I had such a fun birthday weekend.  I use the term “weekend” loosely because my celebrations began on the Thursday.

We had a fantastic swim on Thursday and I ate really well during the day.  Oranges and a kiwi fruit for breakfast and then a delicious bowl of brown rice, lentils, green vegetables, sprouts, mushrooms and samphire for lunch.  It was brilliant.  In the evening I went up to London and had a really good Thali in an Indian restaurant on Floral Street in Covent Garden called Masala Zone.  It was good food, good service and excellent company as I was with my sister Lucy, Lara and Keven, a very dear friend who is visiting from Australia.

Friday was my actual birthday.  It was also weigh day at Slimming World and after a week of diligently following the plan (until Thursday evening), I was pleased to have lost 5.5 pounds.

I had a lovely day with Lara being at home.   The only disappointment was the shocking weather; it rained so hard I was unable to go to the castle which was the intention for the morning.  Despite the torrential rain Rebecca and I did actually go to the beach for a swim but decided against it as the waves were so high so my new goggles remained unused.  I did use the lovely Clinique body cream Lara gave me and I was really pleased with the little pot Rebecca made me and which I am using as a pepper pot.

It is fair to say I did not stick to plan, at all !!!  After a leisurely day we had pizza and beer in the Imperial.  I discovered the Imperial Stout which is a real joy to drink, despite the £11 a pint price tag although at 9.1 % you can’t drink much.

On Saturday Keven came to Hastings to see our new home and my sister Abi joined us for lunch.  I had half a perfectly ripe papaya and some pineapple for breakfast but the rest of the day was not so good.  Lunch was OK as it was mainly vegetables and lentils with some humous and bread.  I even managed to decline a gin and tonic.  But we seemed to end up back in the Imperial where I had pizza and the Imperial stout, again.

I didn’t manage a swim on Saturday but I did walk a lot; more than 13,000 steps.  This was due to walking to the castle and then in to the Old Town.  When I sit in my armchair at home, I can see the castle and until Saturday, I had never actually been to it.  Now I have.  Before getting to the castle we admired the views of the Old Town from the cliff tops just outside the castle.

It was quite windy but mainly sunny and bright so I think we saw the castle at its best.  It was very interesting and we all enjoyed pottering about around the ruins.

I enjoyed the view of my house from the castle.

Can you see it?There we are – the Terrace.On Sunday I had all good intentions of getting back to plan but I was incredibly tired and then had a bad experience in the sea.  It seemed much rougher than it appeared and I mis-timed my entrance and ended up being battered by large waves and all the pebbles they contain!  It is the getting in and out that is hard because of the way the waves crash to shore.  If you time it correctly, you can enjoy swimming as away from the shore the waves are more manageable.  But I blew it yesterday and suffered the consequences.  Suffice to say I did not enjoy it as much as I should and quickly became cold.  Once home I thawed out in a long hot bath and then wasted the afternoon dozing on the sofa, eating toast and drinking tea.  So not great.  But I can report the new goggles were fantastic.

I did much better with my eating and exercise today.  I was unable to swim due to huge waves today so I went to a yoga class in Udimore for the first time.  It was very challenging for me but the teacher was incredibly helpful and supportive and I enjoyed it very much but have felt achey all afternoon as she really pushed me, which is a good thing.  I have included a picture of the geese who roam around the village green in Seddlescombe; I had stopped to get some water as I was thirsty after yoga and stupidly had not taken any water with me.

I ate this meal twice today; once at home for breakfast and again as a packed lunch.  The best part was that it was all leftovers, including the salad, so no preparing or chopping.  Just opening up storage jars and serving it.I made more effort for supper and cooked a vegetable and cannelloni bean soup.  It was acceptable.  Very nutritious but not quite as tasty as I wanted.  No syns in it though because I did not add any oil during cooking.  The liquid is a combination of vegetable stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes.  

Daily totals:

• syns = 12
• HEA = 300 ml soya milk in tea
• HEB = nothing

Thank you to everyone who joined me to celebrate my birthday and thank you for the cards, presents and good wishes.  I really enjoyed my birthday celebrations but am now back on track and focused on losing weight.