DAY 3!! Cauliflower Mash! THD

Day 3 and I am feeling better and better. It’s crazy!! I can’t explain to you how I feel. It’s like I feel lighter, I don’t have this heavy feeling like I’m carrying an extra 20kg’s with me on top of my own weight that I need to lose. I feel a little tired, but that’s because I went to bed late. But in today’s Email it said that we have to go to bed earlier, and I am ALL OVER THAT!! J

I have cheated a little though, I don’t think we are allowed to eat honey really, but I really needed something warm in my hands and to drink. I opted for Vitals’ Fruit infusion Green Tea with a teaspoon of honey in it, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. I always had the green tea in my cupboard from previous failed diets, and I was never disgusted by it, but I never loved it either and was always pining away for my beloved coffee!

This time around I drank it, I liked it, I enjoyed it…. And you will not believe this, but I (the coffee addict QUEEN) didn’t miss my coffee! Yes that’s right, I didn’t miss it!!

No don’t offer me a cup of coffee because I WILL take it! But I am at a stage where I won’t attack you to get hold of your cup of coffee anymore. I see this as progress J

Hubby is once again doing this diet with me. He claims it’s because he wants to support me (and I really do appreciate the fact that he isn’t eating all sorts of sweets and take a ways etc) but he has lately eaten a TON of ginger biscuits. Once he starts, he cannot stop until it is all done. And I made a lot. Oopsie. So he wants to lose some weight too.  He claims that he isn’t addicted to coffee though (I sorely beg to differ, but to each their own J ) so he is drinking coffee, with honey in it instead of sugar. And he says it isn’t too bad. He could totally deal with it J  I figured if I get to the point where I’m willing to sell my dog for a cup of coffee, I will have a cup with some honey in. but I’m not there yet! I will wait for that day to come, and I’m excited to say that I think it won’t come at all. But let’s not count our chickens….

Last night Hubby and I made some supper together. We made Pork chops in the oven with some oven roasted asparagus and baby marrows. It was our first time roasting baby marrows, I usually throw them into chicken pots and stuff like that, but I have never roasted them before. So hubby cut them up and accidently over salted them ha-ha! His face was hilarious!! We ended up roasting the baby marrows a bit too much! But it was still actually very nice.

But the main attraction was the cauliflower mash. I figured I will try to make this, because it might seem like we are having real mash! Here is what I did.

I filled a pot with some water and put the cauliflower pieces in with some salt and let it boil until it was very soft. (I let it boil for about 25 minutes to be hot when the rest of the food was done) I then strained the water from it and put it back into the pot.  I added some Robertson’s chicken herb spice (you can add anything you like really) some pepper, salt, a teaspoon of garlic and about 2 teaspoons of margarine. And mashed it.  VOILA! You have cauliflower mash! Nothing difficult about it right?

The funny thing is that it didn’t really taste much like cauliflower. It felt like we were eating mash! Unbelievable what it did for our psyche. We felt like we were really eating mash and afterwards we felt very satisfied. Usually with other diets if we couldn’t have potato or carbs with our meals, we felt horribly cheated. It didn’t feel like that at all this time around.

One thing that I will change is to rather steam the cauliflower; so that it doesn’t end up being watery at all. You want that creaminess. We had the creaminess, but it had a bit of water to it too. OR after you mashed it, you could put it back on the stove and just let the heat evaporate the water.

We didn’t do it because the rest of the food was ready and we didn’t want it to get cold. AND we were STARVING!!

 

So there you have it. Do cauliflower mash and you will feel like you just had some carbs! Crazy how our minds work sometimes! I love it!

Tonight I’m thinking chicken, and carrot chips… but I’m still deliberating.

If you have any good ideas for food replacements or unusual recipes, please share it with us! I’m very keen to try new things! J

Phat Girl on the Run: Bacon and Egg "cupcakes"

Phat Girl on the Run: Bacon and Egg "cupcakes": Day 2 and so far things are going great. I am feeling a little weak, but not nearly as bad as all of the other diets I’ve been on. Usually ...

Bacon and Egg "cupcakes"

Day 2 and so far things are going great. I am feeling a little weak, but not nearly as bad as all of the other diets I’ve been on. Usually by day 2 I feel so horrible and lethargic and depressed that I would start plotting my way out of the diet.

But not this one! I feel like I can carry on. Here and there I do have a little moment where I am overcome with a sweet-crave. Just a cup of coffee with some sugar in would be nice, or sometimes I freak out and see myself jumping into a pool of chocolate… She said it’s normal though, so I’m not booking myself into a mental hospital just yet. J

I am in a bit of a predicament, because she said we have to cut out whatever we are intolerant to for at least the first 5 days. So NO DAIRY AND NO WHOLEWHEATS for me. This forces me to be creative with my food. So I made THIS…….

 

It’s an egg and bacon cupcake…… no it's not...… It’s an egg and bacon cupcake without the flour.  It’s basically just eggs and bacon…

Here’s how you make it:

What you need:

5 free range large eggs

4 strips of unprocessed bacon (ask your butcher to cut you some)

Garlic

Salt, pepper, peri-peri and chicken spices

A mixing bowl

A whisk

A muffin pan

A normal pan

You chop up your bacon into pieces (any size you want) and put it in a pan on high heat. Pour your spices on to until you are satisfied with the taste. (Peri-peri spice, chicken spice, salt and pepper)   And fry your bacon until it is done. You can choose if you want it crispy or not, that’s up to you, if you want it crispy, just keep frying. Once you are satisfied, put aside. Switch on your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Then break your eggs into a separate clean bowl, add some peri peri spice, salt and pepper and some garlic. You can add whatever else you like. You can add cheese if you don’t have to cut out your dairy, you can add celery or anything else really, it’s all up to you mkay? Mkay!

Whisk it all up and fill your cupcake hole only a quarter to half of the way, you don’t want to put too much in.

