1. Raw Veggies – finely chopped cabbage+ grated carrots+chopped baby corn+chopped green pepper+chopped green onions+chopped onions
2. Sauce- szechuan sauce OR ketchup + sriracha +vinegar+soya sauce +
   chilli garlic sauce + Buffalo wild wings Asian Zing sauce (optional)
3. La Choy Crispy noodles

Mix all the above and enjoy!!!

Lunch
1/4 thin crust white pizza( Martins / California Pizza Kitchen)
Salad (2 cups lettuce + 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes + 1 tbsp parmesan cheese)
1 tbsp Fat free ranch dressing

Snack
1 cup cheeries
1 banana

Dinner
2 chapatis
1/2 cup Toor Dal (with tadka)
1/2 cup Ringna-Vatana Bhaji
1 tbsp fat-free yogurt
1 tbsp Mango Sweet Pickle(Goad Lonche)

Total Points = 20

Exercise
1-hour kickboxing

In Retrospect
The slice of pizza for lunch was a bad idea. That slice cost me 5 points.I could have made so much better use of those 5 points, how about 3 points worth “a cup of jello and pudding” instead .Anyways,this weekend I did not put too much effort in planning for Mondays lunch,and that’s the price I paid.Todays kick boxing kicked-a$$. Hopefully tomorrow I wont hurt as much.

This morning I got up thinking whats done is done and I need to re-focus. Interestingly a few hrs later I read about Indiras workout vratham. Inspired I decided to join a bunch of other bloggers in this 2-week challenge. The challenge asks to follow the no-grain-diet.However the host ( or chief-inspiration) Kay was kind enough to allow me to pick my own plan.So I will be following the Weight Watchers guidelines.Everyday I will post a report of my day’s food and workout details.Day 1 of the challenge was July 18. I know I am 2 days late already. But its never too late for a new beginning….

My 2WC (2 week challenge) buddies will be

• Kay of  Live.Love.workout
• Bee of Jugalbandi
• Indira of Mahanandi
  

P.S. I added a new ticker to my blog.

Arriving back home at my first post vacation weigh-in I was expecting a shocker. Well it wasn’t so bad. I had hardly gained +0.6 lbs(Week 16) since a month back. Less than a pound is great for 3 weeks all-you-can-eat vacation.Back to the routine life and the daily lunches a week later I had lost -0.4 lbs of that gain. I started my gym right away too. This past weekend weigh-in I had a no loss no gain.That’s a little surprising,considering I have been running 3 days a week( as per the couch to 5K plan).But I think the main factor is that I have not been counting my points regularly. A bite here and a chocolate there adds up.So starting this Monday we are back to counting points. I say we because I eat while DH counts them up end of the day.Accountability works for me.

Today’s recipe is an “almost” zero-points soup.I say almost because if you skip the canola oil for sauteeing ,it will be zero points value. The original recipe is from the book Quick Fix Meals by Robin Miller.I don’t buy too many recipe books, but this one was gifted to me by my dear friend Kav, autographed by the author.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves(chopped)
1 cup chopped asparagus( 1 inch pieces)
1 cup chopped carrots(1 in pieces)
1 red pepper chopped (large pieces)
1 cup zucchini (large discs)
oregano
thyme
vegetable stock or bouillon

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spread the asparagus,carrots,zucchini and red peppers. Spray some cooking spray. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and pop the pan into the oven to broil or roast.
3. Meanwhile in a deep pot take a tsp of olive oil and  saute the garlic pieces.
4. Next add onions to the pot and saute.
5. Add thyme and oregano and saute till you get the aroma of fresh herbs.
6. Pour the can of diced tomatoes and about 4 cups of water. Drop in the vegetable bouillons at this point.
7. Let the mixture boil. This forms the base of the soup. IF you want you can blend this mixture lightly, not smooth but chunky.
8. Remove the vegetables from the oven and add them to the soup-base and boil for another few mins.
9. Serve with a crusty bread or some brown rice or barley.

Servings: 6 ( 1 .5 cups)
Points :  1 per serving ( cutting out the oil will make it zero points)

That weekend I was craving seafood, so we had scrumptous dinner at Joes Crab Shack,one of our favorite. What a way to start a week,I thought.Come Monday I was back on my gym plan change and a new salad and soup lunch.Middle of the week I couldn’t make it to the gym for some reason or other.  In addition to that I enjoyed slices of a nice banana nut bread and sweet sheera on couple of nights. There was no way this week was going to work.

