Current weight 12 stone 8.25 lbs…which is roughly 79.94 kg or 176.25 lbs
Now I can’t lie, I am very happy to have maintained my weight this morning. Last Friday when I weighed myself I had gained 3 lbs since Tuesday morning and I was not happy, but also was aware why I had made the gain over a short period of time.
I can’t lie, this past week has been really tough and I don’t totally know why, wanting to eat food I wouldn’t normally eat was part of the issue and craving fizzy drinks really didn’t help. Work has not changed, however, some of my meal choices have. I was still eating within my calories but actually a couple of burgers with brioche buns and chips made at home, all calorie counted (well roughly) didn’t keep me full, or I should say leave me with the feeling of being full. I am going to spend a few weeks not eating red meats and staying away from actual bread. I say actual bread as I eat wraps and don’t view them as bread and they are something I eat all the time! But this sudden need to eat just literal came from nowhere, in the evening I am sat arguing with myself and wanting to snack, luckily there are no snacks in my house I can just eat, only healthy choices but it isn’t as straight forward as that as I want all the things that not only are high in sugar but also waste money.
Since last Friday I needed to use an immense amount of will power to not eat sugary food, but that is not how I wish to live my life, I want to be able to eat anything I want but stay within moderation for unhealthy food and expensive food. I like to go out for a meal now and again and it is easy to make the healthy choices as I enjoy eating them but this strong urge to overeat has just crept up on me from nowhere and wonder what others do or do people just give in? I should add I am very aware of the 80/20 rule which is why I actually go out for meals, and also I drink hot chocolate most days and let’s not forget Tuesday evenings I currently have chips from the chippie every week, so I am not craving treats as I have treats, but at the moment I want them all the time.
Finally, I was reading an interesting article the other day about how the healthy way to lose weight is to lose between 1/2 and 1 lb only a week and so I think although I have lost more some weeks I am following that rule which is good, but in addition it was interesting that it also suggested that once you plateaux that is stop losing weight, to take a break of 6 months before returning back to weight loss. This was to do with your body wanting to keep what it was currently getting it and allowing it to do that. Whilst I type this I have spent half and hour trying to find the article I should add to no avail sorry!
Current weight 12 stone 8.25 lbs…which is roughly 79.94 kg or 176.25 lbs
I can’t actually believe it is week 41 already, made me realise in 11 weeks I have actually been doing this for a whole year! Do you like how I start with that! And yes, as you can see I have broken through the barrier of the 80kgs!!! I actually was weighed at the doctor’s on Friday morning where they seemed to think I was 78kgs! Now as I was standing on the scale looking down at it I can guarantee I was so not 78kgs, interestingly though it did put me slightly under 80 which just means my scales are not the same. I trust my scales though so will stick with this record! On an even better level, back into an old pair of trousers as well…only one more item to go and then I am actually happy. It was never really about the numbers and when I look in the mirror I am very happy with what I see. I don’t really think I can afford to lose much more than 1/2 a stone now or will perhaps be too skinny, but again that is my view of how I look not the view of others.
This week I have a two things to share, firstly one of my followers sent me a picture of their cauliflower pakora!
So a shout out to Hazel for this. Her verdict was yummy! Please DM me if you make one of the items as I love to see how they turn out and if others love them as much as I do.
Secondly, linked to a while back I made a Traybake and I have to say it is the only time I made something that I really did not like and it put me off of trying chickpea for a while again in a sweet tasting snack, well until the past weekend! Yes, last Saturday I decided despite no one asking me, to try the Chocolate Chickpea Fudge and OMG how tasty is that. I had to actually freeze some of them to stop me eating the whole batch… I did, however, not take any images and so can’t add it to the list of snacks yet but for those who are willing to try here is the recipe (although apologies that you need to scroll for miles before you reach it, part of the reason I add the recipe myself on here to save you time!) The only change I made was that I used agave syrup instead of maple, but not only could you so could not taste the chickpea, it was divine!
Current weight 12 stone 9.25 lbs…which is roughly 80.4 kg or 177.25 lbs
A loss of 1.75lbs over the past week, and I am very happy with that. I am also feeling sorry for myself as I have a cold! But luckily it can’t be shared through the blog so I hope everyone else is feeling fine.
This will be a shorter blog than the last few as actually not much has occurred in the past week other than me discovering that a naan bread…when it comes in a pack of 2 (I must work out how to make these myself) are actually 2 portions to each slice of bread! Calorie counting is almost like an obsession at times I tell you, but the feature on myfitnesspal where you can scan a bar code is a really useful feature.
Finally, I found a recipe for Chocolate Chickpea Fudge…but can’t decide whether to try that or not, the last snack/dessert I made using chickpeas was not nice! Would be willing to make it if someone contacts me via here asking me to do so…(trying to work out if people can actually contact me if they want to.) Oh, and before I forget, I tried the pakoras from last week using feta cheese cubes instead of cauliflower, wow is all I can say, they were really tasty!
Current weight 12 stone 11 lbs…which is roughly 81.193 kg or 179 lbs
Well an interesting week in more ways than one where I have held my weight and am happy with that. I had a lovely 3 course meal out last Friday with a lovely glass of gin! But today I want to just talk about situations where you have no control and the implications of this.
Yesterday, I was at a work conference and when I walked in my heart sank as I saw there was soup, and sandwiches. For me that is not a particular good source of fuel, so I took 4 sandwiches that equates to 2 slices of bread and the mini cup of soup and then came the bread rolls…now I do not eat bread very often and swear once I start I find it hard to stop and so 4 mini bread rolls later…I say mini…I finally felt full. The issues here? Well I logged it in myfitnesspal to give me a rough guidance and it equated to about 950 calories!!! Now, for me I was disgusted as what a waste of calories as far as I am concerned, so I now feel for future meeting in that venue I will be taking my own lunch as it would be so much easier to control my appetite towards bread specifically and actually, I am not saying it is unhealthy but, it may not necessarily be what you or I actually wish to actually eat.
On a totally different matter, my resting heart rate over the past week has dropped fantastically, you may remember the rise before Christmas when I tried the cheaper fizzy drinks from Tesco, well now it is all the way down to 63! The lowest it has been since April 2017!
New recipes have been added, finally the Blueberry Oatmeal snack bars which I strongly recommend as not only are they easy to make, they taste so yummy and freeze well too! In addition I also tried a Cauliflower Pakora which I had as a lunch but make a good snack too! We won’t talk about the Goan curry I tried, other than to say, reading tbsp instead of tsp for tamarind was a mistake you never want to make!
Current weight 12 stone 11 lbs…which is roughly 81.193 kg or 179 lbs
This is quite a long blog, a week off works wonders for clarity of thought, and…well I started writing this a few days earlier as I was thinking about difference things!
There is no hiding from the weight gain this week, (although I am impressed it is only 1lb knowing what my weight was over the week) but having had a quite relaxing week (including the wedding of Mini Me) and taken some me time for the first time in a while it is/was time to take stock of what I had done with not only this blog, but also my life since last August. I did start out at 14 stone 5 in case you had forgotten and regardless of today as of last week had lost 23lbs through merely changing what I ate, note not dieting. I also started out getting paid every month when I had about £10 left in my account, the past few months I have had over £500 in my account when I got paid. This shows how much money I am saving through changing my eating habits. Through using ynab that £500 is not savings it is money pre budgeted, so for instance come August I can pay my car insurance in one hit due to already having the money there. I do recommend you give it a go, it comes with a 30 day trial and is well worth the £45 a year I now spend on it. If you decide to trial it just click HERE. Yes, I do get a free month if you sign up, but to be honest this does not work for everyone and it took me over 6 months to be able to use this effectively (I am in my 3rd year now).
So, a very interesting week when I learnt a lot about myself and my eating habits. I have discovered I eat better when my day is structured. The impact of this can quite easily result in me under eating as it is quite unusual (but not impossible) for me to actually feel hungry. Tracking of my calories was introduced back in January to ensure I ate enough food, but some friends seem to think I was tracking my calories to ensure I didn’t eat too much! That was an eye opener! Under eating over a couple of days can result in a 2lb weight gain, that didn’t totally surprise me but I know it has impacted on this week
We are now well and truly in the time where my will power is no longer on overdrive like it is for the first 3 months of the year, biggest noticeable change, fizzy drinks! Not on the scale of before I should add, but they have creeped back in on a couple of days and so I need to keep an eye on that as it is just wasted money, and I do not wish to after all that hard work waste money on a fizzy drink. But it does make me wonder how long New Years resolutions actually last, and how many people get to April still being able to follow their resolution. This was part of the reason I should add I started my blog in August.
