Exercise and Vegetables

I’ve been eating less meat, more cous cous and portion control.  Plus doing exercise four times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at the moment).  I’m keeping this up at the moment.  I’ve not been too fussed at the less meat thing.  Okay I’m still putting chicken or ham in my sandwiches but at night it’s usually vegetable based.  Generally my weight seems to be about 100 kg.  I haven’t been calorie counting as such.

I’ve been conscious of my weight for a while now.  I got Facebook tagged in photos from about 10 years ago – eek! I was at least a size 16.  I know I lost a fair amount of weight as I was a size 12/14.  But at Uni I went to the gym and was single for a while.  I went out and got drunk and danced the night a way – that’s how I think I kept the weight off.  I also did the silly things like crash dieting, really limited my calories and variety.  Not my smarts move.

I’ve done Weight Watchers with some success, just never kept it off.

Week 8

I have one week left of the school holidays now, this time next week I’ll be getting ready for school again.

I think everyone know’s what my ‘Usual Breakfast’ – Shreddies, milk and tea.

Monday – Usual Breakfast, a glass of diluting juice.  Lunch was the elk with tomato sauce and polenta.  Then ryvita cracker bread with BANANA curd!  Dinner was the last of the Elk and polenta with a veggie burger. More cracker breads with curd and mikado. Just over 1600 Calories.

Tuesday – Guess what usual breakfast. Diluting Juice again. Lunch was Quorn Bites with mushrooms and relish,  Followed by Fruits and a fruit biscuit.  Dinner was fish and chips and a glass of wine a ice pole.  I did do a tonne of house work – had 1800 calories but had less than 1600 calories!

Wednesday – I had to have a herbal tea with honey as I had a sore throat this morning.  Later on I had my normal breakfast. I was out for lunch so I had a sanpellergrino juice with a egg may sandwich and butternut squash.  Dinner when I got home for work was our home made sweet and sour with rice (Hairy Bikers again) with a glass of wine. Less than 100 calories over – that’ll be the glass of wine!

Thursday – you guessed it usually breakfast.  Turkey burger in a roll (with tomato sauce) followed by a roll with curd. Plus a ginger beer.  Dinner was fish fingers, oven chips and baked beans.  Plus a glass of wine and a raspberry ripple moose.  Exactly 100 over – wine!

Friday – breakfast was the usual.  I had cranberry juice instead of diluting juice.  Plus lunch was a toasted roll with baked beans and a little cheese.  Our Graze boxes arrived so half a flapjack each (apple and cinnamon), and half a Herby bread basket and some very dark chocolate.  We had dinner out with the other halves sister, her bloke and their daughter (now 18).  So Steak and a baked potato for me with peas and everyone else tomatoes (a full grilled one and two very large slices) plus a big grilled mushroom!  I had a cider, a pear J20 then dessert was a chocolate tart with ice cream.  I redeemed myself by taking their dog out for two walks (a quick 15 minutes then a 45 minute run round the park).

Saturday – Bagel for Breakfast with banana curd and a cup of tea.  Graze boxes (halved again) Chilli Crackers and Healthy heart nuts.  Lunch was a fish cake and garlic bread and some baked beans. The last of my ginger beer.  Dinner was sausages in bread rolls (low fat sausages) and a cider. 2000 calories (fine if it was a normal 2000 calorie day)

Sunday – Bagel again today with a banana.  Herbal tea with half a graze brownie and salsa fresca (only 50 calories), later on we raided our snack a jacks (caramel) and then yoghurt covered rice crackers.  About five we had a banana sandwich and a corner yoghurt.  Later dinner of pasta and tomato sauce with hard cheese grated over the top with cider and another graze pouch (copacabana).  Over 2000 Calories.

Okay not the best week in keeping to calories, but I did cleaning and walked the dog so I have done some exercise.  But I do need to do more.  Our graze boxes – will only be once a month and I have picked the low calorie options.  I have to admit I did stand on the scales and was 100 kilos.  So fingers crossed I can keep it up.  No Photo’s this week as I’ve not had many interesting things to photo….maybe next week.

Friday to Sunday of Week 6

Friday was a fairly normal day with Shreddies and Tea with Soya Milk, out tutoring so had tea and digestives for my snack to keep me going.  I grabbed a pack of Velvet Crunch and a small bottle of Iru Bru.  Dinner was home made Ham and Pineapple pizza and we actually didn’t have a full pizza each, with a glass of low alcohol wine.

