back on the sw wagon

[DonnaMT66]

Here we go again - started WW in January and since then have dabbled with Atkins, Harcombe, back to WW and a bit of Rosemary Conley. The overall result has been a gain of 9lbs! Dieting for me has been like facing a full tin of Quality Street, takes ages to choose one and then always wish I'd tried another first! So this is going to need an iron-willed approach. I can't justify spending any more money on clubs or online diets, have spent a small fortune this year. Which is why this site is a god-send. I did SW a few years ago and still have the joining pack, which includes EE. Have plumped for SW because it seems like it will require less thought - all that point counting did my head in. It seems what I need to remember, and the bit that let me down last time on SW, is to always have a third fruit/veg/salad with everything.

I'm a full-time research student, also have grown up children at home and an adorable grandson away from home, who I try to see whenever I can. In addition I work weekends, so life's pretty busy and my brain is constantly engaged with academic stuff. Enjoy cooking though, and already started looking through my collection of cook books for adaptable recipes, which hopefully I'll be able to share on here.

 

[DonnaMT66]

Not a bad day so far Had to have a trip to town, but avoided the coffee shops. Spent a pleasant half hour browsing clothes in M&S for inspiration. This morning I cooked a big pan of minestrone, from a Nigella recipe. I can't figure out how to attach photos here, so have started a blog and putting them in there.

30g chocolate bran (1xHB) with sliced banana and milk from HA allowance

Nigella's minestrone soup

Chicken thighs for dinner later, with a Greek herb sauce and maybe a jacket spud if I can be arsed going to the shop again!

snacks so far: 1 pear, 1 small tub of mixed fruit - blueberries, mango fingers and kiwi fruit - that was yum!

 

[DonnaMT66]

It's Friday, and while everyone else is looking forward to the weekend, for me the weekend means doing my extra job. I'm a full time research student during the week and work weekends at a museum. It's an all day on my feet sort of job, and I've gained well over a stone since I started there just over 12 months ago. One of the big issues I have is being properly organised, and all too often we end up getting a take away or something that will slip in the microwave, which is never filling and gets padded out with chocolates and crisps later in the evening.

Today I went shopping, and think I've picked up enough groceries to cook some fairly easy and quick recipes. I got some of those cook from frozen chicken breasts in Iceland. These are great, can be poached in about 20 minutes and then added to a sauce

So far today: 2 quorn sausage, 2 eggs, mushrooms (brekkie)

ham salad with a spoonful of sweet pickle 1.5 syns

1 small wholemeal roll with 2 teaspoons of flora light and 2 teaspoons of raspberry jam (I think Hexb and 5 syns)

dinner tonight will be tagliatelle similar to the recipe in this months SW magazine, but with some adjustments. Thinking of doing salmon instead of chicken and leaving out the mushrooms.

 

[Emmaline]

Hi Donna, Well done on keeping things going so far!
It's a real struggle sometimes isn't it?!

What a young gran you are..and so much to do in your life. It must make things doubley difficult to keep on track but it will be well worth it in the end.
As you can see I am not on SW.. don't understand it tbh!..

All the very best to you for your continuing journey..

 

[DonnaMT66]

Hi Emmaline - what a lovely name - and thank you! Life is pretty full, but I'm lucky to be doing some really exciting things.

I can see you've been successful with low -carbing, it must feel great to have lost so much. Good luck with it all, though you've clearly done so well you can't help but succeed!

 

[DonnaMT66]

Four pounds off this week - not a bad start. Had a weekend of working and feeling ridiculously tired. All I had to do was stand behind a counter. I was reminded again how unfit I am. When I started this job I used to always take the stairs up to the kitchen for lunch, now it makes me feel like I've been really knocked about! There are quite a few stairs, but only two floors up. I should be able to do this - 18 months ago I was running almost 5k in the mornings, couldn't do it now. I get all puffed out and ache all over when I get home. Fit for nothing!

So, next plan of action is to start up with some gentle exercise. Just walking to start with - I catch the bus everywhere, and today I walked two bus stops away. It was quite a nice walk, and will keep adding to it.

Had some nice food, and today there was a SW recipe I found on a blog, the recipe was for chicken in coke, but I used beef strips. The beef was a bit chewy, but the sauce was good and I'll definitely do it again with chicken. I think it would work with quorn, and maybe even sausages too. I served it with rice and a third plate full of salad greens.

Onwards and downwards I hope!

 

[Emmaline]

Congrats on the 4lb loss! :clap: And well done on taking to walking..should help even more for getting to your goal.

 

[DonnaMT66]

Not had the best day today - been totally distracted by decorating and dissertation writing - diet has gone right out of the window! Sat down this evening and ran through a million excuses of why I didn't stick to plan, then ate some chocolate, then felt sorry for myself and got the ice cream out to soften. Then for some reason I though of Rosemary Conley - no I'm not switching diet already (that would be a record even for me!) - but I remembered she does these little pep talk videos. I checked, and it's not just for members. They're really good, and I watched one on willpower and one on binge eating. Really helpful, not a bit patronising or sterile, just good honest advice. Definitely worth checking out, whatever diet you're following - just google Rosemary Conley TV - there are also short exercise vids too. No need to subscribe, it's all free. I'm going to put that ice cream back in the freezer now :break_diet:

 

[Emmaline]

Yay! to returning icecream!
Really annoying when things pop up and spoil a good start to the day..glad R.C. came to the rescue.
At least you are still trying to mend old habits, it takes a little while for things to change round sometimes. Keep going and I'm sure you will be in the zone soon with no distractions ... or very few anyway.

 

[DonnaMT66]

Well. It's been a pretty eventful week, and I have to sheepishly apologise for my lack of posting. I've been utterly distracted from SW by a site I found called Nutracheck. Which I've joined, because it was cheap and I'm a sucker for a gadget. So now I'm calorie counting - one of the things I've discovered is that I have no idea at all of the calorie contents of anything - such as potatoes or chicken or whatever. I could reel off points and have a good guess at syns. But not the actual calories. This has intrigued me. The weekend has been as chaotic as the week ended up being, and yesterday I couldn't even face work. Mostly because I feel overwhelmed with all sorts of things right now - but that's no excuse. So, calorie counting -and if I change my mind by the end of the week again, please someone just shoot me!!

I'm not sure this is the right place to post now, so going to look at other boards.

 

[Emmaline]

Hope the CC goes well Donna. I lost most of my weight doing that and actually still CC along with the watching carbs,
Have you tried MFP for CC?Really good site for that.