Yesterday was the two year anniversary of my very first Soo Bahk Do class. Unfortunately I was running late and didn't make it to class last night, but I will today!
Somewhere between August 24, 2009 and January, 2011, I had gained.. I dunno, maybe ten pounds. Not a lot for a year and a half but my self-image was shattered. I had long existed under the belief that I still looked like I did when I could get away with wearing cropped tank tops to work as an art intern in 2001. Then I just woke up one day and realized I couldn't see past the mound of my stomach when I looked down, and that 165 was NOT a healthy weight, nor was it "dense bones" or "lots of muscle". I was overweight, my favorite clothes didn't fit, my back hurt and I didn't like the way I looked in the mirror.
I've been on the BFC for 23 weeks, just over 6 months. I've lost 20-something pounds (I'll weigh in tonight), a couple inches off my gut, and suddenly my martial arts uniform doesn't feel like it's "shrinking in the wash" anymore.
In fact I just got a new uniform in the mail that I'd ordered - one tailored for a feminine shape and a bit longer so the tails of the jacket cover the butt. Trying it on, it felt huge! Like some fresh spa dressing gown, LOL. I know part of it is that the length just looks so funny to me, being used to shorter tops. But it definitely needs a trip through the wash and dryer before I decide where to hem it (I'm 5'3" so it'll need something! These uniforms are very vaguely sized). But this uniform is a SMALL. And I was getting lost in it!
I've also felt more comfortable in class, less overheated. I tire more quickly than last fall, but that's due to my injury, I still have to build up my strength again.
This morning my back is hurting.. I need to figure out how best to sleep because the pillow I keep between my knees keeps slipping away in the night. I'm a wiggler!
I've been using the MyFitnesPal mobile app to track my food this week. I like how handy it is to scan the barcodes and enter my info rather than searching, and I like that it does the math for me. I got a bit of a shock, though. It called my Venti Starbucks Breve Latte a 0/2 (22g carbs)! I had no idea there are that many carbs in the drink. It doesn't seem quite right, so the next time I go to Starbucks I'm going to chat with the barista if it's slow enough, see the nutrition on the cream they use. Besides if there's that many carbs I imagine they'd all come from lactose and that would make it 22/2, right?? That would certainly explain why I'm plateaud! I read the definition of a cafe breve as being made with half&half.. I thought they were made with light cream - that's how I ordered my first and was told that's a Breve. So I need to figure this out (and stop drinking them until I do!). And drinking those was inspired by one of the success story quotes in the BFC book, so I am all @_@-eyed and confused now. Maybe I wasn't supposed to have a venti? :P
For dinner last night and breakfast this morning I had ezekiel bread french toast with Joseph's syrup. There was bacon last night but, of course, I was running late this morning and so my protein had to come from the eggs and butter and the cream in my coffee.
My husband made a fantastic lemon-dill salmon, with brown rice, cucumber tzatziki sauce and green beans for dinner Tuesday night and I've been having the extra portions for lunch. Mm! I'm having the last of it for lunch today and I am going to be so sad it's gone! Going straight from work to martial arts tonight and I'm not sure what I'll be eating before that. Trying to avoid falling back on the default tacos from Taco Bell around the corner. Maybe I'll get a Turkey-Bacon-Cheddar flatbread from dunkin donuts, those are tasty and 2/2. I haven't been enjoying tacos lately, anyway.
We have a hurricane on the way this weekend, so I'm going to try and do our grocery shopping tonight (usually we go Sundays). If my husband and I can decide what we want. His stomach has been bothering him this week so he's not that interested in talking food.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Learn from my (Traumatic) Experience
This weekend we thought Macaroni & Cheese sounded amazing to go along with a drop in temperature and some stormy nights.
So we picked up the ingredients, decided on our pasta (a corn/rice based penne) and whipped up the recipe on page 139 of the BFC book.
BLECH!!
I have never been so disappointed by Mac'n'Cheese in my life!
You know what salt tastes like? ....This was saltier!
We even added a cup each of broccoli and cauliflower hoping to cut the salinity of the dish (and also because there is WAY too much cheese in the recipe for the piddly amount of pasta it called for).
