3rd Weigh-in and Week 3 recap

Week 3 was all about trying some Slimming World recipes.  I've made the arrabiatta sauce a couple of times now and it does not disappoint.  I LOVE chilli so always add double what a recipe asks for.  It's the easiest dinner as only takes about 20 mins to make the sauce.  During that time I cook the pasta and make a side salad.  Yum.

I also tried the Quorn shepherds pie which was DELICIOUS and so perfect for this endlessly grey British winter.  Even my partner, who hates Quorn mince, scoffed the rest at work the following day for lunch.

Saturday night we tried the chickpea burrito recipe.  I tweaked it and turned it into enchiladas instead by pouring a can of chopped tomatoes on before it went in the over and also increased cooking time by 20 mins.  This was so tasty and a perfect Saturday on the couch dinner.  We had it with a crispy chopped salad and some Pizza Express light house dressing. 

Once I find something that's easy to make and tastes good, I tend to stick to it....like my Mullerlight breakfasts with strawberries!  Lunch has pretty much been the same every day - Amoy straight to wok Udon noodles, which are free, broccoli, mange tout and mini sweetcorn, stir fried with soy sauce, chilli, ginger paste and cooked in the garlic spray oil.  It's really filling and completely syn free!

Weigh-in last night and some people are absolutely smashing it!  One girl, who joined the same night as me, has already lost 1 stone 1 lbs!  I arrived early as I really wanted to buy some hi-fi bars, however I got to the local cashpoint and there was a massive queue, it was cold and raining and I decided the hi-fi bars could wait until next week.

But how much did you lose I hear you asking....drum roll please....I lost another 2.5lbs so a total loss of 9lbs in 3 weeks!

I am so happy with myself and can really feel and see the difference in my body.  My cheekbones are back, my jeans are all getting too big (who doesn't love this feeling?!?) and I do have more energy.  I've been working really hard to avoid syns, but then read a really interesting feed on a facebook group last night about how different group leaders encourage you to eat between 5 and 10 a day to speed up your loss.  I haven't felt hungry yet, but I can definitely eat more.  I've added a couple of alpen light bars for my 11am and 4pm pick me up and use them as my healthy extra.  Last night after reading through the forum, I had an options hot choc sachet (2 syns) and 2 dark chocolate digestives (8 syns).  This Saturday afternoon I'm going to make myself a little syn tin and mark everything with their syns.  Fail to prepare, prepare to fail as they say.

My fitness has also improved massively and my PT is pushing me more and more each session which always feels like a satisfying achievement.

I have a massive family event all weekend so I've given myself a 1 pound target for next week.  I have no idea what we'll be eating and there will be plenty of alcohol so I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment by trying to achieve the same again.  Some people in the group get really down when they've only lost .5 or 1lb, but I'd be very happy with a consistent loss of a pound a week as it's better to be losing than gaining!

I'd love to hear about your Slimming World journeys - get in touch if you have any tips or advice, or have a brilliant veggie friendly recipe to share.

Wish me luck for week 4.

xx

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2nd Weigh-in and Week 2 recap

The last week has been a bit crazy, work is back to being full-on and we had a very sad death in the family.  Usually these things would throw me off, but I really am determined to make this work so here's what I've been eating:

I've stopped eating porridge for breakfast as a MullerLight and chopped up strawberries is so much easier and quicker to prepare.  This is also free of syns so at least I start the day feeling virtuous :)

Lunch has been leftovers from the night before and I've had lot's of yummy food recently.  I made a massive veggie Bolognese using Quorn mince and have been eating that with rice or jacket potatoes with either broccoli or salad.

I've always bought wholegrain rice as in my mind it's been the healthier option so I was shocked to find a bag of Uncle Ben's microwave whole grain rice has 3 1/2 syns!  I find it so bizarre that there's syns in wholegrain rice but not white rice!  I will have to ask my group leader why next time I go. 

I have also discovered my new favourite quick, easy and FREE dinner.....baked beans, poached eggs and crispy roasted sweet potatoes.  My brother is a chef and taught my a failsafe way to make poached eggs and I honestly can't get enough of them.  I was really missing my poached eggs and avocado on toast so this is a lovely alternative.

