🍓🥑🥦Anyone want to join me in losing some weight and eating more healthily?🥝🥬🫐

[MonkeyTennis34]

I would love to lose about a stone but I’m also focusing on more healthy foods.

Thinking about gut health..more fruit and veg, nuts and seeds, less ultra-processed foods and definitely less sugar (my weakness).
Also looking to improve my exercise and mindfulness habits.

Will aim to have a weigh-in on Fridays but I’m not looking for an unsustainable quick fix. Would love to (finally) get into good, long term healthiness.

I’m currently 10st 3lb.

I did participate in a running competition once, in 2014. It was a 5K event and great fun! Right now I’m running for myself and my goals are about distance, not speed.

Our village lies on a decommissioned railway which has been turned into a foot/bridle/cycling path over 40 years ago. I often run there, it’s beautiful and I can set subsequent goals by reaching further and further stations (they are still standing and have been turned into houses or community buildings).

The 30 a week goal got me thinking about how to keep this reasonable. Yesterday I counted 23 (excluding grains) but some portions were microscopic! I had a very fancy GF toast decorated with vegetables for lunch but the GF bread is full of processed crap and the veggies were just that, decoration. It would be much healthier to eat half a kilo of red cabbage that only counts as one, iykwim?

CortieTat
I know what you mean re amounts of plants.

I think, if I've got this correct, that it's the variety of plants that's important to gut health.

I started reading The Okinawa Way on Monday and I’m hooked.
Got inspired to make buckwheat with spinach, sprout beans, broad beans, chilli peppers, onion and chives for lunch. I was quite good but I missed the proper protein part really badly.

That sounds super healthy @CortieTat , but yes a bit more protein would probably help to fill you up a bit longer…and I say that as a life long vegetarian!

I’m making some space in the freezer at the moment, so am eating a lot of home made soups. Currently working my way through one I made shortly before going on holiday. It’s surprisingly delicious, but annoyingly I can’t remember what I put in it. ! It was one of those “let’s throw everything I can find in the fridge into the pressure cooker”-creations, except that this one actually really worked!

I batch cooked a lot of refried beans today, I used 6 different beans!

We are supposed to be aiming for 10 portions of 80g fresh or 30g dried vegetables and fruit, as well as the variety.

It's here where I really think that eating 3 servings of one vegetable that matches better one day, then different ones on other days really doesn't make a difference. Health isn't created in a day, or even a week, so that weeks variety, combined with eating good volumes of vegetables is the aim. I just prefer 3 servings cauliflower with my curry and keep broccoli to work with pasta sauce!

I've lost another pound! Really pleased.

Went to an event yesterday aimed to get women into golf. I really enjoyed it and have decided to take up the offer of 4 free group lessons and reduced price membership for 3 months.

It definitely won't get my heart rate up but the course is beautiful and should be great for my wellbeing.

They laid on a free lunch where I was unexpectedly able to increase my plant intake by quite a few!

One of which was artichokes....forgotten how much I like them 😋

We had jarred artichokes in brine at the weekend, my 5 year old loved them too!

Batch cooking some mango korma sauce today, I freeze it and then add some sort of protein when I serve it up, super helpful for a good dinner before karate classes for my family.

Having dal for lunch, the one I made with 4 types of lentils instead of 1. Having some sort of beans or lentils everyday is something the longest living places in the world all do, and there is such a variety to add to your diet.

We are having homemade sushi for dinner tonight, Friday is our sushi day 🍱 🍣

I’m always looking forward to this because it’s one of the meals that brings the whole family together, we all roll them!

Congratulations 🎉 on the lost pound!

Golf sounds like great fun. I’ve never tried but I think it is great with all the walking outside and most importantly it’s as goal-oriented as possible 🤩.

I’ve just gone through an online Japanese shop like a tornado during the lunch break, very happy because I scored 😅 4 kilos of brown rice which was slightly past the date at a great price.

CortieTat
Sushi night sounds really lovely.

