In a desperate attempt to lose weight this week I've just had my hair cut! Ha only joking, but is made such a positive impact on my mood! If I can feel this good just for having my hair done, imagine how great I'll feel once the weight is gone! 2 and a half days to weigh in...
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Do you Wii?
(Image from google)
This is exactly how I look when I'm using the wii fit...er...
Christmas 2009 I got a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus (a bit of a family present) and I'm sorry to say it doesn't get used very often. We're not a big family of gamers. I don't want my boys growing up in front of the telly, I'd rather bake/garden/dance with them. And besides they're too young to play it really (me eldest is 4 in October and the baby just turned one). So the only time I can use it is once they're in bed, and more often than not I'm too exhausted and all I want to do is paint my nails and crash! But, tonight I dusted it off, put new batteries in the balance board and controller and did an hour of exercise! I'm going to try and do it a few times a week and hopefully it will boost my weight loss. I'm also going to buy myself a sports bra...
So, how do you exercise around kids/work/other commitments?
Hx
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Tuesday Treat!
Ok, so I know it's Wednesday but my internet connection was funny all day yesterday so I didn't get to post :( BUT the idea is every Tuesday (which is the day I get weighed) I will share with you a non-food treat to either celebrate a loss, spur me on, or cheer me up after a bad week! This week it's a mixture - I am celebrating a loss, but it was only half a pound which I am a little disappointed with since I felt I'd had a good week. So, my pick me up this week is a fruity little number! I love fresh scented bath products and Those Lemonade Days Bath and Shower Gel by Treacle Moon fits the bill perfectly. It's lemon scented but not overpowering, and doesn't leave my skin dry or irritated. And at only £2 from Tesco, it's an affordable treat too!
How was your weight loss this week? What will you be treating yourself with?
Hx
How was your weight loss this week? What will you be treating yourself with?
Hx
Monday, 25 July 2011
LOTD - 1PP Pick n Mix
Hello!
Today's lunch was a bit of a mish-mash, but actually it's a good way to have a little bit of everything! We went shopping yesterday and stocked up on some weight-loss essentials, but I couldn't decide what to have. I usually have about 5-7 PP for lunch, so I had a little bit of a few things and came out very satisfied and lots of free things! Here's what I had:
Today's lunch was a bit of a mish-mash, but actually it's a good way to have a little bit of everything! We went shopping yesterday and stocked up on some weight-loss essentials, but I couldn't decide what to have. I usually have about 5-7 PP for lunch, so I had a little bit of a few things and came out very satisfied and lots of free things! Here's what I had:
Clockwise from top: Carrot batons (0PP), 2 slices Weight Watchers thick cut ham (1PP), 50g low fat cottage cheese(1PP), 50g Weight Watchers Roasted Onion and Garlic Soft Cheese (1PP), 2 slices Ryvitia Original Crispbread (1PP), sliced apple (0PP), Cherry tomatoes (0PP)
That little lot cost me 4PP, and I can honestly say I am full and satisfied. The Weight Watchers soft cheese was lovely and I'll definitely buy that again. It would be nice stirred through some pasta for a quick low PP dinner too.
Other lunch-type things that are 1PP you might like:
- 1 Quorn or WW Premium pork sausage
- 1 slice calorie controlled bread
- 2 tsp low fat spread
- 1/2 hard boiled egg
- 10 olives (in brine)
- 1 low fat cheese slice
- meringue nest
- Weight Watchers layered fromage frais
Tomorrow is weigh-in day and I'm hoping to have lost 2lbs, which will bring me up to a stone! Fingers crossed. I had a little wobble over the weekend, but have been super good the rest of the time, and have hardly touched my weekly points allowance. Whatever happens I'm going to have a sneaky treat tomorrow...
What did you have for lunch?
Hx
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Are you an emotional eater?
I know I am. Bored? I eat. Lonely? Food. Upset? I can't think of anything but the crisps in the cupboard. Right now, I've been let down by someone and feel pretty low. What's on my mind? A sausage sandwich...
How do you cope with times like these? Help!
How do you cope with times like these? Help!
Friday, 22 July 2011
Breakfast of the day! 8 ProPoint cooked breakfast
Morning!
