Those who follow me on Twitter @becci_leigh will of already heard me talking about, not a diet but a change in my lifestyle! After visiting a friend I got talking to a wonderful lady who was interested in my skin condition and eating habits. We talked for hours. I was intrigued into her way of thinking and lifestyle, and wanted to know more. I watched her order at a lovely restaurant. From the menu she choose a steak. When the service asked would you like salad or chips with that her reply was no chips, just green beans and a side of asparagus please. I thought to myself I'd of gone for the chips! It was my turn to order, I decided to go with the homemade burger, bacon, cheese with a Jack Daniels sauce and chips. I'm not greedy, when I'm full I stop eating but I do enjoy my food. Whilst we were all munching on our lovely grub she started to tell me interesting things about food.  I was already starting to regret ordering what I had. There were so many things I didn't know about food and I must admit I still can't remember everything she said but certain things really stuck in my head, For instance...

You should eat fruit on a empty stomach
Milk is only good for calves
Eating lots of sugars makes your body store more fat
Eating special types of food can make your body eat your stored fat
You would have to run a marathon to burn 2g of fat
Counting calories is useless
Look at the ingredients if it says "of which sugars"- BIN IT! 
Potatoes are deadly avoid them at all cost
Carbonated drinks are like being on drugs- avoid them like the plague! 

She asked me the following questions to which I replied yes to everyone
Do you feel tired 
Do you feel lethargic
Do you lack energy
Do you have headaches 
Do you sleep for over 8 hours and still wake up feeling tired
Do you have other heath issues, ie bad skin, indigestion, heart burn etc

When you go on on other diets and change your eating habits rapidly or cut down too quickly your body goes into starvation mode storing as much fat as it can, you then start to loose muscle which is why you weigh less every time you get on the scales, but you are not loosing the weight you actually want to, which is the excess fat your body has stored. If you eat only the recommended foods in this plan and no sugar you body will start to use your stored fat which is what you want! 


If you are still reading at this point then give it a try for just 2 weeks and you will be amazed at all the inch loss and positive effects to your health.

This will help prevent diabetes
Improve the immune system
Prevent heart and blood pressure/cholesterol problems


YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT INCHES!!!!!!!!!



The side effect of this wonderful plan., was that the people that used it became slimmer, they lost their excess fat, but stayed firm and fit and well. No muscle loss.

• You will learn which foods can help make you slim and which foods to avoid
  
• Your cravings will disappear
  
• Your food will stop controlling you
  
• Your digestion will improve
  
• You will have more energy
  
• You will sleep better
  
• Your skin, nails and hair will improve
  
• You will have the power to be slim for life
  

She then asked me to talk her through my daily diet and what I would usually have, which when I'm at work went a little like this
Breakfast- One or two of the following each morning
Coffee, chocolate, cereals bars, biscuits, brioche, yoghurt, red bull

I very rarely made it through to 12pm without thinking about food or wanting to snack.

Lunch-
Tuna sandwich, pasta, leftovers from last nights tea, diet coke, chocolate bar and crisps, sweets

Tea-
Usually homemade meals but usually always with a side of chips or potatoes, diet coke 

After tea I always have to eat something sweet, don't ask me why but I always visit the fridge straight after when I am full, even if its just for a square of chocolate. 

I thought I ate quite healthy having small portions, but found out its not the amount you eat its what you eat! 

So after sleeping on what she had said I was really up for trying this new "change of lifestyle" (she made sure I never called it a diet)  I took all my measurements and instead of weighing myself each day I kept trying on a very snug pair of jodhpurs! I tried them on everyday that I had stuck to the plan 100%. Success is measured in inches of fat lost.

Then I started to plan my new diet from the list provided in the plan, it has been 2 weeks tomorrow and I cannot tell you how fantastic I feel. I can get up early in the morning easier then ever before. I have energy I never thought I would have to keep going all day long and I only drink water!!!! (Never thought I would hear myself say that) I get up at 6.30am make breakfast and my lunch for work, I don't even have to have dinner I can last all the way through to 5.30pm, but usually I go at 1.30pm when I want to eat. I couldn't wait for 12pm most days before! I come home at 5.30pm, eat tea at 6pm then ride both my horses for an hour each, by this time I am usually on the sofa for the rest of the night and in bed by 11pm, but now I have been able to go out every single night seeing friends and still feel fantastic.  

The best thing is when I go out to eat now with friends I don't order the same things I wanted to before. After treating myself to a "pizza" at the weekend I feel so lethargic and dull I never wanted to order one again. The best feeling is when you can get into those jodhpurs or tight jeans you never thought would be possible to fit in. I then measured myself to find I had lost an inch from my thighs, stomach and waist all the places I wanted too. Plus I am the lightest I have ever been loosing 8lbs in just under 2 weeks. 

Don't delay start it today.....

