wednesday

This morning's weigh-in 264.8 that's down again. Yay!

For breakfast I had two rashers of bacon on top of 'flat' egg made with two eggs.For lunch I had some of my homemade baked beans (will try to put up a recipe, but not today cos life is too busy!), and leftover brocoli and some of the mashed cauliflower. Yum.
Little J enjoyed it too.And then after that I had a babybel because J didn't want it and I couldn't let it go to waste!
(He didn't eat it at all, I just only remembered to take the picture after I'm taken a bite!)
Thanks everyone who has been dropping by to encourage me. It really helps me stay on track.

Evening meal

For dinner this evening I had 2 lamb chops, mashed cauliflower (if you've never had this then you definitely ought to try it. It tastes yummy and is a great substitute for mashed potato) , curly kale, gravy and mint sauce. Delicious :-)

This is working

Do you know, this is really working for me. Just because I've made a commitment to myself to take a picture of everything I eat, and because I don't want to let any of the OWOA ladies (and Bird) down, it really is working. I think it was Brandi who suggested a while back that I use those guys as an excuse to tell other people, but that didn't really work, however like this is does seem to work. I'm not saying that I'm only doing this for all those guys, I am doing this for me. I know I need to lose this weight, it just helps knowing that they are behind me all the way. I needed to find a way to stay accountable, and this seems to be working for me.

Please excuse the not brilliant photography, I probably could take better pitures if I treid hard, but it's not practical to spend that long before every meal! However, just the act of taking the picture helps me to actually look at the food I'm putting in my mouth and process what I'm eating. It takes the mindlessness out of eating, and that is what I needed to do.


This afternoon I had a sugar-free jelly for my snack (actually it was jelly mixed with ricotta, but anyway). I was aware that making chocolate brownies might make me want something sweet so I went for that rather than nuts or vegetable and houmous.

Today so far (Tuesday)

Weigh-in this morning 265.2 I know that is a big drop from yesterday (about 4 pounds) but I know that some of that was fluids as I had quite a bit of unhealthy salty stuff on Friday and Saturday last week. I feel thinner, and my trousers are back to falling down slightly, so I must have been bloated.

This morning for breakfast I didn't feel like the same as yesterday, but I already had the vegetables cut up (I did a double lot yesterday and put half in a bag to use today). So I stirfried the veg in a very little oil and added a dash of soy sauce, and had them on top of what's known in my house as flat egg. (I used spray oil, broke the yolk and flipped it over so that both sides got browned)
I didn't have a morning snack as we were out shopping and I'd forgotten to take anything, but I think I do need to try to remember something for tomorrow.

For lunch I had similar to yesterday, but added a handful of chickpeas instead of cashew nuts
(lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, turkey, chickpeas, vinaigrette (we make that ourselves and tend to use more vinegar than oil which is not the traditional way to do it, but I like the vinegary taste)This afternoon I am cooking baked beans and chocolate brownies (for our church kids party tomorrow night). My plan is to have a big bowl of washing up water ready so that I don't even have chance to lick the spoon.

UPDATE: The brownies are in the oven, and I managed to not eat any of it. All I have to do now is remain strong when I cut them up once they're cool.

Monday's dinner

I had chicken turkey dopiaza with brocoli and a spoonful of mango chutney. It was yummy :-)

Extra nibble

Since one of the problems I've had with keeping a food diary is that I've let stuff slip past without recording it, this time I want to write down everything, even the seemingly small stuff so that I don't go that way again. As a result I'm recording that I had a spoonful of cottage pie while giving The Little One some dinner. And that was basically because he really didn't want to eat it and when we did get some in his mouth he wanted to spit it out, and I wanted to check that what I was feeding him really was edible, and that I wasn't trying to feed him something that was past it's best. It tasted fine, so I figured he just doesn't like cottage pie! We persevered and got some of it into him and then changed tack and gave him some toast instead :-)

Afternoon snack

I got to share my afternoon snack with The Little One, which means I got half a pot of jelly and ricotta (whisked together and then left to set) and half a babybel!

