Check me out - ready for my week!

31st May 2015

Every day you wait is another day you won't get back.

That quote has given me a kick up the bum, I was just about to do a meal planner starting tomorrow, then realised I still have today!  Therefore my meal plan will start from today, I have Rogan Josh curry for dinner, it's already cooked and I never got round to cooking the roasted cauliflower yesterday so I'll have that with it, now I need to play the rest of the week!

I didn't buy much 'food' in my supermarket shop yesterday, as I have so much in the cupboards already, I only went because I had a £9 coupon if I spent £60 - it has to be done and it was the last day of the 25% off 6 bottles of wine offer ;) good job I don't drink more just because there's more in the house isn't it!  I'm now well and truly stocked up, I even got a £10 off my next shop as something was cheaper in Asda, so next week I've got a £12 off £60 shop plus the £10 from yesterday, it has been my week where money things have been concerned, none of them massive amounts but that's the third of this type of thing that's happened, it's all good!

So I'm going to stop typing and go check out the cupboards for my meal plan, back in a bit.....

I'm back, that took longer than I expected, I had to feed 'not my cat', that's what I call him/her, then I decided to mark up all the food in my cupboards with a marker pen so they have the ProPoints on them.

My meal plan now looks like this;

Sunday  

Dinner - Rogan Josh (6pp), pilau rice (5pp), asparagus and spiced roasted cauliflower (2pp)

Tea - Actifry chip butty 10pp

Monday

out for lunch

Tea - fish finger (3 for 5pp) on Warburton thin (3pp) for tea

Tuesday  

Dinner - cod (2pp) and Quinoa, grains and red rice mix (6pp) with veggies

Tea  - curry beans (4pp) on jacket potato (5pp)

Wednesday

Dinner - tuna, wholewheat spaghetti, chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables in cherry tomato and parmesan sauce 10pp

Tea  - Mackerel on toast 8pp

Thursday  

Dinner - Trout 4pp, mashed potato, vegetables

Tea  - red and white quinoa (7pp) with a fried egg (3pp),

Friday - out all day!  Damage limitation!

Saturday

Dinner/Tea - Salmon in maggi paper 7pp, Mixed grains (7pp)

That's me sorted!  And it wasn't that difficult either, nor did it take that long, but I do know I've included foods I wouldn't have included had I not gone and looked through my cupboards.  Now I've got meals to look forward too, not much cooking involved, all pretty easy to prepare, here's to a great week - starting TODAY! 

So what's your plan, do you have one?  Are you ready for your week?  I am now, if I'd left it till tomorrow, I'd have missed a day and there would have been a possibility I wouldn't have done it tomorrow either.

Enjoy your Sunday, it looks yucky out there, I think I might curl up with a good book, mmm might have to include a mug of hot chocolate too.  Catch ya tomorrow. xx

Can't beat a slow start to the day!

30th May 2015

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

Mmm, perfect start to a day, lay in bed thinking about getting up for ten minutes then went downstairs fed the not my cat, got me a glass of water and now I'm sat eating a bowl of freshly picked strawberries typing my blog.  Love not rushing I do!

Yesterday was a good day too, after a morning of paperwork I nipped along to the fruit farm and picked those strawberries myself, I did enjoy it, twenty minutes of stretching and crawling under the rows trying to find the best ones.  It wasn't until I'd got to my car that I realised I'd made a right mess of my nice shoes, they weren't the kind of shoes for that kind of work!  Oops.

I'm looking forward to them opening the fields, so I can start picking my own fruit and vegetables this summer, nothing tastes better than freshly picked food. 

I cooked chicken tikka masala for tea last night, I do like that Spice Tailor range, it was delicious.  Today though I think I need something lighter in my diet, I'm thinking fish, get me some omega 3 in my life!   Variety is the spice of life they say, so I'm ready for a little variety because I've had a lot of spice this last week, don't want to get repetitive and boring now do I!

I've got a cauliflower that needs cooking so maybe cauliflower rice or I've still not tried roasting one, so today might have to be that day!  

How?

Spiced roasted cauliflower

1 large head of cauliflower, broken into florets

2tsp ground cumin

2tsp ground coriander

2tbsp olive oil (8pp)

Freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/Gas 6.

Put cauliflower into a roasting dish with spices and oil, mix together until well coated.  Roast in oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through, then serve.

That'd be nice with a bit of baked cod I reckon!

