Goin' down the only road I've ever known.....

Right, so silence usually means things aren't going well on the 'let's be healthier and possibly lose some weight' front? Well that'd be correct.

I've not weighed myself in months, so I suspect things could be bad, but I'm struggling to motivate myself to do much about it at the moment.

In my defence (cue a list of excuses) I've been promoted, so work is quite crazy (but at least I am paid for the craziness now), we've been spending a lot of time gallivanting and socialising around the country, so I'm either eating out or drinking out and when I'm actually at home or able to leave work at a reasonable time, well the gym is the last place I fancy.

But... last week when Selfridges had some fancy 20% off promotion, we did invest in a Vitamix. I am hailing this as the answer to all of my healthy eating prayers. So far, so good. I've been devouring green sludge every morning (which actually fills me up way past lunch) and really quite enjoying it. This little beauty contains Kale, Spinach, Grapes, Apple, Clementine Banana, Lemon Juice, Wheat grass powder & Flaxseed. Surprisingly good and all of my 5 a day in one fell swoop.

So, I've made a promise to myself, continue with the green sludge for now and then in the new year, start afresh with a more concerted effort. I might have to rejoin Weight Watchers or some other class, as I'm clearly useless at going it alone, I don't overly care about what I weigh any more, I just need to be healthy and fit. Exercise also needs to make a reappearance as I'm in danger of needing a zimmer frame before long.

In the words of Whitesnake, 'Here I go again".........

Gourmet dining and man flu

Oh man flu, it's been a while. We had a lot of run ins last year, you were pretty much stalking me for a while, but I thought we'd moved on from that. I was mistaken, you persistent little bugger.

I appear to have become delirious. Having spent the weekend laid up with a pretty nasty cold which now appears to have lodged itself firmly on my chest, I am still feeling on the fragile side of well so work feels pretty tedious today. Plus I am talking to an illness, so what can I say?

Anyway, I digress. Since my last post, life hasn't overly slowed down much. We spent the weekend before last, in London at the lovely York & Albany. I know we only live 25 mins away from London by train, but we like to spoil ourselves once a year with a weekend in London proper.

We spent the Saturday in gastronomic heaven. Brunch at Balthazar (Macaroni cheese for brunch?).

Then the evening was spent at possibly the best restaurant I've ever had the pleasure of eating in - Le Gavroche.

One word - AMAZING. We obviously went for the 9 course tasting menu (Menu Exceptionnel) with matching wines (I'm a porker, what else would I opt for??) and I can honestly say, every single course was divine. The Souffle Suissesse was amazing, but it really all was. If you fancy re-mortgaging your house and you are in London, go, you really won't regret it.

So, once again the get healthy quest is on hold. I was meant to have a 600 calories day today, but since I am currently coughing up both lungs, I didn't think that was the most sensible of options.

I'm hoping to be feeling more human again soon so we'll try and restart once again.... 

Catching up

Oh dear me, where on earth has the time gone?

I've been extremely busy over the past 6 or so weeks, life has been exhausting and has generally gotten in the way of my best laid fitness/diet/looking after myself plans. I guess that explains the radio silence...

So instead of typing a massive essay, I'll show you what I've been up to since my last attempt at blogging.

I accepted an offer on my old flat:

I went to the Henley Rewind Festival

We spent our first Wedding Anniversary at a wedding in the Cotswolds

We spent a week in Cornwall

St Ives - the view from our apartment

Mousehole

Porthminster Beach

Amazing meal at Porthmeor Beach Cafe

Padstow

Stunning Lunch

 Quite possibly one of the nicest white wines ever!

button mushroom soup ~ persillade ~ crispy poached egg

moorland lamb ~ hoggett pie ~ broccoli ~ salsa verde ~ goats’ milk

a trip to the fairground ~ 'great british menu 2011' (for two)

Seriously - go to this restaurant if you are in Padstow, it's amazing!

Redecorated the flat

And on top of that, I've been working 12-14 hour days which has left me in this state :)

So, you can imagine, the weight loss and fitness isn't happening. I need to make more of a concerted effort. We've a few things coming up (lot's of Michelin stars!) which will need careful negotiation but I'll attempt to be back soon with some amazing progress on my quest to get fit again...... Watch this space.

Sucessful starving

The scales are in my favour today. I didn't expect much given the weekend was very bad. Too much cider, a lot of pastry and other bad food passed my lips so I wasn't expecting much at all. Monday was a tough starve day given I'd stretched my poor stomach beyond belief over the weekend and I was working from home. Being hungry and surrounded by food is a disaster.

Anyway, enough of the moaning, the scales saw me 4lbs down this morning which is a minor miracle. Let's hope this continues.

