Saturday 28 February 2009

Red Alert!! Red Alert!!

I REALLY want wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!! Am currently in The New Samsi sushi restaurant in Manchester (pretending I am in the Hills) and the others are drinking a lovely Sauvignon Blanc.....

*dribble*
------------------

Friday 27 February 2009

A REALLY boring post - consider yourselves warned...

Ok. So in the interest of food accountability this will be a REALLY boring post, sorry!!

Tuesday 24th February – First Day of Lent

Breakfast: 50 g porridge oats (2.5), 15g tsp of low fat peanut butter (1.5), milk allowance (1), 2 cuppas

Lunch: Baked potato (2.5), 2 laughing cow triangles (1), salad (0), ww balsamic dressing (0), 1 small banana (1)

Snacks: 1 ww caramel chocolate cake bar (OMG!) (1.5), 1 grande-single-shot-skinny-latte-to-drink-in-but-in-a-paper-cup-please (2)

Dinner: Wholewheat pasta (6), courgette, mushrooms, peppers, tomato, puree, garlic, red onion, ww sauce (included in 6 points above), parmesan (included in 6 points above)

Errors: I 50ml measure Absolut vodka and slimline tonic (2) AND a sliver of chocolate fudge cake (3.5) – oopsie! I went to give my cousin her birthday gift and ended up having an impromptu party vibe with her – I resisted the vino though!!! Check ME out!!

So that all adds up to 24.5 which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over, so I only allowed myself 16 points the following day.

Thursday February 26th 2009

Breakfast – 1 x ww yog (1)
Lunch – leftover pasta – (6) plus 2 wholewheat crispbread (1)
Dinner – 1 chicken breast (2), assorted roast veg (0), mustard, lemon juice and hot water mixed together (0) poured over and roasted with garlic and coriander leaf (0)
Snacks – ww choc bar – dark rich toffee – GORGEOUS! X 2 (3)
Milk allowance – 1

Total – 14 points well in Lizzie!

Friday February 27th 2009

Breakfast – Grapes (1), ww strawberry yog (0.5)
Lunch – salad (0), coriander leaf (0), 2 x laughing cow cheese triangles (1), 2 wholewheat crispbreads (1)
Milk allowance (1) and I met my mum for coffee so (2) for a grande-single-shot-skinny-latte-to-drink-in-but-in-a-paper-cup-please !!

Dinner will consist of entertaining the lovely Sally, so the feast must be of vegetarian persuasion! To that end, I am making Aubergine parmigiana, couscous with lemon and greenbeans, assorted veg and rosemary roast potatoes! All for 10 points, which makes a running total of 16.5 for a Friday! It’s ACTUALLY quite releasing not to have to factor in the usual 7.5 points for a bouteille de vin!

More later xxx

Thursday 26 February 2009

Issue du jour

So, how are we all today?

I'm not exercising enough, at all. I'm certainly not managing 5 times a week for 30 minutes. I tend to binge on exercise on the weekend and spend hours in the gym and then find myself too busy during the week.

When I worked an office job, I was able to get to the pool every lunch hour for a half hour/40 minute swim. Now I've climbed the corporate ladder somewhat, I am finding that I no longer have the time each lunch hour to get to the pool. I recently relinquished my expensive gym memebership (er..hello! There's a global recession) in favour of a council funded one.

So here's what I've tried so far:

- Getting up at seven and being in the pool for 8 and then going straight to work (I am like a hamster in the morning, I HATE getting up and the thought of getting in the water at such a god foresaken hour sickens me)

- Going to the gym straight from work, a different way so I don't go near my house and thus sack off the gym as the temptation is too great to go home and watch tv. (This was foiled because at 5:30pm the entire world of credit-crunch gym enthusiasts descend upon the gym and it is sooooo packed it's untrue. Plus the pool is full of bloody kids)

- Going home, preparing dinner, not eating it and leaving with Husband at 6:30pm when he does evening work to go to the gym when it has hopefully calmed down a bit. (If I have slaved over a hot stove to lovingly prepare a meal, I tend to eat it and thus cannot work out after, plus, however much I adore Husband, evenings in on my own are SUCH a thing to be treasured! I get that whole 'Rachel-from-Friends-I'm-in-my-apartment-and-I'm-naked' vibe on, and ultimate tv remote control! Ha!)

- Saving my lunch hour until 3pm, eating promptly at 12noon at my desk in order to ensure digestion, and then swimming 3 till 4 (even though designated lunch hours are 1 till 2 !) but by this time I am usually stuck into a meeting or meeting a client or solving some sort of earth-shattering crisis..not, and my swim doesn't happen. (Plus I am sooooooooo weird abut my hair! if I've washed it and dried it and straightened it that morning, it seems SUCH a shame to dunk it in chlorine (and god only knows what else quite frankly) at the pool....)

Yet again, I find I am my own worst enemy.....

Hmmm...perhaps I should stop writing about it and just go and bloody well DO IT!

Tra luvs

BFP xxx

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Just one more thing.....

Isn't it funny how 'plus sized' departments or ranges in shops are called such utterly patronising things!

Like 'Inspire' at New Look...or Nouveau Regarde as I like to call it...INSPIRE?? Like, what's that about? Should I be 'Inspired' to lose weight and therefore not shop any longer in your poxy plus sized section and aspire to wear the 'normal sized clothes? Or perhaps i should be 'Inspired' by the wonderful fashions on offer to me in this section?

Either way it completely sucks. It's insulting! It's segregation! Just put all the clothes together you doofuses!

The vain cow in me feels it necessary at this juncture to point out that I am a size 12/14 and don't shop in the 'plus sized' dept.....just FYI. It was merely something I was thinking about earlier.....


Laters x

Renewed

Morning!

