What stops your weight loss - this thing called life maybe.....

30^th September 2013

 

Attitudes are contagious... Is yours worth catching?

 

 

You’d rather have my attitude than my cold right now!  I’ve got a stinky head cold and sound like a man that’s when I can actually make a sound because my voice keeps going ;-)

Have you noticed that when you trying to lose weight, everyone says all you need is plenty of willpower!  Willpower smillpower!  The thing with willpower is you immediately tend to think negatively because you expect it not to last, it usually takes effort to fire up that willpower, you force yourself to try to do something that if you had a choose, you wouldn't bother - let's be honest! 

So what to do?  If willpower isn't the answer what is?  Persistence, realism, self love and patience with yourself, not forgetting "WANT" you've gotta actually want to do it, otherwise don't even start!  I repeat that you've gotta actually want to lose weight, otherwise don't even start!  If you feel you SHOULD lose weight for whatever reason, health usually being the time when we feel we should rather than want to, them spend some time thinking about why you maybe want to, how would it benefit you, what do you get out of it, try to change the should into could then into WANT TO!

So you've decided to start, now what? Write it down, everything you consume, all of it - not just what you eat and drink but why too, ask yourself how you're feeling, were you hungry, if not why did you just eat?

You weren't hungry?  So why did you just eat?

If only we knew ay! 

- Boredom
- Habit
- Loneliness
- Depression

- Got nothing better to do!

To name but a few reasons.

What else might help you to lose weight?

- Eating everything off a plate
- Eating up a table when possible
- Pay attention – don’t eat & do something else at the same time!
- Don't buy it or hide it. You less likely to consume what's not in view!
- Drink more fluids – water can be tough to drink when it cools down, try boiled water, wait
  for it to cool a little, you may be surprised by how okay it is.
- Work on one thing at a time - you can't change everything overnight, don’t even try because you’ll end up despondent.
- Find yourself a hobby - eating shouldn't be one!

All sounds really obvious doesn't it!  You've heard it all before! 
Why haven't you done it then, got to your goal and stayed there?
You might have done it all before and just found yourself slipping back into old habits. 

Mmm that'll be because of a little thing called life - it sometimes tends to get in the way!

So do you best, with what you have, when you can - give yourself a break when you don't do it and work on changing bad habits into good ones over time. 

Find the positives - don't focus on your slip ups, focus on the good choices you've made.  

Don't dwell on those slips ups, forgive yourself & focus on your next step.

Look for the good, it's okay to know about the bad things but only look for the good, it makes for a better life. 

 

Be a perfect imperfect version of yourself; always focus on the healthy and happy and as

always BeYOUtiful xxxx

 

Have a happy Monday ;-)

Life's all about days like that...

29^th September 2013

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough. Vicki Robin

What a fab day we had yesterday, both my bestie and I really need a day off and totally away from everything that is our day to day life, we were so ready for a giggle session and that’s what we got.  We started lunchtime, walked along the canal path to Bentley Bridge where we had a couple of pints because going for a long relaxed lunch at Bella Italia, before stopping off at the Sainsbury’s for a bottle of lemoncello on the way home and walking back (5 mile round trip thereabouts so not too bad on the activity front), we spent the rest of the day/night watching tv with mom and enjoying the peace and quiet of a childfree/husband free house.  It didn’t even bother me that my cold had totally kicked in by now and my voice is almost completely gone, hopefully it’ll be back by Tuesday when I next need it for a meeting.

So how did I do on the tracking my ProPoints from, did I manage to stay on track?  Well I had a 3 course meal, plenty of alcohol and finished on 100pp!  So 26 of them were my dailies, 49 weeklies, and the rest would be covered by the Pedometer ProPoints I’ve earned this week.  The steak was to die for I have to say and I really fancied one, I’d also checked out the menu before going, the only thing I had different which wasn’t planned was cheesecake, but it was only 11pp according to the eating out guide so I can live with that.

Today will mostly be spent chilling, I need to shake this cold/throat infection off – boo, so I’ll get as far as cooking something for lunch, might make some soup but that will be as much as I do.  Not hungover which is good!  Thinking a Filling & Healthy day then I don’t have to worry about ProPointing!  Yeah defo, got lots of potatoes to make something with, and I’ve put together a few recipes to have a play with, ooo might make chips;

 

F&H Chips

Peel, chip, par-boil and drain potatoes.  Return to the pan and shake to ‘rough up’ the edges.  Place on a baking sheet, spray with low fat cooking spray and bake in pre-heated (240^oC/475^oF/Gas9) oven for 20-25 mins.  Delicious with dry fried egg and baked beans or mushy peas.

 

Yeah comfort food day today for sure!

First though I need to back up my computer because it keeps giving me a system error message so it needs sorting – boo!  I also need to walk Alfie, everyone else is still asleep here at the moment so I’ll just enjoy my cup of tea and peace and quiet – the best time of the day this is.

Enjoy your Sunday xx

BeYOUtiful & Eat Gorgeous because Healthy & Happy is the way. xx

Looking forward to my day ;)

28^th September 2013

There are some people who could hear you speak a thousand words and still not understand you. And there are others who will understand without you even speaking a word. — Unknown

One BUSY Happy Owl!

Had to share, made me laugh out loud literally.

 

As much as I dislike lying awake for three hours in the middle of the night, I also enjoy the silence that it involves, last night my stinky head cold woke me up and then I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I lay there and enjoyed the peace and my thoughts, I went and made a cup of tea then came back to bed and drank it, eventually I fell back to sleep.

We had an area meeting last night so yesterday afternoon I sat and enjoyed a hour or two of ‘me time’, in the hotel where the meeting was taking place, the idea was to read my book however I didn’t realise that their was going to be a group of ten or more pensioners filling up the lounge and talking none stop bless em, they never ran out of conversation once, everything from achy legs gel to marmite was discussed ;).  So instead I read my magazine as it didn’t take as much concentration, and ear wigged in on their chat.  How lovely for them all to be there enjoying a weekend away as a group, I reckon they had some fun planned!

Looking forward to today because me and my bestie are having an afternoon out, we haven’t had one for a long time where one of us hasn’t got to be back for whatever reason, we’ll both be ready for bed by 8ish because that’s the way we roll!  Happy middle-aged birds, who enjoy the afternoon then snooze ;), Bella Italia for lunch and a few glasses of something intoxicating for sure, roll on lunchtime.

Tomorrow, I WILL cook a proper meal, I’ve got really lazy in the kitchen lately and I need to get back in there being creative, it’s something I enjoy and now the weather is turning and gardening isn’t really as much fun, then cooking and crafting can get back on the agenda, I just need to motivate myself to actually do it – got rather lazy just lately, I’ve mostly been doing work and chilling in from of the tv, that’s has been the extent of my activity and it needs to change, having said that I did do the walk last Saturday so maybe I’m being a little hard on myself.

Having said that, I’m really happy where my life is, we were talking about ‘bucket lists’ the other day and I didn’t have a bucket list as such but I ticked off a lot of things that I wanted to do a good few years ago, I hiked to Machu Picchu, cycled across the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, trekked in Nepal, flown round Everest, Whale Watching (including Blue Whales), cycled from San Francisco to L.A., walked up Snowdon 3 times in one day using all 6 paths, to name but a few of the larger things I’ve done.  These days I’m happy with the small stuff, I have no burning desires to do or go anywhere, I’d quite like to do a Tandem ride but I’m not in a rush, I’ve been saying it for years and still not done it so the desire isn’t that great.  Now all I crave is quiet me time, days out with my mom, and giggles with my bestie, I’m really content with the day to dayness of my life and I love feeling this way.  I do sometimes think ‘should I be doing something’ and I end up saying no!  There is one thing I keep thinking about doing and that’s a cookery course, so maybe I’ll just do it, not a long one just a day thing, I want to get to grips with making a good curry because I seriously CANNOT!  Everyone I make ends up being given away or binned, or I force myself to eat it!   I truly enjoy the Asian ability to cook flavoursome food, its awesome, so whilst I was awake at 2am this morning I did a bit of googling and I intend to go back to look this morning and hopefully sign up for one and treat myself.  I know I could get a book but it wouldn’t be as much fun and I do love an ‘experience’.

Is there something you’ve always thought about doing?  Is it feasible, is there a way to make it happen.  Think about it….

Right I’m off, it’s Saturday morning and I have nothing I have to do – YAY have fab is that, don’t get me wrong I have loads I could do but I’m not gonna, I’m going to go with the flow and see how I feel, might go make me a bacon breakfast mmm.

See ya, BeYOUtiful because you’re Gorgeous xxx

Healthy & Happy remember – ALWAYS!

 

 

 

 

 

Hurry, hurry, hurry NOW, quick, quick, quick!

27^th September 2013

“It’s better to cry than to be angry because anger hurts others while tears flow through the soul and cleanses the heart.” – Pope John Paul II

 

ProPoints, Weight Watchers, Weight Loss, Diets, ProPoints, Weight Watchers, Weight Loss, Diets!  I even dreamt about my work last night!  Yes sometimes it does feel like it’s taking over my life, it isn’t of course, it just feels that way, and those are the times I give myself a break.  I don't know anyone who's on track 100% of the time, and it’s important that we never give up on ourselves, or on your health and happiness because we think we can't do this. Instead I realised a long time ago to accept the perfectness of my flaws and falters, it makes me human, it’s also what makes me the type of leader/individual that so many others can relate to!

We’ve talked in meetings this week about putting ourselves and our weight loss efforts back to the top of our ‘to do’ list, to try to find the ‘me time’ necessary, easier said than done for so many, which is part of the reason they get a weight problem to start with.  By 8.45am yesterday morning I’d weighed 25 people who had to get to work, they work such crazy, long hours that they can’t find themselves that hour later in the day to sit and enjoy some ‘me time’ at their meeting and interact with other members to get the full support of the meeting (it’s one of the reasons I started my facebook page and this blog, at least they can interact to suit).  One member yesterday morning is her moms full time carer, she gets 2 hours respite, twice a week for herself which she uses one to come have an hour with us, how difficult is that. Lots of people care for others which is a full time job and I’m not talking the 40 hours a week kind.  Then of course there are the employed carers, that’s a damn hard job and yet some of them earn minimum wage – scary, because not only are they exhausted from the work by the time they’ve paid their bills there ain’t much left for any ‘me time’ stuff!

The majority of the people I come into contact with struggle for time and money, they’re stressed out and trying to do their best.  I don’t know what the solution is to that, I just know it sucks! 

From a weight loss point of view where busy is involved, you have to make it as easy as possible and not resort to the quick fixes like crisps and chocolates on the go between home/work/home etc.  Getting sorted and finding routines that will help you, the more you do something a certain way the more automatic it will become.  Online grocery shopping, that way you can make up a favourites list and just reorder, the petrol and time you save will cover the delivery cost and also there are cheaper delivery times too.   Little things like bagging up your cereal into sandwich bags so it’s all measured out ready, this doesn’t just save time in the morning, it also saves money because you use the correct portion size and they last longer, rather than buying boxes where someone else has already done it for you and charged you for the privilege.   A lot of members opt for ready meals and places like farm food and Iceland do Weight Watcher meals for £1, add some frozen veg to them and your dinners sorted.

And the best medicine for a crazy busy life will always be a good night’s sleep, you can survive everything if you’ve re-energised.  Again I know there’s some out there who can’t get that for various reasons and again I don’t have the answer unfortunately, just that eating healthy and taking care of yourself will at least give you energy too.

Try to have as stress free a day as possible, grab five minutes to yourself if possible, make yourself a cuppa and if necessary go hide somewhere to drink it J because you matter too, more than you know. Xx

Have a BeYOUtiful day!

Here’s a story if you have time to read it ;) that I’ve heard many times but had it brought to my attention again last week, it makes a relevant point;

Jar and two Beers

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers .

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions - and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.  'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'  One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'

Lots of food piccy's today!

26^th September 2013

 

No matter how hard things were, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity to make it better. — Unknown

 

Woke just as the alarm clicked this morning, with a snotty nose and a bit of a blocked head, that sore throat I had the start of last Saturday has finally surfaced I think into a bit of a head cold, boo, I don’t feel poorly bad though so it’s all good.  I’ll just make sure I eat lots of good food today and drink plenty water and scare it off!  Moms not 100% either she’s got a bad stomach and been feeling a bit off, poor love.  It’s that time of year now, I’ve noticed in my meetings lots of members have had colds, sickness bugs etc, and apparently quite a few have been experiencing the munchies, or craving carbs, it’s the change in the weather isn’t it, and it’s been a crazy change, from really cold to hot within hours, its the start of the winter blues, we’ll take some adjusting to the dark mornings and the grey days.  The new Weight Watcher magazine arrived yesterday and there’s actually an article in it on the winter blues and SAD (seasonal affective disorder) makes for good reading. 

 

Speaking of the magazine, one of my members bought in some carrot and courgette cake yesterday, they’d had the recipe from the August edition, it was delicious, so moist went down very well with the members in the meeting, so if you’re into you’re baking, dig out the recipe because it’s seriously good, it’s also a great way to use up all those courgettes that are growing into marrows in your veggie plot!

 

 

 

 

 

And whilst we're talking of veggies, I’ve grown tomatoes this year I have two plants and at least 30 big tomatoes on them, the only problem is they’re still green.  How pleased was I when I watched on starting to redden up, I picked it and look what was on the other side!

 

GUTTED lol, but I salvaged the good side and if all the others redden they’re gonna be absolutely delicious.  You can’t beat fresh veggies, can you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh look at that we’ve got round to food, only a matter of time on my blog, love eating I do ;) Whoever said ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ obviously had no taste buds in my opinion!  I’m all about the healthy and happy but I’m certainly not delusional, if they invented a Big Mac tomorrow that was calorie, I’d be there, I LOVE FOOD, and there are so many things that taste better than the skinny ;-) such as my meals yesterday, this is how my day looked;

 

Breakfast - BBQ beans (4pp), egg (2pp), slice toast (3pp)

Dinner – Aunt Bessie toad in the hole (half portion 12pp), home made onion gravy (1pp), carrots, broccoli

Tea – smoked haddock (6pp), couscous stuffed pepper (3pp)

Snack – Carrot and Courgette cake (4pp)

 

 

 

 

 I nipped into Asda for a few bits and found these cute crumpets, only 2pp each;

 

 

 

Also, I haven’t made them but I found a recipe for pancakes that completely Filling & healthy if you use the oil from your daily allowance, and I've been told that they are delicious.

 

Total Greek Healthy Pancake Recipe

10pp total if using 1 teaspoon of oil, or completely F&H

 

·        2 eggs (4pp)

·        40g oat flour* (4pp) *To make oat flour simply blend rolled oats (porridge oats) in a blender for a few seconds. I make a big batch of oat flour at once and store it in an air-tight jar! Or you could use Ultra Fine Scottish Oats (Ground Oats).

·        100g 0% fat Total Greek yoghurt (1pp)

·        Oil spray for cooking or a pan liner cut to fit your frying pan!

·        Extras - Vanilla essence and sweetener if required

 

1.     Add your eggs, oat flour, Greek yoghurt and extra flavours if using to a bowl

2.     Whisk until light & fluffy - I used an electric whisk

3.     Heat your pan on a medium heat, with your oil, and pour in small amounts of the mixture (to create a  pancake stack cook 2 small pancakes in the pan for the base and then cook batches of 3 pancakes per pan for the rest of the pancake stack!)

4.     Cook each pancake for 2-3 minutes before flipping with a spatula and placing on a plate once cooked - repeat until you have none of the mixture left

5.     Stack your pancakes in a pile and top with your favourite toppings!   I chose more Greek yoghurt, banana, frozen berries, cinnamon

 

 

I know some of you that read my blog may not know about my facebook page, but this is where I post stuff throughout the day, so when I’m out and about if I find food magic, this is where I share it;

 

https://www.facebook.com/WWBev

 

Feel free to like my page.

 

Right I better get my backside into gear, 5 meetings to do today, lots of Weight Watchers waiting to lose weight, been a good week so far, I love seeing the smiling faces at the scales, even those who’ve had a bad week smile in my meeting because we’re all about the reality of life and as we’re discussing this week “life gets in the way” sometimes and it’s important to make time for you as you’re important too!

 

So today, Eat Gorgeous, BEyouTIFUL and know you’re amazing xx

 

I’m going to start my day with a Beechams because they’re great when you have a cold, much better than sucking soothers or the like all day which are just little balls of sugary empty promises of betterness! You’re better off sipping a bottle of water throughout the day and taking a couple of paracetomal. 

The Diet Devil led me astray & Satan of the Scales set me straight!

25^th September 2013

 

You cannot talk defeat and expect to have victory. You can’t talk lack and expect to have abundance. You’ve got to send your words out in the direction you want your life to go. — Joel Osteen

 

There's a reason I'm a Weight Watcher! I let the greedy none ProPointing bird inside get out for 4 days this week & I gained 4lb at my meeting yesterday! Eek!  Was I surprised, not with a gain nah, not after the weekend I’d had, but with 4lb hell yeah, Satin had definitely been at my Scales and done his devilish duty.  Am I upset – nah, not at all, I know I can get it off, I expect to shift it by next Tuesday if I’m honest because it’s what I call ‘jelly fat’, it goes on quick so you get it off before it sets!  I had a four day weekend of overindulging, if you recall there was the pub lunch on Friday, that meal was 51pp, I may not have eaten it all but I didn’t eat 35pp worth and that didn’t include the rest of the day!  Saturday was my walk, I walked 15 miles, earned 17pp then consumed…. Wait for it 109!  Oh my that sounds awful doesn’t it but it wasn’t excessive quantities of food even, the day looked like this;

 

Toast & spread 6pp

Small slice of flapjack & fruitcake on walk 12pp

Banana

½ flapjack & peanut butter latte after walk 18pp

2 pieces of kfc & large fries on way home 25pp

Cheese burgers for tea 30pp

Beer & wine 18pp

 

And that’s how easy it is to spend 109 ProPoints!

