Surprise! It's Shepherds pie!

Last week I tested Mr O's taste buds.....

I made the following recipe and as it makes 4 it was the perfect thing to just reheat for the next night. 

So after the first serving, I asked Mr O what he thought, to which he told me that I needed to chop the veg more and to add salt and pepper - which I never do as I can't stand the taste of salt! - and then after the 2nd serving on day 2, I asked the same question. To which he said the same as the night before. I then revealed to him that my secret ingredient was quorn and not mince. Of course, he tried to tell me that he could taste it all the time, but he failed to tell me that!

You can find the full recipe here:

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=7087422

But I tweaked the recipe to the following ingredients:

500g peeled potatoes

500g peeled butternut squash

2 peeled parsnips

2 peeled carrots

1 onion

300g quorn

1 beef stock cube

1 tbsp corn flour

It was so yummy and looked like this:

(The moustaches are in aid of movember) 

I then tried it out on Tuesday on both my Mum and one of my besties, as well as Mr O. This time I switched the Weight Watcher's ingredient of the vegitable stock cube to a beef stock cube. And they all loved it! So it is definitely a winner and a brilliant low pro point value of only 6pp each serving. Thanks again Weight watchers!

Do any of you have any favourite weight watchers recipes? Any that you would like me to try out?....

Love, Mrs O x

Week 10 - flip week!

Just a mini catch up on this weeks weigh in. But it's a good one :) the chart now stands like this:

Week 1 - 3lbs

Week 2 - 4lbs

Week 3 - 1lbs

Week 4 - 2lbs

Week 5 - 1lbs

Week 6 + 1lbs :(  - 0lbs

Week 7 - 4lbs

Week 8 - 2lbs

Week 9 - 0lbs (but also +0lbs!)

Week 10 - 2lbs

Another good thing is that my 'weight loss' chalk board has had the numbers flipped! I am now over half way with where my first big goal and where I need to be to no longer be classed as 'obese' on the BMI chart! I know, lots of people say it's a chart that is a waste of time, but to me it's just some numbers that are keeping me going and to become 'over weight' rather than 'obese'

So thanks to the planning and preparation, I have managed to knock some more fat off this last week. I don't think I will be knocking any off this week after not being able to move much and having to keep still and resting, but I am still sticking to my plan and Preparing as much as I can do. 

I aim to write up a new recipe post tomorrow of a yummy shepherd's pie with a surprise... Which has been tried and tested on 3 other people other than me so hopefully you will love it too. 

Anyway, bye for now, might write it tonight as I am sick of watching TV (mostly Mr O's programmes and films. I think I will need to get Mr O to get a pile of 'me' DVDs out tonight ready for me to watch tomorrow. 

Love, Mrs O x

Fight this fat!

I know it's not Thursday, so this isn't a Throw back Thursday moment but just a little look back instead....

I'm currently looking back at my wedding photos from 22months ago - man I wish I did Weight Watchers before I got married! I love my photos and everything that they mean, but I look so much better now (so I think, correct me if I am wrong!) and that is only after 9 weeks of Weight Watchers!!

But looking back on the day I can see why I automatically chose the big, full dress - to hide what I had under it! If I could have that day again now, I would definitely be choosing a skinny, figure hugging dress!! 

This is one of my favourite pictures, mainly because of the way that Mr O's jacket is over my dress but makes me look smaller than I am!

But looking at the pictures also points out my horrible double chin that I had (and still trying to get rid of). I learnt how to post to not show my double chin, but then of course I got caught off guard by random photos from people like this one:

 

Gosh it makes me cringe just looking at it! Thank goodness I can now laugh at these photos and brave putting them on the internet!

If you read THIS post from last week, then you will see what a difference 8 weeks makes as shown in this picture:

 Oh well, my sisters wedding is in April and I am still determined as ever - if not more now - to not look like a quality street like this:

 

 

 

and to be the Pippa Middleton! Like this:

 

 

I saw this and this made me laugh, so I just had to share it with you all:

 

 

  

The war is on to fight this fat!!

 

Love, A very determined Mrs O x

Note: If any of you see me eating something very naughty, please feel free to shout at me and check that I have enough points to eat it!!

Week 9 - motivation time!

Well, as you may have guessed I have had no loss this week - hence the late post as a wallow in my tears!! Hahahaa! But a loss is still a no gain!! As you will see from below I have marked as both a plus and a minus - just to put a smile on my face.

So, after Tuesday and Wednesday (two days of feeling sorry for myself and just plodding on and eating my points to the max), I turned a new leaf on Wednesday night....

For most of you, you know that I am part of a choir in the Salvation Army. I attend rehearsals on a Wednesday night up in London and to me, my journey home is my 'me' time. It's my time to think, reflect, chill out and sometimes have a good stern talking to myself. This Wednesday fell into the category of thinking, reflecting and telling myself off but it then turning into 'motivational speaking' Emma time!

