My Big Fat Weight Loss Jouney - Part 1

If you read my Liebster Award Post, or if you follow me on twitter you might well know that over the past three years (12 months of which I was pregnant) I have lost 9 stone in weight. Shockingly, despite all that weight loss I'm still not at my goal weight and still have a further 2 stone and 6 lbs to loose. 

My three year journey has been quite a journey so I'm going to split this in to two parts. Part one is the lead up to weight loss, and part two (coming soon) will be about my actual journey, the diets I tried, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to reach that final goal by the end of this year!

I won't be putting my weight on here, but I'm sure you can all guess from the 11.5 stone total loss goal, that I probably weighed more than your average British woman in her 20's. My BMI started at just shy of 50. Which you probably all know is morbidly obese and incredibly unhealthy. I had eaten my feelings for many years, along with a truck load of pizzas, chocolate bars, ice cream and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I did eat healthy meals the majority of the time, but my snacking habit was ridiculous. 

I knew what I was doing to myself and to my health, but honestly I just didn't care enough to stop eating. I was in a really dark place, throwing the biggest pity party ever, due to non weight related health problems and just added to them by making myself so overweight and unfit that I was always ill. 

Back on NYE 2010 my hubby proposed to me after six months of dating. We had been best friends for 5 years at that point and he had spent the last 18 months seeing me through one of the most difficult times of my life. We'd gone from friends to partners and I'd fallen head over heals for him, so of course I said yes! We spent the next few months wedding planning and discussing things like starting a family. It was at that point I decided something had to be done about my weight. If I was going to be someones wife I needed to commit to them for life, I needed to live longer than 40! If I was going to be someones mum I needed to be able to take care of them, play with them and help them to be happy & healthy individuals. I couldn't do that while I was overweight, unhealthy and unhappy. So I finally decided in July 2011 that this was it. I was going to go on a 'diet' or rather I was going to change my relationship with food forever and I was going to be healthier.

I used things like my wedding dress, the wedding photos and wanting to have children as my incentives and on day one I got my now husband to take a picture of me. A picture of me at the heaviest I'd ever been and at a weight I have vowed I will never ever get close to again. Here are the photos that were taken, please forgive the poor quality, they were taken on my old phone 3 years ago, and weren't intended for blog posts! 

July 2011

I have now lost 9 stone and this is what I currently look like, taken 06/01/2015. Forgive the lack of make up. I realised I didn't have anything from Xmas or NYE that didn't have the baby in. As Hubby and I are undecided on whether or not to share pictures of Baby R on my blog we took an impromptu photo at 11.30pm and frankly you were lucky I wasn't in PJs at that time of night! :)

Find out how I did it, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to drop the final bit of weight in Part 2 (coming soon). As always thanks for reading xoxo

Merry Christmas one & All!

Christmas is a time for family and for that reason Blogging Mamma will be taking a break from the blogging & the tweeting for a few days. I am going to enjoy some mince pies, way too much turkey and a truck load of chocolate over the next few days all in the name of Christmas. After two sober Christmas' (due to pregnancy) I am looking forward to a glass or three of wine!

Most importantly I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with my little boy and his Daddy. For our little family this is going to be the first Christmas of many and I want to treasure every second and watch every smile, hear every giggle Baby R makes while being surrounded by his nearest and dearest. I want to look back on his first Christmas with fond memories that will last me a life-time, not frustration that my blog wouldn't publish or my tweets wouldn't send!

So Blogging Mamma is signing off, but before I do, I wanted to take this moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely time, surrounded by those you love. I hope Santa leaves you everything you wish for and I hope the new year brings you happiness & health.

As my Christmas present from you to me, please go and read the following two blogs. Both mean a lot to me personally. Leave feedback, say hello, comments make me happy! 

Dear Baby R - Open letter from me to my son on his 1st Christmas.

Review of Paediatric First Aid Course - my review of a first aid course provided by Spearhead Training, partnered with Birmingham Childrens Hospital. A very worthy cause if you are looking to donate at Christmas!

Hope you enjoy the blogs above, and this festive time of year!

