Stressful week at work = chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

Lets just say I am glad it is the weekend.  When I checked my Euro Millions ticket this morning I was thinking about how great it would be not to have to work again!  But alas I did not win (and by the looks of it nobody did) so I shall be heading back to the office on Monday morning.  To be honest I'm not too sure why it was stressful this week, I think it could just be a mixture of headstrong people running the company, not having a plan and each with their own ideas along with the expectation that the staff should know what is required of them without being told directly (I think next year one of my targets should be to learn the art of mind reading!).

Well whatever the reason for the stress, it has lead to me indulging in chocolate (all tracked and within my points) - Thursday and Friday menus looked like this:

Thursday:

Breakfast:

• 40g muesli - 4pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet couscous - 5pp
• 15g sultanas - 1pp
• Fruit salad (homemade consisting of strawberries, grapes and blueberries) - 0pp

Dinner:

• Oven cooked chicken breast - 4pp
• 80g (dried weight) pasta - 8pp
• 1/6 jar red pesto - 3pp

Snacks:

• 1 apple - 0pp
• Malteaser bunny - 4pp
• Packet of Snack a Jack Crunchy Curls - 2pp
• 1 sunrice crunchy square - 2pp
• 35g white chocolate buttons - 5pp
• 2 chocolate and hazelnut wafers - 5pp

TOTAL - 45pp out of 29pp - 16 weekly points used

Friday:

Breakfast:

• 40g muesli - 4pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• Jacket potato with tuna & sweetcorn - 14pp

Dinner:

• Sweet & sour king prawns with noodles - 14pp

Snacks:

• Strawberries - 0pp
• Packet of Velvet Crunch - 2pp
• 46g bar of Galaxy - 7pp
• 2 sunrice crunchy square - 5pp
• 2 chocolate and hazelnut wafers - 5pp

TOTAL - 53pp out of 29pp - 24 weekly points used

This leaves me with 9 weekly points for the rest of the week, which isn't too bad as I'm still trying to use my weeklies by the end of the weekend so I have Monday and Tuesday just on my 29pp per day.  

Off to Zumba this morning and as long as its not raining tomorrow morning I shall be back on track with my C25K (up to session W2D2, missed last weeks as I was very VERY achy from moving furniture around all day on the Friday).  

Oh and not sure if you guys have seen these but I found them in Superdrug this week:

Only 2pp per pack and very tasty (I prefer them to the usual Snack a Jacks to be honest, loads more flavour).  Enjoy :o)

WI - Wednesday 23rd February 2011

Managed to loose another 2lbs!  Go me :o)  This brings me down to 11st 11lbs which is great.  Was looking through my card with my leader at class and we worked out that the lowest I have weighed in at is 11st 8lbs which was last summer, since then my weight has bounced around but I think with ProPoints I may actually be able to break out of this cycle which excites me!  

Butternut Squash Lunch for only 2PP!

I saw on the WW message boards a couple of weeks ago that someone had done a stuffed butternut squash and the only thing you need to point is the cheese on top!  So as I have been off work today I thought I would give it a go - here is how it went:

Cut the butternut squash in half length ways, scoop out the seeds, spray a couple of sprays of frylight (not necessary - I only used 1 spray, from a height!), put on a baking tray and roast for about 30-40 mins (until soft):

Before you take the butternut squash out of the oven chop up some 0pp veg (I opted for some onion, garlic, red pepper and mushrooms) and heated through on the hob (I didn't use any oil, just kept stirring):

Take the squash out of the oven, scoop out the flesh and mash it together with the veg and then place it all back into shell of the squash:

I then added some cheese - mine worked out as 2pp as it was a pre-sliced packet from Aldi (gouda cheese):

Put the tray back in the oven for 20 mins, remove, plate up and enjoy!

I have to say it was lush!  And filling which is great :o) 

WI - Wednesday 16th February 2011

Another pound off :o)  Down to 11st 13lbs, 1lb away from getting back to my 2st loss which is great.  I worked out earlier that to get to my goal of 10 and a half stone I have 20lbs left to loose - not too bad I guess!!

Just watching the 'The Big Fat Truth about Low Fat Foods' on catch-up and it is shocking how bad those processed foods are for you!  I mean I knew that they had higher levels of salt in them but the way they made the woman feel was shocking!  Glad I enjoy cooking, spurs me on a bit more to make sure I'm eating decent fresh food.  To be honest I must say I'm not snacking as much since I have been on ProPoints and I think it is because I'm eating healthier.

Anyway, lets hope this week goes well and I manage another loss at WI next week :o)

Week so far...

