Meal Planning Monday (31/12/12)

Back on the weight loss bandwagon 'alledgedly' to see in the New Year with a healthy start, this weeks menu is gravitating towards slimming world. Seeing as 2012 saw me gain a stone, I probably need to read the books again as clearly whatever I was doing last year didn't work a fig....

Anyway, here's our first week and remember to check what Mrs M's got cooking over at her page.

Monday - spaghetti bolognese using the leftovers from yesterdays stew
Tuesday- a big old roast for my big old appetite.... plenty of good veg to balance it out though!
Wednesday - Beans on toast
Thursday - Pasta with whatever I can lay my hands on to make a sauce
Friday - Grace and the Husband are having pizza, I'm off over to Sharon and Tania's for a girls night in and a steaming great big bowl of homemade chili.
Saturday - Vegetable chili from the freezer and rice
Sunday - Shepherds pie

Looking at my use of words like 'great big bowl' and 'big old roast' I can see why I put a stone on this past year. Probably given a helping hand by my lack of exercise in the second half of the year.... something to be addressed for 2013 I think. I don't like to make resolutions as I rarely stick to them, but one things for sure, I need to eat less and exercise more next year. Wish me luck!

What are you putting on the table this week?

Uh-oh!

Appropriate it seems that on the day Grace masters the linguistics of 'uh-oh!', I find myself peering down a 13 week long tunnel to what will be my first road race... Without dwelling on the nitty gritty of this milestone, if you set me off with the start gun now, I'd be stopping in a little under two miles. Rounded down, I make that a good 4 miles short.

Uh-oh indeed.

Now for those who know me well, running is something one does only to catch the ice-cream van as it pulls away with my chocolate oyster still tucked nicely in his refrigerated tuck-box. I am not a runner. Nor am I particularly interested in exercise or fitness in general. I like my food and lots of it. Generally I dish up healthy family eats as we have a marathon runner and a toddler at the table. And as much as I love to eat healthy food, I like my portions big, and I like a free rein to nibble away at something 'naughty' like chocolate, ice-cream, chips and dips, or whatever the fancy might be.

Step forward the new Heather.

(Yeah right!)

Instead I send her substitute to the podium. Fitness mad, burning calories like crazy and training training training to get a personal best when taking part in Jane Tomlinson's Run for All in York, 13 weeks from now on August 4th.

(The personal best won't be hard, it's my first).

I also want to shift this baby-weight (*read combination of baby-weight and over-indulgence weight*) once and for all. I can't blame it on the baby forever, she's weighing in at 1 stone 8 pounds herself, roughly what this Mummy needs to lose. Holy crapola!

So what's the plan Stan? Well, Stan says I need to kick my butt into gear, set a weekly goal and jolly well stick to it come hell or high water. So here it is. I'm going to start running again TOMORROW. Watch this space for proof. I'm aiming to run 3 days a week minimum and although this will be short distances to begin with (starting at 1.5 miles again), I will be working this back up in the right direction slowly. I'm also sticking with Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD which is giving me 20 mins intense work out every night before bed. I'd also like to commit to one swim this week and one yoga session just to mix it up a bit.

I have my weigh in tonight. I've been pretty much on it this week, stuck to plan, eaten moderately, and only tucked into the biscuits once and even that didn't really tip me over the syn count too badly. I'll check in with an update soon, wish me luck!


Let the fitness training commence!

Meal Planning Monday (30/4/12)

I'm pretty impressed with myself this week - for acutally sticking with the meal plan. That must be a first in a long time. There's usually at least one day where I look at the menu and think to myself, nah, not having that. Well this week I am hoping to stick to plan as well... two weeks running is half way to a habit in my book.

Monday - leftover lentil 'n' veg chilli from last week and rice (Grace wasn't keen so I whizzed hers with the blender as she scoffed the lot once the lumps had gone!)

Tuesday - Spaghetti bolognese with lots of veg. Slimming world advise a third of the plate is fresh veg so this will be rammed to the rafters with just about anything I can find in the fridge.

Wednesday - Ham, mushroom and tomato omelette (I'm working in Newcastle so I'll be grateful for something super speedy when I walk in the door).

Thursday - Quick pasta - sauce will be a concoction of whatever is looking ready to roll over and die in the fridge...

Friday - Cottage Pie with green beans and probably a moat of gravy. I batch cooked this a while ago and it's in the freezer, so compliance on Friday will be down to remembering to get it out Thursday night!

Saturday - me and Matt the Husband are off to see a band in Leeds so we will be popping into one of two favourite cafe's for supper. A fantastic little noodle bar near the station where you sit at the counter and watch them cook, or the middle eastern cafe up near the Leeds Grand Theatre. Either will do me, both will blow the syn count!

Sunday - Mummy's special lasagne, taken from a recipe book bought thoughfully for Mother's Day this year. I LOVE lasagne, so looking forward to this meal the most I think.

Grace should tuck into all of these meals with gusto. And I think the only thing we're cooking with a syn count is the white sauce for the lasagne on Sunday. Not bad going.

Remember to head on over to Mrs M to see what she's got going on in the kitchen this week...

Chow for now...

The Forbidden Fruits of the Vending Machine

I am weak. Metaphorically speaking.

I can arm wrestle the best bloke in the office with my left hand, but ask me to say no to chocolate or a packet of crisps after I have just scoffed a slimming world syn-free lunch, and I'm there with skates on. Super fast ones.

I'm sat at my desk, stuffed, having eaten a huge portion of leftover stew, an apple and a banana. I'm not hungry. I'm not even that bored (that comes later in the week generally). I do not need more food.

Consider then the reality of me wearing a pre-baby bikini in a body that is carrying 21 pounds of excess weight in just four short weeks. Postage stamps on watermelons. The prospect should send me screaming to the salad aisle. Why then, do I find myself excavating my purse for coppers to stop my body-brilliant plans dead in their tracks by shopping for the forbidden fruits of the vending machine? It's like I want to fail.

I started up running a few weeks ago, getting out three to four times a week for two miles. Not far by any stretch but enough to get my weight loss moving in the right direction. I've been so excited about getting back to my weight pre-Grace, even signing up for Daily Mile which tracks calories burned and miles run.

I started running to lose weight, not to fund more eating. What am I to do?

Eat chocolate. It's great for the soul.