Woman Of The Year: My Gorgeous Mum!

I can honestly say that this week has been absolutely manic. More so than usual! I've been meaning to write a blog post for days and days now but this is the first bit of spare time that I've had to myself long enough to focus on it!

Last time I updated you all it was Sunday night. Day before weigh in! I only lost 1 lb last week but it's still a loss so I'm pretty happy. To be honest, I have just lost 11 lbs in 3 weeks so I know I can't complain too much!
I'm aiming to lose 3 lb this week to make it 1 stone in a month - wouldn't that be great? However not being at home and a mixture of manic plans and scheduling means I haven't been able to totally focus as well as I'd like to. We'll see!

Last week at group the winner of our Woman Of The Year was revealed.. it was my mum!
I'm so proud of her. She really does deserve it!
She's in close reach of her target having lost almost 6 stone in just a year!
I'll be honest, she is looking more beautiful than ever.
It really does give me the kick up the backside I need sometimes to keep me motivated, I can tell you!

I remember back when we started Slimming World and her motivation (as well as looking great and being healthy) was the fact she's always longed for a sash! It seems silly to some but it's what she wanted! I know she's going to be put forward to the regionals and then hopefully have a chance of perhaps being in the magazine one day. I think that would be fantastic!

However, all three women who were nominated deserved to win. They're all gorgeous, lovely ladies who are an inspiration to us all! The trouble with our SW group is that we're all doing so well it's hard to only nominate a few people! That surely can't be a bad thing though, can it? ;)

We've been through so much as a family and I can't describe in words how much I appreciate my mum and all she does for us. However, it's about time my mum stopped worrying about us all so much and started focusing on herself. She is one of my closest friends and a genuine, caring woman who deserves to be rewarded for how much support and inspiration she gives to others. She is absolutely beautiful inside and out.

Who knows, one day I might earn a nice SW title myself!

So much has happened this week (like my sister moving to Leeds for University!) that I haven't really photographed my food or tried anything too different. It's mostly been fruit, yoghurts and chicken meals. Lots of salad and veg as always!
For lunch today I've had a lovely ham salad with rocket, cucumber, tomatoes and spring onions. I've been walking more and drinking a lot more water than usual, too.

So I've got today, tomorrow and Monday daytime to be extra good until weigh in.
Hope you've all been having a great week!

G
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Noodle / Pasta Dinners & Before And After Photos!

I've had a lot going on the last few days!
My friend's 21st birthday was great. I didn't even have a drop of alcohol (probably a good thing after my wild Thursday night out) but I still had a fabulous night.
I also bumped in to some old friends and had loads of compliments too which made me feel great and motivated!

Yesterday I went out and found myself a new outfit that I feel really lovely in!

I decided it was about time I looked back and compared some recent photos of myself to old ones.
I actually found it very difficult to find a full-length photo of myself because I used to lack so much confidence I would delete or crop all photos of me that didn't just have my head and shoulders in!

The photo on the left was taken on holiday in Portugal when I'd just started dieting. I think I'd lost half a stone already. I loved that red dress but looking back I wish I never wore it outside!!! It drowns me now and I had to give it away!

The photo on the right is a photo of me yesterday trying on my new outfit!
Just under 4 stone lighter and feeling so much more confident. I can't wait to get to target!

Yesterday I grabbed an Alpen Light bar for breakfast and I didn't eat in town so by the time I got home at 6pm I was quite hungry! I didn't have much time to cook as I needed to get ready to go out so I made one of my favourite quick & easy dinners.

I love making a syn free version of chicken chow mein. Sometimes I prefer it to the chinese takeaway!
There are a lot of variations you could experiment with but this is what I had last night:

Egg noodles, boiled and set to the side.
Diced chicken, chesnut mushrooms and onions lightly fried in Fry Light.
When the chicken is cooked, add the egg noodles to the frying pan and pour dark soy sauce over everything.
Fry for 5 minutes and stir it all together so the noodles and chicken are coated.

Sprinkle 'Chinese Five Spice' Perfect Shake seasoning by Schwartz and fry for another few minutes.
Stir and serve! Simple!
I also love to add courgettes and peppers - beansprouts are perfect for filling out a meal too if you're making dinner for two or more! It's also a great recipe for chinese style stir fry if you don't fancy the noodles.

