Hallelujah! (end of week 5)

so we all know what kind of week I had, pizza popcorn and KFC! I was not hopeful in loosing any this week and I had honestly braced myself to hear I'd put on.

But I'm as pleased as punch 1 lb lost! And yes it would have been nice to get rid of another two but I am not snubbing that 1lb, I really thought I had put on so hearing I lost was amazing!!!!

So remember its not always as bad as it seems,

And sometimes you just have to have a snackadent! 

Weight loss this week:-1lbs


Weight loss total: -16lbs or 1 Stone 2lb

xx

Get your bake on!

I like to bake. It is honestly one of the  have only ways I'm a good little housewife. I love to bake cakes and biscuits and I like to cook meals at the end of the day! Mostly because I think when you like good food you want it at home so you learn.

Its always one of the things I miss when I go on a diet, so when the weightwatchers magazine for November came through, and there were bakes in there... well you weren't going to stop me.

 Yasmine helped me bake this one. she was happy to fluff up the mix while my arm was resting and I think she found it interesting. She likes to bake too, so since she's just finished her turn at cookery club... guess who gets to bake with her now!

 

 You can see it looks a ... little different! So here is what we did. Our cake tin was 24cm not 20cm... and they say size doesn't matter! Well I managed to get it cut in half but I bet I would have been more comfortable with a 20cm or smaller case! 

Having said that, its still a good bake and I was surprised how the case turned out considering just how little flour and sugar is in it! (Side note, I only seemed to have plain flour so I did use baking powder in my cake because I used plain flour, I may need to experiment with the amount I put in see if it makes any more of a rise!)

I also think the mousse, although made to the specs needs another gelatin leaf if its going to look like anything like the one in the magazine! Not that mine is terrible or anything, as you can see it hold its shape just fine!

Yasmine told me to leave the bits out next time, but despite the fact it was quite a tart gateau she seemed to enjoy it. 

We did used frozen mixed berries rather then just blackberries AND I used strawberries to decorate rather then blackberries because those things are expensive in shops!!

It did however taste very nice. Both me and Phil enjoyed it and its a nice little treat for three Smart Points, considering only three would get you a plain special K bar too!

                                Thumbs up Weightwatchers magazine, thumbs up!
                                                                   👍👍👍

Eat Fresh?

Eating out is a huge deal right?

I mean not only are you not cooking but you're away from hassle.

However, the added stress when on a diet (especially on something like weightwatchers) is just how many calories (or smart points) are in the food.

We went into Durham today and I looked up a popular pub chains food and I nearly cried... I could have the salad that was about it. Everything else was a days worth of Smartpoints, which is insane! I wasn't willing to go out and pay nearly £8 for a salad! Plus the kids food and drinks would have cost £30! I don't think so!

Here comes Subways to the rescue! The two kids had a kids meal and I had a chicken tikka with lettuce tomatoes cucumber pickle and mayo ten points! Score! And it was still a treat, I wasn't hungry!

Lesson for the day....

always make sure there's a subways near by (just don't have one of the cookies... those bad boys are 10 points in themselves!)

The seven stages of going on a diet!

Does anyone go through this on a daily bases!?


I just wanted to share this because its so funny! 

Fried Chicken solves MOST problems. Words of Wisdom from the Colonel

Hi Guys,

So this weekend has been a major crazy weekend, I did NOT stick by my diet today or yesterday... 

We had ALL of Yasmine's little girl cousins over for a sleep over last night, they had pizza and chips and popcorn then for breakfast they had doughnuts and muffins and waffles... then to roll it up all badly... We had KFC for dinner!

but you know what? I've lost a stone in four weeks! I don't even feel guilty, I think diet rules need forgotten to build memories with my daughter and my nieces.

And as the colonel says....

Just not the obesity crisis... Oh well, lets stick with the diet for the rest of the week,lets be good and see how it goes!

Stone the Crows!!....

Look what happened! So this week has been an interesting week and I've been a bit worried because I stood on the scales part way through the week and it looked like I hadn't lost anything!

But then come today another loss!

I'll  write more later because Joseph is not sleeping!

Weight loss this week:-3lbs

Weight loss total: -15lbs or 1 Stone 1lb

Drop a dress size?

I shared this in one of my first week and I wanted to show you the progress.

For me, visually I remember things, I'm a visual learner I suppose, I remember written word, I learned to read visually by seeing the words over and over and everyone knows I love to read! I learned to crochet not by reading patterns but by watching someone (Thanks Jan) then finding people on you tube and following them.

So it makes sense that I should like to learn things visually when I'm "watching my weight".

We were given these my second meeting so my first weigh in. The different colours on the dresses represent the week so the yellow is my first week the red/pink is my second week the green my third. Now I don't know if it does only take ten pounds to loose a dress size, but my current clothes are a lot looser my bras are fitting nicer. I want to keep these,I actually want more so I can watch and say actually here, this is how much I've lost, this is the "dress sizes".
For me, visually seeing confirms, because sometimes with me its coming off slowly so I don't see it. This confirms an awful lot to me.
I remember one day at work they brought in what a pound of fat looked like. This was one pound and I looked and it was a lot! Every once in a while it does me good to weigh out a pound of sugar or rice and put it into a plastic bag and I hold it against me (Usually my tummy) and I look and I think "wow, that's chunky that a lot." But then you go to a meeting and you're told you've lost a pound, I've seen people go away disappointed. Be real and try this and see what you've lost.
Loose a pound a week that's  52 in a year that three stone nine! That is a huge amount!
I know things may slow down and thats okay. I just want to put this down to help me remember...

