Meal plans- on a different perspective

I thought there is a time to add a bit of a different subject.

So being January -like lots of other people- me and my boyfriend found ourselves erm… in a bit of a short off cash. Well it happens really, so after budgeting the whole morning away we have decided that this weeks food shopping bill has to come to up to £25. I’ve seen it as a challenge and as we are shopping in one of the “cheap” shops anyway it shouldn’t be a problem and I should create amazing food out of this budget.

Oh and just to mention – I’m keeping up with my exercise so I’ve decided to walk to the shop and back (2 x 20 mins walk) and save some money as well!

Here is a picture of whatever managed to buy today

It has come to a whopping £18.62!

Now my challenge is to create food out of the whole lot! If I want to be completely honest I love cooking and creating new food, so this is something I do often but without the budget. I haven’t used all the ingredients but I have used some other ingredients I have had at home already.

Vegetarian lasagna

Ingredients from what I’ve brought:

1 onion

1 aubergine diced

1.5 peppers diced

1 can of chopped tomatoes

3/4 of the tomato passata

1/2 of the mozzarella for the top

1/3 cheese grated

Ingredients I’ve had at home:

1/2 leftover lasagna sheets

Flour and milk for the white sauce

Seasoning

And there it is! We have 6 portion of healthy food to get our hands on for the rest of the week. (Well, it is actually 4 as we have to try it – you know quality check :D)

Potato bake:

We love potato bake, but I like to use a different recipe to the traditional dish.

What I’ve used from today’s shop

Potatoes 2 kg

Onion 1 sliced

5 Eggs

Light double cream

What we’ve already had at home

Seasoning

 

I’ve used the rest of the potatoes to cut into wedges and oven bake for sides.

Also I’ve made some vegetable soup in the slow cooker for light dinners. I cannot live without my slow cooker, it is so handy! It saves so much time and energy.

While I was making lasagna, I’ve decided to make some homemade pizza (to keep the Italian theme going). Naughty I know, but as I’m making it I’m able to control the portion of dreaded cheese and what goes into the tomato base.

Homemade pizza x 2

What I’ve used from today’s shop

Leftover passata

Onions

Leftover mozzarella

Grated cheese

And from our cupboard

Yeast and flour for the pizza base

4 -5 closed cup mushrooms

Leftover ham for my boyfriend’s pizza

Seasoning

Mushroom and cheese pizza / Ham, mushroom and cheese pizza

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I haven’t used all the ingredients I’ve purchased today.

We’ve still plenty of ingredients leftover to make bean burgers, make carrot soup, veggie chili and have breakfast on the weekend.

This is what I’ve made today – this will have to do for a couple of days as I’m refusing to cook any more dishes today 😀

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article.

Let me know 🙂

Love

xx

 

 

 

New Year New You

Well there it is, 1st day of the year!

So much to do and it’s all exciting stuff!

Let’s start on the basic’s – the best way to start is to plan my whole year out. Overwhelming, right? This is what I thought when I woke up in this morning with excitement and a sudden feeling that says there is no way I can get fit by losing weight, going to gym five times a week, eat healthy every single day and soon ….(Does it mean no pizza whatsoever??)

So I thought I will just take a step back and see what I can figure out to break this mission down.

I’ve decided to take one step in a day to get healthier.

-Dog walking 

What is the better way to get those recommended 10.000 steps in than taking your favorite four legged friend out to the park? Good for him – good for me! If you have no dog on your own you can always ask your family member if you can take their pup out or get your headphones and go for a long walk. Also it’s a perfect time to get your head cleared and you will feel better for it.

I track my steps or any exercise with Fitbit

 

–Better choices of food

Maybe that extra spoon of butter were acceptable over the Christmas break but seriously there is no way it’s going to help your weight loss. I was looking for recipes that will make my life easier and ready in no time. There is a recipe book I would recommend to use.

30 minutes for a meal isn’t so bad after a long day at work 🙂

 

-Cut back on sugars and starches 

The most important part is to cut back on sugars and starches (carbs). When you do that you hunger level goes down and your body starts feeding off the stored fat.

 

-Drink more water

People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger and ending up consuming more calories when you really needed is a glass of water. And also it does beautiful things to your skin. Less dark circles, smooth skin and let’s not forget about the fact that water flushes out toxins. I don’t know about you but after the holidays it is much needed!

Don’t forget to drink at least 2.5 -3 liters of water every day to start to see the results. My favorite bottle I carry everywhere I go 🙂

So this is how I’m going to start my year. Small steps to a healthy lifestyle.

Now let me take the pooch out to the park and get things going 🙂

 

Love,

xx

Happy New Year Everyone

First of all I would like to wish Happy New Year everyone!

