My Weightloss Diet

'I'LL START MONDAY'

'BUT IT'S ONLY ONE CHOCOLATE BAR'

'I'M EMOTIONAL'

'YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE'

ETC ETC ETC

There are so many excuses to use when it comes to eating food! 

Why? because food is amazing, bad food tastes even better and the world has created so many delicious foods for us humans to eat....THAT'S WHY!

However, when it comes to wanting a fit and healthy body, a booty to die for and a set of abs, food can be our worst nightmare. Before i began my weightloss journey i had an awful outlook on food, my diet was all over the place and food was my best friend yet my worst enemy. I would think about food 24/7. If you know what it feels like then you will also know that it can rule your life. Since i was young i would hide chocolate in my room, spend my pocket money on chocolate and there was just never enough. My problem was 100% chocolate. I could eat it morning, day and evening and there just never seemed to be enough. I'd hate to know how unhealthy my body was when i was younger. As i grew up the problem didnt stop, throughout my teens i would love to eat chocolate .. a lot of chocolate whenever and wherever i could. Everyone has a guilty pleasure right? Chocolate is mine... and still is. Once i became more educated on the subject of nutrition, i realised that this addiction had to stop. I'd listen to people say 'It's ok to have a little bit of what you fancy' and never really understood that until now. 'A LITTLE BIT?'  i would say in my head, 'BUT I WANT A LOT' haha. If you know, you know. 

However, when i began going to the gym and exercising regulary, i started to become more addicted to the feeling after a workout. Me and Bella always say 'my dolphins are swimming', meaning our endorphins are in action which gives you a great feeling when your exercising. If i'm honest, i dont think i could eat clean and healthy if i wasn't exercising. The feeling that a workout gives me, motivates me to eat better and stay on track. After the first few weeks of training and eating better, i only saw a little progress, and this can be disheartening because everyday seems like forever when your focussing on not eating that chocolate bar, or covering your dinner in grated cheese, the days seem endless and the nights cant be over quick enough.

When people dont see results in a week or month, they tend to give up. Results will not happen overnight but with consistency and dedication you can achieve whatever results your aiming for. I have met so many people at the gym who gave me advice on what to eat. I would recommend getting a professional to look at your diet because how much and what you can eat comes down to your weight, your activity level, your age and your height. Weightloss and fitness is very intelligent, that's because our bodies are intelligent and we have to understand our body to manipulate the results we want to achieve. I have included my diet before my journey and my diet now to show you the difference in my eating habits. However, measurements of the food will vary from person to person depending on weight, height, age and activity level. 

YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT! Patience is one skill i am still learning to master, but it has improved. I started my journey thinking it was impossible, i stuggled for so many months to see a change, i gave up on days and ate away the emotions, i cried to my friends and slept in too long instead of getting up and going to the gym. BUT, them days were needed for me to push myself even harder. I was not going to give up, and i will never give up now. I used them moments to make myself stronger and prove to MYSELF that it was POSSIBLE. Dont get me wrong, it took many years of debating and hard relationships and pain to get my mindset right and the correct support around me to continue. But in the end, its only you who can make them changes and keep going. ITS ONLY YOU WHO CAN DO THIS FOR YOURSELF!  

Diet is the most important part of my journey if im going to succeed. Exercise is what keeps me motivated to stay on track with my diet. There's always something positive you can take out of a negative situation. What do i mean by this? OK, so the first time i really understood nutrition, i was seeing a guy who was a bodybuilder and personal trainer. He really motivated me and gave me a diet plan to follow. I saw the results with my own eyes when i saw progress in his clients and himself. This gave me the belief that it can be done. He made me meals sometimes that i could try and had porridge with protien powder in for breakfast together in the mornings. I began to see changes in my body that i never saw before, i woke up feeling lighter and had more energy. Now, what i mean by taking the positive out of a negative situation here is that this particular relationship ended sour and recently found out he was actually a criminal and is now stuck in prison for the next four years, but that's none of my business 👌👌👌. However, there is a reason that people come into your life, and this reason was to educate me on nutrition and exercise. My point here is, that whatever struggles you come accross in life, make sure you take something from that experience to better yourself. Your life will not change or be lived to its fullest if your do not learn from everything and everyone.

Emotional Eating

I'm going to save the emotinal stuff for a future blogpost but for now i just want to explain how emotions, hormones and difficult situations can effect your appetite. I am an EMOTIONAL EATER. If you are an emotional eater then you will know that if you feel sad, angry, lonely, scared or any negative emotion, you will find comfort in food. On the flip side an emotional eater will also find comfort in food when they are happy, excited and feeling thier best.

 'I passed my exam, im going to treat myself' (Orders the largest burger on the menu at the best burger resturant)

'I feel so fat, i'm never going to be beautiful' (scoffs a whole bag of giant chocolate buttons)

'I've got a cold and i cant even taste anything' (eats a whole tub of Ben and Jerrys)

'He didnt text me back within half an hour' (orders a chinese and watches Bridget Jones)

Ok, so these are definitely examples of my own experiences. But we all do it and after the event we feel guilty, amused and ashamed. LOL. It's a viscious cycle, until we can break it. 

