I had another really lovely breakfast today - a slice of my Date, Carrot and Walnut loaf with almond butter and a green monster made with spinach, frozen banana, vanilla rice milk and a teaspoon of maca.

I was afraid that freezing the loaf cake would make it dry, but it was fine. I just took a slice out last night and left in the cupboard to defrost, so glad I still have 7 slices of this left!

Mid morning I snacked on an apple and two babybel light.

Dinner was a bowl of my African Inspired sweet potato soup with added spinach.

So filling! Followed by some strawberries and a chopped kiwi.

After my day full of meetings I snacked on half a coco loco nakd bar before heading to the gym.

The gym was having an open friends and family day so I had expected it to be really busy but it wasn't too bad. I did my usual hour of cardio intervals on the treadmill, step machine, cross trainer and bike and since I got there a little earlier I had time for 10 mins on the recumbent bike whilst reading a magazine to cool down! I then did 3 sets of my usual abs exercises including planks which nearly killed me!

Dinner was a repeat of Monday night, sauted courgettes, peppers and mushrooms with lean beef in a tomato and garlic sauce on top of steamed brocolli and spinach with some mixed salad leaves.

This portion was huge! I really loaded up on the brocolli as it was on the turn and needed using up anyway. It reminded me of a post on Oh She Glows about eating volume food. This was very much a volume food meal!

For desert I made my first attempt at making a protein cake.

Protein Cake

1 scoop of protein powder (I used chocolate)
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of apple sauce

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and microwave it for 2 minutes on full. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't over flow from the bowl while cooking (mine nearly did!)

This tasted amazing! I was so suprised, it was lovely - cakey, gooey and sweet. This will definitely be a staple desert from now on.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

I've been having one of those days full of deep and meaningful thoughts. I've been thinking about my job and the general direction that my life is going in. If I'm totally honest I'm not really getting loads of job satisfaction at the moment, even though my job is very good and I work for a brilliant charity. I feel like I need something new, however I think that the something new needs to be completely different and I have no idea where to start!

As far as my general life direction goes I'm very lucky to have an amazing husband who supports me in everything I do and who wants the same things as me. We currently live in a one bed flat and really need to get it sorted and on the market so we can move to a bigger place and start thinking about starting a family. I think I just get overwhelmed by the fact that everything has to fit together to allow things to happen, i.e. I need to be in a job on at least the same salary for us to be able to afford to move. Sometimes it all just seems so overwhelming!

Do you have a life plan or a '5 year plan'? Do you sometimes have those days full of deep and meaningful thoughts?

I've just found it all rather mentally exhausting! I know that things always have a way of working themselves out so I do try not to stress to much about it. Well on that very deep note I'll be off, hope all of your weeks are going great, not long till the weekend now! x

Good evening blog friends, I'm very glad Monday is almost done!

When I got up I had my now usual mug of warm water with lemon juice to get me going. My breakfast was a wonderful smoothie - fresh pineapple, frozen blueberries, oats, natural yoghurt and some water to help it blend.

Plus a few chunks of pineapple on the side. This was lovely - I love the blueberry and pineapple combo. If I hadn't been having the oats and yoghurt with it I would have added some fresh ginger - it really makes it zingy!

Mid morning I snacked on an apple and two babybel light.

Lunch was a bowl of African Inspired Sweet Potato Soup followed by 2 chopped kiwi and an orange.

Before leaving work for the gym I fueled up with one of my home made fuel bars - so delicious and chewy.

I had an awesome workout at the gym, for some reason I had plenty of energy and I didn't feel like I was going to have a heart attack on the treadmill like I usually do! I did 15 mins on the treadmill, cross trainer, step machine and bike doing my extended tougher intervals and I increased my top speed on the treadmill to 7.4mph. I then finished off with my abs exercises including the plank. I need to try and remember to wear my sports watch so I can time myself - its a bit more motivational when you can see if your improving!

Dinner was a stir fried turkey breast with garlic served with steamed brocolli, carrot and peas and a big dollop of hummus on the side.

The hummus went really well with the turkey and veggies, I definitely have a hummus addiction problem!

Desert was a vanilla protein cake (1 egg white, 2 tablespoons of apple sauce, 1 scoop of whey powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, microwaved for 2 mins on high) topped with some almond butter and strawberry jam.

