[LMo]

"That looks a little low on protein, is that average for you?"

No -- I just haven't had dinner yet. I usually eat yogurt or cottage cheese or drink a soy protein beverage in the morning, but the store has been out of it lately. It's yummy - Bolthouse Farms Positively Protein Chai Soy drink. Have you had it?

Usually eat tofu or fish for dinner a few times a week.

[Greenleaves]

Hmmm...do you get enough to eat LMo?

It seems like you eat very little food.

I'm often surpised at how much I can eat and still maintain my weight. Example: I ate a LOT of candy...like more than 10 chocolates a day over the holidays and I've actually LOST weight (about 5 pounds since September)..even with that. I feel like a pig with the way I was eating before compared to you!

[LMo]

Well, it's just 7pm here. I haven't eaten dinner yet, as I mentioned. That is usually my biggest meal -- I know that it should be my smallest, but that's how I eat.

[Greenleaves]

Oh, I see!

I didn't realize the time difference!

My biggest meal is dinner too. I don't eat too much for breakfast or lunch either.

[LMo]

Yeah - I live on the west coast.

I'm starting on a new project in the week or two, though, so I'll finally get out of the house and work in an office for a change! My meal pattern will shift a bit, then. It's just hard to get motivated to eat much when I'm home alone all day. My husband gets home late, too.

[Genevieve]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
LMo said:
"That looks a little low on protein, is that average for you?"

No -- I just haven't had dinner yet. I usually eat yogurt or cottage cheese or drink a soy protein beverage in the morning, but the store has been out of it lately. It's yummy - Bolthouse Farms Positively Protein Chai Soy drink. Have you had it?

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

lol EWWW! Sorry, I'm such a picky eater -- not a chance. One of the women in my anorexia group let me taste one of her food-drinks, maybe Ensure? blech! Not for me.

In fact, that's why I couldn't get into any of the eating disorder programs around here: I'd have had to eat their foods, and considering how traumatic is can be for me, there was no way that I could see that being helpful. I did ask the nearest day program if I could make arrangements to bring my own food, which I could work out with them, but they said nope, no way, no how, not a chance, uh-uh, fuggedid. (They also told me that their program would "cure" me of being picky, because that was part of my eating disorder, too. Well, guess what? I've made it past 40 as a picky eater, and it's just not a priority for me to get over it. I eat a lot of things, and don't see any reason I should learn to eat hospital cafeteria food now.)

But my husband and I eat late, too. And these days, breakfast and dinner are my big meals -- dinner varies, now that my husband finally allows me to cook different things, but breakfast is a poached egg, pomegranate juice, and a starch. The starch vaies: on Sundays, we have Hungarian pancakes (palascintas), Saturdays we have different things, like popovers, pecan waffles, buckwheat pancakes (which we had this morning), or the like, and the rest of the week it's either Pillsbury biscuits (which my husband loves) or toast. Breakfast is the meal I look forward to most, I think, because it's the one that we've got down to a science. Dinner can be a problem. Mostly because my husband is perfectly happy to start cooking at 11PM. Grrr.

OK. That wasn't anything helpful, was it? Just rambling...

One thing I know helped me lose weight was eating a slightly bigger lunch than dinner, and mostly having a salad for dinner. Of course, that's anorexic weight loss, but it was still helpful. (There, way to tie that in to the thread. yeah, I'm good..)

[LMo]

palacsinta!?!?!?! I'm 1/2 Hungarian, too! I was just in Budapest in December, in fact! Who is in your family - you or your husband? Or both? Or neither! We make fruit or chestnut cream palacsinta often on weekends, and my dad always makes ricotta/lemon rind/walnut palacsinta on Christmas morning and usually when I go home to visit!

We are like your husband - often start cooking dinner at 10 or 1lpm. I know it's not healthy - but my husband works kind of weird hours and if I eat dinner at 6, then I'm starving by the time I go to bed, so I've always eaten late.

So anyway, to complete my meal count from yesterday (and to assure you all that I do eat enough and include protein), for dinner I had:

- 1.5 dolomades (grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice)
- some hummus/pita
- 4 scampi
- piece of saganaki (pan-fried goat cheese)
- 2 glasses of red wine

.. we went to a greek restaurant and ate at the bar.

I'm HUGELY picky about food. I wouldn't touch meat until I was 22, not even as a child. I refused to eat food that had "bones in it", even if it was boneless meat. I had a very limited selection of vegetables in my repetoire, too, as in maybe 3.

Now, it's a little different, but I still have strict rules. We have a whole thread about it somewhere in Social. I'll see if I can find/bump.

Today we had our neighbors over for breakfast, and I made:
- onion, yellow pepper, potato, and cheese frittata
- roasted potatoes with garlic
- fresh orange juice

... and my husband and I are going snowboarding this afternoon/evening, so that'll be it for my exercise.

I don't think I've lost ANY weight because I just tried on some pants that still don't fit, but I do feel a lot better since we started this thread, mostly because I've been making a point to exercise more. I actually really LIKE exercising and always have, but this past year, I've fallen out of doing it regularly and I noticed that 90% of the battle is getting into workout clothes and leaving the house. Once I'm out of the house, then it's easy and fun.

[Genevieve]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
LMo said:
palacsinta!?!?!?! I'm 1/2 Hungarian, too! I was just in Budapest in December, in fact! Who is in your family - you or your husband? Or both? Or neither! We make fruit or chestnut cream palacsinta often on weekends, and my dad always makes ricotta/lemon rind/walnut palacsinta on Christmas morning and usually when I go home to visit!

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

OMG!!! Can you send me the recipe for the ricotta and walnut filling you use? My grandmother's recipe is unreadable now, and anyway it calls for weird things that you can't find. I think it either says to make farmer's cheese, or get it from one set of neighbors or it won't be right... (You'd be surprised -- all too many of her recipes have things like, "beat with a wooden spoon until it's the right consistency." OK, so the world would be thrown off its axis if we used a metal spoon? Or a fork?)

That probably tells you which side is from Hungary, right? Don't even ask, since I don't speak it, beyond the few phrases we all heard growing up. None of which can be used in polite company...

Cool beans! Great to meetcha, whereabouts are your folks from? My Grandfather came from Buda, and my grandmother's family is from Nyiregyhaza -- although, I think it was just outside, in the countryside around there. Dunno...

OK. That's hardly about weight loss. How about this? "If you grow up eating krumpli leves and paprikas, how can you expect to lose weight?"

[LMo]

"If you grow up eating krumpli leves and paprikas, how can you expect to lose weight?"

hhahahahahHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

My dad grew up in Budapest (both sides) - my aunt and cousins all still live there. His parents are from Nagybanya, which used to be part of Hungary but is now part of Romania. I spent a few summers in various parts of Hungary as a teenager. It's an intriguing place. I don't speak much either, although I studied it.

That's funny about the recipes - my aunt's recipes are like that too. "Cook until it's ready" is a common instruction.

The ricotta is supposed to be "farmer's cheese" too, but my dad said that using ricotta is the closest thing he's found in the US. What we call farmer's cheese is not the same thing as what Hungarians refer to as farmer's cheese. Actually, I had a Puerto Rican boyfriend for a number of years, and his family made these tasty pastries using something they called farmer's cheese, and it was an entirely different consistency than either ricotta or american farmer's cheese. But I digress...

Anyway, the recipe for the filling is simple. It's the palacsinta itself that's more challenging.

Filling:
- ricotta
- grated lemon rind
- a little salt

Fill the palacsinta with the ricotta/lemon rind, roll them up, then sprinkle with a mixture of:
- finely ground walnuts
- granulated sugar

YUM! (and notice that I have no idea of the measurements....)

We should move this discussion to the Recipes section. And probably the geneology section to PM, but ... heh - I'm so excited!

[(JD)]

I have done ok on food, I think, these 3 days now. If I remember to put out the oatmeal in a bowl before I retire at nite, I remember it in the morning, and add a piece of fruit. Lean cuisine meal yesterday I think, added more veggie, today I was out and was given 3 slices of pizza (no hot peppers ) but ate... water.... tonight I had another fruit, 1/4 cu of oatmeal, and some walnuts. Oh and some spiced cider (mix) for a hot drink.

Going to get nasty wet and cold tomorrow... might be a good day to go to the restaurant and eat a hearty meal? I miss my salads grrrrrrrrrr

[Greenleaves]

So far I've had

1 bowl of rice
Lots of broccoli
1 chicken breast
1 Turtle's chocolate

[Genevieve]

I've got a rotten case of the fats today, and frankly I shouldn't be here at all, but since this fits...

