Do do do, come on & do the conga - you singing now? ;)

31st July 2015

When they say you can't - well that's when you have to!

Well me and some of my members have decided we're going to take up the challenge to go for a Silver Seven for September, please feel free to tag on the back of our Weight Watcher conga line and share in our planned success.  We don't want to dance the diet cha cha anymore (2 steps forward 1 step back or the lose, lose, maintain, gain in my case)  we're going forward, a conga line doesn't go backwards only forwards, so come on let's "do do do the conga, that train across the floor" as Black Lace would say (that's taking me back to my childhood!), we even made a conga line in my meeting - enjoying the journey aren't we ;)

But seriously the point of the conga idea is weight loss success is more about what you do over a month, not just for a week, we can all manage a week on track can't we, but sticking to it week in, week out without having that 'sod it' moment, well that's a whole different ball game.

So despite having the lurgy trying to take over my body, I managed to stay on track yesterday, I may have an achy body but the drugs do work :) so I'll keep topping up on them and try and get a bit of rest in today and plenty vitamin C.

I resisted a packet of Snaps (my favs) that my lovely helper had treated me too, I didn't take them home because they would've been eaten at some point.  I gave away the rest of chicken curry and casserole I'd made because I didn't have room in the freezer and I'd have been tempted to eat it all and I ended my day on 32pp, earned 1pp on my fit bit so all is good in my world.

Over the last few days I've changed to a smaller plate, I don't actually think it's my plate - AnnMarie, I think it may be yours!  If it is I'll return it and buy me a set ;) The smaller plate idea does work I have to admit, they also reckon the colour matters, red is supposed to be a good colour for a plate to encourage you to eat less, or green if you want to encourage yourself to eat more greens!  But the more you google it the more they have to say, even the effect of the color contrast between the plate and the food, and between the dinnerware and the background (i.e. tablecloth), the combined effect of plate size and colour contrast between food and plate, and the effect of attention, or mindfulness, it's all relevant!  & Complicated I reckon, so I'd go for a smaller plate so you can fill it, sounds easier to me, and maybe a pretty one you like the look of.

My day looked like this;

1/2 kiwi, 1/2 banana, handful spinach, water in nutribullet 0pp

 bacon & mushroom bagel 4pp

milk in drinks 2pp

chicken hotpot 8pp

banana

Rosemarie's chicken (5pp)  I could live on this!  Recipe here http://happyowls.co.uk/Recipes/RecipesDinner/RosemariesStewChicken.html (you only have to ProPoints the chicken you use)

Rice (4pp)

Wine (9pp) I was only having one glass but it was lush and I felt dreadful, so it was medicinal of course :)

Total 32pp

I'll take that total and here's to another day on track, I will not let this lurgy take me of track, I've got Rosemaries chicken to last me all day so I don't have to cook - I could actually do F&H as she's used skinned drumsticks and they're okay on F&H.  I'm also gonna drink lots of fluid, water not wine of course and have an early night.

Before I go, I found this gluten free pancake recipe online yesterday that sounds interesting,

(found on https://www.homemadebyyou.co.uk/recipes/breakfast/american-style-pancakes)

American-style pancakes

Make breakfast the best meal of the day with these gluten-free banana pancakes

Ready in 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes resting time

Cooking time 15 minutes

Makes 3 pancakes each for 4 people (4pp per person, 17pp total, if on F&H you only have to take the oil & syrup ProPoint from your weeklies)

For the pancakes:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs, beaten (4pp)
• 50 g rolled oats (5pp)
• a good pinch of cinnamon
• 2 tsp sunflower oil (3pp)

To serve:

• handful each of raspberries and blueberries
• 1 ripe peach, destoned and sliced
• 4 tbsp low fat Greek yogurt (2pp)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup (3pp)

Place the bananas, egg, rolled oats, and cinnamon in a blender and process until smooth. Allow to stand and thicken for 20-25 minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan until hot, add a little of the oil and add a spoonful of batter to the pan – you can cook 2-3 at a time. Gently cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Keep warm while you cook the remaining batter.

To serve, pile three pancakes onto each plate with the berries, a tbsp of yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I might have a dabble at those when I'm feeling a bit more energetic and less achy! 

Right here's to another day towards that Silver Seven by September Cha Cha Weight Watchers Dance Train - try saying that fast on a Friday morning!  Have a glorious day BeYOUtiful, let's make August count, it starts tomorrow, why not spend today, getting yourself all prepared, motivated and good to go! 

Got me Julie on me back now!

30th July 2015

Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be.

