Guest Post- Rosie from A Pocketful of Rosie

Todays guest post was written by Rosie from A Pocketful of Rosie

Me and food have always had a love/hate relationship. I love eating it, I hate how fast it makes me put on weight! I have always been a bit ‘chunky’, but I really put on weight in the last 2 ½ years since I’ve been with my boyfriend. Nights in eating takeaway pizzas, Indians, and other generally ‘bad’ food made me go up from being 8 ½ stone to 10 stone 8 lbs, and from a size 8-10 to a size 12-14. It doesn’t sound like much, but for teeny tiny 5’’2 me it was a lot! It was enough to make me feel less confident in my own skin, and feel like I was much fatter than everyone else around me.

I didn’t really have the motivation to do anything about it until Where Are My Knees started up, and I joined the other ‘pledgers’ in promising to make lifestyle changes to lose weight/tone up. My aim was to go back down to a healthy weight for my height (at least to 10 stone), which seemed like it was going to be quite a battle!

For me, exercising wasn’t really an option. I’ve always been really lazy, and I really couldn’t find the motivation to get up and do it. That only left changing my diet, which I found much easier to do! These are the changes that I made:

-          I changed my portion size. I used to fill up my biggest plate at each mealtime, and then feel obligated to eat it all, so by switching to a smaller plate it made it seem like I was eating as much, almost ‘tricking’ my stomach into being full.

-          I swapped 90% of my meat for turkey. I’m very much a meat eater, and couldn’t have given it up, so by switching to turkey (which is much lower in fat and higher in protein that many other meats) I reduced my intake of fat by lots!

-          I swapped my white bread for wholegrain, which actually I prefer now!

-          I swapped all of my snacks for fruit/low fat yoghurts

-          I have been drinking LOTS of water and fruit juice, which I’m not sure has had too much of an effect on my weight, but has definitely had an effect on my skin

-          I’ve generally been watching my calorie intake if I’m going out for a meal or having to buy lunch from boots/Tesco’s etc.

-          I have one cheat day a week, where I eat something higher in fat (usually Doritos or cheesy bread – yum!)

By making these small changes, I’ve lost 8lbs in 8 weeks! I was actually shocked, because I don’t have scales at University, and when I weighed myself for the first time in a month and a half, I’d lost half a stone! People have commented that I’m looking slimmer, which is really nice, and I feel a lot more confident about going out bare legged and about the fact that I have to bare my bod on holiday over the summer!

I thought I’d share with you my turkey meatball recipe, which always goes down well! It’s actually much tastier made with turkey than beef/pork!

For the meatballs:

250g Turkey Mince

Half a red onion, diced

1 egg, whisked

Some breadcrumbs

For the sauce:

Half a red onion, sliced

A tin of chopped tomatos

Pasta Sauce (if needed)

Also:

60grams of pasta per person

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1.      Mix the turkey mince, diced onions and egg in a bowl. It will be a bit gooey, so add some breadcrumbs until it is firm enough to shape. Roll the mix into equal size meatballs (the mix should make about 10-12) Then roll the meatballs in some more breadcrumbs so they are completely covered.

2.      Fry the meatballs in a teaspoon full of olive oil, turning occasionally, until browned all over. (you can also grill, but they are much tastier fried, and olive oil isn’t too bad for you!)

3.      Put the pasta on to boil before you add the sauce to the meatballs

4.      Add the red onions and chopped tomatoes to the meatballs. If needed, add some pasta sauce too until the meatballs are covered.

5.      Leave the meatballs/sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked.

6.      Serve the pasta, and then the meatballs on top.

7.      Enjoy!