Friday, 20-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

After a few days, I am really liking the two meals a day thingy.  That probably won't last for ever but it's good while it lasts and I really don't feel it is any hardship.

Another thing I am liking is the new SW recipe book I got this morning - Street Food.  It has some great looking recipes which you will probably see in here soon.

Changing things around from time to time really helps.

What I have eaten today:

To make the shredded chicken, I threw together a sauce of soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, maple syrup and a dash of balsamic vinegar, wrapped half a chicken breast fillet in foil with the sauce and slow baked it in Nellie (i.e. on bake for about 25mins at 150).  I let it cool and then shredded the chicken into what remained of the sauce.  Very tasty.

Thanks to Nicky in a Vlog for the idea.  I forgot the chilli though - ooops!

One healthy extra B, three syns for the sauce, one syn for mixed seeds in the coleslaw and one syn for salad cream in ditto.

I had a few strawberries for afters

The sausage, bacon and bean casserole was super delicious and all made up.

Ages ago, I tried the heck sausage 'rashers', didn't like them and froze the remaining two rather than chuck them.  Interestingly, they were really much nicer in the casserole with a whole range of veg, some bacon, some cannellini beans and spiced with sumac, garlic, chicken stock powder, tomato and Szechuan pepper.  I had it with posh rice, as you can see and there's two smaller portions left.  

Totally delish.

One syns for evoo and that's it.

Edit:  no it isn't, there's one syn for the sausage slices

Afterwards I had some yogurt with chia strawberry sauce (made from some strawberries that had gone mushy) and it was lovely.  One syn for the seeds.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B 

seven eight syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:  I'm having another portion of the casserole with some chilli flakes added and cheese on top, salad; fruit

D:  hm burger of some kind, salad, coleslaw, chips; fruit

Edit:  changed to gunpowder chicken nuggets from the new book, p 22.

Exercise:  yoga and, maybe, SET, depending on how quickly I get up.

Thursday, 19-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I'm feeling so much better now I am back on the healthy, mostly unprocessed or minimally processed foods.  I know it isn't rocket science I've noticed that I go for the rubbish when I am down for some other reason and, when I do, it just feeds the down-ness and makes it worse.  But I still fall for it every time.  Ho hum, I really need to find a way out, don't I?  

Any ideas?  

What I have eaten today:

Brunch today.  I added some balsamic glaze to vegetables (very nice indeed) and it's toast under the egg.

Two syns for some evoo, one syn for the glaze and one healthy extra B.

This was dinner - summer carbonara with a salad.  The salad was all speed and there's one healthy extra A plus one syn for mixed seeds in the carbonara.

As I had an egg white (from the carbonara), I made my Frozen Fruit Foam using mango and some frozen apple slices.  Really nice and very refreshing.

And syn free because I don't syn blended fruit.

Here the link to the recipe.  https://my30-30challenge.blogspot.com/2021/03/recipe-frozen-fruit-foam.html

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:  shredded chicken wrap, salad, coleslaw; fruit

Thank you, Nicky in a Vlog, for the inspiration for this.

D:  sausage and white bean casserole, mixed rice; fruit
I found this in the SW magazine and am adapting it to work with what I have got.

Exercise:   walk to SW group and back, YouTube Yoga.

Wednesday, 18-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Sorry about yesterday.  It was One of Those Days, busy, busy, and I lost it in the evening.
I did take a photo of lunch and here it is.  

I don't feel great, mentally, about yesterday evening but it's too late for recriminations, I move on and try to learn (again)!

I have noticed that my tum seems to go on me after I have had cheese.  Not cheese in a meal, a 'nibble' of cheese on its own.  Must keep an eye on that . . .

What I have eaten today:

I decided that if I am moving more to two meals a day, I must make them count.  

So for brunch I opened a can of sardines in tomato sauce and blitzed it with a bit of salad cream and served it like this.

Half a syn for the salad cream

Dessert was a peach.

I finally got round to having the chilli beans in a wrap basket and it was delicious.

One A for the cheese, one healthy extra B for the wrap used to make the basket.

