Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer. Denis Waitley
Filling in my tracker this morning, I realised that I’m still eating what I like eating I’ve just adjusted the quantity I’m eating, which is all about the portion size which we discussed this week. I’m sure you’ll agree from the examples we looked at how easy it is to be a couple of ProPoints out here and there and they soon add up over teh week, which is why ‘weighing’ your food really is essential for a good weight loss, the Weight Watcher kitchen scales really are a worthwhile addition to your kitchen.
Other ways of keeping your portion sizes under control include buying smaller plates, using a ladle for cooked pasta, if you work out the ProPoints for on ladle then it’ll be the same everytime. Always use the same breakfast bowl for your cereal so you know how far to fill it. A 5pp portion of cheese is about the size of a matchbox, the small one not the cook one! You could buy individual portions such as cereal boxes, porridge in sachets, small bottles of wine!!! Or bag up and seal your favourite munchies into small food bags. You’re less likely to eat ten individual servings but it’s easy to get through a large bag. Take a look at pages 43 – 46 in the pocket guide for the more portion size suggestions.
I still enjoy large meals, so I tend to bulk out my plate with Filling & Healthy foods, such as zero ProPoints value vegetables. I fill up on fruit too these days. Another trick I’ve learnt is when I cook, I either make just what I need or if I make a recipe for 4, I immediately put two portions on plates and the other to in food containers to make sure I’m only having a quarter of the dish, and I put the lids on the other two to stop me eating those too, I either pop them in the fridge or freezer for another day.
We all know I like the odd glass of red wine, but remember that alcohol can lower any steadfast weight loss resolves, so being careful of how much you drink could really help you to stay in control of your food choices and portions.
We all agreed this week, it can be all too easy to eat more than you need, or misjudge your portions, especially when you’re dining out or surrounded by unfamiliar foods. So make sure you know your portions, whether you want to continue losing weight, maintain your current weight, or are on holiday and want to start afresh with your weight loss once you're back home - being aware of your portions can help you stay in control. So, start by making sure you’re portion savvy:
- Spend some time measuring out your portions, so you get used to what a sensible serving looks like.
- Using familiar objects to estimate your portions against to begin to develop an eye for the sensible serving amount and getting familiar with their ProPoints values. For more on this see the Portions Planner on Weight Watchers esource.
And we all know what you are served when you’re eating out is not always going to be a sensible portion. Over the last 20 years food and drinks in both shops and restaurants have increased in size – one study found that burgers have doubled in size and alarmingly pasta servings are five times larger1. To keep your portions in check and make healthy choices, try to eat regularly when you’re out and about to keep hunger at bay. Use the satisfaction scale to judge when you’re hungry or full. Choose sensibly at the buffet restaurants and base your meals on Filling & Healthy foods.
And if you look for healthier options on the menu such as those that are boiled or grilled rather than fried you will find them and these can make the difference between the 20pp lunch I had last Friday or the 56pp lunch I had Sunday!
So today when you go to eat something ask yourself – “is that the proper portion?”
Friday, 18 February 2011
Thursday, 17 February 2011
17th February 2010
A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.
Thursday already can’t believe how fast the weeks are going and I love that everyone’s doing so well in my meetings with the new ProPoints plan, last night at Ashmore Park 150lb lost, my meeting yesterday morning 51lb, Tuesday at Willenhall 310lb and Monday 165.5lb – just fabulous, all these members putting themselves first and taking care of them! It’s fantastic to see all those smiles on all those gorgeous faces xx
I made a delicious onion gratin yesterday out of a Jamie book and used Weight Watchers crème fraiche which is lower in ProPoints, and also used the WW oil spray which saved 8pp of olive oil! And it was delicious still.
I’ve noticed a lot of people have booked their summer holidays already which is an added incentive for losing weight, everyone has different reasons for slimming down and it’s important to know what yours are, mine include I want to feel better healthwise as my back tends to hurt a little less when it’s carrying a little less, and also I like to be a good example that the plan works to my members. You may want to lose to look better, feel better, to get into a wedding dress or for another event, but whatever your reason, remember it when you start to waver.
Why not visualise yourself succeeding, I like the saying, “whatever you believe, you can achieve”, I hear so many members say, “I’ll try” as they walk away from my scales, when saying, “I’ll triumph” would put them in a completely different frame of mind for the week ahead. Numerous sports stars have used visualisation to help them win – a technique that is applicable to all sports and to all aspects of life. So how do you do it? You close your eyes and use your imagination, picture yourself at your goal weight going into changing rooms and trying on new clothes, or walking in a restaurant and ordering something healthy off the menu. The more you imagine yourself doing it, the more likely you are to behave that way when the real situation occurs. Think about it, it’s not different to when you were learning to drive and running through the highway code, or the ‘mirror, signal, manoeuvre’ in your head.
So today imagine yourself making one good choice after another, and let’s have an absolutely amazing day, think about it, life’s always better when you’re happy and from my experience you are all happy when you’re losing weight.
Have a great day xx
Thursday already can’t believe how fast the weeks are going and I love that everyone’s doing so well in my meetings with the new ProPoints plan, last night at Ashmore Park 150lb lost, my meeting yesterday morning 51lb, Tuesday at Willenhall 310lb and Monday 165.5lb – just fabulous, all these members putting themselves first and taking care of them! It’s fantastic to see all those smiles on all those gorgeous faces xx
I made a delicious onion gratin yesterday out of a Jamie book and used Weight Watchers crème fraiche which is lower in ProPoints, and also used the WW oil spray which saved 8pp of olive oil! And it was delicious still.
I’ve noticed a lot of people have booked their summer holidays already which is an added incentive for losing weight, everyone has different reasons for slimming down and it’s important to know what yours are, mine include I want to feel better healthwise as my back tends to hurt a little less when it’s carrying a little less, and also I like to be a good example that the plan works to my members. You may want to lose to look better, feel better, to get into a wedding dress or for another event, but whatever your reason, remember it when you start to waver.
Why not visualise yourself succeeding, I like the saying, “whatever you believe, you can achieve”, I hear so many members say, “I’ll try” as they walk away from my scales, when saying, “I’ll triumph” would put them in a completely different frame of mind for the week ahead. Numerous sports stars have used visualisation to help them win – a technique that is applicable to all sports and to all aspects of life. So how do you do it? You close your eyes and use your imagination, picture yourself at your goal weight going into changing rooms and trying on new clothes, or walking in a restaurant and ordering something healthy off the menu. The more you imagine yourself doing it, the more likely you are to behave that way when the real situation occurs. Think about it, it’s not different to when you were learning to drive and running through the highway code, or the ‘mirror, signal, manoeuvre’ in your head.
So today imagine yourself making one good choice after another, and let’s have an absolutely amazing day, think about it, life’s always better when you’re happy and from my experience you are all happy when you’re losing weight.
Have a great day xx
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
16th February 2011
"We love: that's why life is full of so many wonderful gifts". Rumi
Check me out, yesterday I made parmesan and sun dried tomato bread rolls, they worked out at two for 9pp but they were delicious especially warm out of the oven. They were my first attempt at bread so next on the list is pizza base, but not this week and I’m away the weekend so it’ll go on the to do list.
Do you miss fish and chips from the chippy, remember you can make your own version and they’ll probably taste better, for crispy coated fish, dip fish fillets into beaten egg white, season with garlic, mustard powder or chopped herbs and the dip them into brushed breadcrumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes until the topping is crisp. For chunky chips peel some big potatoes and cut lengthways into wedges. Par-boil for a minute or two, drain and spritz with WW oil spray. Bake for about 30 minutes until brown and crispy and you have a healthy version of the chippy takeaway.
Another quick supper is quick chicken, remove the skin from the chicken portions, roll each piece in a mixture of breadcrumbs, chilli, black pepper and finely grated parmesan and bake in a hot oven for around 45 minutes.
If you’re hungry when you get in from work or collecting the kids from school but dinners a few hours away, have healthy snacks to hand, low fat yogurt, fruit, veg sticks, cherry tomatoes, crackers and wafer thin ham or if you do want something with chocolate make sure it’s within your allowance, a Weight Watcher bar for 2pp or the new cookie bites for 1pp, curly wurly 4pp, crème egg 6pp!
Lunch time can be a problem for a lot of you, so if you do go to a sandwich counter near you, tell them exactly what you want on the sandwich and watch them make it in front of you! If you’re making your own go for low fat spreads, use a really strong cheese as you won’t need as much. Bulk out the sandwich with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot or any salads and always use lean cuts of meat on or cut the fat off. Of course your still allowed a treat in your lunch box, again make sure it’s within your allowance, and why not earn a few activity ProPoints by going to the gym before or after work, maybe parking as far away from the office as possible, or nipping out for a stroll in your lunch hour. Even little tweaks like standing up whilst on the phone, using the toilet that’s furthest from your desk or filling your water at the cooler on the other side of the office all help towards you ‘moving more’ and if you’re wearing a Weight Watchers pedometer you can watch those steps clocking up and enjoy seeing them turn into activity ProPoints.
Old habits don’t disappear without some effort and they need to be replaced with new habits, the habit I’ve been working on for the last three weeks is cooking at lunchtime, as soon as I get back from my meeting I put everything down and go to the kitchen to decide what to have for my lunch and dinner and I get that sorted before I go to do my paperwork, because I’m as important as my members and if I’m not taking care of myself, why should I expect my members to put themselves first either?
So make today, “take care of you” day! They seem to have days for everything else so why not. Let me know what you’re going to do today to take care of you, write it on our facebook wall and have a caring day xx
Check me out, yesterday I made parmesan and sun dried tomato bread rolls, they worked out at two for 9pp but they were delicious especially warm out of the oven. They were my first attempt at bread so next on the list is pizza base, but not this week and I’m away the weekend so it’ll go on the to do list.
Do you miss fish and chips from the chippy, remember you can make your own version and they’ll probably taste better, for crispy coated fish, dip fish fillets into beaten egg white, season with garlic, mustard powder or chopped herbs and the dip them into brushed breadcrumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes until the topping is crisp. For chunky chips peel some big potatoes and cut lengthways into wedges. Par-boil for a minute or two, drain and spritz with WW oil spray. Bake for about 30 minutes until brown and crispy and you have a healthy version of the chippy takeaway.
Another quick supper is quick chicken, remove the skin from the chicken portions, roll each piece in a mixture of breadcrumbs, chilli, black pepper and finely grated parmesan and bake in a hot oven for around 45 minutes.
If you’re hungry when you get in from work or collecting the kids from school but dinners a few hours away, have healthy snacks to hand, low fat yogurt, fruit, veg sticks, cherry tomatoes, crackers and wafer thin ham or if you do want something with chocolate make sure it’s within your allowance, a Weight Watcher bar for 2pp or the new cookie bites for 1pp, curly wurly 4pp, crème egg 6pp!
Lunch time can be a problem for a lot of you, so if you do go to a sandwich counter near you, tell them exactly what you want on the sandwich and watch them make it in front of you! If you’re making your own go for low fat spreads, use a really strong cheese as you won’t need as much. Bulk out the sandwich with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot or any salads and always use lean cuts of meat on or cut the fat off. Of course your still allowed a treat in your lunch box, again make sure it’s within your allowance, and why not earn a few activity ProPoints by going to the gym before or after work, maybe parking as far away from the office as possible, or nipping out for a stroll in your lunch hour. Even little tweaks like standing up whilst on the phone, using the toilet that’s furthest from your desk or filling your water at the cooler on the other side of the office all help towards you ‘moving more’ and if you’re wearing a Weight Watchers pedometer you can watch those steps clocking up and enjoy seeing them turn into activity ProPoints.
Old habits don’t disappear without some effort and they need to be replaced with new habits, the habit I’ve been working on for the last three weeks is cooking at lunchtime, as soon as I get back from my meeting I put everything down and go to the kitchen to decide what to have for my lunch and dinner and I get that sorted before I go to do my paperwork, because I’m as important as my members and if I’m not taking care of myself, why should I expect my members to put themselves first either?
So make today, “take care of you” day! They seem to have days for everything else so why not. Let me know what you’re going to do today to take care of you, write it on our facebook wall and have a caring day xx
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
15th February 2011 facebook email
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do. Rumi
Well I got weighed yesterday and I lost 1.5lb in my second week back on the plan. This is my tracker for last week if you’re interested http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-propoints-tracker-monday-feb-7th.html
I always find the second week the most difficult for some reason, I think it’s because I throw myself back into it 100% which is easy to do for a week, then real life returns and you can’t quite find the extra time to take the dog for the 2nd walk, or you start your monthlies so you want to eat the world, or maybe you’re just a bit stressed, lots of little things made last week more difficult, one simply being temptation of mom’s crisps being in the cupboard and also eating out twice. However I made it through and am now on week 3 and 8.5lb away from my goal weight and as long as I’m losing, I don’t mind how long it take, 1/2lb a week will do me.
Hopefully a few of you got some loving last night, what with it being Valentine’s day! So I thought today you’ll probably be tired and not really in the mood to spend time in the kitchen so below is a recipe for a store cupboard supper, real feel good comfort food that the whole family will eat and not as high on the ProPoints as you’d expect, it’s also good on the purse strings.
Corned beef and sweetcorn hash.
Serves 4 = 13pp each, costs approx £1.33 per person
Takes 10 Minutes to make, 25 Minutes To cook
Replace the tinned sweetcorn with frozen peas, if you like.
