JessyG's food diary - positive and determined to shift the bulge

[JessyG24]

No worries Jess it is all about if finding a balance that works for you. If weekends are your problem area then maybe try and focus on re programming around the run up to and the actual weekend so that you can be as prepared as possible. If you don't have a microwave then you could always have couscous or rice ready to go either in the cupboard or the fridge? With a salad already made up and like you said some chicken (you can easily cook a few chicken breasts and keep them in the fridge for a couple of days)

i really think if you have a look at the fakeaway recipes, you may find some amazing ideas there that save you both getting into situations where you know you are struggling at the moment (I.e eating out) it may only need to be for a few weeks whilst you are changing habits (apparently it takes 28 days to make or break a habit - I gave up smoking in May 2011 and this was my mantra whilst I kept away from the pub for a month!!!!)

You will get there Jess, we all need to enjoy ourselves and live a little. I have made sure that I focus on my problem areas in the past few weeks such as moving back from weekly syns to daily syns and taking meals round to dales (although now he is very accommodating to my sw needs and so is his mum when she cooks a roast ;D) we love cooking together because we are both massive meat fiends!!!! Another reason why I have been really glad to have got my head around the different days as I know I can plan my week and know that I can have a meaty day with the boy and a quorn day when I am on a busy day...

we are going to cook together tonight before we go to see mickey Flanagan (so excited!) which we have both chosen to do as we could just as easily have eaten out, but I wanted to save my syns for some cheeky drinks and I will be cooking some extra chicken so that when we get back in, I can munch on that rather than raiding the cupboards! Plus we always have a sw friendly brunch the morning after a night out too

xxx

I think because we cook together EVERY night when we can afford to eat out (which is only often in the next few months because of trying to see everyone before christmas) we like to enjoy it. I think that's why we blow out a bit. It's also my chance at the weekend to not have to cook and just relax.

But losing weight isn't easy I know, so maybe if I can organise some easy weekend meals (slow cooker!) it will tempt us to eat in.

Having rice ready is easy enough so yeah good idea.

I'll have to figure out how I can balance it but stay happy. I'm still losing weight so I guess if it is slower because of a weekend I should accept that - doesn't make it easy to though

xxxx

 

[JessyG24]

Apart from when I am rushing I don't know when I would use a microwave I use one for my lucnhes at work but at home I don't think we would use it enough xxxx

 

[gingaling]

Hey Jess,
Sorry to hear you so down...I 100% feel your frustration with the maintain after being on plan.
The girls have given so much advice, I've nothing much more to add.. The only thing I wanted to ask is whether you do daily or weekly syns?
I am a wee bit of a social fiend at the weekend too...lunches, nights out drinking, dinners here there and everywhere...it's like we set ourselves up to fail isn't it!?
The things I've done to counteract this are:
1. Try to put all the social things on one day at the weekend or within a 24 hour period (ie Friday night - sat afternoon) so that I still have a good chunk of the weekend that I can be 100% on plan..as I was finding I'd end up just having fri sat and sun completely off the rails otherwise! I always thought I'd be missing out if I didn't try to get things arranged for ASAP if a friend suggested dinner etc...but putting them off for a week and spreading things out a bit has been fine!
2. I do weekly syns...so if I have a heavy weekend planned, I have minimal (5 absolute max syn a day) and use the rest on the day/night out
3. If eating out, I decide wht I'm having before I go and don't even look at the menu when I get there (except to check the dish I want is actually listed!!) so I'm not tempted by anything else. If I'm hungry and I'm left to choose, I'll always go for the big fat burger!!

Sorry if these things sound a bit simple! Just trying to think of anything I've done to get my way round those pesky fun weekends that make up all the fun things in life! It's all about finding the balance between living life and having loadsa fun, but not sabotaging our dieting efforts That we spend the weekdays working hard on!
Xxxx

 

[OpalLilyEats]

Some great strategies from Ging! Love tips 1 and 3!