Saturday was a bit of an indulgence as breakfast was croissant with strawberry jam, a bowl of strawberries and a cup of tea with soya milk.  I also grabbed licorice log, plus fruit juice. Because of the heat I had another Iru Bru.  Lunch was the last of the pizza and salad, plus a muller (style) corner. Dinner was fish finger sandwiches and chips, plus another glass of low alcohol wine.

Sunday was cinnamon and raisin bagels with flora spread, with my tea and soya milk.  I made up my own egg mayo (low fat mayo) and had egg mayo and salad sandwich.  Followed by dinner which was a low calorie home-made Sweet and Sour (A la Hairy Bikers) with quick egg fried rice.  followed corner Yoghurt, Tea and a glass of wine (low alcohol).  There was plenty of Sweet and Sour left so there are portions in the freezer.

Right I still weigh 101 kg. I have had a few days under calories and other days over….Need to do more exercise…argh!

On the plus side I can quite happily swap Soya milk for normal milk.  My other half hasn’t quite got the hang of it – having curdled his coffee on more than one occasion!  It looked like Miso Soup….. Only issue I can see is having two cartons open as I bought both sweetened and unsweetened.  Sweetened for cereal and unsweetened for teas etc.  If I made the change on a more permanent basis I probably would just end up buying the sweetened all the time.

Week 6 so Far (Until Thursday) & Sunday of Week 5

It’s been a long few days to get to Thursday.

Sunday was a fairly normal day – snack breakfast yoghurt, dried fruit, cereal bars. Lunch was veggie falafel’s with spicy tomato sauce (homemade) with noodles followed by a yoghurt and a cider. Dinner later was wholemeal toast with flora spread and strawberry jam with a Hot Chocolate.

Monday was a work day – Shreddies and Tea (skimmed milk).  I took the dog a very long walk (about 5 miles). Lunch was cheese on toast with sweetcorn relish, Crisps and a yoghurt plus a cereal bar.  Fish and Chips with tomato sauce for dinner.

Tuesday – Shreddies and tea with skimmed milk again. We had lunch out – Baked Potato with Chilli Con Carne and salad, plus a bit of carrot cake and cheesecake (me and my other halved shared our desserts).  I made quorn spaghetti for dinner that evening and had a cider and half a pack of mikado.

Wednesday was a busy day but I swapped my skimmed milk for Soya to see if that helped with the weight loss.  Still had shreddies and tea.  Took a bit of time to get used to the soya milk but going by the other.  Lunch was the last of the pasta with a Caldron Kiev.  Plus a yoghurt.  Dinner at the pub – steak with a baked potato but this time a load-up (i.e. Corn on the Cob, Onion Rings and Garlic Mushrooms. Plus a J2O.

Thursday (Yesterday) was a standard breakfast (shreddies and tea) with soya milk.  lunch was Miso soup plus Velvet Crunches, dried fruit, cereal bar and a yoghurt.  We grabbed a drink (a snapple) when we where at the garden centre.  Dinner was quorn burgers in rolls with sweetcorn relish and a glass of low alcohol wine.

I have lost weight this week, and noom has cut my calories, plus I’ve done a lot of walking.  Next week I hope to have some time to do my Wii Fit Stuff too.  I still have cleaning and tidying to do too.

Bread Recipe

My bread recipe

Please see this Link for Bread Photos (Hosted on DropBox).

Ingredients

Yeast Mixture

• 1 dessert spoon of Allinson’s Dried Active Yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dessert spoon of Fruit Sugar (low GI for the health conscious)
• 250ml water. (50ml hot, 200ml cold)

Bread Dough

• 450g – 500g bread flour (individual choice which one to go for)
• 1-2 dessert spoons of olive oil
• Extra flour for moulding and to give it that artisan feeling

 

Method

Yeast mixture

Into a bowl put the yeast and salt.  Into a measuring jug put the sugar and a teaspoon of salt.  Take 50ml of hot water straight from the kettle and add 100ml water from the fridge; we use a water filter, and stir this until the sugar has dissolved.  Then pour this into the bowl with the yeast.  Whisk this until the yeast has almost dissolved and then add another 100 ml of cold water straight from the fridge (water filter).  Whisk this again for a further minute of two and then leave covered for 15 minutes to allow the yeast mixture to ferment.After 15 minutes, a further whisking and then it’s time for the bread flour.

