Slimming World

Once christmas is over the bread will be off the menu completely. I just decided I wasnt going to be so strict till after christmas. I lost ten lb in two weeks just leaving out bread! So I know i can do it again. I dont know whether ai have put any back on but dont want to just yet.  Yes you are right about not skipping a meal, thats why i used to end up eating too much chocolate. I did look at the scarsdale. I love fruit and veg so k think I could do that. I love fish and chicken too.

i have literally only just had my tea (02.15)! I just have not been hungry since that butty! Thats what bread does to me, it bloats me and I know its not good but when we go to aldi if we havent eaten we usually buy a ham and cheese butty from there and ai have got quite a liking for them! Tut I know!! I am rather pleased with myself right now as I have just done all my wrapping! I had about 80 things to wrap so I am exhausted and my back is breaking (I have RA) but I am so pleaseed it is done and sid all the foid shopping for christmas day earlier too and got loads of sorting, tidying and cleaning done with a lot of help from my mum and dad! Feeling a lot more positive now. Didnt think ai was going to get anywhere near ready yesterday and my car just died too but I got someone out today and it was just the battery. He came to the door with a card machine so I said 'oh great that will help loads' (I am skint! Lol) and went off to get my card. When I came back my mum was counting out the cash for him! Things have been very difficult since I have been off sick for last 15 months. So it has been a very uplifting day today and I am now happily exhausted and hope to be away within a few minutes of light out. Up early as. Have to take a wee sample to docs. I have ecoli water infection that i just cannot get rid of and ai am really hoping I will not be in hospital before christmas day. It will be very soon after though as I have to have IV treatment over about 5-7 daystel:291313168392

I have no idea where that last bit came from! X

 

Wow it sounds just perfect where you live! I would love that so much! I live  in little neston just outside wirral which is lovely too and out in countryside. My partner does go to the local shop for chocolate now and again and keeps sneaking it in the basket at Aldi, these almond toblerone type bars. I am not that bothered about chocolate though at the moment, although I have bought some lovely bendicks type mints for christmas after dinner. I DO love them immensely! Lol i would love to be where you are, you are very lucky as ai am sure you realise. I have never even been to Spain! I love cyprus though but worry about where it is, so may not be visiting there for some time! I have always said I would lve to visit the nice parts of spain, couldnt stand the benidorm  type places! Hate that scene! I like peaceful places, lots of trees, quiet, slow life, laid back. Not rowdy drunks everywhere! Thats why I love Paphos, and troodos mountains, so beautiful. I would love somewhere with orange and lemon trees! I just love fresh lemons and the smell is wonderful. Oh it sounds so wonderful, in your rustic farm house!  My peace used to come from getting out to my narrowboat, but i have nit been able to do that for quite a while now and its out of the water as I cant afford the few small repairs that are needed for safety cert and to put back in water. 'My dream is to get away on the canal for months at a time but the kids are still too young to manage without me, so that may be in 3 to 5 years. I had to take a lady out this evening to bingo. She has mental health problema and lives quite a way away and has recently had to move into a home and as I am the only person who will take her out (for free as she has to pay carers) I feel like I have to. The drive cripples ne and the petrol is a lot whuch I really cant afford right now and then ther is the bingo to oay for for myself and partnr, so its a dear do and physically exhausting. We didnt get home till 11.20 and she never even thanks me. Of course she does have a mental health condition but she knows how much I am suffering right now with my hip. The driving really hurts my hip and I have just had to take some liquid morphine. Hope I can sleep well as I still need to finish a few things in the house ready for father christmas. Kids dont seem bothered but I like everything to be perfect on christmas day and the house extra shiny! I do hate the materialistic side of it all as thats not me at all. I jeep telling people not to buy for me but nobody takes any notice! I dont need anything, just hapoy with simple things in life.oh its not IVF its IV antibiotics lol. Blimey I cant cope with the children I have! Lol and the dog is driving me insane, oh for a peaceful life! You have definitely got it right! Enjoy! X

Hi again sandy, how was your Christmas? We just got back from my sisters today, she also lives in Spain but at the coast so totally opposite to ours, not like benidorm but much livelier and loads of Brits. We prefer the country where we are but line to go for the change now and then.  Glad you did not need ivf lol !!!!

well what do you know, a friend of mi e lives in neston, is there more than one neston on the Wirral? I know she always says just neston, not little or lower or any such. We lived near warrington before we came out here so not a million miles away, small world. My arthritis is osteo and is getting a bit worse with age but I think the dry mountain air here is good for me. I expect I will need hip roa cement in the future  as my dad did and I get hip pain now , but you have to be getting old before they show any interest so at the moment I'm being fobbed off with pain killers like codeine. I try to manage with as few as possible as I don't want to become a serial user. I'm 58 so hopefully have a bit to go before they consider me old enough!!  You sound younger as you have kids so it's a shame you are already suffering such pain. To you have any pain avoidance techniques?

well five days to new year so it's back on diet for a few strict days before our New Years eve dinner. I go alcohol free jan fen and arch each year and it usually loses me about two stone with little change to diet so I am hoping with both, i mightlisr a bit more.  I'm not tempted with alcohol during the winter as sociL events. Are few and far between, unlike dimmer here when there are weekly fiestas and barbecues etc.  no oranges and lemons growing here unfortunately  as  we are up on the mountain plains , it's too high but my sister has those and we are al ones and olives so we can always do our swaps.  Food quality here is wonderful, bathe markets are full of cheap and fresh fruit and vegetables  , they tend to be seasonal but you can buy other stuff that's  imported to fill in the gaps. Much stuff is organic and production methods very rustic and traditional. If you have never been to spain, you must give I land spain a chance it's so beautiful and unspoiled by progress like the coAst. We love it and plan to live out our lives here, if the time ever comes that we need care, there are plenty of neighbours  without employment so we can rent our own carers locally. It's part of their culture to give good care to the elderly so I would feel in good hands. Are your kids old enough to be of help to you when you are feeling at your worst?

well I hope you are getting ready to get back on your post christmas diet, we will have to encourage each other once the new year is underway and all the goodies have  gone!   

Ha yes I do want to get back on it! I have eaten a few chocs but not many really. I have been very full on the main meals, full english on christmas day, but ended up in bed for three hours afterwards! I felt so guilty but I couldnt stay awake. The RA really hit me, the stress of the last few days and I got hardly any sleep the two nights before. I did have christmas pudding and that bloated me and finished me off! I think. I shoukd have avoided bread too in the mirning. I did only have a little but it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable. I am 47 and my son is 20, my daughter 18. Yesterday they went to theur dads so. I didnt have to cook and today my son cooked a full english breakfast again for us all and he did a lovely curry for tea too! So I have been able to get away with it again! Good thing though as. I am really not feeling very well and have been in bed most of the day. I am so full but not on any treats, just main meals. I had a few celebrations chocs today and that is all, everything else was very healthy. I have had very little alcohol but did have a black russian last night, just one! Lol

yes. Little Neston is in Neston! Small world! We are close to the marsh and also to the Wirral Way so lovely walks nearby. Thurstaston is lovely too and Royden Park,  heswall dales, really lovely and very close to North Wales too.

it does sound wonderful where you are! I will definitely have to explore some parts of Spain, skillfully avoiding the 'brit' takeover parts that sound like blackpool in the sun. Some of the documentaries about how young brits are when they get over there put us all to shame! Its dreadful

That went too early - blinkin ipad! Lol

i do take more pain medication than I would like to! I have to take quite a few co-codamol and tramadol to get through the day and oramorph now and again. I also have to take lansoprasole, cetirizine, calceous vitamin D, atorvastatin, citalopram and fenofibrate as I had very high cholesterol and triglycerides and  i struggle breathing during the night if I dont take cetirizine. I think the depression comes with the RA. I would so love to be off meds though I hate them so much.

how are you getting on? X

Aww that's some serious stuff you take!  I'm not too bad at the moment and am hoping that a good weight loss will help in the long run, it's got to be better on the joints if I'm not carting so much weight around eh?

i am a bit inactive in the winter as long walks are not so attractive lol, come spring I go on long walks with the dogs and in summer I try and swim in my pool for at least a kilometer every day just to keep the joints going.  From the weather forecast it's going to be freezing here in the next three days in fact we may be breaking ice on the pool tomorrow as its going to be minus four during the day. ' living in the sun'. Haha don't believe it there is snow on the mountains across our valley through most of the winter.  Had anything nice for Christmas?

I just wrote loads and it disappeared! Always happens to me! 

Wow you have a pool! How wonderful, I love being in water! We have just left my partners mums with two boxes of thorntons! And a bottle of rioja and spiced rum! Will save for a while though! Lol my oartner bought me a gorgeous new set of tarot cards and a beautiful pendulum, with some lovely jewellery. My daughter bought me a beautiful bottle with boots royal jelly bath foam in and a lovely candle. My son has apparently ordered tickets for a show but I dont know what! Lol my mum bought a dvd with alistair sim and margaret rutherford and a cd of Mercedes Sosa which has gracias a la vida on it, which I love and her voice is just wonderful so I will listen to that when I get a chance to relax! Did you get anything nice? X

Oh well I have no idea why this is waiting to be moderated there were no links in there! How strange! I basically said how lovely it was to have your own pool and listed a few christmas gifts! Lol took ages to type and it was second attempt 

did you get anything nice? X

I wonder if it was the word tarot?

Obviously not! Lol

Haha who knows, probably get told off for going off the subject lol. Me, I got the usual bath goodies and dare I say it choccies!  Trying to save for when I reach my first goal . Didn't really want anything in particular so had a few jumpers as we are promised a cold winter this year. A couple of nice recipe books,  all things conspiring to get me off my diet! Well I will look out for your original reply tomoro if it's passed the test by then !!,

I love cook books and have far too many! I have just borrowed a jamie oliver one from my partners mum too! I was pleasantly surprised to receive some books today that i ordered from Amazon on Boxing Day evening! Couldnt believe how fast they came! I ordered 5 - all mystery thriller dan brown type books and decided on one to start reading and put it on the side of my bed. As I looked at it I thought "that looks familiar I am sure I have bought it already" then I realised it was the book I had had on my bedside table (covered in post) for ages ready to start but havent read for quite a while now, wanted to get back into it,  only the old one is in hardback! How silly! Lol  So we have decided to both read it at the same time and have our own little book club! Lol. I have just ordered a load more -all second hand though so not expensive and we have an amazon voucher so thats ok. We really have to tighten the purse strings right now x

Yep I love cookbooks too and often use Amazon, even to Spain they are really fast and good value. I had a Spanish tapas book in English for Christmas. There are some mouthwatering recipes which I shall be trying once I have got into my weightloss again.

right now it's good winter food we need here, it's freezing, down to minus 4 again tonight. Did you get snow the othe r day? I saw on TV how bad it is in some places. Well I had a good day diet wise today, another to orrow and then a day off for new year. Back on track with 

no excuses on 1st jan!  I plan to do it once and for all this year! With the help of the Scarsdale diet

Yes we had a lot of snow here boxing day. We could have built a snowman it was lovely! Sadie, our 5 month old collie was barking at it, didnt know what what it was, it was funny! But she loved it when it covered the garden and I started to throwsnowballs for her! Lol did you seethe other message that was moderated? I cant see any reason it would not go straight away. Do you know Mercedes Sosa? Or the song? 

Well I will be starting very strictly on 2nd Jan with porridge or fruit for breakfast, home made soup, or salads for lunch with no bread and then our normal healthy meals, but less rice/pasta. I lost ten pounds so quickly last time it seemed so easy. I can quite happily snack on carrot sticks or celery or slices of peppers, I love them! So really when I get in the right mindset it should be easy! Lol yeah right! X

You make it sound so easy!  You have the problem of having to buy stuff for the rest of the family, putting temptation in your way! At least my husband doesn't want sweet things or crisps and snacks so I can just not buy them which is a big help. Someone bought me a tin of quality street for Christmas so I have been forcing them onto everyone who comes near the house, I'm determined they should be gone by New Years day.  

Im looking forward to snow here, we don't get  a lot but usually one day at least. The year before we moved over they had a meter one night and were snowed in for a couple of days before the tractors got together and cleared a way out. I keep hoping there will be a repeat but so far only a few inches. Living out in the sticks we always have plenty of supplies in so we could survive easily for a few days, would be a bit of fun!

my sister arrives tomorrow with her husband and two of their friends, we are all going out together new ears eve. I'm driving to avoid temptation. Not much fun driving a car load of drunks home though.

well if I don't have time to check in in the next couple of days....happy new year!!, onward and upward as they say and will catch you very soon.

Oh it won't be easy but I know that once I get my mind onto the job I can do it! My daughter and partner both want to do it too and my son will have the same main meals as us anyway and they are very healthy, so I just won't buy any chocs, biscuits, bread etc. He will have what he likes during the day but tends not to snack so thats ok and if he wants anything different he is old enough to sort himself out. My shopping list will be lots of fruit and low fat yoghurts, eggs, cottage cheese and salad then for main meals I tend to use a lot of the same things, so lots of onions, celery, carrots, tinned tomatoes, chicken, fish, lean mince with rice and herbs and spices. I always feel so much better when eating healthy! I hate that sluggish feeling when I eat bread or chocolate so I won't miss it at all. We all love fruit too, and a good variety of it and I have some gorgeous dips recipes for crudites that are very healthy so will do a few of them, kids love them too. All this chocolate around us is actually making me feel ill right now and very little has been opened! The christmas cake is still intact! I also found that having meals of just protein then nothing for four hours works wonders, so a bacon and cheese omelette is fine as long as there is sufficient time for the fat burning process to work (Atkins), then a really healthy salad later on or the other way around, with just water inbetween. I do have to be ready for it to start though but when I really out my mind to it, I find it so easy to do! We'll see! Lol

happy new year to you too! X

That was quick!!!, there you go again talking about food and I'm just about to go to bed! Luckily I'm not a supper fan. Have a good new year and I will be in touch after the festivities. Xx

