*Linzerellos Blog

A belated Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful time. I have made a complete pig of myself, but I'm not going to stress overly about it. It's made me desperate to get back on track, I am very much looking forward to being back in control!

I had a lovely time at my parents, it was wonderful to spend time with the family, especially my nieces who were so over excited by Santa Claus coming. On the 23rd we took my parents to see White Christmas and had a lovely meal at a small restaurant called Paprika - gorgeous food and highly recommended if you are ever in the Sunderland area.

Christmas Eve was spent with my nieces and then a few drinks at my parents local. Very relaxed.

Christmas day at my parents was the usual manic affair. My little sister and her hubby stayed over as well and my other sister and her family came round at 8am and we all opened our many presents (my mother goes completely OTT at Xmas, she is brilliant, bless her). There were 13 of us for lunch, so you can imagine the amount of food that was on offer. We'd literally just cleared the table from lunch when my mother began the buffet preparations (more of the family come round for Christmas tea) - I was so stuffed however, I managed to ignore food for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, we headed over to the coast to see our friends Alex and Rory who were also up North for Christmas (I went to school with Alex, but we now live about 500 yards from each other in Reading). They had hired an apartment in Tynemouth with Dorothy the cat, so we went there for food and drinks and to watch Rory do the Boxing Day swim in Whitley Bay - utter madness! We then headed to my sisters for yet more food and drink and a few rounds of Just Dance on the Wii. I can honestly say, I am sick of food and drink for now!

Today we drove back down South - a fairly hideous affair. 7.5 hours of stop, start, stop start, due to sheer amount of traffic on the roads. I am blaming Sales shoppers, as the weather was fine and there were no roadworks or accidents, just bloody millions of cars. Matt was suffering some sort of stomach bug (or if you ask him, he was dying), so I had to drive pretty much all of the way - I was not overly sympathetic to his plight as you can imagine.

So tonight, the plan is to relax. I've unpacked my bags from Christmas and am now thinking about repacking for my holiday!

Tomorrow we are off to Tenerife for the New Year and not back until the 8th January. The weather is looking good, so I cannot wait to escape the freezing cold temperatures of the UK and literally do nothing for 10 days. I've downloaded a few books on my new Kindle (I love it!) so, I shall be spending the next few days reading and lying around doing as little as possible before attempting a bit of tennis, swimming and walking to ease me back into some form of fitness.

Once I am back, I am determined to shift some more of this lard. I've made a pact with a few of my best  friends that we are going to get fit and attempt to walk up Mount Snowdon.... madness perhaps, but it gives me something to work towards. I'm going to join a gym in January and I am refocussing on WW 100%.

I doubt I'll be online much between now and when I get back from Spain, so I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. Expect me to be a lot more prolific in my blogging as I attempt to get this lard arse back into some sort of shape :)

xx

Well, the office at least. I'm still working, but I'm now not back in the office until the 11th January. Happy Days.

Yesterday we decided to try and beat the next round of bad weather and headed up North to my parents. We had a relatively stress free journey, 4.5 hours to do just under 300 miles. The weather down South was not ideal and the roads were pretty icy, but we made it home around 8pm last night.

I immediately feel less stressed being away from work. It's lovely to be at home with my parents, however now we are surrounded by loads of food - my mother is catering for 13 of us on Christmas day so the house is just full of tasty treats which I am trying to ignore. Obviously, I am not going to stress overly, but at the same time, I don't want to completely lose the plot and pile on all of the lard I have managed to lose so far.

We've a couple of things on over the next week  or so and then drive back down South on the 27th, before flying to Tenerife for New Year on the 28th. Fingers crossed the weather doesn't cause too much havoc, the snow is coming down somewhat today up here!

My hospital appointment eventually came through for the 24th December, so that's been rescheduled for the 10th January. It's a relief to finally have that in the diary, will be glad to get it over and done with.

I'm going to try and blog a bit over the next few days to keep me focussed, but if I don't check in much, have a fantastic Christmas everyone and a wonderful New Year!

Thank you everyone for your kind words after my last post, it really means a lot that you take the time to comment and give me a little kick when I need it. You guys rock!

It's all been very hectic chez Linzerello still. I was out on Thursday with a couple of girls I used to work with, I took the car so I couldn't drink and I skipped starter and dessert. Small steps, but better than I have been of late.

