Meal 1 - I like to start off my day with a shake. Right now I'm using Idealshake and I like it, it works well, keeps me full and satisfied. The shake uses 8 oz of water or milk (I use water), and Idealshake suggests you follow it up by drinking an additional 8 oz of water to 'activate' the shake and its filling properties.
Meal 2 - I eat a homemade protein bar. This one is flavored with cranberries and cinnamon. I found the recipe online. You can find it by googling "Joan bar recipe". There are also other variations of the bar I'm looking forward to trying in the future. It makes 20 bars, but I cut mine into 30, because that way I can control the calories and have it right around 100 calories. With a bottle of water it does keep me full for 2-3 hours. It's kind of like a spongey tea-cake like consistency, it's better than some protein bars I've had and enjoyable to eat, but not so to die for delicious that I will binge on it. Haha! That's perfect for me! You can store these in the fridge or freezer, I keep mine in the fridge.
Snack - Sometimes between meals I do get a little hungry, depending on my activities of the day. If I'm feeling like I've got the munchies, I will chop up 2 claussen pickle spears in little bite size pieces and have a laughing cow cheese wedge with it, eating teeny bites of the cheese between pickle bites. I love the flavor combo of the cheese and pickles together and it really satisfies that craving for something crunchy to nibble on and eating the pickle in little pieces helps me to make the snack last longer and fools me into feeling like I've had a treat. Together, it's only 45 calories. 5 cal per pickle spear and 35 for the cheese wedge.
Meal 3 - Cottage cheese and crackers. I pre-portion the crackers into snack size baggies when I open the box. Because I tend to be a snacker, it helps me to do this so I don't over eat. I can grab a baggie with the calorie content I want to eat and not worry about self control because there's no endless box of crackers in my hands to keep digging into. When the baggie is empty, it's empty and I'm done.
Meal 4 - I love avocados and boiled eggs together. Salt & pepper on the eggs (they're a little discolored on the edges because they were dyed from Easter, older pic!) and light salt on the avocado. I only use 1/2 avocado at a time bc of calorie count. This meal is very filling and delicious, in my opinion!
Meal 5 - The Lean & Green Meal! This meal is a parmesan & garlic crusted tilapia filet from Van De Kamp's that I found in the frozen section. It comes with a pack of 2 filets so makes for 2 meals! I like to pair my fish with Green Giant's steamed green beans w/almonds. It comes in a box in the frozen section and inside the box is a steam bag of the green beans and a separate bag for the almonds. There's no seasoning on them, I don't even add salt/pepper, that's how yummy they are! I eat the entire package which counts as '3 servings' but it's really not a great amount of green beans, in fact I probably should have a second veggie with this meal. Usually I go with Gorton's grilled tilapia or salmon, but I enjoyed this filet, it almost has the taste of a fried fish, but it is baked in the oven. - This fish is not suggested to microwave. So I do have to plan ahead for this meal a little due to the filet.
Snack 2 - Sometimes I need a taste of something sweet after a meal, usually after the lean and green. Although I don't like eating sugar free products very often, I make an allowance on this one and keep it in my fridge as a staple when I am dieting and my kids are not allowed to touch them without permission! HA! Sugar free Jello brand lime jello is such a treat for me. If I am craving chocolate or sweets, this seriously does the job for me 98% of the time! AND it's only 10 calories! BAM!
Meal 6 - I love to snack before bed while I watch TV so my last meal sometimes will be natural almonds. A full serving is 28 almonds, that's a lot! I will also sometimes snack on these during the day if I need a little extra energy or fighting the munchies. I will eat 8 or 14, depending. I always count them out and log them into the my fitness pal ap. I purchase the giant Blue Diamond bag of them at Walmart and just refill this container as I empty it. Really convenient to have it on my bedside table or even throw it in my purse for if I'm running errands and not sure if I will have to eat when I'm out of the house.
WATER!!! - Last, but definitely not least is water. Drinking water always impacts my weight loss. The more I drink, the more I lose. I love water so that definitely helps. Although, giving up soda was a little hard, I had happily but unhealthily fallen into that bad habit. Something I like to do when drinking my water is to add either some grapefruit oil or lemon oil. Really, any citrus oil is great and helps to stimulate weight loss and curb appetites, but grapefruit oil helps me especially and I LOVE the taste of it in my water. It's not bitter or sour at all, in fact I think it sweetens the water! Love, love, LOVE it!! And drinking out of a pretty glass doesn't hurt either!! :) ... (I am a HUGE believer in essential oils and my brand of choice is Young Living Essential Oils. If you are interested in oils, comment below or private message me and I'd be glad to tell you more!)
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