*Linzerellos Blog

Despite gaining that hour yesterday, Monday morning has come around far too quickly for my liking.

I had a lovely weekend in Birmingham with old school friends. It was not Slimming World friendly at all. We spent Friday night in our apartment dancing to 80's and 90's music, drinking wine and eating an assortment of nibbles (think Onion Bhaji's, Falafel and Peanuts). Saturday saw some exercise - 30 minutes walking up a very large hill, plus 20 lengths of the Spa pool, a massage, lots of shopping, an Italian Lunch and  a Japanese dinner. I wasn't a massive pig, but I most certainly wasn't a saint.

And then last night - I got a phone call around midnight to say my friend had gone into labour and my services as a birthing partner were required. 2 weeks early - OMG. Let's just say, I've not had an awful lot of sleep and I'm feeling fairly spaced out. An amazing, if somewhat terrifying experience as it all happened a lot quicker than anyone anticpated. I think I'm maybe a bit in shock today. I've had a bacon sandwich and a lot of tea, so not the best start to my SW day, but I am not going to stress too much.

I've had to cancel PT tonight as I am really not sure I can manage after 1 hours sleep (I am in the office at the moment) but I can hopefully rearrange it for tomorrow. Thankfully, I've only a 3 day week as we are off to Marrakesh for a long weekend. I need to come up with some sort of strategy for that so as not to undo all my efforts so far.

And on that note, I might head home. I think I need a lie down.

Excuse the radio silence, this week has flown over in a blur of work stress and migraines. I'm so glad it's Friday.

PT on Monday did not kill me and did not induce any form of vomiting - minor success. It did, however, leave me incapable of movement for the best part of the week. 20 minutes of cardio, followed by 40 minutes of lunges, squats, sit ups and a variety of other pain inducing movements is hard work for a fatso. My arms were so sore, I could hardly wash my hair on Tuesday morning.

The rest of the week my eating has been pretty bang on. I cooked some fairly tasty meals (Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese and Asparagus and Ham Toad in the Hole), did more exercise and was rewarded last night with a half pound gain. I'm actually not going to stress over that to be honest, it's that time of the month, so I've felt bloated and fat and I'm pretty sure any water retention shall be banished next week.

So, the weekend see's another trip to Birmingham, this time with some girl friends. We've a spa day planned tomorrow and the rest of the weekend will be catching up and possibly some drinking. I'll try and stick to SW as much as possible. I'm also going to go for a swim at the spa to get some exercise in.

Have a good weekend y'all.

A fairly good weekend for me really, other than the massive amounts of Prosecco consumed on Saturday night (I blame Aldi for selling it relatively cheaply) my food has been pretty on the mark.

Saturday turned out to be a very lazy day, but it was just what the doctor ordered. I started the day like this - 2 Joe's Sausages which are Syn Free with a very colourful Bubble and Squeak (Potato, Red Cabbage, Red Onion, Kale and Leek) and a dry fried egg. Delicious.


And ended it with this - Chicken (and lots of Veg - broccoli, red onion, spinach) Massaman Curry (made with paste - 1 syn per tbsp) with Rice and 1/2 a Paratha (around 6 syns - but so worth it). And this was actually cooked by Matt - the 4th time he has ever cooked I think - he did me proud.


Since Saturday was beyond lazy, I couldn't quite justify another day of rest on Sunday unfortunately, so ended up running around like a blue arsed fly.

The flat looked like squatters had invaded it, so a massive clean was in order, plus I had to then drag my sorry ass to the gym as well as cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

I made up a massive vat of Super Speed Soup - which looked like this when in the pan... Minging.


but actually turned out ok. It's very 'beany' not surprisingly - and mine was very thick (although I like that), but it's fairly tasty - although I had to add a lot of salt. I got 10 portions out of that pan full - so lunch is pretty much sorted for the foreseeable.


After breaking into a massive sweat cleaning the flat from top to bottom (which in my mind is exercise, but I am not sure my Personal Trainer will agree) we headed to the gym. I still don't like it, but I've put together a new playlist on my phone, so listening to that seemed to help the 30 minutes on the Cross Trainer go by a lot quicker - I was beetroot by the end of it. I did a few weights - mainly arm related, but had to stop the squats as my backside is still sore from last week. Honestly, I fear I am falling apart at the moment.

For dinner I put a joint of pork in the slow cooker with Leeks, Courgettes, Carrots and Onions and little bit of stock. This was cooked on low all day until the meat fell off the bone and then the sauce was thickened with a couple of spoonfuls of Bisto. Served with dry roasted potatoes and onions and braised red cabbage. Yum.


