Thank You For Your Support!

To thank everyone for their support and getting my Facebook Page to 100 likes - I am doing a giveaway! For now it is only open to NZ residents as I love to give back to my locals so I have teamed up with a local NZ business called Smoove who provides natural coffee body scrubs to giveaway 2 packs for FREE!

I would really love everyone to have a chance at winning this as these scrubs are amazing - they help to diminish stretch marks, psoriasis, eczema, cellulite and acne!

To get in the draw jump on over here:

 GIVEAWAY - CLICK HERE

Keep an eye out for my next tip which will be coming to you within the next few days! I'm really looking forward to sharing this one with you as it worked wonders for me! To check out my Facebook page the link is below - also Smoove's page is there for anyone wanting more info about their body scrubs <3

Milly's Journey to Muscles Facebook Page - Click Here

Smoove Body Scrub Facebook Page - Click Here

5 Tips to Improve your Weightloss Journey - Tip One: Change your Surroundings

As I look back at my journey now I can see the fundamental points which lead me to my initial weight gain, but then I also saw the small changes I made in my life which made a huge difference on the scales for me. So below I'm going to share with you 5 tips to improve your weightloss journey - and they were all tried and tested by ME - they are probably ones you may have heard before but these are the things that really stood out and worked for me!

I hope these might help you get past your current plateau, begin your own weightloss journey, adapt the journey your on or simply provide a few tips to help you out along the way.

I am going to be releasing tips over the next few days - So first up is

Change your Surroundings

You may be thinking 'change my surroundings'?? How can I do that and why? 

I used to work in childcare; I was working 7am - 6pm, Monday - Friday and although very rewarding I started to pack on the pounds without even noticing and slowly became the size I once was. It was fine though - well that's what I told myself - No one else noticed, or said anything and everyone else I worked with was the same so for me this was normal.

Fast track down the road a bit to where I changed jobs to working in Real Estate (complete change of careers - I know). I'm working 8:30am - 5pm, Monday - Friday and this is where I lost all my weight and slowly became the size I am now. 

Now how did this change of surroundings affect me and help me to lose the weight I've lost?

Well it was very simple; working in childcare is difficult, you eat when you can, generally eat what the kids are eating and when they are eating (which is all the time) and by home time all you can think about is finding the easiest fastest meal you can shoving it down your gob and then sleeping. And that was literally my routine - for roughly 4 years.

Where I worked we would buy lunch because it was easier than making lunch and I never really had time. My options that surrounded my work were McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and the Food Court (Mall) - So not exactly the healthiest options, but were all options I was choosing because hey it was fast, cheap, tasted like food and gave me enough time to grab it, eat it and get back to work. My work colleagues were the same, did the same, and funnily enough were around the same size as I was back then.


Whereas working in Real Estate although it can be very full on at times; I eat at specific break times (morning, lunch, afternoon), eat healthier options, and actually eat a meal for dinner with my flatmates every night.

I still buy lunch most days but the options I have around me are much healthier than the options I had at my previous job. Here I am surrounded by Subway, sushi, the supermarket, cafes and a bakery (probably the unhealthiest option). Yet it is still relatively priced, tastes amazing and still gives me a decent lunch break. Again my work colleagues are the same, do the same and are all around the same size as me.

Now I'm not telling you to up and leave your job because there is a McDonald's around the corner from your work - but more so be aware of your surroundings and what they have to offer. I was simply making the wrong decisions, surrounded by the wrong options and it took a career/job change for me to notice.

So when you head to work tomorrow have a look at what surroundings you might change? It may be as simple as scoping out other places to eat, sitting with a different group of colleagues at lunch or pre preparing lunch and taking it instead of buying. 

What surroundings of yours are you thinking of changing?

Remember happier, healthier and fitter!

Lots of love,

Milly x

Goal Setting - For Weightloss!

Setting goals for yourself can be hard and lets be honest we don't always reach our goals. But when I was looking at my pictures from a few years ago I remembered that goal setting was what I did as encouragement for myself to go further and to achieve what I had set out to do - become fitter, healthier and happier and ultimately lose weight.

Instead of setting myself goal weights that I needed to get down to or be I instead opted for a few different goals and set these up along my journey to ensure I kept on top of the weight loss. Below are a few different goals that I set for myself along my weight loss journey and how they can help you with yours. Having set goal weights in my opinion can be some what daunting - especially when you keep stepping onto the scales and not seeing a difference (baring in mind that scales lie - you may be losing fat and gaining muscle but still seeing no difference on the scales)

If you haven't already - don't forget to head over to my Facebook Page so you can follow me. Plus I'll be doing a giveaway at '100' likes! 

