Is It Summer Yet...?? 10 lbs in 10 Days Meal Plan! Wedding Weekend!!

The weather in Cornwall has been all over the place lately! One day it's sunny, and the next day it's raining, what's that about?

Anyway, enough about the weather!

So since I finished that hideous cleanse, my weight has stayed around the same for ages now. Though I did go on holiday at the end of March and ate bread, oh my goodness, it was so bloody good!!

I went to Cyprus to visit my sister as she'd just had a little baby, so now my official title is Auntie Tash! Woop!!

We had a great week, and ate some good food, and mainly carbs, oops haha! It's ok, I only put on a few lbs.

After I was done with the cleanse, I went on to LCHF as I talked about in a previous post. I followed it for a month or so, but my weight stayed the same after the initial loss.
Don't get me wrong, it was wonderful eating all that fat, but I didn't half miss my carbs.

I decided after that to simply eat a balance of everything. Depriving yourself is never going to work for too long, so eating bread again is a joy!

I also mentioned my friends wedding which was at the start of May! It was a wonderful wedding, with an amazing reception, I met so many awesome people, and had a blast!
It was in Derbyshire, so a bit of a trek with a lot of driving, but so worth it! My satnav only got me lost once, right when it was looking for the postcode I'd entered, literally took me to the first house it came to! D'oh!
I ended up asking a chap where Garden Farm was, he was very helpful, and posh...

Before that weekend, I did an eating plan from Jackie Warner.
If you're not familiar with that name, Jackie is a very successful trainer, and nutrition expert based in California.
You can find her books on Amazon, and videos on YouTube. She also has a Facebook page, and Instagram account.

So the plan I did, which I have done on a couple of occasions now, is - 10 lbs in 10 days.
I've had the book for a couple of years, and revert back to it because it works!

The book is based on 3 separate blocks of 10 days, after the 10 days is done, you can move onto the next two phases, for a potential total loss of 30 lbs in 30 days!

The book contains exercises for each day, but I just went to the gym a few days, and went swimming, walking etc.
The meal plan has some typos though, so I entered everything into MyFitnessPal for a more accurate outcome.

On day one I weighed, then got to it! It's actually a lot of food for a little under 1000 calories!

I know, I know, we all know not to slip under 1200 calories ideally, but this is 10 days of your life, and if it didn't get you results, Jackie wouldn't encourage it!

Unlike the makers of C9, I trust this program 100%... It's so easy to follow, the only drawback is that it can get boring, the same food everyday for 10 days.

Once I'd input all the foods into MFP, the calories were a little over, so I cut out the almonds from the plan so the calories would be as close to the proper amount as possible.

The meal plan after I'd adjusted it looks like this -

Breakfast

40g Dry weight oats - made into porridge with water (I add ground cinnamon and Butterscotch Zero Syrup from TheProteinWorks.com)
Half a medium grapefruit
1 Cup of green tea
500ml Cold water

Mid Morning Snack

1 Medium braeburn apple
500ml Cold water

Lunch

2 Slices wholemeal bread
1/4 Avocado
A few Slices of tomato
30g Baby spinach
30g Romaine - I had this instead of alfalfa sprouts, which are expensive.
1 tbsp Mustard - I used French's yellow mustard as Dijon is far too strong and burns my nose!
500ml Cold water

Mid Afternoon Snack

2 Sticks celery - about 150g
1 tbsp Peanut butter - 100% peanuts!
500ml Cold water

Dinner

170g Skinless chicken breast
170g Broccoli
50g Cooked bulgar wheat - In the book it says 3 small new potatoes, but I already had cooked bulgar in the fridge.
1/2 tbsp Olive oil
500ml Cold water

For most days, I diced my chicken and fried it in the olive oil with some salt and pepper, and garlic, or seasonings such as Cajun and Sriracha chilli sauce. Adding in chopped broccoli and the bulgar wheat.

Post Dinner

1 Cup green tea mixed with a fruit/herbal tea bag

Total Calories - 970...ish!

The amount of water at mealtimes equals 2.5 litres, with an additional 500ml whilst you exercise, for a daily total of 3 litres! Some people struggle with this amount, but staying hydrated really helps with weight loss, and staying full!

I followed this plan for 8 days, I started it a little late, but I ended up losing just over 5 lbs, which I was really happy about. I didn't exercise as heavily as I could as I had a bit of a head cold to try and clear before my weekend away!
But still, great results.

