Attempting a Healthier, Cleaner Lifestyle free from Refined Sugars :)

Hi guys

I haven't been on this website for so long! Last time I came on I think I was doing the Cambridge. Well, I've done a complete 360 and am now trying not to eat anything processed! I've been doing the 'clean eating' think for a while now, and honestly.. its AMAZING! I have been eating so so much, all gorgeous lovely food, and consistently losing weight each week without even feeling like I'm trying. I have just been trying to focus my diet around fruit (a sugar, I know, but a naturally occurring one which I will still have), vegetables, meat, grains, a tiny bit of dairy, nuts and seeds. No refined sugars

I also had a self-diagnosed chocolate addiction - I got to the point where I would eat 2,3,4 chocolate bars a day. Now I can honestly say that I hardly ever even think about chocolate! I just feel great. It is 100% true that sugar is an addiction, then once you let go of it, it's easier to maintain.

However.. (there's always a however, eh) I fell off the wagon last week. I had lots of events on, which led me to eat out 3 times last week, and I wasn't able to go to the gym. So instead of trying to eat healthy for all my other meals, I had the week off. Thought I would get back into it this week but that just hasn't started. So I thought I would start another little thread on here to mark down what I have been eating and how I'm feeling - hopefully that will get me back on track! I have definitely found that failing to prepare is preparing to fail! So with that in mind, I'm going to try and prepare for the following day the night before. So tomorrow's plan:

Breakfast - Fruit (up really early for work so won't want anything else)
Lunch - big salad with quinoa and roasted sweet potato.
Dinner - Either a big bowl of soup and clean bread, or some chicken and vegetables
Snacks - a boiled egg. celery sticks, some fruit, some homemade nakd bar

Trying to think of more snacks that don't contain as much sugar! Any suggestions are more than welcome and motivational thoughts also welcome, that's what I'm here for!

misswilma14 said:

Hi guys I haven't been on this website for so long! Last time I came on I think I was doing the Cambridge. Well, I've done a complete 360 and am now trying not to eat anything processed! I've been doing the 'clean eating' think for a while now, and honestly.. its AMAZING! I have been eating so so much, all gorgeous lovely food, and consistently losing weight each week without even feeling like I'm trying. I have just been trying to focus my diet around fruit (a sugar, I know, but a naturally occurring one which I will still have), vegetables, meat, grains, a tiny bit of dairy, nuts and seeds. No refined sugars I also had a self-diagnosed chocolate addiction - I got to the point where I would eat 2,3,4 chocolate bars a day. Now I can honestly say that I hardly ever even think about chocolate! I just feel great. It is 100% true that sugar is an addiction, then once you let go of it, it's easier to maintain. However.. (there's always a however, eh) I fell off the wagon last week. I had lots of events on, which led me to eat out 3 times last week, and I wasn't able to go to the gym. So instead of trying to eat healthy for all my other meals, I had the week off. Thought I would get back into it this week but that just hasn't started. So I thought I would start another little thread on here to mark down what I have been eating and how I'm feeling - hopefully that will get me back on track! I have definitely found that failing to prepare is preparing to fail! So with that in mind, I'm going to try and prepare for the following day the night before. So tomorrow's plan: Breakfast - Fruit (up really early for work so won't want anything else) Lunch - big salad with quinoa and roasted sweet potato. Dinner - Either a big bowl of soup and clean bread, or some chicken and vegetables Snacks - a boiled egg. celery sticks, some fruit, some homemade nakd bar Trying to think of more snacks that don't contain as much sugar! Any suggestions are more than welcome and motivational thoughts also welcome, that's what I'm here for!

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Hi miss wilma

You're basically me!! I abstain from sugar most of the time - absolute outright ban but my god when I decide to have some the floodgates open!

My diet 5/6 days a week is all around eating clean, I don't even really have fruit during the week or it can trigger sugar cravings.

