Clean 9 day 4- muscle ache!

I can certainly feel yesterday's kettlebell workout in my quads, glutes & hamstrings. I'm walking round like an old lady this morning.

I had an absolutely appalling nights sleep last night. I woke at 1am and really struggled to get back to sleep.  By rights I should be feeling awful today but I don't & I think that may be the aloe Vera gel working its magic- hurrah!

I'm growing fresh herbs- basil, mint & coriander- in my kitchen to add flavour to my evening meals. The fresh mint tastes gorgeous in a glass of water and absolutely divine as a tea. 

I was in an absolutely foul mood this evening & desperately wanted a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate but I stayed strong. 

Dinner was a salad of free veg plus olives, cheese and avocado. 

Day 3- first weigh in- food!!!

I lost 3lbs & 3.5 inches & was pretty pleased until I saw everyone else's losses. My results were paltry in comparison. But then I took a step back & thought about it. I've lost 3lbs & 3.5 inches in 48 hours. That's absobloody amazing!!!!! 

Today we get two shakes and an actual proper meal for dinner. You know, with actual food. As such we're encouraged to crank the intensity of our 30 mins exercise up a notch. I'm going to get swinging that kettle bell.

Well today went really well. I had loads more energy & thoroughly enjoyed my evening meal of veggie fajitas- veg from the free foods list seasoned with fresh coriander, chilli and lime juice. Complete with two wraps it only cost 444 calories. 

Clean 9 day 2- temptation

Bizarrely enough I went to bed feeling bloated last night. I was feeling quite trim until I had the salad for dinner then bam, hello bloated stomach. 

This morning I've got a bit of a headache and a general feeling of fatigue and yuckiness. I do have RA though so it could just as easily be that. Plus side, I don't feel hungry.

I took my 3 year old son to Costa for lunch and watched him devour a cheese & ham toastie while I sat nursing a pot of green tea. Oh how I could have eaten every single cake in that coffee shop. But I didn't! 

A rather yawny afternoon.  Hoping that this 'energy burst' I keep reading about comes soon. Focusing on the fact that tomorrow morning is my first weigh in PLUS I get to sit down and eat an actual meal!

A 20 minute stroll and about 10 mins of housework make up my exercise today. Not quite managed the full quota today & the exercise level is supposed to step up a notch tomorrow. Must make the effort so that I get the results I want.

It's fair to say I've struggled a bit this afternoon. Bad headache and felt a bit nausious but I've stuck with the plan so hopefully the scales will be kind in the morning.

Clean 9 Day 1

Day 1 of Clean 9 is finally here & I've woken ridiculously early- starving hungry & with the RA aches & pains I haven't experienced for a while. Typical but I'm not going to let RA spoil this for me- I'm in control.

Yesterday felt like the last supper. I had a couple of glasses of Pimms and some of my foodie favourites but I didn't go mad- although the temptation was their!  I've worked hard to lose the 11lbs so I don't want to blow that. I'm seeing the C9 as a kickstart or a boost & certainly not as a fad diet.

Day 1 Breakfast- The supplement tablets are large but slipped down easily with water. The Aloe Vera gel is very bitter tasting and downing two shots of it was not overly pleasant but I managed it.

By mid morning I felt a bit light headed and slightly jittery but that feeling got better as the day went on. There has been great banter on our Facebook group page which has kept me going. 

For lunch I blended the chocolate shake powder with almond milk and a handful of strawberries. It was tasty & I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. 

Tonight I'll be having a plate of salad vegetables from the free foods list. Do you think I'll go to hell if I put a squirt of lemon juice over it?!! 

So all in all day 1 wasn't too bad & I've not felt anyway near as hungry as I thought I would. I feel absolute exhausted though- think I'll sleep well tonight!

Tasting the Aloe gel

I've read so much on Facebook about how awful the aloe gel tastes I thought I'd better give it try so I don't get any nasty shocks on Day 1.  So last night a tried a shot of the stuff. It's got a strange consistency & smell but it's not overly unpleasant & you only need a shot of it at a time. I can do this!!

My personal goals for the Clean 9

Well my C9 starts tomorrow & I'm nervous & excited in equal measure!  I've re-read the handbook about 6 million times in the hope I'll magically see extra food I'm allowed to eat. Days 1 and 2 in particular look tough. But so am I!!

