Category: Blog

Sometimes later on after my walk when I see the photographs I have taken displayed on the computer screen, I notice that they are blurred. Of course I would rather show a perfect photo, or at least a beautiful or interesting photo each day but if I waited that long, regrettably there would not be many additions to the web site.

The point is to utilise this modern technology to document my weight loss journey and share how I have done it. I like to show you what I saw on my walk. Unpolished photos are quite alright to do that. I have also found out that I enjoy writing blogs and I hope you enjoy reading them too.

Another very good aspect of having a pie for breakfast is that if it is bought from the bakery, as well as acting as a hand warmer on the way home, it gives a different way to practice waiting to eat. A small, manageable wait. After all, the worst case is that the pie could be eaten on the walk. Mostly I am so busy peering into gardens that my mind is side tracked admiring all the flowers. I am not thinking about being quite hungry. I do manage to get it home, re-heat it a bit and serve it on a plate with a serviette to eat at a table.

Allowing hunger to develop is a physical state that I would not seek out very often. The Apply breakfast gives me a safe, brief experience of it.

Beef and apple rissoles make a nice change to the many lean meat meals that are necessary when trying to reduce weight, or trying to maintain a lesser amount of weight. They are not too difficult to prepare.This year I am going to reduce the amount of minced beef in the mixture from 600 grams to 500 grams. This will be a cunning way to reduce the portion size of the meat and hardly even notice that it has been reduced. Add in an egg, salt and pepper, raw or dried sage, a finely chopped onion and a finely chopped apple. Take small handfuls of the mix and roll them on a floury surface, smoothing them down so they aren’t too high, (about one and a half centimeters high) and fry them for 12 minutes on each side in a lightly buttered frying pan. This recipe still gives four serves, just a slightly smaller four serves.

It would be very tempting to place the beef and apple rissoles in between two slices of bread and call them a “Hamburger” wouldn’t it? Try not to be tempted, I am going to resist the temptation and serve them with the contents of my culinary BFF (Best Friend Forever) vegetable steamer. Today’s steamed vegetables are cauliflower, carrots and peas. A small amount of oven fries potatoes will complete the meal. The table will be set with a bottle of tomato sauce, and blue serviettes.

The tomato sauce seems to come out so often this month that I am strongly considering leaving it there. Perhaps I could look for a nicer container for it.

A very good aspect of having a pie for breakfast is that if it is bought hot from the bakery it acts as an excellent hand warmer on the walk home.

A not so good aspect of having a pie for breakfast is that it is not as filling as an egg and shortcut bacon on toast would be. I seem to be looking for lunch earlier. I will see if including an extra breakfast orange makes up the difference.

There is an old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” I’d like to add to it. “A group of apples a day keeps the weight away.”

The size of the group of apples a day depends entirely on how the winter is being coped with. I am fairly sure that the amount of apples eaten would be more on a rainy day, a windy day, a cloudy day, and particularly on a cold day. That is exactly what to strive for. Perhaps the size of the group of apples is decreased because there is temptation to experience more “Junkly” than “Apply”? A mixture of both is the most likely outcome.

What might help to brighten up the middle of the winter is the task for Apply. For each bath or shower use a clean towel, always choosing a different colour than the one used previously. A portion of the money saved from not smoking can be used to finance the increased hot water account, so indulge with extra baths or showers, trying out various different bathroom products. If there is a mirror in the bathroom only look at what is not there anymore, remember the weight that used to be there, admire the new smaller shape.

An outing to a plant nursery to find an appealing fern that adores the wet, steamy conditions of the bathroom will also be on my task list this year. Some sort of decision will need to be made regarding Wattle’s law of conservation of towels. Throw out the two oldest, grungiest towels and purchase two new, soft luxurious ones.

It does seem fairly safe to extend the old saying a bit more: “A group of apples a day for several Applys (and a few Junklys) keeps a lot of weight away!”

Since the bathroom scales are only used once each month sometimes happy surprises may occur. I am very pleased with my weight reading of 75.0 kilograms for Pearn 2019. It appears that there was sufficient walking done to balance out the shifting house feasting season plus the week of cautious eating pearfection.

The amount of caution in the month of July is variable. Certainly is is not a month of culinary discipline like Januberry or Mayndarin. The first July after giving up cigarettes we called “Apply”. Other July’s we have called it “Pie” or “Junk-ly”.

