It has been a long long time since I have posted on here, it doesn't mean my story has ended, I have just moved!

If you would like to still follow me I now run my own Facebook page, this is the link ...

https://www.facebook.com/WeightOfMyMind

I am still walking my healthier journey and have come so far, I am now even studying to be a nutritionist!

For motivation, inspiration and above all lots of pics of fabulous healthy food ..... visit me!! :)

Fats can be the good guys too!!!

One of my friends has recently started following the Slimming World diet.  There is nothing wrong with that, it is a pretty healthy eating plan to follow, apart from some of the processed foods they encourage you to eat, but it works for some, my sister included who has done incredibly well on it.  I have tried to follow it before a couple of times, but it isn't for me, and we all have to find our own way and what works for us.

However, one thing I have heard from a few people who follow it mention, my friend and sister included, is that they have trouble with 'going to the toilet', you know, 'bowel action', which they find hard to understand as they are eating lots of fibre and fruit and vegetables.

My friend listed out what she was eating and it all sounded very healthy and nutritious, lots of fruit and vegetables and fibre, I couldn't see what the problem was, not that I am an expert.  Until one of my other friends pointed out that there was no fat included whatsoever, and you need good fats for 'lubrication' so to speak.

Ofcourse!!!  So obvious!!  I harp on about eating good fats as they are so beneficial to your body, but I hadn't even twigged that this was another benefit of them.

Slimming World, and other such diet plans, don't encourage the consumption of healthy oils, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, avocado's etc as it is all 'synned' or high calorie or whatever.

That may be, but in moderation they are so much more beneficial to your body in every way compared to a processed dried pasta snack or a packet of so-called low-fat potato snack which offer no nutritional benefits to you whatsoever.

We are all told that healthy fats are good for your heart, your brain, your skin, your cholesterol etc etc, which ofcourse they are, but they are also good for your poo!!!!

It's important to have healthy fats in a diet as much as any other nutrient. Eating monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat can actually help your body burn fat, since it burns fat as fuel instead of storing it.

Polyunsaturated fats help build muscle, lower cholesterol and blood pressure; where as monounsaturated fats focus more on your heart. Eating a diet rich in healthy fat can increase the length of your workout, producing energy and flexibility and bones and joints

~FIVE NUT & ROOT VEGETABLE ROAST~

So, just a quick blog today to share with you the recipe for my fabulous 5 nut and root vegetable roast which we had for dinner tonight ..... packed to the rafters with good fats!!!

In a dry pan roast off some nuts, I used cashews, hazlenuts, pistachio nuts, brazil nuts and almonds, I also added some pumpkin seeds.

Once roasted grind them in a food processor until roughly chopped and quite small but not fine.

In a bowl grate or finely chop a couple of parsnips, a couple of carrots and a sweet potato.  Add the nuts.

Blitz a slice of wholemeal bread to breadcrumbs and add to the bowl.

Crack in an egg or two, beaten, and a teaspoon or two of marmite, or vegemite, or yeast extract, whichever you prefer.

Add a good pinch of white pepper, a teaspoon of sundried tomato paste and a handful of chopped fresh rosemary and give it all a good mix.

Spray a loaf tin with some olive oil and spoon the mixture in, packing it down tightly.

Place in a pre-heated oven at about 180oc and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes until browned and crisp on top.

Turn out onto a plate, this will slice into about 6-8 portions.

I served it with some potatoes, parsnips and sweet potatoes roasted in the actifry and some steamed tenderstem broccoli and brussel sprouts.  A good dollop of horseradish sauce goes amazingly well with it too!!!

Delicious.

 

There is loads left over so I will slice it up and freeze it!

Listen to your body.....

Some of you may have seen today on Facebook that I have been overdoing it slightly with my exercise.  This has resulted in my body starting to become exhausted and showing me signs that unless I ease up, it doesn't want to play ball no more.

My problem is that I am far too keen, which is a good thing, but you really do have to be sensible with it.

I keep pushing and pushing myself thinking I can do better, do more, get better results, but this is not always the case.

