First of all, yes I am still following Slimming World although I haven’t updated for a while as you can tell.
Just to remind you my weight loss is kinda slow, not because I find it difficult to stick to the plan ( I am one of those sad people that actually ‘enjoy’ being on it!) but because I am unable to help my weight loss with exercise due to my M.E and Fibromyalgia. I do what I can when I can activity wise, this could be a little ironing one day, a short walk another day or even taking things up and down the stairs can be like a marathon for me. The down side is that I do have days where it’s physically impossible for me to do anything other than try and hold myself upright on the sofa!
Anyway, it’s been 1/2lb here and there with the odd 1lb or more thrown in on a very good week. I have never had those big losses that others get along the way but in all fairness it has all gone in the right direction however small the loss and they have all added up to the grand total of 2 stone………………YES………….2 BLOODY LOVELY STONE! Ok putting it in perspective it has taken me since last August to do it but never mind I have gotten there nonetheless and it shows that all those little losses, however disappointing, all add up to a big amount.
As you may already know I weigh in on a Monday morning ( which is a killer straight after a weekend!) and this can be a good or a bad thing depending on how the weekend has gone.
I have had a very slow few weeks socially so it has had the advantage of me sticking to plan 100% but before lasts weeks weigh in I had a few rough M.E days which saw me in my pj’s on the sofa. I know regardless of me sticking to plan or not if my activity levels drop the so does the weight loss unfortunately. Therefore, it was no great surprise when I maintained my weight from the previous week, expected but still a little disappointing if I am honest. On the up side I won the raffle again!!!! I know……..again! My husband keeps encouraging me to buy the Euromillions ticket now thinking I have the lucky touch. I had my MIL with me that week and she paid for the raffle tickets so it was only fair we split the prize ( as she wouldn’t take both items lol) so it was another fab little microwave jug for me to take home. Read more
I was away last week and so didn’t have a weigh in.
My previous week I had a gain of 1/2 lb which was disappointing as I had stayed on plan ( apart from an ice cream!) But although I was away with the family I was able to easily stay on plan as I was still preparing all my meals.
The only treat that I wanted when I went was proper seaside fish and chips, which is something we always get at a fabulous fish shop on Herne Bay sea front. I planned this meticulously thinking it was best to have this on the Monday I was missing my weigh in. That way I was on plan all week, had my fish and chips and then went straight back on plan for the next week.
In all honesty, and I can’t believe I am saying this, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would……….totally weird!
Anyway, along came the next weigh in and low and behold I lost an amazing 3 1/2 lbs over the two weeks!! I was absolutely chuffed as this got me within a 1lb of my half a stone before my cousins wedding target. My dress felt more comfortable and less ‘strained’ when I wore it.
I have been unhappy with my weight for some time, probably for a good year or so and my clothing now all resembles everything loose and flowy (which doesn’t help to be honest!)
The weight has slowly crept on over a long period of time, little by little, until I have gone up a size or two in dress size and now even those are no longer fitting comfortably. Everything I buy is cover up, long, oversized with a vest top underneath to help hold things in. I am on the short side at only 5′ 2″ so any extra weight at all has nowhere to hide. I have felt uncomfortable, fat and self conscious for a while and hate squeezing into clothes that never fit properly. It’s not just the fact I have to go up a size its more the fact I have an awkward shape as I put all my weight on around my middle. This means when I go up a size to fit my middle I end up looking like I’m a kid waiting to grow into my new school uniform!
Well in my opinion obviously. In the winter I love soups, my boys don’t generally unless it’s tinned tomato and my OH generally is of the opinion soup is not a proper dinner!
However, I could live off the stuff and in the winter when everyone is more tired and run down they can be great immune system busters.
This chicken soup I have made lots recently and will have it at lunchtime on it’s own or for dinner with some crusty bread. It’s warming, filling and altogether yummy.
