Healthy Spinach and Ricotta Style Cannelloni - Slimmerseekers Thursday Week 7

For this weeks Slimmerseeker Thursday I thought that I would share with you a super healthy recipe. I don't know about you but I love ricotta cheese, especially with spinach. But with Slimming World ricotta equals syns. So I thought that I would have a go at making my own syn free version of this much loved, cheesy dish.

In the past I have used cottage cheese as a lasagne topping so I thought that I could substitute the ricotta for fat free cottage cheese and it worked perfectly!

This is what I did...

Slimmerseeker Thursday - Week 6

Welcome back to another week of Slimmerseeker!

Last week I mentioned how we are now going to be eating one meat and one fish meal a week and this week we have enjoyed more of a variety. Last week the Hubby finish a day early and over the weekend we did over indulge. On the Thursday night we enjoyed snacks and wine and on Friday we went out for a meal and I ate exactly what I wanted to, I even had bread! The weekend went on in fairly the same direction so I was not expecting any great changes in my weight this week. But in life you need to have a bit of time off and definitely need to enjoy some treats every now and then.

Before I tell you what my weigh in results were this week let me tell you about the other Slimmerseekers that joined in last week...

Slimmerseeker Thursday - Week 5

This week has seen another weigh in and another successful week. I am also delighted that I have leaped over my first hurdle.

Today I want to talk a little bit about diets. When I say diets, I do not mean slimming diets, I mean the way we eat in general.

Wow it can be so confusing! Knowing what to do to be right, what really is best for your health. There are so many conflicting opinions!

You may remember that I have said that we were trying different ways of eating. We have been trying a more vegan, plant based diet but after reading further into what health benefits there are from meat and fish it really has got me confused as to what is the best way to eat. What really is the way to eat for optimum health benefits?

After a lot of discussions with the hubby and wanting what is the best diet for the children we have decided that we will be eating meat and fish but keeping it at one meat dish a week and one fish dish and have the remaining meals as vegetarian. But when it comes to buying meat I will be sourcing it from local farm shops where the meat is reared locally and can be traced 100%. We will be following a clean eating diet which is one that we both believe in and do already part follow. We are going to cut out heavily processed foods and try and limit ingredient lists on products to just 5 ingredients. This will not be hard with regard to our main meals as I already cook our food from scratch but with the children's treats I will be more strict. If they want cakes and biscuits I will bake them! Yes it will mean more kitchen time for me, but I am not complaining!

Before I tell you this weeks results let me tell you a bit about some of the posts that were shared with Slimmerseeker Thursday last week...

Slimmerseeker Thursday Week 4

January is over and that means that my Slimmerseeker journey has been going now for 1 month. This week has seen my fourth weigh in. It was not what I had hope but, not all bad!

This week my healthy, clean eating has continued. After last week, I found that I have been enjoying my meals so much more. I have cut out the majority of dairy products, I cannot cut out cheese completely, I love it too much, but have made it my treat food, I am not eating bread and have not had meat. This is not due to ethical beliefs, but just a health belief. I feel healthier eating more meat free meals but will still enjoy meat, as a treat and will only eat the best quality of meat that has been reared organically.

I will admit to not getting my exercise regime up and running again. Since having a week off I have found it hard to find the motivation to get back to doing it everyday. However I am going to my weekly keep fit class and am walking the school run a lot more. 

This week I have started to notice a few changes in how some of my clothes are fitting. Trousers are becoming looser around the waist, some tops are feeling baggier and I can do up gilet again. Last year I was suffering with my back and as my weight is reducing I am noticing less pain which means I am finally not using morphine patches for the pain and have significantly reduced the amount of pain killers that I am taking. Loosing weight certainly is having a huge effect on my body and well being. So after one month I can see that I am going in the right direction.

Before I tell you how the scales went for me this week let me tell you a bit about the posts that were shared last week...

Slimmerseeker Thursday - Week 2

This is now my third week following my Slimmerseeker plan. My regime is to follow the Slimming World eating plan, listening to my Thinking Slimmer Slimpod and exercising daily. My exercise is a combination of the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels and regular keep fit classes and walking more. My goal is to feel confident with my body when we go on holiday in August.

Before I tell you about my week I would like to say a big thank you to the people who joined in with the first week of the Slimmerseeker linky.

Pempi's Palace shared a great food planner that she uses. It is a great way to record what food you eat and the amount of water that you drink. I know that I need to use a water chart as I certainly need to increase my water intake.

Pempi's Palace - Food Plan

This led perfectly onto Lucy Locket Loves post about the 4 Week Water Challenge that is to raise money for Water Aid. For every £1 that is donated the government will match it until 10th February. Again this has made me think about my water intake and how lucky we are!

Mrs Shilts shared a delicious Butternut Squash recipe. Butternut squash is such a versatile vegetable that is perfect for soup. You can add a variety of spices and herbs and can be changed in so many different ways and flavours. But best of all it is a syn free soup! Yay!

Madhouse Family Reviews shared how after Christmas she was finding it hard to get back on track. But I am sure that everything will get back on plan. I always struggle after Christmas especially when there are treats around! I hope to see that the Slimpod has helped this week!

Now on to my week. This is how I have got on...

Slimmerseeker Thursday - Starting Week!

As you may already know we have got an important summer holiday to go on this year! Last year we were selected as Carnival Cruise's Foodieseeker Family. That means we will be going on our first summer holiday abroad as a family of five!

Before the twins arrived I regularly went abroad and loved lazing by the pools and exploring unknown countries. Before the twins arrived I was slim and owned more bikinis than I can remember. Back then I was confident about my body. But after having children your body changes. As I was so big during my twin pregnancy by body and shape changed a lot!

Now I have zero body confidence.

I did gain back a lot of my confidence last year after doing the Juice Plus programme but as soon as I stopped and started to eat again the weight went back on and my body confidence went tumbling back down. Before I started having problems with my back I was regularly attending a keep fit class and started to see the weight coming off and was at the fittest that I have been in a long time. Then disaster struck and my back started to play up. This led me to feeling down, unable to walk far and yes I comfort ate! As my mobility was minimal the weight came on. Now I am at my heaviest and I am not happy about it. My body confidence has vanished and I love nothing more than hiding under a big baggy jumper to hide my body.

Now I want to change and I have a goal!

I want to loose weight, improve my fitness and feel confident to wear a swim suit while cruising through the Mediterranean. I want to wear pretty little summer dresses and skirts. I want to not only look good but I want to feel confident. I want to be happy to be in our holiday pictures and I want to like what I see.

Thank you Carnival for giving me the fighting spirit back!

So what am I going to do to achieve my goal? Well I have a few strategies in place and I want to tell you more and make Slimmerseeker Thursday a regular post to keep me going and to motivate me further.

Here are my Slimmerseeker, Project Swimsuit plans...

My Weight Loss Journey - Thinking Slimmer Slimpod

You may have noticed that recently I have not been writing about my weight loss journey. This has been due to me slipping back to my old eating ways.

I stopped the Juice Plus plan simply because it goes against everything that I believe a good healthy diet should be. A healthy diet is eating healthy foods, not drinking shakes! It did give me the kick start that I needed but for the long term it is not for me.

The problem with diets is that you only follow them for so long before you go back to eating whatever you want whenever you want.

My weight has not increased a great deal but a few pound have gone on.

This has led me to a slimming program that really is completely different from any that I have ever seen! This is one that I hope will completely change how I view food, my health and lifestyle, for good!