Got in 30 minutes of walking before lunch today, as I have a 1pm meeting. It felt good to get outside!
On the menu….
Smoked salmon, dill, avocado and spinach on Ezekiel bread:
Apple slices:
Spinach salad with pomegranate and balsamic vinegar:
And pumpkin yogurt with Fiber One:
All together with my big orange cup of water:
Lunch kcal: 511
I’ve got clementines and string cheese for snack. Off to my meeting!
Kath says
Lily,
ONIONS ARE POISON!!!! You should never eat them and they should be banned from the earth!!!!!!!!!!
Just kidding. I have an extremely powerful sense of smell and taste (maybe that's why I love to eat!?) and am really sensitive to foods that linger on the breath. I eat garlic, but I'm not a huge fan of it and only like it cooked. As for onions, I hate the strong taste AND they linger on the breath for 24+ hours (both cooked and raw, although raw are much worse). When someone has eaten them I can tell within 2 minutes of talking to them and have to hold my breath!
So yeah, I have an extreme aversion. But they are super healthy for you and many studies have proven multiple health benefits. Just don't go near anyone for a day after you eat them!
Meg says
Hey Kath,
Just curious…
1)What is your favorite food?
2) Have you tried Indian Food? It's my fav (besides pizza), but with many of the refined carbs and fried foods I find that I can't eat it often without "falling off the wagon" and doing serious damage. I absolutely adore Naan bread and Samosas!
Love the blog!
Meg
the husband says
Yeah better watch your onion intake or Kath won't give you smooches!
Mmmm indian food. I'm actually curious what she'll say for her favorite food, because it used to be cheese or ice cream. Oh, I bet it's plain yogurt (boring)!
I like lamb.
Emily says
I just wanted to say that I made your mushroom soup last night (that you made a few days ago) and YUMMM!! Thanks!
Kath says
Yay!! So glad you liked it. Did you puree it like we did? I should put that on the menu again…
laura says
i love your blog and i too love Ezikiel bread..its awesome! but anyway i was just wondering what type of peanut butter you normally use. thanks!!
Allison says
Oh, and I can't tell you how much I love your oatmeal, banana, peanut butter breakfast. It is delicious! My new favorite.
Patricia says
Hey Kath!
I just had some of your pumpkin yogurt with fiber one for lunch today! It was delicious!! Thanks for the great idea…
Have a good day!
Lily says
Hey Kath,
Awesome lunch…that sandwich looks DELISH! I had some Ezekiel bread today and I’m hooked. Just a quick question about onions…I’ve noticed that you don’t eat them and I was wondering if it was for health or just preference reasons. I love red onions in salads and wraps but maybe there’s something I don’t know about them! Thanks…you are doing a wonderful job!
Kath says
Patricia,
So glad you liked it!! Since the grocery store didn’t have cranberries to make sauce this week, it’s my new thing 🙂
hk says
ditto on the net calories…it was a helpful tracker to see at the end of the day.
thanks!
Kath says
Meg,
Favorite foods (which I responded to a post a few days ago):
Gosh, tough choice. If I had to pick one food to live on for the rest of my life it would be oatmeal. It’s filling, a superfood, and you get a nice portion for 150 nutritious calories. Close behind would be peanut butter (all natural), cheese (anything sharp), and dark chocolate. It’s too hard to decide!
I'm not a huge fan of ethnic food, but I do like it. I just don't eat it much, so I haven't had Indian food. We do have a pretty fancy Indian place here in Charlotte (called Copper) and I've been wanting to go for a while and haven't had the chance. I love thai food and curry (but again, rarely eat it because it's probably loaded with fat).
Brianne,
I need to get that Vitasoy nog! I want to try the chocolate peppermint too. Too many things to buy!
Laura,
I use the Organic/All natural peanut butter from my local grocery store, Harris Teeter. I just really like the taste of theirs and the only ingredients are salt (2% DV) and peanuts.
Alex,
You guessed right!
