Tracey's healthy yummy lovely journey

My dinner was AMAZING! Sirloin steak with slimming world chips, green beans and mushrooms and homemade mustard/pepper sauce. Whole dinner had 1 syn. I had 5 syns at lunch then 1/2 in options hot chocolate and had a taste of my brother homemade chicken shnitzel so i estimate i had 10 syns today.

image-1878775872.jpg
 
Hi Tracey, your meals are looking amazing and delicious! So glad you're in the zone and working it! The sausage you had at lunch the other day is probably going to be higher in syns than you think, even though it was grilled. A standard thick pork sausage is 4.5 syns each so for the two sausages that's 9 syns already. Double cream is around 3.5 syns per tbsp, I'd guess that there'd be roughly 2 tbsp in a portion of soup. Eating out really racks up the syns which is why when I go out to eat I don't even bother counting syns loL! I just eat smallish portions and enjoy, then eat lightly with other meals during the day.

The porridge oats you mentioned can probably serve as a healthy extra, what's the weight of the contents? If it's around 35g then you're good to go, if it's more then you might have to syn the difference... I can't imagine it would be much though.

Good luck with weigh in, I bet you'll have a fab loss!
 
Honeyoc said:
Hi Tracey, your meals are looking amazing and delicious! So glad you're in the zone and working it! The sausage you had at lunch the other day is probably going to be higher in syns than you think, even though it was grilled. A standard thick pork sausage is 4.5 syns each so for the two sausages that's 9 syns already. Double cream is around 3.5 syns per tbsp, I'd guess that there'd be roughly 2 tbsp in a portion of soup. Eating out really racks up the syns which is why when I go out to eat I don't even bother counting syns loL! I just eat smallish portions and enjoy, then eat lightly with other meals during the day.

The porridge oats you mentioned can probably serve as a healthy extra, what's the weight of the contents? If it's around 35g then you're good to go, if it's more then you might have to syn the difference... I can't imagine it would be much though.

Good luck with weigh in, I bet you'll have a fab loss!
Click to expand...

Hi Honey,

Aw thanks for the kind words. Well tonight definitely won't be a loss, lol. I haven't been to slimming world in about 7 weeks and I weighed myself a week ago to see a 13 pound gain. When i rejoin tonight I hope that the gain will be closer to the 7/8 pound mark. I wanted to give myself a head start.

Thanks for the advise re eating out etc. I normally try to choose something that contains veg and things I know fall in to the free category etc. The porridge is 40g. Well thats what the packet says anyway. there is some dried skimmed milk powder in it too. I wonder would that be free? My gutt feeling is that it is free. All the other ones had sugar and for some reason this "Organic" version had no sugar and the calories, fat etc was significantly lower so that's why I felt OK about it. Hopefully I am right!

I am loving trying new recipes and I am delighted your diary is back in action Honey :)
 
Hi Tracey!

Found your diary and just read through it all :) First thing I have to say is it seems we are familiar in a number of ways! Close in age, but I could totally relate to your post about you being an anxious person and working yourself up over things. That has been me all my life and as of yet, not managed to shake it of. Ultimately, I think it comes down to confidence issues and I'm hoping some of that will go when i'm a skinny minny ;) (HA! I have no idea what it feels like to be skinny!)

Also the impulse eating, I can be guilty of that but I'm starting to control it well. The days I'm off mini's for a while....thats when i've been very naughty / feeling guilty so i stay away. Again though, I think i have that under control now. Soo easy isn't it, just to go to the shop and randomly buy a load of crap- and wolf it all down!

You're doing well though, keep it going! You still go to a class, right? As for suggestions- you mentioned a couple of times about guessing syns for pesto etc..my one hint would be check every time as you can easily underestimate the value. I use digital scales for things in grams etc and i have a set of those plastic spoons for measurements such as tsp, desert spoon etc- that way you're totally covered by the value what the SW app gives you for syns values.

How did you make the mustard / pepper steak sauce btw?

