Healthy Food Chart

Hi everyone, this is my first blog ever.

The idea came to me the other night when I received a call from my niece Natalie, who lives in another state. She has a friend, Kim who wants to lose 15 to 20 lbs by the time her husband comes back from his tour. Their husbands are both in the Air Force.

Natalie knows that I have struggled with my weight since age 30, 40, 50, etc.
I have been on Weight Watcher’s, Atkins, Nutrisystem, and many more. I lost the most weight on Weight Watchers, (32 lbs) however, by the same time the next year I had gained the 32 lbs back, plus an additional 30 lbs.

Natalie had asked me to give her friend Kim some tips on what to eat and how to know how many calories to eat in one day. I’m no expert, I can only speak for myself, but you have to be in the right mind set to lose weight for yourself and only yourself. I’m sure everyone who has struggled with their weight has had a spouse, friend or sibling that has said to you, “You’re too fat, you need to lose some weight” . Well, I don’t know how you would feel about that remark, but it made me NOT want to lose weight!!! (But, I am a stubborn person) lol.

Natalie had asked me to take pics of my meals and to let her know how many calories are in each item, such as Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and a snack. She said that if she could see a visual of it, it would be easier for her and her friend to begin a diet.

I can only tell you and show you pics of food I eat to lose the weight. Also exercise is also advisable. Due to my bad back, I can no longer do floor exercises, but I walk at a fast pace at least once a day for however many minutes before your legs start to ache and you are out of breath. My first day I walked 10 minutes, the next day, I increased my walk by another block, up to 15 minutes and so on. You do not want to overdo it at the beginning as you may say to yourself “this is too much trouble and my body can’t take it.”

Well, I assure you your body can take it, as long as you still have the ability to walk. Take it slow in the beginning and work up to a 1/2 hour a day walk, then maybe a 15 minute walk later that evening.

It took you years to gain the weight and it’s not going to go away in a few weeks, it may take some of you several months or a year, depending on how much weight you want to lose.

Below is one of my favorite meals that satisfies me while I am dieting.
Skinless, boneless chicken breast (160 calories)
Green Beans (20 calories per serving, I usually eat two servings (40 calories
Yellow Saffron Rice 1/2 cup 150 calories.
Total calories for dinner: 350 calories.

I grill my chicken on the George Forman Grill, either with teriyaki marinade and sauce or any other marinade you like., (but remember to check the calories, as marinade’s do have them.)

For a snack, I also enjoy Quaker Rice Cakes (caramel Corn flavor) with 1 TBSP of peanut butter spread on top of the rice cake (rice cake is 50 calories and the Peanut Butter (Plain or Crunchy has 95 calories per 1 TBSP. total calories 145 for snack.
Other snacks I eat are Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars (130 calories), Kelloggs Cinnabon (150 calories) and Special K bar (90 calories).

Also it is a good idea to drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water per day. If you like Crystal Light I think you could count that as water.

Well, I was going to include some pics of food, but I can’t figure out how to do it. Will have my son come over and show me.

I hope I haven’t gone on too long, but I will be back soon with pictures of my prepared meals along with calories. Thanks for reading and remember you can do it!!!!!!