It was all going so well too (NOT!)

Well I was going to blog that I'm back on track this morning, after a rather large binge on the wine at the weekend. However, as my breakfast consists of parma ham and melon I can't claim that. I did manage to refuse breakfast at MacDonalds though so it's a start and I do have faux shepherd's pie for lunch (although I forgot the salad that was supposed to be with it).

Sneaking Back

Yes, I know it's been forever since I last posted (over a month anyway), but I have to admit that I haven't been awfully good at sticking to the diet. I also have to admit to gaining a couple of pounds, but fortunately not enough to notice. In fact everyone keeps telling me how fantastic I look and how much weight I've lost (finally!)

Whilst I have generally on a day-to-day basis attempted to stick with it, and am still mainly buying the 'good stuff' when I go shopping (it's now automatic for me to visit only a few sections of the supermarket) I have been sidetracked in a few ways.

Firstly, alcohol. I have consumed vast quantities of wine in the last month or so, and to be honest I can't see any sign of it stopping soon. I mean to do the 2 week intro again, but can't seem to quite get round to it. Maybe I'll manage it sometime this month when there's not much going on socially.

Secondly, chocolate. I can't get enough of the stuff at the moment. Having gone from eating none at all for almost 5 months I am currently eating some almost every day. And not my usual favourite 70% and above stuff either that is OK(ish) for me. No, I seem to have developed a craving for Twixes and Toblerones. I am so craving the sweet stuff that last week at the cinema I had a large Ben & Jerry's arctic core sundae which was awesome. Scoops of Gerry Garcia and Chunky Monkey with a large sprinkling of white chocolate polar bears, a core of molten chocolate sauce and more polar bears scattered over the top. Very sickly and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Thirdly, marmite. I had a major marmite on toast craving for weeks and eventually caved, buying a loaf of bread for the first time since April. I then proceeded to eat the whole lot over 2 days. So now my craving has gone but keeps threatening to reassert itself at any time. The one good thing is that this week in Asda I found marmite cheese bites, similar to Babybels but cheddar flavoured with marmite. Perfect, although very easy to scoff too many of.

Fourthly, melon. Since getting back off holiday I have had a major parma ham and melon addiction. The parma ham is fine, although getting cravings for it on a regular basis is a bit worrying, but the melon is a definite no-no. Hugely high in carbs and yet I can't seem to stop eating it. I have managed to cut down a bit, but can't quite quit it.

Fifthly, MacDonalds. I have breakfast regularly (at least once a week) with my friend Annette. Previously we used to visit a local cafe where I would have bacon and scrambled eggs (good solid IPD stuff). Unfortunately, she has decided that she no longer wants to go there and instead we have to go to MacDonalds as it's suddenly the only place she'll eat. Now the selection there is not great for the IPDer anyway, but I love their sausage and egg muffins and always end up having the double. With a hash brown and orange juice. Mega mega bad!

Sixthly, The Monday night munchies. I usually go shopping after finishing work at the pub on Monday nights. It's quiet and I get my shopping done quickly without having to queue for hours at the checkout. However, it means I have an incredibly long day and with the short timescale between getting back from London and starting at the pub usually I only have a protein shake for dinner. By midnight I am starving and that's when the willpower breaks down. Off I go to Asda buying loads of good stuff and then the munchies hit. So I end up buying a packet of muffins and a pint of milk and yep, you guessed it, end up eating the lot.

So looking at that lot it's amazing that I've only gained a couple of pounds, but is also clear that I really need to get back on the IPD wagon otherwise I'm never going to be in that slinky dress for Christmas. Not today though, I've been to MacDonalds this morning and am just about to tuck into my Twix for lunch!

Oops

Yep, I'm a bad girl. Not only have I most definitely not stuck to the diet I haven't really even tried. Actually that's not entirely true I have tried, but I just can't seem to stop myself eating those things that are no good (like chocolate & caramel fudge).

Anyway I've given up for the weekend as I'm going away and I know I'll be having far too many bad things. Monday is a new month and a new beginning - I will be strong and I will get back on track!

Tough Going

Well it's not plain sailing. I'm having trouble sticking religiously to the diet, there are still things like melon and chocolate creeping in and I haven't stopped drinking. However, after my visit to the doctor on Wednesday I was pleased to find out that since my last weigh in with them (a year or so ago) I have lost 17 kilos - which is a pretty good amount of weight!

I shall continue trying and hope that soon the evangelical urge returns!

Day 3

It had been going well so far, although somehow another melon slipped into this week's shopping basket along with a copious amount of parma ham. Seems I've become addicted to the stuff - perfect for breakfast, lunch or snacks - luckily Asda are doing it for £1 a pack at the moment so it's not costing me a huge amount.

Unfortunately today I've been eating LOADS of biscuits. Roy brought me a box of Cornish Fairings back from his holiday and they are far too nice to give away (although I have shared them). Unfortunately I can't seem to stop eating them so today's carb intake is going to be immense. Still the sooner they've gone the sooner I can stop worrying about being tempted.
Luckily I did 3 1/2 miles on the glider last night and expect to do about the same tonight so hopefully it'll help to undo the damage.

Yesterday I had a lovely piece of oven baked salmon for brunch and steak with a creamy mushrooms sauce and rocket, avocado and parmesan salad followed by some chocolate mousse for dinner. Today I've had smoked salmon rollups for breakfast and a salad nicoise for lunch. Not sure about dinner yet, but it's not going to be fish. LOL

Day 1 Revisited

OK so it's Day 1 (again) of my diet. Already on the right track with egg mayo & bacon for breakfast and a salmon salad with lemon & dill mayo for lunch. I did almost ruin it all with a dodgy aniseed liqueur biscuit that Sandra bought back from her holiday, but it tasted so foul I got rid of it.

Almost Ready to Start Again

Obviously by the fact I haven't posted recently I haven't been sticking very well to my diet. Not that I've been very bad, but I have had far too much alcohol in the last few weeks and a few carbs slipped through too.

Fortunately, I haven't gained any weight, however this can't continue.

I set forth tomorrow with renewed determination (and a fresh set of protein shakes). Christmas is coming (sorry for mentioning it, but it is) and I want to be a slimmer, trimmer me by then. I WILL reread and digest the pink bible and get back on track.

Onwards and inwards!

Ooops

Sadly my fascination with Italian cuisine still has hold of me and so today I had parma ham and galia melon for breakfast followed by mozzerella, tomato and avocado salad for lunch. Not sure yet what to have for dinner as I don't fancy the burgers I was going to have and I need to eat something before I disappear off to the pub for our staff meeting/party.

Surely melon can't do that much damage can it?

Another failed weekend

Hmmm this getting back on track lark is harder than I thought. Probably would have been OK if I hadn't spent all weekend getting completely slaughtered. I hadn't meant to, originally it was going to be a couple of glasses of wine down the pub on Friday night, but those couple of glasses turned into a few glasses, swiftly followed by a bottle of rather nice sparkling pinot grigio blush at home. Obviously I had a major hangover on Saturday and therefore when Andrea and Lynne turned up at the pub for a quick drink or two I ended up on wine again as a hair of the dog. Unfortunately, it appeared that I was completely incapable of leaving the pub and ended up staying there till closing time, having switched to JD & ginger ale at some point during the evening. Cue hangover no 2, although not as bad as the previous one.

Of course, apart from the colossal amount of alcohol I imbibed this also affected my eating patterns, as I couldn't cook while I had a hangover resorting instead to having a naughty bacon sandwich. And staying in the pub all night meant that I didn't get anything else to eat all day - not helping my inebriation level or my diet.

So once again this morning I am starting again - egg mayo, crispy bacon & tomato for breakfast, faux shepherd's pie for lunch. What dinner will be I am not yet sure.

One thing I have learned from this weekend is that I definitely shouldn't drink a protein shake when I have a hangover. It makes me feel considerably worse!

Hesitating

Well things haven't exactly gone to plan this weekend. Firstly, I couldn't be bothered to do the diet plan and go shopping so I had no food for the weekend and ended up eating loads of junk from the pub (bacon sandwiches, meat pie & mash etc.). Secondly, i went out with Lynne on Saturday and we ended up at Chimi Changas, the new Mexcian restaurant at the outlet centre in Chatham, where we had a gorgeous belated meal for her birthday. After a combo and fajitas, followed by apple & cinnamon tortilla wraps washed down with a glass of wine it would be hard to convince myself that I'm anywhere near back on track.

I did try by bringing shepherds pie and salad to work, but of course I had no breakfast and the big carb fest of the last couple of weeks has left me starving in the mornings. Not able to wait for over an hour for the canteen to open I succumbed to an egg mayo & bacon croissant with a bottle of orange juice. I followed this badness by a chocolate bar after my lunch.

I am determined to go shopping tonight after finishing work at the pub to stock up with lots of Pink Bible goodness and then I'm back on track. I will have a slinky new dress for Christmas!

Back from Italy

Well I disappeared for a few weeks - busy in the run up to my holiday in Italy, and actually having the holiday itself.