Friday night was our office Christmas party, I was determined to take it easy and not get overly drunk. Obviously the best laid plans and all that... I ended up getting home after 4am, ever so slightly worse for wear. Still, it was a great night although I suffered majorly yesterday. I am not good on 4 hours of sleep and a lot of tequila, it would appear. Strange that. We had a 3 course meal, but I seem to have skipped a lot of the food. Thankfully, everyone was in the same inebriated state, so it wasn't just me (fairly sure our Chairman was buying bottles of tequila).

We had Xmas lunch with Matt's friends yesterday, but since I had heartburn from hell, I couldn't drink and I didn't eat so much either. Hangovers are good for diets it would appear.

We were meant to be heading up to the Midlands today to see West Brom v Wolves, but it's been called off due to the snow and since we can't actually get the car out of the carpark, I think we'll be staying put. Means we don't get to see Matt's family before Christmas, which is a shame, but I am sure we'll head up there in the New Year instead.

Agenda for today is to do very little. My iPhone has completely died, which is completely frustrating as I've not backed it up for months, so I've pretty much lost everything. I've tried to restore it about 20 times now and it just won't do it. Gah! I hate technology.

Hope you've all had good weekends. I am off now to try and make it up to my body with some fruit and veg. I think it's a long shot.

So, I am learning that to deal with stress at work, I seem to think I should reward myself with food or alcohol. I use excuses that I am too tired to cook anything from scratch, so I'll just pick up a pizza in the supermarket on my way home - and then I'll have that with a glass of wine, because I've had a bad day. This is seriously not healthy behaviour. I am exhausted as I wake up in the middle of the night remembering all the things I haven't done at work and need to do and then I can't get back to sleep. It's a horrible, vicious circle.

I am also hormonal, which is making me ridiculous - I cried at The Apprentice last night. Seriously.

I'm tracking again, I'm over points. I am feeling fairly rubbish about myself. I don't want to admit that I am failing, but I am. I am boring myself with my inability to do this, so I apologise to anyone reading this for my complete lack of focus of late.

No more messing around,. I am going to have to take it one meal at a time and plan better.

Sorry guys, normal service will resume at some point. I need to shift this bloody lard!

I am getting so bad at this blogging business. I need to blog to keep me accountable, especially since I just realised, I won't make my regular WI now until the 11th January - there is one heck of a lot of damage I can do in that time! I am clearly going to have to find some way of keeping me slightly on the straight and narrow.

Anyway, things are going ok - I think. I eventually recovered from the hideous man flu around Saturday lunch time (although I still  have all the residual crap which makes me still sound fairly unwell). We spent a lovely weekend in London. Flashdance the musical would have been brilliant, had it not suffered numerous technical issues, which saw us staring at a curtain for the best part of an hour. Shame really. We had an amazing curry beforehand, which I think actually did my cold the world of good. Nothing like a bit of spice to clear one's head.
Saturday we did the tourist  thing and wandered around London. It was freezing but sunny, so we walked a fair few miles to clear the cobwebs and get a bit of exercise in. Dinner at Joel Robuchon was completely amazing (although being full of snot doesn't help your taste buds). I think treating ourselves to this for Christmas was the best idea. A fairly startled looking me before we went out :)

First of all, thank you all for your lovely comments yesterday. It really does help to have such lovely people out there. I continue to feel like absolute poo, but I am soldiering on and trying to pretend I do not feel like a steamroller has hit me and that I am not a snot filled mess.

As predicted, WI last night was not good. 3 pounds on. Which puts me back at 1 stone heavier than my lowest ever. Not exactly happy with that, but it has given me a little bit of a kick. I have at least pointed what I have eaten today, which is progress.

I am popping round to see a  friend tonight on my way home from work for dinner, so I am hopeful it will be a fairly healthy affair. I did offer to stay away on account of my lurgy and her having a small child, but she was adamant I should still go over. Tomorrow, I am supposed to be out after work for a couple, but if I still feel like this, I will probably head straight home for a bath and an early night.

We are spending this weekend in London (sounds bizarre given I have lived in London since I was 22, but I've never really done the tourist thing). Friday we are off to see a show (FlashDance, much to Matt's disgust) and Saturday we are going to do a bit of sight seeing and then off to Joel Robuchon for dinner. How very pleasant.

