Inescapable!

Further to my drivelous post of yesterday...

Hypochondria. Don't know what it is? Google it! Don't know something - just Google it.
Feeling like shyte? Google your symptoms and make you own diagnosis! Anything you want to know is a mere few keystrokes away, what's not to love about that?! Should be great shouldn't it, but there are times when it isn't.

Hypochondria - a health anxiety/ phobia / mental illness where a person has excessive preoccupying concerns for his or her health depite there being no presence of a medical condition. Kind of explains ME! except, what if I pass it off as the anxiety and there really is something wrong? Gah.
True to the nature of Hypochondria where the health concern is typically limited to a particular 'issue', sometimes 2, Mine is the big C.

The problem? It's inescapable! I can do everything I possibly can (and I'd like to think I am) and still not escape it! I can improve my diet but that doesn't stop it from entering the mind! If the mind itself is a very pervasive tool, the media is probably moreso! Somebody of notable popularity dies of the big C, & it's on the news - hour after hour after hour - then it's on TV!!!!! Pick up a magazine & there it is nestled in the glossy pages of galloping gossip. Borrow a fab book from the library just to have it turn to crap at page 453. No radio, no TV, no magazines, no interweb, no fictitious Chick-Lit. Oh, no socialising either just incase someone refers to someone else who has/had it. Pretty hard to escape it when you look at it like that! and time to find a new hobby too!

Shyte.

Up until just a little over a week ago, things have been pretty damn good. I went to the Dr's on the 19th for a routine wart cauterization & was sent off with a form for fasting bloods to be done. Come the 22nd, I got them done & have virtually felt like crap since! It feels like every day I've woken up with a headache & since Thursday gone, my gut has felt like rubbish too. I haven't as yet heard any results of my blood tests & invariably no news is good news in this department - my Dr's are very good at calling if something needs putting right BUT.....
I've probably said it before - that I have issues with anxiety & depression & if I have, sorry, I'm saying it again. I know that on the 24th I had a small amount of something that probably could/would have triggered the initial headache. My issue now is wether this is now stress/anxiety related or something much more serious. In typical Amber style, the worst case senario invaribly seems to be the best option for my pathetic little brain to grasp hold of - until proven otherwise.
The brain is a very powerful organ - one that is capable of orchestrating the functions of the whole body with fine presicion. It's also a very powerful organ in terms of thought control. In terms of people that are mentally balanced, this isn't such a bad thing but when you're stressed/anxious/depressed, it's not a good thing at all because that brain can convince you of all manner of things that may or may not be happening. Which is were I am now. A major part of me says that my symptoms indicate a brain tumor, another part of me thinks it's just stress & I've overthought the whole thing and got anxious over it. A third part is trying to tell me that maybe it's menopause messing me around. I read that some say that your mother's age is an indicator for when you're likely to go through menopause but for me at 37, that's another 10 years away. I do have a paternal aunt that was done with the whole deal by 45 though.

I feel like a plane in a holding pattern running out of fuel.

BTW, I have called the Dr's today to find out my results - still waiting for a return call.

edit.
I have just had my return call - everything is fine. Blood Sugars - fine. Cholesterol total level a bit high but my ratio's are very good, Liver Function - fine too & the lovely nurse said that everything else was fine too so why oh why do I feel like shyte?

Where was I?

If it doesn't snow it pours - and it seemingly has. Today is the first day that I've had to myself this week & it's nice to just dress up a little and go out for a coffee!
Now, as I said in my last post, I was going to do a review (of sorts) so without further ado (drum roll please.....)

I spent 4 weeks in the company of this library book - the first of which I just spent salivating over the glossy photo's. My initial reactions were that this was a great book - something to get me into the swing of being more Primal. I loved that each recipe had it's own photograph on the opposite page so you could see what the dish was supposed to look like.

From all the recipes, I made just 3 - Cave Ketchup, Sheepishly Good Meatballs & Morning Glory Muffins (twice).

In making the Sheepishly Good Meatballs, I should have first made the Tomato Sauce but instead, stupid ol' me made the Cave Ketchup instead. It involved significantly less cooking was my justification at the time & I figured I could just add to capsicums as I went along. I then made the Meatballs - which went fine until I chucked them in the oven to keep warm. The little blighters shrunk significantly on me!! of course they would - mushrooms do that after a while.  My mushroom detesting kids enjoyed the meal, I had a dose of reflux so wasn't happy at all. The Morning Glory muffins, I have made twice.

not a great photo but I was hungry!

