It’s a spooky weight control week in honor of Halloween. Boo!
Before January 2019, I was living a carefree life of eating whatever I felt like, and paying the consequences by gaining weight and being out of control. It’s a subject to be developed another time, but the weight gain seemed to go in stages, rather than a steady slow increase. It probably had something to do with how I was living my life and the things that were happening in my life during that time. My guess was that since I identified eating and being full with comfort and cheap happiness, it was probably correlated to when I needed more comfort and happiness in life. I don’t do that anymore, not with eating and food, anyway.
No more expedience. I work towards my goal of weight control, and I pay attention. I portion and count the food. I find I can get more happiness and satisfaction this way, and have more meaning in my life.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – half slice Costco pepperoni pizza (355)
- 355 calories
Lunch – peanut butter and jelly toast (300); hummus and pickles on toast (200);
- 500 calories
Dinner – Homemade chicken and rice skillet portion: 7 ounces seared and fricasseed chicken breast (220); 10 ounces rice cooked in olive oil, chicken broth, wine, onions, flavored with garlic and lemon and mixed with green peas (230)
- 450 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); Aldi peanut butter cups (400)
- 480 calories
Total for the day: 1785 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Sunday cooking, meal prep, planning, and portioning
All of the prep and cooking I do on a Sunday is preceded by shopping I try to do Friday or Saturday. This week, I bought chicken breasts and chicken thighs. Eggs were on sale, and I also bought poblano peppers for fajitas. The dish I cooked tonight is a family favorite – chicken breasts and rice and peas one-skillet meal. From the parenting point of view, it’s great because there is no need to coordinate extra pots with side dishes and vegetables. I am also thinking about cooking:
- Chicken curry (chicken thighs and cauliflower)
- Spanish tortilla (eggs, onions, and olive oil)
- Chicken fajitas (chicken breast, poblano peppers and onions cooked in cream)
- Chicken rice and peas one-skillet supper
I probably won’t get to all this this week, nor would I be able to eat it! Some of it will get pushed till next week. I am also spending more time at my office this week, so I have to plan for packed lunches that are worth eating.
How do you know how much you are eating and how to portion it? Tonight I ended up with six pieces of chicken and a large amount of rice and peas (cooked in wine, broth, onion, garlic….mmmm). The recipe is the place to start. Add up all the ingredients that you cooked and you will have the total calories.
- 2.5 pounds raw chicken breast = 1250 calories
- 1.5 cups of long grain rice = 960 calories
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil = 220 calories
- 1 onion – 40 calories
- 1 cup of green peas = 120 calories
- 1 Tablespoon of white all purpose flour = 30 calories
I don’t worry about the wine (it’s deliberately evaporated), garlic, lemon juice, or broth since those have minimal calories. Adding all the rest together comes to 2630 calories. One you take out the chicken (cut into 6 pieces of 220 calories each), the cooked rice and peas weighed exactly 3 pounds, 11 ounces. At 16 ounces per pound, it’s 59 ounces total and so you can get 6 portions of about 10 ounces each, and 230 calories. Chicken = 220 calories plus rice and peas 230 = 450 calories per portion. And it is a very delicious and satisfying meal, especially when you have been cooking for the half hour just before, and allowed yourself to get to juuuust being physically hungry. Timing is important.
I put the rest away, after we were done eating. Sunday is a great day for family dinner. And I have put enough away for another dinner later this week.
Getting thin and staying thin take work. This is how I work it, and how I translate the effort to the effect I want. This week is Halloween. Unlike previous years, I have not yet bought and eaten a whole bag of candy! And I won’t and I don’t have to. I am paying attention now, and find my satisfaction in ways that are deeper and more meaningful than eating candy until it is gone. I do like candy – but I eat measured amounts now, and find a way to make it part of a weight control lifestyle.
Change how you see the world and change how you live. Change yourself.
-The Doctor
I understand what you mean about spending the weekend preparing for the week ahead – shopping to make sure the right foods are in the house, cutting, cooking, and preparing what I can for the all to short weeknights. Making sure my food log has the right entries preparing for the week – it is all a lot of effort! Keep it up, the results are looking good on you!
Thanks for the encouragement! Spending this kind of time and energy and attention on what I eat, is a sacrifice I am glad to make, and I like living this way. Have you googled the meal prep king, by the way? He is a bit more planned out than me, but there’s no denying his success at losing weight and keeping it off.