Monday 20th February

Today has not gone at all according to plan, but I finally got my 1/2 stone award, so I'm happy. Total lost so far 8lbs 😀.

As Stacia has now set the date for her wedding, my middle daughter who didn't want to do hers first, has now set the date for hers. Which means two weddings in the space of 11 months😮.

Speaking of my middle daughter. She has picked up the keys to her new flat and came round earlier and dumped a load of tins of paint in my hallway. Guess what I'm going to be doing this week 😉. What she forgot about though,was the fact that I would need to get the buggy in when I picked her daughter up from nursery. It is getting very crowded in my hall. Mind you, she is a little stressed with college and moving and her mocks coming up.


I do have a recipe for you today for syn free ham and egg muffins. But due to my youngest daughter not turning the oven off liked I asked and only turning it down, there is no picture.  I had to rethink my lunch as I could use them as weapons by the time I realised the oven was still on a couple of hours later😏.

Cas 💕

Healthy Extras: 350ml Skimmed milk HEaand two Hi-fi light bars HEb

Drinks outside of meals: Tea with milk from HEa allowance, Energe Zero

Snacks: Banana and 10 Mikado Sticks 5 Syns

Total Syns: 8 1/2 syns

Breakfast

Activia 0% fat yogurt drink 1 1/2 Syns
Syn free rice pudding with strawberries
Tea with milk from allowance

Lunch

Chicken
2 laughing Cow extra light cheese triangles 2 syns
Tomatoes, beetroot and pear
Double Choc crisp Hi-fi bar HEa
Mullerlight Fat free 0%added sugar lemon Greek style yogurt
Tea with milk from HEa allowance

Dinner

Pasta Bolognese
Melon balls
Orange Crush Zero







Supper

Hot milk taken from HEa allowance
Rocky road Hi-fi light HEb


Syn Free Ham and Egg muffins

Makes 6

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small courgette, finely chopped
1 pepper, diced
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
6 Eggs
12 slices of wafer thin Ham
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
Fry light

Method

Preheat oven to gas mark 6,

Spray a little frylight in a frying pan and cook onions and garlic until softened.

Add the peppers, mushrooms, courgette and celery and cook for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.

If not using a silicon, spray your muffin tray with a little frylight and line each hole with ham. Add a little of the vegetables to each hole.

Whisk the eggs and add salt, pepper and parsley.

Pour the egg mixture onto the vegetables.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Can be served hot or cold.

Sunday 19th February 2017

It would seem today we hit Steve's threshold for school holidays. To be fair he has done quite well with the disruption to his daily routine. Arwen is back to school tomorrow and Shandy on Tuesday, so only one more day to go. I think Shandy and I will go and do some Pokemon hunting during the day tomorrow before we get Ivy from nursery. So get some Body Magic in as well 😊.

Weddings have been on my mind a lot today, so have been looking on Pinterest and had some very interesting conversations with my family, including one with Shandy in which he asked who Stacia was marrying😆.

I have also been on Ebay and added a few Mother of the Bride outfits to my watchlist. I have 15 months to lose this weight, so I can get to a weight I feel comfortable having my photo taken. I will not be taking advice from Shandy. He had very strong opinions on some of the outfits I was looking at 😮

I have decided I need to take a break, so in a few weeks time I will be taking a long weekend away to visit friends, which should be quite interesting.  Jazz is babysitting Arwen and Shandon. Steve and Xander will have to fend for themselves for a few days, but it's ok I will get plenty of Pot noodles in and the girls will check in with them 😄.

Today's recipe Syn free Rice Pudding is at the bottom of the page.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day, wish me luck.

Cas 💕


Healthy Extras: 350ml Skimmed milk HEa and 2 Hi-fi light bars HEb

Drinks outside of meals: Tea with milk from HEa allowance, coffee with milk from HEa allowance and Energe Zero


Snacks: 25g Cadbury Mini eggs 6 Syns

Total syns: 12 1/2

Breakfast

Activia 0%fat yogurt drink 1 1/2 Syns
Banana
Clementine
Salted Caramel Hi-fi light HEb
Tea with milk from HEa allowance

Lunch


Ham Salad
2 extra Light Laughing Cow Cheese Triangles 2 syns
Mullerlight Fat free 0% sugar Coconut Greek style yogurt
Pear
Tropical crush zero
roast chicken

