Mango Protein Cookies

If you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen me post a picture of one of these cookies last week. I promised to give you the recipe so here it is.

Ingredients

75g low fat Greek yoghurt

100g honey

75g oats

75g protein powder

150g self raising flour

200ml almond milk

50g dried mango

Method

1. Mix together the yoghurt and honey

2. Stir in the oats. Mix until fully combined.

3. Add the protein powder and 100ml of the almond milk. Mix thoroughly.

4. Add the remaining 100ml of almond milk and the flour. Mix well until everything is combined into a sticky mixture.

5. Pull the pieces of dried mango apart so that they are in small chunks. Fold the mango  into the mixture and stir gently so that the pieces are distributed throughout the mixture.

6. Place a heaped tablespoon of the mixture at intervals on a large greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly with your fingers.

7. Cook in a preheated oven at 175 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until brown on top.

8. Allow the cookies to cool before removing them from the baking sheet. 

This was the first time I had tried baking with protein powder so I was really pleased how they turned out.

This was the powder I used

Feel free to use any unflavoured protein powder though. You could also use a different dried fruit if you are not a big fan of mango. I'm thinking of trying cranberries the next time I make these.

The recipe makes 18 medium sized cookies

Each cookie is only 79 calories each and each one contains 3g of protein. They are a really filling healthy snack and I will definitely be making them again.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 31 - Look At Where I Am, Look At Where I Started

Apologies for paraphrasing the musical Hamilton in my post title today! Haha, anyone reading this who's from the USA probably got the reference.

So there was no loss this week and the school summer holidays continue to prove to be difficult.

As I have said before, I knew the summer holidays would be very hard with no workouts and changes in eating patterns. Still some manic gardening and a day hiking around London helped to balance out eating McDonalds.

There are four weeks left until school starts and I already have my workout plans drawn up for then so it's just a case of hanging on for now. I have to admit my ex husband is taking the girls out for a day next week and my first thought was Oh My God, that means I can go for a run! 

On a long weight loss journey we are all going to have times when losing weight becomes more difficult whether that is for a week, two weeks or for the school holidays like me. The trick is to focus on the long term. You will get past the hard time. Also focus on what you have already achieved and remain proud of that even if you are not losing any further weight for a little while. So look at where you are, look at where you started and hang in there!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - Find A Way

So my motivation for this week is to remind myself that you will always find a way through, however difficult it may seem.

For me at the moment, this is mainly about getting through the school summer holidays and managing to stay on track. I've accepted that, with my daughter at home, my fitness routine is completely destroyed. I'm a self employed single mum with no family support. My youngest daughter has special educational needs so she needs me around during the day. My spare time is going towards working and earning enough to keep us solvent until September. My way of getting through this is to be a bit gentler on myself. I accept that losing weight will be difficult at the moment although I'm sticking to healthy eating as much as possible. Instead I'm keeping focused on the longer term and I know that when my daughter goes back to school, I will be able to push myself hard. Then the pounds will hopefully drop off!

Another way that this idea of finding a way through has motivated me is with food. When I started this weight loss journey, I found it hard to afford to buy, on a regular basis, the weightwatchers snacks on sale in the supermarkets. This led me to start creating my own recipes to make at home. If you have read my blog before then you will know that this has developed into a big activity for me and I am working on a recipe ebook at the moment. So finding a way through that difficulty has led me down a new and exciting path. 

Remember don't get disheartened! However big the obstacle seems or how difficult, you will always manage to find a way through if you try!

This is my mantra for the week ahead.

Stay motivated and have a great week! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

A Visit to Whole Foods Market

I spent Thursday in central London with my daughters. We were there to see the Dream Jars that are around London to advertise the new BFG film but I decided to combine this with a trip to Whole Foods at Piccadilly. We don't have any branches near us so it's a treat to go there.

Whole Foods Markets basically offer what their name says. This is a grocery shop where you can guarantee that the products do not contain trans fats, artificial sweeteners or flavors, colors or preservatives.

Whole Foods is also a great place to shop if you require a special diet. Plus there is a wide choice of artisans and specialist foods.

You can even buy hot food if you fancy lunch.

I just love browsing and looking to see what takes my fancy.

The choice of food available is simply staggering.

Some choices may not be the healthiest but they make an amazing treat.

I always find the fruit selection particularly tempting.

Another great thing about Whole Foods is the free samples. On our visit I got to try cold pressed coffee, fantastically creamy cashew milk which I bought and the most amazing chocolate bar with no sugar and extra protein which I also bought.

I really could spend a fortune in Whole Foods.

It is not a particularly cheap shop though so I try to limit myself though to things that I know I can't get anywhere else or new products that I haven't seen before. 

I always do manage to find something exciting to buy though.

This is what I bought onThursday. 

So if you get the chance to pop into a Whole Foods Market then I highly recommend it. I just wish that they would open one near my home now!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Overnight Oats

If you follow my Instagram account (fitter.thinner.happier) then you will have seen pictures of my overnight oats before. If you need a healthy breakfast that is prepped and ready for the morning then it really is a great option. Everything is made the night before so all you have to do is take it out of the fridge in the morning and eat it.

This is my favourite overnight oats recipe.

Ingredients

1 banana

50g oats

150ml almond milk

2 tsps honey

2 tsps almond butter

4 dates

2 handfuls of frozen berries

1. Mash the banana. Preferably use a hand blender to make sure there are no lumps

2. Chop or pull the dates into small pieces

3. Place all of the ingredients into an airtight container. I use a large lidded beaker.

4. Shake the container well.

5. Leave in the fridge overnight.

In the morning you can either eat the oats mixture straight from the container or serve it in a bowl

This is a really amazing breakfast. The oats soak up the milk and the flavours all mingle together. It's perfect too if you need to take breakfast with you as you can just carry it in a container. 

There are lots of different variations that you can try with overnight oats. I've used goats milk, fresh fruit and maple syrup before. It's worth experimenting to see what you prefer.

Let me know if you have tried overnight oats before. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 30 - Ooops!

So this week has been a blip. I put on three quarters of a pound. The good thing is that I can see exactly why it happened. It was a particularly inactive week as I was chained to my laptop trying to earn enough to get us through till the end of the month. Then I took my girls out on Monday and they really wanted to eat at KFC. I tried to pick the best option I could but in a week with no exercise it clearly made a difference. If I'm being honest then the jam doughnut I ate at the weekend probably didn't help either.

The thing to remember is that life is full of blips and this is all that this week is. I won't eat KFC every week and the week ahead promises to be much more active. So next week's weigh in should be a different story. 

The really positive thing that I have to report is that finally my knee seems to be 100% better. It has taken such a long time! So roll on 6th September when my youngest  daughter is back at school and I can really start to push my fitness levels. I am actually really looking forward to running again!

Hope you are all having a good week. Remember if you are facing a blip in your weight loss plans then don't give up, just refocus and keep going!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - Obstacles

If you are embarking on a long weight loss journey then it's inevitable that there are going to be obstacles in your way. For me the big obstacle is probably the lack of time to work out. We can also put up obstacles in our minds. That little voice that says to you that you can't do this, just give up. So my motivation this week is to look at overcoming those obstacles.

Sometimes, facing obstacles in life isn't always a bad thing. It can motivate you or help you change. When my ex husband walked out leaving me with a six year old and a three month old baby, I thought that being a single mum was the worse thing I would ever have to face. It's thrown numerous obstacles at me but it has also made me a stronger person. I'm independent, a bit bolshy and I make my own choices. 

I won't deny that it's been hard and sometimes it's taken me a long time to get over obstacles. In fact there are some that I am still trying to climb over at the moment. My weight loss is like that, it's why I describe myself as a work in progress. I know I will climb that wall even if I need a little rest along the way now and again. 

Here's some images that I made to motivate myself today

Hope you are all feeling motivated today. Remember you will get past obstacles in your way, keep focused on your end goal and accept that good things sometimes take time.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx