The Road Less Travelled

[Aline]

Lynn, is the familly gathering for something special (like your birthday or something)? I think I missed that

Have a lot of fun at that party, you deserve that free day from mindfull eating because you're doing so great that you even lost a bit more

I see you keep buying clothes, hehe

 

[Lynn_]

It is actually my birthday soon, on 7th Feb. But the reason for the party is that as a family we havnt had a gathering for such a long time, and I really want to see all my immediate family altogether on one occasion. Its something ive been thinking about for a while, we really need to see each other more as a family. No one else has stepped up to the plate so im taking charge this time, and hopefully the others will follow suit . If not then Ill just have the family gatherings here.

I saw that the program My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding is starting next week. Im really looking forward to this for quite personal reasons. I saw a rerun of the original pilot last week, it is so gawdy and fun. I havnt been to a gypsy wedding for a long long time, which is sad really but something I keep out of. I prefer my immediate family, to the extended gypsy family scene which although very interesting and entertaining can be somewhat troublesome. I am a Gypsy myself, from a Romany Gypsy family, but broke away to live a settled life. Some of my immediate family still live a Gypsy life, so I still have ties to the community, but im pretty much on the periphery of it now. I much prefer being treated like an equal in society, instead of a reviled second or third class minority.

I had to laugh though at some of last weeks program. The biggest problem with a gypsy wedding, or christening or funeral come to that, is that if a venue finds out its for a gypsy clan they will invariably cancel and pull out, even at very short notice (3 days before the wedding in one example on the show). The show itself portrayed some sympathy to this problem, suggesting it was a racist attitude. I doubt very much there is a racist intent, its self preservation. Ive seen what can happen at these do's, and places simply get wrecked. Gypsy's dont on the whole have a lot of respect for other peoples properties and think nothing of trashing a place, especially when there is a large group of them together. That didnt get mentioned in the show.

The wonderful thing about Gypsy weddings is the totally outrageous gawdy trashy clothes they wear! its unbelievable, you just have to see it to believe it.

 

[yummymummy75]

i saw that programme on tv the other night,,our ww leader has been telling us since i joined that soup took longer to leave the body!!!!very interesting about the dairy,,i've upped my cheese intake since i watched it,,if i'm up on thursday i;ll be binning the cheese well done on your loss pics are amazing!!!

 

[Lynn_]

Ive also upped my calcuim intake too! thats too good a trick to miss. I spent about £12 in tesco the other night just on yoghurt cheese and so on. I love cheese anyway, and have really restricted it from my diet, so its a relief to find out that it can actually have a positive effect on weight loss.

 

[Healthy2010]

Hope the family gathering goes well, such a wonderful thing to do that everyone will benefit from.

I saw a programme on gypsy weddings last year and I was gripped! The size and weight of the wedding dresses shocked me! But it does seem like a totally different way of life, and people seem to get married very young. I'll be looking out for that programme.

It must be especially interesting for you watching a programme about a world you know. I must confess I can't imagine you behaving the way you described at one of the gatherings lol!

Well done on the 10s! Soon there will be a black Market at your WW class for your diet! Lol.. what a result at Matalan it must have felt like being given a free trolley dash ! Xx

 

[yummymummy75]

just thought i'd let you know i lost 1.5lbs so am delighted,,cheese cheese here i come!!!!

 

[Lynn_]

just thought i'd let you know i lost 1.5lbs so am delighted,,cheese cheese here i come!!!!

Woohoo!! fantastic! im enjoying the extra cheese too!

 

[Lynn_]

Every week I buy myself a small pot of single cream, 150ml pot is 300 cals. Ive been doing this for a couple months now. I use the cream in coffee for a treat or a spoonful in my soup. Ive not yet used a whole pot in a week, so im pretty sparing with it. This week I went to get my pot of cream and spotted the Weight Watcher thick cream which is a 200grm pot for 280 cals, so I thought I would try that for a change to see what it was like. Its actually quite nice, very thick, but single cream is creamier and richer.

Anyway, I had a bright idea this week. I promised myself a liqueur coffee using the cream as soon as i had an evening when the byetta didnt make me feel too yucky, and tonights the night! So I brewed up some strong coffee, measured a small amount of cointreau into a glass, added a tsp of granulated sweetener, and then poured in the coffee. Then I spooned some of the thick cream on top. It sank straight to the bottom, in a thick blob. Hmmm, well that didnt work, guess it really needs sugar to make it float. So I gave it a good stir to disperse the cream and took a mouthful. It was disgusting! got poured straight down the sink. So much for my bright idea.

It was the sweetener that ruined it, and liqueur coffee with cointreau is really one of my favourite treats, but sweetener is just horrible. I thought the cointreau would mask it, but it didnt do the trick and it didnt help having globby bits of cream floating around either. Oh well, maybe i'll make a proper one for my birthday. Ive booked for MPW's Yew Tree again for my birthday meal, just love going there. Hubby gets a bit greyer everytime i book it

He had a moan about the wardrobe again this evening when he was unpacking his case. Honestly, he should be grateful its full of lovely gorgeous size 12's and 10's, I know I am

Funny conversation yesterday at the office I was doing an audit at. The lady there stood struggling to get the tape off of the lid of a tin of Quality Street. She offered me one
'oh no thanks, really'
'oh you skinny women are ALWAYS dieting'
'actually im diabetic'
That shut her up, and the chocolate tin dissapeared like magic . Still, Im one of THOSE skinny women now haha

 

[Healthy2010]

Hey Skinny woman!!

I have always liked liqueur coffee and I miss not having one at the end of a meal, shame your experiment didn't work. However the trip to MPWs should cushion the blow!! You're going to be totally spoilt for your birthday and rightly so!

Lol at your wardrobe situation, you're so funny I'd be very happy to see size 10-12s in my wardrobe too !

X

 

[Aline]

Oh Lynn, that conversation was hilarious, haha
But that woman was somewhat right because to keep thin people need to take care of their diets (not hard core diet, but be carefull most time).

By the way, wasn't your husband who called you (in a lovely way, of course) stick insect? Well, apperently he isn't the only one who sees the results, hehe

Anyway, stick insects and skinnies aside, you look great: slim, healthy and vibrant

xxx

 

[Lynn_]

Got really excited about having a chicken kebab tonight for dinner, havnt had a kebab for nearly a year! Lovely grilled chicken on a skewer with lots of salad in a pitta bread and a drizzle of chilli sauce.

It was yuck, I threw half away. I had to eat half i was starving! What has happened to me??? I used to love all this junk food (actually chicken kebabs are pretty good as junk food go, coming in at around 350 cals). Every now and then I think about having a burger king whopper with cheese. My god I could eat those a long time ago. I think about it then i go off the idea. Bleh, it can wait, pass me a salad.

Im equally unimpressed with Mars Bars saturated fat being reduced by 15%. I did a bit of research on it. A mars bar contains 5.2g saturated fat, out of a total 13.6g fat in all. So reducing the saturated fat element means reducing it by less than a gram. Im seriously not impressed, especially not impressed with Mars spending £9million to do it as well. I am however impressed that a small confetionery bar can contain 11 teaspoons sugar! How is that possible? 11 whole teaspoons of sugar!! If Mars want to really impress maybe they should do something about that.

Ack, I dont even like mars bars, they taste like they are full of sugar...........oh wait a minute, they are!

 

[Lynn_]

I feel as though ive been eating all day today. Picking at things, as the only actual meal ive had was breakfast.

I made about 80 samosas today and put them in the freezer, then made a huge pot of chilli, also to go in the freezer, all for next weeks party. But I cant cook if i dont taste what im cooking ,and i think i forget how much of it ive tasted as I go along.

My sister Sally and her OH came over today, they have lent me a marquee for the party. Its quite big, 20ftx10ft, but was a bit of a nightmare putting it up as winds were quite strong today. I was concerned it might blow away, but its pretty heavy so i think its ok. It will be the smokers zone for next week, and also a covered walkway to the garage. Our garage is converted into a games room with pool table. Rob fitted it out years ago, he also has tv, beer fridges, sofas in there, and its carpeted lol. Whenever we have a party most of the guys end up the garage playing pool for some of the evening.

Ive already done some of the shopping for next week, but want to get to Slough on Monday after work as there is an indian supermarket there thats excellent for chicken and fresh fruit and veg as well as the more unusual things you dont find in Tesco, and much much cheaper too. I will make a big chicken curry on Monday and freeze that as well. I will still have a fair bit of cooking to do Friday and Saturday, but hopefully will have got a lot prepared in advance. Cooking is so tiring, especially for a lot of people, so the more i can do in advance the better.

Im doing mostly hot food for the party, its just easier when there is a crowd. I dont like ready prepared food much, I much rather make all or most of it. Ive decided to get a few gateaux from Iceland though as I really cant be assed with making pavlovas and such like. I used to years ago, I would make fantastic gateaux and all sorts of sweet dessert things. But Iceland do a black forest gateaux thats really cheap and really nice, very chocolaty with lots of black cherry filling, so that will do. Its not like I will be eating it anyway, well maybe a tiny bit

Everyone loves my samosas but they are such a pain to make, so Im glad to get those out the way, was going to have a go at onion bhajis as well, but after putting up the marquee and then cooking all day im losing the will to live. I think i would probably have to cook them before I could freeze them anyway, so maybe its not a good plan.

Off to Nirvana spa tomorrow for a lovely relaxing day, looking forward to that.

 

[kas getting slimmer]

It's all go at yours Sounds like you've got everything covered in your head and by the time the party happens you'll be all organised

I hope you have a fabulous time, after all the effort your putting into it, you deserve to

 

[MinnieMel]

Hi Lynn,

I just finished reading through your diary and you are doing so well.

Some arm exercises will build up those muscles and that will help with the loose skin. I did this myself and it really made a difference. I am nearly 50 and as I lost 5 stone on LL in 2008, and I gradually added in exercise -- so, I lost weight and toned.

Unfortunately, when I stopped exercising I slowly started to regain. I have regained over 1/2 and am now in the process of losing the regain and preparing to "successfully" maintain. Your diary seems to be a handbook for maintaining, so thanks for posting this.

I hope the party goes well -- I am exhausted just reading aobut the preparations.


MinnieMel

 

[Lynn_]

Had a lovely afternoon at Nirvana spa today, was so good just to chill out and relax in the big spa pool.

Food is much better today although I got up late as I was up so late last night. Breakfast was scrambled egg and a slice of ham. Had 2 bites of an apple when we left the spa, then just had dinner of boiled egg, 25g low fat cheese, slce of ham and a mixed salad, May have an orange a bit later and a low sugar jelly with a tsp of the WW cream.

They had a copy of the Jan edition of Readers Digest mag at the spa today, there ws an article about the JUDDDD diet. Ive heard of it through this forum, but never actually looked into it. You diet one day on one day off. The on day is very low calorie low carb, then the off day is normal eating, whatever that is. Its supposed to be a very effective way of dieting, and stops your body going it starvation mode so that it doesnt affect your metabolism. It sounds like a good plan for maintaining, but i need to be clear about the off days and what normal eating really is. I may research it a bit, but everything feels very much up in the air at the moment.

My weight was up a lb this morning to 10.11, after yesterdays picking session. Seems so unfair to pick little bits of food and put on weight. Sensibly I know its fluid/glycogen gain and not fat gain, but even so. Especially after my scare after new year with putting on equivalent of a lb every 12 damn hours for a couple of days. Ive joined WW but concerned about the actual amount of food I could eat a day, im allowed 29 points a day, I would love to be able to eat that much but so nervous about gaining. My mindset is now that I should try to get down to 10st or therabouts, then give the 29 points a day a go. Ill have a good half stone leeway to gain if its too much food. On the other hand I like the sound of JUDDDD as the on days will be pretty much what I do on a day to day basis anyway, and wouldnt involve any point counting which i hate the idea of anyway.

Maybe the ideal solution is a fusion of both, 29 WW points on the off days, my normal eating plan on the on days. Now theres a thought. Ill get down to 10.7 then give it a go. I have to do something to keep my weight on an even keel.

 

[Healthy2010]

Wow Lynn you party in style !! Sounds like it's going to be a brilliant party, and the food really does sound scrumptious. You must be a really good cook to make all of that, particularly samosas I wouldn't have a clue where to begin!Hope the marquee is still faring ok in this rather dismal weather!

I like the diet fusion idea and would love to see how that works out, on the gave of it you would think that it's got to be a good maintainance plan. As the low day should counteract the higher day and as long as you WI after the lower day I'm site you'd see good results. That's something to look foreword to youll be eating out at marco Pierre whites on a even days of the month !!!

Hope youve had a good day today xxx

 

[Lynn_]

Was my appraisal at work today, that went very well and ive been given some more responsibilies in training other surveyors and auditors, although to be fair ive been involved in training for a while now, Also been roped into a project that might be very interesting or might be the complete undoing of me! Anyway, it will give something else to stress about other than my weight.

I went to Slough this afternoon to the indian supermarket. The prices are so cheap there, for instance I bought a 4kg net bag of red onions for £1.49!! The lovely big apple like asian pears were 5 for a £1! you would pay nearly a £1 each in tesco. I practically filled the boot of my car up for £50 with tons of groceries. This evening Ive made a big batch of red onion chutney, although I wont be eating much of it haha( I hope).

But the biggest joy for me there was finding Fuji apples, I nearly cried lol. Fuji apples come in to season twice a year, but Tesco only seem to stock them for the early season which actually doesnt start until around May, so where this grocery got them ive no idea. I havnt eaten one yet so it may be that they are from the late season which is around oct/nov, so they might be past their best but I was willing to give them a try and bought a big bag of them. Fuji apples are just the sweetest crispest apples ive ever eaten, and have very little acidity. No good if you like the sharp green apples, but I cant eat acidic apples. I wait all year for these to come out again, and I have a bag of them! Im so happy lol.

