Thursday, September 29, 2011

Power Foods Sushi A No-Go

Brandon made the brown rice for me with extra water as I requested for yesterday's experiment. But there was by no means enough starch to even pretend the stuff could stick together enough to make sushi rolls, let alone stand up to slicing and arranging. So I made regular sushi for all of us yesterday and counted off my portion on my points (almost 10 points for two small rolls). I also took a healthy points hit with the fried rice I made (10 points! Ouch!). This meal took the rest of the day to eat, so it was okay. I guess my stomach has shrunk, because after one roll, I was full-ish. The fried rice had to wait until dinner.

I have decided that I could probably do some nice sushi cones using the seaweed and the brown rice with veggies and other yummy stuff. Next time, maybe!

The upside is that I have enough brown rice to spread out in a few meals over a few days. I'll probably make the imitation crab stir fry at some point. 

I've gone five or more days within my daily and weekly food goals, and I feel pretty good about that. I'm weighing myself daily, but I'll only post on Monday mornings. With the shiny digital scale, weigh-in isn't as frustrating and vague. I look forward to Monday's progress report. Just a few days to make some headway!

Monday, September 26, 2011

End of Week 10: Weigh In!

Enter the digital scale and a much less hit-or-miss approach to weighing in! I did lose 0.2 pounds last week, down to 274.8 lb. The previous weight was on the Dial-o-Scale, and my current weight is digital. I may have lost more or less because of the discrepancy between the two, and subsequent lack of accuracy. But the numbers should be more accurate from here on out. About that, I am excited!

My success rate for eating Power Foods last week was only 3 days out of 7, or 43% of the week. Not promising numbers, but bound to improve. I realized that every off-task day puts me a few days behind in my attempt to get the fat furnace burning. This does not bode well for any long term mental or physical success. The fact that I feel better emotionally and physically after a proper day spent on the Simply Filling plan should serve to keep me focused this week. Or rather, I shouldn't have trouble NOT eating what I haven't put in the house or brought to work with me! :)

Yesterday, I realized that I had actually made more progress than I thought since the year's beginning. My awesome discontinued wedding dress (the one I bought in February or March) had a 6 or 8 inch gap in the back when I first tried it on in the store. Or should I say, the zipper was 6 or 8 inches from closing. When I tried on my dress a couple weeks before Melody and Ryan's wedding, we could get it zipped without damaging the dress. Granted, I couldn't breathe much, but I've made my point. I feel better now...

So that's why there's another ticker on the blog now. With a little bride walking to her doom, ahem, I mean walking to her goal. I figure I can realistically and with little health risk lose 16 pounds by the wedding. In so doing, the dress would fit like a dream instead of a vise. So there's my short term goal. 0.2 lb down, 15.8 to go!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

RECIPE: BAKED SALMON

Sorry for the flurry of posts lately. I've just been cooking and baking-- albeit simply-- so much recently that I want to share it all. I'm feeling all domestic today, since I've also washed dishes and done laundry. Today, I baked next week's dinners, with some baked salmon for lunch. So yes, I still baked 3lb of chicken and Baked Veggies, but I also baked two full fillets of salmon, splitting them into four servings. And I'm enjoying a very yummy pre-work lunch today!

BAKED SALMON
(What? Carrots and fat-free Ranch dip don't go with fancy baked salmon? You hush! It was good! My burning mouth says this one's Cajun. If you look closely at my hand, there's a red streak that runs horizontal. It is now a red-rimmed white burn, with a smaller, matching one on the other hand. My first cooking burns since I moved to this house and bought the new oven! I'm very proud of myself, considering my relative clumsiness.)

2 Frozen Wild Caught Salmon Fillets, thawed (OR fresh, if you can get it that way!)
Cajun seasoning
Garlic Salt
Ginger Powder
Lemon Juice
4 Pats of butter or margarine or other fake replacement (I don't count it since the fat addition is nominal and runs into the bottom of the pan anyway.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a glass casserole dish since salmon won't stick to it. My salmon doesn't come with skin, but the skin will slip right off if you bake it skin side down. Cut each fillet in two, or smaller if you prefer, and arrange in dish. Sprinkle Cajun seasoning on two fillets and rub Ginger Powder and Garlic Salt onto the other two. Drizzle a bit of lemon juice on each fillet, and top with halved pats of butter. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until salmon is slightly flaky.

