I never expected it to be easy!

12th October 2016

Self care is not self indulgent.  Self care is self respect.

So the honeymoon period has passed, yesterday was a real "come on, you can do this" kind of day, I had a big breakfast which started off with, "I'll just have a bit of toast."  Then I thought oh I'll have mushrooms with the toast because they're zero Smart Points, then I spotted the bacon and thought mmm maybe a slice of bacon too, "ooo there's still some sausages, I'll have one of them, and tomatoes, they're zero after all."  Well you can't have a cooked breakfast without bread and egg, which meant by the time I'd finished in the kitchen, my breakfast cost me 9sp and looked like this;

It was worth it though.  Then after my morning meeting, there was 1 slice of bread in the loaf I'd taken for toast, I almost spread it as soon as I walked in the house but I was "No, go for your walk woman!", I did, I put my coat on and did my 30 minute stomp.  When I got back I put fish in breadcrumbs in the oven and chips in the actifry, peas in a pan and waited for my dinner to cook.  I served it up and couldn't get that damn slice of bread out of my head so ended up having a buttie with my fish, chips and peas, still only 15sp for dinner though.

Next I sat at my desk, gazing at my computer with about as much enthusiasm to get work done as someone who'd been told they'd get an electric shock everytime they touched the keyboard!  It didn't wear off until I left for my meeting, that always lifts my mood. 

It would've been so easy to fill my face yesterday, I don't know if I was hungry because I was cold, hormonal or just because my inner greedy bitch has caught on to my cunning weight loss plans.  Who knows, but I didn't, I kept reminding myself that I've got my 12 week goal and it takes 4 weeks for me to notice a change, and today is the last day of week 2, tomorrow is the start of week 3, meaning I'm closer to the end of that 4 week period!  I can do this, I need to stay focused, it's easy to give up, actually giving up is the easiest thing in the world to do, I don't want the easy option this time, I want the 4 week change, followed by the 8 week everyone else noticing and finishing with the 12 weeks for the rest of the world catching on and me indulging on Christmas day with a big roast dinner. 

Yeah, it's not easy, it never has been, it's always worth it though, which is why I had this low pointed tuna and babybel toastie for tea for 5sp

So today, I'm cooking lunch for my bestie again, we're going to have Vietnamese pork I think, I'm going to make some leek and potato soup too and possibly something else, have a little play in the kitchen this morning.  I'll do my daily walk again too, because I was so chuffed when my weekly fitbit report arrived in my email inbox yesterday telling me I'd done over 75,000 steps the previous week, that's over the 10k steps a day - awesome!  

I can do this - so can you!

I will do this!  Will you?

Make yourself proud, take care of you because you matter too...

I almost forgot the recipe!  Today's curry is from Val, she cooked it yesterday and took photos along the way, it's an old favourite in her household.

Quick balti

6 large onions, chopped

1 tin tomatoes

1 portion of mushrooms

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

1 tsp turmeric

2tbsp tomato puree (1sp)

1tbsp olive oil (5sp)

200g 0% Greek yogurt (2sp)

2 packets of Tandoori chicken breast mini fillets (or similar) 5sp

3 tsp curry powder (2sp)

1 tsp ground ginger

1 clove chopped garlic

1 deseeded red chilli

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Biona organic coconut palm sugar (1sp)

1tsp salt

Fresh coriander

1) Chop 6 onions and boil  4 in a pint of water.  Put 2 to one side.

2) Mix together coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric, curry powder & paprika.  Add tomato puree and oil and mix to a smooth paste.

3) Dry fry the remaining onions and mushrooms. Add chopped garlic clove and deseeded red chilli.  Chop chicken into chunks and add to the pan.  Continue to fry and stir in the paste.

4) Put the boiled onions and water into a blender and puree.

5) Put tinned tomatoes into blender and puree.

6) Pour half of each puree into the plan with chicken and spices.

7) Gradually stir in the rest and ensure all of the paste dissolves.  The puree and paste will mix to form the balti sauce.

8) Add a pinch of salt and sugar to desired taste.  Before serving add natural Greek yogurt or can use single cream to reduce heat to desired level.  Sprinkle coriander on if desired.