2½ tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, sliced into thin wedges
Knob of butter
400g waxy potatoes (such as charlotte), cut into 2cm chunks
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp dried thyme
300g tin corned beef, cut into chunks
120g tin sweetcorn, drained and rinsed
4 large free-range eggs
Add 1 tbsp of the oil to a large frying pan and gently fry the onion over a low heat for 6 minutes to soften. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Add another splash of oil and the butter to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and fry the potatoes for 10 minutes until beginning to crisp and turn golden. Stir in the chilli flakes
and dried thyme, fry for another minute or so, then add the corned beef. Season
Continue frying the corned beef, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until starting to crisp. Stir in the sweetcorn and return the cooked onion to the pan. Cook for a couple more minutes to warm through.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in another large frying pan, crack the eggs into the pan and fry until the white has just set. Serve the corned beef and sweetcorn hash on warmed plates and top each serving with a fried egg.
I plan to make that sometime this week, yesterday I made the following, I used a Nigella recipe as my basic idea but hers had 2 tablespoons of olive oil (8pp) and 1 tablespoon of butter (2pp) in it, which I replaced with pancetta and chorizo which is tastier than oil and butter and the fat out of them helped to cook the onions, I served mine with fishcakes but you could easily have double quantity and have it as the main dish on its own.
Butternut Squash Scrumptious
ProPoints® Value: 4
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
1 butternut squash, peeled & diced into 2cm cubes
2 onion diced
70g diced pancetta
¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
30g chorizo sausage, sliced
3 tablespoons sherry
125 ml Water
75g Saint Agur blue cheese
Add onion and pancetta to a large frying pan and cook for a few minutes, then add chorizo followed by paprika. Next add sherry & water, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until squash is cooked. Break the cheese into pieces and mix into the pan, serve.
Here’s to a day of simplicity and scrumptiousness x
Well I got weighed yesterday and I lost 1.5lb in my second week back on the plan. This is my tracker for last week if you’re interested http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-propoints-tracker-monday-feb-7th.html
I always find the second week the most difficult for some reason, I think it’s because I throw myself back into it 100% which is easy to do for a week, then real life returns and you can’t quite find the extra time to take the dog for the 2nd walk, or you start your monthlies so you want to eat the world, or maybe you’re just a bit stressed, lots of little things made last week more difficult, one simply being temptation of mom’s crisps being in the cupboard and also eating out twice. However I made it through and am now on week 3 and 8.5lb away from my goal weight and as long as I’m losing, I don’t mind how long it take, 1/2lb a week will do me.
Hopefully a few of you got some loving last night, what with it being Valentine’s day! So I thought today you’ll probably be tired and not really in the mood to spend time in the kitchen so below is a recipe for a store cupboard supper, real feel good comfort food that the whole family will eat and not as high on the ProPoints as you’d expect, it’s also good on the purse strings.
Corned beef and sweetcorn hash.
Serves 4 = 13pp each, costs approx £1.33 per person
Takes 10 Minutes to make, 25 Minutes To cook
Replace the tinned sweetcorn with frozen peas, if you like.
2½ tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, sliced into thin wedges
Knob of butter
400g waxy potatoes (such as charlotte), cut into 2cm chunks
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp dried thyme
300g tin corned beef, cut into chunks
120g tin sweetcorn, drained and rinsed
4 large free-range eggs
Add 1 tbsp of the oil to a large frying pan and gently fry the onion over a low heat for 6 minutes to soften. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Add another splash of oil and the butter to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and fry the potatoes for 10 minutes until beginning to crisp and turn golden. Stir in the chilli flakes
and dried thyme, fry for another minute or so, then add the corned beef. Season
Continue frying the corned beef, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until starting to crisp. Stir in the sweetcorn and return the cooked onion to the pan. Cook for a couple more minutes to warm through.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in another large frying pan, crack the eggs into the pan and fry until the white has just set. Serve the corned beef and sweetcorn hash on warmed plates and top each serving with a fried egg.
I plan to make that sometime this week, yesterday I made the following, I used a Nigella recipe as my basic idea but hers had 2 tablespoons of olive oil (8pp) and 1 tablespoon of butter (2pp) in it, which I replaced with pancetta and chorizo which is tastier than oil and butter and the fat out of them helped to cook the onions, I served mine with fishcakes but you could easily have double quantity and have it as the main dish on its own.
Butternut Squash Scrumptious
ProPoints® Value: 4
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
1 butternut squash, peeled & diced into 2cm cubes
2 onion diced
70g diced pancetta
¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
30g chorizo sausage, sliced
3 tablespoons sherry
125 ml Water
75g Saint Agur blue cheese
Add onion and pancetta to a large frying pan and cook for a few minutes, then add chorizo followed by paprika. Next add sherry & water, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until squash is cooked. Break the cheese into pieces and mix into the pan, serve.
Here’s to a day of simplicity and scrumptiousness x
Monday, 14 February 2011
My ProPoints™ Tracker Monday Feb 7th - Sunday 13th
Monday, February 07, 2011
Breakfast
banana, apple, grapes, 3 plums - 0
smoothie - 0
Lunch
buttermilk chicken, veg tart and giant couscous - 15
Dinner
speedy spicy rice - 8
white wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 7
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
Plums 0
1/4 pint(s) Milk, Skimmed for tea 1
Lunch
Creamy mustard chicken, spicy rice and carrots - 13
Dinner
savoury cheesecake, olives, cottage cheese and salad - 9
wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity Pedometer ProPoints values earned 6
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
few strawberries - 0
Lunch
creamy mustard pot pie - 10
roasted veg - 0
Dinner
Large portion Smash Original 4 mixed in 39 g Cheese, Cheddar 4 and chorizo - 3
looked awful, tasted lush.
Subtotal 11
Any Time
WW Strawberry Tart Yogurt - 1
milk in tea - 3
1 serving(s) Pineapple cottage cheese 2
3 small crackers - 2
red wine - 6
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 10
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Breakfast
bananas x 2 - 0
1 medium Apple 0
Subtotal 0
Lunch
- I was home for less than an hour all day and managed to knock up a delicious lunch, quite proud of myself.
omelette - 10
bread and cheese triangle - 3
Subtotal 13
Dinner 3 individual Dark Rye Crispbread 3
1 bag(s) Cheese and Onion Flavour Crisps 3
14 individual Olives, in Brine 1
1/2 pot(s) Guacamole 3
Subtotal 10
Any Time 250 ml Wine, Red 6
Ww choc bite - Quick-added food 1
Subtotal 7
Food ProPoints values total used 30
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 6
Friday, February 11, 2011
Breakfast 3 pickled Egg, 5 (I eat weird I know!)
Subtotal 5
Lunch
Lunch with the ladies at the boat - liver & bacon with carrots and brocolli - 20
1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed in tea 1
Subtotal 21
Dinner 2 ryvita 1
15 individual Olives, in Brine 1
guacamole - 3
handful twiglets - 1
cottage cheese - 2
Subtotal 8
Any Time red wine - 19
Food ProPoints values total used 53
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Lunch
chicken and cheese cob - 12
Dinner
chicken dinner - 13
Any Time
220 ml Bianco Vermouth 10
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Breakfast 3 medium Plums 0
1 medium Mango 0
1 1/2 bowl(s) Puffed Wheat 3
1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 1
Subtotal 4
Lunch
Frankie and Benny's Manhattan Burger this is what 56 ProPoints looks like!
I left half and replaced later with bottle of red wine, much nicer!
Subtotal 56
Any Time
red wine already accounted for,
Food ProPoints values total used 60
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity Pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
Breakfast
banana, apple, grapes, 3 plums - 0
smoothie - 0
Lunch
buttermilk chicken, veg tart and giant couscous - 15
Dinner
speedy spicy rice - 8
white wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 7
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
Plums 0
1/4 pint(s) Milk, Skimmed for tea 1
Lunch
Creamy mustard chicken, spicy rice and carrots - 13
Dinner
savoury cheesecake, olives, cottage cheese and salad - 9
wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity Pedometer ProPoints values earned 6
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
few strawberries - 0
Lunch
creamy mustard pot pie - 10
roasted veg - 0
Dinner
Large portion Smash Original 4 mixed in 39 g Cheese, Cheddar 4 and chorizo - 3
looked awful, tasted lush.
Subtotal 11
Any Time
WW Strawberry Tart Yogurt - 1
milk in tea - 3
1 serving(s) Pineapple cottage cheese 2
3 small crackers - 2
red wine - 6
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 10
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Breakfast
bananas x 2 - 0
1 medium Apple 0
Subtotal 0
Lunch
- I was home for less than an hour all day and managed to knock up a delicious lunch, quite proud of myself.
omelette - 10
bread and cheese triangle - 3
Subtotal 13
Dinner 3 individual Dark Rye Crispbread 3
1 bag(s) Cheese and Onion Flavour Crisps 3
14 individual Olives, in Brine 1
1/2 pot(s) Guacamole 3
Subtotal 10
Any Time 250 ml Wine, Red 6
Ww choc bite - Quick-added food 1
Subtotal 7
Food ProPoints values total used 30
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 6
Friday, February 11, 2011
Breakfast 3 pickled Egg, 5 (I eat weird I know!)
Subtotal 5
Lunch
Lunch with the ladies at the boat - liver & bacon with carrots and brocolli - 20
1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed in tea 1
Subtotal 21
Dinner 2 ryvita 1
15 individual Olives, in Brine 1
guacamole - 3
handful twiglets - 1
cottage cheese - 2
Subtotal 8
Any Time red wine - 19
Food ProPoints values total used 53
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Lunch
chicken and cheese cob - 12
Dinner
chicken dinner - 13
Any Time
220 ml Bianco Vermouth 10
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Breakfast 3 medium Plums 0
1 medium Mango 0
1 1/2 bowl(s) Puffed Wheat 3
1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 1
Subtotal 4
Lunch
Frankie and Benny's Manhattan Burger this is what 56 ProPoints looks like!
I left half and replaced later with bottle of red wine, much nicer!
Subtotal 56
Any Time
red wine already accounted for,
Food ProPoints values total used 60
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity Pedometer ProPoints values earned 3
14th February 2011
If I love myself I love you. If I love you I love myself. Rumi
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone xx
Whether you’re in love or not today is about love and self love is just as important if not more so, therefore why not treat yourself to a bunch of flowers or somethings scrumptious for your dinner, I bought the Sainsbury’s meal deal, we haven’t eaten all three courses at once, but with the 49 you could do, the fishcake starters were 8pp for portion, the big Chicken and chorizo main was 12pp, and the side was about 8 too I think, didn’t work out the dessert as mom will eat that ;0), but at least it shows you can still lead a normal life and don’t have to sit there with a Weight Watcher meal tonight feeling sorry for yourself xx
Yesterday when I was getting ready to go for my burger at Frankie and Benny's I found myself comparing what I could be spending the 56pp on instead of a Manhattan burger and whether it was going be worth it as I’d had to forgo my wine on Saturday night, before I even arrived at the restaurant I’d decided I’d enjoy it but it wasn’t going to taste better than chicken chow mein and a bottle of red wine for under 40pp or big mac and fries and bottle of red wine for 45pp, or my favourite recipe at the moment 40 clove garlic chicken which is only 13pp, I could have that with mashed potatoes made with butter and still have a bottle of white wine for less than this damn burger was going to cost me. I have to say I expected the plate to be huge with loads of chips on it but it wasn’t it was an ordinary oval dinner plate with the equivalent of a MacDonalds large portion of fries, 3 onion rings, a little bit of sauce and this mammoth burger that had 2 6oz burgers in it and a bun, I have to say compared to a big mac for me it didn’t compare, it was too greasy, I took one of the burgers home and even Alfie didn’t want it!
So I realised yesterday ProPoints are like currency, in my mind I thanked Lindsay for her fb comment the other week as it reminded me to think of the lbs not the £'s! When you go clothes shopping you might see an amazing outfit, look at the price tag and realise it’s £300, this makes you think it’s gorgeous but for £300 I could fill my wardrobe with a few things, so you decide again it. The same goes for food, something may look delicious but when you weigh up how many ProPoints it’s going to cost you and how long it will take to eat you might decide it’s not worth it, and you’ll have something else just as delicious and lose the pound on the scales.
So think about it, you have 49pp to last you the week, are you going to blow them on one thing or spread them out at make them last, neither is the wrong decision as long as you think about it and make the choice that’s right for you.
Weigh day for me today, fingers crossed, the second week on the plan is always harder for me than the first and I’ve found this week a real test because of the meal out yesterday, normally I’d enjoy my nightly glass of wine but couldn’t do that this week, however I made it through and hope for a loss. Hope you’ve all made it through another week, and if you haven’t and you slipped, don’t panic or stress about it, start afresh today.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone xx
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone xx
Whether you’re in love or not today is about love and self love is just as important if not more so, therefore why not treat yourself to a bunch of flowers or somethings scrumptious for your dinner, I bought the Sainsbury’s meal deal, we haven’t eaten all three courses at once, but with the 49 you could do, the fishcake starters were 8pp for portion, the big Chicken and chorizo main was 12pp, and the side was about 8 too I think, didn’t work out the dessert as mom will eat that ;0), but at least it shows you can still lead a normal life and don’t have to sit there with a Weight Watcher meal tonight feeling sorry for yourself xx
So I realised yesterday ProPoints are like currency, in my mind I thanked Lindsay for her fb comment the other week as it reminded me to think of the lbs not the £'s! When you go clothes shopping you might see an amazing outfit, look at the price tag and realise it’s £300, this makes you think it’s gorgeous but for £300 I could fill my wardrobe with a few things, so you decide again it. The same goes for food, something may look delicious but when you weigh up how many ProPoints it’s going to cost you and how long it will take to eat you might decide it’s not worth it, and you’ll have something else just as delicious and lose the pound on the scales.
