Burgers and Suchlike

Oh hey there! 

It's Friday, I started this new lifestyle at the start of the week. I'd be lying if I said it was difficult.

Week one is easy; you know you'll lose weight, you know you're full of motivation, you've been out and bought a whole pile of vegetables. 

My weekly weigh-in is a Monday, which I think is a great idea. If there's any time you're going to want to jump off the wagon and onto a stuffed crust pizza and into a bottle of red wine, it's going to be the weekend. I certainly feel like once I get this far into a week, why would I want to spoil all my hard work before I get weighed? However, I was sitting at my desk today at work, daydreaming about going home and cracking open a bottle of Malbec and ordering a parmo. 

There's a difference though, because this week I'm breaking my red wine & takeaway Friday habit. 

I'm meeting up with some friends tonight and we're going to Byron. I know this isn't ideal when trying to eat healthy, but I'm prepared. 

I've eaten great all day (no carbs with my dinner, only used 0.5  of my allowance of 15 syns, and I'm planning ahead. Normally, I'd quite happily tuck into a giant burger with bacon, cheese, mustard, relish and whatever else took my fancy. There'd always be a side of chips, and a couple of ales to wash it down. 

I've looked at the menu this week, and I learned that Byron (the menu is linked above) do "bun- free" burgers. They take away the bun and provide you with a free side salad instead. 

I've checked online and according to Slimming World forums, a Skinny Byron beef burger is 12.5 syns, it's actually within my day's allowance :).

However, looking into the menu, there seems to be even healthier choices- a mushroom burger, a chicken breast burger, there's even beetroot salads. I'm really looking forward to my meal and I'm glad I planned ahead.

It's also very much an achievement that I didn't crack open a bottle of wine and jump into my PJs. I'm proud of myself! 

I will be posting again on Monday / Tuesday with my week one weigh-in results, and a couple of pictures of the food I've been enjoying this week (including the burger). 

Wish  me luck.


P.S I don't want to continue posting about my blogs on Facebook forever, so to avoid missing any, you can enter your email address in the box on the right. I don't even get told when someone subscribes, but you get an email every time a new post appears. 

Why Diets Suck

We've all been there.

"That's it! My jeans are too tight, I'm going on a diet!"

"I've booked my holiday, now I just have to follow Davina's ultimate bikini body diet and I will look glorious by the time I go away!" 

"I'm sick of my muffin top, I'll go on a diet for a little while to get rid of it."

Diets are Stupid. There I said it. They are! Everything about a diet implies that it's okay to temporarily (key word) deny ourselves the things we secretly want to gorge on in order to lose a bit of weight. 

I've done diets. Not many, because you mostly hear bad things about them (and I didn't get to the size I am by dieting, ha). I've tried and tested Slimming World, and BooTea. I've written a list of reasons I don't like diets;

• Diets imply that once you've achieved what you want, you can go back to your old habits. 
• Diets are all about restriction. Don't eat this, don't eat that. Making you give up the things you love will only make you hate your 'diet' even more. 
• Every expert will tell you something different. Eat as much as you want/starve yourself, don't have olive oil/ switch to olive oil etc etc. How is anyone supposed to know what to do?
• They are not always healthy. Have you ever read the top 10 diets suggested by the NHS? Have you seen the number of negatives on each diet!? Even the NHS can't give you something coherent.
• Everyone is different, our bodies are different. What works for me might not work for you. 
• Calorie counting- If you drink a SlimFast then eat a packet of crisps, you're not being healthy. You're slowly destroying your body.
• Exercise- So many diets don't mention exercise! Why? It makes you feel a lot better than sitting wishing you had a cupcake.
•  Diets are temporary. No one is on a diet for life. A healthy lifestyle requires a complete change in attitude. You shouldn't be doing it 'until I come off my diet'.  

Living a healthy lifestyle is a big thing, and if you do it well you will lose weight and feel better. If you want to have something bad, have something bad. You're allowed! If you want to have a week of to binge, maybe that's not such a good idea (ha). 

Did I mention I'm doing a diet? I'm 4 days into Juice Plus. I hate diets, but I couldn't resist giving this a go. More will be explained when I'm done... And the pounds are already slipping off. I will keep you posted.