After you have filled your cupcakes holes about half way, you then add your bacon. Just scoop it in little bits at a time, to ensure that you have even amounts in each “cupcake”. I used a silicone tray, if you don’t have one, either use cupcakes cups or spray your cupcake tray with some oil or butter etc. otherwise your egg might stick to the bottom (I don’t know, I haven’t  tried it in a normal pan yet.

Chuck it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.  They will start ballooning up. It will look like this….

 (sorry, I couldn't get this one to rotate)

You will see they are starting to tear apart at the top, then you know it’s ready.

When you take it out, it deflates again.

But it’s SO tasty!!! Give it a try. And let me know what you think J

Tonight I am aiming to make Pork chops with asparagus, roasted baby marrows and cauliflower mash. If everything works out, I will tell you all about it tomorrow J

I will leave you with a tip: If you feel like you are craving something, and you feel like you really really need it right now, get up and brush your teeth. Your craving should immediately subside. Try it, it works for me. J

The Harcombe diet 30 day Blitz! - Here we go!!!

Tomorrow is the start of the Harcombe Diet 30 day Blitz and I am super excited to get this started. I decided to do a recap post just to make sure that you have everything you need to start this diet successfully :)

There are a few important things to know:

This diet focuses on treating three conditions you may have. They are called Food intolerance, Hypoglycemia, and Candida. 

You can read all about these conditions on The Harcombe Diet Website.

 

Things to remember are:

If you have a food that you are intolerant to, cut it out of your diet for at least the first 5 to 7 days. This one is tricky for me! I have to cut out all whole wheats and dairy. ( BIG SIGH )

Be honest with yourself on which foods you are addicted to and do not eat any of them during the entire diet, even if they are allowed foods. ( my addiction is COFFEE ) A whole month without coffee!!!! I am probably going to rip out my own hair before the week is out! 

Do not eat your carbs and proteins at the same time. 

DO NOT GO HUNGRY!!

You can create your own meal plan or you can follow the meal plan they provide. You will receive the meal plan and all other info as soon as you register to The Harcombe diet 30 Day Blitz. 

You will also receive a workbook that you should print out. This book will help you to remember what worked for you and what didn't, it's a great way to track your weight loss, it even has space to write down your cheats for the day. You should receive it as soon as you register. If you are not sure what i am talking about click HERE to see. 

If you want the links to the Registration or the Meal plans, please read my previous post with TONS of information for you by clicking HERE and HERE.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to comment below and I will try to answer them for you. 

Or go to The Harcombe Diet Website for more information. 

To everyone starting this diet tomorrow: Good luck!! And don't forget to make this challenge fun for yourself. It might get hard, but hold on to your inner strength! And if you cant, reach out, phone a buddy, comment on this page or talk to your dog? Do whatever you need to do to draw the strength together to keep carrying on! We can do this Ladies! (And gents) :) there's no reason a diet should be punishment, we are allowed to have fun while dieting, we are allowed to enjoy ourselves! Contrary to popular belief, fun and diet can go together :)  

     And NEVER forget to be PHAT and FABULOUS NO MATTER WHAT!! :) 

 

 

 

Harcombe Diet starter email

For those of you wanting to join me in The Harcombe Diet Challenge, or if you are just interested in knowing more about it, please please please do yourself the favour and go read up about it on Zoe Harcombe's website. It really is a wealth of information,but it is vital for you to know everything there is to know about this diet. 

I have received my first email after registering and i want to share it with you, so that you can have a good idea of what to expect. I hope all of this info helps! Once you register you should receive this kind of email too! As well as receiving an email every day from the 1st of July to tell you everything you need to know and do for that day! :) I'm very excited to start this!  Click on the links provided to see the possible food menu for the next week. Remember that you can swop out certain stuff, just be careful not to mix your proteins and carbs together. 

