Clinging onto my shiney sticker

Well the last didn't go so well, I had a number of naughty things that I really shouldn't have had but then I also walked 32 miles with the crazy dog so was a little bit peeved to put half a pound back on. 

I know I hadn't been perfect but hoped the walking would have made up for it.  At least I clung on to my shiney sticker as I have still lost half a stone.

We had the tasting night at class last week too, I didn't make a curry in the end which is a good job as someone else had, I made falafels instead. They went down really well with people asking for the recipe.  They taste a bit like onion bhaji's and are syn free:

Baked Falafel's

1 x red onion
1 x tin of chick peas (and a little spalsh of the water from tin)
1 x red chilli
2 x eggs
2 x tsp ground cumin
2 x tsp ground corriander
4 x garlic cloves (at least)
1/2 tsp baking powder
bing bunch fresh coriander

method - chuck it all in the food processor and blitz, either put in a dish/baking tin or shape into rounds and cook for 20 mins or so.

Dead easy and something syn free to snack on, I have them with a syn free yoghurt and mint dip.

My week after that hasn't been too great either, a very stressful week at work announcing potential redundancies coupled with bonfire night and all the goodies that come with it have lead to a few naughty bits and peices but I have also been poorly with a stomach bug so hoping that evens it all out.

Can't go to class this week so back on with being good today to see a loss next week, got another bonfire night party this saturday so need to be extra good before that.  Day off work today due to car MOT meant I had time to cook a lovely breakfast of homemade hashbrown, bacon and poached eggs. yum yum yum.  About to burn it off on a long rainy dog walk.

oh and the garage just called to say the car is going to cost £450 and seen as I have spent £200 on it already in the last two weeks that means I can't afford to eat anyway.  Size 8 here I come!!!

Good luck to everyone else try to shift the pounds.  Slowly but surely.

My First Shiney Sticker

Hurrah, at last, on Tuesday I got my first shiney award sticker.  I lost 2 and a half pounds and got my half stone award

Very pleased with my little self as I had a very good week, I went without my Friday and Sunday glass (or four) of wine and wrote everything I ate down too.

The next few weeks though are going to be a challenge, I set myself a target of weighing less than 14 stone by Christmas Eve which is 10lb away.  That should be easy but during November I have got something on every weekend. 

2nd/3rd November - Bonfire weekend at my sisters with family.  I am going to cook myself some Slimming World friendly foods to take and my sis is also dieting so the food won't be too bad.  However can't see each other with a few drinks, it's against the law you know.

10th November - another bonfire night at a friends house - more food and drink

17th November - I officially hit the mid 30's.  My 35th birthday and a meal out with the hubby but we are going to the cinema too so there won't be too much alcohol involved (that's the plan at least)

24th November - The weekend between mine and my sister's birthday, so the northern girls are descending on her house in Leicester for lots and lots of drinking - hopefully it will get danced off though.

My main plan to tackle all the oabve is to take healthy food with me where I can, stick to lower calorie vodka and diet coke and walk walk walk the dog. My sister was here this weekend too and that meant we drank too much wine on Friday and after a very healthy tea ended up nibbling on crisps and haribo's.  Hopefully the 32 miles I have walked with the dog this week will cancel the bad stuff out.  (I am sat finishing the left over glass of wine off while I type in front of a cosy warm fire with a chicken roasting in the oven).

Tuesday night is tasting night at slimming world and I'm thinking I'll do a syn free Keema Curry, recipe to follow next week if I remember to write down what I chuck in it.  

We stocked the freezer up with loads of meat on saturday at a fab farm shop so plenty to choose from this week. If you have the space to buy in bulk then this place is well worth a visit, makes healthy eating even easier (as long as you avert your eyes from the homemade cakes)  Website below, had to share.  http://www.bluehillsfarmshop.co.uk/

Back At Fat Club (again)

Over the last 16 years I've tried all sorts of diets, fads and weight lost crazes, some have worked for a while, some not at all, others really well but no matter what, I have never successfully lost every thing I want to lose and kept it off and two months ago I rejoined Slimming World.  I decided that I was going to do every thing I could this time to stick at it and heard someone mention the idea of writing a weight loss blog. So I've decided to give it a go, for myself, to work out why I am back at my chosen fat club time after time, what it is that makes me start off so well and then eventually, sometimes very quickly, end up in what I affectionately call 'self destruction' and to give me an outlet to vent and be truly honest with myself.



But first of all, how did I end up like this, we'll that's easy, though I've never been skinny, until I left school I was fit, sporty and muscly, and while the boys at school were envious of my rugby player thighs, I certainly wasn't fat. But I left school and discovered the demon of alcohol, then I left home at 18 and discovered I could eat what the hell I liked and I did.  So there you have it, easy, I drank too much, I ate too much, of all the wrong things, and I didn't exercise anymore. And the weight piled on so very very quickly. 
 

So that's the easy bit, the hard bit, like for all of us, is shifting it.  I know the reason I find it so hard to stick to diets, it's because I still want to have a life, I still want a glass (bottle) of wine with my husband or a boozy night out with the girls and I am a foodie, I love cooking and love eating even more.  I also know I am a comfort eater. I reward myself with food and I comfort eat for a variety of reasons, I'm upset so I eat, I'm bored so I eat, I've achieved something so I reward myself with food or drink and then I'm cross with myself for eating so I eat again to comfort myself a bit more.  And I don't just eat, I often binge too, I'm a secret eater, I hide food at the back of the cupboard or eat the husbands or the kids sweets/chocolate making sure they are replaced before they notice. 


This isn't the biggest I've been, I was at my heaviest, almost 17 stone, when I got pregnant with my youngest child but unlike normal people I lose weight when I am pregnant, a combination of morning sickness (whoever called it that must be a man, there is nothing 'just' morning about it) and horrendous heartburn meant 9 months of throwing everything back up for me. A blessing in disguise really. I've often joked I should just keep having kids till I'm a size 8.



After my youngest I'd lost two stone and with the help of slimming world I managed to lose another 2 stone. By this time last year I was 4 stone lighter than my heaviest weight and feeling a tad chuffed with my little self.  But I hit a plateau, got fed up of paying £5 a week for a cup of tea and a chat with friends without losing weight (I can do that for free right?)/ So I jumped ship, several times to several different diets, that didn't work and I ended putting two stone back on.

So I'm back at slimming work and in two months I've lost 5lb, (not much, I know). I've already had several episodes of self destruction but that's why I'm writing this blog, to help me understand how and why I've failed so many times before. Because this time I'm being realistic, I'm going to lose weight but I'm going to have (lots) of weeks when I don't too, and that's ok as long as I get there in the end. 

Let's see what the scales say tomorrow night.  Hopefully I'll be celebrating (but not with food of course)