SockTart

Have been eating clean for the past few days.  Weight has fluctuated down 5 pounds.  Happy camper?  Oh yeah.  Hoping that I hit my 10 pounds down for the month fairly soon.  We’ll see if it goes down farther by End of Month.  There’s still half a month to go!

Cast on the Secret of the Stole shawl last night.  Yay for knowing how to knit two things at once on the same set of needles with one skein/ball of yarn!  I rock :)   I will attempt not to pat my own back for far too long, as I know that the last laceweight project I attempted wound up taking flight across the living room.  I hate charts.  I sincerely thank whoever is responsible that they are providing written instructions on this KAL.

Dinner tonight?  Chicken Caesar Salad.

I spent a good part of my morning sniffing toner.  All very innocently, of course.  Had to file away 7 months worth of paperwork.  Feeling a little woozy and headachey.  Time for a bath, methinks.   Otherwise, have been feeling really good lately!  Headachiness is only from toner, and not from migraine triggers hidden in bready/sugary products.  Yay!

Would like to get the Elfines done this weekend.  I have some Koigu and some Lime & Violet  and some C*eye*ber Fiber that are calling my name (I’m a-gonna haveta make some very very hard decisions as to which I want to work with next, lemmetellyou.  Really).

After looking over the GI Diet meal plan….good lord, that’s a LOT of cooking! I started making a shopping list & had half a page written before I realized…we can’t afford all these special foods!

We’re going to incorporate *some* of the lower GI elements into our dinners for my Other Half, though. He only has about 40 lbs to lose, and I’d rather he not rocket down the way he did 3 years ago when we last “dieted” together. He’ll be getting some grains and extra dairy in order to slow his progress just slightly. Otherwise…I’m staying on Atkins & trying to keep it tasty. We’ll see how the next couple of weeks go.

So.  Fatass week has ended.  And partially as a result of the sugary mayhem, Robin and I have decided to get back to eating healthier.  Part of our problem is that weekends can be a hectic time for us, and we have a tendency to eat out.  Grab a burger at the mall, or go to dinner with friends, etc.  That’s going to get cut out.

Robin’s Mum tried to get us to start the G.I. Diet last year when she and Robin’s Dad started it.  It was recommended by his Cardiologist, I think.  At any rate, I heard a lot of clucking about the amount of Fat in Atkins, and how GI was so much better, and how MiL lost an insane amount of weight (apparently dropped back to her high-school weight naturally).  It’s taken a year, but I bought the book and I’m willing to give it a try.  I’m just scared shitless of the damn diet, that’s all.  Shitless.

Why?  Well…after finding that by eating fat I was losing some weight and my knees weren’t hurting…it seems very contradictory to give that up for FAT FREE EVERYTHING.  Fat Free yogurt.  Low Fat Milk.  Low fat cheeses (very sparingly, too, and only for taste…cry!).  Sure, you add in some grains and nuts and actually eat the damned yogurt…but…but….*whine*.

Oh, and apparently even though research is now showing that coconut oil is good for you, tropical oils are supposed to be VERY BAD SATURATED FATS, and should be AVOIDED at all costs!

How the hell am I supposed to keep my head screwed on?

I’ve decided that I’ll try the GI thing for a couple of weeks.  If I’m not feeling any better or dropping any more weight, I’ll be going back to Atkins & dumping those grains for my fats.  You notice it’s not just a matter of just losing the weight…it’s the “feeling any better” thing that comes first.

Welcome to what I have dubbed “Fatass week”.

The Workplace is celebrating “Customer Service Week”, and as a result, have invested in a lot of sugary treats.  They came around yesterday with Tim Horton’s Coffee & Hot Chocolate and a bunch of doughnuts.  Later in the afternoon?  More coffee (for those who can drink the stuff) and cake.

CAKE!

I haven’t been fully following my eating plan for the past few months.  I’m struggling a bit, because summer had me on a real ice cream kick, and there have been about 3x as many sugary treats around the office over the summer.  I have this weird feeling it’s going to get WORSE.

I joked to our Regional Manager that the 20-some-odd grams of sugar in the Timmy Ho’s Hot Chocolate was making my arse fat.  He laughed and said “But it’s OK to indulge sometimes!”

The trick here is sometimes!  SOMETIMES!!!

