FOOD | #REALJUICEREBOOT WEEK 2 WITH @THEBODYCOACH

So week two, all the recipes have been provided by The Body Coach (#leanin15). I've not been as good with the photo taking this week. I also didn't try all the juices. After trying the Early Bird (red apples, 1/2 cucumber, 3 celery stalks, 1/4 peeled lime, ginger) and Beet Me Up (red apple, 1/2 cucumber, 2 celery stalks, 1 peeled lemon and 1/2 beetroot) I developed a cold and decided to just keep making myself the Flu Fighter to feel better.

Despite feeling ill, having all this fresh fruit and vegetables has really made me feel less lethargic. As I've mentioned in previous posts I have a thalassemia trait, which means that my body has problems absorbing Iron. The increase in other vitamins (especially Vitamin C) can help increase the absorption levels.

I've also noticed that my skin is clearer and not as dull looking as it has been this winter. I've also noticed my weight stabilised- usually I fluctuate quite a lot.

In week three the recipes have been provided by a different person each day. You can follow my progress on Instagram.

How do you make sure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need?

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FOOD | #REALJUICEREBOOT WITH PHILIPS AND MADELINE SHAW WEEK 1

Sunday was the end of my first week of the #RealJuiceReboot 21 day challenge, which is a juicing plan set up with Philips, Madeline Shaw and Joe Wicks (The Body Coach). I've always loved the idea of making my own juices, especially after grown really fond of smoothie making last year.

To facilitate my juicing I was delivered a Viva Juicer and all the fruit and veg that I would need for week one of the plan which was created by Madeline Shaw. The juicer is great, it's not actually that loud (although Sega runs off when I turn it on) so I can use it in the morning before work without worrying to much about the bloke who lives upstairs. But the big bonus is that it is actually really quick and easy to clean, which is something that I was dreading.

The First juice of the challenge was the Watermelon cooler. This was a great one to start off with as it was so refreshing. I know I am not that great in the mornings so I decided to prepare the Watermelon the night before. This was juiced with mint and lime to make the juice.

The best juice in my opinion by far was 'Beat the bloat' which was pineapple, apple, mint and lime, it was a delight to drink.

Although the idea is to juice alongside your normal habits, I have ended up substituting breakfast as you get large glass from each recipe and it fills me up until at least lunch. This is actually quite surprising considering I can eat loads.

In the first week of juicing I have slept better, lost 2lbs and feel more energised. I can really feel my body benefiting from my increase in nutrients! Let's see how I get on with week 2!

Are you good at getting your fruit and veg intake? Or do you have a juice recipe to share? I would love to hear from you :)

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FOOD | PEANUT BUTTER PROTEIN SMOOTHIE RECIPE

Me and Joe (he no longer wants to be referred to as Hubs) are trying to be more healthy and start our days of right. As part of this we have decided to start drinking smoothies again. The great thing about smoothies is that they can be filled with a lot of goodness, whether you are trying to get more iron, having protein after a workout or just trying to make sure you have your 5 a day.

I recently bought a Breville Blend Active to help us along the way. I did previously have an old school smoothie maker, but I managed to break it. I found my old one was awkward to clean and that I would often make way too much smoothie. The Blend Active on the other hand is really easy to clean and because you are blending directly in your bottle it reduces washing up and helps with portion control. Another plus is it's quite small so easy to store.

Joe has recently run out of protein powder, so he wanted a protein smoothie and I found this great recipe, which has to be one of my favourite ones.

Ingredients

200ml Almond Milk

1 Banana

4 Tbsp Oats

2 Tsp Lepicol*

2 Tbsp Peanut Butter ( I had Crunchy)

Berries (I only had tinned blackberries but ideally frozen berries)

The steps for making the smoothie are really simple, you just add the ingredients together (I also added a few cubes of ice) and then blend.

The one ingredient in the smoothie that you might not be aware of is Lepicol which is a psyllium husk fibre with live bacterial cultures and inulin - it is high in fibre and can help with regular bowel movement.

In addition to being high in fibre and protein, the berries mean this smoothie will help improve your hair and skin and the oats will make you fuller for longer.

