OT - A delicious and easy fast food alternative.

epcotisbest

I have posted several times about how I struggle to eat properly when my wife is out of town. She is on another business trip and, as always, the temptation to just hit up fast food drive throughs is high.
I had some leftover grilled chicken and brats in the fridge, so last night, instead of fast food drive through, I came home and grabbed a fresh tomato and cucumber off the vine that were still warm from the evening sun (I put both in the freezer to cool them off a little).
Chopped up the tomato and cuke, and did the same for a brat and piece of chicken, cold right out of the fridge. This made for a refreshing, and very tasty meal, and I perhaps enjoyed it more than a burger and fries. Oh, I did drizzle a little ranch dressing over the whole thing, but not a lot.
Planning the same for tonight. Little victories over temptation.

SonVolt

That'd make a good wrap too. 

epcotisbest

SonVolt said:

That'd make a good wrap too. 

Oh, good idea...maybe with a little tzatziki sauce.

evie1370

Good job, that looks great! Keep up the good work, I know how hard it can be. 

When I go out of town (not much anymore, this job does not require much travel) I would cook some chicken breasts in either the Instapot or on the BGE. I would then either freeze some or put in a container for him to eat as he wished. Really helped, especially since he loves the Skyline/Chinese food take out thing a bit too much. Doesn't mean he didn't stop the drive thru trips, but helped limit the trips. 

epcotisbest

evie1370 said:

Good job, that looks great! Keep up the good work, I know how hard it can be. 

When I go out of town (not much anymore, this job does not require much travel) I would cook some chicken breasts in either the Instapot or on the BGE. I would then either freeze some or put in a container for him to eat as he wished. Really helped, especially since he loves the Skyline/Chinese food take out thing a bit too much. Doesn't mean he didn't stop the drive thru trips, but helped limit the trips. 

Sounds like you have a team effort there. Sometimes I do give in to the fast food temptation, but less now than I used to.

GrateEggspectations

Good work right there. Low carb. You won the battle; how is the war going?

Carolina Q

I often cook extra. Reheating is so much quicker and easier than cooking (and I find that foiled and into the toaster oven is almost as good as fresh cooked). These days, the only time I eat "fast food" is when I'm driving on a trip. Drove back from Mom's yesterday (ridiculous traffic, 400 miles, 9 hours) and stopped at McD's on the way. At least it was filling.

Thanks for the nudge though. Just went grocery shopping and came home with tomatoes and cucumber! And two whole chickens! Tonight, that and some asparagus.

epcotisbest

GrateEggspectations said:

Good work right there. Low carb. You won the battle; how is the war going?

The war is long and drawn out. Thanks for asking. It is tough. I slowly get my sugar numbers down, A1C seems OK, then I mess up, don't exercise regularly, start eating way too many carbs and the numbers shoot right back up. This time of year is especially difficult because I love fried squash, tomato biscuits, tomato sandwiches, fried okra...that good stuff right out of the garden. Now if I would just quit frying it and eating the biscuits, that would help. 
The Dr. says the most important meal of the day is breakfast, and dang it I do love a big ole sausage biscuit with a thick slice of tomato and gobs of mayo, but I don't think that is what he has in mind.

epcotisbest

Carolina Q said:

I often cook extra. Reheating is so much quicker and easier than cooking (and I find that foiled and into the toaster oven is almost as good as fresh cooked). These days, the only time I eat "fast food" is when I'm driving on a trip. Drove back from Mom's yesterday (ridiculous traffic, 400 miles, 9 hours) and stopped at McD's on the way. At least it was filling.

Thanks for the nudge though. Just went grocery shopping and came home with tomatoes and cucumber! And two whole chickens! Tonight, that and some asparagus.

Sounds like good eating tonight. I too cook extra to have some on hand in the fridge for later and it works out well. I enjoy leftovers and often cook extra stuff when the grill is already hot from cooking something else. 

epcotisbest

This morning's breakfast was a hash made from one of the leftover brats sauteed in olive oil with some Vidalia onion, peppers and salsa, served with some scrambled eggs and drizzled with hot sauce. Not the lowest of low carb breakfasts, but very tasty.

GrateEggspectations

epcotisbest said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Good work right there. Low carb. You won the battle; how is the war going?

The war is long and drawn out. Thanks for asking. It is tough. I slowly get my sugar numbers down, A1C seems OK, then I mess up, don't exercise regularly, start eating way too many carbs and the numbers shoot right back up. This time of year is especially difficult because I love fried squash, tomato biscuits, tomato sandwiches, fried okra...that good stuff right out of the garden. Now if I would just quit frying it and eating the biscuits, that would help. 
The Dr. says the most important meal of the day is breakfast, and dang it I do love a big ole sausage biscuit with a thick slice of tomato and gobs of mayo, but I don't think that is what he has in mind.

I hear you. It can feel tough.

As I may have mentioned, while not a heavy guy, I decided to shed some weight last November and have successfully kept it off to date (with a 5lb float to allow for selective debauchery). I did so by calorie reduction alone and allowed myself beers, burgers, desserts, etc. during the process. For me, it started with mindfulness with respect to my caloric intake and then making cuts (mostly on weekdays) as necessary. A tool I found helpful for my purposes was a “smart” scale capable of analyzing body fat. Also initially used some calorie tracking apps. Daily monitoring allowed me to adjust my caloric intake accordingly, shedding 18lbs in a very short period. It is amazing what a little mindfulness and willpower can do. 