I had a fantastic time and ate a diet that was completely un-IPD for the whole time I was there. I worked out that I had a huge ice cream every other day during my stay, mushroom pasta every day and a host of breads, cakes, chocolates, fruit and loads of alcohol.

So I'm back, and have bought a load of Italian type items - melon, parma ham, mozzerella, tomatoes, avocados etc. for the last 2 days of my holiday (back home but not at work so still on holiday as far as I'm concerned). Tomorrow I will be doing a shopping list based on recipes from the pink bible and will be going shopping to get the stuff. On Monday I will be back on hardcore P1 ready to start the countdown to Christmas.

Oh btw with all the walking I did while I was away, I only gained 1lb rather than the half a stone I thought I might have gained from the quantity and type of food I ate.

I did bring back some bad stuff - biscuits for work (which I will indulge of a few obviously) and some chocolate (absinthe and chilli flavours) and a couple of bottles of wine from San Gimignano. But I was relatively restrained really.

Relaxing Weekend

Last night I went to De:Alto with Mrs H3 for a meal before we headed off to queue for the Harry Potter book. I had a gorgeous rib eye steak with a large rocket & spinach salad with mayo and some garlic bread with cheese and caramalised onions. This was followed very naughtily by a load of incredibly unsuitable haribo sweets whilst in the queue. I had also been the day before with Lynne as we'd been over at Bluewater picking up my dress for the wedding and decided to stop for something to eat. That night I had a salmon salad with lemon mayo.

Today I have been engrossed in the book, stopping only for a quick cooked breakfast as I was starving and some smoked salmon and a small chocolate mousse for lunch. I have also indulged in a few glasses of wine as I have taken the weekend off work and am relaxing and indulging myself. Tonight I am going to a party so will be consuming more alcohol and maybe the odd naughty food item as I doubt there will be much IPD friendly food on offer.

My workout on the glider earlier in the week certainly paid off - I lost another 3/4lb - not much but all weight off is good, and it all builds up. I've got into doing it whilst watching Doctor Who - he's a very inspiring man you know ;)

Only 2 Weeks to Go ...

... till I fly out to Italy for the wedding.

I am trying to stay focused, but the chocolate was calling and I just couldn't resist today, so I've had a Twirl (23.8g of carbs). Apart from that I've been pretty good this week so far, although Monday evening was hard as I was at a funeral and the only IPD friendly food was a boiled egg and 5 slices of cucumber (not exactly a meal). I made up for this with lovely buttered kippers and a couple of poached eggs for brunch yesterday, with tarragon chicken and salad for dinner, followed by a chocolate mousse made of extra thick double cream, splenda and cocoa - scrummy, but obviously enough to set off my chocolate craving today. Today I had muffins for breakfast, and have had shepherds pie and salad for lunch.

I'll just have to make sure that I work a bit harder on the glider tonight to make up for the slip!

Weight Loss, Cheating and Good News

Luckily my croissant the other day seemed to do no permanent damage (or maybe the glader coming back helped to alleviate it), and I lost another pound this week. However, a day off yesterday, spent shopping for a dress for the wedding, watching a film and eating, meant that I had another cheating day.

Firstly at the cinema I was tempted by toffee popcorn and ate a whole huge bag (very naughty I know). The high sugar content set off a low blood sugar/blood pressure episode later in the afternoon (the first I've had since starting the IPD) and I almost fainted. We stopped and had a snack at Paul's which is the most fabulous french patisserie and so I had a gorgeous quiche lorraine and a cup of hot chocolate. This was followed later in the evening by garlic bread with caramelised onions & balsamic vinegar at De:Alto, although I did manage to stick to an IPD friendly entree, once again having the chicken in marsala sauce with a green salad with caesar dressing. I finished the evening with a very small spoonful of Lynne's chocolate cheesecake (milk & dark chocolate layers on a chocolate biscuit base).

The good news is that although I've had the odd cheat, my size has definitely decreased. All the dresses I tried on fit well, and they were size 22 - in fact in 1 shop I tried on a size 20 which would have also fitted perfectly had I been wearing pants of steel. I also invested in some new underwear - a pricey investment, but well worth it - amazing what a difference to the figure a well fitting bra makes (I hadn't realised just how much my size had changed) and Lynne tells me it makes the amount of weight I've lost even more noticeable.

Today I was very good and got straight back on track starting with my usual protein shake, smoked salmon, philly and avocado rollups for lunch and meatballs, cauli mash and buttered vegetables followed by a small slice of blackcurrant cheesecake for dinner. I have had a glass of wine this evening, but as it's only the one I think I can get away with that.

Unfortunately, the trousers that I wore to go shopping (my yoga pants) do not have a very good waistband and so my pedometer didn't work properly. All those miles of walking and it only registered 360 steps all day (and we were out for 13 hours!) - I'm sure I did over my 10,000 steps though.

Back to the xl-glider!

Day 89 - Still Going Strong (ish)

After yesterday's mega carbfest - a massive 95grams of carbs by the end of the day, I have managed to be a good girl today. Fortunately, walking downstairs at work and working for almost 5 hours in the pub meant that I still burnt more calories than I intook, and I only had 10grams of carbs the day before which helped too. Smoked salmon, philly & avocado rollups for breakfast with a mushroom & ham omelette for lunch, followed by a small piece of blackcurrant cheesecake. I shall be having shepherds pie and buttered vegetables for dinner - see, the perfect IPD day. Just need to make sure I drink some more water as I haven't been drinking enough recently.

The fantastic news is that my replacement glider has arrived. Am now off to put it together and spend 1/2 an hour in happy exercise - I am so glad it's back I've really missed using it and hopefully I can burn off those naughty carbs I've been having and lose a few more pounds and/or inches by the end of the week (yeah I know that's wishful thinking). I really would love to get into a dress for the wedding, and one smaller than a size 24 would be fantastic.

Another Day, Another Cheat

Last night I cooked a chilli bake, a blackcurrant cheesecake and some sausage, mushroom & egg muffins. Back on track for the IPD, and great food too. Unfortunately, this morning I felt I couldn't face eggs, bacon or sausages (in fact felt queasy even thinking about them) and had nothing else prepared, and nowhere else to get something on the way into work. So naughtily, I bought myself a ham & cheese croissant - and jolly nice it was too, but unfortunately it was 66g of carbs! I have had the chili bake for lunch, and will be having my usual protein shake for dinner before work tonight.

Time for a rearrangement of my shopping list I think. Because a majority of my breakfasts are now protein shakes I haven't been buying the variety of breakfasts that I did in the first few weeks and so have now got to the stage where if it's not the shake it's something with eggs and I am truly fed up of eggs. Time to get some lovely smoked salmon and ham and make some nice rollups for a change.

Am hoping that my glider will be delivered tomorrow. I haven't been very good at doing the dvds, mainly due to lack of time and my damaged shoulder and I keep forgetting to use the tummy trimmer so it will be good to get back to doing some regular exercise, especially now I have my pedometer sorted correctly.

I need chocolate!

So I went shopping and bought lots of lovely stuff, and yesterday evening I had an evening of cooking as I wasn't going to yoga again. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder last week and it's taking a while to heal, no point making it worse by trying to do yoga. Unfortunately, no sign of my replacement glider yet, although it's been in process for a week, was hoping it would arrive this week as I'm itching to get back to it.

So last night I made another shepherd's pie, butternut squash soup and a pork stroganoff. I also made my breakfast (smoked salmon, philly & avocado rollups) and lunch (salad nicoise) for today.

Unfortunately, today TOTM gremlins have hit me and I'm desperate for a bar of chocolate - a twix to be exact. Trying not to give in, not sure I have enough will power. Also trying to remember that I only have a week until I buy my outfit for Jo's wedding (can't believe how quickly time is going) and could do with shedding a few more pounds, although it's not realistically likely. I did lose 3/4lb this week though which is great during TOTM.

I need some new food!

I need to go shopping badly. After the sausages and cheese at Aiden's party, I thought I'd like something different for a change. Unfortunately, having not been shopping for almost 2 weeks my fridge contained only ... sausages and cheese. I had the sausages for lunch, and the cheese before I went to Kim's party. She had laid on food, but again nothing was ipd friendly apart from some cocktail sausages (oh goody) so I ended up with those and a couple of naughty c hicken pieces and a mini scotch egg. Also I'm really fed up of cooked breakfasts. There is only so many ways to make bacon & eggs seem different. I've now done them all and don't want any more, I'm back to having protein shakes whenever I can because it's quick and makes a change from eggs. Even my lunch needs a shake up. I thought I was having chili bake today, but when I opened the box it turned out to be faux shepherds pie (for about the 5th time in a week). Tonight I'll be having a nice steak meal at the Tiger Moth and then tomorrow will be heading for the supermarket to stock up with lots of nice new food, ready to get back on track with a vengeance!

Another party ...

Today was Aiden's 2nd birthday party. I was very good and only ate sausages, cheese, cucumber & a couple of baby tomatoes, with 2 small glasses of white wine. Unfortunately then the birthday cake came out. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing and smarties all over it ... completely scrummy (and very sweet as I found out when I had a piece).

