A Graceful Descent

[Mifford]

well today started off good .....

I should probably leave this post at that point lol I ended up going to Bluewater with a friend and had lunch up there. I was feeling really dizzy and rough and kind of hypoglycaemic and just not good to be honest - I think I might try and see if I can get my next thyroid blood test brought forward maybe to see if that's what is going on. Anyway, I ended up that I just couldn't work out what I wanted to eat for lunch and nothing was great so I actually went with a Macdonald's chicken nugget happy meal with small fries ... and the killer was probably the little banana milkshake with it as well when orange juice would have done the trick just as well without so many points. Oh well.

I then went on to have a mango cooler thing from Costa later as well thinking it wouldn't be too bad so was shocked to find out it was 5 points for the entire thing when I got back - luckily I didn't drink all of it so I'm taking it as 4 points when it may have actually been a bit less.

So far today has gone as follows:-

Breakfast

Toast with WW bread (3)
Banana oat smoothie (4)
Milk throughout day (3)

Lunch

Macdonald's happy meal with milkshake - calculated based on their nutritional info for the entire meal (17)

Snack

Mango cooler (4)
Slice of WW bread (1)

So that's my 32 for the day gone and I haven't had dinner yet. On the bright side I have the most pounding headache now I'm back - its turning into what I would imagine a migraine feels like pretty quick and all I want to do is drink loads and go and curl up asleep somewhere so I'm not really that fussed about food tonight. I'm going to try making up some cauliflower with philadelphia extra light and maybe a couple of meringue nests with fruit and yoghurt and leave it at just that - I have enough weeklies left to cover it without a problem but I don't want to go too overboard in one day especially since I know I'm up and not feeling good anyway as if it is my thyroid causing me problems then I'm on dodgy ground already.

And I must say the Macdonalds was nice but it wasn't THAT good to make it worth it - next time I think I'll stick with the jacket potato because it might be hard to point but at least it would have been worth it.

 

[Mifford]

back on track today and I gave in to the scales again this morning - back down to where they were at the start of the week so I have no idea what yesterday was. Some kind of bizarre blip I guess. But it did teach me - the scales have gone back away and if I weigh myself at all it will be once a week and that is it!!

Busy day today - I need to rearrange my living room as it really isn't working as it is right now and then I desperately need to mow my lawns, I'm just waiting for the sun to ease off a bit as its too hot right now. I had suggested going on another hike with a friend this afternoon but I'm in two minds about that now - I'm exhausted this week and by the time I've moved furniture and done the garden I'm not sure I wouldn't be over doing it to then go walking as well. I'll see how I feel by this afternoon but I might see if she wants to come round and hit the Wii instead which is usually good for a laugh

So today's menu ...

Breakfast

Scrambled egg on toast (7)

Snack

Pineapple smoothie (2)

Lunch

Feta cheese, walnut and orange salad (8)

Snack

Fruit

Dinner

Pork with ratatouille and new potatoes (7)

Skimmed milk for tea etc (3)

so far = 27/32 I'm sure I'll use up the other 5 with some kind of pudding later or possibly increase the potato with dinner depending on how hungry I am

 

[Mifford]

good morning - running late this morning but woke up feeling a lot brighter than normal which is good.

I was just planning out some of today's food and I have sweetcorn & butterbean chowder I've taken out of the freezer - I put it in my tracker for the full amount of the saved meal I have on there and it said it was 11 points. I'm sure it should be less than that as I don't think I've adjusted for portion size so was trying to look back to see how many I'd pointed it at before but on the tracker it has switched all my past days to "simply filling" so it doesn't give me a true reading which is annoying.

Anyway I then decided to flick back on here and see if I pointed it before. Unfortunately I didn't, although if I put my mind to it I could probably work it out from the other stuff I've had that day, but what I did find was some of the things I was eating at the start such as feta cheese with roasted butternut squash and red onion on a bed of spinach and spaghetti and I'm wondering why I haven't eaten it again since because it was delicious!!!

So my goal for later on this evening is to sit down with my computer and a big note book and start from page 1 on here and go through some of my favourite meals to list them so I don't forget some of the better ones - I don't know about anyone else but when I start a diet I come up with lots of really tasty options and have some really good meals and as I get further along the road I end up falling into a routine or a rut where I go back to eating standard meals all the time and it wouldn't hurt to remember some of the stuff I ate at the start. If I can find the week where I lost 5lbs I might try replicating that one and see what happens! lol

So far today the plan is ...

