Recently, everything's been pretty damn great for me, personally. I'm getting fitter, healthier, and I'm pretty much settled into my new life in the big smoke. Obviously it'd be nice to have a little more money, a little more time, and all the usual things that I'm pretty sure stay on the nice-to-ha[...]

So, this morning I was casually scrolling through Twitter, minding my own business. Picture the scene: I'm humming cheerfully, enjoying my Saturday morning coffee and eggs, listening to some old-school jazz. The sky is blue, and I'm still in my pyjamas. Okay, the part about the sky isn't true. Bu[...]

Y'know when you start out on a journey to a 'new you' - or even just pick up where you left off on an old one - it's hard to imagine failing. You're resolute. You're determined. You're totally going to kick ass and achieve your goals, because you are awesome. Heck, once you're finished, you'll proba[...]

Yesterday, my gorgeous Mum came to visit me in London town, and I had the most wonderful day. We did some lovely touristy things - visiting Buckingham Palace, strolling down Carnaby Street, and wandering through St. James's Park. It was awesome. I was happy. And then this happened, and my mood wa[...]

Healthy livin'. It's something I'm meant to be all about. And I am, most of the time - or rather, I was, until, say, early December - back when I had my knee operated on for the 4th (and hopefully final) time; when I had a birthday that involved a lot of cake; when I was job-hunting and interview[...]

You may remember, a month ago, I said this: It's easy to change a bit, adapt, and then stay put. That’s why we plateau, both in terms of weight loss and in a wider sense. You’ve got to stay focused on improving yourself and your life in a number of ways, both physically and – more importantly – men[...]

I've always thought of myself of something of a planner. I love a good strategy, me. When I'm not blogging, I'm paid to do just that - plan stuff. Strategise things. Day-to-day, I've got to be super-organised, thinking ahead days, weeks, and months in advance. And that's fine by me, because, as I[...]

I just had something of a revelation. After a week of feeling like death warmed up, I've realised... I've got Freshers' Flu. You've gotta laugh at times like this. Here I am, with my grown-up job, in my grown-up flatshare, with my grown-up clothes and attitude and a healthy living blog... And I'v[...]

Simple question, really. But I have a theory that this whole health, fitness and wellbeing malarkey pretty much boils down to it. Figuring out what you really want - on a number of levels - is one of the most important things you can do to make a big ol' lifestyle change. Essentially, it comes d[...]

I know I mentioned it briefly the other day, but the times they are a'changin' in my life at the moment. That's why things have been a little quiet around here lately, and why the meal plan is delayed - but I swear to God every waking moment I have this week that isn't spent at work, I'll be working[...]

Don't judge me, but when I'm not writing this blog, or doing a PhD, I work in marketing. I know, I know - I'm pretty sure that means I'll be a slug or something in the next life, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. This booty doesn't pay for itself, you know. Anyway, having spent a f[...]

I kind of hate myself for the timing of this post, because, let's face it - if there's a time of year you're likely to drink more alcohol, it's the festive season. I'm a particular victim of this, because it was my birthday yesterday - so it's very easy for December to be less Katie Lowe, more Keith[...]

I'm super sorry guys - I've been ever so busy this last couple of weeks, what with the PhD, work, various project-type things, the Meal Plan, and some exciting bits and bobs relating to the blog (which I'm hoping you'll all like, eventually!) However, I've also done a spot of shopping. Well, I sa[...]

I've been amazed by the fabulous response to the exercise programme we published on Thursday this week - you guys are awesome. I've been rather inundated with questions since, so apologies if I haven't been able to email back right away! The questions that have popped up most often, I've answered[...]

Q: If you had to choose one thing to start with, would it be exercise or food? With everything going on, both is overwhelming at the moment. Personally, if I had to choose one thing to tackle first, it'd be food. But - and this is a big but (and I cannot lie) - I'm not saying that you should go o[...]

This is a guest post from Matt Peacock, who designed the programme I follow. I asked him if he'd write something that gave a little bit more insight into who he is and what he does - because obviously 'tis all well and good me gushing about his awesomeness here, but, you know... It's not quite the s[...]

Even though I'm open to a bit of a cheateroo from time to time, generally, I try to avoid eating processed foods where I can. Don't get me wrong - I'm nowhere even approaching perfect - but as a rule, most of the stuff I eat is made up of ingredients I can actually spell. And most of the time, I'll [...]

As the wise man Mr T. once said, it's not where you come from, it's where you're going. And I'd be inclined to agree, especially on this whole health business. I don't think it's ever too late to make a difference to your lifestyle, regardless of where you're starting from - and I think aiming high [...]

When I was fat - or fatter, given the enormous chunk of birthday cake I unashamedly devoured at the weekend for my sister's 21st that I'm pretty sure weighed at least 10lbs and may have single-handedly given me diabetes - I was still... Me. I was still a mind inhabiting a body - and so you'd think I[...]

It's been an exciting week for me, because I finally hit the 160lbs I'd been aiming for for the last two years. Now I'm here, I realise I've still got some work to do, and my target weight has shifted a bit now I'm here - but when I started out, at 290lbs, it seemed like an impossible dream, so to f[...]

I'm not really sure of the reasons behind it, but for the last few days I've been feeling a bit... Blue. That happens to everyone from time to time - even fine upstanding wellbeing-ers like myself. I've been a tad frazzled - it's been a busy patch at work, my PhD programme is being a pain in t[...]

Yesterday, I read this quote reported to be from Christina Aguilera (it's since been denied - but bear with me on this), who said she told her record label the following when working on her new album - because apparently, no amount of talent will help you if you're fat: I told them during this Lotu[...]

