Ellen's 96lb Challenge!

Ellellie

Full Member
Hi all!

I have been reading the forums for a while now and have finally decided to sign up and get going with a weight loss diary!

I ahve done Slimming World before and am rejoining on Wednesday. As you can guess from the title of this thread, I'm hoping to lose 96lbs and am going to do this in a year! I'm working on the basis that I'll lose an average of 2lbs a week (which I don't think is unreasonable!)

In my household there is myself and my partner. I'm in charge of the food and he is in charge of the excercise. We are off for a brisk bike ride and jog tomorrow (Joy of joys!)

I hope by keeping this weight loss thread I'll remain motivated, I know I'll certainly be getting lots of ideas (from the recipe threads ;))

I'm also really looking forward to being part of this fantastic community!

Ellen xxx
 
Hi Ellen,

Welcome to Minimins and welcome back to SW. I think 96lbs in a year is definitely doable but to keep up 2lbs a week every week will be challenging. Good luck and hope it goes well.

Gail x
 
Hi Gail, thanks for your kind reply! I think it's doable too, I'm hoping to just average at 2lbs a week (I'm a bit of a statistics geek so will be making graphs and everything to go along with my weight loss!)

I managed my bike ride today, but my god it was hellish! Cold air outside and aching legs. But I managed to complete my goal and am feeling pumped up! I've come back and cleaned the floors and do all the laundry!

Lasange for tea tonight using left over mince from spag bol last week. Lots of lovely veg on the side, yum!

Ellen xxx
 
Not so lovely veg on the side of my lovely lasange last night as the veg man over the road only had brussels and parsnips!! :mad: Grrrr! I mashed the parsnips up with some spices and roasted them with the SW chips I was making and thye turned out ok i suppose :sigh:

My exercise for the day has been yoga on the Wii, back is killing me now but I jsut keep telling myself that it's worth it! For tea, my wonderful boyfriend made Mexican Pork and savory rice, it was the best meal I've had for ages! and it was syn free!! I'll include the reciepe tomorrow.

I also worked out a meal planner for our shopping. Every day just after tea, I'll decided what we are having in two weeks time. Then write a list in my diary of the fresh stuff I need to buy on the day and a shopping list for the thursday fortnightly shop. Also a whiteboard on the fridge with the menu on 'bistro' style with syns and red/green/EE day so at a glance I can see what day I'm on! :innocent0002: I'm such an organisational geek :D Hopefully it will last!

What do you guys do to organise your menus?

Ellen xxx
 
I'm nowhere near that organised ! I try to plan what I'm having when I do my shop but I'm not always very good at it. I tend to make a lot of the same stuff though because I don't have enough time to sit down and plan all my meals with recipe books etc. I have a rough idea of the main ingredient of my main meals and whether I've got time to cook something for that day but that's about it !! It works ok for me though because it's a LOT more organised than I was before SW.....!

Looking forward to your recipe tomorrow.

Gail x
 
I thought I wouldn't have the time but I've made a resolution to carve out more time to do the things that I want to do and one of those things is losing weight and exercising! I like making the same things over and over again too, I guess I'm going to have to have a look at some of the ingredients to make sure they are the right (low fat) ones though!

As promised, here is the recipie for the wonderful Spicy Pork with Mexican rice! We made half the pork mix and all the rice and had the rice for lunch cold today...my office mate was so jealous!

For the spicy pork:
Fry light
Salt and pepper
1lb/454g pork tenderloin fillet
6 rashers of bacon, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin (we just used seeds)
¼ tsp ground cloves
1½pt/852ml chicken or beef stock (we used chicken)
4 Jalapeño chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 x 400g cans pinto beans, drained
2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
a small handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped


For the rice:
1 onion, finely chopped
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cumin (again used seeds)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
½ red pepper, finely diced
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
400g red kidney beans, drained weight
400g sweetcorn, drained
454g cooked long grain rice
Lime juice, to taste (we used lemon)

Method:
Takes around 3 hours but it is totally worth it!

  1. Heat a pan with fry light, season the pork with salt and pepper. Place in the pan with the bacon. Fry until brown
  2. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, cumin and cloves. Fry for 1-2 mins.
  3. Pour in stock and bring to the boil. Lightly simmer, uncovered for 2 hours. (We had to add a little stock towards the end as it was looking a bit dry)
  4. Add the chillies and beans, continue to simmer for 30 mins, or until the sauce is thick and sticky.
  5. Meanwhile, fry the onion, cinnamon, cumin, garlic and red pepper in fry light for 4-5mins. Stir in the tomatoes, kidney beans and sweetcorn and fry for a further 3-4mins.
  6. Add the cooked rice and stir until throughly heated throught. Remove from heat and add lime juice to taste.
  7. Add the tomatoes, stir well and serve!
I had a dollop of quark on the side to cool it down. My boyfriend was in the jungles of Central America over the summer and ate ALOT of Mexican food and he said this was the most authentic Mexican food he had eaten since being back. I think when we have it again, I'll factor in a tortilla and have it as a burrito!

Big post today as a rejoined SW group tonight! Have got my new pack and am ready to go! I'm feeling really motivated and can't wait for the pounds to start dropping off!

