Recipe Weekend - Brown Fried Rice

Each week Carrie and I want to post a recipe of something we have been cooking while trying to lose the weight. We're going to try to include some of the nutritional info too but can't guarantee it's 100% accurate. Should be close though.

We both really like Chinese food. Stir fry, fried rice, etc. It turns out that fried rice can be really easy to make. This recipe is a bit more involved, but it sure tastes good. It also reheats nicely.

Approx nutrition:
Servings/batch: 9 (1½ C each)
Calories: 325
Fat: 13 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
Weight Watcher Points (old method): 7

I'm a bit dubious about the amount of fat (and related calories) since we trim pretty much all visible fat from the roast, but maybe it's right. To reduce the calories from fat, use less beef, use chicken or substitute firm tofu for some/all of the beef. You can cut way back on the oil too.

Ingredients:

• 4½ C Brown Rice (1½C before cooking)
• 1 lb beef chuck roast, trimmed
• 2 large eggs
• 12 oz frozen vegetables (California mix - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
• 2 C chopped celery
• 1 medium yellow onion - chopped
  
• ½ of an 8 oz can LaChoy bamboo shoots
• 8 oz can LaChoy water chestnuts
• ¼ C light Kikoman soy sauce
• 3 Tbs minced garlic
  
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• ¾ C water
  
• 1 Tbs peanut or sesame oil

This made a pretty big batch (over 3½ quarts.) If you want less, cut amounts in half. You'll need a pretty large frying pan (with a lid) or a bowl big enough to mix everything together in at the end.

Cut roast into cubes. Start cooking rice according to directions on bag. In med-high pan, add the oil and beef, 1 Tbs garlic, onions and pinch of salt. Fry until well browned. Set beef mixture aside.

In same pan all of the remaining ingredients except the eggs. Cover and simmer on med-high, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender. Whisk the eggs and keep them handy. Remove cover and boil (stirring occaionally) until most of the water is gone. When you can push the vegetables out of the center of the pan without it filling back up with liquid right away, scramble the eggs in the center.

Remove from heat and mix in beef and rice when it is done cooking (which is usually about the same time everything else is done when we make it.)

Weigh In - Cory

324 today. Down 6+ lbs since Jan 1.

Counting Calories - how?

The first thing we had to do was figure out how much we can/should eat. After searching for a while we found this calorie needs calculator. Based on my info if I want to lose 2-3 pounds a week I should be in the 1750-2250 range.

So, just add up the calorie info from the foods you eat and make sure the total is in that range, right? Sure, as long as everything you eat has a nutrition label. Unfortunately, our hens don't lay eggs with labels and the onions at our store don't have labels either. That's where this nutrition data search site comes in.

What about foods you cook? Add up the info from the various ingredients (from the labels or search results) for the entire dish. Then divide by the number of servings in the final dish. The hardest part for me is usually figuring out how many proper-sized servings that is. We usually look up something similar and see how many calories that would be.

An Example - Today's Totals
Breakfast: Breakfast burrito with 2 eggs, garlic humace, fried onions, EV olive oil and salsa on a burrito shell. Total: 325 calories (1425-1925 remaining)

Misc: Several coffees with milk and sugar. Total: 150 calories (1250-1775)

Morning snack: Corn chips (1 serving) and guacamole (2 Tbs). Total: 176 calories (1099-1599)

Lunch: Ground chuck hamburger (3 oz), bun, pepper-jack cheese (1 oz), ketchup, mustard, onions, green and red peppers w/ 1 cup milk. Total: 479 calories (620-1120)

Afternoon snack: Pistachio nuts (49). 170 calories (450-950)

Dinner: Brown fried rice (2 Cups, recipe coming soon). 494 calories (456 left for 2 lb/week loss... over the 3 lb limit.)

Snack: Yogurt (6 oz container). 140 calories (316)

That is a total of 1934 calories. Unless there are foods I didn't keep track of during the day, that would leave me somewhere over a 2-1/2 lb/week range.

It's time...

I REALLY need to start writing everything down in a tablet and keep it with me at work at all times.  I know I eat too much in the day and I have to SEE this to believe exactly what I do eat.  I think I will be surprised really.  I have been doing much better the last couple days...I can tell by how I feel.  I'm going to do a sample day tomorrow at work just out of curiosity.  Then will continue through the rest of the week as well. 

