I cannot believe that it has been almost two months since I have blogged at all. I guess I'll start by giving an update on the dietary changes I talked about last time. In a nutshell, not good. I have not actually counted those calories completely on any day yet. I did do the morning ones for a while but by the time I got to dinner, stopped. I really do think this is a key to losing my weight, at least for a bit.
I tend to do pretty good for breakfast and lunch but come dinner, I end up getting a second serving. I think I need to include more veggies with dinner since veggies are low in calories and the main dish or casserole is usually pretty hefty in calories. For example, we like to have Spaghetti Bake (I'll include the recipe at the end of the post) but since it makes a full 13x9 pan I don't really fix any side dishes to go with it -- bad, I know. I don't really like salads and that seems the best side dish suited to a spaghetti dish, to me. SO, I end up eating another scoop of spaghetti bake since I am feeling like I still want more food, but I probably am not really HUNGRY but just enjoying the taste of the food so much that I WANT more. So, I really NEED to count calories . . . UGH!!!
I'm really enjoying the Devotions for Dieters that I mentioned last time too. She shared one thing that has really hit home with me and helped me for several days, since reading it.
Add some Umph to your Try and you get Triumph!
Another thing she shared was about what we drink with our meals. The information she included that day said that putting cold drinks in our stomach after eating or during eating can lower the temperature of our stomach contents causing the fats to become more solid and slowing down the digestion as well as causing some of the fat to be stored rather than sent through the system. (At least that is how I remember it.) It was suggested that drinking coffee or hot tea with and after a meal would do more to aid in digestion. I haven't done any research on it myself but I have started to drink some hot tea with and after my meals rather than water. But now I am noticing that I'm not getting in nearly as much water as I should be. Ugh! The tea can count for some of my water intake but because it is a diuretic, I really need to be sure to get more water in.
I'm going to have to print out a calendar that I use for exercise accountability. Since I'm not using JUST the Wii Fit, it isn't keeping track of all my exercise because I forget to enter in my Other Activity Credits on the day I do it and I haven't found a way to enter it for previous days without manipulating the Wii's date. It would just be way easier to have a physical calendar to put an X on for exercising. I don't want to use our general family calendar because it is a write-on/wipe-off AND it is on the refrigerator because it is magnetic. I have found that I am motivated by having that visual.
I guess I'll go for now. I have lots of little things I wanted to talk about but I think I'll try to do one post for each one throughout the week instead of putting them all in one big post.
Spaghetti Bake
1 pkg spaghetti, cooked as directed al dente
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
pizza toppings or 1 pound browned ground turkey (or beef)
24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese (We prefer colby/jack cheese.)
Drain spaghetti and put in a large bowl. Mix in egg and parmesan cheese. Place in a 13x9 dish, which I usually spray with oil spray. Spread on the sauce (I just buy a cheap spaghetti sauce from the store to make this a quick and easy dinner to make.) I then put my ground meat, seasoned with garlic powder and onion powder. Finally sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in a 350º oven for 20-30 minutes. If you just drained your spaghetti and browned your meat, it will only take a few minutes to melt the cheese because it is already heated through.
Sometimes I will brown my meat and freeze it to make a quicker meal later. The other day I boiled my noodles at lunch time and had pre-browned my meat. I made up the whole thing and had it just waiting for my son to put in the oven when it was time. It did take about 30 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese since everything was cold.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
I have not actually counted those calories completely on any day yet. I did do the morning ones for a while but by the time I got to dinner, stopped. I really do think this is a key to losing my weight, at least for a bit. 