Easter is over and I have less than a week until my birthday. Time to get a sweat on and try desperately to get under 400lbs. I know it doesn’t really matter whether I get there by my birthday or if it takes a few more days, but it would just be nice and would help keep me motivated on days that I struggle.
Breakfast
To start the day I go the tried and tested route of a chocolate porrige pot. I think about doing something different, but when I’m tired, my body is aching and I’m hungry, all whilst dealing with an excited Darby first thing in the morning, relying on something quick and easy is going to win 9 times out of 10. I also have a cup of tea with a few sweeteners and skimmed milk.
Lunch
I fancy something different for lunch, and want to keep my calories as low as possible because I already know what I am having for dinner. I get the soup maker out of the cupboard and go to work. It hasn’t been out for a while and annoyingly I can’t remember the recipe that I had landed on when I was last making soup because it was lovely, so time to start from scatch with probably some trial and error over the next few weeks. If I’m being picky then I would say that I added a little too much water, and it could do with a bit more sweetener, maybe leaving out the chopped onion and adding more red onion. Honestly though, not to blow my own trumpet, but for a first attempt it is pretty damn good, and even after adding some milk with cornfour to thicken it up and make it creamier it still comes in at under 100 calories for a decent portion and counts as 2.5 portions of fruit and veg. Mainly because I wasn’t sure how it would taste so it would make it easier to consume if it wasn’t nice, also to make lunch a bit more filling, I pair the soup with 4 slices of Warburtons Danish bread. In future, once I perfect the soup recipe, I could probably do with just 2 slices of bread and have some fruit to fill up.
Dinner
I know Easter is over, so sorry for anyone offended by this, but dinner is an Easter treat today. Hot Cross Bun Burgers. Yes, you read that right, Hot Cross Bun Burgers, by HECK. They’re not chicken burgers, and they’re not necessarily the best option for weight loss, but I did an order from HECK before Easter and these were available, so I have to give them a go. Basically they are spiced pork burgers. To keep the calories down the burgers will be served in thin bagels rather than traditional burger buns. To top it off, the burgers will be topped with mozzarella slices. I know it isn’t nutritionally great, but as much as I love “plastic” cheese when on a diet mozzarella slices are the better option.
Except…481 calories per pattie. That is nearly 4 times as much as the chicken burgers. Yeah, I really really want them, but I really really really want to lose weight, and the reallys have it. Off to the freezer go the hot cross burgers and out come the trusty HECK Chicken Italia Burgers. There is also a handful of chips left from the kids’ tea so I share them with Vikki and Darby.
Snacks
OK, so I need to get better at picking better snacks. I’ve got fresh apples and bananas sat on the side, but it’s like I am on autopilot, like I’m stuck in an If/Then/Else routine. I’m hungy, IF it is meal time THEN try and make a healthy choice, ELSE eat crap. Sure, the crap I am snacking on is a lot better than it used to be, at least as far as calories go. I opt for low calorie crisps and low calorie chocolate bars, but they’re still crisps and chocolate bars. I think a good compromise would be to have one crap snack and one healthy snack a day, so if I have crisps then instead of having a chocolate bar have an apple or banana. After dinner snacks, otherwise known as pudding, is fair game though, just because I had a low calorie chocolate bar I’m not giving up low calorie chocolate ice cream on Sunday, if it fits into the calorie budget.
Exercise
OK, so I said it’s time to get a sweat on, and I had every intention of starting the day off with a leisurely stroll with Darby, but…what happened was…I fell asleep. Where possible, I would rather avoid busy times outside when walking Darby, and as we have the school bus stop at the end of our road, times around the start and end of the school day are busy, so typically I would rather wait until around 9:00am to make sure most of the stragglers are where they need to be. So I got up, got my breakfast, was waiting for the time to pass, and someone is asleep, and it’s not me, yet, though it doesn’t take me long. The last few days I have been absolutely shattered. I’m not entirely sure I had fully recovered from holiday, then the few nights away over the weekend have set me back. Honestly, I’m not good when I am taken out of my routine, especially when it comes to taking medication at a time that is less than ideal. Anyway, we’re not off to a great start with the exercise. Must do better.
Time somehow gets away from us, so instead of having a decent session at the gym we have about 40 minutes so when we get there I get straight on the bike and get the resistance level up quicker than usual. After I get the blood flowing and get a bit of a sweat going I head to the weights machines. I focus on my lower body, hitting up the abductor, the recumbent leg press and the calf press. I would have done more but the clock was ticking. It migh not have been the most intnse workout, but it’s better than doing nothing. We don’t normally go to the gym on Friday but I think it might be a good idea this week, we’ll see.
| Calories | |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | 263 |
| Lunch | 343 |
| Dinner | 776 |
| Snacks | 144 |
| Drinks | 48 |
| Calories Consumed | 1574 |
| Calories Burned Activity | 463 |
| Calories Burned BMR | 3218 |
| Net Calories | -2107 |