Karen's November pics of what I'm eating

[Bougainvillea]

I figured I should stop spamming the Maximum Weight Loss thread with my pics

So, to help me remember what I'm eating, and in case it helps anyone else to have a visual, this is what I'm eating. I do not do the MWL plan perfectly, but rather just follow the regular McD plan, while minimizing things like nuts and avocados, and I'm losing on average a pound and change every week, and I'm full and happy.

I am trying to find a healthier zero calorie sweetener for my coffee, but I don't like Stevia, even after using up an entire box I couldn't get used to the taste. So, I'm just using up some maple syrup that I had. I'd rather not add the calories, but c'est la vie.

So, yesterday, I went shopping and never got around to lunch, but scale stayed the same this morning - dang! LOL.

So, yesterday, Monday I consumed:

coffee with unsweetened almond milk and maple syrup - http://prntscr.com/h7dye0

two tacos for breakfast with large corn tortillas, greens (fresh arugula) fresh tomatoes, and a mixture of beans, rice, yellow squash and spices, with hot sauce and a little salt, and nutritional yeast - http://prntscr.com/h7dzkj

Missed lunch and came home starving, so just boiled some whole wheat pasta and put some stir fry sauce on the noodles. I didn't want to take the time to figure out cooking veggies, so just put stuff away while the noodles boiled, and just put sauce on them. I bought the stir fry sauce from Sprouts for around $4.50 - a splurge, but it's really good. It does have a miniscule amount of oil in it, but not enough to worry me. It is also pretty high in sodium, but my bp is fine, so I'm not stressing over the salt either. I try to minimize salt, but don't stress over it. I wolfed down the huge pile of pasta - it was heaping in the bowl - and forgot to take a pic until I'd licked the bowl clean lol - http://prntscr.com/h7e18l

Oh, and I had a gin and diet ginger ale cocktail

By the way, the stir fry sauce brand House of Tsang, that I used on my pasta above, also makes a spicy version, I think Sezchuan (sp?), that will take your lips off it's so hot LOL. But, it's really good. So, if you like spicy, you'll love it. I'm going to try mixing the two to get a milder version. Really tasty sauce.

The time change has totally weirded out my 61 year old system. I ate that huge bowl of pasta and had my cocktail and watched the news, walked the dog, dinked around on this forum, and ended up going to bed around 7:00 pm, without eating anymore, which surprised me. Thought I'd get lucky and wake up weighing less, but didn't get that lucky LOL.

[Bougainvillea]

Tuesday's (yesterday's) menu:

Coffee with unsweetened almond milk and maple syrup:

https://prnt.sc/h7dye0

Breakfast, same as yesterday - 2 large corn tortillas, beans/rice/yellow squash mixture with spices, fresh tomatoes, arugula greens, hot sauce and a little salt and nutritional yeast. Thought I'd take a pic that shows the ingredients more clearly:

http://prntscr.com/h7ub52

Lunch, I dry grilled a green bell pepper and purple onion on my cast iron skillet and used the same ingredients for two tacos as above, but without the arugula greens. Made them more like fajitas. And yes, they got burned, but I actually like them that way ha ha.

I had to cook them separately, because my skillet is small. This is just the green peppers cooking:

http://prntscr.com/h7uitb

Final product of peppers and onions:

http://prntscr.com/h7ucvj

And yummy fajitas!

http://prntscr.com/h7ude1

Dinner, a huge bowl of whole wheat and white spaghetti pasta mixed together (had two partial packages). The sauce is tomato canned sauce, I chopped up the leftover grilled bell pepper and purple onion from lunch and threw that in, some red wine, some nutritional yeast, and a couple cans of whole mushrooms and a bunch of spices. And yes, I ate that entire bowl!

Oh, and a glass of cabernet wine.

http://prntscr.com/h7ufye

Oddly, I've been more active doing a ton of walking around shopping all over the place - but haven't felt the need to snack. When I'm hungry, I eat - and I just haven't been hungry beyond my meals lately. That will probably change when I start my swim classes. We'll see.

