In my grumpiness yesterday I forgot to tell you about how the losing a few pounds thing is going. We weigh on on a Sunday morning. The idea of the weekly weigh in is taken from Slimming World which I have joined twice and left twice. I know it works but it isn’t for me long term because I can only take being patronised for so long and I find the meetings etc patronising on one level (the so, Jess, you’ve put on a pound this week, are you ok? What went wrong?) and incredibly frustrating on another because the meetings I have been to seem to be full of people who just don’t have a clue about healthy eating and exercise (‘Oh well I only had two cream cakes yesterday, a bottle of wine on Wednesday and a take away curry –  I have no idea why I’ve put on). I’m not knocking slimming world or weight watchers or whatever – it obviously really works for lots of people and it worked for me for a while, then it didn’t. Anyway, what does work is having a set day/time to get on the scales – that does two things. It means I don’t get obessive. I easily could. I am a control freak and I could easily check my weight daily or more and then worry about it – not healthy. Having a set weekly weigh in stops that and it makes me do it even when I don’t really want to. Writing it down shows me I am going in the right direction overall even when there is an odd week where I don’t lose any weight or put some back on. My little notebook in which I record the numbers every week has been titled ‘Operation Eliminate Moomin Butt’ – it keeps me on track.

So the weigh in yesterday – I lost just under 2 pounds and that’s in spite of cake at work, a few drinks during the week and a meal out. What that means is that planning our meals and trying to be really conscious about every decision we make about food is working. Yes I had cake, but I didn’t have cake and a packet of crisps with my lunch. Yes I had a rum and coke on Saturday night, but I had one not several. Yes we had popcorn with our film on Saturday but we made it with as little oil as possible and put very little sugar on – much less than you’d get with ready bought popcorn. Our eating could be healthier, of course it could but I’m not made for diets and banning things etc – I just want them more. So for me it’s about making better choices and accepting that every now and again that choice is to not give a toss about how unhealthy what I choose to have is.

Plan for the week. We had pork chops with new spuds, purple sprouting broccoli from the garden and sweetcorn today. We have a quorn chilli, tuna steaks with veg, stir fry and wraps and a spag bolognese on the list for this week I think. Kath is away Tuesday night and back late on Wednesday so I’ll be fending for myself which is always problematic. I may see what there is on offer at work and just have a salad and few crackers in the evening.

For our naughty nibbles and treats, Kath made some cereal bars yesterday – they are definitly healthier than bought ones although they do contain a bit of honey and sugar. I love them because they’re  a real energy boost and really help get me through my afternoon lull.