Day 37 - The start of a new week

Felt a bit disappointed this morning after my weak moment with the pizza last night and wasnt in the mood for breakfast. I wasnt denying or punishing myself , I just wasnt in the mood to eat........ So here's a piccy of my breakfast....





Lol!


On to lunch... Well actually it didnt happen, unless you count the bowl of olives we received at the sea front bar this afternnon with my small beer! Sorry to the 'you must eat sensibly on a diet brigade', but I wasnt hungery, so I didnt eat.......

Dinner was a Thai broth, with chicken and prawns left over from the restaurant. I wouldnt call it authentic as I used french beans etc, but by jove it tasted good! (I've always wanted to use the phrase 'by jove' and now I can die peacefully! Calorie wise the whole soup would have been about 1200 and there well over half of it left...........


This is why I think this is working. Its not a diet, I'm not following any rules, (apart from my own habit changes) and I'm eating when I'm hungry. So far, so good.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I'm hoping to hit 2000 views ..............

See ya!

Day 36- Another full service for Sunday lunch (and no picking!)

Kept the Sunday lunch pretty traditional today, the only thing I 'pimped up' was the stuffing! Rather than filling the pork loin with apricot, sage & rosemary, I decided just to make a stuffing incorporating those ingredients. It seemed to go down very well and I got some good feedback. Also saw a few new faces, so that was good to see. I also managed not to dive in and pick at all the offerings!

Breakfast was just 2 scrambled egg on 1 dry toast and an OJ. 380 calories. No picture, sorry was prepping Sunday lunch and didnt have time!

Lunch was nothing short of pathetic ( 2 crisp bread things with home made hummusy stuff made with sundried tomato), 150 calories. I was pleased with the hummus as I wasnt too sure if the sundried tomato addition would work, but it gave it a nice.......... something! Sorry, again no picture as phone battery had died by this point and I was too hungry to wait.

I know it is not advisable to swim after eating, but it was hardly a meal, so I 'launched' myself into the pool and had a bit of a swim for half an hour (occasionally interrupted by Harrison shouting 'get the ball daddy!)

Dinner was a strange affair! I had gone to get Laura and Harrison a Pizza (I had abstained like a good boy) and when I got home I decided to create something with the 4 left over sausages I had not used the oher night. That was until I opened the fridge door and found they werent there! I asked if anyone knew of their whereabouts and was horrified to find out that they had been 'binned'! Gutted! Harrison was unable to finish his pizza, so I had his 2 remaining slices for my din dins. Naughty, but better than ordering my own one! A little extra swim tomorrow should knock off a few calories methinks.

Will try and add some pictures tomorrow to make things a little more interesting and possibly spend some time thinking of some interesting low calorie things to eat.

sleep well all and I will return tomorrow...................

Dat 34 & 35- I forgot to blog last night!!!!! We've had this weeks weigh in!

I don't remember much about yesterday to be honest! I know that I had 2 swims because I knew that the weigh in was imminent, but apart from that and a very busy dinner service, not much happened really. Not that I can remember anyway! Now I know why I blog everday! I know I was a good boy in the food department as I was very concious of the weigh in, but I honestly don't remember what I ate!................. (five minutes have just passed). I have just checked yesterdays Facebook page and I have been enlightened as to yesterdays breakfast. Bacon and egg muffin Jimbo style at just 220 calories! Excuse the poncey splodges of ketchup, I only did them to make it look a little more cheffy!


I genuinely dont remember what I had for dinner! Oh well, on to today...................................................

Big day for me today. It was weigh in number 5 and Chelsea were playing in the final of the FA Cup. I have to say, I was very pleased with the outcome of both results!

I weighed in today at 18 stone 12 pounds, that is a loss of four pounds this week, making a total weight loss in 5 weeks of 1 stone 8 pounds. Chelsea won the FA Cup as well, so all in all it was a good day results wise for me.

For breakfast I just toasted a little stale baguette and dipped it in a dry fried egg, nothing exciting, but it served its purpose. 200 calories. Lunch was a couple of crispbread thingys with low fat, no taste cheese, and a little branston pickle. 200 calories...

I managed to make myself, (my sous chef Gemma was on strike tonight), a quick dinner at work using up some food that needed to be eaten. It consisted of spaghetti, prawns, tomatoes, rocket leaves and chicken stock. wasn't bad either.......... Approx 700 calories. Approx total calories today...1100


Didnt manage to swim today, but will be back in the pool tomorrow after I get home from Sunday lunch. Will speak to you all then as its 2am and I'm up at 8........

Sleep well x

Day 33 continued! Ooops forgot the tapas pictures!!!!!!

Roasted courgette, spring onion, red pepper and Serrano Ham......




Prawns, garlic & rocket in a little olive oil and lemon juice........

Good night!

Day 33- Experimented with tapas today as work was slow.....

