Identifying the problem
in Blogs
By Jamie
I weighed in this morning at 228 lbs, a loss of 2 pounds for the week. And with this new number, I am making a promise to myself to NEVER see the 230′s again. EVER. When I measured I’ve lost a half inch off my waist and a half inch off my upper arm. The rest of my body remains the same as last week.
Here’s where I have to fess up and tell you that I’m actually surprised about this. While I did well on the exercising front, my portion control and food choices were less than spectacular. I didn’t have any big fall of the wagon type binges, but I wasn’t all that mindful of what I was putting in my mouth either. All that time at the gym probably just cancelled out the extra calories allowing me to still loose weight. I feel almost like I got away with something. If I really don’t want to see the 230′s again, and believe me, I don’t, I need to work both sides of the equation. Diet AND exercise.
Exercise has been surprisingly enjoyable. It’s not hard for me to get motivated to go to the gym, because I’m a stay at home mom of two small boys, and by the time my husband gets home from work I’m throwing the baby at him and saying “See ya! Gotta go to the gym!” headed for a blissful hour of relative quiet. The elliptical trainer is much less demanding than my children. It doesn’t yell at me for “JUICE! JUICE MOMMY! I NEED JUICE” or require me to scrub poop off of it’s rear. No, the elliptical lets me plug in my headphones and watch TV uninterrupted with the added benefit of burning off a few calories in the process. It’s no wonder this is the easiest part of a healthy lifestyle for me.
Where I need to focus my attention is eating. Because, MY GOD, I love to eat. To complicate matters, so does my husband. We’re both on diets, and we do try to keep each other on track, but all too often we find ourselves talking each other into going out for milkshakes on the weekend. “It’s not so bad if we share” we reason, only when we go to order our single milk shake we find that I want raspberry cheesecake and he wants Oreo, so we end up with two.
Neither of us like to cook, so we tend to do a lot of eating out, which is not only bad for the diet, it’s bad for our bank account. The easy solution would be to cook healthy meals at home, but when you’re dealing with two people who can barely boil water successfully, that’s easier said than done. By the fourth day of eating baked chicken and steamed veggies we’re both looking at our plates and thinking seriously about ordering a pizza.
My goal for the coming week is to find some healthy and simple recipes and cook at home more times than we eat out. My hope is that if I can find some meals we can prepare at home that are actually GOOD, eventually eating out won’t seem that attractve. If we start drooling over the idea of milkshakes, maybe I’ll whip up a yogurt smoothie in my blender.
Tell me, what is your favorite healthy meal to cook at home?
February 9th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Luckily, my husband and I both love to cook and we both love healthy eating (not that I wouldn’t cut off my left pinky to have a calorie-less cheeseburger and fries). We try and make whatever we feel like eating, but modify it so it’s healthy. We use lean ground turkey instead of beef (or 93% lean beef). We love salmon and most seafood and instead of steaming veggies, we roast them often with garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. It gives it a different flavor and is less boring than just steamed veggies. We try and only have starches with dinner a few nights a week and double up our veggies on the nights we skip it.
I also make soups and chilis in the crockpot in the winter.
The biggest thing for us has been setting up a meal plan on Friday for the following week. We’ll decide what we want to eat and when, and then when we go shopping on the weekend we make sure we get the stuff we need. We also decide who will cook what and on what day. This seriously takes away from the Oh-Shit-It’s-6-pm-And-We-Have-No-Dinner-Planned-Let’s-Order-Chinese (like we did last night.)
I’m so happy you waved goodbye to the 230s! I am with you only a few pounds away and soon I hope to say goodbye to the 220s!!
February 9th, 2009 at 8:11 am
I can’t say enough about roasting veggies v. steaming them. I am a huge roaster. Cauliflower (with ground red pepper and olive oil for @30 minutes on 350) is my favorite but I also like broccoli (with sliced garlic cloves and chili flakes), bell peppers, carrots, Brussels sprouts (quartered with kosher salt and olive oil) etc. You would be amazed at how great veggies taste when you roast them. My husband now requests Brussels sprouts! I buy salmon in bulk and cut them into individual servings and freeze them separately for quick meals. Just thaw, add some olive oil and I like to use that hot chili paste (usually a condiment at Chinese restaurants) and grill them – take about 10 minutes and has tons of flavor. Also, there is a lot of good frozen fish out there that can be prepared in minutes and are really flavorful. Hope this helps – good luck!