So, fingers crossed I can stay on track the next few days, I am not going to stress about it overly while I feel like crap and work is mental and still no news from the hospital, I can only concentrate on so much.

I am still here, I am just completely overworked at the moment, so have been struggling to find time to do anything blog related. I am going to make a conscious effort to get back at this and the diet over the next couple of weeks. I've missed keeping up with everyone.

I will be making WI tonight, come hell or high water. I've not been for 2 weeks and I am fairly sure it's not going to be good. I've not been pointing, but I am trying to make good decisions. I am still getting my weekly Abel and Cole Veg box which has been a life saver as it's helped me be a bit more healthy than I would have perhaps been. Howver, I've been treating myself a bit too often.

I've also been struck down with the dreaded man flu the past couple of days, I feel fairly awful today, but I can't afford to take time off work, so I am shovelling Vitamin C down my neck like it's going out of fashion. Mind over matter, I will force myself into believing I feel fine.

I've also got the added stress of waiting for a hospital appointment, which seems to be taking forever to come through. Fingers crossed I get seen this side of Xmas. I need to go for Colposcopy (unpleasant) as I've had a recurrence of pre-cancerous cells that I thought had been sorted 8 years ago. Not a happy place, but at least I know they have been caught early, so all should be good.
Anyway, I digress. I had a lovely weekend, which seems like a lifetime ago now! Friday night, I went out with my bestest girlie friends for Dinner which involved a few glasses of wine and too much food. Saturday was spent shopping and then lazing around (and working) and then Sunday I met my friend for coffee and watched films with Matt (and worked). All very pleasant (apart from the work bit).

Last night I slept really badly as I couldn't breathe (I find it fairly essential, so an inability to do it makes life a little difficult). I thought I'd make a bit of an effort with my appearance this morning to try and cheer myself into feeling well. Not sure if a skirt really works on me, but I've gone curly, popped a bit of lip gloss on and I feel almost human (I'd describe it as putting lipstick on a pig, as that's how I feel today, but that seems overly harsh on myself!)

I am finding this whole healthy eating business really hard at the moment. I was initially overjoyed with the new pro points system and was rewarded with a good loss. Since then, I have lost the plot completely. Not because I want to eat all sorts of crap, but because my life is so damned busy, I am struggling to plan anything.

Work is ridiculous still, I can't see it getting any better this side of Christmas, couple that with my incessant night's out and you have a major diet disaster. I _need_to_stay_in_more.

Last week went something like this:

Monday - pub, 2 glasses of wine, food (belly pork with mustard mash - great idea), home, more wine
Tuesday - out with work, much sparkling stuff, curry, very late night.
Wednesday - pub, 1 glass of wine, much diet coke, food, bed at 2030
Thursday - pub lunch (hot beef sandwich), 2 spritzers, evening, out with girls I worked with at DHL for Mezze, 1 glass of wine
Friday - out with a couple of friends, wine, food, late night.
Saturday  - lunch with friends, starting at 1pm and finishing at 10pm. Copious amounts of prosecco and red wine. Possibly a kebab on the way home, but that is a bit hazy.
Sunday - ATP Tennis final at the O2 preceded by lunch at Gaucho (300g Rib Eye Steak - amazing)

And here we go again....

I've not been weighed for 2 weeks. I have not pointed for 2 weeks either. On the plus side, I am so busy at work, I am not spending my days reaching for food to pass the time. The downside is, I am eating what I can grab. I am still aware of making healthier choices, but I've not pointed a morsel for days (maybe weeks).

I am also drinking far too much. Admittedly, alcohol has always been something I am fairly partial to, but I seem to be spending a fair amount of my spare time in the pub.

So, the plan of action is... well, I am not sure I have one. I have managed to cancel social arrangements tomorrow and Thursday, so I will be able to be better. Work is not going to get any better before January, so I just need to cope with it as best I can.

Wish me luck people, I am going to need all the help I can get to turn this around!

Long time, no speak. It's been a crazy week and I am so glad to see Friday night. Work has been utterly ridiculous and my social life has been completely hectic, I've barely had time to sleep.

