Emily's Journey to a Jawline - including food pics!

[LuhLuhLoser]

Ahh... I woke up early but completely forgot to have breakfast haha. I was working from home and just didn't realise I hadn't eaten anything until 12pm, and then I was starving all of a sudden. Anyway...

Today's food:

Flatbread, hummus, avocado, salady bits, ham, chorizo and chilli jam (425 calories)
Quavers (88 cals)
Flatbread pizza topped with bbq pulled pork, chorizo and port salut cheese, with a salad, and more chilli jam (458 cals)
Raspberries, blueberries, light cream and choc shot (84 cals)

Total calories: 1,045

I should probably try and get some extra calories in later, as I don't want to dip too much under 1,200. We'll see how I feel later! In other good news though, had a quick weigh this morning and it showed 13stone exactly! One more pound to go and I'll get back into the 12's this weekend. I'm trying to really up my fruit/vegetables and stuff, and drink lots of water. Fingers crossed.

Quick lunch pic! It says 450 cals but I checked after and it was 425, had a bit less avocado then I was going to! Might have some avocado with my dinner to up the cals actually. Will report back later! E x

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCK6LQADo7d/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Went on a 30 minute walk/run earlier - feeling really focused at the moment, so going to plan my meals for next week. I'm going to try and have a bit less processed food, and maybe try some lower carb evening options, so here's a rough meal plan for next week:

Steak with creamy mushroom sauce, vegetables and roasted butternut squash
Chicken filo pastry pie, with broccoli and cauliflower
Chicken sausages, with creamy spinach and butternut squash spaghetti
Courgetti beef bolognese with 30g mozzarella
Lamb steaks with sweet potato, roasted tomatoes and green beans
Chicken and green been teriyaki stir fry with rice

Will work out the calories for each meal tomorrow!

E x

 

[Miller2]

Those meals sound lovely, but then your meals always do! x

 

[Chipmunk89]

Hi Emily,

I used to follow your diary a long time ago, and always loved looking at your gorgeous pictures and recipes. Your Beef and Chorizo meatballs are still a firm fave in our house! Just caught up on the last few pages - glad to hear you are doing well in your new house and everything. Hope you smash your target to stay on plan (whether that be SW or CC) and get to where you need/want to be for your fertility tests etc

I lost over 4 stone and got within half a stone of my target in 2014 and then fell pregnant and put 3 stone back on! Baby was 6 months last month so I decided to get back on it! I used to do SW at home but joined a group this time and it's really helped as I just couldn't stay focussed on my own this time - have lost 9.5lbs in 4 weeks... not coming off as fast as I would like but I'm determined to get back to feeling the way I did a couple years ago! Hoping inspiration from your photos/meal ideas will help me along again!

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Hi Emily,

I used to follow your diary a long time ago, and always loved looking at your gorgeous pictures and recipes. Your Beef and Chorizo meatballs are still a firm fave in our house! Just caught up on the last few pages - glad to hear you are doing well in your new house and everything. Hope you smash your target to stay on plan (whether that be SW or CC) and get to where you need/want to be for your fertility tests etc

I lost over 4 stone and got within half a stone of my target in 2014 and then fell pregnant and put 3 stone back on! Baby was 6 months last month so I decided to get back on it! I used to do SW at home but joined a group this time and it's really helped as I just couldn't stay focussed on my own this time - have lost 9.5lbs in 4 weeks... not coming off as fast as I would like but I'm determined to get back to feeling the way I did a couple years ago! Hoping inspiration from your photos/meal ideas will help me along again!

Welcome back and congratulations!!! I just had a quick look at your instagram and he's absolutely gorgeous - and I'm the kind of person who doesn't automatically think every child is cute haha. Glad you're still enjoying the meatballs too! You've done so well before, I'm sure it'll come off eventually. Mine has definitely slowed down, I've been doing this 5 weeks or so and lost about 10lb so far, but I'm not complaining. Any loss is a good loss at the moment lol. I'm confident we'll both smash it this year. Best of luck! x

Got off to an awesome start this morning. I had a breakfast of proscuitto, spinach, cheese and egg - sounds kind of weird but was really, really good! I only used 20g of cheddar, so as a healthy extra it'd be pretty much syn free on SW. I'm not sure how much a slice of proscuitto is but I don't think it'd be much, and I think the intensity of the flavour is what made it so super delish. Here's a quick photo!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCNP6Z3Do2R/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

So today's food plan is looking like this:

Spinach, 20g cheddar, egg and one slice of proscuito (185 cals)
3 Garlic and herb pitta sticks, hummus, veggie sticks, two slices of proscuitto (339 cals)
BBQ Pulled beef, sweet potato, salad and half an avocado (515 cals)
Berries, cream and choc shot (85 cals)

Total calories: 1,123

Depending how I feel later I might grab a packet of quavers to tip my calories of 1,200. Will update later with lunch and dinner photos maybe!

