chocolate fix

Been out gardening all morning (after my weetabix!) and decided I needed a chocolate fix. That's the great thing about this diet - if you start craving something, there's usually a close solution to having it.

So this is a pancake, made deep like an american pancake, and topped with chocolate sauce. Just what I needed after a busy morning - feels like carbs and chocolate.

Out of this World

Get me and my tin foil hat! I'm with my hubby, at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry for a Spacetacular event, part of Manchester Science Week. Almost everyone is dressed up - some in proper costumes (there's and alien from Alpha Centuri, an astronaut, dark matter, the big bang and more) and the rest of us in makeshift outfits crafted from tin foil, glitter and tinsel.

First we went in the planetarium and watched the sky - I was very happy that I fit neatly into the small seats! Then we saw Jupiter and three of it's moons through a telescope in the car park. A bit of comedy (on a space theme) and a spacetacular quiz, in which I got 1 1/2 out of 10!

So, a good, geeky night had by all. I'd had my scallops at late afternoon snack time, and bought my snack with me to have about 8ish - and since it was a Phase 3 coconut bar, wrapped in silver foil, it fit right in (of course I pretended it was space food - who wouldn't when you're sat next to a man with tin foil epaulettes?).

Scallops again

Went to Bury Market with mum today and bought some more lovely scallops for my tea. Had them with french beans, tomatoes and red onion. Made a nice quick tea before going out (again!).

If you've never tried scallops but like prawns, give them a try - they have a similar texture to prawns, but a sweeter flavour - slightly nutty when pan fried. They only take 2 mins each side - don't overcook them or they go rubbery!

Surf and Turf

Yes, I've been out again (I know, seems like I'm never in these days!). And yes, I was at Albert's Shed again - but why not, they're so great!

Tonight's treat - surf and turf with venison and prawns. The venison was beautifully cooked, just how I like it, and the prawns lovely and crispy on the outside and just right inside. It all looked and tasted delicious.

And to cap it all, my dinner guest hadn't seen me since Feb; her face when I met her at the train station was a delight! And she just kept staring at me (in a good way) and saying "I just can't believe it". I didn't even mind when she ordered a chocolate volcano for dessert (it did look good, and to be fair, I did encourage her too as she's a real choc-aholic).

So a lovely evening all round (thanks DC!)

There is bread

Bread, dear reader, bread!

1 slice from a medium loaf, with 15g of lean meat (in my case some ham). No butter, so to make it a bit more moist, I added some cucumber (very scandinavian!). And to make it seem like more, I cut it into four quarters.

And then I enjoyed every bite!

Actually, I haven't missed bread as much as I thought I would - I used to be a big bread eater (in both senses of the term "big"). But a few bread sachets have kept me going in the last 6 months, and I'm not desperate to overdose.

And I was very surprised that just one slice of bread is quite enough for breakfast, so that was nice.

First Phase 3 Meal

So, Phase 3 tonight and I have more ingredients to play with for my dinner - however, I don't have any of them in the house, and it's 8.30 when I get home from clinic.

I made an omlette, with tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and spring onions. I know, that sounds just like something on phase 2 - but it's not, because tonight dear reader, I didn't chop the white bit off my spring onions and throw it in the compost bin! No! I chopped the white bit off my spring onion and threw it on the scales with my other veg, then I chopped it up, put in my omlette and ate it!

I think it was more the act than the taste, but I enjoyed it - and it somehow felt quite rebellious!

I know, the white bit of a spring onion, rebellion, I'm giggling inside at the thought. Roll on breakfast!

weight

26/10/11 - 12st 11, just 7lbs to go to target after losing 4 lbs this week.

26 weeks and 5 st 10 lbs gone.

And now I'm into Phase 3 - replacing morning sachet with breakfast (bread and cold meat continental style OR muesli and yoghurt or weetabix!).

AND - and this is the very exciting bit - I CAN HAVE CARROTS! And beetroot, and cabbage and onions and mange tout and sprouts and leeks and I CAN'T WAIT!

Now I bet you never thought you'd see anyone get excited about a carrot now did you? Stop that, really!

Too Matchy-matchy

So, Steph was going through my wardrobe and quizing me on what I wore with what. I tend to be quite conservative, for instance a cream and brown top would be worn with brown leggings and brown boots.

