OMG!

I know. It's a hideous post title, it really is. To be honest, it totally sums up how I feel. I am buzzing. I managed to SHIFT half a pound tonight. Great because I ate and drank such a lot last week. Double great because I hit my first stone weight loss. 14lb off. Wow. That's 14 small bags of sugar. Or the best part of 3 standard bags of potatoes. That puts it into perspective for me. I'm thrilled beyond belief.

My main meals since I've been back on track have been creamy sweet chilli and roasted red pepper linguine (Parmesan extra) spaghetti with chillies, prawns and rocket, and tandoori chicken kebabs with spiced wedges (we are big pasta eaters). All free on Slimming World. Really? you say. Yes, really. Tomorrow is going to be either spicy pork burgers, chips and salad or Adana kebabs with salad and rice. Either sounds delicious to me to be honest. Tomorrow is also going to be "cook in" day with a couple of short dated boxes of mince i bought today to deal with. Early thoughts, Italian meatballs, kofta and ragu, but who knows what recipe might catch my eye between now and then. You'll just have to wait and see...

Back to basics

So I'm back on plan today. It's hard today because there are tunnocks tea cakes everywhere, plus the vending machine keeps twinkling at me. It's fine, I've just eaten a yoghurt (syn free strawberry muller light). That's the same as a Boost.

I know that after today and maybe tomorrow I'll be right back into the swing of things but I have been hungry all day. Yesterday we had a baby group 1st birthday party so I was surrounded by crisps, quiches, cakes upon cakes and sandwiches. Oh and boxes and boxes of baby friendly fruit - but not being mentally "there" yesterday, I was weak. It was the quiche and cake which caught my attention. "How many syns in this?" I asked Mr Bee lightheartedly! Who's laughing now?

Today I have eaten a banana, a pear, an apple, baked potato and beans and a muller light yoghurt. Tea is going to be sweet chilli and pepper linguine with Parmesan over (only the Parmesan is synned). Before that, though, I am going to jump on my Wii Fit for the first time in about a fortnight. I'm knackered and can't be bothered, but it's an important step. Not least because I know I will show a gain. It will be a bit depressing and I won't enjoy it, but if I can get back close to where I was before my (very enjoyable) holiday, it'll all be worth it.

Saturday night is made for dancing

Or in my case, dieting. After a heavy week of eating and drinking with transatlantic guests (fish and chips being the week's favourite) my final treat before kicking back in was a white roll from our local bakery filled with locally produced sausages and potato scones and a blob of ketchup: operation diet has begun (again).

I've been pretty good. I had a bite of a mini quiche that I've made for a kids' party tomorrow and a couple of mini animal biscuits but my dinner was free on Slimming World. We dined on Chicken parmagiana which is a massive hit with the whole family and as long as I use my healthy extras it's syn free. Even Mr Bee said "and this is diet friendly??" - that's a win for me. We followed with yoghurts all round and despite yearning for the crisps tonight I've managed to stay strong, nibbling only on a babybel. I am struggling tonight, but the first day back has got to be the hardest, right?

In the beginning

In the beginning there is a fat girl trying to be thinner. Over the years I have tried and had mixed success with the dieting thing, losing and gaining the same 3 or 4 stone again and again. It's going to be different this time, I hope.

With my new mindset, new ethos, and desire to be a new me, I decided a few weeks ago to join Slimming World. I tried it years ago with the red and green days and found it too confusing, but now they have introduced the Extra Easy plan which is ideal for people like me, people who cook and don't want to stop cooking. I don't want to live on "diet" food forever. The extra easy plan allows me to eat as much a I like of certain foods (veggies, fruit, lean meat, pasta, rice, noodles, eggs, herbs, spices, certain low fat dairy products) without weighing them. I then have a Healthy Extra A (calcium and dairy) and a Healthy Extra B choice (wheats and cereals). I'll refer to these as HEA and HEB in coming blogs. Everything else gets synned, allowing 10 syns per day for treats etc.

I am 3 weeks in and have lost 13.5lb following this diet. This is a drop in the ocean. I have just had a week off with visiting friends but I am not daunted by the idea of getting back on it. Instead I'm pretty hyped up about it. I have been reading a few more of the success stories and other peoples experiences and I find them both helpful and inspiring. I hope this blog will offer others the same, plus I hope it will encourage me to keep on at it. Keep watching for recipes and daily diaries and hopefully ideas of new things to keep you going too.

You never know, it might just work.