Scales and snacks

Going backwards, I talked about scales before I got depressed. May 2023.

Let’s talk about scales. Today I weigh 167.8. I have a digital scale that measures the ounces too. That helps me see that I gain or lose so many ounces depending on what I managed to eat and how much exercise I got. Every day is a learning experience, think of it that way. I also weigh myself at the same time every day. I weigh myself when I get up in the morning, every morning with just pajamas on. Some experts claim you shouldn’t weigh yourself; others say once a week and still others say every day. I’m weighing every day. I take my robe or sweater off and I weigh before I put on socks or slippers.

Breakfast is our usual eggs, toast and coffee. No surprises here. We could change it up but it’s comforting to eat the same thing for breakfast every day. (Today's note here: now that I have diabetes it helps me to start the day the same way every day. It helps keep my emotions on an even keel.) It’s also easy to make. Hubby makes breakfast and I make coffee. I cook the rest of the meals most of the time. That’s why there’s so much leftover food from Mother’s Day. I asked for two days of no planning, cooking or serving meals as my Mother’s Day gift. So, he bought all kinds of ingredients and there’s plenty left.

Today for lunch I’m using up the roast he smoked for Mother’s Day weekend. I ordered a new smoker/grill combination for his birthday and Father’s Day gift. It came before Mother’s Day, so he wanted to use the new toy. He smoked a small chuck roast for us and we only ate about one fourth of it. I decided to use the rest in beef bourguignon. I used a crockpot beef bourguignon recipe. When I cooked the mushrooms for the bourguignon I added asparagus and stirred that into the sauce as well. Remember colors? Orange carrots, red tomatoes and green asparagus were in this lunch. I didn’t want to open a bottle of wine for the bourguignon since then we’d be tempted to drink it. I substituted red wine vinegar for it. Remember? No alcohol on this journey other than cooking. We’ll see if we can stick to that or not.

Portion size is important. We normally eat roughly 6 or 8 ounces of meat for a serving. I’ve cut that down to 4 ounces. That’s approximately the size of my fist. If we have vegetable or fruit with no sauce or dressing, then I figure we can have bigger portions. Rick can have all the fruit he wants. With my predisposition to diabetes, I have to watch how much fruit I eat due to the sugar. It’s best to leave the skin on apples for the roughage. I also tend to leave the skin on potatoes when we have those for the health benefits.

I hardly ever use refined sugar. I keep it around for Rick and for cooking. Rick has a terrible sweet tooth, he will eat handfuls of candy and he craves ice cream, cake, cookies, you name it. I don’t crave sugar much. I stopped eating it when I was in my 20s, so no sugar doesn’t bother me. I use stevia in my coffee and tea. I cook with sugar, honey and maple syrup. I just don’t use as much as the recipe typically calls for.

Here’s a trick I learned for snacking. Instead of eating crackers, chips or sesame seed sticks out of the bag or container, I serve myself a small portion in a dish or bowl. The container of sesame seed sticks is 12 oz and I limit myself to a handful. I get 3 or 5 servings out of 12 ounces so roughly 4 ounces or less for a snack. I had them for mid-afternoon snack today as well as yesterday.

I find it easier to count calories if I plan the meals for the week. I do this on Saturday or Sunday. I keep a spreadsheet that lists each day with all the meals for the day. One note on supplements and medications. I eschew medications. I don’t like using artificial chemicals and I especially don’t want them in my body. If I can attain balanced wellbeing without any of it, I try to do so. There are plenty of drugs that are useful to us and it’s important to check with your doctor on what is right for you. That being said, one of the things I do for bowel movement regularity is eat prunes and dates. I’ve had issues with constipation for as long as I can remember, teenager maybe. When I was young, I was tiny, I used to drink milk shakes every day in an effort to gain weight because I only weighed 90 pounds. I was very active at that time. I took dance class daily, sometimes 2 or 3 hours a day and I was a cheerleader, so we had practice every day. I had no idea that everyone should have a bowel movement every single day until I was well into my 30s. We didn’t talk much about bodily functions when I was growing up. Suffice it to say, everyone should have a bowel movement every day. To make sure I don’t get constipated I eat 2 prunes and 2 dates every day. That’s it. Two of each every day and I’m as regular as the sun rise. Try it. They are sweet, delicious, inexpensive and natural. Much better than taking some type of powder or whatnot.

I had a broccoli bacon salad tonight with a pastrami/muenster cheese rollup. I do rollups when I want some added protein. I just take one slice of pastrami and place one slice of muenster cheese on top, then roll it up and eat it. We both succumbed to temptation to eat in front of the television, but we managed to swap a healthy snack of black olives instead of chips or worse.

We managed our walk today. Just the one mile still, I haven’t been able to add the additional mile yet. I’m also still moving at a slow pace. Ok, I decided it was pathetic to do a blog on the weight loss journey and say I hadn’t exercised much today so I took another walk. My foot started hurting so I only did one third of it but it’s something. I also want to talk about house cleaning. Don’t discount that. Vacuuming, mopping, dusting, etc. all require quite a bit of movement. There’s squatting, scrubbing, reaching, walking and sometimes some convoluted stretching involved. You are holding me accountable which was part of the reason for writing a blog. Yay team!