Take the night off Brenda!!!

 Hey!

In true stingy git style, my diet and exercise regime is as cheap as the every day life I live. The food I'm eating is slightly more expensive but seeing as I only eat at meal times and my meals are shrinking, then the costs have balanced themselves out. I feed Dearly Beloved exactly what I eat, with some carbs, usually rice and he has a larger portion. My exercise isn't costing me either. I'm alternating between a night with Bendy Brenda and an hour long walk. Yes, you heard right......I'm up to hour long walks now. We have a staggeringly long hill in Liskeard that runs down into a valley and up they other side of Liskeard called Charter Way. It's a ring road, and only put there in recent years and as yet, it doesn't have a pavement, so I had to walk in the cycle lane.

It's the type of hill that once you've committed yourself to it, that once you're half way, there's no point turning back and coming home, you might as well keep going and finish the journey. So there I was in my charity shop shoes, my sale rail tracky bottoms and car boot sale hoody and it was great to get out with music blasting in my ears and know that my weight loss journey is also in the style of frugal.

I felt so smug. I walked past the WW group at kicking out time. They all shuffled out with bags of crappy artificial shite that WW sell (I am such a cynic of their marketing) and I'm sure the same old birds passed me who were there when I went three years ago and they still looked like strangers to exercise and healthy living. The only think I think any of them have lost is a lot of money! I certainly won't be signing up to that malarky again.

I've taken to exercising within an hour of eating, so I don't allow myself to eat to feeling stuffed, but just comfortable instead. Today, is a veggie and protein day. I'll call my invention Spanish chicken, just because it was flavoured with garlic and smoked paprika. I pan fried (in a dry pan, of course) a chopped shallot, a courgette, a yellow pepper and we had one chicken breast each. Once it was cooked, I sprinkled it with lemon juice.

Thanks again to everyone who dropped by to say hello, it's always good to hear from you,

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxx

Mountains of food!

 When I was a kid, the five portions of veg a day were unheard of. Funnily enough, we didn't get rickets! We ate what was seasonal, in the garden or cheap to buy at that time of year. In fact, there was always cabbage! I don't know if you share my memory on this one, but cabbages were huge! The outside leaves that were slightly moth eaten, were chopped up, stuffed in a pot along with potato and vegetable peeling and stewed up and fed to our chickens. In fact, the chicken were fed all of the left overs...................then we ate the chickens! Cabbages and root vegetables lasted right round to spring and oh joy of joy! spring greens took over! That went on until the salad started. By this time of year, all of the apples that were stored on boards in the loft, where the apples were individually wrapped in tissue paper, were decidedly wrinkled by now and really only any good if you peeled them. The rest came out of kilner jars or the freezer. Day after day after day, we ate mash, cabbage, carrots, swede, parsnips, kale, spinach or purple sprouting broccoli without an orange or banana in sight! It did us fine thank you very much.

The consequence of this upbringing is that I really don't have a taste for fruit and as I'm breathing in and out and sitting here at the same time, the lack of fruit hasn't killed me either! I predominantly get my nutrition from vegetables and I like to eat as many green leafy vegetables as possible.

Supper tonight, was an entire head of spring cabbage, a green pepper, an onion, a quarter of a bag of prawns and a quarter of a bag of Quorn (some one asked me what Quorn was, so here's the product link and information) and a teaspoon of Chinese stir fry paste and a splash of water. Everything was sliced and fried and then the paste was stirred through, after that a little water was added that steamed everything through.

It's mainly veggies and as I only eat veg on alternate days, I make the most by having a mountain of it. I know I could take multivitamins but there really is no substitute for cheap and seasonal veggies. I'm sure I won't need breakfast tomorrow!

Many thanks to everyone who is standing on the side line, cheering me on, waving the flags and making me feel as if you are right beside me patting me on the back. Thanks very much. If being frugal isn't enough of a challenge, then trying to lose weight, not spend money and pay back a mountain of debts at the same time is doubly hard. I've really enjoyed the comments and thanks to all of you who have become followers, it's lovely to know that you enjoy reading what I write.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xx

A happy milestone

No! this is not me! but this was just like me struggling to do up trousers before I lost the first stone!

