Meals - Day 5,6 & 7

As you may have noticed at the moment i am not blogging at the weekend, my laptop is playing up, white screening when i boot it which is a shame because it has been a good companion over the years, mainly bought because it has built in Harman Kardon speakers which are arguably one of the best audio manufacturers around.

As Fridays meals are prepared i will list them in the normal fashion at the end.

Today though i would like to write about my experiences Saturday and Sunday which are for all intents and purposes days i have to fend for myself,  i stuck to what i had learnt during last week; portion control, appetite control, eating responsibly and self belief not to let the greedy munchie butterflies get the better of me.

Both mornings i had the bran flakes, about a cup each day with a splash of semi skimmed milk.

Saturday night i made Thai green curry with homemade paste, sugar snap peas, 1/2 a tin of low fat coconut milk and jasmine rice and the portion size was approximately 1/2 a cup of cooked rice and 1/2 a cup of curry.

Sunday night i ate a delicious 330g lo cal lo fat chicken and spinach cannelloni bought form a local store.

For snacks i ate 5 marie biscuits (rich teas), 2 apples, a pear, a banana and an extra bowl of bran flakes spread out over the course of the weekend.

Now that just leaves Saturday and Sunday lunch and this is where i learnt a lot and also pleasantly surprised myself in the process.

Saturday lunch, getting invited to a party when dieting is always a worry and this was my concern on Friday night when a neighbor popped by to ask us to his sons 3rd birthday party at 1pm the following day.  We duly accepted and when the neighbor had left we started scurrying around for a last minute present.

My initial reaction to the forthcoming party was the usual 'i'm too fat to go out and socialise' 'what will i wear?' followed by 'oh no what will i eat?' 'can i avoid temptation?' 'i'm a food addict i know i will break and hear myself saying it's only the once'.  I spoke to Shannon about this and she gave me the most amazing advice passed onto her by a work colleague.

It turns out that because Shannon and her colleagues work in print media they are often invited to product launches or campaigns which inevitably means trays upon trays of tempting amuse bouche or delectable canapes and apparently the trick to not over eating on such occasions is before hand set yourself a maximum number of items you are allowing yourself to consume, no matter what the food stuff is stick to the pre-determined number and forget about the possible consequences, in Shannons case the advice was six, i decided because i am a special case i would set the target at three but nothing obvious in large sugar content.

And so the time came attend the party and sure enough we were met with a beautifully tempting buffet table that 2 weeks ago i would have said hello baby to before the hosts, pies, quiche, samosas, sausage rolls, donuts, cake & brownies all catching my eye and connecting with my inner addict.

I stayed strong, waited until i could stay away no more, took a paper plate and selected a small salmon quiche (may as well get some omega 3 while i am at it right?), a curried mince samosa and because i am a sucker for anything wrapped in puff pastry a small beef and vegetable pie, i ate them slowly, enjoyed every mouthful but also realised i am not missing out compared to what i had eaten all week.  I washed it all down with half a glass of fresh mango juice, stayed away from the buffet table for the rest of the afternoon, left and returned home happy with the success of my first food orientated outing since i started this diet.

Hmm this blog is getting a bit long and i do not want to bore, whats say i talk about Sunday lunch later on in the week? I think it's a good idea too.

So without further ado Fridays meals were as follows:

Breakfast: Homemade granola with strawberry yogurt.
Mid morning snack: Apple and Ginger booster juice plus a pear.
Lunch: Shredded southern pork salad.
Afternoon snack: Apple
Dinner: Chicken a la king with brown rice.
Desert: Nutella rice krispie treat.
Drinks: 2.7 litres of water, 2 coffees and 2 green teas.

Total calories: 1681