Sunshine

I've been sick again the last few days, in fact my lovely boss sent me home today cos I was in danger of fainting or having an asthma attack... So yet again I am bored and on the couch, and I can't even go exercise (which you know I love to do and hate not doing... So it's pretty annoying!).
Oh, and you know how I have been proud of myself for not not eating when sick lately? I still am proud of those achievements, but not as impressed on my behaviour this time. I ate and ate and ate on Tuesday, and not as bad but not good on Wednesday. And the little switch that tells me I've had enough? It must be sick too, or on holidays! So basically I am expecting a gain this Saturday, but I am not letting it get me down at all. And THAT is something to be proud of I think! I have made some mistakes, but I am still tiny, I have still achieved so much, and it's not worth my worry. I'm just going on with life!

It's such a beautiful bright sunny day today, and I love it! We have been getting so much rain lately, it is a lovely and welcome change! So I thought I would share the view from my wide open window (though I just had to close it cos of the whole keeping the chest warm.. grrr... It was lovely while it lasted!)
Hmmm, as I am basically housebound, I don't have much to write about! But I thought I would update anyway, and leave you with a thought from the book of proverbs:

A happy heart makes the face cheerful!

So if you are feeling down about your outside appearance, work on the inside first and it will work it's way out! :)

WWW - What a Wonderful Weekend

Wow am I tired! I've had a great weekend, had a friend's Kitchen tea on friday night, then drove to Canberra straight afterwards (got in around 2:30), and then got up and had family photos done with my family, which turned out to be really fun! The last family photos were about 5 years ago, and so we didn't have the complete family (addition of my hubby!), and we have all changed so much... oh it's so exciting to be able to not cringe at the thought of the frame going up on the wall and knowing that everyone can see my fat face beaming down... no more of those photos ever! HURRAH!! I took photos of the sample photos we have, we get the real ones in two weeks and they are going to look SO GOOD! And we finially got long-overdue haircuts as well, so even better! This is just a selection too... for the first time ever, everyone is happy with them so we went the whole hog and got a package!

Anyways then we went to the engagement party of one of my bridesmaids (and best friend from school), and that was really fun and exciting, and it's so wonderful seeing friends happy and with lovely fellas who treat them right! :)
My youngest brother took advantage of my visit to get us to take him and his friends to the movies after church on sunday to see Over The Hedge, and you should have seen the sugar high's afterwards! Oh my goodness, I don't know how I got them home in one piece! I made them walk there and back, and made tem do some starjumps... and they still were bouncing... but I had fun, they are great kids. :)
Actually, with my brother in his first year of high school, I am not sure how much longer I can call them kids... especially since I seem to be getting shorter and shorter or they are much taller and taller... I'm such a shrimp...
We had a such a great (and full) weekend, and I feel even better about it fromteh fact that apart from a few fantales, I didn't eat anything remotely bad, and despite the bitter cold, I went walking with Mum for 45 minutes both yesterday and today, though I borrow gloves after the first time! It was so good walking though, gives so much time for conversation!
I think for now I have to get off, cos after travelling back today (and napping in the car a bit...) I seem to be a little hypo and overstimulated, and think I should get myself to nice warm bed!

More Pics, from engagement party!
Went a little camera happy didn't I... *grin*

I'm back in the swing of things!

I'm feeling very proud of myself at the moment, I was really struggling to get going and eat right and get back into exercise after being sick last week, especially since I still have to be careful of overtaxing my lungs, but yesterday and today I have really felt back in control, have been eating perfect No Count food, not using extras and exercising happily, it's such a good feeling to be back into my normal routine!
That in itself is saying something, isn't it? I'm not used to to NOT exercise, and not eating right, that I really hate it when I don't/can't. Shows this is a lifestyle thing, YAY! :)

And my Hubby has been back into the gym! I'm so excited, because he is so much happier and energized when he is exercising regularly! Unfortunately doing three weights sessions in a week seems to have lead to a 1kg gain for him (so does this mean I still have a shot of getting to goal before him?!?! MUST DO IT!! tehehe :)
Still haven't got a pic of him riding and playing xbox at the same time, though I did try it out myself! I have a thing for Spyro the Dragon on the playstation (I know it's a kids game, but I obviously don't have the game players skills...), and I tried to play and ride, but I kept stopping every time Spyro needed to stop, or a baddie jumped out or whatever. So I think I'll stick to more conventional methods of exercise!