Last night, after an afternoon at the gym where I spent 20 minutes running, followed by an hours intense weights workout, followed by 1/2 hr swim, my body refused to budge an inch further and I completely zonked out on the sofa, at 8pm, unheard of for me.

Furthermore, after a good nights sleep, I am still feeling pretty drained today.

It's time to start listening.

After speaking to my good friends Jen Mayes who is a PT with her own company, Amazing Fitness, and Natalie Guyan who runs the fabulous fitness/healthy eating for pregnant women site, Eating-4-2, who gently but rightly so gave me a bit of a talking to, I realised how crazy I was being.

If I carry on doing what I have been doing the past week, I am going to burn myself out and end up doing myself more harm than good.  I am loving it, I am very eager and excited and showing no signs of waning and losing interest, but overdoing it and constantly pushing my body to excess is not going to give me the results I want any faster, it is infact going to shut my body down and I will probably end up causing myself an injury as much as anything.

So today I listened.  Today was meant to be a swimming day, but I decided instead to take the day off.  Go straight home after work and get lots of things done around the house that never get done because I am always at the gym!!

So that is what I did.  I have drummed into myself that I HAVE to go to the gym every day, I pay the membership, I HAVE to make the most of it and I have to give it 150%.  Ofcourse I don't, I know that is rubbish.  Missing the odd day does not mean I am not getting my monies worth, I more than do that, it also does not mean I am letting myself and my body down.  It is my choice to go, it is not a duty, I do not have to report to anybody.  Today I chose not to go ..... and nothing bad happened!!!!  Tomorrow I will be back on it and refreshed, ready for a much better performance from my body.

Today I got home and used the time to do what I have been meaning or needing to do for months now, sorting out all my clothes.  I am a complete clothaholic!!!  I have so many, and they were everywhere.  Today, I took bin bags with me and took the decision that anything that has not been worn in the past 6 months is not ever going to be worn by me again, and bagged it all up for the charity shops.  This resulted in 4 huge bin bags full to bursting!!!  I would say it freed up so much wardrobe space, it didn't, it just meant all the other clothes that were laying here there and everywhere are now all hanging up where they should be .... may need to buy a new wardrobe! ;)

Haven't got much time to blog much more tonight but really do have to share my recipe for my fabulous homemade wholemeal pizza and homemade coleslaw we had for dinner tonight, it was AMAZING!!

WHOLEMEAL PIZZA AND FRUITY NUTTY COLESLAW

 

Add 500g of wholemeal flour to a large bowl with 1 tsp of salt. Next add 2 tsps of easy bake yeast and 1 tsp of sugar and stir in. I also added a handful of chopped fresh rosemary.  Next add 15ml rapeseed oil (you can use soft butter or vegetable oil) and rub into the flour mix.

Make up about 300ml warm water (1 part boiling, 2 parts cold) and add enough to the mix to form a soft dough, using your fingers to 'stir' it in until all combined.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surfaced and knead for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and place back in the bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size for about 50 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven to about 180oc.

Split the dough into two and on a lightly floured surface roll each ball into large flat circles. (This is for thin crispy crust pizzas, if you like deep pan then just use all the dough, don't split it).

Oil a pizza pan or a large flat baking sheet and place the base on it.  Place it in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes just to start off the baking of the dough before any topping goes on.

For mine, I spread it with some sundried tomato paste then topped with some chopped peppers, sunblushed tomatoes, asparagus spears, fresh spinach leaves, serrano ham, fresh buffalo mozarella and some freshly grated parmesan, finished with a further little sprinkling of fresh rosemary.

Pop in the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the crust starts to crisp and the topping is bubbling.

I also made a delicious nutty and fruity coleslaw to go with the pizza.

I finely shredded some fennel, carrots, red cabbage and pear and placed in a large bowl.  I roasted off some walnuts and pumpkin seeds and added them to the bowl, along with about 5 chopped up dried apricots.  I drizzled some walnut oil over and some sherry vinegar and gave it all a good stir.  I then added a couple of tablespoons of fat free greek yogurt and combined it all again.  Beautiful.

Give it a go, why would you want a stodgy greasy take-out when you can make something so fresh and delicious yourself!