Breakfast

Gluten free cereal (3)
Milk + for tea etc (3)

Snacks

Grapes
Orange smoothie (3)

Lunch

Feta cheese with roasted butternut squash and beetroot (6)

Dinner

Sweetcorn and butterbean chowder (may as well count the 11 - I have weigh in tomorrow so being generous with my points won't be a bad thing!)

so far = 26/32

I need to pop to the shops at some point today so I will find myself some kind of deserts that I can add in to make up the remaining 6 if I can. Now all that's left to do is actually stick to it .... lol

 

[Michillinwoman]

Hi Miff , just been catching up with your diary. You are doing great with your tracking. You are so adventurous with your food . I tend to stick with the ones I know, which eventually gets boring. Hope you thyroid test confirms your suspicions. I had my bloods done on Friday but no results yet. Its a minefield . Keep up the good work

 

[Mifford]

aha the good thing about living on your own is you don't have to work around what someone else wants to eat - plus I have to stay low carb and gluten free if I can so you have to come up with new ideas. Funnily I feel like for lunch in particular that I'm bored with it and all I want is a sandwich lol

With your blood tests do you get them done in the morning and before you take your meds? If not then make sure they do that in future because it can affect your readings otherwise. Plus when you ring up ask them for the actual results rather than just "normal" so you can follow them yourself - if you keep a record you'll start realising what levels you feel better at and which ones you don't which really helps you take control of it a lot more. I know my readings are within range and the doctors will be happy with them but I also know that anything above about 0.9 tsh for me and I don't feel good - but I know others that can't cope with going that low without feeling hyper. Its so individual on what works for you that if you keep track of it yourself you'll really get a grasp on where you should be to be best for you.

I discovered today that I may not be able to go to the USA in November now I thought I ought to check what the insurance position is for me while I'm waiting to see the neurologist. As I suspected it might be they won't cover it at all until I have a diagnosis or am cleared as having no problem. I managed to get hold of the appointments team and they tell me that I MUST be seen by the consultant by 10 October at the latest and they are just waiting to hear back from the neurology consultant with a date for me. Hopefully it'll be before then but I can't risk booking a trip to the USA until I know it will be covered by insurance because the cost of health cover out there is so high its insane. I'm not worried about anything happening with it but it would be a risk and I just can't afford to take it.

So whether I go or not will now have to wait until after I've seen the consultant before I can make that decision and it'll depend on whether he wants any other tests done or not .... my guess is he's going to want a brain scan as a minimum which means I'll have to go on a waiting list for that and at that point the timing might mean that I just simply have to abandon the plan.

I'm tempting to just say I'm not going to go until next spring and try and find a cheap week all inclusive somewhere hot in europe and just go and sit under an umbrella for a week so now the challenge is just trying to find someone who can come with me as a week in the sun on your own just doesn't sound that exciting to me! lol

Oh and I've increased my point take for today by 3 by having 2 slices of bread with my soup (or that's the plan as haven't had it yet) but I still don't know how to use the last 3 as I failed to make it to the shop today to buy any "snacks". A chocolate milkshake will cover it if I fancy one later but if not I'm not going to worry too much about being under by 3 today as I'm sure as a one off it won't do too much harm.

 

[Mifford]

so tonight is weigh in night and I only need to lose a single ounce to get me back into the 14s. Half a pound will get me to my 5% (I think) and anything above that will cover me for when my parents are here next weekend as I'm pretty certain I'll be lucky to have a STS next weekend as there will be a lot of eating out.

So today's menu has been VERY light! I am not risking not reaching that ounce for anything lol I'm freaking hungry right now but I'm refusing to munch on anything extra but the big fruit salad I made this morning although I have to watch I don't overdo that and end up retaining water!! Oh the games we play just to beat the scales hahahaha

Anyway today ....

Breakfast

Fruit salad (0)

Lunch

4 gluten free crispbreads with low fat brussels pate (6)
Banana (0)

Dinner (after weigh in!)