My only drama this week is that I'm away on the weekend, and so will not be able to weigh in as normal on Saturday. So I weighed in last night at a different meeting and lost 0.4kg since Saturday, so I'm pretty happy with that! Now I've got to just remain in control at a hen's night on Friday and an engagement party on Saturday, and not be distracted by all the treats that I'm sure will be sitting temptingly in my parents pantry when we go visit!

Oh, and I don't think I've meantioned it yet, but I have filled out my City to Surf form, It's all ready to go! So 8 weeks to go, and I'm looking forward to it! My hubby is going to go in it too, so I even have a training partner... though I think he thought I meant Cho-Cho-Train...

tehehehe :)

Enough rambling from me! If the rain eases up, I'm hoping to be able to go for my weekly walk with two friends from WW this evening... please stop raining... pretty please! Or at least, go fill up the dams instead!

Collage Pics...

Tehehehe, I wonder how clever you will think I am after I reveal my magic collage technique...!

We have been very blessed in the computer department. Both my husband and I had computers from studying and when we got married it meant we had a few parts. Both the computers we were using we very old (I bought mine for less than $100 in 2000, it was old then! I think my Hubby had his given to him for free about the same time), but a computer savvy friend pulled them apart, as well as some other old parts we we given, and put them together into something a bit better. That did ok... not great. Then another friend gave us his old computer for free when he got a new one, so we jumped from a 586, to a Pentium 1, and that was exciting, and now due to a few more parts, its a little better still!
Anyway, the point of my rambling, is that the programs we have are only what happens to be on the computer. When we got given the Pentium 1, it had Kodak easyshare on it (I don't know whether this is a standard thing or not? Maybe you can download it?), and my all time favourite program:- PAINT!
It's funny actually, we were given a canon camera for Christmas and birthday present combined from my parents, but the programs won't run on this computer cos it is too old. So I actually save everything as paint pictures, and use Kodak for some editing!
So that's my secret people, I use paint to make my collages. I did learn however that if I edit my images using the Kodak easyshare program and save them in size as "best for web" they all turn out roughly the same size, and that makes it much easier to use. Also saving them as jpeg instead of bitmap in paint makes them easier to upload to blogger.

So, here are my tips for making a easy collage:
1. Save you image first. I save all my images in paint on their own, cos that way if I make a mess I still have the pic somewhere easy.
2. Make sure the image is the size (or close to it) that you want, as it is hard to adjust them without squishing.
3. Use the edit menu, and select "paste from" to find your image, or simply cut and paste.
4. Position it exactly where you want it before you do anything else, cos it becomes harder to move things around after you click off it.
5. Save often. That way you have something to go back to if disaster strikes!
6. Save as jpeg, better for net and blogger. (at least for me)
7. HAVE FUN!!

To demonstrate, I made a collage of wedding pics, very simple, took just a few minutes but saved 20 minutes trying to download separate pics to blogger!
So my advice, is go play! If you have never even heard of paint before, it is a standard feature (on IBM's at least), found usually in your Start; Programs; Accessories menu, next to things like the calculator etc.

It's a new week! I love that fact! :-)

Anyone wondering where I have been? So have I! I spent last week sick and having chest/asthma problems, so I didn't get on here, especially as this is a very cold room and that is really not a good thing for me.
I had a wonderful weekend though, as not only was I feeling a fair bit better, but I got to go down the coast and visit friends, and also see my parents who were visiting too. I even won at cards (hurrah for Queen Rae!! tehehe) - we play a game called Philadelphia whenever we get together, and it's great fun. Keeps everyone in the same room at the same table for hours! :)
Then on Sunday some lovely friends of ours dedicated (christened) their beautiful daughter, and then had a lunch party, where I enjoyed myself heaps, but also enjoyed all the sweet things heaps... oops! I hoped on my exercise bike in the evening though, and made vegie soup for dinner, so I think it'll be alright overall. I just can't let myself treat every event as a a chance to go nuts (I didn't exactly go nuts but you know what I mean...), cos we have a special event (engagement party's, christening's, weddings, birthday's) on every weekend until August. And then some in august (haven't looked that far, but I think it just keeps going!!)
So must keep some perspective!

