And Summer Goes On

Well, surgery was successful for Keith's right eye. We are in the last week before payday in the surgical financial crunch. Not really sure how "crunchy" it will get for his left eye, which needs to be done within 30 days after the left eye. But, at least he isn't almost totally blind now.
With the financial crunch, I've tried to stay on my eat-style program as much as possible. We've, basically, been buying whatever we can afford at the grocery store. I've been putting off my summer porridge, but will be making them again this afternoon (if the yogurt is still good in the icebox, that is). 
The heat and humidity of summer has kept me on the boat, but on the plus side, with the a/c working again, my heat rash is almost gone. So, I haven't been to the store to weigh in. 
Because we had accumulated enough reward points at the local pizza joint for a free pizza (this was before I started this program), to save money we used the points for a free pizza. 
One thing I discovered - pizza is something I'm going to have to stay away from while losing weight, because I can't eat just one slice. Oh no, I ate FOUR! Not good. As a result, I'm sure I lost points on pound loss. 
We've been able to keep dinners almost normal. I've fixed a lot of chicken and ground turkey meals.
Speaking of ground turkey, last night I didn't know what to do with the gr. turkey I had, so I got on the internet and found a seasoning for turkey burgers. It was delicious. It was a copycat seasoning for Fuddrucker Burgers from Todd Wilbur, and it was great (although I'm cutting back a bit next time on the black pepper and cayenne pepper. Some people replace the cayenne with cumin). Here is a link to the website.

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Fuddruckers-Hamburger-Seasoning-Copycat-Recipe.html

As there are other copycat recipes that are not so low-cal or healthy on this site, I do recommend browsing carefully, but do browse. There are a few that have been modified for low-cal. Not all links will give a complete recipe. You'll have to purchase his cookbooks for them.
But this seasoning I used on the turkey burgers made the burgers very flavorful, and not bland at all. I mixed the ground turkey with Worcestershire sauce and a little A1 Original with a mix of onion and celery bits first, then added the seasoning to the burger while pan frying. I'm not sure what the total calorie count is for these burgers, but it's gotta be better than beef. In fact, they were so good, I might not go back to beef.

Most Difficult Summer

With the heat index over 100 degrees F every day, it's been a brutal time for me. I am not heat oriented. I don't thrive on it, and I certainly don't love it. On top of that, our a/c unit went out. And we can't fix it.
First, DH can't see to pull the unit and take it in for repairs. Second, money's very, very, very tight this month with the first laser surgery scheduled for DH's cataracts (which thanks to the 6 month fed government waiting period for part b of his medicare to kick in, has left him almost totally blind). Third, we didn't exactly get all the costs for this surgery told to us, even though we asked for totals, what's involved, etc. Seems they left out the anti-biotic prescriptions to the tune of 338 dollars, and the EKG required before the surgery that must be done by a different doctor. 
So, what does all this have to do with my eat style blog? Well, between the heat (of which I'm not cooking except stuff for the thermal cooker once in a while), and the extremely low funds this month, I have had to "shed" my eat style as we are buying whatever food we can afford - this includes frozen dinners, canned stuff, and the all evil (to me, anyway) processed crap.
The heat has given me a heat rash on my stomach, chest, arms and the top of my right thigh. Yesterday, as I was opening a can, I deeply sliced my finger on the jagged edge of the can lid that the can opener did not open all the way. I couldn't get it to stop bleeding until I taped it up with non-stick pads surrounded by gauze. I also had to take two Aleve to numb the pain. 
I have been drinking a lot of cold water and some juice, but my morning porridge has gone by the wayside temporarily. It's just too hot to make it. I ended up having sweat drip down onto it from my forehead....yuck.
I still try to limit portions, which hasn't been that hard to do since the heat does not generate a lot of hunger.
I don't fancy summers in the south at all.

Learning New Internet Stuff

Well, my Virgin hotspot device finally bit the dust. It's not like I wasn't expecting it, as it's been giving me problems for awhile.
So, my DH and I went in search of a new ISP. We started by checking to see if we could administer CPR to the Virgin devices. No can do. So, we headed over to Verizon, our only other option for wifi on board the boat. To make a long story short, and because I despise touch pads, we ended up with a tablet that will connect to my laptop with Verizon service. We'll see how it works out.
So, this is completely new, and forced, learning experience for me. When I use just the tablet, as I am doing now, it is somewhat slow for me to type because I am use to a full keyboard, not this "hunt and peck" thing.
Yesterday, I went grocery shopping. Naturally, I weighed myself. I am now at 228 lbs. That leaves 83 more pounds to my goal weight. Cool!