Do you have a smoothie recipe that you would like to share? Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

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FOOD | The week in which I totally failed #WeighInWednesday

Start Weight: 13st 10lbs

Week 1 Weight: 13st 8lbs
Total Lost: -2lbs

I am really disappointed in myself this week and am ashamed to say I have put on 2lbs. I reverted back to my old habits of comfort eating, it's not an excuse but an easier option which is me being lazy.

After a good first week, I started getting really bad toothache which resulted in a lot of pain, a Saturday emergency dentist appointment and a swollen right cheek. I found it really difficult to eat and basically binged on bread as it was thin (because opening my mouth was agony) and soft (because chewing = more pain).

Looking back I should have either found Syn free ready made soup or made a batch of chicken vegetable soup that I could have heated up when needed. Although, in this weather soup isn't exactly ideal (am I making more excuses?).

While I am not going to beat myself up about it, I do need to get back on the waggon and be more dedicated. Otherwise one bad week turns into 2 and then before you know it the diet is forgotten. 

As much as I don't want to complain about the glorious weather we have had recently, I'm finding it very difficult to decide what to wear and this is mainly due to my size and insecurities(and wardrobe restrictions - I don't have many summer clothes). I don't like to expose my arms and the clothes I have are not  very flattering around my mid section. So one thing that I am using to push me forward is  thinking about being able to buy smaller summer clothes that I feel confident in next year.

What keeps you motivated each week?

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FOOD | Abel and Cole Fruit and Veg Boxes

 I usually do a big shop at the beginning of the month, where I go to our local wholesalers (Malpass) and I bulk buy our meat, it's really good you can get 5kg of Chicken breast for £20! I then pack them up into portions and put them in the freezer, while my cat Tobias has a meat related breakdown on the floor (he actually just rolls around on the floor purring like a made man the whole time!).

I also do a regular shop in the supermarket where I stock up on cupboard essential like pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes, as well as flour to make bread. I also usually buy loads of fruit and veg, that then rots before we can eat it all and then neglect to buy any more.

I've been trying to eat more healthily lately and increase our fruit and veg intake, so to remedy our fruit and veg wastage we started getting Abel and Cole boxes delivered a about two months ago. If you don't know about Abel and Cole, they deliver local organic, in season produce directly to your house. We get a weekly Medium Fruit and Veg box (£18.75), which consists of 3 portions of fruit and 5 veg including potatoes. This arrives early morning every Wednesday (we have agreed a spot for it to be left) and is delivered for just 99p.

One of the many things I like about Abel and Cole is that there is little to no packaging, and what there is is fully recyclable. You can even give all the packaging back to your delivery driver so that the company can re-use it. Additionally, when you join you get a great recipe book, and each week you get a recipe card.

Not to mention the freebies! So far we have received a free bottle of Olive Oil (because we were referred by a friend), Eggs, Milk and Marmalade.

Both Hubs and I have noticed that all the food delivered tastes amazing, everything is so fresh and has so much flavour. Also, because the items are all chosen by what's in season and available you often end up with items you usually wouldn't buy. You can add items you don't like/want to an exclusion list and they will give you something else, and you know what you are being delivered a week in advance, which allows you to plan what you are cooking and what you need.

The box doesn't have to come weekly, you can set it up to be delivered every fortnight or monthly, or as a one off. You always receive a reminder text 2 days before your delivery to remind you, just in case you want to add something to the delivery or you need to cancel it. If you are looking for a fruit and veg box I would definitely recommend them.

Do you eat your greens? Or are you a vegetable dodger?

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LIFESTYLE | Slimming World #WeighInWednesday #1

Start Weight: 13st 10lbs
Week 1 Weight: 13st 6lbs
Total Lost: -4lbs

I have completed my first week of Slimming World! Woop woop! It's been easy, I was NEVER hungry and I've actually really enjoyed what I am eating. What's more is that Hubs has not been complaining about the food either, like he has done when I have been on other diets.

