Wednesday, 01-07-20 (long entry alert)

Good morning.

It's a new month and, as SW-ers are encouraged to have a bit of a reflection now and again, mine is down at the bottom.  Please don't feel you have to read it.

Yesterday's photos:

Very tasty, sweet and comforting on a miserably damp and chilly morning.

I though lunch was perhaps going to be a bit dull.  I wrapped the smoked basa in foil with three lemon slices and popped it in my on the hob steamer with the asparagus for around 15 mins and you know what - it was lovely.
There were two pieces of fish in the pack and I'm looking forward to the other one now.

I nibbled the cheese in the afternoon rather than have it on dinner.  :-)

I was totally stuffed after eating this and the yogurt for dessert.  I could not have eaten another mouthful.  Phew.

















Yesterday's calories.
Planned meals:  1154 cals
However, I made several changed to dinner.  The burger only needed 70g chickpeas so that was 85 cals, not 121.  I didn't fancy pasta so changed it to couscous which was 45 cals instead of 176, I doubled the tomato so another 28 cals and the yogurt I chose was 51 cals, not 80 (and tasted it too - I won't be getting them again)
Oh, and there were a few titchy little potatoes from the allotment, pebble sized really so let's call that another 25 cals
So, doing the maths, I ended up eating 1011 cals which is ridiculously low but I honestly was totally full up to bursting and if you look at the photos, I haven't gone short.  I had an orange after lunch as well as the yogurt after dinner.

Today's plans:
B:  oat bran pancakes with fruit and yogurt
I may make double the amount of pancakes and freeze half for another breakfast

pancakes = 150 cals
100 g yogurt = 60 cals
50g each of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries = 75 cals
total = 285 cals
SW:  half a heB

L:  quesadillas and salad; slices of melon
I have baked beans left over from Tuesday.

half a can baked beans (rinsed) =  178 cals
one WW wholemeal wrap = 80 cals (a surprise - I though it was more and will check the wrapper next time I can)
30g grated cheddar = 125 cals
bits of veg made into a spicy salsa - 30 cals
salad = 30 cals
2 tsps raspberry vinaigrette = 26 cals
melon = 25 cals
total = 494 cals
SW:  half a heB and one syn for the wrap and one heA for the cheese, one syn for the dressing

D:  pork mince chilli, couscous; yogurt
I will 'chillify' the mince by adding some of the remaining Chinese stir fry pack (which will look odd but I'm not wasting it), some chilli and some red kidney beans

40g (dry weight) of couscous = 45 cals
cooked pork mince = 150 cals
red kidney beans, 50g = 68 cals
stir fry veg = 25 cals
30 g finely grated cheddar = 125 cals
30g dollop of Greek yogurt = 18 cals
yogurt = 80 cals (some yogurts are a little less, but 80 is a good round number to use)
total = 511 cals
SW:  one heA and half a syn

S:  fruit

Body Magic:  half an hour of personal training

Summary:
two heAs and one heB - just right
half a syn
1290 cals

A reflection or two

It's a new month, so I've done a month, all but a day, counting the calories on my Slimming World friendly meal planning.

It started off with me using Pinch of Nom 2 as my inspiration and very quickly spread beyond that  to other recipes but always working out the calories.  At first it took ages and, certainly, this blog is now more wordy and with numbers dotted around as if they were going out of fashion, which has probably made it less reader friendly.

It's been very interesting for me though and has helped me to understand why weight loss had slowed down.  Mostly it was fine but the issue was mainly the 'eat freely' from carbs like pasta, rice and potato element of the plan as well as unlimited amounts of certain fruits.

To be fair, the guidance also says substitute up to half your meal with speed foods (basically fruit and veg) but the 'replace' bit tends to get a bit lost in translation.  Even on the vlogs, I hear people say 'and then I added x, y or z for speed', not 'I subbed . . .'

Once I started checking everything with their calories, it was an eye opener and that's the biggest difference I have made, now finding that 50g of rice and pasta is more than enough, even in recipes where it asks for 100g or even more!  Also, couscous is far more calorie friendly, serves a similar purpose and absorbs flavours really well.

I have just a few pounds to go.  Weigh in is tomorrow so, as yet, I don't know how much of last week's embarrassingly big gain has gone again but some will have and I'll be just a few pounds from target.  I shall carry on double checking for a few more weeks as it seems to be working well and then have another think, not necessarily about changing strategies, but about how the way I record it all in here.  It needs to be shortened and simplified in the longer term.

However, and it's a big however, Eileen has quite rightly pointed out that sometimes I'm going a bit too low in my calories - and she is correct; see yesterdays results above as an example.  I've added another column to my meals 'table' for the calories, just to make sure.  I'm really grateful to her for pointing it out.

And thank you all for your support.  Thank you very much indeed.

(And a less serious ponder - do you think I could use the oat bran pancake mixture as a base for courgette fritters - without the sweetener and vanilla, of course?  Must give it a go.)