Slow and steady does it!!

I started my new lifestyle back in May this year, that is coming up to 6 months ago and I really think I can honestly and confidently say this is now my way of life.

 

Any fad diets and get skinny quick 'campaigns' I ventured on before over the years were all over within a couple of months, the novelty quickly wore of and then any weight I had lost soon quickly found it's way back and bought some friends along to party with it!!

 

I would scrutinise every packet of every food item I bought, religiously note every calorie that passed my lips and monitor every bit of fat, be it good or bad, I knew no difference back then.

 

I would constantly feel tired, go from constipated to mega upset stomachs frequently, lethargic ... exercise never really had a chance to feature properly.

 

If  I hadn't consumed my allocated calorie intake for the day, or syn value, or points, or whatever ... I would eat so-called 'healthy' snacks to make them up, this would usually mean some low-fat crisps or a small chocolate bar or something equally as processed and empty in nutrition offering no benefit to me, but hey, my calorie intake was correct!!

 

But I would lose weight quickly, very quickly.

 

And when I stopped .... it came back on even quicker!!

 

I think people who follow me now and what I am doing expect to see me stick thin by now or completely ripped with not an ounce of fat on me.  That is not the case. Yes I am toning up, slowly, yes my body fat is decreasing, yes I have dropped a dress size, nearly two, but remember, that is  in 6 months.

I don't weigh myself so I don't know how much weight I have dropped, but I don't actually think it is that much to be honest, maybe a stone or a little more.   I have several stone to lose overall to get down to my supposed ideal weight, so if I take notice of that I have a looooong way to go.

 

 I am gaining muscle, and although muscle does not weigh more than fat, a lb is a lb is a lb,  muscle is much more dense than fat, so by volume, it seems to weigh more.  In another way, a lb of muscle occupies less space than a lb of fat, so you can fit more muscle in!  You therefore experience an increase in lean body mass, and a decrease in body fat.  Make sense?

 

I don't have a goal, I am not putting limits on myself, I just want to be fit, healthy and strong for the rest of my life. That isn't something that can happen overnight with quick fixes and magic formula's, that is something that takes a long time, with hard work and dedication and you have to be in it for the long run, and I certainly am.

 

This IS my way of life now, and I love it. 

 

The fact that I have now taken up running, although still very slow and steady, is something that shows me more than anything how far I have come, but I will continue to look for new challenges, continue to push my body and continue to reap the rewards.

 

~BREAKFAST~

 



Sunday morning breakfast should always mean a lovely lazy feast, the one day of the week my husband and I get to sit and enjoy this meal together, it needs to be fabulous.

My husband loves hash browns, you know, those little deep fried potato triangle things you normally get with your breakfast at motorway service stations, no flavour or texture, other than the crunch from the frying and the grease that follows.

So today, I decided to do something along those lines for him, only healthier.  I came up with my potato rosti.

Using my mandolin slicer (a dangerous device!), or you can just use a normal grater, I finely sliced up two potatoes, a sweet potato and an onion.  I placed the resulting gratings into a clean tea towel and over the sink squeezed out all excess water/liquid I could.  (This stops the rosti being too soggy and helps it crisp up).

I then added it to a bowl and mixed in 1/2 tsp white pepper and a beaten egg, and mixed well.

On a baking sheet I spooned the mixture into 5 rounds and patted them down, then sprayed each one with a little olive oil.

I placed the tray in a pre-heated oven at above 180oc and let them cook for approximately 40 minutes or so until nice and crisp and potato cooked through.

Served two each, topped with an egg fried in a hot non-stick pan with no oil, some spinach wilted with a little nutmeg grated in and some unsmoked back bacon grilled (I cannot and will not cut the fat off my bacon I'm afraid, a little every now and then does not hurt!!).

It was ... in my husband's words ...... AWESOME!!  So I think that meant he liked it!!!

A breakfast like this means we usually don't bother with lunch, just have an earlyish dinner instead.

~DINNER~

 

A very grey, wet, miserable, British day out there today, I needed the comfort of a good old traditional, but healthier, roast beef dinner.

 

Using a fabulous boneless rib of beef I seared it first in a dry hot pain, then placed on a rack in the roasting tin, roasting for approximately 1 hr 10 minutes on about 180oc.  We like our beef pink if possible, am not always great at doing that but today was a success, yayy!!

 

Did some potatoes and parsnips in the Actifry, with just a drizzle of rapeseed oil, till nice and crispy and par boiled some tenderstem broccoli, carrots and french beans.

 

Now the bad part of the dinner, you cannot have roast beef without yorkshire pudding, and I never make this.  I instead bought a ready made one from Waitrose and warmed it through in the oven, had just a quarter myself which wasn't too bad.

 

Gravy was made from the vegetable water with some reduced salt gravy granules mixed in.

 

 

Comfort on a plate!!

 

Oh, I also had a little afternoon treat today, well, afternoon tea, well, Hendricks Gin stylee afternoon tea!!  Beautiful Hendricks gin mixed with tonic water and some cucumber served in a cute little, well, quite big actually, cup and saucer.... my favourite alcoholic drink!  Just the one mind, and come on, it did contain cucumber!!!

 

~EXERCISE~

 

Am a bit annoyed with myself today, actually not annoyed, just disappointed.  I intended to go out for a run, but I found every excuse not to, and now it is dark out there and there is no way I am going out in that.  I let myself down, simple as. 

 

It has been a nasty wet miserable day all day long here, we dressed up warm and popped out for a walk for an hour or so, but I really didn't want to get my running gear on and get out there, I have no suitable waterproofs as yet, they are on order, so once they are here there really can be no excuse.

 

It wasn't a total lazy bum day, I was up early and after yesterday's day of rest I did a good kettlebell workout followed by some stability work on my bosu ball, but I could and should have done more.

I posted this picture on my Facebook page today, and it is so true.  I know if I had just taken the first few steps out that door today, I would have gone for it and loved it, I know I would.  I am also still at that stage however where I am conscious of people staring at me, or thinking they are staring at me, whilst running, I have to get past that.  When I see a larger lady out running I always just think 'good on her', hopefully people will think the same, if not, it's their problem not mine, I am too busy doing something about it. 

Tomorrow, I will run a little harder on the treadmill at the gym, to restore a little faith in myself.

And I still have the rest of the evening to do another workout of some sorts and make some amends!!

 

 

Thanks as always for reading
Your support just spurs me on
Jo
xx