Every day brings with it a fresh start and for me, today is about clearing out old stories from the Blog (delete, Kaput, good-bye!!) and re-starting the FIT FIX Diet Plan. Yep, it’s back to a JUICE FAST day for me.
I’m well aware it’s not particularly interesting reading material to keep banging on about this diet, but I do know it’s the only way to make myself stick to the straight and narrow. So I’m just going to keep plugging away and this time, try to keep the updates regular, confess to all my sins and add in any new recipes or diet tips as they come to hand.
It’s also fair reason to add in a few funny life stories for amusement.
Take last night for instance. Of course I couldn’t have an AFD when taking part in a Trivia night with friends at the local pub! And after a few chardys, it seemed only fair to buy a shared dessert plate for the table to keep our brain cells active. So the diet went out the window.
But I think the sugar did the trick. While we didn’t win, we were only a few points away from victory. There were some stellar moments from the group – such as recognising the theme music from TV show Water Rats and knowing the name of the U.S. military decoration given to those wounded in battle. (It’s a Purple Heart)
I didn’t know many answers, but had one fine brain flash when we were asked what was the only anagram in the English language for the word ‘exclaims’. And I got it in a second!! Shall I give you a minute to think about it?
I’ve had a bit of feedback that getting this FIT FIX Diet Plan in dribs and drabs is a bit messy and you’d like to see it laid out in its entirety to get a clearer picture about what’s going on. Again, I reiterate that this is a diet I’ve devised for myself as an experiment and you really should check with someone who knows more about these things than me (like a doctor) before embarking on this program.
1. Things you can’t eat: potato, rice, bread and products with more than 5% sugar content. (the sugar rule doesn’t apply to wine or the one day you are allowed chocolate!)
2. You must write down everything you eat and count calories. (sounds boring but I have an easy solution for this!)
3. You must exercise every day for a minimum of between 45 minutes and an hour. I am going to aim for spin classes four days a week, plus two lots of abdominal classes and two sessions of body toning or weights workouts. If you don’t go to a gym, you can ride a bike, run and do toning exercises at home.
4. You must weigh yourself every day.
5. You must have three alcohol-free days a week. I calculate my week starting on a Sunday.
6. You can have one day off the regime per week where you eat what you like and ditch the calorie counting.
3. An I-phone or device that can use the My Net Diary App. This is my secret weapon in the fight against flab. It means you can easily put in all your measurements and target weight and it will calculate how much you should safely eat per day in order to lose weight. Add in everything you eat to keep your calories quota in check!
WEEK ONE – FOOD PLAN
SUNDAY-TUESDAY – Start with a 3-day juice fast to put you in the right frame of mind for your new weight-loss mission. For more tips about juice fasting, see blogs dated from November 19th. ( https://jenniferhansen.com.au/?p=4566 )
Breakfast – The Muesli (50 grams) with skim milk, (100ml), Greek yogurt (50g) and frozen berries (25g). Snack – 2 celery sticks Lunch – can of Sirena basil tuna, lettuce and spring onion Snack – Tamara sugar-free yoghurt with berries (small tub) Dinner – Bolognaise sauce – NO PASTA, plus two glasses of red wine
Breakfast – Uncle Toby’s Quick Oats sachet with 125ml skim milk and 1/2 a cup of frozen raspberries Snack – 2 celery sticks Lunch – 4 Vita-Wheat 9-grain biscuits with 2 light cheese slices and ham Snack – Earl Grey tea with 30ml skim milk and an apple Dinner – Left-over Bolognaise sauce
Breakfast – Oat Bran pancakes Snack – hard-boiled egg Lunch – Tuna salad with can of Sirena chilli-basil tuna, chopped lettuce and 2 spring onions Snack – Cup of tea with skim milk and Tamara sugar-free yoghurt with berries (small tub) Dinner – Grilled chicken fillet and broccoli
Breakfast – The Muesli (50g), low-fat Greek yogurt, skim milk and frozen raspberries Snack – 2 Cruskits with onion/chive Philadelphia cream cheese Lunch – Cold beef, lettuce and tomato salad Snack – Body LoCarb Bites (chocolate protein balls – still under the %5 sugar rule) Dinner – Stir-fry garlic prawns and veggies
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Berry smoothie (using Swisse Slim Shake protein powder), Greek yoghurt, frozen berries and skim milk Snack – 2 sticks celery Lunch – Ham, spring onion and tomato omelette Snack – Tamara sugar-free berry yoghurt (small tub) Dinner – Mongolian lamb stir-fry
Breakfast – Oat Bran pancakes Snack – Herbal tea, Lunch – Mashed avocado (50g) spread over 2 Light Cruskits topped with four cherry tomatoes Snack – 1 apple Dinner – I chicken pattie with papaya salad
FRIDAY
Breakfast – Uncle Toby’s instant oats with berries Snack – Hard-boiled egg Lunch – Chicken tikka pieces (about 125g + 166 calories) I buy it pre-made from the supermarket and heat it up in the microwave. Simple. Snack – Tamara sugar-free mixed berries yoghurt (small tub) Dinner – left over chicken patties and papaya salad (recipe listed in Wednesday’s blog)
SATURDAY – DAY OFF. Eat what you like!
