I'm sorry, I'm totally turning this into the Feather's Food Porn thread lately! LOL, I'll calm down soon.
Turbo - As for recipes I usually just eyeball stuff like the cocoa powder and stevia, so put in as much or as little as you like. For that particular pancake I used;
3 egg whites
20g Bobs Red Mill Wheat Bran
15g dark chocolate chips (mini)
Stevia, cocoa to taste
a sprinkle of baking powder
1 capful of chocolate extract
I simply used a spatula to mix up the egg whites and wheat bran in a bowl and added the other ingredients, minus the chocolate chips.
I preheated the pan a bit and then added the batter and cooked it on medium until it looked about ready to flip. At that point I sprinkled most of the chocolate chips on and used my spatula to smoosh them into the batter a bit (lightly) before flipping.
Flipped.
Then I pulled it off the stove and topped it with the remaining few chips.
I added my fish oil caps and coffee with creamer to the meal to round it out, but the pancake alone was a mere 165 calories... 205 with the fish oil caps and coffee creamer.
The pancake was good, but THIS was my real labor of love today; grilled chicken salad with HOMEMADE creamy avocado cilantro dressing. Wow... turned out so good!
And not to worry ladies, I go back to work tomorrow so you get a break from my pictures for a while... but stay tuned for the appearance of some butternut squash this weekend! I've never cooked with it before.
This is just a quick lunch I whipped up; lentils, chicken, spinach and parmesan cheese with garlic and lemon juice for some zing.
I ate half of it before I stopped to take a picture
Got too overzealous with no headache at the beginning of the week. Spent another night in the ER, with 2 days recovery. And I sold all my chickens today, so I'm feeling bummed. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I am a country girl, and selling them was a must since i can no longer do most basic things around the house, and they were extra. Just another reminder that my life is crap roght now!! UGH! I'm trying hard to downsize my expectations of what I can do, but it kills me not to go 110% when I feel okay. Will I ever learn this?!? Chronic illness is a biotch.
Trying to eat normally, but I'm up in the 128 range now. I think a lot of it is salty stuff I have been craving and not being able to poo from the medication. Blech! BUt I did buy a bunch of fruit today, so I can make my jam tomorrow. I'm almost out, and that is a staple in my greek yogurt! Gotta rest my brain for another day pr so and hopefully get back to working out. I was doing so well for a few days!
Turbo- My boys will be 5 and 7 this fall. Crazy nuts! You have a great plan for the BBQ. How did it go? I used to freak about going places like that, but I have since chilled considerably. I usually take one thing to nibble, maybe just a bar or dried fruit, and then bring my own meat. way to go for seeing the scale move in the right direction. Is the bulge gone? I found it, in case you want it back...LOL.
ion- I am 5'2" and i did 1200-1400 cals for the first 3 months of my weight loss. Then I upped it about 100 cals/month until I hit maintenance. Most of the time I can maintain now around 1800, but since I haven't been able to be as physically active, I shoot for 1600.
JessicaB- That is awesome that your hubby is helping with bedtime, in order to run. I could not ever get my mojo in life to diet/exercise until last summer when I sat down with hubby and WE made a plan. Not just me trying to work around everyone else. He was so supportive and I swear that was the biggest hurdle for me!
Joss- COME TO MY HOUSE...and cook for me. Please? The avacado cilantro dressing is right, it's wrong! I am so proud of you for taking on the new, whole foods and really putting them to good use! It can be hard to find variety, but you don't seem to have that issue. Plus your food is very inspiring to me, especially since I have been lacking in that department! My hubby sounds just like yours...impervious to rational thought regarding their health and job. Mine has several things that should get checked out, but he wants to "play" a few a more years, and it makes me crazy!
Philana- ugh...I can totally relate. Sometimes I just want to be a certain number, so I don't step on the scale that day, because I know it isn't what I want. You WILL get below 130! Promise!
Cherry- mmmmmmm...calzone! Are those mushrooms? Dang, ladies! I can't be coming on here all hungry and seeing this!
To brighten my day, here are my pups! Pure-bred Japanese Chins. (quiet froo-froo dogs. lol)
Just born:
4 weeks old:
Last edited by ChickieChicks; 08-18-2012 at 07:21 PM.
ARGH. All at once I am up 2lbs. I went on a long cycle yesterday, and it's very hot here, and I ate a ton of calories because I went on such a long hot cycle. I don't know if it's been too many calories or if it's dehydration resulting in holding onto water or if it's the quality of the calories, because I ate pizza for the first time in FOREVER. lol. Oh well. Not stressing. Well, maybe a little bit because I was so close to being out of the 130s, and I want out. So badly!
Chickie, sorry about the ER and the sale of the chicks. Cute puppies!!!!!!!
Joss, those dishes are incredible. Would never have thought to add lentils to chicken, etc. Great ideas.
Sorry haven't kept up. Got busy AND since gaining 1.5 lbs - now over 20 lbs from lower goal - feel like a fraud among you "feather weights"! Oh well, time to adopt Krampus' motto and "push on some more."
ion- I am 5'2" and i did 1200-1400 cals for the first 3 months of my weight loss. Then I upped it about 100 cals/month until I hit maintenance. Most of the time I can maintain now around 1800, but since I haven't been able to be as physically active, I shoot for 1600.
i'll keep this in mind, thank you. my main problem is staying on plan/not falling off the wagon, so i'm going to try and stick to 1300 for a few solid weeks and take it from there. and i hope you're doing well, after what you've been through
Jossfit : Thank you for the recipe of the pancakes!! and YUMMM creamy avocado dressing. I made enchiladas with an avocado/cilantro sauce the other day, and OMG it was so good, creamy and everything, I wanted to DRINK the whole thing. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, We're defenitely going to it that tomorrow night :P
Chickie : OMG for the ER! Are you better now? And so sorry for your chickens And thank you for the pictures of the doggies, I am a sucker for baby animal pictures. I just turned AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
philana : it sucks being up but it could be for sooo many reasons. Just stick a few days to a clean diet and you'll probably be down in no time!
MountainMama : you're a feather is you decide that you are one! You can do this!
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Hi Feathers!
Yesterday's BBQ was great. My friend eats suuuuper healthy so all the dip were delicious AND healthy. I maybe ate a bit too much pita bread and corn chips, but I was still 138.8 this morning. And well, for a BBQ, it could have been MUCH MORE WORST.
I went out for a bike ride with the boyfriend this afternoon and it was super fun. We ended doing 31km, which is nothing compared to philana's rides LOL mais it was a nice workout out for me, especially after running my 14k yesterday. I think that made up for the indulging part of the bbq
We are eating corn on the cob tonight and the boyfriend wanted ONE thing with that. Animals shape chicken nuggets. those things are like 210 calories for 4 tiny freacking giraffes! He also picked sweet potatos fries... I'm gonna enjoy tiny bits of this 4 years old kid dinner and concentrate on the corn
Chickie - Ugh, I'm sooo sorry you've been getting your booty kicked by those dang headaches again. You're right, chronic illness it a *****. I know it's not the same situation, but I was dealing with something similar a few years back; I was nauseated to the point of vomiting every day for about 6 months and the doctors could NOT seem to figure out what it was. I'll spare you all the horrid details but I've gone through medical tests up the wazoo that people should never have to go through... they never did find out what it was, but once I started eating better and working out regularly it's not been an issue. Stress? Who knows.
Is there any chance of you getting more chickens in the near future, once you feel better?
Your puppies are adorable.
Philana - Argh, just saw the 130's! Well, pizza will do that, so I'm sure once the extra workout inflammation and sodium bloat subsides you'll be right back where you were, if not lower.
MountainMama - Thanks! I've been experimenting a lot lately. You are SOO not a fraud! All of us "fall off" the wagon at least once a month for vacations and special events and gain a few pounds... we just get right back to it and off it goes! No worries!
I had to get up extra early today and get in a workout before going to help instruct a class (yeah, on Sunday ) and I'll be doing that all this week until Friday. Boo! I had a decent workout though (cardio day, nothing exciting) but I was pretty tired so it was better than I expected!
I was pretty excited about dinner, and although I forgot a couple of ingredients I had intended to add, it turned out really well!
My take on fried rice;
I used some "miracle rice" (I've been experimenting with it) and seasoned it up with garlic, salt, pepper, lemon, soy sauce, chili sauce and fresh grated ginger. To that I added chopped water chestnuts, onion, red bell pepper and carrots and let the whole thing cook together for a few minutes.
Then, I added a few nice plump shrimp and a few handfuls of fresh spinach and let that cook just a second until the shrimp were cooked through and the spinach was wilted.
Then, I cranked up the heat super high and dropped an egg in there before stirring the whole thing up and viola, shrimp "fried rice"!
I had intended to add some chopped zuchinni and mushrooms too, but just forgot to grab them out of the fridge. It was still awesome though.
Hi Feathers, nice to see people posting on a Sunday - I am on my way to a potluck BBQ so food pr0n photos will ensue. My roommate is bringing kimchee/tofu/cheese dumplings and zucchini bread whoopie pies, and I'm making a gigantic batch of Greek salad minus olives because, well, I would rather eat dog poop than eat olives. I'm super excited for her - she has been working in catering at the local BBQ restaurant for just a couple months and already her boss wants to train her to be a PIT BOSS, which are typically super gruff large-and-in-charge guys with bandanas on their heads:
I have had a very lazy weekend, but went for a 5K run with my bf yesterday in a park before loading up on groceries at Trader Joe's and made it to the gym today for a good lifting and cardio session. Feels good to keep active all through the weekend. Friday night was a wedding and I ate so much I felt like I was going to die (and did that again yesterday actually, too many gnocchis at dinner though within an acceptable calorie range). Still weighed in at 125.0 yesterday and 125.2 today.
Hey everyone,
Sorry for skipping personals, just trying to get a quick note in before my first meeting of the day. been a bit crazy this weekend. We went to see Cirque du Soleil on Saturday and it was ah-may-zing. I'd been a few years ago but I think now that I'm doing a lot more yoga and being active it made me appreciate the level that the performers were on. So flexible & strong. It was the 'Totem' show. We even took my 5 year old son who proclaimed he 'didn't want to go to the circus' and literally as soon as he walked in he was awed. Then up to my in-laws after that and a 32 mile bike ride through Amish country yesterday. My thighs hated me, it was hillier than I thought and my bike is a piece of crap. I'm not going to lie, I lathered my thighs in icy-hot last night. Feeling fine this morning though.
128.7 this morning. Very excited for that number. I think I did hit 128.5 before but that has been my lowest weigh in. I'm hoping to never see 130 again!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and hello Monday! Have a great week!
Up 1 lb from yesterday. The BBQ last night was amazing - pork tenderloin with homemade Greek yogurt and dill tzatziki sauce, a million different kinds of salads, homemade pickles and salsas, and so much more. I didn't drink any of the pureed watermelon vodka seltzers that were being passed around, but I did go home and eat a generous coffee mug of ice cream afterward. Not smart. My bf had terrible carb nightmares about doing heroin and having his arm fall off. I'm happy for him though - after being jerked around for a year by the NY state governor's appointments office, he's finally starting his new job as spokesperson and public information officer for a major state department! I'll miss Black & Latino Legislative Caucus Weekend but I'm happy he's getting more money and moving on up.
DottieMae CONGRATS on reaching the 120s!!! I've never seen Cirque du Soleil live - looks gorgeous though. Glad you had fun and your son enjoyed it too!
JossFit Omnomnom!!! One of these days I'll get around to posting my salads. Today's is a thrilling low-sodium albacore, hard boiled egg, grape tomato, crumbled feta and sorrel mix/arugula base with sesame dressing. What exactly is "miracle rice?"
TurboMammoth Nice to know it's possible to go to a BBQ without your weight blowing up. I would've been fine probably had I not come home and dived headfirst into ice cream...
ion Hang in there! Do you feel more "capable" at 1300 than 1200?
Mountain Mamma You are absolutely still a feather a pound and a half up, don't be silly!
philana That's pizza for you. It's not permanent! Congrats on another long hard cycle.
ChickieChicks I'm so sorry about your struggles w/chronic illness and having to go to the ER. The puppies are absolutely awwwwwwwwwww-inspiring though - seriously they are precious!
Jossfit : your fried rice looks amazing. never thought about throwing spinach in mine though! did you ever tried fish sauce to season your fried rice? it's a strong flavor, so you don't need to add a lot, and it,s amazing in fried rice and pad thai
DottieMae : Woah, Cirque du Soleil! Must have been amazing. My boyfriend still talks about the time he saw Allegria when he was 10 years old LOL
krampus : Jeez, your BBQ sounds fantastic. I'm now having ac craving for tsaziki sauce hehe. Yeah, I did good at the BBQ but ate my face off yesterday. Meh.
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Up to 139.4 this morning, that's so not in the good direction!!! I ate a lot yesterday, don't know what happened, it's like I always had something in my my mouth... I packed a light lunch for today, at least.
We're supposed to go camping this weekend, so I'll try to have the best week I can get before that food camping festival. Usually when it's just me and the boyfriend, I can control okay, but this time we are going with friends so I don't knwo what's going to happen in term of food. We'll see, i guess!
Hey everyone! Baahhh, I've missed so much. I peeked in a few times though I just haven't had a chance to do full personals. Just wanted to say hi!! I'll catch up soon. I've been 141.something for a few days.. so damn close! I'll hopefully be pretty active this week so that should help.
All of your food pictures are making me hungry! I'm having burgers with sweet potato fries for dinner. Yum yum
Olives are delicious, puppies are adorable, BBQs are fun, giraffe chicken sounds hilarious.
Turbo - LOL I'm laughing so hard at the image of you cooking this lovely meal for your BF of, um, giraffe shaped chicken nuggets. haha, too funny! I bet some of that creamy cilantro dressing would be good on them! haha
I wouldn't worry too much about the festival coming up. You did alright at the BBQ and made up for it with a nice long ride so there's no reason you can't apply that same tactic for this event.
Krampus - You are like on the go all the time girl! I want to trade social lives with you for a weekend. AT LEAST let me have the Trader Joes! I don't have one anywhere near me. The closest one is a 90 minute drive each way, but I am debating making the journey on Friday since I'll have the day off. I can't decide...
That's so great that both your friend and your BF got good job news! Your friend is going to be drawing the fellas in like crazy if she's walking around smelling like smoked meats all the time.
And yes, be a nerd and post pictures of your salads! I don't want to be the only one!
Dottie - Congratulations on the progress, that's fantastic!
I've seen one Cirque de Soleil show in Vegas; Zumanity. I know it's sort of risque and not the typical show they do, but it was amazing. So funny, impressive, and all the naked hardbodies weren't difficult to look at either. I rave about it to anyone who will listen and really recommend it to anyone who seems interested in going. Next time I go to Vegas I want to check out Ka or O. Last time (during the wedding/honeymoon) we didn't have time.
Leila - Mmmm sweet potato fries. Consider me officially jealous. I have a bar and grill down the road here that makes the best ones I've ever had, and they drizzle them with a touch of honey. A-MAZ-ING. Nom nom nom. I'm going to experiment with butternut squash this weekend and am going to try to bake it into fries and see how that works. If anyone has any tips, I'm all ears (er, eyes)!
Another day instructing... blah. Boring. I hit the gym beforehand and did a heavy 5x5x5 superset workout and a bit of light cardio to stretch my muscles out. Going to be sore tomorrow!
I whipped up another new combo for dinner tonight, and used some of the extra cilantro I have from the dressing I made the other day. This is tilapia with zuchinni, diced onion and asparagus with some garlic, cilantro and salsa to top it off. It was really good! So fresh and light.
Oh, and how super sad is this article! A friend showed it to me earlier and I was a little bummed because I love my Arctic Zero. I guess I'll just have to take the new numbers into consideration and adjust from there. Not a big deal, but still.
Oh, and Krampus, Miracle Rice is just the same thing as Miracle/shiritake noodles. They're made from Konjac powder (glucomannan) and just shaped like little rice pearls instead of noodles in this case.
I've been experimenting with them and have used them as a base for rice pudding (which was decent but not amazing) and now this fried rice dish which was pretty dang delicious.
And I sold all my chickens today, so I'm feeling bummed. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I am a country girl, and selling them was a must since i can no longer do most basic things around the house, and they were extra. Just another reminder that my life is crap roght now!! UGH! I'm trying hard to downsize my expectations of what I can do, but it kills me not to go 110% when I feel okay. Will I ever learn this?!? Chronic illness is a biotch. 
You have a great plan for the BBQ. How did it go? I used to freak about going places like that, but I have since chilled considerably. I usually take one thing to nibble, maybe just a bar or dried fruit, and then bring my own meat. way to go for seeing the scale move in the right direction. Is the bulge gone? I found it, in case you want it back...LOL.
It was still awesome though.
