Extra Easy: Danielle's SW Journey

Glossy Box

I noticed a thread the other day discussing Graze boxes. I used to have one every week, and some of the things you get in them are really yummy! Others, not so great...

Then I thought to myself, why am I spending over £15 a month on a box of food that I might not like when it gets here?! Why am I spending the money on food when I am trying to lose weight and feel happy about the way I look?! So I decided to cancel my subscription to Graze and spend a lot less on a monthly Glossy Box!

A Glossy Box is a monthly package that includes beauty products that are best suited to you. And they're not just little mini sample versions. They are full size products that cost a fortune in the shops! For my first Glossy Box in January I received a Maybelline Smokey Eyes mascara, a Gillette Sensitive Skin razor with soap attached (so no need for shaving gel, etc.), a Rituals Miracle Balm hand cream, and a nude lip gloss. In this month's Glossy Box I received body lotions and creams, a pair of tweezers (with a pretty pattern on) and an eye mask to help tired eyes in the morning.

How fab is that?! A whole Glossy Box costs £10+P&P, but the products you get can be worth £40 odd in total! You get a little card explaining what each product is and how much it costs to purchase at retail price.

To set up, you create a profile online where you are asked different questions about yourself, i.e. your skin tone, favourite make up product, etc. And you get products in your Glossy Box based on your answers.

I just figure why spend the money on food when you can spend the money on making yourself look and feel fab? That's the whole point of losing weight isn't it?!

Try it girls, you won't regret it... Plus the Glossy Box is a different style each month and they're so pretty, and you can re-use them like I do for storing make-up, jewellery, etc.

I love them, and I much prefer them to Graze boxes! :p
 
Wednesday's Diary!

Well I've been a good girl and visited the gym tonight! :D

Here is today's food diary...

Breakfast: Skipped again :wave_cry: but I will be buying Alpen Light bars in this week's shop like I used to, seeing as I seem to just be using my HEXB at night because I have it spare!
Lunch: Same as yesterday! Jacket potato with a mix of HEXA cheese, ham, spring onions and 2 tbsp. 70% less fat salad cream (2 syns) I loved it so much yesterday I wanted more!! Also, a few of my crustless quiches (lost count :eek:)
Snacks: An After Eight :p (2 syns) and a third of a Graze Summer Berry Flapjack (4 syns) - Graze! I'm such a hypocrite I know! ;)Tea: Gammon (no fat), chips in the Actifryer (2 syns for oil), 1 tbsp. tomato ketchup (1 syn), pickled beetroot and HEXA wholemeal bread with 1 tbsp. Clover lighter (3.5 syns)

Total: 14.5 syns :)

I'm quite sad that I only have half a syn left, as I could just eat another After Eight :p never mind... I will resist!
 
Arrggghhh!

Busy busy yesterday! So I'll have to give you yesterday's diary now.. and guess what? I CHEATED :cry:

Here goes...

Breakfast: An After Eight :sigh: (2 syns)
Lunch: Ran out of potatoes but didn't realise until last minute, so I had to plump for a Tesco's own Chicken & Mushroom pot noodle, which are actually scrummy by the way! (5.5 syns). I also had a snack on the filling I made for my jacket, shredded seafood sticks mixed with 1 tbsp. of Colman's seafood sauce (this is the lowest syn seafood sauce I've found at 2 syns per tbsp.)
Tea: This is where we hit trouble. A friend who lives away came home and asked me out for tea. I had a chicken and bacon salad with a little bit of parmesan on top (HEXA :p)... It could have been worse! I nearly had hunters chicken and chips! And I had one slice of garlic bread (HEXB :p) It really was only a small piece of white bread so I can count it as HEXB right? Anyway, I drank diet coke with this, then some other friends showed up and one bought me a Strawberry & Lime Kopparberg!! (Cider) It was quite expensive so I felt awful and drank it... I'm such a good friend. :p I have no idea of the syns of any of this and I don't want to know - all I know is it's way over my allowance and I'm happy to leave it at that!

So actually it could have been a hell of a lot worse than what it was, but I still cheated :(

I plan on being extra good today to make up for it though. I've had a raspberry & chocolate muller yoghurt for my breakfast today which is free (it's a new limited edition one and it's DIVINE) and I'll probably have spaghetti hoops on toast for dinner :)

I'll update you on the rest of today's munchies later on tonight :p Bring on the telling-offs! :cry:
 
You won't get a telling off from me... your food sounds super-restrained... I'd have had the chips!

Bet you had a great night with your mates right? That's worth a day off plan every so often x
 
You won't get a telling off from me... your food sounds super-restrained... I'd have had the chips!

