Struggle

I am finding this whole healthy eating business really hard at the moment. I was initially overjoyed with the new pro points system and was rewarded with a good loss. Since then, I have lost the plot completely. Not because I want to eat all sorts of crap, but because my life is so damned busy, I am struggling to plan anything.

Work is ridiculous still, I can't see it getting any better this side of Christmas, couple that with my incessant night's out and you have a major diet disaster. I _need_to_stay_in_more.

Last week went something like this:

Monday - pub, 2 glasses of wine, food (belly pork with mustard mash - great idea), home, more wine
Tuesday - out with work, much sparkling stuff, curry, very late night.
Wednesday - pub, 1 glass of wine, much diet coke, food, bed at 2030
Thursday - pub lunch (hot beef sandwich), 2 spritzers, evening, out with girls I worked with at DHL for Mezze, 1 glass of wine
Friday - out with a couple of friends, wine, food, late night.
Saturday  - lunch with friends, starting at 1pm and finishing at 10pm. Copious amounts of prosecco and red wine. Possibly a kebab on the way home, but that is a bit hazy.
Sunday - ATP Tennis final at the O2 preceded by lunch at Gaucho (300g Rib Eye Steak - amazing)

And here we go again....

I've not been weighed for 2 weeks. I have not pointed for 2 weeks either. On the plus side, I am so busy at work, I am not spending my days reaching for food to pass the time. The downside is, I am eating what I can grab. I am still aware of making healthier choices, but I've not pointed a morsel for days (maybe weeks).

I am also drinking far too much. Admittedly, alcohol has always been something I am fairly partial to, but I seem to be spending a fair amount of my spare time in the pub.

So, the plan of action is... well, I am not sure I have one. I have managed to cancel social arrangements tomorrow and Thursday, so I will be able to be better. Work is not going to get any better before January, so I just need to cope with it as best I can.

Wish me luck people, I am going to need all the help I can get to turn this around!

AWOL

Long time, no speak. It's been a crazy week and I am so glad to see Friday night. Work has been utterly ridiculous and my social life has been completely hectic, I've barely had time to sleep.

The diet has been, well, not really a diet this week. I missed weigh in on Tuesday as I ended up working late and then going out from work, so I am not exactly sure how week 2 of Pro Points has gone. I anticipate a monumental fail. I've eaten out every night this week in one way or another, so it's been almost impossible to keep track!

This weekend is looking suitably mental as well. Out tonight with a couple of girls I used to work with, Lunch out tomorrow with friends and then the ATP tennis final on Sunday at the O2. Phew.

Work next week, in fact for the next 4 weeks, is likely to be as mental as it has been, so I am just going to have to take it one step at a time and hope for the best!

Hope you've all had suitably saintly weeks.

Happy weekend everyone (and Thanksgiving for any US people!).

x

Weekend round up

Seriously, how can it be Monday again already?? The weekends go by far too quickly, most depressing.

The weekend was lovely, fairly busy, but I am not overly good at doing nothing so I won't complain (beware, fairly long post to follow).

Friday night, I went over to see my friend Caroline in Uxbridge. We went out for dinner to a French restaurant called Auberge, where I indulged in Steak (leather would perhaps be a more appropriate description) and Frites, washed down with delicious cherry beer. We then headed for cocktails - of which I indulged in many, before heading back to hers at around 2am (I'll gloss over us almost having a fight with a couple of 'Youths' in the taxi queue for pushing to the front, I am not sure why I think I can take on the world when I've had a few). Once home, obviously we decided we'd not consumed enough so had some left over chicken curry that her OH had cooked. 84 points later, it was time for bed at around 3am. I had a lovely wake up call from her 2 little girls at 0615am, you can imagine how amazing I was feeling.... 

I headed home, had a quick shower and rushed to the train station to get the train into London. I grabbed a Soya Hazlenut Latte for the journey and had planned to have a quick power snooze en route. However, I am far too nosey, so when I found myself sat next to 4 women dressed in bondage gear (let me just say, I am not overly familiar with bondage clothing, but it's how I would imagine slightly toned down bondage clothing to look), clearly, I had no option but to listen in to their conversation (in fact it was impossible not to, the whole train was enthralled). I have no idea where they were off to, but they seemed fairly excited by their plans for the day. 

I met up with the lovely Karon and Tina and we headed towards Covent Garden for lunch. Unfortunately, Sarah couldn't make it, which was a shame, so it was just the 3 of us in the end.

