Anyway- I thought today I would look at my favourite "diet" foods! These are definitely some staples in my regular diet these days and they are all sooo good.
Breakfast:
90% of the time my breakfast is blackberries, yogurt, muesli cereal, and a little honey. My yogurt of choice is Astro 0% vanilla, which is so rich and creamy yet low calorie and low sugar compared to other yogurts! As for the muesli cereal- I am currently rocking a brand called "Jordan's". I try a lot of different ones though, depending on what's on sale.
The other 10% of the time I am eating a Clif bar or having toast with PB/jam
Lunch:
Work provides the foods for lunch and I actually do the shopping on grocerygateway.com, so I try to make healthy lunches and buy good snacks. I almost never go out because it isn't really convenient and there is free food in the office! My typical lunches are: turkey wraps, pita pizzas, and egg sandwiches or omelettes. I try to keep lunch around 400 calories.
Dinner:
My dinners vary a lot, but I don't actually eat a lot of carbs at dinner time. You can often find me eating turkey sausage (sooo good and filling, though the sodium count means I don't eat them every day), fish, chicken, pork etc. I almost always cut up some veggies for the side too. Sometimes I have a bit of brown rice or potatoes. Once in awhile I make soup for the week!
Snacks:
I think snacks might be my downfall this time around. I love love love to eat so I usually have a snack between each meal!
Morning snack: Almost always seems to be a Fibre 1 protein bar. I have a huge sweet tooth and the chocolate satisfies my cravings for the morning, while the protein keeps me going until lunch.
Afternoon snack: It varies between veggies, fruit, a Rice Krispie square, crackers etc.
Post dinner snack/dessert: I am a HUGE fan of Skinny Cow ice creams and since Sobey's is so kind to often have sales my freezer is usually full of ice cream bars, cones, and sandwiches, all of which are under 150 calories and oh so yummy. However, in the late evening I often reach for a couple of cookies or a bowl of dry cereal as well.
Overall, each day I am probably eating 1500-1700 calories and probably a meals worth of snacks so I KNOW I have to cut back on the snacks because they are my downfall. I think I also need to work a lot more fruits and veggies into my day, which will keep my full for longer without the calorie hit.
What are your go-to low cal meals?? I could use some new options!
Sometimes it can actually mean that you aren't eating enough - your body can be holding on to all the calories it is getting. Or alternatively, you have hit a plateau. Which is very common. You will need to mix up your workouts and food to see results. Personally, I found really good results when I increased protein at breakfast and increased water intake. Good luck! And remember you are at a healthy weight and you are active and strong - the numbers don't really matter all that much.
ReplyDeleteHummmm - that looks like way more than the calories you are accounting for....? Also a lot of carbs. Write everything down, every day, along with your weight, try varying your intake. Reduce carbs dinner and evening, they don't process well at night. Give it a shot. You are doing everything right - just frustrating that the scale isn't reflecting it (yet!) xo Sheila
ReplyDeleteI measure and weigh everything and I track my carb intake on my app (it gives me a goal).
DeleteI agree with the first Anon above about a plateau being one possibility, and the benefits of increasing protein and water (tea is also good, too, as long as it doesn't have too much sugar or caffeine; caffeine does stimulate the metabolism, but it's also a diuretic). Also, if you are still weight training as part of your workouts, muscle tends to weigh more than fat. It's possible that the scale will continue to go up or fluctuate as as you get stronger. I know in one of the other updates you said your measurements hadn't changed, but I think they will slowly start to if you keep doing what you're doing as far as working out.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the brand of yogurt you mentioned, but I noticed that a lot of the low calorie/low sugar ones in our grocery store use artificial sweetener (usually sucralose) to keep the sugar and calories down. For some reason, artificial sweeteners seem make me crave more real sugar and carbohydrates. Most of the articles I read on the subject contradict each other, so I don't think nutritionists have really decided if artificial sweeteners make the body crave more sugar - some said yes, others said it can, but not if it's consumed with a meal (pretty sure berries and muesli count as a meal). In any case, maybe you could try switching to an unflavored Greek yogurt, since you are typically adding berries and honey? I've personally been eating a small portion of full fat/sugar/carb yogurt, or marking a green smoothie for breakfast, usually with a cup of black coffee.
Also, counting calories was helpful for me a few years ago when I was trying to get in better shape, but I noticed that I tended to eat smaller portions of the healthy foods and then use "the rest" of my calories for snacks or a slightly larger portion of dessert. Not saying that is what you are doing, just thought I'd mention it because not all calories are created equal. Also I think I read that fructose (high fructose corn syrup) does not stimulate the "full" reflex in the brain in the same way as glucose. Not sure if you are eating anything with fructose, but if you are that could be contributing a bit.
I kind of gave up on religiously counting calories, and sort of follow the 80/20 rule or very, very loose Paleo guidelines (I eat a lot of what is on their "don't" list in moderation), mainly focus on eating healthy portions of protein, vegetables, and a few carbohydrates. I have sort of plateaued around the same weight as you, but I have admittedly not been exercising very much recently, other than trying walk more often.
Sorry for the novel! I really hope this doesn't come across as me being judgmental, because it's definitely not intended that way! You seem to be doing a great job, I just thought I'd mention a few things I found to be true for myself, in hopes that they help you.
thanks! I 100% eat smaller meals and snack a lot because of that! I need to work on it.
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