204.8 - Weight is Moving Again

No one has commented for a week, do I have any lurkers out there?

Weight - 204.8
Weight Lost - 30.6 lb. in 77 days

Total Calories Eaten - 1522
Today's MFD calorie allowance range - 1815 for a 2 lb loss/week rate, 2815 for weight maintenance
MFD occupation activity level - Moderate Activity
Total MFD Exercise/Activity Calories Earned - 490
MFD Calorie Balance - 293 left to eat at 2lb loss/week rate
MFD Weight Loss Rate Today - 2.6 lb loss/week
HWHL Points Today - 33 (69 total this session) I did everything, except stop eating 2 hours before bedtime, but I also did 15 minutes extra exercising
Cat's Challenge Points - starts Sept 1st and goes to December 31st, with weekly reports. The first report is this week on Thursday, Sept. 9th.
Exercise - 30 minutes on my Gazelle strider and later 20 minutes ice skating (this is all the time I had while Connor was at swimming)

Yep, that weight is finally moving again.

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Breakfast - 24oz water with exercise, 3 Tbsp. creamy wheat cooked with 3/4 cup water and dash of salt, 1 cup frozen strawberries cooked with the cereal, 1-1/2 plums
Total Calories - 215

Snack #1 - 1 Frigo Mozzarella Light string cheese
Total Calories - 60

Lunch - 24oz. water, 1 banana, 1 package (6 sandwich crackers) of Austin cheese crackers with peanut butter
Total calories - 310

Snack #2 - 1 chocolate peanut butter chip cookie 1 oz. (recipe below)
Total calories - 113

Dinner - 1-1/3 cups cooked brown rice, 2/3 cup (about 5.86 oz.) green chile beef curry (recipe below), 8 brussels sprouts frozen then reheated, 1 cup california veggie mix (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot slices) frozen then reheated, 1 tsp. Smart Balance buttery spread, 24 oz. water after dinner until bed time
Total calories - 495

Dessert - 2 cups strawberry banana milkshake (made with skim milk, frozen strawberries, ripe bananas)
Total calories - 216

Snack #3 - 1 chocolate peanut butter chip cookie 1 oz.
Total calories - 113

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

3 sticks or 1-1/2 cups butter
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp. white granulated sugar
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
5 egg whites
3 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
2-1/2 tsp. salt
5-1/4 Cups flour
1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 of a 10 oz. bag of peanut butter flavor chips

1 oz. cookie has 113 calories, 5.1 g fat

Cream the butter and sugars. Then mix in the egg whites & vanilla. Most recipes will tell you to sift the dry ingredients, but frankly, I never bother. I mix the baking soda and salt in next, and then when everything is blended I mix in the flour. Last, add the chocolate and peanut butter chips. I bake these at 350 for 9.5 minutes.

Just for reference, this recipe is basically 1-1/2 times a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe, which uses a whole bag of chocolate chips. So, if you like a higher concentration of chocolate chips, add the whole bag of chocolate chips, or keep the ratios even and put in 3/4 bag chocolate chips and 3/4 bag peanut butter chips. Also, when I made this last night, I used 5-1/4 cups flour. Next time, I will probably just use 5 Cups to have a slightly flatter, less dense cookie. Don't get me wrong, these are still chewy cookies if you don't overcook them, but last night they were just a bit too dense.

**Note** - This is a high altitude recipe, I am at 6700 feet, so if you are at a lower elevation, you need to take 1/2 cup flour out of this recipe, leaving you with 4-3/4 cups flour, or for the slightly less dense cookie, use 4-1/2 cups flour

Green Chile Beef Curry

2 lbs. top round london broil beef
2 small, or 2 cups, chopped onion
1 28 oz. can Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
1 13.5 oz. can A Taste of Thai Lite Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. salt
zest and juice of 1 lime

27 calories per 1 oz., 1 g fat (last night I had 2/3 cup, which was about 5.86 oz and 158 calories)

I'll be the first to confess, I'm terrible at picking out beef, almost completely clueless. I understand hamburger, and that's about it. For the rest, I tend to shop by price, so I picked out a lean cut of meat in a value pack. You are going to cut these into thin strips, so it's less critical to get a tender piece of meat.

Cut the meat into thin strips, about 1/8" thick and about 1/2" wide x 2" to 3" long. Saute the strips in a large skillet or large dutch-oven style pot. Add the onions and saute until tender. Then pour in the chile sauce and the coconut milk and stir. Add the lime zest & juice, the curry powder and the salt. Stir and simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors combine. Serve over rice. Just a warning, this is on the spicy side. Next time, I'm going to experiment with a different recipe, even though I do like this one.