Planning to enjoy my Sunday...

30^th June 2013

Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get flowers!

Once again I’ve been up since stupid o’clock on a Sunday morning thanks to my delightful dog who woke me at 3.0am to go up the garden for a wee!  I couldn’t go back to sleep so I’ve been messing about on Pinterest looking at garden ideas ;-)

I have to say the time spent in the garden goes by so quickly unlike the time spent sitting in front of the tv watching boring programmes, so let’s hope we have plenty of dry weekends so that we can spend more time out there.   Mom and I spent all afternoon just pottering about, not doing anything major, sitting around discussing ideas – that’s the best kind of gardening!

I’m contemplating a car boot sale this morning, don’t remember the last time I went to one but what’s putting me off is remembering the traffic hassle getting on and off them, mmm I shall think about it.

The other thing I’ve noticed about being in the garden is I don’t think about food so much, yesterday morning I had mushroom omelette for breakfast and it was 5ish on the afternoon before I thought about food, so I made my burgers at last and had them with brocolli and mash, very nice they were too.  I’ve not done F&H the last couple of days because I’ve wanted a bit of something else, however I have still tried to mainly focus on the filling and healthy foods for the majority of my eating but ProPointed the meals instead, so the breakfast was 6pp and the burgers 14pp, not 100% on track the last couple of days but doing the best I can.

It is Weight Watchers not Weight Losers after all, that’s my justification and I’m sticking to it, we all know weekends are harder for most of us so I’m going with the 1/2lb a week formula and realising that’s as good as I’m willing to do right now.  It’s not what I’m capable of, because I know the plan works and if I stuck to it 100% I’d get the results, but I’m not, so I can’t expect fantastic results.

Being ‘thin’ just isn’t important enough to me right now, being ‘healthy’ is which is why I ensure I eat good filling and healthy food, and hopefully by doing that and tweaking things a little each week, the extra weight I’m carrying will come off slowly and who knows, even maybe permanently – wouldn’t that be fantastic!

I’m going to go make me a cuppa and sit out in my garden whilst I decide about the car boot sale.   Whatever you have planned, enjoy your Sunday – we only get one every seven days, don’t waste it!

Eat Gorgeous & don’t be in such a rush to get there. xx

Burgers it is then...

Saturday 29^th June 2013

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.  Abraham Lincoln.

 

The weather forecast doesn’t look too bad today, as it’s Glastonbury and Wimbledon it usually rains so I’m glad that there isn’t any forecast it’ll be nice to sit in the garden reading later.  I was very productive yesterday morning got lots done in my office, did some gardening then about 2ish I lost my momentum and chilled for the rest of the day.  

Well I’ve worked out the problem with online shopping the sell by date on things aren’t the best, my veggies were all use by yesterday, so I’ve made a large vegetable curry 20pp in the whole pan because of the sauce and potatoes, on a F&H day it’ll only be 10pp for the entire pan because of the jar of sauce everything else is F&H.  I have a feeling it might end up as my brother’s tea though because I’m not a great fan of veggie curry’s – not when I cook them anyway, from a restaurant is a different story but those jars never make a good dish in my opinion.

I never made my burger yesterday because the meat hadn’t defrosted and by the time it did I couldn’t be bothered, so I might have them today, or something made with the mince. 

I do like a burger and came across this vegetarian recipe on my pc yesterday that sounds delicious, not completely F&H but you can take the cheese from your weekly allowance and you are allowed 2tsp of healthy oil each day;

Really filling Brunch Burgers (total 49pp, serves 4 @ 12pp each)

 

3 x 250g medium baking potatoes (16pp)

3 shallots, finely chopped
1 Ieek, finely sliced 

2tbsp sunflower oil (6pp)
6 tomatoes, halved horizontally 

 grating of nutmeg
4 free-range eggs, fried, to serve (7pp)

1tbsp wholegrain mustard (1pp)
150g extra mature Cheddar, grated (17pp)
1 large onion, finely sliced
salad, to serve 

Pierce the potatoes and microwave for 15 mins, or until soft. Leave to cool, scoop out flesh into a bowl and mash.

Meanwhile, fry the Ieek and shallots in 1 tbsp of the oil until golden. Stir into the potato with nutmeg, mustard and 100g of Cheddar; season. Shape into 4 burgers, pressing a quarter of remaining cheese into the centre of each.

Fry the onion in remaining oil until browned. Grill the burgers and tomatoes, cut side up, on a medium heat on a baking tray, for 8-10 mins, turning burgers once.  Serve each burger with grilled tomatoes, onions, a fried egg and some salad.

Yep they sound quite nice don’t they!  Instead of the egg you could actually have them with a home made beef burger mmm, now there’s an idea forming in my head. 

 

My brains not really working this morning, might have something to do with the wine drunk last night when my mate came over, so I’m going to take Alfie for a walk and blow away the cobwebs. 

 

Have a super Saturday xxx

Feel Good Friday with Filling & Healthy...

Friday 28^th June 2013

“In the pursuit of happiness, the difficulty lies in knowing when you have caught up.”            - R.H. Grenville

 

Stuck to my meal plan again yesterday, enjoyed my lunch of trout (plan said Salmon but trout had shorter sell by date and salmon was frozen) and brown rice, my tea was a club sandwich which was really good, I had a cup of lentil soup with it too.  The blueberries really made the porridge delicious, I’m liking my week of eating I have to admit.

Today was meant to be Bircher style muesli

Oats

Low fat plain yogurt

Skimmed milk

Blueberries

Grated apple

 

Mix the oats, yogurt, splash of skimmed milk and berries together and leave to soak overnight or for 10 minutes. Add in grated apple before eating.

 

However moms enjoyed the rest of the blueberries and I fancy crumpets to be honest, so I’ll mix a couple of days, also I have leftover quorn cottage pie filling left so I’m thinking that can be lunch.  Then my mates coming over tonight so I’m going to do us day 5’s tea which is;

 

Homemade burger & wedges

Extra lean beef mince

Onion, red chilli, fresh herbs

1 tsp healthy oil

Potato

Mixed salad

 

Combine the mince, onion, chilli and fresh herbs and shape into a burger. Grill in the oven. Cut the potato into wedges, toss in the tsp of healthy oil and season. Bake until cooked and serve with the burger and a side salad.

 

They sound good.  I’ve also got a bag of spinach that needs using up fast before it goes off so I’m thinking of making some kind of spinach and potato curry, which will then keep till tomorrow or later on tonight when we’ve had a few drinks.  I also have a lot of eggs so the next few days menu may go a little different to the planner but it shall still be filling and healthy.  I’m enjoying the food and not craving anything which is great, I was a little hungrier yesterday but that’s Thursday for me so I had a banana and the soup which helped.

 

I’ve slept like a brick, but work for the third time this week at 4.44, I woke one morning at 3.33!  Bizarre I think, I did manage to go back to sleep though and got out of bed around six, a lie in for me.

 

Won’t be getting my morning walk this morning, it’s raining and Alfie won’t go out in it anymore, he’s passed the puppy stage where the weathers concerned, he used to walk in anything, now he’s choosy and lazy!

 

So I’m going to have a productive morning in my office instead, take my car to the garage because the horn doesn’t work then it’s relaxation all the way for the rest of the day, ooo I do love Fridays.

 

Almost the weekend folks, this is when Filling and Healthy will be put fully to the test, last weekend I blew the bank where my ProPoints were concerned, will F&H help me to stay in credit this week – I’ll let you know.

 

Eat Gorgeous & BeYouTiful. xx

 

Enjoying my Filling & Healthy week

Thursday 27^th June 2013

When the heart is happy, the simplest foods bring immeasurable delight. But when the heart turns against itself, even the best of foods fail to satisfy.

Well I’m actually enjoying having my meals planned out for me, I wondered if I’d not fancy what I had planned because I know I can be a bit like that but the last month of not really thinking about food has helped to get me out of that habit. 

 

So the quorn cottage pie was actually not bad, I did add a couple of stock cubes to the pan to add a little more flavour but we enjoyed it and mom didn’t realise it wasn’t meat, she liked it because it was easier to eat than chewy beef mince!  The lentil soup was good too, I was concerned I’d overdone the day because I had 4 slices of bread and spread with my soup and, 2 slices with my breakfast, then I had 2 slices on the afternoon just for a snack all with Weight Watcher spread on, however when I actually ProPointed my Filling and Healthy day even with my glass of wine and a dollop of St Agur added to my soup it still only totted up to 34pp and I’d earned 8pp on my pedometer so I was rather pleased.

 

My working week is flying by this week and as always I’m loving my meetings and my members, I weighed one of my regulars Tuesday morning and he’d lost 4lb, his wife looked at him and said, “see it’s all that gardening”, to which him being the diamond that he is retorted, “Don’t be daft, it ay what you shovel in the garden – it’s what you shovel in your gob!”  Made me laugh anyway, and he’s not wrong is he, being active is fabulous, it’s excellent for your health, it makes you feel better and of course it does burn calories but it will not counteract the damage of constantly overindulging.  It rang true for me that’s for sure because I know I overdid it last weekend because I’d done all that gardening, I was using the activity to justify the indulging and that’s why I lost half pound and not more.

I’ve started looking for filling and healthy meal ideas in case I decide to do it again next week, so far I’ve found broad bean falafel wraps which I fancy having a dabble with, that recipe is in the Your Week from last week, I’ve never been a broad bean fan but as I haven’t tried them for a long time, it’s time to give them another shot.  Another idea was offered to me by a fb friend and that was for - in a bowl mix shredded lettuce, finely chopped tomato, grated cucumber, dollop fat free yogurt, mix in a sprinkle of garlic salt, add 9g chopped cashews (1pp), 10g cheddar (1pp) and stuff into a Weight Watcher pitta, followed by a bowl of melon and strawberries.  Sounds nice doesn’t it.

If you have any suggestions feel free to post them on my Facebook page or email me.

So today I’ve got fruity porridge for breakfast, a club sandwich for lunch,

Club sandwich

Calorie controlled bread, toasted

Prepacked ham

Skinless cooked chicken or turkey breast

Quark

Lettuce, tomato, onion

 

Layer the ingredients between 3 slices of toasted calorie controlled bread to create your sandwich.

 

Then for tea its;

 

Herb crusted salmon & rice

 

Calorie controlled bread

Lemon juice

Fresh parsley

Salmon fillet

Brown rice

Peas

Spinach

1 tsp healthy oil

 

Make breadcrumbs with the calorie controlled bread and mix in the chopped fresh parsley, healthy oil and squeeze of lemon juice. Pat on to the top of the salmon fillet and bake in the oven until cooked. Cook the rice adding the peas for the last few minutes. Drain and stir in the spinach. Serve with the salmon.

 

All sounds quite tasty I have to admit.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ1xcPzRbGk this video just made me smile, how many times when you’re trying to lose weight do you open the fridge to see what’s in there, be funny if this was what was there!

Right I’m off, busy day Thursday always is, up at 5 then none stop till almost 8pm, and I love it ;0)

Eat Gorgeous everyone, it’s surprising how good you feel choosing the healthier foods, really does make a difference to your moods, don’t believe me – try it. xx

There isn't a quick fix to fit!

Wednesday 26^th June 2013

Don’t reward yourself with food – you’re not a dog!  Don’t graze constantly – you’re not a cow!

OUCH, that line of words stung didn’t it!  But when I read it, it does make sense and gives me food for thought so to speak.

I lost 1/2lb again at the scales this week, so that’s 1/2lb a week in the last 5 weeks, I didn’t get weighed the week I was on my holiday, so 2lb in 5 weeks including a week in Wales is good for me, I’m actually thrilled come to think of it now I see that written down, because I’ve enjoyed those 5 weeks, I’m keeping my Healthy and Happy Attitude and being a Happy Owl ‘-) which includes treats and glasses of red wine.  It also includes ways to move more that are enjoyable, sometimes productive and not painful. 