Note: Half a fillet is a serving, says WWPointsPlus, which is about the size of a pack and a half of regular playing cards, or one Rook deck. :D

P.S. I may do a points-splurge on an avocado for tomorrow's dinner so I can get some pictures of the salmon and avocado salad in my meals list. Also, so I can eat it all. Sooo yummy!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

LAZY RECIPE: MEXICAN RICE AND REFRIED BEANS

Easiest protein-rich salad ever, made with leftovers, canned stuff and on-hand things... And even better, it's ALL POWER FOODS! No counting points or messing up for me!

MEXICAN RICE AND REFRIED BEANS:

1/2-1 cup cooked brown rice (leftover from yesterday's stuffed peppers!)
1/2-2/3 cup canned fat-free refried beans
1-2 cups shredded lettuce
1-2 dollops fat-free sour cream 
1 slice fat-free cheese or an ounce shredded fat-free cheese
Seasoning: Chili powder, garlic salt, onion powder, cumin and cilantro
Splash of lime juice, optional (mostly because I set it out and forgot to use it!)

Place beans and rice side by side on a plate or in a medium sized bowl. Leave room for lettuce. Sprinkle both of these with cumin powder and garlic salt. Sprinkle only beans with chili powder and onion powder. Stir beans and mash down. Sprinkle only rice with cilantro. (Not too heavy handed with any of these spices, mind you! Measurements? Silly! Don't you know me better than that?) Cover beans with cheese slice. Microwave for 2-2.5 minutes, or until hot and cheese is melted. 

Splash lime juice on rice and lettuce. 

Pile lettuce on plate or in bowl and add sour cream dollops. 

Dig in! I incorporated lettuce into every bite. Made me feel less naughty. Odd, since every ingredient was a Power Food, and therefore permitted. But it tastes just like the same items in a Mexican restaurant!

Note: If you're making this as a side plate to a meal, you may wanna decrease the amounts. I ate this as a meal. And I ate all of it. With great enjoyment. I'd say my beans portion was double what it should have been, and so was the sour cream. But it was my third meal of the day, dinner if you will. 

Style Note: This could be all artfully arranged and pretty. But I was hungry, and you don't get pictures because it was not pretty. I basically made a fat-free version of the side of rice and beans that comes with fajitas in the local Mexican restaurants. The only thing missing is the pico de gallo. And, as I said, I was hungry, so no fanciness from me this late at night!

NON-RECIPE PROGRESS:

This meal ends a full day without cheating on the diet! No brownies, no Kashi GoLean, no using up non-existent points on fast food, no "Just a bite of this or that", no excuses! It feels good. I think I've only had two days this week that I can truly say this about. I am doing better at making healthier choices, regardless of my frequent faltering. It doesn't hurt that some of my choices are also delicious! 

I bought a digital scale today. If it doesn't cry out in pain and say "one at a time, please", it may work better than the dial-a-scale I've been using. At least it'll be more consistent and precise. I won't be able to adjust my posture and gain or lose pounds with this one! :D 

So, weight loss or no come Monday morning, I've gotten... somewhere. I don't know where yet, but I think it's good for my lifelong change more than my short-term weight loss.

Cuddles,
Tamara

Friday, September 23, 2011

RECIPE: BROWN RICE AND BEEF STUFFED PEPPERS

BROWN RICE AND BEEF STUFFED PEPPERS





4 Red Bell Peppers
4 Green Bell Peppers
1-2 lb Lean Ground Beef
1 can tomato sauce
1 can Rotello, your choice of heat
1 yellow onion, diced
Pepper trimmings, diced (see below)
Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, Seasoned Salt, Garlic, Pepper
5-6 cups cooked brown rice
6-8 slices or 8oz shredded fat-free cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off tops of all bell peppers, remove membranes and seeds, trim pepper strips off of pepper caps and dice those (a habit I picked up to avoid being a wasty-waster), dry bell peppers with a paper towel and invert on another paper towel to drain inside.

Dump all ingredients except beef, whole peppers, cheese and rice into a bowl and mix. Season this mixture to taste with above seasonings. (I make mine a bit too hot, pre-rice and pre-meat, so it turns out just right with those things added in!) Stir in two cups of rice. Reserve half of this mixture in a freezer bag and use it next time you make this dish.

Add beef to remaining tomato base, combining thoroughly with your hands (like meatloaf, without the bread products) and set aside. (Hands too dirty for pic. Ewww!)

