Bobby Flay's Shrimp and Grits

October 24, 2016 MENU

My Monday meals I had planned were just spot on.  For breakfast I ate a couple of sausage links with toast.  For lunch I had some leftover baked chicken wings.  Then I had 2 reasonable snacks.  I had defrosted some shrimp that needed to be cooked.  I was going to grill them with some veggies.  Well when I got home my mother had made Bobby Flay's shrimp and grits.  Instead of using the recommended bacon to cook we used some real bacon bits to save on the cooking time.  The recipe also asked for bacon grease to cook the shrimp in.  Well we had that covered too.  When we do cook bacon we save the grease in the fridge to season some foods with. At this point we have plenty because I haven't used any recently.  Oh if you ever want to try shrimp and grits this recipe was a winner.   We saved around 65 calories per serving using the bacon bits.  But, when I did the My Fitness Pal recipe I had no idea that this dish was that fattening.  The bowl you see in the photo was 560 calories. Oh my.  I finished the day with a total of 1473 calories for the day.  I was over by 143 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Traditional Italian Sunday Gravy

 October 23, 2016 MENU

This Sunday was my cheat day.  If you noticed I did cheat but I didn't go overboard.  We have new owners in town at the donut shop.  I wanted to give them a try.  I had half a dozen of donut holes and one powdered sugar glazed one.  Conclusion, hole were good and powdered sugar one did not wow me.  I had a lighter lunch with a chicken taco.  It was basically a soft corn tortellini, chicken and cheese.  We baked it in the oven.  Now were things went downhill for my cheat day is I had an Italian spaghetti sauce dish called Sunday gravy.  It is basically a 3 meat spaghetti sauce.   I put chicken legs, Italian sausage and beef short ribs in it.  Oh la la la la it was delicious.  I even put some of my fresh basil.  Then I got some desert before bed.  Yep a good ole sugar cone with ice cream.  oh yea.  I finished the day with a total of 1836 calories for the day.  I was over by 506 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Sea Best Shrimp

October 22, 2016 MENU 

My Saturday was a very busy day.  I missed breakfast doing a job at a local festival.  I had my eyes on this food booth that was selling fried fish and shrimp.  I'm like I really want some fried shrimp.  Well I made my order and paid for my meal.  Then he went to cook it and grabbed a bag of pre-breaded shrimp labeled Sea Best shrimp.  Ugh I wanted some homemade shrimp.  Too late now.  It was very delicious but not as good as the real fresh kind.  Then almost immediately my fingers swelled up from the excess salt.  My meal came with french fries.  But I did not eat them.  I brought them home for my daughter to eat.  I was eating light for my lunch on purpose.  I was going to a evening party with my mom for her choir group.  We ate BBQ chicken, bacon wrapped green beans, olive garden style salad and a deviled egg.  Oh there were many other options I didn't choose, like potato salad, nuts, celery with pimento cheese or cream cheese to just name a few.  I did get me one half of a mini pecan pie for desert.  I was soooooo tempted to go back for the other half of pie.  I did some great self control.  With skipping breakfast and eating a semi light lunch.  I finished the day with a total of 1035 calories for the day.  I was under by 295 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Raisin Bran Cereal

October 21, 2016 MENU

I started my breakfast knowing I would go eat lunch with my mom.  I picked a filling breakfast of cook grits.  Then for lunch I had Sam's Club supreme pizza.  Before I decided what I was going to eat, I went on the My Fitness Pal app see what was the best choice.  I know my choices are a meat pizza, supreme pizza and a polish dog.  Well the polish dog was the most calories and the least was the supreme pizza.  That is how I choose my lunch meal.  In the afternoon I was hungry for some junk food.  I choose to eat a Go Big yogurt instead of some junk.  Supper time I really  just wanted to eat some raisin bran cereal.  I don't know why but that has been a craving that I just needed to have.  I had a side of mixed nuts to go with it.  I finished the day with a total of 1349 calories for the day.  I was over by 19 calories.   Yay me, that was awesome.  My meal calories could have been a lot worse.  I really did want that polish dog in the beginning.  I also could have had some junk food instead of  yogurt.  I feel I did some great self control.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

