Staying in a hotel will be easy this time on maintainence

This evening I am staying in a hotel in Stratford before seeing a customer tomorrow morning. This will be the first time on my diet that I can just sit down at the table in a Hotel and know I will be able to find a whole load of food I can eat.

When I was in France over easter I was still on the abstinence and ate nothing for six days. All the french food was driving me wild with temptation. Tonight is a pay off night for all my discipline as I can just not eat too much all day and enjoy a well ordered meal.

There is a pool and a gym at the hotel as well - very luxurious - I can work some of it off in the morning and have a light eating day on thursday. As I have said before, I am getting used to controlling food rather than food controlling me and the feeling of power is huge. I can coolly and calmly choose to eat the right things and happily decide not to eat rubbish like burgers and chips. I do not even miss them.

I am enjoying the food options that the lighter life allows me. There are very few foods that are off limits now and I can control my consumption of these as a matter of course.

This is the life...

Route to management week 8 - Staples triggers

I think I am on week 8 of the route to management. I must look it up. Anyway this week is the week to try out starchy staple foods. So on the list this week are.

Rice
Potato
Cassava - No idea what that is
Cous Cous
Pasta
Noodles

Having dutifully tried all these out to see if they trigger something guess what - nothing happened. I do not really understand what these foods are supposed to trigger. Am I going to turn into the hulk or maybe run around in a corbohydrate frenzy. I must find out in case I am missing the point.

I have listened to the audio CD's from lighter life but maybe I haven't paid close enough attention.
Week 9 there are a whole load of new trigger foods to add including breakfast cereals, grains and flour.
Then week 10 is the big one for me - Cheese. If anything is going to trigger me of it will be cheese. The portion sizes are so small that it won't trigger of anything.

Week 11 trigger is Bread which mixed with the cheese of week 10 should create a cheese on toast trigger. Actually I am enjoying enjoying food if that makes any sense.

Week 12 triggers are chocolate, crisps and other snacky items. I have never been a big quick snack person so this will not touch me at all. Some of the other guys in my diet group are not looking forward to trying to control these foods. They have big issues with them and know that if they buy some chocolate it must be eaten promptly and completely.

Chocolate is not for sharing. The other problem I have never had is the "eat the whole packet of biscuits" syndrome. I could never imagine doing that but apparently it is a common experience

My first day since 6th January with no food packs

Today being a saturday was a chance for me to try a day without the support of any lighter life food packs or bars. There are so many permitted foods at this stage of route to management that this was very easy to arrange.
I will go back to one or 2 food packs for the reat of my time on the diet but I wanted to give it a go.

So here is what I had

B: 2 weetabix with skimmed milk
L: Out for dinner at a favourite restaurant. Chicken pieces with salad and sweet potato and spinach lasagne. Very Healthy with hardly any pasta in it.
D: Quinoa, courgette and mushroom stir fry - snack size portion
S: Apple and mandarin

I could get used to this normal food all day.
It is dawning on me that it a few weeks this whole lighter life diet will have finished and I will not need any of the food packs. I also will not be going to the weigh ins and counselling sessions. This has become a way of life for me this year so that will take some adjusting to.

Then all I have to do is keep thin and healthy. This blog is now a major strategy towards my weight maintenance so keep reading

Foods to eat to lose weight - after lighter life

While I was on the route to management I was desperate to know what foods to eat to lose weight after lighter life.

There is a bit of secrecy here as you have to hunt around for the information in forums and blogs to find out. I think it would be better for all the information on foods you can eat to be out there.

So the basic strategy for foods to eat after your lighter life diet is

Start with small portions of protein
Add raw green veg
Add more veg
Add more protein options and cooked Veg
Add root veg and beans and legumes.

Beyond this are all the no no foods which are introduced in the second part of route to management.

Alcohol, Bread, Rice, Pizza, Cheese, Chocolate and so on.

Although there is no name put to the food regime you move on to it is basically a low GI diet.

The problem I had on the rout to management is sticking to the gradual introduction of food and not jumping ahead a few weeks to foods that I had missed while on abstinence. I now have only a few weeks left as I am losing weight fast then I will have to face real food again. Actually I love real food but I cannot stop eating food which is what got me into this mess in the first place.

At least I do have a clear idea of what foods to eat to lose weight after I finish and the foods that I will be eating for the rest of my life.

week 4 food plan for lighter life management

Not many food s added this week. Not a problem because there is so much I can eat now that these are just a bonus.

Additional vegetables for week 4
Artichoke
Asparagus
Aubergine
Bean Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts
Greens (Spring Greens)
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leek
Marrow
Mooli
Okra
Onion
Pak-choi
Shallots
Swiss Chard.

The big difference this week is that I can now have cooked vegetables as well as raw.

Week 3 Foods for Lighter life management

For week 3 of lighter life management has bumper list of foods that can now be eaten in this phase of the lighter life diet.

Additional Protein

• Lean Bacon
• Lean Beef
• Eggs
• Game
• Ham
• Kidney
• Lamb
• Liver
• Pork
• Offal
• Quinoa
• Soya Mince
• Tempeh
• Veal
• Venison

Additional Condiments etc.

• Cooking Sauces, Fat Free
• Fruit Juice
• Smoothies

Fruit

• Apple
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Cherries
• Clementine
• Currants
• Damson
• fruit salad
• Grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Kumquat
• Lemon
• Lime
• Lychee
• Mandarin Orange
• Nectarine
• Ornage
• Passion Fruit
• Peach
• Pear
• Plum
• Pomegranite
• Raspberries
• Rhubarb
• Satsuma
• Sharon Fruit
• Strawberries
• Tangerine

• Plus Tomatoes

As you've probably guessed this week is a bit of a life saver with a great range of foods to choose from. I knew lighter life diet would get easier - this week it did!

Food Diary O(Sorry Forgot what I had yesterday)

B: Vanilla Shake

L: Egg and Bacon on salad

D: Quinoa and chilli stir fry

S: Nutty Bar and Glass of Cognac ( Not really allowed!)

My Lighter Life Blog is keeping me on the diet

One of the main reasons for my lighter life blog is to keep me on the diet and it is working. I was with a customer at work and they were offering all sorts of lovely things to eat with my cup of coffee.
I thought about having to record it in my food diary and decided not to cheat. So I am completely smug about that - but a bit of me wanted to tuck in .
This is still a big learning curve.
Food Diary
B: Vanilla Shake
L: Hard Boiled egg on salad
D: Quinoa and Veg Stir Fry
S: Nutty Bar

Route to management week 1 foods allowed

I was asked yesterday what foods am I now allowed to eat so I thought that it would be good to list each week what new delights I am allowed on my lighter life route to management.

So Week 1 route to management food list:-

Protein

• Chicken - skinless
• Cottage Cheese - plain low fat
• Egg whites - hard boiled
• Fish - any type
• Quorn
• Shellfish
• Tofu plain
• Turkey - skinless

Raw Salad

• Cabbage
• Celery
• Chicory
• Cress
• Endive
• Lettuce
• Salad Leaves
• Spinach
• Watercress

Condiments, dressings , sauces etc

• Chilli Sauce
• Herbal and fruit teas
• Lemon Juice
• Lime Juice
• Skimmed milk
• Mustard
• Salad Dressing - fat free
• Salt & Pepper
• Soy sauce
• Spices - dried or fresh
• Tabasco Sauce
• Vinegar
• Worcester Sauce

I found that these food were more than adequate after 12 weeks of abstinence on lighter life.

Every meal time is fantastic because I have lost nearly 5 stones and can now learn to enjoy real food at my new weight.