I have just eaten my breakfast and man was it good! My usual breakfast consists of cereal, skimmed milk and fruit but this morning I felt like a change. Don't get me wrong, starting the day with a bowl of cereal and fruit makes me feel amazing and sets me up for the day, but a change is as good as a rest, and having a good cooked breakfast for 8 points isn't bad. Only 3 more points than my usual breakfast, but I had it a little later than usual so wont have a morning snack which will even it out.
So, I had:
I have just eaten my breakfast and man was it good! My usual breakfast consists of cereal, skimmed milk and fruit but this morning I felt like a change. Don't get me wrong, starting the day with a bowl of cereal and fruit makes me feel amazing and sets me up for the day, but a change is as good as a rest, and having a good cooked breakfast for 8 points isn't bad. Only 3 more points than my usual breakfast, but I had it a little later than usual so wont have a morning snack which will even it out.
So, I had:
- 2 Weight Watchers Premium Pork Sausages - 3PP (1pp each but when you enter 2 into the tracker it comes up with 3 - hate when that happens!)
- 2 slices Weight Watchers White Danish bread, toasted - 3PP (1PP each, but same as the sausages)
- 1 medium poached egg - 2PP
- Tinned tomatoes - 0PP
- Sliced mushrooms steamed in the microwave with 1tbsp Worcester Sauce - 0PP
Totally worth 8 points!
Some more cooked breakfast ideas:
- Swap the poached egg for a whole egg and an egg white, scrambled, for the same points. Or make it into an omelette
- Exchange one sausage for a 25g rasher of bacon, fat removed (1PP per rasher)
- Add some baked beans for 1PP per tablespoon
- Quorn sausages are also 1PP each
- Cube a small (100g) potato and microwave it for 3-4 mins. Put on a baking tray and mist with Fry Light before baking for about 15-20 mins until crispy. 2PP
- Put it all in a sandwich! You can use 1tbsp of extra light mayo instead of butter for free
What did you have for breakfast today?
Hx
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Dinner of the day! Toad in the hole
For tonight's dinner I made toad in the hole using a recipe adapted from the "your week" pamphlet I got at group last week. It has a ProPoints value of 8 per serving, and was delicious! I love to cook when I have the time, and toad in the hole is a family favourite so I'm glad I've found a slimming-friendly version! I served it with cabbage and a purple caulifower that I got at a local farmers market - I saw it there and couldn't resist! The recipe includes gravy, not pictured. Pics and recipe below!
6 Weight Watchers Premium Pork Sausages, halved
1 onion, sliced
125g plain white flour
Pinch salt
1 medium egg
250ml skimmed milk
2tsp mustard
1tbsp dried sage
40g gravy granules
Preheat oven to Gas mark 6/200c. Coat a litre oven proof dish with fry light and add halved sausages and onion. Cook for 20 minutes. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk in the egg and then slowly add the milk to make a thin batter. Add the mustard and sage. Pour the batter into the hot dish and cook for a further 30 mins. Make 1pt gravy with the granules. Serve with 0pp veg.
Serves 4.
It's not as greasy as my usual toad in the hole, but is very tasty! You really don't need any potato or other carb with this, as the batter is enough. Just serve with plenty of 0 point veg. Yum!
Will you be giving this a go?
Hx
6 Weight Watchers Premium Pork Sausages, halved
1 onion, sliced
125g plain white flour
Pinch salt
1 medium egg
250ml skimmed milk
2tsp mustard
1tbsp dried sage
40g gravy granules
Preheat oven to Gas mark 6/200c. Coat a litre oven proof dish with fry light and add halved sausages and onion. Cook for 20 minutes. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk in the egg and then slowly add the milk to make a thin batter. Add the mustard and sage. Pour the batter into the hot dish and cook for a further 30 mins. Make 1pt gravy with the granules. Serve with 0pp veg.
Serves 4.
It's not as greasy as my usual toad in the hole, but is very tasty! You really don't need any potato or other carb with this, as the batter is enough. Just serve with plenty of 0 point veg. Yum!
Will you be giving this a go?
Hx
Hello!
Hello!
I'm Helen, a 29 year old Mum of two currently living in Bedfordshire in the UK. I have been blogging for about 4 months now, and decided it's time to branch out from my addiction to nail polish and write about something else very close to my heart at the moment. Weight loss. My weight has been something I've struggled with for a long time, but I'm finally doing something about it. For good.
