My Diet

Firstly I'd just like to state that this worked for me but I am no nutritionist nor do I think I have the most optimum diet I could get. So feel free to take what you will from it.

My usual diet pre-freeletics consisted of porridge for breakfast, some form of sandwich for lunch and for tea, anything goes. Usually something partly healthy though and a few pieces of fruit throughout the day. A Typical day is like this: http://digitalunity.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-days-meals.html

However, I am an absolute sod for finding good excuses to eat other things, such as on a Thursday when I go shooting in the evening with a friend. I'll justify buying a packet of three eccles cakes, convincing myself that i will only have one. Yet by the time I am home I have eaten all three. So partly a secret eater too!

During the 15 weeks training it has been, for me, all about gaining muscle whilst loosing fat. I decided the best way to formulate healthy eating was to get the basics right first.

If you want to see a typical day you can skip straight to it here.

The basics

Portion size

It's amazing how big crockery sets have become, my mum has said for years "change the size of your plates" and then I read somewhere that years ago plates used to be far smaller. So we threw the old set out and got a set of china plates, bowls etc new from ebay. Instantly I can see the difference, the old bowl used to hold nearly 5 times as much. Now the new breakfast bowls fill me up just as much but only a 5th of the amount. Same goes for the plates, Sunday is treat breakfast for me, 2 slices of wholemeal bread, 6 slices of bacon and 3 burford brown eggs (try them, they are beautiful). On the old plates they would take half the plate up. This time though, the plate is full to the edges.

So it just goes to show how easy it is to get misled simply by the size of your plates and bowls.

Snacks

Had to get rid of all the stuff which would usually be an instant diet killer, just until I got in the swing of things.
White Bread
Muffins
Nutella and Crumpets
Chocolate
Haribo sour mix

Water / Tea

Your body needs water, a lot more than you might think. I currently drink 3 liters as a minimum per day. Not only will it keep you hydrated but it helps to keep you alert and fends off hunger. The best way to consume water is constantly through the day, do not wait until you feel thirsty as that is a sign of dehydration. Try and keep having some, even if it's a good couple of mouthfuls every half hour or so.

If you are anything like I was then it also means more trips to the toilet at first, but that dies down, or at least did for me!

I also swapped normal tea (I love good strong Yorkshire tea, like you could stand your spoon in it) I swapped that for green tea during the day and chamomile tea in the evening as that seems to do the trick for me getting me to sleep easier.

Apart from the photo shoot weekend I haven't had a drop of alcohol either.

Eating times

There's the age old saying that you shouldn't skip breakfast and that is quite true, it kickstarts your day. I also spaced my meals out making sure that breakfast was first thing after getting ready and letting the dogs out (6:30am for me), lunch is now set in my calendar to remind me at 1pm every day and finally tea which is never later than 7pm. Ideally I would like it earlier but sometimes work does not permit.

Then there's the snacks too, but wait.... I just got rid of them! Not that type of snack, something far more healthy and for good reason. Eating more often boots your metabolism and provides a more constant and even source of nutrients to the body. So I have smaller meals and some snacks in-between  usually brunch at 10am and afternoon tea at 3pm.

So now we have all the basics down, what about what I have been shovelling down me during the 15 weeks training. For me it was all about piling the muscle on and reducing the fat, so I ended up going down the high protein route.

My Diet

Breakfast

Thanks to paul from paulfightscancer.co.uk I looked further into my usual breakfast which was porridge with a big spoon of sugar made with hot water. Which I soon swapped out for eggs, 1/2 tin beans and 4 good sized mushrooms. Packed with protein, less carbs and just as warming. Fair enough it takes me a few mins longer to make but I do love poached eggs!

If I am in a massive rush or really don't feel like eating in a morning then I generally have porridge with a good couple of pinches of nutmeg and a teaspoon of maple syrup and a teaspoon of sugar made really stodgy with water and then a tablespoon of milk to water it down. By which time it is lovely and creamy and tastes great.

Snacks

I could eat snacks all day long which is why I guess I drink so much water! I started to stock up on some nuts and berries for one type of snack and some houmous and celery for another. If I fancy something sweet I reach for an ol favourite of mums and as strange as this sounds it does taste great.
Ryvita with a thin layer of jam (just enough to go into the holes) and a good heaped tablespoon of cottage cheese. Again, it is packed with protein and with the sweetness of the jam it satisfies that sugary craving when I fancy something sweet.
Finally merangues made with sweetner, no surprise, packed with protein and very sweet to taste. This is the only really sugary thing I have during a day and I probably have a couple each week along with a low fat yoghurt.

Lunch / Dinner

Now this isn't an easy one for some as it comes in the middle of a work day. So I like to go simple and easy by either having a mackrel fillet or some tuna in spring water mixed into a salad. A good source of Omega 3 for the ol joints. Either that or if I have time to cook I will get one chicken breast, butterfly it, dry fry it and drizzle some soy sauce on just before it finishes and eat as is. Or if it's a particulary busy day exercise wise I will put it in a slice of seeded batch loaf and a little bit of grated cheese.

Another light dinner I love which is pretty quick is salmon and broccli. Sliced salmon from any good shop and some broccli, pref the long stemmed purple type but standard is good. Boil or steam so they are still a little crunchy and then whip them onto a dry cloth and into a bowl, drizzle with honey while hot and some balsamic glaze and then top with sesame seeds and finally mix in a good handful of sliced salmon straight from the packet.

Tea

Tea comes in a multitude of forms, my favorite at the moment has to be bolognaise but without the pasta. 500g of lean beef and a couple of ground cloves of garlic in one pan and another pan sweating down some peppers, onions and mushrooms. When both have cooked, slap them into the one pan, add in 1/4 pint of beef stock, 100g passata, 1 tin diced tomatoes and then do what you will with the sauce. Personally I season it with salt and pepper, tobasco sauce, worcester sauce, mushroom sauce and some thyme from the garden. Let it reduce down until it is like a thick stew and serve that up for a tasty tea.

So to sum up, eat often, eat little and eat healthy. It all adds up to a great way of living.

Nutrition is a vast subject which I mearly scrape at the surface, for those wanting to look further into the right amounts of nutrients and how each of my meals are made up, I use a protein/carb/fat macro of 50/45/5 at the moment and if pushed will settle on 100 grams of carbs per day. Yes I know you need carbs to build muscle but I only do this for a short period of time before going back to the usual macros when exercising.

My last point on the matter.... do I cheat? Hell yes! For me it has to be enjoyable so a cheat day here and there is a must, even if it is to shock my system. Next weekend will be beer and a madras with the neighbours.