June 25th, 2013 The Harcombe Diet® 30 Day Blitz Eat Naturally, Move Naturally

Preparing for your 30 Day Blitz It’s just a week to go before the start of The Harcombe Diet® 30 Day Blitz and this first note is here to get you - and your kitchen - ready for success. We also thought you'd also like a heads up on what's coming to you daily during the first 30 days of July (July 31st you should be celebrating!) Each day you'll wake up to an email with a variety of diet, health, activity and motivation tips. There'll be bonus content daily - videos, podcasts and blogs - to support the key message of the day and to help your learning and motivation throughout the month. It is, of course, difficult to pitch this right for everyone - some of you will be Harcombe experts and others will be Harcombe virgins :-) Some of you will be virtually Paleo, some veggie. Some of you will be marathon runners and some of you might think Sky Sports counts as natural activity ;-) We'll be trying to make sure we cater as much as possible for as many of you as possible. Please join with us and embrace what you can and adapt where you can't - and share your inventions and experiences with the rest of us. We're all in this together. For those of you who like meal plans (called "planners" in Stop Counting Calories & Start Losing Weight!), we've done a 7-day plan for omnivores and a 7-day plan for vegetarians.You can download a copy here. If you're the person who likes to plan meals ahead, now is the time to use the plans - either to the letter and repeat as desired - or to use them as a base for your own weekly plan. If there's a breakfast that works for you - stick with it, or alternate a couple. If you know you're not going to eat fish, and our challenges can't tempt you to try, then get your fish-free meal plan sorted. The "flexis" can use the plan for ideas and/or keep the Workbook allowed foods list to hand and rock and roll as 'lastminute.com' as suits you. So, onto your prep work before starting next week. First, your kitchen. You’ll need to purge your kitchen of any lingering junk that you are keeping. Not having junk options available makes it much easier to resist those foods if you get the cravings for them at 4pm, or when you get back from work, or if you get bored. Diligently work through your food cupboards and fridge and throw out all of the items listed in your workbook. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES. ALL THE JUNK MUST GO. Restocking. Whichever day you do food shopping, use it to restock your cupboards and fridge with the foods on the list in your workbook. Always go for the best quality you can afford and remember this doesn’t mean the most expensive. Rolled rib of locally reared, free-range pork is currently less than £5/kilo at our butcher. Best fillet of beef is, by comparison more than £40/kilo. In season fruit and vegetables are also far better value than exotic fruits flown in from overseas - they are also a far more natural resource. Getting YOU ready. You will achieve far more and have a lot more fun if you find yourself a buddy to do the program with. Some habits will be harder to break than others and having a friend that you can talk to will help you through these obstacles. Choose a buddy who has similar interests and health goals to yourself and make a commitment to each other that you are there to support and help each other, not to criticise and lead each other astray! Getting a local buddy will have benefits for exploring the local area and some of the activities. If you can't think of anyone near you, do try to find a buddy in the club (www.theharcombedietclub.com/) Scout out your local area. Over the next 30 days you’ll be returning to a more natural way of eating and moving and, so, you should start thinking about where you will get your food from. Supermarkets are convenient for staples, but you’ll get far better quality and range from a butcher, greengrocer etc. Go and find your local butcher, farm shop, free range egg supplier, local organic supplier or farmers' market and see what produce is in season. There’ll be no need to visit your gym, but you will be doing some outdoor activities. If you live in an urban environment, take some time over the next week to locate your local park or open green space. Work out a route, or a few, that would take you 30 minutes to walk. Stairs are good modern substitutes for natural up and down walking, so we'll be making good use of stairs over the next 30 days. Be aware of any stairs that you can access - at home or at work, on the tube or in shopping centres. If you live in a more rural environment, find a local forest or open field that you can use freely. If you work from an office/factory/other building, use a lunch break one day this week to identify a couple of places where you could take a walk during your lunch or other break. See if there are stairs nearby for use during the day and find a quiet area where you could do some stretches - maybe there's an area just outside your workplace, or an unused office, the top of a stairwell or even the restroom. Finally, get some comfortable shoes/trainers for your leisure walks and activities and a pair of tracksuit leggings or shorts and a lightweight top that doesn’t restrict movement. Keep your activity kit clean and dry so that it’s always comfortable to quickly change into and, for the 30 day period, keep it readily accessible so that you don’t need to spend time looking for your shoes or t-shirt. p.s. Here’s a Top Video for the day to help get you ready for the last diet you'll ever need:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CeeawiW7Q See you next week. To your very best health Zoë, Andy & Olly www.zoeharcombe.com www.theharcombedietclub.com www.instinctive-fitness.com Copyright © Zoë Harcombe and Andy Harcombe 2013

Email: clubadmin@theharcombedietclub.com

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The Harcombe Diet

LADIES!! I am so angry with myself. I had this HUGE post all set and done and posted and I have no idea what I did, I obviously tried to be fancy (yay me) and it all just disappeared!! I want to cry!! but I wont, I will just pick myself up, dust myself of and try try again! ulgh!

okay so here goes...

I am SO SO SO excited to share my new adventure with you! BUT first, just a little update on how I have been since the "Eat your heart Out" challenge. For those of you that don't know, my first challenge to kick off my weight loss adventure was the "Eat Your Heart Out" challenge and you can read up all about it here. so the update is that i'm right back to where I started in weight! (sad face) BUT every day is a new day and we all make mistakes and we just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming, just keep swimming! :) SO to the future I look and I am SO excited, because I found something worthy of excitement! YES my friends it's called The Harcombe Diet!! This woman is a genius! It took me a while to get my head around the whole idea, but I like it! I accidently came across this diet when I roamed around on my ipad app store. I found it in a cute little app called "In Shape Pro" they have the free version too, so go check it out, its very helpful in so many different ways. I love it. .... so yes, I came across the Harcombe diet on that app and it started me thinking about the whole concept that she has. and I decided to look a little further into it on her website which you can see here.  Here's the kicker, Calorie counting is WRONG!!! if you dont believe me, go read what she says! She has a wealth of information and it all makes so much sense. as I was reading it I was thinking to myself, "howcome have I not thought of this, this is so logical" and then it reminded me of a little Pinterest incident that I had:
My sister has very thick and curly hair and she's forever obsessed with straightening it, but having to straighten that hair of hers takes up to 2 hours. NOT something you want to spend your time on everyday. which is why she doesn't.  I don't know why she obsessed about it, I am inlove with her hair ( I have naturally straight hair ). so I find this post on pinterest that says; Add two tablespoons of brown sugar into warm water, shake it up until the sugar dissolves, put it in a spray bottel. spray it onto damp hair and brush it through and leave to dry. you will have silky straight hair with no heat at all. so I saved the pin with the intention to share it with my sister later on. luckily I forgot about it, because without looking for it, another pin pops up to say DO NOT TRY THIS.IT DOESNT WORK. obviously I was very interested in why this blogger said so and went to her blog.  I got such a fright and wanted to double over in laughter at the same time. To see the results click here. I love the fact that this blogger takes the chances so that we don't have to :) so brave! I'm so glad I didn't share that pin with my sister, she would've killed me!!! :)
but I realized that sometimes even the most logical things evade is when our pursuit is desperate enough. I know how badly my sister wants a way to get her hair straight without the tons of effort, so without thinking it through logically, I, for one, thought that the sugar and water idea is great, even though I KNEW what sugar does when it dries up! haha! it's kind of funny! Same with the diets, we actually know that these stupid low calorie diets won't work, but without realizing it we evade all logic and go for it anyway! STUBBORN!! I love Human complexity! :)
so after doing as much reading as I could, I was still a tiny bit nervous of tackling this diet, I felt like I needed to learn and know more. I subscribed to her website for free and then I went scratching around and found these freebies on her website. they are so informative. some things are a bit difficult to get your head around at times,  the medical and technical jargon made me feel like a tiny bit of an idiot at times, but then she does explain it in more understandable terms afterwards :) so just keep reading it, nice and slow, and you will be just fine. :) download your freebies up there where it says freebies in orange or over here.
I was thinking about everything and contemplating putting my own meal plan together before posting all of this info on the blog, because I just wanted to make certain I was on the right track, (I was a bit scared that I would eat the wrong things without realizing it) when an Email came through. I think God knew I needed some help! It was an email from Zoe Harcombe. She united forces with Instinctive Fitness and created what they call The Harcombe Diet 30 Day Blitz. Each day they will email you with suggestions of foods and recipes that you should eat, they will give you an exercize program as well (keeping in mind that these exercizes are to help you move your body in a natural way, not to push you to some ridiculous limit) and they give you inspirational information as well. so which is perfect because we dont actually have to do any of the planning ourselves except to prepare the food we are suggested to eat. isn't it wonderful? no more counting all your calories and doing math in your head the whole day long, no more weighing your food! you are going to eat MORE and be healthier and LOSE weight! after reading everything I also decided to buy myself one of her books! I'ts called, "Why do you overeat? when all you want is to be slim." It is a fabulous book and it read so easy, it's clear and fun to follow, you also get to understand more about Zoe's past, which is very helpful in this diet :) she also has other books available as well as dvd's, all available here. I bought this ebook on Amazon.