They freeze well and can be re-heated a little to allow for butter too. I've had them for breakfasts, morning teas, lunches, afternoons teas and desserts! I would make them again tomorrow - but I'd have to get the book from the library again! There's a recipe in there for Coconut Flour Tortillas and a Basic Bread Loaf too so chances are, I'll get the book out again.
Would I buy it though? Not convinced yet.

There was one thing I didn't particularly like about this book however - no serving sizes. I searched high & low, reading the introductory pages over & over trying to find something I had overlooked, but I couldn't find anything suggesting how many serves a particular recipe might make.

************************************************************************************

I have not forgotten the recipe that I wanted to share either. It's not my recipe though and should be just a treat and probably not an everyday treat either! I stumbled across this recipe for Primal Fudge one day on my amble through Pinterest (very addictive, do not go there). The resulting little morsels are rather addictive too, so maybe don't make them for yourself either - but you are more than welcome to make them for ME!! (pffft).
I make these in an icecube tray and get more like 16-18 serves & store them in the freezer - in this heat, they soften easily.

little morsels of antioxidant goodness!

And after all that, I wonder why I'm gaining weight?



 

Bumbling along

Nothing wild to report I'm afraid, just a post for the sake of a post I guess.

Here is what I'm up to at the moment:
Start with a little Jillian......

I somehow doubt that I'm going to have a six-pack in 6 weeks - I think Jillian forgot to account for the generous overlying fat layer!

Followed by -

And finishing with this

 

 

By the time I've finished with Jillian (or she's finished with me) I'm dripping in sweat, mind you, I'm doing it in a closed up house running at around 26 degrees. An hour later I think I've finally stopped sweating!

 

Oh, see those lovely little dumbells those 'bimbo's' (only 'cause I'm jealous!) are using? I'd like you to meet mine!

 

 

The weights themselves were supposed to be casting weights for DH - donated by the local scrap metal merchant whom DH is on good terms with - but DH found something better, so I flogged them. The bars are steel tube cut to different lengths (weren't made at the same time) with collars welded on so that the weights can't slip onto my hands & then held in place with hose clamps of all things! All because $25 is too much to spend on proper bars. Changing weights is tedious & requires a screwdriver so I've kept with the weights that were on there when DH assembled them - weight of the bars are unknown, but there's 3.5kg of weights!

 

 

Enough from me today, but I have another reveiw in the pipeline - this time a Recipe book AND a recipe that I found & I'd like to share!

 

Libertea

A Couple of weeks ago I was made aware of Libertea. Libertea is a New Zealand made 'soft-drink' if you like, made with a base of Green Tea flavouerd natually & sweetened with Stevia. Sounds great & seemed to fit the Primal bill to start with. So here's my thoughts....

Libertea has 3 variants under it's wee umbrella - Rosehip & Mint, Grapefruit & Lemon and Lemon & Ginger.

Rosehip & Mint.

Ingredients: Carbonated infusion of filtered water, herbal tea(26%)(rosehip, mint, hibiscus blossom), organic green tea(13%), lemon juice from concentrate, preservative (potassium sorbate), natural intense sweetner (stevia).

First glance it all looks ok, second glance- just above the ingredient list, it says 'Expect some sediment' so why use concentrated lemon juice? why not just use the real thing? The preservative is not ideal either in the sense that it IS a preservative.

Taste: Rosehip kind of says it all & I had no idea what a rosehip would/should taste like except to say I was expecting something 'floral'. I got floral - vaguely. I got mint - vaguely. There's a subtle sweetness from the stevia but it's not cloying or even lingering - it's there & then it's gone. The whole beverage seemed fine in the mouth once swallowed, left the mouth with no lasting memories.
It was a nice cool refreshing drink to return to after the cycle I had that afternoon.

Cost: $3.99

Grapefruit & Lemon

Ingredients: Carbonated infusion of filtered water, organic green tea(33%), grapefruit juice from concentrate(6%), lemon juice from concentrate(2.7%), preservative (potassium sorbate),tumeric, natural intense sweetner (stevia).

Same issues on the use of concentrates & the preservative.

Taste: Citrusy but not enough for my liking I guess, I found the flavours a bit vague here too although probably my pick out of the 3. Again, very nice to drink after a pedal around the park.

