We have a confession. We like food. A lot. Another confession: I don't always feel like cooking. With Bobby's inconsistent hours sometimes it's hard to feel motivated to plan a meal that there might not be time to make. What do we result to? Eating out. Oof.
So last week, we decided to set a goal. We want to limit ourselves to eating out only once each week. That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but because we both work full time, a nice home-cooked meal isn't always on the menu. I'm happy to say that week one was a success! We used our eat-out of the week last Sunday when my mom was in town. Nowhere fancy, but we'd been wanting to try a sandwich place in town and it was well worth it. I think it was better to head into the week with a concrete goal: we will eat AT HOME every night this week.
We still had a couple of nights where we were scouring our pantry trying to figure out what to eat. Solution: panini and soup night. We both eat sandwiches every day for lunch so when we first thought, "let's try paninis," it's safe to say neither of us were super excited. Let me be the first to say, it is amazing what grilling a sandwich can do. Dinner took five minutes, and I whipped up a nice carrot soup while we were at it. Granted, the soup took a little longer, but we had our sandwiches and waited for our HUGE carrots from the farmers market to cook all the way. The soup was a hit for me, not so much for Bobby but at 72 calories per bowl I will definitely be making it again (even if it's only one portion).
This was such an easy solution on a night we were tempted to go out to dinner for the ease and time it would save. Looking forward to finding more five-minute meals!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tools of the Trade
One week in. Whew! We both decided to start tracking our calories and have been using a wonderful site. We found the site a couple of years ago and have used it sporadically but now we're both dedicated to using it consistently. Well....for now at least. The site is (drum roll please...) www.thedailyplate.com. It's run through livestrong.com and is hands down the most helpful tool that I've used.
How it works:
You start by signing up (FOR FREE) and setting your calorie goals. You enter your age, height, and weight and select a goal. You can aim to gain weight each week, maintain weight (what the Bobster is doing), or lose weight (my personal goal). Based on this information, they give you a "calorie goal" that tells you how many calories you need to consume each day to reach this goal. We know that this isn't exact because everyone's body is different and burns and stores fat differently, but it's a great starting point. One way it helps address this problem is by having you set your activity level. They range from sedentary to very active. I work in an office where I sit all day so I chose "Sedentary." Bobster works in an office and in a lab and is usually walking around somewhat and has to go to class throughout the week so he set his to "Light Activity."
Then what? You track your food. This is why we love this site so much, it makes tracking food INCREDIBLY easy. While we are aiming to eat more fresh, local product, we still go to the grocery store for the bulk of our product. Tonight we had kielbasa and rice. I type in polish kielbasa and have dozens of results to choose from. Unfortunately, we'd had this kielbasa waiting in our fridge a while so we didn't exactly know what brand it was, but if we did, we could have typed in the brand name and chances are you'll find the product you're looking for. It already has calories, carbs, protein, sodium, fat, you name it in most of the choices and if for some reason you can't find exactly what you're looking for, you can either enter calories manually or create your own product.
They also have tons of nutritional information from restaurant chains so you can search those right there, too! So that's it, you track what you eat, what meal you eat it for and it keeps a tally for you. You have a bar that fills up as you consume calories and it turns red (yeah it's done that a couple of times) when you go over for the day.
On top of all that, you can track your workouts on the fitness tab. Went swimming? Add it in. Did ab exercises? Add it in. Had a dance party? ADD. IT. IN. It subtracts the calories you've burned (an estimate based on your age, height, weight, etc.) from your running total so if you have a lower calorie allowance, you can make up for it by knowing exactly how many calories you need to burn. I may have done six minutes of jumping jacks so I could have the applesauce I was craving. And guess what, it was worth it.
So, whew! Long explanation, but a site that is totally worth it! Check it out and let us know how it works for you.
Coming next...fitness we love, small steps forward, and the recipe problem!
How it works:
You start by signing up (FOR FREE) and setting your calorie goals. You enter your age, height, and weight and select a goal. You can aim to gain weight each week, maintain weight (what the Bobster is doing), or lose weight (my personal goal). Based on this information, they give you a "calorie goal" that tells you how many calories you need to consume each day to reach this goal. We know that this isn't exact because everyone's body is different and burns and stores fat differently, but it's a great starting point. One way it helps address this problem is by having you set your activity level. They range from sedentary to very active. I work in an office where I sit all day so I chose "Sedentary." Bobster works in an office and in a lab and is usually walking around somewhat and has to go to class throughout the week so he set his to "Light Activity."
