Day 17 and it's official, I'm way too fat!

Weight 82.5kg.... in a word, disaster and really bad..... ok ok., it's the end of the day and it's not the right time of the month.... will reweigh when we're back from skiing, no hot cocoas for me! or cheese fondues or cake.

Day 16

Wt- not weighed myself, too scared LOL
Breakfast- Porridge, one portion, made with water, topped with a few chopped pecan nuts and a splash of whipped cream and a sprinkling of brown sugar. Tea, juice watered down
Lunch- 11/2 slices vege pizza, nanaimo bar- 1/4, 1/8 caramel shortbread, diet coke, water
Dinner- Vegetarian dinner, fried rice, bitter gourd, spinach, tofu szechuan style, chinese sago and taro pudding..
Chinese tea.

Lots of water throughout the day.....

No weight falling off soon, I am afriad, I just love my food too much, but I will be starting yoga again soon and so, I hope to increase my activity level, bring on the hot yoga!

Merry Christmas, Day 14?

Not weighed myself as the eating for Christmas kinda began yesterday. I know I said the weight falls off as today, about 14 days ago, some has fallen off, but I am sure some has piled on, I can feel it in me bones! LOL.

This is going to be a montage of pics of what I ate, or what was available for me to eat!

Monster eggs

turkey

fruit topped cheesecake

mushroom loaf

the healthy stuff

christmas pudding

spannakopitas and mini sausage things

Blondies

I also had ham, cheese, pancakes, nuts, pringles, cheese crackers, lots of salad, roast potatoes, bread, and the list goes on..... far too much food for 2 days, it will return to normal tomorrow, I know, I'm lying, haha, it will return to normal soon...Merry Christmas to you all xxx

What day is it?

Not weighed myself, no exercise, still not well.
Brunch- rice congee cooked with a bit of roast chicken, carrot, tomato, choy sum and smoked oysters.... comfort food for feeling ill!

Yesterday
Breakfast- melon
Lunch- grilled vegetable plate at a greek diner, zucchini, mushrooms, aubergines, peppers, 1 pita bread, hummus and tzatziki, coffee. Water,
Walking back towards the shops in Toronto, I was bought a ginger and molasses cookie, it was amazing and went straight to my ass and waistline.. more for gravity to work on!
Dinner- blow out here, loads if pasta with homemade meatballs and tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. Sugar snap peas and tender broccoli stems.
Handful of nuts... peppermint tea.

Will weigh myself later when I go collect the mail, I promise to use the stairs instead of the elevator.
Just worked it out, it's day 11

Day 8, feeling better

Still not 100% but getting there
Not weighed myself
Breakfast- croissant, 2 slices cheese-povolone and swiss, half and avocado, 2 fried eggs, 2 slices baguette
Lunch- bowl of spiced lentil and butternut squash soup, with a splash of cream- naughty naughty and some croutons
Dinner- Baked salmon with garlic chives, courgette/zucchini, mushrooms, carrots and garlic, oven baked chips, broccoli and snowpeas
Ice cream cone,
Fresh fruit- apple, pear and orange
Tea, coffee, juice and water throughout the day, and some diet coke

Day 7, still poorly

Missed a day again, not weighed myself.
Was ill yesterday, but ate well! Feeding my cold as ordered. Breakfast of porridge, lunch of rice porridge with chicken and kai lan, dinner of rice with a bit of roast pork and loads of tofu!
No exercise
Today, had a late breakfast of 1 butter croissant, 1 triangle of laughing cow cheese, 4 slices french stick with butter and marmalade, 2 coffees and 1 apple...
Dinner- half a falafel sandwich and some salad and 1 stuffed vine leave, and half a kefte(minced beef kebab), salad, and 2 clementines, diet coke and some water.
Dinner was a takeaway we got from Markville mall at our favourite Mediterranean Medina in the food court... yummy hummus, garlic sauce.
Felt ill still despite waking up feeling ok, then felt liks a zombie for the rest of the day.
Hope tomorrow brings brighter things... all Xmas shopping nearly, nearly done....

Day 5, weight back to normal...

80kg, 176lbs, woo hoo back to my normal, now for it to fall even more.

Was going to go to the gym and swim today but went for a massage, then a haircut, so, will go tomorrow, definitely go tomorrow.

Slacked yesterday but will jot down what I consumed yesterday.

Did not weigh myself, walked 20 mins to school in the cold.

Breakfast- slices whole meal, 12 grain toast with scraping of butter and marmite

Elevenses- bran and raisin muffin, 2 mugs of roibos tea

Lunch- bowl of seafood and noodle soup, 2 slices vege pizza

Tea- peppermint tea, soy bean milk, handful of seeds and nuts (powerfood!), and a small sqaure of sachima

Dinner- jasmine rice, kai lan with garlic, satay chicken breast. 2 bowls of red bean pudding with coconut milk- yeah, I know, sinful

Today, so far, I have had

Breakfast- 2 small red bean paste buns, 1 slice raisin bread, water

Lunch- noodles, 2 oz chicken, kai lan and choy sum, 1 slice taro, all cooked in a soup. Chillie oil

Tea- 4 Danish butter biscuits, tea with milk

Not had dinner yet, still not sure what to have, will pen it down when I've eaten

Went out for sushi with Dave. I had the tempura, sashimi bento, far too much I know, but very good! I didn't finish my rice...
Dave had this amazing Ottawa roll. Tuna, avocado, cucumber, fish row, deep fried!

Dave's Ottawa roll

It had a beautiful butterfly carrot garnish.

After all this food, no weight loss for me today! Exercise on the books for the morning....

Day 3

Not weighed myself today
Walked 20 minutes to school, in freezing conditions

Breakfast- bowl of porridge cooked with water, brown sugar and sprinkling of pecan nuts
2 slices raisin cinnamon bread toasted and scraping of butter
water

Elevenses-1 sugar cookie with frosting
2 cups of chai, no milk or sugar

Lunch- salad with a bit of tuna antipasti, chickpeas and melba toast
apple
handful of wasabi peas
1 clementine

Tea-1 cup homemade chicken and pasta soup
1 slice bread with ham
2 slices raisin bread with some buttery becel
mug of roibos tea
mug of tea with 1% milk

Dinner- bowl of pasta with pesto, tuna and avocado, a bit of roast chicken-about 2 oz.
coffee with milk

All those carbs today, arghhhh will be a loaf of bread tomorrow! Must do better tomorrow and exercise more.

yummy

Day 2, lentils finally in the right place

Day 2

Weight 80.6kg, 177lbs

Exercise- 20 minutes swimming non stop, front crawl and breast stroke, and 4 lengths just kicking.

Food intake

Breakfast- egg noodles with 3 won tons, half a portion of noodles as Jasmine wanted the other half. Mustard greens

Lunch- roast chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli, stir fried courgettes with onions

Dinner- spiced red lentil and butternut squash soup with croutons, french bread, guacamole. 1 small homemade burger.

homemade burgers

my homemade guacamole

Finally, the lentils end up where they should be, not in the washing, or on the library carpet but in my kitchen, in a pot, making a lovely soup!

Lentils are legumes along with other types of beans. They grow in pods that contain either one or two lentil seeds that are round, oval or heart-shaped disks and are oftentimes smaller than the tip of a pencil eraser. They may be sold whole or split into halves with the brown and green varieties being the best at retaining their shape after cooking. 

Lentils, a small but nutritionally mighty member of the legume family, are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. Not only do lentils help lower cholesterol, they are of special benefit in managing blood-sugar disorders since their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal. But this is far from all lentils have to offer. Lentils also provide good to excellent amounts of six important minerals, two B-vitamins, and protein-all with virtually no fat. The calorie cost of all this nutrition? Just 230 calories for a whole cup of cooked lentils. This tiny nutritional giant fills you up--not out.

The above was taken from http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52

Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata), also known in Australia and New Zealand as Butternut pumpkin^[1], is a type of winter squash. It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin. It has yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp. When ripe, it turns increasingly deep orange, and becomes sweeter and richer. It grows on a vine. The most

 popular variety, the Waltham Butternut, originated in Stow, Massachusetts. (Wikipaedia)

Spiced Lentil and Butternut Squash

I make this soup quite often as I love the combination of the lentils and butternut squash and the spice gives the soup a little oomph. I had some left over mashed potato and carrots from lunch which I added to the soup. You don't need to have left overs obviously, just add potatoes and carrots.

Ingredients

1/4 butternut squash, peeled and seeds scraped out as necessary

1 cup red lentils, rinsed.

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp chopped coriander stalks and leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp tumeric powder

2 -3 potatoes (or left over mash)

1 carrot

1 stock cube or equivalent

1 tbsp olive oil

1 litre water, shorten cooking time by boiling in kettle, ready to add

Spring onions chopped for garnish, croutons if you like them to garnish too.

chopped spring onions

Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan, add chopped onion, fry until softened and slightly caramelised, add cumin and tumeric, fry until fragrant. 

Add butternut squash, carrots and potatoes, stir for 1-2 minutes, add lentils. Add coriander leaves and stir for a minute. Add boiling water. Do not season at this point as apparently adding salt to uncooked lentils make them tough. I have never actually tested to see if this were true though.

Bring soup to the boil, then lower heat to a simmer, for about 15-20 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are all soft and cooked through. Add stock cube, I use vegetable as Dave doesn't eat meat, but you can use what ever stock cube you wish. Check seasoning, add salt and pepper as necessary. 

simmering soup

softened lentils and vegetables

If you wish you could blend the soup to make it smooth, or mash with a potato masher if you want a chunkier texture. I have not got a blender or food processor at the moment, so have mashed the soup in the pan.

spring onions added

croutons to finish

Serve with crusty bread, yummy. My children would not eat this soup when I first came up with the recipe, they complained that they did not like butternut squash, they did not like lentils, they did not like spice, it was like curry, so on and so forth. As you can see, I persevered and continued to serve this, alongside some alternatives and

today, a breakthrough, they actually said they loved it, Mitch had seconds too. Everything in the soup is healthy and nutritious, so am glad that the children's taste buds are maturing and they are beginning to enjoy the food that I love. 

Kai Lan

Kai-lan, also known as Gai Lan, Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale, is a leaf vegetablefeaturing thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny, almost vestigial flower heads similar to those of broccoli. As the Alboglabra group of Brassica oleracea, kai-lan is of the same species of plant as broccoli and kale. Its flavor is very similar to that of broccoli, but more bitter and a bit sweeter.(Wikipaedia)

Kai lan

This is my favourite vegetable and I just love eating it raw. Yes, raw, the stems are really crisp and sweet and the leaves though dark green in colour and bitter looking taste lovely raw or cooked. My favourite way of cooking this veg is to rapidly boil them in a bit of water, for only about 1-2 minutes. Draining the water off, I toss the cooked veg in some soy sauce and sesame seed oil. If I am feeling decadent, I garnish with some crisp fried finely sliced shallots, or fried chopped garlic in a bit of canola oil or peanut oil. Sometimes I slosh some oyster sauce on too, and then the dish becomes " hoe yau kai lan " or literally translated, oyster sauce kai lan.

Kai lan with garlic

When buying oyster sauce, buy the most expensive you can afford in the shops, that way you need less, as it will be rich in oysterness lol. I use vegetarian oyster sauce these days as Dave is vegetarian.

Recipe

400g kai lan stems, cut to 3in lengths or leave whole if preferred, rinse the veg well

1-2 shallots, finely sliced or 1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped.

1 tbsp cooking oil- canola, peanut, sunflower, any will do, even olive oil.

Water.

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce if using

1-2 tbsp sesame seed oil

Method

Heat cooking oil in a wok, when hot, add shallots or garlic, fry them until brown and crisp, be careful not to burn the garlic if using garlic. Keep the oil if preferred to pour over kai lan later.

In a separate saucepan that is large enough to fit all the kai lan in, add water about inch in depth, turn heat up and boil the water. When water is boiling, add the kai lan and put lid on saucepan, and cook kai lan for about 1-2 minutes.  I like kai lan that is crunchy so, 2 minutes is maximum cooking time for me, but if you like your veg well done, cook for longer.

The kai lan will change colour to a bright green.  Strain all the liquid off, arrange kai lan attractively on serving dish.

Pour soy sauce over kai lan and oyster sauce if using. Add sesame oil if using. Lastly, pour shallot or garlic oil over the whole lot.... serve piping hot..... yummy, enjoy with some lovely cooked rice.

Hoe yau kai lan

I love this veg so much, I don't do all that garnishing bit, as I am too eager to eat it (I usually eat one of 2 stalks raw as I am cooking too!) and use only a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil, less calories and loads of goodness. I have added sliced garlic to the kai lan as it is cooking to save me from having to fry the garlic, ok, no crunch from the garlic, but no extra calories either. Just seeing the kai lan brings about an excitement on me, perhaps it's my body telling me I have a lack of vitamin K? LOL

kai lan with pork and carrots

Kai lan can also be slice into 3 cm lengths, stir fried with sliced ginger and slices of pork, chicken or shrimp. Delicious, carrot slices could be added to make the dish a colourful and healthy one too. Enjoy......

Day 1, the weight falls as of today

Weight 178lbs,  80.7kg, 12.7 stone, arghhhhh!
This is the heaviest I've been for a while. Gonna keep a food diary to see what I eat! Will be scary and I will try to be honest!
Swam 15 minutes

breakfast-yummy

Breakfast
1.5 eggs and 2 leftover egg whites
2 slices toast with butter, one with marmite
2 cups coffee with 1% fat milk
water

Went to Markville Mall had red bean medium bubble tea with tapioca

red bean bubble tea

Shawarma plate- chicken and beef, rice, yoghurt, hummus, salad and potatoes, chillies, gherkins and pickled radish.
Diet pepsi, small
half a baklava with pistachios.

Beef shawarma plate

Naughty and sinful but nice

Walking in mall shopping for 4 hours, toes squashed in sexy boots, argh!
Not having dinner as still stuffed from lunch, and it's 6.20pm now.

Not that bad but the shawarma lunch box was rather large.... possibly thousands of calories consumed, will go swimming again in the morning, after an hour on the cardio machines. Well, that's the plan..

Back home after shopping, knackered, achieved mostly what we went for, snow pants and jackets, PlayStation 3, tops from Old Navy and some skirts for me, waterproof gloves, normal gloves, fleeces.