Snow on the ground again & I don't care!

Friday 8th January 2020

Be enough for yourself first, the rest of the world can wait.

My stats as of today

I started at - 200lb
I wanna weigh - 165lb
I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.
The scales 5/1/21 - 192lb
I've already lost - 8lb 
Yesterday I stepped 10,318 times 
I covered 4.39 miles 
I burned 2,330 calories  
I consumed 1916 calories

I was active for 68 minutes 

Sleep 8 hours WOO HOO!

I'm going to start adding 3 good things from the day before to keep me focused on the positives. 

1) A lovely walk with Alfie, he was in the mood.

2) Playing in kitchen and enjoying the results. 

3) Managing a 23 minutes walking workout without interruptions. 

Yeah it'll help me to remember to thing about the good stuff because it's too easy to focus on those few hours early evening when mom Sundowns and it's like walking on eggshells!

Anyway, let's not dwell on that, I cooked this deliciousness and that's much more interesting; 

 

I wanted to use up my leftover cheese and some potatoes I'd got that were starting to sprout, so I sliced them and mixed with sliced onions, some herbs and melted garlic butter.  Here's the recipe, really enjoyed it.

Cheese topped potato and onions

Takes about an hour

Feeds 4 

 384 kcal per serving, 14SP blue / green, 8SP purple 

1kg potatoes, thinly sliced (730 cals)

2 onions, thinly sliced (110 cals)

40g melted butter (I used garlic butter) (287 cals)

1 tsp dried mixed herbs (6 cals)

Salt & pepper to taste

100g cheddar (404 cals)

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C, Fan oven 180°C). Line an oven dish of your choice with parchment paper or a pan liner.   

Put all ingredients except the cheese in a mixing bowl and mix everything together, then pour into oven dish and level it off. 

Bake for about 50-55 minutes until potatoes look golden brown and cooked through.

 

So good, I had to portion up the leftovers to stop me going back to it, enjoyed it with some WW spaghetti, even got mom to have a small bowl. 

The rest of my food looked like this yesterday, my late breakfast, was a crusty cob toasted and topped with avocado, egg, crispy bacon, spring onions and diced tomato with a spoon of sweet chilli sauce.  One of my favourite meals for sure. 

and a mug of the soup I'd made, so it's kept a couple of days already. 

Now I saw this post on Facebook last night and thought, ooo I like that idea; 

Then I thought wow, 1000 miles is a lot, but once I went and looked on their website, it's not as high as you'd think.  Apparently it takes less than an hour a day' walking to hit 1000 miles in 12 months? That doing so dramatically boosts your immunity and cuts your risk of diabetes, heart attack, obesity, stroke and depression? It’s just 2.74 miles a day. , #walk1000miles is a free honesty-based challenge, for more info see the website Walk 1000 Miles.

Now do you reckon you can just count the steps on your Fitbit to do this or would you think you have to go and do that 2.74 miles a day on top.  I'm going to go with the fitbit idea as I can't promise to go for that length of a walk every day with mom as much as I'd like to!  

We're already a week into this year, I'm proud of the fact I've managed to track 100% and I've been keeping track of the miles since 3rd, I'll go check my fit bit for the first two days, 

1st 2.66

2nd 2.92

3rd 4.83

4th 1.8

5th 3.9

6th 7.91

7th 4.39

Total 28.41 miles only another 971 left to go.  Yeah I'm doing this, I'll aim for 3 miles a day which will hopefully help with those days where it's difficult.

Right I have a huge pile of washing to fold so I better get going!  I also have 3 miles to walk lol, it's roughly 7,000 steps on my fitbit.  Here's to the second week of January being as good as the first week, if I can cope with dementia, I can control my food intake and move a bit more!

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx

Cold this morning - heating on for sure!

Thursday 7th January 2020

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

Here's my up to date stats; 

I started at - 200lb
I wanna weigh - 165lb
I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.
The scales 5/1/21 - 192lb
I've already lost - 8lb 
Yesterday I stepped 18,590 times 
I covered 7.91 miles 
I burned 2,718 calories  
I consumed 2,306 calories

I was active for 148 minutes 

Sleep 7 hours broken up into two parts with 2 hours awake in the middle of the night! 