February 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I’m currently enjoying:
3/4 cup frozen berries
1/2 a banana, sliced
1 tsp ground flax seed
1 cup vanilla soy milk
blended together.
It’s quite milkshake like, and it’s really good.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I just don’t have it in me to spend hours every night cooking and cleaning up. I am a commited freezer cook. Basically, every months (although for a beginner, once a month would be good), I plan a bunch of healthy meals, check the sales, and do a marathon of shopping, prepping, and cooking. Then I have a bunch of meals in the freezer to just defrost and bake/grill/stir-fry/throw in the crock pot. This works out great since I never think of dinner until 5pm. I can control the ingredients, and best of all – cleanup is minimal since all the prep work was done at a different time. More time with the kids (or the remote!)
I just finished a big cooking session last week, and I have some great stuff in the freezer: Meatloaf to defrost and bake; steak and marinaded chicken to throw on the grill, meatballs for the crockpot; cashew chicken and beef broccoli to stir-fry; and chile, soups, and stews for thaw-and-eat meals.
If this kind of lifestyle appeals to you, feel free to email me. I have tons of recipes, websites, and books I can recommend.
It works for me because I can plan and shop for meals when I am not being influenced by cravings or a busy schedule. It does require carving out a day or so to be in the kitchen uninterrupted, but I find it to be more cost efficient, time efficient, and in general a more relaxed way to live.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:58 am
One thing that has worked well for us is a Foreman Grill. Seriously, it has made dinner so easy. We bought a cheap one ($30) from Wal-mart. It’s easy to grill chicken, burgers (beef, turkey), pork chops etc… I’ll be watching the comments for more suggestions. I’m going to try some roasted veggies tonight – yum.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I also roast all of my veggies with olive oil, salt, and pepper when I am in a hurry. For easy chicken, I marinade chicken in Stubbs chicken marinade and grill. I also cook boneless pork chops all the time, just salt and pepper 10 minutes each side in the oven at 400. Pork tenderloin with salt and pepper, so any seasoning you like, 20 minutes at 400. Super easy.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:19 am
My favorite really quick, really easy meal is stir-fry. Heat a little bit of oil or cooking spray in a nonstick pan, some frozen veggies, and some tofu (I’m mostly veggie at home, but you can use defrosted individually quick frozen chicken breast pieces or shrimp, leftover lean steak, whatever!). Add soy sauce, garlic, ginger, a little chicken stock, or whatever spices you like. It’s better if you defrost the veggies before you stir-fry them, but it’s fine if you don’t.
I agree with the other commenters that roasting is much better than steaming (as is stir-frying!) and pre-preparation is key.
I don’t go the complete freezer-cooking route (I’ve got a small apartment fridge) but when I cook things that take a long time like brown rice, beans, wheat berries, etc., I freeze them in small containers (around two meals’ worth). I also try to prep food as soon as I buy it so that I can assemble it into a meal in just a few minutes – with precooked tofu, parboiled veggies, and rice from the freezer I can make myself a healthy meal in less time than it takes me to stop for takeout.
Oh, and here’s possibly my simplest most favorite meal of all: whole wheat spaghetti with a fried egg on top. Seriously good stuff, dirt cheap, and healthy.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
We also do a lot of roasted veg (My husband and I love brussels sprouts too!) but we have to mix it up or we’ll get bored – so some weeks we get whole artichokes to steam (SO good) or stuff for making big salads to go with dinner. Broiled or grilled fish or meat is always easy as are microwaved baked potatoes (or sweet potatoes). If you have one near you, Trader Joe’s has tons of healthy frozen options for those nights when you just don’t want to cook.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Since my family does not eat a lot of veggies, I tend to eat a little bit of the entree with a huge helping of frozen veggies.