... has been a mixed bag I guess.  Had a major sweet tooth on Thursday so ended up using 16 of my weekly points!  I'm putting it down to TOTM and it seems to be under control now (although I could happily munch my way through a huge bar of milky bar right now!).  Menu's for last couple of days have been:

Thursday:

Breakfast:

• 40g Swiss style muesli - 4pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• Jacket potato with tuna, sweetcorn and red onion - 14pp

Dinner:

• Fish pie (Aldi) - 9pp
• Veg - 0pp

Snacks:

• Mullerlight - vanilla with chocolate sprinkles - 2pp
• 2 curly wurlys - 6pp
• 1 apple - 0pp
• 1 sunrice crunchy square - 2pp

TOTAL - 45pp out of 29pp - 16 weekly points used

Friday:

Breakfast:

• 40g Swiss style muesli - 4pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet couscous - 5pp
• 15g sultanas - 1pp

Dinner: 

• 2 sausages - 7pp
• Swede mash - 0pp
• Veg - 0pp
• Gravy - 1pp

Snacks:

• 2 apples - 0pp
• 1 M&S banana & honey cake - 3pp
• Strawberries and raspberries - 0pp
• Mullerlight - vanilla & chocolate sprinkles - 2pp
• 1 curly wurly - 3pp
• Options hot chocolate - 1pp

TOTAL - 29pp out of 29pp

Saturday:

Breakfast:

• 3 crumpets - 6pp
• 10g chocolate spread - 2pp

Lunch:

• 2 slices of toast and marmalade - 7pp
• 100g fat free Greek yogurt - 1pp
• 20g Swiss style muesli - 2pp
• Strawberries and raspberries - 0pp

Dinner:

• Homemade beef & veg stew - 5pp
• 1 bread roll - 4pp

Snacks:

• 1 square of M&S banana and honey cake - 3pp

TOTAL - 30pp out of 29pp - 1 weekly point used

So not too bad really, have 32 of my weekly points left which is great as heading to Pizza Express tomorrow with Stew for an early valentines dinner - already decided to have my favourites, bruschetta to start, Padana pizza for mains and cheesecake with ice cream for dessert - yummy!  These add up to 49 points which leaves me with 12 points for the rest of the day, totally doable :o)  

On the exercise front I did my zumba class this morning and plan on doing my W2D1 session of the C25K programme in the morning.  May also try and squeeze some boxing in on Monday night with Stew as last week this seemed to do me some good. 

WI - Wednesday 9th February 2011

Well it appears that eating every single one of my daily and weekly points helps me loose weight!  When I weighed in this evening I had lost 1.5lbs!  Which means I am down to 12st exactly which is in the right direction :o)  I am glad I had a loss this week, think I may have cried if I had another gain!

On another subject, I have found a fab item of food in M&S this week:

Banana & Honey Cakes - You get 4 individually wrapped squares of cake in the box and each square is 3pp each (as you can see on the photo I have a habit writing the PP's on everything!) - and the cake is yummy!  Nice as a yummy little sweet snack :o)

Well, I must go and have some dinner as very hungry, hope you have all had a good week!!

Butternut Squash, Red Pepper and Soft Cheese Soup

Made the above soup today and it was lovely, not as thick as I thought it would be but the flavour was fab (and that's the main thing!).  Recipe as follows:

Butternut Squash, Red Pepper and Soft Cheese Soup

2pp per serving

15 mins to prepare, 35 mins to cook

Serves 4

Ingredients:

5 sprays of calorie controlled cooking spray

1 onion, chopped

1 large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm/1inch cubes

1 medium red pepper, deseeded and chopped

1.2litres/2pints vegetable stock made with 2 stock cubes

100g/3.5oz medium fat soft cheese

150ml/1/4pint skimmed milk

1tbsp fresh chives, chopped, plus 1tsp extra for garnish

4tbsp virtually fat free plain yogurt

Method:

1.  Mist a large saucepan with the cooking spray.  Add the onion and cook gently for about 3 mins or until softened but not browned.

2.  Add the butternut squash, red pepper and vegetable stock.  Heat until the soup is simmering, then cook gently for about 25 mins, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender.

3.  Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and add the soft cheese.  Blend for 15-20 seconds, until smooth.  Return to the saucepan.  Add the milk and chopped chives.  Reheat and season to taste.

4.  Ladle into warmed bowls.  Serve each portion with 1 tbsp plain yogurt, 1 tsp fresh chives and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Saturday is done and dusted

Really pushed myself at Zumba yesterday and this morning have woken up with a couple of aches, not that I'm complaining but I guess that means I did go 'the extra mile' so to speak :o)  Gonna head out soon and do my C25K W1D3 jog, still impressed that I'm carrying on with it (the old me - well last year me - would have given up on this by now!  Especially as its still a bit chili outside and I usually only head out in the cold with numerous layers of clothes, coats, scarfs and gloves!) 

Food for yesterday was as follows:

Breakfast:

• 3 crumpets - 6pp
• 10g chocolate spread - 2pp

Lunch:

• Mixed veg noodles - 6pp

Dinner:

• 2 haddock and broccoli fishbakes (Aldi) - 10pp
• 1/2 packet couscous - 5pp

Snacks:

• 1 apple - 0pp
• Packet ready salted crisps (Aldi multi-pack) - 3pp
• 2 chocolate and hazelnut wafers (Aldi) - 5pp

TOTAL - 37pp out of 29pp - 8 weekly points used

This leaves me with 8 weekly points left which I plan to eat today leaving me with the rest of the week on 29pp per day.  