I had made two, the second one will be tomorrow nights dinner.  There once was a time we would have eaten one whole one each, now we only just managed two slices each!! :)

I won't be blogging every day now, we will be playing squash or running some evenings and I simply won't have time, but I will do as often as I can.

Thanks again for reading
Jo
xx

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

Fat ...... you're goin' down!!!!

 

When I joined the gym in May I had my body fat measured, it was at a dreadful 48%.  That means almost half my body was fat!!

 

I had it measured again today, it read 39%, how fantastic is that!!  Nearly a 20% drop!!

 

I know 39% is still to high, but hey, whatever I am doing is working and it's going in the right direction, and this just spurs me on to keep on going.

 

I don't weigh myself, I really do not know what I weigh now, it isn't important to me, I have no scales anyway, I threw them away after fretting over them too much and finding comfort in food everytime they told me what I didn't want to know, now it is just a number and does not tell me how fit I am.

 

Not all people that are classed as 'skinny' are necessarily fit.  You could put an 8 stone woman in the gym who never works out and has no muscle tone, against me, and I would probably run rings around them.  Plus, they may not have as much subcutaneous fat (the fat that lays underneath the skin), but they may have more of the hidden, and more dangerous, visceral fat (the fat that surrounds the inner organs).

 

So weight is not important to me, I have focused on that for too long and it's only ever had negative effects on me.

 

I don't want to be 'skinny' as much as I don't want to be 'fat', I just want to be 'fit' and I want to be 'strong', and that is what I am continuing to focus on.

 

~BREAKFAST~

 



I woke up tired this morning, and really had to drag my arse out of bed when the alarm went off at 5.30.  That's not like me, I am usually awake before the alarm and raring to go, but I have had trouble sleeping since we returned from holiday, no idea why, my bed is pure luxury and I adore it, but whilst away I was sleeping on a rock hard uncomfortable lump, maybe my body is just trying to readjust to luxury!! 

 

So, I really needed something to kick me up the bum and get my day started, and my gorgeous berry protein blast is always guaranteed to do that!

Frozen raspberries and blueberries, almond milk, chocolate protein powder, stem ginger and cinnamon, blitzed up until thick and smooth, ice cold and delicious!!  Smacks you in the face with energy!!!

Also had some wholemeal toast topped with peanut butter, marmite and banana, certainly got my body going :)

~MORNING SNACK~

 



I keep a pot of these on my desk at work for when I need a little more energy, so a handful (or two) kept me going for the rest of the morning.

I did have to move the pot to my drawer today to stop me eating more!!

 

~LUNCH~

 

Such a delicious salad for lunch today.  Last night I roasted off some butternut squash and cubed chicken breast in the Actifry.

Today I mixed some in with some spinach leaves, roasted almonds and avocado.

I then made the most gorgeous salad dressing using a little walnut oil mixed with a raspberry vinegar.

All I can say was, this was a total taste sensation!!  (sorry about the bad pic!)

~AFTERNOON SNACK~

 

I felt ravenous after a mammoth swim this afternoon, so when I got home I had two Dr Karg seeded spelt crackers topped with some crab meat, certainly hit the spot!!

 

~DINNER~

 

I had some lean pork mince to use in the fridge and normally make a mean pork, fennel and apple burger with it, but really fancied pasta, so instead made pork, fennel and parmesan meatballs!  So simple!

Mix some crushed fennel seeds and freshly grated parmesan into the mince and mix well.

Take little 'portions' of the mix and roll into balls, try and keep quite small and roll tight.

Place them on a plate and then put in the fridge to firm up a little, this will help towards stopping them falling to pieces as you cook them.


Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large pan and then add the balls, gently turning till browned all over, or shaking the pan, try not to handle them too much or they will break up.

Add some chopped up red onion, a chopped up red pepper, some chopped up asaparagus and mushrooms to the pan, and cook a little more until veg softens a little.  Then add a can of chopped tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar andlet it simmer away until the sauce reduces a little.

Cook some wholewheat pasta in a rolling boil and then simply serve......

 

Absolutely delicious!!

 

~EXERCISE~

 

Wednesday's are all about swimming for me, a break from the gym and I give it my all in the pool.

