Friday Faves
3 years ago
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Anyone reading?
If you are, don't forgot to use the new link and if you are following you will need to update that too as I'm using a new account so you wont see any updates - will encourage me to post more too!!
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Some things just aren't meant to be...
Today it was going to the gym.
I got home around 4.30pm, had my banana bread Nakd bar and put on my gym stuff. Left the house around 5pm, put in my earphones and my ipod battery had run out. After the horrible day I had at work I decided I couldn't possibly face 1 hour of walking and 1 hour of exercise with no music - I needed something loud and heavy. So I turned back and charged my ipod for half an hour. Left at 5.30pm, got halfway down the street and put my hands in my pockets, think it seemed odd, I was sure I couldn't normally put both hands in my pockets. I had forgotten my back with my water bottle, money, post workout shake and money. Home again, 3rd time lucky! Half an hour later I get to the gym and realise I had forgotten my wallet and therefore my gym card. I figured I'd be ok, they let you away with it 3 times and it was a first offense. But on no! My membership had expired! On the Friday, even though I was in on the saturday - nice of them to warn me eh? They value their customers so highly they don't want us renewing our memberships! To see I was mighty pissed off is putting it somewhat mildly! Then she asked did I want to renew it now - um, no, I forgot my wallet, that's how we got into this conversation!
I can't afford to renew until I am paid so had to cancel my pre-paid!! Personal trainer session for Saturday!
I cried. Just a little.
Decided I'd come home and have that large glass of wine someone at work suggested to de-stress.
Except, I didn't have it, instead I switched on the subwoofer, plugged in my ipod and with the help of a little bit of this, (at a ridiculous volume)
I got these
And this
He's so helpful.....
And I worked my ass off and had a fantastic workout!
I did some dumbbell squats - I don't know what they are called and the closest I can find is the chop squat on the gay fitness community - Realjock.com, it's a bit like this
http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-perform-medicine-ball-chop-squats
but, um, more macho... I do these with the PT and use one heavy dumbbell and do 10 with each arm for three sets. You start with the dumbbell at your feet, squat down and pick it up and use your legs to push yourself and your arm up - you lift your arm up over your head using the power from your legs....
Followed by some Romanian Deadlifts and Bulgarian split squats, then bent over row, and shoulder press superset with girlie push ups and I finished off with the plank (3 x 30 seconds) and some stretches.
All my weights were the usual 8 - 12 reps as heavy as I could for three sets.
I already hurt quite a lot!
Then I rewarded myself with this
And now I'm off to have some dinner before updating my food diary - feeling really good and so happy I didn't let the gym thing and general piss-offness get me down and binge!
Food Diary 17th August
Breakfast: Protein shale with 1 scoop, half milk half water. Greek Yogurt (full fat - too bitter) with half a scoop of cookies & cream and melon
Snack: babybel light
Lunch: Thai chicken soup
Snack: 2 figs and a Fusili apple & cranberry bar, then I had to go pick up a parcel which was my box of Nakd bars - I ordered a big taster box since I can only buy the berry or coco ones locally, of course I desperately wanted to try them all! I settled with the Pecan Pie, nice and I'll easily eat the rest of them but a bit too greasy for my liking so I wont be rushing out to buy more.
Dinner: I made my first chilli with some lean beef mince, loads of veg and sweet potato wedges, it was very nice though didn't really taste like chilli! I made loads so we'll be eating this for a few days
Drinks: Starbucks coffee with some very yummy sugar free hazelnut syrup - I actually asked for vanilla but prefer the hazelnut now...2 cups of tea and lots of water
No exercise but Monday normally isn't an exercise day anyway!
Was a good day yesterday, my first propper good day for ages! The last couple of weeks I've been back into my habit of eating well during the day then eating everything in sight once I get home!
Today's looking good too - will be fine as long as I get out to the gym, I need to go home first and I'll be ok as long as I don't sit down and just get my gym stuff ready and go. I've got some more chilli to look forward to afterwards so don't even have much cooking to do. I am worried how I'll cope in the gym though - I'm in agony after saturday's PT session!
We started with 20 mins of intervals in the treadmill, he got me up to 9mph which is the fastest I've gone so far, I only managed 30 second bursts but it was at the end of the 20 mins! Moved onto some squats with a heavy ball that really killed my arms, superset with push ups - the on my knees version, though I did manage 2 full push ups but my core just isn't strong enough for them. Finished up the session with some core work.
My back, shoulders and arms are so painful! I had to get my boyfriend to take my top off yesterday because I just couldn't get them high enough - shoulder press should be fun tonight!
Daily Cal Quota: 1604
Calories Consumed: 1603
Calories Left: 1
Protein (g) 107.5
Carbohydrate (g) 150.7
Fat (g) 65.1
Fibre (g) 15.9
Fruit & Veg 7.8
Water (litres) 2.3
Snack: babybel light
Lunch: Thai chicken soup
Snack: 2 figs and a Fusili apple & cranberry bar, then I had to go pick up a parcel which was my box of Nakd bars - I ordered a big taster box since I can only buy the berry or coco ones locally, of course I desperately wanted to try them all! I settled with the Pecan Pie, nice and I'll easily eat the rest of them but a bit too greasy for my liking so I wont be rushing out to buy more.
Dinner: I made my first chilli with some lean beef mince, loads of veg and sweet potato wedges, it was very nice though didn't really taste like chilli! I made loads so we'll be eating this for a few days
Drinks: Starbucks coffee with some very yummy sugar free hazelnut syrup - I actually asked for vanilla but prefer the hazelnut now...2 cups of tea and lots of water
No exercise but Monday normally isn't an exercise day anyway!
Was a good day yesterday, my first propper good day for ages! The last couple of weeks I've been back into my habit of eating well during the day then eating everything in sight once I get home!
Today's looking good too - will be fine as long as I get out to the gym, I need to go home first and I'll be ok as long as I don't sit down and just get my gym stuff ready and go. I've got some more chilli to look forward to afterwards so don't even have much cooking to do. I am worried how I'll cope in the gym though - I'm in agony after saturday's PT session!
We started with 20 mins of intervals in the treadmill, he got me up to 9mph which is the fastest I've gone so far, I only managed 30 second bursts but it was at the end of the 20 mins! Moved onto some squats with a heavy ball that really killed my arms, superset with push ups - the on my knees version, though I did manage 2 full push ups but my core just isn't strong enough for them. Finished up the session with some core work.
My back, shoulders and arms are so painful! I had to get my boyfriend to take my top off yesterday because I just couldn't get them high enough - shoulder press should be fun tonight!
Daily Cal Quota: 1604
Calories Consumed: 1603
Calories Left: 1
Protein (g) 107.5
Carbohydrate (g) 150.7
Fat (g) 65.1
Fibre (g) 15.9
Fruit & Veg 7.8
Water (litres) 2.3
Monday, 17 August 2009
I'm Moving
To here! www.stelladoesblogging.co.uk
Bit of a long winded story, basically I ended up creating a new google email account and didn't want to have to keep signing into to different accounts but I couldn't find a way of moving my blog and keeping the same address and then discovered I could get www.stelladoesblogging.co.uk for just £2.50 and thought why the hell not!
After some fannying about I will post a proper update over there!
Bit of a long winded story, basically I ended up creating a new google email account and didn't want to have to keep signing into to different accounts but I couldn't find a way of moving my blog and keeping the same address and then discovered I could get www.stelladoesblogging.co.uk for just £2.50 and thought why the hell not!
After some fannying about I will post a proper update over there!
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Food Diary 5th August
Breakfast: Morning protein shake, 0% greek yogurt with strawberries and half a scoop of cookies & cream
Snack: Mini edam and 2 apricots
Lunch: Wholemeal wrap with tuna salad
Snack: 1 passion fruit, honey hazlenuts from Saturday's graze box
Pre-Workout: a apple cut up and each piece spread with almond butter and a fatty babybel
Dinner: Thai Beef stir fry with a small portion of basmati rice
Snack: Fatty cheddar babybel - yuk, but I'll probably stil eat the other one! I don't like it but there's something about it that makes me want to eat it...
Drinks: Loads of espreso, glass of apple & mango juice and water
Exercise: 25 min run - intervals
Snack: Mini edam and 2 apricots
Lunch: Wholemeal wrap with tuna salad
Snack: 1 passion fruit, honey hazlenuts from Saturday's graze box
Pre-Workout: a apple cut up and each piece spread with almond butter and a fatty babybel
Dinner: Thai Beef stir fry with a small portion of basmati rice
Snack: Fatty cheddar babybel - yuk, but I'll probably stil eat the other one! I don't like it but there's something about it that makes me want to eat it...
Drinks: Loads of espreso, glass of apple & mango juice and water
Exercise: 25 min run - intervals
| Total Cal Quota: | 1580 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1645 |
| Calories Left: | -65 annoying, I forgot to log the juice yesterday, I only ate the babybel because I had cals left |
| Protein (g) | 126.2 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 155.8 |
| Fat (g) | 57.4 |
| Fibre (g) | 15.2 |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.4 |
| Water (litres) | 2.3 |
Food Dairy 4th August
Breakfast: My usual morning protein shake, 1 scoop, 100ml skimmed milk and 100ml water with ice. Followed by 20g oats with 150ml skimmed milk and a pot of apple, banana and plum fruit puree
Snak: 1 satsuma, 1 apricot and a mini Red Leicester cheese thing
Lunch: Tuna with low fat fromage frais, grated homegrown courgette (from someon at work, ours has yet to appear!), finely chopped yellow pepper and spring onion, black pepper and a chopped chilli, and a bit of Food doctor Salad Boost nuts and seeds and things, in a wholemeal wrap with soe littel gem lettuce
Snack: Handful of cherries (had to pick out the non-mouldy ones :( ) 100g 0% greek yogurt with strawberries and half a scoop of cookies & cream whey. 1 passion fruit
Pre-Workout: small banana sliced down the middle and filled with almond butter
My new favorite snack!
Post-workout: 1 scoop whey with water and coco loco Nakd bar
Dinner: tilapia with garlic and pepper green beans and a berry Trek bar
Snack: Mini smoked cheese and Babybel - full fat!the ful fat one was a nice change but too creamy and rich for me!
Drinks: 1 coffee and lots of water
Exercise: 30 mins walk to the gym, full body weights, 20 mins interval on the treadmill, 30 mins walk home
Snak: 1 satsuma, 1 apricot and a mini Red Leicester cheese thing
Lunch: Tuna with low fat fromage frais, grated homegrown courgette (from someon at work, ours has yet to appear!), finely chopped yellow pepper and spring onion, black pepper and a chopped chilli, and a bit of Food doctor Salad Boost nuts and seeds and things, in a wholemeal wrap with soe littel gem lettuce
Snack: Handful of cherries (had to pick out the non-mouldy ones :( ) 100g 0% greek yogurt with strawberries and half a scoop of cookies & cream whey. 1 passion fruit
Pre-Workout: small banana sliced down the middle and filled with almond butter
My new favorite snack!
Post-workout: 1 scoop whey with water and coco loco Nakd bar
Dinner: tilapia with garlic and pepper green beans and a berry Trek bar
Snack: Mini smoked cheese and Babybel - full fat!the ful fat one was a nice change but too creamy and rich for me!
Drinks: 1 coffee and lots of water
Exercise: 30 mins walk to the gym, full body weights, 20 mins interval on the treadmill, 30 mins walk home
| Total Cal Quota: | 1997 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1967 |
| Calories Left: | 30 |
| Protein (g) | 160.2 (33.2%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 202.0 (39.3%) |
| Fat (g) | 59.1 (27.6%) |
| Fibre (g) | 27.8 |
| Fruit & Veg | 8.9 |
| Water (litres) | 3.1 |
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Food Diary 3rd August
Quick catch up on yesterdays food - wasn't great, got some bad news in the evening so no proper dinner.
Breakfast: 1 scoop protein shake - half milk half water. 140g 0% Greek yogurt with 60g blueberries and 1/2 scoop cookies & cream whey
Snack: 2 fresh apricots and 100g cherries
Lunch: Carrot and lentil soup with a wholemeal roll - having my mum here for the weekend meant I couldn't be bothered getting prepared for work food so it was canteen soup - lovely but I prefer to know exactly what I'm eating and find other poeples soups too salty. Plus I can never resist the rolls!