Dinner

Roast Chicken
Baby Roast Potatoes
Yorkshire Pudding 2 syns
Swede
Cauliflower
Sprouts
Gravy 1 syn
Syn free rice pudding with strawberries
Nas Lime cordial with Diet lemonade


Supper

Hot milk  from HEa allowance
Dark Mint Hi-fi bar HEb

Syn free Rice Pudding

Ingredients

1/2 cup pudding rice (not flaked)
2 1/2 cups Boiling water
Sweetener to taste
Mullerlight yogurt, any flavour
Fruit of your choice

Place the rice, water and sweetener in a saucepan and simmer until the water has evaporated.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Add the yogurt and mix through thoroughly.

Top with fruit.

Saturday 18th February

Today has been a very mixed bag. I was late waking up due to a very late night. Steve got out of bed and didn't even wake me which is unheard of. I'm normally a really light sleeper.

Arwen arrived home in a bit of a grumps, but she got some food and perked up 😉

Was feeling a bit out of sorts so I went for a bath and not one person came to disturb me, which never happens.  So I had a lovely warm, relaxing bath, washed my hair. Poured body wash in my hands, lathered it up and put it in my hair 😕.



After my bath, decided to play FFxiv for a bit, but found out one of my friends had been taken to hospital due to an adverse reaction to her medication, so I was telling random stories to try and distract her boyfriend (long distance relationship) whilst he waited for a text. Ended up with a severe headache so went to lay down with my gel eyemask on and fell asleep. 

Woke up and it was dark outside. Looked at my watch and it was gone 8pm. Nobody had woken me and I hadn't been to the shops. Found out my friend was fine and had been discharged and was resting at home 😌.

Ordered takeaway for everyone but me, which went down very well as they were allowed something unhealthy.

This was were my day got interesting.  Whilst I was asleep my eldest daughter had messaged me telling me she had made some wedding decisions 😲. Spoke to her on the phone and the decisions she had made were a venue and a theme. I said I would contact the venue, but had a hard time pinning her down on a sensible date that gave us time to get stuff done. We now have two possible dates and I am waiting to hear back from the venue. Spent the rest of the evening on the internet finding and pinning ideas for her theme. It is very exciting and I get to buy a hat 😁. 

Unfortunately, no recipe today, but normal service will be resumed tomorrow😊.

Cas💕

Healthy extras: 350ml Skimmed milk HEa and 2 Hi-fi Light bars HEb

Drinks outside of meals: Tea with milk from HEa allowance

Snacks: 25g Cadbury Mini Eggs 6 syns, 15 Mikado sticks 7 1/2 Syns

Total Syns: 15

Breakfast

Half a grapefruit with sweetener
Actimel 0% fat yogurt drink 1 1/2 syns
Salted Caramel Hi-fi light bar
Tea with milk from HEa allowance

Lunch

Butternut squash and sweet potato soup
Sweet potato chips
Banana
Clementines
Nas Lime cordial and diet lemonade

Dinner

Tuna salad
Mullerlight Fat Free O% added sugar Greek style Raspberry yogurt
Banana
Plums





Supper

Dark mint hi-fi light bar
Hot milk from HEa allowance

Friday 17th February 2016

The thing about the school holidays is that I end up totally confused by what day I am on. Today, I have spent most of the day in the belief it was Saturday. It doesn't make an awful lot of difference as I had no real plans, but does mean that my food shopping for the weekend is out.

Spoke to Jazz earlier who informed me she will be keeping Arwen for another night, so that was my Fitsteps partner gone. Sooo, my Body Magic for today was another walk to Sainsbury's via the scenic route to fit in a couple of Pokestops. Gen 2 has just been released so lots of new Pokemon to catch. And if the weatherman is to be believed, we are in for some warmer weather, which will mean we will once again be frequent visitors to Hove Cemetery, which is very exciting 😉.

