The FastDay Forum

Ah, obvious now, unlike my waist, you are only wee, in fact you are awffy wee!
Not only are you just a wee slip of a gurrrl but you have a tiny, teeny, wee, dwarf like waist and I HATE you!!! Well, I would hate you if it was possible but with all that wonderful cooking how could anyone hate you?

Thank you for that, it all makes a lot more sense now, I did think I was going mad, I know, past tense is the norm with my mental state but, hey, wee or not, you are doing great, love your posts,

Ballerina x

me again FatDog and Ballerina! I do think that the more vertically challenged shorties amongst us have a harder time than taller people trying to hide the jelly roll round the middle. My logic(?) is that a longer body frame has more room to accommodate any excess baggage than a smaller one. I know I'm not overweight but just wish the pounds could distribute themselves a bit more evenly on my frame! If I do gain weight it shows immediately on my tum and waist.

I'm trying the 6:1 WOE for a while to see if it does affect my spare tyre but predominantly for the health benefits as I'm fit and have no health concerns and aim to stay that way for as long as possible!

hello you again, I really want to get rid of my middle earth lard because I keep reading that it is the most dangerous type to have, visceral and all that. I also hate the look and feel of it but I do worry, only a little, but I would love to get rid of it. That said, I agree that smaller people probably do have a harder job of disguising any overhang, let me know if you find a magic solution,

Ballerina x

hello you again, I really want to get rid of my middle earth lard because I keep reading that it is the most dangerous type to have, visceral and all that. I also hate the look and feel of it but I do worry, only a little, but I would love to get rid of it. That said, I agree that smaller people probably do have a harder job of disguising any overhang, let me know if you find a magic solution,

Ballerina x

will do!

Monday, day one-hundred and six, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 117.0lbs (analogue scales corrected ~114.75lbs); 0.8lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 29.0, w. 26.4, t. 32.0, h. 35.75 inches

Report at the end-of-week 15 of low-carb : total low-carb weight loss 20.8lbs, and last week 1.0lbs lost (between fluctuations!), no further shrinkage..

I've no excuse for not getting yesterday's b) and c) done today: there's no washing-up to procrastinate with, and the menu tonight is pretty simple - bottom-of-the-fridge soup (parsnip and watercress; parsnips are a bit too carby but I'll just have a wee portion) - and no new cookbooks have arrived for me to drool over. So I'd better get on with it!

I have just googled for 'parsnip and watercress' and there are actually recipes out there for this combination! Might be a cliche, but there really is nothing new in this world, eh? Damn, I shouldn't have done that - now I'm swithering as there's a lovely HFW recipe on the graun http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... ttingstall , though legumes on a fast day are not recommended. But here's one for a tortilla that I could do, with a little modification, https://www.evernote.com/shard/s8/note/ ... /flit/Food . I rather like that idea - I've not had eggs for ages! But then the OH would be left to fend for himself and, though he strongly protests at the idea, he ain't so good at doing that these days. Soup it is, methinks.

Argh! The post was really late - two baking books have arrived from a lovely lady in Cumbria and I'm now wagging my tail and gagging to make some muffins and some bread. FatDog doesn't know if she has the resistance to hold on until tomorrow... Howl! Grrrmpfff, oh the pain. Think I'll just have to visit a charity shop for some retail distraction. But then decide that I'll have a wee go at the simple 'damper bread' recipe when I get home - I can have it with the soup :0

Bargain hunt through the charity stores and supermarket - find a cheap plastic laddle for 50p to save the wok from getting scratched, then a very fine lump of stilton in the far co-op for 70p - which means that soup tonight has to use stilton as I've a decent chunk in the fridge already. The near co-op rendered 1kg organic carrots for 40p, a veggie haggis for 80p and a 'Flake' chocolate cake for two quid. Not sure what the carrots will be but the haggis is Thursday's dinner taking shape - think I need to do a Salade a la Caraibe to go with it. Cake will be fed to others; I've never really liked chocolate cake - black forrest gateau being an exception - and, having been low-carb for a few months now, this is about as appealing as Kencc's signature from Robert Lustig.

