Fabulous first week - now to keep the motivation going!

[MaccaMarsh]

:wow:
Yyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!
:talk017:



:superwoman:

You smashed that 2 stone milestone! Way to go! *snoopy dance*

 

[Theria]

Thursday March 13th 2014

Thank you I feel like I've made up for last week's STS now.

Today will be Green - I'm in the mood for some celebratory carbohydrates!

B : All Bran (HEXB1), strawberries, ML toffee yoghurt

L : JP, beans, jalepenos, salad, dressing (thought this was synned but it turns out to be Free!)

D : Pasta, HM chorizo sauce (4.5 syns), salad, cheese (HEXA1)

Snacks : Fruit, Ryvita minis (HEXB2)
HEXA2 : Milk in tea

Syns Tracker : Day 1 4.5/105

 

[minus117]

3.5lbs off!

:bliss:arty0011:

Got a confrontational, narky meeting coming up today. Bring it on

Yayyy!
Well done
Have fun in the meeting : p

 

[Theria]

Yayyy!
Well done
Have fun in the meeting : p

Thank you!

(I did!)

 

[SallyVater]

Congratulations on a brilliant loss! I've just had a quick read through your diary and you're going great guns.

It looks like you're as bonkers about spices as I am, I am addicted to chillies I think - apparently they're a metabolic booster (not sure I completely believe this or by rights I should be waif-like) but one thing is for sure they definitely make everything tastier .

Not sure if you know about the wonder that is proper smoked paprika? This gives you all the flavour of chorizo but without the syns, you can get hot ones and milder ones and it is completely delicious sprinkled on SW chips before cooking and bunged into HM chilli and HM tomato sauce as well. (I'm sure you already know this, just saw that you like the same sort of flavours as me and thought I'd throw it out there)

 

[Theria]

Congratulations on a brilliant loss! I've just had a quick read through your diary and you're going great guns.

It looks like you're as bonkers about spices as I am, I am addicted to chillies I think - apparently they're a metabolic booster (not sure I completely believe this or by rights I should be waif-like) but one thing is for sure they definitely make everything tastier .

Not sure if you know about the wonder that is proper smoked paprika? This gives you all the flavour of chorizo but without the syns, you can get hot ones and milder ones and it is completely delicious sprinkled on SW chips before cooking and bunged into HM chilli and HM tomato sauce as well. (I'm sure you already know this, just saw that you like the same sort of flavours as me and thought I'd throw it out there)

You know, that's one I don't have in the cupboard! It hadn't occurred to me that it would taste like chorizo - but of course that lovely orange oil that leeches out when you fry chorizo *is* basically paprika oil...duh!

It's on my shopping list. We have some decent delis nearby so I suspect I can get some hot smoked stuff from somewhere.

Thanks

 

[Theria]

Friday March 14th 2014

Who the heck thought a meeting that starts at 1400 on a Friday 150 miles away was a good idea???!

Oh well...

Today will be Red

B : All Bran (HEXB1), strawberries, ML yoghurt

L : Ham and pastrami salad, pickles, dressing

D : Tuna melts (Toast (HEXB2), tuna, jalepenos, onion, sandwich spread (3 syns), cheese (HEXA1))

HEXA2 : Milk in tea
Snacks : Fruit, Alpen Light (3 syns)

Weekly syns tracker : Day 2 10.5/105

 

[SallyVater]

I get mine from just bog standard sainsbury's - my favourite one is this one



It can be a little difficult to get my paws on this so at the moment I'm using this one:



Have a good day!

 

[Theria]

NSV! My favourite work shirt has three quarter length sleeves that end in a full cuff. Today, those cuffs button up without cutting off the circulation to my hands.

Little things

 

[Theria]

Dinner was lovely - tuna melts

I used one of the tiny tins of tuna, but with the onion, celery and sandwich spread (70s flashback) added it was enough for more than the HEXB of toast so I added another slice of 400g WM loaf at 2.5 syns. Topped these with thinly sliced tomato and grilled them til the cheese bubbled.

There was also slightly over the 30g of HEXA cheese, so I added another 2 syns for that.

So that's Day 2 : 15/105 syns used.

Busy weekend planned. Out tomorrow lunchtime, but at a meeting - no food so will have to eat before I go. Got a visitor for dinner and I've already made a huge shepherd's pie (3syns for the whole thing) so will have that, veggies and lots of lovely bisto lamb gravy Will have to be an EE day!

Out for lunch on Sunday. I've checked the menu and may well go with an amended steak main course (no chips or pepper sauce) and possibly have the soup for starter depending what it is. I've got at least 15 "spare" syns from the last two days so that'll more than cover it, I hope.