Breaded scampi with new potatoes and corn on the cob (12)

Snacks

Milk for tea etc (3)
WW bar at meeting to stop my stomach rumbling! (3)

So far planned = 24/32

I may have to find something this afternoon to use up some points and stop me being hungry but that won't show up on the scales lol

 

[Mifford]

I couldn't hold out until this evening so I just made myself the most AMAZING knickerboker glory!!!

First layer = mandarins in juice (drained) (0)
Second layer = sugar free jelly (0)
Third layer = meringue nests broken - I used 2 but only really needed 1 (3)
Fourth layer = more sugar free jelly topped by pot of ambrosia low fat custard (4) - yoghurt would also work for fewer points
Fifth layer = squirty cream (1!!!) I was amazed how low this was in points as it isn't a low fat one and in full honesty I don't think I had as much as 2 tablespoons so probably not even a whole point.

It filled a huge pint glass and felt incredibly indulgent!! All for 8 points in my case but if I only had 1 meringue nest and switched the custard for a tub of mullerlight yoghurt it could easily be switched for 4 points and still be huge and VERY tasty. Or possibly even a weight watchers yoghurt bringing it down to 3 points for a HUGE and very indulgent desert.

I did like it with the custard though so if I have enough points I think its worth the extra - I may have to see if I can find a lower point one that tastes as rich and creamy as the ambrosia. I will definitely be adding squirty cream into my pudding repetoire though - with fruit salad or jelly it'll be a really nice desert without being high in points and that's always a good thing.

I took a photo of it on my phone because I was so impressed so as soon as I have gps signal again I'll email to myself to upload on here - it was seriously THAT good! lol

 

[Mifford]

OK I have a photo on my compuer but can't work out how to post it here - can anyone help? I tried the manage attachment thing but that didn't seem to work and then I tried insert image but I have to have a webpage for that - is there any way of just uploading a jpeg from my computer?

 

[Mifford]

My scales stayed the same this week - I only need an ounce to get back into the 14s so its frustrating as all hell - I knew I shouldn't have eaten this afternoon lol The good news is it wasn't a gain but this coming weekend isn't going to be good for me as my parents are here and we are out 3 days on the trot which won't make it easy to stick to - I'll do my best obviously but I'm not going to spend the whole time panicking trying to stick within my points as the new me doesn't do that any more lol

I have in my head that if I don't lose or even gain this week then that's life and I will just write it off as one of those weeks and get back on track the following week.

But with the weight losses being sooooooo slow there is that worry that I could gain enough to then take 3 or 4 weeks to remove it again! I actually think that its the reduction in my meds about 9 or 10 weeks ago that isn't helping but my blood test isn't for another 3 weeks so I'm going to wait to see the results of that before I start playing with my medication levels as the doctors can't fit me in any earlier at a time that suits me.

I've emailed my leader tonight to ask her advice though - I'm happier eating the simply filling foods but find it a bit too restrictive because I can't eat some of the foods on it due to problems with gluten or wheat but then I eat too many of the healthy and filling foods to be able to make pro points work either. It is ridiculous that when I'm doing propoints I'm having to choose less healthy foods in order to get higher points into a meal just to use them up. So I've suggested that as this weekend won't be good anyway that maybe I try adding up all of my daily points for the next week and then count on a weekly basis rather than daily - that way if I naturally have fewer points one day but then have too many on the weekend the two will counteract each other and spread over the week to be the right amount.

Then going forward I'm going to talk to her about trying a modified version of the simply filling version - if I eat mainly the healthy and filling foods and point them but if I'm under on any day because I've eaten healthier foods then I don't worry about it. I've particularly got in my head things like fish - I've not really been eating that much fish when I'm on propoints because the points on it are too low but its healthy and my body in particular probably needs it for the healthier oils and to help keep up the vitamins that my body struggles with.

Basically I'm wondering if I need to find my own personal unique version of Weight Watchers that takes elements of both versions and comes up with something in between. I'm thinking of calling it Simply Miffy Points - what d'ya think?

 

[Mifford]

So new day, new week - and new challenges. I'm still debating over what I do this week. I think I should try and at least reach 29 points a day if I can as that is the WW minimum but I think I'm probably not going to sweat about getting up to the full 32 that I should have. Or if I've eaten enough during the day so I'm not hungry then maybe just start listening to my body and going by that - we'll see.

If I wasn't eating enough points because I was starving myself or not getting healthy nutrients etc then that would be a problem - but looking back over my diary I'm not doing that and I am eating enough so my body doesn't think its starving its just that I'm eating mainly healthy stuff as I didn't eat the rubbish before I started with WW and to introduce it now just doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway enough of that as keep debating what to do in my head isn't really going to help either lol So today is going something like this ....

Breakfast

Fruit salad topped with muller light yogurt (2)

Lunch

4 gluten free crispbreads (2)
1/3rd tub Sainsbury's be good to yourself brussels pate (3)
Roasted butternut squash in olive oil and beetroot (1)

Dinner

Crispy bacon and bean saute (WW recipe book) =
4 low fat bacon medalions (2)
1/2 can butter beans (3)
Crispy kale (0)
Olive oil (1)
2 tablespoons 1/2 fat creme fraiche (3)
100g new potato (2)

General

Skimmed milk for tea etc (3)

Total so far = 23/32

See why I'm struggling?? That is what I would normally choose to eat and would be very happy with it. There is more than enough food and I'm not likely to go hungry as the meal sizes aren't small and if I'm peckish in between I'll eat a banana or an apple or some other fruit but again although its healthier it doesn't bring the points up. So if I use all of my points today I need to find a way to increase and use up another 9 points. I can have a pot of custard for desert to use 4 of them quite happily but beyond that I'm then adding in foods just for the sake of adding them without actually necessarily wanting or needing it. I'll end up eating a curly wurly just to make up points! Not that I'm complaining because they are very nice but it doesn't really fit in with a plan for life now does it lol

 

[Mifford]

after a few days with my parents here I'm now back - I have weigh in tonight and although I wasn't too bad while they were here I think the cumulative effect of 3 or 4 days of not eating how I should (for me) means that I'll be lucky if I STS tonight and I'm expecting around about a 1lb gain. We'll see.

So I'm counting today as the last day of not giving too much thought to pointing or tracking etc (I'm on track just not logging) and tomorrow is day 1 again. Hopefully I'll have time to discuss all the diet stuff with my leader tonight and come next week I should be able to see how I do on my own version of falling between the two plans.

Right ... I'm now going to go re-read all my food entries because I can't remember what stuff I was eating that I liked and I'm beginning to get to a point of falling back into a rut with what I eat and it needs a bit of sparkle added to it Hope everyone else has done well this week.

 

[Mifford]

0.5lb gain - strangely I'm actually happy with that which shows just how much my attitude has gained as a while back I'd have been panicking that weight had gone on. In reality I had a weekend where I tried to eat as healthily as I could but decided that it wasn't going to be in my control to that degree so to relax and just let it go to get back on track next week. I'm amazed it wasn't more so I'm VERY happy that was all it was.

I also had a discussion with my leader and she's not sure what advice to give me but says her instinct is the same as mine. I'm going to track what I eat this week but stick to what my natural choices would be and not worry about the points and then I will write everything down. We are going to see how I do and she will then take my tracker booklet to her manager to see if she has any advice - if we are then all happy that what I'm eating is sufficient and healthy and I'm not sabotaging (?) it in any way then I'll stick to that or we will try and find a way around it. I must remember to write down EVERYTHING and not just the pointed foods though lol

So onwards and downwards. Back to my daily musings from tomorrow

 

[Mifford]

Day 1 ... yet again

I'm back on track from today and now writing everything down for my leader to review next week with her manager. You know this is going to be the most perfect week ever and I won't be adding any curly wurlies or other snacks that make me look bad right? I'll probably lose a stone this week lol

I've been reading this week's pamphlet as well and it says in there about geocaching. I keep hearing about this on the internet lately and I have a friend that goes hunting for caches in Hawaii as she says they are always placed in areas where the scenery is stunning so its helping her find her way around the island after moving there last year. I've now downloaded a free tester app to my phone and discovered there are actually 3 in my village which is a surprise considering how small the village is. So I have a food delivery from Sainsburys here between 11 and 12 today but then I might take a walk down the high street and go hunting for the one that is in the churchyard to test the app and see what all the fuss is about - it seems like a good way of distracting myself from the fact that I'm exercising on the walk there and back and gets me some fresh air and sunshine so definitely worth a try.