Hope you're all doing good! E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

So I went to chop up an avocado to go with my dinner and the whole thing was just super mush. Sad times! So I swapped it out for 20g of cheese. Not as healthy but slightly lower in cals. Here's some lunch and dinner pics!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCNiyL2jo3j/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCOFw3ADo_j/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

Food plan for tomorrow:

Half a bagel thin topped with hazelnut spread (205 cals)
Creamy spinach, cheese and parma ham gnocchi (418 cals)
Beef bolognese with spaghetti squash and 30g cheese (334 cals)
Sunbites baked pitta crisps (111 cals)
Kiwi (61 cals)

Total cals: 1,129

Got my food shopping coming tomorrow and it's full of lots of fruit and vegetables, so I'm going to try and have focus more on those foods next week! We're going out for dinner with Liam's dad on Saturday, so that will be my 'treat meal' for the weekend.

Hope everyone's had a good day!

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Change of plans already today! I burnt my last bagel, luckily managing to avoid setting the fire alarm off though, but remembed I cut up some bananas and frozen them in little bags agggeees ago, so made a really delicious smoothie! I used spinach, frozen banana, 2 tablespoons of PB2 and 200ml milk, and it was amazing. Because the spinach and banana was frozen, it went really creamy and almost tasted like ice cream.

Food plan for today:

Frozen banana, peanut butter and spinach smoothie (256 cals)
Creamy spinach, cheese and parma ham gnocchi (418 cals)
Beef bolognese with spaghetti squash and 30g cheese (334 cals)
Sunbites baked pitta crisps (111 cals)
Kiwi (61 cals)

Total cals: 1,180

Feeling a bit nervous about weighing in in the morning. I don't know why, I think I'll just be really disappointed if this diet isn't working because I really, reeeally like it. Fingers crossed!

E x

 

[Miller2]

Glad you didn't set the fire alarm off again hehe. That story still makes me chuckle.

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Haha, I still worry every time I cook something.

Today's food has been a bit changed up! I thought I'd have the spaghetti squash for lunch, and I really didn't enjoy it all that much, so then I didn't fancy the gnocchi for dinner. So instead, it's now been a bit more like this:

Food plan for today:

Frozen banana, peanut butter and spinach smoothie (256 cals)
Creamy spinach, cheese, parma and spaghetti squash (230 cals)
Honey and mustard chicken, rice and veggies (454 cals)
Sunbites baked pitta crisps (111 cals)
Berries, choc shot, cream (65 cals)

Total cals: 1,116

Just finished my dinner and feel reeeeally stuffed! Was delicious though. Looking forward to my berries in a bit. I've got no idea where we're going for dinner tomorrow but I'm going to try and keep it minimal for the rest of the day and just enjoy whatever restaurant we end up at. I've also had a wedding invitation for July, so that's given me some extra motivation for staying the course, as I haven't seen the bride in quite a while as we live really far away, and I want to wear a pretty dress!

Non diet related, but is it really inappropriate to wear white to a wedding reception? I've seen a really pretty dress, and she's getting married in Greece and having a BBQ style reception when she gets back (in a very pretty place!), so... is it still frowned upon? This is the dress, and I'd probably wear a colourful cardigan with it or something? Any thoughts appreciated lol.

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

2lbs off!!! And I'm back in the 12s!!! Woop woop woop!

I almost forgot to weigh myself this morning. My dad came over and I'd only just woke up, and in my frantic rush I ate a piece of jam on toast and a cup of tea! And pretty much as soon as he left I was like 'noooo'... and presumed that I was going to weigh 10 extra lbs from said piece of toast. Luckily I was still in the 12's though, it's definitely the motivation I need to keep this up!

Off out for lunch, going to try and keep it relatively healthy tonight though.

E x

 

[Miller2]

Well done! I personally wouldn't wear white to a wedding or a reception but I think it you paired it with a colourful Cardigan, shoes and accessories you'd be ok in that dress. X

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Thanks. I've got a fair bit of time before the wedding so I'll probably change my mind before then but at the moment it's top of my list.

