If you’ve read my long post on the weight loss diet I followed, you probably remember that I said I do two things – one, intermittent fasting and two, eat healthy on the days that I’m not fasting.
Now, I’m not a particularly disciplined person. I mean, show me a piece of cake, or rather, place it under my nose and it’ll be gone within seconds. Especially if it’s cheesecake. Or black forrest. Or mud cake. Or.. well, you get the idea.
Anyway, before I start talking about my healthy diet plans which helped to lose weight, I need to say that intermittent fasting really helped me to control my eating. (Yes, I have a detailed post about my intermittent fasting diet coming up, I promise.) Suffice to say that not eating anything other than water and black coffee for a day made me be more focused about eating healthy, and actually sticking to my plans. Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have started to not keep unhealthy foods at home. My cheat day is normally Saturday, and on that day the hubby and I might go out and eat all manner of cakes and donuts, but I don’t bring anything home with me. I find that not having delicious cake within reach has really helped me.
Anyway, now onto the actual diet.
Oh no wait – I will have another brief diversion. This time to mention that most of these things are healthy substitutes of foods I love.
Oh and finally – I have tried to eat around 1000 – 1400 calories each day. The number of calories varies a bit, but most of the time I try to count approximately how many calories I’m eating with each meal.
Breakfast: healthy things to eat for breakfast
For breakfast I have a one-fourth a cup of rolled whole oats with about five or seven raisins and some cinnamon powder. Add boiling water and microwave for 30 seconds – et voila! An edible and kind of yummy breakfast.
I know this doesn’t taste as good as chocolate cereal or even cornflakes, but I have grown to love my breakfast oats! The taste has grown on me, this meal has about 70 calories max, and the fibre and vitamin b in the oats is awesome! I’ve done a few posts on vitamin b12 and weight loss, and I have to think that getting in some vitamin b first thing in the morning helps my metabolism and keeps my energy up!
Just before or after breakfast I will also have my multivitamin and fish/krill oil tablets. I’m wondering about whether I should add in a calcium tablet as well, since I’m worried about old-age osteoporosis and my diet really doesn’t include much milk. It just doesn’t suit me!
Anyway, if you’re wondering about breakfast ideas, you could also consider these healthy options:
- a protein shake
- a fruit smoothie (home made)
- a glass of milk (? I think milk makes me fat but it might agree with you)
- home baked wholemeal bread
- fruit salad
- yoghurt
The important thing when counting calories is to keep the serving size small. I used to physically measure out a 1/4 cup of oats, since it’s a really small serving but I’m serious about counting calories!
I am also a bit of a coffee addict, and I have a mug of black (sugar free) coffee in the morning to get my caffeine buzz on!
A healthy mid-morning snack
I tend to have breakfast at around 7, and I’ve found that no matter what I eat, I get the munchies at about 10 or 11. Yes, it could be psychological, but the fact is that I want to eat! So keeping my habits in mind, I make sure that I eat a small breakfast and then I have a snack around that time.
The trick to having a healthy mid morning snack, I’ve found, is to have the same thing every time. Or at least to have a shortlist of healthy foods ready and pick one.
I stick to one option, i.e. the same rolled oats I have for breakfast. Update: Some days I have a slice of wholemeal bread, toasted.
Having many options when it comes to snacks makes me indecisive.. and I try one, think oh I’ll just have a bit of that… and then I get stuck in a loop of “snacking” and just consuming too many calories at one go.
So I’ve just eliminated all other options and I eat my oats because I’m hungry. I don’t have to think about my food and I know that I’m sticking to my calorie goals.
I will also have another cup of coffee around this time…
Healthy things to eat for lunch
This is where I’ll admit that I love my carbs. I also love cheeses.
When I first started dieting my lunch was a mini home-made pizza, about the size of my palm. I would make the pizza dough and freeze it in tiny portions, then I’d defrost a portion, flatten it out with a spoon, cover it with tomato paste and low-fat shredded cheddar cheese and bake it.
Mmmm…. yum. I loved my lunch and I’m fortunate to work from home. Of course you could bake it at night and reheat it at work. But the key to making this lunch work is the fact that it’s so small. Portion sizes are working for me again. Plus my home made dough was 50% wholemeal flour.
I do love my cheese! I would follow up with an apple, so the total calories would be around 200 or so.
However, these days I’ve relaxed my lunch diet a bit and I eat a variety of things. My lunches tend to be meat free and are often:
- a grilled cheese sandwich
- a healthy salad, mostly veggies and a slice of toast
- soup and a sandwich or toast
- small serving of pasta with home made healthy pasta sauce (ingredients: diced tomatos, parsely, and tomato paste. and onions and garlic)
- small serving of risotto
- small serving of rice and vegetables
If I don’t have a vegetable at lunch I’ll have an apple or another fruit. I tend to have an apple each day, simply because I like my Pink Lady apples and I kind of think the whole “apple a day, doctor away” thing works pretty well for me!
Update: I now have a slice of bread and some cheese, or a cup of cabbage soup and some cheese, with an apple or some other fruit.
Generally I have something warm to drink after lunch. Some days (ok, most days) it’s decaf. But these days I am also experimenting with drinking more green tea.
Before I went on diet, I used to have dessert after lunch (ok, my breakfast was usually a large muffin or two as well!) So for a while, I had a sweet craving after lunch that needed to be fixed.
My healthy dessert alternative is dried fruit. I love, love, love dried apricot and prunes. Some days I would have one dried apricot or prune after lunch just to get my sweet fix. These days though, I’ve gotten better. Not having sugar really does stop sugar cravings! Most of the time I’m happy with decaf or green tea after lunch.
A healthy afternoon snack
Initially, I would have nothing in the afternoon, but then I’d get cranky by dinner time!
Before I went on the diet I would have a bag (ok, or two!) of chips in the afternoon. I’ve found that this is the time when I get a salt craving.
So, these days I sometimes have salted peanuts as an afternoon snack. That is, if I’m feeling hungry and want something salty. Some days I’m not hungry after lunch and I just don’t have a snack.
Again, I will have a nice cup of black coffee or green tea around this time.
Healthy things to eat for dinner
Ok, before I went on diet I would have a lot of “ready meals” for dinner. Yes, I’m looking at you, Ramen noodles! I love my instant noodles and frozen lasagna and fries and nuggets as much as the next person… but these days I plan out my dinners and have them cooked and ready in the fridge. I will also bake large batches when I’m doing things like pies, and freeze some, so that I have something to eat at dinner if there’s nothing cooked.
Dinner is shared with the hubby and he likes curries so a lot of the time we will have rice and curries. Sometimes I bake pies or make casseroles. Most of the time, I cook a lot of food on the weekend and just maybe cook some rice on the weekdays. I don’t like cooking much!
The trick for me when it comes to dinner, is to do a quick check around 6 to make sure my dinner items are ready. If not, I still have time to cook or take out a frozen home made dinner.
Again, at dinner I try to control my portion sizes. I try to have no more than two tablespoons of rice if we’re having rice, no more than two slices of bread if there’s bread involved, and to keep the serving sizes of pies and casseroles small as well. I load up on vegetables and try not to have too much meat.
After dinner we will sometimes have fruit or low-fat yoghurt as dessert. Most of the time we’ll have some decaf as well.
Ok – well, that’s my healthy eating plan! Let me know if you have any questions, and leave a comment! 
(I supplement this with the Eat Stop Eat diet, I guess I should mention that, since eating like this alone, plus a cheat day when I munch away to my heart’s desire wouldn’t let me lose weight!)
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