Laura Dryden

28/05/2024

Gosh the weeks are flying by at the moment that I barely realise I haven’t updated, tbf I’m alittle more active on TikTok these days than here but still 😅

Now into the Third Trimester, we are in the double digits for days left and things are getting very real!

The spending feels like it’s never ending and getting things she needs, we had all the big things like pram and nursery furniture all out of the way early on but all the small bits add up!

Bump is starting to bump! Everything is more difficult, the pelvic pain is still there and the backache too. Swelling in my feet and legs(being kept an eye on by midwife before anyone says anything) ain’t fun either. It’s bound to get worse as the weeks go on so I’m just holding on and taking the nicer moments as they come.

Had a 4D scan to see baby yesterday, she wasn’t playing ball over the weekend with her hand covering her face, when my dad was down to visit sadly so he missed out yesterday but we went again for a rescan and she was alittle more cooperative in order for us to to get something atleast! Due to anterior placenta they’re not the crispiest, clearest photos you’re ever gonna get cause baby girl appears to be using it as a pillow apparently, but managed to get a glimpse of what our little one looks like and it was magical to experience. Lil button nose and chubby cheeks 🥰 can’t wait to meet them in 11.5 weeks time!

Whole host of fun this week with upcoming appointments for Gestational Diabetes, Anti D, Consultant and Growth scans! Appts are almost every 2 weeks from here on out and it will just make everything go so much quicker!

12 weeks to go baby girl! We can’t wait to meet you! 👶🏻🎀🥰

16/05/2024

Hadn’t envisioned posting so late but yay for pregnancy tiredness and already being in bed and falling asleep before I even got the chance 😅 but here we are as pregnancy insomnia has a way of working itself in there and I’m back awake!

It’s still my birthday! Just! 34 has never looked so wildly different from all the rest, the year our lives change forever and we will be blessed by our little girl coming into the world. Couldn’t be more grateful and excited for this little one in my tummy who I couldn’t love more if I tried but equally also so utterly scared at this point too for what’s in store.

It’s been a few weeks since I last updated, there’s officially under 100 days to go😬 a mere day away from checking off another week and having 13 weeks left to go!

I’m plodding along as best I can, I can’t say I enjoy being pregnant all that much if I’m totally honest, I know some people love being pregnant and trust me I’m trying to embrace it as much as I can and just take easy day as it comes but dang it’s hard! Theres so many things to think about, stress over and worry about and it’s just so taxing on my body. Finances, panicking about new symptoms(hello swelling in the heat), stressing over reduced movements etc. pregnancy is a wild ride that’s for sure.

It’ll be worth it when she’s here but for the time being I’ve got a bit more suffering in my horizon to go 😂 Wish me luck! Esp for the summer months 😬😵‍💫

01/05/2024

It’s Viability Week(week 24) 🙌🏻 Haven’t updated in a while, tbh I haven’t been up to much other than complaining which I’m sure Phillip is getting sick of by now but we’ve still got a while left yet so he best get used to it 😅

Pelvis is coming an issue, some discomfort just walking which is making me less active and then don’t even get me started on attempting to sleep on my side. I’m currently sleeping sat up until I see midwife next week at my appointment before I reattempt. Last time I tried sleeping on my left side, after 5 mins, if I moved just an inch or attempted to get more comfortable it felt like my pelvis was going to shatter so that’s fun 😫

Definitely suffering with some body image issues as my body changes to accomodate pregnancy. Obviously the ideal situation would have been for me to lose weight before I got pregnant but that wasn’t to be, so some of the issues are already stemming from previous image issues I had. I feel like I’m in that very inbetweeny stage where I’ve got a small bump but it’s not totally obvious I’m pregnant yet and so I just feel more self conscious. Trying to put it to the back of my mind and take photos anyway and try to be kind to myself during this time and appreciate what my body is doing and what it’s growing for me but it’s definitely hard.

