My husband knows about this blog and also knows I try to be conscious of what I eat. I don't necessarily eat healthy. But, I do take the time - alot of time- to read product labels while I'm shopping in the grocery store. If my list has 20 items on it, it will take me up to an hour to finish food shopping because I take so long in the store trying to make the best health and cost-related decisions.
My husband and I differ on food choices.
I don't like processed foods. He relies on them for easy cooking. Sometimes I do, too. Afterall, I work alot, too, and it's not always easy to prepare dinner every night for a family. But I'd prefer to avoid the reliance on processed foods.
Some examples of what he would buy that I never used to buy or eat:
chicken nuggets (I was against this at first until I read the nutrition label of Tyson chicken - not bad - although I'm not sure if it's 7 g of fat per serving is on the high end of chicken; I'd have to check up on that),
CheezIts (it's orange, enough said),
Chef Boyardee (again, too high in fat for what I'd like to feed my children; in fact, it makes me very upset to know my kids would be eating that stuff),
white rice (although I do use white sugar sometimes, so I can't be too hard on him for that),
Frosted Flakes (8 g of sugar per cup, only 1 g of protein = a breakfast that won't stick with you for long and you'll get hungry sooner)
I try to avoid cereals with more than 5 g of sugar a serving unless it has a high amount of protein to "make up" for it. For example, Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal has 12 g of sugar a serving, but it also has 9 g of protein a serving.
The problem is that when he goes food shopping and buys things I don't think are neccessarily healthy, I still eat it. So, I'm being a bad example to him and to the kids. Part of it is that I don't want to waste the money he spent buying the food. The other part is, I don't want to go out and spend more money on foods that I would buy. It would be alot easier if I could cook every meal from scratch and be the one to go food shopping every single time, but the reality is I need his help once in awhile and also, he's not very open minded about eating meals I cook from scratch that are "good for you" (examples in the past: black bean burgers, tuna steaks, refried beans).
So, my husband went food shopping the other day. I was glad he did, it saved me time. We're on a tight budget now that I'm a student again. Earlier I joked that we'll save money and lose even more weight when we eat meals of Ramen noodles.
When he got home I noticed he bought "Cup Noodles" soup. I was elated that he thought of me because he knows I eat alot of soup in the winter since it's not bad health-wise and it fills me up. So, I decided to have that soup for lunch the next day. Then I read the label: 13 g of fact in one container. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I was about to eat 13 g of fat in 2.25 oz (dry) of soup! But I didn't want to throw it away so I ate it. Needless to say, I took a 20 minute walk with my daughter in the stroller that afternoon and pushed her up and down steep hills.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Meals While Moving
So, we've moved from NJ to NC. I knew that our meals wouldn't consist of what we normally eat, since I was trying to use up most of our food in NJ so as not to take up too much packing space. That meant we ate out alot the week before and after our move. Some places we ate:
Pizza joints
Diner
Thai (me, not hubby, who doesn't eat ethnic foods)
Convenient store deli sandwiches
My digestive system had to adjust to the lack of home-made meals as well. I will spare you the details.
Once settled after a few days in NC, we went food shopping and had chicken ceasar salad one night, spaghetti with meatballs the next night and tonight we had corn taco shells with ground chicken meat and cheddar cheese. I topped mine off lots of dollops of sour cream.
One day we took the kids with us to a local park and took a nice walk for about a half hour. I would have liked it to be longer but everybody was tuckered out.
For some reason, I haven't been as hungry the past few days while moving even though I've been so busy every day unpacking boxes and organizing our home. I think I was focused on getting settled tp pay attention to hunger. However, this morning (12/29) I weighted myself and didn't like that I crept up to 125.8. So, I think I compensated with a meager lunch of a few bites of leftover chicken ceasar salad. Come to think of it, I did finish off a box of CheezIts this afternoon as a snack! The increase in weight could also be due to "the time of the month."
Pizza joints
Diner
Thai (me, not hubby, who doesn't eat ethnic foods)
Convenient store deli sandwiches
My digestive system had to adjust to the lack of home-made meals as well. I will spare you the details.
Once settled after a few days in NC, we went food shopping and had chicken ceasar salad one night, spaghetti with meatballs the next night and tonight we had corn taco shells with ground chicken meat and cheddar cheese. I topped mine off lots of dollops of sour cream.
