Calories in and out

[Nanci]

Hi trigirl,

Have you seen how many calories are in peanut butter? That's a problem food if you are counting calories. Fruit is "bad" also. maybe you could switch over to snacking on veggies- they are _way_ lower in calories than fruit.

Sadly missing giant fruit cups and spoons of peanut butter,

Nanci

[trigurl]

There are a lot of calories in PB but I need my PB, I use the all natural and only eat one spoonful! I also buy the smallest bananas and apples I can get, I don't think fruit is a problem we need the vitamins they provide and the good carbs.

I eat fruits so I won't eat sweets, if I want something sweet a banana or pear will do the trick and I save a lot more calories and fat that way. I get my daily dose of veggies too, my lunch has lots and so does dinner, altho I don't snack on veggies, raw ones make my tummy hurt

As I am sitting here thinking about lunch I realize I didn't bring mine I have some soup and hopefully a veggie burger in the freezer, shoot, I was looking forward to my shephard's pie I made Sunday - got the recipe from a weight watchers magazine, mmm mmmm good.

[Aint Doody]

Don't eat the instant oatmeal. Eat the "old fashioned" kind. The instant is processed more and doesn't take you as long to digest. The old fashioned kind takes longer to digest and will stay with you longer. I even eat it uncooked with fat free vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and some walnuts. Then you get protein, dairy, carbs and lots of fiber. Tastes really good, too!

[trigurl]

I had All Bran this morning with a little soy milk, dates and sliced almonds, OMG I am still feeling full, 1/2 cup goes a long way!

Yesterday I ate more oatmeal (old fashion kind) and stayed full longer too.

I was thinking about my lunches, since around 3-4 I am hungry, I eat a meat and veggies and fruit, I don't eat much bread, I have brown rice 1-2 times a week and pasta 2-3 times a month. I do eat sweet potatoes at least once a week if not more. I guess I need to get more carbs in at lunch? in the way of bread pasta or rice, and just eat a light dinner? suggestions???

Thanks for letting me bat this around with ya'll, I may be slow but I eventually learn

[DeniseGoldberg]

I was thinking about my lunches, since around 3-4 I am hungry, I eat a meat and veggies and fruit, I don't eat much bread, I have brown rice 1-2 times a week and pasta 2-3 times a month. I do eat sweet potatoes at least once a week if not more. I guess I need to get more carbs in at lunch?

I don't know if this will help at all, but here's what I do for lunch... this time of year my lunch is usually a big bowl of soup plus low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt. That probably doesn't sound like much, but the soup is my weekend creation. That is, I make a big pot of soup and store it in individual containers (I've been using a ZipLoc container that holds 2 1/2 cups, just to give you an idea of the size) that I can reheat. And some of the containers go into the freezer for later... I start with a recipe, but what goes in the soup depends on what vegetables are in my refrigerator. But always - it includes (cubed) tofu, beans (chick peas or black beans or both). Then I start adding vegetables, which can include carrots, celery, potatoes (white and/or sweet), broccoli or cauliflower, corn, edamame (soy beans). Sometimes I use a tomato-based soup, sometimes it's red lentils, sometimes split peas. So it's a pretty substantial soup, and it keeps me pretty full. Of course, you will need access to a microwave at the office unless you like cold soup!

I always bring fruit for a mid-afternoon snack, and I keep a stash of energy bars (usually PowerBar Pria bars since they are relatively small from a calorie standpoint - 110 calories, very suitable for a quick snack) in my desk just in case I'm hungry. I often keep extra yogurt in the refrigerator for the same purpose.

--- Denise

[trigurl]

Sounds good! I make split pea soup often and I just bought some 15 bean soup to make this weekend. tofu?(sorry not a fan ) the rest I could stomach. I too eat 2 sometimes 3 containers of yogurt a day the f/f sugar free kind, I eat cottage cheese too but not everyday - ever try it on saltines? its really good that way.

I will have to try the soup that may just work and warm me up, the building I work in is very drafty and I freeze all day

Still no weight loss even tho i am eating clean, I realized yesterday that last year at this time I weighed 149! I would love to be there again, I felt better at that weight and I did eat what I wanted, I know almost every weekend I had a happy meal for a treat! I was also running more and harder than I am now, I am still at base training, but will start to introduce more intervals and hills now, hopefully that will help the weight come off.

