Need advice and suggestion with my Diet and cheat meal, please.

ShadowHearth

Long Story short: I had a huge "life crash" recently. I got a plan to get my s*** together. Stop being fat Bastard is part of a Plan.
With my little routine I droped from 128kg to 113.5kg in 5 weeks ( 14.5kg lost ). It might be not that impressive, but I am looking for long term solution and not just to get ready for Winter Mankini session. :pac:
My current goal is to get in to >110kg territory. Long term to get in to double digits.

What I do:

Fast paced Walking 6/7 days per week of 5.2miles ( 8.3km ), if nothing major happens and I got time I do all 7 days. On top of that, I stoped using car if I can walk.

Food:

Breakfast: 3 medium boiled eggs + ( optional smoke salmon or 1 skinless chicken thigh + 1 Tomato )
Dinner around 4-5 o'clock: 2/3 boiled skinless chicken thighs + Salad (3 tomatoes, half Cucumber, half onion, 1 spoon sour cream and sometimes a few pieces of Feta cheese. ) Sometimes I drop it to 2 chicken thigh, but add some rice.
I always got Bananas, Oranges and apples in the house as a snack if I feel hungry. I drink a lot of water, but not sure if its bad or good for me.

Now my breakfast might look huge, but there is a reason for it. I do my walking early after breakfast, so I want to get some extra energy and might as well burn the cals I just threw in to myself. Other reason is that I work as Breakfast Chef, I need to eat in the morning so I would not get tempted by picking food. After work I come back home and do my walk, so bigger breakfast helps ( I think )

So my issue is that I eat that for 3 week. I am perfectly fine with breakfast, but I would not mind a few more options for my dinner? I still love it and could eat it same stuff for weeks, but it would be nice to find alternative for now and then? I completely cut off Potato, bread and Pasta out and I am not really missing it.

I herd this term "cheat meal" and I think I am getting to the point where I have to have it now and then or I will start stabbing people. I am a sucker for Pizza or McDonalds Cheeseburgers. How badly it will hit me if once a week I would swap my dinner for just 2 double cheersburgers on their own or some pizza? Or am I writing myself a Fat sentence right away?

Any suggestions welcome. Sorry if the post is a bit too long, I just want to show the whole picture. I believe it will be easier to advice. I am new too to this part of boards.ie, so hello to everyone!

If you can manage it without going nuts on it yeah go for it should be fine

ShadowHearth

bluewolf wrote: »

If you can manage it without going nuts on it yeah go for it should be fine

You mean on cheat meals? What's sort of limit to qualify "under nuts".

Alf Veedersane

Don't undo a lot of good work with the cheat meal. Keep it to the meal rather than extend it out to an extended binge.

Is it ideas for what to eat for a dinner that you are looking for or is it more that there are foods you're not entirely sure about?

You can't go wrong with meat and veg. Proper meat.

I mean if you have the 2 cheeseburgers and you're grand til this time next week to have them again, that's fine
If you think it's likely to send you on a path of going nuts for cheeseburgers every day and slipping back into any old bad habits then it may not be great

Well done otherwise though you're doing great


Oh dinners... mine are usually good old meat and veg in various forms. smoked coley in the oven with sweetcorn and other mixed veg is also tasty
beef and veg... stir fries...

ShadowHearth

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Don't undo a lot of good work with the cheat meal. Keep it to the meal rather than extend it out to an extended binge.

Is it ideas for what to eat for a dinner that you are looking for or is it more that there are foods you're not entirely sure about?

You can't go wrong with meat and veg. Proper meat.

I am looking for some more ideas on my regular dinner meals. I am eating the same stuff for 3 weeks now and I was wondering if I can change it a bit without taking big hit. I am really new to healthy food. And maybe something that I think is very bad for me actually not that bad after all?
I tired before swaping my salad for some boiled mix veg ( those frozen packs with broccoli,carrot, peas etc), but I was not sure how I felt after them or how much better it was then my salad.

