Sunday Weigh In 8

It's now been 8 weeks since starting my new healthy lifestyle.  I decided that each Sunday I will post up my progress, whether successful or not in the hope that it encourages me to stay positive and keep going.  Knowing that I will be sharing it all here will hopefully keep my willpower up!  In order for me to keep track and look back for ideas, I will be listing my food diary here as well (and who knows, it might inspire others to have a go too!)  It also gives me somewhere to put all the photos of the yummy food I love to take as it always looks so good!

This week was a bit of a strange one - I was hoping to try and lose 2 lbs as I'm nearly at 1 stone lost but it's not quite gone to plan with as much exercise as I would have liked.  I've had a rather busy but lovely week as I had a few pampering treatments and some things to sort out in preparation for Nik's birthday this week and his brother's wedding next week.  Nik and I had a weekend away in Edinburgh to celebrate his birthday with just the two of us and had an amazing time (more info to follow this week, I can't wait to write all about it!) and lots of eating out which means enjoying the treats but trying not to go overboard and remain as healthy as possible while still enjoy the eating out experience without feeling I'm missing out.

Monday: 

Breakfast - 2 boiled eggs, semi-skimmed milk
Mid-morning snack - tiny portion of left over chicken stir fry

Lunch - salad (slice of turkey breast, pieces of yoghurt marinated chicken, broccoli salad, spicy slaw, beetroot salad, sweetcorn, peppers), semi-skimmed milk
Afternoon Snack - cheese & onion squares, strawberry fruit corner

Dinner - mushroom risotto, soda water with elderflower cordial, raspberries

Exercise - 30 mins walking, 30 mins swimming (46 lengths)

Tuesday:

Breakfast - (snap pot of reduced sugar & salt) baked beans on 2 slices of wholemeal toast, raspberries, orange juice
Mid-morning snack - none

Lunch - 1/2 sandwich (chicken pieces, 2 slices wholemeal bread, red pepper, lettuce, lemon & coriander reduced fat hummous, low fat natural yoghurt), orange juice
Afternoon snack - other 1/2 of sandwich, 2 x yoghurts, orange juice, soda water, 'french fries' crisps, 1 quality street - purple one

Dinner - tomato pasta, tiny amount of cheddar, basil, skimmed milk

Exercise - 1 hour walking

Wednesday: 

Breakfast - left over risotto, orange juice
Mid-morning snack - quavers

Lunch - tuna sandwich on home-made wholemeal bread (made with yoghurt & light mayo, red peppers, tomato, no butter), 1 slice bread with butter, chicken & leek cup a soup, orange juice

Dinner - mushroom omelette with chilli sauce & black pepper, small piece of chicken (1/4 breast), apple, cherry yoghurt, skimmed milk

Exercise - 1 hour walking, 20 mins swimming (32 lengths), 1 hour pilates class

Thursday:

Brunch - Bacon Butty (1 slice wholemeal bread, 2 bacon medallions), skimmed milk

Dinner - Yo! Sushi (tuna sashimi, prawn nigiri, fish maki, cucumber maki, taste of chicken katsu, salmon & avocado handroll, 1/2 chicken firecracker rice), fizzy water

Snacks - glass of champagne (Nik's birthday)

Exercise - lots of walking round town

Friday:

Breakfast - cinnamon porridge (2 sachets of 'oat so simple'), soda water

Lunch - left over mushroom risotto, vanilla yoghurt, soda water
Afternoon Snacks - passion fruit, tuna & red pepper on slice of wholemeal toast, orange juice, quavers

Dinner - Tom Kitchin!! (more details to follow in a full post about our amazing meal for Nik's birthday!) Tasting Menu & Wines, raspberry based cocktail (no idea what it was called, was rather tipsy by this point but it was yummy and came in a martini glass)

Exercise - 30 mins swimming (completely lost count of lengths), 30 mins walking

Saturday: 

Breakfast - full Scottish breakfast minus the black pudding and with veggie sausage instead of pork, fat removed from bacon (still had my treat breakfast at the hotel but a few minor tweaks to make it a bit healthier!), 1 slice brown toast, tea, orange juice, fizzy water, fruit salad

Lunch - smoked haddock fish cake, peach & almond home-made lemonade, cheese & oatcakes (shared), glass of port (shared)

Dinner - ceviche with salad, salsa & tortilla chips, slow roast pork & salsa verde enchilada, mexican rice, refried beans, water, sangria, mango daiquiri

Snacks - none

Exercise - LOTS of walking round Edinburgh

Sunday:

Breakfast - boiled egg, bacon (fat removed), 1 & 1/2 slices brown toast, ketchup, 1 banana, 1/2 pain au chocolat, orange juice, fizzy water, 1/2 cup tea

Lunch - 1/2 slice toasted brioche, 1/2 portion chicken liver parfait, raisin chutney, fish pie, purple sprouting broccoli, (4 mussels & 4-ish chips stolen off Nik since they brought me the wrong (chicken) pie so I had to wait ages for mine!), lime & soda water, water

Dinner - salad (lettuce, peppers, cucumber, avocado, chicken, tomatoes, spring onion, 'pizza express' light dressing, 1 cup home-made vegetable soup (recipe to follow soon), orange juice, 1/4 galia melon

Snacks - pear, jelly belly lolly (cherry), water

Exercise - 45 min body pump class, 30 mins swimming (lost count again, too much to think about at the moment!)

