Finally doing it...

[Spanx]

Wow Loumoo - just spotted your pics - you are looking fab-u-lous (as Craig Revel Horwood would say!!) Well done! :happy096::happy096:

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY - sorry it's late, hope you had a fab time! x:553::553:

 

[loumoo]

Hi minimis. Been away for a while - was up in Scotland at a friend's wedding for a few days and all things SW were sadly out of the window. Had a great time, but feel like a bit of a bloater after lots of indulgence. Still, back on it today and looking forward to the next few weeks to try and get whatever weight i've put on off again! Seems to have been a bit of a weight rollercoaster these past few weeks/months. I haven't really got anything else big coming up for a while so I should be able to be on plan now. I have a drinks thing on 29th Nov, but to be honest I think i might give that a miss....we'll see. Apart from that, I have a housewarming party on 4th Dec but I can be in control of myself hopefully at that. Then, I suppose it's whatever random Christmas (!!!) drinks pop up. I've felt out of control for a while now and I really want to focus on me and be a bit selfish so that I get it back a bit. Feel a bit but am trying my best to just dust myself off and get on with the marathon.

Anyway - enough of the brain dump. The freezer got raided for my meals today - trying to make room for other stuff!!

Mon - RED
a Milk
a
b Bread
b
Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs on toast
Lunch: beef curry
Dinner: stew (with heaps of carrot and swede)
Snack: wafer thin chicken slices

I might have some ryvita with laughing cow later for my HexAB or maybe just a HexB fibre plus...depends on how peckish I get later!

 

[loumoo]

Nothing much to report today, just biding my time before going back to work really. Spent most of the day getting excited about seeing my friend who's just back from hospital after having her baby but they were delayed so I'll see them tomorrow instead Was going for another Red day as I think I get on best with them weightloss-wise, but changed it to EE as I wanted a bit of pasta with my dinner (more than 35g worth!). Hopefully I've eaten enough fruit/veg to transfer from one to t'other. Have been on a right food munchie today and pasta normally satisfies that...think it's because I was a bit bored...must get out more tomorrow!!

Tues - EE
a Milk
b bread
Breakfast: Bacon and tomato sandwich
Lunch: Prawn salad with heaps of lettuce
Dinner: Veg, mince and pasta bolognese bake. (Managed to add 4 big carrots, 3 onions, 3 sticks of celery, 5 courgettes and loads of free tomato and passata to the mix so am hoping that's EE friendly enough)
Snack: Melon and grape. Possibly a muller light in a bit

 

[katyloola]

Re: Finally doing it...(now with pics)

Wow - I've just seen your pics. Amazing! Well done!

 

[loumoo]

Ah thanks Katylooloa - I stuck them up as it's quite easy for me to forget how far I've come and only focus on how far I have yet to do. My glass can be half full and then half empty in the blink of an eye! Even my old negative brain has got to appreciate the difference and not just focus on the bad stuff when I see them side to side!

Met my best friend's baby today - 4 days old and adorable

Weds - RED
a Milk
a 5 laughing cow light
b Bread
b 4 ryvita
Breakfast: bacon and tomato sandwich
Lunch: Ham and courgette omelette (spanish style - yum)
Dinner: leftover mince and veg bolognese
Snack: Melon, slices of roast chicken, muller light
Syns: none since the weekend, but that still puts me at 2 billion for the week!! Tomorrow's Wi will be hard, but I've got to face up to it....

 

[Spanx]

Hi Loumoo - well done for getting back on track after your blow out! Hope it hasn't done to much damage at your next WI! x

 

[loumoo]

woooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:bliss::bliss::clap::clap:
arty0038:

Thankfully the good choices I made whilst being naughty paid off and I got a STS at WI this evening!!!!! Am SO pleased Laying off the syns since the weekend and choosing the grilled mushroom and poached egg rather than full english and steamed fish rather than battered obviously worked a charm. So so happy. I was trying to make smart choices, but thought the other stuff (slice of black pudding etc) would be my downfall. I did move a lot - i like to call it discovating - at the wedding, so it all helped.

