Starting Over, Yet Again

It probably comes as no surprise, considering my last post was the 11th of January, that I haven't exactly been doing an awful lot of healthy eating lately! As usual I went off the rails, skipping gym sessions and over-indulging far too often and just never managed to get back on track - every time I tried, something came up, a night out, a missed meal, a hangover, a birthday, not having enough time to meal plan/cook/track my food/get to the gym... each time I've had a blip I have continued with it instead of getting back to where I was before. Living by myself while my boyfriend and I try to sell the house and I look for a job back in Glasgow has made me very lazy! No car means I haven't been doing a weekly food shop and not having to worry about feeding two of us has meant I've just been grabbing whatever I fancy each day. Which apart from anything else is far too expensive to continue doing!
Fortunately I have managed to maintain my weight, but it is up from where I feel comfortable and my clothes are too tight so it's time to do something!

I'm following the *Bitch Cakes* philosophy and not worrying about the number on the scales and how far or how often it changes down the way - I know I'm not likely to consistently lose 2lbs every week, I know there will be weeks where I lose a lot or a little, there will be weeks my weight stays the same, and there will be weeks where I will see a gain - that doesn't matter. I don't want/need to be perfect, I just have to keep going and not give up when I do lose my way. I'm not going to put a time limit on losing weight, it will happen as it happens.
And, I don't have a goal weight in mind. I don't really know what my ideal weight is, I'm just going to go off how I feel about myself.

I am using Sainsbury's Diets to track my food and exercise - I might be eating too much but at least I can see where I'm going wrong and the site is quick and easy to use so it's not too much trouble. I'll get another wee post about this up tomorrow and show you a screen shot of the food diary too.

I'd like to say I'm going to get back into updating my blog(s) regularly but I honestly don't know know if I'll have a lot of time for blogging. I'm keeping busy (distracted) with my 365 Photography Project on Flickr, here's January:



I'm also spending my weekends down in Glasgow so I can spend as much time as possible with my little sister while she is in hospital, and will continue to do so once she is back home (that's her above fast asleep, and above that is my other sister, they are 4 and 7 and are the most adorable little girls ever!). Obviously blogging will not be a priority right now.


 ♥ Stella

Diet Time

Well it is January after all, we're supposed to be dieting, detoxing, joining gyms, buying work out DVD's, giving up chocolate or booze, quitting the snacks and cutting the calories.

I'm not really one for "diets" or "detoxes" these days, but I have piled on fair few pounds over the holidays - I started gaining around the end of October I think, that's when I had last weighed myself. So when I was contacted and asked to trial Sainsbury's Diets I thought it would be a great time to try it out! I'm technically on day two, but day one was wrecked by poor catering facilities on an unexpected training course and some delicious nuts so I'm counting today as my first proper healthy day. There's a couple of ways you can use Sainsbury's Diets - put your preferences into your profile and follow a suggested meal plan, or make up your own and use the food diary, which works similar to other food/calorie diary's. I think you can also kind of mix and match the two, add some of the suggested meal plans to the food diary and then enter whatever else you eat - I'm still familiarising myself with the site though.
I'll post a bit more once I've been using it for a while, I'm using it for a food diary rather than the menu plans as I'm happier creating my own, but I will be looking to the meal plans for ideas and using the recipes too.
At the moment membership is discounted between 20% and 50% depending on what plan you chose, the cheapest option works out at £1.50 per week and the most "expensive" is £2.40 per week! The offer finishes at the end of March and prices go back up to £3 a week so it really is cheap, I was expecting it to be more expensive considering the facilities available.


I have also just started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred! Day one was tough, I haven't exercised in such a long time, but I'm told it's not just me and it is a tough workout! It was good fun, looking forward to trying it again this evening!


 ♥ Stella

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year blogland! I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed their New Year celebrations!

I don't know about you but I am definitely ready for a bit of healthy eating and exercise! I also had my Birthday right in the middle so haven't stopped over-indulging since the 24th!

I decided I will keep this blog going, along with two others! I don't want to be hung up with weight and losing it, but I do want to lose some and I don't want to post about weight loss on my food or photography blogs.

I'm beginning to ease back into normal life with my healthy kick starting properly on the 10th - I'll be back at work and it will be easier to slip back into a routine and we will have eaten the last of the Christmas/Birthday foods by then! I hate waste and I know I'll eat it if it's there so this makes sense for me.


My other blogs are
http://www.samanthaskitschen.com/ where I'll be blogging mainly about food and foodie things with some recipes here
http://samsmithphotography.blogspot.com/ I'll be blogging my Flickr 365 project and perhaps some other photos in between.
http://twitter.com/#!/SamsKitschen for my tweets
http://www.facebook.com/home.php? I do have a Facebook page but it gets a little neglected!
http://www.socialmenu.co.uk/home/category/food-writers/samanthas-kitschen/ and finally (I think!) as a featured writer on Social Menu


 ♥ Stella

Samantha's Kitschen

As promised here is the link to my new blog - Samantha's Kitschen, which you can find at www.samanthaskitschen.com


Enojy!




♥ Stella