The Toad Blog

Well, it’s Tuesday and this morning was Weight Watchers. I was really good yesterday fight-fighting-friends. I went out on the bike for 13km. It’s all relatively flat along the coast roads, but I could feel my legs working away as I cycled along and I was out for nearly an hour so I was pleased with my efforts.

Lunch was a homemade low pointed vegetable chillie-con-carne. Then I had a small bowl of point-free homemade celeriac soup to keep me going at 5pm as TuT and I went to the gym together. I love working out with TuT, although he does get a bit grumpy when he gets sweaty and does not like me saying anything like:

“It’s the last two minutes, lets make it COUNT!”

I said this to him once and he was not happy! I think I have just taken too many ‘Spinning’ cycle classes where they bark stuff like that at you the whole 45 minutes. It motivates me, but everyone is different.

Relaxing in the pool and spa bubble bath we both felt virtuous to be spending our Monday night being healthy gym bunnies. We made a healthy tea of more homemade soup and low fat cheese toasties for tea when we got home; then I flopped in front of ‘Delia’ that I’d recorded whilst I had been out at the gym.

Loving her curry recipe that she did last night, a quick consultation of the recipe book revealed where she’d sourced her special curry powder from, TuT was already on the tinter’net and bought up the web page, so I have ordered some Tandoori Masala from www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk. It cost under £5 including postage and packing and when you consider how much a decent jar of curry sauce can be to make your own at home I think it’s good value. Delia’s really did look tasty and appetising - curry is probably one of my most favourite things to eat.

So after all my exercise yesterday – cycling the tour de seafront, going to the gym with TuT, watching my points values and eating virtuous food like homemade point free celeriac soup I was not dreading the weigh in as much as I had been doing at the weekend.

But, wouldn’t you just know it, I haven’t got away with the meals out that I had last week, or the takeaway, or the lack of exercise. Did I deserve to gain 2.5 pounds though? I don’t think that’s fair at all!

My usual leader was away today, she didn’t tell us last week that it would be a different leader this week, I think she did that on purpose, knowing that if you didn’t have to check in with your usual leader you might have slackened off at the Weight Watchers coal face this last week. As I did really, but I have to say, it was a relief not to disappoint my usual leader, and it’s only my second week!

I mentioned being on the injection to the stand-in leader, a lady called Laura, and her resulting comments did make me think about water retention. She said that if I wasn’t drinking enough my body would retain water and hence a gain would be reflected on the scales. When I thought about it, I have been slackening off on drinking my two litre water bottle through the day. So I don’t know if there’s anything in this, but on my first week at Weight Watchers I was good about filling a 2 litre water bottle up in the morning and making sure it was all drunk by tea time.

The meeting was all about portion control. Laura the leader had the expensive Weight Watchers scales that tell you the exact points of what you are eating when you weigh it all out. We went on a whirlwind tour of points in different cereals and what the amounts looked like, pasta points when its dry – 20g dry weight is one point, whether it’s pasta, rice or cous cous. Laura the leader was full of punchy one liners on the subject of portion control:

“If your eyes light up, it’s too big” (?!!)

“Do you exercise portion caution?”

It certainly made me think, and me being an advertiser’s dream – if I was an Eskimo and you made a sales pitch, I probably would buy snow from you – started thinking I really needed the expensive Weight Watchers weighing points scales. Thinking that my lack of weight loss is because I don’t have the magical Weight Watchers weighing scales. I placated myself with the new magazine and a proper points calculator so that TuT and I no longer have to fiddle with the cardboard points wheel that isn’t so accurate when we go shopping.

My friend that joined the first week as me has now lost over half a stone! In two weeks, following the CORE plan. I had a really good chat with her afterwards and I am potentially thinking of doing the core plan this week. I excitedly mentioned had anyone watched ‘Delia’ and seen her fab curry recipe that I am sure is low in points. I was met with stony faced stares – not in the Weight Watchers cook book – NO! (Remember, if you eyes light up it’s too big, Delia!!)

Then I spoke to TuT and he said should we think about doing the Weight Watchers ‘Kickstart’ programme of having 18 points instead of my usual amount for a week. My head is buzzing with ‘core plan’, ‘points plan’, ‘kickstart’. Am I exercising portion caution without the magical scales? It all feels rather manic, I am going to have a coffee and play with my new points calculator and have a think about which direction I need to take on the Weight Watchers journey this week.