Arrange your bell peppers in the baking dish(es) so that they are sitting fairly level. Roll up aluminum foil as a prop if your peppers will not sit up on their own. Add 1/2-1 slice of cheese (or 1 oz shredded) to the bottom of each bell pepper.

Top with 1/3 cup brown rice. Press down firmly with a spoon or your fingers. Divide meat mixture into 8 portions and press into peppers. If you're a measurer, it was about 2/3 of a cup of meat mixture for each pepper, because I have large meal-sized peppers.

(With brown rice added and a whole slice of fat free Mozzarella wrapped around the inside. See the nifty foil ring?)
(With the meat mixture crammed in. Added a green pepper strip. Yes, I made a worm in the apple reference. But it was cute until it burnt in the cooking process.)

Pour a water bath halfway up your baking container or halfway up the side of your dish, whichever is shallower. This will help the peppers cook, keep them from sticking (much) and keep everything moist and un-burnt.

(Ha! Action pic!)

Bake FOREVER!!! I time it at an hour and check 15 minutes after that. After an hour and 15 minutes, the meat was fully cooked (the part that can make you sick) but the peppers were still more crisp than I would like. (But I had to head out to work! Done is good!) You'll know it's close to being finished when the meat mixture pulls away from the pepper and expands upward. And when the pepper gets wrinkly.

Note: Even if you make this with non-Power Foods, it would still only be 9 WWPointsPlus Points. But if you're doing the Simply Filling option and use all Power Foods, and stick to one of this recipe's huge peppers as your meal, then you don't even count the points!

Note 2: These also freeze and nuke exceptionally well. I made a pouch out of aluminum foil and placed the wrapped pepper in a freezer bag after it was completely cool. When you want one, just unwrap it and pop it in the microwave. My half-pepper nuke time was around 5 minutes, so these whole peppers will definitely take longer.

Style Note: I accidentally on purpose used a half-slice of Pepper Jack in each of the green peppers. I'll just count it as a couple extra weekly points when I eat those. Trust me, if these are yummy as they smell, it'll be worth it! My eyes are burning out from the baking of so many peppers.

Style Note 2: When I make "normal" stuffed peppers (not the ones I've made for WW), I use crackers and ketchup in the meat mixture, plus instead of a water bath, they get tomato sauce with a tiny bit of water mixed in. And I periodically dump this mixture over the baking (or stovetop cooking) peppers.

Style Note 3: Avoid putting any cheese ON TOP of the peppers while they're baking. It'll burn. Wait til the end. Yes, I know, "DUH!". But I have moments, too. Don't place any cheese on top if you plan on freezing, either. That'll just form a partially-edible leather shield between you and the food you wanna eat. :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Zero-Out Kinda Day

The SORTA BAD BUT ACCEPTABLE news:

Brandon and I celebrated our 9 year dating anniversary-- a couple days late-- yesterday. We ate Japanese food. And I didn't go all Power Foods. But the damage is done. 

6 Lobster Rangoon 6pts + 
Miso Soup 2pts
Salad with very little dressing 2pts
Hibachi Chicken 2pts
Vegetables 3pts
Fried Rice 6pts +
Spring roll 5pts

...and a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. 15 +

I just busted my weekly points in celebration. I had to deduct Power Foods amounts from other ingredients to get the right numbers. Everything I ate totaled around 41 points. Even though it took me all day to eat this stuff, I'm still kicking myself. If I hadn't had the Blizzard, for instance, I wouldn't have gone over my weekly points at all. But I'm going to live with it. There's no weight-loss seppuku in my future. I'm proud of myself for not despairing and throwing in the towel this time. There's just no benefit to a negative mentality. I'm not just on a diet, I'm changing my lifestyle. And that takes time to get right.

The GOOD news:

Since my work week starts today, and I won't be shopping, dining out, or socializing for at least a week, I don't detect any threats to my diet until then. By then, I'll have my points back. :) Theoretically, I can eat all Power Foods from now through at least Monday. I'll just replace my morning Kashi GoLean (1 unopened box left) with oatmeal for the remainder of this week. Yum. (Kashi GoLean was on sale for 2.99 at Kroger. I almost re-stocked. But since it's not a Power Food, I'm cutting it out for now, since relegating it to "occasional snack" would render it stale. So after this one box, I'm finished!)