It feels very Spring-like today, the sun in shining, I have finally been able to abandon my winter coat in favour of last season’s ¾ length sleeve tan leather jacket (which, PTL still fits!!) , and the sky is blue.

I feel very hopeful today. I think this is because it’s the first day of Lent. I love Lent. I love everything about it, what it signifies both personally and actually, what it leads to and what that means for the world and for me, as just one little (fat) person.

I also feel hopeful on account of last night’s WW meeting. A friend of mine, new to the actual meeting part of WW, put it like this “I feel like I’ve just had some sort of Damascus road experience…am converted!” I kinda had that same ‘newbie’ vibe last night as IWWG expertly demonstrated just HOW WELL you can eat on this plan and still have room for treats. I actually listened (not that I don’t usually, but I tried to have the attitude of being new to the plan so that I would appreciate it more)
And I think it worked. I got home all energised, did not buy wine, did not buy a humongous bag of Kettle Chips (OMACTUAL G how goooooooooooooood are they?!) and chuffing well made what I‘d set out to make…Pasticcio. Page 56 of the imaginatively titled, ‘Shop & Cook’. Kinda like Lasagne but with penne pasta…it was really yummy for 7 ½ points (though I think next time I might add on a point and put some more finely grated parmesan into the white sauce to flavour it a bit more). We had it with a spinach salad, with cherry tomatoes, ww balsamic dressing, red peppers and spring onions. The recipe was for 4 people, Mr Husband ate 2 portions (oink!) whereas I had one and the rest went dans la Frigidaire. So I made it through Tuesday on 20 points which was a job well done.

Thing I need to work on next is my lunches. I often wing it through lunchtime so am absolutely starvin’ like Marvin by the time I get home. I need to plan more bulky, filling lunches that keep me satisfactorily full till dinner time.

With that in mind, I am channelling my inner ‘Laura’ ((http://www.thresholdofgreatness.blogspot.com/) and have today brought in a potato to bake in the office kitchen (2 and a half) with two laughing cow cheese triangles (1) and a big spinach salad same as last night (0), plus an apple (1/2) and a small banana (1).

For breakfast I had the divine combo of 50g porridge oats (2 ½) , milk and a 13g tsp scoop of crunchy low fat peanut butter (1 ½) and one tsp Splenda….good GRIEF it’s gorgeous! Seriously. Try it!

So running total for today thus far is 9. Dinner tonight will be a quick one as Husband is working this evening, so I am making whole-wheat penne pasta with a jar of ww sauce (lazy I know but it needs to be quick) and I am going to dry fry a courgette, mushrooms, red onion, garlic and 2 rashers of ww bacon (1) to go into it. I will use 4 servings of pasta and bring the rest to work with me for lunch tomorrow, thus making good on my promise to eat sturdier lunches rather than scoffing 8 crisp breads and wondering why I’m not full…

See how positive I am?!

Also….and I have wrestled with myself a LOT over whether or not to talk about it here BUT I am going to otherwise I won’t stick to it!!

I am giving up wine for Lent* AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE wine. I absolutely LOVE IT. I don’t like cheap wine, I don’t like being drunk but I actually HEART wine a whole lot. It’s gorgeous. I love everything about it, and there’s nothing I like more than getting together with a beloved gal pal and chin wagging over a glass of wine, or relaxing after a helluva day with a cheeky glass, supping champers on special occasions, toasting success and new ventures, and for me wine is the ultimate social symbol. But it’s also full of sugar and adds inches around the chin (somewhere I quite frankly DO NOT need further bloody inches thank you!) and I DEFINTELY see a link in my psychology between drinking wine and sacking off my healthy eating and diving head first into the crisps and munching myself into oblivion and before I know it, I’ve blown a day’s points on wine and crisps. Nice. This then leads to the ‘well I’ve ruined it now, there’s no way I’ll lose so I may as well sack it off till after the next weigh in, so I do and believe me I can be FULLY dedicated to sacking something off when I set my mind to it, in fact I excel at it. No joke. And then of course there’s a gain or even worse a stay the same at the scale and then my resolve further weakens and so the beat goes on…sound familiar?

Because Lent means a lot to me, and I take it seriously, it seemed as good a time as any to try and break this psychological pattern!

In CBT we call it goal setting. It’s not particularly a hugely clever psychological concept, more like common bloody sense if you ask me BUT it ACTUALLY works! You work with the client to identify the ‘trigger’ that sets them off on their pattern of behaviour which is maybe physical, maybe psychological and you work to change it.

My trigger is the ‘woo hoo the bottle’s open let’s sack off the diet’ attitude, so if I remove the ability to HAVE wine (and because of Lent I know I will respect the embargo) (not to mention coz I’ve bloody put it on here and there’s too many of you who will remind me!) then there goes the thing that causes the trigger and my devil-may-care attitude to alcohol and food.

So. Is it still possible for me to be *ME* without the vino. Well, we shall see!

Let me be clear. I am still allowed alcohol, come on now – I’m not a saint! But the odd G&T or martini and tonic, vodka and diet coke don’t hold the same sacred place in my heart that my beloved wine does, and therefore does not have the same appeal or pull to me which results in my diet going out the window.

It’s about balance. This way I can still have a social drinky when I’m out and about (ie in Manchester this weekend with my best man and my sister) BUT this way I am perhaps better placed to be in control of it and therefore my eating, or at least the resulting days!

I shall OBVIOUSLY keep you posted. 40 days is a loooooooonnnnnnnng time.

*GULP*

PS During the time it has taken me to write this post, the skies have darkened, become overcast and I have had to put my little electric office heater on on account of the fact that I have short sleeves and a stupid 3/4 length sleeved jacket .....it's not Spring at all. GAH!