Allison,
I normally burn between 350 and 450 calories at the gym in the mornings. I rarely hit 600 because it's almost impossible for me to burn that many calories in an hour and 15 minutes. I'd need an hour and a half and to do mostly cardio. But to answer your question, I think if I was going to be active all day, burning 600 calories throughout or in a hard soccer game, I would probably eat my normal breakfast but try to spread out more calories throughout the day. I'd probably need an additional snack or two. So glad you like the PB oatmeal! I stopped reporting the net because I thought people were focusing too much on MY caloric intake and not enough on my larger goals of eating whole foods, getting exercise, and cooking great meals. Hope that's OK! (If you really want to know you can just total it all up 🙂 )
Lauren,
Tough question! Basically I just did what felt right. I know that can be a slippery ground with eating disorders, but when I got to 130 I realized I just wanted to keep going as I was and see where my body stabled out. I wasn't putting 100% effort into health then either (too many snacks, sweets and stuff in my diet) and new that I needed to put in 100% before I would settle on a number. So I didn't pick 120 as a goal, I just said I would continue what I was doing and if my body stopped at 125, then that would be fine. It seems that my body really likes the number 120, because I seem to have settled in here. I'm sure I could get down to 115 if I wanted to, but I think I'm happy and healthy here and don't really want to change anything. That's when I knew when to stop.
Hope that all helps answer your questions!
Kath
Kath says
Emily,
Eat dinner later – so you have less time between dinner and bed. Brush your teeth. Hot tea makes a perfect evening snack! Go read in bed. I get up from my computer or the couch looking for a snack sometimes, but I would never get out of a cozy bed when reading and walk downstairs to eat!
K
Brianne says
Hey Kath- love your blog! You said you love eggnog but of course the calories and fat are really high! Well I just bought and tried Vitasoy soy eggnog beverage and it is really good! It has 120 cal and 2g unsaturated fat per serving compared to no fat egg nog at 210!
Alex says
I bet she’ll say her favorite food is oatmeal!
Allison says
If you have a particularly high intensity work out in the morning, do you try to eat a bigger breakfast. In other words, if you burned off 600 calories at your morning work out, would you make sure you ate that much for breakfast?
Also, you seem to have stopped putting your net at the end of the day. Is there a reason.
Thanks
Lauren says
Hi Kath,
I have a quick question. I know that on your ‘Real Weight Loss’ page you say that you originally had a goal weight of 130 pounds but that you ultimately ended up dropping 10 more than that. How did you come up with that number, and how did you know when to stop losing weight? I recently lost a lot of weight but have gained a good portion of it back, and I want to begin being healthy and losing again by setting a goal for myself. I’m just curious as to what you have to say about finding your perfect weight. Thanks! And I absolutely love your blog!
Lauren
Emily says
I put like most of the soup in my blender. Also I added 1/2 a can of butter beans (b/c that’s all we had…either those or black beans) I think the beans added to the thickness….However leaving a little out of the blender is important too b/c it doesnt get too thick! I dont know, it was just REALLY good! I had the leftovers with my lunch today! YUMMO! For those of you who have yet to try it….what are you waiting for?!?!? I also like how it is so packed full of nutrients!! A++++
Emily says
Oh and one more quick question! I eat very healthy throughout the day! I actually want to become a food science technologist (used to wanna be a nutritionist!) However, at night I just get this urge to snack. It is usually healthy stuff but too much…..lots of cereal, ice cream (which I dont even buy, even thought i LOVE it, b/c I just cant control myself!)… The logical explanation would be to stop buying the stuff that is tempting but I am 17 and live with my mom and dad and brother….so it’s not that easy! Sometimes I snack on little choc.’s and what not….It’s just a night and it’s very frusturating! Just wondering if you have any tips or tricks to help avoid the temptation! Thanks!!!
Anne says
Made a version of the chili with four simple ingredients from Trader Joe’s – cuban black beans, canned plum tomatoes with basil, frozen succotash and frozen shrimp – and the same spices you used. Delicious, and the total kcals were around 900 for 4 portions! Love your food ideas, have already incorporated them into breakfast, lunch and dinner!!
On the ‘net’ calories issue, I started tracking them myself but found I would overeat when I worked out because I knew I had net to spare, even if I wasn’t hungry.
Kath says
Anne,
Soup sounds good! I love just throwing things in a pot. Very true about easily overeating if you think you have more on workout days! I’ve said it before, research shows that food journaling – whether you’re counting every calorie or just writing your foods down in a notebook – leads to success in weight loss and maintenance!
Anonymous says
Kath,
Where do you buy your smoked salmon? Do you cook it or buy it that way?
Thank you
Kath says
Anon,
I buy the salmon at the grocery store under the fish window. It’s usually near the crab meat. Ask your fish monger! You don’t need to cook it because it’s smoked.
Kath