 

Seafood Platter With Sweet Potato Waffles

October 20, 2016 MENU

For breakfast I ate some leftover cheese grits.  Just because I didn't want to waste them.  I was going to go home early to work on a few things for my evening event and had a light meal planned.  When I got home my mom had purchased a piece of fried chicken and boiled a potato to make bake potatoes.  Well I cut my potato in half and went to put on the butter and then the sour cream.  The sour cream was spoiled.  So I took my other half of the potato and made a buttered potato instead.  lol  Make do I say.  My event started at 3 pm for me so I brought me a cheese cake bar as a snack.  I had planned on eating when the presentation started around 7.  I needed something to eat before then.  Well last year they served finger foods.  Later in the event all I saw flying around the room was cake.  I was really hungry by 8 pm so I ate a piece of cake.  Oh the sinfulness of having to resort to eating that cake.  I knew I was going over on my calories.  I had my mom with me and by the time the event ended it was 10pm.  She was starving, so we went eat at Roxy's.  We looked at the menu and nothing spoke to us like the seafood platter.  We opted to split the plate.  I wanted the fried oysters and she wanted the fried shrimp and fish.  I took my oysters and a few sweet potato fries to complete my plate.  Look at what was still left in the platter!  My mom didn't event finish half of it and we took a full plate home with us.  This plate was HUGE!  So in reality 3 people could make a meal off this plate of food. Looking at my calories now I did a great job with my last meal under the circumstances.  I really could have done a lot worse.  I could have eaten some of the fish, shrimp or more fries.  I was full and ready for bed at that point.  I could have waited to eat when I got  home buy my mom felt she couldn't wait.  I finished the day with a total of 1714 calories for the day.  I was over by 384 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Sam's Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia

October 19, 2016 MENU 

Most of these meals were great low calorie meals.  Breakfast I had an egg over easy with a piece of toast.  I ate a snack of goldfish crackers before lunch when I felt a little hungry.  For lunch I picked from my many leftovers and choose BBQ pork steak.   Now at this point I have done all of my food diary and I was doing real good.  But I wasn't that hungry.  I dug in the freezer for a quick meal and found these Parmesan crusted tilapia I had purchased at Sam's.    If your looking for a quick and delicious low calorie meal you need to purchase a bag of these.  One fish is plenty with some healthy sides.  Each piece averages 4oz of meat.  The piece I ate today was 4.5oz and was only 250 calories.  You bake it and it comforts you like your eating fried fish without all the calories.  I finished the day with a total of 1054 calories for the day.  I was under by 276 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Spoiled Meal Plan

October 18, 2016 MENU 

I guess we are on an egg kick.  For breakfast I had toast and sausage sandwich.  Simple and quick fulfilling breakfast.  I thought, lol.  For lunch I heated up a link of boudin.  Oh I love some boudin.  Well that link of boudin was 743 calories and a glass of milk.  WHAT!!!! That was a lot of calories.   I was planning on eating tuna steaks and baked veggies.  So I thought.  Till I ended up with company.  My daughter had her cheer 8th grade awards at the football game.  Her family came.  Tuna turned into corn dogs and the baked veggies.  Well the tuna was 120 calories and the corn dog with mayo of course was 310 calories.  If I would have had the tuna I would have been perfect on the calories.  I finished the day with a total of 1560 calories for the day.  I was over by 230 calories.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Egg In A Basket Breakfast

October 17, 2016 MENU

 

My Monday breakfast started with eggs and toast.  But I didn't want just eggs and toast.  So what did I fix.  Egg in a basket breakfast.  It is one of my kids favorite things.  You get a glass and cut out a hole in the middle of the bread.  Then butter the bread like you would for toast. Then put in the skillet and crack an egg in the middle.  Valois.. you got egg in a basket.   My morning time I wanted a snack so I finished up my pea salad.  Lunch was the leftover turkey ham, biscuit breakfast.  At this point I was doing real good on my calories.  I decided to have an afternoon snack of a few strawberries.  While I went to exercise I had my daughter bake some chicken wings and we had buffalo wings.  I finished it with a glass of milk to cool the spice.  But I love spice.  I check my calories again and I was doing wonderful.  Before bed I treated myself to 2 mini Halloween pieces of candy.  I finished the day with a total of 1108 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 222.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Weekend Work Pancakes Steak and Breakfast Burrito

