Meal planning to refocus my efforts

First day of garden leave - I'm looking to make it count

It's amazing how different you feel when you eat less healthy foods. It's also amazing how your body reacts. I'm going to go food shopping in a bit, so am trying to work out what I'll be eating this week so I don't buy any rubbish, but eat much more healthily. This is what I've come up with so far. I'm not sure what I'll get for lunch today, however so far I've just had another pot of porridge as despite being bored of it... I've still got a few pots left, so it doesn't make sense not to use them up :-)

Monday 20th May 

B - Porridge 

L - ???

D - Vegan roasted whole cauliflower (my Vegan friend is coming round tonight!)

Tuesday 21st May

B- Porridge with rasberries

L - Pita bread, houmous, tomatoes and pepper

D - Turkey with veg

Wednesday 22nd May

B - Porridge with rasberries

L - Pita bread, houmous, tomatoes and pepper

D - BBQ Chicken and Vegetable skewers

Thursday 23rd May

b - Porridge

L - Lunch with my Mum - Find somewhere healthy

D - Wagamamas chicken ramen (Dinner with Drama Friend)

Friday 24th May

B - Scrambled eggs on toast

L - baked sweet potato with beans

D - Chicken with Veg (Dinner with Gastric Band friend so need something she can have a small portion of)

I've got a shopping list and will not buy any snacks, no matter how 'healthy' they are - I'm thinking I'm going to try and do a lot of walking this week as well and potentially get back to the gym. However we'll see on that one... 

Right! To the Supermarket...  :-)

Back to reality

Hello Berkshire, I've (not) missed you...

Sadly the Northumberland holiday has come to an end. As I sit on my sofa, with all of my letters on my coffee table to open in a moment and the washing in the washing machine, I'm quite sad that we're not still in Northumberland, exploring the local scenery, going on a boat trip or just enjoying spending time together. As per usual, my boyfriends' parents were so lovely and accommodating - His mother even said I was welcome to visit them whenever I wanted. Not being at work and being able to think about other things, rather than constantly worry about what my Boss and the not-so-friendly-colleague are doing behind my back has been really, really nice and I wish it could continue for the next, um, lifetime? 

As well as unpacking and mentally preparing myself for work tomorrow, I've been revising for an interview on Tuesday - Yup, I seem to have found a company that is crazy enough to at least want to talk to me about a role and whilst I'm not 100% sure as to whether it's the right fit for me, I've tried to remain positive, after all - What have I got to lose? If they think I'm not the right fit, I'll treat it as experience and point out to myself that my CV can't be that bad.... So there are currently a number of handwritten pieces of paper on my sofa, with scribbles :-)

So, what about the food? Well, today has been: Porridge and blueberries for breakfast, some Marks and Spencers sweet chilli hot smoked salmon / a hard boiled egg / some fruit for lunch and for dinner, a grilled chicken breast in a pita bread with some BBQ sauce.

I don't know if that's too much or too little? My stomach hasn't been rumbling and I've been paying attention to how I'm feeling when eating. I've also meal planned for the next week - The breakfasts should be obvious by now, so I won't bother including them :-)

Monday 8th June

Lunch - Something healthy from Marks and Spencers in town

Dinner - Healthy KFC Wrap 

Tuesday 9th June

Lunch - Sushi in London (dependant on interview result)

Dinner - Grilled gammon with sweet potato mash and vegetables

Wednesday 10th June

Lunch - Something healthy from Marks and Spencers in town

Dinner - 'Make your own healthy chicken fajitas' (My friend who had the gastric bypass is coming over, so she can put as much or as little in her fajitas as she wants)

Thursday 11th June

Now, Thursday and Friday pose a problem as I'm away on a company 'thing' overnight, usually, I'd eat rubbish or something from the hotel, however I'm going to try and plan ahead, but it's too far away to buy things. I'm sure I'll find something though... watch this space :-)

Friday 12th June

See above!

Saturday 13th June

Lunch - Healthy chicken salad

Dinner - Healthy chilli with rice

Sunday 14th June

BBC Good Food Show! So my boyfriend and I will no doubt find something nice (and healthy) to eat for lunch and cook for dinner :-)

Writing it out actually forces me to think about things - Especially regarding my time away with my company. What should I take? Will there be a place nearby to buy healthy food? Should I ensure I've got some healthy snacks and a big bottle of water to get me through?

It also highlights the fact that I depend a lot on a supermarket for lunches, when I could be making my own and having more control over what's in them. The fact I only got back from Northumberland a little while ago means that all the shops are shut as it's a Sunday, however that's not an excuse I can use next week, or the week after that. 

I'm wondering whether to step on the scales tomorrow morning, just to see if my mindfulness over the last few days whilst on holiday has paid off, or if eating out 3 days in a row has meant I've put on weight. I'm in two minds about it as on one hand, it's not the end of the month, or even two weeks since I stepped on the scales (10 days so far), on the other hand, I want to know if I'm doing OK as I've been eating differently to what I usually do (more restaurants, less cooking).

I'm now going to enjoy my last night of chilling, try and sleep well and try not to get too anxious about going to work tomorrow.... 

Healthy meal planning

It might be effort to do, but it makes my healthy eating easier

If you're a naturally organised person, meal planning shouldn't be too much of an issue - I actually really enjoy it as it's almost as if I'm creating a week menu from scratch. 

