WI Week 14 Results! Stone #1 Reached!

Hi everyone! Well I've only gone and reached my 1st stone and also my 5% whoop! It has taken me 4 months, but the fact that I'm there now makes me not give a flying about how long it took! Am absolutely delighted! I was sick last week and didn't even make my meeting, so I honestly had no idea what the scales would say today, I could've been up 2lbs for all I knew! Thankfully not!! :-)

Now I'm going to say that that's goal #1 reached, now onto the 2nd goal and the 2nd stone!

I find that I have lost most on the weeks where I looked up 5 or so new recipes on sites like Laa Loosh and Skinny Taste etc, pointed them to check that they're within my point range & then went shopping for the ingredients for the week. You really cant beat it for knowing how many points you're having & making some yummy dishes while you're at it! Plus I find it enjoyable making new dishes I haven't made before & even more so when you find something really tasty for low points that you can make again. :-)

I have my BHS Horse & Yard Mgt exams next week eeek! So am hitting the books & stables hard ha ha! Wish me luck!! :-/

Hope you're all having a great week!

Whoo Hoo !!

Crisis of WW Faith, Calypso & WI Results Week 11!

Hi all! Well it's been a week and a bit since I posted. I've been having a bit of a crisis of faith, in myself to keep motivated and keep up the work required to work the WW programme. I think I mentioned before that my horse riding had to be changed to a Thursday which was the night I used to go to my class. It was a really great class and leader, but she only did a Thursday night and the other classes were mornings which I can't do because I'm in work. So I started going to a class that's right next door to me in work. Totally convenient, but I just don't really feel it from the leader. So I've gone there the last few weeks, but she's just not really excited for you when you loose and doesn't give any encouragement when you're up, so felt like I was just coasting along. I was only half tracking the past few weeks and that's of no use to anyone. So I decided earlier in the week I was going to try another one or two classes, although they're hard to find close to me on days I can go. So I went to another one close to my office (not the other one right next door though). I walked in, and the leader was a guy, which I hadn't even considered and wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. Up on the scales I got and firstly said 'I don't expect this to be good news by the way', he just laughed and said 'well we'll see', and then low and behold - down 1.5lbs! I couldn't believe that for starters! I'd been pretty good if I actually thought about it, but I'd been feeling so down and guilty for not tracking and thinking I wasn't going to last the pace that I had convinced myself that I was a disaster and would be up for sure. Just goes to show, self loathing is the devils work & not a true reflection ;-) So during the meeting he wasn't too weight watcher-ish and very relaxed and had some great 'real' tips. The one I had been visiting right next door to my office just seemed to be rattling off the WW programme all the time and giving tips on what WW foods/meals were good etc, no real life experience if you know what I mean. He included the class members a lot in the class too, all by name and 'you were doing so well last week, what happened you this week' and 'Ok you're at goal, when are you gonna stop loosing, another 2 off this week ha ha', so on a personal level too. I have to say I'm delighted now that I've found a good class that I feel has motivated me and I feel really good now about going forward. 1.5lbs to go now to my 1st stone and I'm going to take baby steps going forward, not put so much pressure on myself to loose. If I follow the programme, I may be up some weeks but it does work and I'll be down overall.

My BHS exams are on 27th April, so am busy busy studying for those at the moment, so wish me luck! Below is a photo of Calypso! He's my horse 2 days a week :-) I'm leasing him since I started studying for my exams, he's my practising subject! ;-)

I hope you guys are all doing well! Onwards and downwards :-)

Meet Calypso !

WI Results Week 10

Awh guys, up a half a pound :-( God damn it, I thought I'd be down around 2lbs. Now the leader did say that the denim jeans prob didn't help as I have never weighed in them before (I organised a charity day in work), but even so would have sts. Ah well, just need to step it up this week now. The only thing is, this weekend won't help eeek! Going to ensure that I work off whatever I indulge in over the weekend.

Have a great St. Patricks Weekend! x

WI Results Week 9

Well I was not expecting any loss this week, having not really tracked. But on the scales I got, and I'm down 1.5 lbs! Whoop! Although I hadn't tracked, I'd still made good food choices and I did a good bit of exercise in the form of horse riding, yoga & my Davina DVD. So I have to say I'm delighted with that! Have already done some more exercise since my WI too in case it was a fluke ha ha :-)

Hope you're all having a good week!

WI Results Week 8

Hi all! I stayed the same this week! My own fault for failing to track. I don't know what got into my head. I think when my weeklies rejuvenate after my WI the previous evening, I think I've more than enough to cover the following day or two so there's no urgency to fill it in now and I can fill it in the following day or so. But then it gets to the middle of the week and I can assume the weeklies are gone and sure why start tracking now sure my WI is in a few days. Not correct mentality at all, just laziness really I think at the beginning anyway. So I must make sure regardless to track there and then no matter what, and as per usual to step up the exercise! I've also started a yoga class on a Tuesday, so at least that another activity ;-) And am loving my horse riding at the moment, am so glad I found my way back to it. And hopefully as I get better and stronger I might lose a pound or two along the way haha :-)

I hope y'all are keeping well x

WI Results Week 7

Well it seems I need not have worried – 1lb down this week whoop! I wasn’t great this week in that I only kinda half tracked, which I know must have meant I was over my points. But I did exercise a few times, and I reckon I’m probably making better choices now out of habit as opposed to eating whatever I feel like having regardless of calories or fat like I did pre WW. So I must make a conscious effort to work hard at trying new recipes this week to ensure I don’t get repetitive and board and also keep on walking, doing the Davina dvd and horse riding in case this week was a fluke! ;-)

Hope everyone’s having a good week!

Valentines Day :-)

Hi all! Well did everyone have a nice Valentine's day?! And get spoiled rotten by the OH (other half!)?! :-) Well myself and my OH decided we were going to splash out and get a take out and watch a movie for Valentines Day. So that's what we did! I had a personal pizza from pizza hut and some nachos. Now I think I'm over my weeklies by about 10 pp, but couldn't be 100% sure. But you know - I'm owning the fact that I'm only human, and you do have to live your life! So I'm up on the scales or STS (stay the same) this week I won't mind. I'm never going to be perfect every week, and why would you want to be?! You have to splash out and celebrate sometimes, but once you get back on track afterwards you'll be fine in the long run. And as I keep saying I'm in this for the long haul, so as long as I stick to my WW plan 90% of the time, I will certainly be celebrating life with those I love on certain occasions. Within reason of course, I'm not going to suddenly pig out on an extra large pizza with everything! But have something of what I like, enjoy it and not over fill myself. As this is a life change and not a diet, there will of course be weeks where we are up and sts, sure if we just kept losing for the rest of our lives there'd be nothing left of us! ;-) There'll even be weeks where we should definitely have lost, but our bodies are not having it, and that's just the way it is, but those weeks will be few and far between hopefully. I've been walking at lunchtime every day for 40 mins and was good for the rest of the week. So watch this space!! :-)

Now the evening before Valentines Day the OH had said he hadn't gotten me anything, which is fine, and we usually just exchange cards and make a nice dinner. But I knew that he was looking into getting some new earphones. So I did some research and found some that had good reviews and were not too expensive. Now as it turns out, the 'over the head' earphones are very square and my OH's head is quite round, and we both nearly passed out laughing when he tried them on! So as it turns out, I now have a new set of earphones haha! :-) So this is still the evening before Vals day and he said he felt bad that he hadn't gotten me anything and decided that he was going to head off and make me a card. I know, so funny! So he pops his head into this sitting room a few minutes later 'do we have any blue tack?!' So I mentioned where we might have some blue tack. Then another few minutes later 'do we have any of those long white bendy things?!' No, we do not have any pipe cleaners! What are you planning to make with blue tack and pipe cleaners haha?! So he comes back in and is finished apparently, but I cannot have it until the morning. Right so, no problem, I can wait till the morning :-) So we're going to bed and he says 'I couldn't find stuff to make you anything, so I haven't made a card!' Ha ha ha, and after throwing me off the scent with all the questions! So funny! So I said again that it was grand, coz sure I wasn't expecting anything anyway! So that was that. Now I decided that I would get up and make a hot breakfast on Valentines Day morning (amazing wife that I am!). So while he was out walking the dog at 6am, I got up and went down to start breakfast, and when I opened the fridge, what was hiding in there only a card and a bottle of my favorite perfume!!! Amazing! It has to be said, he is the master of deception!! And absolutely hilarious! Thank you darling! xx

I hope you all had a great Val's Day and are doing well on your weight loss journeys!

WI - Week 4 Results!

Well at least it's a loss haha! Down the half pound it took to get my first siver seven whoop! So that's been 4 weeks, not bad at all, over all. But the half a pound is not the best in fairness!
Right need to get my act together, eat more veggies I think and get off my butt!! ;-) Have horse riding on Sunday and swimming on Wednesday and going to walk in between. WW say all you need starting off is a half hour 5 times a week - totally achievable. So no excuse this week! Up and atom and bring on the next half stone! :-)

WI - Week 3 Results!

Well I got up on the scales tonight in anticipation of having 2lbs down and getting my first silver seven! I was all giddy and nervous like a teenage schoolgirl! My leader asked how my week was, and I told her that while I had stayed within my points, I had not done much exercise (I went horse riding once ahem ahem). So up pops the screen and, drumroll please................ 1.5LBS down! Curses!! You'd want to have seen me, hands up to my face, nooooooooooo! Ha ha ha :-) She said why, whats wrong and I told her that I'm only a stinking half lb from my 1st silver seven, and true enough she says but your down 1.5lbs that's a good weight loss, and that's now 6.5lbs in 3 weeks, that's an average of 2lbs a week. Not bad going, and know that you'll get your silver seven and hopefully more next week. So after both cursing and laughing at myself for not exercising and sharing the news with my OH, I rebalanced and settled in for my meeting.

Hopefully see less of us all next week!! :-)

Silver Seven in Sight!

