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