Holiday diet part 2!

So it has been about 5 weeks since my scales and I reached a stale mate. My healthy eating for the last few weeks has been not so strict. I tried to contribute to saving the high street by shopping local at butchers and green grocers however I ended up having to go to several shops and never having everything I needed! One Saturday I tried to stock up on the weekly packed lunches but the local shops were out of brown bread, ham & tuna. To cut a long story short, I've done a big diet shop at Tesco, ordered online to avoid picking up anything I didn't need.

For the last few days I have been in the diet zone. I know when I first started the holiday diet again I was eating low fat/salt bacon a few times a week for breakfast; not this time. I'm having bacon as a weekend treat. I'm still sticking to the old GMTV bikini diet that I printed off the Internet a few years ago, it worked for me before so I'm hoping that it works for me again. It's varied and doesn't always feel like a diet but portion sizes are noticeably small- unless you fill the plate with greenery.

My breakfasts have so far been: 2 poached eggs on 1 slice of toast (no butter or spread), low fat yoghurt with banana, goji berries and (no added sugar/salt) muesli.

Today it's Saturday so I've had a 'grill up'- pictured below.

I've also been starting the day with warm water with a slice of lemon- I have no idea where I read that this was good but I quite like it and it increases my water intake. I haven't given up the coffees though- but always with skimmed milk.

For my tea I've been eating chicken salad and brown pitta bread. One night I had tarragon chicken in a creamy creme fresh sauce (tasty). I've planned the rest of the weeks meals as: turkey stir fry, grilled meatballs, ratatouille on brown toast, tuna pasta and mackerel salad.

Doesn't sound too bad, let's see how this goes!

Holiday diet + bank balance diet =

So, my holiday quest continues! I've been trying to combine healthy eating with money saving and the first step is:
Take my dinner to work with me! I do this usually however I've been a bit lazy recently and had started to buy Boots meal deals for my lunch. They cost about £3.25, so if I kept on buying one everyday I'd be spending £16.25 per week on my dinners! There's 8 weeks left till holiday so that's £130 spent on my dinner... And probs sushi everyday! I reckon buns and ham or pasta salad costs less than a fiver per week, so I'd say I'm spending about £40 in the 8 remaining weeks making a holiday savings diet amount of £90! Which I will more than likely spend on the first day in a scrumptious steak on the stone restaurant!

Wowzer I have to say, I never thought that those long winded maths questions would ever be useful......apparently they are! I will now enjoy my little tiny brown bun ham sarnies whilst thinking of the huge fillet steak I'll be eating in the sun!

I also went to a friends house last Friday for a gathering of drinks instead of hitting the bars in town, staying in is the new going out you know! This potentially saved me £50 just paid for a taxi there and back and alcohol. A bottle of vodka and diet coke- no beer even! A pint is about 170 calories, vodka diet coke is about 70 cals (single measure) so not only am I saving pennies I'm cutting down on calories. If I stay in for at least 4 weekends out if the remaining 8 that's £200 towards my holidaybobs.

Wowzer I'm saving £290 quid already! I also bought a metro pass saving £3 per week on travel do that's £24 taking me to a grand total of £314! Amazing work.

I also managed to avoid Yorkshire puddings on Sunday and had pork & couscous instead!

Bank balance diet....

So, my mortgage is on the up. Water rates have gone up, tv licence increase. April brings such disappointing post. I'd like a nice letter next please mr postman!

The delightful pending summer holiday not only means trying to achieve a leaner waist but also means saving some cash to spend on hols. I opted not to shop online this week, to try the local butcher and green grocer to save some pennies.

Veg: defo cheaper than the supermarket but less choice. I did get some gapes and blueberries at a fraction of the cost of the supermarket. It was a bit crazy really, some things literally only cost pence! Two full bags of fruit and veg for less than a tenner!

Butchers: bought some minted pork chops that were both cheap and tasty and without much fat. I also picked up some chicken breasts and intended to eat them on Sunday. I found myself out with friends instead on Sunday so didn't cook the chicken.... A day later... I checked some food standards website and it says that fresh chicken can be kept in the fridge for 1-2 days! Oooops shopping at the butchers FAIL!! I didn't check on the Internet how long the chicken was safe to eat until AFTER I had a pot of chicken soup bubbling away. The chicken didn't look off or ruined or smell bad but I wasn't going to risk it.

So although the meat was cheaper at the butchers I actually wasted money when I had to throw the chicken out. Hmmm lesson learnt I'll probably stick to the supermarket for meat from now on.

Scale Mate

I have reached a stale mate with my scales; a scale mate you could say. Yes, I know that my healthy eating has not been very strict and I didn't omit beer or alcohol in general. There is still time to have a t-total week of green tea, however this needs to be strategic. I have a cocktail night planned this Friday and a visit to some lively friends over Easter so it will have to wait.