Today I had work at 11am and wasn't majorly hungry this morning. However, I knew I needed something that was somewhat substantial so I wouldn't eat biscuits at work!
I went for 2 weetabix with a little bit of milk with raspberries and blueberries on top for brekkie.

When I got home from work today I knew my boyfriend was joining me for dinner but he had to be somewhere in the evening so I chose to make one of our other favourite quick & easy dishes!

This is very similar to the chow mein recipe.
In a small saucepan, boil 3 baby leeks (sliced)
In another, boil a good handful of tagliatelle pasta.
Meanwhile, fry chicken, diced onion and mushrooms in Fry Light and sprinkled with some Chargrilled Chicken flavour Perfect Shake from Schwartz. I use a lot of their seasonings - I couldn't live without them!
When ready, drain the pasta and pop it back into the saucepan.
Add the chicken, onions and mushroom in with the pasta and also drain the leeks and add them into the saucepan with everything too.
Mix in a good portion of low fat soft cheese (Lighter Philadelphia is great!) but remember to syn it or use your healthy extra allowance.

Serve with a sprinkle of pepper on top and add some salad if you fancy it.
Voila!

So, weigh in day tomorrow.
Not exactly sure what I'm expecting! I know I've had a couple of treats this week and I haven't been as strict as I could have been but fingers crossed!

G
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Flexible Syns & Jacket Potato

Ooft I've been feeling a little bit fragile today!

My sister is moving to Leeds (200 miles away!) next week for university so last night we decided to have one last girly night out with each other before she goes.

We had a brilliant time but only because I allowed myself to have flexible syns. I would have felt so lost and guilty this morning if I didn't keep control by giving myself an allowance last night. I gave myself a maximum of 40 syns (a lot, I know!) but because I limited myself I actually didn't use it all up and I had a great night even though I was syn counting.
I think I made some good choices. I kept it easy by not mixing drinks and I know a single pub measure of vodka is 4 syns so I always have a single vodka and diet coke. Overall I only ended up drinking 5 measures of vodka (20 syns!) and I rejected the offer for food at the inevitable 3am trip to the burger van (classy!)

Instead, I had a few ryvita biscuits and some fruit when I got home. I felt so in control and quite proud of myself if I'm honest! I didn't feel deprived or like I wasn't as "involved" as I could have been - it does help that I don't drink very often so I'm a bit of a lightweight. It also helps that my sister is following the Slimming World plan too!

However this morning I felt pretty rubbish and I needed to get a train at 1pm. So feeling a little worse-for-wear, we wandered in to town to find something to eat as my fridge was unfortunately quite empty!
We ended up in Subway and I normally choose a salad but it wasn't going to fill me up or soak up the fluid feeling I had in my stomach! I had turkey breast & ham on the new flatbread with no sauce but loads of free salad.
Unfortunately the syn value for the Subway flatbread isn't on the online database, but after looking at the nutritional values and entering them in to the Slimming World Online Syns Calculator it says it should only come to 3 and 1/2 syns!

I'm not entirely sure how right this is so I allowed up to 10 syns for it and didn't have any more for the rest of the day! Plus let's face it, we were going to get a fry up from a cafe which would have been cooked in oil and they probably wouldn't have cut the fat off .. also there's a lack of salad and high syn sausages! So all in all I think we made a decent enough choice.

I knew I would be busy all day today and coming home late so I took a Mugshot with me to have later on in the day. I also snacked on some fruit and a mullerlight yoghurt throughout the late afternoon when I got peckish.

After a long day I finally got back home around 9pm so I put a ready baked Frozen McCain Jacket Potato in the microwave and topped it with Heinz BBQ Beans, red onion and chesnut mushrooms (fried in Fry Light) with tomato and cucumber on the side. I've got a bit of a little obsession with smoked paprika at the moment for some reason so I sprinkled that on top too!

SO filling and full of flavour!

I have a friend's 21st birthday party to go to tomorrow so I may struggle a little but I think I will allow myself a couple of drinks if I feel like it so I don't feel deprived but I'm not going to drink because I feel like I have to!
I need to stay focused and in control - even if I do drink a bit, at least I won't go overboard and I know it won't be as bad as if I wasn't on the plan!

I'm not entirely sure whether I'm going to have a loss this week but I'm having a great time and I'm going to carry on being strict with my food choices until weigh in on Monday evening.

Wish me luck! Hope you're all having a lovely weekend.
G
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Fried breakfast, leftover loaf & a new syn free favourite!

