Weigh In Wednesday: Flexible structure

I had to reschedule my meeting this week because I was absolutely up to my eyeballs in appointments and stuff to do. I had four job interviews this week (two of which were for the same job) so some things had to be shifted, including my WW meeting. I'm committed to getting along to these meetings every week to keep myself on track and see how well I have (or haven't) done on the scales so I'm hugely grateful that WW allows flexibility in meeting attendance where necessary. So on Tuesday 19th, I hopped on the scales and found to my great delight and relief that I had lost another 0.8kg. This brings the running total to 2.6kg.

Starting weight (30/01/2013): 86.2kg
First week weigh in (05/02/13): 85.3kg (-0.9kg)
Second week weigh in (13/02/13): 84.4kg (-0.9kg)
Third week weigh in (19/02/13): 83.6kg (-0.8kg)

I was very happy with this result because it proved to me that this was not just some fad or gimmick. It actually works - follow the programme and the kilos will, eventually, drop off. One by one, gram by gram, I'm getting lighter and lighter. I know, I know, this shouldn't really come as a surprise to me. I have read the success stories on the website and in the magazines and I personally know two people who have lost (and kept off) incredible amounts of weight. But I am surprised. I am feeling genuinely flummoxed because for the first time in my entire life, weight loss isn't a battle. It doesn't feel like a horror movie where you're screaming at the girl on screen (yourself) don't go in the kitchen, that's where the chocolate is.... Oh God, don't eat it! No! Nooooo!!!! It doesn't feel like a drag - you know the scenario where you're weighing yourself every other hour to see what the results are because you're SO HUNGRY goddamnit, that you must have lost half a kilo in the last 30 minutes? It doesn't feel like any of these things. It just feels like life, with a few adjustments. 

I've been thinking about how on earth this works. What's the trick? How can something that once felt so impossible now be happening with a normal amount of effort? Personally, I think it's a combination of the flexibility within the programme and the structure of it. Whilst flexibility and structure aren't necessarily things that you might think work in conjunction, here they do. For structure you have the weekly meetings, the scheduled weigh in date, and the set daily points allowance. For flexibility you have the freedom to swap to a different meeting either permanently or temporarily as circumstances dictate, and you have the weekly "stash" points. 

And it's these stash points which are really rocking my world. I currently eat 30 points per day but I have a walloping 49 extras up my sleve for the week - which I can nibble into each and every day or save up and blow on one particular day when the need arises. For example, this weekend just gone was the hen's party of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Coralee, and to send her off in style her bridesmaids had organised a fully catered dinner. Master Chef styles. Seriously, the food this (self-taught!!) guy designed, cooked and presented to us was something else. I'm something of a foodie channel devotee and I honestly believe that these dishes were good enough to be presented to the industry greats: if Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay had been joining us, I reckon they would have been impressed. But not only did the food look and taste amazing, there was no calorie spared. You know when the chef says "Don't ask me how many egg yolks and grams of butter are in the sauce" that we are no longer in Points friendly territory. Thank god for the stash I had been carefully hoarding all week. 

I do have to be pretty clear on one key point: I don't see the stash as an excuse to have an all-out binge. I was still watching and noting every single thing that went into my mouth (R18-shaped straws are Zero ProPoints, in case you wondered!!) and it all got tracked. I only had one cocktail (a chocolate margarita at a whopping 9 ProPoints, but worth every slurp) and I managed to control myself around the bread basket. It's not a free pass, it's an allowance for life. Sometimes you need to or want to splash out a little. Not having the freedom to do so on other weight loss kicks made me feel trapped and unhappy, and if I did ever allow myself some wiggle room, I never knew how much was too much. With this, I know I have that allowance and I know exactly what that allowance entails. Flexibility and structure, all in one. 

Grilled Pork Fillet with Nam Jim

My nam jim

Nam jim - until I'd read this recipe a little while ago in my search for healthy things to make I'd not ever heard of it. What a travesty! Nam jim (also known as nam chim) is Thai for "dipping sauce". There are a few different variations but all basically tend towards the Thai awesome foursome of sweet, salty, spicy and sour in taste. It is Thailand in a bowl, pure deliciousness, and can be whipped up really quickly so is good for an after work dinner that just makes the soul sing. The original recipe can be found on page 36 of Weight Watcher's Cook it Quick recipe book.

