A Merry Life | Weight Loss Blog - Healthy Living - Fitness - Food » Food & Nutrition

Calorie Counting Peace

Mary — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:19:53 +0000

I think I’ve finally made peace with counting calories.

I’ve always hated counting calories. It felt tedious, annoying, and BORING. I hate hate hated doing it and tried everything to lose weight without counting calories. That never worked for me as with intuitive eating I became great at maintaining a weight loss but horrible at losing more. But I still persisted because counting calories just wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Lately (as in last week) I’ve finally made peace with counting calories. It’s not something I plan to do forever obviously but I am comfortable enough with it right now that I can totally keep it up for however long I need to get to a healthy weight. It doesn’t have the same negative feeling attached that it once did.

So how did I do this?

I let go of the idea that I need to eat different things all the time. I think in a way being a blogger and reading food blogs made this hard to do. For a long time I felt like I needed to eat like the bloggers and constantly be trying new recipes and new foods and eating a ton of varied things every day. I’ve finally learned that is not true and this is the thing that freed me to start enjoying the calorie counting.

I calculated the measurements and calories of my normal meals. There are some thing I love to eat. I was eating those things more often anyway so recently I just wrote down all the things I liked eating and how much of each thing made a meal. Then I worked out the calories on these items. I now have a list of several 300 ish calories breakfasts lunches and snacks that I love to eat. All I have to do is plug in the info to my current daily calorie count. This takes most of the work out of calorie counting for the majority of the day which makes me happy and makes me feel content with calorie counting.

I made it easy and gave myself wiggle room. Since I now really only have to calculate calories for one meal (dinner) or the occasional new and different snack or breakfast, calorie counting doesn’t seem as hard. It doesn’t seem as tedious. Once I finally accepted that it’s okay to eat the same things over and over I figured out a way to count calories that works for me.

It’s a form of peace that means I know what I’m putting in my body rather than guessing and hoping for the best (ah, intuitive eating) until I really learn the right amounts of food that I need. Calorie counting isn’t really as bad as I made it out to be. Nor that I’ve made peace with the idea and the process I’m feeling good and eating well for my goals.

Do you calorie (or point) count? What do you like about it? Or do you hate it?

Calorie Counting Peace is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

My 2012 Word: Consistency

Mary — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:51:37 +0000

Hey friends! How is everyone? Did you start the new year off right?

We certainly have. Both Kepa and I have both started new workout programs (well, we started the last week of December), cleaned up our eating, vowed to be more active generally, and are really focused on achieving our goals this year.

We’ve been eating well consistently which is setting things off on the right foot. Some of my favorite eats:

Blueberry protein smoothie:

Chicken with salsa and vegetables:

Turkey and vegetable scramble:

Healthy meals with fruits and vegetables. Consistently. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.

I think I’ve finally latched on to the concept that I’ve needed the most: consistency.

My inability to reach my weight loss goals in the past has mainly been because of inconsistency. I *know* consistency in habits is important to weight loss & being healthy but the application in my daily life was never really there. So that’s a major thing I will be working on in 2012.

It will probably help that I’ve got no cross country/world moves or trips or major life events planned for the year. A boring, consistent year sounds like just what I need to finally finish this.

So that is my word for this year: consistency.

(I like the idea of a word along with having goals for the year.)

Consistent workouts. Consistent walks with JuJu. Consistent healthy meals. Consistent vitamin taking. Consistent weight loss. Consistency hasn’t been but soon will be my middle name. :)

My 2012 Word: Consistency is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

Mini Grocery Haul + Eliminating Added Sugars

Mary — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:28:41 +0000

We do our grocery shopping every Tuesday (seems like a random day, right?) but usually about midway through the week we have to stock up again on some items. Mainly the midweek stock up is for things like fresh produce and we either get things at a farmers market or take a trip to the grocery store.

Mid Week Groceries

Since we were busy with JuJu we didn’t visit a market this weekend and I had to make a quick trip to the store instead. I got all of this:

red bell peppers for stuffed peppers

apples for snacks

strawberries and blueberries for desserts and smoothies

avocados for additions to meals

cinnamon because we were out

coconut oil because I want to try it with cooking

Skip The Sugar

I’m trying to cut back and stop eating sugar right now so I’m trying to limit myself to sugar only found in fruit. It’s hard since sugar is in everything and I’m slightly addicted, but I did it once before and I know I can do it again.

