We'll have a "right royal knees up"

Alright so maybe our Royal wedding party wasn't exactly that exciting but the food was good. On the menu:

Cucumber Sandwiches, Tuna Sandwiches, Cheese Sandwiches
Potato and Pea Tarts
Deviled Eggs
Sausage Rolls
and Crisps
Lemon Tarts - lightened up a bit by using filo pastry
Lemon Meringue Roulade

Still On Track

Lost 2.5 pounds this week. That's a total of 5.5 lbs in 3 weeks. Yay! Will start week 3 of couch to 5k this week. I stayed behind a week because I wasn't feeling well after last week. We're planning a royal wedding watch party for Friday and then Jed's sister gets here on Monday. I'm just a little bit worried about how my weight will be after a trip to London. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

This week's menu

I tried online grocery shopping this week for the first time and even though I took me hours to put together my menu I'm sure I will get faster at it as I get more familiar with my weight watchers recipes. If you'd like more information about anything just let me know and we can share.

Friday- Spicy tomato tortilla soup with quesadillas- 9propoints
Saturday- Jacket potatoes with salad -variable
Sunday- Mediterranean Bean Salad with bacon -5propoints
Monday- Goat's cheese, vegetable and pesto pizza- 11propoints
Tuesday- Creamy Chicken Curry- 12propoints
Wednesday- Sweet and Sour Chicken with Belgian Chocolate Cake Slices - 13propoints and 5propoints
Thursday- Jacket potatoes-variable
Friday- Chili with the fixin's

Week 2 is over

Well week two of running is now finished. Three sessions this week: Monday was ok, Wednesday was great and it was my first time to run while on vacation. Friday was another story, the run wasn't too bad, actually the first section of running was great (it could be because I was going down hill). The trouble was really getting the motivation to do it when I had a little bit of a head cold and then when I finished I was really achy. The good news is that I did it. Yay!
On the weight watchers front, on Monday I was excited to see a 3.5 pound loss. I was so proud :) and I really didn't feel like I'd struggled getting there. This week has been harder mainly because we we in Edinburgh with another couple from church from Tuesday to Thursday and although I was able to make some good choices we did wind up at a chinese buffet that was hard to find anything not fried in. We also stopped at a mexican restaurant where I shared a pretty cheesy enchilada with Jed. All in all it was pretty hard to tract those points. I've noticed that I tend to overestimate how much things like that "cost" then later I try to talk myself into why it really couldn't be that much. We're going to a wedding today and I will be having a bite or two of wedding cake but I'll be having baked potato and lots of fruit through the rest of the day. I'm really hoping for a .5 pound loss or a stay the same.
Oh, something I've found that I LOVE: Boot's sushi packs - not the best sushi I've ever had but for a quick lunch from a supermarket look for "sushi packs" the one from Boot's was only 4 points and I felt completely satisfied with that and a piece of fruit.

New Goals

This week I started a new fitness and weight loss plan. I've been going to the gym for a few months now but I've found that the reason I joined in the first place, to go to classes, isn't a very realistic thing. The local gym doesn't have any classes before 10am and most of the good classes are after 5pm which wasn't covered in my membership. I also felt a little bit silly walking for 20 minutes to get there and then hopping on a treadmill for 30 minutes before walking home again. Something had to change so...
I joined weight watchers to give myself the group dynamic I was getting from going to Aerobics classes and started a "couch to 5k" program to try to overcome my fear of running. I'm now on day 3 of weight watchers and will be going for my 3rd run tomorrow morning.
It's not that I think I'm fat. Really one of my biggest problems is that I am quite happy to be lazy and stay where I am now. The problem is that things won't always be this easy and there's no point in not being the best that I can be. So, I've set a goal and will be doing my best to reach it. The plan is to be able to run 5k or 30 minutes continuously in 9 to 10 weeks. The national health service has put out a series of podcasts that have a decent soundtrack and a very friendly lady's voice telling you when to run and when to walk. Right now I'm on week one which is a 5 minute warm up followed by 8 repetitions of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking with a five minute cool down at the end. You do each week's run three times and then move on to the next week. I'm doing mine Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Runs 1 and 2 went ok but I'm sure I look pretty ridiculous trying to "jog" up hill in my neighborhood. It does help to have headphones in because it allows me to tune everything else out and just think about what it will be like in 9 weeks. Tomorrow I'm looking for a more level route though.
On the subject of weight watchers I would recommend their new "points plus" program to anyone. Memaw (Jed's grandma) works for weight watchers in the states so she helped me try the old system last year and I lost about 10 pounds. The old system was great but I did feel hungry and grouchy for the first couple weeks. So far on the new system I haven't been near as hungry and now that fruit and vegetables are free I just reach for a banana when I get hungry. Somehow it almost seems too easy so we'll see how it's gone when I weigh in on Monday. I've been told not to expect a big loss because I really don't have a lot to loose still, it would be nice to see some change.

Early Spring.

These are some of the places Jed and I have been able go visit on our days off now that the weather has gotten a little bit better.

Brimham Rocks- North Yorkshire



The National Rail Museum. - York








Castle Howard: North Yorkshire
This is one of Englands 10 Treasured houses. It's about 45 minutes from our house and it makes for a great day out.