Food

Food — No Comments
1
Oct 10

Yoghurt = WIN!

My trainer suggested that I look at adding yoghurt to my diets. They’re an easy snack that I can take to work and eat between meals. He said Activia low-fat were pretty good, and wow is he right!

Activia Low-Fat Yoghurt (forrest fruit):-

5.9g protein
10.8g carbs
0.1g fat
= 68 calories

35% protein, yum! I just had two of these plus a glass of milk as my PWO meal and got pretty much the same protein as a whey shake (more calories, but tastier too).

Consider me sold, these little gems are going to be regular entries in my food log.

Food — 3 Comments
12
Feb 10

A close call and peer pressure

Friday has been a tough day in the last few weeks. Some of the guys in the office I work have been making an effort to get everyone together in the pub on friday lunchtime, for some food, drinks, pool and general bonding. It’s a good idea and I enjoy the social craic of doing it, but it puts pressure on my routine. No one is forcing me to have a beer or order pizza (the bar is a pizzeria) but the social convention is to do these things and I find it hard not to join in. Sure, in theory I could have a diet soda and a salad, but I’m just not comfortable being that person in front of my work-mates. It’s something I need to work on.

This week has taught me something new though: when I drink booze, I loose all self-control when it comes to food decisions and get cravings for the bad stuff. After two pints I hit the danger zone and anything goes. (It also shits all over any workout plans I might have later.)

I slipped on thursday after a couple of beers (which in itself is a slip I suppose); after the pub I went home and ate more calories than I should have. Again today, after my socialising, I went home and bought 800-calories of crap (cakes and chocolate), with the intention of calling up Dominos for dinner. That would have blown my daily target in itself, not to mention the booze and bad lunch. Ugh. On walking out of the store, however, I got a surge of willpower: I literally paid for my items, walked out, and threw them into the nearest bin. Like a crazy person :) . I went home and made myself a low-cal dinner.

Phew! That was a close call. It was still a bad day but it could have been a whole lot worse. Want to know where I found my strength from? It was you. Like fuck was I going to blow it again and have to explain myself to you on monday morning.

So, thanks!

Changes / Food — 1 Comment
25
Jan 10

How did we eat so much?

I’m aiming for 2000 calories/day this week, which is probably more than I’ve been eating most days but still well below the BMR number. It’s amazing

This week I’m aiming for 2000 calories/day. That’s probably more than I’ve been eating most days but still well below the BMR number – I want to try and eat a little bit more and see if that helps get the scale moving again.

Today I’m checking in with 2005 calories and it felt like I had to eat a lot to get there. I drank a pint of milk, had extra fruit/nut snacks and bought myself some turkey breast just to hit 2k, in addition to a decent-sized breakfast, lunch and dinner. And that is still 500 calories below the RDA.

No wonder “normal people” can stay in shape yet appear to eat what they like: it’s not hard to eat well yet keep the calories down.  *sigh* – I was such an idiot to let myself get this way.

Right, time to pump some iron, this fat ain’t gunna burn itself!

Changes / Food / Lifestyle — 1 Comment
20
Jan 10

I found a lump

I was doing some prodding around my body recently and found a strange lump. Turns out it was my hip bone ;) . Hello again!

The last few days have been good ones. On Monday evening I attended my first cookery lesson (breads and soups). I’m not sure what I expected, but the kitchen we used was really cool; 8x Rangemaster double ovens, massive stainless steel work surfaces and loads of Le Creuset gear. It even had a camera built into the ceiling which could tilt/pan in order to record demonstrations (kinda like a TV cooking show). We make forcaccia (with diced onion), granary bread and a simple carrot coup.

I try not to eat much bread but I do sneak a few rolls for quick sandwiches, or with a poached/scrambled egg at breakfast. I think I could justify the effort of baking myself a loaf each week :) . The soup was simple but tasty: carrot, onions, leek, celery cooked up with a bit of butter and flour (a roux, don’t you know, that we turned into a velouté with some stock!). This lesson was a great introduction and I can’t wait for more; I’m particularly looking forward to learning how to bone a chicken and how to fillet a fish (+ a 3hr lesson dedicated to chocolate!).

I missed my gym session on monday because of the lesson. A weak excuse considering I knew it was happening, but I’ll fix it for next time. Yesterday was cardio (check) and today was Lower2 (check). I’m all over my decision making this week, so far good food and good exercise :) .

In addition to getting healthy, the new me is also trying to kick my favourite past-time: procrastination. I have a list of NYE resolutions / goals and every day I’m making progress on at least one of them — this is a major win for me and I feel in control of my life. There is nothing I’d rather be doing than what I am right now, and that makes me feel happy.

Excercise / Food — No Comments
13
Dec 09

Week 13 – day 6 (Meh. Rest day)

My plan was to hit the gym this evening for a cardio session but when the time came around I was super demotivated and tired; it turned out to be a snooze on the sofa instead. Doh.

Today was a funny food day. I had a big brunch of sausages, egg, home-made oven chips and a bread roll which was mmm mmmmm mmmm. Curiosity made me work out how many calories it was, which I don’t normally do (it’s not like I really count calories) but damn, it was a lot.

3x Sausages – 480 (eek!)
1x poached egg – 100
Chips – 250 (guestimate)
Roll – 250 (guestimate)

Crikey, 1000+ calories in a single meal, albeit a breakfast+lunch combo. My plan for dinner was stir-fried beef + noodles, but after pigging out I changed that to a turkey sandwich and a couple of pieces of fruit. The daily total was probably around 1700 which I’m happy with; it’s past midnight now and I don’t feel hungry or “deprived” at all.

This has taught me it’s easy to create monster calorie meals without realising it; I could have also easily bumped this to 1500 with some bacon and baked beans. Scary.