I’m trying to kick the sugar habit again because I just learned sugar causes wrinkles! I had no idea eating too much sugar did that among the many other problems it causes like spikes in blood sugar, inflammation in the body, teeth cavities and so on. Yikes, I don’t want to look old quite yet nor do I want to keep damaging by body by giving it so much sugar.

So yeah… I’m cutting back on sugar. Right before Christmas is *bad* timing but I’m allowing myself some slack to get through the holiday. I’m going to try my best to avoid added sugar, simple carbs like bread, and sweets. Maybe I’ll just substitute 85% dark chocolate for those other things (can you believe I now eat 85% dark chocolate when I used to hate anything over 40% milk chocolate?) if I’m really wanting something. And instead of just avoiding sugar I’m going to focus on getting in enough protein and lots of vegetables. Sounds good, right? My shopping trip today will definitely help.

Required Cuteness

And now, just because you made it this far…

… a cute picture of JuJu. ;)

Mini Grocery Haul + Eliminating Added Sugars is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

High Protein, Low Carb

Mary — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:24:34 +0000

High protein, low carb.

This is currently the way I’m eating and I’m really enjoying it.

Accept that is, when I go off it. Sunday was a bummer of a day as Sunday Sports got rained out and we didn’t do much of anything else other than eat. It was a mistake to do that and it was an even bigger mistake to eat the things that we did. I consumed too many carbs which just made me want more carbs which led me into a huge tailspin.

Moral of the story? Stick with what works. So that’s what I’m doing.

Our meals, especially dinners, are pretty simple. They usually involve a meat protein and a couple servings of vegetables. I try to make sure we get veggies each meal. I think if it was up to Kepa he would just eat meat and bread, haha.

I know I have lost weight in the last few weeks and felt rather great eating high protein and low carb. I have a strong suspicion that I stalled in my weight loss for so long because I was eating too many carbs which led me to overeat in general (beyond the binge eating issue that is). So getting enough protein in my diet is a big priority for me right now.

It also helps a lot with weight lifting. I’ve continued to move up in the amounts of weight I lift and protein helps build and repair muscles. It’s nifty!

Now I’m finally eating the way the personal trainer recommended back when I met with him a few months ago. Kepa eats a lot of protein so it’s been easier for me to up my protein as well since we eat a lot of meals together. He has a lot of good ideas for getting more protein like adding extra chicken to the soups we eat for lunch.

My goal these days based on my Daily Burn goals (where I track calories) and the recommendation of the personal trainer, is to get 150 grams of protein a day while staying around 1800 calories. This has been pretty easy for me to achieve and stick with so that’s going to be the goal for a while.

I just finished an awesome dinner of stuffed peppers which is why food is on my mind, so hopefully you enjoyed this post instead of it making you hungry. I’m off for a post-dinner walk now. Hope you all have a great week! :)

High Protein, Low Carb is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

Our Healthier Thanksgiving Plans

Mary — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:56:58 +0000

When I made my meal plan this week I completely forgot about Thanksgiving.

Oops.

As soon as I realized my error I talked it over with Kepa and we decided we should celebrate semi-traditionally. Since we don’t have space to invite friends over it’s just a meal for us but we still wanted some traditional things I’ve had at every Thanksgiving and introduced Kepa to last year.

Our beginning plan was a healthified version of traditional Thanksgiving foods: turkey breasts, sweet potatoes, and green beans. And a pumpkin pie.

Sadly, no candied pecans this year.

I’d eat them all myself. YUM.

That plan changed when we realized we could not find turkey breasts for sale anywhere! Normally our local supermarket carries turkey breasts. But yesterday when we did our weekly shopping trip they were nowhere to be found. Today we tried two different stores and came up with nothing. We just could not find turkey breasts anywhere! At our third store today we were told they would be plentiful in about three weeks, but that wasn’t helpful.

We changed our plan and instead ended up buying this:

Turkey breast roast with stuffing!

It was cheaper and smaller than a regular turkey (we don’t need a big turkey for two people!), 98% fat free, and it came with stuffing and cranberry. Sounds like it will be perfect for our needs.

