Tonight I have my nutrition class, which I’m taking at a local university to learn more about the body and the physiology behind nutrition, so I won’t be home until 9 p.m. It’s gonna be a long day!! But I get to have dinner at the dining hall, which is always exciting and will try my best to post dinner after class.
Got great sleep last night. I told the husband I was NOT allowed to be on my computer past 8pm, so he had to pry my hands from the keyboard to get me off! I was so glad he did though, because 30 minutes of reading (I’m reading the novel Rise and Shine) was just what I needed to unwind. Lights out at 9:00, and I got a great 8 hours of sleep. Much improved from Tuesday!!
Workout:
I decided on half a Kashi bar before my workout this morning and saved the other half for a snack during class tonight. Mid-workout I started to get really hungry. Although my normal toast + jam isn’t that many more calories, it certainly holds over better.
Workout was ET and upper body lifting. It’s not good to have RAGE at 5:30 in the morning, but this woman on the ET beside me was hacking up a lung – rhythmically – and I just couldn’t take it anymore, so after 7 minutes I picked up my magazine and went to another ET in another room. Uggggg. If you can’t get through 2 breaths without eating your snot, GO HOME!!! Gross. 426 calories burned.
Breakfast:
Had my favorite: Peanut Butter + Walnut Oatmeal with a small amount of chopped pear and banana in there somewhere. It was quite filling!!
And decaf coffee:
Back to volumetrics, I just love oatmeal because it’s so voluminous (but not instant because then you get half the amount but the real kind!) and I’m always full when I finish it. Volume eaters love to feel full 🙂 I just eat the Old Fashioned Oats, but I like the Quick Oats and Steel Cut as well. Quicks are better for oatmeal pancakes and steel cut when you have an hour to cook them, which isn’t often!
Breakfast calories: ~500 (not including half of Kashi bar for tonight’s snack)
I can’t take the lightrail today because of my class tonight, but I’ll be back on it tomorrow!
Anonymous says
Ewww…I would have moved ETs, too. Yuck! Anyways, have a great long day and have fun in class tonight! 🙂 -Meg-
Holly says
Hi Kath! Your doing a great job. There is sooo much detail to your blogs, I just love it, and your food looks so good. I work from home, so I'm always looking at your blog all day 🙂 Quick question… when it comes to calories I always get confused. How many calories are in a medium sweet potato? Also, when it comes to fruit I never can tell how many calories are in them. I will look online, but the calories vary soooo much from site to site… I usually eat apples, pears, and oranges. Isn't an apple usually 80 calories? I peel off the skin though, so how much would it be then? Is an orange about 40 calories? What about a pear? Do you feel as though calorie king gives you accurate numbers? I count my calories in order to lose weight, and it has really, really helped me. But I just want to make sure that I am doing everything right. Please help me 🙂
Kath says
Hi Holly! Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoy the blog. When I first started calorie counting I just used the ballpark amounts for each food, but I realized if I'm going to bother counting at all, why not be as accurate as possible? That's when I bought a digital food scale. Now I just plop my banana, apple, salmon filet, peanut butter, almonds, whatever! on the scale and know exactly the portion size I'm eating. A "medium sweet potato" in CalorieKing is listed as around 110 calories, but by weight, I usually eat about 13 oz of raw sweet potato – which is over 300 calories!! "Medium" is so subjective, but oz are doing scientifically and are therefore consistent between the databases. So I would recommend you go to Bed, Bath and Beyond or Linens and Things (or Amazon) and buy a Saltar Digital Food Scale (one of the most popular brands) and then you can be sure your apple is really 80 calories (I've had one that was 155 calories by weight – it was big, but who knew it was that much by sight!?). Hope that helps!!K
Kath says
**Done not doing scientifically. Also, you can use the scale's zero feature, which is SOOOO convenient!! No need to dirty up measuring cups – just put your bowl down, push zero, and add the food. I LOVE my scale 🙂
jennifer says
Kath, How do you deal with other people's thoughts about your counting calories and measuring food exactly? I seem to be a lot like you–I always measure everything out exactly and like to know what/how much of things I eat (and I loove wine..but try to limit myself to twice a week 😉 I don't think that's "obsessive" but other people do…the other day when I measured my hummus out my roommate was like "you are not really using a measuring cup to measure that before you eat it, are you?" That comment bothered me a little bit because why is it wrong to live this kind of lifestyle? I have never had an eating disorder nor a weight problem but I still am just really "into" food!! Sorry for the long rant, I was just wondering how you dealt with it if you ever got comments from friends or family like that…so often we hear that counting calories=eating disorder but i don't think thats true! I mean, over half of the people in this country are considered "fat". the other half of us must be doing something right! do you have any thoughts?