Bread Dough

Measure out your bread flour to either 450g or 500g.  For this recipe, I chose roughly 60% white seeded Allinsons bread flour and roughly 40% strong white bread flour.  This was poured into the yeast mixture once the final whisking has been done.  Then the olive oil was added to this. The oil is used to bind the bread together and to stop it becoming crumbly.  And with a mixer and dough hooks attached, I mixed the dough until it resembled play dough with the same texture.  Then it’s time to get the hands dirty.  I discarded the mixer and started kneading the dough for approximately 5 minutes, adding some more white bread flour to avoid the bread dough sticking to my fingers.  Once the kneading has been done, leave the dough covered for approximately 30 minutes.  This stage is called proving.  But the longer you prove the bread dough, the tastier the loaf at the end will be.  The dough should double its size in the proving.  The dough should feel more like builders putty as the gluten strands would then be ready for the next stage.Moulding the Bread

Once your 30 minutes has elapsed, or however long you decide to prove your dough for, it is time to mould the bread into the final shape.  This stage is called knocking back as you knock back the air from the loaf.  I use silicone moulds for the bread.  Pour a teaspoon of flour into the mould and make sure to cover the entire inside of the mould.  Then, using a spatula or bread scraper (which I was given as a present) empty the bowl of dough onto a floured surface and start the kneading process which should tighten the gluten in the dough and make the loaf more pliable.  Once you’ve kneaded this for a further five minutes, it is now time to shape it into the shape of the mould.  I usually give it a sausage shape and fold the ends underneath.  Once this has been done, pick it up using both ends so that the folds shouldn’t unfold.  Lower it gently into the Loaf mould and cover it using a clean tea towel.  I use the top of a bread barrel that we use for the completed bread.  Leave this for a further 30 minutes to prove again.  But as I said earlier, the longer you leave it to prove, the tastier the completed bread loaf.Baking the Bread

Once the final proving has taken place, it is now time to bake your bread.  Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees centigrade.  Then once this is done, put your loaf in the top of the oven.  After ten minutes, lower the heat to 190 degrees and leave it for 30 minutes.  You can lengthen the proving times, but the baking cannot be changed, or you will burn your loaf.  After the baking, enjoy the spoils of your efforts.

 

Including bread ends we got about 12-14 slices per loaf.  I used calorie count to analyses the recipe and got the following results (500g of bread flour used)

Week 5 – Monday and Tuesday

Monday was a good day in the fact I was busy again.  I grabbed my breakfast (Weetabix and Tea with Skimmed milk).  Lunch was ‘Italian’ baked beans (threw some herbs and tomato Puree/Garlic Puree etc) on home made bread, with a little grated cheese and a cereal bar, again with a cup of tea.  I was working in the evening and was offer a drink – an managed a sparkling water with ice – it’s far too hot for me right now.  Dinner was another bowl of my veggie soup and slices of the home made loaf, with a glass of cider and licorice and haribo’s plus a herbal tea before bed.  Under calories!

Tuesday was a bit of a blow out – partially due to the heat.  I had a tea in the morning and grabbed a cereal bar and some fruit flakes (the yoghurt ones).  Later on I had more fruit flakes, raisins and dried apricots and a cup of tea with my biscuit cereal bars.  Lunch was another bowl of soup and bread.  Dinner however was the trouble – Veggie Pakora, Onion Bhajis and Veggie Samosa (all oven cooked) with Mango Chutney and Onion Relish!  Plus I found my bottle of Jack Daniels – one shot each left so had to grab some cola for a JD & Coke (full sugar stuff as I have a bad reaction to a couple of the sweeteners).

Other News – I have the bread recipe and photo’s but I’ll put them up in the next post as I’ll check the calories out first.

