Sneaky Snacks & Sucky Swims

This mornings swim sucked, I struggled the whole time.  I actually had to force myself to do the 1 km that I did do.  I wanted to stop after the 5th lap, but I reminded myself that I didn't get up early and drive to the pool for a 2 min swim so I just kept going.

I have a stupid allergy condition and no one knows what triggers it, but apparently 50% of cases like mine the cause is never found, basically anything can trigger an attack. When I woke up this morning my breathing was a little off, but because of my medical degree I just thought that a nice swim would help to regulate my breathing - I was so wrong!  My breathing was all over the place and for the majority of the swim, I felt like this.............

I did try a new face cream last night and I am wondering if maybe that is what caused it.  I didn't have all the usual symptoms I normally get when an attack is caused by a food so I am guessing again because I have a medical degree that one of the ingredients in the cream triggered it.  I know it sounds weird, but a heavily scented / perfumed deodorant can set it off, no Impulse for me :)


*Snack Time*

If your kids are anything like mine then you'll know what it's like to spend most of your day in the kitchen preparing food, my kids don't stop snacking all day long.  From the minute they finish breakfast, they start snacking all the way through lunch, up to dinner.

Their snacks include :

• Fruit (several pieces a day)
• Cheese (sometimes with crackers)
• Carrots
• Sultanas
• Yoghurt

The way I feed the kids got me thinking about why I don't feed myself the same way, as in, fruit not biscuits.  Why were all of my snacks full of fat, sugar and unhealthy? There is no way I would ever let the kids snack on what I was eating so why not join them?

I now use the kids snacks to inspire my own.  The first snack of the day today was carrots.  The kids actually go and get them out of the fridge then hand them to me for peeling and chopping.  The peeling is my fault cause I can't eat a carrot that isn't peeled, I'm a texture freak.

1 carrot and a blob of hommus

Don't be fooled by the Winnie the Pooh plate, this is actually my snack (and dinner plate).  Below is a yoghurt bowl made in the kids bowl.  It contains 100 grams of no-fat Greek yoghurt, a whole (peeled) apple and 1/2 a serve (15 grams) of Nesquik cereal. 

I know the cereal is chocolate flavoured, but it is made with wholegrains and the kids (who forced me to buy it) don't like it so I figured it must be sort of healthy if they won't eat it.

The yoghurt bowl is quite the snack, I think it's more of a mini meal and there is still room for more food in that bowl.  I think the fact that the average / standard crockery set is over sized is why I am really conscience of portions now.  I never used to be, which I have no doubt, is part of the reason I am wearing a fat suit now.  

Let me in on your sneaky snacks..........

• What do you snack on?
• Do you eat snacks you wouldn't let your kids eat?
• Would you consider the yoghurt bowl more of a meal?

Protein Smoothie & Portions

First up, breakfast!  After a good swim this morning I was ready for something cool when I got home and I don't think you can get much better than a protein packed fruit smoothie. 

Banana Honey Protein Smoothie

You will be happy to know that this morning's concoction did not contain mushrooms, but it did have cottage cheese - mmmmmm.

Into the blender :

• 250mls Almond Milk (organic)
• 50g No-Fat natural Greek yoghurt
• 40g Weight Watchers Cottage Cheese
• 20g Vanilla Protein Powder
• 7g (1 tsp) Honey
• 114g frozen Banana

The almond milk (first time I've had it) was nice and actually has less calories per cup (250mls) than the skim milk I usually drink - I think I may have just converted over.  I had a sip of the almond milk on it's own and guess what?  It tasted like almonds!  I couldn't taste the milk or cottage cheese in the smoothie at all.  The most prominent flavours were the banana and honey and this smoothie contained a whopping 23.7 grams of protein.  I should also add that it was very tasty!

*Laughing Cows*

I was asked by Pinky who writes It's All About Me what sort of spreadable cheese I used on my Egg & Cheese muffin and I really appreciate a picture of any product I am asking about so I thought I would do the same.

multigrain muffin with cheese wedge

light Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges

8 wedges per pack

The reasons I love these little wedges are :

• Portion size is already taken care of
• They are spreadable
• They are tasty
• Per wedge : 
• 26 calories
• 1.6 grams of fat
• 21 grams of protein

If you are anything like me when it comes to cheese these wedges are a lifesaver.  I don't have to buy a jar or tub of cream cheese spread that I can use in a matter of seconds.  These really aren't that expensive, I think they were $2.99 for the pack of 8 which I don't mind spending.  When I have these I tend to ration them out and only have one when I really want it whereas if I have the jar or tub I just eat it.  I don't know what it is, but the wedges make me behave myself and not become a pig around the cheese.

*Breakfast Bowl Portions*

I used to use this bowl ~

average sized adult bowl

Then I swapped to this bowl ~

average sized children's bowl

Then I discovered ~

adult & child bowl are virtually the same size

I now use this bowl ~

this child's bowl holds a 40g serve of cereal with milk and no over-flow

the 3 bowls sitting inside each other

Although I am using my kid's bowls for my breakfast / cereal bowl, the thing that really bothers me is that whenever we are giving our kids something to eat using these standard / average sized kid's bowls we are actually giving them an adult sized serve.  No wonder childhood obesity is at an all time high.  

Normally you wouldn't think twice about the actual quantity of food you can fit into that tiny pink bowl that fits in my palm and although it sits nicely in the cat bowl, it is deeper and holds the same amount of food as the adult sized bowl - that is 1 adult sized portion, which is perfect for me, but not for the kids! 

