Monthly Weightloss - February 2015

February was a difficult month but I am still finishing it smaller than I started so I am happy with that. I left January 12st6lbs.

04/02/15 - 12st 4lb (172lb) - 2lb loss this week, I'd had an average week and was happy with a loss. I tracked and stayed within my allotted points

11/02/15 - 12st 3.5lbs (171.5) - 0.5lb loss this week, I had, had a really good week this week. I made a conscious effort to make sure I was doing things properly so was very disappointed to step on the scales and only see half a pound had been lost. I know its a loss but I really felt I deserved more. However, upon returning home the reason for the low loss became clear. *Ladies week* came and slapped my hard in the face.

18/02/15 - 12st 7lb (175lb) - 3.5lb gain this week. With *Ladies week* in full force, Birthday celebrations and Valentines this was never going to be a good weigh in. I was actually happy with this gain as I was expecting to gain more than I did.

25/02/15 - 12st 2lb (170lbs) - 5lb loss this week. Talk about finishing the month of with a bang. All week I had said that as long as I had lost my gain from last week I'd be happy. I tracked and pointed like I was new at this. With it being half term I wasn't out walking as much either. Stepping on the scales and seeing that I was a massive 5lb down was just amazing. I knew I was good but didn't think I had been that good!

Total weight loss for the month - 4lbs
Total weight loss for the year - 8lbs
Total weight loss overall - 105lbs

Even though February hasn't been easy I have still ended the month lower than I started. I have also got another half a stone off so got another silver seven in my book. I am now focused and ready to get into my new stone zone next month!

Chicken Nuggets - Recipe

I am a mum of two amazing children and sometimes they don't want to eat 'grown up food' and want nothing more than nuggets and chips. I have made a point from the start of my journey that I wouldn't be making several different meals for us all as I felt by including us all into my lifestyle change I was showing my children the beauty of moderation and occasionally the food that is so bad for us, is ok.
This recipe made 8 servings (5 nuggets per portion) for a total of 40 nuggets. I had enough left over to freeze and re-heat for another night. Perfect, easy dinner!
These are also fun to get the kids involved with helping too although it can get a bit messy.

Ingredients

3 slices of brown bread (I lightly toasted them so they dried out a bit)
75g Plain White Flour
3 eggs
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 clove of garlic
335g chicken breast (diced into approx 40 nugget size bits)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200* (180* fan assisted) and then place your brown bread, mixed herbs and garlic into a food processor untill they've been blended into crumbs
2. In 3 seprate bowls add your flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Take your chicken and coat it in the flour then the egg and lastly the breadcrumbs. Then place onto a baking tray. Repeat until all bits of chicken have been coated and placed onto the tray.
3. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes to give the breadcrumbs chance to 'stick'
4. Pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

My nuggets, fresh from the oven.

Thankful Thursday

The past few days as I have glanced in the mirror as I am getting ready for the day I couldn't help but notice the not-so-positive thoughts that had slithered there way into my mind.
I felt fat and horrible and couldn't see past the person I used to be over 2 years ago.
During my journey I have taken a lot progress photos to help me see the transformation myself. Today after looking back at some old photos I stumbled upon these beauties...

This was taken on my 21st Birthday on mine and my Husbands 'Honeymoon' to York in 2009.

This was taken a few days later when we was doing the touristy things like the Jorvic centre. I think I was taking one of my many stops to catch my breath! 

These shocked me... I always knew I was big but sometimes I do forget just how big I was. I was never in denial over my size. I was the first to put my hands up and admit I was a large lady who liked to eat meals that matched my husbands portion sizes then some.

As I was looking through old photos today it was like looking at photo of someone else. I am completely different to who I was there. That person wasn't happy no matter how much she tried to convince herself she was.

Today before he went to work I handed my husband my phone and asked him to take a couple of photos of me. I knew it was time to add another photo to my ever growing collection of 'during' photos. This is me, today.  

12st6lbs of completely different person. I have a new lease on life and goals I will achieve this year. I never thought I'd buy clothes from a normal shop...especially non elasticated ones. To let them photos sink in a little more... Here they are side by side.

So what am I thankful for? I am thankful I realised I needed to change because hand on my heart the way I was going I don't think I'd have seen 30.
It's never too late to start!

Monthly Weight Loss - January 2015

I figured instead of posting weekly update on whether I had lost or gained at my meeting I figured at the end of every month I would just upload it in one go, with a little summary of how I felt that week.

I feel like I have had a pretty good month. I am almost back to pre-Christmas weight so everything from here on out is my lowest ever weight!

I started this month on the 7th of January 2015 weighing 12st 10lbs (178lbs). That was my first weigh in after Christmas and I was up 5lbs from my last weigh in before Christmas. I was very happy with that as the week before I went back to class I was on damage limitation mode as my home scales was showing a 14lb gain!! No way did I want to walk back into class and be up by so much.

14/01/15 - 12st 8.5lbs (176.5lbs) - 1.5lb off this week. I was very happy with this as it was *ladies week* so I was expecting a gain or a STS as is my normal at that time of the month.

21/01/15 - 12st 7lbs (175lbs) - 1.5lbs off this week. Pleased again this week as we ate out twice this week so it just shows that with a bit of planning ahead and pointing properly you can still enjoy your self and loose weight. This weight loss also took my total overall weight loss back over that 100lb mark. Yay!

28/01/15 - 12st 6lb (174) - 1lb loss. I am happy its a loss as 1lb is still a good amount to loose in a week. I am trying to keep positive even though I wanted to loose 2lb this week to get me back down to my lowest pre-Christmas weight.

Total weight loss for the month - 4lb. I am very happy with this as we have only had 3 weigh ins since Christmas.

January has been a pretty easy month for me to stay in control. We've not really had any big events or family occasions to celebrate so its been easy to stay focused. I am ready for February and I am hoping for the determination to carry on through for another month.