Phew! okay that was a lot of information! you now have all you need to read up on what this diet is all about! :)
The diet starts on the 1st of July 2013. If you want to join me on this challenge ( and I really really really hope that you do) please subscribe to it here! for free, in order for you to receive the emails daily. Also if you don't mind too much, please comment underneath if you are going to join me on this challenge! :)

So here is to NO MORE calorie counting, eating MORE whilst getting HEALTHIER and LOSING weight!! WHOO HOOO! I say this is worth trying! :)

"Eat your heart out" - Success!!!!! Or was it?

Alright! So.... The last few days were very interesting!

The banana and milk day as i mentioned was very difficult for poor old hubby, but we pushed through it!

Then we moved on to day 6 - chicken and 6 tomatoes with a glass of water for every tomato you eat. 

I have to tell you, i am a big tomato flavour lover! When i make my famous spaghetti bolognaise or my "lazy man's" pasta, it's tomato based. BUT raw tomatoes are not my kind of thing. So hubby ate his tomatoes raw and i fried mine up with salt and pepper. It was good. Not the worst thing i have ever had to eat on a diet, but i wouldn't say i loved it. The chicken too had its ups and downs! What was the most exciting thing ever in the beginning of the day, ended up in sighing and cringing at the end of the day! Knowing that the next day we have to eat chicken again!!! (As we would say in Afrikaans, " ons het met lang tande geeet." ) 

Hubby was feeling drained so he fell asleep on the couch while we were watching movies. I couldn't sleep, so i sat up watching movies way later than i was supposed to. Then at about 1am he woke up and went to the bathroom. The next thing i know he came falling out of the bathroom onto the wall and slid down slowly!! (Like in a dramatic dying scene of an action movie)

MY HEART!!!! In a split second so many thoughts and visions went through my head: "should i call an ambulance? What is their number? It might be easier for me to just throw him in the car and drive like a mad woman to the ER! I know where it is, but how do i get in there? I've never actually looked for the entrance gates! I really should pay more attention to these things! Is he going to die? Is this it? Am i to be a widow at age 27? I should probably see if this really is a heart attack before i go bonkers! "

I tried to speak to him, but he wouldn't reply. I freaked out and ended up screaming at him to answer me!! That caused him to scream back at me. At least i knew then it wasn't a heart attack. " Phew!" He ended up laying down on the ice cold tiles, even though it's really cold here right now. I asked him to try and get up, but he couldn't. As he tried his whole body shook and he just collapsed again. I then got him to turn onto his back and saw that he was sweating like a mad man. I touched his forehead but it was icy cold. I got such a fright because i thought he was burning up, but it was exactly the opposite. Why was he sweating??? 

His face was so white it looked a bit grey and his lips had a blue-ish tint to it. At that moment i had a flashback!

My sister and i were housesitting for some friends a few years back. She was sitting more or less across from me on the couch in the tv room. I don't  know what i was busy saying to her, i just remember realizing that she wasn't listening to me at all. So as I freaked out at her about being rude, she looked up at me and her face was as white as snow and her lips had a blue-ish tint to it! I got such a fright! I jumped up and grabbed the closest thing with lots of sugar in it ( a nice big fat chocolate) and practically forced it down her throat! It was easier for me to realize what was wrong with her because i knew she had always had very low blood pressure, so the first thought in my head was, "i need to get some sugar in her system, it will push her blood pressure up!" 

Now i don't know lots of medicine, but i too suffer from low blood pressure from time to time and my doctor told me something along the lines of ;  "Low blood pressure and low sugar levels kind of work together. When you feel drained and woozy, eat something with lots of sugar. Its an instant fix. Sugar levels pushes blood pressure up" or something like that. 

Now that doesn't make it okay for you to chomp down chocolates every 5 seconds, its just a quick fix, because you really do not want to faint.

If you do suffer from low blood pressure constantly, please go see your doctor and find out what you can do to keep it stable, the healthy way.

Anyway, i jumped up and made my hubby some coffee with sugar in. Three cups in fact. It killed me from the inside out, but i did not have any, not even a sip! Fortunately the colour in hubby's face came back and he was soon his old self again! Thank goodness! Being a widow really didn't appeal to me all that much! 

The chicken and veg day wasn't as bad as i had thought, we made chicken and veg soup and chucked it in a blender which made for a very creamy soup! Who knew you could get soup creamy without using any cream or milk? But that night i was extremely moody, and upset and i was feeling funny and i was just not myself. Hubby made the executive decision to give me a cup of coffee! He told me he needs me to be friendly again. Haha! 

