Weigh In result - Friday 30th September 2011

12st 7.5lbs!  Just over 2lbs down, good start me thinks :D

WI - Wednesday 18th May 2011

Well this last week I seem to have done my fair amount of comfort eating which is not good.  Work is stressing me out big time and I think I may need to start looking for something else because I don't need these feeling following me around, not healthy for me physically or mentally.

Despite the comfort food I actually managed to loose half a pound at WI this week, this brings me down to 11st 10.5lbs so at least its going in the right direction :o)

Still sticking to the simply filling method as it seems to fit with my life at the moment and I must admit I have more energy (most of the time at least) which is great.  

Lets see what this week brings!

WI - Wednesday 4th May 2011

Surprisingly I managed a half pound loss :o)  Was very happy considering I was only on track for Tuesday and Wednesday, clearly wasn't as bad as I thought!

Been on track all this week so hoping for another loss this coming Wednesday, fingers crossed :D

WI - Wednesday 20th April 2011

So I stuck to the Simply Filling method of the Pro Points Plan and it seems to work well for me :o)  Most of the food on the SF list is food I really like and I have just been having my 3 meals a day and not felt hungry in between - this in itself is a huge thing for me!  I'm guessing it is due to me not always thinking in the back of my mind about how many points I have left, or have eaten, or need to eat, etc..... it was really great!

So I went to WI last night slightly concerned that it wouldn't make any difference on the scales and was shocked to find I had lost 2 and a half pounds!  That's right, 2.5lbs!!!  Blimey!  So I am now down to 11st 8.5lbs :o)  I walked out of WI with a huge smile on my face, that's not happened for a while.  So I'm going to stick with SF for another week and see what happens - the only thing which is concerning me slightly is the mother-in-law is staying for a week with us from Saturday, and she usually insists on having dinner out most nights (especially as she lives in Cyprus and therefore wants to indulge in the meals she can't get back home such as Chinese and Indian... all the stuff which hits my weak spot!).  It is going to be challenging but I'm hoping it won't be too bad, at least I should be able to limit the damage to some extent..... fingers crossed!  

WI - Wednesday 13th April 2011

Well managed to loose 2lbs which brings me back to 11st 11lbs - was glad about this :o)  Had a quick chat to my leader and decided to give the simply filling method a go to see if this will help me get past this blip of loosing and then putting it back on.  Good thing is I'm off work from Friday until just after Easter so I can focus on the SF way of eating without having to worry about work as well.

Wish me luck!

WI – Wednesday 16th March 2011

Just a quick update on how WI went, managed to loose 2lbs which is good and means I’m back on track :o)  Been really busy for the past week or so hence the lack of posts and this short one but hoping to have some time to myself this weekend to chill, relax and take some time to contemplate how things are going :o)

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!  

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)

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!!

I did it!! W1D1 of C25K - Woop!

I actually did it! I managed W1D1 of the C25K programme! This is a big achievement for me for 2 reasons

1. I'm not a runner, never have been and always assumed I never would be; and
2. I didn't give up after my first attempt! I went back out there and pushed myself!

When I finished the last of the jogging segments I had the biggest smile on my face – anyone who saw me probably thought I was a bit crazy but I really don't care!

While I was walking home from the park this morning I was thinking about why I have started to push myself more – to be honest I'm really not too sure what it is. I think it could be a combination of the following things:

• Age – now I know I'm not old, 27 is a good age and I still feel like I did when I was 20. But a lot of people I know have been settling down and having kids and since my best friend had her little girl (18 months ago) I feel like I'm getting to that point where I would like to have kids soon. Due to this I guess I want to make sure my body is ready and it is widely known that if you are an overweight woman it can potentially cause issues if you become pregnant (I think at my current weight I would be ok but I wouldn't really want to wait and see – I should point out that I can be slightly neurotic and once an idea is in my head it is very difficult to shift it!)
  
