My Weight Loss Diary: Week 1
My old, gorgeous clothes keep staring at me from behind the fat jeans I now have to wear in my wardrobe, and with my ever declining bank balance, it would be beneficial to both my health and finances to shed these pounds!
I attempted a slimming club when I first gave birth, and what with lack of sleep and the rollercoaster daily routines, I soon gave up with having to plan everything each day, so I then went onto just trying to cut down my food intake. Again, I got bored of snacking on fruit and salad leaves, and doing it alone I soon lost motivation.
To give me a kick start, I went onto slimming shakes, but feeling sick with hunger all day did not a happy mummy make!
So after all these attempts, I decided to find someone to plan my meals and exercise for me, to see if this would be more successful.
Having an expert plan my meals would ensure I ate all the nutritionally-balanced things to keep my energy up, and it would give me a solid plan to work with that would hopefully not leave me hungry or bored!
I did some research, and came across a lovely lady called Elaine, who works with people in exactly my position!
Elaine runs a website called Porridge on Tuesday, that gives you personal, healthy eating and exercise plans, and even offers support through it’s Facebook group.
Signing up was easy, I just completed a 5 minute questionnaire, and then crossed off all the food types I didn’t want in my plan (e.g. alochol, nuts), and also chose my weekly shopping cost preferences and even my cooking time preferences.
I then entered the weight I wanted to lose, some body statistics and was given a meal plan for the week. If there’s any meals you don’t like the look of, you just swap them for another dish, and there are SO many to choose from which is really handy.
Once I had swapped a few, it then let me print off a shopping list of all the ingredients needed for the week, which again is great for a lazy lass like me!
This week has on the whole been quite good. I’ve been impressed with all the different recipes I’ve been able to try, which have all been quick to prepare, which is a must on days I come home from work starving and wanting a quick fix whilst giving my toddler his mummy time.
I was surprised with the types of food I got to eat too: – bacon sarnies for breakfast, chicken wraps for lunch and even mini cheesecakes for snacks, which is my idea of heaven, not dieting!
I’ve tried lots of new things, including garlic and lemon flavoured pork with purple mash, which is beetroot and chickpeas- there’s no potato in it!
At times I have wondered if me swapping some of the dishes was a good idea, because I’ve ended up with two bread dishes per day, but it didn’t seem to stop me from losing weight. But saying that, I will avoid doing that this week just in case it helps me lose even more pounds.
I did waiver a couple of times and had one or two extra snacks than what was in the plan, but all you do is log in and add the snacks you have had, so it can work out the total calories you have had that day. You can then also talk to others on their support group for ideas on how to minimise having more snacks than you are supposed to.
By day 3 I had more energy and I strangely I started to enjoy my stomach not feeling so heavy and bogged down with my usually-huge portions. I then wanted to start exercising, so I have dug out my workout DVDs (cheaper than the gym!) and been doing them when Chunk is in bed. This has really helped take some of my stress away, so I’m only regretful that I didn’t work out the rest of this year, as the endorphins really give me a nice buzz!
I’m very happy to continue with my eating plan, and am going to keep posting with updates on how it’s going. My goal is to lose 4 stone slowly over the year, and here is the stats for this week:
**To enter my competition to win one of FIVE 12-week diet plans with Porridge on Tuesday, click here.**