Anyway it was gorgeous, she was beaming and laughing and being really good. And the whole service was a family service so lots of kiddies everywhere and there were puppets and it was great! My hubby had to keep telling me not to get too excited and clucky! But sometimes I cant help it! :)
My reflective mood is obviously still ticking over in my head too, cos we took pictures yesterday, and when I saw the one of me I really noticed how much I have changed just in the last few months. I only started blogging in February, and the first pic on my blog was the one above with my hubby, and the next two are Feb as well, and then the one of me yesterday! For starters my chest has disappeared... And the top I'm wearing is a size small, and used to be tight and stretchy, and was loose on me!
Actually, with all the weddings etc, I really need to go shopping... Oh what a pity! Will just HAVE to go to the Myers sale and shop.... tehehehe :)

WW in Review

I thought this fine public holiday morning, where I am in my jarmies (my hubby isn't even awake yet but I have no excuse to prod him cos its a public holiday so I guess he is entitled!), that I would do a review of my WW experience. All of it!

So Beware this is long and possibly very dull, but useful for me to see what hasn't worked, why this has been a struggle for so long, and for me to move on and not think of myself as that fat person anymore. :)


My WW awareness started with my mum back in around 1997-98, when she started WW after years of gaining weight, and then a little more after my youngest brother was born. At this point, I was still a kid, and was swimming training all the time and was fit, healthy and active. I really had no awareness of my weight, except for the fact that most of my friends were considerably lighter than me, but when I asked my dad whether that meant I was fat, he showed me that it was muscle from swimming, and since he couldn't do the pinch the belly test it was all good. So I was fine with that.

Mum went on to lose 35 kilos, over time (no quick fixes, just lifestyle change!) and became a leader and has been for at least 7 years now. She got so interested that she took up studying Nutrition at Uni, and graduated in 2004, and this year decided to go back a do her Masters of Dietetics, I am so proud of her! :)

[Mum's graduation!]
Anyway, unfortunately, while Mum got small, I got Big. Quickly. When puberty hit, everything went wrong and all my hormones went far from normal. I have a thyroid and piturity gland problem, which has caused problems with my ovaries and basically left me sick for years... And I got glandular fever and resulting low immunity to everything, so I was sick and miserable for years. The problem was that I allowed myself to console my feeling sick and miserable with food. So it's not all being sick, it's me keeping myself that way.

Basically I went from girls clothes, to size 14 women's, do not pass go, do not collect $200. And really, I didn't even seem to realized it had happened for a good while. I still thought I was the same. In year 10 it did hit me, I went to the year ten formal looking like a blob, and I realized it when I saw the photos. So from that point on I tried to count points at home (had all mum's books) and my year 12 formal dress was still a 16, but it didn't look to bad.

It was other emotional issues that lead me to gain (more) weight when I moved away to Uni. I had some exceedingly bad experiences with guys, and found myself hiding behind my weight. And at this point I joined WW. In the following years I have gone up to hit my heaviest at 83.4, I have been down to hit 74ish a couple of times, and have battled more than a few health problems. The smallest I have ever been though in my entire teen and adult life has been a 12-14, and never have really been within throwing distance of the Healthy BMI. But in the approx 2 years since my heaviest, and despite putting back on 6kgs after the pneumonia last winter, I have gone from a 16-18 (meaning I couldn't fit the 16's, but I was too proud to buy 18's so I was just really very uncomfortable and avoid shopping cos I didn't fit anything...) to now a size 8-10 (mainly 8 on top, mainly 10 on bottom, though some 8's, and some random things in the cupboard with weird sizes... :)

[Pic from first year of Uni]
Some of my biggest hurdles has been changing that attitude of consoling myself when I get sick with food. That has been the thing to always ruin my best efforts, when I have got sick, I have gotten bigger. So that's why I have been so keen to celebrate my triumphs over the colds I have had lately, cos I am changing that attitude. I really feel on that front that I have conquered the mountain!