Snack: 1 scoop whey with water
This is where it all goes wrong! Went to the supermarket hungry...
Dinner: Sainsburys fresh squeezed lemonade and a Maximuslce meal bar - not likely to eat one of these again, flavour was alright, texture was odd and my jaw was agony afterwards from all the chewing, then I got a headache from the jaw pain!
Snack: small smoked cheese, edam and Boursin with 1.5 oatcakes! Random... instead of Babybels I got a back of mixed small cheses, and obviously had to try as many as possible! Ah well, in the past I would have eaten the whole bag!
Today was much better though I will post tomorrow as I'm still hungry!
I did have dinner issues tonight though....
Breakfast: 1 scoop protein shake - half milk half water. 140g 0% Greek yogurt with 60g blueberries and 1/2 scoop cookies & cream whey
Snack: 2 fresh apricots and 100g cherries
Lunch: Carrot and lentil soup with a wholemeal roll - having my mum here for the weekend meant I couldn't be bothered getting prepared for work food so it was canteen soup - lovely but I prefer to know exactly what I'm eating and find other poeples soups too salty. Plus I can never resist the rolls!
Snack: 1 scoop whey with water
This is where it all goes wrong! Went to the supermarket hungry...
Dinner: Sainsburys fresh squeezed lemonade and a Maximuslce meal bar - not likely to eat one of these again, flavour was alright, texture was odd and my jaw was agony afterwards from all the chewing, then I got a headache from the jaw pain!
Snack: small smoked cheese, edam and Boursin with 1.5 oatcakes! Random... instead of Babybels I got a back of mixed small cheses, and obviously had to try as many as possible! Ah well, in the past I would have eaten the whole bag!
| Total Cal Quota: | 1368 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1462 |
| Calories Left: | -94 |
| Protein (g) | 107.2 (30.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 173.9 (46.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 36.9 (23.5%) |
| Fibre (g) | 19.6 |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.9 |
| Water (litres) | 1.2 (didn't log it all) |
Today was much better though I will post tomorrow as I'm still hungry!
I did have dinner issues tonight though....
Weekend Mini Catch Up
Oh dear - I'm getting really crap at remembering to post!
My excuse is that my mum was up visiting for the weekend so I was s bit busy! We had a lovely couple of days and and delicious meal on Saturday night - I wanted sea bass but they were out so went for the steak with chunky chips and peppercorn sauce and chocolate tart for pudding. I also shared a bottle of wine with my mum and had a couple of very chocolately birthday cakes that I'd made for her.
I didn't take any pictures of the finished things but here is my vanilla sponge and chocolate ganache topping (double cream, dark chocolate and Baileys! Fantastic!)
I did actually start the weekend quite well with a lovely blueberry, greek yogurt, oats and whey smoothie
Followed by a walk to the gym for my PT session then walking home. I'm quite liking the extra walking - loads more calories burned and I like being able to listen to my ipod super loud!
PT session was good - started with 20 mins intervals on the treadmill and he pushed me really hard, I was surprised at how fast I managed and for how long. I have made loads of progress with running!
Went onto some squats on the power rack and then tried a couple of sets of squats on the Smith machine - I quite like this but just can't get in a comfortable position so only did 2 sets.
Next were some assisted pull ups - managed to reduce the assistance this time and to complete all three sets without feeling ill! We talked about non-assisted pull ups and the PT reckoned I should give them ago but I was feeling too chicken this time!
I'm sure I'm forgetting something else but we finished off with some core work then 5 mins on the bike at a high level keeping the speed up and taking the level down every 30 seconds - was a nice tough final blast for my legs :D
Decided to have yet another fresh start on Monday after my weekend calories going WAY over! Feeling back "in the zone" this week, not really been feeling it for a while so this is good!
My excuse is that my mum was up visiting for the weekend so I was s bit busy! We had a lovely couple of days and and delicious meal on Saturday night - I wanted sea bass but they were out so went for the steak with chunky chips and peppercorn sauce and chocolate tart for pudding. I also shared a bottle of wine with my mum and had a couple of very chocolately birthday cakes that I'd made for her.
I didn't take any pictures of the finished things but here is my vanilla sponge and chocolate ganache topping (double cream, dark chocolate and Baileys! Fantastic!)
I did actually start the weekend quite well with a lovely blueberry, greek yogurt, oats and whey smoothie
Followed by a walk to the gym for my PT session then walking home. I'm quite liking the extra walking - loads more calories burned and I like being able to listen to my ipod super loud!
PT session was good - started with 20 mins intervals on the treadmill and he pushed me really hard, I was surprised at how fast I managed and for how long. I have made loads of progress with running!
Went onto some squats on the power rack and then tried a couple of sets of squats on the Smith machine - I quite like this but just can't get in a comfortable position so only did 2 sets.
Next were some assisted pull ups - managed to reduce the assistance this time and to complete all three sets without feeling ill! We talked about non-assisted pull ups and the PT reckoned I should give them ago but I was feeling too chicken this time!
I'm sure I'm forgetting something else but we finished off with some core work then 5 mins on the bike at a high level keeping the speed up and taking the level down every 30 seconds - was a nice tough final blast for my legs :D
Decided to have yet another fresh start on Monday after my weekend calories going WAY over! Feeling back "in the zone" this week, not really been feeling it for a while so this is good!
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Food Diary Monday - Wednesday
Been neglecting my blog a bit ever since I got back from TITP - I'm so tired in the evenings that I just don't have anything interesting to say! I'm bored at work so thought I'd post a quick catch up!
Monday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 150g 0% Greek yogurt with 100g frozen raspberries and 60g frozen blueberries - I'm not a big fan of the frozen blueberries, the texture is really weird and kind of sticks in my teeth. I was trying to save money by buying fromzen but I think I'll stick to fresh for the blueberries. Raspberries are great though!
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Thai Chicken soup - my new favourite!
Snack: Carrot sticks with salsa and a Nakd bar
Dinner: All we seem to have in this week is bacon and eggs so I had 2 of each plus a slive of buttered bread for the bacon - this was heaven!
Snack: 2 scoops whey with water, 1tsp nut butter, chocolate protein shake ice lolly, 1 slice toast with butter and Marmite - once I eat bread I can't stop myself!
Drinks: Tea, coffee, diet red bull, water
Total Cal Quota: 1612
Calories Consumed: 1475
Calories Left: 137
Protein (g) 145.6 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g) 104.5 (44%)
Fat (g) 53.7 (20%)
Fibre (g) 18.4
Fruit & Veg 4.4
Water (litres) 3.0
Tuesday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 20g oats with 150ml skimmed milk and here's the embarrassing bit - I added half a jar of Mango Surprise Cow & Gate baby food - the pear puree I bought before was so lovely in the porridge but I realiesed it's just baby food in grown up packaging at a higher price so thought I'd give it a go - lovely stuff! Don't worry, I'm not about to go all Jennifer Anniston and start living off baby food!
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Thai Chicken soup
Snack: 0% Greek yogurt with mixed berries and a Nakd bar
Pre-Workout 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water
Post-Workout 1 scoop whey with water and half a Berry cheeky Nakd bar
Dinner: Higgidy Moroccan Veg and Feta pie and a teaspoon of peanut butter while I waited as I was starving!
Snack: Other half of the Nakd bar, protein cookie thing - tried baking with protein again but I just don't like the stuff cooked! They are ok cut in half with a little honey though. 1 slice toast with butter and Marmite - really can't stop myself!
Drinks: Coffee, water
Exercise: Full body weights then 20 mins intervals on the treadmill, plus half hour walk each way to/from the gym - because I walk in my gym stuff I make sure I'm walking fast enought to get hot and sweaty so decided not to bother with my usual 5 min warm up on the bike. Don't think I'll do that again as I struggled to get my HR up as high as normal and the whole thing just didn't feel 'right'
Daily Cal Quota: 1612
+ Exercise Cals: 541
Total Cal Quota: 2153
Calories Consumed: 1967
Calories Left: 186
Protein (g) 148.2 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g) 196.5 (44%)
Fat (g) 66.7 (20%)
Fibre (g) 26.6
Fruit & Veg 5.1
Water (litres) 3.6
Spooky - my carbs/protein/fat ration is identical to yesterdays with different foods and completely unintentional!
Wednesday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 0% Greek yogurt with frozen raspberries and blueberries, 10g flaxseed (last of the pack thank god! Like the taste, hate the texture it's far too finely ground) and 1tsp honey
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Nakd bar and a small hot chocolate - I've been getting weird pains in my chest so had to leave work at 11.30am to go to the doctor - they don't let you book appointments in advance so it was now or never! Got back to work at 1.30pm an dstraight into a 1 hour meeting so no time for my chicken soup :(
Snack: Carrot sticks with salsa followed by some naughty-ness - I was really craving a Mars Bar and as I wondered past the reduced trolly in Sainsburys I clocked a cheap Slim fast version of a mars bar and a nutri-grain choc chip cookie so ate those on the way home.
Dinner: Carbonara
Snack: Apple cable sweetie thingy that I pinched from my boyfriend
Drinks: Coffee, water, energy drink - these are like bread, I get hooked on them.
Total Cal Quota: 1612
Calories Consumed: 1871
Calories Left: -259
Protein (g) 83.5 (18.5%)
Carbohydrate (g) 284.8 (59.2%)
Fat (g) 44.8 (20%)
Fibre (g) 22.3
Fruit & Veg 5.5
Water (litres) 1.6
Wow! What a crappy day that turned out to be!!
Today is going a bit better but I don't know what I'm having for dinner, I'm getting my hair cut right when I want to be eating, I have no extra snacks with me and I'm meeting a friend for coffee after the hairdresser - I also couldn't get an appointment at a time thet meant I could go to the gym first and I don't want to go after as it will be the first time my hair has actually looked good since last September!
Monday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 150g 0% Greek yogurt with 100g frozen raspberries and 60g frozen blueberries - I'm not a big fan of the frozen blueberries, the texture is really weird and kind of sticks in my teeth. I was trying to save money by buying fromzen but I think I'll stick to fresh for the blueberries. Raspberries are great though!
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Thai Chicken soup - my new favourite!
Snack: Carrot sticks with salsa and a Nakd bar
Dinner: All we seem to have in this week is bacon and eggs so I had 2 of each plus a slive of buttered bread for the bacon - this was heaven!
Snack: 2 scoops whey with water, 1tsp nut butter, chocolate protein shake ice lolly, 1 slice toast with butter and Marmite - once I eat bread I can't stop myself!
Drinks: Tea, coffee, diet red bull, water
Total Cal Quota: 1612
Calories Consumed: 1475
Calories Left: 137
Protein (g) 145.6 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g) 104.5 (44%)
Fat (g) 53.7 (20%)
Fibre (g) 18.4
Fruit & Veg 4.4
Water (litres) 3.0
Tuesday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 20g oats with 150ml skimmed milk and here's the embarrassing bit - I added half a jar of Mango Surprise Cow & Gate baby food - the pear puree I bought before was so lovely in the porridge but I realiesed it's just baby food in grown up packaging at a higher price so thought I'd give it a go - lovely stuff! Don't worry, I'm not about to go all Jennifer Anniston and start living off baby food!
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Thai Chicken soup
Snack: 0% Greek yogurt with mixed berries and a Nakd bar
Pre-Workout 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water
Post-Workout 1 scoop whey with water and half a Berry cheeky Nakd bar
Dinner: Higgidy Moroccan Veg and Feta pie and a teaspoon of peanut butter while I waited as I was starving!
Snack: Other half of the Nakd bar, protein cookie thing - tried baking with protein again but I just don't like the stuff cooked! They are ok cut in half with a little honey though. 1 slice toast with butter and Marmite - really can't stop myself!
