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| MY GARDEN SUMMER 2010 |
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| MY HERO! |
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Day 102 A photo that makes me happy
Day 102 FBP week 2 and a great weigh- in
Hurray! The unreliable scales told me I was 21 stone and 4 lbs this morning. I am now 1 stone less than I was on 14 Sept this year, when I weighed 22 stone 4 1/2 lbs.
I have sloughed off 7 lbs this week - an amazing feat!
Now to focus on getting another 7 lbs off before Christmas. And I think I'll get myself some new perfume for getting to that goal. :) Best time to get it too - the shops are full of the stuff!
I was watching a TV psychology programme yesterday about Body Language, talking about the euphoria of winning. And how it is closely linked to the well-being feelings we get after amazing sex. Well - winning this week has certainly made me feel euphoric, and I want to do it again!
Other great pointers the programme listed about becoming a winner, an achiever, a success - fix small goals and achieve them; research & do the leg-work and practice, practice, practice; act as if, be confident, be positive; see failures as stepping stones/markers to try doing things another way; visualize self in the successful outcome. I like that last one especially. I'm going to be imagining myself in all those situations I want to be in.
What is interesting too to me, is this: I already KNOW all this stuff, in the abstract. But it has just been words, which I've dimly understood the meaning of, but now...now, I DO comprehend exactly. Those words REALLY paint a picture, REALLY shine light on the scene. It is like I've been groping around in the dark with a dim flashlight, and now I've replaced the batteries and I can SEE!
I have control over what happens in my life. What I can make changes in, direct, manage, have responsibility for, I will. What I can't, I'll leave. And most of all, stop worrying about things I cannot change and make me feel unhappy, and focus on the positive, and the stuff that makes me feel happy.
FBP Week 2 Day 1 started off well - I had pink grapefruit and a couple of satsumas for breakfast. And I've had 2 pints of water already. I think today I'll be drinking roobios tea with milk - I've run out of my rosehip tea. Hmm, that could necessitate a trip to Uhuru this week - a great little organics foodshop in Cowley Road. They do a huge range of teas.
It's curried cauliflower soup & lots of fruit on the menu today. It has warmed up a bit now, so I'm off to get ready for the day, wrap up warm and venture out to the supermarket jungle!
I have sloughed off 7 lbs this week - an amazing feat!
Now to focus on getting another 7 lbs off before Christmas. And I think I'll get myself some new perfume for getting to that goal. :) Best time to get it too - the shops are full of the stuff!
I was watching a TV psychology programme yesterday about Body Language, talking about the euphoria of winning. And how it is closely linked to the well-being feelings we get after amazing sex. Well - winning this week has certainly made me feel euphoric, and I want to do it again!
Other great pointers the programme listed about becoming a winner, an achiever, a success - fix small goals and achieve them; research & do the leg-work and practice, practice, practice; act as if, be confident, be positive; see failures as stepping stones/markers to try doing things another way; visualize self in the successful outcome. I like that last one especially. I'm going to be imagining myself in all those situations I want to be in.
What is interesting too to me, is this: I already KNOW all this stuff, in the abstract. But it has just been words, which I've dimly understood the meaning of, but now...now, I DO comprehend exactly. Those words REALLY paint a picture, REALLY shine light on the scene. It is like I've been groping around in the dark with a dim flashlight, and now I've replaced the batteries and I can SEE!
I have control over what happens in my life. What I can make changes in, direct, manage, have responsibility for, I will. What I can't, I'll leave. And most of all, stop worrying about things I cannot change and make me feel unhappy, and focus on the positive, and the stuff that makes me feel happy.
FBP Week 2 Day 1 started off well - I had pink grapefruit and a couple of satsumas for breakfast. And I've had 2 pints of water already. I think today I'll be drinking roobios tea with milk - I've run out of my rosehip tea. Hmm, that could necessitate a trip to Uhuru this week - a great little organics foodshop in Cowley Road. They do a huge range of teas.
It's curried cauliflower soup & lots of fruit on the menu today. It has warmed up a bit now, so I'm off to get ready for the day, wrap up warm and venture out to the supermarket jungle!
Friday, 3 December 2010
Day 101 FBP week 1 review
Well, I've done it. Stuck, more or less to a eating plan for a whole week, all by myself. I'm giving myself a great big pat on the back and a massive hug for getting through this week so well. Yes - there was a little creativity going on, and interpretations when I couldn't get the exact thing specified. On the whole though, the cumulative efforts of the week has resulted in a decent weight-loss, which I will post tomorrow. I'm hoping to be exactly one stone less now than I was at the first weigh in I had three months ago. That, Santa, will be an awesome early Xmas prezzie!
