Katie Untranslated

I have started the Fast 800 diet again and day one (03/08/2019) and two went great!  I have weighed myself, got basic body fat percentage info from my scales, and also taken my waist measurement.  Out of curiosity I am also tracking my resting heart rate of a morning using the Health App with my Apple watch. Day one I didn't fast, I just stuck to the 800 calories, and I also managed a gym session. I felt great, managed an hour in the gym doing a mixture of cardio and resistance.  When I was walking out of the gym I had that amazing rush of endorphins, I definitely need to remember that in the coming weeks to keep my motivation going. Day two was spent in a field watching my OH play baseball (which I actually love watching). My first meal was at 10am and my last meal was at 9pm. Tomorrow (Monday 05/08/2019) I will break my fast at around 9am and I plan to have my last meal at 6pm. I will be increasing my fasting window over the next week so that I am up to the opt...

Weight loss results are in! I lost 3.5 lbs this week! I am beyond happy with that result, I only started the Fast800 plan on Sunday, and the weight loss would have been only from that (Sunday - Wednesday). I am definitely going to carry on with the plan, I had a wobble yesterday as I was at a loss what to do for dinner and ended up eating an oven pizza, and today I have had a combination of biscuits and Prosecco.  Whoops...only human though, AMR?! Dinner tonight will be on plan and healthy - Mediterranean Chicken Orzo by Pinch of Nom. I will get back on the Fast800 bandwagon tomorrow, including getting my butt into the gym, which I haven't done in ages.  I actually cannot wait, I started watching Danielle Mansutti's YouTube channel and I got stuck into her "Get Healthy with Me" videos and they really inspired me to get back at it. If you're feeling in a rut I definitely recommend giving them a watch.  I'll post an update rounding off tomorrow with...

I restarted slimming world on 01/05/2019 and as it stands on 12/06/2019 i am heavier than my starting weight.  I enjoyed myself waaaaaay too much at a one day festival that carried through all week and I majorly ruined my weight loss efforts. Feeling a bit down in the dumps about it and still struggling to stay on plan I decided to carry on with slimming world, as in still weigh in at group, but try a different diet for two weeks to give me a weight loss and confidence boost. I started on 09/06/2019 loosely following the Fast800 diet created my Dr Michael Moseley. The main concept that I have gleamed from the website is that the max calories that you eat are 800, and you also have to fast for up to 16 hours a day.  That means the "eating window" is 8 hours a day. To track my calories I have been using MyFitnessPal. Day one - 09/06/2019 - calorie total: 824 Surprisingly did not feel hungry this day, which I expected to, considering it was day one. I ate a chicke...

Ahem...starting to feel like a broken record...all good plans, suddenly up in smoke. I had such a good plan this week and I've gone straight back into binge mode!!  Plus cheeky wine and beer made a reappearance.  So much so I had horrendous heartburn on Tuesday, I think that is going to be the turning point to change.  I used to get heartburn regularly before I started Slimming World, and eating healthfully got rid of it.  I cannot go back to living like that again. Yesterday (weigh in day) I decided to start afresh, after going to bed the night before feeling sorry for myself as I had no rennies! I woke up this morning and prepared my breakfast to take to work, it was a beetroot wrap with fried eggs, fried mushrooms (both fried in frylight), and baked beans.   It was a massive breakfast, which I prefer on weigh day as sometimes I skip lunch...bad I know...one of those stupid things I accidentally did once (too busy to eat) and carried on.  Toda...

Just got out of weigh in (update on that on the blog tomorrow 8am), and I've digested the changes to the Slimming World plan that were discussed during image therapy.   (FYI I cannot wait for the updated member pack that will launch in between Christmas and New Year's Eve weigh ins). This appears to be the general gist of it: 1. Two HExAs per day (YAY for milk in porridge AND cheese with dinner)  2. Baked beans, broad beans, mung beans, and all varieties of peas (except split peas) have lost their Protein "P" symbol! 3. Whole Milk allowance for HExA has gone from 150ml to 200ml. 4. Rice & Almond milk allowance for HExA have decreased to 400ml. 5. Paneer is now a HExA (40g). 6. Healthy Extras no more: Special K Milk Choc Delight Bar; Sweetened Dairy-free milk, Philly (I weep), and soft goat's cheese. 7. On an Extra Easy SP day, enjoy at least half a plate of Speed food, and the rest Protein-rich food as usual. However now it is only one HExB (...

First weigh in for November has come and gone, this week I managed to lose a pound! Happy with that to be honest as the week before I had definitely gone over board so I should have gained more than the 1.5 I did.   Proper bonus to the day, I found these green balls of deliciousness again!!!   Cotton Candy grapes were the highlight of my summer this year and last year.  I am s uper happy they're back for winter.  They make syn free snacking a joy! I feel fresh and ready to rock this month to try and get Slimmer of the Month. This week will feature more soups and warm comforting dinners.   I bought more of the Genius Beetroot wraps (3 syns each or your HeX B)  so I will be having my own version of a McDonalds breakfast wrap in the morning.   I love these as they keep me fuller for longer due to the protein.   Plus who doesn't love a warm breakfast when they've just got to  work on a chilly m...

