Week 3 Day 2

I was gobsmacked at my weigh in this week. Absolutely gobsmacked. I've lost five pounds! I really wasn't expecting that. That takes my weight down to 138lbs, which is the lightest I have ever been. I've also lost two inches in total from my waist- a new uniform will definitely be on the cards soon! I have tried for years to get my weight down to 140 but I've never made it past 144. Safe to say I'm pretty chuffed, although I feel like my body is playing a practical joke on me and my weight will be back up next week, hmm..


I'm not sure why, but this time around, losing weight doesn't feel as hard. I feel like I have my head screwed on properly and I'm in the right frame of mind. I'm not trying to starve myself, I'm not trying to shift the weight as quickly as possible- I don't even feel like I'm trying to lose weight! I haven't been counting calories, I've just been aware of them, if that makes sense? I have 3 meals a day, and aim for them to be up to 400 calories, but some are lower and some are higher. I still have a delicious treat in the evening, and I still allow snacks. I haven't had chocolate since the beginning of Lent, and I haven't had fast food, junk food or bad food since the beginning of the challenge. I've stopped snacking in secret and I've found I don't think about food as much now, whereas during past diets, food was all I could think about.

My job is very physically demanding, so each morning I have three crumpets with jam and a glass of squash. For lunch I have soup, sometimes with some toast, or I make some of my Special Fried Rice. For dinner I usually prepare something from the Greedy Girl's Diet Book. Dessert consists of yogurt, frozen yogurt, popcorn or an eclair. All of my meals are super filling, so much so that sometimes I can't even finish them. Everything is lovely and tasty and nothing feels 'light'. And of course, on Saturdays, there's pancakes.

 

I tried the mac and cheese again tonight, but I tinkered with the recipe and it tasted so much better! No, mustard, yay!

This week I've also had chilli, sticky honey Chinese pork and noodles, and spaghetti bolognese. All filling, and all under 400cal!

Chilli Con Carne

Sticky Honey Chinese Pork with Noodles

Spaghetti Bolognese

Tomorrow I'm whipping up a korma :)



I also started exercising again this week. I know I probably should have started that at the beginning of the challenge, but I wanted to make sure I got myself eating properly first. I thought if I tried to do too much at once, I'd just get stressed and fall off the wagon. So this week I've started strength training, and next week I'll perhaps get some cardio in there and maybe yoga too.

Now to go and update my goals!

My Special Fried 'Rice'

I thought I'd post about how to make my special fried rice because I had it again yesterday and it's just so yummy and filling and good for you. And I thought, maybe, just maybe, someone might read this one day and think 'well that sounds delicious, how do I make it!?'. If you are that person, then this is for you.

It's a really, really versatile recipe, you can use whatever veg or meat that you want to, omit the egg, use a different sauce.. whatever floats your boat! One of the things about this recipe that makes it so much better for you is that I use bulgar wheat instead of rice. After discovering bulgar wheat, I don't think I'll ever be buying rice again.

This is the recipe for the version I made yesterday.

Ingredients (serves one):

• 30g Bulgar Wheat
• 80g Frozen Peas
• 80g Onion
• 1 Egg
• 15ml Light Soy Sauce
• 1 Sausage
• 20g Fried Rice Sauce

This makes a pretty big portion and I found myself spooning some into John's mouth (which he was more than happy to oblige to) towards the end because I was so full from it!

Cook the bulgar wheat in a pan according to the packet instructions. This usually takes around about 20 minutes.

Cook your meat as the bulgar wheat cooks. I would normally use bacon or turkey bacon but I had to opt for a sausage yesterday because that's all we had in. If using bacon, cut it up small before cooking- if using sausage, cut it up once it's been cooked. When the meat is cooked set it aside.

Add the egg to a cup and whisk it a little. Heat up a frying pan and add some low cal cooking spray. Pour the egg into the pan when it's nice and hot and keep stirring it. When the egg is scrambled, remove from the pan and set aside.

Spray your pan again and add the onion (you can also add some chopped garlic at this point!). I like to add a little boiling water to really help soften the onions and stop it from browning.

When the onions are soft, leave them on a low heat. Microwaves your frozen peas according to the packet instructions (or cook on the hob if you prefer).

When your bulgar wheat is cooked, drain it if needed and rinse with some boiled water. Put it back in the pan, add half of the light soy sauce and leave it off the heat.

Drain the peas and add them to the frying pan along with the egg and meat. Add the rest of the light soy sauce and mix it all around. Add the fried rice sauce if you have it. Don't worry if you can't get any, it still tastes good without it! Give it a good mix and leave on a medium heat for a minute or so.

Finally, add the bulgar wheat to the frying pan. Give it all a good thorough mix. Cook for a further two minutes and voila. All done!

Add to a bowl and enjoy!

