Secret Slimming in Paris

[Tetris]

It's so easy to overeat pasta! I ysed to cook 250g (half a pack) for my OH and I and we'd have that WITH bolognase!! Insane!
I havent had pasta in like 6 months actually... Fancy some now! Green days are such a luxury, I wish I could still lose with them! I bet it was just portions of the carbs that screwed me over though though I do think I am a bit sensitive to gluten.

Lovely that you enjoyed the walk so much! Great that your probably burnt 500cal or so too!! X

 

[La Parisienne]

Tetris, it's def easy to over-eat on a green day! I find that on a red day I eat much more superfree simply because meat is more expensive and so I naturally eat more veg & salad to fill me up. On green days though I seriously skimp on superfree, I could eat potatoes, pasta and cheese all day! I tend to keep green days as my weekend treat! (Lets face it, it's still better than takeaway!)

So, just had my WI aaaaand - I've lost 1.5kg (which is just over 3lbs ).

I'm really happy and so I'm going to 'treat' myself to some M&S reduced fat sausages for breakfast (1syn per sausage)

Then let my 4 pre-Barcelona days on 'Success Express' begin!

Have a lovely day everyone xx

 

[La Parisienne]

Forgot to add that I now officially weigh less than my starting weight at SW in 2008! Yeeeeey!!! I can't wait till I'm at my skinniest (16.3st!) Still would weigh too much but I look waaaaaay better in my fresher photos than I do now!

x

 

[Tetris]

That's fantastic that you are slimmer than when you did sw in '08!
I agree that red days you eat less- I think partly because you buy meat in a pack that is for more than one or two people so you know there will be leftovers of what you cook, and I find when I try and save a whole portion for tomorrow I emd up giving myself a smaller one! Especially as it is costy and you want to make it easy yo have a healthy red meal later. With green it's like "no point saving these pasta/rice leftovers" so you use it up and have a huge portion! I might try and do a green day where I weigh the carbs and count the calories to have more awareness of this, see how much I was eating before... Would be cool if I could thus do more (controlled) green/EE days as I did originally lose weight doing them! I think once my BMR got lower than my carb appetite it became a struggle

Fantastic loss for you again, am so jealous x

 

[Charleybarley]

Nice one Sophie! You are on a roll, its falling off you! Not long until you are less than hubby! That will be a realy milestone eh? Also good news about your scales reading stones / pounds - that makes for a much more accurate reading!

Very interesting on the pasta front too. I started weighing mine and I currently do 100g per person, and I am slowly decreasing it, at the moment I am at 90g per person! Mick will start to notice soon I reckon!!! !

 

[NotsofattyPatty]

Things are really going well for you at the moment - great stuff!

I'm with the others - enjoy your time away and don't stress about the food and drink. When faced with a menu take a few moments to decide what you really want and then savour it. Be prepared for a gain - as Sophie says it will only set your journey back a week or two - and be prepared to get back on plan as soon as your holiday ends. I've found it easier to do this if I prepare myself mentally before hand and have some menus planned to help get over the shock of having to prepare food again after a break from it.

 

[La Parisienne]

Thanks for the support ladies!

Not to worry Tetris, it will all be going back on next week - I'm sure!!

Charley and Tetris, it definitely is a real eye opener weighing carbs! Not quite ready to weigh potatoes before eating them though... I'm staying away from EE because I know having so much choice & freedom with mean a rapid decline in superfree!

Thanks for the advice, Patty! I think I will try and plan some recipes for when I come back. I get back on Monday pm so will leave WI for Tuesday morning - eeeek!!

I am so happy to be down to pre-sw weight. Now I feel like 'I've done it once, I can do it again' for the next 11.5 kgs which are waiting for me! Just taking it slowly, kilo by kilo but can't wait to see the results!

