LighterLife - Fast 5:2

Eat low-fat foods. Exercise more. Skip meals. Don’t skip meals. Fast. We have all been given different suggestions for weight loss, but which ones actually work?

Here at The Amazing Blog we do not generally approve of dieting; however, LighterLife Fast 5:2 products provide a healthy way to lose or maintain weight through intermittent fasting.

Normally when we hear the word “fast,” we run for the hills because who wants to limit the amount of food they eat?

Intermittent fasting generally involves cutting calorie intake to around a quarter of what you would usually eat for just two days a week. The rest of the week you can eat how you always eat.

Why should you try this you might ask? Intermittent fasting is perfect for shedding a few pounds or keeping your weight in check. Plus, it’s easy and nutritious without the hassle of cooking, food shopping and calorie counting.

On each fasting day, you will be consuming 600 calories while still getting 100% of your recommended daily allowances of key minerals, vitamins, protein and fibre. With LighterLifeFastpacks, you have a choice between savoury meals such as Spaghetti Bolognese and Pasta Carbonara, Porridge, four shakes (vanilla, strawberry, banana and chocolate) and four meal bars (nut fudge, crispy peanut, cranberry & raspberry and toffee).

Our executive editor tried it for a week and was quite impressed that she didn’t feel hungry, even after consuming only 600 calories. She had a combination of all of the Fastpacks and her favourite was the bars. She felt they really stopped her snacking. She wasn’t so keen on the soups and shakes, but she did enjoy the porridge and pasta carbonara.

If you think this is a great way to maintain a sustainable lifestyle, you can purchase a box of four Fastpacks exclusively at Superdrug stores across the UK and Ireland for £7.99. A box of four is enough for one day of fasting. If you aren’t sure whether this product is for you, you can receive complementary media trials to sample the products first hand and then make your decision!

Zaggora Hotpants Giveaway

As regular readers of The Amazing Blog may or may not know I'm currently training for a half marathon. I recently completed a 10k Race For Life in aid of Cancer Research and, still high on adrenaline the next day I (somewhat foolishly) decided to enter myself for the Royal Parks Half taking place on October 7th.

And now that I like to think of myself as a serious athlete (ahem), I decided my bobbled grey jogging bottoms were no longer up to scratch, particularly given the amount of rather hunky rugby players I came into contact with on my evening runs around Clapham Common. And so, having stumbled across copious articles praising the latest Zaggora HotPants, which have been worn by a plethora of celebrities including both Denise Richards and home-grown Holly Willoughby, I thought I'd give these so called miracle pants a go.

Available in a number of eye catching colours, including hot pink, bright blue and lime green, the Zaggora HotPants are certainly not for the light hearted. And having taken two years to research and develop, the HotPants were launched to help women maximise the effect of their workouts and get more for less - something we ladies at The Amazing Blog certainly like to hear. The HotPants increase the core body temperature by an average of 18% more than the control garment, which leads to an increase in metabolism. Following rigorous testing, the results showed that in 30 minutes of exercise, weight loss is around 4x greater in HotPants than in a standard garment. And while I'm certianly no scientist and would struggle to explain the reasoning behind such weight loss, I believe it is something to do with the fabric of the HotPants (rather similar to that of a wetsuit) which causes excessive sweating, and thus an increase in calorie burning. Having worn the Zaggora HotPants on many of my runs while training for the half marathon, I can confirm that your sweat levels reach a point I have never previously known; even my calves were sweating by the time I had finished; and peeling them off was a chore in itself. While they certainly aren't uncomfortable to wear, my body temperature was noticeably higher than when I wear standard running leggings, and you definitely feel like you've worked out to your core - which can't be a bad thing!

So, whether you're hankering after an A-Listers work out wardrobe, fancy some new exercise gear, or are simply in it for the huge increase in the effectiveness of exercise, head to www.zaggora.com to bag yourself a pair of these fabulous HotPants.

And if you want to be in with the chance of winning a pair of Zaggora's fabulous Hotpants simply email amazing@amazing.co.uk PR with your full name and address by Friday 10th of August when two lucky winners will be drawn randomly from a hat. Good luck!