Some nutritional informal about this meal:

Calories 344 - Protein 25.16g - Carbs 31.43g - Fat 10.9g

A quick search online tells me that if I was to get something like this from a takeaway, it would set me back around about 700 calories for a small portion. That's not including all of the greasy, unfilling sides I'd get with it too.

There's nothing unhealthy about my fried rice, it's delicious, nutritious, has two of your five a day and it's just bursting with goodness! If anyone every gives this a try, please let me know how it turns out!

Happy cooking :)

Week 2 Day 1

So, I made the mac and cheese on Tuesday.. John thought it was delicious but all I could taste was mustard (which I really, really don't like, ack!). Needless to say he finished mine off for me. Guess it's my fault for not omitting the mustard powder, but it didn't smell of anything and I didn't think I'd be able to taste it! That being said, I'll definitely be making it again, just with a lot less mustard powder..

The texture and cheesiness of it was really nice and it was really easy to make. I might try the cheese sauce with cauliflower in the future, that would probably be really tasty! We had the chilli again last night, still as amazing as it was the first time. Yummm.

I also weighed myself yesterday and I've lost a pound. I know it's not a great amount but it's a step in the right direction. I've also lost an inch from my waist and half an inch from my under bust and hips which I wasn't expecting! So I'm really pleased with that. Wahoo!


Moving on! A little over a month ago I got a new position in my workplace. My job now consists of putting sweets and treats (and cosmetics) out across all the floors in my store. It's a very busy retail store and sweets are rather heavy when you're lugging around an entire cage full of them so I'm hoping it's burning a fair few cals.. I thought seeing all these sweets every day would make me want to stuff my face with them but surprisingly, it hasn't. That being said, I don't very often have cravings for sweets. My weakness, you see, is chocolate. So you can imagine my horror when this morning I was faced with 720 bags of my very favouritest chocolate.

MaltEaster Bunnies, you delicious little devils. I reminded myself I'd given up chocolate for lent so I couldn't have any anyway.. then I told myself 'as soon as lent's over though, you can have one!'. But then I knew once I had one, I'd want another. And another. And some other chocolate. And before I'd even know it, I'd have eaten all of my Easter eggs, John's Easter eggs and I'd be on the way to the shop for some more bloody bunnies. In that horrifying vision I realised something I wasn't even taking notice of; I actually didn't want any bunnies at all. I think that maybe because I haven't eaten chocolate for a few weeks that I'm just not craving it. I know they're delicious and scrummy and mouth wateringly tasty, but as long as I don't think about how delicious or how scrummy or just how god damn mouth watering they are, I don't think I'll want any. I hope that's the case anyway..

Lunch today was a lazy one! Weight Watchers steam in the microwave chicken chop suey. I'm so glad I have these for when I come home from work and I'm just feeling too tired to cook.

Speaking of tired.. I am very and should probably head to bed. Two more sleeps 'til blueberry pancakes!

Week 1 Day 6

I am currently six days into my 12 week transformation challenge and although I don't think there are any noticeable changes on the outside, there has definitely been some on the inside. My boyfriend John is currently out for the evening at an MMA class; this would usually mean raiding the fridge and cupboard repeatedly for something devilishly delicious and telling myself 'this one thing is only xx calories! One is okay!', followed by me not being able to stop at just one. A packet of Oreos later and whoops.. major sugar cravings.
Tonight though, I haven't ventured into the kitchen or even thought about snacking. I'm surprisingly not hungry at the moment. Result!

So, a little recap of the last few days. Upon starting BTFC, John bought me a little something that has turned out to be an amazing help:

I like experimenting with food and making healthier versions of my favourite meals which is exactly what this book does. I've cooked a meal from this book every night for dinner and they have all been amazingly yummy and nutritious (my boyfriend and sister thought so too!). So far we've had the spaghetti bolognese, chilli con carne, fish and chips, sticky honey Chinese pork with noodles and chicken korma. All big hits! Tonight we're having mac and cheese and I have very high, mouth watering hopes for it.

And there's not just dinners! I usually have crumpets for breakfast before rushing out to work, but on Saturday I made these beauties;

super scrummy blueberry pancakes. I cannot wait until next Saturday to have some more, gahhhhhhh. Yum yum yum.

 I also found myself relating to Nadia a lot when she talked about sneaking food, snacking whilst cooking, thinking calories don't count if you've consumed them in secret.. It made me realise that these were bad habits that I really needed to kick. I've focused a lot on doing that for the past week and I think I've done it! Now, to keep it long term..

For lunches I've been making my own healthy version of fried rice, but replacing the rice with bulgar wheat and adding lots of veg. It really doesn't taste like it's good for you but it is! So filling too!

It's a favourite in our house! :)

I'm still having desserts too. I'm in love with Weight Watchers Chocolate Eclairs, yummmm. 83 calories and ridiculously tasty. Bliss! Popcorn is another favourite. Nice and hot from the microwave and 400 calories for a whole big bowl (which I share with John of course).

And that's pretty much the last six days.. time to go make some mac and cheese :)