Common Sense Eating

[SouthernNorthernGirl]

I wanted to start a thread about eating sensibly / healthily etc without any diet fads involved.
Would love a bit of support in this, and I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

Diemme that's a shame about mfp. I have a Galaxy too and it's fine. There are other android apps though. I think I downloaded several when I first got mfp so I could compare them. Also, the Samsung app S Health has a calorie counting feature. It's usually pre-installed on Galaxies but you can find it on the Play Store if not.

Star YY to the bloody sugar thing! Everything in the clean eating books is full of dates which are pretty much pure sugar anyway but 10 times more expensive than a bag of Tate & Lyle. My sister made a vegan, clean, holier-than-thou chocolate tart and apparently the cost of the ingredients was the same as a week's worth of groceries. She said it wasn't even that nice 😂

I love my fitbit too 💙

Err why are brand names turning into links?

Hello! May I join you lovely lot?!

Loving the idea of just generally eating real food. I've dabbled in a few diets but have always done well on just eating normal portions and of real food. Even butter, full fat milk in my coffee, oil instead of that fry light etc. Moderation and all that!

Love love love the S days! I definitely do better in the week (when DP isn't home and tempting me with takeaways and ice cream because he WANTS to gain weight!).

I've eaten an awful amount of junky food lately. I'm slowly getting back into cooking properly etc. but two children under two has made me lose my mojo :( the days are hard..

Anyway DP is off so I am being a typical diet lass and starting properly on Monday! I'm almost 6ft and weigh 12.4 currently. Want to get to 11. Average BMI I think and that's down to breastfeeding and not being able to drive!

As for exercise I am after some advice if anyone is still reading my now rambling post?! I want to do three 30min HIIT workouts each week (Mon, Weds and Fri) and also a short yoga session each morning or evening. Am I putting too much pressure on myself? I'm an all or nothing gal. The yoga is mostly a way to relax (boy I need it atm!) and to improve on flexibility and because one day I'd quite like to do the splits! and the HIIT is to improve my fitness and to help with the weight loss. I'm just worried I am setting myself up for failure if I begin too many things at once but perhaps that is just my personality to do it all at once..

Anway thank you if you have allowed me to bore you for a few minutes and I'd just like to say hello and thanks for having me!

Justonesherry, I totally hear you on the DP front! my DP is wanting to gain weight and get bigger too, he's all for massive meals and takeaways all the time and just general junky eating. I've probably never eaten worse/more than when I've been with him..

and I'm no exercise expert but I think 3 HIIT sessions would be fine, that seems to be the recommended amount. that's how many I've been doing and I probably couldn't do any more

Morning everyone!

Totally agree with the SW thing, I found it very odd and made me feel crap and spend loads on processed food.

just my DH is the same, always trying to gain weight. Ben and Jerrys is one of his favourite weekend tactics....

Welcome to all the new people!

I had been mostly controlled this week, but after a crappy day yesterday I went off the rails a tiny bits and smacked the fuck it button. It's not an excuse, but I finally went to the Dr about post natal anxiety and just the relief of getting help but the stress of making myself go lead to a chocolate frenzy. Feeling positive today and moving on.

I am actually just about to go for a run, since I woke up at the ungodly hour anyway and both DH and DD are still sleeping. Wish me luck!

Also a massive fan of Jillian Michaels HIIT, her 30 day shred. When DD was little I lost the first couple of baby cake weight by doing a few a week and eating a bit healthier. It was amazing for my waist too, really changed my shape. On YouTube!

Good morning everyone!

Plum, I'm sorry to hear you've been suffering. You've made the difficult leap of going to the doctor, so onwards and upwards! We all need a blow-out sometimes.

I actually have a Jillian Michaels DVD knocking about somewhere. I will dig it out.

Yesterday I had some chicken to use up so bought a jar of masala paste and made a simple curry with chopped tomatoes and a red onion. I left out the cream! Had it for dinner with lots of spinach and some rice.

Also had some extra chocolate last night just... because. Got a sensible day planned for today though.

Morning all!

I also lent heavily on the fuck it button last night as DH and I went out for a meal... it wasn't good! Oh dear. It was our belated valentines meal so maybe counts as a special occasion???

Anyway, I'm not feeling all that wonderful today as think I have a bit of a bug and also ate too last much plus 2 glasses of wine ! Back on the healthy eating and no alcohol today. I have a job interview next week which is a great incentive!

