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.
Here are the basic rules:
FIT FIX DIET RULES:
Sugar-free lollies ARE allowed!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.
THINGS YOU’LL NEED:
My Net Diary I-Phone App1. Scales to weigh yourself.
2. Scales to weigh the food you eat.
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 )
WEDNESDAY
Celery snackBreakfast – 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
THURSDAY
Keeping it simple – ham and cheese on Vita-WheatsBreakfast – 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
FRIDAY
Basil chilli tuna saladBreakfast – 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
SATURDAY – Day off. Eat what you like!
WEEK TWO – FOOD PLAN
SUNDAY
Scrambled eggs and hamBreakfast – 1 cup scrambled eggs and 2 rashes of bacon (or ham)
Snack – celery or carrot
Lunch – Sirena chilli and basil tuna, lettuce and spring onion salad
Snack – Tamara berry yoghurt (small tub)
Dinner – Grilled marinated Steak and broccoli
MONDAY – Juice Fast Day
TUESDAY
An easy and tasty snackBreakfast – 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
THURSDAY (LOW-CAL intake day)
Avocado tomato CruskitsBreakfast – 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)
TUESDAY
BSC Lo Carb BitesBreakfast – 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
THURSDAY
Salmon portionsBreakfast – 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.
Evidence…
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!
Apologies folks, It’s only Day Four of my ONE LINE RULE challenge, and already I’ve broken one of my own guidelines. I haven’t strayed from the ONE LINE RULE when it comes to food – just drinking… But I have a fabulous justification. Really, I do!
I blame my girlfriends. Because of them and their persuasive ways yesterday, I’m not going to be able to meet my three alcohol-free-days quota this week.
It started out as a simple beach outing. There we were – sitting on the sand, happily enjoying each other’s company and keeping an eye on the kids splashing in the surf. We chatted about the perfect weather (unlike today’s stinker which has forced most on us indoors) and how wonderful it was that all four of us could be in the same holiday spot at the same time.
Lorne beach yesterdayBut after that, the wine came out. Now, of course I could have said ‘NO’. And I did. Well, for the first half hour at least… But then the questions began. ‘Oh come on, Jen, you’re on HOLIDAYS! Can’t you have ONE drink?’ ‘You’re being too hard on yourself, aren’t you?’ ‘Isn’t it more important to have a great time with your friends than sit there and be a wowser?’ It didn’t take long to twist my arm… Because, quite frankly, I can’t imagine another time when all four of us will be in such a magical spot at the same time and it’s not so much that I needed the wine, but didn’t want to spoilt the moment by that even being an issue. As one of the girls said, it’s always best to bend the rules on holidays, have fun and get back on track when you’re home.
Lorne Ice-creamerySo here’s the revised game plan while in Lorne. To stick to the ONE LINE RULE and continue with the sugar-free diet – which means not eating anything with more than 5% sugar content. No lollies, cakes, ice-cream, pancakes, biscuits etc… and worry about that drinking rule when I’m back in Melbourne. Oh and dinner last night was grilled fish and a handful of potato chips. That’s all.
Some people have raised the question – why try the ONE LINE RULE diet and profess to be sugar free if you’re still drinking wine? For me, after giving up smoking last year, I know that facing TOO much deprivation will only lead to failure. This is a good start. I know that if I raise the bar TOO high, I’ll crash and feel defeated. One step at a time.
I paid my penance this morning though, stepping out early with Fletch for an hour’s bush walking before breakfast. A quick cafe latte on the way home, then here’s how today’s ONE LINE RULE diet worked:
Strawberry Jam
Breakfast: One poached egg on toast with butter. I was craving my usual strawberry jam on toast but guess what? That’s SIXTY-FIVE PER CENT sugar!
Snack: I small tub Yoplait Classic Cheesecake flavoured yoghhurt – 4.6% sugar
It’s a tuna wrap… with a BEYOND Coconut Water
Lunch: I impressed myself by making a wholemeal tuna wrap with a spoonful of hommous, tabouli, and chopped tomato.