I told my husband that I was having the fats today, and I tried on two pairs of pants, trying to look nice for him, and ended up in my jeans, as usual, because I was too fat for either of the others. So, where did we have lunch? Taco Bell.

Therefore, today, I have eaten:

1 poached egg, one medium sized buckwheat pancake, one serving of pomegranate juice (LMo? Do you like pomegranates, too? I drink the juice every morning, and make pommie jelly, too.), and two tacos from Taco Bell (two tacos, 320 calories). And a sugar free hard candy. Two diet sodas, and four 24 oz bottles of water. (Well, I'm on number four now, so technically I haven't made it to four yet...)

I have a one ounce bag of peanuts in front of me, for a whopping 150 calories, but haven't quite been able to open it, although I am hungry.

Dinner will be unhappy making tonight, no matter what I eat. I really hate this...

[Greenleaves]

Do you like eating pomegranates?

I don't really like them that much...I don't eat the seeds, so I have to spit them out. They look really pretty though.

I've never had pomegranate juice...I don't even know where to go get some. lol Pomegranate jellie sounds interesting...I would try some..

[Greenleaves]

For dinner I had:

A couple of dumplings
Some strawberries

[Genevieve]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Greenleaves said:
Do you like eating pomegranates?

I don't really like them that much...I don't eat the seeds, so I have to spit them out. They look really pretty though.

I've never had pomegranate juice...I don't even know where to go get some. lol Pomegranate jellie sounds interesting...I would try some..

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

They do look pretty, don't they? I've always loved them, and used to spit out the seeds, No more, got over that.

As for the juice, it's now sold by a couple of companies. I buy the PomWonderful brand, because it's sold in the refrigerated section of the market, so I think of it as being better quality. They also sell the avrils, to save you the bother of peeling the pomegranate to get them. They're still pretty.

I used to buy cases of pomegranates and peel them to make jelly. Thankfully, now that one can buy pomegranate juice, I no longer have to. A friend of mine would help me, though, sometimes, and we'd stand there for hours, in front of the sink, up to our elbows in cold water, peeling pomegranates for jelly. It went a lot faster that way. I miss doing it with her, but don't miss having to do it.

[wi_fighter]

I took in way too many calories today. I couldn't fight the urge to to go China Buffet. I had crab legs and some roast beef, a few pieces of sesame chicken, 2 crab rangoons, half an egg roll, some green beans, and two of those flaky cinnamon-sugar cookies that I don't know the name of. I had a 180 calorie protein bar around 3:30. Then for "supper" I had a couple of slices of focaccia with onions and parmesan (the carbs, the carbs). While watching The Longest Yard I had about 400 calories of sunflower seeds and a 200 calorie Stewart's ginger beer.

[Genevieve]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
wi_fighter said:
...a 200 calorie Stewart's ginger beer.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Sorry -- this is off topic, but I love Stewart's Ginger Beer. And some of their others, like the diet Orange and Cream. Like a creamsicle in a bottle.

For a low cal treat, have you ever tried Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda with nonfat milk? Like a carbonated milkshake.

[wi_fighter]

I forgot all about Canfield's. I used to drink it a lot like 20 some years ago. I haven't even seen it in ages. Didn't they have a chocolate cherry one too?

I'm back on the diet today, and according to the scale this a.m. I didn't do any damage yesterday. Phew! I picked up some Silk soy creamer in French vanilla. It has fewer calories than non-dairy creamer or half and half, and no partially hydrogenated oils or corn syrup.

[LMo]

omg Wi_fighter... nobody gains weight after ONE DAY of slacking off, silly!

I had a horrible evening attempting to snowboard yesterday afternoon/evening. I got about four runs in before giving up due to foot cramps and reckless teenagers. My friend and I have been cross-country skiing every Sunday morning but she called this morning and said she was sick. So... I have to get some other exercise in. It's nice out -- I really should get out there and do something. I can think of a million other things to do inside though... Argh.

[Greenleaves]

I'm really curious about Steward's Ginger Beer and Canfield Chocolate Fudge soda now. I've never heard of either.

So far today:
3 slices of pizza (bad decision, but I didn't u know what...yay! )