I'll do a blog post today...

... is evidently what I've been saying for the last sixteen days. I do this quite often. Return to my Blogger homepage and do a double take at the date of the last post.

Hallelujah. One day until payday. Gordon Bennett, it's been a long bloody month, hasn't it?

So, Slimming World. On the 23rd of December, I hit my 5 stone 7 lb weight loss. We had Christmas and the inevitable weight gain. Then I lost it the following week - almost. And since then, I have struggled, and I mean really struggled, for the first time since I started. I've had days where I've struggled, but not week on week. It has been so hard to get back into, since Christmas, and I didn't really go overboard! I only had three days 'off' and even then - I ate nothing compared to how I would have done any other year? So I can well understand how those who took two weeks off end up falling by the wayside. But I can't afford to do that. For one, I've come too far to mess up. And two. I've got no bloody clothes left :-)

What I'm eating, I can't fault. I haven't been overeating, nor eating for the sake of it. Everything is lean, everything is free food. I'm aware that I'm not eating enough speed some days. I'm not drinking enough water. I have been going way, way over my syns though. Not massively, and not even on naughty things, I'm not inhaling sausage rolls or putting a family sized pepperoni pizza in the oven just for me (yes, I used to do that). But I'm using syns in my cooking, and then eating my fifteen afterwards too, because I'm so used to having my little treats at night. Syns aren't just for Freddos, no, but if I want to use them for... avocado, olive oil, cornflour, cream cheese then I have to accept that my treats that day have to be fewer. I either make substitutions, which might end up in a mediocre meal, but I get to have a pack of Frazzles *eyeroll* or I have a meal that doesn't taste like disappointment. I can't have both.

This Monday, I lost half a pound. Not much, not great, but I was happy because it took me back to my Christmas weight loss. And I knew, this week was the week that I had to get my head back into it properly or I was at risk of losing it properly. The 'new members chat' didn't work this time, not like it had done before. So, in group, when a member asked for a SAS log, both Mr G and I asked for one too. I never saw the point before, I thought it was just like a food diary, but it really isn't. We have to fill them in with everything we eat, and answer questions about the food, is it speed? Is it protein? Free? Healthy extra? Did I measure it? Did I estimate the syns? And of course, with Mr G filling his own in, he's firing questions at me. Grapes are speed, aren't they? Are baked beans protein? I'm shrugging my shoulders. So, we're having to double check most things that go into our mouths this week. We'll see if it works results wise next Monday, but I can definitely say that it has worked getting us back into the groove of the plan and being more mindful about what, and when we are eating it.

We went out for lunch yesterday, my brother's treat, and I chose baked ham, egg, and I asked the waiter if I could swap my chips for a jacket potato. They said yes, so I did. Mr G still went for the chips though, which - is his prerogative, he has more syns than I do anyway, being a man. He was a bit blase about it, oh it was only a few, it'll only be x amount of syns, and I said 'do you have any idea how few chips 100 g is?'. So I showed him. I think he was a bit shocked. So, yesterday, his treats were fewer and he went off to work armed with lean chicken, and a grape and apple snack pack instead of his usual pack of Mini Cheddars. It's up to him whether it was worth it or not. To me, a random lunch out, not celebrating anything, just because, isn't worth ten and a half syns.

So, it's unlikely that I'll be getting my six stone award by our anniversary on the 2nd of February, seeing as there's only one weigh day before it... but we do get weighed the day after, so maybe by then? Or at least a lot closer to it than I am now.

Mr G has continued his cooking streak. The last three Saturdays I have had a meal prepared for me, the first week was the steak and chips. Two weeks ago he made this Tandoori Chicken Burger from the Two Chubby Cooks cookbook.

A whole chicken breast, marinated in a tandoori paste, with mango chutney and mint raita, and topped with a homemade onion bhaji and more raita. We served with salad and Slimming World frozen chips. They're ok to have as a standby in the freezer, but I don't think they're worth the price of a bag if you can find a decent chipping potato. The boy really did do good that day.

The following week he made the Chicken Tikka Masala from the Two Chubby Cubs book, and he made some of the bhajis from the above recipe to go with it. This was lovely too, and even the kids cleared it.

But this has to be our favourite. The picture doesn't do it, nor the taste sensation of the dish, justice. I am not being melodramatic, it was oh-my-Christ good.

The chips look crap but tasted nice. Hard at the moment to find potatoes that go golden and taste nice, but hey ho. This was Two Chubby Cubs Bacon Jam Bacon Burger. Christ almighty, I've never used so much bacon in a dish before in my life. There was bacon everywhere.

It was a homemade beef and bacon burger, topped with mozzarella (for Mr G anyway), bacon, onion and a homemade bacon 'jam' which was bloody lush. Salad, and ketchup (me) and chilli ketchup (Mr G). The recipe stated barbecue sauce but we're not fans of it, so we adapted. The only other thing we changed about the recipe was that I used all lean back bacon. I don't eat fat on meat anyway, SW or not, so streaky was out from the offset.

Buy the book, seriously. It's worth it for the stories and the Bacon Jam Bacon Burger alone, but there's loads more recipes in there on my list for the next few weeks.

Other recipes of note were the Pinch of Nom KFC Fakeaway chicken. I made up some gravy to go with it and the chips. I have a confession to make, I have never had KFC chicken. The only thing I have ever eaten from there, is a Zinger Burger. So when people say about the chicken, or how lovely the gravy is, I've got no point of reference as to whether this chicken was authentic tasting or not. Nevertheless it was very tasty and it's gone on the one to make again list.

And I also made a variation on the Pinch of Nom Oven Baked Smoked Salmon Risotto only I used fresh salmon in it, and flaked it up. Delicious. So good, I even made it again this week, and I had it for my tea the last couple of nights with veggies and salad. Doesn't look the most inspiring dish but it's so simple, tasty and ready in twenty minutes. Can't grumble at that, can you?

Sooooooooooo tonight is One Pot Creamy Leek and Sausage Bake from Two Chubby Cubs. Tomorrow is Chipotle Turkey Meatballs from Pinch of Nom, but I will sub pork mince in this. Saturday is Two Chubby Cubs Cheat's Lasagne and then on Sunday, Mr G has said that he will have a crack at Pinch of Nom's Crying Tiger Beef, which we will have with a salad. So four new recipes ahead of us, which is always a bit of a risk, but judging by the successes from both books so far, it's a risk worth taking.