Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes

Complete Meal Green Smoothie Recipes & Diet Plans

My Green Smoothie Challenge Part 1 (What I ate)

My Green Smoothie Challenge (Part 1) What I ate

My 7 day Green Thickie Challenge (No.1)LEAN GREEN SMOOTHIE CHALLENGE

 

I have already lost 56 pounds on a green smoothie diet plus my additional baby weight but I have a few pounds left that I want to lose.  So I am currently participating in my own Green Thickies challenge.  Find out how I’m getting on at the mid week point of this challenge and what I’ve learned so far.  It’s definitely already been an emotional rollercoaster.

UPDATE: Join our the all new Lean Green Smoothie Challenge.  

Click here to join

What I usually eat

Up until now I haven’t thought it would be very interesting for people to see what I eat every day as lately it has consisted of Green Thickies for breakfast, Green Thickies for lunch and a cooked meal on top of a massive salad for dinner.  If I had snacks in the evening, I might have kale chips, spinach ice cream, fruit ice cream, more green smoothies or oat cakes with home made jam, peanut butter or date syrup.

** Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that I can receive a small payment if you make a purchase through my links.

Why I’m doing a Green Thickies challenge

Katherine Natalia drinking a Green ThickieHowever this week I’m doing something slightly different. I am setting myself a challenge to eat nothing but green thickies all week.  The reasons I want to do this are:

  • To see if I feel any healthier by having a short detox
  • To see if I drop any of the last few pounds I’m carrying
  • To drop down to the next dress size.  I’ve been between sizes for a while now and I’d like to be able to buy a pair of jeans as I can’t find any clothes to fit me.
  • To test my willpower as it’s been a while since I restricted my diet like this
  • To save time on cooking, washing up and chewing food.
  • To find out how many calories I’m eating in one day.  I’m very interested to find this out as I’ve never counted my calories all day.
  • To see if I can eat more intuitively based on hunger rather than because it’s time for dinner.

Monitoring my meals with My Fitness Pal

I am currently trying my green thickie challenge. Find out how I'm getting on hereI usually use Cronometer to calculate the nutritional information that I provide for Green Thickies recipes, but I was introduced to My Fitness Pal recently as a good way to record a food diary and get a support network of people all trying to reach their ideal weight and get fit.  So I thought I’d give that a try this week.

I signed up and was asked how many pounds I’d like to lose in a week.  I selected 2 as I thought that was achievable.  I was then told to lose 2 pounds this week I could only eat 1200 calories each day.  I had already had my breakfast and some of my lunch so I inputted my meals so far and was horrified to see I’d gone way over my calories already for the day.  So I asked for some help in a forum and it caused quite a stir.

Should you lose weight based on calorie intake?

I can see the pros and cons of logging calories to help you lose weight.  I think looking at calories is a great way to keep your diet in check and make sure you’re not eating way too much food.  It’s especially good if you’re the type of person who never feels full and could keep on eating all day long.  It’s good to be aware of the number of calories in certain foods so you can ensure that you don’t eat too much but also that you don’t eat too little which is equally as important.

I believe it’s very hard to tell exactly how many calories you are burning each day so it’s hard to eat exactly the right number to make sure you lose weight.  You can estimate it but it can end up being way out like I believe mine was.

I wasn’t asked if I was breastfeeding but I soon discovered I should be logging about 500 calories that could be burned due to breastfeeding.

I had also set my activity level to lightly active, but who knows if lifting a baby all day long actually uses much more calories than I thought.

It also may not be good to just follow calories alone to lose weight as you might not take exercise into account.  Next Wednesday I’m going to focus more on talking about exercise, why we should ditch our scales if we’re doing weight training, and getting your dream body next week during my next What I ate Wednesday post.

All calories are not created equally

Another reason I believe it’s not great to solely rely on counting calories is that not all calories are created equally.  I believe weight comes off much more easily when you eat unprocessed whole foods such as an abundance of fruit and veg.

