Thursday, 22 May 2014

Food Associations

Anyone that reads my blog is well aware  of my sugar addiction and my love of all things cake and biscuit related.
I love food in general but have a particular weakness when the C word is mentioned/offered/ sniffed.
Think Homer Simpson with doughnuts....

mmmmmmmm Cake



I used to have great will power and motivation. I would be so focused that I could say no to anything that was on offer and feel a little bit proud of myself for it.
But lately I can feel old habits slipping in. I can’t pass the cake shop in my local shopping center without thinking “will I” or “I’ll pick up a few for X/us as a treat” 

I am also very much an emotional eater, as in any excuse and I’m celebrating/ commiserating/ feeling happy/ sad/ bored/ cold/ bad day/ good day/ stressed
These would all be food associated feelings in my mind. Even if I’m not feeling any of the above and only popping to a friends house for a chat I stop at the shop for…. Yip you guessed it.. cake to go with the tea and chats…. (sure it would be rude to arrive empty handed)

I got so bad a couple of weeks ago that I realised that I had eaten cake at least once everyday!! I mean who eats cake EVERY SINGLE DAY? **raises hand** apparently I do!



Now that I've realised that I was doing this, I have been trying to avoid cake filled situations, this has meant less trips to the shops, supermarket (un-escorted), going to the shop hungry.

This hasn't been working out too well for me BUT I can say that I haven’t eaten cake EVERY day, but I've still been eating a lot of cake.

It’s the cake that catches me off guard that's a killer for me, why you ask? I can’t say no to it.. that’s where the problem for me lies at the moment.



When someone brings cake to the lunch room for morning tea (this seems to happen a lot lately) I take a little bit piece and say that it’ll do me, a little taste of the good stuff, but if I’m being honest, its never enough!! I’d probably eat it until a. it was gone or b. I was sick.. Whilst I walk away after having a small bit, it plays on my mind….
Its like its calling me from the kitchen and sometimes I’m  on a sweat about it.. tell myself that IF there's some still there after my lunch at 2, then I can have another piece! This is a little game that I play with myself.. Sometimes I’m relieved when I go to the kitchen and its all gone, but other times I’m disappointed because I wanted more!! It’s a vicious circle of mind games with myself!


Lately tho I've found that I’m back to associating having a cuppa with having something nice once again!! I had cut this habit out totally and used to see the cup of tea as my treat!! This isn't cutting it any more and now when I have a cuppa I feel the need to have “something”
So in the same way that people associate Saturday nights with a night on the town or a glass of wine. I associate having a cup of hot hot lovely tea with having something nice (preferably cake)

I have attempted to make the Slimming World healthy version cakes. I made the scan bran choc muffins, which were soggy bottomed and horrible and I attempted chocolate brownies, which I left in the oven for too long and became more like rocks than cake! But I will try others and hopefully find something that will help me along…

I am  trying to curb my tea and “something nice” issue at the moment (ahem, well the last 2 weeks), in that I bring my lunch and snacks to work and don’t venture outside, so its only when someone else brings a treat to work or there's a birthday in the office that there is “something nice” in the vicinity and I’m on a sweat.

It’s the evening time. I think my cuppa after my dinner is almost my favourite of the day..
I don’t have anything with this (except my daily fix of Home & Away) but this kick-starts the kettle being hit hourly until bed time if I’m not going out that evening and with that comes the voices in my head telling me to have a biscuit with my cuppa, and I do….. but then when its time for another cuppa, I’m thinking  mmmm those biscuits were nice, I think I’ll have another few…. Your seeing a pattern here aren't ya?

I’m usually the first to say, Brush your teeth, try the 20 mins rule, have fruit or yogurt instead, DON’T have another cuppa, go do something else….. But at the moment it’s a struggle and all of these ideas are good and WORK but not for me right now!!

Am I the only one who can’t take their own advise? Am I the only one who has these kind of first world problems?

I’m just a girl who can’t say no to cake even when the clothes are getting tight and the wobbly bits have extra wobble going on!!!!


Eeekkk

**Photos from Google**

Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Being a lazyass!




I've been away from the blog for way too long!! I kept telling myself that I must start making time for it again and get back into the habit of regular posts, but truth is I've gotten lazy and not just with the blog!!

I've gotten lazy with all aspects of my life at the moment, I stopped blogging, healthy eating, exercising, I even stopped flossing my teeth for a bit!!! That's how lazy I'd become!!

This year has been a struggle for me, I've been feeling a bit Meh and seem to have lost my mojo.
The food baby from Christmas spilled into February for my birthday and then I went to the states in March and the Food Baby was almost at full term by the end of the holiday!! And I was feeling it BIG time, and yet my new habit of being lazy was preventing me from doing anything!
yes I was upset that only a quarter of my wardrobe was fitting me and that I had no energy and was becoming a bit paranoid again.... I was however still reaching for the chocolate biscuits and craving bad food all the time!!

I knew something had to give, and I was also betting that my mojo wasn't going to return all by itself, that I had to take back the control of my life and make better decisions.

So at the start of April I started to eat a little better and force myself into my tracksuit and out the front door for a quick walk. I must admit that it was the walking/ me time that I've realised that I've missed the most these last few months, I had been going to classes and "doing a bit" but its really not the same as plugging in the headphones and getting lost in your own thoughts for a while. its good for my metal health and sanity if nothing else.

After a week of doing my own thing I realised that i need the structure of a weekly weigh in to keep me on track and away from the fridge in the evening!!

I am a picker that wears BIGGER knickers


I saw a post on facebook that Slimming World was starting a class in my area, )not 5 minutes from my house in fact.) Its probably one of the only classes/ programmes that I've never ever tried ever and had no information about. So I decided that I would pop along to the first meeting to suss it out and see if its for me.

The meeting lasted 2 hours and maybe I'm a consumers dream/ total sucker but by the end of the meeting I believed that this could work for me. That maybe just maybe this healthy lifestyle change was the new way forward for me. I must admit, I was excited, there was something ignited in me that evening.
I joined up, faced the scales and learnt that I had gained 9.5lbs since I last stepped on a scales (before Vegas & Paddy's Day) it felt like it should have been more to be honest.
The following day I joined the SW website and spent most of the day reading through all the success stories and their lovely recipes. This is definitely a new challenge trying to rewire my brain to this new way of thinking and eating.


After the meeting I decided that I needed to changed my exercise routine also, I was chatting to the girls in the office and one of them started jogging with Operation Transformation (Irish weight loss tv show) in January and had since run a 5k run and was now training for a 10k in May.
I asked her a million and seven questions and I then decided that I would try this, that my power walks would now be training me how to jog/ run. So I downloaded the Couch to 5K app to my phone (I'l do a separate post on this)


So I'm struggling to get back on the wagon 100% but I'm hanging onto the back of it at the moment and I refuse to get off/ give up.  I have a new plan of sorts and I'm sure that once I give it a few weeks to get into a routine of sorts that I'll get back on track and get rid of this damn food baby once and for all!!

But I'm back to blogging and being accountable and that matters.......





***Photos form Google Images***



Sunday, 20 April 2014

Easter Nail Art

Easter Nail Art

Happy Easter

Before I tuck into a lovely Roast dinner for Easter, I thought I'd show ye all my Easter nails.


Right hand has 2 chicks, one got a little dent,..



Quick touch up job and he's Grand ...



Left hand just got the one chick I'm afraid, but lotsa lovely polka dots (my favourite)




Unfortunately I started to tidy away before the top coat was dry and this happened!!!
I've no luck with chicks!!! Poor chick lost half his face!!!!








What I used


  • Yes Love - 578 Speckled Green
  • Ticket to Gorgeous Nails - Kiss me Quick (Boots - Light Blue)
  • Rimmel Salon Pro 247- Isn't she Precious?
  • Yes Love - 2905 Speckled Blue
  • Rimmel Salon Pro 312 - Ultra Violet
  • Catrice 700 Birdy Reloaded
  • Essence Colour & Go 145 Flashy Pumpkin
  • Models Own Neon Bubblegum
  • Catrice 850 Aretha's R.E.S.P.I.N.K
  • Essence Tip Painter - White
  • Pennys - Black Nail Art Pen
  • Dotter (ebay)
  • Seche Vite Top Coat