Sunday 21 February 2016

Fakin' it.

Years and years ago I bought Richy a session at an Indian cook school as a birthday gift. I picked the time and what he would be cooking because it needed booking before his birthday, so I was careful to pick something I liked the sound of (shocking!). It turned out to be one of the best gifts I have ever bought him because even though that was at least 5 years ago we regularly cook the chicken jaipuri curry and rice he made that day. It actually turns out to be very Slimming World friendly too once the oil is culled. The original curry recipe asks for 1tsp(!) of coconut milk but this can easily be swapped for yoghurt to keep it totally syn free.

It turned out this weekend has been a sort of fake away weekend. I fancied a curry on Friday so we made the Jaipuri which was excellent, and then nursing a slight hangover today I resisted the urge to phone a pizza or order a Chinese and made a chow mein. I'm not going to lie - a takeaway would have suited my mood better but in an attempt to redress the balance where last night's wine syns are concerned it was the better decision to cook something, and it suited my wallet better too.

Today's chow mein was about half a syn plus some sweet chilli sauce and was absolutely perfect for tonight. Here's what I did...

1.5 cooked chicken breasts, shredded and marinaded in 2 tbsp soy and 2 tbsp sherry
A handful of cooked prawns

4 cloves of garlic, sliced
A thumb size chunk of ginger, grated
3 spring onions, shredded

1 large carrot cut into thin batons
2 peppers thinly sliced
A handful of sugar snap peas sliced lengthways
1 medium onion thinly sliced
Half a bag of beansprouts
3 cards of noodles, cooked
Half a stock cube
Soy sauce & oyster sauce to taste

Sweat the spring onion, garlic and ginger for a minute in fry light.  Add a splash of water if it looks too dry.

Add carrots and onion, followed by peppers and sugar snap peas. Add the stock cube to a corner of the pan and add a splash of water (or sherry) to make a light paste and stir through. Toss through a couple of tablespoons of oyster sauce, chuck in the chicken and prawns, then the beansprouts..  then the noodles and mix well.

Add soy to taste and serve with sweet chilli sauce. 

This quantity served 2 adults and 2 kids and I have 2 portions leftover for lunches this week. WIN! :-) I didn't put chilli in it because my girls are wimps but you could easily add some in and obviously amend the veggies to suit what you have and like. This is quick, satisfying, cheap and versatile. I'm not reinventing the wheel here. It's nothing new and actually it's not a diet recipe.

These two dishes kept me away from the takeaway this weekend. It won't always be the way, I know, but right now I'm happy enough that this weekend hasn't been wasted.

Thursday 18 February 2016

Look at that face!

This is the face I pull when I don't get what I want. I was 3 here and 31 years later I still pull it (so I am told). In this case what I didn't get was a quick fix, but really, honestly... who does?

I know I have been a bit quiet about this (shocking!) but I have been back on plan for a couple of weeks now. First weigh in good (4.5lb) and second was a maintain. I should be upset about that but to be perfectly honest I had a takeaway, a lot of wine and a meal with friends. With cake. Hoping for that 2.5lb this week for my first new book shiney. 

Ahh... Remember the shineys? I am really looking forward to getting some book bling on the go as the pounds and inches go down. I've already dropped a couple of inches - it's amazing how quickly you can see results and to anybody starting their journey I would definitely say take measurements from the start. I know lots of people take them monthly but I do weekly and stick with it, taking a note on weigh day. The thing is your clothes might not show a difference and the scales might not either but chances are stuff is happening. I measure my ankle and wrist too and believe it or not they do show a difference!

Anyway that's all a bit dull so I'm going to leave you with that for today whilst I go and figure out what I am going to have for lunch tomorrow. I've got something delicious in mind for tomorrow's dinner though, so until then...

See ya, pals.

Thursday 7 January 2016

See Saw Marjorie Daw

I think as you get older you learn a lot about yourself.

In the past few years I have learned that I am capable of more than I ever imagined in terms of (currently lapsed) weight training. I've learned that pride comes before a fall. I have learned that I can safely describe myself as a yo-yo dieter and that I will always always have to watch my intake. I have learned how quickly weight gains on you; how little disregard it has for your mental and wellbeing or how hard you are working at the gym; how sneaky it is; how it climbs on board when you aren't watching... and then... one day... all of a sudden... BOOM!

Back at square one.

I've learned the value of the saying"never say never". "That weight is never going back on". "I'm never doing this again". One thing I can assure you I am never doing is saying these things again! The truth is that of course I wish I hadn't put weight back on, that really goes without saying... but is it the absolute end of the world? Not really. I still have my family and great friends and a happy life and that really is the top and bottom of it. That being said, Slimming World and I are about to become reacquainted and in advance of that I've already started eating according to the plan, and it's going well.

Will things be different this time? Of course they will. On the one hand, I've done it before. On the other hand... I've done it before (if you see what I mean). When I joined in 2012 I had no idea what weight I wanted to be or how I would look at any given weight. Now I know where I want to be and and I know roughly how that will look. I understand my body shape better than ever before - I know that I am pear shaped and high waisted. I know exactly where I want to get to... and that's to where I got before. At that weight (in the picture I was actually slightly heavier), I wanted to lose another 3 stone. At the time I was fixated on that weight but in hindsight I see that it wasn't necessary and that I looked and felt amazing. I maintained for a year, fighting and trying and when nothing else was coming off I lost heart and weight started to creep on.

So that's the aim.

Get... back... there.