Wednesday 25 May 2011

Here comes the silly season................oh and another swiss roll!

Well it's now my SECOND blog of the week and I am in need of some Kalms........not because I have blogged twice but because the holiday season is about to start in St Ives and we are about to be descended on by hoards and hoards of tourists.  Anyone that lives in St Ives is well aware that the tourist industry is very important to this town ( I was a visitor myself to Falmouth back in 1983 and fell in love with Cornwall ) but we all breathe a sigh of relief when they all go home again and the end of September! We can walk our dogs on the beaches, get served in the post office, shop at Tesco without having to push through entire families deciding which baked beans they should have and drive through town without people pushing their children's buggies in front of the car! It all starts this weekend and I have had a horrendously busy few days sorting out what needs to be done in all the holiday properties and I have already had my summer migraine where it feels like my brains are going to pop out of my head!

This is also the danger time for me diet wise - where I live in town has an array of sumptious takeaways aorund the corner and I must must must resist - apart from on Tuesday nights obviously. We have 2 Chineses, a chippy, an Indian, a lovely organic burger place and dozens of restaurants and it's when I'm too busy or tired or stressed to cook that I give in to their enticing aromas! I am still trying to be adventurous in the kitchen and am still shopping on line so I can plan ahead but all it takes is one hot and busy day to make all my good intentions fall by the wayside.

I lost a pound this week at fat club and fell short of my 12 week target by 2 and a half pounds. I am ok with this as I still think I have done well and if I could pat myself on the back then I would. I am off to Take That in 4 weeks nearly 3 stone lighter and am hoping to shift at least another stone by the wedding we are off to in September. I have come too far to blow it all now so am hoping that my work life will go smoothly and the takeaways will only benefit from my custom on a Tuesday!

I am also now having swiss roll withdrawal symptoms - I haven't nade one since Sunday and it's now Wednesday so even though I don't know if I'm coming or going this week, I do know what I shall be baking tomorrow afternoon!

Monday 23 May 2011

A few thoughts................

I am being a bit adventurous and am posting 2 blogs this week! Bearing in mind that the world was supposed to end 2 days ago then I feel quite priveleged to be here at all, so here goes.

Tonight is the night before weigh in and my final weigh of my 12 week challenge. My scales at home are just about the same as the ones at slimming world and I know for sure that if I have lost anything then it certainly wont be the 3 and a half pounds required to meet my target. I have done nothing differently and am trying not to get too stressed as I had made a promise to myself last week that I would now take the heat off myself and enjoy the losses and ignore the gains and maintains. This seems even more poignant today - yesterday was my dad's 3 year anniversary and today a very good friend's husband died aged only 44. I think that this puts it all into perspective - there are far more things to worry about than the odd disappointing week at fat club aren't there?

I spent yesterday reflecting and thinking about my Dad and even went to the garden centre to buy a nice plant to put at the front of my house in his memory. This ended the day on a good note and made me feel quite positive....

This morning's news about my friends husband has knocked the wind out of my sails - he fought his illness bravely and I have full admiration for how he dealt with it and how my friend is coping. It's a sad day for all of us that knows them and for this reason, I shall be donating some of the proceeds from the 12 week challenge to Cancer Research as well as the British heart Foundation. I will obviously check with all my sponsors but am 100% sure that none of them will mind. I know my dad wouldn't have minded , infact I am sure he would agree that I am doing the right thing.

R.I.P. x

Thursday 19 May 2011

Eurovision, naughty food, more swiss rolls,zumba and a wedding!

My blog is late this week as I have been busy so if any of you have been waiting in vain for 2 days -  I do apologise!

This week I lost another 2 and a half  pounds which now makes a total of 2 stone 9 and a half - woo hoo! I am on the last week of the 12 week challenge and I really need to lose 3 and a half pounds which I think may be pushing it but I think I have done well to lose ( almost ) a stone and a half when I had actually already lost a stone and a half before the challenge.

I probably didn't help myself much on Tuesday ( treat night ) by having a meal out and going the whole proverbial hog! Cheesy nachos to start, proper fish and chips for main and a hot chocolate fudge sunday for dessert with a mahoosive dollop of clotted cream. I love clotted cream and for anybody that hasn't tried it - you'd love it too. Thankfully, it doesn't love me too uch and I usually have to wash it down with a pint of Gaviscon but sometimes it's just too too hard to resist.....
The meal and the company were fab, as was the view of St Ives wharf and harbour - in my humble opinion, the best view of,  and in , St Ives.

I am back on a mission though and have pushed all thoughts of clotted cream and other delicious evils from my thoughts as I now have another incentive to keep me going long after Take That's final encore.

We have been invited to a wedding in Septmeber. My eldest daughter Hattie is going to be bridesmaid - this will make me cry. She goes to uni the week before - this too will make me cry but she will be coming back that weekend for the wedding and as I meet her from the train - yes , you've guessed it - this will make me cry. What will make me happy though, is being able to buy and wear something lovely to fit my newly trimmed figure so it's all systems go to keep up the good work.

My food flops hit an all time high on Saturday, when in true spirit of Eurovision ( the highlight of my televisual year ) I decided to cook a chicken and chickpea taginne. I know Morocco isn't in Europe ( yet ) but I thought something exotic and foreign was called for. I was a bit worried as I marinated the meat the night before as the list of spices seemed to be endless - you name it, it when on it. By the time I cooked it on saturday, it actually didn't taste particularly good  - it just tasted of 'too much' if that makes sense. The chickpeas were nice though , so it wasn';t all bad - and we didn't come last which was even better.