Drinks: Coffee, water
Exercise: Full body weights then 20 mins intervals on the treadmill, plus half hour walk each way to/from the gym - because I walk in my gym stuff I make sure I'm walking fast enought to get hot and sweaty so decided not to bother with my usual 5 min warm up on the bike. Don't think I'll do that again as I struggled to get my HR up as high as normal and the whole thing just didn't feel 'right'
Daily Cal Quota: 1612
+ Exercise Cals: 541
Total Cal Quota: 2153
Calories Consumed: 1967
Calories Left: 186
Protein (g) 148.2 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g) 196.5 (44%)
Fat (g) 66.7 (20%)
Fibre (g) 26.6
Fruit & Veg 5.1
Water (litres) 3.6
Spooky - my carbs/protein/fat ration is identical to yesterdays with different foods and completely unintentional!
Wednesday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. 0% Greek yogurt with frozen raspberries and blueberries, 10g flaxseed (last of the pack thank god! Like the taste, hate the texture it's far too finely ground) and 1tsp honey
Snack: 1 babybel light and a satsuma
Lunch: Nakd bar and a small hot chocolate - I've been getting weird pains in my chest so had to leave work at 11.30am to go to the doctor - they don't let you book appointments in advance so it was now or never! Got back to work at 1.30pm an dstraight into a 1 hour meeting so no time for my chicken soup :(
Snack: Carrot sticks with salsa followed by some naughty-ness - I was really craving a Mars Bar and as I wondered past the reduced trolly in Sainsburys I clocked a cheap Slim fast version of a mars bar and a nutri-grain choc chip cookie so ate those on the way home.
Dinner: Carbonara
Snack: Apple cable sweetie thingy that I pinched from my boyfriend
Drinks: Coffee, water, energy drink - these are like bread, I get hooked on them.
Total Cal Quota: 1612
Calories Consumed: 1871
Calories Left: -259
Protein (g) 83.5 (18.5%)
Carbohydrate (g) 284.8 (59.2%)
Fat (g) 44.8 (20%)
Fibre (g) 22.3
Fruit & Veg 5.5
Water (litres) 1.6
Wow! What a crappy day that turned out to be!!
Today is going a bit better but I don't know what I'm having for dinner, I'm getting my hair cut right when I want to be eating, I have no extra snacks with me and I'm meeting a friend for coffee after the hairdresser - I also couldn't get an appointment at a time thet meant I could go to the gym first and I don't want to go after as it will be the first time my hair has actually looked good since last September!
Monday, 27 July 2009
Progress Pictures
Well, here are the latest progress pictures - you NEED!!!! to click on them if you can only see two pics in each as they are too big so only half is showing - the fat half!
Some changes since last time but still a long way to go!
They are March, May and July for the back shot, Feb, May, June and July for the side and for the front (I think!)
Some changes since last time but still a long way to go!
They are March, May and July for the back shot, Feb, May, June and July for the side and for the front (I think!)
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Catch up on the week
Wednesday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. Greek yogurt with flaxseed, strawberries and honey
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: Bowl of turkey broth followed by 60g prawns in 100g cottage cheese for some protein
Snack: Cherries a satsuma and some cashews. I then had half a small Berry Cheek Nakd bar on the way to the supermarket and a little pack of Fruitus chewy fruit bites on the way home - was STARVING! The chewy bite things were lovely but with added crap so will keep those in mind for emergency snacks only
Dinner: Lebanese Chicken kebabs in wholemeal tortilla wraps
Snack: Second half of the Nakd bar and 2 scoops whey in water
Ended up a bit over cals for the day because my afternoon snack wasn't enough and I got starving before dinner, then afterwards thought I may as well finish the Nakd bar!
Thursday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey, half milk half water. Porridge with skimmed milk and pear puree
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: Spiced carrot and sweet potato soup Snack: Prawns in cottage cheese, eating was messed up by afternoon meeting so I had my lunchtime prawns late and yogurt at home - Greek yogurt with flaxseed and frozen summer berries and half a scoop cookies and cream whey and a pack of Graze Apple Strudel dried fruit/nuts mix while I waited for dinner
Dinner: Lebanese shark kebabs in wholemeal tortilla wrap - had left over sauce and marinade from the day before and some shark in the freezer - why not? I also had a can of Irn Bru.
Snack: Bowl of Start cereal with skimmed milk
One of those weeks that seemed ok but I was so hungry and ill prepared for the hunger.
Friday:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt with frozen summer berries and 1 scoop whey
Snack: babybel light and some cherries
Lunch: Spiced carrot and sweet potato soup with a big blob of greek yogurt as I added too much chilli!
Snack: More greek yogurt with half a scoop of chocolate whey
Dinner: Stuffina alla romana - my first ever homemade stew, absolutely beautiful! Will post a recipe later in the week.
Snack: Then it all went wrong when we went to the cinema! I had Doritos, Malteasers and a Relentless energy drink
According to my food diary I also had a small Nakd bar which I really can't remember eating and may have been in there for my original cinema food plan. So I don't think I did eat it but left it in there anyway!
Saturday:
Breakfast: 1 boiled egg and half a smoothie that was made with 2 scoops cookies and cream whey, 20g oats, 100g frozen summer berries, 80g greek yogurt and some water
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water and some apple and mango juice
Lunch: When I got home from the gym I had my Graze delivery waiting for me so had some delicious fresh pineapple and some wasabi peanut crackers followed by the rest of my breakfast smoothie
Snack: one oatcake and one plain rice cake topped with 1 chopped boiled egg in a greek yogurt and garlic dressing (left over from the Lebanese kababs) with a little peppered cheese
Dinner: Stuffina alla romano agaian with some pasta
Snack: Cinema again, glass of wine on the way then some Kettle salt and pepper crisps, Dr Pepper and Pick n Mix
I didn't put the cinema snack in my food diary but I also didn't count the 10 miles of walking I did on Saturday! No idea how they balance out but I'm just going to leave it.
PT session was great as always though for the second week running I've got just over half way through and started to feel faint but able to carry on. It seems to happen with with assisted pull up machine - it's a bit like a travel sickness feeling so I think it could be the movement and the metal back of the machine had loads of holes in which make me feel dizzy too so we're going to try something else next week. I'm really sore today but nowhere near as bad as last week!
Burned 694 calories for the PT session and 30 mins walk each way - that's as well as the 10 miles later in the day!
Sunday - well today have been shit so I wont bother detailing it! I had a scoop of whey in water after my run then made a big iced latte type thing with one scoop each cookies and cream whey and chocolate whey, skimmed milk, water and ice. Lunch was a fish finger sandwich on white crusty bread and crisps and dinner was a huge bacon sandwich on white crusty bread with lashings of butter! Oh it was beautiful!
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk and water. Greek yogurt with flaxseed, strawberries and honey
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: Bowl of turkey broth followed by 60g prawns in 100g cottage cheese for some protein
Snack: Cherries a satsuma and some cashews. I then had half a small Berry Cheek Nakd bar on the way to the supermarket and a little pack of Fruitus chewy fruit bites on the way home - was STARVING! The chewy bite things were lovely but with added crap so will keep those in mind for emergency snacks only
Dinner: Lebanese Chicken kebabs in wholemeal tortilla wraps
Snack: Second half of the Nakd bar and 2 scoops whey in water
Ended up a bit over cals for the day because my afternoon snack wasn't enough and I got starving before dinner, then afterwards thought I may as well finish the Nakd bar!
| Total Cal Quota: | 1618 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1839 |
| Calories Left: | -221 |
| Protein (g) | 179.2 (39.2%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 163.9 (33.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 55.1 (27.1%) |
| Fibre (g) | 21.2 |
| Fruit & Veg | 6.2 |
Thursday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey, half milk half water. Porridge with skimmed milk and pear puree
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: Spiced carrot and sweet potato soup Snack: Prawns in cottage cheese, eating was messed up by afternoon meeting so I had my lunchtime prawns late and yogurt at home - Greek yogurt with flaxseed and frozen summer berries and half a scoop cookies and cream whey and a pack of Graze Apple Strudel dried fruit/nuts mix while I waited for dinner
Dinner: Lebanese shark kebabs in wholemeal tortilla wrap - had left over sauce and marinade from the day before and some shark in the freezer - why not? I also had a can of Irn Bru.
Snack: Bowl of Start cereal with skimmed milk
One of those weeks that seemed ok but I was so hungry and ill prepared for the hunger.
| Total Cal Quota: | 1618 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1757 |
| Calories Left: | -139 |
| Protein (g) | 130.1 (30.7%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 237.1 (52.5%) |
| Fat (g) | 31.6 (16.8%) |
| Fibre (g) | 23.4 |
| Fruit & Veg | 6.3 |
Friday:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt with frozen summer berries and 1 scoop whey
Snack: babybel light and some cherries
Lunch: Spiced carrot and sweet potato soup with a big blob of greek yogurt as I added too much chilli!
Snack: More greek yogurt with half a scoop of chocolate whey
Dinner: Stuffina alla romana - my first ever homemade stew, absolutely beautiful! Will post a recipe later in the week.
Snack: Then it all went wrong when we went to the cinema! I had Doritos, Malteasers and a Relentless energy drink
According to my food diary I also had a small Nakd bar which I really can't remember eating and may have been in there for my original cinema food plan. So I don't think I did eat it but left it in there anyway!
| Total Cal Quota: | 1612 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1833 |
| Calories Left: | -221 |
| Protein (g) | 105.8 (24%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 242.9 (51.7%) |
| Fat (g) | 44.0 (22.5%) |
| Fibre (g) | 12.8 |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.6 |
Saturday:
Breakfast: 1 boiled egg and half a smoothie that was made with 2 scoops cookies and cream whey, 20g oats, 100g frozen summer berries, 80g greek yogurt and some water
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water and some apple and mango juice
Lunch: When I got home from the gym I had my Graze delivery waiting for me so had some delicious fresh pineapple and some wasabi peanut crackers followed by the rest of my breakfast smoothie
Snack: one oatcake and one plain rice cake topped with 1 chopped boiled egg in a greek yogurt and garlic dressing (left over from the Lebanese kababs) with a little peppered cheese
Dinner: Stuffina alla romano agaian with some pasta
Snack: Cinema again, glass of wine on the way then some Kettle salt and pepper crisps, Dr Pepper and Pick n Mix
I didn't put the cinema snack in my food diary but I also didn't count the 10 miles of walking I did on Saturday! No idea how they balance out but I'm just going to leave it.
PT session was great as always though for the second week running I've got just over half way through and started to feel faint but able to carry on. It seems to happen with with assisted pull up machine - it's a bit like a travel sickness feeling so I think it could be the movement and the metal back of the machine had loads of holes in which make me feel dizzy too so we're going to try something else next week. I'm really sore today but nowhere near as bad as last week!
Burned 694 calories for the PT session and 30 mins walk each way - that's as well as the 10 miles later in the day!
Sunday - well today have been shit so I wont bother detailing it! I had a scoop of whey in water after my run then made a big iced latte type thing with one scoop each cookies and cream whey and chocolate whey, skimmed milk, water and ice. Lunch was a fish finger sandwich on white crusty bread and crisps and dinner was a huge bacon sandwich on white crusty bread with lashings of butter! Oh it was beautiful!
Oooops!
Been a bit crap at updating and a bit crap food-wise over the weekend - nevermind, loss just under 1lb and about half an inch from my waist and hips this week. Only had one weights session, one PT session and this morning I went for my first ever solo outdoor run for 33 minutes - quite a big achievement for, seems silly but I couldn't run outside on my own. This morning I was up stupid early and figured no one would be around so why not! Was raining lightly which was nice but I think I could do with a proper lightweight running jacket as the cheapo Primark one I have quickly gets hot and annoying!
I've just finished making some soup for my lunches at work, it's lovely! Really looking forward to my lunches this week - made 6 portions of it at 158 cals per portion, 50% protein and 1 portion of veg (ish). I got the recipe from a fellow blogger - Getting Lean but the quantities were slightly different. Next time I think I'll make it with more veg but I ran out of space in the wok to add more. Will post my recipe later on.