  

• 

  L-R - Me, Kelly and Claire at Kelly's Wedding  (Nov. 2010)

  Image – this probably happens to most women but the image of myself I see in the mirror always seems different in photos. When I get ready for a night out I usually think I look good (unless I'm having a 'fat' day in which case it doesn't matter what I wear I just won't be happy with it!) - but once the evening is done and I'm home and look at photo's that have been taken (the joy of camera phones and facebook!) I always think 'oh my god, what the hell happened!'. The main issue is being the 'bigger' friend in the group which I go out with most often – I always seem to look huge in comparison, probably because they are both in the 9 stone bracket and I'm around the 12 stone mark. 
   
• Health and fitness – my fitness levels are not great, and this was proven to me towards the end of last year when the lift at work was broken for over a week, having to walk up to the 6^th floor really got my heart rate up and made me out of breath, not good at all! 
   
• Goal – over the years I have done numerous diets and eating plans but I have never gotten to a goal weight (for one reason or another I have abandoned which ever plan I have been on and never got back into it). This really bugs me and I want to prove to myself that I can actually get to within my healthy weight range and stay there.

There probably are other reasons which I didn't have chance to think about on the 10 minute walk home but these are the main ones for now. So I have decided this year I will get to goal and I will increase my fitness levels so I am at a reasonable level for my age.

I think I'm doing quite well so far for 2011 (I know we are not even at the end of January yet!) - in addition to my triumph this morning I also did my Zumba class yesterday morning. I currently have 18 of my weekly points left (Stew and I went to Wagamama's on Friday, chicken katsu curry and duck gyoza are my downfall! Plus the Mojito I had added 6 extra points to my meal – totally worth it) and I have planned most of this weeks dinners so I should only have my 29 daily points until weigh-in on Wednesday evening.

Hope you are all having a good week

WI - Wednesday 19th January 2011

So had WI this evening and managed to loose 1lb - YAY!  Down to 12st 0.5lbs which is great - especially as I'm pretty sure I went over my weekly allowance last Thursday night and it was my TOTM last week (on the old plan I either gained or STS around my TOTM).  All in all I'm very pleased with myself :o)  

Hope you all do well this week, I'm off to have a couple of celebratory squares of chocolate :o)

WI - Wednesday 12th January 2011

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this WI as I didn't feel like I had lost anything but I must say I was very pleasantly surprised!  Got on the scales and my current weight came up as 12st 1.5lbs - a whopping 4.5lbs lost!!  Woop woop!!  

Me and my 'Girls' on our night out - I'm in the middle

So after a great week I had a night out with the girls last night - it was so good that all tracking went out of the window, loads of cocktails and a few shots combined with a platter of food.  On the plus side there was a fair amount of dancing so that's good from an exercise point of view!  I have decided that the best way to proceed is assume all of my weekly points have been used and just stick to my daily points for the rest of the week, hopefully that should counteract the damage caused!  At least it happened on the first day of my tracking week, much better than closer to WI :o)

Got my Zumba class tomorrow morning, really looking forward to it.  I have also been looking into other exercise plans and have come across the 'C25K' jogging plan - as anyone who knows me can confirm I'm not a runner and I don't seem to be built for running to be perfectly frank.  But this plan has peaked my interest and from reading about other people's success with it I feel I should be able to cope with it (although I'm not too sure about being able to do the 3 runs a week as its still really dark - so I may just start off with 1 or 2 a week until it gets lighter in the evenings).  I'm thinking of trying out the first session on Sunday morning, figure if I go out as soon as I'm up and about I should avoid too many people in the park. 

First WI of 2011

So first WI of 2011 took place this evening and I was surprised that I had only put on 3 and a half pounds, I was seriously expecting more!  This brings me back up to 12st 6lbs and means I can now focus on getting back on track.

Tomorrow is the first full day back on ProPoints, I already have a bag of clementines on my desk ready for snacking :o)  

2011 is here, time to get down to business

So Christmas and New Year have been and gone, I had a great time, spent time with my family and close friends and have had loads to eat and drink.  I have even sampled one of my Christmas pressies which was an ice cream maker by making a full fat custard based black cherry ice cream which was lush!  

However for the last couple of days I have had a stomach bug and over Saturday and Sunday I ate the grand total of 2/3 of a slice of bread with marmite, a tiny ham sandwich and 3 fingers of a kitkat Sunday evening.  Feeling much better today although still not got my full appetite back (which is probably a blessing!) so I guess it is a good time to start back on the ProPoints.  Going to ease myself back in by sticking (or trying to) to 29 points per day until after WI on Wednesday when I'll give myself the extra 49 weekly points again to use if needed - although to be honest not much happens in January so shouldn't be having any big nights out!

And as I'm not too good with New Years resolutions I'll make one I really think I can keep - from now on my ice cream maker will be making frozen yogurt for me to consume and not full fat creamy based frozen delights :o)

Roll on Wednesday so I can see what the damage is and wipe the slate fully clean!

One more WI till Christmas....

Another hectic week at work and people have started bringing in tins and tins of chocolates "as its almost Christmas!" - despite this temptation I managed to stay on track this week and when I went to WI yesterday I had lost 3 and a half pounds!  So I'm down to 12st 1.5lbs which is good, and it has given me the motivation to stay on track this coming week as well (I was considering just not tracking now until the new year - I know that's not the best way of doing things but it is easier and less stressful!).  

So I worked out what I have coming up this week and the only stumbling block is a night out with some of the guys and girls from work on Saturday (weather permitting - snow has been threatened again this weekend and we know that seems to grind Greater London to a complete halt!) which will mainly consist of a meal at an Indian restaurant - I figure if I try and not use any of my weekly points between now and then I can use them all on Saturday and not worry too much about it, going to study the menu beforehand and decide what food I'm having which should help as well.

And the way I see it, after WI next week it is basically Christmas!  I will have just one day left of work (I have booked Christmas Eve and the time in between Christmas and New Year off) and I can really get into the Christmas spirit :o)  

Woop woop, its the weekend!

So it has been a stressful week, very busy at work which normally turns me to feast on chocolate!  But since WI on Wednesday (in which I found out I had put on 2lbs putting me back up to 12st 5lbs - could have been a lot worse considering the last two weeks I hadn't stuck to the plan at all!) I have stuck to the plan - menu's as follows:

Thursday:

Breakfast:

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

Lunch:

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

Dinner:

• Sweet & sour prawns with noodles - 12pp

Snacks: 

• Pineapple & Mango - 0pp
• Low fat hummus & carrot sticks - 3pp
• Curly wurly - 3pp

TOTAL - 29pp out of 29pp

Friday: 

Breakfast:

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

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet spicy couscous - 5pp
• 15g sultanas - 1pp
• Prawn, tuna and veg sushi pack (from Tesco) - 6pp

Dinner:

• Haddock fillet (from Aldi) - 4pp
• 40g (dried) pasta - 4pp
• Veg - 0pp

Snacks: 

• 1 banana - 0pp
• 7 Roses chocolates - 9pp
• Crisps (from Aldi) - 4pp

TOTAL - 38pp out of 29pp (9 weekly points used)

So far so good I think :o)  

Going out tomorrow as Stew and I have tickets to see Stewart Lee in his new stand up show (can't wait!) - will probably grab dinner out so really glad about the 40 spare weekly points!

Stewart Lee - comic genius

Snow and non-tracking = bad WW week....

This week has been a complete write off - was doing ok on Monday (after the Chinese binge with the mother-in-law on Sunday) but then disaster struck - London was finally hit with the snow, Tuesday I managed to track ok and was within my points (woop!) but had trouble getting home on the train due to the ongoing snow falling, by Wednesday morning we had about 6cm in southeast London and this caused the trains to stop working!  Therefore I had to bus the 10 miles into the City, which took me an hour and a half, I was frozen by the time I got off and went straight into Pret for a hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant, from that point on my tracking went out of the window.

Not my station but one of the many South Eastern train stations where trains services were 'disrupted' due to the adverse weather...

For the rest of the week I had to find alternative routes to and from work, each as stressful as the next - its silly really as usually door to door my journey is 40 mins (including the 10-15 mins walk to each station) but it has been taking me on average 2 hours.  stress & cold = comfort food needed - everyone at work has had the same issue so there has been biscuits and chocolate bought on mass to be shared.

