This morning I had my Jenny Craig consultation with a lovely lady called Claire. We reviewed the week and I admitted to my cheating. We discussed the fact that I am breastfeeding twins and she explained that my calorie intake should not be 1200 calories but 2300 calories so it was no wonder that I had found the need to cheat!
Today Claire is going to send out new, adjusted, menus to allow for the extra calories.
Not sure that I will eat the full 2300 calories but what I will do is continue regulating my portion sizes and being aware of how much salt there is in certain foods. Too much salt leads to water retention which can lead to excess weight!
The main focus of today’s consultation was finding out what kind of eater I am.
There are 5 main styles of eater as identified by the Jenny Craig Programme:
Uninformed Eater; Emotional Eater; Unconscious Eater; Social Eater and Balanced Eater.
I am an emotional, unconscious eater. I miss some meals, I eat food because it is there and I also tend to eat when I am bored and sad.
You can learn more about these eating styles and discover what style you are by looking at the Jenny Craig website.
This week I have been asked to reflect on my eating style and try to avoid eating when and what I shouldn’t.
Today I have so far eaten porridge and a banana, soup and crumpets and a Jenny Craig snack bar. Looking forward to Jenny Craig chilli for tea!
Wish me luck! I will let you know how I get on x
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Doing Something Funny x
Raising a smile for Comic Relief with Him Up North.
Blog Gems – Idioms
The brief for this fortnights Blog Gems is Creativity. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” I have decided to air from my archives some work that I did with my old year … Continue reading
One Word Answer
The whole-hearted Mummy Beadzoid has tagged me in Mummy from the Heart’s One Word Meme. I have to say that I am quite nervous in taking up this tag as I am rather scared that people will have nothing to say!! I am hoping that people who read my blog will respond and maybe some of my friends who will see this on Facebook too. David, my fiance, says that his one word would be TROUBLESOME!!!!
But what exactly is the One Word Meme???
I was sat on my bed this morning doing my prayers and my mind started to wonder to conversations I have had with online friends recently. Basically it seems as if there are some people out there who have some very odd (but nice) perceptions of me. They think things about me that I would never have guessed. In the last week I have been referred to as super-blogger, uber blogger, ethical blogger, most positive blogger. All very lovely and have boosted my confidence a good amount but would I ever have guessed people would think such things?
I am creating a meme, called the 1 Word Meme and I would love for every one of us to be able to collate all the the positive words left by our real life friends, virtual friends and fellow bloggers so that we each have a sheet of positive affirmations to treasure and boost our self-esteem.
Please leave a comment, a one word comment, that tells me what you think of me, something positive, esteem boosting!!
As this is a Meme I have to tag other people to take part. As I am quite late coming into this I think many people have been tagged already and so I apologise if I tag you and you are one of them.
Tag – You are it!!
The Gallery – Trees
I hope that I am just in time to join Tara’s weekly Gallery. The theme this week of trees made me immediately think of one photo, of one tree. The Tree of Gondor!
Any regular reader of this blog will know that my favourite film is Lord of the Rings. In Middle-earth there is one tree that matters, The Tree of Gondor.
In Spain, between the village of Parcent and the mountain top castle Guadelest there is a tree just like it, my very own Tree of Gondor and this is it.
The Spanish Tree of Gondor
The Tree of Gondor Again
I love in this second photo that my Mum is lurking in the background. It always makes me smile.
Hope I have managed to get my entry in on time to this very popular Gallery theme.
Jenny Craig – End of Week 1
The end of my first week with Jenny Craig is here.
Jenny Craig is not a diet but a weight management programme it consists of a calorie controlled menu, physical activity and lifestyle coaching.
At the beginning of the week I had a 15 minute chat with my Jenny Craig consultant. She talked me through my hamper which had arrived bursting with edible goodness to last me through the weeks ahead. 28 days of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks delivered directly to your door! In this case, to my door!
Next my consultant talked to me about expectations of the programme and of myself. She said that the programme is designed by a dietician to help you lose weight steadily. Eating six times throughout the day maximises your metabolism and aids weight loss. She explained that each day on the menu was nutritionally balanced and so though you could do the days in any order to follow the programme correctly you had to reach all the foods from each day and not mix and match. She also advised taking a multi-vitamin supplement which I do anyway as I am breastfeeding the twins.
So how is the food? It is a diet after all even if it is part of a programme. The snacks are great. The best part of the diet by far. However, as my best friend pointed out to me there are actually similar amounts of calories in Wotsits and Quavers as there are in Jenny Craig Potato Snacks. The cereal bars are tasty, very similar to Special K bars in taste and calorie content. The chocolate wafers and digestive bars are great ways to feel naughty ad get that chocolate fix. So though the snacks are good I am not sure that cheaper, perhaps tastier alternatives cannot be bought as part of your usual weekly shop.
The meals themselves are fine. I supplemented mine with a lot of vegetables and chillies and this masked much of the taste. The foods do all taste quite similar with something of a faint after taste?? They were not horrible at all and I look forward to tasting more of the options next week but they were not what I would call bursting with flavour. I am certain that they are more than good enough if you are desperate to lose weight and have a lot to lose. They are actually very filling for the portion size given.
