Here we go again.....Day 1

I am so CRAP at dieting. I have done it again and put back on most of the weight I have lost on Atkins. I have been rather half heartedly getting a few pounds off over the past three weeks, but as the party seasons approaches and a certain appointment in the Netherlands looms, I have decided to whip myself back into shape after quite a few false starts.

I know my area of weakness is breakfast. If I do not have something sensible for breakfast then I am done for the rest of the day, full stop. Started back today, but that is easily done on a Sunday - tomorrow is going to be more challenging. I am making stern resolutions to make sure I eat first thing tomorrow, even if I have to throw a few chicken legs into the oven and let them cook while I am getting dressed and brushing my teeth and the like.

Going to start simple with clean induction stuff and work myself back into this.

I feel a bit of a prawn - but hey ho, none of us is perfect.

Keetje

day 37 - ooops! Exercise Challenge

In an attempt to get myself moving and burning a few more pounds of the dreaded fat cells, I decided to sign up on an exercise challenge on the atkins diet bulletin board.

They have this great thing where people pledge miles of certain types of exercise and then work towards the target.

I joined the challenge a little bit late this month, rather than waiting until next month to start.  I set myself a target of 60 miles on my bike (better to start small I thought).

So far I have only got 11 miles in - oh no!! and its the 20th of the month!  I really need to get myself moving in order to reach my target for this month.

Checking the weather forecast for tomorrow to see if its a suitable day to ride into the office.  I don't have any far flung appointments, so its a good day to use the bike.

The bike in the picture is the same as mine - very nice and comfortable for zipping around town - and of course, if you ride a bike, there is no such thing as a traffic jam.

Wish me luck catching up!

Keetje

Day 36 - Update

Hello Everyone,

I haven't written much of an update recently as I have been incredibly busy with day to day survival.  Work has been well...work-like, but I had some good news today about another case won, which has done a bundle for my self confidence.

That news came at the end of an incredibly frustrating day when I spent literally hours trying to get a few simple jobs done because of a problem with the broadband connections in the area.  I was ready to go home and dive into a tub of extremely sugary ice cream - but the good news arrived and perked me up.

I watched an amazing programme on the TV last night about a young Welsh girl who had put on the most tremendous amounts of weight - she was weighing in at 33 stone (at the age of 15).  She was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to a special school in the US for youngsters with BIG weight problems.  I didn't agree with a lot of the dietary advice given i.e. low fat low fat and low fat - but it was pretty inspiring to see this young woman take control of her life and her eating and exercise regime.  By the end of the time covered by the programme, she had lost a massive 12 stone.

The great thing about this young woman's achievement was the way that she brought back all the things she had learned from her school to her way of life at home.  She did not let a difficult home situation detract from her determination to exercise and eat well.  What a great example from a youngster of 15!  The school also concentrated on the reasons why these youngsters were overeating and treated their addiction to overeating and the reasons behind it as well as the symptoms.

I shall bear her in mind as I continue with my weight loss programme.  A few of my friends and family are starting to notice that the weight is going down - which is always nice.  My singing teacher has also commented that I seem to be able to breathe more easily - apparently some obese people are hypoxic because we are unable to breathe correctly because of the weight around our middles!

These are all very good reasons to keep at it!

Keetje

Things to do with Green Stuff (5) - Endive Hearts

When thinking of things to do with green stuff, I find it is a good idea to shamelessly rip off some of the wonderful cooking ideas of our friends across the channel - the French.

Add to that a little Dutch know-how of what to do with cheese and ham and you can come up with a really nice recipe.

I have always thought that endives were sort of fancy lettuces - but no - they are an extremely useful vegetable for roasting.

Roasted Endive Hearts with Ham and Cheese

250g of endive hearts

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 large slices of ham

100 grams of grated cheese (i.e. cheddar, gouda, emmental)

Cut the endive hearts in half, lengthways

Heat the olive oil in a baking tin in the oven at about 220 degrees C

When the oil is heated, place the endives in the hot oil flat side down, roast for about 10 minutes and turn - roast for a further 10 minutes

When the endives have a crispy, browned texture, remove them from the oven and drain off any excess oil (if you prefer to keep the oil in the tin, that is ok too).

Cover the endives with the grated cheese and place back in the oven and cook until the cheese is bubbling and slightly brown.

Place the two slices of ham on a plate, remove endives from the oven and place them and the melted cheese on top of the ham.

Eat!

I particularly like rolling the endives up in the ham!

Needless to say, other seasonings can be added - a little garlic paste can be used to give the endives a little more flavour, but I find that they have a good fresh flavour of their own.