Nature Abhors a Calorie Vacuum

At least that is my theory. It helps explain why attempting to lose weight causes anti-diet activity around you.

I've found that losing weight causes...

• your friends and co-workers to invite you to join them for lunch more often.
• others to pick the more fattening places to eat out.
• the sudden appearance of snacks, candy and/or pastries around your workplace.
• you to win or be given free meals, gift cards or coupons for dining out.

I must have done well over the weekend because today it seems that everywhere I went at work there were doughnuts and other pastry sitting around for the taking. I wasn't so surprised about the (very yummy looking) doughnuts in the break room, but what's with the tray of apple turnovers on the table in the computer lab?

Weigh in day?

Have to figure out what day to weigh in weekly.  I'm thinking Friday because weekends usually suck for me most weeks.  I'm at work and never know what can happen there.  I should be confident that I will do well but I'm not yet.  This last weekend went good though I have to say :D  I think this next Friday will be my weigh in day and I'm sure Cory won't care what day he weighs in.  He's doing so good too :D I'm very proud of him!  I'm not doing perfect but I'm doing ok.  I do feel i have lost something!  I just hope it's enough so I want to keep going.  I wish it were spring so I could walk outside without freezing :(  AND I really want my treadmill to work again :( 
Carrie

Counting Calories?

Unfortunately, what we are doing to lose weight isn't as simple as looking for a number on a pre-packaged "lean" meal. First off, most of what we are eating isn't pre-packaged. Secondly, most of those meals aren't very filling and I'm ready for more way too soon.

We also found out that the average American (us included) no longer knows how much a "serving" is of most foods. Meals served at fast food and other restaurants have been growing in an effort to "out big" the competition. Just because you are getting "more" food for your money doesn't mean you are getting a real value for your meal.

All of that means we need to count calories and actually measure out servings. As we get a feel for which foods provide the most nutrition, flavor and satisfaction we have been able ease off counting calories.

The whole process is pretty eye opening. When making a chicken dish early on we had a piece of breast we figured was about a serving. It was actually two. I remember looking at 1/2 of that and thinking... man, we're going to starve eating like this. But, after adding proper servings of vegetables and a potato with toppings the final meal was so filling that neither of us actually finished everything on our plates.

On the other hand, if you plan to just eat less of the same foods you always ate then you are setting yourself up to fail. A lot of what we eat every day gets most of its taste from sugar, salt and fat. So most of it is high calorie, low fiber (less filling, hungry again faster) and low on nutrients.

For example, if I were to head down to the local BK and get a large double whopper w/ cheese value meal, I'd be getting pretty much ALL of the calories someone should eat for the entire day. I'd also only be getting a fraction of most of the nutrients we need. I definitely wouldn't be satisfied all day. In fact with a regular diet like that I'd be craving more food due to vitamin deficiencies. Yet that is what millions of us eat on a pretty regular basis.

Recipe Weekend - Guacamole

Each week Carrie and I want to post a recipe of something we have been cooking while trying to lose the weight. We're going to try to include some of the nutritional info too but can't guarantee it's 100% accurate. Should be close though.

Avocados are pretty nutritious and produce a VERY heart-healthy oil. While a good guacamole dip has more calories than salsa, it is better in most ways than some sour-cream based dip. Besides, we're pretty fond of the taste.

In the past we always used a packet of seasoning. The sodium was way higher than we wanted and we weren't too keen on some of the other chemicals on the ingredient list.

Approx nutrition:
Servings/batch: 14 (2 Tbs)
Calories: 50
Fat: 4 g (6%)
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Sodium: 90 mg (4%)

Ingredients:

• Flesh from 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 tsp salt (I like Kosher)
• 1/2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbs salsa
• 1 Tbs taco sauce
• Fresh juice of 1/2 lime
  

For instructions on selecting ripe avocados and EASILY getting the innards out of them, watch this good eats episode.

(You can skip to about the 9:30 minute mark if you just want to see how to dissect it.) BTW, if it's hard to scoop out the flesh then it isn't ripe yet.

Actually making it is a snap:
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl. Mash and stir everything until well blended. Stash covered in the fridge for 10+ minutes for flavors to meld. Serve.

