Weight loss update

I recently realised that it has been about a year and a half since I started my weight loss battle, and haven’t written any sort of update in the meantime.

I will admit, I fell off the bandwagon…multiple times…during that period.

Christmas 2011 didn’t go too badly. We were using the Rapid Loss shakes fairly comfortably at the time, and didn’t go too crazy with festive foods. When I jumped on the scales around New Year’s, I was really happy to see that I had lost a couple of kilos over the Christmas period, rather than the usual gain!

I stopped using Rapid Loss after a few months, as I wasn’t seeing the results anymore. Before you say it, I know that you sometimes plateau, but I just didn’t feel that it was the right path for me anymore.

Life got busy….I got lazy…both with my exercise, and with my cooking. Simple meals that required little effort generally meant that they weren’t all that beneficial to the waist line or scales.

Just before Christmas 2012, I decided that I needed to work harder again.

Since then, I have started walking a bit more often, and adjusted my diet. I stopped skipping breakfast, scaled back how many iced coffees I would have (still have some occasionally, but nowhere near as much…and ask any of my old highschool buddies…that is a big deal!) and I ate salads as often as I could.

I am addicted to panzanella again. I am that hooked that I cannot bring myself to even consider, let alone enjoy, any other type of salad. So many times I have made up a container of panzanella at night, put it in the fridge….only to pull it out later and continue to pick at it all evening until there isn’t enough left for lunch the next day! Can’t complain too much when your late-night snacks is a salad!

Oh Charlene…I know exactly how you feel!

We threw out our bathroom scales as well. They were digital, and were in no way accurate anymore. They would tell me that I had lost 4-5 kg in the space of about three weeks, then suddenly, at that time of the month…. KABLAMMO!!! Apparently I would put the kilos back on again…overnight!!

Fluid retention has been a problem during the monthly hormone cycles for a few years now…but I highly doubt that I was putting that much on in only a few hours without a noticeable difference (maybe even with some pain?)

So the scales landed in the wheelie bin.

Now, I borrow one of my client’s scales when I’m cleaning her bathroom. I am only there once a fortnight, so I’m able to see larger results. This is a good motivator and ego booster, rather than doing daily weighs, where you are only seeing small results and getting disheartened by it.

 

Now to announce how much I have lost so far (all since the start of 2013)…..drum roll please……

 

14 KILOGRAMS!!!! (or about 30lbs…depending where my readers are from!)

While not to scale, I am probably at about stage two of this diagram!

I still have about 30kg to get to the weight that is healthy for my height and build. Only another 15kg until I am eligible to have breast reduction surgery (one of my goals…cant wait for these mumma-bahummas to get smaller!)

I’m feeling pretty confident still, and with how much exercise I am getting through work at the moment, I am sure it wont be another 18 months before I can announce that I have lost even more weight.

Please share your experiences!
Bella 🙂

Panzanella

This recipe is by far my favourite! It is of Italian origin, from when times were tough and it was a way to use up stale bread.

Panzanella

1 serve= 129 calories

2 slices of toasted bread, chopped (or 2 cup of croutons)

2 tomatoes, chopped roughly

5 fresh mint leaves, shredded

1/4 red onion, chopped

1/4 cucumber, chopped roughly

2T red wine vinegar

2T olive oil

1) Add tomatoes, bread, mint leaves, onion and cucumber to a bowl, and toss.

2) Add red wine vinegar and olive oil, mix until stirred through.

3) Chill for about half an hour before serving.

 

I like to add a few extra thing like a little bit of feta cheese, or some chilled cooked/peeled prawns to bulk the meal up a bit more.

There are a lot of variations to this recipe, but this is the most simple.

Bella 🙂

Barbecued Mushrooms with Feta

I had this for lunch just today. I was a little dubious about it, but it was actually rather enjoyable. There were even points where I had myself convinced that it tasted like a Big Mac from MacDonalds (my husband reluctantly agreed with this!)

BBQ mushrooms with feta

 

1 serve= 283 calories

300g various mushrooms, quartered (I used button and brown swiss mushrooms, though the recipe also calls for shiitake and oyster)

1tsp olive oil

1tsp crushed garlic

60mls Balsamic vinegar

150g mixed salad leaves (I used 4 large iceberg lettuce leaves)

1/4 cup diced fresh parsley

50g reduced-fat feta cheese, chopped

 

 

1. Place mushrooms in a bowl, with olive oil, garlic and 40mls of the Balsamic vinegar. Toss to coat the mushrooms in the mixture.

2. Heat lightly oiled chargrill (I just used a simple frypan here) over high heat. When hot, add mixture in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing occasionally until cooked all over.

3. Place salad and parsley in a bowl with the remaining Balsamic vinegar. Toss to combine.

4. Place salad on a plate and cover with mushroom mix and feta cheese.

 

Enjoy!

Bella 🙂