How are we all doing?

So, it's mid January. Did anyone make any resolutions ? How are they going? If they are still going, well done ! If not, don't worry about it, just remember, we all have slip ups. The most important thing is to keep going, keep persisting !
No one is perfect, everyone has good days and bad days. We just want the good days to outweigh the bad days !
I am not doing too bad these days.  It took a few days post Christmas to get back on track, I had to fight off the sugar demons again, I am winning so far :) The only way that works for me to beat the sugar cravings is to go cold turkey. I am an all or nothing kinda girl. So it's easier for me to cut out junk completely. It's just what works for me, everyone is different !
I am leading the Operation Transformation walks out three times a week, and loving it ! I am also busy in the gym and loving every minute. I tell you, once my head hits the pillow every night I am asleep in seconds :)
Did you get anything nice from Santa?
Santa brought me a Garmin Vivofit activity tracker, I am enjoying using it. It tracks activity, steps, calories, heart rate etc. It also tracks your sleep.
It is also intelligent enough to reset your target steps if you are going over your target for a few days. It keeps you challenged all the time to meet your daily step allowance.

I will leave you with some tips on how to stay healthy and how I am just about managing to stay away from the junk.

• Drink lots and lots and lots of water, green tea, other herbal teas. If you find yourself eating out of boredom, stress, reward etc, just have a healthy drink instead of food !! Or munch on celery, cauliflower etc.
• Get active, even a twenty minute walk every day is fantastic.
• Get good sleep every night. Go to bed as early as you can. If you are tired, you will be more susceptible to food cravings and will have weaker will power.
• Sleep is also essential for recovery after a workout.  It is the hours after a workout that your body is getting stronger !
• Stay away from any feeders. If you are trying to stay healthy, ask people around you not to tempt you with treats.
• At the end of the week and at weekends, treat yourself  with things apart from food. E.g a nice walk on the beach, a relaxing bath, a massage, a good book, a fitness magazine !
• Stay strong. It takes enormous willpower sometimes to keep away from junk. Just remind yourself of the benefits, and why you want to get healthy and trim !!

Good luck on your health and fitness journey. 

What I ate - Last day

Ok so, yesterday I ate:

Breakfast : homemade Paleo bread and an egg.
Lunch/Dinner: we ate out so I treated myself to roast lamb, veg and potatoes yummy !! Even treated myself to some desert, paleo friendly apple crumble (topping was made from almond flour)
Tea: was so full after dinner I had small tea, half a pitta and some salad.

Snacks: two apples.

This is my last documentated food diary.

And you know what, it helps hugely to keep you on track when you have to account for everything you eat ! It stops this mindless snacking throughout the day.
A lot of the time, I personally snack through the day just as a habit. I might not be hungry at all, but just have a habit of snacking. If I am out of the house I do not not snack much at all, only when I am hungry ! Although I snack mostly on healthy food, it is still calories and will be stored as fat if not burnt off !!!
But I am working hard on breaking this habit of snacking, it takes 21 days on average to break a habit, or start a new habit, so I will keep with it !
Every time I want to snack, I will try drinking some water, or drink a herbal tea....
Wish me luck !!

Cheerio for the moment !!!

What I ate 09.01 2015

Breakfast: 40g porridge

Snack after OT walk: Apple and unsalted pistachios

Lunch: tuna, lettuce, tomatoes

Snack: pear and apple

Dinner: chicken and butternut squash

After gym: Greek yoghurt and sunflower seeds

Grapefruit

What I ate - 08.01.2015

Sorry about the late post..

Here's yesterday's day:

Breakfast: Porridge  40g
Snack: Apple
Lunch: More salmon !!! (It's gone now thankfully). Oatcake with light cream cheese, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoe.  My diet is rather boring I'm afraid, I eat the same things most days when I'm being good!

Snacks: The afternoon is usually my downfall for snacking. I had a HUGE craving for chocolate due to being a woman. I fought it for a while but gave in and found a rose hiding in the fridge, my goodness did I devour it!! Then, of course I had the taste for sugar and ate a teaspoon of nutella spread, yummy!
I would have continued having more sugar so I just had to walk away. I made myself a cup of peppermint tea, which I find helps when I am craving sugar.

The rest of the day, I ate some more nuts (too many!) in the afternoon, some greek yoghurt.

At dinner time, I ate some chicken and carrots and broccoli.
After dinner went to the gym as usual, when I got back I ate another apple.

That was yesterday, not brilliant but not a total disaster I guess.


 

What I ate 07.01.2015

Today was a "picky" day !
You know some days, especially when it's raining outside, you just end up picking a lot !

Breakfast: 45 g porridge
Snack: Apple and oatcake

Lunch: salmon, tomatoes , cucumber, slice of brown bread . I don't usually eat so much salmon but my husband got some as a present and I am the only one in the house that eats it! It's so yummy though, I don't mind eating it every day, 2-3 times a week is enough to be eating oily fish.

Snacks all afternoon: mixed nuts, another oatcake, teaspoon almond butter, Apple, Greek yoghurt, tiny bit of muesli .... More nuts ....

Dinner: because I was snacking all afternoon, I only ate carrots and celery for dinner. Disastrous day really !!

After Op Trans walk I was peckish again so had small portion of Greek yoghurt with seeds on top.

Tomorrow will be better, I promise !

