Flash back!

We all have 'that' photo - you know the one I mean - the one where you look awful and is your 'thinspirational' photo. Well up until last week this was mine....

However, thanks to lovely Time Hop (an app on your phone that allows you to see photos of you and your facebook statuses from that day X amount of years ago) this photo came up.....

This photo was taken of me back in 2011 and my word I NEVER wish to go back and look like that ever again! I think I used to be blind as to what I actually looked like! I used to play ignorance and just think I was fine and healthy. Well, I can say now that that is NOT the case!! 

The top photo is still set as my screen saver on my phone but I think I will need to change it to the new one! Or maybe get it printed lots and lots and stick it on every cupboard to stop eating all the naughty stuff or 'just that extra bit of something'....

I was going to post a picture of me 'now, but I can't find one! But I am out tonight at a friend's house for a dinner party and I am sure I will have photos taken then so I will aim to get one up on here next week.

Before the news I know you have all been dying to hear about my weigh in last week I will just catch you up for last weekend....

Saturday I enjoyed this lovely meal from M&S for lunch....

It was really yummy and full of flavor - I'm really enjoying these meals from M&S - they are my Saturday lunchtime treats and they really do fill you up.

When I got in on Saturday afternoon... Mr O had decided to go out with some friends to play ping pong and he left me the most gorgeous bunch of lilies, a stack of DVDs and a little card.....

 

Inside the card he had written a little love note (now a card alone is a shock to the system as I don't even get a Birthday or Christmas card off him!) and then on the other page he had written a riddle which led to this...

So I had a lovely night sitting, watching Films ( I caught up on Orange is the new Black - I so LOVE that programme atm - and I'm slowly watching it all as I am nearly finished the latest season!)

Oh, and that ice cream.... 31 PP! But I sat and ate it all nice and slowly and pointed it all!

On the Sunday we had planned to go on a picnic and go fruit picking after church, but we kind of failed on the picnic part! But we did go strawberries and raspberries picking - once we found them! We literally walked all 4 corners of the fields only to find that they were right by the entrance!! But, it still gave us lots of walking and my, did my thighs hurt the next day from all the funny positions you get into to pick the strawberries!

As you can imagine we over picked the strawberries and we ended up with loads - we still have some left! So as you will find out in a bit I used the wherever I could just to use them all up!!

Now for the moment of truth from this week's weigh in.....

I flipping stayed the same!! SOOOOOO annoyed as I played the game down to the last point! Everything was pointed. And I was a little down when I stepped on the scales and my leader wrote down 'STS' on my chart - But she reassured me that it could just take an extra week for me to drop some. She even texted me the day after some words of encouragement. 

And then I stumbled across this little motivational picture thing (I'm stumbling upon a lot of these at the moment!!)

So what did I do in the end with all those strawberries?....

Well they got put into jelly for work....

Chopped up and put into a trifle....

Chopped up and put into a smoothie

Chopped up and put into a cake (You can find the recipe here...)

So to get myself focused and to keep my eye on the goal I kept pointing EVERYTHING....

4pp lunch - poached egg (2) 10 olives (1) ham (1) salad (0) jelly & the famous strawberries (0)

Lunch - poached egg (2) 10 olives (1) salad (0)

Snack / Dessert with lunch - more of the famous strawberries with fresh peach and a WW 1pp yogurt

I even got my 'instagram' on! This was Friday night's meal....

 

  

Dinner - 8pp (Tweaked recipe from the latest WW mag pg 35) 

4pp Dinner - Chicken kebabs with peppers served with salad and 0pp mayo I made it like this....

And finally this morning's smoothie....  0pp

I even pointed up the Pizza I had on Thursday night in celebration!

(Sorry photo taken from Tesco's website as I had forgotten to take a photo!) This actually works out really well on the propoint front. For the whole pizza it's only 14pp !!

Oh, and why was I celebrating? I found out that the results from my last colposcopy had come back and I had been given the all clear. Ok, maybe that should have been the first thing I spoke about this week?!... 

As I put the phone down after talking to the lady on the phone, I cried! They were tears of sheer joy and utter relief. I well up thinking about it now! My path in life could have taken a completely different direction if those results came back differently. And after a year of being prodded and poked in places I wish were kept well clear of to know that I am ok means that Mr O and I can sleep again after nights of tears, of worries and of sleepless nights - and my, have I slept so peacefully these last few nights!!

Now, as always, I have done a bit of digging around in the shops for you all...

The first ones are from Lidl... 

I was looking for something different for breakfast and I came across these....

Honey Peanut Crunch is 30g for 4pp and the Golden Puffs (like sugar puffs) are 30g for 3pp

Now for the Honey Peanut Crunch you really don't get much at all for 30g! And so I don't intend to buy this again although it is sooo yummy! But with the fake sugar puffs you actually get a lot in your bowl for you points!...

I also came across these in Lidl - much cheaper than Hartley's jelly which I normally buy. These too are 0pp... AND at the moment they are only 23p :) 

Now for Sainsburys.... I bought this as it was on offer (sorry can't remember how much) but I stupidly didn't stand there in the shop and work out the points :( Shame I didn't as it was so not worth the points.... 

It worked out as 6pp for half the jar - yes it tasted nice but wasn't worth it for an evening meal - would be worth it though for a night you wanted to do a fake korma as you can use all that sauce like you do from a take away.

And lastly, ICE CREAM :) from Tesco 

Now, they always say to double check their points against working it out on a calculator... And this is a true example of that.... Tesco are famous for putting the wrong points on their food.... Funny how the other supermarkets can sort it out but they cant!

On the packet they mark it as 2pp per pot BUT they actually work out to be 3pp per pot - luckily I had a spare point floating about! Naughty naughty Tesco!

 

Now although I say all that, they were actually really nice! And worth the 3pp AND you get a little Tupperware pot out of it in the end!

So I now change off food and demand all you women to go and get your smear tests done! Don't delay it! Plus I also want to thank all my friends family in your support to both Jeremy and I over this past year. It's not been easy and lots of things we have had to put on hold. We love you all. 

Today I am trying to eat as little amount of point worthy food as possible as I am going out for a meal tonight with friends (as I said earlier) and although I know they will be cooking it all fresh themselves, I don't want to loose out on having a loss this week!!

Hope you all have a lovely week, Love, Mrs O x

OOOHHHH.... Nearly forgot to post this week's chart....

Week 1 - 5 1/2 lbs

Week 2 - 1/2lb

Week 3 - 3lbs

Week 4 - ?

Week 5 + 2lbs    :(

Week 6 +/- 0lbs - STS

Over night oats

Well, this may look disgusting but it is actually soooo yummy.... And if you are anything like me in the morning, I run around getting ready and trying to make breakfast at the same time like a headless chicken. But this I have found to be a great time saver for me.....

Ingredients...

1 banana
Any fruit of your choice for toppings
Oats - 35g
Yogurt - less than 200g (about 8 tbsps - but still weigh it)

Now you can use the above quantities to either make one big breakfast for 5pp or split it into 2 Tupperware boxes to make 2 normal sized breakfasts for 3pp each.

Also, just so you know, you might need to check the propoints of your own yogurt as each one is different. Some people also use Greek yogurt instead or an actual WeightWatchers yogurt or similar.... I use this one from Lidls....

Oh and I use these oats from Lidls too..

So here is what you do....

1. Mash the banana

2. Add the oats, yogurt and the mashed banana altogether

3. Mix together and add the fruits as well and mix. 

Or you could just mix it and then add the fruit on top...

Leave overnight in the fridge for it all to soak in together and then enjoy the next morning cold.... Yes that's right, cold. At first I was like 'that is a disgusting idea' but then as soon as I had my first mouthful I was in love with it!

In the morning, sit back, eat and enjoy! 

Love, Mrs O x

Guernsey and a little surprise with a shock to the system!!

So last weekend (Bank holiday) The ISS (International Staff Songsers) of the Salvation Army went to Guernsey.....

In summary...

We sang here on the Saturday night (in a beautiful restored church)

  

I had a little walk and wonder through a little town (St Peter Port)

I visited 'The Little Chapel' / Les Vauxbelets ...

This is a tiny little chapel that is covered and decorated by broken pieces of pottery....

We also drove round lots of places - down their very tiny windy roads - and saw some amazing views.... 

Oh.... And of course I needed to take a 'Guernsey Selfie' !

After our flight back home, Mr O and I went for a lovely lunch at The Apperfield Inn (which is a restaurant near to us. I wasn't too hungry but I could eat something, So we decided to have a starter - Mr O had squid and I had the soup of the day (spinach and something!) and shared a garlic bread - which was more like a very garlicy, cheesey bread!

Then, for our main I decided to go straight for dessert and Mr O had posh bangers and mash.

*****

Now, to commence my shock!

For a long time I have felt like my body is in 101 pieces - all mixed up and never going down the right way. I have been thinking of a way to get my body back on track.

So for weeks I have been looking into going to a Weight Watchers class, so I thought, what better time to start than after a weekend full of food - especially all the naughty Guernsey full fat milk, cream and ice cream!

