Challenge accepted...

So that's what a very stressful time at work followed by a very indulgent holiday does...

After my last weigh in (a loss which took me back to my lowest weight this year) I set myself a target of coming back to group after my holiday with a maintain. I was going to make the right choices and food optimise where possible.

That went well and truly out the window with the most stressful period I have ever had at work (if it continued for much longer I was ready to call it a day and get as far away as possible without looking back) which meant late nights, no chance to shop for SW friendly foods and feeding myself with whatever was available.  The week's holiday that followed was a time of de-stressing and indulging in very synful food, but I feel it was needed and despite the 5lb gain tonight I am now in a good frame of mind.

It's back to basics now, and an attempt at "the scan bran challenge".  That will involve me eating 5 slices of scan bran each day for a week, as well as getting right back on plan, starting tomorrow. For those of you not acquainted with the wonder that is scan bran, picture the remnants of a bowl of all bran that have been left to adhere themselves to the bowl so long that only a pneumatic drill could shift them and you're pretty close. Sound appetising?  Maybe not, but it gets results, so provided I stick with it I should get a decent result on the scales next week.

I will try to give updates on my progress and hope to try out some new recipes to help me get my scan bran fix. I might even come up with one good enough to take to taster night on Tuesday!

There may be weight gains ahead...

A couple of things struck me whilst queuing for weigh in (at a different group to that I usually attend) today: [] Whenever I think I've put on weight I have the same song going through my head - "Let's face the music and dance" (in the past this has been outnumbered by the Imperial march from Star Wars, but since I've got my slimming head back on track it has become prevalent). [] An overheard comment from the consultant to the new members pretty much summed up my attitude going into weigh in -"a gain is all part of the journey" Both of those sum up my feeling towards slimming at the moment - I have regained a sufficient amount of control that if I do put on weight it's largely through choice, and I know I can shift it again. With that attitude in mind, I queued for weigh in knowing that I deserved a gain given the excess syns I had consumed since the last weigh in. I steeled myself for a 3 or 4lb gain, which I felt would be fair. Imagine my surprise when the scales showed I'd only put on 1/2 lb! Relieved, chuffed, surprised - all of which has motivated me to get right back on track ahead of my next weigh in on Tuesday. Having thought about it, I think that it was only a small gain because: [] I had 3 training sessions in 3 days. I'm becoming fitter and reckon my metabolism must be a bit quicker as a result; [] A lot of the food that I have eaten has been superspeed, which seems to be couteracting the syns to some extent; [] When given a choice, most of the time I've made the right one, and have opted for more syns knowing that it will have an impact on the scales; and [] My body has become used to following plan most of the time, so (provided I get back on plan from now on) it's not trying to hold on to the extra syns I've taken on board. The alternative is that regardless of how well I do this week my body is storing up a massive gain. If that does turn out to be the case, then I will take it on the chin and get it shifted as soon as possible. Nothing will stand in the way of my slimming journey now.

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

I am well and truly on a roll now - 6 weeks in a row without putting so much as 1/2lb on (5 of those were losses and 1 maintain). Only once have I gone for more weeks without a gain and that was my very first few months as a Slimming World member.

It really feels like I'm heading in the right direction now. I've not been shooting out any stars with my losses - an average of about 1lb per week in this spell, but it's staying off and that's the main thing.

The question of a SW friendly restaurant was brought up again at IMAGE therapy, and I have to admit the idea really does appeal to my (semi-creative) foodie side. The big stumbling block, however, is the cost - unfortunately I don't have a spare £0.5- £1M (amounts a Google search suggests are needed to launch such a project) in my back pocket. If I did I might decide that it would be enough to retire and live off the interest, until my wife gave me a kick up the backside and told me to stop lazing around!

The other possibility is a recipe book. As much as I love the food I cook, and others seem to like it at taster night, I don't think I could compete with the fantastic recipe books that SW produce, and nor would I want to.

However, to make life a little easier for those of you who do like to pick up the recipes on this page, I am thinking about producing a document that you will be able to download FOR FREE and peruse offline at your leisure. I'll need some time to pull it together though, since I'd like to have come up with a few more recipes first, and I've got some thoughts about some things I'd like to include in there other than recipes.

Recipe: Crispy wontons

Serve with sweet and sour sauce from “The little book of sauces” for a starter as good as any takeaway at a fraction of the syns.

Unfortunately these went so quickly once I opened them up at taster night that I didn't get the chance to take a photo!

Two sheets of frozen filo pastry, defrosted and cut into 6 squares each
300g cooked prawns
2 tsp chinese five spice
Fry light

Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper sprayed with fry light.

Blitz the prawns in a mixer with the five spice until it becomes like a paste.

Add a spoonful of the prawn to the middle of each of the filo squares, spray with fry light and fold in the corners to form parcels.

Put on baking tray, spray with fry light and cook for 10-15 minutes until crispy and golden.

Enjoy - 1 syn per wonton.

Fantastic five!

Having expected a gain this week,  it seems that I am actually really back in the swing of things.

This week saw me not putting on weight for 5 weigh ins in a row!! In that time I've lost half a stone. Add the previous 4 weigh ins (2 gains and 2 losses) and it's the best part of a stone in 9 weigh ins.

That's the best I've done in ages - I rarely avoid putting on weight for 2 weeks, let alone 5! There have only been two occasions when I've kept weight off for longer, and those were right at the start of my weight loss journey.

It feels like I am back on track, but I'm not taking anything for granted. I've still got a very long way to go to reach my target, but with the support of my amazing wife (who by the way has lost 12lb recently), it feels like some day I will get there.

Weight loss chart - to 11 June 2013

Check out the upward slope at the end!

Wow!

Last night was a good night for me SW wise. I lost 1lb (so half stone off in last seven weeks - feels like I am back on track), I got my silver body magic and I was fortunate enough to be made my group's man of the year.

It goes without saying that I am very pleased with all of the above.

Being the only man in a woman's world could be intimidating, but my group has made it nothing of the sort.  They have supported me all the time (over 2 years) I have been on this journey,  even when I decided to try to go it alone or when I didn't stay to group, for which I will be eternally grateful.

To any man thinking about joining a group, stop thinking and just get along and give it a go. At the end of the day everyone in group is there for the same reason and they have all been through the same struggles.  Just be prepared for some gentle ribbing because men apparently lose more each week (as was my experience for the first 6 months - the last 18 or so have been a different story!).

I truly believe that this can be a man's (and woman's) Slimming World.