Lurk no more, fat no more

[skinnylegs]

Wow you're doing amazingly well you should be so proud! That Dhal sounds lovely, we're lucky we have a lot of asian food shops here so spices tend to be a lot cheaper compared to the big supermarkerts and also you can get so much!
Have you tried the new asian cookbook? they've got some great stuff in there but if you can already cook it then it would be wasted!

 

[Mandlegrot]

Funnily enough, I bought it this week as a treat to myself, not had much of a chance to flick through it yet. I rarely follow recipes from books as most of it won't be vegan but its good to see different combos of ingredients and tweak it to suit my palette (more garlic and chilli, no dairy or meat!) Has had good reviews in group and every SW book I've bought has had great recipes that have come out good every time I've made them

How's your losses coming on? You got back into the zone yet? x

 

[skinnylegs]

Yeah I am going back to group really helped, it's slow but its coming off. It's having that support which helps.
It's got some really good stuff in it, i know this sounds really stupid but can you eat tofu?

 

[WiiFitAddict]

You two are making me want to travel more! I had a trip to India (part work/part hol) in December and the food was mmmm so much better than "Indian" food here. I've cut down to working part time in the last year, the idea being that my money enables us to travel a bit and do more stuff without the kids. (Not being bad parents, youngest is 16 1/2) In reality my money seems to be soaked up by rising prices.

Oh yes and I didn't go to Woodford High

 

[Aaleigha]

Well I just wanted to stick my head in and say hello
you are doing remarkably well as a vegan on SW looking at it I might just have to give SW another go but cc for now might do it with sw influence though

 

[Mandlegrot]

@skinnylegs - yes indeed I can eat tofu, not a silly question at all - not many people know what it is exactly

@Wiifitaddict - yes I am part time too (technically) but often work 2 or 3 x my contract hours as we are really short staffed at the min and I want money...for travels Indian food in the UK is a joke, even when you go to place that boast about having chefs from some far flung corner of Kasmir with 1000000 years experience blah blah its still a pile of greasy rubbish. They have to cater for 'western' tastes, which if thats what a western taste is, then count me out. I lost weight in India, and I was eating 3 curries a day with naan/chappati, drinking for hours on end some days...everything is organic and lovely and tastes so good compared to a greasy takeaway. But I always knew it would be like that as my stepmum is from India and she cooks a mean curry too

@aaleigha - thanks la! It took about 3 months for me to get my head around, and my losses have only been above 1lb or so this year as I've settled into the plan and done all of the digging online for syns of odd vegan health foods. SW suits me to the bone as I can pretty much eat what I like, only thing different is I have to watch my carbs as its very easy to eat too many when your veggie/vegan. You are super close to 200lbs, I slipped under 200lbs this week and i have a good feeling you'll be joining me in the 190's pretty soon

 

[Micci]

I wouldn't bother grinding it - fry the seeds whole until they crackle and stink your kitchen out

Too late, anyway I quite like the ritual of proper preparation. I forgot the fenugreek but tbh am not broken hearted about that as I don't really like it, mind you in the mix it could well be different. I did it with lentils and spinach and no chilli as I'm a wimp but what I had was VERY good and the leftovers (if any) will be even better tomorrow.

 

[Micci]

caterham was in barkingside or clayhall, depending on weither you are middle class or working class (barkingside for me!) It was an absolute hell hole and was the worst 5 years of my life. Racism run rife there, if you were racist you got beaten up by non-white people but if you weren't `(like me) white people tried to beat you up for not being racist. Logic huh? Plus loads of classism, if that's even a word. People from my area/estate used to be sneered at for living in tower blocks but hey, I look at people I went to school with on facebook these days and a lot of them are utter failures in life. Suddenly being the odd kid at school seems to pay off seeing as i get to jet around the world and do all of the festivals instead of living with my mum and working in a pound shop like most people I went to school with seem to do.

Crikey, thank goodness that's over. somehow being different can pay off but I think I took it to extremes, rejected the good stuff as well as the bad. I hated school but only because I didn't fit in. A rebellious biker/hippy teen at WCH ... nah, I was different. Wish I had taken my education seriously and done the Uni route now though but it's a bit late for that now except for personal interest and development.

 

[Micci]

Indian food in the UK is a joke, even when you go to place that boast about having chefs from some far flung corner of Kasmir with 1000000 years experience blah blah its still a pile of greasy rubbish. They have to cater for 'western' tastes, which if thats what a western taste is, then count me out. I lost weight in India, and I was eating 3 curries a day with naan/chappati, drinking for hours on end some days...everything is organic and lovely and tastes so good compared to a greasy takeaway. But I always knew it would be like that as my stepmum is from India and she cooks a mean curry too

....... I slipped under 200lbs this week and i have a good feeling you'll be joining me in the 190's pretty soon

Getting under 200lbs is brilliant, a real landmark.

