Moonwatcher's (Final) Diary

[moonwatcher]

I must admit Em, my personal preference is for 'proper English.' I still text in whole words with punctuation! It is quite handy though, to know the latest abbreviations and what they stand for. Actually, working with teenagers, it is essential!

Food looking great, your menus always sound amazing!!! Will try pro pointed a few of them x

I should think they would transfer quite well to pro points, as I was on WW before, and haven't really changed my meals that much,

"Slumpy grump" needs to come into general usage. Great description. And unfortunately pretty much how I feel about my weight at the moment too. Sounds like you did really well not to let it affect your choices though. Things will change and the numbers will go down. I think we both have to just keep believing that.

I think it is all just 'so...' - so many pounds to lose, so few hours in the day for exercise, so many years yo-yo-ing, so many diets, plans, so much stomach sticking out in clothes (!) etc. Putting it all together has left me feeling a bit down. Weight has gone down this week - see below, but still feeling overwhelmed by it all. Slumpy grump just seemed to sum it up well!

I think we all hit those moments. I felt like giving up on the diet thing fri/sat because I was so tired that I didn't WANT to think about what I was eating and plan it out and was so grumpy that I'd had a large (because of water and inflammation) fake-gain despite doing LOTS of moving and working this last week so it felt all counter productive.

I assume given how shattered you must feel from returning to work and all the extra stresses that you will be feeling the same but as you settle back in and get moving and grooving again it WILL get better. It always does! You WILL feel better for being able to move easier and with less strain on your bones.

Good luck hun!

That exercise/inflammation thing is such a swine! When you have worked really hard on the exercise and 'gain' weight from it, although we know it is not a real gain, it is still quite demoralising! You're right about the not WANTING to have to think about eating, it's almost like a mini tantrum!

Anyway, on a better note, WI this morning shows 2lb gone. I am pleased, but even that is lessened by how easily I gained that 4lbs, and can probably expect it to take 3 weeks to get it back off. Anyway, I am resigned to whatever I can get off before Christmas. Walked about 10 miles altogether last week, so that's got to be good however you look at it. Haha- even my 'phone is out to get me - it just auto corrected 'gained' to 'failed'

 

[Emmaline]

... Anyway, on a better note, WI this morning shows 2lb gone. I am pleased, but even that is lessened by how easily I gained that 4lbs, and can probably expect it to take 3 weeks to get it back off. Anyway, I am resigned to whatever I can get off before Christmas. Walked about 10 miles altogether last week, so that's got to be good however you look at it. Haha- even my 'phone is out to get me - it just auto corrected 'gained' to 'failed'

Well done on the loss MW at least it's getting back to the way it was. .. and well done on that walk.. that's some distance to cover. I'm sure you'll get quite a bit more off by December at that rate.

That's a real pessimistic phone you have there...as if you need that sort of input hey?!!

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

Your phone sounds like my new one - it allegedly "learns" from me as I type but I 'm sure that's lies

How are you feeling now lovely? xx Well done on the loss - that is great!

 

[moonwatcher]

Well, my phone certainly got its revenge. It crashed last night and I lost everything - it went back to factory defaults! A good chance to tidy up my phone anyway!

Food for Tuesday 9th September
Breakfast: Yogurt and demerara sugar
Lunch: L/F Philly cheese and chorizo sandwich on GF bread, cherry tomatoes, apple
Dinner: Mixed grill - small pork chop and small lamb chop, gammon steak, rump steak, peas, tomatoes, half a jacket potato, mushrooms, diet coke, grapes
Drinks: one coffee with cream, two earl greys wirh a splash of milk each, water
Syns for the day: 15
HEA: Cream cheese
HEB: GF bread

Food for Wednesday 10th September
Breakfast: Small yogurt with demerara sugar
Lunch: L/F cream cheese and chorizo sandwich on GF bread, cherry tomatoes, apple, pear
Dinner: Spicy lamb, smoked garlic, orange and mint burgers with wedges, roast peppers, lettuce, olives, tomatoes, basil, beetroot and carrot salad with orange, balsamic and mango chilli dressing, plus a drizzle of mandarin olive oil, spray oil on wedges, mint l/f mayo, half tangerine and half pink graoefruit with sweetener
Drinks: water, earl grey and a coffee with a splash of milk, one coffee with cream, diet cherry coke
Syns for the day: 14.5
HEA: Cream cheese
HEB: GF Bread

Food for Thursday 11th September
Breakfast: Yogurt with demerara sugar
Lunch: Goats cheese sandwich with sweet mango chilli sauce, cherry tomatoes, grapes
Dinner: Gammon and baked potato, peppers, peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, tspn of butter on potato, HP sauce, pink grapefruit with sweetener
Drinks: water, one earl grey and one coffee with milk, small cappucino, diet cream soda, diet pepsi
Syns: 14.5
HEA: Goats cheese
HEB: GF bread

 

[MoonbeamMama]

I'm not sure how I ended up here, but Hello! Subscribing, if that's okay, cuz your food looks awesome!