My results so far on the Green Thickie challenge

You'll be blown away by this aromatic Blackberry Basil SmoothieI’m only half way through my challenge so I’ll update you again next week with my final results at the end of the week but here is what I can report so far:

  • Despite going over my calories on the first day I still had lost 2lbs the next morning.
  • The second time I stayed within the calories which included additional calories for breastfeeding and other exercise. The next morning I had lost 2lbs yet again which amazed me.
  • I’ve been eating to hunger, only having a meal when I’m hungry and stopping when I’m full.  I’ve been logging the calories I’ve consumed rather than restricting myself and trying to eat a certain number of calories.  It’s been very easy to stop drinking when I’m full.  My body simply won’t let me drink anymore which again is unusual for me.
  • I’ve had no cravings whatsoever for any other type of food.
  • Despite only getting 4 hours sleep the first night and 3 hours the second night due to my baby not sleeping, I have coped just fine just feeling slightly tired, not unable to cope as I would normally on this little sleep.
  • I’ve felt very light and I’ve still had enough energy to do some light exercise despite the lack of sleep which is unusual for me.
  • I have saved so much time cooking meals and washing up that I’ve got to spend loads more time playing with my baby and taking her on trips which I’ve absolutely loved.
  • While I’ve been eating to hunger, and not set meal times, I do seem to consume more of my calories earlier on in they day.  The saying, ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper’ has been true for me and I feel much better eating this way.

I’ll update you again next week with any more revelations from this diet.

So without further ado, I’ll show you exactly what I ate on one of the days of the challenge.

Breakfast

I drank both servings of my Cool Breeze Mint and Pineapple Smoothie .  I really enjoy this smoothie as it’s so refreshing and wakes me up in the morning.

This cool breeze mint and pineapple smoothie will refresh you first thing in the morning.

Lunch

I again drank both servings of the Key Lime Pie Green Thickie.  You can find the recipe for the Key Lime Pie Smoothie here.  It’s adapted from the Key Lime Pie Green Smoothie on Healthful pursuit.  I fell in love with this smoothie and I’ve made it several times since I first tried it, in fact I can’t get enough of it.

Try this Healthy Key Lime Pie Smoothie once, love it forever.

Dinner

I started to get hungry later on in the evening so I just had one serving of my Banana and Peanut Butter smoothie.

Once you've tried this Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie it will become a regular recipe in your house.

So a day full of smoothies isn’t the most inspiring day for you I’m sure.  There’s no food for drooling over here, but that’s not my aim.  My aim is to help you to feel full of life and health and realise your ideal weight.  But believe me these smoothies are gorgeous and I haven’t felt at all deprived this week while drinking only green thickies.

Find out What I ate Wednesday with my Green Thickie Challenge

My high calorie intake

A lot of people might be wondering why I drink both servings of my green thickies if they are supposed to only be one serving.  I can only say that I don’t always drink both servings, a lot of the time I just drink one serving.  I think at the moment my body is telling me it needs more food and I listen to it as I know the food I am giving it is the healthiest food I can find.  The fact that I still lost weight tells me that I was right to listen to my body and eat until I was full.

I also have a higher need for food than usual as I’m breastfeeding, and my body needed a bit more energy due to lack of sleep.

We are all different and we all require a different amount of food to sustain ourselves.  If you feel like one serving is too little for you also, then feel free to eat more, if one serving is too much then simply reduce the recipe down to suit your own needs.  I just provide one serving on my recipes based on what I normally eat.  However this does change especially if I have a bigger cooked dinner at night, I won’t be as hungry in the morning.  So I think because I’ve been having smaller smoothies for dinner, that’s another reason why I’m hungrier in the morning for a double serving.

Find out how I got on during my first 7 Day Green Thickie ChallengeIf you want to check out my MyFitnessPal profile, you’re welcome to have a look here, and if you’re a member I would love it if you added yourself as a friend and said hello.  You can see exactly what I’ve been eating for every day of my challenge.  However I wouldn’t advise that you copy exactly what I’ve eaten for your own weight loss journey, as all our calorie requirements are different.

So this has ended up being quite a long post, but I think it was important to explain my views on tracking calories and share my week with you as it’s been quite an eye opener for me.

Read my final results here on this 7 day Green Thickie challenge.

Do you ever track your calories?  Are you on any special diet?  What is the best way you’ve found to lose weight?  Comments always put a smile on my face, so please take a minute to say hello below.  Many thanks.

Do you want to try a Green Thickie?  This basic Green Thickie Recipeis the perfect starting point.

