Calories - 31st August

My weight was up to 10 stone 8.8 pounds this morning but as I am in all day today hopefully I can be sensible and get it back down.

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 200 calories
weetabix, a small orange and apple juice
Elevenses - 100 calories
banana
Lunch - 200 calories
Toast and houmous with a spinach, tomato, cucumber and red pepper salad with a hot marmite drink and green tea
Afternoon - 500 calories
peacan nuts and a buttered toasted teacake with a cup of decaff tea
Evening Meal - 450 calories
Battered haddock, new potatoes, carrots, peas, a kids yoghurt and cup of decaff tea
Evening Snack - 100 calories
toast with jam and green tea
TOTAL CALORIES - 1550

EXERCISE :
30 mins / 200 calories on exercise machine

Weight update

On Friday morning my weight was 10 stone 7.6 pounds. Then on Friday I was at my parents and ate pretty well - lots of fruit and pasta and veg for lunch with a sandwich in the evening. I ate quite a bit of toast in the evening with my son. In the day we went for a walk to the park and then I did 30 mins on the exercise machine. My weight was still 10 stone 7.6 pounds on Saturday morning. On Saturday we had lunch out and after a cheese and tomato baguette with half a packet of crisps, 3 fruit juice drinks and wedges in the evening with hardly any exercise, my weight went up to 10 stone 8.8 pounds. We are getting the exercise machine today so hopefully that will help me to get fitter and lose some extra weight.

Weight Loss Pills

I have discussed weight loss pills on here quite a lot before. I do not know that many people that use them and I normally rely on talking to other people about this sort of thing in order to find out whether I think it is good or not. My Aunt has taken a few, but I have never really chatted to her about the success of them and which ones she found to be the best. This is where I find the increasing number of web sites about weight loss products interesting. Quite a few of them have reviews of the pills, descriptions of how they work and what they do to you and also any possible side effects. This helps me to build up a picture of what popular pills such as Proactol are like. It gives me more faith in the pills if I can read independent customer reviews as I feel that is almost the same as talking to a friend or relative about their experience of using them. I am especially pleased when I see reviews which point out good and bad points about the products as I know that they are less likely to be biased and it is also very useful when they give you approximate prices so that you can calculate whether they are good value for money.

My Nutrition Course

My course materials all arrived today for my 'Understanding Human Nutrition' Open University course. It is all so exciting! I have just finsihed reading through the study guides and assessment questions and it seems the course is split into three sections, The Study of Nutrition and Food Habits, The Nutrients in Food and Their Role in Health and The Application of Nutritional Knowledge. It all sounds fascinating and very useful, I cannot wait to make a start on it all!

Calories - 28th August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 100 calories
melon and green tea
Lunch - 400 calories
Toast and strawberry fruit spread with fruit juice
Afternoon - 100 calories
grapes, melon and blueberries with water
Evening Meal - 450 calories
Pasta with vegetable sauce on a bed of spinach, carrots, peas, and veggie sausage followed by a fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries, melon and red grapes topped with fromage frais with green tea
Evening Snack - 100 calories
Weetabix and decaff tea
TOTAL CALORIES - 1300

EXERCISE :
50 minute slow walk
15 mins on the exercise machine burning 300 calories

Selling Exercise Machine

I have decided to see if I can sell my exercise machine in order to make room for the one I am buying from my parents. I would have kept it if I had room but I do not and I prefer theirs as it gets me out of breath whereas this one does not and although it is good for toning, I really need to exercise my heart more. I was going to take it to the tip but it seemed such a waste of a perfectly good exercise machine so I have put it up for sale on eBay. I saw that another one sold on there so thought that it was worth a try. We might be able to make a little money back towards the new one!

Update

Yesterday I had a busy day so did not get time to post. However, I can report that m weight was 10 stone 8.6 pounds after eating well the day before. I was at my Mum's yesterday and so did not eat brilliantly - I started with my usual porridge and green tea. Then had some apple, some fruit juice a bit of buttered toasted teacake, some banana, a skimmed milk latte, a boiled egg sandwich with green tea, macademia nuts and green tea, a glass of water, onion bhajis, vegetable samosas, boiled potato, cauliflower, peas and carrots with decaff tea and some cheese and onion crisps with a cup of decaf tea.

I also went for a walk which was probably 1 -1.5 hours and went on my parents cross trainer for 30 minutes (burning about 220 calories) at a rate which got me just out of breath. It was amazing how long the thirty minutes seemed to be - I am sure if I was watching a thirty minute TV programme it would have been better! The great news is that my weight this morning was 10 stone 7.2 pounds which means that despite eating more than I normally would, probably about 1400 calories, I still lost a lot of weight. I am interested as to whether it was due to the exercise machine. I will have to have another go on it when I am there on Friday to see whether it works as well.

Calories - 26th August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 100 calories
banana some blueberries and green tea
Lunch - 150 calories
Toast and strawberry fruit spread and a small orange with decaff tea
Afternoon - 200 calories
cucumber sandwich, some apple and an apple juice
Evening Meal - 450 calories
Stir fry, Quorn fajita strips with orange pepper, onion, mushrooms, pak choi and mixed seeds followed by a kids fromage frais and a cappuccino and green tea
Evening Snack - 100 calories
weetabix and a cup of decaff tea
TOTAL CALORIES - 1150

EXERCISE :
50 minute slow walk

The Cost of Healthy Food

I have just done a very interesting survey on the cost of healthy food. Junk food is cheaper than healthy food and the survey was all about whether people would eat healthier if healthy food was cheaper than junk food. Please take a look at my responses below and feel free to add your opinions too.

Update

I have not had a very good weekend in the weight and healthy eating sense. I weight 10 stone 9.6 pounds this morning which was due to bad eating from PMT and also stress. I am going to work hard again this week as I bought a lovely new top yesterday for a party the weekend after next and I would like to look really nice as I know there will be photos taken that will be sent to relatives all over the world. It is a good incentive to make sure I get back on top of things again.

I have also been thinking hard about exercising. Thinking but not doing! I was reading the British Heart Foundation website and it said that we should all be doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day for five days a week. They describe moderate exercise as something which makes you get out of breath and slightly warm. I hardly ever get out of breath and am considering trying working harder on my exercise machine and seeing if I can get out of breath on that. My Mum is trying to sell her cross trainer which does easily make me out of breath but it is really big and I do not think we have the space for it.

Nutrition Course

Although I think that I know how to eat healthily, I really want more information about what vitamins and minerals are in what foods, how much I should be eating and what foods are healthy etc. I have therefore signed up on a nutrition course with the Open University which starts next month. I am really looking forward to learning all about nutrition and being able to share what I have learned not only with my family by feeding them on a very healthy diet but also on this blog. Hopefully i will be able to pass on some of the important things that I learn.

Calories - 22nd August

My weight increased a little the day before yesterday and even more yesterday to 10 stone 9.8 pounds as there was birthday cake to use up (oops).

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 150 calories
Red grape, cherry and raspberry juice and two plums with a glass of water
Lunch - 200 calories
Scrambled Egg on toast with green tea
Afternoon - 300 calories
A banana, cashew nuts and green tea
Evening Meal - 350 calories
Pasta with tomato sauce, chicken style dippers, peas, carrots and brocolli with green tea
Evening Snack - 130 calories
crisps
TOTAL CALORIES - 1280

EXERCISE :

More Weight Loss

My weight has gone down again, which is great news. This morning I weighed 10 stone 8.2 pounds. I am really pleased as I did eat quite a lot yesterday, but tried to keep it pretty healthy which seemed to pay off. I am out for the day today so we will have to see how the eating and weight is effected.

Calories - 19th August

I was surprised at my weight this morning as I thought that the biscuits I ate yesterday would have made a difference to my weight. My weight was actually 10 stone 9.6 pounds.

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 300 calories
Some banana, crisps and apple juice
Lunch - 350 calories
left over pasta, half an avocado, carrot and orange pepper sticks, followed by banana and apple with green tea
Afternoon - 300 calories
Cashew Nuts
Evening Meal - 450 calories
Baked potato, Quorn sausage and beans with decaff tea
Evening Snack - 350 calories
Raw foods cocoa bar and a banana
TOTAL CALORIES - 1900

EXERCISE :

Why Do I Run for Chocolate?

Why do I need chocolate when I am under stress? I got some concerning news regarding the health of someone close to me today and immediately felt the need for chocolate and ate a couple of squares. I then realised that I would eat the whole bar if I wasn't careful. The chocolate was my husbands which he bought to test whether he had a chocolate allergy (he found out that he definitely does before he ate the chocolate so it was just sitting in the fridge). I have a sugar intolerance so should not eat it, but when I got this news I had some because I felt I desperately needed it. When I went to get my third piece I realised that I was beings silly and if anything, the news that I had should have made me want to be even more healthy. I unwrapped it and chucked it in the bin and had some veggie sticks and houmous instead. I do wish that I didn't run to food when I was stressed, I wonder why I do?