Filled in my food diary for tomorrow with my rate of loss back at 1lb per week and my current weight at 141.5lb which means I'm back on 1600 cals per day. Hoping to fit in a bit more exercise this week as my mum is visiting at the weekend and I'll be making her birthday cake and heading out for dinner (and wine!). Anyway, food plan for tomorrow is looking good - little high in fat and low on protein but I have no money so need to eat loads of eggs for dinner this week as we have a huge box of eggs and not much else in! Bought a big tub of greek yogurt, some frozen berries, carrots and salsa for my packed lunches and can't aford to stray!
I've just finished making some soup for my lunches at work, it's lovely! Really looking forward to my lunches this week - made 6 portions of it at 158 cals per portion, 50% protein and 1 portion of veg (ish). I got the recipe from a fellow blogger - Getting Lean but the quantities were slightly different. Next time I think I'll make it with more veg but I ran out of space in the wok to add more. Will post my recipe later on.
Filled in my food diary for tomorrow with my rate of loss back at 1lb per week and my current weight at 141.5lb which means I'm back on 1600 cals per day. Hoping to fit in a bit more exercise this week as my mum is visiting at the weekend and I'll be making her birthday cake and heading out for dinner (and wine!). Anyway, food plan for tomorrow is looking good - little high in fat and low on protein but I have no money so need to eat loads of eggs for dinner this week as we have a huge box of eggs and not much else in! Bought a big tub of greek yogurt, some frozen berries, carrots and salsa for my packed lunches and can't aford to stray!
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Food Diary 21st July
Quick post to update today's food...
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml milk and water, 20g oat with half a pot of pear puree - basically like baby food but more expensive, next time I may as well buy a baby food jar! Was very nice having the porridge with the creamy fruit - definitely be doing this again!
Snack: The usual - babybel light and satsuma
Lunch: Homemade Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with 60g prawns in 60g cottage cheese
Snack: 100g cherries
Pre-Workout: Half my tub of 0% greek yogurt with strawberries, raspberries and flaxseed and some raisins and walnuts - love walnuts had no idea they were so yummy, have a bit of a caramel sort of taste to them I think
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water andBerry Cheeky 30g Nakd Bar
Dinner: Sushi pack from Asda and the other half of my yogurt and stuff
Supper: 2 scoops whey with 200ml skimmed milk
Drinks: Roibos tea, 1 coffee and water
Exercise: 35 mins full body weights - agony!! and 20 mins intervals on the treadmill - first time I haven't felt sick and had to get off at 15 mins whoop!
I am actually making an effort to get carbs down and protein up, whilst still getting good fats - didn't get so many fts today but got the carbs down.
Also making more effort to change about some food - not big changes but it means that each day isn't exactly the same - but I am limited because food has to be travel/work friendly and having one salad or one soup for the week is a lot cheaper then trying to change things about daily - it's also easier and involves less preparation!
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml milk and water, 20g oat with half a pot of pear puree - basically like baby food but more expensive, next time I may as well buy a baby food jar! Was very nice having the porridge with the creamy fruit - definitely be doing this again!
Snack: The usual - babybel light and satsuma
Lunch: Homemade Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with 60g prawns in 60g cottage cheese
Snack: 100g cherries
Pre-Workout: Half my tub of 0% greek yogurt with strawberries, raspberries and flaxseed and some raisins and walnuts - love walnuts had no idea they were so yummy, have a bit of a caramel sort of taste to them I think
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water andBerry Cheeky 30g Nakd Bar
Dinner: Sushi pack from Asda and the other half of my yogurt and stuff
Supper: 2 scoops whey with 200ml skimmed milk
Drinks: Roibos tea, 1 coffee and water
Exercise: 35 mins full body weights - agony!! and 20 mins intervals on the treadmill - first time I haven't felt sick and had to get off at 15 mins whoop!
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1618 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 434 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 2052 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1566 |
| Calories Left: | 486 |
| Protein (g) | 145.3 (37.8%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 181.1 (44.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 30.7 (18%) |
| Fibre (g) | 19.1 |
| Fruit & Veg | 6.7 |
| Water (litres) | 2.4 |
I am actually making an effort to get carbs down and protein up, whilst still getting good fats - didn't get so many fts today but got the carbs down.
Also making more effort to change about some food - not big changes but it means that each day isn't exactly the same - but I am limited because food has to be travel/work friendly and having one salad or one soup for the week is a lot cheaper then trying to change things about daily - it's also easier and involves less preparation!
Monday, 20 July 2009
Keema Curry
Made this for the first time on Friday and absolutely loved it! Next time I'm going to try more veg, less potato and chicken instead of mince, I think the chicken would be very nice with the coconut and spinach. I'm also considering sweet potato instead of regular potato...
Good meal for making a big batch of, fairly quick to prepare, though 40 mins in the oven, and really easy.
Keema Curry:
Serves 5
Cut the potatoes into halves/quarters and boil for 10 minutes
Chop the onion, red pepper, and spinach and crush the garlic
Heat oil in a (big) pan and fry onion for 3 minutes until softened, add the mince and fry for a further 5 minutes until browned.
Add the coriander, garlic, chilli and cumin and fry for a further minute.
Stir in the tomato puree, spinach, peppers, potatoes, coconut milk, and curry paste and simmer for 1 minute.
Transfer to an oven dish and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.
Keeps well in the fridge for a few days (made on Friday, finished it on Monday) and don't see any reason that it wouldn't freeze well.
Per Serving:
Good meal for making a big batch of, fairly quick to prepare, though 40 mins in the oven, and really easy.
Keema Curry:
Serves 5
- 1 Med/180g Onion
- 100g Baby Spinach
- 25g Tomato Puree
- 5g Coriander
- 400ml Coconut, Milk
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 20g/1 Chilli Pepper
- 1 Tsp Cumin
- 30g Curry Paste
- 150g Red Pepper
- 1 Tsp/5ml Olive Oil
- 500g Baby New Potatoes
- 500g Beef Mince
- 75g Red Onions
Cut the potatoes into halves/quarters and boil for 10 minutes
Chop the onion, red pepper, and spinach and crush the garlic
Heat oil in a (big) pan and fry onion for 3 minutes until softened, add the mince and fry for a further 5 minutes until browned.
Add the coriander, garlic, chilli and cumin and fry for a further minute.
Stir in the tomato puree, spinach, peppers, potatoes, coconut milk, and curry paste and simmer for 1 minute.
Transfer to an oven dish and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.
Keeps well in the fridge for a few days (made on Friday, finished it on Monday) and don't see any reason that it wouldn't freeze well.
Per Serving:
| Calories (kcal) | 508.8 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 30.4 |
| Protein (g) | 24.4 |
| Fat (g) | 32.9 |
| Fibre (g) | 5.5 |
| Fruit & Veg | 1.4 |
Back on Track
After lots of wine and a bit of a binge over the weekend I have managed a very good day! Still got a protein cookies and cream shake left to have so hopefully that will be it for tonight! I'm stuffed form my dinner so no need to snack anymore anyway.
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk followed by 125g 0% greek yogurt with 10g flaxseed, 100g raspberries and 80g strawberries
Snack: 1 babybel light and 1 satsuma
Lunch: Bowlw of very spicy sweet potato and carrot soup with big blob of fromage frais and some skimmed milk as it was far too spicy! Got 3 more bowl to eat too!
Snack: 1 carrot chopped into stick dipped in salsa
Dinner: Keema Curry (picture in next post) with some pilau rice and a protein shake ice lolly
Snack: 1 scoop cookies and cream whey with water
Drinks: Water and a coffee
Exercise: None today as I'm in agony from the PT session on Saturday!
Having an easy week again, I've got my WLR loss rate set to just 0.5lb this week and I'll only be having 3 gym sessions, all weights.
Busy week at work again, month end has begun! Actually feeling pretty good about work today, had a meeting which went well and another moment of thinking I know what I'm doing - still a long way to go mind! Sadly my engineer I work with is leaving in a couple of months, she's really nice and easy going and knows EVERYTHING! Hope the replacement is good.
Oh and this picture has nothing to do with this post, I ate it weeks ago but it was so yummy I had to share - meant to post at the time but kept forgetting!
Tilapia on green beans and mange tout cooked on george foreman with garlic, salt and tons of pepper. Perfect.
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 100ml skimmed milk followed by 125g 0% greek yogurt with 10g flaxseed, 100g raspberries and 80g strawberries
Snack: 1 babybel light and 1 satsuma
Lunch: Bowlw of very spicy sweet potato and carrot soup with big blob of fromage frais and some skimmed milk as it was far too spicy! Got 3 more bowl to eat too!
Snack: 1 carrot chopped into stick dipped in salsa
Dinner: Keema Curry (picture in next post) with some pilau rice and a protein shake ice lolly
Snack: 1 scoop cookies and cream whey with water
Drinks: Water and a coffee
Exercise: None today as I'm in agony from the PT session on Saturday!
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1618 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 0 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 1618 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1531 |
| Calories Left: | 87 |
| Protein (g) | 124.9 31.5% |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 143.2 35.5% |
| Fat (g) | 52.9 31.5% (damn curry!) |
| Fibre (g) | 27.1 |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.7 |
| Water (litres) | 1.2 still working on it tonight! |
Having an easy week again, I've got my WLR loss rate set to just 0.5lb this week and I'll only be having 3 gym sessions, all weights.
Busy week at work again, month end has begun! Actually feeling pretty good about work today, had a meeting which went well and another moment of thinking I know what I'm doing - still a long way to go mind! Sadly my engineer I work with is leaving in a couple of months, she's really nice and easy going and knows EVERYTHING! Hope the replacement is good.
Oh and this picture has nothing to do with this post, I ate it weeks ago but it was so yummy I had to share - meant to post at the time but kept forgetting!
Tilapia on green beans and mange tout cooked on george foreman with garlic, salt and tons of pepper. Perfect.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Still here
Just really busy and really tired after the weekend away - but I'm hungover today and my boyfriend will be out for the whole day so no doubt I'll be blogging later on!
Been a good week diet and loss wise - didn't go to the gym this week though, just too tired! Yesterday mornings PT session was the first exercise in 9 days and boy did I know it! Could not believe how much harder it was, still I managed to squat just 4kg under my own body weight so definitely not a bad session! I'm really feeling it today! I do like the feeling of DOMS, but only every so often, I hate getting it every session as it puts me off and gets me thinking I don't want to do this if I have to spend my life in pain struggling to move! Nice to get the odd reminder I'm working hard though.
Loss over the last week and a half was 2.2lb plus half an inch of my thighs and waist and smaller losses elsewhere, except my boobs which are bigger again this week - I mostly ignore that measurement actually, they just please themselves and there seems no pattern for it...
Anyhoo, here are my losses since I started recording on 1st Feb:
Weight 24.2 lb
Bust 2.9 inches
Under Bust 3.6
Waist 4.7
Hips 4.4
Hips at Widest 3.5
Top of Thighs (L) 2.5
Above Knees (L) 2.4
Calves (L) 0.9
Upper Arms (L) 1.6
I was going to take some progress pics today but I'm feeling a big bloated and gross after all the wine last night so I'll give it another week!
Been a good week diet and loss wise - didn't go to the gym this week though, just too tired! Yesterday mornings PT session was the first exercise in 9 days and boy did I know it! Could not believe how much harder it was, still I managed to squat just 4kg under my own body weight so definitely not a bad session! I'm really feeling it today! I do like the feeling of DOMS, but only every so often, I hate getting it every session as it puts me off and gets me thinking I don't want to do this if I have to spend my life in pain struggling to move! Nice to get the odd reminder I'm working hard though.
Loss over the last week and a half was 2.2lb plus half an inch of my thighs and waist and smaller losses elsewhere, except my boobs which are bigger again this week - I mostly ignore that measurement actually, they just please themselves and there seems no pattern for it...
Anyhoo, here are my losses since I started recording on 1st Feb:
Weight 24.2 lb
Bust 2.9 inches
Under Bust 3.6
Waist 4.7
Hips 4.4
Hips at Widest 3.5
Top of Thighs (L) 2.5
Above Knees (L) 2.4
Calves (L) 0.9
Upper Arms (L) 1.6
I was going to take some progress pics today but I'm feeling a big bloated and gross after all the wine last night so I'll give it another week!