So when I got home, I plonked my bag down on the floor in the hall way and headed straight to the kitchen!

For me I felt that my let down was eating a cold salad in this lovely cold weather we have in England. It wasn't filling me up and it therefore led to me eating rubbish snacks to fill myself up, which of course didn't fill me up! So after putting out a question on Facebook to my lovely support group, I had some lovely suggestions given to me. Soup is lovely, but it doesn't always completely fill me up. So I decided to take to work some meals that would fill me up and that would be lovely and warm too. The last few days I have been taking with me some steamed salmon that I had cooked the night before and some lovely 0pp veg to help bulk out my meal. I would then also have enough points to have a little chocolate treat and then ate 0pp things such as fruit and also a can of diet Pepsi.

Before I go any further, yes I know Diet coke / Pepsi isn't good for you! (I can hear my sister tell me off in my head already!) BUT on Weight Watchers, it is 0pp and it really helps to fill me up!

 

So, check out my organisation skills!

So I think my way forward is to keep onto of this organisational habit and to plan, plan, plan!!!

Week 1 - 3lbs

Week 2 - 4lbs

Week 3 - 1lbs

Week 4 - 2lbs

Week 5 - 1lbs

Week 6 + 1lbs :(  - 0lbs

Week 7 - 4lbs

Week 8 - 2lbs

Week 9 - 0lbs (but also +0lbs!)

 

I had a sneak on the scales this morning (again, I know I shouldn't so don't tell me off! BUT I've lost again this week but it had better stay off till Tuesday!

 

What is your best thing to take to work as a packed lunch? Especially on these cold autumn / winter days?

 

Love, Mrs O x

Week 8

Whoops! Forgot to press post!!!

So here is this week's update on my weigh in.... Lost another 2lbs!! Which now means that I have lost a total of 17lbs in 8 weeks - man I love you weight watchers!!

Today I went to the Ideal Home Show at Christmas - and yes we nibbled on some sausages and cheeses - but only small pieces!! So I counted them as a whole meal. We went to Nandos at the end of the day and I was really good and only had a chicken leaf salad which I counted as just chicken breasts and their sauce as I had no dressings on the salad - go me!! Hhahahaha!!

Whilst going around the show there was one lady who stopped me and asked me would I like to know my BMI - to which I proudly said it's OK as I already knew that it didn't matter as it was going down. She got talking to me and then found that it was very impressive that I had lost 17lbs in 8 weeks and I said it was all thanks to Weight Watchers where I can eat pretty much what I like and not some silly soup or shake diet (like what they were offering!)

All part of the fun there I did go a little bit mad and got pink added to my hair.......

What do you all think?!

I have also found my Christmas dress! I ordered it from Avon - but it's a pretty cool dress in that I can wrap the top half around whatever way I want. It is reversible - one side gold and the other black. The gold really looked tacky but the black side looked really nice. It was only until I tried this dress on that I could notice my weight loss........

This one shows the bow at the back:

 

 

And this is the one minus the bow...

 

What do you all think?...

 

This weekend I might brave it and try on my old Salvation Army Uniform..... Fingers crossed!!

So my weight loss now looks like this:

Week 1 - 3lbs

Week 2 - 4lbs

Week 3 - 1lbs

Week 4 - 2lbs

Week 5 - 1lbs

Week 6 + 1lbs :(  - 0lbs

Week 7 - 4lbs
Week 8 - 2lbs

 

Love, Mrs O x

Fake pizzas - weightwatchers style

Some nights don't you get those 'I can't be bothered to cook' nights?

I do, especially if I have been on a late. So my friend gave me this very lovely idea of fake pizzas.

It is so easy to do and make.

All you need are:

• Tortilla Wraps (I use WW ones that are 3 pp each or 2 for 7pp)
• Tomato Puree / Pesto (1pp per tbsp)
• Cheese (I use 40g of half fat cheese grated on the smallest setting and that spreads across 2 pizzas = 3pp)
• And whatever topping you want to put on the pizza

The pro points all depends on what you put on them..... So depending on how cleaver you are you can make this hardly any points!

Last week I had one of my besties over and we made the fake pizzas - This is a great food idea too for when you have guests over as they can choose what they put on it....

This was the choice of toppings that we had.....

And then this was the finished product...

Yum is all I can say! I sometimes also add BBQ to make it have a Hawaiian feel.

I served it with some garlic bread (when is garlic bread not suitable with Italian food?!!)

Do any of you try these out?....

Oh, and no loss this week - but at least it's not a gain!!

Love, Mrs O x

Throw back Thursday - November

So today I am looking back on a very special day - to the day - 5 years ago.

This is the first ever picture I took of Mr O on Friday 7th November 2008.