 

[Theria]

Saturday March 15th 2014

EE today

B : All Bran (HEXB), strawberries, ML yoghurt

L : Probably fruit - got a meeting at 11am (no food involved!) and will be having an early dinner

D : Shepherd's pie (half of the amount I've made is 1.5 syns) plus cabbage, carrots, peas and bisto lamb gravy (approx 4 syns) - will total up afterwards

HEXA : Milk in tea
Snacks : Fruit, cold meat/salad if I need something for supper

Syns tracker - Day 3 : 20.5/105 (will amend later with accurate total)

That leaves me about 25 "spare" syns to spend if I need them on lunch out tomorrow so that's good.

 

[Theria]

Saturday March 15th 2014 - Edited version

Right - well this is how yesterday turned out :

B : All Bran (HEXB), strawberries, ML yoghurt

L : Small portion of HM chilli on a bed of mixed salad (at 1030! I was going out though...and it stopped me being ravenous at the bar we met at and ordering bags of crisps!)

D : Shepherd's pie (1 syn) plus cabbage, peas and bisto lamb gravy (2 syns)

HEXA : Milk in tea
Snacks : Fruit, 2 Ryvita + 2 dairylea light cheese triangles (6 syns)

Syns tracker - Day 3 : 19.5/105

So I'm pleased with that as that means I have 25 "spare" syns that I could have used over those three days and I haven't. So I have a buffer to use (or not) on lunch out with the girls today.

 

[Theria]

Sunday March 16th 2014

OK - so a lunch out with my girlfriends and I've been looking at the menu for the pub we're going to. The plan is : EE today

B : WM pitta (HEXB), 2 LMcC sausages, 3 turkey rashers, sliced tomato, HP sauce (2 syns)

L : Soup (depending on what it is), steak, grilled tomato and salad Syns to be decided and estimated when I see how it's cooked / whether I can face anything fried i.e. chips / if I have any bread etc. etc.

D : Probably pasta with salad, will see how hungry I am later

Snacks : Fruit
HEXA : Milk in tea

Looking forward to seeing the girls

 

[Theria]

Hmm...slipped down the slippery slope of a flexi-syn day Ended up in a totally different restaurant to the one for which I'd planned my menu. We went to a Carluccio's instead. I had a starter sized bowl of soup - bean and pasta which was lovely, had a little olive oil in it but not a lot. However, it was accompanied by a slab of focaccia. Which I ate. Then I had another starter - a tuna fish cake with rocket salad. Deep fried fishcake! Rocket salad with oil! Tablespoon of garlic mayo! (That was all I had, I was actually quite full after the soup and bread but the fishcake (being a starter in itself) was tiny and I thought I'd better eat some greenery at least!). Drank black coffee, green tea and diet coke all day so no problems there. I don't know how to syn the food - I think I'm going to say that's the 25 spare syns I had from Days 1-3 this week and all of the 13 I had left for today. Anything else will just have to be assigned to the "I can't worry about that" pile. One meal out of the week shouldn't (I hope) screw things up entirely. I had such a lovely time with the girls that it was worth it even if it does

I wasn't hungry enough for a "meal" in the evening, but I had some fruit and some cold meat. No further syns

 

[Theria]

Not on the computer this morning so I can't do the whizzy colour coding.

EE or possibly Red today - depends what I have for dinner.

B : All Bran (HEXB), summer fruits (Aldi, frozen), Aldi yoghurt (1.5 syns)

L : Ham salad, FF dressing (got one of those lunchbox freezer mats at the weekend - no more runny lettuce!!)

D : Aldi HUnter's chicken (3.5), mixed veg - carrots, cauli, broccoli, peas

Snacks : Fruit - except I'm out all day and I forgot to bring any! Will buy some instead.

HEXA : milk in tea

If it turns out to be a low carb day I'll squeeze in some Ryvita and cheese spread to make up the other HEXs.

So, nice low syn day to make up for yesterday's Italian feast if I have the hunter's chicken I'll be up to 5 syns, about the same if I use some stir fry sauce.

I used the Aldi frozen summer berry mix on my All Bran this morning as I forgot to buy strawberries at the weekend. They're free, as they have no added sugar. They are really sharp! Might use half a tsp of sweetener on them next time

 

[MaccaMarsh]

Good morning Theria - what a great weekend!

First of all - lunch at 10:30 on Saturday - good for you! I've done that plenty! Sometimes I'm not all that hungry but I eat anyway to protect myself against temptations later on. It's probably not strictly the correct approach but I figure if it doesn't mean I'm actually eating more, just at different times, then it can't hurt too much. It's certainly better than loading up on savoury snacks in a pub anyway, right? Good for you for thinking it through and making a really sensible decision.