WEEK THREE – FOOD PLAN
MONDAY – Juice Fast Day, (juices from Pressed Juices)
Breakfast – The Muesli, yoghurt and frozen berries Snack – Hard-boiled egg Lunch – 4 Vita-Wheat 9-grain biscuits with 2 light cheese slices and ham Snack – Body LoCarb Bites (chocolate protein balls – still under the %5 sugar rule) Dinner – Pesto salmon grilled with broccoli
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Berry smoothie (ingredients as per above) Snack – 2 celery sticks Lunch – Sirena tuna, lettuce and spring onion salad Snack – 2 Cruskits spread with onion/chive Philadelphia cream cheese Dinner – Cold beef salad
Breakfast – Oat Bran pancakes Snack – Yoghurt Lunch – Peppered Salmon portion (pre-packed from supermarket – 217 per piece) and 1 carrot Snack – 1 apple Dinner – Grilled fillet Tandoori chicken with broccoli
FRIDAY
Breakfast – Uncle Toby’s instant oats with berries Snack – 2 celery sticks Lunch – Mashed avocado (50g) spread over 2 Light Cruskits topped with four cherry tomatoes Snack – Yoghurt Dinner – Grilled flake and salad
SATURDAY – DAY OFF. Eat what you like!
So there you have it! Three weeks of a food plan completely mapped out for you. I haven’t specified weights for all the food servings, as you can be flexible – as long as you weigh your food and record the details in your I-Phone My Net Diary App and keep under your daily calorie limit, you’ll be fine.
Most days listed have a food requirement UNDER the calorie limit, which allows you to add in snacks or larger meals, depending on how hungry you are. And you can drink wine – as long as (again!) you stick to your calorie quota.
Sampling Shane Warne’s new ’99 Not Out’ exclusive beer!
There will be days when you sin. I do – often…
Take last night for instance. After a fabulous party at Club 23 at Crown, where I very much enjoyed not only trying a new beer cricket legend Shane Warne helped create himself, aptly titled 99 NOT OUT, (very nice, it is too!) but I also had a couple of wines…
Now, the biggest problem with alcohol is how much it sabotages your will-power. Hence why we NEED at least THREE alcohol-free days a week.
I thought I’d been reasonably well-behaved with my food intake yesterday. Even at the party, where there was a wonderful array of delicious finger-food, I was restrained – only having ONE item – a small peking duck pancake. But then I woke up this morning and found THIS on the kitchen sink along with the dirty dishes, yet to be tidied up…
Yep, I’d demolished what was left of the cookies and cream ice-cream. ALL GONE.
As I always say, you just have to pick yourself up and start all over again… At least my weight has stayed down below the 70kg mark – now on 68.2kg. So I do think the FIT FIX Diet Plan works. Especially if you actually stick to the rules… Let’s see if I can get to my goal weight of 64kg. I’ll keep plodding along and document how this goes just to keep me accountable. I know it’s hardly riveting stuff, but it’s working for me, so selfishly, I’ll stick to blogging about it too. I’ll add new recipes, confess my sins and answer any questions you might have. Stay tuned!
There’s always going to be times when you hit a few speed bumps when trying to stick to a new diet regime and in my case, the last few days have been more like a major road block.
Yes, I could have been strong but faced with an all-night movie marathon session on Friday of Nightmare on Elm Street films back-to-back, I knew I wouldn’t survive without chocolate. And lots of it. And jelly beans. So Friday’s FIT FIX Diet Plan went out of the window.
That led into Saturday, which is generally a DAY OFF from the regime. Now, given I’d pigged out the night before, I should have been good, but no, I stuck to the plan of having a day off and kept the piggy on a mission theme going strong.
That meant two pieces of raisin toast with lashings of butter for breakfast, the rest of the chocolate block from the night before for morning tea, leftover Mongolian lamb for lunch and a night out at Riva restaurant in St Kilda for dinner, with lychee cocktails AND wine. I also practically demolished an entire Asian plate of duck spring rolls and fried calamari. And then there was a shared dessert platter. Except I did most of the eating.