UPDATE: This Green Smoothie Challenge Post was so popular, I created a challenge that you can join and get the same results.  Join our brand new Lean Green Smoothie Challenge.  

Click here to join

LEAN GREEN SMOOTHIE CHALLENGE

Pin this by clicking here:

My Green Smoothie Challenge (Part 1) What I ate

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off?

Are you feeling run down and are struggling with ever increasing health problems?

Green Thickies new 7 Day Detox will help you drop a dress size, improve your skin, your energy will soar and you are going to be so in control and proud of yourself.

You won't go hungry on this diet ... And better yet - it actually requires minimal time in the kitchen.

Get results like this...

Hi Katherine,

I just wanted to tell you I completed the 7 day detox and I feel so great.

I have lost 6lbs, do not feel like I need more my morning coffee, the flushing of my facial skin from rosacea has dramatically reduced and I am so excited to wake up each morning and make a green thickie for breakfast!!

I am a stay at-home, homeschooling momma of 3 littles and at times so busy I would forget to feed myself!

I would go most of the day without eating and then snack on random things.

I gained 60 pounds the last 6 years during pregnancy.

I have lost 30lbs but recently plateaued and have felt so frustrated.

I’ve tried everything from paleo and keto to the point where I didn’t know what to eat or how much and felt like even eating fruit was bad for me which thankfully it’s not!

What a game changer for me. Thank you for sharing a simple but effective program.

I’m so excited to continue another week with this plan! Thankful Stephanie

Use this special voucher to get $10 off: WEBSITE (Add discount code WEBSITE at the checkout)

Click here to get started

Katherine Kyle @ Green Thickies
Latest posts by Katherine Kyle @ Green Thickies (see all)
Smoothies For Weight Loss Bundle

Free SMOOTHIE WEIGHT LOSS BUNDLE

For A Limited Time, Grab Your FREE 260+ Page Smoothies For Weight Loss Bundle so you can:

  • Shed your excess weight without hunger or cravings
  • Triple your energy levels without needing coffee
  • Get glowing, clear skin without expensive creams
envelope
envelope

Comments

  1. i have also just started on myfitnesspal & was surprised at how many calories I was consuming. I have a healthy diet but am struggling to lose weight so this may be just the thing that gets that moving. I will be sure to say hello to you over there, I havent been on the forums as yet.
    I was wondering if your babies sleep patterns this week could be anything to do with your sudden weight loss, sometimes when we drop weight quickly our body releases ketones( like when on a ketogenic diet) this could possibly upsetting your bub thru your breast milk. Please take this in a positive way, no judgement intended. I am a mum to 4 kids & know that exhausted, sleep deprived feeling.
    Cant wait to see your results for the week, I dont think I would have the disipline to do a week of smoothies!!

    Reply

    • Hi Trish, Yes I think it’s definitely good to be aware of calories and if you’re able to cut down without restricting yourself too much it can just what you need to get the pounds shifted. Sometimes high calorie treats can quickly sneak into your diet. The healthier I eat the more in tune with my body I get. My body seems to tell me exactly what I need now which is great where as when I ate a lot of processed sugary stuff my blood sugar levels were all over the place and I was always hungry so much easier to overeat. Yes it will be great to connect with you over there. I’ve since heard via a few more people that a lot of people receive negativity over the forums so be prepared if you ever go on them.
      Good point about my baby’s sleep patterns. She’s been not sleeping well for a few weeks now but it did get especially bad the last few days, but then again she was also given some unhealthy foods to eat that she’s not used to (without my knowledge) and she seemed to have a bad reaction to that too, so it’s probably a bit combination of everything, plus she’s teething. That’s interesting about the ketones going through the breast milk.
      Wow 4 kids, I can’t imagine how exhausting that must be, sleep deprived and running after 4 kids!
      To be honest it’s been so easy eating smoothies as I haven’t had to cook or wash up, less household chores are well worth it!
      Thank you for visiting Green Thickies.

      Reply

  2. I’m sorry to hear you’ve been receiving negativity! But you’re right, when you put yourself out there on the internet it’s bound to happen.

    Your daily eats look amazing and I love how you showed us what a day in your challenge looks like.