Tuesday 24 February 2009

" I will follow you......"

I've got 2 followers!!!! I am WELL buzzing!!

THANK YOU!!!!!

BFP xxxx

why, why, WHY???!!!!

Have I NEVER put 1 tsp of low fat crunchy peanut butter in my morning porridge before....OMACTUALG it is bloody DIVINE!!

Thanks Diet Girl ;) (www.dietgirl.org)

Monday 23 February 2009

The end of Monday

Well, what a busy bee I have been this evening!! I have made copious amounts of squtter nut bosh soup, tried and failed to comprehend Heroes, made a yummy dinner, taken the last few remaining Christmas songs off of my ipod, done Coleen's workout dvd (and almost died in the process), put several musical scores on aforementioned ipod (cheeeeeese!!!), put the dishwasher on and read the Sunday paper (yes, I am well aware that today is Monday, but I was busy yesterday!)

Dinner was a baked spud, miked and then oven baked in one cal spray, (3 and a half) plus 80g v low fat cottage fromage (3) and a big ol' spinach salad with red pepper, spring onion, cherry toms and ww balsamic vinaigrette (nul points), total six and a half, plus a glass of (evil) diet coke. Oh and when I got in I had two crumpets (Asda's own- 1 point each) plus one laughing cow light cheese triangle shared between them (1/2) and a ww bar with a lovely cuppa (1 1/2). I am counting 1 for milk today so all in all that's a total of 15 and a half for today. RAH!!!!

Ooooh and in other news *shock horror* laughing cow EXTRA light cheese triangles are exactly half a point - the SAME as laughing cow LIGHT!!! Here I have been eating the xl ones for yonks when the light ones taste WAAAAY nicer than the xl ones AND are the same bloody points! Hurrah!!!!!!!!!

AND I have also planned a week's evening meals.

I am actually rocking my own world ce soir!!!!!! Woooooo!!!!!

Lovelove BFP xxxx
------------------

Where did THAT week go?!

So, I’m back! Missed me? Haha. Cannot believe how fast last week went or how bad I was at controlling and planning and writing it down! GAH! My ill-discipline showed on the scale – in that there was bugger all movement. I know, I know at least it wasn’t a gain, BUT it wasn’t a bloody loss either! I don’t know who I’m pissed off at because CLEARLY I only have myself to account for my week – isn’t it mad how one week you can be so ‘on’ it and the next completely…umm….’off’ it!? I have had a couple of moments of ‘self pity city’ but what I know is this diet DOES work and it WILL work and if I constantly compare my weight loss or otherwise to 2 years ago then I will only ever be disappointed.

So rather than live in the past and catch you all up on last weeks’ eating, I am simply going to start afresh now.

Monday: breakfast – two pieces of whole-wheat bread (2pts) with 1 tsp of half fat butter (1/2) ( I know, I know but I CANNOT abide margarine – it is truly minging.) Plus 2 cups of tea with a dash of milk.

midmorning snack – one small banana (1)

Lunch – bowl of butternut squash no points soup and a ww yoghurt. (1/2).

Exercise planned for today is a swim after work and dinner involves a baked potato, cottage cheese and salad.

I will keep you posted. I’m off for a quick glance around the blogscape….

BFP xxx

Thursday 19 February 2009

Oh for Heaven's SAKE!

I just spent an hour typing an informative and, may I say, frankly hilARIOUS post, plus a week's worth of food lists and just as I was nearing the end there was a freakin' power cut and it's gone!

DAMMIT!!!!!!

I really can't be bothered to re-type it now.....maybes later.


BFP xxxx
------------------

Tuesday 17 February 2009

oops!

I have just spent an ENTIRE HOUR reading about other people's lives on various blogs around the globe. I love them all. This is ridiculously addictive! I should be WORKING for crying out loud!

I also have to keep stopping reading to pull up the calculator on my pc so I can figure out various bloggers' start and finish weights - Americans put everything in pounds whereas I'm a stones and pounds kinda gal and have not got sufficient brain power to do the maths in my head! ARGH!

In other news, IWWG is back where she belongs ce soir, running her fabulous ww meetings! I can't wait! What's interesting is how excited everyone is, and also on perhaps a weirder note, are completely associating their weight loss with her...as in, "now she's back I can start losing again......" I find this understandable but a bit worrying too - we need to take responsibility for our own weight losses (or lack thereof - yes still seething about a crappy pound and a half grrrrrrrr) and DO IT OURSELVES! nowt wrong with looking to someone you admire for motivation and inspiration BUT ultimately it's only us who can make a difference to our own lives.


That said, I absolutely HEART the camararderie, the support, the laughs and the feeling that I AM NOT ALONE that I get at IWWG's meetings - she is ACTUALLY very gifted. (yes you are!!)

And now back to the world of work........


BFP xoxoxo

Monday 16 February 2009

And another thing.....

Isn't it hard to plan healthy, satisfying and lovely meals when it's the week before payday, you're totally skint and the cupboards are bare!!!!!


Roll on the Asda delivery on Thursday......
------------------

Back in the saddle again....

So that was the weekend, that was! WHY and HOW do they go by so quickly? One minute I'm buzzing off the fact that the clock has hit 5pm on a Friday and the next I am going to bed early on Sunday as it's a 'school night'.

This week is even worse, because it's the dreaded half term - I HATE half term - mostly because I am neither a teacher nor a pupil, but also because the Husband works in a school, which means he's off while I am on the nine to five hamster wheel. Sound eh?

Looking on the bright side though, I am off on Friday so a 4 day week is far more bearable than a five day!!

I guess I should update from Friday. Lots to discuss, including the dreaded weigh in, the Valentine's meal out, the leftover cava and strawberries, singstar, etc etc.

Friday night - I made chicken kiev, using a recipe I pulled off the ww website, it was really nice and what's more the husband adored it - definitely a great dinner party recipe! I also allowed myself 2 glasses fo wine on Friday night for 4 points - all expertly measured! So total points for Friday was 21. And no exercsie undertaken because of aforementioned hairdyeing experiment - didnt think it'd be a good idea to go dunking my bonce in chlorine the day after. I suppose I could have gone to the gym for a run and the like, but I didn't take my stuff and then I ended up having to go home via my parents' and before I knew it it was 7pm and I was starvin like marvin! In the words of Jessica Simpson, "I didn't plan good".

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and there was a sense of nervous anticipation in the air! I arrived at the casa de IWWG all ready to be weighed, certain I'd lost........and lost I had.

One and a half lousy little pounds!

That's it!

C'est tout!

Double you tee eff is up with that!

Thinking about it though, that is 3.5lbs off in 9 days which is pretty good going, but I was definitely disappointed - especially because I feel like I'd tried so FLIPPING hard!

However, I am not bloody giving up this time. No way.

After a quick moan to IWWG I went straight to the gym and cardio'd my ass off (literally I hope!) I can definitely already feel and see difference in my body so it's not all bad, but I constantly think back to my first ever week of eating the ww way and in that first week I lost 5 and a half pounds!!! I uess I use that as my measure - and that was only 2 years ago! GAH! How bloody annoying!

Saturday night we went out for a Valentine's Day dinner with some friends....to the local curry house. (NO POINTS SOUP FOR A WEEK THEN!?) Fortunately JMP was there - a fellow (successful) weightwatcher so we helped each other out and shared boiled rice and had 2 poppadums each (3) plus 2 tsp raita (1) and 2 tsp chutney (1) and for the main course I had chicken shaslick, which is chicken tikka pieces with peppers and onions. I did manage to get through a botle of cava though......oops.

Sunday was toast and boiled eggs for breakfast and then I spent an entire day procrastinating, watching crap on tv, sleeping in till 11, messing about on facebook and watching two films.....all because I had some work to do which needed to be done for this morning.....I was a complete loser and felt soooooooooooooooooooo not bothered or motivated! We had a chicken stirfry for dinner and I went to bed in a right paddy - thank GOD I got out of bed on the right side this morning!!!!!!


Today my hope and determination are renewed. This WILL work, there's no explanation, there's nothing I can do to change things now, I just have to carry on and deal with it and continue planning and getting on with it! SO THERE!


More later (I know, you can hardly wait hey?!)


BFP xoxo

Friday 13 February 2009

Catch Up

I dyed my hair last night - had a brief flight of fancy about adding a subtle red hue to my dark brown locks. My aim was to go from Morticia Adams to Isla Fisher in 'Confessions..'

However.....


It didn't make a blind bit of difference OR cover any of the silver unicorn hairs that now slink their way through my fringe. WTF!?

So today I bought 'mahogany: guaranteed to cover first greys' - I figure they must be ' first greys', right? I'm not THAT old!!

I also trimmed my fringe - a bit wonky....ahhh the things you do when trying not to stuff your face! HAHAHA!

It's Friday afternoon here in Blighty, I've managed to get done all I needed to do today so I reckon I'll head off at 4pm - the joys of flexi time :)

So tomorrow is the BIG first weigh in.....YEESH! Although I am hoping there will be less of me to weigh this week than last BUT I feel like I'm so used to being gutted at the scales, I've forgotten what it was like when I was losing regularly! I FEEL like I've lost weight but sometimes I feel like a bottle of wine and a 250g bag of Doritos won't do me any harm, which is clearly delusional.

Anyhoo - OBVIOUSLY will keep you posted.

Brief food list catch up:

Wed - Breakfast = 1 small banana (1), 1 ww yoghurt (1), strawberries (1/2)
Lunch = No points soup - tomato and celery homemade (0), 1 ryvita (1) and 2 laughing cow cheese triangles (1)

Dinner = tray roast veg in balsamic vinegar (o) and a piece of chicken (2 1/2)

I also had another banana (1) mid morning and a ww Bar after dinner (1 1/2)...oh and 2 crispbreads aka thin bloody air (1)

So all in all that adds up to : 10 1/2 to combat the gluttony of Tuesday!

Thursday - Breakfast - 2 slices of Warburtons Wholmeal bread (3), 1 tsp half fat butter (1), 2 cups of tea with skimed milk.

Lunch - I was really lazy today so just had the same old again 1 small banana (1), grapes (1), 1 ww yog (1/2), 4 ryvita (2) with 2 laughing cow triangles (1) and a ww bar (1 1/2)

Dinner - Steamed salmon in lemon juice and mustard, 60g of cous cous (3) with veg fried in soy sauce added, plus chilli, garlic and lemon juice. (0)

Oh I also had a tall skinny latte from Nero during the day too, so (2), plus 2 x 50ml dry Martini with slimline tonic while I swanned around my house dyeing my hair, singing and generally carrying on! So, (1) for that. I also put the drink in a big wine glass so it felt like a good ol' glass of vino....

Speaking of wine...have never tried the ww wine (being a wannabe fine wine connaisseur!!) - anyobe got any opnions on it?? is it good or no?

I digress, so the total for Thursday was 21 exactly - a bit worrying because I haven't done any exercise today - couldn't fit a swim into the working day, but at least I'm not over pointage.

Today (Friday), I've had 60g of porridge oats with skimmed milk (3)and 2 cups of tea with skim. (I am so sick of typing the word 'skim' or 'skimmed' milk - please just assume I mean skimmed milk in the future unless otherwise specified! I'm doing my own head in here!!) another bloody ww yoghurt (1/2) with banana (1) and grapes (1) and a massive salad with balsamic vinegar on it. (0) I've allowed (1) for milk today. For dinner I am making chicken Kiev ( 4.5) with potatoes or couscous and veg - haven't decided yet!

So running total for Friday is 6 1/2 thus far.......laters fat fighters

BFP xxxxxx

Wednesday 11 February 2009

When the chips are down...

I have apparently become the type of person that, when I walk past a chippy, inhales DEEPLY - in the manner of an addict who's trying to give up smoking.....seriously.

BFP xx
------------------

Oops! I did it AGAIN!

How the bloody HELL did I manage to consume 30 points worth of food yesterday!!?? Shock HORROR!

Ok, focus on the positive - at least it's all counted and pointed and I have a realistic idea of what I ate...and thus can do something to counteract the fallout today - this day - a new day!

I feel reflective today - been reading some of my friends' blogs, people who I actually know in real life, and I feel like SUCH a doofus. Why am I whingeing and whining about my weight when people have real, hard stuff going on in their lives to deal with, things which they then blog about so wonderfully and eloquently, honestly! Inferiority complex!! My yakkings on seem so insignificant and pointless in comparison.

But yet, this is where I am at right now. I'm not happy at this weight, looking like this. I'm not happy and haven't been for some time and it's greatly impacted my life in a lot of ways and this is the root factor. I can pretty much deal with anything when I'm happy in myself and (shallow as I am) a big contributing factor to this is, and has always been to a greater or lesser extent, how I feel about my body.

So yeah, feeling slightly stupid for listing food ups and downs BUT it's important to me and hey I'm not forcing you to read it! Haha. All I know is that it's kept me on track and determined like I haven't felt since 2006 when I succeeded at this whole weight loss malarkey.....which reminds me, I may do a photo illustration of the ups and downs of this bonkers journey.


But for now let's 'fess up re. the aforementioned 30 points worth of piggery yesterday.....

So, I was up to 9 and a half points out of 21 after lunch yesterday. I ate at my desk and saved my lunch hour for a swim - 42 lengths in 30 mins which feels like it's not bad going! When I got back to the office I had a WW yoghurt (1/2) and then went to the WW meeting where I am a 'weigher', which I absolutely LOVE! Whilst there I had a bag of ww crisps (1) and a diet coke (0). Got chatting to a very good pal who was feeling a bit down so we popped to the local bar for a 175ml glass of dry white wine each (2) and nattered/moaned to each other for a bit.

When I got home I was determined to cook Cowboy Pie and Wedges for dinner, so I did BUT didn't have any Quorn mince so I used 500g of extra lean beef steak mince - a whacking 25 points! 8 and a half points' worth of potatoes made into ww wedges/chunky chips type thing. Into the cowboy pie went a tin of Branston Baked Beans (5) and then - idiot that I am - I realised I had to put potato on top of the blinkin' Cowboy Pie, when I'd already made 8 and a half points worth into chips - GAH! ERROR!!!!!! After I'd baked the 'pie for a bit, I sprinkled 10g of parmesan over the top which was 1 point (Asda's own, in a green tub - 10g was well enough to cover the top and give it a taste, plus it's really mature cheese so is strong and you don't need a lot - handy hint or WHAT!!??)

So, this meant that the cowboy pie, wedges and green beans had a combined points total of...wait for it (or should tha be 'weight' for it - hahaha!)....43 points!! OMGOMGOMG! I nearly had a panic attack but then chilled the flip out and realised I could divide it by 4 as that's what the recipe was for, 4 people you dummy!!!! So, once I'd stopped my sweating/hyperventilating combo I got the calculator out. 43/4= 10.75, so 11 really.

Add 11 to 9 and a half I had eaten during the day, plus 3 1/2 in between you get 24. After this I completely lost the plot and had 2 further glasses of wine with Mr Husband whilst watching the last 3 episodes of Season 1 of Californication PLUS a WW Black Forest Bar to curb the chocolate craving!!!!!! I turned into an unstoppable eating machine! GOD! So 24 plus 4 plus one and a half PLUS the 1/2 point for milk throughout the day all adds up to a BIG FAT 30!!!!

GOOD GRIEF!

So today I am on nil by mouth to atone for my sins.....just kidding!

So far today I have had :-

1/2 points worth of fresh strawberries and a small banana (1) chopped with a yoghurt on the top (1)

A cup of tea with skim milk and 2 cups of coffee again with skimmed milk (count the milk at the end of the day)

Lunch - 4 ryvitas with laughing cow on (2) and no points soup

And a banana for this afternoon (1)

I was going to have a day off the exercise today BUT I think a swim is most definitely called for this afternoon!!

And before I left this morning I got a 2 and a half point piece of chicken out to defrost which I will tray bake with no point veg and red wine vinegar for a bulky but minimal point dinner!

So today's total SHOULD end up being around 10 points which is kind of all I'm allowed because of yesterday's gluttony....but it's still a reasonable amount of food - at least I'm not starving myself all day!


Anyway....enough of this drivel...

lovelove xxxx

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Fabulous!!

How good is technology!!! I have just figured out how to blog on the go from my BlackBerry via email without having to faff around online which drains the battery!!!! OOh! I feel like Gossip Girll!

" Xo xo " hahahaha xxx
------------------

Experiment. Did this work?


BFP xx
------------------

Insta-thin!

So today I am congratulating myself on one entire week of doing this ww malarkey - it's not as easy as you might think - certainly nowhere near as easy as the first time around, when I was super skinny before becoming a BigFatPie *sigh* ( I fear the phrase 'yo-yo dieter' was invented solely with me in mind)

So, it's been a week since the motivation mojo kicked and I kicked myself up the butt (with a little help from a very understanding friend :) ) : I have eaten well and healthily, stuck to points, minimised alcohol intake (vastly) and exercised sooooooo WHY AREN'T I THIN YET??!!!!??!!!