Yep, mom woke at half 12 and I managed to get her back to bed and she fell back to sleep but I was awake for a couple of hours, my brain working over time with things I should've done the day before and I'd forgotten and things I needed to do and blah blah blah, in the end I put something to listen to on and it bored me to sleep thankfully, weird dreams followed.  

Yesterday was a good day, had a lovely walk with Lucy, was great to catch up even if we did nearly end up on our backsides a few times!  Slippy out there lol, but I loved being out the fresh air, the chat, the scenery and the birds, a big bonus was the fact it's good for me and burned calories.  

It did give me an appetite though, I ate more yesterday but was still aware of what I was eating; 

I enjoyed this a lot, I'm not a fan of tomato based food but now and again I fancy tomatoes, I'm going to work on changing my tastebuds because they were delicious.

This is a Charlie Bigham's lasagne for one, it was on offer and it was tasty but not a patch on my sisters and not worth £4.75 which is it's full price!  

Cheese and onion cobs that were amazing!  I made them earlier and wrapped in clingfilm so they tasted like the ones I used to get when I worked in a pub, nom nom.  All the salad on both plates can from one salad bowl too. 

I was also busy with work, had a few hours of calls, I supported a new team member with her first customer, we saved that lady over £600 a year and that was before she starts using her cashback card which could save her another £500+ a year! WOWsers!  I also signed up a new customer who had been referred by one of my existing customers so not only did I help the lady on the phone who was sorting her moms finances out for her, but I also got my customer £50 off her bill for recommending me to them!  Win/win, right now, it's so very important for us all to support each other in any way we can, to help each other out in what is truly a difficult time for so many of us. 

I'm thinking avocado for breakfast, maybe topped with a poached egg and a bit of crispy bacon, on one of those crusty cobs.  Yeah that sounds like a plan.  I'm gonna go do my youtube walk before mom gets up I think, keep the momentum up, although my shins are a little sore this morning after that walk through the farmers fields. 

Have a wonderful day, hoping you're all well and staying safe, my brothers family all have Covid now and thankfully it's not too serious in their homes, they're feeling very unwell but not in need of hospital treatment, here's hoping it stays that way and they improve.  Please do stay safe, keep your distances, try not to go shopping unless necessary, that's where he believes he picked it up, shopping on Christmas eve ;( 

Mwah, luv ya lots 

Love me xx

  

Starting day 6 of on it!

Wednesday 6^th January 2021 

Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.

Here's my up to date stats; 

I started at - 200lb
I wanna weigh - 165lb
I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.
The scales 5/1/21 - 192lb
I've already lost - 8lb 
Yesterday I stepped 9,154 times 
I covered 3.9 miles 
I burned 1,463 calories  
I consumed 2,227calories

I was active for 61 minutes 

Sleep 8 hours YAY! awake once and restless a dozen times according to app, but come on 8 hours - that's brilliant.

Sleep makes all the difference, especially as we got mom to sleep too, she'd been okay most of the day, then around half four BANG, she started asking about her kids coming home from school, then from work, I messaged my sister who said and rightly so, 'how the fk is a person supposed to cope with questions like that', then pointed out whatever you say to her, she just rolls her eyes at you! We've tried all the suggestions, the going along with it, but that makes her worse and it's not like it lasts half hour, it goes on for a few hours.  Thankfully Anne came round and it took us a good hour but finally we distracted her, Anne doing the funniest impressions of people she meets when walking her dog in the morning, or when she's in the local shops, just hilarious. It worked, when she left at half seven, mom was good and I got her in bed by half eight, and did I mention we've had 8 hours!  I heard her get up at three, but she went to bathroom and went back to bed, I wanted the loo but knew if I got up I'd not go back to sleep, so I risked staying where I was, I say risked because even though I'm 50 and I haven't do it for 40+ years, I used to wet the bed as a kid, I'd dream I was on the toilet and follow through lol, I still go to the toilet too many times before bed just to be on the safe side lol.  Well that was oversharing maybe or just being comfortable with who I am these days and knowing something I did as a child is no longer embarrasing to me, I'd be mortified as a teenager if it got mentioned!

