20lbs down...before and during pics

So this week for BLBE I had a 2lb loss, which takes me officially into ONEderland!

I was cutting it close, at 199.8!!

So, to celebrate 20lbs down, I'm going to try before and after pics. I'm having trouble getting them to resize the same so there's a good comparison, but here goes.

Before:


20lbs down (apologies my shirt rode up while I wasn't looking!):


I do see a difference, but it's weird...I don't feel like there's THAT much of a difference...I think I'm going to definitely have to do more than the 55lbs I was aiming for....I can't imagine 35lbs more will get me to the shape I want now.

Ok, off to the gym!

-CJ

baked courgette sticks...

So...I have been inspired.

Rebecca writes one of my favourite blogs to read, and it was through her recent recipe post that I discovered baked zucchini sticks.

If you haven't discovered Gina's weight watchers recipes blog, or these in particular, then it's a must. Her recipes all look soooo amazing and I spent a good hour or so looking through them last night.

Tonight, I am embarking on my own attempt at baked zucchini sticks. Delicious! My only regret is that I made these about 5 points, and I only had 2.5 points for the day left, so I've only been able to eat half! The other half is sitting on top of the oven still and calling my name just a little!





And this was Sunday's breakfast just for fun:


2 x quorn sausages (2 points)
2 x ww bread (1.5 points)
grilled tomatoes (0 points)
2 x poached eggs (3 points)
butter spread (1 points) for a total of 7.5 points

C25K success

So...I have fallen a little off the wagon food-wise, but my C25K 25 minute run without stopping was brilliant. I actually ran for 40 minutes without stopping...40 minutes!

40 minutes!!

I almost still can't believe that! The 25 minutes came and went and I wasn't dying so I kept going, and going and going, and probably would have gone to 45 minutes if the gym hadn't closed. I can't believe how quickly that's come around since the thought of running 5 minutes straight scared me just a few weeks ago!

Tomorrow is another weigh-in day, and I don't know if I can count on a loss after last week's staying the same, but I'm going to do the fast start starting tomorrow so definitely by the following Monday we'll be seeing some results!

G'night all

xoxo

kinda bummed: WW weigh in

So tonight was my 6th weight watchers weigh in and I stayed the exact same weight.

I should be happy that I didn't gain, but I tracked this week and went to the gym EVERY day, so it's a bit disappointing to not lose anything. Plus I really wanted to hit that stone mark.

My goal vacation is in 12 weeks, and I'm still 40lbs away from my goal weight, which means it's not at all feasible, and yeah I'm kinda bummed.

To make matters worse, after our weigh in, my friend and I went out for Indian food, which is pretty much the worst thing you can eat.

I tried to rectify some tiny, minute part of the day and walked on the treadmill for 3k before the gym closed at 10pm.

But yeah, I'm still bummed.

I may have sunk to a new low!

Breakfast this morning was the poached eggs and toast that I'd been craving since Friday. Good to finally get them done, and they were as good as I'd hoped.



This is only the second time I've poached eggs - I'm a natural! They were perfectly gooey.



Lunch was roasted butternut squash and feta salad. I roasted the squash last night and fell in love. This was my first time ever purchasing the squash and unfortunately half of it was devoured throughout the roasting process or shortly thereafter. The salad could have done with a few more chunks! It also could have done with some darker leaves. I'm not a fan of iceburg lettuce, but my spinach was not looking so good today so lettuce it was. I also didn't know what a good dressing would be for the mix of squash and cheese...what does everyone else use? I tried the sweet chilli again and it was good, but that may just be because I love sweet chilli dressing rather than it being a natural partner!




Finally, my all new low...the feta comes in a block that totals 16 points and is 'best consumed within 3 days'. I know I can't eat 16 points worth of cheese in the next three days - well I could, but that's not the point. After some googling, I learned that feta is freezeable, so I've cut it up into manageable chunks, shrink wrapped it and because I have no good pens about the house, had to create little labels with the points values on it. Yes, I realise how sad this looks!




Now, I'm just trying to motivate myself to get to the gym...clean my apartment and get ready for work tomorrow! Back to the grind unfortunately.

Heaven is chocolate...and brownies...

There's an advert here, for butter mind you, that says something about making Saturday mornings about breakfast...and I totally agree. I meant to get eggs last night as I was really thinking poached eggs on toast would be a wonderful breakfast, but I forgot so all I had in the house was my porridge.

I like my porridge normally, with some fruit it's perfectly satisfactory but this morning I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted a brownie pot - and once I'd gotten that idea into my head it wasn't going anywhere!

So instead, I made 2.5 points worth of porridge, mixed it with a brownie pot and got this delicious 5 point chocolate, brownie porridge - heavenly!



Lunch was the second seeded hake fillet, with mashed potato and grilled vegetables - I inhaled it before it was photographed, guess that chocolate porridge didn't tide me over as well as my usual fruit version!

I did almost 5k on the treadmill today. No running, as I thought I needed a rest day after yesterday's 20 minutes. I wanted to do a full 5k but the gym closed at 7:30 and I'd already stayed until 7:32 so I had to stop at 43 minutes and 37 seconds. They wouldn't even let me make it a round 45 minutes!

Then dinner was tuna, coriander and lime fishcake with a salad of lettuce, sweetcorn and tomatoes with a sweet chilli dressing. I had high hopes for the fishcake but instead of the tuna steak chunks I was imagining it was just grey in the middle and by the taste of it, it could have just been a potato cake. Oh well...next time I'll stick to my hake.



I'm going to try and watch the Bourne Identity as I've never watched any of those movies, but 37 minutes in I'm already losing track...I'm useless!

I really don't want tomorrow to be Sunday because that means Monday is right around the corner...I've REALLY enjoyed having this week off from work...I don't want to go back! I want to stay at home, doing my own thing, making it to the gym and having time to cook and photograph fun, healthy meals. Work sucks!

g'night all

xoxo

Fish, chips and peas and 5 miles

Today was C25K, week 5 day 3 - the dreaded 20 minute run.

I seriously procrastinated this one until 7:30pm. I think I was hoping the gym shuts early on a Friday night, but deep down I know it doesn't. I finally dragged my ass to the treadmill and about half way through my warm-up I decided maybe I'd do the two 8-minute runs again instead.

But I didn't! I survived the 20 minute run, and not only did I survive that 20 minutes, I stayed on the treadmill for a full hour and ten minutes total. Granted, I did not run much of the second half hour, just a few minutes here and there when the song got me going, but I really wanted to see if I could go 5 miles...and I did!

I truly am so proud of myself for running for the 20 minutes straight. My blisters are SORE, and I've rubbed off the magical 'second skin' treatment that I was using, so tomorrow might have to be a proper rest day, but it was well worth it to accomplish my 20 minute run.

I've never, in my life, run for that long straight...and although this is maybe the third time I've started the C25K programme, this is the furthest I've ever gotten.

And damn it feels good!

I celebrated with a healthy version of fish, chips and peas. Loosely translated as hake in a seeded breadcrumb...there's whole sunflower seeds in there! Oven-baked, no battering and frying here!

That was served with some mashed potato, with carrot and swede and some more of my trusty green vegetable medley. The picture was taken before I poured ketchup all over the beautiful fish!



I'm off to watch one more episode of the wire and then bed...g'night all

xoxo