Wednesday, 27-08-25

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

So it is day day six.  Five have been on plan and one very off plan, sadly.  I have felt very bloated today.  One more to go.

What I ate today:

The fish pie leftovers were absolutely fine so no waste.  That's good.

With it I had a basic salad with half a Bs worth of mixed seeds and two syns in a simple dressing of evoo and balsamic vinegar.

The sweet onion ryvitas were the other half of my B and the fish pie had one A of cheese in it.

Later on I had one apple.

A sizzle steak with tomatoes and chips.  I also made a blue cheese dip/sauce with just yogurt, blue cheese, lemon juice and a bit of pepper.

Strictly speaking, the blue cheese isn't an A, there's not quite enough calcium, but I always call it an A.  I use two syns for some spray garlic infused evoo on the chips (lovely).  Finally, I deglazed the pan I cooked the steak in and then fried the tomatoes in the same pan.  Tasty!

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  tomato and vegetable soup with croutons; fruit

D:  baked salmon, vegetable loaded bulgur wheat, salad; fruit

Exercise:  personal training.  Lindsey is back!

Tuesday, 26-08-25 (written Wednesday am)

Sorry, everyone.  Out all day and I was totally shattered come the evening - so shattered that everything went a bit oopsy downsy and I was totally off plan.  I took no photos and wrote no blog.

All back this evening and straight back onto it from the time I opened my eyes this morning.  Minimise the damage!

See you later.

Monday, 25-08-24

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

Four days into this week, all on plan so far and three more to go.

I had a Non-Scale-Victory today - I can get reasonably comfortably back into my size 10 jeans again.  I'm so pleased about that.

And I did a freezer audit and changed my plans for this week to make better use of what I have in.

 there.  Nice and economical!

What I ate today:

I didn't make a toastie with cheese but I do like the crunchiness of toasted bread.   

The bread was one B, two syns for spray garlic oil, one syn for mayo and half a syn for grain mustard.

 I planned a big old sandwich and that's what I got.  It was scrummy!

  Today's fruit was an apple, two very squidgy and juicy plums, a nectarine, an orange, five golden raspberries from the garden and some stewed apple.

Fish pie for dinner.  I used smoked basa, a small cod fillet and five prawns, plus loadsa veg in a tomato sauce and added an egg yolk and grated cheese to the mash for extra ooomph.  Pretty much everything was free, just one and a half As for cheese.

However, it made loads and I managed about two thirds of it.  The rest is now in the fridge and I will finish it off tomorrow night with a salad.

Dessert was the stewed apple with golden raspberries, baked apple yogurt (half a syn) and some red berry coulis (two syns)

Summary:

one healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  I'm out so I will make up a packed lunch - I still have some beef left so that can go in a pitta with some salad and some chutney.  I may not stay on plan all day as I might fancy an ice cream or something.

D:  leftover fish pie with salad; fruit

Exercise:  lots of walking

Sunday, 24-08-25

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

Three days down this week now and, with slight, reasoned tweaks, 100% on plan.  :-)

What I ate today:

From the freezer, I used a pot of broccoli and cheese soup (two and a half syns) and some fresh chicken stock.  I added chopped onion, grated potato and carrot and some red lentils and cooked it all together.  Then I added some cooked noodles left over from yesterday and some mixed veg, also from the freezer.  It made a delicious and hearty soup, very filling and with a portion left which I will freeze because it's been thoroughly re-cooked.  

I had it with some crunchy garlic croutons, made in Nellie, and topped it with grated cheddar.

One healthy extra A, one healthy extra B and one and a half syns

Today's fruit was an apple, an orange, a nectarine, a peach and some strawberries

Dinner was a bit traditional;  some sliced roast beef that I cooked yesterday (so it sliced really well) with vegetables on a Yorkshire pudding 'platter', recipe from the very first Pinch of Nom book ever.   And I had some Dijon mustard to go with the beef.

Some of my second healthy extra A for the milk, Three syns for some oil and three syns for flour for the Yorkshire.

For dessert, I had some strawberries and yogurt with three syns worth of red berry coulis drizzled over.  Very nice for a treat.  

Summary:

between one and two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

ten and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  roast beef sandwich/roll/pitta, salad; fruit

I might make it a toastie to use some cheese although I plan to add cheese to the mash for dinner.

D:  fish pie, vegetables; fruit

I have some mash I made from left-over potatoes that needed using in some way - I cooked and frozen three baked ones but the other needed chopping about a bit so mash it was.  And I have odds and ends of ransom fish in the freezer.  I'll add some mixed vegetables and use garlic and herb cheese spread for a sauce, bake it in Nellie and - Bob's your uncle - a perfectly reasonable fish pie.

Exercise:  Groove

Saturday, 23-08-25

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

Two days down this week, both on plan.  Five days to go.


