Noom Elephant Dialogues—Distraction

 🐘: "Let's do [something else]!"

🕵️‍♂️:  "Look at that: my elephant/brain is generating an urge"

🏇🏼: "We aren't going to stop the Elephant from having urges. But I can choose if I want to act in accordance with that urge."

🏇🏼: "Hey Observer, let's keep a look out for this Urge. Remember that Elephant can be sneaky and may switch it up with some other distraction next time."

🕵️‍♂️: "OK, I'll tap into how it feels and if it changes over time."

🏇🏼: "Hey Elephant, thanks for sharing that Urge, we are going to stay on task for a little while. But we do have a break planned for the top of the hour. Can you look forward to that?" 

🐘: "I like breaks! (grumbles) But I'd prefer to have it now..."

Noom Elephant Dialogues—But there’s still MORE PIZZA!?

 

More or leftover pizza

🏇🏼: Did you enjoy the Pizza? Wasn’t that a nice treat. 

🐘: I love pizza!

🏇🏼: Well, let’s freeze the leftovers so we can have some another day

🐘: But there’s still MORE PIZZA!?

🕵️‍♂️: There is wanting

🏇🏼: I know, we used to eat a lot of pizza but we learned that’s a lot of calories. 

🐘: But there’s still MORE PIZZA!?

🏇🏼: Before we had the pizza we had an orange, some crunchy carrots and celery, and a nice cup of tea. Aren’t you full? 

🕵️‍♂️: There is stomach fullness, yet there is wanting

🐘: You are stuck in the past, I live in the present. 

🐘: And now THERE IS MORE PIZZA! 

🏇🏼: Remember when we used to split a pizza with Dad?
🐘: That was nice. 

🏇🏼: The pizza was nice, but what made it really special was spending time with Dad. 

🏇🏼: Food isn’t love, it’s just food. 

🐘: Hmm, but after I eat pizza I am used to eating MORE PIZZA!

🕵️‍♂️: There is habit

🏇🏼: Let’s take a deep breath

🐘: <breathe in> 

🐘: <breathe out> 

🏇🏼: We can do this. This is us putting away pizza for later. 

🐘: I will like having more pizza later. 

Noom Elephant Dialogues—We JUST had lunch

🐘: I’M HUNGRY!

🏇🏼: But, we JUST had lunch!

🐘: So? I’m still hungry.

🕵️‍♂️: There is hunger

🏇🏼: I know, but we are losing weight, so we might be a little hungry sometimes. 

🐘: If we lose too much weight we’ll die. I don’t want to die. We should eat. 

🏇🏼: You’re trying to keep us safe, but I promise we won’t lose too much weight. We have a plan. 

🐘: I’d like the plan better if it was to eat more now. 

🏇🏼: We have a snack planned in a few hours.
🐘: I like snacks!  

Instant Pot Goulash

For lunch today, I made the Instant Pot Goulash from the Allrecipes website. We mostly followed the recipe, but I don't like mushrooms so I substituted sausage. Also, Jeff substituted Herbs de Provence for the Italian Seasoning. 

I didn't bother to do the high-pressure cooking step; I just set it on Slow Cook and let it cook for a couple hours. I did stir it once just to take a look at how the raw pasta was cooking.

It tasted quite good but Jeff's first comment was "it needs more vegetables."  Since the recipe made plenty of leftovers we'll probably add cooked vegetables when we reheat those.

Chicken Cacciatore for the Instant Pot

Tonight Jeff made the Chicken Cacciatore recipe from the allrecipes website. It was quite tasty. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo. It pretty much looked like the photo on the website.

He mostly followed the recipe, but he substituted a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce instead of the extra-large can of tomato sauce. He also used a can of cider instead of wine because he didn't have an open bottle. It was delicious. 

We definitely wouldn't mind having this recipe again. I'm not sure we would change anything the next time around.

Lentil "Chili"

We decided to give a new recipe a try today: Lentil Chili. We mostly followed this recipe, but we used a large can of diced tomatoes, rather than cutting up whole tomatoes. We added three cups of broth and the juice from the tomatoes and it was definitely not enough.

We cooked it in the Instant Pot for at least three hours and the lentils were very slightly undercooked, I believe because there was not enough moisture remaining in the pot. It did taste reasonably good and was filling, but it was not the most attractive meal. I think we'll actually use the rest of it as burrito fillings.

If we make this again, I would definitely add at least four cups of broth, perhaps more.

Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

We made a large pot of vegetable beef soup mostly following the crockpot recipe at Wellplated.  We used butternut squash, red potatoes and carrots; but we were out of celery. We also didn't put in peas. Otherwise, we mostly followed the ingredient list.