fashionista says
hello hello!I remember someone speaking about mayo with tuna salads. I thought I would just share what I put in my tuna salad. Its not really that different but I guess variety + a little mix up of routine is always good for everyone!-lettuce + rocket (just a little)-cucumber-celery-rosa tomatoes (or cherry)-red onion-sweet pepper-a few pickles (depends on my mood)-small amount of carrot-lemon juice-splashes of tobasco-and for that creamy texture I use greek TZAZIKI!!! I have a low fat tzaziki which works fabulous & it also has shredded cucumber in it (extra veg).It has the tang like mayo but is SO much healthier. I just love it!-OH I also had a few spoonfuls of salsa on top to add something a litte extra. It works great as every bite as a bit of that zesty goodness!anyways… just thought I would share:)Have a fabulous day.*Lisa*
Anonymous says
hey lisa! looks like a yummy recipe-I've seen greek tzakiki at whole foods but have yet to venture away from my normal fage 0% yogurt OBSESSION! I know they're different tastes and differnt uses, but I still have yet to give it a try…your recipe should force me to branch out a bit :)Ive actually seen fage tziki in the dairy shelves area…usually close to the tabouli, hummus, spread..etc area in the refrigerator section, is this the brand you use?…juuuust for kicks, what would you assume is the calorie count for your tuna salad mix? thanks for the recipes, always love new ideas and foods to try! have a great thursday!
Holly says
Thank you for your quick response Kath! Just wondering one more thing… I'm going to buy a food scale today by the way! You convinced me 🙂 Now let's say I'm measuring an apple, I can measure it after I peel and core it, correct? The core has weight to it. I made half a sweet potato today, and then measured how much it was, and it was a little over 2 oz… is that ok measuring it after I cook something or prepare it? Same with green beans after I steam them. TY!
fashionista says
Hey Anon,I hope you have a great day as well ( although for me its night;) )The tuna salad is fantastic. You can always add a slice of bread for a extra boost. As for the calorie content I am not really sure? I just try to load up on veg and not worry too much on how many calories it is, but I am guessing around 250-300 (depending on how much you use of each veg). I USE lots of cucumber + celery as I love the crunch, therefore it is very light! I figure you can't go wrong with all of the veg, so for me, the more the merrier. I use an average size bowl & it is usually overfilling 🙂 yum yum.About the tzaziki- the thing is I live in Cape Town, South Africa (I know it is crazy far), therefore I buy it from Woolworths! BUT any tzaziki would work- the ingredients are pretty simple and I think mine as only 4-5 ingreidents (all healthy) so I am not too worried about it! I use a few table spoons, lashes of tobasco, and heaps of lemon juice and I am good to go. I just love eating whole, fresh foods and am so happy when I do!Have fun with the experimentation!Ciao*Lisa*
Kath says
Hey Jennifer,Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. Thanks for your insightful comment. My opinion when it comes to counting calories and measuring is "to each her own." I've lost 30 pounds, I'm obviously doing something right. If counting works for me, then let me be!! Unless it becomes a problem or burden in my life, I will continue to at least ballpark my calories. If I lived on a farm or ate only food from a farmer's market 100% of the time, I wouldn't need to count. But I live in the real world of oversized portions, processed foods, good restaurants, parties, special events, holidays…it goes on and one and in order to make smart choices in these environments, I believe I have to keep counting. It's just too easy to let things get out of control. But to answer your question, I don't have too many people question it because I think people have seen my weight loss and know that health and nutrition are my favorite topics. I try not to be obsessive about it in public or when I'm in groups, but there are plenty of ways to be discreet about it. Look at menus ahead of time. Have a snack before or after a meal you can't control so you can eat less of it if it's bad, etc. I try not to make a big deal of it all and think in general my family and friends are pretty respectful when I ask to go to a healthy restaurant or for their recipe so I'll know how it's prepared. I'd love to keep writing for hours in this subject, but I must get back to work!Kath