Thursday, February 25, 2010

I would like to answer the question (and I apologize for the rambling!) posed by Anonymous in a comment on the Houston Do We Have a Problem post:

I'm just curious. What was your typical dinner (breakfast, lunch, snack) before? How drastic of a change is this for you?

Let's see...prior to October, here is typically what I might eat, and often did on an average day of the week:
  • Breakfast - these are separately, never together :o)
    • a breakfast taco (or its more like a burrito) from the cafeteria, with scrambled eggs, sausage, a bit of potatoe and a bit of cheese.  I was still careful of cheese and 'white' food like potatoes
    • bowl of cereal, usually honey nut cheerios or honey bunches of oats; 1-2% milk
    • scrambled eggs and grits
    • toast with orange marmalade
  • Lunch
    • I still tried to keep it "healthy", but I didnt concern myself at all with what I would eat on any given day really.  Sometimes a salad, a sandwich with chips, something off the buffet in the cafeteria, can of soup, leftovers from the night before.  I would go out often to eat lunch with a friend or two and have mexican, where chips and salsa were involved, etc...
    • Lean Cuisine or something like that
  • Snacks
    • bag of chips
    • something from the vending machine
    • something I would bring from home if I bought pretzels, 100 cal packs...something like that
  • Dinner
    • usually chicken, fish or turkey in some fashion if at home
    • bag of frozen veggies
    • some of a frozen pizza
    • if I went out to eat, again would eat whatever.  But still try and maintain some sense of not being too terribly bad.
  • I snacked A LOT after dinner in the evenings.  I always had chips in the house, or something...and because of the guy I was dating my meals when with him surrounded around either a) mexican food and b) whataburger c) pizza or d) Olive Garden (he didnt like most food obviously).  Outside of that, around him there was always chips and queso, ice cream etc.  Not good.
As far as how drastic, since I 'leaned into it' it didnt seem drastic, and honestly I HATED the way I ate but again, I did because of the situation; kind of like birds of a feather thing you know?  I morphed into bad eating when I was with him, and then when we would break up, I would get back on somewhat of a track.  At first when I stopped the whole fast food (whataburger) thing and the mexican food thing, it was almost entirely due to the fact that they both reminded me of my times with him, and well, I wanted to just force that out of my head first and foremost...I wanted anything that remotely reminded me of him to be expelled from my life...and it benefited me big time in more ways than one...

I have always been a cook and love love love to do it, so again, not drastic.  But I got out of doing that, again because of him, and when I did cook, it was limited due to him not liking most things unless it was spaghetti, or a pizza...

So as you can see while my diet (among other things!) has GREATLY improved, I don't know that I would say it was drastic, because I eased into the things little by little over the course of the past several months.  Even over the holidays I was able to maintain my focus and eat healthy, while enjoying the foods of the season, portion control was KEY here obviously...

The main thing that has been drastic is NO. MORE. CHIPS!  Unless of course they are Stacys and that is RARE.  I bought those specificially because I was making the veggie chili :o)  I might have some if I ever do make it to another mexican food place, but I dont buy the big bags of them anymore thats for sure!!!!!!

I know I dont photograph and blog all my meals so beautifully as those on my blogroll, but typically now I have overnight oats for breakfast, or a sandwich thin with a thin layer of pb and a banana sliced on it, breakfast pizza..egg white and bean breakfast taco...and lunch is usually leftovers from the night before or I bring a veggie sandwich, or I do allow myself to go get a veggie plate or a salad from the cafeteria when I am just over leftovers!  My snacks, if any are limited to maybe oatmeal, a piece of fruit, greek yogurt, or raw veggies with hummus...I dont limit myself to anything really, as long as I know its nutritious and that whatever I choose is going to satisfy me.

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In other news...I have been looking for a house, and maybe, just MAYBE I might have found one...I sure hope it works out!  I need a bigger kitchen!!! And I want a dog...  :o)  I have gotten to the point where after having sold my house and being downsized for 7 years now, I am ready for another house!!!  And it would be one more step in the forward direction of my life in a positive way!!!