LOSING WEIGHT

EAT LESS, MOVE MORE

For Laura :-)

Below are a few tips I discovered on my mission to lose 5 kilos (which I finally managed to do within the last few months and I have been trying for the last 3 years and I only ever gained weight!) I thought that sticking to a diet that helped me lose weight from when I was a teenager would do the trick but I was so wrong!

As I'm getting older I realized that the amount of carbs I was eating was starting to make me gain weight... this was not a problem in my early twenties.

But I also realized I was becoming grumpy, feeling sluggish, never motivated and always ALWAYS tired!

But now that I eat a lot more veggies and lentils I feel amazing and have so much energy! 

Now let me just clear something up, my diet was only carbs, (I do strongly believe we need carbs in our diet - just not as much as I was eating and we need the good wholemeal carbs!) Below is what my daily diet use to look like.

Breakfast

Toast & jam (no butter)

Snack

Banana and a muslie bar

Lunch

Either plain boiled rice 

(large size and sometimes with a few boiled veggies) 

or a large serving of pasta with napolitana sauce

or a bread roll with raw veggies (sometimes I would even just have two or three bread rolls!

Snack

Wheat bix or more toast

Dinner

Generally pasta or pizza

+ always after dinner and lunch I would have cookies or chocolate

So, looking back that is such an unhealthy diet!! I wasn't getting enough fruits or veggies into my diet, all I had was carbs and not even the wholemeal carbs.

I have been a vegetarian for 5 years now and I haven't eaten pig since I was very young.

Never tried anything other than chicken, fish or beef

Pre my vegetarian life I only ever use to eat meat if it was just a filled and even then I was extremely picky

But a few months ago I became vegan (now I'm not saying you need to be a vegan to lose weight, I'm just saying that becoming a vegan made me pay attention to what I was eating and made me do my research into what is good for my body and what isn't and that I needed to incorporate fruits and veggies into my diet as well as iron and protein) which encouraged me add a lot more variety to my meals!

So below are my tips that have worked for me.

TIPS

1. Keep a food journal 

This helped me to see what I ate that made me feel bloated or what I ate that made me gain or lose weight

2. Calorie counting

I don't mean obsessing, but just figuring out where you are going wrong!

My old diet was something like 2000+ calories!

So now I have learnt that I can have the largest veggie soup instead of one veggie slice pizza and I will save over 100 calories! Sticking to a lower calorie diet most of the time allows me to indulge everyone once in a while without feeling guilty!

3. Exercise every day

I do a hour exercise everyday split into 4 (walking to and from the station and home)

Plus I try to do at least 30 mins everyday on the treadmill at home but if I miss a day or two I don't mind as I know I already did something during the day.

4. Add the butter, it's satisfying and filling!

I use Nuttlex which is vegan

5.Olive oil is good for you in very small doses

6.Good fats are not BAD!

I never ate avocado or nuts - now I go crazy over them!
They are filling and keep you full for longer.

7. Drink a glass of water with lemon in the morning

Ever since I became vegan I naturally stopped drinking caffeine.

I was drinking 4 cups a day so that's 280 calories a day!

Now I just drink water or peppermint tea.

8. Eating breakfast within half an hour of waking boosts your metabolism 

9. Eating every 2 or 3 hours keeps you full and your metabolism working

Keep in mind your portions should be a lot small if its every 2 hours

10. Never start your day saying I will eat extremely good today, its sets you up for failure because you always want what you cant have.

11. Bigger breakfast and lunch helps makes your dinners smaller

12. Don't stick to the cereal is for breakfast and sandwiches are for lunch stereotype!

There are days when I wake up and I want a gourmet sandwich or a burger... so I eat it!

It's my body telling me its needs a lot more to get me going for that day.

13. No more then two pieces of fruit a day

Lately I have cut down on my fruit intake which has helped me dramatically.

I will eat half an apple with peanut butter on toast and later on in the day I will have half a banana with wholemeal oats or just on its own.

14. Eating lentils and beans keeps you full for so long and gives you enough energy to not get the 3pm slump!

15. Never say oh I can't do that, I can't exercise that much or I can't not eat that... because you can! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT! You just need to be willing! Remind yourself that that you can! Once you start getting into the habit of it you won't even think about it.

17. Don't stress about it, once I finally thought forget it, was when I lost the weight!

18. If you have a bad food day, oh well, it happens!

Life is short and sometimes you should just eat the whole cake ;-)

19. Never stop drinking water!

20. If I don't feel like exercising, I tell myself to at least do 5-10 mins... which never happens, I always end up doing a full 30 mins or I go even longer!


MY NEW DAILY DIET

Breakfast
Apple slices with peanut butter on rye toast
Mushroom, spinach, hash brown and tomatoes
Avocado and tomato on rye toast

Snack
Banana or berries with rolled oats

Lunch
Veggie or lentil soup
Veggie stir fry
Lentil burger
Roast veggies and wholemeal rice
Salad with falafels

Snack
Banana and almonds

Dinner
Veggie soup
Small amount of Pasta with a lot of veggies
Sweet potato mash and veggies
Laska with tofu


+ dark chocolate after lunch and dinner