Louise Parker method anyone? I know it's a bit old fashioned now ..

[HardRockOwl]

But I've decided to give it a go

The food is the sort of stuff I like to eat although I'll have to make some substitutes as I'm a vegetarian. But I love Bircher, porridge, all her snacks and salads etc

I'm starting tomorrow and wondered if anyone had some advice regarding the method or stories

Thanks!

@GloryLory that doesn't sound good! What sort of snacks do you like? Which ones are you going for?

See Topaz message page 9. This is a link to a PDF of the cookbook. Almond recipe there

@HardRockOwl sorry, what doesnt sound good?

I love the simple snacks like nuts + a piece of fruit (apple or pear mostly), somedays cheese instead of nuts, crackers, leftover pancakes..it always depends on what i have because i am still studying - budget is a thing for me. The peanut butter smoothie is also a fav of mine.
What do you like?
BTW i'm not 100% vegetarian but i eat meat/fish quite rare so i also use substitutes

@GloryLory that you're hungry all day long!

@GloryLory

I tend to have the following as snacks ..

Smoothies
Peanut butter with oatcakes
Mixed nuts plus fruit
Babybels
Ryvita with cream cheese

I've bought some Parmesan today and may try the cherries and Parmesan tomorrow - seems a bit of a weird snack but you never know!

I'm vegetarian but don't feel hunger very often - only what I'd call normal hunger usually.

Hmm, I wonder if you need to up the protein ?

Ohh i love the combo of sweet and salty, not weird at all! babybel is nice too.

Yesss i'm stepping up the protein, but i sometimes wonder how other ladies get fully satisfied from these sometimes small meals. I cant survive on most of her salads altough i really enjoy them.
Atm it works quite well for me - the mango quark is much more protein than her birchers and porridges (love them too) and gets me better through the morning until lunchtime.

I feel a bit grotty tonight - tired, headachy etc. - I think it's my body asking me to stop eating rubbish and get back into the circle.. Louise WOULD be pleased.

Already planned tomorrow.

B vanilla bircher
L fruit salad with cheese
D salmon and salad
Snacks nut butter oatcakes, apple and almonds

And lots of water to flush out the sugar etc from Thai weekend.

@keiratwiceknightly you'll hopefully feel much better once you're fully back in the circle ⭕️ sounds like you had a really good weekend though so I think Louise would forgive you

First day today! I'm really liking the message from the 6 week book about having a smoother ride if you concentrate on living well and adopting all the pillars rather than obsessing over food and weight (I'm paraphrasing) - this has absolutely been my downfall in previous attempts to lose weight or eat more healthily (getting obsessed and then disheartened easily) so I'm only going to weigh myself every two weeks.

Today held lots of good progress for me. Strawberry bircher breakfast, and I knew I was going out to meet friends around lunchtime, so instead of relying on grabbing a panini and cake in the cafe of the country park where we were, I made a packed lunch of a chicken salad and prettied it up with some pomegranate seeds, and with sandwiches for the kids we had a lovely picnic. And I've had no sugar in my coffees. After cutting right down on sugar in the prep week, this has actually been surprisingly easy.

Really struggling to get to 10k steps though, despite being out and about all day. But short of taking the baby out on extra two-hour walks going round and round my small town every evening, does anyone have any tips for upping step count?

Thanks for the weight loss love, Lean-tribe (Leanies? Leanettes? Hmm…needs work).

I managed lunch out today without too much of a wobble, so meals were:
B: banana pancakes (they were quite nice in the end)
L: poached eggs, avocado and smoked salmon on sourdough toast (the portion was not delicate but it inexplicable took an hour to get to my table so I was ravenous)
D: a variation on the crispy chicken salad - different veg but the same chicken and the tahini dressing, which was lovely.

No snacks - sorry Louise - and probably not enough water.

Exercise: fitness blender upper body workout, swim in my friend’s poncy gym, dog walk.

@GoodNutButters wow sounds like a great start! And you're right - it honestly is easier when you're embracing as many of the pillars as you can.

I'm really lucky that my job involves untold amounts of beauty products and gadgets turning up at the door so the self care bit is covered 😀 I also like my house a certain way - my downfall is the No tech from 9pm thing! Not happening yet

I don't know about the steps thing as in a bit rubbish. I swim every single day and I'm trying to walk more but only managed 5200 today

Welcome to the thread @GloryLory Maybe you need to up the protein a bit, or choose recipes that are a bit more filling?

