didn't cook a thing!

I love days where I lift not a finger, yet eat well.
I somehow skipped breakfast today, naughty naughty.
At lunchtime we were out, so I bought a bowl of delicious pasta with a plain but delicious tomato sauce. Dinner, Sainsbury's were selling ready cooked chicken pieces for 15p each! So we had chicken salad today...never cooked a thing all day, wonderful!
Oh and for dessert, fresh strawberries, raspberries and banana with a banana custard low fat youghurt......oh my, heaven in a bowl!

double your money......

A bit more respectable this time, 4lbs off, if Ican do that every 2 weeks, well I shall be a happy camper. Hooray, we love to see the numbers sliding towards the goal weight.
Slimfast today for breakfast and lunch, I was getting weighed at 2pm and didn't want to eat too much, dinner is a chili, mad with half ground beef and half quorn ( vegetable substitute) I'll throw in some celery and plenty of garlic, served with rice and some great hot salsa......yum.

Things I couldnt live without!!

Garlic,
Tinned tomatoes.
Onion powder.
Highlights hot chocolate drink.
Sparkling water.
Slimfast for breakfast.
Black pepper.
One cal frying spray.

Things I miss.
Crisps ( chips)
Chips ( fries)
Friday night treats like yummy cake from the local bakery.
Bread with butter.
cheese.
Hey, that's not a very big list is it?? Cool. I am missing most of it less, bread and crisps are a big miss for me, oh well, losing weight is better !!

Things I dont miss at all ( that I thought I would)

Pizza.
Mac Donalds.
CHOCOLATE!! ( imagine that!)
So, I get to work towards the next two weeks and aim for at least 4lbs..6 would be even better!! With the increase in exercise, who knows, I might even do it! Take your bets please!

t

I have done it!

I bought a fat burning exercise video today...of course that doesn't mean I'll actually do it!! I feel positive though, I can imagine making the floor shake when the family sleeps, unaware that a strange and wonderful thing is happening downstairs!! I just have to find a way to speed this weight loss up, slow is good, but this slow is soul destroying!!
Oh Jordan had a MacDonalds bacon burger today ( actually he had THREE!) it smelled so GOOD! I asked him for just one bite. It stuck in my throat and seriously made me gag, bye bye greasy food, my body is beginning to hate you!

Slimfast, of course.
Lunch was a super fast Vegemite sandwich.
Dinner...I can hardly wait! Lean and juicy rump steak, baked potato, green beans and garlic mushrooms.....MMMMMMMMMM!!


Diet? What diet!!?? ( and yes, I like my steak WELL done...that yellow stuff? English mustard, delicious with steak.

Rice and things.

It seems I have more rice these days than ever before. A good thing I suppose as I don't like it nearly as much as potatoes, so I don't want to eat as much.( in fact, I usually don't want to eat any most days!!)
I will be weighed on tuesday..I honestly have no idea how these past 2 weeks gone, I know I have stuck with it, walked and exercised...my scales are a total waste of time, they vary by 5-6lbs every time I get on them...if I get on, get off and back on again they say a different weight, so, I haven't bothered using them and haven't checked on mum's scales either. I get so despondant if I can't see a change so I just do what I do and hope when I am weighed at the DRs I will be happy. I am resigned to the fact that this is going to be a long haul thing. In my 40's I am told that the weight is harder and slower to lose, as long as I DO lose it I am happy. If I just lose a pound a week i will be at goal in a year, more or less..not too long and I will be more sure of keeping it off, more sure to have changed my eating habits for good.

Slimfast for breakfast.
Lunch was our main meal today...rice with a pork, green thai curry.
I used a paste I bought at a Thai shop and what a difference, strong and creamy. I also used a can of campbells mushroom soup instead of coconut milk.
Dnner will be a delicious sandwich. fresh fruit salad for dessert.

H is in the kitchen!

Slimfast
Delicious soup, chicken and tomato, sainsburys own diet recipe, and a ham sandwich for lunch.
H is cooking CHICKEN ADOBOE FROM THE PHILIPPINES

1 c. vinegar
1 head garlic
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1 chicken, cut up
1 1/2 to 2 c. water
Cooking oil for frying

In a saucepan, combine vinegar, garlic, pepper, bay leaf and soy sauce. Put chicken in sauce. Soak for 3 hours or more. Add water and simmer uncovered until tender. Strain sauce. Set aside. Brown garlic and chicken in cooking oil. You may thicken sauce to spoon over chicken. Serve with rice.

for dinner, I love this dish!

Get out QUICK!

