Did I mention that at my last weigh-in, despite taking off my 2-lb. sweater (this worked last time) I found I had lost only two pounds? Possibly this is why I have been somewhat discouraged and depressed the past few days. Not sure whether it was falling short on water intake, doing too many "mini-cheats" like a morsel of chicken skin, or what. Or maybe it was averaging out the 6-lb. loss of the week before. I am doing my best to stay positive, anyway.
It does not seem to be pre-period water-weight gain... this diet has apparently catapulted me into menopause. I should have had two periods since I started, and I haven't even had spotting. I was having hot-flash-like spells earlier, but they've gone away again.
Another thing bothering me is boredom with the vegetables I am eating. To combat that, the other day when I went shopping I decided to buy one vegetable I had never eaten before, or at least cooked (I might have eaten it as part of a restaurant meal I can't remember). Unfortunately the Huntsville FreshCo doesn't have that big a selection... a few weird ones they brought in right after they did their big facelife (and pricelift) are gone now, victims of lack of interest. I did however find Belgian endive, so I grabbed one.
Casting about on the net I found this soup which I saw could be adapted. Here is my version (no food processor required):
1 packet IP Cream of Chicken Soup, mixed the usual way
1 Belgian endive, minced
3 green onions, minced
1 portabello mushroom, minced
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 squirt of lemon juice
sea salt and pepper to taste
Saute all ingredients but the soup together until they're a little cooked, not mush. Add the soup. In the original version, you sprinkle it with chopped chives (I was too lazy) and garnish it with a sprig of dill floating on one leaf of the endive like a boat for a very elegant look. All IP compliant, so go for it.
A day or two before that my lunch IP soup was Tomato Basil. On first try, I didn't like it much... I should have known, I've never liked tomato soups. I was hoping the basil would make it palatable. I think perhaps they don't add enough, so perhaps that would help. However what I found on this last try was that it is saved entirely by the addition of half a tablespoon of chopped garlic and about a teaspoon of curry powder. Mwah!
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Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Another keeper soup (Day 31)
Last weigh-in before this one I was in a big hurry and so I made my choices for lunch easy by grabbing a full box (seven days' worth) of cream of chicken soup. (You buy the IP foods right there in the clinic; that's how they make their bucks.)
Accordingly I've been feeling compelled to come up with ways to make chicken soup different each day and have tried all sorts of things. Here's the latest:
1 packet IP Cream of Chicken Soup, mixed in your shaker as usual
1 fistful of chives ripped off one of the clumps taking over your garden (to feel virtuous, count this as "weeding") (store-bought will do) finely chopped
broccoli \
cauliflower -- 2 cups
portabello mushrooms /
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
sea salt & pepper to taste
Sautee broccoli and cauliflower in a little chicken stock until tender. Add mushrooms, chives and other seasonings, plus more stock if necessary, frying until garlic is cooked. Add soup, mix and serve. Non-IP version: use canned cream of chicken soup, or chicken stock and heavy cream.
--
Accordingly I've been feeling compelled to come up with ways to make chicken soup different each day and have tried all sorts of things. Here's the latest:
1 packet IP Cream of Chicken Soup, mixed in your shaker as usual
1 fistful of chives ripped off one of the clumps taking over your garden (to feel virtuous, count this as "weeding") (store-bought will do) finely chopped
broccoli \
cauliflower -- 2 cups
portabello mushrooms /
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
sea salt & pepper to taste
Sautee broccoli and cauliflower in a little chicken stock until tender. Add mushrooms, chives and other seasonings, plus more stock if necessary, frying until garlic is cooked. Add soup, mix and serve. Non-IP version: use canned cream of chicken soup, or chicken stock and heavy cream.
--
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Breakfast keeper (Day 30)
Does zucchini work in an omelet? Only one way to find out.
(BTW, I'm prettying it up to call the dish as I cook it an omelet. The IP call the protein package that, and Marv and Melissa certainly cook it that way. Mad in a hurry as I always am, though, it turns into scrambled eggs pretty quick.)
The mushroom/green pepper omelet has become a morning routine, btw. For some reason, in the morning I like to know what I am going to eat without any thought or planning. I do at lunchtime too, actually. Breakfast I have attained... lunch, not so easy. That's the hardest meal of the three.
Anyway, I decided I wanted to mix the routine up a bit today, and thus found zucchini does work, quite nicely, at least as well as green pepper.
So:
IP Complaint Zucchini omelet
1 packet IP Plain Omelet
1 tsp olive oil
about 2 1/2 inches of an average-sized zucchini, finely diced
3 white mushrooms, finely diced
1 1/2 tbsp chopped pickled roasted red peppers
1 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
sea salt & fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Start sauteeing the zucch, shrooms and peppers in the oil. Mix omelet package with 100 ml water plus salt, to have omelet prepared. When veggies are close to done, add pepper and garlic. Once the garlic is cooked, pour in the omelet mixture. Cook as omelet or scrambled. Serves one who likes looking at herself in the mirror.