Sunday, sounds like a cracking lunch with your pals and you dealt well with the change of venue. It's sooooo frustrating when that happens! However, as you say, it's one meal out of 21 for the week, there's no reason for it to derail you. I agree that trying to syn it could be really tricky. I've scoured the syns online thingy for something that might resemble your fishcake but couldn't find anything except for the "standard" fish and chip shop one (whatever one of those is) which says it's 7 syns. I find that hard to believe, quite frankly, because you'd assume it's deep fried if it's from a chippy, but anyhoo, maybe the coating stops it from absorbing too much oil, or something? I don't know. So I guess the main things were the bread, mayo and bits of oil here and there. I think I'd do what you've done, strike off your "banked" syns and start with a clean slate today. Stay within or under your limit for the remainder of the week, which you tend to do anyway.

The main thing is that I don't hear any guilt or beating yourself up, just back on plan after a throughly enjoyable time with your chums and some nice food as a bit of a treat. Also, still no alcohol, which I suspect it may have been easy to do or perhaps the "norm" a few months ago...? I can see a squillion reasons for you to be chuffed with yourself hun, and not one thing to be fed up about! Big old round of applause from me :clap: !

Need to know more about the freezer mat thingy please!

And finally, you do get one of these: for forgetting to buy strawberries. Cardinal sin/syn!

 

[Theria]

The main thing is that I don't hear any guilt or beating yourself up, just back on plan after a throughly enjoyable time with your chums and some nice food as a bit of a treat. Also, still no alcohol, which I suspect it may have been easy to do or perhaps the "norm" a few months ago...? I can see a squillion reasons for you to be chuffed with yourself hun, and not one thing to be fed up about! Big old round of applause from me :clap: ! Need to know more about the freezer mat thingy please! And finally, you do get one of these: for forgetting to buy strawberries. Cardinal sin/syn!

Hello :waves:

Not an ounce of guilt! I had a great time and enjoyed the food. I was driving, so no chance of drinking, even if I wasn't on a Lent challenge I did think on the way back, how in the past, the disruption to my plans might have thrown me for the rest of the day, the rest of the week - or even longer. Something has "clicked" in my head though. This is not a diet that I will stop at a point in the future. This is teaching me how to eat well. 2 months in and I'm loving the food more every day, loving how healthy it's making me feel and loving the numbers on that scale.

Freezer mat thingy : like a small square flat "bag" of that liquid you get in the freezer blocks that you put in those big insulated cool bags / boxes. So when it's defrosted it's a flexible mat, but solid when it's frozen. You can get them in large mats made up of smaller squares that you can cut along the borders of the smaller squares into the right size for your lunch box. I got a box of three smaller squares for £3 from Cargo. Lakeland will sell them, I'm sure.

Finally, I consider myself thoroughly kicked for firstly forgetting the strawberries and secondly coming out for the day with no fruit in my bag! Luckily, I know there's an M&S food outlet where I'm going so I shall treat myself to a pot of fruit salad

Thank you so much for your supportive post. You're always helpful and inspiring x

 

[SallyVater]

Such a lovely post from Maccamarsh!

Glad to hear you had a good weekend, I think you made decent and reasonable choices considering the change in venue! You didn't let it phase you and didn't use it as an excuse to get stuck into some really cheesy pasta or something completely synfull.

Pat on the back for you. :clap:

 

[Theria]

Tuesday March 18th 2014

Up stupidly early to drive to South Wales today. Blurgh.

EE today (or maybe Red, depends on dinner again)

B : All Bran (HEXB), defrosted summer berries, Aldi yoghurt (1.5)

L : L/o hunter's chicken (3.5), mixed salad, pickles

D : No idea - will be away overnight so might try to find some steak and salad

Snacks : Fruit, Alpen Light (2.5)

HEXA : Milk in tea

 

[MaccaMarsh]

Hope it's not too much of a stressful day, or too laden with temptation! It's tough when you're away from home and not sure where your meals will be, expecially hotel breakfasts - nightmare! I used to work away a lot and would research nearby Harvesters, Toby carverys and other "friendly" options so that I had a plan. If you're in a hotel (and on company expenses) the hotel restaurant is sometimes worth a shot - more expensive but I feel like I can be a bit more fussy about how it's cooked! At worst, there's a chicken/pepper skewer dish currently on the Wetherspoons menu that's pretty good. That said, you do run the gauntlet of semi-sozzled-just-off-shift bus drivers called Bob :crazy: who are in there for cheap beer and random conversation! No really, I've been there. Sevenoaks, if I recall.