Vanilla Almond Milk
1 cup almonds (soaked overnight)
3-4 cups purified water
6 dates (soaked 4 hours)
1/2 tsp. ground vanilla bean
Blend almonds, water, dates and vanilla at high speed until creamy. Strain using a nut milk bag or fine sieve. For a delicious egg-nog alternative, simply add nutmeg, ground cloves, a banana & pinch of salt!
Thought today I’d have a go at something a little bit different rather than ranting on about my thoughts and feelings I got myself in the kitchen to do a spot of cooking, something I kind of have to be in the mood for, but as long as I am going to that job. What people may or may not know about me is that very often I do talk to myself if I’m not talking to myself I’m talking to my dogs. Single-handedly through talking to myself and to the dogs I think I may have inadvertently taught two Rottweilers how to cook . Attached is actually an uncut video of me cooking in clips …. if you look carefully I think you can actually see Indy ( my dog) lying on the floor looking at me like She’s listening.
The inspiration for tonight’s menu was the fact that I knew I had some king prawns in the freezer so on the way home I dropped into Lidl picked up a nice fresh courgette, peppers some garlic, some ginger some chillies and some other bits and bobs.
So here it is….please click the link below… Enjoy X
Happy 2016 all, I am back again like a YoYo.
Sometimes life just takes over and finding the time to write a blog or even try to think of something witting and enlightening to say when on the whole my life is hum drum but ticking over your work time drags and time at home just flies by.
But I have a dream (wait isn’t that a famous speech?).
It was pointed out to me today that despite me thinking my blog is just the inane rantings of a fit girl in a jiggerly fat suit, some of my words have actually hit home with people.
I suppose our pack mentality says there is safety in numbers and its comforting to know that you are not the only one who feels a particular way. So in the hope that in some way I am helping I have opened my blogs up so that you can comment on them directly. This for me is a massively brave move. I lay myself bare here being as honest about my thoughts and feelings as I can and so when I started I blocked comments so I didn’t get attacked by keyboard antagonists.
But I am interested to see what you really think and want to give you the opportunity to enhance this blog with your own thoughts.
So here is my thought of the day. To truly want to improve yourself you have to learn to love yourself , as frankly I wouldn’t want to help someone I really didn’t like.
What I am saying is that you need to learn to work with what you have got I am not promoting an unhealthy lifestyle I am saying if you are overweight its ok to still like yourself, you don’t have to hate who you are because society has got a downer on obesity at the moment. If you are happy and healthy weight is just a number so don’t focus on numbers, focus on how you feel and then because you like yourself you are going to want to help yourself to a better life.
So from a YoYo I go to YOLO (you only live once).
Take each day as a new day be it a step up , a step side ways or even a step backwards.
Try to laugh at, at least one thing a day no matter how silly..(fart noises always get me :)…)
These are words that will haunt me to my death. What they should say is one size fits all but only around 10% of you will look any good in it so don’t bloody kid yourself.
You will never be entirely happy with what is in the mirror there is always going to be something you don’t like, that is our way it is what makes us human.
I see myself every day I make a point of standing in front of the mirror and scrutinising what I see. I desperately stare and myself in the noddy trying to see a difference to how I looked when I began.
People find it difficult to believe that I don’t actually see a difference at all. This is because apparently they can. I try to convince myself but I truly believe that no matter what I do the girl staring back at me will always be a fatty.
On the positive side though she will always be a constant reminder of the work I have done and the work I have to do. I truly believe we are what we who we are for a reason and without my weight and insecurities my personality may have been different and I am happy with who I am
So what I am saying is SCREW one size fits all find the size you are happy with and give it a name.
My current state is Plumpcious
Keeping it interesting and lots of variety is all well and good but I found that knowledge is Power . I now know thanks to the training of my coach Pom Tutt and my 
Anytime Fitness door fob I can walk into any one of approx 3000 gyms in 19 counties and know what workout I need to do, what weights and equipment I need to use and how many reps I should be achieving. Pom teaches progressive training and yeah ok it can get a bit boring because you are doing the same excercises but (and this is with no disrespect to my previous trainers) for the first time ever I walk in to the gym know exactly what I should be doing. That has got to be better than pratting about for 40 minutes and still ending up on the bike, treadmill or cross trainer. Anytime Fitness gyms have a standard format and the basic equipment seems to be the same across the board, that that even when you are not in your home gym it still has a homely feel. As a big girl the strut of having a plan and feeling comfortable in the gym arena is more important than cake… It’s the difference for me between quitting or carrying on… When you put your faith in a coach like my Pom you have to trust that he knows what he’s doing .. I admit sometimes I questioned him , sometimes I’ve nearly cried because I didn’t think I could do it… He has proved his worth by , always having the answer and treating me like a toddler when I’m about to blub with positive reinforcement and the happy clapping of everything is going to be ok . Continue reading
The winter months for me are like a hibernation period, I feel run down and totally unmotivated. You can probably see that I have blogged in over a month two reasons … actually four…
1) I really didn’t think I had anything worth while to say and didn’t want to repeat myself
2) I just didn’t seem to get round to writing things up.
3) I actually just couldn’t be arsed
and lastly
4) I just wasn’t seeing the results I wanted quick enough so I lost the plot….
I took one month later photos of me in my undies and was excited to look and the difference, problem is in my eyes there is no difference at all and this was the spiral into doom.
I have still been training and eating as well as I can (although I have relaxed a little on the eating clean)
Problem is with the four reasons above is how easy it is to lose focus and slide back into old ways.
I was thinking about my blog all the time even made notes on my mobile when I thought about content. ( I have flashes of inspiration that leave my brain as easy as they enter it)
I made notes about the long walk home I had to take at Halloween that I walked easily dressed like this… Helped by the sensible choice of walking boots under dress instead of fashion shoes. Still some terrain I would not have been able to manage 12 months ago.
I noted about tears of frustration now the weights are going heavier and the work is getting harder, counter acted by the discovery of an ab! (just the one mind).
Most poignantly I noted about the power of the word “Can’t”…. Your brain is your most powerful muscle, it can drive you on or stop you dead in the water. Mine stops me from trying new things unless I know I am going to succeed…. The thought of failing in front of people and then thinking that they would attribute my failure to being fat gives me the fear. The thought of something breaking (like in the film shallow Hal) … some folk may find hilarious but its my idea of hell … all these thing fuel for my “can’t” reflex.
My size and my humour has always been my shield, but I’m not strong, people who survive disaster or fight cancer, these people are strong and some of these people are tiny children so their size is irrelevant.
I am weak I need to box the word “can’t” and replace it “try” sometimes I might fail and if anyone laughs that’s their problem…….. although baby step.
So the blog is back hopefully the material will flow but I need to find the time for this and for myself so keep the encouragement coming I have dedicated mailbox now so if you want to contact me I am on Louise@LF-S.co.uk
Everybody keeps telling me that eventually I’ll get addicted to going to the gym nearly 18 months down the line and I’m still waiting.. I’m three or four weeks into my healthy eating now .. And quite frankly every day is a battle between eating healthily and eating things that I like eating. I mentioned in work today how I was really craving junk food and in order to help me one of my work colleague started listing all the fast food joints available in the local area . No don’t get me wrong I haven’t had a total humour bypass I know they were just saying things in jest but at the end of the day you wouldn’t start sticking a bottle of vodka under alcoholics nose would you ? .. This leads me to my point basically a drug addict can never take drugs again and live. An alcoholic can never have a drink again and live. The foodaholic has to still eat food every day, everything you put in your mouth could lead you to temptation which is going to take you off the path because it’s so easy once you’ve had an unhealthy thing to eat to just spiral out to of control. The program I’m on tries to combat this by giving you a cheat day we like to call it Faturday as very often in my case it’s a Saturday. My mental block comes when I try and convince myself that I prefer the flavour of broccoli to that of a very nice sausage roll I freely admit I am a sausage roll addict. I don’t know about you but have you ever noticed how many food adverts are on television it’s not fair they have taken cigarettes off television because they want to stop people smoking and yet the government combating obesity don’t think about taking fast food adverts off the television..,,I mean at the end of the day we all know where the nearest KFC is or McDonald’s and within reason we all pretty much know what’s on the menu so why do we need to be constantly reminded about it . As you can probably tell I’ve got a bit of a grump on this evening mainly because i’m getting a bit fed up of having to cook all the time I’m getting a bit fed up of not getting any support from the other half who keeps buying cakes and crisps and biscuits and bringing them into the house so I’m in a bit of a blue mood I think in view of that I need to end my blog for now not forever good night .
So this weekend was the weekend I decided I was going to remeasure myself after eight weeks .. I was feeling really good feeling fitter, clearer skin, shiny hair, cold nose just like a healthy dog really …..until I put the measuring tape around me and to be honest I was a little bit disappointed by the loss . I think secretly I was expecting to have dropped masses I felt better so I figured I must be thinner. I prepared myself for that biggest loser moment where you’re jumping up and down all excited and flapping tears away from your eyes instead it was a bit of a MEH!, moment. So what did I do in the face of adversity did I going to the kitchen and raid the fridge no ! Did I go in to the kitchen and raid the cupboards no! did I go down the garage and fill my pockets with chocolate and then fill my face with chocolate no !,…. What I did was text my coach Pom …now what a breakthrough that was !! the reason I’m writing this blog right now is because I think it’s important that you know what reply I got my text .
My text to him said “Right Pom I think we need to ramp things up a bit …done my measurements and they aren’t as drastic as I would’ve liked 😟”
Now at this stage I think most trainers would probably be hitting the books looking for more cardio throwing more weights at me telling me I need to do more sessions a week and get me to fill in a food diary.
This is the reason that I like Pom… The quintessential difference between a personal trainer and a coach the following is a screenshot of the reply I got to my text message.
Did you notice?
He wrote we are the tortoise not you are the tortoise …why? Because we are in this together .
Everything is part of the process, what you’ve got to remember when you have disappointments is not to quit is to remember why you started ! and okay I didn’t lose as many inches as I would’ve liked, but I have lost inches and okay they are not off my gargantuan butt but they are off my thunder thighs so every cloud has a silver lining and that hare can run as fast as he likes but is not going to beat me because forever rest he takes I’m going to keep going and eventually I’m going to reach that finish line look-back smile and say kiss it Big Ears …
Just couldn’t resist this … My humour
An after work visit to the supermarket resulted in a harvest festival of food my £12.34 purchase of butternut squash, onions, leaks, Swede, parsnips, carrots, garlic , beef and herbs will make me a vegetable soup a beef stew a butternut squash soup … Once again batch cooking with the stereo on belting out some 80s tunes meant that I now don’t really have to think about cooking for the rest of the week if I don’t want to Yum