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So today's post is a bit of a catch up seeing as I worked another late one yesterday. I'm so tired today from it, bring on the weekend!

Thursday morning started with Davina. I'm enjoying working those arms, and I definitely think they are becoming more defined. Breakfast was a tub of 0% greek yoghurt (my last for a little while as they are too expensive!) mixed with a scoop of chocolate whey and topped with some oats, grape nuts and mixed berries.


Yummy mess! Lunch was a chicken salad dressed with lemon juice and plenty of black pepper followed by an apple.


Mid afternoon I snacked on a pot of cottage cheese with walnuts and cinnamon.


This was lovely and tasty and the 20g + of protein kept me nice and full. I also snacked on an apple before my meeting.


When I got home from my meeting it was too late for a decent dinner so I ate a bowl of my Lemon Tofu Pudding (which was oh so good!) and then I had what seemed like a billion kallo savory rice cakes and another (!) apple.


I finished it all off with a glass of hazelnut and almond rice milk.


This morning I was up bright and early for my weigh in. It was good news, I've lost 3lbs since last week! That puts me back at my happy weight of 10st (140lbs). Just like the holiday to Majorca, I would like to lose a few more pounds to give me a 'cushion' for my next holiday to Brighton which is in two weeks.

I popped to the gym for my cardio / free weights workout. I did 10 minutes of intervals on the cross trainer and 10 minutes of intervals on the step machine. I then did my weights routine from my training plan. To save time I joined up my tricep kickback and row into one move. It was a great workout, I'm definitely expecting some DOMS tomorrow!

Breakfast was a bowl of porridge made with jumbo porridge oats, quinoa flakes and water with a scoop of vanilla whey and some blueberries mixed in, then topped off with some pumpkin and sunflower seeds.


Lunch was a turkey salad with 5 slices of turkey, mixed salad leaves, carrot, cucumber and a big dollop of hummus on the side. I followed that with a pink lady apple.


I managed to head straight home after an afternoon meeting, very happy for the slightly earlier start to the weekend! I snacked on a bowl of low fat fromage frais with honey when I got home.


I've been looking at alternatives to my favourite expensive Fage 0% greek yoghurt. I tried some greek style yoghurt last week which was ok but did not contain loads of protein and had a few too many calories. I then saw the tub of low fat fromage frais and checked the label. Much better protein content and lower sugar, although not as good as the Fage, its much more affordable!

For dinner I made my Chilli, Lime, Ginger Chicken Stir Fry with Cashews. I used a pre packed stir fry as when I was last at the shops the shelves were a bit empty. The veggies included tender stem brocolli, chinese cabbage, sugar snap peas, red cabbage, spring onion and some fresh red chilli and corridander.


It really tasted amazing! Desert was a hot apple (chopped apple mircowaved with a tablespoon of water for 2 minutes) topped with couple of tablespoons of fromage frais, agave syrup and some Tropical Bear Granola.


I am so happy that the weekend is here, I don't know what it is but I'm so ready for it this week. I've been spending the afternoon looking through my cookbooks, snapping pics on my phone and uploading them to my Evernote account. I can then tag them with breakfast, lunch, dinner etc, then when I want some inspiration I can just look them straight up. Check out Evernote, its free and is a fantasic organisational tool.

So what does everyone have planned for the weekend? I'm out for a 4 mile run in the morning (fingers crossed my knee holds out) then I think I might pop into town and see what cheap fruit and veg I can get from the market before heading home (I will not be looking in any high street shops!) to give my wardrobe a good sort out. Thanks to the fantasic comments from you guys on my last post I'm going to have a good look at how to go on with ebay and see if I can make some money selling old clothes! I'm also planning some tasty eats. Can't wait! x

Well I'm not gonna lie, I've had a tough 24 hours. The Volunteer Awards Evening was great, we had 8 main awards including Volunteer of the Year and then all of the volunteers who come along also get a certificate. The night finished with a boogie on the dance floor, such good fun and such amazing people. I loved all your comments about the volunteer work you have done, and how important you feel volunteering is. Its so great that so many of you have volunteered before!

When I got home my knee and leg were really tight, I decided that I should have really listened to my body and stopped any exercise last week when it first felt painful. Although working out at the gym and to DVD's doesn't hurt like it does when I run, they are obviously still irritating my knee, hence why its getting worse instead of better. I had a good old cry about it all last night, I feel like I've worked so hard to improve my fitness, especially my running and now this has happened.

