Done with dieting

I'm not doing the Weight Watchers thing any more, haven't been for quite some time now. I was getting nowhere, making myself miserable and ending up binge eating on a fairly regular basis. Since I stopped dieting (and make no mistake about it, Weight Watchers is a diet) my weight has stayed stable, my binging has drastically reduced (I still have the occasional episode if I'm feeling really down) and I'm feeling pretty much OK about myself.

I had blood tests done a few weeks ago and all the numbers came back good except my cholesterol. Which isn't particularly surprising given that my fairly slim mother and average sized sister also have high cholesterol. What really pleased me was that my iron levels were good. I've been pretty anaemic for a long time because of my B12 deficiency problems (pernicious anaemia to be precise) so apparently eating what my body asks for rather than "what I should be eating" is a good thing in that department. The cholesterol issue though, well, when it was measured about a year ago it was significantly lower. And I know why. That was back when I'd been diligently avoiding saturated fats for a fairly long stretch of time. So clearly there is something I can and should do about that.

Here's what I figure I need to do:

1. No takeaway food! - Meal planning is the answer to this one, when I have a plan the groceries get bought and the cooking gets done even when I'm not at my best. There's something about not having to make a decision that makes all the difference. I've been posting my dinner plans here occasionally and I'll do that each week plus I'll make sure I keep the pantry and fridge stocked with a good selection of breakfast and lunch options so I'm not tempted to drop in at Maccas instead of coming home and making something.


2. Make sure I'm getting my 2 fruit and 5 veg a day - This happens best when I track my eating, I won't be counting points, agonising over whether something is core plan or not, or worrying about portion sizes, I'll just be writing it all down at the end of each day as a reminder to myself to fuel my body properly.


3. Avoid saturated fats like the plague - this is mostly addressed by the no takeaway point, apart from that, the main thing is I need to give up butter again (stop pretending I'm buying it for baking and then using it on my toast :P), pretty much everything else I buy is ok already.
   


4. And finally, lots of walking - Clara should be pleased about this :)

For now I don't really care whether or not I end up losing weight, I just want to see that cholesterol reading heading down again. I like the way I feel when I've been eating well and exercising regularly but I don't like the stress and pressure I feel when I'm constantly calculating points and having to assess every bite I put in my mouth, I just can't keep that up for too long and when I cave I binge. And that really sucks. Not going there any more. Just not. Luckily, eating well and exercising don't depend on doing the other!

Weigh-in week 10

I gained 1.9kg this week, but at least half of that was the yummy birthday breakfast cooked for me by Adam. I've switched to core and I'm happy to say I had no trouble what-so-ever staying on track today. I ate well, drank about 2.5L of water and walked from one end to the other of Hornsby Westfield several times over. Feels like a good start to the week.

More birthday reports tomorrow, I need to take a photo or two!

The lamb shanks were calling my name

We took David out for dinner at The Ranch after the session at the Anxiety Clinic because I'd promised to as a bribe/compensation for his co-operation in going there in the first place. The session went well, the other families involved seem lovely people, the staff were great and David was reasonably relaxed about being there. Hopefully over the 10 weeks we'll all learn some good techniques for dealing with the things that make Dave's life more difficult than it should be. It's on at a bugger of a time though, 6:00 - 8:00pm, not that any other time would work better given the both parents being there thing.

Breakfast
Banana & large skim cappuccino - 3pts
Lunch
Beef pho (I could only eat about 2/3 of it) - 6pts
Dinner
Slow braised lamb shanks with roasted root vegetables and parsnip mash and a glass of red wine - 16.5pts (mostly guesswork)
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
1 rice cracker and cheese - 1pt
Chai tea with honey - 3.5pts
Water
1.5L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 30.5

I really should have ordered a salad but my resolve was weak. I think I was a little stressed over how the afternoon and evening were going to work out, perfectly fine as it turned out but I was definitely craving comfort food. So I'm in debt 5.5 points at the beginning of the week and we have Tom's birthday party on Sunday - better get off my bum at some point and do some exercise!

Follow that wagon!

The WW wagon that is. It got away from me for a while there, I'm blaming a combination of school holidays, TTOM, Caitlin's birthday party and a particularly hideous urinary tract infection. All better now though, kids went back to school today, I'm past the "Oh, that's why I've been like a bear with a sore head for the last week!" stage of my cycle (why oh why does it ALWAYS surprise me, you'd think I'd be able to recognise the symptoms by now...) and normality has been restored - more or less - anything I still can’t cope with is therefore my own problem. Feel free to play identify the mangled quote in the comments ;-)

Yodaobi is still running the weekly challenges so I've taken myself back to square one and will be focusing on tracking again this week.

Good things about today:
1) As I dropped the kids off at school this morning I spotted a particular year 2 girl arriving with her mum. This was noteworthy and AWESOME because right towards the end of last term that child was being operated on for a brain tumor and I hadn't heard how things went - I'm not close to her mum but we chat occasionally. I was so very happy to see them, apparently everything seems fine now.
2) My gardeners came and made my yard beautiful. Every month it's like magic, I make them pot of tea and mowing, weeding, pruning all happens - just like that! They're lovely people too and worth every cent and then some.
3) My mother is awesome...as always. She came to help out with homework this afternoon and will be back tomorrow afternoon when I have to take David for his first session with the Macquarie Uni Anxiety Clinic. The program we're doing involves both parents as well as the child and runs once a week for the whole term, it wouldn't be possible for us to do it without my mum's help.

Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Warm potato salad with tuna, onion, asparagus, roast pumpkin and a lemon, mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing - 5pts
Dinner
Proscuitto wrapped chicken breast with cranberry sauce, spiral noodles with parmesan, garlic sauteed mushrooms, onion, snow peas and cherry tomatoes and one of the kids crumbed chicken fingers - 10.5pts
Natural yoghurt with maple syrup - 1.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Banana and cinnamon mountain bread wrap - 2pts
Carrot - 0pts
Water
1.5L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23

Incidently? Food today was not only on track but seriously yummy too.

Skip this one

I'm too tired to come up with anything other than the food diary...I wonder why that would be....

Breakfast
egg & bacon muffin - 4pts
Lunch
vegetable & barley soup and tuna & cheese on toast - 6pts
Dinner
2 lamb cutlets, corn on the cob, jacket potato with sour cream and peas - 7.5pts
pineapple and strawberries - 0.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
banana mountain bread wrap - 2pts
Water
2.5L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 21

Weigh-in week 7

Woot! Lost another 0.9kg :) Brings me to 9.1kg gone, dare I hope to reach the 10kg mark next week?

Adam's car is probably in the shop till Friday. Poor boy, having to do without his little red toy. He wanted to go visit the leather supplies shop and sailing bookshop place sometime this week, I might take pity on him and drag the kids around to do some daddy shopping one day. It's not like we have anything else planned and I'd quite like to see the leather place.

I went way over my 4 hours on the computer today, and I'm up well past 10pm too. Hmph, it's holidays :P I'll behave the rest of the week, need to make sure I'm out of the house for the larger part of the day - better plan some stuff to do with the kids.

Breakfast
lg skinny cappuccino - 2pts
Lunch
Tom yum soup with mushrooms, shallots and tuna - 4pts
Dinner
grilled barramundi, greek salad and 2 chips (stolen from Adam's plate) - 7pts
mango gelato - 1.5pts
Snacks
muesli, yoghurt and maple syrup - 5pts
milk for tea - 0.5pts
banana and apple - 2pts
2 Allens snakes - 1.5pts
Water
~2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23.5

I don't like Mondays. No, wait. Mondays good, sausages bad...

Nice quiet family day today. Lord of the Rings miniatures got painted, a BBQ lunch was eaten on the front deck, I did some grocery shopping and we walked to the park and played basketball.

I decided at lunch that I wanted one of the not quite so low fat sausages I get for the kids, I had plenty of points, what the hell I thought. Well. I remember now why I say I don't like sausages. Bleh :P Greasy and tasteless. I won't buy them again, it'll be Peppercorn Meat Company snags for all of us from now on.

I'm currently 2hrs and 35min into my allotted 4hrs of computer time and I'm looking forward to getting a decent night's sleep!

Breakfast
weetbix, apricots & milk - 3pts
Lunch
fillet steak, 4 seed roll, greek salad, 1/3 of one of the kids' sausages (YUK!) and BBQed onion, asparagus and yellow capsicum - 8pts
Dinner
wholemeal lavash wrap with smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, shallots, baby spinach and grated carrot - 5.5pts
haloumi cheese - 4pts
watermelon - 0.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
banana - 1pt
carrot - 0pt
pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 0.5pts
Water
3L
Exercise
30min walking with the kids and 30min resistance workout- 4.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 23.5

Dead car dinner delivery

I completely failed to actually buy the stuff I needed to cook the meal I had planned for tonight and when Adam asked what we were having for dinner I said all I cared about was not thinking about it. So we ended up getting Indian takeaway. And when Adam went to drive home from picking it up, his car broke down. And he'd left his phone at home. Fortunately the restaurant is within walking distance of our place, so he did the heroic thing and delivered our dinner on foot. I doubt it makes up for the 2 samosas he ate though. He's left the car in the carpark, and seeing as tomorrow is a public holiday we'll deal with it on Tuesday. At least it didn't die before he got home from his sailing course, it would've been so much fun to bundle the kids into my car and drive for 45 minutes to fetch him.

Breakfast
egg and bacon muffin - 4pts
Lunch
Rice paper roll - 1.5pts
4 seed bread roll with ham, cheese, tomato, baby spinach and dijon mustard - 3.5pts
Dinner
Indian takeaway (including a samosa at 4.5pts) - 16.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
banana mountain bread wrap - 2pts
Water
2.5L+
Exercise
30min walking with the kids - 2 bonus points
30min resistance workout - 2.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 28.5 (used 3.5 bonus points)

I really shouldn't have had the samosa.

Yoda's weekly challenge - week 5
My challenge to myself for next week is to keep my computer time each day to less than 4 hours and to be in bed by 10pm each night.

Quick! Look over there!

While I quickly document the stuff-up that was Friday...

Wait a minute, you're still here. Never mind I'll leave the confession till the end of the post. Perhaps you'll be bored by then and won't bother reading it, she says assuming that anyone bothers reading any of the food diaries...interesting question - does anyone read them?

So, today, better than average, expensive though. Why am I such a sucker for indulging my kids when they so don't need any more STUFF!? Caitlin got her ears pierced (that was planned - early birthday present type thing). Then we had gelato...it was necessary, really. Next was buying a birthday present for one of Caitlin's friends. Then I was planning on grabbing some groceries and heading home for lunch. So someone explain to me how I ended up not only buying the birthday present in question but also: putting on lay-by a huge lego set for Santa to bring David (had to be sneaky about that one so Tom wouldn't notice); buying a Smiggle eraser (for Tom) and gel pen set (for Caitlin) that neither of them needed; agreeing to a free model painting lesson at Games Workshop (Tom painted Gandalf and Dave painted Gimli) and getting slowly worn down by the fact that both the boys had so much fun doing the painting and then joining in one of the games that was running at the time, such that by the end of the exercise I was walking out of the place having spent a ludicrous sum of money on small plastic figurines and painting supplies; and then finally canceling a lay-by at another shop and letting Caitlin spend the non-refundable deposit on yet more stuff we don't need.

On the up-side Caitlin declared to me today that I am the best mum ever. And I don't think it was ONLY her mercenary streak speaking....

The boys just squabbled over the miniatures.

Bored yet? Here's Friday's food diary.
Brunch
Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, spinach and capers on an english muffin - 9pts
Dinner
Sushi and sashimi - 6pts
BBQ chicken and greek salad - 10pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Muffin Break WW muffin - 3.5pts
McDonalds chip stolen from kids - 1pt
rice crackers and french onion dip - 10pts
low fat brownies - 6pts
bread roll with butter and vegemite - 3.5pts
Hot chocolate milk - 4pts
Water
no idea, plenty though
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 54

Holy crap. Bad day.

Today on the other hand? Back on track and doing fine :) I'm not sure if this is the first time I've managed to come back from a full-blown binge and be back on track the very next day, I suspect it may be, anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Breakfast
weetbix, two fruits and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Pasta in tomato and herb sauce, low-fat roast potato, greek salad and a small piece of garlic bread - 9pts
Dinner
Crumbed fish, homemade wedges, peas carrots and tartare sauce - 8pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
low-fat brownie - 2pts
mango gelato - 1.5pts
Water
~2L
Exercise
Lots of walking at the shops
Total points for the day: 22.5

Yikes! I just remember the cats are still outside and have probably given up on dinner and gone for decimating the wildlife instead - bye!

Huntsman season is upon us.

Adam and the kids were in the lounge room watching The Two Towers tonight while I hid in the study. There comes a call summoning me, daddy is no good, this is a job for mum. What job would that be I hear you ask? Huntsman spider removal of course. Adam does cockroaches, I do the spiders in this family. And here comes the good part, I now know I'm a real blogger because I made Adam get the camera and document the event.

First huntsman of the season

Aside from pest control duties, today I have bought birthday presents for Caitlin and Tom, booked Caitlin in to have her ears pierced (much to her surprise, I'd been giving the impression I was going to make her wait till she was 16) and got my hair cut and coloured. It's shorter than it's been in a while, the colour is burgundy with blonde foils.

New Hair

I seem to have broken the kids, David has blisters and Tom was in tears with leg cramps at school yesterday, so I thought better of making them walk to school this morning and it turns out I must have needed a break too because I haven't done the resistance workout or the treadmill walking instead of the walk to school that I intended to do today. Which is fine, I'll get back into it tomorrow.

Wednesday
Breakfast
baked beans with onion and bacon on toast - 5pts
Lunch
Lamb casserole with couscous - 6pts
Dinner
Peppercorn meat company italian sausages, jacket potato with sour cream, corn on the cob, broccoli and carrots - 6.5pts
Strawberries & banana with natural yoghurt & maple syrup - 2.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
low-fat brownie - 2pts
chai tea with honey - 2pts
Water
2.75L
Exercise
60 minutes walk - 5.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 25

Thursday
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Sushi and rice paper roll - 7pts
Dinner
Lamb mango curry with snow peas, carrots and capsicum, rice and mango chutney - 12pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pt
pretzels - 0.5pts
miso soup - 0.5pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
Water
2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 25.5 (used my saved half point from Tuesday)

My treadmill is trying to escape

As I walk it creeps backwards because the floor is slightly uneven. Tonight it added to its repertoire by taking a turn to the left and attempting to break out through the back door. I'm not sure what to do about this as it's bound to get worse as I start walking faster, using the incline more and who knows maybe even running eventually. Maybe we need to chain it to the wall or something. I have visions of it as a pathetic tormented figure struggling in vain to break free from oppression, either that or it figures as an instrument of torture, take your pick....

Breakfast
egg and bacon muffin - 4.5pts
Lunch
Tom yum soup with tuna, mushrooms and shallots - 4pts
Dinner
Proscuitto wrapped pork fillet baked on a bed of red onion and apples served over baby spinach and accompanied by mashed potato, mashed sweet potato with nutmeg and steamed asparagus. Then banana and papaya with natural yoghurt for dessert - 11.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
water crackers and cheese - 2.5pts
dried cranberries - 1pt
Water
3L
Exercise
30 minutes 2.6km on treadmill, 20 minutes upper body workout - 4 bonus points
Total points for the day: 24.5

First, find the DVD...

It took me nearly 45 minutes to find the bloody DVD for the resistance workout I'd planned to do today, I found several other long-missing objects in the process, and in the end it was Adam who found it - in a pile of stuff I'd only gone through twice. Then I did the workout and some extra sit-ups and reverse crunches too :D Walking the kids to school went well, David and Tom were only pissed off at me for the first 5 or so minutes.

I went out for lunch with Jen today, we were supposed to be going to a Japanese place and having sushi, but when we got there the restaurant was gone! So we went to Blue Water Grill instead. The menu there is a mine-field of deliciously tempting evil food, I went with a grilled barramundi burger and Jen stole half my wedges so it was all good in the end (actually it was pretty good at the time too, seriously yummy food that place has).

Breakfast
weetbix, apricots and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Fish burger and wedges - 12.5pts
Dinner
Spiral pasta bolognese + parmesan; tomato, basil and bocconcini salad; green salad with avocado; olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing - 7.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
1/2 slice of fruit toast - 1.5pts
Water
~2L
Exercise
40 minutes walk, 30 minutes resistance workout - 5.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 25.5

Exercise Challenge

Ok, here's my version of this coming week's Yodaobi's Whacky Weekly Challenge. I'm not up to doing a virtual climb of the Skytower (don't ask, it's in New Zealand somewhere...) so I'm setting myself the more realistic challenge of coming up with an exercise plan and, you know, actually doing it.

Monday
Walk kids to school in the morning - 40min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Tuesday
Upper body weights in the morning - 20min
Walk on treadmill in afternoon/evening - 40min
Wednesday
Walk kids to school in the morning, take long way home - 60min
Thursday
Walk kids to school in the morning - 40min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Friday
Lower body weights in the morning - 20min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Saturday
Walk with kids to the park and play basketball - 30min + until we get sick of it!
Abs in the evening - 15min
Sunday
Upper and lower body weights in the morning - 60min
Walk on the treadmill in the afternoon/evening - 40min

Alright, it's on the ambitious side, but I figure why aim low? I won't be devastated if I don't manage it all, but you never know till you try! If the weather decides to be unhelpful with all the walks with the kids I'll do my best to replace them with treadmill walks.

WWC Wk3 Day7
2 serve of fruit and 5 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Toasted sandwich with tomato and onion flavoured tuna, capers, mushrooms and cheese - 5.5pts
Vegetable and barley soup - 1pt
Dinner
Fillet steak, haloumi cheese and avocado salad - 5.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
banana and mountain bread wrap - 2pts
rice paper rolls - 4.5pts
2 Allens snakes - 1.5pts
Water
2.25L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23.5

Bit better on the food front today. I had major cravings for double chocolate fudge brownies this afternoon while I was at the shops. I bought rice paper rolls instead, not quite the same I have to say LOL.

No comment.

WWC Wk3 Day6
1 serve of fruit and 3 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, 2 fruits and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Small serve of low-fat neapolitan pasta, baked new potatoes, greek salad and a slice of chicken and mushroom pizza - 9pts
Dinner
Combination long soup, 1 spring roll, plus a little bit of salt & pepper squid and mongolian lamb - 13pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
small cappucino - 1pt
Water
1L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 26.5

hrmmmm.

It's been a long week...

TGIF! It's still Friday as far as I'm concerned, after all it can't be tomorrow yet, I haven't been to sleep!

The Whitlams playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was fabulous, I've had a lovely night listening to some great music and drinking way too much coffee. See, we got there early and had to fill in time and then afterwards we really did have to have coffee and dessert with Di and Brendan, so it couldn't be helped!

I am so in for a major coffee withdrawal headache in the near future, I've had at least one every day this week and my usual intake is more in the order of one or two a week.

The night out has done me good, I'm feeling much more relaxed and can almost imagine liking the kids again :P We have two birthday parties to shop for tomorrow so if I survive that I'll be doing very well indeed. Wish me luck...

WWC Wk3 Day5
2 serves of fruit and 5 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, apricots and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Baked beans (a whole big tin) and 2 slices of toast and vegetable & barley soup - 8pts
Dinner
Wholemeal lebanese bread pizza with onion, mushroom, capsicum, fresh basil, marinara mix and baby bocconcini and salad with low-fat caesar dressing - 7.5pts
Snacks
banana and mountain bread wrap - 2pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
small f/c flat white with 2 sugars - 2.5pts
1 slice italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip - 5.5pts
olives - 0.5pts
long black with 2 sugars - 0.5pts
1/2 serve chocolate meringue torte - 6pts
Water
1.5L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 36.5
Okaaay, I'm allowed 25 points, so that's 11.5 over, but I had 6.5 saved points up my sleeve so I'm 5 points in debt with 3 days to catch up - no problem :) I had serious comfort food cravings at lunch time, hence the whole tin of baked beans thing. What? Don't look at me like that, I happen to have a cast iron digestive system and I LIKE baked beans. So there :P The points for the torte is a total guess based on average points values for serves of various cakes in the Eating Out guide and I only ate half 'cause it wasn't that great and I'm blowed if I'll waste points on something that isn't the best.

Let's play traumatise the kids!

I lost it tonight, in a loud and unreasonable manner, much yelling, sarcasm and hyperbole about just how hideous they all are. I need a holiday :( Later, as I was putting them to bed they each apologised for their behaviour and we promised each other to make tomorrow a better day. I think I'd better say sorry for my part in it in the morning. I hate that I don't seem to have enough emotional energy to keep my focus on the WW stuff and still have enough left over for the family, of course being sick and Adam being away hasn't helped this week but even so, I should be able to do better than this.

Edited to add: It would seem my kids are not all that unusual, Mir has clones of them

Stuff that made me smile today:
1. Jen was at ezy-dvd yesterday and emailed me to say "got chatting to the guy there when I saw they had these cool Stargate mouse mats to go with S10 (Ben!!!). Explained that I was borrowing the whole series from you so he gave me two of them - one for me and one for "my nice friend"!" So now I have an SG-1 mousepad.
2. I was in Bunnings this morning buying plastic sheeting to line shelves in the uniform shop and found myself standing in the line for the checkouts behind one of the mums from school. She says to me "I like your t-shirt". This was significant because I was wearing the caffeine t-shirt from ThinkGeek and that's the first time some-one from my non-net life has understood what it was without me explaining.
3. Adam came home and told me about the presentation he did on Wednesday. Apparently it was very well received...he dressed up as a pirate and told everyone they could ask questions at any time during the talk on one condition, they had to do so in pirate speak :D

WWC Wk3 Day4
3 serves of fruit and 6 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
2 slices wholemeal bread with onion & tomato flavoured tuna, mushrooms, capers and cheese, grilled and vegetable & barley soup - 6 pts
Dinner
veal casserole with onion, tomato, mushrooms and capsicum on fettuccini with steamed asparagus - 5pts
banana and natural yoghurt with maple syrup - 2.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
2 fresh dates - 0.5pts
1 slice think fruit toast - 3pts
Water
2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23

Note to self:

No matter now many times it is said, or how clearly or with what warnings of dire consequences the kids will NOT take seriously the idea that they should refrain from endless demands to buy things we don't need (or I don't approve of) at the supermarket. *sigh* The fact that they were only with me because it was grandparents day today and I was conned into taking them home with me after lunch - a 1.5hr early mark! - made it all that much more fun. That and the sinus headache which made bending over to put things in the trolley so enjoyable.

In other news, I've instituted a computer and TV ban for a couple of days with a view to doing some fine-tuning on attitude and sibling relationships. The boys have been in constant conflict, I am greeted most mornings by them screaming at each other while I'm in the shower and nearly every interaction between Tom and either of the other two seems to end with Tom in tears. David oscillates unpredictably between being helpful and pleasant or being rude, aggressive and sullen. Caitlin, well, aside from giving me the look of death every time I try to poison her with new food and the whole making Tom cry thing, she's been ok. With any luck they'll be human again by Friday.

WWC Wk3 Day3
Two serves of fruit and 6 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
Egg and bacon muffin - 4.5pts
Lunch
Wholemeal lavash wrap with extra light Philly, smoked salmon, grated carrot, shallots, capers, rocket and baby spinach - 5pts
Banana - 1pt
Dinner
2 Peppercorn meat co. Italian beef sausages, onion, mushrooms and zucchini sauteed in olive oil, mashed potato and mashed sweet potato - 7.5pts
Cadbury turkish delight ice-cream tub - 1.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
4 fresh dates - 1pt
Water
2.75L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23

Weigh-in week 5

A loss of 0.2kg today for a total of 5.7kg gone, bloody miraculous I call it considering how the second half of last week went. I'm going to go back to tracking here in blog-land I'm afraid, seems work best with the keeping me honest thing. I shall endeavor to include witty anecdotes (or something anyway) with every post in order to break the monotony.

WWC Wk3 Day1&2
The focus is on 2 fruit and 5 veg per day this week. Monday was ok with 3 fruit and ~4 serves of veg. Today I've had 2 fruit and 6 serves of veg.
Breakfast
Large skinny cappuccino - 2pts
Lunch
Tom yum noodle soup with prawns and a banana - 7.5pts
Dinner
2 teriyaki chicken kebabs, rice and stir-fry veg with hoi-sin sauce - 10pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
pear - 1pt
sugar for coffee - 0.5pts
vegetable & barley soup - 1pt
Water
~2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 22.5

Someone scored big at the shops today

Caitlin showing off her new skirt, top and completely inappropriate high-heeled boots.

Actually several someones, none of them me, did quite well out of the shopping expedition today. Caitlin ended up with 3 pairs of shoes including the boots in the photo which have heels much too high for her age (nearly all her shoes are either falling apart or getting too small) and a dress, 2 skirts and 2 tops none of which she really needs. All 3 kids got new bike helmets and knee and elbow pads. Dave and Tom got new pjs, sunnies, shorts and belts. We bought TMNT, Space Jam and a PS2 Buzz Junior robot game from JBHiFi. And all I got was some medication from the chemist. But I had fun indulging them and they were all very well behaved, particularly the boys sitting through interminable shoe trying on by their sister - the young guy serving commented on how good they'd been, at which point they of course started to poke each other and whinge, but up till then....

One last food diary:
WWC Wk1 Day7
Breakfast
Eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomato and an english muffin - 5.5pts
Lunch
Cape fruit and nut roll from Bakers Delight and a lg skim cappuccino - 6pts
Dinner
Crumbed chicken topped with ham and low-fat cheese, WW oven chips, corn on the cob and salad - 8.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Banana mountain bread wrap - 2pts
apple - 1pt
Water
2x750ml
Exercise
Nil

Total for the day: 24

Public holiday = BBQ party!

Friday was a no-blog day because I spent the morning frantically cleaning up and shopping, as one does, in preparation for having close on 20 people, mostly Browncoats, over for a BBQ in the afternoon and evening. Everyone who came brought with them vast quantities of gorgeous and for the most part healthy food and despite my original intentions to track points come hell or high water, I caved and just stopped worrying about it. There were vegan cupcakes cooked by Susan, vegan slices, salads and NOT-meatballs invented and cooked by the very talented ZB, Crusty Meatloaf & Lecso (capsicum and sun-dried tomato thing) courtesy of ozfinn, kebabs from Dana, vegetable lasagne and mint-slice from jacqfly, tuna slice from buffiness, and much more. We ate, drank, talked and then did it all some more, it was an awesome afternoon and night, despite the rain, and the food was delicious...so I wouldn't let anyone leave without taking their leftovers with them LOL I even made a couple of them come back when they'd almost made it to their cars and take away Pringles and Kettle chips that they left behind!

Adam is off doing a 2 day sailing course this weekend so I'm home with the kids with nothing planned. Today I've sorted through both the boys' and Caitlin's wardrobes getting rid of the stuff that doesn't fit any more and working out what we need to get for summer. If I'm feeling enthusiastic tomorrow we'll go clothes and shoe shopping for all.

Just before lunch today I managed to muster up the energy to go outside and throw a ball around on the cul-de-sac with the kids, which is something I almost never do. It was so unusual that my eldest asked if we could please do it again sometime. This made me feel simultaneously sad that I haven't done it more often and happy that I'm starting to now. I was thinking about it, and realised that, being the selfish creature that I am, and not really being particularly fond of very young children the reason I haven't done much of that kind of playing is that I simply haven't enjoyed it before. But this was genuinely fun for all of us. I reckon I'm really going to enjoy the next few years...and then along will come adolescence - eeep!

One more day of this first Wacky Weekly Challenge to go so tomorrow will be the last food diary I'll be blogging, next week is exercise! Here's the damage for yesterday and today:

WWC Wk1 Day5
Breakfast
weetbix, milk and peaches - 3pts
Lunch
Tom yum soup and a mountain bread banana wrap - 6pts
Dinner
Let's see, there was orange and fig slice, chocolate cherry slice, raspberry coconut slice, peanut butter cupcake, mexican chili chocolate cupcake, marinated mushroom salad, citrus coleslaw, tofu-tahini-walnut-olive balls with tomato sauce, garden salad, lecso, a low-fat sausage, lamb capsicum and mushroom kebabs, vegetable lasagne, mint slice, king island brie and water crackers, fruit salad, a small glass of mead, many cups of tea...and ONE corn chip. And I have absolutely no idea how many points were involved but I'd go with LOTS as a good guess and it was worth every single one of them!
Water
3x750ml, I think
Exercise
frantic cleaning of house for 2 hours

Total for the day: 9 + LOTS = buggered if I know!


WWC Wk1 Day6
Breakfast
weetbix, milk and peaches - 3pts
Lunch
2 sushi rolls, a few hot chips stolen from Caitlin and pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 6.5pts
Dinner
Barrumundi pan fried in a little olive oil with garlic, dill and lemon, left-over garden salad with low fat caesar dressing, left-over low fat sausage with tomato sauce on a slice of bread - 11.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pt
apple - 1pt
pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 0.5pt
Water
3x750ml
Exercise
Played ball on the cul-de-sac with the kids for 30 minutes

Total for the day: 23