Not much to report

As predicted I didn't make WI last night. I *probably* could have gotten there at a push, but I'd worn jeans and one cannot possibly get weighed in such a heavy item of clothing. It gave me the green light yesterday afternoon however to eat chocolate and I don't even bloody like the stuff. Clever.

So, I am trying my best to be in control again. I had a slice of toast and some cottage cheese for breakfast - and then for some inexplicable reason, I allowed myself to be seduced by the French Market at lunch time and I had a portion of Tartiflette. Bloody gorgeous, but not really WW friendly (perhaps as unfriendly as you can get). Thankfully, Matt is in Milan at the moment, so I can east dust for dinner without too many other distractions. I so wish I wasn't obsessed by food.

I am going to attempt to exercise in the morning. I say attempt as I am permanently on 8am starts at the moment, which means I need to be up and out of the house by 0615am to exercise. That's not overly easy when it's persisting down and pitch black outside. I think I perhaps need revisit Jillian.

Wish me luck with that.

Weekend round up

Where did you come from so quickly Monday morning? I can't say I am over the moon to see you on this grey and miserable day.

The weekend was lovely, my eating was a bit hit and miss. I seem to get lazy with my tracking over the weekend. This was compounded by the knowledge that I can't make WI this week. Bad attitude, Linz!

Friday night turned into a bit of a boozy affair. We went off to Henley for dinner and drinks with friends, but it ended up with me deciding I was a pole dancing Beyonce who should stay out until the early hours. I got home at 3am, well I say home, Matt had left at 11pm (he turns into a pumpkin if he stays out past midnight) with my keys, so I ended up staying at Alex's house down the road. Woke up at 0630am with a banging head and massive confusion as to my whereabouts.

My friend Suzy was coming over to see me with her 3 year old Daughter Katie on Saturday morning so I had to pull myself together fairly sharpish. We went out for lunch and I tried to make a good choice, but I was scuppered by the chef feeling the need to cover my pasta with cream. Ah well.

Saturday night no alcohol passed my lips, we went to see the hilariously funny Sarah Millican in Reading, so much laughing took place and only Diet Coke was consumed.

Yesterday was another boozy day. Not intentional at all - we had planned to go to the cinema, but a bottle of Prosecco was cracked open with lunch and that was the end of that.

So, a quick rough calculation see's me finishing the weekend with an 11 point defecit. Not the end of the world, I can probably make that up over the next couple of days.

My only nemesis at the moment is pictured below. I seem to be fighting a losing battle with Warburtons. They have kindly started to make my favourite bread and it's even more kindly on offer in Iceland at the moment.

We have 2 loaves at the moment which I am doing my best to ignore. Wish me luck!

Just showing off now...

I'm at it again. I seem to have developed an obsession with photographing my food (possibly because I am being fairly good for a change) so you get to see what I had for dinner. Lucky people.

I worked from home today, which is always dangerous for me. I tend to find myself wandering to the kitchen every 5 minutes usually, but thankfully today, I was actually busy with work. Albeit from bed mainly (saves me putting the heating on). For the record - I was working. Honest.

Matt is out with work tonight so it meant I could cook something that he'd normally shun (meatless food, he doesn't do Vegetarian. Caveman). I'd had a Bacon Sarnie for breakfast and a WW Quiche with Roasted Beetroot and Feta (odd combination but it worked) for lunch, so I wanted something fairly low in points so I can save some for tomorrow.

Et Voilà - Potato and Mushroom Curry with Spelt Flatbread

The curry was enough for 2 at 1.5 points per portion or one very hungry person.

1 Onion chopped

300g New Potatoes, scrubbed and halved (this is not an exact science - just what I had left)

Mushrooms (I think I used about 8)

Tinned Tomatoes

Garlic

1 Tbsp Curry Powder (or however much you like really)

That's it. Fry the onion and garlic in a bit of spray oil, add in the mushrooms and fry for a few mins. Pop in the chopped potatoes and the tin of tomatoes, stir in the curry powder (as much as you like really) and simmer until the Potatoes are soft. Surprisingly tasty.

Served with Spelt Flatbread - 30g of Spelt flour (or any other flour you have), couple of teaspoons of water, pinch of salt. Mix together to form a dough, roll out and fry in a teaspoon of oil. I had half of that for a point. Simples.

So this little lot cost me 5 points (50g of dried rice). Amazing. I really am a Domestic Goddess of late.

I've a busy weekend ahead. Tomorrow we are out in Henley upon Thames after work for drinks and dinner with friends, Saturday Matt is off to see his beloved Baggies and I'm meeting a friend for lunch and then Saturday night we are off to see Sarah Millican in Reading.

Sunday should be a day of rest - or perhaps a day for trying to get myself back into exercise. I don't know why I have suddenly developed a complete lack of motivation to move my arse, it really shouldn't be so hard. Oh well, at least I am eating fairly healthily.

Recipe Corner

I am just showing off now with these photos - but I made this last night and it was bloody lovely (sometimes my 'chuck it all in and hope for the best attitude' doesn't produce the best results), so it seemed rude not to share.

Chicken with Mushroom Sauce for 1 (Matt was off to Gaucho so I'm pretending not to be jealous)

1 Chicken breast (2.5)

Chopped Shallot or Onion

Chopped Mushrooms

Garlic Clove (or if you are lazy like me - Morrisons ready chopped garlic)

Glug of wine (1)

Chicken Oxo Cube (half) and some hot water

Extra Light Philadelphia approx tablespoon (0.5)

Lurpak Lighter (optional) approx teaspoon (1)

Salt and Pepper

Heat a frying pan and melt the butter if using or spray oil if not.

Fry the Chicken Breast until cooked through - remove from pan and cover with foil

Pop the onion or shallot in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes

Add in the garlic and stir for a further minute or so

Pop in the mushrooms on a high heat cook through

Throw in the glug of wine and simmer to reduce by half

Crumble in the Oxo and a bit of water (you can probably do without this step if you season well enough) and allow to bubble.

Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat, stir in Philadelphia and serve over the chicken.

I had this with masses of rice because I had an abundance of points left. I even scraped the frying pan clean with my finger. Classy.

Enjoy.

Mental Mother in Laws

I've given myself a talking to and come to the realisation that any kind of loss should be applauded. It's taken me 34 years to get this fat, so I'm not going to wake up a slinky malinkey, now am I? I'm most definitely the tortoise in this weight loss race. So, less of the frowning today, I'm back on this never ending quest to be a little bit less of a porker (after a small encounter with a kebab last night, but we'll gloss over that).

I resorted to wine last night in the name of stress relief. My dear 'almost' mother in law has resorted to pretty much calling me a liar - which is nice. Picture the scene - Monday night I'm in the midst of a phone call (the important one which I mentioned earlier, which I probably won't mention again in case anyone from work has found me - you get me? It went well anyway) and I hear my call waiting beeping in my ear.

Once my call has finished, I check my phone and I have a missed call from Matt's mother. Now - she NEVER calls me, so I suspect it's possibly a mistake - but as I am also a drama queen, I immediately also imagine the worst and convince myself that Matt is lying in a ditch somewhere and as his next of kin - she's calling to tell me the bad news.

Did I mention I am a nutcase? Anyway, I call Matt, he doesn't answer. I worry, he calls me back and all is ok. So I text his Mom, asking if she's ok since she called me - and Matt calls her just to check she is in fact ok and she's not the one in the ditch.

Cue mass hysteria. She couldn't have possibly called me since she was at the hospital (this is not something to worry about - she is at the hospital daily for one reason or another) and she doesn't have my number - so I must be making it up. She then calls Matt's brother - who calls Matt and again says his mother couldn't have possibly called me since she doesn't have my number and I must be mistaken. She must be one very freaky person to be able to randomly dial 11 digits and get through to someone she knows...

Excuse me people - is this some sort of mass over reaction or what??

A. She did call me - which I can prove, obviously inadvertently, from her handbag and

B. I actually don't care, as long as everyone is alive and well.

So, basically, I am a trouble maker and fabricating phone calls. Surely, I'd pick someone like Brad Pitt if I was going to lie about such things. Matt finds it all hilarious, I quite frankly find it all a bit disturbing.

Anyway, rant over for now.

Back to the matter in hand. I had forgotten I was no longer doing the photo food diary so here are a couple of snaps of my food so far today - just because I've taken them (and my food actually looks really healthy, so I feel the need to show off)

Breakfast was Ready Brek (this stuff is bad - it's like dust) with Stewed Apples, Raspberries and Blueberries all warmed up and jam like on my wallpaper paste porridge - 2.5 points and you feel full forever. I urge you to try it.

Last night (post kebab - obviously felt guilty) I whipped up some Watercress and Spinach Soup with the remnants of my Salad Box offerings. Simple - Onion, dry fried, chuck in some stock and a chopped up potato, boil until tattie is soft, chuck in spinach and watercress, boil a little bit more. Blend, Serve, Eat. 0.5 points per serving. Very tasty and surely health giving with all that greeness??

This was served with a toasted Cheese, Pesto and Tomato Sarnie for an extra 4.5 points:

I need to learn not to eat green soup when my top contains areas of white material - as you can guarantee I will slop aforementioned soup on the white bits of the top. A classy look - I look like I have some sort of snot related issue. Nice!

Right, well I think that's me for now. I'm sure I'll be back soon with other exciting tales from Linzerello Land.

And the scales say...

A pound off. I know it's a loss but I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed.




I really shouldn't frown, it's just not attractive.

For some reason I had it in my
head I'd lose at least 3. One should not set oneself up for a fall!

Exercise definitely required.

Oh well, back at it tomorrow.

Must repeat to myself until it sinks in "a loss is a loss".

Some people are never happy!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Scales here I come...

The final day of my food photos (for now). It's most definitely a helpful exercise in making me think before I ram things down my neck. I've had some lovely food this week, makes me realise, healthy doesn't have to equal tasteless.

Breakfast this morning was the last of the Rye Sourdough, toasted with Crunchy Peanut Butter and a cuppa (4.5).

Mid morning I had another of the Sculptress bars (3.5) which left me feeling fairly full once again so I held out for lunch until 1345. A new Linz record I think.

For lunch I had a massive 'leftovers' salad. Spinach, Watercress, Red Onion, Yellow Pepper, Tomatoes, Fresh Corn, Roast Beef with a bit of Mustard Pickle and Extra Light Salad Cream - 3 points. This was huge.

Very filling, although I am now suffering Onion Breathe which is not the most pleasant of things.

I'm posting now because once I get weighed, my dinner is rarely points friendly and you don't need to see a massive portion of Chinese or Fish and Chips now do you? I have 15 points available - so, in theory, I should be able to stick to that.

So, back later with the results from the Scales. Expect a tantrum if I don't see a downward movement.