Hello February!

January was an amazing month and 2018 has got off to a great start!  In April, Kane and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary (20 years!!!) and the traditional gift is china, so we booked ourselves a trip to China!  I'm so excited!  And flights to Scotland have also been booked for my nephew's wedding in September.  I'm so excited about this too!  Of course these good things all come with a price tag, so February will be about enjoying the summer season without spending any more money! #hermit #NoSpendFeb

2018 Goals

1) A Comfortable and Beautiful Home

Last Month:
I decluttered the bedroom, living room and kitchen.  So many clothes, bags, kitchen containers and other items got donated.  We sold the old kitchen table and chairs, so finally that is out of the house, and we have a few other items to list and sell.

// Sold! //

This Month:
I want to declutter the laundry and main bathroom and get two superfluous lounge chairs listed and sold.

2) Respect and Honour My Body

Last Month:
I lost 4kgs through counting calories.  I went flexible vegan, where I only buy vegan food, but I'm using up what I still have in the cupboards that might have eggs/honey/dairy in it.  Kane is staying vegetarian so he's mostly taking care of the non-vegan food ;)  I also subscribed to Headspace and I'm trying to meditate for 10 minutes a day.

// Vegan Waffles mmmm //

This Month:
I'm working on stretching and strengthening my legs and glutes so that I stop get injured running!  I was thinking about getting a massage, however instead of spending money I will foam roll and then have a relaxing epsom salt bath with a mud masque ... and a glass of wine *bliss*

Celebrate the Season

// Fresh corn //

• I love it when corn on the cob becomes super cheap and its so fresh!  
• It's good to get outdoors and go for a walk up a hill or take a picnic.  
• Our barbecue hasn't had much attention lately, but with a public holiday coming up we'll get more work done in the garden and then hopefully dine al fresco in the evening.
• I'm planning a special cocktail for Valentines Day

// February walk up One Tree Hill //

Happy February!

How to Eat Cake Every Day and Lose Weight!

// Image taken by me on an evening walk this week

 

In November I read Rosemary Conley's Amazing Inch Loss Plan.  It states that you can lose 14lbs in a month on this plan and gives real world accounts of men and women of varying ages with varying amounts to lose who have all lost between 10 and 14 lbs in 4 weeks.

 

Back in the UK Rosemary Conley had a number of slimming club franchises and each followed a calorie controlled diet and after weigh-in there was a 45 minutes aerobics class.  Rosemary Conley's slimming empire went into receivership a few years ago, but the dieting principles remains.

 

The foundation of the diet is that you follow a calorie controlled diet and keep to under 5% fat with the exception of one high fat snack per day.  You're also expected to undertake 30 minutes of activity per day like walking and the book has daily body weight exercises that you should do for muscle toning.

 

In the first 2 weeks you stick with 1200 calories per day broken down like this:

 

200 cals - Dairy allowance

200 cals - Breakfast

50 cals - Morning snack

300 cals - Lunch

50 cals - Afternoon snack

400 cals - Dinner

 

Then in the following 2 weeks you go up to 1400 calories which gives you the following in addition to the above:

 

100 cals - low fat snack (less that 5%)

100 cals - high fat snack or alcohol

 

After the 4 weeks there are sex/age charts in the back of the book with the corresponding calorie intakes for continuing to lose weight at 1lb per week and for maintaining weight.

 

I chose this plan because heart health is important to me and this fits with the heart foundation guidelines.  It's calorie counting so it's easy to workout since most foods have those labels and especially easy using an app like MyFitnessPal.  I use the meal plans as inspiration rather than following then exactly so that way I can still make our favourites and try out some new things too.

 

For the first 2 weeks I stuck with the 1200 calories and tried out some of the suggested meals, but I don't eat yoghurt or have much soya milk so on some days my calories would fall closer to 1000 but on other days my meals would be slightly more or I'd have extra fruit and that would bring me to 1200.  One of the downsides of using MyFitnessPal is that calorie balance doesn't roll over to the next day so you need to keep a track of it yourself.