 

80 lengths today, would have done more but a friend came in and tempted me into the jacuzzi for a catch up, not that I took much persuasion!!  But 80 lengths in our pool is a mile, so was happy with that.

 

I always find the first 10 lengths so hard and they seem to take forever, but after that they just get better and better and the time flies by and I really, really love it.

 

I really noticed the change in my shape too today in my costume, my top belly, under my boobs, is definitely a lot flatter and no longer sticks out further than they do, it actually goes in, was pleased with that observation, haha!!

Now looking forward to tomorrow's run .... never ever thought I would be saying that!!

Thanks again for reading
Jo
xx

 

This was me today by the way, I think I look tired .... but happy!!!

Running towards my goals...

 

 

Yayy, at last, back to the gym today, I had missed it soooooooooo much!!

 

Also back to work after our week away, most people dread it but I love my job, I knew it would be busy, and it was, lots to catch up on, but that just meant the morning went quickly and before I knew it it was gym time!!

 

So that meant I needed good fuel inside me....

 

~BREAKFAST~

 

 

Kick started the new week with a beautiful bowl of my sunshine porridge this morning.

Porridge made with almond milk, some frozen mango chunks added to defrost as it cooks, chia seeds, cinnamon, roasted coconut flakes and chopped stem ginger, drizzled with a little agave nectar and then topped with some roasted almonds and pumpkin seeds.

Was as awesome as it sounds and kept me full all morning.

~LUNCH~

 

Today I had the leftover Kedgeree from yesterday's brunch, cold, and was just as delicious as it was warm yesterday.

I always try to eat my lunch at least 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours before I exercise to give it time to be digested and my body to get the most energy from it in preparation for the exercise, I cannot exercise on a full stomach, it makes me feel tired and I never give it my best.

~DINNER~

 

I was looking forward to this all day, I knew as soon as I walked in the front door the house would smell amazing, and it did.

 

I prepared this last night and then let it cook on slow in the slow cooker all day, my chinese ginger, orange and five spice beef casserole.

 

It really is beautiful.

 

So I chopped up some extra lean casserole beef and put it in the slow cooker along with an inch or root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced, a chopped up red onion, 4 star anise, a teaspoon of chinese five spice, 1/2 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes, a good splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of some lovely seville orange flavoured olive oil I have.  I also added some sliced up purple carrots I had and a red pepper.  I left this to marinate overnight, then just turned the slow cooker onto low before i left for work this morning.

 

When I got home I added another teaspoon of chinese five spice and then turned it onto the warm setting until we were ready to eat.

 

I served it with some mashed sweet potato, I bake them in their skins and then just spoon out the flesh and mix in a little more chinese five spice and some ground white pepper, and some lovely cooked shredded greens.

 

On a miserable, dreary, misty, grey day like today ..... this was like a lovely big healthy hug :)

 

 

~EXERCISE~

 

So back to the gym today, yesterday I had been a little nervous, today I was full of excitement!!

 

I normally just do an hour or so swimming on a Monday but I had decided to try running on the treadmill first.  I set the time on the treadmill to 25 minutes, the speed just to 6 and started off walking to warm myself up, after a couple of minutes I broke into a gentle jog, I had intended to just do a minute or so but I was comfortable with it so kept going and managed 5 minutes, I then slowed to a walk again for another minute or so then did another 5 minutes running, another couple of minutes walking and a final 5 minute run, finishing with a slow walk to cool down.  I really enjoyed it, it was very hard, my legs were a little wobbly when I finished, but was so proud of myself. 

 

Have always been very nervous of using the treadmill because a) I have never considered myself to be a runner and b) I am very top heavy, I do have good sports bras but have always been conscious of drawing attention to them and myself!!  But I just stayed focused on what I wanted to achieve, had no idea if anybody was watching me or not, doubt very much they were, concentrated on my stance and my breathing, and I really enjoyed it.

 

I had started following the couch to 5k podcast the other week, which was great, but I was finding myself getting annoyed when I had to stop running because I knew I could do a little more.  So decided instead to just go with it on my own today and see how I got on, and did a lot better than I thought, yayyy me!!  I didn't push it, I listened to my body and just took it gently, but I did, and that's a huge achievement for me.