Monday Lunch

Salad with lettuce, pepper, cherry tomatoes, turkey, a few cashew nuts and vinaigrette.

Breakfast Monday 29th October

I've decided the only way I'm actually going to realise what I put in my mouth is to take a picture of every single thing I eat in a week. I realise this will probably be boring for most people, but I need to find a way to stay accountable. Food diaries just aren't enough, because I just give up when I eat sometihng I shouldn't.
So I'm going to write about doing this on all my blogs (One weigh or another, It's my life, and here)
in the hope that people might pop in and see how I'm doing.

Weigh-in this morning 269.4

Breakfast - vegetable omlette\frittata
onions, brocoli, red pepper, mushroom, 2 eggs, splash of skimmed milk, cheese, salt, pepper, mixed herbs
(I took a photo in the pan as well as on the plate because I knew it would fall apart when I got it out the pan)

Shrek climbs a tree

Weekend round up

I drank lots of water.

I ate lots of vegetables.

I ate sugar.

I snacked.

I did no exercise.

I am up 4.8 today from last week.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
(that's me growling at myself).

Goals for this week:
1. Go to bed early. I know how much of the extra eating and bad choices has been because I was tired.

2. Exercise, even if it's only 10 minutes a day, it's still better than none.

3. Cut out sugar and carbs for a week. (phase one) and do it properly.

4. Be aware on Wednesday - that's my bad day, where I'm in situations that mean carbs and sugar are easily available, and my will power is low.

Day 7 (Thursday)

1. Water - Lots and lots

2. Fruit and Vegetables - lots and lots, more than 5.

3. Exercise - None really. I was tutoring after school, so didn't have loads of time. Should have gone swimming.

4. No sugar - Hmmm, broke this one.

5. No after dinner eating - Can't remember. Have a feeling I broke this one too. Feeling a bit discouraged. Think I've got tired and a bit low, and then my resolve breaks more easily and then I feel even more disappointed in myself and discouraged.

Day 6 (Wednesday)

Wednesdays are really long and busy days for me, so i didn't get round to writing a post then, nor yesterday, so now I'm just going to do a quick five point summary

1. Water - loads, kept needing the toilet in the evening!

2. Fruit and Vegetables - 2 apples, tomatoes, chickpeas and pepper for lunch, peas and asparagus for dinner.

3. Exercise - didn't get out for a walk, but did do some speed tidying and cleaning. I set my timer for 10 minutes and then raced around a room sorting and moving things and putting them away, and also some vacuuming. I did that for at least 40 minutes, while entertaining a small person (I brought him back with me to my house)

4. No sugar - managed to break this by eating some silly stuff at small child's house.

5. No after dinner eating - had some grapes at small group meeting (midweek church group) so broke this one too. Not the best day really.

Day 5

Wow, how did it get to be day 5 already?

Breakfast
2 rashers bacon
1 egg

Snack
8 (!) dried apricots
half an orange
small piece of banana
[Ok, let me explain all that. Apricots and me need to stay away from each other, and in future we will. This morning I took the Little One to Hayes Hill Farm and although I was taking him home for lunch his Mum sent me with a banana, an orange, some juice, nappies and a packet of apricots. I need to ban myself from apricots I think, cos I'm not very good at only having a couple at a time, or rather, I have a couple, and then a couple more. So we ate apricots. And then when we got back into the car we sat and ate orange and banana, or rather Little One ate most of it, but some bits he fed to me. And since I knew I was unlikely to get to eat lunch until gone 2, I let him!]

Lunch
A little leftover mashed potato
Tikka chiken
half a yellow pepper
3 cherry tomatoes
sweetcorn
[I stuck the chicken on the bottom, covered it with the potato and zapped in in the microwave. Then covered it with the salad stuff. It was yummy.]