This was so tasty, the almond butter melted on the hot cake. These make a perfect little desert!

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf coffee, decaf tea

Well I need to go and get myself sorted for our trip to Birmingham to see Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood tomorrow. As I'm down there I'll be MIA from the blog world until Wednesday but hopefully I'll have some interesting stuff to report back on! Although we won't be down there for very long its going to be like having a little mini break from things. Sometimes a change of scenery does you good, even if its just for a day. I'm doing the driving down there as well (its about a 4 hour trip) and my Dads a total back seat driver so that should make for an interesting journey! I'm going to pack some healthy snacks to take down, I don't mind those M&S food service stations but the other ones never seem to have any decent food at all. I'm really looking forward to having a nose about the Bullring and having a good look in Selfridges (I love their foody bit!) Luckily I know Birmningham fairly well as me and the hubby have been down there several times in the last couple of years while he was studying on his IT course so I would go and partake in my favorite pastime (err, shopping!) while he was on the course.

So this is me saying bye for a couple of days, hope all of your weeks have got off to a good start! x

It was Friday morning weigh in day, and I wasn't particually looking forward to it considering the Easter weekend excesses! However, it wasn't too bad, I only gained a pound (10st 2) which doesn't bother me at all as like I said last week, weight maintenance is my goal not weight loss as long as I don't exceed 10st7.

After that I felt the need for a big bowl of porridge so I made some with oats, chia seeds, almond butter and sour cherries. It was lovely! I just added a tablespoon of chia seeds to my oats then added some water and nuked them for a bit adding vanilla rice milk at the end then topping with a spoonful of almond butter and some sour cherries. I liked the taste of the chia seeds in the porridge, it kind of thickened it up but I don't think it made me feel any fuller than normal.

For a mid morning snack I had some Cantaloupe melon (which had been on offer in the shops last night) with some green grapes. I love how fresh fruit can be so beautiful and sweet, it was just delicious.

For lunch I had a bowl of African inspired sweet potato soup, I've seen this floating around the blog world recently. I made this last weekend as I had two sweet potatoes that were on the turn and needed using up. Heres my version -

African Inspired Sweet Potato Soup

2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Teaspoon of minced ginger
2 gloves of garlic crushed
About half a cup of red lentils
Enough hot vegetable stock to cover the veggies
2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
Tablespoon of olive oil

Sweat the onion, garlic and ginger in a little oil until the onion becomes soft, then add the sweet potatoes and the tin of chopped tomatoes. Then add the vegetable stock and lentils. Simmer for about 25 minutes or until the sweet potato has softened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before blending the soup with a hand blender / jug blender. Add the peanut butter and blend again. This makes about 4 large portions or 6 smaller ones. This makes a lovely rich soup which could also be used as a sauce for veggies.

I had it today with some spinach which I briefly wilted by dipping in boiling water before adding to the soup and a few slices of cucumber I needed to use up. I also had an apple.

For a mid afternoon snack I had a little tub of my fave Greek Yoghurt.

Although I haven't had a really bad week at work, I feel so ready for the weekend and was really happy to get home! For dinner I made some Thai Green Curry with chicken, brocolli, cauliflower and red pepper (I'd made this a while ago, this was the last portion from my frozen stash) and had it with some wholemeal noodles.

For desert I just couldn't resist making a bowl of banana soft serve with some of my dark chocolate bunny thrown in!

I was trying to go for chocolate chips but my food processor had other ideas so I just left it with big chunks of dark chocolate, yum!

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

Thanks for all the comments for my last post about me signing up for the Great North Run, they were all lovely and encouraging! Officially I'm still thinking about it, but I feel that I have my heart set on it now! I'm planning a long run (for my standards anyway!) in the morning. I'm aiming for 5 miles. I'm not going to worry about speed, I'm going to just enjoy going the distance and see how I feel.

So whats everyone got planned for the weekend? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this good weather! I don't know what it is but I feel like I'm just craving some decent sunshine. Its probably cause we've had such a bad winter, I think my body just needs it!  Tomorrow I'll be running, seeing friends and family, and going for a walk round the park if its nice. Sunday I'm hoping for some relaxing weekend cooking as well as not so relaxing grocery shopping and cleaning :(
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and get some good weather, wherever in the world you are! x