Meal Planning Monday - Week 6

Monday

Working from home today due to the Olympics
Breakfast Wholemeal toast with a smear of peanut butter - 4 syns though according to my personal trainer, peanut butter is the right kind of fat and very good for slow-release energy.
Lunch Chicken or turkey enchilada - 5 syns for the tortilla wrap, everything else should be free
Dinner Chicken tagine from Slimming World's World of Flavours p124 - free


Did I stick to it? Breakfast: toast with peanut butter - 4 syns. Lunch: as above, 5 syns. Piece of chocolate beetroot cake I had in the freezer, which defrosted rather well - maybe 6 syns, as it was a low fat recipe? Dinner: chicken tagine. Good that it was syn-free but wasn't that impressed by the flavour, I made a SW chicken casserole recently that used similar ingredients (eg preserved lemon) that tasted a lot nicer. Also had a 2 finger KitKat - 4.5 syns.
Total syns for the day: 19.5

Tuesday


Working from home today due to the Olympics
Breakfast Toast with a smear of peanut butter - 4 syns
Lunch Spicy chicken noodle salad - Slimming World's World of Flavours p.154 - free
Dinner - My boyfriend is hopefully coming to dinner unless he gets stuck waiting hours for a train - still worried commuting during the Olympics is going to be a nightmare! He's had one of those "bad things come in threes" kind of weeks so I promised him John Carter from Mars on DVD (if you haven't seen it, you must - it's hysterically cheesy) and a takeaway pizza. Which means I *really* have to be good for the rest of this week!


Did I stick to it? Skipped breakfast. Spicy noodle salad for lunch - free. Accompanied by a can of Pimms and lemonade: 4.5 syns, and a mini Magnum: 8.5 syns. Had the takeaway pizza with my boyfriend - I ordered a medium rather than a large (even though it was 2 for 1 and my boyfriend was getting a large) but I still ate an entire medium Pizza Hut pizza! Oh dear... I can't find that exact pizza on the Slimming World website but based on syns for other pizzas I think I'm going to have to count 60 syns for it! And it wasn't even that nice... my stomach obviously isn't used to eating that sort of food any more as I had to rush to the bathroom the minute I finished, and didn't feel very good for the rest of the night! So I suspect that might be the last takeaway pizza for a while...
Total syns for the day: 73, most of which was the pizza! Epic fail.

Wednesday

Breakfast As I want my option b choice for lunch, I am going to try to make some grilled bacon for breakfast - hope I have time! Of course, it won't be a bacon sandwich, and I don't eat mushrooms, tomatoes or am really keen on eggs so I could have a full English for no syns but that's not going to happen!
Lunch Ham sandwich (got some bread rolls and ham I need to use up) - free if I count the bread as option b
Dinner Salmon with Schwartz orange and dill sauce (3 syns) with veg and probably new potatoes


Did I stick to it? Still couldn't face the thought of food after last night, so skipped breakfast. Didn't know what to take with me to eat in the office later so had a cereal bar - 6 syns - then 2 Slimming World Hi-Fi bars as well - 6 syns. Lunch was a ham roll - free/option b. Had a packet of Special K bites afterwards - 5 syns. Dinner: as above 3 syns. Too busy sorting out holiday issues this evening to snack! :-)
Total syns for the day: 20. Back on track, yay

Thursday

Breakfast Grilled bacon as yesterday if time
Lunch Ham sandwich (got some bread rolls and ham I need to use up) - free if I count the bread as option b
Dinner Hopefully out with my boyfriend though he's not keen to go out in London due to the Olympics transport issues, but could also be v. late getting home - so no idea at this stage what we're going to be able to do. If I'm cooking at home I will do the tandoori chicken from Slimming World World of Flavours p.145 with homemade potato wedges


Did I stick to it? Didn't fancy bacon this morning so had some toast. Also knew that the last bread roll was beyond using so I decided to use my option b for breakfast, and cook some pasta with chopped tomatoes and bacon - all free - for lunch. Morning snack had a cereal bar and a Hi-Fi bar: 9 syns. Afternoon had a 2 packets of Weightwatchers crisps - really hungry for some reason - 10 syns. Went to my boyfriend's for dinner (he's been allowed to leave work early to avoid the transport delays, and the station I use has actually been quieter than normal!). He was having chicken goujons and chips so I had Quorn chicken-style pieces, which are syn-free, though they were a bit dry so I did end up having a dollop of mayo with it, which I should probably count 4 syns for (it was a big dollop!) and a baked potato and laughing cow light triangle with it, which is free - a pretty good dinner actually.
 
Total syns for the day: 23 syns, not bad - though used most of it on snacks which I need to watch.

