Oh my, they keep that long? That’s brilliant!

Jeez, it’s been a day of it for us all, hasn’t it? Must be something in the stars or something! I’ve just looked at my meal plan and it’s burger tomorrow… I was going to attempt those smug sisters baps, but after today? You know what? I’m going to have burger salad. Lol >.<

Hee hee burger salad sounds delicious anyway. Could make some yum healthy coleslaw to go with it instead😀 I might have burgers too 😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I had it the other night, I really enjoyed it too! The works on the plate, even gherkins! The other option is Seekh kebabs, that I made the other week, they were lush too if mega-spicy, little bit of greek mixed with mint to dunk them in, salad and a chickpea wrap. Or pork meatballs in a paprika-ey tomato sauce. All tried and tested meals, no baking, no failures, no disappointment, no diversion from the plan.

I know I am facing my first week without a weight loss. I’ve only lost 1lb this week since last Saturday’s ‘official’ weigh in and that was back on today. I need to up the exercise, I know I keep saying it but doing it is another matter. Maybe I need a no weight loss week to give me that kick in the bum, because there’s no way it will be happening two weeks on the trot, I tell you! If those scales are the same or up tomorrow morning, I’ll be dragging that treadmill into position and going for an hour’s walk!

Good one👏👏👏

Yes I think week 5 I only lost very little and I went into the following week with serious enthusiasm 😂😂😂 I’m going to do lots of exercise this weekend – you come too virtually 😹👍👍👍👍🙏🏻😂

most of us have weeks without losses, don’t overthink it just keep doing your thing!

Sometimes it’s the best motivation you need! I will try my best, virtually anyway. The reality is I will be mopey, in a haze of codeine and ibuprofen and hot water bottles, feeling very, very sorry for myself. But I will be there in spirit 😉

I know Izzy, you’re right. Hard breaking quarter of a century habits lol 😉 It’ll be fine. As long as there’s inch loss then the week won’t be a complete write off. And I know it will be a ‘lady pound’ anyway – fantastic.

Ah poor Lucky, well then it’s a mind yourself weekend and they’re important too 👏🏻👏🏻🛁🛋💐🙌🏽💤

Well, in theory anyway lol. Life usually has other plans though… I told my two eldest sons they were washing up tonight… Despite putting hot soapy water in a bowl ready for him, and everyone taking and putting their plates in the bowl, he still managed to wash up under the cold water tap (I made him do it again – degree level? My backside). And I think he may have used handwash to wash them too… And he asked where I kept the ‘flannels’ to dry the dishes. The younger son took about 15 minutes to dry 4 plates (we hadn’t eaten) and 4 sets of cutlery. Holding the plates like they were dirty and flicking the tea towel at them. So… not holding my breath for a weekend of R&R. No ma’am.

In other news, I have updated the FAQ’s to include new items. Interested?

check nigella’s olive oil cake could be done i think could use coconut sugar maybe

Sounds like they need a weekend of practice Lucky 😂😂😂👏🏻

New terms? Yes 👏🏻

Pot of Hurrah – Commonly served after successful avoidance of cake all afternoon.

Tutting at Wilted Kale – When something doesn’t quite meet your exacting standards. See: KALE; YANKEE CANDLES

How Much! – See: HOLLAND & BARRETT; ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TEXTBOOKS; JO MALONE CANDLES

Robes/Capes of Smugness – Items of clothing worn by those feeling righteously smug. This can be for cake avoidance, getting into a lower size, or just because they are of a smug nature, ordinarily.

Shameful Veil of Procrastination – When you’re just sat looking at a PC/phone/tablet screen, waiting for someone to answer your last post, rather than baking the pumpkin seed bread.

Meat Knot – Ahem…

Keep your Chickpeas Chunky – self explanatory. Don’t blend them to a pulp. Fool. Said in the manner of Gordon Ramsay.

The ‘Well, That Didn’t Work’ Cookbook – For the time being, a mythical, but also very real cookbook of BSD recipes that we hoped would work, but didn’t.

