Tuna toastie

I made this the other day, I was due a shop so only had a few bits in.

You will need
Wholemeal bread
Tin of tuna
Extra light mayonnaise
Pinch of mustard powder
Chives
Salt and Pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Tomatoes
Pickle
Mixed peppers
Laughing Cow Light triangles

1. Mix tuna with mayonnaise, mustard, chives, salt and pepper and balsamic.
2. Slice the tomato into thick slices and grill or fry in frylight.
3. Toast the bread
4. Spread toast with Laughing Cow Light add layer of peppers, followed by a layer of pickles.
5. Add tuna on top and finish off with grilled tomatoes.

I used two slices of wholemeal bread from a 800g loaf as my two healthy extras on a red day. Usually it's two slices from a 400g loaf but thought one slice from a 800g slice would be the same as two from the 400g.

Weigh in 05/01/2012

Weigh in this week was good because I have managed to lose 5lbs which means all Christmas weight is gone and I only have to lose another lb until I  am where I was in the middle of December. I expected the weight to come off quickly as I didn't believe I'd gained much fat (apart from round my face!) I have eaten really well, although not completely on the Slimming World plan as I have been having two healthy extra B's on extra easy instead of one I have eaten plenty of super free foods and drank a lot more water.

Next weeks plans are to finally get onto my bike, I have no idea how far or for how long I can ride but I am hoping that it will start to make the fat fall off quicker.

Hope you are all doing well, I have quite a few blog posts I want to write and I am off until Thursday so expect lots of good stuff!

Weigh in update 08/12/11 and 15/12/11

So I haven't updated my weigh in for a couple of weeks, sorry!! I  maintained last week and lost 1lb this week, it takes my total loss to 4 stone 9lbs (65lbs) I haven't really been sticking to Slimming World just trying to eat 3 meals a day and do less snacking. My heart is still not completely in it at the moment but I am glad that I am not putting on weight.

I have had a couple of non scale victories (NSV) in the past two weeks! Number one is that I went to see Whitesnake and was standing, now usually during a gig my back, legs and knees hurt this time they didn't I had loads of energy to dance and was able to stay out late and walk back to the hotel. I compared this to the last time I saw Whitesnake in June and I remember that I was very uncomfortable then and I was also 2 stone 4lbs (32lbs) heavier. I always enjoy gigs but this will be the one I remember that I wasn't uncomfortable and that it was a big milestone in my weightloss. Some pictures from the gig are below, I am now entering another phase of being obsessed with David Coverdale!!

My second NSV is that I bought a new winter coat in four sizes smaller than last winter and not only that that it only cost me a tenner from Tesco!

Even though I haven't lost a lot of weight recently I have some really great NSV! 

Weigh in 30/11/11

Weigh in was yesterday and I lost 1lb! I am fine with this as I have not been on plan fully. I am struggling to stay focussed at the moment, for those of you that follow me on Youtube will have already heard what I am about to write!

I think my illness the other week has really taken it out of me and I haven't really had time to really take time out to just chill out and relax, looking ahead it's going to be Christmas Day before I have chance to relax (thanks Mum!)

I am getting fed up with the whole weight loss thing I am not a person that usually sticks with things as I get bored easily so spending a year losing weight is a massive achievement for me, in fact doing anything for any length of time is a good thing for me. I think some of my fedupness (yes it is a word!) has come from the fact I have lost a lot of weight and I am still FAT! This then leads me to get annoyed with myself for putting on such a huge amount of weight in the first place and then I begin to pick the year apart and get annoyed with not being further along in my journey. The rational, sane me knows that this wasn't ever going to be an easy and quick thing but the person inside me who is impatient and prone to tantrums is definitely fed up!

Anyways, enough of the depressive stuff I am off to Lincoln Christmas Market tomorrow which I am very excited about as it will definitely start off the Christmas season with a bang. Is anyone else off to any Christmas Markets?

Weigh in update 03/11/11

I stayed the same this week so it's still a total of 4 stone 5lbs (61lbs) loss. I am OK with this as I have struggled this week with cravings and have only done minimal exercise. Thinking about what I have done in the last couple of weeks, a big gain then a big loss a maintain is probably a good thing to give my body a bit of a rest.

It was Jonathan's birthday yesterday so we went out for a meal, I think I chose wisely I had lamb rump, roasted sweet potatoes, vegetables and mint gravy. Tonight I am out for a fireworks display and a curry for one of my best friends birthday. After this I am on an eating out ban until the end of the month!

I still haven't been out on my bike, I am going to see if I can get in my car otherwise I am going to need a thingymebob for my car!