October 15-16, 2016 MENU

 
October is a very busy month for me.  For the weekend I winged it with what I have been learning about eating within my calories.   I didn't log my food in my diary until Monday.  Except Saturday I was so hungry for pancakes.  I made 1 cup of mix and me and my mom split it.  I had my generous helping of butter and syrup.  I learned on Monday that it was a whopping 733 calories I ate just for breakfast.  OMG..  I knew it was a lot but did not expect it that high.  I went help at the church doing a sewing project.  They had subway sandwiches and fried chicken with chips, desert and drinks.  I Picked one piece of fried chicken and skipped the rest.  Now at this point I knew I was probably over my calories.  For supper I rummaged through the fridge and found 2 hot dogs that needed to be eaten.  Do I make a hot dog or just eat the hot dog without the bread and stuff.  Well I picked to just eat the meat.  I finished Saturday with a total of 1448 calories for the day.  That was over my calories by 118.   Wow I did great.  So if I would have had the fixings with lunch and had a real hot dog with the bun and stuff I would have been way way over.  Do that was awesome.  On Sunday I was hungry for a homemade breakfast burrito.  I forgot to eat the wheat tortillas I had, carb smart wheat ones.  For lunch instead of eating out at a restaurant I bought us steaks to grill at home.  That is always a good treat.  But just to let you know.  I buy the rib eye steaks from Sam's.  They usually come 3 to a pack.  I actually stick the steaks in the freezer for half an hour to firm up.  Then I take and electric knife and slice them longways in half (see photo).  I end up with 6 steaks.  So I cooked 3 and I have 3 for another day.  That one steak not cut in half would be an enormous amount of calories.  I weighed my steak at 8oz I knew that would be a lot of calories.  I had made baked squash, cauliflower and garlic cloves to go with it.  For supper I ate more vegetables with a cup of milk and called it a day.  Amazingly my daily calories were only 1174 for the day.  I was UNDER by 156 calories.  I think I can do this.  I can regulate my diet for a lifetime.  I might still do the my fitness pal to make sure I stay on track.   I will probably change the diary to how to eat healthy for a lifetime and how to portion for dieting.  I will see when I get there.   Even though I went over my calories one day I was very active.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Richard's Krazy Cajun Sausage PoBoy

Friday October 14, 2016 MENU

I am sooooooo behind with my blog.  I have been a busy beaver and hardly getting on the internet.  Let me tell you It has been a hard week with my meals.  For breakfast on Friday I ate some yummy oatmeal.  I am using the oatmeal as kind of an internal flush.  You know after a few weeks you feel the benefits.  It's also good for your cholesterol.  I was hungry for a snack and ate my pea salad that I had leftover from the other day.  The only leftover's in my work fridge was gumbo.  I ate a nice warm bowl.  At this point I was doing real good.   I decided around 4:00pm I would finish off those Pringle chips.  In case you missed that one a real serving size is 9 chips.  That was not very satisfying.  So as long as I am in the loose weight stage I will not buy those again.  I actually found that goldfish crackers gives me that crunchy satisfying feeling I need from chips.  So I will be eating those instead.  I haven't looked, but it might even be healthier option too.  I will let you know when I check that out.  I didn't have much time for exercise when I got home from work.  I did go for 30 minutes to do at least some weight training.  For supper I had a sausage poboy at a friends house with a little andoullie sausage breakfast link to taste.  Then later I was tortured with some raisinette's.  Oh I love me some chocolate covered raisins.  So  yea I got me a little handful and made them hide the container so I wouldn't eat anymore.  I finished the day with a total of 1370 calories for the day.  I was over my calories by 40.   My meal choices could have been worse.  I could have had more portions.  My friend cooked french fries, I didn't get any of that.  I restrained myself very well.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

 

Milky Way Candy

Thursday October 13, 2016 MENU

For today's meal I really had no idea what I was going to eat.  I opted for some oatmeal for breakfast.  For lunch I meet with my mom.  We got a link of sausage and some chicken nuggets.  I ate 2 nuggets since I knew my boudin would be around 500 calories.  I just really wanted to taste chicken nuggets and get rid of any cravings I may have for them.  After lunch I was thirsty for something other than water.  I had a cup of coffee with a snack from a fun size Milky Way (Halloween candy size).  I always tell anyone who is dieting.  Don't stay away from things you love.  Eat it, in moderation that is.  See I could go to the store and get a Milky Way bar for 264 calories or I can have a snack size for only 80.  Eat it slower and you will get your candy kick without all the calories. The picture is some examples of the snack size candies.  They also have them in mini sizes. Just remember will power to say no to eating more.   For supper I ate my leftover spaghetti.   I finished the day with a total of 1182 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 148.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Cheese Grit's and Grilled Hot Dog

Tuesday October 11, 2016 MENU

For breakfast I made some homemade grits.  Or I attempted to.  I put the grits on to boil and my mom came behind me and put cheese in it.  Well I had budgeted a cup and a half of grits for breakfast.  Now with the addition of cheese I cut my portion to 1 cup of cheese grits.  So this is a case where you have to take into consideration what ingredients are put in the item to decide on a portion size.  I had a small snack between breakfast and lunch.  When lunch time came I ate the BBQ sausage and the half of my pork steak from the other day.  I had weighed it all before I left home to get my portion weight.   I went and did my 20 minutes of cardio and 40 min weight training when I got home.  My mother had all the items out for supper when I got home.  She wanted grilled hot dogs.  So she had this fancy Hawaiian bread and all the fixings out for the hot dogs and was cooking some hash browns.   I grilled the hot dogs and out of all the fixings I choose just mayonnaise.  I skipped on the cheese and everything else.  Next time I eat this kind of bun for my hot dog I will split the bun and only eat half with each hot dog link.  That evening I wanted something yummy as a snack and I got a snack size of a Butterfinger candy.   I finished the day with a total of 1137 calories for the day.  I was under by 193 calories.   So I really could have had 2 hot dogs with the one Hawaiian bun.  Oh well maybe next time.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Frozen Milk

Tuesday October 11, 2016 MENU

For breakfast I had oatmeal with some of my coworkers skim milk.  I hate skim milk but in my oatmeal I can't tell the difference.  I put some of the milk in the containers I purchased.  See the milk expired on the 8th and was never opened.   We had to either drink it all, throw it away or put in the freezer while it was still good.  So we put it in the freezer.  We placed it in the 1/2 cup portion containers.  Now if your like me and don't like skim milk to drink but can use it in other things like the oatmeal and stuff like that, get a 1/2 gallon and put it in 1/2 cup portions and freeze it.  Hey it works!  For work I had worked away from the office and got offered a do-nut again.  This time I only ate one.  For lunch I ate my daughter's leftover chicken sandwich.  We had went to Wendy's on Saturday, it was a buy one get one free coupon.  I didn't want it to go to waste so I ate it.  To save on calories I did not eat anything else with it.   It turned out not be that bad in calories.  But, the fat was a little higher since it was fried.  For supper I ate really early, like 4:30 pm early.  I had spaghetti with a homemade yeast roll.  Ugh I was supposed to try my pesto in the spaghetti.  Maybe next time.  I saw that I had some calories left and I had an evening snack since I felt like I was starving.  I could have done a lighter snack but I really need to stock my pantry.  I saw this poor pitiful looking mini moon pie that just needed to be eaten.  So yea I gobbled it up.  I finished the day with a total of 1401 calories for the day.  I was over my calories by 71.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Basil Pesto Pasta

Monday October 10, 2016 MENU

  