 

[strawberry]

Hello, popped in to sub to your diary! Your food sounds lovely xx

 

[beaxx80]

Again food sounding amazing!!!! If my head was not totally into weight watchers I would be so tempted by slimming world with your menus x

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

It heard you moaning about it Sods law!

I love how much cheese type stuff you factor in too x

 

[moonwatcher]

I'm not sure how I ended up here, but Hello! Subscribing, if that's okay, cuz your food looks awesome!

Hi, Moonbeam and welcome.

Hello, popped in to sub to your diary! Your food sounds lovely xx

Hi Kally, welcome aboard.

Again food sounding amazing!!!! If my head was not totally into weight watchers I would be so tempted by slimming world with your menus x

You have to go with what is working for you - mentally as well as physically. I suppose WW Filling and Healthy is very similar to SW, but for some reason I couldn't get into that plan at all when I was doing WW. Weird how our minds work!

It heard you moaning about it Sods law!

I love how much cheese type stuff you factor in too x

Yep, these phones are getting far too sophisticated!

I love cheese - probably a good job it is quite limited on SW.

 

[moonwatcher]

Friday 12th September
Breakfast: Yogurt and brown sugar
Lunch: Tuna, onion and l/f salad cream sandwich with GF bread, cherry toms, tangerine, grapes
Dinner: GF spag bol - mince, herbs, carrots, onions, smoked garlic, peppers, tinned tomatoes, marmite, ounce of mixed hard cheeses and two chopped olives sprinkled on top, pink grapefruit with sweetener
Drinks: water, one earl grey tea with milk, small glass red wine with dinner, coffee with cream, diet cherry cola and diet cream soda.
Syns: 15.5
HEA: Cheese
HEB: GF bread

 

[Atomic pink]

Food is sounding delicious this week, especially given you have one back to work. I am especially intrigued by the mandarin olive oil. Where did you get that? I have a cranberry balsamic vinegar that I think would make an amazing dressing with the mandarin oil.

 

[moonwatcher]

Thanks Atomic. I am really enjoying SW this time around. I got the oil last week from a stall at The Big Onion Food Festival in Elveden. It is absolutely divine. You could get some from Nudo Italia. I know Susie/Lady Felsham uses them and rates them very highly. It is ear-marked for a risotto next week - some combination of smoked brie (also from the food festival), chorizo. olives and mandarin oil will be making an appearance. I just need to organise it on a green day so I can have more cheese!

 

[Atomic pink]

Mmmmmmmmmm. Smoked brie Sounds delightful. Our yearly boxing day treat is deep fried smoked brie in rosemary breadcrumbs. Your risotto sounds lovely, feel free to package up any leftovers and send them to Nottingham...

 

[S_J_B]

The Big Onion Food Festival in Elveden

Argh how did I not know about this?! Although perhaps better I didn't know

 

[moonwatcher]

Mmmmmmmmmm. Smoked brie Sounds delightful. Our yearly boxing day treat is deep fried smoked brie in rosemary breadcrumbs. Your risotto sounds lovely, feel free to package up any leftovers and send them to Nottingham...

Ooh that sounds delicious - I have just added chopped fresh rosemary to the list of risotto ingredients. I strongly suspect there will be no leftovers!

Argh how did I not know about this?! Although perhaps better I didn't know

I left with a much lighter purse than I went in with!

 

[moonwatcher]

Saturday 14th September

Busy day today - loads of washing, drying and ironing to catch up on, and OH has been attacking the garden and burning a load of stuff. Managed to fit in a brunch though: bacon - fat trimmed off, scrambled eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms with spray olive oil, onion and potato hash, HP sauce. We would have had beans, but made a large pot of chilli yesterday for tonight, including beans, and one portion of beans a day is enough for me!

