Consolidation Anjuschka's journey through Conso (closed)

[dukandebut]

Yes, galas do tend to encourage you to be a bit naughty. If we called them "normal meals", then we wouldn't look forward to them so much! ;-)

 

[anjuschka]

Sigh...

Yes DD absolutely, I think they should be called 'normal meals' that makes it less inviting to go over the top.

Anyway today is my Gala day but I have just turned down a work lunch - just one in the office for an all-day meeting, with nice platters of sandwiches and things, and cake & fruit for dessert. It was a last-minute thing and I had my lunch in my bag, so it was not too hard but I was TORN :sigh: as tonight's meal really is very PV-able. At least I had a nice lunch already made up so that helped (just scoffed it, salmon from Aldi, was delicious).

I really need to get back on track and am sort of turning to 1 gala and 3 carb meals per week for now:

Today's food:

B: Pancake with cottage cheese, fruit yoghurt, juice
S: Oatbran biscuits (not 100% successful yet, see update on granola recipe coming up later)
L: Hotsmoked Salmon with lettuce & Tomato drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Cheese sandwich, satsuma.
S: yoghurt
D: (Gala); Spaghetti bolognese (lean but with cheese), maybe a nice dessert after Yoga (choc biscuit or mini magnum)

But hey I've finally got my bike back (DH was borrowing it long term). I'll get better exercise now, especially in the cardiovascular department!

 

[Maintainer]

Excellent Anja. I can well remember following the Guru's instructions to the letter on my first few Gala meals: Aperitif, starter, main, glass of wine, dessert... always a good student me! Did I need half of that? Nah!

I for one will eagerly await your stabilisation musings...

 

[dukandebut]

Excellent Anja. I can well remember following the Guru's instructions to the letter on my first few Gala meals: Aperitif, starter, main, glass of wine, dessert... always a good student me! Did I need half of that? Nah!

Yes, it feels like way too much! Besides, I couldn't be bothered to cook it all!

 

[anjuschka]

After all it's not like I used to eat like that BEFORE... Didn't even go out much, and only had takeaway once every 6 months... So really all I want is back to 'normal', at least as far as main meals go. Not back to 'before' as far as extras are concerned though!!

 

[dukandebut]

After all it's not like I used to eat like that BEFORE... Didn't even go out much, and only had takeaway once every 6 months... So really all I want is back to 'normal', at least as far as main meals go. Not back to 'before' as far as extras are concerned though!!

That sounds exactly like my situation, Anja. I think the extras got out of hand, and I never managed to lose accumulated Christmas and holiday weight gains.

 

[Maintainer]

In France, it's common to eat starter, main and pud. Some of my (slim!) colleagues eat that way at lunchtime, bringing in raw carrots/tomatoes, say, for a starter... and yoghurt/fruit as pud. In the French book, at least, even in Attack and Cruise, he advises 3 courses... it helps add variety, having a little starter and little main (we see lots of "chicken" on PP lunches and that gets boring obviously...). I go for a mix of several "ingredients" in small quantities, rather than one ingredient in a large one.

 

[anjuschka]

Ah okay, I agree on variety, just never labelled it as such: so for today's lunch I had:

Starter: Carrot sticks
Main: cheese & lettuce sandwich, small portion of chicken masala bake (leftovers)
Dessert: FF/Sf jelly

That's fine, what I am thinking about is in the context of the 'main' meal of the day - and for Brits (and people living over here) that tends to be in the evening. Starter? Never..., we do have a side salad and fresh veg, more so in the summer though. Dessert - yes, but not always (though I have now started to nearly always have a yoghurt or fruit).

To complete today's food:

B: yoghurt with granola and apple (yum yum!)
D: beef stir-fry with winter greens and mushrooms.

 

[jaqys]

As a child I think the only time I ever had a starter was at weddings.
We might have some angel delight, icecream or tinned fruit for pudding, but only on the weekend.

I dont remember it being any different when eating with friends or family (other than having pie or crumble for dessert at grandmas).

Its probably a time of day thing, in general people eat earlier here so have less prep time.

 

[dukandebut]

Apart from at weekends, we never usually have puds. I must say, though, that I think having either a yoghurt, a Dukan muffin or a Dukan crème au chocolat after each meal seems to be really helping me to control my sweet tooth. Now that I know I'll be eating some sweet three times a day, I don't experience the dreadful-to-resist cravings anymore.

 

[anjuschka]

Phew, weekly shop completed. My treat dessert was a Muller Light - It used to be a pastry or a big cookie so there's an improvement....

My plan for tomorrow PP is VAGUE to say the least: Will use egg whites so I only have one egg yolk: there is a half in the cookies and another half in the baked custard!

B: White pancake with cinnamon quark (no apple )
S: Oatbran cookies
L: Stir-fried beef (left-over tiny portion, all veg picked out!), white 'omelette' with roasted turkey and herby cottage cheese, Baked custard
D: Chinese Chicken, yoghurt

I am looking to Friday WI with trepidation... I really must abolish Gala meals. Even though I had a lean meal last night, used it as an excuse to have two chocolate Lebkuchen as dessert after I came home from yoga.

 

[robinhood]

Your PP menu sounds nice, Anja. I have no inspiration when it comes to them so am hoping that 2 PV days will suffice and that I can abandon the PP Thursday.

I too am stopping gala meals as a matter of course. We have invitations to eat out with friends (or they come here) regularly so I'll be keeping gala/carbs for then as the gala meals this week were nice but not necessary at all and I wouldn't have been frustrated had I not eaten them. I still feel better when I've not had extra carbs - my oatbran and piece of bread is plenty.

Good luck with your 'fussy' Thursday!

 

[dukandebut]

You two are so virtuous! Although I'm doubting whether the gala meals are a good idea, I'm going to find them difficult to give up. Mind you, apart from the dessert, they're cooked with little to no fat and still reasonably healthy, and I'm working on making the dessert portion smaller.

 

[anjuschka]

DD - I can only speak for myself and virtuous is not how I would describe it. I manage some degree of self-control but at the weekend I have plenty of extras. And even if it's a healthy Gala meal I cook (because nice food does not have to be fatty or over carby) there will be on the same day an excuse for a treat snack and of course a dessert, and maybe something else that evening like crackers and cheese 'because I can - it's a Gala meal!'

Knowing you can use 2 Galas per week for the right reasons, ie when you're out / celebrating etc and don't want to watch all the ingredients is fine, but allowing them to relax your general behaviour is not :-(
I really need to deal with this... it's getting harder as the strict diet part gets more remote now.

Incidentally I do have a Gala evening coming up on Friday where, to top it all, portion control will be impossible: it's our school's 'International food evening' where everyone (who can) brings examples of their national cuisine to share (we are a normal Primary school, but with very varied population, 23+ languages spoken iirc), there is a Geography quiz attached and of course the whole thing is in aid of fundraising for the PSFA. So while I will be stuck on the 'Germany' Table for some of the time I will also be browsing around and tasting lots of nice things As it's quite busy and all finger-food size portions I should not manage to go to far overboard though.
Still have to bake the cake tonight - will be interesting with no spoon licking allowed (I can manage that fine too on a 'strict' day) I'm making something like this:
Rezept mit Bild: Linzer - Mandeltorte | Torten Rezepte

And it's on Friday so a carefully packed lunch will prevent any pre-evening straying, luckily I am never tempted to go and buy something from the cafe downstairs(and in an emergency they stock Muller Lights too).

 

[dukandebut]

Unless I start sliding down the slippery slope (and I have done in the past - chocolate is the main culprit), I can avoid unhealthy snacks, even on my gala day. I just have my main, dessert - and that's it, no more. I'm hoping that will be okay. I also use many Weight Watchers recipes, so they tend to be reasonably good in any case.

The International Food Evening sounds fabulous! But so, so tempting! Good luck with your willpower.

The Linzertorte looks delicious. I've never tried any, but do have a recipe and have always fancied a go.

 

[anjuschka]

So, here I am, STS again at 62.8. I think 63 is becoming my panic trigger ;-), let's see how this week pans out, my intention is to be 'even' with a small snack every day (more or less) and no great blowouts (except for tonight, but it wont' be quantity just calorific quality...)

Successfully made my cake last night without licking spoons etc, I do hope it's okay! It does look nice though, so that's a start.

Today's other food is:

B: Oatbran porridge, yoghurt & pear
S: coffee
L: Coleslaw and ham, Herring in Dill sauce (a bit creamy) with 2 small crispbreads, instead of bread & cheese. Yoghurt.
D: Gala - Sampling lots of things at the International Food evening. Might have a glass of wine after I get home

 

[dukandebut]

Well done on not licking the spoon! I know how very hard that is. And good luck for tonight.

Anja, did your weight fluctuate quite a lot when you first started Conso? Just wondering what to expect, really (and worrying!)

 

[anjuschka]

Errm no, at first (Phase 1 conso, and I *was* strict) my weight was stable for a couple of weeks and then started to go down again by about 1lb every week so I upped the fruit intake, and then got more relaxed about allowing myself ONE biscuit a day, licking the spoon, tasting the porridge etc. That went on fine till Christmas (2kg below target). Then I entered Phase II plus had to deal with the additional temptations, so it fluctuated a bit more, and still does. Do you mean week to week or day to day? Because d2d I am sure it fluctuates scarily much.

 

[dukandebut]

Ooooh, no, definitely not day to day! Can you imagine weighing in after a gala (normal!) or carb day? Eeek!

I think I'm just a little freaked out by my weight gain last week - although I'm still 2lbs under target. So my fluctuations thus far have been: -1, -1, -1, +1. I really, really hope I can keep stable as I love being this weight and feel well with it.

 

[anjuschka]

Ahh you see - because of the extra losses you ought to relax about the gain this week. Can be as simple as water retention or transition.... But I know what you mean, I feel/felt the same when it had jumped back up to 63!