I have also looked into my numbers for October and here they are:

Lbs lost: 2
Inches lost: 3

It's pretty pathetic but roll on this month when it will be more awesome. Below are my total inch loss so far this year in the areas I measure.

Hips: 12
Waist: 7.5
2nd Belly (area between boobs and belly!): 7
Under bust: 6.5
Bust: 8
Neck: 1.5

I am happy overall but wish that I had got more off my waist and a bit more of my hips as this is where I carry most of my weight.

Weigh in 25/08/2011

Sorry for the late update! This week I lost 2lbs taking my total to 3 stone 6lbs or 48lbs for those of you that weigh in lbs. I am really chuffed with 2lbs, I would have liked 3lbs just to get to 3 1/2 stone but 2lbs is a great loss for a week.

I wasn't as good as I had been in the last couple of weeks, I had a KFC! It wasn't as nice as I remembered and I won't be having it again. I also found that I woke up early in the morning craving chocolate and that is something I haven't done since losing weight, it used to happen a lot before so I'm wondering if some of the stuff they put make you crave bad things, or maybe I just wanted chocolate at 6am! The only other thing I had that wasn't on plan was tea at my sisters.

The rest of the week was fine food wise, I did slack on the exercise but I'm back on it this week for the final week of the lifestyle change challenge so going to make it a good one to round off the challenge.

Hope everyone else is doing great.

New things for my walks

I have been taking part in Weightlossfordudes Lifestyle Change Challenge for four weeks now and I'm loving the exercising but haven't really got the right clothes so I picked up a hoody from Yours Clothing as it's been colder here for the past week and with Autumn and Winter coming up it will good for my walking then, it's also long enough to wear with my leggings so no more too short jogging bottoms that I have been wearing.And the best bit is that it's a size 22-24 and I was a size 30 in most things in January!!

The second thing I got was from the pound shop, I think I buy about 90%of my things from bargain shops I love them :)

So I wanted a small backpack to carry a bottle of water, my ipod, phone and car keys. It's really handy and lightweight so will be perfect for storing the few things I need I just hope it lasts a while and doesn't break on the first outing.

Weigh in update 18/08/2011

So today was weigh in. I've had such a good week but knew my scales went up a lot at the beginning of the week, by a lot I mean 4lbs!I usually go up after weigh in but maximum of 1.5lbs. However, I still expected a good loss of 2lbs as I have been on plan 100% no cheats, no extra syns, plenty of vegetable, plenty of water and exercise. So anyways I lost 1lb taking my total to 3 stone 4lbs (46lbs) I always have to remind myself that even though I am disappointed I didn't maintain and I didn't gain and 1lb of fat is a lot, just take a look.

I desperately want 3lbs off next week to get to my 3 1/2 stone; 4lbs would also be great as it will take me to that magical 50lb mark! At some points whilst losing weight I've felt that I would never be able to get to that amount of loss but I'm glad I'm almost there. I'm proud of myself that I haven't given up and that I have found a support network of people that makes staying on track so much easier.

Weigh in update 11/08/2011

After getting on the scales this morning I have lost 4lbs this week :) in total that is 3 stone 3lbs or 45lbs since January.

I am so happy about this I thought I would get 2lbs as I had followed the plan 100% all week barring some chocolatey goodness at the cinema last night. I had a tough week sticking to plan as I have been quite upset over the rioting particularly in Manchester and Salford as they are my home cities, I know it wasn't as bad as those in London but it made it feel more real and a lot more unsettling. I actually cried I was that upset and then got angry so cried again. In Manchester it feels as though we have just got the city back after the IRA bombing in 1996. When more people turned out to help clean up than rioted I was again glad to be from Manchester/Salford.

As with most weeks where I have had a good loss I have drank a lot of water and made lots of meals from scratch. I finally got round to making the mushy pea curry and it was lovely! Blog post will follow in a couple of days.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who had looked at my blog in the last few days and all my new followers. This is thanks to Diet Momma (sw) and Sian Slimmingworld who posted my blog link when I asked them too, if any of you are following Slimming World and don't know this two, click on their names and join them, the information they give is invaluable.

Weigh in update 04/08/2011

I lost 1lb this week which takes me to 41lb lost (2stone 13lbs) so one away from the elusive 3 stone mark. This week was tough but mainly because I stepped on the stupid scales too much. I really should learn to weigh myself once a week and that's it.

All week my weight was either staying the same or going up so I was really worried about getting a gain so 1lb was a surprise, however, I did want to get 2lbs so I was at 3 stone loss.

Food wise has been really good this week I made all the right choices and really enjoyed some meals, recipes will be coming up soon. Speaking of recipes I was thinking of setting up a new blog with just recipes what does everyone think? I just thought it might be easier for those just interested in recipes and leave this blog for my thoughts, feelings, weigh-ins and non scale victories.

