Monday 30 April 2012

Measurements update!

These are my measurements (inches) from the beginning of September 2009 vs. my measurements I took this week.

Bust: from 40.75" to 30.7" - total difference = 10.05"


Waist: from 41" to 28.4" - total difference = 12.6"


Hips: from 40.75" to 35.9" - total difference = 4.85"



And these are other measurements (inches) I took at the beginning of January 2012 vs. my measurements I took this week.

Neck: from 13.8" to 13" - total difference = 0.8"


Left bingo-wing: from 11.7" to 10.2" - total difference = 1.5"


Right bingo-wing: from 11.3" to 10.2" - total difference = 1.1"


Left thunder-thigh: from 24" to 21.6" - total difference = 2.4"


Right thunder-thigh: from 24" to 21.7" - total difference = 2.3"



It's crazy looking at this! Some days I feel just as big as I was back in 2009.. But clearly I can't be! The inches lost on my waist is just... wow! I don't know what else to say really. I've shocked myself, haha.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Sweet smoothie surprise.


I fancied a smoothie for lunch today and decided to experiment, and this is what I came up with! I've called it 'Sweet Smoothie Surprise'. It is the sweetest drink I have ever tasted (definitely not exaggerating) and the after taste is incredible! If you don't like really sweet things, I wouldn't try this. But this is excellent for anyone with a sweet tooth or a sugary craving! This is probably a smoothie that's a bit like Marmite - you'll either really love or really hate it. The first little sip I wasn't too sure of.. But the more I drank the more I loved the taste! It is approx. 252kcal for the whole lot - so not too bad considering how sweet and sugary it tastes! Yummm!

Ingredients:
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 small pear
- 1 small squirt of honey (this is what makes very very sweet, it's strong so I wouldn't add too much)
- 1 cup of Alpro almond milk
- a small handful of ice cubes

Method:
1. Chop the pear up into small pieces.
2. Add all the ingredients into the blender and whiz it up until smooth!
3. Pour into a half-pint glass and enjoy!

Mini-gym!


Look what I haveee! We are being lent an exercise bike and a rowing machine, long-term, by my Grandad. So now I can work out more often, and in the comfort of my home - yay! He used to have a "mini-gym" in his house, but has now changed it to a small spare bedroom, so he's letting us borrow these! He also has a treadmill, but I'm not too keen on those, plus it's a lot bigger to store than these two are. Hopefully, by going on these 2-3 times a week, I may actually start toning up my yucky, flabby body a little!

Yesterday I did 35ish minutes on the exercise bike & about 15 minutes on the rowing machine. And the day before I did roughly 20 minutes on each of them. I'm not sure if I'll do any today or not yet.. I might give my legs a rest. But I shall be doing another load tomorrow, for sure.

I find purchasing your own equipment is a lot cheaper than any gym membership! You only pay once and if you look after the equipment properly, it should last years! Where as a gym membership, you pay £30-£40ish every month and hardly ever get your money's worth of exercise before the next payment is due! I would like to purchase my own exercise bike, I have wanted to for a while, but I just haven't had the money. So I guess I'm just lucky to know someone who could lend us one!

TIP: A great way of making the exercising a little less boring is by sticking the equipment in the living room, which is what I have done! That way you can watch television, watch a movie or listen to music channels whilst you're working out!

Monday 23 April 2012

1000+ views!

Today my blog has reached it's FIRST 1000 VIEWS! Yaaaaay!

I didn't think in under a month (25 days to be exact!) I'd reach even 100 views, let alone 1000! This makes me a very happy. I'm so glad that people out there enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it! It's amazing!

I want to help and inspire people out there who are on their own journeys to thin. Or even inspire people, who need that little push, to start a journey of their own! And also document my journey for my own sake, of course. To look back on if I ever get stuck or feel like I'm struggling, to see what I've achieved and push me to do better!

Anyway, thought I'd share how I did, weight-loss-wise, this week.. It was weigh-in day yesterday (every Sunday morning). And I lost 1.5lbs! Making me now 123lb - which is also great news! Getting close to my goal weight now! I just desperately need to tone up my body.. I'm surprised I even lost any weight this week, after a very messy night on the town Saturday, with my boyfriend and a few friends. Also been slacking a bit with my jogging.. Only been out jogging once this week - on Friday afternoon with my friend, Simon. It was quite hard.. We ended up walking the majority of it. Not good, I know. I need to try and sort this out as soon as! I reckon it's the rain that puts me off the thought of getting out there, because I really hate feeling cold. I've finally started reading my book - 'Run Fat B!tch Run' by Ruth Field. So hopefully that will help me get the motivation to get my bum out the door some more, rain or shine!

