Sunday, March 23, 2014

#19: Weekly weigh in & what we're eating

To see all past weigh ins, click here. To see my whole weight loss journey, click here


It's time for another weekly weigh in! I'm proud to say that things are still going really well for both of us, we're moving along nicely. 

My progress: I've lost 2lbs since last week for a total of 15lbs lost...I'm now at 211lbs.
16.7% of my goal complete. 

Shane's progress: He's lost 5lbs since last week for a total of 20lbs lost...he's at 289lbs.
16.0% of his goal complete. 


We've had quite a few friends and family members ask for some specifics on what we're eating. Here's a basic run-down: 

The most important thing we are doing is calorie counting. We're not following some crazy fad diet or drinking smoothies for every meal or depriving ourselves of everything. We're teaching ourselves to make smart choices with what we put in our bodies to have a sustainable lifestyle change for the future. 

We use an online calorie tracker and food log called My Fitness Pal. If you don't have a smartphone, you can use their log online. But if you do have a smartphone, I highly recommend the app. It is a great, free way to track your calories and your progress. If you join MFP, you should friend me! My username is lehorner6 and Shane is seshorner. It never shows your weight but does show your weight loss progress, which is good to help keep you and your friends motivated. 

MFP has calculated our calorie goals based on our weight and rate of desired weight loss (2lbs a week, the max). My daily goal is 1,210. Shane's goal is 2,400 but he normally eats a bit lower than that. You can also log any workouts you do, so if you burn 200 calories running, that's an extra 200 calories you can eat! We have some general guidelines for what we eat, but really, if it fits in our daily calorie allowance, we eat it. 
What we don't eat: 

  • No (drive thru) fast food. We know it does bad things to our bodies and it's not worth it to us. We have eaten at restaurants like Chipotle and McAlisters, just no chicken nuggets and extra large fries. 
  • Minimal bread / pasta...for calorie reasons. 
  • Minimal dairy. Also for calorie reasons, but Shane is realizing that he might be somewhat lactose intolerant. 
  • Any drink other than water and the occasional glass of wine or hard cider. NO soda or juice. 
  • We don't keep snacky foods like chips or crackers in the house. For me, I know that if I was to try and measure out a portion of CheezIts right now, I'd end up eating the whole box. 


What we do eat: 

  • We don't currently get up in time to cook breakfast but we'd like to be able to have some eggs and bacon or something similar in the future. For now we will have fruit and peanuts or cashews if we get hungry at work. 
  • Lunch is deli meat (turkey for me, ham for Shane) rolled up and then a nice side of veggies like carrots or green beans and usually two servings of fruit like apples, grapes, or tangerines. 
  • For dinner we've had things like DIY pizzas (low calorie flatbreads with yummy toppings), barbecue chicken and veggies, stir fry, bbq bacon hamburgers with no bun, etc.
  • We drink a LOT of water. 
  • No one can survive without treats every now and then. We bought some mini Purity ice cream sandwiches (80 cal each) and discovered these Dole Strawberry Dippers and Banana Dippers. I'm a sucker for chocolate covered strawberries and you get 4 delicious halves for only 60 calories. Shane's bananas weigh in a little more heavily for 4 slices for 100 calories, but still not bad at all. 


Here's a sample meal...this is what we ate for dinner tonight. We stopped by Whole Foods today and got this from the frozen section, sweet & sour chicken, veggie fried rice, and mini spring rolls. Believe it or not, this whole meal was 353 calories and totally delicious. 



We still have some things we want to change with the way we're eating, like working more healthy fats into our diet and getting more veggies and less fruits. Overall I think we're learning a lot and teaching ourselves to make healthy decisions, something we've never really done before. And by making these choices, we're not hungry at the end of the day, and we're still on track to make our goals happen. 


Leave me a comment below if you have any questions about what we're eating, or if you have suggestions for delicious low calorie meals. We're always looking for new ideas :) 

2 comments:

  1. I've been doing WW, but it is very similar to what y'all are doing. No fast food (unless it's a salad), no sodas, less meat, and lots of fruit amd veggies. I've made soup every Sunday for the week and eat that for lunch. For dinner I weat the Smart Ones meals. But I really need to cut those out for obvious reasons. And I'm working out like crazy!! 21 lbs are finally gone!! Y'all keep up the good work!!

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    1. That's awesome! Congrats on the weight loss :) I might have to start doing the soup thing every once in a while to break up the monotony. You keep up the good work too!

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