Update/weigh-in

I promised my lovely friend Audrey, in Paris, that I would update my blog after weigh-ins at Weight Watchers both so that I could hold myself accountable to her and so that we could motivate each other. 2.7lb or 1.2kg down. My Leader asked me how the week had been and whether I'd been following the plan. Honestly? I've just been too stressed out to be hungry. And certainly too busy to calculate points!

It's horrid, actually. The sight of most food makes me feel nauseous and all I seem to want to eat is salad and potatoes. It's not like me! I'm normally the one who moans about being hungry from about 10.30am and goes down to lunch before everyone else, at 12! Today I worked straight through lunch and ended up having lunch at 5pm. I just didn't have time to leave my desk. And I left at 11.20.

I am handling the stress a bit better though.

In this seat I will only have a 3 month appraisal. Normally there is one at the 3 and 6 month mark, but because this is my last seat and I will qualify in August there will be just one appraisal, as soon after that I will know in which department I will work once I am a solicitor, and at that point it is irrelevant how the last 3 months of this seat go.

Six months minus a week and a half and counting.....

This heart is for YOU, to thank you for your amazing comments....

Disney love (and survey)

Ry and I had SUCH an amazing time at Disneyland! Amazing bonding time, complete and utter silliness, laughter, dreaminess, fudge, good bad food and most of all FUN! You don't need prose to understand, these photos will do nicely I think!

We were impressed by the resort, having thought that the Paris version would be worse than those in the U.S. The only weird thing was that the characters and rides and everything was half in French half in English! Eery!

It was so cool that we had the only full weekend of sunshine in Paris in months and that no schools were on holiday. The park wasn't as full as it could have been, and from 9-10 at night we literally walked onto rides - it was awesome. div>It was quite hard adjusting to the real world when I got home though, I was bouncing around like a Disney character singing songs well into Tuesday! Teehee!


The pretty castle. The designers said they had to meet higher expectations for European visitors, who were used to seeing real castles - interesting!



Our hotel room - we loved it!

At the entrance and so excited! Notice my new hat - love at first sight!

Me at the Rainforest Cafe - I love elephants!


My favourite Disney villain - pure genius!

Love Mary Poppins and this Penguin scene!

We LOVED Space Mountain, which is much faster than in the States. Went on it about 5 times!

Me in It's a Small World!

Being silly after our beloved Rocky Mountain!

Havin fun!

A Disney show

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So now I need to know:

1. What is your favourite Disney movie?

(Mary Poppins - LOVE it, love the myth and story, the moral, that we can find magic in the everyday)

2. Favourite song?

(Chim chiminey and Under the Sea! and.... and.....)

3. Favourite heroine?

(Hmmm, gotta be Ariel I think!)

4. Favourite hero?

(Peter Pan!)

5. Favourite villain?

(Ursula from the Little Mermaid)

Can't wait to hear yours!

Manipulation

I know I moan about being a manipulated consumer quite often. I know it, and I'm sorry.
But the post-Christmas healthy eating campaign really gets to me. It's so contrived. One day passes, and suddenly the endless chocolate, chips galore, cheese platters and other calorific goodies in the aisles are replaced with mountains of Special K and Ryvita as we are reminded to watch our waistline. Where were you when the damage was being done? Luring me in with two-for-the-price-of-one waist expanders of the sweet and oily variety? Every year the story is the same and it infuriates me.
I don't blame weight gain on them, and I don't expect them to help me find a solution. But I hate their assumption that I want to lose weight after Christmas.
Yesterday was the first day that the post was up and running again. What do I see on my doormat? Another invitation to rejoin Weight Watchers (if you are wondering about my latest attempt, let's not talk about it...). They are so clever. They couldn't even wait till after New Year, could they?

Weight Watchers

So what happens when the author of a blog with the word cake in the title goes on a diet?

I did Weight Watchers really successfully over a period of about 6 months and kept that weight off for another year. I felt great, I was at my target of 55kg - even quite a bit below it. Slowly slowly I trusted myself without the points and the counting and even then I was slim. But suddenly I started gaining, eating food for comfort for the very first time. At first I convinced myself I would lose that weight, but that hasn't happened. And so, back to Weight Watchers I go. I'm going to get a grip on things once again. I'm going to regain control and fit into my tight jeans! I loved Weight Watchers the first time round so I know I can do it again. I will post my progress week by week. Audrey, a lovely colleague, and I are going to meetings. What will French meetings be like, I wonder? For one they are more expensive than English meetings. I will definitely learn new vocab! Audrey is lovely and I think we both have the same very sane attitude to weight loss. I am so so glad she has joined our office! Can't wait to go on the weight loss journey with her - I honestly can't think of anyone better or nicer to go to meetings with. Wish us luck!

And now, to kick start the weight loss, a favourite super scrummy low-fat recipe I made up: Flourless vegetable bake.

1: Boil 1 sweet potato, 1 regular potato, 1 broccoli and any other vegeables you like, then mash.

2: Add a can of spinch and a can of sweetcorn to the mix

3: Fry 3 onions in olive oil until golden and add to the mix

4: Beat 4 eggs and add to the mix

5: Season (I like a lot of salt and pepper)

6: Pour into an oven dish and cook in the oven at 280 until cooked through (about 30 mins).

You will get an incredibly healthy and totally moreish sweet salty scrummy dish and you'll go back for more, I promise!