Sunday, 21-09-25

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.

Just to let you know that the next five days will be a bit different.  I won't be following Slimming World as I'm away, but I will still photos my meals as much as I can and try to eat well and healthily although I know that a few naughties will creep in.

Fingers crossed.

What I ate today:

The rest of yesterday's smoothie with added fruit and seeds - delish and filling!

 Inside the wrap there is roasted sweet potato, roasted onion, chicken leftover from Friday, grated cheese and yesterday's bean pate.    Lovely and, again, filling. 

Just simple and tasty cheese on toasted sourdough rye with a slice of apple, carrot and cinnamon loaf for afters.

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  Not sure - I might make a packed lunch.

D:  chicken fajita platter, maybe a side salad, no dessert (eating out) but There Will Be Wine!

Exercise:  a walk and a swim

Saturday, 20-09-25

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.

(from today and through this coming week, I won't be counting As, Bs and syns)

Oh dear, late again.  Let's pretend it is still Saturday evening, please . . .

First of all, I want to show you this.

Before you shout 'CAKE', take a look at the recipe.

 https://www.cinnamonandkale.co.uk/carrot-apple-and-sultana-loaf-sugar-free/

Fat free, no added sugar and packed with good stuff - and delicious.

I'm self catering from Monday to Friday and wanted just a little 'treat'-type thing.  It's sliced, individually wrapped and in the freezer now but, obviously, I had to try just one end.

Definitely making this again.

What I ate today:
    

As a start to the 'reset my insides' day, this was a goodie.   It was pineapple, kiwi, pear, raspberries, blueberries, yogurt, mixed seeds, oats, a bit of water and just a little pinch of sweetener, thoroughly blended together with some chia seeds added after the blending.

A lovely lunch.  I made the 'pate' by blitzing some butter beans and chickpeas (both from the freezer0 with some roasted red pepper (from a jar), a bit of tahini, a bit of half fat soft cheese, some garlic and onin granules, a bit of salt and some black pepper.   It was really delicious.

Afters was an orange.

Dinner - a salad in a bowl.  It was OK but I didn't really enjoy it all that much.  I think some salad cream would have been nice but I was trying to be 'good'.

Never mind!  I ate it, it was good, healthy stuff.

I had some grapes for afters.

No summary until next weekend!!!

Tomorrow's plans:

It's use-up-leftovers day.  I will go through the fridge and see what I can concoct!

B:  I have some of the smoothie left so I'm just going to add fruit to it and make a sort of fruit smoothie soup type thingy.  I'll probably add some more chia seeds for extra goodness.

L:  I also have some of the pate left (it was lovely, definitely making that again!) and I also have a couple of small sweet potatoes and some chicken so I'm going to roast sweet potato and onion, spread the pate over a wrap, add the veg and the chicken plus some grated cheese and wrap it up.  I may toast the outside, I'll see how I feel.  That will probably be enough but I can always have some salad

D:  I'm not sure but it might be a vegetable and bean casserole or maybe chilli with a jacket potato.  We will see.

Exercise:  Plenty of up and down stairs, etc.

x

Friday, 19-09-25 (written and posted Saturday morning) - changing things for a week

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.

. . . and it was a maintain.  Woo hoo!!!!!

I was happy with that.

However . . .  
I really wasn't feeling that well yesterday.  I think it was the result of living on ready meals for a week(ish) with a bit of added fruit, bit of A, bit of B . . .

Despite the chia seeds and the fruit, by yesterday I was very bunged up, very uncomfortable
(apologies if this is TMI) and a bit sore all over.

So the planning went out of the window.  I had some fruit in the morning and did a bit of stretching, etc, and things did loosen up a bit, thankfully (although still not right), but come the evening all I wanted was some simple, honest, uncomplicated food so I just had my As and B in the form of marmite and cheese on toast, whole grain sourdough toast.  It tasted so good . . .

This is not saying anything against those SW at Iceland frozen meals.  They are good, they are tasty, but they do, I think, lack fibre - for me, anyway.  The vegetables tend to be speed veg, the sauces tend to be artificially sweetened and any carbs tend to be white and refined carbs.  

I've had enough of them for now.

I'm going to be away from Monday and it seems to be the ideal opportunity to change things round for a week.  This is what I'm thinking . . .

I'm going to move away from Slimming World structure for a short time (just the week) and focus more on just healthy and whole food.  I won't be counting calories or anything, just trying to be balanced.
Having said that, I'm eating out a couple of evenings and want to make the other evenings really simple.  I had planned to buy ready meals from the Parc Market but now I am not so sure.  I might just take some wholewheat pasta and a few cans - tomatoes, pulses, a potato, onion, salad veg, mixed seeds and chia seeds - and knock up really simple evening meals. Then fruit and yogurt in the morning and something like avo and egg on sourdough toast (I'm taking some with me) with salad for lunches.  