Is it only me who had a crazy busy year in 2018?

From family drama to moving house and from living the single life to moving together with my boyfriend? To be honest it was about time as age 33 I was getting close to be called the cat lady. Even know I love dogs so it’s more likely the dog lady 🙂

So yes, busy year but I’m gladly to put it behind me as I know there will be a lot more waiting for me in the next year. Good things I hope!

I have a full disclosure to make. I have not followed the 30 days challenge for different reasons. As per mentioned above all went crazy busy the last month. I really tried to keep my diet and go to gym but I just couldn’t be asked. Yes there it is, I’ve said it. Most of it failed as I thought I couldn’t lose the weight and squeeze myself into that little black dress (mind you I went to Scotland for the holidays and the last thing was on my mind to dress up in that cold weather instead of put my cosy Christmas jumper on for the Christmas dinner)

So basically it was all done to my mindset. And of course I was eating like there is no tomorrow so I have ended up putting lots of weight on. I refuse to beat myself up over it and I have big plans (smartly I have written all them down so there could be no reason not to follow The PLAN) I have found this cute food diary on amazon. I needed something that is always with me and reminds me of my dreams. Walking on the beach on my holiday without a flabby body that is.

So I have a food diary where I will be adding all the healthy foods I will be eating in 2019 to get me to my dreams. Do you find it when you have to write your daily food intake down you will automatically choose the right kind of food to eat ( as it gets in the diary and the pack of crisps or a chocolate bar doesn’t go unnoticed?).

You would be surprised the amount of food I was putting in my body in the last couple of weeks – I suppose everyone else is the same around Christmas- I can’t even imagine what kind of damages I’ve made to my body.

This is why I love the Holidays!

I can sit down and take a moment to think over what I want to achieve both personally and professionally. ( I’ve also got a diary 2019 planner  to keep in track on all my side hassle’s).

So guys, there is the last day for the year, go out and have fun and I will see you tomorrow to make those amazing plans.

 

Happy New Year 

Love

 xx

The basic’s

 

So the journey begins to the slimmer me with the #30dayschallenge

Why 30 days? I can hear you ask. There is a very simple explanation to that. In 30 days we coming into Christmas and for that one short week I choose not to think about diet or exercise. I will probably make better food decisions anyway so I’m not worried to what will happen afterwards 🙂

My official diet has began 6 days ago. In a beautiful Saturday morning I’ve spotted that dreaded scale in the corner of my eye and I had THE fantastic idea to jump on it and soon after jump off and quickly hide it away. Well the scale actually show me a horrendous number! Literally I couldn’t believe what I saw but soon I had to realize that the numbers cannot be ignored. As I have mentioned it in my previous blog  (The Journey Begins)I’ve gained 14 lbs in the last month and a half..

So, where do I begin? I have previously tried and approved of the Dukan Diet. Basically you are following four phases – Two weight loss phases and two maintenance phases.

You can find a quick overview here –The diet

Also you can buy THE book in here.

As you can see you will have to start with calculating your true weight. Mine is 133 lbs and my current weight is 178 very round pounds. Which means I have hell of a lot to do.

So as I have shell shocked jumped off the scale I’ve promised to myself that all this weight gaining business has to stop and there is time to embrace my body again and not hide away in over-sized jumpers. By the way I LOVE LOVE LOVE over-sized jumpers but my other half mentioned that maybe it makes me look a bit bigger? He is right though- the picture proved it all when sneakily taken on his sister birthday party. I wish people could just give me a quick heads up before snapping as I could just suck my tummy in and adjust my posture. What an idyllic world it would be 😀

Shaking off the memory of the traumatic moment and long forgotten double cheesy pizza from the night before I’ve decided on diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle! I’ve done it before – I can do it again, right?

I find it really hard to start it as it is manly protein diet specially on the attack phase and being a vegetarian (and not into tofu) my options are very limited. I have been vegetarian over 25 years and all I can say is I wish I could eat meat so my life would be a lot easier to eat in or out.

Here is a list what I can eat on the attach phase- (if you are a meat lover you can find the  list in in here

• Eggs
• Tuna
• Fat free dairy
• Quorn
• and the all so important Oat

So because the list isn’t very long I had to get creative with my meals. (Also I have to remember to start taking pictures to show you guys 🙂 ) But here is one from tonight’s dinner:

Pancake filled with spicy veggie sauce and side salad (no dressing!)

Please remember this is my day 6 so I’m allowed to have vegetables as I’ve decided to only do 5 days of PP (pure protein) days.

There is only the exercise part to figure out -when to fit in? How to start? What to wear as I have a quite round middle area and I don’t think any of my past used gym clothes can hide that. Anyone can relate?? If so, please give me ideas 🙂

 

Love

xx

The diet

Please note the content is from the Dukan Diet official site.