Then Fletch’s brother was visiting from Perth last night so of course we HAD to go out to dinner and again, I got stuck into dessert. And wine.
And that explains why I haven’t been blogging about the amazing FIT FIX Diet Plan for the last few days. It HAD been working a treat. After starting out at 71.4kg, I had dropped to 66.7kg and was mighty pleased with myself. And therein lies another problem with dieting. Success breeds contempt and yes, I let myself sit on my laurels, and boy, did they get squashed.
Check out the latest chart results after today’s scales reading. Yep, that little black line has skyrocketed! Today I’m back up to 68.8. It’s a bit depressing, but I’m going to pick myself up, dust off the sugar crumbs and get back to work.
At least I went back to Pressed Juices yesterday to stock up on supplies for today’s JUICE FAST. My body is looking forward to it.
I’ve also had feedback that you’d like to have the FIT FIX Diet Plan listed in a weekly format, so you can plan ahead yourselves. So that’s going to be my next blog. Let’s hope it helps us ALL stick to the straight and narrow…
Yes, sorry Mum, but it really is ALL your fault. If it hadn’t been your birthday, I wouldn’t have taken you and Ken (my step-father) out to lunch to one of my fave cafes, Little Ox. And if I hadn’t taken you out to lunch, I wouldn’t have smashed my FIT FIX Diet Plan to pieces. I hope you accept all the blame. Even though it’s your birthday.
To be honest, I suppose I should thank you, rather than blame you. Having stuck to the diet plan for nearly 12 days, I was bound to break it sometime and what better excuse to break a diet than needing to celebrate your birthday.
So yes, dear readers, I lied yesterday when I listed a simple serve of supermarket chicken tikka on the food plan. I knew damn well I was going out to lunch. Still, those of you who are putting this diet to the test need to know what I WOULD have been eating, IF I’d stuck to my word… Which I completely and whole-heartedly DID NOT.
It’s a bit hard when everything on the menu at Little Ox is so mouth-wateringly tempting. My number one choice is usually from the All Day Breakfast section – grilled corn fritters with ham, mashed avocado, salsa and a poached egg on top – just scrumptious. But with my diet in mind, I thought I’d go for the grilled chicken and quinoa salad instead. With part owner and chef Simon Winfield at the helm in the kitchen, I knew it would be delicious.
And it was. I truly meant to photograph the plate up close with all its artistic swirls of aioli for you to see, but once it arrived on the table, I was so keen to see how it tasted, I’d eaten almost half of it before I remembered I was supposed to be taking pictures.
Sorry.
Again.
Then it was time for coffee and dessert. Mum and Ken sensibly declined the offer of a sweet treat but how can you have a birthday celebration without cake? So I went ahead and ordered a selection of wicked indulgences anyway… It’s much better to have a small taste to LOTS of things than just ONE dessert – right?
And don’t forget the cream on the side! Double clotted preferably… Starting from the back, that included a mini peach Melba, a caramel brownie and a melt-in-your mouth slice of passionfruit cheesecake. I was in heaven…
So yes, as you can see, I really DID smash up the diet plan. I can feel my jeans getting tighter as I type. Damn, and I WAS doing so well. But heck, it was worth it. It was my Mum’s birthday after all.
This is a quickie update because life, work, and social commitments are gathering pace… making it harder to stick to the straight and narrow when it comes to the FIT FIX Diet Plan, let alone blog about it.
I talked about ‘cheating without cheating’ on the food plan yesterday, eating those yummy Double D lollies, but last night I did genuinely cheat. Being under the calorie count for the day and after having a whopping THREE alcohol free days straight, I thought I could relax with a glass or two of chardy at the end of the night while watching TV. But of course, once the alcohol takes effect, the will-power plummets…
I was STILL hungry. Now, I didn’t break any of the so-called ‘rules’ here, but I did go overboard with a massive NUT BINGE. Pistachios and cashews. I didn’t weigh them, just hoed right on in – handful upon handful… God knows how many calories that would have added up to – hate to think.
That, combined with a lack of exercise, meant the scales plateaued today – hardly a surprise…
The next three days will be challenging too, with lots of social events booked in, so I’m hoping all my good work won’t fall in a heap. The most important thing is to make a PLAN – try to stick to it, and if you fail, start all over again!
Having said that, here’s the plan for tomorrow. And I don’t need to detail Saturday’s as that’s my day off – yay!
Breakfast – Uncle Toby’s instant oats with berries
Snack – Hard-boiled egg
Lunch – Chicken tikka pieces (about 125g + 166 calories) I buy it pre-made from the supermarket and heat it up in the microwave. Simple.
