I’ll be trying to follow Amelia Freer’s new 10 day plan pretty much to the word over the next 10 days. The plan looks well balanced, and it’s a short-term experiment, so I thought why not? However the preparation required looked horrendous. So I’ll set about getting the shopping ordered and figure I’ll take it from there.
There’s a full shopping list in the book but some of these things are perishable & won’t keep for the week! Therefore I’m breaking it down day by day in advance.
- Riverford delivery on Thursdays – so I’ll need 10 portions of seasonal fruit for week 1, then 8 for week 2.
- I can order in all the store-cupboard food in week 1.
- I can order in all the nuts & seeds in week 1.
- I can order in all the dried herbs & spices in week 1.
- I don’t need any of the freezer food.
- Additionally in week 1:
- 3 betroots ✓
- Fresh dill ✓
- 1 bulb garlic ✓
- 3 lemons ✓
- coconut milk ✓
- cloves ✓
- medjool date ✓
- mango ✓
- sugar snap peas 200g✓
- 200g brocoli ✓
- 7 carrots ✓
- small green courgette ✓
- yellow pepper ✓
- 2 x red pepper ✓
- salad leaves ✓
- a chicken 1.4kg ✓
- onion ✓
- red onion ✓
- spring onion✓
- thyme ✓
- 2 eggs ✓
- spinach ✓
- aubergene ✓
- 2 x leeks ✓
- celery ✓
- chives ✓
- coconut yoghurt✓
- little gem lettuce ✓
- cabbage ✓
- 4 x limes ✓
- 2 wild salomn fillets✓
- cucumber ✓
- avocado ✓
- 2 x bananas ✓
- mint ✓
- 200ml coconut water✓
- coriander leaves ✓
- ginger ✓
- tomatoes ✓
- apples ✓
- berries✓
- fillet of sea bass ✓
- orange ✓
- 125g king prawns ✓
- rocket ✓
- basil ✓
- kale ✓
- 300g sweet potato ✓
- radishes ✓
- parsley ✓
I can look at the shopping list for the remaining three days when I see how all this is working out!
PREP DAY:
Made beetroot hummus and nutty granola – completely forgot to get the mixed seeds. Also prepared the breakfast for tomorrow. Went to pilates class, but feeling so big and bloated at the moment, I’ll wait until the morning to weigh in!
DAY 1 – 10st 6lbs
Tumeric & Mango Spiced Chia Pot
This was nicer than I expected! Will be adding it into my every day eating from now on.
Rainbow Abundance Bowl + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Didn’t enjoy the salad much, but the hummus is delicious. Again, will be added in to my regime.
Roast Chicken with Roasted Vegetables and Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Went to pilates class today & feeling pretty healthy and accomplished all round.
DAY 2
Breakfast Frittata + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
As someone who doesn’t usually like eggs, nicer than expected.
Chicken Pate in Lettuce Cups + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
I didn’t enjoy this so much. Not sure why – think the pate lacked something. I’ll have to experiment with the recipe.
Wild Salmon Parcels with Asian Style Salad + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This wasn’t great either. The broccolli had gone a bit stale from the night before (the sugar snap peas were still great though!). Okay-ish, not something I’d choose to eat.
DAY 3 – 10st 2.8
A word on my weight here. Yeah, I’ve lost a lot! However, I’ve lost both fat & muscle, I’m now at 31% fat, 29% muscle – it’s the weirdest body composition I’ve had. Pilates is having a noticeable effect on my figure, for the first time in my life, my waist measurement is different to my hips. Still a long way to go.
Banana Mint & Lime Smoothie
Nicer than expected! But, if I’m having a breakfast I don’t want a liquid breakfast, really.
Salmon Salad in a Jar + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Not sure how I can be so ‘meh’ about last night’s meal but absolutely love this, when it’s essentially the same damned meal in a jar. This is something I’ll have regularly in the future.
Aubergine & Chickpea Curry + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This was a real ball-ache to motivate myself to make, and it took my over an hour for one reason or another, but I really enjoyed it. I had to add some extra coriander to make the curry more to my taste, other than that, great recipe.
DAY 4
Here’s an interesting thing. Something in the diet plan has made my eczema flare up. It was either day one or day two, I’m wondering if it may be the egg. It’s the first time I can safely rule out wheat or gluten or sugar as the culprit – maybe it’s something I’m doing differently during all of this, although there isn’t much I’m doing differently (as I have a dishwasher, I’m not doing excessive amounts of washing up or anything).
I’ve had to swap day 4 with day 5 because my prawns will be out of date otherwise. Due to the food pyramid, it involves swapping both the lunch & the dinner, although I’m confident my curry will be okay.
Overnight Oat Crumble with Apple
Not as nice as I thought it’d be…. still okay, but disappointed!