Generally though, I’m doing well apart from that. Baby girl kicking away quite frequently, often times it actually makes me jump as it’s quite forceful 😂 and often seems to be either to remind me to eat or is happy that I am eating 😅 girl after my own heart. Cravings have sat firm on anything chicken bacon mayo(hello Aldi pasta salads😍) and magnum ice creams recently which she goes crazy for.

Registered her in a nursery, which was alittle upsetting given the time frame I’ve got with her until I need to go back to work. My work only pays a measly 6 weeks before I’m on SMP, I’m saving as much as I can atm to get 6 months but let me tell you, SMP is NOT enough to survive on..not even minimum wage, it’s disgusting. But I digress, before I start ranting about it anymore 😂

That’s about all I’ve got to update on so far!

02/04/2024

Ooooooooh, we’re half way thereee! 🎶 can’t believe we’re at the 20 week mark and half way baked! 😅 feel like I’ve been pregnant for friggin ages.. esp given I’ve known I’ve been pregnant from super early on.

Before I get into the update, want to say thank you for all the congratulations on my announcement 💜 can’t get back to everyone as there’s so many, but I appreciate it!

It’s been a bit of a madness the last 2 weeks as I managed to pick up a nasty bug/cough when we travelled up to see family and have been pretty much coughing(and weeing 😂) myself for the last 2 weeks. Anxiety has been pretty high during that time, just because I didn’t know what damage all the coughing could do to baby but also because I’ve been totally in the dark with not feeling any movement from baby yet(have a anterior placenta too).

Thankfully, our 20 week anatomy scan today managed to calm my nerves, as soon as I saw her wriggly butt on the screen it was like instant relief.😮‍💨 scan went well, baby girl is cooking nicely in there, no issues to be concerned about, all healthy and well, so that’s amazing news. Hopefully should start to feel her in a couple of weeks. 🤞🏻

Bump has started popping, leggings and tights are about the only thing I can wear right now and my leggings are starting to get slightly snug so going to have to buy some more as I start to expand 😂 hopefully the weather is alittle less s**t and less rainy, I might be able to transition to dresses alittle sooner.

Hopefully will be able to post alittle more regularly with updates now im not super sick! We’re starting to decorate the nursery this weekend so im sure I’ll have much more to update on.

21/03/2024

As you may(or maybe may not😂) have noticed, I’ve been gone from socials for a couple of months.. that’s cause I’ve(we’ve) been keeping a bit of a big secret..🤫

Phillip and I are expecting our first child! 🥰 it has been an absolute whirlwind of a couple of months and I’m not gonna lie I’ve felt pretty s**t🤢😴 but it will be well worth it when she’s finally here.

Almost at the half way point, 18 weeks, couldn’t announce before I was able to get up north to see my family and tell them but now the cats outta the bag!

I do plan on returning to posting, but most likely updates about life and pregnancy and not running as I haven’t been doing any of that!

We are so excited for our new adventure, just have to try and survive these next few months 😅

17/12/2023

NEW VIDEO: VLOGMAS DAY 15 - DAY WITH THE BESTIE IN HALIFAX , PIECE HALL & ARCADE FUN
https://youtu.be/99bd5qw8zt0?si=v-yDTDMGfIvfdNQ_

Spent the day in halifax with the bestie() at Piece Hall in Halifax for some shopping and Arcade fun!*** OPEN FOR MORE INFO ***Bethlehem - C...

15/12/2023

NEW VIDEO: VLOGMAS - DAY 14 - A Whole Lot Of Working & An Aldi Haul | Laura Dryden
https://youtu.be/edNp8UOD3DQ

VLOGMAS DAY FOURTEEN - not entirely sure how this vlog is so long as Ive been working most of the day, went to aldi at the end of the day so did a little ald...

28/11/2023

Treadmill run for lunch, done! Also did the same yesterday but didn’t get the chance to update.

Both runs were harder than they have been, legs were not playing ball and my calves kept getting super tight and sore, to the point where I had to stop and walk on todays run, which is fine to be walking but I know I can run continuously so it’s just a bit annoying.

