new year new me Archives

THE NECESSARY LIFE UPDATE AND GOSSIP

Hello all and welcome to the first real week of 2019. The first week of five full working days, eek. Good luck to us all. May we sleep well at night and feel full of energy during the working days. I have dabbled in working since the Christmas break but found myself getting distracted. I have taken six bags of old un-necessary hoarded goods in my house to allow new more special things in. If we hold on to clutter then how will the new ever enter??

“this is it!”
so I THOUGHT

THE YEAR 2018

The year 2018 was filled with highs and lows. Two major things that happened for me were a work and personal matter separately. In WORK, I booked my biggest job I had ever booked, both in monetary value but also in potential of recognition. I filmed the job, I recorded the voice over and I had two days of personal appearances at a huge event booked in the diary. I had a meeting with their marketing manager about the ways they were going to grow me as the ambassador and how we were going to develop the collaboration. It was an acting job but also made bigger by involving my blogging and social media. I literally thought, this is it! This is the job of the century…well, apart from booking a movie. Then a month before the PAs I had a phone call from my agent saying, “they have decided to cut your part”. I was at a big blogging lunch when I got this call and I was in shock! Thankfully I still got paid but I didn’t care, it was the job that I wanted even more so than the money. I was excited by the potential this job held. Anyway, I moved on and that’s fine and they explained that they loved everything I did, it just didn’t work for the American marketing etc etc etc. Then come late November in my PERSONAL life I went into meltdown. I found out that someone I love with all my heart has got cancer. FUCKING cancer… I literally screamed these exact words when I found out, then burst into tears for a good week or so. I stopped posting on social, I wasn’t sure what was the point in anything. In a spaced out manner I traipsed myself off to pre-booked jobs but I ignored emails and phone calls while I tried to process something that had thankfully never hit so close to home. Yet, the prognosis is good and actually, fingers crossed, everything is going to be totally fine and come February this will hopefully all be over and we will all laugh at the few months of absolute SHIT we have had to go through! I can’t wait for the sound of the cork popping from the chilled bottle of Champagne.
BRING IT ON!!

WHAT’S TO COME ON HERE

My main aim for this website in 2019 is to make it original and accessible. What I mean by this is that everyone and their dog have a blog these days. With more and more people are owning a blog there is a very similar vibe on everyones website which is something I noticed when I was booked as a blogging judge on for this years UK Blog Awards…so much similarity between everyone. I am determined to bring some new aspects to blogging that are new or relatively untapped at present.
Even though there are more and more bloggers/influencers/content creators about, there are still those who turn their nose up at blogs or simply can’t be bothered to read them. I did a little market research with a couple of my cousins (I have many many many cousins haha) who never read blogs or online websites. I found it really interesting to see what they said and it is with their answers that I am going to try my hardest to develop my site into one that even they, the hardest people to get to click through to read.

2019

In 2019 I mainly want my family to be happy and healthy. I want to be even more successful with my work.
I reeeeeally want to sell our flat and move into a house with Liam…fingers crossed for all of that!

I hope to spend a lot more time with you all in 2019 and I hope you like what is to come, let me know what you think and what resolutions you have for this year ahead.

HOW AND WHY I AM GOING TO LOSE WEIGHT THIS MONTH

Welcome to January and the typical, “I’m going to lose weight this month” blah blah blah. Well, this is my aim and before you say, you’re not fat. I know I’m not fat but in my chatting below you will see why I need to shed a teensy bit for myself. Everyone has their own reasons and below are mine. Make sure you comment below if you are on a quest this month so we can all support each other.

WHY

A small part of my work is that of a fittings model (if you don’t know what this is have a little catch up on my most read blog post ever here). As a fittings model, I am measured weekly and each centimetre of difference is noted down. I fit as a size 8 and am currently a large size 8. Over my almost TWELVE years as a model (how has that happened, my gawwwwd) I have been a super tiny size 8, a small size 10 and now a large size 8. I’m not sure how I have got a little bigger lately, no I am not pregnant, but maybe it’s because I have got older? Who knows? I exercise just as much as normal and eat a little healthier so I’m really not sure why. My slight increase in size is probably only about 1.5cm different from my smallest. This may sound ridiculous to some people but for me in my job it actually means quite a lot. I would rather sit comfortably in the middle of a size 8 measurement than bordering on the edge, therefore I am here to do something about it, and a new year is the perfect time and excuse because there are so many other people around me doing the same thing causing less distractions from my aim. I am not one to weigh myself on the weighing scales, I believe in a measuring tape and your standard skinny jeans to see how you are doing.
I will tell you how I aim to get back slimmer again in a moment but I want to let you know that I will come back again in the middle on February to let you know how I have got along, see if I stuck with it and how many centimetres I have lost or gained on my bust, waist and hips. I started this plan on the 2nd of January and will finish it on the 13th February, the day before Valentine’s Day…wish me luck…maybe I will be feeling super hot this Valentine’s Day ;P x

