Christmas is finally here and I can't wait for it to be over lol.
Call me a grinch all you want but I do not like Christmas. There are some nice aspects about it but in general it completely sucks. Having worked in hospitality and customer service for 10+ years really leaves a mark on you because over this decade I noticed that the Christmas craziness starts earlier and earlier. I'm talking to the point that we're setting up table talkers and a designated Christmas table with flyers and stuff in JULY. No, just no. Of course it's nice to see beautiful lights and nicely decorated town centres but this year (2023) has been different. I don't know whether it's just my area but everywhere I went within Worcestershire, UK, the decorations have been pathetic. That's literally one of the only few things I enjoy during Christmas and it's been extremely disappointing. Couple weeks before Christmas I wanted to go to a Christmas market because I love me some good German sausage (lol) but I was shocked to find that even bigger towns around us (as in, 30-40 minute drive radius), had Christmas markets that only last 2-3 days over specific periods and some even finished in November! What happened to Christmas markets beaming during 2-3 weeks leading to Christmas? What a disappointment... And since we were working on Christmas Day this year, we decided to cancel Christmas altogether lol.
Week 7 weight loss progress
Day 1
+ 0.4 kg / + 0.4 kg weekly weight gain / -1.4 kg total weight loss
My viral TikTok video is getting even more popular |
I genuinely thought that 700K or something will be the end but it clearly hasn't as I kept waking up to crazy numbers lol. My TikTok video was still blowing up.
Loid Forger like my TikTok video 😂 |
Also I was happy to see that Loid Forger has liked my video. If you can't understand the reference then I can't help you. 🤣
Day 2
+ 0.2 kg / + 0.6 kg weekly weight gain / - 1.2 kg total weight loss
My viral TikTok video hits 1 million views |
My viral TikTok video has hit 1 million views at this point but it was expected by the way it was going. My TikTok was blowing up every time I opened the app lol. It's good that I have my notifications disabled on all social media platforms, at least my phone wasn't going insane haha.
30 day weight chart |
Weight wise I really wasn't happy what was going on. Even Happy Scale can't even hide the fact that the weight is going up and the green weight loss markings were slimming down. I haven't been the best at eating healthy but also I haven't been drinking much water so I'm trying my best to fix that.
Day 3
+ 0.1 kg / + 0.7 kg weekly weight gain / - 1.1 kg total weight loss
Lemon Posset for a private event |
I didn't think I would but I actually have been enjoying working with my husband doing private chef events. Most of the main prep is done at home so I barely need to leave the house (apart from shopping for inventory) and I love being at home lol. I also get to have a go at making new things that I haven't made before. One of them being lemon posset dessert. It's basically lemon cream. I can't believe how incredibly easy it was to make it. I haven't made enough the first time as the event was for 11 people but I only managed to squeeze out 8. So I made another batches and you can see that even my pour improved the second time. In the photo above two columns on the right is the first batch and two columns on the left is the second batch. Improvement within 30 minutes or so lol.
I even made a TikTok video about making lemon posset.
Growing pea shoots for garnish |
Day 4
- 0.5 kg / + 0.2 kg weekly weight gain / - 1.6 kg total weight loss
Poke bowl lunch in between prep work |
One of the few positive things about Christmas is that raw salmon gets a very reduced price at Morrisons. And salmon is one of my favourite fish due to incredible taste. I just can't get enough of it. Having lovely raw fish means time for poké bowl! Poké bowl is a Hawaiian rice bowl dish with raw marinated salmon. I think my favourite combination is salmon, kimchi and spring onions. I could eat that every day.
Not gonna lie, looking back, that bowl had a lot on it, probably not the best for my weight loss and I didn't weigh anything at all...
Making caramel hazelnuts |
Another new thing that I've made was caramel hazelnuts. I was proper freaking out because I've never made caramel before and I've read some horror stories of people messing up caramel but it was actually pretty easy and I made it perfectly first time! There was only one problem... It was meant to harden but for whatever reason once it sort of hardened it started melting again. It didn't make sense because it was stored pretty cold. Our conservatory is just slightly warmer than outside. We stored half of them in the conservatory and half of them in the fridge. But the result was the same no matter the location. In the end I had to make fresh caramel hazelnuts on site which is not the best as clean up is a right pain. But at least it was solid when it arrived at the client's table. I never learnt what the reason behind this melting episode was lol. Anyway, I did make a TikTok video about my caramel hazelnuts.
Day 5
+ 1.3 kg / + 1.5 kg weekly weight gain / - 0.3 kg total weight loss
A little whisky on Christmas Eve morning lol |
It was my husband's day off before the big Christmas event and the day was filled with prep work again. After we were mostly done we quickly popped to Morrisons to see if we can get any last minute pre-Christmas deals and we were not disappointed. Loads of meat was on sale!
Raw Steak Tartare |
Of course we grabbed the best looking bits and we had a feast of raw steak tartare. What a treat!!!
Great evening sorted: Delicious wine from Naked Wines and anime |
Day 6
+ 0.4 kg / + 1.9 kg weekly weight gain / + 0.1 kg total weight gain
It was finally Christmas and we departed home around 11am for the big event. The whole thing took so long and by the time we left the client's house it was around 6.30pm. I was exhausted but we have planned a hangout with my friend who was spending Christmas by herself. Plus we had a ton of leftovers so no cooking needed! We may or may not have drank a bit too much that day and we may or may not have suffered from hangover on Boxing Day lol...
Day 7
- 1.1 kg / + 0.8 kg weekly weight gain / - 1 kg total weight loss
Week 7 weight loss chart |
Well, it's the end of Week 7 and the chart is looking very much disappointing. I blame the business Christmas season to be honest. Working loads and prepping and maybe indulging too much on alcohol. All you can do is just do your best and keep pushing. Let's go!