Healthy Eating

I was asked over on Instagram by Merry in the Ferry about my work day eating habits after posting this photograph of my office drawer filled with snacks!! It also ties in quite nicely with my health & fitness goals that I posted about last week.

As you'll know if you are regular readers, I am currently seeing a personal trainer once a week for an hour sesssion. I was struggling to get motivated, especially hard at this time of year when it's dark and cold! For me, I knew that some sessions with a PT would be money well spent. Exercise is great for your mental health and wellbeing, helps you sleep better and I know that by losing a bit of weight I'd boost my confidence. I wasn't exercising at all, and had totally gotten out of the habit of exercising, and Ross has got me back into  it. I started in November last year and now that I'm seeing results I'm finding staying motivated a lot easier. I weighed myself this morning, and that's me now lost 7 lbs.

However, it's not just exercise, what you eat is just as important.

The key for me is being organised - hence why I have a drawer full of snacks at my work. This way if I'm feeling peckish and my colleagues have donuts or crisps, I can get myself a healthy snack and I'm able to stay clear of the junk food. I actually managed to resist the donuts...! Are you impressed?

So at the moment in my desk drawer I have the following:

• Decaf tea bags (Tetley)
• Rude Health Oat & Spelt Thins
• Peanut Butter
• Oatcakes
• Munchy Seeds, Chilli Bites
• Muesli (one with more seeds and nuts than dried fruit, like Jordan Nut & Seed)
• Baby plum tomatoes
• Bear blackcurrant yoyo (these are designed for kids, but to me it's a sweet treat!)
• Food Doctor Roasted Bean Mix
• Beyond Dark chocolate drops

I've also got some Light Philadelphia cheese in the fridge, which I have on the oat & spelt thins.

Some other snacks that are great are crudites & hummus, sugar snap peas, popcorn, yoghurt & berries, a handful of nuts, rice cakes or a few dates.

On a typical day I'll have the following:

7.30/8am Breakfast - muesli & cup of tea

Muesli with dates & bananas

10am Snack - see list above!

12.30pm Lunch - soup or salad, sometimes with a spelt thin and Philadelphia cheese

Hummus & oatcakes with salad

3pm Snack 

5pm Dinner - this varies and depends on whether or not I have the kids but I try and stick to healthy options where possible. If the kids are having pasta, then I'll have gluten-free pasta or choose to have steamed cabbage instead. I'll possibly write a separate post on our dinners.

Chicken stir fry

8/9pm Snack

So I'm actually eating lots, and eating a lot more than I would have previously. But it's all about eating the right kinds of food. However it's also about being realistic. I can't stick to this 100% of the time... I've got to have a life and I do love my food. We were at Pizza Hut at the weekend for dinner, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also still have take aways, but again I'll be sensible in what I choose.

Hopefully this has provided some inspiration, food for thought you might say ;-)

You can find my Weight Loss Inspiration post with before and after photographs here which has a few more tips on losing weight and getting healthy.

{Grooving Mums}

Here I am linking up again this week with Kate on Thin Ice for her grooving mums blog hop. I'm a bit slow at joining in this week - I'm normally very organised and get my post published on a Tuesday as soon as the link goes live. However, my me-time during the day is now limited as my toddler has decided that he no longer wants his afternoon snooze... he still needs it, and sometimes I'll get him to take it, but other times he's so adamant that he's not sleeping that I just have to go with it. I also feel bad as I've not been commenting on the other #groovingmums blogs, so I apologise and hopefully will catch up soon.

I've been a bit rubbish again this week with the challenges, but one thing I have done is contact my gastroenterologist about my Crohn's Disease and he's not concerned about my symptoms as my blood results and other tests came back ok. That's something I can at least put a tick against...

I did revisit one of the previous challenges 'winter warmth' and treated myself to some cosy ear muffs today from a local gift shop. I'll post a photo soon of them.