Gross. We suffered through a serving each, and threw out the rest.
So here's what we'll try the next time we attempt it (because it smells like fall out and we will want our Autumn carbs before bedding down to hibernate the winter away):
1) Don't add the salt seasoning to the recipe, just use black pepper
2) Instead of 2.5 cups of extra-sharp cheddar, use 1 cup of sharp cheddar and 1/4 cup something else more mild, like a Monterey Jack.
3) Leave out the parmesan cheese entirely, MAYBE sprinkle some on top, but probably not.
4) Add 2 cups broccoli to the recipe, mixed in.
5) Don't use panko/butter in the top layer, just extra shredded cheese and parsley
6) Use a smaller baking dish than 9 x 12! This would barely fill a square 9" pan, seriously.
Hope I've saved you all from making that one. Yuck! First recipe in the book we didn't totally love!
Now I need to figure out what to have for lunch today since I didn't want the leftovers. I'm thinking Chicken Piccata from Bertucci's. Need something AMAZING to counteract that nasty recipe.
Tonight I have class so I'll be having eggs and bacon before I go and some chocolate and Reddi Wip when I get home.
Oh, and speaking of exercise, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal tracker and just want to remind everyone to watch out! MyFP will give you back some carbs and sugars (along with everything else you track) if you log exercise! So don't go by the "remaining" if you use it to log your exercise, too. Other than that I love using it, especially to enter the ingredients of recipes and have it calculate the values of each serving for me. The mobile app has a barcode scanner that brings up packaged ingredients, FAST. Great Free app!
And thanks to everyone who commented on my before and after photos! I'm sorry I didn't show my face, but they were both taken with no make-up and some weird expressions as I remind my husband that he's over 6 feet and he needs to lower the camera to take photos of me. ;)
So we picked up the ingredients, decided on our pasta (a corn/rice based penne) and whipped up the recipe on page 139 of the BFC book.
BLECH!!
I have never been so disappointed by Mac'n'Cheese in my life!
You know what salt tastes like? ....This was saltier!
We even added a cup each of broccoli and cauliflower hoping to cut the salinity of the dish (and also because there is WAY too much cheese in the recipe for the piddly amount of pasta it called for).
Gross. We suffered through a serving each, and threw out the rest.
So here's what we'll try the next time we attempt it (because it smells like fall out and we will want our Autumn carbs before bedding down to hibernate the winter away):
1) Don't add the salt seasoning to the recipe, just use black pepper
2) Instead of 2.5 cups of extra-sharp cheddar, use 1 cup of sharp cheddar and 1/4 cup something else more mild, like a Monterey Jack.
3) Leave out the parmesan cheese entirely, MAYBE sprinkle some on top, but probably not.
4) Add 2 cups broccoli to the recipe, mixed in.
5) Don't use panko/butter in the top layer, just extra shredded cheese and parsley
6) Use a smaller baking dish than 9 x 12! This would barely fill a square 9" pan, seriously.
Hope I've saved you all from making that one. Yuck! First recipe in the book we didn't totally love!
Now I need to figure out what to have for lunch today since I didn't want the leftovers. I'm thinking Chicken Piccata from Bertucci's. Need something AMAZING to counteract that nasty recipe.
Tonight I have class so I'll be having eggs and bacon before I go and some chocolate and Reddi Wip when I get home.
Oh, and speaking of exercise, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal tracker and just want to remind everyone to watch out! MyFP will give you back some carbs and sugars (along with everything else you track) if you log exercise! So don't go by the "remaining" if you use it to log your exercise, too. Other than that I love using it, especially to enter the ingredients of recipes and have it calculate the values of each serving for me. The mobile app has a barcode scanner that brings up packaged ingredients, FAST. Great Free app!
And thanks to everyone who commented on my before and after photos! I'm sorry I didn't show my face, but they were both taken with no make-up and some weird expressions as I remind my husband that he's over 6 feet and he needs to lower the camera to take photos of me. ;)
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Before and Current Photos
I really can't believe the difference. I didn't think I was awful before but I certainly can't be proud to look at that before photo! My arms are "at rest" in both photos but what a change!
