A new way of eating

Thursday’s Plan includes

B- 2 egg omelette with spinach & rocket mix, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese & a little chilli bbq sauce

L- Fish bites with salad & a bread roll

D- Chicken breast with steamed veggies

S- 5 x almonds, apple, banana, yoghurt

E- Boxercise with Darren Obah

Today’s menu comes in at 1193 calories. It amazes me how much actual food I eat now. I used to practically starve myself all day thinking I was doing the right thing by having a plain salad for lunch. But because I was hungry starving by the time I would get home I then would eat everything in sight. Yes some healthy stuff but usually the kids home cooking or bread, laden with butter & vegemite. Then I would eat a big man portion of food for dinner. Sometimes I would also top it off with dessert!. I am trying a new technique to eat 3 meals of approx 300 calories & then total snacks of 300 calories throughout the day. This is one of the skinny chick secrets. Eating balanced calorie meals throughout the day helps your body process them consistently. I guess it is kinda comes back to food being fuel. If you are giving your body the fuel it needs all in one meal at the end of the day it is not using it when it needs it. It is storing it knowing that it will need the fuel to get through the next day. So this week & going forward from here I am trying this new way of eating. I know that for a lot of people this may seem like common sense but for this skinny girl trapped in a fat body it is something new I need to learn.

Survival of a weekend away

I had a semi controlled weekend away, I made good choices most of the time… except for maybe that vegetarian nachos for Ozy Mex in Byron Bay. But hey everyone knows that it is the best and yummiest Mexican outside of Mexico. How could I go there and not have it? Actually now that I am thinking about it, actually it was a GREAT idea because it inspired me to make a yummy low calorie burrito that we can make at home and did have at home Monday night. It had chicken breast tossed in burrito seasoning, extra light sour cream, avocado, iceberg lettuce, cabbage and coriander salad, a sprinkling of cheese and hot chilli sauce. It was so delicious and fresh tasting. I managed to get it down to 397 calories per burrito not bad considering restaurant burritos can get up around 800 calories per burrito! If you were not fussed with the sour cream and cheese you could omit these and save yourself around 80 calories, but there are just some things I am not willing to give up and cheese and sour cream on my Mexican are a couple of them!

I know I am going to have to really pull in my calories and up my exercise to regain control after the weekend. There were other deliciously naughty food and some alcohol consumed over the 2 nights so I know that the scales will be up a little. I know a week or 2 of strict calorie intake and some exercise each day will make all of the difference. I have signed up for the Ashy Bines tips to be emailed out to me every day. Her first tip for me is to go for a fat blasting walk every morning. So that is what I did. I set my alarm for 6am and got up bright and early to go for my fat blasting walk. I plan to do these daily on top of my boxing. These are just for me. No hubby, no dogs, no kids, just me and nature.

Yesterday was a great come back day. I stuck well within my calories and went to boxercise on top of it. Today is going to be another great well planned day. Today’s menu is 1220 calories.

B- Porridge made on low fat milk with ½ a banana and 1 tsp of brown sugar

L- Left over stir-fry from last night’s dinner

D- BBQ at the in-laws. 1 x chicken kebab, 1 x cup of veggie bake, 1 x cup of green salad, 1 x mini bread roll

S- 5 x almonds, apple, yoghurt

E- Fat blasting walk

Girls Night!

I am all set to spend a few hours with some of my favourite girls tonight, slippers- check, wine- check, delicious food- check. It should be a great night! I am holding it at my house so it has been quite easy to control what food will be available. A couple of cheeky little tricks that I am doing tonight are;

·         Filling my wine glass with ice so that it waters it down a little & makes my glass appear fuller than it really is

·         Keeping my water bottle right beside me while I am drinking so that I can continue to drink water through the night

·         Cutting chicken kebab’s in half to make mini chicken kebabs

·         Cooking some vegetarian spring rolls & curry puffs in the oven

·         Serving McCain’s ultra thin spinach & mozzarella pizza

·         Serving low fat dip with rice crackers & veggie sticks

I really don’t want to drink too much, I plan on going boxing in the morning & then travelling around 4hrs to go away for the weekend. I am not a good traveller at the best of time so I really don’t need to be feeling under the weather for that!

Friday’s Plan

B- Baked beans with 1 slice of 12 grain cereal loaf

L- ‘Fried’ Rice

D- 1 serve of pizza, 2 mini kabab’s

S- 5 x almonds, apple, green tea, wine

E- 30min walk

An Important Lesson

Today I learnt a pretty big lesson on calories and nutrition.

Just because 2 things have the same calorie count does not mean that they are equal.

My carefully planned afternoon was put to the test when my well meaning boss bought a 1kg bag of red frogs into the office (knowing that they are my FAVORITE lollies in the whole wide world) as a reward for our work. The will power side of my brain straight away said hell no I am not eating any of those! The weak part of my brain that likes lollies straight away went to my fitness pal tracker to see what I could juggle to have a few of those delicious little froggies. Now in the past I have been known to inhale a whole bag of red frogs within a 10minute period. I LOVE lollies. I USED to love lollies. Did you know that each little red frog is worth 34 calories? 34 calories I hear you say, Big Deal? I was honest with myself and estimated that I would realistically eat 10 frogs if I started. That is 340 calories worth.... a whole meals worth of red frogs! Even if I tried to fool myself into thinking I would only eat 5 it was still over 150 calories worth. I looked at what I had tracked and planned and sitting in the fridge waiting for me for my afternoon tea. 100g vaalia yoghurt and 125g of peaches slices in juice for a grand total of 163 calories.

I started to think about the delicious creamy yoghurt and the sweet juicy peaches. The weirdest thing happened. I actually started to crave my planned afternoon tea. I actually wanted it over the frogs. I knew the frogs would leave me hungry and probably give me a sugar rush that I would come crashing down from. They were empty calories offering nothing in the way of nutrition. I would get calcium & protein from the yoghurt not to mention the healthy bacteria to keep my tummy happy. The peaches will provide me with vitamins A & C as well as fibre. They also provided a sugar hit although much closer to its natural form that red frogs! I started to think about the way I would feel after I ate my planned afternoon tea & I knew I would feel happy, energised and satisfied. I made the right choice & I am so happy that I am at that point in my weight loss where I can remove myself from the temptation enough to evaluate if I really want it & how it will make me feel. I hope that this lesson is one that will stay with me in times of weakness.

Vegetarian Chilli

Vegetarian Chilli This recipe makes 10 serves at 119 calories per serve

Ingredients

 ½ tbs olive oil

1 x onion

2 x cloves of garlic

2 x chilli’s- I like the little red hot ones mwah haaa ha.... if you’re a sooky la la & don’t like too much spice you could always leave them out I guess, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having chilli if you ask me

1 x red capsicum

3 x tin tomatoes

2 x tins of red kidney beans

2 x packets of taco seasoning mix

2 tins of water

Method

Sauté the garlic, onion & chilli

Add the tin tomatoes & water & leave to simmer for 30-40 mins

Add the seasoning mix

Drain & rinse the kidney beans & add to the pan. Simmer for 10mins & it’s done!

Serve with rice & extra light sour cream, instead of meat in your taco or as a topping for your baked potato... yum!

Loving myself more & Tueday's Plan

Yesterday afternoon I had a bit of a food fail. I ate a vegemite sandwich & 3 chocolate chip cookies. Now it might not sound like much but it did push me over my calories for the day, including the extra ones I had managed to earn from my exercise yesterday. Instead of punishing myself for it & feeling guilty I decided to evaluate what went wrong with my food plan yesterday. I had quite a light lunch yesterday but didn’t get time to eat my apple at work. I left the office 15 minutes later than usual due to a last minute drama that popped up. By the time I got home I was ravenous. I made myself a sandwich thinking that would tide me over until dinner. I scoffed the sandwich down not even giving it a chance to touch the sides. I then proceeded to stand in the kitchen talking to Leigh while he prepared dinner & mindlessly nibbled on a cookie.... then another.... then another, before finally snapping out of it & coming to my senses. What I should have done is grabbed my apple on the way out of the office & happily munched away on it on my way home. IF and only if I was still hungry when I got home a vegemite sandwich would have still been with in my calories for the day. Instead of reaching for the cookies I should have grabbed my water bottle & nursed that while I chatted with Leigh.

Learning a lesson & moving on....

In the spirit of loving myself more I spent last night touching up my regrowth that I had let grow embarrassingly long, had a nice long hot shower & exfoliated myself head to toe then smothered myself in some yummy moisturiser. I went to bed last night blissed out & relaxed. This morning I woke up at 6.45am & realised that I had forgotten to set my alarm to wake me up early enough for my early morning run. Today I have decided to love myself enough to let it go, to not dwell on it & feel guilty. I have boxing training tonight which will more than make up for missing one early morning run session. I have my plan for today all ready to go & I KNOW today is going to be a good day!

Tuesday’s Plan

B- Baked beans on 1 slice of wholegrain toast (no butter) berry fairy tea

L- Pumpkin soup

D- Chicken stir fry with hokkien noodles

S- 10 x almonds, banana, apple, yoghurt, green tea

E- Boxercise with Darren Obah

Secrets of Skinny Chicks & Monday's Plan

I’m reading this great book at the moment called The Secret of Skinny Chicks. It has a lot of great pointers in there on diet & exercise as well as a lot of great tips on how to get skinny & stay there. I love that is written by a girl who has to work to stay slim, she is not naturally skinny.  One of the secrets is about loving yourself and getting rid of that doubtful, negative thought pattern & replacing it with a positive, loving thought pattern. So today I have decided to write down a few things that I love about myself.

1.       I love that I am friendly and outgoing

2.       I love that I have my health, both physical & mental and was able to get out of bed this morning to go for a run

3.       I love the tone in my arms after I exercise

4.       I love the way I feel after I have had a great food choice day, both mentally & physically

I am really working on myself at the moment to try & become a much more positive, happy & accepting person. It is so easy to get bought into negative situations & conversations & I am choosing to be aware of it & act on it.

Monday’s Plan- 1268 Calories

B- Special K with low fat milk & peaches

L- Vegetarian Chilli with 1 tbs of extra light sour cream

D- Chicken breast schnitzel with 3 tbs of gravy, steamed veggies, 1 small baked potato with 1 tbs of extra light sour cream

S- 10x almonds, 1 x banana, 1 x apple, green tea, yoghurt

E- 30min run/walk

I want it.

GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

So it seems that maybe I wasn’t quite over that horrible bug that invaded my body. After another couple of days rest I am feeling a million times better than I was. For the most part I managed to stick to my calories.... until last night that was. I was weak from the illness, Leigh didn’t want to cook & mentioned demanded KFC. Now for the record I actually loathe KFC. Seriously... it kinda makes me wanna puke but I was so weak from illness that I relented & allowed myself to be driven to the evil KFC shop. After KFC I felt like I needed dessert. I was craving chocolate ice cream. Now normally I am strictly a caramel girl. So that should give you an indication of just how sick I was. Sarah Lee FULL FAT chocolate ice cream I didn’t even have the brain capacity to go for a skinny cow! So after gorging myself on all of that high calorie food I of course felt no better. After my citrus zest bath & vicks rub I took myself off to bed again. Surprise surprise, I actually feel pretty good today. I think it is amazing considering that crap I chose to nourish my body with last night! Now because I am feeling so good today I have decided to give myself a full week of planning to make sure I stay on track & see some results next week. I will update my plan just as soon as I have finalised it. In other news I am never having another skim white chocolate mocha again. I have always tracked it & made sure it is within my calories but today I saw something so gross that I never want to drink one again. Leigh will occasionally pick me one up when he gets a coffee. Due to not having access to a proper coffee shop on my work days I like to store it in the fridge & then reheat it in the afternoon for my afternoon tea. I delicious little treat to get me through the afternoon. Well today I noticed that the sipper lid was split right at the point that you drink from. (I noticed this when my lovely grey scarf also got to sample my mocha.) So to prevent any more spillage I removed the sipper lid. To my horror there were little droplets of oil over the surface of my mocha. Obviously from the white chocolate which before I actually saw I thought tasted delicious. The whole mocha was tipped down the drain in disgust.  

Now that I have seen it I can never drink it again...  Back to green tea for me.

Tuesday's Plan

Please excuse my absence for the past few days I have been sick sick sick. Nothing serious just a cold, but enough to knock me off my feet for a few days. Yesterday afternoon I decided enough was enough & sent hubby out into the cold to get multi vitamins, vicks, tissues & juice for me to take my calcium ascorbic powder in. I also made a big pot of pumpkin soup & some garlic bread to warm up our insides. Ran a nice big hot bath with some delicious citrus bath bubbly from Fleurage. With vicks on the soles of my feet & chest I sent my self off to bed to try & sleep this bug out of me. I woke at 4am with a new lease on life. Full of energy & ready for a fresh day. I am still a little sick but I think I have past the worst of it already. So today's plan is full of beautiful nutritious home made food & gentle movement.

B- Scrambled Eggs
L- Pumpkin Soup
D- Homemade pasta with my special spicy vegetarian sauce
S- 5 almonds, apple, yoghurt
E- 30 min walk even though I really want to go boxing training. I hate missing it now that I am back into it.

Calories for today's meal plan = 862. I need to consume another 338 calories to make sure I eat enough for the day. I'll see how I am feeling later in the day & I might get a nice coffee to get my up to my minimum.

Friday's Plan

I hate going into Friday with out a solid plan for something exciting for dinner. I think it is a recipe for failure.... pardon the pun. So after checking in with my weight loss groups of facebook to try & get some inspiration off them I have decided to try something completly new that I have never tried to cook myself. I haven't worked out the exact calories for that meal yet so I have just gone off what I could find in my tracker. I will come up with a more acurate calorie figure when I upload the recipe.

Friday's Plan....
B- Oats with 1 whole pink lady apple, skim milk & a splash of maple syrup (DELICIOUS way to start the day!)
L- Pumpkin soup
D- San Choy Bau
S- 10 almonds, an apple, yoghurt
E- NONE- thats right none. I am having a day off.

Total calories for the day 1064.... need to consume at least another 140 calories to prevent my body from storing. Maybe some gelato with hubby for dessert.... Mmmmm I love gelato!

Pumpkin Soup

This image is from google. It shows the consistency that I like my soup at. My soup does not look as pretty as this one since it is in clear plastic containers ready for the freezer. Thank you to the original artist who shot this picture :)

This is the recipe for my yummy scrummy pumpkin soup. Low Cal & highly satisfying! This provides around 4 generous serves at around 122 cals per serve. I like my soup quite thick so if you like it thinner you may like to add more of the cooking stock.

Ingredients
1/2 small butternut & 1/4 small jap pumpkins peeled & cut into chunks
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1 small chilli
1 onion
1/2 table spoon of olive oil
Water
1/4 cup light cream
Salt & pepper

Method

Lightly saute the onion, garlic & chilli in the olive oil until the onion is cooked. Add the pumpkin & add enough water to cover. Simmer until the pumpkin is very soft. Drain the stock into a large bowl & reserve. Either break down the pumpkin with a stick blender or in a food processor. Add the stock ladle by ladle until you have the consistency that you like. Add you salt & pepper to taste. While still blending your soup add the light cream. Yum!

Thursday's Plan

I am going to start blogging my daily plan. I think by writing it all down it helps me be a little bit more accountable for myself. It also gives me clear direction for my day. I know where I am heading and what I hope to achieve from the day.

B- Omlette using 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg & a splash of water. 25g of cheese grated & a little chilli BBQ sauce for flavour
L- Homemade pumpkin soup with 2 slices of 12 grain & cereal loaf. I use the preservative free one from brumbies
D- Chicken enchiladas with steamed veggies
S- 10 almonds, an apple, 100g of yoghurt
E- Boxing training tonight which consists of 30mins of running & 30 mins of boxing. It is VERY high impact & it makes me feel amazing after I get through it!

Vegetable Soup

This is one of my soup recipes that I make in bulk & freeze into individual portion sizes. It great when you want a hot lunch in this cooler weather that we are starting to have now and the best news is that it is only around 60 calories per serve!

Ingredients

1/2 tbl spoon of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 whole leek

2 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1 cup of diced pumpkin

1 cup of diced sweet potato

2 tins of tomatoes

Water

Herbs- I like to use what ever I have growing at the time but if you don't have fresh you can also use dried

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Saute the garlic & leek in the olive oil gently you don't want any colour on them as it will effect the taste of your soup. Once opaque add the celery, carrot & zucchini then your pumpkin & sweet potato. Add your tomato & enough water to cover all of your veggies comfortably. I like to simmer for at least 1 hour to let the flavours all develop, the harder veggies to become soft & the soup to reduce slightly. Towards the end of the cooking I add my herbs & salt & pepper to taste.

I'm back baby!

I think it is high time that I resurrect this blog. The wedding has been done, the weight has crept back on. But I am back & ready to go. I check back in at 81.9kgs. 1.9kgs over the weight I said I would NEVER get back over. But I am determined to get it back off & more. This time I am not losing weight for a wedding or a baby or anything else. I am loosing weight for myself. To be happy & confident in my own skin. To be able to wear pretty dresses & little shorts. I am also going to record a lot more of my recipes. I have left weight watchers now however I am still tracking everything I eat through My Fitness Pal. I great FREE online tracker. It also has an app for my android which I love!