Review: Muscle Food

This is the second time I have ordered from Muscle food, and slightly body builder focused website who supply all the protein you could need FOR THE GAINZ! I've been on the watch for the while for them to have a brilliant deal so I could restock my freezer for the new year and do a lot of meal prep for January.

I wasn't disappointed, they had a discount code, and an exclusive offer shortly after Christmas and for the low low price of £75 delivered I got the following:

12 Steak Burgers
5kg Chicken Breasts
4 Turkey Escolopes
4 Hache Steaks
12 Chicken Sausages
4 Low fat beef burgers
6 Meaty pork sausages
700g Bacon medallions
1kg bbq chicken drumsticks
4 Chicken Breasts
1kg Sliced mixed peppers
1kg Diced Sweet potato
250g Curly Green Kale
1 Coconut Crunch bar
1 pomegrante protein bar
1 packet of protein crisps

Which looks like this:

Found in the following links:

Exclusive Try Us Selection box
5kg Chicken Breasts
Try us Selection


From Muscle food full priced I saved £75. I've calculated the price for the similar products from Sainsburys and it would cost £103, but that includes offers and their chicken breasts are nowhere near as good as the musclefood ones.

One of the brilliant things about muscle food deliveries is that you pick the day they deliver, and can do so upto 2 months in advance but they don't take the payment until 48 hours before delivery. So if you need to wait until pay day, or until you have some space in the freezer you can!

The delivery comes in a big box surrounded by these cool freezer bags so it stays fresh while it is being delivered. This is particularly handy for storing it while you figure out how to portion it and which bits you get to eat first.

There are a few bits and pieces in that list that aren't keto except in small quantities, so they are being donated to the non keto live in boyfriend. They are the chicken sausages, and the pork sausages. At 5g/8g carbs respectively I can't really work that in and get a decent meal. So to him they go.

The rest of it is being prepared into meals and portioned for the freezer for future use. I have no idea what I'm going to do with sweet potato, at the moment it's bagged into 20g portions until I can figure out what to do with it. Maybe I'll just sneak it into other dishes.

I would highly recommend liking them on Facebook, having a look through their products and ordering from them yourself if you've got the space. I've had nothing but great customer service from them.

Extra Bonus if you go via my referral link you get a freebie, and your favourite blogger gets some bonus points!

Motivational Monday!!

Today is the day folks. Keto kick start in my household. A few things I'm doing differently this time round. I have a few motivational reminders and goal posters around my house.

In my bedroom- my list of milestone rewards when I reach a certain weight. Took me a while to think of non food rewards but I got a pretty good list in the end. Also in my bedroom a 12 week list I can write my Monday morning measurements and weigh in on.

In my loo- a whiteboard with a reminder of what I weighed on my Monday weigh in and what my goal is for the week. Im guilty of a daily weigh in but I will only be paying attention to my Monday one to account for fluctuations. 

In my kitchen- a plan for the week. What food I'm eating for my meals, the exercise I'm doing on which day and tick boxes for when I have completed it. This also will have any days I'm not at work so I can remember extra snacks if needed. 

I have no idea if this will work but it can't hurt to have a little extra motivation around the place. 

Start of the Year

"New Year, New Year right? Whatever! I've heard that before" As the lovely lady at the Hawkshead shop snorted at me when I was buying walking boots and a cycling jacket at the weekend. It's a fair point. How many years before have people woken up on January 1st and gone "this will be the year! I'll win the nobel prize, get out of bed on the first alarm and do yoga as the sun sets every single day". Then by months end they are snoozing with the best of them while their yoga mat gathers dust in the corner. I'm guilty of that myself. Many a gym membership has been purchased and then forgotten about by the end of January.

I've had quite a turbulent 6 months, well year really hence why I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Here is a quick recap of my 2014 the good and the bad:

• Completed my masters, the single most stressful thing I have ever done.
• Graduated from University!
• Got offered a PhD doing research in an area that I find exciting.
• Gained a nephew.
• Moved 6 hours/300 miles from all my friends and family.
• Actually have my own house with my own kitchen and enough cupboard space for all my gadgets. 
• Started cycling to and from university (still yet to do a whole week!).
• Gained nearly 3 stone in weight and many many inches.

The main reason the hawkshead lady's comment made me chuckle was because I wasn't buying anything for a new years resolution, unlike the people around me. My change started a few months ago when I began cycling. I needed a cycling jacket since I didn't own a waterproof because I'm from the south where it doesn't rain that much. Know where it rains? In the North, everyday, you practically need to go out in one of those plastic cape things from Thorpe park some weeks.