Cost: $3.99

Lemon & Ginger

Ingredients: Carbonated infusion of filtered water, organic green tea(33%), lemon juice from concentrate(2.7%), crushed ginger root(1.2%), preservative (potassium sorbate), natural intense sweetner (stevia).

Taste: A hint of lemon & a wee ginger burn. Lacked the intensity that I was sort of expecting/hoping for. I did continue tasting this once for several hours as it repeated on me & the ginger was much stronger!

Cost:$3.99

My opinion: The flavours off all 3 were too vague for me. I like punchy flavours that linger a little in the mouth to remind me of what I've just had. In hindsight, there was another flavour that stood out in three beverages - for me it was like fizzed, unflavoured SodaStream water; some might like this, but I'm afraid I don't fall into that category. I did however appreciate that the beverages were only sweetened subtly. As far as cost goes, for $3.99, I'd expect more - of something! Would I buy it again out of choice - no, but if it was offered to me, I would drink it.

My apologies for the fuzzy pics taken with my phone, I keep telling myself that one day I'll catch up with technology!

Between the Bedsheets.....

A Conversation with the DH last night after calling myself  'fat & wrinkly'.

"You're not fat" (DH)
"Ok, not fat, overweight" (me)
"You do realise that you'll never have a 6pack (DH)
"Why can't I try?(me)
"You're too old, you're bigger, let's face it, we both are" (DH)
"Well, if you think you're fat now, what were you back then." (DH meaning 2008)
"Obese" (me)
"So back when we met, you used to wear skimpy clothes, you don't anymore!"(DH)
 "No, It's not sending the right image to 'xyz'"(me - 'xyz' - not her real name, is our DD)
"But you used to....."(DH)
"Yeah, but I don't like what I see right now" (me)

The conversation went on a little then ended rather abruptly by me saying "......I know you love me for what I am now, But I don't love Me".
Absolute stony silence from the DH.
First I was blown away by his comment that that'll I'll never have a 6pack, I've had 2 kids, my abs are wrecked from that according to him, I'm older (hello dear, only 36!) so there's no point trying! His reaction to my last comment was something else again & probably quite telling of the situation that I've found myself in for the past couple of years trying to get back to where I was in 2010 if I remember rightly. My DH is from a family of 'larger' women. All his paternal aunt's are larger, & his mother&father aren't exactly svelte either. I think the concept of me being slimmer scares him so his support in what I'm doing is virtually non exsistant. Only time will tell if I get more support from him as time goes on - hopefully, with what I'm doing, I can improve my own body image. Maybe then I CAN wear skimpier clothes! Don't worry, I don't subscribe to the latest trend of wearing shorts so short that the pocket linings hang out the bottom or, worse still, the 'bottom' hanging out the bottom!

Stumped at every turn

Sometimes things are sent to try us & some of us take more trying than others. It seems that I get foiled at nearly every turn. Take the smoked salmon I've had twice this week -contains sugar! What about the Chow Mein I had last weekend (thinking it might have been a 'safer' option) aka how to gain 2kg overnight! I'm itching for a stirfry but I'm used to making them with soy sauce. I swear that every soy sauce has wheat in it. Yup, I know that soy isn't Primal, but a decent fermented soy apparently becomes more bio-available (or something) - if only I could get hold of some. I guess somewhere in little ol' New Zealand, we could probably get coconut aminos but from what I've heard, you either like it or loathe it & if I'm knocking up a stir-fry, I have to consider the random tastebuds of my other half too.

image courtesy of the internet!

The importance of staying away from weighing everyday/week, is often emphasised in a number of different websites that I use for reference. Far better to focus on what you put in your mouth & how you feel rather than hopping on the scales each morning (guilty) or worse still each even as well (guilty). During the first couple of weeks of the year I managed infrequent weigh-ins which was good - liberating almost, but with the event of that rouge takeaway, I'm back to weighing daily - just to make sure that the weight IS actually coming back off again - I mean, up until yesterday, I was heavier than my start weight on Jan 1!

image courtesy of the internet!

Exercise is important. Unfortunately it takes a deal of concious effort on my part to make it happen. Ususally once I get going I'm fine, it's getting started that's the problem! I was hoping to get quite a bit of kayaking in, but we've been out twice as it's quite windy lately, that & the tide has to be right or we have to wade through mudflats - blergh. So my darling has rigged up this bike for me. Honest, it's an old clunker with 1 gear out of 20? that work. It's all of about 20 years old! I have a new bike on my birthday wish list but I'm just as likely to get a new kitchen gadget which in itself isn't a bad thing but it'd be quite nice to have something just for me.

image courtesy of the internet!