    So great about all the benefits too :) Congrats!

    Reply

    • Hi Gabby, yes I’ve heard it’s common on the forums on that website but still it’s upsetting when it’s the first time it happens. I’m developing a thick skin for that kind of thing but it will take practice.
      I’ve actually really enjoyed my challenge so far, but I am looking forward to some food to chew again, some yummy salads on Saturday.

      Reply

  3. You deserve much more than negative treatment my friend – stay true to the facts you believe in :)
    I am so glad you have started WIAW! :)
    Also I haven’t been receiving your new posts in my emails :S – could you if possible please check the subscription?
    Thank you!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply

    • Aww that’s so kind of you thank you. Just what I needed to hear! Yes you’re totally right. We have to stay true to what we believe in, otherwise who would we be? Sorry to hear you’ve not been receiving my posts via email. I did check and you’re not on the list. Did you confirm the subscription. Maybe try again? Let me know if it doesn’t work a second time. Thanks so much for subscribing. Thank you :-)

      Reply

  4. I’m sorry to hear about the negative responses, I read the thread that I think you’re referring to and I think you handled it incredibly well – which is probably why *overall* in the end you got mostly positive responses, including some interest in your recipes. I’ve always stayed out of the forums because … well, feeding trolls is not on my list of hobbies ;)

    I do still hope it turns out to be a useful experience for you, even just as an interesting experiment. I think these types of sites are great as an educational tool, and you can take as much or as little from them as you need. Oh well :D

    I disagree about there being nothing to drool over: that spoonful of peanut butter looks good to me, and having had that banana-PB smoothie I can definitely say it’s drool-worthy :)

    Reply

    • Thank you Jenny. It’s hard not to react badly when people are so critical so I had to count to 10 before responding so I wouldn’t have more of an emotional response! Yes a lot of people have been interested in my recipes through the website so it’s been positive on the whole, so I think I’ll stay on there, and maybe brave the forums once in a while if I’m feeling strong enough! I’ve heard others say that about the forums too that they’ve had such a negative response so at least I know it’s not just me. But yes it’s been great to get on there and meet people, make some friends, share some tips etc. Overall I think there is a great community of people there, but like everywhere you’ll get people trying to spoil the experience. No I’ll definitely stay on there and chat even if I don’t continue to log my calories.
      Thank you, yes I do agree about peanut butter, it is quite drool worthy isn’t it lol. I recently switched brands and it isn’t half as nice so can’t wait to get back to my favourite pb again.

      Reply

  5. Hi Katherine, so sorry about the negative responses you’ve received. Ignore them! I think you’re awesome! I think I’m going to do a 7-day green thickie challenge too, so I can see if my body likes it! So excited! Keep up the awesome work. You are appreciated!

    Reply

    • Hi Gina, aww how lovely of you. Yes you’re right, better to ignore negative feedback, I don’t mind constructive criticism though. Wow that’s excellent that you’re going to do a 7 day green thickie challenge one. I think I’ll start one the week after next for other people to participate in publicly but of course you are welcome to start whenever you like. I’d love to know how you get on and feel free to ask me anything you like. I also really appreciate your feedback and inspiring comments. Hope you’ve had a great weekend.

      Reply

  6. This is awesome! I was doing a search for green smoothie recipes to start a detox and I happened upon your site. Wow! You have really great ideas. I plan to try your regular meal plan (breakfast and lunch smoothies, vegetarian dinner) starting today. I will definetly return to see your posting updates.

    Bon Apetit!

    Reply

  9. Hi Katherine,!

    Glad to see things are going well. I am going to read up on your conclusion in a bit, but I wanted to chime in here as well.

