Friday, 04-04-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

Today's big news (big for me) is that at weigh in this morning I had lost two pounds and I'm back in my happy zone again.  Just in but that's OK.

I want to lose more though - being at the top of your range means that a slightly salty meal the day before can push you up and out of it again so it's not much of a buffer.

So - I will be taking advantage of the extra healthy extra when I want to but I won't be upping my syns just yet.  My next  aim is to get right back to actual target by May, another three pounds off.  It is good to have a target, something to aim for.

I'm very happy!

What I have eaten today.

The breakfast fruit was grapes, blueberries and strawberries plus yogurt and some seeds.

One syn for the seeds

I used the second wholemeal pizza base to make a calzone.  It was still quite stodgy and I overfilled the calzone (lesson learned) but it was edible and tasty so no complaints.

I'm calling it two healthy extra Bs for the dough, one and a half As for cheese, four syns for pepperoni, one syn for the coleslaw and one syn for a small drizzle of salad dressing.

Afters was some strawberries and some grapes and I had some more grapes later on.  You may have noticed that grapes are a Friday treat.

Now, I know I have been quite rude about Slimming World ready meals in the past and, to be fair, I don't find some of them all that nice.  Too much spinach, for a start.

However, this evening I had two meals -  chicken in black bean sauce and sweet and sour chicken (I love chicken) -and they were both really tasty.

Have I had tastier from the take away Chinese?  Yes, of course I have, but this was all syn free and, at two meals for £8, loads and loads cheaper.  And loads of chicken.  And the wrapper gives the recipe for another time.  

Of course, I didn't have all of both portions - half of each is now in a container, cooling quickly, and due for the freezer for another fake-away another time.

With it I reheated some wholegrain rice from the freezer and a bit of bulgur wheat from yesterday and, truly, it was really very nice indeed.

No room for any dessert.

Half a syn for the rice.

Summary

one and a half healthy extra As

two healthy extra Bs

seven and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  discard waffles, fruit, yogurt

L:  corned beef hash, salad; fruit

D:  chicken escalope, chips, fruit; salad

Exercise:   SET online

Thursday, 03-04-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

Meals have been out of sync today - I was out so breakfast was late, I was out again so lunch was late.  Saved me wanting a fruit snack around four o'clock.

Egg on toast.  The bread is my own sourdough wholemeal and it does have a very pronounced sourdough flavour which is rather nice - I'm quickly getting used to it.  People pay a fortune for it, don't they?

I decided to have raw sides rather than cooked.

I overcooked egg but it was still very nice.

One healthy extra B

My version of a Caesar salad.

Cos lettuce underneath, topped with feta, chicken, olives and seeds with Caesar dressing, followed by an easy peeler.

One healthy extra A, one syn for seeds, two and a half syns for the dressing and one and a half for the olives.

Really filling but in a satisfying way rather than a feeling-stuffed way.

Unless you live alone or cook for one, it's hard to imagine how impossible to make a single portion of a chilli.  By the time you've added enough stuff to make it interesting, however small the quantities, you have two portions or more.

Also, I didn't want lots of stuff leftover out of cans and packets - beans, chopped tomatoes, etc.
So I made a batch.

It contained onion, carrot, red pepper, broccoli, broccoli stem, mixed beans, chopped tomato, half a pouch of puy lentils and something - can't remember what, peas, corn, mushrooms and various seasonings and spices.
It was delicious.

It also made five portions which cut the syns considerably.

I served it with bulgur wheat, some grated parmesan and some Greek yogurt.  Very filling and very healthy too.

One portion contained one syn for olive oil and half a syn for the lentil stuff plus around half a healthy extra A for the cheese.  And that was it.

No dessert - it was nicely satisfying.

And four more portions are currently chilling down in the fridge, ready for the freezer tomorrow morning.

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  calzone, salad; fruit

D:  Chinese meal

No, not a take-away, I went to Iceland and bought a couple of SW Chinese meals.  The idea is to cook both of them and re-freeze them in my sized portions, keeping one portion of each for my meal to which I will add a portion of rice.
We will see - it's a bit of an experiment and, if it works and I like the meals, I will have the recipes for another time as they are on the wrapper.  If I don't, no worries

Exercise:   Rest day

Wednesday, 02-04-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

Not the best photo in the world but not to worry.   Peach and nectarine slices from the freezer, kiwi and strawberries with some yogurt with chia seeds mixed in.

