Week Ten

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a more successful week than me! I began the week on a very positive note, planning out my week and making sure I knew what meals I was going to be having. Although I knew I was limited on speeds food I had, I thought if I was at least having free foods, it should be good enough to at least achieve a maintain.

This plan worked out well for the first couple of days this week, but then my lovely fiance suggested going on our B date in alphabet dating to give a break from doing work one night. So we headed off to Bella Italia and I thought I would give myself a night off plan to reward myself for all my hard work I had been doing, and because I didn't want to be worrying about what food to eat when my fiance was treating me to a lovely night out :) I have had a night off plan in the past and still managed to have a loss, but I think due to the lack of speed foods also this week, I wasn't able to get away with it! This has meant that I have had a 1lb gain this week :( but I cannot dwell on it, I know where it went wrong and it is easy to put right, so that is what I am going to do!

I love our date nights <3

In regards to the speed food situation, since we moved into our own house a year ago, we have been only going shopping once a month,. Which was fine when I wasn't following slimming world because I hardly bought fruit and would need replacing and we ate stuff out the freezer...a lot!! But now I find that towards the end of the month, I have used all my fruit and yogurts and general things that don't have the longest use by date. This means that I struggle to keep up my speed food intake and although I could pop to the shops to buy these things, it usually turns into spending £30-£50 on other things too!

Finally a nice full fridge! 

So to help with this we are going to try going shopping every two weeks, planning our meals for those two coming weeks before we go and only buying the things we need. Hopefully this will mean that I can keep my fridge and fruit bowl nice and full :) Wish me luck!

Leanne x

Meatball Pasta Bake

This recipe is becoming one of my favorites, it is quick and very simple to make, which is what I like! I have developed the recipe from Basementbakehouse's Meatball Sub recipe, which I have made also, but then changed it slightly so that I could save my HexB for lunch.

The Meatballs I used were from LiveLean, where you order your meat online, choose a delivery day and it is the best meat I have ever had! Even better all their meat is British, free range and grass fed. I have the slimming meat hamper which contains meat that is all 0 syns or very low syns. The bundle is currently £57.95 on the website, but I have a code that means you can get £5 off your first order, just type in: LIVELEAN-7404-CVF5S-TNCQ at the checkout :). The meatballs are 0.5 a syn for 2!!

I have previously done a blog post on the meat you get in the slimming meat hamper, and the syns of all the meat in there also, which can be found here.

Ingredients - To serve two people

400ml passata
2 tablespoons tomato puree
150ml boiling chicken stock
1 pack of meatballs (the LiveLean ones come in packs of 12)
2 tablespoons of mixed herbs
80g mozzarella (2 people's HexA)
Pasta

Method

• Cook desired amount of pasta according to the packet instructions.
• Fry the meatballs in a frying pan with frylight untill cooked through.
• In a saucepan, mix together the passata, tomato puree, mixed herbs and chicken stock.
• Bring to the boil and simmer for around 10 minutes.
• Mix in meatballs and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Mix with the cooked pasta, place in a oven proof dish and top with grated mozzarella.
• Place in the oven at around 180 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
• Serve with sides, I had salad with mine for speed.

Syn Value: 1.5 syns (for 6 LiveLean meatballs)

Enjoy :)

Weeks Eight and Nine

Hi everyone,

I am so sorry that I haven't posted anything for a while but I have just returned to work (I am a teacher) and so I have been super busy settling my reception class back into school life and getting my head around my new role as early years coordinator!

I will admit that week eight was not my best week, as well as starting back to work, I also started the new season of my local darts team that I am part of, meaning that I just had quick and easy meals throughout the week. Despite this, I managed to have a maintain, which I am completely shocked but so, so happy about. I think a factor in this was returning to work, meaning I was more active and not lying around on the settee most days watching Criminal Minds! I promised my myself when I got anyway with not gaining I was going to plan the coming week and be as prepared as possible.

Week nine has been a much more successful week, I made sure I planned and prepared and didn't let myself down. I began preparing all my lunches the night before so I wasn't running around in the mornings trying to think what I could grab to take to work. My biggest problem is having breakfast now I am back at work. I leave the house at 7:30am, and do not feel like eating before this, so need breakfast meals I can take into work to have before the children arrive. Lately it seems to be that I'm having watermelon and grapes in the morning, but its not the same as having the time to cook something like I did when I was off. Being back on plan 100% and being more active has meant that I ended week nine with a 2lb loss!! That means I have now lost 9lb altogether, which I know doesn't seem like much but it is the most I have ever lost in one go on slimming world.

This current week (week ten) is going well, apart from I am quickly running out of speed foods, so I am desperate to get to the shops at some point to stock up.

Hope everyone else is having a great weeks :)

Leanne x