What I ate today:

I love how the toast goes all crunchy after being sprayed with oil and toasted.

The toast is two healthy extra Bs worth so I am going to have one A and two Bs today plus two syns for garlic infused olive oil, half an A for crumbled feta and two syns for some herb and garlic lighter soft cheese (under the tomato).

Today's fruit was an apple and a fruit salad made with strawberries, golden raspberries, nectarine, grapes and pineapple.

The sweet and sour lentil tofu was delicious!

I tossed the cubed tofu in seasoned cornflour and fried it until it was 'golden' as they say.

I put some noodles on to boil.

I softened onion and pepper, added a bit of sweetcorn and some fresh pineapple before adding the sauce which was made with one tbsp ketchup (one and a half syns), one tbsp rice wine vinegar (free), half a tbsp dark soy sauce (free) and some garlic granules.  Finally I added the lentil tofu, put the noodles in a bowl and topped them with the rest.  The last touch was supposed to be some sesame seeds but all I had was mixed seeds so that's what I used for another one and a half syns.  It was so good and so very filling.

Afters was some of the fruit salad.  There's more left for tomorrow.

Summary:

half a healthy extra A - I may have a nibble for the other half in a while

two healthy extra Bs

I think it comes to seven syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  Lentil and veg soup, crunchy garlic bread, grated cheese on top; fruit

D:  roast(ish) beef, Yorkshire pudding wrap, assorted veg, some roasted in Nellie; fruit

(I might swap these two round)

Exercise:  Groove

Friday, 22-08-25

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

Phew.  One pound off this morning - that's a relief.

Mini aims for this coming week (which started after weigh in this morning):

to be 100% on plan except for Tuesday when I am out at lunchtime

to do some kind of Lindsey based exercise each day.

What I ate today:

The Pinch of Non roasted sweet potato salad - I used seeds instead of avocado.  It was very tasty.

The dressing made two portions and I will have the other on my steak this evening for a total on one A.

Half a B for the seeds and two syns for oil.

Fruit through the day was two apples, two plums, a banana and some grapes.

Dinner was beautiful.  The steak (quite a small, thick piece of fillet, hammered out) was melt in the mouth and, thank goodness, today Morrisons had some Maris Pipers again so the chips were half decent instead of being floppy and soggy.

The dressing I made for lunch (part of the recipe) was lovely with the steak.  It was yogurt, feta, lime juice, Dijon mustard (which is now a free food, cheers) and seasonings, all blended together.  It was nicer this evening than at lunch time - improved with time.  An A altogether for the dressing, two syns for evoo for the chips and one for salad cream.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

five syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  fried tomato bruschetta (sort of) with a finger salad; fruit

D:  sweet and sour lentil tofu or stir fry lentil tofu (I need to decide which!)  with rice or noodles, side salad; fruit

Exercise:  I'll try the step video again but marked out on the floor.  See if I can avoid falling over my own feet this time!

Thursday, 21-08-25

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

Well, seven days on and seven days on plan 100%.  So why are my home scales registering no loss whatsoever?

How irritating is that!!

Weigh in tomorrow so we will see, won't we?

What I ate today:

A sort of open toastie really.  One B for the bread, one and a half syns for the chutney and one A for the cheese plus some lovely tomatoes on the side.  Oh, and I spent half a syn more on a bit of brown sauce.  Very tasty!

I saved my fruit until later.  it was two rather hard peaches (I'm going shopping again tomorrow), an apple and an orange.

So - on to the lentil tofu and it was really, really, really good.

I made a covering sauce with cornflour (one and a half syns), some nutritional yeast (one syn), some soy sauce, garlic granules and cayenne plus a bit of salt and some accidental cinnamon, tossed the cubes of lentil tofu in it, then tossed some little cubes of potato (not chipped yesterday) in what was left, sprayed the lot with evoo (two syns) and gave it a go in the air fryer.  So good.  The outside wasn't exactly crispy but it did have a 'crust' and inside turned fluffy and flavoursome.

I had the tofu and potato with a very simple salad and some mixed seeds (one syn).

And I was totally full up!

Summary:

one healthy extra A (I may nibble on the other A later but, if I don't, I'm not stressing)

one healthy extra B

seven and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  roasted sweet potato salad; fruit

I got notification of a new Pinch of Nom recipe and it looks good so I want to try it.  I might adapt it a bit.
Here's the link:

https://pinchofnom.com/wprm_print/roasted-sweet-potato-salad-slimming-weight-watchers-friendly-copy

D:  steak, some sort of sauce, salad and chips; fruit

A Friday treat!

Exercise:  I think I will do Groove - I'm enjoying that very much.

Wednesday, 20-08-25

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

Doing OK this week.  Six days in, six on plan, one to go!