Snack
spoonful of peanut butter (I was having cravings, so decided to have a little bit)
an apple

Dinner
slice of melon
brown basmati rice
chick pea chilli (very hot!) (with lots of different vegetables in it)
left over cold lamb from Sunday's joint

Vegetable and fruit servings: about 4 veg and 4 fruit

Water
Loads and loads and loads, definitely met the target

Exercise
I chased the Little One all over the place this morning and went for a little walk this afternoon.

No Sugar - I'm not sure eating dried apricots really goes with this category, but I don't really know. I aim to stay off dried fruit for the rest of the month. Reminder to self - next time check you actually put the apples in the bag, otherwise you may not have them when you want them!

Day 4 of the challenge & official weigh in day

breakfast
2 rashers bacon
1 egg

snack
lite cheddar babybel
small apple

lunch
last of the homemade baked beans
a small yellow pepper
about 5 cherry tomatoes
lettuce

snack
small apple
4 macadamias
few cashews

dinner
cashew nut curry (containing turkey, mushrooms, onion and lots of other nice things)
peas (lots and lots)
2 spoons of mango chutney

Summary of vegetable\salad portions: 3 portions at lunch, 2 at dinner
Also 2 fruit portions

Exercise - well, Monday is a really long day for me. I work at school from 9-3.30 and then go straight to do some home tutoring for and hour and a half, all of which meant I didn't really get much exercise, but I did join in the Athletics lesson that I was supervising this afternoon (the school gets an outside instructor in to run the sessions, but requires a staff member there in case of discipline etc)

Water - I lost count again, but let me think.... yep, definitely got over 6 pints. Seems like I'm addicted to the stuff!

No eating after dinner - well I've have my dinner now, and I feel lovely and full, so I know I've had enough to eat. So I won't let myself give in to cravings later on if I get them.

Weigh-in - I was 261 lb this morning. I'm going to take my weight last Monday (at the OWOA weigh-in) as my start of challenge weight, because my weight on the 1st was similar to that I think, or if I wasn't I don't actually remember because I only write down the official weigh-in weights, if that makes sense! So so far I have lost 3.8 lb on this challenge. I'm determined to try to get into the 250's for next week :-)
Oh, and todays weight is the lowest I've been on this weight-loss journey. I have reached it a couple of times already on the journey and then put a few pounds back on, but this time hopefully the challenge will ensure I push on through the decade barrier, and on down with the weight loss.

day 3

breakfast
2 rashers of bacon
1 egg (you may notice a pattern developing here. I've pretty much got into the way of fixing my breakfast which allows me to get my lunch ready at the same time if I'm having a packed lunch, and since I like I pretty much always eat the same thing. Some people aren't convinced about bacon on the south beach diet, but it works for me, so I'll stick to it!)

snack
an apple (I've found that carrying a couple of apples in my bag is good for days like today where it means I can munch on that and not have to worry about cakes or biscuits finding their way into my mouth!)

lunch
roast lamb
a spoonful of mashed potato
brocoli
peas (lots!)
a mixture of roasted root vegetables (shallots, parsnip, butternut squash, sweet potato, courgette)
gravy
mint sauce
strawberries (frozen - very yummy!)

snack
I have to admit that I had a couple of squares of milk chocolate. Almost as soon as I had eaten it I did regret it. Gave me a bit of a headache, and the eating it wasn't as good as the thinking about it! Next time I'll just admire it from afar!


tea
small amount of the homemade baked beans (I put a portion ready for my school lunch tomorrow)
about 5 cherry tomatoes
the remains of the left over cabbage
a little bit of yellow pepper
some grated cheese
One of CJ's oat muffins (yummy! We are going to freeze the rest, and I think I might have to keep myself away from them!)

I have drunk loads of water today. And eaten loads of vegetables and fruit. I reckon it must be about 8 portions all together. I ate some chocolate and a muffin which were probably not strictly on my diet, and I do want to try to be stricter with myself from now on.

