What I eat

I thought I would post what I ate on a typical day. Whilst I'm basically following the Slimming World plan, I do tweak it a little, and I'm happy with the weight loss. You may see different results if you eat the same as me.

I took a random green day and original day from my food log spread sheet. If you have read earlier posts you will know that I don't eat at set meal times, only when I'm actually hungry. I also typically eat smaller portions that the Slimming World recipes indicate. Once I feel full, I stop eating, if there is food left on my plate, I'll reheat it later for my next meal, or as part of leftovers in the next day's menu.

Green Day

I typically start eating between 10 and 11:30 am. On the day I chose 35g of porridge oats (B healthy extra) made up with 175ml skimmed milk  (1/2A healthy extra)  and 50ml water. I sweeten the porridge with some artificial sweetener and 2 tsp of golden syrup (2 syns). Whilst I wait for the porridge to cool down a little, I have a banana.

After a couple of hours, I had a large handful of grapes and a Muller light yogurt. I know lots people automatically reach for yogurts whilst trying to lose weight, but I actually like the stuff.

My next meal was a Batchelor's cheese, leek and ham flavoured Pasta 'n Sauce (1 syn). I add chopped leek to the packet and once it's cooked I add a handful of dry fried onions, 27g of chopped, well cooked bacon (3 syns - all fat cut off prior to grilling) and 15g of grated strong cheddar cheese (1/2A healthy extra) , with a liberal sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

My last meal of the day was a spicy tomato and bacon pasta. I chopped up an onion and yellow pepper and dry fried them in a sauce pan with a little crushed garlic. Once they were starting to brown, I added 100ml of passata and 55g of grilled bacon (B healthy extra). I also added a dessert spoon of hot sauce and the same of dried basil and simmered for 10 minutes. Whilst this was cooking I boiled up 75g of fusilli lunghi pasta. I garnish with 10g of freshly grated parmesan cheese (2 syns).

Red Day

I prefer eating mostly green day foods, but I find I have a better weight loss if I throw in a red day or two. I do find however red days can be quite high in salt, so I make sure I don't have one too close to weigh in day, as I don't want to be retaining excess water from the extra salt I've eaten.

Yesterday was a particularly enjoyable red day as it included my current favorite food, chicken and bacon quesadillas. So after weigh in, there is a group meeting where the consultant gives us food tips, recipes and a pep talk for the coming week. Feeling peckish half way through, I had an apple and a banana.

I was hungry once I go home at 11:30, but had forgotten to get the bacon out of the freezer the night before. I had a fat free Greek style lemon yogurt (1/2 syns) some fresh pineapple and a banana.

By 2:30 I was ready for food, so I made my chicken and bacon quesadillas, to save a couple of syns I use 45g of cheese (1 A healthy extra and 3 syns). I've also started to add a chopped tomato to the recipe, to increase my veg intake a little. I count the wrap as a B healthy extra where the official plan says it's supposed to by synned. As I mentioned earlier, I tweak the rules slightly, but the tweaks work for me (38 lbs loss in 4 weeks) but this may not work for you.

After spending the afternoon in the garden hacking back the hedge, I had a Slimming World Hi-Fi bar that was given at the group meeting that morning (3 syns). I usually don't bother with these bars as they are quite small for the syn value, but it made a nice change.

By 7pm I was hungry again so I had bacon, syn free sausage, 150g baked beans (B healthy extra) and an omelet made with onion, sweet peppers, cheese (A healthy extra) and a large dash of hot sauce, 1 butter bud (1/2 syn) and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper.

I've also gotten into the habit of eating my last meal around 7pm so that I go to bed just as I start to feel hungry again. Your body uses a lot of energy to digest food, going to sleep on a full stomach means your body is working hard whilst it is supposed to be resting and repairing itself.

I know the plan says you can eat unlimited free and super free foods so you never have to feel hungry, but the plan is still basically a simplified way to limit calorie intake. I have taken the time to learn what my body is telling me and to tell the difference between hunger induced by thirst, boredom, emotions and actual hunger. I also make sure I don't over eat at a meal. I try to eat more slowly and stop once I feel full. Being properly hungry when you sit down to eat makes the food seem to taste so much nicer.