Scale fear

I am scared. I have not been good for days (weeks?) Not especially bad either, but not really good. Exercise is avoiding me at the moment too.

I haven't been weighed for 3 weeks, what with Man Flu, Holiday and Traffic Hell and the last time I weighed in, there was the mammoth gain (+7) to contend with. I am scared that this will be even more of a gain. I could be back in extreme fatso territory if I am not careful.

But - it will put me back on the right track if nothing else. My clothes don't feel tight at all, so that has to be a good sign and my osteopath last night told me I looked like I'd lost more weight since I saw her last.... I am maybe grasping at straws here.

I shall be back later with the verdict!

Soup attack

I'm going to start a petition for longer weekends. How can they possibly go by so quickly? I have that Sunday night dread already.

My night out on Thursday passed by relatively unscathed. I managed to stick to Vodka and Soda without much trauma and I shared a little bit of tapas with one of the guys from work. Nothing too damaging. I can obviously hold my drink a bit better than most as I was finding myself surrounded by a lot of drunken colleagues as the night went on. Most amusing. There were a few bad heads on Friday.

Eating over the weekend has been a bit hit and miss, what with the Parentals being here. I've tried to make decent enough choices, but I've eaten out 4 times in the space of 3 days so it hasn't been plain sailing. Friday night was ok, we went to our favourite restaurant and I pretty much managed to come in on points.

On Saturday me and my Mam went into Reading to do some shopping while Matt and my Dad sat and watched Sky Sports for hours - I am sure Matt is a carbon copy of my Dad. Was a lovely day weather wise so we spent a good few hours wandering around and spending money I really don't have! My Mam bought me a few bits and pieces to take home for Christmas which was much appreciated. I bought myself a couple of lovely pairs of shoes from Primarni (or Primark as it's more commonly known) so I didn't spend too much more than I should have.

We had a lovely lunch in a new place in Reading called Bill's. I've been to the one in Brighton so I was muchly excited to hear this was opening here. Very nice food - I shall definitely be going back. Maybe next time I won't order the (absolutely gorgeous) Macaroni Cheese (see how I slipped that in there... pretend you didn't read it.)

I decided to get myself prepared for the week by making up a batch of Leek and Potato Soup, which then attacked me. I popped half of it in the blender once I had finished simmering it... but the bloody blender decided to explode all over my arm. Worse still I couldn't get to the plug to switch the blooming thing off so it just keep exploding everywhere.... This is the result! 4 Blisters and much soreness... Being healthy is not agreeing with me!

Right then, I had better be off. We are going to the cinema ce soir to see Salt and Matt is pacing around waiting for me to be ready so I shall bid you farewell.

Hope you've all had a good weekend.

Finding a balance

After all this time attempting to lose weight, I still seem to be struggling with finding some sort of balance. It would appear I am very much all or nothing. I had a very good day yesterday - too good perhaps and finished up last night with 9 points left. Unheard of - but I just wasn't hungry so there was no point in eating for the sake of it. It would appear that today I feel the need to reward my good behaviour - with a burger and chips for lunch.

Matt was out last night which meant I had a dinner of Roasted Veg (leeks, onions, peppers, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) with some Chicken marinated in Lemon, Thyme and Garlic (Matt would have turned his nose up at this unmanly concoction) which was delicious. This after I had gutted the flat with a big old Autumn Clean (not that we live in extreme dirt I hasten to add, I'm just a massive clean freak). Is it normal for housework to cause perspiration? I can count it as exercise I suppose.

This morning I decided to get the train into work as I am out tonight for a leaving do. I love it when I get to the station to see my train departing without me and a 30 minute wait to the next one. I thought I'd treat myself to a coffee and a small baguette of egg mayonnaise (I know, I know, not the most healthy of options) whilst waiting. Given I had 25 minutes approximately to spare, you'd imagine this to be a relatively straight forward task.

Clearly you've never been to Upper Crust in Reading Train Station.

Server: Next Please (after about 10 mins of chatting amongst themselves)

Me: A small skinny latte and a small egg mayonnaise baguette please.

Server: A peppermint tea and an egg and bacon muffin?

Me: Erm no, small skinny latte and egg baguette please.

Server: Yes madam, next please? (Clearly paying no attention)

Server hands me a large hot chocolate and a sausage baguette....

Me: Erm, don't think this is mine - I ordered a small skinny latte and a small egg mayo baguette

Server: ah yes, sorry madam, one minute.

Server hands me a large latte (definitely not skinny) and a hot baguette of egg mayo.

By this point my train is in and I am not one for missing 2 trains of a morning so I take these items and run (well kind of stomp I suppose, it's not that easy to run with a coffee and an extra 5 stone on board).