So think about it, you have 49pp to last you the week, are you going to blow them on one thing or spread them out at make them last, neither is the wrong decision as long as you think about it and make the choice that’s right for you.
Weigh day for me today, fingers crossed, the second week on the plan is always harder for me than the first and I’ve found this week a real test because of the meal out yesterday, normally I’d enjoy my nightly glass of wine but couldn’t do that this week, however I made it through and hope for a loss. Hope you’ve all made it through another week, and if you haven’t and you slipped, don’t panic or stress about it, start afresh today.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone xx
Sunday, 13 February 2011
13th February 2011
To create a masterpiece takes time, and remember you’re working on a masterpiece – YOU!
I went shopping yesterday and you can’t help but notice all the ‘Valentine’ things instore so when I came back sticking with the theme of love we watched the movie Valentine on Sky which was a feel good film for the weekend. So sticking with the theme of love, lets work on the self love, the being kind to yourself, and encouraging yourself and telling yourself how fabulous you are ;-) Because YOU ARE AMAZING you just don’t always realise it.
Driving back from the shop I heard Pinks new song ‘Perfect’ on the radio so I thought I’d let her lyrics do the work this morning, because as she sings and she’s so true, “don't you ever ever feel, Like you're less than, less than perfect”. The entire lyrics are below, read them, she’s so right and if you can start to see your perfect your body and mind starts to agree with you and weight loss gets easier – honest.
Well today’s Frankie & Benny day, but I have to go walk Alfie first as he allowed me to have a bit of a lie in this morning, but is now crying at my feet!
Enjoy your day xx
Perfect
Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated
Look, I'm still around
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me!
You're so mean, when you talk about yourself, you were wrong
Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead
So complicated, look happy, you'll make it!
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game
It's enough! I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same
Oh, pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in line, and we try try try, but we try too hard and it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They dont like my jeans, they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby!
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me
You're perfect, you're perfect to me!
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
I went shopping yesterday and you can’t help but notice all the ‘Valentine’ things instore so when I came back sticking with the theme of love we watched the movie Valentine on Sky which was a feel good film for the weekend. So sticking with the theme of love, lets work on the self love, the being kind to yourself, and encouraging yourself and telling yourself how fabulous you are ;-) Because YOU ARE AMAZING you just don’t always realise it.
Driving back from the shop I heard Pinks new song ‘Perfect’ on the radio so I thought I’d let her lyrics do the work this morning, because as she sings and she’s so true, “don't you ever ever feel, Like you're less than, less than perfect”. The entire lyrics are below, read them, she’s so right and if you can start to see your perfect your body and mind starts to agree with you and weight loss gets easier – honest.
Well today’s Frankie & Benny day, but I have to go walk Alfie first as he allowed me to have a bit of a lie in this morning, but is now crying at my feet!
Enjoy your day xx
Perfect
Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated
Look, I'm still around
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me!
You're so mean, when you talk about yourself, you were wrong
Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead
So complicated, look happy, you'll make it!
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game
It's enough! I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same
Oh, pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in line, and we try try try, but we try too hard and it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They dont like my jeans, they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby!
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me
You're perfect, you're perfect to me!
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
Saturday, 12 February 2011
12th February 2011
A habit is like a comfortable bed, easy to get into but harder to get out of.
How true is the above comment! It’s not easy to change your habits, which is why you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you don’t do it immediately! If you’re trying your best to stay focused and on track but occasionally slip because of ingrained old bad habits you can hardly give yourself a hard time for not being perfect. When a child’s trying to learn to ride a bike or walk if the fall over, do you shout at them? I hope not, so don’t shout at yourself either. Change is difficult for most of us and I’m sure we will all find it easier if we are nice to ourselves, rather than beating ourselves up.
I ate out yesterday with 3 other leaders, we’re supporting each other and we all ignored the bread basket and ProPointed our meals and had a really good afternoon, which shows you can with a little effort have a great time and stay on track.
I’m typing this on my new pc, and I was amazed yesterday at how easy it was to set up! I can’t believe apart from the cost, one of the main reasons I’ve put off buying a replacement desktop pc for so long is because I was dreading setting it up! I’ve put up with my old pc which has been a nightmare for the last 12 months because of the fear of change and how difficult it would be to choose and set up a new one. I think lots of us are like this with losing weight too, we think it’s going to be more difficult than it is. Change is much easier if we embrace it rather than dread it. Choose to see the change as good and then you can enjoy it. For example I used to dread the idea of having to go and decide and prepare what I was going to have for my dinner and now I take great pleasure in sitting watching tv at the weekend and looking through my Weight Watcher magazines and cook books looking for new recipes to try. I have to admit, I’ve never enjoyed cooking and eating so much in all my life and I’m losing weight so it’s all good.
The same goes for exercise, you can’t expect yourself to suddenly go from doing nothing to doing 4 or 5 hour long sessions at the gym each week! The most important thing to do is to find an activity you enjoy doing, this might take some experimenting, go try different classes, if you don’t like them don’t go back! I now really enjoy walking Alfie each morning come rain or shine, that has built up gradually since we had him, at first he could only be walked for 5 minutes and if it was raining or I was busy I didn’t want to go. Now come 7am or whatever time it starts to lighten up we’re both ready to go. I enjoy the quiet time, whereas others like to do something more energetic like zumba, or something entertaining, why not try belly dancing, apparently it’s great fun.
I’ve not made any plans for the weekend apart from lunch at Frankie & Benny’s tomorrow, think I need to do a little housework, looking round my office, I can’t see the floor anymore, so maybe earn a few activity ProPoints doing that. Whatever you have planned, enjoy yourself and don’t give yourself a hard time, it’s all about the love xx
How true is the above comment! It’s not easy to change your habits, which is why you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you don’t do it immediately! If you’re trying your best to stay focused and on track but occasionally slip because of ingrained old bad habits you can hardly give yourself a hard time for not being perfect. When a child’s trying to learn to ride a bike or walk if the fall over, do you shout at them? I hope not, so don’t shout at yourself either. Change is difficult for most of us and I’m sure we will all find it easier if we are nice to ourselves, rather than beating ourselves up.
I ate out yesterday with 3 other leaders, we’re supporting each other and we all ignored the bread basket and ProPointed our meals and had a really good afternoon, which shows you can with a little effort have a great time and stay on track.
I’m typing this on my new pc, and I was amazed yesterday at how easy it was to set up! I can’t believe apart from the cost, one of the main reasons I’ve put off buying a replacement desktop pc for so long is because I was dreading setting it up! I’ve put up with my old pc which has been a nightmare for the last 12 months because of the fear of change and how difficult it would be to choose and set up a new one. I think lots of us are like this with losing weight too, we think it’s going to be more difficult than it is. Change is much easier if we embrace it rather than dread it. Choose to see the change as good and then you can enjoy it. For example I used to dread the idea of having to go and decide and prepare what I was going to have for my dinner and now I take great pleasure in sitting watching tv at the weekend and looking through my Weight Watcher magazines and cook books looking for new recipes to try. I have to admit, I’ve never enjoyed cooking and eating so much in all my life and I’m losing weight so it’s all good.
The same goes for exercise, you can’t expect yourself to suddenly go from doing nothing to doing 4 or 5 hour long sessions at the gym each week! The most important thing to do is to find an activity you enjoy doing, this might take some experimenting, go try different classes, if you don’t like them don’t go back! I now really enjoy walking Alfie each morning come rain or shine, that has built up gradually since we had him, at first he could only be walked for 5 minutes and if it was raining or I was busy I didn’t want to go. Now come 7am or whatever time it starts to lighten up we’re both ready to go. I enjoy the quiet time, whereas others like to do something more energetic like zumba, or something entertaining, why not try belly dancing, apparently it’s great fun.
I’ve not made any plans for the weekend apart from lunch at Frankie & Benny’s tomorrow, think I need to do a little housework, looking round my office, I can’t see the floor anymore, so maybe earn a few activity ProPoints doing that. Whatever you have planned, enjoy yourself and don’t give yourself a hard time, it’s all about the love xx
Friday, 11 February 2011
February 11th 2011 todays email
We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same. Carlos Castaneda
Well I didn’t stop yesterday, I had about an hour in the house from 7.30am-8pm, and I somehow managed to use it wisely and make myself an omelette for lunch, how I managed to stop myself overindulging yesterday is beyond me, but I did and I’m very pleased with myself. Let’s hope I’m rewarded on the scales on Monday. I’ve got a busy weekend planned work though not play and I’m hoping this will help me stay on track, setting up a computer doesn’t thrill me I have to say but it’s got to be done! Then I have a mammoth work task to do, hey ho, I’m also getting to have lunch with the ladies and I’m out Sunday for lunch too so there’s some rest in the too.
Finally worked out the ProPoints in a Donor Kebab yesterday and the ones from the chippy on Stubby Lane work out to approximately 30pp including pitta but not including sauces, a chicken meat kebab is approximately 16pp and their chips for a regular portion was 38pp. Mmm not sure if I’d eat those anymore, I think I’d personally rather have a Big Mac for 13pp and a large portion of French fries for 13pp, 26pp total is a better option for me than a Donor Kebab and chips for 68pp!
If you would like to receive motivational texts from me make sure that your mobile number is on your membership card in the meeting next week.
I’ve received my copy of the new Weight Watchers cookbook “Oriental Express” which is due in meetings soon, as you can imagine there’s some fabulous alternatives to your Weigh Day Take Away in there, such as plum & sweet chilli beef kebabs, chicken and vegetable samosas, Thai burgers, spicy beef and lots more, so to get you in the mood here’s a chow mein recipe to save you pounds from your purse and pounds on the scales!
Simplified Chicken Chow Mein – serves 4
(35 total) 9pp per serving
150g (5oz) cooked chicken (cut into thin strips) (5pp)
1 tbsp oil (4pp)
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp chopped garlic
½ lb dried egg noodles (25pp)
Bean sprouts (1 handful)
½ small onion (sliced)
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil (1pp)
Cook noodles by soaking in boiling water for 5-10 minutes or until soft to touch. Clean wok, heat wok until hot and slightly smoky. Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the chicken and onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Turn to low heat and add the garlic and stir-fry for another 15 seconds.
Now add the bean sprouts and noodles. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes or until the noodles are soft.
Add the salt, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce.
Stir-fry for another minute. Finally add the pepper and sesame oil and stir in.
So I’ve got to get on, lots to do before lunch with the ladies xx
Well I didn’t stop yesterday, I had about an hour in the house from 7.30am-8pm, and I somehow managed to use it wisely and make myself an omelette for lunch, how I managed to stop myself overindulging yesterday is beyond me, but I did and I’m very pleased with myself. Let’s hope I’m rewarded on the scales on Monday. I’ve got a busy weekend planned work though not play and I’m hoping this will help me stay on track, setting up a computer doesn’t thrill me I have to say but it’s got to be done! Then I have a mammoth work task to do, hey ho, I’m also getting to have lunch with the ladies and I’m out Sunday for lunch too so there’s some rest in the too.
Finally worked out the ProPoints in a Donor Kebab yesterday and the ones from the chippy on Stubby Lane work out to approximately 30pp including pitta but not including sauces, a chicken meat kebab is approximately 16pp and their chips for a regular portion was 38pp. Mmm not sure if I’d eat those anymore, I think I’d personally rather have a Big Mac for 13pp and a large portion of French fries for 13pp, 26pp total is a better option for me than a Donor Kebab and chips for 68pp!
If you would like to receive motivational texts from me make sure that your mobile number is on your membership card in the meeting next week.
I’ve received my copy of the new Weight Watchers cookbook “Oriental Express” which is due in meetings soon, as you can imagine there’s some fabulous alternatives to your Weigh Day Take Away in there, such as plum & sweet chilli beef kebabs, chicken and vegetable samosas, Thai burgers, spicy beef and lots more, so to get you in the mood here’s a chow mein recipe to save you pounds from your purse and pounds on the scales!
Simplified Chicken Chow Mein – serves 4
(35 total) 9pp per serving
150g (5oz) cooked chicken (cut into thin strips) (5pp)
1 tbsp oil (4pp)
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp chopped garlic
½ lb dried egg noodles (25pp)
Bean sprouts (1 handful)
½ small onion (sliced)
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil (1pp)
Cook noodles by soaking in boiling water for 5-10 minutes or until soft to touch. Clean wok, heat wok until hot and slightly smoky. Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the chicken and onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Turn to low heat and add the garlic and stir-fry for another 15 seconds.
Now add the bean sprouts and noodles. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes or until the noodles are soft.
Add the salt, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce.
Stir-fry for another minute. Finally add the pepper and sesame oil and stir in.