One syn for the chia seeds.

This was scrummy - I haven't had filled pitta for ages.

I  shredded some leaves, thinly sliced some cucumber, chopped up a tomato and mixed it all up with a tsp mixed seeds and a quarter of a cooked chicken breast fillet. I always halve chicken fillets before freezing and this was half of a half - the other half is for tomorrow.  I mixed it all up with a level tbsp of M&S lighter fat creamy Caesar dressing.  With coleslaw, tomato and carrot on the side, it was lovely and really filling too.

One healthy extra B, two and a half syns for the Caesar dressing, half a syn for the coleslaw and one syn for the mixed seeds.

I was out at dinner time so to avoid tum rumbles, I had a small banana and a coiupleof easy peelers at around five.

A nice, simple dinner of jazzed up baked beans, more of the coleslaw and some cheesy jacket potato.  Afters was an apple.  Two healthy extra As and one syn for the salad cream in the coleslaw.

Afters was an apple.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fried egg on toast, tomatoes and mushrooms

L:  chicken Caesar salad; fruit

 - using up the rest of the chicken cooked today.

D:  veggie chilli, rice; fruit

Exercise:   Groove

Tuesday, 01-04-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

I am absolutely loving these sourdough discard crumpets; they are so delicious.

One healthy extra B, one syn for mixed seeds, two syns for evoo on the leaves and tomatoes - must get my heart healthy oils and fats in.

Lunch was more of the soup with a lovely little bowl of tasty salad stuff, lots of pickle-taste.  Afters was a couple of easy peelers and later on I had an orange.

One and a half syns for some olives.

For dinner, I cooked one sheet of lasagne and sort of wrapped it around some beany veg mix and cheesy white bean sauce, baked it, topped it with cheese . . . etc.  
I dearly love the whole tomato/cheese/ pasta vibe.

One healthy extra A and three syns for cheese.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

seven and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fruit, seeds and yogurt

L:  fish finger pitta, salad; fruit

D:  jacket potato, jazzed up baked beans, salad; fruit

Exercise:   personal training

Monday, 31-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

It's the end of the month so I had a good go through one of the bags in the freezer, the one with all the odds and ends, leftovers, batch things, etc.  I listed everything and then worked out meals I could cook to use them up.  

The list is:

chicken, veg and lentil curry (made today!)

two cannelloni meals

jacket potato with jazzed up beans

savoury mince (this will be a batch cook, not a meal, using things like garden passata and beef stock)

roast turkey dinner

macaroni cheese

calzone

pizza x 2

lasagne

leek and butterbean soup

They might be dinner or then might be lunch, it really doesn't matter, and I will need to add things like salad or veg, of course, or carbs, maybe.  Some are now planned in for this week and some will be for next week.

What I have eaten today.

Breakfast was so nice.  I chopped some strawberry, kiwi and plum, mixed some mixed seeds, vanilla and sweetener into yogurt and whisked two eggs with some sweetener.

I cooked the egg in my pancake pan, spread the yogurt over it and rolled it up and served it with the rest of the yogurt and the fruit on the side with a sprinkle of sweetener.
It was so filling and absolutely delicious.

One syn for the mixed seeds.

I made the soup yesterday (three portions out of one leek, a can of butterbeans, carrot, onion, chicken stock, garlic and seasonings and a grated some nutmeg over today's serving.  The bread is buckwheat soda bread and it toasted beautifully.

Dessert was an apple.

One healthy extra B for the bread.

I had some odds and ends to use up so I made a curry with onion, pepper, sweet potato, chicken, puy lentils, broad beans, peas, sweet corn, mushrooms and some Sharwood's korma paste, 30% lighter (in other words much less oil).  It made enough for two portions so one is back in the freezer and on the list of Meals to Make/Use.

With it I had some mango chutney and some Greek yogurt plus some wholegrain rice.

It was absolutely delicious!

