Chocolate & Raspberries

Last Weekend vs. This Weekend

2012-01-30T01:39:00.000Z

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for all the lovely comments I got on yesterdays post. I had quite a few really useful suggestions, which I am going to try and take into consideration.

Some of you mentioned taking my measurements- its something I've been meaning to do for ages, so I've just taken some now!
And some of you suggested that I need to eat more calories. I agree and disagree with this. I'm trying to stick to about 1300-1400, but I do occasionally go over this, and so I do go as low as 1200 to counteract this. My average for last week was 1380, which is pretty bang on. I try not to eat back my exercise calories, although saying that I do generally end up eating more on exercise days, purely because I have a pre workout snack to keep me going. Apart from kettlebells, I don't think I burn that many calories in my workouts, probably about 200 at an estimate. When I say I go running for 40 minutes, only about 14 minutes of that is actually running, the rest is walking! I do see where you are coming from, but I have tried eating more before, and I didn't lose anything. I think I will carry on as I'm doing for the next two weeks. I'm away on a course this week, and therefore eating in restaurants, so I know I will naturally be eating more anyway. If things don't improve, then I'll up my calories, but the problem is knowing by how much?!
Some of you have expressed the opinion that this is probably just a blip in the journey that is weight loss, but the problem is, I've always had crappy results. In the whole of last year I think I lost about 20-22 pounds. That's less than two pounds a month! I have been wondering if there is some sort of medical reason why I find losing weight so hard, but I'm a big baby when it comes to going to the doctors.. does anyone have any experience of this?
Gaining muscle. This is something I have considered as well, I definitely have increased the amount of muscle I have over the past couple of months. However I'm also aware how hard it is to gain muscle, and I'm sure I read the other day that, as a woman, I would be doing pretty well if I gained 5 pounds worth of muscle in a year. So even though that I know muscle growth might be slowing down my weight loss, I don't think I'm gaining pounds and pounds each month!

So I guess the plan for this week, is just carry on? Do my best with healthy eating while I'm away is the best I can do really!

Last Saturday Iestyn and I spent the day going around Bangor to do some retail therapy. I had a voucher from Christmas that I wanted to use up! We went to the health food shop, as Iestyn had gotten me a voucher as part of my Christmas present: he must know me well!

I bought Buckwheat pasta, Vegan Pesto and Chickpeas.

Pea Protein and Hemp Protein. I wanted a change from the Pulsin Whey Protein, so I got the Hemp protein, and I wanted something that would provide slower release, hence the Pea Protein. However I tried stirring some Pea Protein into my porridge, and was not impressed, and seeing as I thought it was going to be nicer than the hemp, I've been to scared to try the hemp properly after having a sniff! I'm thinking I might give Soya a chance next time, but in the mean time, I need to use this up! I'm thinking that smoothies are going to be the only way, however ideally I'd love using them in baked goods for easy portable breakfasts, so if anyone has a great recipe, point it my way!

The Beond bar was different to what I expected. When I bought the bar I thought it was a Raw chocolate bar such as the Rawr ones. However once I got home and inspected the ingredients list, and didn't see any coconut oil, but instead nuts and dates, I figured it wold be like a Nakd bar. It is pretty similar to a Nakd bar, but the middle seems to be almost bread like, and is more like a brownie if anything! Wasn't sure on the first bite, but by the time I finished the bar I was impressed! I eat one packet of the Booja Booja truffles while watching Harry Potter on Friday evening: divine! They have crunchy bits running through them.

We then went to Holland and Barret's where I bought three Trek bars: I forgot how much I love them! I love the extra protein, and that I can eat half a bar, or a full bar, depending on how much energy I need.

I also bought some Blue tortilla Chips, which I've never had before, but I haven't had a chance to test them yet! Plus Soya Mince to experiment using in burgers, but I haven't used it yet either!

We did the mistake of venturing into town without having lunch, so we stopped into Boots to take advantage of their meal deal. I had soem sort of Mexican Chicken Salad, that was honestly disappointing, but I loved the drink: Cloudy Lemonade is the best! I try and avoid fizzy drinks, but I have noticed that Boots do a nice range of different flavours of diet drinks, which makes a change from diet coke.

I also bought a packet of this Maple flavoured popcorn, which I ended up saving till mid-week, but they were perfect snacky food.

We then headed to one of the Sports shops, because I wanted to size up some running leggings. Now that I'm exercising more, I need more clothes (thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it...). I've been wanting some long leggings, but was concerned that due to the fact I'm short, they would be too long.

My suspicions were confirmed! I don't think running with rolled up leggings would be the best look?

I found these which seemed fine, if not very unflattering, however I was put of by the price tag!

I've looked on a few websites, but am yet to purchase anything. I'm going to wait and see if I get a chance to shop while in Cardiff!

That Saturday I spent what felt like forever making Homemade Falafel Burgers from a cookbook Iestyn got me for Christmas. They tasted really good, but did contain quite a lot of oil and Gram Flour, so in the end they weren't the healthiest! Plus they needed to be cooked twice! They did taste nice, quite a lot of flavour and they had a good consistency. Iestyn eat two, so they must of been good! We had them along with some sliced potatoes which Iestyn was in charge of, he sprinkled some sort of spice on them, and they were goooood!

On the Sunday I didn't get up to much except for hanging around my Dad's house, and food shopping!

I did get to go on a run, my made to measure Week 3.5! Note that I don't put make up purposely to exercise, but if its already on I won't bother taking it off as I'm lazy! This back fired on Tuesday when I set off on my run looking like this:

And returned like this:

Damn rain. Good thing it was dark!

This weekend I really haven't been up to much at all! Iestyn went to Liverpool to visit his friends, but I forgot that he was going, so I hadn't arranged anything specific, and to be honest I was in a pretty unsociable mood! Friday evening I watched Harry Potter and Black Swan, while eating Booja Booja truffles: bliss!

On Saturday I had quite a bit of a lie in, tidied my room, washed a load of clothes, went into town to buy buttons, only to realise they close early on a Saturday, went to buy some toiletries, and bought this:

Chocolate and Peanut Butter, I really couldn't resist! I enjoyed it, but the PB was super sweet, and I would prefer if the bar was a bit smaller cos 200+ calories of chocolate is more than I can handle these days!

I then went on a run! I was really cool and wore a New Moon t-shirt.

( This mirror is in my sisters room, I should really get her to clean it! Hi Beti!)

I did my Week 3.5 again, and I do think I'm ready to move on to the next week, although I might adapt it a bit and make the walking intervals slightly longer. I've just been holding back due to my knees not being 100%, and I have been running more regularly, so I don't want to increase my mileage too fast! Currently I am out for about 40 minutes, which includes a five minute warm up and a a slightly longer cool down, and I cover about 2.5 miles. However I should note that a Kit Kat Chunky was not the best pre run snack, as I had stomach cramps for the first time!

When I got in I changed into my onesie ready for an evening relaxing!

I then made some Dinner. I followed a recipie for Moroccan Fish Stew, with a few changes: I used Agave instead of honey, I added some chopped up Apricots, used half the amount of Fish, but the same amount of everything else, and made two meals out of it instead of four.

I really enjoyed this. I don't really cook much with Fish, I tend to just pop it under the grill, maybe adding some soy sauce and honey when I'm feeling adventurous. I would really like to try some more fish recipes!

Served with veg and pure spread.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to receive a parcel from Sarah! She offered to send me some Gingerbread porridge after she read I was having issues tracking some down!

It was a no brainer deciding what I was having for breakfast this morning!

Super yum! although I think I cooked mine for a bit too long, I like mine runny! I also had a chance to try out the Bear Granola, which I've never actually had before. I sprinkled it on top of an Alpro Soya Caramel Dessert, and it was good, not as sweet as I expected, which is a good thing! Not had a chance to try the green tea, but I'm looking forward to it, thanks a lot Sarah!

I better be off, I have a busy few days on a course in Cardiff, with two tiring train trips either end! I'm a bit sad that I will be missing out on yoga tomorrow, I might try doing some in the hotel room!

Whats your favourite porridge add ins?

If you had a weekend to yourself, what would you do?

What was the last film you watched?

Enjoy your week!

Weekly Wrap Up

2012-01-28T18:52:00.000Z

Friday: 1409
Saturday: 1454
Sunday: 1317 + running
Monday: 1562 + yoga
Tuesday: 1260 + running
Wednesday: 1462+ kettlebells
Thursday: 1209

Weight loss: - 0.6 pound

Total weight loss in January: 2 pounds

I really don't understand my body, I feel like I've really given weight loss my all this month, I have increased the amount of exercise I do, and have eaten pretty clean, with the exception being the weekend of our Anniversary where I slipped a little bit! Am I eating too much, or too little, do I need to exercise more? I haven't drunk any alcohol this month, and have turned down quite a few social things that involve food, just so that I can keep 100% on track! Its quite frustrating because this coming month I have quite a few social gatherings where I won't be able to count everything I eat, or healthy options might not be available. With the six nations starting this month I was also looking forward to a night out! Its frustrating because when I have such a good week/month and the results are less than stellar, and then this week I will be away on a course for a few days, I think what chance do I have! I'm in Cardiff Monday to Wednesday, where all meals will be eaten out. I will do my best, and try and make the best choices, but there's no way I'll be able to eat as clean as I usually would. I'll also be missing both yoga and kettlebells, but do plan on taking my trainers with me, although I'm unsure whether I'll be comfortable running around Cardiff Bay in the dark by myself! I'm sure it will be fine and there will be plenty of other people doing the same, I just waaaaay over think things! I'm hoping the next few days might be a good thing, eating differently to normal might be a positive, but I can't help but stress out about it!

Anyway I'm going to go and try and cheer myself up, and keep working towards my goal, by going for a run!

I hope you are having a great weekend!

WIAW

2012-01-26T22:00:00.000Z

A day late, but then again I don't think I'm known for my punctuality! I went to a Kettle-bells class again last night and found it easier this week, but I think it was easier due to there being more in the class, and therefore the instructor wasn't quite so brutal! These pictures are actually what I eat Wednesday!

Didn't have a lot of time for breakfast, so I grabbed some snacks to eat at my desk.

Half a cocoa brownie Trek bar, a Pink Lady, and my favourite Graze box, I've been buying my own hazelnuts, raisins and chocolate chips to recreate this!

Come lunch time I realised that I'd left my lunch in the fridge at home. DOH! So I popped into Tesco's and bought a Salmon and cucumber sandwich, which always reminds me of picnics we used to go for as a child, where we would usually end up having to eat the salmon sandwiches my Nain made in the car, as Wales is a very wet place... who knew?

I also had some Fridge Raiders for some extra protein.

When I got home from work I had a banana with a tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter, SOOO good, but I forgot to photograph!

I was then off to Kettlebells where I was well and truly put through my paces. I have to say I'm not quite as sore today as I was last week, which must be a win, but I think the second day is the real tester! I was worried about me knee, as its not been feeling right since Tuesday, but it felt fine during the class, but it still doesn't feel quite right. Must ice!

When we got home I felt pretty tired, so I managed to get Iestyn to make me dinner! It was Santes Dwynwen Day after all. I set out all the ingredients out for him and supervised as I tried to stay awake! We had fajita chicken with asparagus, red pepper and courgettes, a side salad, some cheese, and a huge wholemeal wrap o the side!

I then made a mug of tea, and tried to stay awake long enough to change into my pyjamas!

Okay short and sweet for a change! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Fortnight Focus

2012-01-22T23:24:00.000Z

I wrote half of this post on Wednesday evening, but it wasn't quite finished, and haven't had the time to add to it till now, so I figured I might as well add this week stats to last weeks and have a Fortnight Focus, instead of the usual Weekly Wrap Up.

Friday 1352 calories

Saturday 1552 calories + run

I already blogged about this run here.

As well as this delicious Coconut Curried Quinoa and Vegetable Pilaf, with Blackened Tofu, that I made.

Sunday 1351

Monday 1580 + yoga

On the Monday I went to a taster yoga session. I really loved it, and went again to a proper class this week.

Tuesday 1285

Wednesday 1524 + 30 Day Shred Level 1

The Shred. The usual torture.

Thursday 1465

At this point I pretty much knew that I hadn't lost any weight this week. I tend to hop on during the week to see how I'm doing. I'm aware of fluctuations in weight throughout the day/week, and always take this into consideration when weighing myself, but I knew that I had consistently not seen a change. My mum had also been baking so I was feeling annoyed and gave in and eat half a wholemeal cheese scone and a Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondie. I included them in my calories for the day at an estimated 200, which in hindsight probably wasn't enough.

Friday Weigh In: +.2

My suspicions were confirmed when I weighed in with a gain on Saturday. Boo. Albeit quite an insignificant gain, but its not what I wanted to see when I was aiming for a 2 pound loss! This put me in a bad mood really as I felt that I'd really worked hard that week, and had made a huge effort when it came to exercise. I was pretty unprepared on Friday when it comes to food. I had a day in college to tie up some loose ends, but hadn't prepared breakfast or lunch, so I winged it and probably didn't make the best choices.

However eating issues aside, Friday was a big day for Iestyn and I! firstly it was our six year anniversary. I did a little photo essay of five years of being together on our anniversary last year. However, even more exiting than that, Iestyn had some of his work exhibited at a local gallery!

