Hannah's Lighter Life: The RTM Edition!

[chelle2010]

Hi Hannah

I’m finding RTM really exciting and really enjoying the food, have my first weigh in tonight so hopefully have still lost. I have currently lost 6stone 10lbs since 7th may and 4 lbs away from goal, but would like to lose a little more if I can.

I also have been finding it hard to judge portion sizes and not sure if I’m eating to much, but after my meal I’m not stuffed just content.

This week I have stuck to fish, so far I have had prawns, haddock, salmon & sea bass, was not keen on the bass but really enjoyed the others, have been having it with a mixture of spinach, watercress and rocket with chilli sauce and spices.

Looking forward to adding the other ingredients tonight. Having King prawns with green leaf salad, cucumber, peppers and spring onion (can’t wait) mouth watering.

Hope you have had a good day

Chelle xx

 

[hanmac]

Day 12

Sorry this update is a tad late.
Last night I really wasn't feeling too great, am guessing it's because according to my MyPlate account i'd eaten 600 calories but burned off 340...so my body was trying to cope on 260 calories which can't be right. I'm just finding it hard to get the balance of food/exercise right, whilst sticking to RTM. So spent last night in bed with a banging headache and no energy feeling a bit out of it!

Spoke to my mum (source of all knowledge!) and she reckons i'm over exercising, so am gonna tone it down from 50 mins to 30. I just feel like i'm not eating enough but am unsure what extra things I should be eating, maybe this week when I can re-introduce fruit will help. Will talk to my LLC about it tonight, as have my 2nd weigh in! Really am not sure what to expect, would love to have lost a pound but who knows.

So yesterday I ate:
Breakfast-Vanilla Shake
Lunch-Vegetable Soup
Afternoon Snack-Toffee Muller Light
Dinner-Prawns and Salad (same as Tuesday)
Evening Snacks- Sugar Free Jelly and Hot Vanilla Shake.

Will let you know how I get on at my meeting tonight
xxxx

 

[tracyd]

Hi Hannah,
hope you feel better soon x

 

[hanmac]

Thank you Tracy xxxx

 

[hanmac]

Day 13

Things in my life are a bit stressful at the moment. The work situation is going from bad to worse, and today really topped it off. Came so close to just walking out, and found myself wavering from being absolutely furious to almost in tears. Am so glad Uni is letting us leave the job, just need to find a new one. But it's starting to wear me down a bit and am still feeling run down.

It's a good thing i'm not suspicious tho as today is day 13 and when I went to the shop earlier the things I bought came to 6 pounds and 66 pence, and the shop assistant found it scary that it was the number 666!

Thankfully tho this week I lost...
2ibs again!
Yay! Think if I hadn't lost anything I literally would have jumped off the roof so all is good!

And so am on to week 3 of RTM.
In Week 3 you can have:
Fresh, frozen and tinned fruit, tomatoes, more protein (including red meat, quinoa and eggs!) plus fat free or virtually fat free cooking sauces.

So after my meeting I went for my weekly shop at Tesco!
And here is what I bought...

My shelf of the fridge is overflowing with healthy goodness!

Am really looking forward to trying fruit again. Bought yummy strawberries, raspberries and apples Am also going to have bolognaise sauce on Saturday for the first time in ageeeees! It used to be one of my favourite meals so am excited to make it! Bought the light Dolmio sauce as it's low in fat and sugar so is LL acceptable.

So today i've had
Breakfast-Vanilla Shake
Morning Snack- A bit of smoked salmon (bought it for my dinner and couldn't resist!)
Lunch-Vegetable Soup
Afternoon Snack-Toffee Muller Light
Dinner- Smoked Salmon and Salad (same as always)
Evening Snacks- Sugar Free jelly

And i'm about to cuddle up in bed with my toffee bar and catch up on some tv
Night night everybody, sweet dreams!
xxxx

 

[nutty me]

Well done Hannah, im getting excited for you, thank you for sharing your journey with us. x
Nutty x

 

[tracyd]

well done hannah.....really pleased for you! fridge looks great xx

 

[hanmac]

Day 14

Hey peeps,
Am feeling a bit off today! Am not sure what's going on.
Went to work and our boss left the office at 10 saying he'd 'be back in a bit'...he then decided to return at 4.15pm, with no apology, explanation of where he'd been for the past 6 hours...nothing. We spent the whole day waiting for him to come back and the day dragged on. Am just counting down the days until I can hand my notice in!