Last week at the Food Festival I signed up with a food delivery company who delivers local speciality and organic foods. They were offering a free small hamper, including some bread, sausages, veg and blueberries, to introduce you to their service. It was scheduled for delivery today, and they didn't turn up! I gave them two phone numbers and not one call! Not a very good introduction to their service. Quite cross with them. Glad I didn't give them any bank details etc! Have emailed them to ask what happened to the delivery.

Dinner tonight was a starter of an ounce of Doritos with chopped green chilli, a sprinkling of melted cheese and a tbspn of sour cream and chive dip, followed by chilli with mince, beans and loads of veg and very good 'chips' cooked with just a spoonful of olive oil, in my new toy - a Tefal Actifry 2 in 1, followed by two fresh apricots and half a grapefruit with sweetener.

Drinks: water, one coffee with cream, one earl grey with a splash of milk, currently got my feet up with a gin and slimline, watching X Factor.

Syns: 15.5 - half a syn over again - the online diary tells me off for those extra calories - all 10 of them!
HEA: Cheese
HEB: Olive oil

My knee (bashed cartilage in a fall three years ago) has been really bad these last 10 days or so, and I wonder if it may be because now I am back at school I have switched to sandwiches at lunch which uses the HEB, and therefore I have dropped my oil intake to just using the spray oil. I think I am going to re-introduce the oil - at least half a tablespoon a day, even though it will mean dipping into my syns for it. Will also start taking the cod liver oil again, although I'm not going to worry about synning it, and the Chondroitin tablets, as they did seem to help last time. Can do without the pain - especially waking up in the night with it!

 

[Atomic pink]

Really poor showing from the food delivery company, have you had a response yet?

Dinner yesterday sounds lovely. Saturday night Mexican affair sounds very good indeed.

Glad you are enjoying SW so much this time round. I did actually briefly flirt with the idea of going back to SW myself a while ago but in the end decided I really wanted to give it a go just using my own common sense and all the things I have learnt over the last few years. The guilt free cheese aspect of healthy extras did appeal though!

 

[moonwatcher]

Really poor showing from the food delivery company, have you had a response yet?

Dinner yesterday sounds lovely. Saturday night Mexican affair sounds very good indeed.

Glad you are enjoying SW so much this time round. I did actually briefly flirt with the idea of going back to SW myself a while ago but in the end decided I really wanted to give it a go just using my own common sense and all the things I have learnt over the last few years. The guilt free cheese aspect of healthy extras did appeal though!

No reply from them yet Atomic, but I suspect they won't be open until Monday. They will have to go some to win back my custom, especially as the main thing I fancied was the sausages and they come from a farm shop which is only about two miles away from us anyway, so I can easily shop there in person.

 

[moonwatcher]

Sunday 14th September (Red Day today for a change)

Breakfast/Elevenses: Two small pieces GF toast, one with butter and ginger jam, one with philly cheese and ginger jam

We had to go out to collect OH's van ready for work tomorrow, so before we went I oven cooked the pork joint and then put it in the slow cooker with some red wine, balsamic vinegar, jerk spices, black pepper, onions and leeks for pulled pork. In the old smaller slow cooker I popped a little more wine and balsamic, red onions, mixed spices, one small pear and sliced red cabbage, so they were left cooking away ready for tonight. We popped into Waitrose, which is next door to OH's work, for a mooch around. Ouch - one very full trolley later with plenty of tasty goodies we loaded up the car and then popped into a local café where I was very virtuous and had a pot of earl grey tea and a bite of OH's GF carrot cake!

Afternoon: A handful of ginger and dark chocolate popcorn and two handfuls of grapes

Dinner: The pulled jerk pork with spiced red cabbage, steamed green beans and roasted and mashed butternut squash with black pepper, Yeo Valley 0% Lemon Greek Yogurt

Drinks: water with lemon juice, diet cream soda, the earl grey at the café, earl grey with breakfast, and one coffee with cream

Syns:14.5
HEA 1: Milk in earl grey teas
HEA 2: Cream cheese on toast
HEB 1: GF toast
HEB 2: Tblspn of olive oil for cooking

 

[Emmaline]

Hope that knee pain is easing up now MW.. not something I would wish on anybody as I know only too well what it's like struggling to get on with day to day matters when you're suffering like that.
Interesting point about the oil and I think I'll look to doing similar... anything's worth a try.
Love the thought of ginger jam.. :drool: !