Also will be doing body pump tomorrow. I did it last week and it was hard, but enjoyable.

Just One I don't think all that HIIT and yoga will be too much, but I would be wary of setting too big a goal. Last time I had a really good run of yoga everyday it was because the goal I had set myself was to move for at least ten minutes every day. So usually I would stick to the plan and do my yoga but if I didn't I would do something really low key like walking the kids to school and count that. I read that it stops that feeling of failure that says 'well I didn't do an hour long workout yesterday so the plan's ruined and I'm not going to try anymore.' Not sure if that makes sense?
I like Yoga with Adrienne and Fitness Blender on YouTube. (Which reminds me I haven't done any yoga for weeeeeks.)

Plum fairy Hugs for you. Well done for taking the first steps and I would have been on the chocolate too.

Star dust I do meal plan for our evening meals. I do a month at a time. I plan in two veggie meals, two fish based meals and one quick meal a week. Then I buy anything that will live in my cupboards or freezer in a big monthly shop. We don't have a car so we try to borrow one or have online delivery for our big shop and top up on foot through the month.
I might start planning some lunches and snacks though. What are people's favourite healthy snacks?

Yesterday's food
B: Toast, peanut butter and banana
L: Leftover sausage and roasties
D: Veggie chilli and brown rice
S: Oat cakes and cream cheese, plum and turkey slice, a single roses chocolate (not 5! Yay!), Small serving of ice cream, two slices of Turkey and cream cheese ... Scraped the barrel on that last one!

Those snacks were through the day too not in one big pile!

Yes, sorry, I meant to say, but was busy wittering on about food; well done to you plum for speaking to someone about post natal anxiety. for you. Chocolate was definitely in order.

Food today:

B: Porridge and coffee
L: 2 boiled eggs, smoked mackerel and rocket. Loads of lemon juice and pepper.
S: 2 crumpets with a little jam 😍
D: will be curry with baby leaf spinach

Will be having my usual Wispa bar later. REALLY need to add more portions of fruit and veg.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

Well done Star!

I just read that the wonderful creator of Miffy, Dick Bruna, has died so I ate half a pack of Loacker hazelnut wafer biscuits

The good news is they're mostly air.

Well done floss and star.

Oh, Dick Bruna?

Thanks for suggestions about calorie trackers. I don't know why my phones so slow, think I'll go with just writing everything down. I'm really liking this approach. Past few days have been good.

Yes, Sub it's really sad. I even had a cry. I think the last well-known person I wept for was Lucian Freud!

Glad to hear you've had a good few days Diemme

Dick Bruna's books were such a part of my childhood. Some of my earliest memories. I bet he was a lovely man.

I agree Diemme - for some reason just being aware of what I eat is sticking with me at the moment. Still got lots of little tweaks to make though. Need to eat more veg and drink less caffeinated tea!

I'm not sure whether I should cut down on how many snacks I have, or if that's just how my body works. I have one mid morning, mid afternoon and at supper time. I now realise I was never really getting hungry before meals with constant grazing, but not sure if the snacks are a crutch too.

Sub snacking is a really contentious issue isn't it? I always see wildly varying advice about whether snacking is healthy or not. I think really everyone is different and it's best to listen to your body. If you're finding you don't get hungry maybe cut them out for a few days and see what happens? Or even just reduce the size of snack and leave it 20 minutes to see if the hunger subsides. I find if I don't have something in the afternoon I get ravenous and sometimes even a bit shakey by 5pm. But I definitely don't need snacks to be as big as I was having before. 1 tangerine is actually more sustaining than I'd realised.

I'm sure I've read before that snacking is healthy! Or having smaller meals more frequently throughout the day? I prefer to do that sometimes if I feel like I'm having a never ending hunger day...

Hope everyone's having a good weekend :) I work weekends occasionally so today's not been too tempting for me (apart from the salted caramel muffins my coworker brought in )

I know in my intro post said I didn't want to count calories again, but I'm considering it again now! I've been thinking it over and I think it'd make a big difference to me. Last time I did it wasn't so hard, I just get bored with weighing and portion sizes and whatnot. But it did keep me way more accountable for what I ate, and I think I need that now if I want this to succeed.

Thanks ladies. I'm at least trying to make my snacks healthy for now and I will maybe try cutting one out at some point. You're right floss about snack portions. One piece of fruit is probably plenty per snack. I might have a read up on it.