The other hurdle which took years to overcome was those male issues. I felt less likely to be abused if I was unattractive, so that lead to the years of ups and downs, all the while still going to WW, because deep down I did not WANT to be slim and attractive, I was safer how I was. I did want to feel better about myself, but I had to deal with those emotions first, and that took time. My hubby and I were very good friends for 18 months before he asked me out, and at that point I at my biggest, but was just figuring out those emotions and moving on. 18 months later we got married and I was the smallest I had been in ages, the dress was a 14 but I was fitting into some 12's. I can honestly say that I have deleted those issues of the face of the earth. My hubby is a wonderful man, and those scared days are well behind me. Looking back I can see how different my 'journey' to control my weight has been since I got through and rid of those issues and mistrust.

A hurdle I wasn't expecting was the scared of being really tiny. I was so used to being me and being bigger, that when I hit a size 12, I got really comfortable. It was such an average size! I fit in with everyone else! I kept reading stories of successful slimmers who where all excited about being a 12, and I had never, ever been smaller than that. I skipped the 'tiny lady' clothes, and I never did the teenage clothes. So I got stuck on that weight/size for quite some time, and I had to shift focus again. I had to say to myself that the important thing is to get to the healthy weight range, and I have to do it for my health, and also as the best chance for me to have children. And No Count has also been a huge help in that, as I really am a terrible tracker, so I have made my lifestyle a healthy No Count one that I can happily do the rest of my life!)
This is an interesting hurdle for me to look back on, because I am hitting similar issues at the moment, in that I don't want to be smaller than an 8, as I want to be able to fit and buy clothes! Once again though I am focusing on the healthy weight range, and I know I have a little way before I am an all over 8, so that should be ok. I hope!

A strange one that I have had to reconcile to myself is that some people see losing 14-15kilos as not much of an achievement. This was really ticking me off, but have found since showing my before photo first, when asked how much I have lost, people have a much greater understanding of just how much that 15 means on my body. A lot of people say look like I have lost 30, and I was thinking about it, and figured out that if I was average height, according to the BMI change I would have lost 25-28ish kilos. So that makes me feel pretty good. :)
Also I worked out that averaged out, a dress size is LESS THAN 3 kilos for me.
Very interesting...

So basically this really has helped me. I can see how much I have changed, and I can see what is really bugging me at the moment and could be in the way. It's not the fact that I have stayed the same for the last few weeks, as I have been on so many plateau's before, and also I know my body shape is still refining itself, and I have never ever been a big, fast loser. No, it's the thought that I am happy with my body, and I feel like I should be at goal. I feel like at this size and shape, the scales should recognise me as being at a good place. What they are actually saying to me is that I am still not at the World Health Organization's recommendations, and that I need to lose more.
So thats what I am going to do. I can be happy with my body, and still strive for the healthy BMI. I just don't want to continue the trend of losing a dress size every 3 kilos or I'd be in trouble! I don't think that could happen though, I think I'll be alright. It's just all new and different and will take some getting used to! :)
I am really looking forward to my new jeans, and I would love to get there soon, as the sales in june do make things a little easier on the purse-strings... and the jeans I am wearing look a little like elephant skin, and are getting old and are kindda thin anyway. So I will keep on striving, and will not lull myself into rut.
ONWARDS AND DOWNWARDS!

[just a pic of me right now

- complete with dressing gown-

to combat those images of

my woobly chin and cheeks!]

Oh, and I will post the breakfast muffins below in the post that I was talking about them, so go have a look if you want the recipe!

One of the positives from last week...

I started drinking more dairy! I am lactose intolerant, and have had soy milk for so long that I am just sick of it! So besides yogurt (the bacteria eats most of the lactose in yogurt, cool huh! And cos I'm not really extreme or anything I can handle yogurt fine, unless I go overboard...) and occasionally cheese, I was not having much dairy. Then, last week, I found a SKIM milk variety of the lactose free milk, and I decided to give it a go, and it's good! I tried the normal variety years ago and I didn't like it. It was too sweet and being the full fat one... Just wasn't so keen on that...