Rationally I know yadda yadda yadda it's going to take a while, it's not going to come off overnight, moment on the lips..., no quick fix solutions BLAH DE BLAH but still that little whiny voice inside my head wants to know 'WhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYY?'

I've been SOOOO GOOOD surely it should be, like, a stone by now?! Anyone else feel like this?

*************************************************************************************

Anyhoo - food lists for today thus far (it's 1pm)

breakfast - 40g porridge oats (30g weren't enough yesterday) 2 points, in skimmed milk with a cuppa, again with skimmed milk (is there any other kind?!)

Lunch - the leftover savoury rice from last night 5 points plus 1 points' worth of fresh strawberries sliced with a ww yog (1/2 point) over them (YUM!)

I've had 2 cups of real coffee (nescafe, schmnescafe!) with a dash of skimmed milk and am planning on a swim later.

So, running total for now (including 1 for half a pint of skimmed milk) is 9 1/2 which seems kinda high but I guess the rice is quite high in points, however it was totally filling and i really am not craving a 'dc moment' (diet coke) or any sort of crisp vibe, which ordinarily I would give in to.


ALSO I just remembered that I don't have to get weighed tonight! WOO!!


ALSO - something in the news REALLY pissed me off today - see here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7878680.stm

Er....no shit, sherlock!!! Good GRIEF *rolls eyes* - I wonder how much that little 'think tank' got paid to come up with that little pearl of wisdom.....Come ON!

Until later ......

BFP xxxx

Monday 9 February 2009

two in one day!

Hello blogpals! Just a quick update as I have a very urgent matter to attend to (two new episodes of "The Hills" to catch up on!!!)

Foodlists for monday feb 9th:-

Porridge oats one and a half
Lunch- 4 ryvita and 2 laughing cow xl (3 total)

Mid afternoon coffe skim and 2 crispbreads for one point

Dinner: a piece of fresh salmon fillet steamed in lemon juice and wholegrain mustard on top- 4 points

A bag of long grain brown rice for six and a half

Mushrooms
Onion
Green beans
Red pepper
Salt and pepper
Soy sauce

4 heaped tbsp sweetcorn 2
2 tbsp garden peas 2

I cooled the rice and stir fried the veg in soy sauve and then added rice to veg and stir fried a bit more, divided it in 2, tupperwared half for lunch tomoz) and placed the salmon on top of the rice and scoffed the lot - I was hungry as I went home via gym n swim.

So all in all a pretty good day!!! And well within pointage so job's a good'un!!! Wooop!!!

Must dash, la-la land is calling!!!!!

Drinking in the day is neither big nor clever....

Monday again. Yeesh. Is there no end to this relentless merry-go-round of fun weekends giving way to weekdays of work? Er...no is the answer.

That said, I am currently 'working from home' whilst the nice man from British Gas does his thing with the boiler. When I say 'man', I obviously actually mean 'teenager' as this particular gas engineer is quite possibly 13 years old. Hmmmm. Still, turns out he is on a bituva health kick and trying to cut whole milk out of his life. Good job, I said, as we are a strictly skimmed milk household and if you want a cuppa you're gonna have to go cold turkey.

But enough of this chitchat - how was the weekend, I hear you ask!

Well it went a little something like this......

Friday went as planned...gym straight from work, and home (sans alcool) to cook a lovely meal of lamb meatballs in tomato and vegetable stew type affair, with rosemary new potatoes and greenbeans and savoy cabbage. I weighed/pointed the extra lean minced beef and it was 21 so I cunningly mixed it with some mint and garlic and made 21 meatballs which I grilled whilst making the sauce. Spuds were weighed in at 5 points (to share with Mr Husband) and veg was free - just a sprinkling of coriander leaf (from a JAR not fresh - one is not Jamie poncey Oliver you know!) over it to flavour.

So I had eaten 9 points during the day which left 12 for the evening. Now, in days of yore I'd have immediately gone 'EXCELLENT! 7 1/2 for wine now what can I eat around that?' but not today, no siree. I had 6 of the little meatballs (6 points) and 2 1/2 points worth of potatoes, lots of veg and Pellegrino with lime. For dessert I had a WW Black Forest bar for 1 1/2 which was just enough after all that food! So total for the day was 19 points which left 2 to spare and I'd exercised - so all in all went to bed feeling super-smug and, more importantly, full (but not Christmas Day full) of nice food!

Saturday then, dawned bright and clear. I whizzed round to see Incredible WW Guru (IWWG for future reference...you know who you are) as we are conducting an experiment. It's no secret I find weekends hard (on account of my party lifestyle - BAHA!), so I am now changing my get-weighed-day from a Tuesday to a Saturday. The hypothesis being that if I get weighed early on a Saturday, I am thus up early and right by the gym so that puts paid to that excuse, AND the weigh in will help me control my saturday nights better. I'll keep you posted...

With the help of IWWG, I decided to aim for a loss of 5% of my body weight, which is 9 pounds. This short term goal is to help me with my insanely unrealistic goal setting of 'I wanna be a size zero in 3 weeks'. Short term goal to aim for and nothing other than that, and then review. Remember SMART objectives from that bloody Management Diploma? Never before has this applied so beautifully to my life....Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed.

Specific - I want to lose 5 % of my body weight, which is 9lbs
Measurable - I will know when I have achieved this by regular weigh ins each week.
Achievable - I know I can attain this target by following the plan
Realistic - I have not aimed for the skies, set my sights on something fairly easily attainable so that I am encouraged and spurred on to the next goal with a sense of accomplishment.
Timed - I will do this by 5 week's time. Sat 14th March weigh in.

