Sunday, April 05, 2015

What Is Your Go-To-Diet Meal? March Recap

Project Manhattan
The first quarter of my 2015 live healthy on a budget challenge is now complete. I know I keep saying this challenge is not about weight loss, but I have to admit I was hoping to lose a couple of pounds and certainly didn’t think I’d gain weight. Unfortunately as of today, I am two pounds heavier than I was on January 1st. My new employee works part-time at a chocolate store – chocolate is one of my major weaknesses and all of her lunch room samples have gotten the best of me.

In years past, when I’ve lost a substantial amount of weight I’ve used the break-up diet (you all know what this one is don’t you – your significant other dumps you and you can’t bring yourself to eat) and starvation – meaning I ate almost nothing - a can of vegetables for dinner then allowing myself one soda cracker if I woke up during the night with hunger pangs. I did manage to lose weight a few years ago utilizing portion control and healthy eating, but haven’t been able to do this yet this year.

Throughout the years my go-to-diet meal has been Flounder and Vegetables Sealed in Silver. This is easy to make and is perfect for a Friday night when you have a big event the next day. This is not a meal I could eat every night, actually probably not more than once every two weeks or so plus, neither sole or flounder are offered at my local grocery store right now, so I am on the look-out for new diet recipes.

I did make a few healthy meals which are worth mentioning this month. They are:

Turkey Meatloaf from The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Acid Reflux Diet
by Maria Bella (As far as acid reflux books go, this one is helpful plus, it contains over 120 recipes)
I’ve made quite a few turkey meatloaf recipes over the years. This is one of the best. It includes a cup of frozen vegetables and mozzarella cheese. As for an acid reflux recipe it is also pretty good, most of them are so bland. My husband has been on an acid reflux diet for about two months now, though his doctor was never sure if acid reflux was the cause of his pain. Since the diet and medication don’t seem to be working, his doctor now believes the pain is from arthritis not acid-reflux.

Teriyaki Tuna Steaks from Leslie L. Cooper’s Low-Fat Living Cookbook: 250 Easy, Great-Tasting Recipes. Fresh tuna is not exactly a budget food, but this recipe was worth it.

Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Mustard recommended by Ray of British Mum USA. I’ve never had roasted chick peas before and was not disappointed.  I took this one to work for lunch, since hubby refuses to eat chick peas. All I can say is he doesn’t know what he’s missing.

This Zucchini soup recipe.

Here are my remaining healthy living challenge stats for March:

Strength and physical fitness:
I made it to the gym three times a week every week this month (which was my goal). My fitness class rotation includes a turbo kick class, Zumba and cardio combat. I also attended a step and an insane strength class one day when I was off of work.

I was able to do eleven walking pushups at the end of the month.  January 1st I was able to do seven, so I am making progress.

$500 a month grocery budget:
We spent $453 in February. We bought a lot of honey. I’ve been using it in healthy muffin recipes and my husband has been making a honey and apple vinegar concoction for his acid reflux as a replacement for coffee. I also spent money on frozen fruit, shrimp, low-fat ground beef and a pork roast.

Healthy living books:
I finished four books this month:

The No More Excuses Diet  by Maria Kang:
My opinion of this book became tainted when I became aware of her fat-shaming tactics which I wrote about here.

Drop Dead Healthy; One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs:
This one was too much of a publicity stunt for me to be taken seriously, but I did add some of the books he mentioned to my reading list.

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia De Rossi
A book about eating disorders and self-acceptance I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Ride of Your Life: A Coast-to-Coast Guide to Finding Inner Peace by Ran Zilca
This book brought new insight into the stresses of my life.  Watch for my review next week.

April Goals:
For April, I plan to get serious about weight-loss.  I am considering a no-sugar diet reset. Trish of Love, Laughter & Insanity recently lost six pounds on a 21-day sugar reset. I will need a couple of weeks to research and prepare. In the meantime, I am looking for new healthy meal suggestions.

Also, for April I am considering adding a 4th workout to my weekly line up.

What is your favorite go-to diet meal?

10 comments:

  1. If you need any support with the sugar reset, ding me on twitter!! Having someone else do it with me was crazy good support. Today was my first day off and I'm already contemplating how I'll go forward starting tomorrow. I feel so sluggish after allowing a bit of indulgence into my day!!

    Good luck with your goals. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Trish. I may take you up on your twitter offer. Just finished day 2 and so far pretty good. I still feel lousy from over-indulging last week. I am struggling with snacks. Today I took baby carrots, but I'm sure I will get bored with them soon. I haven't picked the book you recommend up from the library yet. I'm sure I will learn I need to make even more changes. I'm thinking I will stay on it 'til the end of the month.

      Delete
  2. Teriyaki tuna steaks sound really good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was. What is your favorite diet meal?

      Delete
  3. NICE!! You rocked March, Savvy - I know you're bummed about the scale-number-thing, but that number is often NOT representative of your success and well-being.....case-in-point the breakup diet! Feels awful even when you're losing weight! I think you are doing awesome - walking pushups are damn near impossible for me and I once trained with the Army....so......

    My favorite go-to "diet" trick is lemon water. It is so good for my body, my skin, my cellulite, my pH, my hunger levels...I drink one full glass of water with half a lemon wedge squeezed in every morning before putting anything else in my body. It rocks! And seriously, I can tell a huge difference in my body when I start the day fresh and clean like that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am going to try starting the day with lemon water. It sounds so refreshing.

      On a funny side note, in one of my recent aerobic classes - with the crazy instructor who introduced me to the walking pushups - says to one of my class members, "Aren't you the one going to boot camp? You better get on your toes (we were doing push-ups) knees aren't going to cut it there."

      Great point about the break-up diet. I was thin, but felt awful.

      Delete
  4. Way to go! I don't have a number one go-to. I'm very aware of processed foods and we try to stay FAR away from them. I think that makes a very big difference in the health of my family :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am making a huge effort not to eat processed food. I am feeling so much better (or at least I think I am). Especially giving up the sugar.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for the review on Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia De Rossi, that is a book I want to get. I want to try the roasted cauliflower recipe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you read the book let me know what you think. I'm also looking for more memoirs on self-acceptance, so let me know if you come across one. The roasted cauliflower recipe is awesome. One of my favorites this year.

      Delete