Saturday night I went bowling (and won).  I was really tired from working in the day and had cravings for fried food and chocolate.  I said to my partner that I'd eat when we got to the bowling alley but he persuaded me that I'd feel better if I cooked something before we went out.  He was right (don't tell him I said that).  I whipped up a quick Asian meal of quorn chicken fillets cooked in 5-spice and soy sauce.  I ate this with broccoli (obviously) and a microwave bag of rice, edamame beans, spring onion and wasabi.  We left bowling and I still hadn't shaken off my chocolate craving so I bought myself a MullerLight and some strawberries to have when we got home.  By the time we parked the car, my craving had gone!  I'm really pleased with myself that I didn't give in.

Sunday night I went out for dinner at one of my favourite restaurant and I reallllllly tried my hardest to stick to plan.  Edamame beans and a few sushi rolls instead of crispy deep-fried squid and spring rolls, sashimi salad and brown rice instead of deep-fried tofu and noodles (my salad was actually gross so I ended up eating my Mum's prawns as she didn't like them) and one scoop of natural frozen yoghurt with strawberries and dark chocolate sprinkles.  We then went to the cinema to watch Lion (GO AND SEE THIS AMAZING FILM. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT - DO TAKE TISSUES!!!) and whilst I would usually stock up on popcorn or something sweet, I was completely full from my healthy-ish dinner and didn't get a craving once.

Monday was the funeral and in my culture, this means a lot of food.  Being Jewish, I spent the day surrounded by bridge rolls filled with egg mayo, bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, mini Danish pastries, large Danish pastries, SO MANY CAKES, crisps, olives, nuts.....you get the idea.  The day started well with a MullerLight and strawberries but once we got back to the house I was starving and ate a few bridge rolls and crisps.  I went home to crash for a couple of hours and then went back to my Dad's house for evening prayers.  This time my mindful eating went out the window and I literally STUFFED my face with cakes and Danish pastries.  I was really annoyed that I'd done this and not eaten something when I went home.  However, my guilt was fleeting as sometimes in life you just have to eat cake.

Tuesday I felt sluggish and slow and just wanted sugar.  I was seriously sugar hungover from the funeral, and even a training session with my PT mid-morning didn't help.  I eventually gave in and had a sachet of Options hot chocolate with a couple of sweeteners in the afternoon. 

Well, let me tell you how delighted I was to go for my weigh-in last night to find I'd dropped another 2.5lbs.  That's a total 6.5lbs in two weeks!!

Making my first recipe from the Slimming World website tonight - chickpea enchiladas - and really looking forward to it.

My target for next week is 3lbs again.  I'm pretty sure I would have reached target this week had it not been for cake day Monday, so I'm hopeful for a big loss next week.  Wish me luck! xx

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1st Weigh-in and 1st Week Recap

First weigh-in last night and I lost 4 pounds!!  The first week is always the easiest, your body is happy to shed the excess fluid and then it gets difficult to get big losses like that.  I'm more than happy to have a small but steady loss from now on, but I'm not going to lie, I was gunning for biggest weight-loss of the week.  I was beaten by someone who also joined last week and lost a whopping 7 pounds!!

So I'm now at 6 stone and 1 pound and I've given myself a 3 pound target for next week.

The computer was down last week so all the newbies got their cards last night and so as soon as I got home, I logged on to the SW website and started logging my food from the last week.  WOW!!!  On the days I thought I had eaten no syns, I had consumed at least 10!  I had been trying to check my syns online, but all the forums seem to be quite old and the syn system has probably been updated since 2013!

This week I am determined to keep my daily syns under 5 and I will be using the website a lot more.  I do feel like I'm more organised than last week so hopefully I reach my 3 pound target.

Exercise has been lacking this week as I've had loads of meetings and some personal stuff going on.  I am training tomorrow morning for the first time in a week (apart from Pilates on Monday) and really looking forward to it.  I may also try and squeeze in a Pilates class this weekend.

My first week has been pretty easy.  The plan is very simple and once you have access to the online support, it's even more idiot-proof. 

I stayed for the meeting last night, and I do think this helps.  It gives you a chance to sit and chat with other members and find out their helpful tips or what hasn't been working.

Wish me luck for my second week!
 

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Day 4 continued and Day 5

Left work on Sunday and popped in to see my Grandma so I could show her my wedding dress and pictures from the day.  When I arrived she was having lunch with one of my uncles - bagels, crisps and as always, chocolate covered raisins.

I was starving as I'd only had my muller light and strawberry breakfast so I had a couple of tablespoons of her homemade potato salad.  No idea what the syns would be for this as she uses loads of mayo!