Xander being autistic isn't one for communication. On Tuesday he went off to High Wycombe to visit a girl he met on the internet as she goes to university there. He's met her once before just after Christmas, in Hastings. I did try to establish how long he was going for, but he was a bit vague. Before he left I reminded him that he needed to let me know he had got there safely and to keep in touch so I'd know he was ok. He managed the letting me know he got there part, okay it was a couple of hours after he got there, but hey, he did it 😃.  However, I hadn't heard from him since. Yesterday I messaged Stacia to see if she had heard from him because I didn't want to cramp his style, but his danger awareness is something of a concern to me.  She phoned him and let me know he was fine. Today, I got a text informing me he was staying a bit longer. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I think his train ticket runs out mid-March, so I'm assuming it will be before that 😆.

Today's recipe is adapted from one I found on Pinterest. It's become a bit of a favourite. Hope you enjoy it.

Cas 💕


Healthy Extras: 350ml Skimmed milk HEa and 2 Hi-fi light bars HEb

Drinks outside of meals: Tea made with milk from HEa allowance, Hot Ribena Light and NAS Raspberry and Cranberry squash

Snacks: 25g Cadbury Mini eggs 6 Syns

Total syns: 7 1/2

Breakfast

Half a grapefruit with 1tsp sweetner
Danone Actimel Plus 0% fat yogurt Drink
Salted Caramel Hi-fi Light HEb
Tea made with milk from HEa allowance

Lunch

Ham Salad
Banana
Pear
NAS Lime cordial with Diet Lemonade

Dinner

Turkey meatloaf
Mashed Potato
Mashed Swede
Carrots
Melon balls with Mullerlight Fat Free 0% added sugar Greek style Coconut yogurt
Tropical Crush Zero


Supper

Hot Milk from HEa allowance
Dark Mint Hi-fi light bar


Turkey Meatloaf
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g Less than 5% fat Turkey Mince 
Chicken Stock Pot
100ml Water
1 tsp Thyme
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Worcester Sauce
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Black pepper
Frylight

Method

Preheat the oven to gas Mark 6

Fry the onion and garlic in a little Frylight until softened.

Add stock pot,water, thyme, Worcester sauce, tomato puree and pepper and simmer until almost all the stock is absorbed.

Place mince in a bowl with the beaten egg and then add the onion mixture and mix well.

Spray a loaf tin with Frylight or if like me you prefer to, use a silicon one.

Tightly pack the mince into the loaf tin.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

16th February 2017

After a late night, I had to make sure I was up this morning as I had my gorgeous granddaughter for a couple of hours whilst my middle daughter and her fiance went to see the flat they are moving into. Looks like there will be some decorating and more babysitting in my near future.

I introduced my granddaughter to the guinea pig we had got for her, which she loved. We have called it biscuit because that was one of the first words she could say and it is ginger with black patches. She can't have one at home as my daughter is terrified of all small furry creatures. This is down to her older brother. When Jazz was little we got her one of those battery operated toy hamsters in a ball for Christmas, unfortunately her brother took it out of the ball and let it loose on the floor. Jazz freaked out and has been scared of them ever since 😄.

Once they had left, it was really peaceful at home as they took my youngest daughter with them and my eldest son is not back from visiting his girlfriend at Uni.

Decided not to bother with a roast dinner for just three, so we went to Sainsbury's and did some Pokemon hunting on the way. Shandy was thrilled to catch a new Pokemon even if he and his dad had to take a slight detour and meet me in the shop 😊.

My new Fitsteps DVD arrived today, so I can do that with my daughter tomorrow as the class isn't on because of half term. A good bit of body magic💃.

I've included my food diary for today and a recipe for butternut squash and sweet potato soup below.

Cas 💕


Healthy extras:  350ml Skimmed milk HEa and 2 Ryvita Fruit Crunch HEb

Drinks outside of meals: Tea with milk from allowance and Ribena Light

Snacks: 10 Mikado sticks 5 Syns and a Clementine

Total Syns: 12 1/2

Breakfast

2 Ryvita Fruit crunch (HEb) topped with sliced banana
0% fat Danone Actimel Yogurt drink 1 1/2 Syns
Clementine
Tea with milk from HEa allowance

Lunch

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
Plum 
Salted Caramel Hi-fi Light Bar 3 Syns
Sugar Free Orange Crush

Dinner

Baked Mackerel
Salad
Sweet Potato Chips
Mixed berries with Mullerlight Fat Free 0% added sugar Greek Style Raspberry Yogurt
NAS Lime Cordial with Diet Lemonade



Supper

Coffee made with half milk from allowance and half water
Dark Choc Mint Hi-fi Light bar 3 Syns


Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

300g Butternut squash, diced
2 Sweet Potatoes, diced
1 onion
1 chilli, seeds removed and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
700ml Vegetable stock
salt and pepper

Method

Place all the vegetables in a saucepan with the stock.