We also specifically went to Martha’s Backyard the store that sells American goods you can’t get most places in NZ for these:

Martha’s Backyard generally sells a lot of junk food and packaged, processed stuff so we don’t visit often but it’s the right place for pumpkin pie ingredients!

I’m planning on making a lower calorie protein pumpkin pie (though the crust is obviously not). I have the general idea in my head and will look up a few recipes to see if I’m on the right track. If we are going to eat a slice or two of pumpkin pie then it’s going to be a healthier version!

Our thanksgiving dinner menu for two:

turkey with cranberry stuffing

baked sweet potatoes

sauteed ginger green beans

protein pumpkin pie

Sounds delicious to me! It will be the most labor intensive meal of the week but definitely less work than last year. It will also be a lot healthier as I won’t be breaking out the butter this time around.

Plus part of our healthy plan is to go get in our workout during the two hours it takes the turkey to cook. Who knows, maybe this will start a trend for our future thanksgivings even when they are bigger?

What are your Thanksgiving plans? What are you doing to celebrate? What are you eating?

Our Healthier Thanksgiving Plans is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

Weekly Meal Plan

Mary — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:18:49 +0000

This weekend wasn’t the best even though I did everything I could to set myself up for a successful weekend. I fell into a funk that led to a bad mood for a big part of Sunday. I felt sick in the morning and sad in the afternoon and didn’t know how to pull myself out of it. Fortunately I did with some help from my awesome husband and a cookie or two.

Being silly goes a long way in getting rid of a bum mood. (Love him!)

Yeah, I ate teh cookiez! But I didn’t eat a whole package and it wasn’t a binge. So I’ll take some small amount of emotional eating and be content with the fact that I finally found my way back to a good mood thanks to husband hugs, cookies, and watching Toy Story 3 (which is part of Kepa’s goal to watch the best IMDB rated movies). Crossing my fingers the sad moods are fewer and farther in between in the future.

Right now I’m meal planning for the week so we have a successful week. We eat the same thing for breakfast every morning and lunches don’t vary much which means really I mainly worry about dinners. Here’s what is on schedule for the week.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday: Fish sandwiches & roasted broccoli

Tuesday: Beef tacos

Wednesday: Chicken thighs & cauliflower & green beans

Thursday: Fish & spinach & potato wedges

Friday: Beef tacos again!

Saturday: Turkey burgers & sweet potato fries & asparagus

Sunday: Chicken & vegetables stir fry

We have one meal planned to eat out: Saturday lunch. We also visit farmers’ markets/markets on Saturday and tend to get a couple sweet eats to share. Other than that the main goal is to eat all our meals at home and get in lots of vegetables.

I like our plan for the week. It’s simple, healthy stuff we eat all the time. But for some reason we NEED to write out the meal plan or else things go awry quickly. We know that meal planning is awesome! Having our dinners on paper means we shop for everything we need and have it on hand. That eliminates reasons to not cook and go out to eat and also makes sure we eat well rounded meals.

This week is already off to a great start!

Weekly Meal Plan is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!

Heather’s Tomato Basil Mozzarella Chicken Salad

Mary — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:59:51 +0000

Today’s guest post is from my high school friend Heather! She writes the blog: A Young Wife’s Tale. I really enjoy her blog because her daughter is ADORABLE and it’s fun to read real life friend’s blogs. She is also one of the craftiest friends I have as well as a fellow expat (living in London), which makes me love her even more. Today in her guest post she shares a yummy salad recipe along with a little bit of her life. Make sure you check out her blog: A Young Wife’s Tale

Hey everyone!

I’m Heather and this is my daughter Milo

I am so happy that Mary asked me to do a guest blog. I love reading about her journey to a healthy happy life and becoming a beautiful wife. I met Mary in high school and have always secretly wished I had her wit and always admired how fearless and independent she is. Now that we are thousands of miles apart, we are probably talking more than ever. I am so bummed to miss her wedding, but I can’t wait to see all the pictures.