At the end of last term, all of my work clothes pinched me. I would have to undo my trousers when I drove and by the end of the day it genuinely felt as if my waist band was going to cut me in half! My first happy milestone to report is that my size 16 clothes all fit me comfortably and the waist band is loose on all of them. Previously, I was down to one or two items that I could still look respectable in and others that looked as if I'd been poured into them and over the top of them. No one wants this!

I can now say, nothing is hanging over the top of my size 16 trousers!!!! Tonight, frugality extends to my free work out. First of all, the 30 minute walk with the dogs and then back to twenty minutes jumping up and down with Brenda on my lateral thigh trainer! Today is a protein only day and certainly hasn't been that cheap. Breakfast was an oatbran pancake, a slice of bacon and and egg, lunch was a small pot of cottage cheese, followed by a yoghurt, supper was some braised beef and onions with some cream cheese on top!

My next mile stone will be to get down to twelve stone and size 14 clothes (won't need to buy any.....I have clothes from size 12 - 16!), which I know will be slower and will eventually slow down to around 2lbs a week. As I get slimmer and weigh less I intend to get more exercise and I'm sure it will get easier. If nothing else! I have slim and happy dogs!

Thanks for stopping by, reading, becoming a follower and taking the time to comment, which I always appreciate!

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Steamy Sundays!

Froogs on the Miss Marplemobile!

 That caught your attention, didn't it? I'm starting to feel more energetic and I can only assume that moving around is easier now that I've lost a few pounds and I know it will get easier. Just being 30lbs over weight is like spending every minute, of every day with a toddler in my arms and carrying them about. Today, we got the bikes out. We are really spoilt by our local surroundings; there are plenty of places to walk, to swim, to bike ride, virtually for free although we do have to get there. Today we drove to Bodmin and rode our bikes on the Camel Trail to Wadebridge. It's 7 miles each way, mostly flat but through woodland, farm land and by the river. We often drive to Wadebridge and ride to Padstow, but as it was so windy, we chose a more sheltered route.

 We passed the Camel Valley Vineyard and the Bodmin and Wenford Steam Railway. No wine for me anymore but it was a delight to see the little steam train. I was fascinated and watched the guard get off the train, change the points manually, watched the driver and the stoker getting up a head of steam, watched them shunt the train down the track and onto the front of the train to take it back to the centre of Bodmin. It was a delight.

 My day out was free, energetic and certainly left me feeling energised from the fresh air and exertion. I'm now feeding Dearly Beloved exactly what I eat, but he has carbs with his meal, whilst I don't. We had dry fried mushrooms, they sizzle and release their water if you add the tiniest amount of salt and a spray of one cal oil.

 I also made courgette chips in exactly the same way. This blog will soon be called a million things you can do with vegetables with no/very low carbs and no/very few calories.

 The meal here is why I could never go back to calorie counting, this is simple, there is a list of food I can eat and a list of food I can't. Eat what you like from one list! Simple. Lunch was steak at an unfrugal £1.75 a portion!, green beans, mangetout, mushrooms, courgettes, fat free/carb free bearnaise sauce and 1% fat cream cheese. This is not a frugal diet and I'm spending on average £2 an evening meal, which is double my usual expenditure.

We don't eat this expensively every day, however, after 14 miles on my bike, I felt like I had earnt it!

(added as a response to the question, the bike basket had warm clothes and waterproofs as you can't trust the weather and bottled tap water......I'm not eating snacks between meals)

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Dukan bolognaise and the 'new' piece of exercise equipment

 I'm at the end of my second 'carbless' week. The suggested alternative for pasta is courgette. Peel strips off it with a vegetable peeler and fry in a squirt of one cal spray and a crushed clove of garlic. It was surprisingly good.

I made bolognaise from low fat ground beef, onion, green pepper and mushroom, I added some tinned tomatoes, herbs, garlic and some tomato puree to thicken. I am a sad bugger because I actually measured a tablespoon of 2% fat grated cheddar! It suggested 20g for heavens' sake!!! Only drug dealers have scales that measure amounts that small! The next time I'm in France and going to look for scales that measure such tiny portions! I bet posh spice has some in her kitchen!

Hi Foster Mummy, you asked what I was standing on. It's a lateral thigh trainer, you step and twist at the same time, so it makes your legs and tummy muscles work at the same time. Big bird Brenda is on the DVD and she is so irritating I could slap her, 'You're really feeling it now?'. What she should be saying is 'You can't breath now can you!' I picked it up from Freecycle locally and I'm on the look out for other gym equipment.

When I get a spare minute or if I'm watching telly, I step away on it. I've only used it three times and I can already see my knee caps so the pudge is starting to move!

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

If I can't afford it, I'll find a solution

 Excuse my enormous hips, but I promise, mainly myself, that they will reduce in size. I've looked at all sort of ways to exercise more, I tried the gym at school but usually I was the only one there, which I found a bit lonely. I'll use it every now and then, but I needed a more regular form of exercise. I'm walking every night for a brisk and puffing all the way thirty minutes.....Dearly Beloved and I both have achey knees from this but we're becoming more resilient. I quite like working out at home, usually when I get in from work and before Dearly Beloved gets in. My gym kit is very cool and frugal. The 'Elle' work out top was from the charity chop and off their 50p rail, the Long Tall Sally track suit bottoms are from their clearance sale for £5.....

 ......the biggest bargain I ever got from a charity shop was my new, still in the box Reebok Playdry trainers, I've had them a while and I often wear them just for walking or riding my bike and I paid £3 for them.

I've been looking for a piece of home gym equipment and snaffled this from Freecycle and picked it up this week. I like the 'power cords' attached to it, they have made my arms ache as I'm just not used to anything intense. The funny old bird on the DVD is about as irritating as a dose of thrush but I'll do what she does as it's easy to follow. Oh and the weight loss, another 3lbs this week, so another 1lb to go and I will have lost a stone; just another two to go and hopefully I will fit into the clothes I already own!!! That'll save me even more money.

Tasty food experiments.

 I'm a real creature of habit and I have so often cooked dishes that have been handed down to me and I learnt and have eaten since I was a young child. I don't usually stray from safe recipes. Experimenting with low fat, high protein meals is interesting enough, but trying to do that on a budget is even more of an experiment. I thought I would show you all how I turn very cheap and fat free Quark in to soft cheese. I just let it drain for 24hours and then add crushed garlic and dried parsley. I stir it all together and eat with meals as part of my protein. Today we had spicy chicken, lettuce, celery and garlic cream cheese for lunch.

 I use the roasting bags as it removes the need for any oil. I used a tablespoon of paprika and the same again of cumin with a sprinkling of chilli flakes, I added some water and cooked it for 30 minutes. The results were really tasty. We both had that for lunch today and there is enough for tomorrow too.

 Stir fried beef for supper, flavoured with ginger, chilli and garlic. I finely dice the spices even further so they mix really well. The beef is 'minute steak', which is cheap but not the tenderest, so I put it inside a plastic bag and beat it stupid with a rolling pin and then slice it to stir fry it. It's really filling so you don't need much.

 I came across some veggie bargains in Morrisons and we had two packs of the stir fry veggies with our beef.

Dinner to two, DB had the bigger portion.

 The end result was low fat, high protein and relatively low in calories. I liked the way the juices came  out of the meat and made a kind of spicy gravy in the bottom of the bowl.

Oat bran galette

I almost forgot to photograph dessert!!! I made oat bran galettes. For each galette I used 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran, 1.5 tablespoons of quark, one beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of splenda. You stir it all together and then dry fry in a non stick frying pan. It's a real stuffer and you feel as if you've eaten something huge. I often have one for breakfast and it can also be used as a base for 'pizza'. The oat bran has wonderful qualities, as well as making you feel stuffed (although that's not a sensation I enjoy!) it also lowers cholestrol (I have low cholestrol any way) it's rich in dietary fibre, but best of all, it's a carbohydrate that doesn't sugar!

I'm beginning to real enjoy what I'm eating and find I need less and less every day. The best part of this and the best way ever to save money, is it switches off the constant hunger I usually suffer from, along with a growling stomach and those symptoms have gone. That's got to save me money.

