Summer is here!

Timmy's out of Wimbledon.

Who I can look like

I said at the beginning of the blog that I wanted to look like Keira Knightley. Well, after many hours thinking and dreaming (well, 30 seconds), I have come to the conclusion that I will never, ever look like her.

So, my alternative, who it maybe possible to look like with a lot of healthy eating and exercise is...........(and I made myself laugh out loud in a body conditioning class today when I thought of it)...............Xena Warrior Princess.

I want to be super strong and fit and wear leather skirts. And be a lesbian pin up.

You Are What You Eat on Channel 4

Did anyone else watch this? If so, we must all be congratulating ourselves like mad.

For the benefit of Vicks and anyone who didn't watch it, this nutritionist went round to visit this very overweight Scottish woman to sort out her diet.

Well, they looked at what she ate every day and it made me feel ill. She ate 10 packets of crisps a day (breakfast was Irn Bru and crisps), 77 biscuits a week, a tub of margarine a week (!) and not a single fruit or vegetable.

They gave her a medical and she is verging on being diabetic. They put her on a healthy eating regime (lots of fruit, veg, brown rice, avocado) and not surprisingly she lost 2 stone. She was even converted to eating the right way.

Now, I don't know about how this made you feel, but I felt positively saintly. I think we all need to remember that compared to a lot of people we eat a very healthy diet and even if we aren't losing as much weight as we could be (I am speaking for myself here), we are being very healthy indeed. Our insides must look lovely.

Anyway. I went to yoga and the breathing bit was bliss - better than what I imagine heroin to be like. Explosions of colour in the head and floaty lightness. Still not very bendy and am finding sun salutations a tad impossible.

Food - not bad.
Porridge with blubes, pecan nuts, sunflower seeds, yog, soya milk
Green tea x4
Pear
Cherries
Sweet Potato Stew
Plum
Soya beans
Kedgeree

I weighed last night

And I am exactly the same. Very sad, but could have been worse.

Too much bread

We went to the farmers' market on Sunday and there is a French man who sells lovely bread. I have been eating too much of it.

Strawb and blube smoothie
2 small pieces yummy toast with butter
Salad with home made guacamole and mixed beans
Slice of yummy bread
Pear
Green tea x2
Cherries
Plum
Handful soya beans
African sweet potato stew (fantastic recipe from WW veg messageboard)
Rice
Slice yummy bread with butter
V small piece of the last of the rasp and hazlenut cake

So, too many carbs but I enjoyed them.

Went to the gym and ran for about 20 minutes and did weights. Managed to do my chiro exercises whilst watching the tennis. Is it just me, or does anyone else want Tim Henman to lose all the time? Am off to yoga tonight.

Winning Weekend Plans

Well, I've reacked my brains and thought that one idea would be to have a lovely dinner planned for either Sat night or Sunday brunch. The dinner would be special, with wine and candles but made up of healthy choices. However, it would be expensive (well, doesn't have to be) and take time and effort to prepare.

You could have a fishy thing for a starter (oysters, scallops etc), a veggie cous cous thing for a main course, and a lovely fruit based pudding. For all you non fish eaters, you could have olives, hummous, parma ham in small quantities etc (no bread).

I always feel fuller when I eat a nice meal than if I just have boring stuff. On Sunday night I made a crab and melon salad with a lime, ginger and mint dressing and it was lovely, very good for you and very filling.

Whaddya reckon?

The Usual Disastrous weekend

I haven't got much time to post today as I am having a day from hell, which involves interviewing all morning and then a big scary meeting this afternoon. Yum. And I had to work on Saturday wearing a pink t-shirt which said 'Top University Totty' on it. I felt like Jordan. It was a bit, well, tight. And I don't think anyone has described me as totty since 1991.

So, not really surprising I stuffed my face. Only one success, which was not drinking on Sunday. I made up for it by eating raspberry and hazlenut cake as MIL was down on Sunday afternoon.

Belgian beers and wine galore on Friday night (went out with Emma who texted me from the bus home saying she was eating a strange man's chips - hope she's OK).

Saturday involved lasagne, chips, risotto, hot dogs, sweets and other dreadful things.

Sunday, not that bad apart from the cake.

Will weigh at the gym tonight. Think it might be bad.

Ooo, almost forgot

Last night I popped into H&M on my way home. Although they are notoriously bad with sizes (I once bought a size 20 dress from there - I was size 14), I tried a size 12 dress on and it fitted! Oh joy.

However, I then went to Tesco and tried on some crop trousers for work, and the 12 were a bit tight. Baaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Nice veggie recipes for dieters

If you like tofu, there are some easy, low-fat and yummy veggie recipes on the Cauldron Foods website. I love the smoky bean and red pepper casserole, and it's really easy to make.

