Exercise,a dairy free existence and bonfire-rub-chicken awesomeness!

I'm stoked! Still feel shite-ish,all sinusy and chesty coughy,but managed to get the mojo to somehow get up and complete 45 minutes of exercise! 15 minutes of the Tahitian hip hop and 30 minutes of Aerobics Oz style belly dance.Was totally knackered by the end of it,but its a start.Remember this is a girl who gets puffed out walking up stairs.........and I used to be able to bushwalk for hours and would swim at the beach for countless lengths.What happened to that girl?

The Tahitian one was a bit of a let down,quite boring and repetitive to be frank,plus the instructors voice was so screechy.I definitely recommend ANY Aerobics Oz Style DVD's though.They're super,super cheap on Play.com at the mo and they are just fantastic. I remember the show used to be on every morning at the un-godly hour of 6:30AM,wayyyyyy back when I was wee,so it's a bit of an Aussie institution.

What I love though,is that there would always be one of the group doing the exercises at a modified rate/move,for those of us that weren't that fit or just starting out.So anybody can truly do these. (I'm not just plugging them coz they're Aussie! :P)

I've come to the conclusion that dairy doesn't seem to agree with me,and for my asthma's sake as well,I'm going to try and experiment with phasing dairy out.Back in my hippie,university days I experimented with vegetarianism and eventually veganism,but the vegan phase only lasted 2 weeks,until (according to my best friend) a drunken night ensued and the temptation of a Burger King was too much after a hards night pounding the best of Sydney's dance floors (and the clubs in Sydney just don't close,none of this 3am curfew BS.) Alas though,my clubbing days are long over :(

I would love to become vegetarian,but I'm afraid the carnivore in me just pulls too strongly.i don't however eat red meat that often,and want to try and limit my poultry to just 3 or less times a week,maybe 1 day of red meat,as I don't have enough iron and the rest I'll endeavour to be peace,love and mung bean days.

Still on track with the eating,although I did have one strawberry delight from a Milk Tray last night at girls night in,breaking the chocolate fast.My wee sister,Re,moved over here about 8 months ago.Its her first time living away from the parents and she's becoming quite the wee chef.Last night she made an amazing baked chicken,rubbed with 'bonfire rub' spices from Asda's extra special range.Sooooooo good,I had cravings for them today.Served with broccoli,green beans and mangetout and a creamy mushroom sauce (Re:'It's only single cream Steph,so it's not that bad for you')

All in all I don't think it was that high in points and hell,this is real life.I'm not going to be totally militant about what I put in my mouth when I'm enjoying a night out.I'll just be good the rest of the week.And I still am totally on - track with my eating -no Coke or fizzy drinks since New Year,just water and the odd juice (and wine :),and no chocolate other than that wee milk tray Strawberry Delight,but that's too tiny to count...............isn't it?????

I found a totally awesome 'Fresh Fruit and Desserts' cookbook in my local Oxfam which has an Apple Creme Caramel that looks absolutely divine and is only about 3 1/2 points for creamy French decadence.

I actually can't wait for this weather to let up so that I can start walking to work when I'm on the back shift and from when I'm on the earlies.On my last attempt,I walked to work 3 times (about an hour's walk) for 3 weeks and I managed to lose 4-6 lbs a week! Anyways,I'll stop blethering away,as this seems a bit dis-jointed and random. Hope everyone else is going well.xo

A workout that involves a feather boa and heels?!?!?!?!?!?.......

Can you shout out F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S whilst bending and snapping?!?!?!?!? Let me back track.A week or so ago,I was sitting around with my flatmate and friends when the ad for the Pussycat Dolls workout DVD came on.I HAD to have it,quicker than you can say 'hot like me' I was plugging in my lap top and ordering it online (I'm a kitsch bitch,what can I say?The depths of my cheese lovin' even has my queeny friends cringing) Well,today is the day that it finally arrived and I actually cannot wait to try it.Yes,my lovely Scotsman nearly keeled over when I said I was actually looking forward to exercising.I will report all when I get around to trying it out,hopefully tomorrow morning.I also have a very intriguing Island Girl Tahitian Hip Hop workout DVD that I must sample as well.

Still going well so far on the healthy eating front.3 days with no chocolate!!!!!!!!!!! Or Coca Cola! And this has been a subconscious thing,i just haven't been wanting it after switching my brain on to clean and healthy eating.

Today we had..........

Homemade buttermilk pancakes - 6 points - would've been lower,but I only had butter in the house,no low fat spread.

Sugar free jam - 1

2 x bread roll - 4

2 x wafer thin ham - 1

2 x low fat cheese slices - 4

Hellmans light mayo - 1

Wotsits -1 1/2

Orange - 1/2

2 x mandarins - 1

20 points

Tomorrow is the great soup and bread making bonanza.I have no camera because someone who shall remain unnamed (my wee sister - no name's mentioned,strictly speaking!) drunkenly broke mine but I will try and remember to take photos on the phone and post em all up here.Oh and of course,my official start weight weigh in.Eek!

In the meantime here's some food p*rn from a fabulous Sydney lass.I check this site every single day,religiously.She's amazing.

xox

A foray into light mayonnaise and a lost mojo.

Has anyone seen my exercise Mojo? I seem to have lost motivation and can't get onto my treadmill or put on a DVD.Could be a mental thing coz it's Sunday - and I have to work :( Sundays in my book are days off for lazing about,not helped by the fact that I can hear my flatmate still partying and drinking from last night in the living room.

I'm getting old.I want to have the energy to do that and even pretend that it excites me,but the truth is,the whole clubbing concept disinterests me these days.......and this is from a girl who used to be able to partaaaaay till 6 in the morning and head straight to work for a 7am,8 hour shift!!!!!

I will however,get off the bus 2 stops earlier,which will mean a 10-15 minute walk to work,and perhaps do the same on the way back home tonight - if it doesn't snow as predicted! And there,that will be 20-30 mins walking without even being conscious of it!

I tried light mayonnaise for the first time today,my fellow foodies would faint,but it had to be done,and yes,it wasn't too bad at all :) I think my former aversion to it was partly psychological,although I do find that a lot of fat/sugar/salt free stuff tastes rather 'synthetic'.I still eat full fat cheese,however I use a lot less of it.I am however now using low fat spreads instead of butter,ww yogurts,semi skimmed milk and having breakfast - although this seems to go out the window and turn into brunch on a weekend :P

WI day is Tues and hopefully I'll have another good loss after my 4 lb/2 kg loss last week.i was dead chuffed,and yes,I still am having trouble getting my head around pounds and stone,hence my ticker thing being in Kg's.Hope everyone else is having a good week and if you find my mojo,please post it back to me.

Here's todays menu plan.............

Brunch: Homemade sweetcorn,tuna,cheese,lightmayo filling 3.5
Pitta 2

D: 1/4 somerfield healthy living quiche lorraine 4
Salad 0
Homemade wedges 1

S: Pineapple 0.5
Apple 0.5
WW dessert recipe yogurt 1
Cheese snack a jacks 2
Clementines 0.5
McVities yogurt break raspberry 2.5
Mini mars bar 2.5

5 points left,plus I was meant to have a bowl of cereal and S.Skim milk for 3 points,might have that before work to fill me up,but if not that's 8 points left................chocolate me thinks :D xox