Friday, 24-07-20; DTU day five

Good morning.
It's the last day - well, half day really because I did half last Sunday - of my first, five day go at Muscle Foods' Do The Unthinkable.
I weighed yesterday for Slimming World and, taken from Thursday last week, I have lost one and a half pounds (more when you realise I gained over the weekend).
I weighed today for DTU and, taken from Sunday morning, I have lost three and a half pounds.
This means you can tell how much the Saturday night pizza and too much cheese put on, if you are inclined to work it out!

I'm happy with that and I'll do a review at the foot of this entry so it's easy to skip.  No point boring people who aren't interested!

Yesterday's food:

Breakfast with added blueberries.  Nice, warming and more filling than it looks, but no nicer than home made porridge.
I must look up some recipes because this was part quinoa, presumably to cut down the carbs.





Below is lunch - the nduja pork.  It was gorgeous.  Very spicy; I'm glad I made a salad and I also added a dollop of natural yogurt and it made too much for lunch.  I saved some for the four o'clock snack so I didn't have what I'd planned which was the Chinese chicken.  I think I might pop it in the freezer and use it with a salad some time in the future.

Dinner was the lemon pasta thing.  I had protein noodles instead of the pasta as pasta twice in a day just felt too much.  I cooked some courgette (from the allotment and yum) and I forgot to sprinkle over the crumb and herb topping - ooops.

Nevertheless, it was very tasty.

The snacks.
The protein balls were gorgeous.  Lemony, a hint of coconut and I could happily have eaten double so it's just as well I didn't have any more.

I swapped the bakes for mountain chips so the bakes are tomorrow.

As mentioned above, I didn't have the chicken and that's now residing in the freezer where it will make a most satisfactory lunch at some point in the future.

Today's plans:

DTU officially finishes after lunch today but I have one extra snack because I made the protein bar last two snacks.

B:  a chocolate caramel protein bar

L:  teriyaki salmon stir fry

Snacks:  olives and sweet chilli mountain chips

D:  something at Dad's

Body Magic:  step exercises and another of Lindsey's video clips

I may not be posting about meals over the weekend, it really depends how much I can plan beforehand but Friday will be something quick from whatever Dad has in, Saturday will be Spanish chicken, using a jd seasoning pot and Sunday will likely be something more conventional in the meat and two veg line.  Dad's runner beans and courgettes are now producing so they will feature, for sure.

Review of Do The Unthinkable

First of all, it is important to say that this week has not been sponsored by Muscle Food in any way, shape or form.  I bought the food myself and my opinions are not affected by anything but my own opinion and experience.

Positives:
Generally, the food was delicious, and the one I wasn't so fond of was because I think I just don't like that meal - I had another brand of the same meal earlier in the month and didn't like that either.
A great use of spices and seasonings generally.  One could never call their meals tasteless.  They had character.
The meals were filling, presumably because of the bias towards protein, and the variety was great.
I particularly liked the kits as there was more 'engagement' than just popping a pot in the pinger.  Instructions were clear and precise and because the recipe cards were laminated, they can be kept for another time.
There were no problems with quality although I know that occasionally that slips.
Customer service is good, I think.  There's a Facebook group and a page.  The group is for general comments while the page is for queries and issues and messages are private.  I got into a bit of a muddle with my second order and they responded very quickly.  And sorted it out!
The exercise programme that comes with it is very much a dip in sort of thing and that works for me.  It's not compulsory but one is encouraged to participate.

Less positives:
I think it is quite expensive.  I usually make just about all my meals and have an eye to cost as I do so.  However, if you are someone who gets a lot of ready meals, pre-cooked stuff and take aways, then it's much more reasonable.
The snacks.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the snacks, they were delicious but I've pretty much cut out those sorts of things from my diet so it went a bit against the grain.
Fruit and veg.  There was more veg than I expected which was good and the kits provided fresh veg of good quality.  I missed my fruit.  They say you can have two extra portions of fruit and two of veg a day but crispy/chocolate snacks AND fruit - no!
Breakfasts.  It goes against the grain to have chocolate, however protein packed, for breakfast and, while the porridges were nice, it is no hardship to make porridge!  I missed my own breakfasts - the waffles, for example.

My conclusions:
I actually really enjoyed this week.  I enjoyed it so much that I have booked another week, six days this time and I'm looking forward to trying out my different choices.  I may very well cut the snacks though at, at least, reduce them.

It's done what I wanted.  It had given the last bit of weight loss a good kick up the backside.  Maybe, by the end of next week, I'll have hit target - that would be splendid.  This last stone has taken so long to shift.

What about after that, moving forward?  I have been exploring the muscle food site and notice that pretty much all the foods and snacks are available as single items or as small packs (especially the snacks).
As regular readers will know, recently I have been trying out ready meals from supermarkets and have been remarkably unimpressed.  This week's ones are way and beyond even the nicest one I tried before at pretty much the same price.
So . . .
I will go back to making my own breakfasts with some relief.
I will cut the snacks completely.  Yes, they were tasty, but unnecessary.
I will return to fruit and yogurt (I also missed yogurt) for desserts and if I don't want a dessert I can have it later, as a 'snack' but not as anything extra.
I'm going to make an order for some of their ready meals which can be kept in the freezer and will mix and match my own meals with their readies.  The garden and allotment vegetables will be in soon and I want to make good use of them!
I will have much more of an eye for protein, definitely.  It does keep you full for a long time.  I've been casually noticing proportions and will aim to continue them.

So, after next week it is back to following SW (although I don't think it's been all that far out, in fact) and I will also be counting calories although I won't be giving as much detail as before, just totals.
And in the future, depending on things, I may do another week on Do The Unthinkable.