Roast Tomato Tart

This tart is really, really easy to make and tastes amazing. It could be easily adapted to suit what ingredients you have.

Ingredients:

1 pack of Jus Roll Light Puff Pastry

1 pack of cherry tomatoes

60g pesto (I used Tesco Low Fat Pesto)

2 tablespoons of capers

90g cheese (I used Tesco Lighter Grated Cheese - mature)

Black Pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220/200 for fan oven, apply spray oil to baking sheet.

2. Lay pastry sheet into baking sheet. Mine went slightly over the edges - it really doesn't matter!

3. Spread pesto over the pastry, leaving c1cm of pastry uncovered around the edges.

4. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and lay across whole tart, scatter capers, cheese and black pepper.

5. Cook for 20 mins until the tomatoes begin to blacken and the pastry is golden.

Serves 6 comfortably. I had it with a side salad for lunch.

5 WW Propoints per 1/6 of a tart (9 for 2/6)

Taking Pride in Oneself

I've been thinking today about looking after, and taking pride, in ourselves, inside and out. Before this WW journey, I didn't look after myself at all. The poor food choices are now obvious but the lack of pride I had in my appearance and well-being have been in my mind lately. I have a very good job and can afford nice things, however, I lived in crappy, often holey or shabby clothes, worn every day for months (they were regularly washed, I promise!) without regard for how they made me look or feel. I never did any more than shampoo and brush my hair, never wore make-up or looked after my skin. I allowed myself to live in squalor and never looked in a mirror. 

I am not a girly, girl. I never have been, nor do I intend ever to be one. I justified my dowdy look by saying I'm a tom-boy and care more about my thoughts and career than what I look like. However, since starting this journey, I've realised that my mental well-being is just as important as my healthy eating. Today, I had my hair cut, chose nicer clothes and put on some light make-up. The change in my self-esteem is immense. It was done for no-one but myself but it's working! 

I'm going to reward myself for each half stone lost with something to boost my self-esteem and help me to take more pride in myself.

0.5st = new make-up

1st = hair cut

1.5st = manicure and gels

2st = buy a new mirror

Kayaking!

So, as part of my job, I had to take some children kayaking today. I've not been before and I was worried about the following:

- the life jacket not going around me
- being too heavy to get in the kayak
- the kayak sinking
- the children making comments

I needn't have worried! The life jacket was snug, but comfortable and the kayak was low in the water, but didn't sink! It gave my arms a good work out (well, one arm, it was a double kayak!).

Excuse the weird selfie. It's hard to watch over children and photograph yourself!

Weigh-In Wednesday

This week saw an amazing weigh-in. I lost 4lbs, bring my total to 1 stone 2 lbs! I'm so pleased. To be honest, I've found it very easy sticking to the plan. Earlier in the week, I was very tired and feeling down which I'm pretty certain was because I wasn't eating enough. I was eating no where near my points and wasn't touching my weeklies. Since then, I've upped my food intake and included more protein and fats (from milk, cheese and nuts). I feel a lot better. I'm still not really touching my weeklies but will try and eat more this week.

I treated myself to an Indian takeaway tonight, my first in six weeks (I used to have 3-4 takeaways per week). It tasted amazing and I've pointed it all! I had tandoori chicken half, cauliflower bhaji, salad and mint sauce. I'm planning on not having another takeaway until I lose 2 stone in total.

A great week!

Exercise - aaaaaaah!

I took my measurements this morning, after four weeks of weight loss, and was really pleasantly surprised at the losses already. It got me thinking about exercise. I know how important exercise is to weight loss, stamina, organ health, mental health etc but I'm not really an exercise sort of person. I know I need to change.

I don't want to do too much too soon as I won't stick to it but am going to slowly introduce new fitness routines in bit by bit. As well as weight loss, I do want to tone up my body and increase my stamina and I know it will help with saggy skin and when I have fewer ProPoints, it will help with that too! I love swimming but have never really found anything that I enjoy. My doctor has advised against running (thank goodness!) and yoga as I have hyper-mobility and very damaged knees. I also work strange hours, so I never know whether I will finish work at 5 or 6:30pm. However, I can't make excuses. I want this whole health change and I therefore need to change to achieve it.

My plan: 

September: Two walks per week (at least 1 mile)

October: Two walks per week (at least 2 miles), 30 mins beginners aerobics (using YouTube videos) per week

November: One walk per week (at least 3 miles), 30 mins aerobics using YouTube videos per week, 1 swim per week (30mins)

December: 2x 30 mins aerobics using YouTube videos per week, 2x swim per week (30 mins)

January: 1 x higher intensity aerobics using YouTube videos per week, 2x swim per week (40 mins), 1 strength/ tone/ Pilates type class per week

February: 1 x higher intensity aerobics using YouTube videos per week, 1 x swim per week (45 mins), 1 strength/ tone/ Pilates type class per week, 1 x higher impact/ Zumba/ aerobics type class

March: maintain February

April: 30 day shred, 1 x swim (45 mins), 1 strength/ tone/ Pilates type class

I can't yet imagine myself beyond that! Obviously, my plans may change but I do like a plan!

I started off with a 1 mile walk today. It only took 15 mins 20 sec to do 1.09 miles and I burned 164cals according to Map My Walk. Not amazing but it is a big start for someone who has been a couch potato for over a year!

Goal Setting

Today, I've been mulling over BMI, goals and mini targets. I like having little mini goals to achieve along the way and I've started setting some on the right --->. I know this weight loss thing is going to take me a long time and I also know that if I get disheartened about my achievements, I risk giving up and going back to my old, unhealthy ways. 

People keep asking me about how much weight I want to lose and the truth is, I don't know. To be in the 'overweight' BMI category, I need to weigh between 11st 2lbs (156) and 13st 5lbs (187). That seems completely achievable. I really want to lose a nice round number, so to lose 6 stone (to get me to 11st 10lbs/164) would be great. However, that is not an 'officially' healthy weight. To get to a healthy BMI and satisfy my need for round numbers, I need to lose 7 stone (98lbs) to take me to 10 stone 10lbs. I haven't been that weight for more than fourteen years! 

Then there's the part of me that craves a bikini body! I have photos of me wearing one at 10st 10lbs all those years ago and I don't think I look thin enough to wear one. Close, but not close enough. Plus, I'm 14 years older and my skin has been stretched by seven extra stone over that time. I think it'll take at least another stone than that to make it a possibility! So that means I'd need a goal of losing 8 stone! 

After all that rambling, I think I need to just take this one step at a time! My next big goal is to lose 10% of my body weight, so 15st 13lbs (1st 11lbs lost). That is very achievable and not too scary! I hope to be there by the end of November, if not before. 

A Jolly Good Weigh In

After all the worrying about the effect of the festival binge, I needn't have worried. I lost a very respectable 3.5lbs this week, bringing my total to 12lbs. That means I've lost 5% of my body weight.  I'm not noticing much difference yet but I do feel genuinely pleased with myself. The meeting was about taking time for yourself this week which as a single woman without children, isn't really a problem for me. I do need to make sure I get a good work/life balance though. I'm struggling with lunches already! I've frozen some ready made bolognese sauces and after my supermarket delivery tonight, I'll make some more easy to cook meals to stop me having a takeaway. I think I'm going to take some cracker biscuits and cheese triangles to work to leave in the fridge so I can avoid the dangerous trip to the supermarket in my breaks. This week brings back to work stresses but not much else so there's no excuses. I'd love to lose 2lbs this week to get to a 1 stone loss but anything would be wonderful!