A week of food delights

One of the biggest problems for me when I attempt any form of diet change is boredom. I mean salad is fundamentally dull, right? So since joining Slimming World, I've made a concerted effort to be more prepared and cook some really tasty meals. I thought I'd document these here as I have a tendency to end up eating the same things over and over again, thus boredom sets in and I go off the rails..

The first thing is, being prepared. I now have a spice cupboard to rival any isle in Tesco. I make sure I include fat free yoghurt, quark, fat free cottage cheese and eggs in every shop that I do and I stock up on pasta and rice whenever it is on offer. We get a weekly fruit and veg box so I always have those supplies and we do a big shop at our local butchers once a month to fill the freezer. 

Now, I am not a fan of massive plates of vegetables. Something to do with being forced to eat peas as youngster (I swallowed them whole like tablets, such was my hatred of them), I've moved on these days and can consume peas in a normal fashion, but I still try and incorporate veg into my dishes instead of serving them up on the side mostly.

Day 1 - Clockwise starting top left:

Breakfast 'muffins' - dry fried mushrooms, onions and bacon medallions, mixed with a tub of fat free onion & chive cottage cheese, 3 eggs and salt & pepper. Popped into a muffin tin and baked until golden. I love these. I make a massive batch on a Sunday to see me through most of the week.. 

Curried chicken and rice salad - chicken marinated in fat free yoghurt and curry powder and then baked in the oven. Mixed with salad (lettuce, red onion, cucumber, cherry toms), cooked rice and fat free yoghurt with fresh mint and seasoning.

Lamb chilli served with 'garlic bread' (post weigh in, I lost another 1lb) - 7 syns for the garlic bread - 1 sandwich thin spread with tsp lurpak light mix with garlic and parsley. Chilli contains, mushrooms, onions, broad beans, tomatoes, carrot, cabbage, pinch of cinnamon, garlic & chilli powder. 

Scan bran carrot cake - 1 syn per slice - or you can count the scan bran towards your HEb. 

HEa was 350ml Skimmed Milk. 

Day 2

2 x Waitrose 50% less fat sausages (3 syns) with 2 eggs scrambled with a dollop of fat free yoghurt and dry fried mushrooms and ketchup (1 syn)

Left over chill, jacket potato, 30g Cheddar (HEa) and salad. Dollop of extra light salad cream (1 syn)

'Eton Mess' - Plums & strawberries with fat free yoghurt with a dash of vanilla extra, 1 meringue nest (2.5 syns) and a crumbled Salted Caramel Hifi bar (HEb)

Beef stir fry with rice - loosely based on this recipe but without oil or chilli sauce.

Day 3

Breakfast muffins and potato & onion tortilla.

Curried chicken and rice salad (as above)

Keema curry with squash served with cauliflower flatbread (1 syn) - check out the Slimming Eats website for those recipes. Cauliflower flat bread is amazing - I made this version without the parmesan.

Day 4 

Breakfast muffins and cauliflower flatbread (1 syn)

Sausage and tomato pasta (3 syns). Onions, mushrooms, garlic, passata & sausages with pasta. 2 slices of Cauliflower flat bread (1.5 syns) with 30g Cheddar (HEa).

Pulled pork rolls (1syn & 1 HEb) with 'sautéed' potatoes, salad and corn on the cob (Slimming eats recipe again)  1.5 syns for the butter on the corn.

Day 5 

Potato & Onion tortilla & 20g Cheddar (2/3 HEa)

2 pieces of KFC & tomato ketchup (heaven). 12 syns for the chicken, 1 for the ketchup. My colleague goes to KFC every Friday. This is my first one for 6 weeks. Previously I'd have had 3 pieces of chicken, fries and a gravy (32.5 syns!!!)

Frozen Yoghurt (0.5 syns)

Beef & mushroom pie (3 syns) with chips and mushy peas.

• Dry fry mushrooms, onions, carrot, cabbage & stewing beef. Add in a tsp of celery salt, tsp garlic salt, tsp thyme, 2 tbsp of worcestershire sauce and then add beef stock (I used 2 tbsps of bovril and some water). Put in the oven on low heat and allow to reduce down. Stir in a tsp of gravy granules to thicken and then put a sheet of filo pastry on top - I smash it up when frozen and overlap the bits to make it a bit thicker). Brush with egg and pop back in oven. This is amazing! If you omit the pastry it's still a pretty amazing stew. 

Not pictured - a lot of alcohol. Approx 50 syns??