Well before mom started last night, we'd had a good day, I'd done my walk both with the dog (not very far) and the Youtube one, I had leftover crustless quiche for breakfast and got mom to have some too, so that's a meal to cook again, as she can eat it because it's soft. 

I enjoyed cod in butter sauce with roasted cauliflower rice and peas, this was cooked when mom was having her wobbly hence the slightly crispy cauli, but it was tasty none the less, that fish is getting smaller though, half the size of my mobile phone and not even a cm thick.  I just love the sauce on it though, I might just add extra fish to it next time (I've said that before).

I also made soup, courgette and potato and it was amazing, made about 2 litres and I've easily eaten a third of it already.   Great way to fill myself up and use the veggies in the fridge. 

I think I'll do a pepper one next as I have a bag of frozen peppers taking up way too much freezer space.  Oooo it's shopping delivery day, I'm looking forward to a salad - freak I know, I've been possessed by someone wanting to lose weight, get healthy and get their happy back and I like it. 

I even did some meal planning, but for me typical meal planning doesn't work, one because I don't know what I want to eat on which day and two I don't know what the dates will look like on my shopping when it arrives.  I do more of a 'to eat plan' so different meal ideas and what they'll cost me, so I can fit them in when and where I want/need to. 

I've got lots of curries to look forward to in my freezer, I even prepared the cauliflower rice in the fridge ready to roast, although I might make some cauli cheese bites with that yet.  I've got crusty cobs coming today, want a cheese and onion cob in my life, also a fish finger cob nom nom, other meals on my list are salmon, lasagne, smoked haddock risotto, gammon and mash, chicken tikka masala and rice.  I've treated myself to some charlie brigham ready meals for one because they were on offer but also it'll save me cooking a recipe for 4 and having to eat the other 3, still working at reducing the contents of my freezer (it's a bit like the wardrobe that leads to Narnia, goes on forever, or the tardis).

I've got some actimel drinks coming too, they're on offer and I abused my belly over Christmas so I'm gonna show it a little love again.

Oh I haven't told you the best thing that happened to me yesterday, my mate Sarah asked me if I wanted some clothes, so I'm not gonna have to buy anything to wear other than joggers this year now, and to be honest as no one can see the bottom half of me on zoom, I don't really have to rush to buy them.  As soon as I lose a stone, I'll be able to comfortably get back into the trousers I already have.

I was talking to Vicky about bubbles and it's great that people can still have them because they shouldn't be alone, but I think single carers living with someone with Alzheimers should be on that list!  Thankfully my sister is officially my moms carer so she's allowed to come round, but if she wasn't, I'd too be in isolation with someone I can't converse with, it's no different to being a single parent with a small child really.  There must be others out there in similar situations ;(

I'm hopefully going for a walk this morning with a mate, that'll give me some fresh air and chance to see someone I haven't seen in months - ma'an I miss people!  Right lets have a great day again, I need to think about distraction techniques for teatime when she starts to drift, it's not easy because tele is rubbish, she doesn't 'want' to do anything I suggest, but I'll keep trying lol.  

Mwah, luv ya, 

Love me x

Another day, another weight loss!

Tuesday 5th January 2021 

Decide what kind of life you actually want.  Then say no to anything that isn't that.

It's 5am, I'm sat in the dark in my living room next to mom who's fast asleep in her chair and has been there all night!  I've been awake since 3.43am according to my fitbit, I did wake a few times in the night but managed to sleep some, mom refused to come to bed and eventually at half 9 I said I was going up, I loved the front door so at least if she started to wander I'd hear her but thankfully the only noise I've heard all night is the central heating system because I had to leave that on for her otherwise she'd have been cold. 

Here's my up to date stats; 

I started at - 200lb
I wanna weigh - 165lb
I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.
The scales 5/1/21 - 192lb
I've already lost - 8lb 
Yesterday I stepped 4,236 times 
I covered 1.8 miles 
I burned 1,957 calories  
I consumed 1,967 calories
I was active for 0 minutes 
Sleep 5hrs 43m! Plus I fell asleep in my chair for an hour just before Boris started, so I missed all that!