The diet has been, well, not really a diet this week. I missed weigh in on Tuesday as I ended up working late and then going out from work, so I am not exactly sure how week 2 of Pro Points has gone. I anticipate a monumental fail. I've eaten out every night this week in one way or another, so it's been almost impossible to keep track!

This weekend is looking suitably mental as well. Out tonight with a couple of girls I used to work with, Lunch out tomorrow with friends and then the ATP tennis final on Sunday at the O2. Phew.

Work next week, in fact for the next 4 weeks, is likely to be as mental as it has been, so I am just going to have to take it one step at a time and hope for the best!

Hope you've all had suitably saintly weeks.

Happy weekend everyone (and Thanksgiving for any US people!).

x

It was a lovely day and very nice to meet Karon and Tina, I felt like I already knew them having read their blogs for a while. We are planning to meet up again in the New Year which will be lovely.

When I got home from London I was shattered and still fairly full from lunch, so I roasted a Gem Squash in the Oven and had that whilst watching the X Factor. I was in bed by 9pm - very rock and roll!

Yesterday, I had to work for a couple of hours in the morning, but other than that, had a fairly lazy day.

I cooked a lovely Mushroom, Leek and Onion Risotto for lunch (8) and literally lay around doing very little.


Mid afternoon, I decided to try my hand a baking a cake. Below is my attempt - sounds odd but it was delicious - Chocolate and Beetroot Cake!

I keep getting beetroot in my Able & Cole box, so I was a bit fed up of just boiling or roasting them. This was surprisingly good, the beetroot just adds an extra moistness to it and gives it a lovely slightly reddish tinge.

I pretty much made up the recipe (adapted from here) as I went along to try and keep the points down but thankfully it turned out ok.


Chocolate and Beetroot Cake (10 slices at 4 PP each)

• 50g Cocoa Powder 
• 120g Spelt Flour
• 50g Brown Sugar
• 2 medium Eggs
• 50 ml Oil (I probably used less than this)
• 40g Lurpak Light
• Large Beetroot grated (I boiled mine for about 10 mins first to help get the skin off)
• Granulated sweetner if required

I think work may just about finish me off this week. I'm on call as well as being the only regular member of my team for the next two weeks. The past two nights, I've been up with numerous phone calls during the night, so today I feel like I've been hit by a bus. I think a lot of coffee will be consumed. I wouldn't mind so much if what I did was saving lives, but it's bloody software for crying out loud. Does that really warrant me being up all night? I'm so tired today, I managed to trap my hand in the car window (don't ask) and walked into the door frame when I got to work, almost concussing myself!

So after the jubilation of WI, yesterday was a pretty messed up day food wise. I came in on points, but my choices were fairly bad. I cleverly forgot to bring breakfast with me, so I thought I'd make do with one of the new WW Dark Chocolate and Orange bars. Oh my God. Disgusting. I knew I wasn't onto a winner when the inside was a luminous orange colour. So sweet and fake tasting, that went straight in the bin. In the end I made do with an apple and a satsuma, which meant I was ravenous by lunchtime. Lunch was a Tuna Melt Panini for 12 points. Mid afternoon I snacked on a couple of mini caramel shortbreads that were teasing me from the kitchen (6).

After work (an 11 hour day), I popped to the pub with a couple of colleagues for a couple of vodkas before heading over to a friends house for a Jamie at Home party, I ended up grabbing a quick Roast beef and horseradish sarnie before heading to hers where I  cleverly consumed a handful of Peanuts. All in all, not a stellar day. Still, I scraped in on points so I can't worry too much.

Today should be better, I've had breakfast, am armed with fruit and managed to bring lunch with me. If I can just make it through the day without falling asleep at my desk, I'll be onto a winner.

Really looking forward to the weekend. Matt is away golfing so I've the place to myself. Friday night, I am out with a friend for dinner and drinks. Saturday, I am heading into London to meet up with the lovely ladies that are Karon, Tina and Sarah. We've no firm plans yet, but are heading to Covent Garden for a mooch about and some lunch and perhaps a few beverages :) Sunday will be a day of doing absolutely nothing. Happy days.

Right, I had better get back to it otherwise I'll end up stuck here til midnight at this rate.

