BeYOUtiful this Bank Holiday!

31st August 2015

The fact that you aren't where you want to be should be motivation enough!

Bank Holiday Monday, last day of August, I set a challenge in my meetings last month to get a Silver 7 for September, we agreed thankfully that it could be anytime in September and I'm half way there, lost 1lb this week, so that's 3.5lb since the beginning of August and I'm chuffed with that.  I know if I was to be on it 100%, I would lose more, but I'm happy to take it slower and eat that little bit more, it's all healthy food, I just enjoy it too much to stick to my allowance all the time! 

Yesterday I started my day with one egg on one slice of toast, realised even though I could easily eat two, I didn't need them.  For lunch we tested out the new spiraliser, made the courgetti and it'll do me, especially as it saved me 6pp which is what my spaghetti would've weighed easily.  Had a nice plate of mince in pasta sauce on the top if it.  Then for tea we had fish fingers in a Sainsbury's 3pp seeded flat bread so yesterday was kept simple. 

I'm aware though that other than the courgette and onion yesterday, oh and the spinach, banana and berries (I'd overlooked them) I feel I'm lacking in the green veggie stuff, so I might make us a dinner today.  I was just about to think about going to the supermarket to buy a chicken or joint but I've got some frozen portions in the freezer, they'll do the job just perfect, I've got frozen veggies too I can use, yep that's dinner sorted and it'll get some more of the stuff out of the freezer ready for it's defrosting.

I really enjoyed my Sunday, I know it's the day of rest and all that but I love my job and ended up working on a project till noon, then me and mom had a fab afternoon, we sat and enjoyed Annie the movie with Jamie Foxx, it's a real uplifting film, we then watched Xfactor from the night before, followed by Big Brother, we do like our trash tv.  Mom announced at half seven she was tired, so we went to bed, I love an early night, I really do, so I've been awake since 4am on this Bank Holiday Monday, mom woke not long after me so we've just had a posh coffee out of our machine, whilst mom tells me how lovely her life is and how lucky she is - music to my ears that is. 

She's right though, we are blessed, I love our simple life, I do my best to veer away from stress, yes I work long hours but it's a job I absolutely love and it's my social life too which is a great place to be.  So next time you're having a bad day, stop and take a deep breath and think about all the good in your world, we're really lucky in the scheme of things.

Going off in a different direction, I've just been flicking through a copy of i a free newspaper I picked up in the hotel on Thursday, of course the headline "Calorie counting can be bad for your health - just eat good food" caught my attention and I read on to find out more.  I have to agree and this is why Weight Watchers is always the better option.  The article is saying all calories aren't equal, it goes on to say a can of cola a day, at 150 calories is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, whilst four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil a day, at 500 calories can reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks!  Weight Watcher have and always will have a plan that encourages healthy eating, yes it's aimed at weight loss but in a healthy way, that's why all fruit and most vegetables have a zero value because we know they're a great addition to anyone's eating habits and you're more likely to eat them if you haven't got to count them!  Yeah Weight Watchers really is and has always been focused on the healthy not just the weight loss because we all know you can be skinny and unhealthy.

So today, I'll be focusing on the healthy and happy, a nice cooked dinner with some gravy, I need some gravy in my life, lots of veggies, and a bit of chicken, mmmm is it too early to start cooking ;)

Whatever you're up to today, remember there's more to life than food, as delicious as it is, make sure you're enjoying the rest of life, have a great day BeYOUtiful xx

Be Yourself BeYOUtiful!

30th August 2015

The closer we get to being who we are meant to be... the brighter we shine!

I had a very full and busy but lovely day yesterday, it started with my last meeting at the swimming centre, that 7 months went by so quickly, it's been a pleasure to babysit for Elle, she'll be back there next week to carry on taking care of them all.  After the meeting a handful of wonderful ladies came to help me deliver some flyers to advertise my new meeting which starts next Saturday, I've got a lovely bruise on the back of my hand from pushing flyers through doors, those letter boxes are evil!  On a positive, I did get over 18,000 steps on my pedometer though, it's been a while since I've seen a number like that!