I am still exercising, I know shocker! It's week two of the Lifestyle Change Challenge and I'm loving it, will be finishing my video entry when I get home from work.

On a final note, hope everyone is well and weight loss is going perfectly. As always comments and suggestions welcome.

Weigh in 09/06/2011

Well weigh in was a few days ago and I lost 2lbs taking my total to 2 stone 4lbs (32lbs) I'm very happy, even though it wasn't as much as I liked it was still a good healthy loss.

At weekend I was away from Thursday until Saturday in Derby as I went to the Download Festival on the Friday with my boyfriend which was awesome and I got to see my favourite band Def Leppard again who were beyond awesome. It meant my food choices weren't that great. I weighed myself when I got home on Saturday and I was the same weight as I was on Thursday so I'm hoping for a 1lb loss this week.

Hope everyone else's week is going well and the losses are still happening. If there is any posts that you would like to see please let me know.

Weigh in 26/05/2011

This week's weigh in was really good  I lost 4lbs and I reached two milestones. The first one being that I have finally lost 2stones and the second was that I have reached 30lb loss. S

I think this week's success was down to the amount of water I have drank and possible my speed soup. I also think that by planning my meal out with the girls helped a lot. I did go over my syns but didn't have as much as I would have usually and  I still had a good loss.

This week is my week off and I always struggle with my healthy eating when I don't have the structure of work, so far I've had one day off Slimming World on Saturday as I went to my parents to watch the Champions League Final and I had 2 bottles of cider, mousaka, greek salad, houmous and jam roly poly and custard.

So, as you can see I had a bit of a feast. I've been right back on it today with a 'fry-up' consisting of tomatoes, bacon, scrambled egg and Joe's garlic and herb sausages.

I'm hoping to have more blog posts up this week including some recipes that I am trying out.

Hope all of you are OK and the healthy living plan is going well.

Weigh in update: 11th May

This post is a bit late but I have been a bit busy and then blogger was down everytime I tried to get on!

So six days of filming everything I ate resulted in a 4lbs loss :) I am so happy it means I'm back to the weight I was before my Gran died (18th March) it's taken me a long time to get back here and back in the frame of mind for Slimming World but I'm proud that I didn't give up. In the past I would have stopped doing Slimming World after a gain.

I thought I would do a mini review of my week in food.

What I enjoyed the most?

Joes Pork and Herb Sausages, this can be found online http://www.joessausages.co.uk/ they are so gorgeous. Decent sized sausage and the only clue you will find to them being healthier is that the frying pan isn't swimming in grease, they taste amazing.

What I didn't enjoy?
The nights when I got in from work and couldn't be bothered to make anything so had beans for tea

I did enjoy all my food this week, I loved cooking proper homemade meals and enjoyed eating fruit which is unusual for me. I think another thing that helped me was that until Tuesday I had no fizzy drinks and I only ate out once.

Weightloss Update

Well this will be my weightloss update. By the time I'd done a weigh in last week (Saturday) I'd put on 5lbs as opposed to the 3lbs I mentioned in my Struggling post.

I've weighed myself this morning and I've lost 3lbs. So that's 23lbs in total since January. I'm so happy with this as I went out for a meal with my friends last night which is not the smartest idea I had but I had a great time and lovely catch up. I shared a starter platter with my friends, then had smoked haddock florentine and shared a chocolate cake. So losing the 3lbs is a good achievement. I need to learn to not eat out the night before weigh in.

I think the loss this week is mainly due to eating plenty of grapes and drinking lots of water. I have also made a big effort to keep my snacking down.

So next hurdle is the Easter weekend, unfortunately I am working over Easter :( However I am off Good Friday so will be having a fish dinner at my Mum and Dad's. There is no batter on the fish just a light dusting of flour and I will have potatoes instead of chips with peas, cauliflower and parsley sauce. Easter Sunday I'm working during the day and am hoping my Mum will do a Sunday Dinner for when I get back then it'll be off to the pub for a few cheeky ones!

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter and enjoy the long weekend!

January photos Vs. March photos

Front view taken January

Front view taken March

Side view taken January

Side View taken March

Back View taken January

Back View Taken March

                
I can see some difference particularly the back view. To be honest I'm a little disappointed in the side view as well as there not being much of a difference I stood facing the wrong way!!

    

Blah Blah week

Well my week has been blah blah. I cancelled my weigh in this week as I didn't want to feel any worse than I do. My Gran's death has affected me as I was so close to her. I sometimes don't know what to do with myself as I made sure I visited her at least once a week and when I went shopping (which has been a lot this week) I would call her to see if she wanted to come or if she wanted me to pick something up for her. It's her funeral on Tuesday so after that I will get back on track.