One day we took the kids with us to a local park and took a nice walk for about a half hour. I would have liked it to be longer but everybody was tuckered out.
For some reason, I haven't been as hungry the past few days while moving even though I've been so busy every day unpacking boxes and organizing our home. I think I was focused on getting settled tp pay attention to hunger. However, this morning (12/29) I weighted myself and didn't like that I crept up to 125.8. So, I think I compensated with a meager lunch of a few bites of leftover chicken ceasar salad. Come to think of it, I did finish off a box of CheezIts this afternoon as a snack! The increase in weight could also be due to "the time of the month."
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Saturday Mornings
Saturday morning, 12/20.
Did not get up on my own terms. Baby was hungry at 7.
So I fed and changed her. Now, the 4-year old was up and ready for breakfast. I prepared toast and fruit (tangerine) at her request while she watched cartoons. Took a shower and almost forgot to eat breakfast because I wanted to get going with the laundry, packing boxes, cleaning, errands, etc.
I ate some cream of wheat standing up in the kitchen. Put my bowl in the sink (dishes were not what I had in mind at the moment). Ran up the stairs (hey, it's faster), got the laundry together and ran back down to start the machine.
Then I scurried around the living room and bedrooms packing up clothes and kids' toys. It took me an hour to address Christmas cards and envelopes. Made a mad dash to the post office to beat the crowd by 10:00. Five people in line ahead of me. Not bad. Stopped by my husband's job to pick up more boxes for packing. Once home, I cleaned up some more.
Grabbed a can of soup off the shelf for lunch. Split pea (only about 870 mg of sodium a serving. I think that was one of the best amounts I could find for soup) with crackers. The crackers had partially hydrogenated oils in them. I don't like PHO, but ate it anyway because I had no other choice of crackers. The pickings are slim as I am trying to use up most of our food before we move.
My daughter wouldn't eat the soup because it was green.
"I don't want green eggs and ham," she told me.
"It's not. It's soup."
"But it's green." She gagged like a cat choking on a fur ball.
"That's okay. It's good for you."
She peered into the bowl. "What is it?"
"Mashed peas."
"I don't like mashed peas."
"Have you ever had them?"
"No."
"Then you might like them." I was hoping the lesson of Dr. Seuss would sound familiar. I don't think it worked.
It took me an hour to force her to eat a few spoonfuls and I'm not sure if it was worth the stubborness.
In mid-afternoon I was hungry. I had a snack of tea and homemade candy - clusters of Chex mix, white chocolate and chocolate chips. Went great with the warm tea!
It's 5:24. I have no food for dinner because there's only 5 days until we move and I don't want to buy too many perishables. Looks like we'll have to eat out tonight. Oh, darn.
Did not get up on my own terms. Baby was hungry at 7.
So I fed and changed her. Now, the 4-year old was up and ready for breakfast. I prepared toast and fruit (tangerine) at her request while she watched cartoons. Took a shower and almost forgot to eat breakfast because I wanted to get going with the laundry, packing boxes, cleaning, errands, etc.
I ate some cream of wheat standing up in the kitchen. Put my bowl in the sink (dishes were not what I had in mind at the moment). Ran up the stairs (hey, it's faster), got the laundry together and ran back down to start the machine.
Then I scurried around the living room and bedrooms packing up clothes and kids' toys. It took me an hour to address Christmas cards and envelopes. Made a mad dash to the post office to beat the crowd by 10:00. Five people in line ahead of me. Not bad. Stopped by my husband's job to pick up more boxes for packing. Once home, I cleaned up some more.
Grabbed a can of soup off the shelf for lunch. Split pea (only about 870 mg of sodium a serving. I think that was one of the best amounts I could find for soup) with crackers. The crackers had partially hydrogenated oils in them. I don't like PHO, but ate it anyway because I had no other choice of crackers. The pickings are slim as I am trying to use up most of our food before we move.
My daughter wouldn't eat the soup because it was green.
"I don't want green eggs and ham," she told me.
"It's not. It's soup."
"But it's green." She gagged like a cat choking on a fur ball.
"That's okay. It's good for you."
She peered into the bowl. "What is it?"
"Mashed peas."
"I don't like mashed peas."
"Have you ever had them?"
"No."
"Then you might like them." I was hoping the lesson of Dr. Seuss would sound familiar. I don't think it worked.
It took me an hour to force her to eat a few spoonfuls and I'm not sure if it was worth the stubborness.
In mid-afternoon I was hungry. I had a snack of tea and homemade candy - clusters of Chex mix, white chocolate and chocolate chips. Went great with the warm tea!
It's 5:24. I have no food for dinner because there's only 5 days until we move and I don't want to buy too many perishables. Looks like we'll have to eat out tonight. Oh, darn.
Eating Out and Holiday Party
On Dec. 18th I went out to lunch with co-workers. I chose the restaurant because it was in honor of my leaving the job next week. I chose Chinese food because I ate heavy Italian food the past two days (remember the "Too Much Cheese" post?). So I ordered shrimp in lobster sauce with brown rice. We also ate cream cheese rangoons as an appatizer - they were delicious, but fried! I drank hot tea.
For breakfast I ate what I had the day before - a slice of cinnamon toast and cream of wheat. Cup of water. Half a cup of coffee. I was hungry before we left for lunch but held out and didn't snack knowing I'd fill up when we ate lunch at the restaurant.
That night I also ate out with my husband and the baby at one of our favorite places we haven't been to in a long while. We visited it for old times sake before we move to North Carolina last week. For nastalgia's sake, I didn't care that I ate a "Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Steak Sandwich" with a few potato chips. Water for a drink.
After visiting with a friend we didn't get home until 9:00. I then had to make a casserole dish for the work party tomorrow and wrap gifts. I didn't go to bed until 11:00. I was very tired.
The next day, Friday, was our work Christmas party. I ran out of toast in the morning, so I had some cream of wheat for breakfast and a half a cup of coffee. I was starving for lunch by 11:00 but held out until it was ready to be served by 12:30. I piled my plate with appetizers first - chili dip, artichoke dip, salami and cream cheese roll ups and plenty of chips. Yum! Christmas is once a year. I'll make up for it another time.
Then I had the steak that was provided as the main course. I chose half a steak that was about the size of my palm and I ate a lot of broccoli salad. Not sure what was in it, but I think it had mayo. I drank a cup of tea, soda and two cups of water all afternoon.
After picking up the kids at 5:00 from the babysitters, my husband and I went to the mall for a last-minute non-Christmas errand before we move next week. Why did we wait 'til last minute and have to face the cattle-herd crowd in the mall? Oh yeah, I think I had this on the honey-do list for a few weeks...hmm...
Then we had to stop for formula and wipes at another store. My eyes were closing on the way home. I wasn't much company in the car for my husband. We got home at 8:00. I was starting to get that twinge of pain in the middle of my head that precludes a migraine. Yep, it was coming. I have learned that for me, exhaustion is a sympton of my migraines. I knew what I had to do before it got any worse. As soon as I walked through the door at the house, I walked up the stairs, changed into pj's and went to bed. Lights out. No dinner.
Woke up sometime in the middle of the night starving. I ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. It took some time, plus the baby was up for a middle-of-the-night feeding.
For breakfast I ate what I had the day before - a slice of cinnamon toast and cream of wheat. Cup of water. Half a cup of coffee. I was hungry before we left for lunch but held out and didn't snack knowing I'd fill up when we ate lunch at the restaurant.
That night I also ate out with my husband and the baby at one of our favorite places we haven't been to in a long while. We visited it for old times sake before we move to North Carolina last week. For nastalgia's sake, I didn't care that I ate a "Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Steak Sandwich" with a few potato chips. Water for a drink.
After visiting with a friend we didn't get home until 9:00. I then had to make a casserole dish for the work party tomorrow and wrap gifts. I didn't go to bed until 11:00. I was very tired.
The next day, Friday, was our work Christmas party. I ran out of toast in the morning, so I had some cream of wheat for breakfast and a half a cup of coffee. I was starving for lunch by 11:00 but held out until it was ready to be served by 12:30. I piled my plate with appetizers first - chili dip, artichoke dip, salami and cream cheese roll ups and plenty of chips. Yum! Christmas is once a year. I'll make up for it another time.
Then I had the steak that was provided as the main course. I chose half a steak that was about the size of my palm and I ate a lot of broccoli salad. Not sure what was in it, but I think it had mayo. I drank a cup of tea, soda and two cups of water all afternoon.
After picking up the kids at 5:00 from the babysitters, my husband and I went to the mall for a last-minute non-Christmas errand before we move next week. Why did we wait 'til last minute and have to face the cattle-herd crowd in the mall? Oh yeah, I think I had this on the honey-do list for a few weeks...hmm...
