Weigh in #2

Stepped on the scale this morning.  Not expecting another 15 pound loss.  But hoping to NOT see something that I had seen too often.  I did not want to see a 3 as the first digit of my weight.  So timidly I stepped on the scale and.....

I hope that I can say Saturday December 12, 2015 was the LAST DAY EVER that my weight would be over 300 pounds.

I am excited that the weight is coming off, but more excited about how good I feel and how much I enjoy eating food that is good for me and good tasting

Bulls Game

Apparently weekends are going to be an adventure in eating.  Hard to make home cooked meals when you are not at home!!

We had lunch plans with Deb's 101 year old grandfather.  We picked him up and went to his country club (North Shore CC in Glenview).   He was so excited about the Cubs signing of Heyward.  He is amazing.  He probably knows as much about the Cubs as I do, and he actually knew more about the Bulls this year than I do.  He still gets around great.  And is sharp as a tack!!!

Luckily they had a Bibb salad on the menu.  It had lettuce, baby spinach, radish and some other veggies.  It came with a vinegrette dressing.  I LOVE the rolls they bring to the table, but I was able to NOT have one.  I decided to have coffee for my drink.  Did not want iced tea, I guess.

Late afternoon came along and I was still hungry, so I had a banana.

We went to the Bulls game with another couple and decided that eating at the UC was the easiest option.   The UC has stepped up the food choices since last year.  The location right by our seats had burgers and hot dogs.  They had a veggie burger option.   So that is what I ordered.  It came on a bun with Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato and Onion.  It was EXTREMELY tasted.  So much so that I tried to find out what kind it was.   Turns out that Levy (the company that runs the food at UC) makes it on their own.  It is a shame, because I would probably buy a lot of them.  Bottled water was my drink.  And that is it.  I did not go to the concession stand right next to the burger, the one selling cupcakes and other sweets.  I fought of the urge to do that.    So I did not eat a lot today.  But the choices I made were good ones (and the things I did NOT choose were an even better good choice)

At times it is hard to talk about this change I am making.  People naturally ask, "what about fish?" or "would you still eat chicken?".  I have to keep answering that for now it is still new, and for a while I REALLY want to stick to the items the book suggests.  Not to say that I would never eat meat of any kind again.  But the best and easiest for me now is to avoid them.

Tomorrow is a christmas play at church for my little sister's 2 girls. Not sure if we are planning food afterwards.  So again tomorrow will be a new challange.

Restaurant food

I knew that we were going to be going to dinner tonight, so I tried to eat a little less for breakfast and lunch.   So all I took to work was 2 bananas, 2 oranges and an apple.  I decided after the apple, banana and orange for breakfast and morning snack, that I needed something else for lunch. So I went to the cafeteria a got a small salad.  Then when I got home after work, I was still a little hungry, so I had the banana and an orange.  Hoping that this would keep me from overeating at dinner.

We were going out to celebrate Deb's brother's birthday.  We went to St Charles Place on North Ave in (surprisingly) St Charles.   There was a mix up when they seated our party and it was almost 10 minutes before we grabbed a waitress to ask WHO would be waiting on us.   Because of that the restaurant brought us a free appetizer. The problem is that the free appetizer was saganaki (which happens to be one of my favorites).  So I "cheated" and had a small piece. (Can't pass up flaming cheese!!!!).  There was 1 extra piece left, normally I would have JUMPED across the table to get at it, but today, I passed. So I started to look at the menu and see what I could have.   I saw that they had a vegetable platter, so that is what I ordered.   It came with a salad, which I ordered with balsamic vinegar dressing.  I did NOT have any dinner rolls (that was hard to do).  I asked for the veggies to be done without oil (hard to tell if that was the case) but here is what it looked like

It smelled so good, it had mushrooms, onions, roasted pepper, asparagus, green beans and a browned apple.   (some other things in there that I could not identify).  I also came with a sauce, which I should have skipped, but tasted too good to not use.   I gobbled it up and REALLY enjoyed it.  That is such a GOOD feeling to say that I did not feel cheated.  I also want to give a shout out to Deb, she ordered a strawberry and spinach salad.  She said she really liked it.

Then it came time for DESSERT.  I had hoped they had a berry dish or something but they did not. They did have Key Lime pie, Beignets, and carrot cake.  (all on the list of desserts I love).  I did not order anything (neither did Deb), but someone ordered carrot cake for the table, because she said it was the BEST!!!.  They passed it around, and who was I to pass up the BEST carrot cake.  I took about half a forkful, and I have to say it was AMAZING.  I did not go for anymore bites.  Trying to learn to not cheat myself, enjoy my flaming cheese, savor a bite of cake.   Life is too short to avoid everything,  but eating a plate of veggies and being satisfied, is a great feeling!!!