So as soon as I got home from college, I made myself presentable-ish.

And went to support Iestyn. He got a mention in the opening speech from the people funding the exhibition, so I was super proud. I obviously wanted photographic proof of the evening, but expecting the parents to be able to use an iphone was evidently asking too much. This is the least blurry one of the lot!

We then went for a night on the town, but I was driving, and am also trying to steer clear from alcohol for the month of January to give myself a boost. I need all the help I can get!

Friday: calories unknown

Seeing as we'd not been able to properly celebrate our Anniversary on the Friday, that was our aim on the Friday! We mostly just bummed around in the afternoon, mostly because the rugby was on, and I couldn't make Iestyn move from in front of the TV! Hmphh. The games eventually finished, and we went out for a meal.

We went to the White Eagle in Rhoscolyn . It is where we went on our Anniversary last year, as well as on my sisters birthday to celebrate her 21st!

I fancied something different to drink than a Diet Coke, so I pushed the boat out and got an Appetiser. How wild of me!

There were quite a few nice starters, but I was already eyeing up the puddings and wanted to leave room, so instead we shared some pitta bread and houmous. Nearly forgot to take a picture!

For my main I ordered the Menai Mussels, which were steamed in cider, smoked bacon, cream, shallots, tarragon with chunky bread and chips.

I'd actually never had Mussels before, but I've always wondered what they are like, and am up for trying anything once, so I decided to give them a go! The general reaction I've had when people have asked what I had, and I've said mussels has been that of disgust, but I quite liked them! A bit of a pain to eat, but the texture wasn't too bad, and I think the cider, cream and bacon helped in making them taste good! I wouldn't rush to order them again, but at the same time I'd happily eat them again! I have to say that they do make the best chips ever! Dunked into the cider-cream-bacon sauce, they became unbelievable!

Unfortunately this was way too much food for me! I still had the above left over, and I was absolutely stuffed, which was disappointing as I was looking forward to dessert! We then went for a trip to a new Tesco's that has opened in Holyhead, because we are cool, and that's what we do with our Saturday nights! Ha! We bought a DVD, and a tub of Crunchie ice cream, which was disappointing to be honest, but I still eat too much of it, and fell asleep mid film, which I think was sugar induced!

Saturday: unknown calories

On Sunday I vowed to get back on track and started off with a healthy porridge breakfast. As I'd spent most of Saturday watching Iestyn watch the rugby, we went to Betws Y Coed for a walk around. We timed it pretty badly, because soon after arriving we were hungry, so we went for Lunch at my favourite cafe there, The Alpine Coffee Shop I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but I haven't got a clue when, so I can't find the link. I love it because they have a tea menu, and I love trying new teas, plus they have loads of vegan, veggie and gluten free options, which makes it easier for me to find something healthy. Saying that I noticed that its hard to pick an option is you are trying to eat more protein, as al options were carb or cheese heavy!

I had a White Tea, and it was really refreshing.

I love the little traditional cups that it was served in.

I had a falafel and houmous wrap. This surprisingly kept me full for hours!

When I got home, it was time to get my run on! On per my own suggestion, I devised my own running intervals to bridge the gap between Week 3 and Week 4 of the C25K plan. I call it week 3.5. I figure I don't run for anyone but myself, so if the plan doesn't suit me, I'll make the plan fit.

Week 3.5

5 minute warm up

run 2 minutes
walk 2 minutes
run 4 minutes
walk 2.30 minutes

repeat once, and then a five minute cool down.

This actually felt great! So great in fact, that after the final 4 minute interval I was surprised and disappointed that there wasn't another running interval to come, so after the walk, I then started running some more, without measuring it or anything, I just ran through my village randomly, which felt quite freeing! I think I ran a further two minutes or so before I stopped and walked around as part of my cool down.

I came back from my run and had some Chocolate Soya Milk.

And tried arranging my food cupboard!

Sunday: unknown calories

Monday: 1326 calories + yoga class.

I knew I well and truly needed to focus come Monday. I did pretty well I think, and also attended my first proper yoga class. The kind of yoga I go to is Dru Yoga, which from my understanding, is similar to Hatha yoga. It is pretty laid back, and is all about looking after the health of your spine. The stretches are slow and controlled. I do view this as more of an active rest day, as I do not break a sweat during yoga, and there is focus on relaxation and breathing too, but I love it! It does stretch out my muscles, I can feel it a bit the next day. I don't get DOMS like I would with circuit training, but I can tell my muscles have been worked, and I'm hoping it well help with recovery time, and in general strengthening my muscles. I have to say I just love having some relaxation time, and another activity which I do purely because of the enjoyment aspect, and not due to the calorie burn, which is how I feel about my running too!

Tuesday: 1410 + Bouldering

On Tuesday I went Bouldering with Iestyn. A few people have asked me what bouldering is, and its basically like rock climbing, but you don't use any ropes, you don't go as high as you would when rock climbing, you are limited to short climbs, it can sometimes involve going sideways rather than upwards, and it is done above a crash mat. I think I should write a proper post about it soon, but as I'm sure you can see, this post is pretty long already ;)

Wednesday: 1441 calories + Kettle-bell class

Oh my days, this class was HARD! I think it was harder than usual doing to there only being three of us in the class, and me being the only girl, he definitely took delight in making things harder for us. I think he might of been called a sadistic bastard at one point, HA! He did warn that the DOMS could last about 5 days, and honestly my legs still aren't feeling fresh today. Madly, I think I'm going to be attending again! If it hurts that bad, I figure it must be doing me some good!

Thursday: 1287

Friday Weigh In: -1.6

Definitely better this week, nearing that 2 pound that I aim for, but if I lost a pound and a half every week I would be happy! Especially considering I wasn't really on plan at the weekend, its pretty good going. That brings my current weight loss to 44.6 pounds, a smidge more and I'm at the 45 pound mark, and would love to see the 50 pound mark come February! I'm really proud of the exercise I've been doing this month, four times a week its a lot for me, I hope I can keep it up. I've done really well this weekend food wise, so a positive start to the week!

What is your favourite exercise class?

If you are quick there is still some time to enter Laura's giveaway!

WIAW

2012-01-18T23:47:00.001Z

Sorry about the lull in the posts again! I've been super busy with exercising pretty much every evening, which is good,good, good! But this means by the time I sit down at 9pm I ave no energy to blog, which is baaaaad! I need to write a wrap up of last week, I should really try and aim to write that before this week is over! I've just returned from my first ever Kettle-bell class which was a killer, and I am now exhausted! Should of guessed really seeing as it was advertised as 'Killer Kettle-bells'! There were only three of us there, and I suspect the instructor has a bit of a sadistic streak, so I'm praying that I'll actually be able to walk tomorrow! Ha! I'll write more about it soon, but seeing as its Wednesday, and therfore WIAW day, I'll share with you what I eat yesterday!

Breakfast: Dorset Cereals Simple Porridge made with Kara Coconut Milk, Pulsin Natural Whey Protein, Cinnamon, Ground Ginger and Blueberries.

Mid Morning Snack: Pink Lady (recycled pic!)

Lunch: Broccoli and carrots, a tin of tuna mixed with pesto and light mayo plus a hardboiled egg. Such a Salad and Sequins lunch, dontcha think?

After work I went to the Climbing Centre to go Bouldering with Iestyn.

On the way there I munched on another Pink Lady. (recycled pic!)

Bouldering was good, it was quieter than last time when it was rammed, and I managed to complete a few routes. I find that I have to do as much as I can in a short amount of time, cos if I'm there too long my arms start to ache and I'm just not able to do anymore! I could feel it a bit in my shoulders, upper back and arms today. Hurts so good :)

Highlight of my Dinner were these Asparagus which I pan fried in some Soya Spread, salt and pepper.

Alongside a herb and cheese two egg omelette. I can't believe I didn't think I liked omelettes until two months ago!

With a wholemeal wrap.

And ketchup!

YUM!

I then had a de-caf mug of tea with three of these babies.

They are basically coconut Ferrero Rocher's, and have an almond on the inside instead of a hazelnut. SOOO GOOOD! I challenge you to stop at three!

I am super tired, and have a busy day at work tomorrow, so I hope you are all having a fab week!

Have you ever been to a Kettle-bell class? Please tell me you almost died too!

Have you ever been Bouldering?

Whats the scrummiest thing you eat today?

Weekly Wrap Up and a Food Shop

2012-01-08T22:47:00.000Z

So I think I need to get back to looking at each week to see what worked and what didn't work so that I can see what works best for me! First of all I'll start with Friday's weigh in, where I gained a pound. I'm ok with that, as I'm actually .2 of a pound less than I was before Christmas; it doesn't seem like a lot, but at least it is in the right direction. I am now sitting at 43.2 pound loss. I'm really hoping I can aim for 2 pounds off this week, to jumpstart my year!

Here's a breakdown of my week:

Monday: 1387 calories + 30 minute run

Tuesday: 1476 clories + Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred

Wednesday: 1349 calories + rest day

Thursday: 1411 calories + bouldering

Friday: 1352 calories + rest day

Not too bad! I'm actually impressed cos if I count yesterdays run, I worked out four times this week, which I am quite proud of, and I hope I can keep it up this coming week. Its making me feel guilty for taking today off, but I do need to remember to have a few days where I spend some time doing other things I enjoy such as reading, shopping, watching films chilling out etc., otherwise I start thing about exercise negatively because I can't do anything else. Now that I've pretty much undone the damage of all the booze and greasy food of last weekend, I am confident I can carry on with a downward trend, and would love to see 2 pounds off this week, to reach my next goal of 45 pounds, which I briefly reached when ill over Christmas, but that doesn't count, I want to earn my numbers!

I had the best treat Friday evening: half a punnet of blueberries and a few strawberries, topped with a pot of dark chocolate Alpro Soya Dessert pot, warmed up in the microwave for a minute, and then topped with a dollop of greek yogurt. Sooo good!

I'm still addicted to this porridge for breakfast. I bought it with the intention of saving it as a treat every now and again, but it is what helped me get out of bed every morning this week. I know its full of sugar, but I don't care! I also eyed up the caramel version in teh shop today. Its making me feel better about the fact that I've been trying to track down Dorset Cereal's Gingerbread porridge everywhere, but to no avail. :(

I've been adding a scoop of my favourite protein powder into the porridge, to aid in the staying power, and because I'm trying to get some protein in with every meal, and breakfast seems to be a carb heavy time! However Iestyn was telling me that you shouldn't heat up protein powders i.e. cook with them, as then the protein isn't absorbed or something? I don't use this as recovery, so absorption time isn't important to me, but I don't see how the protein just disappears, surely you still injest it? Anyone able to shed light on this, is there any truth to what he says, or should I ignore him like I usually do :D

I took some time to finally read my Kindle! I've been busy since Christmas, and keep opening it up on my lunch break, but get distracted. I'm reading ' Brave New World', and am finally one chapter in!

And then it was run time!

After being too hot last week, I just wore my favourite long sleeved top (it has holes for my thumbs! Oh I'm easily amused...) and my windproof jacket. After nearly dying after last weeks run, I decided to step back a week, but I messed up the setting on runkeeper, which meant after the warm up, I had to spend some time creating a new work out. The start of the run felt good, but I was a bit too cocky, and didn't keep to my 'run as slow as possible' mantra, as by the time it came to the last three minute interval, I nearly didn't make it all the way through! I'm considering making up my own run session, to bridge the gap between week 3 and 4, probably involving 4 minute intervals.

For lunch I made an omelet, you know, for a change. This one was stuffed full of tomato slices, mushrooms and some cheese. Loved it.

For my afternoon snack I dug into my bi-weekly graze box. I started off with some rice crackers and salsa, which I didn't love, and then I moved on to the Hot Cross Yum box which included meringue pieces and lemon infused raisins.

I also had a mug of tea while reading a cookbook, as you do!

And then for dinner I made Iestyn and myself the Food Doctor Curried Quinoa and Vegetable Pilaf minus the coconut and Blackened Tofu from Appetite for Reduction.

OMG!

This is the best thing I've made in aggges! I feel like I haven't been going to as much of an effort in the kitchen lately, but thats OK, as slaving away in the kitchen wasn't doing much for my sanity anyway, it doesn't matter how good the food was! However due to eating food prepared by other people a lot over Christmas, I really haven't had much experimenting time. I'm so glad I decided last night that I was going to try and cook something yummy, new and exciting. I need to make this blackened tofu again as soon as I get the chance! And so do you!

I did have a little helper when making dinner:

But he wouldn't take his eyes off the rugby!

PPFFTT!

I then spent last night watching Horrible Bosses with Iestynok with having treats that fit into my daily plan when I'm unwinding at the weekend, as long as they aren't a daily occurrence!

Today was shopping day, and after spending waay too much last week, its actually quite shocking that I needed to go again! I knew that I had quite a few cupboard items that need eating, and a big mistake I did last week was buy too much veg, forgetting that it doesn't last the longest: I bought asparagus, and to my dismay, by the time I wanted to eat it on Friday it had gone off. Booo! You live and learn. With this in mind, I reminded myself that I can easily pop into the shops on Wednesday for more fresh things.

