I find it hard sometimes to stay motivated during a workout, the best solution-MUSIC! The right music can immensely effect you workout. it can help you get motivated, remind you that there's not long left in the work out and can make you push harder. I love the music that the guys play in the gym, they have Spotify hooked up to these massive set of speakers so the music fills the entire gym! What makes it better is that they don't have set tracks organised for the class, so no one knows whats going to come on.


Music doesn't just motivate me but it keeps my mind off the workout as well, if that makes sense. One day we were doing burpees, as many as we could for three minutes. To make it harder we did them with a 5 kg plate, once the first minute passed I was feeling the burn! But I loved the song that was on, I started singing it (badly and out of tune haha) and before I knew it the three minutes were up!

Also, music is great for helping people to control their breathing! I remember I used to sing along to the songs we used to dance to in dancing. Surprisingly you don't get as out of breathe as easily while singing as your not focused on trying to manage your breathing your doing it naturally.

Music is a great tool for managing time, using songs to control how long you walk, jog, run for is very useful. I will outline below what songs are best for walking, jogging and running to.

I have loads of songs I like to workout to, and different ones for different types of workouts. Today I am just going to outline the tracks I like when I go for a run.

Okay so for a Run:
I love anything fast paced, with a good strong beat.
1. The Greatest by Sia, is one of my top running tracks at the moment. One of lyrics reads,
'running out of breathe, but I got stamina'- These words literally keep me moving!! I usually play this towards the end of my workout as a reminder haha!!

2. Move your body by Sia (Alan Walker Remix). Another song by Sia I only discovered recently, but the beat in the middle will honestly help you turn that jog into a run. it's fast paced. It does take a while for it to kick in. Thats why its a good song to use at the start of a run, use the start to walk, slowly increasing your pace until the beat kicks in and then use that as your starting point to run.

3. False Alarm by The Weeknd is a good one for the start of your workout, the song slowly builds up to the chorus where you can start running, it also slows again after the chorus, making this an ideal track for sprinting to as well as you can use the fast paced chorus as your cue to sprint.

4. My Way by Calvin Harris, perfect track for the middle section of your workout its steadily paced the whole way through, also the lyrics will help you to control your breathing which at this point will need to be managed to avoid panting!

5. Would I lie to you baby (Radio Edit) by David Guetta, Chris Willis and Cedric Gervais. A good middle section track as well, I always put this on just before Sia the Greatest, when I know the end is near! I don't know why I love this track so much, its just undoubtedly catchy! Play this if you need help finishing out your run! The beat is class, I usually find myself dancing rather than running haha!!

6. Finally the cool down, this song rarely changes for me, I like listening to the same song to help slow down my breathing again, bringing my run gradually from a run to a jog. Embarrassingly, it is always True Colors originally by Cyndi Lauper, Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake have done a cover of this for the new film Trolls, I love the original but the cover is really good too! At the end of my workout I usually listen to Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake version, since I listen to it so much I wouldn't mind getting sick of their version I wouldn't want to ruin the original for myself! I don't know why but this song just brings me back to reality after a workout, helping me to feel motivated for the day ahead at the same time if I workout in the eve it clears my mind after a mental day!

Some honorable mentions:
Obviously I don't just listen to those tracks but they're my fave at the moment, however I used to love One Dance-Drake, Side to Side-Ariana Grande, In Common-Alicia Keys, Up&Up (Freedo Remix) Shout out to my Ex is the newest to my playlist, love a bitta GIRL POWER! I know all my workout tracks are chart based but if they weren't they wouldn't be catchy enough to sing to! haha!

I know I haven't done a food diary specific update in ages. With so many changes to my diet I have honestly found it difficult to have any interest in food. By no means am I eating healthily but I am following the low fodmap diet, So I figured even though it wouldn't do anyone who doesn't suffer from IBS any help but for those on this diet I thought that outlining what I have been eating might help others to recognize triggers and I have some helpful tips as well to get us through this! Being into fitness and eating clean is horrible for anyone suffering from IBS obviously we can keep exercising but whether our hard work will actually show is another story.