Ingredients
1x leek chopped
1x large carrot chopped
1x celery stalk chopped
1x medium potato chopped
1x sweet potato chopped / or a good handful of chopped swede
800ml chicken or vegetable stock ( I use 1 veg and 1 chicken cube in 800mls water)
2-3 chicken legs or thighs raw
some mixed herbs
salt and plenty of black cracked pepper
* Put all the ingredients in a large pot, bring to the boil and then simmer for about an hour.
*Take out the chicken pieces and remove the meat from the bone, then put the meat back in the soup.
* Mix the chicken through and if you need to mash some of the veg against the side of the pot to thicken and add any extra salt and pepper to taste
LUSH, full of veg, all the goodness from the chicken……………….like I said ‘The Best Feel Good Chicken Soup Ever!
I must admit I’ve been lucky enough to have escaped my own Christmas dinner disasters as I have only been doing the dinner myself for the past few years. Fortunately while my boys were very young we always went to the in laws (no cooking required on my part……..result!).
However, there comes a time when the kids want to stay with their toys for the day and enjoy Christmas at home. This means all cooking required by me!!
Luckily for me my mum stays at Christmas so she cooks the turkey for me with years of experience under her belt……again a result!
However, after talking to a few people the stories started to come out. Things you can imagine and things you can’t.
*turkey doesn’t fit in the oven
*turkey not cooked properly
*cases of food poisoning
*oven breaks down while cooking the dinner
Or even in the style of Only Fools and Horses where the coffee gets mixed up with the gravy and they pour coffee all over their dinner, or the time Grandad left the giblets in the turkey!!
Top tips on how to avoid a Christmas dinner disaster
Let’s face it, Christmas dinner disasters are far from rare in most households. A poll just released shows a quarter of us have first-hand experience of something going badly wrong on the 25th December.
The most common mishaps are dry meat, turkey that is uncooked or hasn’t defrosted properly, people buying the wrong size bird and those that have simply left it so late that the shops have actually run out.
Cooking a feast of massive proportions for extended families of aunties, uncles, grandparents, and children is a task daunting enough to even make a top chef break into a cold sweat, so it’s no surprise three quarters of the great British public suffer stress as a result of buying and preparing Christmas meat.
But the survey commissioned by The Q Guild of Butchers to launch their ‘Meat Your Butcher Sessions’ found an overwhelming 95% of the nation has never asked for expert advice about cooking Christmas dinner whilst more than half of us just head blindly go to the supermarket, and pick meat off the shelf hoping for the best. That’s despite the fact that there is usually a butcher’s shop right round the corner, who can offer quality advice on choosing, preparing and cooking meat.
So how can a local butcher help to reduce stress, focus on value and give fresh advice for your festive feast? When should you have ordered your meat by? What’s the difference between a corn-fed turkey and a gold turkey? How much do you actually need to buy so that you don’t get stuck with masses of meat, or even worse don’t have enough to feed the family? And if you don’t even like turkey, what are the great Christmas meat alternatives?
Parents reveal the top tricks they still use to get their kids to eat their greens
Hiding veggies, bribing with dessert, and creating pictures still used by modern day parents
It’s an age old struggle for parents around the world. How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables instead of pushing them around their plates, hoping you’ll give up?
Well, according to a new poll out today, classic tricks and old fashioned subterfuge are still being used by parents, with number one on the list the simple camouflaging of veg within other foods and sauces.
Second on the list is the threat of no dessert if veggies aren’t eaten first, while third was telling children that vegetables would give them special powers such as the old ‘carrots will help you see in the dark’, or ‘spinach will give you muscles as big as Popeye’.
Further down the list were rewarding children for polishing off their greens with toys and stickers, making it into a competition between siblings and friends as to who can eat their veggies first, and telling their children their favourite superheroes or characters loves their vegetables.
And it’s no surprise parents are going to such lengths still to get vegetables into their children in any way they can, with only half of all children eating veggies willingly and one in ten actively avoiding them, according to the survey of more than 1,000 parents by Green Giant.
Four out of five parents admitted their children don’t get their advised five portions of fruit and veg a day, while one in five parents will allow their children to leave their veggies – sometimes just to avoid the stress that goes hand in hand with meal times when vegetables are involved. A number of parents stated that their children eat vegetables so rarely that they feel elated if they even eat a mouthful. In turn, parents can spend on average up to two hours on top of mealtimes each week trying to prompt their children to eat their vegetables.
So how difficult is it for you to get your kids to eat what they should and what tactics do you use to get them into your children? Colin Jackson always ate his vegetables when he was a youngster and was told by his mum that if he did, he would grow up to be a World Champion athlete and Olympic Medalist…..and we know how that story ends!
Colin has joined with Green Giant to help parents come up with ways to educate their kids on healthy eating and even get them to grow to love their veggies.
I managed to get some questions put to Colin Jackson about getting involved with Green Giant’s initiative to help encourage parents to make sure their children are getting their 5 a day!!
How did you become involved with the Green Giant 5 a day initiative?
‘I’m heavily into my dieting so when they explained the whole concept it was an obvious choice for me- I felt I could be an ambassador’
So as a world class athlete, do you follow a healthy diet yourself?
‘Reasonably, your needs are different now. Now I’m not so exclusive and happy to have a little more pasta and a little more treats. But a lifetime of healthy eating has stayed with me.’
What do you think of mums and dads who disguise fruit and vegetables to encourage kids to get their 5 a day?
‘I think it’s a great idea-if it works-wonderful’.
What fruit and vegetables, do you now as an adult, still refuse to eat?
There’s no real fruit I don’t like and even vegetables……I even eat brussel sprouts! I’m not fearful of any fruit or veg’.
How did your mum encourage you to eat more fruit and vegetables as a child?
‘Putting me in front of the TV and saying- Look what Popeye is eating!! Also I’ve always wanted to visit the land of the Jolly Green Giant!’
One of my tricks is to blend fruit I know they would generally refuse to eat, raspberries being one of them, and mixing them into natural yogurt!! It works too and especially if I allow them to sprinkle on a little sugar!
So what tricks do you use on your children to get them to have their 5 a day?
After the kids have been off soooo long now and there has been many a day out, nights away, festivals etc etc and that can mean only one thing………………lots of food, unhealthy food, yummy picnics with cakes and biscuits, lots of over sized ice creams (it is supposed to be summer you know!).
However, that’s so not good for my already established muffin tops that seemed to have expanded into fully grown over sized family sponges!!!! No longer can they be squeezed into already snug fitting jeans and the tops have begun to get longer and more spacious.
So after our great overnight stay in Dover at the weekend to go to the castle for a birthday trip for the OH, which came with a very yummy dinner and pudding and an all you can eat continental and cooked breakfast!!! That just about pushed me over the edge. The dreaded ‘D’ word was mentioned which pretty much throws me into a panic as the mere mention of the word tends to make me think of food……………………………………..all the time, more than I normally would and leaves me literally wanting to eat everything in sight!!
So it has been collectively decided ( that means generally I have decided and my OH has no choice but to join in as I am the main cook!) that we should be on a ‘healthy eating’ regime. Not a restrictive diet but more of portion control with a few healthy choices thrown in and an odd treat here and there (instead of everyday).
That started yesterday and for me it has gone OK so far as my OH have been at work over the bank Holiday working very extended days. However tomorrow is his birthday, and a chocolate cake has already been acquired so this could go rapidly downhill from here!
I have also been approached by Think Slimmer to try their ‘Drop a jean size’ Slimpod that should be coming soon. So with that and the fact I have started to use my Slendertone again I’m hopeful that I should shift a few pounds. However, I’m restricted with exercise due to having M.E so trying to be active around the house is exercise enough for me so hoping that will help a little.
So my motto is going to be ‘Everything in moderation’!!!!
That way I wont get over obsessed by the food I’m trying not to eat so much of. I have been good for 2 days and tomorrow will go downhill but hopefully I will be back on track Wednesday.