I was going to cook the curry tonight but im feeling yucky and making chutney pushed me over the edge into a bad bout of nausea again. Poor rob had to take over while i took to my bed. Ive just got up to bottle it all as it iwll be a mess if i leave it in the pan till the morning. The house stinks of vinegar and rob wasnt amused at having to go in the kitchen with the fumes. Cooking chutney in the evenign probably wasnt a good idea, but its done now.

My grandmother used to make fantastic Jams and chutneys, and she made the most wonderful elderflower wine. Ive often thought about making wine but im too impatient for it, and tescos is too easy. She would bottle hers and leave it 2 years before anyone was allowed to touch it, but she had a batch going every year, so i guess its a matter of getting organised.

 

[Lynn_]

Weight was back at 10.10 this morning. WW wi tonight, but im not sure ive really lost anything this week. I think im going through another plateau/adjustment so im not bothered. It will move again when its ready.

Was pretty sick last night, horrible nausea and today it feels like its still hanging around, although i had byetta this morning but havnt actually felt sick, just bloated. All ive eaten today is a yoghurt with some sugar free maple syrup and i licked the spoon when i made some chicken liver pate earlier.

The maple syrup came from sugarfreesuperstore.co.uk . Someone posted about sugar free honey the other day so i did a search to see what I could find and found this website. They dont do the honey, well they do but it has fructose which is sugar whichever way you look at it, but they did have this maple syrup. 9 cals a tablespoon, so i ordered some and some other low carb bread mix and pasta to justify the shipping cost. The order turned up this morning and I had some maple syrup on plain yoghurt for breakfast. Its just like maple syrup! looks like it, tastes like it, and no horrible after taste from the sweetener which is maltitol In fact this maple syrup is so good im almost suspicious about it. What if they are lying and it really is proper maple syrup lol. A 12fluid ounce bottle contains total of 200 cals, and will last me ages. I may try to make some salad dressing with it in place of the honey i usually use.

I was going to make up the low carb bread today into rolls and freeze them. Calorie wise its not a lot different to ordinary bread as it contains almond flour, but if i can get 9 rolls out of the pack then they will work out at 100 cals each which isnt bad, and very low in carbs, around 2.5g per roll i think but ill have to calculate it properly. Will be interesting to see what its like anyway.

Ive no plans to use the pasta just yet, but it would be nice to have a low carb spag bog sometime soon.

I have a huge pan of chicken curry on the go at the moment, I havnt tasted it yet, will just be another lick of the spoon later to test for seasoning.

Most of yesterdays shopping is still in the boot of the car, I cant bring it in till ive cleaned up the kitchen which is looking wrecked at the moment. I phoned a friend of mine today, Ruth, she used to clean for me, so ive begged her to come around Saturday morning to give the house a good going over. She is such a star!

 

[Lynn_]

Wi at WW , im half a pound up from last week, not surprised as i thought the 7.5lb i lost there last week was more than i was expecting. 7lb in 2 weeks will do me very well.

Ive been looking up maltitol, the sweetener in the maple syrup. It doesnt really get a good press, some sites say it has only a slightly lower GI to sugar. Well, im not going to be swigging it back in any case and im still impressed with it.

The curry i made today has to be the best ive ever made, even though i almost had a disaster with it earlier. The largest pan i have is not as thick on the bottom as some of my others and it caught, so there was an emergency ladling into 2 pans so that the burnt bottom didnt get stirred into the rest of it. But disaster was averted just in time, and its absolutely delicious. I ended up picking out 4 small peices of chicken and Rob had a taster. Im still in the process of making my bread rolls, i got 8 out of the mix in the end, so will be about 115 cals each. Just waiting for them to go in the oven shortly.

I went shopping after WW and bought most of everything else i need now. Im away tomorrow night for work, back Thursday, as im working in Carmarthenshire on Thursday so ill be staying with hubby at his hotel in Wales. I dont think next weeks WI at WW will be any better than this week though. Just have to limit the damage as much as I can at the hotel and on Saturday.

 

[MinnieMel]

Ive been looking up maltitol, the sweetener in the maple syrup. It doesnt really get a good press, some sites say it has only a slightly lower GI to sugar. Well, im not going to be swigging it back in any case and im still impressed with it.

Good attitude about the weigh in and good plan for the time in the hotel -- you are managing quite well.

DON'T Swing the malitol unless you plan on spending the better part of a day in the loo... it does not take very much to give some people very bad gas, and not much more than that to have a major laxative effect.

I returned my CD because the have malitol in them and I do notlike the chemically taste in them or the bad gas they give me. (Sorry if this is TMI)

MinnieMel