Bring to the boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Blend until smooth.

Season to taste.

Wednesday 15th February 2017

I have recently had a long period of depression and anxiety and haven't been sleeping. I decided to stop taking my medication at the weekend (Well I say decided, it was more forgot for a couple of days) and I started to sleep better and that in turn has helped my mood no end. I wouldn't suggest anyone try this, you should always take advice from your doctor. I definitely have needed my medication and would not have been able to get through the last 9 or 10 months without it, but the time was right for me to start to come off of it.

Being the school holidays, my days don't tend to run to a set plan (much to the dismay of my husband and eldest son who are both autistic) and today was no different. I didn't set my alarm and woke up late, which on most other days wouldn't matter, but today was my Pilates class.  I had half my breakfast and rushed down to the local church with about two minutes to spare 😌

This is only my second class so I'm still learning what things mean, but it's a very relaxed class of which I am the baby and I really enjoyed it. I tried a different class last summer and hurt for two weeks afterwards, this is such an improvement. It is nice to be able to not worry about anything apart from my breathing and if my pelvic floor is in the right position 😲.  

Apart from that my day was spent rearranging furniture which was a lot harder than my exercise class.

Relaxed this evening watching an episode of Bones with the kids and once they had gone to bed playing Final Fantasy Xiv Online for a bit of escapism😉

Have included today's menu and a recipe for Stuffed peppers below.

Cas 💕

Healthy Extras: 45g Blueberry wheats HEb and 350ml Skimmed Milk HEa   

Drinks outside of meals:  Tea with milk from allowance, Ribena Light   

Total Syns: 7                                                                                    

Breakfast  

45g Blueberry Wheats HEa                                                                  
0% fat Danone Actimel Yogurt drink 1 1/2 syns                                   Banana                                                                                 
Clementine                                                                                         Tea with milk from  HEa allowance

Lunch                                                                                          

Veggie Scrambled Egg                                                                   Cherry Tomatoes                                                                             Plums

Nas Lime Cordial with Diet Lemonade

Dinner

Stuffed Peppers (Recipe below)
Boiled New Potatoes
Salad
Strawberries, raspberries and Blackberries with Mullerlightsmooth caramel yogurt sprinkled with dark chocolate

Nas Lime Cordial with Diet Lemonade

Supper

Hot milk taken from HEa daily allowance
Mr Kipling French Fancy 5 1/2 syns










Stuffed Peppers (adapted from the recipe on the SW page)
Serves 5

Ingredients

5 Large Peppers
500g 5%or less fat Beef Mince
1 Large Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
200g Mushrooms quartered
4 tomatoes diced
2tsps Dried Oregano
1tsp Chilli Powder
3tbsps Passata
Salt
Pepper
Frylight

Method

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6.

Fry the onion and garlic in a little frylight until soft. Add the mince and cook until browned. add the mushrooms, toimatoes, passata, chilli powder and oregano. Season to taste.simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced.

Cut the tops off the peppers and scoop out the seeds. Stand the peppers in an ovenproof dish (with a couple of inches of water in the bottom) so they will fit nicely to keep them upright.

Fill the peppers with the mince and cover with foil,

Bake in the oven for for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes.

This is me

This is me.

This wasn't always me. Once upon a time, I was young and skinny, but then life got me 😉

So now here I am, 43 years old, overweight mum of 5 and grandma to one. I live in Brighton, UK with my husband and three of our children, four cats, three guinea pigs, a goldfish and a pleco (the goldfish ate all the guppies 😞).

I have decided that it is time to do something about my weight and my life and you are welcome to join me for the ride or better still the 🚶.

I have recently joined Slimming World and am currently weighing in at 11st 12oz and want to get to my target weight of 9st. I have also joined a Fitsteps class and a Pilates class and am determined to do this.  I've tried to lose weight in the past,but failed, I need some motivation and this is where you come in.

Every day I am going to share my meals and my day with you and hopefully we can help each other. If you have favourite recipes then please feel free to share them.

That's all from me today, see you tomorrow.

Cas💕