Dealing with negativity

When I say dealing with negativity, I'm talking both about how you view yourself and the response you get from everyone around you. 

We all have that little voice in our head that likes to whisper negative things to us. It might be when you look in the mirror and the voice says "well, you're still fat so you haven't achieved that much". It might be tempting you to break your diet because "it doesn't matter once". It might be whispering to you when you stand on the scales that "a pound off isn't much for all that work". We all get negative thoughts from time to time and if you learn the strategies to deal with them then they will quickly lose their impact and fade away.

Never look at how far you have to go, look at how far you have already come. I keep a transformation photo on my phone to remind myself what I have already achieved.

If you feel negative and tempted to cheat, ask yourself will it make you feel any better? Chances are, it will probably make you feel worse. Try and distract yourself or look for a healthy alternative such as fruit.

Never feel that a small weight loss is insignificant. Every pound takes you closer to where you want to be. Last time I felt like this I found a baking potato in my cupboard that weighed a pound. It really helped me to visualise the weight that I had lost and I felt much better. So don't think if it as losing just a pound, you've lost a potato! Haha.

Negativity from proplecaroundcyou can be much harder to deal with and I don't have an easy answe. I actually kept my blog and weight loss plan a complete secret for two months because I was scared of the reaction that I would get from some people. What you have to remember is that people are often frightened of change. So when they see confine trying to improve the self and their life, it's very easy to knock them and be dismissive. What I try to remember is that it is their problem not mine. Some people may even just ignore what you are doing. Remember you are doing this for yourself and not to gain their approval.

My advice is to just keep a focus on why you are doing this and your end goal. Ignore any negative people, in fact feel sorry for them. As Taylor Swift said so well "Haters gonna hate"

Hope you are all having a positive end to the week! Speak to you soon

Love Erica

Chocolate Orange Cake Bites

I actually started off creating this recipe with the intention of making biscuits. They turned out to be such soft little morsels of chocolate heaven that I've renamed them cake bites instead.

Chocolate Orange Cake Bites

75g margarine

2 eggs

60g milk chocolate

1 Orange

25g cocoa powder

350g self raising flour

3 teaspoons orange flavouring

1. Peel the orange and remove any seeds. Use a blender or food processor to purée the orange.

2. Mix together the eggs and margarine until combined.

3. Add the puréed orange and stir well.

4. Add the cocoa powder and flour. I used a hand blender to mix this.

5. Melt the chocolate either in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.

6. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and stir until fully combined.

7. Add the orange flavouring. Feel free to change the amount of this that you use depending on how strong you want the orange flavour to be.

8. The mixture should now be a soft dough. If you feel that it is too sticky to work with then add a little more flour.

9. Take small pieces of the dough, roll each one into a ball and then flatten it.

10. Place on a greased baking tray and cook for about 15 minutes at 175 degrees.

11. Allow to cool before removing from the tray.

These have a gorgeously rich chocolate taste with a subtle hint of orange. They are only two Weightwatchers Smartpoints each so they won't use all your points. Perfect for when you really need a little chocolate fix. 

The recipe makes 40 small cake bites. Let me know if you try making them. I'm off to have one now with a cup of coffee. Speak to you soon 

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 9 - Surprised Myself

Despite this probably being the most challenging week I've had so far, I've somehow still managed to lose a pound.

This means that I have now lost a total of 16.25 pounds in 9 weeks. 

Frankly I'm quite surprised. Work and a flare up of the tendonitis in my Achilles meant that I missed exercising for a couple of days. Plus I know I wasn't quite as strict with portion control as I normally am and at the weekend I had one day when I used not only my daily points but all my remaining weekly Smartpoints too! So it's definitely surprising but also pleasing too!

I'm so close now to getting under 16 stone that it's fired me up for the week ahead. I still haven't started running but that is definitely on the agenda for this week if it stops raining! I'm also going to spend some time today menu planning. I also want to make sure I have suitable snacks available as that was definitely one area that I found difficult over the last week and where I was tempted to cheat. I think I might need to do some more baking so watch out for new recipes on the blog!

So all progress is good.  Remember if you are on a long term weight loss plan, it's very important to celebrate all your achievements and ignore that little voice in your head that says it's only a pound. Every pound lost is another step on the way to your end goal! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Spicy Honey Beef with NoodleSlim Angel Hair

I love Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. It's the spices and sauces plus I adore noodles. I quite often use stir in sauces but the problem is that they often contain quite a lot of sugar which is not great when you are following the Weightwatchers diet. I had a go at making my own sauce and this was the result.