Had a really nice lunch out! I had the slow cooked pork and mash potato, which wasn't in the slightest bit healthy but very tasty and I stopped eating when I was full, which is a rarity for me. I then had a hot chocolate instead of a dessert, which I was really glad about as I tried a bit of Liam's and it just made me feel a bit sick. I've had a small bag of Kinder mini eggs tonight and a chinese style curry with prawn crackers and rice, but that's going to be it for today and in the morning I will be back on my A game ready for a good loss next week.

Quick plan for tomorrow:

Peanut butter and banana smoothie (256 cals)
Eggs, cheese, spinach and parma ham (193 cals)
Courgetti bolognese with 20g cheddar (357 cals)
Skyr Icelandic yogurt (114 cals)
Raspberries (54 cals)

Total calories: 974

Going to do a bit of damage control tomorrow to make up for today, and going to make a full on plan for the rest of the week tomorrow too. Pow pow pow!

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Slight change of plans for today!

Foods:

Raspberry and banana yogurt smoothie (129 cals)
Eggs, asparagus and parma ham (184 cals)
Courgetti bolognese with 20g cheddar (357 cals)
Nakd salted caramel nibbles (138 cals)

Total calories: 788

I'm not really having my calories as low as that on purpose, it's just what I feel like eating today. I'll probably have a few cups of tea or something later to add some extra cals on! Whilst I've got a bit a time, here's my food plan for tomorrow:

PB2 and banana smoothie (256 cals)
Parma ham and avocado flatbread (342 cals)
Chicken and leek filo pastry pie with broccoli and cauliflower (382 cals)

Total calories: 980

Reading that, I just might swap dinners round and have the filo pie tonight! I'll almost definitely be adding some snacks into tomorrows meal plan too, but I'll wait and see what I feel like tomorrow. We're going out for dinner Friday night, and it's not the healthiest restaurant so I'd like to have that as my treat instead of my Saturday treat, so I'm going to weigh myself Friday morning and hope for a decent loss. I'm really trying to focus more on the nutritional side of things now, and hopefully I'll feel better for it. It's starting to get a little bit sunny here and there, and that always makes me want to eat healthier anyways.

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

As I thought, decided to swap dinners and ended up having the chicken filo pie tonight. Will have courgetti tomorrow! It was reeeally good, and I worked it out to be about 3/4 syns on Slimming World for the pastry. I used a tablespoon of corn flour too, but to be honest you could just leave that out. Here are some foodie pics!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCVIKMxDo5S/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCVTuv6joz6/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCV0ST8Do2w/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

I'm at around 800 calories for today, so I might have an options hot chocolate in a bit.

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Mannn. My laptop has died an untimely death, which is terrible, terrible times. I work freelance from home, so literally my work is done on my laptop! I'm waiting for it to be repaired at the moment but until then it's a little harder to get on here than usual.

Diet has been all good though thankfully. I ended yesterday on just over 1,200 calories. Going low carb this week has been a bit harder than I thought it would be but I think I could get used to it. I just don't want to make this toooo hard for myself for the sake of an extra 1lb loss here and there. We'll see how it goes.

Here are my foods for today:

Kiwi and mango (83 cals)
Flatbread, hummus, prosciutto, chorizo, pepper, tomatoes and cucumber (391 cals)
Lamb steaks with saag paneer, mango chutney and a poppadom (453 cals)
Hifi bar lights x 2 (146 cals)

Total calories: 1,073

Will maybe have an extra poppadom and a cup of tea later to bump my calories a bit. Here is my rough food plan for tomorrow:

Frozen banana, PB2 and almond milk smoothie (256 cals)
Avocado, egg and prosciutto on seeded toast (400 cals)
Heck chicken sausages, roasted butternut squash, green beans and roasted tomatoes (271 cals)
Nakd cocoa delight bar (135 cals)

Total calories: 1,062

Food pics from the last few days:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCXnhMuDozz/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCX2mM7jo-i/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCYTzBFjo8s/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCaNEvMDo6U/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCaa6VujozL/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

I can't believe how low in calories chicken sausages are. I also managed to find the paprika flavour ones, so going to have those on Thursday night I think! Will update again tomorrow.