If you're thinking about joining my new 9am Saturday morning meeting, at United Reform Church, Old Fallings Lane, Wolverhampton. WV10 8BH or any of my meetings, there's a great offer started today for new and returning members who buy a monthly pass.  Lose 10lb within the first 8 weeks and get your money back!  That first pass will cost you £14.95 and you can buy it online at www.weightwatchers.co.uk or in the meeting, the choice is yours.  That's a great offer, basically you'll be losing weight for free with the full support of a leader and your meetings!

Anyway back to yesterday, after doing all those flyers, I finally finished painting my greenhouse frame, hopefully it shouldn't need any more coats!  Once I sat down though, I flaked, we watched some tv and we both were glad to go to bed at eight, lightweights we are, but happy ones!

On the food front, yesterday was kept simple, I had scrambled eggs for breakfast, a 100g packet of beef with a slice of bread for lunch and tea was sardines on toast washed down with a glass of red, oh and a WW bar, I do like those cranberry cereal bars.

Today I am going to be trying the spiraliser, I bought 3 courgettes yesterday so we're good to go, the beef mince is defrosted in the fridge ready.  I went shopping before my meeting yesterday at 7.30am and that meant I didn't have time to meander, it was a case of in, get what you really need and out, under £20, that's amazing for me!

Busy but enjoyable working week ahead, I won't let it knock me off with my healthy eating though, eggs are my favourite food at the moment, egg on toast is just the best food ever, and I've found a Dolce Gusto drink for my machine that isn't going to cost me millions of ProPoints of pounds, it's the Cortado Espresso Macchiato, 1pp per cup and although it's supposed to be an espresso I just add more water and a splash of skimmed milk at the end, it has 16 pods rather than the 8 that you get with the normal macchiato and tastes good enough for me - cheap skate ain't I!

Sunday, I love Sundays, looking forward to a day of slow, no rush to be anywhere, can work at my own pace and chill when I'm ready, feeling creative this morning so I'll get a little of my project done before heading out into the garden I think, let's hope for a bank holiday of sunshine I say.

I love that my members are focusing on the healthy and happy, realising that there's more to life that the numbers on a scales, yes weight loss is important to so many of us, but healthy is the way to go, you can be thin and unhealthy remember that, I've been refocusing on all the positive food decisions I make this last week, and I'm proud of the contents of my kitchen, it shows I'm feeding myself good, nutritious, delicious food.  Are you proud of the contents of yours BeYOUtiful, remember you're already okay, in a world where you can be anything, be yourself because you're awesome, let's focus on the healthy and happy and the weight loss will become the side effect. Xx

New gadget - easily pleased!

29th August 2015

You can do anything but not everything!

Bank Holiday weekend, hope you've got something fun planned, I've got a lot to get done in the next 7 days so I'll be staying local.  Today I have my last cover meeting at the swimming centre, then straight after I'm off to deliver flyers to advertise my new meeting open next Saturday, if anyone lives over that way and fancies taking enough flyers for their own street, give me a shout, there are a handful of us delivering this afternoon but the more the merrier.

I was proper tired yesterday after my extra busy Thursday, so as soon as I'd got through the must get done work, which was elevenish, I had an hour painting my greenhouse before it rained, which I decided was the universes way of telling me to go sit down and chill my beans, which is exactly what I did.  A whole afternoon of sitting watching tele with my mom, I enjoyed a nice long bath and we went to bed at 8, fully recharged and ready to start my day I am now.

Food was very basic yesterday as I just couldn't be bothered if I'm honest, had toast for breakfast, a crisp sarnie for lunch and for tea we had egg and beans on toast, unfortunately there was some cinema style popcorn involved - just because it was in the house, this is why it shouldn't be in the house!

I need to go get fresh stuff, I'm all out of spinach for my nutribullet drinks, we've got no bread left, which was a good thing last night as I could've easily ate the egg on toast again, yeah need to nip to the supermarket at some point today for top ups, not for other food though as I'm gonna empty that freezer if it kills me!