I came home and pottered about for a bit, before falling asleep in the bath for 2 hours...haha!  I woke up freezing and starving so made myself the most incredible dinner:  salad with sweet peppers, piri piri roasted sweet potatoes and Quorn chipolatas.  I used 2 syns for a couple of tablespoons of Pizza Express light dressing. 

I woke up this morning and decided the weigh myself as I was feeling quite light!  5lbs down!!!!! This was a great way to start what's meant to be the most depressing week of the year. 

Breakfast today was 40g porridge, almond milk, strawberries and 2.5 syns worth of honey.  Lunch was a repeat of my delish dinner from last night as I made two portions.

Monday night is Pilates night and I don't get home until 8.30pm.  I have a few things in mind but dinner will probably be a quick omelette which I'll have with broccoli or green beans.

Happy Monday!

 

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Day 3 and 4

Day 3 began with an early morning start for my weekend job.  Saturday and Sunday mornings I cover the reception in the Pilates centre that I also train in.  I love my weekend job as I get to chat to so many interesting people!  My week day job is incredible stressful and very isolated as there's only two of us in the office - my boss and I - and my boss only works 3 days a week, so it's really nice to sit at the pilates desk and chat to everyone.

I knew I wanted to eat lightly during the day as I was going wedding dress shopping in the afternoon, so breakfast was easy Muller Light vanilla with dark chocolate sprinkles and strawberries and lunch was courgetti with homemade tomato sauce and one Quorn chicken breast.

For more people, wedding dress shopping is exciting, but I was so nervous!  A bit of backstory - my Dad works in fashion and his business partner is the designer of the brand - plus size.  When we got engaged and I started looking at dresses, my Dad's business partner Anna offered to make my dress.  This was the perfect solution for me - I have really specific taste and I knew the dresses I loved would be over £2,500 which is a ridiculous amount of money for a dress that will only be worn once.
Dress shopping yesterday was an opportunity to try on a selection of dresses and not miss out on the experience.  I went to Davids Bridal in Watford as they have lot's of plus size stock and the shop looks like something out of Say Yes to the Dress!

I tried on the first dress, and honestly, I looked like I was in a Marilyn Monroe fancy dress costume.  Next few dresses became a bit Goldilocks - just not quite right.  At this point I wasn't too worried as Anna was making my dress.  The woman dressing me bought out a final dress to try on, and before I even looked in the mirror, I knew this was my wedding dress.

I walked out to my Mum, Anna and my best friend and I knew they could see it too.  I walked over to the big mirrors, got handed a bouquet to hold and could feel myself welling up.  I looked up and saw everyone else was crying and I knew I wasn't leaving the shop without buying this dress!

It was the most surreal moment of my life, and not an experience that I ever thought I would have.

The best part - the seamstress came to talk about alterations as I mentioned I'd just started SW.  She said the dress I was wearing was my size but too big so they would order it one size down!!!  This made my very happy.  She also said that they would be able to take it down 2 sizes, possibly 3 if needed.  Perfect day, perfect dress, perfect, perfect, perfect.

To celebrate, my best friend and I went for dinner...another Turkish.  Unfortunately the restaurant had run out of fish so I was stuck with frozen, then deep-fried falafel.  Rest of my dinner was:
1 x small piece of sexy bread
3 x grilled hallloumi
3 x weird frozen, deep-fried, dry falafel
lots of salad
a little bulger whear
and LOTS of tzatiki

Out for dinner again tonight so breakfast is a repeat of yesterday and either courgetti again for lunch or an omelette.

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Day 2

To recap, yesterday was my first day officially on plan and of course, it coincided with a birthday meal out.  As I mentioned in previous post, dinner was at a Turkish restaurant, so relatively easy to choose on-plan food. 

As soon as we sat down, waiters appeared with baskets full of sexy bread.  Yes, sexy bread...you know the type, freshly cooked, almost flat-bread like, dripping with butter and oil and covered in herbs....sexy bread.  I ABSTAINED.  Yes, I sat and watched my family eat basket after basket, and whilst I was DESPERATE for a piece, I didn't even have a nibble.  What I did eat was lot's of salad, one massive piece of calamari (definitely off-plan), two slices of grilled halloumi, too much tzatiki and a massive grilled sea bass.  I was completely stuffed and can't believe I would usually have had all of that, plus a basket of bread, to myself.  I also passed on the chocolate Birthday cake which wasn't a big deal as I'm not really into cake.

Today started with a 30 minute HIIT session with my PT.  It was bloody freezing but at least the cold encouraged me to move a bit faster.  My legs felt like lead though so perhaps rolling out of bed 15 mins before my session wasn't a great idea.