I'm petrified that the weight is going to pile back on (more on that later) and that I'm going to lose all of this fitness I have built up and that I'm going to be unable to do the Great North Run in September. I know its early days to get so worried about things and that I should wait and see what the physio says tomorrow but I just feel so worried about it. I didn't workout this morning and this is the first time I've missed a planned workout in months (apart from my illness last week). I think looking back I have pushed my body too hard with the running (I have increased my distance and times quite a bit over the last couple of months) and now its rebeling on me!

I'm going to throw my June training plan out of the window from now and just see what the physio says tomorrow regarding what exercise I can continue to do. I'm really hoping that I can still continue for the next two weeks as I will be on holiday after that when I'll be getting a full weeks rest anyway. I had been planning on some working out while on holiday, but thats totally out as well. So for the rest of June my fitness programme is a clean slate.

To make matters worse I had my weigh in this morning and I've gained 4lbs since last week! I'm back up to 10st 1 (141lbs). I know that most of the loss from last week was due to my illness but it still sucks. That, combined with a reduced or possibly non existent workout programme means I'm going to have to be very careful about what I eat for the next two weeks if I want to lose a few pounds so I can fully enjoy my holiday. I'll be focusing on watching my carbs and increasing my protein which also has the added benefit of helping my muscles repair, hopefully speeding up my recovery. Ok, so thats enough of my moaning! Onwards and upwards...

For breakie this morning I had my first try of Quark (very low fat cream cheese). It was really good, I love the creamy texture. I mixed half a tub with a little vanilla rice milk and a scoop of chocolate whey and then topped it with mixed berries and some Dorset Cereals Roasted and Toasted muesli.


Very tasty indeed! I love these mixed berries, I get a bag of them frozen for under £2, much cheaper than getting them fresh.

I had a late start for work as I had to attend a meeting in Newcastle. Luckily my boss suggested that I just work from home for the rest of the day so I headed back, did a whole load of stretching for my legs and then had lunch. I had a bowl of my African Inspired Sweet Potato Soup with added spinach leaves for green goodness.

Mid afternoon I made myself a vanilla frappuccino protein shake (scoop of vanilla whey, skimmed milk, water, ice cubes, teaspoon of instant decaf coffee).


This really hit the spot!

For dinner I made my Lime, Ginger and Chilli Cashew Stir Fry, just with out the cashews! I stir fried a lovely chicken breast with brocolli, spring onion and a bag of mixed vegetables and made a delicious sauce with lime juice, fresh minced ginger, chilli and soy sauce.


A huge plate full of veggies and lean protein, just how I like it! I haven't had beansprouts in ages, I love them so much in stir fries. The bag of mixed veggies was reduced to £1 and I'm glad I decided to get them, just so delicious. I followed that with a juicy orange.


Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

I apologise for my whinge at the start of this post, I just find it therapeutic to be able to get my feelings out through the blog.

So what does everyone have planned for the weekend? I have my physio appointment then I'm planning a trip into town to get some bits and pieces ready for my holiday. On Sunday its my Nephews 2nd Birthday and my parents are having a little party for him which will be lovely. I think I might try and get to the gym on Sunday, even if its just for an upper body and abs strength session.

Hope you have all had a great weekend and have a fab weekend ahead of you! x

Well I have had a bit of a nightmare 24 hrs. My laptop has decided to give me the blue screen of death! I've only had it since August so its still within warranty but I'm worried that I'm going to lose stuff that I haven't backed up. I feel totally lost without it! There's been tears and tantrums from me while the hubby has been trying to fix it, I didn't realise how much of my life is on that thing. Luckily the hubby has been kind enough to set me up on his laptop so I can still work and blog. Then, this morning when I went on his laptop to start working I hadn't copied my files over properly on to my memory stick so I had to drive all the way to work and sort that out. I've just had one of those days when everything has went wrong!

Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it. I read a wonderful quote on Ellies blog this week 'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional' - I like this way of looking at things, bad things happen, but its up to you how you deal with them. I know thats easy to say when its just about something silly like a laptop but it makes me feel better anyway! I've spent all day comforting myself with food and relieving stress through cooking so I'm begining to feel much better now.

I started the day with a cup of warm water and lemon and then did my Davina DVD for 40 mins. For breakfast I made myself a wonderful smoothie in a bowl with frozen cherries, spinach, chocolate whey and vanilla rice milk. It was so thick and creamy, just wonderful.


Since I was working from home today I thought I would go and do my food shop first thing so that it was out of the way. I ended up with a huge haul:


Plenty of fruit and veggies including strawberries, blackberries and a big pineapple as a treat, milk, edam cheese, natural yoghurt, hummus, regular oats and jumbo rolled oats, frozen fruits, rice cakes, decaf coffee, red lentils, red kidney beans and a couple of new things to try: soba noodles and some Dorset Cereals! The Dorset Cereals were on special offer and I just couldn't resist them. I hope I don't fall foul of the snackies with these, we shall just have to see!

I then sat down to start doing some work and realised my mistake with my files so few in to work and back as quick as possible.

For dinner I decided to indulge in making a big pan of soup:

Pea, Brocolli and Mint Soup (makes 4 servings)

1 large white onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large head of brocolli broken into florets
About 700g of frozen peas
a large sprig of fresh mint, leaves finely chopped
Hot vegetable stock

Fry of the onion and garlic in the oil on  medium heat. When the onions have softened add the brocolli followed by the hot stock and half of the chopped mint. Simmer for ten minutes then add the frozen peas. Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes until the peas are cooked through and the brocolli is tender. Remove from the heat and blend using blending applicance of choice. Return to pan and heat through, checking seasoning and adding more chopped mint if required. Serve topped with a little more chopped mint.


Another simple and delicious fresh soup, just what I needed today. I had a lovely big bowl of this soup along with a fruit plate of 1 chopped kiwi, 2 strawberries and an orange.


I managed to get a good bit of work done in the afternoon before I took a break for my mid afternoon snack. When I had been shopping earlier I had picked up some blackberries on special offer and had started to dream up this smoothie creation:

Braeburn Apple and Blackberry Smoothie (serves 1):

1 braeburn apple sliced and half chopped
1 small punnet of blackberries
1 small bottle of pressed organic apple juice
4 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

Reserve some slices of apple and a few blackberries if your feeling in the need for something pretty to look at, then blend all ingredients into a smoothie. I served mine with the sliced apple and reserved blackberries as a garnish, what can I say, I find pretty looking food a comfort!


This was bloody gorgeous, so fruity and sweet, just delicious!
For dinner I really fancied a stir fry but I wanted to try something a bit different, so I thought up this recipe:

Chilli Ginger Lime Chicken Stir Fry with Cashews (serves 1 hungry person)

1 chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces
Selection of favourite stir frying veggies chopped into bite sized pieces or made into ribbons using peeler
2 teaspoons of grated ginger
2 teaspoons of chopped red chilli (I use lazy chilli from a tube)
1 lime
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
handful of cashews

Create a marinade for the chicken with 1 teaspoon of both the ginger and chilli, the juice of half the lime and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Leave the chicken to marinade for a few hours. When ready to make, start by quickly toasting the cashews in a dry wok for a few seconds. Put cashews to one side and fry the chicken in a little oil, adding the veggies depending on how long they take to cook. I used brocolli, asparagus, kale, carrot, courgette and red pepper. Make up a sauce for the stir fry using the rest of the chilli, ginger, lime juice and soy sauce. When the veggies and chicken are cooked transfer to a plate and top with the cashews followed by the sauce. Start eating!


This was really good, the chilli, lime and ginger worked really well. It was a huge portion from all the veggies, but I do like to add extra bulk to my meals that way, so it was just the right size for me. Would work brilliantly with pak choy, bean sprouts and steamed fish as well. Total foodgasm!

For desert I decided to try out Ellies suggestion and microwave some of my Berries and Cherries Dorset Cereal with a little water and serve with some greek yoghurt.


Thanks for the tip Ellie, this was gorgeous!

Drinks - water, green tea, jasmine green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

Well what a day! My cooking antics are all that has kept me me sane. I'm just so worried about being without my laptop, I hope that it can be repaired quickly.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to work extra hard to make up for the time I lost today trying to sort out the laptop! At least theres only one day left of the working week. Hope you are all having a good one, send me positive vibes for my laptop! x