Sunday, all over again

Yesterday's splurge was a little bit disappointing, I'm sorry to say.  I work at the library every other Saturday, and it was my work Saturday yesterday.  We ordered out for Chinese food from a place that is relatively new to us, called China 1.  My husband and I have been very disappointed in the quality of Chinese food nearby, but this one has fairly good reviews on Yelp.  We gave them a try a couple times, and while it didn't wow us, it was still better than anything else we've had outside the District.  So several of us at work ordered lunch to be delivered.  It took almost twice as long to come as they said it would (55 minutes instead of 30, which left me with 10 minutes to choke down my lunch - on the one day I can eat what I want! - before I had to run out to the reference desk.

Plus it just wasn't very good.  I ordered the chicken w/cashew nuts lunch special, and the food was so bland and blah.  The vegetable fried rice was mushy.  The cashews were soggy.  It was pretty depressing.

But anyway, whine whine whine.  I did start out the day with a Krispy Kreme doughnut, so all was not lost!

I'm going to plan better next time, that's for sure!

So, back to eggs for breakfast.  And turkey bacon.  I also heated up some of the soup that I made last Friday.  Still not appetizing so soon after I wake up, but what can you do?

For lunch I made a salad with tuna, cucumber, pinto beans, shredded carrots and red onions in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Plus more soup.

For dinner we made tacos, but I did mine like lettuce wraps, and they were delicious.  I did miss the cheese, but still, I had guacamole on there, and it was good!  There were black beans, diced chicken breast, red onions, cilantro, guacamole, and tomatoes.  They weren't quite as filling as tacos with tortillas, so I had three.  Oink.

Splurge Saturday is here again!

Finally.  It took long enough!

So, here goes, although there were a few things I forgot to snap photos of, including a doughnut, chicken with cashews, a spring roll, and hot and sour soup, an apple pastry and a chocolate frosted brownie.  Other than that, here it is:

Would you think that would be enough to make me gain 2 1/2 pounds overnight?  It was!

Friday catch-up

Friday was a bit rough - it was the longest I'd gone on the diet without a break, and I was getting pretty tired of the same old stuff.  So to change things up a bit, I tried a recipe I found from a link to recipes that mostly (some include optional cheese) follow the guidelines of the slow carb diet.  I made the omelette muffins, and I put turkey bacon and spinach in mine.  They took way longer to cook than the recipe said, though, which meant my breakfast was later than I wanted it to be.  But don't they look tasty?  They tasted like eggy popovers.

The coconut oil I used, as suggested in the recipe, wasn't much help in preventing them from sticking to the muffin pan, so they fell apart a bit when I pulled them out.  I'll have to pick up some muffin papers for the next time I do it.  This would be a great way to get mileage from leftover veggies as well as have eggs in a new and different way.

At lunchtime I mixed up a quick batch of soup.  I used lentils again - I am really enjoying them, particularly with that turkey bacon, and I tossed in a can of diced tomatoes and spiced it up a bit.  I had the soup with a Nicoise-inpired salad I threw together - lettuce, tuna, olives, and onions.  It was pretty tasty.  I wish I'd had some avocado to go with it!

I forgot to take pictures of dinner last night - the chicken I'd planned to use wasn't defrosted enough, so we ended up getting takeout from Chipotle.  I got a burrito bowl with black beans, salsa, chicken, guacamole and lettuce, and it was so filling that I couldn't eat it all. 

So I made it through one more day of slow-carbing it.  Whew!  It is really tough sometimes, but it's doable.  Particularly with Saturday coming up, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thursday

It seems I'm developing a routine with this diet.  I'm a lot hungrier early in the mornings than I used to be, which I guess is good, since it's helping me adjust to eggs and beans and things a little better.  Today I had more scrambled eggs, and I'm finding that lentils are the easiest legumes for me to eat so early in the morning.  I sauteed some red onions and turkey bacon, and then I threw in the lentils, and I pretended they were potatoes as I ate my eggs.  Luckily I have a vivid imagination.

For lunch I heated up some leftover chicken and zucchini from last night's dinner, and I tossed them with some baby greens, along with red onions, chickpeas, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It wasn't bad, and I also added some chicken broth to the leftover lentils to make a quick and easy soup.  That stayed with me, so I wasn't too hungry for the rest of the afternoon.

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I was so excited to eat dinner that I neglected to take photos.  I made some haddock with a quick and easy Minimalist recipe, and it came out great.  First you sautee some minced ginger in some vegetable oil - about a tablespoon or so.  Then you add the fish (any white fish will do), and pour over it 1 1/2 cups of water, a half cup of soy sauce, some sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, a teaspoon of rice vinegar, and you bring it to a boil.  Then you cover it, turn off the heat, and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Then it's ready!  We ended up using  a little cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce, and that worked out great.  My husband made rice to go with it, but I had soup - yes, more soup!  This time I used the immersion blender to mix the bean (pinto) and veggie (celery, onions, garlic and carrots, along with some cumin, salt, and a dried cayenne pepper) into a creamy soup.  It was delicious.  One of my daughters thought so too, so there are no leftovers for work tomorrow.  I'm glad she enjoyed it, though.  We also had some steamed broccoli, which was tasty dipped in the fish sauce.

I am still feeling energetic, which is great.  Particularly as we are leaving for our trip soon, and there is so much to do!  I do feel as though I'm spending a lot more time cooking than usual, but I'm also thinking that there have got to be ways of streamlining this more effectively. I will figure them out. 

I lost another half pound, which puts me at 5.5 pounds lost, total.  I get the feeling from others who have tried this and other similar diets that the weight loss will probably go a lot more slowly from here on out.  I'm hoping to see progress, even if it's small, because that will help me to keep going.  If there's no progress, I am more likely to throw up my hands and wonder what the point is.  We'll see how it goes!

Tuesday

Well, I've been on the diet for a week now, and so far, so good.  Despite today's minor setback, I'm still sticking to it faithfully.  Breakfast was a bit of a struggle this morning - it's hard to fit in breakfast on school mornings, but if I wait till I get back from dropping the girls off at school, too much time has passed for me to eat within an hour of waking up.

  

I had eggs again today - even though I was so craving a big bowl of oatmeal!  I made them with turkey bacon, red onions and spinach mixed in, and I had some of the black bean soup from the other night.  I tried, but I was only able to eat about half of the eggs, and a little bit of the soup.  It's so hard that early in the morning!  I will keep at it, and maybe the mornings will get easier.  I noticed it wasn't bad on Sunday, when I was able to sleep in a bit.  But so early in the morning, it is a bit rough.

I met a friend for lunch at Clyde's in Georgetown.  It was the most challenging time I've had finding something from the menu that worked.  We ended up splitting the "crab tower" appetizer, which is one of my favorite things on their menu.  It has lump crabmeat with avocado, seaweed salad and roe on a very tasty rice cake.  I left the cake and the crispy wonton garnish and just had the crab, avocado and seaweed.  It was delicious, as always.  I didn't miss the rice all that much, surprisingly.  I didn't think to take a picture till after we'd split it in two, but it looked even better before we got our hands on it.

For my entree I chose the grilled chicken salad.  I suspect the candied walnuts aren't optimal for the diet, but I ate them because I had told them not to put any goat cheese on the salad, so I felt entitled to a few nuts. 

I was rushed getting to work this evening, and I forgot to snap a picture of the small bowl of last night's leftover lentil soup I had before I left.  Plus I took a salad to eat at work - baby greens, leftover salmon, red onions and diced tomato.  I was pretty hungry when I got back from work, so I helped myself to a small bowl of wasabi peas.  They are spicy and tasty!  Sometimes I just need some salty crunch.

Tuesday: lunch and dinner

I went out to lunch, and again, it wasn't too difficult to find acceptable things.  We went to Panera, and I ordered a small Thai chicken salad (without the wonton strips), a cup of vegetarian black bean soup (no potatoes, pasta, or rice in it), and some unsweetened ice tea.  It was pretty good.  I was really hungry, though, and I realized that although skipping beans at breakfast might have been more palatable, the meal did not stick with me as it has been doing, so I will try some kind of beans tomorrow.  Blah.