But the boredom led me to feel hungry. Now that i'm not in ketosis anymore i've got to deal with hunger again and I think it's going to be my greatest challenge.

Today i've eaten:
Breakfast- Vanilla Shake
Morning Snack- Apple
Lunch- Vegetable Soup
Afternoon Snack- Vanilla Muller Light
Dinner- My famous soy sauce/thai salmon fillet, with the usual salad and a bit of tomato puree.
Evening Snack- Sugar free jelly.

I found myself snacking on mushrooms and tomato puree when I got home and after dinner. I have a strange love for tomato puree out the tube, I could literally eat the whole tube on it's own. (it's my favourite weird food...don't ask!) Combined with my new love for raw mushrooms, i found myself squeezing a bit of puree on to a mushroom then eating it. I know it's not the end of the world, not like i've been gorging myself on cakes and chocolate, and technically I am allowed 'vegetables and dip' but i need to nip this unnecessary snacking in the bud! Think it's because i've lost a food pack this week, as from week 3 onwards you go down from 3 packs a day to 2. So i'm missing my usual evening vanilla shake or toffee bar. That combined with a stressful day isn't the best combination!
So got into bed this evening feeling like i've eaten too much, but writing it down in this post has actually made me feel better. And i've logged all my calories into MyPlate and i've only eaten 689 calories so not sure what i'm getting myself worked up about! Feel emotionally drained from today so think I just need a good nights sleep! Then can wake up and go to the gym tomorrow and have a better day

Tomorrow I will be replacing my usual vanilla shake breakfast for a SURPRISE BREAKFAST!! So tomorrow my two packs will be vegetable soup and my lovely favourite toffee bar! So tomorrow I will actually have a new breakfast option to show you!

Night night
xxxxxx

 

[hanmac]

Day 15

Evening all!

Today's post will be a bit more exciting food wise, as have two new meals to show you
So as I said last night, this morning I had a 'surprise breakfast'. As i've mentioned before, in week 3 you go down from 3 LL packs to 2. I decided to give up some vanilla shakes some days, and toffee bars others, but have kept the veg soup for all 7 days.

So this morning I had to get creative to replace my usual brekkie vanilla shake, and I had...

Yoghurt and berries!
I really enjoyed dipping the berries in the yoghurt, was like a healthy fondue!
The toffee muller light is 97 cals, 8 strawberries are 45 cals and a handful of raspberries is 10 cals, so all in all I had a healthy, filling breakfast for 155 cals. Not too shabby! Might swap the yoghurt for a plain vanilla yoghurt next time, or experiment with natural yoghurt/sweetener. The vanilla shake is usually 125, but am gradually trying to increase my calories so was very happy with my breakfast. And it filled me with energy, ready for the gym!

Had a good morning at the gym, am so happy that i've got the energy to go again. Before LL exercise was never my problem, I LOVE the gym, and can spend hours there without getting bored. So now that LL has sorted out my eating habits, i'm happy to be back.

So today i've eaten
Breakfast: Yoghurt and berries
Lunch: Vegetable Soup
Afternoon Snack: Apple
Dinner- Bolognese Sauce and Salad (see below!)
Evening Snacks- Will have a jelly and then my toffee bar.

So the 2nd exciting meal of the day was my dinner, in week 3 you can re-introduce meat and low fat cooking sauces. One of my favourite meals ever is bolognese sauce so was very excited to be able to eat it again!

Super yummy!!

Here's what I used

Yummy Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:

• Tesco Extra Lean Mince
• Dolmio Light Bolognese Sauce
• Fresh Basil
• Clove of garlic
• Splash of Lea and Perrins!