My size 20 jeans are getting baggy on the legs now it would be lovely to be an 18! I have an amaaaazing pair of size 18 River Island jeans (in a very rigid denim) that I love, which I bought in November 2009. I'd started Uni already so wasn't weighing myself any more meaning I have no idea what weight I'll need to be to squeeze into them again but I can't wait! They have really nice detailing and I have never seen any like them in a plus size range.

Treated myself to an indulgent breakfast this morning but tried to then do SE for the rest of the day.

Breakfast: 3 M&S reduced-fat butchers sausages (3syns) 2 slices of lean bacon & a dry-fried egg
Snack: skinny Tall Cappuccino (HEA)
Lunch: Big salad with 1 slice of ham and FF cottage cheese followed by fruit salad
Snack: banana & apple
Dinner: Fajitas-style chicken with chargrilled veg and a huge salad

Really really loved my food today! Think I might have a little snack (fruit or yoghurt) while watching Top Chef .

Bonne soirée! x

 

[cheekychinchilla]

I'm going to step in in defence of Green Days here *cough* Now I do have big portions of carbs and don't weigh potatoes ever! The rice I have is usually packet rice. And pasta I try to keep to around 80g now. BUT when I make meals that go with these things there is a LOT of superfree in it anyway and I also always have either a side salad or veg which is at the very least 1/3 of the plate or, like this evening, half of it. So perfectly reasonable to get in your superfree even with the carbs
Anyway, just saying! Oh and I don't eat meat either

Mega congrats on another fantastic loss! Really pleased for you

Hope you have a lovely trip and enjoy yourself.xx

 

[Charleybarley]

I'm going to step in in defence of Green Days here *cough* Now I do have big portions of carbs and don't weigh potatoes ever! The rice I have is usually packet rice. And pasta I try to keep to around 80g now. BUT when I make meals that go with these things there is a LOT of superfree in it anyway and I also always have either a side salad or veg which is at the very least 1/3 of the plate or, like this evening, half of it. So perfectly reasonable to get in your superfree even with the carbs
Anyway, just saying! Oh and I don't eat meat either

Mega congrats on another fantastic loss! Really pleased for you

Hope you have a lovely trip and enjoy yourself.xx

I am pleased you stepped in the defence of green days on SW! I always lost lots on green days, I think the EE is a danger with over going the meat / carb combo, probs cos I didn't stop! I could go and go because I had the green (pardon the pun) light to according to SW. I no longer do SW so I know I need to control the amount I eat. I think 80g of pasta is a good indication.

 

[La Parisienne]

Thanks, Cheeky!

I do like Green days! I just never do them 'properly'! I am much less motivated to eat loads of superfree to fill me up when I could just eat a heap of potatoes (I LOVE potatoes). I also love the fact that cheese counts both as HEA and HEB - mmmmm 120g of cheese in one day!! (So naughty but so nice!)

I definitely won't be cutting them out any time soon though (a life without potatoes would just not be worth living) but I must make more of an effort to eat superfree to make it a more viable weight loss option.

I always have loads of veg on my plate on a red day. Take today, for example, huge salad for lunch with 1 slice of ham followed by lamb curry for tea with loads of superfree in the curry + served with courgettes.

80g is probably much more do-able than 70g which was almost not worth putting the hob on for!

Anyway!

So, forgot to mention yesterday that my slow cooker arrived! My Mum told me to try it overnight before leaving it on at home all day with no-one in, and so I made the Lamb Rogan Josh from the new SW magazine in it last night. It ended up OK, but the curry powder I used was horrid! Not sure if it's that particular brand or whether I just don't like curry powder but I really regretted putting it in (esp as the recipe calls for 5tbsps!) Managed to add stuff to disguise the bland/bitter flavour but there was still an after taste. Very disappointing but still edible.