[Bougainvillea]

Okay, Wednesday I started my new warm water exercise class at the senior center. It was so much fun, and it felt like I was just playing around in the water. Then, Thursday I could barely move! Very deceiving. My old injuries were all screaming at me. The instructor did say that if I end up hurting for more than 2 hours, to know that I need to take it easier next time. Yikes! So, I put the heating mattress pad on my bed and basically slept on a heating pad. The dog (with her own old injuries) and I woke up in much better shape.

Anyway, I ate a bigger breakfast Wednesday, knowing I'd be going to swim class and I didn't want to eat right before class, so I had my usual breakfast of coffee with almond milk and maple syrup, but had 3 tacos on large corn tortillas instead of 2:

http://prntscr.com/h8qvrq

I think it's funny how you can see my foot. Look at what years of working in high heels did to my foot - My big toe thinks it's still in a pointed high heel, and I have the bunions to go with it. They don't hurt as much now that I am on a 100% boycott for uncomfortable shoes.

When I got back from swim class, I was starving! I went and did some shopping right after class, came home and ate the rest of the spaghetti sauce from the night before, and had a glass of wine and actually went to bed about 6pm! I was seriously hurting from exercise class:

http://prntscr.com/h8qy04

That's all I ate that day. Woke up thinking I'd have lost weight and my first reading was 189 and I was so excited - got back on the scale and it kept saying 192, 192, 192 - what? LOL. My scale is a tease.

[Bougainvillea]

Thursday's menu:

I expected to have my appetite increase from exercising. Exercising has never been a weight loss technique for me - it increases my appetite and I usually actually gain weight. Anyway, I was hungry all day yesterday. I'm going to try substituting more potatoes this next week for my meals. We'll see. I don't want to feel like I'm on a diet and slow weight loss is okay with me, but I do want some weight loss.

So, got up and had my coffee with almond milk and maple syrup. I did go to the store to try to find a different no-calorie sweetener I'd want to try, and didn't want to spend the money for Splenda's new supposedly better tasting Stevia sweetener, then almost went ahead and bought some Walmart sucralose (Splenda), then thought no, I should keep it natural....ended up just buying some non-GMO cane sugar. I only have it in my morning coffee, so starting Friday, that's my sweetener for the coffee.

But, for Thursday, still used some maple syrup for flavor in my coffee with almond milk. And I had two of my breakfast tacos on large corn tortillas:

http://prntscr.com/h8r4nh

http://prntscr.com/h8r47s

Then, got hungry and decided to cook up all of the white potatoes I had along with some purple onions, put some stir fry sauce on them, and thought I'd eat 1/2 and save the other 1/2 - nope! Ate the whole bowl.

http://prntscr.com/h8r5r6

It was really good! The stir fry sauce does have a small amount of oil in it, but it's something like 0.5% calories from fat, so I'm not going to worry about it. At least not yet.

I made a huge pot of lentil soup that turned out so good! I added some sweet potatoes that I'd cubed up and cooked and froze up - added a lot of them to the pot. Also added some cubed carrots I'd canned up. Some frozen spinach, a bunch of spices including turmeric, cumin and paprika, dried onion and garlic, some salt and black pepper - made it sort of curry flavored, but mild. It turned out so good! I'm going to can some of it up today. It's an enormous pot.

Anyway, I kept eating it out of the pot while it was cooking, to test it and add more spices, etc. Then, for dinner had a bowl of it and some whole wheat toast, that I dipped in it. It's the best bread and it has no oil, and is basically a sourdough type bread. They sell giant half-loaves, so you have to slice it up yourself. It freezes well - I slice it up and freeze it. From Trader Joe's - called Pain Pascal. Here's how it comes from the store:

http://prntscr.com/h8rbj6

And my soup with sliced toast:

http://prntscr.com/h8rc27

And had a glass of red wine.

Felt like I pigged out all day, eating soup from the pot, too, lol. And I'm up one pound for the week. That's okay.

