10 snacks you can enjoy whilst in a calorie deficit (UK)

With this blog originating from a weight loss journey through lockdown it seems only right that we go over some of the foods that I ate to help with weight loss whilst in a calorie deficit

As you know from this past Monday I have once again entered into a Dieting phase and will be back to the calorie counting, creating a deficit and adding in more exercise along the way to help me achieve the best possible outcome in time for my holiday in December.

For me when you’re in a calorie deficit one of the most important things is to find foods that are filling, have a good volume to them, but on the other hand find foods you can enjoy as a treat in the day when your craving something bad and just want to suppress that craving with a small treat

The one thing I love about a calorie deficit and dieting using this method is that you are not restricted on what you can eat! YES you can’t go and eat over your calories etc but you can eat within that and eat the foods you like 

If I am craving some pizza I can find a pizza that will fit easily into my calories for the day whilst allowing me to eat throughout the day without continually feeling hungry which in turn can lead to you feeling unmotivated and create a state of binge eating 

I want to go over with you 10 snacks that I have eaten, and will be eating during my calorie deficit! The nutritional breakdown for them and where to find them

Now I love something sweet during the day especially after a long day at work or when finishing a workout or exercise of sorts 

All of the listed snacks are relatively cheap, around the 100 kcal mark and will help with your sweet tooth! I haven’t mentioned any drinks during this top 10 but I will just say that throughout the day I like to drink ZERO SUGAR carbonated drinks and MONSTER ULTRA which I do not track either of these nor do I cut the out of my diet at any point!

For all the latest on the diet, how being a dad is going, and the journey to financial freedom stop by the new website http://www.FatherandFinance.com

10. Skips – 71kcal

Let’s kick the list of with some classics! A good old pack of Skips Prawn and Cocktail, coming in at only 71kcal these are perfect for a snack when you want something extra during the day! At only 71kcal you won’t feel guilty enjoying these.

9. Mini Gingerbread Men – 87Kcal

These are great a bag contains around 5/6 mini gingerbread men, more textured like a biscuit with gingerbread taste these are really filling and again a good addition to a lunch box.

8. Milky Way Snack Bar – 96kcal

Recently I had one of these and was pleasantly surprised when I found out they were less than 100kcal! Ive always been a fan of Milky Way bars and its nice to have something official when on a diet.

7. Quavers – 86kcal

Back to the crisps and this time its quavers! Perfect once again as an accompaniment with your lunch or just to throw in your bag when heading out, and you can pick at them throughout the day instead of eating all at once.

6. Toast (Danish Bread) – 52kcal

Thats right at just 52kcal per slice danish bread is a great filler throughout the day if you want to have some toast! For me personally during my diet I don’t track things like sauces or butter as I only use it sparingly, and personally I believe if you don’t track it throughout the diet but use the same amounts you won’t see much of an issue.

5. Maryland Mini Cookies – 99kcal

These are one of my favourite snacks! I personally love biscuits and these are great again you get around 5/6 biscuits per pack and it feels a lot more! I highly recommend the double choc ones.

4. 5 Chicken satay skewers – 115kcal 

With these coming in slightly over the 100kcal but so much worth it! I buy these in ALDI, they come in a pack of 10 and you can either split it into 2 x 5 skewers or if your a bit more peckish enjoy the whole pack at only 230kcal! One of my go to snacks if I am skipping lunch until later but want something in between.

3. Choco Snap Cereal Bar – 79kcal

A big one for myself! I used to eat bowls and bowls of cereal! Usually around 90g a time with 300ml of milk but I find these are a great substitute. All the flavour of cereal but with a whole lot less calories to them.

2. Fibre One Bars – 88kcal

If you’re on a diet and you are not including these as a snack I would be surprised! Like a cake bar these are great and with so many flavours available they are perfect for changing things up. I recommend the birthday cake & the salted caramel ones. Also the ALDI version at half the price taste identical to the £2.50 version.

1. Mini Cadbury Fingers – 98kcal

Finally my favourite snack to indulge in during a calorie deficit is Cadburys Mini Fingers! Exactly the same as the real thing just in a bite size they come with around 5/6 per pack but be warned they can leave you wanting more so just be sure to stick to one bag or within your goals.