Keetje

Carbohydrate Hangover - Day 28

Tricky old subject, carbohydrate hangovers.  Fortunately today I am talking about my beloved's monster of a carb hangover yesterday.

He went out to dinner with some chums and ended up eating (and drinking) rather more carbs than were good for him.  The poor lad was sick as a dog and spent a good deal of Friday night/Saturday morning with his head down the toilet.

I had a similar happening a couple of days before - I came clean to him and told him how rubbish I felt.  He made suitably sympathetic noises, but I suspected that he did not realise just how ghastly it all was.  He assumed that I was giving a little feminine exaggeration to how I was feeling.

Now the thing is, when he gets a bit sniffy about me feeling under the weather, fate seems to intervene and make the same thing happen to him...only WORSE!

So, on Saturday, he was being terribly brave, but did admit to feeling completely awful - he then told me that he thought I had been exaggerating my symptoms rather.

All I can say is......

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - that'll teach ya, big guy!

A gleeful,

Keetje

Update - Day 24

Good Evening everyone,

It's been a tricky few days.  I finished up a massive case at work and have been having a bit of a 'come-down' after it all.  This has made me a little prone to falling off the wagon...ok, I admit it, I did fall of the wagon on Sunday - but Monday climbed straight back on and carried on regardless.

Add to that a few personal issues that knocked me for six - life has been pretty uncomfortable all round.

Never mind, feeling a bit better now and am pushing myself back into the swing of things - need to get some more exercise - but tomorrow I am car bound as I have to go to a funeral, but after tomorrow, its bus or bike for me.

I did spend Monday in a bit of a state of self-flagellation for falling off the wagon, still feel a bit rotten about it, despite several days having passed.  

So tomorrow it is up early, off to office, do stuff and then do the multi-storey workout before I head off to this funeral.  The guy who died was an ex-colleague.  He had a highly stressful job and also drank and smoked for England.  I don't think that his constitution was strong enough to stand up to such abuses, so sadly he died at the age of 57.

There will be a social event afterwards with the inevitable sausage rolls, sarnies and beer - so resoluteness must be exercised.

Keetje

The beloved...

...has been doing extremely well on his diet.  He is happily stepping on the scales and seeing the fat melt away.

One is not meant to be competitive about these things, but its rather tough seeing the way that the weight disappears off the male of the species, whereas we women have a much harder time of it.

Nevertheless, I am thrilled to bits for him.  He has been fighting a post-giving-up-smoking weight gain for quite some time and the increase has been getting him down rather, as he has always been a lean kind of guy.  As I have said before, he was a particularly ferocious low fat diet last year and he did not lose anything like he has lost this time..I think he is about 7 kilos down and he loves the food and the choices he can make.  He has a particular passion for blue cheese - which he is indulging to the full!  Sweetheart, I KNOW you like blue cheese, but is it really necessary to have it EVERY day?

I am very very proud of him and as I said to him yesterday - the fact he has found it hard to shed this weight gain is not his fault - it was just the fault of the stupid diet that he was following.

Well done baby!

Keetje

ps. The feet in the picture do not belong to him, they are some really scary feet I found on the internet!  His are FAR nicer.

Lunch on the run

I have chosen this picture to show how it's been in my office for the past few days.  If I haven't been sifting through huge piles of papers, I have been yelling down the telephone at people on behalf of a client.

It's been early starts and late finishes and LOTS of stress.  Add to that the absence of my lovely secretary on holiday, it was chaos this week.

Hardly the best of circumstances to stay on a diet - or so I thought.

Everyone at the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board stresses the importance of planning ahead.  So I did.

I made sure that there were always enough eggs and bacon for breakfast and made sure that evening meals were in the fridge ready to be cooked when I got in.  Lunch is more problematic for most, I know - but I am lucky in having a mini supermarket a few hundred metres down the road from my office.  Now I know what once my backside is in my chair, it is rare for me to move very far until it's going home time.  So on my way into the office, I would go via the supermarket and pick up some deli meats and cream cheese and a couple of bottles of spring water.

I made up my own little whooshie rollups, as I call them.  This involves a slice of beef, spread the cream cheese and a tiny bit of horse radish sauce - literally a quarter of a teaspoonful per slice.  Then just roll it up and there is a really handy little office snack.  Another discovery was the same meat with cream cheese, but with black pepper - I love black pepper so really layered it on.  Lunch would be washed down with a lovely big cup of coconut tea.  

