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.

Happy Valentines with Mini Maltesers cheesecakes!

Happy Valentines

Whether you have splurged and forgotten completely about weight watchers for today or you have planned valentines into your week. I hope you have enjoyed a wonderful valentines.

I myself planned it into my weeklies, I knew I wanted to splurge a bit so I made sure I had the weeklies left to do it. I lost 3lbs on Tuesdays weigh in, so I am most definitely back on track and 0.5lbs under my goal. I am doing a filling and healthy week. Being at goal and on maintenance I get 90 weekly pro points if doing filling & healthy.

My plan was to stick to filling & healthy foods for the whole day and then tonight I enjoyed my favourite chinese takeaway dish - Shredded Crispy chicken in Sweet Chili Sauce, which I have guessed to be 12 points for the half portion that I had. I made my own egg fried rice, which was free on filling and healthy, using boiled brown rice and one egg.

I had one small vegetable spring roll - 4pp, and a very small hand full of prawn crackers - 4pp

In total my valentines dinner cost me 20 pro points, not bad!

Then came dessert!..The most important part in my eyes.

I have been day dreaming and searching google for days for the perfect cheesecake inspiration. I wanted a cheesecake that could be at least a little part Filling & healthy.

This was the result of my endless research & daydreaming.

Mini Malteser Cheesecakes

5 Pro Points each on Filling & healthy

serves 4.

250g Quark
8 Weight Watchers Chocolate Digestives.
3 Tsp of Low Fat Spread, melted.
30g Icing Sugar.
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract.
8 Tbsp Hot Water
1, 12g Sachet of Powdered Gelatin.
1, 37g Bag of Maltesers.

In a food processor mix the biscuits until they resemble breadcrumbs, mix in the melted butter.
Spoon the crumb mixture between 4 mini pie dishes, use the back of a spoon the press the mixture down.
Pour the hot water into a jug and mix in the powdered gelatin until dissolved, set aside to cool.
In a food processor mix the quark, sugar and vanilla extract together until smooth & creamy, scarping down the sides as you go.
Mix in the gelatin a bit at a time.
Gently crush the Maltesers, setting aside 4 whole ones.
Fold in the crushed Maltesers to the quark mixture.
Spoon the Quark mixture between the 4 mini pie dishes.
Gently crush each remaining Malteser, one at a time, and sprinkle on each Mini Cheesecake.
Chill the Cheesecakes for 2 hrs, until set.

Serve & enjoy!

If you do not have mini pie dishes you could make this in glasses, cupcake cases, or make one large cheesecake in a cake tin.

What is Christmas to you?

I have been thinking long and hard about christmas since my last weigh in of the year on tuesday where I had a very lucky stay the same. I was very worried i would be up and the thought was making me have butterflies in my tummy. I did not want to face christmas on a gain.
After talking to a number of people about their own christmas plans, some wanting to sts and some wanting to loose over christmas I decided to make my own.
I decided to write down what christmas means to me in order of priority and that would help me decide on the weight watchers result I would be content with.

Christmas to me is first and foremost about family, its no easy task getting my family all together during the year but at christmas we all know we will be together. We all love christmas and my mam and dad work very hard to make it special for us. even though we are all adults now, we are all shipped off to bed at midnight so the presents can be ''delivered'' under the tree. We all must wake up together and nobody is allowed down the stairs until we are all going.

Secondly christmas is about presents, this mind sound shallow and materialistic to some, but for me its more about the tradition we have as a family. After descending the stairs together in giddy excitement we gather in the living room and sit under the tree. The funny thing is we are all still like little children. we each have our own space under the tree, the same every year. me on the right, my sister in the middle and my brother on the left (we will squeeze his wife in there somewhere this year!) we each take turns opening a present, taking the time to pay attention and thank each other for the gifts. we love the little things like socks & PJs, oh christmas wouldn't be the same without the new PJs!