Serves 4  |  5 ProPoints per serve (not including rice)

500g of pork scotch fillet (fat removed)
2 long fresh green chillies
2 cloves of garlic
10cm stick of lemongrass, coarsely chopped
2 green shallots, chopped
1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs grated palm sugar (or any other sugar)
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup fresh chopped coriander leaves

1. Pre-heat your grill or barbeque over a medium-high heat. Lightly spray the pork with oil and season with salt, then whack it on the barbie. If it's winter or you don't have a barbeque, then you can cook it in a pan on the hob, just make sure you cover it with a lid to ensure it cooks as evenly as possible. Cook for 8-10 minutes, but always check it's cooked all the way through. 
2. Once pork is cooked, transfer to a plate to rest, covered in foil, for five minutes.
3. Put chopped chillies, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, juice, fish sauce, sugar, oil and coriander in a food processor and whizz until just about smooth. 
4. Slice the rested pork thickly and top with nam jim to serve.
5. Serve with steamed rice (3 ProPoints for 1/2 cup) or with blanched broccoli or bok choy (or both) for 0 ProPoints and a feeling of utter virtuousness. 

Hainanese Chicken

Mmmm, Hainanese chicken. I absolutely loved eating this as a lunchtime treat in Taipei - if you happen to be reading this and physically in Taipei, my favourite store was at 221 Zhongxiao E. Road, Sec. 3 just along from Exit One of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station - but sadly as you might imagine, these versions of the dish aren't exactly waistline friendly. So imagine my surprise and delight when the Weight Watchers' Cook it Quick recipe book (pg. 74) had an 8 ProPoints version of it! I had to try it, even though it isn't technically Gordon. Here's how it went down...




Serves 4  |  8 ProPoints per serve (includes rice)

2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
1 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs shaoxing cooking wine
600g lean chicken breast (skin off)
1 tbs peanut oil (or cooking oil)
3 green shallots, thinly sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
1 long red chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced
1 bunch gai lan (can substitute spinach)
2 cups of rice, cooked

1. Wash your rice and set to cook in your handy-dandy rice cooker. If you don't own one of these, immediately leave what you're doing and get one. 
2. Combine the stock, star anise, cinnamon stick, soy sauce, shaoxing wine and 1 cup (250ml) of boiling water together in a fairly large saucepan. Bring this to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. 
3. If the chicken breasts are of the heftier variety, cut them lengthwise to make sure all meat cooks through at the same rate. Add the chicken to the stock mix and simmer for five minutes. 
4. Once you're confident the chicken is not going to give someone salmonella, remove from the heat, cover and put aside. Reserve the stock. 
5. Heat a wok over a high heat and add half of the oil (1/2 tbs) and heat until glossy and shimmering. Chuck in the sliced shallots, bean sprouts and sliced chilli and stir fry for one minute.  Prepare for a fragrance sensation to overtake your nostrils and for this to bring anyone else in the same house (or street for that matter) piling into the kitchen to ooh and ahh over what's for dinner. Once cooked, remove and put aside in a small bowl.
6. Reheat the wok with the rest of the oil (1/2 tbs) and heat for 30 seconds before chucking in the gai lan (or spinach) and stir fry until the stems are tender and the leaves are just wilted. 
7. Thinly slice your cooked chicken breast in readiness for serving.
8. To serve, divide the rice amongst the bowls. On top of this layer the gai lan, then the chicken. Pour over the reserved broth, then top it all off with the shallot, bean sprout and chilli mix.

Sweetcorn Fritters and Yoghurt Dip

This recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course book and makes a lovely lunch or light dinner during the summer months. The original recipe can be found on page 212.

Makes 12 decent-sized fritters  |  Each fritter is 2 Weight Watchers ProPoints each


FRITTERS:
120g gluten-free flour
2 eggs
3 tbsp skim milk
50g low-fat ricotta
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tin of creamed sweetcorn
Salt and pepper to taste

YOGHURT DIP:
250g low-fat natural yoghurt
1/2 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon (or lime)
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1. Mix together all the dip ingredients and set aside so the flavours can develop.
2. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Do not, at a later stage of the recipe, freak out (like I did) when you see little black specks in your batter. It ain't bugs, it's pepper. 
3. Make a well in the middle of your sifted flour. Mix together the milk, eggs and ricotta, then pour into the well. 
4. Whisk, gradually bringing in the flour from the sides until it forms a smooth batter. Make sure it's not too sloppy though, because nobody likes a sloppy fritter. Nobody. 
5. Stir in the chopped spring onions, chili, coriander and sweetcorn and stir well. Check the consistency and if it's too wet, add a bit more flour. See above assertion about sloppy fritters.
6. Heat a large frying pan and put in 1 tbsp oil in. Wipe the oil around with a paper towel to make the pan non-stick but not too oily. 
7. Put one heaped dessert spoons of the mixture per fritter into the hot pan and flatten gently with the back of the spoon so you don't end up making fried muffins.
8. Fry in batches for 2ish minutes each side, depending on how hot your pan is. The first fritter you make WILL be a disaster and look appalling but hang in there and the rest will get better as you go along. 
9. Serve with the yoghurt dip and a zero ProPoints salad of lettuce, sliced raw zucchini and tomato.