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Friday, August 1, 2014

Sliced my finger cleaning the cheese grater


As I mentioned in my last post, my goal is to consume between 1500-1800 calories per day.  Over the last seven days, I have tracked my food consumption with myfitnesspal.com and have succeeded at staying within my calorie budget for five of the seven days.  That’s okay, but I can do better.  I will do better.  I will aim to stay within my budget every day, but if once in a while I go over, I won’t cry about it.  Or, I hope I don't cry about it. I will move on.  Since I am trying to lose weight, staying within my budget more often than not will determine how successful I am at taking off the pounds.  I would prefer not to go over my calorie budget more than once a week and really not more than twice a month.  Thank goodness today is the start of a new month, or I would be in trouble having already gone over my daily calorie limit twice.  Well, I will chalk that up to a learning experience as I am just beginning to track my calories. 
Even though I went over my limit a couple of times, I still think I am doing well...for me.  A positive worth mentioning is that I have only had one meal that was prepared outside the home (Taco Time) since my husband has been out of town.  Normally, at least 50% or more of my meals are take-out/dining out.  I've mentioned several times before that I do not cook.  Either my husband does the cooking or we will eat out.  Which means we eat out a lot.  In order for us both to succeed at weight loss, I need to do my part and start cooking.  For some reason, I do cook (and do dishes hence the title of this post) when he is not here.  Here are some of the meals that I prepared for dinner this week:

Potatoes, Eggs and Bacon
Turkey and Bean Tostada
Chicken, Cottage Cheese and Butternut Squash
Mushroom, Spinach and Cheese Omelet
Salmon, Butternut Squash and Spinach

I have enjoyed every meal and I am happy to report that I didn't overcook my meats like I did with the chicken a few weeks ago .  Both the chicken and salmon were moist.  Score!  I'm preparing my breakfast and lunches too.  I even had a salad.  The shock!  I need to improve with these meals, as I am having some foods that are not as healthy as I would prefer (bagel, cream cheese, granola).  Finding healthier options and cutting out the processed foods will happen over time.  For now, my goal is to stick to the calorie budget, whether the food is good, bad or ugly.   Convenience and likability will play a big part as I am starting out.  Hopefully the choices I make are still better than if I were eating fast food. 

My husband will be out of town until next Saturday.  That means I will fend for myself for another eight days.  I know it takes longer than two weeks to change your habits, but I hope that once he returns, I will start helping with the cooking.  That's a big wait and see though.  For now, all I can say is that I want to lose weight and to do so, I have to help with the cooking.  If I am serious about this, then I will.

It's Friday!  Hope you all have a great weekend.

9 comments:

  1. Eggs, Bacon, Turkey, Chicken, Salmon, Mushrooms, Spinach and Cheese Omelet are some of the great low carb high fat foods I eat.

    You are doing well ....keep it going, we're all on your side.

    All the best Jan

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  2. This is a fabulous post, my friend!!! Your perspective and approach is spot on-- "For now, my goal is to stick to the calorie budget..." Yes, YES! Let yours be a natural evolution of good choices--AND you'll be amazed at what happens naturally. I enjoyed reading ever bit of the delicious post! Thank you!

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  3. Congratulations on a great week. Many experts say cooking at home is one key to weight loss--you have a great start.

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  4. I think you are doing great - before you know it you'll be a food blogger! I find a ton of ideas on Pinterest - just search "simple healthy breakfasts" and you will find a shit ton of ideas.

    Keep up the great work!!

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  5. Oh sweetie, I could just about cry! WHAT GREAT STRIDES you are making towards improving your health! You are doing GREAT!!! When hubby comes back, you start sharing the cooking tasks with him, because you are cooking GREAT food now! Whether you start off slow, say, twice a week, or demand right up front that you do it every other day...the choice is YOURS. Make sure he cooks healthy too! If you want to treat yourselves to a dinner out on the weekend, that gives you each 3 days of cooking healthy.

    SO SO awesome, girly! :)

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  6. Great post! Now change the "I hope to" into an "I will." One thing I have learned is give no wiggle room. I will take any slack I give myself to avoid doing something.

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  7. I really need to cook more. I am so proud of you. We out entirely too much. I won't lie and so I don't enjoy it. Great job!!!

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  8. I actually don't like cooking either, but when I do it I make sure to bulk bake if I can. I put on some good movies, and bake up a bunch of stuff I can freeze and then pull out quickly whenever I need them. I highly recommend this cooking-avoidance technique. ;)

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  9. I've gotten in the habit of The Big Weekly Cook-Up, a helpful tip from my "Well Fed" paleo cookbook... Really helps to have a stockpile of cooked meats, then all I have to do is select side dishes.

    It's one of my favorites although pretty light on veggies/side dishes.

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