Hormones..

Well, not wanting to make excuses, but I new after that binge effort that something was due. And of course, along with that 'thing' being due, I also suffer insomnia. What a pain in the proverbial. Every month. Without fail.

The entire bag of goodies I ate, weighed 250gms. It contained, wait for it, wait for it, 1456 calories. Yup , impressive.

So why the heck didn't I just plow through 6 portions of weight watchers caramel creamed rice? Or eaten some chocolate? Surely it couldn't have added up to the same amount as the 1456 calorie bag of crap that I had consumed.

So here's what I am going to do. I'm gonna put a big red number on the fridge, that tells me what date I'm gonna expect " it" and I'm going to give myself permission, to acknowledge that I crave sweet things at TTOTM, and have on the READY, my weight watchers goodies.

( confession time- last time I was in Abe Dahbi, I went to a supermarket and found the ww bars with the fruit or chocolate inside them- bought nearly 6 months ago, and have barely touched them. cant remember what they are called, but they are like cake bars). I bought a stack of boxes. I need to be prepared.

Boy, this blogging does one thing- it helps to clear your mind and maybe put things into perspective as you "put things out there".

You know, I was reading something somewhere about taking 30 minutes at the start of the week to plan. Plan meals, plan dealing with potential eating out, plan when Im going to the shops to get my narnies ( that go brown in about 6 hours of bring them home.) This is something I really need to start doing. Will let you know how I go with that.

Now , I have given myself a huge bagging for the late night eating thing, but I have also done sone reaaaaaaal good things this week. For example, this place is a very sociable and you can end up eating at friends houses ALOT. Well, last night I grabbed some spag boll sauce out of the fridge, grabbed the container of couscous and took it to a friends house. This way, I was not dependent completely on what she served up. Mind you, she has 5 kids , so I should bring something anyway, but it was good that I brought something HEALTHY.

Yah me. I may just get there.

The late night binge.

Yup, I did it. I knew there was something in the pantry that wasnt supposed to be there. And in finding the things that were not supposed to be there, I found other things. Other bad bad bad, baby did a bad bad thing, things....

And even though I read the calorie content on the back of the bag...( i have never had these things before they were For " Justin" and/ or "Ron" ( Junstincase, and lateron)I still ate the whole freaking bag. They were good.

And the pain for this mistake today was me being sick after my first cup of coffee this morning, sweating, and having to go back to bed. Although I did Wiki "Gaza strip". Still dont understand that AT ALL.

I digressed. So Yes, I felt bloody sick and bloody awful this morning. And I guess it serves me right.

But if I told you what I ate, would you understand? It was a bag of sugared/salted cashew nuts combined with chocolate honey comb. I KNOW!!!!!!... WHO THE HELL MAKES THAT? WELL, NO ONE BACK HOME, THANK YOU JEBUS.

Pity party over.

Im sure Im not the only one who suffers this, but I can eat very little during the day... almost sparrow-esk, but then, god help me if I cant sleep that night. I will eat the carpet.

Eat more during the day, is the lesson here.

TTFN..

Surviving the guests over for dinner.

One of the things I struggle with the most here, is eating out. Also having people over for dinner. This is such a non healthy eating land. When you consider that you can go to an Indian restaurant and be literally stuffed full of food and drink for 3$, you feel like, if you have people over for dinner, you have to really compete. Well maybe not everyone feels like that, but I do. If someone is coming over, I feel like I have to make something really special and have great nibblies.

So how can I do this and still slim down? \

Well, I had a think about it, went on the WW website, found some old WW cookbooks and found some great recipes. When I come home, I may even order some of those cook books that everyone on HBC used to rant about.If you can remember the name of them, please let me know. There were several types, all written by a woman who lost a tone of weight.

I have also realised that the problem is me. If I go out, I can take a healthy platter now, cant I?. I can try to choose the healthier option at the restaurant. I can order water or diet coke. I can take responsibility. And when it comes to me cooking at home, who the hell notices or cares what you really serve them, after all, they aren't the ones cooking. I'm such an idiot. But I do think, in some instances, if you have wonderful friends who love to have a good time, drink and eat Mexican, it can be bloody hard!