This stuff gave me a lot more energy than my more usual toasted ciabatta - those always made me a bit sleepy in the afternoon.  I think the new eating carried me through what was a very taxing period extremely well.

Only problem was the horrible pile of washing up that my poor secretary found when she got back.  Yes, I had managed to buy my lunch, but had completely forgotten to buy some washing up liquid.  Just as well she is a very nice lady.  She did have a bit of a laugh at all the ingredients that had appeared on the shelf in my bookcase, such as black pepper, coconut oil and horseradish sauce.  I think she thought I had opened an Atkins Cafe and given up what I normally do.

Keetje

a little chunk

Always best to take on mammoth tasks a bit at a time.  Another piece of good advice I was offered today was from the lovely Sherri at the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board - she says that she sets herself goals every month.  So I am going to try and do that.

I have divided my weight loss up into 10% sections, which seems to make it much more manageable.  I have completed the first 10% and am now into my second.  The target is 110 kilos - I have no particular date for this, but would like to try and be around the 114 mark by the end of this month - May 2009.




Keetje

DAY 15 - Induction finishes - shedloads lost!

Hurray!

I have just got through the cleanest induction ever! - or at least that is what I like to tell myself.  I did have a bit of a bumpy start with not eating enough, but other than that, it hasn't been too difficult at all.

I got on the scales this morning and found I had dropped another kilo - what a wonderful day to finish up the 14 day induction.

As I have quite a bit to lose, I am going to carry on with Induction for a while and further test my ingenuity on the cooking front.

The beloved has also done incredibly well and his friends are remarking on how much slimmer he is looking.

Was very busy in the office today - my wonderful secretary is away on holiday - I don't really realise just how much of the boring stuff she takes off my hands.  The office looks like a tornado has hit it and I am really pushed to keep things moving along.  Doesn't do me any harm, I suppose and it also makes me appreciate her even more than I do already.

I went to the ruinously expensive health food shop to get in some supplies of coconut oil - to which I have become addicted.  I am very attached to my cups of coconut tea, as I call it - green tea, plus a couple of teaspoons of the coconut oil - I love my tea with milk and it has been quite a sacrifice not having it - but not any more!

Feeling very positive about things indeed.

Keetje

DAY 14 - Social Event successfully negotiated

Aren't parties a complete nightmare when you are trying to stick to a diet??

I had to go a memorial service today and apart from the church bit there was a reception afterwards which was fraught with danger for the low-carber!  There was not even sausages on sticks which I would have perhaps tried in a pinch.  Also the wine was flowing and waiters and waitresses were circulating waving trayfuls of carbohydrates under my resisting nose.

I kept a glass of fizzy water in my hand and resolutely turned my head away every time the sandwiches, sausage rolls and slices of cake were put in front of me.  It was really HARD - but I gritted my teeth and got on with it.

I ran into a chum who is a retired military man.  He has to wear his old dress uniform on these occasions and he was telling me that he had been on a diet so that he could fit into his tunic.  I asked what sort of diet and he says, 'oh I am low carbing!'  I was a bit surprised as he had a glass of wine in one hand and a sandwich in the other.  I became the voice of his conscience and he laughed like mad as I lectured him on the evils of carbohydrates.  I hope his military training has him prepared for the onslaught of cravings tomorrow - glad I will not be in his shoes!

I slipped away from the event as soon as is decently possible and headed off out to my favourite local church, where I showed my beloved around.  Then went back to the ranch and spent half an hour running up and down the garden with a piece to string to entertain the cat.  He likes it when I am on the Atkins - there are more tasty meaty titbits to scrounge and I have more energy to play with him in the garden.

Keetje

DAY 13 - Pottering about

I got up quite late this morning, having enjoyed a Saturday morning lie-in.  I resisted the temptation to jump on the scales to see if there had been any more coconut magic - next weigh-in is on Monday so I shall wait until then.

As I had completely missed breakfast, I cooked brunch.  I had a fry up that would make my low-fat fiend friends WEEP.  Stacked on the mushrooms sauteed in butter.

Did loads of stuff around the house, due to increase in energy.  Things had got a bit lax earlier in the week and I had a bit to catch up on, spent a bit of time on the internet trying to source some cheaper coconut oil and then headed off to my local supermarket to pick up a few necessities. I took a little ride on my bike to keep the kilos moving.

Spent a pretty quiet evening, mainly reading and cooked dinner.  

All in all, quite a peaceful day and it's nice to get the energy back.  Doing Atkins (when I finally get it right!) seems to suit me.

