Monday 7th July weigh in.

vegasmags - just a pound on is pretty good if you have had visitors. I have family here this weekend and have fallen off (jumped really) off the wagon with wine, bbq, home made sponge and blackcurrant pudding, oh dear! Don't think I want to weigh on Monday.
Eating sensibly is so much easier when we have no visitors and no alcohol!

I went to the Slimming World weigh in this morning and have put on a pound in a week - no surprise there as it's been a week of visitors. Still, I have lost 15 lbs since I joined at the end of January and will just keep plugging away. My BMI is now 24.7 so I'm quite pleased with that, although I know it's a fairly rough and ready measure.

k (not that it will help now)

[shoc] Are you very short? Are you sure 8 stone 7 is healthy?

I don't think you should lose any more.

I was 8st 7lb on Monday for the first time in years. I have lost over a stone in just over a year. I will try and maintain that on the 5:2 diet now.

I have become quite used to doing it. I might keep to once a week now and just up that to 5:2 before I go away to a weeks full board in August.

I don't want to lose much more. My trousers and skirts are nearly falling down. I don't know if I feel better but I do look better.

That is a very good video Notso. Doing it on a swivel desk chair added a certain something too. Feeling a bit seasick now.

Same here mrshat; I find it impossible to go away for a break and eat healthily; the exception being when we used to go to Crete and I'd do lots of walking. I must say I feel loads better since I started going to the gym again; not sure if it's going back that makes me feel better or if I'm feeling better therefore I'm going to the gym .

A long family weekend in Dublin followed a week later by 5 days in Portugal means an increase of 4 lbs. Now 12st. 5lbs again ................. This is a bit of a yoyo time for me. Feeling down!

Perhaps all of us will be crashing off the wagon on Friday, glass!

My fall off the wagon cost me 3lb I will be lighter next week!!!!!!!!!!

How good can I be on Friday at the North East GN meet up

Notso thanks for the courgette recipe. We too grow them and I will try your idea - might try an omelette style. I do grate them into salads sometimes (raw).
Sue thanks for the NHS website link - I have just been browsing it and it has some useful stuff. I am not sure about wheat these days - I think so many chemicals etc have been added to make it grow so big and disease free that it is very different from the wheat we had as children in the 50"s. I find if I don't eat wheat I actually have so much more energy and also get off to sleep more quickly! Weird!

Nearly mid-week. Keep going everyone!

sue, where is the part on myfitnessplan that gives you the info about such foods as the Jacobs flatbreads? Is it on the dropdown menu to the left of the page?

I do SW in principle as I found there no weighing approach led to large portions. The NHS Choices website gives a run down on all the well known diet plans giving advantages and disadvantages and its main criticism of SW was that it doesn't 'teach' portion control. So I started www.myfitnesspal.com to help with that and found that there were some foods (like Jacobs flatbreads) which would be a lots of SYNS on SW but were easily allowable under a calorie controlled regime. Being a positivist I like the scientific approach that says a calorie is a calorie so I combine the two although in reality its just healthy eating as advocated by the NHS. I would add I am doing this mainly for health reasons but not adverse to looking a bit less like a boiled pudding in jeans.

I'm having a recently discovered lunch today Nanabelle to use a glut of courgettes from the garden. Grate the cougettes and spread out on a tea towel for an hour or so to absorb the water from them. Then mix the courgette with a well beaten egg, a pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Fried in dollops using FryLight they make very tasty fritters. They're nice cold as well.

Another favourite is lettuce wraps. Needs to be Romaine or a similar lettuce with long, stiffish leaves. On each leaf put a tiny bit of mayo, a pinch of grated cheese and some chopped up shallot or spring onion....season to taste. Fold up a couple of times to make your wrap. 3 or 4 of these are surprisingly filling and take a while to eat because of the crunchy lettuce spines.

SueB - well done there - it's encouraging to hear. I went to SW when it was red or green (years ago). Do you do the modern one which seems to me to be everything but in moderation? I liked the red/green way best as it seemed to easy to understand.
I've eaten a lovely (huge)bowl of cherries today. I use fruit as my treat instead of chocolate/icecream/cake! I know it can be sugary, but at least it is natural! Getting a bit bored with cottage cheese now for lunch, must make some soups.

Any nice suggestions for lunches anyone?

You do feel a bit of a lemon walking about on your own with nordic poles Marelli...it's ok if there's a few of you though.

If I'm going out on my own for a walk I just use one pole, it's not so conspicuous, but still gives lots of support, especially on steps/slopes etc.

Glass I'd get puffed out fighting my way into a leotard (...do Evans sell them?) so we may need to have a re-think about a fitness DVD.

Notso, I've just had a look at the video - it looks very good - thank you! It's 'sticking' a bit on my wee laptop, but I'll have another look at it in the morning and hopefully it'll have settled down a bit. I'm starting swimming again (can only get there once a week but better than nothing).
I just keep thinking how Greatnan used to walk so much, and such long distances. I looked back at something she'd said about how sore and achy she used to be, with arthritis in her knees etc, but in time improved no end. She used her poles, didn't she? I think I might be a bit embarrassed walking through the village with walking poles (especially OUR village...)

notso We could always have a National meet up and do a work out and get Davina to do her "fit in 15" workout for us. (I might manage 15mins)

Do you think it would go viral

But on reflection I don't think I have enough energy left after running after 3 kids and 3 adults all week.

I rejoined my gym today; I had one months membership left but found out that, if I paid a small amount towards another years membership it reduced how much I had to pay. I find that I don't enjoy walking as much as I used to because of my knees and feet and, even if I lose weight I'm not going to tone up without the use of the machines at the gym. 1200 cals doesn't seem a lot; I'm so short that I bet I can only have 500 cals a day [no wonder I'm not losing weight]. I can't blame the weather for feeling so lethargic as I use that excuse when it's cold . Now to take the dog for a walk [again, something I don't seem to enjoy these days].

Nanabelle and glassortwo Thank you - I had hoped all the walking I did might have made a difference. Ah well, you can't knock down a coconut every time ...

I go to a chair aerobics class Marelli, it's just the job if your knees, hips, feet are sore.

I found this clip on Youtube which is similar to what we do, but we don't have the American 'Great Jarb' comments from the group leader
We do ours to music, usual something really upbeat and catchy. If you play the clip, it's a bit boring at first, but persevere as it picks up! Our class does this for about 50minutes and you know you've done it, so it must be doing some good!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7zCDiiTBTk

Glass......what do you reckon to a Gransnet workout DVD? Best Seller list by Christmas?

I'm giving the myfitnesspal.com a go. I've tried counting calories and over the last 3 weeks have lost little or nothing and have lost heart again. I see that for my age, height and weight 1200 cals is what's needed to lose about 2lb a week. I was working on 1200 cals though.... . Maybe doing it this way will do it for me. It'll maybe make me walk a bit more. But I have sore feet and knees - which, of course won't be made any better if I'm too heavy.

I seem to have no 'get up and go' at the moment; I don't know what's causing it. Am going to go to the gym now, that might kick start me into something.

I am back on track and lost 5 lbs over the last 2 weeks. Using SW principles but www.myfitnesspal.com to monitor calories and exercise- excellent site it divides up all your nutrients so you can see if you are on target/stroke missing something vital

Alas, I've always been a 'jump on the scales when passing' sort of person. What has changed as I've got older is that I no longer seem to weigh a lot less first thing in the morning than I do the night before; perhaps I eat more at night etc. And, of course I'm not working now and I was on my feet all morning when I worked.