You see, I’d maintained the bulk of my weight loss since May or June.  I fluctuate about 5 pounds, normally.  The past two days?  I’m up by 10.  I’m not happy.  Really not happy.  And my moods have been fluctuating like there’s no tomorrow.  It’s the freakin’ blood sugar going wonky.  If there was ever any proof that I am sugar-sensitive, that’s it.  It makes the difference between me being relaxed or pissed off over the fact that I couldn’t get a hair appointment last night.  I think Robin was ready to call in the men with the clean white coats over the fact I was so morose that I looked like I was going to commit suicide over not being able to get an appointment.

Who lets their Hair Stylists go home at 6pm???  People don’t get off work until about 5 in this town…is it not possible that it might take an hour to get one’s crap together and head to the mall for 5:30/6pm, and want to get a haircut?  Seriously!

Anyhow.  I walked through a mall last night feeling like someone had run over my puppy.  Not Good At All.  I’m blaming the sugar for this.  I’m not diabetic, but g’damn…it certainly has an effect.

Hopefully I can stick on-plan today without The Office conspiring against me and my health.  Geesh.  I know they want us to sit in our seats and take calls, but making us so fat that we can’t move is underhanded, devious, and totally negates the health care benefits plan….

Two words, sweetie:

Atkins Bento

Yep.  I’m trying to figure it out.  I need to start packing lunches and I need HELP!!!

Anyone else who does the Bento Thing and reads this is more than welcome to comment.  I have to keep up my studied aura of pretention, don’tchaknow

That was my question last night upon looking at the bar tab from FATS (apparently “crown float” is how they classify a drink such as a “Black & Tan”.  I’m still a little disturbed that my Guinness came from a can.  Heathens).

We’d been invited out by Dale & Morgan, and so spent the evening having yummy food, drinking yummy drinks, and screaming at each other over the speakers.  Bars are definitely not conducive to the one thing that is their purpose: Socializing.  The only other downfall we seemed to see?  Tyler has pointed out that here in Canada, a Pint is not a Pint.  He’s looking for his standard UK Pint, that he gets in the pub.  We don’t have that.  Maybe our favourite Microbiologist (at least the one in The Family) needs to start his own pub?  Pints with a PhD.  There ya go.  He can tell you all about the bacteria in your glass, and why it’s important not to use antibacterials while you’re chugging it all down.

A point in favour for FATS?  I requested the Mushroom Swiss burger without the bun…and the waitress didn’t even blink.  They even gave me extra salad.  Booyeah.

The Sock also made it to the pub, at least until they turned down the lights.  Morgan snatched it out of my hands to inspect it, then tried to start knitting away merrily in her tipsiness.  I practically screeched at her to stop, I’m afraid.  I was in the middle of turning the heel.  Thank goodness I was able to frog back and repair because it threw me off balance to the point that I mucked up a little farther down.  It’s all good now.  The first Hedera is getting closer to done.  It’s very pretty too. There’s just one part of the heel flap/gusset that I don’t like, and will need to find a way to tighten up.  Hrmf.

Robin’s socks are also done.  I decided to get that right out of the way on Thursday/Friday.  By the time he woke up on Friday afternoon, he had new socks.  He’s happy they’re done…but sad that it’s too hot to wear them.  I’m sure that come the Fall he will be begging for more socks

No Karazhan raid this weekend due to the aformentioned trip to the bar.  I’ve been told that I need to appear online more often.  While fun, this may impede my sock progress (grin).  We’ll see what happens :)  I think that our guild leadership just wants a little Shadow Priestie lovin’.  Mana battery my left buttock

Okay. So I have rediscovered a love for pork chops. Particularly now that I know how to cook them properly. This is what I have discovered is the Uber-Yum:

Get a good simmering pan (usually a deep frying pan). Spray with PAM, or use a SMALL amount of olive oil. Brown both sides of two chops for a couple of minutes each side (the ones we get are usually loin cut, I think…very little fat).

Add enough chicken broth to just cover the chops…the broth will start to “boil”. Let it.
Add about 2 or 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced. None of that stuff you get already in a jar, mince it yourself (brings out the flavour).

Dash of Cumin and a dash of oregano. A few dashes of black pepper to taste.

Toss in some mixed veggies - the easiest way is to get some frozen “California Mix” - Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot. If you’re not watching your natural sugars, enjoy the carrots…even using frozen veggies, this particular recipe brings out the natural sweetness and tenderness.

Reduce, reduce, reduce! I had the pan simmering for about a half an hour until I was certain that I had boiled the chops to a cooked state. Again, if you’re not watching carbs or calories, add a bit of white wine for a little extra zip.

Strain (or use some of the leftover reduction as a “sauce”) and enjoy. TASTY!