Now I know they say you shouldn't weigh yourself day, some say once a week, some say not at all, I think it really depends on your own mental health and attitude towards the scales, they're motivating me a bit at the moment and after yesterday being such a testing day and me surviving and staying focused on my healthy and happy, I was curious to see what if any difference my food and wine decisions had made to the scales.  Well blow me down with a feather, the scales say I've lost another 2lb, which means I've got my first half stone in the bag and I'm only 2lb away from losing 5% of my body weight - WOO HOO!  

Why is losing 5% a good thing?  Because losing 10lb adds 40lb of pressure on your knees and other lower body joints, that'll wear em out quicker!  Extra fat can also cause inflammation, that explains my aches and pains late, so losing even a little weight can ease these effects.  Then there's the fact it can boost your heart health, lower your cancer risk, improve sleep quality, lower risk of diabetes, boost your mood and wait for it - increase your sex drive (cos I've got the time and/or inclination for any of that!).  Here's to that 5% weight loss though, then I'll start working towards 10%, breaking it down into realistic chunks, so 

Goal 1 - Half stone - 7lb

Goal 2 - 5%, 10lb

Goal 3 - First stone - 14lb   

Goal 4 - 10%, - 20lb

Goal 5 - 3rd half stone - 21lb

Goal 6 - 2 stone - 28lb

Goal 6 - 2 1/2 stone - 35lb 

Looks easy enough when it's written down doesn't it!  I'm making myself a priority now though, my health is important for sure. 

Having said that, I didn't do my 15 minute youtube video yesterday, but I have done it this morning with the volume off in silence in the kitchen so as not to wake her up.  Yesterday was weird enough with mom after the night before.  Alfie didn't take me very far either, but bless my sister she sat with mom why I attempted to walk him and whilst I did my UW appointments, she even cleaned my kitchen up the superstar her. 

I could've easily slipped yesterday and ate some junk or lazy food but I didn't, I was determined to eat well so I started my day with a slightly larger than planned breakfast; 

Not had pilchards on toast in ages, they were really good, cheap too at 55p a tin and that's Sainsbury's so they might be cheaper elsewhere.

Then I cooked a crustless quiche for my dinner, using cottage cheese, really tasty and you'd not realise there was cottage cheese in it, so if you're one of those who really doesn't like it, I'd say don't dismiss it without trying. 

Was delicious with butternut squash roasted chunks and parmesan courgettes. 

Not gonna lie, I did consume more wine than is healthy or than was intended but hey that's life sometimes. 

Here's to handling whatever today throws my way, another lockdown for the UK, doesn't really make any difference to me personally as I've only been going out to walk the dog anyway.

Hope you're all okay and not losing your sanity being locked up!

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx

Middle of the night blog!

 Monday 4th January 2020 

Stay strong, believe in yourself, never give up!

Well it's one o'clock in the morning and we're having a night of Dementia hell, moms confused, wants to go home, won't sleep, gonna be a long one!  We're having the same conversation over and over, she can't comprehend it's the middle of the night and keeps saying 'how is everyone gonna know I'm here' and 'you'd think they'd come looking for me', deep sigh, but hey ho, it is what it is!  I'm not going to let it knock me off track, I had another good day yesterday. 

I started at - 200lb

I wanna weigh - 165lb

I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.

The scales 3/1/21 - 194lb

I've already lost - 6lb 

Yesterday I stepped 11,353 times 

I covered 4.83 miles 

I burned 2,343 calories  

I consumed 1,532 calories

I was active for 61 minutes 

Sleep 3hrs!

Thankfully we went to bed at 8 so I had an hour and an half before she woke me up telling me she was STARVING because she hadn't been fed!  Made her a sandwich and she was okay for another couple of hours but we've been awake since half 11.   Thankfully I've got a busy morning but I'll be done by about 1 and hopefully she'll be calm by then and we can maybe have a snooze, either way it's all good, we'll survive. 

