Day 120: Mulligatawny saves the day
Posted by Paola
9:30am Cooked breakfast + orange + fresh coffee
Vegetarian bacon, vegetarian frankfurter and an egg cooked on top of leeks, using balsamic vinegar and water instead of oil. There’s a lot of burnt leeks on the bottom of my pan now!
| 1 serving | calories | protein | carbs | fat | fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| balsamic vinegar | 5 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| orange | 62 | 1.2 | 15.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| vegetarian frankfurter | 68 | 5.4 | 0.8 | 4.5 | 0.6 |
| leeks | 74 | 1.8 | 17.3 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| large free-range organic egg | 93 | 7.8 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 0.0 |
| vegetarian bacon | 100 | 13.1 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 1.7 |
| Total | 401 | 29 | 36 | 16 | 6 |
Afternoon drink: pint of fizzy squash
4:15pm Mulligatawny soup with toast
One of my jobs as a computer contractor was at Seagram, the distillers (Chivas Regal & Tropicana). Besides having access to a fridge permanently stocked with Tropicana orange juice, they had a chef who made soup every day. I vividly remember the time he made Mulligatawny soup. It was so gorgeous, I kept going back for more – I just couldn’t get enough of it.
I searched online today and printed out four different recipes for the soup. Many are made with cream or coconut milk and some are thickened with flour. I made mine with 3 leeks, a potato, a pointed (Sweetheart) cabbage, a red onion, a red pepper, a red chilli, 3 apples, 80g red lentils, 2 onions, 6 garlic, 40g tomato puree and 1L vegetable stock, all spiced with 2 tsp ground coriander, 1.5 tsp ground cumin and 4 ‘bruised’ (squashed?) cardamom pods.
I first softened the onion and chilli in oil and then added the spices. Then add the remaining ingredients and cook for 30mins. You have to fish out the cardamom at the end. I just liquidised three quarters of it so that there was something to bite on.
On serving, I’m adding a teaspoon of (fake) sugar and vinegar (I’ll likely add these to the pan next time), and a dollop of yoghurt. Plain, it works out about 160 calories for a 370g serving. Very tasty.
| 370g serving | calories | protein | carbs | fat | fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ginger | 1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| red chilli | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| red pepper | 3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| rapeseed oil | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| tomato puree | 5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| garlic | 5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| balsamic vinegar | 5 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| vegetable stock | 6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| low-salt vegetable stock | 9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| potatoes | 10 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| red onion | 11 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| cabbage | 15 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| red lentils | 23 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| leeks | 31 | 0.8 | 7.3 | 0.2 | 0.9 |
| apple | 32 | 0.0 | 8.8 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| fat-free yoghurt | 32 | 5.6 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| wholemeal oatbran bread | 72 | 3.8 | 12.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Total | 267 | 15 | 47 | 3 | 9 |
6:45pm Russian salad with cheese + orange + pint of fizzy squash
| 1 serving | calories | protein | carbs | fat | fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| capers | 2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| half-fat cheddar cheese | 55 | 6.2 | 0.0 | 3.3 | 0.0 |
| fat-free yoghurt | 60 | 10.4 | 3.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| orange | 62 | 1.2 | 15.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| russian salad | 175 | 9.8 | 30.3 | 2.0 | 5.1 |
| Total | 354 | 28 | 49 | 6 | 6 |
I then calculated my calories so far so that I could plan my last meal of the day to stay under 1,200 calories.
It was getting to 9pm and I wasn’t planning to eat more but then Frank sat down at the table where I was making jewellery to eat a bowl of soup. I figured it’d still be a few hours until I’d be in bed and so I decided to have my soup ‘quota’.
9:30pm Mulligatawny soup with yoghurt
| 350g serving | calories | protein | carbs | fat | fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fat-free yoghurt | 34 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| balsamic vinegar | 5 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Mulligatawny soup | 148 | 5.0 | 29.4 | 2.0 | 5.9 |
| Total | 187 | 11 | 33 | 2 | 6 |
However, I just realised that I made a mistake in my spreadsheet and so I’m 109 calories over. I’d have otherwise been 1 calorie under! *grumble*
| Day 120 | calories | protein | carbs | fat | fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 401 | 29 | 36 | 16 | 6 |
| Lunch | 267 | 15 | 47 | 3 | 9 |
| Snack | 354 | 28 | 49 | 6 | 6 |
| Dinner | 187 | 11 | 33 | 2 | 6 |
| Other drinks | 100 | ||||
| Total | 1,309 | 83 | 165 | 27 | 27 |
| 27% | 53% | 20% | |||
| Allowance | 1,200 | 75 – 105g 25 – 35% |
120 – 165g 40 – 55% |
33 – 40g 25 – 30% |
|
Small mixed box from Abel & Cole
Posted by Paola
5 May 2008
Leeks, broccoli, radishes*, potatoes, kohl rabi*, pears, oranges and bananas
(* I skipped the carrots and white onions)
Day 120: weigh-in
Posted by Paola
Weekly weigh-in: No loss (total: 28 lbs in 17 weeks)
I’ve lost very little weight over the last few weeks compared to the 2lbs/week average before. I’m feeling very frustrated. I was happy with the idea that I could be my target weight in a year but I don’t like the thought of it being another year from now.
I was seriously considering trying (a vegetarian version of) the Sacred Heart Diet. It is used for overweight heart patients to lose weight rapidly, prior to surgery.
(added later) Reading up on it now, I see it’s a made-up fad diet.
In the dark
Posted by Anna
Yesterday was a quiet day spent at home. I had intended to visit a friend in Southampton, but without my car and with no trains from Richmond (apparently London Transport and South West Trains don’t liaise with each other over engineering projects, so they’re running them at the same time here), I had to call it off. David had offered me the use of his car, but I don’t much like driving it, especially when the journey would have been nearly 4 hours there and back.
I looked at the TV listings and liked the sound of The Bridges of Madison County. It was a great film right up to the power cut. Aaaaargh! It’s the first one I’ve had in years and it came at a pivotal point in the film. After sitting in candle light for an hour with nothing to do (it was too much of an eye strain to try to read), I went to bed, which is why I was up at 6am this morning!
I was surprised my calorie count was so low as I felt I’d eaten plenty yesterday. Still, it makes up for some of the higher counts I’ve had and will have this week, as I’m heading up to Liverpool tomorrow…
| Breakfast | Porridge + skimmed milk | 150 |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch | WeightWatchers tomato soup | 74 |
| Roll + Philadelphia extra light | 210 | |
| Snack | Pineapple | 100 |
| Dinner | Diet chicken bake | 348 |
| Diet chocolate mousse | 60 | |
| Total Calories | 942 | |