Farty Bread – A brocolli based flat-bread that smells of fart.

Always eat your Tuna armed with a Laser Pointer – For when cat based psychology is required.

Don your Pashmina of Determination – For when the going gets tough and you can’t have a biscuit.

A ‘Lady Pound’ – that random pound, or seven, that suddenly appear, out of nowhere, at that certain point in the month.

Cafetiere of Pffffffffft – SEE ‘POT OF HURRAH’. Then imagine complete opposite of.

Epic Fail Friday – Specifically relating to Friday the 15th of July 2016, which felt more like a Friday 13th July. A day where everything you cook goes spectacularly wrong.

Slippers of Despair – The footwear worn on an Epic Fail Friday whilst sipping from the Cafetiere of Pfffffffffft.

Like Paltrow’s foo-foo after a Steam Clean – a bake that is unfathomably dry after using coconut flour instead of almond. Because it’s cheaper. See: JANEY’S COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

Ooooh yes Josie. I think I’ve found it

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-olive-oil-cake

That looks do-able with coconut sugar but I would add it gradually and test the mixture. Reading the reviews, very promising indeed!

just make it out of grated courgette its fine

Heee heeee

I have had the BBQ of Challenge tonight (a new term?). This the BBQ where because of EFF (see list above) I had to literally hold myself back from devouring the whole meal rolls that were trying to ruin me. I had a chug of the OH’s beer but just a little sip (wanted a bottle to myself.. Boo hoo). On the upside, the fart breads saved the day when warmed on the grill and wrapped carefully around a sausage or two.

So I think I can wrap myself in a small cape of smugness at resisting the carb demon. Plus the cat legged it with an entire pork steak from the grill.. Stopped me from eating it!!

That sounds more like the BBQ of Nightmares! I think if faced with a barbecue tonight I would have cracked completely. Yes, a small to medium cape of smugness may be worn. Did you swear at the cat?

No I laughed at the cat. She is an unrepentant witch but lovable with it and at least it took my mind off the carb demon 😈

Ah. See, I’d have wrestled the cat to the death for the pork tonight. Please God, tomorrow, let me keep it simple. I think Tokyo actually went to bed at half four, you know? 🙁

I could eat something meaty.

Well she did threaten to. Maybe the Greek chicken was the final nail in the coffin?…

Well, I have been pro-active. I have cleared the five (FIVE!) coats that were hanging on my treadmill. One school bag. And one sleeping bag (don’t ask). There’s also a camping griddle pan wedged between it and one of the back doors. I am now going to turn it around and set it up. It’s a start, eh? And maybe on another day, I might switch it on!

Oh God. The chicken might have been crap too. Or maybe her husband made her a surprise fritatta seeing as she enjoyed the last one so much. That would have been the last straw.

Goooooooood Morning! Checking in with end of week 5 weigh (where has the time gone!)

As I suspected – no weight loss this week. The pound I lost over the course of the week has been gained in the form of a lady pound. Weight loss in 5 weeks – 25lbs. Silver lining? No weight GAIN this week! In no worse a position than I was last Saturday. Scales have been switched to kilos, and it’s quite a nice number to be starting from – 100.7. That gives me another ‘mini goal’ – to get that number under 100kg! I want my 2 stone by next Saturday.

Determined to walk this week. It’s there in the book. There’s no excuse. I have a treadmill, so I can’t blame the weather, lack of time, nobody to walk with. I just have to lift the Shameful Veil of Procrastination and walk a few feet to use it. Will check my weekly inches lost in a bit and report back later 🙂

Morning. I’m sleepy my son woke me at 0630 and I had stayed up till 0130. Silly Izzy. Oh well.

To put your loss in perspective… it’s taken me 3 months to lose 25lb’s so 5 weeks in you are doing amazingly! I’m sure you will see a good drop next weekend.

My treadmill currently has a clothes rack sat on it, but it is easy to remove and I do use it but I confess to slacking off a bit lately!

