Doing It Myself - DIY Diet Chef (+veganism)

[memmarmite]

Greetings all...

I've just today started on my very own version of Diet Chef. I'd do the real thing but 1) I'm vegan and that limits my options somewhat, and 2) it's just cheaper like this.

My food intake for the day looks like this

Brekkie
-- 50g Treacle and Pecan granola with unsweetened soya milk

Lunch
-- Light minestrone soup

Snacks
-- Cocoa mint Nakd bar
-- Banana (which I baked in its skin, then split and served with 1tsp dark choc chips and 2tsp agave nectar)

For dinner I'm planning on having a Tesco Light Choices curry with a tonne of steamed broccoli on the side, and I'm planning on having a chocolate protein shake before bed.

The calorie counter on Fatsecret has my total calorie intake for the day down as 1374 - I'm aiming for 1500 max so this is great!

Does it look okay to you experienced Diet Chef-ers? I mean, does it pretty much measure up to what you'd get in the hampers?

 

[Khandi]

Hi Memmarmite

Kudos for doing DIY. Yeah DC isnt really option for vegans and at least this way you know exactly what you are eating.

Anyhoo i would say the best thing to do is to look on the diet chef website it lists the foods, ingrediants and nutritional value. That way you can do a proper comparison. Also do the diet profile so you know how many calories you are meant to have.

All the best with it

 

[memmarmite]

That's what I'm doing, I'm trying to keep it as close to the real Diet Chef plan as possible so I'm attempting to more-or-less match the calorie count and nutritional breakdown!

The profile tool on their website told me I ought to be aiming for 1500 cals daily. However, I'm not super active every day (I have a very active job that totally wipes me out) so I'm trying to be a bit sensible and only go for the upper limit of that when I'm actually doing more. Otherwise I'm tending to come in between 1200 and 1300.

I imagined I'd be hungry all the time and yeah, I am getting a grumbly tum a few times a day. You know what though? The only reason it didn't grumble so much before is because I was overeating all the time - I never really got to that hungry stage. Food is more satisfying this way - I feel better knowing it's fulfilling a physical need rather than just a craving.

I will be cheating a bit tomorrow but am aiming to keep it sensible.

 

[Khandi]

Sounds like you've got it all planned out and sorted. If you've compare the nutritional content then i am sure it will be fine.

We will get there

 

[hanloje]

Sounds good! good luck.

 

[Khandi]

Can i ask where you bought your granola from

 

[memmarmite]

Hi, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you! The original and treacle granolas are available from Tesco (though they do need weighing out). You can get all the different varieties from goodnessdirect.co.uk and Waitrose do a mango/macadamia one which rather handily fits the nutritional profile of the ones available on the Diet Chef website!

 

[memmarmite]

Checking in...

I've lost 8lb so far. This is AWESOME! It's getting easier and easier all the time. I'm using a calorie counter over at fatsecret.com which is taking the work out of figuring out what I can eat, it also means if I deviate from the diet I can keep track of it all and make sure I don't go too off the rails.

I am getting bad food cravings from time to time (am currently willing to commit bloody murder for a hash brown buttie) but it's manageable.

I'm trying to get a bit more exercise too. It's not easy when you're not motivated to do it but I'm trying to find fun activities (biggest is my obsession with geocaching - if ever you need a reason to go out walking, give it a try).

Hope you're all doing well!