It seems as if so many of the weight loss plans out there are based upon lack and force and stress - low calorie meals, low fat foods, low pleasure eating, intense exercise, and lots of self punishment. How can such an approach possibly lead to health and happiness? 

Healthy and Happiness can only come from self love and nourishing your mind, body and soul, it does not come from beating yourself up, starving yourself or forcing ‘diet shakes’ down your neck!  My personal self care is not a competition or a race, it’s a life long job!

There’s something for you to think about, there is NO quick fix solution for lasting weight loss and good health, and it’s a continual daily balance of healthy eating, moving more whilst enjoying real life and the challenges it throws at us.

And it’s the challenges that make some days more difficult to get that balance right, however with continual self love, group support and support from others not forgetting having a kitchen that’s full of good healthy, tasty food it makes it easier.  If you’re working on changing your habits for life then you find when those life challenges crop up your habits will help you cope better.  Having odd moments of excess happen to all of us, and that’s ok; it’s how you cope with them and what you do afterwards. 

Yep I find the Ha Ha approach works just fine for me, together with all the support I receive from fellow Weight Watcher members, friends and family. 

So how was my day yesterday, it was great, I went with a Filling and Healthy day, my shopping wasn’t arriving till the afternoon so I had porridge for breakfast, and for lunch I made scrambled eggs, baked beans, calorie controlled bread toasted with Weight Watcher spread and a couple of slices of pastrami. 

My shopping arrived and the time I would have spent driving to and from the store I used to make the lentil soup recipe that’s on the 7 day planner and I blogged yesterday, and I prepared the vegetables for my tea which was

 

Oven baked ratatouille & smoked haddock

Onion, garlic, courgette, pepper,

Aubergine

Tinned tomatoes

Cod fillet

1 tsp healthy oil

 

Roast the vegetables in the healthy oil for 15 minutes.  Add some tinned tomatoes and place the fillet on top. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes until

the cod is cooked.

The planner was for cod but I fancied smoked haddock, now I’m not a ratatouille fan but it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten it so I thought I’d give it a try and it wasn’t bad at all.  I think if I did it again instead of tinned tomatoes I might use fresh cherry tomatoes instead. 

 

My tea took half hour to cook when I got home so I used that time to water my garden pot plants and I finished my day extremely satisfied, feeling healthy and happy.

My treat of course, I’m sure you’ve guessed was a lovely big glass of wine, after all I had earned 8pp on my pedometer which covered it easily.

So here’s to another day of F&H, I’m going to follow day 7 of the plan (because I can) which is creamy mushrooms on toast for brekkie, lentil soup for lunch and vegetarian cottage pie for tea, although I’ll switch lunch and tea round as my main meals at lunchtime. It also includes snacks and treats of

 

Crumble - warm some frozen berries in a pan with some sweetener (if required). Press into a ramekin, top

with some oats and place under the grill for a minute.

Corn on the cob

Low fat plain yogurt

Not bad at all, I don’t usually do desert but I might, we shall see.

So whatever you do to lose weight, bare some of that in mind because a beautiful lady rejoined my meeting last night and said to me, “I’ve realised whenever I’ve joined before I’ve been looking for a quick fix and now I know there isn’t one, it’s life long changes I need to make.”  Boy do I look forward to helping, supporting and watching her succeed.

Have a magnificent day, it’s your choice remember. xx

 

It's all about the Ha Ha!

Tuesday 25^th June 2013

Unless you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.  Doris Mortman

 

My porridge did the job yesterday and kept me going for hours, I actually didn’t think about eating until the afternoon, partly because of the porridge and also because I ended up in the garden and got lost in what I was doing again, this is good for me for sure.  The 2 ton of scree is now all round the back, I did the last half bag yesterday afternoon (2ton - 4480lb that is!) and my members have lost over 5 tonne this year and I now have some concept of what that is like in reality – amazing!

After writing my blog yesterday, I thought about my meals for the week and my shopping whilst walking the dog and decided that I’d follow the Weight Watchers online 7 day filling and healthy planner http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/images/2057/dynamic/articles/2012/11/7DayFillingHealthyMealPlannerFINAL_251012.pdf and do my shopping online as I’d been sent a £12 coupon if I spent £60 in Tesco (not a huge Tesco fan but £12 is £12).  I already had some of the stuff needed for the planner and I added a couple of things to the list but my bill after the coupon was £75 for the week.  It’s being delivered this afternoon so we shall give Filling and Healthy a go. 

I’m all about eating to feel well, to feel better in myself, and if I lose weight it’s a bonus, however as long as I’m healthy and happy, it’s all good – the Ha Ha way as I like to say ;) (Healthy and Happy attitude).

After a few weeks of not really focusing on food and just eating what’s to hand, I struggled with planning so that ready done planner was most welcome.  For a change there wasn’t really anything on there I wouldn’t eat except the prawns which I can’t so I just swapped them for something else.  I’ll have porridge again this morning as my shopping doesn’t arrive till later, might have an omelette for lunch then I’ll start the planner from tea-time today.

It even takes into account I’ve got my mate coming for the night Friday as there are home made burgers on there, easy to make and delicious to eat, we shall have them with wedges or jackets and sit in my new garden enjoying my hard work whilst using some of my 49 for a glass of wine, white if the sun shines, red if it doesn’t. 

There’s what looks like a nice F&H soup recipe on there too, here it is;

Lentil soup (makes 4 portions)

1 tsp healthy oil

Onion

Celery

Carrots

Red lentils (100g)

1 (10g) stock cube

1 tsp paprika

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Cook onion, celery & carrots in the healthy oil. Add paprika & cayenne pepper, stir. Add the lentils and 2 pints of stock. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes until the

lentils are cooked. Blend before serving, adding more liquid to alter the consistency if required. Serve with calorie controlled bread.

 

Remember if you’re doing a ProPoint day there are ProPoints in that recipe, so you would have to work them out.  I like the idea of trying to listen to my own levels of satisfaction, I think I did ok yesterday, only ate three times, no snacks and I enjoyed everything I ate without feeling overfull or wanting more.

 

Right busy day ahead, I’m off to make my porridge, just drunk my pint of water so I can have a cuppa tea too.

 

BeYouTiful, EatGorgeous and enjoy having a HaHa!

Cruel to be kind - NAH, kind to be cured!

Monday 24^th June 2013

Nature didn’t create you so you can try to be a second-rate version of someone else. So, quit comparing yourself to anyone else & BeYouTiful!

Well I had a real lazy day yesterday and I loved it, tatted about all morning then sat and watched two films (7 Psychopaths & The Perks of being a Wallflower) enjoyed both of them, the caught up on tv and fell asleep in front of it by 8.30, so early night.  Woke up at 3am to enjoy the super moon which looked beautiful and then slept till 6.30 and I’ve started my day with a bowl of porridge which I haven’t had for ages but really enjoyed.

Found a photo yesterday that said a banana a day = less achy joints.  Foods high in potassium have been shown to cut arthritis symptoms by 40%.  Well if that’s true I’m happy to eat one because my hands are hurting and I’d be willing to try it.  Someone also recommended to reduce the inflammation in my body I ate more Alkaline foods and less Acidic foods (not cut the acidic foods out altogether though) so I’ve looked into that a bit too over the weekend. 

Next my mate sent me an excerpt from a book she was reading which said

“Cruel foods don’t fulfil their delicious promise.  That’s just a front.  They really mean to destroy you.  If you are in despair, you are especially vulnerable to cruel foods and their evil charms.  Yes, the give you a little lift, but only so that they can bring you down after you’ve let them into your body.  They’ve hurt you so many times before, yet you haven’t realised what they are.  They seem so nice at the time, but leave you feeling guilty and miserable.  If you give cruel foods to those you love, just watch them swell up in front of you and start behaving badly.  They can’t help it.  You’ve give them cruel foods.  Kings used to have ‘tasters’ that tried their food first in case somebody was trying to poison them.  You family doesn’t have a taster.  They have you”

Kind foods are low in fat (less than 3%, low in sugar and low in salt.  Kind foods are good for depressed people because they treat your body with respect.  After you’ve eaten them they reward you and support you and give you the energy to face life.  If you suffer from despair, kind foods will steadily build up your reserves of energy and fitness, and help your brain marshal its power to help you.  Kind foods will make you stronger and slimmer.  They will give you back your self-respect and confidence.  Kind foods include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrain cereals and pulses and are natural and easy to prepare.  You can find recipes anywhere to make them delicious as well as nourishing, so long as you don’t cover them with fat when you are cooking and turn them into something else.