We also had our work Christmas meal Friday night, we moved it from 8pm to 4pm due to the snow and people being able to get home and lets just say there was lots of food and booze consumed all round.  Had a mega hangover on Saturday and also found my back to be incredibly sore from walking on the icy pavements (must have jarred it on the way home Friday night).

Too much vodka = hangover and lots of comfort food

All of the above plus the snow preventing me getting to my meeting on Wednesday has made it a disastrous week.  But I have decided to restart today and take the hit on Wednesday at my meeting to see what the damage is - don't have anything planned for this week so food wise I should hopefully be ok (fingers crossed!)

Chinese food - why is it so good but so bad?!

So it happened, we ended up going for drinks and then chinese food last night, have no idea what the points were as we had the set menu and had a bit of everything, guessing it was very over my points (including the remaining weekly points I had left).  Two weekends in a row to break the diet, not bad!  

Anyway, well back on track again today and taken it upon myself to make a chilli in the slow cooker ready for tomorrows dinner so I can get convinced to go out for dinner again :o)  Menue for today was:

Breakfast:

• 2 weetabix - 3pp
• 1/2 pint ss milk (includes the excess amount of tea I had at work today as it was bloody freezing in the office!) - 4pp

Lunch:

• 1/2 packet of couscous - 5pp
• Cherry tomatoes - 0pp

Dinner:

• WWFH Shepherds Pie (frozen) - 6pp
• Baby corn, asparagus, broccoli - 0pp

Snacks:

• Pineapple and mango chunks - 0pp
• low fat hoummus and carrot sticks - 3pp
• 48g galaxy caramel chocolate - 7pp

TOTAL - 28pp out of 29pp

So it finished my dinner and still had 8pp left hence the chocolate indulgence - gotta love this plan!  And with only a couple of days until WI I need to be really strict and keep within my daily points, shouldn't be too difficult (hopefully!)

Sunday morning - Yawn!

Well even though we had the threat of snow for the past few days nothing has materialised which is a shame as I love the snow :o)  Actually started my christmas shopping yesterday which is great as less than a month to go - got some lovely things in Greenwich Market and included a walk through the park which was fab :o)

The view from the top of the hill in Greenwich park yesterday morning, nice and frosty!

 

Last few days have been ok foodwise although I have eaten into my weekly points each day (but that is what they are there for I guess!) - menu's have been as follows:

Thursday:

Breakfast:

• 2 weetabix - 3pp
• 1/4 pint ss milk - 2pp
• banana - 0pp

Lunch:

• Morrocan chicken soup from Pret - 6pp
• fresh fruit salad - 0pp

Dinner:

• Diced chicken breast - 4pp
• Korma sauce - 5pp
• 60g (dried weight) rice - 6pp
• 2 onion bharji's - 5pp

Snacks:

• Half packet of beef jerky - 2pp

TOTAL - 33pp out of 29pp - 4 weekly points used

Friday:

Breakfast:

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

Lunch:

• 6oz Gammon steak - 6pp
• Small bowl of chips - 10pp
• Grilled tomato - 0pp

Dinner:

• Homemade beef stew - 3pp
• Half tub of ready made mashed root veg (Tesco) - 6pp

Snacks:

• Banana - 0pp
• Slice of chocolate swiss roll - 4pp

TOTAL - 34pp out of 29pp - 5 weekly points used

Saturday:

Breakfast:

• 2 choc chip brioche rolls - 7pp

Lunch:

• Wetherspoons sausage beans and chips - 25pp
• Vodka, soda and fresh lime - 2pp

Dinner:

• Veg chow mein - 6pp

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

As you can see yesterday wasn't the best of days food wise but all within my points which is the main thing I guess.  I'm now left with 29 weekly points to get me through to Wednesday's WI which should be fine although mother-in-law is with us from this afternoon for a few days and she does like to go out to eat (as she lives in Cyprus she likes to stock up on the food she can't get at home!) but should still be manageable :o)