A week of wooo hooos after last week's sticky scales

So, I hit the stone off mark (and a bit more) yesterday morning which put me in a very good mood (woo hoo!).

Not only that but I had a mini try on of some clothes and comfortably fit into the white denim shorts and the clingy Sheffield Wednesday shirt (double woo hoo!). Sadly I probably won't wear either on the last match of the season on Sunday as the weather will be rubbish and we're going round town after the game so can't wear football colours.

After that little joy it was a tasty breakfast of crumpets and peanut butter before heading off to dad's. I have deliberately not bought crumpets for the last 4 weeks as they had become part of my eating too much problem. 2 for breakfast had stretched into 3 and I found it very easy to just pop a couple into the toaster for a between meals snack. However I feel confident that I'm not going to be doing that now so bought a pack. I was conscious of becoming a bit bored of yoghurt based breakfasts so now have another option. To be monitored carefully, however.

Lovely to spend the day with my gorgeous pa, most entertaining niece and her scrummy chocolate lab, Diesel. It rained all day so we went for a chatty pub lunch. The choices were not particularly diet friendly (no salads!) and I didn't feel like a boring jacket potato while those 2 tucked into cajun chicken burger with all the trimmings and rump steak so I picked the hot smoked salmon with poached eggs on a muffin with hollandaise. Okay, the hollandaise wasn't ideal but it was delicious. I won the lunch ordering game!

I don't usually do the food photo thing but for for some reason did with this plate;

We spent hours catching up. Liz and her boyfriend Craig are going to be accompanying dad to Australia in October so we chatted about places to go and things to do. She will have a blast and I'm so happy they're going with dad as he has been dithering and wavering about the trip. Having Liz and Craig with him will make sure he goes and that he is safe and happy getting there and back.

Liz and I took Diesel out for an hour's tramp in the rain. Quite refreshing and lovely to get to know my niece as a proper grown up woman. I've always felt close to Liz but they change in their 20s and she has turned out well.

Then back home to Rich and the dogs and 3 gins in the White Hart and a very late supper of TK's chicken and sweetcorn soup.

Today has been golf. A match against our local rivals the Hallamshire Golf Club on the edge of Sheffield. It's a great course, very tough and always fields strong teams. It's only a 3 woman team in the weekend league and I was chuffed with a 1.5 - 1.5 draw. They were all close matches and I was very pleased to win my match on the last green.  It was stunning today, clear skies and brilliant views over moor and valley.

The trouble is with matches - sandwiches and chips afterwards!  I had some sarnies and a couple of chips and now feel that now unfamiliar bread bloat (not too bad but noticeable). I was hungry though after a long chilly and hilly round walking in the fresh air so I hope I can cope with a few  naughty carbs without being derailed.

Now I'm in the middle of preparing a (relatively) healthy roast lamb. Roasted root veg instead of proper roasties etc. Mmmmmm, it's beginning to smell yummy.

Hope you've had good weekends folks!!

Tom Kerridge (question for Peridot)

I've been puzzled by Peridot's referring to TK's book being full of offal as I can't see any. I wonder do you mean one if his old books? I have this one:

Which is very definitely pre-diet and includes lots of meat and a bit of offal (although not much).

However, the book I have been referring to is his diet book:

Which I think is pretty good (and offal free!).

Teetering on the edge....

I'm still teetering on the edge of that first stone off, just 1/2lb away. I'm chilled about it; it will happen, hopefully this week.

Yesterday was busy - I only worked a half day as several appointments - vets, nails and golf. The golf was the ladies foursomes knockout which you play in pairs. My partner is a lovely Thai woman called Kanchana who can't hit the ball very far (she's tiny) but is steady and great fun. We were playing 2 strong players so we were really proud of ourselves that we stood firm, didn't panic when it got tough and ultimately won handily. Round 2 awaits us!!

I pushed my luck a bit diet wise yesterday though. I had a slice of toast with chocolate spread just before we went out, purely to ensure my energy didn't dip as we were playing at an odd time (3.30pm). Then I had a third of a bag of prawn crackers with supper (thai green curry) and finally a small glass of white wine. None of them excessive treats and my day came in around 1800 calories but definitely more, erm, relaxed, than I have been.

Today has been WET! It has rained nonstop all day. Luckily I'm a gym member so off I trotted at lunchtime for a solid workout of weights, abs, planks and cardio (15 minutes on the treadmill - go me!).  I'm now hoping that Rich will take on the wet dog walking duties while I have a hot bath and make supper.

Supper is going to be turkey meatballs with sweet potato and tomatoes. Quite excited about this. We have to eat quite early as we're off to see some friend in an Am Dram performance of Wind in the Willows. Should be entertaining (I hope!).

I'm off to my dad's for the day tomorrow to hook up with my eldest niece and her boyfriend who are visiting him for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it as there's lots to chat about! Will have to stay strong though as dad's house is littered with chocolate and biscuits!!  Have a great weekend everyone!!

The Blue Mountains

They really are blue!  We went on a day trip from Sydney. Having been I would probably have preferred a day and a night as it was stunning!

We took the incline train down to the bottom and went for a walk through the forest.

Then back up top for more walks and more views.

The viewpoint overlooking the Three Sisters was a bit of a scrum but truly stunning.

Kangaroo paw.

Rounding off the day with a poke around the pretty town of Leura.

And a very expensive beer in a lovely, shady cafe.

Hairy Dieters join the party

I knew we were going to have chicken for supper but hadn't decided what. I flicked through my 2 go-to books and nothing jumped out at me which suited what I had in and the time and energy available.

