Bev's Bulge Battle

Hi All

I've been here before and now I'm back. I started SW in November 2012 and over the course of a year I went from 13st 8lb to 10st 6lb. I stopped going to class in November 2013 and decided that I was happy with my weight and just wanted to maintain. I haven't done too badly, in the 5 months that I've 'gone it alone' I've gone from 10st 6lb to 10st 10.5lb (weighed this morning). I've decided now though that I don't want to run the risk of gaining any more and really want to get down to 10st so I'm restarting properly today.

I won't be going to class, I'll just be doing it from home. I'm also not going to be unrealistic, I know that I can go off track at the weekend but I'll flexi-syn when necessary and I'll save syns through the week if possible to make up for it. I also refuse to beat myself up if I simply fall of the wagon for a time, I'll just concentrate on getting back on.

I probably haven't picked the best time to restart as I'm going away on Sunday for two nights (to Alton Towers ) but I don't want to do the whole "I'll start next week"thing, because, as many of us know, next week never comes! I'm going to just do what I can which is better than nothing I suppose.

I plan to post my daily diary so any comments and suggestions are welcome. I'll also try and post pictures of my meals where possible to try and shame me into actually cooking nice food and not choosing the lazy options all the time. Since I don't go to class, I'm know "in the know" as much as I was so if anything has changed and I'm doing something wrong, please let me know.

Bev xx

Daily Food Diary - 25 April 2014

Breakfast - 2x Alpen Light bars (HEB)
Morning snack - Quavers (5.5 syns)
Lunch - Asda edamame bean salad (3.5 syns) and an apple
Afternoon snack - Banana
Dinner - Spicy tomato pasta
Evening snack - 2x Alpen Light bars (HEB)
TOTAL SYNS - 9

(I will update with any changes throughout the day)

Well done on your maintaining so far.

I assume you're doing a green day today? Not sure if you've heard the "bad news" - the new Alpen Lights are no longer a B choice as they have more calories and less fibre than the old ones.

Good luck with your final few pounds

Of course you are - just noticed your user name lol

Yes you've missed the saga that was Alpen Lights changing their recipe! If you have any 70cal bars they are stil HEX B, but the new 89 calories bars are not due to decreased fibre and increased calories.

Good luck x

jen3 said:

Well done on your maintaining so far.

I assume you're doing a green day today? Not sure if you've heard the "bad news" - the new Alpen Lights are no longer a B choice as they have more calories and less fibre than the old ones.

Good luck with your final few pounds

Click to expand...

jen3 said:

Of course you are - just noticed your user name lol

Click to expand...

SarahButterfly said:

Yes you've missed the saga that was Alpen Lights changing their recipe! If you have any 70cal bars they are stil HEX B, but the new 89 calories bars are not due to decreased fibre and increased calories.

Good luck x

Click to expand...

Hi Ladies

Thanks for stopping by. I did see the post about the Alpen Light bars but thankfully I had some of the old ones lurking at the back of my cupboard. I'll be gutted when they're gone though

Off the waggon already.....!!

Oh dear, I only did one day before falling off the waggon - that can't be good! I did okay on Friday and stuck to plan then I was out for my nephews birthday on Saturday and to Manchester and Alton Towers from Sunday to Tuesday. I need to be honest with myself and anyone else reading here that I was bad.... very, very bad. I didn't count syns but I'd estimate a good 30 odd each day.

On the plus side, I didn't lose all sight of SW:

• I ate at Harvester one night and, although my main course wasn't SW friendly, I only took free salad from the salad bar and avoided the coleslaw, potato salad and dressings etc. I also declined dessert.
• We grabbed a quick bite at Alton Towers but whereas my other half had a burger, I chose a jacket potato with beans and cheese.
• I packed my (old version) Alpen Light bars and had them for breakfast instead of eating at the hotel.
• I only had two tiny glasses of wine over the whole weekend and stuck to Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi otherwise.

So in summary, it was bad, but not as bad as it could have been.

Time to move on and I'm back on plan today hopefully and also for the rest of the week. I'm going to my friends for a cheeseboard tomorrow (I'll save my HEAs and HEBs for cheese and syns for any crackers). That was planned before I restarted SW and I'm really looking forward to it so it will be a little test of willpower for me. On Friday, I promised my other half I'd make him macaroni cheese which I'll also have but, again, I'll just save my HEs for the cheese and syn the other ingredients (I've done my calculations and it's definitely doable). On Saturday we're going out for an Indian but I'm hopefuly I'll be able to stick to plan, I'll just decline the naan bread that I'd usually have. This week will be a tough test but, as I said last week, I'll do my best and hopefully it'll make a difference.

