium intensity level. Nothing crazy.
Please before starting your weight loss journey, check with your doctor to make sure your body can handle all of this. Always do it gradually and at your pace. Don't go running for an hour because CocoNyanga does it. I first started with 15mins, then 30mins, now is an hour.

Right now I'm not feeling to great but I still hope to be able to workout. It was very cold yesterday and I feel like I'm coming down with something. Hopefully, working out will help.


Please leave a comment!

Alright my lovely ladies??

Luv u all!!
PS: I looked up for some workout video on you tube to share with you, but could find one that I like.
oohh! I before I forget, look out for the next post as I have finally scanned one on my old picture from 2007.

Saving Money and keeping Fit at Home

Hello Dolls!
Just two more days before the week-end and I hope you all have a great half of the week.
In my last post and all most of my posts I mentioned how I go to the gym. However, if you are short of cash for gym membership or are just to busy to hit the gym, you could workout at home.
There are so many ways you can keep fit at home. youtube has so many videos on how to exercise at home. But if you are worries about doing some cardio, going jogging is a great cardio.

If you can't go jogging, you can skip the rope. I did some research and I found out that you burn more calories by skipping the rope. Impressif isn't it?
Some days I'm so tired to go to the gym so I will workout at home. For that I have dumbells that I bought from argos for £9.99, a Gym ball from Next £10 and a map. Oh I also have a skipping rope from argos.
That is all I need and when I do it right, I sweat a lot.
If you decide to workout from home, try and workout out different muscle each day for at least 30 mins.

How this short post help!

luv you all.
xoxo

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT/MY HEALTHY DIET

Every day we hear nutritionists saying we are what we eat, this is so true. If you eat burgers and chocolate and chips all year round don't be suprise to go from a size 8 to a size 14 in just one year.

 Loosing weight requires a huge commitment and motivation. In fact it is a new life style altogether. I never look at keeping fit as a diet but as a lifestyle. I know what it feels like to go to Zara, thinking I'm a size 12 and the 12 doesn't fit. Not being able to wear what you want or feel sexy. All depends on what you put in your mouth.
When I started exercising back in 2008, it was hard and the hardest bit is the eating habit. Like most people I crave for carbs and we don't have to stop eating carbs all together, but we need to eat the good carbs(will post more about it).
My new healthy diet is about gaining more lean muscle and possibly less body fat. I'm now following some diet tips on bodybuilding.com(great stuff there). It's important to say that I have a low metabolism and my current diet helps increasing it.
Now, I eat 4 to 6 times a day depending on how busy I am. You will have to figure out what works for you depending on how busy you are.

Wake-up a 6:30, now at this time of the day it is quite impossible for me to eat anything before going to the gym. But if I exercise in the afternoon or evening, then I will eat an hour before hitting the gym.

 Workout 7am-9am Post-workout meal: Meal 1

one scoop of 100%whey protein (chocolate flavour)(120 cal)
 half a glass of oatmeal(I meseare half a glass then I soak it for 10 mins before cooking)
and 5 eggs white(optional)
1small Apple

 Meal 2 (LUNCH)
1 serving of carbs(sweeet potatoes, or brown rice)
1 serving of protein (chicken, or fish)
 unlimited vegetable.
 Meal 3
 2
Turkey muffing(Protein)
carbs(3 rice biscuit, organic)
unlimited vegetable
 Meal 4 
Lean meat (tuckey or chicken)
sweet potatoes
Meal 5
5 eggs white
Vegetable
or a soup

Something I will eat an apple before going to bed because I will be going to the gym first thing in the morning.
The aboe meals may seem a lots, but the sizes are not big at all. And if you can't eat 5-6 times then you can eat 3 medium meals and 2 small meal. 

Now as for the portion I will do another post. However, I do eat depending how my body feels. When hunger stike between meals I will take a small apple or 5 almonds nut. If like me you like nuts, it's important to not overeat it. As you can see in my meals, after my breakfast/postworkout meals I eat lunch. well this is because as you can see my breakfast is quite a lot. my breakfast if very important because I feed my muscle and gain my energy for the day.If you live a busy lifestyle, it's important to plan you meals ahead. Yesterday I saw some smal container in £1 shop that can be taken to the office or school, work. I DRINK 6-8 GLASS OF WATER A DAY.
Please leave a comment and share this blog on you facebook page.

New Challenge and new Workout

For the past years I have been doing more cardio than weight lifting. And I have lost a lot of weight. I went from being a size 14-12 to now being a size 6-8. However, I now think I should go to the next level: weight lifting. So I did some research and came across bodybuilding.com. The site have all I needed to know. But because they sell their own products and also because I live in the UK I looked at other website and healthy eating website. The key to have the perfect body or to reach ones goal is first and formost healthy eating, knowing when to eat and to listen to your body. I still go to the gym in the morning. But I know do more weight than cardio, eat smal meals 5 times a day and drink lot of water. In my next post I will give my workout and eating habit in more details. Off to the gym now. Have a good days y'all.

My fitness regimen

So I’m a gym freak: Literally. My day start everyday between 6amand 6:30am in the morning
After my morning devotion, I get ready for the gym. And leave my house for the gym at 6:45 (after drinking a tea). I exercise from 7am to 9am or 10am depending on my day, but an average of 2 hours a day, five times a week. So what do I do in two hours??? Well, I run for an hour, do the cross trainer for 45min or an hour (depending on the day) and the step for 20 mins. When I don’t do the steps, I do the weight and sit ups. I do this routine 5 times a week, but I listen to my body and rest whenever I feel like I’ve over worked myself. So ladies and gents, this in my daily workout and it works for me. Please remember that I have been doing it for 5 years now. So whenever you start, it has to be a start slow and check with your doctor before you start exercising in case you might have a health condition.
PS: Most personal trainer will say that I workout too much or too hard, and they will be right. So people do what works for you.
xoxo

SO HARD TO EAT HEALTHY IN THIS VERY COLD WEATHER

So I have been trying to eat more vegs and less carbs but it is very hard. I'm always hungry and I eat like a horse. Tomorrow is Monday so hopefully I will get back on track. One good thing is that I have been exercising at least 5 time a weeks which is very good. I'm a bit of a gym freak and the cold does not scare me when it come to going to the gym.