That, with all the swimming and walking, should sort my system out nicely.

No As, no Bs, no syns and certainly no calories, just go with my instincts and enjoy it.

What do you think?

Tomorrow's (today's) plans:

B:  oat and seed smoothie

L:  smashed beans on sourdough rye, tomatoes and peppers on the side; fruit

D:   salmon poke bowl with sesame and soy dressing

Sounds posh but basically it's a salad!!  In a bowl!

I'm using this as a base idea.  https://www.justspices.co.uk/recipes/tuna-poke-bowl.html

Exercise:  A Lindsey video and some stretching.

Thursday, 18-09-25

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.

Seven days down now.

Two out of plan.

Five in plan.

Weigh in tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed for a maintain - I am still not stepping on my own scales so I have no idea.

However, whatever the scales do or do not say, I have a non-scale victory and that is that I am back into my size 10 jeans without feeling like a trussed up turkey!  That has to be worth being happy about.  xx

What I ate today:

I had a peach and an apple during the morning.

Lunch was the leftovers of the Thai green curry with rice (all speed/free) and a salad with some salad cream (one syn).
Afters was some chopped kiwi, free (I don't think kiwi is a speed)

The chicken in a black bean sauce was - OK.  Nothing special.  The sugar snaps were fine this time though.

I finished off some chargrilled veg from the freezer and served it, as you can see, in a wrap that I pushed into a brioche mould and popped in the oven to go crispy.

One healthy extra B and the rest was free,

Then I had yogurt with chia seeds (one and a half syns) and some berry coulis (one and a half syns)

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  leftovers for me and I might turn them into a cheesy wrap again but I'm doing a mini roast for Alex as he wants to make roast potatoes - the lovely. crunchy kind.

D:  oriental duck noodles, the sixth ready meal from SW at Iceland .  I kept this one for Friday because it feels like a fakeaway.

Exercise:  A walk and a video

Wednesday, 17-09-25

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.

Six days down this week. 

Two out of plan

Four within plan

One to go

I don't expect much in the way of lost poundage this week but I'm hoping for a maintain - I will be relieved with that.

What I ate today:

During the morning, I had a peach.

I know it sounded odd, turning Korean chicken and rice into a wrap with cheese but it worked really well.

One A and one B

For the soup, I just boiled up a can of tomatoes, a couple of small roasted red peppers, some lentils, some chicken stock, some soup mix (carrot, onion and celery), chopped and frozen, some tomato puree and seasonings.

Then I blended it all smooth.

All speed or free.

It might look a bit sludgy, but this Thai green curry was really nice - aromatic and flavoursome but not hot at all..  It didn't come with rice so I cooked some.

Afters was yogurt and chia seeds for one syn.

Summary:

One healthy extra A

One healthy extra B

One syn

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  leftovers  of Thai green curry and rice, followed by cheese on toast - don't judge me, I want to get the healthy extras in!

D:  chicken in black bean sauce; fruit

Exercise:  a walkl

Tuesday, 16-09-25 (written and posted Wednesday morning)

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 now in this SW week.

two off plan

three totally within plan

two days to go.  

What I ate today:

I had some fruit before and after Groove class.

Leftovers lunch - yesterday's dinner and Sunday's roast chicken with some mixed seeds and a bit of salad and some grated cheese (added after the photos was taken).

One healthy extra A and one and a half syns.

Later on I had some Greek yogurt with some chia seeds - one syn.

The Korean style chicken and rice was very spicy and really delicious.  I must say that these SW meals do not stint on good quality protein or on vegetables while the carbs are there but not overloading the dishes.  I am enjoying these meals very much.

I had a wee bowl of fresh tomatoes on the side - my tomatoes and pretty much all finished now and I have cucumber and tomatoes on my shopping list for the first time in ages.   Very sad.

I realised that I forgot to have the planned garlic toast with my lunch so, as I had another A, I made a cheese sandwich later and it was lovely.  A shame about the G+Ts - well, not tonic, elderflower presse (free on SW) - because one led to another as they can do and I blew my syns out of the water.  Oh, dear.  When will I learn!

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

syns unknown  

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  I have a little bit of the Korean chicken left which I can have in a wrap and it's a wet and dismal day so I am making some of my tomato, red pepper and lentil soup to have with it.

D:  Thai green curry, side veg; fruit

Exercise:  personal training is cancelled as Lindsey is unwell, poor love.  

Monday, 15-09-25

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 in the SW week

Three days well in plan

One day well out of plan - oh, well!

Three days to go.

What I ate today:

The inside of the quesadilla was a bit dry - I should have added some sauce - brown, sweet chilli, something like that.  The SW wrap was OK, nothing special and quite thin.

One and a half syns for chutney, one healthy extra A, one healthy extra B and two syns for salad cream in the coleslaw.

For afters I had some skyr baked apple yogurt with some added chis seeds - one and a half syns for the seeds and half for the yogurt.

Today's fruit was an apple and two nectarines.

The meat fests pasta was really nice.  Looking at the recipe, it is more or less how I would make it but I wouldn't get such a mixture of meats.  I added my other half A of hard Italian cheese, the rest of the coleslaw I made earlier (one syn for salad cream) and some tomatoes.  The only think I would change is have wholewheat pasta rather than white.

Afters was the rest of the baked apple yogurt with chia seeds for two syns in total.

I spooned some of the pasta into a bowl and will have it for lunch tomorrow with extra veg and some chicken from the Sunday roast,

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

seven syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  leftovers of the meat feast pasta with added veg and chicken because I can.  Also grated cheese and maybe some hm garlic toast to get my healthy extra B in.

D:  Korean chicken and rice, mixed vegetables; fruit

Exercise:  Groove and the walk there and back

Sunday, 14-09-25

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 into this SW week.

one day definitely not on plan

two days in plan

four days to go!

Already, I can see that the problem with this week is where to have my healthy extras.  I will need to look for opportunities to work them in.

What I ate today:

In the morning, I had an apple and a nectarine, both speed fruit.

My roast dinner.  Chicken, broccoli, runner beans, roasted carrots and roast potatoes plus some blueberry sauce, not in the photo and which I won't syn because I used sweetener and don't syn cooked fruit.

Afters was some yogurt and I added some chia seeds - I haven't had chia seeds for ages, have I?

The red berry coulis on top was one and a half syns and the chia seeds go towards my healthy extra B.

Later in the afternoon, I had an orange.

Now, this was something else entirely!

I stir-fried onion, pepper, mushroom, mange tout, baby corn, a chilli from the garden and some mixed seeds in toasted sesame oil.  I added the leftovers from yesterday, mostly noodles and sauce.  I stirred in one tbsp ketjap manis and finally sprinkled some very un-Asian feta cheese around the outside.

And

It

Was

Delicious!

The toasted sesame oil way three syns and the ketjap manis was one and a half syns.  The feta was an A

That was it.  I was full so nothing else needed.

Summary:

one heathy extra A

most of a healthy extra B (chia seeds and mixed seeds)

six syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  No SW meal leftovers today so I'm going to have chicken quesadillas which will get in my B and most of my As too.  I'll use one of the SW wraps and I'll let you know what I think.  Then fruit.

D:  meat feast pasta, grated cheese on top if I have any A left, side salad; fruit

Exercise:  Monday is circuits day!  :-)

Saturday, 13-09-25

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 done.

One out of plan, one in plan

Five to go!

I went to Food Warehouse and now I have seven meals tucked away in the freezer (the eighth is in my tummy now).

I got:

Thai green curry

Oriental duck noodles

Meat feast pasta

Chicken tikka balti

Beef tagliatelle

Chicken in black bean sauce

Korean chicken and rice

and what I had this evening, Singapore-style noodles.

I also got some SW wraps (a new venture for SW) and a chicken, nothing to do with SW but for my roast dinner tomorrow.

All in all, with the Iceland offers and the SW discount, I 'saved' nearly £10.  

What I ate today:

The pizza toast was delicious.  I used a bit of Mutti pizza sauce (SW free), 30g cheese (one A), the bread was one B and on it I put onion, mushroom and pepper.  The salad cream was one syn.  I really enjoyed it.

Later on, I had some fresh pineapple and a nectarine that needed using up.

The Singapore-style noodles were rather tasty.  Not quite what I have had from the takeaway but good, all the same.  The only thing that let it down was that some of the sugar snap peas were fibrous so not very nice.

There was loads so I ate all the meat and some of the noodles and veg.  Tomorrow I plan to stir fry some veg - I have loads - and add some chicken from the roast and that will be my evening meal.

This meal was SW free.

I had an apple for afters and then a kvarg for half a syn.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

one and a half syns

I think I can safely say today was well in plan!

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  roast chicken dinner - chicken, roasties, vegetables and I might make some blueberry sauce.  Then fruit

D:  leftovers of the Singapore-style boodles with added chicken, bean sprouts, mange tout, baby corn, pepper and mushroom.  Loadsa speed!

Exercise:  rest day

Friday, 12-09-25

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.

Weigh in this morning and . . . to my huge relief, one and a half pounds off.

But it was NOT a good idea to celebrate with an off plan evening.  Oh, well . .   
One day down and off plan

Six to go!

