Thursday, January 27, 2011

Weekly Wrap Up and Gooey Bars

I know this is very delayed- things got crazy here! But for my diligent readers: on Tuesday, I had my weekly weigh in and discovered I lost 1.4lbs. Yay! Somehow...

It will be interesting to see 1)  if I can keep it off and 2) if it was actually "real" weight loss...

Food planning has been manageable. Obviously some days were better than others, but I think if I am going to have long term success in managing my weight/calorie intake this is an appropriate amount of time that I would want to spend thinking about my food intake :) So let's hope it was actual weight loss and I can do it...

I am still finding myself baking and cooking when I get stressed out. Take last night for an example: I roasted a chicken, made a mushroom barley risotto (yum!), and dangerously--- Gooey Bars.

Gooey bars are a "13yo Liz and AJ creation." I don't think I have made these since I was 13, but for some odd reason I was feeling nostalgic and really wanted to try to recreate them. So I did it from memory.
This is a very basic baked good. Something a 13 year old would find truly amazing.

Here is the gist of it:

Brownies from a box (baked according to the "fudgy" instructions), and underbaked about 15min
Once they have been mostly baked, remove pan from oven and top with:
mini marshmallows
chocolate chips
peanut butter chips
pretzels (I remember using Cheerios back in the day...)
and then drizzled, all over the top, with sweetened condensed milk
Place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the marshmallows are toasted and the sweetened milk is caramelized.

How is that for a healthy, diet friendly recipe?! I am doomed this week!

My coworkers love/hate me for bringing the gooey bars in to work today. One of our new students, astutely asked- "How is it fair that you are on a diet, Liz, and bringing US these Gooey Bars?!"

It is not fair.... But I reassured everyone here at work that this weekend I am learning how to knit a scarf for my latest hobby. It is my attempt to try to break the cycle of "comfort cooking...."

I wonder how many scarves I am going to need to make... :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Day 2 Disaster

It all started so well!

Yesterday I had such good intentions of eating a strictly-caloric-controlled dinner. That failed. Miserably.

My friend is going through a professional crisis so she came over to relax-- we went on a walk with the King Pup, and enjoyed drinks and snacks, and then we went out to dinner with TE.

TE and I were discussing what to do/where to go, and I could hear his happiness through the phone when I mentioned going to our favorite neighborhood restaurant... so we went. Despite my better judgement I consumed way too much food in the hours we waited for our 9:30pm dinner reservation. Let me proceed to disgust you all with the reality of how one could possibly gain more than 1lb/week...

Snack Time: 1240c
I should have stopped there, things would have been so much better...

1/2 bottle of white wine (305c)- I think that is a low estimate... but what I found from calorie king.. hmm
2 oz Tortilla chips (275c)
Salsa (50c)
Guacamole (160c)
Cheese (250c)
Crackers (200c)

Dinner: 1535c
Oy...At least I did not continue drinking...

Charcuterie (who even knows.. 400c?)
Toasts (100c)
Jam (35c)
Pasta with squash and chestnuts (700c at least)
Chocolate Terrine with basil ice cream dessert (300c since I did not eat all of it...)

I am sick thinking about it.

So today, I am being better. Getting right back up onto the proverbial horse. Which means that I had to refrain from a coworker lunch trip to a neighborhood Brazilian meat buffet. I am the only one in the building- and I feel like I made a poor choice, even though it was in my best health and financial judgement (I am trying not to eat all of my salary...).

This feeling reminds me a bit of one episode of Friends, where Rachel becomes a smoker because she thinks she will miss out on promotions and work insights by not being out on the smoking breaks with her boss. But alas, I am going to stay strong though this and try to work off the extra 2175 calories (!!) I consumed last night....

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Days 1 and 2

I think I was successful yesterday-- I had very strong will power because it was my first day back-- it is always easier to start...
For dinner/snacks (and my remaining 600-700 calories) I went out with a friend to a bar to catch up. Going out is never good for counting calories, but this place has a great vegan menu and very healthy food options!
I had:
1 glass (8oz) of red wine (200c)
2c raw veggies (carrots, celery, peppers, and string beans) (~100, I am not being strict with my counting veggies)
Pita chips (~160)
Chicken/beef/potato skewer (100)

Then- when I got home, even though my wonderful husband made us a tasty dinner of roasted chicken thighs and barley, I refrained from eating dinner #2 by cleaning the dishes. At least I get to enjoy his culinary skills for leftovers today! While relaxing I made a mix of dried apricots and cranberries to go with my herbal tea... how exciting!

Today is starting out well. This morning I made steel cut oatmeal:

Recipe makes 2 servings (410 calories each)

1/2c Steel cut oats
2c  water
30g Almonds, chopped
30g dried cherries
cinnamon
salt
1/2T butter

Topped with 1T maple syrup and 2T skim milk

Lunch will be the leftover chicken, barley and Brussels sprouts. I am guessing it is around 450 calories, and I figure one meal a day with realistic estimation should be fine. We will see after a week of that- and I will need to be strict with my dinner tonight.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Getting Real

Last week I decided I would start weighing myself and being more conscious of my diet. So I picked one day day- Tuesday- every week to reenact my CALERIE weekly check-ins. I would do this by keeping a weight log and thinking about diet tips and how I can improve my choices for the upcoming week.

I started last week needing to lose 10 (!!TEN!!) pounds. Within the week I gained 1lb. Ick. I have now realized that I just gained back the last year of weight that I had lost in the study. Dietitian, LR, had talked to us about what weight we would hit before we would rein it back in- I had previously thought +5lbs. If only.

So this week I am getting back to my accountability and blogging about my food Every.Day.

I am (re)recognizing the need to count calories, plan, and measure if I want to lose weight (AND continue to age healthily/more slowly). Guessing/estimating is not working out- maybe it would if I were used to being strict and used to what 1600 calories feels like- but I am neither-- so back to strict.

Here is what I have eaten today so far:

Breakfast: 380 calories
English Muffin (100cal/5g fiber)
2T PB (200)
Fig jam (40)
Coffee
Skim Milk (40)

Snack:
Kashi Cereal Bar (130/3)

Lunch: 510 calories
Sandwich (380/5)
Triscuit crackers (130)
Tangerine

Leaving around 600 calories for tonight... I will need to think about this one :)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Goals

Howdy there readers, I am back!

This time I plan to stick around.
I am finally feeling more settled: I have been working at my job now for 2 months (!!), I cleaned out my desk at my graduate school (maybe a little prematurely since we just got our reviewer requests for my paper), and am slowly making my way back into my yoga routine. And the holiday season is over- I can finally stop blaming my poor eating choices on the holidays!

I have big plans for the new year (doesn't everyone?!?) and the first of which is the lose the 8 (!!) pounds I gained since October (eeek!!). I am inspired by the holiday CALERIE party I attended, where I was reminded that I did eat well for 2 years and actually saw the benefits of my mindful eating habits. My favorite souvenir from the party was my DEXA scan/results. I went from 31% body fat to 23% after 2 years on CR!! And even though I was not losing weight (or much weight) after the first 6 months or so, I still continued to improve my fat/lean muscle distribution.

I am inspired to continue my yoga practice as well. In my lazy, movie watching stupor I watched Ashtanga, NY and I think I will keep it ready to watch whenever I feel like skipping a practice. We also have a new teacher for the month, while our regular teacher is away, and he gave me some good tips to work on a few moves I have been struggling with.

And finally, I am going to work on keeping active in scientific outreach. I want to continue to mentor students and be involved in the scientific community.

All the while blogging- in an effort to keep me honest and for the extra accountability. Let's hear it for new year's resolutions! :)