Happy Monday!  Going into the week well rested and happy, Liam and I spent yesterday mooching around Bluewater.   All was going well until a menu board fell over and everyone decided to charge away fearing an attack.  We were shopping in John Lewis at the time, not knowing what was going on, we just stuck where we were, we didn't want to run with the herd as it seemed ridiculous. With all the drama over in two minutes we were able to carrying on shopping as normal! I bought myself a new SAD lamp for at Liam's place.  I hadn't used mine Saturday and Sunday morning and my goodness I really felt it!  Managed to pick up a lovely one in John Lewis , which I will be able to keep on my bedside table in his bedroom.  This one is smaller than mine at home, it is around the size of an iPad or Kindle, which is great for space saving. If the winter darkness and the clocks going back have numbed your zest for life I really recommend investing in one.  ...

The past few weeks have been rocky, I have been suffering with a cold (finally going) and the darker nights have taken their toll on me. Through the ups and mini downs of weigh in my total weight change for October is plus 1 lb, which has really put me back in terms of where I want to be at weigh in just before Christmas (19/12). I have 7 weigh ins left, and I wanted to achieve my 4 stone certificate, to get that I need to lose 25 lbs, which when averaged out over the weeks is 3.57 lbs to lose per week. Currently that feels unattainable, so I have reduced my aim to 3.5 stone certificate which leaves me with needing to lost 2.57 lbs per week (slightly more attainable). I plan to have a good few solid weeks (I want Slimmer of the Month for November) so with that in mind I will be on my way to getting those awards. With that aim laid out I now need to sort out how I am going to get there. As of Tuesday I got my SAD lamp out for the winter, it really helps wake me up in the m...

I don't want to hide the truth, the last few weeks have been a struggle.  I'm still suffering with a cold and it's not budging yet (mine usually last a month).    I started writing this Sunday night, I had worked a 6 day week, I had binged on McDonald's the day before, and I had drank a bottle of red wine.  It took until Monday night to get all the words out. This weekend I set a new sleep record, I slept from 3:30pm Saturday afternoon until 10:30am Sunday morning, that tired that my body decided I needed 19 hours!   I even passed out in my make up, I now have a grizzly spot to thank for that (sorry Mrs Hirons...if you know, you know). I feel that my struggle with food is similar to an alcoholic.  I eat in secret, I hide food, I lie about the food I eat/have eaten.   It's like a compulsion, I know I shouldn't be doing it, and it's more than just greed.   It feels like a form of socially acceptable self harming.  I sho...

My posts have been missing for the past two weeks! The commute with the new job has taken it out of me more than I thought it would (it's an extra 40 minutes each way). Thankfully it has not stopped my motivation to stay on plan, and I have been on plan all of September! Super proud of myself as I do not know the last time I had such a good "on plan" streak. I completely credit it to doing the 777 Challenge.  It gave me a chance to "reset" my focus, it has also made me grateful to be able to have 15 syns again (if I want to).  Where I was restricted to only 7 syns a day I got creative with my treat plates so that I was getting a good amount for the fewest syns.  I definitely recommend giving this challenge a go to anyone out there struggling with staying on plan. Also I haven't had wine in four weeks!!  God I miss it, I'm glad we're now going into colder weather which for me is a better time to have spirits and mixers as I don't need a lon...

The weekend is fast approaching and I wanted to make something to that I could snack on throughout without having to worry about the syns.  I also wanted it to be slightly interesting and easy to transport. The Chickpea Dahl loaf recipe is one that I've heard floating around for a while on several different websites and also throughout my SW group.   The Mr has a baseball game on Sunday and watching for 4 hours is hungry work! Thankfully I'll now have this with me, and I'll take some speedy fruit and veg with me too. The following recipe is the method I went with, hope you enjoy :) Ingredients: - 400g tin of chickpea dahl (I used Asda's it is 1 syn per can) - Pack of dried savoury rice  (I used golden vegetable savoury rice from Aldi which is free on SW) - 3 large eggs - 1 tbsp curry powder Method: Cook up the rice as directed, or until water has been absorbed. Whisk the eggs in a bowl Add rice and chickpea dahl to the eggs and mix...

Ups and downs food optimising wise, more details in my Bank Holiday Fail post on Tuesday. This week was slightly better than last week, so I am mentally moving in the right direction. Breakfasts this week have been a mix of fruit (nectarines, clementines, grapes, bananas) and seafood sticks. Lunches have mainly been salads with either seafood sticks or pre-cooked chicken. Dinners have been SW ready meals and quick stir-fries. Syn count for the week: Thursday - unknown Friday - 12.5 Saturday - 50 - 60 (all gin based) Sunday - 25 Monday - 12.5 Tuesday - 5 Wednesday - 17.5 Yesterdays syn count was high as I went to Harvester with my SW girlies after weigh in. I fully utilised the unlimited salad cart to start, had syn free salmon & jacket potato with veg. For dessert I had their "Sundae Best" with toffee sauce for 17.5 syns. That was much better than the Rocky Horror Sundae for 36.5 syns or the Millionaires Sundae for 48!!! Continuing with the 777 chall...

Another week slightly awry, still trying to pull myself back to reality. I have gained back around 9lbs in the last two months most of the new clothes I’ve bought don’t fit.  I got quite upset about this, even more so because I knew it was all my own doing. So I decided I need to pull my metaphorical socks up, and get going again.   If I don’t I am going to quickly end up back where I started or even worse, this would break my heart.  With that thought in mind I planned my days and from Tuesday morning I was completely on plan. For breakfast this week I have been having omelettes with Quorn sausage patties (0.5 syns each) and for speed I have been having snack cucumbers. Lunches have been plain mixed salad pots from Sainsbury's, and dinners have been whatever I have previously batched cooked in the freezer. Tuesday total syn count: 14.5 Wednesday total syn count: 15.5 (0.5 over, much better than my usual post weigh-in binge, where the syns are...