So this is what Monday looked like:

Breakfast - 145 cals - Cottage cheese & Mushroom scramble. 3 tablespoons of 2 chicks egg whites with dry fried mushrooms and a serving of reduced fat onion & chive cottage cheese. Looks awful, tastes good :)

Lunch - 240 cals -  Amy's Kitchen  Mushroom Risotto. Pretty tasty and not a bad portion size

Dinner - 199 cals - Diet Coke King Prawns with Zero Noodles. Dry fried mushrooms, onions, cabbage and courgette with a sauce made from Diet Coke, Tbsp of worcesershire sauce, 1/2 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce, 1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup simmered until thick and sticky, chuck in some prawns and some zero noodles and job's a good 'un.

So far, so good. I just need to get the balance right on my non-starve days as I'm eating a bit too much.

Next day to torture myself is tomorrow.... better get planning some low cal treats. 

Starve day 2

I was dreading starve day 2, but it turned out not to be so horrific. I think a bit more preparation is key. Also, being ridiculously busy is helping, I didn't overly have time to think about food! I deviated slightly from the original plan due to getting up late, so breakfast wasn't as good as expected but it worked.

So:

Breakfast - 4 rice thins, lurpak lightest and marmite - 120 cals
Lunch - Glorious Skinny butternut squash soup, 2 teriyaki rice cakes and a plum - 184 cals
Dinner - Kirsty's sausages and sweet potato mash with peas - 286 cals
Total - 589 cals.

I drank black coffee and water all day with a treat of a diet coke for the journey home to my parents. Go me.



Yesterday morning I did wake up fairly famished and spent the day at the cricket undoing all of Thursdays good work.








Next starve day is Monday along with weigh in. I'm not expecting much after yesterday but I'll persevere.

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Starving....

In theory I should limit myself to 500 calories, but given I am very fat, I decided I can have a man's allowance and knock myself out on 600. I had to start this regime yesterday in order to fit in 2 full days this week and I was woefully unprepared. I did some frantic research at lunchtime and off I toddled to Holland & Barret and Sainsbury's to stock up. 

Monday is a bad day to fast/starve. We get breakfast delivered to the office, mound upon mound of baguettes filled with Sausage, Bacon or Egg all calling to me from the kitchen, which I sit right next to. Couple that with 25 bars of Swiss chocolate from a colleague, well you get the picture.

Now, I felt actual hunger yesterday, clearly not something I have felt in a long while. It was quite refreshing. I was really hungry by dinner time and no amount of water was going to help me, but it really wasn't as hideous as I anticipated. I expect being mega busy at worked helped, so I suspect future days could be more difficult, but we will see. 

This is what I existed on yesterday:

• 1 sausage removed from a baguette and a small dollop of ketchup - approx 125 calories (clearly not ideal but it was the only way I could resist)
• Sainsbury's Medium Fish Sushi pack - 256 calories
• Chicken breast (130 cals) stir 'fried' with garlic (2) cabbage (22), courgette (10), mushrooms (15) & onions (30) with low soy sauce (10) , 1/2 tsp of peanut butter (20), lime juice (6) and lemon pepper served with zero noodles (0)

Grand total of 626 calories.... not perfect by any means, but it's a start.

The next day to starve is Thursday. I'm out tonight and tomorrow, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are at my parents for the Cricket so that's a no go. Thursday see's us drive up North, so that could help as if we take no food with us, we can't eat! 

Plan for Thursday is:

• Egg white Omlette (2 chicks egg whites) (23) with mushrooms (15) and 30g cathedral City Light cheese (93)
• 1/2 Pot of Glorious Skinny Butternut Squash Soup (103) plus 2 Teriyaki Rice Cakes (56)
• Kirsty's Sausage and Sweet Potato Mash (260) just before we leave the house to drive home
• 100g Strawberries for the journey home (50)

Total 600 calories.

The weekend will no doubt see a lot of boozing, so this could all be in vain... let's hope not...

I'm still here

Oh dear, it's been ages. Life has well and truly gotten in the way of late. I'll try to keep this brief.

My current situation:

1. I have 2 hands again - yay! My finger is still very iffy, but it works  - kind of. It'll probably never be normal again. Sigh.
2. I've been promoted at work. Big sigh (more stress)
3. I'm attempting to sell my flat. Small sigh (relatively stress free so far, but I suspect that's imminent)

My recent activities:

Hen weekend in Brighton

Weekend in Cornwall - St Ives

Wedding fun

Free night in a hotel!

Feeling a little bit left out with my besties :)

London Zoo with my nieces.

The weight loss has been crap, in fact I've not really been trying at all. Exercise has also been non-existent since before the hand incident, so I've a new plan of attack.

Today we started the 5:2 diet, i.e. 2 very low calorie days per week and 5 days of eating normally. It seems fairly straightforward, although finding 2 days a week where I've no plans is proving difficult. 

Given work is currently mental, I am not as fixated on food as I usually am. Today hasn't been too hideous, so I'll do a proper post tomorrow on what I've eaten and we'll see how we get on.

I'm off to try and catch up with all of you, it's been ages since I read a blog.