Yay!

Thursday - GREEN
a Milk
a
b
b
breakfast: quorn burger and beans (got up late so it was more of a brunch really)
dinner: brown basmati rice and chana masala and sag aloo (i love my freezer )
snack: am stuffed, but have a few Hexs to use.....might have cheese on toast, but don't know if i can be bothered to grate and weigh...how lazy?!

 

[loumoo]

Managed to find the energy to grate cheese and had a late(ish) night snack of cheese on toast. Am loving the cathedral city lighter - got a good tip from another part of this forum after I complained that all other rf cheddars i had tried melted rather plastic-y. Taste and meltability of CC are right up there with full fat stuff (in my opinion!).

Still feeling rather chuffed with my STS yesterday (although I'm going to watch myself this week just in case it catches up with me), it hopefully is proof that I'm starting to make 'healthier choices' wherever possible - whilst still living my life!

Friday - day 1 of week - EE

a milk
b bread
Breakfast: bacon, 2 quorn sausage and tomato sandwich
Lunch/ Dinner: Griddled tuna with wholemeal basmati rice and roast veg (courgette, onion, peppers, tomato) served with my onion chutney. yum
Snack: slices of roast chicken, melon, grapes
Syns: fun-size milky way - 3.5
Syns for week: 3.5

 

[Louise24]

Well done for making the right choices hun and getting a sts, thats ace. The tuna, rice and veg sounds lovely - I'm offically nicking it x

 

[loumoo]

oh dear....yesterday was going v well until my friend stopped by unannounced to crash over. She's going through a tough time with family and boyfriend and although I managed to avoid the pizza she ordered and crisps she brought, I did manage to consume my body weight in wine and vodka. Syns out the window for another week, plus I've got drinks on Weds. I was supposed to have drinks on Friday too and a lunch, but I'm going to ditch the drinks and just do lunch I think - need that control back! I feel bad (mostly hungover....) for all the wineful syns, but life goes on. I don't have WI this week - I took a hol as I can't make it for Thurs evening so hopefully I'll get it back together and show a loss Thurs week. Damn life getting in the way of my weightloss efforts!!!!

Sat - EE
Breakfast (late): 2 quorn sausage, turkey bacon and tomato sandwich
Dinner: spag bol (packed with courgette, mushroom, carrot, celery, onion)
Syns: a billion, all at the pub

Sun - EE
Breakfast: turkey bacon and tomato sandwich
Lunch: leftover mince
Dinner: chicken stirfry (cabbage/ greens, water chestnut and onion veggie mix thing prebought which I added chicken to) with rice (peas, spring onion, egg stir-fried)
Snack: prawn and pork dumplings mmmm. Made the mix yesterday but never got round to eating them due to unforeseen pub visit....

Prawn and pork dumplings were a nice treat and free on Original/ EE:

250g ex lean pork mince
250g raw tiger prawns
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 tblsp chopped chives (I used a whole packet)
1 - 2 tblsp lemongrass (to taste, it can be overpowering)
1 tblsp soy sauce
1 green chilli, chopped
1 tblsp ginger, grated

You're supposed to chop/ finely dice/ grate etc the veg ingredients, but I bunged them all in a food processor with the meat and fish as they were (I never see the point of doing that if you're going to put them in a food processor!). Whiz until smooth. Chill for as long as you can in the fridge (overnight is best) and then fashion into little balls. Place on baking paper, spritz with fry light and bake for around 20 mins. I serve them with the below dipping sauce...mmm

soy sauce - forms base of sauce
red chilli, chopped finely
1/2 - 1 clove garlic, minced
coriander leaves, chopped finely
sweetener to taste
spring onion, finely sliced (optional - i had some left over)

you could also add rice wine vinegar, but i had run out

 

[loumoo]

not much to report today - made a lovely dinner though, yum

Monday - RED
a Milk
a 42g rf cheddar
b Bread
b Bread
Breakfast: turkey bacon sandwich
Lunch: slices of roast chicken
Dinner: cottage pie with swede and carrot topping
Snack: cheese on toast
No syns now until Weds when I'm off out for a drink with friends. Then none again until possibly the weekend after, if all goes to plan. Must make up for last Sat night!

