After Spring Break 2010...

...I have managed to stay more on-track than off-track. I met with my nutritionist, Chandra Carty yesterday. I walked into her office with a plastic Kroger bag full of empty food boxes and can labels, so that I could show her what I'd been eating. After being on my own for a month, I managed to maintain my weight at 190 lbs. This was great because I didn't have to feel guilty about having gained weight over the break.

I told Chandra that cooking for ONE can be torturous. So, I devised a plan to eat BETTER than I have in the past. Cooking is the BEST way to eat healthy. Eating frozen or prepared food is usually better than eating fast foods because I am able to carefully select what I eat AHEAD of time. (That's the foundation behind the success of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.)

Chandra told me it was OK to start with small changes, which encourage successful, long-term habits. (I guess it's ok to share that I stopped by American Deli, after yesterday's visit to Chandra. I bought AND ate lemon pepper wings with fries and a sweet tea. I only ate five of the ten wings; however, I demolished the fries...smile.)

Today's Menu

Breakfast

This morning, I made pancakes from the Bisquick mix in the pre-portioned container. While the serving shows 6-8 pancakes, I always manage to get DOUBLE that amount because my pancakes are smaller. Standard Bisquick pancakes are 220 calories for three. I managed to cut that in half to about 110 for three. This reduced the sodium intake from a whopping 880 to 440.

The tsp. of Land o' Lakes butter/canola oil combo was about 33 calories. The 2 TBSP of Cary's syrup (the best syrup in the world) was 1/2 of the 1/4 cup serving, so my calories for the syrup totaled 105 calories. Also, I had a serving (3) turkey sausage links from Jimmy Dean. They taste AWESOME! My calories for this delicious treat were 120. I topped breakfast off with a 1/4 cup of lemonade at 60 calories, since the standard serving was 8 fl. oz (at 120 cal.) and 1 full glass of water (not shown) worth a healthy zero (0) calories.

Total Calories for Breakfast: 428 Total Daily Calories Goal = 1,400
Remaining Calories: 972/day
(Lunch and dinner = 486 each)

Lunch
I ate a small bowl of Amy's Organic Soup Low-fat Split Pea. Each can is about 2 servings. This portion was worth 100 calories, but the salt intake was a little high at 670 mg. (28% of the total daily value). I ate a piece of Pepperidge Farms Whole Grain (15 grain) bread with the total of 100 calories and only 115 mg. of sodium.

This meal was simple, yet filling.

Total Calories for Lunch: 200 calories
Remaining Calories: 772

Note to Self: I didn't eat enough food for lunch. My meals needs to be closer to 400 calories with snacks from 50-75 calories.