Looking forward to keeping up with your diary! xx
 
Last edited:
Hi tracey. I've been re-reading your diary from the start and life seems pretty full on for you at the moment with work and your Nan so well done on trying to stay on plan! Wow a 1.5hr commute to work - that must be exhausting! What do you do? What was your masters in btw? X
 
xJoanneJJx said:
Hi Tracey!

Found your diary and just read through it all :) First thing I have to say is it seems we are familiar in a number of ways! Close in age, but I could totally relate to your post about you being an anxious person and working yourself up over things. That has been me all my life and as of yet, not managed to shake it of. Ultimately, I think it comes down to confidence issues and I'm hoping some of that will go when i'm a skinny minny ;) (HA! I have no idea what it feels like to be skinny!)

Also the impulse eating, I can be guilty of that but I'm starting to control it well. The days I'm off mini's for a while....thats when i've been very naughty / feeling guilty so i stay away. Again though, I think i have that under control now. Soo easy isn't it, just to go to the shop and randomly buy a load of crap- and wolf it all down!

You're doing well though, keep it going! You still go to a class, right? As for suggestions- you mentioned a couple of times about guessing syns for pesto etc..my one hint would be check every time as you can easily underestimate the value. I use digital scales for things in grams etc and i have a set of those plastic spoons for measurements such as tsp, desert spoon etc- that way you're totally covered by the value what the SW app gives you for syns values.

How did you make the mustard / pepper steak sauce btw?

Looking forward to keeping up with your diary! xx
Click to expand...

Hi joanne, hooray for lots in common :) you have done amazingly well, congratulations.

That's good asdvice about weighing and measuring, it's definitely something i'm going to pay more attention to.

Yeah i go to meetings, do you? I hadn't been in 2 months though so i'm more or less starting from scratch now. I am feeling very motivated and i'm really enjoying the plan again. I can't wait to start seeing good losses.

The mustard sauce can be found on Vintagepockets food diary. Have you seen hers? Its a grear food diary with lots of yummy recipes. Its made with dijon mustard, chicken stock, garlic, salt/pepper and fat free fromage frais. I made it and then i threw it all in to the pan i cooked my steak in and added some black peppercorns and it was basically pepper sauce, it was gorgeous!

Thanks again and i look forward to keeping in touch :) x
 
vintagepockets said:
Hi tracey. I've been re-reading your diary from the start and life seems pretty full on for you at the moment with work and your Nan so well done on trying to stay on plan! Wow a 1.5hr commute to work - that must be exhausting! What do you do? What was your masters in btw? X
Click to expand...

Hey Vintagepockets!

Aw i feel very honoured that you took the time to read my diary :) yeah life is crazy busy at the moment between work and my poor nanny being so sick. Trying to so my best. I'm trying to just get in a routine whereby its just normal to be on-track and not a big deal. I need to just stay morivated and comitted. I really feel like i'm going to do it this time.

My Masters is Drama and Performance Studies. It was a great experience and i'm so glad i did it. I got to write a play as part of my thesis ans conor mcpherson was my mentor (v. Famous playwright). Initial plan was to be a teacher but not sure now. Ireland is not such a great place for teachers at the moment. no jobs either. so i'm working away full time and doing an evening course too. its markering, pr, advertising and sales so all very random and totally different lol? What about you?

I love your diary!! X
 
The burger and chips i made last night. I spent so long preparing it and it didn't turn out nice at all! I was not a happy camper. I put loads of rosemary in the burger mix, dont know why, and it had a horrible flavour. I will learn from it though. I also burned the chips and the Smash onion rings. It was a weird night and i was a bit all over the place so i'm not surprised. Next time it will be amazing and not at 10pm at night either!

image-806047399.jpg


My gorgeous dinner tonight. I made the Pesto from Vintagepockets recipe (thanks hun) and it was gorgeous. Had it with pasta, green beans, mushrooms, carrot, onion and a little cheese on top. Omg SO good and a lunchbox of it ready to have for my lunch in work tomorrow. Weve no microwave in there but it will be lovely cold!

image-2272322143.jpg

He's at home now but my OH made this today. Mexican Lasagne with loads of veg and cottage cheese. He sent me a pic. Love it! Looks like he is motivated this time round, this makes me very happy :)

image-2595320097.jpg
 
Ok guys, going to keep this snappy and to the point.