Bet you had a great night with your mates right? That's worth a day off plan every so often x

I must admit I pondered over the menu for a very long time, and I normally would have just cheated altogether and gone for the chips, so I'm very proud of myself! I'm getting stronger!

It was a great night :) x
 
Weigh In!

Apologies for not posting my diary yesterday, it was another busy day!

I had my weigh in this morning and I have stayed the same which I am quite happy with considering I cheated! And I only visited the gym once...

Here is yesterday's diary:

Breakfast: Raspberry & chocolate Muller yoghurt
Lunch: I cooked the SW tuna pasta bake from the website for me and the OH which is 1 syn per portion! And I added some cheese for my HEXA. I'll post the recipe below :) Also snacked on 2 After Eights (4 syns)
Tea: OH treated me to a carvery tea, so it was gammon (no fat) and lots of veg. I had a little gravy too but I had 10 syns left so it wasn't a big deal :) and I drank Diet Coke :D

I know I can post recipes in the World Recipes thread but I do like putting them on here as well :) they're part of my journey! :D So here is the recipe for the tuna pasta bake I made for lunch yesterday. I made a few changes which I've written in italics...

Ingredients
1 x 200g can tuna in brine (I used two)
Juice of ½ lemon (Didn't have a lemon at home so didn't use)
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes (Didn't have this so used a box of tomato passata instead)
1 tbsp capers, rinsed (optional) (Bleugh, didn't use)
700g leftover cooked pasta tubes or shapes (700g is way too much! I ended up throwing a lot of it away because it just wouldn't fit in the dish!)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
25g fresh white breadcrumbs
Low calorie cooking spray, for spraying the breadcrumbs
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (Didn't have any so didn't use)

Method
1. Drain the tuna and flake with a fork into small chunks. Put the tuna in a shallow ovenproof dish and squeeze the lemon juice over the top.
2. Add the spring onions, chopped tomatoes, capers (if using) and cooked pasta. Mix lightly together and season with salt and pepper.
3. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top and spray lightly with low calorie cooking spray.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6 for 20-25 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown on top. (I took the dish out of the oven 10 mins before the end and sprinkled cheese over the top - scrummy!)
5. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

It turned out lovely and considering the recipe should serve 4 there is a hell of a lot and you could serve 6 if you needed to!

Well I'm enjoying my cheat day today so I'll be back to give you tomorrow's food diary :)

Happy Saturday! :p
 
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Sundayyyy

Sunday's Food Diary:

Breakfast: Bacon and cheese sandwich (HEXA & HEXB) with tomato ketchup (1 syn)
Lunch: Spicy curry Tesco pot noodle (5.5 syns)
Tea: Diet Coke chicken with chips cooked in the AirFryer (2 syns for oil)
Also had 250ml Cranberry & Raspberry juice (6 syns)

Total: 14.5 syns

Today's diary to follow!
 
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Monday!

Been to the gymmm! Yay me... Feel free to give me a virtual pat on the head :angel09:

Here's today's food diary:

Breakfast: 1 Cherry Bakewell Alpen Light bar & 1 Double Chocolate Alpen Light bar (HEXB)
Mid-morning Snack: My boss went to the shop and bought lots of cakes and biscuits :eek: but I was very good. I checked my syns app first and opted for a chocolate "The Fabulous Bakin' Boys" cupcake which is 7 syns! I thought it would be a lot more. And I didn't want another one afterwards because it was quite sweet, so it was all good!
Lunch: Jacket potato with cheese (HEXA) mixed with 2 tbsp. 70% less fat salad cream (2 syns), then a packet of cheese and onion French Fries (4 syns)
Tea: Homemade Bolognese and lots of pasta :p

Total: 13.5 syns

I might have some frozen fruit with a vanilla and chocolate Muller as I'm still quite peckish!

I've bought some oranges and I think at some point this week I'm going to make the Slimming World Spanish Orange Cake, which serves 12 and is 3.5 syns per slice. It's supposed to be really gooey and I love orange so I can't wait! I'll share the recipe and thoughts when I've made it!

Chow!
 
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Tuesday!

Sorry I didn't give you yesterday's food diary! I was having my hair done :banana dancer: (I'm sorry but how funny is that?!)

Here it is... better late than never!

