Alison's Culinary Institute of Diet Dining

wow i haven’t blogged in a month! bad ally, bad ally *bangs head against the wall*

so here is what is up in reverse chronological order:

mom and i are having our own Biggest Loser contest (even tho i told mom i already knew she was the biggest loser. te he, j/k) where we have until sept 21st to be the one to lose the most weight and win the big pot o’ money. the rules aren’t finalized yet (despite this being day 5) but basically we start by each putting $20 in the pot, and then $5 every week. we have penalty fees as well: $5 each time we eat out somewhere (with one freebie), $1 for not losing weight that week, $1 per pound gained, etc. we are going to have weekly winners, but we haven’t figured out yet how to determine what the winner gets at the end of the week.

so i’ve been doing really kickass on it so far. i signed up for myfooddiary.com where i input what i eat and what exercise and it tracks my nutrition and yells at me when i eat badly. i’ve also been exercising every day. i am *totally* going to win this contest. i need the money for europe! it’s amazing how getting money is the most motivating weight loss program i’ve come across. my short term goal is to lose 20lbs during the contest, and to keep up the lifestyle to lose 60lbs!!! i think i’ve already lost two and i’m only on day 5.

in relation to the trying to lose weight, i’m back on the sugar busters way of eating (the one where paul lost 60lbs) which means i’m having to eat all kinds of different stuff. our fridge is packed (and for once not with leftovers rotting in the back)! plus i’m eating such a variety of foods i haven’t even gotten too bored of eating and wanted to eat out. i’m even attempting to cook dinner as we speak! the other day i made tacos and they were super yummy, but i already knew how to make tacos so no problems there. then today i tried to make lima beans from like the dried bag kind. it came out a nasty bean-paste looking glob. and aren’t lima beans supposed to be green? cuz mine weren’t. no idea what i did wrong – i did exactly as instructed per the package. oh wells. so then tonight i’m making chicken and sauteed veggies, only the veggies are squash and eggplant – two veggies i’ve never cooked before. i’ve never really even eaten an eggplant. it smelled kinda like a cucumber. i’ll see how it comes out. i put the cut veggies (randomly cut into cubes) in a pan and sprinkled on italian seasoning and lemon juice (lemon juice lowers the glycemic index of a meal). i baked the chicken with peppers, onions, and seasoned salt wrapped up in aluminum foil like i learned from jenn. then i made some sweet potato fries to go with it all.

updated: next time i’ll put lemon juice on the chicken as well and really douse it in the seasoned salt because it didn’t seem to have much flavor when it was done, but once again it was super juicy well cooked. i was able to add the salt and lemon juice to it post-baking and so it tastes pretty good. the veggies came out as well, altho next time i’ll use the salt instead of the italian herbs. i love the squash, but not sure how i feel about the eggplant just yet.

aside from dieting, my week has consisted of small amounts of work getting into the Girl Scout year, watching Harry Potter movies (i’m currently reading the books for the first time), and working on my scrapbook from 5 years ago – specifically Italy at the moment. I want to get my old europe book done before i go back again.

i had to go to the doctor on weds to meet with a General Surgeon at Kennestone about my gallbladder. I need to have it removed because it has a large gallstone in it. if i don’t get it taken care of, it can become gangrened and necrofy – awesome. next wednesday i have to get an MRI of my abdomen so they can get a good view of my guts. then paul and i both get to have surgeries the same week in august. all this medical stuff is seriously taking a toll on our pocketbook.