I also replaced my dressing with fat-free sour cream, a Power Food. I used a low calorie Ranch powder packet in the sour cream and bought baby carrots, which I split into serving-size snack bags. In case you're wondering, a three-ounce serving of baby carrots is almost precisely 8 baby carrots. It's not that I'm OCD. I just read the bag, noted the servings contained, got out the 10 snack bags and started separating carrots one by one into the bags. And ended up with 8 in each bag plus three. That's not all that obsessive, I think. :D

I bought some great red and green bell peppers on the cheap, so Power Foods stuffed peppers are in the future. These freeze and nuke exceedingly well, so I may stockpile them. I'm also breakin' out the salmon for a Cajun bake this weekend. I have lettuce and bought fat-free refried beans for later on, to try my shell-less "Faux-Taco" salad. Very exciting stuff!

Cuddles,
Tamara


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

WW SIMPLY FILLING RECIPE LIST

After posting that monster list of Power Foods the other day, I realized that I had quite a few meal possibilities. So I doodled another list yesterday-- a list of potential meals. I made an informal, long-term meal plan which should be fairly foolproof. We'll see. As I make these things, I'll post some pictures and recipes.

  1. Fish, imitation crab, or meat & teriyaki/soy sauce stir fry with brown rice and veggies.
  2. Baked or grilled fish or meat & grilled or baked veggies.
  3. Sushi prepped with only Power Foods. (This one will be experimental!)
  4. Pinto beans and onions with sauerkraut and greens. (The stay outta the office meal!)
  5. Refried beans on salad with tomato, perhaps avocado, and a dollop of fat-free sour cream.
  6. Salads with veggies, fat free cheese and zero dressing.
  7. Baked or grilled or seared wild-caught salmon & avocado chunks tossed salad with cilantro and lime juice. (This is sooo good, and very simple!)
  8. Tuna salad with mayo, avocado salad, or salad with fat-free deli meats.
  9. Chicken or lean beef stuffed peppers with brown rice
  10. Lean meatloaf with brown rice.
  11. Spaghetti meatloaf casserole (Sounds horrible for healthy eating, but I’ll healthify it!)
  12. Spaghetti & meat sauce with fat-free parmesan cheese. Or simple parmesan pasta.
  13. Baked green beans, carrots, and any other veggie I can throw together!
  14. Eggs: boiled, deviled, fried, with salsa & sour cream…
  15. Oatmeal prepared with fat free milk and cinnamon.
  16. Less simple snacks: Sour cream dip with veggies, baked apple with cinnamon, grilled banana in milk, carrots—fried and sweetish.
  17. Kashi GoLean with fat-free milk and banana. Mmmm…
  18. Of course, the ever-simple grab-n-go fruit, vegetable or piece of cooked meat. 
 I don't think I'll feel too deprived with this list backing up my resolve. :) Many of the meals can be made cheaply in large batches and components can be frozen. Some components can make several different meals at once or over a few days. And other options are ready-made or quick to make. This'll save time, money and my wavering resolve as I drive past Taco Bell on the way home to waiting food.

I'm down to two fast-food meals I can lean on if I must eat fast-food: Wendy's chili and a side salad (and a dab of fat-free sour cream!), or McDonald's grilled chicken and a side salad (maybe I'll make some fat-free sour cream Ranch for this, too.).

I am still only partly joking about planning a week of eating only watermelon. (Cuz it's a Power Food!) It may kill me, but what a way to go!

A Little (AWESOME) Victory

As of that last bite of post-work, midnight oatmeal, I made it through one day of the WW Simply Filling program WITHOUT CHEATING!!! And I feel pretty dang good about it, too. :)

I ate Kashi and fat-free milk, a side salad and piece of grilled chicken from McD's, baked chicken and veggies for lunch at work, two applesauces, 1 Diet Rite, 1 fake-sweetened powder pouch and water, oatmeal made with fat-free milk, and all kinds of water.

Points-wise, I guess it rounds out at about 30, which is well below my previous level of WW messing up. As I bring in more variety, it'll be a challenge. But for now, I'll stick with what I know I can manage. So far today, I've declined Brandon's snacks, bologna, nasty Teddy Grahams, a real Mtn Dew from the machine, and the Taco Bell drive-thru. Pretty snazzy!

I think the secret will be in measuring portion sizes of each item I can eat. At work, I can only eat what I bring, which averaged out to about 4 ounces of chicken and a cup and a half or less of cooked veggies. And I was satiated. For at-home meals, I can do the same thing: break up all my cooking (immediately) into serving-size containers. Tomorrow... I buy more containers!

Such a small accomplishment has made my day!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

End of Week 9: WW Simply Filling

I had a Weight Watchers-unfriendly breakfast of epic homemade-gravy-biscuit-bacon proportions in celebration of my 275 lb weigh in. Three pounds up, and I know it was the half-hearted dieting attempt of this past week. So today, I am eating the delicious breakfast of shame. Now I'm out of White Lily flour, and with no reason to buy more, I can start the Simply Filling option of Weight Watchers that I discussed in my supplemental log.

As over-full of heavy food as I am right now, I think that it'll be refreshing to eat simply next week. I'll still keep my food journal, and I'll count points for my non-Power Foods. I may even count points daily of the food I eat, to see how the restrictions impact my daily points intake. I'm sure I can eat until I'm satisfied on fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and fat-free dairy and take in less than 50-100 carbs per day and stay under 29 daily points total. (I'm suspicious that, by design, this reminds me of Atkins Lifetime Maintenance. But as I said before, effective is effective, no matter the name!)

Plus, I've got 5 days worth of lunch-at-work meals left that consist of baked chicken breast and roasted broccoli & onions. And I'm prepped to make more, maybe even throw in some baked Cajun salmon and pork tenderloin stir fry next time I cook.

I'm planning on eggs for breakfast for the protein, a fruit and some applesauce plus the baked chicken lunch at work, and probably some type of veggies and protein for late-dinner. I may have to finish off the Kashi GoLean cereal in early morning, have a light fried egg "lunch", eat at work, and skip the late-dinner (since I often work until 10pm or later). It's bad to eat late at night, anyway. I think it's just compulsive to eat "dinner" when one gets home from work.

Also, I hate yogurt. No gettin' around it. I tried the healthy options. It's a textural thing. And a taste thing. And a cultured-milk-product thing. And my stomach has the what-the-heck reaction it often reserves for Mexican and Chinese entrees. I'd rather take a horse-pill probiotic than eat that crap.

I went through my book and listed the Power Foods I'd most likely eat, leaving out the rest. And what I came up with was a pretty extensive list of readily-available things I can buy locally or order at the Japanese place. (Mmmmm... white tuna sashimi!) And if I commit to the simplicity of my meal plan, leaning on stir fry, baking, and the like, I'll still have a huge number of meal combinations I can do. Likely, I'll have a "meat and vegetable combo of the week" and make enough food to last 7 meals. I'm okay with that. My "variety" is probably eventual, and much different from your "variety"! :)

Here's the list. I can eat all of these things:


  1. LEAN PROTEIN:
    1. Egg
    2. Beef, trimmed or lean
    3. Chicken breast
    4. Pintos
    5. Wild-caught Salmon
    6. Tuna, canned or steak
    7. Lean Ham
    8. Pork
    9. Imitation crab
    10. Scallops
    11. Turkey
    12. Venison
    13. Sashimi: no Mackerel or Salmon
  2. NON-FAT DAIRY:
    1. Fat-free cheese
    2. Fat-free sour cream
    3. Fat-free milk
  3. ALL FRUIT:
    1. Apples
    2. Applesauce, unsweetened
    3. Watermelon
    4. Banana
  4. VEGGIES:
    1. Green beans
    2. Broccoli
    3. Carrots
    4. Celery
    5. Cucumber
    6. Hominy
    7. Lettuce
    8. Mushrooms
    9. Onion
    10. Peppers
    11. Tomatoes and tomato pastes/purees/canned
    12. Zucchini
  5. GRAINS:
    1. Oatmeal
    2. Brown rice
    3. Whole wheat pasta

NOT POWER FOODS 49 weekly points allocated for: Kashi GoLean cereal, Avocados, Dressings & Condiments, including Mayo, Puddin’ and Chocolatey things, Grippos, Prepared Foods, Most Fast-food. Use Points daily or save for special meal!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Tama's-Log, Supplemental: Things I Learned

Apparently, unsweetened applesauce is zero points. My kiddie applesauce ingredient list is "Apples, Apple Juice" or "Apples, Cinnamon". No refined sugar in there! Therefore, my applesauce now falls in the zero points category with bananas. :)

Also, I read up on the Simply Filling option for Weight Watchers Points Plus. This option limits my food options considerably to 1. Fat-free dairy, 2. Lean Protein, and 3. Fruits and Veggies, plus low-fat whole wheat bread, the latter of which doesn't interest me. For any foods not in this category, I would deduct those point values from my weekly overage allowance of 49 points.

The concept is that, other than the vitamins and minerals crap, all the lean protein stabilizes your blood glucose, keeping you full longer, and the other stuff is filling and provides fiber, which, uh, does what fiber does. :D And you eventually eat less and less because you stop when you're full, so your smaller body will need less and less.

Sounds a lot like South Beach Diet or Atkins' Lifetime Maintenance to me, which is fine. A healthier lifestyle by any name is still a healthier lifestyle. With the exception of my Kashi Go Lean (not a Power Food), when I'm not screwin' up, I'm pretty much only eating Power Foods anyway. So maybe I'm complicating a simple concept. If the only points I have to count are Kashi GoLean, and the occasional Ranch dressing, I may switch my plan and just do Simply Filling.

I may try it next week to gauge my likelihood of success. :)

Also, my next weight-loss mini goal is 13lb, 5% down from 272 lb. 72 pounds just looked a little large to me, so I'm breakin' it down for now. That means my weigh-in goal is 259 lb. I can't really remember the last time I was in the 250 range, so this is an exciting checkpoint to attempt. I'd like to reach this one before my wedding on 11-11-11, a little under two months from now.

Opinions are appreciated!

Cuddles,

Tamara

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

End of Week 8: A Wedding and A Pseudo-Stall

The bridesmaid dress fit and looked much better than I expected. I felt more confident in the thing, even though I contended with the arm blubber. Thanks to a weekend of wedding-based food excess, I've fluctuated between 272lb and 275lb. My body just hasn't resettled yet. And my body is protesting. 

My guilty admission is that from Friday evening through tonight, I haven't counted WW Points. I was busy and had convenient fast food, reception food, and cupcakes. Also some Grippos. So therein lies the oopsie. But helping my friends get ready for their wedding was worth it!  

For the past few weeks, I've held strong to my whole milk is better than fat-free milk theory. If I had to have milk with my cereal, it might as well be "red cap" milk. Well, that's all fine and peachy, but fat-free milk uses half the points of regular milk. And milk is just a vehicle for cereal anyway...

So this week's change is to use only fat-free milk with my daily cereal. It takes my cereal points from 7 down to 5. This may not seem like much, but a couple points can make or break my day since I'm only officially doing 29 points per day. Fat-free milk is also a WW "Power Food," so it's on the "Atta good girl" list, which is mostly comprised of lean meat, veggies, fruit and low-fat dairy. (Sounds like a diet I know...)

I did okay a week ago on "ballpark" figures for weight loss, meaning I didn't worry if I went over the 29 points a few points here and there. (I originally had 47 points to play with.) Well, that got out of hand often enough for me to rein-in my points more starting tomorrow. I'm not whining about individual foods, or my own personal weakness. I just lost reason and logic with what constituted "a few points." I'm challenging myself to stay within the 29 point limit, one tedious day at a time, until it's second nature to me and I see results. Just a warning... I may do a blog that just says "Yay, I did it today!"

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm phasing out processed sugar and starch, starting with my fat-free puddings. I'm working toward eating "real" foods, if not whole then pretty darn close. :) I'm sure I can find a suitable fruit or vegetable to replace them as a daily snack. But right now they're a chocolate fix that keeps me out of Brandon's brownie stash.

Avoiding white bread and potatoes is like second nature after developing the Atkins mindset. And the cereal I'm eating is whole-grain and high-protein. So I'll keep that for now and reevaluate my decision once I run out. Avoiding sugar is simple if I simply don't purchase it. (I will just avoid opening "Brandon's side" of the cabinet!) 

But first things first... Tomorrow's my day off. Looks like some Kashi with fat-free milk, dishwashing, and yard work are in my immediate future! Well, SLEEP is in my immediate future, and my not-too-distant future involves those other things. :D

Monday, September 5, 2011

End of Week 7: Not Bad

I closed the week with a whopping 2 pound weight loss! Hey, hey-- it's progress, at least. And scientifically "textbook" weight loss. I'll take what I can get. I also ramped up the exercise this week, which may account for a "false" weight, since I may have put on some muscle. I lifted weights almost every day and did my ab routine.