See! It works beautifully!

Ok. So I left IWWG's casa full of renewed hope and vision and actaully 2lbs lighter than when I weighed in last Tuesday - but that doesn't count.

Headed for the Gym and on account of the fact that they had the re-run of 'Shipwrecked' on the telly rather than Sky Sports News, I found that I was still there 600 calories later!! After deciding this was quite enough I went for a wind down swim and had a rather funny 30 lengths which took half a bloody hour rather than my usual 20 minutes because of Tankini man, in a speedo, wanting the blinds closed.....long story. Suffice to say I nearly drowned myself twice on account of all the laughing.......

Homeward bound and I confess I had to have a little nap on account of having exercised BUT I felt amazing for it and all those endorphins had me buzzing! When I got in I had 2 crumpets (2 points) with one extra light laughing cow cheese triangle (other cheese triangles are available! lol!) )1/2 a point) plus a cuppa (with skim) and a lovely WW mini roll (2). Dinner time rolled around again. This time I went for Chicken Tagine and lemon couscous for 6 and a half points - recipe was for two and there was loads! I also warmed some pitta up at 2 points each - I had one. Mr Husband also enjoyed said meal and pronounced it 'not diety at all' so that was a success! Defo make that one again. Instead of dessert I waited till around 8pm when we decided to watch 'American Gagster', whereupon I had 2 175ml glasses of Shiraz rose and not a sip more (4 points) and went to bed again smug as a bug in a rug...if a little discombobulated on account of having missed the end of what turned out to be a good film but a faulty disc (bloody lovefilm!). Points total= 17 1/2 (when factoring in milk ion tea etc) Good eh!

And so on to Sunday! Johnny (best man and all around top bloke) suggested lunch at the Slags. PANIC STATIONS! But I haven't been the gym! But I need to dye my hair! But I haven't achieved all my goals for this weekend! But I haven't allowed for this in my points for the day!

Then I pulled myself together and realised that it was 10am on a Sunday and I hadn't eaten a darn thing yet so points were all in tact! My good behaviour and wise choices were not ruined- all would be ok!

So off we went to the 3 slags, allbeit not having gymmed or dyed but determined to succeed......

After a careful perusal of the menu I decided on the chicken skewer and salad with no dressing and balsamic on the side. Chicken was skinless and was actually half a chicken! So I ate one piece which was your average sized chicken breast so I allowed 3 points just to be on the safe side, and gave the rest to the gannetts..er..I mean boys. There was coleslaw on it! Which the menu had neglected to tell me - but on whipping out my Eat Wisely book I discovered that 1 tbsp of coleslaw is 1 points so I allowed two points and gave the rest to the boys. Salad was fine and surprisingly both plentiful and fresh. There were potato wedges with the meal BUT there were 3 in total, cooked in their skins and I must confess I ate them BUT allowed 3 points for them. So 8 points in total. I had a white wine spritzer - dry wine (less sugar) 175ml measure (2 points) in soda (no points) with lots of ice to make it a tall-lasts-a-long-time drink. And then a latte with annoyingly skimmed milk as they did not have skimmed (BOOOO!!!) so I allowed 2 for that, making 12 points total. And then ANNOYINGLY! I had another bloody glass of wine! There was so much fun being had that I completely lost the plot, thus adding on 2 more points to my running total of 12....up to 14 now and it was only 4pm!!!!

DAMMIT!!! Quick ,quick rethink your evening meal plans...I had been going to make a gorgeous ww recipe lasagne for 6 points BUT was sleepy after drinking in the day (hence the title of this post) so allowed hubby to cook a feast of baked potato (3) and beans (2) making 19 total. I was so annoyed at myself. But at least I stayed within points - but a word to the wise, don't eat a baked spud at 9pm - I slept worse than I have in ages - too stodgy for words!!

So though I stayed in my limit I shouldn't have gone for the second vino, instead of thinking 'haha I have conquered it ' my new mantra is 'baby steps'


And thus I began again this morning with 30g of porridge oats made with water and a dash of skimmed milk for 1 and a half points.


babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...babysteps...


laters BFP

PS if you read all this you deserve a freaking medal!

Friday 6 February 2009

Thank Crunchie

It's FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAYY! Hurrah! Classically the time when you (me, I mean me) go bonkers....food wise, wine wise etc etc. But not today, no siree! I had such a fun time last night and that'll do me. Tonight is all prepared (well insofar as the lamb mince is defrosted and also some chicken for our meals over the weekend) I am going to go swimming straight from the office and not do my usual trick of going home at 4pm and opening a bottle of wine at 5 (because everyone knows 5pm on a Friday is when you're officially allowed to start boozing because it's at long last officially the weekend) and then having finished said bottle of wine by 7pm thinking 'Ooh i just need a little tipple to have while I watch Wossy', and before you know it, it's off to the offy..again! And I think to myself 'hmmmm....2 bottles of vino is 15 points, so if I just have no points veg for lunch and dinner and no brekky then all will be well....NOOOOOOO!!! not so old chums - divent be goin' there!!

No, this weekend will be different - I did it last weekend, no alcofrol, and a GORGEOUS (TM Rachel Fryer) beef in a creamy peppercorn sauce with brown rice and green beans dinner which I lovingly prepared and tended to - in fact cooking probably served as a distraction from sitting on my arse on the couch 'relaxing'! HA! So that's the plan for tonight. And all after I've been for a swim and will be feeling smug as a bug in a rug.