Keetje

Prawns for the seafood hater

I am not very keen on seafood.  In order for me to eat seafood, it has to taste as little of the sea as possible - so if I cook prawns I will fry them to a frazzle and add other flavours.  So since my recent discovery of coconut oil, I wondered if this would be suitable stuff for disguising the flavour of seafood, which is after all, full of all sorts of good vitamins and minerals.

So I made up a little prawn recipe (it is not obligatory to frazzle the prawns though).

Coconut and Garlic Prawns with green salad leaves

190g small shelled prawns

1 tbsp virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon of Very Lazy Garlic

(or 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped)

1 tablespoon of double (heavy) cream

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and add the prawns, fry until the prawns are almost cooked to taste

Add the garlic and continue to fry until the prawns are cooked

Place mixture on a bed of green salad leaves

Add cream

Serves 1

Even this seafood hater enjoyed this!

Keetje

The overall picture....the determined snail

I like those little tickers that keep track of the weight loss, so I set one up for myself.

I rather like it, because the snail has such a determined look on his face.

Keetje

Day 12 - Hold the front page!!! Keetje down 2 kilos

I am seriously considering hanging out the flags - I got on the scales this morning to see if this coconut oil business is having any effect....I was most surprised to see that 2kg of body weight seemed to have disappeared virtually overnight.

My weight loss pattern is a bit like that, the pointer on my scales hovers around a bit, frustration creeps in, and I am firmly convinced that I am a total diet-failure.  Then all of a sudden my body decides to give me a bit of a surprise and then down goes the weight by a considerable amount!

Was it the coconut oil? is this stuff some magic potion that I have hitherto not been aware of?  I am sure it helped, but I really do think it has more to do with the fact that I had started eating the correct number of calories and my body dragged itself out of starvation mode.

I read something on the internet a few weeks ago that people whose ancestors come from countries that have been affected by famines tend to go into starvation mode quite easily.  The same article also said that these same people would be wise to stick to a low carb diet.  I only wish I could remember where I read it!  My family come from Ireland where there was the terrible potato famine.

The beloved is ploughing on with his eating plan.  He is doing tremendously well and is learning to cook all sorts of food that he has not cooked before.  He has been brought up in the low fat tradition and his mind is still a bit blown by using full fat versions of foods rather than the sugar-laden low fat versions.

In the recipe front, I am busily getting to grips with coconut oil and its uses in cooking.  I hope to post a recipe or two on here in a few days time after a bit more experimentation.

I intend to carry on in induction for a few more weeks, so am looking at other things I can cook and eat - the beloved pointed out to me today that if I could bring myself to eat a bit more fish it would open up all sorts of new horizons.  Who knows, I may go a bit mad tomorrow and get myself some tuna.

The search is now on for a cheaper alternative to the rather expensive coconut oil I bought.  My local Tescos has some very cheap oil, but I am wondering if it is sufficient quality to have a lovely coconut taste.  Going to buy myself a jar over the weekend and check it out - at £1.49 a jar it will not be an expensive mistake.

Our two weeks induction ends on Monday and I am rather proud of the fact that I have kept it clean - lets see what the scales and tape measure say when we weigh in on Monday.

It has been a great help doing this with my other half - he is a great support when I get grumpy when the scales refuse to move - and I hope that I am a great support to him providing recipes.

A delighted,

Keetje

The Gout Monster

Today, I am repeating an article I wrote some years ago about the horrors of gout.  I am printing this here for a lovely lady from the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board who is also attacked by the gout monster.....

My family are an arthritic lot - my father had a Hip replacement done recently and my brother had most spectacular gout until quite recently when his doc gave him some magic pills which have done away with it.

Today, I am felled with an attack of the dreaded gout monster - this is entirely unfunny, my foot hurts like hell.

My brother decided to ring up this afternoon to ask if I could go to PC World with him. Now usually I am up for a visit to PC World to examine gadgets and gizmos - so you can imagine that I was in a pretty poor condition when I refused. My brother was his usual sympathetic self - he laughed like one of those drains he unblocks for a living.

He did, however, tell me a lovely story about his mate, Swifty. Swifty is a bloke in his 40's who is himself prone to the dreaded gout monster. Swifty's doctor has given him some pills to get rid of the gout - but Swifty resolutely refuses to take them - he thinks they may damage his liver. (It has to be said here that Swifty is a bit keen on the beer, so my brother cannot quite see the connection between the pills and fear of liver damage). However, as usual, I digress.