Food for today:

Breakfast: 2xM&S reduced fat sausages (2syns) with 1 dry-fried egg, heap of griddled mushrooms & plum toms
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Ham salad followed by mango & raspberry fruit salad
Snack: Apple
Dinner: SW Lamb Rogan Josh with courgettes
Snack: banana & FF yoghurt
Snack: 1 slice wmb & 30g cheese

x

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Eat more bloody superfree on a Green Day woman You'll enjoy it more too and wont get all bloaty and stuff. Promise

Hope the curry worked and your slow cooker behaved itself and didn't explode xx

 

[Tetris]

Dude, your losses are so great right now, dont stop doing Green/EE if they are doing so well for you! Wait until later when you need to kick things up a notch, or you'll be kicking yourself later when Green/EE isnt working as well for you but you've exhausted the red plan and want carbs

I totally agree with Cheeky though, if you cook a sauce of loads of veg to go with your pasta and eat it on a bed of salad leaves then you can end up bulking the carbs out with superfree and making it go further. I tend to aim more for 1/2 a plate of superfree, I always cook veg into my red meals (onions and peppers and sometimes courgettes) but I then have a side of raw spinach or salad or something with it.

I also agree with Charley, EE can be easily abused as you can freely have massive bowls of spag bowl, shephards pie etc... I think EE days are ones to pay the closest attention to superfree as it is so easy to ignore it!

You'll have a fab time on your trip, eat yummy things dont limit yourself to salads, pfft! You're on holiday, you're paying for each meal out, make them count! I'd just avoid that breakfast buffet as where it would normally be so easy to be healthy you can end up 'trying' lots of things and piling unnecessary calories in, or if you do go for it if it is included then avoid the bread/pastries/sugary cereals and opt for the eggs (ask for low/no oil if there is a cooking station), yoghurts if low fat availible, lots of fruit, etc. I often buy fat free yoghurt from a supermarket when away and store it in the mini fridge to have with honey in the mornings too, I never feel deprived having a healthy breakfast in the room but certainly would if eating a salad while my friends ate paella

Also, walking about on trips and general activity REALLY pays off! I actually lost a pound over my two weeks in Disneyworld Florida! I was quite strict with food (knowing if off plan for two weeks with America sized portions I could easily gain a stone+!) but had plenty of blow out meals/snacks but aaaall that walking around parks really balanced it out! Go for a walk around the city, shopping, or for a stroll along the beach at sunset, partake in some vollyball, go for a swim in the sea and tread water rather than standing on the floor- easy ways to shave off the calories of a cheeky cocktail and keep your metabolism up while having fun!
X

 

[Charleybarley]

Thanks, Cheeky!

I do like Green days! I just never do them 'properly'! I am much less motivated to eat loads of superfree to fill me up when I could just eat a heap of potatoes (I LOVE potatoes). I also love the fact that cheese counts both as HEA and HEB - mmmmm 120g of cheese in one day!! (So naughty but so nice!)

I definitely won't be cutting them out any time soon though (a life without potatoes would just not be worth living) but I must make more of an effort to eat superfree to make it a more viable weight loss option.

I always have loads of veg on my plate on a red day. Take today, for example, huge salad for lunch with 1 slice of ham followed by lamb curry for tea with loads of superfree in the curry + served with courgettes.

80g is probably much more do-able than 70g which was almost not worth putting the hob on for!

Anyway!

So, forgot to mention yesterday that my slow cooker arrived! My Mum told me to try it overnight before leaving it on at home all day with no-one in, and so I made the Lamb Rogan Josh from the new SW magazine in it last night. It ended up OK, but the curry powder I used was horrid! Not sure if it's that particular brand or whether I just don't like curry powder but I really regretted putting it in (esp as the recipe calls for 5tbsps!) Managed to add stuff to disguise the bland/bitter flavour but there was still an after taste. Very disappointing but still edible.

Food for today:

Breakfast: 2xM&S reduced fat sausages (2syns) with 1 dry-fried egg, heap of griddled mushrooms & plum toms
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Ham salad followed by mango & raspberry fruit salad
Snack: Apple
Dinner: SW Lamb Rogan Josh with courgettes

x

Ah Sophie, I am sorry you were disppointed with the Lamb Rogan Josh recipe - I have to say I have been disappointed with most of the SW mag recipes in the past! There is a girl on here who has an Indian recipe thread - http://www.minimins.com/slimming-wor...many-more.html I haven't tried anything yet but they sound so yummy. I also find that as much as I love my slow cooker, the stock or sauce on things can remain quite watery. So I do a lot of dry cooking in the slow cooker, cheap lumps of meat etc. Stews are nice in a slow cooker too.

What make was the Curry Powder? In authentic Indian cooking you won't find many recipes use actual curry powder, more other spices that together should make the curry a curry, if you know what I mean?!

I love love love curry powder, but funnily enough I never use it in an indian curry, I use it for most other things though. To flavour my gravy, to add in bologneses/shepherds pies/chillis/ and also for caribbean cooking too. We buy a Dunn's River Caribbean Curry Powder. I don't know much about French Supermarkets, but am I right in thinking they don't stock many world food spices? Places over here like Asda and Tesco have started to stock lots of world food spices etc over the last 5 years or so and it is getting better too. But I am fortunate enough to work quite close to Brick Lane and there is a wicked place there that sells untold treasures in spices and rices and pulses and fresh stuff.

Don't give up on the new recipes!

 

[NotsofattyPatty]

I agree that curry powders can be disappointing; the different spices don't seem to blend as well as they should. Did you cook the curry powder as in the recipe because doing this usually helps take the bitterness away. 5tbs seems a lot though!

If I'm honest I do find quite a lot of the recipes are a bit watery because they don't use any thickening agents. This means I tend to use pasta bowls for all sorts - stews, casserole etc. - just so I don't slop the juice all over the place.

I found I had to measure out my carbs on EE and green days - I tend to use the red day measurements as a (very rough) guide although I only stick rigidly to the amount if I'm doing a red day. SW say the quantity is unlimited but only until you are full (not stuffed) but I don't really recognise that point and I tend to eat until I've cleared my plate (old habits are hard to break) so the only answer was to put less on my plate. One advantage of using the pasta bowls is that they make less look a lot!

 

[systema]

Another one who does not use SW curry recipes - or curry powder or the dreadful Frylite stuff. Spices need to be cooked out in oil and not olive oil as it burns too quickly.
I have lived in India for 6 months of the year for many years and have yet to know anyone who uses either of those ingredients. The recipes on the front of SW forum are tasty but she does use olive oil - change it for any other oil. Use good recipes and a small amount of oil and syn it and they will taste much better.

Well done on the weight loss and enjoy Barcelona - the sun is shining here in Spain.

 

[Charleybarley]

Another one who does not use SW curry recipes - or curry powder or the dreadful Frylite stuff. Spices need to be cooked out in oil and not olive oil as it burns too quickly.
I have lived in India for 6 months of the year for many years and have yet to know anyone who uses either of those ingredients. The recipes on the front of SW forum are tasty but she does use olive oil - change it for any other oil. Use good recipes and a small amount of oil and syn it and they will taste much better.

Well done on the weight loss and enjoy Barcelona - the sun is shining here in Spain.

I know a veg oil is better, or ghee but I think that she is trying to stick rigidly to the SW rules, which is fine and I commend her for that. I haven't tried one of her recipes so I can't comment on that, but I will and let you know. Her way has to be better than using fry light and/or any or the other alternatives that SW come up with.

 

[systema]

I have spoke to her about it when she first started putting them up and she said she had to put Olive oil al la SW but IMO - oil is oil is oil if used in the same quantities - they have the same properties and calories and if SW want to be pedantic they should syn spices as they have oil in them

 

[La Parisienne]

Hello everyone !!

So nice to see so many posts! It's very encouraging!

Cheeky, you're so right! I promise on my next green day (probs post-Barça) I will have as much superfree as I do on red days :angel09:

Tetris, haven't dared try EE as of yet (I've still got the old-style books, so think I'll just stick with Red/Green) but you are totally right about green days too. I shouldn't pigeon hole myself to red days so early on (it's only week 8 ) I will let my hair down on the trip, I can't go to Barcelona and not have some yummy paella and fizzy wine! Thank goodness you girlies are here to keep me sane!