Alf Veedersane

Nothing wrong with frozen veg at all!

Get spices involved with meat and you can really change up the flavour.

Soak the beef in balsamic vinegar and olive/coconut oil and ginger and garlic and a dab of honey and a smaller dab of some kinda tabasco hot stuff /om nom nom

ShadowHearth

Thing is, I do know a few ways of doing stuff ( I am chef after all lol), but I am not sure about how healthy.
I am not freaky eater and I actually don't mind plain boiled meat as long as I can put some salt and pepper on it.
I presume as soon as I start pan frying meats or oven cooking it just goes off the charts in "less healthy" section?
Or it would be an option to pan fry few chops with species for myself now and then? I liked to do some pork+beef mince meatballs back in the day. I would oven cook them or boil them. Would it still be an option?

I am a huge fan of pasta and balognese stuff. Unfortunately I heard that the biggest 3 evils when you losing weight are pasta, bread and potato. I have completely cut all of it out. The only one that I would miss is pasta, but I can live without it too.

Any of those curry jars and some rice can be considered as alternate? Or that just drops it back in to unhealthy section?

lpwrzd5une26hj

14.5kg is impressive, thats 2 stone, that's impressive, someone told me recently "it is impossible to out exercise a bad diet" the thing I find about diets they get boring, your diet has got you this far and you want mix it up a bit, plenty of fruit and veg, re the water I don't think you are drinking to much, it's not like you will become a bing drinker on it, no one should every eat white loaf, if you are going to have a cheat meal, lunch is the one to go for, your body will have the rest of the day to get it through your system, keep it to one a week, get yourself a personnel trainer one who will motivate you, not just tell you what to do from the top of a gym class , and if you do have a bad eating / drinking day ie wedding or something, get back on track the next day, don't but it off til Monday or next month set yourself goals, good luck with it and don't give up

This is some choices my personnel trainer gave me
Turkey burgers with sweet potato, mixed salad

Tuna steak with quinoa and vega
Chicken breast with brown rice and veg stir fry

Fresh cod with mixed salad & sweet potato

Spicy turkey or beef meatballs with onion, garlic, cayenne pepper & chilli flakes

Chicken breast (diced & marinated with paprika) avocado jalapeños, tomato & toasted seeds , lemon juice to dress

Just some dinner suggestions from 1 of the fittest personnel trainers around

Alf Veedersane

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Thing is, I do know a few ways of doing stuff ( I am chef after all lol), but I am not sure about how healthy.
I am not freaky eater and I actually don't mind plain boiled meat as long as I can put some salt and pepper on it.
I presume as soon as I start pan frying meats or oven cooking it just goes off the charts in "less healthy" section?
Or it would be an option to pan fry few chops with species for myself now and then? I liked to do some pork+beef mince meatballs back in the day. I would oven cook them or boil them. Would it still be an option?

I am a huge fan of pasta and balognese stuff. Unfortunately I heard that the biggest 3 evils when you losing weight are pasta, bread and potato. I have completely cut all of it out. The only one that I would miss is pasta, but I can live without it too.

Any of those curry jars and some rice can be considered as alternate? Or that just drops it back in to unhealthy section?

Nothing really wrong with frying or cooking in the oven. Big of coconut oil and chops would be grand. A healthy 'diet' won't fall down because of it.

Some jars of sauces are better than others but you are better off making your own. As for rice, just get the portion size right. Too many people have a two person portion for themselves.

I wouldn't use the jars of curry sauces unless you can see they're not full of sugar or something.
Curries are grand to make yourself anyway, tomato paste or water base with a ton of spices thrown in and simmering

I've a sweet chili sauce recipe I've bookmarked since forever I haven't tried yet though ><

Thoie

You could have more fish for dinner - poach a bit of salmon, or stick some seabass or mackerel or lemon sole under the grill. You could mix up the salads a bit too - cucumber and avocado, maybe a bit of quinoa. Or throw some light steamed mangetout into your salad, with some sesame seeds.

