Rama, Rama, Rama!

Today was veggie day.  The problem of late with my vegetarian day has been that I eat out.  I shared my problems with homemade tofu dishes, but today I gave it another shot.  I planned ahead a bit more which allowed me to press the tofu overnight, giving me a much more pleasing texture.  The next step is to improve the marinade.  I went with a simple marinade I found online of soy and Chinese five spice.  The tofu was incredibly salty.  Way too much soy.  I only marinated for about 35 minutes, but I will probably cut that back to 15 or 20 next time.  The flavor was good, but just too salty.  For lunch I used that tofu in my usual basil dish.  For dinner I didn't want to do the same thing, so I did a little research and found a no cook peanut sauce recipe.  My second favorite Thai dish is the rama preparation which is the protein with steamed broccoli and peanut sauce over brown rice.  With a good peanut sauce recipe I decided to give it a shot.  I think I will redo this one soon with chicken, because the tofu was borderline unpallatable by this evening, but the sauce turned out great, and I have to say that steamed broccoli has become one of my favorite veggies.  There is such a great sweetness with cruciferous vegetables when you don't overcook them.  I think one of the problems I have always had enjoying veggies is poor preparation.  I am learning how to cook them how I like them and that is a lifelong skill that is going to make success much more likely.  I took a few snaps throughout the cooking to see how it turned out:

One of my favorite takeout places adds shredded carrot, and I like the sweetness and crunch it adds, so I ran a couple baby carrots over the box grater.  I have some chicken and another head of broccoli, so I will probably try a non veg version later this week to see how it turns out, but it is a great start, and another recipe to add to my arsenal.

Sustainable Success

The fact that I work so close to home is a mixed blessing.  I can cook for myself more, but I am closer to my fridge all the time.  I am certainly eating more than I was when I worked downtown just because of the access.  I have also run into the issue of allowing myself to wait too long between meals.  I get really hungry and have a larger meal than I need to.  It is an adjustment that I am still making, but on the positive side I am maintaining and not gaining.  I also had one really solid work out this week and plan to get another in tonight.  If nothing else then this week will be positive because I will be stronger and healthier at the end of it, if not lighter.  I have also tried a few new things in the old cocina.  I substituted roasted red peppers for some of the olive oil and tahini in my ever present hummus and I am really happy with the results.  This weekend on my grocery run I picked up some rainbow trout which in addition to being delicious is a great sustainable alternative to other oily fish.  For the preparation I pulled out some jerk seasoning, a little salt and pepper, a little sprinkle of brown sugar, and some powdered chipotle.  I am REALLY happy with how it turned out, and I have a second serving for later in the week.

 

Paired with a side of asparagus it was a great meal, and pretty low calorie.  Challenges later this week include my vegetarian day (I had to postpone because by the time I was done with my client Monday it was 4pm and I needed something fast so I reheated turkey chili), and keeping a really close tab on my intake.  I'd like to get back to some of the fastidious habits that brought quick success.

Weigh in #46

Demanding.  That is the word I would use to describe this week.  I put in probably 45 hours at the (100% commission) day job and then I've had the shows.  Next week we start two show Saturday and Sundays, so things are only going to get busier, but I hope that some of the hard work at the day job is going to pay off with with a few sales.  I am pretty displeased with my discipline this week.  I really need to work on my accountability with diet this coming week, especially with some holiday dining coming up.  Some of the choices I made this week were calculated.  I am "living" a little bit more than when I was in the most serious parts of this journey, and alcohol was probably the biggest determinant of this week's numbers.  I still lot weight, but with as far removed from the very physical performance of my last show I am, and with my inattention to exercise I think some of that is muscle loss.  Here are the numbers:

Current Weight: 286.6 lbs
Starting Weight: 440.2 lbs
Weight Loss This Week: 0.6 lbs
Weight Loss Total: 153.6 lbs

Nothing special, but still lower.  The way I felt this week told me I wasn't doing the right things, though.  Yes I was working really hard, but quality of sleep and some digestive problems (I'll leave it there)  are telling me I could be doing much better.  I rationalized some bad choices this week, and I didn't pay to dearly for them, but I may have rationalized myself into one or two too many compromises.  I need to be smarter.

Weigh in #45

4 danger days down.  This week has been pretty good.  Since the weather turned really cold I have not gotten out for any exercise, and that is something I need to be really careful about.  As I've said before the exercise has minimal effect on my weight loss, but it does have a positive effect on my health in other ways.  Too frequently I let my weight and the numbers I post be the only determinant of success, but maintaining a lower blood pressure, gaining the ability to perform with the stamina I want, and getting the physique I want are just as important.  It is not going to be as easy to stay motivated now that outdoor exercise is really out of the question, but I have the workout room in my building available to me, so while it may not be as much fun, I really have no excuse not to.  Even without exercise, and not really working all that hard I had decent results this week.  Here are the numbers:

Current Weight: 287.2 lbs
Starting Weight: 440.2 lbs
Weight Loss This Week: 1.6 lbs
Weight Loss Total: 153 lbs

Danger Zone

December has so many things I love.  Christmas, the opportunity to see family, first snow, the brisk weather, and of course the seemingly annual Oklahoma appearance in the Big XII championship game.  This December, however, has a new wrinkle.  Every party has delicious, high calorie foods.  The extra busy days lead to poor discipline with meal timing, which leads to me feeling hungrier than I actually should.  The colder weather sends my body into "storage" mode, which exacerbates the already difficult task of staying on top of my diet.  I have a few things working for me, but I think it is wise to put the challenges out there so that they can be in the forefront of my awareness. 

So now that the challenges are named, how do I beat them?  As I said, I have some things going for me.  My new job is pretty flexible with time, and I work a 2 minute walk from my apartment.  I have been able to eat at home often since starting, and that has been one of the keys to my success throughout the process.  The more I eat at home, especially home cooked meals, the more weight I lose.  It also saves some money, which is a nice bonus.  This December I also have 10 months of work and experience behind me to prepare me for the challenges.  The fact that I refuse to ever go back to the way I was, that I have only gained weight once or twice in 10 month, and the fact that everybody knows about it are huge motivating factors.  I enjoy being right more than any food item you can offer.  None of this is to say I am going to avoid every single pitfall.  I plan to indulge a bit: its Christmas.  I just know how to make the better choice, even when indulging.  I have the tools for success, and I am going to need all of them this month.  That being said, knowledge is power and one of the biggest reasons for my success has been this blog.  I am able to plan, voice my concerns, and take a wider view of the potential challenges I face, not to mention the incredible advice I've gotten from your comments.  So the challenges will come here first.  Expect some posts.

Weigh in #44

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  The day above all others that is most about food presented an incredible challenge.  I wasn't really "dieting" on Thursday, but all of the work I have done in the last 10 months really paid off.  My stomach is nowhere near as large as it used to be, and after one plate I couldn't do much more than nibble for the rest of the day.  I chose to indulge in adult beverages, but I also drank a lot of water, and my body never got into retention mode, which certainly saved me some immediate weight gain.  I had not weighed myself since and I had a holy crap moment this morning when I got on the scale:

Current Weight: 288.8 lbs
Starting Weight: 440.2 lbs
Weight Loss This Week: 1.2 lbs
Weight Loss Total: 151.4 lbs

That is correct, I lost weight on Thanksgiving week.  To be honest I am surprised, because though I wasn't anywhere near as bad as I might have been in years past I certainly did not work that hard either.  Now, I weighed exactly that on Wednesday morning, so I only maintained through the holiday, but that is a huge success.  I will take results like this any week, and particularly on a week where so much could have gone wrong.

Cooking With Tofu

Once upon a time this wanna be home gourmet was very afraid of tofu, both cooking AND eating.  When I decided to do the whole Meatless Mondays thing I know I would have to get over that, at least eating it from time to time.  I love Thai food, so that is where I started, and for the most part I have enjoyed it.  Of course, the cooks I am frequenting know what they are doing.  I, however, have only what I have gleaned from Food TV and some web research.  Nonetheless I decided the time was ripe for a DIY tofu meal.  I saw the package in the grocery and picked it up.  I let it sit in my fridge for a week.  I finally got the courage up and got cooking tonight.  I decided to stick with what I know and made my usual Thai basil recipe, but substituted some tofu that I pressed and marinated for the chicken.  I must say I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  The marinade I used wasn't quite what I was looking for, and needs some tweaking, but I will definitely eat the leftovers, and try again.  It isn't as good as my favorite restaurant, but that may partially be quality of ingredients.  Next time I will go to the Asian grocery and get some higher quality tofu, but in a pinch the supermarket stuff isn't too bad.  What I did learn is that I enjoyed the mushrooms as a meat substitute much more than the tofu.  I am not a full time vegetarian, so the need to supplement my protein isn't great.  The mushrooms have a much more meaty texture, and I love the way they taste.  In the future I may stick with mushrooms, especially considering the calorie savings. What I can do, though, is maybe have an extra meat free meal every now and again and still have the filling serving I am looking for.  I don't know that there is anything wrong with saving some cholesterol and calories by skipping the meat a couple more times a month.  I think that may be an added bonus of cooking my vegetarian at home.  There are always leftovers, so the likelihood I eat more veggies is very high.  I think the moral of this story may be that practice makes perfect.  This won't be my last home tofu experience, and that is a success for the day.