One night at about 1am, my brother's friend,  Martin, got a call from Mrs Swifty. 'Martin!' she says...'Swifty needs your help'. Martin was very worried and asked why. Mrs Swifty explained that her old man had been attacked by the gout monster and was in the garage, lying on the floor, with his afflicted foot in the freezer and a saw in his hand. Martin very sensibly told Swifty to start taking the pills and to stop being such a baby.

However, after my experience today, I have some sympathy with Swifty's point of view. I did consider putting my foot in the freezer too.

All sharp objects have been removed from my house.

In pain,


A limping Keetje

In the land of Pork Scratchings

As today is St George's Day (the patron saint of England) I thought I would say a quick word about porky scratchings.

The English claim this snack as their own - and indeed, the average English male does enjoy a bag or two of them with a pint of beer - but there are pork scratchings/rinds/cracklings all over the world.  So I hope our American and Australian cousins will not mind that the English get a bit proprietorial about pork scratchings on this particular day.

Actually, the picture attached to this posting is from the cover of 'Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings - A miserable Yank discovers the secret of happiness in Britain'.  This book is written by Greg Gutfield, an American himself, who came over here to edit a men's magazine and learned a few lessons about the way we brits go about things.  Hilarious!

The Dutch also have a name for these revolting snacks - Knabbelspek - available in Albert Heijn.

I am not particularly enamoured of these snacks as they are ferociously salty - but today, faced by a calorie deficit I bought myself a bag in my local Tesco.  I must admit they were very flavoursome and definitely something to put on my list of emergency snacks - I will forego the compulsory pint of beer to go with them though.

Happy St George's Day to any English readers from this Irish/French pork scratching convert.

Keetje

Day 11 - Welcome back energy!

Oh! hurray!! - the Keetje show is back on the road, energy is restored to above normal levels and all is well in my little world.

I ask myself the question - why did I let the not-eating-enough thing happen again?  I have it pretty well documented in my journal from my previous attempt at the Atkins Diet last year - should have known better really.

Still, then I did not know of the manna from heaven otherwise known as coconut oil. So handy for pushing up the calories to a sensible level when the appetite is suppressed.

Apparently this wondrous substance has properties that help with the fat burning mechanism inside our bodies.  I only managed to get an A-level in Biology but I did like the stuff about digestion, etc - so I thought I knew a fair old bit about such things.  WRONG!!! The benefits of coconut oil should be taught in all schools.

As energy has returned to my life I have been able to catch up with all those irritating little tasks that I really couldn't be arsed to deal with for some time - like getting my car through its annual test, sorting out the bank, catching up on some very tedious stuff I needed to do in the office and making sure that I cook myself something decent at least once (preferably twice) every day.  Today I tried stir frying some prawns in the coconut oil with a little garlic.  It turned out quite well - I am not a huge fish or seafood fan, so I need to cook my prawns to a stage where they no longer taste too...fishy.

The beloved is forging ahead on his diet, he is melting away before my very eyes.  It's making him pretty happy to start shedding those pounds he gained after giving up smoking.

Today I gave the exercise a bit of a rest, my muscles were feeling tired and a bit achy so I drove the car into the office and just pattered around on my daily routine.  Apparently muscles unused to exercise benefit from an occasional rest - something to do with allowing the microscopic tears in the muscles caused by exercise to heal, thus strengthening the muscle.  A rather sporty friend of mine once said that the intelligent exerciser works the bottom half one day (cycling, running and general jumping around) and the top half the next (weights etc).  As my genes (thanks Granny-in-Ireland!) have given me rather porky arms, I think the advice about working the top half is sound.  It is a part of the body I tend to neglect, so when I log off I might dig out those cute little pink dumbells I have and knock out a few reps before bed.

Keetje

Day 9 - SALVATION!! - Coconut oil and the great weigh in

Good Evening everyone,

We appear to be winning the calorie battle, I am finally back up into some reasonable figures and I can feel my energy levels rising again.

I poured out my woes to the good people on the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board and I was not disappointed - I was given some good practical advice which included getting hold of some coconut oil and using the stuff to get my calorie count up.

I trotted off to the health food shop opposite where I work and got hold of a jar, which was not cheap.

However, when I got back to the office - I tried a teaspoonful - as did my lovely secretary - and we were both in agreement that this was one of the yummiest things we had tasted in a very long time.

Apparently this manna from heaven can be used in all sorts of ways - for cooking, for spreading on bread (a no-no for atkineers obviously), you can even put it in rough skin and it is especially handy for dealing with frizz breakouts on your hair.  According to the label, it is used a great deal in Asian cooking - and as I love all kinds of Asian cooking, I was very encouraged.

The weirdest thing that was suggested was that I put a spoonful of coconut oil in my herbal tea. So, late afternoon, when I was beginning to flag a bit, I did as instructed, not only did it taste great in green tea, it also perked me up.

Pondering cooking some chicken with this stuff at some point over the next few days - will report back when I do.

Aside from the coconut oil excitement - today was also weigh in day for me and the beloved.  It was a dead heat! we had both lost 4kg - that is 8.8 pounds for the non-metrically minded.  We are both thrilled to bits.

Another clean day and with the energy levels returning, I am feeling rather happy!

Keetje

Recipe Review - Mozzarella and Pesto Omelette

Good reports are coming about one of my recipes!

I tried to have a rational conversation with my beloved this evening but he said that he had to recover from the state of bliss he was in after cooking himself a mozz and pesto omelette.

Pesto is a very useful thing to stash in the fridge during induction - hardly any carbs and LOTS of taste.

No well dressed fridge is without it.

Keetje

xxx

Day 8 - still pretty exhausted, calories

Hello Everyone,

Today I got up, full of good intentions to eat a bit more and get some exercise in.

Well, I got the exercise in, but the eating was pretty pathetic - I only managed to pack in 875 calories today! what is the matter with me?

I rode into my office on my bike, the ride in was pretty good, but the ride back was very hard indeed.  There WAS a bit of a headwind that caused me a few problems, but by the time I reached home I was sweating profusely and pretty feeble.  I also found that after climbing a few stairs that my legs were ready to give out and I was puffing away. This continued throughout the evening.

I consulted my faithful orange book and the good doctor says that this is not uncommon in people who are losing weight just a little too fast.  Apparently a few ounces of nuts may sort the problem out.  It goes against the rules of induction - but as Dr Atkins says in his book, there is no reason to feel washed out and sickly, even for one day.

So I can have peanuts! hurray!!!  I love peanuts!

Keetje

xxx

Day 7 - Completely Exhausted

Hello Everyone,

For some strange reason I feel completely exhausted today.  I stayed up reading (FASCINATING book about Vikings) and so did not wake up until nearly midday.

Faffed about a bit around the house, then finally went out to do a bit of shopping around 3pm.  Took my bike for the exercise - I was hoping to do a bit more pedalling than just down to my local supermarket, but when I got there, I realised I was STILL completely knackered.

When I got back home, put the shopping away and faffed around a bit more, then decided to read for a bit and promptly fell asleep again!  I was lying on the bed, with the duvet over my feet...feeling quite at ease with the world...then zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

My beloved pointed out that perhaps this was due to only ingesting 1,000 calories yesterday.  I am beginning to wonder if, with my rather large weight, 1000 calories is enough to keep the Keetje show on the road?

Otherwise, very clean day, didn't cook anything particularly splendid.  I am looking forward to getting this weight down a bit as I am sure that hauling around all these kilos would tire out the most herculean of athletes, never mind a small woman of 5ft 2.

On the weight front, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the size of the task ahead of me - but as usual took some inspiration from the good folks at the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board where one lady, Tutti from the Phillippines, suggested that breaking the weight loss down into 10% mini goals was a very good idea.  Indeed it was!

So mini-goal no. 1 of 117kg has been set and I am feeling a little more positive.

Got the calories up a bit today - more like 1,200 - eating when I have no appetite is really quite difficult - but apparently this fades after a little while.

Hope you like the picture, its by Rembrandt - an artist very close to my heart :) .

Keetje

xxx

Things to do with green stuff (4) - Cambridge Bacon

One of the things about Induction is that it can get very dull (oh don't I know it!).

This recipe involves the classic combination of pork and cabbage cooked together and comes from East Anglia where they grow the greatest cabbages on earth!

This is the recipe for Keetje's Cambridge Bacon for one person.  I have posted this as a main meal, but the quantities can be halved if you have an elegant small appetite.

Ingredients

200g green cabbage, shredded

4 rashers of bacon chopped into small pieces

(or if you are Dutch, 2 portions of Spekblokjes from Albert Heijn)

Cream

1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the bacon.  Fry until the bacon is of the desired consistency - some people like it crispy, other less so.

Then add the cabbage and stir fry until the cabbage starts to wilt and is throughly heated.

Then, add cream to taste, keep stirring and make sure that all the cabbage is nicely coated.

Put on plate.

Eat!

I have cooked this a few times over the past few years and it has always received a good reception.  You can use any kind of cabbage that suits you, but I tend to prefer savoy cabbage as it has a strong flavour.

Keetje

xxx

What to put in an omelette?