New Style Tip - this is too "matchy-matchy" (love that phrase!) and is quite aging. For someone trying to develop a bit more of an updated and edgy style, I'm to try and stop making everything match.

Apparently it's OK to wear navy with black, and for your shoes not to match your bag, and for your tights to be a different colour.

So, I'm jumping in a the deep end, mixing and not matching as best I can - don't want to end up looking like Jedward - all matchy-matchy - so this pic is my reminder.

It's funky not criminal if it doesn't match.

Half the woman I was

I've kept of pair of trousers in the back of my wardrobe. They used to fit me (which is shocking). Thought I'd try them on while we were sorting out my wardrobe.

I am about half the woman I was, enough said.

I could get in there with you

On Firday, I showed Steph (the Wardrobe Angel) a lovely silk coat I'd had made in China in 2002. She insisted I put it on, I think secretly hoping she could salvage something from it, since it is beautiful. This was made to measure and fit me perfectly when I bought it.

I put it on and she just stared, then said "I could get in there with you!"

So I invited her in, and sure enough, we both fit in the coat. I'm not standing behind Steph - those are my arms in the coat sleeves. It really puts into perspective how much I've lost - a whole person!

I've kept the coat - hopefully there is enough fabric in it to make something else - I'm thinking a nice pencil skirt and perhaps a waistcoat (not to wear together).

Looking gorgeous - apparently

So, the first email I opened today was from our young, trendy designer at work, and it read simply:

Your outfit is gorgeous :-)

Well, that bought a tear to my eye and I had to go and give her a hug of gratitude!

Today's outfit is the dress I bought in Dorothy Perkins (Outfit) at the weekend, and a navy Viyella jacket liberated from my mother-in-law's closet. So that it's not too "matchy matchy", I'm wearing black opaque tights and my new "smurf" boots. I think it's all helped by being the right size too (instead of a bit big).

Lots of people commented on this today, so it's obviously working for me - definitely one to do again.

Griddled Chicken

There have been complaints dear reader, complaints! And conflicting ones at that!

Apparently not enough food pictures according to mum, and missing outfit pictures according to sis. It's so hard to guess what you all want, so I'll add as much as poss, and you just skip the bits you're not interested in. OK? Right! Food then first...

This is (was) tonight's tea, griddled veg and chicken. I know you've seen it before, but it's one of my favourites especially for a quick, easy tea. It only involves one pan, chopping up some veg, slicing a chicken breast in half (to make it thinner and quicker to cook), chopping some herbs and measuring some oil.

I usually cook one pan of veg first and then keep this warm in the oven (in the dish I'm using to serve) and then cook the rest of the veg and chicken. I don't use any oil at this stage, and put the extractor fan on!

When it's all ready, sprinkle the herbs on top (today I used sage, oregano, mint, basil and thyme) pour on some lovely extra virgin olive oil (1 Tbsp or whatever of your allowance is left) and for me, some crunchy flakes of cornish sea salt (well, I'm not spending any money on wine, so I have these little treats instead!).

Of course you can just eat yours - you don't have to photograph it first!

Pizza Express

Went to the Lowry (I know, again, but it's Manchester Comedy Festival and there's a lot on!). As it was a work night, I met hubby down there and we went to Pizza Express for dinner.

I'd rung early to check that they would do a "special" order for me and it wasn't a problem.

So I had Pollo Pancetta Salad which is Chicken and crispy pancetta salad with sweet peppadew peppers, sweet baby onions, vine tomatoes, cucumber, grilled peppers, basil and mint. Finished with extra virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar and shaved ricotta salata, served with warm dough sticks.So without the pancetta, shaved ricotta and dough sticks, there was only the onion that wasn't on my list (and I let that slip by, naughty girl!).I had the dressing on the side, so added about 1 Tbsp which was plenty.

It was really tasty (and to be honest, it's probably what I would have chosen previously anyway - my regular choice in PE was always salad Pollo Perdue, but that's not on the menu anymore).

So, dinner was lovely, Hubby ate my dough sticks, and Toby Hadoke (that we went to see) was great. Another great night out, and (apart from 2 tiny onions) all on plan.

Retail Therapy

So, here I am in the changing room at Outfit. Tried on this dress (you've seen me in an identical green one before, which I love). It fit me nicely, so it came home with me.