Forgot to take a picture before we ate the pate!

And the results this week:

Weight last week - 12 st 8 lbs

Weight this week - 12 st 7 1/2 lbs

Loss/Gain this week - -1/2 lb

Total Loss - 10 1/2 lbs

Not bad considering all the eating out we did this weekend!  At least I didn't put on weight again!  Next week's post will be delayed again as it's the wedding weekend but I will probably weigh myself on Thursday before I leave instead and might post an update then!

What I wore - spring brights

Since we've had a bit of a depressing grey week, I decided on Thursday (my day off) that I would add some colour to my day and dress up a bit to head into town rather than my usual chucking on of the old jeans!  I've decided I will try and do this every Thursday (avoid the boring old jeans & vest/jumper combo) and actually wear some of my favourite clothes which I love to buy and yet don't wear often enough due to having a uniform for work.

So, today I was going into town for a bit of pampering as I have 3 of my block booked facials at Clarins left (now 2).  I also needed to source some make-up for the upcoming wedding which I can't believe is already NEXT weekend!!  I had been looking into getting my make-up done at a MAC counter but sadly have left it too late to organise and despite their best efforts, they can't fit me in.  I did a bit of research to try to find someone to do my make-up, but what with it being in London it was just too pricey.  (Although after seeing what I've ended up spending today it pales in comparison!!  But I just keep reminding myself that this beautiful make-up is now mine to keep and with practice I can hopefully achieve (almost) as good results!)  I will post about the items I bought and the tips I received soon but here is what I wore today...

I finished my look with a turquoise eye-liner and gold eye-shadow and turquoise metallic nail polish...

Revlon Nail Polish

And as for details of the items...

Skirt from Mango

Vest from Dorothy Perkins

Earrings from Lori's Shoes

Necklace from Stella & Dot

Cuff from Lori's Shoes

Shoes from Jones Bootmaker

Watch from Guess (similar)

Bag from Oasis

Linen Jacket from H&M (ancient)
Turquoise Scarf from M&S (old)


I absolutely love the combination of coral and turquoise.  I was really pleased with the whole outfit and received LOADS of compliments, especially on my accessories, from the girls at the make-up counters and in Clarins.  The girl at Illamasqua (who had amazing turquoise hair!) said she loved all my colours and even described me as a bird of paradise!?

It was Nik's birthday today but he was working so we had a mini celebration Yo! Sushi dinner (his choice) as we are away to Edinburgh tomorrow night for the proper wining and dining celebrations!  :)

Recipe: Mushroom Risotto

This evening I made one of the meals from my M&S Easy Healthy book.  It is supposedly Quick Mushroom Risotto but since it took me an hour to make I would say I have definitely made quicker risottos!!  It was nice though but has a very strong flavour so only try this if you really like mushrooms!  The recipe only served 1 (apparently) so I doubled the quantities but still had loads left over!  I have written the values I used below and my slight adjustment to the oil:butter ratio in favour of more oil.

Quick Mushroom Risotto
(Calories - 435, Fat - 11.4g, Sat Fat - 4.5g, Salt - 0.7g)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
300g mixed fresh mushrooms (I used chestnut, button and shiitake), sliced
120g arborio rice
400ml vegetable stock (plus about an extra 300ml boiling water)
100ml dry white wine
1 courgette, chopped
2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
2 tsp freshly grated Parmesan
black pepper

Method:

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl , cover with water (they will float, don't add too much water as it gets added later) and allow to soak for 30 mins.

About 5 mins before the soaking time is up (i.e. the time it takes you to chop and organise everything anyway) heat the oil and butter in a large non-stick frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 mins until soft. Add the fresh mushrooms and black pepper, stir well and cook for 1-2 mins.

Add the rice, soaked mushrooms with their water, (stock) and wine and stir.  (The book says to cover and simmer for 20 mins at this point but that't not how I was taught to make risotto.)  Add the stock a ladle at a time and simmer, stirring constantly as it soaks in.  If you run out and the risotto is getting dry, add ladle-fulls of the boiling water or more stock if you prefer.

After 20 mins add the courgette and continue to simmer for another 10 mins (I did cover it at this point but keep stirring every so often and checking if it needs more liquid).

When the rice is tender and creamy, stir in the parsley and Parmesan cheese.  Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Arbroath & Aberdeen - What I wore

Last weekend was a bit of a cold one on the East coast of Scotland.  I was luckily slightly prepared with one pair of tights packed which I wore with my boots on Saturday...

Mac - Ted Baker, Dress - New Look, Blazer - Miss Selfridge, Belt - Wallis (old), Boots - Firetrap (old), Necklace - Gift (old), Tights - M&S

For the Christening in Aberdeen I was rather less prepared with only my espadrilles (or even more summery shoes) to go with my dress and no more tights (which I don't think would have looked right anyway) but luckily we weren't outside for long!

Mac - Ted Baker, Blazer - Miss Selfridge, Scarf - Bedouin market in Egypt (old), Dress - Monsoon (sale), Espadrilles - Schuh, Bag - Mulberry