Cheating without cheating…

It felt like I was cheating on the FIT FIX Diet Plan big time last night, eating a decent share of lollies, but in fact, I didn’t break any rules whatsoever. You see THESE arrived on my doorstep the other day – a box of sugar-free Double D treats.

A sweet selection...

A sweet selection…

My Net Diary App weight loss chart

My Net Diary App weight loss chart

It wasn’t on the diet plan, but I was under my calories quota for the day and joy, oh joy, the scales still went downwards this morning. In fact, I have to say I’m pretty up-myself about the success SO FAR on my self-devised FIT FIX Diet Plan.

Just take a look at the My Net Diary weight loss chart on the right and you can see for yourself, there’s a steady downward trend happening. Now I just have to keep going until I reach the goal weight of 64kg. I’m sure the fact that I’m making myself accountable to this Blog is part of the success too, so I’m going to keep blogging until I get there!

Choc O Jelly Rounds

Choc O Jelly Rounds

 

I’m always on the hunt for low-cal sweetie options too, so the gift from Double D arrived with perfect timing. Just when I was getting bored with my regular stash of diet-friendly treats, they’ve brought out a new selection of lollies to choose from.

Being obsessed with chocolate, I instantly gravitated to the Choc O Jelly Rounds…

 

 

 

Ronnie with the mint Double D lollies

Ronnie with the mint Double D lollies

But daughter Veronica snatched up the Mint Chews before I had any say in the matter and they proved a big hit with her.

There’s also Fruit Drops, Butter Candy Drops and Aussie Gummy Bears – all made using the natural sweetener, Stevia.

Double D is an Australian owned company too and lists all the lollies as being 99% fat free, gluten free, cholesterol free, low GI and dental friendly. Guess that ticks all the boxes!

 

Let’s take a look at the food plan for tomorrow. Remember, Thursday is meant to be a low calorie day, so drink lots of water and herbal tea! The total calorie count for tomorrow is only 473 calories – which is close to the proposed amount in the 2/5 diet.

THURSDAY

Avocado tomato Cruskits

Avocado tomato Cruskits

Breakfast – Oat Bran pancakes

Snack – Herbal tea

Lunch – Mashed avocado (50g) spread over 2 Light Cruskits topped with four cherry tomatoes

Snack – 1 carrot

Dinner – I chicken pattie and papaya salad

RECIPES

Oat Bran Pancakes (based on a Dukan Diet recipe)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons oat bran
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla Fruche
1 tablespoon Hermestas sweetener
1 egg

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl and cook in a pan as you would small pancakes or pikelets. In the Dukan Diet book, fromage frais is used instead of Fruche, but it’s almost impossible to find in Australian supermarkets. Hence, this is the ONE instance where I allow a product that contains more than 5% sugar, because there just isn’t anything else out there that works. But I am open to suggestions if you have any!

THAI CHICKEN PATTIES

Lemon Grass paste

Lemon Grass paste

500g minced chicken
1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
1/2 can water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Olive oil spray

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into large golf-ball size rounds, then squash into a pattie shape with the back of a spatula. Spray with olive oil then bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes, or until brown. These are also great the next day cold when you’re allowed more!

 

 

FIT FIX Diet Plan update – Keeping it simple

A helpful mantra during life's busier moments...

A helpful mantra during life’s busier moments…

Life’s so busy I barely have time to write this FIT FIX Diet Plan update, which just reinforces to me how important it is to keep the food simple. This probably won’t work for those of you who want to go the ‘all natural, all organic’ route, but for me, it’s trying to balance the hectic with the healthy.

So yes, I do buy some processed foods and commercial brands as well as organic juices and fresh vegetables. It’s all a matter of combining the two, to provide the healthiest, fastest eating options.

Some of you may also find this a bit too basic and repetitive, but the less time you spend thinking about food the better.

DAY FOUR – reviewing Thursday

The outline of yesterday’s eating plan was detailed in the last blog, so let’s take a look at what happened after that report.

I always struggle when cooking, not to sample the ingredients, which again reminds me how important it is to WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN with this diet. Imagine how many more calories you’d consume if you ate half the cake mix when baking but didn’t count it as part of your food plan?

A bit of sampling went on last night while whipping up the Bolognaise sauce, but I made sure to write the bits down, which included a piece of carrot and five Kalamata olives. Not a problem, given I was under my calories quota.

But I did exceed my two glasses of wine… Well, red wine goes into the Bolognaise sauce so I HAD to have a glass while cooking. Which meant another glass during dinner and another later in the evening while watching TV. So I broke a rule, but I still got in under the calories quota and the bathroom scales reading didn’t skyrocket this morning. YAY!

DAY FIVE – FOOD PLAN: Friday

Breakfast – Uncle Toby’s Quick Oats sachet with 125ml skim milk and 1/2 a cup of frozen    raspberries

Keeping it simple - ham and cheese on Vita-Wheats

Keeping it simple – ham and cheese on Vita-Wheats

Snack – 2 celery sticks.

Lunch – 4 Vita-Wheat 9-grain biscuits with 2 cheese slices and ham

Snack – Earl Grey tea with 30ml skim milk

Dinner – Left-over Bolognaise sauce

 

 

SNACK TIP

Celery snack

Celery snack

As I said, it’s all pretty simple fare. And here’s a tip about the celery snack. It sounds pretty boring, but if you buy it in pre-prepared packs in the supermarket, it tastes MUCH fresher and crisper, making it far more enjoyable to eat. Plus it gives good crunch factor, which you need if eating a diet which focuses more on protein. Not much crunch in meat, hard-boiled eggs and yoghurts…

 

A WEIGHTY ISSUE 

Time to own up to how much I weighed before starting the FIT FIX Diet Plan. Hmmm. Let’s put it in perspective and remember I’m 172cm tall (just under 5 foot 8). I’m not trying to make excuses it’s just that you might get a shock… About five years ago, my average weight was around 62 – 64kg.

On Monday morning, I weighed in at 71.4kg.

Then I started the 3-day JUICE CLEANSE.

By Thursday morning, I weighed in at 69.4. Which is to be expected, with such a drastic dietary change, and I know such a dramatic drop will not continue. After a day of eating ‘normal’ food, I went up slightly today.

Friday morning – 69.6kg

But still, that’s a drop of 1.8kg in five days, so it’s a great start. My ultimate goal is to get to 64kg.

PLANNING AHEAD

SATURDAY – Day off. Eat what you like!

Basil chilli tuna salad

Basil chilli tuna salad

SUNDAY Breakfast – 1 cup scrambled eggs and 2 rashes of bacon

Snack – celery or carrot

Lunch – Sirena chilli and basil tuna, lettuce and spring onion salad

Snack – Tamara berry yoghurt (small tub)

Dinner – Steak and broccoli

 

MONDAY – Juice Fast Day

LOOKING AHEAD

I’ve stuck to the diet plan for today and am planning another AFD. Tomorrow is Saturday – my day off! It will be interesting to see how the scales tip after that… I may still pop my food intake into the My Net Diary App, because I’m on a roll, and you may be curious to hear how I piggy I really was. I’m also giving myself permission to eat chocolate but right now, don’t even feel like it. We will see…