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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