Speaking of creativity - tonight's dinner called for mushrooms to be braised in stock and added to a rice salad I'd made earlier. No fungi anywhere, so I got creative and subbed a cupful of quorn mince. Which at 92 calories per 100g (and a cup is about 50g) was a pretty good substitute. Quorn is mycoprotein, so technically that is fungi... So I had a delicious kind of soupy mince thing, almost but not quite a risotto - full of garlic & lemon, chopped carrots, green beans & white rice. No, I haven't quite inured myself to the joys of wholegrain rice...although I do like wild rice, and camargue rice which is kind of red. Hmm.
I've drunk lots of fruit & veg juice today. I quite like it, and think I'll be drinking lots more of that in the future. I particularly like how carrots make a huge amount of juice. Have a feeling my produce bill is going to be even bigger than normal! Calories come to approx 900. I'm uncertain of how to calculate the juices so am guessing at half their normal calories of whole fruit/veg. Even if I'm off by 100%, it won't make a huge difference.
One good side-effect of doing this week - I'm feeling far more confident in myself, and in my ability to do other stuff. So there's a few things I'm going to get going on now before the end of the year, and hopefully the results will be just as awesome as this week has been :)
Tomorrow am back on the day 1 of the FBP or rather the day 8 - which is a fruit day. Handy as I've a few things rattling around in that fruitbowl that require demolishing. Think I'll make another curried soup - that was my fave one of the week. That and the courgette & tomato one. heh - better go get in an extra pint of water - yay, drunk all my 4 pints already! and hop off for a nice sleep. Energetic day ahead.
Speaking of creativity - tonight's dinner called for mushrooms to be braised in stock and added to a rice salad I'd made earlier. No fungi anywhere, so I got creative and subbed a cupful of quorn mince. Which at 92 calories per 100g (and a cup is about 50g) was a pretty good substitute. Quorn is mycoprotein, so technically that is fungi... So I had a delicious kind of soupy mince thing, almost but not quite a risotto - full of garlic & lemon, chopped carrots, green beans & white rice. No, I haven't quite inured myself to the joys of wholegrain rice...although I do like wild rice, and camargue rice which is kind of red. Hmm.
I've drunk lots of fruit & veg juice today. I quite like it, and think I'll be drinking lots more of that in the future. I particularly like how carrots make a huge amount of juice. Have a feeling my produce bill is going to be even bigger than normal! Calories come to approx 900. I'm uncertain of how to calculate the juices so am guessing at half their normal calories of whole fruit/veg. Even if I'm off by 100%, it won't make a huge difference.
One good side-effect of doing this week - I'm feeling far more confident in myself, and in my ability to do other stuff. So there's a few things I'm going to get going on now before the end of the year, and hopefully the results will be just as awesome as this week has been :)
Tomorrow am back on the day 1 of the FBP or rather the day 8 - which is a fruit day. Handy as I've a few things rattling around in that fruitbowl that require demolishing. Think I'll make another curried soup - that was my fave one of the week. That and the courgette & tomato one. heh - better go get in an extra pint of water - yay, drunk all my 4 pints already! and hop off for a nice sleep. Energetic day ahead.
Day 101 Juicer struggles, a great weigh-in and 1 year ago
Today is the last day of the first week of the FBP - juicer day. I get to consume as much fruit & veg from the plan's 'negative' calorie list I can process into juice. So perhaps today is kind of like an Innocent Smoothies day. Got a lot of bananas left over from day 4, which might be nice squooshed up with freshly juiced oranges. Of which I have exactly none, so a trip to the supermarket might be on the horizon.
The downside about today's breakfast - carrot & apple juice, was dismantling the dratted juicer! It is a whole fruit one, and is enormous. I haven't used it in 3 years & forgot where I put the manual, and was faced with how to take out the centrifugal mesh bit in the middle...getting that sorted, researched, and fiddled around until success took the better part of an hour and MUCH frustration. But...like all endeavors, it finally came to a conclusion, and in this case, a good one. I now know how to operate, dismantle, clean and reassemble the gargantuan machine that is taking up valuable counter space in my tiny kitchen! The juice it makes is yummy too.
Another success: the unreliable scales told me this morning that I was 299 lbs! Yay! Swoops of rah-rahs going on in my head! Less than 300 lbs!
