Jan emails

Hi folks,
I'm going to try to leave out the boring stuff, so let me know if I 'not' succeeding.
I have deleted here actually weight reports and only including amount lost to keep her actual weight a secret. I wouldn't want my weight broadcast over the internet.
You'll notice from the first emails, she didn't really know how to eat to lose weight.

From: B
Here is my first day's report. Send me a list of foods I'll need to get and I'll find them in PA.
Day 1. Breakfast: Small ham & cheese omelet, dry wheat toast. 1:30 raw carrots & 1 low fat string cheese. I’ll have apple/orange for another snack. Homemade vegie soup tonight for supper w/maybe a grilled cheese sandwich. Not completely no fat but close. Will go grocery shopping tonight or tomorrow (it's an hour away) and be better prepared. Got the new scales; very techie; will weigh tomorrow after figuring out how they work.
Love, B

From: B
I know you told me not to go out to restaurants at first until I figure out what I should & shouldn't order, but mom loves to go out for breakfast and I usuallly have oatmeal and juice or coffee.



Hi B,
I just got home yesterday. Will be shipping the first box UPS tomorrow ground with lots of dry ice and a list of all meals sent. Whatever doesn't fit in your freezer can thaw in your fridge.

I would rather you use an extra dinner for lunch, than cook something for yourself that you think is 'close' to low fat but is high in fat...eggs, ham & cheese are all high fat. Please ask the restaurant how they fix the oatmeal and do they put butter in it?????

Please keep this email (you may want to start a Meal file for these emails)

Let me know if you have any reguests or if I send something you don't want to receive any more of ( & no you will not hurt my feelings). Always thaw in big bowls. Sometimes the corners get chipped up once they are frozen, from kicking around in my freezer. Do not nuke the glad containers.
I need to know what FF items you can buy from the 2 big stores that are 1 hour away so I won't take up space in the cooler with those...i.e...low fat, whole wheat pastas, no yolks pasta noodles, fat free whole wheat pitas, low fat whole wheat grain bread, low fat whole wheat burger buns, ff saltine crackers. I know you can get good FF dressing.
White breads, white rice and sugar are NOT on this diet. I now use Splenda in my green tea, hot or cold
I don't know how much to partially cook the meals in order for you to be able to put the dinners in the microwave frozen. So you must take them out each morning, so they will only need minimum nuking to heat thru...nuking enough to thaw would make them waaaaaay over cooked and dry and tasteless.
I tried different ways to separate the sauce/gravy/broth from the rice/pot/pasta so the starch wouldn't be mushy or the meal like soup by the time it is cooked. I'll need your feedback to know what works best for future preparation.
I am sending several dinners of the ones I think you'll like most. Each package serves 2. Here is a list of dinners in this first cooler:
Morrocan Veggies & Brown Rice

Fiet mignon, mashed potatoes & gravy, with peas

Thanksgiving dinners with various sides

Prime Rib, m potatoes, gravy & veggies

Teriyaki Chicken, brown rice and snow peas

Various chicken 'birds'. rolled up with veggies inside, broth
(you can add about 1 T cornstarch to broth & heat up and pour over 'birds')

Steak Burgers (steak totally defatted &ground up by me!! You fry.
...............lettuce, tom, onions, NO cheese .... Make a salad

Steak Pinwheels: UNCOOKED Thaw the night before. The next a.m. place in slow cooker beside 2 potatoes, 4 carrots, 1 onion all chopped, pour 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, s & p, cook low 8 hr. slice into pinwheels

Stuffed Bell Peppers, UNCOOKED cook the same as Steak Pinwheels, leaving out the potato, carrots Serve on Spaghetti Squash I provide

Stuffed Cabbage, UNCOOKED, Same stuff bell peppers Serve w Green Beans I provide

Hummus Dips: just thaw, no cooking. I'm sending FF wh wheat pitas the first time, Let me know if your big store has them. Make a salad.

Chicken, m pot, gravy, peas

Meatloaf, M Potatoes, Gravy, green beans

Curry Sauce w Brown Rice make a salad

Chicken Florentine, rice, corn broth ... thicken broth w cornstarch slurry, pour over

Chicken Gumbo: pile a mound of hot brown rice in center of bowl, pour gumbo over

Lazagna: wraped individually in plastic, then wrapped 2 together in plastic make a BIG salad

The bag of Spaghetti Sauce is enough for 4.

Love & Merry Christmas,
The Elder Ting Ting a Linger
S

From B:
The restruant doesn't put butter in the oatmeal, I asked. Sometimes I eat at home before we go, sometimes there.

Can't figure out these scales yet.
For some reason I was starving all day yesterday. Real hunger - - not the stomach upset I had from too much Ibuprofin for my knee. I managed not to eat too much but I did have 2 whole wheat bagels at 2 different times. The scales in town say I've lost 4 lbs this first week, but I bet most of that is water weight.
Love B

Hi B,
It is not good to starve yourself. It's best to eat 5 or 6 small healthy meals spaced 2.5 to 3 hr apart. That will keep your metabolism up and running which is key for losing weight. What exercises are you doing?

