Food Logs Don't Change Unless You Do

So I've learned something from logging my food for the last month or so.  Logging your food doesn't help you to lose weight.  I know that sounds a little silly but it's going to sound even sillier when I explain why.  I've been logging my food for this whole time and I've been clearly deficient in certain areas and I just continue to do the same old thing and not improve on the areas that I'm deficient in.  The worst.  I gather that you don't really care all that much what exactly I'm eating, aside from the fact that I haven't told you in over a week all of a sudden, and I simply can't take that much time to tell you.  I'll give you the highlights.

Sunday, August 3

We remade the cheesy salmon this night but diced the onion instead of cutting it in rings - big improvement.  We also put some of our home grown jalapenos under the cheese which made it so, so spicy. (Picture is linked) 



Then we made these sweet potatoes that are supposed to be all sweet and delicious but we added some cayenne pepper to give a little kick. (Picture is linked)



The whole meal basically kicked us in the face with no relief until the baklava and oops, a little ice cream. 

Carbs: 4/6
Protein: 5.5/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 4/3
Veg: 4/4.5

Monday, August 4

We made some really good coconut lime chicken this night.  This stuff is definitely worth it! 

http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2013/02/coconut-lime-chicken.html

Also had some of that caramelized broccoli - a now staple in this house.

Carbs: 5/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 2/4.5

Only got enough protein this day.  It's hard sometimes to keep a balance.  Ok, it's hard a lot of times. 

Tuesday, August 5

Nishant made some fish tacos this night.  They were better than the ones we tried to make when we found out our cornmeal was way way expired.  Avocado and tartar sauce took the fats over the edge.

Carbs: 6.5/6
Protein: 7.5/6
Fruit: 1/3
Fat: 5/3
Veg: 2.5/4.5

I can do better on the fruit, really.  The vegetables, well, we're still figuring that out.

Wednesday, August 6

This was almost a rock star day, but French fries put us over on fat and we didn't get enough vegetables...again.

I did get a turkey burger instead of a regular burger and it was actually fantastic.  It can be hard to find a good turkey burger but I would definitely order this one again.

Carbs: 6/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 3/3
Fat: 5/3 - oops
Veg: 2/4.5

Thursday, August 7

This is the day that first got me to thinking that logging food doesn't help unless you make changes based on said logs.  We ordered in pizza and although I ordered the veggie pizza with extra veggies, it still had a bunch of cheese and I still ate the whole thing, when I probably could have been satisfied with half, had I added in some hot tea or something.

This is also the day that the "healthy" peanut butter cups entered into my life.  Mom, this reminds me a little of that "fudge" that you made on one of your diets.  I think you'd love these.  I love them and have the sisters of one of my childhood friends to thank.  My husband is on the fence, partly because reese cups are his favorite food.  And that's why we're all on a diet...



Carbs: 9/6
Protein: 9/6
Fruit: 3/3
Fat: 3/3
Veg: 2/4.5

Friday, August 8

Ice cream counts as a protein, right?

Carbs: 2/6 - what the heck, I love carbs!  Maybe I was feeling guilty from the carb overload the day before
Protein: 7/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 3/4.5

Saturday, August 9

More fish tacos - daddy is really getting good at these!

Carbs: 6/6
Protein: 7/6
Fruit: 1/3 - really, I can do better than that
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 3/4.5 - 3 out of 4.5 two days in a row - I'd consider that a success!  Possibly, that's why I'm not totally succeeding at this.

Sunday, August 10

Oh no, Chinese food again.  I just gave up counting.  Let's see, I had an avocado roll, which would be 1 fat and 1 carb, most likely.  I had some pot stickers, 1/2 an order, so maybe 1 carb and 1 protein?  I had some rice, which would be 1 "rarely" carb since it was fried rice (the BEST kind, I mean, come on) and also some chicken and veggies, which I would guess at 2 proteins and let's be generous and say 2 vegetables.

Carbs: 6/6
Protein: 7/6
Fruit: 2.5/3 - I would have had the whole amount but my peach was half rotten
Fat: 3/3 - but likely more from that fried avocado roll - so maybe 4/3
Veg: 3/4.5

Ok, it could have been worse, for sure, but still could have been better.

Monday, August 11

It's still funny to me that salmon is now a staple at our house.  A year ago, if you told me I'd be eating salmon twice a week, I would have scrunched up my nose and shook my head.  I feel grown up - my husband says that beans are next (which I do NOT like, at all) but I'm not sure I'm that grown up.

We also had these awesome Brussels Sprouts with dinner.  I've adapted the recipe slightly and am going to figure out how to post it and link it up for you - you'll love it!  In the meantime, here it is in its original form.


http://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/2014/03/balsamic-roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-maple-bacon.html

Carbs: 3/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 3/4.5 - seriously, I'm on a roll getting at least 3 servings of vegetables.  Here from where I was is big progress!

Tuesday, August 12 - happy birthday Katie Ziegler!

I put my long time veggie shortage into action today and made a green smoothie as one of my snacks.  The only problem is that I usually make the smoothie with 1 cup of fruit juice and the book says no juice.  Basically, no juice ever.  So, I list it on my little piece of paper and it just looks lost with no discernible label, whatsoever.  An alternative to the juice is soy milk so I'm going to try that once I get some from the store.  In my smoothie today, I did 1/2 cup juice and 1/2 cup water and it was still palatable so we'll see.  If I could get some soy milk in there, though, I'd also have a protein instead of just an uncountable value.

This is how I make my smoothies:


And yes, I realize it says that you can just use water for your liquid but I was worried that going from straight juice to straight water might be too much all at once.  I mean, I'm pretty sure that juice is part of what makes blended spinach so tasty.

Oh and we had these spinach, mushroom and avocado quesadillas for dinner - so good and more veggie servings and I made my own salsa!  Just call me Betty Crocker!  We ended the day pretty well, really.





Adapted slightly but this is basically what I did.

Carbs: 6/6
Protein: 7/6
Fruit: 3/3
Fat: 3/3
Veg: 5/4.5 - WHAT?!  Awesome - juice or not, vegetable minimum reached!

French Fries?

Ok, so here's the thing.  I get it, you're not supposed to eat French Fries, like, ever, or any fried food for that matter. You're probably also not supposed to eat cake or cupcakes or things like that.  Ok, well noted.  But since this is a lifestyle and not a "diet", chances are, I'm going to eat those things from time to time, even though I know they'll go straight to my ass and even though I'll probably even feel bad about it afterwards.  That sounds torturous, but don't act like you don't do it.

All in all, Friday was a pretty good day, bordering on great, even.  Part of my hesitation to call it great is the fact that I had some sweet potato fries.  I mean, surely they still count as a vegetable, right?  I looked up French Fries in the book just so that I could have some frame of reference and they were discussed on one solitary page and basically what was said about them was that if you eat them, your sex life may suffer.  Now I'm surely not about to go off on a tangent over sex versus French Fries or anything crazy like that, but I really do want to know, if I do happen to eat them, how do I count them?  I chose to count them as 2 vegetables and 1 fat.

Oh, yes, I'm looking at my notes and that's the other reason Friday wasn't great - my husband was working from home and declared it Donut Friday and I had a donut for breakfast, ha.  Oops.  But donuts are listed in the book - maybe not cream filled but still.

