Losing Update...What we are eating.

4 months in and I finally hit the 50 pound mark! Whooop!  Travis is down 41 so we are down 91 together! 

• This is the first time that people have noticed my weight loss on their own...(not seeing my updates on facebook).  I even had a former student stop me and say "Why you losing weight Mrs. House?!".  :)  That's a good feeling.
• I am buying clothes in a size that I've not been into in 12 years.  TWELVE YEARS.
• This has been the hardest month so far.  We went on a week vacation and even though we tried our best to stick to our diet we did allow ourselves to "cheat" for the first time.  We realized once you give yourself permission to cheat a little bit, you kinda think it's okay to cheat a little more, etc.  That wasn't great for us.  Thankfully we did a lot of walking and swimming and only gained 1 pound that week.  In addition to our vacation I started back to school...I gave myself the first week of school off from the gym since I was too exhausted to even blink that week.  Finally we are getting back into the swing of work, gym, and eating right.  It feels good to get back on track and I've set a new goal for myself.  I want to be down 75 pounds by Christmas.  I have 25 more to go...I can soooo do this!
• I am asked more than anything about what we eat.  I plan to do a lengthy post on a full week's meal plan but for now I'll give a short explanation of a "typical" week.

Breakfast: 
My favorite thing to eat for breakfast is my version of Panera's Spinach PowerBowl.  I sauté some spinach in a drop of olive oil.  Put it in a bowl and cooks egg whites ( I use 1 whole egg to 2 whites)...I love white mushrooms so I always add those in to cook with the eggs.  Add egg to the spinach and top with turkey (I love Boar's Head Cajun) and pesto.  It's soooo yummy and filling.

Another option for breakfast is to cook the egg whites, add half a slice of lowfat cheese, and put inside half of a Joseph's flat bread.  These flatbread are my go to...I LOVE them.  I use half at a time so you get 8 meals in one package.  The only place I've found the is in the bakery of Walmart.

 

I also like to make green smoothies right now while school is in session.  I blend spinach or kale with frozen fruit (berries, pineapples, etc) with a little bit of greek yogurt and flax seed.

The hubs likes to eat cereal.  He usually eats Cheerios or Raisin Bran with flax seed added.  We buy our flax seed from Kroger...it's in the big bins....we add it to a lot of stuff. 

 

Lunch:

Right now I take a salad or a wrap for lunch.  I make several kinds of salads but my go-to is the Harvest or Asian mix (Kroger) with the toppings it comes with (usually nuts, cranberries, etc), strawberries, blueberries, oranges, feta, tuna or turkey or chicken breast).  For my wrap I use the Joseph's bread with turkey or chicken. 

I am loving Popchips right now for a snack.  I buy the multipack at Target or Kroger...they are super crunchy.

I usually bring a fruit for lunch...either diced watermelon or clementines. 

 

Dinner:

We are pretty much on a rotation for dinner at our house. 

 We pretty much make fajitas (chicken breast, red, yellow, orange peppers, and onions with whole wheat tortillas at least once a week.

We also eat taco salads (ground turkey, black beans, lettuce, avocado, salsa, etc.), grilled chicken, baked tilapia or salmon, and buffalo chicken quesadillas (whole wheat tortillas, franks wing sauce, sprinkle of cheese, avocado). 

We grill a lot of zucchini, squash, and cabbage. 

 

Snacks:

Fruit, cheese sticks, Kashi bars, Skinny Pop popcorn YUM! (sams), Greek yogurt, etc.

 

 

Other food tips:

Water...lots and lots of water.  It saves tons of money when eating out if you order water instead of soda or tea plus it's so much better for you.  I still indulge in my Diet Coke craving every now and then but I've cut WAY back.

When we eat out we choose places that offer healthier options (Panera, Subway, etc.) or we share a meal. 

 

I hope this helps anyone out...I am by NO MEANS a nutritionist...this is just what has worked for us so far.