Some of the low calorie, low carb snacks I really like are:

- Raw veg platter: half a pepper (anything but green, yak), 7 cherry tomatoes, small handful of sugar snaps and 4 florets of broccoli cooked and with a spoonful of mint sauce on - around 120 cals and exactly 4 of your 5 a day

- M&S or tescos extra light cream cheese. It's 1 calorie a gram so a quarter of a tub is only 50 cals and its amaZing how far that goes on crackers / ryvita etc (I have to be careful though as crackers can trigger cravings in me)

- 50g fresh raspberries, couple spoons of unsweetened Greek yoghurt, boots shapers jelly and raspberries and a few raisins - 75 cals and its a delicious dessert

- a lot of the girls on the 5:2 mix a spoonful of jam with some quark and spread on crisp breads or crumble in half a meringue

- any protein shake or e.g slim fast shake made with unsweetened almond milk and 50g raspberries is about 140cals and very filling and can give you a nice sweet hit. I go for vanilla protein powder rather than slim fast powder mostly

- egg fried rice made with grated cauliflower

- home made hash brown baskets with egg cracked in and baked - 120 cals for 1 and they are incredible

- egg whites are your friend. Incredibly low in cals, filling and can be flavoured up with stuff

- not very clean but diet tango for 10 cals has saved me many a day!

- weight watchers tuna and Mayo ribs for 75 cals

Just a few ideas for you but they're my staples

Blondcat said:

Hi miss wilma

You're basically me!! I abstain from sugar most of the time - absolute outright ban but my god when I decide to have some the floodgates open!

My diet 5/6 days a week is all around eating clean, I don't even really have fruit during the week or it can trigger sugar cravings.

Some of the low calorie, low carb snacks I really like are:

- Raw veg platter: half a pepper (anything but green, yak), 7 cherry tomatoes, small handful of sugar snaps and 4 florets of broccoli cooked and with a spoonful of mint sauce on - around 120 cals and exactly 4 of your 5 a day

- M&S or tescos extra light cream cheese. It's 1 calorie a gram so a quarter of a tub is only 50 cals and its amaZing how far that goes on crackers / ryvita etc (I have to be careful though as crackers can trigger cravings in me)

- 50g fresh raspberries, couple spoons of unsweetened Greek yoghurt, boots shapers jelly and raspberries and a few raisins - 75 cals and its a delicious dessert

- a lot of the girls on the 5:2 mix a spoonful of jam with some quark and spread on crisp breads or crumble in half a meringue

- any protein shake or e.g slim fast shake made with unsweetened almond milk and 50g raspberries is about 140cals and very filling and can give you a nice sweet hit. I go for vanilla protein powder rather than slim fast powder mostly

- egg fried rice made with grated cauliflower

- home made hash brown baskets with egg cracked in and baked - 120 cals for 1 and they are incredible

- egg whites are your friend. Incredibly low in cals, filling and can be flavoured up with stuff

- not very clean but diet tango for 10 cals has saved me many a day!

- weight watchers tuna and Mayo ribs for 75 cals

Just a few ideas for you but they're my staples

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Thanks for the advice Blondcat! I love cauliflower rice, so versatile i sometimes even eat it on it's own or with some frozen peas! What are hash brown baskets.. they sound amazing ! And what I like about most of the snacks you've said is that I can take them to work with me, bonus have a lovely day xx

misswilma14 said:

Thanks for the advice Blondcat! I love cauliflower rice, so versatile i sometimes even eat it on it's own or with some frozen peas! What are hash brown baskets.. they sound amazing ! And what I like about most of the snacks you've said is that I can take them to work with me, bonus have a lovely day xx

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I live at my desk so always thinking of things I can take to work!! Haha

Bake a potato - I weigh mine so it equals 150 cals - it's a smallish / medium size. Back it in the oven or cook in microwave as if you were doing a jacket potato. Don't over cook it - it should just be cooked through. Cut in half and try and scoop out the flesh in as larger piece as possible and grate into a bowl. Add a spoonful of melted butter, salt and pepper to taste and mix gently with your hands. Spray a muffin or cake tin with low cal oil and then but the potato mix into the mould shaping it round so it's a basket shape. Back for as many mins as it takes for it to go a light golden brown and be crisped up. Crack the egg in and bake for another 10-15 mins until white set. I normally have enough spud for 3.

Blondcat said:

I live at my desk so always thinking of things I can take to work!! Haha

Bake a potato - I weigh mine so it equals 150 cals - it's a smallish / medium size. Back it in the oven or cook in microwave as if you were doing a jacket potato. Don't over cook it - it should just be cooked through. Cut in half and try and scoop out the flesh in as larger piece as possible and grate into a bowl. Add a spoonful of melted butter, salt and pepper to taste and mix gently with your hands. Spray a muffin or cake tin with low cal oil and then but the potato mix into the mould shaping it round so it's a basket shape. Back for as many mins as it takes for it to go a light golden brown and be crisped up. Crack the egg in and bake for another 10-15 mins until white set. I normally have enough spud for 3.