That result makes me so happy I didn't give in to my impulses yesterday - to eat non FBP foods. I had some prawns I'd planned on having for dinner, but no veggies that actually went with it (in my hide-bound tasty meals ideas) so I nearly succumbed to having pasta. But as I was in the kitchen opening the cupboard I asked myself: "do you REALLY want to sabotage this week by doing that? You're getting to eat carbs tomorrow anyway, and so far, following the plan has gotten the lbs off." And I realised that actually it was worth it to stick to the plan. Spaghetti can wait. I come first! Or rather my health comes first over my tastebuds!
I'm listing my foodstuffs for yesterday, a protein & veg day, because of some good food combos which I might want to repeat when I'm not on the FBP:
chicken breast, pan-fried with sliced mushrooms in 17g butter (butter was off plan), rosehip tea
borscht
chopped romaine lettuce with dijon mustard dressing (1 tsp each balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard) and two hard-boiled eggs
more borscht - this time liquidized and with 1 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche stirred in
platter of julienned carrots, cauliflower florets and chopped romaine lettuce with a tablespoon of dijon mustard to dip (this was particularly satisfying to eat, but next time I might mix the mustard with something else - like honey & balsamic vinegar)
chicken oxo drink
140g prawns cooked with a tin of tomatoes, 1 tsp olive oil, and a ground up fresh chilli, half tsp seasalt, half a tsp bottled lemongrass paste, a tsp of tom yum paste and a couple of cloves of garlic. That was kind of a cross between a soup and a stew, and tasted really good. Next time I'll makes sure I have some coriander to mix in, and maybe some watercress or spinach. Cat was VERY happy - she got her share too - unadulterated by sauce...
Total calories: 1046
I also drank all 4 pints of water for the day. :)
And this morning, a great result!
For the photo-sharing - this is me from 1 year ago. I'm at the Birmingham Art Gallery, and the picture I'm standing next to is one of those illusive things, like Escher drawings, that make you wonder exactly what you are looking at...
The downside about today's breakfast - carrot & apple juice, was dismantling the dratted juicer! It is a whole fruit one, and is enormous. I haven't used it in 3 years & forgot where I put the manual, and was faced with how to take out the centrifugal mesh bit in the middle...getting that sorted, researched, and fiddled around until success took the better part of an hour and MUCH frustration. But...like all endeavors, it finally came to a conclusion, and in this case, a good one. I now know how to operate, dismantle, clean and reassemble the gargantuan machine that is taking up valuable counter space in my tiny kitchen! The juice it makes is yummy too.
Another success: the unreliable scales told me this morning that I was 299 lbs! Yay! Swoops of rah-rahs going on in my head! Less than 300 lbs!
That result makes me so happy I didn't give in to my impulses yesterday - to eat non FBP foods. I had some prawns I'd planned on having for dinner, but no veggies that actually went with it (in my hide-bound tasty meals ideas) so I nearly succumbed to having pasta. But as I was in the kitchen opening the cupboard I asked myself: "do you REALLY want to sabotage this week by doing that? You're getting to eat carbs tomorrow anyway, and so far, following the plan has gotten the lbs off." And I realised that actually it was worth it to stick to the plan. Spaghetti can wait. I come first! Or rather my health comes first over my tastebuds!
I'm listing my foodstuffs for yesterday, a protein & veg day, because of some good food combos which I might want to repeat when I'm not on the FBP:
chicken breast, pan-fried with sliced mushrooms in 17g butter (butter was off plan), rosehip tea
borscht
chopped romaine lettuce with dijon mustard dressing (1 tsp each balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard) and two hard-boiled eggs
more borscht - this time liquidized and with 1 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche stirred in
platter of julienned carrots, cauliflower florets and chopped romaine lettuce with a tablespoon of dijon mustard to dip (this was particularly satisfying to eat, but next time I might mix the mustard with something else - like honey & balsamic vinegar)
chicken oxo drink
140g prawns cooked with a tin of tomatoes, 1 tsp olive oil, and a ground up fresh chilli, half tsp seasalt, half a tsp bottled lemongrass paste, a tsp of tom yum paste and a couple of cloves of garlic. That was kind of a cross between a soup and a stew, and tasted really good. Next time I'll makes sure I have some coriander to mix in, and maybe some watercress or spinach. Cat was VERY happy - she got her share too - unadulterated by sauce...
Total calories: 1046
I also drank all 4 pints of water for the day. :)
And this morning, a great result!
