Saint vs Sinner

I’ve had a really flexible week!! It’s been my birthday so there’s been a girls night out, hangover food, bday spa day, bday family night, Friday night red wine, meal in Birmingham and a visit to the German market, then a meal out today too! Throw in a week of zero exercise means I was feeling pretty rubbish!! Until I read this quote, it was hanging up on the wall of the beautiful Walton Hall today.

“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”
― Oscar Wilde

This can easily apply to a slimmer! I’m usually really focused with food, alcohol not so much, but food I’m pretty close to a saint! But this week I’ve been a synner! I’ve not gone crazy, but I’ve certainly had more flexibility than usual. To some, when it’s your birthday they see it as the norm to eat and drink whatever you want, but for me it’s just not worth it. I don’t see cake, chocolate etc as treats. To me fitting in to an amazing dress and having spa treatments is more a treat. Don’t get me wrong I love love love the taste, but the pleasure is literally gone in seconds! Feeling good and healthy can last a life time. I’m perfectly happy having my sw version of takeaways, chocolate desserts and so on. I never feel deprived with food optimising, so I don’t feel the need to have mega blow outs. How I feel after eating high syn food takes away the enjoyment. Once you’ve got to target you really don’t ever want to slip back, it becomes your lifestyle and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The guilt was creeping in, the jeans are tighter and my stomach was wobbling when we went over some speed bumps! Then I saw this quote and felt better! No gain is permanent, every gain is undo able. I just need a new goal to re motivate myself. Two of our friends we were out with last night have got amazing figures, one girl R is really in to working out and going to the gym. She’s totally re inspired me!! She’s also lost weight and she knows how it feels to be bigger and unhappy, so we’ve got this is common. She’s way more focused than me though with exercise and I’m hoping it’s rubbed off!! I’ve ordered some new trainers and gym clothes to re motivate me!! I liked how I was feeling before my bday and I want that feeling back! But that’s down to me.

Everyone at any given moment in time is governed by their action and thought at that exact moment. A Saint, in an instant, can become a Sinner. And a Sinner, can become a Saint. You cannot be labeled by your past, or what you promise to do in the future. You are who you are now. So this sinner or synner is going back to being more saintly! Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels after all!!

Hope you’ve all had a fab weekend. Happy Fopping xx

Bday weekend

Well that was an eventful weekend!! It’s my birthday Monday, so I celebrated with my girls last night. I’m usually the last one standing but not this time. I was the first to leave! Unheard of! Not been out out for ages and my god I can’t handle it any more!! Thankfully my amazing boyfriend cooked me a full sw breakfast and bought me lots of tea while I wanted X factor, still a bit drunk! I actually dragged myself to asda to get out of the house. Food shopping when you’re hungry and hungover is a dangerous combo!! Even though it’s my bday and I could eat for England, I just had some walkers squares for 5.5 syns and then went to my fav coffee shop and bought 2 sw friendly brownies 🙂 a hazelnut one and a peppermint and marshmallow one, my absolute favourite!!!!! 3 syns each!

When you’ve got something to aim for are you more focused? I am big time. I had this dress I really wanted to wear so I’ve been totally on it! Hitting the protein and tons and tons of veggies! I’ll pop some pics of my recent meals up. Syns have been low, except for wine! It paid off as I actually felt quite good last night. I’m going to start doing more weights too. I love gym classes but my god did I ache after using the squat rack this week!! It’s the way forward I think!!

So I’ve bought more clothes and make up recently, shock! I literally love love love shopping!!!!! I’ll pop pictures of it all on this post. I had my hair coloured ombre recently, because I was so blonde though it needed refreshing. So I had that done yesterday and a curly blow dry, this is my favourite way to wear my hair, I just wish I could do it myself!!! My moms bought me a ghd hairdryer for my bday so Im dead excited to use that! I also had a st tropez treatment which was fab! I bought this charlotte tilbury mascara everyone raves about. It needs a few coats, but it builds really nicely!! I really like it but I’m not sure it’s any better than my usual loreal one, yet it’s twice the price.

Tomorrow for my actual birthday I’ve got the day off so I’m heading to a spa for the day! So excited and it’s certainly needed after this weekend!!! I’ve added on a massage alongside the facial, heaven!!!!!!!!! Then in the evening my brothers cooking a sw meal for us all as opposed to getting a take away. How lovely is that.

Talking of lovely my gorgeous man is currently making me a sw roast dinner too!! I’m one lucky girl aren’t I!!! Can’t wait to snuggle and watch X factor! This is what Sundays are about, food, shopping and cuddles 🙂

Enjoy your evening and Happy Fopping. Xx

Food on my mind

Have you ever heard of the phrase mindful eating? What does this actually mean?

Mindful eating addresses our relationship with food. We eat to nourish and sustain our body but sometimes we reach for food in times of stress and emotion while other times we merely eat out of habit even though we aren’t hungry.

Have you ever devoured a plate full of food and thought, flipping heck I didn’t even notice I’d eaten all that!! Do you eat to the point you are totally and utterly stuffed???? Do you eat even when you aren’t hungry?? This may help you.

Sometimes we will eat without realising how much we’ve eaten. Or, we finish what we’ve started because there are only a few bites left. We’ve eaten on the run, in the car, or while answering e-mails or watching tv while on facebook too! Sitting down at the kitchen table is long gone for a lot of people, where do you eat your meals? I eat in front of the TV mainly. The practice of mindful eating seeks to change all this and put us back in control of what we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat.

Being mindful requires us to stay in the moment. It helps us focus and make deliberate choices and not ones that are reactive to feelings or to the surrounding environment. Mindfulness serves to break unhealthy associations with food and can help relieve the stress that can come with it. Taking time to plan meals, to sit and take pleasure in meals, to slow down and savor each bite of food can give us a break from the daily routine and give us a chance to turn the attention to ourselves. Mindful eating can help us develop a calm, controlled, and balanced energy around food.

Here are a few strategies I’ve found for practicing mindful eating:

• Always ask yourself “am I hungry?” when you feel like eating. Hunger is physical; it is not the same as a craving. Thirst is sometimes confused with hunger so stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the day.

• Getting too hungry can lead to overeating and poor food choices. I can be guilty of this. Be sure you are eating three healthy meals a day and two or three healthy snacks. Stay in control. Fruit, yogurts, hi fi bars, veggie sticks and dips are all fab snacks.

• Identify emotional triggers such as stress, sadness, or boredom. Cope with these feelings through exercise, relaxing in a bath, use your syns and always stay to group for image therapy. Identify environmental triggers, too. Trying to eat at the table or if you cook too much food, quickly popping it in the fridge for lunch the next day. If the kids sweets are screaming your name, put them somewhere out of sight so they aren’t constantly in your eye line when you open the cupboards.

• Eat slowly and take small bites. Now this is the one I will struggle with the most!!! I eat mega fast, always have done!! Then I dint realise I’m full till it’s too late. My bf laughs his head off at how much food I can put away and how quickly!! Dinner times in my family home were like a race!! My mom is the same. Try and put your fork down between bites. Use your senses and experience the colour, texture, aroma, and flavour of your food. Sounds bit airy fairy I know, but give it a try.

• Pause during your meal and assess how full you are. This will help you reconnect with your natural hunger and fullness cues. Stop eating when you feel comfortably full. You don’t have to eat everything on your plate—wrap it up for another meal and don’t plate so much food the next time. Again I need to do this!!

Eating mindfully helps to focus on the enjoyable aspects of food by making us more aware and thoughtful of the choices we make. Learning to eat mindfully allows us to be back in command of our body and can lead to a more healthful relationship with food and perhaps a more healthful you.

So next time you’re about to inhale your plate like your life depends on it ha ha stop and remember this blog 🙂

Happy Fopping xx

Sunday shopping, food and comedy

So I had such a fab day yesterday. I did my favourite thing first, apart from eating lol. Shopping!!! I’ve shared a pic of my purchases. I’ve bought loads recently but these are just Sundays presents to myself. I love going to the bull ring in Birmingham as it’s just got everything!! It’s already starting to get mad busy though with early Xmas shoppers so beware! I think I’ll do all mine online again this year!!!

I’m still hitting the speed foods, especially after I past my tipping point on unplanned drinks Saturday. Sssshhhh don’t tell anyone, I am human too.

I don’t know how you guys feel about eating out, but it does stress me out sometimes. I’m a control freak and I like to know what Im eating, how it’s cooked and I like to ensure it’s cooked the sw way. I like Indian as it’s easy to food optimise there, also Nandos and the harvester. I’m a cheap date!!! We wanted to go somewhere a bit nicer though Sunday. We looked at miller and carter but I was starving and I didn’t think it would be enough! Ended up going to a Brazilian restaurant called Rodizio Rico. OMG it was amazing!!!! Not cheap but it was so worth it!!! There’s a huge salad bar, which is all you can eat, there’s everything you can think of!! Then men come around with skewers of meat and chicken and cut it off for you. Then they keep coming round with more and more!! It’s all BBQ or grilled, no fat or oil. The quality of meat was fantastic! I had gammon, chicken, fillet steak, pork, rump steak and lamb! They just cut a few bits off. Then you have a card you can turn over when you need a rest and then turn back over when you want more. I didn’t turn mine over much ha ha. It was just so nice to eat out and not feel guilty about it. If you have one near you, go. It was £21 each on a Sunday, but I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. I’d go every day!! After that we went to see John Bishop, so it was a perfect day.

I promised I’d share the way I did my carrot cake porridge this morning with my fb page followers and Instagram friends, it was really nice and just a different way of adding speed foods without going over board on fruit.

All I did was weigh out my HEB of oats. Add a peeled and finely grated carrot, cinnamon, ginger and milk. I used coconut milk but you can use whatever you like as you A choice. Cook in the microwave to your liking and sprinkle on stevia after. Easy peasy. You can also add eggs to the mixture and do them as pancakes! With or without the oats.

Any questions on the food pics just shout.

I’m currently in a salon right now going ombre!!!! Eeeeekkkk scared but excited too! I’m so boring with my hair, I’ve been blonde forever!! Hopefully I’ll like it for a change.

Have a fab day and Happy Fopping xxx