Weekly Blog #1

I decided, in the depths of my misery last week (I'd put on 3lbs), that if I am to have any chance of losing weight, I need to be accountable to someone or something.  Yes, I know that I should be doing this for myself - and I am - but it turns out that I'm very good at cheating on myself.  I've become very good at turning a blind eye to my bad behaviour and it just leads to greater destruction.  I need to 'fess up when I've done something bad so that I register the fact that I am ultimately the only one that can make me better.

 

Going forward, I'll be doing a round-up every Tuesday, my weigh in day, of the preceding week - a summary of the things that I ate, what I did well and should be repeated and what I didn't do so well at. 

 

Week 1 (29 January to 4 February)

 

This week I have eaten bibimbap (twice!  Once with champagne with @ShedLikesFood who kindly brought with her some fabulous Ginger Pig fillet steak, and again the following day, just because it was so damn tasty.)  At 17 points it's not the lowest point thing that I could eat but it's BIG (which always makes me happy), spicy, tasty, sizzlingly hot, filling and takes ages to eat.  Brilliant stuff.

Next up was Jamie Oliver's butternut squash, prosciutto and pecorino salad which I make with significantly less fat and cheese than he does.  This salad is a freaking lifesaver.  I'd wanted to go under my points on a number of days this week following the 3lb increase last week and because I was going out for dinner for Shed's birthday on Friday...this is certainly one way to do it.  The entire salad, which includes a whole packet of prosciutto and a large butternut squash, only counts as 11 points, and 4 of those are from olive oil.  Butternut squash is FREE.  Nil points.  I reiterate: LIFESAVER.

While I was roasting my squash, I made a peanut noodle salad (recipe below) for Friday's lunch.  I was pretty excited about it and pretty sad the following day when I left it at home by mistake.  So sad that I stropped out completely and just didn't bother eating at all.  I had it for lunch on Saturday instead and it was still really good, although I strongly recommend taking it out of the fridge a good couple of hours before you want to eat it to bring it up to room temperature.  Freezing cold noodles aren't especially lovely.

 

 

I ate dim sum, duck and salt & pepper squid for Shed's birthday.  Although a bit naughty, I had so many points left after not eating lunch that I think it was OK.  I also managed not to drink very much either which is both unusual and welcome.

I keep forgetting how great fish is on Weight Watchers because it's so low in points.  I've really gone off fish over the last year or so and there are now several fishes that I find actively unpleasant: cooked salmon and trout, plaice, mussels and I'm starting to dislike oysters too.   I do still like cod loin though so I made this cod parcel which is ridiculously quick and easy to make and has the added benefit of generating virtually no washing up.  This photo is of it in its raw state as the cooked version was a mess.

Sunday I roasted a chicken, mainly because I need the leftovers for lunchy salady things.  It nearly killed me, but I managed to remove the skin and throw it in the bin without eating it. 

The bones were used to make an incredible chicken stock which would have been made into Monday night's ramen-esque chicken noodle soup, but I went out for dinner with a friend instead (Silk Road in Camberwell - phenomenal) so I'm having them tonight.

And that was last week.  Not too bad - a couple of lows, namely Friday night's meal out and Saturday evening when I was SO HUNGRY (fish isn't filling) that I ate 3 bowls of crunchy nut cornflakes (I wanted to eat quavers and crumpets with nutella - CN cornflakes were my compromise as they're not actually very high in points) but generally, I think it was a decent week.  I was a bit worried that eating out on Monday night would affect my weigh in, but I've managed to lose 2 pounds this week, so I'm happy. 

 

Peanut butter noodle salad (serves 1)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 nest of medium egg noodles, cooked and rinsed in cold water

1 small carrot, peeled and cut into small, thin batons

About 5cm hunk of cucumber, cut into small thin batons

4 radishes, chopped into 8ths
6 sugar snap peas, sliced

75-100g protein - I used some fillet steak that was leftover from the bibimbap

Some sliced red chilli

Handful of chopped coriander

Sesame seeds to serve

 

For the sauce:

 

15g of peanut butter

2 teaspoons of dark soy sauce

Dash of sesame oil

Juice of 1/2 of a lime

 

Combine the sauce ingredients, adding a bit of water if it seems too thick.  Combine with the dry ingredients and smugly chuck it into a tupperware box, sprinkling over a few sesame seeds.