I had an apple and an orange for pud.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

half a syn

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:    egg on toast with tomatoes and mushrooms; fruit

D:     summer carbonara, side salad; fruit

Exercise:   the 'strike' part of SET in the morning and groove in the afternoon.  

Monday, 16-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I wondered if today would be difficult after yesterday's fasting but it really wasn't, if anything it was easier than usual.

And I really appreciated my fruit and veg.

And my tum seems to have settled.

What I have eaten today:

Before circuits, I had two apples for some energy.
I had sourdough discard overflowing from the jar so I used some of it to make pancakes, not crepes this time but the more solid, risen ones.
I ended up with nineteen (at one syn each or half a B for three - more or less) so, to make it handy for having three at a time, I tested one of them (very nice) for part of a B - see below.

This salad was really lovely; lettuce, tomato, cucumber, baby corn, pepper and carrot plus beetroot, black olives, feta and some balsamic glaze.

One A, half a B (with the pancake) for the seeds, one and a half syns for the glaze and one and a half for the olives.

Afters was an orange.

I made a batch of bean and lentil chilli - four for the freezer, one for this evening and one for tomorrow.
Packed with good stuff, it was lovely - olive oil, onion, peppers, mushrooms, peas, broad beans, sweetcorn, cans of chopped tomato, tomato puree, black beans and kidney beans plus some green lentils (cooked from dried) and seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic, smoked sweet paprika, normal paprika, cumin, dries coriander and chilli flakes.  Oh, and some vegetable bouillon powder and water.

This is why it had to be a batch, not a single portion.

With it, as you can see, I had bulgur wheat and a simple salad plus some Greek yogurt.

Very tasty, very filling and one syn (for the oil).

Summary:

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit

L:  three pancakes with a sort of pizza like topping, salad; fruit

D:  bean and lentil chilli in a basket, salad; fruit

Exercise:  Groove and a walk, possibly a bit of basic yoga

Sunday, 15-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

It's been a fast day for most of today; I just had one meal this evening.  Hopefully it has settled things nicely.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be and showed me that a lot of my nibbling is pure habit, not hunger at all.  At times I wanted to eat something but not because I was at all hungry; I was actually craving a cold, juicy apple!  I did miss fruit.  Interesting.  

I'm just wondering whether to do this from time to time anyway or two meals in the day.  Hmmmmm.

This is how I broke the fast.  Eggs on sourdough toast with a simple salad on the side.

I had an apple and a plum afterwards.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one and a half healthy extra Bs (toast and seeds)

four syns for some hm salad dressing.

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  feta and olive salad; fruit

D:  black bean and veg chilli with bulgur wheat; fruit

Exercise:  circuits

Saturday, 14-06-25 and crunchy chick peas

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

I had an apple before the walk and these when I got home again.

Syn free

A sort of Caesar salad using what I had.

The tomatoes, baby corn, cucumber, peppers and lettuce were all speed, the chicken and crunchy chick peas (recipe down below) were free foods, the lighter Caesar dressing was two and a half syns and the olives one and a half syns.

Dinner was lovely - the chickpea (I've been calling it bean but it is chickpea) and feta burger went nicely in a bagel with some chutney and some lettuce.

One B for the bagel, half an A and one and a half syns for the burger, one and a half for the chutney and one for the salad cream in the coleslaw.

Summary:
half a healthy extra A
one healthy extra B
eight syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Not trying to be controversial here but my tum has been - unsettled is perhaps the best was to describe it so I am going to fast today, having a light meal in the evening, if wanted (I bet it will be).

I will have plenty of water, of course, and also I count black coffee and tea.

One day won't hurt and, hopefully, it will help lots.

D: soup, perhaps, or something egg based.

Exercise:   Rest day

Crunchy chickpeas

Ingredients for one

cooked chickpeas, well dried (don't make loads, just a sensible portion - see below regarding tweaks)
one tsp avocado oil (two syns) - I used avo because it has a high roasting point

salt

any other spices you fancy

and an air fryer

Method:

Make sure the chickpeas are properly drained and dried (if canned).

