Panettone and Holiday Weight Gain
Ah... 'Tis the Season, indeed.
227.4, this morning. Christmas - the gift that keeps on giving! And giving...
It's really been a yo-yo two weeks. It started with Christmas Cookie Baking at my sister's house, going out to dinner, still not at the gym, too damned cold outside to do anything... And then getting candy in the mail from friends! 2 pounds of Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy from Atlantic City. A tin of Almond Roca.
While I've gained back a few pounds, I saw my Primary Care Dr on Monday for a 6-month follow-up, and I was actually down almost 25 pounds from my appointment in June. Not too shabby!
So... as any red-blooded foodaholic would do, I made a Panettone, today! It's a 2-day process. I started yesterday!
Panettone eluded me for years. It was one bread that was almost there - but not quite. Last year I finally nailed it. This year was even better!
I'm not entirely sure where I was going wrong, but time, perseverance, and pure luck have finally played out. Not to mention having a 95°F proofing setting in the oven!
Feathery light, soft, and delicate. Perfection in a 7" paper baking mold.
And just a few calories. The entire recipe is 5405 kcal - five thousand, four hundred, and five calories!
I sliced 2 pieces for me and Victor - 1/8th each - 676 kcal. That's not leaving me much for dinner, tonight. But every feathery bite was worth it.
It is just so much better than the packaged panettone I have bought for years. And, while it does take a bit of time, the actual recipe is quite easy and straightforward.
Panettone
Fruit
- 300gr mixed dried fruits (currants, raisins, cranberries, candied lemon and orange peel, dried cherries, or any combination)
- 6 tablespoons brandy
Dough
- 1 1/2 tbsp rapid-rise yeast
- 5 ounces 98°F milk
- 50gr (1/4 cup) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia extract
- 500gr (4 cups) bread flour
- 5gr salt
- 5 large eggs
- 255gr unsalted butter, at room temperature
Place dried fruits in bowl, add liquor, cover and keep at room temp overnight.
Mix sugar with barely warm milk. Add flavorings and yeast and set aside.
Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.
Add the eggs a couple at a time. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to smooth out.
Cut the softened butter into 1 tbsp chunks and add the butter a piece at a time, mixing it in fully before adding more. Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more. It should be glossy and satiny. The dough will be sticky.
Butter a large bowl and scrape dough into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The following morning, strain the soaking fruit.
Place dough on a lightly floured counter and spread out into a rectangular shape.
Place half of the fruit onto half of the spread-out dough. Fold the dough over the fruit and fold over, again. Pat out, again, add the remaining fruit, fold several times and then form into a ball.
Butter a 7″ panettone mold or paper.
Add the dough ball, lightly cover, and allow to rise for about 3 hours – or until the dough is rising well above the rim.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 300° F and bake for an additional 45 to 55 minutes.
Cool completely before slicing.
It's worth it!
It's Week 11
I think I missed Week 10. No matter - there's a net loss from Week 9 - I'm at 223.3 lbs.
Slow and steady wins the race, so I'm taking it slow and steady.
It's great that it's soup season! I can pack nutrition-dense ingredients into a lower-calorie - and satisfying - meal quite easily.
I don't often make soups from recipes, but tonight's soup was one I found on Eating Well. Naturally, I played with the recipe, but here's their version. Play as you will.
Smoky Chicken-Chile Soup with Tamale Dumplings
adapted from Eating Well
Dumplings
- 1 cup masa harina
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin or chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Soup
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin or chili powder
- 3 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 (15 ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 cup quartered and sliced zucchini
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- Chopped cilantro & lime wedges for garnish
To prepare dumplings: Combine masa harina, 1/2 cup broth, cheese, 2 tablespoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon cumin (or chili powder) and salt in a medium bowl. Roll the dough into 18 round dumplings, using a scant 1 tablespoon for each.
To prepare soup: Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cumin (or chili powder) and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes with their juices, chicken, corn and chipotle to taste. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Add the dumplings and zucchini. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until the dumplings and zucchini are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add lime juice. Serve the soup topped with cilantro, with lime wedges on the side, if desired.