With everything, I believe that planning ahead is the key.  To quote the old cliche: Failure to plan is to plan to fail. Or some such.

I've listed my goals for the Clean 9 and here they are:

1) Sleep better

2) Cut out alcohol

3) Increase energy

4) Get under 11 stone 

5) Clothes fit better

It's amazing to think that those goals are doable in just 9 days. I'm still somewhat sceptical but I hope to be proven wrong.

I'll update on my progress every day.

11lbs gone since Christmas

I've lost my way a bit the last few months & have been gaining & losing the same couple of lbs over and over. Since Christmas I've lost 11 lbs, which is great, but I actually first achieved that in February. It's now the middle of June and I'm still just 11 lbs down.

Enough!!!

Time to take action!

On Monday morning I start the Forever Clean 9 to give me a kick up the arse & kickstart my journey again. 

I'll be blogging every day as accountability is the only way I'll succeed. Later today I'm going to list my goals for the Clean 9- better get thinking. 

I'm going to say goodbye to this chubby face once and for all. 

Have I been kidding myself?

When I look at myself in the mirror fully clothed in a dress, leggings & boots I think I look pretty good. A little overweight, perhaps, but mostly good. Yet the scales, tape measure & photos tell a completely different story. I'm two stone heavier than I was this time last year, my stomach is enormo & I look awful, awful, awful, totally rubbish in photos. 

Why is there such a huge disparity between what I see in the mirror & the actual reality?

Day 1/10 of the Mindful diet

Woke up feeling fab & rested after our cruise, full of energy & excited about the brand new 'diet' I'm starting today.

First off, we've been told absolutely nothing is banned- we can eat & drink absolutely whatever we want. Great! Except that's what I've pretty much been doing for the last 10 months, hence the 2 stone weight gain & why I'm here starting over again. Of course, there's a catch!

The catch is that before we put anything at all in our mouths we need to ask ourselves: 

~ Am I hungry?

~ What do I want to eat?

~ How is it going to make me feel?

~ What am I trying to achieve?

Not so easy after all but I can see where our lovely coach/ trainer is going with this. We need to step back and think about what we're doing, the consequences and the impact it will have on our goals. 

We also get a daily 10 minute exercise routine to do. My bum & hamstrings already feel stiff but it was fun, I pushed myself & my little boy joined in too.

At the end of Day 1 I'm feeling hopeful this could make a difference.

My day in food:

3* ryvitas topped with Philidelphia Lightest & banana

Home made vegetable soup (made using my souper duper soup maker).

Slice of wholemeal bread (fresh from bakery & nothing's banned, right) with olive spread.

2*  Haribo Starmix mini bags 

Home made vegetable curry with steamed jasmine rice.

Grapes & yoghurt.

It's been a while! But I'm back!

I think it's been over 2 years since my last post but I'm back with a vengeance. I stopped blogging when I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), last my way a bit in terms of slimming and now have an enormous 2 stone to lose. Yowsers. 

I'm doing things very differently this time. Instead of following Slimming World I'm trying to tackle the root of the problem so I'm losing weight the mindful way.

Finally tried Smash pizza!

I won't bore you with the details of breakfast but suffice to say it was my usual fruit platter.

For lunch I had roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup which, if I'm honest, wasn't particularly tasty and didn't really fill me up either. Still, it's always good to try something new. I quickly followed the soup with a couple of hi-fi light bars.

I've heard so many good things about the famous Slimming World syn free Smash pizza that I decided I really must see what all the fuss is about. There are variations of the recipe all over internetland but this is my version:

Smash pizza:

125g Smash (or instant mash)
1 clove garlic, peeled & chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano

1) Mix the Smash, garlic & oregano with 250ml cold water until it forms a dough.

2) Line a baking tray with grease proof paper.

3) Flatten the dough into a pizza shape, approx 1 cm thick.

4) Bake at 190 for 15 mins, turn pizza over & bake for a further 15 mins on the other side

5) Top with tomato purée, HEA cheese and toppings of your choice.

6) Bake for 10 minutes.

It makes 1 large pizza or 2 small pizzas and is great served with a salad.

I'm currently working on a syn free salad dressing- it's good but not quite there but I hope to be able to post the recipe in tomorrows blog.

Weigh in last night: Lost FOUR lbs!!

