My meal routine (and granted it was super dull and I can not see most of the ingredients below anymore) for 3 months was (this means that you will seriously shed weight, be grumpy as hell and hate every day of it, but will love it once you see results after 2 weeks):
- Always stick to the kJ/carb limits (sign up with Fitbit and you can then track your intake)
- Check food you buy for carb and kJ values (for example 100g of Woolies salted Cashews are 2200kJ and 13g carbs - way over your limit - you will not loose weight)
- Remember: to burn 3500kJ requires you to jog for 30min at a pace of 5min/km (i.e. you need to jog for 6kms in 30 mins to burn off 150g of Cashew nuts - not so much fun snacking now - is it?)
- No processed meat (that includes mince, cold meat - simple rule: if it was not cut straight off an animal, it is probably processed)
- No pasta or starchy products (forget the healthy potatoes and anything along those lines)
- No bread, toast, rolls, pretzels etc
- Limit sodas to Sprite Zero and Tab - forget all the other "diet drinks"
- Forget sweets or chocolate or any fruit - just not going to happen for months
- Breakfast: 2 eggs + cup of fresh sliced mushrooms + 2 rashers of bacon + coffee. replace mushrooms with tomato or green/red peppers. Forget cereals - too heavy on carbs and kJ.
- In between snacks: stick with biltong (but watch carbs and kJ - the total kJ intake should not exceed your 3500kJ per day). try cheese, but check they carbs and go with plain cheddar
- Lunch: I was never a lunch eater and at times had a boiled egg with cheese
- Supper: Either 1 chicken breast or 200g steak with 1 egg or mushrooms or tomato or green/red peppers. No seasoning or sauces - those are just evil
- Do exercises. I enjoy running and I started of walking, then did 2kms then eventually 4kms and in September I ran my first 10km. Take walking/jogging slow and start of at 6:30min/km and then aim for 5min/km - eventually you will squeeze out 6km in about 30min. The more weight you shed, the easier the running gets.
I am as unfortunate as most, that if I just look at a slice of pizza I gain weight (and I hate those "oh-no-I-can-eat-whatever-I-like-and-never-pick-up-weight"-people) and can tell you that it is a daily struggle to stick to some routine. What helped me was to use Fitbit (to track weight and get a sense of kJ/carb intake) and Nike+ (I use the Fuelband and the Sportswatch and it's a great motivator to get to the daily goals).
BTW: Since I run 6-7 times a week and do 3 one-hour sessions with a personal trainer in gym per week, I have nowadays a nice reward meal (last weekend was Gourmet Garage at Monte: 1xBanana/Peanut butter milkshake, 300g avo-mustard fillet with chilli-cheese fries, chocolate brownies drenched in chocolate sauce and cream and a moccacino) and I find that I appreciate nice food like this so much more. (I nowadays have the mindset, that I consider it a waste to throw down a cheap/greasy fastfood meal, considering the amount of effort I have put in).