I have to admit I was a bit naughty on Friday when I got invited to the Brighton Big Screen for a blogger event and ate Nachos, a Burritto and a cupcake, which took me way over my Syns allowance! But by some sort of miracle I have still managed to lose 4lbs!!! I am so happy.

Since starting the diet I have noticed a few changes in how I am feeling in myself. For starters, I haven't been feeling bloated, I've been more regular, I've had more energy and my skin has been clearer.

I haven't been exercising a lot recently, but a couple of weeks ago I started walk to and from work which is about 7km, which helps combat sitting on my bum at work all day. I do intend to start running again, especially now the weather is so nice.

Although the diet is easy to stick to, preparation and planning is key to success (at least for me during work). I've been making dinners big enough for me to take left overs to work the following day (like spag bol and chilli) as well as fruit to snack on. I've also got a collection of Mugshots in my drawer as they are a freefood!

Also I have found the Minimins Slimming World forum really helpful for syns in foods and free food snack/meal ideas.

Are you dieting? How have you done this week?

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FOOD | Starting Slimming World #WeighInWednesday

I can almost hear some of my regular readers groaning and thinking to themselves, NOT ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT DIETING. After successfully losing a large chunk of weight a few years ago on Weight Watcher, I managed to maintain my weightt for close to two years. Unfortunately this year I have really struggled to lose or even maintain my weight and had turned to various extreme diets without any long term success.

After getting on the scales and seeing that I had ballooned to a massive 13st 10lbs (the biggest I have been for 2/3 years) I reasoned with myself that I had to do something and do it quickly before I went up into the 14 stone range. I know that there is only 4lbs between my current weight and 14 stone, but I promised myself that I would NEVER go above 13st 13lbs because once I did I would probably keep going like I have so many times before.

I've recently seen a few of my friends lose substantial amounts of weight on Slimming World*, I thought it was time that I tried it. Surprisingly, I have never actually been on Slimming World before, despite,  having tried actually every other diet in the world (I even did the cabbage soup diet at uni!).

I received my starter pack (pictured above) and read over the basics of the diet and was actually surprised at how easy it seems. I decided to do the Extra Easy plan - because let's face it I've been trying to shift this weight for close to a decade so need all the help I can get!

On the Extra Easy plan I can eat as much lean meat, fish, veg, fruit and pasta as I want, a portion of milk or cheese and a portion of grain/cereal/bread without having to track or count anything. I then get between 5-15 syns a day to use on items that fall outside of the above such as butter, chocolate, additional milk etc

My hope is to start Slimming World, really get in to it and reach 10st 7lbs. I never usually set myself weight target because it's been so long since I was a healthy weight that I don't actually know what will look good or what I will feel happy with, so I might reach this goal and feel like I want to lose more. However I haven't plucked this figure out of the air, at my weight a health BMI (I loathe the BMI scale, but it's the only guide I have) is under 11stone 3lbs. I chose 10 stone 7lbs because it gives me a bit of room for fluctuation.

To keep me motivated I will be writing a weekly diary/diet summary on Wednesdays to document things I've found helpful, any struggles I have and hopefully some pictures so you guys can see me disappear in front of you.

Have any of you been on Slimming World? Got any tips for me?

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|*Slimming World have provided me with a months free online trial|

FOOD | Juicy Tox 4 Day Juice Cleanse - Review

JuicyTox is a Sussex based company who provide and prepared Juice Detox/Cleanse, their detox lasts for four days and consists of freshly made filled with anti-oxidants, calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Chlorophyll, Foliate and Vitamin A, C, K, E. I was doing the detox Tuesday through to Friday, my first delivery of juices arrived on Monday evening and compromised of the first two days’ worth of product, which included 8 juices, 2 ginger shots, 4 lemons & 4 detox teabags. My second delivery arrived on Wednesday evening.

The juices are taken as follows each day:

8am Ginger shot (This will certainly wake you up)

10am Green - Spinach, kale, celery, cucumber, apple and lemon.

1pm Orange – Carrot, lemon, orange, apple and ginger.

4pm Green - Spinach, kale, celery, cucumber, apple and lemon.

7pm Red – Beetroot, kale, carrot, apple and celery.

• Tea around 1hr before you go to bed. The tea is optional so don’t feel you’ve got to do it. 

• All the bottles have times on it so don’t worry if you forget. 

• Times are for guide purposes so if you want to do everything an hour earlier/later that’s fine

• You must drink at least 2ltrs of lemon water throughout the day

• NO FOOD TO BE CONSUMED FOR 4 DAYS

Reasons to Detox

What are the benefits of a detox – why should I go without chocolate, coffee and all things I'm addicted to for four days?

·         Detoxing is a great way to give our bodies a break from bad toxins we would normally consume

·         Boosting energy levels

·         Improving your immune system

·         Radiant complexion

·         Detoxing the body

·         Improving your digestion

·         Reduced bloating

How did I get on?

Day One

I started the day with the Ginger shot just before 8am– this tasted fine – although very gingery and brought on a minor sneezing fit. In between this and my first juice I was busy getting to work and answering my emails after the bank holiday so was completely distracted until the 10am when my first juice was due. When I got into work I filled both a pint glass and a mug with a slice of lemon and water, boiled in the mug. I know that with these sorts of cleanses/diets keeping hydrated is key and the more water you drink the more toxins you flush out.

The green juice at 10 am tastes a lot better than it looks, but does taste exactly like Green! I’m obsessing a bit about food at this point because my work gives us a free continental breakfast on the first Monday (or Tuesday on bank holidays) of the month so there are croissants everywhere, but I just continued to drink my lemon juice.

By my 1pm Juice all the croissants are gone and I am happy that I have had the restraint and not even had a bite of one. Time for my first taste of the orange coloured juice – this tastes better than the Green juice and has a very much welcomed ginger kick to it. Between this and the water I am fine waiting for my second Green juice at 4pm and actually have it in sips rather than basically knocking it back like the previous two.

My final juice is the Red one at 7pm – like with the gap between the Ginger shot and the first juice of the day, I was very distracted with finishing work and getting home so don’t really notice being particularly hungry or weak etc. The red juice is by far the tastiest and is really refreshing. Hubs had Pizza for dinner and while it smelled amazing I didn’t really mind missing out – just stuck to my lemon water and waited until I –had the mint tea an hour before bed. The mint tea is lovely and a bit of a treat – I’m not sure if it is meant to aid sleep, but I feel quite tired by bed time and drift off to sleep very quickly.

Day Two

I woke up this morning after what was possibly the best sleep I have had in a while. I did not wake up once throughout the night (apart from the 6.30am cat feeding) and I felt so well rested, but slightly dehydrated – although much less than I would usually be. Eagerly jumping on the scales I notice I have lost 2lbs!I have a glass of lemon water and my shot of Ginger – this time it did not make me sneeze, although my nose was running a bit. I walked to work this morning and noticed half way through that I had a slight headache and probably should have taken a bottle of water with me.

By 10 am I am re-hydrated after another pint of lemon water and a mug of hot lemon water so I am well prepared for my first juice of the day. I am not feeling hungry or distracted (something I experienced on my fast days when I was doing the 5:2 diet).

About 12.30pm I notice I am starting to feel a bit hungry and getting a slight headache I think this is because I have not been as militant about my water today compared to this morning. After getting back on the water I feel much better and any hunger pangs are gone once I’ve had my juice, which has become surprisingly filling. Where on day one I was counting down the minutes today I only realise it’s time for a juice because a colleague reminds me!

My delivery for day 3 and 4 arrived shortly after I get home. Hubs ties his dinner in to coincide with my 7pm juice – his food smells lovely (you notice all food smells lovely) but I don’t mind not eating until he gets a piece of chocolate cake (OH YES HE DID) later on in the evening and I unfortunately crack and have a pear (which is mentioned as a last resort in the FAQs) and then spend the whole night feeling disappointed with myself sabotaging ways and convinced I will put on all 2lbs that I lost.

