Protein, Protein, Protein, Protein....

I need to get more protein down. I have been a cheese-eater my whole life. with this next fill approaching I need to really think about how I can get maximum grams for meals. This is a list I lifted from a Obesity Help post a while back. When in doubt i search my files and dig it out. I think it will be better here.

Beef
• Hamburger patty, 4 oz – 28 grams protein
• Steak, 6 oz – 42 grams
• Most cuts of beef – 7 grams of protein per ounce
Chicken
• Chicken breast, 3.5 oz - 30 grams protein
• Chicken thigh – 10 grams (for average size)
• Drumstick – 11 grams
• Wing – 6 grams
• Chicken meat, cooked, 4 oz – 35 grams
Fish
• Most fish fillets or steaks are about 22 grams of protein for 3 ½ oz (100 grams) of cooked fish, or 6 grams per ounce
• Tuna, 6 oz can - 40 grams of protein
Pork
• Pork chop, average - 22 grams protein
• Pork loin or tenderloin, 4 oz – 29 grams
• Ham, 3 oz serving – 19 grams
• Ground pork, 1 oz raw – 5 grams; 3 oz cooked – 22 grams
• Bacon, 1 slice – 3 grams
• Canadian-style bacon (back bacon), slice – 5 – 6 grams
Eggs and Dairy
• Egg, large - 6 grams protein
• Milk, 1 cup - 8 grams
• Cottage cheese, ½ cup - 15 grams
• Yogurt, 1 cup – usually 8-12 grams, check label
• Soft cheeses (Mozzarella, Brie, Camembert) – 6 grams per oz
• Medium cheeses (Cheddar, Swiss) – 7 or 8 grams per oz
• Hard cheeses (Parmesan) – 10 grams per oz
Beans (including soy)
• Tofu, ½ cup 20 grams protein
• Tofu, 1 oz, 2.3 grams
• Soy milk, 1 cup - 6 -10 grams
• Most beans (black, pinto, lentils, etc) about 7-10 grams protein per half cup of cooked beans
• Soy beans, ½ cup cooked – 14 grams protein
• Split peas, ½ cup cooked – 8 grams
Nuts and Seeds
• Peanut butter, 2 Tablespoons - 8 grams protein
• Almonds, ¼ cup – 8 grams
• Peanuts, ¼ cup – 9 grams
• Cashews, ¼ cup – 5 grams
• Pecans, ¼ cup – 2.5 grams
• Sunflower seeds, ¼ cup – 6 grams
• Pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup – 8 grams
• Flax seeds – ¼ cup – 8 grams

Here is a link to a website with even more protein numbers: http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/getting-enough-protein-when-youre-vegetarian.html

I tend to eat from the cheese list. Last night I had eggs!! I have not been able to eat a scrambled egg for more than a year. Se below:

2 oz cheddar cheese-14 grams, 1/4 cup oatmeal with nuts-7 grams, 1 egg-6 grams, butterscotch pudding made with 2% milk-8 That is a total of 35 grams for the whole day. probably not what it should be. I really need to get some meat in there. If it is .4 per pound than I need-80 grams if I weighed 200 (which is where i spend half my week). and if I were to calculate this base don my goal weight-155x.4 is: 62 grams. I got around half what I am supposed to for the day.

Stress and The Band

Can't talk long as I have to leave to go over the pass to do classroom observations. I had a Very emotional and stressful work day yesterday. The band slammed shut, making me realize that I have loosened up big time. It is amazing how much one can delude oneself into thinking one is not eating very much. I have been eating much more than I was with good restriction!

Yesterday it was so tight I ate two meals and had some difficulty with liquids. I finally had some warm coffee and that went down nicely. I need to start drinking decaf hot tea more often I think.

I will go into minute detail later-oh and I got my tattoo. The tattoo hurt as my daughter would say 'like a mother' (not sure why those exact words but they fit here). I is a bit swollen and painful still today.

Ok..have to dash. I hope each of you are having a great day.

Too Much Work Too Little Play-Survey :)

I have been too busy grading papers (20 hours this week) as well as troubleshooting student issues via email and skype.

It is done again for another week and I can take a breath. I have taken the bull by the horns (finally) and applied for a couple of adjunct teaching positions closer to home at a nearby university and am going to draft an advertisement offering math tutoring services and pre-school math sessions in my neighborhood newspaper. Whish me luck!! I really would like to change my job and soon!

Here is the survey going around the blogosphere-I figured why not! I am deleting some of the questions that don't seem to fit a blog setting.

1. What is your occupation right now? Post Doctoral Researcher (really a fancy name for the person who grades two online classes and when I can fit it in-presents atconference presentations and writing research articles.

2. What color are your socks right now? white footy socks

3. What are you listening to right now? America's Funniest Home Videos that my daughter has on the TV

4. What was the last thing you ate? a few bites of the Cornish Pasty my daughter had for a snack after school.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My oldest daughter

7. How old are you today? 45 (6 whole days until I am 46)

8. What is your favorite sport to watch on tv? none-I don't like watching sports.

9. What is your favorite drink? Diet Coke and Vodka and Orange juice.

10. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes to cover the gray.

