Well, here I am. Enrolled on my Access course. The proud possessor of a student badge again :)
It feels GREAT!
I finish at the bakery job today, and school starts tomorrow...woo hoo. So exciting.
Amazing to think, this time last year all I had was the idea. Now it is emerging, concrete in reality.
My next step is to consolidate, build, progress and realise that dream and that career that I will find fulfilling, fun, interesting and challenging in a good way.
Right now, can't sleep. Am so excited!
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Hello there 200s! And a yummilicious summer soup
This morning the bathroom scales said 21 stone and 5 lbs.
That is 299 lbs. Woot!
So...hooray for me! Am now finally in the lovely 200s! Yay!
This last month has been a bit up and down. So this result today is a good one.
Ahh, and I am eating the most delicious soup, of my own invention.
Recently I've been sprouting brown lentils, in order to add them to salads.
But, a little handful of little brown discs soon fills the whole jar.
What to do with all of them?
As a reward for my volunteering, the charity I work for gives us free vegetables & fruit.
This week I had a load of fresh peas. Awesome little things, peas.
So, a yummilicious summer soup is born.
Ingredients
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
50g unsalted butter (it's important to use butter for the best taste)
2 small cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
4 large carrots, peeled and chunked
2 cups well sprouted brown lentils (so that the little first green leaves are visible)
500g bag of fresh peas in their pods (this will yield around a cup and a bit - well worth it)
sea salt to taste ( I use a little less than a level teaspoon)
freshly ground black pepper
dried fines herbs - I use Tesco's which contains parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon
juice of one small fresh lemon
enough hot water to cover vegetables
Method
In a nice deep pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add chopped onions and sauté gently for about 5 minutes until translucent. Longer is good. What we want is a slight sweetness. Add salt and pepper.
Add chopped carrots & sauté gently for another five minutes. Add dried fines herbs, about 2 teaspoons. Add sprouted lentils, sauté a minute or two, then add hot water to cover. Add chopped garlic. Doing this means the garlic is a sultry soft note in the soup and not a harsh one.
Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer on a low heat for about 20 minutes while getting on with podding the peas while listening to the radio! After 20 mins test the carrots and lentils to see if they are soft. Cook another few minutes if not.
Add peas, and more hot water to cover if necessary, bring to boil, then simmer for 5 mins. Take off heat.
Squeeze lemon for the juice, add to soup. Now blend in batches. Add a little hot water to swill out the lovely green residue from the blender...
To serve: swirl in a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche/sour cream/double cream. Add more salt/lemon juice if necessary to taste. Enjoy!
That is 299 lbs. Woot!
So...hooray for me! Am now finally in the lovely 200s! Yay!
This last month has been a bit up and down. So this result today is a good one.
Ahh, and I am eating the most delicious soup, of my own invention.
Recently I've been sprouting brown lentils, in order to add them to salads.
But, a little handful of little brown discs soon fills the whole jar.
What to do with all of them?
As a reward for my volunteering, the charity I work for gives us free vegetables & fruit.
This week I had a load of fresh peas. Awesome little things, peas.
So, a yummilicious summer soup is born.
A relaxed Sunday evening supper
Summer pea & lentil sprout soupIngredients
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
50g unsalted butter (it's important to use butter for the best taste)
2 small cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
4 large carrots, peeled and chunked
2 cups well sprouted brown lentils (so that the little first green leaves are visible)
500g bag of fresh peas in their pods (this will yield around a cup and a bit - well worth it)
sea salt to taste ( I use a little less than a level teaspoon)
freshly ground black pepper
dried fines herbs - I use Tesco's which contains parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon
juice of one small fresh lemon
enough hot water to cover vegetables
Method
In a nice deep pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add chopped onions and sauté gently for about 5 minutes until translucent. Longer is good. What we want is a slight sweetness. Add salt and pepper.
Add chopped carrots & sauté gently for another five minutes. Add dried fines herbs, about 2 teaspoons. Add sprouted lentils, sauté a minute or two, then add hot water to cover. Add chopped garlic. Doing this means the garlic is a sultry soft note in the soup and not a harsh one.
Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer on a low heat for about 20 minutes while getting on with podding the peas while listening to the radio! After 20 mins test the carrots and lentils to see if they are soft. Cook another few minutes if not.
Add peas, and more hot water to cover if necessary, bring to boil, then simmer for 5 mins. Take off heat.
Squeeze lemon for the juice, add to soup. Now blend in batches. Add a little hot water to swill out the lovely green residue from the blender...
To serve: swirl in a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche/sour cream/double cream. Add more salt/lemon juice if necessary to taste. Enjoy!
Friday, 3 July 2015
BP update
148/84
doc is pleased with my progress. Diabetes being managed by diet, have lost weight, lower BP...
Has been a good six months healthwise.
doc is pleased with my progress. Diabetes being managed by diet, have lost weight, lower BP...
Has been a good six months healthwise.
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Getting into Bodyweight Mode
Your real home is not your apartment or your house or your city or even your country, but your body. It is the only thing you, your soul and your mind, will always live inside of so long as you walk the earth. It is the single most important physical thing in this world you can take care of.
Mark Lauren (from You Are Your Own Gym)
I feel this is probably going to be the most important book I read this year.
Like last year's tome of inspiration, Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.
Putting the two together will give me my blueprint for a fitter, healthier and happier (because my body is fit) life.
Here's to June, the advent of breaking through the 300lb barrier (am now 2 or 3 lbs away), getting back on my bike and plunging back into the pool!
Mark Lauren (from You Are Your Own Gym)
I feel this is probably going to be the most important book I read this year.