You can purchase the book in here 

As the webpage states:

Most diets help you lose weight. But 95% of people who diet gain all the weight back… and more when they return to their old eating habits.

The Dukan Diet will redesign your eating habits and help you permanently stabilise your weight.

The Dukan Diet is a high protein, low fat, low carb diet – a healthy eating plan based on proteins and vegetables, 100 foods in total. And what’s best, it’s “EAT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE.”

 

Attack phase

The duration of the Dukan Diet Attack phase depends on your age, the weight you need to lose, and the number of diets you have done in the past. The Dukan Diet Attack phase usually lasts from 2 to 5 days, here are some guidelines:

• Less than 10 lbs. to lose: 1 or 2 days
• From 15 to 30 lbs. to lose: 3 to 5 days
• More than 40 lbs. to lose: after consulting with your physician, this phase can last up to 7 days.

Food options are:

• Lean beef, veal or rabbit (mince under 10%, avoid ribs)
• Chicken and turkey (except skin and outside part of the wings)
• Ham (low fat and lean)
• Beef, veal, or chicken liver
• Any fish (except canned in oil or sauce)
• Shellfish and crustaceans
• Eggs (up to two per day, unlimited egg whites but watch the yolks if you have high cholesterol)
• Dairy products (low fat, below 2% fat)
• Sweeteners (except fructose based), vinegar, mustard, spices, herbs, garlic, onion (as spice), lemon juice (only as spice, not for drinking), sugar free natural ketchup (in moderation), sugar free chewing gum

The Cruise phase is the second phase of the Dukan Diet. It reintroduces vegetables with Proteins and Vegetables (PV) days and establishes the 100 unlimited allowed foods as a base. The goal of the Dukan Diet Cruise phase is steady weight loss until you reach your True Weight.

The Consolidation phase is the third phase of the Dukan Diet. It marks the end of the weight loss phases after the Cruise phase, and retains the base of Proteins and Vegetables, plus a gradual reintroduction of starchier foods. The objective of the Dukan Diet Consolidation phase is to preserve and maintain your True Weightreached at the end of the Cruise phase.

Pierre Dukan firmly believes that defeat on the global weight loss front is largely due to the absence of weight stabilisation in diets. This is why the Dukan Diet therefore attributes as much importance to maintaining a dieter’s True Weight through a stabilisation phase as it does to losing weight. Our programme provides every member with adequate support through this phase in the form of stabilisation coaching.

Good luck everyone

Love,

xx

The Journey Begins

Hi There and Welcome to my brand new Blog!
I’ve been meaning to create a blog for a while and when would it be the best time to start than NOW, right? I promise I will keep it simple and (somewhat) fun 🙂
So yes, that wonderful time of the year coming up- so called Christmas. All the excitement, all the glitter and all the FOOD… Well, stay with me- don’t lose me so quickly… We can’t ignore the fact that we all going to put a couple of pounds on (did I say a couple of pounds? I meant a LOT) over the next months. So this year after ending the year a bit heavier than I’ve started I’ve decided to put myself under a 30 days challenge. I cannot possible wear a Little Black Dress without losing weight first. There will be enough time after to put all he pounds back on the Christmas dinner.
But let’s just put the joke over the side for the second. Being a 33 years old woman without children I should be in my best shape of my life. Well, I should… But the honest reason I’m not is I like my carbs better than anything else. Pizza, pastry, bread you name it I will eat it. Not even being gluten intolerant would stop me eating all the goodies. (‘I will suffer later’ as I always say).
This seriously has to stop. I’m around 45 lbs/ 20 kg overweight. I’ve managed to pile it on just over a year including 14 lbs over the last month and a half. I mean, seriously…How is it even possible? The saddest thing is I haven’t noticed until I put one of my Back up going out top on and I literally looked like one of those hams with the string around it. Google it – it’s not a pretty picture.

Once I was the girl who knew everything about health and fitness, eating right and keeps the damn weight in bay. I’m sure all that information is still there and I’m planning to use it again. Not like my gym membership that haven’t been used in 3 months..

I will be using the famous Dukan diet to give me a quick start. I haven’t mentioned yet that I’m not only gluten intolerant but also vegetarian. Maybe not the best diet I could choose but honestly it was working so well for me in the past, I cannot ignore the fact that it will help again.

Also I’m planning a big holiday with my other half next year – we are going to Italy and I’d like to think that beach body is kinda essential. I would insert a a picture in here of a beautiful girl and boy with 6 pack, but it would be so cheesy and very unrealistic.
With that ladies and gent let the journey begin 🙂

 

Love

xx