Sunny days are here!

Tuesday 25th June 2024

What a beautiful day again, lovely to wake up to sunshine rather than rain!  

I finally was happy to have salad because it was hot enough outside!   Had it with the M&S lasagne off the meal deal, really tasty! 

I need to remember this because my knee would love less pressure on it! 

My breakfast was lush too and I had an extra egg instead of butter because 10g of butter is 74 calories, whereas one large egg is 76 and a medium is 66. 

I was still over on my daily allowance but I'm working on it!  At least I did yoga and pilates at the gym, both of them are mild and restorative so I know they're not burning calories, they're toning and stretching my body which is what my back needs.  

We used a band yesterday in pilates which I wouldn't mind having one for home, it was fabric rather than that plastic stuff and had 8 sections on it so you could put your hand in different numbers for different intensity, just had a look on Amazon can't see one at minute but they were good for doing arm exercises without weights.  Wouldn't take up any space in the house either!  

Because I got up so early yesterday all my jobs were done before I went to my classes so the afternoon I didn't have to get stuff done in that heat.  Aryn had his hair cut after school so whilst she was here she gave me a trim too, haven't had my hair cut for a year I bet but she said it was in good condition thankfully. 

Busy day today, lots of huddles, I've already got my washing on the line - woo hoo, how great is that especially as we know it's going to dry!  The simple pleasures of a middle aged woman!  

Right that's the exciting life of me lol, I wouldn't want it any other way though so I'll go jump in the shower and get ready for work. 

Have a great one!

Mwah, luv ya

Love me x

Let's be awesome!

Monday 24th June 2024

I've had a lovely chilled out weekend, well apart from the housework, baskets of washing and cooking :) I wouldn't change anything though, love my life.  Well maybe a lottery win so we can pay someone else to do the housework!

I enjoyed my yoga and pilates that I did on Friday, will definitely keep doing those, they're as good as the physio exercises for my back and knee.  

Friday tea time we had tapas from Aldi with a few bits from M&S reduced section, I wouldn't buy the tapas stuff again, but the super salad from M&S was the best thing on that table. 

Yesterday was too hot to spend time cooking so we had this Aldi cottage pie that had been recommended, less than a fiver and fed the three of us, I'd buy it again, 376 calories in a third of it, only 274 in the 1/4 that's the recommended portion!  It's 1.2kg so large, I put a bit of cheese on the top for flavour too.

  

After spending the morning at work Saturday, then a few hours doing UW with new team partner Stacey who signed up two customers, we went out with my bro and sis in law Saturday, just a few beers in the pub garden, but he also signed up for UW to help put all his bills together and save him money - we did that before the drinking!  If you wanna see if I can save you money, get in touch or maybe you want to become a partner like Stacey and make some money.

I know I shouldn't say it, but it's too hot to sleep lol, it's rained most of the year and now it's too warm at night for my liking, I like a happy medium.

I've got a busy ish day, going to do pilates and yoga, need to sort huddle chat, I've already sorted the kitchen because I got up at 4 with him, tried to go back to sleep and couldn't so gave up.  

We had a little bit of drama yesterday which meant I had to call the police and they came round, won't go into details on here but let's just say it's a case of mistaken identity, they're threatening me over the phone thinking I'm someone else!  Just don't need it!  I'm glad I'm not the person they are after though! 

Right, I'm not gonna think about all that, I'm focusing on the positives, I'm moving more, trying to eat better, going to have a healthy week because he's away and I can, there's food in the fridge so I have no excuses, might treat myself to a salad bowl to save the hassle of chopping, it's finally warm enough for lettuce :) I'm thinking roast chicken for dinner with baby potatoes and salad nom nom. 

Here's to a great day, poor Aryns still coughing and it's gone to his sinuses cos he says he's gone deaf, I'm a bit sniffy this morning, I'm hoping it's hayfever not a cold, I don't feel ill so that's a positive.

Let's do our best today shall we?

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Yoga, now for Pilates

Wednesday 19th June 2024

Midweek already!  I'm trying to get active this week, Monday I went and did a Yoga class at the gym, I enjoyed it, I had to adapt some of the moves because of my back but I managed the hour and I'll go again.  I also did a little bit of cardio in the gym, walking on the machine and the recumbent cycle, 30 minutes in total I think.  Yesterday I did the cardio again, 45 minutes this time and today I've booked Pilates to try, I was on the waitlist but have woke up to being in the class, here's to seeing how I fair in that!  