The dumplings were good, but I think a stronger cheese might have been better - or, maybe a bit more cumin to jazz them up a bit... The soup, itself, was really rich and flavorful.
A keeper!
Traditional Fruitcake - Sorta
There are so many variations on a Fruitcake, that it's nigh-on impossible to call one traditional. I mean... traditional from the 1600s? Traditional from a can?
The only thing really traditional about this is it has fruit and nuts - and it's dark.
As I have stated before, I like fruitcake - in all its guises. Homemade is the best, but I'll settle for a slice from a can if that's all there is.
Today's fruitcake is a mishmash of recipes from lord knows where... I have no fewer than six fruitcake recipes on the site, and all of them have been tweaked at least twice.
Fruitcake
- 2 cups mixed diced glacéed fruits
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 3/4 cup brandy
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 1/2 cups chopped assorted nuts
- 1/4 cup peach jam mixed with 1 tbsp brandy
In a large bowl combine all of the fruits with the rum and let macerate several hours or overnight.
Line the bottom of a well-buttered 9 1/2-inch springform pan with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper. Into a small bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, and the spices.
Cream together the butter and the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy and beat in 4 of the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Drain the fruit mixture well and mix the juices into the batter.
Stir the flour mixture into the batter, one fourth at a time, stir in the fruit mixture, the almond meal, and the nuts, stirring until the mixture is just combined, and turn the batter out into the prepared pan.
Put 2 loaf pans, each filled with hot water, in a preheated 300°F. oven and put the springform pan between them. Bake the cake for 1 hour, brush the top with the remaining egg, beaten lightly, and bake the cake for 1 hour more. While the cake is baking, in a saucepan melt the peach jam with the remaining 1 tablespoon rum over moderate heat, bring the mixture to a boil, and strain it through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids.
Cool cake in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes. Remove from pan. Brush the top of the cake with glaze.
Wrap in cheesecloth and soak with brandy. Store in a cool, dry place.
I have made this with rum, whiskey, and brandy. Today was brandy. I have also switched out the dried fruits and nuts. Today's nuts were pistachios and walnuts.
As soon as it cools, it will get wrapped and sit in a nice cupboard waiting for Christmas Eve...
Unless we decide to dive in earlier, that is...
Apricot Macadamia Nut Fruitcake
I started a bit of holiday baking, today...
A bit, because we do not do the insane baking of years past.
We had a lot of fun doing it, but, at the same time, it was all we did for weeks before Christmas.
It's more fun being retired and doing a few things...
Today, was Apricot Macadamia Nut Fruitcake.
The original recipe came from Bon Appetit magazine years and years ago. It's totally untraditional and totally delicious.
I made just one - gone are the days of making 4x the recipe - and set it off to age in some brandy.
Apricot Macadamia Nut Fruitcake
adapted from Bon Appetit
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons apricot brandy
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups flour, sifted twice
- 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup macadamia nuts, lightly chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 275°F. Grease and flour a 6 cup Bundt pan or 8″ round cake pan and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat yolks in small bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.
Combine milk, brandy and vanilla and add alternately with flour in 4 batches, mixing well after each addition. Stir in apricots, raisins and macadamia nuts.
Whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into batter. Spoon into prepared pan and bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean (about 2 1/4 hours). Cool completely in pan.
Sprinkle a bit of apricot brandy on top and serve. Cakes can also be made in advance, wrapped in apricot brandy-soaked cheesecloth, wrapped in plastic and aged. YUM!!
I'm also going to make a traditional fruitcake, this week. I'm just about the only person I know who likes it, but that's okay...
I think we may start the Christmas Decorating tomorrow... Back in our youth, it was always the day-After-Thanksgiving-Decorate-A-Thon. We've slowed down there a bit, as well.
On a positive note, we did get the Christmas cards in the mail.