This is just a small slice of the pie! If you shop around and really take a look you will find so many great snacks that are 100kcal or less! Of course you may want to eat more than 100kcal as a snack, for me I love a sesame seed bagel with some butter or some ham as a snack though this is around 300kcal 

With a calorie deficit the world is your oyster, you have the leeway to create foods you like and eat the foods you like whilst losing weight. Don’t limit yourself to celery or carrot sticks. Find things you enjoy and make your diet fun for you 

I hope this has given you some ideas of snacks for your diet, id love to hear of any snack ideas you have or what you are currently doing? Drop them in the comments and lets help each other with some new ideas

How to Lose weight in 12 Weeks & Keep it OFF! A Weight Loss Journey Together…

If you have followed or even visited the blog in the past you may or may not know how this all started 

During the period of March – October 2019 i set out on a journey to lose weight whilst on furlough and off work! i started tracking calories in a calorie deficit and started walking 5/6 miles every single day. it was great and my weight went from around 247lb to near 200lb, i felt great, confident and was loving the way i was starting to look and feel 

Then october hit! or as i would call it, Birthday Season! i spent the next couple of month enjoying takeaway after takeaway, and found my self slowly putting the weight back on with little motivation to continue losing weight

Fast forward to now and a weight of around 228lb its time to contiunue the journey i started and get to the finish line! i watn to hit the 200lb mark again and continue to achieve the psyique i desired

So its time to get back to why i started this blog, time to focus on my goals and show you how you can all achieve it as well

This time around ill be documenting everything I’m doing including how i calculate my calories, how ill be tracking what i eat, the exercise i do, and everything in between and ill be breaking this all down so that you can also do the same if you wish 

Not only that and not only will i be doing my weekly Sunday accountability blog in which ill go over everything good and bad about the previous week but ill be offering to be your accountability coach during the 12 weeks in which we take this journey

But what does that mean for you??
Well, you will have full access to me! you will have my personal email and can get in touch anytime you like and ill reply ASAP toi help answer any questions you may have

Ill also help you work out your calories, help you with your progress tracking, and have weekly check ins to help keep you on top and ready to smash the upcoming week and achieve the goals we have set

Starting this weekend ill be posting up the first blog in which ill detail the method i use to work out my calorie goal, what ill be eating on a daily basis, any supplements ill be using, and anything food related i believe you will need to know in order to achieve your goal

Ill then be posting Day 1 of the diet on Monday evening, which will include the day 1 weigh in, and initial pictures to show my current form

The best part is everything on the blog is 100% FREE and not only that but if you want the personal approach and want me to be your accountability coach on this journey helping you smash it that will also be FREE

All you will need to do is send me a DM on either instagram (Drage_162) or Twitter (Drage162), please do this before Monday where possible and we can get started on this journey

Im allowing myself the weekend to enjoy some food and drink before getting really stuck into the diet and progressing with the 12 week plan

Ill be posting blogs on a more consistent basis, though these may be short and sweet at times during the week with short updates, tips and advice on how I’m getting by on the journey they will be relatable to your journey and helping you Win 

So Lets all work together, motivate one and other and smash it for the next 12 weeks creating something we can all be super proud of

For now Stay Safe, Stay Positive and Lets look forward to whats to come 
DRAGE162

All diets start on a Monday: Time to work on me again

Hey Everyone, welcome back to the blog!

It’s Monday once again and that can only mean one thing…it’s time to start the diet over and this time we are going to be achieving our goals.