The new year has meant one thing, I've got no more excuses as to why I'm not ketoing full time. I have kitchen that I can occupy all the time without annoying anyone. I'm not constantly skint anymore so can afford to keto. Christmas has passed so I've got at least until Easter before celebration food becomes an issue again. I have an entire freezer and fridge so prepping in advance isn't at all an issue. There are numerous substitutes on the market for everything I want. There's even a decent keto ice cream now.

This year I don't need a gym membership, cycling twice a day and walking through the beautiful countryside that surrounds me is enough exercise for me, for the time being anyway.

My "New year, New me" isn't starting on January 1st like everyone elses. It's starting on January 5th, once the not-in-laws have left the house, the chocolate coins have been eaten, the bread used up and the food prep for the next month has been done. I did this 3 years ago when I did Dukan for the first time and it worked, this time I've got none of the stumbling blocks I had that time so hears hoping for a more successful 2015! (At least in terms of weight loss)

Restaurant: Wagamama

I consider this a personal triumph, I have keto'ed at wagamama. It probably helped that it was take away so much easier to get the rice replaced with a salad, than explaining to a confused waiter/ress that you have yes come to a Japanese restaurant, and no you don't want any rice.

What I ordered: Chicken Katsu Curry, with sauce on the side, grilled chicken and a side salad instead of rice.

What it cost: about £9 I don't remember exactly.

What I actually got: Exactly what I ordered! Side salad could have been bigger considering how much rice you normally get, but there you go. I used to sauce for dipping so that it minimised the carb intake as that stuff is carby!

Opinion: It satisfied a craving at the time, but to be honest it wasn't really worth it. I was conscious of not using too much sauce because of how carb filled it was, and because it was just a plain chicken breast and salad it wasn't a very filling meal. If you're stuck in wagamama it's great to have as an option, but I wouldn't go out of my way to order from there normally.

Nutritional Information: I'm not sure, pretty carby but not very calorific I reckon. About 300-400 kcal but 7g carbs.

Review: Ohso Chocolate

I spotted this little nugget of gold when I was wandering round the penny sale at Holland and Barrett. Ohso chocolate comes in a sleeve with 7 miniature chocolate bars in it. They sell a dark chocolate one, and a raspberry one with no added sugar, bonus points for the fact if you go on their website they have a set up similar to Graze boxes. You can have a weekly/biweekly order of chocolates straight to your door for £3.99 per box (60p a bar), but discounted to £1.99 for the first week.

What was most surprising is how satisfying they were for such a small bar. Each bar of chocolate is 13.5g and could fit in a coin purse without too much trouble. That being said once I'd eaten one it felt like it was enough, probably because it was dark chocolate, or maybe it's psychological because it's one bar and that's normally the limit on keto for sweet things!

They have become a regular addition to my shopping, not a regular addition to my diet but they are handy to have in my desk drawer and around the house for that chocolate fix that creeps up sometimes.

Nutritional Information (Dark Chocolate)

63 kcal

4.84g fat

0.69g protein

3.66g carbohydrate

Nutritional Information (Raspberry)

63 kcal

4.84g fat

0.69g protein

3.66g carbohydrate

Also worth pointing out that these carb counts include the malitol poly alcohols, so the effect on your blood sugar is likely to be less than 4g of carbs.

Resturant: Benito's Hat

I was lucky enough to work in an office that gave free lunch to all of it's employees, which gave me a chance to try some restaurants out I wouldn't usually chance for keto friendly food.

Benito's Hat, being a mexican restaurant I figured I had a 50:50 chance of it being just dry spiced, or covered in salsa. 

What I ordered: Slow braised pork salad no beans or peppers. Extra chicken, extra pork. 

What it cost: £9.90

What I actually got: Unexpectedly came with nachos and rice. Lost about half the portion getting rid of that. Probably not a problem if you are in the shop, but ordering online the menu is lacking in descriptions of what you actually get in a dish.

In the picture the left is how it arrived, the right is what it was once I'd dissected it.

Opinion: 

I was really full after this lunch, which I wasn't expecting since it was basically just a pork salad and cheese. It was fresh and arrived hot from the restaurant. It wasn't too spicy hot just enough for flavour. I'd get it any if my options were limited but nearly £10 for a lunch is too much in my opinion.

Nutritional Information (MASSIVE ESTIMATE THEY DON'T HAVE ANY ON THEIR WEBSITE)

Calories 500 kcal (lots of pork and cheese was had)

Carbs 5g (left over rice bits, and iceberg).