Also, Weight Watchers has a great community recipe swap, where there are tons of lovely WW-friendly veggie recipes. The African Sweet Potato Stew is a favourite in my house. I think you have to register as a user to access them, but you don't have to be a WW member.

Happy Cooking!

Good day and I didn't drink beer with the football, although I wish I had

Porridge with blubes, yog, seeds, nuts and soya milk
Green tea x3
Banana
Chicken curry and rice with veg (canteen curry, so not that fatty)
Peach
Apple
V small slice watermelon
Tbsp crunchy soya beans
Spinach and feta omelette with tomato salad and a bread roll
Small bowl of strawbs

I now know the reason why I drink during important matches. I get sick from too much adrenalin otherwise and can't sleep afterwards.

I blame Dave. It's karma coming back to him. If he had been a good faithful husband, none of this would have happened :-(

Bah. At least I have one happy Nelly in the house. She was very good, and didn't gloat.

A good day at last

All new Emma has arrived, with her new attitude to dieting.

Banana and summer fruit soy smoothie
Jacket potato with ratatouille and mixed beans
Quorn and vegetable fajitas with salsa
Low-fat choc mousse
2 dried figs

And I went to the supermarket when I was v hungry, but managed to resist all the bad stuff. Hurrah!

Next week, I have a week off work, which usually means lots of eating out and cream teas. So I must be very, very careful that the cake monster doesn't pay me a visit.

I am a bad sausage

Started off well....
Porridge with soy milk, almonds, walnuts and maple syrup
Banana
Baked potato with beans and cheese
Pasta with avocado and ricotta sauce

Then it all went pear-shaped...
3 Belgian beers
2 pints of lager
Half a king-size Chunky Kit Kat

Then drunkenness led to midnight lard-fest, made up of a bizarre combination of...
Glamorgan sausages in a bap with cheese
Potato smiley faces and ketchup

I did go to the gym for an hour, but that nowhere makes up for this lardfest. I am ashamed and appalled and disgusted. And I have a hangover too.

I don't know how to control myself and stop eating rubbish. I'm sick of thinking every day is a new start, then completely contradicting myself and eating for Britain. I think I need some of Bex's psychobabble!

I blame the parents

Not too bad if you don't count the booze.

Strawb and blube smoothie
2 pieces toast with lingonberry jam and hazlenut butter
Apple
Green tea x3
Ham salad with tabbouleh
Peach
Apple
Chicken basque (chicken, rice, peppers, onions, olives and a LOT of chorizo)
Strawbs and ice cream
2 cans Stella
1 glass white wine
3 glasses of red

We all had a lovely time and laughed a lot, so don't feel guilty. Will not drink tonight even though it is England v Portugal in the quarter finals and I will be very nervous. I also went to the gym for an hour yesteday. I actually enjoyed my run. Wierd or what?

I feel a bit sick this morning so maybe I won't eat so much. The sickness was caused by The Guardian printing a picture of Phil Neville in a vest, which is disgusting. I will be writing to complain.

Go Fat Boy Rooney! He's fat, he's scouse, he'll rob your fucking house, Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney.

Psychobabble on Wednesday - a new column by Rebecca Moore

I was looking at something interesting today, not about dieting, but about taking responsibility for your own life.

We are grown up, rational, intelligent, compassionate women. We have read book after book, diet after diet, yet we don’t appear to be able to manage our weight like we want to.

We know that when we eat less, or less of certain foods, we get thinner. Why are we unable to do this for a long period of time (in my case longer than 5 days)?

We need to think a little more and take control of what we put in our mouths. If we want a chocolate biscuit, have one, fine, but realise what it is going to do to your body. We don’t have to have one biscuit and then get ‘taken over’ by the chocolate biscuit monster and eat the whole packet. We can make choices about what to put in our mouths.

We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our bodies.

We all like ourselves so we need to treat ourselves like we treat our friends – fill ourselves with good quality, healthy food, don’t poison ourselves and make our bodies fit enough to do what they’re supposed to do.

Can I ask a personal question?

Is it just me, or does everyone get very constipated when they are healthy eating?

A buffet encounter and a bedtime snack

2 pieces brown toast and all-fruit jam
Cherries
Banana
Tinned spaghetti on toast (how retro?)
Strawberries
Mango smoothie x 2
Mini vegetable samosa (bad, bad buffet encounter)
Frittata with potatoes, tomatoes , mushroom and onion
English muffin with peanut butter (this was an evil, pre-bedtime snack, but my dinner wasn't very big and I was still hungry)

And I did yoga too. Didn't manage any walking though, but it was chucking it down, so I had a valid excuse.

Chilli Peppers concert tonight. I must not drink gallons of beer, I must not drink gallons of beer...