For breakfast I finished up the leftover pizza.  Yep pizza for breakfast again.  I sure hope my daughter doesn't get another pizza anytime soon.  I am so tired of pepperoni Pizza.  I had a snack of yogurt.  Then I ate my leftover rice and gravy from the other day.  I had grand plans on what I was going to eat for supper.   So I grazed on a couple of goldfish crackers for my evening snack.  I went work out for an hour.  When I got home my daughter had cooked a whole pot of elbow noodles.  That's it just noodles.  Well I guess it's pasta for dinner.  So I went outside and got 1 1/2 cup of fresh basil and made a fresh pesto to put on top.   I only got a cup of pasta and still felt a little hungry.  I warmed me up a small piece of leftover BBQ sausage and pork to go with it.   I finished the day with a total of 1399 calories for the day.  I was over my calories by 69.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

 

Weekend Off

 October 8-9, 2016 MENU

Well I took the weekend off.  I didn't log my food in my diary until Sunday night.  Saturday was a cheat day.  I had 2 birthday parties to attend.  I started my day working around the house at 7am and I finished my day getting home at 11pm.  I was very active all day.  According to the Fitbit tracker I had done 13,000 steps.  For breakfast and lunch I had done pretty good.  My mom bought this turkey ham and I tasted a little bit of it.  You know it wasn't bad.  It didn't taste as salty as regular ham.  I started the party train at 1pm.  I had a small piece of cake at one party and a cupcake at the other.  Then at each party I tasted a little of everything.  Like, one I had a half cup of jambalaya, one chicken wing and 2 meatballs.  The other party I only had 3 meatballs.   Then late that evening I just couldn't help myself.  The kids wanted to go to Wendy's for a chocolate frosty.  Well I got me one.  You know I could have done a Jr. frosty for 105 calories, but it was my cheat day.  I got the usual medium frosty that weighed in at a whopping 460 calories.  WHAT!!!   Ok so in the future if it is not a cheat day, Jr. frosty it is lol.  I finished Saturday with a total of 1888 calories for the day.  That was way over my calories by 558.   It was my cheat day.  Things could have been much worse.  I could of had bigger servings at each.  I did pretty good.  Sunday I tried to eat light.  For breakfast we squished some biscuits on a pan and made like a pizza with the turkey ham, cheese, mushrooms and sauted onions.  Lunch I wanted to BBQ pork and sausage.  I was going to steam some cauliflower to go with it.  Well my mom got in on the cooking action and made a white gravy to go on top of the cauliflower.  She also made a pea salad with cheese and mayo.  Ugh....  Then my great aunt came for coffee.  I drank a cup with her.  Between the coffee, cauliflower gravy and the pea salad it added 189 calories to my menu.  See I knew what was for supper and was trying to keep the calories down.  Supper was a hot dog at youth group with chili on top and a slice of cake.  Well I ended the day with 1508 calories.  That was over 178 calories.  Well if I could have sustained from the sauce on my cauliflower, the peas salad my mom made and the afternoon coffee I would have been under.  Oh well I already consumed it all.  By the time I calculated all my meals for it was late Sunday night.  I have had a busy few day's and wrote this blog a few day's late.  I have to tell you even though I went over my calories my weight stayed at 199 because I was very active.  So if you do see yourself eating more than needed get your mojo going and get active.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating

Angell

Grilled Tuna Steak With Eggplant Fries

Friday October 7, 2016 MENU

I started my Friday eating leftover pizza.  Which was very filling.  For lunch I ate my leftover biscuit with the chicken pot pie filling placed on top.  I did my food diary and found that my calories were just a little higher than I liked.  When it came time for a snack I grazed on some grapes.  After work I went did my 20 minute cardio and weight training the rest of the hour.  For supper I defrosted some grilled tuna steak and my mom had diced up an eggplant from the garden that we fried up like french fries.  Now I could have eaten a lot less fat by not frying the eggplant.  But, I live in Louisiana and I just didn't want to have it any other way.  Now I can say that the tuna steak is a great meat option.  A whole tuna steak from the Daily Chef products average 4oz each.  That tuna steak was seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning and grilled on a Sam's mini grill.  It weighed in at a whopping 120 calories and 1 fat.  There are not many meat options with that few calories for that much meat.  If you had beef roast that same 4oz would be 210 calories and 12 fats.  If you like meat and you are needing to drop calories and fat try you some tuna steak.  Just remember season and cook it just like a beef steak.  These steaks I cooked on a high flame, 3 minutes per side.  Yep in 6 minutes I was done cooking.  I finished the day with a total of 1172 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 158.   I say that is pretty good after eating pizza for breakfast and a biscuit with pot pie mix on top that weighed in at 849 calories combined.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

The Lightest I've Been In 15 Years or More

Thursday October 6, 2016 MENU

Well today marks the first day in probably over 15 years that I have weighed less than 200 pounds.  I know if you have counted calories now or in the past that it can be hard.  You probably have said I'm tired of tracking, I'm tired of watching what I eat, I'm tired of trying and tired of gaining weight.  Well I am here to tell you that your weight did not come on overnight.  It will not come off overnight.  See as my blog started, this day is the first time in 15 years or more I weighed under 200!  You have to work at it, you have to change the firing pins in your brain and unlearn all those years of BAD eating habits.  You have to learn how to eat.  If you don't learn how to eat  you will never keep off the weight.  To learn you have to count calories, watch what you eat and track your food.  Then use what you have learned during your weight loss to keep the weight off for a lifetime.  See I have tried many many many ways to lose weight.  But as I have found out it DOES matter what you eat, how you eat and how much of it you eat, that really counts.  You can take your diet pills, do your Atkins diet, buy your expensive prepackaged meals, etc.....  Well once you stop those things the weight WILL COME BACK.  That is because you haven't really learned to eat with the foods that are available to you.  See like in my area of the world, smoked meats are plentiful and flavorful.  You can't buy that in Arizona.  I am learning how to eat.  I have eaten several foods many times now and I can tell you right off my brain how many calories it has and what the portion size looks like.  I have in my brain that I am going to learn how to eat for a lifetime and keep it off.  Well for my meal on this day I winged it.  I wanted to see how well I could do without using my food diary to keep track of my calories until the end of the day.  I still measured and weighed my food.  For breakfast I had an egg with a piece of toast and butter.  For lunch I ate some leftover white beans and ham.  For a snack I ate 9 of my Pringles chips (which I'm never buying again) and for supper I ate 2 cups of gumbo with 1/3 cup of rice.  At the end of the day I put all my meals in the My Fitness Pal app.  I had only eaten 887 calories for the day.  I did great! My calories were a little low so I treated myself to a glass of cold milk.  I was still under my calories by 323.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Meal Snacking

Wednesday October 5, 2016 MENU

My morning started with breakfast of course.  I didn't know what I wanted.  I knew I didn't want breakfast food.  I also looked in the fridge at work to see what I had for lunch.  I had a pretty high in calorie lunch waiting for me.  So I opted to do meal snacking.  Well as you may have read a few days back that I had purchased some 1/2 cup portion containers.  These little cups are making it easy to adjust my sides to fit my meal, it's easier to heat for my meal snacking and to measure my portions.  Meal sides should almost be 1/2 cup or less.  Unless you eat some baked veggies like I make.  If you eat that, a portion size is 1 cup.  I put my leftovers in many small containers, as you see in the photo.  I had one for the rice dressing, one for the baked beans, one for coleslaw and I had one a little larger for the chicken.  My meal snacking began with the rice dressing.  Then for a snack I ate the baked beans.  Then for lunch time I ate the chicken.  Each meal was eaten when I felt hungry.  For the afternoon around 3 I felt hungry.  I didn't want the coleslaw.   I ate some of my homemade sugar coated popcorn instead.  I did plenty of cardio today.  I went walk around the trail at work and I went to the gym for 30 minutes.  For supper I was not that hungry so I baked some Parmesan crusted talapia.  If I felt hungry before bed, I would get me a snack or something.  Well I was full for the rest of the evening.  I finished the day with a total of 829 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 501.   My calories should not have been that low.  But I did eat 5 times and I felt full.  I will maybe treat myself to a glass of tea or something if that happens again.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Chocolate Milk Shake

