Consolidation Anjuschka's journey through Conso (closed)

[kidsmademefat]

the international evening sounds wonderful, i hope you enjoyed yourself. I have a gala meal (which is usually BAD) but i never have a starter and never have desert. And ladies i went up to 71kg (my goal was 68) and lost it all in two consecutive PP days. You need to trust the diet lol

 

[Maintainer]

Also DD, it could be a mistake in Conso to stick to low or no fat throughout, and eat diet recipes foods in gala. Succeeding Conso isn't necessarily about coming out the other end at the same weight - although that'd be brilliant in itself, I know - but it's also about reintroducing the food groups we deprived ourselves of during attack and Cruise and, if you don't do that, your stabilisation mightn't be easy unless you diet 24/7.

But that's just my take on it. Remember that Robin and Anja are at the end of their Conso periods... and so their decisions to even things out more over a week, removing gala meals, and spreading their 2 x 200g starch portions over the week, is entirely different to someone starting out.

Go slowly by all means initially on Conso. Reintroduce at your rhythm - I certainly will/would - but be sure to add time on to the end compensate for that...


What do you two think, Robin and Anja?

 

[robinhood]

Oh, enjoy your evening, Anja. That sounds like a great night out - so interesting and no doubt very tasty. I have a recipe for Linzertorte from the school recipe book (the lady that submitted it has no German roots but her husband is Spanish origin - work that out!), never tried it though - must make that the project for the next invite out. I don't try new recipes often enough.

 

[dukandebut]

kids - That's good to know!

That's a very helpful way to look at it, Jo. If I could eventually get back to how I used to eat for the main meals (mostly pretty healthily), cutting out the chocolate bingeing and snacking, plus keeping my cheese and bread rations instead of going overboard like I used to, I'd be delighted.

I'll keep on the way I'm going (with my lovely, but not OTT gala meals) for now and see how I'm going, reminding myself of your wise words and trying not to panic.

 

[anjuschka]

DD and Jo,

yes of course Jo is right - DD you really need to go back the beginning of this diary in September, now I'm coming to the end of conso and really should be calling it Stabilisation. At the very beginning I was quite scared to relax anything, and stuck to my Phase 1 but allowed myself some nice food without guilt! Only continued losses made me relax a bit and start to allow extras, I really didn't think I should lose more weight past 62kg (on the tum yes but not elsewhere, I'm quite 'bony' in places where I've always been padded before!)
I did eat 'proper' food in Galas, with yummy desserts etc. I certainly had a proper Christmas dinner, and restaurant meals out as well.

Now I've been here for 4 months and things change. I can see bad habits creeping in, created by the 'anything goes' mindset that Gala meals create in ME - meaning I will not only have a nice meal, but also take it as an excuse to have more than one extra thing that day, even if I can control the meal itself. This was obviously not helped by the Christmas season.

But this weekend I am very happy with the outcome: No Galas (one was Friday, the other will be Tue or Wed), so much more mental control:

Sat (PV):
B: Pancake with cottage cheese (with pineapple)
S: Oatbran biscuits
L: Eggs and soldiers (bread with cheese), grilled aubergine, yoghurt
S: 1 small choc chip cookie (with friends), oatbran biscuits
D: Chicken & Butternut squash bake, glass of wine, baked custard

Today (PV+carbs)
B: Nice slice of lean Ham (fresh out of the slow cooker), roasted Veg from yesterday, Fromage Frais.
S: Oatbran biscuits
L: Tortilla wrap with ham, cheese, grilled aubergine. Satsuma.
S: Home-baked cookie. Oatbran biscuits.
D: Cabbage & Ham stew with potatoes. Yoghurt

On top of that, bites from the kids food: spoonfuls of cereal (mmh Oatibix), a slice of pork & apple sausage last night, A spoonful or two of home made rice pudding.

The international food evening on Friday was great, and I got a taste of my cake, it was very nice - tasted quite German

I nearly ended up eating nothing: I had to pipe some cream onto the cake, and did the first trial 'rosette' onto a teaspoon first, which I then popped into my mouth: double cream onto an empty stomach, straight away I felt like I had indigestion!!
Luckily had to walk to school and back twice to carry my stuff over so that helped things along and I felt able to enjoy some food later!
I tried food from: India, Morocco, Bolivia, Peru, Hungary, Poland, Holland, Germany, France, England, Scotland. And it was all DELICIOUS, and in smallish morsels so I was not to badly stuffed afterwards Had a glass of Wine when I got home.

So, onwards to another week!

 

[robinhood]

What a lovely variety of food, Anja. Both at home and at your evening out and well done on your controlled weekend!

 

[dukandebut]

Thanks, Anja. I really appreciate the help and support. I'll definitely start reading your diary and Laura's from the beginning to see how you got through to the end.

The food evening sounds amazing. I would love to try all of those international dishes! Was there anything that particularly stood out for you amongst it all?

Delicious menus once again. My mouth is watering at the thought of freshly home-cooked ham.

 

[alottolose]

I don't care whether I'm dieting or not - I want an invite to the next international food event ...xxx

 

[anjuschka]

I don't care whether I'm dieting or not - I want an invite to the next international food event ...xxx

You could always organise your own (as a fund-raiser for charity as always)- you'd be surprised what turns up!