The next day, and the LAST day was the miracle soup......

Now here's where i fell terribly short.. It's embarrassing to tell.

I was sitting, looking at all the ingredients and i realized, i hate leeks and i hate green pepper, and they are going to be so overwhelming in this soup. I couldn't get myself to make it. So i didn't. Yesterday i starved myself. I was literally going to have nothing before I have that soup!!!

Im not sure why i didn't think of that when i read this diet, maybe i was just too keen to drop some weight. Or maybe after being on this torture ride for a week, eating things that i dislike (nay) HATE, was just no longer an option for me. 

So last night at about 8 or so, we decided that we are now officially calling this detox quits, we think we have done well enough and we needed to eat. So hubby went and bought Mc Donalds! Oops!!!

Here's the thing though; he bought each of us a double cheeseburger (you know, those tiny ones) and six nuggets with jalapeño sauce (i would die for that sauce) and usually i can finish it without even blinking an eye. I ate my nuggets and got half way through that burger and i was full. I could not take another bite! So my stomach shrank! Yay!!!!

We weighed ourselves this morning and with the Mc donalds and everything, i lost a whopping 3.7kg's! And hubby lost an unbelievable 4.7kg's!!!! 

Now think how much we would've lost if we actually ate that soup, haha!!

It doesn't really seem like a lot when you look at it, but that amount in 6 days (we decided not to count yesterday's major flop) is a lot! 

So YES, this detox does work and you do drop really fast! If you do decide to do it, Be careful!!!!! Listen to your body! We really don't want anyone else dropping on the floor! 

 What an awesome experience!!! This was hard and fun and motivating (most of the time) all at the same time. I really had so much fun doing this challenge and blogging about it! And even with all may failures, i still feel so proud of myself and so thankful that you guys are reading this and helping me along the way! 

Now, my hubby has been overseas a few times and every time he has gone he has had BURGER KING!! he's forever telling me how amazing it is and how he is craving it etc etc?

Good news is they have just opened up a BURGER KING in South Africa!!!! Best news is, it's in CAPE TOWN!!!!!  So i finally get to know what all the fuss is about! I'm very excited to go and try it and maybe have a glimpse of what his overseas travels were like. I have never been overseas :( but after Burger King, i will be a good girl again! :)

My next blog will be about my next challenge. I will have all of the information and links on there, as well as when i'm starting it. I'm hoping by giving everyone a head start on the information that some of you would start it with me and tell me about your experiences too. I cannot wait to post it! I'll give you a little hint, *** this one is a lot easier and it is more about correcting your hormones then losing weight, although you really lose a lot of weight anyway!**** 

Can anyone guess what it is?

(To my sister: if you are reading this, you cannot answer that question as i have already given the answer to you. It would be called cheating! ;) )

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to every reader!!!!!!    You have helped me more than i could have ever imagined!!!! Please keep on reading! You can either click on the follow me button or subscribe via email to receive all of my post as they come in. :) 

Eat your heart out - continued (day 3,4&5)

Hey all my PHAT ladies! :)

Just an update on the "eat your heart out detox" challenge:

Day 3 was the fruit and veggie day! It became fairly easy to cope with. The headaches started going, i didn't have much energy, but i didn't feel like the dead walking either. I was still craving, especially desserts, any thing sweet and chocolaty really and COFFEE!!!!! For those that do not know, "Hi, my name is Leandi and i am a hardcore coffee addict!" Living without coffee is not worth living at all. But somehow i have made it to my third day, coffee FREE, and i am still alive and kicking! Its a MIRACLE!!!

Honestly day 3 was easier than i thought it would be. We had our veggie soup and since we could have all the fruit we wanted, and we had  so many left, keeping in mind that after day 3 fruit is off the table (apart from bananas), we decided to blend them all with ice and make a nice smoothie. Worked out GREAT!! So apart from the cravings, it was a fairly easy day.

Day 4 is the darn banana and milk day! Now luckily for me i love milk and i adore bananas. For those that are not so fortunate, this will probably be the worst day of the this detox for you. My hubby thought it was a good idea to warm the milk up, it would create the illusion of drinking coffee i suppose? FAIL!!! It wasn't really good at all. Im guessing full cream milk warmed up could probably taste really good. But skim milk warmed up, tastes like someone milked the cow while giving it a bath! Cold skim milk and bananas were tasty. I liked it. I never really got the feeling of being full and satisfied completely. You only have up to 8 bananas to get by with. So you have to stretch it out. I wasn't ever feeling crazy hungry though. Poor hubby had a very hard time. He said it felt like he was hungry the whole day through. I gave him some of my bananas to help him out, but i would say this was his toughest day so far. I believe in detoxing, i think its great to eat less and all that, but if you are experiencing hunger pains, thats where i draw the line. I told him to eat as many bananas as he needed. There is a point when you know your body better than the people who created the detox. When you suffer, draw the line. I was fine, but my hubby is a big  built man. Not fat, just big built. And he needs more food than i do to keep from being hungry. He uses more energy than i do, just by being alive. He needed more than 8 bananas to get through the day. Don't punish yourself by not eating when you are experiencing physical hunger pains! You do not need to push it that far. Listen to your body and give it what it needs. (Not your mind or your heart, because my mind and hearts need chocolate, ribs and coffee right now!!!!) I was feeling a little sniffly yesterday, i had hay fever and my head felt like it got dropped into a pressure cooker. So by all means, my heart, mind, body and soul was praying for hubby to say he is done with the detox at times. its terrible, but i didn't want to be the one who disappoints, but if he stopped, i would've stopped.  Only at certain times though, and it was mostly brief. The one thing that kept us going though,  was the fact that we already successfully reached day 4! Giving up now is pointless! Especially if day 5 is CHICKEN!! So we pushed through! It wasn't  so bad. Day one was WAY worse for me! That dreaded fruit night. It haunts me still!

