Week 1 Weigh-In, SMASH Bowls, and Rucking Forward
Week one down!
I started this round at:
20st 7.1lbs
After my morning walk today:
19st 6.6lbs
That’s over a stone gone in my first week.
Obviously a lot of that is water weight and glycogen depletion early on, but I honestly don’t care, the point is momentum, it proves to myself that I’m actually back following the system properly again.
And this time around something clicked much earlier than it did before.
The Discovery of the SMASH Bowl
I accidentally built a meal that solves most of the problems dieting normally creates. The issue with most low calorie food is simple:
it doesn’t keep you full.
That’s why most people fail, you can only white-knuckle hunger for a while… and then eventually you crack.
But high protein low calorie food is different entirely. That’s where my SMASH Bowl comes from.
Not because it was “healthy” in the “Instagram influencer” sense. I tried to find a convenient way of doing Cole Robinson’s latest obsession; because it actually works.
Discovering the Point of Tuna
I genuinely never understood tuna before this, I always thought of it as boring “diet food”.
Turns out:
tuna is basically lean protein technology.
High protein. Low calorie. Actually filling.
And tuna salad is actually an unreal savoury treat, once I started combining it properly with flavour and texture, everything changed.
Then the experimentation started.
Swapping Out the Fatty Meat
This phase isn’t about comfort food, it’s about efficiency. So the fatty meat got swapped out for leaner protein sources that actually support the goal.
The Staple:
- Tuna
Tuna is the foundation protein source and the rest is rotated so that it’s a little different everyday.
Current rotation:
- Sardines
- Mackerel
- Herring
- Haddock
- Wild Pink Salmon
- Skinless Chicken Thigh
And then the secret weapon:
4 diced anchovies. An absolute flavour explosion. That salty umami hit changes the entire bowl.
It turns a “diet meal” into something you actually look forward to eating.
The Sauce & Spice Discovery
Another thing that most people underestimate:
sauces matter more than the base.
The bowl can completely change personality depending on what gets added. Zero kcal sauces have become a cheat code during this phase.
Different spices, different sauce combinations and swapping out the type of fish that gets added daily.
It becomes a completely different meal everytime I experience it without changing the calories all that much at all, and that’s important psychologically. Because repetition kills diets faster than hunger does.
Fibre, Crunch & Volume
The extra ingredients are doing a lot of work too, and not just for nutrition… they add texture & satiety to each and every bite.
Current additions:
- Pickles
- Grated carrot
- Pickled Granny Smith apples
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Not fibre but I like to add 30g of Protein Cheese (*77kcal- but worth it)
Still experimenting with this side of things; the goal is finding combinations that:
- add volume
- making it crunchier
- increase how full I get to feel
- while most importantly keep the calories low
SMASH Bowls will probably evolve over the next few weeks. But the core idea is staying.
Berries Are the Perfect Dessert
Another thing from my first round of doing this:
berries are elite dieting food.
Raspberries especially. Low calorie. Sweet. High fibre. Actually refreshing after a savoury meal.
Way better than trying to fake dessert with nonsense that just makes you hungrier again afterwards.
The more I eat like this… the more obvious it becomes why ultra-processed food is such a trap.
Most of it is:
- high calorie
- low satiety
- easy to overeat
Basically the exact opposite of what you want during fat loss.
The Ruck Plan
This time I’ve added another layer:
rucking.
Weighted walks… I had a weighted vest last time; but my brother bought me rucking plates for Christmas this year (A bag is so much more comfortable.)
The structure is simple.
| Week | Weight |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | 9kg |
| Week 2 | 10kg |
The plan is to add:
1kg per week Provided that I can handle it seamlessly without issues.
And by the time I get home my t-shirts are absolutely soaked. But that’s the whole point; more output, conditioning and adaptation. And unlike random cardio sessions… Walking is actually sustainable and that matters more than intensity.
The Real Lesson So Far
The biggest thing I’ve learned this week is this:
satiety is the entire game.
If you can stay full consistently, then everything will become easier. High protein, low calorie meals genuinely solve that problem better than almost anything else I’ve tried.
The funny part is: the SMASH Bowl tastes better to me than a lot of the junk food that helped get me overweight in the first place. That’s probably the biggest surprise of week one.