I'm also planning to make some soup today - when my monthly pass turned up last week the recipe actually took my fancy - Butternut Squash, Red Pepper and Soft Cheese Soup - I'll post the recipe and my verdict later today :o) 

The weekend has landed

Think I have almost snapped out of my WW funk, yesterday I have an inner dialogue going for most of the day where I told myself I just need to stick to the plan, eat all of my points for the week and see what happens at WI on Wednesday - I have therefore planned to have all of my weekly points eaten by the end of Sunday so I have 2 days of 29 points on Monday and Tuesday to help settle everything down (and if it doesn't work at least I can't be told that I'm not eating enough!).  

Menu for Friday looked like this:

Breakfast:

• 2 slices of brown toast with jam - 7pp
• 1 apple - 0pp

Lunch:

• 1/3 of a large tub of reduced fat hummus (M&S) - 6pp
• 2 M&S pitta bread - 8pp

Dinner:

• Homemade chili - 7pp
• 70g (dried weight) rice - 7pp

Snacks:

• 3 clementines - 0pp
• 2 chocolate & hazelnut wafers (Aldi) - 5pp

TOTAL - 40pp out of 29pp - 11 weekly points used

This leaves me with 16 weekly points left for the weekend, more than enough :o)  

Off to Zumba soon, really looking forward to it, I have noticed that now I have more of an idea with the routines that I can put more effort in - last week my leg muscles did ache a bit on Sunday from the higher intensity!

WI - Wednesday 2nd February 2011

WI did not go well again this week - even after I tracked everything and gained a few exercise points I still managed to gain another half pound which puts me up to 12st 1.5lbs :o(  I wasn't weighed by my leader Karen this week but was weighed by another lady who was helping out (as our group is still swamped with the post-Christmas weight loss rush) and she saw the disappointment on my face (couldn't hide it this week!) - she tried to make me feel better by saying I might not be eating enough, am I sure I'm weighing my portions, etc, etc, the only way she managed to move me on was to say I should fill in an extra tracker during the week and if I gain again next WI they can go through it with me to make sure I'm not missing anything - it is safe to say I'm still feeling low about it, have managed to demolish 100g of Dairy Milk with Caramel this evening (still pointed and written on my tracker), hoping I'll snap out of it tomorrow!

Anyway, on my way into work this morning I popped into Tesco as I needed something for breakfast (ran out of weetabix at home) and I saw this:

It appears Oat So Simple have released a non-microwave version which is fab for people like me who do not have a microwave at work (our kitchen is tiny!) - I got the golden syrup version and it worked out as 6pp for the pot.  All you need to do is add boiling water, stir, leave for a minute, stir again and then eat - it was ok, not as nice as when I have made it with the usual packets and semi-skimmed milk (the pot has skimmed milk powder as part of the dry mixture within the pot) but it did the job.  Rest of my food for today was:

Breakfast:

• Oat so Simple pot - golden syrup flavour - 6pp

Lunch:

• 2 M&S pita bread - 8pp
• 1/3 of a large tub of reduced fat hummus from M&S - 6pp

Dinner:

• M&S Simply Fuller Longer Paella - 12pp

Snacks:

• 1 apple - 0pp
• 1 chocolate mini bite - 3pp
• 1 chocolate and hazelnut wafer (Aldi) - 3pp
• 100g Dairy Milk with Caramel - 13pp

TOTAL - 51pp out of 29pp - 22 weekly points used

The night before WI....

... and I don't feel like I have lost anything this week!  Its times like this that I am glad I do not have a set of scales in the house because I would be OCD about keep checking my weight!  I know I have stuck to the plan this week, I have 16 of my weekly points remaining so I should have lost at least a little.  Menus for last two days looked like this:

Monday:

Breakfast:

• 2 weetabix - 3pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet of couscous - 5pp
• 15g sultanas - 1pp
• Packet of bacon fries (Aldi) - 2pp

Dinner:

• Pork steaks - 5pp
• 200g new potatoes - 4pp
• Veg - 0pp
• Gravy - 1pp

Snacks:

• 2 bananas - 0pp
• 3 clementines - 0pp
• Mullerlight - Vanilla with chocolate sprinkles - 2pp
• 2 chocolate and hazelnut wafers (Aldi) - 5pp

TOTAL - 30pp out of 29pp -  1 weekly point used

Tuesday:

Breakfast:

• 2 weetabix - 3pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet couscous - 5pp
• 15g sultanas - 1pp
• Packet of salt & vinegar sticks (Aldi) - 2pp

Dinner:

• Haddock fillet - 4pp
• 50g (dried) rice - 5pp
• Butternut squash - 0pp
• Veg - 0pp

Snacks:

• 2 bananas - 0pp
• 3 clementines - 0pp
• Mullerlight - vanilla with chocolate sprinkles - 2pp
• 2 chocolate and hazelnut wafers (Aldi) - 5pp

TOTAL - 29pp out of 29pp

Fingers crossed for tomorrow evening - will let you know how I get on :o)