Company christmas party

Today started out like any day in the past week and a half of this new way of eating.
I did not want to get out of bad (maybe that was due to the fact that it was after 2 AM that I had GONE to bed in the first place).  So because of that I was not able to eat breakfast at home.  So I measured out my oatmeal, chia seeds, cinnamon, and almond milk.  Packed them all up in a bag.  Then I put together what was intended to be my lunch and snacks.  The last of my chili (big sad face that I will not have any of that tomorrow) an apple, an orange and 2 bananas.

Once I got to work, I remembered that today was the day of our company christmas party.....   I made my oatmeal and ate it during my 9 am meeting (I get to be on the phone for that, so no-one saw that I was eating).  Our party was not until 1 PM so I figured I would have time to eat lunch before the party and therefore not be tempted by any food they had out there.   Well I ended up getting busy chasing down a minor issue with a program I had changed last month.  Next thing you know it is 12:55 and everyone else in the office has already left to go to the party.  Oh well, no lunch for me, hopefully they will have stuff for me to eat.

I was in luck, the snacks before lunch were veggies (broccoli, carrots, zucchini) so I ate some of those. Confession ---- I did cheat and have some ranch dressing. (promise you won't tell).  They had the hot trays laid out with labels before the food was out.  I saw Veggie Empanadas, and Veggie Eggrolls.  So that is what I had.   Probably had a few too many, but I definitely did NOT pig out by any means.   The other options I that I did not choose were, sliders (pulled pork, chicken or hamburger)  Beef Empanadas, and 3 different kinds of little bite sized pizzas.    So given the fact that the old me would have had 2 or 3 of EACH of the above offerings, I feel good about ONLY have a few to many egg rolls.  These were tiny little 2 bite sized egg rolls.

When I got home tonight and thought about what kind of salad should I make, I remembered that I had the chili and fruit that was supposed to be my lunch.  So that is what I ate.

WOW that is a lot of stuff, and all I did was talk about food.   Well there is more to my evening.

As I prepare these home cooked meals now, most of them make more than 1 serving, so I have been putting them in containers and either freezing them or just putting them in fridge for the next day.  Well we were like most families in that we had a "tupperwear" drawer of lids and containers of various sizes.  We actually had 2 drawers. Well it seemed that I could NEVER find the correct lid for the container I found.  So I emptied them BOTH out onto the island and went about finding homes for all the lids.  Much to my surprise I only ended up with 3 lids without a container to match and 4 bowls without a lid (but I think some of them may be the SAME as others that did find a lid).  Either way I decided that I had the space to put all the lids on the containers, and store them as a set.  Here are the results.

This will be SOOOOOO nice to just be able to reach in and grab a container that has a lid already attached to it!!!

A talk I had today at work about the PAIN it is to keep having to clean measuring cups in the middle of food prep, led a friend of mine to tell me that she has 3 or 4 sets of them for just that reason.  So off to Bed Bath and Beyond for me!!!!

I am WEIRD about money.  There are times that I can go gambling and lose $100 in 10 minutes and be like "Oh Well" then there are other times, at the race track, where I will hem and haw about whether to spend $6 on a hot dog , or would I be better off getting the $8 pizza.  Mind you I may have bet (and lost) over $40 on the last race...

The reason I went on that tangent was to explain that NOTHING was purchased at BB&B, because I was not going to pay $8 for EITHER of these items.

So I just ended up walking around the store and taking pictures of the stuff I did NOT buy.

Side note, tonight Deb and I went to Target and I found a set of 8 measuring cups and spoons for $2.19, so I bought 2 of them!!  Now I am about to go look online for CHEAP measuring cups!

Apparently someone put an EXTRA quarter in me, since I have MORE!!!!  (I know, what else could there be???)

I have been talked DOWN from the $400 blender, the same person who advised me to get more than 1 of everything told me that she uses a set that cost her around $200.  So now I am thinking in that direction.

Hopefully I have distracted you all long enough.   Happy Friday!!!

Veggie Burgers

This morning was oatmeal, cinnamon and raisins.   I was running late, so did not have a chance to be fancy.

Lunch was chili and an orange.   Snacks during the day were 2 apples.

After work I decided to see how much more expensive Jewel was compared to Valli.  They were considerably more expensive for most things.  Some were a little less, but now I know to just go to Valli.

I picked up ingredients to make the chili again.  I also picked up some more mushrooms, apples, oranges and bananas.  I decided to venture into some new foods as well.  I picked up squash, zucchini, avocado and eggplant.   Not sure what I am going to do with these, but I will figure it out.

To ease my daily prepping of food, I decided to pick up some veggie burgers.  I ended up buying 6 different kinds  (actually 2 of the were "chicken" patties, not "hamburgers")

For dinner I tried 3 of them

  

My first thoughts as pulling each 1 out of the package.

Roasted Garlic - was dark, looked like a bean burger, could see other veggies

Boca All American - looked like a light hamburger

Grillers original - this looked like a McDonald's sausage patty.

The suggestion was to microwave or cook in skillet for 8 - 10 minutes.  I chose the skillet to get the better results.   I cooked them for 9 minutes, 3 minutes per side, then 1 1/2 minutes per side.

I decided I should prep with some Ketchup, to "enhance" the flavor.

The Boca is on left, Grillers in center and Roasted Garlic on right.

Taste/Favor comments

Boca - had a slight meaty taste, but had the texture of a chicken patty

Grilliers - this tasted like a McDonald's burger.  Had a meaty enough taste

Garlic - this was a little crunchy and tasted like beans (I don't think this is trying to pretend to be anything other than what it is)  I did like the spices in them

All in All, I am happy with all 3 of them.  Next time I will probably eat with Lettuce, onions and mushrooms on it to give it some more.

Tonight was bowling night, so between store and grilling, I was running late and no time for dessert.

After bowling I made a pudding of dates, cocoa, vanilla and avocado.  It is chilling overnight in the fridge.  I will be having that tomorrow.

$400+ blender?????

Today was a day to eat up the last of what I had bought my 2 trips to the grocery store.  So pretty much the same menu.

Breakfast banana and the rest of the chia oatmeal  (I really liked that) I guess I like blackberries.
Lunch was an orange and some more chili (Still really liking it.  Will be making again this weekend)
Dinner was a simple salad with Romaine, Walnuts, Balsamic Vinegar and Flax Seed.
Snacks during the day were an apple and a banana.

I did spend some time today looking at High Powered Blenders.  I cannot believe I am looking at spending over $400 on a blender.   If anyone has purchased these monsters and has recommendations, I would be happy to hear them.   Currently I am thinking that I will buy the Blendtec 625 model.  Seems to be the one out there that will do what I need and has some cool bells and whistles.

Since I am out of food (basically) I will have to do some shopping tomorrow.  I think I am going to buy some remade Veggie burgers.   I need something that does not take me 20+ minutes of chopping and cooking and cleaning.

Anyone with store bought suggestions  (low sodium, probably gluten free) please feel free to comment.

Pictures tomorrow of my shopping conquest.

Follow up with the Doctor

Today was the day I got my BEFORE numbers from the doctor.  They were not good, they had gotten worse from when I had seen him a little over a month prior.  That was to be expected.  I had eaten like a pig up to the cruise and then kicked the bad eating into high gear on the cruise!!

The numbers that were bad were
Hemoglobin A1c   6.1% anything over 5.7% is a warning for Diabetes.  6.5% is where it IS diabetes.
AST 75 (should be 10-40)
ALT 69 (should be 9-46)  Both of those are liver indicators, they have been high for a while
Cholesterol 202 (should be 125-200)  I am on medication to get it DOWN to this level
HDL 27 (should be greater than 40)  This is the "GOOD" cholesterol.
Triglycerides 266 (should be less that 150) that is the fat in your blood <<< this is the scary number

I told my doctor about the food changes I have made and he wanted to see me again in 6 weeks.  There are certain vitamins and minerals that this diet may cause me to lack, so we want to watch that.
He has been my doctor through the 2 times I had lost a lot of weight before, so he knows I am capable, I just need to stick to it.

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Now on to the food for the day

Last night I made some oatmeal to set overnight.  It came out like a pudding, it was really good. I ate it with blackberries.   I also had a banana.

For lunch I heated up some of the chili I had from yesterday.   It still tasted just as good.
I also had an orange.

So that was not much food.  After entering that into the MyFitnessPal app, it showed that I had only had about 875 calories.  No wonder I was hungry for dinner!!!

I had some Baby Bok Choy that I wanted to make.  So I steamed them in my Pampered Chef steamer for 3 minutes.  In the mean time I made a glaze of soy sauce and some sautéd garlic.  It was really good.

The soup was called Boston Pea Soup.  I followed the direction for everything EXCEPT the amount of peas.  It called for 10 oz, but the bag I had was 16 oz.   I did not realize until the soup was cooking for 5 minutes.   So the soup came out a little too runny and with too much of a pea taste.   (I ended up having to crumble in some pretzels just to give it some crunch)    I will be making some crackers from another recipe, so after I do that, I think the soup can be salvaged.  I ate 1/3 of it.  Put the rest in 2 containers in the freezer.

So dinner not too much of a success,  so I made myself a Strawberry, Banana and cocoa smoothie.  THAT saved the day.

All told I ended up at almost 1,500 calories.