I've been feeling very motivated today after the shocking revelation at Slimming World last night that I'd lost 4lb. It sure makes up for that nasty gain last week. I was presented with my 1 stone award but I've actually lost 24lbs in total as I lost 10 with Slimming World Online before I joined group. Group is definitely the way forward by the way.

I was already walking on air when I arrived last night as I was wearing a size 12 skirt I hadn't worn for 2 years. This is something of a milestone considering that the week I joined Slimming World I turned up miserable and in size 16 jeans.

So on with today's food! Breakfast was my usual fruit platter. I was most disappointed to discover that the new punnet of doughnut peaches are devoid of juice and flavour just like the previous one. Is the doughnut peach season over? I do so hope not!

I had half of a penne arrabiata Pasta 'n' Sauce from Asda with a side salad.
This is my Pasta 'n' Sauce all time fave and of course it's ready to eat in about 6 minutes which is a bonus.

I'm very excited about dinner tonight as I'm trialling a new recipe: Aubergine Bake served with stuffed pepper & hasselback potatoes.

AUBERGINE BAKE recipe:

1 aubergine
3 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tin chopped tomatoes
30g mature cheddar

1) Put the tomatoes in a pan along with the garlic & paprika. Stir well.

2) Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat & simmer for 10 minutes.

3) Meanwhile cut the aubergine into 1cm thick rounds & griddle for 3 minutes on each side.

4) In an individual ovenproof serving dish, spoon in some of the tomato sauce so the bottom of the dish is covered.

5) Place a layer of aubergine on the bottom of the dish, cover with more sauce, add another layer of aubergine & finish with a layer of sauce. Top with 30g mature cheddar (healthy extra A).

6) Bake in oven at 190 for 15 minutes.

Well it was delicious and really quite rich so I won't be needing much more tonight. Well, maybe just a Shape Delight Rhubarb crumble yoghurt...

Weigh in day & 2 minute lasagne

My baby boy woke up screaming twice last night (first time in months!) so just a light breakfast for me this morning. My lovely hubby brought me breakfast in bed which consisted of cherries, an apple and a banana.

I had Chilli Super Speed soup for lunch which is a mix of beans and vegetables. It's SO filling that after an enormous bowlful I don't need anything else.

It's weigh in tonight so I made some peach and passion fruit scan bran muffins. This is an adaptation of a recipe I was given a couple of weeks ago. They are super simple to make.

Muffins:

1) Soak 5 scan bran in water & leave for 3 mins. Drain liquid away & mash scan bran.
2) To the scan bran, add 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of Splenda, 3 teaspoons on vanilla essence & two Shape Delight 0% yoghurts of your choice.
3) Mix together, pour into muffin cases & bake at 190 for 30 minutes.

I used peach & passionfruit flavour today for a change but I think the strawberry flavour are the absolute best to use in this recipe. They taste absolutely divine, exactly like jam roly poly.

For tonight I've made a Lazy Girls Veg Lasagne- such a simple recipe & ready to go in the oven in just two minutes. As it uses raw vegetables, all of the cooking takes place in the oven freeing up your time to do something more interesting. I've tweaked my recipe slightly over recent weeks & this is the tastiest- and quickest- version.

Some of you have asked for this recipe previously and I apologise for not sending it out sooner but here it is:

Lazy Girls Veggie Lasagne
(Syn free, 1 HEA per serving: serves 2)

Ingredients:
Packet of preprepared mixed vegetables of choice (uncooked)
500g passata with garlic & onion
1 tablespoon Dried oregano
6 lasagne sheets
Small tub of Total 0% Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
60g grated mature cheddar

1) Mix the vegetables with the passata & oregano.
2) Place 3 lasagne sheets on the bottom of lasagne dish.
3) Pour the vegetable mix over lasagne sheets.
4) Place remaining lasagne sheets on top.
5) Mix the nutmeg into the yoghurt pot.
6) Spoon the yoghurt mixture evenly over the lasagne sheets.
7) Top with cheese.
8) Cook at 200 for 45 mins to 1 hour.

It makes 2 massive portions but would easily serve 4 with a side salad and perhaps a slice of garlic bread if you can spare the syns.

Please do let me know what you think of the recipe @amy8n

How to put a meal together from an empty fridge.

I went for a long walk yesterday, albeit round the shops of Bath, which seems to have exacerbated my knee injury so no body magic for me today sadly.

