Citizen of the World

Cheese is one of the worst things to have around for me when beginning a weight loss program. This fact came to mind this morning because next week starts our countdown to a summer-fit figure. Actually, it's really high time to halt all our (awesome and delicious) debauchery anyway.  Of course, around the holidays, everyone's going to have sweet and savory treats. Then there's the food: the dinners, the brunches, the parties with finger foods, the gifts of food plates and baskets. One of the staples during the holidays is cheese, which must go on holiday from my belly. 

Cheese and I have a special relationship. I absolutely love all of it. Actually, the stinkier a cheese is, the better it is for me. Plus, cheeses go well with wine! How many countless bottles of Zinfandel, Chianti, or Shiraz have passed these lips with delicious Morbier, Gorgonzola, or Stilton?

When Matthew and I put together a grocery list and we go shopping for dinner party preparations, he must think I'm insane when the (obviously) magnetized cheese displays just pull me in. Noteworthy is the fact that the word, "cheese" rarely, if ever, appears on our grocery lists. Anywhere. Matthew's reaction to my glazed over eyes is so sweet: "Yes, we forgot to include cheese, dear. My mistake." And then I go about my cheese hunt.

I want cheese on everything when I'm not on a diet.  However, I find that cheese and seafood don't really work well together. Perhaps as with a cold antipasti and with cubes of Provolone, Caciocavallo, Mozarella, or Parmesan, but not as a gooey, melted topping for a seafood dish. Gruyère might be possible, say with shrimp, but doesn't it all become too rich?  In the end, who cares??  It's just more cheese after all, right?  YAY!  Cheese!

Next week, I'll have to start steering clear of Manhattan cheese boutiques (e.g. Murray's Cheese) and the cheese counters in nearby grocery stores. I heard that one of specialty grocery stores we went to over the holidays about 20 minutes from here will become a Wegmans. When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat and my soul soared thinking, "Awesome cheese!" 

Wegman's was the grocery store that helped me return to America culturally when I moved to NJ from Austria over 15 years ago.  The store felt like a European home where I could get good breads, cold cuts, and, above all, excellent cheese.  Their cheese displays are the most mesmerizing and beautiful. Happily for now, there's Whole Foods down the hill from us, German and Italian markets around the corner from our place, and other local stores that carry a nice array of cheese.

I'm going to miss cheese next week, starting Jan. 2. *sniff*

MATT MADE ME A BIG PINK "MILKSHAKE"!!  The quotes are cuz it's not milk and he didn't shake it.  It's an ice-based frozen drink made with one of the AdvantEdge Myoplex shakes - full of vitamins, minerals, and some fiber.  He blends it together with ice, a zero-calorie flavoring (this was strawberry - YUM!) and a little bit of glucomannan fiber for thickness (and dietary goodness).

THESE ARE SOOOO YUMMY!!  And refreshing!  Plus, we bought extra large straws so we could take big gulps. They come in vivid colors like purple (here), neon green, blue, orange, red, and YELLOW.  Makes them all the more fun, and oddly enough, helps keep down the brain freeze.

Friends and family have been concerned that Matt and I on our low-calorie diet have not been eating enough or getting enough nutrition. Well, here's a snippet of our diet - an eating day in the life of Matt and Steve's 800-1000 calorie a day diet: breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacks. At the end, you'll see a breakdown of our nutritional intake.

For breakfast, we eat 7-8 oz of blueberries with low-fat yogurt. This ups our anti-oxidants and fiber tremendously and provides digestive enzymes to aid with digestion throughout the morning. This is a big bowl of blueberries and yogurt, which equals about 200 calories.


We love our coffee and have found a tasty alternative to the rich half & half. There are fat-free half & half selections, too, but they are typically about 5-10 calories more per serving and aren't as tasty. Two cups of coffee (20 oz of coffee plus 1/2 cup of skim milk) equals just under 50 calories (yes, we sweeten with Splenda).


For lunch (about 3-4 hours after breakfast), we'll have a 12-15 oz salad of mixed greens, cukes, peppers, and onions. We might throw a tablespoon or two of pickled jalapenos on our individual bowls for more flavor (zero calories), depending on the dressing. we typically use Walden Farms zero calorie dressings (ranch, thousand island, honey mustard, balsamic, or raspberry vinaigrette).

Matt makes homemade dressing from freshly squeezed lemons, olive oil, and spices - primarily to dress our steamed vegetables. With Matt's dressing on the salad, there's an added 40 calories due to the olive oil. If we don't use Matt's dressing for the salad, we always sprinkle on a little sea salt and pepper to increase the flavor of the salad. This salad with Walden Farms dressing is 55-70 calories (12-15 oz). It's TREMENDOUSLY filling!