Dieting is so difficult sometimes especially when events out of your control can screw it up instantly. I still need to work on my coping skills. When I worked with people with drug and alcohol addictions and mental health problems, this is what we would often work with helping them to find new coping skills when their life wasn't going to plan. This week I have realised I have two ways of coping and that is either not eating or binging which obviously not great.

I'm currently working on a document about why I want to lose weight and when it's finished I will share with everyone as I feel this is going to be the best way to stay on track permanently is to make sure my goals are always realistic, achievable and I am reminded of them daily.

Hope everyone else is doing well, I have been keeping up-to-date ish on youtube videos and hope to start making my way through the comments this evening if work is quiet.

Weight update

Looking through my blog I've realised I've not updated my weigh-in results for a couple of weeks, probably because they aren't that great.

My weigh-in on 17/02/2011 was as I suspected I gained 1 lb. I would like to blame it on the fact that the week before I had a big loss due to being sick and not eating for a couple of days, but the truth is I didn't eat at all well, had a night out with lots of alcohol and a takeaway, a meal out for my sisters birthday and a Chinese made by Mum the night before weigh in.

My weigh-in on 24/02/2011 I stayed the same; I had a long weekend away with my sister and two friends and drank way too much alcohol and didn't eat well at all. When I weighed myself when I got home I had gained 2lbs, by weigh-in day I lost that and was back to my weight of the week before.

So, this week I really must get my arse back in gear and do 100% food optimising. I have had a really good couple of days. I've tried to cook as many fresh meals I could including the meat and potato pie I posted before this; egg, chips and beans and tonight I am attempting the butter chicken curry from the latest Slimming World magazine.

I also made the custard and nutmeg tarts from the magazine and they are gorgeous, I will do a post with pictures in the next couple of days.

Hope everyone else's diets/healthy eating is going well.  Thanks to everyone who has followed my blog and commented.

I lost weight :) but then had a bad weekend :(

So, this post is a bit late and is coming 3 days after my weigh in. This week I lost 5lbs which brings my total to 16lbs, however as I said in my video I have been sick this week and had a couple of days not eating which I know contributed to my weight loss and knew I had to be careful to not put any weight on and ensure that I still had a loss in the coming week.

So knowing all this, have I been sensible? Well, no I haven't and I'm really kicking myself over it now. I wen out on Saturday night as it's my sister's birthday today and did relatively well with my alcohol, I stuck to disaronno and diet coke and had one cherry sourz and diet coke. So after the alcohol I knew I was over my syn allowance but wasn't too worried as I had steered clear of wine, beer and cider all night. However, I went into the takeaway at the end of the night and had a cheeseburger and shared chips and garlic bread with cheese with my friends. When I woke up Sunday morning I was so disappointed with myself and am now worrying over a big gain on Thursday.

As it's my sister's birthday today we were going to go out for dinner (lunch) so I knew wherever she choose I could control this by having a salad or something that was predominantly vegetables. However, she has now decided she wants to have an Indian takeaway in the evening.

So, now I am going to plan what I will have and stick to it. Looking through my Slimming World information I have decided to do my own boiled rice (free) and have a lamb or chicken rogan josh (6.5syns for 360g) I will miss the naan bread and poppadoms but I need to make sure I'm on track for this week.

These are the times I hate most with diets when I have messed up and can't fully enjoy celebrations with my family and friends as most of the celebrations revolve around food and alcohol. Does anyone else struggle with birthday celebrations?

I lost weight :) and my goals

Weigh-in day and I've lost again, this week I am down another 4 pounds so that's 11 in total and just 3 pounds away from a stone. 


I have started think about goals that I would like to reach, because I have a lot to lose it's a bit daunting thinking about the end goal so I have set myself three goal weights for the rest of 2011.

• Lose 4 stone (56lbs) by the 18th June - my friend is getting married on this date and I haven't seen her for ages so would like to look as best I can and get a nice outfit. It will also be the first wedding I've been too!
• My next goal goes from 18th June until 16th October (my birthday) and I would like to lose 35lbs which is 2lbs a week
• Final goal is my Christmas weight, there is exactly 10 weeks between my birthday and Christmas and again I am aiming for 2lb loss each week so that is another 20lbs

So when all added up I would like to aim for a loss of 111lbs for 2011 which is just less than 8 stones.

I have other goals but are not time specific these are:

• To shop in a normal shop and not have to head to the plus size section
• To go the amusement parks again and not panic about not fitting in the seats
• To try being a brunette
• To have a baby
• To decide on a career path 

I would like to hear everyone else's goals, please leave a comment or link to your blog post on this.