Food thus far today:

2 x Roberts the Baker toast (2)
half fat butter 1 tsp (1/2)
2x tea skim

Midmorning - 1 small banana (1)

Meeting 'me ma' for coffee at lunch time so skinny latte (2)


et c'est tout up to now.....


lovelove BFP xoxo

Thursday 5 February 2009

Blogorama

one of the blogs I love most in this world is by Shauna Reid - aka Diet Girl - it is incredibly funny, honest, real and above al, helpful. You can check her out at www.dietgirl.org but this is one of the things that I love most about her blog - http://www.dietgirl.org/dietgirl/weight-loss-tips.html

Happy reading...


xxx

Cocktails....

Uh oh!

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35611&sc=3022

wooHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

I chumpin' well did it!!! I sat there with J,K,L and A whilst they feasted on pizza and didn't so much as lick a slice (ew! - gross haha). I didn't even have the teeniest glass of vino. I sat and nursed a cuppa and the best thing was the girlies didn't bat an eyelid. They were supportive, not patronising, encouraging and lovely. Phew (huge sigh of relief). One of the key things for me losing weight first time round (see earlier rants...er ....posts) was cutting waaaaaaaaaay back on alcohol. Now don;t get me wrong, I don't think I'm at the AA stage just yet, nor am I a binge drinker, but I do love a glass of wine....and another....and another...and before you know it a whole bottle's gone. Whilst that might be fine on an occasional Friday or Saturday night, when it's one in the week and one or two at weekends it all adds up...so that's part of the new plan - get involved with the martini rather than wine and don't drink dans le week.....i'll keep you posted.

So back to food updates: yesterday's total was 16.5

Today - Thursday Feb 5th 2009.

Breakfast - 100g Aldi peach and passionfruit fat free yoghurt (1/2 point per 100g)
small bunch of grapes (1)
2 x tea with a teeny dash of skim (I like builder's tea)

Mid-morning - 1 small banana (1 point) and a massive mug of half and half New York blend (again with a dash of skim)

**Note to self - I dunno how to count milk in tea and coffee. I only ever have skimmed milk nowadays and if it's on cereal it's easier to count.....must ask R the ww guru......

Lunch - lentil, tomato and vegetable soup (tinned - sorry!) 3 points
2x crispbreads at half a point each (good alternative to bread or pitta with the soup - tastes like air but dipped in soup rather more bearable!!) = 1 point
Began drinking 1 litre water (0 points)


so that's it thus far - 7 points and counting.

I'm off to do some online cocktail research......how the bloody hell am I gonna count that?? Any suggestions?!!!

lovelove BFP xxxxx


Update****** I succumbed to the crisp god and had a one point pack of s n v *limbos* - seriously foul but at least it wasn't kettle chips!!! So that's 8, plus dinner to be healthy and fill up before I hit the cocktails, er I mean leisurely sip haha.... Whilst getting ready I roasted a chicken breast for two and a half points with o point veg, garlic and veg gravy; inspired!!! So that's ten an a half!!!! Laters!! Xxx

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Deep breath and dive in.....

So, i'm back!! How's this for a mad idea?? I'm going to publish my food lists!!!!

Ta Dahhh!!!

I know, mad isn't it!? BUT allow me to explain........one of the basic pronciples of this weight watchers malarkey is that you write down on a daily basis exactly, precisely what you've eaten and 'point it' - (basic premise of ww - you get a certain amount of points to spend on food and drink per day, this is calculated on your weight, your goal and how active you are. All consumables have a points value based on saturated fat and calories, so stay within your points - lose weight - bloody simple really......HA!)

I am struggling at the mo - what I lack in my life is accountability.......it's VERY easy to blag your food diary....but what if it's on the internet..AAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!I KNOW it'll help.....so I'm gonna do it......no really, I am.......honest.......here goes......deep breath.....

Wednesday Feb 4th 2009

Breakfast - 2 x Roberts the Baker Wholegrain bread, toasted (1 point per slice =2)
1tsp half fat butter (1/2)
2 x tea with skimmed milk - the teeniest amount (0)

Then I went to work, got sucked into a nine o'clock meeting and escaped at midday. Lunchtime! Shall I go for a swim? A sudden telephone call and resulting piece of work put paid to that ambition and I ate at my desk..

Lunch - Marks and Spencers ham and egg salad including dressing (3 points) (I checked and re-checked this!!)
1 small banana (1 point)
1 litre of water (drunk throughout the day) (0 points)

I finally got to actually take my lunch hour from 3 till 4pm whereupon I hightailed it to the pool and swam 44 lengths in 30 minutes.

Upon returning to the office I was starving so drank some more water and ate a vegetarian sushi snack pack (M and S again - trying to use up vouchers so I won't be tempted just to buy big fat pie food!!) (Worked out with my trusty point calculator adds up to 2 points)

So it's 4:45pm and I am drinking a black coffee (0 points) and wondering how many calories I am burning off by typing?!!

Running total so far - 8 and a half points (I am allowed 20) so that's not bad going. I feel full but not Christmas Day full and satisfied (read 'smug') that I managed to exercise.

The day's not over though......an evening at Julie's with the girls beckons - what's that they say in the (US) Army? 'The best defense is a strong offense'?? So combat plan number 1 EAT DINNER BEFORE YOU GO, combat plan number 2 DO NOT BUY WINE TO TAKE ROUND.

I had a glass or 3 with my sister last night so no alcohol tonight as tomorrow is the VIP launch of Zeligs in Liverpool complete with complementary cocktails, and I want to be able to have at least one of them!

(Anyone know how to 'point' a Mojito??!!)

More later.....

BFP xxx


***************update************

Dinner- oven roasted veg in redwinevinegar, rosemary and garlic:-
1 sweet potato (3 and a half points)
Red onion
Carrott
Red pepper. All of these are 0
Leek
Cherry toms
Plus 90g of couscous (60g just ain't enough!!!) So 4 and a half points for that.

Running total...16 and a half.

Job's a good'un. X888