Happy New Year!

Posted September 6, 2015

Filed under All Things Weight Loss, My Progress

Happy New Year!

No, I’m not totally confused and neither have I been through some kind of time-warp. But I am celebrating the new school year.

I’m looking forward to starting the next chapter in my weight loss journey (in fact this book was actually filled with puddings so I was REALLY excited about starting it!)

One of the advantages of working in schools is that every September you get that ‘new year’ motivation that everyone else only gets in January. Remember when you were at school and you had new teachers, new classrooms, new books? You would vow to keep your books pristine and complete your homework diligently as soon as it was set. It was such an inspiring and motivational time. Well, even as an adult, I feel the same way at this time of year. So I’m going to use that positive feeling to focus on the next stage on my journey to goal.

For some people, losing weight is a simple, straight forward process: They decide they want to lose weight, change their diet and exercise habits and lose weight. However, for many people, it’s not that simple and straight forward. I fall into the latter category (see here, here, here and here if you’d like proof).

Ordinarily, I like to use the long summer holidays to refocus on healthy eating and exercise following a long and tiring school year. This year however, we ended up having to go on holiday at the end of the summer instead of the beginning when we normally go. This made it difficult for me to get motivated with my food and exercise as I felt like I’d just undo the hard work I’d put in when I went on holiday. I did try for damage limitation initially, but that didn’t last long as I kept telling myself that I wasn’t going to worry about my weight loss journey until I was back at school.

What I did do, however, was take the time to begin decluttering my life. I have a demanding job with long hours, various other commitments outside work and a large family to keep up to date with. The result is that I often feel as though I’m living at a million miles an hour and I find that my living space can easily become cluttered and chaotic (I’m astounded at how much ‘stuff’ I have amassed in the decade since I left home). I reasoned that by focusing on getting my house in order, I would feel calmer and would find it easier to focus on the other areas of my life that I want to improve, including my health and fitness goals.

I’m not completely decluttered yet – I’m about halfway through so far – but I’ve already started to see improvements such as not letting paperwork stack up. So I’m hopeful that the positivity I’m feeling from this will help me to focus on what I need to do to achieve my weight loss goals. I’ve spent today preparing my food for the week. I’ve made 2 batches of soup for my lunches (recipes to follow later in the week) and a thai beef curry for dinner one night. I’ve got the rest of my meals for the week planned and the ingredients are all bought. I’ve stocked up on some tasty fruit to snack on and I’ll be making some bircher muesli tonight ready for my breakfast tomorrow.

I’m really looking forward to tackling the next stage in my weight loss journey. I’m even actually looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow night to find out what my starting point is! Here’s hoping the motivation will carry through to tackling my workload for the term…

Thanks for reading.

FFF

PS – I’ve been following a process for decluttering after reading a book (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo if you’re interested). While I don’t agree with everything in it, I have found it to be a very useful tool so far. I’m hoping to be completely decluttered by Christmas, maybe sooner, and I’ll write a review of the process then.

Ratatouille with Chicken

Posted August 1, 2015

Filed under Pasta, Recipes

A tasty, versatile sauce that makes and excellent accompaniment to pasta, rice or potatoes.

I served mine with 60g wholewheat pasta twists for an extra 6pp.

I served mine with 60g wholewheat pasta twists for an extra 6 Pro Points.

Servings: 6

Pro Points: 2

Filling & Healthy: 0 (if using oil from your daily allowance)

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

4tsp healthy oil
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 aubergine, cut into large chunks
1 large courgette, cut into thick semi-circles
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, cut into large chunks
large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
1tsp chilli flakes
1tbsp mixed herbs
5 cloves garlic, 3 unpeeled, 2 peeled and finely chopped
2 medium (165g each) chicken breasts
2x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2ooml chicken stock made with 1 stock cube
2 tbsp tomato puree
large bunch fresh basil, torn roughly

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c/fan 180/Gas Mark 6.
Put all of the chopped vegetables into a large roasting tin. Lightly crush the 3 unpeeled cloves of garlic under a large flat knife or using the heel of your hand and add to the tin.
Drizzle 4tsp of the oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with the mixed herbs, chilli flakes and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables well until they are all coated with the oil and seasoning.
Lie the chicken breasts on top of the vegtables and put the tin into the oven to roast for 30mins (after 15mins, toss the vegetables again).
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large pan over a med/low heat. Add the chopped garlic and gently stir fry to 1min.
Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and stock to the garlic and bring to rapid simmer for 3mins before adding the chopped basil.
When the vegtables are soft and the chicken is cooked through, chop the chicken into bitesize pieces before adding the whole lot, including any roasting juices, to the tomatoe sauce.
Bring the sauce to a rapid simmer for a few minutes. Check the seasoning and serve.