Thanks for the advise I really appreciate it.

[Pedal Wench]

Denise - this is so funny. I read your post, and I had to check to make sure that I didn't write it. I do the exact same thing. I'm a huge fan of the bags of shredded cabbage (cole slaw) that I can just dump into the soup. I also buy a bag of the pre-washed, shredded kale. I know some folks don't like it, but it's SO nutritious, and by the time it cooks down, it is hardly noticeable. I do two soups, usually one for lunches, one for dinners. The dinner soup is a split-pea with extra lima beans (again, they cook down to nothing) and add the cabbage and kale and mushrooms for texture. My veggie soup is simple - three cans of chicken stock, two cans of diced tomatoes, three bags of the cabbage, one bag of kale, and as many beans as will fit into the pot - garbanzo, pinto, black, kidney, nothern, whatever. I do exactly what Denise does - individual containers that I can take to lunch, and then the rest into the freezer. (Hmmm, but I use the 3.5 cup size - I have a huge appetite, and I can't think of anything bad in the soup to warrant limiting my portion)

I don't know if this will help at all, but here's what I do for lunch... this time of year my lunch is usually a big bowl of soup plus low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt. That probably doesn't sound like much, but the soup is my weekend creation. That is, I make a big pot of soup and store it in individual containers (I've been using a ZipLoc container that holds 2 1/2 cups, just to give you an idea of the size) that I can reheat. And some of the containers go into the freezer for later... I start with a recipe, but what goes in the soup depends on what vegetables are in my refrigerator. But always - it includes (cubed) tofu, beans (chick peas or black beans or both). Then I start adding vegetables, which can include carrots, celery, potatoes (white and/or sweet), broccoli or cauliflower, corn, edamame (soy beans). Sometimes I use a tomato-based soup, sometimes it's red lentils, sometimes split peas. So it's a pretty substantial soup, and it keeps me pretty full. Of course, you will need access to a microwave at the office unless you like cold soup!

I always bring fruit for a mid-afternoon snack, and I keep a stash of energy bars (usually PowerBar Pria bars since they are relatively small from a calorie standpoint - 110 calories, very suitable for a quick snack) in my desk just in case I'm hungry. I often keep extra yogurt in the refrigerator for the same purpose.

--- Denise

[DeniseGoldberg]

Denise - this is so funny. I read your post, and I had to check to make sure that ...I also buy a bag of the pre-washed, shredded kale. ...is a split-pea with extra lima beans (again, they cook down to nothing) and add the cabbage and kale and mushrooms for texture.

You're right, very funny! I guess we think alike.

I'm going to have to try kale. I don't know if I like it or not, but it sounds like it's worth a try. Sometimes I use spinach too.

Oh, and if you haven't tried edamame (soy beans), you might want to use them instead of lima beans sometimes. I just looked up the nutrition info on both. A cup of edamame shows as 298 calories with 29 grams of protein. And a cup of lima beans is less at 216 calories with only 15 grams of protein. I like both kinds of beans, but since I'm not a meat-eater and I'm always on the hunt for more protein, I tend to choose edamame more often than lima beans.

--- Denise

[DeniseGoldberg]

I had All Bran this morning with a little soy milk, dates and sliced almonds, OMG I am still feeling full, 1/2 cup goes a long way!

I'm an All Bran Bran Buds gal myself, but I also really like Kashi Go Lean. You might want to try that as a change of pace. Actually, I usually dump both cereals into the same bowl...

--- Denise

[trigurl]

I cooked up some Kale last night, not the real healthy way tho I used a little oil and cooked some garlic in it then put 2 pieces of bacon in the pan and cooked those then piled the pan full of kale, covered and let it wilt, added a little salt, now that was good!!!! I very rarely use bacon but I wanted a little flavoring for the kale, next time I will use some beef broth.

I made a big pot of 15 bean soup and a pot of veggie soup with cabbage, a turnip, some orzo, and whatever else I had, I mix a some of each in a bowl and eat until full!! good ideas, thanks ya'll.

I went down 2 lbs. after a hard workout Friday, so I know once I increase the intensity I will lose more, all that worrying for nothing