Spicy Honey Beef

4 tablespoons honey

8 tablespoons reduced salt soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 spring onions

Small handful of Mangetout

1 red chilli

1 stalk of lemongrass

3 cloves of garlic

Handful of beansprouts

200g beef

Quarter of a red pepper

1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice

1 packet of angel hair pasta from NoodleSlim

1. Mix together the honey, soy sauce and olive oil in a small bowl.

2. Slices the spring onions diagonally into segments.

3. Chop the Mangetout into sections, slice the lemongrass, red pepper and garlic, deseed and slice the red chilli.

4. Heat low calorie cooking spray in a large pan and stir fry the sliced vegetables for approximately 3 minutes then add the beansprouts and fry for another minute still stirring continuously.

5. Cut the beef into long strips.

6. Add the beef strips to the pan and cook until browned.

7. Add the sauce and the Chinese five spice. Stir until all the vegetables and beef are fully covered.

8. Reduce the heat slightly and cook for another 4minutes.

9. Prepare the NoodleSlim Angel Hair by rinsing it under warm water. Add it to the pan and cook for 3 minutes so that the Angel Hair is fully heated.

9. Serve on a plate and spoon over some sauce

I found that I only used about half of the sauce so I have only counted half the Smartpoints for it which gave a total of 14 Smartpoints for the whole meal. You could halve the ingredients to make less sauce if you prefer or simply add more beef to make it into a meal for two.

It was really filling and combined perfectly with the Nooodleslim Angel hair. Their products are all zero Smartpoints which make them the perfect alternative to lasts or noodles. They are also gluten free

Let me know if you try this recipe. I really enjoyed making it and definitely enjoyed eating it! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx.

Monday Motivation - Back on track after the weekend

I had a really busy weekend and it was a real struggle trying to keep to my Smartpoints. On Saturday I went to a surprise party for my aunt's 75th birthday. Sadly I discovered that party food is really not your friend if you are following the Weightwatchers diet. I hardly ate anything but worked out that I have used virtually all my weekly points now. Yesterday was Mothers Day in the UK so I went out for dinner with my daughters. This was easier to manage as I looked at the restaurant's menu online to check what I could eat. 

So I now have to eat very carefully for the next two days until my weigh in and pack in as much exercise as I can. So I am really in need of motivation to kick off my Monday. Here's some of the images that have motivated me this morning.

As usual, the images are not mine and you can find them on my tumblr account. Hope you all have a great and motivated Monday! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Measuring Up

One tip I've decided to follow is to look at my body size to judge my progress and not just rely on the scales. I know that scales can be deceptive sometimes as when fat is gradually replaced by muscle, the change in your weight may not always seem that big.

I didn't think to take my measurements before I started them but I did take them a month ago. I repeated the measurements yesterday and here is the two sets.

3rd Feb

Chest - 47 inches

Waist - 47 inches

Hips - 49 inches

Thighs - 25 inches

Calf - 17 inches

Upper arm - 14 inches

3rd March

Chest - 46 inches

Waist - 45 inches

Hips - 48 inches

Thighs - 24 inches

Calf - 16 inches

Upper arm - 14 inches

Inches lost in one month

Chest - 1 inch

Waist - 2 inches

Hips - 1 inch

Thighs - 1 inch

Calf - 1 inch

Upper arm - no loss

What interested me was the fact that generally there is an overall loss across my whole body with the exception of my upper arms. There is probably no loss there as they are more flabby and untoned rather than fat. I was pleased to see the biggest loss was around my waist as I do carry most weight there and I know it's one of the unhealthiest places to store fat.

I'm definitely going to keep taking the measurements every month. I'd recommend this to anyone trying to lose weight as it's another really great way to monitor your progress. 

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh in - Week 8 - Baby Steps are still better than standing still

I lost one and a quarter pounds this week. Yay me! It's good considering I still have raging PMT, feel bloated and this is the week in my cycle when I would have normally put weight on.

So this takes my total weight loss up to 15 and a quarter pounds in eight weeks. It's a steady loss which I keep telling myself is best as I know it's more likely to stay off. 

I've decided that I need to mix up my exercise for the week ahead. The cardio workouts and extra walking have had good results and I do feel fitter. I just don't want to get to the point where exercise becomes boring and is a chore. So I am finally going to be brave and start running again. I'm going to go to the park  as it will be kinder on my knees than the road. Also I will be less likely to bump into  anyone that I know. 

I think it's a good idea for anyone who is on a long term weight loss plan to try and keep things varied. This goes for food as well as exercise. Keep it interesting and you are much more likely to stick to your plan.

I'll let you know how the running goes. In the meantime, my baby steps are keeping me marching forward! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx