Tuesday

Discovery of the day: I eat a lot of salad

I was reading through my earlier posts and realized that I misspoke early on. I eat about a head of romaine per day, not half a head.

That's a lot of lettuce. And a lot of water, because I buy whole heads and wash the crap out of them -- literally and figuratively -- during prep. I fill the salad spinner with water, add some veggie wash stuff, throw in a chopped head of romaine, soak, drain, then refill and swish to rinse. That's two full spinner-bowls full of water per head, so we're talking a couple of gallons per prep session.

I considered trying to save some of the water for my houseplants, but I don't have many houseplants and most of them are succulents. If I can come up with a storage solution, I could save the water in the summer to water my outside flowerbeds. But it's rainy season now.

I do feel kind of guilty, rinsing all that stuff down the drain. But not guilty enough to stop. People do get E. Coli from produce -- better safe than sorry, y'know?

p.s. After reading this article, I probably should start rinsing before chopping.
 

Monday

Discovery of the day: Surviving a weekend away

I did it! I went to the Big City for a romantic weekend with my boyfriend and I didn't gain 8 lbs! I know, it would be (practically) physically impossible to gain 8 lbs in less than 24 hours, but ya never know....

I managed to find a reasonable (BAS) option for lunch Saturday. That afternoon I bought some fruit at the farmer's market to take back to hotel room. We had an amazing dinner Sat. night and although I did not deny myself, I did stop eating when I was full. (That's not always a given for me.)

Ate the fruit for breakfast Sun. morning, and after more wandering around town we went to a very upscale vegetarian place for lunch. Took forever (Sunday brunch, trendy neighborhood, you get the idea) but eventually ended up with a very nice BAS w/avocado, grapefruit, and grilled shiitakes. Boyfriend had a really cool winter vegetable hash w/horseradish. Yes, I did eat food from his plate. We're at that point in our relationship so it's ok. :)

Sunday night I was back at home with my standard BAS. And this morning there was little or no movement on the scale -- yay!

I did end up with some intestinal upset Sunday; not surprising, I guess, since I did eat meat and cheese and bread and dessert along with my (small) mixed green salad. But the food was so good it was worth it.

My goal this week is to not get upset this week if I don't lose any more weight. I'm sure my yo-yo dieting over the past few decades is going to make it really hard to get things moving this time, now that the initial chunk is gone. I just gotta hang tough.
 

Friday

Discovery of the day: Hey, it's Friday. Cut me some slack. :)

I think I'm pretty much recovered from my cornbread hangover. Last night after work I was lazy and didn't clean any lettuce so for dinner we had lentil soup with baby carrots and snow peas dipped in tahini sauce. I felt the meal was a little light on the vegetation but I managed to eat enough to keep me away from the frosted mini wheats later. I was tempted, believe me.

This weekend will be an interesting experiment. My boyfriend and I are going to the city tomorrow to stay in a super-nice hotel (and eat at a nice restaurant) to celebrate his birthday. Managing lunch, dinner, breakfast, and possibly another lunch away from home will be my first big test. He's supportive of my efforts so I think he'll be happy to go wherever I need to go to get the right food.

Only 3 hours until the work week is over and the Big Birthday Adventure begins!
 

Thursday

Discovery of the day: Sweetest hangover

Today was my first complete fall off the flexitarian wagon. I did it intentionally, though, so it was more of a leap than a fall.

I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch at a BBQ place. I thought about it ahead of time and decided I'd try to do a salad if I could, but I was definitely gettin' me some pulled pork. And I kept having improper thoughts about cornbread.

Ended up having a BBQ Salad; pulled pork on a plate of lettuce (romaine & iceberg?) with spicy BBQ sauce on the side. But then I went and did it: I ordered the Corn Cake. The salad was OK, but the cornbread was like eating, well, corn cake! It was yummy.

Got back to work feeling a little over-full; nothing scary. But I am feeling decidedly un-well as the afternoon is wearing on. I think I am already having a carb hangover.

Insult to injury, we just celebrated the birthday of a coworker which of course means CAKE. It was a dense little chocolate number from the local fancy-pants grocery. I took just the barest sliver (bad luck not to, you know) and it was plenty.

Blech. I need a nap.
 

Wednesday

Discovery of the day: Water!

I realized today that I have been really thirsty for the past few weeks. I mean, I drank water before I changed eating habits, but rarely did I feel thirsty, like 'OMG! I must have water now!' thirsty.

But these days I feel thirsty multiple times a day. I wonder what that's all about?
 

Tuesday

Discovery of the day: Baked tofu has its limits

Oops! Missed a day. It's February which is traditionally my worst month in terms of mood. Not sure why, no good reason for it, but it is. So I may skip a post from time to time until I get my mojo back. C'mon, equinox!!

Anyway, on Sunday I finally got a chance to try making a batch of baked tofu. I wanted to use it to replace chicken in a curry/tomato type recipe (Indian Captain's Chicken?) I've had for years. The baked tofu cubes came out of the oven full of promise; nice & crunchy on the outside, firm texture. So far so good!

Until... I added it to the stew and simmered. Doh! It soaked up the juice and became little cubes of reconstituted sponge. The resulting stew was severely lacking in sauce because of it. And, since I marinated the tofu in soy sauce, it was r-e-a-l-l-y salty.

Next time I'll just buy the extra firm tofu and press it. I'll save the baked tofu to add to a stir fry at the last minute or something.

Post-virus weight report: Back up a lb, which is probably to be expected since I'm eating again, but I'm still below that first threshold. I'm sure hoping I can stay there.

My goal this week is to stop drinking so much decaf. Yeah, I say I'm decaffeinated, but if I'm drinking gallons of decaf a day (which has about 10% of the caffeine of full-leaded coffee) I'm really just kidding myself.

Wouldn't be the first time!
 

Friday

Discovery of the day: It's Friday!

This virus-thingy continues to abate my appetite, which I don't see as a bad thing. The headache, on the other hand, sucks. I made it in to work but am not feeling very... enthusiastic about it.

Tonight I'm meeting my pal for dinner at a place that I know has salads. A couple of days ago I wondered if the salads would be "big enough". Somehow right now that's not a huge concern.

Tomorrow my boyfriend returns from his 2-week business trip. He'll be exhausted and I'm assuming that I'll still feel like crap, so if I don't decide ahead of time what we're going to have for dinner, we could end up eating something less-than-optimal. Soup. I need to think about soup.

I'm hoping that by next week I'll be fired up to cook again. Right now it just doesn't sound like much fun.

sigh...