My Angel & Gremlin had a battle but which one won!

24th February 2015

No one ever injured their eyesight by looking on the bright side.

Yesterday was a real test of strength, where my eating habits are concerned.  Let's be honest I love eating and different situations cause for different kind of foods, so being out of my normal routine would come under such a situation.  Oh and going on a road trip, all be it merely a 240 mile round trip to head office didn't make it any less of an 'adventure".  My journey started early as I hate the thought of not getting somewhere on time so I give myself plenty of time, I hadn't had breakfast because there wasn't any bread in the house, plus I thought I could pick something up when I stopped for petrol.

Oh the inner turmoil that goes on when my inner 'let me eat' gremlin starts hashing it out with my 'I wanna eat healthy' angel in a petrol station, gremlin wanted a sandwich, not one of those light versions the full fat, triple packs, or maybe a big fat sausage roll because she'd seen one on Facebook the other day and had been craving one since (thanks AnnMarie!), ooo look at the meal deals, you get crisps with them.  Then out of nowhere with a strength she hasn't shown in a while came my healthy angel, oh yeah she took back the power and grabbed grapes, a banana and a tray of chargrilled cooked chicken, and a diet drink, thinking that will get me through to lunchtime, I'm driving to Maidenhead, it's not a holiday, it's work and you need to stop with the "Sod It, I'll start again tomorrow" attitude.

Oh she was forceful, she almost lost the battle a couple of hours later when I needed to stop for a toilet break on the motorway, ooo M&S shop at the service station, I likes M&S, shame I wasn't hungry, my greedy gremlin would have taken down that healthy angel had I been, she wouldn't have stood a chance.  However, because I'd eaten all my stash I'd bought, there wasn't an ounce of hungry, so I wandered round M&S and couldn't see anything I 'really' wanted, I did spot a Greggs across the car park, "Oh ma'an they'd have sausage rolls", thought my greedy gremlin, my healthy angel appeared to be controlling my feet and steered me out of the opposite door, boom she won.  Damn what was this a hot food stand, the gremlin takes back the power and before I know it I'm stood there with a foot long sausage roll that's cost me £1.99!  As I walk back to the car, there's an internal conversation going on between the two, the devil wants to devour it, the angel is reminding his, pastry gives me chronic heartburn, I already have a bit of a headache do I want to add indigestion to the day, I sit in my car and take a bite, realise it isn't all that get out and throw the rest to the birds!  Boom, back away heartburn, I'm having none of that today.

Back on the road and soon arrive, only coffee to be had at the meeting, although I did resist the free WW bakes and bars in their tea room when I went to make my drink.   Three hours later and the return journey.

I stop quite early, about 2ish as I realise it's lunch time and I've not eaten, I didn't think I was hungry to be fair until I eye a Waitrose, I wander round, ooo meal deals, then I spy a bag of salted almonds, there my lates mmm-ness, I just love em, however they are 17pp per 100g, higher than chocolate, but they're also really good for you, so I threw them in my basket with some Edamame beans that are F&H and delicious, they'd be pp per tub, so even with breakfast eating those nuts would mean I was still under 30pp!  For a day on the road that wasn't so bed I told myself! 

Then suddenly I find myself stood typing into a touchscreen, what was I doing, how did I get here, this is a KFC ordering panel, I played with it for a few minutes before convincing myself I didn't really want to pay £5 for a couple of pieces of chicken, fries and a coke and the scales would not thank me for it at all.  So instead I went back to Waitrose and bought 3 ready meals for £6 so I had my tea ready for when I got home, Cod in parsley sauces with mash and peas for 8pp, now that was a much better choices than a KFC meal for one for a zillion ProPoints!   The good old healthy angel won that round too, even with the 17pp bag of almonds, healthy food and fixed a craving, that's out of my system again now.

Yay, I made it home, I can't believe how many times I thought about food, my gremlin even reminded me I hadn't bought bread as I got off the motorway but I knew if I stopped for a loaf, I'd end up buying other stuff, so we can live without bread this morning, mom has her toasted teacake, I can have eggs or porridge, I'll live without bread!  It's surprising what you can live without if it isn't there. 