It's now time to go out and walk and vote before the polls close, if you've forgotton, please get your coat on and go and put your cross in a box.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxx

The frugal Dukan Diet?

Ok!


Call me your very own guinea pig if you like, but I'm giving the Dukan Diet a go. I have a history with dieting which mirrors my history with spending and giving up smoking. I gave up smoking three times before I finally just gave up. I would abstain for years and then have a 'fuck this' moment and start drinking, or smoking, or spending money or in recent years......eating! I am now at the two year point of not spending money and by now I would usually feel 'hard done by' and start spending. I am not as cold turkey as I once was and allow myself new clothes, or new shoes but in moderation. I'm the same with wine, I gave up for years at a time and then found another 'fuck this' moment and in true Brit style found an excuse to get totally ratted! Like the spending, I don't do that any more and haven't done so for many years.

I have lost a considerable amount of weight twice before. Once I did it by getting divorced, (I know the old joke .....I lost fifteen stone of ugly fat!) as I was so stressed that I simply didn't eat and when Dearly Beloved and I first got together, I was a size 10. I stayed that weight for quite a while and then made my way back up to a size 16. In 2005, I embarked on the Weight Watchers programme and lost three stone and went all the way down to 10 stone and a size 10 again, and at 5'10"...that's no mean feat. The only way I kept the weight off was to restrict calories to 17 points a day and if any of you know the old Weight Watchers system, that's about a thousand calories a day; it was infact an ultra low calorie diet. Your body goes into starvation mode, which means the moment you start eating again, you pile on pound after pound after pound; and I did!

The Dukan diet is based on burning your own carbohydrates as you don't eat any. I know what you're thinking......is this Atkins #2? In a way, it is, but this is low fat. It also spooks your body's metabolism as you don't stick to the same eating patterns but you alternate them. You do in fact become ketonic, which you manage with two to three litres of water a day. It also regulates your blood sugars and I don't crave food. You see, I'm normally always hungry, my body has no 'full' feeling. You could wake me up in the middle of the night, unwrap haddock, chips and mushy peas and by the time the aroma of vinegar touched my nose, I could happily eat the lot. So, this is how it works. I spent 5 days on pure proteins and then five days on proteins and very low carb veggies such as lettuce or onion. I get the few carbs I need from the low fat dairy products I eat.

You saw yesterday that I'm experimenting with Quark. Today, I made myself a two egg omelette, which I flavoured with some finely diced and fried onion, then I poured the eggs over the top. I ate that with some of the quark which I flavoured with garlic and parsley. I'm now on a 72 day programme of alternating days of pure protein (as I have today) with days of protein and vegetables.

It's easier to tell you what I don't eat. I don't eat any starch, bread, potatoes, high fat cheese, any fruit as it full of sugar. After the 72 days, or how ever long it takes me to get to my target weight, then I'll blog again about the next stage of my weight loss. The website has the basic www.dukandiet.co.uk and you can of course get the book, my library has several copies and I'm reading one at the moment. All the recipes are adaptation of classic French recipes, lots of chasseur, hollandaise, au poive ect. I will admit, it's expensive but I buy meat when it's reduced and low fat cheeses when they are on offer. The most frugal part of the diet is the fact that by regulating blood sugars, (this is similar to  the diet that diabetics are put on too) I don't feel hungry between meals. I sat through a three hour meeting and people had sweets and biscuits and were obviously peckish after work and were happily munching away on them. I ate some sliced meat with cottage cheese for lunch and didn't feel any need to eat again until 7pm this evening. Usually, I would have eaten anything insight including the pet dog when I got home.

I'm just stunned with not feeling hungry. I went through the lowest depression ever when I followed the Weight Watchers plan as I was always hungry. I'm not hungry and I'm not picking. I hope to go on and lose a pound a week from here after. I'm off out for my nightly walk with my dogs and the only difference is that I've doubled the distance. They seem happy enough on it!

Me, 2006., at size 12, this for me is a normal size and where I hope to get back to, however, I'll settle for anything smaller than a size 16! Wish me luck.

Low fat, low carb and frugal

 Just in case any of you are missing the food blogging; here's today's lunch.

One onion, finely sliced, one head of romaine lettuce finely shredded, three pieces of sun dried tomato with the oil patted off with a clean cloth and then cut into tiny pieces, stir together and set aside.

 Fry Quorn in the tiniest amount of oil you can get away with, keep moving to brown gently on every side.

 Mix together a teaspoon of paprika, a teaspoon of cumin and a quarter teaspoon of salt and then sprinkle over all the quorn, stir thoroughly. I use bottled lemon juice and after removing from the heat, I liberally splashed lemon juice all over it.

I made the dressing from the very low fat mayonnaise I have, it is also very low in carbs. I mixed the mayonnaise with equal amounts of lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt, I then spooned that over the quorn and salad. Very low fat, very low carbs, high in protein and cheap and still under £1 per person.

Moorland walk and a culinary invention.

 Happy Sunday everyone!

This morning, we went for a brisk walk around Siblyback Lake (click on the link to see more about the place; if you're ever in this part of the world on holiday, it's a great place for an active day out). It was perfect walking weather, a fresh breeze and warm enough not to need a coat. The lake is in the middle of Bodmin Moor and I know I keep boasting about it, but it's ten minutes from my home. It's in a natural dip in the moor and so the perfect place to create a resevoir. The lake is surrounded with farms and woodland.

 The shaggy long horned cattle were very photogenic. The signpost.....well, direct and to the point.

 The woods themselves had a lovely eeriness to them. The trunks, the ground and the stacked logs were all covered in a deep green lichen or moss and it was spongy underfoot. It provided welcome respite from the wind............I'm glad I didn't wear a hat..........I would have lost it.

 The lake itself is used for water sports and I was really impressed with some very small children hauling windsurfer sails out of the water, in what looked like beginners lessons. It looked really difficult to learn to do. Experts wizzed past us at phenomenal speed and I can imagine why it's so popular as they bounced over the choppy water.

Half way round, you cross a dam and the views into the valley below are delightful with the light bouncing off the sparkling yellow gorse blossom and the smell was heady and powerful. The walk itself is three and a half miles long but it seemed longer as we walked into the wind.

Oh, I must tell you about my culinary invention. Lunch was salad, just Romaine lettuce (2 for £1) a sliced yellow pepper and some cherry tomatoes. I'm also trying a range of fat free, almost carb free dressings from Asda and can recommend the mint and yoghurt dressing. Today, I tossed a bag of diced Quorn in two tablespoons of Pesto, I did so because I didn't have any oil and I wanted to 'flash fry' the Quorn. The end result of cooking the Pesto covered Quorn in a dry frying pan is a garlicky/herby Quorn Crouton. We sprinkled those over our salad and it was fantastic! There you are, Quorn Croutons; remember, you heard of them here first.

Thanks to all the diet advice everybody; I am sticking to a low fat, high protein and minimal carbohydrate diet. I've ordered the Dukan Diet book from the library and will have a read of the advice and I've also read everything that's available online. I'm walking every day, at least twenty minutes and up to an hour if I can fit it in, but it's very brisk, almost to the point of puffing. Don't suggest running what ever you do, the only jogging I like is horizontal. Tomorrow, there's another car boot sale and I shall keep my eyes open for an interesting piece of exercise equipment so I can wobble my fat bits round in private.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

I've had a word with myself!!!

 I have previously been and am currently as size 16/18 but was a size 12 for most of my adult life. I went up to a size 16 and then by following the Weight Watchers point system, lost weight and became a size 10/12. I spent almost three years at that size and in that time, I religiously counted every point I ate. I weighed every portion, only ever drank 125ml of wine in a sitting (2 points) and at my most zealous, weighed 10 stone. I don't remember the 'fuck this' moment but it certainly happened and I started eating again. I have a whole series of clothes ranging from a size 10 to size 16.

After the Easter holiday, I opened the huge bottom drawer at the base of my antique wardrobe, and took out a whole bunch of lightweight clothes that I bought last year. I had some knee length shorts, some linen trousers, some tunic tops and they were loose fitting last year. This year I can just about get half a knocker in the tops and a quarter of a backside in the trousers. I tried on numerous clothes to go on an important meeting on Thursday and nothing fitted. So the 'fuck this' moment has resulted in a 'oh fuck!' situation. I suppose this is what I did to get into debt and it took a massive wake up moment to say 'no more' and change my life.

 You all know I love to cook and love to eat. You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging 'food'.....it's because I've stopped eating it! I am not going back to Weight Watchers or any other saddo club where desperate people discuss a 'bad week' (usually a Mars bar binge) or a 'good week' as I always felt no one was really taking it seriously. It true 'Froogs' style; I'm an all or nothing kind of person. The walks have stepped up and the portions have drastically scaled down. To be honest, I've mainly eaten steamed or raw plain vegetables and very lean protein and that's not exciting, frugal or interesting to read about.

Lunches just look like this! 1400 calories of low fat and tonnes of fresh unadulterated veg. I remember the time when I cut up the credit card, cancelled the overdraft and organised my debt snowball plan. To begin with, it felt Draconian and, with all cold turkey situations, it was tough. I know this is a life long plan that will lead towards retiring at what is considered a normal age to retire, instead of 70 and having a debt free life and savings. This week has had a lot of thinking about my size and implications for my health. We all have a 'healthy weight'. It's usually the weight we were for most of our lives. For me, it's size 12/14.This means you'll be seeing a lot more of money saving around the house and garden, me busy making things and not cooking, lots more of the walking and if you don't mind, I won't be documenting the weight loss. I've no idea if going it alone is going to be successful.

I recently tried to return to the Weight Watchers plan and after the initial 5lbs of weight loss, I didn't lose anything at all, even though I stuck at it for well over six weeks..............funnily enough, that resulted in another 'fuck this' moment. I'm not and never have been unhappy with what I look like. You all know I've placed lots of photos of myself on the blog and I'm happy enough with who I am. I certainly had an epiphany when I could no longer fit into the biggest clothes I've ever owned. That was my line in the sand moment and I'm not prepared to cross it and go and buy size 18 clothes. For me, that's a step too far.

I'll be off for lots of long walks this weekend, there won't be a picnic nor any cake on the return. Sorry about the lack of food; I'll be sharing the other parts of my money saving life. The biggest money saving hope is that I will get back into the clothes I bought last year!

Reduced fat sort of day.

First of all, I thought I would start something that I want to carry on and welcome those who've 'joined' my blog since yesterday, so welcome to Kylie, Laila and Marti. Welcome to my tight-fisted, waist/waste shrinking world of trying to save money and the planet.

It's been a great day at work today. Year 10 had their controlled assessment grades back and are extremely competitive and there were cheers, 'high fives' and quick calls at break times to let family know how they did. There is nothing like the jubilance of excited teenagers to create a palpable atmosphere. Some of my students do really well and some really struggle and they all bring their rewards in one way or another. Some sweep the board with grade A's and some find reading and writing a combative effort. Any teacher reading this, will know the look on a child's face, when they open their exercise book to find a merit certificate stapled inside because they've managed to write an entire paragraph.

The day ended really well, with willing students, who missed the exam, who stayed after school without any trepidation to complete the work they have missed in their own time. I'll get to their marking as soon as I've finished this blog. I have found a wonderful accompaniment to my marking. http://www.spotify.com/uk/new-user/ is a licenced music website, which you don't have to pay to join. You can just listen to the music for free; you only have to pay if you down load. Tonight, I will be marking to Lionel Richie, may be some Dean Martin and I might even get round to some Fleetwood Mac.

At the end of my teaching, and extended teaching day. I slipped into a tracksuit and let myself into the school gym. I cycled for 5K, rowed for 1K and used the treadmill for a 2K power walk. Even the proverbial Betty didn't sweat as much as I did yet. I haven't got round to using the 'staff bathroom' yet and showering before I go home. I'll get clarification as to whether this is allowed first. If it is, then I can shower before I go home and not arrive to Dearly Beloved smelling like  a locker room!

Dinner tonight was the usual cheap and cheerful. A pork steak each, cut into fine slices with a green pepper and half an onion, garlic, chilli and plenty of 'Foster Mummy's' homemade sweet chilli sauce. I cooked a head of broccoli and stirred that in with it too.  I cooked a tea cup of rice for the pair of us and we're getting used to eating less. Today is weigh day. Guess what! I haven't lost any weight again!! BTW - Does anyone have the Rosemary Conley amazing Inch loss plan book/literature they could spare? If so, I'd really appreciate a copy. I'll leave you now whilst I sing along to Fleetwood's 'Second Hand news'.

Gym'll fix it?

 This is not my school gym, our gym does not have posh ceiling, but it has all the kit and tonight it was mine all mine. The head of PE (no minor deitiess would do!) gave me the don't kill yourself, here's how to use the machinery safely talk. It's free, which has got to be the best part and I've committed myself to using the gym  for three nights a week. I  had the place to myself. Radio One on full tilt, NO MIRRORS!! woo hoo! and me and the kit. I cycled for 6 KM and then rowed for 2KM and burnt off 180 calories!!!! So, not to waste the calories, I had a glass of red wine when I got home! All in all today, in one way or another, I have travelled 10KM, as I have walked to the station, then walked to school and then at the end of the day, after 30 minutes cardio, did it all again.

 If I did that for the next thirty years, then I might end up being as fit as this old bird! And if I carry on with the 20 points a day, I might end up as thin as her! I also imagined that Madonna will look like that in a few years if she gets any more scrawny! No worries about that. Below is me at 'fighting weight', when I last dieted down to 10 and a half stone and made it to the elusive size 12! I'm disgusted in myself that I can actually admit that I cried with joy in Next, when I got into a pair of size 12 jeans! I now squeeze myself into a pair of size 16s! The frugal exercise is in hand and the diet, unfortunately, with rising food prices and the need to eat healthily, isn't as frugal as it once was. I've set myself another challenge, not only get rid of the debt, but get rid of the weight and then keep it off. I love a challenge.

Me, 2006 - 40 years old

A day on a frugal diet.

 As some of you seemed worried yesterday, I thought I would blog every mouthful of food I eat today. For breakfast I had, two slices of low calorie toasted bread with 15g soya spread, dried fried mushrooms with dry fried baby tomatoes, one egg, scrambled  - Points for breakfast =5. I'm sure you'll agree, no one's going hungry on that lot!

 For lunch I had, half a tin of sweetcorn (in water) 100g of low fat coleslaw, 150g of microwaved salmon and eight baby tomatoes - Points total = 7. Again, full of protein, low in fat,  carbs in the sweetcorn.

Supper = one sweet potato (baked in the microwave and then mashed) dry fried mushrooms, grilled quorn sausages and grilled baby tomatoes. Total = 8 points. There you are, 20 points a day. I also had about 100ml of soya milk in decaff tea and about five glasses of tap water. The only expensive part of my day, was the Salmon, which was on offer at Asda. It costs me about £4 a day to feed each of us and I'm eating healthily. I may not eat green veg and fruit every day, but my diet balances out as average over a week. Tomorrow, I'm going for my induction in the school gym (smells like teen spirit!!!!) but it's free and I won't have to go far to get there, just across the play ground! I'm digging out my charity shop trainers, charity shop Diadora tee-shirt and car boot sale Long Tall Sally track suit bottoms! Cheap chic! I'll be swigging on tap water and woo hoo! I'll have every excuse to use the bathroom at work and have a long hot shower afterwards. (That'll save me water!) I'll be back tomorrow to blog about the aches and pains!

Trying harder!

As I am not losing weight, I have cut back on my points from 22 to 20 a day. To do this, I am going to eliminate carbs for a week to see if that works! In fact, the last time I weighed myself, I had put on weight! I went for a very brisk two mile walk tonight, which was no fun at all in the cold and dark. I investigated all of the local gyms and all of them were about £40 a month and I would never get my money's worth, the only answer is going to be power walking and tomorrow, I'm going to try and fit in a walk around the block at lunch time. Watch this space............it's trying and frustrating at the moment, but it worked before, and I'm sure it will work again. Tonight's supper? Grilled salmon, no points salad and fat free dressing.