Shall have some 1 on 1 time with the massage gun this evening to try and ease the calves out a bit and have a day off tomorrow, aiming for next run on Thurs or fri.

In the meantime I’ll still be doing 10k steps to move and I also caved and bought one of those static hula hoop things I’ve seen on TikTok so I shall be doing that too 😂 it’s actually harder than it looks!

21/11/2023

Run done this morning before starting work. Consistency is coming.. slowly.

Didn’t manage my third run for last week, so let’s try again this week.

Working on getting a bit of speed(I say speed very lightly because I’m anything but) back ever so slowly, trying to make a bit of an effort to do some of my run faster than the previous.

Not sure if I should work on trying to build up my distance and not worry about speed so much or whether I should run for time and see if I can increase my distance over that time. I guess distance is more beneficial.

17/11/2023

Up and at em early this morning, 4am alarms to get up, dressed, so a run on the treadmill and then get ready to go to work 🥴 figured it’s best to get my runs done early as I can never find the motivation in the evening after a long commute.

Happy it’s done, that’s 2/3 for the week done. Happy with the run, trying to start off on the treadmill slightly faster than the last to see if I can bring the time over a certain distance down, don’t want to just keep getting on and just doing the same speeds all the time with no improvement.

At one point I had my iPad leant against the screen and I don’t know if the magnet somehow interacted with the button but all of a sudden the treadmill sped up to some insane speed and I manage to hop off before I literally flew off 😂

Aiming for next run on Sunday and outdoors, since I’m not time constrained to the darkness then! 😅

11/11/2023

30 min run done, not sure where that came from! Didn’t expect to do a continuous 30 mins but I’ll take it, now if I could just get that consistency back that’ll be great, something to work on this next week.

Had blood test for thyroid. Had requested thyroid check as despite tracking, cycle commuting, steps, the occasional run, weightloss is super hard, it’s coming off much slower than I expected. However, the results came back normal. Ofcourse id be absolutely deluded to want the results to come back abnormal as I know it’s a lifelong thing to manage but having them come back normal leaves me feeling a bit deflated because to me it just feels like I guess I haven’t been trying hard enough. I don’t know if thinking something could have been wrong was some sort of placebo effect and holding me back, who knows. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve been pretty good with food the last few days so let’s hope keep it up and see what happens!

01/11/2023

MONTHLY CHECKIN - NOVEMBER

Missed last months checkin but you didn’t miss much.. I was away at the beginning of oct, was Ill, had some other stuff going on, so didn’t get to update for what happened in sept.

Haven’t been having the greatest time on the weightloss front, I just feel stuck and I’m having very little progression, it’s frustrating, I’m feeling deflated, but as always I’ll keep pushing on till I figure it out.

Weight is up and down like a damn yo yo. Eating hasn’t been completely on point every day, it’s hit and miss but certainly not eating enough to take me over my maintenance cals(I’ve done loads of calculators and whilst I know they’re not 100% it’s a rough guide. I’ve been consistently doing 10k steps and bike commuting, not so much running but still, there’s not much movement and I just feel like I’m swimming against a current.

As seen from my stats, since April I’ve lost exactly a stone and not much loss in terms of measurements. Whilst any weightloss is a win, it’s 2 lbs a month for the 7 months since I restarted and it just doesn’t feel like a great deal, I feel like at the weight I’m at, I should be more than capable of atleast a 1 if not 2lb loss per week, let alone 2 for the month 😓

I’ve requested a thyroid check, just to make sure it’s not that, but sorta have it in the back of my mind that if I get tested and there’s nothing wrong, it’ll just solidify that I’m just not trying hard enough🥴 but we will see.

I wasn’t hoping for much this month in terms of results with all I’ve had going on, maintenance if anything, which I seemed to have done. One win from Oct was that I could finally do up the jeans I try on every month, so I’ll take that - and they still did up today too.

