Eat more protein to help lose weight and tone

I was once a vegetarian and plumped up a little! Lol now I know why, eating protein burns fat as it takes longer for our body to process. This is why Atkins and south beach diet work so well for most people....but not for pcos women! High in saturated fat it can course our bodies to keep storing it.

If you serve yourself a larger portion of lean, low fat protein in every meal and eat protein snacks, you will be looking trim much faster.
Tell yourself 'I am not on a diet!'
'i am eating healthy to become me again'

Right this is what you can do to prepare to start right away:
1. Throw out any carby high sat fat snacks.
2. Write yourself a shopping list with only your healthy foods and drinks
3. Shop and plan your meals for the week
4. Exercise at least 3 times a wk 30mins plus.
5. treat yourself in other ways, trip to the beauty salon or spa, shopping mall trip with friends or Luxurious beauty products.
4. Weigh and measure yourself weekly.

Lean protein choices:
Low fat turkey breast or mince
Chicken breast
Salmon
Tuna
White fish
Seafood sticks
Fat free yogurt and fromage fraise
Extra light Philly
Extra light laughing cow triangles
Prawns
Eggs
Low fat turkey ham
Skimmed milk
Turkey sausage
Tofu
Whey protein (maxitone)

Portions on a plate 40% Protein, 40% veg and 20% carbs.

Carbs such as sweet potato, rice, wholewheat pasta and wholemeal bread, known as low GI are best choices.

Sample menu

Breakfast
Poached egg and turkey bacon on a wholemeal slice of bread

Am snack
Fat free yogurt and 3 brazil nuts

Lunch
Big Chicken salad with fat free dressing

Pm snack
4 seafood sticks and celery dipped in a mini tub of extra light Philly or protein shake (maxitone) prior to exercise.

Dinner
Turkey mince chilli with aubergine, courgettes, onion and pepper and 2 table spoons of brown rice.

Snack
Cottage cheese with pineapple

This should fill you up if your still hungry a good thing to have prepared is sugar free jelly/jello in the fridge. I rotate my flavours raspberry, lime, orange etc you won't get bored of it then.

Try to see how your body changes by making these adjustments.

Big no no's!
Roast White potatoes, chips etc. Potato is like a sponge and soaks up all the fat! You can roast sweet potato in 1 cal spray olive oil with herbs or cut them into chips.
Cheese, too high in saturated fat for pcos women, stick to extra light Philly. You will thank me for it if you eat hard cheese daily, your skin will become clear and your waistline smaller just for cutting this product out of your diet.
Pork sausages omg the amount of saturated fat in one sausage is more than a pcos women should have in a day! I only ate the odd grilled sausage for a cooked breakfast, but my dietitian Told me to cut them out completely! I now eat turkey or veggi sausages if I fancy a grilled breakfast, such a big difference in the amount of fat and calories.

I hope this helps you like it has me. I wish I knew all about pcos and food long ago!

Good luck :)

Every little helps! Exercise and diet blog

I ve not been able to be very active due to my back injury.....however I am loosing the weight I ve regained very gradually! :)

Physio have given me a plan to strengthen my back- breast stroke lengths(20) x3 a week, and a physio run core strength class x2 a wk. So even low impact exercise is helping :) I ve been recording my food and drink intake and keeping my sat fat low and calories under 1200 a day. I am loosing about 0.5-0.75 lb a week, which is not as much as what I was loosing when doing more high impact long workouts and the maxitone eating plan, but it shows you can loose weight when your injured or unwell with pcos...... Don't ever give up!

I am also feeling better for exercising again, swimming is great but warning- you feel hungry and tired after! I always do, think the clorine also has something to do with that. So be careful if you suffer from pcos cravings! The smell of chips in the cafe as you come out of the pool can be tormenting lol I have something ready at home that's healthy. Tip - what's your favourite healthy meal? Have that prepared so you look forward to eating it after your swim and avoid grabbing unhealthy processed food for quickness.






I don't have much time being a working mum to make snacks and meals as I am hungry..... So I get organised and plan my snacks and meals ahead, preparing them at times when my little one is asleep. If I pack a lunch and snacks for work I find I am eating what I should and don't find myself hungry. If I don't take my food to work, I get hungry and grab packets of food from the tuck shop and buy a lunch seems to look healthy but is higher calorie and sat fat than if I made it myself at home!

On the right road to weight loss...... Target 10lbs to go and 2inches to loose off my waist! Not too far to go now, and I can do it!