11. Favorite food? Fish and chips right now..but I change

12. What is the last movie you watched? Hog father (a gruesome Christmas tale via Netflix)

13. Favorite day of the year? Any day when I am going on a vacation.

14. What was your favorite toy as a child? Teddy bear and my bike.

15. What is your favorite season? Summer all the way!
16. Cherries or Blueberries? I like all berries.


17. Living situation? 2400 square foot, 4 bedroom rancher currently for sale :)..anyone interested?.

18. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday-my daughter had stupid Black Beauty on the television and I cried when the poor horse got sold off.

19. What is on the floor of your closet right now. a box with papers in it (very tidy because the house is for sale)

20. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? Bunny was the first blogger I followed and had a huge impact on my decision to go with band.

21. What did you do last night? Graded papers!!!

22. What are you most afraid of? the dark-I am slightly night blind and it freaks me out when I cannot see.

23. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? fish burgers? NO more hamburger for this girl.

24. Favorite dog breed? other peoples dogs? I like being a dog grandma.

25. Favorite day of the week? Friday because of the anticipation of time off. Saturday because i actually have time off.

26. How many states have you lived in? Born in Texas as a baby and toddler I moved with my family to Wyoming and Massachusetts (Dad was in the Air force. We all moved to Washington state when i was 4. I lived there until the ripe old age of 35 moved to Oregon and have been here since.

27. Diamonds or pearls? I'm not a big jewelry wearer-I do wear my diamond wedding and anniversary ring everyday.

28. What is your favorite flower? mums in cut form.

29. What is your favorite color? New grass green

30. What hobbies do you like to do? knit, sew and quilt.

Third Post in a Triple Whammy :) Thursday Shopping!!!!

Thursday..was a fun fun fun day. I went shopping and out to lunch with two friends.

This was my first real clothes shopping trip as a regular sized person. I have tried on the odd thing, did the big jeans torture search a few months ago but this was the first...I am shopping with friends and I do not have to wander over the the plus sized department while they go to the regular sized areas event.

We went to a nearby outlet mall and went to several stores (clothes, shoes, kitchen and Nike stuff). I purchased-2 tank tops and henley style t-shirt from the Gap (size large) and two sweaters from Eddie Bauer in sized extra large (No vanity sizing at Eddie Bauer). I tried on a pair of jeans and a school girl skirt (for a laugh at Gap). The skirt fit me in a size 12!!!! and the jeans a 14 both were not cut right for my waist but it was really cool to button them!

At Liz Claiborne I tried on a very cool wrap dress. It fit very nicely and was $60 but I really do not wear dresses that often and I didn't want to get yet another piece of clothing that I would grow out of before I actually got to wear it anywhere. I will either wait until I have an event or until I get to goal for the wrap dress experience.

We went into a great store I had never heard of before-Cabi. They have been around for a while I guess and started as a home party thing like tupperware. The store was great and I loved the clothes. Very classic looks but with a 40's vibe that was very attractive. I bought a nice black jacket that is longer than normal and with a swing cut. The buttons are lovely on it. When I am at goal I will definitely go back here and set up my wardrobe!


The whole shopping trip and the Cabi store especially made me feel like for the first time that I could dress like I feel. a few years ago I had a student in one of my classes who had a sense style that I admired. At the time it made me sad because when you are wearing plus sized clothes the amount of style..well it is limited isn't it? Things have gotten much better over the years but the fabric is really all you can control because of the effort one must expend on working to camouflage the fat. A wrap dress? no too many stomach rolls. a suit jacket? no made me look like a man. I was really limited to tank tops, open blouses and slacks. At the very least that is how my head dealt with my obesity.

We stopped for lunch near the end of our mall time. The mall had a very nice wine bar the served food. I had a lovely Mueller wine and a cheese plate that I shared with the two women I was with. Again another flag to my existence. I was very selective before about what food I would and would not eat. Thursday I ordered the cheese plate and tried each cheese..I did not eat blue cheese. I do now. I ate a bit of each of the cheeses and enjoyed them.

New bandsters--i urge you. If you were a picky eater. make a vow to try new things and live with the band as an adventurer. our old closed ways did not help us in our happiness. All the foods I 'hated' were just my head closing them out. I think this adventuresome spirit can be applied to everything..exercise, life experience and food. Maybe my word in January should have been ADVENTURE

Wednesday Crazy Grace Day

Wednesday I carried on working on the stuff I did not finish on Tuesday and cleaned up after the Tuesday babysitting day and cook-fest. We have to keep the house ship shape for potential house viewers. I might moan here but I really to LOVE the fact as I have said many, many times before that my house is always tidy.

