Category Archives: Big Boy buffalo grilled chicken salad
Day 322: Unplanned Buffalo chicken salad
Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds
I cooked 3 scrambled eggs for breakfast and nukes some pre-made bacon. It was quick and I had time to relax before work, although I missed the waitress pampering me.
I ate 2 beddar cheddars and some almonds for lunch in the late afternoon.
After work, we were planning to have Cincinnati chili, but Rick didn’t start cooking the sauce early enough. He was out working on cleaning out the garage and forgot. Oh well. It was almost six, and we made the executive decision to grab something quick. We pass Big Boy on our route, so we went there. I do love that buffalo chicken salad. I have to admit, the time I goofed and ordered it with the regular chicken tenders, it was tastier. However, the grilled chicken is much lower carb and it is good as well.
I ate an Adkins chocolate coconut bar for dessert. Oh, and I drank a glass of red wine. Still on track.
We eat out a lot. It’s just a necessary part of our lifestyle – and something we enjoy. Combining a full-time job and with owning a small business means we are working almost around the clock. After eating at Big Boy, I spent about 3 hours on the computer working on client projects and bookkeeping for our business. Having dinner out is a nice treat between the day job and the evening work.
That said, it really is fantastic that there are so many delicious low carb options in so many restaurants. And if it’there aren’t readily apparent options, there are always choices that come with bun, potato, or tortilla that can be substituted for something better. If that fails, remove and toss the offending carby product.
A coney dog with no bun, a burrito with no tortilla, a burger with no bun, spaghetti squash instead of pasta, cauliflower instead of potatoes – all these options have become second nature to me by day 322. I can do this. Once the weight is off, I can also maintain. Carbs are not a necessary part of my diet. I just need to remind myself of this every now and then. Here’s to “re-losing” that 2 pounds I gained over the past month.
Day 290: Successes and failures…and lessons learned
Total weight loss: 41 pounds
Breakfast – skipped
I took my breakfast bowl to work, but our morning meeting went so long that I wasn’t hungry for breakfast by the time we got out. My friend Wally called unexpectedly and invited me to lunch. I decided to wait to eat until then.
Lunch – Big Boy buffalo grilled chicken salad with bleu cheese dressing. It was delicious, as usual – and Wally treated. Thanks, friend. Good food, good conversation.
Snack – Rick and I decided to go to a 5:00 movie: Cloud Atlas. I knew I wouldn’t make it until after it was over to eat dinner, and I didn’t want to show up at the theater hungry and get tempted to buy something bad at the snack bar. (I am learning to plan ahead.) I was already getting hungry, since the salad for lunch was all I had eaten for the day. Around 4, I heated a leftover portion of lasagna and ate that as a preventative measure. It was really tasty. Most “pasta” dishes seem to taste better when reheated since all the flavors have time to blend.
Movie – 2 sips of Rick’s diet Coke. Very determined NOT to buy concession food
After movie dinner – We didn’t eat out. When I got home, I heated another portion of lasagna. I have no problem repeating meals when I like them.
I congratulated myself on my restraint. I had a perfect keto day.
Then, an hour before bed, I decided to read and have a choco/peanut butter low carb snack.
I went in to the kitchen to get some 70% chocolate and noticed that Rick had eaten one package of the Hostess cupcakes we had purchased for the grandkids. How are we supposed to give only ONE grandchild a pack of cupcakes? Boy, they sure looked good. They were orange frosted. I could just taste the tangy citrus flavor of the frosting and the creamy center. So I did. I ate two Hostess cupcakes.
BLECK. I was SOOOO close to going to bed. Why didn’t I just close my eyes and ignore them? They were a total of 60 grams of carbs. I know I was well under 80 carbs for the day, which is probably fine on a low-carb diet, but for keto, I’m sure I knocked myself out of ketogenesis, and for no good reason. They were just okay tasting, nothing to get excited about.
Lessons learned:
- I am not perfect.
- I should probably fill up more on water.
- Don’t skip breakfast.
- I probably did not eat enough during the day, and allowed myself to be too tempted.
- NEVER have junk food in the house.
Day 284: Two more pounds (yay!); working towards 50
This week’s weight loss: 2 pounds
Total weight loss: 41 pounds
Wow. I finally hit above the 40 pound mark. Nine more pounds to 50! Keto works.
Yesterday’s food journal:
I was happy it was Friday. We’ve been really busy this week, and I looked forward to the weekend. We went out to breakfast again. I know, it’s pretty extravagant to eat breakfast out each morning, but it’s also a nice, relaxing start to our day. I enjoy my NYT puzzle and Rick reads the paper. I get some “me time” before heading off to work. We also eat pretty cheaply.
Breakfast was the usual: cheese and grilled onion omelet with a side of bacon and topped with sour cream.