7:45 am
Donut (from the best, Dandy Donuts) - 2 "rarely" carbs

10:00 am
Greek Yogurt - 1 "thumbs up" protein

11:30 am
Plum - 1 fruit

1:00 pm
Zucchini, Squash and Corn (same recipe from the other day, but I added squash and left out cilantro -
If we're being honest, I left out cilantro partly because I had thrown out what we had the night before and partly because I'm lazy and hate dicing up fresh herbs - ugh, hate it.  I was on a mission to make some veggies that the baby would like, and he really did like this dish but I think next time I'll remove the skins and leave out the corn for him - be on the lookout for that modified recipe.  I digress, but these veggies were still damn delicious as they are described, even minus the cilantro) - 2 cups - 2 veggie servings
Whole Wheat Tortilla - 1 "always" carb
Mozzarella Cheese - 1/4 cup - 1 "thumbs up" protein
Chicken Nuggets - 2 (3 fingers worth) - 1 "thumbs up" protein
Cherries - 1 cup - 1 fruit

5:00 pm
Popcorn - 3 cups - 1 "always" carb

8:00 pm
Burger - Beef Patty - 2 "thumbs up" proteins
Bun - 2 "sometimes" carbs
Cheese - 1 protein - I honestly don't know if this is thumbs up or down or otherwise - probably should have skipped it
Lettuce, Tomato - negligible
Sweet Potato Fries - 2 veggies, 1 fat
Banana - 1 fruit
Peanut Butter - 1 Tablespoon - 1 fat

Carbs: 6/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 3/3
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 4/4.5

Saturday was a bit of a mess, partly because we ended up in the ER when my husband cut his finger on our food processor blade when he was putting it away.  It was nothing glamorous or intense, he just dropped it and it landed on his knuckle and there was quite a bit of blood so we made a visit to the ER for some dermabond.  All is ok, he's not going to lose a finger or anything, but I've been on kitchen duty ever since, which, if you know my husband, is killing him! We are both ready to have him back to normal.

Anyhow, I didn't spread my food out very well and also didn't get enough veggies, or fruit for that matter.  Most days, I feel like if I could eat more fruit servings instead of vegetables, I could totally do that, but neither was close this day.  I blame the ER.

7:45 am
Greek Yogurt - 1 "thumbs up" protein

12:00 pm
Whole Wheat Tortilla - 1 "always" carb
Mozzarella Cheese - 1/4 cup - 1 "thumbs up" protein
Chicken Nuggets - 2 (3 fingers worth) - 1 "thumbs up" protein
Fruit - cherries and grapes- 1 fruit
Broccoli (the baby refused to eat it) - 1 veg

3:30 pm
Popcorn - 3 cups - 1 "always" carb

Dinner was homemade pizza - this really made my husband crazy because this is his thing and I had to do it for him.  I would like the record to show that it was still delicious.
Crust - 5 "sometimes/rarely" carbs
Pesto - 2 fats
Mozzarella Cheese - 3 proteins
Parmesan Cheese - 1 protein

Carbs: 7/6
Protein: 7/6
Fruit: 1/3
Fat: 2/3
Veg: 1/4.5

Ah, Sunday.  I took this day to make some practice cupcakes for the baby's birthday that's coming up in September.  I've been trying to make healthier options than the typical cupcake.  The first version was pretty gross.  This last one was palatable - so much so that I had to try 3 to see if they were ok.  Hmm.  If you're not supposed to have one cupcake, surely you're definitely not supposed to have 3.  And again, how do I count these?  I guess carbs.

7:45 am
Greek Yogurt - 1 "thumbs up" protein

9:00 am
Baked Oatmeal
1 "always" carb
1 fruit
1 "thumbs up" protein
1 fat

12:00 pm
Sweet Potatoes - the baby was fighting naps and actually fell asleep in the high chair before he got a chance to legitimately ignore his sweet potatoes - so I ate them while I was waiting for my husband to bring home Chipotle (my first Chipotle experience, EVER).

1:00 pm Chicken Tacos
Flour Tortilla (we requested whole wheat but to no avail) - 2 "rarely" carbs
Chicken - 2 "thumbs up" proteins
Lettuce, tomato, etc - 1 veg
Guacamole - 1 fat

Cupcake(s) x 3 - yikes - 3 "rarely/never ever" carbs

6:00 pm
Popcorn - 3 cups - 1 "always" carb

8:00 pm
Salmon - again, we love this recipe using salmon from the local Farmer's Market -2 "thumbs up" proteins
Broccoli - a lot - 1.5 veg

Carbs: 7/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 1/3 - probably should have had some fruit instead of that last cupcake - or those last 2 cupcakes
Fat: 2/3 - buttercream icing probably takes this up to 5 - just now thought of that.
Veg: 3.5/4.5

I don't know what happened on Monday.  It was only yesterday but I honestly don't remember how I felt and what caused me to eat what I did.  Part of the problem is that we had leftover pizza.  God, I love pizza.  And we had leftover baked oatmeal - which, isn't bad but also isn't as good as the good old "regular" oatmeal.