Omelettes can get a bit 'samey' after a while, but they can be a useful standby on Atkins, especially during the induction period when food choices are a bit limited.

I was feeling a bit italian this evening, so made myself a mozzarella and pesto omelette, which was extremely nice.

Here is how to make a mozzarella and pesto sauce omelette for one person...

2/3 eggs

1 tablespoon of pesto

100g mozzarella (sliced)

2 tablespoons of cream

Olive oil

Break the eggs and whisk until the mixture is a uniform yellow colour, then add in the cream and mix until a uniform colour.

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and when the oil is sufficiently heated, add the egg/cream mixture.

Do not turn the omelette over and cook until the egg mixture is almost solid.

Add the pesto to one half of the surface area of the omelette in the pan, then add the mozzarella.

With a spatula, flip over half the omelette to cover the pesto and mozzarella and allow to cook further for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt.

Serve with salad or vegetables of choice.

Pretty simple really, but due to the high fat content of the cheese, this meal is incredibly filling. It is, of course possible to use less cheese, 50g is quite sufficient if you want to eat cheese at another meal during the same day.

Keetje

Day 6 - ut-oh! Scale trouble! cream and calories

oh dear! the 'metal monster' has reared its ugly head again.

When will I ever learn? - daily weigh-ins are not good for me.  I hop onto the scales and if I haven't lost anything I am in a right moody for the rest of the day.

So the metal monster in my bathroom has been put out of reach and will only come out once a week in future.  Hey ho, you would have thought that I would not get upset by this stuff any more - but apparently not!

So it's a case of doctor-heal-thyself and I am following the advice I gaily gave out to poor dear Wendy when she was having scale issues.

Other than that a pretty quiet day - I had a bit of an Atkins disaster today - no, I didn't stuff an entire bar of chocolate down my gullet or anything like that - but I went to the supermarket to stock up on eggs and cream.  Put them in the basket on my bike and rode off down the road.  All of a sudden, there was an enormous CRASH as my basket slipped off its clip and scattered its contents all over the pavement.  I broke 6 out of 12 eggs and lost all my cream.  Rather an expensive accident!  The fact I had library books in the same basket made the whole scenario even worse.  I will have to explain to the librarian why Council property is coated in an eggy-cream mix!

I was rescued by a sweet little girl who ran across the road telling me that her mummy asked if I would like a couple of plastic bags.  I gratefully accepted.

I have been religiously filling in my eating on Fitday - and this evening despite feeling completely full, my Fitday tells me that I have only consumed 1,000 calories.  What's going on here?  Believe me, if I had to limit myself to 1,000 calories on any other diet, approaching me would be like treading on the tail of a sabre-toothed tiger. (Beloved will testify to this).  Still feel quite full and its bedtime, so I shall just leave the calories at that for today and see what happens.

Still clean and going strong.

Keetje

Day 5 - Grim Determination

Good Evening Everyone,

Well, it's day 5 and the campaign against the kilos goes on.  Still being entirely virtuous, which is proving a bit of a strain.  Induction can get a bit dull at times!

The other half is having a whale of a time, great celebrations this morning because he had got back into the double figures club - he tipped the scales at 99.9 kilos.

I am delighted for him...it will be a little while before I get back into the double figures club, but I am making quiet progress of my own.  I must admit that I have not been taking as much exercise as I should - been a bit busy at the office and the weather has been pretty foul.  As my exercise consists of riding my bike, rain can be a bit of downer.  But, never mind - the forecast for tomorrow is good, so I shall set off on a little expedition.  I have a rough idea of where I am going to go - it will probably take AGES and I will spend more time pushing the bike up hills than actually pedalling, but I think this will be a good run for me.

Keetje

Things to do with green stuff (3)

Lets be straight about this, celery is DULL - what on earth can you do with it?

I suppose you can eat it raw, perhaps put a bit of cream cheese on the top and then eat it.  That is about it, apart perhaps from the rather nice celery you can buy in cans.

Alas, for the Atkineer, soup from cans is not good, so we have to be a little bit more creative.  So I had a poke about on a few village websites from Eastern England and found a way of dealing with celery that makes it somewhat more glamorous.  Needed a tiny bit of adapting as the breadcrumbs suggested were a real no-no.  But now celery is looking GOOD.

1 large head of celery, trimmed

1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) ground allspice

2 garlic cloves, skinned and crushed

300 ml (10 fl oz) cream

salt and pepper

50g grated cheese

1. Reserve a few celery leaves to garnish, then cut the sticks lengthways into thin strips. Cut each strip into 5 cm (2 inch) lengths and put into an ovenproof serving dish.

2.   Mix the allspice, garlic and cream together and season to taste. Pour over the celery.

3.   Bake at 200°C (400°F) mark 6 for about 1 1/4 hours or until the celery is tender.

4.  When the dish is ready, sprinkle with the grated cheese and put under a hot grill until the cheese is bubbling.

Serve hot, garnished with the reserved celery leaves.

Things to do with green stuff (2)

Hello Everyone,

What on earth does one do with a cabbage? Again this is a vegetable that mum said was good for me - but one I used to avoid like the plague until recently.

I have a couple of recipes of my own for cabbage, but I have to get the weights and measures right before posting them here. 

However, I have been scouting around for a low-carb classic that seems reasonably easy to cook, is relatively low in carbohydrates and is wonderful to eat.

I have been having a look on  Lindas Low Carb Recipes and found this wonderful recipe which has received rave reviews from all those low-carbers out there.  I have converted it into metric for the European reader

I will give it a try and report back.

CABBAGE ROLL PIE 
500g ground beef 
1 stalk celery, minced 
1 medium onion, chopped 
250 g cabbage, chopped
2 tablespoon butter 
8 small mushrooms, chopped 
Salt, to taste 
1/2 teaspoon pepper 
Garlic powder, to taste 
250ml chicken stock 
200ml heavy cream 
250g cheddar, gouda or Monterey jack cheese, grated 
2 eggs, beaten 

Brown the hamburger, celery and onion in a very large nonstick frying pan; drain the fat. Add the cabbage and butter; cook until the cabbage starts to wilt. Add the mushrooms and cook until the cabbage and mushrooms are very soft and start to brown slightly. 

Season with pepper, salt and garlic powder to taste. Add the broth and cream; bring to boil and cook on high, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened. Watch closely so it doesn't boil over or evaporate completely. 

Stir in the cheese, then the beaten eggs. Pour into a greased 10-inch pie plate. Bake at 180º for 25-30 minutes until set. 

Makes 6-8 servings 
Can be frozen 

Per 1/6 Recipe: 453 Calories; 37g Fat; 26g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs 
Per 1/8 Recipe: 340 Calories; 28g Fat; 19g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 2g Net Carbs

I have to say, it sounds rather good!

Keetje

3 days in....

Hello Everyone,

Day three and all is quiet, no major slip-ups to report other than feeling a tiny bit under the weather - nothing specific, just a bit of a headache and sort of non-specific aches and pains - still!!  Not quite got the Atkins engery boost just yet, but I am sure it is coming.

Been counting carbs like crazy, both of us!  The beloved still finds it hard to believe that he is on a diet and has started to get a bit cheeky, questioning my knowledge! - how dare he? Soon put a stop to that.

I didn't cook anything madly interesting today - it was one of those days when I was chasing around a bit, so it was a case of snacky meals rather than some grand production. Today was one of those eat-to-live days, rather than the other way round.

Started signing in again on the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board - they are a nice bunch there and their support is invaluable.  I came across one of my old buddies from last year, who has also fallen off-plan a bit.  It's nice to know that I am not the only one.

Quiet day, managed to stay under 20g and also to get all of my water in.

Tot ziens,

Keetje

2 days in....

Hello everyone,

Holding steady and busy supplying my beloved with recipes.  He seems to be enjoying himself as there are facts, figures and calculations involved (perhaps this is why guys seem to do so well on Atkins?).  He is particularly enthused with ketostix, perhaps it reminds him of science lessons at school?

As for me, I have stayed under my 20g limit for the past couple of days and hopped onto my bike instead of getting into the car.  This is a great way to get the exercise in without the profound boredom of going to the gym.

Feeling pretty good so far...not too many induction flu symptoms...tiny bit of a headache and that's it.

Have relied on a few old favourite recipes so far, but I think I may try a bit of variety tomorrow and have something different - boredom is one of my great enemies - so I have to make sure that I keep it at bay.  It isn't that easy getting exciting things to eat whilst on induction - so will have to use a little ingenuity.

Did the test this evening with the ketostix - am in dark pink ketosis - which is just fine.

Keetje

oh dear! here we go again

I am pretty irritated with myself for putting on a whole 7 kilos over the past few months....

So am starting again.

Even had to update my ticker to show the shameful truth.

One bright spot is that my beloved is joining me in my campaign against the excess kilos - so we can support each other while we are losing weight.  We managed to give up smoking together, so we work well together as a team.  Trouble is, giving up the evil weed is one of the reasons why we have weight to lose (at least in his case).

A red-faced,

Keetje