So at first I didn’t know what I should write about. Then it hit me–I wanted to talk about my lunch! I know, exciting right?! Well, first a little disclaimer. I’m not on a diet. I’m not even really watching what I eat. (say what?!) Well, I just moved to London and am trying to enjoy all the tasty food since we are eating out a lot. Once we get settled into a house, I will reign my ravenous appetite in :) My goal as of late has been to eat fresh food. Period. I try to stay away from processed food and eat organic/local when I can.

On to the super duper delicious lunch…. Being in London, grocery shopping is a bit different. They do have grocery stores, but I don’t live very close to one right now and I don’t have a car here yet. I pretty much walk to take the tube everywhere. I wanted to show you my food–from the source. A couple of the pictures aren’t the best, but visualize… me with Milo in the carrier strapped on my front, the diaper bag strapped on my back, my grocery bag on my shoulder, DSLR in hand. Considering all those factors, I’d say they are awesome.

The ingredients you need:

Cherry Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Lettuce Mix or Spinach

Mozzarella Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Chicken

Avocado

Olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Apple Cider vinegar

Either a lemon, lime, or orange

First we are off to the Butcher

There is a guy that works here who is extremely cheeky. It always makes my day to talk to him. He tells the other customers that Milo is his daughter :)

They have the tastiest meat pies. The beef and cheese is to die for!

I picked up Buffalo mozzarella and a Rotisserie chicken….because I’m lazy and because it’s the best rotisserie chicken I have ever tasted. Writing about it is making my mouth water.

Then it was on to Oliver’s WholeFoods store

I would have gone to the farmer’s market, but there wasn’t one open nearby today.

This one is great though. They have some amazing hummus. It’s spelled Houmous here–don’t even get me started on that one. I’ve been on a hummus and lamb kick lately.

I picked up some cherry tomatoes, an avocado, some mixed greens, and I should have picked up some basil, which I forgot. I have the worst memory ever…. I mean ever. I once stood up an old lady from my pottery class who invited me out to dinner. I forgot. True story. I know, I’m a horrible person.

Then I headed over to the local Bakery.

This place is dangerous…. They have cupcakes and pastries that are just asking to be eaten. So far I have resisted and stuck with the fresh bread. Not like that’s any better for me.

I have fallen in love with this rosemary, olive oil, and sea salt bread. So, being the kick person that I am, I picked it up. When I like something, I get on a kick. I will eat the same thing every day until I am so tired of it that I cant eat it again for 6 months. I don’t know why I’m like that. Maybe I’m just a little bit crazy….who are we kidding, a lot crazy

So that’s all I had to pick up. I already had the other ingredients. On to the prep.

Salad dressing: (Makes 1/2 cup)

1/6 cup Apple cider vinegar

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

Salt and pepper

Zest of a citrus fruit. (lemon, lime, orange)

1 Tablespoon-ish of the juice from the fruit.

Optional add-ins:

Crushed Garlic

Dill

Cayenne pepper

or whatever spice you like

I had actually made a video on how to make the salad–all Rachel Ray Style. Problem was, it took me longer to make the video than it actually takes me to make the salad. It takes me about 6 minutes to make the dressing and salad. So I think i will have to save the cooking videos for a more complicated recipe:) Salad making isn’t really an exact science. My philosophy is to add more of what you like and less of what you don’t. However, I know some people really like measurements. This is an estimate of what I used.

1.5 Cup Mixed greens

1/2 Avocado sliced

1.75 Oz of Mozzarella

1 cup Cherry tomatoes Halved

3/4 Cup Chicken diced

Pepper

(Minced Basil if you remember it :)

I added this up and it comes out to roughly 575cal. Some ways to reduce the number of calories: Use part skim mozzarella, Use Newman’s Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette, reduce the size (duh), use grilled chicken, or homemade Roasted Chicken seems to be slightly lower in calories.

Amazeballs!

This salad is so easy and perfect for when you are on the go. It’s great for taking to work for lunch and it doesn’t take you forever to make it in the morning. A great way to make this as a side salad is to just to do a tricolor salad of tomato, mozzarella, and avocado with pepper and balsamic drizzle. Its a super simple salad that any of your guests will love. For a little extra goodness, slice up some yummy bread like the one I got at the bakery and dip it in the leftover dressing…Mmmmm . I hope you enjoy!

Heather’s Tomato Basil Mozzarella Chicken Salad is a post from: A Merry Life! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on amerrylife.com it has been stolen!!