yum in my tum

I've been embracing a new mentality: Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full.
I am ten pounds lighter and feeling great! I realized that by counting calories I was constantly checking to see how many calories I had left so I could snack more, even if I wasn't hungry. Now I wait until my stomach growls to eat, or if I recognize that I'm getting tired or cranky.
It's harder for me to obey the stop when you're full part, so I give myself small portions to start with and I usually don't need to get seconds. Our bodies have the amazing ability to communicate with us, so why don't we listen?

Here are some of my favorite meals for breakfast and lunch:
-Toasted 100 calorie sandwich thins spread with peanut butter + a banana on the side

-Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins cereal + sliced banana

-1 pumpkin muffin + one serving of fruit

-Sliced apple + sliced cheese + a serving of Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips
-Boson Lettuce with reduced fat feta cheese, walnuts, sliced strawberries (or chopped apples) and raspberry vinaigrette.
-Black beans with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese

grocery bill update

A note to my readers: please pardon my incorrect use of the word sauté. I've been writing "sautee" because I thought there were two e's and I didn't think blogger would have the acute mark for the e. I apologize for making you read the wrong word. I really don't like it when other people make those kind of mistakes.

Moving on...

Since Sept 1st we have spent roughly $150 on groceries, which comes out to $8.33 on food for two people a day. If we keep that up we'll only pay $250 on groceries for the month of September! I'm on it.

Yesterday Andy and I declared that we're going to have a eat-out-of-pantry-and-freezer week. We will continue to purchase fruit as needed, but we will try to avoid buying meat (which we're completely out of).
We have toons of pasta and should have enough soup, tuna and frozen veggies to last us a week. Granted, we won't be having gorgeous dinners, but they will be healthy and they won't have cost us any extra money! We try to do this at least once a month. It's shocking to learn how much food you already have in your house.

Yesterday I boiled Ronzoni Garden Delight fettucini (each 4oz serving of pasta has a serving of vegetables in it) while sautéing about 3 cups worth of onion and bell pepper strips and microwaving a bag of broccoli. When the broccoli was done I tossed it in with the onion and peppers along with some garlic and salt and pepper. Then I added 2 tbsp of sour cream, a dash of skim milk, and 2 tbsp of shredded cheese and stirred to make a (very) light sauce. I drained the pasta and dumped it in with the veggies and sauce and tossed to coat.

The meal would've tasted even better with some spicy Italian sausage, but it was still delicious and low in calories for a pasta dish.

Tonight I'm going to cook up some onion with the squash and zucchini I picked up from the farmer's market this morning. Depending on what Andy wants we'll either have it with pasta or we'll eat the veggies as a side w/ soup.

Any creative ideas for using the things in my pantry/freezer? I might do some salmon cakes tomorrow.

a weight on my back (and everywhere else too)

I have been trying to lose weight since the beginning of the year with absolutely zero results. In fact, I've gained a few more pounds since then. There are a lot of factors: I stopped exercising. I was eating sugars and carbs like there was no tomorrow. I ate out a lot. I ate a lot of ice cream. I changed birth control pills. I spent a lot of time on the couch watching Netflix and Hulu and checking emails and reading blogs. All of these things, plus the fact that I'm five years older (blasted hormone levels), have contributed to why I no longer look like this: 

At Blue Hole circa fall 2005
look at those tiny arms! I mourn those tiny arms!

Weight wise, the past year has been pretty miserable. I didn't talk about it for a loooong time because I didn't want to be one of those people who complains about their weight and then doesn't do anything about it. I really thought I was trying...I would make more healthful dinners, eat salads for lunch, walk the dog...but I never had the endurance to keep up the good habits. I hated not being able to hide it. For a long time I refused to buy new clothes because I didn't want to be accepting a body that I didn't want. 

Here's the thing about weight. We're all different. I have friends who lead healthier lifestyles than I do who are the same size or bigger than I am. A lot of it has to do with genes, and my genes say I'm supposed to be thin with a booty. I know my "happy" weight and I know I'm not at it right now, and guess what? I'm not happy about that! I'm extremely disappointed in myself. 

So here's what I'm doing about it: On Monday I decided to start being completely honest with myself about what I put into my mouth and how much exercise I get. I made a profile on sparkpeople.com, which lets me track my meals and how much I work out. I also bought a digital scale for weigh-ins and dug out the food scale that I've had for months and never used. I am hoping to reach my weight goal by my 24th birthday. A present to myself!

Meal planning

A meal/menu planner makes a great bridal shower gift and is SO useful.  If you're the kind of person that over-buys at the grocery store, planning exactly what you're going to make for the upcoming week makes sticking to a list much easier.  I'll admit I haven't used my meal planner in a while, but I'm ready to get back into it!  

My method:  I go through a stack of recipes and write down any ingredients that I don't already have.  One thing you have to be careful about is using more than recipe that uses the same at-home ingredient- like milk or eggs. Make sure you have enough before hitting the store.  Every now and then when I'm feeling extra organized I will re-write my list so it goes "produce, aisle products, meat, dairy" and on the side of each ingredient I might note which recipe I'm using it for.  This print-out meal planner/grocery list would work just as easily!

In the future I plan to have a specific day where I blog about my meal plans for the week.  This month has been very different than most because we've been eating out of our pantry and freezer more than we usually do.  I have about $25 left to spend on groceries for December.  The budget challenge is much harder than I thought because while we are not exactly running out of food, I'm a little sick of soup, tuna and spaghetti noodles.  It's worth it, though!  There is a lot of pride in saving money.

I just found this website and I'm excited to try out some of the recipes listed, especially the recipe for Pizza Hut Breadsticks!  You can find it using the search bar.