Aug 16th – after the WW meeting

WW was quite successful, but I didn’t have breakfast before the meeting (I can’t eat that early in the morning) so my food intake for Saturday was a little off compared to the weekdays.

Breakfast (at the Purple Onion with Lyds and Andrew) – 2 eggs overeasy, 2 slices of whole wheat toast, 1c hash brown/potatoes, 6oz steak – 23 points

Lunch – 1c corn bran squares, 1c 2% milk – 5 points

Dinner – 85g whole wheat pasta, 1/4c sauce, 3oz lean ground beef, mushrooms, 1tsp oil, 1oz shredded old chedder – 15 points

I ended up using 10 of my “extra 35 points”, 25 remain.

wonderful recipe – cellophane noodles with pork

At my last WW meeting Lyds suggested I post the recipe of a dish which I credit with my 4.6lb one week loss.

This recipe will produce what WW calls 4 portions, but since the points value is quite low I double up on the portions for eating at a single meal. Each portion is 4 points, but even at 8 points if you eat 2 portions that is a very reasonable amount of points for a single meal.

• 200g ground lean pork (I’ve tried it with chicken and it works just as well)
• 6 spring onions
• 4oz chopped mushrooms
• 1tbsp low sodium soya sauce – I use kikkoman (sp?) as I find the flavour quite pleasant
• 1tbsp crushed ginger
• 4 chopped cloves of garlic
• 1/3c low sodium chicken stock
• half a pack of cellophane noodles or asian rice noodles – about 2oz (they are extremely light so it is a fair bit)
• 1tsp oil

Boil some water and then pour over the noodles – the noodles, much like couscous will “cook” while you are preparing everything else.

Fry the pork, the spring onions (finely chopped) along with the garlic & ginger. Add the soya sauce when the pork is nearly cooked through. Add in the chicken stock and then the noodles. Mix together and let it cook gently until all the liquid is absorbed by the noodles.

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Where this recipe varies from the WW recipe is that I don’t add in hoisin sauce, I find that the flavour is just as excellent without it. The original WW recipe doesn’t include mushrooms, but I love ’shrooms and I just needed to include them. Bulks up the recipe and they have virtually no points. As I mentioned, officially this serves 4 portions. But when I get home at night and I’m quite hungry I can eat 2 portions at once. Comes out to 8  points and it’s fabulous. Takes hardly any time to prepare, at the most 20 minutes, and is a great way to create a lovely meal really quickly.

September 29th

I haven’t blogged in a month, and I have no excuse for it. I do plan on being more dedicated towards jotting down my points consumption.

Today:

Breakfast: 1.5c corn bran squares, 1.5c 2% milk – 7.5 points

Lunch: 1 chicken breast w skin, 2c steamed broccoli – 5 points

Snack: Cadbury Thins – 2 points

Dinner: Cellophane Noodles & Pork (WW Recipe) 2c – 8 points

Snack: 1oz cheddar – 3 points

Total Points: 25 points

This is a tad low and I need to work on introducing a few more munchies in my day. I should be aiming for 30 points per day. In the meanwhile I have re-started walking to work and managed to do 2km today in one direction.

Weekend of August 23&24

Woohoo! I lost another 3.4lbs, making the total 8.2lbs. I keep telling myself this is to the good, I need to lose the weight so that the hell I went through last year for the surgery will be all worth it. So I do have a long-term goal as WW suggests. My short-term goal right now is to lose another 5-10 pounds before my trip to England on September 13th. Not sure if I can make it, but I am focussed and journaling daily (even if I don’t update this blog daily).

August 23rd (weigh-in day)

I have to admit, I don’t eat before the weigh-in as I just feel a little too queasy in the mornings to eat that early. I was hungry and Lydia came with a little baggie of caramel rice cakes, to the meeting.

I ate:

1 rice cake – 1 point

Breakfast/Lunch – 3 egg omlette (I’m assuming it was 3 eggs as it was fairly large at the restaurant I went to with Lydia and Puck) with veggies, 2 pita quarters and I’m assuming 2 tsp of oil – 8 points

Snack/Drink at the Comic Exp – 500ml of a strawberry smoothie (not sure of the exact points so I’m going to overestimate to be safe) – 5 points

Dinner – went to Fran’s and had the Sheppard’s Pie – 2 cups of it – 20 points

Used 6 of my extra 35 points, down to 29

August 24

I woke up super late, around 11:45am so I mostly grazed through the day.

Breakfast/Lunch:

2c corn bran squares, 1 1/2c 2% milk – 8 points

Snack:

3 slices rye bread, 3 tsp margarine – 9 points

Dinner:

85oz whole wheat pasta, 1/4c crushed tomatoes, mushrooms/greenpeppers/onion, 3oz ground pork, 1oz old cheddar, 1 tsp oil (for the cooking) – 13 points

I point under my daily 31. Still have my 29 extra points, if I choose to use them.

August 19th

Oh the insanity. I haven’t eaten all my points, but I’m feeling quite full nevertheless.

