Month: December 2014

Preparing for Christmas

flidfit Uncategorized

Not long to go.  Presents all purchased and wrapped, just the nice curly ribbon to add (need a hand with that!)

The Christmas decorations are due to go up on Thursday.  My weight loss in the lead up to Christmas is going well.  

The Personal Trainer (Matt) came to visit last Tuesday.  I was all warmed up in the freezing cold garage gym ready to impress him with my progress.  Thankfully the cold weather is an incentive to keep moving when I’m in the home gym.

And impress him I did!  I showed him that I can RUN!  

Ok, ok, I’m holding on for dear life to the bar on my treadmill, but my new HIIT training session now incorporates running for 2 minutes at 5mph!  

I plan to get this exciting event videoed to share with everyone (and to prove it does happen!).

This is interspersed with walking at 3mph.  I love this sort of training, as you know that you’ve only got to “push” yourself for a short space of time, and it’s perfectly achievable.  Slowing down to the walk feels so wonderful after I’ve been running my little cotton socks off.

Best of all, this style of training is designed to prolong calorie burning after the exercise session has been completed.  When I am sat at my computer entering my training results, I am still burning the calories.

Of course, he paid me lots of compliments about my progress, but has set me some new targets to work on before he nest visits in January 2015.

I have continued to use 5:2 fasting in the lead up to Christmas.  I have even gone so far to plan a fast day for Christmas week and another for News Years week.  Uncertain how that will go, but the days are pencilled into my diary, so that’s good for a starter.

Finally, my “Success Story” has been published on the Weight Loss website I have used to help me achieve my new sylph life figure:

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/v2/article.htm?title=simone-(aka-pineapple27)-success-story&from=lb

Sadly you can only read it by signing up – so maybe now is the time to do something about that expanding waistline….?

I have received so many compliments via the Forum that I have been quite overwhelmed!

Still here!!

flidfit Uncategorized
I know, I know…. it’s been too long!  I’m still hanging on here and I have to admit that blog up-dates have taken somewhat of a back seat and that planning for Christmas seems to have come to the fore.  I’m still logging food and cooking!

I’ve managed to lose half a stone during the month of November, but unfortunately most of these were pounds that I seem to have acquired over September and October!  Such is weight loss, I’m afraid.  Sometimes life conspires against you….

HOWEVER, I happened upon a really excellent Blog today which inspired me to up-date my own!

Growing vegetables, discussing and cooking food…. this is MY kind of blog!!!

Fast days are a bit more of a struggle during the Winter months than they are when the weather is warmer.  Not fuelling the body sometime leaves me feeling chilled to the bone.  I’m fine up until midday and then I seem to just feel cold all over.  This is a weird and alien feeling for me, as I am usually always far too hot!  Winter days and nights seem much longer and I am certainly spending more time sat inside… this time of years thinking about and planning for Christmas, which also involves what we will eat over the festive season!  I do have to remind myself that Christmas is just ONE day and of the weight I have lost.  So much hard work could easily be undone in just four or five days of eating “differently” (I won’t call it “normally” as I will never return to my old ways!)

Todays Fast was broken with an unusual but delicious meal. 120g Tesco frozen “sweet chilli marinated basa fillet” (only 125 cals!), 250g each of butternut squash and aubergine with 75g of red onion roasted in the oven for 45 mins with 10 squirts of spray oil, 30g of feta cheese and 15ml of sweet chilli sauce…. 382 calories. Lush on a plate!! Enough calories for some satsumas and a coffee before bedtime…

chillibasa
Aubergine and butternut squash have become two of my staple vegetables.  I love the flavour and they are so low in calories.  100g of butternut squash is just 30 calories, 100g of aubergine just 14 calories!  These two vegetables really lend themselves to one another when it comes to visual appearance and taste.  But an absolute MUST for me is that they be ROASTED!  I use a low calorie spray oil, which does the trick at a fraction of the calories.

Aubergine and Butternut Squash Bake

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Serves: 3

Calories per serving:152.9

Ingredients

Onions, Red, Raw, Average                                        –   203g
Butternut Squash, Raw                                               –   796g
Aubergine, Raw                                                          –   794g
Oil, Olive, Extra Virgin, Only 1 Cal, Spray, Fry Light  –   35 Sprays/7ml

Preparation:

Put the oven on to pre-heat at 200 degrees. Peel, de-seed and cut butternut squash into 2cm chunks. Peel and finely dice red onion. Take stalk off aubergine and cut into 1cm chunks.

Method:

Squirt 15 sprays of spray oil into a roasting dish and add all the vegetables. Spray another 20 sprays pf spray oil over the vegetables and place roasting dish in oven.

Roast for around 45 – 50 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 20 minutes until the vegetables are softened and starting to brown.

This is a really versatile low calorie and filling recipe! Use alongside meat or fish, or serve with pasta and some grated cheese.