Not ready to consider removing my evening drink. I deal with a lot of pain, and it helps. Maybe that will get better as I lose weight and my body adjusts to exercise - dang I'm hurting. Just need to take it easier. Be a turtle. Fortunately, I'm loving the food.

[amandamechele]

Be a turtle...I love it!

[Bougainvillea]

Be a turtle...I love it!

Hi Amy! Thanks. Actually, I guess it's a tortoise and not a turtle. I actually looked for a small tortoise print yesterday online for my fridge. No winners yet - that I can afford lol. It will be my new mascot.

So, yesterday, I did not end up canning the lentil soup I made, but I tried making my own tortillas again with Walmart brand instant masa flour, instead of the Bob's Red Mill organic non-GMO flour that wasn't working for me. Really tasty, but too coarse and heavy. At least I learned it was the flour - or at least 90% the flour's fault, and only 10% operator error lol. I still need to learn the fine art of the right temperature and when to flip them, etc. But, they did not fall apart and were so tasty it was hard not to just eat the whole pile.

Okay, yesterday - had my usual coffee, but with real sugar instead of maple syrup. It was some natural, non-GMO sugar I found at Walmart that was actually pretty cheap. Should have taken a photo of the bag, but I put some in a jar. I also put unsweetened vanilla almond milk that is the Sprouts store brand in it:

http://prntscr.com/h92v95

I actually have to watch my dog, as she'll drink my coffee if I leave the room! LOL. Obviously not a good idea for a dog that's already kind of hyper ha ha. I'll go to the bathroom and hear lap lap lap lap and I holler Jackie!!! Busted.

Had two of my breakfast tacos on the last of the two large corn tortillas I'd bought at Walmart - Mission brand I think. Put fresh cilantro on them. I love the smell of fresh cilantro. I just keep chopping it because I love the smell. So, beans (pinto and black), rice, and I added a can of diced mild green chiles and some frozen corn kernels. Microwaved it. Don't think I added any spices this time, though I'm trying to use more turmeric because it's a natural anti-inflammatory spice, but I don't think I added any to this batch. Added fresh tomatoes, a little salt and hot sauce. Oh, and some nutritional yeast, which tastes almost like cheese to me now. My taste buds are changing.

This pic shows the ingredients:

http://prntscr.com/h938g8

The final breakfast plate - not a great pic - I don't have Amy's photographic skills ha ha:

http://prntscr.com/h92zbi

Then, later got busy in the kitchen to see if I could make better tortillas with different flour (new at making my own tortillas), and they turned out much better. Part of the problem was my grill didn't get hot enough (the one I got at the thrift store, and now I know why they donated it lol). So, made them on my cast iron griddle. Took a while to figure out the right setting, so it's hot enough but doesn't burn them. There's an art to making your own tortillas!

But, they stay together now, instead of cracking apart and are so good!

http://prntscr.com/h931sz

So, I had to eat three of them in tacos with the same mixture from breakfast. Well, they're only 6" tortillas, right? Dang they were good! My stomach and taste buds did not care if they were a little crooked or burnt around the edges:

http://prntscr.com/h9324l

It was so hard not to keep eating them, but I got busy and got over it. I told myself that if I really wanted to eat more after I cleaned the kitchen, that I could. But, once I turned off the drool factor, I was fine.

Then, dinner of my lentil soup and Trader Joe's Pain Pascal bread again, and a ctirus vodka & diet ginger ale for my evening pain-reducing vice :

http://prntscr.com/h934fx

Went to bed super early again, like around 7pm. Probably mostly from dealing with pain, but I was also pretty active going to the store and making tortillas. But, because of my messed up neck, whenever I do anything that requires me to look down, that angle kills my neck, so making the tortillas killed my already sore neck from swim class. But, I slept well - now that I put the heated mattress cover on my bed, it's like sleeping on a heating pad all night. Feels good. My dog likes it, too.

But, I was wide awake at 4am LOL. Made myself wait until 4:45 at least. Here I am waiting for the sun to come up so I can walk my dog, and checking in with my McDougall pals. Good morning!

Oh, and the scale said I lost a pound. Back to 191. Yay!

