Recognition

Everyone loves getting recognition when they have worked hard for something.  Although the results of that hard work is often reward enough, it's nice when it is acknowledged by others.

Today, I had some recognition that damn well made my day.  Last week, I had the nicest email from Jack of Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit asking if he could use my before and after pictures in a blog piece he was writing.  I was thrilled and of course, I agreed.  When I read that blog feature today and saw how many people it had inspired, it really made my day.

Jack also deserves some recognition of his own.  In the last 43 weeks, he has lost a whopping 93lb!  Can you believe that?  He inspires me every time I read his blog and I still frequently re-post his Welcome to Today post to those struggling to stay focussed on their weight loss endeavours.

So, a big public thank you to Jack and a massive well done to everyone else that was featured - you rock!

Today has been a hectic day, one that I would like to forget thank you very much!  We still haven't appointed a replacement for the lady that left in November and my colleague is off until Thursday so there are just 2 of us doing the work of 4.  Manic Monday has been going round and round in my head all day!

I've been a big ball of stress all day and then had to come home, wolf down dinner and go out food shopping as I was away at the weekend and Sunday afternoon, I was too ill to even think about it.

I'm going to type out a very quick food post and then I am going to snuggle up with my Mini JAG for half an hour before bed time.

Breakfast was the usual berocca, green tea & porridge, topped with Greek yoghurt, pecans & blackberries.

Mid morning was a skimmed latte.

Lunch was a rush job as I was also trying to cook dinner so that I could re-heat it when I got home.  So, I cooked a chilli con carne for dinner, with extra lean minced beef, and made an omelette at the same time for lunch.  My omelette was made of 2 eggs, 4 egg whites, 100g chopped ham, red onion & mushrooms.

Mid afternoon, I snacked on a chopped gala apple, 2 babybel lights and drank lots of green tea & water.

Dinner was my amazing chilli but in my haste to inhale it, I forgot to snap a picture of it!    After I got back from food shopping, I was craving something sweet so snacked on a few dates - yum!

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories: 1885
Protein: 145g (31.3%)
Carbs: 154g (31%)
Fat: 78g (37.7%)
Fibre: 18.8g
F&V: 8.5

Drinks: Loads of water and green tea, 1 skimmed latte

Exercise: None - weights or a run planned for tomorrow though!

Fabulous fun in Birmingham

It was a brilliant time.  I got into Birmingham about half eleven on Saturday morning and met up with my lovely friends.  I dropped my bags, shared out the fudge babies and we headed off into Birmingham for a coffee.

Here are my food pictures for Saturday:

Skinny blueberry muffin & caramel latte in Starbucks

Red wine watching the footie


Lunch on Saturday was a ham & egg sandwich from Pret with a Pret fruit & seed bar


and a can of Grape & Elderflower sparkling drink

We got all dolled up ready to go and meet all of our friends.

We met in a bar called Bluu where we had some amazing cocktails.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of mine but had a black forest mojito and two cherry bangs - they were both delicious.

Then we went onto The Vaults, where we had a table booked for 19 of us.

The wine was flowing:

and the food was incredible!  The portions were tiny but the food was so rich, you couldn't have eaten much more.

I ate:

Bread to nibble on whilst we waited for starters



Seared wood pigeon breast with vanilla risotto and parmesan crisp

Wild sea bass with clam & mussel butter, sun dried tomato and green bean linguine

White chocolate profiteroles with strawberry & pepper syrup

I purposely chose foods that I have never tried before because I always tend to stick to the safe options.  So, I decided to try the wood pigeon and sea bass and I am really pleased that I did as they were both unbelievably good!

It was a fantastic evening but I was pretty poorly in the night (not from alcohol!) so didn't get a great deal of sleep.  As a result, I went home at 11.30 this morning and pretty much slept all day until about half past five.

I woke up feeling slightly better but still yucky so I'm going to cut this short now and hopefully, I will be feeling better tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Getting ready for Birmingham

I am getting ready for my fabulous weekend in Birmingham and am so excited!  A couple of my friends are already there and even though they are only half an hour away, I can't get to them til tomorrow - boooooo!

I have cinnamon & raisin bread baking and I have made an amazingly yummy batch of chocolate fudge babies.

I turned this:

Into these little balls of fudgey deliciousness!

If you haven't tried fudge babies yet, you simply must!

As I posted yesterday, I most likely won't get chance to blog again until Sunday evening but I promise to have lots of pictures for you so do come back.  You will also get to see what outfit I finally chose!