 

Sunday and Monday were 76pp & 67pp, and now I'm back on it with an extra 4lb to lose - onwards & upwards, it only works if you follow it and I did yesterday ;-)

 

I know I’m a leader and I should be leading by example but I’m also a human being who strays and indulges and was once a member, I loves food, it ain’t ever gonna change, I just need to bash the greedy bird over the head with the healthy stick again and get her back under control, you can be too happy where food is concerned as I’ve shown this weekend ;0)

 

Anyway yesterdays meals were delicious, my tracker looked like this;

Breakfast - cheesy mushrooms on toast (7pp)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch - Linda McCartney sweet potato kiev (9pp), Morrison's herby potatoes (3pp) and green beans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea – the rest of the herby potatoes (3pp), ½ tin of Heinz bbq beans (4pp) and fried egg (3pp)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were all delicious meals, very impressed with the kiev and liking the bbq beans too.  How can anyone be naturally thin when there’s all this good stuff to be eaten!  I embrace my inner greedy girl she has the most amazing tastebuds!

 

So I’m thinking the other half of the beans for breakfast, I’ve been looking into some F&H meal ideas which I plan to try over the next few weeks, can’t do it until I’ve been shopping though because I don’t have the ingredients and I bought a couple of ready meals at the weekend that I need to eat first.  Also had a look through the 20 minute meals cookbook and there are some delicious ideas in there too, Jon who did the walk with us Saturday had made the frittata to go from there, and instead of pasta, he’d used couscous, he didn’t share though, him and Emma had a rucksack full of food you know and they let us all watch them eat it! ;-)  I did laugh when one of the ladies who did the walk said, “I knew you were Weight Watchers when one of you took a Weight Watcher bar out of the rucksack”, she then said, “I knew you were my kind of Weight Watchers when she then put it back in and took out a massive slab of dairy milk”, mmm how can they be your two choices lol, a 2pp WW bar or a 30pp Dairy Milk, that’s a real woman isn’t it (and no it wasn’t me!)

 

Right back to reality and a day of work, and of course a day of Eating Gorgeous but this time within my ProPoints allowance!  Wish I’d got crumpets, I really need to start a shopping list……

 

Healthy & Happy remember xx

Can't beat a chip butty!

24^th September 2013

Don’t worry about what people say behind your back. They are the people who are finding faults in your life instead of fixing the faults in their own life. — Unknown

These dark mornings don’t encourage me to get out of bed, I could’ve easily done another hour and yet I went to bed at nine last night!  Yes my bodies and mind is ready for hibernation I think ;-)

It was also craving hearty food yesterday so a chip butty was enjoyed, yes they can be enjoyed, it cost me 10pp but it was delicious, I could’ve done a lower ProPointed version had I used different bread, actually if it had been low calorie bread I could’ve done a Filling & Healthy version, that’s the beauty of the Weight Watchers plan, there’s choice.  I however opted for two good sized slices of wholemeal bread (5pp), oven chips (4pp), ketchup (1pp).  If I’d been on a F&H day, I’d have cut my own chips and used my Actifry with my oil allowance or you could use the oven.  The ketchup would need to come out of your weekly allowance.

I’m happy in the knowledge my fridge is full of enough meals to last me the week without me having to think too much, I’ve not got the desire to cook in me at the moment, I had a go at a chicken korma curry yesterday using the slow cooker and I wasn’t impressed with the outcome, so I shan’t be cooking for a while and that curry will be going in the freezer in the hope the flavour will mature!

I’m thinking porridge and berries this morning because there’s a picture on my desk of a bowl and it keeps catching my eye!  This is the week I have a huge appetite porridge is a good starter!  ProPoints wise the weekend hasn’t looked pretty on the tracker so the results this morning could say “OUCH”, it all started after the walk and really hasn’t stopped; it’s all been good food but definitely too much good food!

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/09/23/hundreds-step-out-on-cannock-chase-charity-walk/ we made the news with the walk on Saturday, my members Nat, Jon and Emma are on photo 3, and you can see the back of my head ;), I’m overwhelmed at the generosity of everyone, it’s such a worthy charity and I have a personal connection as mom has a touch of dementia herself, I walked in and sat down to find her watching an episode of Law & Order yesterday that we’d watched the day before and she’d already forgot, I watched it again she was enjoying it – she did the first time too J

We can do everything in our power to maintain our weight but maintaining our brain ain’t quite so easy, they suggest eating fish once a week could help, and foods rich in vitamin E such as fortified cereals, green leafy veg, seeds and nuts.  There’s no hard and fast solution though and they don’t really know if diet can help Alzheimer’s at all.  All we can do is take care of ourselves as best as we are able and hope nature is kind on us!

Here’s to a day of taking care of ourselves, physically and emotionally, if you’ve had a bad week/weekend and know you’ve gone off track (as I know quite a few of you have), give yourself a break, beating yourself up won’t help at all.  Heck I have one bad week every month, it’s my cycle of life and rather than fighting it I’m embracing it, I’m still losing weight gradually and I’m healthy, even when I overindulge I don’t do it on the worst stuff, I don’t eat like I’ve sinned and I need to eat as much as possible as quickly as possible because tomorrow I will ‘diet’ again!  Yes I know that’s what so many do, nope I’ve lost the ON IT/OFF IT mentality, I’m more Within my Allowance/Not within my Allowance and instead of being ruled by my emotions, I’m more guided by my appetite, if I’m really hungry I eat more, of course I guess there are still emotions playing their part, I’m just not as aware of them.  I’m thinking out loud (or on text) now so I’m off to get ready for work.

Enjoy your day – Eat Gorgeous & Be Happy & Healthy.

You’re worth it because you’re BeYOUtiful xx

Let loose in a Supermarket without a ProPoints Calculator!

23^rd September 2013

"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.- " Lao Tzu

 

I’ve had a lovely weekend, it started Friday when me and my bestie went for lunch and had a good giggle, having realised we hadn’t done lunch for ages, we had started just doing staying in for a natter – yes we’d become like the best friend version of an old married couple and had started taking each other for granted!  Just goes to show it can happen in any relationship, its not only marriages that go stale ;-!

So now we’ve realised we’re going to make the effort to rectify it and have more lunch outings and laughter sessions.  I got to thinking about what other relationships we take for granted and the answer is probably most of them!  However of course because I’m all about the eating, the one that interested me was our relationship with food and our bodies, the diet we choose to eat and the outcome it all has on our health.  It’s very easy for us to take food for granted or for our meals to go stale and boring, I hear about it all the time.  I try to not get stuck in a rut with food because I enjoy eating different things so much, I am struggling to be bothered to cook recipes at the moment though despite the fact I have lots of lovely cook books to go at.

Yesterday when I shopped, I didn’t think about the ProPoints values of anything, I just wanted to enjoy shopping for delicious food and I was shopping to try and get my kitchen mojo back, to find foods/meals I hadn’t tried before maybe and to see if I actually trust my decision making around food.   And I was very happy with myself, giving myself free reign in the supermarket didn’t turn me into a junk eating fool with no regard for her health, I actually spent more time looking at organic and healthy foods because they are foods I enjoy, my idea of treating myself is finding something organic and nutritious but also tasty.  I found some sweet potato kievs, indulged myself and bought smoked salmon mousse terrine, mini garlic and herb jackets, butternut squash lasagne.  None of these things when I eventually worked the ProPoints out were particularly excessive.  I trust myself to realise my health matters far more than overeating on a continual basis so I wouldn’t go crazy in the supermarket on a regular basis even if I decided I could. 

Over the years, following Weight Watchers, doing the ProPoints plan amongst others I’ve learned so much about myself and my body, my relationship with food, that I know continued overeating doesn’t make me feel good, moments of overindulging are fabulous but they need to be infrequent.

Even one of my members who’s on holiday this week has already facebooked us to say after a few days of abusing the All Inclusive, she’s ready for healthy eating again because it makes us feel yak when we’ve got used to eating healthy and happy.

Would you trust yourself to make wise food choices if given free reign to buy whatever you want?  If not that’s absolutely okay, it just shows you’re at a different point, I dare say there would be weeks when I wouldn’t trust myself either, this week just wasn’t one of them and that’s why it’s important to not test yourself when you don’t need to.  If you plan ahead, make those shopping lists, take that ProPoints calculator with you then you don’t need to test your willpower.

Mmm breakfast, what to have…… Whatever it is, I’ll Eat Gorgeous – will you?