Oh Edinburgh, how I love thee

Hello dear people, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was fab, we had a great weekend in Edinburgh, it's about the 5th time I have been, but I had forgotten quite how much I love the place. We stayed with friends and their hospitality was amazing. I can't say I've been overly mindful of the diet situation, but we walked so much my legs are blooming killing me today, so I am hopeful there has been some sort of counteraction. 

I forgot to take my camera, but snapped a couple of shots on my phone. Below is the castle which we walked up to. We were so lucky with the weather, whilst it was cold, the sun shone the whole weekend. 

On Saturday evening we went to a Chinese Restaurant, but I have discovered a new diet aid in the form of skinny jeans. I could barely eat due to the tightness of said jeans - has to be a winner I think. 

On Sunday we went up to South Queensferry and had brunch in an amazing restaurant overlooking the Forth Estuary and the bridges. A view from our table whilst we tucked into a full Scottish breakfast below. I totally recommend a little trip out here if you are ever in Edinburgh. Lovely.

After a fairly hearty breakfast we went for a long walk along the sea. I am hopeful that burnt off a few of the calories consumed.I am wearing about 40 layers here, so I look a bit Michelin Man-esque, but it was bloody freezing despite the sun.

So once again, my weekend seems to have thrown me off track. We have so much on of late, I am seriously struggling to stay in control of pointing. I know the WW diet plan is changing this month, maybe that will be the kick I need to get me back into the swing of things. 

I can't make WI tomorrow as we have tickets to see Jimmy Carr so I am going to have to try another class or a Boots WI and hope that the hearty Scottish fayre I consumed at the weekend hasn't caused me too much trauma.

Tiger tiger, please leave me alone...

It's been a bit of a stressy day today - on account of me cocking up at work yesterday without realising. I've spent most of today in a panic, I do not like making mistakes. Fortunately, I've not tried to self medicate with food which is the usual answer. My boss was fine about it, I think he perhaps realises that I have been trying to do too many things at once, I guess it was inevitable that I would cock up eventually. Ah well, you live and learn.

I worked from home today, which usually leads to random food snaffling, but since we are away for the weekend, there is nothing in. Hence my fairly lacking in inspiration food for today (serious lack of greenery).

Breakfast was 2 slices of tiger bread toasted (damn you tiger bread, please stop hounding me). One with Marmite and one with Sloe Gin and Gooseberry Jam from Bill's. 

 Lunch was left over Lasagne. A smaller portion than anticipated due to a fridge raider last night. Matthew!

Mid afternoon, I felt the need for a pick me up, so I indulged in a large skinny latte with sugar free Gingerbread syrup.

Dinner will be a steak, mushroom and onion sandwich with French mustard. Yet more of that bloody bread. I've made it already, but I am trying to hold off eating it for a few hours. For some reason, I thought it was much later than it is and ended up cooking this at 4:30pm??! My brain really is fried.

I've not pointed anything today, but I can't see how I can be over my allotted 26. I shall perhaps work that out in a moment.

So, off to Edinburgh tomorrow to visit friends. I've been a few times, but not for a long while, so am really looking forward to it. I'm going to do my best to stay on track, but am hopeful we will do a fair bit of walking to counteract any food and booze indulgences. 

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Game tasting

As I briefly mentioned last night (after the shock of my WI) we went for yet another Tasting Menu. This time, not so fancy, but to celebrate 'Game Season' at our local pub. The menu was lovely, but the portions were fairly huge so I was pretty full after the second course. I am not sure our local quite has the hang of a Tasting Menu.

So, I am with renewed enthusiasm today, it's not long til Christmas and I really want to lose another half a stone at least by then. I'm going to do a few photos of my food this week to try and keep me on the straight and narrow, please bear with me. 

Firstly, a thanks to Lexie for recommending Aldi's Fruity Porridge. I bought both flavours the other night (Raisin and Cranberry or Sultana and Apricot) The Raisin and Cranberry is definitely my favourite as it has a lovely cinnamon taste, but they are both really tasty. 3.5 points.

As we were out late last night, I didn't have time to prepare lunch today which is always a bit of a concern. I went to our local sandwich bar and bought a Mozzarella, Avocado and Tomato Toasted Sandwich served on Tomato Ciabatta with pesto. This was totally amazing. I estimate around 10 points.

Mid afternoon I had the Olives (3.5 points) from my Graze box. Use code N4D9KJ1A if you want to try a box for free. (Disclaimer: I get £1 off if you do use this)

Dinner was home made pork lasagne (7) with salad. I'm trying to make do with just my weekly Veg box and whatever we have in the freezer and cupboards at the moment - hence the pork. Delicious

We got some Mixed Bean Sprouts in our Abel and Cole box last week, I am not overly sure about these, but I've read that they are really good for you. I found a recipe to make Hummous with them and they are definitely a lot more palatable like this. Any other ideas what to do with them? I have a lot!