[Bougainvillea]

I'm behind. But, I did take photos. Here's Saturday's menu:

Coffee with sugar and almond milk:

http://prntscr.com/h9wr9s

Breakfast tacos with homemade tortillas that aren't perfect, but are very tasty and don't crack apart anymore lol, with beans/rice/squash/corn/mild peppers mixture, fresh tomatoes and fresh cilantro, nutritional yeast, hot sauce and a little salt:

http://prntscr.com/h9wsps

Here you can see how much of the mixture I actually use - so they're actually about 1/2 and 1/2 fresh tomatoes/cilantro & the beans/rice mixture:

http://prntscr.com/h9wu2d

The tortillas are supposed to be 6" but seem to be more like 4 1/2" lol. They seem to shrink when stored in the fridge and reheated. So, I'm eating 3 of them. They're small, but yummy.

For lunch, leftover lentil/veggie soup and water. Forget to mention that I drink water all day long. Just keep it there and sip it. I normally just take pics of things I eat or drink that have calories. In the summer, I drink a lot of decaf iced green tea, but I like to sweeten it, and I'm trying not to consume as much fake sweetener, and don't want the calories from real sugar - so I'm just drinking more water, which is probably better for me - and doesn't stain my teeth.

http://prntscr.com/h9wwe4

Then, I got busy in the kitchen canning up the huge pot of lentil/veggie soup I made. My neck was killing me, and I didn't want to stop, so I decided to have a beer and make my canning job a party with some music. Good old Pabst Blue Ribbon. I'm an easy keeper.

http://prntscr.com/h9wz06

While the first batch of soup was in the canner, I cleaned, chopped up and boiled a 5 pound bag of red potatoes. Then, had a bowl of red potatoes with ketchup:

http://prntscr.com/h9wzgj

The fruit of my labor (12 pints of canned lentil/veggie soup):

http://prntscr.com/h9x10f

http://prntscr.com/h9x1ps

I think the second photo would make cool wallpaper LOL.

Then, I was really whoopped, had a bowl of lentil soup and some of the Trader Joe's Pain Pascal bread, toasted:

http://prntscr.com/h9x3r1

I ended up just really wanting the bread more than the soup, so just dipped the bread into the soup. I also had a glass of Cabernet. Then, decided I wanted even more bread and toasted up some more and remembered to take a photo of the wine.

I ended up only eating one more piece of toast, but I think this photo is funny. It's my dog on our chair, and you can kind of see an off white rolled up towel behind her - that's my ice pack for my neck. I freeze water bottles, then roll them in a towel for my neck. You can also see a red heating pad on the back of the chair - that's for my back LOL. And you can see that I sopped up all of the broth from the soup with the bread, and that I put the wine bottle next to me so I wouldn't have to get up ha ha. Yeah, I was a wreck after doing all that work in the kitchen.

http://prntscr.com/h9x738

So, ended up having 2 glasses of wine. Woke up and the scale went from 191 day before, to 194 ha ha. Ah well, I got a lot done, and slept well.

[Bougainvillea]

Sunday's menu:

Love my morning coffee. I buy whole beans from Grocery Outlet for only $10 for 2 pounds and it's gooood coffee! I like a dark roast. Drink it with almond milk and real sugar right now. The sugar is non-GMO and was actually cheap, and I got it at Walmart. Almond milk is from Sprouts - their brand and is as cheap as I can get it at Walmart and I like it better than what Walmart carries:

http://prntscr.com/h9xexn

My usual breakfast tacos (corn tortillas, rice/beans/veggie mixture, hot sauce, nutritional yeast, fresh cilantro and fresh tomatoes):

http://prntscr.com/h9xg0z

Seems like I was hungry all day yesterday. Mid morning, I had some potatoes reheated with ketchup:

I read The Widow by Fiona Barton yesterday. Well, finished it. I had started it. GREAT mystery if you're in the market for a great crime mystery. She had me on the edge of my seat without resorting to gory details. Best book I've read in years. I decided to rest and just take it easy (other than my usual walks with the dog) because I'd overdone it the day before. Note the ice pack and heat pad on the chair again My dog, Jackie, is getting up there in years, too, and the change in weather is bothering her old injuries, too. So, we just took it easy together. Although, we did go for our long morning walk, and I did it at a pretty brisk pace and got my heart going pretty good. It felt wonderful to be able to do that. But, the more I exercise, the hungrier I am!

http://prntscr.com/h9xhc1

I was really craving something sweet, but didn't want any calories, so I just drank a couple glasses of diet ginger ale while I was reading. I was really craving that dark chocolate Kit Kat bar I saw at Walmart LOL. But, I stuck to diet soda instead:

http://prntscr.com/h9xnjf

This is kind of funny. I learned from watching Rip Esselstyn's (sp?) video that you can make a banana "ice-cream" by freezing bananas. And I've used my blender to put in a frozen banana and some almond milk and it's absolutely heavenly. But, after freezing a bunch of bananas I got free at the food bank, and then trying to peel it while it's frozen - uh, that doesn't work so good.

So, I took them all out of the freezer to let them thaw, so I could peel them and then refreeze them without the peel, for when I want to make something with the bananas.

Even though I told myself I was just going to take it easy, and my back and neck hurt, I just have so much more energy now, it's hard to just sit and read. The book was great, so it did keep me in the chair for a couple hours at a time, but I still felt the need to do something productive. Hence, the banana project

http://prntscr.com/h9xpn8

I didn't eat any of the bananas, just thawed and peeled them, and froze them in baggies.

This soup is made by Progresso, is all natural and even has the Vegan label on it, non-GMO, etc., etc., and is to DIE for good!

http://prntscr.com/h9xshd

I found it at Grocery Outlet for only 99 cents each, and I bought 12 of them, hoping it would be good and it's amazing. The only downside is it has a lot of sodium. When I run out of it, I am going to attempt to make my own version with low sodium. The ingredients are pretty simple, so I think I can come close to reproducing it myself. Anyway, if you're looking for something easy to just heat up that you can buy in the store, and don't mind the sodium, I highly recommend this corn chowder by Progresso.

For dinner, I had planned to make a "fried" rice with a bunch of veggies. I had cooked a pot of rice and put it in the fridge overnight, so the rice would be a good texture for "fried" rice. Well, it was a disaster! I added too much Bragg's soy sauce. So, then I tried to fix it by adding other ingredients, and it was still too salty, though the flavor was good. Like gag you salty.

What ended up saving the day was just turning it into a sauce by adding a ton of almond milk! It cut the salt and gave it the nicest almond flavor. I had added some sugar, and some turmeric and cumin trying to turn it into a curry type flavor....anyway, the final result was an almost Thai type mild sweet curry sauce. Whew! I kept telling myself there must be a way to fix this - I'd used up so many veggies in it that I didn't want to toss them all. Final result was a winner. Today, I will freeze up baggies of it to put over rice.

The final veggie sweet curry-ish sauce:

http://prntscr.com/h9xubk

It has yellow squash, water chestnuts, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peas, carrots, cauliflower crumbles in it, tons of spices, sugar and almond milk. Put over rice (1/2 and 1/2 white/brown) and it's fantastic!

So, I had this for dinner:

http://prntscr.com/h9xyea

And a cocktail of citrus vodka and diet ginger ale:

http://prntscr.com/h9xz10

Woke up this morning (Monday) and am back down to 191.

[Nean]

Thanks for posting your pictures and comments! Sorry if I already said this but I couldn’t find that I had-
I have a story about being a tortoise. At work we have a chaplain who is past retirement age. She and her friends are constantly posting pictures of their high mountain hikes (more than one a week, sometimes several days in a row). I talked with her one time and she said the group formed when they were all well into their 50s. They called themselves the tortugas (tortoises) because they were embarrassingly slow but determined to keep on the trails. Now they’re in their 70s and pass all the others on the trails. She’s encouraging me to just start and keep at it despite the pain (which I have anyway, so why not)