Un-Fazed: Moving Beyond Phase 2

[Chris55]

Snow! Oh, no, Lisa! It's pouring here, but I guess northern Maine is getting snow. No walking today, or the last few days for that matter unless you count window shopping on Saturday. Will try and Total Gym today. Need to get my arms in shape for kayak season.

[Chris55]

A dark and very dreary day has not inspired me to exercise, but to take a nap!! Good day for laundry, soup, and coffee. I'm making a large pot of black bean/pumpkin/tomato soup for dinner and will throw a frozen focaccia in the oven for the guys. I've been good today, eating lots and lots of veggies, trying to stay away from cheese except for a tiny bit in my salad. Sipping tea, which is filling me up so I guess I wasn't really hungry. Now if I can just keep my paws off the Trader Jo Jo's we bought this weekend. DS has a bad habit of leaving treats out of the cabinet and if they're staring at me I have serious issues. Ate four of the darn things last night. I'm determined to have strawberries for dessert tonight.

B: small white beans, sauteed veggies, egg
L: large salad w/tiny bit feta, can of sardines (not on top of the salad!)
D: will be bean/pumpkin/tomato soup and probably some more salad
Snacks: nuts, broccoli w/hummus
Will probably have a glass of wine in there somewhere

Veggies are filling me up, making me gassy, so having peppermint tea and may pop a few Beanos before dinner!

[smay]

I bought Beano exclusively for the days I have yoga class.

[Chris55]

Bending over can certainly be dangerous.

[bethy]

Smay!

[Chris55]

Evidently areas right near me got torrential rain yesterday, up to 5" over the length of the storm. Not so bad here, just 10 miles away. Did some shopping this morning while it was clear, got home and my walk buddy called and wanted to walk. I was skeptical, but took my hooded jacket since there were threatening clouds. Well, she's my good luck charm (one of those people who has no reason to be in a positive mood, but forces herself!) and the sun came out - blue sky, puffy clouds, but lots of wind. We walked for over an hour, up and down hills.

Got on the scale this morning and my blip of weight gain from my couple of weekend splurges is gone and I'm back to 172, so down 3 whole pounds since restarting. It's gonna be slow, especially when I'm not sticking to my plan So trying to be very strict about having lots of veggies, small amounts of lean protein, nuts, fruit, and a little yogurt. Trying to skip the cheese except for a little flavor hit now and then.

Did a major produce run this morning. Hopefully I won't have to go again until the end of the week. Hit two stores: eggplant, zucchini, baby peppers, garlic, cucumbers, portabellas, potatoes (for the guys), bananas. Probably forgetting a few things. Then stocked up on some small boxes of 99 cent frozen veggies: spinach, squash, brussels sprouts. Decided to save some $ and bought ff plain yogurt which I have draining in the fridge. Made some tzatziki to have with a few thin slices of leftover lamb on top of a salad for lunch. Yummmmm. Made DS a gyro with ww pita. Maybe I'll splurge tomorrow and have mine with the bread, though I'm really trying to stay away from it.

Today's meals:
B: beans, sauteed veggies, topped w/an egg
S: small banana/pb
L: salad w/lamb & tzatziki
D: small piece of chicken, kale, and some other veggie/wine
Other snacks: probably apple, broccoli/hummus

[SharleyBloom]

Everyone could use a walking buddy like her! How perfect is that? Thanks for stopping by my journal and the words of encouragment! They are so helpful. Could use the recipe for the tzatziki sauce though. Thanks!

[Chris55]

I used to have Chefk's recipe written down somewhere, but was too busy to look for it. I'm pretty sure she's where I got it. I just chopped up a cucumber really tiny, salted it and drained it for a while, got impatient and rinsed and dried it, mixed w/greek yogurt and lots of minced garlic. Not sure if she used herbs, but I put in a tiny bit of oregano.

[bethy]

I use the tzatziki recipe on Kalyn's kitchen. It's how I first found her site six years ago. I was all "what is the south beach diet?" I just took the tzatziki and ran..

[Chris55]

Love Kalyn's website!! OMG I made such an amazing dish last night. I have recently bought a couple of Mollie Katzen's books at our used book store for like $3 each and have been looking for inspiration. Well, I found the secret sauce! She has this sauce made from miso and almond butter (2:3 ratio) thinned with hot water. I used a spoonful on some diced roasted eggplant. Luckily I only made a half eggplant that way (roasted the rest in slices for parm) or I would have eaten the whole thing! It was my second or third serving of nuts, but it was worth every bite. She uses the sauce on steamed veggies. What better way to jazz up steamed cauliflower? Yum!!

Bethy, my scale moved down again today. Wanna borrow it??

[SharleyBloom]

Finally! Someone who's liking their "evil" scale! Woooo hoooo! Congrats on the Southward movement!

[bethy]

Yes, Chris, send me that scale quick! The almond butter/miso sounds good too. I've got a new batch of tahini sauce right now but I'm going to remember that for when it is gone.

[Chris55]

Sitting on my butt on my deck enjoying the sunshine. Have been alternating periods of good muscle challenging activity with being a slug today. Started the day with scrubbing the bathroom ceiling to get rid of mold, washing floor, vacuuming. Then went for a 3-4 mi. walk w/my walk buddy. By the time I had finished lunch, I was exhausted and my shoulders hurt. Couldn't figure out how walking made my shoulders hurt; then remembered the reaching over my head to clean the bathroom this morning. So took a nap, woke up feeling WORSE - hate that. Had some coffee, which perked me up. Decided that since I was feeling hungry and thinking about food, that I should GET OUTSIDE!! away from the kitchen. Ended up digging/weeding a bit. It's lovely how you can weed so much more easily after it rains. So, more exercise!! And it made me thirsty, so 2 glasses of water instead of a snack. Done for the day, though. Ready for my happy hour glass of wine.

Food has been excellent! I got a book for my Nook called "Bean by Bean" and wanted to try making an Asian hummus recipe she has using adzuki beans, so I went to the store this morning and bought some. Cooked them up in the pressure cooker, whirred everything in my food processor, except the Thai pepper, which I did not have. Used a bit of red chili stuff I put in my stir fry dishes. Well, it came out outstanding (and hot!). DS ate some w/crackers and agreed that the recipe is a keeper. I had mine w/red peppers and cukes. Just worried about how long it will keep in the fridge - it's a big batch, maybe 3-4 cups.

B: black beans/lf cheese/poached egg
L: salad w/tiny bit of leftover beef, 1/2 ounce of blue cheese, ranch
S: banana, asian hummus w/veggies
D: will be szechuan beef (trying my new spice mix) w/broccoli. Maybe some brown rice.
Wine

[Beaching It]

Hey Chris, you sound all motivated and happy!! Good for you. Hope your weather is better. Ours is cold and dreary... blah!

Congrats on your 3 + pound weight loss. Yay!! I'd like to borrow your scale too please.

[JeffInJax]

Chris, maybe its just the stubborn pride of a man but i plan on making my scale work for me. It may be giving me problems right now, but im going to stick with it until it shows what i want it to It does sound like things are going really well for you and congrats on eating really healthy. You're off to an amazing start, stick with it and stay strong!