I am a domestic goddess

Porridge with pecan nuts, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, yoghurt, soya milk
Green tea x4
Banana
Chickpea dhal with potatoes, salad and ratatouille
Apple
1/4 manky buffet sandwich
mini sausage roll
8 olives
halloumi cheese and veg kebabs with tabbouleh

And I went to yoga. And I enjoyed it. And I got almost a high off the breathing. So Sez, you can tell your mates that I am high on the drug that is yoga.

And I watched the football without drinking beer. And I cleaned my house in anticipation of my parents arrival tonight. And I did the ironing. And I went to bed at midnight and am knackered. And I didn't drink beer.

So then, why do I feel so damn fat today and can't fit into my skirt?

Which is the best diet?

What diet plans has everyone followed in the past? I lost 16lbs with WW last year, which I found quite easy, but I got really sick of having to weigh and measure things.

After gaining about a stone a year during three years of uni, I just did my own healthy eating and fitness thing, which worked really well. I did Liz McDonald off Corrie's exercise video, and I walked absolutely everywhere. Diet-wise, I just cut out all the creamy, cheesey stuff, but I still went out for curry and pizza once a week and I drank LOTS of lager in those days too.

And when I went travelling, I had chronic diarrhea for six weeks, and I was positively waif-like!

Positively angelic

Banana and summer fruit soy smoothie
English muffin with marmite
Pasta and tomato sauce
Cherries
Raspberries
More pasta with tomato sauce (stayed up my mum's and she didn't know I'd already had pasta for lunch)
Weight Watchers chocolate brownie (not convinced it was v low fat, but if I was on WW, it would only have been 2 points)
Strawberries

Walked briskly for 20 minutes (uphill!)

Not bad - and drank no beer!

Porridge with pecan nuts, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, soya milk, yoghurt
Green tea x4
Banana
Sea bass, potatoes, salad
Apple
1/3 packet soya beans
Hake, noodles, ratatouille, green beans
Apple
Toasted hot cross bun with butter

I went to the gym for the first time in a week and it was hard work but I feel better today. I slept better last night as well. Where does fitness GO if you don't do anything for a bit?

Yesterday was midsummer's day and I will take new heart from that and really, really mean that I will be a skinny minny by Christmas.

Goals for the week

Last week's goals were:
Walk to the station and home every day (25 minutes each way)
Did it eight times out of ten, so not bad

Exercise at least four times
Yes, although did mainly swimming as can't face the boring gym

Don't eat Jaffa Cakes and Hob Nobs
Not one passed my lips!

Don't go mental and eat everything in sight on the weekend
Er.......

This weeks goals:
Walk to or home from station daily
Exercise four times
Make healthy choices when eating out
Eat three portions of fruit every day
And, of course, don't go mental and eat everything in sight on the weekend

Potential problems this week are Chilli Peppers concert on Wednesday (ie lots of booze) and weekend visiting a friend in Cambridge (ie more booze)

The Food Tour

Well, all I need to say about the weekend is that Dave and I decided we have to do something about our eating habits, so as a final blow-out before starting a new healthy week, we decided to go on a 'food tour of cardiff'.

I won't go into details, but it did involve five desserts - each! (Over the weekend, not in one sitting!)

Anyway, I weighed this morning and I'm only 1lb heavier than last week, and it's TOTM so that might account for it. But today I am sitting at my desk with a big bag of cherries, a punnet of raspberries and lots of water. Here's to a new start!

I wonder how many Mondays I've said that...

Why is it

that I found stopping smoking a million times easier than dieting?

I started smoking when I was 11 years old and smoked 20 a day until a month after my 30th birthday. I should have found it difficult to stop, but I stopped overnight and haven't had a cigaretter since (18 months).

Why then, am I unable to get my head round losing weight?

I may have to resign

We went to Tenby and had a fabulous time. But I am unable to write down what I ate this weekend due to the fact that I didn't write everything down and, more importantly, I am too embarrassed.

I have eaten lots of fish though - turbot, crab (twice) and sea bass. I didn't have any chocolate or chips or battered fish.

This is a random selection of things I ate from Friday to Sunday.
Wine
Beer
Lemon and ginger crunch
crab sandwiches
cheese sandwich
olives
crisps
mini sausage rolls
2 great big fry ups (I didn't eat the fried bread)
Sea bass
Turbot
Potatoes
Veg
half a chicken pasty
ham
salami
roast chicken
chocolate latte

If you bought 6 things from the deli in M&S, you got a free cool bag. So we did and ate them on the train.

I am ashamed and remorseful. I am going back to the gym this week and will weigh myself today to see how badly I am doing.

We did do lots of walking though.

I gotta go

Did want to post more, but ran out of time.

Have a good weekend everyone!

I can't stop eating

It's bad. It's worse than bad. I am like Mr Creosote.

Last night, I just had to have pizza and potato salad - nothing else would do. So I made some potato salad and ordered an evil Dominoes. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! And it wasn't even that nice after all, so doubly disappointed.

This morning, I have eaten a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch.

Tomorrow, I am cooking a posh meal for Dave, which will involve much naughtiness on the calorie front.

Quick post in between medical appointments

Hello!

Yesterday not too bad. I managed not to drink beer, or any other form of alcohol during the football. V good as Martin was drinking lots.

Strawberry and banana smoothie
Green tea x4
Piece toast with hazlenut butter and lingonberry jam
lentil and sweet potato dhal with salad
Apple
Nispero (I wrote down the name of the orange fruit)
Small bowl pecans and dried fruit in front of the football
Small plate of salami, manchego cheese and olives (shared with Martin and not really that much)
Dahl with spinach and rice
Small Green and Black's organic dark chocolate bar

Not great, but could have been a whole lot worse.

The bad news is that I got weighed at Chiro this morning and I seem to have put on 2 kilos (4.4lb) but they are on different scales that I normally weigh myself on, so it might not be true.

I did think up some psychobabble about weightloss last night, but haven't got time to post now. Will do so later.

Fat pasty

Last night I went swimming. I wasn't feeling too bad about myself for once, but mid-swim, four girls came into the pool, all skinny, blonde, toned and tanned. And then I felt like a fat pasty.

Today I am wearing a skirt, which is not a good idea, but all my trousers are in the wash. My legs look wobbly and so, so white, and because the sun's gone in they're starting to go a bit corned beef. So today I feel like a fat corned beef pasty.

On a more positive note, yesterday's food was 90% good.
Toast and marmite
Salad (rocket, tomatoes, olives, chickpeas)
Apple
Roasted tofu, sweet potato and avocado salad
Glass of wine (half a bottle in the fridge and Dave was having a glass, so it was rude not to)

Just something to cheer myself up

Even if I'm not getting thinner, we are all being very, very healthy. I think we all must be eating about 10 pieces of fruit and veg a day and are eating a very balanced diet.

Well done us! We must have glossy skin and hair and very cold noses.

I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this

I look in the mirror and I see a massive gut that sticks out and hate it. So why can I not stop eating?

I got home last night and stuffed my face. It was like I was out of control.

The list of shame
Porridge with blueberries, sunflower seeds, pecan nuts, yoghurt, soya milk
Green tea x2
Apple
Apple juice
Asparagus soup
Ham and olive salad
Apple
Green tea
Orange fruit thing (still can't remember it's name)
Count on us pretzels
5 olives
Piece toast with mushroom pate
2 slices salami
1/2 thin pizza (it said 376 cals per half pizza)
Salad


Bah.

I didn't mean to have pizza, but Martin was going to cook Dhal but his train was late so we would have starved to death by the time he'd cooked it. So we had to had pizza instead. He cooked the dhal at about 10pm last night which means that I have it for lunch today and for tea tonight. At least there will be the excuse that I won't know when dinner is to nibble tonight. But there is the football - I WILL NOT DRINK BEER with the football tonight. And you can hold me to that.

Scary Dairy

A few months ago, I stopped eating dairy after reading all kinds of horrible stories about what's in milk/how it's produced etc.

It was around the time that I started doing lots of exercise, and I felt so fantastic. Full of energy and really *clean* and healthy.

Just looking over my 'diet diary' and noticed that dairy has gradually crept back into my diet, and I'm probably eating some form of it every day.

And now I think about it, I don't feel as good as I did. I often feel sluggish and bloated, and my skin's not as nice.

So as of today, I'm going to cut down on the dairy and see if I can get my mojo back again.

I have probably bored you all by now, but it just occured to me that this might be the answer! I'll keep you posted.

Something to cheer you all up

I found this!

http://www.myvirtualmodel.com

You can see what you look like in a bikini. And Emma and I have tried it and we look fab!

Give it a go.

I get snackier and snackier

OK - well not a complete disaster but definitely could do better.

However, one major success was that I only had one v small sandwich from the evil work buffet and no crisps and no scones. And I was in the meeting where everyone else was scoffing. A major victory.

Strawberry and blueberry smoothie
Green tea x2
Hot cross bun with butter
Asparagus soup
Asparagus tian with bean salad
1/4 cheese salad sandwich
v small slice pineapple
Apple
Strange fruit called something like a nematode (although that's something to kill slugs with, so not nematode)
Slice serrano ham, 5 olives, v small piece manchego cheese
turkey stir fry with lots of veg and noodles
small Green and Black's dark organic chocolate bar

That sounds tons! oops.

I'm so ashamed

Had some friends round for dinner last night. Sent Dave to the shops to get something for pudding, and he came back with a cheesecake plus a tub of Ben and Jerry's, and of course, I had to have a bit of both. I am evil.