But now there is skim! It's awesome! Someone will probably tell me it has been around for years and it's just my area that has finally caught up, but I'm excited none the less. The excitement of actually having a glass of milk and enjoying it and not having to run to the bathroom shortly afterwards, oh it is BLISS!! (Every so often I would say "oh a little milk won't hurt" or "yes I'd love some ice cream" and my hubby and my friends would grimace cos the results are not pretty, and then I'd be good for 6 months, then do it all over again!)

So anyway, now I can definitely get ample amounts of calcium, and it's No Count, and I can happily ward of osteoporosis (rampant in my family!) and fight the fat as well! HURRAH!!

Oh and behind the milk is some yummy muffins from the WW favorites Cookbook. They are Breakfast Muffins, and they are yummy! They have yogurt and stewed apple and caramel topping in them... 1 point each! Don't mind if I do spend an extra point or two on them! My hubby loves them, and they are much better to have around than some slices etc that he would like to have baked! :)

Muffin recipe!

serves 6, 2 1/2 pts each
when I make them it makes 6 x 1 1/2 pts ones (for hubby)
and 7 x 1pt ones (which i get o eat most of... if i beat hubby... :)

seriously, the books 6 must be huge, mine are a good muffin size (they aren't the tiny ones!)

1 3/4 cups s/r flour
1 tbs caster sugar
100g reduced-fat artificially sweetened yogurt
1 egg
3/4 cup skim milk
1 cup canned pie apples (or stewed yourself!)
2 tbs low-joule caramel topping
2 tbs low-joule caramel topping, extra for serving

1. Lightly coat microwave-safe muffins pans or ramekin dishes with cooking spray
[I don't have a microwave, so just do them in the oven. So pre-heat to 180 if using oven]

2. Sift flour into medium bowl, stir in sugar.

3. In separate bowl combine yogurt, egg, milk, apples and topping, then add to flour mixture. Stir gently until just combine, there may be flour pockets and some lumps, but that is ok.

4. Spoon mixture into pans and microwave on high for 6-7 minutes. Serve with extra topping.
[cook in oven for 15-20 minutes or until a light golden brown]

Enjoy! :)

Giving Positive Thinking a flying chance!

I have had a shocker of a week, you know "those" weeks where everything bad happens and the world seems to be just little bit against you? Yep, it was one of those. Yesturday I even typed out a whole post about it, and my computer died just as I was going to post it.

After that happened, I got to thinking. Do I really want to whinge more and more about this last week? What will it achieve?

Answer: NOTHING

SO, I am giving the power to positive thinking.

Yesturday before I left for work (on a saturday...) I asked my hubby if we could go out and have a nice night. Something special. We don't have alot of money so we don't get to go out much, so it was SO NICE to be able to go out for Thai and then off to the movies to see Take the Lead, which was just lovely, and makes you want to run out and book ballroom lessons straight away! Even my hubby wants to! To top the night off, we just got in to Woolies before it shut and got some merange nests and Fruche and make little desserts with a little canned fruit as well, and they were DELICOUS! Only used up 1 1/2 extras points too! :)

So I had a lovely evening, and have had a relaxing sunday morning, complete with cooked Sunday Breakfast.... yummm... No Count really is wonderful! Nobody but WW would make me feel that bacon, egg and baked beans with mushrooms could possibly be guilt free! :)
Now we are going to go wonder through town and brouse the shops, cos it is too wet and miserable to go down to the beach today.

As for last week, I was really good with both my food and exercise, but the result on the scales? Put on 0.1kg, which makes 4 weeks of pretty much the same weight. So this week I am taking some advice I was given, and as you can see by my exercise plan for the week in the side bar, I have cancelled planned exercise for the WHOLE long weekend. Then just lighter for the rest of the week. I think my body deserves a break, and I haven't not exercised for ages, so now is a good time to do it, as the gym isn't open til tuesday anyway, so that stops me a bit! :)

So we will see how my experiment pans out, I know I have still been changing my shape, but it would be nice if the number would chaneg a little too! I am also not going to use any more than 8 sugar points, I want to keep them down in the hope of a shake up and downwards!

