Moonlights' (temporary) Maintenance

ML i have struggled a few times with ribs, you just want them to melt in the mouth and fall apart but end up tough chewy and in your teeth! I did some research into good rib recipes and most of them recommended double cooking, most of the ones i found boiled them first. Could be worth a try x
 
I don't have a slow cooker Susie but... I also only like stewed lean meat. I find with even really slow cooked fatty meat there's always still some stringiness left and if I chew on a bit it puts me off eating any more. And slow cooking the ribs just made them tough, even being cooked in a vast waterbath.

I'm ok with slow cooked beef brisket though. That's not connective tissue-y, just coarse and it softens. I do have a couple of mini ones of those in the freezer. Of course there's also the problem that I'm only cooking for myself so I rarely want to make anything with more than 2 portions.
 
I'm similar ml, I don't like fatty meats at all. Despite using a slow cooker and every recipe I have found, I can never get things like brisket or pork to fall apart when cooked. Even when done for hours. Luckily I do like aldi continental cooked meats, because they're not pumped full of water. I don't like belly pork (when I cook it myself) because it's so fatty. It's very difficult to be so fussy when eating low carb. I love all kinds of meat cooked by others or in restaurants, I just cannot cook it well myself!
 
I know what you mean about fatty, tissuey meat ewww that actually makes me want to heave LOL. Luckily, I do like mince and burgers and really like home made burgers. I also like fish - salmon and tuna - and historically have very good losses when I eat fish.

Your freezer question struck a cord with me as I had a freezer cull this afternoon and just chucked (well food composted) all the out of date and stuff I know I will never use. It seems a terrible waste but it's better than it just clogging up your freezer space. I have stopped buying meat for the freezer as I never use it!! I tend to just have some oven chips and things for the kids and frozen leftovers which I do tend to eat.
 
I like to keep my freezer full of things I know I like - and I bulk buy if I see discounts on the steaks I eat etc. Buy them on their last day of use and bung them in the freezer. But there's been a slow creep of things I won't eat and I do need to clear out. I'll just have to suck it up and pay more for the lean, tender meats - and buy more fish like haddock. Comparatively cheaper than steak and I always forget how much I do like it.

Must make low carb cauli rice kedgeree one day!

Foods of Thursday were

Small bit of beef in my attempt at a hamburger. Bleh.

Cheese and calvados bake with cucumber dippers

Smoked haddock fillet with fried egg yolk and spring onion (fought with the cat over it!)

Flax porridge
 
Weekly weigh in:

Last Friday I was 11st 5lbs.
This Friday I am 11st.

I lost 5lbs! I know it's because I had a sts last week (and after this big loss it's totally possible I'll have a sts next week) but still. 1 week, 5lbs!!

I've now lost just over 3.5 stone, or 50lbs exactly.

So let me dwell on this a minute.

A few years ago, I had a Cambridge diet counsellor (she was very nice) who told me I'd look pretty much 'normal' at 11st. So it's always been a back-of-the-mind thing for me. I've been obese all my life, normal has always felt so far out of reach.

Well, I don't look normal. I look close to normal from my neck to about my navel and then my outsize stomach (2 sizes bigger than the rest of me) ruins it. If my stomach were in proportion then yes, with my clothes on at least I probably would look normal.

11st was my super secret target to reach by Xmas. At one point, despairing, I changed that target to 11st 7lbs.

So I've reached a target I thought was unreachable a month early.

The next downward numbers on the scale will be 10st + something.

10st something.

I never in my life thought I'd see a 10 as the first two numbers on my scale. Never in my adult life. I remember being heavier than that aged 12.

Seeing 15 as the first two numbers, 16, 17, 18, all of those numbers I am used to. All of those numbers I've seen and make sense to me as being what I weigh.

10st something sounds like what a normal human being might weigh, doesn't it?

It sounds like a weight that nobody would call fat, at least not huge. Probably nobody would yell rude names in the street or throw stones at someone weighing 10st something.

You know, I realized yesterday that it's a while since anyone shouted names at me in the street.

Maybe I do look just normal enough.

Roll on the 10st-somethings.
 
Well done, that's such a fabulous loss this week, and over all. I too cannot wait to see 10 stone something, and am only a couple of pounds away from that. Although I'd love to see 9 something, I think 10, is a number that, should you be asked your weight, sounds very normal. Hurrah for you!
 
I worked out that I've been on this diet for 7 months and 4 days. So that would be a loss of 7lbs a month which is the average and all I really hope for.

But I took a whole month off due to illness and birthdays which means it was 8.3lbs per month.

And I took a week off for the jubilee and one day off for a festival, one day off for the olympics. Plus all the time losing the water weight gains after each planned break.

Really I think it works out to be about 9lbs a month for every month that I've been fully on plan which is a-ma-zing to me, especially with how miserable I get over how 'slow' it is sometimes.
 
Weekly weigh in:

Last Friday I was 11st 5lbs.
This Friday I am 11st.

I lost 5lbs! I know it's because I had a sts last week (and after this big loss it's totally possible I'll have a sts next week) but still. 1 week, 5lbs!!