Thirdly then comes food. Like in most irish households, there will be an abundance of food in the Murphy household. After presents we have a grilled breakfast. fry ups were never fried in my house, they were always grilled so at least I know it wont be too bad! we are usually stuffed then until dinner time but might have a nibble on some chocolate. Its after dinner that i usually ask for the tin of roses and seeing how my mother forgot them last year i'm sure she has more than made up for it this year!
Alcohol plays a part too, my sister introduced me to Baileys with a shot of brandy in it a couple of years ago and its been a traditional drink at christmas for me since then. I have to have ginger ale on christmas! I have drank it with my christmas dinner since I was a little girl. That usually means that I dont drink very much alcohol through out the day.

I am so very much looking forward to christmas this year, its definitely my favourite time of the year. I dont want to come back to cork after christmas feeling like I didn't properly enjoy myself or have my traditional christmas, so I have decided that If i am up after christmas I will be ok with that so long as its not any more than 2 lbs! Ideally I would love a stay the same and of course we all want to loose. I'm half a lb over my goal so even loosing that half would be super, there is a big gap between christmas and the next weigh in so if I allow myself christmas even christmas day and St. Stephens day off weight watchers I can rain it in and hopefully see a loss at the first weigh in in January.

But like I said I love Christmas and I am going to enjoy it and if that means facing a gain then so be it. I will have that gain gone in no time. Make a plan that suits you and  you feel comfortable with. Nobody can tell you what is right or wrong. Enjoy your christmas and be happy with how it went afterwards.

Merry christmas sarah x

A three week catch up

I have been AWOL from blogging for the past three weeks. A long weekend away has helped to contribute to that. I've had three weigh in's since my last post and it's been an up an down roller coaster over those three weeks.

Week one,Tuesday 29th November 2013 - up 3 lbs!
I definitely deserved the 3lbs gain. I was a very bad weight watcher that week, If I saw it I ate it. I didn't track a thing. I ate what I wanted and I wanted everything! At the time of the gain I blamed PMS but now I can look back with honesty and say that I had no control over food that week and I deserved that gain.

Week two, Tuesday 5th November 2013 - 4lbs!
I did not see the 4lb loss coming the next week though. That one knocked me for six! In the 35 weeks i have been doing Weight Watchers the only loss of that scale was back in week three, since then its been steady losses of 1 or 2 lbs. The 4lb loss brought me 1lb under my goal and I was delighted. My leader sue told me I would physically have my cold card the following week. I had gone over my weeklies and I didn't track the last two days of my week. I had done 2 hours of skate training on sunday which is really intense but not 4lbs intense. I was very happy and I felt like I could relax a little and go on my long weekend break with a little more room for indulgence.

A waterfall in killarney

Week three,  Tuesday 12th November 2013 - down 1lb!
Myself and William headed away to killarney after work thursday evening. We stopped and treated ourselves to a drive thru from Mac Donalds on the way. I felt in control and I ordered a regular cheeseburger - 8pp and regular fries - 9pp. I had plenty of points left for the day so I didn't feel guilty at all. We arrived at the hotel and checked into our room. The first thing I spotted was the giant Jacuzzi bath in the bathroom. I knew my plan for the night then. A glass of red wine and a long soak in the tub :) That set the tone for my weekend, I was in relaxing mode.

Red wine & a Jacuzzi bath...NICE!

I did indulge and yes i went over my weeklies a bit but i enjoyed every second of my break and i went to face the scales when I got back. I couldn't believe that I was down 1lb after all of my indulgence but something must have been working!

One of the many spectacular views we saw while exploring Killarney

So I am 2lbs under my goal but I have not had a good tracking week this week. I have been aware of what I am eating and I think I am ok but I haven't been writing anything down. I have been feeling awful, I have an ear infection for the 6th time this year. I have to go see the ENT next week and there is a possibility I have to change my hearing aid too, which is expensive. Although I didnt track I did not let myself get out of my roller derby training on sunday, I wasn't sure how my balance would fair with an ear infection but I had the best training this week, I managed to skate half the track on one foot! So I am definitely improving there.

For anyone interested in finding out a bit about roller derby and lives in the cork are, you should come along to The Cork City Fire Birds open skate day on Dec 1st. Follow this link for more information.
https://www.facebook.com/events/678984098798765/

Also I really hope you all enjoyed my first video blog and I will have a new one coming this week :)

Bank Holiday Confessions

I have to confess now that I did not beat the bank holiday this time round. It did in fact beat me. I gained 1.5lbs when I weighed in on tuesday. I expected a gain and if you continue reading you might understand why.

Ballybunion

It started on friday when I got bad news. I got the letter that I have been waiting 8 weeks for. I did not get a place on the masters that I have been working towards for the last 4 years. I was devastated and I did bawl my eyes out for a solid 15 minutes after opening the letter. It has thrown everything up in the air for me and I really have to start from scratch and figure out what I am going to do, it's a scary feeling, not knowing. I ate about 200g of chocolate friday night and half a bag of marshmallows, I didn't care. I was allowing myself to have it. I was having a night off from weight watchers and I would get back on track saturday. But of course, I didn't! I focused on going to Ballybuinion and having a relaxing weekend with my family which I did, but I also failed to control or track my eating. I was still feeling sorry for myself and I am a natural comfort eater. saturday night we all ventured to the chipper I mentioned in my last post, I shared a burger and curry cheese chips with my sister so that wasn't as bad as it could have been.

My sister and me 

sunday consisted of a Cooked breakfast, a picnic on the beach with doughnuts, biscuits, chocolate and crisps. we went swimming and played ball games too but obviously ate more than that counteracted! Sunday night we had booked into a lovely restaurant and I went ahead and had 3 full courses and wine...oh and don't forget the gin and tonics! 

can you see now why I was up? 

wait! there is more... 

monday was another day at the beach with much more of the same followed by a home cooked meal of steak, garlic & cream potato gratin and roast veg and more wine. Then we all went for a stroll around Ballybuinion. yeah a stroll, I couldn't get away with calling it a walk, I probably didn't even burn one calorie. Oh then me and william stopped and had an ice cream sunday that had hot doughnuts in it!

William and me

I still failed to get back on track when we got home on tuesday, despite weighing in with a gain, I went and got a curry after the meeting and ate more doughnuts, Seriously what was going on with me and doughnuts this week, I don't know! I was quiet upset on tuesday, I thought I had gotten over not getting the masters but I really haven't yet. I will in time I know, just need to figure out my next step.

I am back on track now, even though it was a bit questionable at times today. there was a party in work and I ate sweets and biscuits and a burger and sausages. I was thinking screw it, I will pretend it never happened. When I got home though I decided I would be accountable and I wrote it all down and crossed out the points and I didn't have dinner. No, I am not starving myself, I stuffed myself in work and I wasn't hungry, so really eating dinner would have been pointless and waste more points. I will have some fruit if I get hungry. 

So now I really am back on track and I am going to stay that way. I will have a loss next week!

Over half way there

I weighed in this evening -1.5 lbs and I got my 3rd silver 7. I needed to loose a half to get the silver 7 and I would have been very happy with that. I am delighted with a 1.5 loss.
I have lost a total of 22lbs now and I have been doing weight watchers for 20 weeks. I am achieving a steady loss of about 1lb a week and I am more than halfway to gaol. I am not completely committed to a goal yet. I have a figure in my head and I will see how comfortable I am as I get closer to that number and decide then.

In this evenings class we talked about setting mini goals for ourselves and I can't think of one. I have reached all the goals I have set for now, so I am going to have to wrack my brains for the next one. Of course I can go with the next silver 7, but I want something different as a goal. I've got my 5%, my 10% and one stone. I am even fitting back into the clothes that I haven't worn in years. I do have one pair of jeans that I want to wear again. I haven't worn them since I was 17 though, so there is no hope of me fitting into them again until I reach my final goal. I need a short term goal...But what?

on another note, there is a bank holiday looming this weekend...bank holidays have been my down fall in weight watchers. this bank holiday is being spent in Ballybunion with my parents. Days on the beach with picnics, meals out and long chats into the night over wine...hhhhmmmm....not a great combination for weight loss. I am really hoping that this will be the bank holiday where I come to weigh in on tuesday and have a loss. I will happily take half a lb or even a quarter of one, if only weight watchers would recognise it. I need to beat the bank holiday! and what to do to beat it?....why plan of course!

