"I Can Resist Anything But Temptation"

Oscar Wilde was on the right lines when he said, “I can resist anything but temptation”, but I think he forgot a couple of things. I’m going to let him off though because I don’t think these two particular things were around in Ireland in the 1890’s, or maybe they were and they were what he was actually referring to!

  Being on my Slinky mission has been as much about losing weight and getting fit and healthy, as it has been about my state of mind. Two years ago I was a mess, I could barely drag myself out of bed to face the day. I developed a water tight routine of staying in bed as long as possible before getting in the shower, sort of drying my hair and then putting on something in black to hide my ever expanding waistline and bottom.

   I hated my life, I hated my job, I hated me, and I hated what life appeared to have done to me! I genuinely believe that losing weight starts in your head. I comfort ate because I had a belief that stuffing my face would make me feel better, it filled (albeit temporarily the vast emptiness in my stomach) I think I thought that feeling full physically would make me emotionally full and its taken me ages to realise that’s not the case. Don’t get me wrong, occasionally I have a wobble and mistake the two things, but I figure it’s a step at a time and my journey is mainly forwards, with the occasional slow shoe shuffle backwards and the odd standing still running man!

 I always thought I was a chocoholic, however I have discovered this isn’t the case! My fridge has chocolate in it, I can’t live in a world where I’m not allowed to eat it, why would I want to? So my chocolate bars of choice are; bars I buy from weight watchers meetings (2 points each) and the occasional curly wurly (3 points each) I love a curly wurly, always have, always will! I have found that these bars of chocolate can stay in my fridge for weeks and I have one as a treat, all within my points. There’s no part of me that wants to eat them all in one go, I can open and close my fridge a million times a day without reaching for a chocolate bar! This led me to the conclusion I am not a chocoholic (yay me)

  It also led me to the conclusion that I could buy a packet of my favourite biscuits, put them in my biscuit jar and they too would sit there for many weeks and I would occasionally dunk one in a well earned brew.

  My plan was flawless, my favourite EVER biscuits are Oreos and they are 1 point each on Weight Watchers AND they were on offer for 99p! I purchased my biscuits, took them home and settled down to 2 biscuits and a brew and that’s where the problem started. As I sat catching up on episodes of “Revenge”, all I could think about was those little black and white pieces of heaven nestling in amongst the rich tea in my biscuit jar. As Emily plotted to bring down Victoria and the Grayson’s, I plotted to go back into the kitchen to get another biscuit. I checked my app, I had the points…..it was OK. So off to the kitchen I went, made a fresh brew and got 2 more biscuits.

  Later that day I was making a seafood lasagne for tea, following the Weight Watchers recipe and everything and as I chopped onions and listened to the Stags beating Fleetwood, my eyes wandered to the biscuits and before you could say, “let’s have a bit of Mansfield magic” an Oreo had found its way into my mouth!

  It was then I realised that buying these biscuits had really not been a good idea! Many months ago I established that I have a Nutella addiction. I didn't have to go to a meeting or anything, but as I realised I was staging a recreation of my famous Gingerbread man photo from 1976, I realised I needed to step away from that jar of hazelnut goodness.

 It started off innocently enough,  delicately spreading it on a piece of toast, but before I knew it  I was eating the Nutella out the jar with a spoon.  (classy!) I now wont even let myself go near it in Supermarkets, although occasionally I stage a Marmite smash and grab, where I run down the aisle with my trolley, grab a jar of Marmite and then run off again! (I pay it for it I might add)

  I have now banned myself from buying Oreos too, because unlike Mr Wilde, I can resist anything but Nutella and Oreos!

  Despite this, Lucy and I have decided it’s time for a change and because of work commitments have swapped Weight Watcher’s groups and it appears to have been just the kick we needed, because it was like starting again! Lucy lost a pound and me a pound and a half. I’m exercising more and even experimenting with new recipes that don't involve Nutella and Oreos *drifts off for a second whilst I daydream about a recipe that incorporates both*