Breakfast: 1 cherry bakewell Alpen Light bar and 1 double choc Alpen Light bar
Lunch: Same as Monday except swapped the cheese and onion French Fries for salt & vinegar... I would have made something different had I not been in a huge rush in the morning!! (6 syns total)
Afternoon snack: Well I was very proud of myself! There were still lots of biscuits left over from Monday and my absolute favourites were amongst them - fruit shortcake biscuits and choc chip! I had one of each and no more! Choc chip 4.5 syns, fruit shortcake 2 syns. How strong am I?! :character00116: (However I did use the 20 calories = 1 syn theory and miscalculated for the choc chip :rolleyes:)
Tea: I had a quick tomato and herb mug shot as I wasn't having tea for ages because of my hair, then I just had some chips in the AirFryer (2 syns for oil) with a blob of ketchup (1 syn)

I went over by half a syn :copon: but hey, what's half a syn amongst friends?! ;)
 
Wednesday!

I've been on my best behaviour today :angel09: no biscuits or cakes!

Here goes...

Breakfast: 1 cherry bakewell Alpen Light bar and 1 double choc Alpen Light bar
Lunch: Went to the sandwich shop and bought the yummiest lunch I've had in ages! Plain jacket potato with a chicken salad on the side, all freshly prepared! Lettuce, cucumber, onions, boiled egg, sweetcorn and beetroot, with salad cream drizzled over the top (2.5 syns) and loads of chicken :p also had a bag of cheese and onion French Fries (4 syns)
Tea: Currently have chips cooking in the AirFryer (obsessed I know) and gammon under the grill. 2 syns for the oil, and a dollop of ketchup (1 syn)

Total: 7.5 syns so far!

Should be going to the gym later, and I'll see what treats I can find in the cupboard for my remaining syns :)

Asta la vista!
 
Well done Danielle, your food looks fab ! especially lunch :p . Have fun at the gym. I wish I had an actifry :( .

Kay xx
 
Well done Danielle, your food looks fab ! especially lunch :p . Have fun at the gym. I wish I had an actifry :( .

Kay xx

Well I didn't end up at the gym for reasons I won't go into, but I am absolutely definitely 100% going to the gym after work with a friend, I promise! :D

The ActiFry is great! It's my mum's, and I think they're fairly expensive but definitely worth it! We don't use it to it's full capacity but you can cook absolutely anything in it! Chips, curries, chilli, Bolognese, any meat, puddings! It's a great investment!
 
Thursdayyy

I CHEATED AGAIN :doh: What is it about Thursdays?!

I did really well all day, right up until tea time...

Breakfast: 1 Cherry Bakewell Alpen Light bar
Lunch: Went to the sandwich shop again and got a plain jacket potato and a beef salad (no fat on the beef, and the same salad as yesterday) with a drizzle of salad cream (2.5 syns) then a double choc Alpen Light bar
Tea: This is where we hit trouble. I went to my aunty's for tea (she does SW too), and she had made a beef and vegetable stew (yummy!), but because she had her weigh in last night, she had done some crusty white bread with butter to go with the stew, so she could cheat, and she also put dumplings in the stew. I had 2 small slices of the bread, and a dumpling :copon: but that's not the worst part... I had a teeny tiny sliver of Battenburg cake. Literally the tiniest slice you could possibly get! But I still had it and I'm a terrible person :hitthefan:

I don't even have an excuse this week. I didn't have to eat any of the bad stuff, but I did. Luckily I had only had 2.5 syns during the day so it could have been an absolute train-wreck! I have a cold today too, so I think it's karma. :sick:

I'm trying to be well-behaved today and I've done well so far. I'll update you later on.

:wave_cry:
 
Hi Danielle don't worry about giving into temptation, we've all been there, at least you enjoyed yourself :) (food sounded really yummy). You only had 2.5 syns for the day so I'm sure you will be well within 15 syns. I have such a sweet tooth and it's something about this grey weather, it makes me hungry all the time, I usually have 10-15 daily :p . So don't worry I'm sure you will still have a good loss this week. Chin up hun .

Kay xx
 
YAYYYYY!

YAYYYY! Weigh in day and I lost 2lbs! Yippeeee!! :bliss:

This may be partly due to the fact that I was poorly yesterday so didn't have much of an appetite at all!

Breakfast: 1 Cherry Bakewell Alpen Light Bar
Lunch: Made up a big bowl of rice and tuna (weird combo, I know) and had about 5 mouthfuls before I threw it away :sign0137:
Tea: Mum forced me to eat a small jacket potato with Clover Lighter and a little bit of cheese. I suppose it did kind of make me feel a little bitter. I guess Mum's do know best. I felt a bit peckish later on too so I made 2 rounds of wholemeal toast (800g pieces though) with butter and made it into a ham toastie. Also drank a glass of Cranberry & Raspberry juice.

Feeling lots better today and even happier that I've lost 2lbs! Woohooo!
 
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