Day Three

Another night of amazing sleep and feeling we rested, after getting really worried my pear had blown the detox I get back on the scales to find that I have in fact lost another 2 ¼ lbs, between this and knowing I am half way through I am feeling really confident that I can continue this detox without cheating again. I do my shot of Ginger which I am now used to and am starting to like, no sneezing. Today I have noticed that my skin is looking much better – I started getting hormone spots on my chin a few days before I started the detox, these have now dried up and will be gone in another day, my colleague also makes a comment about how my skin is glowing!

10pm and 1pm Juices are both nearly forgotten – I don’t know if this is because I am particularly busy at work, but I am not noticing hunger pangs, headaches or anything! The final juices go down well – I noticed this afternoon feeling quite hungry before the 7pm red juice and having a slight headache, but once I have it and get some more lemon water down me I am fine.

Day Four

Final day is here, I’m feeling up beat as I’ve lost another 3/4lb this morning (not going to lie, I had been dreaming of another 2lbs but still great news). I start of well with my shot of ginger, which I am actually considering keeping as a regular thing after the detox ends today!

Juice 1 and 2 go down fine, I’m still feeling fantastic and had another positive compliment about my skin. After the 2^nd juice I realise, with some surprise, that I haven’t been craving chocolate or food today. When my final 4pm Green juice comes around I’m actually struggling to finish it as it’s actually quite filling, the same happens again with the 7pm Red juice. I also noticed that the juices seem to have a stronger flavour in the final two days.

Saturday Morning

Just like every night on the detox I have slept like a baby and feel well rested when I wake up. I have lost a further 1.5lbs - 6.5lb in total. What’s more surprising is that I actually still don’t really feel hungry and have loads of energy. Hubs and I manage to complete Level 1 of #30dayshred before having breakfast (poached eggs, grilled bacon and a bagel).

Now for the Physical results, which I am so pleased with! My stomach is a lot smaller and flatter and I feel really motivated to carry on eating more healthily and exercising more.

I also feel like this is something I can see myself doing every couple of months just to give my body a bit of a boost. I’d also like to mention that Rob (from Juicy Tox) was really encouraging throughout checking up on how we were all doing and introducing all us detoxers via Twitter. This really helped as we were motivating each other and being really supportive and have been tweeting result all morning! The Juicy Tox experience gets massive thumbs up from me!

Have you ever done a detox?

Juicy Tox 4 day Juice Detox is available around Sussex for £59.99 including both deliveries.

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FOOD | 5 Protein Packed Breakfast Recipes That Will Help Start Your Day Off Right!

I am really bad at eating breakfast, which means that I end up eating more and worse things throughout the day. I know I need to eat breakfast to kick start my metabolism and to keep me fuller for longer it should be high in protein.

Protein is especially important now that I do morning workouts because it helps you recover faster from exercise. Not to mention diets higher in protein tend to help you lose weight and keep muscle tone.

But if you are like me and can't work out how long to boil an egg ( I wish I was joking) then these 5 recipes might be more suited for you (or us)!

Baked Eggs In Ham

Yes, this looks amazing eggs and ham, high protein, no carbs and still resembles a naughty fry up!

Recipe can be found at FitSugar.

High Protein Breakfast Muffin

These look delicious and could be made the night before and taken to work the next day! Thank you to SomethingOnEverything for this Recipe.

Breakfast Berry Protein Shake

 I love fruity smoothies in the morning, as well as being high in protein it's also packed with other vitamins and minerals. Thanks Spark People for this great recipe!

Bananna Oat Protein Pancakes

And let's face it, who has ever been able to say no to Panckes???? Thanks SugarFreeMom, looks like out Sunday treat breakfast is sorted now!

Carrot Breakfast Protein Cake

Cake for breakfast??? I'm in! This recipe is courtesy of PaleOMG.

Do you have a recipe you could share?

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LIFESTYLE | Lighter Life Fast Month Trial - Part 1 #TryFast

LighterLife Fast packs c/o LighterLife

Well come to another post on my (seemingly) never ending quest to lose weight. Before taking on the Exante trial in January, I had been successfully working out and doing the 5:2 diet.

No doubt you have all heard of the 5:2 diet, also known as the Fast diet – but just in case here is a quick overview. The idea behind this diet is that you eat normally 5 days a week (i.e. healthily, not gorging too much!) and then effectively fast the remaining two. On the fast days you effectively quarter you calories, it is advised that you eat 600 calories and get your RDA of key vitamins and minerals along with fibre and protein. The two fast days should not be taken consecutively.