                                                     START YOUR NEW LIFESTYLE NOW 
                                      CLICK HERE TO REQUEST A COPY

                                         Once you have your password, click the link below to access the plan


                             ENTER PASSWORD HERE
 

I must admit I had high hopes for Candy's first 1 star. At the time of entering we were entered to do a few more Novice runs, but with the wet weather continuing they were unfortunately cancelled. This was not great for us to say the least. Looking back in hindsight (such a wonderful thing isn't it!) I should have cancelled the 1 star after not enough build up to it, but as I'm sure you are aware,  you enter a fair few weeks in advance and its not a cheap event! So I went with the theory of "one phase at a time". Anyway I'll get to the interesting bit of competing and where it all went wrong...

Saturday was a very early start for our dressage test, and we were certainly dressed for the occasion in top hat and tails, Candy warmed up lovely and I was confident about performing an accurate test after the intense training we had with Hayley Colwell. I must admit nerves slightly got to me, and just before going in I started to panic going through my test and forgetting bits which I had no reason to do after practising it over and over numerous times before! I took a deep breath as I came up the very long centre line in sitting trot. It felt never ending!! A few other bells were going on while I was performing my test which made me doubt myself, the bell went again, damn I knew it, I had gone wrong! Quickly trying to compose myself I went back to revisit the few strides of walk I had forgotten, then I carried on. It was soon time for the rein back, this I had perfected beautifully. Shoot me now it was shocking! I carried on (again!) now for the canter... I had it all nice and bouncy (in correct dressage terms obviously!) so really went for the medium canter in hope that I could regain some of the marks I had lost in the earlier movements. The right rein was good, so I eased up and started to smile. The counter canter was great, a quick change of leg at A onto the left rein was late but never the less not bad for a young horse. Again I pushed on for the medium canter, then it all went wrong... She went disunited, then broke into trot for a few strides. I picked up canter again, then just before I was due to do the counter counter she went disunited AGAIN!!!!! I was devastated, everything that could have gone wrong.. did!! I guess that is young horses for you, her inexperience (and mine!) really came to light. It was just very disheartening when you know how perfect they can perform the test and within a few minutes its all over. At this stage I had to put the test behind me and concentrate on the next task in hand, which was walking the cross country.

Walking the course I was following the map printed in the schedule, but something didn't seem to add up, I had got as far as fence 12 when I was thinking these are very challenging for a 1 star surely it can't be right! Then when it was brought to their attention, it turns out they had put the wrong coloured numbers on the 1 star! So I was actually walking the 2 star. I thought to myself PHEW!!!! The 1 star started to look very appealing after that! There were a few questions and what seemed a lot of fences and 2 water complexes. I knew I would have to ride extremely forward to even be close to the optimum time and to get round for that matter! 

Sunday after 3.15 approx it was time for my show jumping round. I had watched all the 2 star and the whole first section of the 1 star. All I wanted was to just get on Candy and jump! It seemed like forever until my time came. I would have much preferred to be on, bright and early. When our time finally came, I had gone off the boil (so to speak) The warm up was crazy, fences bigger then Candy's ear's with the steward shouting regularly "that fence is above the allowed height, please put it down now!" There were horses flying around and it was hard to see any stride coming into a fence as you couldn't tell when you would get ago. So I was circling, circling, more circling then quickly popped over a few fences. To make matters worse the horse in front kept stopping and rearing it was just horrid! Anyway I'm sure you get the picture it was manic to put it politely! The first few fences went OK, Candy was a rushing more than usual, I think she had scared herself taking out a fence in the warm up. The course was nice nothing too big, but it was tricky for an unbalanced 6yo. There were lots of turns which she came into the fence either on the wrong leg or disunited causing her to take out a few poles. She wasn't listening to me like normal, when I said go she wanted to chip in a stride and when I get wait she wanted to go. We were not on the same page which was such a shame. I finally had had enough by the last fence which was a triple. She came round the corner, head high pulling me into it, I remember thinking "If you know what your doing, you do it then" and splat she went on her face! We did finish on a good note believe it or not, she came back round and jumped the triple beautifully. 

After a very disappointing round (to say the least!) I decided not to risk going cross country. We just didn't feel like a team or together that day which is upsetting after all the hard work we have put in. Looking back I think that no amount of training could of made up for the runs she had missed. This season has been a total wash out, I had a count and she should have done another 5 BE Novice runs before this 1 star which were cancelled. Her lack of experience really showed and now a week after looking back, I am 100% certain I made the right decision to withdraw for the final phase however disappointing it felt at the time. I have decided to drop Candy down a level to have a fun easy run before another Novice run. At this stage I will have already entered Osberton 6yo championships so I am just hoping with 3 runs up to it will be enough to set us up for another shot at 1 star. If any more events are cancelled it could be the end of the season for us.