My Food And What Goes Through My Mind

I’ve been working really hard on controlling my eating, especially when eating out.  It is so liberating to be in control of your food choices!  I talked a little bit about food in my weeklyWI post.

I am not very good at remembering to take photos of my food.  I remember it while I am preparing or cooking the food but often forget once I have started eating.  Whoops!  I did talk a little bit about our eating out a week ago on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  I really wanted to carry the good feeling I had about my control with food into my new WW week.  I also split my WPPAs up so that I ate an extra seven each day.

Wednesday was the start of my WW week.  I had plans to meet my friend Phoenix at the Y for a workout.  I was sort of feeling the itch to eat out but knew I didn’t need to.  I had eaten out plenty in the days prior and I possibly had plans to eat out already on Thursday.  I came home from my workout and put together some chicken noodle soup.  I already had the chicken cooked.  This is my new favorite thing!  I put a bunch of frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot with either water or broth (or a mix) and cook until they can be shredded.  I cut up some carrots and celery, added 2 oz of pasta, and threw it all together.  Easy peasy!  This made two servings. 7 PPV each.

I was consumed of thoughts of food ALL day on Wednesday!

It was really bad.  At 3pm I ended up venturing out in the winter crap to a coffee shop.  I just had to get out of the house!  I ordered a decaf Americano and used the free WiFi.  Obviously coffee shops have yummy treats but I resisted.  The scones looked mighty delicious. 

By the time I got home from the coffee shop I was honestly hungry and needed some food.  I toasted a piece of Great Harvest High Five Fiber bread and added some jelly.  At that point I didn’t really care about it being a Power Food or not.  I just wanted something that would satisfy the thoughts of food.  I paired it with some Cesar salad mix and light dressing.  That held me over to dinner which was mini meatloaf, frozen corn, and asparagus.

I wanted to make Thursday less focused on food.  I knew I had plans to meet up with a friend and we might go to a coffee shop to use a Groupon she had.  I also had tentative plans with my sister and nieces to see a movie: i.e. movie popcorn.  I started my morning with a solid breakfast of two eggs over medium, frozen potatoes cooked in olive oil, and a chopped up pepper in it.  I had an orange on the side.  I didn’t really have much time to think of food as I was visiting with my friend.  The visit went longer than planned so I was hungry by the time we ventured to the coffee shop.

The coffee shop was a no-go as they were out of sandwiches and the only soup was chicken noodle.  Really?  Does anybody really get excited for chicken noodle?  I had been wanting pizza and resisted on Wednesday knowing I might have a higher PPV day today so once plans changed I suggested pizza.  Flying Pie has the best pizza called Samoan that is basically Hawaiin pizza with real ham and smoked Gouda.  It is delicious!  By the time we got there I had serious thoughts of going crazy at the buffet.  It would have been really easy because my friend was also planning to go crazy.  I got two slices of Samoan (14 PPV) and my first of two bowls of salad bar.  I had all 0 PPV veggies and ranch on the side (3 PPV).  They have a really great salad bar.  I thought about going back for more pizza.  I calculated how many PPVs I wanted to use.  I got my second plate of salad and made myself commit to no more pizza.  I had the pizza, I enjoyed it, but I didn’t need to spend more PPVs on pizza.  Success!  I spent a total of 17 PPVs at lunch. 

My movie plans were cancelled so I ate a lighter dinner to account for my extra PPVs used at lunch.  I also wanted frozen yogurt.  I seem to want frozen yogurt a lot lately!  It was $3 all you can fill deal day.  I filled a dish with caramel frozen yogurt and Reese’s peanut butter cups.  My plan was to eat on it little by little through the week, and so it was a success.  Dinner was a chicken patty and asparagus.

Friday and Saturday weren’t that eventful on the food front.  I ate leftovers for lunch and for dinner I bought turkey tenderloin.  It was really good and at only 2 PPV for 4 ounces it is a great low PPV protein option.  It still has 20 grams of protein in just the 4 ounce serving.  Saturday night I made a one pan dish for dinner.  I added some olive oil and garlic and then sautéed zucchini, red pepper, and cabbage.  I added in some chicken sausage for protein.  This one pan was for both Kenyon and I.  I love veggie overload!

Sunday brought another eating out venture.  I still had some leftovers that needed to be eaten but I often get tired of eating at home/leftovers after a few days.  So I convinced Kenyon to go to Red Robin.  We only had to buy one burger to get a free one with their rewards program.  Yeah for a cheap dinner!  I love that RR has the nutrition values and a customizer on their website and app.  It is an easy way to calculate PPVs ahead of time.  I have a few “usual” meals in mind when we go to RR and today’s meal was the plain lettuce wrapped chicken breast (3 PPV) with BBQ sauce (2 PPV) and chipotle mayo (2 PPV) (served on the side so I could add my own amount).  I like getting some onion straws for extra flavor (12 PPV for full serving but I usually take some off – counted 5 PPV) and pickes.  I subbed a side salad with ranch on the side (3 PPV) for the French fries.  15 PPVs total.

Today is another leftover day.  I am working the late day shift so I just packed my leftovers for work and didn’t have to think much of my meals.  I have leftover turkey tenderloin served as a salad with light ranch and also leftover beef tacos.

A new thing I have been doing is adding cottage cheese to my oatmeal.  I learned of this trick from Kath's blogs.  Adding cottage, stirred in at the end, adds proten to your oatmeal.  I also think it helps hold me over longer than it used to.

Whew.  That was a long post!  There is a tiny glimpse into some of my food and the thinking behind it.  I have been doing a lot of thinking about food lately.  It happens when I am over goal and really trying to lose some weight.  I want my shorts to fit better this summertime!