NEED TO PLAN THE PERFECT PICNIC?

I had a great week, for the the first time in a long time my mood stayed up. At last things seem to be going right for me. I have been following the plan all week just one or two strays but nothing to jeopardise the weigh in. I am drinking 2 litres of water everyday, I fill a 2 litre bottle and keep sipping at it all day. Hopefully all going well I will get to Monday with out any major distractions to throw me off course. 

I have to get my head in the summer school holiday zone. Major planning is the only option I have. With the children being here everyday there will be days out and temptations galore. I cant make the plans now because we cant plan our days out untill each day so I will have to stay strong to resist temptation. What I will do is to check out different options online for places to go and see what kind of plans I can have in the pipeline. A lot of what we do this summer will involve picnics and every other year it was easy, we just ate lots of sandwiches. I cant do that now, So todays blog is about healthy picnic ideas and recipes.

I love picnics anywhere even in the car if its raining. When planning a picnic you have to be prepared. Its not just as simple as a place, a blanket and a sandwich. 

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A WONDERFUL START TO MY WEEK

Good afternoon everyone, I am in such a great mood today. Last night at weigh in I lost 2.5lb which put me back on track and a 1lb onto my 3rd stone. I have managed to get over the wall and I'm heading towards my next goal. I also got slimmer of the week at group and that just made my day. My hard work paid off last week and I feel so good about myself. The awards are taking over my fridge door. 

The only thing I cant seem to stop is my craving for cheese. I never realised how much I loved cheese until I was told I can only have 30g for a healthy extra option. So I need a cheese distraction!! I browsed a few articles on the Internet and the options so far are to 1. just stop eating cheese. 2. eat more healthier foods and my body wont crave cheese! and 3. Find out what my emotional attachment is to cheese The last one made me laugh, do I have an emotional attachment to cheese? I know I am and emotional eater but what emotion does cheese help?

Today I had a stressful couple of hours and when it was all over the first thing I wanted to do was eat cheese. Is this the emotion cheese is helping me with stress and tension? Thinking about it I have been stress eating for a long time. Before I joined slimming World a lot of my meals would include cheese : cheese on toast, Cheese sauce with dinners, cheese on crackers and extra cheese on Pizza's. Have I made a discovery? I have looked up foods that help with stress and I will pop them into my food plan this week and see how I get on. Broccoli, Wholewheat rice and Pasta, Beef, Fish, Cantaloupe, Blueberries are a few of the foods I can start with to see how I get on. Hopefully its another step in the right direction. At the minute there isn't much I can do to alleviate the stress in my life. I have done a lot of work to improve my lifestyle but somethings cant be changed for a little while yet. I have to learn how to feel the emotions I go through and not feed myself to hide the emotions. 

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NOT DOING TOO BAD AT ALL

Hey folks, I am quite pleased with the way things have been going for me lately with a maintain last week and a half lb off this week I am still on track. I have been taking things easier on myself and putting thought into my days. Last week was spent experimenting with different foods to find things that I can enjoy and eat a lot of without doing damage to the plan. This didn't come without the odd hiccup firstly there was the bad porridge experience when I decided to mix a coconut Greek yogurt with it to jazz up my mornings. First spoonful was weird, then the second, by the 3rd I wasn't liking it and by the 5th I was puking in the sink. This put me off my beloved Greek style yoghurt's for the rest of the week. I decided to stick to my menu of porridge made with water with a little sweetener because sometimes plain is nicer than fancy. 

I had success with a Chili Beef dish and also with a Beef Casserole done in the slow oven for 6 hours served with lots of veg. There was so much of the casserole that I filled up on it twice!! I had some of the low syn sausages that I love but I think I have to limit myself to only buying a few because I ate 8 in one day :-/ I had a disaster with a rotten apple and some manky raspberries but its all trial and error when you are trying out new things. 

My experiment this week is to find foods that are easily stored or frozen. I am also writing my recipes down as Invent dishes that work for me this keeps me occupied and out of the presses and fridge. I'm enjoying my journey again and I remind myself in the morning of what my dreams are and what I want to achieve. When January 2013 comes around I will have gotten rid of a load of fat that was annoying me last January and I will have finally carried something through. I will be 1/3 of the way to my target and I will be delighted with myself. 

Last nights group was great craic everyone was doing well and there were a few targets achieved so the spirits were high. Myself and the lovely looking lady that gives me a lift home ( I have to say that she reads my blogs) were bouncing off each other and for some strange reason everyone in group thought we were being rude but I think it was their dirty minds because I know we were innocent. Group is great if it was on every night of the week I would go to it. G our consultant is a fantastic person she has been on the journey and still is so she knows exactly what its like to have good and bad days. That woman really is doing amazing work because without her support I know I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago.

I haven't felt alone in the last few weeks because I'm using the people around me to guide me through the dark days and I should have been doing this all along. I'm not going to dwell on the shoulda coulda woulda's I'm in the here and now. Right here and now I'm happy and I'm following the right path and I know that I will be picking up a long coveted award next Monday because I owe it to myself.

 I am reading this everyday to keep myself going its a bit harsh but its true.

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DISTRACTED BY LIFE

Its been a weeks or so since I blogged and the only reason for this was Life. I was distracted by life, which for me was a good and a bad thing. The good thing is, I have been more active since my last post than I have been in a long time. The dog loves me and now begs me for walks instead of Mr Bru. The kids are enjoying the trips out to forests and parks and I am actually enjoying spending even more time with all of them. I have a new lease of life and I am actually suggesting we go out walking, Which  Mr Bru found weird at first. The Bad thing is that I have been sitting on my laptop letting silly things distract me from doing my everyday planning. I have been playing games more than planning meals, things to do and even keeping in touch with people.


As I sit here now the sky is dull and gloomy and it has been raining since last night. My mood isn't great and I have just been eating anything today. I didn't even think about health and weight loss. That's when I realised I need to blog to distract me and get me back on track. Just because the picture outside is dull and dismal does not mean that my day has to be dull and dismal. So I have to come up with a plan for the rest of the day and my week. Walking is out the window and I need to undo the damage of 2 sausage rolls and a cream bun (I seems worse now than I thought this morning) I have been watching a Fitness TV channel and in the evening the workouts aren't to hard so I am going to try and follow one when the 2 younger ones are in bed. 


When you think about it there are loads of things around to help you on a weight loss journey. When I was minding the baby this morning I put her in her pram and then pushed the pram with my feet. While I was doing it I realised that this would help tone my muscles. I have her 2 - 3 days a week so that could be a workout for me. I have weights upstairs but they are a bit heavy at the minute so I could use tins of beans as weights to start off with and or even a kilo bag of sugar. There really is no excuse not to get some exercise on a rainy day. 

Don't let life distract you in the wrong way. Use the Internet to look for ways to help you exercise, plan your workouts they don't have to be too strenuous. Look around your home and find things to use. Don't just sit and say "ah sure I cant get out and I have nothing here in the house" It only takes 30 minutes of any exercise to get fit and healthy. I have researched a few things to kick us off so I hope it helps you and me. 

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BEING A LOSER 2 WEEKS IN A ROW

I finally got a loss 2 weeks in a row and it has boosted me no end. I feel great about myself and positive that I can do this right again and stay on target. I changed a lot of things to get this loss. I realised that I wasn't eating enough vegetables with my meals so now I cook 3 or 4 types and fill the plate with more veg than meat or potatoes. I was only eating bananas and apples so I added oranges mandarins and grapes to the menu. I stocked up with more yoghurt's too. I have my 2 stone loss back with 4 lbs into my 3rd stone a total of 32 lbs and 3 dress sizes gone. I have my determination back again and I'm so glad its back.

My only downfall is cheese it seems to have a spell on me. I have an addictive personality and I get rid of one addiction and replace it with another. I got rid of cigarettes and replaced them with food. Since joining slimming world I seem to have developed an even bigger addiction to cheese. My plan this week is to just use my 30g Cheddar allowance per day and not have any extra as syns. I just need to be strong and remind myself everyday that cheese is making me go backwards. I want so much to have that extra stone for Christmas and its only 10lb away. It will be my Christmas present too myself.