I am a creature of habit, meaning I basically eat the same thing everyday, which to some people is bizarre but I actually don't get bored of eating the same thing I am just thankful that I like it and that it suits the fodmap diet. So outlining just one day will probably give a good enough idea of how the rest of my week follows.

Breakfast:

Is always tea and toast #boring
However for other tea lovers out there like myself, it has to be decaffeinated tea! Caffeine doesn't sit well with our tummies. Something I didn't know before visiting the dietitian. I drink an unnecessary amount of tea but I was just relieved I didn't have a coffee addiction I was going to have to try get rid of! It does affect you for a couple of days I suffered from headaches from the change, but once those few days pass you won't even realzse that it is decaf tea!

Lunch:

At the moment is usually a ham toastie, with brown bread and no cheese. With decaf tea and a bag of salt and vinegar taytos. Before this diet I had totally exiled taytos and chocolate from my diet Monday - Friday. Being advised to have taytos and chocolate was honestly stressful I didn't want to fall back into bad habits, but I have to try and remind myself this is to manage my IBS symptoms. I am going to enjoy it as much as I can! Have those taytos without feeling guilty!

Snack:

Decaf tea and malteasers or a crunchie bar. My dietitian advised me to bring the 'fun size' versions of these with me to college to snack on. So that's what I have been doing :)

Dinner:

This meal has been torture, and not for me for my poor mom, I still live at home and she makes me my dinner, she has honestly been so supportive and helpful. My relationship with food has been bad since I was a child I think it is only now that I am realizing how tough it was for her to feed me my mom knows I am trying and shes been helping me by making me plain Jane dinners. Which has mainly consisted of plain chicken and oven chips. #tasty

Takeaways:

No Chinese allowed! Chips from the chipper or Mc Donalds surprisingly are the best takeaways to have if your having one. Something interesting that I learned also from my visit to the dietitian was athletes after a meet or competition would eat Mc Donalds afterwards as it is the most unlikely food to upset their stomach. I didn't think it made much sense but when my symptoms started a couple of months ago, the only actual meal (doesn't include toast) I didn't feel ill after was Mc Donalds.

By eating like this my symptoms have definitely decreased, however so have my energy levels! But I would take eating like this over feeling sick any day!

Tips:

• Drink loads of water.
• Nothing spicy, think Plain Jane!
• Onion and garlic are not your friends! I was a huge Hunky Dory (cheese and onion) lover, but I had to substitute them for salt and vinegar and I'm only allowed the tayto brand. 
• Exercise has definitely helped! I felt nauseous before crossfit today and after the workout I was an entirely new person!
• Stress! Stay away from it. My mom always says pressure is for tyres, don't let stress in it only activates the symptoms. I've a few assignments building up now and I can feel the stress impacting my body already, it is so important to recognize this, your body is telling you to take a break! Listen to it!
• For anyone into protein bars, I used to love the fulfill cookies and creme, haven't been physically able to actually eat one without feeling sick in ages, don't know why but I am going to bring it up with my dietitian in my next appointment just out of curiosity. I found them handy to have in my bag when I craved a chocolate bar- not that that necessarily matters anymore! haha! 
• Oh and don't look up your symptoms online or this diet it will give you details of a diet that is gluten free and all that. My dietitian assured me that I didn't have to follow those guidelines. 

If your reading this and think you may have IBS, go to your doctor they will diagnose you and probably refer you to a dietitian, I didn't even think I had IBS, to be honest I didn't leave it into my mindset because I used to find it embarrassing. I am not quite over it yet but I'll get there. I know it is annoying but in the long run you will feel much better! Also remember everyone is different what I can't eat others might be able to, it is all about finding what works for you and what makes you feel good :)

Hope this shined a light on the diet I am following I will do an update post again after my next trip to the dietitian!

Happy Tuesday! Hope yere week started good!

I spent today mainly doing college work, trying to get organised for the next few weeks with assignments due and all that!

Last week was mental health week, I only found out today and it triggered this idea that so many people go unnoticed. I didn't even know about mental health week until after the fact, I feel like that is the exact attitude that is attached to metal health issues, they are always after the fact- after someone hurt themselves or has to come to the point of feeling like there is no way out. Between crying in bathrooms to anxiety attacks in class and these people will come out of the bathroom not a tear to be seen the same as when they leave a classroom, cool as a breeze. I think its scary how well these symptoms for lack of a better word go unnoticed by us. These people are our friends/colleagues I think it is time we start noticing when someone might need a helping hand.