Jeff actually cooked the beef overnight in the Instant Pot on the sous vide setting. We cooked the onions, garlic and carrots on the Saute setting until the onions were soft. Then we added the broth, carrots and red potatoes and set them to Pressure Cook for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

We added the canned tomatoes and roasted butternut squash and set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook for a couple of hours. It turned out quite tasty. 

When we make this one again, I don't know that we'd change anything.

Bulgur w/ Roasted Butternut Squash

Jeff made the Bulgur with Roasted Butternut Squash from the PureWow website. 

He mostly followed the recipe, but he substituted Herbes de Provence for both the sage and thyme. We didn't have any goat cheese, so he substituted 1 oz of greek yogurt and 1 oz of a 3-cheese blend.

For the dressing, he didn't use balsamic vinegar but instead used fig vinegar.

It tasted pretty good but might not have been worth all the effort. It did, however, achieve the goal of using up the butternut squash and bulgar that had been sitting around in the pantry for too long.

Chocolate & Walnut Sourdough Bread

Jeff made a loaf of Chocolate & Walnut Sourdough Bread using a recipe from the Pantry Mama website. 

I didn't remember to take a good photo of the loaf before we cut into it. 

Jeff followed the recipe, but he omitted the instant coffee. We don't like coffee.

The loaf was reasonably good, but a little strange. It just wasn't a flavor combo we're used to. We might make it again, but more likely we'd just make brownies because they would have enough chocolate to satisfy our need for chocolate.

Sourdough Honey Quinoa Bread

We decided to highlight Quinoa as an ingredient during the month. We have tons in our pantry and it would be nice to use some of it up.

The original recipe is available here at the King Arthur Baking Company website.

As for changes, Jeff omitted the dry milk and water and instead used almond milk. 

It was tasty. If we were to make it again, we would make it exactly the same way!

Zuppa Toscana

Today we decided to make the Better than Zuppa Toscana recipe from the allrecipes website. To be honest, we loosely followed the recipe. We had less than a pound of sausages in casings so we cut those into fairly small pieces. And we had half the amount of bacon that the recipe called for and we cut that up and threw it in.

We also cooked it in the Instant Pot. Basically, we Sauteed the garlic and onions and then tossed the rest of the ingredients into the pot and added enough broth that the potatoes were covered and set it on Slow Cook then let it cook for more than two hours. 

When the potatoes were soft, we added the kale. We always use yogurt instead of sour cream in recipes.

I thought it tasted great. This is another recipe we'd be happy to repeat.

For next time, Jeff would like to take a cup or so, plus the yogurt, and run it through the blender and then add it back to the pot to give the soup a bit more body.

Naan

Gave naan bread a try. Sharon found a recipe using sourdough. The one tweak I made was to use white whole wheat for all but one cup of the flour, which was bread flour. Cooked them up on two cast iron pans with the burners set to 6/10. Two minutes on first side, a smidge less on second. 

Had a couple with burrito fillings. Folded up like a soft taco. 

Next day made bbq chicken naan pizza. 

More double bagged in the freezer for later. 

They turned out well.

Next time: I might go with more white flour next time for a little softer bite. 

Instant Pot Broccoli Chowder

Today, we made Instant Pot Broccoli Chowder. I had originally planned to make the Instant Pot Corn Chowder recipe from Taste of Home but I discovered we didn't have any frozen corn. But we did have quite a lot of frozen broccoli, so Jeff suggested we substitute broccoli for the corn and that's what we did. 

We had to defrost the broccoli so we could cut the florets into smaller pieces and we also didn't have any fresh onions, so we substituted dried minced onions. Otherwise, we simply followed the recipe as it was written.

The light isn't good in the dining room so it looks rather unappealing in the picture, but it tasted delicious. I sprinkled a little salt on mine, but Jeff liked it as is.

If we make it again, we would run a portion of the chowder through the blender after the pressure cooking to eliminate some of the chunks and make the chowder a little more creamy. This recipe is another keeper.

Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Jeff has gotten a job at Intel so I (Sharon) need to start doing some of the cooking. It's been at least ten years since I've done any cooking and I'm not terribly good at it but I can usually manage to follow recipes, so I just need to find recipes I like. 

This post is the start of my effort to document my attempts at cooking recipes I find on the internet and how they turned out and what we would change next time, assuming we like the recipe enough to try it again. This information is mostly for me as the blog is a pretty easy way to keep track of past efforts.

