Diet Starts Monday...

'We'll Start on Monday, yeah?'

All good things, start on a Monday right? Well at least 99% of dieters have at some point in their lives said 'Oh, we'll start on Monday' and Monday never comes, or Monday turns into Tuesday, etc. etc. I really wanted to avoid starting this on a Monday and kind of break that habit, however, that's not how things have panned out, over the past week we have been eating more healthy, but we didn't want to waste food, so we got rid of all of our nasty foods, by get rid of, of course I mean shovel down my throat as quickly as possible, you know the usual stuff, Pizza and Nachos (Oh the cheesiness). The reason we didn't bin it, is because we don't particularly want to waste money and the majority of our stuff is frozen and not really suitable to be given away, we also wanted one last hurrah, before we set off on this part of our journey, you might think that's an awful idea, but it's kind of an education in itself. I realise that I'm spending a while trying to justify eating unhealthily and well, that's the problem we're trying to sort, anyways food was nice, ha! 

So we have stockpiled on Herbs and Spices as a lot of the Slimming World recipes require a lot of these, we've also bought lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as water, water is the most important part of any diet. Bye bye, sweet Coke nectar I'll miss you. We've also bulk bought some meats from Muscle Foods, they sell massive variety packs of meat, at reasonable prices, we've used them always, to be honest and they've always been pretty spot on, if you're interested in what they have to offer just click above and away you go (By the way this is not a paid placement or anything, just a recommendation for something we use and enjoy). Slimming World has a huge and diverse range of recipes to choose from, I tend to find they are more Asian-orientated, which is completely fine with me, I love Asian food, that's why I weigh the size of a house-end, I have a weakness for Chinese Food (Who doesn't). There's absolutely nothing to say we can't have Chinese, it's just about limiting yourself, not overindulging and it helps to work some or all of it off too! 

How I'm feeling...

I'm not just saying this, but I feel completely positive and really optimistic, it's the first day of changing something huge, for what I hope to be the rest of my life, I really want to look in the mirror one day and think, wow instead of avoiding even glancing in a mirror everywhere I go, it's a problem as they're all around, I get it, I know that a lot of people don't like what they look like, but for me it's a bigger problem, I get nervous in situations where I meet new people because of my weight, I get nervous and feel really embarrassed going to eat in a restaurant, about how I look to others, so much so that I get palpitations, I hide it well, but inside I'm completely melting down, I have absolutely no confidence, this has been a problem for as long as I can remember, which I guess is why my social circle is so small, and I avoid leaving the house if I can help it. I know I shouldn't care about what people think of me, but realistically I do and can't help it, I'm forever pleasing others even if it means not pleasing myself. But enough of that, I'm feeling great about starting this fresh diet and I'm honestly so looking forward to the meals we have planned, which of course I'll share with you. 

The Plan...

I use an app called MyFitnessPal to track all of my meals, drinks, and snacks. Now I do work night-shift, so that's a whole other problem in itself, but to keep things simple, a new day is Midnight-Midnight, regardless of whether I'm on shift or not. We have recipes planned from Pinch of Nom and Slimming Eats. My calorie goal is 2360 per day, which I know is just slightly less than the recommended daily amount, but I was probably eating and drinking in excess of 4000+ calories and beyond, so it's a huge step in the right direction, however, my personal goal is to stay below 2000 calories a day, at least for now. I am mindful that I have 15 'Syns' to use on Slimming World, but will also try and limit these as best as I can. I also use an app called SlimIt which tracks your daily Syns, so I'll be keeping a beady eye on that. Now technically speaking, when you workout you burn off calories, and therefore this frees up those calories, I'm going to limit myself in this as well, don't want those calories to be eaten up again, however it's important to replace what's been lost during exercise, so I'll always aim to eat a little something afterward. 

What's on the Menu?

On the Menu for this evening is Chinese Salt and Pepper Chicken, with Egg Fried Rice and Curry sauce. Surprised? It comes in at 677 Calories for everything, compare that to the real thing, and you're probably looking at, at least a 300-600 Calorie reduction, let alone the reduction in fat content, I'm so excited, we've tried this before and it was nice, but tonight will be even better. Stick around for the verdict a little later on this evening.

Flabs Away!