Tuesday 26 February 2013

Weekly Blog #4

So last week was bad.  I went into this week with new rules:
 
(1) Fix the kitchen scales and weigh EVERYTHING - I have no concept of portion sizes at all and  I need to be more strict.
(2) On bad days (i.e. days where I'm eating out), try to choose carefully.  Accept that I can't have three courses.  Accept that I can't order the thing that's deep fried, but equally don't force myself to eat a salad with no dressing either.  Compromise is key - choose the middle-of-the-road thing so it's not terribly bad but also not totally depressing.
(3) Given that there are going to be bad days, make sure that I over-compensate on good days.  Don't consume all my points (this is not recommended by Weight Watchers BUT I DON'T CARE).
(4) Don't have a bad day on a Monday, the day before I weigh in.
 
Food-stuffs this week:
 
Smoked paprika squid with lemony couscous and broccoli.  The whole plate of food was 12 points which is pretty low and it was fairly tasty.  I should have pimped up the couscous a bit more, perhaps.
 
 
On Wednesday night I went out for champagne at Bob Bob Ricard (love that place) and dinner at Roti Chai. It never occurs to me to eat Indian food unless someone makes me...I'm so glad that I was made to go to Roti Chai because it was amazing - absolutely the best meal I've had in ages.  The chilli paneer was incredible and there was delicious lamb curry, chicken curry, spicy chicken wings, crispy chicken thingies, dhal and roti followed by pistachio kulfi, all for £25 including wine.  Amazing.  @miss_jordi took the top photo - I was too busy eating.

 
 
Thursday I had a friend over for dinner which meant that the dolsot stone bowls were put to use...BIBIMBAP!  I really love bibimbap but I also really love the fact that it seems enormously impressive when it really isn't.  @JanieStamford made this lovely photo collage and, after eating it, is pining after a pair of bowls for herself. 
 
 
I made burgers and chips on Friday night - I was gently hungover and super hungry.  The chips have only 2 teaspoons of oil on them, the minced beef was lean and the cheese is reduced fat.  Really satisfying although still pretty pointy. 


On Saturday, I went to the John Salt.  I failed totally on point (2) above as I didn't take care over what I ordered at all.  Hey ho, we only live once.  Star of the show for me was the green chilli poussin, as it was for @ginandcrumpets who went very quiet and trance-like while she was eating it:


I was mildly hungover again on Sunday so I made bibimbap again, this time with chicken, extra vegetables and a smaller portion of rice.  I think I'm obsessed.


I tried to claw it all back on Monday with Jamie's butternut squash/prosciutto salad, of which I took the most out of focus photo ever:


And, astonishingly, it worked!  I lost 1.2 lbs this week.  Not a brilliant weight loss, but I would have been happy if I had only stayed the same.
 
That said, where I really went wrong this week was by drinking on three nights.  Clearly alcohol makes you fat in itself, but it also affects what I'll eat at the time because I'm tipsy and care less about the fact that I'm dieting plus it also screws with the following day  because it makes me want to comfort eat in excess.  I've really cut back on how often I drink - my basic rule now is that I never, ever drink at home alone, largely because it screws up my sleep and that makes me get very sad.  Consequently, my body isn't really used to drinking much any more. 
 
This week I'm out quite a bit.  Cinema on Wednesday where I MUST NOT DRINK WINE, dinner with friends on Thursday and then my mum is coming down for the weekend so we're out to dinner on Saturday too.  I'm trying not to let the fact that my weight loss has slowed down stress me out too much.  I have to remember that I'm in this for the long haul and that it doesn't really matter how long it takes to lose it.  I just have to lose it.
 
 
 

10 comments:

  1. Three things:

    1. Weight loss on a Roti Chai, John Salt AND booze week is super amazing - well done :)

    2. You're totally right about long haul/big picture etc - much healthier/happier than focussing too much on individual days/weeks.

    3. It is imperative that I get involve with both a) bibimbap and b) green chilli poussin (*) as soon as possible.

    * Check out my embedded list - I love lists.

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    1. I actually can't believe that I lost weight this week. It's pretty amazing. I did bring lunch in every day and was careful to stay in my points on all the other days!

      Agree on (3). Re (3)(b), Neil's told me what's in the sauce for the green chilli poussin. I NEED TO RECREATE!

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    2. It probably means that last week was a bit 'false negative' too? Again - good argument for the Big Picture :)

      This is extremely good news - please go away and practice it and then tell ME how to do ;)

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    3. Noooo - last week was extremely naughty. Fish and chips, booze++, cream tea, no counting of points all week - definitely deserved to put on weight that week!

      The green chilli poussin ingredients confuse me. I have no idea how to make those things taste good in combination!!

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  2. Fran - do your bibimbap bowls go on the heat??

    Also, I don't know what you eat for breakfast but I eat/drink green smoothies before holidays or when I'm feeling chubby and they really help with cravings...

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    1. Hi Leah,

      Yes, they do. They're dolsot stone bowls that I got from www.souschef.co.uk - I put them in a cold oven and heat them up to about 220c then, when the rice is ready, I putthem on direct heat, add a little sesame oil and put the rice in and leave for up to 5 minutes to try and get a crust on it.

      Re breakfast, I always have 0% fat greek yoghurt, fruit and the granola that I blogged a couple of months ago. Really like it and it fills me for ages. I struggle with smoothies - the texture troubles me! What's a green smoothie though?

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    2. Fascinating. I want some now! I also need a new kitchen to house my collection of Stuff.

      I hear you on the smoothies. My husband-man hates them but if I let the blender go for a bit it almost gets to milkshake texture and then he's fine with it. I got creative this morning and added sesame seeds. He said it made it taste like bark.

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    3. Really laughing at the bark milkshake. Re the bowls, they're not cheap at £25 a pop BUT they're one of my very favourite kitchen items and I use them a lot. Bibimbap is actually incredibly easy - it's just a matter of chopping up a load of stuff, cooking some of it a little it and then whacking it on top of rice. What could be easier than that? GET SOME.

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  3. Well done on your loss this week :) Sounds like a week of good eats too, I really want to go to JS.
    I agree re weighing portions - I did WW last year, and although it's a pain in the ass, it worked best when I weighed everything and eliminated the guesswork. Also, not eating all my points didn't work for me, but I guess everyone's different. You're doing great, keep going x

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    1. I'd recommend going to JS on a less nightclubby night and trying hard to get a table upstairs - it's pretty loud downstairs and I'm not sure it would have been that nice to eat down there on a Saturday evening as they have a DJ. Good food though!

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