I went to weigh in last night and aftee 8 weeks of not attending class and not following the plan... I gained 12 pounds. Fun times!! Not. Yeah, it sucks to see that on the scale. Don't get me wrong i knew it would be a big gain because i weighed myself last week and it looked like a 12 pound gain but i then tried to get back on track this week, granted i had a very bad two days at the weekend, but i still expected a 2/3 pound loss and a gain to be more like 8 pounds.

Oh well. No point moaning eh? Time to properly turn things around in my life and be the best me i can possibly be. I am absolutely determined to do this. I want to get to goal by next summer and i am going to put my heart and soul in to it. I need to develop the kind of dedication and comittment whereby i can go out and go to parties, dinners, holidays, weddings etc and make good decisions and still enjoy myself. I am absolutely dertermined. I am going to be the best i have ever been and i am so excited and motivated. This week i need to really give it 100% because the next few weeks are about losing that dreaded 12 pounds! Here goes :)

Today i tried to have a red day! To be honest it felt a bit like cheating. It felt like i could just havw extra cheese and bread etc that i wouldn't normally have, and nothing else was sacrificed so i felt weird about it. I hope i did it right... Anyway i'll be sticking to extra easy from
Now on!

Breakfast : porridge (B) with Mango and cocunut muller lite greek style yoghurt (.5 syn)

Lunch : chicken mugshot (free) brown food doctor pita (B) thats a tweak, i know!! Laughing cow light (1/3 of HEA), banana and a hifi bar (3 syns).

Snack : milk in tea x3 = 2/3 HEA and packet of rancheros (4.5 syns).

Dinner : pasta, homemade non-oily pesto (HEA for the parmesan) with mushrooms, green beans, carrot and onion. I also had a slice of cheese on it (too lazy to count syns but i can imagine about 3 syns)

Total syns : 10.5

It wasn't a bad day but i think i prefer extra easy so i'll stick that

Things i would change: all of my Healthy Extras are probably off because i just sort of guessed and didnt calculate/weigh/measure anything. I will endevour to do this in future. I'll try figure out tomorrow what milk i normally consume in a day. I can imagine it is probably 250 /300 ml. Also the food doctor pita isnt technically a healthy extra so i need to buy whoemeal bread.

Any thoughts? X
 
Hi just thought I would pop I and say hi! I'm trying to get in the zone I've been faffing about for months and feel huge so I'm trying to get ideas from people how are you getting on?
 
Hiya!

Glad to hear you are back fully motivated again, I'm sure those excess pounds will drop back off over the next few weeks :) That pesto pasta looks amazing, I think i might end up making that for tonight's tea actually as I have nothing planned. Regarding your pitta breads, you can use certain ones as a HEX B :) Do you have Co-Op's in Ireland?? I know a certain one of their's can deffo be used. Log in online and see what your options are! As an A choice, do you like chocolate milk? I've recently discovered Chocolate Oatly which you can have 200mls of :) It's stored with the long life milks on the shelf, not in the fridges. Tesco sell it :) x
 
image-187484148.jpg

Can anyone advise on above please! Its the parmesan i'm looking at. Basically the parmesan i used was in a little clear bag and it was soet of powdery and dried but not wuite so much as the one you would get in the shakey thing that you serve on the table like a condiment. it says ' parmesano regiono' or something. it was a bit like this...



image-2400481397.jpg

My question is, is it the first or second syn value?? The first one says fresh/block/grated and thats 5 syns for 25g (Am i tight as top of page says 25g unless otherwise stated) but then one below says dried/grated which appears to be 1.5 syns for 25g or a tablespoon. Am i reading this right? I am thinking that what i used was the second one as it was dried, but then again it was more fresh than the dried one you get in the shakey thing. Sorry if this sounds confusing guys i just really want to get it right because this week i used it in both my carbonara and my pesto!

Also, when it says 'a table spoon' for the second one, why doesn't it say that for the first? Its making me doubt that a tablespoon is 25g.

This would all he a lot easier if i has weighing scales. I'll get around to buying one. I remember having 30g left in the bag, and that makes me think 1.5 syns or 25g is bloody brilliant.

