HELLO Skinny Jeans

Tuesday’s are weigh day for us at Team Hazeldine and it truly does put things in perspective. As much as I thought I really don’t care what people think or how much the scary scales say it does add some pressure and anxiety to the week I was not expecting.

Not that I needed to be worried, last week was quite a revelation. I was a bit worried, not least because I had brought my Mum and Mrs H along to the group (there was a special offer to bring a new member and get a week free, not that I’m tight or anything!). Having told everyone I know how much fun I’m having I did worry I would look a bit silly if I had not achieved any loss. Fortunately I did! A whopping 6lbs no less, to put this in perspective that is 6 of these disgusting yellow blobs <<<<<<<<<

After a somewhat disastrous Thursday last week I’ve been a perfect angel type fatty trying to catch up with myself and I should end the week under my naughty girl allowance which fingers crossed will result in a miracle on the scales.

My disaster was no fault of the plan really more of my own domestic issues. Something is happening inside my bedroom wall. Don’t get excited it’s really not fun. At various times during the night in sounds like a demented woodpecker is relentlessly pecking at the wall. It’s obviously not a woodpecker but that’s what it sounds like, its not pipes or electric or squirrels in the attic, its all a bit of a mystery. But regardless it wakes me up at silly hours and on Thursday morning Mr Woodpecker had his mates around and I just could not sleep! This resulted in me turning the alarm off rather than snoozing, which in turn made me late for work with no time for breakfast or to make lunch. These combination of events, through no fault of my own led to a pork pie creeping its sneaky way on to my desk. I only had half, my lucky dog got the rest when I got home. But it still cost me heavily!

Aside from that, I made some lovely delights to enjoy this week. Breakfast and lunch (when I get out of bed on time) I have down to a fine art now. I’m single handedly keeping Curlywurly in business I’m sure.

Monday was Thyme Lamb Steaks with Swede and Carrot mash and Green Beans

See I’m a total angel like perfect fatty

It was pretty good even if I do say so myself, I picked the lamb steaks up after work and griddled them with some Fry Light spray herbs and a small mountain of garlic. Pretty quick and easy to prepare and so worth it. Plus the lamb steaks are lovely Spring Lamb from just up the road in Furness Vale, there aren’t a lot left but you can get your hands on some here

Typically I’m a jeggings kind of girl. I’m working on reinventing my style for the winter season. Mostly because generally no matter how much I weigh, with the amount of layers I need to put on I end up looking like a giant roly poly person who’s body is about to eat her head. I’m sure you can agree this is not a good look. I have made progress however, the woolly jumper I put on this week actually looks like a jumper a normal person would wear and not a wobbly bouncy castle with extra rolls and saddle bags popping out where they shouldn’t. For some time I have been having a silent war against Jeans. Particularly Skinny Jeans. Convinced they are torture contraptions from a different dimension, I give them evils whenever they cross my path. The ones I own are conveniently hidden at the bottom of the drawer to avoid daily exposure. This week however, the washing may have been put on hold. It is not reasonable that I should have an up to date washing cycle as well as creating such fabby meals and plenty of extra long dog walks. So, the pants front was running a bit low, in sheer desperation I reached for what I actually thought were grey jegginngs, but turned out to be jeans half way down the stairs trying to pull them up. But pull up they did! Maybe its the dressing on the way down the stairs (not recommended), or maybe its the yummy food but I can wear jeans. And not just as a temporary thing to nip out in but for an entire day! Nothing short of a miracle I assure you!

Wednesday I made this marvel which was utterly awesome. Light puff pastry means it is not impossible to enjoy such things! I’ve never made a pie before so it was somewhat of a personal triumph. I even went as far as to put a lovely letter K on the top just to claim it as my own. Once again, I don’t want to brag, but it was simply delightful

I used diced beef from the shop, its available in our Beef Wrap which is on offer this week if you want to try some. Put it all in the slow cooker (Wednesday was a day I was up bright and early!) with carrots, green beans, onions, (not mushrooms, I’m not a fan, but you could if you were) some beef stock and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

When I got in from work, took my wonderful dog on a delightful walk, I’ve hit at least 10,000 steps everyday this week which I know thanks to the Fitbit Flex my brilliant brother got for my birthday. I got back in, transferred everything from the slow cooker pot into a Pie Dish and put over a light puff pastry sheet glazed with some egg popped it in the oven. Felt like good proper home cuisine, made by an increasingly natural domestic goddess!