And it's a size 14!

Don't think I've been a size 14 since I was about 18. This made me very happy. So I bought some shoes to celebrate - lovely high grey suede platforms from Dune. Very lush. Well, I figured I deserved a treat, and I wasn't going to blow all my hard work on a donut now was I?

out and about - again

Out at the Lowry (again) last night to see Lee Hurst. Similar outfit to Thursday, but with my cream sweater dress and no jacket (it's so much warmer).

Had dinner at home before we left though (chicken and stir fry veg) and there are 3 mini quiches in my handbag for the interval, which should stave off the toast cravings when I get home.

Wardrobe Inspection

Steph, the lovely Wardrobe Angel, came to inspect my wardrobe today.

We went through the rail of things that are too big, and salvaged a couple of things that can still be worn (belted or tied differently).

Then we went through the wardrobe of things that fit me, and took out all the things that are too big or didn't do anything for me. We put together some outfits with what was left.

Steph's brill - she'd see potential in things that I'd overlook, and mix things that I wouldn't - but they work. So now I have some outfits with a bit more of a funky edge (to match my hair and glasses).  I've also got a small shopping list of things to make my outfits work harder, and a good idea of where I'm going with my wardrobe in the future.

I'm quite looking forward to clothes shopping now - never thought I'd say that - it's always been a bit of a trauma before.

Roll on retail therapy!

Out and about

At the Lowry tonight for a show (Frisly and Mannish since you ask) and dinner. Limited menu, but lovely food. I had roast beef, with a bit of cabbage and it was plenty.

Anyway, this is today's work to play outfit - sweater dress, leggings and a jacket. Felt smart and comfy, and got lots of compliments.

Resisted the urge to have toast when we got home (my old habit) and just had tea instead.

Great night, late night, night night.

Calves liver

I must be needing an iron fix, because I've had a craving for liver for a couple of days. So tonight I picked up some calves liver, which I briefly pan fried and rested in the oven. Then I fried some mushrooms in the same pan until they started to give off their liquor and added some fresh sage. Liver went back in, along with some sherry vinegar. Once the juice started to thicken, I took it off the heat and stired in some fat free yoghurt.

Don't think it was quite cool enough though as the yoghurt split (often happens with fat free yoghurt, just not enough stability to hold it together without fat). Served the lot over french beans and spinach with a little dollop of yoghurt on top.

It was just what I fancied, and was lovely.

weight

17/10/11 - 13 st 1 lb after losing another 2 lb this week. Just 2 lbs off the next phase - when I'll be having my first piece of bread in over 6 months! Imagine - a slice of bread - mmmmmm....

New photo

And here's a current picture - taken on Tuesday in the mad photo booth.

Let's have a game of spot the difference...

Old photo

My mum was looking through some old photos the other day and found this picture of me. This is April 2005.

Hands up if you recognise me... no... me neither!

Even my hands look really fat - mum found another photo of the same time, which shows my hands with dimples in my knuckes - don't have them anymore.

My scallops

And these are my scallops (you can't see where I trimmed the bits off for the cat).

They're on a bed of cauliflower puree, with spinach and a few chilli flakes for colour.

Oh yeah, and they were lovely.

Loving Phase 2

I'm not the only one who loves Phase 2 - this is my cat Arthur who loves the fact that 5 scallops are just 20g over my allowance. Guess who gets the extra bits?

Mind Games

One of the things we discussed last night (inevitably) was the way that dieting is so much more of a mental thing than a physical thing.

We've all experienced standing in the kitchen thinking about dieting and losing weight and being healthier WHILST eating chocolate, and still we put more in our mouths.

At the end of the day, we are all responsible individually for what we eat, and we all have different reasons for picking up food in the first place. Those of us who have become overweight have done that because of one reason - we've eaten too much.

But we shouldn't confuse this with gluttony. "Too much" is a very subjective term, due to metabolic rates, exercise levels and lifestyles, we all use up fuel at different rates. Eating too much is just about eating more than we burn off. For some of us, like me, this is just a habitual enjoyment of life, eating a few too many calories at every meal. Not particularly unhealthy eating, few pies and chips, but maybe an extra knob of butter on the veg, a dessert most nights, a glass of wine (or several) every day. For others, it's boom and bust, overeating on occasions, often triggered by an event or an emotion.