Non-IP version, very simple: substitute two well-beaten eggs for the IP packet.
--
(BTW, I'm prettying it up to call the dish as I cook it an omelet. The IP call the protein package that, and Marv and Melissa certainly cook it that way. Mad in a hurry as I always am, though, it turns into scrambled eggs pretty quick.)
The mushroom/green pepper omelet has become a morning routine, btw. For some reason, in the morning I like to know what I am going to eat without any thought or planning. I do at lunchtime too, actually. Breakfast I have attained... lunch, not so easy. That's the hardest meal of the three.
Anyway, I decided I wanted to mix the routine up a bit today, and thus found zucchini does work, quite nicely, at least as well as green pepper.
So:
IP Complaint Zucchini omelet
1 packet IP Plain Omelet
1 tsp olive oil
about 2 1/2 inches of an average-sized zucchini, finely diced
3 white mushrooms, finely diced
1 1/2 tbsp chopped pickled roasted red peppers
1 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
sea salt & fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Start sauteeing the zucch, shrooms and peppers in the oil. Mix omelet package with 100 ml water plus salt, to have omelet prepared. When veggies are close to done, add pepper and garlic. Once the garlic is cooked, pour in the omelet mixture. Cook as omelet or scrambled. Serves one who likes looking at herself in the mirror.
Non-IP version, very simple: substitute two well-beaten eggs for the IP packet.
--
Friday, May 4, 2012
Weigh-in 4 and new product (Day 28)
This time I asked the ladies at MediSpa (Jane, who is leaving for a new job after today and Donna, whom she was training and who will be working with me from now on) to make a photocopy of my progress chart.
Thus I can tell you that in four weeks on the diet I have lost:
I counted this past week (loss of six lbs.) as a test of how it will go for me now that I am past the start, past the two weekends away in a row (though Melissa and Marv totally took care of my IP needs while I was with them helping out at Wisdom Toronto 2012 Weekend One)... and into the long middle stretch. I am confident now that I can average losing five a week, which I wasn't sure about after last week and the week before.
At five a week and now down to 80 to lose, that's 16 weeks... end of August.
Or I might decide that 143, which is about where I'd end up... isn't enough, and take off some more by going into the fall... I'm going to see how it goes, how I look, and where I want to go.
The stunning thing here is... the feeling of being in control of this.
At today's weigh-in Jane and Donna pointed out a new IP product to me -- Chicken a la King pottage. So I grabbed a packet, said I'd try it, and promised them a review.... here goes.
The first thing you need to know is how to prepare it, because that might not be on your preparation cheat sheet; it's not on mine. Mix 200 ml of cold water with the packet in your shaker, shake until smooth, heat in the microwave 1-2 minutes, then let stand. The letting stand part is important, because the pottage has bits of chicken and vegetable in it (including corn! Yes! There's CORN in this!). They are in a desiccated form for packaging and so you have to let the water work its way in, or else the veggies are like little stones and the chicken like chips of wood. In fact be careful to mash apart any lumps of them... I didn't do that with one that got stuck in my ball and a fairly big hunk of chicken was, shall we say, tough. I'd say let it stand 5 minutes at least. I suggest mixing and heating the Chicken a la King first then chopping and cooking your veggies while it stands; you can always throw it back in the nuker for another minute if it gets too cold.
The flavour is similar to Cream of Chicken (and of course I couldn't leave it alone, adding garlic powder and Chinese/Malaysian curry powder, though I'd say it needs no salt)... pleasant, slightly meaty and warming, nice for a chill day. (In summer I know I am going to switch to the drinks like Pina Colada, Peach Mango etc.) It's those little pieces that make it, however, adding variety and texture, and, of course... just a wee soupçon of, bwaahahahahahaaa, CHEAT! When you're on a diet, you've got to love that. I've had lots of chicken since I started but not a speck of corn. I guess the thinking here is that it's such a tiny amount it's okay.
Will I eat it again? Sure, with the above caveat. Recommended.
--
Thus I can tell you that in four weeks on the diet I have lost:
- 6 inches around the chest
- 8 inches around the waist
- 1 inch around the hips
- 1.5 inches around the upper arm
- 0 inches around the thigh (I don't hold weight on my thighs)
I counted this past week (loss of six lbs.) as a test of how it will go for me now that I am past the start, past the two weekends away in a row (though Melissa and Marv totally took care of my IP needs while I was with them helping out at Wisdom Toronto 2012 Weekend One)... and into the long middle stretch. I am confident now that I can average losing five a week, which I wasn't sure about after last week and the week before.
At five a week and now down to 80 to lose, that's 16 weeks... end of August.
Or I might decide that 143, which is about where I'd end up... isn't enough, and take off some more by going into the fall... I'm going to see how it goes, how I look, and where I want to go.
The stunning thing here is... the feeling of being in control of this.
