Diet Update: Week 2 - A Setback

Current Weight: 276.8
Lost this Week: -2
Lost Total: 6

Some well meaning but inconsiderate person, (who shall not be named here) brought cookies into my house this weekend and left them there. A sane person confronted with such temptation would have thrown them out. But I am not sane around sugar. When it comes to sugar, I am Willie Nelson with a bale of weed. Cookies are my kryptonite. I ate them.

And I am paying the price for it. It's sad, going over the same ground twice, but I have my healthy lunch all packed, and a nice healthy dinner in the refrigerator and there is nothing left in the house to ruin my diet. I am determined to get this done.

In honor of Willie Nelson's 80th birthday (yesterday) and also how I feel about sugar.

Updates and a Program Change

Hi everybody, sorry I'm late.

If you recall, I had some things I wanted to do in 2013.  This is where I currently stand:

Still to start

• Planning my international vacation - I'm thinking early Autumn, but not sure where.  
• Make a photo-book - I've taken pictures (I always take pictures) but I need to come up with a theme
• Read Don Quixote - haven't even picked it up
• Buy a new sofa - still just looking a catalogs
• Refinish the living room shelves and my old bed - they're in the garage, does that count?
• Read one novel by Charles Dickens - see Don Quixote
• Improve my knowledge of MadCap Flare - sigh

Steps forward

• I've contributed to my Roth IRA.
• I've posted three blog entries every week (not always long, but always three)
• I have been very good about taking my lunch to work. I've only missed three days so far, and am doing my best to keep myself organized so that it doesn't happen again.
• I took the Bamboo out of the closet and tried it out. Interesting, but not something I have a use for right now.
• A friend and I are seeing if we can go to the Blanco Lavender Festival together.

Steps back  

• Lose 100 lbs
• Write a letter to a friend every other week

I started well on the last two, and then things just sort of petered out. I regained all the weight I lost in January and while I did write some letters, I started procrastinating on those too.

No more. The last time I wrote a lot of letters I had a regular letter writing night. I even used to make notes for myself, so I'd remember things to put in the letters. So I am re-instituting letter night. Wednesday nights seem like a promising time for that.

Last, and definitely not least, my weight. I re-started the diet on Monday. I think I need more accountability on this diet, so instead of Wedneday recipes, I will be posting a "state-of-the-diet" report.  My apologies to those of you who really like the recipes. I may post recipes again later on, but right now, my focus has to be on removing the pounds.

Goal Check

It's February 1st. We are now one month into 2013. Time to look at my To Do List for 2013 and see if I've made any progress on my goals. I could go over all 14 resolutions, but I know y'all are only interested in one of them:

"Lose 100 lbs"

And if you've been reading this blog, you know my last posted recipe contained cheese, white flour and half a pound of butter. So have I made any progress? Have the scales gone down, or up? Drum roll please.

As of today I weigh: 268.6 lbs. A loss of 13 pounds!

And the crowd went wild.

And because I am that kind of a geek, I made a chart. As you can see, it's not a smooth slope, (the chocolate cookie incident is very obvious) but the overall trend is downward.

I still have 87 pounds to go, but that's a decent start, don't you think?

Friday Fun Video
A classic of the early 90's.

Weight loss update, and leeks!

Before we get to today's recipe, a diet update. I now weigh (drum roll please)

 

270 lbs ( 5.4 lbs lost 105 lbs to go)
 

It's a start. Now on to the fun stuff.

 

In honor of Thanksgiving, I give you a casserole that I have taken to potlucks with great success. This is adapted from a stuffed apple appetizer from Susan Hermann Loomis' book: On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town. The original is wonderful and elegant, but a little difficult to share. This is a more homespun version.

Leek, apple and goat cheese casserole
A warm and hearty side dish. Serves about 6 people. (200 calories per serving)

Ingredients

• 4 apples (about 2 lbs)
• 2 leeks
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 8 oz fresh goat cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Clean and chop the leeks (white and light green parts only). Put the leeks and butter into a frying pan over medium heat and cook until the leeks are soft, but not brown.

3. Put the goat cheese in a mixing bowl with the nutmeg. Add the leeks to the goat cheese and combine well. Salt to taste. Put aside.

4. Roughly chunk and core the apples. Peeling is optional.
5. Put the apples in a casserole and cover with the leek and goat cheese mixture.

6. Put into the oven and bake until brown, about 45 minutes.

Bon appetit!

I knew this day was coming

Usually, I devote Wednesday to recipes or something food-related. I like to cook, I like to eat, but that has come at a price.  Today, I got on the scale and it read 275.4 lbs.

Sigh.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not exactly unaware that I'm overweight. However, it's one thing to be curvy, and another to be flirting with diabetes.

So, as of today, I am on a diet. I will still be cooking and posting recipes. I have a long way to go, and if I try to do it on diet shakes and salad, I'll give up. This is less a diet than a re-working of my lifestyle into something more healthy. This is going to take a while.

My goal weight : 165 lbs.

My immediate goal: 265 lbs by December 1st.
Today's Recipe: Salad!
I've never been one of the stereotypical fat people you see in the media. I don't live on fast food. I think Twinkies are evil (why waste time on bad pastry when there are croissants?) and I like vegetables.

So I'm putting up a favorite salad of mine, which yes, is a little high on the fat content, but remember, this serves two to four people. I calculated the calories and the entire recipe comes to approximately 900. (I can't be super exact because calorie counters vary). Half of this would be a very acceptable dinner, with lots of crunch and flavor.

Red-Cabbage Salad (recipe from L.V. Anderson of Slate)

•  ¼ large head red cabbage, cored and shredded
• 1 to 2 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled
• ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
• ⅓ cup golden raisins
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt and black pepper

Put the cabbage, cheese, walnuts, raisins, oil, and vinegar in a medium bowl, and season with salt and pepper. Toss, taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve immediately.

Yield: 1 or 2 main-course servings or 4 side-dish servings