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That sounds lovely, I must give that a go! Thanks

Today went well.. first day in a while I've not had any chocolate at all

Breakfast - banana
Snacks - pear, 2 boiled eggs
Lunch - quinoa salad with lettuce, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, red pepper and seeds
Snacks - 2 homemade Nakd bars, plum, gluten-free granola bar (not fully clean but a better choice)

I didn't end up having any dinner as I had lunch late and snacked all through the day. A bit of a bad habit to get into, but really wasn't hungry around dinner time so not going to make myself eat if I'm not hungry. I've drank 1.5 litres of water as well, which although isn't great, is a bit of a personal best for me! Going to try and get another .5 in before I go to sleep.

As you might have noticed, I haven't put the calories down of anything I eat. I have no idea how many calories I eat! But just like to focus on healthy, whole foods. My reasoning is that if I'm putting the right foods in my body, my body will let me know if I'm over/undereating. It's worked in the past!

Talking about the past, I've realised that I haven't really mentioned my journey to cleaner eating. I started about 6 weeks ago, trying to cut out all processed foods, and all refined sugars. It's crazy how many things have refined sugar in, and how many different names it's disguised as. Corn syrup, fructose, florida crystals (?!) the list goes on. So I started, and actually didn't find it overly hard. I found that I pretty much immediately felt the benefit of reduced cravings for foods - it's true that the less you eat of it, the less you crave it. And I had good weight loss! I didn't really feel it at first, but after abut 3-4 weeks I really saw it. Then I hit a massive wall. I got bored, and lazy. Had a few lapses. Then couldn't really get back onto it properly. I then went on holiday, eat out most nights, no exercise, and actually felt awful for it! My stomach felt so bloated, it physically hurt. So thats the point at which I came on here - to regain momentum and get back to it.

I feel like today has gone well! Here's to tomorrow

I would say I eat clean 80% of the time and it feels good. Like you I find it shocking the hidden sugar in things - microwave meals irritates me as when I've been sugar free for a few days (inc fruit) if you have a microwave meal you taste every bit of sugar and it triggers your cravings again! Insane!

I think if you're not greedy no need to count calories. Granola bars are generally very high in cals but it's all about balance and moderation.

I think you're doing really well!

Thanks Blondcat - I really appreciate the support!

Today's going well. I had a big omelette for breakfast with spinach, asparagus and mushrooms (one egg two whites) and some homemade red pepper, jalapeño and paprika humus. Then later on I had four organic buckwheat super-seeds corn cakes topped with more humus and extra pumpkin seeds.
I'm going to the gym for the first time in a while tonight. And to be perfectly honest reaaaaally don't want to go. Think part of me is nervous and part of me is just lazy! But will force myself to. Then not sure for dinner - maybe soup?

Just been looking online at this website called Muscle Food. I've bought from them before and they're great! they sell bulk-bought meats, same-ish price as the shops but organic, bigger and way better quality! 5k of chicken has lasted me months. They also sell the Ezekiel range of breads made out of sprouted grains. I have been yet to find a shop that sells them in the UK! So really want to try out their bread and tortilla wraps. Also that site does 'meaty snacks' with no sugar etc in. Beef jerky I think but I've never tried it. Might be a good, low carb, high protein, not-full-of-sh*t snack

Here to subscribe :3!

x

What a weekend.. and it's only Saturday! Thursday went pretty much as planned. I didn't end up going to the gym but did have soup and a piece of bread for dinner, so a good day food-wise. Friday wasn't so good - I ended up eating three all natural cereal bars! I can't get them again, they just taste sooo nice. But they are definitely a trigger for me. Lesson learnt. Other than that my Friday was good food-wise. I did see friends and had some beers with them, however I don't count alcohol in my plan. I know, it's not healthy or clean but that's one thing that I will not deprive myself of. I didn't actually drink a lot, less than I normally would, but that was out of choice rather than restricting. I had a really good time as well! And kind of made up for it today - all I've eaten is one dark chocolate biscuit, a bowl of cheese kale crisps cooked in coconut oil and one corn cake with a bit of left over cheese. So not exactly clean/healthy, but I'm back on track now.
I also got a box of chocolates from a friend, and haven't opened them yet, although I really want to. I'm yo-yoing in my mind about what to do with them! I'm thinking that I might as well open them now, as my diet hasn't been 100% today, so might as well have some. But then if I did that I wouldn't eat them all tonight, so they would be open tomorrow, which would probably be a trigger to have a bad day tomorrow as well. So as tempting as they are, I'm going to put them downstairs out of sight and give them to my boyfriend when I see him tomorrow. And I actually see that as a bit of success
Looking forward to getting back into the healthy eating properly tomorrow!

Wow! you sound like you're in such a good place Im a choco-holic and it is definitely a problem when there's chocolate in the house and no matter what i say to myself one or two a day just doesn't happen and I end up eating the whole thing in one go. Great idea to re-gift them.

I'm exactly the same Jen! If they're open, they're gone, so its really not worth it. I also know that the less sugar I eat, the less I will crave it, and having not eaten much refined sugar in the last couple of days I don't want to ruin my winning streak

Today was gooooood!
Breakfast - bio-live strawberry yogurt with toasted buckwheat muesli and berries
Lunch - 4 ryvita, 2 sticks of celery, hummus
Snack - 2 boiled eggs, Nakd bar, more homemade Nakd bars (more like granola really as they were really crumbly!)
Tea - Pan-fried 'battered' lemon chicken with asparagus and green pepper - This was lovely, and something I'd never made before! I made it by bashing the chicken so it was thinner, then covering it with wholemeal fine flour and a pinch of salt, pepper and rosemary. Pan-fried in olive oil (forgot I had coconut oil in, duh!), with a sueese of lemon, then also pan-fried the pepper and asparagus in the same lemon/oil with slices of lemon, and a sprinkle of peri-peri flakes for a bit of a kick. It didn't look overly appetising if I'm honest, so I actually got the reduced fat mayo out - but then didn't even use it as the lemon flavour was so nice. Not overpowering but enough for some proper flavour.

Although I'm proper stuffed now. My belly has grown lots, food baby! I wasn't actually even that hungry but knew I'd be hungry by later so ate then. Half regretting it now. It's weigh in tomorrow and I haven't weighed for 2 weeks. The last time I weight 10.4 but between then I went on holiday and had 5/6 days of total chaos in the eating department, then every day since (apart from today and yesterday really) I've not been 100% on track. So nervous to say the least. Hopefully I'm not over 10.7 - I'll be upset if I am, as I don't ever want to be over that weight again. But whatever it is, I'll keep my chin up and keep going. I'm starting properly back at the gym next week, classes all already booked and ready to go. Fingers crossed

Also forgot to say - I drinks 2l of water today. My goal is 3, but i'll take 2 for today.. it's the most water I've drank in ages! Need to focus on drinking consistently all day as I usually forget then don't want to drink any in the evening so I'm not up all night peeing! So in the mornings I'll try and drink 0.5 with my breakfast and take it from there

And the weigh in.. 1lb on! So I now stand at 10.5, which I am more than happy about. I put that on in two weeks, the first of which was my holiday when I ate curry, chips, chocolate, Chinese and a loooooot of birthday cake! I came back off my hols and just couldn't really get back into it. But here we are, and I feel better for it. That 1lb will be off by next week

Today's been good in the eating department.
B - 2 egg 1 white (dropped an extra yolk by accident haha!), pepper, mushroom and spinach, with a big dollop of homemade hummus
S - 2 plums, handful of almonds
L - quinoa salad with lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot, pepper and seeds
D/S - I didn't really have dinner as I snacked lots during the afternoon, and I was going to the gym in the evening so didn't really want to eat a big meal before or after. I had a handful of prunes, a banana, couple of raisins, a Nakd bar, 4 squares of 70% dark chocolate, then a homemade granola bar after the gym

Not ideal, but not bad either. I think for next week I'll just have to work on incorporating lower sugar snacks, such as boiled eggs and ryvita with hummus/avacado. I also made these lovely homemade granola bars today. I found the recipe on Deliciously Ella's webiste - I just love her! Her recipes have really changed the way I look at food, and I have come to realise that I don't have to have refined sugar to have tasty food! These granola bars are made out of porridge oats, dates, water, raisins, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and coconut oil - so wholesome and ready to go whenever I'm rushing out the house or need an afternoon pick-me-up. I've made a couple of her other recipes before (raw vegan brownies are amazing!) and my housemate, who is the queen of all things health related, has made tonnes of her recipes and they always turn out really nice.

I went back to the gym today! First time in a while, and it felt good. Well, it did afterwards. I did a weights session, as I want to tone up and build muscle as well as losing fat. So really need to start taking photos/measurements instead of weighing myself, as muscle weighs more than fat! So have decided to try and do 2 weights sessions a week, and 2 cardio sessions a week. Will tweak accordingly.

Also, I haven't had enough water today - not even 2l which is bad! But we try again tomorrow.. Always room for improvement

Good day again! Although I was aching massively from the gym.. a good sign I suppose

B - Rachels biolive organic strawberry yogurt with buckwheat granola and berries
S - handful of almonds
L - quinoa salad with lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, celery, beetroot and avocado
S - one pear, handful of almonds, 2 chia and oat crisp breads with hummus, one granola bar
D - homemade cauliflower crust pizza topped with tomato puree, spinach, cheese (a bit tooooo much!), oven baked ham slices (no sugar added) and pineapple

Absolutely stuffed after today! Was more hungry than usual, hopefully my metabolism has sped up a little after weights yesterday. But god do I ache! Then thought it was a good idea to go to spinning again tonight.. Well, it wasn't. It killed me, and I really didn't get what I should out of it as my legs were hurting so much. Rest day tomorrow then going to go back to the gym thursday, and hopefully the fatigue will have gone by next week. Serves me right for having 2 weeks off the gym!

My only other rant of the day.. I don't care what anyone says, eating a healthy, clean, varied diet is expensive. There is no two ways around it! This week I spent £40 on my food shopping, an that's only for one person. It will probably last me longer than a week, more like 2 weeks, but still! Its frustrating when I know I could just live off cheap white pasta and toast and only spend about £10 max a week. But I could never go back to that student way of living, it just seems disgusting to me. How was I not ill all the time! I must admit I am a slight snob, as I tend not to get my fruit and veg (which is the main part of my shopping) from aldi/lidl. I know it's cheap but the quality for a lot of things (apples, lettuce etc) just isn't very good. I'd rather spend a little more and have stuff that will last longer than a few days without going bad. So a bit of a hypocritical rant really

Posting now as I won't have time later. Today's been ok so far:
B - homemade granola bar and a banana
S - two plums, one nectarine
L - salad with sweet potato, lettuce, pepper, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, seeds
S - 6 squares of dark chocolate, one energy ball, 3 handfuls of raisins (I know dried fruit really isn't good for you but just really wanted something nice and they did the trick.. so went back for more)

I haven't had dinner yet but I'm going out to Nandos for it. I went on the website before to look at the calories - I know I'm a bit against counting calories, as I just want wholesome food, but I literally have no idea what goes into Nandos and there will be sugar and salt everywhere, so for this I'm looking at the cals. I was shocked to see that the Avacado and Green Bean salad with chicken comes out at less calories as the Butterfly chicken and ratatouille! Or roughly the same as butterfly chicken with peas and a side salad! I know the avocado will be high with all the good fats, but I can't see that they give you more than half an avocado, so not sure where all the extra calories come from! But I know I'm going to be making the best choice for my healthy living - not exactly clean, but nowhere near as bad as my old chicken wrap with cheese and double chilli jam with peri chips and garlic bread!

Another quite successful day Been more of a make-do day regarding eating but think that's ok.
B - Omelette (1 egg 2 whites) with oven baked ham, mushrooms, feta cheese and hummus
S - LOTS of cranberry and coconut mini crispbreads (not buying them again) two plums, handful of raisins, two squares homemade raw chocolate (I didn't make it), crispy seaweed (from health food shop, but wasn't that great) and a organic cacao fridge cupcake.

So actually today hasn't been good at all! Everything (apart from crispbreads) is pretty clean and whole, but I've not really eaten enough and it's mostly been high sugar snacks. I haven't had nearly enough water today either. Really need to get my act together tomorrow! I know why today's been like this - I woke up late so had brunch instead of two meals, then went to the gym later in the evening so didn't really want to eat just before bed. I think a good hearty breakfast will be the key tomorrow, and a nice big dinner. I made mushroom and chickpea stew today so that will be nice with some courgetti and/or mangetout. And maybe a little piece of Cranks bread . I do feel really good today though. Feel like I'm really happy with myself and my life at the minute, so long may this last

Quick post as its late - needed to account for how much I've eaten today!

