Dieting Rollercoaster #3

Another week knocked off.

Still not feeling particularly easy. Or straight forward.

It has been helped slightly this week by the fact I have had excruciating toothache and some major dental work over the weekend.

I lost 2lbs this week, bringing my total so far to 3lbs.

There has been a couple of non-scale victories this week. I managed to not break into my sweets chocolate cravings for 3 days. My work trousers now fit comfortably. Which is a first for this particular pair, and I was too stubborn to go get a bigger pair, partially as I got them to replace another pair that were the same size, just a different cut.

What I have done this week is an amalgam of a few different bits and bobs.

I have recently been reading a little about something called Carb Cycling. What that involves is a mix of low carb days and higher carb days, adding to that 2 fist-sized portions of vegetables.

This does sound an awful lot like Slimming World's Red and Green days with a bit of Success Express thrown in for good measure. What you don't need to do though is count your syns. It is encouraged to eat protein in the form of nuts and seeds. Not unlimited but also not a portioned measure (although I do err between 10 and 20).

I have taken to eating 6 times a day. Making a concerted effort to eat breakfast, this has mainly been Porridge of one sort of or another. Followed swiftly by either some omelette bites or an apple with almonds (the almonds stop the apple giving me stomach ache). Lunch has been either leftovers from the night before or a ham salad). Afternoon snack has been soup or satsumas (dependant on how hungry I am). Tea has been a mixed bag again.

Overall I have been trying to reduce my portion size and up my veggies. Something seems to be working somewhere. I did however have a diet meltdown on Friday night though, after being overtired and in pain.

My fitbit has been used everyday. Strangely I appear to walk much more than I expected in the office. Using the company car park has been helping get to the 5k a day mark. I'm not sure how I'm going to get to 10k at the moment in the limited time that I have. I think I will need to release the power that is the treadmill before long, and have my car keys taken away from me when I am at home!

Here's to the next week. Which after a weekend of takeaways and nice coffees could be interesting to reign back in .

Plus-Sized Blogger

It is hard to deny that I am plus-sized. I'm at best a size 28 right now.

I am also a blogger. So ergo, ipso facto and other ponsy phrases I could use, I am a plus-sized blogger.

However, I don't completely identify with the plus-sized moniker.

I'm not embarrassed about my size, however I'm also not comfortable being this size either.

I do watch what I eat. Otherwise I would be, and have been, even bigger than I am now. I regularly fluctuate between a size 22 and a 32/24. I have managed to hold steady around the 26/28 mark for the last year.

I'm not impressed with myself. I'm also not angry.

I have been a larger than the average person now for many, many, many years. I'm not saying I can't lose weight, because I can and I have. I don't blame anyone except myself and my fondness of the sofa and chocolate and cheese.

I'm not happy at this size. Being so large affects my mood on an almost daily basis. I yearn to do many things that I don't feel comfortable even trying.

I feel for my kids, and the kids that I am an assistant leader to at Scouts, Brownies and Rangers. I want to be a role model to these kids. Part of my job is to show them the best way forward in their lives and help them make the most of the opportunities presented to them.

I'm not the average fat girl though. I go hiking, however my balance isn't great at times and on my last night hike I fell. At my size it created a lot of pain for the rest of the week. Pain I medicated with sugar, which led to a gain on the scales of 6lbs in just 1 week. Not a good moment.

So now I'm back on the trail of trying to not obsess over the little things, in all avenues of my life. Along with the longer hours I am currently putting in the office I need to look after myself that bit better. Making sure that I don't get sick or run down.

You can join me on my eternal journey to find long-lasting balance here.

This is my dieting rollercoaster after all.

What I Ate Wednesday

This is my current favourite breakfast, yogurt and fruit. In this instance I have added pineapple to some coconut yogurt. 

Lunch was a houmous and carrot sandwich made with green olive bread from ASDA and a side of cheese snack mix from Aldi.

Tea tonight was chinese-style lettuce wraps. So simple even my 6-year-old son can make them. Gone as soon as they are served up! Click here for the recipe.

What I Ate Wednesday

Breakfast was coffee:

I have a broken tooth and eating really did hurt. Thankfully it has been temporarily fixed.


Lunch:

Chopped salad: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese, gherkin, ham cubes, home-made coleslaw and a boiled egg.

Tea:

Chicken Casserole with sage and onion dumplings.

Seasonal Flavours: Kellogg's Special K Multi-Grain Porridge: Almond and Honey flavour

I was wandering around my local Asda the other day and happened upon this little pot.

At 50p I thought why not give it a go. Breakfast in the Princess Kitchen is often a hurried and stressful affair, so I tend to wait until the boys have got to school before I have mine. With a well deserved coffee.

How do you make it?: Boil the kettle, pour onto the line, stir, replace the plastic lid and leave for 3 minutes. Eat! Nice and stress free.

What does the packet say?: Not a lot to be honest. It has a mix of Whole Oats, Whole Rye and Barley, 7 vitamins and iron (I naturally need lots of iron or a get really poorly) and tasty in 3 minutes.

What I say: It looks good, when you decant it from the pot, and is in no way the same size portion that you would make for yourself if you made your own porridge. Which lets be fair isn't a tricky thing to do.

It's very sweet, overly so for my taste buds. I needed to add a reservoir of milk on top to detract away from that sweetness. The almond nibs were a great addition. With this being a multi-grain product the texture was amazing. I'm not one for a solid mass of smoothness. I need to chew. this for an instant product delivered that texture in just 3 minutes.

However, for what it is an on offer for 50p I would stock up. Not so sure I would pay full price for it.

What I Ate Wednesday

Finally the boys are back at school.

Does anyone else think that was a really long two weeks, or is that just me?

Today I've started my day off with Special K Multigrain porridge with honey and almonds, and to cut through the sweetness I've topped it off with a little milk. 

I got a bit peckish about 10.30am, so I felt that elevenses were in order, so I grabbed an apple and a handful of nibbly bits left over from Christmas. Mmm savoury nibbles...

Lunch is leftovers from last night's tea. Bubble & squeak, made with leftovers from the Sunday dinner, and Boston-style baked beans, a tin of baked beans souped up with the little gammon we had left, a finely diced onion and some bbq sauce. I have topped this with a poached egg. Not an elegant meal, but a tasty one!

I had a bit of a run around in the afternoon doing chores and the school run, well I've been told the boys need to be collected after school as well as taking. Tea was a quick fuss free affair of Chicken Tikka Bake, with chips, onion rings and a tomato & cucumber salad. 

I rounded the day off with a coffee and Irish Cream cake bar, while watching the Taste.

Present Haul

Glimpses of My Family Christmas

What I Ate Wednesday: Festive Edition

Merry Christmas

This going to be a picture heavy but short.

Breakfast:

Freshly baked pastries. Bought from Langlands Farm Shop and baked this morning by my fair self.

Lunch:

Traditional lunch. A mix of Turkey and Pork with potatoes, swede, apple & onion stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.

Supper:

Baileys coffee & slice of Christmas cake.

Snacks:

Cherry & Baileys liqueur chocolates.

Christmas Party Time

'tis the season to be jolly... faa la la la la la la la
So we go out and look like wallies.

Yes Christmas Party season is upon us. This weekend alone I have been to two, and have another three this this week.

By the time we reach the big day itself I'll not only be serving Christmas Pudding, I will be looking like one too.

The first jaunt of the weekend was my office's event at Aspire in Leeds. It was a fabulous venue, we had the whole of the downstairs, check out their tree. 

With a hot buffet & pudding platter, a night of dancing and some The Mighty Boof photo booth action.

My make up was a mix of MUA's Undressed Palette, Avon's Cashmere foundation, Supershock mascara and No17 Lasting Colour in Red Chilli. Lashes from eBay.