First of I went to Lidl:

For lunches: cottage cheese 46p each, and Chicken Slices £1.99.

Sorry super blurry picture! Rocket and Lambs Lettuce: 2 4 £1.50 ( a grand saving of 8p!), Little Gem: 65p, HoneyCrunch apples: £1.99, Mixed Peppers: 89p.

Naughty extras! Rhubarb yogurt: 99p, Coconut Ferrero Rocher: £3.99, Dorset Cereal Porridge: £1.49.

The Foerrero Rocher's I meant to buy before Christmas as part of my few treats I'd have in the house over Christmas, but due to being ill I never got to do my Christmas shop, so when I saw them today, I couldn't help myself! They are gorgeous, but I didn't look at the price when I put them into my trolley: oopps! They are dangerously yummy, if you love coconut, you'll love these. I've eaten three today, I think I'm going to have to hide them if I'm going to eat as clean as possible the rest of the week! The porridge I bought to try and distract myself from my brownie porridge addiction, I just need to think of some yummy add-ins! Any suggestions? The yogurt I bought because its my favourite, and I think I might start taking some to work to go with my lunch.

I also bought three cans of dry shampoo, cos I use it in between washes, but they were sposed to be 99p each, but they wouldn't scan, and it wasn't until I got home that I realised she'd put them through at 1.49 each! Annoying!

Lidl Total: £18.28

I popped into Lidl just incase they had gingerbread porridge (I'm seriously looking everywhere!), but they didn't have any. I bought hot smoked salmon which I treat myself to once a week for lunch which was £1.99, and I stocked up on Maple Syrup which was £3.49.

Aldi Total: £5.48

Then I went to Asda to get eggs as I don't think the Aldi and Lidl ones are as fresh.

A dozen Welsh Free Range Eggs: £2 , and I couldn't resist Alpro soya for £1.

Asda total: £3

Total: £26.76

I think thats quite a lot for a few bits and bobs for one person! Although I fell I should confess that I also went to Asda last night to get herbs and spices, veg and coconut milk (and some soup and fruit...)for last nights dinner, and spent over a tenner then! I guarantee I'll be back in teh shops by the end of the week. I really need to try and be a bit stricter with myself, but food shopping (and eating...) is a real pleasure of mine!

Here's a quick tip before I go. I moved the leaves into re-sealable bags, and added kitchen roll to help keep moisture away, as its moisture that speeds up the rotting process!

Well I'm off to try and actually get to sleep at a decent hour! I'm terrible at staying up til 1am, usually doing nothing in particular!

How do you stick to a budget, or go with the flow when it comes to buying food?

I'm going to my first ever yoga class tomorrow and I'm scared!

If you got to yoga, how did your first ever class go?

How It All Ended

2012-01-05T00:04:00.000Z

Hello everyone! So, lets look back at how the last few weeks of 2011 treated me. Here's a little round up of all I've been up to the past few weeks.

The weekend before Christmas it was my Nain's (Gran's) 80th Birthday, so we had a little shin dig in the house where my Nain and her friends got tipsy, it was quite amusing!

The table looked lovely.

My party outfit: I was also wearing slippers as the party was in the house, and I figured the older ladies wouldn't mind! I love the fur trim on this cardigan.

I was in charge of the vol au vents, but they were such a pain. The first lot didn't rise, and the second batch nearly got burnt! They are so 80's, I love them.

The next day I met up with my college friends for a Christmas Dinner. We were doing a Secret Santa, but the gifts had to be home-made. I made the Perppermint cupcakes from the Hummingbird Cupcakes Cookbook. They were lovely!

I received some banana muffins and homemade onion chutney from my friend. The chutney is addictive, I want to make my own sometime.

For my starter I had this lovely Goats Cheese salad, which was so good, I could of eaten it again for my main. My main was Sea Bass with butter beans in a tomato sauce. I skipped on dessert. We ordered our food ahead of time which was so good in terms of making the best possible choices, I wish I could do it every time I eat out! Whenever I'm in a restaurant I find it hard to think rationally surrounded my good food, especially when hungry!

I also had a cheeky mulled wine: its my favourite festive treat!

It was this week that I also went on my first run with my new iPhone. Like the earmuffs? They are essential wear in my village as it gets so windy! I did W3D3 and it was good except for a pain in my shoulder blade, and getting used to listening out to the indicators as to when to run and when to walk.

Unfortunately just a few days later I was ill with some sort of bug, which thankfully only lasted 24 hours, but I just wasn't interested in food for a few days, which is so unlike me! I think I pretty much ate banana on toast for every meal. I actually managed to lose 2.6 pounds that week, it was obviously down to being ill and not eating properly, but I appreciated the buffer for Christmas :)

I woke up on Christmas Day absolutely starving, which was a good thing! I didn't want a too big breakfast, cos I was scared of then not being able to eat lunch, due to my appetite had been off, and not being able to eat Christmas dinner would of been a travesty! It is the daddy of Sunday Dinners after all! I'd been looking forward for weeks :)

It was then presents opening time.

Doesn't Bethan look excited?!

As do I! I have to say Sion Corn (Father Christmas) was very generous as usual,: I got a Kindle. Unfortunately I've been so busy over Christmas, I've barely read a few pages. I'm jealous of the people who have read numerous books since Christmas.

I then got dressed and had my picture taken in front of the tree: the spotty cardigan was a gift from my sister, its gorgeous and very soft.

And then, dinner was served!

This was my plate. It was epic. If you don't have two levels to your Christmas dinner, you just aren't doing it right! This included: turkey, sausage meat, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, roast parsnips, carrots, cauliflower and lots of gravy! Unfortunately the two green veg on offer were mushy peas and sprouts, both of which I don't like. I will request the usual cabbage and runner beans next year!

This was so good, its easily my favourite meal, but I was sad cos I was too full for pudding! We spent some time pottering about, cleaning up the kitchen, and I watched a little bit if Happy Feet (I need to watch the rest of it ASAP!), and then my sister and I went to my dads house for a few hours. We watched Source Code, which was a DVD my dad got for Christmas and raved about, it was actually quite good! Around six o'clock my sister and I then headed back home, and I finally felt a bit peckish, so I eat my pudding! Homemade apple pie with Haagan Dazs Praline and Cream ice cream: sorry no picture!

I then got my stuff together to go to Iestyn's to spend the rest of the evening, we exchanged gifts, watched some TV and I had a glass of red wine, had a piece o Toblerone which I instantly regretted: I could not eat another bite! Like I said, that Christmas Lunch was epic!

Boxing day has always been Christmas Day Mark 2 for me, as we spend it with my dads side of the family! I left Iestyn's, picked up my sister from her boyfriends, and then swung back my house to quickly get changed, where my mum made the best Turkey sandwich I've ever had! It was on freshly bought that morning bakery bread, and I've been raving about it ever since. I then picked up my dad and drove to my other Nain's house only to realise that there was a buffet, and I was till full from the-best-turkey-sandwich-ever! It's fine though I just waited until I was hungry, which ended up being about half five, so normal dinner time!

We spent most of the day trying to figure out how we could steal this:

The rest of the week I didn't really take any pictures, most of it was spent at Iestyn's house as they just moved into a new house the week before Christmas. I also sorted out through all the clothes in my room, threw out a loud of stuff, and I've got a huge pile of stuff to try and put on ebay, but after all that effort, my room doesn't look any tidier: fail!

I also managed another run. While getting ready for my run I had a bit of an epiphany about running: its something I just do. I run once a week cos it gives me time to do other things, and cos my knees don't like me if I do much more, plus running on fresh legs is the best! But even though I've failed at any other exercise for the most of December, I've kept up the running. I truly enjoy it, and seeing as its only a weekly thing, I look forward to it, and I'm glad to say that I don't relate it to losing weight anymore: I do it to feel good. Sure it helps me lose weight, but I carried on running over the festive period, even though I knew I wasn't watching what I eat, and I knew that one run wouldn't counteract all the food, but I did it cos I wanted to! I'm not sure if you can comprehend how much of a massive victory this is for me!

I weighed in on the Thursday after Christmas (as I was travelling on the Friday), and I only gained .8 of a pound, which I think was a bit of a fluke! I'll take it though! However this weeks weigh in I don't think I'll get off so lightly (pun intended!), as I think I indulged a lot over the New Year celebrations!

On Friday morning we got a train down Cardiff, on which we played some very intense games of Shit Head and Cheat.

We arrived Cardiff at around 4 o'clock and went straight to the pub; can you tell I spent the weekend mostly with boys?!

In the evening we went out for Mexican. I had the fajitas which were super good. I know they were'nt the best choice on the menu, and I could of done better, but I was hungry! And yes I did have a Desparados too...

We then went out for a few drinks, which turned into staying out drinking till 3am... needless to stay I didn't have any willpower to turn down the fry up in the morning! We walked into town and did a bit of shopping in the afternoon, then walked back to get ready and order the biggest pizzas ever! I really wish I'd taken some photos. We had planned on getting a bus into town, but they didn't seem to be running, so we we walked again, even though it was drizzling. I'd just spent forever doing my hair and make up, so I wasn't too impressed! I was also wearing really crappy Primark shoes, and got my foot stomped on, so after dancing all night, and then walking back at 4.40 am, my feet and legs felt sore! Despite this, we did have a great night out, and I got to see in the New Year with this maniac:

On Sunday, after a long lie in, and another fry up, we travelled back up to North Wales, and I promptly fell back into bed.

Needless to say after a few days of mostly eating Pizza, and egg and sausage baps, I was more then ready to get well and truly back on track by Monday morning!

My breakfast was so yummy, but I forgot to take a picture. I had nuked a chopped up pink lady in the microwave, added some raw oats, and then poured over some warm milk. So comforting, I will definitely be making again! I also had a milky coffee.

I then went on a run: I know, who am I? On the previous run I did W3D3 again because I'd been ill the previous week, and was coming off a few days of eating richer foods, so I decided to be kind to my body and not push myself too much, although saying that, its not like it was easy! On my cool down walk I was thinking to myself how the run was hard, but I did it, and survived to tell the tale, so next time I shouldn't be afraid to push myself that little bit more!

I'm used to running at the night when it is much colder, I was actually waay too warm in this get-up!

In hindsight, I don't think that this was the best day to push myself! My legs were so stiff from all the walking/dancing and standing over the weekend, and my ankles had looked a bit swollen the day before, but I decided to start the year as I mean to go on, and push myself to do W4D1. I regretted that I was trying to do even more than usual, as my legs felt tight as soon as I started!

The run should of looked like this:

5 Minute Warm up Walk
Then..
Run 3 minutes
Walk 1.5 minutes
Run 5 minutes
Walk 2.5 minutes
Repeat and then follow with a 5 minute cool down

What I did:

5 minute warm up
Ran 3 minutes
Walked 1.5 minutes
Ran about 4 minutes and 40 seconds
walked 2.5 minutes
ran 3 minutes
walked 7 minutes
ran 2 minutes
then walked the rest of the way home, which was about 10 minutes!

I was a bit bummed that I didn't run the whole five minutes, but it is such a long time! I kept telling myself just to keep on going to certain points, then I picked a post in the distance telling myself just to make it that far, cos I was sure that the five minutes would be done by then, but it hadn't, and I just had to stop. Too bad I couldn't see the display, cos if I knew I was so close I might of been able to keep on going. On the plus side, I ran for 4 minutes and 40 seconds which is the longest I've ever ran, and it pretty much took me the whole length of my village! I think I'll go back to W3 for one run cos I'm sure after running nearly five minutes it will seem so much easier, and then the week after, with hopefully fresher legs, I am going to try and get my five minutes in :)

I came home and made lunch, and omelet with a spring onion chopped into it: my fridge was bare!

I didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon, I was tired so I showered and dressed and read a few blogs.

I had a banana with espresso bean chocolate spread and a cup of tea for an afternoon snack.

And then I went food shopping! The usual shops were I do the bulk of my shopping, Lidl and Aldi, were closed, so I headed for Asda, and spent an eye watering £60.50! Yikes! I hadn't been food shopping since before my Nain's birthday party as there was plenty of food in the house, and I did buy some non-food items such a bra and knickers set, face wipes and conditioner, but even if you take £15 off its still loads of money! Will definitely be returning to Lidl next time. The annoying thing is I can see myself running out of things already!

I tried to recreate the amazing fajitas I had on Friday evening in Cardiff, but healthified them by using lettuce leaves instead of wraps, and I used low fat creme fraiche instead of cheese. So good I had them again last night, but this time with a yellow pepper!

The lack of carbs meant I got hungry again in the evening, so I filled a Food Doctor pitta with Whole Earth's Crunchy Nut Butter: so glad I put it in my basket!

I also had a Chai Tea!

Yesterday was back to work day, were I loved wearing the new scarf I bought in Cardiff with matching nail varnish!

And I came home and did Day 1 of the 30 Day Shred in my HotPants.

I got super sweaty.

And today I have been wearing my favourite t-shirt as it says Fifi on it, along with the bestest hat ever that I got in the sales! Unfortunately hat isn't suitable for the office :(

I've taken a night off exercise, I think I might be going bouldering with Iestyn tomorrow evening, and so I have chilled out, written this blog post, and eaten some strawberries and frozen grapes. NOM.

