Daily Tracking – money and food – Day 1

I’m really glad people enjoyed my last post, if you’d of told me 6 months ago that I would be able to slash my shopping budget by 75% I would of died of laughter. I used to be exceptionally defensive about what I bought until I took stock and realized I could begin shaving 10% off the weekly shop, then 20% etc. That would be my biggest piece of advice, do it in baby steps. I should also say if you make these these changes then you do learn to “do without” even though I’d argue I’m not really going without. For example yesterday I would of loved to buy a yellow pepper, red potatoes, feta cheese, oatmeal and mandarin oranges. The reality was I simply couldn’t afford to within my budget. I have placed those items on a list for next week and if they are a reasonable price AND within budget then I will buy them. I have to say, it does make you appreciate what you eat – I now savor every bite of an apple!

Catch up: Daily Tracking August 8th – Spend £4 on tapas with a friend – we both didn’t feel we needed the expensive set menu so ordered chickpeas, pasta, grilled veggies & tzatziki to share. We both had water with a lemon in it! Just shows me that if you watch your portion sizes and make careful choices as to where you eat, you can enjoy a meal out with friends within budget!

Daily Tracking AND Food August 9th – Spending £14.49 on groceries

So what did I eat?

Breakfast: I had the final 2 tablespoons of the baked beans I had left with 1 thin slice of cheese, so I put the two together heated them up and enjoyed it with a mug of hot water & lemon!

Lunch: After my shop, I look at dates and plan what needs to be eaten first. I decided the tzatziki was a good place to start, so mixed it with tuna in a Tupperware. I then split it into 3 portions so that I knew it would provide for 3 rolls. I put my tuna tzatziki on the roll, kept 1 more roll in the fridge and froze the other 3 rolls. I then decided I would start with grapes, so washed 14 grapes (which is 1 portion) and placed them on my plate. As I was craving chocolate I had my alpro soy chocolate drink for which I used a children’s cup (5 oz)!

So lunch was: 1 whole wheat roll with tuna & tzatzkik, 14 grapes and a glass of chocolate soya milk

Snack: Continued to drink water throughout the afternoon but for my snack had a large glass of water with 2 apricots (2 apricots is a portion of fruit)

Dinner: That vegetarian sausage was calling my name, so I decided I would have it with rice (which I mixed with spinach – it was YUMMY!) and a side salad of mixed leaves with 4 radishes. I wanted to make my lemon vinaigrette but decided it was too early in the week to use my lemon so made a balsamic vinaigrette instead. I would have liked to put grapes on my salad but since I only buy a small package (about 4 servings) of grapes I knew I had to make them last! I also originally thought about making my tomato mozzarella salad, but again knew it was too early in the week to be opening my cheese as I already had 1 dairy product (the tzatzkik) that would need to be eaten over the next couple days. I should also add, I made 1 portion of rice but because I mix it with spinach I made it do for 2 meals!

So Dinner to recap: 1 vegetarian sausage, spinach with rice and a nice salad!

Therefore:

Fruit: 2 portions – grapes (14 = 1 portion) and apricots (2 = 1 portion)

Veg: 3 portions – baked beans, spinach, salad

Dairy: 3 portions – cheese, tzatziki, diary replacement (soya)

Grains: 2 portions – whole wheat roll and brown rice

Water: I didn’t have enough today – probably only 4 glasses, need to get this back up to 8!

One day I’ll do a post on weight and the journey I’ve had, but wanted to say based on a comment and a couple of emails, don’t beat yourself up if you are overweight. Some of the healthiest people I know are overweight for a variety of reasons and my cousin who eats nothing but cr*p (chocolate, chips, yorkshire puddings – that pretty much sums up her diet!) is as thin as a rake! I have learned through my journey that women struggle with weight for many reasons and the worst thing is to blame yourself. The best thing to do is to start from today, go see your Dr and figure out what you need to do, eat healthy, try to exercise every day (even in the beginning if all you can manage is a 15 minute walk!), write down what you eat, try to find healthy alternatives (like fruit instead of sweets) and forgive yourself!!! Life, like weight, is a journey NOT a race!