Chloe's Crusade to Slim

CloBow

Full Member
The 4th April 2010 was a hot, sunny afternoon. I decided it was about time I dug out my summer clothes and slipped on a pair of denim shorts I had bought the year before. Except the denim shorts that had been snug the previous summer wouldn't even button up on me.

Despite having been unhappy with my weight for years, I'd let it creep on and this was the last straw. I HAD to do something about it. So I clicked on my laptop and found my nearest Slimming World group - a 10 minute walk from my house. That was it, I was going to join on Tuesday night and maybe, just maybe, this time my weight loss journey would be different.

I was incredibly nervous, but in all honesty, more embarrassed, that at 24 years old I was attending a club to help me shed my excess weight. However, the moment that I stepped foot into the group – my mindset changed. This wasn’t a place where overweight people were scolded and embarrassed, where you were told to run to work and back everyday whilst living on a diet of celery and water. This was a place where women (and a few brave chaps) came together to support each other, help, advise and motivate each other towards one common goal.

It was brilliant.

My consultant Julia explained everything to me and I had my first weigh in. I rocked up at 13st 10lbs – heavier than I had ever imagined I was, but I was so ready to do something about it. I set a target to lose 4st 10lbs to get down to a round 9 stone.

Something inside my mind changed that night. It’s hard to pinpoint, but this was different. I was so determined to do this for myself – more so than I’d ever been on any other fad diet. To this day I genuinely believe this mindset is what has carried me through my journey so far.

17 weigh ins later and I have managed to lose 2stone 1lbs, something I never thought possible in such a short period of time.

I never stick to the plan 100% every week, life gets in the way. But every time I have one too many Percy Pigs or a sneaky biscuit, I give myself a wiggle and make up for it by cooking up syn free feasts or adding an extra 10 minutes onto my walk into town.

Slimming World genuinely has changed my life for the better – none of my old clothes fit any more, they’re too big. My friends compliment me every time they see me that I’m looking better and healthier. I’m more confident, especially at work when I have to present to large groups of people. I can walk faster and further without getting out of breath. I really owe it all to Food Optimising for helping me understand how I can eat, but make wise choices.

The ladies at my group have become my friends, Tuesday nights have become my night and I can’t wait to see what successes I have each week.

This weight loss diary is going to be my companion for the rest of my journey where I can hopefully share ideas, successes and motivations with anyone else on the same exciting journey to slim.

So welcome to Chloe’s Crusade to Slim :D

C xx
 
Wow - well done girly, not only for your weight loss, but also you're writing, it's like it's come directly from the SW magazine, really motivating, well done again and can't wait to hear the rest of your story. x
 
Thankyou lovely! Working for Slimming World magazine would be a dream come true, but I wouldn't even know where to start! I'm looking forward to sharing my tales too...even if I do talk a bit too much! xx
 
Evening All,

So I thought I’d give you a little update on my day today – even though it’s fairly unexciting as far as food goes...

I was in London all morning for a work meeting at a super-s****y PR agency, which, as nice as it was (sitting on a chair that resembled a ‘CTRL’ button on a keyboard) – came with a minefield of healthy eating dilemmas. We were greeted in a room with a table laden with croissants, danishes, pastries, muffins and crumpets. I’d already had breakfast (several pieces of fruit and a Muller yoghurt) but one glimpse of the devilishly tempting buffet was enough to set my stomach rumbling!

Somehow I managed to resist all of the goodies in front of me, even though they were left on the table throughout the duration of the 4 hour meeting. Instead I drank tea from some super-stylish glass teacups using the milk as my HA option for the day – feeling like something from a Twinings advert with my aesthetically beautiful but totally impractical crockery.

Lunch consisted of pub-grub with a colleague but I managed to order a spicy chilli con carne jacket with side salad (all syn free) washed down with a diet coke.

The commute home was fairly hellish as expected. I only live 30 miles outside of London but I really hate trains. Actually, I hate commuters. Actually, I hate a small minority of commuters who make journeys miserable for normal folk. You know the ones I mean. The ones who are incredibly sweaty having run for their train and insist on holding the high rails so their armpits are in your face. The ones who insist on coughing/sneezing/spluttering everywhere but in a hanky. The ones who break out a curried tuna sarnie in a packed train only to stink out a whole carriage. I do admire those people who manage to commute in and out of London everyday and maintain their sanity.

I made a conscious effort to walk up and down the stairs in all stations I travelled through instead of getting the escalators as a little bit extra body magic for the day (even though I did regret this at Piccadilly with its 200+ steps to get out!).

When I made it home I had a snack whilst checking my emails and facebook, which consisted of Ryvita (HB) topped with sliced tomato, pinch of salt and fresh basil leaves. Absolutely perfect for a quick, tasty and syn free snack!

As I’m home alone tonight (my better half works Wednesday evenings) – I’ll be tucking into yesterdays leftovers. Yesterday I used the Lamb and Turnip Rogan Josh recipe from the Slimming World ‘One Pot Wonders’ book and my gosh...it...is....fabulous! It was so easy to make and tasted absolutely delicious! We’re huge curry fans in our house and even though this recipe was totally syn free – it stood up against the curry-house take away favourites. The only thing I would say is next time I’ll halve the amount of chilli as it packed a punch!

All this talk of my dinner has made me fancy it now so I’ll sign off for the evening to tuck in and catch up on Eastenders (I wonder what ridiculous storyline will unfold today..) before hitting the shower and nestling into bed with Harry Potter (the book, not the child).

Write Soon,

C xx
 
Morning All,

Apologies I didn't get chance to update yesterday - we had unexpected visitors in the form of my Grandparents, which whilst it was brilliant to see them, meant a late night and no MM time for me!

Yesterday was a fairly standard Thursday, nothing out of the ordinary to contend with food wise. I knew I had a busy day at work ahead of me so I made sure I had plenty of grazing food to hand, as you can see below:

Snackage.jpg


(brownie points for anyone who can deduce where I work from this picture!)

I also tried mugshots for the first time yesterday as I'd heard about them on these forums. They were 3 for £1 in Asda so I tried the Creamy Cheese Pasta one. It was OK but a bit watery so I'm going to try the noodle ones today I think!

Once I got home it was time to start thinking about dinner. There wasn't much in the house so we opted to cook up the Slimming World recipe Chilli Con Carne. It was so easy to make, really quick and tasted lovely. I've never made chilli from scratch before, I used to use a jar and just tip it in and mix! I'd definately recommend this one for anyone wanting a quick, tasty and Syn free tea!

ChilliConCarne.jpg


Anyhoo's I'll sign off for this morning as I should technically start some work now :)

We're off for dinner tonight to a new restaurant that's opened up in our town with some friends so I also need to check the menu ahead of arriving to assess my options!

Happy Friday everyone,

Cx
 
Hi All,

I just had to share with you my lunch today (the picture just doesn't do it justice!).

Grilled Steak (rare for me)
Mixed 'slaw salas (brocolli, cabbage, carrot, peppers)
Topped with dried noodles

Oooooh yes!!

LUNCH.jpg


Cx
 
Hello there CloBow

Now THAT looks like my kind of lunch :eating:-and I didn't really eye up what looked like a cob/bun/roll/bap *depending where everyone is from* -honest :whistle:
Just wanted to pop in and say well done on your loss so far :happy036:and for fending off all those temptations at your meeting :clap:
Im glad to see the lamb + turnip rogan josh was nice as I have been thinking of doing that, now I know its good I will give it a whirl :D
Look forward to following your journey..
keep up the great work ;)
 
oooh that steak looks yummy!!
Have enjoyed reading your posts because I'm nosy so I will look forward to reading more :)
Hope you are well
 
Hello there CloBow

Now THAT looks like my kind of lunch :eating:-and I didn't really eye up what looked like a cob/bun/roll/bap *depending where everyone is from* -honest :whistle:
Just wanted to pop in and say well done on your loss so far :happy036:and for fending off all those temptations at your meeting :clap:
Im glad to see the lamb + turnip rogan josh was nice as I have been thinking of doing that, now I know its good I will give it a whirl :D
Look forward to following your journey..
keep up the great work ;)

Well spotted eagle-eyed lady! That to be precise was a BBQ chicken and bacon bap which my friend had - with lashings of chips! In all honesty though, mine looked much better and was only £4.99, bargain!

You should definitely give the Lamb Rogan a whirl - my only tip would be to halve the amount of chilli if you're not a super spicy fan!

Thanks for your encouragement sweetness - it's always lovely to hear and batting it right back at ya' for your journey too xx
 
oooh that steak looks yummy!!
Have enjoyed reading your posts because I'm nosy so I will look forward to reading more :)
Hope you are well

It most definitely was LeeLea - I'm going to try and recreate it at home one evening :)

Glad you enjoy my ramblings, I'm nosey too I'm always on here reading everyone elses!

xx
 
Love your posts!
They make for a really interesting read, and I love that you're including photographs!
Keep up the good work my dear! xxx
 
Morning all!

Hope everyone is having happy, slimming-friendly weekends! Why is it that staying on track is just so much harder at the weekend? You’d think when we’ve got more time to prepare meals and plan ahead it would be easier!

So as mentioned, we went out for dinner last night with a couple of friends to a restaurant that has only recently opened in our town. Unfortunately it was absolutely awful.

Now we’re not restaurant snobs by any stretch, but when you are paying £15 upwards for a main course, you’d expect it to be more than average. Alas, the food in this particular restaurant was barely average – so needless to say we won’t be going back.

My three companions all opted for starters (I was saving my syns for pudding) and had various items including venison terrine, red onion and goats cheese tart and a mozzarella/tomato salad. These actually looked quite tasty so I was more than ready when mains came out!

As I was on an EE day (as always) I had opted for:


Freshly seared tuna on quinoa with a zingy mango and tomato salsa with lime and coriander and a touch of chili and ginger”



Unfortunately my tinned tuna on a bed of cold quinoa (kind of like a plain cous cous) and mushy salsa didn’t live up to the description and I just picked around it. L

The other meals were the same story, which was a real shame as we’ve got some lovely restaurants nearby we could have chosen instead as our Friday treat out.

However! Every cloud does have a silver lining! As our main meals had been so bad – we didn’t even dare to try dessert so those syns I had banked didn’t get used – which hopefully will help me out on Tuesday’s date with the scales!

We finished of the night with several beverages in our favourite local – I was the DD so on diet coke all evening but enjoyed it all the same J

So this morning I decided to whip up something more interesting than cereal for breakfast and we had egg and bacon sarnies – yum! I trimmed all the fat off the bacon and grilled everything so syn free (using my one slice of bread as my HB) – topped off with a tiny squidge of Tommy Ketchup (2 syns).

bacon.jpg


Tonight we’re out again for my Mum’s birthday so more forward planning! We’re going to a really lovely little Italian restaurant that we’ve been to many times before. The family run restaurant are so helpful and flexible with their menu that it’s really easy to food optimise there. I think I might go for the Spaghetti and Meatballs (as they make them from scratch to order and do mine with no oil) – possibly with a tomato and onion side salad. It’s already making me hungry just thinking about it! I’ll try and get some snaps of my dinner tonight to share J

Anyways lovelies – have fabulous Saturdays and I’ll be back on tomorrow letting you know how it went!

Cx
 
Morning All!

Well, to make up for Friday night, last night was absolutely fabulous!!

We went out for my Mum’s birthday to a lovely Italian restaurant which was just perfect. The place, the atmosphere, the service, the company and most importantly...the food! Here’s how it went..

I decided not to drink (I find cutting out alcohol really helps speed up my weight loss, especially as my tipple of choice is red wine!) so I was on the fizzy water all night, but happy to do so.
For starters I had melon with Parma ham (making sure I cut as much visible fat off the ham as possible) which was lovely. I’d forgotten how simple this dish was to make and will be making it more at home for quick and tasty lunches!

melonandham.jpg


For my main course I had gnocchi (1.5 syns) with a tomato and basil sauce – topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella (28g – HA) and it was amazing. So filling and tasty – made even better by the fact it was guilt free! Here’s a pic of my dinner before I tucked in:

gnocci.jpg


Oh, and here is what my other half treated himself too!

fiorentina.jpg


When dessert rolled around I was genuinely so full I declined – despite home made Italian icecream being on the menu! My mum’s partner even commented on my self-control come pudding time, which was lovely to hear as it’s nice to think people notice when you are making good choices!

This morning I also have some exciting news I wanted to share with you all. Prior to starting Slimming World I was a comfortable size 18 and this morning I fitted into a size 14 dress!!! I’m going to a wedding next week and I ordered the dress to come in a size 14 by accident, it should have been a 16, so when I managed to get into it I was gobsmacked! I’m tempted to put a picture up to show you but I’m not sure as I’m brave enough just yet :)

I’m going to try and fit in a swim this morning before my friend comes over this afternoon so I’ll let you know if I get there.

Fingers crossed this weekend has put me in good stead for Tuesday WI.

Happy Sundays everyone,

Cx
 
oooooh Clowbow

That food looks nice again -and yours looks much tastier than your OHs :clap:

If you aren't keen on posting a piccie -you could always "cut your head off" so no-one knows who you are ;)
although at a size 14 I would want the world to know :p
:happy096:eek:n the shrinking size by the way! and :cross: for Tuesday..
Have a good afternoon and keep up the great work !!
 
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