I’d (personally) only eat the cheese if it was sweetened (like on a carrot cake). But we can’t. Unless… do they do powdered sweetener? Otherwise yogurt would work. Honey or Vanilla extract.

Have you seen that we’re getting a 6 week heatwave…?

That’ll be just after I get into size 10 jeans will it?!

Hubby saw it on Facebook so it must be true. A little investigation (Google) sees the tabloids have run with it, whereas International Business Times has pooh-poohed it as a load of balls. They just stopped short of using the word ‘mediocre’. Average and below average were mentioned, as were rain, and brisk winds. Meh.

Hmm yes not sure about the icing, think I’d probably just mix done coconut oil with dark 86% chocolate and use that as icing, strawberries would stick to that right?

Hope heat wave makes it to me😂😂

Good thinking Epspecially. Or a ganache.

We never see any adverse weather where I live, whether it’s bad or good. Have you seen The Simpsons Movie, where a whole dome is put over Springfield? Well, that’s how our island is. Snow? No. Three miles away? Kids off school, sledging. Ours trudging off to school, grumbling. Heat? Summer? No. Just varying degrees of cold. All. Year. Long.

Same here Lucky, tho mostly rain. I want heat wave, we had for two weeks back in May…

My 86% chocolate was a typo btw, in case people think I’m very precise 😝😝😝

I was wondering what fancy schmancy chocolate you were buying… 😉

Heee heee a rush to Aldi begins..

Rummaging through the boxes. Eeeeeeh I like a good rummage, me.

i have had the grated courgette base pizza tonight it was really good, mushrooms, feta avocado tiny bit of smoked salmon and some olives

Have you got a link for that Josie? 🙂

no i remember reading it somewhere, just grate courgette and then squeeze the water out of it, mix it with some egg and then press flat on the pizza tray. bake in the oven for a little while until its dried out a bit
i mix some tomato puree and passatta and spread on the top and then just add everything else and bake until it looks done
A fairly medium courgette is enough for one pizza

Ooooh I will give that a try soon 🙂 Thanks 🙂

my word its been busy on here tonight !!!
i made my non faff lamb with mint luckys wraps huge success but like you i couldnt eat it all !!!! i feel full quicker i have found
although today i have craved something sweet think its after the blinkin cookies yesterday !!!!!
so back to work for me mon tues weds next week only work part time but have to get organised with breakfast and lunches to take to work then something for tea when i get in !!!!the key is to be organised !!!
but how will i fit writing on here i will have to take a notepad like lucky said or sneak off and use my phone !!!!
i need to get my fluids in too we never have time for a drink so taking a huge bottle of water with me !!!

Mmm I may have to try your non faff lamb. Reckon my lot will eat it too so no need for seperate or ‘modified’ dinners.

Big bottle of sparkling water for you at work next week then Tokyo. And salad pack-ups I reckon. I live on rocket, toms, cucumber, a big spoonful of cottage cheese and either a small portion of flaked salmon or chicken pieces most days at work. Fills me up all afternoon 👍🏼

thats what i was thinking the salad and cottage cheese thought yoghurt and fruit for breakfast sorted !!!!!
my hubby loves the lamb !!!
1 oinion lamb mince salt pepper
2teaspoons each. tumeric cumin and cinnamon done i serve with luckys wraps bit salad call me jaime oliver sorted !!

Morning 🙂 Tokyo, you popped up must have been minutes after we went up to bed, I was so tired last night, and I even had a lie in this morning! 7.40 am I woke up! So unlike me. I’m in a lot of discomfort today with my back, hips and knee but I try not to moan about it because I believe what you focus on persists. The more weight I lose, the better it’s going to be for my poor body parts that have had to lug me around for years. And the less strong pain relief I have to take, it knocks me silly and I’m daft enough as it is!

So, at the start of week 5, I am still weighing in at 15 stone 12 lbs for the third day running I think, but I’ll take that gladly. Measurements will come later. Weight loss broken down over the first 4 weeks has been; 14 lbs, 4 lbs, 3 lbs and 4 lbs. Wonder what week 5 will bring?