'ello 'ello!
First of all, can I just thank all of you that have read my blog posts so far.
According to my 'stats' it says this page has had over 500 views which is great!
I'm glad you find it interesting - I hope some of it is helpful or inspiring!

On Wednesday I had nothing to do but relax all day which was lovely. So, in the spirit of a true lazy British morning breakfast, I decided to whip up a fry-up!

I got the idea in my head that I wanted the full works so I was a bit disappointed when I discovered there were no eggs, tomatoes or much salad (which I always try to have on the side)
So I did what I could and ended up with a very yummy and filling brekkie anyway!

All fried in Sunflower Fry Light Spray, I had;
3 x Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Cumberland Sausages at 1/2 a syn each.
2 rashers of bacon with all visible fat cut off.
A big handful of chesnut mushrooms.
1/2 can of Heinz BBQ Beans.
And I felt like I didn't have enough veg so I chopped up the remainder of a cucumber I found in the fridge.. looked a little bit odd but it was really nice!

That night I ended up staying at my boyfriend's house which is often a bad move and he's ALWAYS snacking on chocolate and lovely sweet things.
I decided to arrive prepared so I packed a portion of my leftover chickpea dhal loaf with a big bag of salad and tomatoes!
I had it all cold with a drizzle of low fat salad cream and a few extra sprinkles of smoked paprika to add flavour.
In the end, I think he was jealous of my dinner instead of the other way around!
I snacked on a couple of satsumas and a big medley of melon that I bought in Sainsbury's on my way over.

I woke up early to catch the bus home and I had work at 1pm so I had a slice of the original ryvita with some marmite on it for breakfast.
I had an Alpen Light bar in my bag which I had half way through the day.

I've just got home and I don't feel hungry enough to want to cook a big main meal so I threw some pineapple, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries in a bowl with my new favourite syn free treat!

I've recently discovered Marks & Spencer's fat free yoghurts from their 'count on us' range. Most, if not all of them are syn free and they come in really interesting flavours! I've just poured the raspberry panna cotta one all over my fruit salad - yum!

What are your favourite syn-free treats?

G
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PS. While I was sat here writing this blog post, my boyfriend just walked in my front door presenting me with a bottle of champagne because he's so proud of how much weight I've lost! What a sweetheart!
If only that was syn free!!!!

Wonderful Weigh-In & Chickpea Dhal Loaf!

HOORAY!

Weigh in Monday night was a success again with a surprising 4lb weight loss!
This means I got my 3 and 1/2 stone award (since my journey began) and my 1 stone certificate since rejoining my local SW group again!
I even won Slimmer Of The Week - what a massive confidence boost!

I honestly didn't know if I would lose, gain or maintain this week after my champagne & cheesecake Friday night but it just goes to show if you're good all week you can reign it in! Flexible syns really do work!
Fingers crossed I can stay strict, focused and motivated enough to lose this week too.

This means I am now only 4lbs away from getting my 4 stone award and 10lbs away from my target goal!
(However I am going to see how I feel at this target and re-assess the situation!)
I'm really pleased and feeling great!
The more I lose the more determined I seem to get.

This morning I went in to town to have brunch with my boyfriend's family which was nice.
His auntie was visiting from France so it was really lovely to see her again!
I decided to go for what I fancied so I had eggs benedict with spinach and ham instead of bacon (I was scared they would leave the fat on and cook it in oil!)
I didn't need to syn the poached egg, ham or spinach but I looked up the syns for an average white breakfast muffin which came to around 8 and 1/2. I also only had a few tablespoons of hollandaise sauce which I thought would be awful but according to the syns online database it's only 1 and 1/2 per tbsp! It's always tough knowing exactly how many syns are in something when you're at a restaurant because some recipes will vary but I decided to allow myself 6 syns for the sauce.

I really enjoyed myself and I feel like I've had a treat which I was in control of. Don't feel like it was a set back as I've allowed for it and I know i'll be strict with myself for the rest of the week!

Last night I got into 'experimental mode' and decided to try a recipe that was mentioned in group a while ago.
This is a chickpea dhal loaf (thanks to Diana from my SW group who posted the recipe)
I was originally going to try making them in to muffins to snack on but realised I didn't have a muffin tray (Doh!)
Sorry the photo isn't great!