I had a bit of fun with some 'different' stuff today.
First on all I made mayo with hardboiled egg and very little oil - it was on TikTok and YouTube.  Mayo it wasn't, it's more like devilled egg flavour but a very nice sauce/dressing type thingy.

 And then I had a go at a 'lentil 'tofu' using Thermione and that was a real success.  Never having cooked with tofu before, I need to look up some recipes but the recipe also gave an idea for spicing it up and air frying so I will probably do that.

If you have any tofu ideas/recipes, please do comment below because I really have no idea.

What I ate today:

Absolutely lovely - garden tomatoes fried in a bit of evoo on toasted sourdough and with a crumble of feta over.

The coleslaw is yesterday's leftover and I had more tomatoes because - well, why not?

Half an A, one B and three syns for the bread, two syns for evoo and one syn for salad cream in the coleslaw.

Later, I had a plum, a nectarine and a peach - because they needed eating!

The bean and veg chilli has finally gone - and it was very, very tasty with  chips and cheese!

Two syns for some evoo for the chips, one syn for the chilli (cos it said so on the pot!) and one and a half healthy extra As.

Afters was some pineapple.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

nine syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  Alex is round for a cooking lesson, he's making onion chutney and has asked that we can have toast with chutney and then cheese melted over.  I am very glad to comply with that because mmmmmmm.

D:  crispy spiced lentil tofu bites with a finger salad; fruit

Exercise:  Groove video

Tuesday, 19-08-25

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

Five days into this week and five 100% on plan (if you ignore the occasional lack of healthy extras, which I do).  Two more to go.

I still wasn't feeling particularly hungry this morning - maybe lentils are the new mounjaro!!  They are much cheaper, for sure!  😃

What I ate today:
I had an apple before I did my circuits video because I though I should really.  First thing this morning I checked my 'ripen at home' bowl and sorted out the fruit that needed eating so through the day I had two plums, two peaches and two nectarines.  Quite a fruity day!

My friend, Mandy, was round for lunch and I did ham and cheese toasties with salad and coleslaw.  I almost forgot to take a photo - ooops!

One healthy extra A, one healthy extra B, three syns for extra breads, one and a half syns for chutney, one syn for salad cream and one syn for mixed seeds.

I'd planned the chilli but really didn't fancy it.  There was salad and coleslaw left from lunch and also the last bits of the boiled ham so I put it all in a bowl with some feta and some seeds and it was lovely!

One healthy extra A and one syn each for coleslaw and seeds.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

eight and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  tomatoes on toast; fruit

D:  chilli - MUST have that chilli!!

Exercise:  Groove

Monday, 18-08-25

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

Four days down, all on plan, three to go!  Woo hoo!

What I ate today:

I had an apple in the morning.  

Strangely, it felt rather chilly this morning, I suppose, in comparison with the last few weeks, so I dug a curried parsnip soup out of the freezer and jazzed it up with lentils, onion, potato and carrot to make a thick and hearty pottage kind of thing that I had with hm garlic toast and some tomatoes.  The soup was one syn and the toast was a B and two syns.

I had planned cheese too but forgot and, anyway, I would have had no room.  I couldn't manage the fruit until later in the afternoon!

Obviously, that soup was a find because when it came to dinner I was still quite full and in no mood for jacket potatoes.
I cut up 60g cheese for both my healthy extras and had the apple, followed by a few strawberries that wouldn't last much longer and a plum.

Two healthy extra As

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

three syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:   I have a friend over and I'm doing ham, cheese and chutney toasties with salad; fruit

D:  jacket potato with chilli, side salad; fruit

Exercise:  circuits class

Sunday, 17-08-25

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

Three days down, three on plan, four to go.

If this is your first read, the above is my August challenge which is to be as 100% on plan as I possibly can be.  I'm counting weekly because it means more to me and each week starts with weigh day, Friday.

What I ate today:

I was wide awake by three this morning so started to feel hungry by about half past nine.  I had three plums and an apple and that filled the gap!

Such a delicious lunch.  I made the garlic bread by simply rubbing a cut garlic clove over both sides, spraying with spray oil and crisping in a pan.

The bread wasn't quite a B so half of the pine nuts in the stuffing can be the rest of the B.

One syn for the rest of the pine nuts, one syn for salad cream in the coleslaw and one healthy A

Afters was the rest of the apple that I used for the coleslaw.

Later on, I had an orange and half an apple - the other half went in the onion and apple mix.

Another very yummy meal with loads of speed veg.

The apple and onion was just that - onion and apple softened in some spray oil.

Just two syns for some avocado oil that I roasted the sweet potato in.  Very nice it was, with a sort of 'creamy' taste.

I have never synned cooked fruit and I'm not starting now.  :-)
I was all fruited out so I had some 0% Greek yogurt with coffee essence and a bit of sweetener.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  Mediterranean salad; fruit

D:  tuna filled jacket potato, salad; fruit and yogurt

Exercise:  A Lindsey video, probably SET, maybe Groove.