I now have my cheap as chips skates that I got from ebay as well - they cost me £5 as the person selling them has used them for over a year and says that the wheels and bearings need replacing as she can't do what she wants on them any more and they aren't so smooth or fast. Sounded perfect to me as I don't want to go fast! lol The postage was £7 so for the grand total of £12 I got a really good quality pair of salomon skates which will enable me to see if I enjoy using them without breaking the bank. Now I need to get myself set up with lessons so I'm considering booking in for Sunday morning while the weather is nice.

So, today's menu plan is as follows ...

Breakfast
boiled egg (2)
WW bread toasted + small amount of spread (1)
1/2 tin broken grapefruit segments drained (0)

Snack
WW rich toffee bar (2)

Lunch
Pear and parma ham salad (2)

Dinner
Gammon steak (7)
150g potato (3)
2 x mini corn on the cob (2)
Olive oil (1)

 

[Mifford]

so today was going really well - I'd had 29 points recorded of my 32, a little bit higher than I usually have but I treated myself to a homemade trifle with some WW mini victoria sponges.

And then I decided to treat myself with a curly wurly ..... oh. my. god. It was like I became a curly wurly eating frenzied beast!!! I have no idea what happened but I literally could not stop at the 1 and now the remainder of the packet are gone.

I have tracked it so its counted within my weeklies but I just can't believe I did it!! Its almost as if now that I'm writing everything down for my leader its made me obsessed with eating. My intake has been worse than it normally is and its not how I usually eat - I'm guessing its some kind of psychological thing that my head says I'm not having to count points this week and all of a sudden its like being given licence to go and eat whatever I want. Either that or the pressure of having someone else reviewing it might be the problem.

Or its just because next week is totm and I'm in my eat everything in sight phase. It doesn't explain why I've been struggling to eat within plan last week as well though - I'm not sure if its because my appetite has kicked in or if its having had the weekend off my brain has relaxed too much on sticking to the plan. Or my thyroid is off which is obviously the other option. Luckily my next blood test is in about 10 days so I should find out that one soon at least.

Luckily I'm planning a day out tomorrow where I want to go geocaching and therefore get some walking in. Plus I've booked in for my first skating lesson on Sunday - its an hour long so that should counteract anything I've done so far this week, I hope.

Right I'm about to have a cup of tea and then go to bed to read before I get an early(ish) night. I am drawing a big fat line under today and moving on - its what my weeklies are for, I'm still within them and I have 5 days to get myself back on track before weigh in. Fingers crossed I can recover it.

 

[Mifford]

today was a lets see how I cope when I'm not at home day ..... and I think I passed with flying colours!

I went with a friend down to Bexhill and did my first ever geocache hunt - we managed to find 2 along the seafront but the 3rd one we couldn't find easily and were being watched so abandoned that one before heading home. We were slightly restricted in that I think I've got a (yet another) kidney infection and my back is killing me with it so I was struggling to walk too much as I'm having to walk a bit like John Wayne at the moment which isn't easy lol I have picked up some antibiotics from the doctor now though so hopefully I'll have eased off a lot by the time I go rollerblading on Sunday morning. The other restriction was that just after we got to the third one my battery on my phone died so at that point we had no choice but to give up and come back. When we turned round we realised that we had walked a lot further than we realised though so not a bad gentle workout.

Anyway while we were out we decided to have lunch on the beach so picked up a subway. I had a melt which I wasn't sure how many points but guessed around about 12-14 ... it was 9 so that was better than expected. Then I REALLY wanted a raisin oatmeal cookie as subway have the BEST ones I've ever tasted and I decided that one wouldn't hurt and I'd count it off my weeklies. I was surprised when I got home and calculated it that it was actually only 5 points so I thought I'd used around about 20 and in reality had actually only used 14 so that was a result.

Unfortunately the main reason for me going down there was to get some photos at the De La Warr Pavilion but when I turned the camera on I discovered that the lock switch on my xd card has broken so I can't write anything to it and can't take pictures on that one. I didn't have a spare one with me so didn't get to take any photos in the end but then it just means I'll have to go back again and then I can find some more geocaches while I'm there ... possibly while rollerblading along the promenade if its quite

So today's menu...

