Day 365!- My weight loss after 1 year. It's been 1 year today!! Can't believe it!!

My God, where has the time gone. I started this blog, and my new eating regime exactly 1 year ago. I seriously can't believe it's gone so quickly.

For those of you who have been following me, firstly, I'd like to say a huge thank you for your interest and support. I think that by the end of this evening I will have 12000 views. It doesn't take much to work out that equates to approximately 1000 views per month, so again, a very big thank you to you all. Secondly, I must offer my apologies to those of you who were following my weigh loss journey. I have gone off the radar a little since the end of last year. I can give loads of excuses, but it all boils down to one thing..... I'm just really finding it hard to dedicate the time and energy into the whole blogging, recipe posting, eating thing at the moment. There are some contributory factors though. If this time last year you had told me that we would have moved house and closed our restaurant and started a new venture, I would have laughed at you. The change in our life has been huge. We now get even less time to ourselves than before and so on the odd occasion I get time to sit down and type, there are times that I just can't be bothered. That may seem like a limp excuse, even bordering on lazy, but it's the truth. The one thing I have always been on this journey is truthful and I will continue to do so.

On to positive things and the future...

I have had my yearly weigh in. Although not at my old stomping ground, 'The Beauty Box', as it is very difficult to get over there now since we moved location. We have only moved about a mile up the road, but the whole logistical thing has changed and it's not easy to commit to it every week. So, I purchased some scales and got my fat arse on them! If you are expecting a huge loss, then I am about to disappoint you. When I began my weight loss regime, I weighed  rather embarrassingly heavy 20 stone and 6 pounds. At this mornings weigh in I weighed 17 stone 6 pounds. So a total loss of 3 stone in the last year. It's nowhere near where I wanted to be at this point, but I can't be too disheartened. This year has flown by so quickly that if at this point in a years time I had lost another 3 stone, I would have reached my goal. I am pleased that although I haven't lost any weigh really since September, for the first time ever, I haven't put all my weight back on. I'm so pleased that it kind of proves my theory that 'diets' only work while you are on them. If I had been on a diet and not followed it properly since September, I guarantee you that I would be an awful lot heavier than I am now. Because I am sticking to my eating habits in principal, (I haven't been 100% rigid), I have not put any weight on. Due to my complete lack of exercise for the last 3 months, neither have I lost any!

Now that the pool is up to 19/20C, I really have no excuse not to start swimming again. It's still a little cold, but very doable! We have also managed to sell some of the catering equipment that we had stored up in the gym area of the garden, so tomorrow I will be sorting out my multigym for action. The padded cycling shorts will make a timely reappearance, and the cross trainer is primed!

I am sincerely going to make a conscious effort to restart my whole program again as I believe that the fact that I am not following the regime has something to do with the fact that my blogs have dropped off and my food pics have become less and less. I need to immerse myself back into the swing of it. I think one leads to the other and so on etc...

I also aim to get my book firmly underway again. I have been conjuring up some new recipes and my hunger to get it finished is back......

Enough of that. On to everyday life.

Work is chugging along nicely. Bit by bit we are building our little empire at Saffy's and seeing more and more old faces along the way. We still haven't found the magic formula just yet, but we're working on it. The food seems to be going down well and I'm starting to get used to life without my oven!

We have a new addition to the family. His mane is 'Rolo'! He's chocolate brown and was the last one in the litter, so that explains the name! After the loss of our gorgeous dog, Maisie, 3 weeks ago, we didn't think we were going to have another dog for a while. Then this little fella came along.......

Okay, that's it for now. I am genuinely gonna try and get back into the habit of blogging every day or two and getting my fat arse back on the exercise trail. Watch this space.

Nite all. Take care. Sleep well and thanks for reading

Jimbo xx

 

Days 323-338

Has it really been two weeks since I last blogged? Shame on me. Time just seems to fly by these days. Things happen and I think to myself, ' I must blog about that tonight', then I forget, get home late, and fall into the trap of the television and on line poker. I keep telling myself that I need to blog daily again and post new recipes and ideas etc, but although a circumstance and not an excuse, we are working so many hours now that sometimes it's hard to find the motivation. In fact, I've been putting this off for most of the evening now!