I still have 10/11 weeks till the holiday so I'm hoping that continuing the healthy eating and portion control will encourage slow but long lasting weight loss.

I wish I had taken some measurements before I started my plan because although I've reached a scale mate I still feel a bit leaner. A few people have also started to comment that I've lost weight! With the glorious sunshine out in this freak English March I decided to get my maxi dress out the other day. As I was walking along the street I felt my knickers starting to slip! I spent the rest of the day checking my bum to make sure I still had my panties on! It could just be that I bought them too big, or the elastic has gone (they were fairly new) OR I have actually lost some inches (or cms). Either way I shan't be wearing those knickers again!

A month or so into the healthy eating holiday non diet!

A surprising step onto the scales today shows no extra weight gain despite the cakes, pies, beers and pizza!! As much as I'm delighted to see this I currently feel like a bloated pig!! Oink oink.

I did my shopping online this week to make sure nothing naughty got into my cupboards, I do feel bad for the local veg shop on the high street but I'm sure I'll be back.

I've also been out on very early morning walks with the dog, before 7am even, in my toning trainers. Still bouncy but not sure they aid any kind of toning. I actually started a jog today (when no one was looking). I'm still in need of some fitness attire as getting up and trying to walk in jeans is no good, I've been wearing leggings for the last few days but then need to find something long enough to cover my arse.

In usual fashion I'm finding it hard to go to a sports shop and pick up some jogging bottoms or similar (the thought of this makes my face twist) I've been trying to hunt out some vintage joggers but I might give up on this as somebody else's sweat puts me off.. Urgh!! If anyone can recommend some thing I'm happy to listen?

I've spent the morning procrastinating really, I should be carrying out research for my final assignment however I've reached the stage where I'm scared to try hard in case I don't do well. So, my rubbish effort will mean that when I get my bad results I can say "oh I knew my work wasn't up to standard". Weird I know.

Anyhoo, yesterday's healthy options were:

Breakfast: scrambled egg on brown toast, no butter or spread. Coffee with skimmed milk.

Dinner: mackerel pate on brown toast, again no spread or butter.

Tea: fried chicken breast, (small amount of oil and lid on the frying pan, lemon juice squeezed in the last minute or so of cooking) with a brown pitta bread and piles of salad. I also made a garlic yoghurt dip and it was kinda like having a kebab. Tasty indeed.

During the day I also had a bag of quavers AND a penguin biscuit! I really should have only had one or the other!

But now I shall research....


Update: still not researching but I just reminded myself that I was 1 stone and 4 pounds heavier in 2009, almost to the day!! That's when I first started the healthy eating although I was very strict for the first few weeks and managed to lose a stone. I'm pleased I kept it off!! Pic below of the wii fit showing me I was on my way to being overweight.

Cream cakes and scones

Oh crap. Since I stopped writing down what I've been eating I have started on a slippery slope to naughty calorific piggy-ness. I have been quite good through the day, healthy omelettes, salad.... But followed by something naughty at night like pizza or fish fingers!!

Today was particularly bad.

I also need to go buy some good food. This morning I ate biscuits for breakfast then followed up with biscuits as a snack but only because I have nothing in at all to eat. All there was at work was biscuits.... And then I had an 11 o'clock meeting so I had to eat a biscuit to stop my tummy rumbling.

I had a healthy dinner, tuna pasta salad that I made last night.

BUT an afternoon meeting involved a plate of tiny cream cakes!! Eeeek!

I've had quorn spaghetti.... Uh oh see just realised I've had pasta twice today!! If I had written this down earlier I would have made something else.

Lesson learned: must keep up the food diary!!

I miss Sydney

There are days like this, when the sun filters through the blinds and warms my face, I miss Sydney. I only lived there for a few months but at the time it felt like home; I think I left part of me there because now and again I miss it so much. I miss my local Duffy Brothers store. I miss the coffee shop where I would stop and have warmed banana bread. I've tried to make banana bread myself but failed. Nowhere in Newcastle seems to have it (I haven't found anywhere yet) if you know of somewhere please let me know!!

I miss the sun of Sydney and miss sitting out on the balcony taking in the views of the city. I miss Betty's soup kitchen and I miss the noodle bars.

I didn't think that I could lose my heart to a city but I think I really did. I want to go back.


Picture below: nothing like proper banana bread! Soreen banana loaf with chocolate spread...... Naughty snack!
A pic of Gloria Jean's coffee shop ... A trip down memory lane via google maps!! If you zoom in enough you can almost see the banana bread in the counter!!