Toast and peanut butter
Jacket potato with beans and cheese
Manky sandwich from work buffet
Handful of crisps
Veg lasagne, mixed salad, 2 slices garlic bread
Cheesecake
Ice cream
3 large glasses of wine

However, did 50 minutes walking, and 1 hour yoga, so perhaps made up for the lardfest in some small way.

And someone at work said that I was looking very thin, which was nice to hear!

Must do better today.

Bloody buffet food

Why is it that even though I eat a filling lunch, if there is leftover buffet food in the office, I have to eat it?

I managed to resist the scones that were there earlier, but this food has been looking at me funny all afternoon and - just as I'm about to leave - I just ate a sandwich and a handful of crisps.

Defeated by a crinkly-cornered sandwich from a leftover buffet lunch. Tragic really.

Sort of back on track

Porridge with gooseberry fool, sunflower seeds and pecan nuts
Green tea x2
Chicken salad sandwich (the eveil one with 1089 calories)
Jacket potato with beans and cheese
Slice at serrano ham
Prawns with chili and garlic (v small starter)
Asparagus tian with green salad and borlotti beans
Gooseberry fool with 3 small shortbread biscuits

I know that lot wasn't great, but I've realised that I really do eat for comfort. I went to the hospital yesterday and I have 52 discs of chemicals taped to my back. It is very hot and itchy and I can't move properly. Martin had to wash my hair for me last night and I didn't sleep properly. I had to have nice food to make me feel better.

I am being brave today and am taking my own lunch into a lunch time meeting with buffet. I am hoping it will stop me eating the fattening breaded whatsits they always do here.

I look like corned beef

I hate being pale - it makes you look fatter than you really are. It makes your skin look bumpy and blotchy and generally a bit yucky. Sunbathing's out as I have skin cancer in my family and I don't tan anyway, and if I try to put fake tan on, I just look streaky.

Nicole Kidman's got skin like mine but she gets away with it, but in reality pale is not interesting or nice. It's hideous, and my legs look as if they have been moulded from corned beef.

Monday Munchies

Food
Toast and peanut butter
Apple
Pasta with tomato sauce and veggies
Herb and lemon chickpea salad with griddled halloumi cheese
Mango sorbet
Green tea
Lots of water

Exercise
Went to the gym for an hour and nearly died due to bad combination of heat and hay fever. 50 minutes brisk walking (to and home from the train station).

I feel the week is conspiring against me

I think that circumstances are wanting me to be fat.

I haven't brought any lunch or snacks in today because we were away this weekend and haven't been shopping. The canteen at work that normally has the healthy salad stuff is shut for the summer, starting from today. I will have a very limited choice for lunch.

I can't do any exercise this week because of my allergy testing. They are going to stab me in the back and write on me which substance is which so I am not allowed to get sweaty or wash my back (urrggh). That means I can't go to the gym. I will be able to go to yoga tomorrow though.

I've been starving all morning and just given in and eaten a chicken salad sandwich. I thought it was the healthy choice (no cheese, sausage or bacon) and I read on the packet after I've eaten it that it had 1089 calories in it. Bugger. I should have had the all day breakfast instead.

Conspiracy!

Oh dear

Well, the weekend wasn't disastrous, but it wasn't the healthiest either. Here's the bad stuff I ate:
Half a packet of Munchies
Veggie lasagne and chips
Four profiteroles
Gallons of champagne and white wine
2 Hob Nobs
Little cinema-sized tub of Haagen Dazs
Packet of crisps
Three Jaffa Cakes

Eurgh - it seems so much worse when you list it all. But, I weighed this morning and I have lost 3lbs! Hurrah!

This week's goals are:
Walk to the station and home every day (25 minutes each way)
Exercise at least four times
Don't eat Jaffa Cakes and Hob Nobs
Don't go mental and eat everything in sight on the weekend

And that's it. Have a good day, diet bloggers.

I've let the side down

I blame the football. I consumed approximately 2 million calories last night between 4pm and 10pm. I am too embarrassed to write exactly what I ate, but it may have been made up of Stella Artois, olives, elk sausage (yes really), pork chops, frazzles, pate, bruschetta, potato salad, gooseberry fool, biscuits, watercress, sushi. Bloody football. And I blame Martin for 'getting a few nibbles in for the game'.

Although I felt thinner on Friday, now I am just as fat as I was when I started.

The weekend was very bad all round, although there were two notable successes. On Friday night we went out for dinner and had mezze in a Moroccan restaurant. We made healthy choices and had things like chickpeas and broad beans and tabbouleh. On Saturday I was travelling and had a half hour wait to change trains at Bristol Temple Meads. They have installed a pasty shop there! And the smell of hot, cooking pasties really made me want one. I was hungry and a bit hungover, so a pasty would have been ideal. But I walked straight past and had miso soup at the sushi shop instead.

It was a bad, bad weekend. I must try very hard this week.