There are only 34 days left until Jo's wedding so I really need to get back on track. However, its going to be a hard week with Kim's 50th birthday on Tuesday and a meal with the girls on Wednesday. Of course this is just me making excuses to go off track, but hopefully a few glasses of wine isn't going to kill the diet completely. I just need to find time to do some exercise. I am really missing my glider.

Oh Dear

Well it all went wrong again. More workshops, more junk and a major craving all worked to undo my good work. Amazingly, I haven't gained any weight this week, staying the same, and as its TOTM too that's a bit of an achievement.

I had a few glasses of wine last weekend and on Sunday morning had the most enormous bacon sandwich craving. I can have bacon whenever I like, but I didn't want a cooked breakfast - I wanted a bacon sandwich with lovely soft white bread and tons of ketchup. I forced myself to have a protein shake, which got rid of the hunger and I hoped, the craving. Unfortunately, when I got to the pub Mark was making bacon sandwiches for the participants of the petanque competition. Arrrghhhh! The smell was driving me mad and reawakened the craving. Soon though, the sandwiches were gone, ahhh panic over. Nope, all the staff had decided that they smelt so nice that they all had a sandwich too. That was a move too far for me so I crumbled and had one myself. Of course, I actually did well to give in to the craving at that point because it meant that I only had one sandwich instead of giving in later and buying a loaf of bread. I'd like to say I didn't enjoy it, but actually it was wonderful. Well for about 20 minutes it was. Then it started sitting on my stomach like a ball of lead and made me feel bloated and lethargic. Be a while before I'm having another one of those then.

Last night I went for a lovely meal with Lynne, Maureen and Caroline at the Ship in Upnor. I did try to stick to the IPD (although I did have a couple of glasses of wine), but the temptation with so many lovely things to choose from was hard. In the end I had gorgeous fillets of sea bass with prawns in a sweet chilli sauce with a salad. I also had a small piece of french bread and a teaspoon of Lynne's banana & amaretto cheesecake - not too bad under the circumstances. So today's weigh in came as a pleasant surprise, although I'm not measuring myself this week because of the TOTM.

One great piece of news is that I can finally fit into the M&S dress with the zip done up. Yep, I really can. Of course it took me about 20 minutes to wiggle into it, and I look like a sausage in a badly fitting casing, so wouldn't yet consider wearing it out in public, but it's a start. This time 2 months ago I couldn't even fit it properly over my hips.

My poorly glider went back to QVC on Tuesday, I just hope it isn't too long before the replacement arrives - I don't have enough room in my lounge for the yoga dvd and don't have the energy or stamina for the peak energy one. LOL

Back on Track

OK so I'm back on track. Smoked salmon, philly and avocado rollups for dinner last night, followed by the fry up breakfast, tarragon chicken for lunch with faux mash & asparagus and protein shake before heading off for yoga. I also managed 3.5km on my glider. Having a bit of a sweet tooth day though so have had some cheesecake and some cinammon pecans too, but all still within my daily limit. I weighed myself this morning and had only gained 1/4lb which I think is good, so not feeling too disheartened. A couple more good sessions on the glider would sort that out, but alas Saturday is the day I have to wrap it up ready for collection. Maybe I'll have to clear away the ebay stuff and do one of my yoga or exercise videos

Urgh!

Well that's how I feel after completely falling off the wagon for a couple of days.

It all started on Sunday. Having eaten some lovely faux shepherds pie for a very late lunch just before going off to the concert I felt confident that I'd be OK without food for the rest of the day as I haven't had a huge appetite recently. Of course, I was forgetting that while I might not eat, everyone else would and by 7.30pm just about everyone around me was eating fish & chips, burgers etc - the smell was overwhelming. Suddenly I was STARVING ... and I fancied a drink as I was fed up of water. The wine was £4 for a small bottle, and I couldn't bring myself to drink beer so had a Smirnoff Ice and resisting all the burgers etc. ended up with a Twix. This was fine, but by the time I got to the train after the concert (a mile plus walk to the station and having to run (yes I said run) at the other end not helping) I was starving again so ended up with an egg mayo and tomato baguette.

As I didn't get home till 1.30am I had no time to even think about food for the day, desperately needing sleep instead. Unfortunately, completely forgot I was attending a workshop, so no chance to have my usual standby cooked breakfast, instead ending up with a chocolate croissant. Of course it was a working lunch too, so no chance to go out and IPD friendly food was in very short supply. They did have some mini sausages but they were covered in a honey and mustard dressing. So I ended up having sandwiches, some strange tikka fish on a stick (yuk) and a banana (that craving finally sorted). This would have been OK if I hadn't then had 2 chocolate biscuits. Carb count for the day - enough for about 3 days and my tummy was feeling a bit bloated to say the least. Had a protein shake before heading off to work at the pub, but decided I had to make sure I was sorted for today's workshop.

I had a protein shake for breakfast, and made an omelette to take for lunch so all was going well, until I got sidetracked by the chocolate biscuits again (4 of them in total *ouch*). So whilst I had a better day than the last 2 it still isn't perfect, and I'm still feeling a bit bloated. I daren't weigh myself and may have to give it a miss completely this week just to be on the safe side. Dinner was a venison steak with some faux mash and a rocket & lambs lettuce salad with mayo. I've already dug out some sheperds pie and more salad for lunch tomorrow, so determined to get back on track and feeling better as quickly as possible. I shall also be getting back to my glider which has been sadly neglected for the last couple of days due to lack of time and complete exhaustion.

Still going downwards (hurrah)

Weighed myself this morning (yes I know ...) and I've lost another 1 1/4lbs. This means a total loss of 24 1/4lbs ... getting towards the 2 stone mark.

Got a hard day today as I'm off to Wembley later and not sure what to do about food. There's unlikely to be anything IPD friendly there, so think I will be taking an omelette with me - just hope I can get it into the venue. This means that I'll have to rethink my lunch. Faux shepher's pie is looking favourite at the moment.

Day 65

Blimey. Is it that long already? Also it's been nearly a week since I last posted. Not sure why this is, guess I've been a bit lax.

Anyway it's weigh in time again and I have lost 1/4lb this week. Of course I did weigh after a large cooked breakfast and a pint of water so that may not be the true figure. However, it's a loss again (however small) so that's a good thing. No measurements today, may have a go tomorrow if I have time.

I am up to 3 1/2km on the glider, although I need to send it back to QVC. Unfortunately, the pulse monitor wire has broken and as I've only had it for 1 month I felt that it needed replacing. Of course I never kept the packing as it took up so much room so now I have to try and get some packing for it and then I'll be without it for a while until the replacement arrives. Annoying, but I really liked seeing how my pulse was doing while working out.

Got a challenging week ahead as I have workshops on Monday and Tuesday. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do food-wise as it'll be hard to take stuff with me ... might be the old standby of ham, cheese & avocado rollups in case they don't have anything IPD friendly.

Last night I spread the IPD word at yoga. Have promised to take the book next week to show some of the women who seemed quite interested.

Another Weekend Gone

Well it's been a strange few days. Started feeling quite ill at about 2pm on Thursday with awful stomach cramps and nausea. I guess it was something I ate, although I don't know what. Whatever, it kept going until the morning on Friday so I didn't go into work, instead spending the day feeling sorry for myself and catching up with my sleep. However, feeling a lot better in the evening so I went to the pub for the evening, generally sticking to the water, although I did have 3 glasses of wine. Of course my much lowered resistence to alcohol kicked in and Saturday morning I felt completely lousy. Certainly seemed like a hangover, but not sure how or why considering that I drank pints of water between glasses and another pint before going to bed so I wasn't exactly dehydrated. A litre or so of water later and I began feeling human again. I quickly grabbed a protein shake before heading off to work but within 20 minutes was feeling lousy again. Banging headache, nausea and general feeling of yukness continued for the whole afternoon. I realised that it was probably actually something to do with the weather (very humid) and the previous tummy troubles rather than a hangover. Spent most of the evening dozing - obviously having my quarterly fatigue day too, and slept till gone 10am this morning. Still feeling a little headachy, but nowhere near as bad.

No time to make food again so I grabbed a pack of ham and had a chicken breast with mayo at work. This evening I made burgers on mushrooms with a blue cheese dressing and salad, followed by some masarpone cheese flavoured with cinnamon. Am hoping that the amount of water I've drunk over the last few days has flushed out the bug and I will be fighting fit again tomorrow.

Woooohoooooo!

OK, so I am officially a very happy bunny today.

Had my weigh in and I've lost 5lbs! This means that I've now lost 23lbs in total since 12 March. Better still I've also lost another inch each from my bust, waist and hips, making 12 inches lost in total. Interestingly my thighs appear to have got bigger, but I assume this is from all the exercise on the glider and am expecting them to tone up sometime soon. This proves that this WOE really does work, even with eating out (which I've done twice this week), and losing it slowly means hopefully it'll stay off.

