As far as eating goes since I last checked in (which was just a few days ago), I've been doing pretty well. I spend a lot of time on the weekend planning what I'm going to eat all week. Normally I just plan dinners, but this time, I planned all three meals, plus snacks, for each day of the coming week. I needed to do this in order to get everything I'd need at the grocery store. I find that if I don't plan my meals when I'm trying to lose weight, it's pointless because I will just eat whatever I can get my hands on, whether it's healthy or not. I really need to build some life-long healthy eating habits that I don't stray from even when I'm not trying to lose weight.
Anyway, Monday's breakfast was really good. I had two slices of Candian bacon on one slice of whole wheat toast, with a piece of low-fat Swiss cheese melted on it. I actually cut the bread in half, made a little panini, and toasted it in the skillet after I cooked up the Canadian bacon (I didn't add any oil or anything). Along with that, I had a 1/2 of a grapefruit. Tuesday's breakfast was not as good. I had 1 egg and 2 egg whites with 1 oz. of low-fat feta (I do weigh my food as much as I can, as I don't trust my ability to eyeball portions), along with a piece of toast with nothing on it. I also had 1/2 cup of strawberries. In my book, eggs are ok, but not in abundance, and not without toast that has some buttery flavor and moisture to it. Fortunately, I've run out of eggs, so no more eggs for breakfast this week.
This week my morning snack has been 1/2 of an apple with 2 tsp. of peanut butter. I've mentioned that I'm supposed to be eating protein with every meal. It seems hard to believe that 2 tsp. of peanut butter can really be that punch of protein that is needed to go with that apple, but I guess I won't complain. It's nice to have some variety and mix it up, as opposed to just eating a plain apple. Although, I am eating that snack at work, so I can't really measure the peanut butter. I'm guessing at what 2 tsp. looks like. Hope I'm getting it right. My afternoon snacks have been a 6 oz. container of Fage non-fat plain yogurt. I add 2 packs of Splenda, though. I can't eat the stuff plain, unless there was a deluge of dried fruit in it, but I'm not doing that either (too many calories in that dried fruit, as yummy as it is). I suspect that in order to be a perfect snack, there should be some kind of fiber in there, too, but I don't know what to add that wouldn't have very many calories but still add a good bit of fiber. So that snack is mostly about getting in a lot of protein in the middle of the afternoon.
I decided that for lunches this week, I would alternate between two of the prescribed meals. One consists of a roast beef sandwich on light wheat bread with a slice of low-fat Swiss, lettuce, and tomato, along with a cup of vegetable soup (this can be canned, no more than 80 calories). The other lunch consists of a salad with low-fat dressing and low-fat feta, plus a cup of black bean soup (no more than 150 calories). I'm satisfied with these lunches, and could continue to eat these for a long time.
Dinner on Monday was a flank steak, baked potato, and broccoli. I used about a tablespoon of the Fage on the baked potato. This meal was OK. I should have marinated the beef for much longer than I did. It was lacking flavor. On Tuesday night, we just made a big salad (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, Italian dressing), and put the leftover steak on top, along with a little bit of low-fat mozzarella. This was a decent meal.
The next few dinners planned consist of a Weight Watchers pizza recipe, and then chicken fajitas with high-carb tortillas (no more than 100 calories per tortilla.... have you ever looked at how many calories are in a tortilla? We think we're eating healthy when we get a wrap when we eat out, but tortillas often have as many, if not more, calories than two slices of bread!). Considering leftovers, too, these two meals should take me through the rest of the week.
I had one splurge since the doughnut incident on Sunday. Last night, I tried a new recipe for a flourless chocolate chip peanut butter cookie. They were so good! I had to try one when they were still warm (delicious), and then again once they cooled (still delicious). I have a side business where I bake from my home kitchen and sell my products at the local farmer's market, so I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. This one is great, because it's gluten free and delicious. So now I can advertise that I have a gluten free item on my menu. Yay! And it was worth the calories to try it out. But no more of that, or I will quickly derail my plan.
So that's it for now. Things are going well. I'm going to try to stick to 1200 calories per day for this next week to make sure this weight loss is sticking. Maybe after this next week, I'll up it to 1500. I think I can still lose one pound a week at 1500 calories, as long as I'm keeping up with my workouts, which I have been. So until then, wish me luck! And good luck to you, too!
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