Have a fabulous long weekend everyone! And a HUGE THANK YOU to all who have left me such beautiful comments, I love getting them, it really does brighten my days! THANK YOU!

Isn't it great...

How others benefit from WW when you are on it?

Today I want to dedicate a post to my husband. He isn't a overly tall man (works well for me cos I am short!), and has always been a healthy weight, but after we got married he found himself developing a belly. And so the belly complaining began. And then the pants complaining began. I had a look, and it was at "that point", where we would have had to buy all new pants at the next size up, OR things would have to change. So I said well why don't you join WW with me, and so he did.

Since then he hasn't been having bread with every meal, just eating the lovely WW meals I've been making (and I had been making all along!), and he has even been getting onto the exercise bike and riding while he is playing his xbox to relax (it's really funny, I'll have to take a pic sometime...). He has kicked the "but the donuts were on special!" habit that he had if I sent him down to woollies to get something - particularily at night when things have been reduced, and he hardly ever has fast food (which I have to say he LIVED off in the days when we were courting, and he was doing full-time work and part-time Uni). In fact, he had Chickos (his favourite! Used to be Hungry Jacks at uni...) the other weekend as a treat, and he doesn't even enjoy it like he did anymore!

Anyway, just on the weekend I noticed his belly is almost gone!! Its so exciting! He only had 6 kilos to get back to the top of the healthy weight range when he joined, and he is now 0.6kg off it!!

I have to say I may be a little jealous that he will have joined, hit goal and become a lifetime member before me. But I'll deal with it! Cos he looks so handsome... and we don't have to buy new pants! WOOHOOO!!
:)

As of yet I can't seem to find single supporting photo of his loss (he always seems to be behind me!), So I just thought I'd put a photo from our wedding on here (which was definately pre-belly!). I'll have a look for photos later and see what I can come up with!

Isn't he handsome?! I love him so much! :)

I've created...

A recipe!

I have a tendancy towards the end of of the week, in the days before I do a new food shop, to create recipes out of whatever is around. Today's worked out exceedingly well, so I thought I would share!

basically that genius of my recipe scheming lay in the fact that I made dumplings from the damper recipe...

oh they were yummy...

:)

so basically if was a fish casserole with dumplings.
so that can be it's name.

Ingrediants:
Fish (cos I had some in the freezer, and no other meat in the house)
red lentils (about a 1/2 cup ish? I didn't measure, whatever feels right. :)
2 carrots
celery
green beans
vegetable stock

Cook together in a saucepan with just enough water to cover them all, boil away for a while...
While it's happily cooking, mix

1 cup wholemeal s/r flour
pinch salt
1/4 milk
1/4 cup water
Good shaking of dried oregano
Good shaking of mixed dried herbs

in a small-med bowl, until sticks together and still a little sticky.
Then put the whole contents of the saucepan into a casserole dish (with a lid), make dough into dumplings (I made 2 for my hubby and 1 for me) and place in the mixture (which should be thick by now cos all the lentils have stuck it together), and spoon a little liquid over the top of the dumplings so they are moist. Then stick the lid on and stick it in the oven for 20 mins or until the dumplings look so good you just have to eat them.
:)

Ok, so that was half recipe and half commentary. But I have fun cooking, and I don't make notes or anything, I just go with the flow!

Anyway, all the ingrediants are No Count, and it's lovely and warm and filling. And it also isn't too "fishy" which I was glad about. It was just right.

Good, but oh so tired!

I had my WW weigh in today (I am glad I don't have to weigh in at curves more than once a motnh, this is confusing me!) and I stayed the same as two weeks ago. Last week was "that time" so I had put on a bit but had chickened out of finding how much, and I was so right that is was all gone this week, cos it was nowhere to be seen! I would have liked to have lost, but staying the same is ok. So long as it's down again next week.
So today have been up at 6:30 to get to work, gone to the gym, and then an engagement party where I ate a sensible but yummy lunch and didn't have any of the dessert except for some fruit, and now I really tired. Super tired. So tired I think I am going to post this and go and have a nap!
*yawn*
:)

I'm getting warmer... right now!!