HOW

My main aim is to not feel deprived and left out whilst trying to be healthy so these are my plans laid out bare for all to see, which you may want to follow yourself (be sure to let me know if you are going to do the same. We can be health buddies).
DRINK
I don’t drink any soft drinks unless it is a mixer for alcohol so this isn’t too tricky for me but I am sticking to water and herbal teas for the whole duration. There are so many incredible herbal teas that don’t taste like a rubbish Ribena. In fact, you should check out my current favourite herbal teas here. I may fancy up my water with lemon slices but that’s as jazzy as I will be getting. I had my fair share of alcohol over Christmas so don’t feel deprived by not drinking for a few weeks.
FOOD
Food is a bit of a trickier one with many more bits and bobs to it. If you didn’t know, my hubby is a super brainy sports and nutrition kinda guy and last year wrote a fabulously successful ebook (I was one of the people to proof it so I have read it numerous times and can vouch for it being great) called Eat & Move which is based on a low carb, high fat lifestyle and comes with many great workouts you can do at home. This is obviously not a paid ad but I could rave about him for days…he is my husband after all. He has had many amazing case studies of people losing weight on his plan, getting back to health and exercise and even reversed their type 2 diabetes!!
So, my plan is to be low carb, this is NOT no carb but I will be eating only healthy carbs such as pumpernickel bread and lentils rather than lots of pappy bread and pasta and I will mostly be consuming them at breakfast and lunch rather than at dinner. I will be completely off bad sugars. I will eat a little bit of fruit and healthy chocolate such as Om Bars and Booja Booja ice creams and chocolates as my naughty sweeter treats. Here are my favourite healthy sweet treats which I will be allowing myself on a few occasions. My absolute favourite sweet but healthy treat which I constantly ask Liam to make is his sugar free biscuits, they are sooo good. The recipe for these is here.
EXCEPTIONS
My only exceptions to the alcohol “ban” will be on celebrations. This will include family and friends’ birthdays and any immediate family or mine and Liam’s work success’. If I book some crazy amazing TV job…I’m going to drink a bottle of Champagne and possibly some chocolate dipped strawberries, there’s no question! Maybe this will be the perfect drive that I need to go and get some amazing jobs and this excites me a huge deal.
FITNESS
I am pretty into my fitness and always have been so to do exercise in general isn’t a hardship for me. I adore that sense of achievement you get after a bit of exercise. If you need some motivational tips to get out exercising check out my blog from a couple of years ago full of helpful tips. My fitness aims for this little project is to keep up with what I normally do which is 2-3 bootcamp classes a week and 2 5km runs and 1 6km run. Yet, I am also going to try and include a few longer 8 or 10km runs during the few weeks. I am even going to try and add in some fun activities that I can do with Liam like climbing, trampolining, gymnastics classes and long dog walks.

Are you on a quest to lose weight or get a little healthier this month? Have you got any tips to share?

NEW YEAR, NEW ME, TOP TIPS

Happy New Year everyone. How are you all? Have you had a lovely festive break from work? Or are you more exhausted than before, now that you have been back for a few days? However your state of mind may be right now you are most likely thinking about being a tad more healthy than you were over the holidays. I am here to give you some top tips on how to keep up with the New Year, New Me mentality and not get too grumpy over any mishaps, but most importantly how to not hate yourself whilst trying. If you need any tips on how to start the year fresh click on over here, it’s never too late to start.

LITTLE GOALS

When making your New Year New Me goals do not make them to unrealistic. Make bite sized goals for you to achieve each week, each month, each year etc. If your goal is to lose weight, start off by saying I am going to exercise more (this is personal to yourself as to how much more you need to). Then add another small starting point of, I’m not going to eat chocolate this month. Do go all guns blazing making yourself guilty if you don’t lose a stone by the end of January.

FRIENDS

If your social circle know your goals they will help you win those goals that you have set. If you want to succeed in a dry January then you need your friends for support. You need to start planning fun date nights with friends, partners and family where the plans don’t revolve around alcohol. Go to the cinema, go to a trampolining park together, go and try something new maybe join an art class together or try a fun new sport together.

TREAT DAYS

Rather than cheat days, think of including treat days. Yup, that’s a thing now, I just made it up hehe. Cheat days insinuate that you are giving up and this is not what you need once you are on a roll. I know it’s a little bit cheaty but whenever I tell myself that I am going to be healthy, give up chocolate or alcohol or exercise more for example I always say that birthdays don’t count and neither do days when there is something worth celebrating. If I book a big job I am going to drink champagne with Liam and my family even if I have given up alcohol, but the next day I am straight back on it.

KEEP TRACK

Keep track of your progress, keep a diary, take notes on how you are feeling, re-evaluate your goals each week. It’s nice to see how far you have come. If you want to run more, download apps like Nike Plus or Strava so you can see how far you have run, if you are getting faster, you even see how many calories you have burnt. If you are trying to lose weight use a measuring tape, not the weighing scales. I am really adamant that you must use a tape measure over the scales. Muscles weigh more than fat, so if you are exercising a great deal you may well be losing fat but gaining muscles.

I hope my top tips can help and inspire you. What are your goals? Share them with me and let’s help each other x

BYE BYE 2017

I hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas break and rounded off your year on a high. I thought I would quickly swing by and say farewell to 2017. I especially wanted to thank you all for supporting me this year. Megan Taylor London has grown a huge amount this year. The “social world” is getting more and more saturated each day with new, very similar talent and the standard is constantly being raised. I am supremely thankful that you have all been here for me and helped me grow. It sounds awfully cliche but in my honest truth, if I didn’t have any “followers” on my blog and social platforms I would not be here doing what I am doing. I could be doing this as a hobby for sure but a real job would be stopping me from doing as much work on my site as I do now. I hope you have all had a fantastic 2017. What are you most happy to have achieved or thrilled with?
For me personally it has been pretty bloody fantastic, for a few reasons I will touch on below.

I have been thinking about resolutions and goals for the new year. I tend to focus on goals,
what I want to achieve the following year rather than what I want to change about myself. Does that make sense? Every year I write down a list of everything I am happy to have achieved throughout the year in work and life in general and then check back on it in December. You will always be surprised by how much you have achieved. Put out there in the universe what you would like to achieve and maybe, just maybe you may accomplish it. Make sure you check out my top tips of how to make the most of your new year here.

2017 HIGHLIGHTS

• I was signed to WaR management for all things bloggy and social which has helped me a huge deal…they know their stuff!
• I was whisked off to Tenerife for 11 days to film an incredible job for Jaguar.
• I have worked alongside some incredible brands and PR companies which I would only have dreamed off this time last year.
• I won ‘HIGHLY COMMENDED’ at the UK Blog Awards!!
• I was a FINALIST in the Beauty Influencers Awards alongside the biggest beauty bloggers in the industry!!
• I have shot some incredible modelling campaigns.

Have you got any new years resolutions? Please let me know what your dreams for the new year are. Happy New Year everyone xx

Power Shot Juice Recipe

Happy New Year everyone? How are your ‘New Year, New Me’ resolutions coming along? Well mine personally are so-so. I haven’t drunk any alcohol since New Years (My aim is to not drink until Valentine’s Day – with the exception of celebratory events). Yet I haven’t yet stopped eating chocolate or started going to bed earlier. In fact it is currently 23:45 and I am sat here contemplating pressing play on my fourth episode of The Good Wife whilst I finish this blog post…whoopsie. These late nights and sugar binges can cause us to feel a tad lethargic come the next morning. I want to share with you my favourite power shot juice recipe to make which gives you a really good kick that wakes you up and feels like it is doing you some good. I am not actually here to promote House Press whose bottles I have here (it is just coincidental that the ingredients on the bottle are very similar to my own). If I have a juice when I am out and about and the bottle is cute I like to keep them to use for my own juices.

INGREDIENTS

Apples
Lime
Ginger

METHOD

My measurements for this method are a bit haphazard as it is completely down to your own personal tastebuds. I like to use a ratio of 5:2:1 (Apples:Lime:Ginger). I sometimes add extra ginger, depending on how much of a kick my sleepy self needs. I don’t drink cafeine so this is my own version.
Use a sharp knife to peel off the skin of the ginger and lime. If you use a good enough juicer you can just throw in all of the ingredients once you have skinned the lime and ginger and juice them quicker than you can imagine.

BENEFITS

Since buying my juicer last summer I think ginger is my absolute favourite ingredient to add to a juice. I adore the kick it gives and actually quite like it to be the overriding flavour. Ginger is commonly known to reduce bloating, treat nausea, help indigestion and for us girlies it is meant to help with any menstral pains.
The smell of Lime is incredible, don’t you agree? It immediately transports me to a summer holiday at a cocktail bar overlooking the sea. Other than this wonderful thought it is actually known to help aid digestion and be great for your skin.
Apples are on the sugary side so you don’t want to go overboard with your fruit juices. This being said apples are a great source of fibre and known to help detoxify your liver.

What is your favourite juice recipe? If you make my juice, make sure to tag me on Instagram @itsmegantaylor