I know it's not going to cancel out a bad diet, yep I didn't track again yesterday, I did Monday so that's progress, I've got to get rid of the bread that's in the kitchen, it's stale now so that's a good thing, pecan and cranberry loaf, mmmm too moreish though and I need to stop buying butter for a while because I can't resist it at the minute!  Thankfully the fun size Maltesers have now gone, although what's fun about 11 Maltesers I don't know, now the share bag, that's fun, thankfully I've resisted them!  I shouldn't have opened that bottle of Bailey's last week because it's sweet and now I'm fancying sweet stuff so I need to sort my surroundings - if it's not there, I can't eat it!  

It's mock exam week in this house and I'm feeling it as much as he is!  It's very TENSE in the house, yes tense is the best word to describe the situation.   Even though I've told him just to do the best he can, it's not helping that he's not well.  

I'm going to work for a rest!  

I've taken some lamb in gravy out of the freezer, from a Sunday dinner we had a while back and I'm going to make a dinner with veggies and mash with it, Aryn can either eat it or make his own - can you tell my nose is out of place because he didn't eat his chicken stew last night, left it in fridge and had noodles, so I've had to force it in the freezer and that's full!  In truth I don't blame him because it wasn't great but I had to eat mine lol.

I think I'm going to have scrambled eggs for my breakfast, I've got some lovely cherry tomatoes to have with them, yeah that's a plan so I'm gonna get off.  

If like me you're struggling with it all, do what you can, do your best and make a plan.  I'm sat here thinking what's in the freezer that I can eat the rest of the week, it really does help.

Have a great day, 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Ready for Monday - are you?

Monday 17th June 2024

Hands up confession - I didn't track this weekend but I'm back to it this morning.  I haven't overindulged, I've just had a lazy weekend watching tele and sitting round.  Although I did do a bit of batch cooking yesterday, I put a chicken stew in the slow cooker but I won't do that again, the spuds weren't cooking and even when I put them on the hob, they never cooked like I like them too, maybe it was the potatoes but they seemed indestructible!    

I also made Chicken kung po, ooo I'm looking forward to eating this, it's a bit like sweet and sour with a little kick, not as sweet so yeah with rice that'll be tasty.

   

At least I was a bit productive!  I caught up on Love Island (I know, I thought I was better than this too lol), Doctor Who and 911 and then run out of stuff, or did I, I might still have a few 911 to watch, I'll have to check.  I need something good to watch now, I'll all out.

A few early nights too, he's worked so hard this weekend and having a round trip to Liverpool docks Friday - Sunday, I've only seen him to feed him his dinner! 

I've just booked a Yoga class at the gym, my first time as they were constantly full at the beginning of the year, I'm going to see if I can do it, there will be certain positions I can't do, but we shall see how it goes.  

Start my day with some energetic positivity and hopefully that'll keep going through the day and the week ahead.

Here's to being better! 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me x

Tracking really does help!

Friday 14th June 2024

I lost 1/2lb so tracking 100% honestly paid off, yes I was over on 6 out of the 7 days but I still managed to get a loss which is a great motivator for me to continue doing what I'm doing and improving on my choices so my tracker looks better.

My plan for today is to plan some meals for the coming week, make use of what we already have in the freezer and cupboards and go and buy some fresh veggies to have with them.  I'm thinking spaghetti bolognaise (ish) tonight, Gastro fish another night, maybe in a wrap with salad and couscous or maybe with mash and veggie depending on my mood.  I have tempura chicken which I could serve on rice with peas and sweetcorn.  There's a bit of steak left or stew pieces, so I might make a stew for Monday and we can have steak Sunday, himself can then take the stew with him.  He's working really long hours all weekend so I need to have something that can be reheated, so maybe the stew would be better Sunday, mmm what could I do for Saturday that could be reheated?  

Something with chicken, chicken dinner's not so good to reheat in my mind but maybe I can work on that idea.  Any suggestions of slow cooker meals that can be reheated much appreciated.

It's Aryn's last day at work experience so I'll be glad to be done with the hour round trip twice a day!  I'm gonna get some housework done this morning and spend some time in the kitchen.  

But for now, I'll have another cuppa then drive him to work, it's definitely given him an insight into real life!

I'm ready to get my cook on today, everything else can wait.

Here's to a great day, I've started with my physio, making time for me...

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me x

In the red!

