Time for Change: Back on it.

Ok I've been a bit naughty recently and I've fallen off the healthy wagon. To be fair I have had two holidays, two festivals, a wedding and my birthday. I've not been as bad as I used to be but I've also not been good. That being said in the 7 weeks I've not been watching what I eat I have still managed to lose 1lb. I know this isn't much but I was totally expecting to have put about half a stone back on, so #winning.

I think I managed this as I kept up my walking as much as I could. This was helped by the fact our car went kaput so had no choice but to walk most places. We have a new car now but with the kids going back to school in 2 weeks time I'm going to walk them to school which will mean around 4 1/2 miles walking each day. I have another wedding to go to at the end of September so my new goal is to lose 1/2 stone before then. I know if I set out with the same gusto I did when I started this journey a few months ago then I will hit this target.

So, what have I been up to in the last 7 weeks. Well 1st I had a holiday to Calella de Palafrugell, we had some amazing food here and did lots of walking (which you can read about here).

After we returned to England it was only a couple of weeks until we went the Corbridge festival (you can read Mrs Cools review of the festival here). There were loads of food venders there and I finally got a taste for Cider after a few people were saying I should give it a go.

Then it was only a week until I went to wedding and it was my birthday. The food at the wedding was amazing and I had a lot to drink but I did plenty of dancing so that would have burned off a lot of the extra calories. For my birthday we went to The Red House (see here) on Newcastle's Quayside. I had the Chicken, Gammon and Leek pie, it was friggin' lush.

After my birthday it was only week until our next holiday, camping at Loch Ness, we had BBQ one night and the next morning I had a full english from the campsite cafe.

After Loch Ness we then only had a couple of weeks until we went to the Just So Festival. Again there were some amazing food venders but there was a lot to see and the festival site was spread over a large are so again there was plenty of walking. My foodie highlight of the festival was the Chicken Koti Chaat I had from the Chaat Cart.

So that takes us right up to date and now I need to get back to doing more exercise and healthier meals. I'm going to start posting more regularly about my weight loss so look out for an update every other Saturday.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Instagram here

Time for change update: 9 1/2 weeks

We've been really busy since our last weigh in so we decided to extend our next weigh in to just before our holiday. My original plan was to lose 20lbs before my holiday and I'm happy to say I already surpassed that the last time I was weighed. Since my last weigh in I have lost a further 5lbs which means in total I have lost 27lbs.

Since the last update I've had a few meals out and also tried a few dishes I'd never tried before. Here are my favourite meals from the last few weeks  

Ko Sai in Fenwick's food hall is great for Thai street food. These are mango, chilli and avocado (#teamavocado) summer rolls. 

I've decided to have one meat-free day each week, This is quorn tacos, I recently found out taco shells contain 200 calories each! I found a recipe that replaced taco shells with little gem lettuce leaves and this means you can have three or four of these tacos for the same calories as one normal taco.. 

As you probably know avocado is my favourite food at the minute. Although it is higher in calories that most other fruit/vegetables it is full of the kind of fats you need to be eating to have a healthy lifestyle. Here I used sliced avocado in place of soldiers when I had a boiled egg. 

This is another meat-free dish. Quorn chilli, you can find the recipe here, each portion was only around 350 calories and honestly I couldn't tell the difference between this and chilli made with beef mince.

On a recent trip to the Grainger Market in Newcastle I found a fruit and veg stall selling avocados 6 for £1! I was in avocado heaven as normally I would pay £2-£3 for 2 avocados in the supermarket.

Mrs Cool ordered us a Gousto box which is a meal box which includes the ingredients and recipes for 4 meals. This was the lamb Biryani. It was really easy to make, delicious and very filling.

They say necessity is the mother of invention and that was certainly the case for this dish. We were supposed to have scallop salad but only the scallop, chilli and spring onion turned up when our shopping was delivered. So I also used some garlic and ginger I already had in the store cupboard and stir fried all of the ingredients with some soy sauce. 

This was another Gousto Box dish. Miso-butter noodles with chicken and charred peppers and asparagus. I didn't think this meal looked very photogenic but when I put it on Instagram (you can follow me on Instagram here) it became my most liked photo ever, I think I'm getting the hang of this food photography malarky. 

Now this is quite high in calories from what I usually have but at 630 I don't think that is too bad for what is essentially burger and chips. This is cayenne chicken burger with oregano roast potatoes.

