Saturday, 14-10-23

 Good morning, everyone, and welcome to my maintain journey blog.

Weigh in was an utter shock.  I have maintained!  So very, very pleased but how after that pig-fest at Center Parcs??  
No complaints from me though, just some very big smiles!

I bought some halloumi last week and have found recipes that sound really nice to use it up.  You might see it mentioned more than once this week.  :-)

Yesterday's meal photos:

I decided to make waffles instead of pancakes - exactly the same ingredients, just cooked in a waffle thingy rather than a pan.  It was nice to have a change.

Well, this really surprised me.  I truly wasn't sure about the dip which was Greek yogurt with maple syrup (should have been pomegranate syrup but I didn't have any of that) but the combinations of flavours with the griddled halloumi was just fantastic.  I did enjoy this!

Later on, I had a pear and two little plums.

I can never make these pasta meals look 'designer' can I?  Never mind, it was, as almost always, really delicious, even if the pasta shapes were Merry and Festive.  Yes, I'm still using last year's Christmas pasta up.

No dessert so that was the end of my eating window.

I've decided that each week I will have one cheat/treat (I'm not sure what to call it really) but with the proviso that it won't be ultra processed - which eliminates most of the really calorific stuff.  So it could be a punnet of cherries, it could be something cheesy or, as yesterday, it could be a bag of nuts, just plain, shelled nuts.

But a bit different from the daily deliciousness.

Today's meal plans:

B:  waffles, fruit and yogurt
. . . or maybe pancakes - or even some little muffin type thingies.  It just depends on how I feel when the time comes.
SW:  half a healthy extra B

L:  carrot, halloumi and dill patties, side salad; fruit
This is a recipe from the Olive site; it's supposed to be deep-ish fried balls and fritters are much easier to cook when you're limiting the oil!  Also, I only have ground cumin so that will have to do.
Here's the recipe (reduced down for one):
https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegetarian/carrot-halloumi-and-dill-balls/
SW:  two healthy extra As for halloumi and two syns for a tsp oil

D:  sweet potato fishcakes, salad, perhaps chips; fruit/yogurt
The fishcakes are (or should this be 'is'?) another Jamie Oliver recipe.   I will be cheating and using jarred roasted pepper and mint sauce as my garden mint is pretty much over now and I'll use spray oil
 https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/sweet-potato-fishcakes/
I probably won't have chips with them, I'll see how I feel.
Edited to add that I won't be making the sauce as I remembered I have some tomato and veg sauce left over from yesterday dinner and will use that instead
SW:  some of another healthy extra A for a bit of feta. 

Exercise:  online SET class

Summary:
up to three healthy extra As
half a healthy extra B
at the moment it's two syns but I'll probably discover more when I actually make up the recipes.

The Slimming World structure:

While following the plan, you can have . . .

Any amount of speed and free food - BUT try to have a third of your plate as speed food as a sub for free food, NOT as well as . . .  Eat to satisfaction, not to stuffed-ness!

Two healthy extra As (calcium) and one healthy extra B (fibre) - details in the SW pack and on the SW web site/app.

Between five and fifteen syns-worth of synned food - again, details in the pack, site and app.  They are a limit to stay within, not a target to hit.

As a target member, I can also have . . .

Another two healthy extras each day
Another fifteen syns up to three times each week

BUT - only if I need/want to.  It's a limit, not a target

. . . with the ultimate aim of not needing to count healthy extras, syns, etc at all but just knowing and eating well instinctively.