Thursday 13th June 2024

Well today is weigh day and I'm not holding out much hope but it's all good because this week has been all about getting back into the habit of tracking everything, yes I've gone over by lots and compared to my fitbit readings, I've not burned enough to get a weight loss but we'll see if I've maintained.

   

This week now I can work on getting those calories down, planning the meals, the food I bought from M&S as a treat wasn't great for calorie counting especially as I didn't plan, it could've been okay if I'd got better days on them and they'd lasted longer but we ate too bigger portions and that's the truth of the situation.

The positives from the week though are I tracked, I also went back to the gym without Aryn, he didn't want to go because of the work experience so I went in the daytime.  I also went swimming yesterday, first time this year I think!  I only did 20 minutes because I wasn't sure how it would affect my back but it feels okay this morning so I will go again tomorrow, practice the breast stroke, I'm not the best at it, I prefer front crawl but that's the one that might hurt my back so I'll try a bit of both.

I'm sleeping better for sure, sleeping to the alarm at 6, even if I wake, I go back to sleep, although I was woken by a message this morning at ten to but I'll take that.  I'm sure cutting the caffeine is helping, so it was worth it.

The veggies went back onto my plate too yesterday, here's to keeping that going, I like them and it's just laziness when I don't use them, I can't even blame being skint because I can always have frozen! 

Here's to a fresh week of doing my best!  No excuses the weekend either because he's working so I can have a good go at it this week, get my healthy on.

Mwah, luv ya   

Love me x

Teenagers and caffeine

Tuesday June 11th 2024

Do all teenage boys want to sleep all the time?  What's that all about!  I didn't sleep through my teenage years.  I feel like I've gone deaf too cos he speaks in whispers and grunts, I'm like 'what?' constantly, does my head in - he's turned into Kevin the teenager.  It's a good job I love the boy cos he drives me bonkers lol.  Seriously the hardest part of raising a teenager is trying to respond to their behaviour like an adult!  Worse experience really is a good thing I've decided, it shows them what the real working world is all about, it's not FANTASTIC, it's realistic, you don't have FUN all the time - well me and Elle do, but people with proper jobs don't!   It's a great way to make a teenager thing do I want to do an apprenticeship or do I want to stay on and take A levels.  

What's really scary is he's a great kid, so god help anyone who's got a teenager who isn't a great kid!  

Can I use him as an excuse for going over my calories?  Course I can, but it is an excuse, I'm in control of what I eat, I'd have overeaten this week whether he'd been doing work experience or not.  I've been hungry, I've not overeaten on rubbish, I've just eaten bigger portions or higher calorie food this week, it's settling down now though thankfully.

I am ready to sit down and get back to planning meals, instead of winging it!  I'm going to sit down Friday and plan a week of meals and a shopping list.  Yes Friday, I know it's only Tuesday but I'm skint and I have food in the fridge that needs eating.  I had a £50 M&S gift voucher which I spent on food and we'll be eating that the next day or two.  I can however work with that food and be sensible, give Aryn the Indian starters and I'll have the main with rice.  There's frites which I want with egg and beans then I've got fresh pasta and a sauce which I can defrost some mince and have, planning is key isn't it. 

I went back to the gym today, did half hour cardio and my physio exercises because I've not had time in the morning to do them with taking Aryn to his work experience.   I'm aware that my pain that I had at the beginning of the year is nowhere near what I have now but I've gained a bit of weight and if I'm not careful I'm going to risk my pain increasing!  

Temptation is everywhere, I love food and wine (well alcohol in general if I'm honest but mostly my Pinotage Beyerskloof red wine), it will always be a battle but it's a fight I'm happy to have because I'd rather struggle than not enjoy food and wine!

So once again I will draw a line start a fresh and work at keeping all my plates spinning!

Oh let's talk coffee, I've gone decaf and last night I had a cup of coffee with caffeine, I won't be doing that again, I was still wide awake at 11!  Just goes to show the effects caffeine has on the body, we think it's not affecting us but it is!   If you're struggling to sleep at night give up the caffeine, I'm sleeping loads better since I have!

On that note I need to get my ass to bed!  

Night night.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx 

 

 

Another week...

Monday 10th June 2024

Where did that morning go!  I got up at 6 was gonna do a blog, didn't have time, took Aryn to start his work experience, got back, had breakfast, a ham toastie, then started on huddle chat notes and now it's five past 12 and the morning has gone.  

The weekend went by as quickly to be honest, Friday was spent doing house stuff, then I took Aryn for his MMA class at Brownhills, I went to M&S to fill the time and spent a £50 gift voucher I had, that was nice.  Saturday after work, my car went for it's MOT - YAY it passed.  We then went down the Lancaster for a few drinks and came back for dinner, we had lamb curry out the freezer, that saved up a few quid by not eating out, although I do fancy trying the food there, it smelt good.  

Sunday food was a bacon, egg and mushroom sandwich for breakfast and lamb moussaka, asparagus and garlic bread for dinner followed by profiteroles - delicious.  I tracked 100% all weekend but went over on my allowance, it's a start, at least I'm being honest about what I'm eating.  I just like eating and drinking so most of the time it's damage limitation.

I baked focaccia bread in the new Ninja too, I need to keep it under control and I have done, the lads like it a lot, I'm resisting temptation - at least with the bread!

I've got more work to get done, I'm off to do a UW appointment later, have to pick Aryn up first and he'll probably want to go to the gym so I've got about 3 hours to get stuff done.  

Wish me luck!  

Here's to surviving the week, I can take back control.  You can too...

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx

We can do this!

Friday 7th June 2024

Well it caught me up and bit me on the bum!  I've maintained the last few weeks but this week I gained 2lb and it was very, much deserved as I haven't been tracking and the calories have been a little crazy so yesterday I drew that line and started afresh.  In the words of Nutracheck, maintain your diary stick to the target, results will come.  So that was the plan!  

My mission was just to make it through the day with everything tracked and I managed that, I was hungry all day, well let's just say I wanted to eat all day and thankfully I managed to not go crazy.  I went to bed in the end, to stop me going back in the kitchen.

I'd skipped breakfast, unintentionally, so stopped for a meal deal in Sainsbury's, I can't buy the smoked salmon that's in their sandwich for much less than the whole meal, I love that carrot and houmous dip too, it's more lemony that normal houmous.  I'd not have that drink again though, it was an odd taste but I wanted some green in me!  I've been lacking on veggies lately so need to refocus on that.  

 

    

I had a sandwich later too because I had chicken to eat and if I'm totally honest couldn't be bothered to cook but that's changing today, I'm going to be in the kitchen later being a domestic goddess - well that's the plan anyways. 

Ended my day on 1760, had 17 calories spare lol, my fitbit says I burned 2056 so there's a little deficit for starters, here's hoping today is as good.  I had 8h 25m sleep last night, so I'm fully refreshed, a busy day today getting stuff done.  Nothing exciting, just housework, washing and cooking. 

I've just tried to recreate the carrot and houmous and it's alright but it's not as nice, I even added some extra lemon juice to mine, just not the same.

At least I've already had one of my five a day this morning, that's a good start.

I just realised I should've done my physio first but give it an hour and I'll do it when this has settled.

I'm going to make mac and cheese today in my new Ninja, it's 705 calories in 1/6th of the recipe, but if I have it with some chicken maybe or fish, it'll be a good meal, or I might have mine on it's own depending on how big the portion looks.  

I've got to do a bit of UW work too, don't forget if you want to know more, give me a shout, I've just fixed my energy for the next 12 months, I don't want to worry about the two rises they've forecast in October and January, it's one less bill to worry about!  I love having all my bills in one place, knowing that's the majority of what I need to think about, I mean this is my May bill, 4 mobile sims, gas, electric, fibre broadband and house insurance, then I get cashback from using my cashback card as my debit card and that saves me more money every month, this month wasn't much as I've been skint and not spending lol. 

£250 for all those bills, I'll take that!  

Anyway, I'm waffling, I need to get on with my day, think about my diet and getting back on track, wash my sofa covers whilst there's no one else in the house, ah bliss, quiet day with them all out, just me and the cats.

However you're spending your day, have a good one.  

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Here's to a great day!

Tuesday 4th June 2024

I had a lovely day yesterday, the cows were amazing!  Highland Cattle & Stud Experience's | Rhosyn Stud & Pedigree Livestock (rhosynfarm.co.uk) did not disappoint, close by and cheap compared to others, I just wanted to get close, I didn't need all the frill of afternoon tea and the likes. 

This is Ruby, she was my favourite,

Although I was really taken by the bull, he was so gentle and loved being brushed. 

We ended what was a wonderful experience with lunch at the Turf, a tasty carvery followed by sticky toffee pudding which wasn't really sticky toffee but it was a tasty sponge pudding.  I was so full at the end, my belly hurt for half hour and I didn't eat again the rest of the day, oh I lie, I had half a slice of bread at about half 8 on the night.  

No housework was done at all yesterday, I chilled out, went and had my nails done at (5) Facebook, a pretty sparkly brown colour, it's name was 'statement earrings', random names aren't they!  

Aryn was poorly, stinking head cold so no gym for us last night, but I have just done an hour of stretching and exercise this morning, my normal physio with a 20 minute video of wall exercises, I'm having to use the back of the living room door as there's no clear walls in our house, they all have a radiator or something in front of them!  Three sets of tricep dips, side plant, plank, shoulder taps, clapping push ups, each 1 minute long, all standing up so doable, the dips were the most difficult I didn't manage the full minute on the first two sets!

Woke up feeling good, my recovery time after I hurt my back from doing stuff is getting shorter which is amazing.  I treated myself to a china mug and water bottle from the highland cattle experience as a reminder of a lovely experience, I've wanted a china mug for a long time and the water bottle will mean I'll drink tap water so it'll save me money eventually :) it's a metal bottle, I don't like those plastic sucky things!

On that note, I better get dressed for work, still in my pjs! 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx

I can't wait for today...

Monday 3rd June 2024

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Wednesday, I've just been so busy in the mornings and not managed to fit it in!  So what's happened since then...

Well firstly, I maintained on the scales again so I was pleased as it was half term and bank holiday.  Friday Aryn and I went out for lunch I had  £25 voucher for Miller and Carter so we had the lunch menu 3 courses for £19.99 and we both had the burgers = nice!  Starter was salt & pepper calamari and dessert was apple pie and custard, I didn't eat the pastry, I wasn't keep but Aryn inhaled it! 

I don't think this is bad for £19.99

  

My weekend has been spent being a domestic goddess!  Himself went back to Ireland for one night so I decided I'd make use of having time to get stuff done.  That spare room has driven me mad for months so I gutted with the aid of Aryn, we've turned it into a room where we can store clothes and do my ironing or put a couple of clothes dryers when I'm not in there.  FUNCTIONAL which is what I need as this house ain't very big.  We went and bought a clothes rail and typical one of the bars was damaged so I had to go back to Argos but they didn't have another one so I had to wait till Sunday to get that.  I can now use the steamer on clothes because I can hang it whilst using it and damn that steamer is good for shirts and stuff.  

I know this is sad but I was so chuffed that I was able to stand and iron for hours on end - I haven't been able to do that for two years.  I did do some of it sitting down but I couldn't do that before either.  I might get to wear some of the clothes that I haven't been wearing now because they needed ironing.

When I nipped to Sainsbury's yesterday to switch the bars in Argos, I got a basket of food, how easy is it to spend £30 - ouch.  Even bigger ouch as when I walked back to the car, my back started to seize up, I was in bits by the time I got home.  I took a couple of paracetamol and a couple of Ibuprofen because I wanted to get more stuff done.  I did sit long enough to drink a coffee, I'd treated myself to some Tassimo decaf americano, oh it was great and I couldn't tell it was decaf.  

My next job was a deep clean of the wetroom, a couple of loads of washing hung out and dried in the garden because for once it didn't rain, then I finished off with cleaning the kitchen, mopping all the floors and my back was still in pain but not as much.  

I cooked a macaroni cheese which was reduced in Sainsbury's, one of those posh Charlie Bigham's, it was serves 2 but I ate the lot, having said that, I hadn't eaten since breakfast when I had an omelette (I'm getting damn good at making them) and I didn't eat again.  I did do pork in honey and mustard sauce in the slow cooker but by the time the chops had defrosted and it went on, it was too late for anyone to want to eat it, so that's dinner cooked today.  

Aryn went to bed early as he's had a snotty cold started, I hope he's well enough to go back to school today! 

After I'd eaten my dinner, I had a glass of wine and fell asleep for 20 minutes, when I woke up my back was loads better, turns out red wine is better than painkillers lol.  I was stiff for the rest of the day and woke a few times in pain but I've been a lot worse so it's all good.

I'm in for a treat today, Elle and I are off to see the Highland cows, I'm really looking forward to it, I've always loved them and when we were chatting the other week and Elle suggested it, I didn't even know it was a thing, that you could do a 'highland cattle experience', then when I tried to book something, they were all full.  Elle messaged me Friday to say she'd found a place and they had space for today, added bonus, it's not too far away. 

Here's to a great day!  What a way to spend a Monday.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx