Healthy Girl 365, Day 22 - Less is More, Baby!

Tonight's dinner might have been ugly as heck, but it was freaking good. I cooked Martha Stewart's Chicken and Dumplings for the first time and am in love. It's tasty, it's comforting, and I could eat bowls and bowls and bowls of it if I wasn't desperately trying to lose weight! My problem is that full-ness isn't ever an obstacle... if I like something, I can eat it enough of it to feed an Italian family reunion in one sitting, knowing that the worst consequence I'm facing is possible uncomfortable full-ness for half an hour, max. Flattering, I know, but you need to know where I'm coming from. I don't have the 'full' switch, which means that I can't really trust my stomach to tell me when I've eaten enough, because the bitch lies! Couple that with the fact that I'm a passionate foodie and well... we have a fairly obvious problem. The solution? Controlled portions! I'm really trying to work on my portion sizes, and while I still fail every now and then, I'm picking up some good ideas that I wanted to share, for those who might have a similar struggle:
- Serve your meal in a smaller bowl/plate so that the smaller portion still looks like a full serve
- Consciously stop eating halfway through your meal and assess whether you are still hungry
- Have someone else serve your food to you (I'm a sucker for adding 'just a little more' when I plate my own food!)
- If you're starving, drink a big glass of water just before serving your meal - you'll be less hungry and less inclined to go for a bigger portion
- After serving your meal, take one scoop and put it back in the pot!
- Stretch a "serves 4" meal to serve 6 instead (leftovers make the greatest lunches!)
This article has some other great tips about portion control.

The chicken and dumplings I cooked tonight was perfectly healthy provided I didn't pig out on it. It was full of vegetables, lean chicken and homemade stock. The recipe says "serves 6" but I could easily have split it into 4 serves at the size I would normally eat. In fact, I might have even eaten that portion AND gone back for seconds! Suddenly, it's not looking so healthy any more. Tonight I made sure I had a "serves 6" portion and of course, I didn't go back for seconds. Was I full? No. But, was I hungry after finishing dinner? No! Smaller portions may not leave you feeling bursting full, but it actually doesn't take much food at all to leave us feeling satisfied. My problem is often just controlling how much food I put on my plate in the first place!

If you've reached the end of the exceptionally long blog post, well done!

Healthy Girl 365, Days 20 & 21 - Incidental Exercise Strikes Again and A Bit Of A Re-Focus

Day 20: Sunday was a perfect mix of productivity and recovery time with Chris. We deep-cleaned our bedroom, started watching Ed right from the beginning (yep, circa 2000), and ate a hearty, delicious dinner of BBQ'd tandoori lamb shoulder with naan bread. It was definitely one of those perfect, cruisy weekend days that we all need once in a while! In amongst all the TV-watching, I picked up the weights Chris gave me for my birthday and did a few reps of a bunch of different toning exercises. Easy, incidental exercise that certainly won't help me lose weight, but over time I'm hoping it will help tone my arms a little.

Day 21: Today I did a bit of soul-searching. The last 21 days have been good, and I can recognise some great changes I'm making, but I'm just not seeing results yet. It was definitely time for a big re-focus! I love lists, so today I made a list of things I'm doing right, and things I'm doing wrong, and as you can see the 'wrong' list is unfortunately quite a bit longer. I'm finding that I'm tracking points every day, but will be tempted to grab "just a spoonful of yoghurt" and "just a couple of lollies" here and there throughout the day... so on paper it looks like I'm eating the exact right amount of food, but in reality I'm actually sneaking a lot in there! I need to exercise more than I am, I'm eating too-big portions... the list goes on. I've stuck my list up on the fridge to help remind me of ways that I can improve... and hopefully soon enough I'll start being able to shift items from the right column into the left! It was definitely a great exercise that left me with a clearer picture of what I need to do if I want to succeed. So if you're stuck in a rut, or if what you're doing just isn't working for you, I highly recommend list-making!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 19 - There's an App For That!

 

Today I wanted to share a pretty brilliant app with you! A couple of friends put me onto this during our weekly Saturday morning walks, and this morning I downloaded it for myself and was pretty chuffed with it! The app is Lorna Jane and it's free! Basically you use it to track distance and time when you go for a walk, run or cycle. Plus, it lets you know how many calories you're burning based on your height, weight and activity type. Pretty spiffy! The screenshot above is from our walk today. I'm really excited that I can now compare my times each week!