Food, Glorious Food
226.4lbs the morning after Thanksgiving. Not bad, considering it was non-stop eating from 2pm until sometime past 8pm. And what glorious eating it was! It’s really great to be a part of a family that really knows how to throw a holiday feast!
I’m definitely not beating myself up for gaining a pound this week. We ended up going out to dinner twice in 4 days, to start. Our other meals were realistic, so only a pound is pretty good, considering. Besides… I can lose the weight. What I never want to lose is the fun we have when we get together – it’s worth a bit of over-indulgence!
We started off at 2pm with hors d’oeuvres… Naturally, I didn’t get any pictures of the table-full of fabulous finger foods.
Italian sausages braised in white wine… olive cheese puffs, cheese toasties, a cheese board with cambozola, gouda, and another – my mind is blanking… stuffed mushrooms… I know there was more – I wish I had taken pictures.
I did take pictures of the dinner table, though.
We had two turkeys, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, brussels sprouts with onion and bacon, bacon-topped macaroni and cheese, a fantastic salad, homemade and canned cranberry sauces, and homemade dinner rolls.
And then – when I could barely waddle – we started on desserts.
Wednesday was Finley and Elise’s 2nd birthday, so we also celebrated them with Birthday Cake and Birthday Cupcakes.
Then we had mini pumpkin tarts, mini walnut tarts, and ginger cookies.
Two-bite delights!
And speaking of delights, here’s Grandpa reading a story to Finley with a Birthday Bow on his head.
A perfect day.
And I only gained a pound!
Frittata Di Riso & Pork Chops with Pears and Onions
Oops! I gained a pound!
I'm sure it has nothing to do with being sedentary with a bum foot and eating like I'm still going to the gym. Yeah. Right.
Oh, well... I need to be a bit better before the big over-eating day on Thursday. Next Friday's weigh-in will be interesting, for sure!
Last night's dinner started off with a recipe I found on La Cucina Italiana - in Italian, of course. Conde Nast stopped the English issue several years ago - bastards that they are. It sounded intriguing - and easy.
The recipe was for 4 servings, so I cut it in half and made two individual tarts. I think the recipe should have been for 8 - we both ate half and were more than satisfied. You definitely want to use a good parmesan, here.
Fritatta Di Riso
adapted from La Cucina Italiana
- 500 g milk
- 150 g arborio rice
- 60g grana padano / parmesan
- 6 eggs, separated
- butter
- salt
Bring the milk to a boil. Boil the rice in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and finish cooking in boiling milk for about 15 minutes.
Put the cooked rice in a cold bowl, add a knob of butter and stir vigorously; When the mixture is lukewarm, incorporate the egg yolks, one at a time, the parmesan cheese and finally the egg whites, whipped until stiff.
Pour the mixture into a cake tin with a diameter of 22 cm/8" lined with baking paper.
Bake at 180 °C for about 1 hour. Here is your rice omelette ready.
I also made an old standby - Pork Chops with Pears and Red Onions - a Lidia recipe from 20+ years ago.
I foolishly added potatoes to the recipe because I have been doing that for years. I definitely didn't need them last night.
As with most recipes, I tend to make my own tweaks – and this one is no different. The base is fabulous, but there are a couple of steps I don’t bother with.
First, is making the balsamic reduction. I generally don’t have the cheap balsamic in the house – but I do have a really good 15 year aged balsamic I used for drizzling on top when it was time to serve.
Next is finally realizing that bone-in pork chops are the only chops worth buying. Boneless tend to be too tough and inconsistent. Also, I don’t peel my pears. I don’t peel a lot of fruits and vegetables – lots of texture and nutrients, there.
Lidia’s Pork Chops with Pears and Caramelized Red Onions
- 2 cups balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 center-cut pork rib chops, each about 12 ounces and 1 1/4 inches thick
- 1 large red onion, cut into 8 wedges
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 ripe but firm Bosc pears, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 wedges
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
In a small saucepan, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat to a gentle boil and boil until the vinegar is syrupy and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet with a flameproof handle over medium-high heat. Whack garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and scatter over oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until brown, about 2 minutes. Lay the pork chops in and cook until the underside is browned, about 6 minutes. Remove and reserve the garlic cloves if they become more than deep golden brown before the chops are fully browned.
Turn the chops, tuck the onion wedges into the pan and continue cooking until the second side of the chops is browned, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. About halfway through browning the second side, tuck the pear wedges in between the chops.
Stir the red wine vinegar and honey together in a small bowl, until the honey is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the skillet and bring to a vigorous boil. Return the garlic cloves to the skillet if you have removed them. Place the skillet in the oven and roast until onions and pears are tender and the juices from the pork are a rich, syrupy dark brown, about 30 minutes. Once or twice during roasting, turn the chops and redistribute the onions and pears. Handle the skillet carefully — it will be extremely hot.
Remove skillet from the oven. Place a chop in the center of each warmed serving plate. Check the seasoning of the onion-pear mixture, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Spoon the pears, onion and pan juices around the chops. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar reduction around the edge of the plate.
Makes 4 servings.
It was way too much food and neither of us cleaned our plates.
Back to being a little more realistic in our portions - until Thursday!
Leftovers Reworked
Wednesday, I made a big pot of soup and had Phoebe and Nancy over for dinner and cards. It's definitely getting to be soup weather - and we do like soup around here.
Soups are generally something I just sorta make with whatever's in the house - even though I have so many soup recipes it's ridiculous. Wednesday's soup started off as one of those recipes.
It was an Italian Wild Rice Soup from Eating Well magazine.
Naturally, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but it was a great foundation.
I had planned to make an Alaskan Cod something-or-other for dinner last night, and Victor suggested poaching it in some of the leftover soup! An excellent idea!
It was the original 20-minute-start-to-finish-meal. And it was really really good!
I simply heated the soup is a large skillet, placed the fish in, covered the skillet, and let it poach for about 10 minutes. The fish cooked to perfection. it was light, flaky, and had great flavor. I added a bit of Italian hot sauce and enjoyed every bite.
Here's the soup the following day - nice and thick, hearty and flavorful!
Italian Wild Rice Soup
adapted from Eating Well Magazine
- 1 pound ground pork
- 3 qts beef broth
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 leek sliced
- 1 fennel buld, chopped
- 3/4 cup wild rice
- 1/2 cup wild rice blend
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning, crushed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- S&P to taste
- 1.2 tsp - or more crushed red pepper
- 1 (9 ounce) package fresh spinach, chopped
- 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
In a large dutch oven or soup pot, cook pork over medium heat until no longer pink.
Add onion and fennel and cook until onion is wilted. Stir in garlic.
Add tomato paste and cook a bit to remove the raw tomato flavor.
Add broth, tomatoes, rice, and seasonings. Bring to a boil.
Add rice, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is tender - about 45 minutes.
When soup is ready, stir in spinach or other tender greens of your choice.
Serve topped with cheese.
The original recipe was a crock pot recipe - something I do not own. I reworked it for stovetop.
Beef Stew
I am spoiled. Totally and completely spoiled.
And I love it!
Having my foot in a boot has been a real inconvenience. My foot doesn't really hurt as much as it's just sore. But Dr Victor has decried that I follow Drs orders and stay off of it as much as possible until my appointment with the orthopedist on Tuesday.
That means he's been doing all of the driving, shopping, and cooking - a total role-reversal for us.
I have to admit that it's been a bit strange, but Victor is a really really good cook, so I have not been suffering in the least!
I had actually planned on making dinner tonight - beef stew - because most of the time is unattended. A bit of prep, into a low oven, dinner is served.
Victor had other ideas.
He decided he was going to make the stew tonight, because he has never made a beef stew in his life! Knowing it was futile to argue and always ready for something new, I told him to go for it!
And am I ever glad he did!
He grabbed a recipe from the NY Times cooking section and went to work. Or, rather, he read through the recipe and then made his own version. He added some anchovy sauce we have, tomato paste... lots of red wine... all of those things that you won't taste individually, but add depth to the entire dish. It came out fanfrikkentastick!
Old Fashioned Beef Stew
adapted from the NY Times
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound beef stewing meat, trimmed and cut into inch cubes
- 5 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 cup red wine
- 3½ cups beef broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch rounds
- 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
- 2 teaspoons salt
Combine the flour and pepper in a bowl, add the beef and toss to coat well. Heat 3 teaspoons of the oil in a large pot. Add the beef a few pieces at a time; do not overcrowd. Cook, turning the pieces until beef is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch; add more oil as needed between batches.
Remove the beef from the pot and add the vinegar and wine. Cook over medium-high heat, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the beef, beef broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
Cover and cook, skimming broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1½ hours. Add the onions and carrots and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more. Add broth or water if the stew is dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In the immortal words of my sister, Eileen... my stomach is smiling.
And it will be smiling tomorrow at lunch!
Checking In Week 8
It's Friday, again.
Methinks I'm going to have to change my check-in date to Friday. Wednesday comes and goes without me thinking of it.
Since my last missive, I've been back to the Dr., now have a boot, and an appointment with an Orthopedist on Tuesday. The foot is still being obstinate.
How typical.
The boot itself is pretty slick - lots of parts, you can pump it up to make it properly snug, and it really does fit well - but it's not the most comfortable thing in the world... I kinda feel like a lopsided Herman Munster trying to get from Point A to Point B. If I had my druthers, I'd be barefoot most of the time.
The nurse who did the fitting was fun. I asked her if she had something thigh-high in red leather and without missing a beat replied, "To match the rest of your outfits?" She was fun.
So... obviously, no gym.
It hasn't stopped me from dropping weight, though. I weighed in this morning at 224.4 pounds. This quick weight loss is definitely not sustainable, but I am eating well, eating 3 good meals a day, not snacking, and eating my popsicles for dessert.
Most days I'm coming in slightly under/over my 1840 kcal/day, but I'm not depriving myself. I eat Fage 5% whole milk yogurt for breakfast with a banana, lunch is a sandwich with chips or leftovers from the previous night's dinner, and dinner is a nicely-balanced meal.
Victor has been cooking all week because I'm a gimp - and it has been fantastic! Last night was a marinated pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and broccoli - cooked in the marinade. Lunch was a sandwich of the leftover pork on a Dutch Crunch roll with some Kettle Chips. I do weigh these things out and 56 grams of Kettle Chips is a LOT!
We've also had butternut squash ravioli in a homemade pesto sauce, sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions on homemade rolls, shepherd's pie - made the right way with ground lamb, breaded pork chops and baked potatoes... Victor is a really, really good cook!
We ain't starving and my stomach is smiling!
And the gym is pretty much on hiatus until after the first of the new year...
See ya Friday - if not before...
Braised Beef and Polenta
It's been a lazy few days around here. Lots of rain, World Series to watch, slight fracture to my foot keeping me close to home... We're midway through Fall and it's beginning to show.
Food-wise, it's one of my favorite times of the year. Soups and stews and casseroles are starting to tell me to cook them. It's almost time to start baking bread in earnest.
If I can't be outside enjoying the weather, I can be inside enjoying the kitchen.
I do like seasonal cooking. My cravings for stews make way for cravings for salads - heavier foods to lighter foods.
I'm really glad I started this Pre-Diabetic Plan back in September - even if I'm not in the official program. This year, I am doing my best to make those heavier foods a bit lighter.
Polenta is a perfect case in point. For years, I have made polenta with whole milk, butter, and cheese. Cook the polenta in the milk, add shredded cheese close to the end, and then a few pats of butter stirred in for even more flavor and creaminess. It's absolutely delicious - and about 530 calories per serving.