Please excuse the photo overload - I don't normally have healthy eating weekends, so I am just showing off.

Personal Training again tonight - let's hope I don't projectile vomit again...

Apparently I lost 8.5 pounds last night - which I don't for one minute believe. So we'll presume I didn't actually gain  those 4 pounds last week, for my sanity's sake. Still, 4.5 down is not to be sniffed at so I will take that and be happy.

I've had a fairly stellar week, gym again on Wednesday and I managed not to be sick - although whilst doing squats something seemed to give way in my arse cheek which has left me walking like a 90 year old. I'm going back tomorrow for a Health MOT, plus another work out and possibly a swim. If I go often enough, I might start to like it, right?

We've a fairly quiet weekend planned for once. I'm off to Twickenham tonight to meet up with a few friends, but I am driving so I can't really do too much damage, tomorrow will be mainly gym action and cooking up a load of soup for next week. Apparently SW Speed Soup is the future, it sounds fairly rank to me, but I will give it a go. Sunday will be a day of rest.

So all in all, not a lot to report. All going in the right direction however, lets hope it continues.

Have a good weekend y'all.

Personal Training really bloody hurts - so much so that I was actually sick half way through. Shameful.

10 mins warm up on the running machine, 20 mins of interval training on the cross trainer - then puke, 15 reps on 3 different arm machines, squats, lunges and stretching.

I can safely say I feel like a bus has hit me today. Can't wait to go back....

I'm aware I've been quiet, for the most part, that was not down to me struggling really. My eating was going ok mostly last week, I had a sneaky peek at the scales on Thursday morning and they showed me 2 pounds down - all was good with the world.

And then I went to WI. I've not really talked about my Slimming World Class overly - mainly because it's not overly exciting.... but here's the thing, I haven't at all warmed to my leader. I am sure she is nice enough, but at the risk of sounding pretty rude (and I am sure I am about to) - well she is still a larger lady, for some reason I expect leaders to be a shining example of what the diet can do and when you turn up and the leader is bigger than you are - well it kind of deflates you a little. I know, I am wrong to think like this - she has lost weight with SW, but I think I just wanted to turn up and see a success story in front of my eyes - and I did not.

The other trauma from last week is I went to class feeling smug that I'd maybe lost a pound - and their scales showed a gain of 4 pounds. 4 BLOODY POUNDS. Seriously, how can this happen? I didn't stuff my face on Thursday, I did my usual routine or wearing the lightest clothes known to man, not eating or drinking anything after 1pm and I was still 4 pounds up. Utterly deflating.

That totally knocked my confidence. I went out on Thursday night with Matt and some friends for dinner and I refused to eat. I felt sick and bloated - and I'm fairly sure that was all in my head. I just didn't want to eat anything as I couldn't trust myself to make good choices. I felt like a right misery guts. I drank Soda water and sat with a face like a slapped arse for the rest of the night. Good times.

On Friday, I went to the doctors. I had cancelled last week's appointment as I couldn't get out of work. I apparently have some viral thing called  Labyrinthitis - which means I will remain dizzy for the  foreseeable - another thing which lead to Miss Huffy Pants remaining in full force going into the weekend. On a plus note, I'm now a cheap date as drinking is not overly required since I feel drunk most of the time anyway.

Thankfully the weekend was lovely. Matt and I celebrated 4 years together on Friday, we were up in Birmingham so went to a lovely restaurant for dinner and I stuck to SW choices as much as I could. Saturday I was also pretty good. Beans on toast for breakfast, Jacket Potato with Chilli for Lunch and Steak and Salad for dinner - all this whilst watching 2 games of footy in the pub as Matt and his brother got more and more sozzled.

Yesterday we went to see Matt's beloved West Brom against Wolves - thankfully the Baggies won, so despite his mammoth hangover, he was in a good mood. I managed to resist the burgers and Pukka Pies and grabbed a Jacket Potato with beans when we got back to New Street Station.

Last night I cooked another SW friendly curry and a batch of pasta for lunch today. Everything is being tracked - I seriously don't want another fall out with the scales this week.

Oh and tonight I start personal training.... I am scared. Matt went last week and nearly fainted. I dread to think what will happen to me. Gulp. Wish me luck.

• Diced Lamb - all visible fat removed (as much as you fancy)
• 1 Onion
• Mushrooms - as many as you like
• Other Veg - I used Squash and Red Chard as I had these in my Veg box
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Teaspoon of garlic, ginger, garam masala, chilli 

• Pasta - I used Penne 
• 2 leeks 
• 4 large mushrooms or about 8 smaller ones
• 4 slices of bacon, fat removed and chopped
• 1 tub of Low Low Cheese Spread
• 2 chicken Oxo Cubes

I am actually really struggling to type this, I didn't realise how much I relied on my left index finger for every day activities. Woe is me.

In the grand scheme of things, life for me is generally not stressful. I consider myself fairly lucky in this respect, I work hard, I earn a decent wage but my job is not particularly stressful and life is generally good. I have come to discover, I don't deal overly well with stress. I am a comfort eater most definitely, I want to hit the wine or eat bad food. Not overly helpful when I am trying to lose weight.

I had an unofficial weigh in this morning, which showed me a pound down. Better than expected since last night, I decided to eat my way through a lot of bad food (think 'Global Buffet' at our local Indian Restaurant) and drink half a bottle of wine.

I felt stressed yesterday, work was really frustrating me. I spent a lot of wasted time trying to get something in our application working, only to be told the configuration needed to change, to a version that doesn't work and no one can now tell me how to fix it, but they expect me to do that all the same - even though my version was working. I was also told I was going to be on my own in my team (usually 4 of us) for the whole of December again (this happened last year and it nearly finished me off). Couple that with the fact work is really stalling with any news on pay rises or promotions (we should have found out mid Sept) and my tenant has not paid his rent on time for the 2nd month in a row - well I just felt like it was all too much. I'm also not feeling quite right - dizzy spells and a sick feeling - which has me presuming the worst (I am a major hypochondriac).

Seriously, how ridiculous is that? There is not really anything stressful in any of that - well except for the lack of rent money which means I am seriously struggling to cover my bills until my useless agents actually bother to chase the tenant and get my bloody money in. So, in my mind, that meant I could go out last night and stuff myself silly.

Gah. I am frustrated at myself.

Today I have tried to take control a bit more. I'm taking my meals one at a time, I've applied for a couple of new jobs (in all honesty, I don't really want to move companies, but I feel like I need to do something) and I've emailed my tenant to ask him if everything is ok. If he doesn't reply to me or pay up, then I need to cross that bridge when we come to it, I am blocking that out for now. I've also made an appointment with the doctor as this dizziness has been ongoing for a few weeks now - and well it's probably nothing.

Food today has not been stellar. I've not snacked on crap, which is a start and I've upped my water and fruit intake. Tonight I am babysitting, so dinner is in the hands of my friend, but I will not make a pig of myself.

Tomorrow night we are at a friend's house for dinner and then on Saturday they are taking us for lunch to say thanks for my attendance at their birthing classes and my future role in the birth of their child (eeeek). Other than that, my weekend is hopefully going to be very relaxed and on plan. I might even get myself to the gym.

I seem to have been a bit AWOL of late again. Life has been pretty hectic which has left me little time for blogging.

I joined SW last week, but then realised I can't actually make my first weigh in as I am babysitting this Thursday, about 35 miles away from home. I guess I can try and find a different class, or I just plough on in the hope that a 2 week loss will be amazeballs.

We spent the weekend Oooop Norf with my family so Matt could go to the Sunderland v West Brom game with my dad and brother in law. I went wedding dress shopping which was not as stressful as anticipated. I now have come up with a cunning plan. Since I can't find exactly what I want in a flattering style, I am having a dress made. Seriously, no idea why I didn't come up with this plan from the start.

The top will be something like this - the bottom will be nothing like this. I can't be coping with a mass of satin.


So fingers crossed this works. I am meeting the dress maker/ designer next month to discuss exactly what I want and hope that I don't need to re-mortgage to fund it.

The diet is going ok. The weekend was a tad suspect due to the massive amounts of food my mother always has in and a trip to the beach for Fish and Chips. I've been back at it since Sunday though so I am hoping not too much damage has been done.

We've also taken the plunge and signed up for Personal Training at the gym. I actually do need a mortgage for this - but I really need a kick up the bum with my fitness and this seems like the best option for now. I'm signing up for 5 sessions at first and then hopefully I can carry on under my own steam.... Well that's the plan anyway. First session is the 17th October (due to Birthing Class commitments, I can't do anything til then).

So, that's me in a nutshell. I am going to make an attempt to plan my meals better over the next week or so and to try some new SW recipes. Be prepared for lots of food posts if things go to plan.