Saving the pounds whilst losing the pounds

A few things have changed since we started the fast 800, namely:

1)   Ross has become a master of making omelettes (do you remember attempt one?). The non-success first attempt may have been related to the stand-off between one huge red pepper and two little eggs…

2)   Ross has lost around 9kg. Boom!

3)   Our ‘go to’ meals have changed from risotto, pasta, gnocchi, and curry with lots of naan and rice to low carb, low calorie alternatives. Lifestyle goal - check!

4)   To my surprise, we have both become advocates of cauliflower rice.

5)   We have saved money through planning ahead and staying away from impulse snack purchases.

It is surprising how much money you can save by not spending on expensive snacks and drinks. If you are buying your lunch and a coffee out on each working day, we calculated that you could easily be spending around £12 a go. Multiply that by 5 and that’s £60 a week, £240 a month. As all of our meals and snacks have been pre-prepared, our snack spend has been reduced to £0. Whilst I usually work out of offices, Ross is forced to walk through an arena of temptation each time he goes to work – eateries and tempting coffee shops galore! So Ross’s bank account has certainly been feeling the benefit of our newly implemented zero tolerance snack and coffee policy...

In light of what we have talked about in previous blog posts, we are also determined to still be enjoying ourselves and not over restricting to the point of misery. We have therefore decided on a weekly ‘date night’ where we will still have a healthy breakfast but go out for drinks and dinner in the evening. Sometimes having something to look forward to is just the motivation you need. Here are a few snaps of our date night treats! 

Our favourite waterside drinking spot - a lovely sun trap!

 

So naughty but oh so nice! One of our favourite local Italian restaurants.

During the week, however, we stick to very low carbs and Ross is still restricting to around 800 calories a day. It is, nevertheless, a difficult world we live in when trying to escape the mental game of hunger, when advertising and food outlets attempt to draw us in at every opportunity. One day, I came home to a guilty looking Ross who admitted to walking into the city centre and returning with chocolate. Not just some chocolate however. Indeed, a large Easter egg, a Double Decker and a bag of Maltesers chocolate buttons. He had begun the first half of the Easter egg only to feel instantly nauseous as a result and did not even enjoy the taste of the chocolate after all those cravings. I graciously confiscated the remaining items into my own stomach for the greater good. 

We are still enjoying finding new recipes which fit the Mediterranean diet – here are some recently made recipes:

A yummy spinach, garlic and feta cheese omelette served with bacon. Click here for the recipe - we made it into an omelette rather than scrambled egg. Super tasty and filling!

This is the Chicken Coconut and Lentil Curry from the fast 800 book - one of Ross's favourites. We added a little less lime juice than the recipe suggests. 

So this one began as the Spanish Aubergine Stew with Chorizo, again from the fast 800 book. We decided to try and cook this one in the slow cooker. When it came to dinner time, the stew quite frankly just looked a bit sad and not overly appetising. After some blitzing with the hand blender, it soon turned into a thick, tasty and rather filling soup! 

Courgetti, courgetti, courgetti! I sometimes wonder how life used to be before owning a spirilizer. We bought this one. It's fast, easy to clean and just does the job! This recipe is a lovely low calorie spag bol - the recipe can be found here and it comes highly recommended. We also added spiralized carrot to the Bolognese. 

Another courgetti number - this time a Carbonara. Recipe to be found in the 8-week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Book also by Dr Michael Mosley. Very quick to make and delicious! One of my favourites. I preferred the turkey bacon to the usual bacon lardons as the taste was much more subtle and less overwhelming.

And finally, a very, very tasty treat from the 8-week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Book. Seedy flapjacks! There is zero added sugar in these and yet they are gloriously sweet. The sweetness must come from the dried fruit as the only other ingredients are rolled oats, seeds and coconut oil. Yum! The only disappointment was when the recipe suggested that they should but cut into 24 pieces?! We questioned how zoomed in the picture was in the recipe book...

Before baking

And after! Very moreish... 

Until next time!