The parsnip, watercress and stilton soup was slick, smooth, rich and swoonfully delicious. I could have eaten several bowls of it, just for the flavour - the recipe is calling for all sorts of variations and will definitely be visiting again (certainly next time I find bargain parsnips).

My damper effort was sadly disappointing (damp, ha ha) - the new soya flour smelled much nicer than the H&B stuff I have been using but the end taste still had that slight twist and, yet again, I didn't get the innards to bake properly (Ed. see below for why). That was despite putting it on the middle shelf, covering it for the first half hour of cooking, and baking it for nearly an hour! I think that I'm going to have to get some ordinary flour and see if I can get a standard loaf to work - eliminate cooker problems and FatDog incompetence.

........ Calories 496.51 Carbs 25.05 Fat 30.31 Protein 30.98 Fibre 12.21

parsnip and watercress soup; another FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
parsnips, co-op, chunked, 65c/C12.5/F1.1/P1.8/Fi4.6/100g
......... 468g 304.20 58.50 5.15 8.42 21.53
bouillon, marigold, 243c/C29.4/F8.1/P10.5/Fi0.7/100g
......... 6g 14.58 1.76 0.49 0.63 0.04
water, boiling
......... 800ml for bouillon 0.00
watercress, hard stalks removed, long bits shortened, co-op, 25c/C0.4/F1.0/P3.0/Fi0.5/100g
......... 62g 15.50 0.25 0.62 1.86 0.31
stilton, crumbled, 410c/C0.1/F35.0/P23.7/F0/100g
......... 125g 512.50 0.13 43.75 29.63 0.00
s&p 0.00
total for parsnip and watercress soup 846.78 60.64 50.00 40.54 21.88
FatDog's 420/1400 portion of parsnip and watercress soup 254.03 18.19 15.00 12.16 6.56

Method: 1. bung the parsnips and the bouillon in a saucepan (or soup-maker ), bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes; 2. blitz the parsnips until smooth; 3. add the stilton and stir in until melted; 4. add in the watercress and stir in until wilting, check seasoning and serve.

damper bread, no. 1, adapted from Muffins, Scones & Breads, Aussie Women's Weekly
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 105g 445.20 16.80 21.00 40.95 12.60
xanthan gum
......... 2ml 0.00
baking powder
......... 8ml 0.00
pure via (stevia based sweetener) 2c/C0.47/F0/P0/Fi0/0.5g/5ml
......... 2ml 0.80 0.19 0.00 0.00 0.00
salt
......... good two pinches 0.00
cumin seed, whole
......... 2ml 0.00
fennel seed, whole
......... 2ml 0.00
caraway seed, whole
......... 2ml 0.00
butter, 720c/C0.6/F80.0/P0.5/Fi0/100g
......... 8g 57.60 0.05 6.40 0.04 0.00
soya milk, coop org unsw, 30c/C0.1/F1.9/P3.4/Fi0.6/100ml
......... 25ml 7.50 0.03 0.48 0.85 0.15
water
......... about 100ml - enough to make sticky dough 0.00
total for damper bread, no. 1 511.10 17.06 27.88 41.84 12.75
FatDog's ¼ portion of damper bread, no. 1 127.78 4.27 6.97 10.46 3.19

Method: 1. mix dry stuff together; 2. work the butter into the flour mix then gradually add in the milk and then the water until a sticky dough is formed; 3. tip the dough onto a floured surface and 'knead until just smooth' *; 4. make into a round loaf-like shape on an oiled baking tray and score a deep cross into the top; 5. bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 45 minutes; 6. remove to a wire rack to cool.

* I worked it for 10 minutes and it never became anything like 'smooth' - this will have very effectively knocked out all of the lovely bubbles that the baking powder put in. I'd really be better off sticking to pancakes. Now, there's a thought...

