Monday Blues...

Last night, I enjoyed a wonderful Thai takeaway. After losing a stone, I felt like I really  deserved it. I was careful though. We bought our own rice with the lowest cal intake, and I was careful that any started that were shared, were portioned larger for my partner. However, I know I could have done better! Then this morning I had breakfast made for me, bacon and egg sandwich. So the weekend didn't start off too great for a diet! However, I did make sure to do 2 workouts on Saturday as I was feeling a little guilty. 

On Sunday I was working, travelling around the countryside, so I was good with my fruit snacks and breakfast, but when I got home, we had roast pork dinner, and quite late in the evening too. So again, not a great day. However in the evening, I did do some more research on health foods. Unfortunately, I didn't find much more than what I already knew. There are these super foods, that may have fat but healthy fats in them, and tonnes of energy. But the majority of those I already have anyway. Other than that, most forums I was reading didn't have anything new that I could try out. So I've put a few pics of some super foods i will aim to eat more of.

So after a lovely relaxing weekends, I was pretty confident I hadn't lost weight, so stepping on the scales this morning I wasn't surprised to find I had put on a pound. I shrugged my shoulders at this, unsurprised, although I tiny bit disappointed. But I reminded myself what this is called. A 365 day diet. There is a reason for that. I am likely to go up here and there, maybe due to life situations. Most of the time, if I had lost a stone and put on a pound, I would give up there and think "well, I lost a stone". This time, I don't feel like that at all. I know that I'm going to keep going, and I don't feel downhearted at all. 

How ever I have noted that I have got lazy in my evening meals, having larger portions again, because I just don't want two salads in a day. So I'm going to play with this a little, and at lunch, not put lettuce in my lunch box, just carrots, celery, cucumber and tomato. It feels more like a snack but likely to still have enough energy in it to keep me going through the day, particularly with my snacks too.  Then, I can encourage myself to fill up on salad in the evening. 

I was very good yesterday, only having veg and humous for tea, and a piece of toast and peanut butter at Around 7pm as I was peckish. I took a sneaky peek at the scales this morning and it looks like my little detox brought me back to my original weight from Friday, plus another pound lost!! But... This doesn't count. It's not weigh in day. So I'll aim to be very good with portions all week this week and see if it makes a difference by Friday!

Weigh in!

Day 21 started with me throwing the yoghurt in the bin. I really don't enjoy it, and I would rather just enjoy my breakfast. I do make sure to have other proteins and calcium, so I'm just not bothered.

Day 22: weigh in time!! I also measured up and found that I hadn't changed much, except my waist, where I had lost an inch and a half. I know measuring yourself isn't always accurate, but I don't mind the lack of measurements, as I had lost another 2lbs, in only two days!! Great stuff. I tried to keep up the workouts, but I did miss a couple of days. I'm going to try and do at least two workouts tomorrow to make myself feel less guilty about it! 

So in total, I have now lost a stone!! That does mean I promised myself a takeaway, so I'm currently having Thai!! This may mean that I may struggle to lose weight or maintain weight this weekend, but I will start afresh on Monday. I still will be eating healthy all weekend, except tonight! 

Mid week contentment!

Ive found this week really easy. It started with trying out peanut butter that was reduced fat, which is really tasty and I'm really enjoying. I'm also enjoying my healthy with a tasty twist for dinners, and my salads for lunch are lovely too. 

The only thing I'm finding particularly hard is the yoghurt in the mornings. I feel it's a real chore to have it, and i would rather just a slice of toast and a bit of fruit, than the yoghurt too. I know the yoghurt is good for me, but can I cut it out? Maybe someone can help me out on that one...

My mum also showed me a great link for making your own peanut butter. After doing a bit of research it seems that it's very straightforward, and omits all the preservatives and oils. Definitely worth a try once I've moved and unpacked my blender!!

http://allusefulideas.com/homemade-peanut-butter/

I started out with the 7 minute workouts really well, but I have to admit I haven't done it today or yesterday. My reason, that I feel is slightly lame, is that I haven't had time!! It's probably more likely that I've just forgotten until I've got into bed and ready to sleep, and I am unwilling to get out of a warm bed late at night to fulfil my duties!! I will try to ensure that it gets done tomorrow though, maybe even twice, before my weigh in on Friday. 

Weigh in

I am surprised and pleased to say I shed another pound over the weekend. I am surprised because i didn't stick to my plan well, I never do on the weekends. I didn't really eat the snacks I should have, and I had only toast for breakfast rather than fruit too! I had pork ribs with jacket potato on Friday night, with a very sweet sticky marinade on them, and a fairly large roast dinner last night too. So certainly not the healthiest. It's good to know that I can allow myself to indulge and still be careful with most meals, and not put on weight... Yet!! 