If you're boiling the chicken, throw some ginger and scallions in with it for a bit of a kick.

I'd get really bored eating boiled chicken for weeks on end - mixing up the flavours, even if the basics are the same may help relieve some of the boredom and help you avoid cheating.

ShadowHearth

Anaya Melodic Businessman wrote: »

14.5kg is impressive, thats 2 stone, that's impressive, someone told me recently "it is impossible to out exercise a bad diet" the thing I find about diets they get boring, your diet has got you this far and you want mix it up a bit, plenty of fruit and veg, re the water I don't think you are drinking to much, it's not like you will become a bing drinker on it, no one should every eat white loaf, if you are going to have a cheat meal, lunch is the one to go for, your body will have the rest of the day to get it through your system, keep it to one a week, get yourself a personnel trainer one who will motivate you, not just tell you what to do from the top of a gym class , and if you do have a bad eating / drinking day ie wedding or something, get back on track the next day, don't but it off til Monday or next month set yourself goals, good luck with it and don't give up

This is some choices my personnel trainer gave me
Turkey burgers with sweet potato, mixed salad

Tuna steak with quinoa and vega
Chicken breast with brown rice and veg stir fry

Fresh cod with mixed salad & sweet potato

Spicy turkey or beef meatballs with onion, garlic, cayenne pepper & chilli flakes

Chicken breast (diced & marinated with paprika) avocado jalapeños, tomato & toasted seeds , lemon juice to dress

Just some dinner suggestions from 1 of the fittest personnel trainers around

Unfortunately personal trainer is not an option for me as I can't afford it. I do acknowledge how helpful they can be. More then 10 years ago I went from 120kg to 80kg with a help of personal trainer. Right now I dropped those few kgs by spending 18eu. It was 2 pair of pants that I could use for walking.
Motivation is not an issue at the moment. I want to improve my excersise part as soon as I drop some more weight. I want to start running some of the parts of my route, but running still takes a big toll on me due to me being fat bastard. I try to keep my distance and increase pace each for now.

Introducing some salmon sounds like good idea. A boiled piece of salmon with a salad sounds like a nice alternative. I will still keep potato out of it.
I might rethink my veg option. Might get a few bags of broccoli or mix veg and boil some of it instead of rice and salad.

Some pan fried pork chops with salad YAY or Ney? Or even some boiled pork? Or I better stay away from pork? I do tend cutting off the fat of pork all the time.
What about a steak with veg or salad? Even as a cheat meal? A little reward on some Sundays after the weekly scale check?

Thoie

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Unfortunately personal trainer is not an option for me as I can't afford it. I do acknowledge how helpful they can be. More then 10 years ago I went from 120kg to 80kg with a help of personal trainer. Right now I dropped those few kgs by spending 18eu. It was 2 pair of pants that I could use for walking.
Motivation is not an issue at the moment. I want to improve my excersise part as soon as I drop some more weight. I want to start running some of the parts of my route, but running still takes a big toll on me due to me being fat bastard. I try to keep my distance and increase pace each for now.

Introducing some salmon sounds like good idea. A boiled piece of salmon with a salad sounds like a nice alternative. I will still keep potato out of it.
I might rethink my veg option. Might get a few bags of broccoli or mix veg and boil some of it instead of rice and salad.

Some pan fried pork chops with salad YAY or Ney? Or even some boiled pork? Or I better stay away from pork? I do tend cutting off the fat of pork all the time.
What about a steak with veg or salad? Even as a cheat meal? A little reward on some Sundays after the weekly scale check?