Roasted Vegetable & Chicken Soup + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This also didn’t taste great reheated (but was delicious when first made). Had I realised earlier that I’d have to swap day 4 and 5 I could have got away with putting it in the fridge instead of the freezer.
Spicy Tomato and Prawn Courgetti + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This was amazing! One of my favourites so far (although I made Courgetagliatelle as opposed to Courgetti). This will be added to my ongoing meals!
DAY 5
Had a Barre lesson this morning. Going to stick with Pilates in the future, but it was interesting to try out. Today is the day I place my order with Riverford for tomorrow again:
Celery ✓
Lemons ✓
K*le (hi Misha)… not in stock at the moment!
Red Pepper ✓
Tomatoes ✓
Radishes (My radishes from Sainsburys went out of date very quickly)
Salad ✓
Cocoa Powder (not available from Riverford apparently)
Asparagus ✓
Spinach ✓
Kidney beans✓
Small cucumber (current one is good, but may go off by day 10) ✓
+ Fruit ✓
I don’t remember freezing any Beetroot Houmous. Just going to have to make some more…
The plan is challenging with regards to cooking requirements, however, I’ve enjoyed it – so when I have time, I’ll try the vegan 10 day plan.
Overnight Oat Crumble with Berries
The extra night soaking didn’t do much good. I think in the future I’ll refrain from soaking the oats, I like oats just the way they are.
Leftover Aubergine & Chickpea Curry + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This tasted so much better cold & left-over!
Grilled Fish with Orange & Avocado Salsa –> Mackerel & Kale Waldorf salad
And this is where things went wrong… the fish was frozen, but the instructions the day before didn’t tell me to defrost it. I had a ‘quick take’ version on the Mackerel & Kale Waldorf salad. I’m having to swap meals around now to work with what I actually have left and what will be going out of date.
DAY 6
Nut Granola with Berries
This nut granola is soooo good. Even better with berries.
Beetroot & Houmous Salad + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Made a huge batch of the beetroot houmous. Not sure how long it’ll keep though…
Grilled Fish with Orange & Avocado Salsa
This was nicer than I thought, but not something I’d add into regular rotation.
DAY 7
None of these got done today – I didn’t fancy the chicken for lunch, and the fish seemed a bit off, too. I had the nut granola for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and the chicken and chips from day 8 for dinner.
Herby Green Omlette + Portion of Seasonal
Chopped Chicken Salad
Fish Goujons with Tartare Sauce + Nutty Chocolate Pot – > Chicken & Chips with Chopped Salad + Nutty Banana Nice Cream
I didn’t make myself the Nutty Banana Nice Cream, just didn’t fancy it today.
DAY 8 (DAY ONE OF PERIOD) – 10st2
Another day that didn’t go according to plan, but I kept it healthy and filled in the food pyramid as outlined in the book.
Pea & Sweet Potato Fritter with a Poached Egg + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
This was lovely! Gave some to my mother too, who enjoyed it.
Smoked Mackerel Pate with Vegetable Crudites & Oatcakes + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Chicken & Chips with Chopped Salad + Nutty Banana Nice Cream
DAY 9
As I’m neither a fan of cottage pie or pears, again, I skipped this. Had the tuna salad for lunch, though.
Baked Pear Breakfast Bowl
Italian Tuna Salad + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Made this with fresh tuna, instead of tinned tuna.
Cottage Pie + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
DAY 10 – 10st1.6
“Kitchen confidence” kicked in. I had nut granola for breakfast, made myself a “tuna salad in a jar” from yesterday’s tuna, and a sweet potato and carrot mash with black cabbage for dinner.
Egg Salad on Toast + Portion of Seasonal Fruit
Leftover Cottage Pie with Steamed Greens
Stuffed Peppers with Chilli + Baked Orange & Almond Pear
SUMMARY
This has been my most successful diet phase, without a doubt. Who knew that eating properly could help you lose weight? 4.4lbs in 10 days – which makes it 12lbs down since my heaviest weight after Xmas. However, I spent way too much time in the kitchen.
I missed out on these recipes, which I will try at some point:
Breakfast:
- Egg Salad on Toast
- Herby Green Omlette
- Baked Pear Breakfast Bowl (I’ll substitute apples)
Lunch:
- Smoked Mackerel Pate with Vegetable Crudites & Oatcakes (I’ll make this tomorrow)
Dinner:
- Fish Goujons with Tartare Sauce + Nutty Chocolate Pot
- Stuffed Peppers with Chilli + Baked Orange & Almond Pear
- Cottage Pie
I’m moving straight on to another one of my experiments on Thursday, keeping these principles in mind: “The Riverford Plan”. Let’s see how that one goes. I’ll also be returning to the recipes I skipped when I have the right products in stock – I’ve yet to try any of the deserts!
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