Keeping up appearances.......

Dolphin1

Day 7...

1) No chocolate, sweets or biscuits.
2) No cake.
3) Light off at 10.30pm but was up and down during the night with the cold and then awake at 5.30am getting a lemsip. Feeling bleurgh today.
4) No meal planning necessary as already done for the week .
5) No spends on other people.

joeyjimbles

Oh you are inspiring ladies.

Dolphin - I'm not a big fan of sausage casserole either, something about wet sausages I think though it doesn't stack up as I don't mind them with onion gravy. But I do like them cooked with lentils as they sort of sit proud of it when its all done IYSWIM. Nigel Slater has a couple of good recipes. And any leftover lentils can be whizzed into instant soup.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Oh you are inspiring ladies.

Dolphin - I'm not a big fan of sausage casserole either, something about wet sausages I think though it doesn't stack up as I don't mind them with onion gravy. But I do like them cooked with lentils as they sort of sit proud of it when its all done IYSWIM. Nigel Slater has a couple of good recipes. And any leftover lentils can be whizzed into instant soup.

Thanks, sounds good but the mere mention of "lentils" to OH and he pulls a face. You are probably right about the wet sausages, they aren't as nice.

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

What a fabulous arrangement!
It is! Every night between 8 and 9pm I text my neighbour to tell him I'm ready for off, which is his cue to let his dog out. Apparently as soon as he hears the text tone the dog starts yelping and jumping around, scratching at the door to be let out! I've had to tell the Happy kids to build this into their routine while we're on holiday, I couldn't handle the guilt of disappointing the dog!


The first one was a collie cross German shepherd and I'll go to my grave missing her. A wonderful, wonderful dog, all heart, the kind of dog people dream about finding when they rescue one.
I do love my current dog, but my absolute heart dog was three quarters collie and quarter dalmation. Like yours, she was the dog everyone dreams of. Brilliant with the kids when they were small, could take her anywhere. She died in 1999 aged 12 and it broke my heart.

Honey_Bear wrote: »

[/LIST]
Walking (and swimming) are much, much better for you than running. I know running's fashionable but the damage it does to the skeleton is horrendous; like The Plank, honestly, being fashionable doesn't make it a good idea. Walk, talk, enjoy it and you're also more likely to do it again next week; get hot and sweaty, come home and fill up with junk food because that's what we all do after extreme exercise and the whole thing is a pointless exercise - see what I did there. Gotta stop this word play thing. It's driving me mad.
I know, but I DO enjoy my weekly run. It started eight years ago when I did the Race for Life and realised what fun it was and how great it feels afterwards. I wear good trainers and our route is a properly surfaced woodland/canal path to minimise the impact. Depending on route variations it is between 3 and 4 miles which is about the most I can comfortably do, and even then there are walking breaks so it's not really extreme. I think in the long run (yay, I got one in) the benefits outweigh the disadvantages for now.

All sounding good at your end Honey

HappyNow

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Well done on the meal planning! :j Hope you make it through to payday with minimal spends. There's nothing wrong with "frozen fish and pasta with mushy peas" _pale_.

Master Happy has eaten the fish and it wasn't even Wednesday. And I completely forgot to buy the rhubarb crumble ingredients. I think I need a lock for the kitchen and an internet shopping routine before I'm any good as a meal planner. And internet shopping is out of the question because the vans couldn't get down our lane. I have hidden some food in my wardrobe, but as it isn't refrigerated that's not really the answer!

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Maybe you should give up your target for the sit-ups. I can't recall you doing them once yet . They can't be good for your back anyway.
You shamed me - I've done them for the last two days, twice per day. Also it finally struck home that a month from now I will NOT be wearing baggy black jumpers so I need to put the effort in.

.

Hope your cold is better, it seems to be dragging on a bit. And congratulations on your cake discipline, very impressive. Are you trying to lose a bit of weight, or just eat healthier? Personally I know I eat WAY too much sugar so although I'm not overweight (genetics, not effort!) I need to be kinder to the old body.

HappyNow

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Oh you are inspiring ladies.

Dolphin - I'm not a big fan of sausage casserole either, something about wet sausages I think though it doesn't stack up as I don't mind them with onion gravy. But I do like them cooked with lentils as they sort of sit proud of it when its all done IYSWIM. Nigel Slater has a couple of good recipes. And any leftover lentils can be whizzed into instant soup.

Hello joeyjimbles, thanks for popping in - especially as you called us inspiring . I love lentils and I find that the meat-eaters in the house like the texture and 'meatiness' of them so they're quite a staple round here. I have a veggie and lentil chilli recipe that I use all the time. I will have a look into Nigel Slater to see if any of the recipes are veggie-friendly .

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Hope your cold is better, it seems to be dragging on a bit. And congratulations on your cake discipline, very impressive. Are you trying to lose a bit of weight, or just eat healthier? Personally I know I eat WAY too much sugar so although I'm not overweight (genetics, not effort!) I need to be kinder to the old body.

Well done on the sit-ups, about time too !

The cold is still hanging on in there. Thankfully, the sore throat has gone but my nose is now running like a tap :eek: .

Both the OH and I are trying to lose weight but we are trying to do it by changing our eating habits rather than strict dieting because when we diet we give up after a couple of weeks.

So I confess, we have been trying to cut out the rubbish, i.e. chocolate, sweets, biscuits and cakes, since the middle of March hence why I have them in my targets. It does seem to be slowly working as I have lost 9lbs and OH has lost 11lbs in this time. We both have a lot to lose though. I actually don't seem to miss the chocolate, sweets and biscuits anymore but I still miss cake. I can see the benefits though so I must stick with it.

Dolphin1

Yesterday, day 8...

1) No sweets or biscuits but I had a Snickers bar which is ridiculous as I'm not even keen on them. I think it was because I have been feeling rubbish for the last few days with the cold so I was looking for a treat to make me feel better and I couldn't get my hands on some cake.
2) No cake.
3) Light off at 11.20pm so a bit late.
4) No meal planning necessary as already done for the week, homemade chilli and rice tonight.
5) No spends on other people.

joeyjimbles

HappyNow wrote: »

Hello joeyjimbles, thanks for popping in - especially as you called us inspiring . I love lentils and I find that the meat-eaters in the house like the texture and 'meatiness' of them so they're quite a staple round here. I have a veggie and lentil chilli recipe that I use all the time. I will have a look into Nigel Slater to see if any of the recipes are veggie-friendly .

I do eat meat though we have several meals a week that don't contain it though OH is a bit reticent. Nigel Slater is a meat eater too he is all about quality not quantity and recently I've noticed the greater proportion of his recipes are not meat-reliant so I'm sure you'd do well with him. He is very pro-gardening, farmers markets etc and has many recipes and ideas that are based on his own seasonal produce. His recipes are usually very easy to find online and he does regular columns for The Guardian/Observer, though I do recommend his books too as they are beautifully written.

Honey_Bear

I'm a huge Nigel Slater fan, but of his writing rather than his TV programmes which seem a little fussy sometimes. I wish I'd snipped out his columns from The Observer when I used to read it in the 1980s because the simplicity of his food was so out of step with what everyone else was cooking in the pre-Jamie and Nigella days; based on French food, cream etc etc at the time, and his was always just the fewest and the best ingredients in season. I have Real Cooking and I love it, every recipe I've tried in it has been simple, straightforward and turned out beautifully. I like cooking but I don't do prissy or complicated; I do gutsy food. Having said that, OH is away for 10 days from later today and so I got crab claws, wholemeal bread and fresh strawberries grown in the Tamar valley and picked the day before from the market for supper last night and had the leftovers for lunch today. I love May.

Joey, are you going to join us?