We wandered around Covent Garden for a bit, before heading for lunch at Pasta Brown and deciding to not worry overly about points for that meal... I find that really hard these days. Don't get me wrong, I have not been particularly saintly this year on the old diet front, but I still have the mindset that I need to be looking for the best option on the menu, so adopting a 'sod it' attitude was fairly difficult! In the end, I had Cheesy Garlic bread, followed by Chicken Milanese served with Pasta Pomodoro. Lovely. Here is a picture of the 3 of us when we stopped for dessert later on at Cafe Rouge. (Chocolate and Banana Crepe for me).

It was a lovely day and very nice to meet Karon and Tina, I felt like I already knew them having read their blogs for a while. We are planning to meet up again in the New Year which will be lovely.

When I got home from London I was shattered and still fairly full from lunch, so I roasted a Gem Squash in the Oven and had that whilst watching the X Factor. I was in bed by 9pm - very rock and roll!

Yesterday, I had to work for a couple of hours in the morning, but other than that, had a fairly lazy day.

I cooked a lovely Mushroom, Leek and Onion Risotto for lunch (8) and literally lay around doing very little.

Mid afternoon, I decided to try my hand a baking a cake. Below is my attempt - sounds odd but it was delicious - Chocolate and Beetroot Cake!

I keep getting beetroot in my Able & Cole box, so I was a bit fed up of just boiling or roasting them. This was surprisingly good, the beetroot just adds an extra moistness to it and gives it a lovely slightly reddish tinge.

I pretty much made up the recipe (adapted from here) as I went along to try and keep the points down but thankfully it turned out ok.

Chocolate and Beetroot Cake (10 slices at 4 PP each)

• 50g Cocoa Powder 
• 120g Spelt Flour
• 50g Brown Sugar
• 2 medium Eggs
• 50 ml Oil (I probably used less than this)
• 40g Lurpak Light
• Large Beetroot grated (I boiled mine for about 10 mins first to help get the skin off)
• Granulated sweetner if required

(perhaps don't quote me on the exact measurements as I kept adding and removing bits as I went along...!)

Mix all of the ingredients together, pop in a greased loaf tin, bake at around 180 degrees for 20 - 30 mins (until a knife comes out of the centre clean). Voila. Lovely!

I have definitely used up all of my weekly allowance over the weekend, but yesterday was a fairly good day and hopefully today should be the same. Not as hopeful as I was last week for a loss, but crossing my fingers anyway. 

I think that's enough rambling from me for now, hope you have all had lovely weekends. I had better get on with some work otherwise I'll be here til midnight. Happy Monday y'all.

Work is evil...

I think work may just about finish me off this week. I'm on call as well as being the only regular member of my team for the next two weeks. The past two nights, I've been up with numerous phone calls during the night, so today I feel like I've been hit by a bus. I think a lot of coffee will be consumed. I wouldn't mind so much if what I did was saving lives, but it's bloody software for crying out loud. Does that really warrant me being up all night? I'm so tired today, I managed to trap my hand in the car window (don't ask) and walked into the door frame when I got to work, almost concussing myself!

So after the jubilation of WI, yesterday was a pretty messed up day food wise. I came in on points, but my choices were fairly bad. I cleverly forgot to bring breakfast with me, so I thought I'd make do with one of the new WW Dark Chocolate and Orange bars. Oh my God. Disgusting. I knew I wasn't onto a winner when the inside was a luminous orange colour. So sweet and fake tasting, that went straight in the bin. In the end I made do with an apple and a satsuma, which meant I was ravenous by lunchtime. Lunch was a Tuna Melt Panini for 12 points. Mid afternoon I snacked on a couple of mini caramel shortbreads that were teasing me from the kitchen (6).

After work (an 11 hour day), I popped to the pub with a couple of colleagues for a couple of vodkas before heading over to a friends house for a Jamie at Home party, I ended up grabbing a quick Roast beef and horseradish sarnie before heading to hers where I  cleverly consumed a handful of Peanuts. All in all, not a stellar day. Still, I scraped in on points so I can't worry too much.

Today should be better, I've had breakfast, am armed with fruit and managed to bring lunch with me. If I can just make it through the day without falling asleep at my desk, I'll be onto a winner.

Really looking forward to the weekend. Matt is away golfing so I've the place to myself. Friday night, I am out with a friend for dinner and drinks. Saturday, I am heading into London to meet up with the lovely ladies that are Karon, Tina and Sarah. We've no firm plans yet, but are heading to Covent Garden for a mooch about and some lunch and perhaps a few beverages :) Sunday will be a day of doing absolutely nothing. Happy days.

Right, I had better get back to it otherwise I'll end up stuck here til midnight at this rate.

I'm convinced...

That pro points is a winner. 4.5 pounds off for me this week. Happy days.

I've eaten really well and managed a few nights out. What's not to like? Onwards and downwards. Happy dance!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Spaghetti Squash

Just a quick post as work is somewhat mental at the moment (usually we are a team of 4, for the next 2 weeks I'm a team of 1 - Happy Days!).

Pro Points is still going well, I am sometimes struggling to eat all of my daily allowance - so much so I had a mince pie yesterday afternoon to attempt to get anywhere near my 41. Not that I am complaining too much of course.

Slight amendment to my last post - my breakfast was 3 points (thanks Peridot). For some reason the tracker gives you the point for 1oz of egg as the first option - not overly handy.

Anyway, I digress, I've been after a spaghetti squash for ages after seeing them on many US blogs. They aren't something that you can find overly easy over here, so I was fairly excited (am I sad??) to see Abel and Cole advertising them and added one to last weeks order. They seem like an especially good idea now that pasta is the work of the devil.

Last night I made up a massive pan of Bolognese Sauce with all sorts of veggies (courgettes, mushrooms, onions, celeriac, beetroot, leeks, tomatoes) and some lean mince. This made me 4 fairly decent portions of sauce for 6 points a pop. I had mine with the spaghetti squash which I had cut in half and roasted in the oven skin side up for around 40 mins. I was sceptical at first that it would resemble any kind of pasta - but check this out:

It was lovely - I will definitely be buying a few more. Obviously it doesn't taste much like pasta, but it was very tasty and a great side dish for the sauce.

I am really hopeful for a loss this week given I have stuck religiously to my points. I've gone back to basics what with weighing everything and reassessing the best options on the new plan, so I know I will be disappointed if the scales don't budge. I will persevere though. I shall be back later with the verdict!

Weekend veg creations

Hello everyone, hope you've all had lovely weekends. Mine has been great and I seem to have managed to stay on track which is most unusual for me of a weekend. I could grow to love this pro points plan (well I am loving it anyway, but until I lose weight, I am reserving judgement). 

Friday, I managed to go to the pub at lunch time and not order anything other than a pint of soda water (I know you're probably thinking I've been kidnapped by aliens or something). I knew we'd be eating out later and I wanted to keep as many of my points for that as I could. We had a lovely meal at our favourite local restaurant on Friday night (salmon for starter, amazing pork chop for main) and a fair few glasses of vino which saw me use 22 of my weekly points.

Yesterday morning I was up bright and early and opted for a healthy cooked breakfast, 1 slice of bacon, an egg, loads of mushrooms and tomatoes. Amazing for 2 points.

I've been trying to get  creative with our Abel and Cole box as we suddenly found ourselves with an abundance of vegetables - I was out every night this week so hadn't used any and we had another delivery on Friday. Veg overload! 

My first offering was some Kale Chips - I'd read about these on the lovely Laura's blog so I thought I'd have a go. I literally sprayed some torn Kale with oil, chucked on a load of salt and popped them in the oven for about 10 mins. These were surprisingly good!

For lunch I cooked a tasty Vegetable curry - Onions, Courgettes, Red Peppers, Leeks, Mushrooms, more Kale and tinned Tomatoes with some Curry Powder - so simple. I had mine with a tiny sliver of Matt's pitta bread (he had chicken in with his curry, but I didn't want to use any points).

Last night we went round to see our friends Sarah and Chris for dinner and stayed over at theirs. They'd cooked a lovely meal - Ciabatta with Salami's, Sundried Tomatoes, Roasted Peppers and Olives to start followed by Coq au Vin with new potatoes and vegetables and an amazing Gu Chocolate Tarte for dessert. All washed down with more wine. My guesstimate see's me finishing off the remaining 27 of my weekly points allowance. Perfect!

Today we've had a really lazy day. We were meant to go to Masterchef Live, but actually couldn't be bothered. That's fairly lazy (and not to mention £20 wasted) and instead spent the day watching films and last night's X Factor. Sometimes you just need to do bugger all. 

For lunch I cooked some chicken breasts in the oven and served them with Cheesy Cabbage and Leeks. Doesn't look overly impressive here, but it tasted bloody good. 

I made the sauce with skimmed milk and sauce flour, a bay leaf, salt and pepper and some Low Low Cheese.  Very tasty - my portion worked out at 4 points. 

I've still got a load of Vegetables left for the rest of the week, so I should manage to get my 5 a day in fairly easily, if I could just work out what the heck to do with a Kohl Rabi.... 

I am so optimistic about losing a bit of weight this week, but I don't want to jinx myself. I know I will be bitterly disappointed if I don't shift a couple of pounds, so I need to try and get myself out of this mindset. I definitely feel a lot happier for being back on track. Let's hope it continues for the rest of the week.