When it comes to breakfast eggs are king. I'd ran out of bread and crispbakes so have to improvise with some hash browns.

As well as eating well I've said before that I've started doing a lot more walking. I recently did one of my favourite walks from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. The walk is about 4 miles there and back and has some stunning views of the north east coastline.

Now it's time for our holiday to Calella de Palafrugell in Spain. This is not going to be the start of me falling back into my old lifestyle and although I won't be quite as strict as I have been in the last 9 1/2 weeks I am still going to eat healthy and continue to have as many long walks as I can. I'll be posting some pictures when I come back and might even do a blog post about it.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Facebook here.

Time for change update: Week 6

It's that time again! I really wasn't confident that I would lose that much weight this time around but I'm happy to say I've lost another 7lbs, which takes my total weight loss to 22lbs in just 6 weeks! I've already passed my target of losing 20lbs and I've still got 4 weeks left to go. Here's what I've been up to.

Me and Mrs Cool had night out recently (read about it here) and I tried a Bloody Mary for the 1st time. This drink is right up my street, I like cocktails but usually find them too sweet, a Bloody Mary is the complete opposite of any cocktail I have had before at at only 83 calories for a 150ml drink it is a healthy way to have a cheeky drink.

Bloody Mary 83 calories

The ingredients to this Bloody Mary are Tomato juice, Vodka, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, Black Pepper and Basil (I don't like celery).

Latino Spiced Chicken with Tomato, Rocket and Avocado 490 calories

This is a simple meal to make, just sprinkle some latino spices on a Chicken breast and mix a salad of tomato, red pepper, rocket, avocado, radishes, spring onion and crushed brazil nuts

Scrambled Egg on a crispbake with Chorizo 172 calories

I've mentioned before that I love eggs for breakfast but I'm starting to run out of ideas for different dishes. This is a scrambled egg on a crispbake with chorizo.

Huevos Rancheros

I was runninng out of ideas when I came across Huevos Rancheros. You can find my recipe for it here. This is really filling and a super healthy breakfast at only 235 calories.

The only exercise I've been doing since I started this new lifestyle has been walking and in the last 2 weeks I've started to do a lot more. Me and the Wife decided to walk along the Whitley Bay coast from the Spanish City to St Mary's Lighthouse (you can read Mrs Cools blog about it here). This was about 4 miles there and back and made me really appreciate how lucky I am to live so close to the seaside. When we got to St Mary's Light house we even managed to see some seals basking in the sun.

After our walk we decided to stop at Elder and Wolf on Whitley Road (see here for more info). They serve amazing wood fired pizzas and flatbreads. I decided to go meat free for a few days so I had the roasted pepper and feta cheese pizza and I have to say it was probably the best pizza I have ever had.

Roasted Pepper and Feta Cheese Pizza

Continuing the meat free theme I decided to try Quorn for the 1st time. If I'm honest I found the Quorn quite flavourless on it's own so I think you can only really have it if your adding a lot of spices to it. Luckily I was making Tacos so there was plenty of spice going in. I recently found a recipe that replaced with taco shells with little gem lettuce leaves. This means you can have loads of tacos (enough to fill you up anyway) and it's hardly any calories, I also made my own guacamole (still can't get enough avocado). I had about 7 or 8 and for all of them it was only 430 calories!

Little Gem Quorn Tacos with homemade Guacamole

So thats the highlights of the last 2 weeks, I'll do another update in a fortnight but you can keep track of my meals on an (almost) daily basis on instagram here or on my facebook page here. You can also follow my progress on MyFitnessPal here.

Well, thats all for now

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on twitter here

Time for a change update: Week 4

So it's been 2 weeks since I was last weighed and in the last fortnight I have lost 4lbs, whilst not as good as my 1st weigh in this is what I hoped for and in total I have lost 15lbs in 4 weeks! I have almost hit my target of 20lbs in 10 weeks and I still have 5 and a half weeks left. I've also measured my waist and chest and I've lost 3 inches from my chest and 2 and half inches from my waist. I'm really pleased that I'm still focused on this new lifestyle and I've been encouraged by the fact that I've noticed some of my trousers aren't quite as tight as they used to be and a few people have said they have noticed a difference in my weight. Things like this are really keeping me motivated as well as keeping track of how many calories I've been having and what exercise I've been doing on MyFitnessPal (you can follow me here). Here are a few meals I've had these past 2 weeks.

