Bento Box Blog

We had tuna, sweetcorn and pasta mayo today for lunch, and I made rather a lot, so I put the leftover into a bento for later or tomorrow. I put some of the macaroni tubes together in a row to make the body of the butterfly and gave it a tuna-mayo ball for a head. It started off Life as a Caterpillar and and then got its wings! That link there is to my new Twitter friend LesleyDH’s blog, which I have been reading recently and has pushed me to commit to using FlyLady babysteps and Jonathan Roche’s No Excuse Work Outs mentality to start getting fitter and healthier!

So although the wires keep getting ripped off my cross trainer, and I have already used masking tape to repair it 3 times this month, I will yet again repair it so I can go on and burn more calories whilst watching Ally McBeal tonight! Just finished watching season 1, so I can’t wait to get started on season 2.

Even though my efforts are being sabotaged! My DH is a feeder – Last night he brought  me a bowl of ice cream with actual chucks of chocolate on top, and before that he brought me a “bento biscuit selection”, which was some little teddy bear shaped savory biscuits arranged in a little dish, and this morning he made me a fried egg sandwich and then made me a second one with chips in it, even though I begged for only 1 egg. But I am not complaining – it is nice to be waited on sometimes! I have issues with wasting food, and you can’t really save a fried egg for later can you? So down the hatch it went. It was very yummy. I enjoyed it!  So the whole idea about this new attitude is to not get de-motivated by the sabotage. Just carry on, taking it day by day, and continuing with the babysteps and little things that over a long period of time will make a difference. Such as:

1. Drink a glass of water before a meal, to help fill you up
2. Get off the bus one or 2 stops before the usual stop and walking the rest of the way
3. Take the stairs instead of lifts (cannot do this one because of the buggy, oops there I go making excuses LOL)
4. Swap fried foods for grilled or poached
5. Reduce the amount of butter, mayo and cheese
6. Reduce portion sizes
7. Try to eat little and often rather than big meals.
8. Drink water instead of fizzy drinks and reducing the sugar in coffees
9. Use low fat milk in the milky coffees
10. Snack on apples and yogurts carrots and celery  instead of chocolate and crisps
11. Never give up!
12. Always eat breakfast
13. Don’t reduce calories too much incase you go into starvation mode
14. Kick start metabolism by always having a wholesome breakfast with plenty of fiber
15. Eat before you get hungry so you don’t overeat.
16. Drink water to keep the body functioning / metabolising efficiently
17. Have a small treat (not a binge!) every now and again, otherwise you will get bored or de-motivated
18. Aim to lose only 10% of your body weight at a time
19. Elevate heart rate for 30 mins at least 3 times per week
20. Consider it a lifestyle change instead of a diet

These are tips I collected and stored in my memory from various magazines (Rosemary Conley, Weight Watchers, Slimming World) years ago when I went through my Fitness Freak phase. They are very sensible tips and not too extreme, and helped me to lose 30kg (66lbs) over 2 years ALONG WITH going on my cross trainer for 30 mins 3 times per week. So I know it is possible to do. I just have to do it again (I’d be happy to lose half that amount this time!), God Willing!

I think the bento making is already helping me to snack more on healthy things like carrot, apple and salad, and the portion sizes are brilliant and I am not going hungry at all.

Patience, strength, motivation, determination, Can. We. Do. It? Yes! We! Can! )

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Featured Product: Niko Niko Nori Face Punch (recently re-stocked!) This amazing new nori punch cuts standard sheet seaweed into unbearably cute faces that you can use to make incredible bento and onigiri art, making you the cutest bento maker in town! Koala bear faces, panda, or generic happy faces can be cut from the 3 seaweed cutters and you can even mix and match to make new expressions.