Us women, also use another excuse which is our monthly visit from mother nature. Now, we could sit and debate this forever with men, but what's the point? They will never ever understand what we go through in terms of hormonal changes, emotional highs and lows and feeling OK for let's say... about a week out of the 4 every month. Week 1 = PMS, we want to eat everything, our faces are full of spots and we are ever so delicate. I mean, a simple episode of eastenders will make us cry for almost half an hour. Week 2= mother nature arrives, we feel dirty, hungry, bloated and again slightly delicate. Week 3 = We feel ok, Spots have cleared up, full of energy and everything is dandy. Week 4 = We are waiting for week 1 to arrive again and the hormones are all confused. It's hard being a woman. BUT, im not trying to give us woman an excuse, i'm merely pointing out that there are reasons for the changes in our bodies and our mind. It's how we cope with them that really matters. Throughout my journey so far, i have managed to control these emotions by exercising. On week 1 and i must admit i will have a couple of spoonfuls of Nutella and exercise slightly less. But i will never just give up when im feeling emotional and tired. In the end, i know that after a good workout i will feel great again and its just a matter of choosing to beat them emotions and get my ass to the gym. 

 With that said, here is my diet before my journey and my diet now. As you can see it's completely changed. I will also have cheat days where i will eat whatever i fancy and sometimes an occaisonal spoon of Nutella just for some satisfaction. What i have found is that when i'm really craving something, i will have it. The stress of not having it is a lot worse than just giving myself a little bit. So in the end, people were right when they said 'have a little bit of what you fancy'. If your mind is focussed on the goal, your exercising regularly and your are feeling good, then the diet will fall into place. Changing your habits is the hardest part, but when you start noticing results and changes in yourself, the motivation will elevate and you will progress. A clean diet made up of good protein, good carbs and good fats is something that we can all enjoy and succeed with. Before i learnt this, i would try random diets like slimming world, weight watchers and all the other fad diets around. But from my experience, they didn't work because they were not sustainable with regular exercise and normal day to day living.

I prep my meals a day in advance because it makes it easier for me to grab and go. Life gets busy, work hours are all over the place and social events always crop up because lets face it we are here to live the life we want and the enjoy it. So preperation has to become a habit with a good clean diet. I am not the best at it but i know that it works. There are many meals you can eat on a clean diet that dont take long at all to prepare and once you have cracked the habit, you're on your way to a healthier and happier life.

Before

Breakfast

Toast, cheese on toast, mcdonalds bagel or bag of chocolate

Lunch

Pasta with tons of grated cheese, sandwich from a shop, mcdonalds, cheese sandwich or just loads of random snacks

Dinner

Pasta with tons of grated cheese, lasagne, takeaway, pizza or just whatever i fancied that night.

Desert

Bags of chocolate, Nutella, ice cream etc. 


Now

Breakfast

Porridge with one scoop of whey protein
or
1 chicken sausage
2 rashers of bacon
3 scrambled eggs
wholemeal bagel

I cook this and my chicken on a grill, see video. Its quick and easy and keeps me full for hours. 

Lunch

Chicken, rice and veg or if i havent prepared i will get some chicken and rice or wrap on the go. Many shops are starting to sell clean food that we can grab now which is great.

Dinner

Chicken, rice and veg or turkey mince, sweet potato and veg. (i season everything to give me different tastes and makes it more enjoyable).

Seasonings i love:

• Smoked paprika with pepper on sweet potato
• All purpose seasoning, curry powder, garlic and smoked paprika on lean mince or turkey mince. 
• Cajun 
• Nandos rub for chicken  
• I use rapeseed or olive oil to cook my potatoes with

Snacks

Natural yogurt with nuts and honey
Protein balls
Nuts
Banana

Vitamins and minerals- Once i began to learn a little more about clean eating and exercise i noticed that my body wasn't getting everything it needed to achieve an overall healthy body. One of the guys from the gym who looked over my diet for me, recommended certain vitamins and minerals that would help with achieving maximum health. I take the supplements below once a day, and my god they have made a massive difference to my energy levels, skin, hair and nail condition and my overall mood.

Cod liver oil
Magnesium and Zinc
Vitamin D
Glucosamine
Folic Acid


From this blog i hope to inspire others to look at their diet, know that it's ok to eat bad food now and again but also to realise that anyone can do this. It's mind over matter sometimes, but once you have gained a little more knowledge and set yourself some goals, anything is possible. Changing habits can be so hard and i am still conquering some of my bad habits, but we are all human and we all like different things. So just evaluate yourself, decide what you want, commit to your decision and you will succeed. NO MORE EXCUSES, learn and make the best version of yourself. It will be worth it.

As previously mentioned in my other blogs, The secret has helped me to keep my mind positive which again will help with making the right choices with your diet. Take a look if you havent already:
www.thesecret.tv

Here are a couple of websites i used and still use to motivate myself and learn about nutrition and fitness:

www.bodybuilding.com
www.livestrong.com

A great app to track your food and exercise is MYFITNESSPAL. You can track how many calories, carbs, protein etc you're eating. You can also set yourself goals to keep  your motivated. HIGHLY recommended.
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

A lot of knowledge i gain is from experienced people at the gym; personal trainers, nutritionists and bloggers can motivate you and teach you.  KNOWLEDGE IS POWER....USE IT WELL. People love to help, just ask around.

Ciao for now 

Bella

xxxx