We then try and control our subsequent actions - eating disorders show the extremes of this, but there are many ways in which we take such control - increasing exercise, dieting strictly for the days afterwards, cutting out booze on weekdays, all in an effort to redress the balance.

But what happens when you can't control the balance any longer. When you've put on 1/2 stone a year for 20 years, or lost a stone and put on one and a half? That's when we get to a stage when we really do say "enough is enough" and mean it. That's the point when something inside your brain flips, and you start on a diet with a determination that comes from the ether, and is like nothing you've felt before. It's that mental state which signals you're really ready to diet, and which will keep you going through the difficult bits.

I've been in that state twice. The first time I lost 4 stone on a very low fat, chemically assisted diet (using Orlistat which decreases fat absorption). It took me a year and whilst it wasn't particularly difficult, it wasn't particularly easy either.

And there's now. The switch in my head was flicked when I got dressed for work and my trousers were too tight. There was no way I putting on any more of the 4 stones I'd lost, and I decided to do this plan.

I'm not finding it hard. This is partly because I'm "in the zone" as they say these days, and partly because of the support - not just at clinic, but mostly from the forum where I spill my beans (metaphorically, because I don't have any beans at the moment) about everything, and I discover I am not alone and I am not abnormal.

In a society that is about being normal, and which is increasingly ostracising obesity, it's easy to feel marginalised and penalised when you're overweight. But I was glad to learn that I wasn't the only person who picked cafes based on whether the chairs had arms or not, or selected a route to the toilet that involved the fewest squeezes between chairs. And I was also glad to learn that I could change it.

So now I'm celebrating not being morbidly obese anymore, I'm celebrating the fact that I'm back in control, and learning to eat less and being happy with it. I'm celebrating feeling and looking better, being healthier and smaller. I still have a bit of way to go - and the daunting task of maintaining my new weight, but I'm pleased with where I've got to and happy that I'm working on my mind as well as my body.

I feel so much better now that's out of my head.
Thank you for listening.

Caught on Camera

We had a photo booth at the evening event, which resulted in a lot of larking about - this is me caught on camera planting a peck on one of my colleagues!

Check out those cheekbones though! That was the first thing I noticed when I saw this pic.

Oh yeah, and another thing, someone told me that they thought I'd had a gastric band fitted since I'd lost so much weight so seemingly easily - they were really impressed when I told them I hadn't - it was just about diet. Felt great!

Catching up

Well, it's been a busy old week, so I've not done much blogging - time for a quick recap I think!

I've been away for a few days with work, at our National Sales meeting. This was in a lovely hotel in Warwickshire, big lake out front (that I so wanted to swim in), huge rooms and beautiful food.

On Monday, I resisted lunch of game pie or fish and chips, served buffet style, and just had salad and some buns I'd made. Then I resisted afternoon tea - fruit scones with jam and cream, and a squidgy chocolate and cherry cake that looked devine! More tea and buns to the rescue.

Managed to get in a swim (in the pool, not the lake) for about 30 mins before dinner - so exercise, tick!

At dinner, I went for salmon for starters and sea bream for main - but only ate about half of it - I got quite full which made it easy to resist dessert.

Then there was singing, and guess the intro (a bit of a tradition with our team) with Phil on his iPod and lots of 80's tunes. Then it got late, but we were still rocking (all 6 of us that were left at midnight) so it was up to Phil's room for some more iPod mix - there was dancing and it wasn't pretty!

Now Phil was staying in the turret - up 3 flights of stairs, and then his sitting room was up another 2 flights of stairs. At one time, I'd have gone to bed rather than do 5 flights of stairs at midnight - but I was up for a bop, so took on the stairs and didn't even get out of puff! In the picture, just look for the highest window and you might just see me throwing shapes.

On Tuesday (still without internet or Blackberry - torture) it was the sales meeting, so more sitting, resisting food and eating buns. Time for a quick swim before getting ready for dinner. Tomato and basil soup, followed by duck and veg - and again I ate about half and was satisfied, so no overeating. OK, duck isn't on the list, but I didn't want to make a fuss, and being a late addition to the list, didn't have time to organise anything else. Then there was kareoke - the one disadvantage to working for a Japanese company, we have our own kareoke machine! That wasn't pretty either!