Notes:
The hint of lime flavor also makes a huge difference on how long the guacamole can last without browning. Even stuck in a sealed baggie, the stuff we made with a seasoning packet would be mostly browned by the next morning. Our last batch with lime was just barely browning on the surface after a couple of days.

When deciding how hot the salsa and taco sauce you use should be, keep in mind that you won't be using much and also the fats in the avocado will cool it down quite a bit. I use medium Newman's Own salsa and the result is a completely mild guacamole that even Carrie likes (she is a mild gal.)

Still nothing!

Well I got on the scale this morning hoping that I would see something.  Nothing!  Zippo!  Well, I haven't been honoring the no eating after 8pm :(  so I guess I really need to get going on that.  At least there was NO gain.  I can deal with that.  I have to start making mini goals...I seem to fight more and do better when I have something to reach for.  I have still been eating thing I really should not be eating for example: Cr cheese and Ritz crackers.  Yes they are both the low fat version but I still have to stop that.  SO my first mini goal I have decided to stop eating after 8pm at least for this week.  So starting tonight through Jan 28 I will not be eating after 8pm.  A weight goal is to lose 3 lbs this week.  I know it sounds high for one week but I have the extra water weight that I know will come off so that makes it a bit higher usually.  Lets see if I reach my goal next week by doing those two things.  The soda is coming along really good, I'm actually REALLY proud of myself and I know if I had added that back into my fails I would have gained for sure.  I do have a soda once in a great while but it's not an every day thing now. I feel like I have control of it :D I'm maybe having one every two weeks or so.  Well, better get going here, have lots to do.  Hope everyone reading has a great day today :D And thank you for reading!

Can We AFFORD to Eat Healthy Foods

Healthy foods and veggies aren't cheap. So we weren't sure how eating like we should was going to impact our budget. It was surprising what affect eating healthier actually had on our food bill. The truth is that even opting for some (higher priced) organic ingredients our total food bill is quite a bit lower than it used to be.

Ditching fast food saves a ton of money. Just consider what happens if you don't take a lunch to work and eat out somewhere. It adds up fast even for a $5 lunch. That times lunches a week is an extra $100 every two weeks or $200 when we are both working full time.

We are cooking at home most of the time and it is often from scratch. Pre-packaged meals are actually costly compared to cooking from scratch especially if you get some things on sale. Just looking at yesterday's "cooking day", we produced 10 days worth of lunches and dinners for the two of us. I'm pretty certain that if we were to add everything up we would be in the $2 per serving range for some of the meals and less for others. (The soup I actually figured out.... $0.92 for a 1-1/2 cup serving!)

The last thing affecting our food bill is that we are eating proper serving sizes of more filling foods. That alone is really stretching our food budget and helping us pay for the healthier choices at the store.

Today is a good day

Today has been a very good day for me so far.  Now if I can make it through work I would be so thankful!  I have always struggled at work knowing we have a mini store there full of goodies AND soda.  My boss makes it easy for us to get whatever even if we don't have money. Just pay next week she says...not a problem!  Wish me luck tonight :D 

Man am I Not Hungry!

It is an hour after dinner and I really don't feel like eating any snacks. In fact, while eating healthier foods I rarely am very hungry any more except right around meal times. That is despite the fact that I'm eating far fewer calories daily than I was in the heyday of our fast food years.

Processed foods are often full of refined sugars and highly modified starches which get into your bloodstream fast but also burn off quick. And soda is mostly sugar and water with some flavoring.

It is a bit like heating your house with a wood stove burning just kindling. Real hot, real fast but burns out fast too. If you've ever tended a fire you will get that analogy. That yo-yo affect on my blood-sugar used to have me ready for another meal just a few hours after a big dinner.

Higher nutrient, higher fiber foods fill you up more for fewer calories and the carb "burn" lasts longer. When we started I wasn't sure I was going to be able to take the "no eating after 8:00 PM" rule. Once we got into it I was surprised how much easier it was to do than I expected. Sometimes I even have to make an extra effort in the evening to eat enough calories to just make the "2 lbs loss per week" range.

The end result is that I hesitate to even call what we are doing a "diet" at least not in the way I used to think of the word. I'm certainly not starving all day. I give the credit to changing what we were eating instead of just eating less of the same foods that we were used to. Keeping healthy alternatives AND WATER around helps too.