Sometimes you can't trust what a waitress tells you.
Love S

Hi B,
Here's a good recipe to go with the Curry dinner I sent (no cooking, I know)
3 carrots grated
3 T raisins (or 4)
1/2 c FF peach yogurt.....toss all together
Love S

Remember to save some of the Spag Sauce for the Stuffed bell peppers. You just place them in a 8x8 dish, spoon sauce over and bake. There are 2 steak burgers just thrown in
Love S

From B:
No exercise yet, my knee has been really acting up bad. The mashed potatoes are not coming thru very good. They have a funny consistency.
Don't send any more and I'll make them fresh here.

I have a pretty good relationship with this waitress, we do crosswords while mom eats.
The joys of a tiny town.
Love B

Ok, but please use this recipe for Guilt Free Gourmet Mashed Potatoes
Boil peeled potatoes, in chunks, drain
Mash with salt & pepper and a little skim milk.

Here's how to make almost FF gravy:
1 c boiling water
add 1 large Knoor Chicken or Beef cube and 1 large Knoor Veggie Bouillon cube to dissolve
Mix 1 T cornstarch w 3 T cold water well, add to hot broth, boil 'till thickened.

Love S


Gained back 1/2 lb. I have to admit that Mom wanted to go out to eat last night and we did. I had liver, rice (no gravy) salad bar (no dressings) and coffee. The liver had onions and bacon. I didn't eat the bacon but the liver was fried. I only ate half and brought the other half home fo mom to eat tonight. It was delicious but not enough to gain back 1/2 lb.

I find myself craving fat - fried foods, cheeses, etc. Not craving sweets at all which is wonderful! ! ! My next "splurge" will be to go to PA and have a pizza. I'm dying for one. There is one place in town that has pizza but they are not good.

Had a wonderful storm early this am. No thunder/lightening but hard rain and wind.

I'll have a good day today, I can feel it. Don't know what I'll have for dinner. I'll look in the freezer and pick something. How nice. Thank you sooooo much for doing this for me. I couldn't do it without you.

Love B.


The longer you go without sweets, the less your body will want. The same goes for fats but unfortunately it takes much longer
Love S

Hi B,
Let's chat at 9:30 your time which will be 12:30 my time. Can you sit in a straight back chair and do excercises...maybe toe touches? or sit on the floor with your back to the sofa and do them. Also maybe use liters of water a weights for doing arm exercises.
Love S


Hi B,
What did you have for dinner last night? How many Moraccan Veggie dinners did I send?

Love S

From B:
We had the roast beef last night. I only saw one moraccan vegie bag.

Love B.


From B:
Didn't lose anything today. Not discouraged. I know this is going to be a long haul. I'm making up a few exercises I can do without standing or bending my knees. I'll do them at C's with R. She'll like that. C will take some pictures of me in a bathing suit.
Love B.

Hi B,
I can't be here for our chat, but should be home by 1:30 or soon after. My fingers are crossed for you.
Love S

From B:
Finally figured out these scales. Will compare them to the ones in town. Will let you know
Love B

From B:
The ones in town were right on.
Lost .2 lb today. Sometimes it seems it will take forever. Discouragement lurks its' ugly head...Now Make no mistake - - I'll fight it. I know this is going to be a long haul.
Love B

we had the roast beef that I bought last night. Yes I got the pinwheel and I only saw one moraccan vegie bag.
Love B

Hi B:
Steak Pinwheels look like a rolled up steak until cooked and sliced)
Love S

We've got to figure out a way for you to exercise or you are right...this will take forever. You can easily double your daily weight loss if you exercises. I know you hate it, I do too, but it would help a LOT
Love S

From B:
OK OK I'll think about. Gained 1 lb today. Don't know why.
Love B

Hi B,
Did you get the box of whole wheat pastas and individually wrapped prunes I sent? I love prunes and you really need to get a move on daily. :~) Every 3 days is NOT GOOD !!!
The prunes in the larger bag are just as good.
Love S

From B:
Yes and I love them. Not like those old dried out ones when we were young. But that's an expensive way to buy them. Maybe I'll buy a big bag of them.
Love B


That was the point. I just wanted to somehow get you eating them.
You sent me back the colon cleanser so I had to get you to try something else.

Do you like pulled BBQ sandwiches
Love S


Yum Yum YES
Love B


OK
I can make them extremely low fat. Here's a recipe for low fat cole slaw
(have you found the jar of roasted red bell peppers in the store yet? Remember you have to add some of that juice to the FF mayo to make the FF mayo taste good)
1/4 head cabbage, shredded
1/2 carrot, shredded
1 or 2 strips of roasted red bell pepper, chopped
2 or 3 T FF mayo
1 or 2 t juice from the peppers....................toss all
s & p
please be sure to eat the bbq I send on a whole grain bun.

Love S


Is it possible to gain 3 lbs in 2 days? I broke down and had a burger & fries. How disappointing. I know some of it is water. My last BM was Saturday. I'm going to take a water pill and eat prunes.
Love B


Where id you get the b & f?
Love S


Right here in good old F at the coffee shop...and it wasn't even that good. I'm so mad at myself.
Love B