What I eat in a day to lose weight/ lower carb + my most used recipes.

Hey guys,

I wanted to show you what I eat in a day currently to lose weight with some details about my general diet, outlook on cheat meals, my weekly food shop and some recipes of food that I make a lot.

My general diet:

• I don’t always eat food that is super clean/organic/ green/”made from the tears of unicorns”. I shop at normal, averagely priced UK supermarkets like Tesco’s and Morrison’s and I pick up the odd thing in health food stores.
• I try to eat a balanced diet and I keep it sustainable. The best diet is one that works for you and one you can stick to!
• I don’t have any rules with my diet but I am dairy and pork free. (This isn’t due to weight loss reasons, although it DEFINITELY helps me)
• I have 1-2 cheat meals a week depending on how hard I’ve trained.
• I try to stick to water and have 1 cup of tea each morning.
• I currently eat meat, eggs and fish but I also love plant based food. I don’t feel you should have to “pick” a side. For example: chronic meat eater or hardcore vegan.
• I’m currently trying a lower carb, higher fat diet, close to a “Medditerean” diet purely because I feel my 27 year old skin needs a bit of life! I have focused so much on carbs and protein the last few years that I have probably neglected my healthy fats.

(VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I have always easily lost weight on a high carb diet; in fact the smallest I’ve ever been was on a high carb diet so PLEASE don’t feel you have to cut carbs to lose weight. My carb intake is still pretty good and my calories are still the same, it’s the macro nutrient (carbs/protein/fat) ratio that has changed. The only reason I’m doing this is because it’s a new challenge but mainly because I have really suffered with bad skin the past year.

• So far I’ve lost 2lbs (1kg) I feel my face is so much less bloated, I feel mentally more alert even early in the morning and I feel my skin looks more glowing.

My current calories and macro’s to lose weight with a lower carb/ higher fat diet:

Calories: 1900 a day

Carbs: 162g (34%)       Protein: 114g (24%)        Fat: 89g (42%)

DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying this is the diet for you. I’m simply showing what I eat and what I am trying at the moment. These calories are right for me, my height, weight, activity level and overall lifestyle so please don’t copy my calories because it depends on some many different factors. I work mine out on IIFYM website and I used the “Lifesum” app to adjust the macro nutrient ratio to suit a more Mediterranean diet.

Breakfast: (A few options I choose from)

• Healthy fats protein smoothie:

250ml coconut milk, 50ml water, 1 heaped tablespoon of ground flaxseeds, 1 banana, 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder in a blender until smooth.

• 3 scrambled eggs, 1 400g tin of borlotti beans with 2 chicken or veggie sausages

• Red pepper and vegan feta cheese egg omelette (made with 3 eggs)
• Peanut or almond butter on toast
• Shakshuka (Meatless)

Lunch: (A few options I choose from)

• Mini pitta’s with hummus, sundried tomatoes and peppers in chilli olive oil and garlic. (The store “Boots” do a great version of this for lunch for the days I forgotten to lunch)
• Tuna, pepper and vegan feta cheese in wholemeal wrap with an additional snack like cashew nuts and dark chocolate
• Jacket potato with tuna mayo
• Chickpea curry with no rice (homemade from the night before)

Dinner:

I tend to have a mix of the following:

-Meat/meat subsititute: Cod loin, plaice, chicken, vegan chicken, veggie burgers topped with cheese

with: Eggs, butter beans or sweet potato chips

Veg: Carrots and broccoli, carrots and peas, or chopped garlic, onions, and peppers

(Cooked with olive oil)

Or:

• Naked burrito chicken bowl. (All the ingredients you use for a borrito but without a wrap and in a bowl instead 🙂

Snacks: (A few option I choose from, normally 1 or 2 a day)

A handful of cashew nuts or trail mix, dark chocolate, 2 boiled eggs, Turkey or chicken pieces, a protein shake, pitta with hummus, a handful of almonds, soy yogurt with honey or a bag of hippeas (they are my favourite crisps)

My view on cheat meals:

I would never encourage anyone to eat unhealthy fast food but all I can say is that it’s helped me to stay on track from the beginning. I have 1-2 a week and I try to have them soon after a heavy gym session or the night before I have an early hard session.

I have 1 or 2 sweet treats throughout the week also. I’ve still seen lots of progress with having treats in my diet to look forward to and it stops me from bingeing.

Recipes I use a lot:

• Post dinner chocolate oreo mug cake:

(Put all ingredients into a bowl to mix)

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons of stevia/sweetner, 3 tablespoons of almond milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract,  a 20p piece of chocolate chips, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder and 3 tablespoons of plain flour.

-Mix together and pour into a mug or little dish like the picture. Cook for 40 seconds in the microwave

-Once it’s cooked, spread a pea amount of either peanut butter/ nutella or vego spread (a vegan version of nutella) on top of the mug cake and place 1 oreo or oreo thin on top  🙂

• My sweet potato chips:

Recipe for 2 people: 2 large sweet potatoes, olive oil, chopped garlic, pink salt, black pepper, cajun seasoning.

-Preset oven for a medium to high heat.

-Wash potatoes and leave the skin on. Prepare a baking tray with 1 and half tablespoons of olive oil and put the chopped potatoes in there as you go to create space for chopping.

-Cut the potatoes in chip like shapes. and place in the tray.

-Chop 1 large garlic clove and dice into very fine pieces, scatter over chips, crack some pink salt and black pepper from a grinder over the chips along with 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning, mix all in together with your hands and place in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Spicy Borlotti beans:

Recipe: 1 400g can of borlotti beans (butter and cannelini beans also work really well) a drizzle of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of tomato puree, cracked pink salt and black pepper, 1 chopped garlic clove, 1 diced red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

-Chop and dice the garlic and red pepper

-Drain beans and put them in a pan along with the olive oil, chopped garlic and pepper.

-Mix in all other ingredients and cook on a low-medium heat for 5 minutes or longer but stir frequently so they don’t stick to the pan.

My typical food shop:

• Carbs: Lower carb seeded bread, borlotti beans, butter beans, chickpeas, black beans pasta, wholemeal wraps, pitta bread, sweet potatoes, baking potatoes,all fruit and veg
• Protein: Chicken, Turkey slices, Eggs, Cod, Plaice, Veggie burgers, chicken sausages, Frys Vegan chicken.
• Fats: Chia seeds, cashew nuts, coconut milk (the kind you drink), coconut milk (the kind of you use in curries) almonds, trial mix, 90% dark chocolate, olive oil, hummus.

Things I always like to have in my kitchen:

Frozen fruit and veg, lentils, chickpeas, coconut milk, an emergency granola or sugary cereal post leg workout, a variety of vegan cheeses, spaghetti, cans of chopped tomatoes and a meat substitute.

I hope you guys can see that although my diet is certainly better than a few years ago when I lived off takeaways, it’s still not perfect but it’s sustainable for me.

I absolutely LOVE reading/watching other peoples “What I eat in a day” blogs and videos so I hope you enjoyed this!

Lots of love

Danni x

(Instagram: @daniellapetersfit)