I have struggled with the diet this week as I have had a bad week with the twins and I am not sure that 1200 calories is enough when breastfeeding twins but with what I have done I have lost weight.
This morning I weighed 9 stone 8 pounds and I started the week at 9st11lbs. So one thing has to be said for Jenny Craig so far, it works, and if I had been following it religiously I think that it would have worked very well indeed.
One thing that I am certain of is that if I do not continue with this diet afte the 28 day trial I will definitely continue with the methodology particularly relating to portion sizes. I know now that though I eat very healthily I do eat far too much and this is why I was not able to lose the baby weight without this help.
I also feel that the available consultations and support are needed to make the initial weight loss a success and to help keep the weight off. At home I have my mother for support who just keeps feeding me biscuits!!
Anyway, onwards and upwards to next week when I have another consultation and a new menu to explore.
If you would like to find out more about this programme then you can visit their website by clicking the picture below.
Tots 100 Learning Through Play
Zu3D – Learning Through Play in the Early Years
For this month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop I am submitting the post above. It tells how animation and Zu3D software in particular can be used throughout the early years curriculum to encourage and enhance learning through play. Animation can be seen as digital role play for children of all ages and is a great way of using technology with small children. It is easy to do at home as well as at school. It fosters sharing, team work, speaking and listening skills.
This month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop is being sponsored by MEGA Bloks. These kits would make great animation models providing children with characters and props for their stories and even plot ideas.
To find more ideas to help children learn through play, hop on over to Tots 100 to read the other entries in this month’s Blog Hop.
And please don’t forget to read the post I have chosen to submit this month:
Answers on a Postcard Please!
Well, this is a new one for me.
It is 4.30am and I have given up trying to get any sleep and come downstairs with Esther.
I went to bed nice and early last night as I know that sleep deprivation is really starting to take its toll on me. I am becoming very grumpy and emotional and I am worried that when my Mum leaves this time next week I am going to struggle to cope on my own again.
Not sure why Esther can’t sleep?
But here we are, 4.30am, in the lounge. Esther playing on her gym and me tapping on my laptop, waiting for the kettle so that I can have a cup of tea. Herbal. I have given up the good stuff for Lent! Bad idea! And biscuits. Supposedly on a diet but needs must!
So anyway, after having this early night I was woken for feeds at 11pm, 12am, 2,40am and I have not been back to sleep since!
I think my total sleep is somewhere in the region of two hours!
William and David are now sleeping soundly. And I just do not know what to do with my wired little girl, or with this problem long term.
Esther and William are 7.5 months old and I am still up every 90 minutes on average at night feeding one or both of them. I feel like I am never going to ever sleep for longer than this again.
They are being weaned now and eat 3 meals, albeit small meals, a day on top of their considerable milk intake.
I don’t think that it is hunger keeping them up at night.
So comfort, or habit?
What do we do to break the cycle? If that is what it is.
David wants me to go away and stay in a hotel for a night, leaving him to feed both babies for a night, even though William has always refused a bottle. He says he will manage with a cup or a syringe.
I am sure that cannot be the answer, short or long term.
Answers on a postcard please. Or in the comments below will do.
Kettle’s boiled.
Ssssshhhhh!! Silent Sunday
Ssssshhhhh!
A Wonderful Week of Cheer!
I have had a lovely week this week and have much to cheer about. So here I am to share it with you and Michelle at Mummy from the Heart who always inspires and encourages so many of us to share our positivity and cheer. Thank you.
Esther and William have finally met all of their cousins!
On Sunday it was David’s Mum’s birthday and to celebrate her special day she really wanted to have all six of her grandchildren together for the first time. This had not happened before as one is only a couple of weeks old and we have been out of circulation through the winter. But on Sunday we were all together for a few hours and it really was rather special. Seeing Esther and William begin to interact with their extended family was quite emotional. Their almost 5 year old cousin kept stroking them which was very sweet. William in particular was avidly watching the boys playing and seemed keen to get involved and have a go. The Henley family are a very close family so Esther and William will grow up with these cousins around them. They are very lucky and I think their first meeting bodes well for adventures in the future.
I have had a great week out and about with my Mum
I was rather apprehensive about having my Mother here for any length of time but it is the end of the second week and things seem to be going well. We are enjoying each other’s company, she is looking after David and I, and the house, so that David can focus on work and I can focus on Esther and William. She is being great. Mum is also getting to know her grandchildren better and watching their enjoyment of her is a wonderful reason to be cheerful. As she lives in Spain she will not see her grandchildren all the time so periods such as this are extra special. Love you Mum x
Weaning is going well and the babies are enjoying lots of different foods
Esther and William are loving exploring new foods and this week have even been negotiating lumps!! They love mango and papaya and all fruits. Esther sucks slivers of mango from my fingers as she cannot quite grip them herself. They have eaten broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, sweet potato, cucumber. They are having lots of first tastes and seem to welcome them all. Feeding them is such fun and they get so messy as they try to help with the spoon or the pots. What a great stage of babyhood this is. Makes me smile.
To see what is making others smile this week, hop on over to Mummy from the Heart and perhaps share your reasons to be cheerful too x