Day 234 - Stir-Fried Marinated Pork with Ginger

My skill as a cook is that I won't starve. I don't eat well before the surgery, and after the surgery, I have whole categories of food that I don't tolerate well. A couple of weeks back, I started using basil in omelet. In the same batch of experiment, I also tried stir-fried marinated pork. Since I don't go and buy basil until Friday, and basil really don't last well once I take them out of the package, I have to just improvise when I don't have all of the material.

We usually buy meat in bulk from Costco and cut and stored in individual use package. Usually for steak and pork, we cut them into about 6 ounce package, with fat trimmed and stored in freezer. One of these will serve as my protein base of dinner (weekend lunch) with vegetable. While I can cook the meat straight from freezer to the cooking machine (NuWave or Geroge Foreman grill), I usually partially defrost them the night before by taking the package to the refrigerator. With the meat partially defrost, I can cut them into smaller slices and marinated.

Ages ago, when I started cooking, it is somehow ingrained in my brain about marinating meat: soy sauce, cooking spirit and corn starch. Soy sauce for the salt flavor, alcohol to tenderize the meat, and corn starch to act as a coating so the meat can retain the juice better. The proportion is usually one to one on soy sauce to the alcohol with about one tea spoon of corn starch. Mix all three ingredients into marinating container and put the sliced meat in it. Stir until the meat is thoroughly soak and leave it covered in the refrigerator. I tried to do this a day in advance, but according to my brother, it should be fine to cook marinating it for only 30 minutes. Slice ginger into narrow strips and stir fried in until slightly browned. Add a bit of sesame oil for a bit of flavor and then put in the meat and stir fried until the meat is done. Just before the meat is done, add the greens (green onion, basil if available) into the pan and stir fried until they're not raw. This is what I'm going to have for dinner tonight. I'll post a picture of it later.

121/73/59 213.4lb 100 mg/DL

Day 233 - George Foreman Grill

I've mentioned that it's only recently that I actually started to use the George Foreman grill I bought prior to surgery. Now that I'm using it, it actually works rather well. My main issue with it, as with the other cooking tool is to figure out how long to cook with frozen and non-frozen meat.

115/72/54 213.6lb 97 mg/DL

Day 232- Dealing with Stalls

In my post Weight Loss Surgery, I have to deal with stalls and even weight gain. I've learned to not be too overtly concern with it. I know this is normal, but I can't help but to feel a bit depressing. I should be loosing weight. I know my calorie intake is less than my actual burn rate. Well, talking about it helps, I hope.

108/66/62 213.8lb 96 mg/DL

Day 231 - Lunch Plans

For the first time in weeks, I actually have to think about what to have for lunch. In my haste to get to work this morning, I forgot to stop by the market and pick up lunch for the week. This really throws a spanner into my schedule since I usually rely upon the fact that my one meal at work is fixed. Well, I'll have to think about what to eat for a change. Perhaps I'll have a small salad. My nutritionist did mentioned that I didn't get enough fruits and vegetable.

111/78/74 214lb 98 mg/DL

Day 230 - End of Week 33

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

03-27-2011 Front

03-27-2011 Side

The verdict for the experiment yesterday is still uncleared.  I can digest the beef noodles, but with all of the things I ate, it's a wonder that I only gain .6 pounds from yesterday.  I still need to drink more fluid than I am doing now at home.  It seemed that at work, I can regiment myself better to the drinking schedule.

110/69/76 212.6lb 100 mg/DL
Week to Week 1.6lb
Total Weight Loss 115.4lb
Body Mass Index 30.50

Day 229 - Beef Noodle Experiment

A bit of a late post (19 minutes past Saturday).

According to my brother, Van Nuys Costco supposedly have better selection than our local store.  After I look through the place, the one and only item that they seemed to be carrying that our store is missing is Healthy Choice ice cream.  Well, one is more than none.

We have the beef noodle take out from Noodle King for dinner.  In the past, I opted for just the soup.  Today, I tried to eat 1/2 of the soup and 1/2 of the noodle.  We'll see how this pans out.

108/66/66/ 212lb 94 mg/DL

Day 228 - Second Belt, Second Notch

I bought new pants and belt last weekend.  After feeling a bit tight for the first couple of days, I was able able to slip down another notch on Wednesday.  This morning, it actually feel ok to wear it 2 holes in, so here as I sit typing this blog entry, I'm on my second belt after surgery and second hold in.

I did 3.8 MPH again this morning.  Once again, for the first 5 minutes, my left knee feel a bit of pain, and I adjusted my stride and I feel better after.  Not sure if this will hold up, but I really need to buy those knee brace that my doctor have recommended.

I went to support meetings a couple of weeks after my surgery.  For some reason, most of the previous people who were there when I first join have migrated to the longer term support group.  It felt odd that I'm the longest term post surgery person there.  The topic on my last support meeting is vitamin supplements. And I found out that Cedars-Sinai changed their supplement requirement, adding more Calcium and Vitamin D.  Guess I'll have to buy some calcium citrate chewable on my next Costco run.

109/71/65 212.4lb 96 mg/Dl