What chance do I have of ever being slim, when I'm thinking about food from 5am :) At least these days I have a 'to eat' list so that I can plan to eat all those lovely foods another day and don't try to get them all into one day! 

Here's to a wonderful weekend, rain or shine let's make it a good one BeYOUtiful.

Don't become a self-fulfilling prophesy!

29th May 2015

If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends.  If broken by an inside force, life begins.  Great thins always begin from the inside!

Remember why you started?  We talked a little about that in my meetings last week, what that final straw that made you walk through the door of a Weight Watchers meeting.  Sometimes we need to be reminded that those successful results don't just happen, my gold members didn't just wake up in the morning at their goal weight, they planned, tracked and stuck to the plan, there were prepared to put in the effort to get where they wanted to be. 

Being mad at yourself for not doing well or having a bad week won't help, it'll just put you in a bad mood, so let's start today in a fantastic mood, go look in the mirror, stare at your reflection and say, line drawn - let's do this!  Accept yourself as you are today, it'll make it much easier to work forward, remind yourself of all the marvelous traits you have like compassion, kindness, intelligence, that keen sense of humour, you are so much more than your body.

Also acknowledge you're BeYOUtiful because you are and again know you can define your own standard of beauty, a realistic one!  You don't have to aim for societies standards, you get to decide how you want to look, what you want to weigh, what your definition of healthy is - this is your body and you only get one. 

I watched a video yesterday https://youtu.be/7DdM-4siaQw

where the ladies decided which door to walk through, the 'average' or the 'beautiful' so many walked through the average door!  I don't know anyone who's average, we're all BeYOUtiful, we're all loved by people because we're amazing. 

So let's stop this negative thinking, let's embrace our BeYOUtiful, know you're gorgeousness, accept your amazing and respect our bodies because they really are incredible whatever shape or size they may be. 

Don't forget your brain picks up on everything you think and imprints those thoughts into your memory, at some point they will become self-fulfilling prophecies!  So if you keep saying to yourself, "I'm hopeless, I can't do this weight loss lark" guess what, at some point you'll start to believe that and you won't do it.  Let's reframe those thoughts, start thinking things like "I can do this", instead of thinking how much effort it'll take to get active because you hate exercise, think about how it is a gift your giving to yourself, some YOU time away from the stresses on life, a time to catch up with friends.  Find a way to move you enjoy, eat foods that you find delicious, take care of that incredible body you live in, see your weight loss journey as this incredible thing you're doing for yourself because you are worth it.  

Now if you haven't already - go plan your day!  I'm going to practice what I preach and am about to plan mine too. 

 prophesy

Food is and will always be one of my passions!

28th May 2015

You can always take the easy way out and give up, but real strength comes when you decide to keep pushing forward, no matter what the circumstances are.

So the new Weight Watcher cook book arrived yesterday, five and under, that means I could have 4 meals a day and a glass of wine and still lose weight - BOOM!  Having seen a leader post the butternut and cauliflower cakes on her wall, I need them in my life, plus they're zero ProPoints which is always a seller!  Having had a quick look through I fancy the bacon & butternut bubble and squeak, apple & pear brown betty, curried soup, creamy mushrooms on toast, cooked breakfast and I definitely fancy the 7 minute naan's!  Then there's the red lentil Dhal, the best turkey burgers, smoky chicken in a pot, oh I need to stop looking it's making me want to go eat!

Talking eating, I'm also really impressed with the spice tailor range of curry sauces, they're not cheap at £2.95 a pack but they are delicious and very authentic, they really do taste like something you'd have from the takeaway, I tried the original tikki massala (13pp for the packet, serves 2-3) and I was very, very impressed which I'm usually not when I buy premade jars in a shop.  I added Quorn too and it wasn't bad at all, mom enjoyed it too which is always a bonus.   Although I think my stomach is starting to protest over all the spices I've had the last few days, so maybe I'll calm it down today with nice simple foods.