One of the things that I was constantly told as I started was "Oh, you don't need to diet!" Those are evil words that legitimize the urge to run back to the Ben & Jerry's display at the store, but I can look back and clearly say those were just nice things to say. Apparently required, too, as I heard them everywhere.
So that's 22 pounds difference. 18 more to go!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Can't stop cooking!
So.. the banana walnut muffins turned out very well!
Then Tuesday night I made another cake.. same as last time, but the mint version and with buttercream frosting:
Our plan is to eat the cake for a few days then crumble up the rest into a vanilla ice cream batter!
This morning I'm making waffles!
I've been craving waffles for a couple weeks, so I decided last night it was happening today.
I found this recipe for coconut flour waffles. Made them accidentally with 6tbsp of butter instead of four. Not sure if that's wholly responsible for the fact that they tasted just.like.madeleines. Amazing!
Want to try making Ebelskivers from this recipe next. Maybe with Lauren's not-tella recipe for the center!
By the way, I discovered that agave nectar is 2/3 c to the equivalent of 1c sugar, so if you ever need to substitute for a "healthy" recipe, start there! They also suggest you subtract 1oz of fluids for each 2/3c, so I imagine we would need to add that back in to use sugar alcohol powders and crystals. Luckily, ha ha, I used extra butter to make up for using xylitol. :P
Responding to Comments:
Sorry, we liked them far too much to pause for photos!
Then Tuesday night I made another cake.. same as last time, but the mint version and with buttercream frosting:
A little too minty for me honestly, but still very good!
This morning I'm making waffles!
I've been craving waffles for a couple weeks, so I decided last night it was happening today.
I found this recipe for coconut flour waffles. Made them accidentally with 6tbsp of butter instead of four. Not sure if that's wholly responsible for the fact that they tasted just.like.madeleines. Amazing!
Want to try making Ebelskivers from this recipe next. Maybe with Lauren's not-tella recipe for the center!
Here's a little change from my usual food photo scenery...
This is the whole batch, a serving is one waffle.
By the way, I discovered that agave nectar is 2/3 c to the equivalent of 1c sugar, so if you ever need to substitute for a "healthy" recipe, start there! They also suggest you subtract 1oz of fluids for each 2/3c, so I imagine we would need to add that back in to use sugar alcohol powders and crystals. Luckily, ha ha, I used extra butter to make up for using xylitol. :P
Responding to Comments:
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Scratch Saturday off the Calendar
I am really really naughty on Saturdays. It must have something to do with having the whole day to do with as we please (even though I always end up working), it leads to Chinese Food, Pizza, Cookies, and so on.
We managed to resist the Chinese Food, but we did have pizza and I had two pieces. No clue on the carb measurement, the family-owned restaurant couldn't tell me. It was a white pizza, though, with chicken and spinach, mozzerella and ricotta. So a couple sugars from the ricotta, and whatever was in the dough.
Then fresh baked Tollhouse cookies. Yup, no comment.
Then Blackberry schnapps and vanilla vodka. The schnapps had 8g sugar per 1oz, I don't know how much I had, I'm bad at eyeballing liquids. I had a 1:1 ratio in the bottom of a stemless wine glass, I'd say two fingers of that.
So there's my confession. We always get back to it on Sunday morning. My husband even threw out the leftover pizza so we wouldn't be tempted to 'not waste it'. Hopefully this weekend will be better, as I'm going to class that day (bo staff lesson PLUS regular martial arts training) and might feel motivated to keep up the good work. Hoping it doesn't impact the scale too much. My body had a serious "purge" yesterday after a return to the diet, so I'm hoping that was everything on its way out!
Sunday we made delicious "Cheater's Chowder" from a low carb recipe book I got. It uses Cauliflower and Turnips instead of potatoes. We ended up having to use parsnips because turnips aren't in season (I thought they were ALWAYS in season?), which added a touch more sugar, but all the ingredients rate a 1 on the glycemic index, so I'm not too worried and I'm calling it a 5/1 value per serving. It's delicious! My husband wasn't crazy about the resulting texture but I love it and I claimed all the leftovers!