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Feeling Thin (ish)
Thanks to TOTM my weight went from 144.8lb - just under my first real goal of 145lb, up to 146.2lb and has now gone back down to 144.4lb - means my loss for last week was only 0.4lb but still a move in the right direction and I got to eat pizza and drink wine!
I've really been noticing that with having lost some weight and generally being healthier I really notice the effects of bloating - this last week I've just felt so fat and puffy and gross and generally de-motivated. This morning I woke up bloat-free and feeling great!
Hopefully this wont all go away after tonights Indian meal, I'd really rather not go but it will be a fun night and I'll just have to control myself, I wont have a starter or pudding - I'm off to T in the Park this weekend so food options are going to be quite limited. You can't take food in so I will be relying completely on whatever is there. They have said that for this year the Healthy T area has been expanded...
This year we have crammed in even more tasty outlets, whilst maintaining a strong emphasis on the very best in healthy Scottish produce.
We have the award winning Food from Argyll, fresh from their success at winning an Excellence Award at the 2009 Scot:Land of Food and Drink awards; check out their organic lamb burgers served with home grown salad, Cullen Skink and hot smoked salmon rolls - taste for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Healthy T favourites such as Stoats Porridge Oats, Mutley's Crêpes and J's Jackets and Stovies all make a welcome return, but if your tastes lean towards the more exotic fear not, our global festival kitchen is also full of eastern promise with new arrivals: Japanese noodle bar Now and Zen, Johnny Baghdad's Falafels, or leave your shoes at the door and enjoy a sit-down slap-up three course meal in the sumptuous fresh sushi restaurant housed in a gorgeous yurt.
Fire in the Hole will give you fire in your belly for more of their wood-fired artisan pizzas and James Mackie Fruit and the Smoothie Shack are on hand to help you make sure you're getting your daily 5-a-day portion of fruit and veg
Sounds promising! I've had a look at the timetable as well and will only need to have two dinners and one lunch there so I should do ok. Might see if I get away with smuggling in a nakd bar and pack of blueberries, wont be too great a loss if I do lose them.
I also wont be drinking as much water as I do most days because I'd rather not have to pee so often!
I've really been noticing that with having lost some weight and generally being healthier I really notice the effects of bloating - this last week I've just felt so fat and puffy and gross and generally de-motivated. This morning I woke up bloat-free and feeling great!
Hopefully this wont all go away after tonights Indian meal, I'd really rather not go but it will be a fun night and I'll just have to control myself, I wont have a starter or pudding - I'm off to T in the Park this weekend so food options are going to be quite limited. You can't take food in so I will be relying completely on whatever is there. They have said that for this year the Healthy T area has been expanded...
This year we have crammed in even more tasty outlets, whilst maintaining a strong emphasis on the very best in healthy Scottish produce.
We have the award winning Food from Argyll, fresh from their success at winning an Excellence Award at the 2009 Scot:Land of Food and Drink awards; check out their organic lamb burgers served with home grown salad, Cullen Skink and hot smoked salmon rolls - taste for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Healthy T favourites such as Stoats Porridge Oats, Mutley's Crêpes and J's Jackets and Stovies all make a welcome return, but if your tastes lean towards the more exotic fear not, our global festival kitchen is also full of eastern promise with new arrivals: Japanese noodle bar Now and Zen, Johnny Baghdad's Falafels, or leave your shoes at the door and enjoy a sit-down slap-up three course meal in the sumptuous fresh sushi restaurant housed in a gorgeous yurt.
Fire in the Hole will give you fire in your belly for more of their wood-fired artisan pizzas and James Mackie Fruit and the Smoothie Shack are on hand to help you make sure you're getting your daily 5-a-day portion of fruit and veg
Sounds promising! I've had a look at the timetable as well and will only need to have two dinners and one lunch there so I should do ok. Might see if I get away with smuggling in a nakd bar and pack of blueberries, wont be too great a loss if I do lose them.
I also wont be drinking as much water as I do most days because I'd rather not have to pee so often!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Interesting Article...
Not sure when it's interesting yet but it has got my thinking about my butt.
http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/most_recent/how_strong_are_your_glutes_really
There's two tests which apparently assess how well your glutes activate - in order to get good results when it comes to your butt you need to be activating your glutes during exercises such as squats and deadlifts. If you fail the test you need to train your glutes so that they will activate better/properly during other exercises.
I looked at the tests and thought "piece of p*ss" got on the floor... and failed. Miserably on test one and a bit on test two. Test one I couldn't even get my left leg off the floor and my right leg was a real struggle, didn't get very high and I wobbled a lot! Test two, I managed ok but I definitely wasn't able to keep the same tension on the ball so that was a fail too.
I'm going to try these again before my PT session on Thursday morning as today my muscles are still little sore from Saturday and Monday's workouts plus today's running. I'm not convinced I'll do much better though!
Time for some more reading....
http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/most_recent/how_strong_are_your_glutes_really
There's two tests which apparently assess how well your glutes activate - in order to get good results when it comes to your butt you need to be activating your glutes during exercises such as squats and deadlifts. If you fail the test you need to train your glutes so that they will activate better/properly during other exercises.
I looked at the tests and thought "piece of p*ss" got on the floor... and failed. Miserably on test one and a bit on test two. Test one I couldn't even get my left leg off the floor and my right leg was a real struggle, didn't get very high and I wobbled a lot! Test two, I managed ok but I definitely wasn't able to keep the same tension on the ball so that was a fail too.
I'm going to try these again before my PT session on Thursday morning as today my muscles are still little sore from Saturday and Monday's workouts plus today's running. I'm not convinced I'll do much better though!
Time for some more reading....
It's Back!
I'm not sure what 'it' is but seems to have returned!
I really enjoyed today's food and as I was preparing tomorrow's food I actually felt quite excited about it (even though it's mostly the same)
I went a little over cals yesterday, but I totally blame my boyfriend - I was chopping veg and he shoved a sweetie in my mouth, I should have spat it out really but I felt bad so ate it and said thanks!
Tomorrow isn't going to be the best day in terms of diet and exercise - out team members from Bangalore fly back this week so tomorrow night we are having dinner at what is supposed to be a lovely family run South Indian restaurant so my dinner options will be limited but I will go for a healthy option! I also wont have time to exercise between work and dinner, but I have the PT at 10am on Thursday!
Food Diary 6th July
Breakfast: apple and blueberry Oat so Simple - ran out of oats and found this in the cupboard, it's really rather gross, all pale, no texture...
Snack: babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: sandwich with oat bread and ham and pineapple - my cupboards were bare so had to buy lunch
Snack: 100g greek yogurt with 100g red grapes
Pre-Workout Snack: Fruitus fruit & oats bar
Post Workout: protein shake with water
Dinner: Either beef stroganoff or thai beef stir fry with basmati rice
Snack: 1tsp almond butter and the sweetie my boyfriend force-fed me! Oh and on the way home from the supermarket I had half a (reduced to clear) Ryvita Goodness Bar and a lychee!
Exercise: full body weights workout at home - my weights just are hot heavy enough for step ups so I dropped the weight and swapped to pendulum step overs, they are very easy to cheat on but an absolute killer when done properly. I love them :D
Drinks: my bodyweight in espresso and some water
Food Diary 7th July
Breakfast: porridge with almond butter - thanks Rachel!
Snack: Babybel light, satsuma, lychees
Lunch: salad of grated carrot and courgette, yellow pepper, tomato, watercress, crab, fromage frais with lime juice and a sprinkling of Food Doctor Salad Boost nuts, seeds and herbs
Snack: half greek yogurt half natural yogurt with flaxseed and the rest of the lychees
Pre-Workout: was supposed to be the second half of the Ryvita Goodness Bar from yesterday but I was in a meeting than ran late an left in a hurry witht the bar still in my drawer so just had a protein shake, half milk half water
Post-Workout: cookies and cream shake
Dinner: Chocolate protein pancake with almond butter and natural yogurt - I screwed this up but the flavour was nice! I'm not very good at cooking pancakes or any form of eggs for some reason - I get the fear, worry I'm f*cking it up and then do f*ck it it. I flipped the pancake too soon and it fell to pieces and landed in a heap so bits were burnt and other bits raw :( Next time!
Drinks: espresso and water
Exercise: 30 mins intervals at the gym on the cross trainer and the treadmill - my running has improved loads! Still crap at it but I could barely run at all previously.
I really enjoyed today's food and as I was preparing tomorrow's food I actually felt quite excited about it (even though it's mostly the same)
I went a little over cals yesterday, but I totally blame my boyfriend - I was chopping veg and he shoved a sweetie in my mouth, I should have spat it out really but I felt bad so ate it and said thanks!
Tomorrow isn't going to be the best day in terms of diet and exercise - out team members from Bangalore fly back this week so tomorrow night we are having dinner at what is supposed to be a lovely family run South Indian restaurant so my dinner options will be limited but I will go for a healthy option! I also wont have time to exercise between work and dinner, but I have the PT at 10am on Thursday!
Food Diary 6th July
Breakfast: apple and blueberry Oat so Simple - ran out of oats and found this in the cupboard, it's really rather gross, all pale, no texture...
Snack: babybel light and 2 satsumas
Lunch: sandwich with oat bread and ham and pineapple - my cupboards were bare so had to buy lunch
Snack: 100g greek yogurt with 100g red grapes
Pre-Workout Snack: Fruitus fruit & oats bar
Post Workout: protein shake with water
Dinner: Either beef stroganoff or thai beef stir fry with basmati rice
Snack: 1tsp almond butter and the sweetie my boyfriend force-fed me! Oh and on the way home from the supermarket I had half a (reduced to clear) Ryvita Goodness Bar and a lychee!
Exercise: full body weights workout at home - my weights just are hot heavy enough for step ups so I dropped the weight and swapped to pendulum step overs, they are very easy to cheat on but an absolute killer when done properly. I love them :D
Drinks: my bodyweight in espresso and some water
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1398 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 187 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 1585 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1640 |
| Calories Left: | -55 |
| Protein (g) | 112.1 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 197.8 |
| Fat (g) | 44.1 |
| Fibre (g) | 13.5 |
| Fruit & Veg | 4.7 |
| Water (litres) | 2.7 |
Food Diary 7th July
Breakfast: porridge with almond butter - thanks Rachel!
Snack: Babybel light, satsuma, lychees
Lunch: salad of grated carrot and courgette, yellow pepper, tomato, watercress, crab, fromage frais with lime juice and a sprinkling of Food Doctor Salad Boost nuts, seeds and herbs
Snack: half greek yogurt half natural yogurt with flaxseed and the rest of the lychees
Pre-Workout: was supposed to be the second half of the Ryvita Goodness Bar from yesterday but I was in a meeting than ran late an left in a hurry witht the bar still in my drawer so just had a protein shake, half milk half water
Post-Workout: cookies and cream shake
Dinner: Chocolate protein pancake with almond butter and natural yogurt - I screwed this up but the flavour was nice! I'm not very good at cooking pancakes or any form of eggs for some reason - I get the fear, worry I'm f*cking it up and then do f*ck it it. I flipped the pancake too soon and it fell to pieces and landed in a heap so bits were burnt and other bits raw :( Next time!
Drinks: espresso and water
Exercise: 30 mins intervals at the gym on the cross trainer and the treadmill - my running has improved loads! Still crap at it but I could barely run at all previously.
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1403 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 332 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 1734 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1575 |
| Calories Left: | 159 |
| Protein (g) | 173.0 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 115.6 |
| Fat (g) | 49.3 |
| Fibre (g) | 18.8 |
| Fruit & Veg | 4.9 |
| Water (litres) | 3.4 |
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Motivation slowly returning!
Started feeling much better towards the end of the week and my motivation is returning! I've still been eating bad but I've kept up with exercise 5 days a week for the last 5 weeks - previously I was only doing the weights training days per week but now I am doing 3 weights sessions plus 2 cardio sessions - would like to get this up to 3 of each so I'm only having one rest day a week.
I'm quite happy to report a 1lb gain this week as I've had almost two weeks of eating crap and it's TOTM so I was expecting a depressingly large gain - not going to let that encourage me to keep eating crap though as it will catch up on me and it just doesn't agree with me, my body hasn't been enjoying it as much as my mind!