Yeah I'll take a bit of fish out the freezer this morning I think, we can have that for lunch, have it with some quinoa.  That's a nice simple, quick meal, maybe some chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables.  Mmm nom nom, food it's just delicious isn't it.  That's what we're talking about in meetings this week, what is it you love most about food!  It's more than just the taste, it's so much more.  For me food and eating is a whole experience, I love thinking about it and planning what I'm going to have (I've just realised I've been missing out on this part of it lately, so I think I'll get the old cookbooks out at the weekend and do a bit of planning, get inspired with new ideas.  After planning it, I love the shopping experience too, I find it a calming experience and go into my own little world, one of the reasons I love it is because I get an added satisfaction out of the fact I can afford to buy food at this time in my life, I remember times when I couldn't and times when my mom couldn't so being about to walk around a supermarket and not stress over how much I'm putting in the trolley is an incredible feeling - easily pleased ain't I!  After shopping I get more satisfaction from putting it away in the cupboards and seeing them full, and of course giving Alfie his treat and showing mom the scrumptious food we've got to look forward too, although she just indulges me because she's only interested in the cake and crisps, she doesn't share my delight in what she calls 'proper' food!  Finally we get to the preparation, that's another enjoyable experience and eventually the eating of the food - yep food and eating is a very satisfying experience for me - no wonder I struggle with my weight!

So what is it you love about eating?  Think on that, is it the taste, the smells, the sounds, the look, what about the touch?  Is it the social aspect or the memories that eating evokes.  What's your favourite comfort food and why?  I'm really enjoying hearing my members responses to this questions and also loving hearing how they've managed to still enjoy all that comfort food and still lose weight!

So there's some food for thought - pardon the pun.  Have a great day BeYOUtiful, take care of you. xx

Drinking my breakfast this week.

27th May 2015

Remember that nothing would get done at all if a person waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.  Sheila Waters

Wednesday already, almost the end of May, this year is just whizzing by!  I'm making my little changes daily, and the water one is well and truly a habit now, I didn't have a cup of tea till 3pm yesterday (I used to drink 6 before leaving the house in a morning) and I only had that one because mom made it for me. 

I'm also managing to keep the fruit think going thanks to my nutribullet, I'm really not a massive fan of eating fruit, mainly because I don't really snap in the daytime so instead I'm using my nutribullet and so far I'm rather impressed with it, yesterday I had a big glass of that instead of breakfast and I wasn't hungry till after one on the afternoon.  It makes healthy, nutritious drinks and in the one I had yesterday it I put spinach leaves, 1/2 apple, kiwi, few grapes, 1/2 banana, so I got a good dose of vitamins and minerals in one drink.  Their sales pitch states;

This technology breaks down and pulverizes the stems, seeds, and skins where most of the essential nutrition lies - unlike what juicers and blenders do. Plus, with the NutriBullet, many of our customers have seen an improvement in their health within the first week once they started using it. As you know, juicers make juice and blenders make smoothies. But the NutriBullet makes supercharged NutriBlasts - and by drinking just one NutriBlast a day, you can give your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs to fight and prevent disease. Order yours today!

Why extract food?

A: Eating extracted food is great for EVERYONE in any state of health – from top performing athlete to someone suffering from fibromyalgia – because extracted food is virtually predigested, so your body can effortlessly absorb and utilize all of the nutrition that food has to offer. Even when we eat the healthiest foods, like a salad for example, it’s a lot of work for the body to break that salad down to get it ready for absorption into the body. When we prepare extracted foods with the NutriBullet, the foods are consumed in their most absorptive state, so we get the nutrition WITHOUT having to rely on proper chewing, effective stomach acids, digestive enzymes and the like to break down the food. It’s done for us!

Now I don't know if it's going to 'improve my health' or if I will notice a massive difference but I'm willing to try it and for me it's just about getting in some fruit that I wouldn't normally have, it's also filling me up which can only be a good thing.  So here's to find a way to stomach Kiwi fruit because there's no way I'm eating one! (shudders at the thought).  If you want to see their advertisement and you have a spare half hour, this is the link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJ2i-owUCY&feature=youtu.be

It's typical over the top, American advertising but I'm willing to give it a go for the reasons I've said above.

Right so food, yesterday I ate leftovers for lunch but for tea I enjoyed delicious poached eggs on toast, you can't beat good old fashioned simple foods.  There was a lot of talk in my meetings yesterday about cottage pie, now I came home fancying one but I don't have any potatoes, so I'm thinking today of making the mince side and putting it inside a roasted butternut squash, that'll save ProPoints too, mmm love food I do and that's why I couldn't live on nutritbullet drinks only, I enjoy eating real delicious food.

On that thought I'm off, as I need more water, have a great day BeYOUtfiul and focus on the positives because there are so many of them.