Product Review: M&S High Impact Sports Bras

M&S High Impact Sports Bras

A bit of a different post from me today but if I come across something I like, I'll share it with you guys. And I am aware that this post might no apply to a lot of you but I hope it helps at least someone.
If you weren't aware, I'm quite well endowed in the chest area- both a blessing and a curse. And an absolute nightmare when it comes to tackling the gym. I spent most of my teenages years (I was an early bloomer too...) without a decent sports bra and running round the athletics track with one arm holding the girls down. A good sports bra is vital, not only to make you feel more comfortable but also to help support your boobs and not risk injury.

Finding a good plus size bra has only recently become a bit easier due to the high street finally realising that a lot of women go beyond a DD cup size. Sports wear and swimwear however, still has a way to go in my opinion. But we're getting there! After years of having a slightly grotty white one from Bravissimo, I cam across these sports bras in M&S. I promptly picked one up to try on and had a good jump around the change cubicle.

The first one is a gorgeous aqua fabric, very lightweigh and is underwired- something I was unsure of in regards to a good sports bra. I was worried that it would start to cut in and be uncomfortable after a good gym session. But, I'm happy to report that I had no problems whatsoever!It also has adjustable straps much like a standard bra but it can also be changed to cross over as well and has three hooks at the back instead of two for extra support. I also felt like the fabric wasn't just absorbing the sweat straight up and possibly a bit TMI, but I had two gym sessions planned two days in a row and didn't have time to wash it in between but the fabric didn't smell so I'm very impressed.

I have yet to wear the second one for a hardcore gym session yet but I did also try this one and gave everything a good jiggle about too. This one is not underwired but there is good support under the moulded cup so there's no need to worry about slipping out or anything! This is the one that actually caught my eye in the first place as I love the white and pink zip at the front- which is very easy to do up so no messing around with thousands of clasps at the back. It's made with a thicker fabric and I suspect will absorb more sweat and is probably more like to discolour after a while but it was so cute, I couldn't say no.

These two bras were £18 and £22 respectively and range from an A cup to GG

What's your experience with sports bras been like?

xx

Healthy Breakfast: Banana Pancakes

So, this is my first recipe post and will likely not be the last. I don't do a huge amount of cooking but I'm a huge healthy eating push at the moment so I'm discovering new recipes and meals. I came across this recipe while browsing tumblr, thought I would give it a go and have since fallen in love with it. I've tweaked it slightly from the original and it makes the perfect breakfast. It's super easy and really healthy.

What you will need

1 banana

1 egg

Porridge oats

Mixed seeds (optional)

Cinnamon (not pictured)

1. Mash one banana in a bowl

2. Add an egg and mix well

3. Add around 2 table spoons of porridge oats, cinnamon and 1 tbsp of seeds if wanted and mix well

4. A tiny bit of butter in the frying pan and fry. Flip and cook until both sides are brown

5. Serve with honey and fresh fruit

And bon appetite. It's that simple and easy and I eat it all the time at the moment. The portions here will serve you two thick pancakes but obviously you can double up if you're catering for more. Or you can make extra and store in the fridge as it will keep for a few days. It will keep you full for longer and I would estimate it at being around 350 cals for the two pancakes including the seeds but excluding the fruit.

I hope you guys like.

 Let me know if you would like more recipe posts

And let me know if you try it and like it!

xx

Health Kick: Exercise and my Weight Story

Weight

To anyone that knows me, they know that I am not a particularly pro-active person. I love sleeping in and I am incredibly forgetful and lack basic hand eye co-ordination the majority of the time. So it will come to no surprise that I hate exercise. And I mean hate.

I'm not ashamed to say my weight- I am by all means a healthy weight. I'm 5"8 and currently am around 11st 3. I'm also in possession of rather large ta-ta's- I'm talking way over DD cup here. And in a way they have a lot to answer for. When you exercise, it becomes way more uncomfortable and make you feel extra self concious and this is one of the reasons I really hate high impact exercise.

Around Christmas last year, I got a big wake up call as to how much weight I had put on after two years of college (the majority of my friends were guys and you know how much they eat...) I finally accepted I needed to do something and if you are struggling with weight, that can be the biggest step- being able to say enough is enough.

And so I changed my eating habits and really stuck to it, which is hard because I lack a lot of self discipline, and I lost a stone and since then, have never returned to that original weight, which I am proud of.

I was worried about coming to uni as we, as student, rely on carbs so heavily to feed ourselves and it's cheap. Whilst what I do eat hasn't changed hugely, one thing I have done is cut out red meat. I very very rarely eat it now- including mince, bacon and sausages! And another thing is portion size. Little but often really works for me. When I am full, I stop eating. Simple. If I have too much, pop it in the fridge and have it later.

Exercise

So that's food and I will hold my hands up and admit to the fact that I had a very lazy semester last semester. But not this one. I have 3 1pm starts at uni- I really have no excuse to sleep until then. So I'm taking the pro active stance, waking up earlier and doing a workout before I get up for the day. The trouble for me was finding something I like and sticking to it. I can't swim very well, I have asthma (currently bad due to the cold weather in the UK at the moment) and I want something that I can do in short bursts and this is what I want to share with you.

Tiffany Rothe

I came across her videos on YouTube entirely by chance but I'm so glad I did because I love her workouts. Every workout is divided into 10 minute sections so you can chop and change which one you want to do and build it into a 20, 30 or 40 minute workout. She incorporates a lot of bellydance and pilates moves as well as including cardio. Some include cardio more than others and that's the beauty of having it in 10 minute segments.

I've been recommending the videos to everyone and now I want to pass them on to you. Her YouTube channel with the videos are right here

Sorry I've been a bit AWOL as of late. The UK, and most of Europe, has been having a bit of a cold snap recently and I am not someone who appreciates cold weather and tend to regress into massive cosy jumpers and hoodies. I'm also getting sick to death of the lighting in my room. I hate hate hate with a passion artificial lights. They're just horrible. But hopefully, I will have a new camera by the end of next week, fingers crossed so we shall have to see how that works out :)

I hope this is of use to at least one person out there and for the rest of you, I hope you've had a good day! Speak soon x