Food Diary - Wednesday 30 April 2014

Breakfast - Bran Flakes (HEB) with milk (0.5 HEA) and banana
Lunch - Jacket potato (HEB for oil) with cheese (1.5 HEA) followed by Quavers (5.5 syns)
Dinner - Courgette pasta bake
Evening snack - Biscuits (9 syns)
TOTAL SYNS - 14.5

Food Diary - Thursday 1 May 2014

Breakfast - Scrambled egg and baked beans
Morning snack - Pear
Lunch - Leftover courgette pasta bake
Afternoon snack - Banana
Dinner - Mugshot
Evening - Cheese (2xHEA + 2xHEB) and biscuits/crackers (15 syns)
TOTAL SYNS - 15

Cheese & biscuits - yum!

I visited a friend last night and she laid out a cheese board and some other nibbles. I avoided the crisps etc and stuck to the cheese and crackers only (I quickly worked out the ones with less syns and stuck to them!). It was really worth saving up my syns all day for it.

It's going to be the same again today as I promised my other half I'd make his favourite macaroni cheese tonight. I'm not one for substituting and making differrent SW-versions of my favourite meals so I'm happy to scrimp and then splurge on a yummy meal and I'm so looking forward to it. The only alternative is that I'll use Cathedral City Lighter rather than the full fat version and I'll have mine with salad rather than garlic bread like I usually would.

I'm also going to make a pot of carrot and lentil soup tonight that I can have for lunch tomorrow. Yet again I'll be saving my syns for a treat - an Indian meal at my favourite restaurant. I've had a look at the menu and think we're going to share an onion bhaji starter (8 syns) and then I'll follow that with bombay potatoes (7 syns?) and pilau rice (2 syns). It'll take me a couple of syns over but it'll be worth it! My main aim is simply to make sure I stay away from the naan bread that my other half will undoubtedly order....

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend x

Food Diary - Friday 2 May 2014

Breakfast - Melon and yogurt
Morning snack - Pear
Lunch - Mugshot followed by Quavers (5.5 syns)
Afternoon snack - Banana
Dinner - Macaroni cheese (5 syns + HEA + HEB) and salad
Evening snack - 2xAlpen Light bar (HEB)
TOTAL SYNS - 10.5

Food Diary - Saturday 3 May 2014

Breakfast - 2x wholemeal toast (2xHEB) with Philidelphia Light (0.5HEA) and tomato
Lunch - Subway salad (HEA for cheese + 2 syns for dressing)
Afternoon - Blue Riband (5 syns)
Dinner - Poppadom (4 syns) with spiced onion (2 syns), vegetable pakora (15 syns - eek!), Bombay potato (7 syns) and pilau rice (2 syns) followed by 2 small chocolates (3 syns)
TOTAL SYNS - 38!!!!!

Food Diary - Sunday 4 May 2014

Breakfast - 2x wholemeal toast (2x HEB) with Philidelphia light (0.5HEA) and tomato
Lunch - Jacket potato with light cheddar (1.5HEA) and salad
Afternoon - Jam tart (7 syns)
Dinner - Vegetable chilli with rice
Evening - Melon
TOTAL SYNS - 7

Another off weekend.....

So things didn't go exactly as I'd planned when I had my Indian meal last night. First of all we were given complimentary poppadoms so I couldn't resist having one. Then, instead of sharing a starter, my partner announced that he was STARVING so wanted one each. I ordered vegetable pakora with intention of only eating half of the portion but, again, I gave in to temptation and ate the lot. My only redeeming moment came when ordering the main course and I insisted that I didn't want any naan bread.

Today has been a little more on plan so hopefully I can see that through until tonight. My partner asked me to get some biscuits when I was at Tesco earlier so I purposely bought ones that I don't like to make sure I don't have any.

Stupidly I forgot to weigh myself on Friday so I'm going to do it tomorrow morning instead. I'm not expecting a loss and, if I'm being honest, even a STS will come as a surprise but I'll just have to wait and see.

Weigh Day

Amazingly, I managed a 0.5lb loss today which has left me at 10st10lb exactly... only 10lb to go....

I'm just sitting here thinking about my week ahead and when I'm likely to manage well with SW and when I'm likely not to...!

Monday - Today should be okay, so far I've been fine and I don't have anything tonight that might throw me off.
Tuesday - I'll be at work until about 4pm then straight to the airport to fly to London. I'll be fine to stay on plan for breakfast and lunch and I'll try not to have any syns while I'm at work. I'll try and take a snack to have at the airport then I'll have dinner at the hotel. I've looked at the menu and think the safest option is the mushroom risotto. Looking at the description, I think I'll only have to syn or HE the parmesan and oil.
Wednesday - I'll be in London all day so I'll have breakfast at the hotel. I'll try and stick with just an omelette and maybe some baked beans and grilled tomato. I won't have much option at lunch. I'm on a course and had to specifically request a vegetarian lunch so I'll probably have to deal with whatever I'm given. I won't have time for dinner as I'll need to trek through London to the airport again then I'll be straight on a flight so I'll try and find some sort of SW-friendly snack at the airport.
Thursday - Back at work so hopefully back on track. I'm going to my partners at night but I'll have dinner first so hopefully no risk of going off track.
Friday - SW-friendly all day at work then I'm heading to my partner's brother's house for a takeaway dinner (Chinese so I'll try and pick the best option) then I'm going to a friend's for a girly night. I'm going to take a bottle wine and stick to only that. I know I'll go way over but if I say I'll drink vodka then I won't be as in control of how many so I think wine is my safer option.
Saturday - Taking my niece swimming and then to a Chinese (again!) for lunch. It's a buffet so hopefully I can resist temptation and stock up on the healthier stuff. I'll be having a couple of drinks with my partner at night but he's already bought me a nice bottle of low-alcohol wine (at my request) so hopefully not too bad.
Sunday - Off to the cinema with Colin's neice in the morning then I should be eating at home the rest of the day so hopefully a fairly on track day.

So it looks like Wednesday will probably be an off day as well as pretty much the whole weekend but, even if I know I'll go over syns, I'll try and keep my SW head on as much as possible so as not to cause too much damage.....

Food Diary - Monday 5 May 2014

Breakfast - Bran Flakes (HEB) with milk (0.5HEA) and banana
Morning - Apple and pear
Lunch - Leftover vegetable chilli and rice
Afternoon - Quavers (5.5 syns)
Dinner - Baked beans on 2x400g loaf wholemeal toast (HEB) with cheese (HEA)
Evening - Wholemeal roll (6 syns)
TOTAL SYNS - 11.5

Looking at your planned week my personal strategy would be to try to keep syns low where you can and work on 105 for the week rather than daily syns

cazdav22355 said:

Looking at your planned week my personal strategy would be to try to keep syns low where you can and work on 105 for the week rather than daily syns

Click to expand...

Thanks, I've done that before and it did work to an extent for me so it might be worth trying again. My only problem is resisting temptation on my 'good' days to save the syns for my 'naughty' days. I can but try though.... x

Food Diary - Tuesday 6 May 2014

Breakfast - Scrambled egg and mushrooms
Morning - Pear and apple
Lunch - Lentil soup with a wholemeal roll (HEB) and banana
Afternoon - Airport snack (TBC later)
Dinner - Mushroom risotto (4 syns + HEA for parmesan)
TOTAL SYNS - 4 (plus more to be added later)

I was gone (again!) but now I'm back....

Unfortunately SW has totally fallen by the wayside over the last few days as a friend of mine has been seriously ill in hospital. The good news is that she's on the mend now though

I weighed in this morning at a whopping 10st 13lb!! I can't think what on earth I've had that would have so much of an impact but it is what it is and I need to try and get back on track this morning.

So, with it being Monday, I'm thinking ahead to what I have on for the rest of the week and how that might affect my staying on track:

Monday - Today should be okay. I've brought my lunch with me to work and will be making my own dinner at home so no reason not to stay on plan.
Tuesday - I'll be at work until about 4pm then straight to the airport to fly to London. I'll be fine to stay on plan for breakfast and lunch and try not to have any syns. I'll probably grab something at EAT at the airport for dinner - probably a salad and some fruit or something similar.
Wednesday - I'll be in London all day so I'll have breakfast at the hotel. I'll try and stick with just an omelette and maybe some baked beans and grilled tomato and/or a bowl of cereal with milk (using my HEs). I won't have much option at lunch. I'm on a course and had to specifically request a vegetarian lunch so I'll probably have to deal with whatever I'm given. There was plenty of fruit last time though so I'll try and fill up on that. I'll then need to eat at the Airport so I'm thinking the penne arrabiata at Garfunkels which will mean a few syns for oil and the fact it'll probably be fresh pasta.
Thursday - Back at work so hopefully back on track. I'll be making my own dinner at home as well so hopefully a good day.
Friday - I've been invited for drinks after work but I'm going to take the car and stick with Diet Cokes. I'll then be sorting out my own dinner so, again, it should be a pretty on track day
Saturday - No plans yet - probably a bit of shopping so if I'm grabbing lunch in town I'll try and steer us toward Subway where I'll likely have a salad where I'll have cheese as my HEAs and use a couple of syns for dressing. I've offered to make dinner so I think I'll do a spicy tomato pasta (with added chorizo) for the other half. I might even make my own garlic bread if I've got any syns and HEBs to play with by then.
Sunday - Taking my friend out for lunch and no idea where I'm going so I'll just have to try and choose as sensibly as possible on the day.

All in all, not a horrendous week. My 'risky/bad' days are probably Wednesday, when I'm in London, and then the weekend. Hopefully I'll save syns the other days though so I can try and do weekly syns rather than daily.