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Hi,
I am Katherine, Jess’s sister. I’m a self-confessed fussy eater and lazy chef.
I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. It is something that I have generally buried my head in the sand about. I feel like I have half-heartedly tried a ton of diets. I was never very successful because I have always just ignored the problem and enjoyed life. However, I avoid photos, avoid clothes shopping, avoid the full-length mirror and more recently, I turned down an invitation to go to a theme park. This was not because I didn’t want to go or was busy but because I wasn’t sure if I would actually fit in the rollercoasters and couldn’t face the potential walk of shame if I didn’t.
Time for change
I decided it was time for a change when I stepped on the scales two weeks before my 30th birthday. I was horrified by what it said. So horrified that I am still not ready to share that number. It was time to change. I want to enjoy going on holiday with my friends and have a ton of photos to remember it by. I want to be confident going to a theme park. Also, I want to be able to go to the Metrocentre with my friends and not worry if the shop will stock my size. So recently, I have been trying to follow in my sister’s footsteps and make some long-term changes.
Success
This time, I have not been following any specific diet. I have just cut right back on the snacking and made sure that I ate meals which were low in calories and high in protein to keep me full. As a result, I have lost 27lb over the last 8 months. Yay!
It has been a rocky journey. Some weeks have been very successful weeks while others I ‘fell off the wagon’. Unfortunately, after 8 months, I am getting very bored with my limited range of meals. This is where Jess comes in.
Why am I writing this?
Around 6 years ago, Jess and I moved out of our parent’s house and moved into a house that we rented together. Quite often, Jess would cook some great meals. Some of them I really enjoyed and others I wasn’t too sure of – I am a fussy eater after all! When we moved out of our place and into our own houses, that’s when my weight really skyrocketed. I used working long hours as an excuse not to cook healthy meals, would continuously snack and order a takeaway at least once a week.
As a teacher, I now have a 7 week summer holiday. This means I have no excuse not to put time into learning some new recipes. I am hoping I will learn how to cook some of great food so that it will be second nature by the time I go back to work. This is where Jess comes in. I called upon my sister to help me. My fantastic sister has agreed to help me meal plan using the recipes on her site and I will check in once a week to let you know how I am getting on. My goal is to lose another stone before I go back to work. As it is an unusual 7 weeks summer holiday, that means 2lb a week, which seems a reasonable amount of weight each week.
Here are my before pictures:
Week 1
One week into my new meal plan and it is fair to say, I’ve eaten more food this week than on any diet I have ever been on before. I am full. In fact, I am always comfortably full. That does not mean I have been perfect and not boredom snacked much to Jess’s frustration! (I know, I’m sorry).
In all honesty, with the amount of food and in particular, carbs, that I have eaten this week, along with the snacking, I really did not expect to lose weight. Fortunately, I was wrong! It turns out you can eat great meals (which include carbs) and lose weight! Before I tell you how well it went, here is an overview of the week.
The initial shop
Well, the initial shop, as with any diet, was painful. When the bill came in to just over £60 (around £20 more than my usual weekly shop) I was a little bit horrified. However, a lot of the things that I bought will do more than just week one. For example, I have a box of 12 potato waffles that I only ate 4 of and know will be in at least 1 recipe next week. Also, a lot of Jess’s recipes use similar ingredients so they will get used up over time.
Being vegetarian
I decided for the first week, I would try to be vegetarian like Jess. As someone who eats some meat but is not a huge meat lover, I really didn’t think I would miss it. In some cases, this was true. For example, the Quorn nuggets are DIVINE! They really do taste like McDonald’s and were great in the nugget wrap. In fact, I liked all of the Quorn items however, from about half way through the week, I started to miss the meat. If I am having sausages, I want real sausages, not the Quorn ones. So next week, I will be trying to substitute some (but not all) of the Quorn items for meat.
Substitutions
I did make the odd substitution this week but not many. As I said, I was trying to follow the vegetarian plan. The first substitution came at the supermarket when I couldn’t find Fry’s hot dogs so swapped them for a non-vegetarian alternative. The only other substitution (if you can call it that) is that I scrambled my eggs instead of frying them as I am fussy and only like eggs when the yolk and white are mixed together – not separate.
The best bits
I have learned a few new cooking tips, tricks and new favourite recipes this week that I will definitely be using for years to come. First of all, frozen veg that you steam in the microwave. Game changer! I love vegetables but the last thing I want to do when I get home from a busy day at work is peel and chop veg. However, these bags live in the freezer and go in the microwave for 3 mins. They steam cook in that time. The last time I tried frozen veg was when I was at university and I often found that there was lots of rubbish bits in it. You know the ones I mean, bits of carrots with the skin still on or with random unknown black pieces. I have now had 6 bags of veg across the week and not come across a single dodgy vegetable.
Another thing that I have loved this week is the homemade chips. Particularly with the chips and wedges seasoning. My tip if you have never used the seasoning before is to be generous. It’s delicious! Also, my sister and I had a bit of a debate over skin or no skin when she saw me peeling them on Friday night. Turns out she never bothers and has them with the skin on, so I might try that next week. It seems like yet another way to make cooking quicker.
Finally, the pitta pizza. This was my favourite meal of the week. Also, it was syn free. I added garlic seasoning to my tomato pureé because I love garlic, and had red onion, red pepper and sweetcorn on the top. It tasted as good as a real pizza and is a recipe I will definitely be making again.
Cheating
As I mentioned before, I did a bit of cheating this week. Actually, I did more than a bit of cheating. I want to make it clear that this is not because I was hungry because in fact, I was not hungry. It was more due to boredom, having them in the house and opportunity. I have always found it more difficult to maintain my weight when I am on school holidays because I sit in the house for extended periods of time as most of the people I know work normal jobs so are not free during the day.
That being said, I went to the beach with some friends on Tuesday. Although I held strong with my lunch and did not succumb to the fish and chips that they had, however, I did later have ice cream with them. Later in the week, I also ate a mallow and marsh double chocolate marshmallow bar and a couple of packets of Skinny Food crispies.- I really enjoy the white chocolate ones.
The final bit of cheating I did was last night (I know – just before weigh in!). My cousin was over and we wanted to try some of Jess’s pancakes. So we did. They were delicious and I do not regret it.
Pics from the week
Here are a few pictures that I took of some of the food I have eaten this week. My skills are nowhere near up to Jess’s standard but I don’t think I did too badly.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing with the cooking though. I did have one little mishap with the cheesy garlic bagel. Luckily, they come in packs of 4, so I was able to redo them. The second attempt was much better and I still have two in the freezer for next time.
The weigh in
So, after all that cheating, and my preconceived idea that I need to eat minimal carbs to lose weight, I did not expect to see anything good when I stepped on the scales. I was pleasantly surprised. –5.5lb! Wow! Considering this isn’t really the beginning of my weight loss journey, just a change in menu, I cannot believe how successful it was. It has made me so excited for the next week as I know that again I will get to eat lots of great food and lose weight.