Before this blog, my previous post was about the 75 hard and how I would be taking this challenge on and I will be doing exactly that just not right at this minute

I realised lately that I had lost a lot of motivation for dieting and exercise and every excuse I could find I was breaking diet, going to McDonalds or dominos and just not caring! until the next day when I would step on the scale and see the numbers

I have since taken a step back and thought about what I want to do in terms of diet and exercise moving forward and I’ve given my head a wobble, focused up and today marks the start of the next chapter in the journey to getting in shape

I work up today at around 6:30am not out of choice but because our 18 month old daughter decided it was time for us to be awake, I jumped out of bed and straight on the scales to be greeted with the figure of 231.0lb

Now I’m not too happy with this as if you have read any of my past lockdown lifestyle blogs you will know I got down to about 206.0lb at the beginning on the year but as I mentioned my excuses and just not being focused has put me back a bit

its now time to get back to that 206lb mark and go further in creating the physique I desire

To be honest looking at this picture I’m not overly upset by the weight gain and I don’t think my physique is in the worst place, I feel I have a solid base and with the right nutrition and exercise plan I can create something that ill be extremely happy with

So over the next 16 weeks ill be going on a journey of creating this! ill be dieting and sticking to a calorie deficit, ill be going to the gym, and ill be holding myself accountable something I have not done for a while, but something I need to do in order to achieve my goals

ill be documenting everything on the blog and will be looking to post a couple of times a week not only about the weight loss journey like in the past but touching on life in general

Im currently in the process of setting back up my twitch stream and you can catch me over their a couple of evenings a week it would actually be great to see you there and we can talk about anything in the journey

Back to the journey and the plan from here on out. Ive joined my local Pure Gym and will be aiming to achieve 3-5 sessions per week, these will be before work at around 4am! I may even add in some evening cardio from the beginning of this like I would of done with the 75 hard challenge

Ill be adding a couple of supplements into my diet which will mainly be ‘Clear Whey’ a whey protein from Myprotein and ‘Creatine Monohydrate’ I don’t feel I need to add anything in right now, the creatine will be taken daily with some cod liver oil too, and the clear whey will be used to boost my protein should I feel the need to do so

My goal for the next 16 weeks will be to get to around 200lb, though I am not completely focused on scale weight and will also judge my progress from the way I am looking in the mirror as I do feel this is more important and more beneficial for myself

Ill be posting on the blog some of the workouts I’m doing, the food I’ve been eating and we will be back to the Sunday blog in which I detail all of the good and bad points from he previous week as well as how I intend to improve on things moving forward

For now I want to thank everyone for reading this and any other blog I have posted, Ill be streaming on twitch this evening and would love to see some of you there also I’ve now added a PayPal button to my blogs and if you have enjoyed what you read you can buy me a coffee if you wish to do so

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday and a great start to the week ill be back soon with another blog, in the meantime follow me over on twitter @drage162 and lets connect on there

DEBT 2 ASSETS: FREE £20 Cash for everyone

One thing we love to do on this blog is share with you guys how you can save money

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Who am I? It’s time to get to know each other. Plus £50 GIVEAWAY

Since the start of the first lockdown back in March 2020 I have been blogging! Some times consistently and more than not of later rather inconsistently! But thats all about to change & to kick it off I thought why not get to know each other 

I want to know who is reading my blog? Who are you? Where are you from? Whats your goals, dreams and aspirations? So please drop some comments or reach out to me on social media and let’s get to know each other.
Who am I?

Lets start with a bit about me personally! I’m DRAGE162 Im your average guy who’s 32 &  living in the South West of England in North Devon right next to the beautiful beaches! I’ve been here almost my whole life and to be honest I wouldn’t change that. The beaches are close, there’s a good selection of things to do, my family is all here and it just a lovely place to live and feel blessed for living in

As for my life at home I work Full Time, I have a daughter who has just turned 2 and I live with my parter In a nice 2 bed house which we love! Though it does have a bit of work to be done on it all of which I will document on here as and when we get to it 

Why Did I Start the Blog

In all honesty I started the blog back in Lockdown 1 as a means of keeping sane and documenting my journey of weight loss! At the beginning of the lockdown I was weighing around 250lbs before getting down to around 206lb unfortunately I lost motivation these past few months and now weigh 226lbs with the view to shift this over the next 3 months before taking a holiday at the start of December 

The blog originally was aimed at Weight loss and document the lockdown through my eyes as I knew others would be in the same boat as me during the pandemic but now I want to take it in a new direction and document a lot more 

I also used the blog to document my journey through DEBT & my ideas of becoming debt free. Im still on this journey and I will continue it until the goal is achieved. This is something I also want to continue to document as I know there are many others out there in the same situation as me!
I know its not easy to talk to people at times about money, and I know you will at times feel alone but I am always available to talk via DM on twitter if needed

Where is the Blog Heading?