After our first date around Tesco he cooked me a meal. This was taken in the kitchen at the halls of residence I stayed in at uni. He cooked me a lovely roast - which when you're a student is brilliant!! I remember the first meal I cooked him was ravioli (from a tin) with salad leaves - typical student meal! But thank goodness my cooking skills have improved!!

Our relationship happened all very quickly after adding each other on facebook 'by accident' to then swapping numbers a few days later to then meeting up all within 5 days we then got engaged 3 months later. I can honestly say hand on heart that as soon as I met him under the clock tower at uni that Friday morning I knew I wanted to marry him.

Then a week after that photo, this photo happened.....

This happens to be one of my best nights of my life. It was a fancy dress costume party I had so much fun with all my uni friends and such a giggle too and what was even better was that Mr O was there. I remember at one stage another guy tried to dance with me and Mr O had to push them off me!

And then here we are (this is the latest photo I could find of us). This is the other week at Harry Potter World.

Love you Mr O and Happy 5 years anniversary... Here's to many more!!

 

Love, Mrs O x

Week 7 Weigh in

So, after last week's post, I didn't believe that I had put 1lb on .... so I decided to weigh myself again the next day and I had in fact stayed the same!

However, this week I managed to reach my next personal goal - 1st stone off! :) That means that this week not only did I get another silver 7 but I also got my 1st stone! :) This week saw a loss of 4lbs which now brings my total to 15lbs lost. Man I felt so good!

Mr O now owes me a massage.... He said that if I reach certain goals then I will get certain 'rewards'...

- 1 Stone = a massage from a spa / beautician
But then if by Christmas I loose the following I also get....
- 1 1/2 stone = A new Christmas dress / outfit
- 2 stone = A new Christmas dress / outfit plus a new pair of shoes.....

Can you see why I am so motivated to loose this weight now?!

So my chart now looks like this....

Week 1 - 3lbs

Week 2 - 4lbs

Week 3 - 1lbs

Week 4 - 2lbs

Week 5 - 1lbs

Week 6 + 1lbs :(  - 0lbs

Week 7 - 4lbs

As I was away this last weekend, I didn't have much choice on what I was or wasn't eating, so I decided to do this for my meals:

Saturday

Breakfast: Weetabix + skimmed milk

Lunch: Fruit, WW wrap (found a WHSmiths with food at the airport), Special K Moments strawberry & A pack of snack a jacks

Tea: (We were offered an afternoon tea - again more food!) Just had a fruit salad and water

Dinner: Vegetarian lasagna & salad and then for dessert I had a fruit salad

Sunday
Breakfast: Bacon, beans and then some muesli
Lunch: Salmon with new potatoes and broccoli Dessert: Fruit Salad
Dinner: A banana and a cereal bar

As you can imagine when they offer you FREE food on a plane your head automatically wants to say yes to it, but I fought against it and said no and just agreed to having a diet coke.

Let's hope the weight keeps dropping off!  I have worked out that it's 7 weeks to go to Christmas which means that if I loose 1lb each week I will have lost 7lbs = 1/2 stone! So that could well mean a new Christmas dress / outfit too! :) Ooooo exciting!!

I always find that people always say they will loose weight once the new years comes but I thought, why not start now? More chance of loosing more by my sister's wedding and quicker to get to being a slimmer Mrs O!

I had a few perks this weekend that made me feel really good about myself and make me feel that this weight loss is working. Especially when I had a patient stare at my bum yesterday!! He thought he was being discrete but I obviously turned around too quickly and caught him out. Is it bad to think that although I'm married it's nice to know that I still look good? Or so they think that I look good even if you all don't?!!

Oh, and a new tunic arrived at work for me today .... a size smaller and it is the perfect fit! I now have colleagues saying how much weight I have lost - rather than being hidden under a massive one!

Do any of you have goals to reach by Christmas?

When do you find it the hardest to stay on track with a diet?

Love, Mrs O x

Yummy Weight Watchers Style Triffle

One of my lovely little finds last week was Ambrosia's Low fat Devon Custard (125g pots) AND guess what I decided to make with them.... Triffle....

SO easy to make and sooooo yummy.... Look!   AND only 3pp :)



So what did I do?.....

I just made up some 0pp Jelly (I use Hartley's jelly crystals) into 4 of these small-ish bowls.
Once they were set I put the custard on top - one pot per bowl - then let them set while Mr O & I made and ate dinner.
When we were ready to eat them I topped with Anchor Light Squirty Cream and grated some Tesco Value chocolate (1 square) over the two of them. If you grate it on the smallest grater setting it will spread more and you feel like you get more.

As you can see, I did make a bit of a mess with the chocolate!!

Mr O loved it and as you will see from my foodie posts, he has loved all my 'ww' meals and ideas.

Have any of you tried this?... What did you think? Let me know....


Love, Mrs O x