Day 117

I’ve been at this for 4 months now and can honestly say it’s a lifestyle and not a diet. I really do miss sandwiches with melty cheese, lasagna, baked potatoes, French fries and pizza. I’ve learned to enjoy my Friday fish tacos on lettuce instead of tortillas but still live in wine country and it’s pretty hard to give up wine and cheese.

I’ve lost 18 pounds – so much better than gaining

I am able to come home for lunch on most days – eating simple leftover salmon with some sliced cucumbers and tomatoes rather than a salad

I’ve added a fit bit to track my activity… so far I’m not getting nearly enough steps… so that’s the next step

Day 30

Well well well… I’ve lost another pound! That brings the total to 7 pounds in 29 days

This will be my last blog post. I figured it would keep me accountable, which it has. I originally started do to a comment made to me about not knowing what to eat if it wasn’t carbs. In the beginning I thought I was going to be creative and try out new recipes but I tried all those I thought I would like in the first week. It was a lot of cooking and prepping – too much for someone cooking solo

Today’s breakfast is the old standby – fried eggs and microwaved bacon with a v8

For lunch I’m keeping it simple. I wanted something I could just grab and eat at my desk… cottage cheese to the rescue!

I’ve improved on the Greek Chicken recipe from week 1. Fresh raw tomatoes are much better than cooked canned diced tomatoes any day. I added cucumber and it was just a bit more Greek 😉

I enjoyed half a steamed artichoke too.

Ok, so that’s it. 30 days keeping on track.

No more blogging but I’ll stick to it.

Thanks to my sister, my devout follower

Day 29

I worked straight through breakfast so ended up having brunch instead

I needed to use the leftover artichoke bottoms from the other day so I had a repeat omelette – I sautéed the artichoke bottoms and Canadian bacon prior to making the omelette

Yes, a bit of egg went flying onto the burner when I did my fancy omelette flip

Yummy – barely any cheese but that was just fine

I didn’t have my son to prepare my steak for me tonight so I massaged some steak rub and salt into it and grilled it up on my George Foreman grill – I steamed some fresh asparagus and topped my steak wit some crumbled goat cheese

It was pretty tasty

Day 28

Daylight savings time means I slept in and skipped breakfast

Around lunchtime I finally poached a few eggs and had a v8… i first under poached and the over poached one of the eggs but it tasted fine

I needed a snack to make it to dinner time so I had a few slices of microwaved cardboard, aka Turkey Bacon

I seasoned my expensive Sockeye Wild Salmon from Whole foods with fisherman’s Wharf seasoning and grilled it outside. I payed down some spinach, English cucumber and tomato to turn it into a salad

A bit heavy on the Pepper

Day 27

I think I’ll stop blogging at Day 30

Today’s brunch at Flames was an bacon avocado cheddar omelette.

I didn’t eat much of the cottage cheese. The omelette was delicious

I had to pick up wine today at 3 locations. I tasted but poured out a lot of wine

I went to Pub Republic for dinner and had a burger patty with goat cheese and caramelised onions

Notice my sisters fried chicken? She says it was delicious but she still asked for one of my cherry tomatoes – go figure.

Day 26

Today I’m just relying on Atkins products.. I’ll get to the grocery store over the weekend

I had a shake for breakfast and a granola bar for lunch

Here’s the weekly fish taco photo

Day 25

I’m pretty sure my scale is broken – still nothing to report … no reward for my efforts unless you count not gaining.

This morning I boiled a few eggs while getting ready for work and then microwaved some turkey bacon too

I came home for lunch and opened a can of Chili.. this time the turkey variety. It made a mess in the microwave.

I’m noticing it is a bit spicier than the original Dennisons Chili. I prefer the original but this one is better for you. The whole can is 380 calories

I was on my own for dinner tonight without many groceries in the house and no desire to go out for any…. preferring my slippers

I turned this:

Into this:

Tastes pretty good too!

Maybe too many eggs today though

A few hours later I was hungry… I’m treating myself to a yogurt

Day 24

I grabbed another Atkins shake for breakfast this morning since it worked out yesterday. I was pretty hungry by lunchtime

No photo for the Atkins shake as it was identical to yesterday’s shake

I met my sister for lunch at Flamez Grill where our waitress is always so happy to see us

I ordered breakfast and asked them to sub Canadian bacon for the bacon, hold the hash browns and toast and give me cottage cheese instead. Lotsa protein

check out my sisters French fries.. they don’t even tempt me… I’m on a mission

For dinner tonight I waited until I was really hungry before tossing a frozen salmon burger patty into a saucepan. To further my creativity, I put some baby spinach on a plate and sliced up half a beefsteak tomato.