My plan for this coming week, starting tomorrow if possible, is that I'm going to make use of the offers for Slimming World members in Food Warehouse at the moment and try (and review in my own simple way) some of the more recent frozen meals.

What I ate today:

OK, so it looks terribly beige and very orange indeed but be assured that I did also have plenty of speed fruit between my meals - possibly too much although SW might say you can't have too much speed!
So sunglasses at the ready and . . .

Beans on toast for lunch.  I like this photo, it makes me think of those fiendishly difficult bean jigsaw puzzles!

The toast was my healthy extra B and I had fruit for afters.

Mid afternoon, I had nibbles of cheese - well, quite a lot of cheese, in fact - for both my healthy extras.

I also munched on some granola for twelve syns.

More orangeness for dinner.

I had planned to have a salad but there were beans left over as Alex couldn't come after all so I used them up.  The steak was quite small but I bashed it out and that splodge next to it is Dijon mustard which is now a SW free condiment.  I also had some salad cream to dip the chips in for one and a half syns.

Afters was more fruit.

I had a few drinks in the evening which took me way out of my syns allowance so I am starting the new SW week with an off plan day.  Ooops!

I really MUST have plenty of vegetables tomorrow and Sunday.  I really don't want to turn orange . . . it is really not a good look.  lol

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

way too many syns!

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  either pizza toast with a salad or, maybe, pizza waffle with ditto; fruit

D:  a SW meal, not sure which one until I have bought them, extra veg; fruit

Exercise:  a walk.

Thursday, 11-09-25

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.

The week is done.  Seven days.  One sort of on plan and six properly on plan.

Weigh in tomorrow morning and, if the scales are still static, at least I know beyond any doubt it's not anything I have 'done wrong'.

Plus I have really, really enjoyed my meals this week.  Home cooked, mostly from scratch, reasonable frugal . . . I'm happy with that!

What I ate today:

I had a nectarine before SET class.

The filling of these lunch quesadillas was softened onion, mixed beans, garlic, herbs, fajita spice, all heated together and mashed, with chutney and cheese.  
One and a half syns for oil, one and a half for the chutney, one A for cheese and one B for the wrap.

I could only eat one of the triangles so I saved the other for dinner and had it with more salad and some crumbled feta for my other A.  One syn for salad cream.

Afters was some fruit and some coconut yoghurt for three syns

I think I can honestly say I have been in plan today but haven't eaten enough.  I wasn't that hungry so that's OK as long as it is only once in a while.

I did get my healthy extras though.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

seven syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  Alex is here and I think I am going to do good old beans on toast.  Then fruit, if wanted, although I often leave the lunch fruit until later in the afternoon.

D:  I think I fancy steak and chips with pineapple for afters.

Exercise:  Maybe a walk.  It really depends on the weather.

Wednesday, 10-09-25

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.

Six days down this week

One sort of in plan.

Five definitely in plan.

One more day to go!

What I ate today:

I had a nectarine before Groove this morning.

A wrap, lined with egg and filled with bacon, sausage and tomato.

Two syns for the sausage and one B

Afters was peaches and an apple

I cut the spaghetti - runner beans were enough - and I melted Seriously Lighter to make a sauce.

One and a bit healthy As (for the sauce and a bit of cheese in the meatballs) and three syns for oil.

Afters was a couple of kiwi fruit.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

five syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  I have a friend here and I am doing smashed bean quesadillas with salad; fruit

D:  chicken casserole and veg; fruit

Exercise:  SET online

Tuesday, 09-09-25

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.

More than half way through my Slimming World week.  

Five days down, one sort of within plan, four totally in plan and two more to go.

And I didn't get on the scales!  :-)

A bit of a show off.  I really think I'm getting the hang of sourdough now.  

These are both for other people and the house smells amazing!

Same dough, just shaped differently)

What I ate today:

I had a banana before Groove (felt I needed some energy) and a nectarine afterwards

Hearty lentil soup with seeds on the top followed by an apple and an orange.

One syn for the soup (it said so on the freezer container) and one for the seeds

I added grated carrot to the burger mixture for some added flavour to go with the pork mince, veggie sausage, onion, garlic and grated parmesan.

Two healthy As for feta (some in the wrap and some to nibble), one healthy extra B and one syn for some grated parmesan in the burger mixture and one syn for the salad cream I spread over the wrap.  It was lovely and I was too full to have any afters.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  bacon and sausage sandwich (or roll, wrap, bagel, crumpet), side salad; fruit

Very breakfast-y!

D:  spaghetti meatballs, runner beans; fruit

The meatballs are made with the ither half of the burger mix and I might get a sauce from the freezer or I might use some Seriously lighter for an A

Exercise:  I'm doing an online Groove and later on it is Personal Training.