After school was Grace's horseback riding lessons. My looming work deadline made it so we could not mooch around after school for an hour. Instead I brought her some paper and pens and a snack to eat while we parked in front of the stables. I worked away on my submission while we waited for her teacher to get there. While Grace rode in the muddy dark stable I actually carried in my laptop and papers and kept working on a stool with my laptop on my knee. Thankfully I finished the first draft like this.

After the lesson it was a dash to pick up David from work, a quick spin around the fabric store looking for a friends birthday present (unsuccessfully) and finally back to Grace's school for an evening parent meeting. After the fabric store and before the meeting I had a flashback to my old eating life when we drove through a fast food place for dinner. I managed one piece of fish and 2 french fries from a shared basket of fish and chips (David shared with me). We got home at 9pm.

I decided after we got home that I should have packed our dinner. It would have had to be cold but would not have been that difficult with a little pre-planning. Next time I will see how that strategy works.

Tuesday Cook-Fest

Tuesday I was on babysitting duty for my grandson and he, as he always does, kept me both entertained and busy chasing him with fun and interesting activities to keep him entertained. In the afternoon we went to the grocery store and did our weekly shop. I also had some work come in that needed my immediate attention (ackk..not on babysitting day!). David and I whipped up Shrimp Chile Relleno (a lot of work for the ending product). With the leftovers I made a mock chile relleno with rice by chopping up the chilies, left over cheese (pepper jack and cheddar), shrimp and mixing it with some leftover rice in the fridge. I baked this for 30 minutes and David took it in his lunch. He said it was good.

Next time I decided I am going to try making the chili relleno with canned aneheim chilies (i did it the hard way blistering off fresh chili skins this time). I think I can take these and chop them with the cheeses and shrimp and make a crustless quiche. I think it will taste as good but with way less work.

Since I have brought up the quiche and Jen asked for it a couple weeks ago..here is the recipe.

Quiche Lorraine:

Make pie crust pastry (I used it the first time but I do not think it is necessary and calories could be cut here).

8 slices of bacon
1 cup of shredded cheese
1/2 cup to 1 cup chopped vegetbles (I used some onion and very finely chopped frozen carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and beets)
4 eggs
2 cups of 2% milk (you can go up or down in fat with the milk. Higher fat milk is creamier, skim can make the quiche a little watery). 2% seems to work great.
1/2 t salt
a few grinds of pepper

if using the pastry roll it out and place it into the pie plate. Sprinkle the cheese, bacon, onion, and vegetables into the bottom of the pie plate. Beat the eggs, milk and spices. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese and vegetables. Put your pie into the oven at 425 degree F. for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 300 for about 30 minutes. check to see if the quiche is done by poking it with a knife. if it comes out clean the pie is done.

If you try this tell me what ingredients you use. I will try them out. I think the variations could be endless.

Busy Day But So Sore

Yesterday was my work day. I was sooooo sore from my dirt digging that for breakfast I had an alieve :)...Amazingly that Alieve and Diet Coke filled me up and the pain pill reduced the body aches a little! I got to work and parked about 1/2 mile away from my office. I got on my bike and took a side trip to the nearby carry everything store. I popped in for a plug in cell charger (lost mine) and a bike lock so I could start locking my bike up when I ride it on my jaunts.

I then road a few zigzags through the neighborhood and up the hill to work. I am finally mastering those hills. I cannot believe how quickly your body improves with just a little repeated effort. I rode up to work--carried my bike up the stairs to my office as I had to unharness the bike lock from layers of plastic and anti-theft crap and could not use it yet!!

While at work my dad emailed me that we had finally been approved for tribal membership (after many years my dad, brothers and sisters and I decided to register for the Cherokee tribe). It is a cultural affiliation and pride thing more than for any other reason. When I decided to do this I also decided to commemorate the event with a tattoo. The paperwork has taken over a year to complete so as soon as I was done at work I popped down to the local campus tattoo parlor for a consultation.

I currently have a genies lamp on my right foot to celebrate my Ph.D. (a symbol affiliated with learning). I went and made an appointment for next Wednesday to do some work on my old tattoo and add to the art space :)..I am going to do some adjustment on my lamp (the flame did not turn out like I wanted and color it in Gold). Underneath the lamp I am going to add the phrase everyone is important in the Cherokee written language and then to commemorate the weigh-loss and band I am going to add a turtle in one of the smoke plumes coming out of the lamp...I am quite excited about it all. I was going to wait on the turtle until I hit goal but there is a $100 minimum for foot work so I am just going to do it now (I have after all done the 100 pound thing).

On top of all of this after I came home from work I chilled for 30 minutes (did a little knitting) and then got back out on my bike for another night ride with my neighbor. We added two steep loops to the route and rode a bit further around the grocery store we went to last week. We then rode to the bar and had my vodka and orange (yes I know Yana just like the darned exercise article!!!!).



after the approximately 5 and 1/2 to 6 miles for the day and aching muscles I finally was able to go to bed early :) so was in bed by 10:30. I even talked David into providing me with a little massage :)