All in all, if you are suffering no matter how silly you think you might be, talk to someone you trust be it a friend, family member, or even a member of staff at school- there is always going to be someone there. I know some people say that talking does nothing, its pointless but at least you know that someone out there has your back if your having an off day you've someone you can trust to turn to, not even to talk to to just hang out with.

It may be hard but find a way in your own time to break through the negativity, be it through exercise, writing, reading or playing music the opportunities are endless. Also, fill your life with people that you love, people who are fun, motivating and who support you! Be ambitious in every aspect of your life- the sky's the limit.

One more piece of advice that has always stood to me- don't listen to what other people say, go with your gut if you believe in it, it will happen. Having this attitude was the only way I could bring myself to starting this blog. Taking that leap for me was a big one and I haven't looked back since. I love writing about health, fitness and well-being! Seeing that even one person has read a blog post is the best feeling, I hope that anyone who reads this takes something positive from it, be it a small bit of motivation, determination or even inspiration.

College work has totally gotten the better of me, so I haven't set any time for writing in ages!
I was going to go for a run this eve but instead I think I am going to try and write a couple of blog posts to have ready to publish during the week.

So this post is going to be about my trip to the dietitian, about two weeks ago.
Long story short, I was recently diagnosed with IBS, a.k.a Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It is something I find very embarrassing and was even feeling apprehensive about writing about it. But I figured if I feel like this there is definitely others who feel the same so hopefully I can help people to not feel so ashamed by it.

IBS doesn't just come on you, it is a condition caused by stress and irritated by food basically. When my Grandad died, the pains started, because of all the stress and worry that time in my life brought on me. It was hard to believe how much I was affected physically as well as emotionally.
Anyway, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with IBS, so then I was referred to a dietitian. Who basically advised me to follow a low FODMAP diet. I still don't fully understand it myself, but the main thing I took from the consultation was that for now its going to have to be okay to eat the sugary foods. For example I love weetabix with a sprinkle of milled linseed in the mornings. I was told to stick to rice krispies and coco pops instead. As well as that salt and vinegar taytos and malteasers have become my new best friends! I hate eating like this but if its going to cure the IBS I am going to just have to stick it out for another few weeks.

I'm not in pain as often as I used to be, which is good it is partly food but also I have tried really hard to not get stressed. Another reason why I joined Crossfit. Its a place where I can focus all of my worries, writing helps a lot as well even this blog post is making me feel better.
To anyone else suffering with IBS your not alone I know it sucks and its incredible embarrassing but if you don't come to terms with it you'll never feel better!

My Dad thought it would have been the best thing for me to hear I can eat toasties and taytos to my hearts content-guilt free. But it was honestly the worst thing I could have heard during my consultation I spent two years getting rid of those bad habits, surviving on toast taytos and chocolate. Don't get me wrong I am allowed other food mainly chicken and oven chips- everything has to be plain! Also another weird thing, the only takeaway I'm allowed is Mc Donalds or chips from the chipper! I'll see the diet out and hope for the best. I have a review check up at the end of the month I will write a post all about it!

For now, wish me luck with it!
Talk soon,
Robs XO

I wanted to write a post for those who maybe interested in Crossfit just to give ye a good insight into what it is all about! I have only been doing Crossfit for the past three weeks so this is what I have thought about it so far... :)

(1) Firstly, no it is not as intense as the videos online!
Yes the workouts are tough but you start at your ability level, the coaches don't through you straight into doing the deep end. Everyone starts at the bottom and you build up your skill from there.