My DCs are 17 and 15 and don't get on. Mealtimes are usual a minefield so, apart from Sunday roasts, we very rarely all eat together.

I'm hoping this will change when they turn 20 😂

Made these 2 from my new cook book.
Chestnut and shiitake mushrooms on sourdough toast, enjoyed by all except DS2.

And porridge loaf, enjoyed only by me and DH. It has no sugar in it but it does have:
Cranberries
Sultanas
Raisins
Sunflower Seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Poppy seeds
Hazelnuts
Walnuts
Porridge oats!!
Phew! Lovely with a layer of butter attached 😋

Fantastic loaf and if it’s the whole ingredients list it looks gluten free @MonkeyTennis34 ! Love how it’s packed with different nuts and seeds.

We are having beans from this recipe for dinner tonight: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chipotle_pinto_bean_stew_94139 I used red kidney beans and big white ones because I had those at home.

It also had yoghurt and egg in it and a splash of milk.
There's not much left!

That recipe looks tasty. I use chipotle and the kids like it too.

We are having our beloved salade niçoise for dinner tonight, I cooked potatoes and sprout beans yesterday so they are sitting now in the fridge quietly turning into resistant starches 💎

I managed to get to the next train station on Sunday, making my long run 14K this time. It was much easier than I thought but I was aching the whole day yesterday. I need to make sure that I increase the distance slowly, I still have 7 months left this year to reach my goal.

Well done on extending your run @CortieTat. Always nice to see progress, even if it hurts the next day.

i’ve extended my exercise sessions by another 5 minutes, making it 45 minutes in total (20 minutes cross-trainer and 25 minutes on the exercise bike). I’m not a massive fan of the exercise bike tbh. So boring! But apparently that lower level effort sustained over a longer time really helps to build fitness.

I’ve also “treated” myself to a NutraCeck subscription. I had a minor wake up call at the weekend when I developed a painful rash on my lower leg after standing around for a few hours in the sweltering heat. I only get that rash when I’m too heavy and/ or unfit, so I want to tackle the weight with a bit more conviction than I’ve done so far. Ideally without getting obsessive about counting calories. It’s going to be a tricky balance to strike.

ChatteringStarling
I use Nutracheck. It's great for recording your weight loss progress, checking in calories, protein, fat etc content.
It will also produce plans for you eg 5:2, low carb.

CortieTat
Wow! I'm in awe of your running prowess!
I managed 2 lots of 8 minutes and 2 lot of 5 in the treadmill last night and that was a big achievement for me 😂

It’s been quite insightful so far. Definitely need to keep an eye on saturated fat. Positively saintly when it comes to fibre 😇

Haha, aren't we all on this thread!

My app to go is Yazio. I like that it’s very international, my dinner tonight was logged in three languages 😅

Having a stressful day and have just succumbed to a salted caramel choux bun.

God, it was delicious 😂

Oh no @MonkeyTennis34…or should that say Oh yes! 😋

I too was sorely tempted to snack this afternoon. Only managed to avoid it because it would have resulted in me having to cancel my exercise session as well (if I eat within a few hours of exercise, I often end up feeling sick). Using my obsessive exercise habit in a useful way for once.

After subscribing to NutraCheck I’ve been making my meals 10% smaller than usual. I don’t really notice that much of a difference to my appetite. Hopefully doing that and curbing the snacking will help to shift some weight.

I had a glass of wine today. It was really good :-)

I’m not weighing myself today!

Finally, it’s looking like a dry day here so hopefully the Bank Holiday weekend will be good.

Going to help DH with weeding the front patio, a big job then a bbq.

Have a great weekend everyone, filled with as many plants as possible!

How are you doing? We had friends over for the weekend and I’ve been naughty: had too much wine on Saturday, huge ice cream on Sunday followed by some more wine. I feel tired and old today! We went together for a long hike and I sprained something in my left foot so couldn’t go for my long run yesterday.

I’m back on track today with a green-orange-white soup for lunch.