As always thanks for reading xoxo 

Love Blogging Mamma xxx

Graze - Box 1 & first impressions

**Disclaimer** Although my first box from Graze was free, this was due to a code I was given by a friend. I have not been given anything by graze in return for a review. The opinions on this blog are my own and I have now paid for my second box. **

Having lost five stone in the 15months prior to my wedding, aiming to loose a few more stone and being a snack fiend, I am always on the look out for tasty but healthier snacks. I know everything is OK for you in moderation but I'm pretty sure if every time I wanted a snack I grabbed a Kit Kat Chunky or a cookie... well it wouldn't be considered "in moderation".

A colleague of mine recently introduced me to graze, showed me some of the snacks she had been sent and gave me a code that enabled me to have my 1st and 5th boxes free. I decided that as mean as the first box was was free I would give it a try and if after a few boxes I wasn't impressed I could always cancel my account with them.

Graze is a British company based in London which sends you four snacks selected at random on either a weekly or fortnightly basis through the mail. They are nutritional/healthy snacks, some are very nutritious & healthy, others may have a bit of a naughty twist but are still generally good for you. There are seeds, nuts, fruits, flapjacks, popcorn, olives, dips and alot more. If you aren't interested in the naughtiness you can select a "Nutrition Plan" which is a box full of their healthiest snacks. If you don't mind having some treats then select a nibble box and you will get a full variety of their snacks.

If you would like to try graze follow this link which will take you to graze with my personal code that will entitle you to try your first box for free. Alternatively you can just go to www.graze.com and input my code of M2KLRWY. Read on for information about graze & my opinions/impressions.

Important Information:

• Graze will ask you have a nut allergy. If you have a nut allergy they advise you their items are all prepared and packed in the same area so they can't guarantee a nut free product. Best to avoid graze if you have a serious allergy. They state on their FAQ page that people with allergies can remove items containing the ingredient you are allergic to using the bin function, Graze can not however guarantee their products are suitable due to the fact everything is prepared in the same kitchen.
• Once you sign up you can browse through the entire selection of products. You will notice they all have a default setting of Try. If you don't like certain things you have the option to Bin them which means graze won't ever send you these items. You can also rate everything you are sent so if you don't like it you can Bin it, if it's ok and you dont mind having it again you can Like it, and if you really enjoyed it and want it sent more often you can Love it. You also have the option of ticking a "Try soon" box for those items which tickle your fancy. The more you use the rating system the better and more customised your boxes will be.
• Each box is £3.89, delivery is always free. Each box contains four items so that's £0.97 per item. Bargain!
• You can choose weekly or fortnightly deliveries. You can change the frequency later on if you change your mind. You can order additional boxes if you need more, and you can push back deliveries if you want to leave it a bit longer. You can also "Book a Holiday". If you are going away you can make sure no graze boxes are delivered during that time.
• If you aren't satisfied you can cancel your account at anytime. There's no strings attached, commitments or long term contracts.
• Go to their FAQ page: https://www.graze.com/uk/help/faqs for more information. There's lots of information on there from the fact they are a British, London based company, to how they are supported by the NHS as part of the 5-A-Day Campaign. Well worth a read.

My First Graze Box

I was impressed to find the box fitted through the letter box so even though I wasn't in my postie could still deliver it. It's a pain going down the sorting office to pick up parcels. Although I must mention here that Graze do offer delivery to your work place if this is more convenient for you.The packaging is 100% biodegradable & 100% recyclable. Not only are the snacks good for you but the packaging is good for the environment.

Inside was a book with all the nutritional information about my lovely hand picked box, some vouchers with my code to pass on to friends and a little book with more information about Graze.

As I chose nibble boxes I get a good variety of treats and box number one impressed me before I even tasted the treats. It just looked so good!

The treats I received were:-

Natural Vanilla Seeds - Vanilla Sunflower & Vanilla Pumpkin seeds - 172 calories. These were probably my least favourite item from the box, but I still enjoyed. There was quite a large portion which was filling so I ate half for my morning snack and finished it off for my afternoon snack. Quite nice. 7/10. Like

Toffee Apple - Granny Smith Apple Slices with a sticky toffee sauce - 68 calories. Wow! I worried the apple would be a bit dry or tasteless and get lost in the toffee, but not at all. The apple was still quite juicy, cut through and complimented the sweet sauce perfectly. I had this as my desert after dinner to take away that sweet craving and stop my evening snacking habits, which worked. I was more than satisfied with this. 10/10. Love

Healthy Popping Corn Twist of Black Pepper - 125 calories. The only item from this box that required a little preparation on my part. But no big deal, just follow the instructions & pop in the microwave until the popping noise starts to slow down. I LOVED THIS! This was my absolute favourite treat in this box. There was so much popcorn in this bag that I ate half in the morning & half in the afternoon. It was tasty, filling and kept me away from crisps. If I could give a score higher than 10 I would. 10/10. Love

Bonnie Wee Oatbakes - Cheese & Chive Oatbakes with Red Onion Marmalade - 114 calories. Delicious! The oatbakes were tasty in their own right but the marmalade did compliment the cheese & chive dippers. My only criticism would be that the marmalade was a little vinegary for me, it wasn't awful or impossible to eat but I felt it could have been a little less vinegar in there. I still really enjoyed though. 9/10. Love

I enjoyed my first box so much. The fact that all the snacks are really tasty & for the most part were quite filling too was amazing for me, it really helped keep me away from those less than healthy snacks I usually enjoy! I'm currently signed up for fortnightly boxes but may change to weekly soon as I have been missing those treats for the past week and have begun to slide back to old habits. My next box is due for delivery tomorrow (Tuesday) and I am so excited to see what Graze have selected for me this week. 

Have any of you tried graze? Leave your comments below or email me with your thoughts. I'd love to hear other peoples experiences and feed back. I will do a blog on my next box once I've received it and tried all my treats. Don't forget using my code  M2KLRWY you can get your first graze box absolutely free, and I think you also get your fifth box free too? Maybe? Don't forget to look through all the products and bin anything you definitely don't like or don't want to try.

As always thanks for reading xox

Chewy Choc Chip Cookies - Baking with hubby!

It has been a long time since I have actually taken the time to bake something. So today I promised my hubby we would bake cookies together. Or rather I would bake while he stood around waiting for them to be ready to eat!! Cookies are pretty quick & easy to make, and very yummy to eat. I love cookies that are crispy on the outside & chewy on the inside, I don't like when they are hard like biscuits. So after trying a few recipes over the years, this is the one I love and use. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients (Makes approximately 18 cookies)

Each cookie is approximately 310 calories

• 250g Plain flour
• 200g light brown soft sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 170g unsalted butter (must be soft or melted)
• 2 eggs - 1 whole egg & yolk only of second egg
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 360g of chocolate chips or chunks

Hubby & I chose dairy milk as it's our favourite. But by all means use galaxy, chocolate chips, smarties, mini eggs, fruit, what ever you want really! If using a bar break the chocolate in to individual squares.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170C/Gas mark 3 or 150C for a fan oven.
2. Sift your flour, salt & Bicarbonate of soda
3. In a seperate bowl cream the two types of sugar & butter together until thoroughly mixed & fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla extract, 1 egg & 1 egg yolk and beat until light & fluffy.
5. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until blended. You should have a creamy but quite stiff dough.
6. Add the chocolate and stir until mixed thoroughly.
7. Take a baking tray and either grease with margerine/butter or line with greaseproof/baking paper.
8. Spoon the mixture on to the tray, about 1-2 tablespoons of mixture per cookie. Leave plenty of space between each dollop and do not flatten the mixture. As it cooks the mixture will flatten out.
9. Leave in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the cookies should be golden brown (more so on the edges) soft but not runny. 
10. Serve hot with a dollop of ice-cream, or leave to cool & eat later.

Middle two are a little bit too close!

Starting to go golden brown but still uncooked in the middle, back in they go!

Perfect!

Even if I say so myself these were absolutely delicious! Give them a go and let me know what you thought!

Or do you have a better recipe for me to try? Chris & I love the large dairy milk chunks in our cookies, but what is your favourite chocolate/sweet to add?

As always, thanks for reading! xox

Three Days To Go - Chocolate Mousse

With only three days to go I am on the busy train to marital life and it's all very exciting!!
With so much going on it's not likely I will be able to blog as much as I have done the past few days since I started this blog. So I thought I would give you all a final little treat from me to keep you all happy.

This easy recipe for Chocolate Mousse is so delicious and I absolutely adore it as a treat on the odd occasion. So now I shall share it with you!

For 2 people you will require:

1 egg
1/2 oz of caster sugar
2 1/2 oz of plain chocolate (I use Bournville chocolate, but any 75% cocoa or higher chocolate will be just as good)

Melt the chocolate. A lot of people do this in a glass bowl above a boiling pan of water, but I'm a fan of 30 second blitz in the microwave, stir, blitz again until it has thoroughly melted with no lumps and it is glossy. Which ever way you prefer make sure it doesn't burn! Put the chocolate to one side for 2-3 minutes to cool down.

While the chocolate is cooling separate your egg white from the egg yolk. Working over a glass bowl crack the egg in to two halves and gently drop the yolk back and fore the two shell sections allowing the white to drop out in to the bowl. Place the yolk in to a separate bowl. If there is any shell in your white, use the larger section of shell to scoop as this is the easiest method. Once the chocolate has cooled put the yolk into the chocolate and stir until thoroughly mixed. The chocolate must still be melted but not be hot or else the yolk will cook. So make sure it has cooled and is not hot but hasn't started to set either.

Take the egg whites and mix with either a whisk, or an electric hand mixer until it reaches the soft peak stage i.e. when you lift the beater out of the egg mix it forms peaks which will fall back on it self. At this stage add a third of the sugar and whisk, add the next third and so on. Continue to mix all of the sugar and keep beating the eggs until they are glossy and can hold their peak shape.

Spoon a tablespoon of the egg white mixture in to the chocolate mix and fold in to loosen the mixture. Add the rest of the egg white mixture gradually, folding it in to the chocolate with patience and care. You don't want to beat out the air as this is what will give the mousse consistency. Divide the mixture in to two ramekins and chill for at least two hours in the fridge.

Check the mixture has set before serving. Serve with whipped cream (which incidentally tastes better with a bit of icing sugar beaten in to it) and tuck in!!

Will try to blog soon, but wedding duties call :) !!!!!

Yummy Treats - Packed Potato Skins

We all have those days where we just need a bit of comfort food, and after over 12 months of dieting I have been thinking about all the yummy naughtiness I used to eat! While spending some time with my mum this weekend we discussed one of our old favourites and I decided that I would share this yummy treat with you all. Bit of a break from the wedding theme and I can drool over my keyboard instead of all over my kitchen! 

Packed Potato Skins

You will need one Baking potato per person.
You can pick several different fillings. I will give you 3 of my favourites - but first how to cook your potato!

Preheat your oven to 220C  (if fan oven go for about 190/200C)
Take your potato and prick the skin all over with a fork. Put some oil and salt on the potato and rub in well with your hands.
Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour in the oven. Until the skin is starting to crisp and the inside of the potato is easy to push a fork in to.
Take potato out of oven and cut in half. Scoop as much of the potato in to a mixing bowl  as you can with out ripping the skins.

Filling one - ham, mushroom and pickle

Fry some sliced mushroom and any precooked ham in a pan. Add a tablespoon of pickle  and cook for a few minutes until mixture is heated through and the pickle is beginning to bubble.
Add mixture in to potatoes with a dollop of marg/butter and mix together. Spoon filling back in to the skins and put back in oven for 15 minutes or until potato mixture starts to crisp up.

Filling two - bacon and mozzarella

Cook your bacon under the grill and then chop up. mix with the scooped out potato and about 40g of mozzarella. 
Spoon back in to potato skins. Put in oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkle a small amount of mozzarella over the potato and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese starts to go golden brown.

Filling three - Ham and mustard.

Dice some ham and add with a teaspoon of mustard to the potato.
Spoon in to the skins and cook for 15 minutes.

OTHER FILLING IDEAS

Chicken & mushroom
Spring onion &  cheese
Peppers
Tomato sauce and diced sausage

There are so many things you can add. It is all down to taste. But give it a go and see what you think. It's yummy comfort food for the winter and not too difficult! :)