Then we had to stop for formula and wipes at another store. My eyes were closing on the way home. I wasn't much company in the car for my husband. We got home at 8:00. I was starting to get that twinge of pain in the middle of my head that precludes a migraine. Yep, it was coming. I have learned that for me, exhaustion is a sympton of my migraines. I knew what I had to do before it got any worse. As soon as I walked through the door at the house, I walked up the stairs, changed into pj's and went to bed. Lights out. No dinner.
Woke up sometime in the middle of the night starving. I ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. It took some time, plus the baby was up for a middle-of-the-night feeding.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Weigh-Ins
I usually weigh myself in the morning for psychological reasons, i.e. you always weigh less in the morning than at night. For me, that's a two pound difference. I have a digital scale. I like to know if I'm on the upper or lower end of the pound.
My baby is now 6 months old. When I got home from the hospital I weighed 138 pounds. I don't like having extra weight on me. I knew some of it would just "go away" over time, but it still bothered me. So, I started to jog when the baby was four weeks old, but had to stop after 8 weeks due to a pulled muscle. I began to weigh myself once a month and will continue to do so for record-keeping. Here is my history:
6/24 = 135.8
7/24 = 132.4
8/24 = 130.8
9/24 = 128.8
10/24 = 126.4
11/24 = 125.8
12/17 = 125.0 pounds
12/29 = 125.8
1/9 = 123.6
My baby is now 6 months old. When I got home from the hospital I weighed 138 pounds. I don't like having extra weight on me. I knew some of it would just "go away" over time, but it still bothered me. So, I started to jog when the baby was four weeks old, but had to stop after 8 weeks due to a pulled muscle. I began to weigh myself once a month and will continue to do so for record-keeping. Here is my history:
6/24 = 135.8
7/24 = 132.4
8/24 = 130.8
9/24 = 128.8
10/24 = 126.4
11/24 = 125.8
12/17 = 125.0 pounds
12/29 = 125.8
1/9 = 123.6
Too Much Cheese
Yesterday I ate what I consider kindof crappy. For breakfast I had the same thing the day before: one slice of raisin bread with butter, cream of wheat, water. Lunch was a different story: I ordered a 12 inch hoagie with pepperoni and provolone cheese, melted. I ate half for lunch and half for dinner. That way, the calories and cost were split :) I also had a mini Three Musketeers candy bar (from the candy jar at work), cup of tea, a 12 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper, 2 large glasses of water at night because the cheese and pepperoni made me thirsty. That's what I ate all day. Just looking at the greasy pepperoni and cheese made me cringe at the oil oozing out. But I ate it anyway and it was good. I'll make up for it later.
Okay, so I didn't make up for it today (Dec. 17). For breakfast, slice of raisin toast with butter, water. At about 10:30 I had Starbucks coffee, peppermint white chocolate mocha - loaded with calories, I know, but it was a treat along with the very large chocolate chip cookie I had with it. For lunch, a small cup of Maryland Crab soup from Wawa (I'm from the Northeast). I will be moving to North Carolina next week.
I walked around store as I shopped for Christmas presents while carrying around my 20 pound baby in the car seat and then in the stroller. Holding her is a workout in itself!
Okay, so I didn't make up for it today (Dec. 17). For breakfast, slice of raisin toast with butter, water. At about 10:30 I had Starbucks coffee, peppermint white chocolate mocha - loaded with calories, I know, but it was a treat along with the very large chocolate chip cookie I had with it. For lunch, a small cup of Maryland Crab soup from Wawa (I'm from the Northeast). I will be moving to North Carolina next week.
I walked around store as I shopped for Christmas presents while carrying around my 20 pound baby in the car seat and then in the stroller. Holding her is a workout in itself!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Why I'm Starting This Blog
I'm starting this blog because friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and strangers keep asking me, "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" I ask.
"Stay so thin!"
At first I would stare at them blankly for a few seconds before answering, "Oh, I don't know." Then I'd smile and change the subject before the daggers in their eyes penetrated me any deeper. Keep in mind, they are mostly women asking me that question, especially after I had each of my two children.