My mum followed the 10 days as well, didn't exercise all that much, and lost a little under 6 lbs!
So even if you can't do the exercises in the book, but go walking, and are lightly active, you could still lose a good few lbs!

Granted, after the Saturday of my friends wedding, and the food and beers, I put on a couple of lbs, but at least I had fun haha!

So now I am eating a healthy balance of carbs, proteins, and fats, and the losses, although slow, are still there!

Not every diet in the world is going to work for everybody, just find something that works for you, and enjoy the journey! Don't restrict yourself too badly, you're not training for the Olympics, or maybe you are!

Don't be too hard on yourself if you don't lose weight from one week to the next, or you only lose a little!
Chill out if you put on, it's not the end of the world, so relax and be happy!

Eat well, move, have fun, and love yourself! You are a unique snowflake!

Peace :)

Life after the cleanse..

So it's been two weeks since I finished the C9!

Sadly I saw no positives from doing such an awful thing to my body! Yes I dropped 6 lbs, but 3 lbs crept back on even though I ate healthy foods, and exercised.

Ever since I finished, I have moved onto LCHF - Low Carb High Fat - and let me tell you, it's tough cutting out grains and carbilicious foods - rice, oats, wheat, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes - but totally worth it!

High fat means that I can eat butter, cheese, cream, avocados, and the skin on chicken, without feeling guilty!
As long as I stay within my macro allowance each day, it's all good!

So, after my initial 3 lb weight gain last Friday (Feb 27) from upping my calories to fairly normal, I was a bit nervous about weighing yesterday.
I stepped on, and waited for the numbers to appear, and low and behold, I was down a little over FOUR POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!

I am over joyed, and really hope that this means that the numbers are going to continue to go down over the coming months! I don't mind the occasional stall, but gains aren't so great.

It's really important to keep an open mind, and positive thoughts on my journey to being buff..
Can't believe I ate cheese, and butter, eggs, and streaky bacon, and lost weight! Brilliant!

I've cut my carb intake down to 50g, and getting them from vegetables and the odd bit of fruit here and there.
I love cheese, and cooking with butter, so this is something I really missed by going low fat. Never again! Everything tastes better with butter!

I do miss certain carbs, like crispbreads, beans, sweet potato, bulgar wheat. But if these things are stalling my fat loss, I'll just give them a wide berth for a while!

Most shockingly though, I had some San Miguel beers last weekend, and I usually like it, but just tasted watery.
I hope I'm not losing my taste for beer haha, though give me a really good IPA/Craft ale any day!

I am excited for what the next few months will bring...Cheeeeese!

Byeeee :)

Forever Living C9 - Final Thoughts..

It was day nine of the cleanse yesterday, I'd been gagging for it to end for a good few days, I've not been this hungry in months!

So, the results from this nine days are - A loss of 6 lbs (probably mainly water and muscle) and 4 or 5 inches from here and there! If that had been a loss of 4 inches from my waist, I'd have been way more impressed, but an inch is so, meh!

Was it worth it? As I'm a healthy, calorie counting, eater, and a gym goer anyway, it helped bust through my plateau, but essentially, no it wasn't worth it!

I think that maybe this is aimed more at people with awful diets, who eat way too much rubbish, so when they drastically drop calorie intake, of course the weight falls off!!

I think the rules were too vague, as in, they don't give you any idea of how to balance your meals in the book.

If they had properly written recipes, rather than throwing them together and under/over estimating calories, it may help more in understanding what you're eating.

It's important to get a healthy balance of fats, carbs, and proteins. Which is why, after I've steadily upped my calories over the next few weeks, I'll be going on to LCHF - Low Carb High Fat. Fat is not the enemy, we need fat to burn fat, which is not what anyone was told back in the 80s when crazy low fat diets went off the rails!

As I'm halfway through my weight loss journey, I think that my body is getting more comfortable with my current weight, so doesn't want to carry on quite as quickly as when I started.

So, having done some research online, and seeing some great results, I'm giving Low Carb a bash!

My macros are now, roughly, 10% Carbs 35% Protein 55% Fat - The challenge is set! I'm a big carb fan, brown rice, bulgar wheat, oats, sweet potato etc, so this will be hard at the start, but hopefully worth it, in order to lose the rest of the flab!

Another thing that can really help to lose fat, is Intermittent Fasting - Pick two days a week where you eat around 600 - 800 healthy balanced calories. Also known as the 5:2 Diet.

So in conclusion, if you're like me, and have hit a plateau and looking for a boost, save your money, and go on to something like 5:2, or LCHF, drink plenty of water and do some exercise a few days a week.