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

My dinner last night was soooo good. I was a bit worried it would be really unsatisfying without rice, but I think the poppadom helped a lot. I'd happily have it again without rice, I might try it with chicken next week.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCa992Rjo7A/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

Change of plan for today, I know I should probably mix it up a bit but I think I'm getting addicted to hummus lol. It's just a really easy and yummy lunch!

Today's food plan:

Raw cacao, banana, PB2 and almond milk smoothie (256 cals)
Hummus platter (400 cals)
Heck chicken sausages, roasted butternut squash, green beans and roasted tomatoes (271 cals)
Nakd cocoa delight bar (135 cals)

Total calories: 1,062

I've got a meal out Friday night and a meal out on Sunday, so I'm thinking if I weigh in Friday morning and I've lost 2lbs, I'll have Friday as my treat night meal and then go extra careful on Sunday to compensate. The Sunday meal is a carvery, so I'll have some element of control which will be much easier to keep healthy. The restaurant we're going to on Friday night is Caribbean food, so it shouldn't be horrendously unhealthy either but I've wanted to go there for ages, so fingers crossed I get a loss and can enjoy a guilt free night!

It will be my week 7 weigh day this week, and it's definitely the longest I've stuck to dieting for a loooong time. Especially not smoking. I'm starting to actually believe that I can do this this year. It sounds a bit much but I've never been slim, not even when I was kid, and I've always struggled with imagining myself not being fat, but I feel confident I can get there. Seeing so many success stories on Instagram has definitely helped, and I think maybe this time round everything has just fit into place a bit more. I love what I'm eating and even if I wasn't dieting, I'd be happy to eat this kind of stuff. I've never been lighter than 11st12 really, and even then it only lasted a week or two lol, so in just over a stone I'll be in brand new Emily territory! And that's something to look forward to.

E x

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Ended up caving and having rice with my dinner last night! I just can't do a low carb meals lol. I don't know why I was so set on trying, I guess some days I just want to lose weight faster than others. There's no point in trying to do something I can't maintain though, that's the opposite of what I've been trying to do this year and what I was doing was working anyways, so we're all good again. I had BBQ pulled pork with rice and broccoli, and it was delicious and filling and under 500 calories. Good times!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCdpGwdjo2R/?taken-by=hopefulhappyhealthy

Today's food plan:

2 x Hifi bar (144 cals)
3 garlic and herb pitta sticks, hummus and red pepper sticks (280 cals)
Heck chicken sausages, mash, gravy and green beans (436 cals)
Raspberries and choc shot (54 cals)

Total calories: 914

I should probably have some more food at some point, but I'm kinda running low until I get my food shop done in the morning. Might have some nutella with my raspberries orrr have a smoothie mid afternoon and an earlier lunch. We're also not going out for a meal tomorrow now, so I think I'm just going to try and be good tomorrow and Saturday and then have what I want on Sunday instead. Here's my rough meal plan for the next week:

Chicken katsu curry with broccoli and rice (450 cals)
Asian BBQ Pulled beef noodles (500 cals)
Slow cooked beef, swede mash and veggies (400 cals)
Indian grilled chicken with spinach curry and poppadom (400 cals)
Courgetti bolognese with 20g cheddar (400 cals)
Chicken fajita with avocado salad (500 cals)

Sorted!

E x

 

[CAPRICORN]

Just wanted to pop in and say I LOVE your diary... and I now "blame" you for my reignited love of avocado ... I have always adored them and seeing your diary shoved me into having them again.... oooh and parma ham... I may never buy myself bacon again....
todays lunch has been kingsmill wholemeal crustless (hexB) with spinach, avocado (4.5) and crispy parma ham (2.5) I have never wanted a sandwich to last so long in my life lol. I think I am finally back to feeding my body (never mind my taste buds)....
keep up the great work

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Haha, thank you! I'll happily take the blame lol. That sandwich is like, my dream sandwich! I don't think anything beats parma ham and avocado together. Most definitely worth the syns! Xx

 

[LuhLuhLoser]

Okay, change of plans. We're not going out for dinner tonight but we are having people round for dinner, and not just any people... vegans! So I've decided to do pasta, and tonight will be my treat night instead of tomorrow. I'm going to eat a tonne of pasta, sour dough bread and oils, and get straight back on it in the morning. I'm making a rhubarb and custard sponge too, so all the yums tonight!



I weighed this morning and only lost 1lb this week, but I'm alright with that. It's a step in the right direction! I'm currently at 12st 12lbs, and considering I once weighed over 16 and a half stone, that's not sooo bad. Can't wait to be in the 11s though!

E x