Saturday and Sunday of Week 4

 

 

 

 

 

So Saturday Morning I dutifully stood on the scales to discover – I weighed exactly the same.  Maybe I need to keep cleaning the house at the pace I was doing at the beginning of the week again (either that or fire up the Wii again).  Actually I haven’t been sleeping to well in the hot weather so that may also be something I can resolve using the Wii.  Noom has also been updated so it makes it easier for me to log exercise (apparently I can log driving as an exercise!) and check my previous days too.  I went slightly over on Saturday as we went to bingo in the evening where I won a cupcake/muffin maker! (will need to build up healthy recipes)

I got up really early so had a herbal tea and an apple cereal bar, and grabbed cereal and tea when my other half surfaced a few hours later.  It was a picking at things day – Special K Crackers, half a pack of mikado and more fig rolls! I stuck to J2O when we where at the bingo and swapped my usual burger for a chicken jalfrezi – so much more filling – and ended up with the garden peas off his plate (I forgot to swap them for baked beans when I ordered – oops).  Later on I had cheesecake, but found it a bit sickly!  And I grabbed a hot chocolate before the end of the night.

 

On Saturday I’d raided the freezer for frozen veg as our fresh carrots needed used up.  So out of the freezer cam home-made veg stock, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and red onions.  I thawed out the onions and then fried them off in some cooking spray (with a few choice spices), then added the thawed frozen veg and stock.  I then added in the cooked carrots and used the water to bulk out the veg stock.  I allowed a while to simmer and then used a hand blender to turn all the veg into a more soup consistency.  I added a few more herbs and spices plus a bit of ginger. And that was lunch and dinner for Sunday (and probably Monday too!)

 

So Breakfast was weetabix and tea (both with skimmed milk).  I met a friend for coffee and discovered Starbucks Refreshers (which apparently are only about 60 Calories) which are perfect for this hot weather.  I went home to soup with two rolls (one cheese topped and the other cheese and onion) which was fab and filling.  With my usual cup of tea in the afternoon to try and beat the need for a nap in the afternoon.  I grabbed a Ginger Beer with my second bowl of soup with rolls.  Followed with Licorice and half a pack of Mikado.  And was under my calories!

Tuesday and Wednesday of Week 4

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday was another day spent cleaning and tidying – still not finished!  We also nipped out to the shops for a good root around for bits and pieces we needed – i.e. healthy food.  I got another significant chunk of the Kitchen done and a few kitchen items I can happily pop up on Gumtree.

So Breakfast was the last of my cinnamon porridge plus dried fruit and a cup of tea.  We grabbed a late lunch at the supermarket cafe – we halved an egg and cress sandwich on wholemeal and I finally got my tuna and cheese toastie (explain to me why they put raw red onion in this now please?).  We grabbed a fresh (but price reduced) 14″ Cheese and Garlic Bread with the best intentions of saving half for today (we ate the whole thing between us) and had a yoghurt for afters.  Plus a glass or two of low alcohol rose fizz (should mean less calories too).

Today was slightly better – I dropped the car off at the garage for a service and had a brisk walk back after dropping of my little car.  I still did some more cleaning and managed some cooking too!

So breakfast was Weetabix with skimmed milk plus a cuppa (I drink a lot of tea but not nearly as much as I used to).  Grabbed a lolly which I ate on the way back from the garage (I had a cuppa there too as the mechanic is a friend of mine – plus I got covered in dog hair as his husky is casting in epic proportions).

Lunch is pictured below – Rocket and mixed salad leaves, one and a half wholemeal pitta breads, grated cheese, coleslaw, home-made Egg Mayo (low fat Mayo), and roasted red pepper hummus.

For dinner I used the last of my soya mince to do a chilli con carne with white rice and have plenty left for tomorrow.  I was naughty and had a ginger beer and dark chocolate for dessert.  But I made a small round loaf (and I have egg Mayo left over).  Looks like tomorrow with be yummy left overs!

Tuesday Week 3

So I got up to fresh bread this morning – my fiancée’s recipe (which I plan to prise off him and post).  He loves making bread and it can be my downfall sometimes (like today).  He’s been making bread for quite a while and doesn’t like the bread maker I have so I think he started off doing good loaves using this recipe from Michel Roux Jr some time ago.  Thankfully the butter and sugar have gone and he regularly does wholemeal or granary loaves.

So breakfast was toast plus the bread-end with no marg, just a few teaspoons of strawberry jam.  Plus usual cup of tea.  Peckish when I got to work so had my rice cakes and started on my trusty bottle of diluting juice.  At break I had my nutra-grain bar, a small mixed pack of sultanas and raisins.  Lunch was the last of my Quorn Thai curry with passatta and noodles with a miso soup on the side.  Was lagging a bit, and trying to do the crossword so grabbed a cup of tea followed by my apple and orange and my weight watchers yoghurt (vanilla).  Grabbed my Kiwi at the end of the day to keep me going and refilled my juice bottle.