 

My lovely new running shoes were definitely a great assistance, they were so comfortable!

 

I then went and got changed and went and had a swim, I did 40 lengths in just over half an hour, finished off with a quick session in the steam room then showered and went home.

 

It felt very good to be back ... and tomorrow will be strength training ... cannot wait!!!

 

Thanks again for reading

Jo

xx

.... and so we continue!!!

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages!!!  We went away for just over a week and in the lead up to it I was too busy to blog, so reckon it's been a couple of weeks!!  I have missed it, I find it so therapeutic and also it motivates me to carry on, so glad to be back on it like a car bonnet!!

We have had a lovely time away, relaxing, to some extent, but also exhausting!!

The first couple of days I had booked a surprise short break at a Spa hotel up north,Ribby Hall Spa Hotel,  to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday.  I really wasn't sure if he would like it as he isn't a water baby like me .... but I needn't have worried ... he totally loved it, we both did.

We had the most amazing couple of days ever.  Complete and utter relaxation and pampering, pure heaven.

We made full use of the thermal spa facilities which included various sauna's, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pool, monsoon showers, plunge showers, spa pools and beautiful relaxation areas.  We indulged in some treatments, a full back massage for my husband who suffers badly with his back, and a wonderful indian head, neck and shoulder massage for me.    Plus they had a brilliant little gym that I had all to myself, happy days!

Beautiful surroundings, amazing food, blissful treatments ... we literally floated out of there when it was over.

And then we drove on to the second part of our holiday ... a week on a canal boat on the Liverpool to Leeds Canal, going from Lancashire into Yorkshire.

Oh my days, this was a shock to the system!!

I had had romantic ideas of meandering along the beautiful canal through stunning countryside, indulging in our favourite hobbies of photography and wildlife ... which it was, to an extent.  I didn't however envisage the stonkingly exhausting hard work that it would entail with the millions, (maybe a slight exaggeration!) of lockes I would have to operate, alone!!

On the first day we were told to meet the owner up by the first set of lockes, a good hours ride away on the canal.  They didn't say however it was the first set of 7, and after he showed me how to do the first one, I would left to do the rest alone!!  My husband obviously had to steer the boat and it took some controlling, so I was the allocated locke keeper!!

I have to say, these possibly resulted in the best workout ever!! 

Each lock has two sets of gates.  Depending on whether you are emptying or filling the locke with water, you start at the relevant end.  You have to manually unwind, with a metal winch, the cills on the gates to let the water in or out, serious arm muscles workage!!  You are also really using your core muscles to stabilise yourself as you do it. You do the cill on the one side, then run over to the other side and do the other one.

When the locke has filled or emptied with water, you then need to use all your body weight to lean against the paddles for the gates and push them open, again first one side, the run over to do the other!

Keeping up??

The boat can then pass into the locke and you need to close the gates and unwind the cills.

Then once the locke has emptied or filled, you need to do the other other set at the end, repeating as above.

In total, over the course of the week, I did 21 lockes, twice, there and back,  so 42, and 4 swing bridges, twice, so 8!!!

The swing bridges are basically huge bits of road that you have to unlock and use all your body weight to literally swing them across the canal so the boat can pass through!! 

Just as you thought you were relaxing meandering along the beautiful canal, enjoying the stunning surroundings, you came upon another set of lockes, or a swing bridge, and all relaxation went out of the window. 

I am so covered in bruises, my body was totally exhausted by the end of each day, but can still say, I thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Me in full on locke keeper mode!!

I wouldn't do it again, especially not just as a couple, you need a group so there can be more hands to help out at the lockes, but we have done it now, another thing to be crossed off the list.

I had planned to continue with my running whilst on the canal, the idea was to run alongside the boat on the canal path as it slowly went along in the water ..... I think if I had tried it would have killed me, I literally had used all my energy!

We indulged a little food wise whilst away, a few things I normally wouldn't eat anymore, but I was burning it off and I wasn't picking in between so wasn't bothered.  I was however craving to get home, get to the gym and get back to my healthy cooking where I had full control.


