4 Days In…
I thought I’d write a quick post to let you know how I’ve been getting on with my diet since Monday…
The diet itself is going really well. I’ve got myself into a routine of having 3 Shredded Wheat and some orange juice for breakfast, a roll full of meat and salad with a little cheese for lunch, and something healthy for dinner (meat/fish with pasta/potato/rice, no or very little fats or oils or sauces). I’ve been using my 200 calories a day set aside for treats on a mini pork pie each evening, which is helping to keep me sane. Most of my snacking used to take place in the evening, but having something familiar that I like around 8.30pm is really helping to take the edge off the cravings. I’m also allowing myself unlimited fruit and vegetables to snack on whenever I feel like it. Yesterday I got through a handful of raisins, a couple of slices of watermelon, an apple, an orange, a banana and a couple of sticks of celery. I’ve also switched to brown bread, and combining that with the Shredded Wheat for breakfast, I’m getting a lot more fibre than I used to. In addition to all of this, I’m also drinking around 3 litres of water a day, and I’ve drastically reduced my tea and coffee intake to just a couple of cups.
I think my body has spent the last couple of days detoxing, as this has all been a massive change from what I was eating before (I’ll be posting more on what I used to eat in the next few days). I had one of worst headaches of my life all day on Tuesday, and nothing I did could get rid of it. And then on Wednesday, I had terrible stomach cramps all day. Touch wood, I feel a lot better today, so hopefully the detox stage is coming to an end.
Unfortunately, the exercise side of things isn’t going as well as I’d hoped, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when you feel as rough as I have for the last few days, the last thing you want to do is go out and spend half an hour on a bike. Also, it’s been so hot here this week that I don’t think I could handle exercising without fainting anyway! I did my full 30 minute ride Monday evening, and did around 20 minutes on Tuesday as I cycled to the supermarket. But yesterday I didn’t do anything as I just felt too ill. I plan on getting out this evening once it cools down a bit for a ride, and hopefully I can still get my 5 rides in before the end of the week.
Aside from the cycling, I have generally been a lot more active than I used to be, and this is really helped by my pedometer (a review of which I’ll be posting next week). I’ve been around about 10,000 steps every day, mainly because I’ve started walking or cycling instead of using my car. The walk to and from school and nursery with my kids takes up a good 6-7000 steps a day, and the rest I’ve been making up just whilst doing housework.
So in summary, I’m feeling pretty good 4 days into my weight loss journey. I can feel some new habits forming, and hopefully some of the old ones are gone for good.
How are you getting on this week?
Categories: Diet Tags: cycling, diet, exercise, fitness, healthy eating, lose weight, pedometer, weight loss
12 Weight Loss Tips From A Beginner!
For any weight loss beginner like me, the hardest part of trying to get healthy is changing your behaviour. Breaking all those old unhealthy habits, and replacing them with new healthy ones. So what can we do to make the process of actually starting to lose weight that little bit easier? Well I’m no expert, but I have been reading a lot of books, articles, blogs and anything else I can lay my hands on to try and make this as easy as possible to achieve. And I think these 13 tips are a good place to start for anyone struggling to get started:
- Do nothing else while eating – Chances are you’ll be eating a lot less than you usually do. So don’t waste your calories by watching TV while you eat. Really taste and enjoy your food, and you’ll find you can be satisfied with much smaller portions than you used to be.
- Eat at regular times – Get your body into a routine so it knows when to expect food. I’m only a few days in, but already my body is craving a piece of fruit mid-morning, when I never used to eat at this time before.
- Eat sitting down – It makes it much easier to concentrate on the food you’re eating and enjoy it if you take the time to stop what you’re doing and sit down.
- Pause during meals and put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls – Give your body a chance to tell you it’s full! Ask yourself between mouthfuls whether you’re full or still hungry. You’ll soon find yourself leaving food on your plate where previously you would have eaten it all without thinking.
- Aim to be the last to finish – Your body takes up to 20 minutes to realise that it’s full. So eat as slowly as possible to give the message a chance to come through. A good way to do this is to make sure you always finish last when you’re eating with other people.
- Shop on a full stomach – I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of going to the supermarket when we’re hungry, and understand the bad food choices that happen when we do. It’s just too tempting! Try to always shop just after a meal, that way it’ll be easier to resist.
- Keep healthy snacks easily to hand (eg fresh fruit in a bowl, chopped salad/vegetables in the fridge) – As soon as I walk into my kitchen, the first thing I see is an overflowing fruit bowl. If I make it past that to the fridge, there’s washed and chopped celery, carrots and watermelon. I have to go all the way to the pantry to find biscuits or crisps, and when you’re as lazy as I am that can be enough to get you to choose the healthy option!
- Clean your teeth after a meal or when you get the urge to overeat – Nothing tastes good after you’ve just cleaned your teeth because of the minty taste. So it’s a great way to stop you wanting that second helping or piece of cake…
- Serve your meal straight on to a plate and remove serving dishes from the table so you’re less tempted to eat too much – If food is put in front of me, I’ll usually eat until it’s all gone. The solution, put less food in front of me! Out of sight, out of mind.
- Wait at least five minutes after finishing your meal before deciding whether to have a second helping – Again, you need to give your body a chance to tell you it’s full. The combination of eating slowly and not immediately having a second helping will help to prevent over eating.
- Practise refusing offers to overeat. Learn to say ‘No thank you’, politely but firmly and convincingly – Just because your friends and/or family are overindulging, it doesn’t mean you have to. Sometimes you’ll have to refuse several times before people get the message, but they should eventually stop offering you that cookie…
- Clear away any leftovers quickly after the meal – Once you’ve made the decision that you’re full and don’t need any more food, get rid of what’s left! That way you can’t go back to it in a moment of weakness.
I don’t claim to be an expert, after all, I haven’t lost any weight yet! But these tips have really helped me through the first few days of my weight loss journey, so they might just help you too.
Do you have any weight loss tips for beginners? I’d love to hear about them in the comments box below.
Categories: Diet Tags: diet, healthy eating, lose weight, weight loss
The Plan: Diet
Over the years I’ve tried just about every diet you could possibly think of. Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Atkins, GI, calorie counting and most recently Tesco Diets, which basically planned out all my meals for me. Some have been more successful than others, but the fact that I’m still rather large suggests that they weren’t the right plans for me.
So this time I’m trying something different. Instead of looking at it from a weight loss point of view, I’m looking at it from a health point of view. So I’ve not chosen a diet. Instead, I’m going to be following a healthy eating plan, as recommend by the British Heart Foundation.
It’s based on the principles of the Eatwell Plate from the Food Standards Agency, and shows how much of what I eat should come from each food group. The British Heart Foundation take it a step further, and break it down into portions. They recommend that women follow their 1500 calories a day plan, and men follow the 1800 calories a day plan.
On the 1800 per day plan, I’ll be allowed: 8 or more portions of fruit and vegetables, 8 portions of bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods, 2 portions of milk and dairy foods, 3 portions of meat, fish, egg, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein, 3 portions of spreading fats and oils and up to 200kcal or high-fat/high-sugar foods and alcohol.
I’m still in the process of planning a weekly menu, but to give you an idea of what I’ll be eating, it roughly works out at cereal and a glass of fruit juice for breakfast, a sandwich and salad for lunch, chicken/fish with rice/pasta/potatoes and veg for dinner, and fruit for snacks. Which doesn’t seem like a lot of food to me.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Categories: Diet, Food & Nutrition Tags: british heart foundation, diet, eatwell, health, weight loss