Creating a Structure....

I'm trying my very best to wear very similar clothes to see if you can see the weight loss! I'll apologise for my picture this week, I'd just came in from walking down and I'm a bit wind swept, though an old friend once said they liked my hair when it was windswept so maybe I should have it that way more often....

So, despite my pig out on my birthday last week (and the uncounted Mary Berry Chocolate cake I had 12 Smart points per a slice if anyone is interested...) I still lost!

Hurray! Pip pip well done old man!

So my weightwatchers leader said the diet is designed to be stuck to 70% at a time and still be able to loose weight, I don't know how its worked but it does.

Interestingly I found an article this week from the new CEO at weightwatchers found here.

She stated “We can inspire people to have healthy habits ... that’s not just about losing 10lbs, but creating a structure you can live within.” 

I think this is a huge deal. I  said it to a friend when I tried slimming world with her, she was loosing weight (and a lot) on a weekly bases. I'm proud of her for doing so! But I couldn't loose weight in the environment slimming world created. it was too complex and too restricting, I couldn't cope like that and if you constantly feel like you have to do something, it doesn't make you want to do it. When you have a bad day and you fall off the dieting boat, you can't get back on it with that mindset. I'm hoping I can continue like this. 

The amount I'm loosing on a weekly bases is encouraging, heck loosing at all! But if we create a structure we can live in, if we don't mind not having this or that or having this instead of that then we can live it, and you know we can have a chocolate bar, we can sneak in a snickers and still loose the weight we want to, because I think if you aren't dealing with the emotional side of falling off the bandwagon then that structure will seem impossible, no matter what brand you put on it. 

You know what I'm a bit scared of now? Well the last couple of weeks I've always had something to splash out on, you know that secret 'treat' which keeps you going... this week I have nothing... how embarrassing would it be if I didn't loose this week?! 😧

wish me luck!

                                             
                                                Weight loss this week:-3lbs

Weight loss total: -12lbs

here's hoping for at least the stone mark next week! 

End of Week 2 (Shhh don't tell the weight watchers police I'm going to eat!)

Me before....

....And after!

So today I went for weigh in as normal. and even though its that wonderful time of the month where being a women is particularly entertaining, you have water retaining and lets face it the need for chocolate and a craving for anything unhealthy! Yesterday was hard! So feeling all bloated and really very heavy in the stomach, to be told you lost three pounds this week... well its awesome! 

But of course, it's my birthday today so after weigh in I went to my favourite Chinese restaurant, the Pavillion. I decided for today I'm not on my diet, So I can go to the Chinese and I can have my cake and eat it, AND the good thing is, I have a whole week to work off any extra weight I put back on today! 

I don't think its unhealthy to go out and have a treat every once in a while, I think it can lift you a little. 

And you know its yummy!

Weight loss this week:-3lbs
Weight loss total: -9lbs

Two sided coin

I've had two very different experiences of low pointed foods and I just wanted to pop it on here.

So with it being Sunday yesterday, I of course did a Sunday roast. We had beef last week (again actually done by me) and this week it was chicken.

Breakfast

 So this was this mornings breakfast. Those are two ingredient pancakes, banana and eggs. Theory is that the egg and banana sticks together and creates that base for the pancake.

I was looking forward to it, I thought it was a jazzy idea and if I could get pancakes for two SmartPoints for the load rather then three for one (I kid you not!) I'd try it!

Then I tried it....

It tasted of banana and egg... this shouldn't be a surprise but... a pancake doesn't taste of omelette with banana, and yes its as disgusting as it sounds! It was like it was doughy on the inside of the pancake too... if someone knows some way of making them taste better, let me know but in the meantime... I endured so you don't have to... I'd rather never have pancakes again... Never mind, breakfast was only four SmartPoints....



On the flip side my roast chicken yesterday was so tasty! I had to add salt (which has no smartpoints)

here is my list....

carrots     0
celery      0
parsnips   2
onion       0
leeks        0

All in the bottom of my roasting tin along with some garlic (0) and a little bath of water.
I also roasted some carrots and parsnips with the potatoes...

The chicken which I've pointed 200g 3 SmartPoints (on the picture there is only 77g but I'm terrible for eating it while preparing the rest of the food, so its probably fair!)
the turnip (swede, if you're being... not from the north of england!) is zero . The potatoes 3. I seasoned those with basil. and cooking spray 30 sprays two smart points (Used to roast the potatoes, they aren't deep in fat or anything but still have a bit of a crisp to them, I part boil before I roast.

Surprisingly to me the Yorkshire puddings were only one SmartPoint each or 2 for 3 Smartpoints. So I had two, because I like Yorkshire  puddings....

It's Sunday dinner and I think 13 is perfectly acceptable. And let me tell you if every day could be like yesterday with food, I would be okay!

Thanks for reading

love

Lorna x