Let’s see what November brings, just keep pushing on as I always do, cause one thing I know for sure is that I’m not a quitter. 👌🏻

31/10/2023

Well hello.. 👋🏻 it’s been a while! This month has been a bit all over the place, I was away in Scotland for a while, I got sick, had some other things going on too. Had a bit of time to recoup and get myself back together.

Todays the first day in a while that I’ve wanted to run, haven’t felt the urge for quite a bit, so quickly got changed and hopped on the treadmill before the urge went away, did just under 25 mins, not bad since I haven’t run in a while😅

Hoping to get back on the bandwagon with everything, aiming for another 2 runs this week if I can.🤞🏻 let’s get it!

18/09/2023

30 min run done at lunchtime, had a bit more time on my hands for lunch so could go further. Managed all 30 minutes non-stop but I know all too well that treadmill minutes/miles doesn’t equate to outside. Planning on 1 outdoor run a week at the weekend to test the waters, if I do more than one outside it’s a bonus.

I know it’s not the be all and end all if I don’t run the whole 3 miles at parkrun and I know full well it’s fine to walk, but I’m setting myself the challenge and something to work towards. If I don’t end up running the whole thing it’s not like I’ll be disappointed but gives me an aim, so we will see how I fair in a few weeks.

14/09/2023

Another run done for the week, not stopped all day but wanted to do a run even if it was a short one. 20 mins done, so glad it’s not as warm anymore! 🙌🏻

Aiming for 5k at the weekend to see how I fair. Got a short term goal to run 5k before beginning of oct and to restart parkrun then. Not too long to go till then so will do my best! 👌🏻

11/09/2023

Lunch time treadmill run done, far better than my last run, so much cooler! Phew! Just 20 mins as I wasn’t feeling 100% but still a run in the bag for the week.

Also fixed my bike tyre so ready for commutes to the station again though I’ve been walking to the station most days to get my steps so gonna need to make sure I move more at work to get them in! 😬

10/09/2023

MONTHLY CHECKIN SEPTEMBER
Just realised I didn’t post my September monthly checkin, oops! Getting good at this 😂

August went slightly better than the previous month but still not as good as it could be.

Couple of things going on during the month that meant my food choices weren’t stellar. Atm struggling with the balance of having both things go well at the same time, by that I mean getting in my planned runs AND being on track with my food. it’s either one or the other that goes well.

The increase in my running on top of my 10k steps a day is making my hunger a bit wild on the days I’m running so need to make more of a conscious effort to get my protein and fibre up to keep me fuller.

With all that being said, I’ve lost weight and not gained for last month which is already an improvement, although no measurement changes, still, I’m taking it as a win. Small improvements is still improvements nonetheless.

Focusing on more of a balance this month with running and food, had a loss for this first week of this month equivalent to my loss for the whole of last month, so doing ok so far! 👌🏻

09/09/2023

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any redder.. here we are. Treadmill run because there’s absolutely no way I’m running outside in this heat but somehow I don’t feel like it was any better inside either. Absolutely should’ve waited until later this evening for it to atleast cool down but nvm, 20 mins done. Don’t think I’d have got though it without a cooling towel and a fan though 😂

I’d just like to say I’m sorry for being one of those people who kept asking where summer was all summer because I know full well I don’t like the heat and when it comes I wish it would go away 😂

Bring on cooler temps next week! 👌🏻🥵

04/09/2023

Whew! 🥵 Took Phillips car to the garage this morning and needed to run home, I was pretty nervous about it, wasn’t sure how far it would be as I wanted to keep it the least busiest route I could but also, the last run outside didn’t go that well.🥴

Fair to say this run didn’t start that great either and my shins were burning. Had already decided to opt for a run walk method before hand but I did hope to run alittle further for the run intervals but nvm.

Ended up being 5k almost spot on for my run, thought it’d be further. Haven’t run a 5k in quiiiite a while. Can use this as my baseline and see if I can make little improvements every week from now 👌🏻

26/08/2023

Holy fugg, I hated every minute of that. Didn’t wanna run, Phillip LITERALLY dressed me in my bid not to go.. the first steps felt horrendous and it got worse from there.

