Wednesday, October 17, 2007

daily blah blah

Yesterday I hit the gym after work. It was nice. Went with my sister on an elliptical that has adjustable incline. So we both did a cross training program on level 7 resistance and had a "race" we were both really close to the same kms (can't remember what) but I won by like .2. yay! But she went backwards a few times. Then I went to do my chin ups. Did some dips too on that machine. very cool. My sister did them too, with same counterweight. But she weighs like 15 lbs less than me and is the skinny little girl we all wish we were. Her waist is like a Barbie. Anyway, she was able to do just as many as I could if not more. Granted I'm lifting 15 lbs more, but I feel like I'm much stronger and there should be more of a difference. I don't know. I guess it's cool.

Then I hit the grocery store and went a bit nuts. It was dollar days at Sobeys. So I bought a ton of no-name crystal light. A billion. And a bunch of Cheeca Krisps. Sort of my less bad food for when I need bad food. I'm the first to tell you not to eat 100 cal packs or WW cakes because that's still not healthy food. It's just less bad than super bad. But I do understand once in awhile you need that. Like when everyone else is having chips, you can still have "chips" or whatever. Anyway I also bought pork hocks which I've never bought before but have eaten from my Grandma's on a traditional boxing day (she died suddenly just before my wedding from a heart attack, I get a lot of my genes from my mom who got hers from this Grandma). Anyway, I don't think it's particularly healthy but I want to try and make pork hock ragu. So good. But pork hocks are basically pig ankles. It was so disguisting buying them. I also got some fruit and veggies of course. Plus I had to buy all sorts of stuff for my hubby and SIL. They are not eating "clean" like I'm trying to. So they got lots of frozen pastas and pizza pops and minute rice and kraft dinner. All the foods I'm not eating any more. It's weird how much I've changed since before summer. Not that I'd eat that like crazy, but I'd have pizza pops as a treat (I was all about calories). completely ignoring the lack of fibre and all the bad fats. Not to mention sodium in all those packaged meals. Makes me happy about myself, but really worried for my hubby. He eats like shit. It's already showing up in his weight. But I'm sure he's got a cholesterol problem (he's never been tested). Oh well, I can't decide to make a change for him. (he already eats whole wheat food and skim milk etc)

But I didn't get home until 7:30 and hadn't eaten. So I had a mismash of food. I had a left over piece of pizza (chicken spinach on whole wheat), 3 slices of a cranberry raisin baguette, yogurt with flax seeds and bran. It just felt bad, a lot of eating standing up looking in the fridge. That might not have been everything, it was just mindless eating.

Speaking of which. I have a hard time remembering all the food I've eaten. I think that's really bad. First it means I eat a lot. Second, it means I'm not mindful about what's going on in my mouth. I'm going to try and fix this.


So I decided to track my calories for the day, as I haven't done that in a LONG time and even then it showed me stuff I didn't want to see and didn't really change much.
Today just happened to be a higher protein day (I was thinking) as I had eggs for breakfast and a big piece of salmon on my salad. Snacks were still fruit and veggies and yogurt. So far (after lunch) I've eaten 1000 calories.

- oh update. Just went and had birthday cake for somebody in the office. It was really good cake (I had approximately 1/10th of a log cake with layers of icing and chocolate and cake) so I know it had to be pretty bad caloriewise. At least it was small. Anybody wanna guess a calories for me? Am I out to lunch thinking 300?

Anyways, now especially, it didn't turn out to be high protein at all! I heard with high protein (besides ridiculous diets) it's about 1:1 with carbs, for high carb diets, it's 1:3 protein to carbs. Well right now I'm 1:2 (before the cake). And I figure supper will be about the same. Weird. Not that I'm trying to restrict carbs, I'm just trying to up protein as I've read things about how it's digested and not turned to fat etc plus is good for muscles.

Also, I was reading Carolyn's blog about menu variety. I tend to have too much variety in my suppers. Not that it's bad foodwise, it's just stressful for me to come up with something new every day. I don't really have staples that I eat all the time. And I tend to forget about a dish for months even if I really like it. Like I can't remember the last time we had pasta. The way I plan supper is I think of what we've got too much of in the freezer (meatwise) and thaw it out over night, then try and come up with something on the drive home. I often pull out Kraft What's Cooking magazines or other cookbooks on the weekend trying to find ideas. But then I find too many ideas and never get around to cooking them. Plus I forget about staple dishes that I can just fall back on when I don't know what to make!

So I've decided this before but let it slip. I'm going to make a menu. A rough menu. Something like, chicken on mondays, beef on tuesdays, etc. That way I don't end up making something really heavy before my hard workouts either. Good idea? Let's hope so.


Monday - chicken.
Tuesday - beef/pork.
Wednesday - chicken.
Thursday - hamburger
Friday - fish.
Saturday/Sunday - Anything goes. (maybe hotdogs, maybe lasagna)

Any thoughts? I need Mondays to be quick cause I usually run errands after work and then have class. Wednesday I also have class and I want to eat more chicken. We don't eat pork a lot so I thought I could switch it in with beef once in awhile. That's things like roasts or steak or pork chops etc. Hubby never goes anywhere tuesday (like wing night at the bar wednesday) so he'll at least get the good meal. Then thursday will have the most options because there's so many things you can do with hamburger and I've got nowhere to go so I have time to cook. Fridays I don't always make supper and since I don't think I could handle fish that often but I should eat it more, it's fish day. Weekends we might eat out or not be home or I might feel like cooking and make a big meal, or else it's pizza night. I guess that's how people have bad weekends but I can't cook every single day. There's always leftovers too.

I'm pleased with that. That way I'll also remember what I've got to thaw out the night before. Now I need to come up with a staple for each day so if I have no ideas I can just make it. Probably something like this:

Monday - marinated chicken breast (we have so many sauces and rubs etc!)
Tuesday - hmm...hard to think of something that doesn't require lots of time for beef. Help? (I want something that doesn't need marinating or morning prep)
Wednesday - chicken stir fry.
Thursday - Spaghetti and meatsauce
Friday - Grilled salmon.

There. And it's all healthy, except maybe thursday so I'll have to be careful. and I can't think of anything that's quick to do with beef or pork. Any help please?

5 comments:

Courtney said...

For beef, how about lean ground beef tacos, lean sloppy joes (you can skip the buns if you want), or just grill up lean steak? I also just made a yummy pizza casserole that wasn't too bad. (It's on my website if you want to look). Stuffed bell peppers are good too, but I think they take awhile to cook...

My favorite thing to do is buy tons of steak, cook it, and then freeze it in individual portions. Then just take it out before you leave for work in the morning, put it in the fridge, and then just heat it up in the microwave or oven when you get home. Then I either eat it on its own with a veggie side and some sweet potato fries or brown rice, or make stirfry.

As for pork, I'm a big fan of lean pork chops, with dried rosemary and pepper. Just put rosemary and pepper on one side and then either cook in a frying pan, or in the oven. You can also cook ahead and freeze like the beef, just be sure if you use the microwave to heat it up to do it at 50% power. For some reason pork gets tough easier then other meats I think...

Courtney said...

Yea, freezing steak works great. I hadn't frozen it already cooked before but it seems to work better for me that way. I've been frezzing it in that glad press and seal wrap, which works really well.

I know, I'm so bad that I gave into the brownies, but at least it was only a little piece right? I've got a wicked spin class tonight, so I think it will be ok in the end. I'm on week 16 of WW, and I think I'm getting into a rut too, which makes we want to cheat. Of course it doesn't help that it's halloween and there are candy and treats surrounding me!

tash said...

Is it all fish you don't like? As a Maritimer I absolutely love fish and eat it about 3 times a week. For me it is all about how it is cooked.

Carolyn said...

I was going to suggest Tacos as well (since it's one of my staples!) Or you could make pita pizzas and pile them up with hambuger and onions and tons of veggies. I've had that before and it was quite yummy!

I haven't been buying much meat lately, we've just been eating tons of pasta and soups and things but I need to start buying meat! I don't think I've ever bought a piece of fish in my life before so I guess that's a whole new world for me to explore. I don't even have a clue how to cook it.

I'm making Sheppard's pie tomorrow so I'll let you know how that turns out. That would be a good thing to use up hamburger.

Anyway don't sweat the cake, I'm sure you worked it off tonight in your class!
I've got an e-mail coming your way tomorrow with a few updates to the Christmas Challenge!

noelle said...

You can use ground beef to make a quick chili. I made one in the crock pot the other day. I actually did the prep work (browning beef, chopping vegetables) the night before then threw it all in in the morning. It was the recipe from the better homes and gardens cookbook if you want to check it out.

I like to grill lean pork chops in a marinade from Rachel Ray. It's basically a lot of lime, a little soy and garlic. It's really yummy.

We also do a breakfast for dinner almost every week. I do eggs and fruit salad then waffles or pancakes or muffins. Not always low in calories, but I tend to eat a TON of fruit on those nights. Really best for me when melons are in season.

Have you ever tried spaghetti squash? It's only 1 points per cup...like 40 calories I think. Not the same texture as pasta, but a much lower cal option. And you don't feel stuffed afterward like you can with pasta sometimes.

HTH