Portion Distortion

So, I was doing my occasional cruise through Pinterest and I came across an interesting Pin called "Portion Distortion". Hmmmm.
I clicked the link. It turned out to be an analysis of how Fast Food portions and calories have changed over the years. It was very interesting. 
Naturally, this lead to portion control and calorie control. So, here are a few items I downloaded concerning this topic. For more info, just Google "Portion Distortion" or "Portion Tools".

I know they give you an actual serving size here, but pay attention to the grams of fat included. Definitely don't want this in my Eat-Style plan.

Again, look at the Calories and the fat grams. I'll skip these places, thank you. Note: I know Subway advertises on some healthy subs. If you do go, just pay attention to what is being put on the sub (and the bread type, too)

I'd definitely shrink that Bread pie slice, separate the fruits and Vegies, and increase them.

Funny thing about this - the FF Restaurants charge more for
the larger, higher calorie/fat portions they serve now, and
the ingredients are totally crap.

I think you're best bet is to know your food - and stay away from
FF Restaurants.

Not really part of the topic of this post, but I found it a few
days ago and thought I'd post it.



Might have to search around Amazon for this one. It's called "Meal Measure I Portion Control Tool"

https://www.amazon.com/Meal-Measure-Portion-Control-Tool

Sleeping Away the Dog Days of Summer

Today, I finally made up 3 jars of summer porridge. It's the most energy I've had to do anything for about a week now.
Monday, I fell asleep between 1 and 2 pm and didn't wake up until almost 2 am the following morning. Then, I fell asleep about 4:30 am and didn't wake up until the afternoon. I, then, fell asleep before 5 pm and didn't wake up until 4:30 am the next morning. I did the same last night.
Not only are the hot days keeping me sleepy. They are also keeping my appetite down. I've been eating mostly watermelon chunks and, when I'm awake, I'll eat a serving of the tuna casserole. But only to have something in my stomach to take my vitamins. I'll have a glass of juice or low fat Chocolate milk during the day, and, sometimes a low cal pudding cup. That's it. 
I can't say it's healthy, but it is well within my calorie range.
Maybe the porridge will give me renewed strength.
I still have a lot of fat in my behind, thighs, and stomach, but I can see a difference from where I was 2 and a half months ago. My next grocery shopping trip will be either this weekend or the beginning of next week. I'll weigh myself when I go to the store.

The Heat is On

Well, the heat and humidity is still having its effect on me - now, I'm not hungry. I have to force myself to eat.
Yesterday, I broke down and had a tuna sandwich - that was it for the day. Today, I had 4 bites of just the tuna mixture, and a small helping of the tuna casserole that I made this evening. That is divided into the next three nights, so at least I won't have to cook for a few days. That's another thing this weather is doing, too. I have no desire to stand over a hot stove.
Oh, I have had some fruit - chunks of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. 
I had slacked off on the water for a bit, but I'm back on course now. I had been drinking just fruit juice and low-fat Choco milk. I only have one of the choco milks a day. 
I found a few more eat-style charts on Buzzfeed. I thought these were pretty good.

You can always click and download to zoom in on them for better viewing.

New Weight Numbers

So, yesterday I went grocery shopping. As I do every time I get to the market, I weighed myself on the pharmacy's little "sit-down" scale. I am now at 232. That's about 16 lbs less than when I first started this eat-style program. I am now only 87 lbs away from my goal weight. I am averaging about a pound and 1/2 weight loss a week. I am pleased with that, as I want to lose slowly, not quickly. 
Yesterday, I actually went out to eat for the first time in months. My daughter was visiting and treated my DH and I to lunch. I chose a restaurant that served Sushi, as I know my daughter likes Sushi. Little did I know that on their menu they had a shrimp patty on flatbread w/ low-cal sauce. It was a decent 175 calories. I had it with just ice water, which I would have had anyways because the day was so hot and humid.
Speaking of which, the heat and humidity is affecting my eating habits. It is so hot, that I just plain don't feel like eating (or cooking, for that matter). I've been a bad girl and skipping meals - not a good thing as it will cause me to lose weight too fast. So, I have been fighting that.
The heat is also having an effect on energy and depression. Although, the depression has lightened up a bit, it is now mingled with a bit of lethargy. I just kind of stare into neverland at the things I need to get done. I need to do mental exercises as well as physical exercises.
I am keeping to my goals in not eating sugar and processed foods ( with the exception of already shredded reduced fat cheese in some of the recipes), and NO soda, diet or otherwise.  The fruit, most of the time, satisfies my crave for something sweet. When it's an extreme crave, I have an 80 calorie pudding cup. I don't look at these as snacking. In fact, I don't consider "snacking" as part of my program. Snacking, to me, is pigging out on all kinds of chips, cookies, etc. I don't do that. I feel a need for something sweet, I have fruit or a pudding cup. As long as I am well within my daily max calories, I don't find it a problem.