Let's talk food, that always makes me smile, I enjoyed my food yesterday, I had these meals; 

This was brunch after I'd walked the dog, I love this streaky bacon, 

it's only 66 calories /2SP for 2 slices, it's really lean but still tasty. 

Then for dinner I had this, bloomin delicious, parmesan courgettes, roasted butternut squash chunks, carrots and green beans with chicken. 

This was the chicken, I usually buy a whole chicken but I eat all the skin so this is a great way of stopping me from doing that, it was £3.75 and although it says feeds 3, me and Alfie shared it ;) I'll definitely buy it again.  The garlic and herb butter made it so tasty.

 

I managed two walks with Alfie, mom was mostly okay yesterday, so this mood change is a real surprise, I've got a headache now too cos I haven't slept off the wine I drank probably, so no sympathy there, self inflicted.  Although, this contact conversation over and over really isn't helping, there's nothing I can do when she's like this to calm her, she wants to go home and doesn't believe it's the middle of the night even though she can see it's dark outside! 

I spent some time meal planning yesterday, finally got round to it.  It helped me use up some of the stuff already in the kitchen and also made sure I only shopped online for what I'll need the coming week rather than just throwing stuff in the basket and ending up with more food than one mouth needs.  It's also given me meals to look forward to and made me realise I can eat the same thing more than once lol, a recipe for crustless quiche is four portions not one!  Will make that today hopefully as it's down as a meal!

Well one upside of being awake at this time is I'm watching a programme about The Carpenters and they're playing they songs, they were really good.  

Oh she's ever so wound up and there's nothing I can do to calm her down, I hate seeing her in such turmoil, but all I can do is try to reassure her she's safe, but I know I'm just winding her up!   I'll ask my sister to come round when she's awake, so only 6 or 7 hours till then lol.

Keep smiling ay!  Here's to a good day, or as good a day as possible.  Hope you all have a great day.  

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx 

The honeymoon phase!

Sunday 3rd January 2021

Out with the old, in with the new 

Day 3 of 2021 and so far so good, I'm going to make this blog a bit of an accountability journal, 2 birds 1 stone, every year I start a journal and everyone knows I never fill the book, so this way, I can copy and paste every day and fill the gaps in, right what do you I want to record, I'm gonna be honest and start with my weight (ouch), it hit 200lb, notice I've changed it to pounds rather than stones and ounces, because I don't really understand the number as I would 14 stone, which just screams OUCH!  

I started at - 200lb

I wanna weigh - 165lb

I plan to lose - 35lb / 17.5% of my body weight.

The scales today - 194lb

I've already lost - 6lb - wey hay! Was worth pulling it back a little from boxing day!

Yesterday I stepped 6,872 times 

I covered 2.92 miles 

I burned 2,122 calories  

I consumed 1,559 calories

I was active for 33 minutes 

Sleep 7hr 15m (I had an afternoon snooze - yay)

Those stats are courtesy of my Fitbit which is going strong and I'm still thankful to Tina it after mine died!   Maybe when I get the weight off and if I get earning well again I'll treat myself to a new one. 

Yep it miht not interest anyone else but if I do that each morning, it'll put me in the right mindset for the day ahead.  Oh and I started being active yesterday, I decided I was going to walk a mile a day, but I know mom can be an obstacle there, and walking Alfie isn't the kind of mile I mean, so I found a video on YouTube that I walked along with Beginner 1 Mile Walk | Walk at Home - YouTube, and I did it yesterday and I've already done it this morning, but now I know that 15 - 20 minutes a day whether indoors or outdoors at a pace is the mile I need to cover and I can honestly say I already feel better, my muscles weren't so achy when I got out of bed this morning and my mind feels more positive. 

What about my food?  Well this was yesterday; 

As always I didn't plan my meals when shopping so ended up with too many mushrooms, so I had these ones on toast, they were the large ones (I was going to stuff them but I had too few days and too many meals to eat for one mouth - even mine!) Got to say they were absolutely delicious and I'll definitely add this to my regular meal ideas list.  