This may actually be easier than drive thru food 🙂

Day 23

Sigh.  Still no progress on the scale.

This morning I’ll just have an Atkins shake.

lunch was a single Aidelle Chicken Salad

Went out to Beyond The Glory sports bar for dinner

I changed it up by ordering steak on my salad and watched my son eat French fries

Day 22

Starting week 4… no weight loss last week 😦

So it’s back to the old stand by – eggs. This time scrambled with some Canadian bacon and a bit of shredded low fat cheese

I was able to come home for leftovers for lunch… Sausage and Peppers .

The photo makes it look terrifying- it’s not

I’ve got these chicken breasts I defrosted – I’m not normally a fan of thick cut chicken breasts. I seasoned them and grilled them up in a skillet, covering while cooking as I was hoping it wouldn’t be dried out. Again, I’m nervous cooking poultry – I managed to cook it thoroughly and it had clear juices when punctured. Wishing my son was here to cook for me 😉

The texture was awful. The only way I could manage to eat the chicken was to shred it. I had another left over so I’ve shredded it for future use in a salad

The dog loved the little bit of chicken he got, but then again – he loves chicken jerky

Day 21

I haven’t cheated at all.. 3 whole weeks. I hope to be rewarded in the scale

Started my day by polishing off what was left of the cottage cheese

I was out celebrating my brothers birthday for lunch. While others had fish and chips, I had a piece of salmon on romaine lettuce – they didn’t have a lot of salad choices

My son made my dinner – perfectly seasoned filet mignon which was also cooked perfectly. I had it with a steamed artichoke, which I managed to eat without butter

Delicious

Day 20

The quickest breakfast for me is fried eggs and microwaved Oscar Meyer Turkey bacon.

Lunch was pretty simple – opened a can of Chili and heated it in the microwave with some melted reduced fat cheese.

Got a bit hungry a few hours later so I had the rest of the sausage

My son would say I’m making my diet look pathetic

Ok, I realize this is t original but I am just cooking for myself so… how about some more sausage with peppers and onions?

Looking forward to being healthier and wearing smaller sizes

Day 19

It’s Friday so it must be Fish day

I skipped breakfast and had “brunch” of wonderful grilled fresh sockeye salmon prepared by my son

It’s always better when someone else does the cooking

As tradition dictates, I was at Caffe Zazzle enjoying fish tacos protein style again

The photos look pretty much the same from week to week

Dinner was early so I may get hungry later and scramble up an egg or something

Day 18

Hey look.. Eggs! I’ve used reduced fat shredded cheddar/jack mix in the omelette

I put it on a small plate to look more satisfying

I planned to eat a store packaged salad for lunch today – it was its final “Enjoy By” date – Chicken Cobb Salad. I started to eat and just felt it was off… tossed it in the garbage and grabbed some cold cuts to eat at my desk. A slice of cheese and about 6 slices of processed deli turkey

Dinner Time… I’m finally going to defrost the leftovers from Day 3 – Chicken stir fry with riced cauliflower. The snow peas and peppers didn’t make it through the defrost process … so I tried to substitute some edamame but they were freezer burned

Proof I prefer fresh food

I added some more soy and ate about a third … until I got bored. I return to every dieters friend, cottage cheese… and had a few spoonfuls straight out of the container

Feeling like I need a treat.. I’ve got sugar free black cherry jello

Sigh… my son says my diet seems sad.

Ok- I’ll try to get more creative.

Day 17

Breakfast was easy… set two eggs boiling while getting ready for work. Pop a few sausage links in the microwave

My super close up was a bit blurry… but I’ve posted photos of hard boiled eggs before.  I’m noticing a little piece of egg shell I missed.

Went home for lunch and fried up a frozen salmon burger – first time trying these. I’ve heard good things about the Costco brand

Dinner tonight was cooked by my fabulous sons. Ground beef patty, reduced fat cheddar, turkey bacon with caramelised red onion. Some orange bell pepper slices stood in for French fries and I had another scoop of cottage cheese to fill the plate.

It was a salad free day!

Day 16

I hopped on the scale hoping to see the progress that wasn’t there yesterday.  I was greeted by the 2 pounds I had expected to lose.  Perhaps I will move my weigh in day to Tuesday 🙂

I know I’m suppose to have turkey or chicken sausage, but Safeway didn’t have the Jennie-O turkey links I wanted.  I went ahead and got Pork.  Oh my!  That’s the “bad” protein I’m not suppose to be eating.    Here are a few links with my very lazy fried eggs with broken yokes on a paper plate.

It’s probably worth mentioning that I managed to not burn the sausage this time and the leftovers are safe in the fridge.

Another will power exercise – I went out for lunch.  Back to Pub Republic since it’s so close.  Today our server described the special and my mouth started to water.  It’s a ground chicken burger with cheddar and caramelized onions.  Yes please!  I ordered the carb free variety as my friend enjoyed the French fries and bun as it was originally designed.  You can see his fries in the photo.  I was ok with it .. didn’t really even get jealous.

It was delicious.  My friend ate all his too, and he wasn’t thinking he was all that hungry.

My dinner tonight was pretty much whatever I could throw together from the fridge. I had 2 packages of lettuce mix that expired so I only had a small amount of the living butter lettuce left. Add to tha the leftover pesto chicken with the pesto wiped off, half a beefsteak tomato, half a cucumber, and avocado and topped it with crumbled goat cheese. A bit heavy on the avocado but I did t think half an avocado would keep well in the fridge.

Pretty tasty combo of avocado and goat cheese

Day 15

Starting week 3. I was excited to weigh in this morning only to find that I had not lost a single pound last week. Sigh.

I didn’t gain any weight, so I suppose that’s positive. Most likely I didn’t eat enough this past week and my body is protecting me.

Feeling a bit disappointed I think I’ll have fried eggs and Canadian bacon with a v8 before heading into the office

Doesn’t it look bland and boring? It was.

Lunch was quick, I ran home and had an Adele’s sausage and a yellow pepper which was on its last day – a one pan meal

Still haven’t gone to the grocery store so here’s my do-over shrimp salad from Flames

Flames Grill

That’s my sisters pasta dish on the other side of the table

Day 14

It’s the very last day of Phase 1!

This morning I skipped breakfast all together – except for a cup of tea I didn’t bother to photograph

I went out to lunch at a newish restaurant

Red Brick Restaurant

I ordered the Chicken Apple Salad hold the Apple. I loved the blue cheese crumbles but felt $16 was a bit pricey, I suppose rent in this space is expensive.

I was surprised by the radishes, pretty cool.. like eating a potato chip

I have not yet been to the grocery store so I opted to go out for dinner – a small mixed green salad with salmon.. ahh.. more radishes.

Pub Republic

They serve salmon rare here… I ate all I could but when I got to the thick center it was almost raw. I sent it back to cook longer. I will specify how I would like my salmon cooked from here on.. lesson learned

I must admit that I’m still hungry. I guess that’s ok. I’ll drink some water and feel full.

The South Beach Diet folks have a deal where they send the food, shakes, etc. I’m thinking of trying it. Coming up with new ideas and doing it solo is kinda hard. Lots of cooking. I’m thinking maybe the Slimfast people have a good idea – shakes for breakfast and lunch and a sensible dinner.

For me, it helps to only be allowed certain foods and to think of carbs as some sort of evil thing… the enemy.

I’m proud to have not cheated once in 14 days and making it through Phase 1

Day 13

I was going to start the day with Oscar Meyer Turkey bacon but had to throw out the entire package – it had a Use By date which had long past

Back to the eggs I boiled yesterday. I embrace my oneness with eggs. Tomorrow I will likely learn they cause cancer.

I had grilled up 4 burger patties the other night – they look a bit like hockey pucks. I think they are a bit dense and actually prefer to make my own patties from lean ground beef. Thinking maybe even a turkey burger might be good. I changed it up a bit by melting goat cheese on top.

I’m trying a new recipe for dinner from the same source as last weeks recipes

Easy Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe link

I used thin sliced chicken breasts and only used two. I used store bought pesto in a jar since I still have not located my food processor. I used a Pyrex pie pan instead and baked for 20 and then added cheese and cooked for another 5 while I microwaved my steam fresh frozen broccoli

A bit heavy on the pesto but delicious. Actually was too much pesto. I could only eat half of it.

Day 12

Somehow I feel like I’m in the final stretch because the first 2 weeks are the hardest. I know though that if I start introducing the “good carbs” that the weight loss will stop.

So I guess I shouldn’t think of it as something I’m getting through enduring. I need to not reward myself with food

Perhaps I should start buying jewelry for myself or something 😉

Here are my beautiful hard boiled eggs and homemade sugar free chai – starting my day.

My home made salad today is attempting to make something of my over cooked turkey breast. I’ve shredded some of it and added cucumber, tomato, sweet baby yellow peppers, roasted slivered almonds and spring mix with spinach. Looks like it may take an hour to eat

I was right, it took about an hour to finish this salad while also working. I was still hungry so ate yet another hard boiled egg

I could be Humpty Dumpty – there’s a slight resemblance

It’s Friday which means fish tacos. I’ve changed up the photo background – damn, it’s blurry