Congratulations to us all

We have all had a very good week and, with a fair wind, we should all have lost some weight.

I'm really glad Emma decided to set up this blog. I am finding it very motivating. Thank you Emma.

Good luck over the weekend everyone.

Feeling that I need a LARGE glass of wine though.

Weekends

I think we need some inspiration about what we do at weekends. We all seem to have the same problem that we eat and drink more than is good for us because it's the weekend and we have social stuff to do which involves eating and drinking.

Do we have any top tips to counter-act the weekend bloat?

I can't really think of anything inspirational, but I will try not to start drinking on Saturday until at least 7pm, rather than my usual 4 or 5pm. That should save on some booze calories and stop the nibbling temptation.

Any ideas?

Thursday's Troughing

B: Mashed avocado with marmite on toast (which some people think is weird, but I love it!)
L: Jacket potato with beans
D: Slice of goats cheese and caramelised red onion tart; mixed salad; teeny bit of potato salad; piece of ciabatta bread; strawberries
S: No snacks today, thank you
Dr: Green tea, lots of water, cup of coffee, glass of white wine; small orange juice
E: None - bad, bad, bad!

Well, it's not bad but it's not saintly either. Tomorrow I have to go on a four-hour car journey, which would normally involve a stop off for a muffin on the way, and to a wedding, which always involves loads of food and booze. So I sense it's not going to be good weekend for my waistline.

Too snacky by half

Strawberry and blueberry soya smoothie
Piece of wholemeal toast with hazlenut butter and lingonberry jam
Green tea
Half handful of pecan nuts
Mackerel and chickpea salad (wierd I know, but it was nice)
Slice ham
15 olives (I wasn't going to eat them all, but the pot was leaking and I had to chuck the pot away or it would have leaked in my bag)
4 light Thai crackers
10 soya beans
Butternut squash and bean pasta

I was so hungry when I got home that I had to snack. I also didn't know what time Martin was getting home for dinner so I was in panic 'I might not eat until 9pm' mode.

I went browsing in the shops after work and tried on some clothes. I wish I hadn't. I am a size 18 on the top (the shame) and my stomachs are those of a 50 year old who has had 8 children. I honestly think that this won't go away unless I have surgery.

I am still thinking positively in that it took my 13 years of drinking Stella and eating cheese for me to get like this, it's not going to go in a week.

As ever, I'm a bit worried about what will happen at the weekend. I am going to my auntie's so food wise it won't be that bad, but with the football it might be a bit bad on the drink front.

We'll just have to see.

The feeling I want right now

is that feeling you get when you are on holiday (in Greece for example) and you've been there for a few days and you look fantastic.

Never mind that you are eating tonnes and drinking like a fish, you suddenly look and feel great. All the water you drink on the beach and the olive oil you are eating has made your skin glow and your nails have grown like mad and are pure white. The tan you are getting has disguised your cellulite and the sand has exfoliated your legs and feet.

Anyway, beats a wet afternoon in Pontypridd when you find out your technical team have just started rebuilding your website without telling you.

Ten quid well spent

I've just come back from my back massage and she asked if I've lost weight.

Hurrah!

And she said my back muscles look very well defined and she could feel my muscles responding from last night's exercise.

And, for the first time, she said I wasn't tense!

Good, but Jaffa Cakes remain a problem

B: Museli with soy milk
L: Mixed salad (lettuce, tomato, mixed beans, peppers, pasta salad, teeny bit of potato salad); Brown bread roll
D: Thai green vegetable curry; jasmine rice
S: Banana; 1 Jaffa Cake
Dr: Green tea; Small glass orange juice; water
E: 30 minutes swimming; 25 minutes walking

Mainly good, but I was starving when I got in at 8pm, and the last Jaffa Cake in the tube was calling out to me while I was cooking my curry.

Food for thought

I'll start with yesterday's food.

Porridge with pecan nuts, pumpkin seeds, blueberries, yoghurt and soya milk
Green tea x2
Apple
Vegetarian risotto with salad (in pub when everyone else was having chips!)
Banana
Apple
8 olives
Salmon wrapped in proscuitto with lentils, spinach and asparagus
Piece of toast with pate

I was very proud of myself for having the risotto - and I was even asked if I wanted chips or a jacket potato with it (?) which I declined. And the bloke next to me was eating cheesy chips and I didn't steal one. Vicks suggested that I had amazing willpower. I was thinking about that this morning and it wasn't really strong willpower, but I was exercising my choice as a rational adult. And it was easy. We choose what to put in our mouths and we are not crazed lunatics who cannot control ourselves.

Well, if I think that, why on earth did I have a piece of bread and pate immediately after I had finished my dinner? I was cross because I didn't need it and shouldn't have had it. I'm not beating myself up about it, but I will think harder next time about whether it is really necessary.