I had the green fritters with goats cheese (breakfast recipe) for dinner and it was yummy. I doubled the recipe too, so have my lunch sorted for the next 2 days.

I can’t remember who commented about the food taking time to prep. I totally agree! I once read somewhere about meal prepping once you’ve done your weekly shop, where you basically wash and prep all your veg. Assuming it keeps well it seems like a good idea as it feels like I’m forever washing fruit and veg throughout the day. I might give it a go.

@HardRockOwl You may have my dream
job!

Menu planned and packed lunch made (in Tupperware sorry Louise!)

B: yoghurt/ seeds / nuts

S: mini banana muffin (made these today using wholewheat flour and no sugar)

L: hummus, falafels, salad

S: yoghurt, raspberries & pumpkin seeds

D: lamb curry and cauliflower rice

@chloechloe my lifelong passion of err, rather a few decades, is beauty products and make up. So I made up a job, got myself on all the PR lists, did lots of work for the brands and it's paid off.

I've just made that sound a lot easier than it is 😀 Think of me as some sort of ageing influencer 😀

Now I don't find the food prep anything at all! I suspect the reason for this is because I'm still, despite what I said, opting for the more 'assembling' kind of dishes and I'm not properly cooking at all. I said I would today and I didn't

So tomorrow I will!

Food times for today

Strawberry protein Bircher with berries

Mixed nuts + tangerine

Oat roll with a vegetarian 'posh dog' from m & s. They're new so thought I'd try them and they were nice. Served with salad

Smoothie made with oat milk, yogurt, raspberries, oat bran and seeds

Mozzarella, tomato + avocado

I think we can agree.. I'm not actually cooking am I?

I must do this

First proper day today weighed and photo taken in the jeans of truth, I can get them on and done up but not great if I want to sit down.
Food
Breakfast soya bircher berries and greens
Lunch leftover roast vegetables and cabbage with poached eggs (that I can’t cook)
Dinner steak and salad
Snacks apple and pnb and the cocoa nuts

Exercise didn’t go to plan I had a migraine so no running but managed a walk to get my steps.
@GoodNutButters how are you counting your steps? If on a watch and pushing a pram they don’t all register.

I am starting again 🙄

I had a week of being both busy and depressed, so a lot of convenience foods and sugar boosts to keep going.

I still lost a kg, but not the right way.

@KitchenFishCurry I love the idea of “jeans of truth”. What a great idea!

@GoodNutButters I also wondered if you are counting your steps right. Louise doesnt recommend a phone because she thinks its not always on the person, but I also didnt know about the watch/pram problem.

So many good posts here, i love it.

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy banana muffins sound great, maybe you can share the recipe?

@keiratwiceknightly i think its really important not to be too hard on yourself. I tend to be like this too but in the end you make better choices if you just move on without feeling guilt or anything like that.
I Hope you will have a better week this time.

@KitchenFishCurry Snap on the starting days!

And yeah I do push a pram a lot of the time, though I try only to push with one hand so the steps still count! I also do a lot of my steps at home while carrying something with that arm: laundry or a baby, usually. Realistically, though, I think I do just need to do more as well.

It's great that this thread is so busy. Someone way back in the thread said that this feels like the food we should be eating - I totally agree.

Steps are just one way of measuring activity I think its about 3 miles to get to 10K, hardly any for pushing a pram or shopping trolley or spinning or riding a bike. I can get about 3000 doing an online body combat class because of all the punching even though I'm in my kitchen (it's not that big) . You can also get steps for crocheting and clapping.

I hop on later and hop off the bus earlier for a few days now - you wouldnt think it, but it makes such a difference. With a small walk in the morning i got my 10 k steps in easily today, normally i struggle around 6-8k

A few links if anyone is interested ... I stumbled across them whilst googling additional LP recipes - good for those who don't yet have the books or are only using one book etc

lady.co.uk/louise-parkers-five-day-kickstart

sheerluxe.com/my-week-plate-louise-parker

www.redonline.co.uk/health-self/nutrition/a527446/louise-parker-method-recipes/

Thanks for the links @HardRockOwl!

It takes me about 75 minutes to do 10,000 steps, walking briskly. No problem on days when I go into town but more of a challenge when I work from home.