Annisworkingonit's Journal, 16 May 23

I can give you low carb: but I am on keto which is high fat. Fat has an incredib ly bad rap - but it's less than double the calories, and you use far less than half as much fat as you do carb. So it's a net gain to swop out all carb for fats. But if you must with the breast strips - maybe fry it in butter with some garlic salt. On keto I don't eat breast meat any more, I eat the thigh, which I find stays tender better when you fry it and doesn't go dry if you leave it 5 seconds too long in the pan. I'm mostly using olive oil to cook in. No coatings but some shakes of flavour or else I cook it unseasoned and put it in a wrap with satay sauce, cheese and salad. Congrats on the non food goal! 3xl is great. I am currently on the cusp of going down a size and can't wait!  

Congrats on dropping a pants size!👏🏻 Chicken breast is too dry, IMO. Try a leg or thigh, and cook in an Indian curry or stew for extra moisture and flavor.  

If you have an air fryer, you can spray them lightly with Pam , season them and cook them in there. Shake (or turn) them halfway through. The bottoms to my coziest pair of pjs fell off me too, after a few FS months. It was winter and I wanted to keep them; so I just replaced the elastic. Still wearing them but they are *baggy*! 

my aunt cooks chicken breast strips in golden italian salad dressing. they are very moist and flavourful. another chicken hack is a can of campbells cream of mushroom (or any cream soup) it needs to be the concentrate not ready to serve and if you want to add a bit of water you could but I dont. cover when you cook so that the moisture stays in 

Swap out the breast for thigh. 😉 

I agree with StomachMonkeys. Chicken thighs are a moister, more flavourable cut that you can bake in the oven with all kinds of seasonings. Just search for baked chicken thigh recipes - there are tons of them online. More economical too. 😊 

Thank you all for the ideas. I'm stuck with the chicken breast strips for the time being as I got them on sale a couple of months back. Frozen in 1.5 packages - another 4 pakages to go. Part of the problem is likely that once thawed, I have to cook them all and mealtimes become a case of would you like chicken with a side of chicken. Sometimes frugal doesn't lead to the best result. Did find another great Idea on the web. It's a keto chicken pizza where the ground chicken (will need to figure out how to grind these strips) + some egg and spices form the crust. Once the crust is made and cooked top as you would with regular pizza toppings. Definately not low cal, but is low carb and high protein. I'm contemplating keto, but have concerns that the higher fat content, and lacking a gallbladder, might lead to explosive outbursts. I think that there is merit in trying this when I hit the inevitable plateau though. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained (or in my case lost). 

Rather than looking into a highly restrictive diet like keto, I would suggest making 1 or 2 small changes, then practicing them until they become consistent habits, then adding in a few more. Eventually you’ll be cruising without feeling super restricted. Keto is a tool that helps some people remain in a calorie deficit. But does nothing for weight loss in and of itself (just like fasting). But for some people keto can lead to intense cravings and binging because of the restrictiveness. Cabs are not your enemy. Cabs do not cause obesity or make people overweight. That all comes down to energy balance. Best of luck with whatever you do. 😎 

Keto without a gallbladder? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Your gallbladder processes fat; without this organ, you should be cutting fat out everywhere in your diet (no cheese -- so pizza is out). Please talk to your doctor or registered dietician for appropriate food choices. 

you could turn those chicken breast strips into chicken tacos, ceaser salad with strips of chicken, chicken wraps with your favorite toppings in it. So many ideas to try. 

2 more ideas chicken strips of chicken parmesan or even chicken strips wrapped in bacon and BBQ or baked in the oven.  

You can take a sharp chef’s knife and chop one chicken breast up really fine, like you would a diced onion, if you haven’t access to a grinder. If you like the way it turns out, you can then do more than one. If it turns you don’t care for it - chicken soup. 😁 

Anna - I heard the gallbladder comment... You poor thing. They wanted mine out and I said no, my brother got his out and now has much fun eating on keto... much fun. But he achieves it. So that's something. :D When I wasn't on keto, I would pound breast meat flat, egg and crumb it, fry it up and make hamburgers and toasted sandwiches. Garlic Salt is my friend for these. You can probably do them in the air fryer - not sure, not 100% confident I know what an air fryer is, someone told me it's just a posh word for toaster oven. 

No choice but to remove it my case. Had excruciating pain. Thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER. They kept me waiting for the better part of 12 hours, meanwhile I'm puking my brains out and peeing on their chairs everytime. Sent me home to come back for a CT scan the next morning. Results come back and the ER doc asks me why I'm not taking my gallbladder medication. What medication? Anyhoo, the surgeon arrives and as it happens it's the same surgeon that dealt with my ruptured appendix 2 years earlier. (same hospital, same wait time - ruptured whilst I was there). I trust her, she gave me heck for being too stoic, and indicated that it was likely best that it come out given the severe inflammation. So no gallbladder for me.