My 13 Week Challenge - Week 3: A Huge Sigh of Relief

Tonight I had my 3rd weigh in of my 13lbs in 13 weeks challenge.

Week one, I did plenty of activity, but over did it with the Easter chocolate and gained 2lbs.
Week two, I kept up my activity and worked hard at making the right food choices, unfortunately 2 days before weigh in my period came and I gained another 2lbs, I was so upset and annoyed that I couldn't bring myself to blog about that one. I moved on from that and used my anger as fuel to have an absolutely fantastic week.

This week, I kept up my activity, I even went on a 13km walk with my friend and I clocked up 28 activity points over the week. I put in a huge effort with my food and stuck with Simple Start for the week. I did go off track for one meal out when my parents came to visit, but I managed to reign it back in right away and I am so proud of that. I had a very enjoyable week and I feel great.

So you can imagine my huge sigh of relief when I stepped up on the scales tonight and finally saw a minus. I was secretly hoping for 2lbs but I wanted to be OK with any loss so I was trying not to get my hopes up. I lost the 2lbs, but not only did I lose the 2lbs I had my single biggest weekly loss ever. I lost 4.5lbs!

Thank Goodness! I am so relieved to see a loss after 3 weeks. It was definitely well deserved on my part. Now I am on schedule with my 13lbs in 13 weeks challenge.

8.5lbs to go and 10 weeks left. I can do it!

Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip With Home made Tortilla chips

Chips & dip is a wonderful combination, great for parties, for snacks, nibbles for watching a movie. Unfortunately they are typically very high in calories and therefor not so great for us weight watchers. I have come up with a wonderful chip & dip combination that wont break your Pro Point bank. And if I do say so myself it's absolutely delicious!

Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip with Home Made Tortilla chips

Serves 2

7 Pro Points per recipe on the Pro Points plan

4 pro Points per recipe on the Filling & Healthy plan

Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients

1  Large Avocado 

Juice of half a Lime

3 tbsp 0% Greek Yoghurt

2 garlic Cloves, Crushed

1 Inch piece of Ginger, peeled & grated

Half a tsp Smoked Paprika

Half a tsp Cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Small dash of water\

2 Weight watchers Wraps

Calorie Controlled Spray

Sea salt & Ground Black Pepper

Method

Half the Avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh,

Add it to the blender,

Then add the remaining ingredients,

Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides half way through

Home Made Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 180c

Cut the wraps into triangles,

Place on a lined baking sheet,

Spray with Calorie Controlled Spray,

Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper or seasoning of your choice,

Bake for 8 minutes or until crisp and lightly golden

leave to cool

Serve & enjoy a very tasty savoury snack!

   

My 13 Week Challenge - Week 1: The Easter Bank Holiday

Last night was weigh in night and the first one of my 13 week, 13lbs challenge and I was up 2lbs!
Ok, so it didn't go to plan, I didn't lose the 1lbs I was aiming for but i'm not disappointed with myself either...sounds a bit strange I know but I feel fantastic!

Let me explain.
My plan for the long weekend was not to drink any alcohol, just eat one Easter egg worth 25 Pro Points from my weeklies and do plenty of activity and loose 1lbs.

Beautiful beach

Here is how it went.
My week started of with a great start, I woke up last Thursday morning and I headed out for a walk, I hadn't gone for a walk in weeks but I managed to do a 5Km walk and I felt great. I came home and I ate well for the day. Thursday night we headed down to west cork for an extra long Easter weekend. Friday got off to a great start, the weather was gorgeous, we went for a walk on the beach and later that evening we climbed up to The Beacan at Baltimore to see the sun set.

The Beacon

Ok...so I did eat some chips and shared a slice of cake with William before hand, but still not so bad. Saturday came and we went for a wonder around the local market, and I decided to make some dessert for Sunday lunch the next day. I made a raw food, chocolate & avocado tart, it was amazing! we went for dinner Saturday night, I really wanted pizza but I ordered fish instead and just had one very small glass of wine. I opted to be the designated driver so that I couldn't drink more alcohol and I resisted more wine when we got home but I did eat a couple of triangles of Toblerone...oops!
Doesn't sound too bad now does it, my weeklies would have covered the treats I did have.

My Chocolate & Avocado Tart

Then came Sunday and that's where things started to slip. The sun was scorching, we were having 12 people over for Sunday lunch and I got carried away in the buzz of the bank holiday weekend. we climbed the small mountain behind the house before dinner, it was tough but I made it!

I drank more than I should have on Sunday. Cold beer just tastes so good sitting in the blazing sun in a beautiful garden chatting with friends and I ate far more chocolate than I had planned, we had an Easter egg hunt in the garden that morning and I couldn't resist, Monday was similar to Sunday, more chocolate and an ice cream cone on the drive back home. 

Sunday morning egg hunt

So as you can see gaining 2lbs is not that surprising really. I was kinda hoping that the activity would make up for all the chocolate I ate but I knew that was just wishful thinking. I don't regret my weekend because I had an amazing time with friends and family, it was almost like a mini holiday and those kind of weekends don't happen very often.

At the top of the little mountain

I feel fantastic because I did more activity that I ever did when I was losing my weight originally and I have kept it up too. I went for an 8km walk on Tuesday and a 6km walk on Wednesday. I am setting up a great habit for myself and I am learning to make activity a part of my lifestyle and enjoying it too!

I didn't reach my goal that I had set for the week, but I conquered one thing, activity and I am proud of that. This week I will conquer tracking and I know I will have a loss next Wednesday night.

one challenge at a time, one day at a time, one meal at a time and I will get there because Slow & steady wins the race.

Confessions of A Perfect Person

I started this blog as a means of tracking my weight loss journey & keeping myself motivated, It turned into so much more along the way and I have loved every second of it. I always wrote about the good times but most importantly I wrote about the bad times,

Me before I started at 13st 10.5lbs  & when I reached goal at 11st 7lbs

The last few months have been difficult for me, my bad habbits crept in, I lost control and my weight crept up and I have found myself 13lbs over goal. During the last few months I have avoided blogging, I felt that if I couldn't blog from a positive place then I shouldn't do it, I became a leader a year ago and since then I have felt that I needed to be seen as 100% focused and on track all of the time, I needed to be perfect. I was afraid to come on here and tell you all how horribly wrong things were going because I was trying to maintain the image of a perfect leader. So I didn't tell you about the time I ate a whole pizza, or the time I ate an extra large chocolate bar in one sitting or the time I went to the cinema and had a medium popcorn, 2 scoops of Ben & Jerrys and a share bag of minstrels all to myself...yes I have done all of these things! The truth is I am not 100% perfect.The truth is there is no such thing.

Me now at 12st 6lbs

I am a perfectly normal human being.

I have my struggles
I have food issues
I have weight problems
I can fall of the wagon
But I can get back on!

So that is what I am doing right now, I am owning up, I am being honest, I am writing about the bad times and I am getting back on track.

where I will be for the next 13 weeks and beyond!

I am setting myself a goal. I want to loose 13lbs and get back to my goal weight by July 1st, That gives me 13 weeks. I know this goal is realistic and achievable and that's very important, I lost 31.5lbs in 32 weeks to get to goal ,so I averaged out at a 1lb a week weight loss.

Do you need a goal to help keep you focused? Why not join in my challenge and aim to loose 13lbs by July 1st. In 13 weeks I will be confident in my summer clothes and fingers crossed wearing a bikini to the beach! who's with me?