Yay a week of walking Lucky, Me too😃 The annoying up smiley face will be giving you high fives in no time hee hee

No gain this week is a success of sorts, especially with potential water that’ll disappear soon 👏👏👏

And it’s a Saturday yaaaaaay😹😹😹

Morning Izzy, oh dear lol. Were you being creative again??

Yes, you’re right. I am feeling ok about it honestly. It’s a lot of weight to have lost already. Plus, as I expected, it’s spurred me on to do some exercise this week, I’ve been out of the loop since before my 40th birthday. Want to make it a habit again. And I will be counting my calories a lot more carefully this week, I think a teeny bit of complacency has slipped in this week. Not enough to make me go over my calories necessarily, but I suspect that on some days, I haven’t eaten enough either! That can have an adverse effect too, can’t it?

Morning Eps! I should imagine it will, I’ve had nothing but passive aggressive comments off it all week… 🙂

Yep, could even be all change by as soon as tomorrow, that’s how this diet works 🙂 I’ve just been browsing my Readly app because they keep shoving new titles of magazines on with all their back issues as well, and I found some recipe collections, I think – but don’t quote me – they were Healthy Magazine specials. Some were GF and some were Diabetic, so I’ve downloaded them to my iPad ready to go through later and screenshot. Maybe find some inspiration within!

Go on Eps, challenge me to reach a number of steps today (within reason, not like 74,532 or anything lol) and I’ll see what I can do. You can reward me with virtual cake or something.

Made with almonds and coconut sugar, of course…

Ever see a grown woman throw a tape measure across a room before? No? Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

I’ve put between a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half ON! Every single body part except for my right arm! Right. This is WAR.

Hubby said, ‘Yes, it’s probably because you’re bloated.’ I must have shot him a very withering look because he added ‘Because of your period?’ hopefully, in the manner of ‘please let THIS be the right thing to say’.

Totally true though, like the extra water weight has to go somewhere smd most likely to go in fat cells as gets stored there, I think😂 Delightful eh! But I wouldn’t worry, it’ll all go, it’s just storage just in case of something I don’t know what. Dandelion tea is meant to be good for it, or fennel? Denny lovely, dandelion is.. An acquired taste😝

Ok, 8000 steps today – totally doable but will have great effect. Go team 👏😹👏😹😹😹😹😹😹

lol don’t kill him, he is trying to be supportive! those inches will be gone soon too. Don’t overthink it, our bodies will always fluctuate.

Yes I was creating 🙂 my replacement sewing machine pedal arrived so in order to test it (it’s old and not been used in years) I ran up a beanbag! just made it up as I went along using an old shirt and a pashmina type scarf, scavenging the beans from the living room beanbag lol so now I need more. I put it on my blog 🙂 Then I was trying to paint a phoenix on a coaster for my mother in law that she asked for. I got most of it ok but one damned wing caused so much trouble it got painted out and I went to bed. It’s still sat up in my loft with it’s one wing waiting for me to try again to paint the other lol.

Righto, 8000 steps it is Eps! I accept your challenge! I will post a picture of my UP thingy after. Somehow. I’ve just cleaned out BOTH my ‘full’ freezers! Shall we just say hubby has kept shopping last three times and after a little careful reorganisation, I now have a full freezer and a chest freezer with about seven things in it 😉 Found a lovely big freezer tub full of celery soup (nom) so that will do a light lunch for us. Burger salad for tea, for the simplicity of it so I’m not faffing in the kitchen, and at a push, hubby would be able to make it. Always thinking, see? 😉

Point me in the direction of your blog again, Izzy, I thought I’d bookmarked it but can’t find it 🙁

http://dragonflydreamseeker.blogspot.co.uk/ there you go 🙂

I haven’t pictured the troublesome phoenix yet tho

Bookmarked this time! 🙂

When you said bean bag, I don’t know why but I thought you meant like a little one, idiot I am. I have to ask now – how big is your living room bean bag??? To have scavenged that many beans out of it? Or is it now just… well… a bag? Lol. The picture of the dragonfly on the dreamcatcher is beautiful too 🙂

Right – the treadmill and my iPod beckon… make a start towards my 8000 step target! See you all later 🙂

You will get your 8000 🙂

Thankyou for your comment, and the living room bean bag was one of those xxl ones but it’s a very sad looking just now lol. I’ll get a pack of filling for it though soon.