(2) Don't be self conscious!
It is daunting going into a class where you know you are the newbie/beginner but think of how great you will feel after the workout! Knowing that you pushed through and put up with the bit of embarrassment. Last week I couldn't do step ups with a 8kg kettebell in each hand, the box we used was 20 inches I think and I actually had to put down the kettlebells for a round to concentrate on actually doing the step ups at that height. Being able to admit when you can't do something is a big part of Crossfit. It is a lot about the technique and skill first, then the adding of extra weight or increasing the difficulty begins. I know it sucks watching all the other people train and number one the workout looks like nothing to them and two how much more weight they're working with but it is so important to work at whats just slightly tough, jumping straight into the deep end will end badly, you could easily get injured. For example if I had taken the 12kg Kettlebells I honestly would have fallen when trying to step up on the box!

(3) #Crossfitfam does exist!
Loads of people slag this trait of Crossfit. But it is true. The Crossfit gym is not like other gyms. Its a gym where everyone roughly knows each others capabilities and respects that. Even though ye all know each others abilities there is no competition, inevitably you are only in competition with yourself. Also the coaches! They're so positive and motivating without being annoying. Sometimes trainers can easily over do the whole 'you can do it'. The Crossfit coaches. in Limerick anyway, create a great atmosphere in the gym.

(4) Nutrition!
It is a key part to Crossfit, but now a days it really should be a key part of life not just if your training. Crossfit have a kind of nutrition chart that you can follow well not even follow just take advice from. They promote eating nothing processed, a lot of greens, your palm size in protein (meat), a thumb size of your fats and finally no sugar! Its fairly simple, this diagram makes it even easier to make sense of, for someone who hates vegetables its been tough! But I have grown to like long steam broccoli haha!

(5) I haven't enjoyed a hobby this much since dancing!
Honestly if your a naturally active person, your going to find Crossfit fun, I consider it a hobby more than just working out. The workouts are so diverse that each one is different and your always trying to beat your time from the workout before. if you are in search of a new hobby, one that involves pushing yourself and learning new ways of movement honestly this is the hobby for you!

Hope ye all settled back into the routine of school/college/work without a bother! I know I did, I love having a good solid routine!

Two weeks into college and I am already feeling the pressures of second year, I decided to take English and Media as my degree subjects, I am also taking an elective called TEFL a.k.a teaching English as a foreign language. Delighted with my choice but I know the work is going to be piled on soon!

I have also stopped going to my boot-camp classes that I started attending towards the end of Summer. Instead I have joined Crossfit! I had my foundation course the past two weeks, which just gave us a breakdown of how the classes work and basically what Crossfit is all about, I must say I am kind of hooked. The intensity of the workouts take some getting used to but once I overcome that I know I am going to be addicted! Crossfit isn't like other powerlifting classes or any other fitness class for that matter. I am going to do a post dedicated to just my first impressions of Crossfit and how tough it was at the start so if your interested, watch the space!

I know September isn't the most favourite time of year for people, it means going back to reality for a lot of us be it back to school work or college. But I see September as a type of January almost, It is a time when we can get stuck back into our work back into a routine and back to feeling motivated most importantly. Believe me I love just chilling out but it makes me so lazy and I hate not being productive! So no matter how much we hate getting back into things it is a positive thing, I promise! Plus even if what I am saying is going straight over your head and you've no interest in school/work/college at least Halloween and most importantly Christmas is on the distant horizon (is it too early to mention Christmas?! haha) at least we have that to look forward to!

Yes they are important if you wish to go on and do medicine,veterinary or any other course that holds big points. But for the average student, who just merely wants to do their best, which may even only be to pass everything. This time can be very daunting for them. They're not even worrying about if what they did was enough, they half know deep down that it wasn't enough to get them straight into college. What schools don't highlight nowadays is how many paths you can take to get to the same place. To become a primary school teacher you do not have to get 485+ points, you can actually do liberal arts and then complete your higher diploma in further education. Liberal Arts is only 335 points, for most students a much more achievable goal! Two very different paths but the same exact result!

 Also there is such a thing as  PLC course! A PLC is a post-leaving certificate course, which enables students to participate in a course that is related to the area of their college course and then hopefully after the year is up you can continue on into the first year of that college course regardless of the points you got in your leaving cert. I didn't know about these courses until recently I think in schools they should provide more information about them. In turn they may even alter the stigma attached to them, which might make more people actually want to go to college which is always a good thing, in my opinion! I fully believe in education, and staying in the education system as long as you can nothing beats learning new things and opening up the mind to all the greater theories out there!