That pro points is a winner. 4.5 pounds off for me this week. Happy days.

I've eaten really well and managed a few nights out. What's not to like? Onwards and downwards. Happy dance!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just a quick post as work is somewhat mental at the moment (usually we are a team of 4, for the next 2 weeks I'm a team of 1 - Happy Days!).

Pro Points is still going well, I am sometimes struggling to eat all of my daily allowance - so much so I had a mince pie yesterday afternoon to attempt to get anywhere near my 41. Not that I am complaining too much of course.

Slight amendment to my last post - my breakfast was 3 points (thanks Peridot). For some reason the tracker gives you the point for 1oz of egg as the first option - not overly handy.

Anyway, I digress, I've been after a spaghetti squash for ages after seeing them on many US blogs. They aren't something that you can find overly easy over here, so I was fairly excited (am I sad??) to see Abel and Cole advertising them and added one to last weeks order. They seem like an especially good idea now that pasta is the work of the devil.

Last night I made up a massive pan of Bolognese Sauce with all sorts of veggies (courgettes, mushrooms, onions, celeriac, beetroot, leeks, tomatoes) and some lean mince. This made me 4 fairly decent portions of sauce for 6 points a pop. I had mine with the spaghetti squash which I had cut in half and roasted in the oven skin side up for around 40 mins. I was sceptical at first that it would resemble any kind of pasta - but check this out:


It was lovely - I will definitely be buying a few more. Obviously it doesn't taste much like pasta, but it was very tasty and a great side dish for the sauce.


I am really hopeful for a loss this week given I have stuck religiously to my points. I've gone back to basics what with weighing everything and reassessing the best options on the new plan, so I know I will be disappointed if the scales don't budge. I will persevere though. I shall be back later with the verdict!

For lunch I cooked a tasty Vegetable curry - Onions, Courgettes, Red Peppers, Leeks, Mushrooms, more Kale and tinned Tomatoes with some Curry Powder - so simple. I had mine with a tiny sliver of Matt's pitta bread (he had chicken in with his curry, but I didn't want to use any points).

I don't really know why I am complaining, but... yesterday I couldn't eat all of my pro points. I seem to be getting a lot more food - or perhaps I've just refocussed and am now making better choices. Either way, I shall reserve judgement until next Tuesday.

Food yesterday went as follows:

Breakfast

• 50g Aldi Raisin and Cranberry Porridge with water (5)
• 1 Satsuma (0)
• 1 Apple (0)
• Skinny Latte (3)

Well, I was hopeful that this new WW plan would help motivate me and get me back on the straight and narrow - but actually, the 6.5 pound gain last night seems to have done the trick. In a perverse way, I am glad I had a big gain, because quite frankly, the way I have been going, if I'd not have gained, I'd have carried on trying to get away with it.

Monday night at Peter Kay was absolutely amazing, he was supported by Rick Astley, which was just bloody brilliant. Big girlie screams from me. Peter was hilarious, I can honestly say I have never laughed so much in my life. I was almost choking!

Anyway, I digress. So, last night I was expecting a gain, but not quite the 6.5 pounds I was met with. It's really made me think about what I have been doing of late and has helped me to reassess what I am trying to achieve. This year I have achieved precisely zero on the weight loss front. I've been playing around with the same stone since December last year. Utterly ridiculous.

I stayed for the meeting to try and get a better understanding of the new plan. It seems to make sense, and all of the clerks at the meeting who have been trialling it have had excellent results.

So basically, I get a shed load more points than I used to, but these don't in anyway correlate to the old points system. Gone are calories and saturated fat, in their place we have Protein, Carbs, Fat and Fibre. Most things work out to be more points (wine is particularly impacted) but some things have come out of it ok (think cheese and bacon... lovely!). It's slightly annoying that all of my old cook books, eating out guide etc. are no longer valid, but WW have provided some conversions for the books, so I guess it's not all bad. Fruit is now zero points, but we were advised not to go mad on the fruit front as it still obviously contains calories.

At the meeting, we were given an example of 2 breakfasts of 300 calories each. One was 2 slices of bacon, a poached egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and a slice of toast. The other was a muffin with butter and jam. The cooked breakfast comes out at 8 pro points whereas the muffin is 9. I know what I'd rather have. Apparently the theory now is that protein takes longer to digest and you can burn up to 25% more energy trying to digest it. So - protein rich foods come out better in the new Pro Points plan.