Top Tip: Leave out the chicken and use vegetable stock to make this a 0 Pro Points, vegan/vegetarian dish.

Operation Damage Limitation: Starting Statistics

Posted July 29, 2015

Filed under My Progress

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been off-track for a while and my weight has been slowly and surely creeping

Image courtesy of zirconicusso at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

up.

As a busy primary school teacher, I usually use the long summer holidays to kick-start/refocus my weight loss efforts and I organise my holiday around this – going away at the beginning of the break so that I have time to get back on track before going back to school. However, this year, we’ve had to rearrange our holiday dates and destination and I’m now not going away until the end of the summer. AND the place I’m going to is a Gourmet Inclusive place with amazing food and drink available 24hrs.

So, I could either write the whole summer off, and no doubt put on even more weight before my holiday, or make the most of the time I’ve got. I’ve decided to go with the former and try to kickstart my weight-loss before I go away.

Start of summer weight (20/7/15): 13st 5lbs

Waist: 35.5in

Hips: 45in

Bust: 40in

Arms: 12in

Thighs: 26in

I’ve set myself a goal of getting below the 13st mark before I go away. When I come back, I’ll set myself some medium and long term targets.

WI Results – Damage Limitation Week 1

Posted July 28, 2015

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 1.5lb

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Current weight: 13st 3.5lb

Weight loss since start: 1.5lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 4lb

What’s gone well?

I’m really pleased with my weight loss this week. I’ve been exercising really hard using my new training app (more about that soon) and have found it pretty easy to stick to eating healthily.

Unbelieveably, I’ve managed to ‘run’ (more like a steady plod really) two 5km distances this week. I’m not loving the running aspect of the training so far but I know that I soon will once I get back into it properly.

Despite eating out a couple of times this week, including on a fantastic day out in London taking my mum to see The Lion King, I managed to make sensible choices and avoided the temptations of desert on boths occassions.

What’s been difficult?

I’m finding tracking difficult. I’m not sure why. I seem to have some kind of mental block. I did ok with it up until Friday and then it went out of the window. I still had the plan in the front of my mind but I just didn’t write anything down. I don’t really know why. I had time and I’m determined to eat healthily. It’s a puzzle.

The week ahead

I’m planning on sticking with my training programme this week as well as trying a new circuits class this evening. I’ve got to increase my run to 6km for one of the two this week and I’m quite looking forward to that. I’m going to add the extra 1km to the beginning part of the route so that in my head, I’m doing the extra before I get tired.

My biggest challenge this week is going to be spending a girls’ weekend in Liverpool. I’m really going to try hard to track so that it will hopefully help to keep me focused. I’m going to take my trainers and running gear with me too so that I can complete this weekend’s run along the waterfront.

I’ve also set myself a mini-target of losing another 4lb by the time I go on holiday which will take me back into the 12st bracket. I’m hoping that this small but achieveable target will help me to stay on track.

Wish me luck. And if you’ve got any idea about why I hit a block with tracking at the weekend, please let me know!

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Asian Quinoa Stir-Fry

Posted January 2, 2015

Filed under Recipes

I made this Asian Quinoa Stir-Fry tonight for dinner for myself and my sister from the January 2015 edition of the BBC Good Food magazine.

It’s a vegan-friendly, wheat-free recipe and came in at 7pp on the Weight Watchers Plan.

It was simple to prepare, really tasty and felt incredibly healthy to eat. The only change I’d make if cooking it again would be that I’d use less liquid than it states in the recipe as mine turned out quite soupy.

You Never Fail Until You Stop Trying

Posted June 17, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss, My Progress

Women sifting peanut shells to make a living in The Gambia – image copyright Hayley Shortt 2014

Last night I had my first weigh-in following my latest bout of not focusing on my weight loss. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it as I’d not been completely ‘back on track’ due to another busy week and weekend (Good Food Show and Father’s Day). I had considered this when I wrote my last post pledging to get back on track. I did think that I could wait until this week to begin but I knew the chances were that doing that would lead to another 1-2lb creeping back on. So I recommitted knowing that I’d have a week where it would be difficult to focus on healthy eating.

I stepped onto the scales expecting to have stayed the same or put on 1/2-1lb. Imagine my delight when I found that I’d actually lost 1/2lb!!

I’m so glad I decided to refocus on my weight-loss despite knowing that it would be a challenging week to do so. Although I didn’t completely stick to the plan it helped to have my weight-loss goal in mind as I made decisions about what to eat and drink throughout the week.

It reminded me of a motivational poster that I saw years ago which said “Putting off something easy makes it difficulty. Putting off something difficult makes it impossible“. This really resonates with me when it comes to my weight-loss and sticking to the Weight Watcher’s plan: I know it works when I stick to it and sticking to it is pretty easy when I get back on track.

So I’m going to be seizing the proverbial bull by its horns this week and getting my WW mojo back on track.

I must admit that I’d thought about giving up on this blog as I feel pretty foolish for having to write about getting back on track again for what feels like the umpteenth time this year! But then I thought about the words of the late, great Albert Einstein who once said “You never fail until you stop trying.”

So, with that in mind, I’m setting the following two small goals:

Weekly goal – to stay on track this week leading to a loss at the scales next Monday

Medium-term goal – to lose 5lb in the next 5 weeks, at the end of which I’m off on holiday.

Thanks for reading.

PS For those of you short on time but eager to cook tasty, healthy food, look out for a review of a fresh food delivery service that I’m trialling next week…

I’m Still Fighting!

Posted June 10, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss

Hi everyone!

For those of you who read my posts regularly, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while (and thanks to those of you who’ve asked when you’ll see my next post).

I’m still fighting the fat but I’ve been incredibly busy over the last couple of months. I won’t bore you with the details of what I’ve been busy with (although if you enjoy photography you might want to take a look at one of the reasons – Spectrum: A photography exhibition hosted by myself and fellow students at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. On until the 26th June). However, my crammed schedule has meant that I:

a) Haven’t had any time for my blog; and

b) haven’t had as much time as I’d like/need to devote to my weight-loss.

As a result, my weight has remained pretty static – small losses and small gains – and currently stands at 12st 1.5lb following a fab Hen Weekend in Liverpool last weekend.

Two main things have spurred me on to restart my weight-loss efforts:

1) My leader has pointed out that it’s only 29 weeks until Christmas! I vowed that this would be the year I’d finally get to goal so I really need to get a wriggle on.

2) In my Weight Watchers meeting, we have been developing our own visual representations of our weight-loss. I’ve used glass candle holders and red glass beads. The 2 smaller jars show the weight I have left to lose (22lb) and I’ll be moving a bead for each pound lost into the ‘lbs shed’ jar. The larger jar holds a glass bead for each pound I’ve lost so far on my Weight Watchers Journey – 21lb. I’m really looking forward to moving my first bead (or maybe even beads…) into the ‘lbs shed jar next week.

I’ve got some more recipes ready to post in the next couple of weeks and I’ll also be writing a blog about getting my priorities straight (I may need your help and advice with that one!) so please keep an eye out for them.

Thanks for reading.

PS What visuals do you use to help record your weigh-loss?

The Results Are In – Week 15

Posted April 30, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: +0.5lb

Image courtesy of jesadaphorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Current weight: 12st 0lb

Weight loss since start: 6.5lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 3lb

So: I had another small gain this week.

This made me feel a) a little bit annoyed at myself and b) a little bit silly. Why? Because, here I am, writing this weight-loss blog (which was supposed to keep me focused) and I haven’t lost any weight for 4 weeks and I’ve only lost 6.5lb since January!

I allowed myself to feel annoyed and silly for a few minutes, but I realise that if I dwell on these feelings, the effect on my mind-set is likely to be negative: I have definitely been guilty, several times, in the (recent) past of dealing with my disappointment at a weight gain by comfort eating. Because that makes such good sense: I feel rubbish for putting on weight so I eat loads of stuff that is guaranteed to make me put on yet more weight!

So, to combat this, I decided to remind myself of what I have achieved on my weight loss journey:

I have lost just over 2 stone since I first started my weight-loss journey
I have lost 11.5lb since Christmas (this is calculated from my weight at weigh in prior to my official Weight Watchers weigh in so, although I’m fairly confident in the reliability of the scales used, I’m not counting it as this year’s starting weight)
I used to wear size 18 jeans which were too tight and now I’m wearing size 14
I have dropped a dress size since Christmas
I haven’t given up on my goal

I don’t want to make excuses about why I gained last week, but I think it’s important to think about the reasons why I gained weight to make sure that this doesn’t become an upward trend.

