Fat So Sarah's Gillian Michaels Torture Pack Giveaway

Quick post to let you know that Fat So Sarah is holding an awesome giveaway! For the chance to win a Gillian Michaels 2 DVD set click here and head to Sarah's blog!

I would love love love to give this a try, although I am a leetle bit scared :P

Hx

Weekly Weigh In and Spring Chick Challenge Update

Morning guys and gals :)

So after my self sabotage last week I managed to lose 1/2 a pound. I got back on track over the weekend, and didn't eat anything I shouldn't and tracked it all meaning I was well below my ProPoints every day. Didn't get much exercise in, but that is going to change this week. I am having a tough time in my personal life at the moment, but I am not going to let it get in my way.

My plan for this week:

• TRACK. Everything. I have a habit of not writing down 'free' foods but even these are going in the tracker this week. I also get halfway through the day and stop tracking, which is dangerous as my snacky time is in the evening.
• Menu plan. To go along with the tracking I am going to write a menu plan, which will include 3 meals + snacks for every day Weds-Mon this week. This should also keep my budget in check.
• Exercise. Rest day today, and then get back on it tomorrow.
• Support. Read all the challengers blogs as much as I can, and ask for help if I need it.
• Blog. I have a couple of posts up my sleeve for this week :)

Exercise plan for the week:

Wednesday: Walk to farm shop and back with buggy (2 miles)

Thursday: 40 mins Zumba

Friday: 30 mins Wii Fit

Saturday: 40 mins Zumba

Sunday: Walk with family and/or run in the evening

Monday: 40 mins Zumba

I am going to add these to a side bar so I can tick them off each day, and continue with the Starter exercise plan I showed you in my last post. Another thing I am going to do is wear my sports bra under my normal clothes, and that way I can fit in a few star jumps or step ups on the bottom stair when the urge takes me!

The Spring Chick Mini Challenge this week is to eat with your non-dominant hand. At first, I thought that as I eat with a knife and fork, I don't have a non-dominant hand for eating! But actually, as I usually have cereal for breakfast and soup for lunch I can hold my spoon with my left hand and try it! I think I will need a bib though... The theory behind it is by changing hands when eating it will disrupt your normal patterns and break the habit of over-eating. We'll see!

Just a final thought from me, last week when I was feeling down, as I often do, I took to Twitter. If any of you are on Twitter, please leave your user names in the comments and I will follow you. It is a great support network and we can keep each other going! My user name is @HellBellUk :)

How have you done this week? I hope the new year is treating you well :)

Hx

January Blues...

I haz them. I can't get going with this at all. The amount of food I ate yesterday was ridiculous and I have exercised a total of once this week. Can you say fail?

Lots of things are making me feel this way, and there's not a lot I can do about them. Financially, we are struggling to say the least. Mr F-G-S spent a few months in 2011 unemployed, and just over a year ago the company he was working for then went bankrupt, owing him about £4k. So although he now has a steady job, it's bringing in less money than we're used to and we're still catching up from the time he wasn't working. He's actually working two jobs at the moment - his regular one during the day and as a delivery driver a couple of evenings a week. He's asked for more shifts at his second job which means that while he's earning more money he's also not around in the evenings to help with the kids and so that I can go running. I am not going to make my goal of completing Couch to 5k by my birthday, which makes me want to give up altogether. It also means I don't get to see him in the evenings. Which actually isn't a bad thing because we are getting on each others nerves.... But having no money means I can't get the kids to their activities and see my friends too - so a lack of adult company is driving me mad! The only time I get out of the house is to take Ollie to school, and when he's not at school he and his brother are constantly fighting. Seriously yesterday I felt like just looking myself in the bathroom and just letting them fight to the death.

Food wise, I'm generally making good choices. Porridge made with water for breakfast, soup for lunch and a dinner of under 10pp, plus my 2l of water means I have leeway to have a few sensible snacks during the day. But sensible doesn't mean two pork pies and a packet of crisps... I don't even know why I'm stuffing my face like this. I got a pack of crisps from the cupboard the other day, then said to myself that I didn't need them and that I was better than that and put them back. Only to grab them an hour later and have them anyway. Urgh.

Also, for some reason my birthday is a source of impending gloom. I'm turning 30 on Feb 1st and for some reason I am dreading it. I really don't know why, I've never been one to worry about birthdays or getting old but I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm sure part of it is the fact that we wont be doing anything to celebrate it, again due to the money issue. A night out plus babysitter is just too expensive, and we don't have any family close enough to help out.

I need to shake up my workout, I'm bored of Zumba, much as I love it, and I feel like Wii fit isn't doing as much as it could do. It just isn't inspiring me to get on with it. Ideally I would love to get to the gym or a class, but again childcare and cost is an issue. I have a couple of DVDs that I would like to get into again, but we don't have a remote for our DVD player and I can't get past the first menu LOL. I've tried following some videos online but my screen is too small and my eyesight is not up to squinting while I jump around!

Solutions:

• Stalk Freecycle for a DVD player/exercise DVDs
• Walk with the buggy while Ollie is at school
• Stop eating like a greedy dog and being a whiny little bitch!
• Use the time I have in the evenings to do something for myself.
• Get out of the house more, although to what I don't know...

I feel like I need a good slap to get me out of this mood. Someone needs to take me by the shoulders and shake me! I went on Pinterest last night and found some workouts I can do at home, and am going to try this one in addition to whatever else I can manage.

I also have pinned the next 3 levels, join me on Pinterest here. If you want to join just ask and I'll send you an invite.