Here I am! What a lovely lazy morning (no bloody stepdaughter getting us up at 7.30). We’ve just had brunch in the garden – smoked salmon, rocket, poached eggs 😋 OH had toast with him, I toasted the final fart bread which worked in principle but really doesn’t go with salmon. It’s relegated to the side of the plate…

Ignore the lady inches like you ignored the lady pound Lucky. And tell your hubby to come out from behind the sofa! Poor man is running scared.

Please can someone make the Nigella olive oil cake and let me know if it’s any good? Reckon it will be as she knows her way around a cake. I would cut down sugar (in whatever form) though as she does go overboard on it. Have done this on a previous recipe of hers. Anyway if it’s any good after one of you has tested it I will take one (not your one obviously) down to the Isle of Wight for my birthday next weekend 🎉☺️

I bet it is Izzy! Haha! I do things like that though, if I need to stuff a tiny knitted toy or tree decoration I have in the past washed an old pillow and used the stuffing rather than wait until I get to the market or craft shop lol 🙂 I’m kind of impatient like that.

Well, I did exactly an hour on the treadmill. Burned over 300 calories. 6313 steps today according to band, so not much to go, might have a ‘top up’ walk a little later but for now I am chillin’ with my homies and I am going to reeeeeeeeeeeead all afternoon! It was a dual purpose walk too, I got the angsty tunes on and I had a good sing along at the top of my voice. Killers, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco. Let a lot of the ‘lady rage’ out of my system! 😀 I think even my teeth were sweating! All good!

Brunch? In the garden? Is it only raining constantly in Wales or something? It’s very, very close though. Still waiting for my celery soup to defrost a bit.

I think Tokyo should make the cake. Where are you anyway, Tokyo? I think she needs a kitchen cake win more than any of us. She could take it into work with her and share it with colleagues so she doesn’t eat it all, and it might stop them offering her stuff she can’t eat. I am giving concoctions a miss this week now, I am sticking to the plan devoutly and the only thing I am cooking is the occasional chickpea wrap. All the reviews looked promising though Janey. I will definitely make it.

In my experience it rains in Wales 98.88% of the time!! Although it was sunny the day I went to Portmeirion. Justin Fletcher was trying to film some ‘Captain Adorable’ scenes and my sister and I shouted abuse at him as we didn’t know who he was or why he was dressed like a nutter! Well done on the walking so far today. It’s the roller disco later altho TBH I could happily spend the afternoon engrossed in a book too.

Where IS Tokyo?? She hasn’t been seen since vowing to end the day at 16.30 yesterday 😕

I am giggling here, I have inspired hubby to go on for a little walk himself. He has his headphones in and he’s having a … erm … marginally LESS angsty sing along than mine was? The Wanted. Three tracks so far. Bahahahahahaha! I kid you not.

JLS now!

Did you like Portmeirion? I love it there. I only live 30 miles or so from there.

I absolutely adore Justin Fletcher, I think he’s a comic genius and he is WASTED on children. Wasted. My favourite character he does is Dina Lady. Some of the looks he gives cracked me up.

Mind you don’t bump your noggin again. Didn’t knock any sense into you last time, now, did it? 😉

I hope she’s out shopping or something. Avoiding cake and will join us for a pot of hurrah late afternoon.

I adored Portmeirion, it’s like a grown up fairyland! My boy was only tiny at the time but he loved the mock ship down at the beach.

Executive decision made, I’m not going roller skating, the weather is too warm. I’m having 2 hours in the garden with a bit of peace and a book while those lot sweat it out in the leisure centre on wheels!

May pop a batch of the Paleo choc chip cookies while they’re away..

Wahooooo yay great walking Lucky, not far to go to target😂😂😂

Nearly there myself and it’s gorgeous and sunny here so will be out again later👏👏👏

So… About to have a massive tantrum at the fact that nowhere in this forsaken backwater actually sells almond flour when I stumble across a website that’s says it’s cheaper ‘and easy’ to make it yourself! 3 bags of blanched almonds from Aldi later and I’m ready to give it a go, under the strict caution not to overdo it otherwise almond butter will ensue. Hmmm, I think I may consign that to the ‘life’s too short’ file. It sort of works, but is an awful lot of faff! We shall see how the resulting cookies turn out….🤔

It’s nice here now too, eventually… still wet though.

Thanks Eps 🙂 I’ll do my top up walk after my tea 🙂 Burger salad, luvverly.

Has it worked Janey???

Seems to be ok! Thumbs up from the rugrats on the cookies. The flour isn’t as fine as purchased stuff tho. Worth remembering for desperate moments however!

A lot cheaper too, I’m sure! Hey, have you just had one of those paleo newsletters?

http://paleogrubs.com/seed-and-nut-sandwich-bread

Oh. My. God. I might revise my ‘no baking week’ decision… I bet THAT would be lovely toasted with peanut butter on.

so week 5 for me also and have lost 15 1/2 its but only 3/4 this week. Having a roast tonight with many vegetables no potatoes.

And so it goes on. well done on 25lbs thats truly amazing

Well done Josie, that’s a fab amount yourself! And at least you had a loss this week, three quarters of a pound more than I had!!! Always better off than on, no matter how small an amount it is. I’m determined now for this coming week, I’m going to wear that treadmill out 🙂 The diet isn’t enough, I need to show up with the exercise too.

hi everyone. I buy almond flour 4kg at once now along with piles of nuts as we all eat them. My husband tries to gain as I try to lose lol. This is the cheapest website I’ve found – it still isn’t cheap but it’s half the price of amazon and I really love some of the recipes I use it for. i justify the cost by remembering that I don’t buy juice/crisps/chocolate/general crap anymore, and this is healthful for the whole family as they all eat my stuff.

http://www.realfoodstore.co.uk/gluten-free-flours/

I like the look of the nutty bread recipe! I might give it a try, but not tonight.

Tonight I tried butterbean mash! It was nice but have to keep your portion quite small however really filling in fairness you don’t need much. I just cooked em, mashed em up with a little cheese, added salt and pepper – yum Some recipes online add cream but I liked my mashed potato plain so I’m guessing I’d not like that. More calories as well.

That does work out a fair bit cheaper, doesn’t it Izzy? I haven’t given the goodies to my children yet because only one actually eats nuts, and after the effort and cost, I don’t like the idea of them going to waste. I may try the next time I make a batch of something, cut it into four and see, but they don’t really eat that much cake or biscuits anyway really, they’re quite good with fruit (but the good stuff, no cheap 68p kilos of bananas for these, oh no… bloody watermelons, punnets of raspberries, cherries etc). Would be easier and cheaper if we all ate this way, because I’m still buying bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc for them.

My friend mentioned butterbeans last week, when I said I’d made my own baked beans, she said she preferred butterbeans over any bean. I don’t think I’ve ever tried them? I wouldn’t have cheese and I would have put cream in my mashed potato because I also don’t eat butter or margarine (unless baked!). It’s not a dietary thing, I had yellow jaundice when I was 2 and after that, wouldn’t entertain butter, margarine or cheese, despite eating them up to that point. Funny huh? People have asked if it was a dairy thing but I carried on with milk, cream, yogurt etc. Just wouldn’t eat it because I didn’t like the taste. Eaten dry bread for 38 years, I’m a nightmare at a buffet… well, I’ll be an even bigger nightmare now! I’m catering for my great nephew’s Christening at the end of August, that’s going to be fun and games! Was it a more passable ‘mash’ than cauli??

The bread does look good, it looks like bread and it looks like it might sustain – a) sandwich filling and b) toasting!!!! YAY!!!!!

If that bread is good, my and hubby’s Christening butties will be made out of it lol.