I try to do the weekly syn thing too every now and again if I have a number of social occasions but it just doesn't work for me, I don't get the loss that I feel I deserve at the end of the week. You have to find out what works for you and you won't know until you try xx

 

[JessyG24]

Hey Jess,
Sorry to hear you so down...I 100% feel your frustration with the maintain after being on plan.
The girls have given so much advice, I've nothing much more to add.. The only thing I wanted to ask is whether you do daily or weekly syns?
I am a wee bit of a social fiend at the weekend too...lunches, nights out drinking, dinners here there and everywhere...it's like we set ourselves up to fail isn't it!?
The things I've done to counteract this are:
1. Try to put all the social things on one day at the weekend or within a 24 hour period (ie Friday night - sat afternoon) so that I still have a good chunk of the weekend that I can be 100% on plan..as I was finding I'd end up just having fri sat and sun completely off the rails otherwise! I always thought I'd be missing out if I didn't try to get things arranged for ASAP if a friend suggested dinner etc...but putting them off for a week and spreading things out a bit has been fine!
2. I do weekly syns...so if I have a heavy weekend planned, I have minimal (5 absolute max syn a day) and use the rest on the day/night out
3. If eating out, I decide wht I'm having before I go and don't even look at the menu when I get there (except to check the dish I want is actually listed!!) so I'm not tempted by anything else. If I'm hungry and I'm left to choose, I'll always go for the big fat burger!!

Sorry if these things sound a bit simple! Just trying to think of anything I've done to get my way round those pesky fun weekends that make up all the fun things in life! It's all about finding the balance between living life and having loadsa fun, but not sabotaging our dieting efforts That we spend the weekdays working hard on!
Xxxx

Thanks sweetie

It is hard cos I want to lose weight so much, but when it comes to doing stuff James and I don't actually do non-routine stuff that often and my friends don't live here so when I see them we go crazy!!

Problem is our weekends on routine involve naughty food, which will stop I think unless we are doing something

They are really good tips ging. Definitely worth a try. Thank you

I have done weekly syns but I always go over, but that is cos i tend to start on a Monday so have 15 syns in week anyway. So this week I will start tomorrow and count my syns then spread the rest throughout the week

xxxx

 

[JessyG24]

Some great strategies from Ging! Love tips 1 and 3!

I try to do the weekly syn thing too every now and again if I have a number of social occasions but it just doesn't work for me, I don't get the loss that I feel I deserve at the end of the week. You have to find out what works for you and you won't know until you try xx

Thanks for your support today honey, I like honest advice and you're right

I'll let you know how my weekend goes xxxx

 

[yellowturtle13]

Hey Jess how was your weekend? Xx

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[JessyG24]

Morning Hun. Weekend was good thank you, I'm knackered this morning though! Hope yours was good

Syn wise - not good so I'm going to go with no/minimum syns this week and see if that works (it has before). A maintain would be fine though

Not sure what today is going to be, maybe EE or maybe Green - it depends on dinner

Breakfast: Weetabix (HEB) Milk allowance (HEA) banana and grapes
Lunch: Jacket potato (1) and beans
Snacks: Satsuma x2 Pineapple and Yoghurt
Dinner: Something quick because we have to do a food shop and then I've got my piano lesson

Gonna do some week meal planning, and to cover the weekend, today

xxxx

 

[yellowturtle13]

Morning Hun. Weekend was good thank you, I'm knackered this morning though! Hope yours was good

Syn wise - not good so I'm going to go with no/minimum syns this week and see if that works (it has before). A maintain would be fine though

Not sure what today is going to be, maybe EE or maybe Green - it depends on dinner

Breakfast: Weetabix (HEB) Milk allowance (HEA) banana and grapes
Lunch: Jacket potato (1) and beans
Snacks: Satsuma x2 Pineapple and Yoghurt
Dinner: Something quick because we have to do a food shop and then I've got my piano lesson

Gonna do some week meal planning, and to cover the weekend, today

xxxx

Glad you enjoyed it I had a maintain this week too so am hoping for a loss this week with two weeks combined. . I did go over my syns last week so.it was to be expected. My weekend was good, Friday was fantastic!!! Then had to work Saturday and chilled out yesterday back to the books today though

Food looks good and hope the weekly planning goes well xxx

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[JessyG24]

Yay good, I'm glad you had a good time
Fingers crossed you do get a loss honey
Yep back to the grindstone!