Calories - 18th August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 100 calories
banana, Clementine and blueberries with green tea
Lunch - 150 calories
Avocado and cucumber sandwich with orange pepper and carrot sticks
Afternoon - 350 calories
orange pepper and carrot sticks with houmous plus 2 squares plain chocolate, 3 biscuits, and bread and jam with green tea
Evening Meal - 600 calories
pasta with vegetable sauce, french beans, sweetcorn and chicken style dippers followed by a latte and biscuits
Evening Snack - 100 calories
rice pops
TOTAL CALORIES - 1450

EXERCISE :
60 minute slow walk

Weight News

After a good day of watching what I was eating my weight only went down to 10 stone 10.4 pounds. I was a little disappointed but at least it went down a little bit. After a day out yesterday at Longleat and having a egg mayonnaise baguette for lunch and two packets of crisps for snacks I managed to keep my weight the same - I guess all of the walking helped!

Calories - 16th August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
porridge and green tea
Elevenses - 100 calories
apple and pear
Lunch - 200 calories
Houmous with cucumber, carrot, orange and red pepper sticks with green tea
Afternoon - 95 calories
Crisp Bakes and decaf tea
Evening Meal - 400 calories
Vegetable and flagolet bean stew with green tea
Evening Snack - calories
Rice Pops with milk and decaf tea
TOTAL CALORIES - 1045

EXERCISE :
20 minute slow walk
300 calories exercise machine

Exercise is Key!

While I was staying with my parents with the children last week, my husband was on a training course. He was eating 3 course lunches and big evening meals and cooked breakfasts. I was concerned about his likely weight gain, as we he, but he put on only one pound in weight. I have put this down to the fact that he had quite a long walk from car park to venue and from venue to lunch room. He reckoned he walked about a mile a day and considering he normally does hardly any walking on a week day, this seems to have been the thing that made a significant difference.

I was just reading an article on the BBC Sport website about Michael Phelps and what he ate. Basically it said that he eats 10,000 calories a day but burns off 7,000 an hour while training. It also said that his metabolic rate is so high that he burns off as many calories as we would walking, when he is sitting at a desk.

It certainly made me think about how increasing exercise could really help weight loss. I can now understand why people say that the best way to maintain weight is to exercise - it is likely that you will start eating more but if you exercise your metabolic rate will speed up and you will burn off those extra calories.

I am Back!

I am back from my weeks holiday. I was staying with my Mum and my weight has gone up to 10 stone 10.6 pounds. The good thing is that it left me craving for vegetables, fruit and less stodgy cards and fat. I was eating loads of bread and butter, cereals and main meals with about 75% carb content. I am back to normal eating today and already feel so much better.

Weight loss Tips

I am unlikely to be updating the blog over the next week or so and I thought it might be good to share some weight loss tips to keep things going while I am gone. I will put some of mine up and it would be great if others coudl contribute theirs, thank you.

1. Write down what you are eating
2. Reduce your portion size
3. Eat a little bit of what you fancy (but not too much if it is unhealthy)
4. Keep a constant track of your weight so you can identify what you are doing right and wrong
5. Drink green tea
6. Exercise more
7. Give yourself non food treats when you do well
8. Set yourself small targets to help keep you motivated
9. Work with a friend so you can motivate each other
10. Only eat food if it is 'worth the calories'

I have found that the very best thing for me has been this blog as I have to share with the whole world things I have eaten and naughty things I have done! I would love to know what works for you.

Weight News

I think I must have had more calories than I remembered on the 6th as I put on some weight and am back to 10 stone 7.0. Yesterday I was at my Mums again and managed to stay the same weight. I resisted crisps and tortilla chips again and thought I ate pretty well - porridge breakfast, 2 oatcakes snack, 2 small toast and beans lunch, fruit, biscuits and nuts snack and rice with veg in curry sauce evening meal with crisps snack in the evening. I guess the sauce, nuts and biscuits would have added up as well as the drinks of fruit juice that I had. I did go for a walk, burn 150 calories on their exercise machine and play a bit of slow badminton in the garden and my weight stayed the same. My shoulder is hurting today so I may not be able to do the exercise machine later but I will be having a walk and will need to be very careful with what I am eating as I ideally want to lose some weight so that I can be a bit naughty and have some Pringles and cake tomorrow at the boys birthday party!

Calories - 6th August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 100 calories
Weetabix and green tea
Elevenses - 400 calories
biscuits with green tea
Lunch - 200 calories
Boiled egg sandwich with cucumber and red pepper sticks with green tea
Afternoon - 150 calories
Cashew nuts and decaff tea
Evening Meal - 300 calories
Noodles and stir fry peppers, onion, soya beans and courgette with decaff tea
Evening Snack - 100 calories
Crisps and water
TOTAL CALORIES - 1250

EXERCISE :
60 minute slow walk
300 calories burned on exercise machine

Update

Yesterday my weight was down to 10 stone 7.0 pounds which was pretty good considering I was tempted by the biscuits that the children were eating. I was at my parents house again so I made sure that we went for a walk and I burned 100 calories on their exercise machine. I also was careful about what I was eating, which was hard work. I shared a banana with the boys mid morning and at lunch time my Mum gave me two pieces of bread and I gave her one back as we were having fried veggie bacon and mushrooms in a sandwich so that was loads of calories already. In the afternoon I did pick at the delicious strawberries and had a snack of a rice cake with peanut butter. Then in the evening I had some rice with veggies and a fishless fishcake with pudding of a kids yoghurt and strawberries. My Mum served up my rice and I asked her if I could put some back as it was too much for me. There was going to be some leftover anyway so I didn't feel too bad. The thing I find hardest there is that they normally throw away any leftovers so you almost feel that you should eat them rather than waste them.

I was thrilled this morning when I was 10 stone 6.8 pounds. I think that exercises machine must be really good and burn more calories than it says. I will certainly use it regularly while I am staying there - it would be great if I could lose weight while I am there next week.

Calories - 4th August

My weight was down to 10 stone 7.2 pounds. I am so proud of myself for resisting temptations yesterday and it was so great that the extra exercise worked too. It has made me feel that I want to exercise more again and so hopefully I will stay motivated!

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
Porridge with 150ml semi-skimmed milk and green tea
Elevenses - 150 calories
banana and 2 biscuits with green tea
Lunch - 150 calories
Quorn ham and pickle sandwich with cucumber, carrot and red pepper sticks with decaff tea
Afternoon - 300 calories
Too many biscuits, an apple and decaff tea
Evening Meal - 550 calories
new potatoes, eggs, sausage and onion, peas and carrots and decaff coffee
Evening Snack - 100 calories
crisps
TOTAL CALORIES - 1400

EXERCISE :
60 minute slow walk
200 calories burned on exercise machine

A Good Day

Despite being at my Mums I still think that I had a good day calorie wise. I had my normal porridge breakfast and a fruit juice mid morning. Then lunch was a roast but I only had 2 roast potatoes and lots of veg and a quorn fillet with a small stuffing ball, another fruit juice and a coffee. Then in the afternoon I had some apple, papaya and melon but not too much. Then at tea time I had 2 slices bread with houmous, lettuce, avocado and some other salad veg. I managed to resist eating any of the crisps that were on offer which I was pleased about. On returning home I was hungry so I just had some more porridge and a cup of decaff tea.

Although I didn't have a walk today, we had a short walk around a book fair and then I burned off 100 calories on my Mum's exercise machine and played football and badminton in the garden with the children. It will be interesting to see when I weigh tomorrow what effect it has all had.

Happy happy!!

I weight this morning and was 10 stone 7.8 pounds, so I have reached my next mini target. I was so happy I tried on lots of clothes which I didn't think would fit me and they did! I can now fit in all of the clothes in my wardrobe and quite a few things are too big - I am so tempted to go shopping and buy a few nice things but I will not have the opportunity for a few weeks.

I would just like to add a thank you to all the readers I have gained through Entrecard and I really appreciate your clicks and support, thank you.

Calories - 2nd August

My weight was back up to 10 stone 8.6 this morning. I think I may have miscalculated yesterdays calories or eaten too much during the evening.

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
25g Porridge with 150ml semi-skimmed milk and green tea
Elevenses - 75 calories
banana
Lunch - 150 calories
Quorn ham and pickle sandwich with cucumber, carrot and red pepper sticks with decaff tea
Afternoon - 100 calories
crisps with green tea
Evening Meal - 600 calories
Fish, chips, peas and carrots and decaff coffee
Evening Snack - calories
nothing
TOTAL CALORIES - 1075

EXERCISE :
90 minute slow walk

Calories - 1st August

FOOD AND DRINK :

Breakfast - 150 calories
25g Porridge with 150ml semi-skimmed milk and green tea
Elevenses - 50 calories
half a banana and green tea
Lunch - 150 calories
Small leaf salad with 1/2 avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and carrot with decaff tea
Afternoon - 50 calories
Apple with green tea
Evening Meal - 600 calories
Stir fry pak choi, courgette, carrot, seeds and onion with egg fried rice and decaff tea
Evening Snack - 200 calories
Nakd cocoa bar and 1/2 apple pie bar and decaff coffee
TOTAL CALORIES - 1200

EXERCISE :
60 minute slow walk

Progress and Goals

This morning my weight was back down to 10 stone 8.2 pounds. I knew it was likely to come down a lot as it tends to at this time of the month. I am now pretty close to my next mini target of 10 stone 7 pounds.

I have decided that my ideal weight is probably about 10 stone. I think it will probably take me a while to get there as I will be staying with my parents in just over a weeks time and there are always a lot of tempting foods and she serves up more food than I do. I am going to make sure that I go for at least one walk a day, if not more and she has an exercise machine which I could use as well. I need to try not to be greedy as I tend to be while I am there and I have no excuses for putting on too much weight.