Tonight we are making a chipotle marinade steak with a bearnaise sauce (and more chipotle sauce!) with asparagus on the side. I'm tempted to try the sweet chili green beans that Lauren just posted, but those seem like more of an Asian spicy flare. Maybe I can think of a way to adapt it and spice up the asparagus. I dunno, I really just like basic salt/pepper/garlicked asparagus. I suspect my husband will want something else on the side so I'm trying to think of ideas that won't bulk up the count.
Weigh in and reckoning tomorrow night. My stomach looked super flat this morning (I was admiring my abs after my shower) so I'm hoping my penance was waived this week.
We managed to resist the Chinese Food, but we did have pizza and I had two pieces. No clue on the carb measurement, the family-owned restaurant couldn't tell me. It was a white pizza, though, with chicken and spinach, mozzerella and ricotta. So a couple sugars from the ricotta, and whatever was in the dough.
Then fresh baked Tollhouse cookies. Yup, no comment.
Then Blackberry schnapps and vanilla vodka. The schnapps had 8g sugar per 1oz, I don't know how much I had, I'm bad at eyeballing liquids. I had a 1:1 ratio in the bottom of a stemless wine glass, I'd say two fingers of that.
So there's my confession. We always get back to it on Sunday morning. My husband even threw out the leftover pizza so we wouldn't be tempted to 'not waste it'. Hopefully this weekend will be better, as I'm going to class that day (bo staff lesson PLUS regular martial arts training) and might feel motivated to keep up the good work. Hoping it doesn't impact the scale too much. My body had a serious "purge" yesterday after a return to the diet, so I'm hoping that was everything on its way out!
Sunday we made delicious "Cheater's Chowder" from a low carb recipe book I got. It uses Cauliflower and Turnips instead of potatoes. We ended up having to use parsnips because turnips aren't in season (I thought they were ALWAYS in season?), which added a touch more sugar, but all the ingredients rate a 1 on the glycemic index, so I'm not too worried and I'm calling it a 5/1 value per serving. It's delicious! My husband wasn't crazy about the resulting texture but I love it and I claimed all the leftovers!
Tonight we are making a chipotle marinade steak with a bearnaise sauce (and more chipotle sauce!) with asparagus on the side. I'm tempted to try the sweet chili green beans that Lauren just posted, but those seem like more of an Asian spicy flare. Maybe I can think of a way to adapt it and spice up the asparagus. I dunno, I really just like basic salt/pepper/garlicked asparagus. I suspect my husband will want something else on the side so I'm trying to think of ideas that won't bulk up the count.
Weigh in and reckoning tomorrow night. My stomach looked super flat this morning (I was admiring my abs after my shower) so I'm hoping my penance was waived this week.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Up again
Weigh in was last night, and I'm up 3 pounds. Sigh! Chinese food and bagels had something to do with it, obviously, but I think other things are sneaking in somehow.
My husband and I have resolved to keep better track, and to always get a fresh count from our food packaging just to make sure we aren't playing 'telephone' with the counts gotten from previous use.
So today we are renewed (though yesterday we did really well just as it so happened, but today we have PURPOSE). Cheerios for breakfast, turkey and brown rice with some spring mix salad on the side. Dinner we are still trying to figure out, because I was going to go to Martial Arts tonight but we are having our belt promotion ceremony tomorrow and I don't have time to go four times this week so I'll stay home tonight. So what's for dinner? uhhhhh....
My husband and I have resolved to keep better track, and to always get a fresh count from our food packaging just to make sure we aren't playing 'telephone' with the counts gotten from previous use.
So today we are renewed (though yesterday we did really well just as it so happened, but today we have PURPOSE). Cheerios for breakfast, turkey and brown rice with some spring mix salad on the side. Dinner we are still trying to figure out, because I was going to go to Martial Arts tonight but we are having our belt promotion ceremony tomorrow and I don't have time to go four times this week so I'll stay home tonight. So what's for dinner? uhhhhh....
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