2017 OCT 16 -- Day 58

I am at the same weight today as I was yesterday. That's neither up nor down, so I'll take his plateau as a victory for now. I take 'em where I can get 'em. I'm at 378.8 lbs. My husband is down a bit today from yesterday though. He was "235 lbs and change" yesterday, and today I saw him circling the scale, so I was able to sneak up behind him and catch the number. It was 234.6 lbs. Yay! It's working for him!

Starting weight: 415 lbs
Current weight: 378.8 lbs  
Long-term Goal: 145 lbs
Short-term Goal: 359 lbs

It's 4:20 AM, and I'm getting ready to go home. There is some delicious Beef Stroganoff waiting for me. My husband may eat the rest of the Paella today. I don't know. The Stroganoff turned out to be pretty tasty even with wine in it. It's the same wine I used for the Paella, so I don't think the wine was the issue. I think it was the method of cooking, to be quite honest.

Pressure Cooker Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 pounds lean beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
1 pound whole white button mushrooms
3 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup neufchatel cheese
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces whole wheat egg noodles

• Toss the beef with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions soften and begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the white wine, mustard and flour, bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add the beef broth, mushrooms, carrots and celery.
• Secure the pressure cooker lid and bring to high pressure over medium heat. Once at high pressure, cook for 18 minutes. Remove from the heat and, using the quick-release valve, carefully open. Stir in the neufchatel, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
• Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the egg noodles according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
• Divide the noodles and beef stroganoff evenly among 6 serving bowls.

For me and my husband, this recipe makes well more than the 6 suggested servings. We will be eating this for a while. I made a few substitutions. First, I used cream cheese instead of the neufchatel. I use mini bello mushrooms as I could not locate white button mushrooms. I used regular beef broth. I used no-yolk egg noodles instead of wheat egg noodles. And I had about 1.65 lbs of meat. Other than those changes, I followed the recipe exactly as written, and I ended up with roughly 10 C of cooked food. The total calorie content is about 3,320, so one cup of it is about 332 calories.

My body makes no sense graph:

Okay, graph. That's enough going up. You can start going down again. This is a plateau. It's clearly a plateau. And plateaus break. This, too, shall pass. I think I may need to try reducing my caloric intake again. Maybe I was wrong about the 1,200-calorie sweet spot. I just ate two full cups of Beef Stroganoff, and I' miserable and stuffed to the gills. Tomorrow night, I think I may need to reduce the amount to just one cup.

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