Here is a quick food update for today:

Breakfast was berocca, green tea & porridge with the same toppings as the last 2 days - I can't get enough of my Greek yoghurt, berry & pecan combi!

Lunch was an omelette made with 2 eggs, 3 egg whites, red onion, yellow pepper & 20g seriously strong cheddar, served with a side salad.

Afternoon snack was a cocoa loco Nakd bar with 2 babybel lights.

Dinner was 2 tilapia fillets baked with a little butter & mixed herbs with roasted carrots, parsnips, courgette, red onion & yellow pepper.

I ate a little raw fudge baby dough and one chocolate fudge baby as dessert.

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories: 1897
Protein: 154g (33.1%)
Carbs: 151g (30.5%)
Fat: 75g (36.3%)
Fibre: 25.3g
F&V: 11.5

Drinks: Lots of water, green tea & 1 skimmed latte

Exercise: None - I have too much to do!  I will hopefully be doing some boogying tomorrow though so that will count.


Have a fab weekend bloggies, don't miss me too much!

One year ago today...

I commenced my weight loss journey!

Thursday 5th February 2009 was the day I decided enough was enough! I had tried at the start of the new year but had stumbled within weeks and given up. 

Here is the first post I made when I had clambered back onto the wagon.

I have accomplished a lot in the last year.  I lost 50lb and 25" and reached my goal weight in a relatively short space of time.  However, my journey continues as I strive to become healthier, fitter and stronger.  It is a journey I will continue on for the rest of my life.

I remember taking my first set of pictures clearly, on 12th February 2009 and sobbing when this was what I saw.

However, it was the best thing I could have done for myself.

You see, when most people look in the mirror, they see someone fatter than they really are.  I had the opposite problem.  I looked into the mirror and didn't think I looked too bad.  I thought I was a bit overweight but not that much.  It's only when I see it back in a photograph that I realised which was the whole reason I took them.  Plus I wanted something to motivate me to keep going and knowing I would be able to take more a few weeks down the line made me determined to make some positive changes.

It was only 5 months later that I went from that to this.

Not bad for 5 months huh?  It was however, a lot of hard work.  I had to completely change my way of eating and worked my butt off in the gym.  It was totally worth it though!

In September, I took my picture for the maximuscle body of 2009 competition and whilst I didn't get selected as a finalist, it was an extremely proud moment for me.

So, to anyone out there who is just starting on their weight loss journey or are struggling to remain motivated, please don't give up.  You can do anything you set your mind to with a bit of determination, motivation and lots of hard work.  I am living proof!

One of my favourite songs that lifts my mood and motivates me is from the Honey movie soundtrack called I Believe by Yolanda Adams.  Have a listen and read the lyrics - they will inspire you too.

I had my cake...

but couldn't eat it.

I started with this:

And was left with this:

The cake itself was absolutely delicious, possibly the best carrot cake I have ever had.  Sadly, it was just too damn rich!  I enjoyed the first couple of forks full but then it started making me feel really nauseous until I had to admit defeat and throw it away. 

I'm just not used to eating such sweet stuff anymore.  There have been one or two occasions in the past where I have bought an entire carrot cake such as this:

And I have eaten it in two sittings.  I'm not lying.  I'm *so* glad my palate has changed because I never want to eat like that again.

I've had a good day today.  My arm DOMS are still painful though and I have a horrid niggle in my left groin.  I never felt anything when I was running on Tuesday evening and I walked for 3.5 miles yesterday and didn't feel anything but as I got out of bed this morning, I felt an awful twinge and my leg almost gave way.  It's happend about 7 or 8 times throughout the day so rather than training my legs tonight, I'm taking it easy as I don't want to aggravate it.

Food was lovely today though dinner was a weird throw-together.

I started off with berocca, green tea & porridge, which had the same toppings as yesterday.

Mid morning, I had a skimmed latte and half of my carrot cake.

I was in such a flap this morning, trying to decide what to take for lunch.  Again, I forgot to take some chicken out of the freezer so I decided to take a steam bag and some salad to work with me and I planned to nip out to the local butcher and pick up a chicken breast at lunch time to steam.  However, as I was rushing around getting ready, I remembered the leftover bolognese in the fridge from lastnight so grabbed that and took it to work with me. 

The problem is, come lunchtime, I actually forgot I had brought it to work and was convinced I had to go pick up chicken.  Then I was annoyed as I forgot a steam bag, so had a traipse around the local shop trying to find something decent for lunch.  I popped into the mini-market to see what they had and spied chicken tikka breast slices in the chilled section.  I picked them up thinking about buying them until I saw that the ingredient list spanned the entire length of the label!  I counted 27 - yes, 27! ingredients.  Just for sliced chicken breast!  I put them back onto the shelf and walked out.

My mum, bless her, offered me a tin of red salmon so I picked up some kidney beans, yellow pepper, red onion and cherry tomatoes and made a salmon salad.  As I walked back into the office at work, I suddenly remembered that I had brought my bolognese to work - what a pleb!

By the time I got back to work, I was so hungry that I ate my salad without snapping it.  It's a shame too, as it looked delicious.

Mid afternoon, I snacked on a babybel and come dinner time, I didn't really have much of an appetite.  I didn't have a clue what I wanted to eat and by this time, I no longer wanted the bolognese so I gave that to Mr JAG.  In the end, I came up with the weirdest but most delicious concoction.

A tub of quark with 2 tsp 100% unsweetened cocoa mixed in, with 1 tsp agave nectar.  Topped with blueberries & 75g Organic date & cacao muesli.

Doesn't look appetising but it sure was!

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories: 1943
Protein: 157g (32.6%)
Carbs: 195g (38%)
Fat: 63g (29.4%)
Fibre: 25g
F&V: 5.2

Drinks: Lots of water and green tea, skimmed latte

Exercise: None


Thank crunchie it's Friday tomorrow!

I have to warn you that I probably won't get chance to blog much over the weekend.  I am heading into Birmingham to meet my friends pretty early on Saturday morning and won't have access to a computer until Sunday afternoon.

However, I promise to take lots and lots of fabulous photos!

What are your plans for the weekend?

I want...

a never ending cash supply so that I can buy all the new things I want to start including in my everyday diet!

After my blog post Are We What We Eat, you guys know that I did some thinking and decided to phase out my whey protein.  I feel that it is such a big part of my diet, using 1-2 scoops every day, that I want to find an alternative protein source that is as natural as possible without having to eat yet more food.

Yes, I could go the wholefoods route but I eat a lot of food as it is and I don't relish the thought of having to try and consume more. 

Whilst researching alternative protein supplements, I also did some reading on superfoods and other health foods.

So, here is what I want to start including, and why.


Organic Powdered Maca

Maca is a root that is grown in Peru, that looks like a mini turnip.  Other names it is known by are Peruvian Ginseng or Amazonian Ginseng, though it isn't actually even related to Ginseng.

It is highly nutritious and contains high levels of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and all the essential amino acids!  The average bio-available protein content is around 14% of the weight of the plant, due to the amino acid content.  

Apparently, it tastes a little like malted horlicks and goes well in smoothies, water and nut milks.


Spirulina

Spirulina is a blue-green algae that grows in a spiral coil and lives in the sea and fresh water.  It is rich in essential fatty acids such as GLA (Gamma Linolenic Acid) and ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid).  It also contains a very high amount of protein, between 55% - 75% dry weight depending on the source.  This is also a complete protein and contains all 8 of the essential amino acids, though it has lower levels of certain amino acids when compared to meat, eggs or dairy but it is superior to any other plant protein, such as the protein from legumes.  It also contains 10 non-essential amino acids.

It is also contains B-Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and B9.  It also contains Vitamin C, D & E.

It will be great to use in Green Monsters!


Raw Organic Cacao Powder

Raw cacao powder is a Mayan superfood and has been enjoyed for its invigorating and healthful properties for thousands of years in South American Cultures. It is one of the highest dietary sources of magnesium, polyphenols and flavanols.  It is naturally rich in antioxidants and is also an excellent source of dietary fibre.

I can't wait to use this in everything from muffins, fudge babies, smoothies and yoghurt.


Organic Mesquite Meal

Mesquite has been used as a staple food for centuries by Native American desert dwellers. It is high in protein and contains good levels of calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium and zinc.  The benefits include high dietary fibre, high protein and it is good for stabilising blood sugar levels.

It can be added to practically anything - soups, stews, stir frys.  It can also be used as a flour substitute. When used with other foods, it helps to lower the glycaemic load of higher carb foods so you won't get hungry so fast.


Organic Coconut Butter

I see so many US bloggers using this amazing looking organic coconut butter and never dreamed it would be available to buy in the UK.

It is a creamy, delicious pure coconut spread made from fresh, raw, organic coconut meat.  It is very nutritious and rich in protein and fibre. 

I can't wait to try this in smoothies and smothered onto the top of protein muffins.


Organic Cacao Nibs

Raw cacao nibs are simply un-processed chocolate!  It contains no sugar and is high in magnesium, chromium, iron and antioxidants. Cacao is also rich in the amino acid arginine, which improves immune function and aids wound healing.

These cacao nibs can be used in anything!  I will use them in home-made protein bars, muffins, cookies, added to porridge, stirred into yoghurt and quark or added to my peanut butter cups.


And there you have it.  My wish list so far.  There are other things that I want to try, such as stevia, which is a natural sweetener but sadly is banned in Europe. 

Most of the things I have listed I am wanting to add for their fantastic health benefits, but the coconut butter and cacao nibs are simply to have something delicious yet healthy that will feel like having a treat.



What additions would you like to make to your diet?

Weigh in

I am pleased to announce a 2lb loss this week so I get to eat my carrot cake - woohoo!

After blogging lastnight, I started doing some more research about certain foods and superfoods and I have built up quite a wish list.  When I get home this afternoon, I'm going to blog about it and write a little bit about each product and what the benefits are.

As it's my birthday on 26th March, I can see me asking for the cash so I can build up my stock!

Have an awesome day all.

Typical!

Just when I plan to phase out my whey protein, the fabulous MyProtein have a special offer with 20% off the True Whey that I use! 

I was having a look at the protein powders that My Protein sell and they actually sell a very good range.  I automatically chose a whey as that was what was recommended to me, and at the time, I wasn't so fussed about what I consumed so I just purchased it.  MP sure do know how to make a fantastic quality protein!

Anyway, I found today that they sell some good alternatives.  There is a Brown Rice Protein and an Organic Hemp Protein. 

At the moment, the hemp protein is favourable because the product description states:

Absolutely no chemicals or heat are used in any of the processing. The process is cold pressed and cold filtered to produce hemp seed oil. Then the powder is created by cold milling, cold hulling and finally sifting.

• Delicious, convenient, live, organically grown, whole food product

• Complete raw plant protein including all the essential amino acids

• Optimal ratio of omega 6 to 3 EFAs with 2-4% Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA)

Pretty cool huh?

The protein content is not as high as that of whey and some of the reviews are less than favourable due to the taste but I'm willing to give it a try.  For all the bad reviews, there are equally as many good and most people say mixing it with milk rather than water is better.  Someone recommended mixing with rice milk and banana so I will give that a try.  Apparently, it is also excellent for baking so I will use it for protein muffins.

If all else fails, I will reluctantly try the sun warrior stuff.  I say reluctantly since I've been a customer of MP for about 2 years.  I love their products, their service is first class and I really want to remain loyal to them. 

Sadly, you can't purchase samples of the hemp protein so I have to buy an entire 1kg of the stuff - if anyone from MP is reading, will you pleeeeeeeease send me a freebie to try?

Today has been a good day.  My favourite patient (and surrogate nan) turned 80 at the end of last month and her son had a carrot cake made for her.  She knows it is my favourite and brought me a HUGE wedge!

No, I didn't eat it *polishes halo*  If I see a loss on the scales tomorrow, I will treat myself. 

I had my usual berocca, green tea and porridge for breakfast, topped with the yummy blackcurrants I bought at the farm shop. 

Mid morning was my normal skimmed latte.  Lunch was a total rush job as I was running so late and I had forgotten to take my chicken breast out of the freezer to thaw.  I grabbed a couple of eggs and a mini packet of linseed rye bread and made an egg puff thingy with rye toast.  It doesn't look very appetising but it was yummy!

This afernoon, I was at the salon getting my hair done in preparation for the weekend so I snacked on a cocoa loco Nakd bar whilst I was there.  I didn't photograph it though, didn't want the staff to think I was a weirdo!

Dinner was awesome!  I made a delicious spaghetti bolognese with minced lamb, onions, garlic, tomatoes, red wine, black pepper, thyme, mushrooms, red & yellow peppers and grated carrot.

I served Mr JAG's with spaghetti but ate mine as it came.

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories: 1538
Protein: 103g (27.4%)
Carbs: 123g (30.6%)
Fat: 69g (41.4% - a tad high but it's only one day)
Alcohol: 1.3g (0.6% - splash of red wine in bolognese)
Fibre:  17.8g
F&V: 7

Drinks: Lots of water and green tea, 1 skimmed latte

Exercise: Rest - legs tomorrow!


