Nutrition
Nutrition is the hardest part of my journey for me. I have tried so many strategies, but sometimes I worry that I will never be slim. Some people may argue that I don’t have a weight problem now, but I still feel that I’m overweight and I’m definitely not of the same athletic build that most of my sporty friends are.
Looking back
In 2014, I wrote:
I need to work out how to balance my diet, because I’m:
- overweight
- vegetarian
- exercising for at least 2 hours every day
In 2014, I’m trying something slightly different: #TWIET – Tweet What I Eat Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I’m trying to tweet photos of everything (and I do mean everything) that I eat. I’m hoping that this will serve several purposes:
- it will force me to be honest about what I’m eating and hopefully keep me on the straight and narrow
- show other people that it’s possible to eat a varied and healthy diet as a vegetarian
- encourage people to give me feedback and suggest alternatives to what I’m currently eating
Please follow me on Twitter (@tamsynsmith) to see what I’m eating.
Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to #TWIET all year – mainly because I felt the need to photograph everything before I ate it, and it became time-consuming.
Weight Watchers
I was a member of Weight Watchers for over 5 years and managed to get to my goal weight, but ended up in a very stressful job and put the weight back on again. Although I ate reasonably healthily when I was on Weight Watchers, I struggled with feeling hungry much of the time as it didn’t allow for the amount of exercise that I do. I quit part way through 2014 as I felt that I was wasting my money. What I did learn at Weight Watchers is that it is easy to forget what you have consumed if you don’t track it (if you are someone who is prone to being overweight).
In 2015, I intended to start tracking what I ate again, and was going to record my progress on Give It 100 but I found it hard to record the required videos (and the service has now been cancelled).
Solent Strength and Nutrition
Eventually, I turned to Sam from Agora Heart (Formerly Solent Strength + Nutrition) to try to amend my attitude to food and my body. Although I didn’t lose weight, I managed to lose quite a lot of body fat and am refining what I eat. I now eat more than I have ever eaten before and am focused on getting more protein into my diet.
Healthy eating during pregnancy
I was pregnant for most of 2016 and although I tried to eat healthily, I will admit that there were days when I just wanted to eat all of the carbs I could find. However, I only put on 7lbs whilst pregnant and after giving birth was lighter than before I got pregnant!
I’m really excited to be an ambassador for The Athlete’s Palate in 2017.
I’m also in a free ebook from Monster Supplements called Kickstart 2015. It’s got some great recipes and inspirational ideas in it, so I recommend that you check it out.
Updated December 2016
Read more
If you’re interested in my posts about food, read these: http://fatgirltoironman.wordpress.com/category/nutrition/
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I recently adopted a more Paleo approach to eating, and cut out all sugar and wheat from my diet. I also eliminated vegetable oil and soy, and eat a lot more fat now: coconut oil, butter, ghee, grass-fed beef, eggs, bacon, avocado, full fat dairy. I went from getting runger all the time and eating 5-6 times a day to only 3 times a day and not dying of hunger all the time. I eat sweet potato, quinoa,Basmati rice, and butternut squash for carbs to help with long runs. I also have completely eliminated all sugar from my diet, including the paleo-friendly honey, maple syrup and agave syrup. I realise what I’m telling you will go against many things Weight Watchers stand for, but I’ve lost 8kg in about 8 weeks, and that’s with only running 3 days a week. If you want more info, check out my blog or tweet me 🙂
Thanks, Danielle. Your weightloss is amazing! I’m going to WW until my membership runs out, so only another 3 weeks. It worked for me once, but I think it was because I ate so little. It’s not the most helpful diet/healthy-eating-lifestyle change for someone who is vegetarian and quite active, in my opinion.
I’ve been using coconut oil recently, as I heard that it is better than other fats, and I’d love to cut sugar out of my diet, but don’t really know where to start. I can live without chocolate, but Granny Smith apples are essential at 10:30am! (I was also a secondary English teacher – for about a decade – and always had an apple at that time!) I’ll be having a good read of your blog tomorrow – thank you.
It’s difficult to know where to start: I’m trying to write posts about that to help people who are interested, as well as providing scientific information that will increase our understanding of the real reasons we gain weight. I also follow a blog called Sweet Sweat by Erin, who is an Ironman Triathlete that follows a low-carb, high-fat way of eating. To be honest, it’s one of the best choices I’ve ever made in terms of eating and my overall health. I’ve published some posts already on how I went sugar-free and low-carb, and will continue to do so because I think people should know about these things 🙂
Thanks, Danielle. I also follow Erin’s blog – what an amazing person 🙂 I’m trying to cut out all of the really bad stuff for a couple of weeks before doing anything too radical… so goodbye to cakes, sweets, biscuits and other naughty treats!
A modified ish Paleo diet has also worked a treat for me. I’m now pretty much completely refined sugar free and also gluten and dairy free. I’ve lost 35kgs in total, some with Slimming World but half of that with this way of eating. More than weight loss though it has had an awesome effect on my energy levels and thus performance in the gym. It’s fuelling for life!
Yes, I’ve definitely had to change my view of food to think about it as my fuel that will allow me to do the training that I want to do. As a vegetarian, I’d struggle with dairy-free, but I’m definitely working on how much sugar I consume.