This was my main meal and again lush, it was the spag bol from yesterday, I gave 2 portions away and I've managed to get the last one in the freezer.  Those tacos have been in my bread bin for months but they were still fresh to eat and I did some roast butternut squash and red pepper.  

I decided later I wasn't really hungry because I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat, but I did enjoy half a tin of pineapple and some WW crackers, they're in packs of 7 crackers but I didn't want that many, so chose my own portion size, had half the pack, will have the rest today, 15g of low fat spread and a boursin square, like them because they're already portioned, I'd bought them for Christmas.  

And of course keeping it real, there was some of this too; 

Now the thing is, it's quiet obvious obvious I'm in what I like to call the 'honeymoon phase', I'm going to enjoy it whilst I can.   I'm feeling more motivated than I have in a very, long time and I'm planning to keep it going this time.  Everything changed in 2020 and I have more time for me now, new job, no having to get up at 5 to leave the house at 7.30, or getting home at 8pm.

When it comes to losing weight though, it doesn't matter what you read, what you follow, how you choose to lose weight - the truth is you have to create what is known as a CALORIE DEFICIT!  

1 pound of fat is 3,500 calories.  If you want to lose 1 pound of fat in one week, you have to burn / remove 500 calories per day from your diet.  It's science - not magic! 

I'm aiming for 1lb a week, I'm not in a rush, I want to enjoy food, yes I'll probably lose a little bit more at first, hence the 6lb loss, that's the excess glycogen, but then it'll slow down and each pound you lose looks like this;  

I don't know about you, but I'll take that!  Every time I lose one of those, it'll take pressure off my joints and my pain will start to ease, my heart will be grateful and they say eating healthy and moving more reduces the risk of Alzheimers and Vascular Dementia - I'll take that! 

Now if you need encouraging to move more and build some muscle, look how they compare and think of the effect that will have on the size of your clothes rather than the numbers on the scales. 

Oh and if you needed even more encouragement to move more, look at how much muscle burns as opposed to fat, 10 times more, which means if you build more muscle you'll burn more calories which means you'll get to your desired weight sooner!

Now if that doesn't motivate us all - what will?  Maybe the reasons you personally want to lose weight?  Why do you want to lose weight, move more, get healthier?  Maybe you want to be around long enough to enjoy your grandchild growing up, maybe you want to be able to get around, be more mobile, maybe like me you don't want to end up with dementia, lose mobility or unable to take care of yourself. Maybe you just wanna look and feel sexy or fabulous in your clothes.  

When choosing how you're going to lose weight, try to make it fit with your lifestyle, don't start eating completely differently to get the weight off, if you're not going to be able to eat that way long term.  If what you've been doing isn't working - you need to rethink and do things differently maybe? 

I've been consistently gaining weight for the last couple of years, it needs to stop, I've reassessed my behaviour, my habits and I'm going to do my best to get back to a way of life that worked for me.

Well that's me for today, I hope I've given you food for thought.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

  

Good first day of the year

Saturday 2nd January 2020

Results happen over time not over night. 

Like the picture says, remember every day is an opportunity, I had a really good day yesterday and would love every day to be so easy but I know it won't be, it won't stop me doing everything I can to make it so.  

Food wise this was how my day looked, leftovers as bubble and squeak, saving the pennies.

The I made a delicous spag bol which isn't usually my thing but I'm experimenting, added a couple of oxos to calm the tomato flavour down and I got a good 5 portions out of it. 

Instead of spaghetti with it I had 'boodles', now this was sent in my shopping as a substitute for courgetti, I'm so glad it was because I was really impressed. 

I'd most definitely buy it again, yes it's cheaper to do your own but this was great for quickness, 3 minutes in the microwave. 

 I am tempted to try making my own though, I've got one in the cupboard and a small spiraliser, or I think I have a julienne hand held slicer thing somewhere.  Here's a good page I've found telling you how to make your own; Butternut Squash Pasta | Food with Feeling

Then for my tea, I enjoyed a potato salad that was use by 1st, with some serrano ham, cucumber and spinach, so good.  

I think yesterday was the first time in a while I hit my 5 a day!  I also had a couple of black coffees, not done that in a long time either, and yeah I know caffiene ain't great but surely it's better than red wine!

