Tuesday 18 January 2011

Get Trimmer... The Healthy Way

The #1 reason for wanting to lose weight is to look and feel good. Another less common (but more important reason) is to be healthier e.g. to reduce likelihood of diseases (heart, cancer, etc) and to increase life expectancy plus many health related reasons.

The need to Look and Feel Good leads to people trying fad diets which are usually unhealthy and unrealistic.

Why should I drink meal-replacement shakes to lose weight (especially WITHOUT medical supervision) when I know that it definitely won't be a part of my lifestyle once I've reached my goal? Why should I go on the Maple Syrup Diet knowing fully well that  I probably won't last a week on it and if I did, I definitely won't stick to it for the rest of my life?


I know the feeling of wanting to be slimmer immediately, I wanted to go to sleep a size 16/18 and wake up a size 10/12. So any diet that claimed to strip fat in a matter of weeks would have been an amazing idea to me and I'd have jumped on that bandwagon asap. I'm really lucky I found Weight Watchers and I lost weight healthily enough but I know a lot of people have tried everything and are still trying... unsuccessfully.

While working towards your goal of your dream body, try to eat more natural/organic foods.

Most people back home (in Nigeria) don't realise how lucky they are to eat organic food - No super-chickens 'grown' with antibiotics, no genetically modified food and the many scary things I discover everyday here in the UK. For those in Europe, USA, Canada, etc - Trust me, I know food labelled as 'organic' is sometimes more than 2ce the price of the regular alternatives in grocery stores. But you need to remember that organic food isn't only sold in chain grocery stores e.g. I buy my free-range, organic chicken from the Butchers and they cost much less than the Organic chickens in fancy packaging but it costs much less :)
Another example... fruit/veg can be bought from smaller businesses who carry organic produce, my friend went to an Organic store and ONE cauliflower was £3 (what?!?!?!).

Ok back to the subject... ;-)

If any of you ladies eat/drink anything that falls under any of these categories listed below, I'd really appreciate it if you could read the ingredients and post them in the comments section:
  • Meal replacement shakes e.g. Slim Fast
  • Low Fat snacks

Over the course of 2010, I made changes to what I was putting in and on my body. From hair moisturisers (I now use shea butter mixed with oils) to health bars (I swapped protein bars with ingredients I couldn't even pronounce to those which contained seeds, nuts, etc). In my opinion, this was a great decision and I am loving knowing that most of what I eat or use is not full of artificial ingredients. I won't go full on in this post but will be sharing the small changes I've made often :)

PS Please keep posting your questions, food logs etc :)

9 comments:

Pretty Lashes said...

Hi Adura!

So I joined WW Sunday and I'm on the pro points plan..I'm allowed 33 points a day (I guess its because I'm heavier)

So Monday 17/01/2011

Breakfast: Oatiflakes with Semi skimmed milk and 2 sugars (I know I have to cut back on sugar :-))
Cup of Ginger and Lemon herbal tea-no sugar or honey
Muller Probiotic (I need to trake this as my PH levels are kinda messed up)


Lunch: Subway chicken teriyaki on wheat bread: loaded with lettuce and cucumber and no cheese.

Mid Afternoon: 2 breadsticks with a SMALL amount of low fat tomato and chilli houmous.
a small apple

Dinner: Medium baking potato BOILED with a small amount of stewed beef and loads of carrots

After dinner: a pear and a special k bar(I know this is bad but I'm still trying to sort my sugar fix)

I'm not sure how many calories this is but it was bang on my 33 pro points allowance.

Is this any good? Any tweaks??
xx

IntheMidstofher said...

Hey Adura,
I am adding the nutritional info for Slimfast. I usually have these shakes for breakfast because they are quick filling n yummy...lol


Optima Shakes - Rich Chocolate Royale

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 can

Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 50Calories 190

% Daily Values*
Total Fat 6g 9%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 5mg 2%
Sodium 220mg 9%
Potassium 600mg
Total Carbohydrate 24g 8%
Dietary Fiber 5g 20%
Sugars 18g
Protein 10g

Vitamin A 35% Vitamin C 100%

Calcium 50% Iron 15%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

IntheMidstofher said...

So I have been following the Daniel's Diet for the last...9 days. For those who don't know what it is, is a biblical "fast" where all you can eat are fruits vegies,whole grain, legumes and water. So to sum it up, I havent had any kind of flesh or animal product,dairy, sugar, processed foods, white food (yam, bread, white rice etc), sweets or any soda/juice etc in 9 days. Basically a Vegan diet!

The first few days were torture but I am pretty used to it now. It is a 21 one day fast so I have about 13 to go. First thing I have noticed is that my skin is lighter and "fresher"...I havent weighed myself because I am trying to discipline myself but I will after this fast is done. After its all done, will def be incorporating a part of the lifestyle into my everyday life.

Anonymous said...

Hello Adura, I want to ask what strength training and cardio exercise will u recommend for a beginner. I weigh 70kg and will like to drop 5kg. i skip sometimes, but i want to be more disciplined. So what do at home exercises do u recommend.
Thanks
Emem

Pretty Lashes said...

Hiya! :-)

So Tues, Wednesday and Thurs were pretty much the same although I had tuna pasta I made myself (no mayo) for lunch the rest of the days and my dinner was a baked potato and grilled chicken/veggies for dinner.

Oh and breakfast has been an apple and a Clementine as well as a pro-biotic drink...I've found I feel sluggish if I have a bowl of cereal...I'll leave those for days I'm REALLY hungry!

All of these days, I used just about my pro-points allowance, abit more last night so I dipped into my 'extra allowance' (Weight watchers gives you 49 extra points to use a week)


I know its kinda boring eating the same foods but that was the easiest food to reach for. Will plan ahead next week. :-)

So Adura, any tweaks???

I was also going to ask, I know you were on WW a while ago and I've read about your 'WW stew' but I just want to know, how did you make allowances for points? As in a small plate of white rice with chicken stew and a piece of chicken is roughly how many points??

Thanks.

xx

Adura O. said...

Abiola: Well done on joining WW :) Monday's diary looks good, only a couple of tweaks - avoid snacking on breadsticks, little to no nutritional (good) value, replace with carrots for example. Yep you're right... you have to cut out the sugar :)
I'll look into Muller probiotic and get back to you on that.
Small plate of rice (a cup of rice) - 4 points, chicken stew (if it's a portion of chicken breast, it's 3 points plus an extra 1 for the tomatoes in the stew). I'd usually bulk that up with mixed vegetables so a total of 9-10 points.
You're doing good so far... it looks like WW have changed things a lot now, can you tell me more about this new pro points plan?

Adura O. said...

Emem - Please send me reminders as I want to blog more on Strengthe Training :)

Have you seen this post?

http://www.adura-odesanya.co.uk/2010/09/i-love-strength-training.html

Emem-Obong said...

Hello Adura,
i saw the post.
But me thinks i still need dem videos so that i can do it right.
So this is a reminder. Post some videos soonest- lol

Anonymous said...

hi,
i'm a nigerian and i live in Lagos. Im currently a size 14 sometimes 16 depending on the "cut" i don't mind being curvier but i don't like my tummy. i wish there was a way i could diet so that my tummy becomes slightly slimmer. but abeg all this one cup of lettuce business .. well is not werking cos why? i live in Lagos. I generally do not eat breakfast , i eat something for lunch which ranges from mostly rice (any version) to eba. ive stopped eating dinner at all cos i find that im too full and cant sleep well but sometimes i fall off the wagon. How can someone diet in this Lagos without spending a fortune? I really need help