I stuck it out, and here I am now I found a hobby I really enjoy that overlaps with my course. To think I probably wouldn't have developed my interest in blogging if I had gotten into primary teaching!
Okay so to any teenager who didn't get the choice they wanted yesterday-Don't worry or stress out about it! There must be a different path outlined for ye. Ye have to have faith that there is a reason why you didn't get the course you wanted. Do not be disheartened there is nothing you can do accept be positive and figure out the next step in your journey! I wish every single one of you the best of luck on your new beginnings be it in college, in a PLC course or maybe some of ye are taking a year out! Enjoy the start of this new chapter in yere lives! And remember...

Today I am launching the recipe section of my blog, called Rob's Recipes. It is going to be a segment filled with mostly snacks. All of which I am going to try keep super clean, so that they can be enjoyed day to day not just as a treat. Hopefully helping some of ye to get motivated to follow a more healthy lifestyle.

Being fussy with food makes eating healthily 100 times harder, because there are so many things that we don't like. It sounds silly but even a texture or smell of a certain food would put me off immediately! I hope if you are fussy like me you will get some inspo from these recipes!

So I am trying to find new dishes/snacks that are healthy and actually edible! My first recipe was inspired by another blogger, Niamh O Sullivan from Cinnamon Soul (Cinnamon-soul.com), she has some great recipes/posts on her blog, she is also a health and fitness blogger. I used more or less the same ingredients, what I liked most about this recipe is that the ingredients were healthy but also not overly expensive or hard to come by. I am also a huge fan of Roz Purcell's blog, Natural Born Feeder but some of the ingredients she uses are expensive and can only really be bought in a health food shop.
So my first recipe is PROTEIN CUPCAKES! I know typical for me to start off with more of a treat than a snack, but it can be hard on days you are craving chocolate and just don't want to give in. And its FRIDAY! Reach for one of these bad boys and your craving will disappear instantly!

PROTEIN CUPCAKES:

INGREDIENTS

• 30g of coconut flour
• 50g of ground almonds
• 100g of natural glenisk greek yoghurt
• 2tbsp of cocnut oil (melted)
• 30g of vanilla whey protein
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 4 tbsp of honey
• a bag of chocolate chips 

I am sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile, honestly I have just totally lacked motivation. I have literally felt like just staying in bed all day everyday! Between babysitting and work, I have to write most of my blog posts either in the night or early in the morn, which I love doing don't get me wrong! But I just got a bit lazy the past couple of weeks, and bored of the content, so I have finally gotten myself out of this rut! And outlined a blog posts timeline for myself, that basically keeps me organised and completely interested 24/7. I love my blog and writing I don't want it to sound like I don't. But sometimes it can be hard to inspire and motivate yourself to write about the same things everyday, I didn't have much variety. After a lot of brainstorming, I thought why not do the food diary as well as a new section just for recipes. These recipes will be a mixture of snacks mainly, geared towards people who are fussy eaters like myself! I think I am going to call it Fussy Feeds. I already have my first post organised, which I will hopefully have live tomorrow. I wont tell ye yet what my first recipe is yet, but I think ye are going to like it. And to top it off it is mostly a clean eat (don't think you can consider choco chips as clean but we'll go with it!) so completely guilt free!

On other news, I am absolutely loving power lifting. I don't think I mentioned before that that is the type of boot-camp I am doing. It was something totally new and I was completely out of my comfort zone. But I am loving it! It only now we are starting to make the class harder (adding more weight to the bar) which makes it more interesting and exciting each week you are aiming to beat the weight from the week before or master it. For example this week with my squat working sets I increased the weight from 5kg to 7.5kg which doesn't seem like much but it made a difference after the 5 working sets I felt like I had it mastered, I am hoping to bump it up to 10kg next week.

I know life can get in the way of things that we want to accomplish but it is so important that you write those goals down set a time by which they have to be done by and get your sh*t done! I have been so lazy the past few weeks, I need to remind myself I am not going to achieve anything by letting life take over. Basically what Im saying is, yes we all have responsibilities jobs families but if you want something you got to put in that hustle! Even if it means working from 12pm at night till 2am or getting up at 7am to do an hour of work bepfre the day really begins. If you want something bad enough you wont make an excuse! I am done making excuses, I hope anyone who reads this post will find the inspiration to do the same!