Then what? You track your food. This is why we love this site so much, it makes tracking food INCREDIBLY easy. While we are aiming to eat more fresh, local product, we still go to the grocery store for the bulk of our product. Tonight we had kielbasa and rice. I type in polish kielbasa and have dozens of results to choose from. Unfortunately, we'd had this kielbasa waiting in our fridge a while so we didn't exactly know what brand it was, but if we did, we could have typed in the brand name and chances are you'll find the product you're looking for. It already has calories, carbs, protein, sodium, fat, you name it in most of the choices and if for some reason you can't find exactly what you're looking for, you can either enter calories manually or create your own product.
They also have tons of nutritional information from restaurant chains so you can search those right there, too! So that's it, you track what you eat, what meal you eat it for and it keeps a tally for you. You have a bar that fills up as you consume calories and it turns red (yeah it's done that a couple of times) when you go over for the day.
On top of all that, you can track your workouts on the fitness tab. Went swimming? Add it in. Did ab exercises? Add it in. Had a dance party? ADD. IT. IN. It subtracts the calories you've burned (an estimate based on your age, height, weight, etc.) from your running total so if you have a lower calorie allowance, you can make up for it by knowing exactly how many calories you need to burn. I may have done six minutes of jumping jacks so I could have the applesauce I was craving. And guess what, it was worth it.
So, whew! Long explanation, but a site that is totally worth it! Check it out and let us know how it works for you.
Coming next...fitness we love, small steps forward, and the recipe problem!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Good intentions
Well, week one hasn't gone too well. I got sick so my diet has consisted of Thin Mints since they're the only things that don't make me sick to my stomach. Not exactly healthy and not exactly local. Meanwhile my husband has been running around with research, homework, not to mention taking care of me so we both sort of fell off the wagon this week.
Maybe the weekend will be better?
Maybe the weekend will be better?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Howdy!
Howdy y'all. Welcome to our attempt at a blog. A little bit about us:
My husband is in grad school at a large university in Texas. It's a ton of work, but he loves the work he's doing and we're doing our best to adjust to long hours with difficult homework. I work at the same large university and love everything about my job.
We met almost six years ago and clicked immediately. We have the same interests (sports, outdoor activities, etc.) and enjoy the same kinds of movies and tv shows, but ultimately we're a perfect case of opposites attract. We met at freshman orientation and dated throughout college. We got married last July (2010) and are enjoying soaking up every second of being newlyweds!
So why blog? Well, I am hopelessly addicted to a number of blogs and have always wanted to have some way to keep track of the things we do so we can look back down the road and have a great collection of memories. I also think it will help us stay motivated as we try to grow together.
For a variety of reasons, we've been wanting to work toward a healthier lifestyle. Both our jobs are pretty sedentary and living in Texas, the food is obviously phenomenal but maybe not so healthy. So here we are. We want to try to eat and act a little healthier and while we're at it work towards being a little "greener" too. This blog will serve the purpose of helping us keep track of things that worked and things that failed spectacularly and maybe we'll come up with some tips along the way on how to still indulge in the things we love (desserts anyone?) but maintain a healthier lifestyle. So expect a lot of talk about that but a lot of other stuff too!
Until next time!
My husband is in grad school at a large university in Texas. It's a ton of work, but he loves the work he's doing and we're doing our best to adjust to long hours with difficult homework. I work at the same large university and love everything about my job.
We met almost six years ago and clicked immediately. We have the same interests (sports, outdoor activities, etc.) and enjoy the same kinds of movies and tv shows, but ultimately we're a perfect case of opposites attract. We met at freshman orientation and dated throughout college. We got married last July (2010) and are enjoying soaking up every second of being newlyweds!
So why blog? Well, I am hopelessly addicted to a number of blogs and have always wanted to have some way to keep track of the things we do so we can look back down the road and have a great collection of memories. I also think it will help us stay motivated as we try to grow together.
For a variety of reasons, we've been wanting to work toward a healthier lifestyle. Both our jobs are pretty sedentary and living in Texas, the food is obviously phenomenal but maybe not so healthy. So here we are. We want to try to eat and act a little healthier and while we're at it work towards being a little "greener" too. This blog will serve the purpose of helping us keep track of things that worked and things that failed spectacularly and maybe we'll come up with some tips along the way on how to still indulge in the things we love (desserts anyone?) but maintain a healthier lifestyle. So expect a lot of talk about that but a lot of other stuff too!
Until next time!
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