Holidays and Week 5 Weigh In

I missed my week 4 weigh in as I was on holiday, which was probably just as well. The day before I’d been to my future brother and sister-in-law’s house for an Easter Sunday meal, which consisted of a ridiculous amount of alcohol, 3 courses, cakes, Easter eggs and a massive cheese board!

The holiday then began the following day. It was a big family holiday, which we tend to do around once a year at a lodge in Dunkeld, Perthshire. It gives everyone a chance to catch up and enjoy ourselves in a beautiful part of the country. This year I had volunteered in advance to take over the cooking of dinner. I love cooking anyway, and none of the rest of my family are as keen as me, so they were happy for me to do it. This meant that for the 3 out of 4 nights which we ate in the lodge dinner was healthy. (Although my dad did question if I actually was on a diet!)

We had planned a BBQ for the first night, so I had made some beef burgers and Cajun chicken burgers in advance, which my mum actually preferred to the regular burgers she’d bought! Those and a baked potato meant I was nice and full without picking at the naughty sausages. The next night was a big cottage pie and lots of veg. This went down brilliantly with everyone, including my 4 year old nephew who doesn’t like potato but ate just about all of it! Finally we did a curry night, and I made chicken jalfrezi and syn free pilau rice.

So dinners were fine, as were breakfasts – most mornings I sat down to a good portion of Mexican scrambled eggs and some bacon, whilst everyone else had a fry up, though I have to confess to sneaking in the odd hash brown on a few occasions. Lunches weren’t too bad, as when we were out we tended to take picnics with us, so I could make up a sandwich using a healthy extra portion of bread, however I did tend to have crisps with my lunch! One day I also had a baguette from my favourite deli, which was very naughty but very enjoyable!

However, the worst problem was alcohol. When my family get together there tends to be a lot of alcohol drunk, and when I drink I eat badly too, so the evenings were full of nibblings on crisps and biscuits!

I did get some exercise in whilst on holiday too – being in the countryside gave me plenty of opportunity for walks, and I took the chance to play with my niece and nephew a lot, which I’m sure burned a few calories.

Overall I was pleased with how I’d done on holiday – I wanted to still enjoy myself and not feel like I was missing out, and I think that’s what I did. My aim for the 2 weeks was to stay the same weight, and when I weighed in on Monday I had actually lost half a pound, so I was thrilled.