Lets do this!
Fly high always,
Robyn X

The long weekend is here! For some of you lucky people that means a three day weekend for me it means I have to work Monday, but we won't complain! Todays food diary is a good one I think I did really well! Yesterday I had a sneaky Mc d's for dinner #GUILTY! So I was determined to eat all good food today!

Yesterday was a disaster of a day, which meant my food suffered! I woke up published yesterdays blog post, and began getting ready for bootcamp. I was meant to be heading away next week to Manchester just for 2 days. It dawned on me to just make sure I had my passport there handy, and of course it was bloody out of date since March!!! Panic totally set in there was no way I would be able to get an emergency passport on such notice because of the bank holiday! But I looked into some of the airlines policies and aerlingus actually lets you travel to England with just photo identification, the downside I had to book different flights and now I have to travel from Dublin instead of Shannon, but at last I can still go! It will be my first time traveling alone and from Dublin but I think it will be a really good experience for me!
So in turn, I didn't eat anything until 2 o 'clock in the day because I spent the morning worrying, then my mom decides that it was a good day to get my little sisters tracksuit for school. Isabelle is going into junior infants in September, sure when she came out of the changing room proud as punch looking all grown up myself and my mom were nearly in tears! Sad I know! At that point I was like it is time for some chocolate!!
So that is exactly what I did I had a packet of munchies and a nice cup of tea when I got home and I felt so much better hahah! Because of all the stress in the morning I didn't even get to my fitness class. So after dinner around 8 o'clock I did a 45 minute workout using weights and bands I actually had at home. I felt so good that I made myself workout, it completely loosened out my sore muscles and I was much more relaxed after it. It was the nicest feeling to shower and just jump into my pj's after the day I had!

I'm back today with another food diary and a quick lowdown on how I have been feeling since I have made this lifestyle change (I don't really like to call it changing my diet because essentially this is not a temporary thing I hope to make a permanent change with what I am eating).
So lets get started! Remember yesterday when I mentioned going through each meal and slowly trying to make each one more nutritious, well I think I am getting there now I did have a slip up in the morning with breakfast, I just had toast and tea I had no taste for porridge whatsoever, but today I am going to try something totally different for breakfast I will let you know how it goes!


Also since I have started to change what I have been eating I feel a lot better, not as sluggish or tired. I never really believed people when they send that they felt better once they started eating better, I just figured food was food and since I didn't like much I should just stick to my oven food diet as I like to call it. but I really do feel more energized. Plus after a workout, I always feel ready to attack the rest of the day!

My blog is now on Bloglovin'! If your apart of Bloglovin' give my blog a follow! You can even download the app, making it even easier to stay up to date with all the latest posts by all your favourite bloggers! Follow the link on the upper left hand side of my blog to get straight to my profile!

Photo Cred: Thescriptofficial Facebook page

Okay so I know loads of people are totally against the lip kits, but I had to get one just to see what all the hype was about! I originally wanted KoKo K, but

Hey guys, hope ye are having a great week! Finally writing my first fashion post! Its not necessarily about an outfit in particular it is more like a DIY fashion post. Hope ye like it!

I love staying on trend, but sometimes it can get boring when everyone is wearing the exact same green bomber jacket from Pennys! SO, I have recently began buying items but changing them to make them my own. for my first switch up I had recently bought really cool snow white creeper style runners in New Look. I wore them to work once and they got ruined, between rolling rails over the toe of them as well as spilling drops of tea on them! It was safe to say they weren't white anymore

Cannot believe I am finally writing this! I have spent months debating whether or not to start a blog, I am a perfectionist and hated the idea of starting something I knew nothing about. I spent a few months trying to figure out the best platform for a blog for example word press or blogger. I even got in contact with some of my favorite bloggers just to seek some advice. Based on there replies I went with blogger! I am just learning about css so blogger is perfect for beginners as you can kind of get away with not fully understanding it.