Like last year's tome of inspiration, Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.
Putting the two together will give me my blueprint for a fitter, healthier and happier (because my body is fit) life.
Here's to June, the advent of breaking through the 300lb barrier (am now 2 or 3 lbs away), getting back on my bike and plunging back into the pool!
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Spectacular May
Its official: I have lost two stone since the beginning of the year. Awesome!
I'm now just 5 lbs away from breaking through that 300lb barrier into the two hundreds. Yay!
On holiday this week. Giving my feet a well deserved rest from toting my heavy body around.
Brave things. I've developed plantar fasciitis which is rather painful, but will hopefully go away the less I weigh, and the better care I take of my feet.
Standing and moving around all day can't be helped, it is part of the work I do for 4 and a half days a week. It is good to be occupied. And one of those days is volunteering which I do enjoy.
The swimming has taken a back seat for now. I'll be getting back into that once I am back to foot fitness or something approaching that. Or...if I manage to get back on the bike :) That is what I have promised myself - that once I weigh less than 300lbs, I'll get the bike sorted out and start cycling around again.
On other fronts, things are moving! Got a place at college this Sept, just have to sort out the funding. Been on a half day shadowing an OT, that was illuminating. And let me see that this was a job I could definitely see myself doing. So my fears have been assuaged for now. The only things that aren't going so well, but are chuntering along slowly is my dating life, and getting the house shipshape. It will happen, I'll just have to strategize and will it into being :)
I'm now just 5 lbs away from breaking through that 300lb barrier into the two hundreds. Yay!
On holiday this week. Giving my feet a well deserved rest from toting my heavy body around.
Brave things. I've developed plantar fasciitis which is rather painful, but will hopefully go away the less I weigh, and the better care I take of my feet.
Standing and moving around all day can't be helped, it is part of the work I do for 4 and a half days a week. It is good to be occupied. And one of those days is volunteering which I do enjoy.
The swimming has taken a back seat for now. I'll be getting back into that once I am back to foot fitness or something approaching that. Or...if I manage to get back on the bike :) That is what I have promised myself - that once I weigh less than 300lbs, I'll get the bike sorted out and start cycling around again.
On other fronts, things are moving! Got a place at college this Sept, just have to sort out the funding. Been on a half day shadowing an OT, that was illuminating. And let me see that this was a job I could definitely see myself doing. So my fears have been assuaged for now. The only things that aren't going so well, but are chuntering along slowly is my dating life, and getting the house shipshape. It will happen, I'll just have to strategize and will it into being :)
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Go ahead March
Well, March has proven to be pretty dynamic so far.
I'll be starting as a volunteer, for one day a week. So now I will be doing useful things instead of moping about at home... :)
I've just landed a part-time job, working with food. A good active kind of job, where I will be using my body the whole time instead of being stuck in front of a screen. Plus meeting a whole new cross section of people. :)
And the bathroom scales inform me, I am now 22 stone 13 lbs.... :D
Absolutely excellent news. Have lost 5 lbs this one week.
Have started swimming again. And it is a nice long walk from the bus stop to the pool, so that factors in asa well.
So all in all, everything is looking up.
Lots of training days this month, and then April will be all systems go.
Still have to sort out the house, but given all the go-ahead vibes pouring over me, I have a feeling all my quotes will be coming in soon. :)
Yes. Feeling very good.
Doc is pleased with me. My blood pressure is down. Still high, but the trend is down.
164/91 from 168/109.
My blood sugar readings are mostly around the 6.1 to 7.4 mark. But that is because I have been eating carbs lately. Best to get back onto the low carb/high fat routine and that will settle. All that exercise will help too.
Roll on summer!
I'll be starting as a volunteer, for one day a week. So now I will be doing useful things instead of moping about at home... :)
I've just landed a part-time job, working with food. A good active kind of job, where I will be using my body the whole time instead of being stuck in front of a screen. Plus meeting a whole new cross section of people. :)
And the bathroom scales inform me, I am now 22 stone 13 lbs.... :D
Absolutely excellent news. Have lost 5 lbs this one week.
Have started swimming again. And it is a nice long walk from the bus stop to the pool, so that factors in asa well.
So all in all, everything is looking up.
Lots of training days this month, and then April will be all systems go.
Still have to sort out the house, but given all the go-ahead vibes pouring over me, I have a feeling all my quotes will be coming in soon. :)
Yes. Feeling very good.
Doc is pleased with me. My blood pressure is down. Still high, but the trend is down.
164/91 from 168/109.
My blood sugar readings are mostly around the 6.1 to 7.4 mark. But that is because I have been eating carbs lately. Best to get back onto the low carb/high fat routine and that will settle. All that exercise will help too.
Roll on summer!
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Face to face
Found a photo of me from 14 March 2007 in almost the same pose as one taken recently on 24 Jan 2015. Nearly 8 years difference, but amazingly, my face is almost the same now. So am happy, something is going well :)
Have not lost any more lbs since 19 Jan, but am feeling fitter. Did whole load of walking around last week, and managed it mostly without having to stop and get my breath too often. Awesome! And this weekend I have managed to heave big heavy sacks of builders sand into a skip - wow. Means my muscles are coming back too. No more limp lettuce limbs, yay!
Have not lost any more lbs since 19 Jan, but am feeling fitter. Did whole load of walking around last week, and managed it mostly without having to stop and get my breath too often. Awesome! And this weekend I have managed to heave big heavy sacks of builders sand into a skip - wow. Means my muscles are coming back too. No more limp lettuce limbs, yay!
 |
| 24 Jan 2015 |
 |
| 14 Mar 2007 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)