Monday evening, 25-03-24

Good evening, everyone.

My thanks to Jo Morgan for mentioning this blog on her YouTube vlog on Sunday.  I thought I would just answer a few questions - not that she asked any but to fill her, and anyone else newer to my blog, with a bit of info.

About me.
I'm Joy Clark, nearly 72 years old but feeling about half that age most of the time.  I've lived in Mid Essex for more than half my life now but, before then, I've lived in London, Belfast and, as a child, near Derby.  I was married but no longer and have two children, both in their forties now, bless them, plus one adult grandson.
Apart from the time I took out to have my family, I have been a primary school teacher all my working life and loved it, but I'm also really enjoying retirement with all the freedoms it gives me.
I am a school governor and I go to a number of different fitness classes - which always makes me smile because before SW, I would never have countenanced them for a single second, let alone cope with them physically.

About my SW journey.
I joined SW after having gallbladder problems which meant I had to eat a very restricted diet, firstly because it hurt if I didn't and then also because I was put on a 'liver shrinking diet' prior to surgery.
When that was all done and dusted, I found the weight slowly creeping back on again so, after chatting to a friend, I joined the SW group she went to.  And it all went from there . . .

Am I at target?
Some time and plenty of ups and downs later, I reached my target and stayed around it, within the target range but, after a Christmas/New Year cruise and a delayed 'get-back-to-it', I'm about seven pounds outside my target range.  I'm not fussed, it's still a happy place, but I'd like to get back there, all the same, so I am working towards that.
(In case you're wondering how much I have lost, from my heaviest ever to now, I have lost roughly half my body weight - never, ever want to go back there again!)

Finally, I don't like to do this much, but here's a before/after thing - I am older, greyer, shorter haired and much more wrinkled now than when the 'after' photo was taken around two or three years ago.  😉

What I ate today on Slimming World:

Pancakes rather than waffles today and I made the batter a bit thinner by diluting it with water.  Still tasted great!

20g wholewheat SR flour (which I call half a B)

one medium egg (free/protein)

a splodge of 0% yogurt (free/protein)

pinch baking powder

water to dilute (could use milk but measure and count)

flavourings of choice

Mix it all well together and cook as wanted.

Serve with a selection of fruit and more yogurt.

Half a B

The last portion of nasi goreng.  I realised I had quite a lot of mushrooms so I had them instead of a salad and also added some mixed seeds to the rice.

Two syns for the nasi goreng.  The seeds can be the rest of the healthy B

Dinner was a bit of a cobbled together affair.  I had the very beany chilli, some leftover veg from yesterday and some left over coleslaw from Saturday that had sort of 'pickled' (and was delicious).  I heated the first two, piled the chilli over the mince, sprinkled over grated cheddar and popped the coleslaw on the side.  Amazingly, it was delicious.

One healthy extra A and one syn for salad cream

No pudding - no room for anything else.

And there's a bit of chilli left over.  I'm going to freeze it for now and, next week, mash it and use it to make quesadillas.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

three syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B: rice pudding, fruit and yogurt

SW:  half a healthy extra A

L:  cheesy broccoli and cauliflower soup, croutons, seeds; fruit

I think this is the last from the freezer.

SW:  half a healthy extra A for cheese triangles in the soup, one healthy extra B for croutons and mixed seeds

D:  chicken pasta bake, side salad; fruit

SW:  one healthy extra A, one syn for salad cream

Exercise:  roove class and the walk there and back again.