Whats Cooking???

Tonight Cory and I did A LOT of cooking together.  It was fun, we talked a lot, talked about our health, the kids, and I realized how good I have it here too :D  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family. 
So on our shopping day which is usually Wed or Sat as that is double coupon days, we got 2 large chuck roasts (a total of 22.00).  We don't buy reg ground beef anymore because knowing whats all ground up in it just scares us.  YUCK!  SO we cut off all the fat and  grind our own!  Out of those two large chuck roasts we got 41 servings of beef made up as Hamb patties, Roast, Stir fry, Beef Barley Soup, Hamb Helper (had it in the cupboard...usually we don't make boxed meals and won't anymore now that it's gone), Spaghetti, and another type of Stir Fry.    Then buying a few chicken breasts, and a helping of Fish we have all the meat we will need for two weeks.  We have to buy milk, bread, veggies...stuff like that too of course, but meat is always the most expensive part of shopping I think.

I assume that when my daughter comes to do laundry she will take some of that home...she does that, and it's ok with us because at least we know she's getting SOME healthy meals vs going to Mc Donald's and Taco Bell all the time.  Living on her own it's easy and more convenient for her to do that. 
We has beef with cauliflower and snow peas for dinner tonight and it was SOO good.  But food is always better when your hungry :D I always thought that. 
Oh and BTW, if you want a REALLY good stir fry PLEASE invest in a good cast iron pan...or if you have a good wok that would be perfect too.  We don't own a wok so cast iron is our beast of choice. 
Tonight for a snack will be Weight Watchers yogurt for me and Cory eats Fruit on the bottom stuff...I don't like all the fruit chunks in there so I choose WW it's smooth and just plain yummy AND it has live culters  like his does which is very good for you.  We are going to start the "no eating after 8pm" thing again starting tonight and of course sticking with the NO soda rule except on special occasions (once in a great while).  So what we do is eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack.  Total of six meals...three of those very lite meals for example (a banana with yogurt) or some nuts.  That is what we did the past months and we have done SO well so we want to try it again and lose another 30 + lbs :D  Well, that's it for now...I'm sure Cory will be adding an entry soon here also.  Good Night all, have a wonderful day :D

You Call That a Scale?

Who needs a bathroom scale the most? People trying to lose/manage their weight. Who needs to lose weight the most? People who are obese and morbidly obese.

So why do so many bathroom scales not work over 330 pounds? Ours is one of those and it maxes out at 330 pounds. Add a fraction of a pound or more and you just get an E on the display. When we bought it (not long ago) it was the only one we could find without buying online that even worked over 300.

Until recently I couldn't even tell how much I weighed without going to the local clinic and that required an appointment (not free either.) The scale where we had a fitness membership even had a max capacity of 275!

Maybe it's a symptom of the increasing obesity in the US. Maybe it's due to large and larger people showing up on The Biggest Loser and proving that weight loss is possible even for us bigger folk. Maybe it is just improvements in the technology. Whatever the reason, I'm starting to see scales good for up to 400 lbs now in Target and other stores.

I guess the point of this post is that you need to watch what you are buying if you go out to get a scale and are over 300 pounds. Don't assume it will work for you just because the scale at the Dr's office does. Read the label and make sure it can handle the load. Its depressing to step on a scale just to have it wince in pain.

BTW, based on all of the consumer testing info I've seen, you should avoid the old dial-style scales these days. They never really were all that accurate and apparently that hasn't changed. Go digital.

'The Flintstones' say I'm Fat - Really Fat!

I recently found a depressing (if you are overweight) reminder that we, as a nation, used to be thinner than we are now. It came from the a cartoon of all things.

In season 1, episode 28 of The Flintstones titled "Before and After" Fred is the star of a commercial. He learns when it airs that he's playing the "disgusting", "fat", "soft", "slob" of a man in the before photo for a weight loss commercial.

Later when he and Wilma go to complain, he's given a chance to win $1000 by losing 25 pounds and we soon find that this "fat softy" is a whopping.... 225 pounds. Only 101 pounds less than my weight this morning. Sigh.

Yeah I know - "its just a cartoon." It was still a bit of a reality check from a simpler, and apparently thinner, time.

