Committed

PROGRESS REPORT 8/29/2010

Starting weight (7/5/2009):           212.8

Last week’s weight (8/22/2010):   158.4

This week’s weight (8/29/2010):   157.0

This week’s weight loss / gain:      Lost 1.4 lbs

Total weight loss:                           Lost 55.8 pounds

For more about what I’m doing to achieve a healthy lifestyle, click here.

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PROGRESS REPORT 8/8/2010

Starting weight (7/5/2009):              212.8

Last week’s weight (8/1/2010):        161.0

This week’s weight (8/8/2010):        160.2

This week’s weight loss / gain:         Loss 0.8 lb

Total weight loss:                              Lost 52.6 pounds

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PROGRESS REPORT 8/1/2010

Starting weight (7/5/2009):             212.8

Last week’s weight (7/25/2010):     162.8

This week’s weight (8/1/2010):       161.0

This week’s weight loss / gain:        Loss 1.8 lb

Total weight loss:                             Lost 51.8 pounds

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I accidentally deleted my progress report from 8/1, so I combined it as a recap with my progress report on 8/8/2010.

For more about what I’m doing to achieve a healthy lifestyle, click here.

Fellow 3fc bloggers, you have all been such a great support system!  I do hope you will visit my new blog, or just check out my most recent post:

What I ate Sunday & Monday

I promise, the posts will get more interesting as we go along. 

Today started out great, but now I’m annoyed.  I decided I wanted to cook a new recipe: Black Bean and Espresso Chili, from Bon Appetit circa 2003.  It was a rather gigantic batch.  Scroll way down for the recipe.

Some black beans, sauteed onions, spices, espresso…..

Single serve with a dollop of nonfat greek yogurt.

After I got to sample the stuff (dee-lish!), I needed to calculate the calories and get it into Fitday.  My brilliant plan was to count the calories for each ingredient first, total it, and then divide by the number of cups in the finished product.

I counted the calories three times and came up with drastically different totals each time. Then, I had to actually manually count the number of cups by scooping one cup at a time into a bowl.  First time I counted 28.5 cups.  Better count again to be sure. Second time was 15 cups.  F**K!  Now I’m annoyed.

One bright note, here are some perfectly ripened cherries I grazed on all afternoon / evening…

Here is my food journal for today:

• Breakfast:  DanActive, 2 Espressos, 2 peices whole grain toast with 1 tbl earth balance
• Lunch:  Peanut Butter Pows with Oat Milk
• Snacks:  Butter flavored popcorn snacks; pretzel slims, cherries
• Dinner:  Black Bean & Espresso Chili with plain yogurt

Recipe for the chili is below….

BLACK BEAN AND ESPRESSO CHILI

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp olive oil (original recipe called for 1/2 cup olive oil)
• 3 large onions - chopped (original recipe called for 5 onions)
• 1/4 cup instant espresso powder
• 1/4 cup ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/4 cup dried oregano
• 2 - 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes with added puree
• 1/3 cup honey
• 4 oz tomato paste - canned (not in the original recipe, I added it)
• 6 large garlic cloves - minced
• 7 - 15 oz cans black beans - rinsed and drained
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
• large pinch cinnamon

Assorted optional toppings include sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, chopped green onions, shredded cheese, sliced jalapenos, and shaved bittersweet chocolate.

Directions:

1. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and sautë until tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Mix in espresso powder, 1/4 cup chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook 1 minute.
3. Mix in tomatoes, honey, and garlic. Bring to simmer.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
5. Add beans, 2 cups water, salt, chipotle chili powder, and cinnamon. Bring to boil over high heat.
6. Reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered until mixture thickens slightly, stirring often, about 30 minutes.
7. Season with salt and serve!

Yields somewhere between 14 and 28 cups.  No idea how many calories. 

Recipe courtesy Bon Appëtit January 2003 Entertaining Made Easy Epicurious.com

Fitday summary below….

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,486 Fat 38.0 342 23 % Saturated 7.1 64 4 % Polyunsaturated 3.1 28 2 % Monounsaturated 2.6 24 2 % Carbohydrate 252.4 994 65 % Dietary Fiber 31.9 Protein 45.9 182 12 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 23 %) Carbs ( 65 %) Protein ( 12 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Today was full of adventure in my kitchen.

The day started off with housecleaning, followed immediately by giving my 2 cats a bath.

Although its not physically strenuous, its exhausting.  I get a major adrenaline rush out of fear of (1) being mauled; (2) having the cat run off, covered in soapy water, to hide under the bed.  My husband and I put a lot of planning into it to get it done fast and unhurt.  We fashion together all sorts of personal protective equipment (eg, wearing our old winter coats and rubber gloves to help protect us from claw-gashes).

Since I lived through it unscathed, I was super happy.  So, I tried the tuna-bean dip again.  Here’s how it went:

1. sauteed a few tablespoons of chopped onions in 1/2 tsp olive oil
2. used my mini food processor to blend up 1/2 cup beans with another 1/2 tsp olive oil and the onions.  The result was a more “choppy” looking bean & onion mixture, instead of a puree.
3. stirred in the tuna chunks (used a smaller 3 oz. can of tuna), a pinch of salt, and a stalk of celery (diced)
4. ate it on whole wheat crackers

The result was WAY tastier than last time.

I also made a skillet flatbread, which I thought was really easy and will become a staple in my healthy eating repetoir.  I can use it in place of bread, flat bread, foccaccia, pizza crust, tortillas, pita bread, crackers…..

All you need is whole wheat flour (and other flours like amaranth or soy or even cornmeal), oil, water and an oven proof skillet.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Oil the pan (maybe 1-2 tsp)
3. Put the pan in the oven.  Let it get hot for a few minutes.
4. Mix up 1 cup each water and flour.  Use more water for a thicker, doughier flatbread.  Add pinch salt.
5. Pour mixture into the hot skillet.
6. Put the skillet back in the oven.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on desired crispiness.

I also learned how to microwave-steam spinach.  I noticed that Oh She Glows says that she sometimes lightly steams her spinach before putting it into the green monster.

For the record, I know that microwaving probably leeches some nutrients and that microwaving in plastic probably adds some carcinogens.  I’m doing the best I can ~ the mere fact that I’m adding spinach to my diet is progress.

Basic instructions…

1. take a handful of raw spinach leaves.
2. rinse them.
3. put them in a microwave safe container with a cover that will vent (i use the microwave steamer from pampered chef)
4. the water left on the leaves from rinsing should be enough moisture, so don’t add any additional water
5. microwave for 15 seconds for a “light steam” (slightly wilted) or 1 minute for major steaming.
6. drain the water, quickly remove from the steamer, and eat it up.

Before & After are below….  You can see microwaving wilts the leaves rather than boiling them down.

Today’s Food:

• Breakfast:  2 cappuccinos, a DanActive, toasted sandwich thins with earth balance butter substitute
• Lunch:  Tuna & Bean spread on crackers plus a sampling of flatbread
• Snacks:  applesauce, string cheese, cherries
• Dinner:  salad (lettuce, tomatoes, dressing, olives, avocado, egg whites and 1/2 egg yolk

Thanks for reading alllllll the way through my super long mega-post today. 

FitDay summary below…

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,470 Fat 57.7 509 34 % Saturated 11.8 104 7 % Polyunsaturated 7.0 62 4 % Monounsaturated 21.5 188 13 % Carbohydrate 180.8 705 48 % Dietary Fiber 33.3 Protein 66.9 264 18 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 34 %) Carbs ( 48 %) Protein ( 18 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)