==================================

Tuesday, low-carb day one-hundred and seven, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 117.0lbs (analogue scales corrected ~114.65lbs); 0.0lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 29.0, w. 26.4, t. 32.0, h. 35.75 inches

That's the V&P vary-fairy at it again - well, the fairy did give me a 0.8lb loss on the scales yesterday that I didn't "deserve" so I really can't be complaining (and I'm not, honestly). And anyway, if I squint at the analogue scales from an angle slightly to the right I can get them to read 'bang on 8 stone'

But I've just done a killer job in giving the scales an excuse to read an extra 2.0lbs (albeit temporarily): total carbocalypse with tonight's menu. I should have served "the invisible fourth" and then I'd just have had 1/4 of the tajine and the blow-out wouldn't have been quite so bad - it just looked so harmless ,and healthy, and smelt delicious. Oh well - it was "excellent" (OH's verdict, seconded by our guest) - and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so it was (according to my tummy now) worth the heart-ache I'll get from the scales on Thursday. Could have been worse - I might have succumbed to the pitta bread that I served to the carbivores (or even to the original recipe, which used dates 68.7g carb / 100g vs. 36.5g for apricots).

........ Calories 1472.25 Carbs 80.57 Fat 76.39 Protein 33.82 Fibre 23.80

apricot, fig and cinnamon tajine, adapted from World Food Cafe 2
carrots, organic, ¼ longways then ½ length, 40c/C7.9/F0.3/P0.6/Fi2.8/100g
......... 592g 236.80 46.77 1.78 3.55 16.58
sweet red pepper, co-op, ½ len & 1/8 long, 35c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.1/Fi2.0/100g
......... 206g 72.10 13.18 0.82 2.27 4.12
butternut squash & sweet potato, co-op, 2cm cubed, 40c/C6.2/F0.3/P1.0/Fi4.0/100g
......... 300g 120.00 18.60 0.90 3.00 12.00
onion, red, co-op, fine sliced, 35c/C7.6/F0.2/P1.3/Fi1.4/100g
......... 89g 31.15 6.76 0.18 1.16 1.25
figs, dried, co-op, 1/8th'd 240c/C48.6/F1.5/P3.3/Fi9.2/100g
......... 136g 326.40 66.10 2.04 4.49 12.51
apricot, dried, co-op, ¼'d , 185c/C36.5/F0.6/P4.0/Fi8.4/100g
......... 75g 138.75 27.38 0.45 3.00 6.30
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
......... 45ml 370.80 0.00 41.22 0.00 0.00
black pepper, fresh ground
......... 5ml 0.00
ginger, ground
......... 5ml 0.00
cinnamon, ground
......... 7ml 0.00
turmeric, ground
......... 2.5ml 0.00
salt
......... good grind or two 0.00
water, hot
......... 250ml 0.00
cinnamon, sticks
......... 2 of, ¼'d 0.00
water, hot
......... 250ml 0.00
almonds, flaked, 645c/C6.5/F55.8/P25.4/Fi7.4/100g
......... 86g 554.70 5.59 47.99 21.84 6.36
total apricot, fig and cinnamon tajine 1850.70 184.38 95.38 39.31 59.12
FatDog's 1/3rd portion of apricot, fig and cinnamon tajine 616.90 61.46 31.79 13.10 19.71

Method: 1. layer veggies and fruit into a large pot (or a tajine if you have such a thing), in order as listed - except I'd put the pepper *above* the sweet potato & squash next time - and sprinkling a little of the olive oil between each layer; 2. mix the spices down to the salt with 250ml hot water and pour this over; 3. add the remaining water to the cinnamon sticks and then pour this over too (not sure why this is split, maybe to avoid the spices becoming soaked into the woody sticks); 4. bring to the boil then turn down to a low simmer; 5. cook until the veggies are well soft, about an hour, it will depend on your pot (methinks one is *not meant to stir* - I didn't dare to anyway!); 6. whilst it's gently simmering, toast your almond flakes (and there should be 30ml sesame seeds in there too, but I couldn't find mine); 7. serve with the almonds sprinkled over the top - carbivores might want bread with this (totally unnecessary in my book:) ).

The original recipe used dates rather than apricots (eek) and white pepper rather than black (sorry, I have no white pepper; I also chucked in a few, ~ 1ml, whole pepper-corns too, and would use even more next time) and it also used saffron (double eek) and honey (tripple eek - it was sweet enough for a pudding!).

Methinks the recipe is easily salvagable for low-carbers - simply reduce the figs by half, likewise the carrots, and sustitute in some cauliflower. Probably delectable whatever you do to it

Hi Izzy, Dr Google seems to show that cider vinegar is added to balance the PH of the batter as some of the gluten free ingredients are alkaline and more acidity in the dough will help with getting a good rise from your bread http://video.about.com/glutenfreecookin ... -Bread.htm Who knew?