Any help is welcome :)
 
Deffo grated :) What brand was it? To be totally sure, syns online would be a good place to check x
 
I've always synned it at 1.5 per tbsp? Is 25g the same as a tbsp? Personally I wouldn't have thought so as it's really light! Maybe measure out a tbsp and then weigh it to see how much it weighs. I really doubt it would be 25g although I could definitely be wrong as I'm hopeless at estimating weights!

Maybe in future just count it towards your HEXa to be safe and make sure you've weighed it out :)
 
Last edited:
Baby-belle said:
Hi just thought I would pop I and say hi! I'm trying to get in the zone I've been faffing about for months and feel huge so I'm trying to get ideas from people how are you getting on?
Click to expand...
Hi baby-belle. Thanks for stopping by. I love your profile picture :)

I was completely off the rails for about 2 months and I have literally just recomitted and I am determined to get to my goal by next summer. It's a lot of weight but others have done it do I believe I can too. I LOVE Slimming World! Hope you are feeling motivated :) This is a great place for motivation and recipe ideas etc, I'd be lost without it.

book_lover said:
:hug99:Tracy you are being so positive about everything, that is fantastic! I shall be following your journey every step of the way - you go!

I haven't even tried red or green days, I just love EE! Hope you have a good day today :)
Click to expand...
Thank you so much book_lover. You are too king! Yeah, Extra Easy all the way for me. You can't beat it! :)

xJoanneJJx said:
Hiya!

Glad to hear you are back fully motivated again, I'm sure those excess pounds will drop back off over the next few weeks :) That pesto pasta looks amazing, I think i might end up making that for tonight's tea actually as I have nothing planned. Regarding your pitta breads, you can use certain ones as a HEX B :) Do you have Co-Op's in Ireland?? I know a certain one of their's can deffo be used. Log in online and see what your options are! As an A choice, do you like chocolate milk? I've recently discovered Chocolate Oatly which you can have 200mls of :) It's stored with the long life milks on the shelf, not in the fridges. Tesco sell it :) x
Click to expand...
Ooh thanks for the ideas hun. Healthy Extra A aint a problem for me because I always use it up with milk in tea throughout the day and then usually some cheese! but thanks :D The Pesto is gorgeous, I would highly reccommend it. I got two lunches and two dinners out of it so its great value too! :)

vintagepockets said:
I've always synned it at 1.5 per tbsp? Is 25g the same as a tbsp? Personally I wouldn't have thought so as it's really light! Maybe measure out a tbsp and then weigh it to see how much it weighs. I really doubt it would be 25g although I could definitely be wrong as I'm hopeless at estimating weights!

Maybe in future just count it towards your HEXa to be safe and make sure you've weighed it out :)
Click to expand...

I think you're right hun, the "25g unless otherwise stated" threw me, but I am just realizing now that "1 tablespoon" is stating something else hahaha!! a tablespoon is loads though :)
 
Hi Newbee89! I'm currently off work poorly and have really enjoyed reading your diary, you remind me so much of me, I had a really similar experience to you in the lead up and duration of my 3 week holiday in Florida with the OH in the summer, I ended up gaining weight in the lead up to it even though I planned to lose some, felt massive whilst there, and then gained almost a stone within the 3 weeks of being there!!!

I joined SW the day after my plane landed back on UK soil, and in 11 weeks I have lost 1stone 9.5! I also have had problems with impulsive eating in the past, and feel like I am just about getting it under control now! I'm so looking forward to keeping up with your diary, and wish you all the luck in the world!! Xxx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

CarnivoreTalk
Hello from Northeast Ohio
Replies
9
Views
2K
AliGal
AliGal
Y
Weight loss journey intro -
Replies
5
Views
1K
Zafira
Zafira
P
Burrata healthy extra a? Slimming world question!
Replies
0
Views
4K
pgerkin
P
J
JolibeeUK is going to be Joli
Replies
2
Views
551
Minimen
M
Y
Starting a VLCD for good this time!
Replies
4
Views
1K
Kitty07
K
Back
Top