I have also taken the advice of our lovely Slimming World consultant and have bought Zumba for the Wii. It is still in the box daring me to try it out but I haven't quite roused myself yet, Apparently. it's great fun and it makes you sweaty - so is watching X Factor and eating a chicken madras, so we'll have to see how I get on when I eventually try it.

Down to serious matters - I have  developed a complete obsession with the swiss rolls that I mentioned in my last blog - I just cant stop making them. I have even made them for other poeple now in a bid to convince them how wonderful this recipe is. I cant walk past a shop without thinking 'oh they sell strawberries' and 'hmm - I wonder if I have enough eggs at home'' and its getting silly now. My friend Zoe made one every day last week and she is being a bit Nigella about it all by adding things like lemon and pineapples! We are all on a roll!

Next weekend is when my business starts to get manically busy so I am glad that I have done so well weight wise up to now. When the long Fridays and Saturdays hit home, there is little time to plan meals or eat properly and that's when I fall into the trap of the takeaways around the corner. I am hoping this year that I can be strong willed - this means having something tasty and easy to grab at hand without having to think about it too much. I  wonder just how many swiss rolls I can fit in my fridge at once????

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Run for the hills - but not tonight because we went to Hayle and there aren;t any - but there was a swiss roll!

Ok - I hope everyone is sitting down whilst reading this as I have a momentous announcement to make -

TONIGHT I WENT RUNNING!!!

As I have now lost quite a lot of weight I decided the time had come to firm up my wobbly bits, so with the help of my friend Mandy ( aka Ms Motivator ) I exercised and went running.

For all of you that are familiar with St Ives, you will know that it's 1) very hilly and 2) everyone knows me so we went to the local town of Hayle where it's 1) flat and 2) only a couple of people know me. I was absolutely dreading it as Mandy is an accomplished runner ( she even belongs to a club and has an oddly shaped water bottle ) but I have to say - I actually really enjoyed it! Mandy was a paragon of patience and we ran , walked, gossiped, ran, walked gossiped etc and the time flew. I'm not too sure that I will be able to move tomorrow but I am glad I took the plunge and went and I have even arranged to go along next Wednesday and may even fit in a cheeky little jog before then. I am very proud of myself and have rewarded myself with a lovely icy vodka and diet ( what else?) coke to quench my post run thirst.

My weigh in at fat club didn't go so well yesterday in that I gained half a pound. It's that dreaded time of the month again so I just have to live with it but I do feel crushed when I dont lose when I know I have been good. I think I can often place myself under too much pressure and I should focus on the losses as opposed to one half pound gain in four and  a half months. I do HAVE to be good for the next couple of weeks though as I have to lose 6 pounds in the next 2 weeks  to complete my 12 week challenge. I'm not sure whether I can do this but I know that I wont be far off target which is good - good for me and good for the British Heart Foundation. Keep your fingers crossed for me everyone..........

I have also been doing some more cooking and have made a couple of delicious swiss rolls again this week. Honest to God, it's like eating a PROPER cream cake and I just love them- they make me twitch and drool even more than normal.
 I made one last week that Hattie and Martha wolfed down in record time and placed another one in the fridge tonight prior to my run. I let the girls have a slice each but made them promise not to eat any more until I came home. Thankfully it was as I had left it when I got back and to be quite honest , I think it was the thought of it being there waiting for me that made me run, walk and gossip just that little bit faster!

Thursday 5 May 2011

Awards, chicken and cheesy stuff...........

This week I am proud to announce that I got my 2 and a half stone award at fat club and was also slimmer of the month for April. All very exciting stuff - and I have 5 and a half pounds left to lose in the next 3 weeks to complete my 12 week slimathon. I have prewarned my richer sponsors to dust off their cheque books and eat their words as I am more or less sure that I will do it!! What makes it even nicer is that the end of the slimathon coincides with my Dad's anniversary so handing over the money to the British Heart Foundation will be extra special for me.

I have prepared myself not to lose anything this week as it's my time of the month ( sorry male readers) but I am still determined to try a few new recipes. I have made tonight another swiss roll / roulade type thing ( I let Hattie whip the egg whites ) and have to say as I crammed a mahoosive slice in my mouth that it was absolutley delicious. I am so used to not having sugar and cream etc now that it ALMOST felt like a proper cream cake.
I also made diet coke chicken which got the thumbs up from my 2 biggest critics, Hattie and Martha, so blimey, it must be good.

I am also treating myself to a trip to Plymouth on Sunday as all my old clothes are hanging from my ever decreasing frame and I think a trip to the big smoke and Primani should be done. I obviously want to lose more so I wont break the bank but it will be nice to get some new togs.

Two of my favourite holiday owners Brian and Maryann are over for a couple of months from South africa and I am going to bombard Maryann with some fat club recipes. She is quite a whizz in the kitchen so it will be interesting to hear a non slimming world eater's take on them. I have emailed her the diet coke chicken and swiss roll recipe so I reckon I know what's on their menu at some point over the weekend! I may havre to poke my nose through their letterbox to see what I can sniff.

Oh, and I also made some 'cheesy bites' tonight - they too tasted lovely and I HAD planned on having them for lunch tomorrow but they seem to have disappeared into the mouths of my children.....

Work wise, we are having another lull after the madness of easter and I can't say I am disappointed. We have been so quiet over the winter that it was a real shock to the system being so busy again that I am still recovering. Those that know me and work for me also know that I have been 'pooped on' recently but I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully some much less stressful times ahead. I have made a couple of decisions that I haven't taken lightly and am sure I am doing the right thing. I am not old old old but feel that I am old enough to cut myself a bit of slack and maybe be a bit happier.

Goodbye til next week folks, I hope my shopping trip is successful, that my syndicate wins the lottery on saturday, we have a nice hot weekend and that Hattie and Martha will leave me some of my swiss roll for tomorrow...........