Week 9 - very much hoping this is our last fortnight!

[BIWI]

I really, really hope that this will be our last two weeks of all the various restrictions of lockdown. Even though it's looking unlikely

So for us, only two more weeks!

Here's the spreadsheet, as usual

Two more weeks left, so a good amount of time to still shed some unwanted pounds.

Possibly also a time to be specifically even more strict, given that it's the last two weeks?!

Ouch @MrsBertBibby!

@prettybird and @venusandmars I'm so glad you got to meet up.

@ditavonteesed you're sounding much happier

Looking forward to a lovely, warm few days here Darn Sarf - supposed to get up to 30 on Monday . Barbecue today, which is always great for low carbing. On our menu is:

• home-made burgers (no bun for me, obvs)
• merguez sausages
• chicken thighs, marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and oregano
• tuna steaks
• aubergine 'steaks' with Greek yoghurt (into which I'll stir some garlic, orange zest and a little orange juice)
• home-made coleslaw
• tomato salad

yum yum

That sounds delicious. Well I was 142lb Sunday and now am 138lb so just need to get past this stuck stage where I always seem to plateau! Another 5lb to go.

Go on Cheese!

A plus of this face-mangling is that eating is very unpleasant, so yesterday I just had a few nibbles of basil tofu. 3 pounds down on last week so far.

That looks very sore MrsBertBibby but also looks like it will heal up just fine. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

@BIWI oh my God where do you get merguez??? They are the taste of childhood and now adult holidays Eurocamping in France

Here, @FusionChefGeoff!

Woohoo! I may have a face like one huge grazed knee, but the scales say 12 13 1/4!

In the 12 stones!

Not surprising as I've not eaten in 2 days, but hurrah!

Yay and mega congrats. @MrsBertBibby

I've had the biggest nsv ever today. A really nice lady stopped me in Lidl to say I look lovely. Smiling from ear to ear.

That's lovely Dita x and yay Mrs Bert! Have you used arnica cream on your injuries?

@MrsBertBibby they say that intermittent fasting can speed up healing, so not being able to eat much may be helping

I also had an nsv. Met a young couple who I last saw 4 years ago, and the guy greeted me with great enthusiasm and said I looked fantastic! I was at least 2 and a half stone heavier then, so even though he didn't say I was slimmer, I certainly felt it.

I'm embracing the intermittent fasting again. Definitely helps.

Very good to hear all these NSVs.

I'm putting Savlon healing gel on the grazed bits, Cheese. Don't have arnica about. Forgot about my bottle of witchazel, dammit. Love sniffing that , it takes me right back to my grandma.

Oh yes me too. Love that smell.

Yippee massive quantities of merguez are heading my way!

Great news @MrsBertBibby even if not exactly how it was planned.

@cheeseisthebest IF has definitely super charged my bootcamp. Gone out the window this weekend as my schedule wasn't really my own on Fri / Sat but I'm not getting obsessive about it - I know where that can take me.

Met friends last night and they commented on my lovely toned arms which was nice to hear and despite making what I thought were safe choices ended up with stomach pain at the time and then rather unsettled bowels today. I've emailed the restaurant for the ingredients list in case I can see anything hiding - main suspect is breadcrumbs in the burger I think.

It's so mich harder if not at home! I was still quite hungry after dinner (halloumi fries then a baked burger and salad) so had to snack on fridge bits when I got home later.

Lovely very early morning run and now pottering in the garden with DD as the boys are on football then cricket!

Brunch fry up for lunch then Cajun chicken salad later.

Argh forgot to say I've grown kale for the first time - I don't usually like it but thought I'd give it another try. It's looking pretty ready I think but I have no idea what to do with it or what it goes with!! Any favourite combos to share?

Apparently if you cook it in the oven it goes like crispy seaweed?

Another good food day.
Didn't eat anything until 1.30 when I had spinach, asparagus, mashed boiled eggs with butter and tuna mayo.
Had dinner at 6 ish which was roast chicken, cauliflower mash with butter, sour cream and parmesan, green beans and carrots.
1 tea, 2 creamy coffees and 5 pints of water.
Going to try not to have anything else but if I do will be greek yoghurt and raspberries.

Kids at same as me except potatoes instead of the mash and have once again told vegan husband to sort his own tea.

@FusionChefGeoff halloumi fries are often coated in flour, to make them crispy, so it might have been that?

Re kale: if it's young and tender then it's nice as a salad. Massage olive oil in to the shredded leaves (a really long meditative massage as though it were a wagu cow), leave for an hour then add seasonings, chilli, maybe a sprinkling of crushed toasted nuts and soy...

Or if it's older I fry shallots in butter, add garlic then add shredded kale leaves , stir for a couple of minutes, put a lid on and turn off the heat. 5 minutes later they are wilted and delicious to serve with any meat or fish.

If when you get a glut, and you can't face any more, strip the leaves from the stalks and freeze them. I've just added a small bag of frozen kale to my green soup.

Food today:
Brunch - boiled egg, avocado, ham, cheese, cucumber,
Snack - M&S prawn snack pot with Marie Rose sauce
D - green soup made with chicken Stock and various left over veg bits: shallot, celery, asparagus stalks, broccoli stalks, pak choi, herbs, frozen kale, a few peas...

There will be a lot of green soup eaten this week, the pot is massive.

Also made chicken and leek pies for dh

@MrsBertBibby I am sorry to see your poor face but it's a pleasing side benefit that your are shifting weight due to the discomfort.

@BIWI the BBQ menu sounds so good I am now eyeing up that website for my DMs birthday. Yum Merguez are delicious

@FusionChefGeoff I normally cook kale by heating oil with garlic & chilli in a small saucepan, then add kale with a dash of water & cover & cook for a few minutes. I tend to have it on the side with pretty much everything during the winter.

@venusandmars for your green soup, do you just chuck whatever is around in or do you have a set recipe?

I've clicked my jaw somehow and am struggling to chew so have been basically eating yoghurt and eggs for the last two days. I think I need some soup to mix things up (although it's not really the weather for it). Maybe I'll try making a low carb gazpacho!

@stokey I keep a large zip bag in the freezer for veg soup bits: broccoli stalks, parsley stalks, leek trimmings, cabbage middles - plus any veg that's going over but I can't eat. I chop and Chuck in the bag. When the bag is full, I boil it up with a generous amount of veg bouilllon then whizz and hey presto - free soup!

Annoyingly, I had all the stuff in to make BIWI's aubergine dish, but face mashing stopped play.

Must try to do it on a work night.

Ah hell, I shall have to show my face in the teams meet tomorrow morning. A real leadership look.

@stokey so (with the exception of gazpacho) I either make green soup or red soup the mix of the two make sludgy brown soup Same as @FusionChefGeoff - no recipe, whatever green bits are in the fridge. I trim the asparagus, I use the leaves and the stump of the cauliflower, I add a handful of herbs from the garden. I like my green soup to look really GREEN so I often add a handful of frozen peas - quite carby, but portioned out I think it's not too much.

But gazpacho is amazing. I've got some tomatoes and cucumber and garlic so that's on the menu for tomorrow I think!

I've had a very busy week which ended yesterday with a party where I drank wine and ate crisps, profiteroles and pavlova.

Can't see the new thread and will weigh in tomorrow.

Back on straight and narrow today.