Breakfast – I poached 2 large eggs (I tried my little microwave poacher), and half the flax seed bagel – 7 points

Lunch – 3oz pork, 1c mushroom/onion/green pepper, 1/2c potato, 1c cauliflower, 1tsp oil – 8 points

Dinner – (I didn’t use pasta sauce this time but instead crushed tomatoes, which has lowered the point value of my dinner) 85g whole wheat pasta, 3oz lean ground pork, 1c mushroom/onions, 1/4c crushed tomatoes, 1tsp oil – 10 points

Snack – 2 slices of high fibre no sugar added bread, 2 tsp margarine (yes, I measured it) – 4 points

Total of 29 points

I had a little walk this evening after work before hitting Dominion for a spot of grocery shopping. The walk wasn’t major, just about 20 minutes, but nevetheless it was some movement for the old joints.

August 18th – hmmm

Breakfast – 1 1/2c corn bran squares, 1c 2% milk – 6 points

Lunch – 3oz pork, 1c mushrooms/onions/green pepper, 1/2c potato, 1c cauliflower – 7 points

Dinner – (it was a lacklustre dinner, very protein rich) – 1oz cheese, 2 boiled eggs, 6oz chicken breast with skin – 15 points

I ended up saving 3 points, eating only 28 points overall from 31. I feel satisfied, but I don’t feel content; atleast not in the sense that I feel that I have accomplished anything weight-wise.

I tried some whole wheat, gluten-free tortillas (which are 1 point each) but it was so tasteless that I spat it out. I need something for breakfast (now that I’ve run out of milk, and I need a change anyways) and the flax seed bagels I have in the fridge are 6 points per bagel. 6 points!!! I need to hit the grocery store to find something suitable, but in the meanwhile I’ll have half a bagel in the morning. I did purchase a microwave egg poacher, so I’m hoping to try it out in the morning.

Aug 17th – Lunch with Tarotcub, oh the carbs

Breakfast – 1c corn bran squares, 1c 2% milk, 1c pineapple chunks – 7 points

Lunch – 3 naan pieces, 6oz tandoori chicken, 2c steam basmati rice – 28 points

Dinner – 85g whole wheat pasta, 1/4c sauce, 3oz lean ground beef, mushrooms, green peppers, 1oz shredded old cheddar, 1 tsp oil – 15 points

I used up 19 of my extra points, leaving me with 6. I tried to be careful at the Indian restaurant but after noshing there and totaling my points for the lunch I was shocked. I love naan, but obviously it isn’t a good choice unless it is a treat. As a potential weekly lunch I don’t think I could do.

I did manage to walk for about 35-40 minutes with Mr Tarotcub, so though it wasn’t a lot of walking it was still an accomplishment.

I don’t really want to count my activity points as “banked points”.

Thursday August 14th

I think I managed to eat up to my max of 31 points.

Breakfast – corn bran squares 1c, 1c 2% milk, 1 medium banana – 7 points

Lunch – 3oz pork, 1c mushrooms/greenpepper, 1c cauliflower, 1/2c boiled potato – 7 points

Dinner – 85g whole wheat pasta, 1/4c tomato sauce, 3oz lean ground beef, mushrooms, 1tsp oil (for cooking), 1oz old cheddar – 15 points

Evening Dessert – 1c pineapple chunks – 2 points

No points left over.

So far so good, the diet seems to be okay and I am sticking to it. I don’t feel deprived in the sense that I am feeling satiated. But I did have a small niggling of a desire for some chocolate today. I fought that by drinking plenty of Crystal Light Lemonade.

Still below points – is this a trend for me?

Okey, it’s not the spectacular 2 points that I saved yesterday but nevertheless I am below points – I am one point below the regular 31 I am to eat…. yes, that’s right, I ate 30 points worth of food today. And darn it, grapes are filling.

Breakfast: 1c Corn Bran Squares, 1c 2% milk, 1 medium banana – 7 points

Lunch: 1 chicken thigh with skin, 2c broccoli, mushrooms, 1/4c roasted potato, onions – 6 points

Dinner: 85g whole wheat pasta, 1/4c tomato sauce, 3oz lean beef, mushrooms, oil (for cooking), 1oz old cheddar – 15 points

Afternoon snack – 2c grapes – 2 points

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I would highly recommend the Corn Bran Squares – they are almost like a healthy version of Captain Crunch cereal. They are for 1c 120 calories, 5g of fibre and 1.5g of fat… which makes them 2 points just for the cereal. That coupled with my banana kept me very full for most of the morning.

I actually managed to eat only 29 points

shocking, I know.

Today’s points were spent onL

Breakfast – 1 slice of bread, 1 boiled egg, 1c peaches – 6 points

Lunch – chicken thigh with skin, 1c broccoli, roasted potato – 6 points

Afternoon snack – Cadbury Thins (1 bar) – 2 points

Dinner – whole wheat pasta (85g), 1tsp oil (for cooking), 3oz ground very lean beef, 1oz old cheddar, 1/4c tomato sauce, some mushrooms & green pepper – 15 points

Total points = 29 points out of a possible 31

I managed to do a spot of grocery shopping today after work and stocked up on grapes, bananas, eggs, some gluten-free soft tortilla wraps, pork slices, mushrooms & green pepper.. and I got some breakfast cereal. I chose a cereal that has 1.5g of fat and 5g of fibre to 120 calories. My intention tomorrow morning is to have a bowl of cereal and a single medium sized banana for breakie.