Today I'm hoping will be a good food day - I've started with a protein pancake and a couple of cups of tea, just hope I can keep it up!
I'm quite happy to report a 1lb gain this week as I've had almost two weeks of eating crap and it's TOTM so I was expecting a depressingly large gain - not going to let that encourage me to keep eating crap though as it will catch up on me and it just doesn't agree with me, my body hasn't been enjoying it as much as my mind!
Today I'm hoping will be a good food day - I've started with a protein pancake and a couple of cups of tea, just hope I can keep it up!
PT Session/ Food Diary 4th July
After a crappy week I was really looking forward to this! And I'm really feeling it today!
Started off with the usual 5 min warm up on the cross trainer - couldn't face the treadmill after my breakfast, I was just too full! It's also TOTM so I was/still am feeling big and bloaty and a bit sluggish and the 5 mins were a real struggle!
Over to the squat rack which I haven't used for ages and absolutely love! Started off with 10kg plus the 20kg bar for the first set then went up to 40kg, 50kg and 60kg for two sets, managed the first at 60kg but not quite full set for the last. Quite please with this sine not long ago I was struggling with just the bar! Hopefully next time we'll star with a heavier weight rather than building up from 30kg.
Next I did a horrible set on the thigh extension, lower weight than usual-
25 reps, 10 second rest
15 reps, 10 second rest
10 reps 10 second rest x 3
the whole of both legs just felt like liquid after this and I could barely walk when I got off it!
Stumbled over to the assisted pull up and did 3 sets of pull ups and tricep dips
Finished with some core work and included an exercise to focus on my lower back which involved using the scariest piece of gym equipment I've encountered! (bit like that but you start off more upright and have further to fall!) It might not look like much but when you're throwing ourself over the edge it does feel like you are about to fall right off it and topple the bench over and smack your head off something large and metal.
Once I got home I got changed and headed back out with my boyfriend for lots and lots of walking, including through the international market where we shared a lovely paella before heading for the beach and stopping off at the new ice cream parlour for the most amazing sorbet I've ever tasted - green apple! Really lovely wee place and I hope it stays open. Wandered down to the beach where we only sat for about half an hour because my poor boyfriend burns so easly and hadn't put much factor 40 on his legs so we walked along by the edge of the sea which was f***** freezing!! It may be a scorching hot day, but it is still the North Sea... byt this time is was around 4pm so a good idea to give my boyfriend break from the sun so we thought we may as well go to the cinema since it's at the beach (Year One, crap.) Followed by another walk back into town to Pizza Express, shared the healthy version of their Bruscetta (beautiful!) and went for one of the pizza's with a hole in the middle filled with salad ( just the right size for me) finished off with Semi Fredo Reale (scoop of nougat and praline gelato with an espresso), oh and I also had a large glass of rose wine.
Was just what I needed and the whole meal came in at 761 calories, plus around 180 for the wine.
Then we walked home and flaked out on the sofa and I stuck my poor feet in a big bowl of cold water!
Water - I didn't log but did have quite a lot, though not enough for the heat a all the walking I did.
Started off with the usual 5 min warm up on the cross trainer - couldn't face the treadmill after my breakfast, I was just too full! It's also TOTM so I was/still am feeling big and bloaty and a bit sluggish and the 5 mins were a real struggle!
Over to the squat rack which I haven't used for ages and absolutely love! Started off with 10kg plus the 20kg bar for the first set then went up to 40kg, 50kg and 60kg for two sets, managed the first at 60kg but not quite full set for the last. Quite please with this sine not long ago I was struggling with just the bar! Hopefully next time we'll star with a heavier weight rather than building up from 30kg.
Next I did a horrible set on the thigh extension, lower weight than usual-
25 reps, 10 second rest
15 reps, 10 second rest
10 reps 10 second rest x 3
the whole of both legs just felt like liquid after this and I could barely walk when I got off it!
Stumbled over to the assisted pull up and did 3 sets of pull ups and tricep dips
Finished with some core work and included an exercise to focus on my lower back which involved using the scariest piece of gym equipment I've encountered! (bit like that but you start off more upright and have further to fall!) It might not look like much but when you're throwing ourself over the edge it does feel like you are about to fall right off it and topple the bench over and smack your head off something large and metal.
Once I got home I got changed and headed back out with my boyfriend for lots and lots of walking, including through the international market where we shared a lovely paella before heading for the beach and stopping off at the new ice cream parlour for the most amazing sorbet I've ever tasted - green apple! Really lovely wee place and I hope it stays open. Wandered down to the beach where we only sat for about half an hour because my poor boyfriend burns so easly and hadn't put much factor 40 on his legs so we walked along by the edge of the sea which was f***** freezing!! It may be a scorching hot day, but it is still the North Sea... byt this time is was around 4pm so a good idea to give my boyfriend break from the sun so we thought we may as well go to the cinema since it's at the beach (Year One, crap.) Followed by another walk back into town to Pizza Express, shared the healthy version of their Bruscetta (beautiful!) and went for one of the pizza's with a hole in the middle filled with salad ( just the right size for me) finished off with Semi Fredo Reale (scoop of nougat and praline gelato with an espresso), oh and I also had a large glass of rose wine.
Was just what I needed and the whole meal came in at 761 calories, plus around 180 for the wine.
Then we walked home and flaked out on the sofa and I stuck my poor feet in a big bowl of cold water!
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1391 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 1307 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 2698 |
| Calories Consumed: | 2881 |
| Calories Left: | -183 |
| Protein (g) | 150.7 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 317.0 |
| Fat (g) | 66.6 |
| Fibre (g) | 10.5 |
| Fruit & Veg | 1.2 - I don't think this is accurate as it's not counting the veg in the paella of dinner, or the apple in the sorbet ;) |
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Meh.
Is how I feel.
I can't put my finger on anything that's 'wrong' but something isn't right.
I'm getting fed up with food - I miss being able to not think about it - sure I was a greedy bugger and I would think about food, but it didn't really matter before. I'd plan what main meals to have when doing the food shop. Chuck some cereal in a tub, add milk at work and that was breakfast. Lunch I'd see what was on the menu and have soup or baked potato at work.
Now I've got to plan 3 meals plus 3 snacks every single day. I'm only home for one meal and one snack so I've got to think of things that are work friendly. It's too expensive and time consuming to come up with different things to have daily - even having two options for each and alternating is tough and adds a whole other layer of thought and planning to eating.
But it's eating whatever I fancied, whenever I fancied that made me unhappy and fat in the first place!
I don't want to eat crap but I cannot spend my life with food having such a big impact and so much control over me! I know this isn't going to be permanent but it just seems like the end is so far away. In february I set myself a goal of losing 1.5 stone - that took 5 months!! And I still have about the same again left to lose. I think the whole thing of getting to goal then realising I still had so much further to go might be bringing me down a bit - I achieved my goal but still don't like what I see so feel as though I haven't achieved anything.
I thought about switching to maintenance cals for a week or so - but that wont help, I'll need to put even more thought into eating more and still keeping it healthy. I don't want to just take time off from the whole thing because I'll put weight on! Having a few extra pounds isn't a big issue, but I have been unhappy with my weight since high school and feeling fat brings me down too - I feel worse about being fat that I do right now so obvioulsy being fat and happy is not the answer!
I guess I just need to ride it out and hope it passes soon.
On the plus side, it's onlt the food stuff getting me down - I'm still really enjoying the exercise and hate if I have to miss it!
I can't put my finger on anything that's 'wrong' but something isn't right.
I'm getting fed up with food - I miss being able to not think about it - sure I was a greedy bugger and I would think about food, but it didn't really matter before. I'd plan what main meals to have when doing the food shop. Chuck some cereal in a tub, add milk at work and that was breakfast. Lunch I'd see what was on the menu and have soup or baked potato at work.
Now I've got to plan 3 meals plus 3 snacks every single day. I'm only home for one meal and one snack so I've got to think of things that are work friendly. It's too expensive and time consuming to come up with different things to have daily - even having two options for each and alternating is tough and adds a whole other layer of thought and planning to eating.
But it's eating whatever I fancied, whenever I fancied that made me unhappy and fat in the first place!
I don't want to eat crap but I cannot spend my life with food having such a big impact and so much control over me! I know this isn't going to be permanent but it just seems like the end is so far away. In february I set myself a goal of losing 1.5 stone - that took 5 months!! And I still have about the same again left to lose. I think the whole thing of getting to goal then realising I still had so much further to go might be bringing me down a bit - I achieved my goal but still don't like what I see so feel as though I haven't achieved anything.
I thought about switching to maintenance cals for a week or so - but that wont help, I'll need to put even more thought into eating more and still keeping it healthy. I don't want to just take time off from the whole thing because I'll put weight on! Having a few extra pounds isn't a big issue, but I have been unhappy with my weight since high school and feeling fat brings me down too - I feel worse about being fat that I do right now so obvioulsy being fat and happy is not the answer!
I guess I just need to ride it out and hope it passes soon.
On the plus side, it's onlt the food stuff getting me down - I'm still really enjoying the exercise and hate if I have to miss it!
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
I want to eat EVERYTHING!
It's really annoying! I can't stop thinking about food and mentally going through the entire contents of the cupboard/fridge and wanting everything! I am definitely not hungry, I'm not even bored! I don't even just want something unhealthy - I'd happily settle for a wee protein shake with water but I only have 2 scoops left and my order for more was on dispatched today - it will probably arrive on Thursday but since I have one of those annoying job things I'll need to wait until Saturday afternoon to pick it up from the post office.
Right, I'm off to be before I eat the cat.
Right, I'm off to be before I eat the cat.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Food Diary 26th June
Ooops, not been doing too well at keeping up! Been a busy weekend with my dad coming up for a visit yesterday - was long over-due, he hasn't visited for ages and not since we bought our flat in September! Was great seeing him and I did take the opportunity to over-indulge :D but I did have a fantastic PT session on Saturday and a 2 hour walk today.
I'm just going to summarise my food over the last two days!
Friday I did quite well but unfortunately there were still cookies left at work and my willpower is crap! Other than that my meals and snacks were as planned and I went over cals by 109.
Saturday, started off well with a protein pancake...
My first one, and certainly not the last! Was so filling though and I only managed to eat half - but it still got me through the hour long PT session! I used 1 scoop vanilla why, 30g oats, 30g cottage cheese, 1 whole egg and 60ml skimmed milk then topped with about 100g 0% Greek yogurt. Think these will become a regular feature at weekends!
After the PT session I had to come home and run round like mad woman cleaning and tidying before my dad arrived! Hunger got the better of me and I had some Snack a Jacks before my lunch which was the left over salad I made for work mixed with some salsa and a tiny bit of left over fromage frais.
Had quite a long wait between lunch and dinner and because I wasn't home and hadn't taken anything with me this was another pack of Snack a Jacks.
For dinner we got a takeaway from the nearby Nepalese place - meal for two between the three of us and I had some cava to drink - this took me to 319 over cals for the day. 444 of my cals came from the cava!
Sunday my dad wanted to treat us to a fry up - but it was healthy, considering! He only used a little olive oil and I had 2 slices bacon, I fried egg, some mushrooms, beans and a potato scone.
After breakfast we went out for a walk for over 2 hours.
Too full up for lunch and dinner was an omelette with a little cheese and a slice of bacon with the last potato scone on the side.
This evening my boyfriend treated me to some Thorntons Desert Gallery chocolate which I thoroughly enjoyed! Today I am over cals by 70.
Back to being healthy tomorrow! I am off work for the day - thank god! And plan on going to the gym early for some cardio (30mins) then plan to have weights session at home in the afternoon.
Oh and the naughtiest thing I did this weekend was buy myself a DSLR camera - I was going to wait until payday on Tuesday but figured if I bought today I'd have all day tomorrow to play with it!
I'm just going to summarise my food over the last two days!
Friday I did quite well but unfortunately there were still cookies left at work and my willpower is crap! Other than that my meals and snacks were as planned and I went over cals by 109.
Saturday, started off well with a protein pancake...