For example, combine 3/4 cup chicken fettucini alfredo (chicken helper kind) with 1.5 cups of lightly buttered broccoli. Or like last night, combine 1 cup of bacon mac & cheese with a cup of peas.
Check out the site for the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. I’ve found her recipes to be interesting, healthy, and appealing to a lot of tastes.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I’m on the roasted veggie bandwagon, too — our favorites right now are cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus and sweet potato. We toss ‘em in a little olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper.
If you like steamed veggies, I’ve been using those microwave steamer bag thingies — super easy, even though you do pay for a box of fancy plastic bags. But it’s so easy to throw in some chopped veggies along with a few shakes of Mrs. Dash or whatever.
Boneless porkchops are our go-to subsitute when we’re tired of the chicken, and also shrimp.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I just had to laugh because I read this while sitting at my computer *eating baked chicken and steamed veggies*.
We eat a lot of turkey burgers or ground turkey chili that makes us feel like we’re getting away with something but with the beans for fiber and low fat meat it’s not bad for you.
And if we do order pizza it’s the thin cracker crust stuff with lots of veggies on it … so tasty!
February 9th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
This is basically my problem – we eat out a ton, because we both work, and we have a toddler, and we’re mediocre cooks who have a somewhat limited repertoire. A couple of weeks ago, though, we signed up for relishrelish.com, which is sort of a cool concept. You pick 5 meals out of 15 for the week (all dinner), and it gives you a grocery list and recipes. It’s been working for us – we’ve been eating at home more, and generally eating better, both from a taste and a healthy-living perspective. The meals are all simple to make, too – nothing too crazy or labor intensive. It costs money, but it’s pretty cheap – $7 a month, I think.
No affiliation with the site or the people who run it – it’s just how we solved this problem.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Our favorite go-to meal around here is what we call Taco Rice:
Brown 1 lb protein (we use ground turkey breast or lean beef) in large pot
Add one bag of Knorr Taco Rice (bagged rice side dish) and 2 cups water to protein. Boil, covered, for 7 minutes
Add 1-2 cans no-salt black beans, drained
Add veggies of choice (diced bell peppers, diced tomatoes, etc)
Allow to warm through
Serve with fav toppings (LF sour cream, cheese, salsa, etc) over salad greens for “taco salad”, wrapped in whole wheat tortilla, or just scoop into in a bowl and dig in.
My 2 year old gobbles this up. The more beans and veggies you add the farther you can stretch the leftovers. It takes about 15 minutes to cook and we usually get 2-3 dinners and 2-3 lunches out of one night of cooking. It’s on our menu at least 3 times a month around here!
February 11th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I’m with Deb #4 and ikate #13.
When I do Deb’s “fill the freezer” cooking extravaganza, I usually start with about 4 or 5 lbs of dried beans (pintos, garbanzos, kidney, black, lentils), soak them (well, you don’t need to soak the lentils) and make all sorts of different soups and chilis and stock the freezer. When I first started doing this I had to order about 100 new Tupperware containers to put all the meals in. Another advantage (Deb mentioned “shop the sales” and save on bulk food) is, those dried beans are C-H-E-A-P for how much food they produce.
I have the easiest of all easy chili recipes, it’s very close to ikate’s recipe but *even easier.* It’s called “seven can chili” and here’s what you do: you open one can each of the following:
- 1 can prepared green chile (in the soup aisle… I like chicken green chile but pork is easier to find)
- 1 can white meat chicken in water
- 1 can chopped green chiles
- 1 can low-salt diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 can low-salt black beans
- 1 can low-salt pinto beans
- 1 can low-salt corn
Mix all that stuff together, including all the juice, water etc. and stir through and heat. It’s low fat (depending on what kind of prepared green chile you get), high protein and high fiber by the time you add all those beans, and low salt if you get the salt-free version of everything. You can stock up on these cans of stuff and have them in the pantry for those emergency evenings when you want to eat out because you don’t have anything around to eat.