Dalyan – 7th & 8th February

It was weigh day on Wednesday 7th February and I was not feeling confident as I got on the home scales. I was 0.15kg (0.3lb) lighter which was hardly anything. My measurements for my bust and waist remained the same as last week but my hips had reduced by 1cm. I had finally reached all the target measurements I had set for myself, but still with 2.5kg (5.5lb) to lose. In total I had lost 5cm from my bust, 12cm from my waist and 6cm from my hips so I was really pleased. I was no longer a size 16 and size 14 was baggy on me – I think I’d gone down 2 dress sizes in about 15 months!
I had tea and 1 slice of wholemeal toast with a cheese triangle for breakfast. I had a video call with Captain Caveman and we discussed flights, money and banking stuff. I’d found a one-way flight with Thai Airways from Istanbul for £419 which would be better than most of the other options. Captain Caveman said he would book it for me and pay for it, so I sent him the info. He was in Hoi An, ready for the Tet holiday, looking after a friend’s dog, Rocco. He was also going to be meeting up with Caroline and was having a few days off.
Before Fat Club, I’d drank a litre of water and had the tomato and lentil soup for lunch. The new road improvements near Çağrı were looking good as I walked to see my fellow Slimming World friends. When I stepped on Carol’s scales I was relieved to find I’d lost 0.2kg (0.4lb). It would do but I needed to make more effort if I wanted to get to the next milestone within the next month. I drank another 1.5 litres of water at Fat Club and we got to do some positive sharing of what we’ve all been trying, to keep fitter and healthier.
On the way home, I didn’t even go for a drink and decided that today’s treat day was not going to be rewarded with a Wine Wednesday, as it so often is. Instead, I popped to the shop and bought the following (prices in lira);

Migros Supermarket
Plastic bag 0.25
Apples 24.74
Chickpeas 29.90
620g chicken 104.78
Total spent 159.67 lira (£4.14)

Bakery
Bread 10.00
Simit 7.00
Total spent 17.00 lira (44p)

Today’s weigh day treat was bread based with a couple of slices of fresh bread and a simit, an apple, 6 olives and some cheese. I never used to eat apples or chickpeas but I was getting much less fussy as I was getting healthier.
Dinner was a Fakeaway chicken stir-fry which I added a teaspoon of black bean sauce to and added chopped omelette in to the steamed rice. Another litre of water was forced down and some rose tea as I totted up my first week of February spending. My budget of the £10 per day equivalent had certainly been tight and I really wasn’t sure I could keep this up longer term. This week I’d spent 3,693.07 lira (£95.76) even though I’d had 2 zero spend days. I was over by £25.76 and I wasn’t sure I could recoup it next week but I wasn’t defeated just yet.

On Thursday 8th February I was still on a mission to not drink any alcohol and perhaps wait until after work on Friday. I think Captain Caveman was either getting bored of my ultra tight budget updates or felt sorry for me, as he called me to ask how much money I needed to make the residency minimum. I told him the figure, less what I was due to get paid next week. Captain Caveman was able to transfer money to me almost instantly, even from Vietnam, and I was very grateful. He was also a bit out of sorts as he’d been on the Thai Airways website to book that flight and it wouldn’t let him use his Vietnamese bank card. After the call, I googled if there were system issues and there had been several reports, he would try again tomorrow.
At 12 noon I did Zumba and enjoyed it, more soup was had for lunch with bread and butter (which I synned). Before dinner time, I’d had 2 litres of water, a tangerine, an apple and some chestnuts, all on plan. I had another Fakeaway for dinner, this time with sweet and sour sauce. I added extra red and white cabbage to my egg rice to get more speed in to the meal.
I managed a bit of Christmas cake and another litre of water before an early night. I’d had 26 syns today but was doing ok compared to previous weeks.