Oh well, I never miss my weigh-ins. I havent in the past 16 weeks. And I was not going to miss out this weeks one just because I slacked. So I weigh in and holy-canoli- I am down 3 lbs!!! That 10% and more. I was ecstatic to have made my 10% goal. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs and dance around town.At WW they treat you with a neat key chain as your prize. And your name is up on the wall-of-fame.:))

For those reading (and my future reference).Here is the summary

Weeks: 16
Total Loss: 17.8 lbs

DH was surprised too.Because in his books, I had been “bad” this week. But hey you never know,when or how your body works. How it gets out of that plateau. One thing I have realized is, if you think you are workig hard on weight loss but the dont see the numbers , SHAKE IT UP!! Make whatever changes you can to shake it up, be it lifestyle,activity,food,mood,stress.

For me this is not the end though. I think I am only half way there. When I get back from my vacation, hopefully not with a major weight gain, I am plan to set up new goals for myself. This vacation will be a huge test for me. No regular gym. No pre planned lunch and dinner. It worries me, but I know I will be fine, I have tremendous support from my family.I couldnt have done this without the sacrifice and support of my dearest husband.

Okie so this week’s recipe is a typical American meal we had one weekend nights. Oven-Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes,Grilled Asparagus and Biscuits. Simply southern. Here’s the twist, the chicken is  oven fried  instead of deep friend aka HEALTHY!! I modified the recipe I found in a weight watchers booklet. (The mashed potatoes and biscuits were store bought)

Southern-Style Oven Fried Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt(thinned down with water)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp cayenne pepper or red chilli powder or sriracha sauce)
1tsp garlic powder
1 cup breadcrumbs (store bought)(I used italian style)
1 cup any crispy cereal (ground coarse)

1. Trim the fat from the chicken breasts and pound the breasts thin.
2. Next marinate  the chicken  in buttermilk, dijon mustard, chilli powder,salt and pepper .Let it sit int he refrigerator for an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 365ºF. Lightly coat an 8 X 8 X 2-inch baking dish with olive oil cooking spray; set aside.
4. Combine ground cereal flakes, breadcrumbs, red chilli powder and salt in a shallow dish.
5. One at a time, dip the chicken pieces in the crumbs mixture, packing crumbs onto chicken.
6. Arrange the chicken onto the baking sheet and spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.
7. Bake until chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 30 to 45 minute.
8. Enjoy with a side of mashed potatoes,grilled veggies and warm biscuits!

Servings: 4 (half of chicken breast=4 oz pieces)
Points :  5 per serving (approx.)

Note:

• I  defrost the chicken in ziploc bags so they are easier to pound and thin down. Then I marinate them in the same bag.
• You could use egg subsitute or eggs if you prefer as a binding agent. Just dip the chicken in the egg subsititue first and then dredge in the crumbs.
• I used Fiber One Honey Clusters and they lended a sweet flavor.It wasnt bad,DH liked it too.But I would prefer to just use regular bran or corn flakes next time.

I know I have been very lazy about updating my blog.The past few weeks have been down and up.After the 2.2lbs loss with the new gym routine,I  was  -1.2lbs in Week#11. Week #12 I was  -0.8 lbs but week#13 I was back up a +0.6 lbs. So the net loss in 3 weeks was 1.4lbs not noteworthy at all I feel for 3 weeks. But I think I can list a few reasons for this.

One, I think I have started to tone up a little. And when you build muscles, you don’t see it on the scale. How you ask? Well 5 lbs of fat = 5 lbs of lean muscle. Its just that its lean, toned up and better for ya.

Two, I know for sure that the reason for the gain in Week#13 was because of bad eating habits. DH was out of town for 2 weeks. And with my guinea pig/ pig out, I  was being lazy with cooking. No,I did not raid the chips and cookies, what I did wrong though,was pick up some “healthy choice” frozen entrees. Bad idea. One, they didn’t fill me up and two, they didn’t taste good. I feel sorry for the people who eat them everyday, morning,noon,night.And when you exercise but don’t eat right or enough, you don’t see results. That just how the body works. You feed it to lose it. I know it sounds stranger than what we are used to but believe me it works. Its the crux of weightwatchers.Forget the starve to lose philosophy.

So my immediate goal is to reach my goal weight at least by the end of this month. Thats 1.2 lbs in 2 weeks. For that I have decided to do a few things different.

1. Change my exercise routine more, which I did today starting the kickboxing class
2. Change my lunch. For a long time for my lunch I have been carrying a deli sandwich on wheat bread, ww zero-point soup and broccoli. I think I need to spice things up a bit. So salad-soup comb it is for the next 2 weeks.

As a note, I have to mention that I have an extended vacation coming up next month. So its good to lose as much as I can in the next two weeks, so I can indulge in some home cooked food,guilt free.

P.S. Sorry I dont have a recipe today.Blame it on my laziness to take pictures right after stirring up a meal. But I promise something next time.

So I decided I needed to refocus my strategies. I realized I had worked my way up to about a 40 mins of treadmill running( with few stops) but somehow my body had got used to it. I may have hit a pleateau.So the next week I chose to mix 20 mins treadmill with 20 mins elliptical. I had also received my Week#9 booklet which had a awesome 20 min strength training workout. I made these two changes and voila!!!, at my week #10 weigh in I was down 2.2lbs.Can you imagine one minor change in your routine is all it takes.