So I’ve got to get on, lots to do before lunch with the ladies xx
Thursday, 10 February 2011
My Tracker - Wednesday, February 09, 2011
used 6 of my weekly ProPoints today, first time this week though, I got a little stressed over my computer problems slowing me down! Really enjoyed my super quick dinner though even if it didn't look good on the plate, hence no photo ;)
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
few strawberries - Quick-added food 0
Lunch
creamy mustard pot pie - 10
roasted veg - 0
Dinner 1 1/2 serving(s) Smash Original 4
35g Cheese, Cheddar 4
chorizo - 3
Subtotal 11
Any Time
WW Strawberry Tart Yogurt - 1
milk in tea - 3
1 serving(s) Pineapple cottage cheese 2
3 small crackers - 2
red wine - 6
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 10
(2 really good walks with Alfie, hour on morning, 45 minutes on afternoon)
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
few strawberries - Quick-added food 0
creamy mustard pot pie - 10
roasted veg - 0
Dinner 1 1/2 serving(s) Smash Original 4
35g Cheese, Cheddar 4
chorizo - 3
Subtotal 11
Any Time
WW Strawberry Tart Yogurt - 1
milk in tea - 3
1 serving(s) Pineapple cottage cheese 2
3 small crackers - 2
red wine - 6
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 35
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 10
(2 really good walks with Alfie, hour on morning, 45 minutes on afternoon)
10th February 2011
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so Love the people who treat you right. Pray for those who don't.
How I managed to stay on track yesterday I will never know as the day wasn’t easy with my pc playing up, I ended up writing everything by hand and shouting a lot, and my back and knee were absolutely killing me. But instead of raiding the new cookie bites that had been delivered I had a couple of crackers, some pineapple cottage cheese and a Weight Watcher Strawberry tart yogurt for a total of 5pp, so I managed to hold it together – just! The yogurt was lush too!
To try and get me back on a calm balance, I took Alfie for a good long walk to try and take my mind of it all, my thought pattern was it’s going to take me forever to get everything done so why not take an hour out first, and it helped. If you’ve read your copy of YOUR WEEK you will see that in the 3 things to try this week, it suggests planning a walk with your loved ones to earn activity ProPoints while you catch up on their news. Go on try it, or if like me you needed to get away from it all, go alone and enjoy the calm and quiet.
I had comfort food for my tea, I made up some smash and mixed it with a bit of cheese and chorizo and it was scrumptious even Alfie enjoyed it, 11pp well spent, sometimes creating tasty food can take minutes, it didn’t look fab on the plate but it tasted divine.
I’ve noticed a few of you have signed up for the race for life, have you considered running instead of walking, last weeks YOUR WEEK gives you a run plan on page 8 to ensure you do it safely and take you from walking to running in five weeks – worth a try maybe. If you’re already making excuses not to, then you need to read the week before copy which covers, “What’s your excuse?” when it comes to being active. Remember as we discussed in the meetings, even as little as ten minutes here and there can make all the difference, it doesn’t have to be no pain no gain!
So one more day to get through on this failing fast machine and then I’ll probably spend the entire weekend trying to work out what wire goes where ;-) but hopefully will get there in time for next week.
Finding it hard to believe it’s Thursday already, this weeks gone so quickly, I’m on day 11 of my totally tracking run and I can definitely feel the difference – I even left food on my plate yesterday because I was full, that doesn’t happen often ;)
Remember whether you had a good day yesterday or a bad day, whether you got a loss this week or not, what you’re trying to achieve following the ProPoints Plan is a positive thing with long term positive results, it may not happen overnight but it will be worth it. Be 100% honest with yourself, track and ProPoint everything, if you don’t know how many PP in something because you don’t have the nutritional information guestimate it, that’s better than writing nothing, if you want to be over accurate guess how much you think it would weigh and ProPoint it as sugar or butter, you don’t get higher in value that those really!
Tremendous Tracking Thursday all round everyone xx
How I managed to stay on track yesterday I will never know as the day wasn’t easy with my pc playing up, I ended up writing everything by hand and shouting a lot, and my back and knee were absolutely killing me. But instead of raiding the new cookie bites that had been delivered I had a couple of crackers, some pineapple cottage cheese and a Weight Watcher Strawberry tart yogurt for a total of 5pp, so I managed to hold it together – just! The yogurt was lush too!
To try and get me back on a calm balance, I took Alfie for a good long walk to try and take my mind of it all, my thought pattern was it’s going to take me forever to get everything done so why not take an hour out first, and it helped. If you’ve read your copy of YOUR WEEK you will see that in the 3 things to try this week, it suggests planning a walk with your loved ones to earn activity ProPoints while you catch up on their news. Go on try it, or if like me you needed to get away from it all, go alone and enjoy the calm and quiet.
I had comfort food for my tea, I made up some smash and mixed it with a bit of cheese and chorizo and it was scrumptious even Alfie enjoyed it, 11pp well spent, sometimes creating tasty food can take minutes, it didn’t look fab on the plate but it tasted divine.
I’ve noticed a few of you have signed up for the race for life, have you considered running instead of walking, last weeks YOUR WEEK gives you a run plan on page 8 to ensure you do it safely and take you from walking to running in five weeks – worth a try maybe. If you’re already making excuses not to, then you need to read the week before copy which covers, “What’s your excuse?” when it comes to being active. Remember as we discussed in the meetings, even as little as ten minutes here and there can make all the difference, it doesn’t have to be no pain no gain!
So one more day to get through on this failing fast machine and then I’ll probably spend the entire weekend trying to work out what wire goes where ;-) but hopefully will get there in time for next week.
Finding it hard to believe it’s Thursday already, this weeks gone so quickly, I’m on day 11 of my totally tracking run and I can definitely feel the difference – I even left food on my plate yesterday because I was full, that doesn’t happen often ;)
Remember whether you had a good day yesterday or a bad day, whether you got a loss this week or not, what you’re trying to achieve following the ProPoints Plan is a positive thing with long term positive results, it may not happen overnight but it will be worth it. Be 100% honest with yourself, track and ProPoint everything, if you don’t know how many PP in something because you don’t have the nutritional information guestimate it, that’s better than writing nothing, if you want to be over accurate guess how much you think it would weigh and ProPoint it as sugar or butter, you don’t get higher in value that those really!
Tremendous Tracking Thursday all round everyone xx
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
My ProPoints Tracker 8th February 2011
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0
4 small Plums 0
1/4 pint(s) Milk, Skimmed for drinks 1
Subtotal 1
Lunch
Creamy mustard chicken, spicy rice and carrots - 13
Dinner
savoury cheesecake, olives, cottage cheese and salad - 9
white wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity ProPoints pedometer - 6
Trying to save weeklies and acitivites as I'm off out for lunch Friday and off to Frankie and Benny's sunday!
1 medium Banana 0
4 small Plums 0
1/4 pint(s) Milk, Skimmed for drinks 1
Subtotal 1
Creamy mustard chicken, spicy rice and carrots - 13
Dinner
savoury cheesecake, olives, cottage cheese and salad - 9
white wine - 6
Food ProPoints values total used 29
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity ProPoints pedometer - 6
Trying to save weeklies and acitivites as I'm off out for lunch Friday and off to Frankie and Benny's sunday!
9th February 2011
In the pursuit of happiness, the difficulty lies in knowing when you have caught up. R.H. Grenville
Damn PC, its taking so long just to log on and do anything but I’m now smiling and cringing at the same time because in the last 45 minutes I’ve spent £460 on a new one which will be with me by the weekend ;) I can’t believe I was just getting control over my credit card after Christmas and I’ve had to add that – hence the cringing. I can’t handle my system being so slow though, I use it everyday for my job so needs must.
So I had another good day yesterday as did lots of my members, the weight losses are still fabulous 339.5lb yesterday – WOW how great are we ;)
I make shortcrust pastry for the first time since I left school I think, I’ve never seen so much flour go in so many directions, a very funny experience for me, and I really must learn to read the instructions properly, it said to use parchment and “baking beans” to cook the pastry blind for ten minutes, I hadn’t got any ‘baking beans’ so used a bag of grey peas I had, didn’t read correctly and put the parchment between the tin and the pastry instead of the pastry and the peas and after ten minutes it took me another ten minutes to pick the peas out of the pastry case ;0) it ended up edible at the end so it wasn’t a problem and it go me away from the pc for a while!
I did make a fabulous mustard chicken dish from Jamie 30 minute cook book and I just have to share that recipe with you as its scrumptious;
Mustard Chicken with leeks = total 28pp, 8pp each
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 x180g chicken breasts, skin off (18pp)
4 teaspoons Colman’s mustard powder
3 baby leeks or 1 large leek (trimmed, halved lengthways & finely sliced)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
100ml White Wine (2pp)
75ml single cream (4pp)
1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Tbsp olive oil = (4pp) (best to use the Weight Watcher oil spray for maximum coverage & you’ll save PP)
Turn the heat under the trying pan up to medium. Pick and finely chop the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and sprinkle them into the pack of chicken. Sprinkle l teaspoon of mustard powder over each breast, then season and drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and into the frying pan. Massage and rub these flavours all over the meat. Put the chicken breasts in the pan, skin side down. Wash your hands well. Use a fish slice to press down on the chicken to help it cook. lt should take around 18 minutes in total – mine took longer as they were big breasts!.
Add leeks to one side of pan. Add garlic to pan of chicken, flip the chicken breasts, then press down again. Stir in the leeks and the white wine.
Check the chicken is cooked through, and then pour 75ml of cream into the frying pan. Transfer the chicken breasts to a board and slice into uneven pieces. Stir 1-heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard into the sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon the sauce onto the plates and put the sliced chicken on top. Serve.
I had mine with some rice and julienne carrots and it was very filling.
Well I’ve got to get on as this has took 30 minutes longer than it usually does because of the pc, have a fabulous ‘on track’ day. xx
Damn PC, its taking so long just to log on and do anything but I’m now smiling and cringing at the same time because in the last 45 minutes I’ve spent £460 on a new one which will be with me by the weekend ;) I can’t believe I was just getting control over my credit card after Christmas and I’ve had to add that – hence the cringing. I can’t handle my system being so slow though, I use it everyday for my job so needs must.
So I had another good day yesterday as did lots of my members, the weight losses are still fabulous 339.5lb yesterday – WOW how great are we ;)
I make shortcrust pastry for the first time since I left school I think, I’ve never seen so much flour go in so many directions, a very funny experience for me, and I really must learn to read the instructions properly, it said to use parchment and “baking beans” to cook the pastry blind for ten minutes, I hadn’t got any ‘baking beans’ so used a bag of grey peas I had, didn’t read correctly and put the parchment between the tin and the pastry instead of the pastry and the peas and after ten minutes it took me another ten minutes to pick the peas out of the pastry case ;0) it ended up edible at the end so it wasn’t a problem and it go me away from the pc for a while!
I did make a fabulous mustard chicken dish from Jamie 30 minute cook book and I just have to share that recipe with you as its scrumptious;
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 x180g chicken breasts, skin off (18pp)
4 teaspoons Colman’s mustard powder
3 baby leeks or 1 large leek (trimmed, halved lengthways & finely sliced)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
100ml White Wine (2pp)
75ml single cream (4pp)
1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Tbsp olive oil = (4pp) (best to use the Weight Watcher oil spray for maximum coverage & you’ll save PP)
Turn the heat under the trying pan up to medium. Pick and finely chop the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and sprinkle them into the pack of chicken. Sprinkle l teaspoon of mustard powder over each breast, then season and drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and into the frying pan. Massage and rub these flavours all over the meat. Put the chicken breasts in the pan, skin side down. Wash your hands well. Use a fish slice to press down on the chicken to help it cook. lt should take around 18 minutes in total – mine took longer as they were big breasts!.
Add leeks to one side of pan. Add garlic to pan of chicken, flip the chicken breasts, then press down again. Stir in the leeks and the white wine.
Check the chicken is cooked through, and then pour 75ml of cream into the frying pan. Transfer the chicken breasts to a board and slice into uneven pieces. Stir 1-heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard into the sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon the sauce onto the plates and put the sliced chicken on top. Serve.
I had mine with some rice and julienne carrots and it was very filling.
Well I’ve got to get on as this has took 30 minutes longer than it usually does because of the pc, have a fabulous ‘on track’ day. xx
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Tracker 7th February 2011
Breakfast = 0pp
Banana
Apple
3 plums
grapes
and a glass of zero pointed smoothie made with sugar free squash and mixed berries
Lunch = 15pp
Because I'm not a big snacker, sometimes I have my fruit for breakfast which means I can have a larger lunch.
Dinner
served with a glass of white wine = 7pp
Total ProPoints used today = 29
Activity ProPoints earned on Pedometer = 7pp
I drank boiled water all day rather than tea or coffee, I do actually enjoy it!
Banana
Apple
3 plums
grapes
and a glass of zero pointed smoothie made with sugar free squash and mixed berries
Lunch = 15pp2 buttermilk chicken drumsticks
vegetable tart made with puff pastry
sundried tomato giant couscousBecause I'm not a big snacker, sometimes I have my fruit for breakfast which means I can have a larger lunch.
Dinner
Speedy spicy rice 8pp = tea in ten minutes
I didn't measure veggies used chopped onions, 1 sliced orange pepper, sliced mushrooms. 5pp worth of chorizo (weighed on WW scales), 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, clove of garlic crushed, splash of sherry then added 2 minutemicrowave rice (Thai chilli flavour I think). It has a real kick and was v v filling. That was half the pan.served with a glass of white wine = 7pp
Total ProPoints used today = 29
Activity ProPoints earned on Pedometer = 7pp
I drank boiled water all day rather than tea or coffee, I do actually enjoy it!
