cjohnson728

Well, I went into the office today to do an assessment and a representative from one of the local programs had dropped by to leave me some literature on making referrals, and a whole big fancy bag 'o candy! Thanks, thanks a lot! Reese's cups, Hershey bars, 3 Musketeers, M&Ms, and that's all I saw in the quick glance I took. I was seriously considering grabbing the M&Ms, but my clients showed up, so I dumped the whole thing into the candy dish on the secretary's console and went into session. Two hours later, all the fine folks with whom I share office space had picked most of the good stuff out, thank heaven. I escaped only having had two Lifesavers. A bullet dodged, but I'm posting now because I can't get chocolate off the brains .

JJ, I can hear how frustrated you are, and rightfully so. It sounds like you have a hefty dose of immaturity to deal with in your BF. Take care of yourself and you can't go wrong with that.

Stacey, I went through it with my tailbone a while back; not sure if it was just the weight coming off and me sitting on it instead of pads of fat, or what; but hope your adjustment takes well and that it feels better soon. Enjoy your hafla!

01gt4.6

JJ, thanks. My brother and I are business partners and he's 4 years older than me. Often he'll have a client come in and ask him if I'm his son. That chaps his ass... especially since I'm the bald one.

As far as eggs, if you want to keep the egg white, get a bowl. Crack the egg and turn both halfs up so that the open part of the shell is facing up. the white will start to come out as soon as you pull the egg apart so make sure you do it over the bowl. Now one side of the egg with have the yolk with some white and the other will just have some white. Dump thw 1/2 with some white in the bowl so now you have an empty half. Now (over the bowl) slowly slide the yolk from one have into the empty half, the white should start to come apart and drop into the bowl. You may have to do it one more time and there you have it. Now if you are making an alfredo or other cream sauce you may want to keep your yolk for it.

Oh I almost forgot about the BF part. I can understand how you feel. Maybe once he feels like he's going to lose you he'll change, maybe it's too late. Who knows?

Quinn, I have redneck neighbors too. It drive me nuts!

almeeker, here's a sample meal. It was my lunch for today (it gets boring so I'll spice up the details... like I like to do)

I took a well seasoned boneless, skinless chicken breast and grilled it over a hot bed of coals. (Can you hear the sizzle and smell the aroma as I flip it over?) Then I fired up the stove and began to sautee some onions and mushrooms. I wanted to caramelize it but didn't have the time and didn't want to use too much butter. Next up I steamed me some green beans. Once it was all ready I put the chicken and beans on my plate, covered the chicken with a slice of Pepper Jack Cheese, then tooped the cheese with the sauteed onions and mushrooms and let the heat of them bear down on the cheese until it was melted to perfection.

This tasty delight was under 400 calories, had nearly 52 glorious grams of protein, 13.3 grams of mouth watering tasty fats and only 9.4 grams of carbs from those beautiful beans.
(excuse the crappy cell phone pic)


Now the truth is that it's been a couple days since this breast had the sizzle from the grill. I was in a hurry, ran home, grabbed a left over grilled chicken breast. Cut it in half (I ate 144 grams), grabbed left over Birds Eye Steam Fresh beans (100 grams). Heated the beans in the microwave. SLOWLY heated the chicken in the nuker (on low heat) so it didn't dry out. Sauteed the (25g) onions and (2 medium) mushrooms with a pat of butter then slapped it all together.

cjohnson728

I'm curious as to what you all do for serving sizes, particularly for fruit. I get that one piece (apple, banana, orange) is a serving, but I get tripped up when it comes to things in chunks (strawberries, melons, pineapple). Obviously half a cup of big chunks is less than half a cup of tiny pieces; three big berries would fill a cup, but three small ones wouldn't even be half a cup. And what if I don't want to shred my lettuce or chop up my celery?

I realize that this should be a no-brainer, but I've got some sort of mental block. I'f I'm going to do the right thing and eat all my fruits and veggies, I at least want an easy way to know if I'm getting enough.

Help?

P.S.: Mike, that looks really good!

01gt4.6

that sucks. I was just about to say that you could keep the 3 Musketeers (yuck) but could you get the rest to me by Monday?

01gt4.6

Cassie, berries, nuts and such hit the scale!!! Apples, bananas, etc I log based on size. Do you know how to create a custom food for weight or measure? If not, I stickied a thread about that the other day in Custom Foods.
Thanks.

cjohnson728

I do weigh them to enter into FitDay, but what weight constitutes a "serving," if I'm trying to get five servings per day?

01gt4.6

do you log it as weight or serving? As far as fresh, unless there is a nutrition label it's hard to tell. Frozen fruit will always say what the serving size it. As a rule of thumb, I consider a medium apple, small-medium banana, 1/2 cup of most berries, 28-30g of almonds, 24-26g of cashews all to be a serving. Best advice would be to look on the bag of frozen and go by what it says when you use fresh, it's gotta be close.

oh... on asparagus, eat until you pee green and water drink until you pee clear.

staceyalberta

jj ~ yeah bollywood is a fun & flirty dance looking forward to tonight. that's to bad about your boyfriend & how frustrating when you are trying to get more healthy. i don't doubt that you told him that you'd like his support. however there are times i think i tell people something & i either sugar coat it or say it nicely to not hurt their feelings. have you been brutally honest with him that his non-support of you could be the end of your relationship? give him that final chance to step up & give you what you need?

cassie ~ this isn't due to weight i've always had hip/pelvis issues hence the reason at 37 i had developed arthritis in my right hip. right now the adjustment hasn't helped, but it might feel better later on.

taubele

Cassie ~

No idea if this helps, but here's what the USDA has to say about serving sizes:

"The United States Department of Agriculture sets a serving size for fruit or vegetables to be equal to about one-half cup. Greens like spinach and lettuce have a serving size equal to one full cup. One serving of sliced fruit is equal to one-half cup; however a single piece of fruit, such as an apple or an orange counts as one serving. How did the USDA decide that one-half cup is a serving size? The decision was based on the portion sizes that people typically eat, ease of use and nutritional content of fruits and vegetables."

Here are some typical serving sizes for fruits and vegetables:

Fruits:
one banana
six strawberries
two plums
fifteen grapes
one apple
one peach
one half cup of orange or other fruit juice (that is, four fl. oz.)

Vegetables

five broccoli florets
ten baby carrots
one roma tomato
3/4 cup tomato juice (I have no idea why this is not 4 fl. oz. O_o)
half of a baked sweet potato
one ear of corn
four slices of an onion

"Serving sizes on the Nutrition Facts Label of packaged fruits and vegetables are not always the same size as the one-half cup serving size that the USDA has set for the food pyramid. For example, some frozen vegetable blends may list the serving size as 3/4 cup, which would meet one and one half of your vegetable need for the day."

Soooooo... it seems to be a bit across the board, though it often does qualify that "sliced fruits" should fill the half-cup, not full fruits (I can see six sliced strawberries maybe filling half of a cup, but not six full strawberries, for example). I'm also guessing that whole fruits have to meet a certain size to qualify as a "serving" all on their own -- plums are too small, but peaches and apples are A-Ok!

Geez, USDA, you coulda made it easier.

I really need to buy a food scale!!!! Maybe grams and ounces would make this a lot easier.

01gt4.6

IMO a scale is the best way to go, you CAN'T cheat a scale. Trust me, a 1/2 cup of grapes isn't the same as a 1/2 cups of mashed grapes. Just like broccoli florets, depending on how you cut them can make a big diff, but 85g is 85g now matter how you slice it.