Day 21

 what went well: when i did mindful eating it did help me listen to my body more, the portion control template worked well too

lessons: eating too much crap still, even if i'm within calorie goal. meal planning will help. 

future me: meal planning

day 20

 areas i want to improve

nutrition - smaller portions of junk when i eat it. don't have to finish the choc, save for later.

eating - eat slower

breakfast - 3 eggs, scrambled. it was actually too much for me.

lunch - none

snack - smoothie

3 gin and tonics

packet of taiwanese snacks, chomp, other asian snacks, 

dinner - pork chop - yummy. wasnt hungry otherwise

Day 17

 WFH today so got to eat breakfast when I was actually hungry instead of because I had to. I am feeling better in the mornings n general, and it's easier for me to eat breakfast now.

I still have to make peace with following my body cues for when it needs food - i'm very much on the "I need to fuel my body at regular intervals" stage.

Breakfast: 8am, was quite hungry, about a 7 on the rating scale. I had protein shake, and piece of toast with butter, and small plum. not completely full. Not planned. I think tomorrow I will take my breakfast to work instead of eat it at home before work, then I can feel when I'm hungry more. 

snack: wasn;t hungry, it was stress eating. chips. 

Lunch: not planned. pilchards on whiolewheat toast - 2 slices.  wasnt too hungry, probably  2, but felt i needed to eat. 

Dinner: planned beef blade, half a gem squash, cucumber. I just never got hungry enough to eat, and my body was sore inside - maybe the bread or chilli sauce from pilchards?

day 16

 80% full - I felt satisfied, and good after each meal. not too bloated etc, and I knew the food would "go down" and I'd be full. I did have to fight my brain a bit to accept it and not eat more because it's used to trying to eat until I'm full, or I feel nauseous so don't each much at all. I really like this mentality - then I don't have to rely on calories so much etc and actually start listeneing and trusting my body. Which is what I'm trying to do - repair my relationship with my food and body. I love this.

Feeling nauseous less often, and stomach is less sore in general which is great. I went almost a whole week without a sore tummy. 

I'm still struggling with eating slowly - which makes it difficult to know when the 80% is, but I kind of just picture my stomach for that size of fullness, rather than feel, at the moment. 

Breakfast - protein shake, wholewheat slice of toast, plum. ate quickly at the kitechne coutner because work. felt full enough and got texture needs sated. ate to 80% or so. planned

snack - 2 boiled eggs, 2 small plums

lunch - tuna, tbl sp mayo, cucumber, rice cakes. was ok, didn;t enjoy it too much but felt good because i knew it was good for my body. Took my time to eat, went a little over 80% because i didn;t want to leave. tiny bit of tuna but know i need to decrease me tuna portions. planned. 

dinner - kfc. planned. didnt have time for cooking tonight. 

Day 15

 first day back at work (remote) after a week of being on leave. 

Breakfast - didn't make time to do this properly. But knew I'd probably have eggs. Added in grapes, and some sugar snap peas. was hungry by 9:30, 3 scrambled eggs. was yummy. didn't have time to eat slowly as had meeting.

didn't have a morning snack - wasn't hungry as had a late breakfast

had leftovers for lunch - beef stew. ate at my desk at around 1 or so

snack - vanilla zoofari biscuits. this was a stress snack.

my stomach isn't as sore anymore...which is interesting. although it did just get sore again, about half an hour after eating the biscuits. 

dinner - not planned. I made chicken pieces (thigh and drumstick), half a gem squash and some grapes. Not inspired, not in the mood for food - but it is nutritionally dense so i'm happy. Added biltong for more protein and fat to balance out macros and have more calories.

snack: plum, ham, got suddenly hungry while i was cooking dinner

I'm much more mindful of portions and what mix of food I'm eating. I'm also quite constipated. 

Under my calorie goal today, again. It's hard to eat enough to get there. 

Day 13

 benefits to eating slowly:

- Eating slowly increases how satisfied you are with what you ate

-People who feel fuller after eating a meal are more likely to maintain or decrease their portion size next time

Breakfast:

egg, spinach, onion melon, olive oil - was super hungry and enjoyed it

lunch:

pie, pork chop, whole wheat wrap.

dinner:

half dr oetker pizza, ham, grapes, sugar snap peas. didn't feel like eating.

day 7

 I find most of the time i eat because I should - mostly at the start of this anyway. lately it's because Im hungry, which is great. I've had some wants on the weekend but thats fine.

Breakfast - scrambled eggs and blue berries - i was hungryyyy but couldnt eat all the egg. 

snack - best of both slice of toast

I'm feeling very snacky today

day 6

 Let my hair down a bit today so to speak.

Had ice cream and a yogi sip and monster much - didn't feel yucky at all after and enjoyed the food.

For lunch i made a creamy sauce with chicken, garlic, mushrooms, onions and gluten free pasta. I made enough sauce for multiple meals so I'm freezing it. SO full

Tonight for dinner I'm going to have scrambled  eggs and biltong.