Today felt like it was going to be one of those hard to stick to the diet days...kids all miserable and snotty and whining, yet more rain, I wondered how I was going to get through the day without eating junk and more more junk, just to break the monotony of it all. I went out. It worked, like a charm, I just went grocery shopping and as I walked realised how comfortable my clothes are feeling and looked at all the great food I could eat, I stocked up on the fixings for a beauty of a fruit salad, bought some chicken and lean pork steaks, crisis avoided for today!
Slimfast ( I love it that these are so satisfying for me at breakfast time)
Lunch was a sandwich with vegemite and watercress, has to be great bread though, wholemeal with some extra grain is great.
Dinner...mmmmmm I am slow roasting a beef joint, it's staying in all day, being cooked in some water so I make a gravy later. We'll have that with some mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables. Fruit salad with yoghurt and honey for dessert.

restful day.

Ahhhh lovely day so far, slimfast for breakfast and went back to sleep til NOON!A veritable treat for an insomniac and thankyou to gramma for having the noisy Eli boy once a week so such treasures are possible.
Baked beans on wholemeal toast for lunch
Dinner, this evening, is going to be spaghetti, the sauce is going to be made from turkey rashers ( or lean bacon if you can't find the turkey rashers) crisp the bacon, add mushrooms and brown them, black pepper, garlic, chopped bell pepper, half teaspoon of crushed chilli, basil, tinned tomatoes and voila! DELICIOUS and with the turkey rashers, so low in fat and calories it is a dieters dream!

Food glorious food!

Sometimes, the need is greater than the willpower, however, there is usually a way to fit in the things you crave. Today, I am having Fish and chips for dinner, having had my slimfast and wafer thin ham sandwich, skipped any snack I bought some low fat oven chips and oven bake cod, still delicious, crispy and with vinegar every bit as tasty as fish and chips from the shop, just way less fat!

Until my poor, unaccustomed to exercise body gets more used to the shock of moving, I am walking every day and using my stertchy resistance band thingumies every other day. I am marvellous.
Snacks....cereal bar, or a bowl of cornflakes and banana, or fitness with fruit ( kind of like special K) usually 1 or 2 a day.

Caught in the act.

Slimfast ( although it seems a long time ago1!) for breakfast.
Lunch was a wholemeal bread sandwich, wafer thin ham and mustard.
Dinner is stuffed marrow, this time I used courgettes, red peppers, mushrooms, lean, ground beef ( only needs a very small amount of meat if you pack it with vegetables)tinned tomatoes ( where would I be without tinned tomatoes??) garlic, black pepper, basil.If you're not dieting, serve with delicious crusty bread. Heaven.
Oh picture this.....I have this exercise thing, looks like 4 hoops of very strong elastic, joined with little balls. Well, last night, just when I thought it was safe I let rip with that thing. I did sit ups and leg raises, I stretched arm muscles, you name it, I did it. Just as I was feeling stretched and,to be honest a bit marvellous and fit and feeling that actually, maybe I should make a video and become famous and have followers like any self respecting fitness guru, lying on my back, legs akimbo, feet in elastic stirrupy type things, in walked Jordan. Usually, Jordan makes more noise than a rampaging elephant, not last night- he must have crept in, he MUST have, because I know I wasn't grunting or huffing, certainly not groaning or anything. I couldn't have been more embarrassed if he had caught me in a compromising position with the lovely H. He, naturally, wasn't a bit shy at finding his mother in her pyjamas flinging her legs all over the place, He mentioned something about putting a medicine ball on my chest and doing sit ups....cheeky git, I didn't go through all that surgery having cumbersome weights removed from my chest to start putting leather balls in their place!!
Oh please let me get thin, hopefully in a reasonably short time, no 2 years or something......at least let me see some difference soon!!

If I were the diet fairy.

So, back on track ( not that I ever really got off. you need to know that, no chocolate, no chips and no ANYTHING really sinful and therefore delicious) my mind is back on the straight and narrow and today I had Slimfast for breakfast AND lunch, not because I am a paragon of dieting but because my head hurt ( still hurts) and the choice between fannying around making lunch or going to bed for a nice nap actually wasn't a choice, Slimfast have some gorgeous smoothies, so a shake for breakfast and raspberry smoothie for lunch, yum.
Dinner was lamb, roasted, sliced and then added to a simply divine sauce made with nothing more than tinned tomatoes, onions, black pepper and some beans. Cooked all afternoon til it fell apart and served with rice. Very good. Oh and anyone know why suddenly I can't do colours? Where'd my colour thingy go???
Oh and today, even though it was a bit drizzly and grey and where the hell is the sun? And even though my car is fixed, I STILL walked the mile to school and back, if I were the diet fairy I would definately make it law that anyone walking when they don't have to burns twice the calories. Seems only fair.