When choosing themes it is necessary that some of the months do include favourite foods, even notoriously fattening foods like chocolate, cheesecake or crisps because it isn’t realistic to never eat them. Imagine that, never eating them never ever again. You are right, surely no one could have that good an imagination? Eating them sometimes is a very good idea. Over a long period of time just like other foods, even lettuce, less of the indulgent foods are wanted as well. The portion size of them gradually reduces.

This month’s eating theme for me incorporates my favourite breakfast… meat pie with tomato sauce. This year I am going to have a meat pie with tomato sauce for breakfast each second day. This compares to having this breakfast each day in the past. I am guessing that this breakfast type each second day will be enough for my current body shape.

I am also going to make sure that the presentation of my meat pie with tomato sauce is as good as I can make it. On a plate with a serviette and to be eaten at a table.

I made sure that the bathroom scales were packed in the last box because I was very curious to find out what my weight would be after such a disciplined month of eating mandarins.

It was 74.7 kilograms.

I have a reading documented for Mayndarin 2017 of 82.9 kilograms and for some years before that, directly after giving up cigarettes, of near 90 kilograms.

These numbers are very heartening.

And are the bathroom scales unpacked, ready for the Pearn 2019 weight reading? Yes!

There are only a finite amount of boxes to pack and unpack when shifting house. So it follows that there will only be a finite amount of meals that may be eaten out during all the chaos. However, with a bit of planning and imagination this chaotic time may be stretched out a bit so that the finite number becomes a somewhat larger finite number. It is a unique feasting season quite unlike any other which requires a suitably matching gastronomic fortitude and fully deserves unbridled enthusiasm.

Naturally it is necessary to say goodbye to all the favourite restaurants: the French provincial cuisine, the north Indian cuisine, the modern Australian cuisine… It is necessary to say goodbye to family and friends and this may well be done whilst also partaking of South east Asian cuisine or Italian cuisine.

A few home delivered pizzas at the very height of the chaos are a must have, absolutely necessary in fact, all the kitchen items are already packed, only other items remain to be packed.

Naturally it is necessary to say hello to some of the restaurants in our new location, a rural town with several cuisines represented. Of the many kitchen boxes to unpack, who could say exactly which one would be holding the culinary BFF (Best Friend Forever) vegetable steamer? I had taken little notice of what went into which box, after all why would I want to curtail the feasting season prematurely?

Eventually some new normality has to be reached. All the shops here sell pears

I am about to pack up my trusty scissors, sticky tape, coloured pages and catalogue images. I feel fairly confident that after we move house my soup saucepan and television will be easier to find, so the task for “Pearn” (Spoon) will be happening, I just won’t be here telling you about it for a while.

When I first started the web site I wanted to have a walk and make a collendar page each day. What has actually happened is what happens to everyone, some of the time… Life gets in the way.

The walks and collendar pages only get done some days. Sometimes a walk might happen and not the collendar page or vice versa. The blogs are already ongoing, gradually documenting the eating themes.

After choosing the tasks to accompany us on our weight loss journey and accepting that it is a long term project I think that if we do them when we are able to they will still assist us on our weight loss journey, allowing for some life to get in the way. The outcome will still be good, “Weight and See”.

Mayndarin is a long month isn’t it. For one more week and a bit I choose to eat mandarins. After that a whole year could go by before I would need to chews them again.

Perhaps an occasional mandarin might be nice to chase down a pear or an apple? An interesting idea. I’ll consider it.

At some future date when I look in the archives for 22 Mayndarin 2019 I will see a photo of a glorious specimen of Kent Pumpkin. I will be reminded of how slowly I walked home today, hauling my prize. Of how I needed some rests and how I had to mop my damp brow. Of how heavy it was, and how much easier it would have been be to able to walk home without it.

Most of all I will be reminded of how it felt to lose the weight of three of the glorious specimens!

Many trees are showing their structural beauty now. The task of collecting autumn leaves is coming to an end. I am delighted to have completed the 28 walks I set for my task and gleefully trade in my collection for a meal at a restaurant.

Did you do the task? If you did and managed a decent amount of walks, be kind to yourself and have a meal out at a restaurant of your choice. There are still some leaves left yet to drop from the trees and there are still some days of Mayndarin left if you feel the amount of walks could have been a few more.

Which restaurant? What a good question. That will be something fun to consider whilst out on walks.

I am going to tell you about the task and eating plan for the month of June because we are moving house in early June. Days will need to be spent packing everything up here and then days will need to be spent unpacking everything there.

Talk about some sneaky exercise that will be inevitable during this busy time. Bend to this carton, place wrapped object in that carton, repeat, and repeat and…

The “Weight and See” web site will not be online for a while.

In the first year after giving up cigarettes we called the month of June “Pearn” because the eating theme we had at that stage featured fresh pears. Eat as many as you like. I liked to eat plenty of them, a whole orchard of them even, you’d think. Crunch, crunch, crunch, busy mouth, not smoking.

More endearingly, in other years we have also called the month of June “Spoon” because we allow any type of food that you are able to eat with a spoon. Even barbecue crisps are allowed, so long as they are eaten off a spoon. The usual philosophy of trying to eat less than was eaten in the previous Pearn still holds, and the collendar pages may require plenty of images of “half” to couple up with images of crisps.

We also enjoy some pasta meals with garlic, tomato and meaty mince sauces, served with cheese in a bowl. The usual meat and vegetable meals are given a different slant because during the plating of meal the meat is cut up so the meal may be eaten with a spoon. Some evening meals may also see casseroles on the menu, served with rice, or with mashed potatoes.

The pancake remains part of the evening meal. For this month steamed pears will accompany it, along with a scoop of icecream,

Even eat fresh pears with a spoon? No. Fresh pears are a hand held food. Eat as many of them as you like.

Who doesn’t like cosying up in a snug room, watching tv or old favouite reruns and movies and eating as many fresh pears, or as much soup as you like with a spoon? The “Pearn” (Spoon) task sounds really easy doesn’t it? Its an enjoyable task that doesn’t even really seem like a task.

What is actually also happening is that we are training our eyes and brains to watch television programs, favouite re-runs or movies without allowing a cigarette to go to the mouth.

Initially a substitution of food is made instead of cigarettes. Eventually, perhaps even some years later, it might be possible to watch television programs, favouite re-runs or movies without having cigarettes or even without having any foods associated with them. Somehow though, it does seem that that might be many, many years later. I believe that this is one of the most, if not the most, difficult aspects of giving up cigarettes.

The choice of exactly which food to be substituted can be made each year depending on how strong the urge is to keep on having cigarettes whilst watching television programs, favouite re-runs or movies is. Keep in mind (unless it is fresh pears) it needs to be a food you can eat with a spoon. I like soups. Choosing how thick they are, if they have pasta or milk in them varies with mood and weather. Over the time of years it also varies with having a smaller shape, the body needs less.

One thing is for sure. Waratah and I are in for an unusual “Pearn” this year.

Is the activity of making a collendar childish? Yes! In some ways it is. Very childish. Cutting out images and coloured paper shapes, placing them on a page in a pleasing manner, enjoying a pleasant activity, it does sound childish, it is what what you would see children doing, early in their school career.

What happens if an adult mind is in charge of which images are chosen and placing them on a page in a meaningful (as well as pleasing) manner, enjoying a pleasant activity? The collendar could then be viewed as a task which has a specific goal, the goal of being an assistant to losing weight and keeping the weight lost.

It works in a few ways. On a practical level it keeps the hands fully occupied. Hands that desperately want to hold a cigarette, or a chocolate ripe are instead forced to hold scissors and sticky tape. Spare time is precious so cutting out images which may, or may not be useful in the future to make a collendar, instead of having a cigarette, or a trip to the refrigerator might seem to be a pretty silly activity. Let it seem so, yet still give it a try.

Another way it works is to pair images with words we want to associate with those images. If I spend all my afternoon thinking about “Great” and “Mandarin” and I place images of them on my collendar page, what is the chance I will feel happier about eating mandarins, instead of chocolate ripes? I’d say a very good chance. Not only that, if I did it for a few years of Mayndarin, I’d probably come out loving to eat more mandarins, those little gems.

Wrong! More accurately, I’d say I feel more accepting about eating more mandarins. After the novelty of the first week of eating mandarins wears off, Mayndarin becomes a really difficult month. Sometimes its cold. Mandarins are not warming to eat and they lack any excitement. Worse still, they are full of pips!

My collendar task is really helping me to stay disciplined this month. Today I have paired the word “Powerful” with mandarins. It reminds me that they are a powerful thing to eat in my weight loss journey, and the Collendar is a powerful task, a weight management tool.

In the past, given any opportunity I used to sit around all morning, drink coffee (strong, without milk or sugar) and smoke cigarettes. At best, breakfast was an imposition. Eventually as morning turned into afternoon, some sort of “brunch” would be eaten.

Imagine my surprise to find out that after giving up cigarettes, given any opportunity I still sit around all morning and drink coffee (strong, without milk or sugar) and do not smoke cigarettes. At best breakfast is still an imposition and eventually as morning turns into afternoon some sort of “brunch” does get eaten.

This makes me suspect that the tendency to not want to eat breakfast immediately after waking up is quite natural for me regardless of smoking cigarettes or not smoking cigarettes, and it may well be quite natural for others too.

Having reached this better understanding, what will I do about it?

It is much easier to make eating themes which accommodate natural eating tendencies. After deciding what time breakfast will be taken (even if that time is closer to lunch time), decide what type of breakfast. A bread roll in a container with some ham and onion, and lots of lettuce and tomatoes is a very portable breakfast if I need to go out. That will set me up well until the next meal which is the evening meal.

Most of the time I am at home and have found out that a fried egg with a short cut bacon on lightly buttered one round of toast plus an orange is a very sustaining “brunch”. Over time, as the weight reduces the body needs less. In the first year I started with two eggs and two shortcut bacons on two lightly buttered toasts plus two oranges. At that time, that was the right amount to be a sustaining “brunch”.

The smell of mandarins… breathe in their unique tangy perfume which is released into the air as they are being peeled. The juice of mandarins also has an appealing smell. Allow it onto the hands to smell it better.

Take deep breaths of Mayndarin, delicious.

The Mayndarin task is very confronting.

It is important to take mental ownership of the new smaller shape which has been the result of the sum of the small changes made over time. Manageable changes that weren’t too hard, and are even becoming habits by now, like drinking some extra water, and gradually reducing the amount of cheese eaten.

What happens if instead of congratulating ourselves about the new smaller shape, the eyes still see a large body which oveflows the underwear? Thoughts may take the path that what is being seen is obviously not size ten, never will be, it is all so demoralizing and depressing and all one wants to do is go and eat chocolate ripes and barbecue crisps.

Those sorts of thoughts and feelings might mean that we are just not ready to lose the amount of weight that we did at this time in our lives. Not yet. It might need to take place in the future. It might need to be at a slower pace.

What we are able to do is to think about the situation and try to make conscious decisions about just how many chocolate ripes and barbecue crisps to eat and for how long. Perhaps we might need slightly less of them than last year and will still be able to feel better, feel more like our usual self? Perhaps, instead, some of the chocolate ripes and barbecue crisps could be… Mayndarins?

Today I found a department store with great dressing rooms. In each room one of the corners had a full length mirror on either side, giving me a marvelous view of my new shape.

My usual one dimensional view had to be adjusted as I looked simultaneously at the front of me and at the side of me, or as I looked simultaneously at the back of me and at the side of me.

One of the most noticeably changes after losing some weight is the lack of the roll of fat which sits above the stomach. In practical terms this means that there is less support for the bust because there is nothing for it to sit upon like there was before. So I admired the great two dimensional view of me, who still looks sufficiently like me, but is now missing that roll of fat above the stomach.

As well as admiring my new smaller pear shape, I invested in a better fitting bra, more suited to its busier task.

Auntie Joan’s Savoury is a perfect and delicious Mayndarin lunch, for some days (not every day!) to add some interest to what really is a very disciplined cullinary month. A modification will be needed to her recipe. We don’t really need a whole cup of cheese in it, one slice will be enough to contribute to the taste, not the waist.

“Joan’s Savoury”

Add the following ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix them well:

A generous amount of the herb thyme, real is better if you can get it, but the dried bottled thyme is also good. One large chopped tomatoe and one half of a chopped onion. Two chopped shortcut rashers of bacon (minimal, but some fat on it). One very finely chopped slice of tasty cheese. One raw egg.

Make four rounds of toast. Lightly butter them and place them on an oven tray. Distribute the mixture on the top of the four rounds of toast. Place in the oven which has been heated to 180 degrees and cook for 12 minutes. Check at ten minutes just in case it is ready. You will know it is ready by the beautiful aroma in the kitchen.

The amount to be eaten depends on what is usually eaten for lunch. Eat about that much equivalent and enjoy!

Freeze what is not eaten after it cools down. The difficult part is allowing it to stay in the freezer for long before having it another thyme.

Reminder to self: no Joan’s Savoury until after the walk is done.

Eating unlimited mandarins sounds too good to be true doesn’t it. A real “Bonus”. Today my collendar pairs an image of mandarins with an image of the word bonus.

In the first Mayndarin I ate an enormous amount of mandarins. Unlimited means exactly that, unlimited, as many as I wanted, and I wanted a lot. Lean chicken meals leave plenty of room for suppers and mandarins make great suppers. It is important to feel full, that is what leads to longer term success in reducing and managing weight.

I still want quite a lot of them so I enjoy my post prandial bonus.