I'm just going to give it to you straight.

7:45 am
Oatmeal
1 "always" carb
1 fruit
1 "thumbs up" protein
1 fat

10:45 am
Greek Yogurt - 1 "thumbs up" protein

12:00 pm
Pizza - now I'm starting to remember.  The baby didn't want to nap - we met some friends at the park in the morning and he might have taken a 15 minute snooze and then he didn't want to go back down so I had put him in his crib and he screamed while I "enjoyed" my pizza and then I got him up and we played for 45 more minutes until we tried again.  I finally had to rock him to sleep around 1:25.  Exhausting.
3 "rarely" carbs
1 fat
1 "thumbs up" protein

2:40 pm
Peach - 1 fruit
Cupcake - oops - 1 "rarely" carb, 1 fat
Nature Valley Pumpkin Flax bar - so yummy, I think the tiredness made me do it - 2 carbs?

5:30 pm
Carrots - 3 oz - 1 veg
Peanut Butter - 2 Tablespoons - 2 fats

8:00 pm
Chicken Pot Pie - this Pilsbury recipe actually isn't so bad - at least I don't think so
Crust - 2 "rarely" carbs
Chicken - 1 "thumbs up" protein
Corn, Green Beans, Peas and Carrots - 1 veg

Ice Cream - I just had to do it - 1/2 cup maybe? - 1 "probably shouldn't" protein

Carbs: 9/6 - eesh
Protein: 5/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 5/3
Veg: 2/4.5

I mean, I don't know what else to say about that.  That's all. 

I don't want to talk about today, yet.  I'm tired.  Say you have this baby that used to take two naps a day.  And say the combined time of those naps was around 2.5 hours.  When said baby goes from two naps to one, one would only assume that this single nap would be around the same time as the combined naps, right?  Right?  Riiight.  Or, said nap time decreases to around 1.5 hours total.  That's what we're dealing with right now - more awake time, later naps, nap rebellion, sheer exhaustion.  I'll come back later and link up a few more things - just wanted to let you all know I hadn't fallen completely off the wagon.

Salmon Awesomeness

I really never thought I'd say something like that but truly, the salmon was exceptional.  And it was beautiful.  I should have taken a picture.  I must give credit where credit is due.  I found this on Pintrest and we will for sure be making it again (the picture should link it, let me know if not).  I got a half pound filet and the hubs and I split it.  He asked me if that was all the fish I bought and if I had just gotten it for myself but I told him we were working on portioning.  No one starved.



And then we had this broccoli.  Again, amazing and only olive oil and sea salt. 



We had some baklava for dessert I picked up from the Farmer's Market.  All in all, I rounded out the day as follows:

Carbs: 4/6
Protein: 6/6
Fruit: 2/3
Fat: 4/3
Veggies: 2

I felt good yesterday.  I didn't feel like I was starving and felt pretty in control all day.  Also, no headache, so not sure what that was all about on Tuesday. 

The baby is fighting a nap at the moment.  I'm waiting for him to go to sleep before I go outside to water the flowers/herbs and thinking about my first snack for the day.  It'll probably be a repeat of that oatmeal.  Though, I may need to do the oatmeal for lunch as something quick since we have Gymboree today.  We will see.  I'll keep you in the loop. 

I jumped on the scale today (not when I first got up, but after I'd eaten a yogurt and had a good bit of water) and was 2 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight.  That's not displeasing to me.  But seriously, try that salmon and broccoli.  I'll bet you'll be as excited as I was!