Petals diary

Hey Petal, thanks for stopping by.
Rob do you have a calorie target each day ?
Not formally but I try to stay over 1,000, and I think 1,200 is better, going a few hundred above that is ok. I originally set a goal of 1,400 to 1,600 but that has kind of fallen by the wayside. What I do is try to eat enough of a well balanced diet without feeling hungry. I also very carefully record what I eat to be sure my count at the end of the day is ok.

I have been working on sorting out hunger from food cravings, I used to eat most all I craved, that's what got me where I am. I still have the cravings, they can be powerful and deep, that's why I so carefully follow my calorie count. If I did not I am sure my calories would creep up.

How about you, do you have a calorie goal? How do you track what you eat?
 
I'm not in a mad panic though just happy now enjoying the plan. It will take however long it takes because this is the life plan now for me.
I love how content that sounds :beating:
 
Thanks Em.

Rob your tracking sounds good . No I don't have a target . I used to track calories but it used to get me down . I don't really have time to work and record everything. I'm following a plan that allows me to eat freely of fruit and veg . Some of them are super foodslike spinach apples , broccoli kale cabbage melon etc so on and recommend I eat some at every meal. It's a long list . Then free food like kiwi grape banana parsnip , potatoe ,rice pasta , eat but don't stuff yourself . Protein such as beef fish chicken eggs . I can have say 40g oats a day ( or bread for example ) and also 30g cheese or 40g low fat cheese. Also milk but I'm not a fan maybe a little in coffee. Greek natural yoghurt too .
Then I can have 200to 300 cals of extra . These I do count . What I might use them on is - choc biscuit bar 100 cal , salad dressing 20 cal , extra bread roll 100 cal . Tomatoes ketchup . Olive oil .

Today I ate for example so will try see
Melon and strawberries, Greek yoghurt , 35g granola ( 80 ,86 and 150 )
Snack - small banana 90 cals
Lunch
Chicken burger from organic market in small roll with salad of mixed leaves. Beetroot , onion tomatoes and dressing (est 300 max )

Snack
Choc biscuit 95 cals

Dinner
Chicken jambalaya I made with
Chicken , loads of peppers ,tin tomato ,onion ,garlic , chicken stock , rice , hot Cajun spice . One pot meal . 400 cals as per recipe

That's all today

Just added it and that 1201 !!! Amazing lol
 
Hi Petal! I sometimes make soup stock by boiling a lot of celery and about 10 cloves of garlic with some herbs for about an hour before I add the rest of the soup ingredients, and that seems to do the trick. I know what you mean about getting full quicker, and about teaching ourselves to distinguish between cravings and hunger. I have to have healthy substitutes for unhealthy things I crave sometimes, or I'll fall off the wagon for a few days eating junk.
 
My soup flavouring is celery & garlic too. I really do like the sound of your plan, Petal. Is your Greek yoghurt full-fat or low or no-fat?
 
Cate it's non fat . Technically perhsps it's not a Greek yogurt but Icelandic skyr .

I have been doing research into yoghurt and other than the Greek or Icelandic they are all so full of sweeteners or sugar and lots of additives I can't pronounce. A friend used to make his own yoghurt and I gave been thinking about trying it too.

Marsia another good soup tip thanks and I do like celery
 
I'm following a plan that allows me to eat freely of fruit and veg . Some of them are super foodslike spinach apples , broccoli kale cabbage melon etc so on and recommend I eat some at every meal. It's a long list . Then free food like kiwi grape banana parsnip , potatoe ,rice pasta , eat but don't stuff yourself . Protein such as beef fish chicken eggs . I can have say 40g oats a day ( or bread for example ) and also 30g cheese or 40g low fat cheese. Also milk but I'm not a fan maybe a little in coffee. Greek natural yoghurt too .
Then I can have 200to 300 cals of extra . These I do count . What I might use them on is - choc biscuit bar 100 cal , salad dressing 20 cal , extra bread roll 100 cal . Tomatoes ketchup . Olive oil .
That sounds very reasonable, maybe I will transition to something like that at some point. I really like the idea of being able to freely eat vegetables and some fruits, I agree its hard to get fat on broccoli or apples. I kind of do that now, I do track the calories, but any time I am hungry I eat fruit or a veggie and call it a snack. I am not so sure how well I'd do without limits on starches like rice, potatoes or pasta, but that's not really what you are saying. Thanks for sharing this!


