Stupid things that people have done in order to lose weight

I hope that people will contribute to this, even though it is VERY quiet on here at the moment. These have been done by me, or people that I know.

1. Listen to the Paul McKenna CD 'I can make you thin' whilst snoring on the sofa
2. Buying 'Fench Women don't get fat' or whatever it's called and dressing like a french woman for a week
3. The Marie Antoinette diet - absolutely no bread, but you can have cake
4. Only biting the ends of each chip, not the whole chip
5. Eating celery before every meal, as this celery takes up more calories to digest than are contained within it (yeah right)
6. Ditto with grapefruit
7. That stupid 'going into hospital' diet where you eat bizarre things every day, eg day 1 you have 8 bananas and a tin of tomatoes, day 2 you have 5 filet steaks and 1 stick of rhubarb
8. Only eating white foods (including white chocolate)

What have you done?

Another healthy soup recipe

Moroccan Chickpea Soup
2 onions, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
150g dried apricots, chopped
Grated zest of half a lemon
4 tsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp tomato puree
1.5 litres veg stock
250g fresh spinach, shredded
400g tin chickpeas, drained

1. Heat the oil and fry the onions gently got 5 minutes
2. Add the spices and garlic, then fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly
3. Add tomato puree and fry for 3 more minutes
4. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, apricots, stock and chickpeas. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add spinach and simmer for further 5 minutes, until spinach is wilted. Season to taste.
6. Let it cool a little, then whizz it up in a blender
7. Swirl natural yoghurt through to serve

Yum!

March challenge: day 8

Food:
2 toast and marmite
Orange juice (1 f&v)
Banana (1 f&v)
Cheese and chutney sandwich
Another banana (1 f&v)
Apple (1 f&v)
Portion of roasted vegetable lasagne (3 f&v)
Slice of w'meal bread and butter
A teeny bit of G&B chocolate

Pah - I was a portion down. Should have eaten more fruit!

Exercise: 30 mins cross trainer, 50 mins walking, 100 crunches
Water: Loads and loads - about 4 litres

The mysterious blog

Pah! I just wrote a big long blog and it has disappeared. Bah!

Anyway, what I was writing is that I have been really, really good on my March challenge and on the weekend I only ate salad and drank water, and I ran 5 miles every morning.*

Yesterday went like this:
Water: 3 litres, plus lots of green tea
Exercise: 30 mins swim, 100 crunches, 50 mins walking
Food: 3 small bananas (2f&v), apple (1 f&v), Big mixed salad (3 f&v), orange juice (1 f&v), braised vegetables with lemon and thyme (3 f&v), bread

*I might be lying a little bit

Healthy lentil and bacon soup recipe

This recipe is for Kev who wants to learn how to cook healthy food.

This isn't THAT healthy because of the bacon, but you can always leave it out.

Serves 4 people with normal appetites, or 2 fat gits.

1 onion, finely chopped
4 rashers of bacon with the rind cut off and cut into small bits
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 dst spoon cumin
1 dst spoon turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (leave out if you want to)
1 400g tin of tomatoes
Red lentils, about 200g
1 pint vegetable stock
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
Loads of baby spinach, washed

Fry the onions and bacon for about 3 minutes in a small amount of olive oil,
Add the garlic and fry for a further minute
Add the lentils and stir
Add the tin of tomatoes and veg stock and bring to the boil
Simmer for about 10 minutes on a low heat
Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes
Check the seasoning and make sure the lentils are mushy
Add the spinach and stiry until wilted

Serve with nice bread and butter

Add the spices and stir

How come?

I did exercise every day from Monday to Friday last week.
I went to the gym twice, went to multi fit (which almost killed me), went to a very energetic LBT class, and did aerobics as well.
I only drank on one day last week (Friday).
And my food wasn't terrible, although more cake was eaten than was strictly necessary.
So, how come I have put on 4lb??

March challenge: Day 3

Yesterday's food:

2 toast and marmite
Orange juice (1 f&v)
Apple (1 f&v)
Banana (1 f&v)
Veg chilli (2 f&v) and brown rice
2 mini Indian snacks (GAH!)
Polenta with sicilian tomato sauce (2 f&v)
Baked banana with 2 squares of G&B (1 f&v)

Exercise: Legs, Bums and Tums class
Water: 3 litres

Think I might have to go back on the dreaded Weight Watchers on Monday to kick start the weight loss. Have a stone to lose and setting myself goal of May 31st to get there.

My March and April Challenge

Sorry I have been crap about blogging. It's just that I have been too ashamed to blog '8 biscuits, a twix bar and two pieces of toast' on a daily basis.

My challenge is to lose 5 kilos by 29th May when I have a wedding to go to in Spain. I want to wear a nice floaty dress for the wedding in the olive grove.

I am going to do this by:
5 lots of exercise in the week
Running 26.2 miles in March (otherwise known as the Ponty Marathon)
One session of either yoga or stability ball at the weekend
And trying to stop shoving extra food in my gob

Have managed so far this week:
2 gym sessions
1 multi fit session (I nearly died)

and will go to LBT today and either aerobics tomorrow or to the gym.

Wish me luck!

March challenge: day 2

Well, I weighed this morning after two weeks of intensive exercise - and I have lost absolutely nothing! Pah! So it looks like I'm going to have to cut down on the food as well this week.

Yesterday's food:
Strawberry and banana smoothie (1 f&v)
2 bananas (2 f&v)
2 satsumas (2 f&v)
Apple (1 f&v)
Sweet potato pasta (2 f&v)
Veg curry (2 f&v), rice, nan bread
2 small glasses red wine
Chocolate brownie

So OK on the fruit and veg, but seriously naughty eating as well. Must do better today!

Water: 3 litre
Exercise: Walking, 30 minutes swimming, 100 sit-ups

March challenge: Day 1

Well, so far so good...

Food
Banana smoothie (1 f&v)
Sweet potato pasta (2 f&v)
2 satsumas (1 f&v)
2 mini onion bhajis!
Veg chilli (3 f&v) with brown rice
Glass of orange juice (1 f&v)
Chocolate brownie (oh dear)

So that's my eight portions of fruit and veg.

Exercise: 1 hour multi-fit class (killer!), plus 100 extra stomach crunches, plus 1.5 miles walking

Water: 4 litres