Tuesday October 4, 2016 MENU

Most of my meals are leftover's.  I really hate for leftovers to go to waste.  For breakfast I had 1 cup of cooked grits with butter.  Yummy......  It held me through my snack time.  I actually forgot to eat my snack.   Around 11:00 I was hungry so I opted to eat my beans and have an early lunch.  I knew I would have a busy evening and I went take a 1.9 mile walk at work.  I usually can do 1.3 miles on the treadmill in 20 minutes.  Well this hilly walk took me 40 minutes to walk the 1.9 miles.  Oh this is so different than working out at the gym.  I think I will make this at least once a week exercise.  For supper my mom had made a crock pot roast and gravy.  I measured out my meat and gave myself 1/3 cup serving of rice to go with it.  It was early in the evening.  I sat down to figure out my calories.  I saw that I still had 400 calories left.  Well I had something I've been salivating for.  lol Yep a homemade chocolate milk shake.  I put on the app I wanted 2 cup of ice cream, the mild and chocolate.  It was over a few calories.  I changed it to 1 1/2 cups and I was good to go.   I finished the day with a total of 1301 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 29.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.


It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Monday October 3, 2016 MENU

 Well my day started with some leftover breakfast from Saturday.  I had a sausage patty, eggs with one slice of toast.  Logging my meal on Saturday I didn't realize that just the sausage alone was 200 calories.  Dang that is a lot.  But too late I already ate it at before I entered into my food diary.  I was careful the rest of the day.  I was not hungry for a snack.  Around 11:00 I was a little hungry.  Option was to eat a snack or go ahead and eat lunch.  I picked lunch.  I ate a bowl of my low calorie white bean soup.  Since I ate early I was hungry for a snack.  I finished up the leftover cool whip cake since I had a few extra calories to allow for it.  I got home to do my 20 minutes of cardio and weight training.  When I got home my mother had made crock pot chicken vegetable soup.  I so forgot to take a picture of my meals.  But I think the vegetable chicken soup was just as good at beef vegetable.  I had some calories left, oh heck I had 379 calories left.  So I had what was left of the cornbread the other day with some butter.  I finished the day with a total of 1104 calories for the day.  I was still under my calories by 226.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.
It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Louisiana Southern French Toast

Sunday October 2, 2016 MENU

Sorry I am a little behind on the diary.  Well Sunday I splurged and had me some good ole Louisiana southern style french toast.  This is nothing like what you get at the restaurants nor Mc Donald's. It is very delicious and as you can see very fattening.  I made 6 pieces of french toast for me and my mother.  I usually split that between 3 people.  I wanted a southern breakfast treat.  Well that breakfast treat was only 788 calories! What? I should have put that in my diary before I ate.  OMG...  788 calories.  Ok that is a breakfast meal that is way over.  I will stick to my 2 slices in the future when I do have this.  For lunch we had some BBQ chicken dinners.  The plate you see here I ate half the coleslaw, half the rice dressing and half the chicken.  I put the rest away including the pork and beans for me to eat at one of my lunches for work.  I fed the bread to the dog. lol.  I knew I would be over today but with putting half my lunch away before I began actually helped.  I still had 48 calories left.  So I could actually keep myself from going to much over.  For supper we decided to use up leftovers in a new way.   We had leftover biscuits from the fundraiser, the rotisserie chicken from sam's and some leftover mixed vegetables in a container in the freezer.  We mixed all that together with a can of cream of mushroom soup and volia we have supper.  It's like a lazy version of chicken pot pie.  I cut one biscuit in half and poured  a little over a half a cup on top.   I finished the day with a total of 1502 calories for the day.  I was over by calories 172.   I feel confident that I still did good for the day.  I did do housework for 4 hours.  I am sure I burned those extra calories.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell