Being Good To Yourself

I've made a number of big changes in my life recently. Diet and exercise are two of them, but another change I've made in a bid to feel better about myself is to do a bit of self-indulgent pampering. As a working single mum, I rarely bother with doing anything for me, but actually it's very important for your inner well-being to take care of yourself. So I decided to try out a few little treats...

Eyelashes
By far my favourite is thanks to the lovely Stephanie. I bumped into Stef in the gym one day (Woohoo! Get me, bumping into people in a gym!!!) and she told me about her new business. She's doing fake eyelashes. Not just any old ones though, the lashes she uses are very realistic and she glues each one to individual lashes - avoiding the baby lashes - so no looking like letter box draught excluders like the TOWIE girls. I can't tell you how thrilled I am with them. They make my eyes look really big and open. Check it out...

See how crappy my natural eyelashes are?

Ta da! This is my eye afterwards

Neat eh? I have no make up on at all in the second shot and I wake up with my eyes looking like that too. Shame no one gets to see that, but hey!

I have them topped up every fortnight. Well worth the money. EVERYONE notices how great my eyes look now. Check out Stef's site: http://www.minkblink.co.uk/

Cost: £85 (full set), £45 (top-up)

Eyebrows
I've been getting my eyebrows threaded (ouch!) and dyed too. I'm a red head, so my eyebrows (and lashes) are naturally fair. Getting my eyebrows shaped and dyed has been a revelation too, although the first time they were done, the dye was too dark and I looked like a child had taken to me with a black marker pen.

Cost: £8 for threading and about £12 for both threading and dying.

Nails
I've had acrylics a few times because my nails have always been a bit flimsy, but since being on my diet, my nails are now quite strong and have grown of their own accord. Happy days! So, I have invested in five bottles of nail polish so I can spoil myself. I even had a pedicure.

Cost: £4/bottle of nail polish.

Hair
The one thing I've always liked about myself is my hair, but I've never done anything with it. Because it's long and straight, I can get away with leaving it alone for years. Not any more though. I've been getting it trimmed every eight weeks recently and it looks and feels great.

Cost £38

OK, some of these thing are expensive and won't be within everyone's budget. I can only just scrape together enough money for it, but it really does make me feel good, so I think it's worth it. You can buy face packs for £1 and treat yourself like that, and buying a bottle of nail polish isn't too bad.

Take a bit of time and do something nice for yourself. It's a really important part of your well-being.

Now, let's see how the diet's going...

Menu plan

Breakfast: Grapefruit and a Yakult
Lunch: Salmon and green salad
Dinner: Omelette. (Massively busy still, but trying to keep eating fairly healthily)
Snack: Ovaltine Options hot choccie drink. 
Drinks: 1.5l of tap water

This little lot adds up to about 820 calories according to FitBit.

FitBit Stats From Yesterday

Steps: 10,685 (following yesterday's debacle, I popped out and walked around the block every hour or so)
Distance: 4.24 miles
Active minutes: 86 

My Stats

Current weight: 11st 9.2lbs (About 2.5lbs down in three days)
Next weight target: 11st 7lbs (pre-holiday weight)

TOMORROW: Gym vs Walking