I made my casserole as planned yesterday, actually it was a chicken hotpot which I'll eat today, as I ended up making a curry too.  When I went to Asda they had large chickens reduced to £2.79!  Well I bought two didn't I and as usual don't have any room in the freezer, so I skinned and portioned them, made my hot pot from the legs and a curry in the slow cooker from the breasts.  The curry was quite high in ProPoints so that was my last supper last night because today I'm 100% on track, on it like a car bonnet and have promised to do it properly and stop messing about!  Yep because the lovely Julie had a word with me last night and she's going to be keeping my weigh card, I'd also had a chat with a dietician earlier in the week and we'd both agreed we didn't give the BMI chart much credit but apparently the magic waist number is 32 inches for ladies and 36 for men.  Why?

Because your risk of some health problems is affected by where your body fat is stored, as well as by your weight. Carrying too much fat around your middle (waist) can increase your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer 

So I've googled it and this is how to measure your waist:

· find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips

· breathe out naturally

· wrap a tape measure around your waist midway between these points to find your measurement

Yes you read that correctly breathe out naturally, don't suck it all in trying to save yourself an inch! 

One positive for me is I'm pear shaped, well I used to be, hitting middle age has changed my shape a bit and I'm storing more fat around my weight.  Again according to the experts most people are apple-shaped or pear-shaped. This means that when you put on weight, the fat is either stored around your hips (pear-shaped) or around your middle (apple-shaped).   If you're overweight and apple-shaped, you have a higher risk of health problems than if you're pear-shaped.

The NHS website says;

You have a higher risk of health problems if your waist size is:

• more than 94cm (37 inches) if you're a man
• more than 80cm (31.5 inches) if you're a woman

Your risk of health problems is even higher if your waist size is:

• more than 102cm (40 inches) if you're a man 
• more than 88cm (34.5 inches) if you're a woman  

With this information in place and after my chat with Julie, I've given myself a kick up the bum, this lose, lose, gain, maintain cha cha cycle has to stop, I still weigh the same I did on New Year's eve, it's now the end of July!  I know Julie won't let me get away with it (she has in fact become my leader of a sort! Scary thought!)

So yeah, I'm on track this morning, thinking not just about what I can eat but how I can actually make that fit within my ProPoints or I may go with F&H today because of the Chicken Hotpot, all the ingredients are F&H, skinned chicken legs, carrots, onions, potatoes, chicken oxo cubes.  I only used 400g potato (8pp) on the whole dish which has 4 legs (7pp each) in, so at most it's 9pp a portion which isn't bad at all.

Anyway, I need to get a wriggle on, got a meal plan to sort, I've got 5 weeks till my new meeting open on September 5th, it'd be nice to lose half stone for sure! 

Here's to a healthy middle age, rather than heading towards diabetes I say! 

Enjoy your day BeYOUtiful, take care of you because you're important too!

Playing out on a school night - still on track!

29th July 2015

Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you've got!

An unexpected meal out took a few of my ProPoints last night but after my blog yesterday about spending time with friends, I made the effort, normally I wouldn't go out on a work night but I was still home and back for mom for just after nine.  I went to the Broadway and had sirloin and jacket, which I have to say was a good meal, they've changed their menu and I was impressed, I've just ProPointed the meal and it's set me back 21pp,

8oz sirloin steak 8pp

Jacket potato 6pp

3 onion rings 3pp

Peas 2pp

I x 10g patty butter 2pp

We'd both ordered the same but she won't have had to track as many ProPoints as me cos she left onion rings - her resisting temptation was impressive, I just eat them because they're there, next time I must remember to ask them not to put them on my plate because I genuinely are not fussed about onion rings and it's a waste of 3pp.  Old habits die hard and cleaning my plate is very ingrained!

A good natter was had, and the food was enjoyed, luckily I hadn't gone mad all day, breakfast was a flatbread and poached egg with spinach for 6pp, 

lunch was 7pp steak & Guinness pie served with vegetables.   

So my total intake for the day was 34pp.  No booze was consumed and I'd earned a couple of points on my fitbit so all is good in my world.  Love the fact the diet pop was only 99p and you get free refills, not that I had a second but nice to know the options there.

So you can eat out and lose weight!  Had I known I was going I could've had a lower ProPointed breakfast, my banana on cinnamon bagel is only 3pp.

It was nice to have a natter, it broke up the week too and as my besties away on her holidays, I hadn't been out at the weekend.

Alfie seems much improved too so all is good in my world today thankfully.

I need to go check the freezer for today's dinner, I also want some more of those bagels so will pop into the Co-op in the hope they still have some, a normal sized bagel will set me back 6 or 7pp, but these Cinnamon & Raisin Thin Bagels are only 3pp, I've just looked and the New York Bakery Co. Cinnamon & Raisin Mini Bagels are also 3pp so I'll look out for them too, there's only 5g different in their weight. 

