Day 78

Breakfast:

Baked beans with baby spinach on toast

Lunch:


Roast carrot, chickpea and feta salad


This would work just as well if the carrot wasn't roasted. Quite delicious and filling.











Dinner :

The squash in this tonight was quite bitter... they are usually fine, must have been a bit green maybe? Not sure. Anways, this was fantastic. Can't beat the flavours of garlic, rosemary, olives and mushies!

Day 76

I'm baaack...!!! Gosh, only one week left on this caper! I'm going all out this last week, good luck to you all, hope you're smashing your goals and achieving what you set out to.

Breakfast:

Strawberry yoghurt compote

I opted to use all fresh strawberries in this today instead of a mix of fresh and frozen berries. Only because the strawbs were on the way to becoming only good for smoothies.











Lunch and Dinner:
Being a Saturday, both these meals today are free meals. I didn't take pics of either of them as they were very "unstructured" - a slice of raisin bread here, a banana there, a yoghurt here, some nuts there etc.. There were no separate meals. Just lots of snacks amounting to the required number of calories for the day.

Day 72-75

Weigh in Wednesday today and a 600g loss this week which I'm thrilled about. 5.8kgs lost so far, 7.8% of my body weight!! I'm hoping to lose 1kg this last week to get into the 71s on final weigh in day.

For the record, to save you checking back for photos this week, I won't be updating again until Saturday. We have visitors and this makes sticking 100% to the plan and taking pics a bit more difficult. But one thing this program has taught me so far is that having visitors doesn't mean cooking meals the way we used to. Monday night we had Chargrilled Beef with Salsa, Tuesday was the Creamy Chicken Boscaiola, tonight we had the Mushroom Risotto, Thursday is Satay Chicken and Friday the Not so Naughty Nachos. So we're serving up a wonderful variety of tasty, delicious, HEALTHY meals and not blowing out the calories!! That definitely is a big take away for me with this program - if you're reading this and have never done the program before and trying to make up your mind.... there is sooooo much to learn! Best $200 I have ever spent!!

So this is the last week and half - well and truly on the homestretch. To all those doing the program, give it your all and best of luck with your final results. I hope you all achieve what you set out to!

Check back in again on Saturday if you want to see pics for Week 12. :)

Day 71

Breakfast:

Apple & Ricotta Raisin Toast

Lunch:
Curry Chicken Wrap: no pic today because my only colleague was hanging around and I felt like an idiot taking a photo of my food in front of him! LOL. I've managed to get by so far because I've worked from home a lot of the time and he travels alot of the time. Today was a rare ocassion where we were both in the office at the same time over lunch.

Dinner:

Beef with Avocado and Corn Salsa

Day 70

Breakfast:

Buttermilk Pancake

Soooo goooood!













 Lunch:

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

It's a stinker in Brisbane today and this salad was perfect for it... very light and refreshing. And flavours to die for!! Another favourite. :)










Dinner:

Rice cakes with avo, tomato and coriander

Tonight was just too freaking hot to cook, especially roasting pumpkin in the oven to go with the Lemon and Chilli Marinated Pork. Instead I had more of a snack than a meal... 3 rice cakes with the most perfect avo ever, diced tomato, coriander and black pepper. Pork is now in the freezer for Saturday night.

Dayy 69

Breakfast: 

Banana Bruschetta

This is my next favourite breakfast after the smoothies and the Breakfast Burrito. All my favourite things: banana, cottage cheese, cinnamon....









Lunch:
Today I had the Eggplant and Capsicum Wrap which was on the menu yesterday. Unfortunately my trusty iPhone was flat (!!!) so no pic. For the record it's another keeper.


Dinner:

Steak with Mustard Mushrooms

Treat meal tonight ... and ... drum roll... mustard mushies and steak! Definitely a favourite, that sauce is pretty damn fine. Had this with cherry tomatoes and green capsicum strips, both uncooked. 

Day 68

Breakfast:

Berry Smoothie

Breakfast of champions methinks!



















Lunch:

Leftover Lasagne

I was in the mood for something a bit more filling today so I used up a portion of the leftover lasagne. So good! I'll have the lunch that was on the menu today for lunch on Saturday instead since I already have the ingredients for it.








Dinner:

Prawn Pad Thai

This is really great although post 12wbt I would probably just stick to chicken. The prawns are delicious but a bit expensive.

Day 67

I'm back from 3 days travelling interstate for work... weighed in this morning as I missed yesterday's weigh in. Result: no change, which is not surprising since the only control I had was how much I ate, not WHAT I ate. All meals were set menu so it was pretty tough but I came out of it ok. Now back to some hard work....


Breakfast:

Boiled egg and salmon on toast

Yukky avo this morning so I went without...
