The reason I was drawn to the 5:2 diet was that dieting 2 days a week seems a lot easier to follow and fits in better with my lifestyle. It allows me to work out on the days that I am not fasting and to still enjoy work lunches or unexpected drinks/dinners and still repent for my food sins. The only issue I have on the 5:2 diet is knowing what to eat throughout the day to that I can concentrate at work but still stick to 600cals. Luckily there is now a solution – LighterLife Fast, which is now exclusively available at Superdrug.

The idea behind LighterLife Fast is to make life easier on those fast days providing you with four LighterLife Fastpacks^TM  for those 600calorie days. The new range starts at £7.99 for a box of four Fastpacks^TM – which is enough for one day of fasting. The Fastpack^TM options include:

• Savoury meals such as Spaghetti Bolognese and pasta carbonara
• Porridge – the breakfast favourite!
• Four delicious shakes – vanilla, strawberry, banana and chocolate
• Four scrumptious meal bars in nut fudge, crispy peanut, cranberry & raspberry and toffee flavours

LighterLife has sent me a months’ worth of their Fastpacks^TM to try and document my experience. 

My first fast day was yesterday (Wednesday), and I decided not to work out. Having really struggled with the whole food replacement thing in February, I have to say that I was completely fine. It could be that I am in the zone as I’ve been tracking my food the last week and been exercising, but I think it is also what I was provided with. Firstly the increase to 4 meals really helps. I had one of the Peanut bars for breakfast – it tasted more or less like a Tracker bar and I really enjoyed it.  I had the porridge for lunch and the Bolognese mid-afternoon, this is when I get really hungry. I was surprised as the Bolognese looks like actual food, with real spaghetti which was a lovely. For dinner I had a Vanilla shake.

So let’s get to the nitty gritty, my weight.  I’m actually ashamed to say that I have ballooned in the weeks since Exante.

Start weight: 13st 9.5lbs (I have actually lost a few pounds in the last week which is a horrific thing to admit. It’s the most I have weighed in about 2 years).

Hips: 42"

Waist: 37"

Let’s hope there is a more positive result in a months’ time!

Have you got any weight loss/ healthy eating tips, please share I obviously need them!

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FOOD | nākd. raw food bars Review

selection of nākd bars c/o natural balance foods.

Part of my goals for 2014 is to be more healthy. Overall this is not a problem since I discovered the Hairy Dieters recipe books last year which helps me make healthy, lower calorie foods without feeling deprived.

I've also got back on the gym waggon with early morning work outs on the way back from dropping Hubs to work. This is followed by a protein shake to help my body recover from my workout and porridge to keep me full until lunch.

The problem comes mid afternoon at work when I all of a sudden decide I am starving, possibly to death, right in my office in the middle of Brighton - who ever said I was melodramatic? We have fruit in the office on Monday and Wednesday, while I do try to snack on these, they just never seem to fill the hole. This then leads me to gorge on really unhealthy things that can be found in any office, like biscuits, crisps, cakes - you get my gist.

I've tried cereal bars etc, but they aren't that tasty and don't fulfil my sugar needs despite their deceptively high sugar content! Then I found the perfect natural balance foods snacks - the nākd. raw food bar range.

The range is gluten, wheat and dairy free, so suitable for people with various dietary restrictions,they count as one of your five a day and are 100% natural.They are also raw - meaning the contents are not cooked, instead cold pressed.

The bars are mainly made from dates and a variety of nuts so are naturally sweet and have a lovely moist texture. They come in the following flavours:

• Rhubarb and custard
• Pecan Pie
• Caffe Mocha
• Berry Delight
• Cocoa Orange
• Cashew Cookie
• Cocoa Delight
• Cocoa Mint
• Ginger Bread

After trialing each flavour (poor me!) my favourite bars are Ginger Bread and Cocoa Orange, which taste like Terrys Chocolate Orange. The mint tastes like After Eights too!