§
At today's weigh-in Jane and Donna pointed out a new IP product to me -- Chicken a la King pottage. So I grabbed a packet, said I'd try it, and promised them a review.... here goes.
The first thing you need to know is how to prepare it, because that might not be on your preparation cheat sheet; it's not on mine. Mix 200 ml of cold water with the packet in your shaker, shake until smooth, heat in the microwave 1-2 minutes, then let stand. The letting stand part is important, because the pottage has bits of chicken and vegetable in it (including corn! Yes! There's CORN in this!). They are in a desiccated form for packaging and so you have to let the water work its way in, or else the veggies are like little stones and the chicken like chips of wood. In fact be careful to mash apart any lumps of them... I didn't do that with one that got stuck in my ball and a fairly big hunk of chicken was, shall we say, tough. I'd say let it stand 5 minutes at least. I suggest mixing and heating the Chicken a la King first then chopping and cooking your veggies while it stands; you can always throw it back in the nuker for another minute if it gets too cold.
The flavour is similar to Cream of Chicken (and of course I couldn't leave it alone, adding garlic powder and Chinese/Malaysian curry powder, though I'd say it needs no salt)... pleasant, slightly meaty and warming, nice for a chill day. (In summer I know I am going to switch to the drinks like Pina Colada, Peach Mango etc.) It's those little pieces that make it, however, adding variety and texture, and, of course... just a wee soupçon of, bwaahahahahahaaa, CHEAT! When you're on a diet, you've got to love that. I've had lots of chicken since I started but not a speck of corn. I guess the thinking here is that it's such a tiny amount it's okay.
Will I eat it again? Sure, with the above caveat. Recommended.
--
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Bad day yesterday (Day 26)
I mean, today is Day 26. Yesterday, the bad day, was Day 25. It seemed like I was hungry all the time, from the moment after I finished a meal and felt it was not enough, to just before the next meal when I felt it couldn't possibly be. I was somewhat depressed too. I think the hunger was emotional. I get that. This diet may not be for those who are susceptible to emotional hunger, unless they have some way of dealing with the emotion.
Anyway, today I'm fine again and... mmmmmmm! I think I'll say this one's a keeper.
The flavour of cilantro seems to be something you either love or hate. Whichever is the case with you will definitely apply to this filling, delicately green-coloured soup.
IP Compliant Chicken Veggie Cilantro Soup
1 packet Ideal Protein Chicken-Flavoured Soup
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder or cube
half a green pepper
3 green onions
1 baby bok choi
3 tbsp shredded radicchio
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp finely-chopped fresh cilantro
(Yes--you are reading that correctly--NO salt to taste, NO pepper. Can you imagine? I never do that!)
Chop all ingredients that aren't already chopped except the IP soup packet into bite-sized pieces, set in about 2 cups of water to simmer. Meanwhile, mix the packet with water in your shaker as usual. (I made the mistake of dumping it straight into the soup, giving myself the painstaking task of getting rid of all the lumps by mashing them against the side of the pan.) Bring up to a simmer again but not to a boil or even simmer too long, or the soup mix will curdle. I think this would work with many different vegetables, really... cauliflower or broccoli (though they need longer to cook so make sure they're tender before adding the IP soup), mushrooms (I was low or I would have put some in for sure)... even lettuce. If you find radicchio too bitter, don't put it in. The crucial aspects are the IP packet's seasoning, the garlic and the cilantro.
Non-IP-compliant: double the chicken bouillon and add a quarter cup of heavy cream.
--
Anyway, today I'm fine again and... mmmmmmm! I think I'll say this one's a keeper.
The flavour of cilantro seems to be something you either love or hate. Whichever is the case with you will definitely apply to this filling, delicately green-coloured soup.
IP Compliant Chicken Veggie Cilantro Soup
1 packet Ideal Protein Chicken-Flavoured Soup
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder or cube
half a green pepper
3 green onions
1 baby bok choi
3 tbsp shredded radicchio
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp finely-chopped fresh cilantro
(Yes--you are reading that correctly--NO salt to taste, NO pepper. Can you imagine? I never do that!)
Chop all ingredients that aren't already chopped except the IP soup packet into bite-sized pieces, set in about 2 cups of water to simmer. Meanwhile, mix the packet with water in your shaker as usual. (I made the mistake of dumping it straight into the soup, giving myself the painstaking task of getting rid of all the lumps by mashing them against the side of the pan.) Bring up to a simmer again but not to a boil or even simmer too long, or the soup mix will curdle. I think this would work with many different vegetables, really... cauliflower or broccoli (though they need longer to cook so make sure they're tender before adding the IP soup), mushrooms (I was low or I would have put some in for sure)... even lettuce. If you find radicchio too bitter, don't put it in. The crucial aspects are the IP packet's seasoning, the garlic and the cilantro.
Non-IP-compliant: double the chicken bouillon and add a quarter cup of heavy cream.
--
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