Tell me your portioning secrets..........

• How do you control your portions?
• Is it just me or do the bowl sizes bother you?
• Have you ever measured out your kids bowls to see the actual portion size?

Portions, Snacks, Weighing, Tracking - It all means Food

My portion control has been pretty good lately so why am I not losing the weight? It's probably because of the constant snacking in between my wonderfully portioned and calorie controlled meals. I have been weighing everything I make, anything that I am going to eat. I even measured out 1 tbs of skim milk this morning to have in my coffee, I weighed out 40 grams of my cereal and then 1/2 of skim milk to go with it. My mornings start out really great.

It's OK to have a snack at morning and afternoon tea, but the snacks in between those snacks is ridiculous. The thing that bugs me the most is that I am not even hungry. I have started my 7 day food diary (as suggested by Michelle Bridges) and I am disgusted by what I see. I can definitely see what needs improving and removing from my eating habits. The snacking has to STOP!

Now, unlike tracking (which I have a huge issue with and find extremely difficult), I have been quite happy to complete my food diary each day, BUT the reason why is because with Michelle's diary I am supposed to list all the *naughty* stuff so I can see what needs to go. This is definitely something I need to get my head around - I NEED to be accountable and responsible for every morsel that enters my mouth, both solids and liquids. "We don't like to drink out calories" - Jillian Michaels.

Just because I don't write it down doesn't mean I didn't eat it, but because I didn't track it and can't see it written down, I just pretend that I didn't eat it. It works for me! No, it doesn't work for me. If it worked I would be at my goal weight by now.

I went to a Tuppaware party last night hosted by my old person trainer. I was talking to her about her daily food intake and after talking to her I am definitely going to put more effort into my virtual workday. Caroline's food day goes like this :

• Breakfast : 8 am (oats / porridge)
  
• Snack : 10 am (fruit)
  
• Lunch : 12 pm (pasta)
  
• Snack : 4 pm (fruit)
  
• Dinner : 5 pm (lean meat / salad / veges)
  
• Snack : 8 pm (yoghurt)
  

I wish she was still my PT, she was my favourite although I didn't think so during each session - she was always pushing me out of my comfort zone. My trainer before Caroline was good, but if I didn't want to do something, I didn't have to, I used to get it easy with her. Caroline is like Michelle Bridges, she doesn't care if your sore or tired - just get on with it. I never complained, I was too scared, so I just did what I was told, no matter how much pain I was in.

*Portions*

old bowl

new bowl

new bowl inside old bowl

old plate

new plate

new plate on top of old plate

The Best Week gets Even Better

I have had the best week this week. Not only did my Spirooli arrive, my treadmill and vibration platform were delivered, I lost weight AND my MDC Fun Run number......

...and Running chip arrived in the mail.

I was soooo excited when they got here my husband thought I was an idiot, but I was too happy to care.

*Back to Basics*

The other day I wrote a post about going back to basics and working on portion sizes. It has been going really well and I am still using my smaller bowls and plates. I love using the smaller bowl because it makes the portion look bigger than it is. This is 1 portion which is 40 grams of this particular cereal.

Then I add just 1/2 a cup of milk which fills the bowl even more giving the illusion of a huge big serve of cereal. Head tricks work a treat with me.

Nothing much else to report at the moment so I am off to read my blogs that I follow and maybe even find some new ones as well.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Have Caution with Portions

Since I have left WW I have decided that I really need to get back to basics and I am starting with portion sizes. Someone once said "there are no bad foods, just bad portions" so that is wear my focus lies this week.

The average sized adult place setting is way to big. It is way more than a standard portion size, so the first thing I have done is gotten myself some "new" plates and bowls. Well, really I have just stolen the kids.

It's a little bit of a head game that I play with myself as I like to have a full bowl or a full plate and 40 grams of cereal barely covers the bottom of my usual cereal bowl, but now it fills it right up and I feel as though I have had a huge bowl of cereal. This is my new bowl - the Littlest Pet Shop.

Speaking of cereal, I have found a new favourite. It's the Sanitarium Light 'n' tasty range - I love, love, love the Macadamia & Honey with Oat clusters. Even though I am not doing WW anymore, it is 4 PP for 40 grams and in my new bowl I only need 1/2 a cup of milk to go with it and that 1/2 a cup is the perfect amount of milk. Just enough so the cereal doesn't stick to the roof of your mouth and you don't have a heap left over at the end which for me, usually beckons for a re-fill of cereal to use up the extra milk.

Here is my new plate. I can just about cover Winnie the Pooh with a single portion size, but on a "normal" dinner plate, it is only half full. Again, this is where my head games come in and because I like to see a full plate, Pooh and friends comes in very handy.

Just an extra close up cause I think it's cute!

The only over-sized portion I will allow myself is my faithful old water glass. It holds 600mls and I drink at least 4 of these a day. I like to try and have 5 of them, but that's not possible all the time. I know it looks pink, but that's because I put in a touch of Apple and Raspberry Diet Rite cordial. I don't have it too often which is a good thing, but sometimes I just need a bit of flavour. My husband actually likes it as well so I only get 2 or maybe 3 glasses out of the 2L bottle. It's a fairly strong flavour so you only need a tiny bit as well to be satisfied with the taste. Please excuse the mess on the table - I think it may be spilt milk from the kids breakfast that I didn't wipe up properly.