Breakfast
Gluten free cereal (3)
Skimmed milk (3)

Lunch
Subway melt (9)
Raisin oatmeal cookie (5)

Dinner
3 x low fat sausages (6)
150g potato (3)
Salad (0)
Beetroot (0)
Sugar free jelly (0)
Fresh fruit salad (0)
WW Mini victoria sponge (3)
Low fat custard (4)

Total = 36/32 so I've used 4 of my weeklies.

Considering I was out today I'm happy with that

 

[Mifford]

today has been yet another hectic day - I had Brighton's first league game at their new stadium today so just took some sandwiches with me to eat. I'd already been up late so had had breakfast late as well so until I got home I'd barely used any points. I've had a higher point dinner to bring me back up but my tracker isn't going to be much of a representation of what I normally eat if I give it to my leader this week lol

Tomorrow morning is my first skating lessons - I'm not looking forward to the getting up so early on a Sunday as I'm shattered but I'm very much looking forward to getting my skates on

 

[CarlyLanky140]

Here to follow xx

 

[Mifford]

awww - feel free to follow away, although I have no idea where I may end up leading you hahahahaha

Well the skating never happened - can't remember if I'd already put that I have a kidney infection at the moment and it was making my back hurt. It was a whole lot better yesterday so I thought it would be ok but then I twisted to pick something up last night and ended up unable to move my hip normally again so I cancelled it - no point in making it worse at the moment to be honest. On the bright side it meant I didn't need to get up so early this morning.

So since I've been supposed to be following my own version of what I normally eat I haven't yet had a day where I've eaten my normal diet and been under my daily points - I think its known as law of sod lol We'll see how it goes come weigh in on Tuesday and then stick to what I normally eat when everything is back to normal next week.

Although it obviously could be that as soon as I'm thinking about how many points I have to use it scuppers me psychologically that I instantly become too obsessive and can't make it work whereas as soon as the pressure is off I'm more relaxed about what I eat and then end up closer to my dailies. Would be fairly ironic

Today's menu ....

Breakfast

Scrambled egg (2)
WW bread toasted (3)

Lunch
Lamb stir fry (3)
40g pasta (4)
Olive oil (1)
Mini victoria sandwich x 1 1/2 (4)

Dinner
Feta cheese salad (7) - need to get the low fat one again!
Walnuts (3)
Mini victoria sponge x 1 1/2 - they were going stale! (4)
WW rich chocolate desert (2)

Milk for tea etc (3)

36/32

(21 weeklies used in total so far with 28 remaining if needed)

 

[CarlyLanky140]

Hope u feel better soon!! X

 

[Mifford]

my back is still niggling but the antibiotics seem to have kicked the kidney side into touch - I finish the course tomorrow as it was only a 5 day one so it should be all but gone by now

Although in theory I have put my scales away, after doing a sneaky mid-week weigh in on Saturday I must admit that they have been left out and I'm just doing a quick check first thing in the morning to see if the reading on Saturday is consistent or my scales playing tricks again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays where my scales say by 6.30pm tomorrow night and then I'll be VERY happy. I don't trust them though as they have a habit of tormenting me and then dashing my hopes at the last minute and the official scales will probably say 1/2 lb again lol

The only thing that might scupper it is that I'm trying to get tickets for the football tomorrow night and if I can get seats near my brother and the kids then I'll go down with them for the game and will miss my weigh in - which will be ironic as it looks like hopefully being a fairly good one. I guess it just means I'll have to delay knowing and be extra careful next week so it doesn't go away again.

That is if I can get hold of the ticket office which keeps playing a message to say it is open from 9.30am on a Monday so please ring back after then .... I am ringing back after then!!! :beam:

So today's menu plan goes as follows:-

Breakfast - pineapple smoothie
Flax seed oil (1)
Pineapple (0)
Muller light yoghurt (2)
Oats (2)

Lunch
Mixed bean and ham salad (5)

Dinner
Pepper, courgette, aubergine and ricotto bake from WW book (8)

Milk for tea etc (3)

So far = 21/32

I need to drop my brother's season tickets back to his house today so he's got them when he gets back from holiday so I'll go and do my food shopping at the same time and I'm sure I'll get a few little treats that will bring the points up a little bit higher by the end of the day but I can see this being a 25 point day at most.