Dieting in Hong Kong

The title of my post sounds like an oxymoron. How can one possibly diet in one of the best food capitals in the world. Well I did. Sadly and with lots and lots of willpower.

I was fortunate to stay in an apartment where I cooked all my meals and only ate out twice in the whole week I was in Hong Kong. I kept telling myself that I’ve eaten all the food in Hong Kong before and one day I will get to eat at my favorite restaurants again. I had to repeat that mantra over and over again. I can’t imagine doing this diet if I stayed in a hotel.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Hong Kong was to go to Marketplace by Jasons supermarket where they had a fantastic international selection of fresh meat, veggies and my precious Cohen allowed crisp bread that isn’t available in Manila.

I bought oil in a can, fat free yogurt for breakfast and Arnott’s Vita-Weat crisp bread which I really, really like. I brought several boxes back to Manila.

I know I’m not supposed to buy ready made ground beef but this Australian minced beef looked really lean. Let me tell you this made one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten in my life. I wasn’t able to take a picture of the burger I cooked but I simply formed a patty, put salt and pepper on the outside and cooked it in a teflon pan without oil. The flavor of the beef was outstanding! It tasted like a really good prime rib. I can’t wait to buy this beef again. This pack made 2 1/2 burgers.

Australian minced beef

I also bought this package of a serving of lean beef.

Australian lean beef
Australian lean beef

You can see from the picture below how lean it was. Totally no marbling in the steak. By the way, all the plates I used were Corelle’s smallest bread plate. This way my plate looked full and my meals looked plenty.

I seasoned the steak with salt and pepper and quickly pan fried it. I topped it with sautéed portobello mushrooms. Uggghhh the steak was so tough. I’ll never buy this cut again. Beef definitely needs some fat.

Steak with Mushroom Sauce

I also bought fresh trimmed chicken breast fillets which I weighed and packed into portion sizes.

Delicious and simple.

Seared Chicken Breast with Bok Choy

I also found a nearby Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Kebab where I bought some food.

I bought one order of grilled chicken donner salad. The salad was dressed with lemon juice, a little drizzle of olive oil and some salt. I didn’t use any of the yummy garlic sauce.

Istanbul Kebab Chicken Donner Salad

An order was good enough for two meals after I weighed the food! I’m definitely buying this again.

My meals pretty much looked like these for the duration of the week. Unbelievably I managed to lose weight in Hong Kong. While you read this I’m in Hong Kong. I hope I have the same willpower as I did back in April when I was just starting my diet. Wish me luck!!!