Last night I had a meal at De:Alto with Lisa - had chicken in a mushroom & marsala sauce with a mixed salad (instead of tuscan potatoes), and I bought some fit flops. These work like MBTs but are £100 cheaper. I thought I'd try them first to see if they were comfortable, and if they are will consider MBTs towards Autumn/Winter as they are more like trainers.

New lunches

On Sunday evening I remembered the microwave steam bags that I'd bought from Lakeland about a year or so ago. This meant I was able to take some beans, courgettes and asparagus to work with me to go with my faux shepherds pie. This is good because it means I no longer have to have a salad for lunch every work day which I do get a bit fed up with sometimes. So this evening I have had a massive cookathon making chili bake and faux shepherds pie and a burger for my tea with the leftover mince. I now have enough ready made meals to keep me going for a couple of weeks.

Never Again!

Well I finally went shopping yesterday morning. Never again! The place was so packed that it took me longer to queue up to get through the tills than it did to do all my shopping - give me the midnight shop anytime. The only good thing about the daytime shop was that the fishmongers counter was open and so I got a rather lovely sea bass, a nice tuna steak and some undyed smoked haddock.

After that it was a mad dash to get everything in the fridge before running off to work. No time to prepare food - I had a protein shake and took a packet of ham with me, although we were then pretty busy and so I didn't get to eat the ham till after finishing work. Dinner last night was a small bowl of acorn squash soup (which made me sneeze) followed by a nice juicy sirloin steak in a creamy mushroom sauce with cauli/broccoli mash, and steamed green vegetables. A slice of cheesecake finished the meal off nicely.

On Saturday evening evening I met up with a couple of the ladies from the P2T forum for a lovely meal at Cafe Rouge in Canterbury. There were supposed to be 8 of us, but in the end only 3 of us turned up. No word from any of the others as to why they didn't make it so far. It's a shame they didn't come as we had a really good evening, had a lovely meal and I made 2 new friends - Mary and Kate. The restaurant was very nice and IPD friendly. For starters I had baked mushrooms with garlic, raclette & spinach, followed by chicken stuffed with brie wrapped in ham served with french green beans.

Busy Weekend

Well I still haven't been shopping! Got busy doing other things on Thursday night, went out last night and am out tonight. So shopping will now happen tomorrow morning before starting work.

Its TOTM and I'm feeling fat and frumpy. Made the effort to dress up to go to the pub last night, complete with control pants and had loads of nice comments about how thin I looked. Had 3 glasses of wine, mainly because Kim refused to just get me a glass of water - not the best justification for drinking, but I did at least have pints of water in between so not as bad as it could have been.

Got the munchies today, had a protein shake when I woke up, an omelette for lunch and have just had smoked salmon, avocado & philly rollups as a snack - as I won't be eating till about 9pm. This evening I am heading to Cafe Rouge at Canterbury to meet some of the women from the P2T forum. Am feeling a bit apprehensive as I've never met any of them before, but I'm sure it'll be OK. It was the same the first time the Sinners got together and yet we all clicked straight away as if we'd known each other forever. Just had a quick peek at the menu and it's got some scrummy stuff on it. Unfortunately most of it has carby food as a side - I am expecting to end up with steak and a salad. At least it's an evening out and a chance to meet some new people.

But I really DO need to go shopping tomorrow ...

Day 50

I managed to salvage things yesterday. Yes I did give in to the food craving and bought chocolate, but I didn't go for the jaffa cakes (7.4g of carbs each so no way I was having 3 of those!) Instead I bought a small bar of dairy milk (not my first choice, but the lowest carb choice of the options in the machine) and broke it in half. I had 3 squares and the other 3 I gave to Kev. So whilst I wasn't good, it wasn't a complete disaster. Also due to a lack of time when I got home I had a protein shake for dinner which meant that I actually managed to stay within my carbs for the day, even with the chocolate. Won't be making a habit of the chocolate though, would be too easy to get hooked on it again, but may have to take some dark chocolate to work in case of emergencies.

Today I desperately need to go shopping to get back on track, however I am running short of time. I have decided to skip yoga tonight, not because I don't want to go, but because I don't think I can physically manage it this week. My hayfever is so bad at the moment that my nose is completely blocked. So blocked that I can't even smell the olbas oil that I've doused just about everything I come into contact with in the hopes of smelling something. As yoga is all about breathing, and 99% of the breathing is done through the nose, I don't think there's much point in going as I'm having trouble breathing through my mouth let alone just nose. I had problems last week and I was nowhere near as bad then. However, my Geribody yoga dvd arrived today so I might have a go at some of that later - doesn't matter if I grunt and snort on my own *LOL*

I know that today should be weigh day, but I haven't bothered this week. As its TOTM I'm unlikely to have lost weight (I don't feel as if I have) and don't really need to demotivate myself when I'm in a wobbly patch anyway. I need a nice long workout on the glider and some nice new food to get me motivated!

It's Hard ... So Hard

Well it's become obvious that this new WOE is very easy ... as long as you're organised. And up until now I have been. Very organised. Every week a shopping list containing only the ingredients for the week's food. Every day preparing the meals so that I always have something good to eat and every day's meals planned out with military precision, ensuring the requisite right balance of carbs, protein and fat. Until this week. Last week I didn't plan my meals in advance, didn't make a proper shopping list and just wandered aimlessly round the supermarket putting stuff in my trolley randomly. OK, I remembered the staples - soya milk, avocados, mushrooms, salad, but what I didn't account for was the sudden change in temperature. When it's cold and gray like this I don't feel like eating salads. I want something warm and comforting, and so instead of the salads I was going to have I've been using up my stash of faux shepherds pie with lovely green vegetables in butter.

Being off work for an extra day hasn't helped either. Not having to make food in advance for a few days soon got me out of the habit. So at 11.30pm last night I found myself in the situation of having hardly any food in the house and having not made any breakfast or lunch for today. Yes, I could have chucked together a mackerel & rocket salad (about the only things left in my fridge) but I couldn't be bothered. And I had nothing that I could do for breakfast. Luckily I have a canteen at work that sells breakfast items so was able to have bacon, scrambled eggs and mushrooms, and I had a meeting in another building today, so walked past a Pret a Manger on the way back and bought a crayfish and smoked salmon salad, but these two meals cost me almost £6 (completely outrageous for a few bits of nothing much) and leaves me with nothing for dinner (as I forgot to get the chicken breast I have left out of the freezer last night).

This is particularly bad for two reasons. Firstly, because I am going to the cinema with Lynne tonight and don't have time to cook anything much or wait for the chicken to defrost, and secondly because today is my TOTM hungry enough to eat a horse day. Normally I would be eating everything I could lay my hands on, but of course I have nothing to eat. Am manfully trying to resist the chocolate, and especially the jaffa cakes ... but I can feel my resolve weakening because of the lack of anything else to eat instead.

This lack of planning is a head thing - I am on week 7 of the IPD and it's all going well, so my head has decided to try and sabotage me. By not having bought enough food, I can be coaxed to eating the wrong things thus proving that as always in the past, this WOE isn't working. However, this WOE works and I am determined to not let my head get the better of me (although I am giving in on the jaffa cakes). Tomorrow I will be compiling my weekly menu, constructing my shopping list and getting back on track.

Oh and why does my hungry day always come the day before weigh day?

Miserable Monday

Feeling pretty miserable this morning. I think it's the dreadful weather. After the fantastic sunshine last week, there has been nothing but rain for the last 3 days. It's so cold I had to put the heating on last night. Also I seem to have picked up a cold. Thought it was hayfever, but now I'm so bunged up that I can hardly breathe, and worse still almost all food has lost its taste.

Yesterday I started with my usual protein shake ad made a nice omelette with courgettes, green peppers, mushrooms & cheese for lunch. Unfortunately, because of the lack of taste it seemed a bit bland so ended up having another plain chicken breast with mayo to go with it (at least I didn't attack Vicky's cheddars!) Dinner was pepper steak with mushrooms (of course), cauli mash with asparagus, green beans & courgettes in butter, followed by the last of the custard. I also had some smoked salmon roll ups for a snack. Feeling very lazy last night so I didn't use my glider, instead exercising my wrist by surfing ebay. I will make up for it today.

Today I have had my protein shake and was supposed to have mackerel salad for lunch, but the weather is so dire I'm thinking I'll have shepherd's pie instead, with tarragon chicken this evening before I go to work.

I measured myself yesterday and am pleased to report another 2 inch loss - from my hips and thighs ... looks like the glider is beginning to work. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll really notice the difference using the slendertone belt as well. I also weighed myself again (very naughty I know) and I'd lost 1lb.

This morning I was even more naughty and weighed myself again - another 1 1/2lb lost so I've actually done really well on the week. Amazing, and proof that this way of eating (and I guess all the extra exercise) really does work. No more measuring till Thursday now.

