I finally finished knitting my great nephew Curtis's Wee Chickadee cardigan. I only had one sleeve to finish in the lead up to Christmas, but when I discovered I wouldn't be seeing him on Christmas day I stopped knitting. And only started again when I was heading to my great niece's birthday party at the weekend.
I was so happy that I finally found buttons I like, which happen to be a smaller version of the same buttons I attached to my own Chickadee cardigan. My cardigan, and Curtis's, have turned out to be the same design, and I'm really pleased with both of them.
Meg had to get in on the act when I was photographing them. It's all about her after all.
The secret to my dieting success is all about SNACKS! I'm very interested in my snacks and think about them throughout the day. The Digestive Thins and the Oreo Thins are really great for 1 1/2 syns each biscuit. I could have ten a day if I wanted to. And the mint flutes are great for 1 syn each. I have two with my coffee at work in the morning and they sweeten my mood before the chaos begins! (My work frequently feels like I'm having a bun fight while standing in a hurricane on a moving platform... Sometimes that's fun, and sometimes it's just tiring.)
Our hen Georgie has started laying eggs again, after a break of months! I wonder if it's because we have a cockerel now??? (I don't know anything about cockerels re-invigorating hens, it's probably just a fantasy.) Anyway, she lays gorgeous deep, reddy-brown eggs so they really add diversity to our egg colour palette. Both green egg layers are laying again too, the blue egg layer never stopped laying, and the girls who lay light brown eggs are laying well too. The wee eggs at the front are from my wee pal Tiger, who is a bantam hen. She has just gone broody again, which is a shame as I've been having two tiny Tiger eggs for tea every Friday night. And when I needed 4 1/2 eggs to make a cake recently I used her egg as the half.
I've been doing Slimming World for just over three months now, during which time I've lost 17lbs. It works on a really simple premise whereby certain groups of food are 'free', i.e. rice, pasta, potatoes, beans and pulses, fruit and vegetables. You're then allowed two 'healthy extras' each day - I always choose Weetabix and 350ml of skimmed milk - and everything else has a 'syn' value attached (chocolate, for example), and you're allowed 5 - 15 syns a day. It's an amazingly easy system to follow and I'm never hungry. Above is noodles with stir fry vegetables (all free).
About 7 years ago I lost 2 1/2 stone with Weightwatchers. I lost half a stone a month, and found the Discovery Points system fairly easy. On Weightwatchers everything is weighed and has a points value attached. When I did the Discovery Points system, I was allowed 16 points a day. Although I found it easy at the time, because I was determined, I felt hungry and had to pace myself through my food allowance for the day. Above is my version of Eton Mess - made with Muller Light yoghourt and Sweet Freedom Chocolate Shot. 3 syns.
I actually tried going back to Weightwatchers a couple of years ago, during which time they had moved onto the ProPoints system, which had more flexibility than Discovery Points. However, I found Weightwatchers no longer inspired me. I was bored of counting and weighing everything, and I was bored of being hungry while trying to lose weight.
So when a work colleague had noticeably lost weight and I asked her how she'd done it, she explained the Slimming World plan to me and I joined soon after.
Between the two systems I much prefer Slimming World. Not being hungry while losing weight is a big bonus! It's also motivated me to cook for the first time. It means planning meals a bit more. With Weightwatchers it was easy to go into supermarkets and pick up a ready meal.
All of my syns go on treats. I don't drink, so don't have to allow for alcohol. Above is a Fibre One chocolate fudge brownie (4 syns) and three Mint chocolate flutes (1 syn each).
I have (temporarily, I hope) become a bit obsessed with following other Slimming World social media instagrammers who post everything they eat each day. It's a good way of picking up ideas and tips, but it's also really motivational to keep on track.