Day 33 and I thought I'd start the day more hungry than I was after the exertions of my midnight swim! I'm usually famished after a swim, but this morning I felt no hungrier than normal. (Is hungrier a word?) I think more hungry sounds better.................. So I had a coffee when I got to work and waited until about 11 am to have brekkie. Another uninspiring affair of a dry fried egg and a bit of seeded, wholemeal baguette. 250 calories. I was intending to have muesli, but forgot the milk! This also stopped me from having the smoothie I was thinking about as well!

Guess what,...... lunch didnt happen again. Wasn't hungry, so didnt eat. Simples!

On to dinner..... Spaghetti Marinara cooked for me by Gemma, my friend and new kitchen helper twice a week!


If we could have shifted the couple sitting in front of the window where my fresh herbs were, Gemma would have used some fresh oregano, but we didnt have the cojones to ask them to move!!
Calorie wise approx 400 for the pasta and 100 for the sauce and scraps of Parmesan! Goodness, I forgot the 1/2 breast of chicken I chucked in so stick another 100 cals on!

Well under 1000 calories today and I swam for 20 mins earlier as well.......... So far, so good

Until next time, take care & sleep well. I will try and be a little more interesting tomorrow!

Day 32- Started with a splash!

Day 32 and I was determined to get my fat arse in the pool this morning. My theory was that if I was changing my eating habits so that they became the norm, it was time I changed my lazy habits so that the new regime became the norm as well. So last night I set my alarm for 7.45 am and guess what........................................................................................................................................................ I actually got up!

So there I am at 8am this morning, freezing my knackers off on the side of the pool wondering what the heck I am doing! The outside temperature was about 18 degrees and the pool was a tropical 20! I tentatively slid in and then with an almighty gasp, I lowered my vast frame into the water. Once in I decided the best option was just to swim like a lunatic in the hope of warmimg up a little. Boy oh boy did I burn some calories in 20 mins! I will be trying to up it to about 30 mins tomorrow morning (providing that is it doesnt take me 10 mins to pluck up the courage to actually get in!) That reminds me,.....must set my alarm!

I must say that it certainly woke me up and I felt refreshed as I drove to work. I think 'refreshed' is just another word for 'frozen'.

On to breakfast, which in fact was lunch as it was eaten at about 12.30. A simple affair of dry fried egg, tomato, mushrooms and a little seeded, wholemeal baguette..........


It seemed to do the trick as I wasnt really hungry again until after the rest of the household had PIZZA for their dinner!
I had some leftovers from last nights meal and some chicken sausages, but I didnt just want to cook sausages. So I came up with the idea of taking the sausage meat out of its skin and adding some curry powder, cumin and cayenne pepper, a little salt and pepper and lemon juice. I then fried it until crispy (or burned if you look closely at the photos!) and added it to a tortilla wrap topped with home made coriander hummus, some tomato, cucumber and onion and a tiny bit of feta. I have to say that it has been the tastiest meal I have eaten yet on the juorney! Pretty darn scrumptious if I do say so myself. here are some photos of before and after!
   

   

Calorie wise, each wrap was 120 and I had 3, so 360 there. 200 calories of chicken and the rest was less than 100, so all in all approximately 650. Added to breakfast, approx 400, today's total calorie intake was approximately 1050. Easy peasy! Bring on tomorrow

Nite peeps. I hope you all sleep well. Until tomorrow........

Day 31- The first Day of May

What an absolutely beautiful day! The sun shone for the whole day and I didnt have to go to work!

I made myself some boiled eggs for breakfast....


and then spent a couple of hours at the beach!

Decided whilst at the beach that I would do a BBQ for dinner. I got some chicken and veggies on the way home, (oh and burgers for the people in my household NOT DIETING) and lit the barbie as soon as we got back as we hadnt had lunch.

Whilst waiting for the flames to settle, I marinaded the chicken in some lemon juice and oregano and prepped the veg....

When the flames had settled and the embers were grey, (sounds like the start of a childrens night time story!), I whacked the chicken and veg on the grill. While they were cooking I rustled up a Greek salad consisting of tomato, cucumber, mint, oregano, lemon juice, Feta cheese, onion and spinach. I wouldnt usually use spinach, but I had it, so used it. Although not a classic ingredient it worked ok. I am a big believer in the fact the recipes are a guideline and NOT SET IN STONE. Put in what YOU want and what YOU like to eat, not things that perhaps you're not oo keen on just because the recipe calls for it. Here are the finished dishes.....

Sorry about the pictures being all over the place, but I'm struggling to upload them the proper way because my internet signal is not great............. So that was din dins!

Ooooooh, I just wanted to upload 1 more piccy for you all, it was the starter I made on Sunday for lunch at the restaurant and forgot to puit it on then.... Here it is......

Sometimes as 'chefs' we look for ideas from other chefs / sources, but this is entirely my own creation and I'm very proud of it!

I'm off to bed soon as I aim to get up early and go for a swim! Who knows, I might actually do it!

Nite peeps, old and new, sleep well and sweet dreams....