Cruel foods are high in fat, sugar or salt.  They seem gorgeous and adorable when you are eating them but once they get inside you, the betray you and hurt you like a soap opera love-rat.  They promise you comfort only to deceive you and bring you down.  After you’ve had them – or rather they’ve had you – you feel fat, low and lousy.

Interesting!

The universe has thrown lots of food information at me this weekend and it’s all been directed to how it makes you and your body feel rather than how it can help you lose weight!  Now I’m not a fan of giving food a personality i.e. good/bad, naughty/nice, kind/cruel but on this occasion I think it’s making a good point.  If food is affecting our physical or emotional health in a negative way no matter how delicious that food is, it’s time to rethink don’t you agree?

When I go shopping this week I will most definitely be throwing carrots, spinach, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, and other alkaline forming foods, I’ll be buying less beef as that’s supposed to be the worst for the acid forming, because I welcome any suggestions to reduce the inflammation in my body.  Even though I’m not depressed, I do have the hormonal mood swings that start in your forties so I will also be taking them into consideration and including more ‘kind’ foods and omitting more ‘cruel’ foods from my trolley.

I think the question I’ll be asking myself this week is, “will what you’re about to eat make you feel better long term?” rather than help me lose weight, you can eat healthy at any weight.  Delicious food is fabulous for the short time you’re eating it but if the side effects are increased inflammation in the body (arthritis) or depression or mood lows then really you’ve got to ask yourself how delicious that food really is haven’t you!

Now my porridge this morning was actually really tasty and the ingredients on the packet was “oats”, now yesterday I picked up a box of McVities Breakfast porridge oats biscuits and the ingredients on that box was long and it included on 19% rolled oats, it did include vegetable oil, sugar, fructose-glucose syrup, vegetable fat and lots of other stuff!  40g of porridge works out at 4pp, 50g of biscuits works out at 6pp, they are 2pp for one!  Now when I’ve finished eating the porridge I’m satisfied and I think I will be until lunch time, I bought mom the biscuits and I tried a 50g packet, I’d already had my 2 pieces of toast, when I’d eaten them I spent the morning craving another packet because they gave me an instant sugar fix (I didn’t have anymore btw), I was ravenous all day long and I’m sure they had something to do with it.

When it comes to ingredients in foods – less is best if you’re trying to be a healthy happy human!  I’m not suggesting you never have a bit of junk food ever again, or a treat but just start to realise the effect these foods have on your body if you consume them in large quantities or have them as your staple diet. 

May Filling and Healthy is the best option if you’re unsure of the good choices, if it’s highlighted in green – it’s a good choice, if you’re worried about not knowing when you’re full and satisfied then you can still ProPoint you’re choices to keep an eye on what you’re eating.  I think I’m going to give F&H a few days, I like the idea of eating a ‘kind’ diet for a few days and as I’ve started with porridge, I will continue.  Fancy joining me…..

Have a healthy and happy start to your week. xx

  

Soggy Sunday by the looks of things...

Sunday 23^rd June 2013

Never apologise for what you feel, it’s like saying sorry for being real.

Had a lovely day yesterday, running errands, pottering and then finished off with a massage to ease my aching muscles before going home and finishing my book with a glass of wine in a bubble bath, what a perfect way to spend a day.  And for my lunch I enjoyed a hot dog and a coffee from outside the garden centre, delicious it was and worth everyone of the 15pp I wrote down for it.