Other than food, it was a pretty quiet day, my UW appointment got rescheduled for Monday, I went out with Alfie twice, not for long though, I did enjoy Doctor Who last night, even if mom didn't! We were in bed by half 8 and I've been awake since half 2 which isn't great, I'm lying in bed typing at the minute because it's warmer and you never know I might drop off again but I doubt it.

Now I need to plan my meals for the weekend, see what's in the fridge and use according to use by dates, then I need to check out every thing I've got freezer and cupboards and do some meal ideas so that I don't have to order too much online and I save some money.  

Off the top of my head I fancy; 

Cod in butter sauce, mash and peas

Fish fingers ooo could have them with butter nut squash baked chunks 

I'm sure there's a few frozen Marlies meals in there too, so goat curry as well as my own curries.

Jacket spuds could have one of the leftover spag bols on that

Sardines / Pilchards - I spotted them in cupboard yestrday, think I might have on toast for breakfast with an hardboiled egg mmm. 

Yeah I will stand in the kitchen and make a list of as many meals as I can, when I get up out this warm bed anyway.  I fancy a big mug of tea, that's the only downside I can think of to being single, no one ever makes me a cup of tea these days, moms not made me a cuppa for years! 

Well looking forward to my day ahead, life feels good at the moment, let's keep that feeling going I say!

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me x 

Happy & Healthy New Year BeYOUtiful x

Friday 1st January 2021

Don't wish for it - work for it.

I've never been one for New Years Eve, I'm always in bed and as always I got woken by fireworks, I expect it but seriously, people round here can't tell the time, so the first time they woke me up was just before 11pm, erm that's an hour early, then we had the midnight ones, well I assumed they were as I didn't bother looking at the time, then I've been up since silly o'oclock, moms been talking very loudly in her sleep which didn't help but to be fair I was already awake, so got up just after 3, then can you believe someones just set more fireworks off at 4.25am, are they on a different timezone or what!

Anyway, this year, I feel differently about the new year, I don't usually do resolutions but this year...I'm game for it to be honest.  What is a New Years Resolution anyways?  

Wikipedia says this: A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their life. 

Cambridge Dictionary says this: a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.

See this thing is, we all know that typically new years resolutions are rarely successful, but is this true?  Or just something we tell ourselves so we don't have to set them.  I know my mate Nat gave up chocolate and she still doesn't eat it, all these years later.

Thing is, after 2020, the idea of making changes in 2021 is really most appealing, especially as so many of us have had changes made to our lives anyway, whether we wanted them or not!   

It's important to work out why they fail, I reckon its because our brains don't like radical changes, habit changes should be small and built on - that's what I've found anyway. I'm going to slow and steady wins the race, I hope to lose 15% of my body weight, yeah I've gained that much, I know that won't happy by the end of the month and that's okay, 

I'm in no rush. It all starts today though, I've already done the washing up, cleared the fridge out of stuff that's out of date, thankfully it was only a couple of things, and I've spent the last week eating the last of the treat stuff I'd bought.  My fridge is now full of goodness, there's some cheese left but that's not being banned in this house, I like it too much - it will just be portion controlled from today. 

I'm starting to get busy with UW, got a few appointments already in my diary for next week, even got one for today, that's the beauty of being self employed!  If you've been furloughed again or you're stuck at home anyway, why not have an half hour call with me, it's no obligation and I might be able to save you loads of money without all the hassle of having to call up all the suppliers because UW do all that for you! 

Right, today I shall mostly be doing a little work, cooking a bolognaise from scratch, refraining from wine, (too much consumed yesterday) my liver fancies a rest - I've got my raspberry fanta at the ready. Oh and recording Mrs Brown's Boys New Year Special, because the Christmas one was one of the best things I've watched this month.  YAY and Doctor Who's on tonight too, happy days.

Here's to starting 2021 with a positive mindset because remember everything won't change just because the date has, you have to believe you can achieve your goals.  Why not get a pad out and write down those goals today so you know where you want to aim for and the steps needed to get there. 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me