Saturday, 16-08-25

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

This week's countdown:

seven days (starting on Friday), two down, two 100% on plan, five to go!

I have a YouTube recommendation for you.  Nothing to do with losing weight or Slimming World.

Weary Wolf is a lorry driver (is the term 'trucker'?) who looks really 'tough' but is passionately interested in growing food, allotments, budget cooking challenges and self sufficiency in a practical and sensible way.

I'm picking up loads of ideas from his videos.

Do go and take a look.

https://www.youtube.com/@WearyWolfAdventures

What I ate today:

I changed lunch - when I looked at the beef tomato that I wanted to stuff, I decided it could do with a day on the window ledge first, so I swapped some meals round and had a portion of the lentil and veg bake instead.

I do love the basic lentil mix, a sort of dhal really.  I can see myself making it quite often, especially as it gets colder.  It's lovely stuff.

One healthy extra A.

(here's where I got the idea - it's kinda adapted.

https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/very-veggie-lentil-bake/)

The salad I had with the lentil bake.  Just the usual culprits with one tbsp of mixed seeds and some salad cream.

I decided to have my B in mixed seeds today so one tbsp is half a B and the salad cream is one syn.

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

Dinner was my generic pasta recipe which is:

some sort of protein, cooked (ham)

some sort of vegetables (onion, pepper, mushrooms)

always tomatoes (fresh at the moment)

some sort of pasta (fusilli)

some sort of seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic granules, mixed herbs, tomato puree)

some sort of cheese (mixed cheddar and mozzarella)

(cook the protein, if necessary)

cook the pasta

soften the veg

add the seasoning

add the protein

add the tomatoes

cook briefly

add the pasta and stir in

sprinkle the cheese on top

(melt the cheese, if you want)

And Bob's your uncle.

I had it with runner beans and I also added mixed seeds for my B.  No afters - I was totally satisfied.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

one syn - I didn't set out to be so low, it just happened

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  stuffed tomato with garlic bread and salad; fruit

(not buttery garlic bread, of course, I will rub over a cut clove and spray with evoo or similar)

D:  roast gammon (well, boiled really) dinner with apple and onion sauce, roasted sweet potato, runner beans, broccoli, carrots . . . and whatever other veg I fancy; fruit

Exercise:  a Lindsey video

Friday, 15-08-25

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

It was weigh in today, of course.  I was really pleased to be one and a half pounds down . . . and . . . 

I was totally gobsmacked to be voted our group's

Woman of the Year.

These are beautiful - thank you, Heidi.

What I ate today:

It was a taster at group.  I had lots of fruit, some of the yogurt I took in and some weetabix loaf (I love it - it's a bit like bread pudding but a bit lighter) and the app says three and a half syns.

I know it is half eaten!  Alex was round and I nearly forgot!

One and a half syns for chutney and half a syn for salad cream.

Middle of the afternoon I had an orange, an apple and some grapes, all out of the fridge so they were very refreshing.

I changed my mind about dinner - I have cooked ham and it has a limited life so I had that instead.  I know it is processed but I don't have it all that often.

I had the ham with (as you can see) air fried chips, and some tomato and pepper and it was scrummy.

One and a half syns for chutney and I cooked the chips in olive oil for three syns - and two syns for salad cream because you can't have chips without something to dunk them in, can you?

I treated myself to a J2O that's been on the fridge for months.  Two and a half syns.

Summary:

no healthy extras today - ooops

fourteen and a half syns - back to good old Eat-Your-Syns-Friday!

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  stuffed tomato and salad

D:   home made sausages, mash, runner beans; fruit

Exercise:   don't know.

Thursday, 14-08-25

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


Since last Friday - seven days gone, six on plan, one slightly off and the count starts again tomorrow (and each week until the end of August and then we will see how it has gone.

No idea if I have lost anything but I feel great after a week of really good food so I'm not fussed.

What I ate today:

To make the filling for the very tasty quesadillas, I did this.

I softened some finely chopped onion and yellow pepper and some grated carrot.  I added some pinto and kidney beans with some garlic granules, fajita spice, salt and pepper and mashed it all well together.  I spread it over half the wrap, sprinkled over cheese, folded the top over and heated and browned it in a pan.  It was do good.

One healthy extra A and one healthy extra B.

I had a small apple for dessert.

Dinner was a pasta thing.  Onion, tomatoes, chickpeas and some mixed veg with fusilli and some garlic and herb light soft cheese for four syns.  There's a pile of runner beans under the pasta.
Afters was a few grapes but I was too full up to have much.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  ham and salad, fruit

D:hm sausages, egg, tomatoes and chips; fruit

Exercise:  a walk