Getting Into Shape

For the next couple of weeks I am staying at my home away from home down in Winchester. I love being down here and since I have the convenience of having a home gym where I can workout everyday, I'm taking this as an opportunity to kick start my diet and get back into leading a healthy lifestyle.

I have always been someone who struggles with my weight. Since I was a little girl - around 8 or 9 - I remember having thoughts like “my tummy is huge” and yes, admittedly, I was a pretty chubby kid but this wasn’t something that should have been on my mind at such a young age. For some reason though, it always was and it always has been. My weight over the past 4 or 5 years has fluctuated and it’s very easy for me to gain back any pounds I have lost. A couple years ago I went through some stuff which put me in a pretty dark place, taking my size and weight to the lowest it had ever been though this wasn’t done healthily and I became really obsessive about it. Since then I’ve gone up and down and this summer I was almost a stone heavier than I was a year before. Now I am in a place where I want to live a healthy life and most importantly feel happy and confident in my skin.

I’m currently on a plant based diet six days a week with a day off - a cheat day if you must. However, I have been vegetarian now for about 9 months so my days off don’t include any meat or fish. I also don’t have a massive blowout all day, it’s allowing myself some pancakes for breakfast and a chocolate bar to snack on or some cheesecake for dessert.

So here is an example of what I eat in a day (one of the 6 days of being plant based). It makes me feel so full of energy and it’s such an easy diet to follow once you know what to eat.

BREAKFAST

I like to have a big, filling breakfast so that I'm fuelled for the day and don't get too hungry feeling the need to snack. This doesn't look like much but it really fills you up. By the time I finished my morning workout I was seriously hungry so this morning I had a big bowl of porridge made simply with organic plain oats and almond milk, topped with some strawberries. Along with this, I enjoyed two bananas and a lemon green tea.

LUNCH

After breakfast I went into town to get a few things I need since I haven't been down to the house in a while so by the time I had lunch it was about 2pm. I was still pretty satisfied from breakfast so I had half a bowl of Glorious Soup in Fragrant Thai Carrot which tastes so good, along with a multi-seed pitta. I also try to have a glass of water with and after every meal and drink lots throughout the day.

SNACK

After a late lunch, watching Coyote Ugly and a trip to Waitrose I wasn't really thinking about snacking but around 5.30 my stomach was growling so I opted for two sliced carrots and hummus to keep me going until dinner.

DINNER

Finally, for dinner was this amazing recipe taken from Jamie Oliver's Super Food book which is so good. It has so many amazing recipes. We made a few adjustments so it was suitable for my plant based diet and also replaced the millet with brown rice and quinoa. This dish serves 4 people.

I usually have an evening snack but I'm actually so full from dinner I don't know if I will be able to fit anything else in. And that is more or less what I eat in a day - I ate a little less than usual today just because I have been so busy but I hope this gives you a little insight into some of the stuff that keeps you satisfied on a plant based diet. Now I'm off to catch up on Empire and do my evening workout.

Love Jess x

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