I don't spoil myself enough and I think that may be why I'm indulging in cheese, So I decided its time to treat myself. Money is tight so I have made a plan things that I can do to pamper myself that wont break the bank. The list is made up of things like a foot soak, Doing my nails, a home facial. Its so easy to neglect ourselves when we have families or jobs to do. I know personally that when I neglect myself I start to feel down and when I get down I start to punish myself and put myself down. This wrecks the weight loss journey because I turn to food to comfort myself. Then the weight piles back on and the food comforts me again and the next thing I know I'm on that vicious circle again. I have looked up some home made remedies to help me so I will share my findings here if anyone wants to try them too.

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LIFE IS HECTIC

I just realised today that I haven't blogged in ages. Everything has changed for me in the last 2weeks. Our circumstances have changed and we have to move house. At first I was devastated and really didn't want to have to do it but now the excitement has kicked in and I'm looking forward to this new adventure. 

I see it as a new chapter on my journey, 2012 was the year of change for me so obviously part of the change was  a change of address. It is making things a bit harder on my food plans because planning ahead isn't as easy as it was before. We have so many things to sort our before we move that I forget to keep track of my eating habits. I try my best but in a week or two when everything is settled I will be back on track properly. 

MrBru is also starting a 3 day week on the 30th so that has thrown a spanner into the works also. Trying to balance the books so we don't get into financial stress (anymore than we already are). There are loads of people in the same position if not worse than us so the best thing to do is to get on with things and not let them overwhelm me. Things are always as bad as they seem and everything does happen for a reason. I'm looking on this as a positive and the outcome of it all will be great. 

I wont be about for a little while and as soon as I have settled into my new home I will be back blogging like before. Talk to you soon :)

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LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Time for a catch up again. After my 4lb gain 2 weeks ago I got 3lb off this week which lifted my spirits. I'm like a yo yo this past few weeks putting it on getting it off again but the main thing is that I'm still 2 stone lighter this year. As long as I have a loss by the end of the year I will have succeeded in my goal for the year. 

I'm really struggling with myself lately and I cant really pin point what is wrong. I take the whole thing really serious for a day or 2 and then I say "ah Fuck it" and just eat what I want. I know the food optimising plan is brilliant and it really does work so why am I not doing it to the best of my ability? Take today for example, I woke up thinking no bread today and no matter what I was sticking to plan. I got up out of bed, got the kids sorted, out to school and put the kettle on. I was pottering about the kitchen and everything seemed to bug me. I don't have that much housework to do today, there are only 3 bowls, spoons and a knife to be washed. The floor has to be hoovered and I suppose I could run the mop over the bathroom floor. That's about all that needs doing. No doubt others would say there is loads more to be done but hey, they can come and do it for me :-) 

My head feels heavy and I just feel crap not in a physical illness kind of a way just a general downer type of feeling. I suppose everyday things are on my mind like bills and stuff but that shouldn't stop me from sticking to the eating plan. I made coffee and when I went to the cupboard for the sweetener I found a pack of biscuits and without thinking I ate 4 with butter on them. There are none left now I suppose that's a plus, but what gets me is that I can so easily just lift something and eat it with out even thinking about it. Does that mean I don't want this weight loss? Am I as serious about it as I think? 

I really don't have the answers to this yet but I will work on it today. I have a ham fillet ready to boil and I plan on making rice and vegetables with it and I wont eat anything else off plan. How can I get the answers to these questions? How can I get these bad habits to go away? I will spend the day trying to figure myself out. I'm sure the answers are in there somewhere but right now I cant see whats going on. This has been going on for years, I start off great and after a while I just don't care. I know all the good things, the bad things and the not so bad things. I have educated myself over the years on what should and shouldn't be done. I know that you must exercise to keep the balance going and its not even strenuous exercise either. You can do at least 15 minutes a day of anything that gets your heart racing.

Time to get the housework done and I suppose I could do that bit extra to keep me occupied and away from the Kitchen. Have a nice day everyone and hopefully it will pick up for us all. After spell checking and proof reading this blog I feel a bit better already even the sun has broken through the clouds to shine on me. They reckon staying positive is the way to get through your life and I'm going to concentrate on that and see how I get on.

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