Oh, I have to admit also that I had a few cashews last night after my dinner which wasn't really according to plan either.

I think I can do the vegetable eating and water drinking pretty easily. I'm trying to schedule in when I will do exercise (I think these first three days were a bit of a wipeout so far as exercise was concerned, but am ready to do this!) I need to be more strict with myself about not eating sugar, and not eating after dinner.
That's me for now. Over and Out :-)

Day 2

Yesterday I drank at least 120 oz water, and managed to resist evening snacks.
And my weight was down this morning from what it was yesterday morning. Hurrah :-)

Today:

breakfast
2 rashers of bacon
(EDITED TO ADD) an egg (Thanks HP, missed it off by mistake!)

snack
small apple

lunch
portion of homemade baked beans
cabbage
a slice of ham
grated reduced fat cheese

dinner
We went to nandos :-)
We had some olives as an appetisers, but I only ate a few - I'm still trying to decide if I like them or not!
I had a nandos sald (mixed leaves, red pepper and cherry tomatos) with a chicken quarter with lemon and herb marinade.
I managed to resist the frozon yoghurt for dessert, but I must admit that I had sprite to drink. I think that was because I was so thirsty when we ordered it was the free refill that tempted me more than anything. On my way home from the tube station I had another apple. Although that's kinda after dinner eating, I was counting it as my dessert!

Not too bad a day. Not a huge amount of walking unfortunately, but I did manage to find a new swimming costume, two new tops and a pair of (ladies) sandals - I have trouble finding feminie shoes because I have really big and wide feet. I think the thing I need to work on for tomorrow and the coming week is meeting the exercise target.

Oh, and I drank loads today. Lost count, but reckon I reached my target for that.

June Challenge - Day 1

Day One in the June Challenge, Debs is ready to do this :-)

CJ, writing over at one weigh or another, has suggested the June Challenge.
Each one of us taking part is setting slightly differing challenges, but with hopefully with similar results - ending June being fitter and weighing less!

My version is as follows:
1. Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.
2. Drink at least 6 (UK) pints of water a day (That's 120 oz).
3. Consume no sugar. This is one that I may need to define further as the month goes on, but for starters it definitely means no chocolate, sweets, cake etc.
4. No evening eating after the evening meal. So I can eat dinner, but then no further snacks after that.
5. 30 minutes of exercise four days a week. I think I need to look at my week and schedule this in, otherwise, if I try to go day by day I can see this not happening. This is the part of the challenge that I know I need to work hardest at to achieve.

Today I ate:

breakfast
2 rashers of bacon
1 egg

lunch
portion of homemade baked beans
5 cherry tomatoes
grated reduced fat cheese

snack
apple
2 macadamia nuts (all that was left from the open packet!)

dinner
meatloaf
carrots
green beans
sweetcorn
cabbage
gravy

I make that at least seven servings of fruit and vegetables. I haven't really had any exercise today though. Tomorrow I will probably be going up to central London with Bekki, my Mum and my uncle, so hopefully there will be lots of walking around. Maybe I should take the stairs instead of the escalators on the tube...

Monday 30th April

Breakfast
1 middle cut rasher of bacon
1 egg

Snack
15 grapes
6 strawberries

Lunch

salad made from:
7 cherry tomatoes
1 orange pepper
1\2 tin chickpeas with paprika sprinkled on
1 sausage
few cashews

An apple

Snack
1 square galaxy chocolate (a celebration sweet)
apple

Dinner
lamb rogan josh (otherwise known as spicy tomato and lamb soup)
brocoli
green beans

Haven't posted on here for a while

My last post sounded really, um dunno what the word it, but when I went back and read it it made me go 'ouch' which wasn't really the intention. I was actually trying to state the fact that since I was stating my exercise facts that was what I would call the post. However I was tired and it didn't come out right!
Here's a picture of the little one and me because, well just because really. I know it's not all that flattering, but hey!