The last stone mission......ROLL UP!!!!

Back from a lovely long weekend... weather nothing to write home about, but lots of lovely vegetables amassed and eaten, a great gala meal savoured, and a cake and cream enjoyed for pudding! Delicious! Next week's gala already fixed - neighbours popped in for [and I can't say "a coffee", as we would in the UK, as the French don't tend to want coffee but at mealtimes...] a Perrier/Diet Coke(!) and so we opened a "special" tin of UK biscuits... and no one had one! But now they're opened?! I took note of the slim people sitting back, tapping their non existant tums, and saying "I couldn't!". Ho hum!

So I'm well - stayed off the scales as it's Monday and might do same tomorrow... so long as the head is in the right place, the scales matter little...

How's tricks Claire? Tash???
 
Hi, I seem to have been unbelievably busy but can't think of anything I have achieved! Work has been very busy and pressured, I am finally starting to get to grips with the new computer system which has taken for too much time.

Your long weekend sounds lovely and relaxing, and well fed. An open tin of biscuits is a recipe for disaster with me around, I can assure you I would not have refused! It is good to feel in control and still enjoying food, you are doing well. I've just about kept level, and really need to lose a few pounds. But I seem to be feeling tired in the evenings, I'm hoping when dancing starts again I will get a bit of energy back. It is only mental tiredness so some more exercise would be good, I haven't even managed to cycle this week as the weather has been awful. We get a bank holiday this weekend so three days off work at last. David will be sailing (no surprises there) so I shall have some time to myself and the freedom to eat things I like and he hates.
 
An open tin of biscuits 250km away from me is no problem! Actually we've decided to leave well alone and continue to empty our freezer of victoria sandwich cakes, so this weekend's "treat pudding" will again be cake + cream! (I gave a friend a "standing order" whenever she's in the UK to get me one and err she got me 8... I think there are still 3 left and my poor freezer needs defrosting badly!! They're actually very good, I think, from Sa**'ys and defrost well...

It is a shame that you're feeling run down and tired in the evenings. It's sad seeing the evenings drawing in, and knowing that autumn is probably only just round the corner, yet our summer hasn't been the best! I hope you find some nice food for your Bank Holiday weekend... can you get the berries you liked so much last year easily?

Weather awful here too - another 3 weeks 2 days until my final week of "summer holiday" (again to the house) so the weather has that long to improve!!
 
There ought to be an answer to this freezer defrosting problem, mine is chock full and iced up bady, I have to do something about it. Eight cream cakes is definitely excessive, nice that it gives you a weekly treat though. Have to be a sellotape job on the biscuit tin, or would with me around.

I don't know why I am feeling so tired, I think it might be partly due to the job being so relentless, it has been nothing but new things since I got there - no sooner was I starting to get familiar with the old system than the new one was installed. I'm not quite so tired today and may suggest we go for a bike ride later if it stays fine. It has turned very cold, not summery at all. We might take a few days holiday at the end of September, depends how things are at work, but somehow I will need to use up 7 days of holiday between now and Christmas.

I'd better get off the computer, David wants to send some despatch notes. Have a good evening.
 
Actually, I usually let my other half do the defrosting "his way", and I pretend that I don't know that a hairdryer is involved (ssshhh). Just that cakes and bread tend to start defrosting pretty quickly, compared to meat, so my main issue with defrosting freezers is that they not be too full because it's more hassle to empty and refill!

Have you tried taking some multivitamins? My Millennium NYs resolution was to take one per day and I've honestly only missed a few days since then. It's become a habit and I pill pop as soon as I arrive here, and have a pot at each home (haaa!) so that I don't forget at the weekend. Exercise definitely makes one feel brighter and more energetic, ironically enough, so as soon as the weather improves, I'm sure you'll be fine.

I've managed my 30 min walk from Invalides three times this week, despite the weather, but it's certainly not as nice when the weather is grim and windy... I can't imagine my choosing to do it very often in the winter and of course, with too many clothes on at the outset, one gets hot and sticky when walking fast which I don't fancy either. Excuses excuses!

PP today so just protein... I never mind much though, just miss my mid-afternoon apple! Hope you're feeling brighter...

7 days holiday to use up before Christmas? Need any help?! I somehow never have a problem using mine up!!
 
Using the holiday isn't the problem, it is finding a time to take it which fits in with everyone else that is trickier. I might try the vitamin approach, anything which gives me a bit more bounce would be good. Well done for walking, I haven't cycled at all this week, though it looks like tomorrow might be possible. I know I feel better when I do something physical, work tends to be very sedentary.