On a final note, my lovely little mini JAG has started his own little blog.  He makes lots of youtube videos of himself playing rock band, guitar hero, etc and wanted somewhere he could post them, along with pictures and things.  He also LOVES darts so wants somewhere he can write about it, so I helped him to set up a little blog.

Just thought I would share it with you - Mini JAG's Blog

Questioning myself

It's something I do on a regular basis, and is something I have been doing since I wrote my blog entry Are We What We Eat? the other day.

My post raised the question about me using whey protein, which is highly processed and contains artificial sweeteners.  I replied quite in-depth about why I choose to use it but the feelings I have been left with since then are bothering me somewhat.  I make such an effort to make sure my food is all of good quality and unprocessed so why do I continue to use something that completely goes against the way I feel about my food?

I was catching up with my favourite blogs this morning and came across Stella's, where I noticed a post I had previously missed about whey protein.  It seems she is having similar thoughts about whey protein and has done a bit of research into alternatives.  She came across Sun Warrior, which is a raw, natural, vegan friendly rice and vegetable protein.

I just sat and read about it for 10 minutes and I am completely shocked that it never even occurred to me that there would be a non-processed, natural protein source. 

My lovely friend Deise Girl was kind enough to recommend iHerb as they supply a lot of stuff that I see on American blogs that we struggle to get over here.  I am now counting down to my next pay day so I can place a big order!

So, to the readers who asked questions about my usage of whey protein, I would like to say a big thank you for making me think more about it.

A big thank you

to everyone that commented or emailed/tweeted/pm'd me regarding my outfit dilema.  As it stands at the moment, I am still undecided, mainly because as I posted earlier, my TOTM is impending.  Those that follow my blog closely understand that this turns me into a big bloated lump!

Here is a comparison pic that I took in November:

Picture on the left was before I went to bed, the picture on the right was how I woke the next morning!

So, as you can see, depending on how I wake up on Saturday morning will be my biggest influence.  If I wake up slim and slinky, I think I will opt for the blue dress.  However, if I wake bloated I will opt for the green dress as it will hide a multitude of sins.

The catsuit I adore, but the material is very unforgiving and it won't look good if I suffer with post-meal bloat, which I am prone to on occasion.  The blue dress isn't as bad as it's not so clingy. 

I do have a similar, plain black skirt to the one in the pic and I may try that, with a plain black skinny rib vest, black opaques, my purple satin platforms and a long silver necklace.

I'm not very good at the whole fashion thing so tend to just wear what I think looks good, which often isn't what other people think looks good.


My arm DOMS are not feeling any better today, in fact, they have got worse.  I had to resort to a tiny spray of deep heat at work and instantly regret it when it made my arms look as if they had been scalded!

That was about 2 minutes after spraying it.  Within 2-3 minutes, my arms were bright red and even a patient asked what I had done!  I think in future I will stick to my bio-freeze for DOMS.

Food today was good, though I had an appointment after work so didn't get in the house until 7.30pm by which time I was ready to chew my arm off.  I made sure to take a few snacks for the afternoon but they didn't manage to keep me feeling full enough.

I started off today with berocca, green tea and porridge, topped with Greek yoghurt, pecans & berries.

Mid morning, I had my usual skimmed latte in my cute tigger mug.  I was asked today how I make my lattes.  Unfortunately, we are not lucky enough to have a coffee machine at work, so I have to make them myself and make do with instant coffee.  I heat 3/4 mug of skimmed milk in the microwave, add 2 tsp coffee to a separate cup and pour in about 100ml boiling water.  We have one of those little milk frothers, that whisks up hot milk a treat:

Then I pour in the hot coffee and whisk altogether and am left with a delicious latte.

Lunch was a rush job due to my impromptu trying on of clothes and plastering them over the internet for public opinion!

I filled a wholemeal pitta with a whole can of tuna and served it with a sliced tomato.

Mid afternoon, to keep me going until I could get home and eat, I snacked on carrots, a babybel light and a cocoa loco Nakd bar.

Dinner was a home-made pizza created on top of a wholemeal khobez flatbread, topped with tomato puree, grated mozzarella, chicken breast, mushroom, red onion, red pepper, jalapenos and mixed herbs.

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories: 1710

Protein: 157g (37.5%)

Carbs: 168g (37.6%)

Fat: 46g (24.9%)

Fibre: 21.4g

F&V: 6

Drinks: Lots of water, green tea and 1 skimmed latte

Exercise: I'm just about to head out the door for a very quick run, only aiming for a couple of miles as quickly as possible.

Tomorrow is Wednesday - hurrah!  Mid week :-)  Have a great evening all!