First things first

You can have your cake and eat it ...
If It Fits Your Macros

Back on track this week, counting and weighing...and lost 1lb!!
 So back on track have to admit I very nervously stepped onto the scales this morning after Luke's (my fitness coach) 30th birthday party, great curries and a fabulous cake!! So all the weighing and counting this week paid off, although wondering if I've just discovered Prosecco (had several glasses) as a new dietary aid!
  

Reached a plateau

This always happens to me, I get to a certain place with my weight loss and  seem to stick at the same weight.
I'm 1lb of losing a stone and for the last two weeks there's been no change...It's at this point I usually throw the towel in and binge on chocolate, takeaways, cake etc.



But not this time, I've just been given a wonderful motivation for losing weight.My sons David and Luke are sending me to San Francisco for my 60th birthday!!!     Flights paid for and spending money with my other sons contributing.  It's a dream come true and I'm counting the days and hopefully the pounds as they come off.  With five months to go I'd like to lose another stone at least!

So this week I'm determined to break the first stone barrier. Careful counting of carbs . fats and proteins,
and lots of walking... San Francisco here I come!

oops!!

Okay....1lb on, but according to my fitness coach I ignore it....! It can be anything, going out for Sunday lunch, getting my fats and proteins right or water retention due to the New Moon!!!

 So another week of measuring and counting...determined to get there.


 It didn't help that my fitness trainer took me out for a pre-Mother's Day treat.....

Albert's Didsbury Mcr.

I enjoyed every mouthful of  roast beef, yorkshire pud, chocolate volcano pud, oh and a very nice wine

New week so back on track..........!!

Back on track

Good weigh in today, lost another 1lb, sooo back on track.  Just 1lb short of a 1 stone weight loss! Only another 2 or 3 stone to go.

Great photo of Taffie, catching her in motion.
 courtesy of Tim Harrison

Great walk today... Taffie has been restricted to walking on the lead recently since she's been spayed. So today's walk off the lead, was supposed to be a gentle walk.  No chance, as soon as she was off the lead, she was running up and down the banks around the reservoir,scrambling through the bracken and paddling at the waters edge.

Sunday lunch tomorrow at the Dog and Partridge (so I'm making it a REFEED day) 

Table in the bar (our favourite place)
Weather is still chilly enough to enjoy a welcoming fire

  

Highs and lows of dieting!

So far, it's been success all the way , but last Saturday's weigh in was devastating!

  Ok so I knew I'd had a problem all week with going to the loo (enough information!)  But I was stunned to find I'd gained 4lbs!!! 
Quick check on My Fitness Pal  I couldn't see any problems...
Then I wondered if the rice measurements had been ok, I'd had rice 4 times that week, but I hadn't cooked the rice my husband had, so he'd weighed it.  I weighed out the dry rice with the measure he'd been using and discovered that it was well over...instead of 230gms between two of us it was 300gms. So my carb count was well over on at least four occasions. So problem solved but 41bs! 
Then Luke checked up with the food I'd eaten that week. He told me that my fat count had been too low on most days and that would make a massive difference to weight loss.
As the queen of diets, weight watchers, slimming world, GI etc. etc. I'm finding it difficult to equate not cutting down on the fats, handicapping weight loss.

Luke (my personal fitness coach)

Important facts : I have to get the balance between carbs,fats                                   and protein correct.
                               A low fat intake or a low protein intake slows                                 up weight loss.

I think that the key fact of most diets has been removing fat almost completely, so getting my head around the idea that fat is important has been difficult.
Also remembering that the body will only hold onto or store the carbohydrates /sugars. So even if I've gone over on the carbs I still have to eat my daily quota of protein and fat.
And this week 4lbs off so I'm back on track...weight loss to date 121bs so a long way to go...but very close to my first stone!

A diet that WORKS!!! IIFYM

At last a diet that works for me!!! 
Just weighed in and I've now lost 11 1bs in total. Slowly but surely the weight is coming off & I'm feeling great. 

This week I've focussed on making sure my protein intake is spot on (I'm allowed 10 gms over)  So I've upped the amount of chicken I've been eating, also added salmon several times a week. 
I've even managed to squeeze in a mini portion of fish and chips and Lindt chocolate mini eggs. Result 2lbs off this week.  Yaaay!!

Favourite meal is spicy chicken either in a wrap or with sweet potato.