For the photo-sharing - this is me from 1 year ago. I'm at the Birmingham Art Gallery, and the picture I'm standing next to is one of those illusive things, like Escher drawings, that make you wonder exactly what you are looking at...
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| AT THE BIRMINGHAM ART GALLERY NOV 2009 |
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Day 100!! A centenary of blogging days!
Wow! I am so amazed and chuffed with myself! heh - and it feels so good to say this, as far as doing the blogging goes, I'm doing really well. :)
I am so not used to praising myself, that negative voice inside of me that tells me "I am not good enough", "I'll never live up to expectations", "why try you'll only fail" etc etc has been a constant in my life for a loooong time. But...over the last couple of years I have worked hard at replacing that inner voice with one that says:
"Yes!, You can do this!"
"You're a wonderful person!"
"I'm fabulous, and anyone who has me in their life is very lucky!"
"Try it! You never know, you might succeed!"
"Look at all the stuff you've done! You rock!"
hehe. :D
I wish there was a way to incorporate big smileys on here.
Another good thing this morning: the unreliable scales said I am exactly 300 lbs today! Ooooh! And my BMI is now under 50...yay!
Was just reading Alexia's blog Dimple Snatcher (Hi Alexia, your blog makes me smile!) & I'm going to join in the photo posting for the next 29 days.
This is my current facebook photo. And funnily enough it was taken a year ago too! :)
This picture was taken on a barge that had been turned into a restaurant/cafe in Birmingham, UK. Birmingham has lots of canals - it was (and still is) a big industrially important centre. I was there with my friend, G to see a wonderful amazing guitar duo from Mexico (via Eire) - Rodrigo y Gabriela, the day before at the Birmingham O2. That was a really great midweek trip for the both of us, she even persuaded me to have a go on a fairground carousel at the German Christmas market - me, who thinks I'm too enormous & too heavy for stuff like that... G is a fabulous person & I'm so glad she's one of my friends.
A reminder of the list:
I am so not used to praising myself, that negative voice inside of me that tells me "I am not good enough", "I'll never live up to expectations", "why try you'll only fail" etc etc has been a constant in my life for a loooong time. But...over the last couple of years I have worked hard at replacing that inner voice with one that says:
"Yes!, You can do this!"
"You're a wonderful person!"
"I'm fabulous, and anyone who has me in their life is very lucky!"
"Try it! You never know, you might succeed!"
"Look at all the stuff you've done! You rock!"
hehe. :D
I wish there was a way to incorporate big smileys on here.
Another good thing this morning: the unreliable scales said I am exactly 300 lbs today! Ooooh! And my BMI is now under 50...yay!
Was just reading Alexia's blog Dimple Snatcher (Hi Alexia, your blog makes me smile!) & I'm going to join in the photo posting for the next 29 days.
This is my current facebook photo. And funnily enough it was taken a year ago too! :)
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| MY CURRENT FACEBOOK PHOTO |
A reminder of the list:
day 1. your facebook profile photo
day 2. a photo of yourself a year ago
day 3. a photo that makes you happy
day 4. a photo of the last place you went on holiday
day 5. a photo of you
day 6. a photo that makes you laugh
day 7. a photo of someone you love
day 8. a photo of your favourite band/musician
day 9. a photo of your family
day 10. a photo of you as a baby
day 11. a photo of your favourite film(s)
day 12. a photo of you
day 13. a photo of your best friend(s)
day 14. a photo of one of your favourite family members
day 15. a photo of you and someone you love
day 16. a photo of you at the last party you went to
day 17. a photo of one of your classes
day 18. a photo of you on a school trip
day 29. a photo of something you enjoy doing
day 20. a photo of you standing up
day 21. a photo of your town
day 22. a photo of your friend as a baby
day 23. a photo of you that your hair looks nice in
day 24. a photo of a night you loved
day 25. a photo of your favorite weekend
day 26. a photo of last summer
day 27. a photo of what you ate today
day 28. a photo of someone you find attractive
day 29. a photo of you when you were happy
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Day 99 FBP day 5 & Snow, snow, but not much here
The good thing about doing the FBP is that I am really getting to know what foods my body seems to like lots of, and what makes it feel odd/sluggish/upset. So far it has done really happily on veggie days, mixed fruit & veg days, not so good on all fruit days, positively disliked banana & milk/yoghurt day, and although the tastebuds said yeahhh! to steak & tomatoes day, right now I'm feeling like my gut is backed up to my throat from all that meat!
