Loosing a bit of myself....

Well, I realise that normally that would be a bad thing, but this is actually a good thing. I have decided (once again) that I am tired of being fat, so I joined Slimming World last week Thursday. It is a lot easier than I thought. At first the 'diet' sounded really complicated, but once I tried it, I can tell you hand over heart that it is the easiest 'diet' I have ever been on. I have not gone hungry once or even felt deprived of anything. In fact on Tuesday night, I accidently found myself eating James' giant chocolate buttons, and I still managed to loose weight this week. I lost 1.14kg's (2.5 lbs) in my first week. I first had mixed feelings about having such a small loss in my first week because when I tried Weight Watchers I lost almost triple that in my first week, but this plan is a lot easier to stick too and there is nothing wrong with a slow loss. The slower you loose it the longer it will stay off. They tell you at Slimming World that nothing banned, and really nothing is banned. I am following the extra easy plan which means that I get Super Free Foods (all raw fruit and most veg), free foods (the rest of the veg, pasta, rice, cous cous, etc, fat free yoghurt, fat free cottage cheese, most meats with the fat cut off), my household basics (i.e. worcestershire sauce). Those foods are all free and I can eat as much of them as I like. I can't cook them in oil, unless I count the oil as syns, but I can use a low calorie spray for free. Then you have an A choice and a B choice you have to have everyday. An A choice is a measured portion of milk or cheese that contains calcuim and a B choice is a measured portion of a cereal, cereal bar, wholemeal bread, etc. It contains fibre. And then you get your syns. You are allowed 5-15 syns a day, and everything else counts as a syn. So I can still have chocolate or crisps or wine or sugar, etc, etc, etc, but I do need to count them.

So as you can see this is not really a diet, but more of a healthy eating plan, its really easy and I am never hungry. I was inspired to join Slimming World because of Gemma. She is a girl that I went to school with, and someone that I consider to be a friend. Gemma lost 32.5kg's (71.5lbs) in 1 year 10 months with them. That to me is absolutely amazing and I am so proud of her. I figure that if she can do it then I can at least attempt it. I need to do something about my weight, especially seen as Gareth and I would like to evenually give James a sibling...... so watch out world I have started.

To help with the weight loss Gareth has also bought me an exercise bike. It is lovely and silent. We got it off Ebay for just £10.50. I have used to it every morning and night since Sunday and can proudly tell you that I am already doing half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evenings. Its great, I just set it up in front of the TV and I cycle my heart out.

Ok, now you all go have a weekend.

A story and Shepherds Pie

Hi! We are back from camping, in fact we have been for a while... I would have blogged (I think), but well, I was ill. We got back from camping on the bank holiday weekend and then by the time we had caught up on the washing, seen the necessary friends, restocked the house with food, etc, etc, it was Thursday and I suddenly got a pain in my upper right side. I thought the pain would pass, it did for a few hours, but by Friday evening it was back and just kept getting worse. I lost my appetite and I was very nauseous. Saturday we went to a kids birthday party and I had to leave early to go the the Out of Hours Clinic as I was not right and getting worse. The nice doctor at the clinic told me that she thinks it was my gall bladder and that she could either put me in hospital for the weekend or send me home with some pain killers if I promised to see my GP on Monday. She gave me codeine as painkillers, and boy did they mess with my head. It felt like my body was floating away from my head. On Monday I saw my GP who was convinced that I need to be admitted to hospital, she said that she would get in contact with the surgical team and give me a call back within an hour to confirm. Well, when she phoned an hour later she told me that because I don't have a fever that the doctors are happy for me to stay at home on pain killers, but I would still need an ultrasound and see my specialist. She told me that she would need to give me Morphine syrup to be on, but only if I got someone to assist with James... apparently you can't be alone with a two year old while you are on Morphine (gee, I wonder why?). So, Gareth took off work while I basically slept the pain away. Wednesday night I did start developing a fever, but it went on its own, and have had a few more since then. But, the pain has subsided and the fevers are now gone. Gareth has gone back to work and I am still waiting for my appointments for the ultrasound and specialist to come through. Oh, and what I had was called Biliary Colic.... apparently it will come back again and again, I am not looking forward to that.

I thought seen as I have not blogged for a while that I would share my Shepherds Pie recipe with you. It is actually a Weight Watchers recipe, but the most delicious Shepherds Pie that I have ever had. I think that it has actually become Gareth's favourite food. Although I must also tell you that I do alter this recipe quite often as I change the veg a bit. Sometimes I like to add courgettes, or add sweet potato into the mash, etc. Tonight I am adding leeks and taking out the celery, I also adding mushrooms and in the mash I am adding a swede. Basically I look at what veg I have in the house and work around that.

Ok, the recipe -
Serves 4
20 minutes to Prepare, 1hr 20-35 minutes to cook

Ingredients -
Low fat cooking spray
1 onion, finely chopped
180g Carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
300ml hot lamb stock
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
650g floury potatoes, peeled and chopped

Method
1. Mist a pan with low fat cooking spray and add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, for 5 minutes, then add the mince and continue to cook, stirring for a further 5-8 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, rosemary and Worcestershire sauce, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 30 - 35 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Season to taste.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Place the potatoes in a large pan of water, cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and boil gently for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain thoroughly and return to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and mash until smooth.
3. Spoon the lamb into a 1.5 litre ovenproof dish and top with the mashed potato. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is crisp.