So today, I have a target. I want to lose the last 2 lbs of this stone by Friday. I want to allow myself a treat next weekend, a meal out or a takeaway, etc. and not to go nuts, but just to break away from the plan for an evening without guilt. 

So lots of green tea, 7 minute workouts, and water required!! 

Measurements!

I finally got myself a measuring tape today! 2 weeks late but never mind...

So this is the run down so far. I've measured the largest parts of each areas in inches. 

Waist 43

Hips 52 

Thigh 31

Arms 16

I started the 7 minute workout... Not easy!!!! But once a day is my aim, to at least do SOME exercise!

I've also purchased reduced fat peanut butter, the only one I could find so not much choice there... 

Weigh-in...

Weigh in this morning and I am now 17 stone 1lb! So I have lost another 2lbs in 4 days! :-) that is a total of 11lbs in 2weeks!

I'm happy now, as I feel that this isn't detox weight anymore, but a proven change of diet. 

There are some alterations to be made.

1. I don't eat cheese often, but when I do it is full of fat! So I'm going to purchase reduced fat cheese on my next shop.

2. I'm still not drinking enough water... I need to work on that!

3. I'm going to try and find a healthy option of peanut butter just to improve my breakfasts a little. 

4. I'm going to attempt to fit in the 7 minute workout at least once every day. It looks like a great app

We will see how this goes by Monday! 

Last day of the plan...

So my plan this week was to drink more water, drink green tea, and eat healthier breakfasts. I can't say I was totally successful! 

I changed my breakfasts to alternating yoghurt and fruit, and whole grain toast and peanut butter. However, I'm not particularly enjoying the yoghurt bit! So instead, I have one slice of toast and a spoonful of yoghurt with fresh fruit every day, so that I can enjoy my breakfast happily!

I have managed to drink about two cups of green tea a day, which I am very happy with. I wouldn't have the time or the interest to drink more than that, and I don't feel I need to either. 

My big down fall is drinking water. I find if I'm sat working at a desk, that's fine. But that's not my job! I am teaching all day, running around, attending meetings, and I just put down my bottle of water and lose it! I know that I CAN do this task. I just need to get into the habit of it. 

I feel I've worked hard today to try and keep up the pace. I had a long day with a whole host of people inviting me out to dinners, offering me biscuits etc., and however kind, they don't realise I'm working hard to lose weight. However I was chatting to one lovely colleague of mine who is in the PE department and interested in fitness, who showed me a great app. She knows I've cancelled my gym membership due to costs and moving house, so showed me a 7 minute workout app. This will be great for me in the mornings whilst I'm cooking my toast and making my tea, and gets metabolism and heart rate up quickly. What a great idea. So from tomorrow, I'm going to try that too. 

Tomorrow I shall be updating with weight loss, some alterations to my plans, and the workout app. 

And finally today, I was invited to eat out, but turned it down to toddle off home with no idea what to cook. But I had some wraps left over and plenty of veg, so I've made myself pepper, onion and tomato quesadillas! Fried in minimum amount of oil, and a couple of slices of cheese. 

Plateau?

Day 12, and I stupidly took a little peek at the scales. It seemed that I was 17 stone 5. BUT. I know that this was at the wrong time of the day, I am wearing more clothes, and I've eaten etc., whereas I normally weigh in at the same time on the morning. But I'm still worried that with that in mind, still nothing has changed. I have taken a big step by sharing my blog with my friend Tina, who has been incredibly supportive along the way, and kindly said I looked like I had lost weight, around my face. She also offered the advice of using a measuring tape so that if I do plateau, I still might notice inches lost! This is a great idea... I just need to find my measuring tape! With currently moving house, I have most likely packed it somewhere!! The disappointing thing is that I should have done this from the very beginning. But hey! Still 353 days left, right?

Weigh-in

Day 10 came and went with little to talk about. I stuck to my meals and had at least one snack. Although, I'm not drinking enough water- I'm aware of that. 

So weigh-in was this morning, and after a fairly relaxed weekend and that shortbread I still haven't forgotten about, I would have been content at the same weight. However, I lost another pound! That's a loss of 9lbs so far (I'm not bothered about how many days that took- this is a long term process), and I'm down to 17 stone and 3lbs. Only 5 more pounds to go and I will have lost a stone. 

So day 11 starts with a muffin (last one in the house that needs to get eaten before I start my yoghurt!), salad and snacks have been made, and dinner planned: steak and salad wraps. Now that's my kind of diet!! I'm on the green tea this morning, let's see what green tea, more water and better breakfasts do by Friday!

Getting healthier...

Whilst having a good look at a range of websites, such as BBC good food, women's health and a great one called: Eating Well.