Its time to get back on the writing grind! Time to continue to document the journey and show others what can be achieved when you set your mind to something.

From this post out we will be back to doing exactly that. Were going to be reviving the series we previously started which will include the Lockdown Lifestyle (this was a series about my weight loss), with a new name and a new goal were going to be looking to lose 30lb over the next 100 days before my holiday! This series will include weekly weigh ins on a Sunday with a detailed overview of the week.

We’ll be continuing the debt free journey we started called Debts to Assets which was all about reducing and getting rid of our £13000 debt and getting into a position to buy our first home or even rental property! The current debt now sits at under £3000 I do believe which I amazing to think that in a year of a pandemic we achieved so much debt payments

But we are also going to be doing blogs on plenty of other bits and pieces going forward…

I started once again streaming on Twitch back in May 2021 and have found it to be incredible so far so I would like to document a bit more of this journey from any things that happen on the stream to any upgrades etc I make to the stream as I want to show people how fun streaming can be and how its not got to be focused on making money but more on making friends and having a good time 

Ill be doing a lot more around Income & Expediture including monthly budgets, bills and anything that may be happening financially during the month including credit score updates as we look to build this up 

I hope you all stick around for the blogs as we make our way towards the end of 2021 and into 2022! I want to take the time over the last 3 months of the year to create a blog to be proud of and I hope you all stick around for it!
I want to finish with some more quick fire information about me…Lets get to the stuff worth knowing.

What is my Job?

I work in retail as a deputy manager on around £21000 but I plan to progress over the next 12-18 months and become an assistant manager with a salary starting at around £30,000 – £32,000 which I will discuss more if it comes to fruition as we will need to create a new budget etc when it does

Who do I support?

Of course this is a big question! I support Arsenal through all the heart ache, pain, poor performances and dreadful times I support them!

Why Did you start streaming?

Originally i started stream around 3 years ago during the big Fortnite Hype, back when i would say Fortnite was in its prime time of gaming! I remember i would get home from work and play for hours on end, or on days off have a full day sesh with the boys online! At the time i came across DOC & TIM paying PUBG and was a huge fan fan the chemistry and the laughs they had! Like myself and our gaming friendship group

I found out you could stream direct from the XBOX which i started doing and quickly hit affiliate, but then i fell out of love with fortnite & with that i stopped streaming

2 years later, im starting all over again, making new friends, creating a community, and playing games with some great people! Im excited by getting on stream and having a vibe and love just chilling talking to chat even more than the gameplay!

For me its about having a good vibe, meeting people you can call friends and having a good laugh on the way! & thats exactly what i’m now doing.

Where can you find my stream?

Thats a good question! I stream almost everyday on TWITCH and you can find me at www.twitch.tv/drage162! I stream Warzone right now with viewers but with all the games that are coming out this year this will be changing throughout the next couple of months 

Whats my Goals for the short & long term going forward?

Short Term? To continue to grow my blog, twitch and social medias while continuing to develop at work! Become Debt Free & Lose Weight.

Long Term? To build a community on Twitch that inspire others to do the same! To motivate others to achieve their weight loss goals by helping them with plans etc! To gain the Assistant Manager role within my current company. Purchase my first House / Rental Property & build a health extra source of additional income.

Thats it for now! But if you have any questions for me at all you can ask away in the comments or find me on social media and ask away 

You can find me online at all of these great places! Come and show some love and support today!