Now I know some would consider a hot dog to be processed junk with very little nutrition and they’d probably be right, but the emotional satisfaction that I got out of taking half hour out of my day sitting in my car with a good read, a coffee and my hot dog was second to none.  It’s all about balance; I have no intention of having another for a good long time so it’s all good.  The thought that I couldn’t do that now and again would make life very rigid and quite dull.  These faddy diets work that way really, I mean what if I’d been on one of the starvation days on that 5/2 thing, or following a no carbs diet, I wouldn’t have been able to have them then.  Nah I’ll stick with Weight Watchers and be healthy and happy I thinks, much easier for sure, make wise food choices most of the time and the occasion indulgence is fine.

Well the weathers a bit grim this morning, shall be spending the day indoors I think!  Got lots of stuff I can be doing but I think it will be a lazy day today, I might even cook!  I haven’t done that really since before my holiday, then again I might not, I’ve took some chicken out of the freezer may throw it in a jar of curry sauce.  

Yeah life is changeable and adaptable isn’t it, what you want to do one week isn’t necessarily what you want to do the next, how you feel and behave one week isn’t how you feel or behave another, so like my life I need my weight loss plan to be flexible too, and thankfully the one I chose to follow is, plus it’s taught me healthy habits and got me in the habit of making the wiser food choice, yep it’s educated me well.

Anyway lazy breakfast of toast I think, so I’m off to make it.  Have a great day, Sunday should be relaxing don’t you think. x

 

The plans not the problem...

Saturday 22^nd June 2013

The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do. And if you keep doing the same things this year that you did last, you’ll get the same results ~ MJ

A really productive day yesterday, spent the morning doing paperwork and errands, got my wing mirror fixed by my mechanic, can’t recommend him enough if you ever need one, Tif 07939 408405 he’s over Showell Road, Bushbury and he’s just brilliant.  I then had lunch with me bestie (all measured and ProPointed), then about 2ish I decided I wanted to get started in the garden whilst the weather was good.  I stayed there till about 7.30pm and took round over a tonne of slate scree in a bucket ;-), my eldest brother turned up and helped by laying some of the membrane for me whilst I carried round the scree, then he went and I carried on alone.  I’m really pleased with it and my pedometer said I’d earned 13pp then I leaned on it and it reset!  That 13pp was just for the walking not for the weight lifting though remember so I had myself a well deserved bottle of red wine last night.  And I’m even more pleased because I can actually move this morning which is a bonus.

This is what I managed to do in an afternoon (so pleased!) it'll be much easier to maintain than what was there before.

 

I love that when I’m in the garden and busy like that, I don’t even think about food or eating, I’m well aware that over the last year I’ve put way more emphasis on food than was necessary or than I have for a good few years and I also know that’s because I was feeling a bit stuck which I seem to have come out of now and hopefully those few pounds gained will come off.

It’s good to realise that sometimes the weight problem is not about what you eat, it's more about why you eat!  Eating because you have a problem or situation in your life that you are struggling with does not solve that problem.  Beating yourself up because you can't lose weight will not help you to stop over eating either.

Trying to find a short term quick, fix solution to your weight problem will only give you a short term solution.  Until you accept, address and change the way you respond to the problems and difficult situations in your life then you will always be fighting your weight.

You can't fill a void in your life with food. You can't make someone well again by eating yourself. If you're angry - shout, if you're upset - cry, feel the emotion, let it out, scream and wail, trust me it feels fab and doesn't involve a weight gain.  I heard someone on the radio Thursday say depression is caused by not being able to express sadness or anger (I don’t know if that’s the only cause) and I believe overeating can be caused by not feeling and expressing certain emotions too and trying to squelch them down or avoid feeling them by eating instead. 

But believe me whatever the problem - food is never the solution!

Everyone emotionally eats but when it's done to the extent that its making you unhappy then it's time to do something about it. Weight gain is a side effect, you need to find the cause and address that. Until you do you're just sticking a band-aid on an open wound.

If this is what you’re tracker really looks like it’s time to start thinking about why…

ProPoints is a great system for helping guide you to spend your allowance wisely, because you can have more of the lower ProPointed and zero foods or less of the higher ProPointed stuff, common sense tells you to choice more of the healthier, lower ProPointed foods.  Unfortunately your emotional brain won’t always agree with that if you’re emotionally eating, it’s more likely to search out High ProPointed ‘treat’ or ‘comforting’ foods to make you feel better short term.  If you’re doing this and it’s stopping you from losing weight you need to look at the reasons why and work on those in conjunction with the plan.

 

It can be done – believe me – trust me – I see members do it every week and make not just massive differences to their weight but also to their lives.  

Let it be your turn to put yourself first and focus on getting healthy and happy. xx

BeYouTiful because you’re worth it.

 

What if Paddington Bear had been a wine drinker - now there's a story ;-)

Friday 21^st June 2013

No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.

Can’t sleep, it’s 4.15am and I’ve been away just under an hour so I’ve admitted defeat and got up, might as well be doing something useful!   I’ve got a busy day ahead anyway so may as well get it started early and give myself a couple of extra hours to do everything, I’ll have an early night tonight I’m sure.

I felt like Winnie the Pooh last night only rather than honey it was peanut butter, I found the open jar in the fridge and a teaspoon, I then proceeded to waste a good 9pp on it!  Did you know it’s 17pp per 100g – OUCH!  So this morning it’s either going in the bin or at least out of the fridge and in the cupboard, no the bin is safer isn’t it, then I can’t do it again.  What a waste of 9pp, that’s half a bottle of wine I’ve missed out on.

What started it was a gluten free cookie recipe I saw posted on Facebook which doesn’t use eggs or flour, so I may as well share, they apparently work out at 4pp each as another leader made them, and she confirms they went down very well and neither her husband or children realised they had chick peas in them!  The original recipe was taken from http://www.texanerin.com/2012/04/grain-free-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-bites.html/  regarding cup measurements, it’s an American thing but you can get a jug with it marked out usually in this country. The recipe is at the end of my blog.

We had fun in the meetings this week, I’ve really enjoyed them, I particularly like the idea of tagging all my members and having a map in my office that shows me where every one of you is at any one time!  I love the idea of having those tags fitted with a taser device so I can give you a shock if you’re up to no good ‘-) can you imagine the fun I’d have on a Friday night after a glass or two of wine!  We all know that’s not about to happen but this week you could pretend it was!

One of my members was gutted Wednesday night because we didn’t have any of the new Smoky Bacon bakes and they’ve stopped producing the Chicken flavour, it got me to thinking what would you do if your favourite food became extinct?  Or in my case red wine!  We all have that one food we can’t resist but if it was extinct we’d have no choice would we!  So would it just get replaced by another food that would then become our favourite?  I know if I don’t buy something then eventually I forget about it and no longer want it, as soon as that food is bought back into my house I want it again.  Crisps are a prime example mom threw 3 packs of 6 into my trolley yesterday and one was pickled onion flavour, well I couldn’t resist last night and indulged, absolutely lethal those things are and I shall be giving the rest of the 6 pack away because mom doesn’t like them but I do and I will not be able to resist so I need to make them extinct!  What needs to be extinct in your house?

On that note, I’m off to do some paperwork, my hands really hurt at the moment so typing isn’t too much fun, even filling my car up with petrol was painful yesterday, holding the pump was difficult, so I’m going to try and stay off the pc this weekend as much as possible, and my iphone and hope it eases off a bit!

YAY it’s Friday, have a fabulous one and take care of yourself x

 

Grain-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Prep Time: 8 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Ready in: 18 min

makes 14 x 1" cookies

 

1¼ cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter or almond butter

¼ cup (80 grams) honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it

½ cup (90 grams) chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips, if needed)

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.

2.Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

3. With wet hands, form into 1½" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

 

Notes

o    My can of chickpeas was 400 grams, 240 grams without the water, and I used all but a few tablespoons.

o    Don't even try with regular peanut butter! They'll come out oily. You MUST use natural peanut butter. :)

o    If you need grain-free baking powder, you can use 1 part cream of tartar + 1 part baking soda + 2 parts arrowroot.

The leader who made them used Sunpat peanut butter and reckoned they weren’t oily at all!