I went to the gym last night for an hour and did a very bad run. I haven't run for about 2 weeks, so I thought I'd do 20 minutes. Well, I couldn't manage it all. I had to walk for about 5 minutes of it and felt knackered. I think the lack of running for a while and my sheer bulk combined to make it very, very difficult. I'm sure it will be better next time I go.

Which celeb would you look like?

Yes, I am killing time before the next train.

Do you have someone famous whose figure you aspire to? Here's mine:

Current look: Bizarre Ann Robinson/that woman off the She-Devil hybrid (pale and a bit hefty)
Fantasy look: Melanie Sykes (although she is dark haired and olive-skinned and I am pale and corned beef-skinned)
Achievable look (with lots of healthy eating and exercise): Rachel Hunter (tall and has boobs - although that's currently where the similarity ends, and I'd have to do a lot of fake tanning)

My first massage

Well it was lovely. But she decided to rub all the aromatherapy oil through my hair at the end (?) and I now resemble Waynetta Slob. And I had to go and meet a photographer from the Sunday Times with said hair situation. At least I will get a seat to myself on the train.

Today's motivational motto

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels. Well, maybe muffins. And pizza. And chips.
No, no, no, no, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Sometimes, me and Dave sit at home listing our top 10 foods ever. We are very sad. If this happens again, I will insist we leave the house and run around the block to banish these evil thoughts from our heads, and burn calories while doing it.

Could do better

Breakfast: Porridge with soy milk, sunflower seeds and golden syrup; orange juice
Lunch: Granary roll with houmous, tomato and cucumber
Dinner: BBQ - 2 veggie sausage, 1 veggie burger, lots of asparagus, small jacket potato, 1 tbsp houmous
Snacks: Banana; handful of peanuts; 3 jaffa cakes (gaaaaaaah!)
Drinks: Green tea x 1; 3 litres of water; glass of red wine (baaaaahhh!); cup of black coffee
Exercise: Yoga class

I love yoga. I want to move into the Cardiff Buddhist Centre and eat veggie curries, wander around barefoot and do yoga all day. Although I was quite disturbed when we arrived and there was what looked like a torture harness hanging from the wall, and we were given a canvas belt to use as part of our exercises. I imagined one of us hanging upside down from the ceiling, while the rest took it in turns to whip them.

Shame I succumbed to a glass of wine and three Jaffa Cakes, but at least it wasn't a bottle of wine and a tube of Jaffa Cakes. Everything in moderation, and all that...

Today, I am going for my first ever massage! We have a holistic therapist that comes to our work, and it's only 10 squid for a half-hour session. I feel a bit nervous, but I have nice knickers on and I'm clean, so what could possibly go wrong?

Yesterday's food and Yoga

I had a pretty good day yesterday.

Strawberry and blueberry soya smoothie
1 piece of toast with hazlenut butter and lingonberry jam (yes I have been to IKEA)
Green tea x2
Apple
Bean salad with lots of different stuff with cheese
Banana
Apple
Asparagus soup with butterd muffin (oops)
1 piece wholemeal bread spread with mushroom pate and cucumbers
1 olive

Probably too many carbs there, but hey, it wasn't piggery.

Emma and I went to yoga and it was a revelation to me. At first, when we went in, and there were lots of people lying on their mats meditating, I thought that never in my life was I more in the wrong place. Then the teacher arrived and he was really nice and friendly (and very, very bendy). He was probably about 40, but looked about 22. I found it difficult as I am not very bendy. Most of the time I just thought 'eh?', but some times I thought 'oh yes, I can feel that'. Fiona Millar, the fitness guru in The Guardian said last week that the best thing about yoga was that you didn't want to go for a pint afterwards, nor stuff yourself with minging things like sausage rolls (which I have been known to want after a visit to the gym). And it's true! All I wanted to do was to go home and eat vegetables. And I didn't fart.

Challenge

What are your favourite interesting and healthy snacks?

I don't really have any apart from fruit, yoghurt and nuts. And organic dark chocolate isn't that bad for you.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

I want cake!

Yesterday was a good day

Breakfast: Mango and strawberry soy milk smoothie; slice of brown toast with marmite
Lunch: Granary roll with reduced fat houmous, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot
Dinner: Mushroom burger; potato wedges; peas, brocolli
Snacks: Banana
Drinks: Green tea x 2; 4 litres water; glass of orange juice
Exercise: 40 minutes swimming; 20 minutes walking

All in all, not a bad day. as tempted to have a Hob Nob as there are a few lurking in the cupboard, but I resisited.

Am I allowed to swear????

I have just converted what the scales at the gym said last night to stone and pounds. This is the heaviest I have ever, ever been. I now weigh (and I hope to god no one ever reads this) 12 stone and 4lb.

Eek, eek and more eek.

