So, I finally did it.

In February 2014, I joined my local slimming world group, with the thought that once and for all, I would lose the weight. I weighed in at 15 stone 1.5lb. I was a size 20. 9 months later, I was 4.5 stone lighter. And finally, 13 months after I joined, I reached my target weight of 10 stone. It has now been almost 4 months since I reached target. I'm still in my target band of 3lb under to 3lb over, although I now weigh in officially every 4 weeks, to take off the pressure of weekly weighing in, and to give me freedom to enjoy what I eat now and again. I still weigh in at home, daily, to see how much I need to rein it in by, and to make sure that I'm aware of what I'm doing and to keep me aware of what I'm eating. I'm still, in some ways, a fat girl at heart, even though I'm in between a size 10 and size 12 in most clothes. Seeing photos of myself still astonishes me: I look so much slimmer in them than I actually feel! Also, keeping the emotional eating and the boredom eating at bay is HARD work. I can still be very greedy! But I am eating more salad, healthier snacks, and making better treat choices. Something that has surprised me, is that now I'm here, it's not the end of the journey, not by a long shot. But I'm in it for the long haul. I WILL stay slim, and keep up my health. And, the next thing I have yet to motivate myself to do, is get fit.

Monday morning weigh in.

Last Tuesday I weighed in at 157.8lb. I'd not been watching what I was eating, snacking waaaay too much, not fussed about meals so just grabbing whatever to try and satisfy hunger quickly.

We had a takeaway on Friday night, then went out for a meal on Saturday. But even though I had those, I still managed a Monday morning weigh in of 153.4lb! That's 4.4lb loss!!

Things I've done differently:

Had a jug of squash out on the side in the kitchen. Whenever I've gone in there, I've filled my glass up with that and drunk that instead. I know it's not cold, or particularly fresh by the end of the day, but it doesn't bother me too much. I have sensitive teeth anyway so not keen on stuff too cold. I even have to use warm water to rinse my mouth out after brushing my teeth...

Trying to have different things for breakfast other than cereal and toast. I think I'll be looking for stuff that I can pre-prepare the day before and just warm up if it takes a while to prepare.

Focussing on the evening meal more. More veggies, an interesting "main" bit, and a small amount of potato sometimes (not always).

If I want a snack, getting a piece of fruit (orange or apple, or a handful of grapes). The occasional bit of chocolate so I don't feel like I'm depriving myself!

Will try and continue this week, and see where it gets me. Would like to be 2lb down by next Monday, around 151.5lb. And another 2lb or so the week after, so I'm back to my lowest. Hopefully I will get there!

Letting things slide

I've not been watching my weight recently, or what I've been eating, and when I weighed myself on Tuesday I was not happy to see myself back at 157.8lb (or 11 stone 3.8lb). My lowest weight has been 149lb. So on Tuesday, I started watching what I ate, basically curbing the huge amount of junk I had started eating again. Oh and filling a big jug (probably about 3 pints worth) at the beginning of the day with squash, my aim being for me and the kids to drink it up before their bath time. I have not been putting it in the fridge, as it sitting out reminds me it's there and needs to be drunk, therefore I am more likely to pour myself a glass and avoid pulling anything out of the fridge.

On Thursday morning I weighed again and I was 156.2lb, so a loss of 1.6lb. This morning I weighed myself again, one day later, and I was 155.0lb, so a loss from yesterday of 1.2lb, and a total since Tuesday of 2.8lb. :)

We're having a meal out tomorrow so I must try not to over-do it then. But hoping for a big loss by Monday to kickstart things!

Also what helped was looking through the freezer and realising there was lots of food in there needing using up. So used to the shrugging and putting on a jacket potato was I, or a sandwich, it's prompted me into using up the chicken, fish, frozen veg and so on that's in there, and making me think about a decent meal once a day.

With the nice weather come along I've also decided to start making more salad again, which is nice and healthy of course! (even with a big blob of mayonnaise ;) )

So, keeping my fingers crossed that I can lose as much weight as possible this week and in the weeks to come. There is a possibility of a pregnancy during the year, so I do really want to have slimmed down as much as possible before that happens and I get even bigger again!

Back in an upwards cycle :(

Two gains two weeks running :( Back above 11 stone again, at 154.4lb. I'm eating far too much junk and just snacking way too much. I really need to print out some pictures for snack-resistance. Was thinking of an old picture of me at my fattest and one where I look slimmer, plus a sign saying simply "GET A DRINK INSTEAD" to stick on the kitchen door. I snack on the chocolate buttons for R's potty training... and on crackers, rice cakes, as well as fruit and veg. Simply speaking, I'm eating too much.

I'm generally feeling quite low and isolated as well which doesn't help.

Roast aubergine and sweet potato soup

Something I have been enjoying doing to help the weight loss effort is making soup for my lunches. I do one big batch which usually makes 6 portions and I do a different one each week. If I had time to do several batches within days of each other I would fill the freezer with different types of soup. I will try and make new soups every now and then using vegetables I don't often use!

Yesterday I made aubergine (egg plant) and sweet potato soup. Here's the rough recipe.

Ingredients.
3 aubergines halved lengthways
1 White onion and 1 red onion chopped finely
1 large carrot peeled, halved (or cut into 3 if very large)and each half sliced into 3 bits
2 peeled sweet potatoes, sliced thickly.
5 closed cup mushrooms
1 vegetable stock cube
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon thyme
Garlic powder (or fresh garlic) to taste
Water
Oil

Place the aubergines flat bit down on an oiled tray (or two!). Fill the gaps with the carrot and sweet potato. Brush with oil. Roast in the oven at 200 celcius for half an hour or so, turning half way through. Take them out and leave them to cool.

Fry up the onion (and garlic if using fresh) until soft.

Take the sweet potato and carrot and add them to the onion. Get a spoon or table knife and scoop the aubergine flesh from the skin and add
it to the onion. Chop the mushroom finely and add that too. Crumble a vegetable stock cube over and add enough water to completely cover the vegetables. Add the bay leaf, thyme and garlic powder (unless you've used fresh) and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all the vegetables (particularly the carrots) are soft.

Remove the bay leaf and transfer the mixture to a blender, working in batches if necessary. I needed to add extra water afterwards as the soup was very thick.

Quite pleased

With a maintain this week. Was hoping for a loss to be under 150lb, but I'm still 152.2 which is GREAT considering I had a meal out, a takeaway and a MASSIVE (but omg sooooo divine!!) chocolate brownie at a local country park cafe. As well as a few bad days. I've not recorded my days on MFP recently but I'm slowly getting to know how much food I can eat to lose weight. I would like to lose some more weight this month, as I would like to start out at the lowest weight possible before I get pregnant. If I do get pregnant this month the baby will be born near Robert's birthday, which is a little disconcerting, and makes me wonder if it might be best to hold off until a few months time, or even until we go on holiday in June. Which will of course give me time to get down to my target weight and enjoy it for a while before I "spoil" it with growing a baby in my belly haha!

So, 152.2lb this week, 12.2lb to lose to my "see how I feel" goal. Almost 55lb lost in 16 months. Would love to get down to 60lb lost in a month's time. That would be a good feeling, and I would be my lowest ever weight I remember being.

2nd loss

Two weeks running I have had weight losses. :) haven't done that for months I think, so pretty chuffed! I seem to have found my groove with My Fitness Pal. I weighed in 2lb lighter this morning than I did last Monday. And last Monday I was 3.8lb lighter than the Monday before. I now weigh 152.6lb which is 10 stone 12.6lb. I would like to get down to 10 stone 10 or lighter next week. Very much hoping to be my target weight by June when we go on holiday, that is if I'm not pregnant by then!