Weight loss journey - month 3

So I was now appraoching my third month on the plan.  I was still cutting down houmous, walnuts and dates. Only having the nuts and dates as part of my syns of the day.  My weight was still going down.  But then came Easter.  I had treats.  I like the dark choc coated bananas from Holland and Barratts and my mum had bought me two bags of those.  Yummy.  But not good for the weight loss, though.  Having had those I went back to eating lots of nuts and dates again, and my weight went up and down.  But there was one good thing about having lost lots of weight already - I tried on a couple of party tops that had been too tight before and...they now fit snugly on me and I wasn't too tight in them.  Result.   One other thing I noticed about losing weight was that my rings kept twirling round my fingers, so the jewel on them stuck between fingers, and it hurt. But hey, I had lost 9 lbs by then.  Hurrah.  April came and went and in came May.  And...I was down to my target weight of 9 3.  Yay.  I had done it.  I had reached my ideal weight.  Ideal because I remembered that was the weight I had been shortly before being made redundant.

I set myself a new target of 9 2.  I have still a bit of a way to go, as my weight now fluctuates between 9 3 and 9 4.  I have to go back to the Plan now for the nice weather coming up.

Oh yes.  I will shortly be appearing on the Slimming World website as one of their successes.  Hurrah.  Success all around, me thinks.

Weight loss - second month

So I was in my second month of doing the Slimming World Plan, and losing weight for the first time in ages. How was I doing it?  I made a few slight changes to my diet.  I started to have raspberries (thawed frozen ones) with my porridge, and banana with another porridge.  But the banana didn't last that long as it started to disagree with me.  I had cut out spread on my ryvitas at lunch, kept an eye on my level of houmous intake, and had cut down the number of crackers I had for supper.  Plus cutting out and down the amount of walnuts and dates I had been having.  I found it is the little things that add the calories, such as the spread and houmous.  I kept this up for the month of February to March, and the results?

At the start of week 8 (12th March) I weighed 9 61/2.  So a loss of 61/2 over two months.  I was well pleased.  By then I had received two certificates.  One for reaching my target weight, and one for losing half a stone.  I also got a certificate for Silver Fitness.  You have to do 120 minutes of exercise a week.  I found this quite easy.  15 mins walk here, 15 mins of hoovering there, and 30 mins of shopping elsewhere.  This is what is keeping me motivating.  That I have to enter my weight each week, and enter my exercises too.  Knowing that I am keeping a tab of what exercise I am doing, I ensure that I do it.  I asked my mum once if she thought my attitude to exercise had changed, in that when she asked me if I wanted to walk over the road to the garden centre, I used to say no and now I say yes (to get the exercise in), and she said yes.   Result!

So, if you need motivating to lose weight or keep exercising my suggestion is: keep a diary of it somewhere.  As well as on the Slimming World website, I enter my weight weekly on the kitchen calendar.  You could do the same.  So have you any other tips to keep yourself motivated when losing weight or wanting to exercise?  Let me know.

Get Your House in Order

This was a great TV programme which aired recently.  It showed people who collected things madly that it took over their houses so they couldn't move properly.  What they did was to get a dealer and an interior designer to help the person.  They put all the collections in a warehouse and got the person to get rid of most of it, where the dealer then helped the person to sell the stuff to raise money to get the designer to redecorate key rooms of the house.  The idea was to redecorate the house so the person wouldn't want to clutter the house up again.  It was a really good way of doing it, and got me thinking what I might have in the house that I either haven't used or worn in ages.  The answer was two pairs of trousers that I used to wear to work and were now too tight, some books and other things.  Most of these things have gone to a charity shop.  I feel there is still probably a lot that I have that I don't use or wear or want that I can give away.  I want to go through a box of writing magazines in my cupboard upstairs, so I can then replace it with a full one from downstairs.  That way I save money on box files, by emptying one to reuse when I need it.  Although I have decided I do want to buy another concertina file to put my Angel work in, and the folder I now use for it will house all my factual publications eg my reader letters as a portfolio.

So, have you got anything in your house that you either haven't worn or used for ages, that you think could be chucked out?  Let me know.  Let's get our houses in order!

New plan, new meals

So I am four weeks into my new health plan.  And it has given my mum the inspiration to try cooking new meals.  The first one we tried was chicken and potato curry with lots of spices.  We usually have a curry with just curry powder in, chicken and rice and a few raisins.  This one has lots of different spices, potatoes and onion and garlic.  It would be hotter if we had put all the ingredients in which included ginger and chillies, but I can't take too much heat in food.  Anyway, we tried it and we loved it.  So much so that we have had it again a couple more times.  Be warned, the smell of the spices linger indoors for 2-3 days afterwards we found.

The other new dinner we tried was jacket potato and baked beans.  I had this once at work and really liked it.  We both really like it now.  We had it for dinner yesterday.  We find it is a quick and easy meal to do (10 mins to do) and is a stop gap for when we can't think of something to put on the menu or want something quick to eat if we have been out for the day or have visitors.

So, two new meals that we both love and will eat again soon.

Next week I will be taking a break from talking about weight loss and foods, and talking about decluttering your house.

Losing weight - Month One

So, back in January I began the Slimming World Food Optimising Plan.  The first thing I did was to measure out my porridge flakes and Oat Milk.  Straight away I could see I would be having less breakfast than I used to have.  When I poured the porridge in the bowl, it was only half full instead of two thirds full.  With it being less, I didn't need so much fruit spread on it.  I also decided to have a change from fruit spread, which was .5 syn a tspn.  I had berries instead with artificial sweetener on.  And very nice they are too. More cutting down.  Then came lunch.  I usually have spread and houmous on my ryvitas, but both of those were syns and I could only have 15 in a day, and they added up to too many.  So the spread was cut out and the houmous was cut down.  Even more less food than I was used to.  Dinner wasn't too much of a problem, as most of the times they have free foods of veg, spuds and meat in.  It was the snacking that added up the syn points for me.  I used to eat lots of walnuts and lots of dried dates.  Now I couldn't eat them, as 4 of each of those were 2 syns each.  And I didn't have that many to go for the day's amount.  I cut them out.  Less food again.  Then came supper. I used to have 3 oatcakes with peanut butter and sunflower seed butter on, but oatcakes were 3 syns each, plus 1 each for the butters.  I had to have other crackers, which were only 1 syn each - crispbreads, corn  thins and Tucs with spread on.  And I tried to eke out the spread.

So for me, the first month was measuring and cutting out hidden extras/calories. My mum had kept on at me that I was eating too much houmous anyway, and that it was a lot of calories I was eating in a week (used to get through a pot a week).

So, the first month: not so much breakfast with not so much fruit spread.  Two porridges I have fruit spread on now, and the other I have berries.  No spread with my ryvitas for lunch, and less houmous, too.  Less oatcakes for supper, and more other crackers with spread instead.

Weight to start: 9 13
Weight end of month one: 9.11

Next post will be out new meals.

My weight loss journey - why and how

Like most of people, when the new year came I decided that I definitely wanted to lose weight. My weight had crept up and up since I was made redundant and at home full-time. I wasn't doing the walking that I had done before, and was sitting down more than before. My stomach had got bigger; something that my mum had commented on and thought I might have to see the dr about to find out why. I didn't know how I was going to do it. But then in the Daily Mirror in January, there was free booklets from Slimming World and their Food Optimising Plan. I went on their website and found out that my BMI was 25.2 and in the 'at risk' section. I had to do something. I read the booklets and thought, this is a way that I can lose weight. What I liked about it was no foods are restricted. You have 'free foods' which are fresh/frozen veg and fruit, fish, lean meat, poultry, potatoes, rice, pasta and eggs. These you can have as much of as you want. Then there are the healthy extras: milk and bread (bread has to be fibre), and has to be measured. You can have a roll or 2 slices of bread, and a certain measure of milk and cheese. Everything else to eat is considered a sin. You are allowed up to 15 sins a day. I then joined the online membership for 3 months (have just resubscribed for another 3). Online you have a FIT log, where you can submit how many minutes exercise you have done each day. There are awards. The silver award you have to do 120 mins a week. I have managed to get that far and am working towards a gold one now. My weight at the start of the plan was 10 st 1.

So far, after 3 months, I have lost 9 pounds. Something I never thought I'd do after being so heavy for so long. I weighed myself this morning and was 9st 4. A weight I've not been for a couple of years.

This is my journey how I managed to lose weight. Next post will be the first two weeks of the plan and how I lost weight.

Easter goodies for food intolerances/sensitivities

It is now Easter, so happy Easter everyone. So, how do you celebrate Easter if you have a food intolerance or sensitivity, esp if it's for dairy products when there are lots of milk choc eggs about in the shops. The answer is easy, as shops, esp Holland and Barrett's, do sell Easter foods for these problems. I bought my mum a packet of dark choc coated ginger and a packet of dark choc coated rice cakes and a book. My mum bought me 2 packets of dark choc coated banana pieces, which are yummy. There are only 3 bits left, which I shall try and save for tomorrow. I also got a notepad and pen, a lotion applicator for my back, and the latest Intrigues out. It helps if you know what the other person likes to eat and read, esp eat. I knew that Mum likes what I bought her, and knew that she wanted the book I got her. There are lots of other different ideas for Easter presents, not just foods. But this is what we have bought each other, and v nice too.

Next post is going to be the first of many about my weight loss journey, and how I managed to get to the weight I am now (something I didn't expect to do for ages).