No problem with steak (trim the obvious fat, but a little bit won't kill you). Don't fry it in half a pound of butter I'd be more inclined to grill the pork chops rather than fry, but I've never fried pork chops. Again, stay away from the fatty rind. Tesco does "eye of pork chops" which has the fat already cut off. How about pork steak instead, which is much leaner? You could roast it with a mushroom and onion stuffing (mushrooms instead of breadcrumbs, add a bit of parsley and thyme) for Sunday dinner. I butterfly it, stuff it, then roll it up again. It's nice cold as well.

the groutch

just as a wondering, the fruit you say you have around the house for "snacking", do you find yourself eating a lot of that in the evenings?

ShadowHearth

the groutch wrote: »

just as a wondering, the fruit you say you have around the house for "snacking", do you find yourself eating a lot of that in the evenings?

Not really. I do grab an apple now and then after I come back from walk and still got about 3 hours to go until dinner. After dinner I very rarely grab a fruit, but if I have a longer session with lads playing games that night I might pick up apple or orange. I do know that I will cut out bananas out of it. It's a bit too much for a snack.

Mick Murdock

I was in a similar situation to you last year and know how you feel. I lost 29kg last count - just spent 6 weeks with my gf's family in Italy so scared to check the scales again.. We started at a similar weight and it was easier than I imagined.

Your progress in 5 weeks is great and I know how hard it is sticking to a strict diet. Definitely vary it up more as eating the same stuff for months on end can be a chore.

I found it easier to make my own cheat meals as temptation can get the better of you if you start visiting the likes of McDonald's. Once a week for your own sanity is good.

Rice can be bought in single portion bags 62.5g. Bit more expensive but helped me with temptation.

Drink lots of water, still or sparkling. It can help suppress hunger at night if you're used to eating late.

You CAN run/go to the gym at that weight. I was relatively fit at 110kg after a few months training.

I found the gym better in the dark evenings (they're full of fat unfit people, dont worry) but running outdoors can be great too. Set out a route and time yourself. You may have to walk most of it at first but beating your previous time can be good incentive.

Stick at it and keep an eye on this forum. Lots of great users and info here.

Remember it took a long time to put the weight on and it won't come off overnight.

ShadowHearth

Mick Murdock wrote: »

I was in a similar situation to you last year and know how you feel. I lost 29kg last count - just spent 6 weeks with my gf's family in Italy so scared to check the scales again.. We started at a similar weight and it was easier than I imagined.

Your progress in 5 weeks is great and I know how hard it is sticking to a strict diet. Definitely vary it up more as eating the same stuff for months on end can be a chore.

I found it easier to make my own cheat meals as temptation can get the better of you if you start visiting the likes of McDonald's. Once a week for your own sanity is good.

Rice can be bought in single portion bags 62.5g. Bit more expensive but helped me with temptation.

Drink lots of water, still or sparkling. It can help suppress hunger at night if you're used to eating late.

You CAN run/go to the gym at that weight. I was relatively fit at 110kg after a few months training.

I found the gym better in the dark evenings (they're full of fat unfit people, dont worry) but running outdoors can be great too. Set out a route and time yourself. You may have to walk most of it at first but beating your previous time can be good incentive.

Stick at it and keep an eye on this forum. Lots of great users and info here.

Remember it took a long time to put the weight on and it won't come off overnight.

Cheers. I don't sound like a dick or anything, but I am a bit surprised that I lost as much as I did in 5 weeks. I am pretty sure it took me longer to put on the same weight. I guess if you are determent and not cheating on yourself, then dropping weight is a very realistic thing.

Ironically I am not that sick of my diet right now. I am actually looking forward to my grub each day. I just love the combo I do. It's just I get some cravings for some food from the old days. sometimes I feel like I can stab someone for some pizza and the next few days I won't even think about it anymore.
I did my walk today and ate my dinner at 16:30, for some reason I am laying in bed right now and I still feel full. Maybe it's time to cut down a bit.
Rice is a sneaky thing indeed. I now cook two 125g bags and then put them in a bowl. I get about 4-5 meals out of it, so it portions out nicely.

