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!

Oh also I see she mentions whole meal bread. Is that any type or only certain ones? Can we buy regular supermarket stuff or does it have to be fresh bakery stuff without any preservatives etc?

Generally she refers to things such as 'good' whole meal bread. So if you've not got an artisan bakery next door then a Tesco's finest would I'm sure be absolutely fine!

I'm going to try to stick to the recipes religiously so no going off piste, I need this to work! I don't feel hungry tonight and haven't done all day so I'm feeling positive about the method

Thank you @indiesearcher that makes sense.

I'm struggling to find the app. Could someone please point me to it? I've just bought the books on Amazon and will return with many questions, I'm sure! I need a lifestyle change and I'd like to try this.

I eat these @EssexLioness

And yep, any wholemeal bread.

Remember - she is in south Ken, is credited with working with Kate Middleton and well, she's quite .. posh! In a lovely way

So artisanal loaves and Sicilian grown lemons 🍋 are prob what she recommends but really, anything will do

Might help if I attach the pic!

I have half a pouch of these per meal. But any will do

I reckon the references to 'good' ingredients are as much about her wanting to make each meal a celebration, everything to feel special so it doesn't feel like some crap diet etc. She talks quite a lot about that. (And I have to admit I'm a bit rubbish because I often have to eat in a rush and frequently out of Tupperware lol)

Brilliant, thanks for that @HardRockOwl. Yes, I know she’s quite posh. I will have to channel my inner posh foodie 😆 I’m a bit nervous about fewer carbs but otherwise quite looking forward to this cleaner approach to food. My food is normally pretty healthy but there is a noticeable amount of processed stuff in there too.

@ElvenDreamer yes good point and you're right I think.

Morning all. What's on the menu today?

Ive had another carrot cake Bircher
I'll have some cocoa almonds
Lunch will be frittata
Snack will be a leftover oat banana pancake from kids breakfast
Dinner, I'm going to try the broccoli butter bean soup!

Breakfast is a bircher made with oats, oat milk, GOOD vanilla paste,Greek yogurt and strawberries 🍓

And yep - I knocked it over

Morning @indiesearcher you'll have to report back in the soup! I'm a bit funny with soup, no idea why. I can sometimes eat mushroom soup but that's about it.

I think lunch for me will be buffalo mozzarella , beef tomato and basil with balsamic vinegar

Snack is a ryvita topped with ricotta and mango. Second snack I'm going to make one of the smoothies

Not sure about dinner yet

I've done my week 1 weigh in! ✅

Just shy of a week on plan and I've lost ...

Drum roll

Builds (non) excitement
...

SEVEN POUNDS!

So I'm quite pleased with that

Oh no @HardRockOwl !!

Did it taste good though?? And did you need sweetener after using the "GOOD" vanilla paste?

OMG @HardRockOwl that's an amazing loss!! Congratulations - Seriously inspiring!

Oh no to the spillage, how annoying!
Breakfast today for me was egg and avocado on wholegrain toast (eggs from our chickens and homeade bread so def 'good' ingredients here lol.)
Main meal is a peanut and soy bean noodle dish (sans noodles for me), will be making the fruity mackerel salad which is one of my favourites. Not sure on snacks yet, probably oatcakes and fruit. Last night's prep never happened in the end, time got away. A bonus was my DH cooked steak, veg and chips, and actually listened and made extra veg and no chips on mine without any accompanying remark 😂

One thing I am finding a bit frustrating is that I don’t know how people are meant to do so much food prep around work. I work during the school day and in the evenings, and am pretty much finding myself in the position of having a salad for lunch every day (because it can be thrown together in 5 minutes, standing in front of the fridge) and then the same thing for dinner every night, because the only way I can manage it is to cook a big vat of something on a Saturday, and then eat it all week! Which gets a bit…boring. Short of getting up at 5am and cooking my dinner then, I don’t have much choice though. Come July, work won’t be this busy and I’ll have more time during the day, but I hope I can stick with this for April, May and June, without losing my mind! Thankfully I’m not a terrible cook, but there’s only so many times you can eat the same meal for dinner without wanting to throw it out of the window 😆

Anyway, today:

Bircher with low fat Greek yoghurt, cinnamon, grated apple and walnuts

Salad loosely based on the best bistro salad from the app-bit of avocado, bit of prosciutto, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bit of balsamic

Chorizo, red pepper and butter bean stew (same as last night, and every other night this week 😆), loosely based on the chicken, chickpea and chorizo stew on the app

@AntoinetteCosway I think with regards to the food prep, I'm just automatically going for the easy options of that makes sense and I think being vegetarian sometimes makes it easier to do that. A dinner for me can be roasting some vegetables and then topping with feta and pumpkin seeds... which is no prep at all.