For dinner I made more soup again.  I think everyone's starting to get a little tired of the soup, but that's okay - more leftovers for me to have at lunch!  Today I diced up some of that delicious turkey bacon from Whole Foods and sauteed it with some onions, carrots, and garlic, and then I poured in a box of organic chicken stock, added some cumin and salt and pepper, and after a bit I drained some canned lentils and threw them in.  Just before serving I added some minced parsley, and it was pretty good, with a nice smoky flavor.

My husband cooked up the salmon while I put together a salad.  Oh, and I roasted some cauliflower, too.  Usually I toss it in some freshly grated Parmesan cheese just before I serve it, but I served the cheese on the side, since I'm not eating any for the next few days.   

I had seconds on the soup.

One thing I am enjoying immensely about this diet is that I actually eat until I'm full, and I feel totally satisfied for the rest of the evening.  Usually I try to cut back on portions, which leaves me feeling peckish for the rest of the night, constantly thinking about food.  Not any more, and that is a nice change.

Tuesday - It's working!

I weighed myself this morning with some trepidation, but I needn't have worried.  I lost the pound I gained after Splurge Saturday, and one more pound on top of it!  That brings me to a total of 5 pounds lost since I started the "Slow Carb" diet one week ago today.  Woohoo!

I also realized that if I omit the beans from breakfast, I won't get that faint nausea that's been pestering me in the morning.  I'm good with beans at lunch and dinner, but for some reason I just can't handle them first thing in the morning.

Check out this delicious egg scramble that I made today, with diced turkey bacon (picked some up at Whole Foods yesterday - and wow, is it good), sauteed red onions, and fresh spinach.

This diet so does not have to be boring!

Back in the saddle again...

I was a little surprised to find after all that eating on Saturday - the bagels, the milkshake, the ice cream, the doughnuts! - I only gained a pound.  Pleased, but surprised.  And actually, just the tiniest little bit panicked. Was the one pound weight gain, as has happened so often before, the beginning of the end?  I sure hope not.

One thing that I've been loving since starting this diet program is that I feel, for the first time in ages, that I actually have control over my body.  It's a strange but really positive feeling - but one that I'm not quite ready to trust.  Could it all be a fluke?  It just doesn't seem possible that I can do this without feeling really deprived - sure, there are cravings for things that I'd love to eat - but there are so many things that I can eat that I'm never feeling hungry or grumpy from low blood sugar.  Plus there is that sparkly light of all-you-can-eat Saturday at the end of my tunnel.

I was so busy yesterday trying to get things done around the house (we're leaving on a cruise the week after next) that I completely forgot about the food pictures, except for breakfast.  I made scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and green onions, and although I would have loved to have thrown some fresh goat cheese in there, I didn't.  And I didn't miss it.  All that much.  (Saturday is coming!)

For lunch I ate leftover bean soup from Friday, a small bowl of cottage cheese (the only cheese we're allowed - and I imagine that should be occasionally), and some leftover salad.  Nothing to write home about, but I certainly wasn't hungry.

Dinner was actually delicious, and I wish I'd thought to take pictures: black bean soup with veggies and fresh cilantro; a salad of baby greens, red onions, a few garbanzos, and some diced tomatoes in a balsamic vinaigrette (my 10-year-old informed me that the salad would probably be better with some blue cheese crumbles on it.  She went and got some and I was envious!  But Saturday is coming); grilled chicken wings, and grilled asparagus.  I'm definitely not feeling deprived. 

Whoopee! Saturday is splurge day!

Finally!  Saturday came and I was able to eat all those things I'd been dreaming about.  First off was a big  bowl of strawberries for breakfast.  Don't they look delicious?  I ate about half of the ones in that bowl.  My kids scammed the rest.

Then it was time for some bagels.  I've been wishing for some every morning - I'm a lot hungrier for them than these egg and turkey bacon breakfasts, but hey, I'm losing weight, so I won't complain.  Sadly the only bagels I had were from Panera.  So they're more like round rolls than authentic bagels.  I had a jalapeno chesse one and a cinnamon one.  They weren't actually as good as I thought they'd be...

...but the banana was!  Then my husband came back from the farmers market in Old Town with some pastries.  I hardly ever have the pastries because, you know, I'm trying to loose weight.  But on Saturday, I now get to eat whatever I'd like on Saturdays!