 

I like the idea of sharing useful apps on my blog occasionally. Yay apps!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 18 - The Art of Uber-Planning

Welcome to one of my dorkier sides. One thing that I love about working in finance is spreadsheets. Organising data is fun! Yep, I just said that. So anyway, even though I'm disorganised in a lot of ways, in other ways I'm over-the-top in my desire to organise. One of the ways that this comes out is that I plan our meals every week - breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I find this is helpful not only when I go to the grocery store (because I only buy exactly what I need!) but it also means I don't end up being tempted to get takeaways on a whim after a long day at work because I know exactly what I've planned, and I have the ingredients right there in my fridge! Planning meals in advance also helps me know how I'm going to be 'spending' my Weight Watchers points during the week. It can take a little getting used to, but it's a great habit to be in for so many reasons! Tonight I planned out our meals all the way up to next Friday, and tomorrow after "walking club" in the morning I'll be heading to the shops with my detailed list. Spoiler alert: my shopping list is as uber-organised as my meal plan. And with that, you know me a little better...

Healthy Girl 365, Day 17 - It's Incidental!

Ha! Yep, I'm cool. My shadow is all "peace, dude". Today I wanted to talk to you about incidental exercise. It shouldn't be used to replace a good 30-minute work-out or walk, but it helps prevent laziness and gets you moving. Chris and I work for the same company but across two different offices, which are about a block apart from each other. Walking between offices is actually quite nice - there's a footpath with lots of leafy trees. So today when I finished my work-day and it was time to leave, instead of getting Chris to come pick me up in the car, I decided to walk to him. It was the perfect weather for it - a nice super-mild Summer day!
Incidental exercise is all about finding ways to push yourself to move a little more in your day-to-day dealings. Parking in the spot furthest from the shops. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Walking to a co-worker's desk to ask them something, rather than picking up the phone. We've heard them all before, and while they're not big-time calorie burners, they're all good ways to combat sluggishness and get a little more activity into your day. How can you grab some incidental exercise??

Healthy Girl 365, Days 15 & 16 - Mushroom Mini Pizzas, And The Importance Of Water

Day 15: Sorry I got a day behind guys! Yesterday was a crazy one. I still took a photo though! Yesterday I officially committed to focus on my water intake. I mean, considering how hot and muggy it was yesterday, it was a pretty easy commitment to make!! Water is important for so many reasons, especially in the Summer when you're losing more of it through sweat. I found this site had some great info, so check it out! There's lots of opinions out there as to how much water we should be drinking, but the general consensus is 8 glasses per day. However, if you want an accurate idea day-by-day (based on weight, weather, etc) you can check out this Hydration Calculator I found! I'm going to do a few posts over the next couple of weeks with some ideas on how to drink more water. As you can see in the photo, I'm starting by carrying a water bottle with me wherever I go. You can buy a huge pack of them and pack one in your handbag each day. Often I get thirsty when I'm out (especially at the shops!) and resort to buying a bottle of water at retail price! So now I can even save a bit of money.

Day 16: Recipe time! Tonight we worked a bit later than usual so I wanted to cook something quick and easy (and of course, healthy!) for dinner. I browsed through Pinterest while waiting for Chris to pack his things, and stumbled upon this recipe which I decided to adapt a little. In short, you make little pizzas but use large flat mushrooms instead of traditional pizza bases. Luckily we're big mushroom-lovers in this house! Once you've chopped all your ingredients, these are so quick and easy to assemble. Perfect week night meal that I think I'm going to be pulling out fairly regularly! You can choose your own toppings, otherwise here's what I did...

Mini Mushroom Pizzas
Makes 4

Ingredients:
Olive oil spray
4 large flat mushrooms, stalks removed
1/4 jar tomato-based pasta sauce
Handful baby spinach leaves
1 chorizo sausage, diced
2 thin slices prosciutto, torn into shreds
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
Handful of shredded pizza-blend cheese
1 tbs oregano (dry or fresh)

Preheat oven to 180C.
Spray olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add chorizo, prosciutto, capsicum and onion. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until onion and capsicum have softened a little. Set aside.
Lay mushrooms on a baking tray, under-sides up. Spread pasta sauce on under-side of mushrooms.
Lay a few spinach leaves on each mushroom. Top with chorizo mixture. Top with cheese. Sprinkle each mushroom with oregano.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Serve with a salad. Which I didn't, but totally will next time!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 14 - Yeah, He's Good...

Today was my birthday and it was wonderful. I love my birthday - it's the best excuse to spend heaps of time with those I adore, and generally I get to do what I want all day. Yep, I'm one of those birthday girls who makes sure to take the day off work and plan things that will make me happy. Today that meant going to Sayers for breakfast, getting my hair done and having a make-your-own gourmet burger night at my parents' with my whole family and my besties! And then, there were the presents. The amazing presents. I guess I kind of struggle with materialism a bit! Today I just loved everything that was given to me - each and every present was so beautiful and thought-out. I love that my friends and family know me so well! Anyway, I brought up presents just now because my incredible husband outdid himself this year - aside from a brand new laptop and a big set of new pyrex dishes, he also gave me some gifts to encourage me in my new fitness journey - wrist weights, little dumbbells and a yoga mat and block. Chris is an amazing gift giver, and I am so excited to start using these! Major husband points, as always... what a keeper!