Also, yeah, we'll definitely be walking a lot. I suppose that's the nature of city breaks! Also, I've learnt from experience, you see soooo much more by walking than you do being stuck in the metro looking at concrete. Travelling underground really de-sensitizes you and you end up having no spacial awareness (during my first few months in Paris I'd stubbornly get the metro everywhere until the day I bought a bike. I kicked my self when I realised how close everything is and how much there is to see!) So hopefully the walking will pay off! Do you really think it will be warm enough for swimming? Or is that wishful thinking for my benefit ?

Charley, I must admit the curry powder I bought wasn't from a well known brand. There was none left in the supermarket so I bought some from the butchers next door. I will definitely have a look at those recipes. I'm quite new to curry making so not sure I'm quite confident enough yet to experiment with spices! I will definitely go to La Chapelle after my weekend away. It's an Indian quartier in Paris (the only place you find PG Tips!) and I might ask for some advice in one of the spice shops! (Just googled Brick Lane and it looks like it's a similar place - I'm really not a London girl!)

Funnily enough I've just put a beef stew on, hopefully it'll be more successful!

Patty, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has found curry powder bitter! I did cook it like it said to in the recipe but it left a really weird taste. I ended up putting in some Stevia sweetner and tomato concentrate until it was edible.

I use pasta bowls for everything too! I definitely always clear my plate too and you are so right, using pasta bowls does make portions look much more generous!

Systema, thanks for the advice! Perhaps one day I too will be a curry wizard! Definitely a lot of work to be done in the meantime though!

Glad to hear the Sun is out! I'm hoping for a warm weekend!

Will write about my food in another post!

x

 

[La Parisienne]

So, last night I was still awake at midnight (very rare for me!) and I was all of a sudden really hungry! Instead of being reasonable and having some more fruit I decided I just had to have cheese on toast and, as I hadn't used any HEs, managed to convince myself it was OK. So, not the worst thing I could have done but I do feel a bit silly having eaten such bulky/greasy/carby food just before bed - but hey! (So much for SE....!) Have updated yesterdays post accordingly.

To stop me doing the same thing today I decided to use my HEs earlier on during the day!

So day goes like this:

Red day

Breakfast: 2xwmb (HEB1), 3 M&S reduced fat sausages (3syns)*
Snack: Apple and cappuccino (HEA)
Lunch: Bit of left over curry with loads of steamed courgettes
Snack: Strawberries
Dinner: Steamed salmon with broccoli

*I have now finished the packet and probs won't buy any more for a while - I can see myself becoming addicted!

Really love steamed salmon. Normally Tuesday is my salmon day (it only really financially justifiable once a week considering 1 portion is 8€!) but with me making the curry my salmon day got pushed back - really enjoyed it!

I've been trying to take the stairs at work (I hot desk between the ground floor and the 5th floor and) and I do feel like it's much easier now than it was at the beginning of last week! (The first time I hid at the top of the stairs for a good few mins till I got my breath back!) So I'm happy with that and will try and keep it up.

Just bought a new cabin-sized suitcase (the one I normally use belongs to a colleague, who leant it to another colleague who brought it back completely broken) and started packing Plan is to take the strict minimum and do a bit of shopping while there! I CAN'T WAIT!!

Here's hoping I have another reasonable day food-wise tomorrow in order to limit damage as much as possible!

x

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Don't feel guilty about the cheese on toast. On the rare occasion (very rare!) I have Hex's left in the evening I sometimes have cheese on toast. Think it's a nice comfort treat and it does feel a bit naughty, but it's not, you used your Hex's and enjoyed it The joy of SW!! Who wants fruit alllll the time anyway

How naughty of your work colleague to bring the bag back destroyed!

Anyway, enjoy your trip and take some nice photo's xx