Better day today.

I decided that I just have to get on with this and kick it up a gear. I think, although I have stuck with it, I have been bored with it and stopped making the meals exciting. So, today I am starting anew.
Breakfast was sunflower seed toast with tinned tomatoes.
Lunch,wholemeal and ham sandwich, fresh fruit salad with natural yoghurt and a drizzle of honey ( that was SO good!!)
Dinner is grilled pork steak with peas, baked potato, vegetables.

Grumpy, very grumpy.

two pounds...I could thump something. Honestly, 2lbs. I will be OLD at this rate before I even begin to look any different. I have made all the excuses, AF came this morning so that might mean a rtention of water but I wanted to see as much difference as I feel. GRRRRRR!! I am pleased that I didn't come right out of there and stuff my face ( which is exactly what I would have done in the past) but I am grumpier than grumpy. Not even going to bother writing what I eat today..which isn't much anyway. Mutter, grumble, moan, stamp.

Sunday.

Slimfast today ( bought the mix it yourself stuff, revolting.Back to the ready made stuff for me) for breakfast.
Lunch was a beautiful, fresh, tuna salad with pasta.
Dinner a ham sandwich and fresh fruit salad.
weigh in tomorrow.

Is this REALLY me???

I'm someone else....someone who realises she hasn't eaten for hours and isn't ready to eat one of the kids -- without ketchup. I have a life, one that isn't revolving around mealtimes and snacks and what to eat next. Incredible.
Mum rang today first thing and breakfast asked if ~I wanted to go shopping with her, so I shot out taking a cranberry breakfast bar , which is what other people eat for breakfast but have been a tasty snack in between meals and other snacks for me.
For lunch I had 2 pittas, one ham salad, one chicken.
Dinner is sirloin steak, cooked very slowly with onions and mushrooms, broccoli and boiled potatoes.

I am, quite frankly, brilliant.

I ahave been craving a chinese meal. I have been to an oriental supermarket and bought a paste to make my own chicken curry, it is divine and tastses just like the one from the take away ( without having used a bottle of oil to make it)......I am going to make my own chicken fried rice to go with it ( without actually using oil to fry it!!) So that's dinner...
Breakfast was 2 slices of toast and honey and I skipped lunch to make sure I can eat like a piggeroo tonight!! I love friday nights.
2 days to weigh in.

rough day.

Not diet wise, but life wise, all in the plan but hard nonetheless.
I missed breakfast today, no slimfast and no time for eating...not a good start to the day!
Lunch made up for it, I bought a ready made tuna and cucumber sandwich, some delicious fruit salad and fizzy water.
Dinner is roast chicken, steamed veg, boiled new potatoes.
3 days til weigh in.

I want fish and chips

So, today is a beautiful warm day, makes the whole world seem a better place doesn't it? I am feeling a bit despondant on the diet front but feel sure it is just a glitch, it hasn't swayed my determination at all, I think it is just a case of the old demonss whispering that i can't do it, it won't work, bound to fail blah blah.
I have bought a pedometer which really DOES encourage you to get up and move, walk andget going. i'm sure the key to sucess must be the exercie and activity as well as watching what goes in that big old mouth! It's 5pm and I have trotted 9364 steps so far. This gadget is supposed to tell me how many calories I have burned but I am so dim with stuff like this I can't work it out!!
Slimfast for breakfast.
Tuna, salad, 2 small and gorgeously tasty granary rolls for lunch.
dinner will be grilled cod in breadcrumbs with steamed green beans and peas. ( but I wish it was fish and chips, with piles of vinegar and bread and butter.)

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

And somehow I managed not to completely pig out. Why,I wonder, when we set off on a road trip do we feel that theonly way to do it is by filling the car with food. Not good food, just 'stuff' the fattier, greasier, chocolatier the better, chips and chocolate and pop and sweets and more chips and........but I didn't, I was a martyr, suffering in almost silence. I did find ( in the health shop, how dull) some ginger bears, quite nice, not face stuffable but OK.
Also, being away seems to necessitate eating take aways, pizza, fish and chips, curry, chinese. But we didn't. I didn't . They, traitors, had pizza the first night, faced with a sad and shrivelled baked potato and beans, I went shopping the very next morning and stocked the cupboards with good food. I was a bit grumpy about not eating the yummy stuff that holidays are made of but quietly a tad proud too. I felt Iwas away for a very long time andwanted to get back and see that I had lost a ton of weight. Not getting weighed until next week, so I shan't know, but I suspect it is just a regular and expected amount of weight rather than a marvellous and miraculous one.