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict, I love eggs and Eggs Benedict is my favourite egg dish but I always think of it as an indulgent breakfast. However I recently found these crispbakes from Sainsbury's as an alternative to an English Breakfast Muffin and they really bring the down the calorie count without sacrificing on taste this version only had 225 calories.

Quinoa Sushi

Fenwicks Food Hall in Newcastle has some truly amazing food for sale. One of the counters is from The Naked Deli (you can find out more about them here) and when I spotted this Quinoa Sushi I knew I had to try it. It was delicious and filling and at only 272 calories it was a great lunch.

Poached egg with avocado chilli and coriander

For some reason over the last 2 weeks I've really had a thing for Avocado. I'm a fully fledged member of #teamavocado. Although I've always liked avocado I very rarely had it but this dish is amazing and got me hooked on it and I now have it as often as I can. This was simply mashed avocado with chopped chilli and coriander on another of the Sainsbury's crispbakes with a poached egg on top. It's only 255 calories each so as I was having this for lunch I let myself have 2.

Garlic chicken, Chorizo, Brussel Sprouts and Paprika new potatoes

I was all on my own for Sunday Dinner so I could have what I liked and not have to make a little bit of something everyone would like. I got these garlic chicken legs from our local butchers and had it with boiled new potatoes which I then sprinkled with paprika and then roasted them. As well I boiled some sprouts and then finished them in a frying pan with some chorizo. I think 630 calories for a Sunday dinner is pretty good although to get the calories this low you need to discard the chicken skin (which I always say is my favourite bit).

Scrambled egg with chilli, chives and avocado

Like I said I love eggs and avocado. This is simply a scrambled egg with some chopped chilli on another of the Sainsburys crispbake with a sliced avocado on top, it's only 230 calories!

Grilled chicken thigh in a spice rub with couscous and griddled avocado

It was when I made this that a few people mentioned to me about having a lot of avocado. This is a grilled butterfly chicken thigh in a spice rub with couscous and half an avocado seared on the griddle pan and for a evening meal it comes in at a ridiculously low 400 calories.

Pork Rillettes courgette and rocket salad and soda bread

Me and Mrs Cool had a whole day and night without the kids so for lunch we went to The Cook House in Ouseburn (you can find out about The Cook House here). This was Pork Rillettes with a courgette and rocket salad (which also had some mixed seeds in there too) and some soda bread. I don't know exactly how many calories this had but after some research online I've estimated it to be around 540 calories.

Teryaki Salmon bento Box

In the evening we met some of our friends for a meal at Osaka which is Japanese restaurant in Newcastle (see here). This is their Teryaki Salmon Bento Box which comes with sticky rice, a cucumber slaw type salad and and assortment of salmon sashimi and salmon sushi. Again I don't know how many calories this had and to be honest I don't care as it was friggin lush.

Avocado, coriander and tomato on Ryvita

After a day off the avocado I was craving it again and after having a few beers (and my 1st Bloody Mary) I needed a light lunch. This is a few slices or Ryvita with mashed avocado and chopped coriander with a slice of tomato on top. This is only 104 per slice.

Latino spiced cod with spinach, rocket and avocado

Every other weekend I work Saturday, Sunday and Monday so don't get a chance to spend time preparing good meals but this weekend we have some cod loin which was in a latino dry rub and then baked in the oven. This was served with spinach, rocket and avocado (again) and I made my own mustard vinegarette. It was a delicious summery dish and only 580 calories which I thought was good for an evening meal.

Thai Prawn broth

I'm usually the one who cooks in our house but every now and then Mrs Cool will have my dinner waiting for me coming home from work. One of her best meals is this Thai Prawn Broth (you can find the recipe here). It's very filling and only a mind bogglingly low 330 calories.

I'll be doing another update in a couple of weeks so keep an eye out for it.

Well, that's all for now

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on twitter here

Enough is enough and it's time for a change!

I'll be the 1st to admit that I am a FatAss. More specifically I am a Lazy FatAss, I have no one to blame for this except myself, no one ever forced me to eat unhealthy food and no one forced me to sit on the settee when I could have been out for a walk or a run or riding a bike. It hasn't always been this way, when I was a young kid I was fit, healthy and energetic. I've never really been good sports like football, rugby or cricket but I was quite good at gymnastics, swimming and cycling but in my teenage years I just seemed to lose interest and fell into a life of sedentary and ever since I've piled on the pounds.