 

Over Christmas and New Year my calorie intake increased, exercise took a little break and my weight wobbled a little up and down but I wasn't depriving myself, and at no point did I feel like I was undoing my good work nor did I feel like giving up.  It was a positive experience where I could eat and drink what I wanted, enjoy it and then pick up the diet again the next day.

 

Last week Kane wanted to try making one of those boxed cake mixes.  The result was a beautiful strawberry cake with strawberry flavoured frosting - 400 calories per slice!  We just make sure that we get good filling meals that fit with the calorie allowance and I save all my snack calories for a delicious slice of cake in the evening.  So cake every evening AND I lost 5lbs!

 

Last night I had mushroom stroganoff with rice for dinner which came to 320 calories and I certainly felt full and satisfied with it.  I would not have felt that way if I'd had the 400 calorie cake slice for dinner - I would certainly have been hungry again soon after.  So whilst losing weight is definitely a numbers game, the type of food you spend your calories on influences how satisfied you feel and can either make you eat more or less.  

 

I have a lot more weight to lose and this journey is going to take a while so I'm glad to know that I can have celebratory treats and indulgences without stalling progress.

 

What is your favourite treat food or drink?  Do you have any hints or tips for weight loss?

Monday Meeting: Healthy Living

Here we are at the start of a new week.  Firstly, lets review last week and then plan for the upcoming week.

Last weeks workouts:

Hot power yoga x 4
Yin yoga x 1
Couch to 5k x 1

Last weeks calorie intake:

Total calories consumed = 14396

What worked well:

• Using Myfitnesspal to track my food intake
• Making and freezing sandwiches in bulk
• Using the special Sport load setting on my washing machine!
• Freezing bite size mars bars

What didn't work so well:

• Having guests staying - too many meals out.
• Buffet meals - I'm not good at exercising control!
• Having a Tank for lunch - it was almost 800 calories!

On to this week!

Planned workouts:

Hot power yoga x 3
Couch to 5k x 2

Planned meals:

Breakfast - toast or cereal
Lunch - sandwiches *make these in bulk today*
Dinner - *draft a meal plan today and go shopping*, restrict eating out to Fri, Sat, Sun

Things to try:

• Keep using Myfitnesspal
• Portion out snacks
• Try to restrict eating out to weekends
• Make a list of quick recipes

 

Inspiration

I'm feeling very inspired by my friend Claire's journey to becoming healthy and fit all the while studying and working towards achieving her dream job. Good on you Claire!

Read her blog here: http://myjourney-wartsandall.blogspot.com/

Diets, Slugs and Drums

Amazingly I'm still on my diet! Normally by day 3 I've caved and eaten a dozen chocolate bars and a large pizza. I'm trying to eat more vegetables - I know that sounds weird coming from a vegan, but I feel like I've been living on chips, bread and sweets lately.

Anyway, I bought a cauliflower the other day and when I chopped into it, out popped a slug. At first I thought I had accidently chopped it in half but I was pleased when it unfurled and was unharmed. I put it some of the leaves I had removed from the cauliflower and considered keeping it, but I thought that might be cruel so I put it outside with the other slugs and snails.

I had my first drum lesson as well. My teacher is pretty cool, she's in a band called Little Green Machine. I learned some basic beats a couple of fills and the rudiments which I have to practise at home. It was great fun and I'm looking forward to my next lesson.

Dieting

I've been somewhat stressed and lazy for longer than I care to admit. Many mornings I find myself rushing about at the last minute and leaving for work without having breakfast or preparing a lunch. Of course, I'm just making excuses for what I'm about to tell you.
Where I work, there's a chap that pulls up about 11.30 selling rolls, sandwiches, crisps etc. He is affectionately known as "The Roll Man". I have been a good customer of his over the years and more recently a frequent visitor. As I'm a vegan the only options for me are many of the crisps and a few of the flapjacks. I usually opt for 2 packets of crisps and a flapjack and that does me until I get home in the evening where I gorge on everything I can lay my hands on.
Last week, I was slightly more organised – I think it was because my DH has been on annual leave and has been looking after me. I didn't visit the Roll Man until Friday and even then I only had 1 packet of crisps. The Roll Man looked at me and asked ... "You on a diet?"
I am now.