Posts Tagged ‘diets’

I’ve finally got around to editing the cooking lesson that Nick K gave me, showing me how to prepare and cook Chicken Cacciatore.

I worked a treat and is on the lunchtime rotation.

Ingredients;

• 8 skinless chicken thigh fillets
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Small amount of oil
• Small tub of kalamata olives
• Small bunch fresh basil
• Dried oregano
• 2 stock cubes (chicken is the preference but it won’t really matter).
• Whatever vegetables you like to eat on the side…

A few problems with lighting and camerawork, hopefully it adds to the charm

Every one defeated yesterday;

Bread rolls defeated!

Cheese defeated

Donuts defeated!

Cheezels & Twisties defeated!

Maccas defeated!

It’s weird the changes I am going through.

From the guy who wouldn’t get out and exercise if you paid me three months ago, now I am jumping out of my skin if I don’t do anything every day.

After last weeks surprise loss of 1.2 kilos, I’ve been going pretty hard (for me anyway).

• Thursday – 5 km walk & 60 minute gym session
• Friday – 60 minute gym session
• Saturday – 90 minute Bikram Yoga, 3 hours behind a drum kit
• Sunday – day of rest (very weary)
• Monday – another day of rest, couldn’t get a session in

Coming up;

• Tuesday – 90 minute Bikram Yoga
• Wednesday – Gym session and 4km walk
• Thursday – 90 minute Bikram Yoga
• Friday – 30 minute bike

I am enjoying the exercise, enjoying getting the heart rate up and sweating loads, makes me feel like the weight is dripping off.

On the flip side, I had transferred Fat Food Friday to Wednesday of last week, but unfortunately it decided to extend itself though until Sunday. Not every meal, but I was justifying it in my own mind that I was exercising harder than before and so I could counter-balance it. Trouble of course is that will limit this weeks loss, I was privately hoping for a 4 kilo loss this week (being a longer week), but I think now it may only be a 2 kilo week, but if I can get it 3 kilos I’d be very happy.

So now I am a lot more aware of catching myself when I try to justify choices that I know are poor, and have committed to sticking to the food plan for the next week and a half – yes, no Fat Food Friday this week. At the footy next Saturday – no pie or chips, I’ll take some roasted almonds instead.

It’s been an interesting week. After increasing in weight last week by half kilo and extending fat food Friday an extra day I set out to just follow the process and not be too concerned with what I felt I was missing out on or would love to eat.

Many time especially from Monday I wanted to pig out on comfort food, but instead I just stuck to the eating plan.

The big difference again this week is I increased my exercise, walking Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday and found some days harder than others, got a little bit of leg and back soreness, but nothing sever enough to divert me from my plan of taking back that half kilo from last week with interest.

So this week I lost 2 kilos for a 12 week total of 24 kilos, and average of 2 kilo’s a week. My aim is to average 1.5 kilos a week for the 44 week SavingAlan project, that would leave me at around 92 kilos with a loss of 66 kilos

The week ahead has some interstate travel, heading to Canberra Wed and Thu for a speaking engagement, so I need to make sure that I eat well, go for a walk and/or a gym session while I am there (or 2 if I can fit it in).

Tomorrow I am going to head into the pool for a Aqua Aerobics session early in the morning and then to the gym late in the day for some weights, Sunday will be a gym session on the bike and x-trainer, Monday I am heading out for walk with two of the girls from work. For the first time I’ll be walking the Tan (the running track around the Botanical Gardens), yet I have worked within a couple of minutes of it for the best part of 20 years, should be an interesting challenge.

So here’s the measurement update;

Week 12 of SavingAlan

It’s true, inside I am a super fit thin person. I played an enormous amount of sport, anything I could – football, cricket, tennis, table tennis, soccer, athletics etc, but it wasn’t until my early twenties that I went off the rails with food and reduced my levels of exercise and the weight just crept on.

I enjoyed this piece by comedian Tim Minchen, he strikes to the fear and comments on the rationalisation around the impact of poor eating habits that we may be teaching our children. Another great reason to show (by action) my son the right way to eat and look after myself.

Eating a variety of food is one of the keys to staying interested in the eating plan. When I have tried before I got really sick and tired of a limited menu. It was only limited by my capabilities, so now I have friends popping in to cook with me, lifting my ability and expanding my repertoire of meals, and I am really enjoying it.

Here’s the latest with the lovely Nicola, showing me a great slow cooked Beef Stew.

So, where’s episode 2 I hear you ask?

I have the same question, I can’t find the damn thing anywhere, so I am going to have to re-film that episode, which is a Chicken Madras Curry that has become my favourite dish, and one that I have cooked a few times since.

So here is Episode 3, parts 1 and 2. Features a former work colleague and friend Yale. He’s a foodie as you’ll discover and we get to do a more complex Bolognese sauce than what I have cooked before.

And here’s the second part of the session.

I have hereby renamed Fridays as a tribute to my actions every Friday – “Fat Food Friday”.

Yep, just using it as a fix for food that I have been craving, knowing that if I work hard enough for the rest of the week I’ll be able to claw back some weight loss. Now this has some basic faults in its theory – adding weight to only take it off is a negative sum game, eating the rubbish foods only makes me want it again the following week, it goes against the idea of being solid in routine and eating habits.

So far I have been a bit lucky and been able to lose weight regardless, but I just need to tighten up on Fridays after weigh in and when traveling. Last week was the first time since I started Saving Alan that I traveled interstate for business, and it is a test. The Hotel had a crap range of food and no gym .. so I had the double banger of eating poorly and not doing enough exercise. I’ll be taking more interest in where I get booked into in future.

Over the weekend the band played twice so I had 6 hours plus of exercise, and it is a hell of a work out playing drums for 3 hours as well as the set and up and pull down. I am on break this week with my son, so I am able to really manage my exercise and food intake closely. A break this week at the footy on Sunday, watching the mighty Bombers win (maybe one of the few times this year), consumption of a meat pie – so I have a bit of extra work to do to knock that out of the system.

So here’s the update for last Friday’s weigh in, if you go to the My Progress page, you’ll be able to see each weeks update and get a feel for the week by week progress so far. Also coming up are a few more Cooking with Al episodes that I have finally edited.

So far so good, the best change is the waist size, my clothes are going to become a real problem for me as I continue to lose weight. My current range will last to about 130 kilos and then it will be a struggle until about the 115 kilo mark when I’ll start fitting into some older clothes that I have, but under 100 kilos I’ll be buying plenty of clothes except for jeans as I seem to have 7 pairs of jeans all with a 38 inch waist. Maybe I need a department store sponsor to deck me out in new gear for the new me in November .. if you know anyone .. ha ha ha

Here’s the latest 12 Second TV update;

And a photo of the Lamb Korma that I cooked last weekend;

Cooking with Al - Lamb Korma Curry

Just a quick one.

The two curries I made on Sunday, from the recipe were a raging success. I had the Chicken Madras Curry for lunch yesterday and the Lamb Korma Curry today.

If I can make meals this good for each lunch it will make the journey so much easier. So what I need to do is plan ahead, prepare and stick to it.

The good thing is that I am also saving money by cooking and using the ingredients already in the fridge. Many a garbage day has seen the vegetables and my good intentions just thrown away. I’m estimating about 35-50 dollars a week saving, but I’ll do an exact match up in a few weeks time.

Ciao for now.