Maintaining…and I’m NOT at my Goal Weight!



Family Picture at The King and I -- Patrick's Good-Bye Dinner

Well, I hit the point last week where I need to now maintain…at least until June 30^th!  My sister gets married on the 30^th, and I’ve had my dress fitted.  This means I absolutely cannot gain or lose weight for the next couple of weeks – gotta fit the dress!

Since I’ve been doing low carb, this is a tricky endeavor.  I decided to add in higher carb veggies like carrots and corn, as well as adding in fruit.  I also decided that I could be a little more lenient with my special occasion carb intake; I would just have to “make up” for it if I over do a little!

That being said, in the past week, I’ve been to the Star of India (with two friends I only get to hang out with every few months) and The King and I (with the family)…Indian and Thai food.  Both of them were awesome! 

At the Star of India, I had lamb, shrimp, and mushroom Balti (a curry dish), which was absolutely fabulous!  I did eat it with rice and had some Naan bread…yum!  It was so good I’m going again for lunch today! 

My plate of food at The King and I, with Won Ton Soup!

I had been to The King and I one time before with one of my college roommates, Kim, but it had been several years.  I only remember that I loved it.  I was there this time with my family as a last good-bye dinner for my brother, Patrick, before he moved to Spokane, Washington.  We ate family style, and I tried a little bit of everything.  It was all really good!  I had a lot less rice this time around, but I did have some.  It was great, and I can’t wait to go again!

Made to Crave...God

So, I recently began a second Bible study.  I have one study that I have been going to for the last four (or so) years on Thursday nights.  That study has gone through some changes (people-wise) over the past year, but we’ve pretty much stayed in the same format.  We study THE BIBLE, not Bible study books (except when we have been asked to do otherwise); we do an in-depth exegesis (fancy word for saying we do critical interpretation) of an entire book of the Bible.  Right now, we are studying Exodus, which is super interesting!  I’ve gone through John and Genesis with this group as well.  Now, however, I have started a second Bible study on Wednesday nights with a few other women.  We are doing a book study called Made to Crave. 

So far, I’m enjoying this study.  We are in week 2 (as of last night).  I began (again) on Atkins on January 17, 2012, to lose weight for my sister’s wedding.  That’s been going great (I’ve lost 27 pounds, but I still have another 75 to go).  However, one of the things that was discussed last week and this week in the study is the motivation behind weight loss.  When you have a goal, it is easy(ier) to lose; when you’ve met your goal,The Cycle – lose weight and gain it back (and then some) – starts.  You think that you can go back to the old habits and you lose focus, at least I do (did).  This study looks at the fact that we ARE made to crave…God.  For me, food often is my comfort.  Happy, sad, excited, etc., I go to food, not God.  So no matter how great my goals are, once met, I revert to my default mode.  That’s what has to change. 

This week the main idea was that desperation leads to despair.  I never really thought about it, but that is kind of a “duh” statement, but a “wow” one at the same time.  It makes sense.  When I’m “dieting,” I don’t allow myself to eat something; when that happens I sometimes get to the “I have to have that or I’ll die” stage, and then I give in and eat it, and then I’m disappointed with myself for losing control!  Desperation for a certain food leads to “falling off the wagon” (i.e., despair).  Anyway, although the idea isn’t really a new concept, it was kind of a revelation for me to think about.  I have to have more than a short-term (or even a long-term) goal in mind in order to really and truly change my eating habits.  I need to change my spiritual perspective on eating.  I think that in the church, overeating (gluttony) is a habitual sin that “seems” to be acceptable.  It isn’t acceptable, but there is very little being done to change that view or help the people who deal with it. 

 
One other thing that Lysa Terkeurst, author of Made to Crave, said last night in the video was that our foundations need to be fixed.  She used a bucket illustration (couple of holes in the bucket, which do you fix first – fix the one at the base, or you’ll never carry any water); however, I thought in food (ha!), so here’s my version of it.  If you make a layered cake and the bottom tier is off balance and sloped, the next tier will be as well, and the next and the next.  Fixing the top tier may make it look even, but the reality is that it isn’t even at all.  I have to fix the foundation of my food problems (going to food, not God when I’m happy, sad, excited, etc.) or the temporary fix will, in the long run, do me no good, especially since I’ve already gone through The Cycle.

Chicken Pizza

Alight, so I tried another recipe from Linda’s Low Carb website, Chicken Pizza.  I really liked the idea of the recipe, which is why I made it, but some of the topping on her version were not my favorite, so I changed it up a little for my tastes.  Here we go!

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4-5)
Pizza Sauce
Toppings Desired (I used peperoni and black olives)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Salt



Place the chicken breast on a piece of plastic wrap and fold it over the top of the chicken.

Using a meat tenderizer, pound the chicken as thin as possible without tearing (which is super easy to do.) I was able to make it about ¼ inch think.

Place the chicken on a baking sheet (I used the stone bar pan). If you are using a cookie sheet, you may want to line it in foil. I was able to fit five flattened chicken breasts, but it will depend on their size.

Season both sides of the chicken with Italian seasoning and garlic salt.



Top with pizza sauce, pizza toppings, and mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 400˚ F for 10-12 minutes.

I really liked these, and it’s pretty nice because you can vary it up with a ton of different toppings!  Next time I might try BBQ sauce, chopped bacon, with mozzarella cheese for a BBQ Chicken Pizza.  One of the things Linda's Low Carb commented on was that if you use veggies like onions or peppers, then you need to chop them pretty fine in order for them to become somewhat tender due to the short baking time.

Depending on the sauce amounts, this recipe is very Atkins friendly.  The pizza sauce I purchased was 6 carbs per ¼ cup of sauce.  Not too terribly bad, especially if you use far less.  Happy eating!

Yummy Recipes for Low Carb-ing It!

Recently I have been trying different recipes trying to find some variety instead of just eating a hamburger or a chicken breast.  When you are living the low carb lifestyle, sometimes it gets a little boring trying to find great meals.  For those who do not know, eating “low carb” means almost no carbohydrates…i.e., no bread, pasta, rice, chips, or anything related to the sugar family (cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, etc.)!  It has been tough seeing as I’m such a sugar addict, but overall, it has been fairly easy.

To date, I have lost 20 pounds, and I started on January 17, 2012!  Anyway, onto the reason for the post.  I had some super yummy dinners in the last few nights!  I made parmesan crusted pork chops and roasted veggies and cheesy hamburger broccoli bake.  Very different from each other, but both were good. 

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops and Roasted Veggies

Need:  boneless pork chops, mayo, parmesan cheese (powdered in a can), veggies (whole mushrooms, onion, zucchini, pepper), olive oil, garlic, and garlic salt.

Chops:  coat the pork chops in mayo and then coat in the parmesan.  Bake at 350 for 40 min.

Veggies:  chop veggies into bite sizes (leave mushrooms whole and onions in chunks), toss in olive oil and garlic with garlic salt to taste.  Place on/in a stone dish/bar pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

Next time I might add a little garlic salt to the parmesan just to see, but it tasted yummy without it!

Cheesy Hamburger Broccoli Bake

This was a recipe from Linda’s Low carb (http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/cheesy_hamburg_broccoli_cass.html) that I changed up a very little bit.  I used fresh mushrooms and I doubled the recipe so that I could have leftovers.  It was really good!  I had a friend over and made rice for her to go with it and if I did that again, I’d make a little more sauce for her to have that be a little more creamy for her.  It was plenty creamy for me (as I didn’t eat rice).  Next time, I’ll salt and pepper the meat a little more, it needed just a little dash of something more.  I did, however, add garlic salt to it just prior to baking, and I liked that.

Although I liked this recipe, it didn’t reheat all that well.  If I made it again, I’d only make enough for one sitting.

Next up…Chicken Pizza (literally!)…

Atkins...Again!

Well, it has now been just over two weeks since I re-started Atkins and my Induction time should be "over."  I have decided that I have to continue on Induction for a while yet because I just have too much to lose to move to the next phase.  For those who don't know, I was on Atkins several years ago and I lost about 60 lbs!  (Yeah me!)  However, thinking that it was not a big deal, I went back to carbs a little bit at a time, here and there, and here I am back to my pre-Atkins weight (and, if I'm honest, probably even more).  I've decided that I need to change my lifestyle, make eating this way the way I live, not just a diet.  What spurred me on?  My sister is getting married in about 5 months and I'm the maid of honor!  :D

On the Atkins Induction phase, I'm supposed to keep my carb count to about 20-25 net carbs per day, with the majority of those carbs coming from veggies (mostly green because they are lower in carbs).  So, here's a breakdown of my low-carb day:

My morning snacks have been a stick of cheese and my afternoon snack has been peanuts (1oz) which I know isn't exactly part of Induction, but is an easy snack to bring to work and eat at my desk. I don't always eat both snacks (I know, bad me), but sometimes I'm just not hungry!  I never eat breakfast (again, bad me), but I just HATE getting up any earlier than I have to.  I'm a night owl, not a morning person. So, my first thing I put in my mouth for the day is coffee, followed by my morning snack. 

Lunch lately has consisted of hamburger patties seasoned with garlic salt and some sort of green veggie.  Lately I've been on a zucchini kick.  I slice the zucchini into rounds that are about 1/2 inch think or so and saute them in butter and garlic flipping them over so they are very slightly brown.  Once the butter starts browning and the garlic blackens, it gets super sweet...YUM!

Dinner is whatever I figure out I'm going to make!  Last night I tried a new recipe...Alice Springs Chicken! Super good. You're supposed to grill chicken, but I'm in Minnesota...no grilling in February! I baked chicken breasts seasoned with a little bit of garlic salt. Using fresh bacon, I cut into pieces and fried it up; I sauted sliced mushrooms in butter and garlic; and I shredded lots of Vermont Sharp Cheddar and regular Sharp Cheddar cheese. Once the chicken was done, I added the bacon, mushrooms, and cheese to the top and broiled until cheese was melted. I cannot even explain how yummy that was, for sure I'll do that again!