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

Wednesday, 13-08-25

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, six days down, five 100% on plan, one slightly off and one day to go before weigh in.  

What I ate today:

There's so much that can be made with what one already has.  The tomato stuffing was definitely a use whatever - bulgur wheat rehydrated with chicken stock powder, onion, pepper, mushroom, apple (no sultanas), pine nuts (20mls is a B), pepper and smoked paprika.  Mixed with tomato bits from the scooped out tomato and topped with cheese (an A).  Really nice baked in Nellie the Ninja!  Filling too.

I made some coleslaw for the whole day, one and a half syns the lot.

I also made waaaayyyyy too much filling so have some to use up another day.  I think it should freeze and I can use it next week when another beef tomato has properly ripened.

So it's one A, a third of a B and one and a half syns for salad cream in the coleslaw, some of which I will have this evening.

Later on I had my usual afternoon apple and orange.  So refreshing and juicy.  And syn free!

Another lovely meal.  The falafel burger made yesterday, some of the leftover bulgur wheat filling, coleslaw with added seeds, some mini roasties and a whole load of tomatoes.  Afters was some sweetened yogurt.

Half a syn for the burger, the seeds and pine nuts for the whole day are one B and I've already counted the salad cream in the coleslaw.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

two syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  smashed bean and cheese quesadilla, side salad; fruit

D:  creamy bean and veg pasta, runner beans; fruit

Exercise:  I'll see how hot it is - maybe a Lindsey video.

Tuesday, 12-08-25

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 down, four on plan, one slightly off, two to go this week!

I had a good old batch session today.  I made four portions of the cheesy lentil and veg layer bake (adapted from this recipe https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/very-veggie-lentil-bake/ ), four portions of smooth tomato passata using garden tomatoes cooked, blended and pushed through a sieve and I picked and prepped some runner beans.  All of it is now in the freezer apart from one lentil bake portion which is in my tum.

What I ate today:

I enjoyed some chilled gazpacho with Henderson's relish.  Very fresh and flavoursome.

One syn.

The falafel wrap before I folded it up with some leaves and some dressing made from peanut butter powder (rehydrated), balsamic vinegar and like juice and it was really nice.

Half a syn for the falafels, one B for the wrap and one and a half syns for the dressing.

And with all the above, I had a big old salad - leaves, cucumber, pepper and thousands (well, nearly!) of tomatoes plus a dressing of balsamic vinegar.

Syn free.

The first portion of the cheesy lentil and veg layer bake with a big old portion of delicious runner beans.

One healthy extra A.

Afters was an apple and an orange.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

three syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  couscous stuffed beefsteak tomato, salad; fruit

I have some enormous beef tomatoes to use up.  Lucky me.  

D:    I made enough falafel mix for three falafels (all I wanted) and one medium sized burger which I'm having  with some kind of chipped something or other and a salad.

Exercise: I think it's going to be a bit too hot tomorrow.

Monday, 11-08-25

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, three to go, three on plan and one just a bit off plan.

I have lots of garden tomatoes and I had garden cucumber so I made a jug of gazpacho - I love it, it's so fresh and delicious and quite filling too.  It's basically tomato, cucumber, green pepper, onion, garlic, salt, a bit of evoo and vinegar (I used balsamic this time) and it can be jazzed up with a spicy sauce like Henderson's or buffalo or something like soy sauce.

You should add bread for real authenticity but I don't and find it quite thick enough without bread.

I had planned to have some mid afternoon instead of the usual fruit but stuff happened . . .

I haven't had it heated up yet, it is supposed to be chilled, but I think it might be nice.

What I ate today:

Lunch was a very nice Mediterranean salad with leaves, tomatoes, red onions, radishes, cucumber, orange segments, seeds, olives, feta and croutons with some balsamic vinegar as a dressing.

The croutons and the seeds together made a healthy B, the feta was part of an A (there wasn't that much left), the olives were one and a half syns.

I had the rest of the orange for afters.

In the afternoon, without going into details here (see t'other blog tomorrow, link at the side, for details) I ended up  at my daughters with a poorly car waiting for the RAC man to turn up.

I didn't binge, I didn't comfort eat, but I did have a few - truly a very few - raw almonds and cashews.  However, it didn't take me over syns and anyway I haven't had any As so no worries.

By the time I got home, I didn't want to fuss with chopping veg so I just used some frozen mixed veg to go in the curry sauce (two syns) with the meatballs and that was enough.  No rice, no bulgur wheat, etc.
I did have some fruit for afters.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

fifteen syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  A bit of an experiment:  chickpea, tomato and red pepper falafel with leaves and a peanut butter, orange and balsamic dressing in a pitta or wrap (depending on what the freezer throws up)

D:  lentil and veg layer bake, coleslaw, salad; fruit

Exercise:  A Lindsey video.  xx