Method:
I cooked the mince in a saucepan using no oil or anything, just letting the mince fry off in it's own juices. Once the meat was lightly browned I threw in a finely chopped garlic clove. Let it cook for a bit longer, then emptied the mince in to a sieve to drain off any excess fat/juices.
I then returned the mince to the pan, added the jar of dolmio sauce along with some finely chopped basil leaves. I cooked it for quite a while to give time for some of the sauce to cook off (I hate sloppy bolognese sauce!) and added a splash of lea and perrins. Let it cook off for a bit longer, until the sauce and mince was nice and thick and not soupy!

In the mean time I made my usual salad with spinach, spring onion, red pepper and mushrooms. Think I am keeping tesco in business with the amount of mushrooms i've been eating, have to buy another pack already!

So was very happy with my dinner! Plus the pack of mince and jar of dolmio = 4 portions. This means I have a portion for tomorrow nights dinner, and 2 portions happily freezing in my freezer ready for next week! Made me feel very domesticated!
Nutrition wise:
The bolognaise sauce came to 203 calories, then my salad was 50 calories, so all in all I had a yummy dinner for 250 calories

Am trying to have a chilled weekend as it's my first weekend off in ageeeeeeeeeeees, but am starting to stress out a touch about my job situation, arrrgh. Just wish I could hibernate for a week, and wake up and everything be sorted!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend
xxxx

 

[Spanglymum]

I love reading your posts, Hannah. You have done (and are doing) so brilliantly. It gives me hope to see the way ahead when I have low days, as I've not long started LL and sometimes seems a LONG road ahead! Thanks for posting the recipes.

 

[tracyd]

ooh hannah your dinner looks divine....i closed my eyes and could almost taste it xx

 

[hanmac]

I love reading your posts, Hannah. You have done (and are doing) so brilliantly. It gives me hope to see the way ahead when I have low days, as I've not long started LL and sometimes seems a LONG road ahead! Thanks for posting the recipes.

Thank you spanglymum, it really means a lot to me that you enjoy reading my posts! Am glad to know it's not just me nattering away
Good luck on your LL journey, you've made a great start and you'll be on RTM before you know it! I can't believe how fast time is going! xxx

 

[MagdaX]

We all love your updates hun and are very proud of you!

 

[hanmac]

ooh hannah your dinner looks divine....i closed my eyes and could almost taste it xx

Sorry tracy Your doing so well though! You need to update your signature as you've reached your 3 stone goal! xxxx

 

[hanmac]

We all love your updates hun and are very proud of you!

Thank you magiclove!! Good timing as i'm just about to post today's update haha! xxxx

 

[hanmac]

Day 16

Not much new today, woke up, went to gym, went to tesco's then spent the afternoon sorting out my life and cleaning! Today has gone so fast and am very sad the weekend is over, but for once am not dreading work as boss is on holiday, wahoo!

Today i've eaten
Breakfast- Yoghurt and berries (same as yesterday)
Lunch- LL Vegetable Soup
Afternoon Snack- Kiwi
Dinner- Bolognese and salad (same as yesterday)
Evening snack- Jelly then have a toffee bar for later.

Popped into tesco's again for mushrooms! and also to buy some frozen berries, as my houses fridge doesn't seem to be working properly, which meant that the raspberries I bought on Thursday had mould on them by friday evening which made me a not so happy bunny. But the freezer works so have some nice frozen berries for my brekkie tomorrow. Whilst at tesco's I roamed the fruit and veg aisle looking for something new to try, and came across...KIWIS! So I bought one. Technically i've tried them before, but it was literally yonks ago. I couldn't remember what they tasted like, and I half remember having a bad experience with a sour kiwi which I think is why i've avoided them for so long. But the one I had today was delicious and sweet, and they only have 46 calories! And take a while to eat with a spoon. So will definitely be buying more kiwis this week

I have a confession...on friday and saturday I found myself snacking on tomato puree and mushrooms, strange combination I know but for me it's delicious! So i've made the decision not to buy tomato puree anymore as it's just too tempting! I'm ashamed to say that i've finished the tube I bought on Thursday night! But at least I was snacking on 'good' things, not bad things...but still food is food. But guess it's a lesson learnt, never thought tomato puree would be a trigger food!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend

xxxx

 

[hanmac]

Day 17

Hello!

Last night I was a not well. I either managed to give myself food poisoning or caught some sort of bug, spent the night with horrible stomach cramps and i'll save you the details but it wasn't pretty. Am thankfully feeling much better this morning.

Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast: Yoghurt and berries
Morning snack: Apple
Lunch: LL Veg soup
Afternoon snack: SF Jelly
Dinner: The usual thai/soy salmon with salad.
Evening snacks: SF Jelly and LL toffee bar.

Am looking forward to being able to cook veg and fruit from this Thursday, am starting to get a bit bored of my usual salad now!
Will be great to have aubergines and asparagus
xxx

 

[chelle2010]

Hi Hannah,

Glad your feeling better, theres so many bugs going round at the moment. I know what you mean about getting bored of salad things, although I still love them I cannot wait to be able to have cooked veg emmmmm. I start week 3 tomorrow so am really looking forward to having fruit. is it right you can have what you like unlimited?
Have a good day!
Chelle

 

[hanmac]

Hi Hannah,

Glad your feeling better, theres so many bugs going round at the moment. I know what you mean about getting bored of salad things, although I still love them I cannot wait to be able to have cooked veg emmmmm. I start week 3 tomorrow so am really looking forward to having fruit. is it right you can have what you like unlimited?
Have a good day!
Chelle

Hi Chelle,
Thank you Being able to have fruit again is great, is nice to have a sweet treat. Would be a tad wary of thinking of it as 'unlimited', as fruit can be quite high in sugar. I tend to stick to lots of veg and then 2 portions of fruit a day, such as berries with yoghurt in the morning, and an apple or kiwi as a snack during the day. But i'm still trying to lose a couple more pounds so am being a bit more restrictive than others, it's completely up to you!
Hope you enjoy your fruit tomorrow xxxxx

 

[hanmac]

Day 18

Hello everyone,
Got loads of Uni work done today at work which was great! But am still madly searching for a new job and getting lots of rejections which is always disheartening :sigh: but can't give up just yet!

I woke up this morning at 4am in a panic and could not get back to sleep, so watched the clock tick past to 8am and then went to work. So have been a bit of a zombie all day. Still went to the gym though as knew i'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't go, and hopefully i've knackered myself out enough so that I sleep through tonight.

Today i've eaten:
Breakfast- Vanilla Shake
Morning Snack- Apple
Lunch- Veg Soup
Afternoon Snack- Vanilla Muller Light
Pre-gym Snack- Strawberry School Bar (I know these probably aren't kosher on LL RTM, but they are 100% fruit and only 67 calories. I really needed some energy and something filling before I went to the gym, and we have loads of the bars at my office as they sponsor our races!)
Dinner- Prawns with salad
Evening Snacks- SF Jelly and a WW yoghurt.

The WW yoghurt I had this evening was delicious, so thick and creamy, pretty good for only 62 calories. I really need something sweet in the evenings when I don't have my toffee bars, and it left me very satisfied
I know I should probably feel guilty about eating the school bar, but to be honest they're low cal, low in sugar/fat and 100% pure fruit so it can't have done me any harm!
Today for my salad I decided to give green and yellow peppers a try, as i'd been sticking to only red peppers...and I like them too, so my salad was lovely and colourful! Also tried some actual salad mixed in with my spinach (which I HATED before LL), and I actually enjoyed it!

Am still a tad concerned about my calorie intake, am still averaging around 600-700 calories a day, and from what i've been reading on the LL community forum I should be eating closer to 800 calories. Am just finding it really hard to allow myself to eat more. But am also concerned at the same time that my metabolism won't recover if I don't increase the calories. Wish LL was more specific on calorie intake!! Asked my LLC and she said 'well LL Lite eat 1200-1400 a day', which wasn't very helpful as i'm pretty sure if I went from eating 500 cals on abstinence to 1200 calories on RTM it wouldn't be the best thing to do!
But guess I just have to find the right balance for me. Will increase my calories to 800 next week and build it up gradually
xxxxx