B - Omelette (1 egg 2 whites) with pepper, spinach and mushrooms, side of half a sweet potato and some homemade hummus (roasted red pepper, jalapeño and paprika)
S - 2 plums, 1 homemade granola bar
L - 2 chia and oat crisp breads and 2 stalks of celery with hummus
D - Massive bowl of mushroom and chickpea stew with courgetti
S - 2 homemade raw chilli chocolate brownies

Lots of food today! And I've been stuffed all day. Not enough water though.
I do keep getting panicked that I'm eating too much, and today I ate lunch even though I wasn't hungry which I didn't really like. But need to learn that a little extra food now and again is not going to hurt my healthy lifestyle, especially when it's all good foods. I need to keep remembering that I don't need to lose any more weight really - I would love to be in the 9st's but not sure if it would look good on me, I like my curves - I need to focus on fuelling my body properly. But that's not an excuse to eat millions whenever I want!

On another note, I have decided to have a 'cheat day' on Sunday. It's Easter, and I really want an egg! My favourite chocolate of the whole year. So as this is a lifestyle change, not a diet, I have decided not to restrict myself and allow myself an egg, and potentially one 'cheat' meal the evening before as I'm spending it with my boyfriend. This is not a pass to go all out and eat anything I want during that time, but just make planned choices and stick to them. I think as it's the day before my weigh in as well I will be less likely to binge and go mad. She says..

Meaning to subscribe for ages!

You have such a great mindset!! I need to adopt a lot of your principles!! I can't wait to get home and eat healthy again (although I am enjoying my holiday) - I've eaten and drunk so much rubbish!!

Enjoy your chocolate egg - there's absolutely no harm in having it at all, especially with your great positive attitude!!

Thanks elsbels, although I have been off the wagon for the past few days. Tomorrow is positive again though hopefully!

So yeh, I've been off the wagon. It started Saturday. I had really been wanting chocolate all day, and because it was Easter the next day, I kind of fell into the mindset of 'well I'm going to have chocolate tomorrow so I might as well have it now'. And ended up in a full on binge. I mean like over 1500 calories within the space of half an hour. I just went mad, to the point where the chocolate didn't even taste nice anymore I was just eating for the sake of it. Then later on I ended up getting one of those ready meal dine for £10 things, which was lovely, but a massive portion and desert. And lots of wine and some more chocolate. I felt awful the next day (Sunday), but decided to get back on track and start things right. I had breakfast, all good. Then just felt psychologically sh*t again. Decided that I really wanted bagels for dinner, with lots of cheese and ham and crisps. And a whole Easter egg. So I spent the day sitting in bed, watching rubbish tv, eating. And again, it got to the point where it didn't even taste that nice. I felt so sick, and my stomach hurt so much. But I just wanted to keep eating, it was horrible, I felt like I couldn't control myself. But again, thought that it would be a new day tomorrow. I planned to skip breakfast (I wasn't hungry anyway) and drink loads of water, then just eat when I felt hungry. That was fine, ate a salad about 12.30. But then I, again, couldn't stop thinking about food. So much that I dropped everything and rushed over to the supermarket before it closed early (bank holiday) just so I could buy loads of crappy food again. So I consumed well over 2000 calories tonight just in chocolate, then also had dinner. I feel sick, fat, ashamed, embarrassed, disappointed.

But the difference is, I'm accounting for it on here. The last few nights when I've talked myself into 'starting again tomorrow' I think I knew in the back of my mind that I could eat whatever I wanted to really. Nobody would know. I could secretly eat, hide the evidence. But that's just cheating myself. I am proud of myself for having a good 2 weeks binge free, and am not going to let this weekend stop me any further! So I have made a challenge for myself. The rest of April will be no binging. I'm not saying I'm going to be perfect, I want to be eating clean 80% of the time. But absolutely no binging - if I can get through this 4 weeks, I'll be on the right track. Apparently your body 'sheds' its skin and rejuvenates every 30 days - you literally are what you eat. I want my body to be radiant and healthy, not lethargic and struggling. My next big goal is to look good when I finish my final exams and go out - thats the 28th May. Plus, I know if I get my eating habits sorted, my mindset will be right to tackle these last few important exams.

So.. wish me luck!

Oh my god!! If you knew how much chocolate I've eaten and beer I've drunk you wouldn't be concerned that much!! I actually can't wait to get home so I can eat healthily again!!

Your completely right though - having a diary makes you accountable - not necessarily to the people reading but to yourself, because if you're anything like me, writing about how bad you've been and knowing others are getting to hear about it can inspire you to get it together!!

Well done for being so honest. You can read back in future and remind yourself how awful you felt physically so when the urge arises to binge you'll know that you won't enjoy it as much as you think you will! Good luck with getting back on track.