Using you brain is important - apparently. Pity I didn't get the memo! I didn't use mine to remember sunblock when I took the kids to the beach the other day. The kids almost came off scott free whilst I have the 'delights' of sunburn to the point that the DH is scared to hug me. I'm pissed at my stupidity.

Week 2 + 2

Week 2 started out fine - until Saturday & then it just fell to pieces. It started with a small party for my ds's birthday. I'd taken them all swimming at the local pools & bought them home again for some party food but had neglected to prepare myself something. My lunch consisted of a handful of potato wedges, about 7 cocktail sausages, 3 eggs & and afternoon nap. The following day, we had another party. Ds had asked for pizza's so I bought some, & made some as well. I shared my one with my sister when I probably could have eaten the whole thing myself & then promptly scarfed 2 pieces of bought pizza & 3 pieces of birthday cake. Monday I scoffed a couple of chocolates, Tuesday I had birthday cake & chocolates & yesterday I devoured the lion's share of the remainder of the box! Yes, I am only human, but THAT was appalling!
I hate to think of the damage that my scales might indicate but I'm not going to that place!

I now have a scant 4 weeks until my own birthday - mercifully, it's during the week so there's no prolonged partying but in that time I need to put some serious work/effort into myself rather than me putting effort into other people.

I'm off for a ride around the park with the kids between the showers.

Week 1!

I've made it through my first week with a more primal focus. So how did I do?
I threw out the Splenda for starters - not that I used it much anyway, but still, it's gone.
In some aspects, having a primal focus hasn't been much different to my method of low carbing - even then I tried eat as much 'natural' food as possible. I couldn't see the point in consuming foods with ingredient lists as long as my arm & with words that were sometimes tounge twisters. Yes, what I'm doing now has just made the list of acceptable foods significantly smaller. Yup. Now I have a challenge on my hands - how to make my food taste just as good as it did 2 weeks ago! I'll admit that I like good food, nay, I love good food BUT I love good food that OTHER people cook. I don't phaff around when I'm cooking for my family - or myself. The other 3 members don't appreciate the effort of phaff & by the time I'm done sorting them out, I've had enough so things stay pretty basic.

Primal Kills - Kitchen Appliance
You read right! I was trying to make some 'balls' with nuts & dates & I managed to completely knacker the bearings in my multi-whizzy thingee. Poor DH just about lost it when it started screaming. Not impressed and it's absence was sorely missed by dinner time!

Balls of Yum

Last night we had burgers for dinner  - problem! Burgers need sauce & nothing in the fridge even closely resembles tomato sauce suitable for a primal diet so what to do? Make some! I think I threw about 6 smallish beefsteak tomatos (really weird - they had no seeds!) into a pot with 2 cloves of garlic, a bit of fresh oregano & rosemary along with 4 peppercorns & cooked until it was a mushy slurry. Since the multi-whizzy thingee threw it's toys out of the cot, I had to pour the whole lot through a sieve & mash it around so I was only left with solids. Something was missing so I chopped up half a Granny Smith apple & tossed that in. Granny Smith's are supposed to be cooking apples BUT I think they took umbridge to being cooked with tomatoes & really didn't soften much at all. Re-enter the sieve & repeat the process, reduced it a bit further & I had a really nice sauce for my 'burger'.

My simple tomato sauce!

Finally I got on my bike today. I told my DH the other day that with the small size seat, it was going to get lost 'somewhere'. By the time I'd been on the bike half an hour, it certainly felt like it was doing a damn fine job of getting lost in 'that' place. I imagine getting back on that bike tomorrow is going to be a bit of a pain - literally. No pain, No gain ey?

I Don't Think I Thought!

Primal is going to be tough when I consider some of the basic elements without even going into any detail. Natural should be easy enough. Organic would be too if it weren't for one thing - a little thing for some, but for me/us (as a family) it's a BIG thing. A growing young family with a mortgage on a single income that barely scrapes 50K. We manage fine as we are but the difference in costs to go organic are going to work out prohibitive. Does that mean I can't be Primal? Could do if you're a purist! So instead of quitting, I might have to change my subtitle so it reads 'The Hungry Puku - Supermarket Primal' at least until the kids have left home! I consol myself by thinking that it's at least a step in the right direction.

I've been contemplating my pantry this morning looking for contraband. Soy Sauce. I'll replace it with Tamari! No I won't - the Soy is made with wheat, the Tamari with soy. Worchestershire sauce? hmmmm I spy sugar & what's spirit vinegar? The mustard contains sugar & the Splenda must go in the bin. Tomato sauce is off limits. The bacon I just ate for lunch - better not buy that again either Oh, & my favourite 2 seasonings - Garlic Salt & Garlic Pepper - both have rice flour! Rice Flour? Seriously? Last night's dinner would have been significantly improved by the addition of one (or both) of them. I can see me having to spend more time in the kitchen working out how to make my meals taste better!

Exercise is also important in going Primal & exercise is not something I'm particularly fond of with the exception of kayaking. I love it. Yesterday we were out for a casual paddle with the kids (1 adult + 1 child in a 1 person kayak) & the kids had a bit of a swim before we returned - not particularly hard work. Today the wind was stronger & it was a bit harder (considering the heavier child wanted to share my kayak) 2 hours from our start point to the Greenhithe Bridge & back paddling all the way first into the wind & then against the tide. The OH & I discussed the feasibility of fishing the creek for Kawhai or Snapper as we went along. I'm ready for a nap!

New Year, New Start

It's been 2 years since I last posted. That sounded remarkably like a confession! but no words are going to absolve me from what I have become - only action will do that!
It's 2013 & time for a fresh start. What's a girl to do? Something, Anything!
I've done 2 years of hard out Low Carb, followed by 2 years of phaffing - sometimes low carb, sometimes moderate & even some throwing caution to the wind & it's not put me in a good place. It's not helped by the people close to me saying that I'm fine - because I know I'm not!

Shame!

Yikes!

So, here I am in all my blatant grossness glory. I was 2kg heavier a week ago but hey, it's 2013 now - not a week ago! I am 80.8kg and ready to do something a bit more 'Primal' than 'Low Carb'.
It doesn't seem like it should be a big transition from one to the other but knowing me, I'll probably make mountains out of molehills!

I refuse to fail.

Mmmmmm - Chicken

It's been a while since I've posted here - I guess I've been off my blogging 'Oats', but I've had some pretty good feedback from this recipe, so I thought that I'd post it here.
Chicken Nibbles have to be one of my 'Junk Foods' - the type where you sit watching some good movie or tv program & trying to suck chickeny goodness from your (my) fingers.



Spicy Chicken Nibbles

(PS: I hate writing recipes because I hardly ever measure ingredients when I make things)

1 large T unsalted peanut butter
A slosh (about 1/8 cup) Sherry & about the same of Soy sauce
A decent pinch of Parsley (It's green so it's a vegetable!) - I use dried.
A dash of Garlic salt according to your taste.
A squirt of Gourmet Garden Chilli Paste (about a T)
A Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar (about 1/16 cup)
1 tray of Chicken nibbles (I use about 700g)

Mix first 6 ingredients together & pour over nibbles. Stir & leave to marinate 30mins or so. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 1 hour - stirring to baste chicken every 20mins or so. Any dreggs in the bottom of the pan can be drained of excess fat & used as a sauce/dip - pour into a pot with some cream & simmer to reduce until thick again.

These are 'gently' spicy. There's no reason though, that you couldn't spice it up further with some finely diced fresh chilli.
Without the sauce, these make great picnic food!

Until next time.....

Pizza Update!

Sorry, no pics with this post folks. I just wanted to make an update on the pizza 'thing'. I'm actually all pizza'd out now (had to happen sooner or later!).

In my last post, I gave a recipe for a Pizza Quiche base. It was pretty good but I wasn't quite happy with it as it didn't seem to have the 'right' texture to it. In other words it didn't 'chew' right!
I made it again about a week ago and it came out great. I just greased the base of my pan well then chucked the cheeses straight in the bottom then gently poured the eggy mixture over the top of that. What happens is the cheese sticks onto the greased base a bit & stays there when the egg goes in, then when it cooks, it stays at the bottom & creates a 'base'. Once it's cooked, the cheese gives it quite a nice 'chew'.
I guess I still have to do the cauliflower base - just to say that I've tried it. meh.

Pizza Experimentation.......

There are supposed to be some good low carb pizza base alternatives out there, so I'm now setting out to try them. Normally, I would just have Meatza, but I'm curious as to wether I can find a good alternative that still retains some of the characteristics of a base made with a 'proper' bread dough base (namely 'chew').

The Saturday before last I tried the recipe from eat the cookie but halved the recipe to make a base of around 18cm in diameter. 1.5 eggs wasn't really possible, so I only went with 1 egg.

Sorry for the bad pic!



There were a couple of things that might put me off using it again.....
1. A pizza the should taste vaugely like an Italian Job, tasted hugely of coconut - but what did I expect!!!!!
2. It was a bit crumbly, but then, maybe if I had used an extra egg (or even 1/2) it might have been better.
3. The Pizza sauce I used, seemed to soak into the base so it was hard to taste.

Last Saturday night I tried a different recipe - this time from an actual recipe book titled The Low-Carb Gourmet by Karen Barnaby. The recipe is called Pizza Quiche.

Here's the recipe for just the base - I'm sure you can work out your own toppings! The recipe below is not quite as it is in the book as I've never seen one of the cheeses that the book mentions.

115g Cream Cheese
4 Large Eggs
80ml Whipping Cream
130g Parmesan
1/2tsp Garlic
1/2tsp Oregano
115g Mozzarella

Preheat Oven to 180C, Grease a 32.5x22.5cm shallow baking dish.
In a food processor, blend together the cream cheese & eggs until smooth. Add the cream, 30g parmesan, garlic & oregano, Blend until smooth.
Scatter 100g Parmesan & ½ the mozzarella in the baking dish. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese & bake for 30 minutes. Add desired toppings & bake as normal.

I only made 1/2 this recipe in a 19?cm Springform tin.



Would I make it again? well, I'd like to experiment further with this one.
1. I suspect that the baking paper lining the bottom of the tin stopped the base from getting a nice chewy layer of cheese on the bottom so would like to do it directly in the base of some other dish.
2. Still needs some 'chew'. Maybe some ground almonds?

I really am skirting around the cauliflower pizza base - one day I might get there. I've had issues with cauliflower for years. As a child, it used to make me gag - no matter how it was cooked. In the end, my mother stopped putting it on my plate & gave me extra peas in fear that the gag would evolve...... & now I can only bear to eat it in Chinese stirfry & as Cauliflower Rice - with butter, pepper & chicken stock. Cauliflower pizza base will be the final cauliflower 'frontier'.

A touch of luxury

Today was my last day of my egg extravaganza. Well, I'm taking a week off. 42 eggs in one week!
I decided to fancy it up a bit today & had some veg with my eggs. Parsley is a veg. Isn't it?

Breakfast



Now, lunch was about protein on protein - that pink stuff is salmon. I don't know why I've been scared to try it before 'cause it was quite nice.



Thursday nights are 'swimming' nights. DH & I take the kids up to the local pools for a swim. By the time we get back, it's just about bedtime for my ds, so dinner for DH and the kids is takeout whilst I get to chuck something together for myself.
Tonight's effort has some 'veg' in it too - can you see the green stuff? Parsely & Oregano! It's sort of a take on Dana Carpender's Heroin Chicken wings. On one hand I want more but on the other.....I'm full! (there were 16 pieces on my plate).



I'm off to donate blood in the morning. I'm hoping that they do a better job than they did last time. The fist sized bruise on my arm took 2.5 weeks to completely dissappear. I will be telling them about it tomorrow that's for sure!

* Waves Furiously*

I'm hopeless at this blogging caper!
It could be just as well, because it's been feeling like I've been eating the same things over and over again. Well, if you thought that previously, you should see what I'm having now!

For the last week, I've been having the same thing every day for breakfast & lunch - that is having scrambled eggs for breakfast & lunch! not dinner though - that would probably just be going a 'little' overboard. Oh, wait, I did have an omlette at the weekend - it had the same ingredients as some of my scrambled eggs! So here goes....

Breakfast
Just to prove how hopeless at blogging I am, I forgot to take a pic until I was 1/2 way through!



Lunch was more of the same - with a side of Ham.



Dinner: Left over roast pork from last night's dinner, cauli rice & brocoli. Not a good photo but there was steam poiuring off my plate!



