Perseverance pays off

Another week is upon us and even though last week didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped on the scales, rather than take myself off to McDonald’s for a consoling chicken select meal (with cheeseburger chaser obvs!) I stuck to my meal plan and it really paid off. Same excitement this Monday, but with a bit of trepidation, having been stung last week, I hopped on the scales and to my delight was greeted with a 4lb loss! Wahoo! I think I am finding doing things this way easier for a few reasons. 1. No foods are banned/points/syns. Everything is counted, as calories. I don’t doubt that points and syns actually work, in fact I’ve seen evidence through friends & family, but for me, that mentality doesn’t work. If I think I can’t have something, I want it even more! Worse still, if something is a “free food” I’ll eat too much of that. 2. I’ve mastered portion control. Ok it’s not a science, but usually, when I make dinner it's usually 7-8pm at night, I’ve eaten my last meal at 12pm so after 7 hours of no food, I’m ridiculously hungry, which leads to, as my mum would say, my eyes being bigger than my belly. I sometimes dish up four portions between my husband and I, so we were effectively eating 2 dinners at least once per week! I decided to try a smaller (normal) portion of one the main culprits of my crimes against portions. Spag Bol. I measured out my spaghetti and dished the bolognese into 4 portions and guess what? I was bloody full! I wasn’t raiding the cupboards for food as I thought I would be. Also I wasn’t uncomfortable or groggy like I sometimes felt after dinner, I was satisfied. 3. I’m moving more. I got the Apple Watch last year through my vitality healthcare, (it’s worth taking a look at by the way!) The Apple Watch is a great motivator it sends you motivational messages to keep moving tells you if you’re on track and encourages you if you’re not. Also as I mentioned in my last blog I’m loving the Nike Training Club App and have found the routine easily fits into my lifestyle and the exercises are actually really enjoyable as well as challenging. Which brings me onto my next observation. Sunday’s exercise session. Yoga.37 minutes, which I was actually looking forward to. I’ve always wanted to give yoga a go, I tried a class at the gym last year as well as a separate session earlier on last year and I thought they were perhaps a bit advanced, as I was an absolute beginner. Nope, turns out yoga is just not as easy as it looks! Although I was dripping with sweat (more than when I run a bloody marathon) I did really enjoy it, I wasn’t out of breath as much as I would have been doing a cardio workout, but I felt like I’d worked really hard, which in itself is rewarding. So I treated myself to double carbs for dinner and even had enough calories left at the end of the day for a couple of glasses of wine. My other new discovery, thanks to my friend Tanya, is Hello Fresh. Last week was my first delivery and I have to say the meals are delicious! You can have it delivered any day of the week, so I have mine on Sundays, as I am always home (practising self-care Sunday). They email you with a time slot on the morning of your delivery, which you can track. It comes in a nice big box, and the meals are separated into brown paper bags with the meats and other chilled items kept separately in a chiller bag. You get detailed recipe cards with really easy to follow instructions, you can also use the app for instructions and that gives you a timer as well. All the ingredients are fresh (it’s not just a name you know!) There are around 18 meals per week to choose from and aside from the standard box option, you can have low-calorie, veggie, fish free, pork free or the chefs choice. You can check the nutritional content before ordering so if you're trying to be healthy like me, you can go for the lower calorie option, this week mine were all around the 600 calorie mark. My meal choices need to be made by the Wednesday before delivery day, although I’ve got a bit obsessed and chosen for the next few weeks! But they can be changed as many times as I like up until the Wednesday before my delivery. We have 3 meals per week for the two of us and that’s £29.99 per week, which works out £5 per meal. Our first box we got for £9.99 as Tanya gave us a referral code. If you would like to try it here’s my referral code

https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/?c=CLAREMES&utm_source=raf-share&utm_campaign=share-other&utm_medium=app&utm_version=c1
29lb to go.....