Friday

Breakfast Cereal or toast
Lunch Want to make sure I have a decent lunch as I'm out this evening so I will make up a packet of Bachelors Macaroni Cheese - 1.5 syns - and add to it some chopped ham and some broccoli - free.
Dinner I've got a ticket to the Olympics beach volleyball today! It starts at 5, no idea what time it will finish or how long it will take me to get home so not much point planning dinner, I can always have pasta if I get home and want to cook in a hurry (even though I will have had that for lunch). I will have to make sure I take a snack like a cereal bar with me.


Did I stick to it? Cereal for breakfast followed by a packet of Weightwatchers mini cookies - 5 syns - and a can of full fat coke, because I was up late last night (talking on the phone to a friend in crisis until 3am) and was absolutely exhausted - I needed the sugar as well as the caffeine and diet coke just wouldn't do! - 7 syns. Lunch was same as yesterday as I made a double portion: pasta with chopped tomatoes and bacon (free). In fact I totally forgot I planned to do the macaroni cheese! I went to the beach volleyball which was great. I took a cereal bar with me - 5 syns - which I was glad of around 5pm. There was food for sale, but I didn't see anything particularly healthy, and it was so expensive - £8.90 for a small portion of fish and chips! But it made me start craving chips... and when I got home at 8.30 I was starving, exhausted and not wanting pasta as I'd had it for lunch so I went to the chip shop! But for probably the first time ever, I didn't finish a saveloy and ate about half the chips - there was still a whole plateful that went in the bin! So I'm going to count 6 syns for the saveloy and about 15 syns for the chips.
 
Total syns for the day: 38, about twice what I should be aiming for (more than twice actually) but doesn't seem too bad given what I had for dinner.

Saturday

Breakfast Mullerlight/ ryvita with Philly light - free
Lunch Pasta with bacon if I have any left, or pasta with tuna - if I use passata it will be free
Dinner Going to see my parents today and having dinner at their house. As my boyfriend is coming too and he's super fussy and I didn't want my mum to be put out, I suggested she cook chicken kievs and chips for all four of us. The kievs have 12 syns and the chips - depending on portion size and what kind she buys- around 6.

I was pleased to find I'd lost 2 pounds at Slimming World today, after putting on that much over the past two weeks - so I feel like I'm back on track. Unfortunately (for my diet, anyway) I'm going on holiday next Friday so I expect several pounds will go back on!

Did I stick to it? Breakfast: running late (overslept - still exhausted from Thursday night!) so just had Mullerlight - free. Lunch: pasta with bacon - free, but rather than passata I wanted something that tasted nicer so had half a jar of Weightwatchers pasta sauce - 3.5 syns. Was still hungry afterwards so had a Penguin biscuit - 5.5 syns. Drove down to see my parents and as described had chicken kiev and chips - 18 syns (estimate). I made a baked cheesecake to take to my parents which I think was relatively low fat as it was made with cottage cheese and fat free fromage frais (to follow as a separate post later!) but the base did involve butter and flour... I had one piece which I think I will put down as 8 syns which is a total guess!

Total syns for the day: 35, bit of a guess really


Sunday
Breakfast Still at my parents, don't know if they will be doing a cooked breakfast or if I'll have something else.
Lunch The plan for today is to go to a car show at Wilton House which is in the village where I grew up. I'm not really into cars but my boyfriend is, and I thought he and my dad would enjoy this and it's a good way of persuading him to visit my parents if we can do something while we're down there. I expect we will get something like a burger while we are there so I'll try not to overdo it.
Dinner Not sure what time I'll get home and how much time I'll have to cook. I have a portion of homemade lasagne in my freezer which is taking up space, I guesstimate it's about 7 syns though if it's a bit dry I might add a bit of cheese sauce for another few syns, and serve it with veg.

Did I stick to it?    Breakfast: had 2 crumpets, one with Can't believe it's not butter and the other with that and honey, about 12 syns in total which is more than I was expecting. During the morning had some biscuits as my mum brought a packet with her (we were at Wilton House Supercars) - it was gone midday and we'd had breakfast at 8 so I was starving and think I ate 6 biscuits, oops. Looked them up on the SW website and think each biscuit was only 2 syns which is not as bad as I'd thought - 12 syns in total. Lunch was a hotdog - think I can count the bread as my option b choice and about 8 syns for the sausage as it was a large one (ooh er missus). Had an ice cream too - maybe 10 syns? For dinner at home I didn't fancy the lasagne as I've had a lot of pasta this week so I did a pork chop, roast potatoes, vegetables, all free, plus gravy and some stuffing - estimate 5 syns. Plus a vodka and diet coke about 5 syns (can't be bothered to look it up!). 

Total syns for the day: I think 52, which is not good, I need to get back on track on Monday!