Happy hop!

Hopped onto the bathroom scales this morning, and bless its little cotton socks, the little darlin' blinked out 24st 1 lb! I do hope this is a truthful figure. Will find out for sure next week. In the meantime I'm going to use this to keep me motivated on enjoying low-fat dairy and keeping my fats intake low low low.

Yesterday I went out to lunch and ordered an antipasto platter. It arrived on a plank of wood! All meat except for a bundle of rocket (arugula as Barefoot Contessa calls it) with some very light dressing on it. The meats were a couple of slices of Parma ham, thin salami & a blob of mackerel pate with a palm size piece of crunchy flatbread, plus a couple of olives, garlic cloves, pickled onions & a little pickled hot pepper, the kind that's usually sold stuffed with cheese in Greek delis, but this one was empty - all very yummy. I also had a Peroni beer, not quite all of the 330 ml bottle, and I think the coffee came with full-fat milk, but hey, it was just one meal, and I had a lovely time catching up with girlfriends I hadn't seen in quite a while. :)

Today's lunch is definitely within the Slimming World guidelines. I had a baked potato, not too large, about 250g/9 oz. Opened & seasoned with salt & pepper, then topped with about 85g/3 oz king prawns, 3 heaped tablespoons cottage cheese and a handful of chopped watercress with a few very ripe cherry tomatoes. It was tasty & filing, and honestly? I didn't miss the butter, grated cheddar or full fat creme fraiche I might normally have slathered it in. And my tummy is full. FULL. That's the signal I am getting from it right now. And to think that when I was preparing it I thought shall I have the second baked potato as well. It would have been far too much.

I do believe the key here to me is to make sure the plate is filled with lots of low cal foods. That way I can have more, my eye is appeased, and if I eat it slowly enough, my stomach has time to send me its 'I'm full' signal. Yesterday's dinner was just this. A bowl of veg soup, followed by half a 3 egg, spinach, mushroom & ham frittata plus a heap of sliced radishes, red pepper & cherry tomatoes with a blob of red pepper reduced fat hommos. A banana. And I also got to have chocolate - a couple of treat size cadbury's caramel. Plus because the frittata is 'free' on SW original days, I got to eat the second half too. No hunger pangs for me!

And I've been shopping for the low cal fromage frais. There's a tub of it in my fridge. On the one hand my head is saying well done for making this healthy choice, but the spoilt teenager inside is saying, urgh, yukky - I want my tasty fat imbued creme fraiche! Looks like the battle of the tastebuds will need convincing this week! Well, I think there is hope - I found the 0% fat Total Greek Yoghurt really nice last week. I had it in my mashed potatoes, with fruit, and on its own with a dab of honey. Yum.

It is so important I re-educate my tastebuds and my eating habit inclinations. I've come another few steps from where I was in my eating habits that were piling on the pounds, hurray :) And now I know I can go out and socialize and still feel that I am treating my body well. Next time I post a weight, I want it to say 23st something!