The Objective
 
To detox by feeding my body non-processed food for 7 days and see the impact. It wasn’t designed to be a "diet" just an experiment to clear my body of all the junk. I felt “dirty” after a 5 day holiday eating lots of ice cream, cake at breakfast, pasta and fried foods – you guessed it, I had been to Italy.
 
In general, I was getting obsessed with food and my portions were getting larger and larger. I was reaching a new norm with my eating.
 
My weight post birth had fallen to a steady state of about 77 kg and in May it had been jumping between 77 and 79 kg never going lower than the 77kg mark even though I was trying to be food conscious.
 
DETOX DAILY MENU
 
Breakfast: a fruit smoothie – I thought this would be hard to get used to because I love porridge BUT it wasn’t. I had a huge smoothie that almost filled the NutriBullet cup and it took so long to finish that by the time I did, it was nearly lunch time.
 
Lunch: a huge bowl of salad
 
Dinner: a light cooked meal with lots of fresh fruit and vege  

Snack: any fresh fruit or vegetable allowed BUT I found that I wasn't needing to snack much. Coffee and tea with milk allowed with no sugar. Honey allowed to sweeten one cup of tea or coffee in the day. All second cups of tea or coffee cannot be sweetened.
 
Where I got my recipes: LoseWeightByEating
 
Note: I didn’t have smoothie only days as recommended in the Detox above because that would be too extreme for me, I'm breastfeeding. I adjusted recipes to account for my taste, e.g. I added tomatoes, cucumber and grated carrots to salads a lot. I used chicken thigh instead of breast or canned mackerel in sweet chilli – it’s more fattening but hey ho!
 
Banned Food

• No confectionary (sweets, chocolates, cakes, biscuits)
• No processed meat (i.e. sausages or bacon or ham!)
• No red meat (for me that’s just pork, minced beef or beef meatballs and goat, we rarely have proper beef pieces or lamb at our house)
• Nothing made from flour, so: no pasta, no cous cous
• No bread – a huge deal for me, I love toast
• No cerelac – I usually have it once or twice a week
• The biggie – no rice! I love white kilombero rice from Malawi. I eat it almost daily.
• No nsima
• No oats at breakfast – they’re healthy but fruit and vegetable smoothies are better
• No juice or soft drinks. I didn’t really have to ban juice and fizzy drinks because I don’t drink these much anyway, they’re already not part of my diet.

Basically no easy fast energy; give your body foods it has to work to break down to get the sugar out, e.g. quinoa or beans instead of pasta.
 
Allowed Processed Food

• Dried Berries – sprinkled on my salads in small quantities
• Prunes – I had them once in the 7 days sprinkled over yoghurt (3 prunes sliced up)
• Canned fish, e.g. mackerel, Tuna
• Canned beans
• Cheese and greek yoghurt (small amounts)

 
In a proper detox you should only allow canned food in water with no sugars or sauces but I didn’t go that extreme. I had a can of Heinz 5 beans over the week (half on one day and half a couple of days later). I drain as much of the sauce off as possible when I had canned food.

EXERCISE

I jogged 3 times and swam twice over the 7 days.

​The jogs were just under 3 km each and the swims were 30 minutes each time. Always first thing in the morning, always on an empty stomach. That's how I usually exercise. I hadn't jogged in 7 months due to pregnancy and recovery after but I had been doing cardio and lots of walking in that time so I wasn't starting from a base of no exercise.

​The Plan Going Forward
 
Completely cutting out processed food is not realistic for me. Although by day 4 I realized I wasn’t having cravings I know I enjoy the junk I eat so I’ll end up bingeing if I decide to cut it out entirely. I’ve decided the following:

• I’ll allow myself to eat freely from 5pm on Friday to 5pm on Sunday.
• Outside of these hours I will eat as above but I will allow a small portion of nsima, 1 ntanda / rice, 125g / pasta, 150g / cous cous at dinner time. I will start substituting some meals with bulgar wheat and quinoa instead flour based carbs.
• Bread is now a weekend-only food, as is cerelac and oats. Smoothies for breakfast worked for me perfectly as did salads at lunch.

 
Tips:

• Small plate: When I had a stodgy dinner I put it on a side plate to make the portion look larger than it was.
• Carry snacks: I carried an apple or banana in my bag when I was out the house in case I got hungry. It stopped me craving sweet carbs.
• The shocker: I think what lots of diets recommend, i.e. eat whatever you want in moderation is a huge lie. I think the key to me not having cravings was that I completely eliminated sugar and my body stopped desiring it and also stopped getting hunger pangs.

 
I love banana cake and I still know what it tastes like so I’ll bake it this weekend BUT I currently actually feel scared to eat it because I might start getting that hungry feeling again. It’s funny that when I was eating much more than I am now, I was always hungry and wanting a snack. I never stepped into the kitchen without grabbing a handful of nuts, a pack of crisps, a yoghurt etc. In addition, I’m out a lot so I just buy snacks too with the excuse that at least I’m not bringing them into the house but if you’re usually out the house anyway there’s plenty of scope for eating bad snacks out there. Just cut them all out. Don’t accept offers of cake, biscuits etc. from people; cut out the hot chocolate, energy bars, flap jacks etc. and you’ll see your desire for sugar and fried foods falling. Just one biscuit makes you want 5 – that’s how the brain works.