Wholemeal Wattle Valley wrap – 1.8% sugar; Black Swan Skinny Hommus – 1.2% sugar: Sirena basil infused tuna – 0% sugar and Beyond Coconut Water – 3.6% sugar. The coconut water is a great alternative to soft drink and has wonderful rehydrating properties for a scorching hot day like today!
Cruskit and light cream cheese
Snack: A Cruskit smeared with smoked salmon.
Arnott’s Original Cruskit – 3.6% sugar; Philadelphia light cream cheese, smoked salmon flavour – 4.6% sugar.
The dinner report, as per usual, will be filed tomorrow. In this heat, all I want is a fresh green salad… Oh, and maybe one glass of chardonnay?
DAY TWO of the sugar-free ONE LINE RULE diet, and I’m doing okay. Just to recap, if you’re not up to speed with this challenge – the idea is to only eat food that contains less than 5 % sugar. So it means checking the nutrition labels on all food packaging and only eating that which meets the criteria. Once you start checking the labels on processed foods, you’ll be amazed at how much sugar is out there!
Here’s how today panned out, including one very surprising revelation!
Uncle Toby’s Antioxidant cereal
Breakfast: The Muesli (97% sugar free) with half a cup of skim milk, two dollops of Gippsland Organic Natural Yoghurt and a dozen fresh raspberries. I’m allowed one serving of fresh fruit per day, so my raspberry intake was equivalent to half a piece of fruit.
Sadly, I can no longer enjoy my favoured Uncle Toby’s Anti-Oxidant cereal as it’s packed with TWENTY-TWO per cent sugar!!!
Morning Snack – Handful of raw pistachio nuts
Drive down to Lorne – I did well, drinking only water and keeping the mouth busy with sugar-free gum. We stopped along the way for Tom to buy a home-made bakery meat pie. I resisted, but the mouth-watering aroma in the car as we continued along our way had me breaking out in a cold sweat. Now I might have been able to eat that meat pie, but the bakery staff couldn’t assure me of the sugar content, so sorry, that means the pie gets a big fat cross. Who knows what sugar content was in the pastry or the sauce? Unlikely to be more than five per cent, but you never know…
Sambel Olek
I waited till we unpacked and then had a can of tuna – and you must buy SIrena – so much nicer than other brands (I usually opt for the basil infused flavour) – and a couple of Cruskits.(3.4% sugar) In the past, I’ve also added a dollop of my favourite Sweet Chilli sauce, but after discovering it’s full of more than FORTY PER CENT sugar, I’ve had to find an alternative. And here it is! Sambel Olek is fantastic for those of us who love a bit of spice in our food – a great chilli flavour and ZERO sugar content – YIPPEE!!!
Afternoon tea – half a cup of blueberries
Dinner – Now we’re on holidays in Lorne, it’s going to be tricky to stick to the three alcohol-free days a week rule, but I’m going to give it a shot. Tom and I had dinner at Kosta’s Greek restaurant in Lorne tonight and the food was sensational. My grilled barramundi was top class and Tom’s lamb souvlaki was superb. Guess what I drank? WATER!!! Yes, water – can you believe that? Damn, a chardonnay would have been great with the fish, but I did it…
Kostas Restaurant – LorneMy surprise revelation today came from two readers who commented on yesterday’s blog (thank you ladies!) who reminded me to check the sugar content of the milk I use.
MILK? Are you kidding?
Seriously, I must be dumb but I’d never even considered milk having ANY sugar content – but yep, you check out your brand. Some low-fat varieties are actually MORE THAN five per cent sugar!! Thankfully our brand is spot on five per cent, so I could breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s definitely a fact worth taking on board for those of you who are also keen to stick to the ONE LINE RULE.
Milk – who’d have thought ???
