Kat & Tshepi

Hello there, welcome back to Kat & Tshepi blog.

How was your week?

We hope you are having a lovely weather where you are, for us we are officially in the season of Winter here in South Africa, we are experiencing quite a lot of changes physically, mentally and emotionally. Every change of season brings with it some requirements for adapting and surviving, especially requirements relating to diet when you are on a weight loss journey. This week we became aware of our dietary changes (unplanned) when it comes to breakfast, for the past two weeks we have been increasingly deviating from our menu , the changes have been creeping in without our formal authorisation.

We found ourselves eating a type of breakfast we ate about 2 years ago, which includes eggs, avocado, bread, baked beans and whatever leftover meat is available. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this breakfast, it just that it was not aligning with our training regiment. Our normal and official breakfast is overnight Oats and Honey (pre-workout meal) and a protein and fruits shake (post-workout, ingredients included further below). So we wondered how did this change happen ? what a successful coup this was. We figured that it must be the change of season and our emotional state (we have been having helluva hectic weeks recently and the body is keeping the score), it seems when we are going through changes the mind and body revert to default settings. The old mind pathways are retrieved to help us survive, not because they are good but because we have been down that route before so it feels safe. The mind and body says “the known is better than the unknown”.

It is true that “Old habits die hard”, this applies well to our dietary habits. A key to successful weight loss is a change in dietary habits, altering these habits takes time and patience until the new habits stick, but it is amazing how quickly the old habits can come back if we let our guard down and allow ourselves a minute of complacency. Old habits really know how to creep back in unnoticed and destroy the progress and chances of weight loss success. But how can one avoid old dietary habits from creeping back into their lives, we think the best way is to be aware of the changes taking place in your life, and to stay in touch with your weight loss goal.

When you notice the changes happening in your life and your context you are able to do something about them, you might not know what to do about them at that moment but being aware of the changes becomes the foundation for remedial actions. Staying in touch with your weight loss goal brings you back to the straight path when you deviate, staying in touch include things like reviewing your goals, weekly progress tracking, frequently stepping on the scale. When your weight loss goal is out of sight, it becomes easy for old habits to creep in and stay longer than necessary. But when you constantly revisit your weight loss goal, you are then able to figure out a way to cushion the impact of the sleek old habits.

This is what we experienced recently with our old breakfast creeping back into our lives, even though our breakfast has changed for about 2 weeks, our weight loss progress has not changed as we are still losing some weight , we think this is because the sight and focus we have on our goal has helped us to respond to these changes by altering the portions of other meals to cater for the extra calories introduced. Because our goal is not out of sight we somehow unconsciously make means to achieve it , “Out of sight, out of mind” this is what needs to be avoided.

That’s it for this week, being aware of changes happening in your life and acknowledging how you respond to them is helpful towards your weight loss goal, this set the wheels of remedial actions in motion before it is too late, before you are back where you started due to old habits creeping back into your life. Do you have some old dietary habits(or any other habits) that constantly tries to creep back into your life?

Earlier, we mentioned the protein and fruits breakfast shake we consume daily, this concoction is nutrient dense and packs a healthy punch, it is very low in calories and high in protein, and we also find it enjoyable. It provides 240 calories, 30g protein, 4g fat and 30g of carbohydrates, this is a good option for post-workout ,anytime snack or a meal replacement . Here are the ingredients:

Main Ingredients

1. Small Banana (50-60g)

2. 100g Berry mix (We prefer frozen berries as they hold on to nutrients and do not spoil)

3. 5g Chia seeds (Good source of fiber)

4. 30g Plant protein powder

5. 250 ml water

Optional additional Ingredients

1. 5g Cacao Powder

2. 5g Spirulina Powder

3. 1/2 tspn Cinnamon

4. 1/2 tspn Tumeric

5. 1/2 tspn Moringa powder

Give this shake a try, we hope you will enjoy it . Until next week, Stay blessed.

Kat & Tshepi