I know I could do more fitness wise, but I don't want to go to gyms. I used to be in gyms and I know how it works, it's just personal preference. Financial restriction too.
I checked YouTube and there are some really nice work outs for pretty much any kind off needs. I love living in information world!

Alf Veedersane

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Cheers. I don't sound like a dick or anything, but I am a bit surprised that I lost as much as I did in 5 weeks. I am pretty sure it took me longer to put on the same weight. I guess if you are determent and not cheating on yourself, then dropping weight is a very realistic thing.

It tends to drop quickly at the start, with water weight etc.

But you won't get that if you don't sort out your diet and you've made some really good changes, which is why you have the results you have.

I've found that the better I eat, the less inclined I am to cheat. And I've obviously made poetry gainz too.

ShadowHearth

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

It tends to drop quickly at the start, with water weight etc.

But you won't get that if you don't sort out your diet and you've made some really good changes, which is why you have the results you have.

I've found that the better I eat, the less inclined I am to cheat. And I've obviously made poetry gainz too.

I think the guilt and "come on now! You went X weeks with no junk food! Don't poop it away!" helps a lot now.
I was moving house on last Monday and I skipped my walk. I felt like a little pup who peed on a carpet lol. The guilt was horrible!
I got a very busy day at work this Wednesday and right after work I am going for a job interview. I will be up from 5 in the morning and I will be lucky to be back home at 6 in the evening. I hope I will still have some energy in me to do a walk. I won't survive another guilt attack!!!

Alf Veedersane

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I think the guilt and "come on now! You went X weeks with no junk food! Don't poop it away!" helps a lot now.
I was moving house on last Monday and I skipped my walk. I felt like a little pup who peed on a carpet lol. The guilt was horrible!
I got a very busy day at work this Wednesday and right after work I am going for a job interview. I will be up from 5 in the morning and I will be lucky to be back home at 6 in the evening. I hope I will still have some energy in me to do a walk. I won't survive another guilt attack!!!

That's part of it but once you get into it and you get your cook on, you realise that eating healthily and eating tasty food are not mutually exclusive so you don't feel like you need a break from it.

Good luck and continued success with what you're doing...and the interview!

ShadowHearth

So a little update on this.

I am still on my 6 day walking regime and looking after my food.
Last week I had a big issue with blister on my heel, but I still did my walkings ( with extreme pain and way slower then I usually do ). I droped a bit less then usual that week.
This week I decided not to add rice anymore in my usual dinner and swaping my breakfast 3 egg+smoked salmon with 2 eggs + Sausage on some days (some polish sausages I got in lidl. Those are really nice! ). My walking resumed to normal as my blister became a lot better.
Today was supposed to be my "reward pizza day" as its 8 weeks since I started my regime and had nothing that is "bad for you". The plan changed when I came off the scales as I lost 2.8kg (6.2lbs ) this week! I just feel bad even thinking about stuffing my face with a pizza now!

So in total in 8 weeks I lost 21.1kg ( 3.3 stone ) and I wear jeans, which I could not fit in to for the last 3 years.
I still need to work on to make a few more options for my usual dinner as I am having same stuff almost for 2 months. Problem is, that I still like it and it is very fast/easy.

Thoie

Well done on the weight loss!

If you're not getting bored of the dinners, that's fine. The worry is that boredom would lead to more cheat meals, but as you're resisting, then grand. Remember the fat in sausages (and they're all quite fatty) are not as good for you as the oils in the smoked salmon, so try keep them as more of a treat.

ShadowHearth

Thoie wrote: »

Well done on the weight loss!

If you're not getting bored of the dinners, that's fine. The worry is that boredom would lead to more cheat meals, but as you're resisting, then grand. Remember the fat in sausages (and they're all quite fatty) are not as good for you as the oils in the smoked salmon, so try keep them as more of a treat.

I am actually thinking of cutting down to 3 eggs dead. No add ons. Then just have an apple or two until my dinner. I whole weight became a bit lower so I need to see in to cutting down my calories intake too.