The original recipe for chickpea dhal muffins (or loaf)

Ingredients:

1 x 400g can chick pea dahl
(The brand 'Mazadar' which you can buy in Morrison's is syn free!)
1 packet savoury rice (chicken flavour is supposed to be nice)
1 onion
An assortment of vegetables - I used mushrooms and courgettes
3 eggs, beaten.

Make up rice as instructed, set to the side to cool.
Finely dice your onion and vegetables.
Place the dhal, veg, cooled rice and beaten egg in to a bowl and mix throughly.
Place into silcon muffins moulds or in a loaf tin!
Bake at 180 for 30 mins or until crispy and golden brown on top.

I left it to cool last night and then popped it in the fridge overnight.
After my brunch I only fancied a little dinner so I've just had a slice of my dhal loaf on a small plate with salad, tomatoes and fat free vinaigrette dressing.
Planning not to have any more syns today (and minimal syns for the rest of the week!)
I'll have a nice fruit salad with a bit of fat free yoghurt later on.

The loaf was nice but a little bland - I only had plain rice in the cupboard so maybe if I used a syn free flavoured one it might have been better? Still lovely though! I think I will add some curry powder and paprika next time too. Oh and red peppers! I definitely think it's one of those recipes you can adapt, change and experiment with until you absolutely love it.

I hope you're all inspired and motivated this week - stay focused, you can do it!

G
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Judgement Day!

So since last time I posted, I went to a carnival and resisted burgers, alcohol and all things naughty!
We didn't leave as early as I thought we would so I had a big lunch to keep me going until we got home.
I threw together another chicken/mushroom salad type thing which I'm pretty much living on at the moment!

I'm glad I was able to pull myself together and get back into my Slimming World mindset straight after the party on Friday night!
I would have been in big trouble otherwise.. I've been there before!

Yesterday I had quite a "hungry day" - more so than usual! I snacked on as much fruit as possible, I had some fat free yoghurt and a Chocolate & Fudge Alpen Light bar (love them but I try not to have them too often!) .

For dinner I fancied bangers & mash but didn't want the gravy.
I made mashed potatoes with a triangle of extra light dairylea and a few pinches of paprika
2 Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Cumberland Sausages (only 1/2 syn each - lifesaver!)
Chesnut mushrooms fried in Frylight and a big handful of salad and cucumber on the side.

I also got a bit sucked in by my boyfriend who was eating a whole pack of Sainsbury's milk chocolate chunk bakery cookies - unfair!
I'm fine unless I see him eating something I fancy but can't really have and then I go into syn-mode for some reason.
So, to stop myself being silly and binge-ing with him I decided to make myself a Cadbury's Highlights Hazelnut hot chocolate which I think comes to around 3 syns.

Today is Monday which means one thing ... JUDGEMENT DAY! I mean, er, weigh-in day..
I normally try not to eat before weigh in but it's not until 6pm and I just can't go all day on an empty stoumach otherwise i'll feel very sick. I had a small bowl of Fat Free Vanilla Onken and a load of raspberries. I'll take a Mugshot to have at group after being weighed!

It's always a weird feeling on a Monday because I never know what to expect. Weight can be so unpredictable!
I know I haven't been as good as last week so of course I'm not hoping for a big loss again but any loss would be great!
To be honest, after this week I'll be pretty happy if I stay the same.
However I do only need 2 and 1/2 lbs to get my one stone certificate (since I rejoined)

Fingers and toes crossed, eh!

Good luck to all of you who have weigh in today!
G
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Weekends are so difficult! Stay focused!

Good morning!

Since my last post, everything's been pretty hectic! I was great with my food on Thursday and felt really proud of myself. I didn't eat much because I was working until 5pm and then went for a look around the shops and met a friend for a lovely pot of tea (how very English!)
I did get a bit peckish in town so I bought an Alpen Light bar which I had as my healthy extra B choice for the day and later on at home I made a sort of chicken salad type meal!

Most of the time I just seem to throw syn free foods together and hope for the best! I cooked the chicken, courgettes and mushrooms in Frylight spray, sprinkled with Chargrilled Chicken flavoured "Perfect Shake" seasoning from Schwartz which always makes everything taste amazing!

HOWEVER Friday was a tad destructive..

My boyfriend and I were invited to a 25th wedding anniversary party (on a boat!) which was amazing but I did give in to temptation a bit..
I had been really good with my food all day as I knew we were going out.
I even bought a dress in a boutique shop (in the sale!) which I ended up wearing. A year ago I went in there and got really disheartened because their clothes were all handmade and I didn't fit anything properly because they only do size "S/M" or "M/L"
But yesterday everything I tried on in there fitted me perfectly and I actually spent most of my time deciding what to get because I was spoiled for choice!
I have to say, I did feel really good about myself!



At the party I started off with a diet coke but as the evening progressed I found myself drinking vodka and diet coke.. and then a small glass of white wine.. and then there was champagne...
AND THEN as I'd spent all day shopping and getting ready I hadn't eaten a proper meal so when they bought out the food I pondered for a while but then I couldn't resist!
I had a wholemeal roll with ham in it (fine, not so bad.. maybe it had a bit of butter in it)
THEN I had some nibbles; 2 cocktail sausages, some grapes, a mini quiche...
AND THEN later on they had the most beautiful strawberry cheesecake and me being a little bit tipsy decided I'd somehow earned a slice. A very small slice, but a slice nonetheless.
I feel SO guilty!!!!

However I did enjoy myself and we had a really brilliant evening - it's not often you get to celebrate a friend's 25th wedding anniversary on a boat!
Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself but I know where I went wrong if the scales aren't kind to me on Monday evening.

I have today, tomorrow and all day Monday to be super strict and redeem myself so I'm drawing a line under last night and starting a fresh.

Today I've had some fat free vanilla Onken yoghurt with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries for breakfast.

I'm going to a carnival today so I'll pack a chicken salad to take with me for lunch and some fruit to snack on.

Trying to stay positive, motivated and determined - I've got this on the wall in my kitchen!

Hope you've all had a good week and that you're enjoying my blog if you happen to come across it.
Feel free to leave a comment or anything if you fancy it or have any questions!

G
x

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to work I go!

Just a quick post before I head off!
I've just started volunteering twice a week at a really lovely charity shop.
Today I don't start until 1.30pm but I did go out last night (and only had diet coke!)
Woke up a little late this morning but I decided to throw together a really quick fruit salad for breakfast.



Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes and a chopped up pear!
It was so filling I couldn't even finish it.
I can feel my stoumach capacity getting smaller I think ha ha!
With a bit of luck this will last me until I get home at 5pm but I'll take a few pieces of fruit in my bag and make sure I have a cup of tea or some water before I go and while I'm working!

x

Weigh in: SUCCESS!

I had weigh-in (a.k.a Judgement Day) on Monday evening which showed a surprisingly successful 6LB WEIGHT LOSS! I'm so pleased! I was feeling so low about my 2-week binge and the 6lbs that I gained. I think it really did give me the kick I needed to be strict with myself again. I can't believe I managed to get all 6lbs off that I gained! Luckily, I kept a food diary and also a plan so I wrote down all meals I had that week. I'll have to follow that again!

So with the massive confidence boost that's given me this week, as well as the faith I have in the extra easy plan, I'm back on track and more focused than ever! I'm now back to only having 14lbs left until target. ONE STONE TO GO! I'm hoping to get there in time for Christmas but I'm also thinking I'd really like to be at target for my boyfriend's 21st which is in the first week of November. A little bit more of a challenge but I think I could do it!

After club, I always stay at my mum's house and for dinner I had Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Cumberland Sausages (only 1/2 syn each!) with Smash mixed with Sage & Onion seasoning, red onions, mushrooms and a bit o' gravy (Can't have bangers & mash without it!) VERY yummy and filling.

The next day I had to go to a hospital appointment so I had a mullerlight yoghurt before I left. When I got home it was about 4pm so I was a bit peckish but didn't have time to make a big meal so snacked on 2 'Oaty Scan Bran' that I bought at the SW group to try out. I had them with a dairylea light cheese triangle, pickle and chicken tikka! I'd never had Scan Bran before so I was pleasantly surprised - and it filled the spot! You can have 5 x Scan Brans as your healthy extra B choice so I used mine for that and had an extra one later on before bed!

Last night my Dad and I went out to see a David Bowie film stream live from the V&A museum which was amazing but I didn't get home until quite late so I was really quite hungry by this point! I wasn't in the mood for cooking anything major but I decided to boil some pasta and quickly fry some mushrooms. I roughly diced a few slices of ham and added a bit of salad. Even though I didn't make a sauce or stir in anything, it was still really lovely! I love plain pasta!