So this morning, day 5 (eat as much chicken and turkey as you like, and six tomatoes with a glass of water for each tomato), hubby was up and showered and ducked out to the shops and was back by 8:30 with rotisserie chicken shame he was probably so hungry!!! (This detox says, eat as many chicken as you want. It doesn't say which kind. Logic tells me it can't be fried, so i decided rotisserie is probably the best bet)   Oh my is it yum! And my body is thanking me for the meat! Its a great feeling! But we still have the whole day in front of us. We might change our minds when we get sick of it, haha.

But so far, so good! And only 2 more days left after today! Yay!!!

**Please remember to take a vitamin supplement every day when you do this detox. Your body really needs it!**

You ARE good enough!! Be PHAT, Be FABULOUS!!

I want to tell you a story today…

The story is about a woman in her early 20’s.  Her name is Maya.

All through Maya’s life she has been a very beautiful woman. She never really thought of it that way, but she had a beautiful face, gorgeous eyes and smile and her body was beautiful! Men were drooling over her like you cannot believe. She could have just about any guy she wanted, but she never actually realized it herself. All she knew was that life was fairly easy. She didn’t have to worry about what to wear, or how she looks in something. Really almost everything used to sit nice on her, and that was good enough. She was a vibrant person, with a bubbly personality, she was confident in herself and loved life and all the adventures that came with it.

Maya went through some ups and very tough downs in her life and she started turning to food for comfort. She didn’t really think about the fact that she would gain weight, because she’s always been able to eat whatever she wanted and her weight was fine. But what she didn’t realize is eating whatever you want and comfort eating are two different things.

She started gaining weight, little by little. She noticed her pants are a bit tight, and she thought, “oh well, it’s time for some new jeans anyway.” The thought of laying off the “comfort eating” didn’t even cross her mind. And why would it? Comfort eating was created to numb all negative thoughts and to soothe ones soul. It was never something “negative” in her mind, Only good. And this went on and on, untreated. And one day she woke up and looked in the mirror. And what she saw was someone completely different standing in front of her. Someone she didn’t recognize.

She suddenly saw the fat rolls, the big stomach, the wide thighs and the cellulite. She looked at her face and started crying. What was once a beautiful face is now a round one with a double chin. She looked completely different. She realized in that moment that she went 4 sizes up in clothes without her even really noticing. She has numbed herself so much; she didn’t realize what she had done to herself until it was too late. She lifted her nighty up and saw the stretch marks over her stomach. And it all was just too much for her to handle.

So what happened?

She stopped being confident. Suddenly all her overwhelming insecurities from that morning has swept in and taken over her life. Every time she’s in public, she wonders what people are thinking when they look at her. She wonders if any of her fat rolls are showing and she pulls-pulls-pulls on her shirts. She goes to the clothing store to buy clothes and hates everything she sees and buys clothes that do not look good, but she decides that it’s good enough because it at least hides all the fat rolls and embarrassing marks.

She goes home after her traumatic day at the shops and she feels miserable. And she grabs on to the only thing she knows brings her comfort and soothes her soul. She comfort eats…. Except afterwards she realizes that this is the reason she has become so overweight, so she hates herself for just eating all of the wrong stuff. And vows that tomorrow will be different. That tomorrow, come hell or high-water, she will not comfort eat. She will be healthy.

So the next day she starts becoming obsessed with eating healthy and losing weight. She starts looking up all sorts of different diets. And she decides to start her chosen diet the next day. But before she starts, she should get her “fix” and she goes home feeling happy about her decision and comfort eats. This time with no guilt, because she made the decision to start a diet tomorrow.

So the next day arrives and she starts her diet. She absolutely hates it and all she wants is to eat a big fat slab of chocolate. At this point she is so sensitive and emotional that anything could set her over the edge, and it did.

When she got home she grabbed the big slab of chocolate she stashed away (to forget about it) and ate it without even thinking twice. When it was done she looked at the rapper and realized that she didn’t even savour it, she just gulped down the chocolate as quickly as she could. She couldn’t even really remember what it tasted like.

At that point she realized that she had failed her attempt at losing weight. She felt depressed, fed up and just wanted to cry. She realized that losing weight was going to be much harder than she thought it would be and she gives in to comfort food for the rest of the night, vowing that she will start again tomorrow.

And so this went on and on, one failed attempt after another. And every time she fails, the comfort eating seems to get worse. And afterwards she hates herself for failing, for comfort eating and the fact that she couldn’t stop herself. It seemed impossible. It affected her life. She started thinking that she is a failure. That she couldn’t do anything, that she didn’t have the will power to achieve any goal. She looked in the mirror every day and hated what she saw. She was never happy about it all. All her confidence was lost. She went from being bubbly to being so self conscious, like she didn’t have a right to be confident. She wanted to be unseen. It changed her way of thinking and it infected her whole life, from the way she dresses and looks after herself, to her love life, even her goals and dreams were infected by this negativity.

Do you feel like Maya does? Has your weight changed your outlook on life? Or your personality? Has your confidence dropped ten thousand miles? Have you already made up your mind what other people think of you? Have you lost out on life and all of the dreams and goals you wanted to achieve? Have you lost out on fun times you could be spending with your kids or your husband/fiancé/boyfriend?

Well we are going to change this all! NOT because we are going to lose weight, BUT BECAUSE (OVERWEIGHT OR NOT) we are all beautiful and we are all unique! We are so much more than just our weight!! Looking at yourself in a negative way and allowing any negative thoughts to filter into the rest of your life just because you are overweight is a very one dimensional way to look at yourself, don’t you think?

If I am who I am, based purely on my weight, and then yes, call me a LOSER! Or a GAINER, whichever way you want to look at it. :)

I think it is time we put our foot down, not just for the society out there that put absolute ridiculous pressures on woman of today (we are not models, we are every day woman, with lots to do and very little time and money), but we should also put our foot down to our own negative thoughts! We are beautiful woman; we are funny, quirky, intelligent, smart, witty, bitchy, emotional, caring, and loving! A woman is one of the most fascinating things in this world! We are able to take the world on our shoulders and still be able to give to others. (men just shut down and crawl into a deep dark corner, ha-ha)  we are able to take the world of pain just to bear a child, because you already love it so much, you will give your everything for it without blinking an eye! We are determined, and passionate! We are able to sacrifice in silence, when we need to. We will give our everything for a cause we believe in. we have a soft touch and we are BEAUTIFUL!

Why should we think that our weight determines whether we are all those things or not? Just because you have a few flabs doesn’t change ANYTHING else about you! You are still all of those things above! And don’t allow your thoughts or anyone else to tell you any different!

Go outside, smell those roses, life is really beautiful and we are sitting here, missing it because our weight issues consume our lives! NONSENSE!!! Go be your beautiful, unique self! Go be who you are meant to be! You have a God-given purpose in life! Focus on that! Focus on the good things and the beauty in your world, in your day and in yourself!!

And you will see, the comfort food, won’t be all that necessary anymore. You will see that you won’t want to punish and poison yourself  anymore.

LET’S BREAK FREE OF THESE CHAINS!! Grab your friends and tell them they are beautiful, tell them what you love most about them! Uplift each other! We have too much negativity and people bringing each other down in this world. We don’t need it!

I have a little proposition for you:

Every night, before you go to bed (or whenever is more convenient for you, but do it at the same time every day) think of 3 things that went right on that day. Just 3 things that went right. It could be that you had a beautiful dinner with your family or something bigger like you weighed in and lost a few kg’s. It can be that you got saved from a near death experience. It could be anything. Just think of 3 things that went well. You will see your spirits will lift up and you will actually become more thankful and less negative!

Also think of 3 things everyday that you love about yourself, or 3 things that you achieved or did right that day. We need to be kinder on ourselves as woman. We can sometimes be our own worst enemies! So think of 3 good things about yourself or what you have achieved or done, every day.

Ladies, you are awesome! Now go show the world just how PHAT you really are!!

Eat your heart out! Day #2

Wow!!! I am literally dreaming about coffee the whole day long!!! This is excruciating!!!

But first let me tell you about last night! Oh yes, the day of the juicy fruits!! All we could have for dinner was fruit!! (Kill me now!!)  this was close to impossible! Honestly, i was sitting on the couch last night, wishing i could have some comfort food, because i was feeling weak and i had a MASSIVE headache!

I had the good, same old same old thoughts; " why am I doing this? What is the point of depriving myself of what i want? Being fat is not so bad... Maybe i could start some other time, i feel like i rushed into this, and this might be the worst time ever to do this detox!" 

Let me tell you, its natural to have those thoughts. When your body is going through a detox, it naturally starts craving all of the bad things its used to. And when you are hungry, it makes it worse! And when you are hungry and all you can it is fruit on a cold night, it makes it near impossible!

But.... Your success is up to YOU! So when those thoughts come to mind, you have to keep telling yourself why you wanted to start this detox in the first place. To make it easier for yourself, why don't you make a list for yourself about all the reasons why you want to do this detox? Write it down and keep it. When these "convincing thoughts to stop the detox" start knocking on your door, grab your list and read all the reasons why you wanted to start in the first place! Maybe this will help keep you motivated enough to push through the tough times. If it isn't, find the solution!

So i ate the ridiculous fruit and tried to keep my mind off of food for the rest of the night. And in the morning when i woke up, i felt SO proud of myself!! :)

But oh my goodness, today was hard!!! (Today was the vegetable day. Nothing else but vegetables! And a little treat was that we could have a baked potato with butter! NOM!!) It was better then yesterday, and worse,all at the same time!

I could eat lots of veggies, and it was warm and nice, but i needed a cup of coffee So So So bad!! The cravings just got worse today! But at least i am full so it helps keep me sane. At one point this afternoon though, i got so hungry i was shaking! I got quite a fright! But luckily it subsided when i got some soup in me!

YES! I almost forgot! We made some lovely vegetable soup! I was thinking we needed to get some more water in, so i figured making soup would help fill us and hydrate us all at the same time. And it was lovely, especially because it was so cold today! 

My hubby even came up with the brilliant idea of putting the soup in the blender! It ended up with a creamy texture! It was beautiful and oh so tasty!

For dinner we made a salad and the baked potato with butter and chives! YUMMY!!! It was delicious!!

So day two: Excruciating!!! But a roaring success!! :)

Now to go for day three!! Let's hope this gets easier!!

I'm going to drink some headache tablets now and sleep ;)

Please feel free to comment. I would love to hear your stories etc! 

The "eat your heart out" challenge!!

This is my motto today...

Yes, I have started the eat your heart out challenge today! This little detox is designed to flush your body from toxins and to lose a few kg's while you are at it!

This one is going to be a tough one for me!!! I love my warm plate of food at night, it just doesnt feel the same without it! I remember trying out this really intense 14 day diet, where you eat just about nothing and only what is listed in the diet otherwise it won't work. I did very well, I hated every moment, but I did well. It wasnt until the 6th day that I started completely degrading in will power, strength and the ability to think straight! I had to eat fruit and belgium yogurt for dinner!!! DINNER!!! To make matters worse, my lovely husband refused to do it with me and got himself some Mc donalds!!! I told him it was fine and that I can handle it, but the truth is I was dying inside! I watched him take every single bite! I even sniffed his food a couple of times! At one point my dog and I had a bit of a stand off, because we're both sitting there hoping he would give us a bite! Just a bite. Or some scraps, some scraps would do just fine too! I couldnt hide it anymore and I literally bawled my eyes out! Poor hubby has to deal with all of these moodswings! Mwhahaha (evil laugh!) needless to say, the next day I quit that diet! Not just because of the Mc donalds (although we did drive straight to one and bought a double cheeseburger and a cappuccino) but mostly because my system was rejecting the little bit of food that I could eat horribly. And I was HUNGRY!!!!! 