And I honestly didn't know the answer. Until a few years ago I started to pay attention to what I ate, how much, when, my level of activity, my attitude towards eating, etc. I was always interested in the subject of health/nutrition, but not until I had two children did I realize that my eating habits were definitely paying off. I don't exercise. I don't diet. But I do "watch" what I eat and I've sloughed off most of my pregnancy weight. I'm 30 years old, currently weigh about 125 lbs and I'm 5'6" tall. I work full-time. I have a genetic predisposition to being thin: I was what I would classify myself as "skinny" as a teenager and my mom is thin now. I'll talk more about my history later.
The purpose of this blog is to try and find answers to the question of how I stay thin. I will attempt to describe in detail what I eat, how much, my activity and my personal opinions of food. I will refer to product names, but I am in no way endorsing them or affiliated with their business. This will be a case-study of one year in the life of a thin person.
So today I ate (in order):
- one slice of raisin cinnamon bread with about three "shavings" of butter (what's a "shaving?" - I'm not sure how much. Just imagine shaving butter with a kitchen knife so thin that it melts on the warm bread within seconds of spreading it. We're not talking globs or chunks or slices of butter, just shavings).
- a cup of water
- a cup of tea
- about 3 oz. of cream of wheat (no milk; a tsp of white sugar)
- 6 oz. of strawberry/banana yogurt (29g of sugar - yuck!! to me, that's too sweet for yogurt and it took me awhile to eat it. I was kicking myself for buying it in the food store).
- a slice of cheese pizza
- 2 tootsie rolls
- a half of a hershey chocolate bar
- about 2 full size graham crackers
- half a cup of regular coffee (with a tsp of white sugar and a sprinkle of creamer)
- a cup of chopped peaches (pre-packaged)
- about 2 cups of cooked spaghetti, a quarter cup sauce, 2 meatballs and a slice of garlic bread (prepackaged).
- 2 tall glasses of water
I got home from work and started dinner right away in the kitchen.
I cleaned up some of the toys scattered around the living room.
I went Christmas shopping for about an hour.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Stay so thin!"
At first I would stare at them blankly for a few seconds before answering, "Oh, I don't know." Then I'd smile and change the subject before the daggers in their eyes penetrated me any deeper. Keep in mind, they are mostly women asking me that question, especially after I had each of my two children.
And I honestly didn't know the answer. Until a few years ago I started to pay attention to what I ate, how much, when, my level of activity, my attitude towards eating, etc. I was always interested in the subject of health/nutrition, but not until I had two children did I realize that my eating habits were definitely paying off. I don't exercise. I don't diet. But I do "watch" what I eat and I've sloughed off most of my pregnancy weight. I'm 30 years old, currently weigh about 125 lbs and I'm 5'6" tall. I work full-time. I have a genetic predisposition to being thin: I was what I would classify myself as "skinny" as a teenager and my mom is thin now. I'll talk more about my history later.
The purpose of this blog is to try and find answers to the question of how I stay thin. I will attempt to describe in detail what I eat, how much, my activity and my personal opinions of food. I will refer to product names, but I am in no way endorsing them or affiliated with their business. This will be a case-study of one year in the life of a thin person.
So today I ate (in order):
- one slice of raisin cinnamon bread with about three "shavings" of butter (what's a "shaving?" - I'm not sure how much. Just imagine shaving butter with a kitchen knife so thin that it melts on the warm bread within seconds of spreading it. We're not talking globs or chunks or slices of butter, just shavings).
- a cup of water
- a cup of tea
- about 3 oz. of cream of wheat (no milk; a tsp of white sugar)
- 6 oz. of strawberry/banana yogurt (29g of sugar - yuck!! to me, that's too sweet for yogurt and it took me awhile to eat it. I was kicking myself for buying it in the food store).
- a slice of cheese pizza
- 2 tootsie rolls
- a half of a hershey chocolate bar
- about 2 full size graham crackers
- half a cup of regular coffee (with a tsp of white sugar and a sprinkle of creamer)
- a cup of chopped peaches (pre-packaged)
- about 2 cups of cooked spaghetti, a quarter cup sauce, 2 meatballs and a slice of garlic bread (prepackaged).
- 2 tall glasses of water
Nothing else before bed.
I got up probably about a dozen times from my desk at the office and walked to co-workers' offices, the bathroom and the kitchen. This is a small office - mostly the rooms are right down the hallway.I got home from work and started dinner right away in the kitchen.
I cleaned up some of the toys scattered around the living room.
I went Christmas shopping for about an hour.
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