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:

• 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)

So... you can see why the difference is now visible.

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.

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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.

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