I had wi-fi and tv problems when I got home too, so I know if there had been rubbish in the house, I'd have indulged because the 'stress' button had kicked in, instead I saw it as a sign from the universe to turn off the computer and have an early night, mom and I were in bed by 8 and I've had an incredible 8+ hours sleep after a little bit of a read.  I must have needed it, plus that gremlin is quiet when I'm asleep, thankfully.

Feeling good this morning, thinking if I can survive a road trip with the greedy gremlin on full throttle, then my healthy angel is getting stronger, here's to another good day, okay yesterday may not have been perfect 26 or fully F&H, but it was healthy and I am happy, that's good enough for me for now.

How did your day go?  Are you planning on having a good one today BeYOUtiful, I am!

Time to give up...

23rd February 2015

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

Well short and sweet this morning as I'm driving to Maidenhead so need to get my wriggle on, need to sort mom before I go and leave her food and drugs etc ;-)

So I've decided to borrow todays blog from a pinterest pic because I know a lot of people are giving stuff up for Lent at the moment and I'm not a big fan of that idea, especially when it's usually a food item you love to eat such as chocolate, so here's some suggestions for things I agree would help us all to get a little happier;

15 Things to Give Up If You Want to Be Happy

1. Give up your need to always be right.

Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind? — Wayne Dyer

2. Give up your need for control.

By letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. When you try & try, the world is beyond winning. — Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blaming others.

A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. — John Burroughs

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. — Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs.

A belief is not an idea held by the mind; it is an idea that holds the mind. — Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining.

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses. — Ziggy

7. Give up the luxury of criticism.

Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. — Christian D. Larsen

8. Give up your need to impress others.

Don’t try to impress others. Let them have the fun of impressing you. — James R. Fisher, Jr.

9. Give up your resistance to change.

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. — Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels.

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. — Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses.

99% of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. — George Washington Carver

13. Give up the past.

Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. — Christian D. Larsen

14. Give up attachment.

The wise individual doesn’t get too attached to any of life’s pleasures, knowing that wonderful science is hard at work proving it’s bad for him. — Bill Vaughan

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations.

The world is a mirror and reflects back your expectations. What you get is what you see. You create your own reality. — Denis Waitley

I like them a lot, they originally come from http://infographicaday.com/15-things-to-give-up-if-you-want-to-be-happy/ which took the idea from http://worldobserveronline.com/2012/04/25/15-things-you-should-give-up-to-be-happy/

See rarely is an idea original, we're all very similar but also very unique.  Embrace your individuality and choose to be happy, if you can through in some healthy too, all the better.

Now wish me luck as I attempt to make it 'food wise' through a day which is out of the norm for me and I haven't planned at all for!  I can feel a stop at a petrol station or a M&S service station for supplies - I'll make them healthy ones though I promise. 

Have a great day BeYOUtiful, yay it's Monday!

Here's your Sunday service '-)

22nd February 2015

When I was young I used to wish I would fit in - I'm glad I didn't get my wish.

I rested nearly all day Friday and again yesterday afternoon/evening, I spent time reading and doing our jigsaw (we lost the last piece - oops) and generally trying to rest my brain.  It's impossible to have a 100% Weight Watcher free day when you're a leader, there's always someone asking you a questions via facebook or your mobile, but other than those instances, I've had a mini break without leaving my house and it's done me the world of good! 

I've woken up today feeling refreshed and my head ready for action, I also woke up thinking about food!  Somethings never change, I'm thinking scrambled eggs on warby thins, yes today will be a filling & healthy day because I want to cook a nice meal as I'm out tomorrow at head office, I'll make and leave mom food, as I know she'll live on toast otherwise!

Fish, I fancy fish, I've just read on a members meal planner, fish in butter sauce, mmm I haven't had one of those boil in the bags for so long, but I won't have that, I'll make myself similar, I have white fish and salmon, ooo I might make a fish pie, yay my brains recharged and all the tabs are open again ;-)

I'm googling for ideas, there's a pea puree I quite like the idea of

160g of frozen garden peas - place peas in boiling water and simmer for around 10 minutes until they are soft, but still bright green. If they are dull they are dead! You need them soft enough to semi puree, but not so soft they vapourise. At this stage, drain and mash with a potato masher, or you could put them into a food processor and process on a low setting so as to maintain a rough chunky puree.

That would be tasty with a roasted salmon fillet or one cooked in a Maggi garlic paper liners, yeah that's an easy meal to cook and quick.  Serve it with roasted butternut squash and you've got a really healthy, tasty meal.

If you need convincing even more about the benefits of eating more salmon, it's packed with omega-3 fatty acids, they help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and protect the blood vessels from inflammatory damage, which can be the first step in the process that later leads to heart attacks. Omega 3 is also beneficial for the rate and extent to which blood clots.  Omega-3 fatty acids are very powerful anti-inflammatory agents. The body actually transforms them into our own built-in anti-inflammatories that can ‘turn off’ the inflammatory reaction.  And if you need even more convincing Omega 3 is also vital for the health of the brain and nervous system. The cells have a special arrangement of fatty material on their outer surface, called the myelin sheath, that is vital for sending and receiving messages. This fatty material can get damaged, and needs adequate essential fats for maintenance. Research has shown that omega 3 can be beneficial in issues such as depression, memory enhancement, even behaviour and mood stability. WOW that's what I call a super food, SUPER SALMON!  It's delicious too, let's be honest.

I love how food isn't just delicious, it affects our body in more ways than are just visible!  On that note, I'm off to make me a cuppa and make some us some eggs, then check the cupboards and freezer for ingredients to cook up a tasty dinner.

Here's to a scrumptious Sunday BeYOUtiful, hope you enjoy yours as much as I plan to enjoy mine. 

Be the reason someone smiles today!

21st February 2015

It's not your job to like me - it's mine!

Well I sit here with a little bit of a heavy heart this morning after reading a long thread on Facebook where someone is in my opinion being a bit hurtful about another and also "fattist", I'm not going to go into detail because I don't want to fuel the fire but I personally do not think you should judge someone on their weight! I may be wrong but I'm hoping my members would agree with me that my ability to be their Weight Watchers leader has not declined because I gained some weight in 2014?   I believe it's my mind, my brain and my personality that gives me the ability to motivate people to lose weight and give them the knowledge they need to do it!  Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you disagree, but I know if I needed an operation and the surgeon was "very overweight", it wouldn't make my think I'd prefer a thin version, they'd do it much better!?  

If someone isn't very good at their job, then I would think that has more to do with their ability than their weight.  It disappoints me to read/hear/see such awful negativity when we should all be pulling together and supporting each other. 

Weight loss is never easy and once you lose it, you're not guaranteed it's staying off, no one has this 'living' sussed, you're always one day away from who knows what! 

I maintained my weight for ten years, then this last 9 months, I'm really struggling, why - who knows, I just am!  It doesn't mean I don't know everything I need to know to lose the weight and it doesn't mean I'm not following the plan as best as I can, it means for whatever reason at this moment in time, I'm struggling to stay on track and lose weight. 

Is being a Weight Watchers leader easy when you feel like that?  For me yeah I think it is because it means I can identify with the majority of members who too are struggling and together we are all supporting each other and celebrating the success of those who are doing really well, knowing that they'll be celebrating our success when it clicks and remembering it's called "Weight Watchers" not "Weight Losers".  And my members have lost almost 4,000lb already in 2015 so something's working.

I believe in a healthy and happy lifestyle and believe it or not you can do that even if you're overweight, you can also be unhealthy and unhappy if you're at what the BMI chart defines as a "normal" weight. 

It's not just about the numbers on a scale, a healthy life is so much more.  I believe a hurtful mouth that comes out of a spiteful mind can't truly be in a healthy and happy place. 

I do my best to always see both sides, if someone is being hurtful or behaving in a way that doesn't appear 'okay' I ask myself why that might be, what's going on in their lives to make them behave in such a way.

So please, if you're reading this and thankfully most of the people that I know read my blog don't think in such a way, but just in case let's remind ourselves, it's isn't nice to judge another full stop for any reason!  And when you judge a person by their appearance, it doesn't define them, it defines you. 

I've wrote it out now I'm going to remove that negativity from my mind because I can feel that sadness in my body, I'm going to instead think about my lovely members I'm off to support this morning and see I'm smiling already, your thoughts really can change how you feel instantly, it's a choice to be happy, even when times are rough, tough or downright hard. 

Here's to a Saturday of smiling and hopefully a bit of sunshine - we can hope can't we BeYOUtiful.