After our weekend away we didn't have much food in the house so my breakfast consisted of an apple and a yoghurt. It was a Shape Delight 0% Apple crumble yoghurt though so all was not lost and half a syn well spent.

I had another bowl of the mushroom and watercress soup for lunch- I highly recommend it, you can really taste the watercress.

This afternoon I must confess to feeling absolutely ravenous. I don't know whether it was just boredom because I'm having to put my feet up or true hunger but I really had to fight the urge to pick all afternoon. I ended up indulging in 3 caramel Slimming World hi Fi light bars at the expense of 1 HEB and 3 syns.

Dinner is something of a hotchpotch this evening. Like I said before, the cupboards are bare so I threw together Butternut squash & French been curry, Chargrilled aubergines with a spicy tomato sauce & hasselback potatoes.

I purchased the curry from the farm shop so it was just a case of the old defrost, heat & serve: My favourite recipe!

Chargrilled Aubergine:

1) Cut the aubergine into 1cm rounds
2) Spray griddle pan with Frylight & heat until very hot.
3) Griddle the aubergine rounds for approx 3 mins on either side.

Spicy tomato sauce:

1) Add 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika & a tin of chopped tomatoes to a pan. Season with sea salt & black pepper.

2) Bring to the boil then reduce heat slightly, cover and allow to simmer for approx 10 mins. Serve on top of the aubergine rounds.

This tomato sauce is really quick and easy to make and would make a fantastic pasta sauce. Double the quantities for a pasta sauce as it reduces quite a bit. It's so versatile it would also spice up Quorn, sausages, burgers...

What have you all been eating today? Please let me know- I'm always looking for inspiration. @amy8n

Thanks for reading,
Amy

Dissecting a mango- how?

No, seriously, how do you cut up a mango I've no idea? I'm staying at my parents & they have a seriously ripe, juicy looking mango sat in their fruit bowl. I wanted it but didn't know how to cope with it.

I always buy 'difficult' fruit ready prepared but I eventually persuaded my mum to cut the mango up for me and it was luscious. Like I said to my mum, I'm only 33; it's her duty ;-)

So it turns out that fruit purchased in their original state are far more tasty than those prepackaged. Who knew Seriously!

Breakfast was mango (prepared by mum!), plum, grapes & peach.

I resisted all temptation for bread, Stilton & chocolate biscuits & opted for a substantial salad of beetroot, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, grapes & cheddar. Was really delicious. See pic below.

For dinner I had pasta with a portobello mushroom & spinach sauce. Really filling.

Only 10 weeks til the cruise where my brother gets married. I now need to start upping my body magic to be able to get into the dress I want to get.

So if anyone knows how to cut up a mango please do let me know @amy8n .

What's your favourite treat ever?

I've spent a glorious day in the sunshine with my baby boy & my dad. Spent the morning in the park then, the highlight of the day, a pub lunch.

Breakfast was a chocolate feast (it is Friday after all) which consisted of 2 Rocky Road Hi Fi Light bars (healthy extra B) with a peach & an apricot thrown in for good measure.

I'm so determined to lose that pesky weight I put on this week that it really wasn't a struggle to make sensible choices when perusing the menu at the Potters Heron. I opted for a Feta cheese salad and asked for the lemon & herb dressing to be served on the side. The salad was substantial and very enjoyable and I counted the Feta as a HE A choice. I only wish I'd taken a photo as the presentation was pretty impressive but in my eagerness to dive in, I forgot.

I declined dessert (go me!) but I did enjoy a glass of wine for 8.5 syns. Like I said, it's Friday...

Now for the HUGE excitement of my slimming world day. I've discovered a new snack: frozen banana. It's unbelievably sweet and creamy and tastes JUST like a good quality banana ice cream. I don't know why I never thought to try this before.

FROZEN BANANA:

1) Peel the banana
2) Place whole banana in a freezer bag or wrap in cling film.
3) Leave overnight to freeze
4) Remove from freezer & eat straight away like an ice lolly (I did feel it looked a little rude though but that's probably just my dirty mind ;-) )

The easiest, tastiest snack on this earth and totally syn free!

So after discovering that gem, I got to wondering what everyone else's favourite low or syn free treats were? What else have I been missing out on? Please let me know via Twitter @amy8n or else comment below.

Enjoy!

Resistance is futile. Or is it..?