I've now lost just over 3.5 stone, or 50lbs exactly.

So let me dwell on this a minute.

A few years ago, I had a Cambridge diet counsellor (she was very nice) who told me I'd look pretty much 'normal' at 11st. So it's always been a back-of-the-mind thing for me. I've been obese all my life, normal has always felt so far out of reach.

Well, I don't look normal. I look close to normal from my neck to about my navel and then my outsize stomach (2 sizes bigger than the rest of me) ruins it. If my stomach were in proportion then yes, with my clothes on at least I probably would look normal.

11st was my super secret target to reach by Xmas. At one point, despairing, I changed that target to 11st 7lbs.

So I've reached a target I thought was unreachable a month early.

The next downward numbers on the scale will be 10st + something.

10st something.

I never in my life thought I'd see a 10 as the first two numbers on my scale. Never in my adult life. I remember being heavier than that aged 12.

Seeing 15 as the first two numbers, 16, 17, 18, all of those numbers I am used to. All of those numbers I've seen and make sense to me as being what I weigh.

10st something sounds like what a normal human being might weigh, doesn't it?

It sounds like a weight that nobody would call fat, at least not huge. Probably nobody would yell rude names in the street or throw stones at someone weighing 10st something.

You know, I realized yesterday that it's a while since anyone shouted names at me in the street.

Maybe I do look just normal enough.

Roll on the 10st-somethings.

Congratulations! I am so happy for you. You have already lost my target weight loss :). You will be in the 10s in no time... Certainly by Christmas.

Here's to looking normal! :p
 
Hi Ml, that's amazing:). Well done a great reflections too xx
 
I had a little cry about it if I'm honest. It's just so weird to me to be close to a place I never thought I'd reach.

I just wanted to say - with all my talk about 'normal' - looking back at it I worried how it would sound...

As I say, I've been obese all my adult life. My start weight on here is only the weight I was in April when I started THIS diet. Ive been dieting an awfully long time. For the greater part of my life my weight was much higher, in the morbidly obese range. Getting to the 'overweight' range for the first time in my adult life was such an unbelievably huge deal to me.

But, I'm still obese. I'm still the girl who could only shop in one place in the whole town. I still turn off the radio when 'obesity crisis' debates take place because 99 percent of the people on them do not understand what being obese is. What it's like, why it's so very hard to free yourself from, how unfairly others treat you. Fat jokes still hurt me as much as they ever did even though they may not be aimed at me anymore. Because they're aimed at someone I was for a very long time and still am at my core.

I still feel as big as I ever was, honestly. The stomach doesn't help, but I'll always assume I'm the biggest in the room. On tv it's the people who are the size I used to be that I indentify with.

'normal', as I use the word, just means someone people won't be cruel to anymore. People were so cruel to me over my weight, all I've ever wanted is to be someone people don't really notice enough to be cruel to. It doesn't mean that I don't think I was normal when I was obese. Of course I was. I was the same person I am now. It's just the way others treat me that has changed.

If it did nothing else being obese taught me never to judge anyone on what's outside.
 
You have done so well, and been such a beacon for everyone else! It is crazy that as well as we all know we have done, one little thing can put us right back in that sickening feeling and bad place, for me its catching sight of my chin, i used to think i was like a bull frog, a walking set of chins, it was all i saw, all i could focus on. I still have a sag there and still the wrong picture or reflection caught can put me right back to Mrs Bullfrog.

At least our experiences taught us humility, compassion and respect for others.

well done on your incredible achievement and on all the encouragement, support and advice you give xx
 
Blooming fantastic ML, brought a little tear to my eye. You are truly inspirational to many of us. Well done x
 
<3 everyone.

Now, new recipe alert!

Tofu crispy bites.

This is adapted from a Rose Elliot vegetarian low carb recipe. I used tofu as I had some around the house but I will most definitely be applying this recipe to chicken pieces in the near future.

It also uses a new ingredient: nutritional yeast flakes. I bought mine from amazon. It basically looks like fish food and tastes a little cheesy. It's a great replacement for breadcrumb.

1 block firm tofu, cut into strips about 1 inch long and 5mm wide
Japanese soya sauce
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp dried Parmesan
Garlic powder and salt to taste

Cut your tofu and place on a plate
Sprinkle each piece with soya sauce and leave to marinade for at least 10 mins.

Mix your NY, cheese, garlic powder and salt (you can use other seasoning mixes if preferred) and spread across a second plate.

Line a baking tray with tin foil and oil lightly.

Roll each tofu slice in the NY flake mix and place in baking tray.

Bake at 180(fan) for 40 mins or until brown and crispy.

Dip in mayo and consume!

The NY only has 1.8g carbs in 2 tbs. carb counts on tofu vary by brand - but you can always try this with chicken - I will be!



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Food today was:

Cauliflower with soft cheese and gruyere

Courgette scrambled egg

Tofu crispy bites

Flax porridge
 
Coffe tastes like the devils wee lmao that tickled me, I also hate coffee, and tea!!

The new recipe looks good! I need to sart trying new recipes! Xxx

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