So after my afternoon nap, I got up, washed dressed and headed out in the rain to my first ever WW class. Nervous was an understatement. I always remember going along to the odd class with my Mum if there was no one to look after us. They used to seem scary things full of old women who would sit around talking about food after my Mum would be weighed and be upset after. I think that is one reason why I never had the urge before to go to one... But after realising that this weight was not going very far since Christmas, maybe I had to have someone who would kick me up the butt and record my weight for me each week? I used to use the excuse of working shifts as a way of saying I couldn't go to one, as well as that I couldn't afford it!

However, after looking at the price of it all and how now that Mondays I seem to work the early shift these couldn't be excuses any more. No more hiding behind my phone screen when tracking! Plus, after moving to Kent and not getting to any kind of class or club to meet new people I also used this as a positive excuse for me to go! 

I walked in and they looked very puzzled at me and then when I said it 'Was my first week' they took me over to a table and set me up with registration forms etc.... However, I knew that this was probably the easy part and that the worst was yet to come!

Once I had filled my forms in, I was then put to a que of people to be weighed. It came to my turn and then I suddenly felt at ease. The lady was so lovely and welcoming, and congratulated me on coming along and for realising that I needed help - as well as coming along to my first meeting on a rainy bank holiday Monday evening. She said I showed true willingness.... 

I then got weighed, paid then had the meeting part - which I thought was brilliant - really interactive and gained me some new thoughts and ideas.... 

After the meeting, the leader spoke to myself and another lady (which was also her first week) and gave us our introductory speal and introduced us to Simple Start - now my was I nervous about doing Simple Start?! It was because I had read so much about it and it made me nervous about doing Simple Start, with it being restrictive on the naughty stuff, not pointing food and not writing everything down! Because of that, I thought it was not for me, but, only this week will tell....

I have also got to add, the lady I met in my meeting (which was also her 1st week) was a real blessing - we chatted away before the meeting, both giving our reasons why we were here and found a common ground. When we left the group, we even gave each other a little 'see you next week & good luck!' She has been in my head this whole last week - not in a weird way, but in a 'I hope she's doing ok' and what has she been eating?!

So..... I got home on Monday night and had an evening at Mr Ding Dong's house with Mr O and we had some strawberries, cream and some lovely cake and that then set me off for the next week. When I got home I sat and read everything that I could and couldn't eat and understood the whole Simple Start ideas. 

The next morning, I got a lovely text from my leader wishing me luck and checking if I was OK.

One of the things I learnt in the meeting was a way of making Filling & Healthy / 0pp jam - however, when I was in Asda on Wednesday night I couldn't remember what I needed. So I texted my leader and she replied back to me - pretty much straight away - and told me how to make it - My, how I was impressed with that!!

So.... Here it is, my first ever homemade jam - and who knew it would be so easy?!....

You can find out HERE how to make it.... 

So my meals this week included: 

Breakfast: Porridge (usually topped with some fresh fruit) or crumpets with Jam

One day the porridge decided to explode in the microwave!

Lunches - I kept to my usual salads, but this time I introduced something different each day such as a hard boiled egg, jacket potatoes and even a home made tuna stuffing (from the SS book)

Dinners - This is where all the fun was! Everything was fresh and cooked from scratch...

Tuesday we had a chicken hot curry with cauliflower rice

Wednesday I had my usual 'ISS packed tea' but instead of Nutella and banana sarnie I had a tuna filling (same as above) sarnie

Thursday We tried for the first time a WW shake and bake bag - I will definitely be buying more of those! So easy - you literally put in two chicken breasts, wack in a load of chopped veg, tie it up, shake and then put in the oven for 45 mins. - I served it also with home made potato wedges

Friday - Tortilla wraps with bolognaise and salad.

Saturday - Tonight we might just have an omelette or JPs - whatever takes our fancy tonight 

Sunday - Roast - of course!!!

Snacks / desserts - I tended to snack on fruit or natural low fat yogurt with a bit of sweetener.

Or my best friend - jelly :)

I have also found that I get hungry just at the time of going home, so I always take an extra banana and or pear/apple with me to eat on my way home.

I found this beautiful, colourful fruit platter in Sainsburys - brilliant and great amount for your money - You get two packs for £4.

And look what arrived in the post yesterday.... :) So excited to go to my next class on Monday night :)

So far this week has gone OK - At first the whole controlling of the naughty stuff was really hard, but as the week has gone on, I have found better and healthier things to replace them. I have also learnt that if I have a craving for chocolate then to nip it in the bud and not keep eating other stuff and just eat it!

Weigh in is on Monday night..... I wonder how I will get on?!.....

Have any of you done Simple Start? Any hints or tips?

Love, Mrs O xxx