Friday, 01-11-24 - Eat-Your-Syns Friday (Saturday 2nd, actually) and starting to plan for Christmas

Good morning , everyone!  
I was so, so tired yesterday evening, I decided to leave both blogs until this morning.

It was EYS Friday so things slackened a little bit.  I might have had a few more pumpkin seeds on the oats for breakfast and that little bottle of wine just jumped into my shopping trolley, honest!!   I didn't bother to count stuff because, being EYS Friday and also allowing myself up to double syns (if I wanted them) because target members can and still stick to the SW structure, there didn't seem to be that much point.  I'm as sure as I can be that I didn't go over.

At group first thing, I had a gaintain of one pound but am still under target so absolutely no worries whatsoever - natural fluctuations are going to happen.

What I ate yesterday

What a messy bowlful.  It's very hard to get overnight oats looking anything but sloppy, isn't it?  It was, however, absolutely scrummy!

20g oats, strawberries, strawberry skinny syrup, bit of Sugarly, yogurt and mixed seeds.

The chicken and veg soup was delicious but the bread was just wow!!

I'm calling it Mediterranean bread.  It was a right mix of flours because I was low on strong wholemeal so I used what I had plus spelt, rye and white and the additions were seeds, sun dried tomato, olives and seeds and toasting it really brings out those flavours!

I am definitely doing this again and certainly for Christmas when I might also add walnuts or pistachios too.

Yes, it probably - no, certainly - contains syns as well as being a B but please, if you're following SW, remember that I've never totally toed the line and also - target member . . .

(not showing off, just saying because it does make a difference)

I just added mushrooms and yellow peppers to the leftovers of chicken and veg casserole and it went jolly well with the air fried chips.

I had other stuff too but don't want to trigger so just accept that I went off plan, please.  Ta!

No summary - I wouldn't know where to start.  Back on it straight away this morning.

My meal plans for today:

B:  Sarah's pear and gingerbread mug cake with yogurt and mixed seeds (must have my mixed seeds!)

A lady called Sarah posted this in the Facebook SlimWin group (lovely supportive group, do take a look) and it looked so good I'm giving it a go.

L: Mediterranean toast with soft cheese and smoked salmon with salad on the side; fruit

D:  smoked salmon pasta (from an Easy Cook magazine), salad; fruit

Exercise: Goodness knows.  Come back, Lindsey.  All is forgiven.  :-)

The Extra Bit

Starting to prep for Christmas because

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail . . .

I used to be a teacher.  Teachers plan; we have to in order to survive in today's target driven, OFSTED dominated environment.  

In primary schools, the second half of the autumn term is manic, what with shows, decorations, Christmas celebratory stuff - and one still has to keep up with the curriculum.  As a result, I had my own Christmas pretty much done and dusted by the end of half term.  It's in the blood.

Sorry!

For the purpose of this blog, the most important thing is The Food.  Every year I eat rubbish and gain pounds and the seem to take literally MONTHS to lose again.  I really want this year to be different.  I love my healthy food and want to stick to it.

Mostly, anyway.

So the planning starts.  I've had a conversation with Beth and we are singing from the same carol sheet.  I'm not sure Alex (a 26yr old man) is totally convinced but I can be flexible and he does love the healthy stuff too.

So this weekend, I'm sitting down with my notebook and my pile of print out recipes (I've been researching) and am starting to plan what I can make that will go into the freezer - like my Mediterranean bread, for example.  The more I have it all organised, done and dusted, the easier it will be.

That's the theory, anyway.

How do you tackle this time of year?