Another 2.6 lbs and I will be at my 10% goal mark. The journey already seems so long, but I know this is not the end. My personal goal is to try to be a healthy BMI of 18.5-14.9 which for my height at 5′ 3″ is 130 lbs. That’s another 19 lbs.I am only half way there.Lord almighty!! Okie refocus, lets look at short term goals,to get these 2.6 lbs, then another 5 lbs,then another 5 lbs and so on.We all learned, slow and steady wins the race.

This week I am just posting a picture of an elegant dinner we had one Sunday evening – some good wine and Seafood Fra Diavolo – whole wheat angel hair cooked in a Fra Diavolo Pasta Sauce(store bought) with seafood assortment of pan seared scallops, shrimp and frozen mussels( precooked and packaged in tomato garlic sauce). Anyone thinking Italian tonight?

Update: One of my friends asked me for the exact recipe for Seafood Fra-Diavolo so here it is.

Ingredients
1 cup of store bought fra-diavlo sauce
1/2 box of store bought frozen mussels(these are precooked and packaged in tomato garlic sauce)
5 large scallops (i slice them in half to get 10 scallop discs)
8 large shrimp
1/3 box of whole wheat angel hair pasta
2-3 cloves of garlic slivered
Preparation

1. Cook the angel hair pasta as per the box and drain and keep aside.
2. Defrost the box of frozen cooked mussels for few mins
3. Salt and pepper the shrimp and scallops
4. In a pan, heat some olive oil and sear the scallops on each side,it gets a slight browning.Remove the scallops and keep aside.DO NOT cover and cook.
5. And next sear and cook the shrimp till pink.Remove and keep aside.DO NOT cover and cook.
6. Next in the same pan drop in the mussels and this time cover and cook, the juices will ooze out and also the mussels will steam and thaw out.Remove and keep aside.
7. In the pan, add some more olive oil and brown some garlic. Drop in the cooked pasta.Pour 1 cup of the store bought Fra Diavolo sauce and mix everything.Finally drop in all the seafood and mix.
8. Top with some fresh grated parmesan and serve with wine. Bon Appetit!!

Since I started this journey (Dec. 1) I have been regular at the gym 5 days a week. M,W I run. T,Th I Zumba and  Fri I attend the gyms happy-hour. Sa,Sun I rest. Yes rest is very important. As far as possible you should avoid workout 7 days a week. You need to let your body recover.

Fast forward to this weekend ,and it was just about the same as last,except for a whole lot of more eating. However,on Saturday when we visited our friends, they had made a healthy spread – appetizer of a warm hearty tomato soup and cheese-chicken sandwiches followed by Falafel and topping it with Gulab Jamun (who said they are not healthy). How can you resist such spread you ask ?. I didnt, I ate everything, just that I watched my seconds.Anyways I have realised, I tend to eat less anyways. Maybe as you lose weight your stomach shrinks.Who knows?. Evening I had lip smackingly good Pav-Bhaji cooked up by DH. Again it wasnt that bad. Because the way DH cooked it up- measuring everything- it came to about a point per half cup. Who knew pav bhaji was a  1 point food? Superbowl Sunday however was a whole another story. The day started with Poha, lunch at IHOP and sharing Big Ben’s spotlight that evening was -Tandoori Chicken.

I was thinking of posting the Tandoori Chicken recipe-since many of my friends have asked for it. But I didnt have any picture to post.So here we go with another one of my creations. I had this as a light dinner one Sunday, however you it fits equally well as a finger food(appetizer). This is my entry to Rachana’s Healthy Bite event. The original recipe called for ground beef,but I used ground turkey instead. Also, one of the key ingredients I would not skip or replace is Bibb Lettuce which is a mild flavored, smooth leaf lettuce and is easily available at any grocery store in the US.

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

16 oz ( 1lb) 93/7 lean ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup green pepper
2 tbsp ginger (chopped/paste)
2 cloves garlic (chopped/paste)
1 cup cabbage finely chopped
2 cups mushrooms
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp any chilli sauce (Sriracha)
8 bibb lettuce leaves.

Preparation

1. Heat a wok and spray with cooking spray. Add ginger,garlic and onion and saute for few mins.
2. Add ground turkey,soy sauce, chili sauce and salt  and cook till turkey is brown and cooked.
3. Add chopped cabbage ,mushroom and green pepper and cook till mushroom is soft and green pepper is crisp but cooked.
4. Spoon 1/2 cup of the mixture into each lettuce leaf.

Servings: 4 (2 leaves per serving)
Points: 4 per serving

Note: This same mixture if stuffed inside wontons will make yummy dumplings. Maybe that recipe next time.