Ballybunion Beach - A wonderful place for a swim

I will have to have a plan in place by saturday when we leave, i think packing a bag of weight watchers friendly snacks to take with me will be wise, oh and a couple of bottles of Aldis lime crush and pear & eldeflower crush, my new favourite drinks. I will undoubtably have wine over the weekend but maybe I can alternate it with those drinks and have less wine. Oh and I forgot to mention that my uncle owns a delicious chipper in Ballybunion...of course it would be rude not to have some! A treat I think, maybe just the once though....wish me luck!

Weigh in after holiday and only up 0.5lbs

I arrived at weigh in and joined the cue and grew ever more anxious as I got closer to the scales. I was assuming I would be up at least 4lbs and I just wanted to get weigh in over and done with. I didn't believe it at first when the screen showed I was up a half. I had to look again, it just couldn't be true, my eyes had to be playing tricks on me, was that really a 0.5 and not a 5?
It was true and I am so happy with myself. I really enjoyed my holiday and I didn't deprive myself but I didn't go crazy either and it really payed off.  I do think I will have to be carful this week though, I am aware that the last couple of days may not have caught up with me yet.
I am determined to loose 1lb next week so I can get my first sticker for the summer challenge of loosing 8lbs in 8 weeks, I am 2 weeks behind so I need to try and catch up. Its a good motivator for getting back on track after the holidays. I am also attending my first roller derby skate training session on this sunday so I am hoping that 2 hours of skating will go a long way towards helping me loose that 1lb.

Hopefully I will look more like this ...

... than this!

My holiday

I arrived back from my holiday at one am monday morning. I felt like I had been away for a month, it was a very fun filled and relaxing week in the sun, but I was glad to be going home to my own bed and getting back to 'normal' food. I will be facing up to the damage at weight in tomorrow evening, but whatever it is, I will be ok with it and get back on track. I was on holiday after all and I enjoyed myself and dont feel guilty about it.

Me, happy and relaxed on holiday.

Now I was good in some ways, but I was also very bad in other ways. My resolve to track everything went out the window the minute I arrived at the airport and I treated my self to some fish and chips and 2 glasses of wine from the bar while we waited for our flight.
On the holiday we had a buffet breakfast where we were staying in the morning and we made rolls for lunch most days, unless we were going off travelling in the car, then we ate out. We had our evening meals out in various resturaunts, sometimes myself and will shared a starter and some nights we got our own but we only got dessert twice over the course of the week. The bad stuff was mostly all the wine and cocktails that I drank, and I drank a lot of cocktails! I also had a few ice creams by the pool during the week, the good magnum kind!

Mojitio - one of many cocktails.

We arrived late at night and grabbed some pizza and went to bed, the next day I noticed that my stomach was very bloated and hard which I put down to flying and thought it would go away, but it didn't it actually got worse. By the end of the holiday I was mostly only able to eat half my dinner before feeling too full. It felt very uncomfortable and I have no idea what caused it, I was drinking plenty of water. Maybe it was a change in food? Because of that I was feeling that my weight gain after holiday was going to be huge, but i'm home now and most of the bloating seems to be gone now. William (who speaks fluet German) befriended a lovely elderly German couple who were our neighbors, they didn't speak english and I dont speak german but I noticed the woman pointing at me and then at her belly, when they left I asked william if she had asked was I pregnant, she had but he didn't want to tell me and upset me. That is how bloated my stomach was, I looked pregnant!
we did a lot of walking during the holiday, our apartment was located a bit away from the main strip in the town so we walked 20 mins to and from restaurants every day. we also rented a car for three days to explore the island and we trekked up some cliffs to look at the amazing views. I am hoping that the activity we did during the holiday will have ment that I gained a little less than I would have if I had been lying by the pool all week

Panoramic view from a little cliff