Last night, I had one of my favourite people over for dinner. This persons partner is away at the moment. But they are one of the couples Paul and I have the best time with. It kills me that the other half isn't here. I like them so much.

I managed to cook a great meal, rice, leafy green salad, poppadom's, and tandoori chicken with yogurt. Delicious!

I also came up with a delicious dip. You see, to buy a container of Philly cheese here, will cost you $6!!! But the Arabs have this lovely thing called Labneh. Personally, I cant tell the difference between Philly and Labneh, but others apparently can. I tipped the Labneh upside down onto a serving plate, squirted some sweet chili sauce over it, then some coriander and then some lime juice. I served it with fantastic crackers, celery and carrot sticks. Again, no one complained and it was ruddy gobbled up!! Bloody winner! And the Labneh is a quarter of the price of Philly. I'm on such a winner. And yet again, I must confess that such a small thing thrills me. The Labneh I bought is is also a 'lite' version!

And now, the beauteous thing. I hopped on the scales this morning and I have lost 500gms.

Yehah!

Why am I Kungfu Princess?

Because Kungfu Panda is my hero. And I look like a chick version of him. But not black and white. Or furry.

But seriously, isnt it the best movie ever, and dont you just feel for him when he's being hassled?

The Cost of food here.

So who's curious about the supermarket , food, situation here? Well, we have numerous supermarkets- some very huge ones that are like a cross between a Kmart and Coles where you can buy any thing. These are further out from the expat living areas, but they are certainly cheaper. The supermarkets in expaty areas are more expensive. Im sure they mark things up because they know we are either too lazy or too scared to venture out into the big wide world.

However, really kind of need to do my big shop at the mega marts ( which I do) and then flap about the expaty supermarkets for the british/Australian/yanky style things. Although now I come to think of it Carrefour ( a HUGE french supermarket) has lots of 'homey" things in it. I guess, im looking for the DIET version of things. And boy, are they marked up compared to home, but look at the distance they cover to get here, i suppose.

Maybe this will sound like a big excuse, but one of the many reasons I gained weight is because I simply refused to by the diet options like I always did at home. I hated hated hated it so much here, that all I wanted to do was make some money and get the truck out of here. I set a budget of even less than i used to spend at home!! And then I spent the rest on take away.

On a rather tragic note for slimmers, takeaway here is phenomenal. And cheap. And they home deliver everything EXCEPT ( HA) SUBWAY ( which I have found very close hiding in a sad and lonely, disused shopping mall). Seriously, home delivery of maccas!!! What more could a fat arsed wombat need?

Anyway , back to the topic- SO YES, things are more expensive here, and I have very successfully , i might add, sourced so many groovy things. Bugger the price. i want to be slimmer!!!

Stay tuned when I tell you what I can buy. Yes, my life is quite dull, but when you have been in a coma for the last 23 months, this new life is much better.

cheers ( half soda, half white wine)
kungfu Panda

So What the heck happened? And what am I gonna do? A quick bit of history...

Seriously? Well I got fat. I ate and ate and drank and drank. Shame we didnt move to a country that was considered " dry", but then again, even " dry " countries have their own rehab centres.

So, back home, I was running, spinning, boxing- ummm... moving. Not moving as in moving, hang on I guess I was moving. About to move countries. But I meant - moving, as in moving my ASS. Stairs, 3 different lots of groceries in one day. Chasing after a small child. Hanging with some brilliant chicks who were into fitness ( you know who you are). And then i moved to the land of sand, and literally became a couch potato. All my own doing, no one else to blame. I did have alot of support backhome, you know, trainer, mates, a nutcase. I gotta put all that behind me and find solutions to the problems that I have. Ok, food here is more expensive- but then I can stop buying take away. It will balance out.

So I have been eating well. Doing 5 meals a day, drinking more water, cutting out the sugary soft drinks, cutting way way way way way ( in another galaxy) type of way on booze, cutting back on white bread and making my meals smaller. And the biggy? Not eating junk food after 8pm.

Im on my way, have lost some weight and feel motivated.

Have a good one..