You might want to get yourself a cuppa for this one!
This is just completely my opinion, what works for me might not work for you but it might help give you some ideas. I had to work really hard to train my body to eat 3 meals a day which I now find really easy along with snacks to keep me going. I will list at the bottom some varieties I have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, not all though because as if this isn’t long enough already!
What I eat is the most important thing for me to focus on. Doesn’t matter how much exercise you do, nutrition plays a massive part in keeping healthy, fit and losing weight. I can’t see Jessica Ennis living on salad everyday of her life can you? Now I know I don’t have any qualifications in the topic (yet! I have just started an Advanced Sports and Exercise Nutritional Advisor course) but as I said at the start it’s completely my opinion and in my opinion everyone is different and require different amounts of protein, fats, carbs etc. Eating chicken and broccoli might seem great for the hench fella at the gym but does it work for you?
I started with writing a food diary every week and sending it to my trainer. On days where I didn’t feel great or lacked energy we looked at the food I ate on them days and tried to spot a pattern. I found that eating bread, pasta etc. made me feel really bloated and tired. I’ve put this down to not being able to eat a lot of carbs and gluten. So I stopped – I occasionally have pasta but not often as it’s nice to change it up a bit. Once I started spotting these patterns it was easier to build a meal plan around these issues. I would recommend starting a food diary to anyone as it helps monitor what you are eating and how it affects you whether it’s good or bad.
What to eat for breakfast wasn’t a big issue at first it was more eating breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day and I would skip every day and wait until lunch or even dinner to eat. I started off small with a piece or two of fruit and worked my way up to fish, yoghurt and chocolate muffins – yum!
Due to where I work I found lunch difficult to mix up as I am only allowed fish or kosher meat. I started off with tuna salad every day for lunch and felt like I was going to turn into a lettuce. I started trying different fish and eating it with cous cous, stir-fry, veg, sweet potato mash and rice. I became more creative with my food and made stuffed peppers / mushrooms. I still find it a bit hard to come up with something different but I like to try new recipes which keep me going.
Dinner – favourite meal of the dayJ – was the easiest for me to think of unless my mind went blank but luckily my trainer was just a text away! This is where I tend to eat the most veg as I hate eating it cold for lunch and I get to treat myself to proper meat (chicken, steak etc). At the moment I am obsessed with sweet potato wedges, I absolutely love them so I have them pretty much every day.
Since changing my lifestyle I have noticed a lot of changes to my appetite, mood, energy levels, and mentality. My appetite has increased massively and I find myself trying new things more often. This has also helped my energy levels as well as drinking as much water as I can which I’ll admit isn’t a lot but I’m trying every day to increase my water intake. I’m a lot more positive about things and don’t get upset / stressed over the little things anymore; I am able to shake it off *cue Taylor Swift lyrics popping into your head*. I really enjoy my workouts and feeling the pain the next day, you know you’ve done something right when you can’t walk up / down the stairs without looking like you’ve had an accident in your pants.
Some varieties of what I have to eat:
Breakfast:
- Yoghurt with fruit, oatcake / protein bar (my uncle makes smashing protein bars, take a bow ginge!)
- Fish with asparagus
- Chocolate muggins (and before the grammar police correct me I mean muggins not muffins as they are made in a mug)
- Boiled or scrambled eggs
Lunch:
Dinner:
- Steak / chicken / fish with veg, sweet potato wedges, rice noodles, stuffed mushrooms
- Tuna / chicken pasta
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Pea & ham soup (Nans is the best)
- Scouse (can’t go wrong!)
Dinner just depends on what I feel like eating when I get home.
Snacks:
- Humous with rivita, carrot sticks, peppers
- Almonds
- Fruit
- Oatcakes with peanut butter, banana or both
Above are just some examples for a general picture. The best thing to do is plan what to eat and to know what is available in your fridge, freezer and cupboard. I plan my meals for the week every weekend as this is when I tend to go shopping so I need a list of what to get or I’ll forget – memory like a sieve I swear.
I hope this can help some of you but if would like to know anything more you can always contact me.
Nicole 🙂 x