14 pounds apiece. I’m at 194. Jane and I both, though not at the same weight, starting or now—are losing at the same rate. We also both have an important ‘set point’ or previous stable weight level, coming up. Mine’s 192. I won’t say where hers is, but we’re also coming up on it.
Now, I have another set-point just 7 pounds below that set-point, and that would also get Jane past hers. So if I target that, (and sometimes as you approach an old set-point, your body can get cooperative about weight loss, but won’t budge lower) we can begin to moderate this diet a bit. That would be 21 lbs down for me and Jane, which is pretty good. Then we’d laze along, go to a couple of conventions where eating is not as regulated, then come back home and go back on the induction routine again, which would let us shed anything we did gain (though we can subsist on bunless hamburgers for the trip). Then we just continue on to the next set-point, 10 lbs away, approximately.
This is the game plan. That would take me to 175, at which I can fit into designer clothes…not that I’m playing that game any longer. We’ll see from there.
The main thing this diet is doing is not the calories or the low-carb: it’s those little frozen dinners I don’t cook: it’s breaking the cycle of thinking about food (repeating the same five meals [even good ones] for several months will tend to do that.)
The cycle we got into: I like cooking. I plate everything. I was hurting Jane by serving too much. I know that now. So I needed to get cooking off my schedule, out of my head, and get the thing under control. Funny thing, now that I’m not thinking about meals and groceries, I have time to deal with my marine tank and some other things that need doing.
We couldn’t, right now, possibly eat what we’d been eating: we’d splode. We’ve reduced portion sizes to 2 heaping tablespoons of 2 different veggies, a piece of meat the size of a card deck, and a tablespoon of sauce. Now we’re modifying that to go to 1) breakfast omelet 2) small salad for lunch, 1 oz Ranch 3) the Atkins frozen dinner.
BUT! somebody recommended coconut oil as a better shortening than olive oil: wrong for us. We got some, used it two-three days, and weight loss, which had been regular as clockwork, stopped cold, even reversed. We went back to olive oil, no other change, and off came the weight, regular as clockwork. So we’re back on track.
It didn’t arrive overnight, and it’s going to take some time to get rid of, but the biggest thing that’s happening, we’re breaking the food-compulsion and breaking the ties to it. We’re doing other things.
And feeling good. If we get too carb-short, we take a small wheat tortilla, sprinkle bacon bits and cheddar, a little salt and pepper, a little dry basil and broil 3 min. Pizzalina! Eccola!
Smoke point list:
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/collectedinfo/oilsmokepoints.htm
I do love a good fry up!
I try not to let oil smoke when heated, whatever it is. If I really need searing hot oil for some special application (few and far between,) I resort to a bottle of Crisco I have tucked in the back of the cabinet. If you’re frying okra, that southern staple, Crisco does it best.
>whimper< I so miss fried okra, living in the northeastern USA as I do. The nearest Cracker barrel is 45 minutes away, and the spousal unit is not a fan. Lots to do for a single serving.
Of all places—I found it at WalMart.
We can get it. It’s $5 a pound. For just me, that and the labor and having to ditch the oil seems like a lot, so the treat is rare.
It frequently shows up in the farmers’ markets around here, about a pound for $3. I put it in pinakbet, but might try fried some time. DH wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole, but then again, broccoli was also on the no-fly list until I started putting cheese sauce on it!
Here’s what you do. FIrst of all, grow your own. Takes about 3 square feet of space. THat number of plants would keep a family of four in okra all summer. Pick them before they get very big, because the big pods are tough. Second, wear latex exam gloves, and slice it up. Dip it in egg, roll it in cornmeal, roll it in flour, salt it, pepper it, and drop it in a pan with hot Crisco. Lid briefly, and keep turning it, medium heat, until you have cooked it to complete crispiness. It’s far better fried than boiled in gumbo, in my opinion.
I LOVE fried okra. Thanks, C. J. Now I’m craving it. — Okra and tomatoes, so there!.
Lol!
BTW—didn’t I tell you 192 was a bear? Up a pound. I had one quarter cup of cheese apart from the diet. It’s the 192 ‘set point.’
I’ll get past it. It may take me a week.
I’m about 15 minutes too far north to grow it. I have it when I go to Mama’s house in south Louisiana. We never used egg, just cut it and rolled it in spiced corn meal. Another neat way to do them is whole in tempura batter. Now I’m making myself hungry too!
Mmm, if you’ve got a space up against the house foundations anywhere but north, you might do it. Or just mulch very deep (about 6″) in winter and uncover in the spring. That might shave 15 minutes off. It dies back in winter. Easy to cover. About the same size and habit as hollyhocks.
Oh, we grow it in Louisiana, but I thought it was an annual! Where I am, we can’t plant until mid to late June, and it frosts at the end of August, so If it’s a perennial or biennial That would be great! The spousal unit doesn’t want any thing growing within a foot of the house, nor close enough to touch the foundations. I’ve also thought of putting in some leeks…
Sea Monster Jambalaya
4 cups whole okra
3 large onions (use apples if cooking for CJ)
4 cups coarsely chopped plum tomatos, or 1 can diced tomatos and 1 can sauce
1 pound ‘sea legs’ (shrimp, crab or lobster meat, and some kinds of fish work)
butter
cayenne
Saute onions in butter and cayenne until transparent, or apples until lightly browned. Add other vegetables and cook on low until okra starts to get tender. Add seafood and heat until done, or warmed through. Taste and add cayenne if needed. It should just bite the back of your throat an instant after you swallow it. This is usually served over rice, but may be eaten as is, either hot or cold.
I wonder if the stalk fibers can be spun?
It might need to be treated like linen or nettles (mashed and soaked to release the fibers). It might also make something like kapa, where internal fibers are beaten together into a paper textile. I haven’t heard of any trials, but if you can get your hands on a supply, you can experiment…
It self-seeds, and can be perennial if kept warm, so if you mulched it deep, it might just take right off. Whack the stalks off and totally cover them.
It will be a neat thing to plant for mid-summer’s day!