Afters was an orange

One and a half syns for some evoo, one syn for the korma paste, one and a half syns for the chutney and half a syn for the rice (from a pouch)

Summary:

no healthy extra As today

one healthy extra B

five and a half syns, I think

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  sourdough crumpet, egg, leaves

L:  leek and butterbean soup, grated cheese; fruit

D:  pricy bean and veg cannelloni, side salad; fruit

Exercise:   Groove plus the walk there and back.

Sunday, 30-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

This was nice.  Sourdough started discard makes lovely waffles.

Three syns.

I had a go at a 100% wholemeal sourdough and, obviously, had to taste it.  Six syns.

Gotta love a cheese and chutney toastie!!

One healthy extra A for cheese, one healthy extra B for bread, half a syn for coleslaw, one syn for mixed seeds and two syns for evoo in the salad dressing.

Afters was a couple of easy peelers.

Dinner was a simple 'roast' using some turkey thigh meat from the freezer.

Two syns for the gravy but I'm not counting the cranberry sauce because it was home made with sweetener, not sugar

Atfers was an apple.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

fourteen and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  sweet omelette with fruit and yogurt

L:  leek and butterbean soup; fruit

D:  chicken curry and rice; fruit

Exercise:   Circuits class

Saturday, 29-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

Apologies for yesterday.  I just took a day off photo-ing, etc.  No, I wasn't sulking after gaining one pound at Slimming World, I was just really weary, kept falling asleep and just - well - couldn't be bothered.  So sorry.

I did photo dinner - hm pizza and coleslaw.  NOT on plan and the base is definitely a Work in Progress but it was really nice.  A shame about the indigestion.

Back now, back on it, back to basics of SW and Mediterranean principles and on we go!

What I have eaten today.

For breakfast, I had scrambled egg on a wholemeal crumpet with tomatoes and mushrooms on the side - really tasty.

One healthy extra B

For lunch, as I had some baked beans left over, I baked a potato, scooped out the potato and mashed it with seasoning and two cheese triangles, loaded it back in and tried to brown the top - not terribly successfully, as   you can see.  I had this with a salad and the left over beans.  Very simple and filling.

Afters was an apple and later on I had an orange.

Half a healthy extra A for the cheese triangles, one syn for mixed seeds and two syns for evoo in the salad dressing.

For dinner, I made my favourite chicken penne arrabbiata.  There was some coleslaw left over from yesterday so I had that on the side.

Three syns for half a tsp olive oil, one and a half syns for olives and half a healthy extra A for some grated parmesan.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

seven and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  Sourdough waffles, fruit and yogurt

L:  roast turkey dinner; fruit

I have some turkey thigh meat in stock so can use that.

D:  toastie and salad

Exercise:   rest day

Thursday, 27-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

I changed my mind and had baked beans in the breakfast omelette instead.   It was delicious.

Half a syn for a squirt of Crucials brown sauce.

Lunch was the last of the ham and yellow split pea soup with a sourdough roll for dunking.  Very flavoursome.

I had an orange and an apple for afters.

One healthy extra B and a bit of an A for the cheese triangle I stirred in.

I didn't know what I fancied for dinner but I thawed half a chicken breast fillet so I cooked that with some Montreal steak seasoning (peppery/spicy and very tasty) and then broke it into bits.  I fried some onion, pepper, mushroom and tomatoes, added garlic and seasoning, tipped in the chicken and then some of a pouch of wholegrain rice.  Dead easy and surprisingly tasty.
The rest of the rice is now in the freezer.

Dessert was a pear.

One syn for a quarter of the pouch of rice and three syns for some evoo.

Summary:

part of a healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  discard waffles, fruit and yogurt

L:  jacket potato with beans, side salad; fruit

D:  home made pizza, coleslaw, salad; fruit

Exercise:   rest day

Wednesday, 26-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

Slight confession - after I had posted yesterday, I had some cashews.  Very heart healthy and good but they sent the syns rocketing.  I'm not that fussed.  If I gain on Friday, I gain, but I have been eating good, healthy stuff since the weekend and that's the most important thing.  

What I have eaten today.

Breakfast - and very nice too.  Syn free.

I'm doing the rest a bit differently because I made  'elements' that contributed to both lunch and dinner.

