So….I fell off the weight loss wagon and made a crater the size of London underneath me!

I hate this. I’m so ashamed and disappointed in myself words can barely begin to describe.

I’ve fallen off the wagon, the slimming world diet, eating healthy, exercising….just about every healthy wagon in my life I’ve fallen off and not lightly. I know why and how it happened but that doesn’t comfort me in all honesty.

There’s a huge part of me doesn’t want to write  and publish this post, which is why it’s taken me so long because, in a strange way it makes my failure real and I know that sounds stupid because it’s clearly real. You an I can see the weight I’ve put on, I can  feel the weight, but just admitting it to you all here publicly is so hard because not only do I feel like I’ve let myself down, but I’ve also let you down. Continue reading

Missed Two Weigh-In’s But Stayed The Same!

Last Thursday I actually managed to get out of work quick enough to get to class, shocker I know! I’d missed the last weeks because of 15/16 hour days, and even though I’ve been sticking to plan as much as possible (not easy) I was still a little anxious getting on the scales.

It was fine though, I stayed exactly the same. Not the best of results but least its not a negative (a gain).

I’m trying my best to stay on plan, with the crazy hours that I’ve been doing lately…It’s really not easy.

Have you missed a couple of classes in a row, how did you get on?

Slimming World Friendly Muller Rice (Syn Free!)

Today I've got a cheeky little recipe for ya that turns any yoghurt, not just muller lights into a "muller rice" style yoghurt with any of the syns.

Its so simple to make,can be bulk prepared for the entire week in one go and is so filling you won't want another bite, what more could you want?

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Ingredients

Recipe

The fun part...EATING!

Batch Cooking

You know that I've had a few (bad) words to say about muller light and slimming world, what with all the sugar in them and you may be thinking I'm totally against them, but I'm not.

It's just not many people realise how many they should limit themselves to a day; so if your gonna eat one or two (which is fine) shouldn't you make the most of it? A simple muller light isn't filling in the slightest, but these on the other hand!

Ingredients

• Pudding rice (about half a bag)
• Any flavouring essences you like (almond, vanilla)
• A muller light yoghurt (you could use and yoghurt if you prefer, just make sure to check the syn values)

There's nothing exact about this recipe; its pretty much throw as much as you want in, nothing can go wrong, it's too simple too.

Recipe

First things first, fill the kettle and stick it on!

Take your pudding rice and rinse it two or three times in a pan, you'll notice the water will be really cloudy the first time you rinse it, this isn't bad, its just better if you get the water a little clearer.
Once you've washed it a few times drain it as much as possible without taking it out the pan, grab the kettle and cover the rice with an inch or two with boiling of water and put on the heat.

This is the time you can add any flavourings you want to the water, I added vanilla to this batch (granted it not an english version, mum got this in the Dominican so the syns are unknown, but you can by normal essences from Tesco that don't have any syns)

Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to prevent it from catching on the bottom.

Nielsen-massey Pure Vanilla Extract Check Amazon.co.uk Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract Check Amazon.co.uk

It shouldn't take too long to cook, under 10 minutes. Check it like you would normal rice, pull a few grains out, scoff em' and if there good it's done! If not leave it for a few more minutes.

When done, drain it with a sieve. Now this part is crucial. Leave it to drain for like 10/15 minutes then come back, stir and leave it again. You want to drain as much of the water out as possible; this also helps it cool pretty quick.

Once drained and cool, chuck it all into a tub and store in the fridge; it'll be good for a week in there without a problem.

It's now ready to use when every you want.

The fun part...EATING!

Now you've cooked your pudding rice, it simply a case of putting a few big spoon fulls into a bowl, adding your favourite muller light, mixing and enjoying!

How easy was that?

Almost identical to muller rice, without all the syns, what more could you ask for? *cough...cake...cough!*

Batch Cooking

I love making a batch of rice on a Sunday ready for the week. I take a little Lock & Lock tubwith me in my cool bag and mix it when I'm just about to eat it.

Lock & Lock Stackable Airtight Container Rectangular Check Amazon.co.uk

Top Tip: DON'T premix the rice and yoghurt, the rice will absorb it and it will be crazy thick/stodgy...I've warned ya!

I love recipe, this not only because it's like eating a muller rice, which are sooo nice in the first place, but because they make that one yoghurt (that is packed with sugar) go so much further and makes its 10x more filling.

I like mixing mine with one of muller's "naughty-ier" yoghurt desserts like the chocolate or fudge ones, these do cost syns (5 for the chocolate & 4.5 for the fudge) but I don't think that's bad once its packed out with rice.

A naughty, but filling desert for 5 syns! I think so!

What's your thoughts? Epic win or epic fail? Leave me a comment below 🙂

The Holy Grail of Buffets!

OMG! That buffet was freaking amazing, I’ve never been to one like it before. The sheer amount of food was overwhelming without adding the never ending choices. Seriously the pictures below don’t do it the spread justice in the slightest.

Continue reading

A Little taste of Italy This Weekend…I think so!

Tomorrow I’m going to my first holy communion for my mums friends children, I’m not really a religious person, at all, so not only is this going to be my first communion, but it’s also going to be in Italian!

As I said, I’m not really into the whole religion thing, that’s just me, but what into and excited about is the food that’s going to be laid out afterwards…hey I’m a recovering fat person, what do you expect?

I can’t wait to see (and eat!) all the traditional Italian food being served, knowing how much they love and take pride in their foods, it’s certainly going to be something special. I know the family pretty well, like I said it’s my mums close friend’s kids and I’ve heard nothing but planning talk for the last couple of months running up to this and 99% of it has been about the food!

They’ve been running all over the place sourcing specific ingredients for each dish its mad. My mum told me last night that they had to travel miles to this one shop for, and I quote “proper American yeast” for the homemade pizza’s; what’s the hell is proper yeast when its at home? Yeast is yeast, right? Continue reading

Why I decided to change Slimming world groups

About a month or so ago me and my mum decided to join a new slimming world group, leaving our old group of almost a 2 years! I’m sure most of you are thinking, “why, you’ve been there so long, what’s changed” well quite a lot to be honest, not just with the group, but in myself.

Same old same…

I kinda felt like I had outgrown my group, it was the same old stuff each and every week. I knew what was gonna happen and when and that made me switch off and stop listening. It was like autopilot because I’d heard it all before which wasn’t a good thing at all. The size of the group was also growing extremely fast and, now this might seem petty but the whole signing in, paying and then getting weighed was taking foreverrrrrr! I hated it, just standing there waiting for ages isn’t my idea of fun, especially if you know (or expecting) you’ve had a bad week.

It wasn’t all bad don’t get me wrong I lost 5 stone with that group, granted I put a stone on over Christmas and new year while I was stil
l with that group, but the major weight loss is still a credit to my old group.

Time to kick arse!

Moving on to my new group, it’s great, nice and small, very cosy almost. Despite it being just another slimming world class it is really different; the layout, the atmosphere, all the people and the way the leader delivers the information is really fresh and has given me a new spurt of enthusiasm. I’m gonna be honest since December my interest levels have been slipping a little here and there and that has cost me with some weight gains, it’s no one’s fault but my own, but I’m not gonna dwell…that does nothing but cause more damage, am I right?

I’m really happy and excited to have this revved up feeling again for slimming world and losing more weight again and its all down to changing class!

Has anyone else done the same?

Slimming World Essential Ingredients – Hold on to ya wallets!

So you’ve decided to join slimming world, or maybe you recently started which is fantastic, you’ll love it, I do!

Let’s face it being on a diet is about losing weight, well that’s the overall goal right? But like I’ve said before I think it’s the food (and planning) that makes or breaks any successful diet, I mean who wants to eat boring, cardboard crap? Yeah! Me neither.

I’ve gotta hand it to Slimming world, they have got a ton of recipes books that are packed to the rafters with some pretty cool recipes that are fine on the slimming world diet, which is what we all want. The problem is the amount of ingredients you need to make all these amazing dishes, you need almost an entire aisle of Tesco, and I don’t need to tell you they don’t come cheap.

I don’t want to bad mouth slimming world (honestly!) , but there not really forward about the cost of following their diet plan.

Hell, “join now for £9.95” (£14.95 when not on special) sounds so much better than, “join now for £9.95 plus £80 for ingredients!”.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not just slimming world, its the entire dieting & weight loss industry. They brush over the real cost of losing weight because shifting the fat is tough enough without telling newcomers it’s gonna cost them an arm and a leg.

Listen to me, I’m making it sound like it’s hopeless, but its not, far from it infact. It’s just…I think its only right for me to highlight this problem and the most common ingredients found in slimming world recipes so there are no shocks and surprises.

I’ve looked through all my slimming world books and online, making notes on the most common ingredients. I’m not talking about chicken & eggs, I mean the store cupboard herbs and spices that most of the dishes need, yet most of us don’t have to hand.

Ready! Continue reading

Top Three Tips To A Successful Cheat Meal

A reader emailed me this week asking about cheat meals and how to stop them from spilling over into cheat days or even weeks.

I replied via email, but then thought that other people, like yourself, could benefit from the information, so here goes.

Before getting into my top 3 tips, I wanna say right from the beginning, I’ve been there. I’ve had times when I’ve Continue reading

Making A Life Changing Decision…

I love watching movies and American dramas; immersing myself in the lives of the characters and the storylines that unfold, their day to day lives seem soooooo much more interesting than normal life, don’t get me wrong I know it’s fiction and made that way to be entertaining, but don’t you just look at them in awe, making life huge…epic…life changing decisions (each week in tv shows) that have massive repercussions on those around them; seriously some of them are nail biting to watch and see the outcomes while adding my own thoughts and views on the situations and what I’d be doing if I were in their position.

Don’t we all at some point or another wish for a life like they have in the movies, even just for a day, to live on the edge, at 100 mph, making decisions that alter the course of their lives forever onwards, or is it just me? Am I the only sad one out there?

Where’s this going?

If you’ve got this far your probably thinking, “what the hell is Darran going on about today, this is a blog about losing weight and slimming world” and you’d be right to but stick with me.

Isn’t losing weight a huge decision? A decision that could, in actual fact change the course of your life and countless others at the same time. It may sound like I’m majorly over cooking this, but am I really? Continue reading

Store Cupboard Essentials & Weekend Fakeaway Cooking

Last Thursday at my new slimming group I picked up a copy of the new fakeaway recipe book, as you all know I love a takeaway so I thought this book would be perfect for me. There’s some pretty interesting recipes in there that I’m looking forward to trying; donner kebab, pork in black bean sauce, burger (big mac) in a bowl, chicken tikka masala and spiced chicken to name a few.

The thing is when every it comes to healthy cooking you need so many different herbs and spices to add the flavours that the fats and oils would in the regular junk versions, you can’t just start cooking unless your cupboards are full…mine wasn’t!

Who said diets are cheap?

Late night trip to Tesco is was, and £35/40 later and I had most of the store cupboard ingredients I’d need for the book ( I had a couple of other bits in there too). Who ever thinks dieting and healthy eating is cheap, is wrong plain an simple. All the store cupboard ingredients they will last me a while and make quite a few recipes and that’s the cost of eating right and eating a variety at the end of the day. Put in simple terms it’s a small price for our health and weight loss goals.

The first fakeaway

Saturday me and mum decided to do a little cooking together; I started on the fakeaway pork in black bean sauce that looks soooo nice in the book, and isn’t hard to make.

It turned out really nice, and it’s crazy why Continue reading