One of my favourite things (it’s mandatory for people working in the Butchers Shop) is BACON SARNIES!!

I mean just look at that

Go on, take a second to appreciate just how good that is.

I’m allowed 3 slices of this very clever crustless bread, you don’t get the end crusts either so I use the whole loaf. It seems I’ve inadvertently put the garden birds on a diet also as they normally clear up the leftover crusts for me. Each layer has some grilled onions and tomatoes with the fat cut off the bacon and the egg fried in Fry Light it is an epic free meal. It also means that at no point do I feel deprived! And I don’t get funny looks from the Butchers drinking them revolting green shake things super health conscious people do.

I have eaten a Curlywurly whilst writing this. I have 4 and a half hours left to be good before I hop on the scales – wish me luck!

If you wanna get slim but don't like the gym

The start of my Slimming Journey!

This is a bit more of a personal post and my relationship with food rather than special offers just to warn you!

Yesterday was not so bad, you can have unlimited amounts of “free” food on the plan so I can legitimately eat as much fruit, vegetables, potatoes, rice, pasta AND lean meat as I like. It’s fairly certain that this is a diet I am not going to starve on! And lean meat?! I have a lot of that at my disposal so I thought I would share what I’ve been doing with it!Ok, so I have admitted it to myself and my lovely new group, I may have over indulged in some of the Hazeldines loveliness, it really is hard not to! But alas the time has come where my jeans are too tight and my bra is digging in to the point that I detest the damn thing. Therefore I have taken the decision, along with a whole load of other beautiful people to join the infamous Slimming World. I’ve never done anything like it before and yesterday was my first full day “on the plan”, look at me down with the lingo 😉

Breakfast was Scrambled Eggs for me, Hazeldines eggs are all the way from gorgeous Disley free range and scrumptious. I had 3 eggs (they are free too!) with some peppers and some spring onions some lovely herbs and seasoning

Lunch for me is all always a bit of a downfall, the pies (ohhhh the pies) and the sausage rolls (mmmmm) are all baked downstairs underneath my office, so gradually throughout the morning culminating at around lunchtime my office is full of these incredibly freshly baked smells. It is amazing, and the food so delicious but it really isn’t a sustainable plan for every single lunch, once a week for a treat will do nicely 🙂

For lunch, I opted for a sandwich, yessss sandwiches!! I’m allowed bread (it makes me want to do a happy dance) 2 slices of wholemeal loaf (the smaller one admittedly but who cares, I LOVE BREAD) with some home cooked turkey (so good!) lots of healthy and speedy salad, lettuce, onions, more peppers and some sweetcorn. There was butter so I have used up a tiny bit of my naughty allowance for the day but totally worth it. It was an epic sandwich to be perfectly honest.

After work I went downstairs to say goodbye to the boys and peruse my evening meal choices, its staggering how many options I suddenly have when normally I am uninspired and end up waiting for my Chinese takeaway to arrive. Gammon, Bacon, Lamb, Pork Steaks, Chicken, Steak…and I ended up with Mince.

Aside from my not checking the values of Vimto (3.5 oh dear me) and the butter on the sandwich (1.5) I also did not realise that the innocent looking Drifter is a whopping 11.5 (dear dear me) so it wasn’t the best day oops. However it was only the first and now I am a bit more prepared with Curlywurly’s and no added sugar cordial I’m feeling good!I bloody love Mince, it’s just ace. You can do all sorts with it and I just think that’s awesome! After some umming and ahhing about which chosen miracle mince dish I would make I settled on Cottage Pie and I can tell you it was EPIC. I made plenty so I have a spare portion free. I got very giddy with the veg, I’m a bit of a geek so after I came home with a shedload of health stuff feeling very smug I prepared it all and everything has its own colour coded tupperware box in the fridge. It makes cooking very easy, just grab a tub and add a bit so I’m not constantly chopping all the time. I had carrots, peas, courgettes, onion all thrown in with some stock (also free), I like the freeness, makes me feel like I’m saving loads of money or running around the top of some picturesque hill burning that evil bra. Anyway the point is, Hazeldines mince is less than 5% fat and you can buy it here if you’re not a beef lover (I am, I can’t wait for steak night) then don’t worry you can also get your lamb mince here too.