I might try to follow the maxim of “eat all the junk you want provided you make it yourself!”

I ignored all people who say don't eat fruit, it has too much sugar or don't eat bananas because they are high in carbs - the fact is, NO ONE out there is obese because they eat too much fruit. A banana or a handful of grapes a day won't kill you. Yes, fruits are rich in sugars but this probably only really matters if you're trying to get super skinny.
 
Biggest advantage of this way of eating: you don't have to count any calories. Before you put anything in your mouth you just ask: does this food occur in the environment like this? If the answer is yes, eat away.
 
Disadvantage of this way of eating: the salads take 15-20 minutes to make where as toast with an egg or a sandwich, my previous go-to lunches take less than 5 minutes.
 
Buying all the extra fruit and veg has added £10-20 to the weekly shop but that’s okay for me. You spend a little more in the first week because you stock up on some staples, e.g. quinoa.

If you try to cut out processed foods yourself I'd love to see how it goes for you.

My 2013 goal: go from 63.5kg to 60kg (i.e. 140 to 130lbs)

I haven't been 60kg since I was 20!

This is what happened: I gained 10lbs! With the post Christmas indulgence I hit an annual high of 68.4kg (151 lbs) just after Christmas.

The weight gain did not come as a shock - I've been tracking almost weekly using the Fat Creep app and I saw it coming but didn't particularly care.

This year, I decided to make the goal SMART and actually set out how I was going to lose the extra weight. Luckily, my husband got me the FitBit for our anniversary and just having the gadget made me realize how sedentary my life was. My two weekly 5km jogs were not enough to counteract my incessant nut scoffing and my passionate love affair with desserts.

Because I wanted to start the year at 67.5kg exactly, I started my weight loss regime on 30-Dec. By some stroke of luck my Fit Bit is sending me summaries that exactly match my diet cycle. As always I am not dieting but getting rid of the silly habits that I had started slipping into.

So, what changes have I made?

1. WALKING

I have committed to at least 10,000 steps a day!

I never really considered walking exercise so I didn't do much, I thought it was so low impact and hence not worth the effort. What I have discovered with my FitBit is that I was only walking 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day which is as low-activity as a life gets. Not good enough!

2. JOGGING

No change.

I am still only doing my two 5km a week. The only difference in 2014 is that I'm doing it at a gym rather than outside - I couldn't take the cold anymore. With a treadmill I can increase the intensity of my jogs much more easily so I am enjoying it.
​
I am currently jogging on Tuesday and Thursdays.

3. WORK OUT IN THE MORNING

I always used to jog around midday but I have always known there is an extra benefit to doing it first thing in the morning - it gives your metabolism an all day boost. I decided to stop being lazy and just do it! I'm now up at 6.30 a.m. instead of 7.30 a.m. - it's not a huge change.

4. RESISTANCE TRAINING

Two thirty minute sessions a week.

I hate resistance training (!) but I can't deny that I do see much better weight loss and maintenance when I do it. To start off with I think two sessions a week is enough. I'm using a DVD to do it.

I am currently doing my strength and resistance training on Wednesday and Fridays.

5. PRE-WORKOUT FOOD

Research suggests you burn more fat if you have a shot of unsweetened black coffee 30 minutes before you work out. I am using green tea - I don't know if that is as good a substitute.

6. WEEKEND ACTIVITY

I have committed to either a swim, a long walk (2 hours) or a gym class once a week at the weekend...finally!

7. FOOD!

Weight loss is really just about what you eat; eating less is enough to lose weight even if you do no exercise at all. I am also exercising because I actually want to be fit. I've made the following changes:

• I'm trying to eat c.1,400 kcal per day - I would normally eat about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day which is a lot for a 5 foot 1 inch girl (1.54 metres) who sits on her ass all day staring at a computer.
• No carbs after 5!! This is quite drastic for me; I love my rice and pasta. To make up for it I have to eat proper food at lunch. I am now having a more nutritious lunch with quality meat or chicken, rice, pasta, mash, potatoes etc. and vegetables. In week 1 I didn't even cut out oil or anything, I just used a more reasonable amount. In fact, volume-wise my lunches now are actually bigger but that helps me to... 
• ...Cut out all junk mid week - I normally eat crisps or cake or some other nasty as an afternoon snack but I am leaving that for the Saturdays and Sundays. Last weekend I had crisps on Saturday and pancakes on Sunday - I can't wait until this weekend's treat.

What am I missing?

• Mid-week crisps
• Chomping on nuts as I cook dinner! Nuts are good for you but not the way I eat them. I love to eat them whilst as I cook. I think I'd have 3 to 5 handfuls every night whilst I cook which should add up to 60 - 80g a night. That's 350 to 480 calories a night - A LOT when you're just about to have dinner.

So, at the moment I am not doing anything drastic just what I should be doing anyway taking care of my health.