174. What the fuck, yawl?

So I weighed in today at 174. I confirmed this on two different scales.

Holy crap? Or wholly crap?

This means several things:
1) I'm no longer obese.
2) I have absolutely met my 5% goal
3) I have lost 11 pounds.

I did so many various things that it's hard to say what "worked" for me. I REALLY watched the amount of salt that I ate. If I noticed that I ate more salt than usual in a day (my fitbit thingie helps me keep track), I would drink a lot of extra water. I have not eaten fried food in a while. I am eating more at home than out. I eat a carb-heavyish breakfast (either a bagel with light cream cheese or cereal with 2% milk). Last week, I ate about 200 more calories a day than usual. I dropped it back down this week.

In other news, I am having my "moon flow" (as it's so elegantly called in the book I'm reading--Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind. I love this book series). I've been more tired the last few days, but I'm pushing through it and sticking with my workouts. I don't honestly know if I'm the type of woman that retains water at this time of my cycle.

And for food/eating at home. My good friend, Katy, asked me if I plan out my meals for a week. No, I don't. I go shopping at a grocery store with an INCREDIBLE fruit/vegetable selection. I buy the things that are on sale and make a meal of them. So I bought two heads of cauliflower, cooked it with spatchcocked game hens and squash. I do what I always do--I made about 6 times more than I can eat and immediately portioned it out. That way, I can calculate the calories on this website. I'm not the kind of person that craves daily variety in my food. Of course, I love variety, but I also love convenience with my busy life.

If I make a huge amount of food about 1 or 2 times a week, I can eat it for lunch and dinner several days in the week. I keep canned soups and salad ingredients on hand for an alternative if I want.

Last night, I made a BIG batch of farfalle with a roasted red pepper sauce. I made the sauce from about a cup of the peppers (from a jar) with a can of diced tomatoes, a little can of tomato paste, a sauteed onion, about 1/2 cup skim milk, about 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt, and a few herbs (oregano, basil) blended up until smooth. This was served as a pasta-with-meat-sauce using browned ground turkey as the protein and about a cup of (frozen) peas in with it for sweetness to counter the acidic tang of the sauce. This was served with oven roasted asparagus. According to how I portioned it out, it ended up at 309 calories (342 with the asparagus).

Next up? I have several sweet potatoes to use. I have salmon. I might consider another protein besides salmon. I also need a vegetable to go with it.