Well folks, I seem to have failed at this blog. I left a job, joined a new company, and just got all tied up in life.
I will say that I haven't stopped thinking about food. During this whole time, I've been thinking about it constantly. The idea of eating healthier has been consuming my mind, so "A" and I started in January on a prepared meal plan called My Fit Foods (www.myfitfoods.com). You can think of it as Nutrisystem, but fresh and healthy. We both lost a lot of weight (I lost 4% body fat!), but perhaps the biggest thing we gained (pun intended) was a lesson in portion sizes. No matter how many times I've been told that a serving of meat is 4 oz, or the size of a deck of cards, it never really stuck with me. I only just now learned this with practice. Through the meal plan, these ideal portion sizes were reinforced every day.
With this increased interest in portion sizes I decided to buy a food scale. I can't tell you how much this has helped. Food labels are confusing, not to mention often inaccurate. Example: I was portioning out almond butter earlier, and the label indicated that the serving size was 2 tablespoons or 32 grams. I set a little container on the food scale, zeroed the scale, and put about 32 grams of almond butter in the container. Surprisingly, 32 grams = only one full tablespoon! I felt cheated! All this time, I thought I'd been calculating my calories correctly, but a simple slip up like this can add 190 calories to an otherwise innocent snack! No wonder I've been running into problems.
So now I've started weighing everything. The scale can be a little funky as the object's weight approaches zero. Apparently, a potato chip has zero calories, so go ahead and eat all you want! :-)
I hope to bring you new recipes soon, and with better calorie information thanks to my new scale. Stay tuned!
I will say that I haven't stopped thinking about food. During this whole time, I've been thinking about it constantly. The idea of eating healthier has been consuming my mind, so "A" and I started in January on a prepared meal plan called My Fit Foods (www.myfitfoods.com). You can think of it as Nutrisystem, but fresh and healthy. We both lost a lot of weight (I lost 4% body fat!), but perhaps the biggest thing we gained (pun intended) was a lesson in portion sizes. No matter how many times I've been told that a serving of meat is 4 oz, or the size of a deck of cards, it never really stuck with me. I only just now learned this with practice. Through the meal plan, these ideal portion sizes were reinforced every day.
With this increased interest in portion sizes I decided to buy a food scale. I can't tell you how much this has helped. Food labels are confusing, not to mention often inaccurate. Example: I was portioning out almond butter earlier, and the label indicated that the serving size was 2 tablespoons or 32 grams. I set a little container on the food scale, zeroed the scale, and put about 32 grams of almond butter in the container. Surprisingly, 32 grams = only one full tablespoon! I felt cheated! All this time, I thought I'd been calculating my calories correctly, but a simple slip up like this can add 190 calories to an otherwise innocent snack! No wonder I've been running into problems.
So now I've started weighing everything. The scale can be a little funky as the object's weight approaches zero. Apparently, a potato chip has zero calories, so go ahead and eat all you want! :-)
I hope to bring you new recipes soon, and with better calorie information thanks to my new scale. Stay tuned!