Quite possibly, the water consumption factor affects it all. Less water days, more sluggish. More water days, chirpier! Will find out for sure next week, when I do the plan all over again. :)
My lovely sister called - she is snowed in up North! Had to shovel off a foot of snow from the top of her car this morning and a couple of hours to dig it out of the driveway...but to no avail, roads still blocked in Yorkshire. And it is snowing again...I love living in the UK, but it never ceases to amaze me how unprepared we always seem to be to our variable weather! You'd think because we get all sorts we ought to be au fait with it all, but every, single, time, we get caught with our pants down... I've had a smattering of snow here, so tomorrow, after doing some urgent work stuff, I'm toddling out to the park to make some snow prints, and get some fresh air. Fabulous as it is to be warm and cosy, it is also great to be out and although chilled, getting warm exercising!
Food calories today were 1370. Tomorrow is a meat & vegetables day, more like normal eating. I'm having chicken & prawns instead of steak :) And Friday will be eating carbs - 3 oz of rice is specified, along with lots of veggies and lots of freshly squeezed fruit & veg juice. Might get that juicer out of the cobwebbed corner it has been living in for the last 2 years!
Quite possibly, the water consumption factor affects it all. Less water days, more sluggish. More water days, chirpier! Will find out for sure next week, when I do the plan all over again. :)
My lovely sister called - she is snowed in up North! Had to shovel off a foot of snow from the top of her car this morning and a couple of hours to dig it out of the driveway...but to no avail, roads still blocked in Yorkshire. And it is snowing again...I love living in the UK, but it never ceases to amaze me how unprepared we always seem to be to our variable weather! You'd think because we get all sorts we ought to be au fait with it all, but every, single, time, we get caught with our pants down... I've had a smattering of snow here, so tomorrow, after doing some urgent work stuff, I'm toddling out to the park to make some snow prints, and get some fresh air. Fabulous as it is to be warm and cosy, it is also great to be out and although chilled, getting warm exercising!
Food calories today were 1370. Tomorrow is a meat & vegetables day, more like normal eating. I'm having chicken & prawns instead of steak :) And Friday will be eating carbs - 3 oz of rice is specified, along with lots of veggies and lots of freshly squeezed fruit & veg juice. Might get that juicer out of the cobwebbed corner it has been living in for the last 2 years!
Day 99 Ruby Ruby...
I've been cooking this afternoon, making soup. Mostly to get myself back into a nice serene calm frame of mind. As I suspected, the project has gone backwards a few steps, and I am submitting more visuals at the end of this week...and...we're aiming to wrap it up in 2 weeks. Yikes!
Good thing then that today is a steak & tomatoes day. My brain is going to need all that protein to work efficiently! Hmm, or is it glucose that it needs?
A habit victory today - had to get some change for the parking, and nipped into my local shop. I hovered over the confectionery counter, thinking - mmm, chocolate... then remembered the FBP! So instead of a biscuit covered in milk chocolate I got polo mints (I loathe chewing gum). Yes, it has sugar in it. And I have eaten 3 and left the rest of the roll in my bag. Score! :)
I'm making borscht - or a variation of it anyway, according to FBP principles. Hmm, just had a worried thought about beetroot, but it is okay, it IS a negative calorie food. So I am going to have ruby red soup this evening! Ohh, that snatch of an 80s song is running through my head now: "Ruby, Ruby, when will you be mine..."
It's by Donald Fagen, and gosh I remember that record sleeve too. Long gone now...
Oh yes, weighed self this morning and am 301 lbs. Darn. So close to being less than 300 lbs...
Good thing then that today is a steak & tomatoes day. My brain is going to need all that protein to work efficiently! Hmm, or is it glucose that it needs?
A habit victory today - had to get some change for the parking, and nipped into my local shop. I hovered over the confectionery counter, thinking - mmm, chocolate... then remembered the FBP! So instead of a biscuit covered in milk chocolate I got polo mints (I loathe chewing gum). Yes, it has sugar in it. And I have eaten 3 and left the rest of the roll in my bag. Score! :)
I'm making borscht - or a variation of it anyway, according to FBP principles. Hmm, just had a worried thought about beetroot, but it is okay, it IS a negative calorie food. So I am going to have ruby red soup this evening! Ohh, that snatch of an 80s song is running through my head now: "Ruby, Ruby, when will you be mine..."
It's by Donald Fagen, and gosh I remember that record sleeve too. Long gone now...
Oh yes, weighed self this morning and am 301 lbs. Darn. So close to being less than 300 lbs...
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