It's not always fats that make us fat, sometimes it's those pesky starchy delicious carbs. It just takes time to work these things out!

Oh, another thing, the Garcinia didn't work on me, I still felt hungry all day, and the shakes never filled me up! I believe that a lot of it is a placebo effect. You take supplements that stop hunger and you convince yourself that they work - It's a load of rubbish! I also sneezed everyday, A LOT, how unusual!

I've read reviews on Amazon, but Forever Living don't sell their products on there. So anything sold on there isn't legit, but my review is the only negative one so far.
I'm just the kind of person that expects a lot for my money, and when I don't, I'm not impressed!

If this genuinely worked on people, and they kept the weight off, and continued to live a healthy life, then good on them, but for me, nah, a total waste of cash - how effing annoying!

Cheers guys - Here's to the next few weeks!

Byeeee :)

Day Five of C9.....

So day five has arrived! *Update - I was actually supposed to weigh on day six, not five, oh well!*

I'm all weighed, and measured, and have lost a further 1.2 lbs, and another inch off my chest. Since starting my fat loss journey last January, I've basically shrunk from the neck down.

It must be a girl thing, some of us always lose our boobs first! I'm not complaining though, big boobs are a hazard when trying to run haha!

Since Sunday, I have been so glad to be eating meals again, man was I hungry on days one and two..

Yesterday, I split my calorie allowance for meals between lunch and dinner. 600 calories worth of vegetables is a massive plateful, even with 100g of brown rice and chicken! I struggled!

I went to the gym yesterday, had more energy so was able to put in some time on the cross trainer, and weights.
Though got tired quicker, as I didn't have my usual fuel of porridge, and protein shake..

To be honest, this is a quick fix, and I will be glad when it's over, and I can incorporate more calories. I wouldn't want to undo the losses, so will take things nice and steady, plus regular gym sessions should keep things moving - fingers crossed!!

I've set a couple of goals for the end of April, I have a wedding to attend on May 2, so they're my main focus, mini goals are easier to stick to than massive goals. 20 lb losses at a time are perfect for me, I only count in lbs - 40 to go!!

For anyone who may be thinking of doing something like this cleanse, my advice would be - lift weights, keep your muscles working, don't just rely on cardio type exercise - walking, swimming, running etc.
Muscle loss is one of my fears, I've only just been able to get back to lifting heavy weights, I wouldn't want to go back again!

Even if you can't lift the same weights for the same amount of reps/sets, try your best, so long as your muscles get a work out, and you feel fatigued, it's better than nothing!

That's about it really. I will be back on the weekend with another update, and my final results/thoughts.....

Byeeeeeeee :)

Day Three of Forever Living C9....... An Update!

So here it is, day three, finally I can have some real food tonight! WOOHOO, I am soooo excited about eating chicken, brown rice, and broccoli!

I have to admit, the first two days are tough, my stomach was growling a fair bit, I felt cold on Friday evening too (A side effect).
You are allowed to eat fruits and vegetables from a list of low GI food, but I wanted to go hard on this!

The therm tablets are full of caffeine, as I don't drink tea or coffee, they did make me feel a little sick after I took the morning dose. But that faded within an hour, it might have been because I started my exercise too soon.
I should wait an hour maybe.

The vanilla shake, although nice, well REALLY nice with unsweetened almond milk, takes a lot of vigorous shaking and still I had a few gritty bits left in the shaker.
Not like my usual brand of protein powders from gonutrition.com, they have amazing flavours!

Anyway, I digress, so I weighed and measured this morning, like I'm supposed to.....aaaaaand, I lost 4.4lbs and an inch of my chest, waist, stomach, and hips.

So 4 inches total, not bad, but yeah, it is because I've eaten nothing and had very few calories!

Thank God it was only two days!
To go from eating lots of healthy food, to nothing, is hard going, and why my stomach tried eating itself!!

I have to weigh and measure again on day five, so I'll do another update then.
Thankfully on days three - nine, I get a 600 calorie meal each night, plus on the last day, I also get a 300 calorie lunch!

I'm thinking after I'm done with this cleanse, I will start to incorporate a 5:2 kind of lifestyle, but eating the kinds of food I eat anyway, instead of from a book. I find it much easier to log everything on MyFitnessPal, so I know where I am.
Plus so many of those kinds of books always state, a portion of this, a medium sized that, and I end up saying, "For goodness sake, just put the amount in grams!!" Haha.... The meal ideas in the C9 booklet are like that, a portion of green veg, or, a medium sweet potato.