Snack – small tub Tamara mixed berries yoghurt
Dinner – left over chicken patties and papaya salad (recipe listed in Wednesday’s blog)
RECIPE – Papaya Salad
I green papaya
I bag coleslaw from the supermarket
1/2 cup roasted cashews, crushed
3 spring onions
1 red chilli
handful fresh coriander
1/2 cup fresh basil
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.
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!
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…
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.
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!
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!
When I look back at how I survived the first week of the FIT FIX Diet Plan, the one thing that stands out is that for the first time in AGES, I had FOUR alcohol-free days in one week. I’m sure that’s a huge part of why I dropped weight quickly in week one. And while that’s been great, I fully expect the weight loss to be a lot slower this week.
I’m having a JUICE FAST day today, which in effect gives me another day off from calorie counting. And cooking! Well, I’ll whip up a pasta dinner for the family, but it is a relief not to have to think about food for myself all day. Just crack open a bottle of juice, down the hatch and we’re done!
Another reason I expect the weight loss to slow this week is that I won’t be able to exercise quite as much as I’d like. Various work and family responsibilities will take priority, so I’ll try my best but there aren’t quite the same gaps in the diary for gym time that I had last week… Even this morning, the scales tipped upwards a fraction after a heavier meal last night with steak, mushroom, onion and broccoli.
But I am looking forward to getting stuck into those juices again. Even though I enjoyed my piggy lash-out on Saturday, sugary food didn’t taste quite so fabulous after a week of being a health-food junkie. And I didn’t feel that great after eating all that sweet stuff, plus it took much longer to get out of bed yesterday morning as a result. Or maybe that was the wine?
Yesterday I stuck to the food plan listed in Friday’s Blog – Keeping It Simple – but substituted one snack item after going to the supermarket and finding this! You may have discovered it already, but it’s new to me. Philadelphia Chive and Onion cream cheese – mmmm… Spread it on a couple of Cruskits (both items meeting the less than 5% sugar rule) and it’s a great simple, tasty snack.
Now let’s have a look at the first few days for this week’s food plan:
MONDAY – Juice Day, (juices from Pressed Juices)
TUESDAY
Breakfast – The Muesli, yoghurt and frozen berries
Snack – hard-boiled egg
Lunch – Cold beef, lettuce and tomato salad
Snack – Tamara strawberry yoghurt
Dinner – Stir-fry garlic prawns and veggies
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Berry smoothie (using Swisse Slim Shake protein powder), Greek yoghurt, frozen berries and skim milk
Snack – celery
Lunch – Ham, spring onion and tomato omelette
Snack – Body LoCarb Bites (chocolate protein balls – still under the %5 sugar rule)
Dinner – Mongolian lamb stir-fry
Normally, I would vary the stir-fry options, rather than have a stir-fry two nights running, but for various logistical reasons, Thursday’s dinner will need to be cooked in advance, so that’s the way it’s panned out.
Plus my daughter was nagging me for prawns so I caved and slotted that dish in for Tuesday. And stir-frys really are a great low-fat, tasty food option. More about the recipes later. Right now I don’t have to think about cooking with my favourite chocolate almond ‘milk’ waiting for me in the fridge for tonight’s main course. Yum.
I didn’t post an update for the FIT FIX Diet Plan yesterday, as if was my scheduled ‘day off’ from counting calories and having any food restrictions. So I was pleasantly shocked this morning when I stepped on the scales and saw that despite a day of unhealthy indulgences, I’d still lost weight!
It’s surprising given how much I ate. The day started off with thick cafe-style raisin toast with lashings of butter and a cup of tea.
Then for morning tea, I went all out. For days, I’ve been yearning for a slice of a heavenly cake my daughter baked, so yesterday was the day to tuck in – and I did it in style with two big scoops of cookies and cream ice-cream on top.
For lunch, the kids wanted cheesymite scrolls from Baker’s Delight, so naturally, I had one too.
Two large pieces of dark chocolate for afternoon tea, followed by a night out at a Japanese restaurant with bucket loads of wine followed, so it only seemed logical that I’d face the music on the scales this morning.
But no. Joy, oh joy, the number dropped to 68.4kg. This time last week I was 71.4kg. I can only imagine it’s the result of the cumulative effect of being ‘good’ all week and exercising pretty hard with daily spin classes. (And that wine is very good for you.) Today, I’m back on the program and sticking to my guns. See Friday’s post for today’s food list if you are wanting to follow suit.
Tomorrow, I’m back on a one-day JUICE FAST and looking forward to it. And very grateful there’s a store like PRESSED JUICES to do all the hard prep work for me. Will keep you posted on the rest of the week’s dietary plan tomorrow.