Treadmill fitness doesn’t translate to outdoor fitness at all, I can run for 30 ish mins non stop on the treadmill and barely managed 5 before I stopped to walk.

Had a bit of a meltdown at the first mile, I just feel spectacularly unfit and just have this giant reminder every time I run that I’ve let myself down, both with my weight but also with running fitness, no one would ever think I did London last year 😓

Had another cry when I got back too, but what’s the point in beating myself up over it? All I can do is keep working at it which I’m doing. The weight is slowly coming off again and I’ve done 3 runs this week, it’s progress and I’ve just got to keep going..

23/08/2023

Another run for the week down, to be fair I had no intention of running this morning but when you’re rudely woken up at 3.45am in the morning 🤬 and your body clock is now set to around 4am anyway thanks to someone else’s whacky work hours, I was wide awake, couldn’t get back to sleep and rather than wasting away an hour or two on tiktok I decided to run on the treadmill instead.

Another 30 mins done, happy with that, legs felt tired at first but then were fine for the rest of it.

Got the battle of trying not eat everything in sight(because my hunger is next level atm both with running and my period) and trying to stay awake to work for the rest of the day 😬 wish me luck! 😂

22/08/2023

Morning run done on the treadmill before work, 2 miles / 30 ish minutes done. Not particularly bothered about pace for now and how long it takes me, it’s just about getting the runs done and the fitness/speed will come with time and things will improve. It’s the consistency that I’m struggling with the most recently so we just go again till we crack it.

I’ve signed up for for next year as something to aim for, I know having a race in the pipeline usually always keeps me motivated to run. It’s still ages away but gives me plenty of time to build up my fitness, mileage and shift some of this weight before starting a training plan in the new year. 👌🏻

15/08/2023

Getting back to it, had a really good first week of august and had a good loss on the scales compared to the previous week then had a good few days off track as I had family down to visit and apart from my 10k steps, food was nowhere near on track!

No bother though, back to it today, done a run at lunch time on the treadmill, it was horrible 😂 so hot! But pleased I’ve done it, 2 miles done, not far but better than nothing.. hopefully I can keep the ball rolling with this and I’ll get in another 1-2 runs this week! 👌🏻

07/08/2023

MONTHLY CHECKIN AUGUST
Better late than never! I totally forgot but probably also partly because I just wanted to put this checkin to the furthest part of my mind so I could forget about it.

Last month was a flop, more so than the previous month, I scraped by in June, not too scathed but that can only get you so far, so I paid for it this month with no one to blame but myself for not tracking or exercising much(running and steps).

Pretty much undone anything I lost in June and put back on the inches too, both of which stung and hit hard!

Last month was all over the place weight wise and whilst I haven’t been the best tracking wise, it hasn’t been enough to warrant yo-yo-ing by 4 lbs throughout the month without any real reason for it.

Thankfully though, I am fully back on track and I have lost what I gained last month just this week so just got to keep the ball rolling again! 🤞🏻

16/07/2023

2nd run of the week, braved the outside! I know I’m not the only one that feels it sometimes and really should heed my own advice once in a while when I say that nothing bad will happen and no one is looking at you running but I really lost confidence running outside esp with the weight I’d gained and it’s one of the reasons I haven’t been running as much.

But it really wasn’t all as bad as I made it out to be, apart from my shocking fitness levels 😂 Fingers crossed I can carry through the runs to next week too and this isn’t just a one off week, I am planning on going out again tomorrow as long as the weather holds up but if it’s bad it’ll be a treadmill job!

12/07/2023

I did a thing! Wasn’t fast and wasn’t far but it’s a start! And given I haven’t run in god knows how long I’m happy with that!

Was meant to actually do my run outside this morning but Phillip kept taking the p**s and waking me up all hours early morning so scrapped it in favour of sleep, then it was too hot by lunch so rather than skip it entirely I got on the treadmill.