I had no carb hangover on Thursday or Friday, in fact getting back onto IPD was a breeze, however today it really hit me. Woke up hungry and so I had my protein shake much earlier than I would normally do on a weekend. The pub was really quiet and so I had eaten my lunch (smoked salmon, avocado & philly roll ups) by 2pm, a knock-on from the early breakfast I guess but it didn't fill me up. We served a lot of food today and it all looked & smelt lovely. I spent quite a lot of time trying to convince myself that chicken dippers would be OK to eat (they most definitely aren't!) but in the end got Mel to cook me a plain chicken breast which I cut into strips and had with some mayo. I nipped over to Bluewater after work as Holland & Barrett have changed their sale again and the protein shake powder is reduced to £9.99. I am so addicted to the shakes that even if I stopped all the dieting tomorrow I'd still happily have the shakes (although I'm not giving up the IPD tomorrow or any other day). Dinner this evening was some lovely home made burgers with chorizo, onion & dijon mustard which I served on portabello mushrooms with a mixed salad and blue cheese dressing. The burgers and mushrooms were cooked to perfection in my new Palson Gourmet pan, which is completely fab and a total bargain, but absolutely huge (it takes up most of my kitchen work top!). This was followed by some of Passley's custard (I made some more yesterday but split it between 3 bowls this time to make it last longer).

Yesterday I also had a go at making some IPD friendly meringues with the whites left over from the custard. Unfortunately they didn't turn out very well. All seemed to go OK right up to the point that they went in the oven and then it went downhill fast. They seemed to be missing that crispness that meringues have and so they ended up in the bin. Not sure where I went wrong - I used a mixture of egg whites and splenda and added a couple of drops of vinegar (thanks Nigella) to stop the eggy taste. So if anyone can tell me where I went wrong I'd be grateful 'cos I lurve meringues and would it would be good to have them occasionally (and it is a good use of the egg whites as I'm not entirely sure what else to do with them).

I got some of those control pants from QVC and wore them to work today. They definitely made me trimmer as I could get out of my jeans without undoing them, but because they pushed up my bottom the jeans looked all funny and baggy in the wrong places. Think they'll look better under a more tailored outfit or skirt. Definitely need to invest in some more, although they're not very sexy.

Hmmm

Well I survived the day at the Chelsea Flower Show. Had a brilliant day and ate and drank exactly what I wanted. Fortunately I didn't suffer with any particular side effects or carb cravings so was able to get back on track with no problems today.

Started the day with a cooked breakfast of bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs (very ipd friendly). This was followed later in the morning with an ice cream, in fact more specifically, a dark chocolate magnum. This was my first chocolate for 43 days and my first ice cream for about 3 months so I was really looking forward to it. The first bite was nice, but soooo sweet, the second, ok, but still very sweet. By halfway through the bar I realised I actually didn't really want it any more as it was making me feel quite ill. I had to drink half a litre of water straight after finishing it to try and get rid of the sweetness. Lunch was fish and chips and yet more water sitting in a shady spot (it was quite nice but I don't think I'll be bothering with fish and chips again until next year's Chelsea, especially as it made me feel quite bloated within about 15 minutes of eating it). In the afternoon we spent a couple of happy hours sipping quite a lot of Pimms, sitting in exactly the same place as last year (although of course the weather was far far better this year) and I turned down a second ice cream as even looking at them and the chocolate coated cone made me feel quite queasy. Instead on arriving home I had some faux sheperd's pie - back on the wagon already!

I weighed myself this morning and have gained 2lbs (as usual), however considering the food yesterday I'm not surprised. Also I have been doing so much more exercise, that I am sure my fat is turning to muscle and of course that weighs more. Tomorrow I shall measure myself and see if there is any difference - I really hope there is. I don't mind not losing weight if I am losing inches.

I have replaced the batteries on my slendertone belt and wore that whilst I was working out on the glider today, yet one more way to tone up, and it really makes me stand up properly. I do really need to get some new pads for it soon though. Yoga this evening was even more strenuous than last week and I can really feel it in my thighs and abdomen tonight, probably a result of the other working out too.

Oops!

I slipped off the wagon a bit today. Had a very boring meeting this morning which finished early so we ended up in the pub for lunch. I managed to resist the very tasty looking baguettes and piles of chips and sterlingly ordered a water, but felt in the mood for a drink and so ended up having 3 glasses of white wine. Not the end of the world, but not great either, however I refuse to beat myself up about it. Off to use my glider shortly - shall glide extra fast to try and burn off the calories they accrued.

Tomorrow is a planned cheat day as I'm off to the Chelsea Flower Show with Lynne. This is a yearly ritual which involves eating a cooked breakfast, Harry Ramsden's fish & chips for lunch and bucketloads of Pimm's, along with cups of normal tea with milk and ice creams. I may even have a banana! I've been looking forward to this day out for ages so yet again refuse to worry about falling off the wagon. Thursday morning I shall be going shopping to stock up with all the good things I am allowed to eat on ipd and will be having a marathon session or two on the glider to get me back in check. And of course I'll be off to yoga in the evening too.

Time to Catch Up

It's Day 39 and I just thought I'd give a quick update on how things are going.

Firstly, and most importantly, I've broken the 1 stone barrier. Against all expectations I did lose weight this week and it took me just over that magic stone. I am really pleased with this. I didn't measure myself this week, but hoping to see a difference when I do it on Friday.

As predicted the buffet was all sandwiches and fruit - and very nice it looked too. There was a cheeseboard so I had a little of that and stuck with my roll-ups. Got a few funny looks, but I felt virtuous for sticking to the ipd regardless.

On Thursday evening I had my second yoga class. Once again very enjoyable, but much harder than last week I thought (although several of the older members disagreed). It left me feeling on a high again and looking forward to next week's class already.

On Friday my xl glider arrived and I immediately set to work putting it together and having a go on it. I did 2.5km on the first day, and have used it every day since, although the distance has not been so great as very busy pub shifts has left my feet in a lot of pain, so I've only managed the morning stints. I am really pleased with the machine. It is almost completely silent, eliminating the need for turning the music up too loud and although I've only clocked up a total of 5.5km so far, I can already feel it in my thighs, arms and tummy so hoping shortly I'll notice some effect in the clothes department. All I need to do now is get rid of the treadmill and I'll be sorted.

Last night I went to the pub and had a couple of small glasses of red wine. I had decided that I was going to have a drink as I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fall over drunk at Chelsea Flower Show on Wednesday after not drinking for so long. To be honest I didn't enjoy the wine, and didn't really need to have it, so probably should have just stuck to the water all evening.

Foodwise I've been sticking to the old P1 favourites - steak, celeriac dauphinoise, smoked salmon, cheese & avocado roll-ups, omelette, faux shepherds pie and protein shakes. I have noticed that my appetite has decreased considerably, in fact has almost completely disappeared sometimes - something completely new for me. Hopefully this is a good sign that things are shifting downwards too.

Just another day

Well the title says it all really. Just another day (Day 35) and all is well. Don't think I'm going to have lost any weight this week as I feel a bit bloated, but I don't care. Just waiting for my xl-glider to arrive so I can get exercising, and of course tomorrow is yoga night. Breakfast today was the muffins from the pb, lunch was a prawn and avocado salad and dinner was faux shepherds pie with asparagus and green beans followed by cinnamon pecans & cinnamon creme fraiche.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a buffet lunch, it's very unlikely that there'll be anything I can eat as it's always sandwiches, fruit and biscuits so I've made some ham, cheese and avocado roll ups which I shall take with me instead.

Hungry Day

Had a hungry day today and I've eaten loads. The good thing is that it was all P1 friendly and didn't really overdo the calories or carbs. I started out OK with the usual protein shake - which I actually didn't want as I wasn't hungry, but gotta stick to the 3 meals a day. Then everything went downhill from there. Having a stressful time with the work I'm doing, so slow cooked some sausages & onion marmalade for a late lunch and to make breakfast muffins with. Was still trying to work at 5pm and felt peckish so had smoked salmon, avocado & philly roll-ups. Dinner was a steak with a mushroom sauce followed by some custard. So I feel full, not stuffed and also feel fat. Definitely need to up my exercise but the weather is not conduicive to walking. Just hope my xl-glider arrives soon.

New Breakfast and More

OK so now I know I've cracked the breakfast problem. Was transferring the remainder of Saturday night's cauli/broccoli mash into a storage container yesterday morning when I caught a whiff. Smelt lovely so I had a couple of big spoonfuls for my breakfast. Can you believe I'd of ever said that? No me neither! Of course I did have bacon and eggs just after so not completely weird, but at least I no longer associate only certain foods with breakfast. Lunch was wafer thin slices of ham (Asda do little snack packs containing about 7 slices) rolled up with avocado and philadelphia cheese, but in contrast to Saturday, the pub was so busy that I didn't have a chance to finish it till after work. Dinner was tarragon chicken again as I had a chicken breast to use and the sauce is so tasty and easy to do, once again with cauli mash, spinach and also some green beans and a couple of spears of asparagus. Divine. And to follow I had a slice of cheesecake as my carbs/calorie count for the day was a bit too low.

This morning I started with a protein shake - perfect for when I'm busy working at home as it fills me up for ages. For lunch I had some mini bratwurst that I needed to use up and I chucked a couple of mushrooms in the pan too, then mixed up some eggs and cream and chucked that in too. For dinner I will be having seared lime and ginger tuna with more veg and the last of the cauli mash.