Still no sweets, cakes or biscuits though !!

What I ate 06.01.2015

Ok, here goes for today:

Breakfast: Porridge
Snack: Apple
70 g low fat natural yoghurt

Lunch: two oatcakes
             Smoked salmon
             Low fat cream cheese
             Lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes

Snack: Almonds and baby bel light cheese portion

Dinner:  cod, green beans, Brussels sprouts
Apple

After teaching circuits:
Oatcake and small bit of almond butter, some pumpkin seeds,

Confession time: kids had fish fingers for tea, I ate half a fish finger also, and tablespoon of pasta !

Happy enough today :no sweets, bikkies or cake !

I also had a few cups of tea, peppermint, and green tea. Not enough water however, must drink more water !

Night night.

What I ate - 05.01.2015

Ok so, here goes for today:

Up at 5.15am (Instrusting Spin at 6.15am)

•  Slice Wholegrain Toast  (Usually I try to stay away from toast but had a small upset tummy this morning from the sugar probably that I've been having the last few days!).  
• Cup Peppermint Tea ( to help my tummy)

After Spin class:

• 8am: 40 gram cooked wholegrain porridge made mainly on water.
• 9.30am: Apple and 2 spoons leftover porridge (Spin class gives me an appetite!) 
• 11 am: Another apple and 6 almonds. (was out getting some groceries)    

Lunch: 12.30pm

• One oatcake with 25grams Philadelphia Light
• Smoked Salmon
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Tomatoe

Snack:  3pm

• 6 Almonds (daily allowance is 12 almonds)
• Green Tea

Dinner:

• A good portion of smoked Cod 
• Veggies (carrots, courgette,)
• Small portion of sweet potatoe
• 100g low fat natural yoghurt afterwards.

•   Banana

I ate the banana as I was out with the Operation Transformation group this evening and I felt tired beforehand after my early rise this morning, and as a result needed some sugar, it was either the banana or some chocolate!

So, that's it for today. It was a good day today, no junk really at all, no chocolate, biscuits, sweets or cake passed my lips. One day down, another day tomorrow :)

Every day that you refrain from eating junk is one day closer to your end goal!    

Struggling !

Hey all,

So, how's it going so far in 2015?

I have a confession to make, I'm finding it very hard to kick the junk after Christmas, I really am!
Every day, I tell myself that I will stick to healthy food only, and by nightfall I have broken that promise to myself and indulged!

So, I've decided to write a food diary, and publish it every day for a week !!!

It's the only way I can think of to get me back on track.

If anyone out there is also struggling, how about also writing a food diary for a week, and maybe sharing it with someone other than your partner, or family member. Maybe share it with a colleague at work, or someone in your gym class that you know, but know not too well that you might be slightly embarrassed if it's all junk food.

It's worth a shot, isn't it!!

Anyway, every night before I go to sleep, starting tomorrow, I will share my daily food diary with you, and I will be honest, I promise!

Nighty, night!

Operation Transformation 2015

I am delighted to say that I have started a group for this years OT. First meeting is this Sunday, 4th of January, 9.30am. Meeting place is the car park opposite Val's Country Kitchen in Cloyne. This Sunday, after the walk, I will be making a little video for the TV show, they are looking for groups to send in some footage.
After that, I will be leading the group out Mondays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm. After the walk, I will be doing some toning exercises, if anyone is interested !

Might see some of you there....

Happy New Year!!

Hey everyone ! I'm back to torment you all :) Apologies for the lack of posts, Christmas kind of got in the way ! Anyway, not many of us are interested in being overly healthy during Christmas, it is the only time you can eat some junk and not feel too guilty. Christmas calories don't count :)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed every minute of it :)

So, how is 2015 going so far health wise? Have you made any resolutions? Are you sticking to them? Have you weaned yourself off the overindulgence habits of Christmas yet?
You know what? It is hard to switch off the "sugar" switch in your head and turn on the "healthy" switch again.
You have probably gathered from me by now, that I am a health and fitness junkie. However, I have a confession to make. I also love sugar. I did indulge over Christmas, but did make sure also to get in my daily fix of exercise. Unfortunately, the sugar won, and I did gain a little weight over Christmas. Never mind, I will lose that with a bit of hard work in the coming weeks. What I am finding tricky now however, is how to turn off that "sugar" switch in my head. My goodness, isn't sugar addictive !!
Every morning, for the last few days, I have told myself not to give in to my sugar cravings, however by nightfall, I have had some junk food with the main ingredient being sugar.

It has got to stop !

Here is how I plan to get back to clean eating again, some of you might join me in the fight against sugar cravings :

I will:

Drink water every time I crave sugar.
Replace biscuits with oatcakes.
Replace Roses with some dates.
Replace savoury food with a small portion of almonds.
Eat plenty of roasted veggies, e.g. Butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoe, garlic, red onion.
Keep exercising every day.
If I get bored, find something apart from food to fill the void.
Not emotionally eat.
Focus on the end goal.

On a final note, when you are trying to lose some weight, do not focus on the scales. Focus on your diet and exercise, and the weight will take care of itself !

Also, I plan on emptying the house of any junk left over from Christmas, there are plenty of charity shops who will gladly accept unopened tins of biscuits, sweets etc...

Wish me luck on the war over sugar, it will not be easy, but it will be so worth it !!