8th February 2011 facebook email
When you're happy you look nice, when you're sad you don’t!
I’m having computer problems, word keeps freezing and it’s taking twice as long to do anything so I think I’m going to have to replace mine, can’t complain I suppose I’ve had it almost 6 years, it’s just the nightmare of choosing the right one, hey ho such is life.
Well the good news is I lost 3lb yesterday when I got weighed, I was thrilled, first week back on track this year, especially as I haven’t felt like I was on a diet as such, I’ve cooked some delicious food, and still managed to drink my wine by doing plenty of walking using my pedometer. If you’re interested to see what I spent all my ProPoints on last week, here’s a link to my tracker;
http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-tracker-january-31st-february-6th.html
Today I’m hoping to cook Jamie Olivers Mustard Chicken which will use those leeks I mentioned yesterday and also I going to have a bash at a savoury cheesecake! It caught my eye as I was going through some old Weight Watcher cookbooks, sounds different and will be the first time I’ve made pastry since I was at school probably! Here’s the recipe if you fancy having a go yourself.
Red pepper and basil cheesecake
27 Pro Points per recipe
Takes 35 minutes to prepare, 20 minutes to cook + 10 minutes cooling.
Serves 6 - 5pp each, or serves 4 – 7pp each
Freezeable
Not all Cheesecakes have to be sweet, try this savoury version and you’ll be hooked!
For the pastry:
100 g (31/2 oz) plain white flour plus 2 3 teaspoons for rolling
1 tablespoon cornflour
50 g (13/4 oz) polyunsaturated margarine
a pinch of salt
For the filling:
3 red peppers, de-seeded and halved
350g (12oz) low fat plain cottage cheese
2 eggs
2 tablespoons torn fresh basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
l. To make the pastry, mix the flour and cornflour together in a bowl. Rub in the margarine with your fingertips, under the mixture resembles line breadcrumbs. Add the salt and then stir in enough cold water to make a soft dough.
2. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/ l 90°C/fan oven l70°C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry so it is big enough to line the base and sides of a 20 cm (8 inch) fluted loose-bottomed flan tin.
3. Lift the pastry into the tin and prick the base with a fork Line with non-stick baking parchment and baking beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and the beans and return the pastry to the oven for 10 minutes.
4.Meanwhile, grill the peppers under a high heat, skin side up until the skins blacken and blister. Transfer the peppers to polythene bag and seal. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and roughly chop the flesh.
5. Place the peppers, cottage cheese, eggs, basil and seasoning in a food processor and blend until smooth. Remove the pastry flan case from the oven and spoon in the pepper filling.
6. Return the flan to the oven for 20 minutes, until the filling has set and is firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing into wedges to serve.
Tip: if you don’t have a food processor, chop the red pepper very finely and push the cottage cheese through a sieve. Mix them together with the eggs, seasoning and basil as in step 5 before spooning into the flan case.
Have a fabulous day xx
I’m having computer problems, word keeps freezing and it’s taking twice as long to do anything so I think I’m going to have to replace mine, can’t complain I suppose I’ve had it almost 6 years, it’s just the nightmare of choosing the right one, hey ho such is life.
Well the good news is I lost 3lb yesterday when I got weighed, I was thrilled, first week back on track this year, especially as I haven’t felt like I was on a diet as such, I’ve cooked some delicious food, and still managed to drink my wine by doing plenty of walking using my pedometer. If you’re interested to see what I spent all my ProPoints on last week, here’s a link to my tracker;
http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-tracker-january-31st-february-6th.html
Today I’m hoping to cook Jamie Olivers Mustard Chicken which will use those leeks I mentioned yesterday and also I going to have a bash at a savoury cheesecake! It caught my eye as I was going through some old Weight Watcher cookbooks, sounds different and will be the first time I’ve made pastry since I was at school probably! Here’s the recipe if you fancy having a go yourself.
Red pepper and basil cheesecake
27 Pro Points per recipe
Takes 35 minutes to prepare, 20 minutes to cook + 10 minutes cooling.
Serves 6 - 5pp each, or serves 4 – 7pp each
Freezeable
Not all Cheesecakes have to be sweet, try this savoury version and you’ll be hooked!
For the pastry:
100 g (31/2 oz) plain white flour plus 2 3 teaspoons for rolling
1 tablespoon cornflour
50 g (13/4 oz) polyunsaturated margarine
a pinch of salt
For the filling:
3 red peppers, de-seeded and halved
350g (12oz) low fat plain cottage cheese
2 eggs
2 tablespoons torn fresh basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
l. To make the pastry, mix the flour and cornflour together in a bowl. Rub in the margarine with your fingertips, under the mixture resembles line breadcrumbs. Add the salt and then stir in enough cold water to make a soft dough.
2. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/ l 90°C/fan oven l70°C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry so it is big enough to line the base and sides of a 20 cm (8 inch) fluted loose-bottomed flan tin.
3. Lift the pastry into the tin and prick the base with a fork Line with non-stick baking parchment and baking beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and the beans and return the pastry to the oven for 10 minutes.
4.Meanwhile, grill the peppers under a high heat, skin side up until the skins blacken and blister. Transfer the peppers to polythene bag and seal. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and roughly chop the flesh.
5. Place the peppers, cottage cheese, eggs, basil and seasoning in a food processor and blend until smooth. Remove the pastry flan case from the oven and spoon in the pepper filling.
6. Return the flan to the oven for 20 minutes, until the filling has set and is firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing into wedges to serve.
Tip: if you don’t have a food processor, chop the red pepper very finely and push the cottage cheese through a sieve. Mix them together with the eggs, seasoning and basil as in step 5 before spooning into the flan case.
Have a fabulous day xx
Monday, 7 February 2011
My Tracker January 31st - February 6th
Monday, January 31, 2011
1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 3
Subtotal 3
Lunch
Ginger beer pork and pineapple - 8
Subtotal 8
Dinner
lasagne and salad - 12
Subtotal 12
Any Time
red wine - 6
2 biscuit(s) Ritz Original Cracker 1
smoothie - 7
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 37
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 8
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Breakfast
innocent smoothie - 7
Subtotal 7
Lunch
Weight Watchers tomato pizza, - 12
added pineapple and spring onion to pizza - 0
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Ww quiche - 7
10 g Danish Blue 1
Subtotal 8
Any Time
2 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 5
1 medium Pear 0
2 medium Apple 0
2 medium Banana 0
1 bag(s) Twiglets, original 3
2 portion(s) Laughing Cow Light Cheese Spread Triangles 1
wine - 12
Subtotal 21
Food ProPoints values total used 48
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 5
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Breakfast
SMOOTHIE - 3
Subtotal 3
Lunch
FISHCAKE - 4
2 Stuffed mushroom pies 8
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Ww pizza pimped with extra veggies - 12
Subtotal 12
Any Time
MILK IN TEA - 2
wine - 9
Subtotal 11
Food ProPoints values total used 38
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 9
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Breakfast
bacon sandwich 1 slice bread - 5
1 medium Banana 0
Subtotal 5
Lunch
1 serving(s) sweet chilli and garic stir fry 3
stuffed mushroom with pastry - 5
Subtotal 8
Dinner
Fritata made with
4 large Egg, Whole 10
blue cheese - 2
diced, courgette, carrot, onion, pepper, tomato - 0
Subtotal 12
Any Time
570 ml Wine, Red 14
1 medium Banana 0
2 pack(s) Flying Saucers 5
Subtotal 19
Food ProPoints values total used 44
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 8
Friday, February 04, 2011
Breakfast
2 medium Banana 0
Subtotal 0
Lunch
Pub Meal - grilled sea bass, herb crushed potatoes and veg - 16
Subtotal 16
Dinner
boiled rice - 6
chicken curry - 6
Subtotal 12
Any Time
wine - 15
Subtotal 15
Food ProPoints values total used 43
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 2
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Breakfast
Lunch
braised cabbage, bacon and apple in balsamic - 3
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Chinese style kale - 0
Subtotal 0
Any Time
wine - 18
Subtotal 18
Food ProPoints values total used 30
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 5
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Breakfast
leftover garlic chicken, kale and mushrooms - 13
Subtotal 13
Lunch
1 medium Pear 0
1 medium Banana 0
2 large Plums 0
Subtotal 0
Dinner
squash leftovers - 3
buttermilk chicken - 11
Subtotal 14
Any Time
1 bag(s) Wotsits Really Cheesy 3
wine - 18
savoury cheese veg tart - q7
Subtotal 28
Food ProPoints values total used 55
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 2
Notes -Drank lots of water today, filled a jug with lemon pieces and kept refilling.
Breakfast
1 medium Banana 0 1 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 3
Subtotal 3
Lunch
Ginger beer pork and pineapple - 8
Subtotal 8
Dinner
lasagne and salad - 12
Subtotal 12
Any Time
red wine - 6
2 biscuit(s) Ritz Original Cracker 1
smoothie - 7
Subtotal 14
Food ProPoints values total used 37
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 8
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Breakfast
innocent smoothie - 7
Subtotal 7
Lunch
added pineapple and spring onion to pizza - 0
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Ww quiche - 7
10 g Danish Blue 1
Subtotal 8
Any Time
2 serving(s) Milk, Skimmed 5
1 medium Pear 0
2 medium Apple 0
2 medium Banana 0
1 bag(s) Twiglets, original 3
2 portion(s) Laughing Cow Light Cheese Spread Triangles 1
wine - 12
Subtotal 21
Food ProPoints values total used 48
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 5
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Breakfast
SMOOTHIE - 3
Subtotal 3
Lunch
2 Stuffed mushroom pies 8
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Ww pizza pimped with extra veggies - 12
Subtotal 12
Any Time
MILK IN TEA - 2
wine - 9
Subtotal 11
Food ProPoints values total used 38
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 9
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Breakfast
bacon sandwich 1 slice bread - 5
1 medium Banana 0
Subtotal 5
Lunch
1 serving(s) sweet chilli and garic stir fry 3
stuffed mushroom with pastry - 5
Subtotal 8
Dinner
4 large Egg, Whole 10
blue cheese - 2
diced, courgette, carrot, onion, pepper, tomato - 0
Subtotal 12
Any Time
570 ml Wine, Red 14
1 medium Banana 0
2 pack(s) Flying Saucers 5
Subtotal 19
Food ProPoints values total used 44
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 8
Friday, February 04, 2011
Breakfast
2 medium Banana 0
Subtotal 0
Lunch
Pub Meal - grilled sea bass, herb crushed potatoes and veg - 16
Subtotal 16
Dinner
chicken curry - 6
Subtotal 12
Any Time
wine - 15
Subtotal 15
Food ProPoints values total used 43
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 2
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Breakfast
banana and pear - 0
Subtotal 0 Lunch
butternut squash, blue cheese & pine nuts - 9
Subtotal 12
Dinner
Chinese style kale - 0
Subtotal 0
Any Time
wine - 18
Subtotal 18
Food ProPoints values total used 30
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 5
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Breakfast
Subtotal 13
Lunch
1 medium Pear 0
1 medium Banana 0
2 large Plums 0
Subtotal 0
Dinner
squash leftovers - 3
buttermilk chicken - 11
Subtotal 14
Any Time
1 bag(s) Wotsits Really Cheesy 3
wine - 18
Subtotal 28
Food ProPoints values total used 55
Food ProPoints values remaining 0
Activity pedometer ProPoints values earned 2
Notes -Drank lots of water today, filled a jug with lemon pieces and kept refilling.
7th February 2011 facebook email
Every man dies but not every man lives William Wallace
Today’s the day, I get weighed after completing a week of religiously tracking and planning my meals, cooking recipes, walking the dog everyday and generally trying to make my life fit around the plan and enjoying it. Which I feel I’ve done so even if I don’t lose weight, I do feel great.
One thing I did notice when looking back over my tracker was that I’ve upped my intake of fruit and vegetables this week, do you struggle to reach your 5 a day? Now it’s 8… Yep just as we have got used to our ‘five a day’ portions of fruit and veg, we are told eight a day is the minimum to protect against heart disease. Following this advice from researchers at Oxford University may seem daunting but hitting 8 is a lot easier than you think, especially as you’re already thinking about your diet and fruit is now zero pro points. Just think about where there are opportunities to add a portion of fruit or veg, a banana with your breakfast maybe, or a few handfuls of frozen berries added to your porridge. A smoothie could make a great mid morning snack, or a yogurt with some fruit. Why not slice a tomato, cucumber or add salad leaves to your lunchtime sandwich. You could have a piece of fruit or two for your afternoon snack instead of that Kit Kat. And finally veggies with your evening meal, occasionally why not have a vegetarian main meal, I plan to do that with leeks this week, the humble leek bring a touch of silky elegance to all sorts of roasts, stews and soups according to Waitrose free paper! The suggest you try it with cheese, chicken, potato, beacon or use it as the main act with chick peas and stock in a warming broth.
I’m going to make the following with mine!