So that's enough about my little break away.  Am now back home and back on my mission, with a vengeance!!

Whilst away I managed to completely ruin my favourite running shoes by dashing about in the muddy puddles besides the lockes, so we went and got my feet properly measured up for running shoes at a brilliant shop in Chelmsford called Runner's World.  They got me to run on a treadmill whilst they recorded my feet and then played it back to see how my feet 'behaved'!!  They also asked questions on what type of running I envisaged doing, how active I was etc etc.  Apparently I have a perfect runners gait!!  I run and land on my toes, so just needed basic running shoes.  They got me to try on various shoes and run in them to see how I got on.

These are the ones I chose...

I love them, they are sooooo comfortable, like slippers on my feet, just as they should be.  Was planning on trying them out today but it has been a miserable rainy day and I don't want to get them dirty, haha!!  But will put them to the test on the treadmill at the gym tomorrow.

So, on with some cooking!!

~BRUNCH~

This morning I decided to do a brunch rather than a breakfast and lunch ... mainly because my husband decided to have a big lie-in!

I decided on making some Kedgeree.  I love Kedgeree, I have never made it before but have had it when eating out for breakfast.  It is usually made with lots of butter or cream in it, I chose to try and make a healthy version, and it really worked.  A lot of recipes tell you to use fresh undyed smoked haddock to be cooked in milk etc etc, a lot of faff, I had bought some smoked mackerel fillets yesterday so decided to use them instead.

First of all I boiled 200g of brown basmati rice till tender, then let it cool.  Whilst that was cooking I also boiled some eggs and then let them cool to, and roasted off some raw almonds in a hot pan.

In a large pan I added a tablespoon of rapeseed oil then to this added a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of ground coriander, a teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of curry powder and let it cook out in the oil.  I then added a chopped onion and let it soften in the spiced oil, followed by the rice.  Ensuring all the rice was coated in the spiced oil.  I then flaked in the mackerel fillets, removing the skin, followed by a cup of frozen peas, the zest of a lemon and some organic chicken stock and let it all absorb into the rice.  I chopped up the roasted almonds and added them to the mix, along with half a cup of sultanas, the juice of the lemon and a good handful of chopped coriander.

To serve, I spooned some into a bowl and topped with some of the chopped boiled egg and a spoonful of fat free greek yogurt.

It was truly delicious, bursting with so much flavour, and very very filling, not needed to eat anything else today until this evening's roast dinner.

 

My husband also loved it, I wasn't sure he would.  Luckily though I made enough to take some cold for my lunch tomorrow, result!!

 

~DINNER~

 

I had been craving a good home cooked roast dinner whilst we were away, so tonight I did a gorgeous roast chicken.

 

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I always roast my chicken by stuffing a whole lemon into the cavity to steam it from the inside and keep the meat moist, I then placed it on a wire rack in the roasting tin so that all fat drips away.

Whilst the chicken was roasting I chopped up some potatoes still in their skins, some peeled parsnips and some peeled sweet potato and cooked them in the Actifry, with no oil, for about 45 minutes till crispy.

In the meantime I par boiled some tenderstem broccoli and brussel sprouts, we like them cooked until just tender.

Served it all up and made a gravy from the chicken juices drained of any fat, the vegetable water and a teaspoon of cornflour to thicken.

Both our plates were clean, that says a lot ... apart from the fact we are greedy!! ;)  But we so much prefer our roasts like this, light, fresh and practically fat free, not swimming in grease, delicious.

~EXERCISE~

 

No exercise today as such, I just needed a day to relax and get over our holiday before returning to work tomorrow.  But did get out and tidy the garden a little and also had to continue with getting the piles and piles of holiday laundry done, so feel like I hardly rested.

 

Tomorrow I am back at the gym and I really cannot wait.  I am a little anxious, not sure why, it has only been just over a week, but I have that feeling again you get when you first start, thinking everybody will be watching you ... which you know they aren't!!

 

Monday is usually just swimming day, but I am going to go into the gym first and do 20 minutes on the treadmill before I go in for my swim.

 

Will let you know if my new trainers do their thing!!!

 

 

Thanks for coming back and reading!!

 

Jo

xx