Salad Woes

Being all confident after one week of feeling "better" (my 16th week- and everyone said if you are not better by 12 then for sure by 16- so I was perfectly on schedule) I ate a salad again.

Now, I love eating salad. I don't feel gross while I am enjoying the farm fresh greens-- but after a few hours of salad digestion, bad things happen- TE and I have decided that this baby does NOT like salad. At least not yet anyway. I won't be eating a salad again for another month or so.... Will need to find veggies in other ways.

But on a happier/more funny side. I am thinking of starting a series of "Things Pregnant Girls Like to Eat" (or at least this pregnant girl). For today's edition I even have a recipe!! Be forewarned, it is not healthy or gourmet or something to be proud of (unless you are entering a comfort food contest). But here it is, and it was soooo good!

Homemade Cheeseburger Helper (made 5 servings)

8oz Pasta of your choice, cooked
1lb of lean ground beef, cooked and drained

Cheese Sauce: Modified from here

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 1.5 cups half and half, 1.5 cups skim milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

Melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes (will turn golden in color). 

Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk and cayenne. 

Stir in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Fold the macaroni/beef into the mix and serve!

Predictions

* Totally not food related*
A fun thing happened today- I had my tarot cards read by my boss! He was taught the skill quite a few years ago and once the coworkers found out that I am pregnant the predictions began! Pretty much everyone has their idea about what TE and I are having (hopefully a healthy baby!) but my boss wanted to make a "real" prediction!

So I held the cards in my pocket for over an hour, then shuffled them, and he laid the cards out to answer my questions (What gender is the baby? Will it be healthy and will the pregnancy go well?). The over-arching theme was very good and the head card was the Temperance card. And from what I can gather from wikipedia the key words associate with predictions involving this card are:

• Temperance ----- Harmony ----- Balance ----- Health

• Moderation ----- Joining forces ----- Well-being ----- Recovery

• Equilibrium ----- Transcendence ----- Unification ------ Healing

• Synthesis ----- Bringing together opposites ---- Feeling secure

Pretty good I say!! I am not usually superstitious and I do not buy into a lot of magic/fantastic things, but I will take all the good predictions I can get! Anything to ease my mind, right?! The rest of the cards were equally good and positive, so that was an added bonus!

We will find out in less than two weeks the gender and see if everything is growing and developing appropriately and according to schedule. We will then learn (hopefully!) if the majority (predicts girl) wins or if it goes to the two dissidents (TE and my sister)!

*Food related*

Watermelon. Oh how I love watermelon. 

I am on a serious fruit kick. Mel told me other other day that a local store had lychee fruit. I was there faster than she could say lychee fruit! In the past two weeks I have spent more money on fruit than on any other food item! But it has been amazing to have so many wonderful fruits in season and available to me at this stage of my pregnancy. 

Aside from fruit, the general palate has not changed much. I am still eating pretty bland foods.

Breakfast consists of cereal with fiber, almonds, and whatever berry we have washed and available or an english muffin with peanut butter and apple butter.

Lunch is variable every day. It is typically pretty big and spread out throughout the entire day. I usually have yogurt with fiber cereal, crackers and hummus, a Trader Joes meal of some kind (today was Indian: chicken tikka masala), a granola bar, and fruit!

Dinner is variable in size and selection. The "no cooking" rule is still in effect (unless it is mac & cheese or other pasta dish) and some days I can eat a lot (last night!) and other days I eat almost nothing. 

Once I start cooking/baking again I will return with recipes and food pictures!

Weight Gain

I have a very good excuse though...

I am growing a "little bug*" inside me! (*The in utero name is still undecided- I hope this is no indication of how real name picking is going to go... but I do believe it will not be easy!)

The weight gain is not that bad- ~3lbs gained for almost 15 weeks!

So yes, around December 3rd-- TE, the King Pup and I will welcome this new addition to our family!
And since this is a food blog I will tell all my readers about my food adventures as I continue to grow :)

In the first trimester, I felt good during the day -- but come night time (starting between 4-7) I felt as if I had come down with the flu. Every night. And if that was not bad enough, I could not eat enough to not wake up at 2 or 3am starving!! It took one email to dietitian extraordinaire LR, and a few late night experiments to realize nothing was going to help, just time, and getting out of the first trimester! Now I eat well, sleep even better (for the most part) and am ready for the growth phase!!

My clothes are already a bit too tight. I eat a lot of cheese and fruit. I can not (do not want to) eat coffee, onions or garlic. And I drink more water than I thought was possible. Excessive thirst was my first pregnancy "sign." Other than that things are pretty "boring" over here.

More updates to come!! I hope you are all still out there :)

Yo-Yo

I guess I failed to update my readers on the last two week's weigh ins... maybe my subconscious was forming a mental block.

I gained the 1.4lbs back last week, then lost it again this week. I guess things could be worse...?
I think strict counting is going to need to happen and I am going back and forth about how to best do it (paper method, online, CRON-O-Meter, etc...) But that decision is really just procrastination at its finest.

I also need to re-inspire myself with the science of calorie restriction. I looked back at some old posts recently and I remember now how hard it was to start counting and how hungry I actually felt in the beginning- and what really motivated me was the science!

Also back then I had people supporting me 3x/week (people I miss terribly! I ran into one of the study scientists the other day and I resisted the urge to yell- "TAKE ME BACK!!!" hahahaha) so now I am faced with the ongoing battle of how to do something difficult for myself. With no one benefiting from it but me.

Tonight I am making an oldie-but-goodie recipe. Turkey meatloaf. I remember enjoying it and I have all the ingredients- so that is on tonight's agenda. Also, my "scarf" (or linear piece of knitted yarn) is coming along very well, only 2 holes so far! I will say though, it is far less satisfying than baking-- maybe once I get better at knitting and I can produce something that will distract me from baking... maybe.

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... :)

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....

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.