A brief 'history' of my struggle with my weight. I have always been a "big girl". 9lbs10oz at birth (my poor mother!) I was always the chubby one at school. We ate healthily at home, plenty of fruit and veg, no pudding unless you ate your dinner and we ate together as a family. The odd takeaway and treat, but generally a healthy, well balanced approach to food. But the pounds crept on. This was me at uni, aged 18ish wearing at least a size 22.
I wasn't happy with my size, but I wasn't particularly worried about it either. I ignored my weight, avoiding scales and shopping in places that had plus size sections as if having the same New Look bag as my friends meant I was no different to them. I wasn't unhappy.
Then came a turning point. At the start of my second year at uni I suddenly started losing weight for no apparent reason. I was working 3 jobs and studying full time, so I was pretty tired all the time, and had no appetite. You'd think this was pretty normal for a typical "student", but 4 days before Christmas 2001 I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and put on insulin. It runs in my family and I was young, so apparently it has nothing to do with being over weight, but it sure as hell can't help.
Shortly after I met my partner Andrew. He didn't seem to mind that I was a bit bigger than most girls, in fact he liked it. He loves my big boobs and bum (well someone's got to!) and sure enough the weight I lost before I was diagnosed came back on. And then some.
After I finished my BA I trained as a teacher and moved into my first proper flat (not student digs) with Andrew. The more settled routine of teaching every day, regular meal times and less going out had a positive effect and I lost a little weight again. I even joined Weight Watchers with a colleague during this time, but didn't stick at it long. Once I qualified as a teacher I took a job in an office while I looked for a teaching job. But being a newly qualified teacher with no experience in sunny Cornwall isn't easy, and my temp job ended up lasting 3 years on and off. Doing a sedentary job I hated meant that by the time I fell pregnant in September 2006 I was about 16 stone.
Unfortunately, I suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks, probably due to my diabetes and blood sugar levels. But on my 25th birthday in February 2007 I found out I was pregnant again and this time gave birth to a healthy baby boy in October. When Oliver was a few days old, we were told our landlord wanted to renovate our flat and we were given 2months notice to move out. So when he was 5 weeks old we moved 300 miles to Bedfordshire, where Andrew is from, to be closer to family and to give Andrew better job prospects. I'm from London and my family is still there which means we get to see them an awful lot more now!
But of course, packing up and moving house away from all your friends with a 5 week old baby and having just had a c-section isn't fun. I didn't know anyone and the only thing I could do, not knowing the area and not being able to drive, was walk to the local supermarket. Which was Waitrose. Have you tried their cakes? I have...
New Year 2009, I'd made a few friends with babies the same age as mine. They'd all lost their baby weight and some were even thinking about the next one. I couldn't tell if I'd lost mine or not. All I knew is that I was fat, and it was making me unhappy. I couldn't bear my photo being taken, so all the pics we had of Oliver were with his dad, and the rare ones of me were awful. So I joined Slimming World and lost almost three stone in 6 months! It made an incredible difference! We went on holiday to Spain, and I could wear boob tubes and strapless dresses confidently, smile when my photo was taken and not worry about sitting by the pool in my cossie.
I'm Helen, a 29 year old Mum of two currently living in Bedfordshire in the UK. I have been blogging for about 4 months now, and decided it's time to branch out from my addiction to nail polish and write about something else very close to my heart at the moment. Weight loss. My weight has been something I've struggled with for a long time, but I'm finally doing something about it. For good.
A brief 'history' of my struggle with my weight. I have always been a "big girl". 9lbs10oz at birth (my poor mother!) I was always the chubby one at school. We ate healthily at home, plenty of fruit and veg, no pudding unless you ate your dinner and we ate together as a family. The odd takeaway and treat, but generally a healthy, well balanced approach to food. But the pounds crept on. This was me at uni, aged 18ish wearing at least a size 22.
Then came a turning point. At the start of my second year at uni I suddenly started losing weight for no apparent reason. I was working 3 jobs and studying full time, so I was pretty tired all the time, and had no appetite. You'd think this was pretty normal for a typical "student", but 4 days before Christmas 2001 I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and put on insulin. It runs in my family and I was young, so apparently it has nothing to do with being over weight, but it sure as hell can't help.
Shortly after I met my partner Andrew. He didn't seem to mind that I was a bit bigger than most girls, in fact he liked it. He loves my big boobs and bum (well someone's got to!) and sure enough the weight I lost before I was diagnosed came back on. And then some.
