Some Veggers Are Bigger Than Others - 10/10 porkers thread

[CoupleofKooks]

General healthy eating and exercise thread with aim of losing weight / shaping up. Aim to eat 10 portions of fruit and veg a day, and do more exercise. No bizarre diets please. Weigh in day is Monday (you don't have to weigh in but we will punish you by with-holding stickers). Diet coke will be frowned upon.

well it is a lot, isn't it, but i don't know how to make it less without starting to eat things i think are crap

Thanks - haven't been on much recently. I've banned all tv, pc and xbox for the summer so it seems a bit hypocritical to spend ages dithering on here after how much I've spouted about screens!

I suppose it is a lot of money, yes, I think I spend around that but I have my head in the sand really. I would prob be shocked if I added up receipts.

It is tricky isn't it, getting the balance right with eating good stuff and trying not to spend a fortune. I know myself I can cut back on luxuries without compromising too much on quality.

Everyone has their things they can and can't or won't do without. I always have organic carrots and milk and so on but rarely buy organic chicken like I used to, often £10-12. I am happy with a good local free range one but would rather go without than eat a battery one. Same with eggs.

How is your back, avi? I am also visiting ost once a week atm, I have a bulging disc. The last one before sacrum whatever that one is. It's a nuisance. I have a back chair for computer now which helps. He says not to pick up ds2 at all but I find that hard.

and we are going camping later. Hurrah. Now I need to find crabbing lines and wotnot. Hheadlights on the van aren't working but hopefully we will get there before it's dark.

Don't get me started.. there is always a vehicle incident with us.

Coming home from latitude at 2am was when I realised the headlights wouldn't work [I was lying down in the back] on full beam and after much rowing and squinting dh marched 5 miles back to the festival to get the car and left us by the side of the road in the pitch black with me vowing to get a divorce first thing.

I felt better after a fry-up.

I heard a festival attendant say 'excuse me your lights aren't very bright to dh and he said breezily, oh yes, just didn't want to blind anyone'

then when I said where are the lights, he said he just needed to get down the road and get the indicator stick out of the boot and then it would be okay

I mean, wtf? What freako family has to get a stick out of the boot to use full beam and anyway the 'stick' didn't work so we could barely see hence row and d marching back for the car which luckily has lights but still I could have stuck that stick where it hurts.

Oh yes, I saw your post on there! Thought you gave good advice.

Thanks. It definitely is and I don't know what changed during the last half of the pregnancy but somehow it just got better after a very dark time. We met when we were very young though, I was 18 and you obv change so much during your twenties.

I do love being married but yes, there are times when I mutter about divorce and they usually involve vehicles.

avi i do take ds2 to the group usually but tbh he is bloody hard work! i much prefer it when i can get a childminder for him
ds1 could come, no-one is stopping him, but it would be dreadfully dull for him having to sit and watch preschoolers doing singing and stuff for 3 hours - ds2 also dislikes having to attend the 3 groups in one day, you can see him thinking "that ruddy parachute AGAIN!"
he would hate doing it twice a week
it's not too disruptive to them when i work one day a week, but more would mean it was a large percentage of their week

like you i don't want to cut down on the quality of our food, but i do need to cut down on what we are spending
we are spending more every month than what we earn and it can't carry on, i have to do something
tell me what else i can cut back on? i honestly want to get this sorted

guad i hope your trip is uneventful in the transport aspect!
sorry about your back.
how is yours doing avi?

ah hmm ds1 isn't really up for that avi, not sure if it is age or personality?
it is kind of you to try to think of stuff though
i leave the house at 8.45 am and don't finish work until 2.30 pm - i only do 3 hours of groups but each time i have to set up for the next one and then of course pack up at the end - it's a long day
he needs a lot of input during the day, it would not be ok for him
in the future it's definitely an option

i could work more at weekends (childcare not a problem there) but would prefer not to
laziness as much as anything!

god they have worn me out today
i am an old lady with creaky old knees
i wish they would SLEEP more
ds2 ABOMINABLE, mostly through lack of sleep poor sod
2 incisors coming through, a cold, and just being bloody 2 i think

avi i am sure i haven't thought of all the angles
it is very helpful, thank you for letting me bang on
i think the loan is fixed rate unfortunately
ruddy financial types

right back on topic
i feel bloated this week and those midweek 2 lb are not shifting

cereal mango apple banana seeds raisins milk = 4
cheese and pickle rolls
half a shortbread biscuit
bits of lemon and carrot cake, shared with greedy children
pizza, veg sausages (think i had 3), wedges, salad, mayonnaise = 0.5
chocolate fairy cake

an absolutely crap 4.5

I ate too much chocolate yesterday but luckily not much else so midweek weigh was ok! Tried to not do it but I succumbed

Fran, are you getting everything you're entitled to tax credits-wise? Also agree with avi about presents for the children although I suspect you're not extravagent in that way?

I have found out that a friend knows my old (before the last one) posting name I guess it's not too much of a stretch to think she knows my new one. She's one of my best friends but I'm really that she's found out and she wouldn't say how. I don't like it.

she found out, then told you, and wouldn't say how? that is really weird pink and i would be hacked off
if you are reading this, pink's friend, you should be ashamed of yourself

i so bloody am extravagant with the children's birthdays
same at christmas (i did own up to this earlier in the thread)
this is one of the things i don't want to cut down on, if possible
i can see it is going to be a bit of everything though, like you say

we don't get many tax credits
we are not hard up you see, we just spend too much

avi LOL at significant toilet visit
you should weigh your output
sorry about period again
is this kind of normal? i don't know much about it

"What do you call extravagant? We spent about £50 on ds's birthday including the party. "

if i told you, i'd have to kill you

it's bad, put it that way
i hardly ever buy them stuff during the year, then i binge at birthdays
i love birthdays
we like having big parties, too

Budgeting is shite there's no two ways about it, but a lot of budgeting is resigning yourself to the fact that you have to do it. You have to have acceptance, otherwise you can make all manner of excuses for not doing it

When I have to pull in the purse strings I give myself a strict weekly/monthly shopping budget. Doing the food shopping online helps you stick to it as you can see the price right there while you're putting things in the basket. If the shop is over budget I would say that the majority of the time there are things you can ditch.

When you go out at the weekend take a picnic whenever possible, that can save a lot of money.

If you want to look for Xmas presents and good 2nd hand clothes, go to the Nearly New Sale in October. It's in the hall next to the swimming pool, I've got a feeling it's on the 16th Oct (my sis helps run it).

Do you have anything you can Ebay? You can make quite a bit by doing that. Or if you can't be faffed with Ebay, be a seller at the Nearly New Sale.

i can't hack that sale lemur, it's MADNESS there
thank you for all other ideas and lots of good advice. I'm trying to see it as a challenge now. Half finished the internet shop and am determined it will be cheaper than last week

really i think the presents are a red herring
it's only a few hundred £££ a year all together and i really enjoy spending it
i do get 2nd hand stuff and mix it in with good new stuff - we just bought ds2's trike on ebay, and i get a lot of stuff from that massive NSPCC book sale near me, plus charity shop games and bits for their stocking