I feel like I should be giving out prize's to anyone who finished reading this monster post, but this is how my year ended! I will be writing a post looking back at the last year sometime this coming week: I am looking forward to discovering old posts I wrote! I've started reading a few already, and it seems like so much has changed! I also have a weigh in day this Friday. Post Cardiff the scales read a whopping 7 pounds heavier in just 3 days, which was probably due to a Jacket Potato induced food baby, so I hope to have significantly reduced that gain for this week, and work on a downward trend next week!

Just a reminder that you can follow me on Twitter, MyFitnessPal and Runkeeper.

How were your Christmas and New Years celebrations?

WIAW LDN: Day 3

2012-01-04T00:13:00.000Z

Ok, so this post is more than just a ittle bit late. This is what I eat on my Birthday. My Birthday was on October 6th. Better late than never right!?

It was a long time ago, so you might want to catch up with Day 1 and Day 2 if you can't remember!

As you might remember, I woke up on my firt day in London ill, and unfortunately I didn't feel much better on my birthday! We needed to move hotel to a swankier one we'd booked for my birthday, but needed to sit down and relax a bit so we went to Costa for breakfast. This was the only flavoured coffe I got while in London. I tend to go overboard with them when I'm in cities, due to not having a Starbucks nearby- oh the joy of being a country bumkin! I think I learn't in one of my trips to Cardiff of the summer that I need to stop drinking vast quantities of flavoured coffees just because there are Starbucks in the vicinity! I was disapointed by the vreakfast options, and chose a mushroom and egg toastie but it was actually quite nice!

We then travelled right across London to Canary Wharf so that we could catch a boat to our hotel. We were staying at the London Docklands Hilton. To be honest I don't think we should of bothered moving, it took up half the day to move hotels, I was grumpy due to being ill, and the Easyhotel wasn't as bad as expected. I just thought it would be nice to stay in a luxury hotel on my birthday, but in all honestly even though there was nothing wrong with the room, I wouldn't use the word luxurious to describe it. We stayed at the Tower Bridge Hilton last time, and that seemed to be nicer, but I think we might of been given a free upgrade.

But then it was Birthday Lunch time and I'd chosen to go somewhere I was really excited about : Tibits! Its a vegetarian restaurant with a help yourself buffet, and then once you've filled your plate you weigh it and pay.

This is my mega plate. It cost just under £10, but was so worth it. I also treated myself to a glass of vino seeing as it was my Birthday!

Here's Iestyn with a mouth full of food giving me evils for taking his picture.

And here I am! The food was soooo good, I'd go there for lunch every day if I could! I would love if the opened some more branches so that I could eat there whenever I am. I also loved the decor, it was super modern, almost like a wine bar, not the usual hippie vibe veggie places go for, which I don't mind, it just made a refreshing change!

We the carried on walking around Regent Street and Oxford Street doing a bit of shopping, but due to being ill, and being frustrated at some items not fitting, I really wasn't in the mood! Hmph. So after a while we popped into Starbucks for a cup of tea and some cake. You can't have a birthday without some cake! I got carrot cake and Iestyn got chocolate, but I did what I always do and suggest that we share, just so that I can have a taste of everything! However I have to say these cakes were quite disappointing, and it left me feeling like I needed some more cake in my life!

We then headed towards the Oxford Road underground station, but as it was nearing five o'clock at this point, there was about a hundred people queueing to get down into the underground. I didn't even want to know how many more were down there! I think I would walk as much of my commute as I could if I lived in London.

We walked back down Regent Street, through Soho, pass Convent Garden and on towards Trafalgar Square were we stopped cos I needed a wee, and to have a little sit down to take in the sites. We had planned on meeting with a friend for dinner, but we still hadn't heard anything back when both of our phones went dead, so we decided to just wing it. Our plan was to go to a Leon restaurant again, but which one we headed towards depended on where our friend could meet us. Thankfully we knew there was one nearby on the Strand, so we headed straight for it!

We started off ordering their Pink Lemonade which i love! We decided to go for the set menu of the Leon classics which included :

Hummus

Flatbread

Moroccan Meatballs

Original Grilled Chicken

Grilled Halloumi

Sweet Potato Falafel

Brown Rice

Corn off the Cob

So so so so good! I love tapas style meals like this! At £27.50 for two people I think its really good value, and whats even better I had a money off voucher, so it really was a bargain!

After our disappointing cake experience earlier on in the day, Iestyn and I decided that we deserved dessert! Yet again I did my trick of suggesting that we split so that I get to try two different things: a chocolate brownie and pecan pie. These were sooo good, but super sweet, and after all that food I felt very very stuffed! I think it was the perfect end to a day of yummy birthday eats :)

We then decided we needed to walk it off a a bit so we headed off for a lovely romantic walk along the Embankment, but pretty much nearly got blown away, as it was so bitterly cold! At this point we'd done quite a lot of walking and my feet were starting to hurt, so we headed for the nearest tube, Southwark. We decided to get off one stop later at London Bridge, which is the area we stayed in last time, so we knew we'd probably be able to find some nice wine bar. However, we spent a big chunk of time just looking for a cashpoint! We sat down looking over London Bridge for a while which was lovely, just the sheer size of it in that big open area always astounds me! We finally settled down in a wine bar, but due to being ill I was completely worn out, and just wanted to snuggle down in bed! We grabbed some wine to take back to our hotel room, but I only a managed a few sips before I fell asleep! I partied hard :)

So thats finally it from my London round up! Finally! We left the next day but I didn't really take any pictures, but if I find them I'll post them some other time! I'm currently working on two posts, one with a round up of what I've been up to over the last two weeks, and another which looks back at the last year, I'm looking forward to reading old posts, I've started already, and a lot has changed in the past year, but more about that another day :)

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, and that the New Year will bring you all that you hope for!

Nadolig Llawen

2011-12-25T00:48:00.000Z

Merry Christmas, or Nadolig Llawen as we say here in Wales! Sorry I've been yet again MIA this week, I caught some sort of stomach bug so the last thing I wanted to do was think about food! I seem to be on the mend now, and am looking forward to enjoying the festivities and especially the food!

I hope all of you lovely readers have a fabulous Christmas! Make sure to enjoy yourselves!

Train Of Thought

2011-12-13T22:35:00.000Z

Three weeks ago I weighed in and lost 3.4.

Two weeks ago I weighed in gained 0.4.

A week ago I weighed in and lost 1.2.

I have now lost 42.2 pounds, or 3 stone and .2 of a pound.

My next goal is 46 pounds lost.

I've been ever so close, but not quite being able to reach the three stone mark since August.

I am super duper excited!

My next goal is 46 pounds lost.

Its been nearly four weeks since my last blog post. (I feel that this statement should be followed by a confession!)

Two weeks ago I spent a few days in Cardiff (hence the 0.4 gain), but I actually think I did really well. I made the right choices, I chose fruit and veg and lean proteins, and tried to avoid the junk. I didn't overeat once. Despite the gain, I'm actually a tiny bit proud of how those couple of days worked out.

While in Cardiff I tried Sushi for the first time. We went to Yo! Sushi, and I actually tried some new to me yummy thing, but still managed to keep the meal relatively healthy!

I finished my apprenticeship. I am now grown up employed. :)

I've been running. Only once a week, but I really enjoy it.

I am now on W3D2, and its actually starting to feel do-able.

I've learnt that to keep telling myself to run as long as I can is key in being able to run for longer.

I actually considered going for a run this evening, but the gale force winds put me off!

My waist seems to have gotten smaller, but it just makes my bum look bigger. I'm not sure how I feel about this!

I've started wearing the Zaggora hotpants again. I won them in a competition on Alex's blog. I wore them for a week when I received them, and they I forgot all about them!

I wore them last week, mostly in the evenings and to sleep in. I also wore the to do the 20 Day Shred, its crazy how much you sweat in them, and yo don't even realise until you take them off!

I also wore them on a run on Sunday, which I have been apprehensive about as I was scared they'd be uncomfortable to run in and thus ruin my run. I actually didn't even notice them. At all. They helped to keep me warm, and I wore joggers over them cos the swish noise is maddening!

I haven't been wearing them on the weekend cos Iestyn stays over, and they are the daddy of compression knickers, and that would be one hell of a Bridget Jones moment. I've got to keep some of the magic alive!

Its Christmas!

I'll be honest and say I don't really like Christmas, but I am trying to go against my scrooge-like ways this year. I think its a bit too early to get into the Christmas spirit just yet, I'll make more of an effort at the weekend.

Too bad everything festive I can thing of involves food. Bah humbug!

Christmas really has arrived at a bit of an inconvenient time for me, as I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere, but I do want to enjoy myself a bit over Christmas, eat and be merry and all that! Its messing with my head a bit, but so far I'm staying on track.

In order to try and feel a bit Christmassy I've been listening to Michal Buble. Not my usual kind of music, and I honestly don't have a clue what any of his other songs are, but I've always been a jazz/blues fan so I'm kind of enjoying it. #takethatsgrooge

I bought myself an iPhone (I only seem to find presents for myself...).

I don't know how to use it.

If anyone can recommend any apps I would appreciate it. so far I have myfitnesspal, and I think I'm going to give runkeeper a go. I really want to use my phone to track running, I want something that uses gps, allows me to listen to my music, and I suppose I need a C25K app too? Can I run that many apps the same time? Or can I program intervals into runkkepper? Or another program? I'm clueless!

Since I run Tiger on my mac I can't update to the relevant version of iTunes, which basically means that I can't put songs on my iPhone. Boo. An upgrade to Leopard would cost £140. Double boo.

I've been trying quite a few yummy chocolates recently.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I will definitely be getting this one again, tastes like lemon meringue!

Iestyn's taken his Dslr back, BOOO! Crappy pictures ahoy!

I'm hoping the quality of the iPhone pics will be blogworthy. I like Instagram for objects and portraits, but don't think its really appropriate for food pictures. I think I need to pray for good lighting!

I lived up to my blog name with this snack last night.

A Chocolate Socca (which wasn't brilliant to be honest!), crumbed on top of Raspberries and a Dark Chocolate Soya Dessert. This was all then warmed in the micro until gooey. Yum!

Hopefully I'm back to blogging a bit more regular. I have quite a few reviews to write, I might use them as a way of easing back into things!

How is everyone?

Fizzled Out

2011-11-17T15:53:00.000Z

I've fizzled out. I'm not feeling it. I've lost my mojo.

Whatever you want to call it, over the past month or so I have been blogging less and less. Not by choice, everyday I have the intention of sitting down and writing something, but it never seems to happen. There are of course reasons for this. I'm busy. Very busy. I only have a week or so left of my apprenticeship, and I have a hell of a lot of course work to get through, more than I should have at this point, due to no fault of my own, but I'm not going to start ranting about that right now!

I'll also admit that I'm not dealing well with it being Winter. I've never been a winter person. This is the first winter where I'm working full time. Oh I know, woe is me and all that, I know a lot of my readers will of been working full time for years, poor little me finally becoming a part of the big bad working world! I'm finding it hard to be working full time, and also find the time to do college work, prepare healthy meals, see the other half, make myself exercise, blog, and see friends, plus just having some time to relax . When I try and do everything I start to struggle. Like I said I know there are millions of people out there who manage to do it all flawlessly, but I just feel like I have no energy at all! Seeing as this is my first winter, I think I should be allowed some adjustment time. I'm tying to take every day as it comes, and am trying to prioritise things, hence the lull in the blogging, but I am still spending most evenings battling the urge to just hibernate for the winter. I can't really promise that things will get better around here in the near future either, as with Christmas coming up, I'm only going to be getting busier!

I guess I need to do a weight loss update too! Last time I did a weigh in post I had just lost 4.6 pounds. I then went on the week after that to lose a further two pounds. Then last week I maintained, which I didn't think was fair really! I did go out the previous Saturday for Fireworks night, and afterwards we went to a friends house to hang out and have dinner. I had a 9'' pizza. And a few chips. Okay a lot of chips! But I figured I had the rest of the week to counteract the carb-fest. Unfortunately it didn't work out like that!

Here's my sister and I all snuggled up in our furs to watch the fireworks!

So over my three week challenge I lost 6.6 pounds, which isn't quite the seven I was aiming for, but not bad. These leaves me two weigh ins left in November to lose 3.4 pounds and achieve a 10 pound weight loss for the month, which is what my November goal was.

Unfortunately I'm not too confident about this weeks weigh in. Last weekend I went to Leeds to visit my Uni family. Over the course of the weekend I eat pizza, chips, wine, cocktails, Sunday dinner, Starbucks coffee, fajitas, paninis, Costa coffee, and this amazing Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcake.

So yes, not the best weekend ever. I've been thinking today about what makes me go completely overboard when I can't stick to plan. As this is already a pretty long post I'll try and get my thoughts down in a separate post! I tried getting back on track Tuesday but wasn't entirely successful, I did better yesterday, but was still over my calorie limit. Hopefully I'll do even better today. Anyone else find that they have to ease back into their usual calorie range? I'm also off work this week which means I have been within arms reach of the fridge which makes things harder! I just know despite scraping back on track over the past few days, considering that one evening off last week resulted in a maintain, I know that a whole weekend off will definitely result in a gain! I'll just have to wait until Friday to see exactly how much I'm dealing with, and work from there.

To try and counter act the cupcake I went for a run yesterday. Seeing as I am off work this week I could go in the middle of the day and enjoy some sunshine which was nice. Here's a picture of the view of the Snowdonian mountain range that I can see while I run.

While on a run a few weeks ago I came across this peacock in the middle of the road. It made me speed up!

Talking of running, and exercise (seamless link yo!), a while back (September?!), I ordered some new exercise Dvd's , as well as some new 3kg weights, which are heavy!

I got Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones, both by Jillian Michaels. These are what I was using all the way through September for exercise before I hit the exercise slump that I'm in now. I really did enjoy them, and I really need to start using them again. I'd say that Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism is more cardio based, its a lot like circuit training and calisthentics, wheras No More Trouble Zones uses weights, so is more strength training based, but still mimics circuit training and therefore you still get some cardio in there. The only thing I don't like about these videos is that they are almost an hour long; the fact that the 30 Day Shred is only 30 minutes long is why I love it so much!

I also bought some books: Appetite for Reduction, which so far I've tried the tempeh recipe, but I really need to set some time aside to go through it every week so that I can get the ingredients to try out new recipes!

I also got Skinny Bitch and The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I got about half way through kinny Bitch, but it is quite heavy reading with some very graphic bits. Seeing as I generally read while eating lunch it put me off! I shall have to pick it up again when I have some time. I actually haven't even looked at The New Rules of Lifting yet, I suspect that I won't be able to follow it without the aid of the gym, so that is why I haven't got round to it yet.

I'm actually reading The Hunger Games at the moment, anyone else read it? I knew it would be my kind of book after reading Jess's review, so I picked up the trilogy at the train station for my journey back from Leeds. I read the first book in 48 hours, and I'm trying to stall myself from starting the second as I know once I do I will be engulfed by the story and won't get much done!

Talking about all of this spending brings me to the subject of the The Big Budget Challenge. I went over my £100 budget for Leeds, by at least £20. Dinner, cocktails and entry to a club and then more drinks, plus taxi's cost me £50+ for that night only, and feeding myself from Friday to Monday soon adds up. I also bought some books, and stocked up on tights, leggings and socks in Primark. I've actually lost track on how much I've spent on food, and I've easily spent double my £50 personal pocket money, so all around a bit of a fail. It has given me a better idea of how much money I do spend on things, so maybe I need to give myself a bit of a bigger food budget. It also hasn't helped that I've switched to eating more salmon and free range chicken this month, I forgot how expensive they are, and I don't really like buying cheap meat, but maybe its something I need to consider. I think I'll have to stock up on more beans and tofu this coming month. There is a week left of the challenge till I get paid, so I'll need to do a big food shop this weekend, trying to be careful over the protein sources I choose to buy, and I'm also getting my hair done this weekend which I was given birthday money off my dad to get done. I'm really looking forward to getting it done, its been a while! After next week I intend on setting up a new budget for December, hopefully I can do better next month!

And lastly (as I feel this post needs to be wrapped up!), I just want to share today's breakfast with you, as it was really good!

Unfortunately the picture is truly horrendous, so you'll have to take my word for it! In the bowl was some natural yogurt, raspberries, Graze Vanilla Seeds (obsessed with them!), and a protein muffin. I made the protein muffin by mixing together 20g Buckwheat flour, 10g Protein Powder, 10g Oats, 1 medium egg white, 1 teaspoon caster sugar and 15g chocolate chips. I then poured them into a microwaveable jug and nuked for a minute and a half, while checking every 30 seconds. I was actually quite surprised at how much of a success this was, I think I might make another tomorrow morning and smother it in Peanut Butter :)

What are you reading at the moment?

Are you taking part in the budget challenge? How are you finding it?

What's your favourite exercise DVD?

What is your favourite muffin flavour? Obviously I like chocolate flavour, but I also like Blueberry muffins!

I'm actually going to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn this evening, and am super excited! Team ~~Rob~~ Edward all the way! Anyone else going?

Random WIAW

2011-11-17T00:06:00.000Z

Yesterday's Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes with maple syrup and raspberries.

Today's Lunch: Falafel, Chicken, Houmous and Re-fried Beans, on top of a salad.

Last Week's Dinner: Marrow stuffed with meat free mince and veggies and topped with parmesan!

I will be back with a more substantial post tomorrow, I promise!

What is the best thing you ate today? That salad was pretty good! Loved the houmous.

Double Quick.

2011-11-09T23:09:00.000Z

Just to break down the title for you: double, because this is a double WIAW, in that I have yesterday and today's eats, and quick, because I have to be super super quick as I have zero blogging time at the moment: gah!

Yesterday's Breakfast

Yesterday's Lunch

Yesterday's Afternoon Snack

Un-pictured: 2 dates stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate chips

Yesterday's Dinner

Chicken breast topped with tomato paste and cheese with some roasted vegetables.

Yesterday's Evening Snack

A chopped apple sprinkled with cinnamon, and softened in a microwave for two minutes. Then I added some blueberries and a pot of Alpro Soya Dark Chocolate Dessert. I then nuked it all for another minute, before topping with some Dorset Cereals muesli. The best evening snack ever!

Today's Breakfast

Chocolate Chip Protein Pancakes which I then smothered with Virgin Raw Coconut Oil.

Today's Lunch

Salad leaves and cucumber chunks topped with Hot Smoked Salmon.

Today's Afternoon Snack

Unpictured: 20 Almonds

Today's Dinner

Pea and Mint Omelet: 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 red pepper, mint, peas and some delicious Delamere Dairy Herb Goats Cheese.

Today's Evening Snack

SOOO GOOD!

Coconut and Orange tea.

Whats the best thing you eat today? Probably the popcorn, but the hot smoked salmon was also a nice treat!

Now bed time! Good night!

Rawr

2011-11-07T23:40:00.000Z

I think its probably been greatly documented on this blog that I love chocolate. The name of my blog is a pretty huge indicator, right? Its also been greatly documented on this blog, that in my fight against the bulge, my number one enemy is chocolate... why does it have to taste so good?!

What I have found has helped the cravings, and has actually in the end broken the cycle of having to have chocolate every day, is switched to eating dark and raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is lower in GI and has no refined sugar which I think helps in keeping you satisfied, as you don't end up on a crazy sugar trip. I've mentioned before that I never feel satisfied when eating chocolate, unless its about five bars, or half a chocolate cake, but with dark or raw chocolate its different, a little amount is all I need. As you can imagine this was a huge revelation for me!

As I was saying, I love, love chocolate, so when the lovely people at Rawr sent me some to review I was excited, as this was my first Rawr experience!

I received the following bars: Zest (Orange flavoured), Passion (Goji Berries & Vanilla), After Dinner (Mint), and Intensity (80% Dark).

First up I tried the Goji Berry and Vanilla flavour. I loved it! Having the Goji Berry pieces throughout reminded me of a fruit and nut bar minus the nuts, which made me instantly think Rawr needs to add a nutty bar to their range- hint hint!

Next I tried the mint flavour, which out of all of them was my favourite! The mint flavour is so refreshing, but isn't overpowering. I tried this one with Iestyn and he loved it, so coming from a guy who doesn't care about 'health foods', and has a super sweet tooth, it really shows that these bars will appeal to all people, they won't miss their Dairy Milk at all!

The Zest one was sooo good, I like this more than Terry's! I also really loved the illustrations on this one. I like the brown paper wrapper, it makes them have that home-made feel, and they are recyclable!

The Intensity I wasn't a fan of, I'm not quite hard core enough! It was just too bitter for me. For all of you hardcore dark chocolate lovers out there, I know you'd love this because it has cocao nibs pieces in it too!

Texture wise all the bars are very smooth, and have a snap to them. They don't have quite the same bite as a normal chocolate bar, but I think it has enough of a chew, and this is in no way a negative, just an observation. They instantly melt in the mouth, and I find them creamier than a normal chocolate bar!

As you can tell, I'm a big fan of these, and am getting ready to put an order in for a new stash! I'm thinking that these would make good Christmas presents (I'm trying to get a head start this year, even though I'm a bit of a Scrooge at heart!). The only problem is I can't make an order for presents without getting myself some too! I really want to try the Heatwave bar, as I am a huge fan of chili chocolate, and the Christmas one also looks, perfect to try and get into the Christmas spirit (although I thinks its too early!). They sell them in bundles of four for £7.95, which are wrapped in a bow, therefore perfect for presents! Otherwise they are £1.95 each, which I think is pretty reasonable, I find that one bar is two servings for me.

If you're interested in giving them a go, you can find them in your local health food shop or online!

LDN: Day 2

2011-11-03T00:03:00.000Z

Yet another WIAW, and yet another day in London! This is actually what I eat on the Wednesday there too!! Go me.

Unfortunately on our second day in London I woke up feeling really ill. This always happens to be in London, I always get some sort of sore throat, I call it the tube lurgy! To try and make myself feel better we went in search of breakfast. We found a little cafe in Earls Court, and I managed to order my favourite breakfast: natural yogurt with muesli, apples and chopped banana and a drizzle of honey. Too bad I was feeling too ill to eat. I eat less than half of this, which is pretty unheard of for me. Good thing I was with the human dustbin who demolished the rest! The mug of tea went down well though!

We then went to visit some more gallerias: first up the Royal Academy to see the Degas show, which we loved. I really like pastels, so I've used Degas as inspiration quite a lot over the years, so I was looking forward to seeing these in real life.

source

It was actually super super busy there! I suspect there might of been an OAP special on because we bought down the average age quite considerably!

We pooped across the road to the White Cube, to see Raqib Shaw's work, but I wasn't impressed at all, I found it quite garish and ugly! But then the fact that it obviously took a lot of skill and effort went into the pieces as they were heavily embellished, in order to make them beautiful, contrasted with the fact that I found them ugly, then made them interesting for me. Not sure if its anything to do with the point of the paintings as I haven't bothered researching the pieces, but thats just art, always messing with my brain!

We then caught another tube and went to the Saatchi museum. I was surprised that there was so little that I liked there, although I'm pretty sure it was the same last time! The only thing that stood out for me was Richard Wilson's Oil Room.

source

And then finally I was hungry! We went to EAT where I got an avocado, pesto and chicken sandwhich, an overpriced fruit pot, and what should of been a chai latte, but ended up being an ordinary latte so I had to go and change it!

And then off to another gallery we go! This time it was off to Whitechapel, which I like cos it always seems to have something I love! Last time we went they had an exhibition by my favourite artist Sophie Calle, but this time we didn't go for a particular exhibition, just for a look round. We watched a few video installations which were good, but we got scared by some! The best bit for me was the Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain exhibition. It was great to see such different pieces if art hanging next to each other, an to get an idea of the vast array of pieces that are part of the British collection. Plus I'm a sucker for anything colour co-ordinated! :)

source

My favourite was from the black section and was by Grayson Perry and is called Print for a Politician. I've seen it before, but can happily stare at it for ages looking at all the different groups in the etching.

And then I decided that the only cure for my sore throat would be some Frozen Yogurt! We traveled to Islington to visit Samba Swirl! I had a bit of every flavour: tart, berry, chocolate, and mint topped with some Mango and Blueberries! I really liked the mint, but thought it could be quite overpowering on its own.

We then decided to go for a walk round Islington to scope somewhere out for dinner, but we were in no rush, seeing as we'd eaten our pudding first, we were pretty full! We looked in the window of quite a few estate agents, and plotted our plan to move to London and become starving artists (living the dream!), but still leaving in these half a million pound apartments- no we haven't quite figured out how that ones going to work either! We ended up walking to the other end of Islington and then walking back again, nearly an hours walk altogether, and we ended up going back to somewhere we spotted right by the station- Byron. I had a vague recollection of reading a review about Byron and that it was a good one, so we decided to give it ago!

We started off with tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole because I luuurve guacamole! I also had a Mango Iced Tea which made a nice change, very refreshing.

Then came the main meals. I had a cheese burger with Monterrey Jack cheese.

And on the side we shared an order of fries and an order of courgette fries. Loved the courgette fries, but they were very greasy! I also loved the burger, it was cooked to medium rare perfection.

I don't have burger and chips often, but when I do I want it to count. :)

We then made our way back to Earls Court, grabbing a bottle of red wine on our way. I drank a small galas out of a classy plastic cup, and then fell asleep. Being ill really tires me out, as does going around galleries, so I was out for the count!

As you can see my favourite things to do are to look at good art, and to eat good food, so I do exactly that when I'm on holiday! When you go away what do you spend your days doing?

What's the nicest thing you eat today? I've been making protein pancakes this week, and I think I've almost perfected it! This morning's had added cinnamon which made them very Autumn-y, for tomorrow's I added vanilla, and I have high hopes!

My Week In Numbers

2011-10-31T23:19:00.001Z

This is an attempt at a quick catch up! I have lots to write about, but not a lot of time, so I shall try and be as concise as I can, which is a bit of a challenge seeing how much I usually waffle!

Average calories: 1340

Walks: 2

Other exercise: 0

Eggs consumed: 9

Bowls of Pasta: 2

Wild Red Rice: 1

Whole-wheat Cous Cous: 1

Weight loss: 4.6 pounds

So yeah I managed to lose what I gained! Didn't think I'd manage it in a week, so I'm happy! Needless to say the high protein way of eating is suiting me perfectly, but I'm still eating plenty of carbs, note the pasta above (albeit Spelt pasta- love that stuff!). I will post a food related post soon,with actual pictures(!), I promise! I just need to keep on going for the next two weeks. If I could lose 5 pounds over the next two weeks I would be ecstatic!

As you see I'm still in a bit of an exercise funk. Its not bothering me too much as of yet, cos its allowing me to focus on food, I think I need to just ease into it, so I hope to exercise at least once this week.

I realise its also the end of the month so its time for a round up of of the month. Seeing as I've been away/busy/ill, it hasn't been a super exciting one over on this little blog, and weight loss wise I'm only .2 of a pound lighter than before I went to London! BOO! So not much to report...

October is always difficult for me with weight loss seeing as it's my birthday, Iestyn's birthday, and I'm pretty much mourning the end of summer! I don't think I set any goals for October as I was away for the beginning of it, so I think I should set some November goals, and then I might actually achieve something.

Lose 7 pounds.

Exercise 3 times a week.

Simple enough really. I will be going away for a few days in the middle of the month to Leeds, where I will be partaking in drinking cocktails! I just hope to maintain for that week, and get back on track asap when I get back. For now I'm going to be a bit less strict about exercising, and going to aim for three times a week rather than five. At the stage I am at now I think five times a week just exhausts me and takes up all of my free time. My aim at the moment is to re-incorporate exercise in a way that is manageable with my lifestyle!

I also pan to be part of the The Big Budget Challenge over on Laura's blog this month! I didn't join in last month due to being skint and having no money to budget with: my goal was to spend nothing! That in itself poses an extra challenge this month as I am really low on a lot of cupboard items, I don't have many things in the freezer as back ups, I'm low on toiletries, and I've been putting off buying things I need like new underwear! Additionally as I mentioned above I'll be going away to Leeds for birthday celebrations, so that needs to be factored in. So far here's my budget.

Petrol: £150 -although I can't really help if I need more, I have to get to work!

Food: £150 - not sure if this is high or low, but I think its a place to start to get an idea of how much I spend!

Personal Budget £50 - which I may or may not of spent most of it already on new underwear, and a fluorescent jacket so that I can run in the dark. Eep!

Leeds Budget- £100- to be spent on a night out, and probably quite a few meals out, and maybe some shopping!

My method so far has been to take my own personal budget money out and put it in a compartment in my purse, and to take the food budget money out a chunk at a time to keep in my purse so that I know exactly how much I have left. With petrol I tend to put £50 in at a time and I just use my card for that. I already try and save money when it comes to food shopping, for example I shop at Lidl and Aldi, for fruit and veg, and then any other items I can't find there I go to Asda or Morrisons. I try and avoid Waitrose and the health food shops but its difficult! I try to always bring my lunch to work as I know that saves me a hell of a lot of money, and means I can control exactly what I eat! I also try and have a good mix of cheap cupboard staple meals with more expensive ones!

Just one more thing before I leave you all to get some sleep. Last week I was lucky enough to win a competition over on Al's blog: a pair of HotPants! I've been really intrigued by these, and I have to say I am more than a little bit sceptical, so I'm super happy I get a chance to test them out! I've taken my measurements, so I'll let you know how I get on with them!

That's good night from me!

LDN: Day 1

2011-10-26T21:48:00.000+01:00

This weeks WIAW is bought to you from London! A mere three weeks later, I'm finally getting on with my London re-cap, starting with day one! We caught the 9am train from Bangor which got into Euston at lunchtime. We then caught the tube down to the Tate Modern, suitcases in tow. We chose the Tate Modern as the first place to visit as we could leave our bags while we wondered around.

I'm pretty sure I has a Nakd bar n my mouth when this picture was taken!

I'd only been to the Tate Modern once before so was really looking forward to it, where as Iestyn has been quite a few times when he was Uni, so is used to the permanent exhibits. I loved seeing some of my favourite artists work, including Francis Bacon, Dinos and Gilbert and George, Ai Weiwei and Jenny Holzer.

I'd done a bit of research before we went of places to eat (of course!), so I knew there was a Leon in the vicinity of the Tate, a quick look on Google maps informed us it was right behind! I ordered a Lemonade, a Superfood Salad and a side of Slaw.

Original Superfood Salad- Broccoli, alfalfa, peas, cucumber, avocado, quinoa, feta, fresh mint and parsley, toasted seeds and a pot of vinaigrette.

The broccoli was a bit too raw for me, but otherwise I loved it! Not to self: must recreate!

I really loved the decor too!

Iestyn took this picture and assured me that it wasn't blurry. He lied. Unfortunately I failed at getting any other pictures of the room! We stayed at the easyhotel in Earls Court, it was pretty basic and small, but perfectly adequate. I definitely recommend that you pay extra for a window and extra space like we did especially if you are sharing with a 6ft ~~hairy smelly sweaty~~ sexy boy.

And then we headed to Wholefoods! Of course I scheduled in a trip on the first day :P It was amazing, I would love if I could shop there every week, although in all honesty I don't think I could afford it- I'm used to Lidl prices!

After a long walk around ( I decided not to buy anything just yet!), we headed upstairs for some food at Saf. I'd never been to a vegan/raw restaurant before so I was pretty excited.

To start off with I had a glass of wine. The waitress twisted my arm as there was an offer on! As you can imagine I took a lot of persuading :P

We also had some water which you can see in the back. It was special filtered ionized alkaline water: I haven't got a clue what that means, or the benefits, but the cucumber in it made it very refreshing, I might start putting cucumber in my water bottle.

I ordered the Summer Risotto: Pearl barley risotto with mange tout, asparagus and spring onion and cashew cream drizzled with herb infused olive oil. It was the best risotto I've ever had! I think its the cashew cream that kicked it up a level, I should learn how to make it myself. I had considered getting one of the raw options, but I was so blooming starving I didn't want to risk not liking it! Maybe next time.

For pudding we shared the Dessert Platter: Mini portions of Ganache Torte, Berry Cheesecake, Chocolate Orange Torte and a scoop of mint ice cream. It was all divine, but the mint ice cream was my favourite, tasted like an aero bar! However Iestyn did complain about the portion sizes!

To make up for the mini dessert, we picked up dessert part 2 as we left Wholefoods. In hind sight, it was a bad idea: waaaaay too much sugar! I didn't like the meringue at all and only had a few bites, the fact that it is pure sugar somehow eluded me. The caramel nut shortbread thing was nice, and I eat half of that, and the brownie was good, and I eat half of that. Then I fell into a sugar coma.

OK, before giving in to the sugar induced coma I read and had some coconut water. Not a very rock and roll nigh in London, but the travelling made me very tired!

What's the best thing you ate today? I tried a Cliff raisin and oat bar for the first time- yum!

I'm Running Up That Hill

2011-10-24T22:38:00.000+01:00

Thank you for yesterdays suggestions. You all had really good suggestions and comments, all of which I've replied to in the comments. Suggestions included, increasing calories, increasing exercise, more strength training, eating at maintenance for a week, upping the protein, reducing sugar intake, and theories included a plateau and gaining muscle. I've taken all these points on board and am pretty much following all of them, I shall be discussing my plan lower down in this post!

First off I feel like I need to get you all updated and where I've been at since returning from London.

What I didn't mention the other day is quite how much off plan I've been lately. Obviously I went to London and I took a planned week off. I think having a week of not worrying about what goes into your mouth is important to give your body a rest, and mentally too.

Taking a week off is easy. But taking a week off, and not feeling guilty about it... well that's the hard bit. Following Sarah's post about Practising Kindness, my own way of getting involved was to enjoy a week in London without feeling guilty, and I have to say it was hard. Most importantly, I wanted to enjoy myself without completely over doing it, as I don't think that stuffing myself with junk would of been a good way of practicing kindness. However I think I did just that more than once. Indulging, without over-indulging, is a fine line! I fell into the mind trap that seeing as I was in London/ it was my birthday/ that I'd already eaten too much I might as well overindulge. Its for that, that I feel guilty about, but I've worked through my thoughts and I feel like I can put a bit of a line underneath it. Sure I shouldn't of had so much cake/chocolate/wine, but life happens! Next time I'll just try a little harder.

So coming off a week of indulging I saw a gain of 1.2 pounds. I got off lightly seeing as we did so much walking! I was looking forward to having some time off from exercise for my muscles to have a rest, but my legs were so unbelievable tired after just two days. I returned from London exhausted!

Following on from London I got back on track, I upped my calories to 1400, but didn't manage any exercise. I then weighed in with a loss of 1.4 pounds which meant I'd gotten rid of the London cake weight, plus a smidge more- woop!

This is however where I completely fell apart. As I mentioned I went to the cinema last Friday. We went over dinner time. For some reason I thought that this justified in getting an ice cream sundae. Note to self: it does not.

By the time we got home at about 9 pm, all local shops were closed, and I had no food, so when my sister suggested getting chicken kebabs for everyone, yet again I gave in. Notice a theme? Once I started giving in to a few things, my resolve quickly unravelled.

Saturday night I went out drinking for the first time in ages to celebrate Iestyn's birthday, and I eat chips on the way home. I really miss going out drinking!

Sunday was a pub lunch with my sister when she came to pick Iestyn and I up. I had a chicken wrap... (there might of been chips too...) We then went for a meal out at an Italian: cue the pizza.

Seeing as I hadn't been home all weekend I still had no food come Monday, and seeing as I was going on a course Monday and Tuesday, I eat the sandwiches they provided, even though I usually bring my own lunch! They where the usual cheese/ mayonnaise/ egg/ham/pickle calorie laden fillings on slabs of (very yummy) bread.

It went on and on really: I've drank wine, I've eaten white bread, I've eaten cake and chocolate. I've eaten minimal fruit and veg. Completely and utterly fallen off the wagon. And I've felt horrible! I think some of this has been due to the fact I've had zero money and have had to rely on what food I already had in the house, but also one I have a few hard days, I find it very hard to get back on track, unless I know that I can be 'perfect' and since I had none of the foods I felt I needed to eat to be healthy, I felt that I might as well not bother. When I feel like I'm off plan, I also get in the mindset of eating whatever I can, while I can, as I mentioned above when I went to London. Not good. Needless to say this week I gained. 4.6 pounds. Wow.

There's nothing like a week off of crappy eating, and a huge gain to re-motivate you!

The plan: 1400 calories. This will be on days I do and don't exercise.

No bread, no alcohol, no cheese (except cottage cheese), no white carbs, no chocolate, no artificial sweeteners.

Plenty of healthy fats in the form of nuts, seeds, avocado, eggs and salmon.

Lots of protein such as chicken, beans, tofu and yogurt.

Whole-grains in small portions.

Fruit and vegetables, obviously.

Essentially it will be a lower carb diet, with the emphasis being on protein.

Seeing as I had a big gain last week. I'm expecting to shift most of that weight this week. I'm pretty good at sticking to things for a week, its after that things fall apart, so I'm giving myself a Three Week Challenge.

One subject I've been obviously avoiding is exercise. I've not exercised at all since coming back from London. I was fairly ill for a few days when I got back, so exercise wasn't an option, but I don't really have an excuse for the laziness ever since. I've not really decided what my plan of action with exercise is going to be yet, I need to have a think! I want to get my eating completely sorted, so I think concentrating on that for a few days might be a good idea. I'll let you know when I decide on a plan!

So basically I'm just going to keep on at it! To reference the title I'm just going to keep running up that hill till I make it to the top!

Anyone followed a high protein diet before? Any hints and tips? Recipe suggestions greatly appreciated! I think I need to discover lots of marinading recipes for chicken and fish!

How many times a week do you exercise? For those of you that have lost weight, how many times a week where you exercising while losing?

Hopefully I shall be popping up again soon with some London re-caps... finally!

The 'C' Word

2011-10-22T15:53:00.000+01:00

How the hell did that happen?! I return from a week and a half holiday, and then I take a second hiatus! Boo! As I mentioned last week, I've been fighting off the 'tube lurgy'. I managed to drag myself into work every day last week, but spent my evenings absolutely exhausted, and the thought of concentrating on some writing seemed impossible! Then at the weekend I spent Friday evening at the cinema with my Dad, my sister and Iestyn watching Lion King 3D. It was my favourite film as a child, so it was great getting to recreate our visit to the cinema when I was younger, although I'm pretty sure I ended up crying more aged 24 than I did aged 7! I spent all day Saturday at Iestyns watching the rugby, which turned into a night out drowning our sorrows! Sunday consisted of recovering from the night before with a pub lunch with my sister, and then an Italian meal in the evening for Iestyn's birthday which was on Sunday. Not the healthiest weekend ever, which seems to be the theme lately!

This is all so annoying because I have so much to blog about! I've had some posts written in my head (does anyone else do that?), since before I went to London. This one especially has been swishing around my brain, I even jotted down some notes on the train back from London.

Just a friendly warning first: I will be discussing calories and numbers, so if talking calories might trigger you, or if you'd rather not read about calories, stop reading now, and come back another day!

The reason for this post is because I've been feeling a bit frustrated lately. Oh who I'm kidding I've been feeling frustrated at the amount of weight I've been losing ever since I started trying to lose weight. I'd half come to the conclusion that I'm just one of those people that weight loss is just painfully slow for!

However losing weight slowly is so mentally exhausting. Going back and forth up the scale is starting to do my head in, so I thought maybe laying it all out here might reveal some obvious flaws, or maybe some of you lovely readers out there might have some suggestions! I have been trying to lose weight for about 16 months, and since things aren't working, its time for some change!

To start, lets re-cap what I've been doing. My aim has been to eat 1200 calories, but on exercise days I have been eating back the calories I burn, which means that on exercise days I eat about 1400-1600.

I have come to two conclusions as to why I am not losing weight.

Numero Uno: I'm not eating enough. 1200 is the minimum recommended to lose weight healthily. The thing is, I've only lost 35+ so far and I have 35+++++ to go! I think that at a higher weight I should be able to eat a bit more and still lose weight.

Numero deux: I'm eating too much. On days I exercise I only estimate how many calorie I burnt on myfitnesspal because I don't have a heart rate monitor. These numbers could be completely off which would mean that I'm eating more than just the exercise calories.

So yup, two opposite hypotheses, and both are entirely plausible!

My second trail of thought is that it is perhaps what I eat and not how much that is being a hindrance. I do my best to eat as healthily as I can: I avoid white carbs, I eat fruit and veg, I drink lots of water, and I have drastically reduced the amount of sweeteners I consume, opting for 'real food' rather than 'diet food'. I admit that I do have the occasional diet coke, and that's usually when I'm down the pub trying to be otherwise virtuous.

I've been wondering if maybe its the balance of the rest of my macros which are off. At the moment they have been set automatically by myfitnesspal at carbohydrates 55%, Protein 15% and Fat 30%. I tend to go over the protein and fat most days, but to be honest I don't pay too much attention to these numbers. I don't have a clue where these numbers should be at, so if anyone has any suggestions, or maybe any sources of information I should read, then I would be very grateful! Oh and additionally does anyone have any sources about how much sugar we should consume? Mine is set at 37g which I think is unbelievable low, a banana and an apple and I'm done! I want to up this to a reasonable amount while still keeping it low.

Honestly when did weight loss get so hard? I've been considering all sorts recently: low carb, high protein, 'inituative eating', veganism, paleo etc, but I hear so many conflicting information its hard to know what to think. I know that logically they all work, they are just different way of restricting calories. I am trying to have faith that the good old fashioned healthy balanced diet works, but I do also wonder if that there is a certain way of eating which suits some people better than others, so maybe I haven't found the way of eating that suits my body yet?

So any suggestions?! I need a new plan of attack ASAP!

WIAW and a Welcome

2011-10-12T00:29:00.000+01:00

Well firstly I would like to welcome all the visitors that have found me through my guest post over on Carrie's blog Moves and Munchies: hello! If you haven't seen it already, go check it out! If new readers want to keep up to date with Chocolate and Raspberries, you can follow my ramblings via Bloglovin, or google friend connect below, and I also tweet!

And now its time to join in the party as it is WIAW time! These are actually pictures from before I went to London. I was going to schedule posts for while I was away, but then it got really hectic the weekend before so I ran out of time! I suppose life happens.

I started off with a banana and half a tablespoon of Asda's Dark Chocolate Spread and half a tablespoon of Whole Earth's Smooth Organic Peanut Butter... I'm trying to recreate Dark Chocolate Dreams! Not as good unfortunately.

Obviously tea was also involved!

I then went for my first run in a while!

It was super sunny, so I actually wore sunglasses!

I did W2 of the C25K plan. I'm still babying my knee a bit, but I hope to start progressing with it soon! It was warm outside so I did struggle with this run!

I did consider taking my mini bobble bottle with me, but it is only a few mouthfuls worth! Its super cute though!

There's quite a big different to it and my large bottle! I love my Bobble, I take it everywhere!

Post run recovery was chocolate milk. If it works for the Sweet Tooth runner, then hopefully it will work for me!

It was then time for lunch! I boiled quarter of a cabbage and two small carrots and topped with a curried tuna, which was basically a tin of tuna, two tablespoons of light mayo and some mild curry powder! Not had curried tuna in years, I'll have to make some more soon.

I then started preparing my dinner, as I was making Tempeh for the first time!

I was following a recipe from Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes, and coated the Tempeh in a Balsamic Vinegar and garlic marinade.

I then covered it in cling film and popped in the fridge for the afternoon.

I then headed into Bangor to do some shopping, but beforehand I had a bowl of fruit.

When out shopping I managed to find the most beautiful Fair Isle Cardigan which I'll try and take a photo of for you to see. It has a hood and everything!

I was then off to meet Iestyn as we were going Bouldering! Iestyn started going a few years ago then stopped, but has started really getting into it, so I decided to go with him and have a go! It is really fun! I've been three times now, and although I'm pretty useless at it, I do see some progress from the start of a session to the end. I like that Iestyn and I have something active we can do on the weekend, as with the weather turning worse, it gets impossible to out on walks, but as this is inside it is perfect! I will have to write up properly about how it all works once I've been a few more times!

When I was waiting for Iestyn I munched on this Seed Stacked bar. I've been wanting to try one as Maria always sings their praises! It was super yummy, but unfortunately Iestyn turned up and nabbed half of it: must of been good then!

And so I also ate a Pink Lady.

By the time I got home I was super hungry, so I started off by eating half a tub of Longley Farm Chive cottage cheese which is my favourite! I don't do low fat cottage cheese!

I also had a slice of seeded bread spread with dark chocolate spread while I waited for dinner.

Then it was Tempeh time!

Dinner was some marinated Tempeh with new potatoes, grated carrot, some Stilton, cucumber, beetroot, lettuce leaves and salad cream. Not sure what I thought of the Tempeh, it reminded me of a flavour I couldn't quite put my finger on, maybe mushrooms? I think I need to make some again with a different marinade to compare.

That's all from me for today! Hopefully I shall have some London pictures sorted in the next few days, and I also have a post coming about where I'm at with my weight loss at the moment.

What's the yummiest thing you ate today? I made a wild rice and lentil stew and it was super garlicky and yummy!

Wonderfully Wicked Wholefoods

2011-10-10T22:26:00.000+01:00

I'm baaack! How is everyone? I had a lovely birthday week in London and have so many pictures of yummy food to show you! Unfortunately I caught the tube-lurgy on my second day, and was up until 3.30am last night coughing before I could get to sleep! Boo! I hate being ill. Its worse that I'm only half ill, I'm mostly find in the daytime, but I would rather be proper ill so that I can snuggle under the duvet rather than having to struggle through the day. I've tried upping my vitamin C intake to fight off those pesky germs, so hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.

Like I said I have a lot of pictures ready and waiting,but it's going to take a while for me to go through them all! This is why I have decided to go ahead and post exact what I know you are all waiting for first: the Wholefoods Haul!. On our first day in London we visited the Wholefoods in Kensington: obviously it was top of our agenda! I didn't really buy much then, just a few snacks, as I didn't want to carry a load of stuff round, so we actually went to the Wholefoods in Soho on the last day to spend my money. I think I was pretty obvious in my choices really: anything with chocolate in it and I want it! I was also trying not to spend too much money, but I still managed to spend too much. That's why Wholefoods is 'wicked': it stole my money. At least it is all yummy!

Spiru-tein protein shakes in Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry flavour.

Biona Spelt Wholegrain Fusilli.

Teapigs Chili Chai tea. Being the tea fiend that I am, I've been wanting to try teapigs tea for ages so I'm really looking forward to this one!

Cliff bars! Two of each flavour: Oatmeal Raisin Walnut, Chocolate Chip and Crunchy Peanut Butter.

A Gourmet Raw Carob Hazelnut Brownie, and a Pulsin' Choc Crisp Energy Bomb. The only thing I've tried so far is the Gourmet Raw Brownie and it was yummy. I wish I got some of the other flavours now.

I'm kind of scared of trying things, cos when they're gone, they're gone... I'm rationing everything, ha!

Have you tried any of the above products? If not what would you be most interested in trying?

I'm off to try and catch up on some sleep from the past week!

WIAW

2011-09-28T21:23:00.000+01:00

It's WIAW time! Today is actually the first day of my holidays! I'm off this week and next week bar Friday when I have to go to college to give a speech about the Apprenticeship I'm doing. I hate public talking, so I'm not looking forward to it at all!
I've obviously chosen the right week to have some time off as the weather is gorgeous. Not really done much today really, I fancied a complete chill out day so I'm just watching DVD's in my pyjamas! I'll have to make sure to make the most of the weather tomorrow!

Yesterday's breakfast was raw oats, Total 0% yogurt and some bluberries all mixed together.

Lunch was random and ate in the car after I went to put petrol in it. I hate going after work as it is too busy! Three cheese flavoured oat cakes, carrot slices, half a tub of Moroccan Houmous, Grapes and Graze Sweet Goan Curry Crackers. Yummy.

When I got home I had a banana with half a tablespoon of dark chocolate dreams and half a tablespoon of pumpkin seed butter, topped with chocolate chips. This was actually a celebration snack. Most of you probably don't know, but I have been working at a TV production company in North Wales as part of a Media Apprenticeship since late February. I was told at work yesterday that they have decided to employ me once the apprenticeship is over. SQUEEE! I am super happy and glad: the prospect of being unemployed over Christmas was not making me a very happy bunny!

Dinner was super lazy and not the most nutritious, but I've been feeling a bit lazy lately when it comes to food choices. I need to remind myself of easy peasy healthy recipes with little or no prep for when I am in funks like this. I fried two eggs topped them on Weight Watchers Brown bread, and I had some Quorn Fishless Fingers on the side, as my mum had made some for herself for dinner, which triggered a craving!

I hope the weather sticks around well into next week as I am headed to London for a few days with Iestyn! We're staying at a Easy Hotel for two nights to save money, and then at a Hilton for one night as it will be my birthday, so we thought we'd have a little treat!

And so we need suggestions about things to do in London! We're a both really into Art having done Art degrees, so if anyone knows of any good exhibitions on let me know, I haven't got a clue what is on, I need to do some research in the next few days! Any other recommendations on things to see?

Obviously I will be visiting Wholefoods, probably multiple times. I've warned Iestyn about it, but I don't think he realises quite how excited I am about it, and quite how hard it will be to drag me away! HA! I know there is a restaurant upstairs, can anyone recommend it?

Any other interesting places to eat in London? I figure we can try all the healthy/vegan/wholefoods type places for main meals so that I will be justified in trying all the bakeries in-between! I want to try my first macaron!

Happy WIAW!

Review: Mule Bars

2011-09-26T23:54:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago the lovely people over at Mule Bars sent me some of their bars to try. They were very kind and sent my a taster of every bar in their range! Their range consists of normal sized bars, mini bars, protein bars and energy gels.

At MuleBar we believe there is no energy like natural energy which is why MuleBar is made from 100% natural, seriously tasty ingredients.

All Mule products have ingredients you can recognise and are working towards being completely Organic and Fair-trade. The bars are full of flavour, they are not dry like some oaty bars can be, but are not too sticky either! Due to the oats they're nice and chewy, but they also contain rice crisps which give them a crispy bite. The Mule bars are on average about 200 calories and contain about 4g of protein.

They have a good amount of slow release carbs, which coupled with the rice syrup, will help keep you going and going , and therefore perform at your best. They come in really cool flavours with quirky names, which, along with the colorful wrappers, make them such a fun energetic brand. The flavours are complex, and the bars are not cardboard like some energy bars can be. They actually taste like what they say they taste like and not just an inkling of a flavour.

First off I tried the Strudel flavour which was Apple, Cinnamon and Raisins which was delicious! I love anything apple flavour and this did not disappoint! It did smell exactly like warm strudel straight out of the oven. Cinnamon in anything is a win.

Next up was the Mango Tango! Such a fun name! The Mango is Fairtrade which is a bonus. I really love this bar, especially due to the fact it has cashews in it. It was a little bit on the sweet side, but I've got a complete sweet tooth, plus as I used this as a pre-workout snack, I knew that extra natural sugar helped me get going!

Next is the bar I was looking forward to the most for obvious reasons: Chocolate Fig Fiesta! Lovely! This bar also contains flaked almonds and is super dense and chewy. I would definitely swap a chocolate bar for one of these. I'd say the chocolate flavour is pretty subtle, I think a few embedded chocolate chips would make this perfect... then again you can apply that logic to anything!

Then Pinacolada! Surprisingly, the Chocolate Fig Fiesta has big competition in this bar when it comes to picking my favourite. A Cocktail in an energy bar, whats not to love?! I love coconut-y things, and pineapples are my favourite fruit! I actually started smiling when I first took a bite of this bar: I didn't expect it to be so full of perfect Pinacolada flavour. I just needed the beach and palm trees and I would be completely fooled that I was drinking cocktails on a dessert island. If you like pineapple and coconut you will definitely love this bar.