Day 6 - Rewind Festival in Henley

'Southern fried chicken goujons' with savoury rice, salad and fat free cottage cheese (1/2 HEb)

• 1 wholemeal roll blitzed into breadcrumbs mixed with cayenne pepper, paprika & garlic salt. Dip chicken pieces in egg and then into the breadcrumbs and then bake in the oven

Tikka Wrap from Wham Bam tikka ( approx 12 syns?) - you can't take your own food into the festival, I tried and it was confiscated :(

Not pictured - 1 bottle of Koppaberg cider (11.5 syns), 1 light hifi bar (1/2 HEb), Skinny latte (HEa). 

Day 7 

1 English muffin (7 syns) with 1 piece of bacon including fat (2 syns)

Pork chop (I didn't eat the fat as much as I wanted to) with dry fried potatoes and onions, mixed greens, flat beans and bisto (1.5 syns), tsp mustard (0.5 syns). 

Fruit Salad - Pears, peaches, strawberries & raspberries. 

Pastitsio (1 HEa) - another Slimming Eats recipe. I used spaghetti and replaced the cottage cheese with quark. Served with salad. 

So, a fairly decent week for me. I tend not to eat my daily syn allowance (I can have up to 25 a day) as I don't generally need them and I know I'll usually go over at the weekend. It's kind of the flexible syns approach and it seems to be working ok so far.I think this week came in at about 120 syns (give or take a couple). Obviously if my weight loss comes to a grinding halt, I may need to rethink this approach, but for now it's working fine. We'll see what the scales have to say tomorrow!

Week 5

Another 2.5lbs down at weigh in on Monday. 17.5lbs lost in 5 weeks. I am pretty smug, I can tell you (although smugness leads to disappointment so I should probably get a grip).

Monday is now officially the worst day ever. I mean Monday's are pretty hideous as it is, it's the start of the working week and no one likes that, I have a limited team at work due to shifts and twice as much work and now I am nil by mouth from lunch time onwards so as not to impact my weight loss. Throw a SW class in the mix where we all sit around and clap like loons at a 2lb gain and empathise over water retention, well it's a living hell.

However, as much as attending the classes is not my idea of fun, it's definitely keeping me on the straight and narrow (although I did catch myself weighing 2 pairs of trousers last week to see which weighed the least, these ones weigh less than these in case you're interested). I feel like it's a penance for my years of gluttony. Monday is a good night for a weigh in, it keeps me focussed on a weekend and it's the one night I rarely have any plans so I have no excuses not to attend. 

I'm quite enjoying this plan because it doesn't massively feel like a struggle. Yes, you have to get creative and be prepared, but it's all good. I can still eat out and have the odd drink (or half a bottle of gin like I did on Wednesday - navy strength at that) and lose weight. 

Last week saw me get totally trollied on Friday lunchtime (bad times, I was meant to be working) and then we were away on Saturday and enjoyed a 7 course meal with matching wines. To still be able to live my life in the manner I enjoy and lose weight, well I cannot complain. 

Despite weighing  the equivalent of twins, I am not too fussed about losing half my body weight. I don't care about being fat, but I care about being out of control, uncomfortable & in pain. I want to lose around 4 stone by the time we go to Australia in Feb. I'm hopeful, but I won't beat myself up if it doesn't happen. This has to be a lifestyle change, not a quick fix. I'm always going to want to eat out and drink booze and to socialise, it's what makes me happy. I won't give that up and it appears that SW is the answer for that very reason. 

We're off to Birmingham tonight for the weekend which will be a challenge, but I'll do my best and we'll see what Monday holds. I might end up getting weighed in a bikini if my trousers feel a bit heavy.... 

Catching up

I've  been meaning to post all week but I have been soooo busy. I am seriously exhausted.

4 weeks into Slimming World and I have lost 15lbs. I really don't know how this has happened given I've had 4 of the busiest weeks of the summer. Still, I'll clearly take it.

The girlie weekend was a challenge, but very lovely. I managed to drop 0.5lb that week, although insignificant, it proved to me I could do it. Trying to convince myself that my Beetroot salad was as satisfying as my friends Fish and Chips, was impossible but I did it.

Last week proved slightly less ridiculous, although I did have a night out with the girls from work on Friday which began at 1630 and saw me roll home at 0330am. A lot of alcohol was consumed (and very little food) so imagine my surprise when I dropped 4.5lbs this week. I was duly awarded Slimmer of the week and of the Month. Somewhat mortifying, I can tell you.

This week is not without it's challenges. We're away on Saturday night with friends so drinking/meals out to navigate, but I am hopeful  that my stellar work for the rest of the week will keep me right.

So I'll stop tying to catch up at break neck speed and leave you with the last few weeks in photos.

Weekend in Newcastle with my school friends

Amazing food at Electric East

Slimming World friendly dinners - cauliflower cheese!!