If I keep to this I'll still be within my calorie in take :)

challenge today was to only drink calorie free things - woops I had the yogi sip but didnt see the challenge yet. BUTTTTT...I have already cut out the sweetened water I've been drinking a lot of and put more focus on no or less sweeteners, more water etc, so have been doing this, and working on it. 

Upgrade My Shopping List

 Healthy food to stock up on:

Fats:

Walnuts

Protein: 

lentils

beans

leaner pork

Colourful veg:

corn

green beans

sugar snap peas

Smart carb:

brown rice

sweet potato

potatoes

Day 5

 Woke up VERY tried and feeling nauseous againnnnn

Breakfast

2 scrambled eggs and a cup of blueberries - that's a LOT of blueberries. I ate a bit later because i'm working from home so we able to wait until I I felt hungry. About 9am.

Lunch

Chicken breast and asparagus. I feel like i needed super plain food for lunch today. Didn't enjoy the asparagus as much as I hoped I would...but the chicken was yummy and crispy. 

Dinner

pork chop and sweet potato

I'm trying not to focus too much on calorie intake - but I was way, way under today. Not good. Work took my time, I also just didn't have much of an appetite. Maybe I will have some snacks a bit later but listening to my body. 

Day 4

 Breakfast

Smoothie with frozen berries, half a banana, baby spinach, protein shake and water. Felt super nauseous when I woke up, but know I need to nourish my body in the morning especially. drank it as quickly as possible because had to leave for work.

Snack 

2 boiled eggs, orange melon. YUMMMMMMM. ate a little quickly because had a meeting. was hungry.

Lunch

can of tuna, teeny tiny bit of mayo, cucumber - so fulling! And yummy actually. ate slowly with my team. was hungry

Snack

rest of the melon - nom. slice of best of both bread.

Dinner

like chicken strips from frys, wholewheat wrap, low fat cottage cheese, cabbage, onion, chilli. NOMMMM. had to east super fast because was late for my dungeons and dragons game. was very hungry.

Design Your Environment

 Foods that I keep around that make this easier

• Biltong
• almonds
• protein shake
• air frying most of my food, or microwave/steaming
• sometimes break up foods into portions for freezing - need to do more of this
• cook dinner as large portions, to have leftovers for lunch the next day too

Make it harder

I will start buying less of these, keep to the monthly buy and that it's, but buy less so it's spaced out more and not consumed so often.

• chips
• sweets
• order take in when I'm tired - should prep food probably, more often

Day 3

 Woke up feeling very nauseous. 

Breakfast

Had breakfast around 9. prepped it the night before - oats, raisins, blueberries, vanilla meal replacement shake, low fat yoghurt water. I started feeling a bit hungry even though I was feeling nauseous, so I ate it, was surprisingly easy to eat. The blueberries were good. I don't really like the taste of this shake but it helps get my proteins in and make my breakfasts more nutritious - I struggle with breakfast because I often wake up feeling yucky. didn't feel clean or dirty after eating - neutral

Snack

orange melon - yummy, always love this. was a bit off so didn't have the whole tub - boo. 2 scrambled eggs added in - I THINK I was hungry but not sure if I was, still felt a bit ill but REALLY wanted scrambled egg, and I think felt some hunger....but could've also been a bit of stress eating.  

Lunch

didnt' eat lunch - wasn't hungry

Dinner

Really just not hungry - had some mango and some steak. I just don't want food

Food continuum

 I like a lot of the food on the green list, which is awesome because that means I have a bunch of choice. 

I really loved the wording of the blurbs for each type of list, and how it was goal orientated, gave you a quick summary of what to do with it and how it would effect you. 

I honestly love how non restrictive this whole thing is - it's amazing. Like, everything everywhere is all "DON'T EAT PROCESSED MEAT IT WILL MESS UP YOUR DIET COMPLETELY" but here in the orange list - chicken viennas - "fairly inconsequential for you and your goals". Obviously this type of food doesn't have much nutritional value so it's all about balance etc (as with most things in life). It was also great to see things like white rice here too. 

Really great to see how small the red list was - the size of the green list really makes it easy to swap things out if necessary. but again - balance and I love that even the red list doesn't say NEVER EAT THIS OR YOU WILL FAIL. Less guilt over having a Sprite once in a while. 

Take outs:

If you aren’t sure where a food might fall on the list, a good rule of thumb is to move away from more processed calorie-dense foods towards healthier minimally processed and lower-calorie foods.

There may be some exceptions from time-to-time, but generally the continuum looks a bit like this:

• 🔴 McDonalds French Fries > 🟠 Homemade Potato Wedges > 🟢 Potatoes.

• 🔴 Tomato Sauce > 🟠 Tomato Puree > 🟢 Tomatoes.

• 🔴 Fruit Juice > 🟠 Apple Sauce > 🟢 Apples.

• 🔴 Deep-Fried Chicken > 🟠 Crumbed Chicken > 🟢 Chicken.

• 🔴 Yoghurt-Coated Rice Cakes > 🟠 White Rice > 🟢 Brown Rice.