Really looking forward to the measuring though, I will give hubby until 9… lol then I will go and wake him up. There is one body part though, that… grrrrr. Ok – back story. I have massive feet for such a little woman. Size 8 and I think they’re size 8 wide too. Hubby calls me Pingu. If you can’t picture why, google Pingu and look at his feet. Buying shoes is a bit of a ‘mare… buying boots however… So. Simply Be were having a sale AND I had a code for an extra 20% off everything and free delivery just before my birthday. It would have been rude not to. I wanted some flat boots, because I can’t wear heels. Found a lovely pair, in brown and black. Ordered both. Tried the first boot on. Wouldn’t go up around my left calf. Tried the next pair, the same thing happened. I decided not to say anything and just shoved them in the wardrobe, to pretend they’ve been there for years… ‘These old things?’. A couple of weeks later, I thought, try again. So this time I must have put the right boot on first. Went on lovely. Excited much. Put the left boot on, wedged on the bottom of my calf. What the hell… before I sent them back to Simply Be, with a complaint that they’d sent me one of a different sized pair each, I measured my calves. They’re different sizes, aren’t they? My left calf was an inch and a half bigger than my right! Hubby was laughing, the air was blue… In the last 3 weeks, I’ve only lost half an inch off the bloody thing. Yet I’ve lost an inch off the right one. So there’s an other Cinderella moment I need to have, Tokyo, two pairs of boots that won’t go on my mis-shaped odd legs. I’d been going on the treadmill on incline. Googled what to do to lose weight off calves, walking. Yay! I think to myself. NOT on an incline. It makes them muscular. 12 yo son then started calling me ‘Muscular Mummy!’ and ‘MOM CENA!’

🙁

Ok… and here are the inch loss measurements for the first four weeks to go with the 25lb weight loss … *Drumroll*

Left thigh – 2 inches; Right thigh – 3 1/2 inches; Left calf – 1 1/4 inches (yayyyyyyyy); Right calf – 1 1/2 inches; Hips – 3 1/2 inches; Waist – 6 inches; Chest – 2 inches; Left arm – 3 inches; Right arm – 1/2 inch.

Any lurkers or ‘shall I start’ers – this works! Do it!

Tokyo, may I join you in smug mode today, please???

yes yes yes ( aka daniel bryan !!)
with the mom cena reference i am guessing someone likes the wrestling ??
dont get me started on it if thats the case its my guilty pleasure !!!( from haveing a son who loved it as a kid and still does !!!)
how marvellous are your tesults when you write it down and look it its really amazing !! well done you !!
i had a cheeky weigh in today 0.3kg down so going in right direction 1.3 kg off first goal !!!
i think we all deserve to be a tad smug !!!!!

Wahooooo Tokyo and Lucky, brill results !👏👏👏👏💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻 great news for a Saturday!

Bring these women a pot of hurrah and the robes of smugness!!! Proof time and again that this isn’t a fad or con! I have celebrated our success by buying a new top. Size 14! Currently hiding out in Costa with a skinny cappuccino to get away from the bloody kids.

Lucky I know your pain with calves and boots. Even when I was ‘slim’ my legs were big 😢 I own one pair of suede kitten heel boots that are wider calf fitting. I even struggle with ankle boots. Next time around I don’t care if I look like the back end of a bus.. As long as I have shapely legs!!

BBQ is looking dodgy tonight. Keeps raining. I refuse to give in to the weather though!

OH complained his shorts felt a bit tight round the waist this morning. I suggested that 3 weeks on the BSD would put that right. His face fell at the thought of not eating rolls for lunch and mountains of rice or pasta even tho I assured him he wouldn’t feel hungry! We shall see… He’s not exactly fat (32′ shorts were snug) but it wouldn’t hurt to lose the muffin top he’s accrued in the last year!

Haha Tokyo, you’re full of surprises! No, he isn’t a fan, he just likes taking the mickey out of me. My eldest was a fan though, he had all the wrestling figures and rings and all sorts. Dvd upon Dvd. Woooop well done! That’s nearly another pound off! I’m thinking, I might mix it up a bit on the scales too and switch to kg after I get my next weight loss. I do that on occasion because it throws me (plus you get to see your weight going down in smaller increments – win win win most days there!) and I don’t know what I weigh properly, just if it’s going down or not 😉

Smug mode engaged x 2 then!

Thank you Epspecially! Have you got anything to be smug about today? Diet or non diet related, feel free to join us!

Peeing down here, and it’s the school summer fair. So it’s being held inside a rather small school hall. What this means is, I’ll get there, attempt to spend the allocated money in the shortest amount of time possible, and get soaked on the 10 minute walk home.

Hee hee thanks lucky, Smug is good😂 Guess I should feel smug I made fage yoghurt and raspberries and chia seeds smoothie thing this morning and though v annoyed with my boyfriend I have resisted the urge to throw it at him 😎 Would be such a waste of all that working out messurements 😂😂😂(don’t worry I don’t throw things at him, it’s just internal battle!!)
Wouldn’t mind hiding out with a coffee with Janey, except coffee makes me more irritated usually!!

Good luck at fair, who knows what you might find! 😝

Yayyyy! And I shall drink my hurrah in a champagne glass, thank you Janey! Loving the ‘robes of smugness’ and I might see if I can get a matching ‘cape of smugness’ too. Ooooh a size 14 top. The last time I managed that was 1998. I remember dieting and getting down to a size 14 top which is no mean feat considering the size of my ‘girls’. That was after one child though, not holding my breath after four. Huge well done 🙂

Shame about the weather, but – everything can be done on a cooker, that’s the way I look at it. And less chance of burned food/food poisoning. Did you make a dessert or are you winging it?

My hubby is going as militant as me about this diet, he’s raving about it to family and friends. He’s really grateful to me though, he keeps saying without me there’s no way he could do it, cooking, calorie counting. He wouldn’t know where to start. You can only lead by example, Janey, and you’ve set a good example, haven’t you?

That’s so true about the kg, it definitely worked to stop me getting discouraged at the beginning! Kg s mean nothing to me but stones sound so judgemental 😹😹😹

Ohhhhhh Epspecially, I know what I’ll find. Tombola. Bottle stall. Hugely over-priced ‘decorate your own cake’ stall. Name a teddy or doll. Burger/hotdog and chips cooked in the canteen. No coconut shy, due to health and safety as it’s now indoors. Possibly popcorn. No bouncy castle as it’s indoors. A raffle that you’ve no hope of winning. And the children’s ‘offering’. Something they make every year that you are obliged to buy because your little one has made it. Apparently this year it’s a frame with a picture in and it’s – quote unquote ‘a bit crap compared to the stones I painted last year’. So if stones can be a benchmark for a photoframe… how bad is it???? One small hall, hundreds of people confined, unable to move, or browse. My idea of hell. I’d better win a bottle of red on that bottle stall…

Don the cape of smugness and have a matching outfit Lucky! I shall BBQ tonight even if I have to cook it under an umbrella and then bring it indoors for people to eat. I’m going to cook that strawberry choc cake I think. For the topping.. Just fruit, no need for icing. Friends can have cream on it if they want. Will post a pic if it works out!

OH could easily do this BSD as I would manage all his meals. He’s just in ‘I’ll die without carbs’ denial mode!

Epspecially, your poor boyfriend! It sounds like you need some 86% chocolate 😉

Cape of smugness AND a pimp cane, I think.

Good call on the cake. Hope it’s nice.

Heee heee hee I don’t know, I’ve got a good feeling about that raffle this year😜 really like those guess how much something weighs things – and we should be good at it now!!- or the how many sweets in a jar thing. Win big Lucky👏👏😹😹

Hope cake turns out well Janey👏👏

😹😹😹 just noticed your chocolate comment lucky

Well, I’d have to buy a ticket first… 😉 I really am dreading it. It’s not so bad when you’re outside. And I know I shouldn’t grumble because I’ve had to do it myself thrice, the amount of prams make it twenty times worse. There’s literally about a metre and a half walking room once you have all the stalls around the hall, and the big cake thing in the middle. I want to get there for noon and be home at 1. I will see you all later… wish me luck… stay dry…

Well, one likes to be precise about these kinds of things, Epspecially… 😉

Home! Left on the stroke of one, home now – soaked. Nearly £30 the lighter between hubby and I after they had burgers, chips, drinks, tombolas, raffles, the photoframe was… interesting to say the least, cakes, computer game league (son left in second place and if nobody beats his score he wins £5). I bought some seeds that our local Waitrose had donated, some extremely fancy tomatoes, some basil, spring onions and even tomatillos! Hubby won – you couldn’t make this up – a box of Thorntons chocolates (but on further inspection best before date was on the 31st May) and a make your own cider kit. He’s teetotal. And I swapped two girlie tombola prizes with my little nieces for a Status Quo CD they had won. Hubby now happy. Bought a bottle of water, and I am now munching on an apple. It doesn’t get much worse than this, folks…

I’ve just treated myself – for once – as a ‘well done’ for completing my first 4 weeks, and I’ve bought myself a nicely reduced large Yankee Candle. I’d have spent as much as the candle cost in a week on wine, I’d have definitely spent more than that much on junk food over the course of the month. I’m not ready for new clothes yet, not when I’ve still so many new and nearly new to get into so… We had it at Christmas last year and it smelled lovely, like a coal fire and… just Christmas in a jar. Looking outside, it’s like Autumn/Winter now. Gloomy and grey. Heatwave my a**e.

lolling at what your husband won! I once won the bottle of wine I donated in a tombola lol.

enjoy your candle, I love a nice smelly candle. Have you had a woodwick one yet? They also make a lovely crackly sound which is nice if you are having some quiet time reading or something… if you like quiet lol.

The plot thickens with the tombola wins, Izzy… He’s a huge Quo fan, he’s even wearing a Quo T shirt today. Just gone to play the CD now, opened the case to find… a BB King CD. He’s told me to text my niece to ask for his pencils back. So, not a successful school fair…

No, I haven’t heard of them? Will investigate. Yes, I love quiet. I rarely get any though. Sounds like something I could retire to the shedpub with, lock myself in, with my kindle 🙂 Yes, I said shedpub. My teetotal husband has built a pub. In our garden. Complete with three pumps. Not connected to anything. Because he doesn’t drink… He’s hard work at times, but I love him.

lol it’s nice to have somewhere to hide, I recently floored our loft and made myself a craft area so that is my quiet hidey hole! Just take care not to burn the shedpub down…

you could connect the pumps to a water bottle… or juice?

Oh how lovely 🙂 Yes, we all need a sanctuary, don’t we? Mine was my kitchen in my old house, but in this house my kitchen is teeny tiny and it’s a chore cooking and keeping it clean. What sort of crafts do you do? I’m useless and I’m really envious of people who are arty. My friend paints silk cushions and makes peg dollies, another makes cards and sews and cross stitch. I am a reasonably good knitter though, but that’s the height of it! Stick to baby clothes and tiny knitted toys because anything larger and I lose interest/patience!

It’s insured 😉 Made sure of that after what it’s cost us over the years! He’s a devil at car boot sales buying merchandise.

I’d connect them up to alcohol if I had my way! There’s even a wine pump! Imagine! We’re having power put into it next week, finally, after two years of fairy lights and iPods and phones and kindles running out!

lol it will be nice to have power. Oddly when I was flooring the loft I came across a power socket installed already that I didn’t know about and didn’t pay for. We are the first owners of this house and I remember having to pay for every extra… I’m not complaining though it will be super useful for me!

I’m very much an amateur but I like to paint, and I want to paint things like boxes and mirror frames etc. I’m painting a set of coasters just now. I also want to alter and customise clothing so I have a sewing machine and dressmakers dummy up there as well. I also like to write so I may even hide up there to do that tool. In the future I want to try many other crafts like jewellery making, pyrography, candle making and no doubt a million other things I haven’t thought of yet. I have plans on top of plans on top of plans but lack the time and funds… In the meantime I will continue to potter around with my paints etc. I’m making my daughter a mermaid tail sleeping bag blanket thingy out of old clothes 🙂

My dream is to give up the day job, stay at home with my kids and make things to sell, but it will be a number of years before we could afford that.

I’m currently lying under a large sycamore tree in the grounds of an English Heritage castle, having fed numerous kids and fathers, and then ignored them long enough that they have buggered off to explore! Apart from the occasional squeal of an indignant child and the the slight sound of party music coming from the local tennis club ( we have a free game booked in a while) all is peaceful right now. I just wish I’d brought my book. Or stayed home and watched the tennis lol.

Remembered at midday that i had had no breakfast (amazing how it’s possible to forget to eat nowadays) so enjoyed veg sticks, houmous, olives and raspberries for lunch. Ignored chocolate crispie cakes and chipsticks!

Still need to make the cake when we eventually get home, before friends turn up. It’s all go…

By the way Lucky, had to chortle at the Quo/BB King cd debacle. Those pencils will have to be shared out!

Oh and at the risk of losing what street cred I have with my male colleagues and other younger friends, I used to be mad for patchwork quilting! And knitting. Shhhhh, they don’t know I’m like that!!

Oh lovely Izzy, you do so much, if I attempted any of that it would look like a 2 year old’s attempt. I am useless. Now, writing, yes. I have a way with words. Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? I did it last year, it was on my 40 before 40 list and I’ve been wanting to do it for years. The only thing is with selling crafts, and I’ve seen it with my friend’s business, that people want something for nothing all the time. They don’t consider that it’s bespoke and the hours of painstaking work that has gone into each item. My mum sells knitting, and people grumble over paying a fiver for a cardi and hat, yet the wool has cost half that, and my mum’s time in making it too. Then they’ll go and spend four times as much in a posh department store on a baby cardi without batting an eyelid

Yayyy Janey, you said you would have peace from children and peace you shall have, too! Isn’t it moist where you are? It’s moist here! I’ve been reading food magazines on Readly all afternoon, crying, tutting, oh and I’ve found a recipe that might be up your street so I’ll Twitter DM it to you later, incase my screen grab breaches copyright and I get sued… Good grief, cutting it fine, much? Good luck! Bless him, he was gutted.

Patchwork quilting, eh? I’m telling! I wish I could crochet but… it’s not sticking.

Tea is on. I know I’m going over calories today, because my steak is nearly 700 (rib eye, never again, rump next time!). But I’m sticking to good stuff, and I’m having onions and mushrooms only with it. I’ve had an apple after the school fair, plenty of water, and I will have a bowl of greek later with blueberries if I get peckish. I’m not starving myself, that’s how mistakes happen 😉 Plus, I’ve earned it. Cape and Cane of Smugness.

The picnic rug of dampness is cushioning me from the moist grass. It’s not raining now but things are a bit soggy. I’m sure the kids aren’t really supposed to be playing football in the historic sunken garden, but if it keeps them quiet..

Don’t fret about your cals because they’re not carbs so your body will be fine. I’ve been relaxed about calorie counting for weeks now and my waist is still decreasing 😆

It was lovely too. I didn’t realise it was this early, thought it was five o’clock! Oh dear…

That’s what I hope Janey, it’s not like I had chips or potatoes with it, and I’m still coming well under the calories I used to put away of a day, I don’t even want to think about it, but it was nowhere near 2000, I can tell you!

It’s absolutely lashing it down here, you’d never think it was July!

Just keep them away from historic (expensive) windows with the ball and you’ll be fine. Anyone says anything, deny they’re anything to do with you…

I’m stuffed too! One steak, fat not eaten because I don’t like fat (oddly enough!), fried onions and two large mushrooms quartered, fried too. All in olive oil. How did I manage to eat a massive mound of chips and new potatoes as well? It’s not just the inches and the pounds, what on earth has happened to my insides too in the short space of four weeks?

That should read chips OR new potatoes, I wasn’t that bad…

They call me Lucky. Lucky Two Carbs…

I’ve arrived at the amazing place of not caring about my street cred Janey! It’s awesome! I’m a female engineer in an all male team and these days I just say what I’m doing I don’t care. They like their little jokes but it’s all in good fun – once the news got out that I had written a children’s novel (not published but one can dream) before I knew it the rumour that I was busy writing erotica was being trotted out. It’s ok though because it’s just for laughs and they know I can take it. I’m 40 and I’ve been there for 24 years so I’ve actually trained a lot of the young ones. It’s kind of nice to be able to just be me, whichever ever evolving version of me that happens to be, in any day, in any company.

Luck two carbs lol that did make me giggle. I know what you mean about people not wanting to pay much, but in a few years if we can clear all our debts I won’t need to earn much. I have learned from a friend who sells craft that she doesn’t take random orders anymore, she decides she wants to make 20 of an item then offers 20 slots on her website for that item. I know my hourly rate will be entirely diminished but the lure of being able to spend all day making things and dreaming up new things and writing is just too much to resist!

I just googled Nanowrimo as I hadn’t heard of it, and although it does sound like fun there is no way I could do that! I work 4 days per week, I have 2 kids one of them still only 3, a husband who works long and weird hours, and a temperament prone to anxiety. There is no way I could write 50000 words in one month lol. The novel I have written is about that length and took me a year! I did stop and start so I think I could do that again in perhaps 6 months.

Self publish it! Writing erotica??? 🙂 I wouldn’t know where to begin, would you? Not because I’m a prude or anything, by a long shot, but I would find it incredibly cringey. So hats off to those who can. I’m 40 as well, just turned in May, and I’ve been a Mum since I was 19 (and a very immature 19 too), so I’m making time for me. I’m still a Mum of course, and always will be but I feel like I got lost along the way somewhere and this might sound corny, but I’m trying to find out who I am. I am not just a fat housewife and I will be more one day, but baby steps. So I am spending this year pleasing me (not at the expense of others though) and doing what I want to do. I have done NaNoWriMo, my Snowdon climb was cancelled due to bad weather, so I need to reschedule that, I saw and met my favourite group Lawson, I’m doing a hot air balloon ride, and my school friends and I are doing an overnight ghost hunt in the holidays. That’s just a couple of things. Oh, and quit Facebook, that was another 🙂

I knew I was doing NaNoWriMo, so I did do a lot of planning at night in October when the children were in bed, I’m not one for TV, and I wake up early and usually have a couple of hours of me-time then that I don’t want to do anything noisy in. I also knew the story I wanted to write, it’s been bubbling in me since I was 21 in one shape or another so it just flowed out of me. But I couldn’t have done it with a toddler. I did over 50,000 words and it’s still not finished. They still need their happy ending. Or perhaps the sequel this year! It was a lot of fun, one of the most personally challenging things I have done, not just writing it and pushing myself, but running a home and raising four children as well. I would recommend that you do it in a few years if you get the chance. I was really proud of myself.