I'm down to 72.5kg now - only 2.5kg off my original target weight of 70kg. When I was about 78kg I took a long hard look at myself & decided that 70kg probably wasn't going to put me where I wanted to be & that I was just going to see where I ended up. Not long after that the battery in my scale decided to start going flat - each time I turned them on, they would flash 66.3kg - so I took that as a sign. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of 'those' type of people (at least I think I'm not!), but it seemed like a good target. 70kg would have meant that I was only just on the cusp of a 'healthy weight' / 'overweight', being 66kg, means that my weight will be healthy - at least by BMI standards (which, truthfully, I don't hold as gospel).

Don't leave the camera on the table!

- You get your photo taken!



I digress, breakfast was the usual 3 fried eggs (in butter of course)



After my morning walk I felt like something sweet with my coffee, so I broke a bar of Atkins 'Milk Chocolate' in half and nibbled at that. The other half remains in the pantry for another day. The last time I had a whole bar & had some stunning stomach cramps for the remainder of the day - not going there again in a hurry.



Here's lunch. It would have looked more like a salad had the spinach I bought yesterday not been less than than prime. Still, it tasted alright when eaten with my fingers (and the poor kids get told off for eating their dinner with their fingers!).



& dinner: pretty self explanatory I would have thought. Oh, those 2 curvy things are the pork rind/fat off 2 other chops because 'they' don't like fat. 'Waste not want not' I say.



Now I've just wolfed down a bowl of berries too, so I'd better slap a pic of those in too I guess!

Long Time No See!

I figure that it's time for another update in the food department - not that food now looks any different from last month. Food is still food right!

Breakfast is pretty much always 3 eggs. Sometimes I have bacon too, but I find that with going for a walk in the mornings, the bacon doesn't sit too well in my tum.



Lunch - today I felt like something a bit different. Not exactly sushi, but it tasted pretty good anyway.



Dinner - whew, what a plateful! Normally, I don't have that much on my plate - I could have quite happily left the cauli off the menu tonight (or the beans), but seeing as I cooked it, I thought I had better eat it.



I'm still feeling peckish too....

S is for Starving!

If I thought that I has hungry for food after my walk yesterday, then I was famished today! As per yesterday & the day before, I didn't eat until I returned from my walk. I actually think that I feel better walking on an empty stomach - I don't feel like I'm weighted down. Today I had barely got in the door & I was heaving pans around so I could have some brekkie.



Even after that, when I felt that I should have been full, I wasn't! There were mild hungry pangs going on until 1pm when I succumbed & had a couple more eggs & a cheese sandwhich.



I don't know what Im doing differently because by 5.30pm, I was really looking forward to dinner. It's just as well that I usually eat my meal with the kids because I was wanting it tonight. Nothing flash though!



Even that hasn't completely done it for me, so once I leave my post, i'll be going for a bowl of berries.

I'm very happy to say that my new jeans didn't shrink in the wash - and I didn't grow either. It feels absolutely great to be wearing sz12 jeans! I despaired of ever being this size - not when I was a sz22 (and nearly sz24!) that's for sure.

E is for Empty

Seeing as I managed to go for a 7km walk yesterday before I had anything to eat, I decided to try it again this morning. Well, I got about 1km from home (my dd's school to be precise) and I was hungry! My belly didn't start to maon in earnest until I had just past the same bakery that I mentioned yesterday (wind must have been blowing in the opposite direction). By the time I got home, I was really looking forward to some breakfast.

3 eggs & 2 slices of bacon at around 10:20am



I was kind of curious to see how far I could actually go on that meal, so decided not to eat until I was hungry. At around 3pm I was feeling a little peckish and was eyeing up some nuts. I obviously wasn't hungry enough though as I left them alone (small miracle). By 5pm, the rumbly belly had set in, but I didn't eat until 5:45pm

It looks attrocious, but it's hard to take good photo's of lamb neck chops! I made a blue cheese gravy with some of the stock/cooking juice that was left in the pot. Kind of full after that effort!



I bought some size 12 jeans yesterday! I have had trouble finding jeans that fit me in the past. If they fitted around my legs, they didn't fit around my waist (usually with a great pocket at the back were I could store all manner of things (due to the shape of my back I guess). So yesterday I go into a store to try on some sz12 jeans - more for a laugh because I didn't beleive that they would actually fit - but what do you know! so I bought 2 pair (major splurge). Now I only hope that they haven't shrunk in the wash.....