BUT, the great thing was that lots of people came up to me during the day and evening and told me how fab I was looking. They are such a supportive bunch, and I got lots of congratulations and praise for doing so well (oh, and lots of hugs too!). Must admit, I felt pretty good too - wearing a lovely Laura Ashley dress that I'd liberated from my mother in law's wardrobe.

Another late night, with dancing, and another gallon of water and tea. A great, reaffirming time though - another pic to follow.

Albert's crew

And this is the crew. From left, Yvette, Angela, Louise, Alex, Claire and Louanne. Unfortunately Christina and Charlotte left before I remembered to get the camera out for a group pic.

It was a good night - I'm pretty sure we were the noisiest group in the restaurant - not bad considering we were all drinking water!

Some great stories, ideas, recipes, tricks, tips and encouragement. They really are a lovely and inspiring group of people on this plan, and great fun to be with.

Alberts - phase 2 main

And for those of us on phase 2, sea bass fillets - one poached and one pan fried and crispy, with ratatouille - and all weighed out so we had the right amounts.

The staff here are so helpful and understanding. If you are doing this plan, please don't think you have to stay in for months! If you live near Manchester, give Albert's a go - if you're further away, ring your favourite restaurant and see if they will accomodate you. Most of the time, the feedback I get is that the chefs like a challenge and to do something different. Aways helps if you're appreciative obviously, but everyone I've asked has been able to do something for me.

Alberts - phase 1 main

This was the main course for those on Phase 1 (thanks to Yvette for letting me photograph her dinner!).

Field mushroom, shitake mushroom and roasted veg / salad.

It looked lovely and apparently tasted yum.

Dinner Out - Albert's Shed - again once more

Went to Albert's Shed (again, I know, but they're so helpful and accomodating!) for dinner with 8 other Alizonners.

They did us a herb salad for starters, with a squeeze of lemon instead of dressing. It was delicious.

I think I can only add one picture at a time, so I'll post the next course in a mo.

weight

12/10/11 - 13 stone 3 and another 2 lb loss this week. So 13 lb to go to target - getting closer every week.
I've got about 4 lbs to go to Phase 3, and my first slice of bread for 6 months! Looking forward to that.

Choc muffins

These are probably the best loking buns I've ever made - they didn't sink when I took them out of the oven. I think I cooked them for longer than normal because I forgot to set the timer (happy accident).

These were made from pizza, oatmeal and bitter chocolate sachets, with sweetener, cinnamon and mixed spice, so they smell all Christmassy!

Should keep me going for a couple of days -  I have 9 chocolate buns and 6 banana buns, and 3 buns makes a meal / snack.So that's 5 meals prepared.

Banana Buns

I'm away on business for the next couple of days, so I've baked some buns to take with me.

These are banana and cinnamon (pancake mix and banana dessert, with sweetener and cinnamon). They won't win any beauty prizes, but they taste nice!

Quiche

Had an experiment today and made these little mini crustless quiches. I added herbs and chilli flakes, but think next time I'll add cooked peppers, onions and tomatoes.

They were a mix of cheese omelette sachet and sheep's cheese sachet, so lovely and eggy and cheesy. I'll definitely make them again.

Poetry Please

Went to see John Hegley (the poet with the glasses) and had a bit of a surreal experience - it's the only comedy gig I've been to which ended up with performance and audience all dancing to The Smiths!

Nothing to do with weight loss, just though I'd share, and show you that you can still have a fun time, even if you're being strict!

Albert's for dinner

Went to Albert's Shed for dinner with hubby, as we were going to a gig in Manchester and it wasn't worth going home first.

It's great being on Phase 2, as the menu looks more realistic! I still had a chef's special though, and tonight it was pan fried sea bass with scallops, green beans and ratatouille.

I couldn't manage it all, although the manager did say to me afterwards that there was 180g of fish, but Chef didn't want to cut it up as 2 fillets looked nicer! But between my belly not being as big and knowing how much (roughly) 140g is, I decided to leave about half a fillet. Pretty proud of myself - at one time I would have cleared my plate, full or not, even if it meant I ended up stuffed!

Thanks again to all the staff at Albert's - they really can't do enough - and it was Saturday and mentally busy!