I now get a massive allowance of 41 pro points a day (that's gone up a point thanks to my mammoth gain) plus the extra 49 per week that I can dip into. You cannot carry over any daily points, so if you don't use them, you lose them, and you can earn a maximum of 6 activity points per day. In theory, you can therefore have an extra 91 points a week on top of your daily allowance. Seems a lot of food.

Here is an example of a daily allowance of 29 points (the minimum you can ever have).


I can't see how I can go hungry on this, but similarly, I get another 12 points on top of that and it just seems like a lot. Anyway, I am willing to give it my all this week and see how I get on. I have a fair few night's out to negotiate, but I suppose I will just have to guestimate as best I can.

I actually feel excited at the prospect of getting my arse back into gear. Once the eating is back under control, I might even tackle my exercise demons.

Good morning people and what a miserable day it is. Thankfully I am working from home today, so I've not had to venture out into the wilderness, but tonight we are off to the O2 to see the legend that is Peter Kay, so I think I'll have to brace myself for the onslaught of the elements. Very much looking forward to seeing him, I've heard a rumour that his warm up act is Rick Astley! How cool??? (just me then?!)

I've had a lovely weekend with my nieces, but goodness me, children are exhausting. Hat's off to anyone who manages to look after them full time. A weekend with them and I need a week off to recuperate! I think my sister and her hubby enjoyed the break as they went into London on Saturday to see a show and have dinner. Nice for them to have a child free day.
Legoland was good, but it was so ridiculously busy on Saturday due to the Fireworks. All of the rides had at least an hour's wait, which was somewhat disappointing, but the girls seemed to enjoy it all the same. We walked their little legs off - mine were aching by the end of the day, so I can understand why they both fell fast asleep in the car on the way home. I managed to get them both straight to bed from the car without waking them up, so me and Matt could have a Curry and some Wine in peace. I slept very well on Saturday night, I can tell you.

After my admission of my struggle yesterday, things didn't really improve. I opted for a low point soup for lunch, which left me feeling completely dissatisfied. Purely mental as I wasn't at all hungry or in anyway in need of any further sustenance. I managed to convince myself that the only way to rid myself of this dissatisfaction was to eat a packet of Ready Salted McCoys and some Galaxy chocolate. Clever Linz, very clever. So the evening continued in pretty much the same vein. I ate too much for dinner (albeit fairly healthy) and I drank some wine and then some Glayva. I then cried at Matt and told him I was completely losing the plot (bloody hormones). 

Somebody stop me. I have no idea what is wrong with me at the moment, but I am just not in control. I am craving crap, I am trying to stop myself from eating aforementioned crap, but most of the time I am failing. I am in danger of resembling Miss Piggy by Xmas if I am not careful.

My diet this week has been pretty much a bread fest. We didn't get our usual Veggie box delivery at the weekend since we were up in Edinburgh, so I have embraced that as an excuse to live off rubbish. Sandwiches mainly, with a token bit of salad thrown in and the odd apple here and there. It's just not good enough.

Last night we saw Jimmy Carr live in Reading (so no WI). He was hilarious and extremely controversial as usual. I really enjoy live Comedy and we are lucky here that we get a lot of the big name comedians every year. Beforehand we went for dinner in Giraffe. The menu has some perfectly healthy options, but I went for a bloody burger. I didn't eat most of it and I didn't really enjoy it overly - so why did I do it? Because I am a pig. That is why.

Today I convinced myself I would be better. I made myself breakfast before leaving the house, packed my lunch, a few healthy snacks and that should have been it. So can someone please tell me, why at 11am, my lunch and all my snacks for the day have gone?

Today I have consumed already:

• Mushroom Omelette
• 2 mini baby bel lights
• Cherry Infused Raisins
• An apple
• Roast beef, onion and salad sandwich.

Sorry people, normal service will resume tomorrow, when I will hopefully be a paragon of virtue.

