Weekly Weigh In

Well I did my thoughts on the week last night so I'll just post the results now.

Week 5 Progress: -4
Total: -18.6

Total Inches Lost: -23
                   Hips: -5
                 Waist: -3
                 Chest: -3


Lindsay also asked me if I would mind sharing my story at a Wednesday night info session.  I need to make sure the calendar is clear (which I think it is) but I'm gonna do it.  I want people to know they can do this and it just takes a little planning and creativity.

For April there is a monthly No Cheat Challenge.  I'm enrolled.  The loss totals is based on percentage so everyone has an equal chance of winning.  I know one prize is an autographed cook book from the Chef that does a lot of the IP cooking videos.

Here's hoping I win, but even if I'm not the biggest loser in April, I'll still be down and that makes me happy!!

The plan changed but ...

... I made it through the weekend.

I was a little worried about how things would go.  I mean I planned all I could but still things happen.  We ended up eating out more than usual so that was actually to my benefit (salad bar and grilled chicken, baby!!).  I ate with the family the rest of the time.

This was really important because there is an on-going anorexia issue with someone on Johns side of the family.  I wanted to make sure everyone saw that I was eating.  Sometimes it was my own stuff but more often it was a mix of real food that everyone else was eating and the IP food (soup or pancakes).  I needed to make sure they weren't worrying needlessly.  His grandma asked a bit about the program so we chatted about that.  She did say she hoped I would be able to eat with the rest of them next time we come up.  We'll see how I can manage that in a month or so since we won't be back up there until sometime in May.

We did have a really good time though.  We'll see what the results are tomorrow but these are the things I see/notice so far (just thought I'd start a list since I'm bloggin' on a Sunday night :) )

... any pants I owned prior to 2/24 are too big.
... the 2 pairs of jeans I got at Kohl's for half price 2 weeks ago (and they just fit nicely then) are loose
... the belt I bought a month ago needs new holes drilled in it.  I'm on the last one and my britches are still sliding down
... I can run up the stairs with the dog and not be winded.
... I can sit with my legs crossed
... I can run up and down the stairs multiple times before I get winded
... I'm sleeping better
... I haven't needed my heartburn meds for over a month
... I don't see my belly when I sit down
... I all around have more energy
... I can eat spicier food and it doesn't both my stomach (I'm guessing all the carb processing was too much before but this was an unexpected side effect)
... I'm really enjoying the creativity challenge that cooking has become
... I'm really enjoying helping others learn to like veg (had a little gathering at my house last week and we are planning another one sometime in May)

Weekend Survival: Planning ahead

This weekend we are going back to my husband's hometown (Sparta WI - go badgers ...lower case.  gotta shout out, but I'm an Iowa girl, so its without much enthusiasm ;)).  We stay with his grandma and aunt when we visit.  I don't want to offend them, but I'm bringing my own food for the weekend.

I asked John about it and he said they wouldn't be offended.  That's good.  I don't want to cause any trouble, but this is kinda important.

Here's my plan:
I'm bringing a bag or 2 of frozen chopped broccoli.  This will be either soup for lunch (with the IP cream of chicken soup mix) or the side for dinner.

For lunch, I'm pre-making some pasta salad with the IP pasta and sauteed zucchini and yellow squash with some WF Italian sun dried tomato dressing.  We'll be going out for lunch one day but the place we're going should have good options (grilled chicken and veg)  I'll swap and have the protein at lunch and probably soup or pasta salad for dinner.

I think I am also going to pre make crispy cereal pancakes and bring those with some syrup packets.  They should be easy to heat up and it will look like a "normal" meal to every one else.  My usual waffles or smoothie wont work as I'm not packing my waffle iron and blender.  Then I might get some sidelong glances from the rest of the family :)

I'll bring along bars/crisps enough for snacks for the 3 days.

I don't know if I'll bring protein along (chicken or fish).  I might go with the flow on that and just make sure I can eat it (or run to the store and pick up something I can eat).  I'm less worried about that because there are more options, and its more readily available.

I think its a good plan.

The one thing I'm most worried about is I usually bring home-made bread to his grandma.  She loves it and can't make it herself anymore.  I don't want to not bring it, and I know if I told John I thought it would bother me he would say don't do it.  But I also don't want to disappoint.  Maybe that's all on me but still.  Hoping the pancakes and syrup kill the craving so the bread isn't an issue!!

Wish me luck.  This will be a test!

Midweek Dinner: Korean Beef

I love meals that go together in a snap, especially during the work week.  Some days are just very tiring.  On others the hub's schedule gets jerked around, so quick and easy is also fast and flexible.

I've mentioned Six Sisters Stuff  before.  I have never tried a recipe off their site that has been bad.  I first found them on Pinterest.  Then I started following their blog.  Now I follow their Facebook page.  Not everything they do appeals to me but the ones that do (dinners and desserts alike) have all been fabulous.