What's better with pastries than a tall glass of milk?

I actually only had half of the croissant because my daughter came along, and so I shared.

Then there was a little bowl of fresh pineapple.  And a vanilla milkshake.

And some more bagels at lunchtime.

And some of Trader Joe's frozen mushroom turnover appetizers.  My daughter scammed one of the ones on my plate.

A little afternoon snack.  Isn't Krispy Kreme delicious?  The chocolate cake doughnut had just come down the conveyor belt and was piping hot.  The chocolate frosted one had custard inside, in case anyone's curious.  My favorite!  I went with my kids.  No one wanted milk but me - and then they drank most of it!  Of course, if I'd ordered a bottle of milk for each of us, no one would have wanted any.

We went out for dinner to a place we enjoy called Rustico on Slaters Lane in Alexandria.   I ordred a beer - it was tasty.

I nearly forgot to take a photo of the appetizer we shared - it was a delicious zucchini "carpaccio" with shaved parmesan cheese, pesto and roasted tomatoes.

Rustico has the best eggplant Parmesan I've ever had.  It is so good, with a delicious zucchini mousse, and not much tomato sauce - and the little sauce there is has a real tomato flavor.  It's not that abysmal thick corn-syrupy tomato sauce.  The salad that accompanied it had kalamata olives and thin strips of fennel.  There wasn't anything terribly tempting on the dessert menu, so we stopped at Ben and Jerry's on the way home.

I got a little distracted by my ice cream, but here's a picture of what was left by the time I remembered to take a photo.  Later on that evening,  I enjoyed the yummy cantelope from the farmers market - I figured I'd better eat it while I could, because it won't be any good next Saturday.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day!  I think that with having next Saturday to look forward to, I will be able to stay on track.  I hope so, anyway.

Friday Meals

This diet is getting easier by the day.  I actually had a little appetite for my breakfast in the morning, and I managed to eat most of it.  I should have heated up the black beans  - but I was in a hurry to get the kids to school, and so I just rinsed them off from the can and put them on my plate.  That Cholula hot sauce is pretty good on the black beans.  It's more flavorful than spicy - my 10-year-old had some beans and hot sauce too.

It's amazing how long the breakfast stays with me.  I was so busy running errands - we're leaving for a 2-week vacation in a couple of weeks - that I didn't even think about eating until 2 pm!  When normally I am starving by 11 o'clock.  I reheated the soup I'd made the night before, and I ate this entire bowl of it.

I still felt a little hungry, so I filled up another bowl (see below), but in the end I only ate about half of it.  I was stuffed!

Then I had my first restaurant experience while following the diet.  We went to Busboys and Poets in the District, the one on 14th Street, and there was actually quite a bit for me to choose from (some with a few minor modifications).  It worked out pretty well!  I totally forgot to take a picture of my appetizer, though.  I ordered mussels in a lemongrass sauce.  They were good, but it looked like the sauce had a ton of cream in it, so I just kind of shook it off the mussels and ate them.  It came with some garlic toast that looked delicious, and I would have loved to dip it in that sauce!  But I gave it to my friends instead, and thought about my splurge Saturday, which was the very next day, and it wasn't too hard.  The results I've had so far really inspire me to stick to the diet rules.

I also ordered the Cobb Salad, and I did remember to take a photo of it: 

It came with some pita bread, which I just set to the side and ignored.  I ordered it without the crumbled blue cheese and bacon (I don't really eat pork) it was still delicious.  But what was a little disappointing - and this is one of my pet peeves - is that I had to cut everything before I could eat it.  Sure, the plating is lovely, and would look super in a food magazine.  But if I wanted to cut stuff up to make a salad, I'd have stayed home and done it.  They give you a dull dinner knife and a couple whole chicken breasts.  Really?  It took me so long to hack everything up into tasty bite-sized pieces that I had to eat so quickly and could hardly enjoy it, because we had a show to catch (imusical at WIT - if you live in the area, you should check it out.  It is hysterical!  And I think there are only a couple shows left this season). 

I love that this diet is so doable, and that there is no counting calories.  I can't stand that.