For a while now, I've been making it with water, no added cheese, and a tablespoon of butter added at the end. Absolutely delicious - and 225 calories for that generous serving. What I missed by making it as rich as I did, was the actual flavor of the corn. What a concept! Not saying I'll never make it like that, again, but it won't be for everyday dinner.
Atop the polenta was a really simple braised beef I made with 12 ounces of top round steak, a few mini-peppers, half an onion, a cup of red wine, and a jar of Victor's homemade pasta sauce.
I browned the steak, added the peppers and onion, cooked them a bit, added the wine and reduced it by half, and then added the sauce.
I covered the pan and placed it in a 300°F oven for about 3 hours. I then shredded the meat, stirred everything together, and dinner was served!
Really simple and a great meal for watching the rain fall.
Checking In Week 7
I know, I know...
I said I would be checking in on Wednesdays and today is Friday.
Naturally, I have excuses. Phillies baseball, of course. Rooting for them in the World Series has filled up a few hours of my time - not necessarily the hours I would generally be blogging, mind you - but I do have that knack for justifying things.
The second is I seem to have a slight fracture in my right foot.
Painful swelling, Urgent Care, and X-Rays later, it seems I most likely overdid it on the leg press. Ooopsie!
I passed on the boot, have kept it elevated, watched it change all sorts of fun colors, take my aspirin - sadly, the Dr didn't think Tramadol was necessary - and otherwise hobble around the house.
I missed this week with the trainer and will miss next week, as well. I won't miss the leg press, however. It's out of the repertoire.
The lack of exercise didn't stop me from losing weight, however! I weighed in at 229.8 pounds on Wednesday, November 1st! 2.6 pounds is a little aggressive for a week - but only a little. I feel good and that's the important thing.
That, and the fact that I fit into a pair of Levi 501's I've had forever and have never been able to wear.
We're eating well... and other than Friday night - for the first game of the Series when I totally overindulged - I'm staying within my 1840 kcal allotment.
- Jersey Mike's Subs
- Chicken Soup
- Rigatoni and Meatballs
- Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
- Kielbasa with Beans and Rice
Plain Greek yogurt and a banana most days for breakfast - mixing it up with steel cut oatmeal or maybe a couple of eggs - and smaller portions of leftovers for lunch - or a maybe a sandwich and chips. I'm definitely not starving.
I'm going to try and do some light exercises at home, but I find that in the house I'm a total sluggo - my lack of motivation is truly impressive.
Next week will tell the tale of whether I succeeded - or not.
Pre-Diabetes Program
There's good news and there's bad news... typical in life, eh?!?
The good news is I've lost a bit of weight. The bad news is the program has been delayed - again.
To say that I'm a bit pissed is an understatement. To postpone something once is semi-understandable. To postpone something twice - the night before, I might add - is inexcusable. This postponement was because people dropped out after the first postponement, and they no longer have the requisite minimum of 8 people to run the cohort. The newest potential start date is now November 16th. And that's assuming, I guess, that they can miraculously find more people between now and then. I think I'm going to pass.
Back to the good news...
On September 14th - when I was first officially signed up and had my meet and greet meeting - I weighed in at 240 pounds. This morning, six weeks later, I weigh 232.4.
I've been going to the gym, seeing my Physical Therapist, eating better, moving more, and feeling great. I signed up for 8 sessions with a Personal Trainer to get me started and he has been great at pushing me and teaching me how to push myself. I'm a slug by nature, so the learning to push myself part has been important. It seems to be working.
Diet-wise, I'm weighing and logging things, but I'm not dieting. I'm eating what I want, I'm just making better choices and eating smaller portions. I usually have a popsicle at night for dessert, but there are also homemade brownies portioned and in the freezer. They're not off-limits, but I won't eat one if I had a heavy meal that day. Smarter choices.
I once thought that The Program would be my motivation to do this. What I've found out these past six weeks is that I am my motivation. My own confidence and ability to do this are what's going to get me through.
That being said, I do plan on doing weekly updates on Wednesdays. A little added motivation never hurts...