The bulger wheat had olives for one syn, sundried tomato for one syn, feta for one healthy A and seeds for part of a healthy B plus tuna, lime juice and so on.

The coleslaw  had one syn for salad cream and seeds for part of my B

The jacket potato had one syn for a cheese triangle and one syn for salad cream as well as the tuna and one A for grated cheese.

The mixed salad had more of my healthy B in seeds plus three syns for evoo in the dressing.

Phew!

So - super delicious lunch, absolutely packed with healthy stuff that was also great to eat.  Filling too, so, so filling.

And ditto for dinner.  I so enjoyed the tuna cheese stuffed jacket and I was looking forward to finishing off the salads.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

eight syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes and leaves

L:  soup, croutons; fruit

The last, I think, from the freezer.

D:  chicken escalope and salad; fruit

Exercise:   SET in the morning and Groove in the afternoon, both online.  The Groove class is because I missed the Monday circuits and when you miss a class, you can have another one to make up, providing it is in the same block - and this week is the last week of this block.

Tuesday, 25-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

What I have eaten today.

The first sampling of the sourdough discard crumpets I made the other day and just wow.  I will be making them again, for sure.

I used a rye sourdough so am counting it as a healthy extra B.  Discard is 50% flour, 50% water so it works more or less - maybe a little less than a B but I'm not fussing.

One healthy extra B

I had made some wholemeal rolls and I taste tested one for four syns (because I can't call it a B!)

Lunch was a soup from the freezer - I've nearly used all my freezer soups now which pleases me.  I wasn't the biggest portion in the world so I also put together as nibble platter.

I had an orange for afters.

One healthy extra B for a cheese triangle in the soup.

Dinner was lovely.  The other half of the chunky sauce I made yesterday which did have lamb in it - I must have added the lamb before splitting it into two portions - so I didn't add beans.  I cooked some broccoli, added it to the veg and lamb sauce, poured over a portion of the cheesy white bean sauce and topped it with cheese before baking it in the oven.  It was so, so good.

I had some grapes for afters.

Two healthy extra As (for cheese and the bean sauce), half a syn for a few olives and I think that was it.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fruit

L:  Mediterranean salad; fruit

D:  cheesy tuna jacket potato with side salad; fruit

Exercise:   personal training

Monday, 24-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

Today went well, thank goodness, but I do need to address these sessions of eating rubbish.  It's not the eating part, it's the fact that it's ultra processed rubbish.  Really not good for me and I do want to look after myself because, if I don't, who will?  

I got busy in the kitchen, sorting out today's meals, and I also made another batch of Roy's white bean sauce for the freezer- it is such a useful thing to have to hand and prepping stuff always helps me get back on track again.

What I have eaten today.

I didn't want or need a big breakfast so I had this.

Part of a B for mixed seeds.

I made an ad hoc soup with half a can of Mutti chopped tomato pulp (so good), onion, carrot, chicken stock powder, garlic, salt, pepper and one level tbsp red lentils.  When that was all done and blended smooth, I added one light cheese triangle and melted that in - it makes a surprising difference!

It made a lot and I had the lot with a sprinkle of seeds on the top.  Lovely!

The soup was syn free, the triangle part of an A and the seeds were part of a B

I needed to use up the lamb defrosted yesterday so I softened onion, pepper and mushrooms, added the other half of the can of tomato with some garlic, chilli flakes and seasonings, stirred in some cooked fusilli, a few chopped cornichons and some olives and the lamb, added some mixed seeds and let it cool.  I reheated it at dinner time, topped it with grated cheese and enjoyed it with some sprouts and broccoli.

(The sauce actually gave me two portions - I spooned half off before adding the pasta and the lamb

One A for the cheese, part of a B for the mixed seeds and one and a half syns for the olives

Summary:

one and a bit healthy extra As

half a healthy extra B

one and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  toasted crumpet with egg on top, mushrooms and tomatoes

L:  soup from the freezer; fruit

D:  bean and veg sauce with veg and a cheese sauce topping; fruit

the idea is to add beans to the leftover sauce, spoon it over some cooked broccoli, top it with cheese sauce and enjoy.

Exercise:   Groove and the walk there and back