My first one, and certainly not the last! Was so filling though and I only managed to eat half - but it still got me through the hour long PT session! I used 1 scoop vanilla why, 30g oats, 30g cottage cheese, 1 whole egg and 60ml skimmed milk then topped with about 100g 0% Greek yogurt. Think these will become a regular feature at weekends!
After the PT session I had to come home and run round like mad woman cleaning and tidying before my dad arrived! Hunger got the better of me and I had some Snack a Jacks before my lunch which was the left over salad I made for work mixed with some salsa and a tiny bit of left over fromage frais.
Had quite a long wait between lunch and dinner and because I wasn't home and hadn't taken anything with me this was another pack of Snack a Jacks.
For dinner we got a takeaway from the nearby Nepalese place - meal for two between the three of us and I had some cava to drink - this took me to 319 over cals for the day. 444 of my cals came from the cava!
Sunday my dad wanted to treat us to a fry up - but it was healthy, considering! He only used a little olive oil and I had 2 slices bacon, I fried egg, some mushrooms, beans and a potato scone.
After breakfast we went out for a walk for over 2 hours.
Too full up for lunch and dinner was an omelette with a little cheese and a slice of bacon with the last potato scone on the side.
This evening my boyfriend treated me to some Thorntons Desert Gallery chocolate which I thoroughly enjoyed! Today I am over cals by 70.
Back to being healthy tomorrow! I am off work for the day - thank god! And plan on going to the gym early for some cardio (30mins) then plan to have weights session at home in the afternoon.
Oh and the naughtiest thing I did this weekend was buy myself a DSLR camera - I was going to wait until payday on Tuesday but figured if I bought today I'd have all day tomorrow to play with it!
Thursday, 25 June 2009
FAIL.
This week hasn't really gone to plan! My food has been so crapy I can't be bothered to post it, but I said I would post each days food even if I had nothing else to say so I'll do it!
Yesterday:
Breakfast: 1 scoop vanilla whey with 250 ml skimmed milk followed by 0% Greek Yogurt with fresh pineapple and ground flaxseed and I had to add a little sugar as the pineapple had gone very bitter.
Snack: 1 babybel light and 200g strawberries
Lunch: Turkey broth and brown seeded roll
Snack: Nakd Coco Loco bar and 1 scoop whey with water
Dinner: 2 large bowls Coco pops with skimmed milk and about 1 fairy cake - couple of bites of 3 different kinds to check they weren't minging before feeding them to people at work! They turned out lovely though!
Snack: half tsp each of almond butter and cashew butter as I had just bought them and couldn't resist trying them out!
Drinks: coffee with milk, 2 teas and water
Exercise: None
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1398 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 0 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 1398 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1604 |
| Calories Left: | -206 |
| Protein (g) | 98.4 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 218.9 |
| Fat (g) | 38.6 |
| Fibre (g) | 17.1 |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.4 |
Today:
Breakfast: 1 scoop vanilla whey with 250 ml skimmed milk followed by 0% Greek Yogurt with blueberries and ground flaxseed
Snack: 1 babybel light and 1 satsuma plus one teeny chocolate sponge (I made baby ones in my peanut butter cup mould with the left over cake mix
Lunch: White chocolate and strawberry muffin - I was going to have a proper lunch but I was stuffed! It was one of our teams last days so she bought half the Tesco bakery and I baked cakes.
Snack: *shame* choc chip cookie
Pre-workout: apple Fruitus bar
Dinner: 1 large bowl Coco pops with skimmed milk and 1 small fairy cake - boyfriend hadn't taken them all to work and I was feeling blue so decided to give myself more reason to be down! Actually that's not really true I didn't actually feel down, I was in f*ck it mode and I'm pleased it passed and I did my workout. Was supposed to go to the gym but plans changed and I wasn't int he mood for walking down so decided to do nothing. In the end I got a wee boost from somewhere and did a bloody hard weights workout!
Snack: 1 scoop whey with water and I'll have some strawberries too.
Drinks: Couple of cups of tea, lots of water 1 skinny latte - there's only 6 of us in the team and there was some cash left over from the girt fund so after she'd left for the final time we spent it on coffee since the machine on our floor was broken.
Exercise:
Bulgarian split squat 3 x 10 each leg at 7.5kg - agony!
Pendulum step over 3 x 10 each leg at 6kg - a new favorite but absolute killer! Thought they were quite easy before but I wasn't quite doing it right!
Step ups 3 x 10 each leg at 15kg
Romanian Deadlift 3 x 15 at 15kg - weights aren't heavy enough anymore and I just don't have the balance to do single leg - going to ask PT for suggestions at the weekend.
Bench pres 3 x 12 at 8kg - will be putting this up next time
Bent over Row 3 x 10 each arm at 9.5kg
Lat Raise 2 x 10 and 1 x 8 at 6kg - find these so hard and really not managing to progress yet
Should have done tricep dips but couldn't face them :(
Plank 3 x 30 seconds
| Daily Cal Quota: | 1398 |
| + Exercise Cals: | 309 |
| Total Cal Quota: | 1707 |
| Calories Consumed: | 1774 |
| Calories Left: | -67 |
| Protein (g) | 88.6 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 234.0 |
| Fat (g) | 59.3 |
| Fibre (g) | 14.1 |
| Fruit & Veg | 4.6 |
| Water (litres) | 3.0 |
Feel really bad for losing the plot a bit after all the lovely people who helped me avoid binging on Friday. But if it wasn't for them I know I would have been much worse - I wouldn't have exercised tonight and I'd probably be on at least my 4th slice of toast with too much butter!
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Food Diary 23rd June
Yesterday's food wasn't great, I got starving in the afternoon at work and had the choice of a Muller Light or Geobar - I went for hte Geobar.
Then I nearly didn't go to the gym as D was going to pick me up a little later and I used it as an excuse to change my mind, but she was ready early and checked if I still wanted to go so I did and enjoyed every moment - really pleased I went. I would have been so disappointed in myself if I hadn't.
Dinner was rather pathetic, as usual when my boyfriend isn't home I can't be bothered with proper food and last nihgt I went for two 2 bowls of Coco Pops, plus I cheated a bit and have a nibble on a slice of cheese and two frosted shreddies later on.
Breakfast: Vanilla protein shake with 250ml skimmed milk then 20g oats with a handful of dried cherries and 150ml skimmed milk
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 small satsumas
Lunch: Salad of grated carrot and courgette, spring onion, mixed peppers, lettuce, basil, chives and fresh black pepper, topped with 50g smoked salmon and 100g low fat cottqage cheese
Snack: Low fat fromage frais with 60g blueberries, 10g almonds, 1 tsp Canderel and some cookies and cream Capella flavour drops, followed by a chocolate Geobar
Pre-workout: Apple Fruitus bar
Post-Workout: 1 scoop vanilla whey with water
Dinner: 2 bowls Coco Pops with skimmed milk
Snack: Half a thin slice of cheddar, 2 frosted shreddies and 1 peanut butter cup
Drinks: 1 espresso, 1 tea and water
Exercise: Intervals in the gym on, 15 mins cross trainer and 15 mins treadmill.
Still doing the run/walk thing on the treadmill and seeing improvements already - last Thursday i was only running 30 seconds but last nihgt I got this up to 45 seconds, once I only made 30 but I had put the incline up!
Daily Cal Quota: 1398
+ Exercise Cals: 310
Total Cal Quota: 1708
Calories Consumed: 1637
Calories Left: 70
Protein (g) 118.7
Carbohydrate (g) 227.8
Fat (g) 31.4
Fibre (g) 13.6
Fruit & Veg 4.5
Water (litres) 2.3
Then I nearly didn't go to the gym as D was going to pick me up a little later and I used it as an excuse to change my mind, but she was ready early and checked if I still wanted to go so I did and enjoyed every moment - really pleased I went. I would have been so disappointed in myself if I hadn't.
Dinner was rather pathetic, as usual when my boyfriend isn't home I can't be bothered with proper food and last nihgt I went for two 2 bowls of Coco Pops, plus I cheated a bit and have a nibble on a slice of cheese and two frosted shreddies later on.
Breakfast: Vanilla protein shake with 250ml skimmed milk then 20g oats with a handful of dried cherries and 150ml skimmed milk
Snack: 1 babybel light and 2 small satsumas
Lunch: Salad of grated carrot and courgette, spring onion, mixed peppers, lettuce, basil, chives and fresh black pepper, topped with 50g smoked salmon and 100g low fat cottqage cheese
Snack: Low fat fromage frais with 60g blueberries, 10g almonds, 1 tsp Canderel and some cookies and cream Capella flavour drops, followed by a chocolate Geobar
Pre-workout: Apple Fruitus bar
Post-Workout: 1 scoop vanilla whey with water
Dinner: 2 bowls Coco Pops with skimmed milk
Snack: Half a thin slice of cheddar, 2 frosted shreddies and 1 peanut butter cup
Drinks: 1 espresso, 1 tea and water
Exercise: Intervals in the gym on, 15 mins cross trainer and 15 mins treadmill.
Still doing the run/walk thing on the treadmill and seeing improvements already - last Thursday i was only running 30 seconds but last nihgt I got this up to 45 seconds, once I only made 30 but I had put the incline up!
Daily Cal Quota: 1398
+ Exercise Cals: 310
Total Cal Quota: 1708
Calories Consumed: 1637
Calories Left: 70
Protein (g) 118.7
Carbohydrate (g) 227.8
Fat (g) 31.4
Fibre (g) 13.6
Fruit & Veg 4.5
Water (litres) 2.3
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
'Skinny' Chiken Chow Mein
I got this recipe from the Channel 4 show, Cook yourself Thin and changed it ever so slightly. I tend to have it with loads of beansprouts instead of adding noodles and find it filling enough like that.
Chicken Chow Mein:
Serves 2
* 2 Tsps Olive Oil
* 160g Onions (1 large-ish onion)
* 2 Cloves Garlic
* 160g Bean Sprouts (approx half a std bag)
* 80g Mange Tout (approx half a std bag)
* 200g Chicken Breast
* 30ml Soy Sauce
* 2 Tsps Ginger, ground is fine but fresh taste so much better!
* 2 Tsps Five Spice Powder
Thinly slice the chicken, onion, garlic and ginger, and top and tail the mange tout.
Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the onion and ginger over high heat for 2-3 minutes until the onion is softened.
Add the chicken
Once cooked add the garlic, bean sprouts, mange tout and five spice powder, and continue stir-frying for a further minute or two
Just before serving throw over the soy, give it a quick stir and serve
Per Serving:
Calories (kcal) 257.6
Carbohydrate (g) 17.6
Protein (g) 31.8
Fat (g) 7.7
Fibre (g) 3.7
Fruit & Veg 2.7
Chicken Chow Mein:
Serves 2
* 2 Tsps Olive Oil
* 160g Onions (1 large-ish onion)
* 2 Cloves Garlic
* 160g Bean Sprouts (approx half a std bag)
* 80g Mange Tout (approx half a std bag)
* 200g Chicken Breast
* 30ml Soy Sauce
* 2 Tsps Ginger, ground is fine but fresh taste so much better!
* 2 Tsps Five Spice Powder
Thinly slice the chicken, onion, garlic and ginger, and top and tail the mange tout.
Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the onion and ginger over high heat for 2-3 minutes until the onion is softened.
Add the chicken
Once cooked add the garlic, bean sprouts, mange tout and five spice powder, and continue stir-frying for a further minute or two
Just before serving throw over the soy, give it a quick stir and serve
Per Serving:
Calories (kcal) 257.6
Carbohydrate (g) 17.6
Protein (g) 31.8
Fat (g) 7.7
Fibre (g) 3.7
Fruit & Veg 2.7
Oh Sod It! - Progress Pictures!
Go easy on me! Still got a long way to go but here's what I've done so far! Sorry about the dodgy undies, I don't own a bikini.
Front: March, May and early June, sadly I lost the Feb picture so don't have my true starting point
Side: Feb and May, will take another side shot next time, the June one didn't turn out too well
Back: Feb and May
Back: Early June
Front: March, May and early June, sadly I lost the Feb picture so don't have my true starting point
Side: Feb and May, will take another side shot next time, the June one didn't turn out too well
Back: Feb and May
Back: Early June
Food Diary 23rd June
Didn't bother coming on to post last night as I was having a bit of a crappy feeling evening. I'm not really sure what was wrong - something just felt wrong! Then when I looked in the mirror as I was doing my workout I just looked so gross, I seemed to have balooned and gaind rolls of fat on my tummy so that got me feeling a bit down.