Why on earth would you microwave a lovely crusty baguette of delicious egg mayonnaise, thus rendering it soggy and inedible (not to mention tasteless)? 2 mouthfuls later, it was in the bin - along with most of the coffee... I can't bear fat milk these days, it's like drinking lard. So that was £4.08 well spent.

I think this may explain my decision to treat myself at the pub for lunch. We go to this pub often and I always go for a Jacket Spud of some sort - as was the plan today. Imagine my surprise when I ordered and somehow "Lamb and Mint Burger please" popped out of my mouth.

In fairness, it wasn't really a greasy burger (most definitely homemade) and came with a smallish bun and no mayo or any of that business.... and I didn't eat all of the chips... but..... ah no but's, it was lush and I bloody well enjoyed it so I am not going to overly berate myself. I'll eat dust tonight.

So, I am out tonight with colleagues of the male variety, I fear they will be heading for a curry at some point this evening, at which point I'll be heading home. I am stuffed, so I may not require any further sustenance and I am only drinking Vodka with Soda. Honest Guv.

Soups

Yesterday was a pretty good day on the food front. Despite not making it to my WI last night I am trying to remain positive. I was so frustrated by the traffic - 3 hours to travel 12 miles - 2.5 of those hours to do the last 3 miles!! Anyway, one of those things I guess, I just need to remain focussed this week and hopefully move the scales in the right direction.

The soup and salad situation is still going strong. I made up a few batches of soups on Monday night. French Onion and also Mushroom & Sherry. Both of which were delicious. Recipes are below. I am finding soup really fills me up which I didn't expect - my mindset has always very much been that soup is not a meal in itself... no wonder I am a porker :)

The fridge is fully stocked with vegetables, so I've no excuse over the next few days. Exercise has been a bit lacking - mainly due to knackeredness, but I know that exercise will probably help me so I just need to bloody well get on with it.

I've a leaving do tomorrow night, which means alcohol and probably eating out and then the Radio Rentals are down for the weekend so we are off out for dinner on Friday night. Hopefully they won't want to do too much else while they are here so I can try to remain on track.

Anyone who has any good soup recipes (Heather!) - please feel free to pass them on :)

French Onion Soup (3 servings at 0.5 points each)

• 3 large Onions
• 1/2 tablespoon of flour
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 750ml of Beef stock
• 2 tablespoons of Sherry
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional for an extra point per serving - 3 x 1cm slice of french stick and bit of grated Gruyere (10g)

In a large non-stick saucepan, heat the oil and very slowly saute the onions on a medium heat until they are golden brown (about 30-40 mins). Stir to make sure they don't stick

Stir in flour and mix well to combine with onions, slowly pour in the sherry and stock and stir constantly to bring to the boil. Simmer for around 20 mins and season to taste.

If using - top the french stick with the cheese and grill until bubbling. Serve the soup with the topped bread.

Voila!

This was today's lunch with my graze box 'west country cheddar, red onion and chutney focaccia' which was lovely for 2 points.

Mushroom and Sherry Soup (2 servings at 0.5 points each)

• 1 clove of garlic
• 3 shallots
• 250g Mushrooms
• 1 pint of stock (I used chicken)
• 150ml of skimmed milk
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce or mushroom ketchup
• Spray oil

Spray a large saucepan with the oil and sauté the garlic and diced shallots

Add in the mushrooms and the stock and bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 mins

Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth

Add back to the pan, stir in the mushroom ketchup or worc sauce, sherry and milk and heat through. Season to taste.

Eat, bosh. It tastes nicer than it looks - honest!

WI unlikely

Given class starts at 1830 and it's now 1915, I'm probably not getting weighed tonight. Thanks to this:



I've been in traffic now for nearly 3 hours. More than a bit frustrating!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Forbury Rd,Reading,United Kingdom

Help for Heroes and a better day

Yesterday food was bad. Not my intention, but it turned out that way. Curses to the fast food places at Twickenham Stadium!

I woke up really late (11am) which is unheard of for me so had a quick breakfast of toast before heading over to my friends house in Twickenham for lunch - we ended up stuck in really bad traffic so I was famished by the time we eventually arrived. She had cooked a lovely cheesy pasta bake with fresh bread and salad - I had 2 servings of the pasta and countless bits of bread. Not clever.

We then headed over to the Stadium for the Help for Heroes Concert. It was brilliant. The atmosphere was great and we were so lucky with the weather. I was genuinely moved by the stories of the many injured soldiers who have benefited from the Help for Heroes charity. All of the acts were amazing, Robbie and Gary obviously topped it for me, but Plan B was brilliant as were James Blunt and Alexandra Burke. For some reason Matt loved The Saturdays (sure it was nothing to do with the way they look!!).