After I finished my BA I trained as a teacher and moved into my first proper flat (not student digs) with Andrew. The more settled routine of teaching every day, regular meal times and less going out had a positive effect and I lost a little weight again. I even joined Weight Watchers with a colleague during this time, but didn't stick at it long. Once I qualified as a teacher I took a job in an office while I looked for a teaching job. But being a newly qualified teacher with no experience in sunny Cornwall isn't easy, and my temp job ended up lasting 3 years on and off. Doing a sedentary job I hated meant that by the time I fell pregnant in September 2006 I was about 16 stone.
Unfortunately, I suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks, probably due to my diabetes and blood sugar levels. But on my 25th birthday in February 2007 I found out I was pregnant again and this time gave birth to a healthy baby boy in October. When Oliver was a few days old, we were told our landlord wanted to renovate our flat and we were given 2months notice to move out. So when he was 5 weeks old we moved 300 miles to Bedfordshire, where Andrew is from, to be closer to family and to give Andrew better job prospects. I'm from London and my family is still there which means we get to see them an awful lot more now!
But of course, packing up and moving house away from all your friends with a 5 week old baby and having just had a c-section isn't fun. I didn't know anyone and the only thing I could do, not knowing the area and not being able to drive, was walk to the local supermarket. Which was Waitrose. Have you tried their cakes? I have...
New Year 2009, I'd made a few friends with babies the same age as mine. They'd all lost their baby weight and some were even thinking about the next one. I couldn't tell if I'd lost mine or not. All I knew is that I was fat, and it was making me unhappy. I couldn't bear my photo being taken, so all the pics we had of Oliver were with his dad, and the rare ones of me were awful. So I joined Slimming World and lost almost three stone in 6 months! It made an incredible difference! We went on holiday to Spain, and I could wear boob tubes and strapless dresses confidently, smile when my photo was taken and not worry about sitting by the pool in my cossie.
Still a long way to go but I was getting there!
I only gained 2 pounds while we were away, and soon lost that and a stone more. Then I decided it might be nice to have another baby, and after only a few weeks of trying I was pregnant again. I had a difficult pregnancy with Oliver, but this time was worse with a toddler to run around after. I was so sick all the way through, and had so little energy to even stand and cook that I feasted on ready made stodge and junk food, as it was the only thing I could keep down! Pie and mash, meatballs and gravy, takeaways. It was no surprise that by the time Jake arrived in July last year I was massive. He was born by emergency c-section a month early (weighing 8lbs8oz!) due to complications with my diabetes and was in the special care baby unit for a week before we could bring him home.
Since then, weight loss has always been at the back of my mind, but I never felt like I could tackle it and be in control like I did when I was doing Slimming World. We moved house again before Jake was born, only to the next village this time, but it means I can't attend a SW meeting anymore as there isn't one close enough to me that fits in around the children. I did it on my own for a bit, losing half a stone in 3 weeks, but I really feel I need the kick up the bum of knowing I'm going to be weighed by someone else (and paying for the privilege!) at the end of each week.
Me in April this year
A friend of mine joined Weight Watchers and has lost an amazing 50 pounds! I'd always been put off WW by the fact that you have to count everything (SW isn't like that at all) and everything is weighed and measured, and resented having to use 'points' for an apple (er fruit or crisps - I know what I'd chose...) but with their new ProPoints system, you don't. Fruit and veg is (mostly) free, and the system isn't based on calories at all. Every food is designated a ProPoints value and you're given a daily and weekly allowance. SO, I bit the bullet and joined 3 weeks ago and since then, I have lost 12lbs! In three weeks! I'm stunned. Of course I know I wont lose this quickly as I carry on with the plan, but it's a great start. And it has been so easy to follow, I've had meals out, party food at my sons first birthday last week, wine - nothing is banned. And yes, you do have to weigh and measure everything, but it's really no hardship for such good results.
So, the idea behind this blog is to track my weight loss, post recipes, ideas, review different products and foods and keep me on the straight and narrow! I'll aim to post a little something each day, hopefully, even if it's just from my phone as I don't have continual access to a computer at the moment. Hopefully I'll get a few followers...I'm sure there are people like me out there! Come and say hello :)
Hx
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