Right now I'm not the heaviest I've ever been but I'm pretty close, so me and Mrs Cool (you can see how she has been getting on here) have decided that it's time for a change. For me I'm not really bothered about being 'ripped' I just want to be fitter and healthier. I also want to set an example for my children, childhood obesity is a massive problem and although none of my children are overweight my fear is that when they see me being lazy and eating unhealthy food that they will follow suit and before too long they will be in the same boat as me. My biggest fear though is that if I continue the lifestyle I have had for the past 15-20 years that I may end up having a heart attack or some other weight related illness and I might not be around to see my children grow up.

So what am I going to do about it, well obviously I'm going to eat healthier food and exercise more. Monday to Friday I'm going to have a breakfast of fruit with fat free yoghurt and a little bit of granola, for lunch I'll be having a jacket potato with either baked beans or low fat Philadelphia and chives and for dinner I'll be having grilled fish or lean meat with some vegetables or a salad or maybe some pulses. At the weekend I'll not be quite so strict but I'm not going to going crazy. A big thing for me to give up is going to be sugary drinks. I am a massive pop drinker, Pepsi is top of the list. I always drink the regular full fat kind as I just don't like diet Pepsi or Pepsi max so i'm just going to give it up and instead I'll be drinking water or tea.

I'm also going to get weighed every two weeks and I'll post my progress as well as what exercise I've been doing and what I've been eating. I'm quite a good cook so although I'll be eating healthy my meals won't be boring.

So since I was first weighed 2 weeks ago I have been using My Fitness Pal to log my meals and count calories and using Map My Walk to track my walking and so far I have lost... 11lbs. I am over the moon with this, I was hoping to lose around 4lbs so to lose nearly three times that much I am really, really happy. Here are some of the highlights of what I've done and ate in the past fortnight.

Northumberlandia

We had a walk around Northumberlandia (you can find out more about Northumberlandia here). The walk took us about 18 mins and was around 3/4 of a mile and most of it was up hill (well I suppose technically half of it was up hill). For dinner we had Garlic Chicken with Rocket Salad and Curried Chickpeas which was only 500 calories.

Garlic chicken with rocket salad and curried chickpeas

The weather was pretty shitty the next day so we weren't able to get out for a walk so instead I dusted off my weights and did about half on an hour of various reps. I had the yoghurt/fruit/granola brekkie and for lunch a jacket tattie with cream cheese and chives. I forgot how friggin lush a freshly baked potato was. For dinner I had Chicken breast with a lemon crust with rocket salad and Moroccan lemon and apricot bulgar wheat which was only 464 calories.

Lemon crust chicken, rocket salad and Moroccan lemon and apricot bulgar wheat

Crunchy Thai Salad with King Prawns which was delicious, tasted so fresh and was only 295 calories.

Crunchy Thai Salad with King Prawns

Tonight it was Lemon Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach. This may not be the prettiest looking dish but Oh, My God! this is one of the tastiest dishes I've ever made the flavours were just unreal and it was only 449 calories.

Lemon Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach

We went to Beamish which involves a lot of walking, we managed 2 1/4 miles and for tea as it was the weekend we decided to treat ourselves and me and Mrs Cool shared a Chicken Madras and Chips from our favourite Indian Takeaway.

We walked over 2 miles around Beamish

For weekend breakfasts I've decided to have something different so I made Avocado, Chilli and Coriander on a crispbread wth a poached egg. It was only 250 calories and totally delicious.

Avocado, Chilli and Coriander with a Poached Egg

We had Indian Spiced Cod with Spiced New Potatoes (which were roasted in the oven using a 1kcal cooking spray) and Grilled Asparagus Tips which was under 500 calories.

I'm really pleased with how the first 2 weeks of this new lifestyle (its not a diet) have gone and I'm still feeling motivated to keep it up. We're all going on holiday in 8 weeks and I want to lose another 16lbs before then which i think is definitely achievable. I'll post my next update in another 2 weeks and hopefully I'll still be on course to hit my goals. Wish me luck.

Well, that's all for now

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on twitter here