Current weight 13 stone 1.25…which is roughly 83.12kg or 183.25lbs
A loss of 1.25lbs which I am happy with as I had a somewhat sedentary day yesterday. I was sat either in front of my computer at work, in the car or in a classroom. I didn’t even walk to work I drove as I needed my car. The last week as a whole has been quite interesting in that I have been very busy but also grateful for having food prepared for dinner in the evening as well as lunch. I also spent last weekend batch cooking breakfast burritos, mushroom tagliatelle, butternut squash dhal and blueberry oatmeal snack bars (I know I really must add that recipe under snacks, but this can give those who are interested a pre-look!) I find that cooking/baking over the weekend also helps me with snacking (after over 2 months now, interestingly the pull of fizzy drinks is still there and strongest at the weekend). Activities such as these at the weekend also helps me relax which is a win win!
A short blog post this week I know, but work is just very busy and I am focussing on ensuring all meals are ready to prevent me wasting money buying food at work and making unhealthy choices!
Interesting fact, my starting weight was 14 stone 5lbs, late July feels like a lifetime away now, I never really celebrated the passing of 1 stone as to be honest, I am more interested in how my clothes feel and my bank balance most of the time! But last Tuesday, a colleague commented ‘you look like you are losing weight again’ but it really wasn’t said in a positive way. Those kind of comments are really not helpful I wanted to say, and you look like you have gained weight again… Of course it is not acceptable to say it the other way in society, but what I actually did say is yes, over the past 8 months I have lost a stone in weight, a nice healthy pace and I eat now so much better than I did before then. I went on to say I am more than happy to share my blog with you, but by then they had carried on walking and was no longer listening after saying their piece. Don’t let others ever put you off with well-meaning comments!
Current weight 13 stone 2.5…which is roughly 83.69kg or 184.5lbs
So a lovely surprise this morning to wake up to a 2lbs loss! I am quite happy with the slow way I have been losing weight over the past 7 months, yes it took 6 months to lose a stone but I do believe that is the healthy way, and I already feel great for it, and if I lose another stone over the next 6 months I will be even happier.
Things to consider, as I mentioned the first 3 months of the year I am very motivated, which is good at the moment, but life can throw spanners at you, I had a sort of promotion last week and a few ‘issues’ shall we call them in my personal life which landed on my door (metaphorically speaking) on Sunday. For me it is how I deal with this whilst continuing to stay on top of what I eat and my healthy choice. The next month or so is going to be interesting shall we say!
So, money spent in February I did actually get it down to £140.40 (according to YNAB). Which for the first time was under budget! I have continued I should add to avoid fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate, well buying chocolate that is! I am taking a snack, popcorn and a banana every day with me as well as lunch and have continued to just be very motivated.
So, money spent on actual food for breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks:£98.38
Waitrose £36.21 Tesco £51.26 Canterbury Wholefood £3.96 Thais R Us £6.95
I have switched to shopping more in Tesco, but some things I am still buying in Waitrose, and no news agents spending at all. Some of what I bought was spices to be used over a long period of time and came from Waitrose as they cost no more than Tesco to get them. Despite this, there is a reduction in this section since November when it was £116.20, I spent £17.82 less for food shopping!!!
However, as it was my birthday this month, money spent on meals out, some of which was budgeted for elsewhere: £112.64
Ossie’s Fish bar £24.20 (I buy mini me and partner dinner with me every Thursday, so actually less than a 1/3 of that is mine so £8 at most)
Beano Cafe £19.60 (I take mini me to breakfast on a Sunday)
Bill’s £31.19 (I treated mini me to breakfast here as I saw I had money left in my budget and they were quite low and it was a way to get them out.)
Ask Italian £11.50 (student meal, I had forgotten they were here and it was the eve of my birthday.)
Korean £15 (My niece took me out for my birthday but I couldn’t let her pay the whole amount.)
Poundland £2 (chocolate for a homeless guy.)
Old Gate Inn £5.25 (hot drinks for mini me and I.)
University £3.90 (forget breakfast and forgot 2nd lunch on a Wednesday when I cycle and need more carbs.)
So total spend:£211.02 (£195 wish if you take off the chips). However, if you take off the meals out which were budgeted elsewhere along with the Old Gate Inn I actually spent £98.38 on food! So I am very happy with this. As I may have mentioned before February was my birthday month and so I had some meals out some of which I paid part for and some of which I did not pay for at all.
So, what is my secret you ask, how did I get down from £288.74 to £211.02 (and let’s be honest it would have been less had I not eaten out so much!) My secret, not a secret at all but batch cooking and meal planning. That is it.
Oh and ensuring I take breakfast (I am a get up and go rather than an eat at home and go kinda person, this doesn’t make me lose more weight!) and lunch into work every day, know what I am having for dinner that morning (so I remember to take it out the freezer if needed) and only buying stuff when I need it! I am also building up a range of meals so I do not get bored, but still have garlic bread once or twice a week when running short on time.
Current weight 13 stone 4.5…which is roughly 84.59kg or 186.5lbs
I can’t deny I was frustrated by the 1/2lb loss initially this morning, mostly because I know what I weighed yesterday morning. That being said, putting on my smart work trousers which I had not worn for a couple of week, I felt better as they are approaching the stage where I can no longer wear them as they are too loose around my waist now! So, I am slimmer, even if the scales this week did not show it.
Exciting news with regards to spending for this month, I am very much below my target of £200 but you will have to wait for next week for a breakdown on this and the main changes that have enabled this to occur. You may be surprised at how easy it has been, keeping up to it, however, is what we need.
Just also want to share a recipe that one of my vegan followers tried by adapting my Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies using mashed banana, peanut butter, cocoa powder and oats. Baked for 10 minutes at 200 c.
I always like to be sent variations I should add, or new recipes to include even!
He did comment that they turned out a bit bitter due to the cocoa powder, but I suggested perhaps a little soya milk might lesson the taste of the cocoa so we shall see.
I have added a new recipe in recently, the Noodles, Sauce and Veg, one that I tried a few weeks ago but only just got around to putting up. A rather quick lunchtime meal for those days when in a rush but you have a microwave to hand.
MyFitnessPal has been going well, as I can now clearly see how much or as to a certain extent how little I am eating and have added another snack into my day. You may say well you can lose weight quicker if you eat less, but actually, this is about a healthy body and I didn’t want a diet I wanted to eat healthily and lose weight but as a lifestyle choice. Once my body it happy with the weight I hope to just remain eating the same or similar quantity of food and no longer lose weight.
Lastly, slowly I am making some changes to the look and feel of the website to make it more pleasing, if you just read the weekly blogs in your email you won’t notice any difference, however, this navigation of the recipes are now a lot easier to follow. So onwards and upwards!
Current weight 13 stone 5…which is roughly 84.82kg or 187lbs
A 3/4lb gain, but after a birthday weekend which included eating 2 breakfasts out, two evening meals out and receiving 2 birthday cakes (one of which came with extra thick double cream courtesy of mini me!) I think I will take a 3/4lb gain.
I have just made another large bulk recipe of veggie chilli for future consumption and have made another batch of breakfast burritos, check them out if you haven’t tried them before. I have had a few new meals as well, but have just struggled to find the time to add them, hence today being a day when I am spending the morning working on the site. You may notice it looks a tad different, it will continue to change over the next week or so until I am happy I should add. I am looking also at how it looks on phones and tablets as well as on a normal computer screen. If I am searching for a recipe I tend to use my phone but spend more time on here on a computer itself and sometimes forget to check how it looks on other devices.
I do have to say I have become very organised at the moment planning not only my evening meals in advance but also my breakfast and lunch and snacks. I also have to say as we only have 9 days left in the month, for the first time in forever I may actually come in under £200 how cool is that! I have all of the receipts for February and am keeping them to report on at the end of the month. I also think I may start a page of healthy and cheap choices to choose from the restaurant menu!
Current weight 13 stone 4.25…which is roughly 84.48kg or 186.25lbs
Yes you are reading correctly, I have lost 2 lbs over the past week! And I am quite impressed with that but this past week I have made some interesting discoveries. After just over a week on MyFitnessPal, it transpires that yes, I was actually under eating, considerably. Some days I was only eating around 900 calories. Now you could say that I should have lost weight but actually, I do a cycle class once a week (mega high intensity) and I swim (which I hate but no choice) a couple of times a week too, so if you include the exercise, my poor body was being starved of food and holding on to it for dear life I think! Yes that really does happen. There were a lot of links to read about this, but I found this one ‘click here‘ the easiest read. But using MyFitnessPal also enabled me to realise I had stopped eating snacks twice a day as well (despite having them in the freezer pre-made) I had just been eating 3 small meals a day.
So, I added back my popcorn and my mid morning snack and I lose 2lbs! In addition to this, I also realised my portion sizes were a lot small than before I started on this journey. This is not a bad thing I should add, actually on Saturday I went out to eat with my niece to Korean Cowgirl, not sure totally about the calories but put it as 900 as some of it was fried and some was ribs covered in sauce! The interesting fact for me was though we shared 3 portions of different things and I actually knew when I was full, and in the past I could have eaten it all on my own, in fact back in January I ate more than I should have on a meal out, on this occasion I just thought, I have had enough, not bloated full, just enough.
The next 7 days could be interesting though, still no fizzy drinks or chocolate or crisps…but, I may be out for a meal Friday night, it is my birthday at the weekend, and I am out for a meal next Monday night!!! Who has a meal the night before a weigh-in, I didn’t think that through…
Current weight 13 stone 6.25…which is roughly 85.39kg or 188.25lbs
So, I gained a 3/4lb but considering what I lost when ill, I am quite happy that I have only gained a 3/4lb. That being said, I was interested in why earlier this month despite no snacks or treats I wasn’t losing weight. I decided to track my calories on MyFitnessPal.
Today is a prime example of perhaps the problem. I have not been calorie counting on the diet per se, just changed the portion size and eating cheaper better meals. Today I had breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a banana mid morning. I would normally swim on a Tuesday (not one of life’s swimmers I should add so do not think I am a cardio junkie doing this!) and have my evening meal when I get home. When I tracked my calories I came in at just over 1000 calories, not good and if I have been eating like that for weeks no wonder I wasn’t losing weight, my body has been holding onto all food! Maybe not true ‘starvation mode‘ but click to read the interesting article on this.
So back in August, I had snack bars and popcorn for late afternoon or mid morning, time to continue with those I think. This was never meant to be a calorie controlled diet, it was about healthy eating but not spending too much money doing it. With this in mind I will aim to snack perhaps once or twice more a day and stick with MyFitnessPal for a whilst just to keep an eye on how much I am eating. This app is free and can be used on your phone or a computer if you fancy having a go!
Current weight 13 stone 5.5…which is roughly 82.05kg or 187.5lbs
I can see you all thinking yay! You have lost 5.5lbs, actually I have a nasty sore throat and food has been limited over the past 4 days shall we say. So although I am, happy this is a false weight loss.
I do not have much else to report this week (I had recipes to try at the weekend but spent that on the sofa) I did notice something funny though. When I weigh myself, I actually realised I hold my stomach in…I wondered if anyone else does that? I mean how bizarre is that!
Almost forgot, day 29 and still no fizzy drinks!!!! (Or chocolate or crisps!) The question is, do I drink or eat any of them this Friday…
Current weight 13 stone 11…which is roughly 87.54kg or 193lbs
Well, although I am happy that I finally managed to lose a lb, I am still somewhat frustrated as late last week I had in fact lost 2lbs. But onwards and upwards!
I am now on day 22 of no fizzy drinks, crisps or chocolate and actually despite my lack of weight loss I actually feel great at the moment. I would love more sleep, but hey wouldn’t we all. I made another batch of the 3 breakfasts from last week at the weekend again, this time with the correct size muffin tin and have shared them around to rave reviews, I do suggest you try these if only for a healthy, cheap, low-calorie snack. They are here, here and here. The 3 ingredient oatmeal chocolate chip breakfast cookie is probably the quickest and easiest to make!
Have been working my way through my freezer food left overs from batch cooking this month, which means I am on target for a very low shopping spend.
Finally, I have a challenge this Friday in that I am at a graduation, that may seem a strange challenge to worry about but, actually there are snacks available after the event and…well they are really nice snacks sweet and savoury and I normally eat rather a large amount of them, and I know I can’t do that this Friday and so if people could send strong vibes to help me through that hour I would really appreciate it
Current weight 13 stone 12…which is roughly 87.99kg or 194lbs
Well have had a really interesting week where in the last 7 days I only spent money food shopping and have spent no money at works at all! Not sure why it is that I am still holding at the same weight though…
In addition I tried 3 more breakfast recipes made in advance and frozen, they can be found here, here and here. Now you have to click to see what they are. Very healthy and using a number of items from the store cupboard, yes that really does exist.
I am also now on 15 days without fizzy drinks, yes that does say 15 days and I am surprised how much I am not yet missing them. I have replaced them at home with lime cordial, just need to watch that and find the cheapest and lowest calorie as the one I am drink really isn’t lowest in either of those categories!
I also ate out last Friday, I planned ahead of the meal what I was going to choose and chose a low calorie dish, unfortunately because it worked out cheaper I had a starter with it, hummus and pitta bread. Be wary here though, I was going for the cheapest option, but at the end of the meal I had clearly eaten too much food and that was because after my starter was about the size of my normal evening meal. Be aware of looking at low calorie meals as part of a deal when you end up eating more than you normally would, massive fail there by me.
Current weight 13 stone 12…which is roughly 87.99kg or 194lbs
Well am in a state of shock my weight stayed the same, especially as I was out for dinner last night and know what I ate. But, well this isn’t about dieting it is about eating the right food at a low cost. Sometimes we go out to eat and choose accordingly. I must add though I did only eat a breakfast burrito yesterday as well as I went swimming and had no time to eat when I came back as it was too near to going out. I don’t recommend skipping meals it just happened that way yesterday!
Other news…actually as of today I have gone 8 days without any fizzy drinks! Yes, cheapest solutions may actually be to just stop drinking them! Who are we kidding, I am doing this for a month to see if I can, I found over Christmas my will power was working well and decided this was the time to see if I could stop for a spell, and I can.
I came across another article recently, as I know some of you enjoyed the last one. This one is about 8 Food Which are Surprisingly Good for Weight Loss and the reason why I added this, is you may be surprised at what is in that list and perhaps stop feeling guilty and not avoid these, although, moderation is probably key as well!
Finally, there is a new recipe added under breakfast in case you haven’t seen it yet, the Breakfast Burrito, and I know I say this about a lot of the recipes I find, this really is one of the best I have come across, oh and cheap to make too!
