Can you guess where I have been today?!
Balamory…or Tobermory as it is called by everyone else apart from kids of a certain age!
I am a bit tired today though as my dog was poorly in the night, so I was up in the wee hours cleaning up sick and making sure she was okay! This was followed by a long and twisty drive to get to Lochaline for the ferry to Mull.
My ferry trip over was okay…
And I even got out of the car on the ferry and managed to climb some slippery stairs, wearing slippery shoes, in slippery rain, without falling arse over tit in front of the other passengers…result!
We arrived in Fishnish to not so great weather, but it was better than it was last time we were over there. As we drove towards Tobermory we were dreaming – also known as house-spotting 
– there are so many gorgeous properties for sale over here…makes you wonder why really. I guess living on a beautiful island might not be all that great after all! I think having money helps…it must be hard to find work and hard to survive winters out here in such secluded spots unless you are cashed up and can carry decent stocks. If my numbers come up on the lottery, then I will not be heading back down the motorway though, that’s for sure! 
The weather held off enough for me to get some pictures that I have been wanting to get all holiday. There are a couple of old boats that I saw last time, just outside a place called Salen, and I couldn’t get pictures of them due to horrendous rain last year…but I managed this time! This is one I snapped quickly on the iPad from the car…
…but I got out of the car and managed to get some great pictures with my ‘proper’ camera too. I have no idea why I love these boats so much, especially as I don’t like going on the bloody things…but there is just something about them. So many different light angles, so many interesting features…I love stuff like that!
Last year I was pretty ill when I came over to Mull, and I needed to take some medicine but had to have food with it. My other half’s idea of suitable medicine food was a pot of smoked mussels…not to everyone’s taste, but they were absolutely delicious! At £6 for a tiny pot, they were pretty expensive, but I promised myself some this year too – after all, they are Slimming World friendly! So we stopped off at the same place this morning, but I couldn’t see any of them on display. I asked the lady who went ‘out back’ to get me some…and came back with two options – smoked or smoked with garlic. However, the tray was bigger than last year and the smoked were £22 something and the smoked with garlic were £26 something – ‘feck’ and ‘eek’ were the words that came to mind!
But as I had made her get them for me, I felt like I couldn’t say no…and went for the smoked version to save £4! My other half and I just looked at each other when we came out of the shop and both said, ‘feck’ at the same time…but both agreed how it would have been awkward to say no! We need to search for our balls I think. What the feck I am going to do with £22 of smoked mussels is anyone’s guess…more smokey seafood stew I think!
After this hit to the pocket I was a lot more restrained in Tobermory and the craft shops there! I bought a few bits from a soap / bath bomb / smelly shop…and that was it. There was a lovely little pottery pony that I spotted, but it was £70 and compared to the quality of the stuff I bought the other day, I just didn’t feel that I could justify the spending! I even managed to keep my nose out of the Tobermory Chocolate Company shop – I didn’t want to tempt fate, although Mum went in and came out with this little lot…
And yes, she is also a Slimming World follower – but she is doing okay and is happy and able to have a few treats here and there; she has far more restraint than I do!
The weather was pretty pants, and boat tours had been cancelled, so we mooched back towards the ferry and took the road back to our cottage. I had spotted a sign for a restaurant that I had been told was lovely last year – but obviously last year I could just about get in and out of the car and a meal in a restaurant was unthinkable for me. This year however…
I enjoyed a ‘lite bite’ lunch…to follow the lunch I had already eaten! It was less about the food and more about me just putting myself out there though. Although after tasting the food, I would be delighted to put myself out there again…I had a scallop starter and it was absolutely delicious. The restaurant used to be a boathouse and is in the most gorgeous location in a place called Kingairloch…I was so impressed with the place that I am going to ask about a private wedding reception. Although I have yet to check that out with my other half!
We then headed back for a lazy early evening and had a bit of a pampering session…well,I cut my toenails – but that counts doesn’t it?!
Breakfast: 0% Total Greek yogurt with banana, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
Lunch: Scallops wrapped in pancetta with black pudding, and smoked duck salad with bread (2 x HEB).
Dinner: Steak and kidney stew with veggies.
So brekkie was a good start! Lunch was also good, but the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted a small chunk of bread with a fair bit of butter…this has stressed me out a little – but I know that it will come in under my syn limit for the day. The scallops were amazing, as was the smoked duck salad which I had prepared and taken out with me – it’s all in the planning I am told! Dinner was delicious and was a slow-cooker job…so the smell when we arrived back at the cottage was immense. We had steak and kidney with loads of superfree veggies – Mum made it…I am not quite sure what went in it, but it was all okay for Slimming World – a few syns for the gravy.
However, I must admit to feeling slightly out of control when it comes to other people cooking my food. The scallops for lunch were okay – there was a tiny amount of black pudding…not even 28 grams worth, it was a ‘shaving’ at best, and the pancetta was very thin and fairly lean…yet I still struggle to let go when it comes to these occasions. The same happens when my Mum cooks, as she has a tendency to throw things in, and although she follows Slimming World too, she would never weigh out gravy granules for example…so I still have a few control issues to deal with.
It is all well and good people telling me to enjoy myself as I am on holiday…but there is always an excuse to enjoy yourself. I spent years finding the feckers and ended up in a dire situation; one that I absolutely cannot let myself get back to. “Oh, it’s Christmas…enjoy yourself!”, is followed by “Oh, it’s New Year…let your hair down!”, and then it’s, “Oh, Easter only comes around once each year!”…and now it’s, “You’re on holiday and you deserve a treat!”…the list really is endless and I cannot allow myself to fall into the trap of associating food with enjoyment – even though food really is my enjoyment, and it should be enjoyed! I clearly still have work to do…but as far as I was concerned with this holiday, my food remained as normal but was just eaten in a scenic location! The Scottish delights have proved tempting, but I am doing okay I think!
There were also a couple of ‘moments’ in shops today. There seems to be a trend towards cramming as much shite as you can into a shop – with room for two children to pass in the aisles…but not room for a WLB and a ‘normal’ person to pass each other. So I had a few eek moments when I thought my arse cheeks were going to swipe a load of stuff on the floor. Spotting the signs saying, “If you break it, consider it sold!”, didn’t really do much to help the situation, but I sucked in my stomach and arse cheeks for all I was worth! And one shop had some kind of rotating display stand with hooks – which stuff dangled off – and I thought at one point there was going to be a WLB hanging off it…again, it was an arse clenching moment. So I am hoping that the shops I frequent tomorrow will have suitable sized aisles – although I should be focussing on having a suitably sized arse I suppose!
Exercise: A bit of a mooch around the shops…nothing too challenging today!
Thank you for reading my holiday rambling and for your continued support,
Weight Loss Bitch xxx
P.S. I think that the theme of my holiday blogs is ‘places where my Mum has had a wee’…this was today’s rather precarious location…
I can only hope that Countryfile weren’t in the area filming…they would have had a perplexing time trying to work out what exactly it was that they could spot in the bushes!
WeightLossBitch
On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!
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