Sarah83's Food diary and ramblings...

sarah83

Try and try again
Hi,

Well I'm back to SW and Minimins for what feels like the hundredth time!

A bit about me - I have been on SW many times now, most sucessfully in 2010 when I lost 2stones but put it all back on again when I was pregnant with my daughter, who is now nearly 3!

I am currently a big size 18, and the desire to lose weight comes from the fact that I'm really unhappy with the way I look and I have borderline high blood pressure which really needs to come down.

I work full time for the railway industry, and with this and having my little monkey to look after when I get home, means I don't have as much time to cook as I would like. So where before I used to do lots of experimenting with new recipes, I don't think I'll have time to do that so much anymore. Plus before I used to splash out on lots of different foods to try, we are now on a very tight budget thanks to extortionate nursery fees, so I have to be quite frugal with my cooking.

I would love to get down to a small size 14, which I think would be about 3stones. This would still leave me 'overweight' according to BMI but I think I'd be happy with this. I also desperately need to incorporate exercise into my routine. I struggle to find the time to do this at the moment so this will be a challenge for me.

I've given myself a mini-target of losing 1 stone by Christmas. I am a slow loser as I like SW to fit into my life (be it eating out, or occasional lazy takeaway days) which means I don't stick to it 100% of the time, but I want to make sure I have at least 4 100% days a week which should hopefully send me in the right direction!

I hope you enjoy reading my diary, I will include photos when I remember and any recipes if you want them.

Hoping to stick to it this time because it really isn't that hard!!!
 
I've been doing some research on here and through some old SW mags, to try and devise my meal plan for the week and write my monster shopping list for Aldi tomorrow!

I am going to try really hard to have 1/3 superfree at every meal too as it's so easy to overeat on the other stuff! I also want to try and mix it up by alternating green, extra easy and red days. I would love to do lots of red days but it's a bit too expensive! I'm going to aim to have 2 meat-free Green days a week for both the health benefits and cost savings too! On top of that I want to try and eat more fish - at least once or twice a week.

Here are some of the meals I'm planning on making this week:

Chicken Chausseur
Turkey burgers
Quorn and potato hash
Turkey chilli
Jacket potato with beans, cheese and salad

I'm also going to make a conscious effort to try and eat more. Usually I would skip breakfast and eat some fruit and yoghurt when I get to work - but I find I'm hungry all day.
So next week I'll have porridge for brekkie everyday then have my fruit as a mid morning snack and that will hopefully keep the hunger monster at bay!

For snacks I am going to make some syn free quiches, hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks, and have some cooked meats too.
 
Yay go you!!

I really need to get exercising again!!

Love your planning, meals are looking good and you seem well organised and ready for the week ahead!

Can I just ask what the quorn and potato hash is, it sound nice and something I would like!!

My weightloss diary Slimming at home....food diary to help keep me on track (with photos)

It's an adaptation of the Minced Beef Hash recipe from the Extra Easy cookbook.
Basically onion, garlic, chilli and cumin fried in Fry Light. Then add the mince (or Quorn) until browned, then add diced carrot, potato, tinned toms a bit of stock and herbs and cook for 15mins.

I haven't made it before as I copied the recipe from a friend's book but it sounds nice and a good meat-free meal too.
 
Right, here is today's food plan. I'm afraid I will never be a totally good girl on the weekends though as I do like a glass of wine!

I'll add pics later too.

Friday 29th August - Extra Easy

Breakfast: WM roll (HEXB) & Linda McCartney sausages (no superfree though :mad:)

Lunch: Jacket potato with seafood sticks and prawns in a homemade Marie Rose sauce (1.5syns). Served with salad, beetroot and couscous (allowing 2 syns as about 1/3 of a Sainsbury's ready made couscous)

Dinner: Steak with a cognac sauce (0.5 syn) , sauteed potato, spinach

Snacks: Milk in coffees (HEXA)

Total syns: 4 so far but it will be more.
 
My breakfast and lunch:
 

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Thank you! Well I did go over yesterday as I had a few glasses of red wine, but I expect to go over on weekends, I just need to rein my meals in.

Well we did a humongous Aldi shop this morning - came to £113!! Anyway we've got plenty of fruit and veg in now at least. Good job I got paid yesterday!

Not sure what we're doing with the rest of the day, hubby has some gardening to do so I might take Bella to the park for a go on the swings, or we might have a crafty day indoors.

Tea tonight will be roast chicken, probably with new potatoes and salad, and I'm just wondering what to make for lunch...

Hope you're all having a happy Saturday :)
 
Saturday 30th August - EE

Breakfast: 2 peaches

Lunch: pasta n sauce with loads of added veg- spring onions, pepper, mushrooms

Dinner: Roast chicken, new potatoes, salad, carrots, stuffing - 2 syns

Snacks: pink wafer - 2 syns, mojito lolly - 3 syns, wine ;-)
 
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Quite like this idea I saw on a SW Facebook page, might try this to shake things up every week
 

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Tonight's dinner. Syn free apart from the dressing (Sainsburys BGTY Caesar dressing) and a bit of stuffing
 

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Yesterday wasn't a great day:

Sunday 31st August - EE

Breakfast: 2 egg omelette with cheese (HEXA) and tomato

Lunch: Roast lamb, boiled veg, Bisto gravy and a slice of cheesecake

Dinner: Bowl of granola (dread to think how many syns!), mixed berries and FF fromage frais, a cinnamon bun!! And a few glasses of wine

Syns over the roof!
 
Back on track today... Monday 1st September - Red

Breakfast: 35g porridge (HEXB1), 200ml skimmed milk (part of HEXA1), blueberries. In reality I only had about half of this though as it exploded in the microwave...

Lunch: Sausage casserole with mushrooms, leeks, carrots, tomatoes (1 syn), broccoli, cauli, sugar snap peas

Dinner: Turkey burgers, WM roll (HEXB2), cheese (HEXA2) pickles and salad

Snacks etc: Milk in coffees (part of HEXA1), Apple, carrot sticks, fruit salad: melon, strawbs, orange, seafood sticks and HM Marie rose (1 syn)

Total Syns: 2
 
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Today's lunch and after work snack
 

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Tonight's dinner, very filling and completely syn free!
 

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I'm so pleased with my day yesterday - I didn't feel like I was depriving myself at all, all my meals filled me up and I only used 2 syns! My turkey burgers were gorgeous - I just mixed the turkey mince with garlic, spring onion, chilli, cumin and paprika. And topped with light cheese slices.
With the rest of the mince I made a chilli for tomorrow night's tea - packed full of veggies I think it'll be hard to find the meat in there!

Not sure if I'm snacking too much though? I guess I'll worry about that a couple of weeks down the line.

My porridge exploded in the microwave again today, does anyone have any tips to stop this happening? If not I guess I'll have to start doing it in the hob but seems like a silly way to make more washing up in the morning...
 
Today's plan...

Tuesday 2nd September - EE

Breakfast: 35g porridge (HEXB) & 200ml skimmed milk (part HEXA), blueberries

Lunch: Salad, pasta, chicken, EL mayo (1 syn)

Dinner: Quorn and potato hash, with green beans, broccoli and cauli

Snacks: Milk in coffees (rest of HEXA), Apple, fruit salad: Melon, orange, strawbs

Total syns: 1
 
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