This afternoon I made Passley's custard - it is completely fab and a breeze to do, just takes a couple of minutes. Apart from a couple of small spoonfuls from the bottom of the pan, I've been really good and divided it into 2 bowls to chill for later.

Saturday Musings

This morning I woke up feeling sick. Not sure why this was but maybe I have picked up a slight tummy bug as I was sick twice before going to work, although I didn't feel at all ill apart from a slight headache. I managed to have a protein shake for breakfast and cooked a ham, mushroom and cheese omelette with sundried tomato & basil olive oil for lunch. As work was so quiet I finished this early (usually I don't get to finish eating it till after my shift), so was ready for a snack by the time I got home. A couple of slices of the almond bread with marmite set me up nicely for dinner which was the ultra quick tarragon chicken with broccoli & cauli mash and buttered spinach. I realise that I haven't had enough to drink today as I was still feeling a bit hungry. Also wanting a drink (only because I always have a drink when the Eurovision Song Contest is on) but I managed to resist that, instead having a cup of choco and a few pecans.

Duh!

Well in all the excitement of the other posts I forgot to mention my good news. After the depression yesterday of not losing weight, I woke this morning feeling thinner (can't explain that feeling) and realised my jeans were looser than ever. This prompted me to jump on the scales (I know it's supposed to be once a week but ...) and I weighed the same fully clothed today as I did naked yesterday. So of course I had to strip off to get a correct reading (probably not a great idea when I had to be out of the door for work 10 minutes later) and I've lost 3 1/4lbs. This means I am now only 1/2lb off 1 stone in weight loss.

I've been very naughty this evening. Turning on the TV I was tuned to QVC who were showing the x-glider which they were selling on 4 payments. Now I have tried and tried to use my treadmill but it makes too much noise which means I can only use it during the day on my days off (not good for every day training) as the girls downstairs go to bed early (about 8pm) during the week and to not die of boredom I have to have my music or tv turned up very loudly so the combined noise would definitely keep them awake. Also when I was at Jo's I tried her cross trainer and really liked the way it worked you without putting too much strain on joints and feet. So I've bought one. I think that I will be better off with this item as its pretty silent so I can use it any time of the day or night, and apparently using it for 30 minutes a day (not all at once either, if need be you can do it in 5 minute stints) means that you'd lose 1lb a week in weight. This will definitely give my exercise the boost that it needs. Once I get my other equipment back from Lynne I'll be all set to really get exercising hard. Then I just need to sell my treadmill. I'm afraid we're not really suited for each other however hard I try!

More Food Talk

Last night I made the perfect omelette. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love omelettes and how crap I am at cooking them. Even having a proper pan and following recipes doesn't help, for some reason they start out OK and end up a complete mess. But no more. Now I am a domestic goddess an omelette is no challenge. Well, it is actually - but last night I made the most perfectly proportioned, perfectly cooked, exquisite cheese and mushroom omelette which I served with a salad of baby leaves - it was almost a shame to eat it.

This morning I had breakfast with Annette at the Metro cafe which we were checking did cooked breakfasts for when Lynne and I go to Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks time (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Had bacon and scrambled eggs, which was very nice but didn't keep me filled up all morning. By 11am I was starving, but made do with a handful of pine nuts to tide me over to lunch (don't have this problem with the protein shakes). Lunch was a salad nicoise which was tasty, but I was wishing was a bit bigger.

Someone on the IPD forum has posted a recipe for an almond pancake type thing which can be used as a base for a pizza, as a sweet dish with cinnamon & splenda or even better still, toasted and eaten with butter and marmite. I can't explain how incredibly excited I am at the idea of being able to eat marmite on hot buttered anything (yes I know my life really is that sad), and other people who've tried it have all said it was wonderful. Looks like I shall be baking again tonight.

Day 30

I've reached day 30 of the IPD. So how am I feeling? Well actually I feel great. I love the food, I even love shopping for and preparing the food and I feel generally happier than I have done for years. I feel healthier, I'm sleeping better and I don't have any of the bloating, or over-full feelings that I used to spend so much time with. No sudden stomach cramps and best of all no wind!

I haven't had any chocolate, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, fruit, vegetables that aren't green, milk or yoghurt during the 30 days and with the exception of bananas (not sure why it was those) I haven't missed any of them - not even during the TOTM as I had the lovely P1 cheesecake to keep me company. I have now had a few glasses of wine, but that is going to be an occasional exception rather than a rule as I know it will stall me if I get back on the alcohol - I really would love a Jack Daniels though! I am sure that my attitude towards food is finally changing and I am thoroughly enjoying all the food I eat rather than just treating it as fuel and love trying new recipes and new foods - so many things I've discovered I adore that I'd never tried and probably still would never have done without the IPD.

Best of all, 30 days in and I'm still feeling incredibly positive about this whole way of eating. I am sure this is right for me, and the fact I feel so good proves it. Normally by now I'd either have given up or got so used to the routine I'd have let it slip a bit, but I'm still completely on top of sticking to P1 and don't feel any hardship doing so. Long may it continue.

As we say on the IPD forum onwards and inwards!

Feeling Down

So today was weigh day. I guess the alcohol etc. was more of a staller than anticipated, and although I was feeling thinner, I have lost no weight and neither have I lost any inches. This left me quite down and the crappy weather doesn't help. I can put up with not losing weight or not losing inches, but to stay exactly the same when I've worked so hard is really difficult to take. Still I suppose at least I didn't put on this week.

I know that I really need to increase my exercise. The walking I do currently just isn't enough, even including the walking up and down stairs that I am doing at work now. I really do HAVE to find time to use my treadmill and build it up to the 5 miles a day that is recommended (the weather is too foul to go outside atm). I am starting yoga classes tonight, but I'm not sure that'll show too much in the short term so the walking it has to be.

Meanwhile I need to closely examine what I'm eating. I am trying not to have too many creamy things in 1 day or too many cheesy things, but this isn't always easy. I may have to go back to sticking to the book religiously for the next couple of weeks - it seems to go wrong when I have to make up my own menus!

Anyway today started with a protein shake (thinking that I may have to change the formula of these a little too, although annoying as I've found the perfect forumla for me), followed by lunch of 1/2 butternut squash roasted in garlic olive oil covered in bacon and a little melted cheese. No decision on dinner yet.

Not too far off track

OK So I went out for lunch with Pauline and Kev. There was much discussion of where to go, Pizza Express (lovely salads), a pasta place (lovely salads) but we ended up at the Tappit Hen (lovely sandwiches!). Yep they don't really cater for the ipd'er, however they did do a few sharing plates that were the closest I could get. So we had share plates of cumberland sausages with mustard mayo (somewhat pricey at £6.45 for 2 sausages I thought!), feta cheese, olives, hoummus and pitta bread (I only ate the cheese) and nachos with all the trimmings (which I didn't eat any of, although it was really hard not to). So I am really pleased with myself for managing to stick as close to the diet as possible. However, I did have 3 small glasses of wine and boy did I notice it!

Getting back to work we had a staff meeting and Ozzie had bought everyone chocolate doughnuts from MacDonalds. I was really good and didn't have mine, instead sipping on rooibos and vanilla tea and water. Feeling very virtuous I felt justified in having a lovely dinner.

And it was lovely, although made up of bits and pieces as I really need to go shopping later. I had the other portion of pork stroganoff that I made last week, with celeriac mash, buttered spinach, beans and broccoli, followed by cinnamon pecans on a spoonful of cinnamon creme fraiche with 2 cups of rooibos and caramel tea.

Feeling nice and full now and ready for a snooze, but I really need to go shopping before I go to bed as I have no food for breakfast tomorrow.

Sugar Cravings

Well today has been a strange one. Started the day well with a protein shake (surprise surprise), followed by lunch of bacon, eggs and tomato again. Then it went a bit funny. I was working on some boring spreadsheets and suddenly felt a major craving for something sweet. I had a glass of water, but that didn't diminish the problem. I had a peperami, but it was definitely sweet stuff I was craving. I posted a message on IPD hoping to get some ideas of what I could have, but instead I got a lecture on the perils of keeping chocolate in the home (I have a stack of it, but it wasn't craving chocolate I was craving it was a banana) and told to go for a walk. That wasn't a viable option at the time, so I did a bit of washing up and then found a recipe for some pecans so I microwaved them with a little butter then added some splenda and some cinnamon and gave it a good shake. Very nice and just what I needed to get over the craving. This evening I had steak in a pepper sauce with an avocado salad and a little cauli/broccoli mash. Tomorrow I am going out for lunch with Pauline and Kev so dread to think what I'll be eating and drinking!

Head Issues

Haven't posted for a few days as I've been a bit busy and also because I needed to think what to write. Although not surprised at my lack of weight loss last week, I was obviously a bit disappointed, and even more so when a friend from UKS who has started doing the slimfast diet (and not very well either I might add) announced that she'd lost 9lb in 5 days! Yes I know that me losing it slower is likely to keep it off longer and that most of what she's lost will be water retention, but it's still hard to take, especially when you read the amount of crap she is eating every day. In fact I started Saturday morning feeling more depressed than I've felt for ages. Fortunately, my mates were all supportive and helped me through my mini crisis without any slips.

