What I'm Eating Wednesday

I've seen a lot of health and fitness bloggers do WIAT (What I Ate Wednesday) posts, but this is my first one. To be honest, I get annoyed at people who post pictures of their food on Instagram nearly every day unless they use their account solely for healthy eating tips and/or recipes. I probably won't even advertise this post on my Instagram, but hopefully my frequent visitors will find it eventually. After getting down to my pre-pregnancy weight, I gained back five pounds in just a few days last week. I was super bummed, but I also knew that I had fallen off the wagon a bit; I wasn't logging my calories religiously or measuring my portions. I know it sounds a bit extreme, but all of our bodies function and respond differently. In order for me to slim down, this is what mine has to do. I can run five miles and be as strong as an ox, but if I'm going to lose fat, I have to work reeeeally hard. So after looking back at my MyFitnessPal app, I realized that I was definitely eating too much for my goals. My app might have been set at 1,600 calories, but for several days I was eating closer to 2,100. After some obsessive calculations, I decided to cut down to 1,450, and so far I've stuck to it and have lost three of the five pounds I gained. I realized that I was dumping probably a fourth a cup of whipping cream into my morning coffee, when I really should only take a tablespoon or two. I logged a half cup of brown rice into my app, but I was really eating a whole cup. Those extra grams/helpings definitely add up.

More than anything, I wish I could be like my husband; eat whatever I want and not care. Actually, he eats basically what he wants because he needs to as a hardcore powerlifter. Feeling thin to him is weighing 305 at six feet, three and 1/2 inches tall. But if he wakes up one morning and weighs 315 it's no big deal. I wish I could say the same for myself, but that's just not how it works for me. I hope that I can some day reach a point where I'm okay with swaying five or ten pounds either way sometimes, but I know I've got a long way to go before even two pounds doesn't matter to me.

Okay, enough talk! This is what I'm eating so far this week! These aren't really in any particular order.

Breakfast: I'm a huge fan of old fashioned oats. They're full of fiber and can be topped or combined with a few mix-ins for lots of flavor. I like mine with a teaspoon of sugar and berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, you name it!)

1/2C old fashioned oats microwaved in water for 1 minute, 30 seconds.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and mixed berries

 

Lunch each day varies for me. Some days I get really creative, while others I'll just keep it simple.

One gala apple with a tbls creamy peanut butter.
One cup of original Special K cereal with 1/2 C 1% milk

English muffin with a tbls shredded mozzarella and one whole egg
Gala apple

I began craving jalapenos in the final days of pregnancy,
and my craving hasnt' gone away! This is one whole egg,
one egg white scrambled with a tbls shredded mozzarella,
spinach, and jalapenos. Served on 100% whole grain toast.

One cup of coffee with a tbls heavy whipping cream and teaspoon of sugar.
1/2 cup of oats with a mashed up banana and 1 tbls creamy peanut butter

Dinner is probably getting a little repetitive for my husband's taste, but I'm really glad that Vaught allows me to cook each night. He just chatters away in his highchair. When he gets fussy I push it back and forth across the floor and this usually calms him down. Anyway, we are big fans of baked chicken and vegetables, and sweet potatoes never get old to me!

This is a Rice on the Side dish I made the other night, but
I ended up turning my helping down. Just a FOURTH a cup
of this stuff is 260 calories. I opted for my 150 calories for
1/2 cup whole grain rice! But this stuff sure looked and smelled
delicious!