Anyway, today I made my first pot of Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. The original recipe was published on allrecipes, but I also archived a copy at Google docs, in case it gets pulled down. It calls for the soup to be made on the stove, but I wanted to cook it in the Instant Pot so we did our best to translate the recipe.

It doesn't feel right to plagiarize the original recipe; just click on one of the links above to see all the details. We had to make a few changes by necessity: 

• We didn't have orzo pasta so we used elbow macaroni. 
• We also didn't have any bay leaves, so we omitted them. 
• We used a blend of homemade chicken and homemade vegetable broth.
• And we had to use frozen spinach.

We heated the oil in the Instant Pot on the Sauté setting and then added the onion. After a couple of minutes, we added the carrots and celery and let it saute for a few minutes. Then we added the garlic and other spices and let it cook briefly before adding about three quarts of homemade chicken and vegetable broths. (We used a blend of them because that's what we had in our refrigerator.) 

We stirred in the dry pasta and then pressure cooked it for 5 minutes before adding the chicken and lemon and then we set it on Slow Cook until lunchtime. Shortly before lunch, we took off the lid and stirred in defrosted frozen spinach. It had a few minutes to come up to temperature before we actually served it up for the meal.

Overall, we really enjoyed the soup; the pasta seemed a little overcooked, but we can remedy that problem in the next pot. The recipe made 8 servings so we'll be having it a few more times in the next week. 

We served it with Asiago bread that Jeff made. Also amazing.

Next time, I'll try making these changes:

• Try skipping the pressure cooking entirely and go straight from sautéing to slow cooking.
• Substitute Herbes de Provence for the thyme and oregano.
• Add the dry pasta at the same time as the chicken. 

I expect I'll probably make it once a month from now on, whenever we have leftover chicken.

A Year of Maintenance

One year ago, I hit my goal of burning 60 pounds with Noom. Since then I have been on maintenance. The goal was to stay in a 5-pound range: 170-175. In practice it worked out to a 10-pound range 170-180, which with all that 2020 has thrown at me (and all of us) I am ok with. After the first few weeks of adjustment to maintenance I found a pretty good rhythm, I started working on my next round of fitness goals. I also found some new apps to support my post-Noom life:

• MapMyWalk 
• FitBod
• MoodPath
• Ten Percent Happier
• Lose It 
• Habitica 

Habitica helped us extend some of the habit formation skills we learned from Noom beyond issues related to food and fitness.

When I started tracking my walks with MapMyWalk I had a pace of 18'22" per mile. I have brought that down to 12'52". 

When I started working out with FitBod I could do two pull ups (which was an improvement already over none pre-Noom). Now I can do ten in a set. I have also hit my goal of being able to do handstand pushups (with balance support from a wall). 

MoodPath has helped me track how I am feeling day to day which has helped monitor bouts of depression.      
With the Ten Percent Happier app, I have logged almost 100 hour of mindfulness sessions over 400 days which has helped with my anxiety. 

We discovered Lose It which does a better job of logging food than Noom, especially since we can share meals logs between my wife and I over Air Drop. It also tracks macronutrients so I can keep an eye on my protein intake. It also lets us track water. For maintenance, the main thing we give up is the colors, but those are ingrained enough at this point that I just need to remember to keep up my veggies game. I would still recommend Noom for folks working on serious weight loss. 

Turkey Breast in Instant pot

We got a seven pound turkey breast from Rinella Produce that I cooked under pressure in the instant pot.

So far we have had it:
With Eggs;
With brown gravy;
With mashed potatoes and bbq beans;
Sandwiches;
On Salads.

We still have turkey.
Trying to figure out more things to try.

One year of Noom

In one year with Noom I lost sixty pounds in the first six months and maintained within a five-pound range with a few excursions.

I was quite concerned about how I would do in maintenance and experimented with a few different approaches:

• Should I keep logging? (I did)
• Weekly weigh-ins (tried it; didn't like it) 
• How do I set my new calorie budget?

Should I keep logging? 

I did keep logging. I could imagine stopping at some point. But it helps be stay mindful of what I'm eating and it provides realtime feedback of how my day is going calorically. I still don't trust my hunger signals, there are times when I am hungry right after I eat. But I think I am getting a little better at sussing out genuine hunger from mere snackiness. Some days I approximate more than others. It depends on if I'm in the middle of my range and having a normal sort of food day, then I don't sweat every last gram. If life is complicated, or I am above my range, I try to be more careful.

Should I go to weekly weigh-ins?

I tried it and didn't like it. The daily weigh in lets me know if things are ok, or need attention. And I like having the data. When I tried doing weekly weigh ins I felt more anxious not knowing if I was drifting.

How do I set my new calorie budget? 

By trial and error, I figured out that on the lowest weight loss setting (Turtle in iPhone) I needed about 200-300 calories over the max if I double counted my exercise (log twice as much as I actually did so the app would give me all the calories and not just half). Early on if I went above my range I would go full Noom immediately. And I would get back in range within a day or two. Now I am a little more relaxed and just try to be more careful with my logging and only count my exercise like normal and it usually corrects itself within a couple days anyway.

What's next 

I am very happy with the program, especially once I found the Noom facebook groups. I keep upping my exercise game. I got a set of dumbbells, then I needed a set with heavier weights. Then I got a weight bench from a friend. Now I use the FitBod app for my workouts. It tracks which muscle groups you use and how long they need to recover.

My wife and I also started using Habitica (app and website) which gamifies our task lists and helps with habit formation. This gives us a lot of the benefits of Noom but applied to other aspects of our life.

Each day is its own adventure.

Noom Elephant Dialogues--Night Hunger

🐘: I’M HUNGRY!
🕵️‍♂️: There is hunger
🏇🏼: it’s late. Let’s wait for breakfast.
🐘: BREAKFAST!? I may wither away and die by breakfast.
🕵️‍♂️: There is fear
🏇🏼: Are we safe
🕵️‍♂️: we are safe
🏇🏼: We have eaten well today and we are home
🐘: I’m still hungry
🏇🏼: You’re a good elephant. We’ll have a good day tomorrow. How about some stretching.
🐘: 🙆‍♀️

I lost 60 pounds with Noom

Fruit!

Sensible breakfast

Portion size matters

Treats are part of the plan

Salad!

Budget for dessert!

In week 26 of Noom I hit my goal of burning 60 pounds of excess weight. Noom is an integrated weight loss app that incorporates daily articles, weigh-ins, food logging, daily steps goals, exercise logging, and social support with a group of Noomers who started around the same time, a group coach, and a personal goal specialist.

Most people on the program have a goal of losing one to two pounds a week. I went all-in with the program and have burned off 60 pounds. What drew me to Noom was that it was grounded in science and focused on long term sustainability. You are not on a diet you are focusing on modifying your diet to maintain a modest calorie deficit. Many lessons focus on hunger and the factors that contribute to the sense of fullness and all of the emotions and triggers around eating. Importantly, there is nothing that is off the diet, though you may decide that there are foods that "aren't worth the calories" for you. It's about choices and building better habits.

Adjust my shopping. More fruit, veggies, whole grains
For most of my life, 200 pounds was my hard upper limit that I would make sure never to cross. Then various factors conspired and I took my eye off the ball for a few years and blew right through that limit. For a while, I struggled to stay even, but every couple of years more weight would come on and I would settle into a new normal. When I hit 235 it was like a switch flipped and I was ready to commit to doing what it took, and I found Noom which was just the right approach for me.

I've logged over five hundred meals in a row, walked 9K steps most days, plus one other active activity: weights, yoga, biking, gardening.... I am feeling fit. Working towards a goal of doing three handstand push-ups.

I've developed a new relationship with food and hunger.

I am more aware of the triggers within me, and in my environment, and developed tools to respond to them more mindfully and healthfully.

It has helped to focus on limits while avoiding the sense of deprivation. Nothing is "off the menu", though there are some things I've decided just aren't worth the calories.

Noom Elephant Dialogues--Peanut Butter Pumpkins

🐘: I WANT Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins 🥜🍫🎃😋
🕵️‍♂️: There is craving
🏇: Remember we wanted to start eating healthy?
🐘: We eat healthy tomorrow. I WANT Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins 🥜🍫🎃😋
🕵️‍♂️: There is rationalization
🏇: How about we plan to have a Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin 🥜🍫🎃 on Halloween as a special treat? That will give us something to look forward to.
🐘: Is Halloween tomorrow? 🤔
🏇: Not quite. But we can get a nice healthful snack tonight. And maybe some stretching or a walk.
🐘: I WANT Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins 🥜🍫🎃 NOW!😦
🕵️‍♂️: There is frustration
🏇: I get that you are frustrated. That is real and valid. You like something that you aren't having right now. Can we take a deep breath and touch base with how are we feeling?
🐘: 🙏
🕵️‍♂️: There is calm
🐘: I still want it. 🙁
🏇: I know you do. Let's find something sweet that will also be filling. 🍓🍒🍇🍉🍌🍐
🐘: 🍓🍒🍇🍉🍌🍐I feel better now. 😊
‍🏇: What a good elephant. How about that walk now?
🐘: 🚶‍♀️