I had been out on Friday night for Annette's birthday and had 2 small glasses of wine over the course of the evening, as well as several pints of water. It was interesting then to see the level of depression that hit me the following day over the weight issue, which was out of all proportion. Now I know my mood swings have been fairly stable since starting ipd, so I shall be keeping an eye on my moods after alcohol in future, as this obviously does affect me.

Saturday evening Andrea, Chris and I went to the pub for the evening. I had decided that I was going to have a drink, but then couldn't decide which of my limited options to go for and in the end drank water all evening instead. This wasn't a hardship and I still had a good evening.

I've changed my weekend food routine slightly, firstly in a bid to not get bored with the same food and secondly because I've become addicted to the protein shakes. On each day I've had a protein shake for breakfast. On Saturday I had my usual breakfast - smoked salmon, avocado and philly roll ups for lunch followed by a chicken & bacon salad with lemon & white wine vinaigrette for dinner, with a piece of the cheesecake for a late night snack. Yesterday I had an omelette for lunch (which I never got to finish until after work as we were so busy) and a late night meal of faux shepherds pie with green vegetables.

It's that time again

Yesterday was weigh-in day. Wasn't feeling very optimistic as its TOTM but had to do it anyway. Sure enough I'd gained 2lbs. Managed not to feel too bad about it though as I'm sure it'll shift eventually. It helped that I'd lost another 3" from my bust, waist & hips and I think in some ways losing the inches is more important than the pounds anyway, although I do feel like I'm doing the okie cokie - gain 2lb, lose 3lb, gain 2lb. I need the whoosh fairy to come and visit.

I also need to examine my diet. I've been using fitday to keep track and while I know it isn't perfect it does give me a good idea of what I'm putting in my body. I had read somewhere on the forum that the balance should be 70% fat/25% protein/5% carbs, however yesterday India said that when she was doing hardcore phase 1 she had a ratio of 60%/35%/5%. Doing a report for the last month shows that my levels are 67%/27%/6%. Now this includes a week of the WW plan so it'll be another week before I get my true ipd reading, but I've noticed that on a daily scale my fat levels are a bit high and i'm not even getting to 20g of carbs on some days. Bit of tinkering will be required I think as I know I have to have fat at every meal, but I need to make sure I'm not overdoing it and need to eat more green leafy vegetables.

Talking of which, anyone know how to cook spinach properly? I had buttered spinach with my chili bake yesterday lunchtime and tbh it left a bit to be desired. My method was to wilt it in a steamer for a few minutes and then having got rid of the water put the spinach in the pan and chuck some butter in. Frankly it tasted like pond weed so I'm sure I must be doing something wrong. I tried creamed spinach a couple of weeks ago and it turned out similar. Help please with any ideas for great spinach.

So I finally got the chili bake made on Wednesday evening and it was scrummy (thanks again to Bee for a fabulous recipe). Yesterday's meals were a protein shake for breakfast (I'm really getting into them and they are really filling), some more chili bake for lunch (although I couldn't eat the whole portion as I was stuffed) and after an evening of cupboard sorting, which left me not feeling very hungry I had some ham, philly & avocado rollups, which was then followed by an attack of the munchies so I also polished off the 3 sausages that I had left over from the other day. I did manage to keep away from the cheesecake though.

Getting Sorted ... Slowly!

Didn't have time to post last night as I was busy cooking again and didn't finish until almost midnight. On Monday I finally cracked the problem of protein shakes. I usually have a shake on Monday evening to save me having to cook before work and on days when I'm not feeling hungry, however they are not the most inspiring drink in the world (although I have the chocolate one which I understand is slightly better than some of the other flavours) and I find that after a couple of hours I start to feel hungry again. I had spotted a thread on P2T about protein shakes and a suggestion was made that a spoonful of peanut butter be added to the mix. I still had cream/soya mixture left from the celeriac dish and I used that plus a little more soya with the peanut butter to create a 400ml drink instead of the 250ml one I usually have. It tasted lovely and better still kept me full up all evening.

In fact it kept me full up for longer than that as I wasn't hungry when I woke yesterday and eventually had to force myself to have another shake (there was no way I could manage anything else) at about 11am. Of course this had the knock on effect that I wasn't hungry for lunch and ended up having some mini bratwurst at about 3pm. So dinner, which was supposed to be chili bake ended up being pushed later too.

Of course, if I'd bothered reading the recipe closely I'd have realised it took about 3 hours to make and would have started making it earlier, instead I started at about 8pm. By 10pm the mince was done but it needed to cool before I could make the topping. I realised it would be too late by the time it was finished, and wasn't sure about how the topping would reheat, so decided to leave the bake till this evening, instead knocking up a couple of burgers from the left over mince with some onion and mushroom blended in which I had with a salad and mayo - very tasty!

Then I made another batch of breakfast muffins in my new muffin tin. They were absolutely perfect, and I had 3 of them this morning, leaving 3 for Friday morning. Finally I prepared a prawn salad with lemon and dill mayo for today's lunch - which unfortunately I left at home this morning. Grabbing a box quickly on the way out the door, I managed to pick up the remaining lettuce rather than my beautifully prepared salad. Not the most exciting lunch ever, although I did manage to get a tina pot of tuna from the canteen for £1 and the mayo helped to disguise the taste of the lettuce somewhat.

I also got the all clear to take up yoga from the doctor yesterday afternoon and have ordered my mat (the only essential item apparently) in purple of course. Hopefully that will arrive this weekend and I can start classes next week.

Treats

As I had another day's holiday today I thought I would go over to Bluewater to get a few bits and pieces. First stop was Holland & Barrett to stock up on my choco teabags which I'm almost out of (I do love having one of these last thing in the evening with a little double cream) followed by a trip to Lakeland to get a salt pig, kitchen timer and muffin tin. The last was a bit tricky as all the decent size tins are too big to fit into my oven, but I finally got one, although it's a bit of a funny shape. I then went to New Look and Evans for a browse and got some trousers for exercising and control knickers.

I found the clothes shopping to be a depressing experience, but instead of acting as I would do normally by treating myself to something to eat and drink to cheer myself up, I headed to the Body Shop (not somewhere I would usually visit) to have a look at their body brushes. Whilst I was there the girl gave me a facial and demonstrated their new anti-cellulite & firming lotion range. I was amazed at what a difference one application made to my arms so I treated myself to a couple of items and this cheered me up considerably. I think this will be more effective than body brushing for me. After that I thought I'd better leave before I spent any more money. *LOL*

Lunch was the burgers left over from yesterday served yet again in mushroom 'bun' with a little blue cheese melted over the top and a side salad of rocket. As I'm working tonight dinner is likely to be a protein shake oh and of course some cheesecake as a snack this afternoon.

Lots of new tastes

I haven't posted for a few days as I've been busy cybercropping but things are still going well, although my addiction to sweet stuff is alarming, but I think once my TOM is over that'll go again.

On Friday had a me day and went over to Maidstone to visit Lidl. Not a shop I'd ever really thought about much before, but someone mentioned they were selling fitness equipment in their weekly special so thought I'd go and have a nose. I got a rather nice pair of walking trainers, some properly designed walking socks (don't even ask) and a set of weights (need to tone up those bingo wings and the can of custard just isn't cutting it). I also bought a whole load of shopping at a bargain price - getting lots of things I wouldn't normally be able to pick up like mini bratwurst & crayfish. En route back from Maidstone I stopped at Waitrose and finished my shopping - much more expensive, but bought some nice quality items that I wouldn't normally have from somewhere like Asda.

So Friday night I treated myself to a gorgeous pork stroganoff (a recipe by Passley from the forum) with steamed green vegetables followed by a piece of cheesecake (orange & ginger this week). Yesterday I managed to slot in some cooking between LO's and bingo and made limey salmon with a celeriac dauphinoise and a green salad followed by the last of my raspberry mousse. I did succumb to another bit of cheesecake later - but that was about 3am when I was battling to get the last few things done for the CC before I went to bed.

No time to CC today because of work and it will be finished by the time I get home so have time to make some burgers (another Passley recipe) before the closing party tonight.

Still feeling very positive about the diet - now I just have to sort out the exercise. I have made enquiries about a yoga class that takes place just up the road on Thursday evenings. The lady who runs it (Jennifer) said she was sure that I would be able to do yoga as long as my doctor says that I can do it. So I suppose I need to make an appointment to see him now to get the all clear.

Feeling distinctly twiggy today

Today was weigh day and I was feeling quite worried about getting on the scales in case I'd gained even more weight than last week. I have managed to keep off the scales all week which has helped to keep me postive, but wasn't sure the cheesecake would have helped (hard to believe puddings are OK when you're trying to lose weight). Finally, I forced myself onto them and wooohooo - I've lost 3 3/4lbs - taking my total weightloss to 12 1/4lbs.