What is your favorite snack?

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FOOD | Exante Diet - Weight Loss One Week Trial Part 1

Toffee Caramel Shake

Starting from today I will be doing the Exante diet Total Solution for a week (with the exception of 2 dinners/days). I will blog about my experience at the end of the week.

Start weight: 13st 5.5lbs

Waist: 37"

Hips: 43"

I know in my New Years Resolution post I said that I would cook more and not diet, but when I was approached to do the Exante Diet for a week for my blog, I decided I would.

Firstly, I would like to say, that in my first week of being more active and cooking from scratch, I lost 3lbs, which I was ecstatic with and therefore will continue to do light exercise throughout the week that I am on Exante so that I do not get out of the habit. When the week is up I will continue to cook as I have been.

I have previously done Exante and other VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diets) and have seen great results. A lot of people (possibly you) are thinking, well what is the point of this as when you start eating food you will put it back on, but this is not always true. Many years ago I did Lighter Life for 3 months and lost about 3.5 stone - never reached the goal as I was getting really bored of not eating and having no social life (no alchol, juice, milk or fruit teas). In the months after stopping Lighter Life I did pile nearly every pound back on - but this was for one reason and one reason only - I continued to eat like a fat person, completely unable to maintain. 

Since then I have managed to lose all that weight again via various methods - mainly Weight Watchers and have learnt to eat properly. I now know proper portions sizes and have developed a much more healthy approach to food - I can now maintain.

Before my wedding, while I was successfully maintaining my weight, I was finding it very hard to lose it and after seeing a Wowcher for Exante, I decided to go for it. This was a decision made out of desperation as I had vowed not to do a diet like this again. My reasoning this time was that my wedding was drawing ever closer and this time I would do it for a month max. I did the Total Solution (3 meal replacements a day adding up to 600Kcals) for one week and the Working Solution (adding an additional 400kcal meal) for two more weeks. In that time I successfully lost a stone. 

When I stopped I put on 3lbs which is to be expected, but I maintained for a further 3 months. I did put the weight back on temporarily towards the end of my father-in-laws illness. We were eating when and where we could, which essentially was takeaways and chocolate - 100% my fault and once things settled down, and we were eating normally again it came off.

Basically, what I am getting at is if you don't know how to eat and continue to eat in excess you will put the weight back on, just like with any diet. The benefits of some other diets is that as you are loosing weight you educate yourself to eat properly or healthily.

Anyway for those of you who aren't familiar with Exante I will break it down:

- Total Solution - 600 Calories a day in the form of 3 x Exante products, this can be done for upto 3 weeks before taking part in a Low Calorie Week where an additional 201-600kcal of food can be added or a 200kcal milk allowance. Only for people with a BMI of 25 +.

- Working Solution - 1000 Calories a day same as above but with an additional 400kcal meal - there is no need for a Low Calorie Week.

- Simple Solution - As above with a 600kcal meal instead of 400kcal and suitable for people with a BMI of above 20.

In the Total Solution your body goes into Ketosis, which is an integral part of the VLCD. 

What is Ketosis? Ketosis means that your body is burning fat rapidly because it is using your fat as it's main source of energy. Normally our bodies use our food as our primary source of energy. Your body initially uses up its energy reserves of glycogen before starting to burn fats from its fat stores; this process normally begins after 3 to 4 days on the programme. When the glycogen stores are used up, your body will then switch its main energy source to burning your fat. When fat is burned rapidly the body produces a by-product called 'ketones' and the person is said to be in ketosis.

A very important thing to note during this diet is that it is essential to drink at least 2L of water a day as you need to replace the water that you would usually get from the food you eat, otherwise you will become severely dehydrated. Also, as your body goes into Ketosis, the more water you drink the more weight you will lose, and the easier you will find the diet. It is however, extremely important not to drink too much water otherwise you could become very ill.

As well as, restricting food you cannot drink alcohol, milk, juices or teas containing fruit.

Before taking on any diet (especially one such as this) it is important that you seek guidance from your Doctor and that you fully research the diet!

See how I got on here.

Wish me good luck!

Love Lilla x