So, much like that diet, our dinner for tonight is........ FRUIT!! 

Infact, our whole day consists of only fruit and water! Yay!!! Im overjoyed!.... Ulgh!  When I opened my eyes this morning and realized that we are actually doing this, all of these memories of my previous fruit 'incident' came flooding back. And I thought, "FRUIT! We meet again! I will not be defeated! I will destroy you!!!" 

So far so good! Besides the fact that the atmosphere is tense in the house and that i'm like a piranha, ready to attack at any time, it's going great!!! :)

See what makes this diet so clever is that they make you look forward to tomorrow! Because tomorrow its veggies and you get to have a jacket potato WITH BUTTER!!!!!!! Beautiful warm filling food! Im dreaming of it already!

So without further ado, I present to you, the "eat your heart out challenge"

                                                  

I dont know how to get that bigger, so I will attach the link: http://pinterest.com/pin/479703797779554484/ 

This is where I came across it. If you click on the link and then on the picture in the link it will take you to the website or blog it was posted on originally. You can read up more about it there if you want, although it is very simple; eat what they tell you to eat, drink a multivitamin and drink plenty of water!

I am so excited to share my experiences with you over the next 7 days albeit good or bad :)

This truly is a great encouragement! To see that some of you already visited my blog just gives me the strength  to push through it all!! :) and I hope someone is starting this detox with me soon (other than my hubby :) so supportive!)

***please note that I am not a doctor, nutritionist or have any qualifications regarding foods and/or diets. Anything you try, found on this blog, is at your own risk. It is recommended that you consult with your doctor before attempting any of these diets/programs, or any other ones you might come across on your own for that matter. Be safe! Be healthy!***

Oh yes yes yes, my photos coming soon! Eeeeek, its stressful to think about it! :)

Here goes Nothing!!! Join me in my Journey!

Hi! :)

A little introduction to me and the reason i created this blog:

I am a 27 year old married woman living in Cape town, South Africa. I have no kids, but I do have a beautiful miniature dachshund, and she is almost like a child to me :) I'm super in love with my hubby of two years and he has just started a business with two other partners. (PROUD!!!)

Life is good! I'm happy! ..... 

BUT... ( Isn't there always a but?)

I am not happy when I look in the mirror!!!!

YES! I said it, like just about almost every other woman in the world, I do not like the way I look!

I am overweight (severely obese, as the doctors would say. Just a little bit plump, as my husband would say) in my opinion, I'm just plain ol' fat! And I have been struggling with this fact for quite a few years. In fact, at times you would find me sitting in a dark corner of my house, curled up in a blanket, golfing down some sort of super fattening, calorie loaded yummy thing, bawling my eyes out and longing for the days that I was oh so skinny! We can be so ridiculous if we want to! ;)

And then just the other day, something clicked in my brain.... (Cue the crazy lady music) 

"If I want to be thinner and healthier, then I have to Do something about it." 

Before you think "ya duh lady! Seriously? Thats your big epiphany?" Let me explain...

Its not that I didn't know this little fact, I mean if I could have 10 dollars for every insane attempt of mine to lose weight, I would be a friggen millionaire! Its just that it finally sunk in! I realized that I could either be unhappy looking in the mirror; try to lose weight and fail because I already admitted defeat before I even started; cry and BINGE to get back at the world (seriously, only the food fairies could possibly understand that logic, but it makes so much sense in the moment..); and forever be overweight... OR... I can say, "enough is enough! I am saving me from myself and taking serious control over my weight and unexplained inability to lose the weight! No more excuses! If there is a problem, find a solution! If I am not motivated enough, create motivation!"

Its simple! Never give up! Never surrender! And if you mess up along the way? Then do as Dori from 'Finding Nemo' says; " just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming, just keep swimming!"

So the reason for this blog, you say?

Well, I need motivation! And I have figured out a way to create just that! This blog is my "accountability partner".  I do not know how many people will read and follow my blog, maybe no one will... But that's okay. My fear of someone coming across this blog and then seeing that I have failed is motivation enough for me to keep going! I hate disappointing people! Its one of my weird quirks. ( I have quite a few) 

SO...

Here's what i'm planning:

My goal is to try a whole lot of different ways to lose weight. YES, you just read that right, your eyes did not deceive you. I think we all know deep down inside that eating healthy and exercising is the best way to lose weight, but for some or other (unexplained, yet again...) reason, we have this obsession with different ways and means to lose weight.. Finding that Something that "works for you".  So I am going to try out a few different things and see how they work.  From detoxes to different workout methods, to different diets and maybe even some "psychology". Keeping in mind  that I don't want to be skinny, I want to be healthy, and being healthy means (in my case) losing some serious weight! 

I chose the name "phat girl on the run" because I am more than just an overweight woman! I am intelligent, I am funny, I am loyal and fun and so much more! Every woman needs to realize that your weight DOES NOT define who you are! We are beautiful, and we all have a bit of glitter in our veins! We are PHAT woman who want to make a change to one facet of our lives! 

 

I cannot wait to start! And I cannot wait to share all of my info with you! And Iam hoping that this blog will inspire you to lose weight too and share your experience, ideas and results with me! Its not fun going at this huge challenge alone. Having someone beside you, holding your hand during tough times, motivating you and sharing and laughing with you during good times and bad; THAT is what's going to get us to where we want to be!

LETS DO THIS LADIES!!!!

Photos of me coming soon! As well as my first challenge!

***please note that I am not a doctor, nutritionist or have any qualifications regarding foods and/or diets. Anything you try, found on this blog, is at your own risk. It is recommended that you consult with your doctor before attempting any of these diets/programs, or any other ones you might come across on your own for that matter. Be safe! Be healthy!***