Interesting things I remember:

Peru: Plantain baked with cheese
Hungary (or was it Poland): Chestnut bites dipped in dark chocolate.
Poland: Sweet bread with poppy seed filling.
France: Breton pancake with cheese and ham
England: Sticky toffee Pudding (which I had actually never tasted before)
Thailand: Thai Fishcakes with chilly sauce
USA: Pumpkin Pie

 

[anjuschka]

So another home Monday (PV+Carb):

B: Oatbran porridge with cinnamon and yoghurt. Kiwi (juiced)
S (post swimming): cucumber sticks, a few pieces of tortilla wrap with ham and cheese, a couple of bites from a home made cake (DD's snack, she insisted on sharing) => counting it as bread and cheese.
L: Cabbage stew with ham, baked custard
S: 4 dried Apricots when kids are having their after-school snack..
D: Stirfry with beansprouts (carbs?) & chicken & carrot, yoghurt.
S: After choir = diet hot chocolate, that worked really well last week.

Have a good Monday everyone!

 

[robinhood]

You could always organise your own (as a fund-raiser for charity as always)- you'd be surprised what turns up!

Interesting things I remember:

Peru: Plantain baked with cheese
Hungary (or was it Poland): Chestnut bites dipped in dark chocolate.
Poland: Sweet bread with poppy seed filling.
France: Breton pancake with cheese and ham
England: Sticky toffee Pudding (which I had actually never tasted before)
Thailand: Thai Fishcakes with chilly sauce
USA: Pumpkin Pie

No shortbread from Scotland? What a letdown.

 

[dukandebut]

Interesting things I remember:

Peru: Plantain baked with cheese
Hungary (or was it Poland): Chestnut bites dipped in dark chocolate.
Poland: Sweet bread with poppy seed filling.
France: Breton pancake with cheese and ham
England: Sticky toffee Pudding (which I had actually never tasted before)
Thailand: Thai Fishcakes with chilly sauce
USA: Pumpkin Pie

Mmmmmmmmm!!! That sounds incredible! I'd love to try plantain and the chestnut bites must have been delicious! So far, I've only ever tried the French, English and American dishes.

 

[anjuschka]

No shortbread from Scotland? What a letdown.

Ahh no: there was more, and definitely Scottish shortbread - DD1 had some. I just listed the interesting bits *I* tried (and there were some others too...) Among the things I did not try:
British Sausage Rolls
French Brie
German Cheesecake
Scottish shortbread
Italian Pizza
US Key Lime Pie
Hungarian Goulash
Indian Onion Bahjis (sp?)

 

[anjuschka]

Mmmmmmmmm!!! That sounds incredible! I'd love to try plantain and the chestnut bites must have been delicious! So far, I've only ever tried the French, English and American dishes.

Plantain seems to be a bit like unripe Banana?
The chestnut stuff was heavenly: Chestnut Puree, possibly sweetened, with a hint of alcoholic content (not sure what though), patted into small flat roundels and half-dipped into really dark (I'm guessing 70% or more) chocolate. Now if I knew the NAME I could google for it Probably a good thing I don't!

 

[dukandebut]

Yes, I suspect that it's far safer for us NOT to google it, Anja! ;-)

 

[anjuschka]

Hi,

I'm still here, things ticking over slowly, no disasters but really busy at work so no time to pop in here. Internet access at home a bit flakey so not much chance to browse either

yesterday was PV+carbs:

B: Pancake with pear and quark
S: dukan muffins
L: lots of coleslaw and ham, cucumber
S: diet hot choc with two plain crackers ('toast' type)
D Salmon steamed with tomaotes, big potion of spinach, pasta. Small spoonful of cheese sauce (disguised 'cheese ration'), and a good dollop of cottage cheese (nice in spinach). SF/FF jelly

Today:
B: Toast spread with Philly EL, plus bresaola, egg, tomato. Apple Juice
S: dukan muffins
L: Small portion Cabbage stew (leftovers as usual), salmon with mustard sauce, carrot sticks, Apple
D: Beefburgers & grilled courgettes, yoghurt

As it figures here a lot recently I should explain my 'diet hot choc' - it's home made and very simple: for one mug:
1 teaspoons each of dried milk, sweetener and cocoa, mixed into skimmed milk (make a paste with about a tablespoon of the milk first before adding the rest of the milk) and the in the microwave for 1min+
I have never managed to find the low-fat cocoa, so I use 'normal' (Green&Blacks) and only have it now that I'm in conso/stab, and still only one teaspoon per day.

 

[dukandebut]

Cottage cheese in spinach, eh? I think I may well have to try that. Sounds good!

 

[anjuschka]

Cottage cheese in spinach is a classic I learnt from a Vegetrarian spinach Lasagna recipe a long time ago. If you're adding it to the pan make sure you don't cook the cottage cheese much beyond just gently heating it through otherwise it will eventually turn into 'glue' type tasteless cheesy lumps.

 

[dukandebut]

I suppose it gives the same kind of effect as ricotta cheese to the spinach, which is very nice indeed.

 

[anjuschka]

Fussy Thursday today:

B: Pancake with vanilla quark, 2 coffes
S: Muffins, green tea
L: 1/2 tin salmon with yoghurt sauce, beefburgers, yoghurt
D: Prawn omelette with fromage frais sauce, FF/SF jelly