Can't think that anything I had during the day yesterday would've made me massivley bloated but I was back to looking ok this morning anyway - must have been in my head!
This last week I've been feeling rather amazed that I've lost so much fat and still have a lot to lose. I never realised before how much weight I'd put on and had always thought that I had maybe a stone to lose. I've got quite broad shoulders and big hips and now amount of weight loss is going to have me squeezing into a size 8 but I think I could comfortably be a fair bit smaller than I've always thought I could be. Anyway, I'm happy with my progress and accepting that I still have a long way to go isn't getting me down, just soemthing that got me thinking.
Yesterday went well, my evening plans were a bit crap as we were going to go to the cinema and I'd decided my weekly treat was going to be then with a scoop of Ben & Jerry's Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Fudge Brownie, so I deleted my evening snakc out of my diary and ended up not going because I felt crappy and instead had peanut butter cups then a spoonfull of just peanut butter...
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 250ml skimmed milk (last of my choc mint ) about to go make porridge with skimmed milk and dried cherries and a little splash of capella gingerbread drops
Snack: babybel light with 2 satsumas
Lunch: salad of courgette, carrot, spring onione, mixed peppers, basi and chives with prawns, cottage cheese, pine nuts and tons of black pepper
Snack: Natural yogurt with blueberries and strawberries
Pre-Workout: Coco Loco Nakd bar
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water and some fresh pineapple
Dinner: Homemade chicken chow mein with loads of beansprouts instead of noodles and 2 peanut butter cups for pudding
Snack: teaspoon of crunch peanut butter
Drinks: 1 coffee, lots of water and fruit teas, couple of espresso's
Exercise: Full body weights at home
3 x 15 squats @15kg
3 x 10 lunges each leg @7.5kg
3 x 15 deadlifts @15kg
3 x 10 flies @ 9kg
3 x 10 reverse fly @ 6kg
3 x 10 shoulder press @ 9kg
3 x 10 tricep dips
2 x 30 seconds plank
Daily Cal Quota: 1398
+ Exercise Cals: 156 (my HRM wasn't picking up my HR for the first two exercises but I'd rather underestimate than over estimate so just went with what it said)
Total Cal Quota: 1554
Calories Consumed: 1482
Calories Left: 73
Protein (g) 143.6 (38.9%)
Carbohydrate (g) 152.2 (38.7%)
Fat (g) 36.8 (22.4%)
Fibre (g) 19.1
Fruit & Veg 9.4
Water (litres) 3.0
Can't think that anything I had during the day yesterday would've made me massivley bloated but I was back to looking ok this morning anyway - must have been in my head!
This last week I've been feeling rather amazed that I've lost so much fat and still have a lot to lose. I never realised before how much weight I'd put on and had always thought that I had maybe a stone to lose. I've got quite broad shoulders and big hips and now amount of weight loss is going to have me squeezing into a size 8 but I think I could comfortably be a fair bit smaller than I've always thought I could be. Anyway, I'm happy with my progress and accepting that I still have a long way to go isn't getting me down, just soemthing that got me thinking.
Yesterday went well, my evening plans were a bit crap as we were going to go to the cinema and I'd decided my weekly treat was going to be then with a scoop of Ben & Jerry's Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Fudge Brownie, so I deleted my evening snakc out of my diary and ended up not going because I felt crappy and instead had peanut butter cups then a spoonfull of just peanut butter...
Breakfast: 1 scoop whey with 250ml skimmed milk (last of my choc mint ) about to go make porridge with skimmed milk and dried cherries and a little splash of capella gingerbread drops
Snack: babybel light with 2 satsumas
Lunch: salad of courgette, carrot, spring onione, mixed peppers, basi and chives with prawns, cottage cheese, pine nuts and tons of black pepper
Snack: Natural yogurt with blueberries and strawberries
Pre-Workout: Coco Loco Nakd bar
Post-Workout: 1 scoop whey with water and some fresh pineapple
Dinner: Homemade chicken chow mein with loads of beansprouts instead of noodles and 2 peanut butter cups for pudding
Snack: teaspoon of crunch peanut butter
Drinks: 1 coffee, lots of water and fruit teas, couple of espresso's
Exercise: Full body weights at home
3 x 15 squats @15kg
3 x 10 lunges each leg @7.5kg
3 x 15 deadlifts @15kg
3 x 10 flies @ 9kg
3 x 10 reverse fly @ 6kg
3 x 10 shoulder press @ 9kg
3 x 10 tricep dips
2 x 30 seconds plank
Daily Cal Quota: 1398
+ Exercise Cals: 156 (my HRM wasn't picking up my HR for the first two exercises but I'd rather underestimate than over estimate so just went with what it said)
Total Cal Quota: 1554
Calories Consumed: 1482
Calories Left: 73
Protein (g) 143.6 (38.9%)
Carbohydrate (g) 152.2 (38.7%)
Fat (g) 36.8 (22.4%)
Fibre (g) 19.1
Fruit & Veg 9.4
Water (litres) 3.0
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Plan for the week
This is going to be a long one....
I can't remember if I posted my weigh in results, but there wasn't much to report anyway! Last Friday I had a big binge and my loss on Saturday morning was 0.6lb, I weighed again on the Tuesday which gave me a 'new' loss of 2.2lb. I had a reasonably good week and weighed yesterday at exactly the same weight as Tuesday. Not going to weigh again until next Saturday morning!
I really want to get into the habit of posting my food diary here every day to give me some motivation to eat well. I don't like just posting the food diary as it's so boring if I have nothing else to say - my my ramblings generally aren't interesting anyway so I am going to post even if it is just the food diary.
My plan for the next week is:
Exercise
M: full body weights 30 mins - 1hr
T: Cardio - intervals 30 - 45mins
W: full body weights 30 mins - 1hr
T: Cardio - intervals 30 - 45mins
F: rest
S: PT session
S: ideally a run but I'll see how the day goes
I'm doing the best I can at home with the weights but have out grown the weight for my legs so I'm trying to do exercises that really challenge me like the bulgarian split squat and lunges as those are still hard with my dumbbells. I'm moving towards single leg exercises but my balance isn't good so I can't do proper heavy sets yet. I'm sweating buckets when I'm doing it's getting my HR up as high as in the gym. When I can afford it I'm going to buy the 20kg York cast iron adjustable dumbbell set so I can have one set heavy for legs and the other set lighter for upper body work, it will give me the weight I need for my legs and make moving between exercises quicker.
I'm going to vary my breakfasts during the week as I always have porridge. I'm going to switch between yogurt with apple/berries with some flaxseed and flaked almonds or porridge with mixed seeds and dried berries with muscovado sugar.
Morning snack I'm going to have 2 satsumas and a babybel light or a an apple and babybel light
Lunch needs to be something I can make a big box of on a Sunday as I don't have the time to do it daily so sticking with my salad with prawns/chicken, cottage cheese/low fat fromage frais and pine nuts. It's also nice with a couple of ryvita if I feel the need but generally I enjoy it and struggle to eat it all!
Afternoon snack, depending on breakfast will either be yogurt with berries and almond or chopped carrot with homemade salsa. I need to start getting more of my 5 a day from vegetables as I'm eating a lot of fruit these days, especially if I don't have my salad for lunch.
If I'm working out straight after work which is what I've been doing 4 days a week, I'll have a Nakd 30g bar or Fruitus bar at around 4pm just before I leave. Once my Nakd bars run out I'm going to have a go at making my own version with some protein powder.
After workout is always 1 scoop protein shake with water straight after and I'll add two oatcakes with honey when I get home
Dinner for this week is:
Chicken Chow Mein x 2
Lime and ginger pork x 2
Beef stroganoff
Chicken risotto
Thai beef stir fry
tilapia with sweet potato and veg
Generally served with basmati rice or noodles, but these will depend on exercise calories and if I have enough veg to fill up on instead.
For 'pudding' I'll have one or two peanut butter cups or some fruit.
My calorie allowance is just under 1400 per day and I'm going to be eating them all and around half my exercise calories too.
I've decided to start doing a cheat meal as I don't really bother and have ocassional cheats throughout the week, usually just a little chocolate or a Starbucks or something but I think I should swap all those for one cheat once a week, whether it's nachos (been craving some good nachos lately!), main meal or a pudding, crisps and a proper drink, whatever, but one proper cheat instead of lots of little ones! If I'm struggling with cravings for a cheat during the week I still have my dark chocolate I can have a square of.
Now I just need to stick to the plan...
I can't remember if I posted my weigh in results, but there wasn't much to report anyway! Last Friday I had a big binge and my loss on Saturday morning was 0.6lb, I weighed again on the Tuesday which gave me a 'new' loss of 2.2lb. I had a reasonably good week and weighed yesterday at exactly the same weight as Tuesday. Not going to weigh again until next Saturday morning!
I really want to get into the habit of posting my food diary here every day to give me some motivation to eat well. I don't like just posting the food diary as it's so boring if I have nothing else to say - my my ramblings generally aren't interesting anyway so I am going to post even if it is just the food diary.
My plan for the next week is:
Exercise
M: full body weights 30 mins - 1hr
T: Cardio - intervals 30 - 45mins
W: full body weights 30 mins - 1hr
T: Cardio - intervals 30 - 45mins
F: rest
S: PT session
S: ideally a run but I'll see how the day goes
I'm doing the best I can at home with the weights but have out grown the weight for my legs so I'm trying to do exercises that really challenge me like the bulgarian split squat and lunges as those are still hard with my dumbbells. I'm moving towards single leg exercises but my balance isn't good so I can't do proper heavy sets yet. I'm sweating buckets when I'm doing it's getting my HR up as high as in the gym. When I can afford it I'm going to buy the 20kg York cast iron adjustable dumbbell set so I can have one set heavy for legs and the other set lighter for upper body work, it will give me the weight I need for my legs and make moving between exercises quicker.
I'm going to vary my breakfasts during the week as I always have porridge. I'm going to switch between yogurt with apple/berries with some flaxseed and flaked almonds or porridge with mixed seeds and dried berries with muscovado sugar.
Morning snack I'm going to have 2 satsumas and a babybel light or a an apple and babybel light
Lunch needs to be something I can make a big box of on a Sunday as I don't have the time to do it daily so sticking with my salad with prawns/chicken, cottage cheese/low fat fromage frais and pine nuts. It's also nice with a couple of ryvita if I feel the need but generally I enjoy it and struggle to eat it all!
Afternoon snack, depending on breakfast will either be yogurt with berries and almond or chopped carrot with homemade salsa. I need to start getting more of my 5 a day from vegetables as I'm eating a lot of fruit these days, especially if I don't have my salad for lunch.
If I'm working out straight after work which is what I've been doing 4 days a week, I'll have a Nakd 30g bar or Fruitus bar at around 4pm just before I leave. Once my Nakd bars run out I'm going to have a go at making my own version with some protein powder.
After workout is always 1 scoop protein shake with water straight after and I'll add two oatcakes with honey when I get home
Dinner for this week is:
Chicken Chow Mein x 2
Lime and ginger pork x 2
Beef stroganoff
Chicken risotto
Thai beef stir fry
tilapia with sweet potato and veg
Generally served with basmati rice or noodles, but these will depend on exercise calories and if I have enough veg to fill up on instead.
For 'pudding' I'll have one or two peanut butter cups or some fruit.
My calorie allowance is just under 1400 per day and I'm going to be eating them all and around half my exercise calories too.
I've decided to start doing a cheat meal as I don't really bother and have ocassional cheats throughout the week, usually just a little chocolate or a Starbucks or something but I think I should swap all those for one cheat once a week, whether it's nachos (been craving some good nachos lately!), main meal or a pudding, crisps and a proper drink, whatever, but one proper cheat instead of lots of little ones! If I'm struggling with cravings for a cheat during the week I still have my dark chocolate I can have a square of.
Now I just need to stick to the plan...