Finally, I know you will all be excited I have added a new snack and lunch. The past few months have been manic and although I have worked hard to switch off from work, doing the blog equally was a struggle as when I switched off I wanted to do nothing at all, so hopefully I can now get back on top of the recipes again. So the new recipes this week was GF Chocolate Oat Muffins and Spicy Red Lentil Curry, the latter of which was so damn nice I could have eaten it all in one go!
Current weight 12 stone 10 lbs…which is roughly 80.73 kg or 178 lbs
The wedding day hath arrived! And so I decided I would write this the day before so if I could remember before leaving the house I just needed to update the weights! Otherwise I run the risk of forgetting I need to do this! Not because of drinking too much alcohol, more that I know by the end of everything I will be too tired to want to go onto the computer and actually do this…
The past 7 days have been interesting, my weight has moved up and down about 3lbs and so at this point I do not know if I will have lost weight tomorrow or not, as of this morning I had lost 1/2lb, but last Monday I was 1lb down on Tuesday so who knows. I now have a week off work and so have some time and new recipes to add all going well. In addition this morning I tried the mug omelette which was quick and easy and not too many calories.
Saturday, I went out for a meal with the family, I had what I thought would be a filling but small sandwich, I have to say it was anything but filling and as a result when the cake came out. I was not only happy to eat a slice, I also feel like I ate my weight in butter cream! We have found my downfall where even I can’t resist ha ha. So if I have lost weight it was only because well, I have lost weight and so my weight in butter cream wasn’t too much.
So, as you can see I only went and lost 2lbs! The fact I broke through the 180 lbs mark means a lot to me and makes it a good start to the day….next goal under 80 kg!
Current weight 12 stone 12 lbs…which is roughly 81.64 kg or 180 lbs
So, in the past week I had 2 dinners out, 1 breakfast out and 2 alcoholic drinks…and I would love to blame them for my 1/4lb loss, but am at a loss so to speak as I know what I weighed yesterday and what I ate yesterday. But this is somewhat key, because I weigh myself every day I am used to the fluctuation of how it changes on a day-to-day basis. For instance, sometimes if I go back to bed for half hour it drops a further 1/2lb and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes if I take my nightshirt off I drop a whole lb again and sometimes I don’t. And sometimes, when you want to drop below 180lbs it just won’t let you and is making you wait another week! But a loss is a loss. After what I ate last week I am actually happy and willing to wait for next Tuesday, when I have a wedding to go to…
This week, I wish to share an app I came across last week, it is a bit rough around the edges but is called…Comparasaurus – it is free and can work for iPhones and for Android as well and takes all the leading supermarket brands and tells you the cheapest place you can buy items. What I found useful about it this week was the fact that although I thought my local wholefood shop may be slightly costly, it turns out it is the cheapest place to buy popcorn kernels.
Current weight 12 stone 12.25lbs…which is roughly 81.76 kg or 180.25 lbs
Now, it is interesting to look at this weeks weigh in for me, as I am happy to have lost another lb. Any weight loss is great when I consider how much I am eating each day. The right choices make all the difference and we shall try not to think about the fact I am eating out Wednesday evening (already picked from the menu what I want) and Friday evening I am out for an Indian (thinking of the left overs I shall be eating over the weekend so long-term saving money).
What really made me laugh this week though is I normally copy and paste the top bit from the previous week and no one noticed I had put 12 stone 1.25 lbs which would actually have been over a stone lost! To be fair I never noticed that until today. The past week I had gone back to one of my favourite meals which was homemade pizza. I am also on the look out for new meals to make and add to my cheap but healthy list of recipes. I particularly am looking for meals which can be frozen as they are financially the best way to go and also mean you only need to batch cook every few week. So if you have any batch meal ideas especially for breakfast or dinner please le me know.
Finally, it is wrong that I am so looking forward to being 170 something lbs and 70 something kgs. I thought dropping below a stone line was exciting but actually dropping those also are exciting as sometime we need a bit motivation and half a lb will see me below 180 lbs, a bit more for the kgs but I can wait for a couple of weeks to get past that, trust me!
Current weight 12 stone 13.25lbs…which is roughly 82.21 kg or 181.25 lbs
So, interestingly the last week, as the week before was very busy, bordering on stressful, even if I didn’t feel it. I ate out twice over the weekend, although, the second meal I must confess I chose something from the under 600 calories items, but it tasted so good I was happy with that. So what is the loss? Actually 1 3/4 lbs, the most I have lost in one week apart from when I had the sore throat early February. So I am really happy. In addition, of course I have now gone into the 12 stone bracket so am ecstatic as I expected to float around that for quite a while and now having just gone through am really happy.
The more I eat the more I find it is getting so much easier to make the correct choice, as I draw towards the end of march I am aware I am passing my 3 months point of motivation and where it generally starts to wane shall we say, so am very happy with how things are going. On top of all this, I am really happy, I mean really happy, when things are going on around me that should be making me not happy, I do wonder what part food plays in this. After a very busy Saturday (I drove nearly 600 miles in a day and a busy Sunday morning, when I finally got home for down time, the first thing I wanted to do was batch cook, so I made a batch of snacks, 4 portions of apple and blackberry crumble and started my breakfast burritos (before I realised I had hardly any tinfoil left so that had to stop…being organised with food seems to be impacting on everything else in my life as I do not need to consider food as I know what I am eating most days and am varying it enough to not get bored!
And finally, it’s just fuel, maybe my issues with food are starting to leave me, as it is just fuel, eaten to keep me going until the next meal. I eat desserts, I eat cooked breakfasts, I eat out, I eat from the chip shop, and yet my choices mean I am not only still losing weight at a steady pace, I am saving money as well. If you are ready to be honest with what you eat, I strongly suggest MyFitnessPal as it really has helped me see not only that I was under eating, but also on certain days of the week I was eating a lot of carbohydrates, and so was able to address and ensure I had meals prepared on those days more protein based as that ensured had I been swimming I was repairing my muscles (although actually I am not exactly a fast swimmer!)
Current weight 13 stone 1…which is roughly 83 kg or 183 lbs
Wow, 1/4 lb I must confess when I weighed myself yesterday I did not think I was going to lose weight today. The past week has been incredibly busy, I have stayed on track with ensuring I had food prepped in advance I should add. But on Friday to reward myself (the suggestion was a Chinese but actually I do not believe anymore that food should be seen as a treat!) I had after 2 months and 15 days my first fizzy drink (zero calorie). I have to say what I was hoping for was my mouth to say ‘yuk’, the reality is it tasted just as nice as I remember it tasting. But I have proven to myself that having one, did not immediately result in me returning to drinking it every day.
I do sincerely believe that moving over the boundary between weights is psychologically harder than it actually is, getting below 14 stone felt like a challenge and now getting below 13 stone is proving to be the same, but I have confidence I will do it if I keep to my own rules that food is fuel, it is there to enable you to live and function and is not a treat that you earn through hard work. You can eat whatever you want when you want, but if you eat more calories than you burn you won’t lose weight and may end up putting it on, that is a fact.
In case you are wondering why the incredibly busy week is an excuse? Actually my main reason for not thinking I would lose weight is I went out for dinner last night. I do this once a month (although didn’t last month) and we didn’t eat until 8pm, when I normally eat around 6pm or if it is later it is not a large meal! Last night I had a yummy risotto from Prezzo which they allege is only 471 calories, I am not so convinced but know it had the least calories on the whole menu, and even if it didn’t, I really love risotto so would have still had it, just not so late.
The challenge in the week ahead? Well things have shown no sign of slowing down at the moment, and this Saturday I am driving to Derby and back in one day via Birmingham and so meals will be dictated sadly, although breakfast not so much. Then next Sunday I am taking my father and niece out for our birthdays (yes I know they were all last month but it was the first date we were all free). So, am hopefully going to break the 13 stone mark, but actually….even more hopeful to get into my smaller work trousers as the larger ones are hanging off me!!! And yes, I know I still need to add the blueberry oatcakes recipe! Having frozen them and now eating the frozen ones…still as good I need to say.