After saying yesterday that I was going to avoid syns until weigh in day, today I decided that actually the whole point of SW is to enjoy a few syns whilst losing weight.  This doesn't mean I'm going to run out and buy a freddo (these seem to be very popular on SW) but it does mean that honey is back in my porridge :)

Breakfast was my usual 40g of porridge oats cooked with almond milk, a big handful of raspberries thrown on top and a tablespoon of honey at 2.5 syns.

Lunch was two quorn chicken breasts cooked with piri piri seasoning.  I still haven't been to the shops so I put olive oil in the frying pan to moisten it and then drained it out.  Unfortunately this was still too dry to cook the quorn so I added the juice from one lemon.  I had this with half a bag of Uncle Ben's Mexican microwave rice and broccoli.  The syns for a whole bag of rice are 2.5 and as I'm having the same meal for dinner, it looks like my overall syns for the day are 5 which is not bad going.

I do plan on stopping in Tesco on my way home to pick up a syn free Muller Light to have as dessert with some strawberries later on.  Gotta live a little on a Friday night!

 

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Day 1

It's always difficult walking into a room full of strangers, let alone when you then have to stand on scales and have your weight read out in front of them, however I seem to have a different type of determination this weight-loss time round, and honestly, my first meeting wasn't so bad.

So, today is officially my first day following the meeting last night.  Some information:

Current weight - 16st, 5 lbs
Height - 5.5 and a half
Age - 30
Target - 12st

I would like to lose all the weight by the wedding (27th August) but I have given myself the more realistic goal of 3 stone by the wedding and the rest by the time we go on honeymoon in November.

I generally eat quite healthily, particularly as I'm a fish eating veggie, however as per the SW rules, I eat wayyyyyyy too much olive oil, butter, avocado and nuts......not to mention the sporadic binges on crisps and chocolate (you don't get to 16 stone without a few hundred chocolate binges!).

I do 3 half an hour HIIT sessions with a personal trainer a week and I go to Pilates twice (well, once, but I'm meant to be going twice!).  I only drink water (hate tea and coffee) and work 7 days a week at the moment so I think it will find my syn allocation easier than most as I don't have to worry about fitting in alcohol, milk for hot drinks etc.

I would like to have been more organised for the 1st SW day, but due to a nasty migraine, post meeting I went home and straight to bed and didn't sort out my food for today.

Breakfast was actually the same as every day, except porridge was measured and I omitted my usual, generous dollop of honey:  40g porridge oats / Almond milk (I don't drink dairy milk) and a big handful of raspberries.  It was quite sticky and dry without the honey so tomorrow I need to add more almond milk. 

Lunch was SW-ish.  I had a pre-cooked Spanish potato omelette in the fridge that needed eating so I had half of that with the same amount of broccoli and LOTS of lemon juice.  The omelette was made with olive oil so I'm not sure how to work out the syns.  If it had been homemade, it would have been a perfectly on-plan meal!

Dinner is out (always good to start a new eating plan on an 'occasion') as tonight is my step-siblings Birthdays (triplets!!).  However, we are going to a Turkish where it's pretty easy to eat healthily. I plan on having some grilled fish and salad - sure it will all be covered in olive oil too so I will have to do my best to avoid any more syns until weigh in day as I really want a good first week result!


 

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Beginning

After 13 years of waiting, my boyfriend finally proposed on my 30th Birthday.  That was in May 2016.  Our wedding is booked for 27th August this year.

Our wedding was booked within a month of our engagement, and whilst I had great intentions to kick-start my weight loss immediately, it's now 7 months later and I've only gotten bigger.

I have tried every diet:  8 week blood sugar diet / Dukan / Atkins / The body coach / lemon & cayenne pepper / calorie restrictions / cutting out carbs / strict detox programmes with a nutritionist....the list goes on.  Blah blah blah, it's literally the same thing on every Slimming World blog.

I'm doing SW because I work better when I have a plan to follow and there are so many online resources, blogs, online diaries, I will be able to distract myself with those rather than the 400 chocolate biscuits sitting in my office.  Also, my best friend and maid of honour has just started, and although we won't be going to the same meeting, it will be nice to give each other support and talk in SW abbreviations.

With some understanding of nutrition, I am intrigued to see how a diet of fat free yoghurts, chocolate and KFC fake-aways will work.  However, you can't argue with the results, and there's a lot of them.

So my journey begins (again) with my first meeting tomorrow...wish me luck!
 

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