What I ate yesterday

2 pieces of toast with jam and butter
Small glass of fruit juice
Green tea x2
Apple
Lamb burger with potato, cress and avocado salad with watercress
Banana
Apple
Small piece french bread
Spaghetti with feta and spinach and mushrooms
2 olives
6 pecan nuts
Cherries
Drank lots and lots of water

V healthy, but way too much. But better than chips and flapjacks.

Do I eat because I am hungry?

We know the answer to that is a big fat NO. I eat because I am bored, idle, lazy, tired, happy, sad, excited, angry. Whatever. Food is comforting and interesting. And I like it. But - is there something else I could do, apart from eat, which would comfort me? I have sort of come up with a list of things we could do when the urge for food takes us.

Please add to it! I think we should award ourselves points when we manage to do one of these activities instead of eating.

Here we go

Work on the most difficult thing in your to do list for 20 minutes
Knit
Sew
Have sex
Drink water
Call your mum
Read a book
Read a magazine
Make a cup of tea
Go for a run
Do some yoga
Book a holiday
Look at some goldfish
Play with the cat
Tidy and clean
Weeding
Water the garden
Write a story
Write a diary
Blog
Tidy your desk/sort through emails
Run up and down stairs
Write a postcard to a friend/husband
Add to this list
Have a bath with candles
Pluck your eyebrows
Update your top 50 things to do
Think of a new challenge
Dancing
Sing a song (difficult to do with your mouth full)
Dry skin brushing
Skipping
Design an imaginary garden
Invent a title for yourself and imagine a footman announcing your entrance to a posh party – 'Her Grace the Duchess of Grangetown’

New Start

Today's Weight: 11st 6lb
This is not good. This is 6lbs heavier than normal. For my height (6ft), the minimum I could be, according to the wonderful world of Weight Watchers, is 10st 7lb. However, the last time I weighed this much, I was 18.

I definitely made the most of my last weekend of scoffing, by eating all of the following foods: Chips, spinach and ricotta cannelloni, half a tube of Hob Nobs, half a large bag of Kettle Chips, dips, pizza, potato salad, english muffin, veggie burger, 2 samosas, onion bhaji, stuffed vine leaves, pasta pesto, Green and Blacks chocolate, wine, beer, sangria...

Eurgh, just realised how piggy and horrible that sounds. Will read this regularly as an example of how not to do it.

I started today with a mango and strawberry soy smoothie, and I am full of positive thinking gremlins to kickstart my journey to becoming a Zest model! Here are my aims for the week:
*Exercise at least four times
*Write down every single thing that passes my lips (well, food anyway)
*Always choose the healthy option
*Make an effort with my appearance at work (ie brush the back of my hair, and wear ironed clothes)

Ooo, I love having a nice list to work from. Potential problems this week include friends round for dinner on Wednesday, and a wedding on Saturday, but I just need to repeat the mantra - 'Eat good, feel good, look good... Eat good, feel good, look good...". Happy Salad Munching!

Will I ever have a flat tummy?

I was thinking this weekend that even if I do lose 2 stone and go the gym and be very toned, I will probably NEVER have a flat tummy.

Should I consider surgery? Or should I think that as long as I am fit and healthy, a bit of a tummy doesn't matter?

The weekend is over.

This is the time to start being thin and beautiful. Today I will write down everything I eat in a bid to shame myself from piggery and I will go to the gym. I decided over the weekend that my weight is making me ill and I really, really should do something about it. Seriously, for good.

Also, it was very, very hot at the weekend and I have no summer clothes that fit me anymore. Last summer I was nearly 2 stone lighter than I am today, which is a bit sad.

Oh well, this week I must lose 2lb and go to yoga, and to the gym 3 times.

Bad, bad biscuits

So my husband has just been to the supermarket to stock up on nice food for the weekend. Here's what I will be eating:

• Chocolate Hob Nobs
  
• Mushroom Burgers
  
• Jaffa Cakes
  
• Kettle Chips
  
• Houmous
  
• Muffins

Bugger.

However

Due to hangover and lack of time, I will not be going to the gym today. And I will be having chips for lunch.

I want to

Lose 2 stone (a bit ambitious I know, but you have to have a goal!)

Not have a hangover (like I have today)

Have more energy

Have nice skin (rather than the attractive mixture of eczema and spots that I have at the moment)

Have non wobbly arms

And look damn gorgeous!

Hello!

And welcome to our blog. We WILL be thin and beautiful. This means a new fitness challenge and being good with food.

Checking in

This is the blog where we will record the results of our fitness challenge. I hope no-one else reads it, or they will think we are a little bit sad.

Anyway, here's what I want to get out of my fitness challenge.

• Lose half a stone
  
• Get toned arms
  
• Have a flat stomach
  
• Have clear, glowing skin
  
• Be annoyingly energetic
  

Hurrah!