Tomorrow is a new beginning again for me. I am going to make a conscious effort to lose some more weight again, do more exercise and get back some discipline in my life. No, not bondage or anything like that!, just a more disciplined day with regards to consciously thinking about what I'm doing, eating, exercise etc. The pool temperature is creeping up towards 20C, so I'm gagging to get back in for my daily swim. We've also managed to sell some of our old catering stuff that was stopping the gym from being used, so I can start on that as well. It's just finding the time really.

Food wise its been going ok at work, although this week it didn't pick up until Saturday. Boy did it pick up though. Had a crazy day! It didn't stop from about 11 in the morning until 9.30 that evening. Sunday was not the busiest for Sunday lunch, but was busy in general, so not too bad a day. It's a shame because last Sunday was really busy. It also is a bit mind blowing that one week it's full on, and the next it's the complete opposite. It's also very difficult to know how much meat and veg etc to order for Sunday. When you have loads of bookings, its easy. When you have few bookings, it's pure guess work! We're still finding our feet at Saffy's and slowly but surely some of our old customers are returning, so still a work in progress, but one that I'm sure will go from strength to strength. Due to popular demand, I have been doing pate as one of the Sunday starters. It started with just a plain  chicken liver pate, then became a chicken liver and cranberry pate in week 2 and this week I came up with a bacon, wild mushroom, cream and chicken liver pate. You know I was just never going to serve up the same pate every week! Not sure what to do this week, so if you have any pate suggestions, feel free to let me know! I'll even mention you in my next blog!

A bit of sad news recently. Our gorgeous Labrador, Maisie, had to be put to sleep last week after we found out she had a huge tumour on her liver which had given her hepatitis and peritonitis. She was nearly 13. It's really weird now coming home and not seeing her waiting at the gate with her tail wagging :0(
Still, on a lighter note, at least I wont tread in any shit when I come home from work in the dark!Miss you Maisie, sleep well xx

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Thanks for reading, and I'll be back soon!

Jimbo

Days 325-332 Another week flies by!

Here I am again!

It's been a pretty busy week this week. Work has seemed to pick up another 30% and apart from Thursday, every day ticked over nicely. After a little chat with staff and a couple of customers last week, we decided that as our 'poncy' starters were not going down too well on Sundays, we would tone them down a little. I asked what people thought we should be doing, and the overwhelming response was pate! So, after much soul searching, I decided to give it a whirl! This weeks starters were a minestrone soup and chicken liver pate. If you know me at all though, you'll know that it wasn't just a chicken liver pate done the conventional way! I remember that the last time I made it, although it was 'nice', it lacked that certain something. I wasn't too sure what, but I knew it needed another dimention. So, I decided on Cranberry sauce! I knew it needed a sweetness, but I didn't want it coming from sugar. Got to say it worked a treat! Had some very good feedback from the customers as well. Think it might have to go in the book! I still think I can get more flavour in there, so I will have a think. I must remember though that at the end of the day it is a chicken liver pate, so I have to stay as close to its roots a s possible. Yeah, right!

A decent week then financially, but alas, Laura has to go to the dentist tomorrow and our dog Maisie has an appointment with the vet, so looks like most of it will be gone! Joking aside, I think she may not be coming back from the vets... :(  She is nearly 13, which for a labrador is pretty old. She suffers with arthritis and is very weak. We will see what the vet has to say.

Can't get my head in the right place for weight loss at the moment. I'm not putting any weight on,I'm just not doing enough to lose any......... At the end of the month I have my yearly weigh in, so I really need to pull my finger out.

I have an idea for my din dins tonight...... I have brought home a couple of cooked lamb shanks from work and although I am in the mood for lamb, I'm not in the mood for a roast, so I'm going to strip the meat from the bone, shove it in a pitta with a little rocket, yoghurt and harissa and eat it as a kebab! Happy days!

I'm off now, but I hope to be back soon. Thanks for reading

Jimbo xx