Back on Track

I'm going to say something now that is going to annoy Carrie. As of this morning I'm back down to the weight I was at before the holidays. :-)

Although I definitely didn't eat like I was on a diet for almost 1/2 month, I also didn't go crazy and completely pig out. So I probably only put on 5-6 pounds.

Both of us got back on the weight-loss wagon on January 1st. Fortunately we hadn't fallen off... we were just hanging over the side.

When did we decide to fight?

Carrie here:
Well, I have to say it's been in us all along, but the actual date we had 'decided' on was the day after our 23rd wedding anniversary.  Our 23rd wedding anniversary was on August 29th 2010.  Now, we have not been completely faithful to this 'diet' since our start date on Aug 30 2010 but, I have to say we had more good days then bad.  We took a few weeks off in Dec while we prepared to throw my husbands parents a 50th wedding anniversary party.  That of course should not have been an excuse, but if there were one, that would be it. 
We decided to put together a plan, to cook good meals and to eventually start to exercise.  We have not started the later yet but we DO intend to very soon.  Our meals are fabulous I have to say.  My hubby is a great inventor when it comes to thinking up healthy quick meals :D  We do plan on sharing some of those recipes with you all and give you all the health/calorie info on them as well.  That's IF we get some readers ;D 
Today was a not so good for me...I got a bad phone call and...well...yes, another excuse *sigh*.  Well, tomorrow is going to be a great day and a 'start again' of sorts for me.  We are both almost back down to our pre-anniversary party weight so that's a good thing.  I plan on hitting that in a week or two and continue from there.   Our no soda plan is still a success though!  I am very proud of that!  I thank Dr Oz for that one ;)  AND for getting me started on this whole thing.  I seen the Just 10 challenge and decided to join.  So far to date I have lost 33 lbs :D Well folks...that's it for now.  Hope to see some readers soon :D

Where It Went Wrong

Unlike Carrie I don't really wonder what happened or how. I pretty much know. A busy yet mostly sedentary life, processed foods and far too much fast food.

I had and made little time for exercise. Instead I was doing things that don't burn any calories (like working a desk job.) I was eating foods which were inexpensive, fast, convenient but high in calories and low in nutrition leaving me hungry even after eating full meals. And since we were busy (and it tasted good) fast food made up too big of a part of our monthly diet.

And I know when. It wasn't like I was getting and the scale and seeing a 30-40 pound gain! No. It was gradual. It happened little by little and pound by pound over 20 years. Less than a pound a month on average. Not even 10 pounds a year. Nothing to shock me into horror at what I'd done to myself.

If the scale said 220 I would say, "Glad I'm not 250." At 270 it would be, "At least I'm under 300." At 354, "It could be worse. I'm not going to get to 400! In fact I'm going to lose some weight." And I would... for a while. Things hadn't gotten bad yet. I wasn't one of those really big people you see in TV.

Finally after weighing in at 374 during a Dr. visit I knew there had to be changes or I WAS going to pass the 400 mark and the next imaginary line and the next one. I cut out soda and nearly all fast food and started riding my bicycle again. Over the next few months I dropped 25 pounds.

Then I hurt my knee and had to stop riding for a while. A while turned into a few months then winter came and I had an excuse to not start again. I kept my soda intake down and the fast food for the most part too but didn't make many other real changes. A year later when I went to the Dr. because of strep throat and weighed in I was up to 379. OUCH!

Something had to change.

To start or not to start

Carrie here:  To start or not to start was MY question for the past several years.  I have wanted to start and HAD started several times in my life  to always end up failing.  What's different this time?  My husband has joined me :D  That helps drastically because we help each other.  We both used to be athletic and fit when we were teens (when we met).  Did things like exercise, down hill skiing, swimming, riding bike.  Little things like that kept us in shape.  We let ourselves go to the point where I wonder what the heck happened?  WHEN did this happen?  When I look in the mirror I don't recognize the person looking back at me at all!  I used to be MUCH better looking (to me). I'm scared that I will be old and gray and never get to see that person I loved before if I don't do something about it now.  I have been feeling like crap lately and I want to feel good again.  I want to love myself again.  SO this starts our journey to the new "US".  Welcome to our blog and hope that you will follow along!