Lunch:

Tuna and coleslaw pita pocket

This has to be one of my least favourites so far. Not that it was bad, it was quite edible, just lacking a bit in flavour for my tastes. I would have preferred this without the pita pocket just as a salad on its own and perhaps with a bit of feta for saltiness. (no red cabbage as the supermarket didn't have).






Dinner:

Lasagne with Spinach and Ricotta "bechamel"

This meal is always a winner!

Day 64 - 66

Breakfast:

Berry Muesli

So hard to believe that these all natural colours in nature.... so pretty!!












I am now away travelling interstate for work so no more pics until Wednesday night! Every meal is going to be a catered event so I'm kind of dreading it. Wish me luck!

Day 63

Breakfast: 

Bircher Muesli

For all the changes I've made in 9 weeks I'm still a creature of habit. Sundays are for cooked breakfasts, this is a weekday breakfast, in my opinion. Nevertheless, it was delicious. Topped with grated apple and cinnamon today, not berries.









Lunch:

Mediterranean Sandwich

I seriously don't like ricotta on a sandwich so I used some black olive tapenade instead... YUM!












Dinner:

Banana Smoothie

Had a long day out and about today and came home a bit too late to prepare what was required for the Chicken Involtini tonight... especially considering the chicken was frozen. Disappointing because it's one of my favourite meals.

Day 62

Breakfast:

I've had several people email me to tell me how organised I am doing this daily photo journal... yes it does take a tiny bit of extra time but as for planning and being organised?? Well if I was, I would have read today's breakfast recipe last night and soaked my rolled oats overnight!! So, making do, today's breakfast was just plain muesli, yoghurt and berries.





Lunch: 
Had a day out at Eumundi Markets today so had lunch in a little cafe. I had my favourite Salt and Pepper Calamari and a sparkling mineral water. I've come so far in 9 weeks. Ordinarily I would have had the same meal, but a main meal size, not an entree, with chips and mayo instead of salad, and one, maybe two glasses of bubbles!!

Dinner:  

Pancetta and basil pizza

 

Very naughty tonight.. I used the pancetta for tomorrow night's dinner!! Couldn't resist, a pancetta pizza with feta, basil and cherry tomatoes sounded so divine... and it was!

Day 61

Breakfast:

Mango Muesli

Very ripe, very sweet mango today. Divine.













Lunch:

Surprise Wrap

Mountain bread: check
Swiss cheese: check
Cranberries: check
Sprouts: check
Turkey: ????

Not sure which little mouse in the house has been nibbling at the turkey so today's wrap is thrown together using whatever else was in the fridge: hommous, cheese, sprouts, rocket, grated cucumber....




Dinner:

Sweet potato and roast capsicum pizza

Seriously in love with these 12wbt pizzas. I use the Bazaar brand which has an ever so slightly sweet flavour. Adore.

Day 60

So yesterday was Weigh in Wedneday by the way, down 0.500g, 6.6% of my body weight. Now sitting at 73.3kgs. Next week into the 72's!! Yay!

Breakfast:

Boiled egg on avo toast

Lunch:

Nicoise Salad

Too hot in Brisbane today to be boiling up potatoes so I left them out and snuck in some avo instead.












Dinner:

Cajun Chicken with Swseet Potato Wedges and Avo Salad

Day 59

Breakfast:

Mango Muesli

In a grumpy mood today, need a holiday ... just need to close my eyes when I eat this and pretend I'm on some exotic tropical island somewhere... better already!









Lunch:

Carrot Tabouli and Hummus Wrap

Curious as to how other people roll their wraps? I've tried both ways... not sure which is right. ie the brown side on the outside or on the inside. Not that it makes much difference in taste etc. Anyway inside out or not, this was great!









Dinner:

Char-grilled Broccolini & Tomato Salad with Salmon

This was so easy and tasty.. perfect for those nights when you're just not in the mood to cook but still want something a bit warmish. Best of both worlds!

Day 58

Accelerator day...!  Let's see if this shakes things up a bit.


Breakfast:

Baked beans, spinach and avocado

Lunch: 
Red flag! Ugh, unexpected one too. Ended up having lunch at the Belgian Beer Cafe in the city but instead of heavy meals such as pork, mash, pretzels etc I had an entree size Salt and Pepper Calamari (unbattered/ unbreaded) with a small salad.


Dinner:

Beef with Creamy Mustard Mushroom Sauce & Beans

Day 57

And so begins the home stretch... 4 weeks left to go!

Breakfast:

Banana smoothie

Old faithful....

















Lunch:

Tuna and canellini bean salad

Another tried and tested old faithful....














