All change!

hey Janet, welcome!

congrats on reaching target - my weight is coming off slowly but surely, i had a few months off in summer due to life being very stressful and hectic and I'm trying to get those gains off, then I'll be back on path to target :)
this month I'm having a treat every day leading up to xmas, today i had a coffee out which was over my syns but i had some left over from the week...some days its some green and blacks...anything to get that sweet fix! options are great too at only 2 syns!

Allotment wise, I've only had it 3 months as i just moved back to London, so i'm currently digging, clearing and building various things ready for next season. I had an allotment in norwich for years so its stuff I've done before, and its a lot easier doing it second time round. I tend to grow lots of fruit - blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants etc - and leafy green veg and salad. stuff i can pick at, particularly as my london allotment is only a few mins walk from home :) can't wait to get growing again! The soil down in here is clay, which is a challenge, but i have a van and friends with horse stables nearby so I'm loading it up with manure and hoping to get it workable in spring :))
 
That sounds good growing all those things :)
Me & OH once had a go at growing some strawberries & tomatoes - the strawberries were just being eaten!
The tomatoes grew really well had loads, but they tasted awful !
Realised eventually that just 'water' wasn't enough for them, and that we were meant to feed them:D
 
Haha! Personally I don't feed my toms, but I do grow them in pots with super good compost and they get re-potted a lot so there would be nutrients in the compost for them. Plus I water them with rain water which helps...it can be done, but you have to put in a LOT of effort to start. Next year I will have to feed them as I won't be able to collect as much rain water and don't have home made compost and feed...will still grow organic, however! I found some varieties just don't taste that good either so its worth playing with different ones

Strawberries are a pain, but this year I'm going to get them right, which is planting them the right distance apart and mulching the top so NO WEEDS...then you have to lay hay under them to stop them from rotting...will add lots of manure this winter so the soil is rich. Should be a good crop :) raspberries and blueberries are my fave, although there's lots of birds round here so will have to net them :(
 
We lived in Spain for 14 yrs and grew lots of our own food, mostly salad stuff and had fruit trees too. We've been back almost 3 yrs now and only have pots to grow in here but manage strawberries (snails permitting) tomatoes and lots of herbs.
Clay soil is a hard one and like you said needs feeding...good ole horses!!
 
oh wow, I'd love to live in Spain! particularly this time of year ;)

Slugs are awful things and the bane of my life; there doesn't seem to be too many on my new plot (not yet anyway). my old plot was full of them! thankfully a few up had some chickens that were always greatful for a bucket of slugs and snails to munch on!

Weigh in tonight, fingers crossed. It's been my first real week on plan, I wasn't 100% perfect but used only 105 syns so didn't go over...am going to make more of an effort this week to stick to 15 a day and do more exercise. Saying that, it looks cold, wet and windy outside and I'm trying to hype myself up to go out for an hour but its difficult when I'm warm and dry at home ;)
 
Woohoo, 1.5lbs off tonight! Aiming for 2lbs next week so I can get my 3 stone award back and get into the 12s again...I would also bbe back at the weight I was when I split up from my ex, which would be a great position to be in :)
 
Oh how great is that...well done you!! You're definitely on course to get that 3 stone back again!!
My weigh in is tomorrow morning...not sure how that will go though...

I agree about the thought of going out in this weather and of course it's not going to get better any time soon. At least we can say we're in the south of England so it could be worse!
I did have quite a brisk walk this morning in the town as it was drizzling!!
 
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Woohoo, 1.5lbs off tonight! Aiming for 2lbs next week so I can get my 3 stone award back and get into the 12s again...I would also bbe back at the weight I was when I split up from my ex, which would be a great position to be in :)

well done! :)
 
Thanks ladies :)

Sun is shining today, I just got out of bed and discovered its lovely outside so I'm now off to the allotment. Going to have a bonfire and dig some more of the plot!
 
Thanks ladies - I think 2lbs is do-able if i'm careful. plus i only get big losses when I do lots of exercise, so a few hours a day on the plot should help :)

Nearly at the halfway mark now - by tomorrow afternoon I'll have dug around 1/2 of the allotment. Next on the list is to get about 2 tonnes of manure and spread it thickly over the top and leave that section until spring! So, lots of forking manure, lifting sacks and bags and loading/unloading into my van, and carrying them 100m or so from the van to the site. Lots of body magic! Thankfully i know 2 people nearby with horses and stables so I have valuable sources of free manure :)

Also need to drive wooden posts into the ground for my wire fencing, and build some raised beds and decking. busy busy busy :)

Dark by 4 really so going to try and get up at reasonable o clock to get as much done this week as possible whilst I'm unemployed and the weather is mild.

I'm now back home with a cup of coffee and some chocolate (within syns of course!) going to make butternut squash risotto, salad and garlic bread for dinner.

hope you ladies are OK :) x
 
hard work - yes, but I quite like this sort of hard work. It's nice to be active but not in pain, I find now when i do too much walking my joints really ache but i can dig/build stuff relatively pain free. and yes, dark evenings are RUBBISH! Roll on winter solstice, I shall be at stonehenge greeting the shortest day of the year with a stiff drink and a wave goodbye haha

Garlic bread is SW style - use a HEXB wholemeal roll, and cut slices like garlic bread (quite difficult) and spray each slice with butter frylight and put in finely chopped onion, garlic, parsley or other herbs/spices. i always put garlic and parsley in mine and its yummy. bake in the oven in foils for 30 mins or so :)
 
That's exactly what I think Zafira - it smells quite funny but it works well in recipes. I don't eat dairy butter so my taste buds aren't used to a dairy flavor anyway...If not its worth using some Syns for real butter to make the bread with, I'm going to have some on the weekend and I'm already excited hehe

There's a herb mix in Sainsbury's called 'garlic italian' its by one of the brands, but this is LOVELY in garlic bread too...has a pink lid in the spice aisle.

Just did something a bit naughty but also very good - I've been sat in the lounge with everyone around me eating crisps and hummous (one of my fave things ever) and I resisted! I just came upstairs and accidently on purpose ordered a Beanies stash box (flavored coffee for those not in the know)...financially this isn't my smartest move, but hey its 'that season' plus I'm going to head to some agencies on Monday and get on the books - should get care work very easily!

Another good day on plan...this is the longest stint I've done in a while! Deffo craving rubbish food now I've settled back in, but I'm determined to not fall back into old habits again. Might be going out tomorrow night with my mum, which is always difficult as she tries to get me to drink booze and usually buys junk on the way home...I don't know how she does it, shes thin as a rake! Will have to be on guard tomorrow if so...
 
Hey all :) I ended up scoffing something a bit naughty for dinner last night :( Have been really tired and not feeling very well, snoozing on and off all weekend. so I woke up at 8 pm last night and needed something quick...however this isn't anywhere near as bad as i used to be! I had some olives (am calling them 3 syns), sundried tomatos (7.5 syns), hummous (around 18 syns I think), pitta (7 syns) and 2 small slices of bread (6 syns)

So nowhere near as bad as it could have been...but I have weigh in tomorrow :( Going to do lots of exercise today and tomorrow, and cut right back on Syns to try and scrape some of it back!!
 
2 1/2lbs OFF!!!! So chuffed!

Got my 3 stone award back...I'm under the weight I was when me and the ex split up which is a big relief...back into the 12's...so chuffed!

And to top it off, my beanies coffee arrived today. Now about to try the Christmas pud one, it smells delicious!
 
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