I'm just going to log everything on MFP as usual, and see what happens, as long as I get the calorie allowance, I'm sure it will be fine..

Tip : I've read quite a few reviews/blogs about this cleanse, and a few ladies stated that they had no problems with toilet activities. Well, I don't want to be gross, but I only had no problem peeing, like a race horse!
Had to have a salt water flush this morning though - 1 tsp sea salt flakes in a glass of warm water - it worked haha ewwww, I'm sorry!

I'll be back on day five, with another update..

Byeeee :)

Time For A Cheeky Cleanse...

Friday February 13 - Well that can't be good! I usually stay in bed, hiding under the covers on a day like today!

Actually, I'm not that superstitious, if someone has a crappy day, they can't very well blame it on the innocent magpie they spotted that morning!

So anyway, I am on day one of a cleanse. I am well aware I have already stated in a previous post that the only real thing that's gonna help fat loss is - healthy eating, exercise, drinking plenty of water, etc etc......and that no lotion, potion, or magic pill can do what those things will. So please don't judge me ;)

This is more of an experiment, a way to see if these can truly help rid your body of toxins, and shift some weight/fat/inches! I am only halfway through my fat loss journey, and halfway to my ideal weight. I really should change the name of my Blog haha!

So this is what I'm doing - (Apologies for the mediocre quality photographs, I used my phone!)

Forever Living F.I.T C9! Crazy I know! I'm not one for 'quick fixes', or similar, but I know people who have done this, and have had good results. Just so you know, I don't work, or have anything to do, with this company.

It is all about restricting calorie intake, but is unsuitable for anyone with Diabetes, Epilepsy, Kidney Disease, and Pregnant Ladies! I am sceptical about this, purely because of the lack of calories and risk of muscle loss, so we'll see what happens! Hopefully muscle loss will be minimal due to my strength training at the gym.

What comes in the box?

These booklets. One is a booklet that I fill out with my weight, and measurements, and it gives me all the information I need about the cleanse. The other booklet lists all the products that Forever Living do, aimed at weight management. I also get a cute little tape measure. So before I started, I weighed, and measured myself, and wrote the numbers in the book. This is repeated on days 3, 6, and 9, with Total Losses being recorded on the final day.

This small box contains supplements, and fibre sachets.

What Can I Eat for 1500 Calories?

This is an average days food for me, though this is without going to the gym. I add extra calories depending on how much I exercise.

BREAKFAST -

40g Quick cook oats, made into porridge w/ 125ml semi skimmed milk and 75ml cold water, and ground cinnamon. Sweetened with maple syrup Flavdrops from www.myprotein.com

1 Red grapefruit

Green tea

58g Myprotein Diet Whey Protein Powder Double Chocolate, made up with cold water

Calorie total - 462

LUNCH

185g Canned tuna in brine or water, drained. Mixed w/ 30g Vita D'or Light mayo from Lidl - Cheaper and nicer than Helmans!

6 Ryvita Wholegrain crispbreads

Half a ripe avocado, sliced

Season the tuna mix with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Divide the tuna and avocado between the 6 crispbreads. *Sprinkle with roasted black sesame seeds, and a drizzle of chilli sauce!

*Optional - will add a few extra calories, but spice can be good for metabolism.

Calorie total - 501

DINNER

100g Chicken breast

150g Broccoli

80g Frozen sweetcorn

100g Cos/Romaine lettuce

15g/1 tablespoon Unsalted butter - Lurpack is a favourite!

Calorie total 390

Last night I put my chicken and sweetcorn in a small baking dish. Sprinkled over some sliced red chilli, ginger, garlic, and coriander stalks. Seasoned with black pepper, and poured over about 100ml chicken stock w/ a dash of low salt soy sauce. Dotted it with the butter, and baked in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken was 74 degrees celsius. Garnished with coriander leaves, and served with broccoli and lettuce, delish!

SNACKS

100g Granny Smith apple

15g 100% Peanut butter - No added salt, sugar, oil etc. Just peanuts, and forget low fat versions, blurgh!

Calorie total - 140

Days total calories - 1493

So that's what I eat BEFORE adding exercise calories. When I do 90 minutes at the gym, I burn around 400 calories, which would give me a NET calorie intake of 1093, so I would eat an extra few hundred calories in order to be healthy!

The more you move, the more you get to eat! Pretty sweet eh!

Please check out my previous blog entries for more swirly stuff from my brain :)