Drooling over your tagine recipe FatDog, must give that a try!
Did I see Ruby in TGBBO, use apple cider vinegar in her bread making last night or did I dream that?

Gratin sounds delish, another recipe of yours to try. I really enjoyed the linseed crisps though mine were not crisp but still lovely with a soft blue cheese and my latest culinary effort, a dried fig and crystallised ginger jam. It worked a treat pity now am on a mission be at goal for Christmas might have to delay making more of your linseed crisps until then. A good Stilton might paid to that though as they can be made in a flash. Thanks again

LBD sounds fabulous and agree with Caroline get the infrastructure in place Nice present with the latest cook book and now look forward your gleanings from it which will inspire you FatDog for more recipes here

That recipe looks delicious @izzy - far more sensible than the one that I used which was so sweet that it could have been the basis for a veggie cake on tGBBO!

I cheated with the butter-nut squash and the sweet potato this time - co-op pre-prepared veggies!

I hadn't thought to look for tagines on-line: now you've set me off on one!

Re. vinegar in baking - I suspect that it's used in the same way that one of my muffin book ladies suggested (somewhere up thread) to use lemon - gives the baking powder a bit of oomph. I will have a deek at that video @izzy - I need all the baking help that I can get!

Wednesday, day one-hundred and eight, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 116.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~113.85lbs); 0.8lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 29.0, w. 26.4, t. 32.0, h. 35.75 inches

There was a strangulated yelp from the FatDog bathroom as the scales hovered over 116.0 before settling on 116.2lbs - I'll settle for that, my (now, old) target is well and truly in sight. And I didn't even need to squint much to the right to get the analogue scales to read 8 stone. Sadly, the scales will probably go back up tomorrow courtesy of my carbocalypse - but I know that they can come back down. With respect to other measurements, I think that there's a slither off them all but I won't record them until there's a more definite change.

I am moving my target weight because (in no particular order):
a) I still have a considerable layer of flab everywhere, plus a life-preserver round my lower midriff, to eliminate;
b) I want a buffer of a good few pounds so that carrying my messages home (erhum, read books), going on marches or loitering at art galleries doesn't knacker my back and / or legs / feet / ankles / hips etc!
c) 116lbs still borders on overweight for someone of my height (well, depending upon which leg I stand on, snigger: 4' 9" or 4' 10.75"), and *is* overweight by 2lbs according to the new BMI calculations (their top of normal is 114lbs);
d) I'd like a decent buffer for going into maintenance - I think quite a few of the dieting gurus (e.g. Rose Elliot, Atkins, Johnson) recommend going just below one's target;
e) Johnson states that a BMI of 21 is 'healthiest' (though, frustratingly, he doesn't give any reference to proper research, just that the insurance companies use that figure!) and the North American Veggie society says research shows greater longevity for BMIs between 19 to 22 (but has no citations either). A monster survey on all cause mortality and BMI http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMx110060 gives an 'optimal range' of a BMI between 22.5 to 24.9 (it is, rather oddly, slightly lower for never-smokers) and the middle of the bottom of the curve looks to be about 23.45 (as far as I can measure off the screen).

Edit 20140104: that link appears to be defunct, this one works http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1000367

Now, I know that 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing', but I'm rather going with my 'gut' here (no pun intended) and heading for the bottom of that NEJM paper's optimal BMI range of 22.5 (110.5lbs for my 4' 10.75" height) but will be happy to maintain on 112lbs, BMI 22.8. I'm now just wondering whether I need to decrease my target waist with that too?

I'm afraid @callyanna that I'm far off being an 'ordinary shorty': my body length is *very* long for a woman (I'm as tall or taller sitting down than many of my 6 foot friends) so even when I was borderline obese, folk refused to believe that I was overweight at all! I had several rolls around my midriff, but they just didn't show very much; lucky they didn't show perhaps, but not so lucky to have them! And as for me being a "wee slip of a gurrrl" @Ballerina - I wish I was but I'm really, really not! We've a lovely actress friend who's about the same height as me and when we stand next to each other I honestly look *gigantic* compared to her - I've the bone structure (but not limb length) of a fair-sized tall woman! Yup. Weird.

In the hopes of minimizing the carnage on the scales tomorrow, I will keep dinner very light - leaf salad, a couple of baby tomatoes, linseed crackers and a wee bit of cheese. If I were brave enough I might try a liquid fast - but I'm not sure that I am... Whatever, it seems like a good night to plan heading early to bed!

Oh dear. My salad dinner went to plan as above - good FatDog - but, in the process of making a cup of tea I encountered the OH's kitchen chaos which included a tiny wee remnant of grilled cheese on the side of a plate. Mmmm, ponders the FatDog, wonder whether one could do cheese crisps like this. Google. Yup, and in the ping machine too - just spread out your grated cheese thinly in wee circles of, for example, 5 x 5g on parchment paper, decorate with pepper, chilli and garlic flakes etc., and ping for about two minutes until crispy, YMMV. Oh dear. I suppose I could make them partly healthy by mixing with linseed? Double oh dear - now I'll have to try that, won't I? Well, it took about two minutes to ping 1g each of cheese and ground linseed (latter sprinkled on the former) with 1ml water sprinkled on top - not sure that the cheese had the same crispness (will try 2 to 1 cheese to linseed next time, and maybe pre-mix the linseed) but that's a go-to for a snack attack if ever there was one at less than 10 calories and 0.03g of carb (yes, nought point nought three). Extensive experimentation coming up. But not tonight.

........ Calories 527.31 Carbs 6.24 Fat 43.46 Protein 21.08 Fibre 12.00

If my system is kind it'll average out yesterday's ~83g carb disaster and today's ~7g carb virtuosity and come up with a number less than 50g carb per day. But, sadly, I don't think that it works like that :0

==================================

Thursday, low-carb day one-hundred and nine, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 115.8lbs (analogue scales corrected ~113.7lbs); 0.4lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 29.0, w. 26.4, t. 32.0, h. 35.75 inches

WAG!!! WAG!!! WAG!!!
FatDog Slimmer - target weight reached!!!

Only a month late, but what a lovely present for my birthday today!

Thank-you so very much V&P vary-fairy and / or scales fairy. And thank-you too, to all the lovely people on this forum who have made this so much more of an adventure and, dare I say it, a pleasure rather than a grind.

Wow! I really was *not* expecting that - indeed I was prepared to spend the day sulking at my punishment for Tuesday's transgressions - 0.2lbs below the target that I set on 1st May. And the analogue scales read bang on 8 stone (or even a shadow *below*) without *any* squinting at all.

*And* I've worked out how to make coffee with soya milk - so I'm having my feed day break-fast tipple with soya instead of cream (which, apart from saving my figure, is a good thing as my cream went off yesterday and I didn't realize until 23:05hrs, just after the shops shut). Yay!

And OH worked out that it was my birthday before midnight, for once. He did have a wee bit of help from a lovely artist neighbour though, who never fails to send one of her pictures on a card...

All too much for a 52 year old FatDog really.

Dinner will be as planned - salade à la Caraibe and veggie haggis, plus chocolate cake for the carbivores - FatDog will just have an extra glass of cabernet sauvignon for pudding (and maybe a dried apricot and some 85% chocolate).

Posting this now as I'm expecting the household to descend into chaos later and I'm working this afternoon Will do recipes (if any) and accounts tomorrow.

Have a lovely day - this blue sky sunny day xxx FatDog

p.s. @Izzy: that link looks amazing, will have a proper peruse later - hope you weren't up all night with it

Congratulations fat dog. Please don't stop posting now you are there. I love reading your musings and dishes. Belated happy birthday

Thanks @rawkaren - I've another 4lbs to go to my revised target and then the confusion of maintenance to log, so I won't be going away for a while! And (erhum) I'm 52 *today*, sorry that wasn't very clear so have changed it - it's just the hitting-of-target that's a month late!

Oops sorry! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOOOOOOOOO

Happy birthday Fatdog I am an a it follower of you posts although I usually keep ny big nose out.Have a great day

[Betsysgr8]

Happy Birthday FD! What wonderful gift to be just under initial goal! Enjoy!