I don't think I'd let David loose on the freezer, he might do some permanent damage with a hot air gun or chisel! I have a spare fridge in the garage so I can turn it up full and pack most of the frozen things in there. Maybe I'll be brave this weekend and give it a go.

The once a week pp routine seems a good way of keeping things controlled, in the same way as DDs do for me. My weight was a tiny bit down this morning, if I keep busy this evening I may manage to avoid nibbling and see another improvement tomorrow.
 
Do they not have a rota at work? Here at least, putting down your time way in advance always works as few people are as organised as me, so mine always goes through. In addition, I never take time off in August, and little in July, so the French can take their LONG holidays then and my little short breaks fit around theirs.

Speaking of which - less than two hours to go before we hit the roads... the PP did its work yesterday, and saw off 500g, which sets me up nicely again for the weekend... I'd be interested to see what you do eat on UDs and DDs, because I still find I shy away from carbs most days except at the weekend. Having lost weight so successfully without them, I have inadvertently labelled them "BAD" in my psyche and have trouble getting round that. Of course they're fine in themselves, it was just all the butter and sauces I accompanied them with which weren't great!

Have a good (if rainy) weekend!
 
Bank holiday today so no work, and a short week to come. I've been pretty busy this weekend, David is away sailing (yet again), I assume he will be back this evening but haven't heard yet. I've been trying to get the kitchen floor bleached and sealed, it is taking forever as I can only do small bits at a time so it has been dragging on for weeks. I'm also cutting the beads for glazing our new bathroom door, I find it hard to believe I could get the angle wrong so many times!

I have to confess I haven't got on the scales, leaving it until tomorrow morning when today's DD should have taken effect. Only a couple of weeks until dancing starts again, I have missed it badly. I do eat quite a lot of carbs, in fact I eat pretty much what I fancy including some junk if I feel like it. What I don't eat is deep fried food, more because I don't like it than because I have labelled it bad. The DDs are not as strictly counted as they should be, on those I cut out "between meals" things and have low calorie meals with the emphasis on protein and veggies. I do allow myself a few crackers for the crunch factor, they are only 20 cals each. It would probably be better to eat like that all the time, but then I remind myself why I did it in the first place, the weight loss was to improve my blood pressure and the alternation of JUDDD is supposed to bring improved health - it seems to have worked and if it aint broke don't fix it.

We avoid July and August for holidays too if we can, why pay more and face the crowds if you don't have to. And the weather is often better in May and June anyway. Our anniversary is the end of September so we like to have a few days away then, and a Christmas shopping long weekend in December. I'm not sure how this will fit in with the new job, our year end is 30th November so the first week in December will be compulsory working.
 
Oooh yes I forgot your Bank Holiday... I can WELL understand about the difficulty getting the angle right on the beading, having picked up R's rejected pieces of coving!

You're absolutely right with your way of planning the whole food thing. Dieting with strict rules to follow is very easy for me, but take those rules away and I flounder... I'm finding it hard to make food choices. Is it better to "spend" 50 calories, say, on a fat free aromatised yogurt (0% fat here, but full of sweetener, coloring and E numbers) or to have piece of fruit (when the D***n diet, has made me more aware of the glucides contained therein!). I used to have such "healthy eating" principles, preferring fresh foods etc, and while they still remain deep down, "fruit" has now become a grey area for me. One a day, fine... more?

What do you have for "dessert" on a "normal day"? I know normal isn't easy with Judd as you're either Up or Down, right? Hmm...

This August has been dire weather wise. We lit fires Friday and Saturday night, which are lovely, but so uncool for a month of August! Let's hope a heatwave is just round the corner before my next "holiday"...
 
I have a few problems with fruit too, I have "good" fruit which is most of the soft fruit and small citruses and those are fine for DDs, anything else is for UDs. With all these things it is a question of moderation, which is why I try not to buy some types of biscuits because I just can't be moderate with them. Desserts are not something we tend to have after meals, we usually separate things up more. So on a DD I will maybe have a mini solero but I'll have it in the evening rather than just after I have eaten. We tend to have cake at 5.00pm (if it is a DD I'll have a tiny sliver or a biscuit) but we don't have a dessert after our evening meal, so it all balances out.

It is chilly here too, I am hoping to avoid putting the heating on for as long as I can so praying for an Indian summer.