Happy new year! Have you made any resolutions? We just waved off my new year visitors yesterday so new year resolutions start today. It is Christmas tomorrow here as the Spanish celebrate the visit of the three kings , not santa but presents bought by the Kings. They eat all sorts of goodies. We have deliberately not added this festival to our own as we know it just extends the period of excesses! We are out today to Sunday lunch  but it's a healthy one with no spuds if I can resist.  We have acquired a new dog, a pointer, it had been dumped outside our house when we got back from Christmas. It was the usual story, skin and bone and I'll treated so it has taken a week to win his trust but he is a beautiful dog. Yesterday he had his check over  and a sho wer . We are gradually introducing him to the others. He was sleeping rough in minus seven degrees but is now all cosy in our barn for now. The poor wee chappie had an icicle hanging from his willy the day we coaxed him in.it never ceases to amaze me as to how cruel the Spanish country folk can be to animals. Not all of t hem however and since we moved here the neighbours seem to have softened, having seen how daft we are with our dogs and cats.

well good luck with your new year regime, let me know how you are doing, perhaps we can support each other's efforts!

Hi Chris, strange i could have sworn i had sent another reply a few days ago! Happy new year and happy christmas! I never knew that about Spain! I would love to be snowed in too! I keep expecting it and I think it will happen soon so I make sure there are always lots of tins of tomatoes, beans, tuna, etc and veg in the freezer although I never use frozen veg as a rule. I imagine snow must look so beautiful where you are, in fact it just sounds heavenly where you are and I see you are also an animal lover. I love animals too and most of mine have been rescued. My last collie, Jess, lost her battle with cancer in August, we had to have her put to sleep, awful. She had been rescued and was a huge part of my life. I was devastated when she went and just wanted her back so much. She was in all of my dreams, running around happy in the sunshine. She came absolutely everywhere with me, before I met my partner, it was just me and her up to my narrowboat all the time to spend the night and have great walks. So when she died, after 3 weeks non stop crying, I did a silly thing and drove to Barnsley to get another smooth haired collie. I really wanted to take another rescue and it was literally spare of the moment thinking, just wanting to hold Jess again. Anyway, she is here now and i love her, but it was not the right thing at the time. I shoukd have takken my time grieving Jess. I have always had cats too, mainly abandoned. I just love cats so much and cant understand how anyone can find them inconvenient or hard work in the alightest. All they are is adorable!! So do you have a lot of pets now, are you known for taking in rescued animals? You are actually living my dream its amazing! I keep saying if I win the lottery the first thing I will do is buy land to house all the poor unwanted pets and have an on site vet

why do people there treat their dogs so terribly? That is so sad, your description of that poor dog, i do hope he survives, minus 7 must have been just so dreadful for him. 

Yes it would be great to support each other with our new plans. I wrote out my plans for the year yesterday and basically I want to get back to work very soon, get healthy and lose weight, (Yes it must have some bearing on arthritic pain) and get my boat back in the water! I do miss it, but actually i now feel like selling up and moving to Spain! Lol it sounds idyllic x

We did not set out to have loads of pets but when you see an animal in distress you just take them in here as space is not a problem. In the house I have two Siamese type x one lovely black cat and an arctic fox colored kitten which is the one I have hand reared since it was three days old. Outside I have six stray cats which come to feed and shelter in our barns. Now I have four dogs.  It's so tranquil indoors you would not know they are here, at the moment the log burner is roaring and they are all conked out, mainly on sofas! The newcomer is sweet with all the cats so they are unfazed and rubbing noses with him. The odd thing with Spanish dogs is that they don't seem to aggravate cats, probably don't feel like expending the energy!   If you want to exchange email addresses I can send you some pics of the area and the animals of course. You never know, you may like it that much. You might want to buy a little property yourself over here! Well Monday tomorrow so back on the pre Christmas regime with a new determination. Will find out how much of that 18 pounds ( my net  pre Christmas loss as of Christmas eve) I managed to keep off over Christmas......not much of it I guess, the drink has been my let down. At least with rapid gain, you tend to get rapid loss when you resume dieting.

lets have a Monday weigh in  and we can rejoice together or otherwise!

I would love to see some photos, It sounds so lovely there I would not take much tempting! I am not sure whether I can put my email address here so I will send it in a private message.

i had lost ten pounds a couple of weeks before christmas but 7 has gone back on! :-( never mind I know I can get my mind back on it! I have about three stones to lose altogether. The first will probably be easy, the next a bit more difficult, but getting that last one off is always the toughest! I just had an urge for some chocolate somthe thorntons is open and I had just a few, will be glad when it is all gone. I will be very strict when I out my mind to it! X