Thursday, 7 August 2025

Thursday, 07-08-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

OK, so after last night's extras, the count it:

Seven days down, six on plan, one not, twenty four to go

What I ate today:

I meant to photo my lunch, I took my camera, but when the meal arrived, I was so busy chatting to Chris, I forgot!  I chose a small plate Caesar salad and am going to say I will be at the top of my syns for the day.  I actually don't think I will be but to be on the safe side - Caesar dressing is quite calorific but I didn't have all of it.  The shavings of parmesan were half an A (estimate).

Later in the afternoon, I had an apple.

A very tasty dinner of lentil and aubergine bake with runner beans and tomatoes fried in a bit of evoo and with a dash of balsamic vinegar added at the end.
One healthy A and two syns plus another two syns for the oil in the tomatoes

Summary:

two healthy extra As
no healthy extra Bs
fifteen syns (est)

I am counting today as on plan.

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  veg in a tomato and red pepper sauce with pasta and cheese, side salad; fruit

D:  chicken and mushroom risotto, runner beans; fruit

Exercise:   a walk

Wednesday, 6 August 2025

Wednesday, 06-08-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I'm posting this early as I will be out this evening.

Six down, six on plan, twenty five to go (I'm saying this in hopes that I won't go bonkers this evening lol)

What I ate today:

Lunch.  The corned beef patties - two syns and a third of an A - plus tomatoes with one syn's worth of evoo spray and some runner beans.

This is what I made to take with me on the coach.

One healthy B for the bread, two syns for the corned beef, one syn for a bit of soft cheese (instead of butter) and one syn for chutney.

Below is the rest of what I took.

Summary:
a third of a healthy extra A
one healthy extra B
seven syns
(assuming I don't have anything else this evening)

Edit:  I did, I had several 'elses' through the evening so not on plan for the whole day.  Oh, well!




Tomorrow's plans:

L:  out for lunch with my friend, Chris.

D:  cheesy lentil and veg layer bake, runner beans, tomatoes; salad

Exercise:  a groove video


Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Tuesday, 05-08-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Five days down, all on plan, twenty six to go

What I ate today:

Cheese toastie with coleslaw and tomatoes.
One healthy extra B and three syns for the bread, wo As for cheese, one and a half syns for chutney and one syn for salad cream in the coleslaw.

Mid afternoon I had an apple and an orange.
Dinner was half a bag of M&S frozen chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables air fried with some chicken, a sausage, apple wedges, red onion wedges and tomatoes with one tbsp maple syrup added half way through plus runner beans on the side.
Two syns for maple syrup and four syns for the sausage.

Summary:
two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
eleven and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  corned beef patty with an egg on top, roasted tomatoes, runner beans (if there's enough); fruit
More an evening meal because I'm out later - see below

D:  I'm out, into London to see Evita.  I  will take something packed with me to eat on the coach and find somewhere to have a coffee before the show.
I rather fancy corned beef and chutney sandwich, which will use up the rest of the can of corned beef, with some finger salad and then some fruit.  That will be a healthy extra B and five syns for the whole can of lean corned beef

Exercise:   rest day

Monday, 4 August 2025

Monday, 04-08-25 and two recipes

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Four on plan days down now, no off plan days and twenty seven days to go.

What I ate today:

Lunch was so delicious and very filling.  I will post how I made the beanburger below, ditto for the coleslaw.
The coleslaw was one syn for salad cream.
The wholemeal muffin is my healthy extra B
The burger was a third of a healthy extra A for cheese in the actual burger and I used a very small amount of sourdough starter discard (explanation below) which I am calling half a syn - I don't think it is as much as that but because I am trying to be totally on plan . . .
On the muffin, I had one and a half syns in chutney and one A of grated cheddar on top.  Finally, two syns for avocado oil for toasting the insides of the muffin and cooking the burger.
Phew . . .
So - mini summary - one and a third healthy extra As, one healthy extra B and five syns.

I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on the salad.  It's Morrisons balsamic vinegar of Modena and it is so lovely and think, like a glaze,  I find it hard to believe that it is free - I keep checking it on the app and it genuinely is free.

Later on, I had an apple.

Here's dinner - cheesy penne arrabbiata.  Absolutely delicious with onion, mushroom, pepper and tomatoes from the garden plus the chicken and the penne.  It was very 'angry' (that's what arrabbiata means) so I mixed in some garlic and herb soft cheese (Morrisons, 50% lighter) which just muffled the heat enough.
Three and a half syns for the soft cheese, two thirds of an A for the Italian cheese (to go with the thirds in the lunchtime burger and that's it.

Summary:
two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
eight and a half syns
(see my Slimming World halo?)

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  cheese and chutney toastie with coleslaw and salad; fruit

D:  maple chargrilled veg with chicken, apple and sausage; fruit
I couldn't decide whether to have chicken or sausage so I am going for both - one sausage and half a chicken breast fillet.  The chargrilled veg are from the freezer too.

Exercise:   a walk and a Lindsey class.

How I make my coleslaw:

I always make my own coleslaw.
It is cheaper and it is nicer (I think).

I shred cabbage, both red and green/white, if I have both.
I grate or chop carrot.
I chop some apple, skin on.
I add 70% lighter salad cream, preferring that to mayonnaise.  20g is one syn, 40g is two and a half (it is just the way the numbers round)

And I mix it all together.
No seasonings, no spices, etc, but you could, if you fancy.

It keeps well in a covered or lidded container for a couple of days.  The salad cream stops the apple from browning.



How I made the beanburger:

I have soaked and cooked pulses in the freezer but you can use single pulses or some mixed beans from a can.

I used around fifteen pinto beans, fifteen chickpeas and ten butterbeans (no, I didn't count them out, it's an estimate based on knowing I wanted one burger)
I chopped half a spring onion.
I grated a bit of carrot.
I grated 10g hard Italian cheese.
I added about a tbsp sourdough starter discard (see below for why)*
You can add your own seasonings - today mine were garlic granules, chilli flakes, cumin, turmeric, pepper (no salt as the cheese has salt) - just a small pinch of each.  However, you can add whatever you fancy really.

Pop the lot in a mini blender and pulse it or get going with a fork in a bowl.

It should shape nicely into a patty that you can wrap and chill until needed.  The nice thing is that apart from the starter, it's all cooked or edible so there's no need to worry about timings, just heat it through with a browning on the top and bottom.
(they could shape into falafels, of course)

A third of an A, and half a syn for the discard.

*  I keep a jar of sourdough starter discard in the fridge.  While looking for things I could make with it (pancakes, waffles, crumpets, muffins, pizza base . . .), I read that a bit of discard works well as a binding agent in a burger instead of breadcrumbs and a bit of egg.  So that's what I use now as it's easier and much cheaper.  However, breadcrumbs/flour and a bit of beaten egg would work just as well.


Sunday, 3 August 2025

Sunday, 03-08-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Three days down, twenty eight to go.  I am aiming for every single day to be proper on plan apart from the meals I really cannot help because I am out.

Whether I actually can achieve this is up for grabs but it's time to stop faffing about.


What I ate today:

I was slicing my new sourdough loaf prior to freezing and I ate the end bit - half a healthy extra B but no photo.

Lunch was a Cook's ready meal - I still have a few in the freezer - steak and stout stew with runner beans (the first picking from the garden), carrots and broccoli.  Plenty of speed there.  Afters was an orange.

The stew was OK; to be fair, most of it was absolutely delicious but there were two niggles for me.  It was too salty which is probably me, not it, because I have been adding less salt to my meals recently and there was too pronounced a thyme flavour, again for my taste.
Set against that, the steak in the stout gravy was wonderfully melt in the mouth and the two little dumplings (responsible for most of the syns, I am sure) were so lovely.  I like dumplings but hardly ever have them for obvious reasons.  So the ready meal was 476 (ish) calories which is more than reasonable for a main meal, but the syns came to thirteen - ouch.  I'm not fussed though.
I love runner beans fresh picked and steamed or boiled and those runner beans from the garden were so, so delicious.  

Afters was an orange.

I had planned a cooked dinner but wasn't that hungry so I made an egg and cheese salad instead with a hm fro-yo ice lolly for dessert instead.
Two healthy extra As, half a B and three syns

Summary:
two healthy extra ASs
one healthy extra B
sixteen syns


Tomorrow's plans:

L:  cheesy beanburger in a bagel or English muffin, side salad; fruit

D:  chicken penne arrabbiata, side salad; fruit
An old favourite!

Exercise:   Groove

Saturday, 2 August 2025

Saturday, 02-08-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I'm back.

It's been quite a week what with trips, lunches and fighting a summer virus (the virus won) but I have several easy days ahead of me and time to rest, plan and think through my strategies.

This last week has been a SW/Mediterranean car crash so I really do need to get my act together.  Back to basics for August, I think.

What I ate yesterday and today:

Friday lunch:  I made a mini pizza using one Bs worth of wholemeal flour and three syns of white flour plus three syns of oil and one A in cheese.
(I call a certain amount of wholemeal flour a B - this is not a SW thing, it is my own thing as I made my own bread.)
Comfort food for Friday evening,  It comforted so it served its purpose.
Eight syns for the sausages.  The rest was speed and free
On to today and lunch was scrambled eggs on toast with garden tomatoes and cucumber.

One slice of sourdough was less than a B but two slices would be more.  I had one slice and will keep the other to have if I feel hungry later.

So most of a B and syn free.

I had four mint humbugs left from some I took on the coach trip - six syns in total.

I did and it was lovely - the nice thing about sourdough toast is the crunch and this had crunch in spades!  The rest of the B and three syns.

I also had an apple.

I used some garden tomatoes and some canned ones to make a batch of really nice curry sauce and I had a portion with chicken and chickpeas with 'posh' rice for dinner.  Delicious!

Two syns for the sauce (mostly oil).

Afters was an orange.

Summary:
no healthy extra As (not good)
one healthy extra B
eight syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  I'm having a Cooks ready meal from the freezer.  SW says it is 13 syns (ouch) but it is under 500 calories so I am not stressing.  

D:  Indian meatballs in that hm curry sauce with rice and, maybe, some dhal

Exercise:   a Lindsey video, assuming I feel fit to do so,  

Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Wednesday, 30-07-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Just to let you know that there will be no blog tomorrow but I'll be back on Friday evening.

What I ate yesterday:

Just one photo because there were leftovers so the evening was the same thing.  Sticky chicken skewers, coleslaw and salad.


I'm not feeling great so am going to fast for much of today and see how I feel come the evening.  No plans, no photos and no blog this evening either.