• 🔴 White Bread > 🟠 Whole Grain Bread > 🟢 Whole Grains.

• 🔴 Peanut Butter with Salt and Sugar > 🟠 Natural Peanut Butter > 🟢 Peanuts.

REMEMBER: Food is not good or bad and you’re not a good or bad person for eating whatever you want. But it is good to think about food as moving you closer to or further away from your goals. Use the food continuum to help you eat more of the food that’s better for you and less of the food that’s worse for you.

"Be a picky snob about the junk food that you do eat. Make it count."

"You aren’t a 😇 good person for eating a 🥕 carrot and a 👿 bad person for eating a 🍩 doughnut."

Day 2

Woke up feeling quite nauseous this morning.

I planned my meals today. Mostly so I could sort out my macros, and make sure I was going to eat within calories - how do I get away from this thinking?

I also go into the office today so had to plan to some degree. 

Breakfast

Smoothie - coconut milk, frozen berries, half banana, baby spinach, low fat cottage cheese, water

Lunch

leftover mince from last night. mince, broccoli, onion, green beans, cottage cheese. I was hungry, I couldn't eat all of it. Ate orange melon snack as I didn't have time to eat it in the morning. love my melon. 

Dinner

Had it all planned, but not cooked, was tired when I got home and not in the mood to cook or faff...so, KFC for dinner.....guilt. I feel full. But.....bleh. It tasted nice, sort of. very greasy. the zinger wings were good. 

Foods I like

 Green Food - more of, more often, better for goals

Protein

Lean beef

Pork

Lamb

Chicken

Eggs

Ostrich

Hake

Salmon

Calamari

Prawns

Cheese (8 months+)

Cottage cheese

Plain yoghurt

Beans

Lentils

Chickpeas

Tofu and tempeh

Edamame

Colourful veg

Beetroot

Red onions

Carrots

Yellow peppers

Corn

Cauliflower

Garlic

Ginger

Mushrooms

Onions

Cabbage

Eggplant

Asparagus

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Cucumber

Green beans

peas

Spinach

Kales

Lettuce

Sugar snap peas

Green onion

Smart carbs

Butternut

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Sweet potatoes

Oats

Brown rice

Quinoa

Spelt

Beans

Chickpeas

Lentils

PEas

Soy Beans

Apples

Apricot

Banana

Berries

Cherries

Grapes

Kiwi

Lemon + lime

Mango

Melon

Oragne + nectarine

Pineapple

Plum

Watermelon

Healthy fats

extra virgin olive oil

extra virgin coconut oil

almonds

cashews

macadamia

Walnuts

Chia seeds

Pumpkin seeds

Avo

Coconut

Nut butters

Orange foods - sometimes in moderation, inconsequential for goals

Protein

Beef - medium to high fat

Back bacon

minimally processed deli meats

Biltong

Chicken sausage, vienna, patties, deli meat

Tuna

Cream Cheese

Protein powders

Carbs

White rice

Rice cakes

instant oats

Couscous

Wholegrain crackers, bread, wrap

Milk

Fats

nuts - roasted, salted

Butter

Cream

Soy Milk

Peanut butter - no added sugar

dark choc

Red list - eat less, less often, worse for goals

Protein

sausages

dry wors + salami sticks

Deep fried

tofu and soy products

Non smart carbs

honey

fruit juice

soda

ice cream

flavoured milk

crackers, pasta, wraps, rice cakes - non wholegrain

Chocolates, sweets, muffins, donuts, biscuits, cookies

dried fruit

Unhealthy fats

sunflower oil

Day 1

 Breakfast

I had 3 eggs, scrambled and white seedless grapes. I was pretty hungry, and full after eating.

It was breakfast - so I should be eating, I was also hungry, but feeling a bit yuck...but knew I should eat. Wanted to eat the grapes. I ate at my desk, quickly. 

I feel like I ate too much - I felt sick while I was eating the eggs but still about half to go, I didn't want to waste food. I won't make as many eggs tomorrow. 

It was a planned meal.

I felt "clean" after I had the grapes. 

Snack

Biltong - didn't feel clean when I ate. Compulsive snack, wasn't hungry but thought I'd rather put something better in my mouth than a chocolate or something. not planned. Ate quickly before a meeting.

Wanted orange melon because it was sweet and makes me feel clean inside - but already had a lot of carbs today so didn't. restrictive choice. Damn. Will have it tomorrow as morning snack. 

Lunch

Not planned, but wanted food, had to be quick. Ate quickly. Wasn't that hungry - 3. Wanted there to be time between meals. so didn't want to leave it too late and it was already after 1. Ramen noodles. Ate at my desk.

Dinner

Planned. Mince, brocolli, green beans, onions and chilli. Wasn't really hungry but felt I had to eat. It tasted nice. I ate quickly, in the kitchen. Ended up having some orange melon after dinner because it wouldn't fit into my lunch box haha

It's interesting that I mostly eat because I feel like I should, rather than when I'm hungry.