This inspired me to finally move the treadmill into the bedroom and actually use it. It'll take a while to get back into the swing of using it, but doing it over the course of a day in small chunks helps. You never know I may even end up getting out my fitness videos. I desperately need a new pair of trainers though as mine are giving my feet serious pain.

Cue twig feeling no. 2. Trying to find the right clothing to walk in I put on a pair of lycra crop trousers (which were part of a set that I wore last year with a matching top and devore overshirt) that I thought would be perfect. They were so big I couldn't keep them on properly. This gave me a fantastic feeling obviously and convinces me that my dress is getting closer every day.

Today's food is a nice mixture - some of the breakfast muffins, they taste much better than they look (need to practice with them further as other on P2T have successfully used paper cases), butternut squash soup followed by a rocket, avocado and parmesan salad with a strip of smoked mackerel and a raspberry mousse. Tonight is pan fried salmon with cauli mash and steamed vegetables in butter.

Off to do a bit more walking.

How Stupid is This?

This morning I bought a box of orbit complete chewing gum. Of course I wasn't really thinking about carbs when I got it (must change that mindset), but it's OK 'cos it's sugarfree. Just looking at the box I notice that per 100g there are 60g of carbs - that is absolutely HUGE! Of course I can't work out the carb content because whilst they cleverly give all that nutritional information they don't actually bother to give a weight anywhere on the box so I've no idea what each piece of gum weighs.

How Not To Cook!

Today gave me my first bad cooking day. I decided to make the breakfast muffins in the PB, although in reduced quantities, but I don't have a muffin tin due to only having a small oven. Instead I decided to use my yorkshire pud tin with muffin cases. This is a BAD idea when talking about an egg & cream mixture. Yep, before I knew it the cases were crumbling and the contents was spilling out all over the baking tray. I did get some muffins, but they weren't as impressive as they could be and of course they've stuck to the paper cases as well. A small muffin tin has been added to my list of things I need to buy, along with a swiss roll tin as I've seen a recipe for a spinach roulade I want to try.

I knew it ...

Making the cheesecake was a mistake. I am obsessing about it and can't get through a day without eating a piece even after freezing the remaining pieces and promising myself I wasn't having another piece until after my Thursday weigh-in. Not so bad today when I hadn't had a huge intake of calories (I know I'm not calorie counting and the forum warns against it, but I can't help thinking it must make a difference), but yesterday when I had so much to eat it put my calorie count sky high. Worse still I missed tea tonight, having a protein shake instead so that I could have a piece. Maybe rather than trying to save it I should just eat the rest of it and then it's gone. I'm sure the sugar craving wasn't helped by my friend at work giving me 2 cadbury's cream eggs this morning for copying some cds for him - I didn't want them, but did get the craving for the cheesecake (because I know it's doable on P1). The eggs went into my desk drawer where they'll stay till I find someone to give them to.

I know that part of the problem is with fitday. Firstly being american it's hard to get the quantities right, also they calculate carbs differently so the reading comes out much higher - however I'm still having trouble getting to the 70/20/10 ratio for fat/protein/carbs. Today for instance I managed 7% of carbs and that's only because butternut squash shows so high on fitday. In order for my fat levels to reach 70% I would have to increase my calorie intake hugely. I had decided that my cheese intake is too large although bizarrely when I actually worked it out over the space of 13 days it works out at approx 2oz a day - which is hardly anything. What I have to do is not have cheese in a meal and then as a snack - either one or the other (this means finding other snack food). The other area I may need to check is on the cream. I seem to be getting through an extraordinary quantity (although not compared to some people on the forum who use 250ml+ a day!) although of course quite a bit went into the cheesecake as well. My jeans are definitely feeling looser this week and I am desperately hoping for a weight loss rather than just inches - although inches would obviously do rather than nothing!

What I need to do next is to increase my exercise. I've been completely pony at the walking so far especially considering the lovely weather, the main problem being that when I work at the pub I walk about 5 or 6 miles behind the bar and I end up offsetting that against the other days, almost all of which I end up with a healthy mark on my pedometer (last Thursday when I couldn't even be bothered to get dressed was an exception). Also at work I am still walking down the stairs (120 of them) instead of getting the lift and have started getting out at the 5th floor on the way up and walking the extra flight (to be built up over a number of weeks until I walk upstairs as well as down) and so trying to be motivated to go out walking (and around the block isn't the most inspiring walk ever) is hard plus my foot has been hurting quite badly for the last few weeks and so I find walking a bit of a trial anyway. I have been doing my upper arm exercises using an illegal can of custard (unfortunately only the 1 can so I have to do each arm separately) in an effort to try and tone up my bingo wings, but I am aware that my exercise levels should be increasing (the pink bible tells me so) and so I need to find something else to do. Time to find my old fitness videos and get back my gym equipment from Lynne - and I really MUST make the effort to at least use my treadmill daily if i don't go out walking!

Hunger ... or lack of it

This morning I woke up starving. This is the first time I've felt like that in ages and I wonder if it has anything to do with the sweetness of the cheesecake from last night. However, my weekend breakfast of smoked salmon, avocado and philly roll ups and a cup of rooibos, along with a couple of pints of water soon sorted that out. Unfortunately, it didn't last a long as I'd hoped. I didn't drink as much water as I should have done at the pub and I was soon starving again - especially as everyone seemed to be eating today and I spent most of my time delivering delicious smelling meals. I had celery with a bit of philly in, with some wafer thin ham wrapped round each piece to try and make it more attractive (I'm not keen on celery) obviously not quite the meal that I needed and it didn't really do much to fill me up. So when I got home I had a snack of thai salmon fishcakes with a spoonful of mayo. This was followed a few hours later by a lovingly prepared chicken, cheese & bacon melt with cauli & broccoli mash, asparagus, courgettes & buttered spinach. By now I wasn't hungry though and 1/2 way through I decided I couldn't eat any more even though it tasted lovely and left it. Of course I have managed to find space for another bit of cheesecake (the rest has been frozen and I'm hoping to forget about it for a day or 2) but I am now feeling comfortably full and in need of a snooze - but I have butternut squash soup to make for lunch tomorrow first.

Virtue and the Saboteurs

No longer am I Delia Smith, I've become Nigella Lawson - I truly am a domestic goddess as I've made a lemon, lime & ginger cheesecake - the first dessert that I've made from scratch for about a million years. I made it because I was feeling particularly virtuous today so it's a treat for me (the first sweet thing (and that includes no sweeteners in my tea) that I've had since starting the IPD) and I am desperately waiting for it to set so I can have a slice. It's from a recipe by the wonderful Bee on the IPD forum who is herself a domestic goddess and has kindly devised this and many other fantastic carb-friendly recipes which are good for phase oners. I don't want to get into the habit of making too many desserts as I don't want to become dependent on sugar/sweeteners again, although I have also taken note of a custard recipe and a faux pecan pie one too (useful for TOTM I'm thinking) .

The reason I'm feeling so virtuous?

Firstly my shopping basket last night (I love going shopping at 1am, so quiet and very therapeutic) was full of cauliflowers and green stuff - in fact the checkout woman commented on how much I must love cauliflower! Such a change from a few weeks ago when I had to force myself to buy the stuff. Of course I can still only eat it with broccoli as a mash, but that tastes so scrummy I'm happy to have it.

Secondly, having tried a zillion teas and having bought a HUGE box of Tetley decaffeinated teabags 'cos they were cheaper than the small box last night which I tried this morning and were foul (the tea is fine but I really can't drink it with double cream and having already given up sweeteners I just can't forgo the milk too, and I can't even bear the idea of soya milk at the moment) I've finally got to grips with the rooibos. I have been managing to drink the vanilla version for the last couple of days, but today my hayfever has kicked in so I have a blocked nose and can't smell the tea properly. It's made a huge difference, without the smell to put me off I can drink it quite happily. Hopefully once I can smell it again I'll be so used to it I won't even notice the smell.

Thirdly, someone at the pub noticed that I've lost weight (although of course it's not weight but inches). It was only 1 person, but her comment was enough to have me floating on a cloud.

Finally, I overcame some saboteurs at the pub and I'm really pleased with myself for doing so. Obviously I am still not drinking any alcohol as I'm in my first 2 weeks, so upon finishing work I went to sit with the usual crew, having a glass of sparkling water instead of my usual snakebite. I was asked at least 6 times what I was drinking and was offered a snakebite by at least 4 of them. They tried everything, telling me I looked unhappy drinking water (no I wasn't I love water and drink loads of it), saying they couldn't bear the idea that I had to drink water so they'd buy me a pint, that only 1 pint wouldn't hurt after doing so well etc. Only 1 person bought me another water and he commented that he was impressed with my resolve. Funnily enough I didn't actually want a drink (maybe I was too eager to get home and make my cheesecake) but it was interesting to see the saboteurs at work. Yet again I had read in the PB about this, but hadn't expected to see it in action quite so soon - although to be fair no-one there knew that I'm on the IPD and few of them could imagine being in the pub without any alcohol.

So I'm feeling virtuous, I'm feeling healthy and feeling thinner too which is a good thing!