 

[loumoo]

First day back on the job - kind of - and I'm shattered! Running a bath then will retire to bed with a book...sad, but I can't wait! I was at a conference today and will be there for the next few days. SW friendly lunch was tricky as I had to have it onsite and the pickings were slim. I managed to find a bit of steamed fish and some lettuce, but was starving so had another lunch at 4pm when I got home! And then dinner not so long ago

Another syn free day - unlike tomorrow, I'm off for drinks in the evening with some friends to catch up. Not seen some of them in a while so i'm sure we'll tuck into the wine.

Tuesday - RED
a Milk
a 42g rf cheddar
b tesco healthy living roll
b tesco healthy living roll
Breakfast: 2 egg omelette with cheese, ham and spring onion
Lunch 1: fish, lettuce and sliced tomato
Lunch 2: 2 quorn burgers in roll with onion chutney and tomato
Dinner: leftover cottage pie with carrot and swede mash topping
No syns...unless the fish had some hidden nasties...I don't think so though.

 

[loumoo]

oh dear - haven't written on here in a while. Generally had good days until Friday, when I went out with some ex work colleagues and drank far too much and actually ate too little. This led to a rather poorly day yesterday and I unfortunately consumed food syns - 13 syns on chocolate and I'm not sure how many on 4 slices of (400g wholemeal) bread with some butter i had in the fridge from when my friend came round last weekend. Not proud of myself and have since consigned the butter to the bin. Moving onwards and upwards and all that, but not happy with myself at all. I'm not going to fill in the last few days eating as I don't want to depress myself further! Not the worst slip up in the world, but definitely not how I want to go on. I'm also going to try and lay off the drink for a while for a few reasons: I don't like being out of control, I don't like how it makes me feel the next day and I much prefer remembering nights in their entirety and not having cause to not be proud of myself all the time. Bit tricky with the Christmas party season coming up, but I will try.

Sunday - Green
a Milk
a 20g parmesan (didn't need the other 8g)
b 2 alpen light
b (might have a fibre plus later)
Brunch: 2 quorn burgers, beans, potato rosti
Dinner: mushroom risotto
Snack: 2 alpen light, some leftover spinach and potato 'quiche', corn on the cob

 

[loumoo]

oooh - NSV for me today is that I'm officially a size 16 in a range of shops went to get a new coat as I start my job on Wednesday and realised today that I don't have a 'work appropriate' one at all, since I gave my old size 22 coat to my sister. Yay! I also got a suit in a size 16, so although things haven't been going brilliantly eating-wise, hopefully I can get myself back on track. Also in other news, I re-joined the gym. Sounds like they have some brilliant dance classes so i can exercise without realising!

Monday - RED
a milk
a 5 laughing cow light
b bread
b 4 ryvita
Breakfast: quorn sausage and onion chutney sandwich
Lunch: ryvita, tomato and chopped ham
Dinner: bolognese stuffed with courgette, carrot, celery, onion
Snack: half of a muller light, small pack of wafer thin turkey breast

Tomorrow I have to meet someone for lunch, but I'm hoping to be able to pick the restaurant and go for steak or fish or something. Wish me luck!

 

[loumoo]

The night before I go back to work in more than a year - eek!! Am a bit concerned about how I can keep to the SW plan, but I'll take it meal by meal. And pack some alpen lights!! I thought I was good on dinner today, but part of the plate was swimming in olive oil. I only ate the steak and steamed spinach in the end and ignored the other side of the (remarkably large) plate so hopefully I managed to avoid it. Nothing tasted of oil...

Tuesday - RED
a milk
a 42 rf cheddar
b bread
b bread
Breakfast: toasted quorn sausage sandwich with tomato
Lunch: steak and steamed spinach
Dinner: leftover bolognese from yesterday
Snack: cheese on toast

 

[loumoo]

Hmm...first day back at work and it turned into a tricky EE one. The boys took me out for lunch, which was nice but they had chosen a Thai restaurant with not too much choice on the lunch menu. I went for what I thought was the least evil, but I have no idea of syns. Seemed to be mostly chicken and chilli with some fish sauce although I assume there was some oil along the way somewhere that I couldn't taste. Tomorrow I will stand firm and get a salad from pret or similar. It will be tough to find warm food during the day that's syn free as we don't have access to a microwave at work. Possibly will have to go green during the week and have baked potatoes with baked beans a lot....or I could bring in a pasta/ cous cous salad and some mugshots for a bit of warmth. Problem is, I don't think my weight loss is that good on green. Hmmmm.

Also, I think I'm going to go it alone and see how I get on without meetings. I can't get to one now I'm working that's anything other than a drop-in weigh in and I don't see the point of paying a fiver for that privilege. I did like the discipline of it all though...and I'll miss the website for random syn checks. I'll ponder it for a while.

Wednesday - EE
a milk (not whole allowance used as dashes in coffee)
b bread
Breakfast: bacon and tomato sandwich
Lunch: stir-fry chicken (and some veg) with steamed rice
Dinner: stew (thank you freezer) with heaps of swede and carrot and served with a massive portion of green beans. Massive.
Snacks: muller light, 2 apples, banana

 

[Louise24]

Hi hun, how is the job going? Are you ready for xmas yet? Tip for lunches - tesco have innocent veg pots at half price (£1.74) and the veg mousaka is only 2.5 syns AND bloooming gorgeous, take 3 mins in the microwave and perfect for work. Have put the complete range of syns in syn section if you're interested x

 

[loumoo]

I'm back, I'm back!!!

Louise24 - thanks for the work lunch tips...unfortunately we are not allowed a microwave at work as the boss doesn't want 'food smells' in the office....yet there's no problem with people bringing in hot food from outside?!?! Mental. Anyway....after the first few days (this is my second full week) it became obvious that the only easy 'smash and grab' was the local salad bar, which charges a whopping £5.35 for a simple salad so I'm bringing stuff in. Just grilling my marinated chicken tikka breast that i had in the fridge overnight in total 0% and tikka powder. Done this a lot and it's yum. Had grilled tuna and roast veg yesterday. What I might do is get one of those food flasks and bring in stew/ bolognese.

I haven't been writing my diary, but I have been keeping up the SW with the odd hiccup....if you repeat any week at random, that's probably the week I had! Good as gold during the week and then one 'party' event each weekend = muchos boozos. But, some dancing to mitigate plus a bit of gym action. Also, I haven't gone to weigh in in a few weeks as the one's near work are all drop-ins and I don't see the point. I realised on Sunday that I had no idea what I weighed recently so I hopped on the scales at home and.......I'm 12.12!!!!! WOOP. I take comfort in the fact that the scales were only a 1lb or so different (if at all) from the official class ones, so I'll weigh myself every week...poss Thurs morning to keep it kind of similar.

Very happy and new target is 12st flat. Clothes-wise, I'd like to be a 12-14 - am currently a comfortable 16 in every shop I've been in recently (in itself a small miracle).

So - just wanted to drop in and say hi and let you know that I'm keeping up with you all, keeping up with myself but perhaps not writing as much as I used to.

ps: 'treat' size curly wurlys? perfect.

 

[Louise24]

Aww hi hun, lovely to see your update, you sound like you are doing really well, have a super dooper lovely christmas if you're not back on here before then x