So far, I’m pretty happy with my FIT FIX Diet Plan. The three-day JUICE CLEANSE has worked well as a kick-starter and now I’m very much ready to move on to the next phase of this experiment – eating REAL food!
DAY THREE – reviewing Wednesday
Yes, I got weary during the second and third days of the JUICE CLEANSE at certain times, but at others, I felt energised and fabulous. The ‘tired’ part is to be expected, given I wasn’t getting any caffeine. It did help that I reduced my coffee intake drastically over the last month and am now more likely to have an Earl Grey tea than a coffee on most days. At least I was spared a splitting headache, which usually happens with the detoxing process.
But three days of juice is DEFINITELY enough. Although I didn’t quite do the FULL three days. As I said yesterday, I planned to eat dinner last night at my Mum’s anyway which I did, and managed to eat only a very small portion of her delicious roast with gravy and said ‘no’ to roast potatoes. AND sweetcorn. AND Yorkshire pudding… I even said NO to Mum’s homemade apple crumble… Heart-breaking but essential if this plan is to succeed.
I also declined the red wine on offer, so I can happily say I’ve kick-started the week with three consecutive AFDs. (That’s alcohol -free days in case you were wondering) I am now very much looking forward to a glass or two tomorrow night. But part of this plan is to also reduce my alcohol intake, so I will be monitoring ‘how much’. (sigh…)
WEEKLY FOOD PLAN
The Fit Fix Diet Plan is designed to be extremely flexible to fit a variety of lifestyles. So many of our plans change so quickly on a daily basis, that we all need something that’s adaptable. Having said that, I also believe planning ahead is essential.
Food shopping the LEAST amount of times possible is a biggie for me too. Life’s too busy to be heading to the supermarket on a daily basis. Twice a week is plenty!
Picking components from various diets and mashing them together also appeals to me, so here’s how this diet will work.
As well as THE RULES I spelt out yesterday, I’m aiming for one juice fast day a week, (MONDAY) and one day with a very low calorie intake. (THURSDAY) This will be in accordance with the 2-5 diet which has a lot of evidence backing it to suggest that by almost fasting two days a week, we can eat what we like on the other five. I tried this, but the ‘eating what you like’ on the other days just meant I pigged out ridiculously. Which is why I’ve decided to create my own plan.
Yes, I’ll still have 2 days which are low calorie, but I’m only allowing ONE day which is a free-for-all. And yes, that’s the day you can have CHOCOLATE and don’t have to count calories. For me, that’s preferably a SATURDAY.
The first week of the FIT FIX Diet Plan differs from the following weeks, because of the 3-day juice cleanse, but as of next Monday, I’ll be aiming to stick to a pretty regular eating schedule. So usually today would be one of the ‘almost fasting days’ but after coming off the three-day JUICE CLEANSE, that’s not happening this week.
As well, I can safely say it’s highly likely social commitments will probably force changes to my plans, but then I can explain how I adapt and hopefully this will help you too.
Breakfast: The Muesli (50 grams) with skim milk, (100ml), Greek yogurt (50g) and frozen berries (25g).
Snack – celery sticks
Lunch – can of Sirena basil tuna, lettuce and spring onion
Snack – Tamara Yoghurt tub with berries
Dinner – Bolognaisse sauce – NO PASTA, plus two glasses of red wine
Using the My Net Diary App, the total calorie amount would add up to 1409. This is just under my daily allowance of 1430, so well on target. Especially as I put in a good effort with exercise this morning, doing both a half-hour abdominal class, followed by 45-minutes of a seriously sweaty spin class. According to the My Net Diary App, I burned off 593 calories, which means I still have 614 in the bank. Maybe this means I can have more wine tonight??
THE ALCOHOL ISSUE
Speaking of alcohol, the 3-day JUICE CLEANSE reinforced to me how important it is to have at least three days a week without grog if you want to lose weight. I KNOW once I’ve had a couple of wines, I’m far more likely to grab a handful or two (or 5) of cashews from the cupboard, or to hoe into a cheese and crackers session at 10pm.
Even a couple of glasses will drastically reduce your willpower. Which is why this rule is a MUST.
HOW TODAY REALLY WENT (so far…)
It’s gone to plan except that I decided to substitute my two snacks with a bottle of green juice, left over from the stash I bought for the 3-day cleanse. Which adds up to roughly the same amount so I’m doing fine.
Let’s see what happens tonight after that red wine. I’ll report back tomorrow and also discuss how my weight is going – which is embarrassing but important for you to know as evidence as to whether this FIT FIX Diet Plan really will work. Stay tuned!