Swoon.....

Can't think why he enjoyed this performance??

We had fairly good seats so I could zoom in with my camera fairly well - I have so many photos and I have absolutely no idea what I will do with them all!

The Comedians were all really good too, plus we got to see Spellbound perform with Katherine Jenkins - absolutely brilliant. I've recorded the show that was on the BBC last night in case I missed anything while we were there, but the show actually lasted 5 hours, so I am sure the BBC show had to cut out lots of it.

I had a "Posh Pasty" of Lamb and Mint in the Stadium which barely touched the sides (but was apparently only 240 calories, bargain hey?) and then when we left, my friend's road was closed for almost an hour to allow pedestrians to get to the station - so we sat in the car with a dodgy Burger Van cheeseburger whilst waiting to get home. I didn't even want it and it was fairly gross - boredom eating at it's best. I felt completely sick by the time I got to bed around midnight. Clever Linz.

So spurred on by my rubbishness yesterday, today has been much improved. I had porridge for breakfast which was beyond dull (I forgot my fruit to go with it.) I need to take some inspiration from JAG and Laura who always seem to have really amazing looking bowls of oats, as despite eating my rather dull wallpaper paste attempt, I felt full for absolutely ages. Porridge could be the future for me.

Lunch was a Sweet Chilli Chicken Salad which I made yesterday morning with Lettuce, Spinach, Red Pepper, Spring Onions, Cucumber and Cherry Tomatoes and a tablespoon of reduced fat coleslaw. Mid afternoon I had a packet of Bear Granola Nibbles with my cuppa and I feel completely satisfied. I think I actually sickened myself with food last week, it's nice to feel back on track.

Soup is the plan for the week, I am off food shopping tonight and am armed with a few WW friendly soup recipes. Not sure how I feel about soup for dinner (it's a starter in my book) but that is the plan if I can stick to it later.

Exercise will commence once again tomorrow with a quick Jillian fix.

I am sure the scales will be evil tomorrow, but I am ready for it and ready to fight back. Watch out scales, I am on the warpath.

Back from a little bit of heaven...

Hello people. I am back - not overly happy about it either I can tell you. There is nothing worse than leaving 32 degree sunshine and landing at Gatwick in pouring rain and approximately 7 degrees. Ouch.

Ah well, we had a lovely time. I am sure I must have put on some weight. I tried to be good, I ate less than I wanted to, I drank less than I could have and I exercised 4 whole times - Jillian twice and a walk along this beach and back twice (as far as you can see to the end of those trees - about 20 mins each way). How lovely. There were scales in the room and I weighed myself every day and I seemed to be pretty neutral, but I am sure that can't be right.

I drank too many of these - Coco Loco's which were made with fresh coconut water and rum - delicious but lethal. The 'problem' with our resort is that everything was included - cocktails as well. We only succumbed to champagne at breakfast twice - fairly good going I'd say.

We actually didn't do much at all for the whole week. It was so nice to just chill - I read 4 books, slept a lot, and that's about it. We spent most days lying by the pool and a couple of ventures to the beach. The sea was so warm and the pool was like a bath. I think I love the Caribbean.

Below is a picture of me in the hotel lobby - and yes, I am wearing a jumpsuit! Size 18 from New Look no less. I think I am perhaps too old for this look - but I felt good in it, even if I am perhaps a bit too porky to pull it off. I'm not sure I'd wear it at home, but on holiday it will get another outing I am sure.

So, today has been a bit of an off day on the food front. We had a night flight so landed at Gatwick at 0730 this morning. Finally got home at 1030 (how long does it take to get suitcases off a plane??) and straight to bed for a few hours. Woke up around 1330 and had bacon sandwiches and a milky coffee and dinner was half a pie each from our local butchers with mushy peas. Healthy stuff hey?

Tomorrow we are off to Twickenham for the Help for Heroes Concert which should be amazing so we are meeting friends for lunch first - and then back to reality I guess. Work on Monday will be more than tedious. Especially since my colleague handed in his notice while I was away - I knew it was coming but now it's a reality, the next few months are going to be a bloody nightmare.

I am looking forward to getting back to healthy eating - although I did eat a lot of fruit and veg and fresh fish on holiday so I might not have been as bad as I thought. I am going to try now to lay off the booze until my sister's wedding in October (but I seem to have a lot on between now and then so that might be a struggle) as that has to help with the weight loss situation.

Anyway, I will find out on Tuesday just how much damage I have done, but I am fairly confident I can get myself back on track.

Hope you've all been good, I seem to be on a different time zone still so I am off to catch up with you all.