I Hate My Big Butt and I Cannot Lie

It’s not that I’ve been bad. I count taking 6 weeks off and just eating “healthy” a success, and to top it off, I actually lost a couple of pounds.

But I’m still at 209 and, well, 35 pounds lost or not, that’s on the wrong side of fatass for me. I’m not even below 200 yet!

So I’m going to start tracking faithfully again, and adding some activity into the mix. When I lose 35 more pounds, THEN I can take another “time off.”

This was a great success, so I have to write it down before I forget how I made it! The halibut is 4 points, the lentils are 2 points, the bacon adds 1 point, the spinach and mustard and lemon and cooking spray are free. So I’m estimating this at 7 points. I count this as a total win!

Also, yeah, I know, but the gnomes stole my camera. Grr. They apparently also stole a couple of pounds, though, so I can’t complain–I’m down to 216.0!

Steam the Halibut.

• Heat oven to 450.
• Cut a square of parchment paper plenty big enough to fold over a 3.5 - 4 oz. halibut fillet. Spray fish with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle well with salt and pepper, and place to one side of the parchment. Then top with thin lemon slices, fold over the parchment, and crimp it closed all around. You don’t have to be super precise with this, but you do want it to stay together.
• Place packets on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes–because of the packets, you’re actually steaming the fish in its own juices (called “en papillote,” if you’re French).

Toss together the lentils.

• Throw about two big handfuls of fresh spinach into a nonstick pot and sprinkle them with water. Cook the spinach for about 2 minutes, until it starts to get wilted.
• Toss in 1/2 cup of steamed lentils (you can use what you’ve cooked yourself, but I cheat and use packs from Trader Joe’s).
• Add 1 tablespoon 50% reduced fat real bacon bits and 1 teaspoon whole-grain mustard (mixed with about a tablespoon of water) per person.
• Cook just until hot, then squeeze in a bit of lemon to perk it up.

Plate 1/2 cup lentil mixture. Cut open the packets and top lentils with the steamed fish and lemon slices. If you’re feeling fancy, garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme.

I threw this together tonight out of stuff I had laying around. It’s so delish and really filling–without giving you the nasty heavy feeling of Thai take-out. And only about 6 points! Huzzah!

Slice 3 shallots crosswise (into rings), and slice about 1/2 cup green onions (you should use both the white and green parts). Also chop up about 2 tbsp. cilantro.

Cook 1 bundle rice noodles according to package directions, but don’t cook them until they’re all the way done–leave them “chewy” but flexible.

Stir together in a small bowl:
This makes a little more sauce than you’ll need.

• 1-1/2 tbsp Whole Food’s thai red curry paste
• juice of one lime
• 1 tsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
• pinch brown sugar splenda
• 2 tsp canola oil
• pinch salt

Time to stir fry!

• Spray deep skillet with high heat Pam. Once hot, saute shallots over medium-high heat until they get soft and slightly browned.
• Add 2 Trader Joe’s Chile Lime chicken patties (or about 7 oz. ground chicken), breaking them up into chunks with your hands as you add them, and stir constantly to keep it from sticking.
• Once the chicken is cooked enough that it it’s broken up into little pieces, add almost all the sauce. You don’t have to be precise; just add enough so it looks “saucy.”
• Stir and cook another minute, then add the drained rice noodles and the green onions. Stir and cook until everything is well-mixed; then add about 1/2 cup of water, cover the pan, and cook about 5 more minutes or until the noodles are cooked. Add water if you need to.
• Sprinkle in the chopped cilantro, reserving a little for garnish if you like.

Serve (share with someone else) and enjoy! =)

P.S. Next time I make this, I’ll have to take a picture.

I’ve been M.I.A for quite a while! But don’t worry, I haven’t fallen off the wagon.

The past month has been a bit crazy for me. The short version is that I just gave two weeks’ notice and will be starting with a new job in the middle of March. My new firm is amazing–I’ll be working with brilliant people who are tops in their field, and I even get a raise! Huzzah!

And I am loving Weight Watchers. It’s such a simple way to re-gear your thinking about what’s healthy and what’s not. I’ve discovered that I don’t really follow either the Flex or Core plans exactly, which is why my daily points are consistently so low. Some people seemed concerned about what I’m eating, but you shouldn’t be. I’m not starving myself at all. I’m eating a ton of healthy stuff and don’t feel hungry at all. I don’t eat a lot of “treats”; I eat a lot of vegan meals, with beans and vegetables. I cook for myself whenever I can, especially soups–you can cook a huge batch at a time, they are great for weight management, and if you cook them in a nonstick pot you dond’t even need to add oil (just spritz onions or peppers you’re sweating with olive oil cooking spray). I don’t eat much bread or pasta, even though I do have whole wheat stuff kicking around my pantry. I just haven’t wanted it. I haven’t had dessert since early January. My body LOVES eating so much vegetables.

I’ve been doing really well with eating out, too. My willpower hasn’t slipped yet. And it’s not like I’m not going to restaurants or am eating bunny food! I’ve even eaten coalfired flatbread pizza (with anchovies), which is very judicious with cheese and crust and makes a very reasonable indulgence once a week or so.

I don’t know whether it’s Flex, or Core, or what. I just eat a lot of healthy, low-point foods, make sure I have snacks, and stop eating when I’m not hungry anymore.

And so far I’ve lost 23 pounds! About a quarter of the way to the goal I’d really be more than happy with (160 pounds). Just 1.5 more to go and I’m at my 10% goal. Fingers crossed it is next week. Once I hit that goal, I’m getting myself a present (haven’t decided what yet!) and I’m adding exercise to my routine.

I found an AMAZING snack at Trader Joe’s. I was scouting the dried fruit for dried strawberries, and I came upon something I’d never heard of - mangosteen. It looked a little weird, but there were no strawberries, so I thought I’d be adventurous.

And then I took one taste and oh my goodness MANGOSTEEN MAY BE THE MOST DELICIOUS FRUIT ON THE PLANET.

I can’t believe it. It’s sweet and light, kind of nutty and perfumey, and it tastes so decadently good you feel like you must be eating some illicit cross between cotton candy, popcorn, and white chocolate. It was so delicious that I would not have traded it for real candy - which is saying a lot, for me.

And the best part? You can eat an entire bag of it for 3 WW points. Yes, I scarfed an entire bag during a movie. It felt so wrong and yet it was completely OP! I ate so much fruit today I feel stuffed, but I am only at 11 points. Crazy!

If you live near a Trader Joe’s, seek this out!

Unbelievable.

So a friend at work asks me to go to lunch “someplace fast” and suggests Cosi. I agreed, thinking that they use thin wheat bread and ingredients I can see and must therefore be vaguely comparable to Subway, and figuring that I can check the nutritional info once we’re there. WAS I EVER WRONG. First of all, they don’t have nutritional information available in the restaurant - it’s only on their website. Second of all, I choose a sandwich marked “lite” on their menu only to discover when I got back to the office and checked that it had 666 (yes) calories and 34 grams of fat! 34 GRAMS! How is that “lite”???

That sure taught me how careful you have to be when eating out anywhere, even if the food seems inoffensive.

Because some of those sandwiches are EVIL.

My goal when I started this 10 days ago was to figure out what “hungry” really feels like.

I knew I was eating much more than I needed to, for many many reasons other than hunger. Sometimes I ate because something just looks too good to pass up - even when I didn’t even really want to and didn’t even really enjoy it. Sometimes I ate because I was bored and eating was the most appealing thing to do. Sometimes I ate because my blood sugar crashed and there was so much candy around my office. The closest thing to hunger I was feeling were headaches. I’d feel dizzy and irritable and faint. But that “hunger” was because I was messing up my blood sugar by eating the wrong things and then crashing mid-afternoon. It wasn’t because I needed calories.

Now that I am eating well and only eating when I am sure I am hungry, I can’t believe how little I actually need to feel good. And I’m finding out that being hungry in that tummy-rumbling way feels vaguely pleasant and anticipatory. I worried at first, because I was way under the 30 points I’m allowed with WW, that I was going to screw up my metabolism or something. But I don’t want to force myself to eat more just to stay on target instead of listening to my body. I feel really good and satisfied, and I’m finding that I even kind of like the light, rumbly anticipation of being a little hungry. It’s a nice sort of acquaintance with my body and what it needs.