So far so good. We are off to Edinburgh for the weekend, so I need to get a few good days under my belt before I do any weekend damage. 

WI and another tasting menu

Somehow I've managed to lose 2 pounds. I don't really think it's deserved, but maybe last weeks gain was more of a hangover than I thought!

Regardless, that will do me nicely. We are having yet another tasting menu tonight so I'll be back at it tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

AWOL

Apologies for having been AWOL for a few days, life has been a tad hectic of late and I am feeling bloody shattered today. The only good thing about this morning is that it's half term here, so I got to work much quicker than usual (although not completely convinced that is a winner!).

The diet is kind of ok. I've been out every day for some form of social activity since last Monday, so it's not been so easy to keep track of everything, but I'm trying to make the best choices possible (most of the time).

I had a lovely weekend, after a pub lunch on Friday at work, we stayed in on Friday night and I cooked a lovely lamb chilli with loads of fresh veggies from my Abel and Cole box. Saturday morning my friend Debbie and her hubby Tim came down from Liverpool for her birthday, so obviously much alcohol was consumed. We were out from 2pm - 10pm so I can't be exactly sure how many points I had that day, but you can be sure it was too many (we ended up at our local Chinese Restaurant, having already had a pub lunch)

Yesterday, we headed over to Richmond to meet the latest addition to our group. My friend Nina gave birth to a little boy last week, so me and Debbie and Tim popped to meet him for the first time. We had a lovely walk in Richmond afterwards followed by lunch by the river. Crap photo of me, but look at that view. Lovely!

I've promised myself that I am going to make a big effort on the exercise front this week. Since I started trying to lose weight, I always struggle at this time of year. I want comfort food, I want to stay in bed of a morning instead of getting up and exercising and I want to hibernate mainly. I really need to be careful or I am in danger of going backwards. This week looks less hectic on the social side, so that should help, but I am once again dreading the scales tomorrow.

Big kick up the backside is required.

Thanks and a Tasting menu....

I can't thank you all enough for your lovely comments on my post yesterday. They brought tears to my eyes (I am over emotional at the best of times). So, massive thanks everyone for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me.

WI last night was not great - I've put on 3 pounds which was to be expected. Frustrating, but very much deserved. I know it's probably just a hangover from the weekend of excess, so I am not stressing overly.

Last night didn't see me off to a flying start with the WW way of life. Matt had managed to get us a table at our favourite restaurant for their Autumn Tasting Menu. OMG. They do this at the start of every season and we've never been lucky enough to get a table, so I was quite excited to go last night! We had 7 courses of food, plus 6 glasses of wine to accompany each course (small glasses I hasten to add). The food came in petite portions and I didn't end up feeling stuffed, but blooming heck, it was all gorgeous.

Back on track with a vengeance today. Food is planned, exercise is being toyed with. I'm fairly sure I can get these pounds off in the next few weeks or so if I can focus. I'm aiming to get back down to my lowest (around 8 pounds away) by Xmas. That should be achievable if I pull my finger out.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

My baby sister gets Wed

So I am back from my baby sister's wedding. I had a lovely time, my sister did an amazing job with the planning and preparation and it was truly a lovely day, she should be a wedding planner or something. Everything was done by her, she made the name cards, the menu's, the order of service etc... Very talented.

My baby sister is all grown up now - she looked completely stunning and it was lovely to see her looking so happy. I spent most of the day trying not to cry too much and ruin my make-up. I am such a wuss!

I actually felt good in my dress which was unexpected and had a few lovely compliments from people which made me feel much better about wearing it. The make up was a lot more than I'd usually wear, but everyone said it suited me, so I may even experiment a bit more in future. (perhaps not, I am not exactly talented in the make up department). Thankfully also, the Ooompa Loompa look didn't materialise. The spray tan was fairly harsh, so I washed it off a bit earlier than recommended and I ended up looking ok.

I had a minor panic when I saw the staircase I had to walk down (it was huge), but fortunately I managed it unscathed so I remained in an upright position where required. I breathed a massive sigh of relief once I got to the bottom and Matt was there waiting to walk me to the front.

So here are a few photos of the big day.

Me with my sister Victoria, prior to our grand entrance down the staircase from hell.

Me and my eldest niece Ella.

The Bride and Groom. Doesn't she look stunning? Like a bloody super model or something!

And finally, Me and Matthew in the grounds of the hotel. He was one of the ushers, so I didn't get to spend too much time with him until after the ceremony.

My diet has been completely out of the window since Thursday night. I've eaten and drunk what I wanted and not given a second thought to WW. I am dreading facing the scales tonight, but I am not going to stress about it too much. I am back on track today and determined not to let any gain throw me too far off the straight and narrow.

I'll be back later with the dreadful scale news!