It is all worth it :)
K x

Yay weight loss :) Postnatal with pcos

Well I am thrilled, I have lost another half a pound! 1 inch from my tummy too :) This is great as I struggle to loose when my PCOS symptoms are bad, like they currently are :) I am going in the right direction, slowly but healthy. . . . still have lots of weight to loose and need to tone up after having my baby! 1 Stone to go! Can I do it?

I have a scan this week to look at my ovarian cysts, I wonder how many there are this time and the size! Hope they are tiny ones.

I have done so much walking as well as the gym. . . it makes you feel really good

OMG it has been far too long!

Well.....so much has happened:
I ve been pregnant again after fertility treatment, lost twins :(
and then a miracle happened, I fell pregnant again after 2 weeks with no treatment :) and now I ve had a baby boy! He is now 3 months old.
There is light at the end of the long tunnel for those like me with servere PCOD and recurrent miscarriages. I love being a mummy, my boy is just so perfect!

I was lucky while pregnant my symptoms of PCOD went away (just for the pregnancy now back again)and I stayed a nice size and only gained a bump and baby weight :) i just loved being pregnant.

Now I am trying to loose weight and inches as my new short term goal, then longer term I really want to tone back up and maintain a great figure. Also I need to get fit again almost a year with NO exercise, due to pregnancy complications.

So far I have cut out the junk foods, introduced fat burning foods and started back exercising 2-3 times a wk: Yoga, Swimming and last week swapped swimming for the gym and Zumba to step it up! I am taking things gradually to prepare for the hardcore diet and exercise plan! I ve been weighing and measuring myself and I lost a little at first. I MUST now start the next phase!

If you have not exercised for a long time and not eaten as healthy as you should, it really is best to ease into things to prep yourself before starting any hardcore slimming plans! Reasons:
- your more likely to suceed. Many people I know give up as it is too hard for them to stick to.
- your body will adjust easier as you make it harder in phases
- it never gets boring
- you keep challenging your body making it harder in phases burning more fat (if you stay at the same level the whole time your body gets used to it, and your body wont change as much after 6wks)

Phase 2
- I must exercise 4 times a wk! (hard with a new baby)
- Eat as many raw foods as possible
- Eat my evening meal before 7pm
- keep a food diary
- Walk with the pram instead of driving to places in town

From tomorrow I will introduce these rules............ I will update you on how things go

K x

Promax crisp bars are awesome!

So do you snack in between meals? .....Well you should to keep your metabolism up. The part I find hard is what do I snack on when I am at work or out an about. I am too busy to prepare anything, so I end up sometimes being bad and grabbing a bag or Quavers or a milky way!

I used to think that Quavers and Milky Way bars were a good choice of 'bad snack' as they are low calories. I have now learnt that 50% of those calories are 'Fat Calories' which the body stores and does not use! They raise your sugar levels, but are quickly followed by a low, which is a pointless snack.

To loose weight and tone up, you need to snack on light protein like cottage cheese, boiled egg, soya yogurt. It's hard to carry these around with you, so I am now so pleased that I have Promax Crisp bars to pop in my bag. They are only 84 calories and high in light protein.









I ordered mine online by the bulk after I tried one of my friends. Buy 3 boxes get the 4th free is the offer on at the moment, me and my friend went halves and got 2 boxes each. I find them quite yummy, and it seems to keep me full till my next meal.

You don't need to be following the Promax diet to have these snack bars, but I do for fast results. I ve now lost another 5lb this week and I look slimmer and toned around my middle. I am going to measure myself this weekend to see how much inch loss I now have!




Maximuscle say:
These delicious protein-rich crisp bars are small in size but big on nutrition and massive on taste. Light and easy to eat, Promax Crisp Bars are low in calories, carbohydrate and fat. This makes them perfect for anyone on a low-carb or low fat diet. More exciting still, each bar is smothered in a delicious layer of smooth dark chocolate, letting you satisfy your chocolate cravings without feeling guilty! Enriched with fibre and high- quality whey protein, Promax Crisp Bars will also make it easier for you to control your appetite.
If you feel hungry when you leave the house in the morning because you're too busy to eat breakfast... if you're too busy to eat a healthy diet... if you're always snacking on cakes and biscuits... then Promax Crisp Bars are for you!

How should I use it?
Some like to start their day with a Promax Crisp Bars. You can also use it as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, as an easy way to boost the protein content of a meal, or to give your muscles an extra hit of protein before you go to bed.
Featured Products


I rate these bars 10/10!
If you want to know what you should be eating for your goals click on the below link:






K

Diets and PCOS - Losing weight helps manage symptoms

I have tried many diets, fitness plans, diet pills and patches over the years. Since I stopped dancing full time in 1999 I struggled with my weight and have had periods of depression.
I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2007 and diet has became my life, as I am always working against my body gaining weight due to the hormone imbalance.