    Currently I am doing a RAW challenge, so I just started tracking my calories on CRON-o-meter. I definitely know what you mean about tracking calories is not the only way to lose weight. I’ve been tracking for about 6 days – and let me tell you, I really hate tracking calories. However, what I noticed before I made a huge push to eat more calories, is that I WASN’T EATING ENOUGH! to sustain my lifestyle (breastfeeding, chasing a 1 year old, dancing and extreme fitness workouts). I was only getting close to 1400 calories when I didn’t try. I was loosing weight dramatically, but a pound or 2 every day for several days is probably not the healthiest. So I upped my calories, ie I’ve been eating around 2400 calories daily and have either maintained or lost ever 2 days a pound or so. I’m much happier with that. It’s amazing how MORE food can actually make you lose. But again it’s the food you’re eating as well, not just the calories.
    Best of luck with the upcoming public challenge. Depending on where it falls, I might join!!
    Lia

    Reply

    • Hi Lia,

      That RAW challenge sounds interesting. What does that involve? Yes that’s very interesting that you weren’t eating enough calories. I think it’s easy to do especially when you’re breastfeeding and have a young child. Everyone on the MFP forum was horrified at my high calorie intake but you have to provide your body with enough energy to sustain your own lifestyle and we’re all totally different. It’s horrible eating too little calories as you start feeling so weak and it leads to massive binges. That’s great that you’re still losing weight despite ramping up your calorie intake, but that’s one good reason for tracking calories to ensure you do actually get enough. Thank you for sharing this. I think it’s very important for others to hear that I’m not the only one eating a lot of calories and still managing to lose weight. Are you drinking green smoothies as part of your challenge. I think I’m going to post an invitation to my challenge next week but officially start it at the start of October so it gives people a chance to prepare for it. I hope you can join in too.
      Katherine

      Reply

  10. sorry to hear you have gotten negativity… to make you laugh I have been getting referrences from a porn site. I was horrified. I check on line it is a common spammer cover. Just don’t click on the links and they go away.
    You look terrific don’t worry what others say, if it is right for your body stick with it.

    Reply

  11. Hi Katherine,

    Thanks for linking up to WW again this week! Just so you know, the event is for recipes only (sorry if that’s not clear in the guidelines!). :)

    Reply

  12. Hi Katherine,
    What a great looking smoothie, yum! Hope you are having a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply

    • That’s great Sarah. Do you like green smoothies now? I lost all my baby weight with Green Thickies and felt so good (once I’d cut out the junk too!) It’s so good for your baby too especially if you’re breast feeding, but watch out for your baby having green poops! Strange I know, but the colour seems to actually come through your milk!

      Reply

  17. This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing this information last week on Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you have for this week’s party! Have a great week.
    Michelle

    Reply

  19. HI Katherine,

    Thanks for an awesome website and your inspirational recovery story. Sorry to hear about the negativity but you know CFS attracts some of the most deeply ingrained victims I’ve ever come across (me included! lol) Thank goodness I finally got over that, but you know after 20 years I let myself get slack on my diet, even though I knew it was important.

    Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I know eating a clean diet is what my body needs. It’s the final piece in the puzzle I reckon and finally I feel that I can too have good health again. I just saw health advocate Don Tolman speak and now I’ve come across your site so I’m convinced it’s a message – now I just have to get on with it! Will give your recipes a go, does make it easier if you’ve got something to follow.

    Thanks again and keep up the good work :)

    Reply

    • Thank you Shane. It’s so easy to get sidetracked even when we know a healthy diet is what our bodies need. We need constant reminders, help and support to keep ourselves on track. That’s why I love blogging. It holds you accountable and I am really encouraged by all the great comments such as yours that keep me going on my journey towards improved health!

      Reply

  20. What an awesome website! My boyfriend and I have been fans of green smoothies, but have had issues with them being not filing enough. After booking plane tickets to Las Vegas, we decided it was time to make a change, so we’ve decided to start the 7day Green Thickie Challenge starting on Sunday. We love cooking together, and are already excited about planning out our meals. Do you have any favorite recipes when doing complete meal replacement with Green Thickies?

    Reply

  21. Hi,
    I have read quite a bit of your site and am inspired! Just wanted to ask a couple of questions –
    1.For the 7 day challenge do you just have the same three smoothies every day? I thought there would be 7 days worth (including a handy shopping list?!)
    2. On the subject of shopping lists – you’ve put one somewhere else on the site but I’m not sure which smoothies/thickies you make from the ingredients?
    Anyway, love the website – great to find a British site as the American ones have ingredients that are hard to get hold of here and very expensive and complicated. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to food so the simplicity of your recipes really appeals to me.
    Thanks for a fab site. :-)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

FREE  Smoothie For Weight Loss  SIGNATURE RECIPE

DOWNLOAD NOW