Here are the festive challenges set by Kate this week:

1. Get some catalogues and look online and in the shops to identify something for your body that you would like for Christmas. Then tell us all about it.
2. Can you do the same for your mind? Perhaps a book or film on a topic that you would like to explore further. Again, please share your ideas with us.
3. Light a candle. If you are up for meditation, try that. If not just enjoy the sight of it or buy one of those lovely scented ones to lift the spirits.
4. Make a change to your blog. Add an image or a badge (The Grooving Mums one is very lovely, hint). Add a disclosure policy if you are interested in reviewing product samples. Give some real thought to what you want your blog to do for you in the New Year.

Come back next week and hopefully I'll have achieved something off this list!

This past week I've been ill... I could hardly talk at the weekend due to sore throat and cold and so I had to skip running club and Pilates class which I was rather disappointed about. The weather has also been rubbish - wind, rain and even snow! So I've not been out as much and I think that's having an impact on my mood.

I did have a session with my personal trainer last night which I managed to go along to and - despite the mince pies and ice-cream that I indulged in over the weekend and the limited exercise - I've only put on 1lb and my body fat % has crept up just 0.8% - phew! I'll get back on track this week as I would hate for the weight to creep up each week and for me to end up where I started.

I've got our Christmas tree up and decorated the house, so I'm starting to feel very festive and my son is very excited about Santa and is thoroughly enjoying his advent calendar each day! My dad's wife made my son and daughter a calendar each and in the little pockets I put some chocolate santa's, coins etc.

I treated myself to a scented candle recently... it's very expensive for what it is and I wouldn't usually indulge this much money for a candle... but seeing as it's Christmas as we don't have a real tree or a log fire I thought I would get a candle that incorporated the essence of these things. It's called Library and is from True Grace and it is described as "a smoky blend of wood, amber and moss to recreate the sensation of walking into an old library". Funnily enough it reminds me a little of the strange scents from the Jorvik Viking Centre from when I was a small child - I've nice memories of our family trips there (I've just had a look at their website, and the tour takes you inside the home of an amber worker, so perhaps it's the amber!). Anyway, I digress... it's a lovely scent and I'm going to go and light it now and watch my twinkly fairy lights for a few minutes and relax (I finally got my son into his bed!!). That will at least tick off challenge #3 for this week :-)

{Grooving, or not as the case may be...}

I'm linking up again this week with Kate on Thin Ice for her weekly #groovingmums Blog Hop. This is week #6 already, and we're now into November... where has the time gone? Grab the badge that features above and check out Kate's blog if you fancy joining in.

I've had a bit of a mixed week if I'm honest.

My dad was here last week which was lovely to catch up with him and his wife. My son adored having his granddad around - we went to the garden centre and you could here my son shouting at the top of his voice from all corners of the store... 'Granddad, where are you?'. My sister also came down for one night and we had a mini-celebration for my dad's 60th (which is actually in November, but we won't see him again until April). I enjoyed being the hostess (I used to love hosting dinner parties b.c.) and I prepared a few nibbles for our friends & family which went down a storm (big thanks to my friend Claire for the inspiration for all the canapes). We also had a day trawling round some fabric shops and I'm feeling inspired to get the sewing machine out to make some curtains for the house (watch this space!). My sister has already made a cushion amongst other things with the fabric she purchased (she's child-free so can get things done much quicker than me!).

Some nibbles.... healthy-ish!!

On Thursday after my dad left I had a 'Keeping in Touch' day at my work. I'm due to start back in January, but had a day of training organised. I have to admit it was nice being back, even though I spent the afternoon reading Standard Operating Procedures! I wore my new Gok Wan dress (size 10!) and got a few nice comments about my new slim figure.

At work.... 

I also had a lovely night away in a 5 star hotel with a friend. We had a day of pampering at the spa followed by a lovely dinner that we got all dressed up for...

Dressed up for dinner in my new Wallis spotty dress

For Halloween on Monday I took the kiddies in their pirate outfits to visit granny & grandpa and they had a lovely day. My sister-in-law also came along with her two little ones so my son had great fun playing with his older cousin.

Last night, my friend Becky and I went to a flower arranging course. It was a one-off 2 hour course at a local florist and I had a great time and learnt loads. I'll do a separate blog post on this, but here is a quick photo of my creation:

However, here are the negatives (thought I'd start with the positive, up-beat bit!)...

Sticking to the healthy eating has been difficult now that Maria, my personal trainer, has said I can ditch the food diary. I've had too many nice cakes with my dad when he was here followed by a weekend of indulgence... must try harder this week.

I've also not been feeling great. I've had a bit of a cold and my tummy has been a bit sore too. I've been a bit of an idiot when it came to my Crohn's medication. With my weight loss I should have really reduced the dose of my medication, so I've technically been taking an overdose and I've been getting some not-so-nice side effects! My own fault really. My dose has now been lowered, but it's going to take a wee while for things to settle out. 

I've also not been doing much exercise... partly because I've been too busy and partly because I've been feeling a bit rubbish. I'm finding it difficult to go out running in the evenings now as it's so dark and it's not really safe to go on my own. I would go in the morning before hubby & the kids get up, but again it's too dark. I'm finding it really tricky to keep to the exercise plan at the moment and I'm feeling sluggish and a bit bleugh...

I feel like all I do is go round and round the house picking up stuff all the time and don't actually get anything done... dirty nappies, messy clothes, toys, more toys and even more toys...

Here's hoping the week picks up!

{Weight Loss Inspiration}

I've reached my target weight, and my personal trainer has now featured me on her list of success stories on her website! Here are the before and after pics:

3 July 2011

3 July 2011

11 Oct 2011

I have achieved the following results:

• lost 6 inches from my waist
• lost 5.75 inches from my hips
• my body fat % has dropped 11%
• lost 33lbs (however I've lost in total 3 stone since having had baby 5.5 months ago)
• dropped from a size 16 to a size 10

All in just 3.5 months!!

The key has been to eat healthily, no crazy diets, and to do a bit of exercise.

A number of people have asked how I've done it, so I want to share with you some of the tips I've learned from Maria.

• Keep a food & exercise diary, and be honest with yourself
• Eat little and often
• Watch portion sizes
• Have something to eat as soon as you wake up in the morning to get your metabolism going
• Choose the healthy option where possible
• Limit bread, pasta & potato intake (I had no bread or pasta to start with)
• Choose wholemeal where possible (brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholewheat noodles, seeded brown bread)
• Avoid or limit bananas (as far as I'm aware they slow metabolism - not sure if this is true or not. This is the only fruit that I've been told to avoid)
• Avoid or limit red meat 
• Eat lots of fresh fruit & vegetables
• Eat lots of fish
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day (I struggle with this one!)
• Avoid Coke & Diet Coke
• Avoid alcohol (I'll have a soda & lime when out)

Here's what I would eat in a typical day:

7am - couple of spoons of low fat natural yoghurt

8.30/9am - museli (one with nuts and seeds rather than dried fruit e.g. Jordans Nut & Seed) with skimmed milk & lots of blueberries & raspberries or porridge

10.30am - snack (handful almonds; crudites & hummus; oatcake, fruit salad, yoghurt & berries; sugar snap peas or handful popcorn)

12 noon - vegetable soup; chicken, tuna or prawn salad (with salad leaves, beetroot, pine nuts, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives and drizzle of dressing); ryvita & cottage cheese or Food Doctor pitta bread with chicken and salad

3pm - another snack

5pm - fish with lots of vegetables; chicken stir fry with brown rice/noodles or homemade chicken curry (tomato based sauce) with brown rice

8pm - another snack

If I'm feeling hungry at any point I'll grab a handful of Food Doctor seeds or Munchy Seeds or a handful of cherry tomatoes or sugar snap peas.

I still have the occasional cake (there is no point trying to cut out everything 'bad' - it's got to be a realistic diet so that you can stick to it), I'll also still eat chocolate occasionally (80% cocoa dark chocolate and I'll only have 2 squares) and if I do have a take away then I will have a chicken kebab (salad, no sauce!).

In addition to the healthy eating I've been exercising approximately 5 times a week. I've joined Maria's running club which meet on a Sunday morning and I've started a Pilates class too which is a Monday night. In addition to this I do a Davina workout DVD at the house (Davina's are the only DVDs that my personal trainer recommends by the way). I've also been trying to do a run when I can, but at the moment it's becoming difficult as the nights are getting really dark, as are the mornings! To start with I went out for brisk walks with the kids in the buggy and I'm now able to run (I did 5.37 miles this morning at running club, and before August I had never really run before).