So I resurrected an old friend, the Hairy Dieters' Cook Book. And an old friend from that book, chicken and ham tangle pie. Basically chicken, ham, leeks and mushrooms in a white wine and half fat creme fraiche sauce with scrunched up filo pastry as a pie lid. Yummy.

Nice to have another recipe book full of options. The Hairy Dieters are a little keener on spuds and rice than TK and La Riley but otherwise they are on the same lines and I can always adapt.

Today has been decent. The scales have me very close to my first stone off so that started me off with a smile on my face. Golf was fun too although my back 9 let me  down badly after a brilliant start. Always good exercise too.

I always used to think I needed to snack during my round for energy but I have given up without too much trauma. The trouble is I seem to be going downhill score wise on the back 9s so perhaps my body and concentration does need some sustenance part way round? Will try something healthy on my next round and see if that helps.

Back home to work and thank the gods that I was not on the course through the torrential downpours which dotted the afternoon. Some early evening weeding while the earth is soft and then cooking. It has been a nice, measured day.

We are probably heading out to the pub quiz at our local this evening. It will almost certainly be a dry evening but I might allow myself one or two gins if I really fancy it. I said the same last Wednesday and didn't indulge so it is not a foregone conclusion by any means.

Woooo hoooo!!

The scales were playing with me (and keeping me honest probably). I managed a 1.8lb drop this morning taking me into the 16 stone bracket, just. I'm now 16.13.4 which is a total drop of 12 and a half lbs. Hopefully I can achieve another 1.5 - 2lb drop next week to see that first stone gone....

I have reflected on the sticky scales frustration and whether I should step back from them altogether but think I will continue to weigh myself daily. The very fact that I didn't see drops last week kept me honest and striving. Last night in particular I was hungry (or possibly "hungry" as in wanting something/anything) and alone at home. If I hadn't wanted so much to see a drop today might I have snacked?

(Which means I do have to be on the alert should I see good results on the scale to not take them for granted and ease up.)

At the moment I seem to be in a nice rhythm of strictness during the week with a moderate easing up at weekends.

I'm still recording every morsel and food/drink thought into my Honesty Diary which is very helpful. I find myself flicking back through the pages and it has got me back on track a few times when I might have wavered. You know, when that little chimp voice is bargaining away to have something extra or not exercise.

My next milestone is, obviously, that first stone but after that I have set fitting into a pair of white denim shorts presently languishing in a drawer which will be nice for summer. I will post a pic of course.

Preliminary wedding dress shopping will wait for a couple of stone I think - later on in the summer. Ooooh, I'm looking forward to that!!



 

Frustration

Sticky, sticky scales are plaguing me this week. First at 17.1.2, then down to 17.0.0 and sadly back up to 17.0.8 for the last couple of days.

So, after a week of being careful, eating well, exercising, not snacking, cutting right back on booze (although not cutting it out altogether), I'm looking at a tiny drop for the week.

Hey ho. I believe this approach will not only yield results but also retrain me into healthy eating patterns for the future as well so I will keep the faith with it.

Last weekend was fun. A run set me off on Saturday morning before heading into town for the football. Once again I went to the supermarket to cut down on pub time so no beer and no pub food (our pub does not have any decent diet choices!). I was rewarded with with a win! 3-nil no less. Totally too little, too late but it left us smiling. And the Sheffield Double as well! (That's when Wednesday wins and Sheffield United loses on the same weekend.)

After the football it was home for a quick supper (TK's lasagne out of the freezer) before heading up to the pub to see a band. The Buddies, old rock and roll and rockabilly music - great entertainment and good dancing.

I didn't stint on the booze although I converted pints of beer or glasses of wine into gin and slimline tonics, 6 of them!! It was a great night out and I don't feel bad about those calories.

Yesterday was pretty relaxed. All we had on the agenda was a golf match. Mixed foursomes knockout. We lost, largely due to me suddenly going from playing reasonably well to being unable to hit the ball straight!! Poor Rich. He struggled manfully but couldn't do it on his own....

Meatballs with TK's ragu and courgetti. I small slice of garic bread (100 calories) and one glass of red finished off the weekend. I will cut those indulgences out if I really can't drop weight this way but I hope I don't have to.

Today has been pretty good. I had the day off for our first golf scratch match of the season. I was very virtuous foodwise - no sandwiches beforehand, no snacking on the course, no roasties with my supper and no dessert (a gorgeous chocolate roulade/cake thingy which everyone drooled over - sigh).

I won my match 5 and 4 and played lovely golf (felt a bit guilty telling Rich...). The team also won and our opponents were very nice ladies so it was a most satisfactory Monday.

Rich is out at darts again but I'm being abstemious. Fingers crossed for my weigh in tomorrow!!

Pretty pictures of a brilliant night!

New Year's Eve fireworks on Sydney Harbour were amazing. Being on a boat was very expensive (almost certainly the most I've ever spent on one night) but worth every cent. No picking a spot not knowing if it was going to be a good one. No sitting in the sun for hours guarding your spot. No paying through the nose for food and drink.

The boat was perfect. Lovely food and drink, great music, happy people (I'm talking od'ing on happy juice), perfect views of the fireworks with no jostling or stressing. And a proposal to finish the evening....

A cruise round the harbour as the sun went down.

Excitement ramping up for the family fireworks at 9pm.

In between the fireworks all the ships were lit up and processed around the harbour in the Parade of Lights.

We got to see the sights from a different angle.

Then we filled our glasses with fizz ready for the new year.

And we're off!!

And then, eventually, it was all over. I took loads of pics but was not snapping all the time. Mostly we just soaked it all in.