Welcome back to those of you who've been following along each Saturday morning, and welcome to new folks just seeing this. The 2009 fitness challenge is a year long challenge to each and every Kossack to get fit or stay fit. While some folks are suggesting specific diets, for long term health, it's lifestyle alteration that does the job most effectively. Come on in, share your progress (or regress) what you're doing that's working, what you're doing that's not working.
Well, good Gods above and below. This is going to be even more of a hit and run diary than previous, but I see that the last one did very well without me anyway ;)
My father has been having off and on medical issues since Thanksgiving, and repeated trips to the hospital have yet to figure out just what's wrong. I was up all night with him and started blogging in other folks' diaries for a bit then sat down to start on this week's challenge, and now I need to run him out to the hospital again it looks like.
I hope to be back in a couple of hours and I'll update with my progress and another recipe ;) Regulars, get busy and show folks what we're up to here.
Begin UPDATE section 1
Ok, I got a lot of seemingly good advice last week, so instead of eating LESS frequently, I ate MORE frequently, and included more fat and protein, albeit in lesser amounts, scattered throughout the day.
And it seems to be working. I'm down 3 lbs from last week's weighin, having dropped from my backsliding 284.2 to 281.2 this morning. It seems counterintuitive to me to eat more often and lose weight, but kicking the metabolism into gear as often as possible seems to be doing some good. I think in the past, my 'eating all the time' was probably the grazing on horrible carbs - Doritos, snack mixes that were essentially all bread products, and the like.
I've been popping small amounts of salami and cheese in between meals, and the fat and protein seems to make me less hungry at mealtimes and keep the metabolism revved up as much of the time as possible. So thanks to those who chided me for my idea of 3 strict meals, no snacks.
Now I'll update this, then I'll tag this week's recipe on at the bottom as a second update in a minute ;)
End UPDATE section
As always, don't forget to check out the other DKos fitness-related blogging series Macca's Meatless Mondays, Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Fitness Monday, What's for Dinner?, Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Two Potatoes, just about anything by AAF and suggest any new ones I've left off the list.
So let's hear from you. This is not a blog to read and lurk on, we want to know what your goals are, how you're doing, and get some new recipes and workouts to change the pace up for our own efforts!
Begin UPDATE Section 2
Recipe time!
I've been a bread-a-holic, and love sandwiches, but I'm trying to move more to wraps or pita bread to shave off some of those carb calories. One of my fave toppings that I do even in 'burritos' is hummus. Everybody's got their own hummus recipe, but they do tend to share a lot of commonalities. The only thing that's unusual for me to buy is the tahini, everything else would wind up in my shopping cart anyway.
Hummus ala Bloodaxe
(aka 'white hummus')
15 oz (1 can) cannellini beans, drained (most hummus uses chickpeas)
finely chopped garlic to taste (2 Tablespoons and up)
2 Tablespoons tahini (sesame paste, I think it is)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
.25 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for the win!)
a pinch each of salt, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Drop all into a food processor/blender and puree. If it seems too thick, add a bit of warm water or more olive oil. I tend to test it, then double or triple the garlic if I'm the only one who'll be eating it ;)
Use as a sandwich spread or a dipping sauce :)