mlc2013

Im not an expert and I love food. I too have been fighting this war for many years now, I have had many different strategies and lost many of battles. The strategy that seems to be winning the most battles for me is the low carb (not no carb). I started at 295lbs before this strategy and my Dr was threatening to put me on blood pressure and cholesterol medicine, then I stated the low carb, and I got down to 225lbs in 18 months (I lost 25 lbs in the first few months) and stayed with in 10 lbs for 3 yeas now the lowest I have been is 218 and the highest is 235 i go up and down depending on the season. All I did was count total net carbs and try to keep my total net carbs below 80 a day in the beginning and slowly (maybe over 6 months) dropped that to 40 a day. There have been days where I have had less then 5 carbs and days with over 100 carbs but not many and not to sound cliché the hardest part was day 4+5 after that it was easy. I did fall off the wagon about 8 months back (Health scare and was out of commission for 3.5 months) and I will tell you this once your off it is very hard to get back on and I don't know why because when I was on I never felt like I wasn't happy or enjoying it in fact I loved the fact that I ate till i was full all the time, and didn't seem to gain any weight plus all my numbers went down and my dr said what ever im doing to keep doing because I was the bill of health "on paper". Now that im off and have been going to town on everything in sight im up to 235-240 and feel like crap I am trying my best to get back on and hope this helps motivate me if you have any questions I would be more then happy to tell you what I would normally do and all the temptations I had. With that said the best strategies for one is the one they can do everyday without it being a chore so this may not be the one for you only you can determine by trying different ones till you find the one that doesn't seem like work and doesn't leave you starving or craving things you can't have.
As far as frying everything Im not sure if one oil is better then another as Im not a fried food fan but I can tell you I have been using almond flour and and crushed nuts at breadcrumbs for years and never was left unhappy so maybe worth a try frying those instead of regular breadcrumbs and flour
Good Luck

epcotisbest

GrateEggspectations said:

epcotisbest said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Good work right there. Low carb. You won the battle; how is the war going?

The war is long and drawn out. Thanks for asking. It is tough. I slowly get my sugar numbers down, A1C seems OK, then I mess up, don't exercise regularly, start eating way too many carbs and the numbers shoot right back up. This time of year is especially difficult because I love fried squash, tomato biscuits, tomato sandwiches, fried okra...that good stuff right out of the garden. Now if I would just quit frying it and eating the biscuits, that would help. 
The Dr. says the most important meal of the day is breakfast, and dang it I do love a big ole sausage biscuit with a thick slice of tomato and gobs of mayo, but I don't think that is what he has in mind.

I hear you. It can feel tough.

As I may have mentioned, while not a heavy guy, I decided to shed some weight last November and have successfully kept it off to date (with a 5lb float to allow for selective debauchery). I did so by calorie reduction alone and allowed myself beers, burgers, desserts, etc. during the process. For me, it started with mindfulness with respect to my caloric intake and then making cuts (mostly on weekdays) as necessary. A tool I found helpful for my purposes was a “smart” scale capable of analyzing body fat. Also initially used some calorie tracking apps. Daily monitoring allowed me to adjust my caloric intake accordingly, shedding 18lbs in a very short period. It is amazing what a little mindfulness and willpower can do. 

Yes, just being mindful of what you are eating, and stopping when full instead of when everything is consumed, makes a difference. Willpower is, to me, the most important part. Congratulation on your weight loss.
I lost about 65 pounds doing the low carb thing, but gained a lot of it back. It was easy to lose the weight while eating low carb, but then going back to fried foods, breads etc... brings it back quickly. I was very strict with carb counting that first time. Now, I am not as strict, but do pay attention and do turn away from cakes, biscuits (except for my weekend sausage biscuit) potatoes etc... but like I said, this time of year is hard as I do like me some fried veggies.

epcotisbest

mlc2013 said:

Im not an expert and I love food. I too have been fighting this war for many years now, I have had many different strategies and lost many of battles. The strategy that seems to be winning the most battles for me is the low carb (not no carb). I started at 295lbs before this strategy and my Dr was threatening to put me on blood pressure and cholesterol medicine, then I stated the low carb, and I got down to 225lbs in 18 months (I lost 25 lbs in the first few months) and stayed with in 10 lbs for 3 yeas now the lowest I have been is 218 and the highest is 235 i go up and down depending on the season. All I did was count total net carbs and try to keep my total net carbs below 80 a day in the beginning and slowly (maybe over 6 months) dropped that to 40 a day. There have been days where I have had less then 5 carbs and days with over 100 carbs but not many and not to sound cliché the hardest part was day 4+5 after that it was easy. I did fall off the wagon about 8 months back (Health scare and was out of commission for 3.5 months) and I will tell you this once your off it is very hard to get back on and I don't know why because when I was on I never felt like I wasn't happy or enjoying it in fact I loved the fact that I ate till i was full all the time, and didn't seem to gain any weight plus all my numbers went down and my dr said what ever im doing to keep doing because I was the bill of health "on paper". Now that im off and have been going to town on everything in sight im up to 235-240 and feel like crap I am trying my best to get back on and hope this helps motivate me if you have any questions I would be more then happy to tell you what I would normally do and all the temptations I had. With that said the best strategies for one is the one they can do everyday without it being a chore so this may not be the one for you only you can determine by trying different ones till you find the one that doesn't seem like work and doesn't leave you starving or craving things you can't have.
As far as frying everything Im not sure if one oil is better then another as Im not a fried food fan but I can tell you I have been using almond flour and and crushed nuts at breadcrumbs for years and never was left unhappy so maybe worth a try frying those instead of regular breadcrumbs and flour
Good Luck

Thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like you have been successful. I think you are right about finding a way of eating that promotes weight loss and having the ability to stick to that effort. 
Starving or extreme calorie cutting has never worked for me. Eating better and staying satisfied while enjoying lower carb foods does seem to work, that and walking. I need to step up my game when it comes to exercise, and sometimes just walking around the neighborhood is quite boring. I have a recumbent bicycle but don't ride it nearly enough.