Whatcha Doin'?

8 lbs. down - 4 lbs. down - 2 lbs. down
These are some of the posts I've made to my FB wall.

It never really occurred to me until the last day or two when I've received emails, calls and FB messages that I post 'how' I am doing, but now 'what' I am doing.

So, let me put this mystery to rest right now.

A few years back I had someone tell me about SparkPeople (if you read this, thank you).  Even though I technically joined over a year ago, I did absolutely nothing with it until this January.
SparkPeople is a website you can join and enter in your height, weight, age, gender and they'll give you healthy nutritional and fitness goals.  There is a 'fitness' tab that will tell you whether you're to do cardio or strength training each day and will even give you photos and videos of what to do.
On the 'nutrition' tab you can see the suggested menu (not bad - good for ideas), or choose for yourself what you'd like to eat.  You can track what you eat on the site, and what I love is it will tally your calorie, fat, carb and protein intake for the day.  I love that you become educated about what you eat!!  I've done WW in the past (great program) but was always just thinking about the points (yes, I know they're based on calories, fat and dietary fiber) and not about nutritional value.
The cost of this great health tool actually fits into my budget (unlike so many things!).  This is because, it's FREE!  Check it out for yourself.

I've also been asked, 'What are you eating?'
Fear not - If you know me even a little bit, you know that I could not do what I've been doing if I were feeling deprived.  I get very mean when that happens.  I remember when I joined WW for the, oh... 7th time or so, they were doing a fast start program where you ate only what they told you to for the first week.  I was like a woman possessed!!  "Hey Diane - WHAT?!?!"  Just too mean and ugly to deal with. I think my mother was counting down the days until week 1 was over! (actually, she was extremely supportive; although I'm sure she was ready to give me a good thumpin')
Here's a sample menu from my day:

Breakfast:  I typically have either 1.5 cups of Multigrain Cheerios (yummy!!) with 1% milk, or I'll make a 1/2 cup of egg beaters (= 2 eggs) sometimes with some diced onion and tomato.  If I'm feeling really hungry that morning, I'll put the egg beaters into a Wrap-Itz low carb wheat wrap (yummy!! and only 90 calories!).

Mid morning snack:  Either a piece of fruit or a yogurt.  I like Fiber One by Yoplait's key lime (50 calories) or Oikos by Stonyfield Farm Organic Greek Yogurt w/ strawberries on the bottom. (90 cal)

Lunch:  Turkey with lettuce & tomato on a Wrap-Itz  -  or  -  a tossed salad with hard boiled egg  - or - Progresso Soup.  I love the Progresso soups!!  So filling and very low calories, fat, carbs.  Look for the ones that say 'light' or that have the WW points on the front (keep in mind, that's for one serving and there are 2 in a can).

Afternoon Snack:  100 calorie pack of nuts,  fruit,  ants on a log (remember this from when you were a youngin? - celery with peanutbutter and raisins), light string cheese stick, lots of choices.

Dinner - This is always the toughest meal of the day for me. Still trying to find ways to cut the calories and fat on my old recipes without it tasting bland or as the boys would say "disgustan".  That being said, we usually try to stick with a 3 - 4 oz. portion of lean meat, veggies (which I love to roast - tiny bit of olive oil, little salt and pepper and put it in the oven on about 400 - 425, turning occasionally - great with any root veggies, and is really good with summer squash and zucchini too!), salad, roasted potatoes, brown rice... You get the idea.
A few specific things we enjoy are turkey chili (use the recipe from Allrecipes, and then tweak), and ... I can't believe I'm going to say this, even though it's not the first time I've posted about this... but I never thought these words would be tapped by my fingers.... I like veggie burgers.. (I feel so dirty).  Really, I like Morning Star's Mushroom Lovers burgers.  I've also tried turkey burgers (easy enough to make yourself) and they're good too.

Night time snack:  Popcorn is the #1 snack staple for me.  Orville Redenbacher's 94% fat free is only about 113 calories for the whole bag!!  I like Italian Ice, and all of the 100 Calorie Packs of cookies and such.  Can't wait to try VitaTops that I've been reading about, and had someone recommend. (thanks Stacey!)  And I just tried Popchips. YUMMMMM!  I tried the bbq ones and they were so good!!

So there you are.  There's an idea of what I've been eating that is working for me.  But each person needs to find their own groove and what will work for them.

Now after writing about all of this food, it's time for my afternoon snack!