Dedicated follower of fashion

Having been chastised (in the nicest possible way) by Wardrobe Angel for wearing a coat miles too big, I decided to get a bit more with it. So here I am on Saturday wearing a mac that fits (thanks to sister number 2) worn with a trendy belt.

And yes, those are fashion patterned tights and shoe-boots - get me!

This was after a day in Stoke with the in-laws, which also involved a successful wardrobe raid - a couple of new outfits and some coats that fit! For now anyway... Thanks Mum-in-Law, who let me have all of it, since she's now about a size 8.

Starting to find a new me

I met a lovely lady today - she's a stylist who runs a business called Wardrobe Angel. She specialises in getting women to make the most of their wardrobe, and getting their clothes to work harder for them - the philosophy of buy less, wear more.

Now, I have a pile of clothes in my room which are now all too big for me. This pile resembles the Great Wall of China and contains items which are new (with tags on ) or hardly worn. I am (was) clearly a woman with too many clothes.

And now I have to start again, from scratch, to build a wardrobe of outfits for work, rest and play. No mean feat when you've dropped over half a dozen dress sizes and are a different shape. I don't want to repeat mistakes of the past in buying too much, but I also don't want to just buy the same kind of things in a smaller size. Having spent years covering up with baggy tops and ill fitting trousers (in regulation black) or long and floaty knitwear, I think it's time for a change.

So, I've enlisted the help of a stylist / shopper / advisor and today was our first meeting. We talked a lot about clothes, style, lifestyle, body shape, colours, confidence levels, accessories etc, over a cuppa in a nice quiet cafe. And then we went for a potter round some shops, just to test the water.

I'm not ready to buy my new wardrobe yet - I've got about a stone to go to target - but I'm building up to my big treat with some careful planning. I don't want to panic buy everything, but want to have a more considered approach. Anyway, we were in Marks (always a good place to start I think) and I saw a cardigan that for some reason took my eye. Steph told me to try it, so I picked up a 16 and duly put it on over my sweater dress. Steph frowned at me. "It's miles too big", she said, try a smaller one. So I put on a 14, at which point she marched me over to the mirror and said "Look! That's too big for you, you need a smaller one". Off she went to get a 12, which I put on. It fit me. OK, it didn't particularly suit my shape or do anything for me, but it fit.

I got all emotional and had a little tear - not the big sobby kind I had in the tea aisle last weekend, but a little, lump in the throat kind of tear. Steph gave me a hug (in my size 12 cardi) and we marvelled at how this happened.

My head has definitely not caught up to my new body yet - when I'm selecting things from a rack, go for the big sizes at the back of the rail - not the small ones at the front. And I kept reverting to "baggies" to hide my bumps, and long jumpers to hide my bum - which apparently doesn't need hding any more!

So there is a whole new me out there somewhere - and my fashion world got bigger - and smaller - all in one day.

Can't wait for our next meeting - investigating what's in my wardrobe - mind you, there's not many clothes, and my shoe collection is vastly reduced since my feet are at least one size if not two smaller, and all my belts are way too big. But I've got drawers full of scarves, pashminas, jewellery, handbags, gloves... so I'm sure we'll have some to go at!

If you'd like to check out Steph, I've put a link to her website (Wardrobe Angel) in the links section.

Thanks again Steph - roll on our next catch up.

Scallops - Mmmmm

Thought I'd have a change tonight - scallops! Haven't had them for ages, and they were a favourite of mine at one time. I used to have them everytime I went to a particular restaurant in Didsbury - for a starter for lunch.

And now, here I am having them for mains and getting full!

I did them on a bed of french beans, with a sauce made from chopped tomato flesh, green spring onion bits, chilli flakes, olive oil and a little sweetener - warmed through in the pan the scalllops came out of.

Hubby's home - he had his with a pile of white rice and green beans. Thought mine looked better!

Egg on Toast

Originally, I was going out for dinner tonight, but my colleague dropped out, so I was home for tea, but I hadn't got anything in for tea (I put all the chicken in the freezer!) However, I did have a couple of eggs, and some large portobello mushrooms.

So, the mushrooms got a start in the frying pan before being put in the oven to finish off while I fried 2 eggs and a bit of spring onion green. I would have made some tomato relish, but that big mushroom was a stonker, and the two together used all my 200g allowance!

Very filling and very lovely.

120 grams

120g isn't a lot - just 4 ounces, but it's plenty as a portion of chicken or other meat (which is quite filling).

I bought a pack of 3 chicken breasts and chopped them up. About 2/3 of a breast is 120g - so I ended up with 3 whole portions, 1 portion made of 3 ends, and a chicken filled fatty puss. My cat Arthur loves this diet, he always gets the bits I have to cut off to make the weights!

I bagged up 3 of portions and labelled them, ready to go in my freezer drawer. I have my own drawer now - it's mostly full of stewed rhubarb and portions of meat and fish ready weighed out.

How organised am I?

Tonight's dinner

This is what I had for dinner tonight - griddled chicken, mushroom and corguette, with a little yoghurt and cucumber dressing and a cheffy drizzle of olive oil.

You can probably tell by the picture that the portion isn't very big - but this completely fills me up these days - mind you, I did have my snack at 5pm, and this was only 3 hours later. Eating 5 times a day certainly helps control portion sizes - I'm just not hungry when I cook, so I cook less.

Not a lot of it, but very tasty and enjoyable.

weight

04/10/11 - 13 stone 6 and a 2 lb loss this week. So 16 lb to go to target - yeah!
Although the weight loss seems to have slowed down a bit, this isn't surprising given that I'm now in phase 2 and don't have so much to lose. And as they say on the forum - onwards and downwards...

New bins

Oh, and I'm also wearing new glasses!

These are my first varifocals (is that a sign that I'm getting old?) and I've decided to grow old disgracefully by having funky glasses. They are brown, red, orange and purple, but you can't tell very well in this picture.

Any you'll have to forgive the hair - it's been a long day!

Off to clinic shortly - will post later after my weigh in.

Feeling Good

Lots of people have told me I look nice today, so that's a cue for me to take a pic and put it on here so you can see!

Brown linen trousers and jacket (both from sisters - I'm still living in borrowed clothes and a state of gratitude) and a scarf I've had for years, but means the two different colours of brown don't look so odd.

I've had to put heeled boots on too - the sister that donated the trousers is a bit taller than me (and actually the one who gave me the jacket is a lot taller - I'm the dwarf of the family!).

So there you go, that's my outfit today - which someone described (in a nice way) as a bit like an air stewardess.

Sunday Rituals

This is one of my new Sunday rituals - sorting out my clothes for the week ahead.

I don't have time to try on lots of outfits in the morning before work, and I since I'm shrinking, sometimes I don't know what fits me from one week to the next.

So now, on a Sunday, I get 4 outfits ready for work (Mon - Thurs, I don't work Fridays!). I tend to pick things the same kind of colours so that I can just use one handbag for the week, and paint my nails an appropriate colour. This week is a brown week.

I might not wear them in this order, depending on the weather, and there may be an element of mix and match, but this is the most likely combination. You can't see in this picture, but there's footwear for each outfit too (well for most, sometimes I double up and wear the same shoes all week, depending on how many shoes / boots in that colour I have, and other accessories like belts and scarves.

It's so nice to be enjoying clothes again! Haven't had this much fun with my wardrobe since I was a teenager!

Bounty buns

Just made these buns, chocolate, coconut and pizza mix. Taste just like a squidgy bounty. I added some chocolate paste on top (from the pancake mix). Tum.

The recipe was from a fellow alizonner I met yesterday. (thanks!)

Mum's dinner

So this was mum's dinner, carrots and sauteed potatoes! She told me not to show anyone her dinner, but I never did do what I was told.

Think I would have been unable to eat it all and the weird thing is, I'm not really missing potatoes!

Thanks for a lovely dinner mum - it's so nice when someone else makes your dinner.

Mums for dinner

This is the dinner my lovely mum cooked for me tonight. I don't think she'd ever cooked aubergine before (she doesn't like it) and yes, those are naughty cherry tomatoes (homegrown, they were lovely, I didn't have the heart to not eat them).

And that big lump of meat on top? That's a carefully measured fillet steak!

Doesn't it look good? There was also purple sprouting brocolli and spinach - I couldn't eat it all, I get so full on so little these days! Just as well I didn't have the same as mum...