Well, I'm feeling really rather proud of myself today in a Slimming World kind of way. Went to the Holiday Inn for a coffee this morning with my dad and my baby boy. Hadn't been there for an absolute age but we were greeted straight away by the lovely Tina who couldn't believe how grown up my son is now. He's 13 months going on 21... Anyway, she rather kindly brought us out a selection of cookies- on the house. Of course, my favourite double choc chip was there in abundance but as I couldn't be sure how many syns there were (hundreds probably) I left them for my dad & Angus to demolish- which they dutifully did!

The thing is I didn't even find it difficult to refuse the biscuits and I was happy to watch others enjoy them. Quick pause while I polish my halo...

Breakfast:

My usual fruity breakfast of nectarine, peach, grapes & apricots. I know it's probably a bit dull but I love fruit & it seems to fill me up until lunch.

I don't want to bore you all to tears with the same old breakfast day in, day out so from next week I'll be mixing it up a bit and experimenting with new recipes- yay!

Lunch:

Chilli Super Speed soup which I bought from the farm shop that visits our Slimming World group each week. It's really yummy and filling and you get a huge bowlful for only £2. So much easier than having to make it myself from scratch!

Dinner:

I made a spicy veggie shepherds pie with the remnants from last nights chilli. I just topped the chilli with garlic & mustard mash and shoved it in the oven for 25 minutes. Simples!

For the mash I just added half a teaspoon of garlic salt & a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Luscious!

I served the shepherds pie with garlic roast potatoes and a mountain of vegetables: Carrot, courgette, leek & broccoli. I won the veggies in the raffle at group this week. Did I mention that?

The roasties were really easy to make:
1) Cut new potatoes in half & coat with Frylight.
2) In a bowl, mix with 2 teaspoons of garlic salt until evenly coated.
3) Roast in the oven at 190 for 45 minutes.

Garlic salt is my new favourite ingredient. The salt helps crisp the potatoes and the garlic adds that delicious flavour. Nom.

The meal was polished off with a couple of glasses of an Aussie Shiraz- well worth the syns!

Night all!

Morning after a gain

Well I spent most of the night and a large part of this morning dwelling on last nights gain (a whopping 2.5 lbs- ouch). I hadn't been to group for two weeks, was expecting a decent loss and was genuinely shocked when I saw what it said on the scales.

At first, I put it down to the fact I twisted my knee and haven't been able to exercise or even move about much but as night turned to dawn I realised that I had been my own saboteur over the past couple of weeks. Yes, I had been suffering from Syn Complacency. I had stopped counting that little bit of salad dressing, those half syn yoghurts, that extra glass of wine... And my god does it add up over two weeks!

So, lesson learned and time to move on...

Breakfast was my favourite Slimming World friendly fruit platter: Nectarine, red delicious apple, apricots, banana & grapes. All fresh and juicy- a great start to the day and very filling!

For lunch, I enjoyed a rather large bowl of Spicy Red Lentil Dahl soup. What a fabulous kick it had to it. It's made by the farm shop that has a stall outside group.

I made a massive veggie chilli for dinner packed with oodles of superfree vegetables & served it with paprika and garlic sweet potato wedges. This was the first time I've made the wedges this way and it was deemed a success all round.

Here's the insanely simple recipe:

Serves 4
Free on Green & Extra Easy

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons paprika
Frylight

1) Chop the sweet potatoes into wedges.

2) Coat wedges in Frylight.

3) Put the garlic salt & paprika in a large mixing bowl, add the wedges and mix until evenly coated in the garlic salt & paprika.

4) Cook at 200C for 30 minutes.

What's for dinner?

Last night I stuffed portobello mushrooms with baby plum tomatoes and reduced fat cheddar cheese (45g as a Healthy Extra A). Baked them in the oven for 25 minutes and served them with Slimming World chips and a side salad. It was delicious and very filling!

This was such an easy meal to make and the whole thing was ready in 30 minutes.

Syn free Indian feast

Last Saturday I made this Indian banquet which was not only Slimming World friendly but also totally syn free. It was for just the two of us but there was so much food I've been snacking on it all week for lunch!

The meal consisted of:
Vegetable pakoras
Channa Masala
Mumbai aloo
Salad of tomato and red onion
Banana salad
Chicken Tikka

It was really delicious and the dishes were SO easy to make. A hit all round!