Anyway, thank you to ALL my viewers, from all over the world, for visiting my blog! It means a lot to me!

P.S. if you haven't already noticed, I've created a page for my blog called 'All About Me', which is - of course - all about me! A photo, a bit about me, my weight loss, about my blog, where to find me, how to contact me.. So now you can find out more about the person behind this blog! Find this page by clicking 'All About Me' in the navigation bar along the top of my blog. Then click 'Home' to go back to the page with all the posts.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Hot banana split!

I had a cheeky midnight snack the other night. And this was it -HOT peanut butter, dark chocolate & raisin banana split. It tastes even better than it looks! It was delicious! Really satisfying and great if you're having a sugary/chocolate craving! You can fill it with pretty much anything you want! And if it's something that melts, it makes it even more fun to eat, haha!

You'll need:
- a grill
- tin foil
- 1 banana
- your own choice of fillings
- about 10/15 minutes of your time

Method:
Preheat your grill (about 180 degrees). Lay a banana on some tin foil. Cut the banana down the middle. Fill the middle of the banana with all your favourite things. Then wrap up the banana in the tin foil. Put it in the grill for about 8-10 minutes, depending on how hot/messy you want it, I guess. Then take out, unwrap and enjoy!

I filled mine with 1 tbsp of reduced-fat peanut butter, a very small handful of dark chocolate drops and a very small handful of seedless raisins. If made with these I think the whole thing, including the banana, is approx. 335 kcal.

Other good things to fill it with could be marshmallows, white or milk chocolate drops, chocolate spread, nutella, your favourite chocolate bar, jam, granulated Splenda sweetener, toffee, fudge, dessert sauces (e.g. chocolate/strawberry/toffee), etc. etc.

***THIS IS NOT MY CREATION OR MY IDEA! This has probably been done a million times before by millions of different people. I even remember doing this, when I was about 11, over camp fire ashes with "Girl Guides".***

Friday 20 April 2012

FREE* workout DVD & water bottle!

I found this advertised in my fitness magazine and thought I'd share it with all of you!

By going to www.shop4online.co.uk/BFPENNY you can order a 'Penny Lancaster - Hotlegs workout DVD' & an 'eco friendly foldable water bottle' for FREE*.

I ordered mine yesterday. I only really want it for the foldable water bottle, haha. I'm not too bothered with the DVD, because I know I'll just shove it with all my other workout DVDs I have and I'll forget I even have it and never use it. I just have to wait for them to arrive now..

Anyway, enjoy guys!

*although not actually free, because you have to pay £2.70 post & package.. But it's cheap, I guess!

Thursday 19 April 2012

Green tea!

GREEN TEA IS A DIETER'S BEST FRIEND!!!

Green tea has lots of health benefits! It is full of antioxidants and helps aid weight loss (thermogenesis, keeps fats from oxidising). It is also thought to give you a lower possibility of getting certain cancers and improves cholesterol levels.

You can get lots of different brands and flavours of green tea, but my favourite is most definitely 'Tetley Decaf Green Tea'. It's not very bitter compared to a lot of the other green teas I've tried before. Also I can drink it any time of the day, even just before I go to bed, because it has no caffeine in! I don't mind the non-decaf Tetley green tea, but it is a little bit too bitter for my liking, so I only have it if I feel I need the caffeine/energy. I barely brew my cuppa at all.. I literally just pour the boiling water over the teabag, use the spoon to squeeze the bag to death against the side of the cup and then take it out and stir.

I always have mine with 2 teaspoons of 'granulated Splenda sweetener'. I do love a sweet cuppa! And this sweetener is calorie free and is so much sweeter than actual sugar, which is why I love it so much! I've tried tea, even normal tea, with no sugar/sweetener many of times but I just can't drink it. I end up drinking a sip and then leaving it to go cold. I can have between 1 and 5 green teas a day. I think the most I've had in a day is about 7/8, I think..? I love the stuff! And the fact it helps weight loss is a mega-bonus!

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Chocolate banana baked oatmeal.

I found an amazing breakfast recipe on the blog 'Budget Bytes'. It's called "chocolate banana baked oatmeal". I took her recipe and changed it up a bit to make each serving more healthy and less calories! I've managed to get the calories down from the original 340ish kcal to 236 kcal!

The only thing I did was change up the ingredients a little, but I did all the steps in exactly the same order as she did.

The ingredients I used:
- 2 small/medium bananas, mashed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp salt
- 35g brown sugar
- 15g Splenda sweetener, granulated
- 45g reduced fat cocoa powder
- 2 cups/400ml Alpro almond milk
- 180g rolled oats

I made this last night so it was ready for me and my family to try for breakfast this morning. I think it tastes really great! I am definitely going to be making this again very soon! In my opinion, it reminds me of chocolate weetabix. It's spongy and soft and has an amazing chocolatey, bananary taste (that isn't too chocolatey to eat first thing in the morning) that I just can't get enough of! When I cut this up into 6 equal pieces, the sections seem to come out like slices of cake. But it doesn't taste like cake - it tastes breakfasty - but I eat it as if it's cake, cos cake is great, haha. I don't think it needs milk at all, which also saves washing up as you won't need a bowl or plate!

I recommend anyone who likes a sweet, chocolatey breakfast to try this recipe! I haven't tried the recipe with it's original ingredients, but I'm sure it's just as nice as this one! So it's your choice which you do. Enjoy!

Monday 16 April 2012

Discovering my green thumb!

Whilst doing the weekly shopping, with my mum and sister, I spotted these awesome things - Sutton's seeds "Grow Your Own" pots. (Click the photos to enlarge them). They were very cheap - just under £1 each - they're on special offer at the moment. They are pots that contain compost and the seeds to grown your own herbs and vegetables.

We bought 3 pots - parsley, coriander and chives. I've just been sat downstairs "sowing" the seeds. I've never grown my own plants before. I've always wanted to learn to do gardening properly.. I want to be able to grow some pretty flowers in our back garden - even though I know the dog will destroy them.. But I can't seem to even be able to keep plants that are already grown and potted alive for longer than 2 weeks! So this may be a challenge for me.

The pots are really easy to do! All you have to do is move the compost around to loosen it, take a bit of compost out, make a hole and sprinkle the seeds in. Then put the compost back in to cover the hole, push it down to compress it slightly, water it and shove the lid back on. And hey-presto, you've done it. Put them in a window sill and hope for the best. Normally my main problem is remembering to water them.. I'm not even sure how often I'm suppose to water them but oh well, haha!

Wish me luck! I'll take a couple of progress photos, as/if they start to grow! *fingers crossed they do*

Sunday 15 April 2012

HUGE clothing clear out!

I've had to go through literally all my clothes because almost all of them, apart from the few recently bought ones, are too big (YAYYY!)! I am now pretty much a UK size 10 in the majority of shops (size 8 in a couple and size 12 in a couple). I use to be UK size 16/18, so I've dropped about 3/4 clothes sizes! I'm hoping/aiming to get down to UK size 8.

There's about 3 bin bags full of just tonnes of clothes that are way too big now! Ranging from UK sizes 10 to 16. It feels great being able to put on old clothes that use to fit me perfectly or even be far too tight for me and have them falling to my ankles because they are just that big on me now. But it's also a rubbish feeling in a way.. Because I'm now stuck with all these clothes and I have to spend £100's on more clothes to replace everything!  And I just don't have that kind of money spare.. Even if I do sell all my old clothes, I'll get nowhere near how much it'd cost me to buy new ones! But I've had to buy some new clothes lately anyway, even though I have next to no money this month, because I'm going to Turkey in 2 and a half weeks, so I need clothes - that actually fit - for that! I've even been browsing charity shops and boot sales for clothes because I'm so skint! But I actually strangely enjoy it. I didn't think I would, but it's fun and some of the things and bargains you find there are incredible!

I'm going to put some of my bigger clothes up on Facebook in the next day or two and hopefully sell some of those on there for money towards my new clothes and also towards my holiday. I've also put the nicer, more expensive clothes (like Topshop, Soul Cal, River Island, etc.) up on my eBay account - http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/brixtonbriefcase (just incase you wanted to have a look). And then next week or the week after, with whatever's left, I'm going to maybe do a boot sale at the cattle market - depending on the weather - to get rid of what I can to get some more dollar before I jet off to Turkey for a week with the boyfriend!

Saturday 14 April 2012

Lemon herb egg salad.


Today I made a Lemon Herb Egg Salad! I found the recipe on the blog 'Budget Bytes'. I did pretty much everything to the recipe, except I only used the egg whites. I chucked the eggs yolks away. This means the egg salad is a lot less calories! It makes 4 servings, and it's approx. 54 kcal per serving (that's only if it's made without the yolks in).

I found the mustard in the egg salad was a little over powering though.. It says to use 1 tbsp of dijon mustard, but next time I'll probably only about 1 tsp or maybe even half a tsp, because the dijon mustard is just so strong.

I've finally found some tasty low-kcal bread! I never ever eat sandwiches/toast/toasties/etc. because of how many calories there are in just one normal slice of bread (which is about 100+ kcal).. But 'Warburtons Weight Watchers White Danish' is only 50 kcal per slice! So I can now start enjoying bread again without feeling guilty.

I put one serving of the lemon herb egg salad into a small sandwich with some organic spinach! It was delicious! The sandwich - made with 2 pieces of bread, raw organic spinach and the egg salad - was only approx. 157 kcal! So very healthy and well within my calorie allowance for the day! Yay!


Wednesday 11 April 2012

Yoghurt-sicles!

Yoghurt-sicles! Great for ice cream/ice lolly/yoghurt lovers! I don't know about you, but yoghurts don't last 5 seconds with me.. 2 spoon fulls and it's all gone. So, as I'm going through a stage of basically freezing everything (mainly for my smoothies), I thought "why not freeze some yoghurts"!

I used Munch Bunch Fromage Frais (44 kcal per pot) and Petits Filous Little Desserts (82 kcal per pot). I definitely prefer the Petits Filous, but the Munch Bunch has a lot less calories..

**This is NOT an original idea. I'm sure it has been done a million times by a million different people from around the world.**


What you need:
- Your favourite yoghurts.
- Plastic cutlery/wooden lolly sticks/anything similar.
- A freezer with space in it.

Method:
- Get the sticks you intend to use and pierce them into the middle of the lid of each yoghurt pot. I used plastic knives, snapped in half (I wouldn't recommend you do this, but if you do, be careful because it can be very sharp and could cut your hands/tongue), as my freezer drawers aren't very big.
- Put in the freezer, the right way up, and leave them overnight, as then by morning you'll know they will definitely be completely frozen.
- Take them out of the freezer. Take the lid off, pop the yoghurt-sicle out of it's pot and enjoy!


FREE Graze box for everyone!

**I'm reposting this post again and deleting the old one, as I got told from a friend that the code I gave you guys didn't work! I'm very sorry about this! I've added a new code. If this happens again please let me know!**


loveeee Graze! I've been receiving Graze boxes since the beginning of January 2012, and definitely don't regret it! They are weekly/fortnightly/one off (depending on which you choose) boxes full of delicious natural snacks. They give you the calorie content for each punnet too, so I never have to worry about not knowingly going over my daily calorie allowance. Yay!

I really feel Graze boxes have, in a way, helped me on my weight loss journey. Whenever I feel like snacking, instead of reaching for my secret stash of chocolate (which I do actually have, hidden in my wardrobe, haha) I can reach for my Graze box instead - saving me precious calories and the guilty feeling I often get after pigging out on chocolate. Although some of the Graze punnets actually have chocolate in them - yummmm! My favourite punnets are most definitely the flapjacks - especially the 'apple cinnamon flapjack'. It tastes heavenly!

You can rate the punnets at any time! So if, for example, you hate coconut, you can go through all the punnets and bin the coconut ones so you never receive them in your deliveries, which I think is very handy! There's a 'send soon' option too, so if you are desperate to have a certain punnet just select 'send soon' and where possible they will try and get you that punnet in your next delivery! You can also pick your delivery day. Mine's fornightly on Thursdays (it use to be weekly but I didn't eat them quick enough and ended up with piles of Graze boxes everywhere). You can cancel or postpone the deliveries at any time too, so you don't have to worry about being tied down to this forever.


If you would like a totally FREE Graze box, just go to their website - www.graze.com - and enter the code:

N6JMVCHD


TOP TIP: a great way of remembering the use by date and how many calories are in each punnet is by writing them both directly onto the lid of the punnet with a permanent marker on the day you receive your box. That way if you lose the piece of paper with the information on, you'll still know. Also if you take the punnets with you somewhere as a snack you won't have to worry about bringing the piece of paper with you!

Motivational reads.


Bought myself some reading material to help me get more motivated to exercise - especially with my jogging, cos the rain lately has really made my motivation to do it drop a lot.. I bought the Bodyfit magazine (http://www.bodyfitmagazine.co.uk/) from Tesco for £4.99, which came with the 'Get running & blast fat' magazine for free! And I bought the book, 'Run Fat B!tch Run' by Ruth Field on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/) for only £6.59 - bargain!

I haven't had a chance to read any of the book yet.. When I do read it and eventually finish it, I will attempt to write a mini book review on it for you guys (never wrote a book review before though, so it could go terribly wrong)!

I've quickly gone through and read a few articles in the Bodyfit magazine. One article I've really found interesting is the 'Supermodel Secrets' (page 18) which is an interview with Helena Christensen - one of the original supermodels and an icon to women around the world for the past 20+ years! She's apparently 43 and she looks INCREDIBLE! What I would do to have a body like her's.. She seems to swear by "Reebok easytones" (which she's wearing in her photos. I like the black ones!). These are crush trainers (I think) that help tone your legs as you walk. I'm pretty sure I saw some in my local Sports Direct store last time I was there.. So next time I'm near by, I am definitely going to go in and try a pair on! Maybe even buy myself a pair, depending on the price. 


There's also lots of low-kcal meals, diet plans, meal/snack ideas, food tips, etc. in there to help shed the lbs! One recipe that really caught my eye is the 'Classic Watercress Soup' (page 103) - mainly because of how low kcal it is. It makes 3 servings and according to the magazine it's only 100 kcal per serving! I may have to attempt this recipe soon. I've never made a soup before.. I've always wanted to but never really knew how to go about making one or had a recipe for one that sounded tasty enough to try.

The magazine's full of tips, advice and great exercise moves and routines. It is a great and interesting read - very motivating and informative! I recommend all of you exercise fanatics or even people who really want to get into exercise but don't have that motivation or little push they need to get out there and do it to PURCHASE THIS MAGAZINE! 

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Heavenly fruit slushie!

I improvised a smoothie with a choice of my own ingredients this morning. But it went wrong.. Well not actually wrong - cos it tasted amazing! ..But wrong as in it was suppose to be a smoothie but turned out to be more like a slushie. But it was absolutely DELICIOUS! I will definitely be making it again! Hopefully if I do make it a second time it'll turn out slushie-like again - hoping this wasn't just a one off. But if it does turn out like a smoothie that's fine, cos the flavour is amazing! It turned out soo thick that I had to use a spoon to eat it! It's 283 kcal and it pretty much makes a whole pint.

I have named my creation 'Heavenly Fruit Slushie', simply because it tastes heavenly!

If you'd like to make it, here's what I did:

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of frozen strawberries.
- 2 cups of frozen pineapple.
- 1 fresh kiwi.
- 1 cup/200ml of Alpro almond milk.

Method:
- Stick all the ingredients in a blender and whiz it up.
- Pour into a pint glass and enjoy!

(If you do try this, comment and tell me if yours turned out like a smoothie or a slushie! I'd love to know!)

Monday 9 April 2012

Far too much chocolate!

I love the idea of Easter. Until it actually is Easter Sunday that is.. and then I hate it. I hate the feeling of feeling so sick for eating that one little tiny bit too much chocolate. And that guilt that comes with it is even more awful! I work so so hard to get all this weight off and then Easter comes along and BAM - hello fat belly!

I received far too much chocolate this year. I know - the words 'far', 'too', 'much' and 'chocolate' shouldn't even be seen anywhere near each other in the same sentence.. But it's true. I feel soooo sick.. I've eaten one whole Green & Blacks milk chocolate egg, which I received from my lovely boyfreind, and a tiny caramel mini egg thing today and it was just way too much. I feel so fat right now - yuck.


This is all the chocolate I received this year (minus one Easter egg and dairy milk caramel chocolate bar, cos I ate them yesterday *slaps wrist*). The half eaten egg is now gone though - I ate it.. The rest has now been put with my secret stash of chocolate. I know if I leave it out for me to see, it'll all be gone before I know it. I know this because it happens every single year! This is a great tip by the way. I still have chocolate hidden in my stash that I must have put there in January/February.. I completely forget it's there half the time because it's not in my face all the time. I highly reccommend that all dieting chocoholics do this - or atleast try it. Hopefully I will forget all about this chocolate within the next week so I don't ruin my diet even more.

Anyway, HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY! I hope you all had an EGG-cellent day! ;)

Thursday 5 April 2012

ARGHHH! RANT.

I posted a photo on my Instagram (my username is foreverdieting), a few weeks ago, of a tub of Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream (baring in mind the only actual reason I had that Ben & Jerry's ice cream was because I hadn't really eaten anything all day - I was suffering from flu and had a very sore throat, so my mum went out and bought it for me).. Today I  received 2 comments on the photo. The comments were:

"That's your forever dieting?"
"U are not dieting"

I do not think you can physically diet without treating yourself on occasion! Am I right or am I just doing this dieting malarkey all wrong?! If you do not allow yourself treats occasionally then you will end up craving them! And then when you finally crumble instead of just having the one little slip up, you will binge eat! And that is what makes you gain weight. Why does noone understand that? Just because my username on Instagram is 'foreverdieting', doesn't mean I make myself live off of air and water with the exception of a piece of lettuce every now and again. I am human, just like all of you. I like a chocolate bar every now and again or the odd meal out or pizza night with my boyfriend. I just don't let myself pig out on this kind of stuff all day everyday.

RAWRRR!!!! This has really pissed me off!

Rant over.

Smoothie time!


It's that time in the morning again - smoothie timeee!

I've made another smoothie from http://www.hellifignaw.com.  This smoothie is called 'Killer Strawberry Kiwi Green Smoothie'. The ingredients I used are in the photo above.. But I had to miss a few of the ingredients out - the wheatgrass and flaxseeds - because I have no idea what they are or where to get them from! This makes one pint sized serving (I drank quite a bit before I took the photo - sorry) and is approx. 246 kcal (that is without the wheatgrass and flaxseeds in).



To begin with I found the colour of the smoothie really off putting (it looks quite a lot darker in person than it does in the photo) but the taste is incredible! The kiwi and strawberry are very strong. You can't even taste the spinach or almond milk. I added 1 tsp of splenda sweetener to the smoothie, because I do like my smoothies sweet to taste. I let my mum and sister try a sip, my sister didn't like it cos she
thought the kiwi was too strong but my mum loved it too!

I will definitely be making this smoothie again soon - it's far too tasty not to!

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Training myself to run.

I have never been a great runner. I did cross country whilst at school, once - when I was about 12ish - and I honestly thought I was going to die. But lately, for some reason, I have had the urge to go out and run, even though I can't run to save my life. So I've decided to train myself to do it. For the last 5 days in a row I have gone out for a jog/walk. Jogging as much as I could and then walking when I needed to catch my breath and then jog again. It's seems to be getting harder and harder everyday, but I've probably pushed myself a bit too much too soon. Today I met up with my friend, Simon, and we went for a jog together. It was hard but I managed to push myself a lot harder than the other 4 days when I went jogging alone. I managed to go a further distance and went longer before I had to stop and walk. I'm hoping training myself to run will help boost my weight loss further, hopefully tone my body a bit, make my thunder thighs/tree trunk legs smaller! These are some views I saw in the last few days whilst out on my jogs -

Also I bought some new running shoes today! My older 'Fila' ones are really worn out and knackered now. My new ones are called 'Nike Pegasus 28' and they are sooo comfy and very lightweight! I love them. Also I can get away with buying children/junior shoes because my feet are only a UK size 3.5/4, which means I can buy them so much cheaper! I managed to get them for £27.99 from Sports Direct - bargain! 

Monday 2 April 2012

Yay for low-kcal cookies!


Me and my boyfriend made some low calorie cookies together today. These cookies are called 'White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies' and the recipe's meant to only make about 20 cookies, but I managed to get just over 42ish out of it - which makes each cookie about 22 kcal! I did make them pretty small though.. It's a Slimming World recipe. I was looking through all my old Slimming World magazines, from when I was a member, and found this and just had to try it.

I had to do two batches as it made so many cookies.. I managed to burn the first batch though, and I think I may have slightly undercooked the second one, haha! But they taste pretty good! They have a slight orangey taste to them (from the orange zest that's in them) and the chocolate sure tastes good! I made a couple that had raisins on but the raisins just fell straight off whilst cooking. I'm making myself sound like a disaster cook, haha.

I love cookies but I don't think these cookies can compare to normal ones at all. They are not chewy or soft enough. They are quite hard, airy and crunchy.. More like biscuits than cookies in my opinion. But if you're just having a sugary craving then these will probably get rid of that! If I ever make them again, I'll probably make them bigger - might help them not be so crunchy..

If you'd like the recipe, just ask!

Sunday 1 April 2012

This is me.

This is me (photo taken on 28th March 2012). Not the greatest photo, I know.. But it is the most recent photo I have that includes my face. I look squinty and and my eyes look lop-sided in this, haha. But I'm just posting this so you all know how I look now compared to the photo of how I looked before - quite different!