I have now decided to alternate my breakfasts a little more. From Monday I'm going to have rye bread with peanut butter (seems to be pretty good for you, despite the fact it tastes awesome too!) and plain yoghurt. I admit I don't like plain yoghurt, so I'm going to add grapes or bananas with it for some sweetness and 1 of my 5 a day. Although the muffins appear to be fairly low cal, I couldn't find whole wheat muffins, and white bread tends to sit around your tummy quite a lot, whereas whole wheat contains lots of fibre that keeps you fuller for longer, and aids weight loss.



So Day 9 wasn't quite as successful as other days. I stuck to having fruit for my snack, but only had chance for one snack, and didn't even have lunch. Then as we were out today, we bought a Dine In from M&S for dinner, including a very luxurious millionaire shortbread for dessert, loaded with fat and calories. I'm not feeling overly guilty - I know I've worked really hard all week, and I've got all my meals planned out for tomorrow to ensure lots of healthy salads, and my fridge is packed full of fruit and veg. I will be happy if I am the same weight on Monday, ready to start afresh and work hard again Monday-Friday. 

I have noticed a change in my health since this diet started, 9 days ago. I used to get acid reflux all the time, particularly the last 6-8 weeks, taking Rennies most days, at least 2, and drinking lots of cold water to try and cool my windpipe down. Since I started this 9 days ago, I have had no acid reflux whatsoever. I am really thrilled about this - it can be so painful, and thoroughly annoying in the middle of the night, with no glass of water to hand or Rennies to locate without getting out of bed!! I've also noticed that, for somebody who has never particularly enjoyed fruit, I really enjoy my apples and bananas for snacks, and look forward to my salad at lunch. This is a really positive thing for me. I'm not PARTICULARLY missing take-aways, crisps or white bread. This means that if I can cope without them with lots of willpower, then when we do really fancy going out or treating ourselves, it will be once in a blue moon, and I will feel like I've earned this extra treat. 

Weigh-in!

So, Day 7 came and went without many issues! My only difficulty was that I had to be at work until 9pm, so by the time I got home, I was really hungry, and had my dinner quite late. That was disappointing, as it would have resulted in my dinner sitting heavily on my stomach all night, particularly right before the weigh in!

Day 8, and I am happy to say I lost just over 1lb, but we will round up to a 1lb anyway! I know it's not a lot, but in only 4 days, just after a detox, this is pretty much what I expected. So I've been having a think about how I could improve on my diet of the last 4 days, and I must say, I've really enjoyed it. I enjoy finding the time to have breakfast in the morning, I'm never that bothered about lunch and snacks anyway so eating a salad is actually quite enjoyable. Dinner is always something I really look forward to, so I made sure to plan this out so I could have something I enjoy, but with surety that its really healthy too!

So I thought back to my diet of the last 4 days, and took the 'unhealthy bits' into consideration. I enjoy butter on my muffin each morning. So I spent a bit of time researching butters, only to find that the one I am using now, 'I Can't Believe it's not Butter' light, is actually one of the healthiest on the market right now anyway. So I couldn't really improve on that. My next point was my cup of tea in the morning (and possibly in the evening too). I've decided to change this to green tea as it's great for detoxing, and has no calories in it, and no caffeine. And finally, I decided that unless I was really struggling with my salads each day, I would remove the dressing. I have been using a caesar 'good for you' dressing, but with removing this, my lunches are far healthier.

I think I need to consider a change in breakfasts as well - however yummy my muffins are, maybe rather than everyday having muffins, considering having a muffin every other day, and maybe a yoghurt every other day. That might take a bit of research. So although this is Day 8, this is not a new diet day. This is an interim day while I sort myself out. I'm going to spend the weekend using up the muffins for breakfasts, and salad leftovers etc., and come up with my next plan either by Sunday or Monday. But for now, my changes are: green tea, no salad dressing. I will weigh in on Monday again for an update!

Little Wobble

So today was not so great. I had a yummy muffin for breakfast, and packed a banana and apple for snacks, and a salad for lunch. I managed to eat my salad, but had no time whatsoever for my snacks. At a meeting I was starving so I had 5-6 vegetable crisps, and then came home and had a lovely healthy dinner of chicken fajitas with tonnes of salad and peppers. But I feel a bit guilty that I never managed to have either of my snacks. Tomorrow's attempt is to try to do better. But tomorrow is a long day, with an open evening before I even get home, at around 9pm. This means my dinner will be late, but there's not much I can do, but make sure to eat my snacks and fruit, and maybe try to save them for later on in the day. 

Day Five... Day of temptation!

When I woke this morning, I felt particularly guilty that my dinner last night of chilli wraps had a fair amount of meat, and was probably my most calorific meal since the beginning of this diet. I didn't overeat, but I was still conscious of this. So I switched my meals today. I had a very healthy garden salad for lunch with no added extras, and had a small portion of leftover chilli with a jacket potato for dinner. Very wholesome, full of nutrients, and very tasty too. Guilt over.

My worst temptation today was during my a level lessons. My students normally bring biscuits and a few treats in for the 3 hour lesson to keep their energy and morale up. As soon as they realised I was on a health kick, they thoroughly enjoyed tempting me with chocolate biscuits, and teasing me. But I put my foot down (naturally) and won the food fight. 

Day five: successful day. 

1st day of school...

Well, I managed to find time to have my salad lunch and my snacks of carrots and apple today! Success! And I had the most gorgeous dinner tonight... Chilli wraps with kidney beans, and lots of salad! I was careful not to over indulge just because the meat was a large portion, and instead I've saved some for my lunch tomorrow: chilli and salad! 

Day Four: Weigh in

So, after a 3-day diet of salads, practically no meat, fruit and rye bread, I weighed in this morning at 17 stone 6 pounds. That is a weight loss of 6 pounds! Obviously, I'm thrilled. But in the back of my mind is a reminder that this weight was just detoxing from Christmas. I'm fully aware I won't lose six pounds every three days! If I did, I would be worried! But it's a great kickstart into the next diet, which I have planned for myself. 

So today is my first day back at work since the Christmas holidays, which doesn't make things any easier. Being a teacher, I don't really get a lunch break, or time to sit and eat my lunch properly. Which normally results in me missing my lunch and my snacks, and starving ready for a big dinner.

I'm going to try my best to find time today. I have had toast for breakfast, I've got apple and carrots for my snacks, and a chicken and bacon (grilled, portioned) salad for lunch. I've already defrosted the minced beef for chilli and salad wraps tonight. I'm going to make sure that I portion well to have some chilli left over for tomorrow's lunch too. 

The meal plan I have written is for four days, so I will be weighing in on Friday morning!

What am I thinking of?!?!

What was I thinking of, when I decided to go on this entire year of dieting? Well, my health firstly, amongst many other things! I have always wanted to be a healthier size, but never really managed it. My problem? I love food! I love cooking and baking, I don't like to say no, and I was brought up in a household of good food. Although I've always wanted to do something about my weight, I just didn't really get that far, and I would give up too easily.

I changed my mind this year when I realised that all I need is a commitment for a good amount of time, to make a real difference to my health. I have recently found that my asthma is much worse, general fitness, and I get heartburn much more regularly. When I weighed myself, I was shocked to see I was the heaviest I have ever been, weighing in at 18 stone. Now I'm a short person, only 5 foot 2, so I don't carry 18 stone particularly well. Who would?! This was the shock that I needed to really sort myself out.

So, I decided that to make a real difference, I need to give myself enough time, not expect to go on one of these fad diets that make you lose a few pounds in a week or two, and then you end up creeping it all back on again. I decided to give myself a whole year. And how much of your time really is a year, when on average, you have about 70-80 of them in your whole life? It's not that long, if it makes a difference to my happiness and my quality of life. 

So, I started this year on January 3rd (I didn't start straight away on the 1st as I knew I had plans to go out and have dinner on the 2nd, and I didn't want to ruin my health kick at the very beginning. To start off with, I tried out a diet app that has a whole range of diets on it, with different lengths too. I've started on the salad diet, which incorporates rye bread/wholemeal muffins for breakfast, fruit/veg as snacks, and salad for lunch and dinner. Now they aren't just green salads - you can have grilled chicken, prawns, egg, tuna etc., so that you are getting the nutrients you need.

The salad diet only lasts for 3 days before I start something new again. I started thinking about this, and wrote my own diet plan, incorporating the salad diet mainly, but with a few changes so that I can enjoy the food I like in small portions, with a big flavorsome salad to go with it (hold the dressing!). I'm starting my new diet on Monday.



My first day was pretty tough - not so much in the day, as I had plenty of food, but in the evening, I was really hungry. I am a sucker for suppers, especially if I'm up late. 



The second day wasn't quite so bad, most likely because I was out for a lot of the day, and ended up having my last meal quite late. 


And today, I had breakfast of two pieces of rye toast and soft cheese, and I'm pretty full! I know they say your stomach shrinks as it gets used to eating less food. God I hope so!

So, to start it off - I weighed in on January 3rd, my first day of the diet, at 17 stone and 12 pounds. January 6th will be my next weigh in - stay posted to see if it really made a difference for three days (I have had a sneaky peek on the scales, but I'll make it official tomorrow morning!)