I was in full-on writer mode earlier. I was tapping away furiously, in total silence, pausing only to sip coffee and after four hours, at last, I was done. So, I cranked up the volume on my speakers, and got DOWN. I live alone. In a tiny flat. Above a curry house. But dammit, I can get down like [...]

I have a very cool, albeit slightly double-edged, thing to tell you guys today. You might already know that I've had a lot of knee surgery - three rounds, in fact - to repair them after I had an accident in 2007 that brought on something called patellofemoral dysplasia - in English, that means yo[...]

I've been asked this a lot since I started this blog - and yet, weirdly enough, it's one of the posts I've struggled most to write. That's for a few reasons. Firstly, when I set out to lose weight initially, I didn't think like I do now. When you first start, you're all motivation - you know you wan[...]

Last week, I was asked to be a talking head on HuffPost Live, during their interview of Lisa Lampanelli - who is ace. She's known for her amazing (if a tad...uhhh...blue) put-downs - the only one I could find that wasn't too filthy to put here was "Donald Trump has disappointed more women than Sex a[...]

Oh, habits. Bad ones are really easy to pick up, and ridiculously hard to quit. And good ones, predictably, are quite the g'damn opposite. Here's a few examples from my own experience: grabbing a sausage sandwich and a can of full-fat coke as consolation for Monday morning (boo...) And doing t[...]

I've said before how evil the scales can be. Repeatedly. I swear to God, they are put on this earth just to toy with my emotions, because whenever I feel like I've had a really good week, boom! I can guarantee you I will have apparently gained a few pounds. Never fails. There are so many variable[...]

I seem to talk about body image a lot. I know that. But here I am, back on it again, like a broken record. Sorry 'bout that. This time, though, it's because a friend of mine sent me this fabulous article and it gave me pause for thought. It's amazing what an impact the things people say to you as a [...]

I've been asked a lot over the last few days - "how do you stay motivated?" Seems a lot of us - myself included - are in the habit of starting a diet with the best of intentions, and with all the motivation in the world... For about three days. Then it starts to go bit wrong. Temptation, life,[...]

When I first started out trying to lose weight, I hate hate hated cardio. What can I say? I like to have nice hair, and cardio seems to go out of its way to push against that. Boo hiss. But as you probably already know, one of the biggest parts of the exercise plan I've been following is the l[...]

I was intrigued to read this the other day, sent in by a very lovely reader: Teenagers who think they are overweight, even if they aren't, are far more likely to grow up to be obese, researchers warned today. They say that obsession with body image as a teen can influence our weight when we are [...]

Because I’m super-cool (that’s a lie) and super-popular (another lie), I’ve had a very busy few weeks. I’ve been to Global Gathering, and I’ve been to leaving parties, birthday parties and just plain old regular parties. And you know what all these things have in common? Booze. Lots of it. [...]

Up until relatively recently, I thought I could eat pretty much what I wanted, so long as I managed to stay within my calorie goal. After all, calorie counting is the key to successful weight loss. Right? Hmm. You'll notice I'm using the past tense. I no longer think that. I've always total[...]

Last week, I was forwarded an article that claimed that inactivity now kills as many people as smoking. Apparently: A lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world, a study suggests. The report, published in the Lancet to coincide with the build-up to the Olympics, e[...]

I've been amazed at how many people identify with me on the emotional eating front - especially among people who, like me, have to juggle a lot of balls and spin a lot of plates to keep everything ticking along. It's one of those things most of us have done at some point - landing face first into[...]

I love weight training. There's nothing more satisfying. It's hard, and it'll make you pull some interesting faces - and probably break into a sweat sitting down - but it's pretty empowering to be safe in the knowledge that you've got great upper body strength. Plus, it's amazing for toning up - mea[...]

I’m actually pretty delighted to be writing this post, because – along with the aforementioned Mr Super-Trainer-Nutritonist-Man (who I'll introduce properly below) I’ve finally got this weight loss thing down to an art. Not an art, actually – a science. GO SCIENCE. If I haven’t stressed this enou[...]

Ahhh, celebrity diets. The age-old 'I lost 50lbs by eating nothing but grapefruit covered in salt water and lizard's tears' diet is a staple of trashy magazines (full disclosure: I love trashy magazines). When you're tucking into your second helping of chicken nuggets, it's easy enough to think 'TOM[...]

I’m so uncomfortable. Three years of hard work, and I’m stuck here, sweating, trying not to breathe so I don’t bust a shirt button under my graduation robes. This ought to be one of the best days of my life, and I just want to get out of here, get into my pyjamas, and eat until I fall asleep. [...]

Over the last couple of days, I've been asked twice what exactly it is that I eat over the course of a day, a week, a month, etc. Obviously you guys have seen some of the highlights (mostly just because they're pretty) but it's not representative of everything that I chow down on on any given day - [...]

I was very, very interested to read the recommendations from a group of UK MPs the other day suggesting that school children should have body image lessons as part of the curriculum. I'm going to repeat myself again here - for all the 'fat girl' jokiness of this blog, it's not just about weight l[...]

I was going to write a blog today about the importance of keeping your 'before' pictures for later use - but I was browsing the news over my lunch and came across this article about a girl in the UK who has been declared 'Britain's heaviest teenager' weighing 63st at the age of 19. Source: Daily [...]

It's often all-too-easy to get complacent about what you've got, be it friends, family, money, warmth - and your health. I've got a cold at the moment, and dammit, I feel sorry for myself. Really sorry for myself. I've noticed this more since I've been living a healthy lifestyle - the fact that I[...]