Hello dear people, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was fab, we had a great weekend in Edinburgh, it's about the 5th time I have been, but I had forgotten quite how much I love the place. We stayed with friends and their hospitality was amazing. I can't say I've been overly mindful of the diet situation, but we walked so much my legs are blooming killing me today, so I am hopeful there has been some sort of counteraction. 
After a fairly hearty breakfast we went for a long walk along the sea. I am hopeful that burnt off a few of the calories consumed.I am wearing about 40 layers here, so I look a bit Michelin Man-esque, but it was bloody freezing despite the sun.

 Lunch was left over Lasagne. A smaller portion than anticipated due to a fridge raider last night. Matthew!


Mid afternoon, I felt the need for a pick me up, so I indulged in a large skinny latte with sugar free Gingerbread syrup.


Dinner will be a steak, mushroom and onion sandwich with French mustard. Yet more of that bloody bread. I've made it already, but I am trying to hold off eating it for a few hours. For some reason, I thought it was much later than it is and ended up cooking this at 4:30pm??! My brain really is fried.


I've not pointed anything today, but I can't see how I can be over my allotted 26. I shall perhaps work that out in a moment.

Somehow I've managed to lose 2 pounds. I don't really think it's deserved, but maybe last weeks gain was more of a hangover than I thought!

Regardless, that will do me nicely. We are having yet another tasting menu tonight so I'll be back at it tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Apologies for having been AWOL for a few days, life has been a tad hectic of late and I am feeling bloody shattered today. The only good thing about this morning is that it's half term here, so I got to work much quicker than usual (although not completely convinced that is a winner!).

The diet is kind of ok. I've been out every day for some form of social activity since last Monday, so it's not been so easy to keep track of everything, but I'm trying to make the best choices possible (most of the time).

I had a lovely weekend, after a pub lunch on Friday at work, we stayed in on Friday night and I cooked a lovely lamb chilli with loads of fresh veggies from my Abel and Cole box. Saturday morning my friend Debbie and her hubby Tim came down from Liverpool for her birthday, so obviously much alcohol was consumed. We were out from 2pm - 10pm so I can't be exactly sure how many points I had that day, but you can be sure it was too many (we ended up at our local Chinese Restaurant, having already had a pub lunch)

Yesterday, we headed over to Richmond to meet the latest addition to our group. My friend Nina gave birth to a little boy last week, so me and Debbie and Tim popped to meet him for the first time. We had a lovely walk in Richmond afterwards followed by lunch by the river. Crap photo of me, but look at that view. Lovely!


I've promised myself that I am going to make a big effort on the exercise front this week. Since I started trying to lose weight, I always struggle at this time of year. I want comfort food, I want to stay in bed of a morning instead of getting up and exercising and I want to hibernate mainly. I really need to be careful or I am in danger of going backwards. This week looks less hectic on the social side, so that should help, but I am once again dreading the scales tomorrow.

Big kick up the backside is required.

I can't thank you all enough for your lovely comments on my post yesterday. They brought tears to my eyes (I am over emotional at the best of times). So, massive thanks everyone for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me.

So I am back from my baby sister's wedding. I had a lovely time, my sister did an amazing job with the planning and preparation and it was truly a lovely day, she should be a wedding planner or something. Everything was done by her, she made the name cards, the menu's, the order of service etc... Very talented.

I'm doing ok, food is under control and lots of vegetables are being consumed, so far so good. Exercise is still minimal, but I am working on that, albeit slowly. We fly up to Newcastle tonight for the Wedding of the year. I am looking forward to going home for a few days, but my sister is liable to combust if she carries on the way she is going. I am sure it will be an amazing day (she is a brilliant organiser) but I am pretty much staying out of the finer details, best just to do what I am told and turn up when required.

I made WI by the skin of my teeth. By some miracle, I stayed the same. Perhaps I've not been as bad as I thought.

Fairly rubbish photo, but you get the idea.

Well if you want an example of a really bad Saturday, look no further people. It started with a McDonald's breakfast, and then a 3 course lunch followed by 2 slices of Pizza for dinner, all washed down with Prosecco and Cocktails. Am I a paragon of virtue or what?

My date with Jillian this morning was hard work. She almost killed me, so much so that I had to sit and watch the last couple of minutes for fear of knocking my teeth out on the wooden floor when I collapsed. Does that still count as exercise? It's a start I suppose, but I really need to get my arse back into gear or risk remaining a heifer for the foreseeable future.