Lunch: I sort of skipped lunch. These breakfasts keep me full for a long time. I was working on a deadline project. It needed to be done by 2 pm, so the boss could take it with him on a trip. I had a snack around one o’clock – some chili lime almonds and some small pieces of cheese. By the time I left work at 6, I was famished.
That was something I forgot to blog about – I bought some individually wrapped cheddar cheese portions in a large bag at Costco. I put the whole bag in the fridge at work and always have a low carb snack on hand.
On the way home from work, I decided I’d like to have another of those buffalo grilled chicken salads like I had the day before. Here’s where I found out that I had eaten more carbs on Thursday than I originally thought. Rick wasn’t hungry, so I ordered the salad as a carryout from Big Boy. I ordered the “Buffalo grilled chicken salad” with blue cheese. The server asked, “do you want the grilled chicken or chicken tenders?” Hmm. I did say GRILLED, which is what I had ordered the day before for lunch. I did point out to Rick that the chicken looked like it had some kind of coating, but the menu said it was grilled, so oh well.
Turns out I must have been eating chicken with coating which would have had more carbs. Sigh. I think it would bother me more if I didn’t see the 2 pound weight loss.
Rick built a fire in the yard, and I joined him with a drink made of 3 shots of vodka and some raspberry Sparkling Ice. It was a nice end to a long work week. I also had 2 squares of 70% chocolate with peanut butter.
Day 283: A really good salad: Big Boy’s buffalo grilled chicken salad
Total weight loss: 39 pounds
Well, I really enjoyed that early morning breakfast Wednesday, so I made the effort to rise early and try it again. This time, we went to the Senate Coney Island, which is a bustling diner even at 7:30 am. I ordered a cheese omelet, asked them to add grilled onions, and skipped the toast. The side of bacon was enough for me to share with Rick. I topped the egg with sour cream (of course) and called it a meal. The service was fast, the omelet was delish, and the bacon was perfect. No extra hash browns to deal with and I just skipped the toast. We’ll be back.
Lunch was on the run, again. More paperwork and banking to do. This house closing is dragging on, and there are still details to cover and items to move from the house.
We went to Big Boy. Since this blog is all about honesty, I had a really difficult time deciding NOT to eat carbs. I love BB fish and chips, so that was hurdle one. I was tired, stressed and hungry (too hungry), so my decision making processes were hampered by the need for some comfort food. I had tried the buffalo chicken salad a while back and decided to try that. The spiciness might make me feel like I was having some tasty treat, and the blue cheese dressing that comes with would be creamy and fill that need for comfort.
It was a hit! I was a little worried that I made a wrong choice when I saw that the chicken had some kind of coating on it, but at that point, I was eating it no matter what. The tangy buffalo sauce was subtle on the small slices of chicken and blended well with the blue cheese. It was filling and delicious.
Again, I forgot to take a picture, so here’s one that looks similar. I will definitely be ordering this again soon, so I’ll get an authentic one on my next visit.
I looked up the nutrition information when I got home and it passed muster. Without croutons (which I removed), it’s 10.2 grams of carbs minus 2.3 grams of fiber, for a net of 7.9. That’s not counting the blue cheese dressing, but after a really low carb breakfast, I knew I’d be able to stay under 19 for the day. It also looks like they have similar salads at Chili’s and other restaurants.
Bad afternoon – I worked until 6:30. At 5:30, that damned Halloween candy bowl at work called my name. I ate a peanut butter cup and 9 whoppers (actual circles of candy, not packages). I have no defense. I do think a salad doesn’t stick with me long enough to ward off the temptations. Whatever. I guess I’ll just have to plan ahead in case I’m tempted again tomorrow – drink a lot of water and eat almonds in the late afternoon?
Dinner – home late again. Rick didn’t feel like cooking, so we stopped to pick up a rotisserie chicken. Again, I was tempted. I had already eaten candy, so how about some macaroni salad on the side? NO NO NO. Rick didn’t buy it, and I made cauliflower mashed potatoes instead. Wonder why this is so difficult lately.
Oh, here’s a tip I figured out in the past few months. I really like the cauliflower mashed potatoes, and I really don’t like cooking very much (in case you didn’t figure that out). I now buy small frozen packages of cauliflower and have about 4 on hand. I use the same recipe as I have posted here, but here are the amounts of the ingredients I use with this size package….
Easy peasy cauliflower mashed potatoes – open one bag of cauliflower, pour in bowl, microwave 5 minutes. Put the cauliflower, 3-4 tbsp of cream cheese (definitely less than half a package), and one tbsp of butter into a food processor. The cauliflower should be steaming hot to melt the cheese easily. Process and eat. One package makes a little more than 2 servings. If Rick doesn’t eat his, it warms up well the next day.
Well, that quick recipe was a life savor, and I avoided the carby macaroni salad. I ate about 6 ounces of chicken with the “caulitatoes.” Dessert was 2 squares of chocolate with natural peanut butter.