Odd thing of today I had my phone in my pocket first two periods today (normally It’s locked in a drawer) and my pedometer reckoned I’d done 1000 steps by break time.  Do I actually realise how much wandering about I do in class?

 

And came home to this (above)  Home-made potato salad (Health Food Guide = we occasional do recipes out of it) on a bed of beetroot salad.  And a ginger cider.  My downfall tonight wasn’t dessert it was me saying there’s Hummus and Mini-Pittas needing used (oops).  On the flip side I did do my second workout in a row – yesterday I restarted my 30 day challenge on my EA fitness thing on the Wii so am chuffed I kept to scheduled and burned off over 200 Calories.  Tomorrow should be a rest day but it’s also a cake day at work so I may have to work off everything anyway!

Recipe – HFG Summer 2013 Page 54.

• 1kg of Waxy Potates (Desiree Recommended) – Srubbed
• 6 Spring Onions (Thinly Sliced)
• Half a Red Onion
• 3tbsp of Chopped Mint
• 125g of Low Fat Greek Yoghurt (5% fat recommend)
• 1tsp of whole grain mustard (we probably put a bit more in)
• Optional Garnish – fresh herbs or spinach

Boil Potatoes for 10-15 mins, Drain and allow to cool.  Once cooled cut into chunks add in red onion and mint.  In a separate bowl combine yoghurt and mustard and then add into the potatoes, mixing gently.  Season to taste with Black Pepper and add spring onions.

Should serve 8 @ 115 kCal, 4.4g protein, 1.2g Fat, 0.6g Saturates, 23.1g Carbs, 2.1g Sugar, 2.5g Fiber, 0.1g Salt, 31mg Sodium, 0.8mg Iron.

Going to finish my herbal tea then get some sleep.

Sunday (2nd part of Day 7) and Monday (day 1 week 2)

I felt much better later on on Suday so we went and did a food shop for lots of good healthy things.  Then went to the bingo for the evening – not the most thrilling thing (especially when you don’t win) but its a good stress reliever for me.  So had two J2O’s (both less than 90 Calories) plus a hot chocolate (our bingo hall has it’s own Costa’s).  Dinner was Chicken BBQ Melt with Peas and Chips (and curry sauce).  The I had my favourite dessert – Orange Sponge with mandarin segments some chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice cream.

Not the greatest calorie wise but this will probably be my treat when I go out to the bingo and only the bingo.

Today was much better – I remembered to use Noom and did my exercises on the Wii.  Overall I was just over 1800 Calories and burnt at least 200 between the Wii, doing dishes and hoovering the house today.

Breakfast was a continental roll with Crisp Salad Leafs, Tomato Chutney and Soya Spread. With a cup of tea, with skimmed milk.

At Breaktime I grabbed a cup of tea (semi-skimmed milk) and had another before lunch.  I had my orange and my fruit biscuits.  I had a pretty full day with 6 periods teaching out of 7 and our new teacher in for a bit too.

Lunch I had the same sandwich as I had at breakfast plus cassava velvets instead of crisps, an apple, a nutra-grain bar, raisins, weight watchers yoghurt.  I had a kiwi fruit at the end of the school day and had my low-calorie diluting juice to keep me going too.

Dinner tonight was speedy pizza’s that I made before sitting down to watch TV – bad habit but most people do it.  Anyway Speedy Pizza’s are pretty simple and not to bad on the calories.

Speedy Pizza’s –

Small Baguette (1 per person)

Tomato Ketchup (about 2 tbsp)

Tomato Chutney (about 1Tsp)

Mustard (Personal Taste – I use a grainy one with added chilli)

Herbs (I use mixed and extra oregano)

Plus Cheese of Choice.

Method –

Cut up baguette and toast bottoms on grill.

Mix tomato sauce, tomato Chutney, Mustard and herbs.

Turn over baguettes and smear about two teaspoons worth over each half of baguette – use extra to fill in gaps or spread to the edges – toast briefly.

Add on grated cheese of choice (about a small handful should do half a baguette) and grill for a few minutes.

Enjoy.

Pre bedtime edit.

I did include my last oreo cupcake in my calories but managed to do some additional housework before turning in for the night. The cats needed fed and watered as well as their litter trays done so up and down the stairs I went.