The door beads are proving problematic, I've cut some and eventually managed to get the angles right. But the door has fifteen panes, each needing four beads which each need two angled cuts, my maths makes that 120 cuts, a lot more work than I had anticipated. I have been making progress on the sewing, the jacket is finished except I didn't like the lining so will recut that, and I need to make decisions on the skirt. I had cut and partly made up a skirt in the same fabric, but it is flared and doesn't really go with the very fitted jacket. I can't cope with short and straight, not with my legs, and I can't make it longer and straight as it is six panelled and couldn't have a back split. So I'm thinking maybe tulip would work, but I can't decide.
 
I was just reading also at how fruit ought to be eaten before meals (M**tignac); then I read how it (just the one per day maxi) should be eaten WITH meals (D**an); and I tend to eat it in isolation mid-pm as a snack which apparently is "no no"! Ah shucks. I'll just eat it when I like and enjoy it!

I'm afraid I'm a useless seamstress so can't help you there... As a rather generous rear ended person, I would tend to go for a longer jacket to "hide" same, yet now have some shorter ones which look fine (I think!) so are you sure about your legs? Or, like me, you can't really "see yourself properly"? Unfortunately people who have lost weight tend to focus on the one (or several in my case!) area(s) where they KNOW they are dissatisfied instead of looking at the body as a whole... Do you have a good friend who'd tell you the truth? Mirrors so rarely do.

Things are HEATING up here and heading for 31°C this weekend before - BANG - big pop end of (short) heatwave again... I remain optimistic about my week in mid-September.

oooh I put in my Xmas (not quite the "C" word) vacation request this morning. I thought it might give someone a laugh, and make someone else cringe! I'm staying here this year which will be nice (and quiet!)... and turkey with all its variants can come out daily and little work to do as not looking after guests!
 
I imagine the not eating fruit inbetween meals thing is to avoid insulin spikes. Maybe both of us would benefit from studying low GL/GI eating. It includes quite a lot of carbs but they are mostly complex ones so they release sugar gradually. It is good in principle and very much healthy eating, it is just learning all the GI values which seems like hard work. I may give it a try for UDs though, my breakfast is already suitable I think.

My legs have always been awful, I usually keep them hidden away and never wear shorts. It's always hard to ask other people, it puts them on the spot, I'm not sure I'd want to do that. I'm going to try pinning it in different ways to see if I can get an idea how it would look.

Well done getting your holiday request in, I still haven't done anything about mine. We've now been invited to a party on the weekend we had hoped to be away so we may change plans. It wasn't very convenient for work anyway, so we're looking at the weekend before. It seems ages since we were on holiday, although I know it is only two months.

Wow, 31, that is hot. I'd like to see a bit more sun before the summer finally ends, not much hope here though.
 
Re your legs(!): you could try getting your husband to take full length photos of you, and looking at your legs objectively on a photograph... I find I look at myself often differently on a photo to in the mirror (no idea why that is!!).

Yes I think it is about sugar peaks etc that one isn't supposed to eat fruit in isolation as I do love to do! I'm back to eating my apple slooowly in front of the TV with a knife... takes ages, I enjoy it, keeps me out of trouble!

Today PP day and I tried something new. A recipe from the site. Quiche. Only not allowed: pastry, onion, salt, veg, mustard errr anything really... so basically for lunch I had a cold seafood omelette! It looked much more appetising last night when it came out of the oven all puffy and sweet smelling. Today it had flattened and congealed and neither R nor I were that struck! Too many eggs perhaps. I don't think we could bear trying again and having to eat it! I'll put it off until I can flavour it properly... seafood and omelette - I'm just not sure. We both felt sick after eating it!! Not ideal!!

Dark and overcast right now - perhaps weather men have it wrong? Wouldn't be the first time. Am wearing white today - have to make the most of these potentially last "summer" days...!

x
 
TGIF! just a quickie as pretty manic! hope you have a lovely weekend! City one for us, worse still stuck in a hairdresser's chair to become beautiful again!
x
 
Hi, hope your stint at the hairdressers went OK, I had mine done on Thursday after work. It had been far too long since my last cut and colour, now the straggly ends are gone and the grey temporarily disguised. I'm not 100% sure if I like the fringe swept to the side, but I can always do some trimming to that myself if it annoys me. A change is good.

Not sure I'd fancy the cold omelette either, in fact the whole PP thing didn't really grab me. I had a good week foodwise and have just ruined it by pigging out over the weekend! Will I ever learn? Another week starts tomorrow, just as well. I haven't done much cooking today, although I bought a couple of red cabbages so have cooked them with apple etc for freezing. It makes a quick vegetable for days when I'm in a hurry.

The jacket now has a lining, the only thing left to do is attach the lining at the cuffs and hem. Before I do I will do a bit of trimming on some of the seams to neaten things up. I haven't looked in the mirror yet but it does feel like a nice fit. Then it will be time for decisions about the skirt.
 
