Less of Josephine.

In my continuing saga to show people what cooking-impaired vegans like me eat, here is one of my favorite frozen meals. I have cut way back on frozen meals, mostly in an effort to cut out sodium, but this one stays in my rotation. Tandoor Chef’s (a sub-brand of Green Guru) Kofta Curry is a lovely dish of vegetable “dumplings” in a spicy curry sauce. The whole box is 200 all-natural calories — no artificial colors or preservatives (but 800mg sodium!). The ingredients are: Onions (how can you not LOVE a dish where the first ingredient is onions?!), tomatoes, canola oil, spices, garlic, squash, sea salt, tumeric, chickpea flour, wheat flour, wheat farina, milled cane sugar, fenugreek leaves, oleoresin (?) of paprika, green peppers, baking soda, and bay leaves.

There is plenty of extra sauce around the dumplings, so I usually have it with a half of a baked potato (as in the photo) or half a sweet potato (plays off the hot curry nicely!), or brown rice. I also like a bit of sliced onions in vinegar on the side.

Heat warning: I think of this dish as “nicely spicy”, but then, I regularly eat habanero peppers. Other family members have described it alternately as “hot as hell” and “OH MY GOD it’s BUUUUURRRRNING arrgrggrhhhhhh!”. So consider yourself warned.

I never got around to writing this post yesterday because by the late afternoon I appeared to have contracted the bubonic plague. I feel slightly better this morning, though my head is beyond stuffed up — apparently breathing will be optional today. This week’s weigh-in was anti-climactic anyway — there has been no movement on the scale since I hit 151. I have been seeing lower numbers when I step on the scale after I work out, but those don’t count, even though they are lovely 140-something numbers.

But alas, my regular morning weigh-in on Monday morning said I am 151, which is a -0 pound non-loss for the week and puts me -56.8 pounds down for 19 weeks, which is a -2.98 weekly average.

I’m pretty anxious to be in the 140s, but I know these last 11 pounds will take longer to lose and that this slowdown was bound to happen. I’m not too mentally distressed, just a wee bit disappointed not to lose even .2 of a pound. But I will certainly persevere and my enthusiasm hasn’t dimmed one whit.

This was my first use of nutritional yeast, which many vegans use as a “cheese-like substitute”. This brand is fortified with B12 and is how I make sure I get that into my diet since I rarely drink fortified soy milk. Nutritional yeast has a similar consistency to parmesan cheese, and gets sort of melty and sticky the way parm does when you sprinkle it on top of hot food. It is less salty and has a much more nutty and earthy flavor, however. I’ve read that you either love it or hate it. My first try I liked it, by my third try I loved it. It mixes well with garlic and pepper flavors, which is what I did with this bowl of pasta with roasted broccoli, asparagus tips, and a dab of Smart Balance.

Click on the thumbnails for a closer view of textures.

I’m late, I’m late — for a very important date! My 18 week weigh-in fell on a day when I was happily hiking in Big Sur, California! But lucky me, when I checked the fitness center at the hotel that night I discovered a scale! Oh joy, joy, a nighttime weigh-in on an unfamiliar scale! Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I was feeling daring. I rushed back up to my room and slipped on my bathing suit and then presented myself to this new scale for an official weigh in. Usually I’m very superstitious about weighing in (MUST be naked, first thing in the morning, after going potty and exhaling as hard as possible!) — but hey, when you are on vacation you gotta go with the flow, baby!

According to The Clement Monterey hotel fitness center scale, I’m 151 at night with my bathing suity on, which is a -2 pound loss for the week and puts me -56.8 pounds down for the 18-week period.

I’ll take it!

Here is me on Monday enjoying a hiking break with a view in Big Sur, my new favorite place to kick back and relax.

Oh, I wish I was a little baby fish!
Oh, I wish I was a little baby fish!
I’d go swimming in the nudie,
Without a bathing suity,
Oh, I wish I was a little baby fish!

It’s Monday again (it’s funny how fast they come around), time to exhale as hard as possible and step on the scale. Today I am 153, which is a -3 pound loss for the week and puts me down -54.8 for the 17 week period (which is -26.37% of my original body weight).

I leave for Big Sur/Monterey this Friday and back in this post on June 7, I mention how I’d really like to weigh at least 159 before I fly. So I surpassed that goal by several pounds, yippee! I’m very excited about this trip and perhaps a wee bit apprehensive about staying on plan, but I think I can do it. For once I’m looking forward to a vacation for reasons that have NOTHING to do with food, which may really be a first in my life!

Photo is of me going biking in my new bike shirt courtesy my fabulous husband — ignore the bad helmet head hair please!

FlatOut multigrain wrap (of course!) baked until crisp with black beans mashed with chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and topped with shredded romaine lettuce, Vidalia onions, yellow squash, habanero sauce and a jalapeño pepper slice. This was DELICIOUS and next time I make it I need to pile MORE good stuff on top such as: corn, green & red peppers, shredded carrots, etc. These wraps really hold up to putting tons of stuff on them!

Once I stopped spending so much of my time and emotional energy on the ritual of finding and eating massive quantities of food (always while planning for the NEXT binge of course), I started developing new and different rituals that were actually helpful to leading a happy and healthy life. I really believe it is these rituals and habits that get me through the rough spots we all experience. Some of the most helpful rituals I’ve carefully nursed into habits that are now second nature are:

Journaling — I have a private journal were I write down EVERYTHING I’m thinking and feeling, particularly in the ugly, tough, self-hating moments that sometimes come upon us so suddenly. Sometimes the entries are very stream-of-consciousness in their content and sometimes they are more well-articulated. But they always help. I have trained myself to STOP what I am doing and write my thoughts and emotions down whenever I have the urge to binge or when I feel like stress is overwhelming me. I really believe this habit is the single most powerful tool in my arsenal for arresting my binge-eating behavior. I can no longer just shut my brain off and begin stuffing food in my face. Instead I consciously confront my desires to binge head-on — and write down their consequences as well. This practice has enabled me to be binge-free for a 1/3 of a year now — an unheard of length of time in my world. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing this, it is too powerful a tool to ever give up.

Plan, plan, plan — I’ve become a planning zealot. I really believe that planning for success increases your chances for success by more than 50%. Heck, maybe 90%! For instance, on the nights before my morning runs, I lay out all my running gear and prep everything right down to loosening my shoelaces and putting a sock into each shoe. The mornings I run go like this: I stumble out of bed and into the bathroom, pee, slip off my nightie and step on the scale. Step off the scale and right there on the counter in front of me is all my running gear along with a Clif bar and a glass for water. No need to go looking for my favorite running bra, or a hat, or my mp3 player. No real decision to make, I’m going running. Everything I need is right there, pre-planned, pre-organized, pre-charged up, all ready to go. Within 1 minute I’m dressed and on my way out the door. This planning has saved me more times than I can count, because it seems like a part of my subconscious is always waiting to sabotage my best intentions. Cutting it off at the pass with good planning and prep is the way to defeat it.

Positive self-talk — Yes, I unabashedly embrace the Stuart Smalley inside me: I‘m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me. What this is really about is replacing a lot of my negative inner monologue with more compassionate, motivating, and positive self-talk. I have been so HARD on myself. I say things to myself that I would never even think much less SAY to a good friend: I’m ugly, I’m weak, I’m pathetic, I’m disgusting, I’m so fat nobody will like me, I’m an embarrassment to my family and husband….. and on and on it goes. None of that crap is helpful in any way. It just leads to wallowing in self pity, serious depression, and binge-eating. What an awful circle, right? But you have to work hard at changing it because for some reason it is SO much easier to think awful things than to think nice things. But after a lot of effort I’m now more likely to think things like: I’m equal to the challenge, I’m not a quitter, I’m strong, I have an iron will, I’m a good person, I deserve good things, etc. The more I consciously tell myself these things, the more my subconsciousness slowly embraces them as reality and the easier it is to face the tough things that life throws at us.

I was 155 this morning, which is 52.8 pounds lost. Which means I’ve lost 25.4% of my starting body weight. More than a quarter of me is gone. Vanished. Adiosed. Honestly, it doesn’t even seem possible for more than a quarter of me to just go *poof* and disappear, but that is the miracle of weight loss. Crazy.

It’s Monday, me mateys, time to weigh in!

This morning, I weighed in at 156, which is a -3 pound loss for the week, and I’m now down -51.8 pounds for the 16 week period. I’m glad I hadn’t plateaued at 159, I was worried there for a few days, but apparently things are still moving. This week brought lots of fitness breakthroughs as I suddenly increased speed and endurance in all three of my primary sports (running, biking, swimming) and today I start a new strength training program so I can get some pretty, pretty muskles.

I’ll eat me spinach all day long and twice on Sunday if that’ll help!

That’s right, I was out pounding the pavement at 5:30 am this morning running in the 3FC July 4th ~ Canada Day ~ Henley Regatta 5K Race this morning. Only I extended it a bit past 5k into a 5 miler. It was a great way to kick off my weekend.

HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!