Hi there!
So went through my usual routine yesterday of disappearing into the kitchen on a Sunday in preparation for the working week ahead! I am actually so motivated to not go overboard this week. With my weigh in in sight for Thursday evening, where if I am lucky and loose 2lbs, I will get my 1st silver 7! Excitement! Now thank God for the weekly allowance of points we get in addition to the daily points, because I just use them on any given day when I find I need a little something extra to get me through. I haven't had any major nights out since the start of the new year, so don't need to save them for a night on the booze or a meal out. I am currently doing a course in horse care and stable management so all my funds are going into that, much to my waistlines delight I'm sure! :) So in work I am sticking to my 0 point veg soup for lunch and a 0 point fruit salad in the afternoons to ensure I stick within my points to hopefully get my target weight loss for this week!

Fingers Crossed!!

This week I made the following.

Fruit Salad - 0 ProPoints

Chopped mango, kiwi, pineapple, peaches and grapes. With a squeeze of lime juice over it all to prevent from browning.

Broccoli Soup - 6 Portions at 0 ProPoints per Portion

A chopped Onion, Carrot, Celery, 2 cloves of garlic - all sauteed in 1 tbsp olive oil (1pp) for 5 minutes until soft.
Then add a tbsp of mixed herbs (1pp), a litre of water and 2 chopped heads of broccoli.
Simmer for 15-20 mins and then blend.

Banana Bread - 12 Portions at 3 ProPoints per Slice

I use the American cup measurments for baking, much easier than measuring everything out :)

Mix -
1 cup mashed Banana
1 large Egg
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Sugar

In another bowl mix -
1 and a half cups Plain Flour
Half tsp Cinnamon
Quarter tsp Baking Soda
1 and a half tsp Baking Powder
A pinch Salt

Preheat fan over to 190C.
Mix both together. Use spray oil to grease the inside of a loaf tin and turn your mixture into it.

Bake for 15 mins at the 190C it's already at, then turn down to 160C for another 20-25 mins. It's done when you pit a skewer down into it and it comes out clean without any of the mixture on it.

WI - Week 2 Results!

Well all, I'm just back from my 2nd WW weigh in. Now I felt I had been a bit of a chancer with the plan this week :) I barely got off my back side I have to say and only went walking 1 day. Not the best in fairness! Now I did stay within my points, but literally, to the point! When I had a few points left over at the end of the day, I would be looking for something nice in the presses to use them up. I should've really saved them towards my weight loss, but sure tis done now and I'll try not to 'treat' myself with my leftover points this week and have something healthier instead. So I have to say I didn't have any ideas of grandure going to my meeting. But.... low and behold, 3lbs off! I'm delighted! My leader said that I had followed the plan and that's that, it works. She actually said not to add up activity points earned from exercising, just not to complicate things that much. Just to stick to the daily points and the weekly points and exercise because it helps your weight loss and you know it's good for your health. So I am definitely committing to doing some sort of exercise every second day this week and see where that gets me.

So onwards and downwards for next weeks WI! :-)

Week 1 - The Results are in!

Well I went to my first WI last night. I have to say, I thought I would have a mild heart attack before I got on the scales with the anxiety of wanting to do well! So needless to say am ecstatic to say, 1st week, 2lbs down! Yew haw!
Now for those of you that loose 2lbs and think it's not that much or you could've done better.. Have you ever held 2lbs of fat in your hands?! Because I have! And I tell you when you look at a vacuum package of 1 or 2lbs of animal fat from the butchers, you will never be so happy that that is no longer clinging onto your insides somewhere! Urgh! :-)
So am more than determined for the coming week now! Once you see that loss on the scales, it's like an addiction! You just want more and more weight loss! I wasn't too hot in the tracking last week, so I've now downloaded the iWatcher app for the iPhone and am going to use that to track everything! Will let you know how it works out!

Onwards and downwards! :-)

1st WI tomorrow Evening! Mexican Chili for dinner

So I have joined back to weight watchers! As I'm sure so many others have too given the time of year! New Years Resolutions & all that. So I was in weight watchers before 2 years ago to loose weight for my wedding. I lost 1 & a half stone which was fab, and has also crept its way back on which has resulted in the determination to not only loose that, but hopefully 3 stone this time! Now this is the first I've heard of the new ProPoints system, so am trying to wrap my head around that this week. It will take some getting used to having been used to the regular points system previously. But Rome was never built in a day, and I'm not in a mad panic to loose the weight. Slow and steady wins the race, so I'm aiming for at least 1 pound a week and I'll get there for this time next year. My 1st weigh in (WI) is tomorrow evening and I am hopeful, at least that the 1st pound will have been lost, so watch this space!
In lieu of my WI tomorrow I made a gorgeous Mexican Chili with brown rice. I used 125g of lean mince at 6pp, 60g dry weight of brown rice also at 6pp, a load of veggies and spices! Veggies I used are corn, kidney beans, mushrooms, onions, chili's and garlic. All no points except the corn & kidney beans, both at 2pp for 2 tbsp. Spices are cumin, oregano and coriander, a tbsp of each.

And as I did not eat this all in one sitting obviously! I am having the leftovers in a wrap for lunch in work tomorrow! Happy days!

Fingers crossed for tomorrow evenings WI!