And one day, I did my Tae Bo VHS tape, PLUS my arms and abs strength training routine. A younger, socially awkward Billy Blanks still kicked my butt! (It didn't hurt that I knew the routine by heart! I must have done that Tae Bo workout a hundred times back in high school. Brings new dorky meaning to the term "kickin' it old school"! There! My one bad joke for the day...)

So I'm down to a wobbly 272 now. The old style dial is a pain for accuracy's sake. I really need to break down and get a digital scale. Maybe today is the day! I think that when I get down below 270 that I'll consider it a solid accomplishment, considering my long term goal.

Weight Chart

Right now, Weight Watchers Points Plus at 29+ points per day is working. When I reach a plateau, I'll probably try a lean-meat Atkins again, or something else. I still think there's merit in combining different methods like I do in the Franken-Diet, so I still incorporate that mentality with WW. But until I

My highest weigh-in ever was in January, at 300lb. There's no worse hit on the self esteem than when the old dial scale goes back around to zero. Even though I don't really beat myself up a lot-- I just dive into the next productive task-- that day was my wake up call. That was my last straw, and so began the struggle.

I have lost 28 lb since then, and about 19 since starting this blog. But I've made progress, and that's what matters. To wear flattering clothing, to feel better, and, more importantly, to save and extend my life are valid goals. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with this thing!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

MORE RECIPES, AND LIVING WITH A SKINNY PERSON

BAKED VEGGIES:

1/2-1 Yellow or Sweet Onion, cut in vertical strips
1 Red Pepper, cut into bite-size squares
3+ cups Broccoli Florets, frozen or fresh
Seasoned Salt
Black Pepper
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
2 Tbs Olive Oil

I dumped frozen broccoli directly into my small glass casserole dish and layered the other vegetables prettily on it. :) Then I sprinkled the lot of it with seasoned salt and a bit o' pepper. I drizzled the remaining ingredients over the surface and threw it in the oven at 350 for about 45-50 minutes. Best of all, a cup of this stuff is 0 WW points!

BAKED CHICKEN: 
(Baked chicken is not for pretties. It is for efficient eating. But clockwise from top left: Cajun chicken, garlic ginger, and Montreal spiced. Is kinda bland without this stuff or Ranch dressing, though.)

3lb Chicken, fresh or thawed
Tony Chachere's Original Creole/Cajun Seasoning
Ground Ginger
Garlic Salt
McCormick's Montreal Chicken Seasoning

Arrange chicken in casserole dish or deep-sided pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of chicken with the creole seasoning, 1/3 with ginger and garlic salt, and 1/3 with the Montreal chicken stuff. Bake for 1 hour, so that you don't die from salmonella. Because it'll simmer in its own juices, the chicken will still be very tender. 5 WW Pts per 3 or 4 oz.

Style Note: If you're not a wasty-waster, you can save the rich broth from your chicken bake and re-purpose it for soup, stock or drinking. Just cool it completely and either refrigerate or freeze it. (Ice cube trays are great for the latter!)

LIVING WITH A SKINNY PERSON WITH "THAT METABOLISM":

I had to split up our perishable cabinet into two sides-- mine and Brandon's-- because this is what it looks like on his side: mac n cheese, brownies and syrup. Usually there are Nutter Bars, Swiss Rolls and some bread. Oats are healthy, right? Not when you eat them without heating by adding whole milk, a ton of brown sugar and--in his defense-- cinnamon. But at least he's cute, right? :D

Then I bought the new Kashi cereal (with a whopping 9 grams of protein in each serving, recommended by a trusted nutrition nut) and had to stash it over here until I run outta Cheerios. :) Just thought it was a fun juxtaposition.

A note on off-brands: We're big on the cheaper off-brands of most staple foods like oats, peanut butter, milk, sugar, and so on, because on the whole, it's pretty much the same stuff. But in junk food (like Brandon's brownies, cuz Wal-Mart brownies sucked), cereal (Kashi is pretty expensive for cereal. *sigh*), and flour (White Lily all the way!), and, when I buy it, broth (no MSG), I kinda play favorites. Fresh vegetables are an exception to the "name brands" concept as well, because if supermarket "brands" look better or are bought locally in season and look great, they're cheap as well. I still come out ahead financially, because I use so little of the "expensive" things.

For now, my snacks are GoGoSqueez AppleApple or AppleCinnamon applesauce snacks and Fat-Free chocolate Snack Pack pudding. Because I'm a grown-up! :)