I'm sat here writing about losing weight whilst eating a whopping caramel slice

It's getting tough to stay on the slimming train so close to Christmas, and this week my syns were so flexible that Olympic gymnasts would be proud!  I went well over my syns on three occasions (never done that on a previous week) but managed to stay (pretty much) on track the rest of the week resulting in a 1.5lbs loss this week.

My BMI is now just 0.2 above being classed as "normal" - woo hoo!!

This will definitely be the last week now until after Christmas that I lose any weight - which is understandable, it's Christmas after all! To be perfectly honest with you, as I am sat writing this, I am eating a huge caramel slice topped with white chocolate chips. I have no idea how many syns it contains and I don't feel guilty for eating it.

But, I am going to the gym tonight to try and counter-act it a tad.  Only because I want to make room for all the food I'm going to eat this weekend!

I can stick to this plan any time of year, but not Christmas and New Year.  Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if you didn't eat when you weren't even hungry and drink until there's nothing left.

My only hope is that I don't undo too much of the good work I have already done and end up putting on most of the weight I have lost.

Someone at my group last night said they were going to sack off the SW plan over Christmas and New Year and come back to it in January because she wouldn't be able to do it.  Our consultant asked her how many difficult/naughty meals she would have to face over those two weeks, and the lady worked out it would be five.  Our consultant said, that's 5 meals out of 42 that you can't food optimise - but the other 42 you can.  This is the sort of positive attitude and outlook I am going to try and have.

This week, I am going out to an Italian on Sunday and a snazzy restaurant on Monday.  They will be my only challenging meals this week (bar any sweet temptations at work/home etc).

Then, between Christmas and New Year, it will only really be Christmas Eve (the drink) and Christmas Day (everything) that will be a problem.  Christmas dinner is probably one of the easiest meals to food optimise over Christmas because it's Turkey (free) and veg (free/speed). Obviously the gravy, pigs in blankets and gallon of wine that goes with it are not so great, but it's all about focussing on the good.

I was tempted to also "sack it off" over Christmas, but I'll keep sticking to it best I can. All 21 of my meals a week won't be bad and worthy of "sacking it off", and I don't want to go to group on 30th December and see a huge gain, because that'll ruin my plans for getting trollied on New Year's Eve!

The support I'm getting from my consultant and group leader at the moment is invaluable.  And the fact that group is still running around Christmas and New Year will, I'm sure, help stop me eating so much unnecessarily.

I'm only 1.5lbs away from my 'Club 10' target (which is when I've lost 10% of my starting weight) and I would really love to get that, but I also would love to get it when I know I won't put the weight straight back on again.

And, if the inevitable happens and I do put a bit of weight back on, I am pretty sure I will not be the only one in my group or the country to have put on a few pounds over Christmas.  In my book, you've not enjoyed Christmas well enough if your jeans aren't a bit tight by January.

To keep with tradition, here's this week's food diary (which shows my three naughty days quite clearly!)

Week five's food diary

Day One:

Breakfast: Two apples

Lunch: (Christmas dinner with work!) 1/4 of a bowl of parsnip and chestnut soup; turkey with a tiny pig in blanket (not even bothering working out the syns it was so small), roast potatoes (5 syns), broccoli, cauliflower and gravy (2 syns); and nutmeg creme brûlée (11 syns)

Tea: Little bit of pasta with courgette, peppers, onion, chopped tomatoes, spinach, chilli and garlic and topped with 40g reduced fat cheddar (HEA)

Day Two:

Breakfast: Two apples and a pear

Lunch: Pasta with courgette, peppers, onion, chopped tomatoes, spinach, chilli and garlic topped with 40g reduced fat cheddar (HEA)

Tea: SW bolognese with a huge plate of spinach and a bit of spaghetti

Snack: Dairy Milk (9.5 syns)

Day Three:

Breakfast: Poached eggs on one slice of wholemeal toast (HEB)

Lunch: Two apples and an orange

Tea: Chicken jalfrezi (homemade) with boiled rice, a Co-Op low fat naan bread (5 syns) and four Sharwoods poppadoms (8 syns)

Drink: Two glasses of prosecco (9 syns)

Day Four:

Breakfast: Apple

Lunch: SW crustless quiche with a side salad 

Tea: Chicken jambalaya (SW recipe)

Day Five:

Breakfast: Melon

Lunch: SW crustless quiche with a side salad
Snack: Pear

Tea: Leftover chicken jambalaya

Day Six:

Breakfast: Melon
Snack: Apple

Lunch: SW crustless quiche with a side salad
Snack: Pear
Snack: Greggs white chocolate cookie (19 syns)

Tea: Slow cooked BBQ gammon (SW recipe) with new potatoes

Day Seven:

Breakfast: Melon
Snack: Apple and pear
Lunch: Leftover gammon with lettuce and spinach
Snack: Apple
Tea: Poached eggs on two slices of wholemeal toast (HEB)

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