The hairdresser's was good, for a change... often I see the time at the salon as "wasted time", where I could be doing something more useful. At the moment, however, with ever lengthening "to do lists", I appreciated the enforced relaxation (even if I forgot my relatively new reading glasses so simply looked at photos and headlines in the magazines!!)

If you're restrained during the week, and have "some fun" (not pigging out!) at the weekend, you'll find your weight stays stable. That's how I did it "before"... I'm trying to equalise things a little over the week, as I think it's better for me to do this and even my psyche seems to agree as I didn't even bother to eat all I'd planned for my Sunday evening (a never heard of event!).

I'm using the: "yes you can have [whatever]; next week" method to keep any *chattering voices* in check... of course next week I won't want [whatever] or will have forgotten the urge, so that's a good tip to pass on!

I finished a baby jacket, AND found an almost knitted cardigan I'd set aside oh some five years ago, so am now finishing that! It took me about an hour to figure out where I was and what I was actually knitting (as there were round and v neck pattern and plain versions on the same pattern!)... busy hands help mouth remain empty!

x
 
I chatter to my hairdresser all the time I am there, I've known her and her family for ages and I do her accounts for her too. So the time passes quickly, and since I don't get around to going nearly as often as I should it doesn't seem wasted for me. I'm still safe from reading glasses, being a little short sighted (wearing glasses for driving and cinema) I can still do text with no problem. Needles are becoming trickier though so I may end up with "sewing glasses", although I'll probably just borrow David's.

Well done being restrained on Sunday, I know that has often been the problem time. I do have phases of eating and not eating, and they probably will balance out, it is just that I find myself near the top of my weight range and I'd rather be at the bottom. A few weeks of not buying the really problem foods should sort that out I hope. With JUDDD it is always "you can have it tomorrow", unless it is an UD when you can have it anyway. A week seems a long time to wait!

Well done on the knitting, I've never been good with wool so tend to stick to fabric. Tonight I am definitely going to finish the jacket, or I will be so sick of the sight of it I won't want to wear it! You're right, keeping hands and mind occupied is the way to go.

I've booked three days holiday from 22-24th September, we are going to the Somme (around Abbeville). Just need to fix up somewhere to stay now, a gite that allows dogs and will let for part weeks would be ideal - we think we have found one so I shall email them tonight.
 
I'm ok with reading if the print isn't too small. My problem at work, for instance, is that I don't need it for the screen but could often do with it when typing heavily marked up documents. But I can't keep taking them on and off while reading, then looking at the screen, so I get all confused!

I also need to use the "needle threader" now to sew a button on. Very sad state of affairs!

I wasn't exactly restrained, but ate my cinamon bun in the afternoon as planned, sausages with salad, SLAB of jam victoria sandwich cake with FRESH CREAM... just didn't bother with chocolate as well (I'm imagining "normal people" reading this and thinking "she ate all that?!"

ooh how fabulous. R would like to take me to the Somme and show me around. He gave me a guided tour (two years running actually) of the Normandy landing beaches, and he's very interested in all areas of historic interest to past wars. You'll be leaving just as I return!
 
That Sunday menu doesn't sound excessive to me, although it depends on quantities I suppose. There wasn't any "oh and a packet of crisps, five chocolate digestives and half a pack of raisins which I found in the cupboard" sort of eating.

We've visited Amiens a couple of times, and stopped at Abbeville on the way to other places. So we thought the area deserved greater exploration, and it isn't too far from Calais so no long drives. We won't do the war tour thing, although may visit anything which particularly catches our eye. The caves look very interesting, and there are a lot of gardens, which I love. The beach is another likely venue, and the canal/river/marais area. I still haven't heard back from the owners of the gîte, so it might mean a phonecall tomorrow.
 
You're right in that I now stick closely to the lines of what a "normal" meal involves and try to cut out snacking... if I'm hungry in between meals, even on a Sunday (cinamon bun aside, but gift brought back from the U.S., clogging up my freezer, and replaced my 50g bread allowance!), I'll have a yoghurt or a piece of fruit.

I'm learning! To be honest, it's all rather easy at the moment as the "voices" are quiet... long may it last! Pre-planning all meals, and treats, works for me so I'll stick at it (says she working out her meals for "holiday" from 12th Sept!).

It's pretty nippy over here now which is a real shame for the pair of us. Let's hope the Indian Summer kicks off soon eh? (Oh and petrol is on a par as I just checked with my sister and a currency convertor site...!)
 
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