This Korean Beef recipe is no exception.  Its absolutely fantastic!!

The only swap ... splenda brown sugar.  Yep that's it.  Everything else is legal!!!  I did put the green onions in with everything else instead of sprinkling on top.  I wanted them to cook a little. But otherwise I followed the recipe as written.

I have also noticed that I can do a little more spiciness in my food now.  I made it with 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes but that was plenty of heat for me.

I made rice for the hubs.  For me, instead of rice I grated 2 cups of cauliflower with a cheese grater and toasted it in a dry saute pan over medium heat.

Seriously it was super fast,  sweet and spicy, and very filling.

Great for a weeknight.  great for any night :)

Korean Beef

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (depending on how spicy you like it)
salt and pepper
1 bunch green onions, diced

Cauliflower Rice

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over cauliflower rice and top with green onions.

Weekly Weigh In: Thoughts on the week

So this week wasn't perfect.  I'll find out in a few hours how I did weight loss wise.  I don't think it will be too bad.  But some things happened, especially over the weekend.

I miscounted and had 2 restricted IP foods on Sunday.  I made these delish green beans plus Korean beef from SixSistersStuff (will post later on that - it was ah-mazing) but both dishes had brown sugar (albeit Splenda Brown sugar which is legal) and I'm not sure if that would be a overload on my system.

We also took my youngest (almost 19) and her BF out to lunch after church.  They wanted Olive Garden.  I thought I'd be OK after reading a Hungry Girl OG Survival post.  I think I made wise choices (minestrone soup and salad) and I was really  happy about that.  I did make the bread stick basket stay at the other end of the table though.  Not sure I could have withstood that temptation.  But as I was eating (and picking pasta out of the soup because I forgot it was in there) I wondered about the kidney beans.  Were they OK?  Should I not eat those too?  And have I had my 2 restricted veg for the week ... would the tomatoes be a problem?

Then I thought, well this is the best I could do.  There will be times I have to make some compromises.  I made the best choices I could today.  That's success in my book.   And its certainly not like that happens every day,  Usually its lock step on plan.  So I'm not going beat myself up for not being perfect, but instead be happy that I was pretty darn good and got to enjoy some time with my daughter!

< ... now we wait for weigh in results ...>

Week 4 Progress: -2.8
Total: -14.6

Next week there will be measurements,  I'm excited to see what the "inch loss" will be!!

Green Bean Makeover

This weekend was our church small group meeting  Its always a potluck.  This time around we brought a green bean side dish.

The original recipe is here on Six Sisters Stuff ... love this site!!!

The butter amount worried me a little because that would be an awful lot of oil so I googled butter to oil conversions.  Turns out its not 1:1 ... more like 2:1.  I added a link to the conversion site over on the right under Helpful Links

I doubled it to serve the herd that always shows up at small group and still there was nothing left.

Here's the make over

Ingredients:

2 (12 oz) package frozen green beans (I used Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers)
12 pieces turkey bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/4 cup grape seed oil 

1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar

garlic salt, to taste

Directions:

In  a large skillet cook turkey bacon until done, but not crisp.  Add oil and brown sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved.

Cook green beans in the microwave per package directions..  Season with garlic salt to taste then pour bacon sauce over them and toss to coat.

If the brown sugar mixture starts to go hard, you can quickly reheat it before pouring it over your beans.

Weekly Weigh In: Hungry week

Ladies you know about hungry week.  We all have it in one form or another.  Any guys reading this have probably witnessed it.  Its that one week a month where you crave what ever your down fall food is.  For me its carbs and chocolate.  My daughters are definitely sweet cravers.  It feels like you are always hungry no matter what or how much you eat.  You have to have that brownie, that cookie, that luscious cheesecake.  The week where you usually just want to wallow in ice cream and m&ms ... that's what we call hungry week.

This was hungry week.  It was tough.  I wasn't prepared for the the strength of the craving as I made cookies for my husband to take to work on St. Patrick's Day.  I mean, I'd made apple fritters the week before and it didn't bother me a bit.  But this was hungry week and the cookies were chocolate.  And mint ... best combo on the planet!

I did sneak a little lick of the spoon when they were all done.  I did not, as I so wanted to do, eat spoonfuls of cookie dough.  Oh how I wanted to , but I was able to resist at least that much.  But the little fall, the licking of the spoon showed me that kind of food has not lost its grip on me.  Probably never will.  And that's OK.  As long as I can resist most of the time and not beat myself up for the times that I give in, that will be progress.  If I can come to a point where I resist all the time that will be a resounding victory.

But for now the struggle reminds me that I am after all, human.  Things can be hard in life and those difficulties can come out of nowhere.  You just have to get up if you fall, brush the dirt off and keep going.

Week 3 progress: -2.0
Total: -11.8