I might buy the New York ones to see if they taste better, it looks like Asda and Sainsbury's sell them according to the internet, we shall see!

So a light day today I think, fish possibly balance out all that beef consumed yesterday, will pop into Asda and get a bit more fresh veg, I might even make a chicken casserole for tomorrow as this weather really is more like autumn that summer! 

Right I'm off to get my paperwork done, if I do it quickly and get the mammoth putting the bins out task done, I could do the supermarket on the way to work, getting organised ain't I!

Have a great day BeYOUtiful, remember if it's important enough to you, you'll find a way and make it work.  And just in case you've forgotten Healthy & Happy is the answer (whatever the problem is) weight loss becomes a side effect then.  Love yourself as you are now and you're more likely to take care of yourself - no one looks after something they hate!

Realise what's truly important.

28th July 2015

You are what you eat, so don't be cheap, easy or fake!

Every morning I listen to Radio 2 and every day they have a Pause For Thought which yesterday really changed the course of my day, this was what Brian D'Arcy read out;

Or you can listen to him on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02y4qdn

Chris Evans said "You love your job don't you, it's a vocation isn't it", he replied;

It's a vocation and vocations lead to vacations!

The summers I remember most fondly were times of holidays, holy days and happy days. “We’re all going on our summer holidays” sang Cliff, “Eat, drink and enjoy the fruit of your work for these are gifts from God” said the Bible.

Everyone should take a break even if it’s only for a day. That break becomes a line in the sand separating the past from the future.

This summer I’ve begun to realise what a fool I am. I get so involved trying to do good that I convince myself the world would grind to a halt if I stopped. That’s complete nonsense and worse still it's arrogant too.  The truth is that if I died today the world wouldn’t miss a beat.

 It’s not that I or you don’t matter; we do. It’s just that our jobs, our families, our friends need us when we are around but learn to thrive even more when we’re not.

I should be sensible enough to know I need a break, a time when I neither think of problems nor search for solutions.

So I suggest to you on these summer days, forget about buying things and instead buy experiences. You have enough new clothes already and you don’t really need a new telly. Far better to buy a ticket for a show or enjoy a good meal with your family instead. By all means do what you have to but then do what you like to do.

Spend more time in the company of people you like. Take a break from computers and phones and talk to real people. Help others. As most self-help programmes tell us: you have to give it away to keep it.

Summer is when you realise that friendships are precious. The friend who sits with us and doesn’t feel compelled to fix us, to cure us or even ask what’s wrong, is worth their weight in gold.

I love Holiday because it's when the time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time at all.

- - - -

I stopped to listen and totally agreed, spending time with those you love is truly one of the most important things you can do, which is why mom and I spent yesterday together, went for a bit of a drive and I watched her eat a cream tea whilst I sat with my coffee.  We sat outside in strong winds because she won't go anywhere without the dog ;-) but that's okay because Alfie is her family too, he's as important to her as I am, so that's what we do.   

I love my job and I haven't had a been away on holiday for over a year now, but that doesn't mean I don't take time out for me and mine, that's why I have my garden, it's why I sit round chilling in my pj's when I feel the need.  It's why I totally enjoyed my week off at Christmas just chilling and watching tv with my mom, yeah the time I enjoy wasting is never wasted time.

Make sure you take time for you and yours, you just never know what's round the corner and I heard some very sad news yesterday to re-affirm that.

Anyway changing the subject, mom might have enjoyed an afternoon tea but I'd already eaten and can recommend this delicious breakfast;

6pp bacon and mushroom on multiseed flatbread.  These flatbreads are only 3pp each and really good. 

Then for tea we had 14pp southern style chicken & mushroom nuggets, corn on the cob, courgette & actifry chips.  The Colman's packet mix is 4pp, and I used half chicken pieces and half mushrooms, it worked nicely and again I'd recommend it.

I did a lot yesterday really for my lazy day, took Alfie back to the vets on the morning, he's still not right so a bit of medication and we're going back Friday.  He was so funny, after she'd examined him, he barked and barked at her, proper telling her off he was, she was very impressed with his bark ;)

I also stood ironing last night, haven't done that for a long time, so now I have lots of dresses ready to wear, it's like having a new wardrobe full of clothes ;) I did go to bed a tired lady!

However the local foxes woke me up at 4am, there was at least two of them next door, so me and Alfie weren't impressed having our sleep interrupted, I did manage to snooze back until 5 thankfully and now I'm going to get ready for my weighing week, I was really impressed with the weight loss in my meetings last week, 418lb which considering so many were on their summer holidays was just incredible, here's to another great week!

Have a fab day BeYOUtiful.