Leek and mustard bake Serves 4 total 25pp – 6pp each
700g baby leeks (wash & cut in half lengthways)
50g low fat margarine (5pp)
50g plain flour (5pp)
600ml skimmed milk (6pp)
100g low fat soft cheese with garlic & herbs (4pp)
1 tbsp wholegrain Dijon mustard (1pp)
50g low fat cheddar cheese (4pp)
salt & pepper
· Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190oC. Steam leeks for 5-10 minutes or until softened.
· Meanwhile, melt margarine in a non-stick saucepan and stir in the flour to make a ball. Remove the pan from the heat, add the milk and whisk until the roux ball is completely broken up into the milk.
· Return to a low heat and whisk until the sauce thickens. Add soft cheese and mustard, season to taste.
· Place the steamed leeks in the base of an ovenproof dish. Pour over the sauce and sprinkle with the cheese, then bake for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden.
Whatever you’re eating today – make sure you enjoy it xx
Today’s the day, I get weighed after completing a week of religiously tracking and planning my meals, cooking recipes, walking the dog everyday and generally trying to make my life fit around the plan and enjoying it. Which I feel I’ve done so even if I don’t lose weight, I do feel great.
One thing I did notice when looking back over my tracker was that I’ve upped my intake of fruit and vegetables this week, do you struggle to reach your 5 a day? Now it’s 8… Yep just as we have got used to our ‘five a day’ portions of fruit and veg, we are told eight a day is the minimum to protect against heart disease. Following this advice from researchers at Oxford University may seem daunting but hitting 8 is a lot easier than you think, especially as you’re already thinking about your diet and fruit is now zero pro points. Just think about where there are opportunities to add a portion of fruit or veg, a banana with your breakfast maybe, or a few handfuls of frozen berries added to your porridge. A smoothie could make a great mid morning snack, or a yogurt with some fruit. Why not slice a tomato, cucumber or add salad leaves to your lunchtime sandwich. You could have a piece of fruit or two for your afternoon snack instead of that Kit Kat. And finally veggies with your evening meal, occasionally why not have a vegetarian main meal, I plan to do that with leeks this week, the humble leek bring a touch of silky elegance to all sorts of roasts, stews and soups according to Waitrose free paper! The suggest you try it with cheese, chicken, potato, beacon or use it as the main act with chick peas and stock in a warming broth.
I’m going to make the following with mine!
Leek and mustard bake Serves 4 total 25pp – 6pp each
700g baby leeks (wash & cut in half lengthways)
50g low fat margarine (5pp)
50g plain flour (5pp)
600ml skimmed milk (6pp)
100g low fat soft cheese with garlic & herbs (4pp)
1 tbsp wholegrain Dijon mustard (1pp)
50g low fat cheddar cheese (4pp)
salt & pepper
· Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190oC. Steam leeks for 5-10 minutes or until softened.
· Meanwhile, melt margarine in a non-stick saucepan and stir in the flour to make a ball. Remove the pan from the heat, add the milk and whisk until the roux ball is completely broken up into the milk.
· Return to a low heat and whisk until the sauce thickens. Add soft cheese and mustard, season to taste.
· Place the steamed leeks in the base of an ovenproof dish. Pour over the sauce and sprinkle with the cheese, then bake for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden.
Whatever you’re eating today – make sure you enjoy it xx
Sunday, 6 February 2011
6th February 2011 facebook email
There are two choices for meals in my house take it or leave it!
Have you all taken your ‘Daily Praise Pill’ this morning, if not stop and take it now, go tell yourself how amazing brilliant and beautiful you are and come back to the email in a minute.
Butternut squash, blue cheese & pine nuts (9pp)
So yesterday we covered the Daily Praise Pill and wouldn’t it be great to keep that feeling of really loving yourself and who you are going all day long, everyday. One way to start making the permanent switchover is to evict the Diet Dragon! You know the nasty one who says means things to you if you’re having a bad day. They reckon we have over 10,000 thoughts a day, and the ones that come from that dragon who’s residing in your subconscious are more likely than not going to be negative ones. So today tune into those thoughts when you’re having them and acknowledge whether they’re coming from the diet dragon or your food fairy, you’ll easily recognise the difference, the thoughts you have that criticise your behaviour, put you down and generally mock your efforts are coming from that dragon, so instead get your food fairy to tell you how fabulous you are and sprinkle you with fairy good feelings dust! How the hell are you going to do that you ask, easy peasy, the next time you hear yourself start to say something that’s not going to make you feel fabulous nor help your weigh loss, imagine your food fairy smashing your dragon over the head with her wand (it’s a really heavy rod made of all the pounds of fat we’ve lost last month ;-) so it would definitely hurt!) Then turn that negative thought into a positive, maybe have an affirmation at the ready, such as, “I’m becoming the me I want to be” or “everyday in everyway, I’m becoming healthier and happier”. Make one up. Ok so there isn’t a REAL dragon nor FAIRY inside your head, but you know what I’m talking about and isn’t it a great image you have in your head of this big food fairy bashing your diet dragon over the head with a wand made of lard ;-) Visuals help especially as the subconscious mind is so powerful and it is so easy for it to give you the negative and you have to make the effort if you want to start being positive. Try it, what harm can it do – it’s worked for me, I love me and my body now, lumps, cellulite and all ;-)
Well it’s late for me, so I’d better get ready to walk Alfie, Sunday mornings is a mammoth walk! I’m thinking of the activity points, today completes my perfect week of tracking, and I can’t wait to start the next week, I know I’ll have a weight loss tomorrow, hope you all feel the same xx
Have you all taken your ‘Daily Praise Pill’ this morning, if not stop and take it now, go tell yourself how amazing brilliant and beautiful you are and come back to the email in a minute.
Butternut squash, blue cheese & pine nuts (9pp)
Cabbage with bacon, apple in balsamic vinegar (serves 4, 5pp each)
I had yet another great day yesterday, 2 hour walk with Alfie, quick trip to Sainsbury’s for a few bits I’d forgotten and some research on pizzas, then I danced and sang round the kitchen whilst cooking up something delicious, I have to say the butternut squash dish for 9pp was devine and filling and without realising yesterday ended up being a vegetarian day, I didn’t eat any meat at all all day, which really spread my ProPoints allowance I have to say and meant I could use plenty of blue cheese in the butternut squash dish. Today we’re having buttermilk chicken, which has been marinating in the fridge overnight, mmm can’t wait but 7am is a little early for it I suppose.
So yesterday we covered the Daily Praise Pill and wouldn’t it be great to keep that feeling of really loving yourself and who you are going all day long, everyday. One way to start making the permanent switchover is to evict the Diet Dragon! You know the nasty one who says means things to you if you’re having a bad day. They reckon we have over 10,000 thoughts a day, and the ones that come from that dragon who’s residing in your subconscious are more likely than not going to be negative ones. So today tune into those thoughts when you’re having them and acknowledge whether they’re coming from the diet dragon or your food fairy, you’ll easily recognise the difference, the thoughts you have that criticise your behaviour, put you down and generally mock your efforts are coming from that dragon, so instead get your food fairy to tell you how fabulous you are and sprinkle you with fairy good feelings dust! How the hell are you going to do that you ask, easy peasy, the next time you hear yourself start to say something that’s not going to make you feel fabulous nor help your weigh loss, imagine your food fairy smashing your dragon over the head with her wand (it’s a really heavy rod made of all the pounds of fat we’ve lost last month ;-) so it would definitely hurt!) Then turn that negative thought into a positive, maybe have an affirmation at the ready, such as, “I’m becoming the me I want to be” or “everyday in everyway, I’m becoming healthier and happier”. Make one up. Ok so there isn’t a REAL dragon nor FAIRY inside your head, but you know what I’m talking about and isn’t it a great image you have in your head of this big food fairy bashing your diet dragon over the head with a wand made of lard ;-) Visuals help especially as the subconscious mind is so powerful and it is so easy for it to give you the negative and you have to make the effort if you want to start being positive. Try it, what harm can it do – it’s worked for me, I love me and my body now, lumps, cellulite and all ;-)
Well it’s late for me, so I’d better get ready to walk Alfie, Sunday mornings is a mammoth walk! I’m thinking of the activity points, today completes my perfect week of tracking, and I can’t wait to start the next week, I know I’ll have a weight loss tomorrow, hope you all feel the same xx
Saturday, 5 February 2011
5 February 2011 facebook email
Nobody get to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. 'Ann Landers'
I had the best day yesterday, good walk with Alfie, shopping in Waitrose where I got lots of ideas for meals I can cook and bought a few special ingredients, followed by lunch with the ladies – all propointed of course, then a massage followed by a chill out in front of the tv. I had grilled sea bass with crushed herb potatoes and veggies (16pp) for lunch and then on the night I had homemade chicken curry and rice for 12pp.
I’ve woken up this morning raring to go, I think I might even do the ironing, it has to be a month since I thought about that!
Day 6 of total tracking and holding it together, feeling better for it and still managing my vino which is always a bonus.
I just loved this comment on yesterdays wall Lindsay put “I weighed a cone of chips today an it worked out at 36pp so I put them in the bin and had a Weight Watcher chicken casserole, I thought I would rather throw a £ away that put a few on! How true is that, so next time you’re in a similar situation think about which of the pounds you’d prefer to waste.
Little tweaks and changes to your eating and thinking will make it so much easier to lose weight. Lindsay’s managed to change her thinking from how much money she’ll waste, i.e. the “I’ve paid for it” mentality to how much she’d rather lose it off her WAIST! Brilliant.
Another way to change your thinking is to start thinking good about yourself, therefore from this day forward I want you to start taking a ‘Daily Praise Pill’ Janet Street Porter wrote in her book ‘life’s too f***ing short”, “spend the first minute of every day telling yourself “I am bloody brilliant” – no one else is going to!” And I think that’s a fantastic idea, although I do think other people will tell you how brilliant and wonderful you are once you start believing it yourself and listening, I hear members in meetings giving each other compliments and encouragement all the time, it’s what makes Weight Watcher meetings work so well. So go on right now, tell yourself how absolutely, fantastic, amazing and gorgeous you are, that way even if no one else does, it doesn’t matter, you’ve taken your Praise Pill for the day. Xx
If you’re sat there thinking, yeah whatever, I’m not brilliant at all! STOP rewind and stop striving to be perfect, time to realise that no one is the idea of ‘perfect’ people have in their minds. I’m perfect to be me, but I’d be awful at being you probably, I wouldn’t be able to cope with kids or a spouse, hell I can’t even stay awake on a night out with the girls, but I can cope with hundreds of members and their problems! We’re all so very, very different and you’re perfect as you are. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes, the workout you didn’t do because you couldn’t be bothered – everyone does it, the half a dozen six twix bars that were meant for the kids lunchboxes but ended up in your stomach, we’ve all done similar at some time and it’s usually when we’re trying desperately to lose weight and stay on track! I put that down to the little rebel or spoilt child we all have deep inside, and they don’t wanna not have the chocolate, the don’t care what they look like, can you imaging that side of your personality lying face down on the floor screaming, “but I want chocolate”, if you can, imagine the side of you that wants to be slimmer and healthier getting down and lying by the side of her and screaming back “TOUGH, I wanna lose weight, live with it bitch!” and get up and walk away ;-)
Why don’t you if you have time this weekend show your body just how much you love it, how much you appreciate that it works everyday for you and keeps you alive. Lavish it with care and attention, maybe have a long soak in the bath, smoother it with a fabulously smelly body lotion, put expensive perfume on it. Send it the message that you adore it for what it can do, i.e. carry you around, just think about it your tastebuds are part of your body and without them, oh my, well life just would be pointless wouldn’t it!
So take care of you today and have a self-indulgent Saturday. xx
I had the best day yesterday, good walk with Alfie, shopping in Waitrose where I got lots of ideas for meals I can cook and bought a few special ingredients, followed by lunch with the ladies – all propointed of course, then a massage followed by a chill out in front of the tv. I had grilled sea bass with crushed herb potatoes and veggies (16pp) for lunch and then on the night I had homemade chicken curry and rice for 12pp.
I’ve woken up this morning raring to go, I think I might even do the ironing, it has to be a month since I thought about that!
Day 6 of total tracking and holding it together, feeling better for it and still managing my vino which is always a bonus.
I just loved this comment on yesterdays wall Lindsay put “I weighed a cone of chips today an it worked out at 36pp so I put them in the bin and had a Weight Watcher chicken casserole, I thought I would rather throw a £ away that put a few on! How true is that, so next time you’re in a similar situation think about which of the pounds you’d prefer to waste.
Little tweaks and changes to your eating and thinking will make it so much easier to lose weight. Lindsay’s managed to change her thinking from how much money she’ll waste, i.e. the “I’ve paid for it” mentality to how much she’d rather lose it off her WAIST! Brilliant.