IIFYM -recipe

Spicy Chicken for one

Ingredients:

·       375 gms chicken breast

·       30gms of Nandos hot peri peri, marinade

·       1 tbs of olive oil

·       2 Wraps or 250gms sweet potato (The amount of wraps /sweet potato is dependent on your carb count for that day. IIFYM)

·       40gms Total 0% yoghurt

·       1tbs Hellman’s mayonnaise

·       Mixed green leaf salad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

1.    Cut up the chicken into 1” chunks and put in a shallow dish with the marinade and leave for 15mins.

2.    If using sweet potato wrap in foil and place in a hot oven and bake for 1 hour or until soft.

3.    Mix the yoghurt and the mayonnaise in a bowl to make dressing

4.    Prepare salad

5.    Heat oil in pan and then add the chicken with the marinade and fry until the chicken is cooked.

6.    If using wraps – warm the wrap and then put a portion of green salad on each wrap.

7.    Then divide the chicken between 2 wraps

8.    Finally spoon over the dressing and fold wraps.

9.    Alternatively: Place salad on the plate and put chicken on top.

10. Then spoon over the dressing. Finally add the hot sweet potato to the plate. (Butter can be added If It Fits your fat intake for that day)

 Enjoy!!!

If It Fits Your Macros!!

looking through the trees across Bottom's reservoir

 to the next  reservoir

 Feeling great today.  Just weighed in and lost 2lbs so an 8lb loss since I began...(according to My fitness plan)  https://www.myfitnesspal.com

I've been logging on for 25 days now.  So pretty pleased.  As I've said before, I'm ignoring calories BUT I'm listening to my fitness coach.  So it seems as though the REFEED day worked...bring on the next one!! I love this way of  checking on my food intake (IIFYM) Basically using the My Fitness Pal site to track my daily carbs, protein and fats. Not only am I losing weight, but I'm also taking in what my body needs to remain healthy. One thing I've realised is that I've probably never taken in enough protein...quite a shock...but with IIFYM, I am now!!
 So off to walk around my local walk with Taffie, to give all the protein I've been eating something to work on.

Sun on the reservoir

Two weeks in...

Hadfield station

Not posted recently due to being back at work for the last two weeks. I commute daily from Hadfield in Derbyshire to Manchester. It's a great job teaching EFL at Kaplan College in Manchester. http://www.kaplaninternational.com/schools/uk/english-courses-manchester.aspx  

Great colleagues and of course the students make it...so many different nationalities and so enthusiastic about being in the UK and learning English.   AND huge fun to teach!  It's the best job as far as job satisfaction goes, that I've ever had. I thank God that my days of teaching stroppy teenagers in the state sector, are over. Yes the money in the secondary sector seems good in comparison, but it's not enough to compensate for all the pressure piled on the average teacher. So glad I transferred to the EFL section of education! 

Kaplan students on a trip to the Lake district 2013 some have gone home now, but I still have fond memories of them!!

Weightwise...

So far so good, lost 2lbs last week and 1b this week so just a pound to go to my first half stone...yaay!

Lots of reasons for liking IIFYM....I eat butter, yesterday I had a full fat M&S yogurt really creamy & I haven't eaten full fat anything in years!!

Wish I was this slim!!

Disadvantages: weighing and planning is quite time consuming until you begin to get the hang of it, but now I'm in a routine, so it's ok. Major, Major advantage REEFEED days!! According to my fitness coach, I have to up my carbs today to 250gs.  So I've had extra bread, extra cereal, extra rice and an M&S lemon mousse (count on us) which has 17 carbs! I can certainly count on M&S when I want to up my carbs!

Now I have to admit I'm not sure about REEFEED days, but as this food programme is a whole different way of looking at things, I'm willing to experiment. Still slightly concerned though that IIFYM comes from bodybuilders...errrm

But the best thing about this diet is having my own personal fitness coach - Luke.

I have daily texts and advice.  He checks my daily intake via myfitnesspal.com/account/login (this is a great site for finding out the contents of food and adding up carbs, fats & protein, I ignore the calories, advice from my coach)  But the best yet, he came over last Sunday and cooked a gorgeous chicken curry made with Ghee yes Ghee & double cream!...all calculated for me. Gorgeous... Now how many fitness coaches do that for you!!