Davina Fit DVD

Hope this is helpful? Any questions, do let me know.

{Jogging}

Maria, my personal trainer, has got me to start jogging as part of my exercise regimen. So far I've been doing 2 or 3 mile jogs round the local area, and it's been ok. I wouldn't say I enjoy it (maybe I'm starting to), but once I'm home I'm certainly glad I went. I'm not sure that I'm a competitive person... I try to set myself targets... e.g. keep jogging until I reach the next set of traffic lights or try to beat my time from previous jog... but it doesn't really spur me on. I'm planning on joining Maria's running group in the near future and I think that will make a big difference to my motivation to have other people running with me.

Happy Fitness on Tumblr

I've also signed up for a half marathon in May next year (yikes!!). I've joined Team Macmillan and will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support.  My mum died of ovarian cancer when I was at university 10 years ago, and this will be my first sponsored jog (might end up being a walk!) for charity.  My sister has done a few 10k runs before, and she has also signed up for the half marathon (it was her idea) so it will be nice for us to do this together in memory of our mum.

I've dropped a dress size already and have nearly reached my target weight. I'm still a long way from my target body fat % (25% is target, I'm currently at 34%!) but it's moving in the right direction at least. I feel so much happier and healthier - lots more energy!

{Healthy Eating Plan}

I am succeeding with the new healthy eating plan & exercise regimen.  Maria, my personal trainer, has said this week I'm her star pupil (although I'm sure she says that to everyone that's doing well!). I have now lost 1 stone since starting with her, and it hasn't felt like hard work at all. On my holiday last week I was sensible for the majority of the time, but did indulge in some carrot cake and a gorgeous lemon & poppy seed cake (& some birthday tray bake at my son's friends 2nd birthday party when we arrived back at Glasgow!). I think the thing I probably miss most is bread (in particular some nice white buttered toast - yum!)... I've not had any bread since starting with Maria. This is especially difficult when I have to butter toast for my son's breakfast!!

It doesn't feel like I'm on a diet (despite the restrictions - no bread, pasta, red meat, bananas...) because I'm eating regularly (every 2.5-3h) and I don't get hungry.  Breakfast is muesli & lots of berries, mid-morning snack is crudites & hummus or a handful of almonds, lunch is salad (prawn, chicken or tuna) or a bowl of vegetable soup or ryvita with cottage cheese, mid-afternoon snack is yoghurt & berries, fruit salad or an oatcake, dinner is stir fry, fish with vegetables or even chicken curry with brown rice. At the moment I'm enjoying a raspberry jelly as my late-evening snack. The key is to be organised. I try to carry a pack of Food Doctor seeds with me so that if I feel peckish I can have a handful. I picked up some Munchy Seeds at the supermarket the other day, Chilli Mix flavour, and they are yum!

One thing I've struggled with is to drink enough water.  I used to go a whole day only drinking 1 or 2 cups of tea.  Now I'm drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day and decaf tea. Again, it's all about being organised and I try to carry a bottle of water when I'm out and about. My Skip Hop changing bag doesn't seem to be big enough at the moment once it's been packed with nappies, baby wipes, muslin, baby bottle, milk powder & spare clothes for my daughter, nappies, snacks, sippy cup and a few toy cars for my son and then my bottle of water & tub of seeds! It doesn't help that the Glasgow weather is so unpredictable that I also tend to carry sun hats & suncream as well as rain covers whenever I'm out!!

{Embarrassed}

So, I was at my personal trainer's house last night for a workout session, and she decided to get me to jog on the treadmill... Well, after having had 2 little ones my pelvic floor muscles aren't what they used to be, and yep, you've guessed it - I wet my pants.  I was mortified to say the least! How embarrassing! I'm so glad my trainer is a female and she was very nice about it all. Surely 29 is too young for Tena pads??

On a positive note, I lost 3lbs this week, bringing my total weight loss to 7lbs. I'm pleased with my progress so far...