Today then, we are back on track and I shall be recording again.

Slimfast for breakfast.
Weight watchers chicken and noodle soup and a marmite and cucumber sandwich for lunch.
dinner was a beautiful rump steak, green beans and a beetroot and rice salad with balsamic and honey dressing, delicious.

good day, good day.

Breakfast....handful of cheerios with sliced bananas.
Lunch.....bowl of homemade vegetable soup, 2 small wholemeal rolls and tuna with cucumber.
Dinner...... salmon, baked with lemon juice, boiled new potatoes and steamed green beans.
delicious.
I really enjoyed my walk today and am begining to feel that I want to do more...blimey!!
I had 2 people today comment on how different I look...blimey!

This whole experience is different to any other timeI have lost weight, I am, for the first time eating to live, I enjoy what I eat but it no longer has the hold on me that it did.....I do eat some snacks but they are small and different, can you believe that a single cereal bar lasted for 2 snacks?? I am amazed at the whole experience this time, and I am convinced that it is because I have found the reason why I was eating so badly and so much. Ican't help but think of the time and money that I spent making myself miserable. I like feeling this way. I hope it lasts for always.

a change is as good as a rest.

I changed the routine a bit today and ate some cereal and strawberries for breakfast.
Lunch was a date with my H, baked potato ( no butter) beans and salad.
dinner was a mix of vegetables, chick peas and beans, cooked in a great tomato and garlic sauce, served with beautiful organic bread, wholemeal of course.
Busy day but didn't manage to get my walk in......phoooeeeee.

WHOOHOOOOOOO

Oh this is SUCH a great day!!
Back in february I was chosen to take part in a survey at the Doctors office, it was a weight loss survey and I was very excited thinking that I would get a pile of help to lose weight. I went in and was weighed and measured, bloods taken and then the phonce call was made to the survey people. Damn and blast if I wasn't put into the 'no intervention' group. No help...just go on my way and do it alone. I was miserable and forgot about it until I got the phone call last week to go in and be reweighed and measured etc. I went in today and guess what....in February, just 3 months ago I was a massive 119kg that's 259lbs...today I was 105.....231lbs thats a total of 28.6lbs....so I am changing my ticker because it makes me feel even better than before and I'll grab any of that going!!







as if that isn't good enough, both my sugar levels and cholesterol have come down as well.

Marvellous.
I have been noticing something else too. There are diferent ways of walking, I have long been a stroller and if going for a walk have put one foot in front of another and gone from A to Z as painlessly and thoughtlessly as possible. I have noticed that how and what you think, as you walk, makes a difference to how it works...if I think about walking I can feel the muscles working, if I force myself to walk and work at it I can feel it doing me good, rather than a pensive and somewhat reluctant grumble from one place to another I think about getting this fat off and making myself stronger. I swear it uses different muscles if you think about it!!

I collected my prescription today for Orlistat.....I am a bit nervous about it but am very keen to make sure I don't fall by the wayside, with our mini break coming up and the weather getting nicer, I can't afford to slip into the 'just have a bag of chips this once,' mentality. Too much is riding on my feeling better and getting well. I'll keep you posted!

Breakfast ...slimfast.
Lunch....tinned tomatoes, turkey rashers, mushrooms and toast ( no butter)
Dinner ( haven't eaten yet but this is the plan)
Chicken curry, homemade of course, forget the jars of sauce, it'll be chicken breasts, chooped and lightly browned in a spray of olive oil, onions, carrots, garlic, added and softened, turmeric, garamasala and some Maadras curry powder. White boiled rice and some Mango chutney, the rest of the family will have popudums and nan bread, I, however, shall resist such delicious temptations and feel superior. Thankyou.

Busy and bitty kind of day but a fun one never the less, no school here today so we hit some bank holiday carboot sales and grabbed some bargains.
No slimfast in the house this morning ( I blame the teens who must have fancied a milkshake!) so I had fruit and a breakfast bar.
Lunch was get this- how english... a marmite and cucumber sandwich delicious. I snagged about 10 chips from Isaac at the boot sale too ( this is where I kind of think those meds would be handy because I wouldn't even sniff chips if there were a threat of losing that fat in a terrifying and undignified way!!)
Dinner, ah, dinner....beautiful rump steak, salad, mushrooms and a small baked potato, heaven on a plate.