So far today I've had a big bowl of fruit salad for breakfast and a few cups of tea (I'll use my milk as my H/E today) - planning to have either a tuna jacket potato with salad or defrost some SW cottage pie that I made last week!

DETERMINED to make this week just as good as the last one. Going to a 25th wedding anniversary party on a boat on Friday and there will be some people there who haven't seen me in a while. So, I want to feel confident! Going dress shopping tomorrow! Ahhhh!

x

Breakfast & Lunch!

Today's been a pretty good day so far! This morning I had my jar of overnight oats which were yummy as usual.
I do think I put too much fat free Vanilla Onken yoghurt in there but after a good stir I finally got to a good oaty bit in the middle! I topped it up with raspberries before I went to bed but I don't think I'll be using as many blueberries next time as it was a little bitter. Strawberries always taste great though!

I always try and have breakfast with a nice pot of tea! It keeps me going until lunchtime.

For lunch I had a tomato & herb pasta Mugshot with lots of salad, cucumber and tomatoes drizzled with some Hellmann's Fat Free Vinaigrette Dressing.
I mix in a tablespoon of Sainsbury's tomato & basil puree with the Mugshot to bulk it out a little and give it a thicker texture because they can turn out a bit watery.
I also try to never have a Mugshot on it's own because it's processed and I try and fill my plate with at least one 3rd salad or veg!

For dinner, I'm going over to my boyfriend's house and I'm taking skinless chicken breasts, new potatoes and asparagus to cook for us both. I need to plan when I go there because he's such a bad influence sometimes and I don't want to end up with a takeaway and chocolate!

G
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Overnight Oats! (Magic Porridge)

I am absolutely in love with this 'Overnight Oats' thing at the moment!

You will need:

* 1 x pot any flavour mullerlight yoghurt. (My favourite ones to use are vanilla and strawberry)
(Or any fat free yoghurt - I used vanilla Onken in this one!)

* 1 handful of plain porridge oats.
(Try and use it as your Healthy Extra B choice daily allowance!)

* Slices of any fresh or frozen fruit.
I used fresh strawberries and blueberries today but I like to use frozen strawberries and raspberries because they defrost overnight and the oats soak up the juice!

I like to make mine in a Kilner jar because a) I like being able to see the layers! and b) It's so easy to just pick up and take it away with me if I'm going on a long journey, on a picnic or staying at a friend's house etc! Portable Porrige!
However a bowl with some clingfilm over it is just fine.

I take my handful of oats, layer the yoghurt on top and then I try to fill the rest of the jar up with as much fruit as possible. I used frozen summer fruits once but it's quite bitter so do choose some fruit you really like! Some work better than others I think.

Leave it in the fridge overnight and have it in the morning as a filling breakfast or snack on it throughout the day. I think you can probably stir it and pop it in the microwave too!

I love it. Absolute life-saver!

It's important to remember how far you've come already!

One thing I love about Slimming World is the certificates, stickers and the award system!
It really does make you feel great when you earn one, I feel so accomplished
I try not to panic about getting to my goal weight too much, but I work towards the next award I can get!
It's all little goals in between that keep you going I think.
Here are the awards I've earned so far!

I rejoined a couple of months ago so I had to start counting again (but I'm not!)
So I keep track with my official weight loss with my Slimming World online account.
My new certificates aren't really a true reading but they're still nice to get!

It's taken me a while to get back in to the swing of things recently but I have earned my 1/2 stone award so far since rejoining my group. I'm hoping to get my 1 stone certificate from them in the next couple of weeks!
I had a major setback the last 2 weeks and gained 6lbs (OH NO!)
Needless to say it gave me the kick up the backside that I really needed.
Feeling very focused this week and I'm being super strict - so hopefully I can lose what I've gained!

I honestly do think it's so important to remember how far you've come. Even if you've just started - think about how much closer you are to reaching your goal weight now you have made the conscious decision to start slimming! It's the best decision I've ever made.
Sometimes I do get disheartened if I have a tough couple of weeks or if my losses are slow and small but every little helps. The best thing is to draw a line under it and start a new week, fresh and focused!

Anyway, I decided to write this blog as I thought it might be nice to have somewhere I can post photos, recipe ideas and my food diary as well as talk about other things like how my weigh-in days go!
I hope anyone who comes across this page can find some sort of inspiration, guidance - or just a good read!

G
x