Well I always said I wouldn't be one of those people with the furry jackets etc, but I am and its so warm and comfortable and now that I am not big I don't find that I look like a box anymore, I think it looks alright! (it's not fur by the way, all acrylic, the whole idea of wearing furs is harsh, unless you are a caveman and thats all there is to keep warm... we have so many other options!)

And I have noticed lately my jeans are looking a little odd now, they are getting baggy around the knees and around the belly is quite bad too (but i can hide that)! I need to to get to my next mini goal soon, I need those jeans, pronto!

though I was saying that they will be size 10 jeans... this is a size 8 jacket... it will be interesting, very interesting!

I LOVE BEING A SIZE 8!!! It's still freaking me out, really it is!! I need to keep reminding myself, cos I picked up a 14 and moved at least three steps before realising what i was doing!

Anyway, weigh-in tomorrow morning! Despite the excitment at Curves this morning, I think my I am heading for a small gain this week (due to cold/flu thing? Cos I have been SO good!). The Curves scales weigh about 2 kilos heavier though, so I really have no idea. Weighing in twice is just weirding me out...

oh my jacket is so warm!! It's so thick and so warm!!!

My first Curves Month :)

Well today marks the end of my first month (or beginning of my second?) at Curves, and I have loved it! I think by my results, that it loves me too!
Today's measurements say that I have lost:

12.5cms

2.1 kilos

and 0.9% body fat!

I think that is pretty goods for a months hard work!
Now speaking of work, I have to go and do some!
:)

Learning the Layering...

How very art-y of me... This is what it has come down to, me wearing a dress over a jumper and jeans (and shirts underneath...) plus a HUGE knitted scarf that a beautiful friend of mine made for me, and my hat, all just so butt doesn't freeze and I could leave the house last night and not be shivering all the time!!!
I guess the positive side of it is that the dress that I am wearing over the top of all these clothes was the size 10 little black dress that I have had hanging in my wardrobe for probably a decade, and was kind of my "goal outfit". And I am wearing it over things! So that's pretty good, yeah?
Oh, and just ignore the red puffiness of my eyes, nose, ok my whole face! I am getting better, I promise! Just not as quickly as I would like to! But I have continued to be good, and even exercised when I can, so hopefully it will all good for weigh in on Saturday. In the meantime though, tomorrow marks my first month at Curves, and I have to brave the body fat % thing, and the measuring tape... Should be interesting... I'm getting a little nervous, I hope there is something to show for my month!

The SOUP!

YUM...

According to the book:

Serves 4, 1/2 pts per serve, and it is No Count and suitable to freeze
(personally we had more than 4 serves!)

Cooking oil spary
1 brown onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 tbs mild curry powder
1kg cauliflower cut into florets
1.5L (6 cups) veg or chicken stock (using stock cubes)
400g can brown lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup low-fat natural yogurt
2 tbs chopped fresh coriander leaves

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Spray with oil, add onion and cook stirring for 3 minutes. Add garlic, curry powder and cauliflower. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

2. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat ad simmer, covered for 10-12 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.

3. Blend or process soup in batches until smooth. Return to pan and add lentils and yogurt. Stir over low heat until hot. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

4. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle coriander on top to serve.

To go with it I made the Wholemeal & mixed herb damper

serves 8 points per serve 1 1/2, No Count

1 1/2 cups wholemeal plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh mixed herbs (such as parsley basil or chives)
[I only had dried, and used oregano and mixed herbs andit was yummy!]
1 cup skim milk
[I used water and a pinch of milk powder]

1. prehat to 220 degrees. lightly flour a baking tray. Mix flour, baking powder and salt into large bowl. Stir in herbs.

2. Add milk, mis unitl dough comes together. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes or until smooth. Shape into a 20cm disk. Place on tray. Score surface 3 times.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until damper sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer to wire rack to cool slightly and serve warm.

Both recipes are in the new Really Contented Tummy Cookbook, get it! It's awesome and so yummy...

ENJOY!!! :)