Have you tried going to places that don't really cater for Westeners, like around Forest Gate and Brick Lane? Not that you are in London much these days.

 

[systema]

Panch Poran is used whole in all the recipes I use. When I go to Woodford and go out with my Indian friends to places they eat the food is always too greasy for me and my friend cooks wonderful food but I cringe when I see the amount of oil she cooks with. She cooks for her extended family and buys enough oil to run a car. I use 2 tsp to cook my spices but divided by 2 of us is only 2 syns and I have been know to use it as my HEXB :ashamed0005:

I must be in a minority here as I don't like SW curry type books - most of the recipes are bland, they boil food too much and only use frylite stuff instead of real oil. IMO
Would rather use a proper cookbook and adapt. This is my all time favorite book out of the dozens I have.
- Healthy South Indian Cooking: Amazon.co.uk: Alamelu Vairavan, Patricia Marquardt: Books

Yes it is expensive - but worth every penny. I once "lost" it and immediately bought another one, in fact I burst into tears when I could not find it :cry:that is how much I use it and later found it mixed up with a load of old newspaper so now have one in Spain and one in UK and have got my favorite recipes in the laptop.

Looking at your stats ( well done on present weight loss) I was almost the same weight as you but not as tall and got down to 10st but have put this weight back on due to not having the control over the way my food has been cooked for a while. Now I am back in control can tell it is coming off although no scales at present. Hopefully will be back to my normal weight when I get home.

 

[systema]

Ha! How strange- before I moved to Norfolk I was living in Woodford...my mum is still there

I'd love to retire in my 40's - probably not going to happen though. But I was having this discussion with someone at work the other day, and they were going on about pensions, blah blah blah, and I said to him I wouldn't bother with one myself as its gambling. Instead I work my bum off for a few years then have 2-6 months off, mini retirements every few years make the rubbish times (winter basically) seem worth the good times (summer, preferably abroad). I can imagine myself doing this for a while but it all depends on how long the sort of work I do will have me coming in and out. I am hoping to go self employed and get some more skills and ways of earning money so I can live the way that I want, which is not settled down or tied down to one place or location

Goa is stunning, thats where I went to. I didn't want to come home! Just walking out into the garden every morning and cracking open a coconut to drink and eat was enough to make me want to go back for more

That is exactly what we did - worked 7 days a week and saved our money then retired. I knew lots of people in Goa of all ages who worked as many hours as possible in Summer, spent as little as possible, then Wintered in the sun. Usually self employed who had mostly outside jobs which came to a halt in winter.

 

[Aaleigha]

Best Indian food I have ever had in this country
is in Sparkbook Birmingham the asian community is huge there and the resturant I went to cater solely for the Asian market - the food there tasts totally different from any other Indian resturant I have been to - I always thought I did not like indian food - I am still not that keen on really hot curries - I dont have them very often but like a really mild gentle curry I like to taste the individual spices within the dish not have my mouth blasted with flavours I cant separate and heat

well today will start my slimming world inspried calorie counting menu I will use the healthy a and b choices and what I can of the free foods but some of my protein sources will be synned and I wont know what the syns are - so will be looking for the lowest calorie options just to be sure - I did read somewhere that linda mccartney sausages were free food but I thought they were synned - so I will be checking out the calories of those next time I get near a supermarket

hope you enjoy the coming day and the sun shines on you - its late this year and every one I know who has depression is suffering - a good reason to move to the sun

 

[Mandlegrot]

@Aaleigha - I have a day in the sun planned, as the allotment still needs a lot of TLC Its amazing what a day in the sun does to me, I slept like a log last night unlike usual!

Linda macartney sage and onion (or whatever they are) sausages are free and delicious, but the normal ones are 2 syns each. I live off the normal ones!!! let us know if you want to know syn values, i think most quorn stuff is free but i don't eat it so not sure. stay away from veggie burgers/nut cutlets as they are super high! I find SW has worked wonders for me, the only thing i have to watch is my carbs as it is too easy to eat mountains of rice/potato etc. Hope you slept well last night x

 

[Mandlegrot]

Crikey, thank goodness that's over. somehow being different can pay off but I think I took it to extremes, rejected the good stuff as well as the bad. I hated school but only because I didn't fit in. A rebellious biker/hippy teen at WCH ... nah, I was different. Wish I had taken my education seriously and done the Uni route now though but it's a bit late for that now except for personal interest and development.

Join the club haha! I had a pink mohawk at one point, people just didn't know what to make of me I was always a hippy, having been bought up from a lineage (on my mums side) of proper glastonbury hippes who went to the first ever one (free entry, free milk) so even from a young age i was involved in politics and demos, which just *isn't* cool when you are at a school full of people who now associate with the people from that godawful tv programme 'the only way is essex' I did OK in my GCSEs but looking back I could have done a whole lot better and got a-s and b's instead of c's. Still managed to to uni after 3 years in sixth form which I somehow passed with flying colors despite being quite the hedonist. I'm a lot calmer now but people i see from school don't think I've changed one bit, except I've moved from a bmx bike and rucksack to a transit van and gone from mohawk to dreadlocks haha

I used to live in manor park which is awesome - but again, even though its indian area, they must be used to western style curries or just presume because you are white that you want to eat grease as its no different, except the dishes are much nicer and tastier minus the oil. Brick lane sometimes throws up a good result, as does southall (probably the best of them all). Forest Gate is avoided like the plague as its a nasty, nasty area. Norwich has a few good indian takeaways, very tasty but again lots of oil and too mild for me but I find just speaking to the chef and saying 'I want actual indian food, chillis yes grease no' works a treat

 

[Mandlegrot]

@Systema - I've not bought a curry type book from SW before so I'll see how it goes - I always modify their recipes as its too much salt and not enough ooomh for me but its good to flick through and just remind myself what you can do on it. i always double the spices and add chilli (love chillis!!) plus some of the techniques are backwards compared to how Indians cook. I'm deffo going to check that book out - it looks amazing!! I have some very good curry books downstairs, I'll dig them out and send you a link to them

I was down to 11 stone a few years ago so know how it feels, so frustrating!! this time it feels realistic, like I could just keep following SW and actually control my weight rather than eat some shakes then put it all back on.

I met a lot of people like that in Goa too! i am hoping that will be me in 10 years or so...a lot of the stuff i do outside of my job is mainly concentrated in summer (festivals, wedding/festival/event photography, cakes, djing etc etc) so if I could just find a way to ensure i have work waiting for me on return to the UK, then I'd happy spend winter abroad. i can save about £700 a month when the going is good with work...more if I was living in my van (which is what I would do if I spent time between countries) so its a real possibility...i can but dream

 

[Micci]

Pffftttt, I used to love Green Street. Asian wholesalers, cheap fabric shops both Western and Asian but I've only driven through for the last few years. Tbh, I've rather enjoyed eating there. Very rarely do you see another European in most places, used to live on takeaways from there. My dh has bought me a couple of Shalwar Kameez from there and very much enjoyed the women in the shop helping him and complementing him on how nice he was to be buying such things on his own.

Actually, and I'll whisper this, I have rather a hankering for westernised food atm, but I'll let it pass, know what you mean about the oil!

 

[Mandlegrot]

Wow just got out of the shower and was so cold - like convulsing cold - jumped into bed shivering, spilled my drink everywhere. Not sure what that was about as the heating is on about 22c maybe the shock of getting cold :s

Good day today, under 10 syns which is my daily limit.

B - fried potatos, mushrooms, onion, garlic, baked beans, 2 linda macartneys (4) some ketchup (1) and loads of herbs and spices was my brekkie - and it was yum.
Then went to the allotment and did about 4 hours, pretty lazy pace compared to yesterday but half way through the session we were banging fence posts in and OH hit my hand really hard with a big metal mallet we have. Now my thumb is very sore and bruised and can't bend so well (not broken though!) so had to give up in the end. but good body magic still!!
Lunch was late, at about 5pm, had 2 ryvita sweet ones, with some jam and a banana. then dinner at 8pm, sweet potato mash, 2 free LM sausages, gravy, sauce (3) and a heap of veg - cabbage, broccoli, cauli, carrots, peas. Yum yum

Back to work tomorrow. Been lovely having a few days off, I'm gonna have to do it more often LOL! Now the weather has cheered up slightly in temperature I can get working on outdoor stuff

 

[systema]

That allotment sounds like hard work but well worth it in the end. I was brought up eating all home grown stuff, even the meat.

Bought some mixed mushrooms and they had a large red chilli in it which my OH would not eat which is unusual for him - when I cut it could feel the "heat" coming from it so asked him to taste it before I put it in the vindaloo and he said he would not eat dinner with that in it. Scrubbed my hands and could not get it off and eventually had to cut my nails to get rid of it. Used to hot chillies but not that one.

Looks like you are on for a good weigh-in this week - do you go to SW meets?

 

[Aaleigha]

all food on target
we too have fresh garden veg and what I cant grow I get from a farmers market - my friend has a small farm and we have land there for veggies and she has some instead of us renting it off her

 

[Mandlegrot]

I always try and stay to group, it really helps me stay focused especially when I struggle.

Allotment is very hard work but so rewarding and a much better way to whittle the hours away than slouched in front of the telly.

Think my thumb is fractured though got an appointment tomorrow after work its swollen up and got moving bits, woohoo!!