Starving this morning xxxx

 

[JessyG24]

I think that I have a meal plan for the week which requires no syns (bar my microwave spud today). So any syns that I have are naughty :/ so hopefully I can avoid them. I have even planned for the upcoming weekend; my bestie is coming to stay. So I am saving my syns for malibu/vodka and diet coke and an afternoon tea which we have had booked for months. So I am going to cook a curry for Friday night, get slimming world friday breakfast fry up food in for sat and sun morning (I might get some hash browns in for her), steak and sw chips saturday night, and a sw friendly roast on sunday . So doing a 100% on plan week (but with flexible syns for the weekend).

I had a few naughty things at the weekend, and you know what I didn't actually enjoy the food :/ The curry was naff and the sunday dinner was even a bit blah :/ the best bit was a brownie chocolate dessert thing .... but I could have just had that all weekend and I would have been happy. Anyway no syns this week to make up for it. And I tried my best to make sensible options, except for with dessert haha.

Looking forward to 4 EE days, 2 Green days, and 1 red day this week. Got some nice meals planned, and some damage control foods (home-made falafal, thanks Nic and Lily!) and a wider range of fruit. Also going to the gym twice and going for a walk one night too.

xxxx

 

[OpalLilyEats]

Good luck babes!! Sounds like you're all set xx

 

[JessyG24]

Thanks hun I hope so! If I want to meet my christmas target I need to start losing the lbs xxxx

 

[yellowturtle13]

I think that I have a meal plan for the week which requires no syns (bar my microwave spud today). So any syns that I have are naughty :/ so hopefully I can avoid them. I have even planned for the upcoming weekend; my bestie is coming to stay. So I am saving my syns for malibu/vodka and diet coke and an afternoon tea which we have had booked for months. So I am going to cook a curry for Friday night, get slimming world friday breakfast fry up food in for sat and sun morning (I might get some hash browns in for her), steak and sw chips saturday night, and a sw friendly roast on sunday . So doing a 100% on plan week (but with flexible syns for the weekend).

I had a few naughty things at the weekend, and you know what I didn't actually enjoy the food :/ The curry was naff and the sunday dinner was even a bit blah :/ the best bit was a brownie chocolate dessert thing .... but I could have just had that all weekend and I would have been happy. Anyway no syns this week to make up for it. And I tried my best to make sensible options, except for with dessert haha.

Looking forward to 4 EE days, 2 Green days, and 1 red day this week. Got some nice meals planned, and some damage control foods (home-made falafal, thanks Nic and Lily!) and a wider range of fruit. Also going to the gym twice and going for a walk one night too.

xxxx

Jess this looks like a fantastic plan! Really looks like you are targeting your problem area which is great I really hope it works well for you this week because with a plan like that you deserve it! Xx

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[JessyG24]

Aw thanks sweetie xx

 

[JessyG24]

Update on yesterday: Dinner was chicken and salad, I used 1/2 syn for sauce
I also tried one of those packaged falafel Nic mentioned (gonna try my own when I've got time) and delish! 1 syn
And I was naughty at work as I had the lowest syn treat on our treat table, a caramel chocolate crispy square for 2.5 syns
Totalling 5 syns yesterday which is okay

Piano lesson was hard - I need to practice more!

xxxx

 

[JessyG24]

Tuesday 22/10
EE

Breakfast: Weetabix (HEB) with milk allowance (HEA) and banana and grapes
Lunch: Pasta - chickpeas, bacon, passata, onion, garlic, 1 syn of chorizo, in a passata paprika and cumin sauce; Pineapple and a satsuma
Snacks: Satsuma and Yoghurt
Dinner: Salmon in a soy sauce and ginger and garlic dressing with spring onion and chilli, served with brown rice and vegetables (kale and corn I think!)
Snacks: If any, melon and grapes

I'm really going to try for the 1 syn today xxxx

 

[OpalLilyEats]

Food looks yum today!! Love a bit of chorizo and smoked paprika :drool:

 

[asmallertasha]

How good does your food look today!! DROOL!! xx

 

[JessyG24]

I hope I cook it to justice!