Suprised myself to be fair, expected to only last a few mins and do run walk but ended up doing 25 min non stop, not sure how I managed that 🤯

Nows the tough part though in keeping the ball rolling with it and getting into a proper routine of getting out a few times a week, let’s see shall we?!

11/07/2023

Return of the bike commutes 🚴🏻‍♀️ Ive deffo become super lazy with exercise recently and master of procrastination. Had a couple of issues with my bike that I put off fixing far too long so got comfortable with taking the car. Eventually fixed the bike so back at it, it’s actually not so bad(except for the price of the damn tickets, how is it cheaper to drive anywhere than take the train, it’s ridiculous!)

Taking advantage over the ‘summer’ to take the bike before it becomes absolutely miserable, although to be fair the weather hasn’t been great either way other than a couple odd days. Giving me a reason to get active again, now if I could only get some of that back for running too, that’d be great! 👌🏻

06/07/2023

MONTHLY CHECKIN - JULY

Totally forgot I hadn’t done a checkin for this month, better late than never I guess, though if you are subscribed to my YouTube you’ll already have seen it!

Last month was a bit of a flop, I dropped the ball massively both in terms of tracking my calories and I also accidentally dropped my step goal by not paying attention, missed out by couple hundred steps by an hour! and then that caused me to just give up completely cause I’d lost my streak 🤦🏻‍♀️

So although I still lost both inches and weight last month, I know I could’ve done better! Don’t notice any changes myself in my body despite the inch loss being mostly around my stomach, but I’m sure with time I’ll see it.

I have t been posting much either although I feel like that’s been the case since London last year where I’ve just felt seriously lost with my running and fitness and feel like I’ve not much to say as a result. I’ll do another post touching on it soon but I’m hoping to kick start things again and get out for a run at the weekend and then need to come up with some sort of plan, maybe another marathon(and given London have just rejected me AGAIN, it’s obviously going to be something else😂)

Anyway, I digress! I’ve been in a much better frame of mind these past couple days and back to tracking so hoping to have a better month! 🙏🏻

02/06/2023

Updating a day late but first of the month means checkin day.

I’ve had a really good month in terms of being on track and getting in 10k steps everyday and I’ve been weighing in weekly to keep track.

Pleased to say I’ve lost 6.8 lbs this month. NGL I was a bit disappointed given I lost 5 in my first week but every loss is a win and this is a marathon not a sprint!

Have been having a bit of a mind f**k in terms of being quite hard on myself if it’s not a big a weight-loss as I expect and also from the point of view of not seeing any changes in my body or how my clothes fit despite losing 12 lbs since I started over.

Just got to keep my foot on the gas and celebrate the all the wins instead of allowing the focus to be on what I didn’t happen.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve run last month so my focus for this month is to get back in the swing of things with running which should also help get things moving weight loss wise as long as I keep the runger under control!

Bring it on July! Show me what you got!

14/05/2023

First run outside since January I think😬 I’ve been doing my runs on the treadmill lately, I wasn’t feeling body confident at all and the thought of going out to do my runs filled me with dread so I went to my comfort zone which is the treadmill but it’s started getting warmer and I don’t wanna completely avoid doing my runs outdoors anymore, I used to think treadmill runs were harder but I deffo can’t run as far outside at the moment compared to treadmill🥵

Just gotta keep working at it again, did 2 miles today, it’s something to improve on each time I go out.

Took the Power Bra out for a spin too! They kindly gifted me the bra when I won a comp with them recently. First impressions it’s pretty good! Good support, really comfortable, will share more thoughts when I’ve got some more mileage done with it, but so far so good 👌🏻

First run also was bound to come with a few annoyances, I wanted to film a little run vlog for my YouTube and my camera wouldn’t work 🙄 then the seams finally went on my shorts, shame cause they’re one of my faves, maybe I can get the seam fixed somewhere 🙏🏻😩