Like Milly's Journey to Muscles

My Goal Outfit
I have this amazing ball dress that I wore to my Year 13 ball, it is also a size 10. After my year 13 ball was when I began putting on weight (became size 14) and upon trying on my dress only 6 months later and finding I couldn't fit it was rather disappointing - however I made this one of my goals. My goal was to fit back into my ball dress. It made my goal a little less daunting and more of a fun challenge. I suggest that everyone who is on a weightloss challenge - especially a large one finds that one outfit/dress/bikini whatever it is that you want to shine in and make that your goal outfit. 

This was something I was able to achieve 4 months ago - this was a very happy moment for me because it represented all the hard work I had put into losing the weight. Not to mention that when I finally tried it on it zipped up perfect with even a little bit of room - BONUS! :)

My Goal Exercises
It's no secret in my family that I could not do a 'man push up' or 'pull up' to save myself. Yes if you are wondering I am one of those people who sporadically thrashed around trying to pull myself up on the bar - and it never happens, it just doesn't. Well not until recently that is, one of my overall goals was to become fitter so I set a few personal goals for myself in regards to doing a push up and pull up - something I knew I could not do yet wanted to achieve. I set an exercise goal of being able to do at least 20 man push ups and 20 pull ups - I would definitely like to progress from there but so far I can only pump out one or two of each - but for me this is a big achievement and for my family a little less entertainment as I no longer thrash around trying to pull myself up the bar or tremble as I tried to finish a push up. The weak me is no more and the fitter me is taking over - I love it!

My Goal Look
Looking at all the stars and celebs and seeing how slim they are is seriously unfair - but how about taking what they have and using it as motivation. Do you have a specific look you are going for or a look that you like? When I first began my journey to weightloss I found a picture of Jessica Alba - there is no denying that she is a babe - I used this picture to then become my motivation. I printed off the picture and stuck it up around home in places I knew I would see it (i.e. the bathroom mirror, bedroom mirror, front of the fridge, on the door of your snacks cupboard etc) By sticking it up it is a constant reminder of what you are striving to achieve. The one thing I did do was crop her lovely head off the body as I knew that if I kept seeing Jessica staring at me the idea of working towards her body would of been a bit scary. Here are the pics I used below (this is the look I was heading for - but by no means does that mean it has to be yours. Feel free to pick whoever you want, it may not even be a celeb. The choice is totally yours)

I admit seeing the numbers on the scale dropping is an amazing feeling - but don't forget those scales can lie and at times make you feel worse about the progress you've made than better. I still check my weight every so often to monitor where I am at - but I believe real progress can be felt, seen and even heard (from others - its a great feeling to have other people compliment you on your weightloss or how amazing you are looking) Don't forget to take these compliments, you deserve them!

These are just a few of the different methods that I used while on my weight loss journey and I still use them now - I also have a few others that I used so keep an eye out for those in my upcoming blog posts. So what are you goal outfits, exercises, looks? Do you have any different methods other than jumping on the scale? Would love to hear from you guys.

Healthier, happier and fitter

Lots of love,

Milly x

Kayla Itsines - BBG + Workout Clothes

So this kind of happened.! I printed and bound these babies so I can have a hard copy and have it with me to work from.

I'm so excited to begin using the Kayla Itsines BBG. Even better since it's just under 12 weeks till summer, I'll be bikini ready in now time but more importantly fitter, healthier and happier. I've also got the help guide with some awesome meal plans and promotes healthy eating and has a great lifestyle plan to promote overall health. 

The healthy eating shouldn't be so much of a problem for me as I've already made the change to being a cleaner eater and although I'm not worried about the exercises they do look like I'm going to feel the burn, but a good kind of burn.

I've seen so many amazing transformations so I'm hoping by doing this and my added extra fitness that my journey to muscles won't be too far away. I'm also hoping that it will encourage a healthier lifestyle at my house, I live with 6 friends and id really love to incorporate the healthy eating/lifestyle into our menu at home.

I also picked me up a whole outfit from Kmart they have a really awesome range and it's really affordable this outfit below cost me $20. The cute galaxy shorts were $12 and they have under shorts so when your are working out no one can see up - kind of a necessity in my opinion. The sports crop was $8 and is quite comfy. They also had a seamless version but I'm a matching kind of girl and had to get the right colour. 

Excuse my paleness I've always been a bit of a Casper - I look hilarious my legs are so much darker than everywhere else.! Tan needed here - 12 weeks and it'll be summer so bring on that tan and bring on that bod.!

Has anyone else done the Kayla Itsines 12 week BBG? Are there any tips or things I should know that might help? 

I'm super excited and will be giving you updates along the way.! If your doing the Kayla Itsines 12 week BBG too I'd really like to follow your journey so feel free to leave your blog in the comments below or if you have a journey on Instagram follow me @millysjourneytomuscles and I'll follow you back :)

Happier, healthier and fitter! 

Lots of love,

Milly x