And lastly I tried the Summer Pudding Flavour, and I'll be honest and say I didn't love it, but then again that's why I left it till last because I knew I wouldn't! I'm just not a fan of summer fruits in general, my mum apparently makes the best Summer Pudding, but I won't go near it! I like berries individually on their own, but mix them together and I just don't like it. Iestyn helped me out with this one and he liked it, so if you like Raspberry, Cranberry and Blackcurrant flavours, then this bar is for you.

Other flavours of Mule Bars are Hunza Nut and Liquorice Allsports, but I tried these bars in miniature size.

Yes that right they also do mini bars called Megabites.

I actually had a bit of a blonde moment with this bar. I didn't actually know what a Hunza Nut was, and so I was expecting a really nutty bar, but instead what I got was a tropical fruit tasting one! Pleasant all the same, but not what I was expecting! It wasn't until a few days later that I saw the wrapper in my bag and had a look at the ingredient list and I saw Apricot in the ingredient list...doh... well that makes much more sense! It also contains walnuts, so I still got a bit of my nut fix! This one is super fruity, I think it would appeal to a lot of people!

Next up: Liquorice Allsport. I'm still undecided about this bar. I was expecting it to be black on the inside and turn my teeth black like black jacks, but I suppose that wouldn't be very practical for eating on the go! It contains Coconut, which obviously I love, but I'm not sure if the Fennel Seed flavour is a bit too strong. I think this is such an unusual flavour that it takes a bit of getting used to, I'd be interested in trying this again to see if it is a grower as I suspect!

The other Megabite flavours are Apple Strudel, Summer Pudding and Mango Tango which I have mentioned above!

I think I prefer the mini bars as a 200+ calorie bar is a bit too much for me, I'd rather have a mini one, and couple it with some fruit! Unfortunately they don't do my two favourite flavours Pinacolada and Chocolate Fig Fiesta in mini: hint hint! I would still buy these larger bars as they were my favourite, plus they are so handy for popping in your hand bag. Supposedly, I could always just eat half a bar and save the rest, but they are so yummy, I'm not sure if I could stop half way!

Now onto Mule's third type of bars: Refuel Bars, which are recovery bars. They come in Chocolate Date and Chocolate Banana flavour. They have 13 and 14 grams of Protein, respectively, and are around the 255 calorie mark. I'm always trying to pack some extra protein into my snacks and so I think these bars would be perfect as a breakfast when I am running late, or an afternoon snack with a mug of tea, as I know that protein will keep me going!

First of all I have to state that I don't like the Chocolate Banana flavour because I am weird. It is true. I am one of those people who don't like banana flavoured things, I don't like putting banana in my oats (shock! horror!), and I don't like dried bananas. If I eat a banana it is to be on the greener side of yellow, and therefore not taste very strongly of banana! However, I know that a lot of you out there are banana worshipers, and will go mad for this bar! I did have a bite, and it definitely wasn't bad,but the bana taste put me off as I suspected. Iestyn was waiting and ready, and very eager to try this bar, and the word he used was 'moreish'! I think that is more than just a seal of approval!

And then onto the Chocolate Date, which was dense and like a chewy brownie: I loved it! I would buy this one without thinking twice if I saw it in the shops. My only wish is that they made these in mini sizes too, cos I would really love them as a healthy chocolate treat with a mug of tea! This bar has good stats and a good taste, which is the holy grail in finding a good bar in my opinion!

Now onto the Gels. I've never actually tried gels before. I'll be honest and say my understanding of them is very limited! From what I've gathered, energy gels are used in intense training, generally when you are going to be working out for well over an hour.

Since I know nothing, I'll let Mule do the talking:

Natural energy gel made from organic brown rice and agave syrups with Himalayan crystal salt for a full-spectrum of trace minerals. For immediate and fast recovery.

From a useful little leaflet I was sent I read that I should take '1 gel up to 45 minutes before exercise', '1 to 2 gels per hour during activity' and that they are 'best taken with water'.

I generally only work out about 40 minutes tops, so I don't feel like I have any need for these gels, but as I am willing to try anything once, I decided to try one out as pre run fuel. The lemon one in fact.

Unfortunately I didn't like this at all! As I said, this was my first experience with Energy gels, so I can't really compare them with others, but it is so sickly sweet, it really wasn't appetising at all. I ended up putting it back in the fridge after the smallest taste and reaching for one of Mule's yummy mini bars instead!

I still have the other flavours untouched, which I am saving in case I end up going for long walks up and down mountains or turn into a triathlete (don't laugh!). I just don't see me having a use for these in the foreseeable future, but if I do, I shall let you know what I think! I think I just prefer eating my energy! I don't think its a fair review of the gels as they are just not suited to my needs, so I suggest if you are looking for an energy gel, then you give these a go as they are 100% natural, and from the look of their bars, it looks like Mule know what they are doing! Let me know if you do!

All in all I can tell you that Mule bars are a quality product which are geared towards making sure you are performing at your highest potential, which is great! They use all natural ingredients, which is a must for me, and they definitely provide a good energy boost. They have a range of truly unique flavours, so I think its all about working yourself through them and finding your favourite!

Mule have also been kind enough to offer all Chocolate and Raspberry customers a 25% discount when ordering off their website! How great is that!? Just enter the discount code 'giveme25'. Unfortunatly this offer is only available for UK Mainland: sorry international readers! Click here to browse the online shop!

Have you tried any Mule Bars before?

What is your favourite cocktail? I don't really have a favourite, but I have a craving for a Pinacolada right now! I wonder why...?!

Disclaimer: The products where sent to me for review, but all opinions are mine, and I did not receive any payment for this post.

WIAW

2011-09-21T23:06:00.000+01:00

Happy WIAW everyone! I was going to get this post up as soon as I eat dinner today but Iestyn turned up at my doorstep for dinner, so we've been hanging out watching TV and now I'm super tired and want to go to bed, but also want to party so its going to have to be a quick boogy!

I am obsessed with whole wheat Soda bread at the moment. I read that it is low GI , has 5g of protein per slice, is super high in fibre, and it tastes sooo good: dense and wholesome tasting! Only problem is when I buy a loaf, I want it at every meal, which is pretty much what I did today!

Breakfast

Soda bread with Whole Earth Crunchy Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam.

Lunch

More soda bead with Red Pepper houmous, cucumber and rocket. Don't be fooled by the size of the bread either. Because it contains no yeast, obviously it hasn't risen, and has no air in it unlike normal bread, so the smaller pieces are probably the equivalent to a normal piece of bread and is super filling! Due to its density I think it would be perfect for an open sandwich.

I actually eat it in the car after I went to put petrol in it on my lunch break! I didn't fancy my banana after this, but I eat it later on mid afternoon.

Dinner

Diner was going to be an amazing veggie lasagna, but then as I was leaving work Iestyn rang and asked if I was up to much this evening, and pretty much invited himself over for dinner! He didn't fancy my planned lasagna as it had tomatoes and mushrooms in it, so it was a quick raid of the fridge to come up with Plan B!

And so I made us Quorn sausages and homemade chips , plus some more lovely soda bread! I spread it with some Clover as soon as this picture was taken! It wasn't until I was serving up that I realised I didn't have any veg- who am I? So a quick scavenge unearthed some cucumber, a few cherry tomatoes and about two leaves of rocket that I managed to save from a wilting bag! It would have to do! Iestyn polished of the rest of the soda bread, so I'll have to get some more asap!

Evening Snack

As we sat down to watch some TV, and I was kind enough to let Iestyn have one of my Alpro Soya pots, how amazing am I?! However despite being lovely enough to cook dinner, I wouldn't quite call myself a domestic goddess, case in point: my bedroom floor! I need to hoover but I'm too lazy.

I've just had some new energy saving light bulb put into my room hence the really crappy photo! Sorry!

I hope you've enjoyed the flying visit, you stay and enjoy the rest of the party!

What's the yummiest thing you've eaten today? Easy question for me: Soda bread!

P.S. Laura is having a giveaway!

Mash Up, This and That, Titbits, Pick and Mix

2011-09-19T18:22:00.000+01:00

What with the craziness of life in general at the moment and dealing with the aftermath of being in a car accident, I have quite a few yummy eats that have not been showcased on the blog. These are all just little things that I haven't thought were special enough to blog about by themselves, but all together they probably give an impression of what I have been up to/eating the past couple of weeks!

Before I go on to that post, I have a Weigh In to update you on. I weighed in on Saturday morning to see a lost of 1.6 pounds, and I have now lost a grand total of 39.6 pounds. SO close but so far! I'm ok with it, I know I will rock it next week. Plus another one of my goals, 42 pounds aka 3 stone is not to far away, so I hope next week will be a double whammy! I have updated my weigh in page, for those of you might be interested.

*****

I'm always complaining about the sandwiches and salads in supermarkets, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by this prawn salad. Doesn't come near to those offered by Waitrose or Marks and Spencer's, but it will do!

*****

I have finally discovered nut butter stuffed dates. Why did no one ever tell me about these???!!! Oh you did? Pfft, I should of listened sooner!. These are the perfect pre-workout fuel, or for when you walk through the door and must eat something asap before you can contemplate making something proper to eat (Anyone else have these moments? No, just me...?). This one was stuffed with pumkinseed butter. LOVE IT!

*****

I made myself the best dinner: two unbelievably runny eggs on toast, one slice spread with caramelised red onion chutney, and the other with strawberry jam! Believe me it works! I really want to get some spicy jam that I'm sure I've seen in the shops, cos I know I will love it! On the side I had a mozzarella, basil cucumber and tomato salad, and I also drank some diet Fanta. Rebel.

*****

On the day I crashed my car my sister came home on her lunch break to check on me, and kindly bought me a salad from the local deli. It had coleslaw, chicken, sweetcorn, beetroot, tomato lettuce and cucumber, and I really enjoyed it! There is something so special about someone bring you lunch.

*****

A few weekends ago it was unbelievably rainy and miserable (doesn't that describe every weekend at the moment? ihatewinter.com). and so for some reason we decided to go for a drive to Betws-Y-Coed, although god knows why cos there is nothing to do there when its raining! Sometimes it comes to the point where you have to drive somewhere in the rain to sit in a cafe just for some change of scenery! However, I think I was probably a bit sneaky in choosing Betws-Y-Coed as a destination, because they have one of my favorite cafes ever: The Alpine Coffee Shop. They have a tea menu. You know how excited I get about a tea menu!!! This is actually where I chose to come for lunch on my birthday last year: love it!

I had and Assam tea which is my favourite kind, and I think Iestyn had a green tea, possibly a Sencha, he absolutely loves green tea! We also shared the above slice of carrot cake. Shhh don't tell anyone.

Iestyn also got some nougat and I had a chunk, but I'm not the hugest nougat fan... I'd rather have more cake!

This place also does amazing food (unfortunately we'd already had lunch: booo!), they have veggie, vegan and gluten free options and everything looks really flavourful and fresh!

*****

Here's a yummy meal Iestyn cooked for me the other week. I can't remember exactly what is in it, but I think its a bed of cabbage, carrot, spring onions and quorn beef style pieces topped with brown rice and peas, and it all had a hefty dollop of a blueberry marinade we recently bought. The boy did good!

*****

Just a simple cheese, tomato, cucumber and red onion chutney sandwich. 'Nuff said.

*****

This was my first outing with giant cous cous the other week.

Mushrooms, sweetcorn, tomato, cucumber, onions, black beans, all mixed together. NOM.

*****

I had the most random lunch a few Saturdays ago. I'd just completed a Jillian DVD and for some reason after exercising I don't feel hungry, but I needed to eat!

So I had a banana spread with Whole Earth's Crunchy PB.

Plus a glass of Vita Coco coconut water.

Followed by me breaking into my Graze box. Loved this one!

And then I pulled out a Chocolate Avocado Cup from the freezer! I changed the recipe a bit, I used golden syrup instead of Agave, as that is all I had, and I used chopped nuts because I don't like walnuts. Still not quite sure what I think of them!

*****

I tried to make chia pudding. I used 14g Chia Seeds, 200ml Almond Milk, 1 teaspoon maple syrup and a teaspoon cocoa powder. I wasn't sold. The texture is really weird! I think I need to give this another go but with something else in it perhaps to give it some extra texture. Will let you know how the experiment goes!

*****

And now onto my favourite breakfast of the moment: Total % Greek Yogurt, raw porridge oats, a tablespoon of jam and some blueberries. On this particular morning I also added some vanilla pumpkin seeds which I received in my Graze box. Loved them! I need to get my hands on some more ASAP!

****

Seeing as I just bombarded you with about ten mini posts at one, I shall leave it there!

Quick question: Anyone able to recommend exercise leggings? I have a pair of adidas ones and a pair of nike ones. I loved the look of the Adidas ones more, with the iconic three stripes down the side, but unfortunately if I do any bouncing or jumping i.e. running or exercise Dvd's then they fall down, so I have to only use them for walking or yoga. The Nike pair have a drawsting so I don't have this problem with them, I was wondering if anyone else has this problem with leggings that don't have a drawstring? Maybe my Adidas ones are just too big! Do Adidas make leggings with a draw string? Now that Im exercising more I need to invest in some pairs!