I had a new gadget arrive yesterday, ordered me a spiraliser so I can make courgetti, it's got a few attachments so I'll be able to have a play when I have half hour.  If you're looking to cut back on carbs, the difference between 100g of pasta and 100g of courgette is about 300kcal and the cooking time is considerably less. 

I've just googled and found a recipe that simply tells you to;

  use a spiralizer/julienne peeler on the courgette. Or use a vegetable peeler and then a knife to slice the courgette strips into spaghetti type strands.

  Wilt the courgetti using a little butter and water in a pan. Or, to be more authentic in your service and to save time and washing up, just run some of the pasta sauce hot from the stove through your spirals and the heat and salt in the sauce will soften them.

  Check the seasoning and serve on top of a pile of courgette spaghetti with fresh parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to serve.

  Alternatively stir half the sauce through a bowl of courgetti and then serve each portion with a little more ragu on top, a drizzle of olive oil and fresh parmesan.

So simple enough to cook by the looks, I will definitely be trying it out and letting you know, I have some pasta sauce in the cupboard I can use and I might defrost mince to use too.  The BBC website just tells me to spiralize your courgettes on the large noodle attachment. Heat a large frying pan with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and add your courgetti. Cook until slightly softened, for 2-3 mins.  Sorted.

Right I'm off to get ready for my meeting, sort mom out, although it looks like cereal as the cupboards are bare of bread and teacakes - whoops!

Enjoy your Saturday, let's hope when it lightens up the day involves sunshine, nights really are drawing in, it's still pitch black out there at 5am! 

Starting my day off slowly...

28th August 2015

When you don't have to be careful what you say, that's when you know you're with the right people.

Well I survived my long day, I left the house house at half seven yesterday morning and got back at eight last night, I was tireder than a tired person on tired tablets by the time I got back but I stayed on track.  Cooked my eggs before leaving and bought a loaf from the Tesco express, also bought raspberries and a banana and ate them in the car before going into my meeting.  When I got home I had the spinach curry I'd taken out of the freezer ready, I served it in a giant yorkshire pudding, I'm naming it an Indiglish, a 'fusion' of the best of both worlds, the yorkie replaced a nann bread and made use of the contents of my freezer, it's going down, it'll be empty soon enough, then I shall defrost it and start filling it up again with fruit and veg and healthy stuff.  Biryani today I think, that'll make a bit more space in the freezer, from memory I think it's 10pp a serving.


Not only did I get to spend the day with my awesome members, I also spent 2 hours in a meeting with colleagues who inspire, there's nothing better, I came out my mind buzzing with ideas and thinking about what I could do, now that's why I love to spend time with like-minded people and why I enjoy going to my meetings and that's how I hope my members leave feeling.

I was still awake at half four this morning, but I'll have no rush in me today, I shall take my time to get though all the paperwork from yesterday and the day before, I've also got a bit of a project to do after my meeting so I'll make a relaxed start on that.  I'm mostly looking forward to a long bath then some with my mom before a very early night, so that I'm refreshed and ready for delivering my flyers for my new meeting open next weekend, I'm so looking forward to my new open, I've bought bunting and everything :), I've got me a great team of helpers ready and it's gonna be another meeting full of awesome folk!

I wrote this post in my Facebook group this week,

Finish this sentence...
I need to make my meetings and my weight loss a priority because....

It's really worth taking a moment to think about the response, I loved some of the replies I read, and it shows that we all have our own reasons for losing weight, it's a very personal journey, although we share elements of that journey with others, only we truly know why it's important to us.

Facebook is a difficult place to have certain conversations, face to face discussions work better because you have more than the words as part of it, there's the body language and facial expressions that makes a massive difference to communication, written word only can be misleading and taken in the wrong way.  One person might see taking a 24/7 approach to something as 'obsessive' whereas another sees it as "dedicated".  When a 'debate' or 'discussion' starts, my personal approach is there is no right or wrong, we all have our own values, beliefs and ways, you may not agree with them but that doesn't give you the right to tell someone it's wrong. 

I love that we're all different, I have my own opinions but I'm always happy to hear others, and sometimes they lead me to change my views - it's called learning!  Be open to learning, be careful how you word things, think about the different people who might be reading what you've wrote and BeYOUtiful. xx