 This weekend I am going to stick to a very simple diet - fruit, veggies, low fat dairy and fish - avoid carbs as much as possible and generally eat cleaner in the hopes that a detox of sorts will make me feel better. And knock off the pounds... Now I just need some motivation....

Hx

Recipe of the week - Bacon and Butterbean hotpot

Morning!

I wanted to share with you what I had for dinner last night as it was so good! Filling, packed with veg and low ProPoint/calorie/carb - can't go wrong! It was adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe that uses sausages instead, and different veg.

Serves 3, 6 ProPoints per serving.

Ingredients

A few sprays calorie controlled cooking spray such as FryLight
250g bacon medallions, or back bacon with all visible fat removed (9PP)
1 can (420g) butterbeans, drained (9PP)
1 can chopped tomatoes
400ml hot chicken stock (1PP if made with 1 stock cube)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
1 yellow pepper
handful mushrooms
1/2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp dried parsley

Cut the bacon into approx inch square pieces. Coat a pan with cooking spray and cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped onion, carrots, pepper and crushed garlic and cook for around 5-8 minutes, adding a splash of water if it starts to stick. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes until veg is cooked but still crunchy.

Instead of the bacon you could use 350g chicken breast, 100g chorizo, 4 reduced fat sausages for the same ProPoint value, or leave out the meat altogether, replace the chicken stock with veg stock and the mustard with smoked paprika and you have a tasty veg hot pot for only 3PP.

The veg can be variable too. As long as you have onion and garlic you can replace the carrots, pepper and mushrooms with courgettes, celery, swede, green beans or anything you have!

I'll be having the leftovers tonight, and I'm sure it'll taste even better having sat for a day. Yum!

Hx

What was the damage then...

Over Christmas I gained...3lbs! LeGasp! Am I gasping because OMG I gained 3lbs, or OMG I only gained 3lbs? Well, I think it's a bit of both! I went into Christmas thinking I'd like to maintain my weight, then quickly realised I didn't think that was going to happen realistically. I didn't over eat (or drink) but I didn't make great food choices either, so 3lbs is acceptable to me. When I stepped on the scales this morning I was praying that I wouldn't gain more than 5lbs to put me back over the 14 stone (196lbs) mark, and I was far from it so that was a relief.

As far as setting goals now, I would like to reach 13 stone 4lbs (186lbs) by my birthday as that will mean I've lost 20% of my starting weight. This means I have 4 weeks to lose 8lbs. I've done it before, so I know I can do it again! I would like to lost the 3lbs I put on over the festive period this week. And for my Spring Chick Challenge I would like to be under 13st (182lbs) by the end of it. The challenge ends on 18th March, which just seems like such a long time away, so hopefully this will just be an interim target and I can reassess it when I get there!

How did you all do over Christmas? What was the damage?

Hx

10 years of living with diabetes

In December 2001, a week before Christmas I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I was 19, a student living in a shared house 300 miles from my recently estranged parents, and completely petrified. I started taking insulin injections twice a day and testing my blood sugar regularly, watching my diet (as much as a student does, anyway) and my weight ballooned (a side effect of the insulin). Since then it has been a major part of my life, and it always will be. My treatments have changed, sometimes requiring 4+ injections a day and even insulin/glucose IV infusions during my two pregnancies. It has been hard, physically and emotionally. When I get sick, it seems to last twice as long as it does for anyone else, and on a couple of occasions has had serious complications. Both of my pregnancies were hard work, and I was hospitalised 3 times with the first (remind me why I'm considering doing it again?). But I am relatively healthy for someone who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 10 years - and possibly longer. I have no problems with my circulation, my kidneys are functioning well and my eyes are just starting to show signs of diabetic retinopathy, which is being closely monitored and is treatable.

So, does my weight have any impact on this? It isn't what caused me to become diabetic, as most cases of diabetes linked with obesity are type 2, which is a completely different disease. But, it sure as hell doesn't help! When I lost weight in between having the two children I found I could significantly reduce my insulin doses to keep my blood sugar in control, and I'm finding the same now. Being more active now also makes a huge impact on my blood sugar levels. I know diabetes is a chronic condition and that I will live with it for the rest of my life, but it feels good that I am finally taking some control over it.

Hx

Spring Chick Challenge

I've signed up for the Spring Chick Challenge, started by Stormy at Big Butt Theory as a way to get myself motivated for the New Year and get off to a good start. The challenge starts on Monday 2nd Jan and ends Monday 19th March, and here is what I am committing to in that time...

1. Non-Scale Victory

• Complete couch to 5k (hopefully by 1st Feb, my 30th birthday :eek:)
• Comfortably run 20 minutes without stopping
• Comfortable size 16

2. Nutrition

• Water 2l per day
• 29 PP
• Tracked on WW esource
• NO Tuesday post-weigh in blow outs...

3. Exercise

• 3 hours per week - either 3 hours or 6 half hours - running, zumba, wii fit, swimming

4. Blog at least twice a week, with one of these being a challenge update.

5. Give (and receive) support to other people taking up the challenge!

Hello to any new followers reading my ramblings from the challenge! Stormy has asked us to introduce ourselves, so here I am...

Name: Helly/Helen/H
Blog URL: www.f-g-s.blogspot.com
Email: helen_louise_is at yahoo dot co dot uk

Facebook: Helen England (if you add me tell me it's for the challenge!)
Twitter: @HellBellUk
Age: 29 (soon to be 30 :/)
Location: Bedfordshire, UK (about 50 miles north of London, which is my hometown)

I will update with a starting weight and weight loss goal on Tuesday after my weigh in...


UPDATE: Starting weight 13st12lbs (194lbs)
Goal: 13st (182lbs)

So, there we go! Good luck everyone!

Hx