I have finally found a diet and fitness plan that works for me with my condition that is healthy! Here is my story of how I got there.........

Previously I found the South Beach Diet to be the most effective diet, but due to my PCOS my dietitian strongly advised me not to go back on this diet due to my hormone imbalance and insulin levels. So she put me on a diet plan, which made me gain more weight and cause my symptoms to get even worse! Due to the severity of my symptoms and lack of help from my dietitian, I when on my own diet. Eating little and often not cutting out any food groups but only eating 900 calories a day. I had no energy and was still too ill to exercise, the weight was not shifting but I had not gained anymore.

I called my doctor to ask for medication to help as I was trying my hardest to lose weight and really suffering with my health, his answer was get your weight down from 10 stone to 8.5 stone to reduce your symptoms! I said I have tried my hardest and told him what I had been doing- his answer was: exercise 2 hours a day and eat less calories and fat, I said that i didn't think it was healthy to eat less calories than I already was, and he said with my PCOS I can eat less than 900 calories a day and starving children in Africa are not fat! Well I burst into tears, and could not continue the conversation, my friend was with me at the time and heard the doctor shouting at me down the phone, she could not believe the advice he gave me.

So next I was counting calories and fat content so that I could only eat 500- 600 calories a day, I didn't loose any weight in the first 3 days so I looked at the size 0 diet of even less calories. I started to replace some meals with the maple syrup lemon and pepper tea. My energy levels were even worse but I did loose 3lb i after 3 days! I tried exercising but due to having some large cysts on my ovaries, I just could not bear the pain. I kept going on the diet for another 5 weeks and got down to 9 stone, I was so pleased that I finally found a diet that worked for me again!

I had a follow up appointment with the dietitian and had to provide a food diary of the past month. She was pleased to see I had lost a stone in weight, but when she read my diary she was shocked to see I was eating very little. She told me I had an eating disorder, but I advised her that I had taken my doctors advice on reducing my calories even further to get my weight down to ease my symptoms. She said she was going to make a complaint about the advice given and told me to eat 1200 calories a day again. I just did not know what to do as I knew if I had that many calories I would just put the weight back on again.

I followed the advice a little a ate around 1000 calories a day and went to the gym every other day, after a month I had gained half a stone despite my efforts! So I started to take Pure Hoodia diet pills and use the Pink Patch at the same time. Crazy I know but I got down to 8 stone 12lbs after 3 months! My Wedding day was coming up and my dress had to be taken in, I was thrilled that I was starting to look myself again! Slim and toned.

While I was on my honeymoon I gained 7 lbs! But you do have to enjoy yourself dont you. When I got back I started fertility treatment and had to stop the diet pills and patch. As you can imagine the weight piled back on again and 7 months after I was back to where I started almost 9 st 12lbs and looked very untoned. I needed to do someting fast that was healthy. I subcribe to Zest Magazine and there was an artical on Maximuscle womens Promax diet.


I looked into this and seeked advice from a fitness professional, I went ahead and ordered the shakes and suppliments and downloaded the 8 week diet and fitness plan. I was easy to stick to and I did find the exercise hard to start with but I then found I had more engery. I felt happier in myself, I didnt feel depressed anymore and I lost half a stone in the first 4 weeks of the plan, the inche loss was even better, I had lost 2 inches from my tummy, 1 inch from around my ribs an inch from each thigh and half from each top of my arm. My body fat had reduced by 2% and water by 3%! I looked much more toned and I had a lot of comments from friends and collueges as even though I was only a little loss, it was very noticable. So I carried on and the results just got better :) :)





I had to stop the diet as I got pregnant, I then had a miscarriage and fell pregant again soon after, I was so upset to then have another miscarriage :( It is very common to miscarry with PCOS. My depression got so bad I didnt go back on the plan for a while, and I started to comfort eat and then make myself sick after as I was feeling guilty that my hard work had been wasted. :(

To beat depression I had to get out and exercise again. I decided to focus on my body and fitness again and leave the trying of the baby for a while, and if it happened it happened. So I am back on the Promax diet and exercise plan again! I am loving the buzz, and feeling happy again my body is improving. I want to enter the maximuscle womens body of the year 2009 in the summer, so I am working really hard for the perfect body!






If you would like the diet plan let me know as I have the PDFs saved. Maximuscle no longer have the plan on the website, but still sell the products.







Anyone else had good results from Promax diet?

K