Tuesday evening, 08-10-24 and tip 2 - plan, plan, plan

Good evening, everyone!  

What I ate today

I decided to turn the breakfast ingredients into a smoothie using 0% Greek yogurt, 20g oats, some frozen peach and nectarine slices, one banana, some seeds and some 'sprinkle' topping.

Chia seeds were blended with the yogurt, the fruit and the oats and some skinny syrup and then I popped the smoothie into the fridge.  After a short while it thickened really nicely.  When I was ready, I added the mixed seeds and the sprinkle.

One healthy extra B for oats and seeds and half a syn for the sprinkle (it's probably not even that but, to be on the safe side . . .

Later on, I had an apple.

Now that's a better colour!  Quiche from the freezer and a lovely mixed salad.

Half a healthy extra A for cheese in the quiche and four syns for some salad dressing;

Later afternoon I enjoyed a plum and a pear

And finally, for dinner, a penne arrabbiata using one of the portions of sausage casserole with some added yellow pepper and mushrooms plus some chilli flakes for a pleasant, tickle-on-the-tongue hum of chilli.

Then I had a pear - after remaining rock hard for over a week, they're all going soft together - you know what pears are like!  They're not all that tasty either - maybe stewing them with a bit of spice might make them a bit nicer.  What do you think?

One healthy extra A, three syns for the casserole and two syns for evoo.

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

nine and a half syns

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  fruit, yogurt and seeds 

L:   salmon, bulgur wheat and salad; fruit

D:  cheese and chutney toastie and salad

Exercise: Circuits (instead of Monday which I had to miss - personal training is on Friday)

The Extra Bit

The second tip that helped me because I am that sort of person is . . .

2.  Plan, plan, plan (and prep)!

I was a teacher for most of my adult life apart from a break to start a family.  In that time I must have spent the equivalent of years producing lesson plans, medium term plans, long term plans, assessment plans - you name it, we had to plan for it in the last ten years or so of my career.

And then I did a bit of after school private tuition and, yes, I planned for that in considerable detail; because that's what I was used to.

So, when I started Slimming World, it came naturally to me to plan.  We were expected to at first and hand in our diaries so Jen could see where (or if) we were misunderstanding anything.

At first I created very detailed weekly plans, based my shopping list on what |I needed for those plans and generally had everything totally stitched up.
Not everyone's cuppa diet coke, I know, but it worked.  Believe me - it worked!!

As I got to know the plan, I did ease off after a while, but I still have a general idea of what I'm having each day from Saturday to the following Friday (group meets on Friday) and I still write my shopping list after I have planned.  That little habit has saved me a small fortune over the past few years.

I keep a planning sheet template on my PC.  Works for me.

After all, you know that saying . . . 

IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL

Running along side of that is preparation.
Because I know what I'm eating for the day and because I'm an early bird, I spend the first fifteen minutes or so of each day prepping as much as I can, getting stuff out of the freezer, etc., because I know that if the food is ready and as prepped as possible, that's what I will have.  I won't take any diversions into less healthy byways.

I know this level of detail is not for everyone and I do have flexibility too but I do think that, if you want to win at this weight loss/healthy lifestyle game, some sort of planning is essential.  Make it work for you and it's one of the best tools anyone could have.  

A confession - I still have bad dreams about being observed by Senior Management or OFSTED and I HAVEN'T PLANNED MY LESSON!! - sad, isn't it?  😆😁😉

No, it never happened in Real Life - thank goodness.