Dinner:

Creamy chicken and mushroom boscaiola

The basil, parmesan and mushrooms really bring everything together with this meal. I loved it, will definitely be making it again.

Day 56

Eight weeks down, 4 to go. Can't believe we're already 2/3rds of the way through this. So far I've lost 6% of my body weight. If I can achieve 10% by the end of this, I will extremely happy. That would be 7.8kgs. I was hoping for 12 in 12 but that's just not going to happen. I'm not considering it a failure though, far from it. My body tone and body shape has changed immensely and I couldn't be more proud. Now is the time to take stock again and to set new goals and plans for the next 4 weeks. Head over to Room for Improvement if you're interested in reading my plans. 

Breakfast:

Buttermilk Pancake

My bananas were overripe so I left them off the pancake. I love bananas but they have a very short shelf life for my tastes, before they become good for only smoothies and banana bread. Actually in hindsight I should have just mixed them into the pancake batter..? That would have been nice.

This was great, as per usual.







Lunch:

Middle Eastern Style Pizza

I have a surplus of eggplant and zucchini at the moment because I only made one batch of the Eggplant Parmagiana last week so to use it up I made the Middle Eastern Style Pizza for lunch today instead of the Tomato and Feta Pizza. I added some feta to this as I didn't have Greek style yoghurt for the topping. Very good!








Dinner:

Lamb cutlets with mushy peas

HOLD THE PHONE!!! This was to die for! Seriously good. I was naughty and cooked the cutlets wtih the fat still on but I trimmed it off before I ate it. According to my other half, "this was great, but you know what would make it perfect? ... another 3 cutlets!". LOL
I'm not a a fan of peas but this did it for me :)

Day 55

Breakfast:

Bacon and egg wrap

This was great... what breakfast with bacon isn't great?? The wrap started to peel and split again though. Not sure why it does that?












Lunch:

Banana smoothie

I procrastined about what I was going to have for lunch for so long that it ultimately came down to what would be the quickest. Enter the smoothie....who says it's only for breakfast?
















Dinner:

Chinese Chicken Dumplings

I didn't get to make this last night as I had a red flag event so thought I would make it tonight... and let me just say WOW!! Firstly I've never made anything like this before so I was a bit nervous. But I didn't need to be. They turned out beautifully and I'll definintely make them again. Sorry the pic looks so unappetising... they tasted way better than they look. You're just going to have to trust me on that one! I served this with a tiny bit of hoisin sauce. Amazing!!

Day 54

Breakfast:

Berry Compote

Today, instead of simply arranging the berries on top of the yoghurt, I whizzed them both up together in the blender. I find some of the berries too sharp in taste to eat on their own. All blended up like this spreads the flavours out a bit more. LOVED this.








Lunch: 

Bunless burger

Quite "Friday Pub Lunch" ish, minus the alcohol!












Dinner:
Tonight is a red flag event... seems to be a few too many happening these days and as we approach Christmas and the Festive season it's going to get a lot worse. It's my son's school disco tonight and one of the mums has arranged for a few families to get together at her place for a BBQ dinner beforehand.

Day 53

Breakfast:

Banana Smoothie

Yay for the banana smoothie!

















Lunch:

Roast Vegetable and Chickpea salad with dill dressing

This was quite beautiful. I love pumpkin in a salad... the sweetness was offset really nicely by the tart citrus-dill yoghurt dressing!












Dinner:

Bunless Burgers

Burger without a conscience! Who needs frites and mayo???

PS couldn't find large field mushrooms to serve the burger on in place of a bun so just used a bed of button mushrooms instead. 

Day 52

Weigh in Wednesday... so today's result was only a 400g loss. But as I always say, it's heading in the right direction so I"ll take it. I'm going to continue with cutting back on the carbs for breakfast and lunch so some of my meals, while still from the 12wbt menu, won't be exactly per what is planned for the day. I don't mean to imply that I know better than the dietitians that built this marvellous menu plan but I just have to try something different to kick start my weight loss again.

Breakfast:

Banana smoothie

No raisin toast (x2), ricotta and grated apple today, per the explanation above... just a simple, delicious banana smoothie.
















Lunch:

Egglplant Parmagiana

This is the dinner that didn't happen last night due to Melbourne Cup "interference" :) ... I have to say, I enjoyed this today way more than I did on Monday night so it's back on the list of ones I'll try again. Also re portion size, the eggplant part of the dish is actually only half a portion so I filled it out today with more lettuce, fresh basil and some freshly grated parmesan. Quite lovely!
How pretty are those purple and green leaves??






Dinner:

Salmon stuffed potatoe with yoghurt and chive salsa

This was so yummy and so filling!! Nice meal to have after a big training session, definitely hit the spot!