What a day looks like for me.....in food.

Let's kick today off by talking about food.  Why not, right?

I've had a couple of emails wondering about what I typically eat in a day.  Clearly, the concern is about me not starving to death.  I understand - it's a large concern of mine as well.  Luckily, I have some natural padding to see me through the tough times still.  I'll have to start thinking of my survival plan to fight off starvation once I hit my goal weight though....

To get us started, here are a few broad ideas I like to keep in mind when planning my menus/meals:

• Don't bring food into the house that will tempt you to a point you're not ready to match with will power.  I have a six year old whose taste buds do not always go the way of healthy eating.  Intentionally, I'll allow her "fun" foods or snacks that I know I won't eat - fruit snacks, GoGurt, mini Baby Bel cheese.  She's a fan of dessert (who isn't??) but she has a drawer of things like mini Tootsie rolls and Dum Dum suckers.  If they were to get too frisky and entice me to eat one, damage would be minimal.  But she still likes them so it's a win/win.  We also have Cheez-Its in the house but I've built up a tolerance to their presence and only indulge when I know I have four points to burn. 
• Speaking of indulge, do it.  Not all day long obviously.  But if you KNOW there's something you always crave, find room for it.  What I have discovered is 90% of the time, I REALLY want a taste of chocolate after supper.  I have two choices, ignore it and hope I don't go C to the RAZY at some point and take down an entire pound of peanut M&Ms or induge it in a sensitive, controlled way.  Clearly, I indulge.  My indugence?  ONE Riesen candy.  It's exactly enough if I allow myself to slow down, taste it and enjoy it.  And one Riesen is ONE point.  Perfect!
• Along the lines of not bringing tempting foods into the house, it's also a huge help to have healthy tasty foods always available.  Some of the big ones for us are:  Homemade Ranch Dressing (see previous posts for that recipe!), pickles, carrots, blackberries, Fiber One 90 calorie bars, Jolly Ranchers (You get THREE for one point!) and sunflower seeds in the shell (that's for Mark.)  In a pinch, you've got something you love and will keep your mouth busy for zero to 1 points.
• Plan ahead.  I meal plan over the weekend and assign each supper to a night based on how busy our schedules are for that day.  Then, after breakfast I load in all my points for breakfast and morning snacks as well as my anticipated points for supper.  That automatically tells me how many points I have left for lunch, afternoon snacks or even dessert.  I've found this to be a great way to make sure I'm not only eating all my points and not hoarding them but also to spread them out appropriately throughout the day.  Trust me, I have no need for a points binge at the end of the day before going to bed!  That helps no one!
• Consistancy can really help.  I don't think it's the key to success, but if you take the thinking out of it, food gets put back to it's place as something YOU control - not something that controls you.  I always have cereal for breakfast.  This is a LEARNED behavior.  I've long since been one of those people who thinks that eating early makes me sick to my stomach.  And it did for the first two weeks I did it.  You're welcome metabolism, for getting you back on track.  Now, I'm appropriately hungry in the morning for the fuel to kick start my day.  I also have fruit and a Fiber One bar as my snack at work.  If I don't have it, by the time I'm home I'm ready to eat EVERYTHING.  Not good.  So, I pack a snack.  Lunch tends to be pretty similar every day - mostly so that I can just come home, make it and eat it before the hungries start blinding me.  Thomas bagel thins or mini bagels, Weight Watchers cream cheese spread, veggies and dip and some pickles are pretty common.  That leaves supper as my daily wild card.  So far, it's working.

Onto what an actual day or two looks like for me.  I'll go on record to say, at no point have I been out of my mind starving in the past month.  To me, that says I'm doing a good job with the types of foods I'm choosing.  Protein is always somewhat of a challenge for me because I don't like meat and eggs sort of make me gaggy unless I eat them at suppertime.  There are only so many beans a gal can eat and still be allowed to participate in society, so I just do the best I can.

So here's what I had a couple of days ago - note: I don't track water on my food list.  I drink plenty as it's the only thing I drink aside from coffee (and the occasionaly cocktail, but shhhhhhhhhh.....)

Morning
1/2 cup(s) Original All-Bran                          1
1 large banana(s)                                            2
1 serving(s) 90 Cal. Fiber One bar                 1
20 oz black coffee                                          0
1/2 cup(s) fat-free skim milk                          1
Subtotal 5

Midday
1 serving(s) Thomas Bagel Thin                    1
1 1/2 serving(s) Old Dutch FF Pretzel thins   3
1 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese Spread       1
3/4 cup(s) blackberries                                  0.5
1 cup(s) carrot(s)                                           0
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds                                 1
3 Homemade Ranch Dressing                        4.5
Subtotal 11

Evening
4 oz frozen grilled salmon                             3
2 Tbsp sliced almonds                                  1.5
1 1/3 cup(s) cooked green beans                   0.5
1/2 Tbsp canola oil                                       2
1 serving(s) Uncle Ben's Fast & Natural Brown Rice 3
1 cup(s) watermelon                                     1
1 serving(s) Smart Pop mini bag                   1
Subtotal 12

A perfect 28 points - which is what I'm allowed in a day.  I was never hungry.  And it's a LOT of food!  (As you can see by my lunch, I was craving salty/crunchy!)  While suppers change dramatically, I'd say, the point spread stays about the same - I use 5-7 for morning foods, 8-11 for lunch foods, and 10-15 on supper foods.  I'm working on trying to shift more calories to the mornings, but for now, this is working well.

Hopefully this will soothe some minds that I'm sitting here starving all day just nibbling away on clear broth and carrot sticks!