Sunny Spa nights

Sunny nights

Work drinks

Breakfast in the garden

Slimming world 'fried' chicken and 'coleslaw'

Show off

Hangover hell

Week 2 of Slimming World. Bit more of a struggle. After the awesome 9lb drop in week one, I was a little bit cocky. I knew Wednesday would be bad as we went on the Orient Express to the cricket - which was amazing but clearly not diet friendly, but I had hoped the rest of the week would be plain sailing.

 

I was wrong. I had a work night out on Thursday and I had a plan to drive. That plan went out of the window and I got to bed at 0430am after a lot of gin and sambucca and had to be at work on Friday (I'd cleverly left both my car and my laptop at the office). Puke. I can't tell you the last time I had such a bad hangover. Friday was a mess, I barely ate, but I couldn't overly function either.  I had done more than my weekly Syn allowance already, it was never going to be easy after that.

Anyway, I managed somehow, to lose 1lb. 10lbs in 2 weeks, I'll take that.

Whilst I am over the moon to have still managed a loss, I still can't help but feel a tiny twinge of disappointment in myself for being such an idiot on Thursday. I am still not fully recovered! Lesson learnt.

So this week see's another challenge in the form of a girls weekend away. I'm going to have to take it one meal at a time and limit the booze. I cannot be guzzling gin til the early hours of the morning again... wish me luck!

It works?!

What do you know, Slimming World appears to actually work. My last couple of forays into SW were not successful, mostly because I didn't actually follow the plan. It seems a lot more straight forward this time round. I suspect the new 'Extra Easy' plan is the reason for this. It's so straightforward, even Matt is following it without any hesitation :)

I felt very focussed for my first week. I was organised, I had meals planned, I had a strategy in place to cope with the Champagne tasting meal on Thursday. I brought lunch to work mostly, I researched menu's for the days I had to eat out. I resisted the numerous cakes in the office on Wednesday, I made cauliflower base pizza for Saturday when I was babysitting so I felt like I was having a treat, I resisted the free Pizza lunch in the office yesterday. It's taken a LOT of willpower.

L'Ortolan Champagne tasting meal

Syn Free Cauliflower pizza

Eating out, being excessive, drinking alcohol after a stressful day, have all become the norm for me. I need to get back to mindset where a meal out is a treat, something to look forward to. Where a couple of glasses of wine on a Friday night is acceptable, not a couple of bottles. It's about give and take and I'm getting there, struggling at times, but I'm going the right way.

I've come to realise that the things I love the taste of are fatty. Roast Chicken on Sunday was bland  without the gorgeously seasoned crispy skin I am used to, mashed potatoes without tons of butter, meh. Wholemeal toast (a struggle) without lashings of butter, gag. Tuna without mayonnaise or salad cream - bleurgghhhh.

However, this just means I have to be more inventive. I'm getting an idea of what is 'Free' food & bookmarking recipes that appeal. I managed to produce some very tasty meals last week without using any 'Syns' and I just need to keep doing that.

My hard (ish) work was rewarded with a loss last night. 9lbs?? Far more than I expected and absolutely what I needed to make sure I continue in the same vein.

We're off to the cricket tomorrow via the Orient Express - completely OTT, I know. It's another day I have no control over, but at least I know I can plan around it and hopefully not completely sabotage myself.

Fingers crossed.

Think of a number

.... and add on at least an extra 11 pounds and you'll have where I am now. Sigh. I've been kidding myself for far too long.

Slimming World has started in earnest. I'm enthusiastic, but I always am whenever I start a new plan. Let's see how week 1 goes. I've a Champagne tasting meal tomorrow night to contend with, but other than that it should be plain sailing....

Here's hoping.

The final straw

I've been gone a while again, haven't I? I've really done nothing at all in the way of getting fitter and healthier over the past month or so, in fact I've probably gone and done exactly the opposite and had a food and drink frenzy. Not helped at all by having last week off work and indulging in a lot of food and wine over the past few weeks -and a LOT of cider. (Hello Gidleigh Park, Raby Hunt, The Greyhound to name but a few)

However, I had a small epiphany last week and realised I cannot continue in the same vein. Something quite unpleasant happened and it is all down to my current size. I won't go into details, but safe to say it was enough to make me really think. I'm the heaviest I have ever been, my biggest ever clothes are starting to feel tight and it has to stop. So, tonight I am joining Slimming World.

Try as I might, I am just not someone who can lose weight on their own. I need to be regulated. I don't care enough to moderate myself, I need someone to moderate me. I fully expect tonight's weigh in to be an awful shock. I have actively avoided the scales for months.

My initial aim is to lose around 4 stone. I will still be obese in every sense of the word, but I'll be less obese. I'll be back at my happier obese. Fingers crossed...

So I'll leave you with some of the delicious reasons for my continued fatness... it's been a pleasure.

Gidleigh Park

Raby Hunt

The Greyhound - 

3 Cheese macaroni with Belly Pork, Black Pudding, Bacon & Chorizo