Another way to change your thinking is to start thinking good about yourself, therefore from this day forward I want you to start taking a ‘Daily Praise Pill’ Janet Street Porter wrote in her book ‘life’s too f***ing short”, “spend the first minute of every day telling yourself “I am bloody brilliant” – no one else is going to!” And I think that’s a fantastic idea, although I do think other people will tell you how brilliant and wonderful you are once you start believing it yourself and listening, I hear members in meetings giving each other compliments and encouragement all the time, it’s what makes Weight Watcher meetings work so well. So go on right now, tell yourself how absolutely, fantastic, amazing and gorgeous you are, that way even if no one else does, it doesn’t matter, you’ve taken your Praise Pill for the day. Xx
If you’re sat there thinking, yeah whatever, I’m not brilliant at all! STOP rewind and stop striving to be perfect, time to realise that no one is the idea of ‘perfect’ people have in their minds. I’m perfect to be me, but I’d be awful at being you probably, I wouldn’t be able to cope with kids or a spouse, hell I can’t even stay awake on a night out with the girls, but I can cope with hundreds of members and their problems! We’re all so very, very different and you’re perfect as you are. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes, the workout you didn’t do because you couldn’t be bothered – everyone does it, the half a dozen six twix bars that were meant for the kids lunchboxes but ended up in your stomach, we’ve all done similar at some time and it’s usually when we’re trying desperately to lose weight and stay on track! I put that down to the little rebel or spoilt child we all have deep inside, and they don’t wanna not have the chocolate, the don’t care what they look like, can you imaging that side of your personality lying face down on the floor screaming, “but I want chocolate”, if you can, imagine the side of you that wants to be slimmer and healthier getting down and lying by the side of her and screaming back “TOUGH, I wanna lose weight, live with it bitch!” and get up and walk away ;-)
Why don’t you if you have time this weekend show your body just how much you love it, how much you appreciate that it works everyday for you and keeps you alive. Lavish it with care and attention, maybe have a long soak in the bath, smoother it with a fabulously smelly body lotion, put expensive perfume on it. Send it the message that you adore it for what it can do, i.e. carry you around, just think about it your tastebuds are part of your body and without them, oh my, well life just would be pointless wouldn’t it!
So take care of you today and have a self-indulgent Saturday. xx
Friday, 4 February 2011
4th February 2011 facebook email
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. Charles A. Beard
It was Chinese New Year yesterday, I resisted celebrating with a chow mein from the takeaway, but I did raise a glass of red for them ;) Apparently I was born in the year of the Rooster and both mom and Alfie are Tigers, why am I not surprised!
Last night struggled not to blow the Pro Points bank but just about held it together, Jill had given me a bag of flying saucers, I can resist most sweets but I love them so I ate them and they were 4pp, plus I had more wine than was planned! But I didn’t finish the bottle, so progress for a Thursday night. It’s now Friday and I’ve already used all my weekly allowance and 2 of my activity, which leaves me 28 activity ProPoints and anymore I can earn over the next three days. I get weighed on Monday and really want to see a weight loss, a pound or even half pound will do. I’ve been so honest on my tracker so hopefully it will pay off, although it already has paid off because I feel so much better in myself, even my mate commented I sounded better in my texts!
I made a delicious frittata last night, fried diced courgette, carrot, onion, pepper and tomato using my WW oil spray then when they were cooked poured 4 beaten large eggs and 20g blue cheese over them and cooked through, browning under the grill, it was delicious and filled the plate for 12pp. Absolutely scrumptious and used up the eggs, which were about to go out of date.
Today I’m off out for lunch and trying to decide what to have, after this weeks meeting we know what a minefield it can be and unfortunately the place isn’t in the eating out guide. So do I go for Grilled sea bass fillets with vine tomato & lemon dressing, crushed herb potatoes, asparagus & green beans or Chicken, stilton & apple & walnut salad with honey & Tewkesbury mustard dressing – decisions, decisions! It may be the fish as I’m not brilliant at cooking fish myself.
I was going to have Roasted butternut squash stuffed with a feta risotto & topped with a pumpkin crumble but decided I’m going to have a go at cooking that myself.
So are you eating out this week, have you thought about how you’re going to handle it, whether you’re using your weekly allowance or not? Have you worked out how you’re going to survive the weekend at all, I realised yesterday that I’ve consumed an average of 38 ProPoints a day this week so if I can still to that average my activity ProPoints should see me to Sunday night as long as I don’t go crazy on anything! If I make something like the squash dish it’ll be less than 10pp and I’m going to treat myself to some lovely fruit whilst I’m out this morning. Yes I’m focused at last, it took me the whole of January to get there, but there I am and there I’m planning to stay, 12lb I want off by summer would be nice, but I’ll be happy with by November for New York. Again it’s all about long term, realistic, achievable and maintainable goals.
In next weeks meeting we’re gonna be looking at habits, so start thinking about what good habits you’ve got into since starting Weight Watchers, what bad habits you’ve got rid of and which bad habits you just can’t shake!
I’m loving my meetings since the ProPoints has been launched, we’ve lost 54 stone this week, a few of my members didn’t lose this week, maybe its because they’ve been golden for the first four weeks of the year and had a bit of a wobble, struggled with temptation, or just one of those weeks where the weight loss doesn’t show. We’ve just got to remember we’re in it for the long haul, and we’re doing it for the last time.
Have a fabulous Friday xx
It was Chinese New Year yesterday, I resisted celebrating with a chow mein from the takeaway, but I did raise a glass of red for them ;) Apparently I was born in the year of the Rooster and both mom and Alfie are Tigers, why am I not surprised!
Last night struggled not to blow the Pro Points bank but just about held it together, Jill had given me a bag of flying saucers, I can resist most sweets but I love them so I ate them and they were 4pp, plus I had more wine than was planned! But I didn’t finish the bottle, so progress for a Thursday night. It’s now Friday and I’ve already used all my weekly allowance and 2 of my activity, which leaves me 28 activity ProPoints and anymore I can earn over the next three days. I get weighed on Monday and really want to see a weight loss, a pound or even half pound will do. I’ve been so honest on my tracker so hopefully it will pay off, although it already has paid off because I feel so much better in myself, even my mate commented I sounded better in my texts!
I made a delicious frittata last night, fried diced courgette, carrot, onion, pepper and tomato using my WW oil spray then when they were cooked poured 4 beaten large eggs and 20g blue cheese over them and cooked through, browning under the grill, it was delicious and filled the plate for 12pp. Absolutely scrumptious and used up the eggs, which were about to go out of date.
Today I’m off out for lunch and trying to decide what to have, after this weeks meeting we know what a minefield it can be and unfortunately the place isn’t in the eating out guide. So do I go for Grilled sea bass fillets with vine tomato & lemon dressing, crushed herb potatoes, asparagus & green beans or Chicken, stilton & apple & walnut salad with honey & Tewkesbury mustard dressing – decisions, decisions! It may be the fish as I’m not brilliant at cooking fish myself.
I was going to have Roasted butternut squash stuffed with a feta risotto & topped with a pumpkin crumble but decided I’m going to have a go at cooking that myself.
So are you eating out this week, have you thought about how you’re going to handle it, whether you’re using your weekly allowance or not? Have you worked out how you’re going to survive the weekend at all, I realised yesterday that I’ve consumed an average of 38 ProPoints a day this week so if I can still to that average my activity ProPoints should see me to Sunday night as long as I don’t go crazy on anything! If I make something like the squash dish it’ll be less than 10pp and I’m going to treat myself to some lovely fruit whilst I’m out this morning. Yes I’m focused at last, it took me the whole of January to get there, but there I am and there I’m planning to stay, 12lb I want off by summer would be nice, but I’ll be happy with by November for New York. Again it’s all about long term, realistic, achievable and maintainable goals.
In next weeks meeting we’re gonna be looking at habits, so start thinking about what good habits you’ve got into since starting Weight Watchers, what bad habits you’ve got rid of and which bad habits you just can’t shake!
I’m loving my meetings since the ProPoints has been launched, we’ve lost 54 stone this week, a few of my members didn’t lose this week, maybe its because they’ve been golden for the first four weeks of the year and had a bit of a wobble, struggled with temptation, or just one of those weeks where the weight loss doesn’t show. We’ve just got to remember we’re in it for the long haul, and we’re doing it for the last time.
Have a fabulous Friday xx
Thursday, 3 February 2011
3rd February 2011
No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you. Althea Gibson
Day 4 of total honest tracking starting this morning and I have to admit feeling quite proud of myself, what can I say I’m easily impressed! Made the effort to have a second walk with the dog yesterday because I wanted wine when I got home, remembering my new personal rule I can’t take alcohol out of my daily allowance, so I won two ways, I earned 9pp on pedometer and also it meant I had 12 of my daily allowance left for a delicious pizza. For lunch I made stuffed mushrooms and put a puff pastry lid on them, approx 30g puff pastry from a ready-rolled sheet is 3pp just enough to cover the mushroom as a lid, and the filling works out at 1pp, 4pp for a stuffed mushroom pie – bargain. Plus I’d made the biggest smoothie for breakfast, so I wasn’t hungry at all yesterday and didn’t feel the urge to snack at all throughout the day. I wasn’t going to get one the scales but I’m not different to you, so I’ve just had a sneaky peak in the bathroom and it’s all good ;) which will keep me on track today. I have lots of eggs to eat today before they go off so maybe an omelette for tea, 3 eggs of course as they’ll only be 5pp.
191.5lb lost last night at Ashmore Park, 67lb lost on the morning at Bloxwich, 347lb lost Tuesday at Willenhall, 75lb at Wednesfield on Monday night, and 35lb at Bloxwich on Monday morning, 51 stone in total this week and still a day of weigh-ins to go.
I think you’ll agree, ProPoints really is working, we’re still getting results in February, January was amazing 3,180lb or 227 stone! ProPoints works but we have to follow the rules to get the results!
So if you fancy a go at my stuffed mushroom pies, here’s what I did;
Mix together low fat soft cheese, I used 100g boursin light & 110g ricotta cheese, (but you could use Philadelphia light or similar) and diced veg of choice, I used courgette, pepper, spring onion, garlic cloves, carrot, & mushroom stalks that were removed from the large mushrooms.
Stuffed 8 large mushrooms (on offer in Sainsbury for £2) with mixture. Top with a circle of puff pastry cut from a ready rolled sheet from supermarket (on offer for £1 at the moment). Bake for about 20 minutes on gas mark 6, keep your eye on them, they’re ready when pastry looks cooked.
Total cost for entire recipe was under a fiver! Not bad at all for a tasty meal for 4 people, I served mine with salad. Pictures on FB group page wall.
Have a great day everyone, Thursday is my longest, busiest day of the week so this is the big test of whether I can keep to the plan and track completely, I know I have a bacon and mushroom sandwich coming for my breakfast, Jenny’s making it me, but before I accepted I asked how many propoints and the answer was 7pp so I can live with that, think I’m going to have a stir fry for lunch using those 50p packs from Morrisons (still Frugal February), then I need to think about tea, as it’s the end of my week, I usually get a bit lapse so I need something to look forward too. Mmm thinking cap on.
Heres to a weightloss for us all next week xx
Day 4 of total honest tracking starting this morning and I have to admit feeling quite proud of myself, what can I say I’m easily impressed! Made the effort to have a second walk with the dog yesterday because I wanted wine when I got home, remembering my new personal rule I can’t take alcohol out of my daily allowance, so I won two ways, I earned 9pp on pedometer and also it meant I had 12 of my daily allowance left for a delicious pizza. For lunch I made stuffed mushrooms and put a puff pastry lid on them, approx 30g puff pastry from a ready-rolled sheet is 3pp just enough to cover the mushroom as a lid, and the filling works out at 1pp, 4pp for a stuffed mushroom pie – bargain. Plus I’d made the biggest smoothie for breakfast, so I wasn’t hungry at all yesterday and didn’t feel the urge to snack at all throughout the day. I wasn’t going to get one the scales but I’m not different to you, so I’ve just had a sneaky peak in the bathroom and it’s all good ;) which will keep me on track today. I have lots of eggs to eat today before they go off so maybe an omelette for tea, 3 eggs of course as they’ll only be 5pp.
191.5lb lost last night at Ashmore Park, 67lb lost on the morning at Bloxwich, 347lb lost Tuesday at Willenhall, 75lb at Wednesfield on Monday night, and 35lb at Bloxwich on Monday morning, 51 stone in total this week and still a day of weigh-ins to go.
I think you’ll agree, ProPoints really is working, we’re still getting results in February, January was amazing 3,180lb or 227 stone! ProPoints works but we have to follow the rules to get the results!
So if you fancy a go at my stuffed mushroom pies, here’s what I did;
Mix together low fat soft cheese, I used 100g boursin light & 110g ricotta cheese, (but you could use Philadelphia light or similar) and diced veg of choice, I used courgette, pepper, spring onion, garlic cloves, carrot, & mushroom stalks that were removed from the large mushrooms.
Stuffed 8 large mushrooms (on offer in Sainsbury for £2) with mixture. Top with a circle of puff pastry cut from a ready rolled sheet from supermarket (on offer for £1 at the moment). Bake for about 20 minutes on gas mark 6, keep your eye on them, they’re ready when pastry looks cooked.
Total cost for entire recipe was under a fiver! Not bad at all for a tasty meal for 4 people, I served mine with salad. Pictures on FB group page wall.
Have a great day everyone, Thursday is my longest, busiest day of the week so this is the big test of whether I can keep to the plan and track completely, I know I have a bacon and mushroom sandwich coming for my breakfast, Jenny’s making it me, but before I accepted I asked how many propoints and the answer was 7pp so I can live with that, think I’m going to have a stir fry for lunch using those 50p packs from Morrisons (still Frugal February), then I need to think about tea, as it’s the end of my week, I usually get a bit lapse so I need something to look forward too. Mmm thinking cap on.
Heres to a weightloss for us all next week xx
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
February 2nd 2011 facebook email
It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing that matters. Mother Teresa
Yesterday was day 2 of tracking 100% and I have to admit this morning I was already tempted to miss a couple of things off my tracker, why did I have that handful of twiglets last night, when the tub has been there since the end of December and I haven’t touched them! Why did I eat 2 cheese triangles whilst I was waiting for my tea to cook? Who knows but I did and that’s 4pp wasted – hey ho, today’s another day and I have my weekly allowance. I did have a nice Weight Watchers crustless quiche though for 7pp very nice, and a Weight Watchers pizza for my lunch which I pimped by adding my own zero toppings too - pineapple, onions and if I’d had them I would have added peppers and mushrooms too. So yesterday I easily had my 5 a day, more like 8 so that’s a bonus and earned 5pp on pedometer.
These days I don’t see myself as on a diet, I’m trying to make permanent lifestyle changes. We can all sit around bleating on about putting weight on, but the bottom line is to lose weight we need to eat less and move more – easier said than done sometimes I know!
For me, it’s about making small changes to my life over a longer period of time. Half a pound a week, or less now is what I’m happy with – When I first started dieting, I went for the jugular and targeted minimum 2lbs a week, hell I expected half a stone in my first week! With time I’ve realised I can’t cope with that scale of a reduction in my daily intake, so I’m reducing it down to half a pound a week and hope to lose whilst living!
In my experience, deprivation leads to deviation – so depriving myself of something I like just makes me crave it all the more – so now I enjoy food and drink in moderation. You will not lose weight long term if you don’t change your lifestyle.
And of course I struggle at times! Mostly every weekend, birthdays, meals out, special events and Christmas! I gained 5lb over Christmas and a couple more since! Sometimes you can’t even explain why you struggle, or why you can’t seem to stick to the plan. You’ll find yourself eating something and thinking ‘why did I just do that’, there will be a reason, but you may never know what it is, your subconscious mind is a wonderful, scary place!
I’ve reminded myself that sensible eating and exercise through the week and bingeing at the weekends will never work. We all need to make our choice. So why not join me and do it slowly – cut your intake by small amounts, enjoy your daily and weekly allowance and look to play the long game.
Losing weight isn’t just an image thing, it’s a health thing too, we need to take care of our bodies, yesterday my friends mom was rushed to hospital she’d had an heart attack and I think when something like that happens, it reminds up that life is short and we need to take care of ourselves so we can enjoy it to the full.
Don’t believe everything you read. The world and internet are full of so-called “experts”…the one expert in your body is YOU. Take control and be your own GURU! You know how you feel and when you look in the mirror you know if you’re happy with what you see, so do this for you, not no one else. xx
Yesterday was day 2 of tracking 100% and I have to admit this morning I was already tempted to miss a couple of things off my tracker, why did I have that handful of twiglets last night, when the tub has been there since the end of December and I haven’t touched them! Why did I eat 2 cheese triangles whilst I was waiting for my tea to cook? Who knows but I did and that’s 4pp wasted – hey ho, today’s another day and I have my weekly allowance. I did have a nice Weight Watchers crustless quiche though for 7pp very nice, and a Weight Watchers pizza for my lunch which I pimped by adding my own zero toppings too - pineapple, onions and if I’d had them I would have added peppers and mushrooms too. So yesterday I easily had my 5 a day, more like 8 so that’s a bonus and earned 5pp on pedometer.
These days I don’t see myself as on a diet, I’m trying to make permanent lifestyle changes. We can all sit around bleating on about putting weight on, but the bottom line is to lose weight we need to eat less and move more – easier said than done sometimes I know!
For me, it’s about making small changes to my life over a longer period of time. Half a pound a week, or less now is what I’m happy with – When I first started dieting, I went for the jugular and targeted minimum 2lbs a week, hell I expected half a stone in my first week! With time I’ve realised I can’t cope with that scale of a reduction in my daily intake, so I’m reducing it down to half a pound a week and hope to lose whilst living!
In my experience, deprivation leads to deviation – so depriving myself of something I like just makes me crave it all the more – so now I enjoy food and drink in moderation. You will not lose weight long term if you don’t change your lifestyle.
And of course I struggle at times! Mostly every weekend, birthdays, meals out, special events and Christmas! I gained 5lb over Christmas and a couple more since! Sometimes you can’t even explain why you struggle, or why you can’t seem to stick to the plan. You’ll find yourself eating something and thinking ‘why did I just do that’, there will be a reason, but you may never know what it is, your subconscious mind is a wonderful, scary place!
I’ve reminded myself that sensible eating and exercise through the week and bingeing at the weekends will never work. We all need to make our choice. So why not join me and do it slowly – cut your intake by small amounts, enjoy your daily and weekly allowance and look to play the long game.
Losing weight isn’t just an image thing, it’s a health thing too, we need to take care of our bodies, yesterday my friends mom was rushed to hospital she’d had an heart attack and I think when something like that happens, it reminds up that life is short and we need to take care of ourselves so we can enjoy it to the full.
Don’t believe everything you read. The world and internet are full of so-called “experts”…the one expert in your body is YOU. Take control and be your own GURU! You know how you feel and when you look in the mirror you know if you’re happy with what you see, so do this for you, not no one else. xx
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
1st February 2011 facebook email
Some days you're the bug and some days you're the windshield. Life happens. It doesn't mean you have to cope with it by stuffing your face!
Well I had a fabulous ProPoints day yesterday, having planned my week with meal ideas, I filled in my tracker journal, earned 8 activity ProPoints, ate one of my own pre-made frozen ready meals then cooked a lasagne to die for which was twice the size of a shop bought one, plus twice the tastiness! I’ve decided to make it Frugal February I’m hoping to save pounds whilst losing pounds, my plan is to try and work my way through the contents of the freezer and pantry whilst only buying the essentials like fresh veggies etc. I’m even planning to leave my purse at home more often, so as not to spend any money whilst out! I’m working hard at the moment so happy to stay home and chill at weekends and catch up on my rest and tv.
I talked about motivation yesterday and sometimes its not that easy to realise what yours is, there’s an article in this months Weight Watchers magazine that starts by saying, “show me a woman who’s happy with her body and I’ll show you a flock of flying pigs”, (good article) mmm I’m happy with mine, my skirt might not have been yesterday morning when I put it on and struggled with the zip, but personally I love my body whatever its size, however for my health (my back doesn’t like too much extra weight) and wallet (I won’t buy new clothes) I need to shift a few pounds. So there is my motivation, being in less pain and getting in ALL of my clothes not just the select few! It’s also brilliant to wake up feeling fresh and alert and ready to face the day, and I believe a good diet has a lot to do with that. Yesterday I included lots of fruit and veg, I had a smoothie with mango and banana and papaya in for my breakfast, a banana, with my dinner I had frozen cabbage (cheaper than fresh), mixed salad leaves (half price in morrisons) with my tea and the lasagne had carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions in, plus my lunch had pineapple in! I also had just the one glass of red wine with 6 of my 8 activity ProPoints I’d earned on my wineometer.
I bought a book the weekend called “Adore yourself slim” so I can share some of the ideas with you, so let’s start today by getting you to love yourself, we’ll start by you taking a few moments and writing a list of all the things you love about yourself, what do you like about your personality, is it the way you laugh at silly jokes, are you generous, are you polite, helpful. Because believe me, if you don’t love yourself now for the person you are, rather than the body you have, then you won’t love yourself slim either plus you’ll find it hard going getting there!
So go on, write down ten things you love about yourself, if you can’t do that or need help ask others for help and write down ten things they love about you. Then put this list somewhere safe so when you’re having a rubbish day you can use it to give you motivation and show you that you are special and you do matter xx
Pay yourself a compliment every day
Focus on a different attribute — your clear complexion, pleasant voice, good fashion sense — and say out loud: "I love my ___." It may sound forced at first, but it's a useful counter to self-doubt.
Do things you know will help you feel better about yourself
This could be anything from a new hairstyle to losing that first 10 pounds. Tackle the easiest first, to build confidence in future efforts.
Give yourself regular treats
It could be anything from flowers to outings; just as you would surprise a loved one. You do it to make them feel good; aren't you worth the same consideration?
Spend time with those who care about you
You'll soon share their good opinion of yourself! If there aren't as many supportive people in your social circle as you'd like, consider ways of expanding it to increase your chances of positive feedback. Ask yourself: "Who will help me feel good about myself?" Apart from your immediate circle, consider neutral outsiders.
Avoid situations that reinforce self-doubt
This could involve re-examining long-established relationships — perhaps with a critical relative or colleague who is continually reinforcing damaging self-perception. Are you forever seeking another's approval but never getting it? Rather than simply taking the criticism, you could:
· Retreat from the relationship a bit.
· Stop hoping for approval.
· Respond more assertively to harsh remarks (Example: "I feel bad when you call me 'stupid.' I would prefer that you addressed me with more respect.")
7. Try a little kindness
Instead of beating yourself up whenever you goof up, give yourself the benefit of the doubt, same as you would anyone else. Focus on your achievements, not faults. Chances are, once you start looking, you'll be surprised at just how many there are!
Don't you think you deserve a little of your own adoration? Use some of those ideas about to give yourself the love you deserve.
How do you learn to like yourself more? The same way you befriend anyone else: Take the time to get acquainted; be supportive and non-judgmental. Above all, look for the good.
Now give yourself a hug or ask someone else too xx
Well I had a fabulous ProPoints day yesterday, having planned my week with meal ideas, I filled in my tracker journal, earned 8 activity ProPoints, ate one of my own pre-made frozen ready meals then cooked a lasagne to die for which was twice the size of a shop bought one, plus twice the tastiness! I’ve decided to make it Frugal February I’m hoping to save pounds whilst losing pounds, my plan is to try and work my way through the contents of the freezer and pantry whilst only buying the essentials like fresh veggies etc. I’m even planning to leave my purse at home more often, so as not to spend any money whilst out! I’m working hard at the moment so happy to stay home and chill at weekends and catch up on my rest and tv.
I talked about motivation yesterday and sometimes its not that easy to realise what yours is, there’s an article in this months Weight Watchers magazine that starts by saying, “show me a woman who’s happy with her body and I’ll show you a flock of flying pigs”, (good article) mmm I’m happy with mine, my skirt might not have been yesterday morning when I put it on and struggled with the zip, but personally I love my body whatever its size, however for my health (my back doesn’t like too much extra weight) and wallet (I won’t buy new clothes) I need to shift a few pounds. So there is my motivation, being in less pain and getting in ALL of my clothes not just the select few! It’s also brilliant to wake up feeling fresh and alert and ready to face the day, and I believe a good diet has a lot to do with that. Yesterday I included lots of fruit and veg, I had a smoothie with mango and banana and papaya in for my breakfast, a banana, with my dinner I had frozen cabbage (cheaper than fresh), mixed salad leaves (half price in morrisons) with my tea and the lasagne had carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions in, plus my lunch had pineapple in! I also had just the one glass of red wine with 6 of my 8 activity ProPoints I’d earned on my wineometer.
I bought a book the weekend called “Adore yourself slim” so I can share some of the ideas with you, so let’s start today by getting you to love yourself, we’ll start by you taking a few moments and writing a list of all the things you love about yourself, what do you like about your personality, is it the way you laugh at silly jokes, are you generous, are you polite, helpful. Because believe me, if you don’t love yourself now for the person you are, rather than the body you have, then you won’t love yourself slim either plus you’ll find it hard going getting there!
So go on, write down ten things you love about yourself, if you can’t do that or need help ask others for help and write down ten things they love about you. Then put this list somewhere safe so when you’re having a rubbish day you can use it to give you motivation and show you that you are special and you do matter xx
Pay yourself a compliment every day
Focus on a different attribute — your clear complexion, pleasant voice, good fashion sense — and say out loud: "I love my ___." It may sound forced at first, but it's a useful counter to self-doubt.
Do things you know will help you feel better about yourself
This could be anything from a new hairstyle to losing that first 10 pounds. Tackle the easiest first, to build confidence in future efforts.
Give yourself regular treats
It could be anything from flowers to outings; just as you would surprise a loved one. You do it to make them feel good; aren't you worth the same consideration?
Spend time with those who care about you
You'll soon share their good opinion of yourself! If there aren't as many supportive people in your social circle as you'd like, consider ways of expanding it to increase your chances of positive feedback. Ask yourself: "Who will help me feel good about myself?" Apart from your immediate circle, consider neutral outsiders.
Avoid situations that reinforce self-doubt
This could involve re-examining long-established relationships — perhaps with a critical relative or colleague who is continually reinforcing damaging self-perception. Are you forever seeking another's approval but never getting it? Rather than simply taking the criticism, you could:
· Retreat from the relationship a bit.
· Stop hoping for approval.
· Respond more assertively to harsh remarks (Example: "I feel bad when you call me 'stupid.' I would prefer that you addressed me with more respect.")
7. Try a little kindness
Instead of beating yourself up whenever you goof up, give yourself the benefit of the doubt, same as you would anyone else. Focus on your achievements, not faults. Chances are, once you start looking, you'll be surprised at just how many there are!
Don't you think you deserve a little of your own adoration? Use some of those ideas about to give yourself the love you deserve.
How do you learn to like yourself more? The same way you befriend anyone else: Take the time to get acquainted; be supportive and non-judgmental. Above all, look for the good.
Now give yourself a hug or ask someone else too xx
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