What you Should & Shouldn’t eat in a calorie deficit? How to lose weight and keep it off…

If you’ve been following the blog over the past couple of days you will already know that from tomorrow (Mon 19th July) we will be starting a new 12 week journey in which we will be looking to lose weight and get back to where we were post lockdown 1

During this i will be sharing all of the knowledge i have gained over the years of following diets etc and will show you how you can do the same too

We have so far gone over the journey and yesterday i posted up a blog in which i detailed how to calculate your calories which you can find HERE if you missed it

Today we will go over what you should and shouldn’t be eating during your calorie deficit diet

As we all know with most ‘Diets’ there is a list of foods which are frowned upon
In Weight Watchers you go for the lower point foods, with slimming world you look to use less syns, with Keto you stay clear of carbs, so what do you stay away from during a calorie deficit

For all the latest on the diet, how being a dad is going, and the journey to financial freedom stop by the new website http://www.FatherandFinance.com

Well to put it simply the answer is NOTHING

During this diet we will not be keeping away from any foods!! 

The whole point of this journey is to change your mindset and your view on food, it is to show you that even on a diet you can enjoy life and enjoy the food you like 

During the diet if you want to eat some pizza, eat some pizza!

If you want ice cream, enjoy that ice cream

If you have a night out planned, enjoy your night out and have a drink

There is a way to enjoy everything in life without you feeling like you can and cant eat an item

Im not saying that you should go out and consume a 30 piece KFC bucket meal every day, but I’m also not going to tell you not too do it now and then 
For me a calorie deficit is the best diet as you can decide what makes up the calories in the day 

When I was losing weight last year and doing well I would have weeks where I had mcdonalds 3 times! YES!! 3 Times!! thats because i would use the calorie calculator on their website and i would then input this into myfitnesspal 
Ive had countless trips out for lunch, or for a pint while on a calorie deficit
The main take away is that you can have what you like as long as you are tracking correctly, and hitting your calorie goals

Over the next 12 weeks will I cut any foods out? NO of course i wont

Will I show you the foods I have eaten? YES, ill be putting up some blogs with ‘what i eat in a day’ to show exactly what I’m saying to you all 

Obviously you want your diet to be good nutritious food but remember you only have one life and you have to enjoy it!

For me a couple of my go to foods and drinks are detailed below, feel free to try any you like, i have added links to these products and i do get a commission on these but you are not obliged to purchase any of these 

Shukers Butchers Extra Lean Meat Hamper

This is a great buy and comes with plenty of great meat to get you started to make some delicious meals! Originally me and my partner won one of these hampers in a raffle and have since used these over and over again to stock up the fridge/freezer and keep us going 
Included in the hamper is  

4 Chicken Fillets (minimum weight 450 g)

4 Salt & Pepper Chicken Burgers (minimum weight 400 g)

4 Beef Frying Steaks (minimum weight 400 g)

Diced Chicken (minimum weight 450 g)

Beef Rump Steak Strips (minimum weight 400 g)

Less than 5% Fat Beef Steak Mince (minimum weight 450 g)

1 Whole Chicken (minimum weight 1.1 kg)

Monster Energy Ultra

For me personally I like to drink these in the morning to start the day or to be honest just drink them throughout the day! These are a sweet drink and its nice to have a Zero calorie drink available if you have a sweet tooth personally. Of course you don’t have to opt for Monster you could look to have some of your favourite zero calorie soft drink like Coke Zero, Sprite Zero, Dr Pepper Zero etc

Creatine Monohydrate

Now this one isn’t for everyone but personally i like to have a glass of water in the morning mixed with some creatine especially when I’m back to the gym for the many health benefits including 

• Scientifically proven to increase physical performance
• Can help improve strength and power
• Created with premium grass-fed whey
• scientifically proven to increase physical performance
• can help improve strength and power

Cod Liver Oil Tablets

This again is a personal choice but for me a cod liver oil tablet first thing in the morning is essential to help with joints and movement especially if your going to be ion the gym or like me want to be playing football 

So thats that! The Does and Don’t of eating in a calorie deficit, less don’t and more do!

If you do have any question on the subject feel free to drop a comment below, or DM me on instagram or twitter and ill be sure to get back to you ASAP with the answers 

For now lets enjoy this beautiful weather today and get set for the start of the diet tomorrow!

Stay Safe, Stay Positive and Get Ready for the Journey 
Drage162