For dinner, we try to eat mostly fish and steamed veggies. Of course, during the week, we will mix it up with either pork or chicken (Matt de-bones and de-skins the chickens and broils them flat with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika - AMAZINGLY tasty). Here is our dinner from last night of 12.5 oz of tilapia (2 raw filets @ 348 calories) brushed with Dijon mustard and broiled. We also had essentially two servings of steamed veggies (broccoli and carrots) because we had exercised quite a bit, which came to about 130 calories.






For dessert, we most often have a Skinny Cow caramel truffle ice cream bar (100 calories). Our evening snack last night was half of a "bambino" (or baby) watermelon, which is around 16 oz of watermelon for 136 calories.


So, for yesterday, this is our nutritional breakdown:




Oh, and in the last week (since Monday, June 13), I've lost 14 pounds, which pisses Matt off, who's lost about 3 pounds. And we've done the same exercising and eating all week. Well, I might have eaten a few more calories in tomatoes than him, but it's practically equal. I'm feeling GREAT!

If we're feeling peckish, we'll cut up some tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, celery, or raw fennel bulbs for munchies - with a little salt & pepper or zero calorie salad dressing for dipping (we don't tally the celery, cucumbers, or fennel. We consider those veggies "negative calories" since more calories are used during digestion than they actually contain). One other thing is we eliminated alcoholic beverages. We haven't bought any Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi for the house, either; if we're out at a restaurant, Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi is our go-to drink. But at home, we make our own caffeinated and caffeine-free teas, which are refreshing and diverse.


Here's to two more months of strict dieting (except for one dinner out in July and the week of Bear Week). I want to be much more svelte for our European cruise in August - for pictures and general flexibility.

Though we're not trying to starve ourselves, we are trying to shock our bodies back into healthy eating - and fast. Yesterday, I didn't pass the 1000 calorie mark, and today, this is what I've eaten:

Blueberries
Danon Lt & Fit Yogurt
Skim Milk
Carrots, raw
Chinese cabbage (pak-choi)
Grouper steamed
Crudite - Caul, Broc, Carrots, Tomatoes
Altoids Cinnamon Mints (1 svg=3 pieces)
Wakame Seaweed salad
Daikon radish cooked

All totaled with my servings, I haven't maxed out 700 calories yet. AND we're STUFFED! Can't eat another bite, though we really, really should. Maybe we'll make a vitamin shake or something later - packed with fiber.

Added to the low-calorie diet, we've each walked at least 20 minutes and worked out yesterday and today for about 30 minutes (I'm doing more upper body right now and Matt's doing full body stuff). Here's hoping we stick to it (gritting our teeth sometimes) and feeling better soon!

All those weeks of cookies, beer, cakes, steaks, beer, pies, ribs, beer, and biscuits just packed themselves right on my inner thighs and chin - like they belonged there!! UGH!

Just out of curiosity, I took sparkygearhead's loosely described recipe and made my own from his list of ingredients. My original 8-serving concoction turned out to be about 300 calories per serving, though his was about 350 per serving (I was guessing at the amounts).

Then I changed the dark meat to white meat and knocked out some portions of the higher-calorie stuff. I halved the pie crust and replaced the cream of chicken soup with chicken broth/fiber. I got the calories down to 155 per serving of 8 servings - OR a double serving for 310!!

We'll have to try that soon. Thanks for the inspiration, sparkygearhead!!

And here's the nutritional breakdown:

Chocolate. Long-awaited chocolate.

Boxed Easter candy staring at us for an entire week.

Calories low today.

Must
eat
chocolate.

WOW.

Heaven right now.

Not like German chocolates (Ritter Sport or Lindt), and from a local chocolate store - Chocolates With Love in Ramsay, NJ. But OMG.

Chocolate.

So... good.

It's good for my health, right? Good for my blood pressure? Good!

Not as bad as it used to be and my old claustrophobia's seriously not raising its head, but in times past THIS particular seat woulda driven me bonkers. I'm in the far back corner of a narrow bus between two people with big sealed windows on either side of me.

But now I've got a new and happy problem, which ultimately is killing my years-long unanticipated claustrophobia: My old clothes that didn't fit soon after I bought them are now almost too loose!

The pants are these obnoxiously plaid pants from Jos A Banks with black, burgundy, brown, yellow, and grey. 100% wool, but cool. So exciting to have a new wardrobe, but sad that (even though they're all new things, essentially) I didn't have to go shopping for them all. Can't wait to lose another 20-30 lbs and HAVE to go shopping cuz I'll quite literally have clothes falling off me.