I can see it being harder with fitting round work, maybe being a meat eater too as that takes more prep than crumbling a bit of cheese. I'm used to doing separate meals for my family too as they're not vegetarian

@ElvenDreamer that peanut dish sounds good. I might actually do the tofu and peanut stir fry so thanks for the inspiration

And yes - I scraped up as much as I could of the yogurt and put it back in the glass

I didn't add the stevia stuff and not sure I added enough vanilla paste so I'll add a little more to the next bircher. I wasn't sure how strong it was going to be!

@HardRockOwl well done on your amazing weight loss!

Today I will be semi on plan as my food shop arrives tomorrow. Then tomorrow will be my official day 1.

Had a look at meal planning etc and as I am vegan I won’t be following the recipes in the book but more using them as a guide for what I can/ can’t eat. It’s also a bit tricky cos dairy free yoghurts and milks are pretty processed but I am going for the healthiest ones I can find and use unsweetened almond milk which I think is ok anyway.

So I think this is all ok for today (except dinner as the veggie meatballs are processed and I know pasta isn’t allowed). If I am off track then please let me know.

Breakfast: soya Greek-style yoghurt, blueberries, mixed seeds
Lunch: smoothie, made with protein powder, almond milk, and oats
Dinner: veggie meatball pasta bake, salad
Snacks: banana. Oatcake with peanut butter

I have a smoothie everyday, though usually at breakfast time. I have osteopenia so it gives me plenty of calcium as well as boosting my protein as getting enough as a vegan can be pretty tricky and I tend to work out a fair bit.

As for other pillars, I plan on giving my house a bit of a spruce as it has been a bit neglected lately and will go through my cupboards and give them a sort/ get rid of any tempting bits not on plan. I also bought some lovely flowers for the lounge. Exercise wise I often struggle to get my 10,000 steps (living in a tiny bungalow doesn’t help), but I do tend to work out for around an hour most days, combo of cardio, weight training and pilates. My bedtime routine is pretty non existent so this will need a lot of work.

@EssexLioness I veer more towards veganism too as I don't eat eggs - umm only in a cake! I also don't drink milk. I use oat milk - I try to go for one that's not full of processed stuff but I mainly stock with the M&S Barista one or Oatly semi skimmed

Your menu looks spot on to me

Congrats @HardRockOwl that's a fantastic loss! 🥳

I'm hoping at least one of my books arrives today so that I can get started soon. It's been really useful following everyone's psots so far and I can't wait to get started. It sounds like there's a good amount of flexibility.

I fear my issues will be breakfast and lunch on work days during term time as I'm currently terrible at being prepared for those. I tend to throw a banana and a packet of crisps in my bag on the way out the door and hope for the best.🙈😂 It will be good to be more disciplined.

I was wondering about using apple sauce (non sweetened) for sweetening things rather than stuff like Stevia if honey is out? I make a few american based recipes for my kids that use it so always have some about. I'm reluctant to try artificial sweetners.

Good luck with the week ahead everyone and hopefully I'll be joining you properly soon.

@HardRockOwl thank you. I love oat milk, especially in coffee. I use almond milk in my smoothie though as it is lower calorie and I calorie counted to lose most of the weight before so I am just used to it now. I sometimes make my own cashew cheese which seems to be on plan except for a bit of cornflour in the recipe. I think I will eat it some days anyway and see how I go. I am actually really looking forward to giving this a proper go. One of the things I’m looking forward to is including more nuts/ peanut butter in moderation as I find when calorie counting this is one of the first things I avoid eating but really they are so good for you.