Dinner
Chicken jambalaya I made with
Chicken , loads of peppers ,tin tomato ,onion ,garlic , chicken stock , rice , hot Cajun spice . One pot meal . 400 cals as per recipe
Being from Louisiana I love jambalaya and like to make it. Mine tends to have too much fat in it though. Do you know Tony Chachere's seasoning? When my mother was in high school in Opelousas she lived next door to Tony's parents. That was before he started selling the seasonings.
 
I am lucky that our big box grocery store sells a yogurt without sweeteners and junk, but before that I made my own, and it is really easy. I even made soy yogurt for J because he gets gas from the dairy yogurt. It's nice making your own because you can leave it for longer if you like it more tangy, or take it off sooner if you like more mild.

Rob, that's really great you learned to cook like that. Creole and Cajun foods are some of my favorites on the planet. I have seen recipes for healthier, less fatty versions, too.
 
Long ago I went to the Gonzales Jambalaya Festival for the world championship jambalaya cook off. Gonzales is the self proclaimed jambalaya capital of the world. Its on the east side of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The jambalaya was cooked in old hot tub sized cast iron pots once used to boil down sugar cane. They sat on the ground and were ringed by fires. My favorite, Fatty Lessard's, was amazing, but probably not the healthier recipe. Don't recall if Fatty won.
 
No, he was probably nick named Fatty for the ingredients he used and their unfortunate effects! Sounds wonderful!!
 
lol that's funny Fatty Lezzards . You are probably right Marsia .
No Rob I never heard of that spice . Most of the spices we get here are Swartz or Goodall or own branded .

Had a good day , tons of cleaning . Lunch was some leftover jambalaya ( not a full portion) and dinner was a pork chop from the organic farmer market ( fat removed to husbands disgust ) with lots of veg . Snacks were cheese and grapes and banana .

Rob I'm careful with my pasta and rice normally only gave one a week tbh . And portion control.
Hungry tonight would love a bowl of cornflakes lol but gone to bed :sleeping::sleeping::sleeping:
 
Tony Chachere's (Tony Chachere ), one of the most popular real Cajun spices in the US, and even in Louisiana. However to be honest, not my favorite. Cajun's like nicknames such as Fatty and Shorty that might be considered pejorative elsewhere, but not in south Louisiana. I've known a number of Shorties, growing up I remember a family friend I called Mr Shorty, nice man as I recall.
 
There’s nothing like a bowl of cereal in the evening! It has been ages since I did that but I was a devil for it when I was about 16 or 17. Gained weight fairly rapidly.

Your chicken jambalaya sounds lovely and fairly easy to put together. Might give it a try myself. Have a good week.
 
...I'm following a plan that allows me to eat freely of fruit and veg . Some of them are super foods... It's a long list . Then free food like ... banana, potatoe, rice... eat but don't stuff yourself... Greek natural yoghurt too .
Then I can have 200to 300 cals of extra . These I do count . What I might use them on is - choc biscuit bar 100 cal , salad dressing 20 cal , extra bread roll 100 cal...

Your eating plan sounds a lot like mine - except that as a vego my protein intake is non-meat. I also don't count calories, except to note "extras", like crackers or a second round of bread. Cheers from one fruit-and-vegie junkie to another! :D
 
Anyone else up 2 or 3 times to go to the loo . It's wearing me out.

em the recipe also called for chorizo but I hadn't got any so if you use add on the relevant calories . Still a good meal.

Rob was mr shorty tall ?

Aiming that sounds similar alright. There are lots of vegetarians and vegans in my support class so I am always interested in what they eat.

Thanks LaMa and Marsia.
Did a forest mountain walk yesterday after work. Sadly we got pretty wet but it was lovely . We never saw another soul so the only sounds were the river and lots of little waterfalls and the rain . Loads of weird doughnut shaped mushrooms I never saw before. Dog enjoyed the big mucky puddles. Think we will go back today if weather has improved .
 
Petal- G gets up about 4 times a night. He's always tired.
Your mountain walk sounds lovely, Petal. I think everyone has preconceived ideas about lots of places. Australia- scary animals that want to eat you. Ireland-rain. I confess :blush5:
 
Cate I’m sure it’s cos I drink so much somedays . Least I get back to sleep mostly but it’s tiring . Be worse in winter when it’s freezing .
Remember when I joined here first I never slept so big improvements
 
Cate we are so lucky in Ireland we get all weather types it’s a lovely climate really but yes lots of rain at times .
 
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