Pop them in a small poly bag, add the oil and give it a big squidge round.
Sprinkle over some salt.

Air fry at around 170/180 ish for 20 mins, shaking every five minutes and checking - they might be proper crunchy earlier.

When done, tip into a bowl, add whatever spice you fancy (I didn't, I just had the salt) and mix it in.

Enjoy hot or cold.

Two syns for the oil

About tweaks

When it comes to syns, strictly speaking they should be considered a 'tweak.  This is what SW says about tweaks:

‘Tweaks’ is the term we use when a Free Food is used as a replacement for a high-Syn ingredient, for example – lasagne sheets turned into ‘crisps’. Tweaks could easily sabotage your weight loss success, so it’s good to be aware of them.

What makes something a ‘tweak’?

If it’s made from Free Food, why does it impact our weight loss? Slimming World’s Emily Young, a registered nutritionist, explains:

‘By changing the way a Free Food is intended to be used or cooked, we change the way we eat it, the way it fills us up (or doesn’t!) – and, as a result, the amount we consume.

It specifically mentions chickpeas.

Chickpea ‘peanuts’: Made by roasting or air frying chickpeas until they’re crunchy like nuts – and we all know how moreish they can be! Cooked this way, the chickpeas lose their water content and shrink in size, making it easy to polish off a whole can in one or two handfuls.

However, I didn't have them as a snack, I didn't make a large amount and dip into them randomly, I just cooked the amount needed and ate it as part of protein meal, synning the oil.  So, to me, it is not a tweak.

But, as with all my work arounds, please make up your own mind.

Friday, 13-06-25 - evening

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

After a serious talk with myself . . .

One day at a time.

One meal at a time.

Fingers crossed . . .

What I have eaten today:

Two discard pancakes from the freezer, a few grapes, strawberries and apple all chopped up, some 0% Greek yogurt and some sweetener.

The drizzle is some Tesco finest red berry coulis, won in this morning's raffle and one and a half syns per level tbsp.

Beans on toast for lunch followed by mango and pineapple yogurt semi-freddo made my grandson Alex.

One healthy extra B and one syn for two tsps of the coulis on the dessert.

Later on, I had six synsworth of mixed nuts.

Penne arrabbiata - sort of.

Three syns for some Philly light and two syns for some evoo.

No room for dessert.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B
thirteen and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  chicken Caesar salad; fruit

D:  bean and feta burger in bagel, salad, maybe chips; fruit

Exercise:   walk

Friday, 13-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Morning - sorry about the missing posts.  It's not been good, these last few days, and the weight is coming back on again.  Help!!!

Instead of the usual, what I have eaten . . . etc, some photos of the more sensible choices of meals over the last two days:

Today's plans:

B:  pancake, fruit and yogurt

L:  beans on toast; fruit

D:  chicken penne arrabbiata; fruit

Exercise:  rest day - it has been a pretty energetic week.

Tuesday, 10-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

The fruit was pineapple and blackberries from the freezer plus a fresh apple and a fresh pear.

One and a half syns for chia seeds and mixed seeds.

A bit later, I made some discard crumpets and ate one of then for three and a half syns (I worked it out using Nutracheck and 20 calories = one syn).

For lunch, I made some mackerel pate.  I used a can of mackerel in tomato sauce (SW free/protein and also lovely fish oils) and blended it down with salad cream, horseradish sauce, lemon juice and black pepper.  Really tasty with home made melba toast and bits and bobs on the side.

One syn for the salad cream, half a syn for the horseradish and one healthy extra B for the toast.

Instead of chicken pasta, I made it more Moroccany-tagine-ish.
I softened onion, pepper, aubergine, mushroom and tomato, added chicken, spiced it up with garlic and mixed spice, chicken stock powder and tomato puree, and finished it off with pineapple and bulgur wheat.  It was really nice.

Two syns for some evoo and I think that was it.

I had a couple of oranges and an apple through the day and, because I wasn't having cheese with pasta, I had some to nibble instead.