I was still on holiday from work last week and, following a fairly busy first week, it was a quieter week. Therefore, I could’ve gone to the gym each day. Or at least once. But I didn’t. Why? Because I just felt like being lazy! Do I need to feel guilty about that? No. I work hard and I’m always on the go with various other commitments and projects so I think it’s important for my mental health and well-being to have some down-time from time to time.

I did cook a number of healthy meals and have stockpiled a load of portions of different soups (click here for my Spicy Chicken, Tomato & Chickpea Soup and Persian Beef Pilaf recipes)to keep me going for lunches at work over the next few weeks so that has helped with the damage limitation.

I did eat quite a lot of chocolate. It’s my biggest downfall. I love it. I need to think about how to incorporate a small amount of it into my diet without letting it get out of hand. To help with this I took advantage of the Weight Watchers bars being offer and have bought some of those. I’m planning on going back to the Simple Start plan this week and using the bars as one of my daily treats. I’ve put them right at the back of the cupboard so I don’t see them every time I open the cupboard. In fact, I think I’ll even get one out of the box when I’m making my dinner and have it on the side ready for my treat – then I don’t have to see the rest of the box when I’ve got my chocolate craving.

I’m 2 days in to my new week now and I’ve already taken a couple of positive steps towards achieving my goal of losing weight this week: I’ve stuck to the plan on both days, I went to the gym last night and I’ve bought a pedometer. I’m going to use it over the next couple of weeks to gauge the average number of steps I take each day. Then in a couple of weeks, I’ll try to up my average.

Looking back at my achievements so far, I think the last one is probably the most important. And that’s what I’ve got at the front of my mind this week as I get tempted to indulge in foods that aren’t going to help me to achieve my goal, or as I’m tempted to miss an exercise session: DON’T GIVE UP Fat-Fighter!

Thanks for reading.

What do you do when you feel like you’re stuck in a weight-loss rut?

Spicy Chicken, Tomato & Chickpea Soup

Posted April 25, 2014

Filed under Recipes, Uncategorized

An incredibly simple, tasty and filling soup.

Servings: 4

Pro Points: 7

Simple Start: Yes

Filling & Healthy: 0

Cooking time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

1tsp healthy oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 medium (165g each) chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
1/4tsp chilli powder
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground cinnamon
150g tomato puree
1.5l vegetable stock made with 2 stock cubes
410g can chickpeas, rinsed
40g whole wheat pasta, broken into small pieces
3tsp dried mint
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2tbsp 0% fat natural yogurt

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion then cover and cook gently until soft, without browning.
Add the meat and brown well.
Add the spices and tomato puree. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Gradually add the stock over a period of 15 minutes in order to maintain a thick consistency. When all the stock is added, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chickpeas then simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Stir in the pasta and simmer for 7 minutes.
Add the mint and simmer for 1 minute more.
Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste.
Serve garnished with 1/2tbsp yogurt per person.

Persian Beef Pilaf

Posted April 24, 2014

Filed under Recipes

The recipe I used as the basis for this dish was from a soup cookery book. Although it is cooked in a broth, by the end of the cooking process there wasn’t much liquid left and it was more like a wet pilaf. Most importantly, it was really tasty and filling!

Servings: 7

Pro Points: 6

Simple Start: Yes

Filling & Healthy: 0

Cooking time: 1hr 10min (+1hr soaking time)

Ingredients

1.2l water
2 beef stock cubes
225g extra lean steak mince
1 large onion, sliced
75g yellow split peas (soaked for 1 hour in plenty of water)
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground black pepper
1tsp salt
225g brown rice
350g spinach, chopped
25g dill, chopped
75g spring onions, chopped
150g 0% fat natural yogurt

For the garnish

1/2 medium onion, finely sliced
1tbsp chopped fresh mint
1tsp healthy oil

Method

Pour the water into a large saucepan, add the stock cubes and bring to the boil.
Add the beef, onion, soaked yellow split peas, spice and salt. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Add the rice and simmer for a further 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the spinach, dill and spring onions then simmer for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the garnish: fry the onion in the oil over a moderate heat until golden brown. Add the mint then cook for a further 5 minutes until crisp. Set aside.
Stir the yogurt into the rice mixture and heat through.
Serve with the garnish sprinkled on top.