Not only does it mean that I don't buy random food that goes off, thus saving me money - it also means I can ensure I'm planning to eat healthy meals, rather than just buy things on the fly or get home after work to realise I don't have anything I can eat in, and then potentially 'give in' to a takeaway as it's too much effort to go out and buy something at the Supermarket. Why put temptation in my way?

I tend to meal plan, looking at my Google calendar - as I'm always out and about, seeing friends, spending time with my Boyfriend and potentially staying away overnight, this all needs to be taken into account when meal planning - if it's a recipe for 2 or more people and I'm not cooking for anyone else, rather than myself, I can plan to eat the same thing for lunch the next day so long as I'm working in the office and not at a meeting or doing anything random. 

This week should be pretty cool as tomorrow I'm off work and the next few days, I'm seeing a friend, getting my fake eyelashes (Really looking forward to this, even though it sounds like I'm going to look all 'Essex' with massive fake lashes, they are quite short and just make my eyes look bigger).

After my 'cake and hummus crisps' day today, I'm going to skip porridge tomorrow and finish off the blueberries, strawberries and raspberries I've got in the kitchen... and wash it down with some green tea.

Most of the rest of the week looks like this:

Tuesday lunch: Chicken salad

Tuesday dinner: Mediterranean vegetables with lamb (192 calories / 9g fat per portion) 

Wednesday breakfast: Porridge with blueberries

Wednesday lunch: Mediterranean vegetables with lamb

Wednesday night: Tuna steak and steamed vegetables

Thursday breakfast:  Porridge with blueberries

Thursday lunch: pita bread with raw pepper and cucumber with some low fat hummus

Thursday night: Pita bread with chicken and raw peppers 

(I'm out until 9pm, so am going to take this with me and eat it before I get to my friends house)

Friday breakfast: Porridge with blueberries

Friday lunch: Pita bread with raw pepper, chicken and hummus

Friday night: Low fat chilli with salad

(one of my friends is coming over so I'm cooking for her)

Saturday breakfast: Porridge

Rest of Saturday: Depends on what vegetables get delivered on Friday in my vegetable box! My boyfriend and I will no doubt find something amazing to cook :-)

Sunday: Too far away to plan yet... 

I know this is too anal for some people and they prefer to 'life each day as it comes', but I can't do that as firstly, I'm a planner, and secondly, if I've had a crap day at work, get home and don't have anything nice to cook, I find it too easy to turn to junk food and this is just falling into my old habits.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week being healthy and looking forward to fitting into those size 14 jeans at Christmas even more!

Days out and healthy eating

I love getting out and about but still want to eat healthy.

I love it even more when it's nice weather and today, it has been a lovely Saturday so far. I went to Hampton Court with my friend and we spent a number of hours enjoying the gardens, admiring the architecture and getting lost in the maze.

Of course, whenever you're going out for the day, it can be hard to stick to your healthy eating plan, especially when you're out all day. You could bring lunch with you, which is certainly a preference, however sometimes it's tricky - when there are bag searches, or when you don't want to lug the cool-bag around with you all day. You could leave your lunch in the car, however if it's a warm day a limp, warm sandwich or even better, carton of sushi isn't overly appetising. 

I knew I would be in Hampton Court so decided to plan: I had my usual porridge for breakfast which certainly keeps me going for a few hours. I also brought a packet of Marks and Spencers Wholemeal Honey BBQ snacks in my handbag and set off with them and a carton of grapes.

Hampton Court was amazing - the architecture was beautiful and the antiques in Henry VIII's apartments were lovely. I can't believe we walked so much but we actually managed to walk over 10,000 steps in just over 1.5 hours! 

Then came lunch time - We went to the canteen to get a drink as I knew that a lot of the time if you're feeling hungry it's not because you're actually hungry, it's because you're thirsty. We checked to see if there was anything healthy to eat in the canteen: Sadly not - Although they did do fruit. As a lot of the sandwiches were hand made (and quite expensive... £5.50 for a sandwich!) We decided to pass on them as there didn't seem to be any healthy options and I had no idea what calorie / fat content they had.

In the end, we sat on a bench outside and munched on low fat crisps and grapes - hardly the most filling of lunches but certainly enough to keep us going for another few hours until we got back home so I could eat sushi.

I haven't been to Hampton Court for a number of years and despite the admission cost (£19.30 per adult) being quite high, it's certainly a good day out and I really enjoyed myself - More than can be said when I got home and tried the Marks and Spencers Sushi that I had bought this morning - It just looked, well... not that great :-( Tasted 'OK', but certainly not something that I'd have again in a hurry.

If you've got a day out planned, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I have a cool bag? If you want to take food with you, make sure you can keep it as fresh as possible

2. Does the place I go have bag searches? A lot of places search bags before you go in and if you take a lot of food, they might be there, looking through all your nosh.

3. Does the place I'm going allow bags? If not.. you might face a long walk back to the car

4. Do I have healthy food in the first place? I planned an additional 15 minutes into my journey time so I could go and buy healthy food. If you're planning on making it, factor that into your day and if you make it the day before, make sure you have the right ingredients.

5. Can I wait until I get back? If the place you're going isn't too far away, could you take something that's both healthy and light and keep something more substantial in your fridge for when you get back?

The more planning you do, the more you're likely to stick to your healthy eating plan.

Tonight I'm looking forward to making Singapore Noodles - should be healthy AND tasty.