Scale avoidance

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Rory

I did NOT want to get on the scale this morning. My week of “dieting with a houseguest” did not go as well as I had hoped. The first few days were fine – I went to the gym every morning, and except for one big meal at the most amazing Venezuelan restaurant in Astoria, I didn’t stray from my diet.

But then Thursday rolled around, and I drank a lot. Then on Friday I was starving from being hungover, and once again I ate a lot. On Saturday I was sad so I did a LOT of “emotional eating” – including eating a bowl of ziti for breakfast, lunch, and a mid-afternoon snack. And two chocolate chip muffins. On Sunday I was like “Well, my diet is already f*cked, I might as well eat what I want today and start fresh tomorrow.” And so I did.

Today I did start fresh. I went to the gym this morning, and I haven’t eaten anything bad, nor do I plan to. When I am determined, I can follow a diet no problem. But apparently I haven’t quite mastered the ability to indulge a little bit here and there without totally losing the plot.

At first I wasn’t going to weight myself today. I planned to get back on my diet and wait until Thursday or Friday, at which point I should be back around where I was pre-houseguest. But I decided to bite the bullet and force myself to face up to the consequences of my over-eating.

It was as bad as I’d expected. This morning I was up FOUR pounds. Which, if you’re keeping track, means that after all my hard work of the past few weeks, I’m only down ONE pound. It’s amazing how hard it is to lose weight but how easy it is to gain.

But I’m not discouraged. I plan to do two-a-days every day between now and Sunday, which is when I leave to Australia, and by then I should be back to where I was pre-houseguest. I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do in terms of exercise while I’m away. I’m bringing my laptop with me, so I guess I could load it up with exercise videos. But will I actually do them while I’m on vacation?

As the Magic 8-ball would say, “Don’t count on it.”

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Dieting when you have a houseguest

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Rory

My diet is going well. I’m down another 2.5 pounds since last Friday, which makes a total of 4.5 pounds since I went “hardcore” two weeks ago. If I keep things up then I might actually be able to achieve my goal of losing 10 pounds before my trip to Australia at the end of the month!

The next week is going to be a bit of a challenge, though. I’ll have someone staying with me, and I foresee several meals out and at least a night or two of drinking.

Hopefully I won’t mess my diet up too bad. I plan to keep up my “Two-A-Days” all week, so as long as I don’t go crazy when I go out to eat I’ll be okay. But that will be difficult, because we’re going to be eating at this amazing Venezuelan restaurant at least once. But this is the new and improved Rory, who is disciplined and focused, and hopefully I will have some self control.

So yeah…I might not lose weight this week. But with a bit of careful planning and plenty of exercise, I’m fairly confident that I won’t gain.

Fingers crossed!

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Healthy Tomato Relish (great on burgers and steak)

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Rory

tomato relish - finished with burger

I am a ketchup girl. I use it on nearly every type of meat I eat, and I add it to certain other foods as well, such as potatoes, rice, and eggs. Most people are aghast when they see me adding ketchup to a steak, but I love the way it tastes, and I’m not ashamed!

(And do you know what’s even better than ketchup? Ketchup and mayo mixed together. Mmmmm, now I’m drooling Homer Simpson-style.)

But now that I’m on a diet and eating healthy and whatnot, I’ve taken the step of cutting ketchup from my diet. It really hasn’t been too hard, thanks to a simple recipe I learned when I was doing the South Beach Diet almost a decade ago.

Tomato relish.

What makes something a “relish”? To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure, even after googling it for the purpose of writing this blog post. I mean, look at this opening paragraph from wikipedia:

The item generally consists of discernible vegetable or fruit pieces in a sauce, although the sauce is subordinate in character to the vegetable or fruit pieces. It might consist of a single type of vegetable or fruit, or a combination of these. These fruits or vegetables might be coarsely or finely chopped, but generally a relish is not as smooth as a sauce-type condiment, such as ketchup. The overall taste sensation might be sweet or savory, hot or mild, but it is always a strong flavor that complements or adds to the primary food item with which it is served.

Ummm…what? Could that be any more confusing? The only part that made sense to me is this: “generally a relish is not as smooth as a sauce-type condiment, such as ketchup.”

Anyway, I don’t know why this recipe is called “tomato relish” as opposed to “sauteed onions and tomatoes,” but it is what it is. And what it is is: delicious. I’ve been putting it on burgers and steaks, and I don’t even think about ketchup any more (although I do still think about mayo. Sometimes I’ll add a dollop of mayo to the relish. It’s heavenly.).

Notes:

This recipe is good for two hamburgers. I like to double or even triple the recipe when I make it so there’s enough to last all week.

I really like onions, so I’ll usually use two onions instead of just one. In the pictures below, I used three tomatoes and two onions.

Healthy Tomato Relish

Ingredients:

  • Two tomatoes
  • One onion, chopped
  • One clove of garlic
  • Teaspoon of basil
  • Salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat up some olive oil, then saute the onions and garlic over a low to medium flame until the onions are soft and a little brown, maybe 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and basil, give it a good stir, and then cook until the tomatoes are soft, stirring occasionally. The total cooking time is about 20 minutes.

When the tomatoes are soft I usually turn the flame down low but keep it going  until the rest of my food is ready. From what I’ve seen, you can’t really overcook it.

tomato relish - cooked onionstomato relish - add tomatoes and spicestomato relish - cook til softtomato relish - mixed with mayo

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“Two-A-Days” – now I actually know what that means

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Rory

I’ve been in hardcore diet mode for a week now. It’s going well – I’m down 2 lbs since last Thursday! I’ve been working out TWICE a day, before and after work. I’ve been waking up an hour earlier than normal so I can do weight training in the morning. Then after work I’ve been doing cardio, either at the gym or in salsa class (which is wayyyy more intense than the cardio I do at the gym).

Food-wise I am also doing well. I haven’t strayed from my diet at all, although there were a few “questionable” meals, like the baked eggplant parm I ate for lunch TWICE this week or the sour cream and guacamole dip I added to my chicken and vegetable fajitas for dinner one night (no tortilla, of course). Even though I said I was going to cut out cheese and sour cream, I also said I wasn’t going to waste anything in my fridge. But it’s all almost gone now; there are just one or two more meals left.

Regardless, I’m not worried about it.  With all the exercising I’m doing, a little low-fat cheese or sour cream isn’t gonna kill me OR my diet.

fajitas and eggplant

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Eating out when you’re dieting

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Rory

I’m sitting at a diner with my family, as we usually do on Sunday mornings when we visit my grandma. My go-to diner breakfast is the bagels and lox platter. Mmmmm. I love lox.

But now I’m on a diet, and I am actually very focused and motivated. So there’s definitely no bagel for me today. Instead, I ordered two poached eggs and stole a piece of my aunt’s bacon. Not quite as good as a bagel and lox, but I at least I stuck to my diet. 🙂

20130929-114422.jpg

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My dieting DUH moment

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Rory

Last week I had a revelation that made me feel really, really stupid.

I had been dieting for three weeks. I’m going to Australia at the end of October, and since I’ll be spending a majority of the three weeks I’m there in a bikini, I’d like to be in somewhat decent shape. I decided to go back on the HCG diet, MINUS the drops. I figured I could follow the meal plan without the drops and I’d still lose weight. Maybe not as quickly as last year, but I’m only trying to lose 10 pounds and at that point I had two months to do it. Less than two pounds a week. Should be easy, right?

I was doing really well. I was exercising four or five times a week, and I had completely cut out all types of “bad carbs” from my diet. I went out drinking three times in that period, all for friends’ birthdays, but I stuck to wine or vodka and club soda and my only major cheat was on the night of my friend’s birthday when I got really wasted and ended up eating Burger King at 3 in the morning. But that was at the end of August, and I’d gotten back on track well enough that I should have been losing weight.

But I wasn’t. In the entire three-week period that I was dieting, I had only lost 1.5 pounds. And in the 4 or 5 days prior to my revelation, my weight hadn’t changed at all!

So what was the revelation? Well, that morning after weighing myself and seeing that the number on the scale hadn’t changed, I thought to myself, “What the hell is going on? I’ve been following the HCG maintenance plan to the letter, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be down 4 or 5 pounds by now. WTF?!”

Then it hit me. I’d been following the MAINTENANCE plan. Maintenance, as is maintaining your weight. Duhhh! Even though I had cut out carbs, I was still eating low-fat cheese, nuts, avocados, and all this other stuff that may be healthy but is still high in fat. At that moment I realized that if I actually want to lose weight, I am going to have to eliminate all those things from my diet.

In the week since then, I’ve significantly reduced the amount of fat I was eating (I was eating half an avocado a day for almost two weeks!). I don’t like wasting food, so I’m finishing all the stuff I still have in my fridge, like cottage cheese, sour cream, etc. Starting on Monday I will be in hardcore diet mode, because now I only have one month to lose 10 pounds!

On the positive side, I’m happy that I finally found a way to maintain my weight. That was one of my New Year’s Resolutions, remember? It’s nice to know that once I finally get down to where I want to be, I will be capable of maintaining my weight and will therefore be able to STOP yo-yo dieting once and for all.

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Turkey, Swiss Cheese and Avocado Rolls – my new favorite thing

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Rory

Turkey, swiss and avocado rolls - finished roll 2 with tomatoAll I have to say is: YUMMMMM.

I’ve been eating turkey and cheese rolls for ages, but it wasn’t until this week that I had the genius idea of adding avocado to the mix. I normally dip the rolls in mayo. But on Monday morning when I was in my fridge taking out the cold cuts so I could bring them to work, I just happened to spot an avocado on the bottom shelf.

I swear, it was like a lightbulb went off over my head. Instead of mayo, I could use avocado! Healthy AND delicious! (Turns out that each roll is about 200 calories, depending on how much avocado you use per roll).

My first utterance when I bit into the roll at lunch? “Ohhhhhh, oh my goddddd, this is soooooo good.” (I make a LOT of noise when I bite into something delicious. Sometimes it gets awkward.)

So if you have yet to try this amazing trio of meat, cheese and avocado, I suggest you get on it!

Turkey, Swiss Cheese and Avocado Rolls

I know this isn’t a “recipe,” but here’s how I make them.

Ingredients:

  • Sliced turkey (I usually buy Boar’s Head, but this time I got Butterball Smoked turkey, because it was on sale)
  • Sliced cheese (Alpine Lace swiss – Alpine Lace is a low-fat brand.)
  • Avocado
  • Optional – sliced tomatoes

Instructions:

Slice your avocado and lay out all your ingredients. Layer the turkey, cheese and avocado. At this point I like to mash up the avocado so it’s evenly distributed throughout the roll, but that’s up to you. Add the tomatoes or anything else you’d like (I’m thinking that a cucumber would be good for adding some crunch), then roll it all up and enjoy.

Turkey, swiss and avocado rolls - ingredients

Turkey, swiss and avocado rolls - lay outTurkey, swiss and avocado rolls - mash avocado add tomatoTurkey, swiss and avocado rolls - 3 finished rolls with tomatoTurkey, swiss and avocado rolls - finished roll with tomato

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Sugar-free banana smoothie

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Rory

I know that bananas aren’t good when you’re trying to lose weight, because they have a lot of sugar, but I figure it’s much better to eat a banana than an entire Entenmann’s Banana Crunch Cake in one weekend, which I have been known to do.

I’ve been making a lot of banana smoothies recently. I do this when I’m at work using my mini blender that I bought like 3 years ago for $15. I do a lot of “cooking” in the office, actually – my coworkers are always going on about how I have such a healthy diet, because I’m constantly in our kitchen making salads, eggs (using my microwave egg poacher – best invention ever!), avocado sauce, or smoothies.

Sugar-free banana smoothie

Ingredients

  • One really ripe banana
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • Skim milk (about a cup)
  • Ice
  • Truvia or other sweetener (optional)

Directions

Mix everything in the blender. Sometimes I might add a packet of Truvia, depending on how sweet the banana is.

That’s it. Soooo good.

ingrdientsbanana smoothie finishedbanana smoothie yummm

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Sugar-free mini cheesecakes

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Rory

minicheese cakes - finished, outside with coffee

And now, finally, the post that the last two posts have been leading up to: my sugar-free mini cheesecakes. I wanted to have the recipes for the crust and the blueberry sauce up before I posted this.

These mini cheesecakes are amazing. They more than satisfy any cheesecake craving you may have. Even my non-dieting friends really like them! I brought these to my aunt’s house last week for brunch, and everyone was drooling over them impatiently while I was taking pictures.

And they are so freaking easy to make! Only four ingredients (five if you add sour cream, which I did this time because I happened to have some in my fridge). And they are fairly low calorie. If you make 6 per batch, they are only 99 calories each using reduced fat cream cheese,  or 161 if you use full fat cream cheese. (That’s only counting the cheesecakes. With the crust and topping it’s higher at 170 and 235 calories, respectively.)

So there is absolutely no reason for you not to make them. Unless you’re one of those freaks of nature who doesn’t like cheesecake. 🙂

Notes:

  • I first discovered this recipe at the Lowcarbfriends.com forum in a 40-page thread that has been going on for 7 years! There are TONS of variations of this recipe, things you can add to it, etc.
  • I like to divide this recipe into 6 portions. When I first started making them I would do 12, but that was silly, because there was hardly anything to eat and I would end up eating 2 or 3 at a time. So I suggest 6 servings MAX.
  • You may notice in the photos below that some of the tops of the cheesecakes are a little sunken. Apparently this is common with cheesecakes and has to do with the moisture in the cake or something. This is why I put a water-filled pan in the oven while I’m cooking them. It’s a bootleg version of a water bath, and it helps a lot.
  • Read THIS PAGE for tips on making cheesecakes.
  • This was my first time making it with the crust. It’s really good without it, but the crust definitely took it to the next level.

Sugar-free mini cheesecakes

Ingredients:

Cheesecake mixture:

  • 1 8oz package of reduced fat cream cheese (or full fat, your choice)
  • 1/4 cup of reduced fat sour cream (optional – they taste great with or without it)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tsp Truvia

Optional:

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. (Optional) Line your cupcake pan with liners (6) and scoop one tablespoon of the pie crust mixture into each one. Bake for approximately 10 minutes; let them cool before you pour the cheesecake mixture on top.

minicheese cakes - crust layer

3. Place a pan filled with water onto the bottom shelf of the oven. (I did this AFTER I took the pie crust out. But if you’re not doing the pie crust, just put it in when you start preheating the oven.)

Bootleg water bath:

minicheese cakes - water bath

4. While the crust is cooking, melt the cream cheese for like 30 seconds in the microwave so it softens up (or just leave it out on the counter for a few hours before you start cooking).

5. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and beat until creamy.

minicheese cakes - creamcheese mixture

6. Pour the mixture on top of the cooled pie crust (or just straight into the cupcake liners if you’re skipping the crust).

minicheese cakes - before

7. Bake for 18-20 minutes and remove from oven. Let them cool to room temperature, then put them in the fridge overnight (or at least for awhile – they taste best cold).

Right out of the oven:

minicheese cakes - right out of oven

After cooling for maybe a half hour:

minicheese cakes - after

After a few hours (notice some of the sunken tops):

minicheese cakes - after cooling

That’s all there is to it! You can eat them plain, or top them with blueberry sauce or anything else you can think of. Enjoy!

minicheese cakes - some toppingsminicheese cakes - finished 1minicheese cakes - finished, just one

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Sugar-free Blueberry Sauce

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Rory

dripping blueberries

Once upon a time, I tried making strawberry sauce. I mashed up the strawberries, added some Truvia and a bit of lemon juice, and let it cook over the stove until it thickened. Then I left it in the fridge overnight to set. Alas, there was no happy ending for me. The next morning when I poured the sauce over the almond flour pancakes I had been so excited to make, I discovered that instead of a luxuriously thick and sweet strawberry sauce, I had basically made…strawberry soup.

It was a watery FAIL.

Last week when I decided to make a blueberry sauce to put on top of my mini cheesecakes, I was excited at the prospect of giving fruit sauce another try. After all, it’s been over a year since my failed strawberry sauce, and I’d like to think that my culinary capabilities have grown in that time and that I’d be able to cook up something decent.

And I was right. This time my sauce was a complete success!

So what did I do differently? Well, after reading dozens of recipes for fruit sauce, I realized that I needed to incorporate two key ingredients into my recipe:

1 – A simple syrup mixture (which is a mixture of water and sugar)

2 – A thickener

This is not as easy as it sounds. Not when you’re trying to make things that are grain and sugar free. I read dozens of recipes that used sugar and cornstarch, but I didn’t want to use either of those ingredients.

I knew off the bat that I would be able to use Arrowroot Powder to thicken the sauce (all my ice cream making experience came in handy!). I wasn’t sure about the simple syrup, but eventually I stumbled upon a Simple Syrup recipe at the Truvia website (which really should have been the first place I checked, duh).

So, finally, after several hours of reading dozens of fruit sauce recipes and articles about arrowroot and cornstarch (THIS was a good one), I was finally able to come up with a decent recipe – which turned out AMAZING.

Sugar-free Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of blueberries
  • Truvia simple syrup – 2 tbs. of Truvia and 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 tbs. of arrowroot powder and 1 tbs. of water, mixed well
  • 1 tbs. of water (or more if needed)

Directions:

1. Heat up the simple syrup in a saucepan over a medium flame, then add the blueberries. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

truvia simple syrup

2. Turn the flame to low and add the arrowroot and water mixture.

slimy arrowroot

3. Do NOT freak out at how nasty and slimy it looks when you add the arrowroot powder. It will get better as you continue to stir.

slimy arrowroot 2

4. Cook and stir for another two or three minutes, adding water here and there if it looks like it’s getting too thick.

blueberry sauce finished

That’s it! After letting it cool on the stove for awhile, I poured it into an old jar and stuck it in the fridge. The next day I took it with me to my grandma’s house, along with the mini cheesecakes. Everyone loved it – and I’m not just talking about the cheesecakes! The sauce was the perfect consistency, and it wasn’t overwhelmed by the Truvia.

Success!

blueberry sauce in jar

Notes:

1 – I used tiny 1/2 cup plastic containers to mix the simple syrup and the arrowroot mixture. This way I was able to shake ’em up real good.

2 –  I must admit that I started to panic when I added the arrowroot powder. The texture became all gooey and slimy, and I thought to myself, “Oh my god, this looks so nasty, there is no way this sauce is going to turn out good.” I started pressing hard on the blueberries so they would burst, just so the clear slime would turn blue and be less noticeable. Even after I put it in the fridge, I was convinced it was gonna be gross. But when I tried it the next day at grandma’s, it was so good, and the texture was PERFECT! And it was completely slime-free. 🙂

blueberries close up

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