He says I seem happier on this diet than all the others I've been on (and I'm an expert, I could go on Mastermind with diets as my specialist subject) 

  ...Well who wouldn't be!!!  :)

Weighing in Day 5

Weighed in this morning and I've lost 3 lbs!  Yaay.
My 'fitness coach' Luke, suggested that I buy some kettlebells...I knew it, as soon as I started taking the protein shake - it would lead to exercise!!

  Apparently the science behind  it is, that as your body loses the fat then
it will try to burn lean muscle so it can hold onto its fat storages.
Apparently, 5 minutes a day will do, to keep muscles I don't naturally use active and strong. 
So I've bought the kettlebells, they're pink and grey, Now I just need to find out what to do with them, meanwhile they match my bedroom decor.

A very quick walk with Taffie today, very busy buying kettlebells.

Day 3...it's going well

View from the steps in the wall by Bottom's reservoir

Weather overcast today, but we missed the 
gales and torrential rain here in Hadfield...so able to go for another walk with Taffie around Bottoms Reservoir.  She runs really fast and 15 minute walks are a thing of the past. It was just twelve months ago that I brought her home from a farm in Staffordshire.  She was so tiny and slept curled in my lap the whole journey.

She's not very big now but she certainly wouldn't fit in my lap these days.

Taffie one year on

IIFYM is going well.  Today my fitness coach (Luke) upped my carbs to 150 grams  and my protein powder came so I was so full at teatime I could hardly eat my meal. Apparently as I lose weight I can up the carbs, which I've never been able to do on a diet plan before, so motivation for losing weight.
Also in a few weeks I have to have refeed days where I have a lot more carbs than a normal day...sounds promising. Loads of advise from Luke which is definitely keeping me going.  

Day 2 - New day New me!

I had a great nights sleep last night. I don't usually have a problem sleeping, but today woke up unbelievably refreshed, so maybe there is something in this IFFM!

Ok so I'm beginning to get my head round Macros...

First things first...
Proteins and carbs have to be balanced so I don't go to bed hungry. So last night I ended up eating low fat cottage cheese and red salmon while watching the New Sherlock Holmes on BBC1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018ttws
It was great, Sherlock Holmes I mean!

Water intake was definitely up if only to stop hunger.

Bottom's reservoir one of my favourite walks

Today I've got my meals all planned out so things should be more normal.

First breakfast Special K with skimmed milk and coffee.  Then a walk around the reservoir with Taffie. Then I'll be ready for lunch.
Errm... this obsession with food seems to be a recurrent theme whenever I begin a new diet. (I've been on a few...F Plan, Weight watchers, GI plan etc.)

Brilliant walk round Bottom's reservoir sunny and mild, though very muddy underfoot due to all the rain recently.
Lots of dog walkers,(due to the weather) everyone wishing each other 
'Happy New Year.'  Taffie was chased by a small yorkshire terrier, apparently he objected to dogs sniffing him. A bit of a problem if you're a dog!! lol

Lunch a  home made chicken wrap, 300g of chicken which is quite a change, I think I normally eat more carbs to protein and I'm finding it difficult to switch, but my protein powder from The Protein Works  http://www.theproteinworks.com/  referral code: SH47037(use this code for a freebie)
comes tomorrow so it should be easier to balance my carbs to proteins. It's great having Luke to text when I'm not sure of things. I'll certainly need his help when the protein powder arrives, I don't want to end up looking like Mrs. Universe.

 Lots of water again today.

All planned for tomorrow...so it's looking good

Weighing in...

Since returning from Saudi I lost about two stone.  The first stone wasn't difficult and I'd lost it by Christmas 2012... the next stone took  longer!!
Joined slimming World www.slimmingworld.com in October and  lost 1 stone 3.5 lbs. by April 2013
But...
have recently put on half a stone...
So time for a rethink.

Today I've begun on a macro diet, well... I'm beginning to collect information about all the regular foods I eat.
The way I understand a macro diet or IIFYM (If it fits your macros) is basically you work out how many carbs, proteins and fats your body needs to function properly and then make your food choices around these. So I can visit Nandos, have a bar of chocolate, butter on my baked potato as long as I fit it in with my daily macro allowance.
My goal...health! And of course to lose weight. 
My son has just successfully lost weight using this plan and he's my coach.  He's already worked out my daily intake:

• 140g carbs 
• 140g protein
• 50g fat
• Drink lots of water

So here goes...2014 a lighter, healthier Me!!