Summary

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

eight and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  egg on a crumpet with tomatoes and mushrooms

L:  beany feta burger, salad; fruit

(half an A and one and a half syns for the burger)

D:  lamb bhuna (from freezer), rice, small salad; fruit

Exercise:   circuits and personal training

Monday, 09-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

It's nice to go away and nice to be back too.  This morning was off plan, of course, but I'm back on it with lunch and dinner and going forward from her

What I have eaten today:

We won't mention breakfast, OK?  I was still at Five Lakes.  

Just scrambled egg on marmite toast for lunch with an apple for afters.

One healthy extra B.

h.m moussaka with added cheese and broccoli

The sauce was half an A and one syn and I added another A of grated cheese (I got lower fat by mistake so it didn't melt properly.

An orange for afters.

Summary (apart from breakfast):

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

one syn

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit, yogurt and mixed seeds

L:   mackerel pate, toast, salad; fruit

D:  pasta bake, veg on the side; fruit

Exercise:  Groove and the walk there and back, weather permitting

Thursday, 05-06-25

 Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Just to let you know that I won't be posting for a few days as I won't be able to stick to plan properly or actually plan/make my meals.  I will try to remember to take photos but no promises!

However, I'll be back, full on it again, next Monday evening.

Have a great weekend.  

What I have eaten today:

It was a dull and dreary morning so this was perfect - waffles (from the freezer) with egg, tomato and mushrooms.  I got the egg right for once.  Yum.

One and a half syns for the waffles.

Leftover baked beans, marmite toast and a sprinkle of cheese.  Lovely.

One A and one B plus three syns.

Later on I had an orange.

Salmon, salad and chip for dinner and I had some salad cream to dunk the chips in.

Two syns for salad cream and one and a half for some sweet chilli sauce I cooked the salmon in.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

eight syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit

L:   chicken sandwich, finger salad, maybe crisps, fruit

D:   unknown

Exercise:   a swim, some walking

Wednesday, 04-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

Fruit for breakfast - no photo.

Beans on toast for lunch - no photo and one B

Dinner was my version of chicken korma, using the base curry sauce in the new SW magazine with added veg, chicken, curry powder, ground almonds and yogurt.  

Maybe not a traditional korma but really so nice, especially made yesterday so the flavours developed.

Four syns altogether.

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  waffles, egg, mushrooms and tomatoes

L:   beans on toast (to use up the rest of the beans); fruit

D:    salmon, salad and chips; fruit

Exercise:  Groove, probably not in the garden, judging by the weather forecast.

Tuesday, 03-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

In the pancakes there's pineapple and mango from the freezer plus fresh apple and pear.  Very tasty too.

Three syns for the pancakes and one for butter that they were fried in.

A tasty toastie and salad for lunch.  

Two healthy extra Bs, one healthy extra A, one and a half syns for chutney.

And I forgot to take a photo of dinner, the lamb bhuna.  There was loads so I saved some for another meal sometime.  One and a half syns as I cooked the rice from scratch so no extra syns there.

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit

L:  beans on marmite toast; fruit

D:  chicken korma, rice, chopped salad; fruit

Exercise:  personal training

Monday, 02-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

Breakfast was a couple of slices of rye bread made on the sourdough course with egg and tomatoes, mushrooms and pepper on the side.

A bit messy but very tasty!

One healthy extra B.

I made a dipping thing to go with five of the the sweet potato falafels (made a couple of days ago, thawed and flattened into mini patties) using chickpeas, some roasted red pepper, some peanut butter powder, garlic puree and seasonings with 30g Philly light

One and a half syns for the pbp and two syns for the philly light. 

Very nice.
Afters was an apple and an orange.

I changed my plans - I made the curry and also a double moussaka (sort of), one for tomorrow and one for the freezer.  I decided to have the curry tomorrow evening and half the moussaka today - nor real reason, just because.

It was very nice indeed with some mixed veg - half an A and one syn for the cheese sauce.  I know it looks a bit overcoloured but it was absolutely fine and very delicious.

Strawberries and Greek yogurt for afters.

Summary:

half a healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  omelette with fruit and yogurt

L:  toastie and salad; fruit

D:  lamb and veg curry with rice; fruit

Exercise:  Groove