Ellen xxx
 
Also, this is now my 101lb challenge as I misjudged my weight by 5 pounds!
d%27oh.gif
 
I forgot I started this thread! *ashamed*

Well since the last time I posted I signed up for a 10k run in June! Hopefully I will have lost half towards my target by then and won't be too dead by the end of it! I'll be raising money for the Leeds Children Hospital (I work at the hospital) My OH and I have started training last week and I am soooo achey, but I just think of the weight I'm gonna lose and how good it's gonna feel to finish!
 
Well done. That will really help I'm sure. Hope the running goes well.

Gail x
 
gl12282 said:
Well done. That will really help I'm sure. Hope the running goes well.

Gail x

Thanks :)

We are starting the c25k plan on Saturday, should be really helpful in getting my running off to a good start since I'm a complete novice! My every supportive mam said when I told her what we are doing "your going to get black eyes!" lol
 
Ooh, I would love to have your determination. I used to love running and really want to get back into it. I tried last year with C25K but gave up after about 2 runs... I am going to try again this year but not sure i would be confident enough to enter a 5k race, let alone a 10k!! x
 
Hi Ellen, I've just started C25K too - week 1, day 2 today and my muscles are still aching from day 1! I've signed up for a race for life in June, so hopefully that will keep me going!

Good luck on your weight loss and running journey! x
 
Thanks for all your words of encouragement!

My determination stems from my desire to have children. I have PCOS and am 7 stone over weight, which isn't a good combination! I went to the doctor at the hospital before Christmas and he told me that I have to lose weight, obviously, not just because of the health risks involved with being over weight, but because if it should come to the point that my partner and I need assistance, they will not consider helping until I am a healthy weight. Perfectly sensible advice, but it does rather push you to do something about your future! So a few aches and pains now is going to be made up by a few little bundles of joy! Not a bad reward I feel :p

We are doing our first run on Sunday (after what is going to be quite a heavy night drinking :-S) hopefully I'll survive to tell the tale the next day! Tonight we are going to a karate session for a free trial. I did karate when I was younger and got to orange belt, although I'm a bit worried about my old(er!) joints and if they will stand up to 2hours of kicking and pinching imaginary foe!

What motivates you guys to stay on track?

Xxx
 
Hi Ellen

Well done on a good start!

I'm much closer to the end of my weight loss plan, but still in the early stages of getting running, like you!

I'm into Wk3 of C25k, and still going strong.
And I've entered the 10k Race for Life in June.
So that's my first target.
And strangely, that doesn't seem too scary.
Probably partly because there's no question that I wouldn't be able to walk it, and loads of people will be walking, so I won't feel as though I'm on my own if I can't run it all.
I want to be able to run it though, because...

... I've also - very stupidly in my opinion - put myself into the ballot for the Great North Run! :eek:
There's quite a big part of me that really hopes I won't get in! But a little bit (which I hope will grow, over time) says that if I can do 10k in June - and I'm sure I can if I stick with the C25k and then work beyond it - then I can build up to a half marathon in 3 more months, cos by then I'll really be a runner!

(Yeah - who am I kidding???)

Whatever happens, doing this is going to get us fitter, isn't it.
And that can only be a good thing.
I think.
Probably.
Though not when I'm actually out there, trying to run.
Not yet, anyway. I'll get there!
And so will you. Maybe we should all be virtual running buddies. What do you think?
 
Think virtual running buddies is a awesome idea! I'll certainly be here updating you all with my tales of stumbles and victories and love reading about everybody's success!

By the time you get to the Great North Run you WILL be a fully fledged runner! I never thought I'd ever do anything like a jog around the park, but one day I just thought "push further and you might surprise yourself" I'm like you in that I don't like the idea of just walking it, it's not an easy walk but I want to get to the finishing line after weeks of probably the hardest work of my life and think "I've run all this way, I've trained my hardest and I deserve this" I haven't got any plans to do another 10k or marathon this year, but maybe I'll get the running bug and I'll get myself signed up to everything!

Do you do any other training other than c25k or are you just a 3 times a week kinda guy? :p
 
Well, I'm trying to build up my general fitness. Cos it's all very well being a lot lighter, but I don't like the idea of having as much saggy skin as I used to have saggy fat!
(Sorry for putting that image in your head! TMI, obviously.)

So I'm swimming at least once a week (I try to make it a couple of times, but it's slipped a bit recently!), and at the moment I'm doing a very vicious exercise DVD most evenings. It's Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (there's a thread about it on here).

But once I've done the DVD for a month, I'll slow down on that, and just build up the running and slimming, I think.

I REALLY REALLY want to get to the point of actually ENJOYING the exercise! When does that kick in???
 
Back again!

Day 2 of C25K, got our running pace down to 12minutes/mile, which was good considering it was sooooo windy outside today! We are doing it; Sunday, Wednesday and Fridays. Fridays are going to be tough because we have started going to a local karate group! So a lot to fit into the evening after work! But I suppose it stops the temptation to go round the corner to my friends house an start drinking! A perfect excuse ;-) how is everyone else going with the running?

Going to sit down and sort out my menu for the week after next. I do two weekly menus, so I know what I'm having and need to buy everyday and in our fortnight shop, uber organised but it's been working really well! Have been eating much better for the organisation. Pizza tonight when OH comes back from extra karate class! Om nom nom! :)
 
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