Getting My Husband To Eat Healthy

As I've mentioned a few times before, my husband does not choose to eat healthy in any sort of way.  It bothers  me for so many reasons and I was sort of at my wits end last week where I had two options.  Option A- throw a fit and start ranting at him about how I just don't understand why he won't try.  Or Option B- go buy him food he may enjoy that is healthy, prep it, pack his lunch and just see what happens.

For once, I chose option B because I've picked option A too many times to count and it has done nothing for him or for me.  Here are the things I had to take into account for his food:
1) He drives a work van from site to site which means he carries his lunch in a cooler but has no access to microwaves or freezers.
2) Sometimes he gets called to a work site and his lunch time where he could stop and eat or go buy food is gone so I knew it had to be items he could possibly eat at a red light or in just a few minutes once he got stopped.
3)  He will stop for a venti mocha and a muffin/breakfast burrito/donut in the morning because he doesn't take the time to make breakfast because he does not leave enough time in the morning to make a healthy breakfast.


So what did I come up with?
Snacks:
-Almonds, unsalted and unroasted- portioned them out into 1 oz in a baggie.
-Jerky
-Fun size pack of peanut M&M's (he's got a sweet tooth and this beats the extra huge Reese's peanut butter cup he gets all the time)
-Mini peppers
-Honeycrisp apples, sliced
-Reduced Fat Wheat Thins portioned into 1 serving in baggies along with 1 oz. of cheddar cheese sliced up.
-Ice water

Breakfast
-Tropicana orange juice in mini cartons (bigger than a juice box)
-Thomas Light Whole Grain English Muffins, Canadian Bacon, whole egg, I slice of colby cheese

Lunch
-Diet Dr. Pepper in a bottle (I'm not a fan of soda but he's been drinking a 32oz regular Dr. Pepper on a daily basis so baby steps).
-Sandwich rolls from the deli (not whole grain but baby steps I say), ham and turkey deli meat, sliced Havarti
-Pop Chips portioned out to 1 serving

My husband has college two nights a week so I bought the groceries and brought them home and portioned out the snacks and chips and put them in a plastic tub so it would be easy in the morning to grab and go.  This took all of 20 minutes for a weeks worth of lunch time snacks.  When he came home that night he was floored!  I got a big hug and he was excited to get to eat what I'd bought the next day.  I told him it would only take 5 minutes to make the egg mc muffin sandwich but that if he really was completely out of time, make a PB & J on 1 slice of the whole grain bread and just take it with him.  I think it's kind of a lot of sugar but considering what he's been eating, I think he'll be able to lean into making even healthier choices in a little while.

The next morning when he took the kids to my mom's, instead of getting in the shower I ran to the kitchen and made his sandwich for lunch and also egg mcmuffin sandwiches for us both (I only use 1/2 a cheese slice for my own) and he was again over the moon I'd went to so much work.  I even did the same thing the next day and on the third day he actually made my egg mcmuffin sandwich and packed his own lunch.  He called at the end of the first day of taking lunch and said his stomach hurt and he was so full and I thought 'Yeah, it's called digestion and it's what your body does when you give it healthy food and water!!'  He did ask if I could make sure there was a cheese slice for every Wheat Thin next time which made me laugh.  An ounce of cheese sliced came out to about 8 small squares but there were about 25 Thins:)  And if you didn't guess by reading this post, my husband is a cheese fanatic.

I'm glad I decided to do it and even though he still doesn't believe you can eat out healthy (even though I explained what I ordered last week) I just keep reminding myself it's all about baby steps.

Eating Out Healthy: Mc Donald's, Qdoba, Taco Bell, and a Diner

Guess what??  I lost 1.4lbs this week and ate out 6 times!!  What I learned was:
-It is possible
-It does take planning
-It's much more expensive than eating at home

Mc Donald's
Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken and Southwest Dressing, Large Unsweetened Iced Tea (10 WWPP)
Definitely filling and delicious!

 

Taco Bell

Chicken Fresco Soft Taco and Crunchy Beef Taco Supreme with a small diet Pepsi (9 WWPP)

This was very good except for the diet Pepsi which I usually don't drink much soda but it was way too sweet so next time i'll just get a free water!  A Taco Bell Bean Burrito has 9 points which is suprising because I used to think it was one of the lowest point options! 

Qdoba

Naked Chicken Taco Salad- Lettuce, Chicken, Black Beans, Sour Cream, Extra Pico and Water (11 WWPP)

Bleh.  It just wasn't great.  Tolerable yes, but not great.  I also added fajita veggies for $.69 extra put picked them out after one bite.  I think they were over grilled so they were chewy and I believe they use oregano for the seasoning and they just tasted terrible. My salad cost over $8 which is outrageous IMO! Next time I think I'd opt for 2 hard shell chicken tacos with very little cheese and sour cream, lettuce, and black beans next time.

 *No picture available

Diner

We have a diner that is like a 50's diner so mostly classic American fare.  I ordered a BLT, no Mayo and substitute a side salad with ranch on the side (just dipped my fork in) and also a diet Coke. (10 WWPP).  The hardest part about eating in a local restaurant is you have to eyeball portion size and quantity. I think it's crazy when you subsitute a salad they upcharge you.  At this restaurant it was $2.95. 

*No picture available

Below I've listed some of the options I researched and I printed out on a cheat sheet for our vacation.  I think I'm going to do okay!

Taco Bell
Chicken Soft Taco Fresco	4
Crunchy Taco Supreme	5
Small Diet Soda	0
McDonald's
Cheeseburger	8
Southwest Salad w/dressing	10
Grilled Chicken Sandwich w/ no mayo	9
Fruit and Yogurt Parfait	4
Egg McMuffin	8
Oatmeal	7
Small French Fry	11
Side Salad w/ balsamic	1
Iced Tea or Diet Coke	0
Subway
6" club, 9 grain wheat, no cheese, all veggies, light mayo, mustard	9
6" steak and cheese, light mayo	11
6" chicken teriyaki, no cheese, light mayo	11
6" BLT, no cheese, light mayo	10
15 baked lays	3
Carl's Jr.
Cranberry Walnut Salad	8
Low Fat Balsamic	1
Kids Cheeseburger	9
Side Salad	3
Dairy Queen
Original Burger	9
Original Cheese Burger	10
Side Salad, no dressing	1.5
Starkiss	2.5
Small Vanilla Cone	6
Small Vanilla Cup	4
Grilled Chicken Sandwich	10
Taco Time
Chicken Tostada	8
Tostada Delight Chicken	11.5
Crisp Ground beef taco with sour cream	7.5
Stree Taco Chicken	5
Refritos without chips	4
IHOP
Belgian Waffle plain and Fruit	10
pancake platter	13
Simple and fit twoxtwoxtwo	10.5
Short Stack Pancakes	13
Kids French Toast	12
Red Robin
Garden Burger	13
Red's homemade chili bowl	11.5
Olive Garden
Breadstick	4
Grilled Chicken Spiedini	11.5
Linguine all Marinara lunch	8
Linguine all Marinara dinner	11
Garden Fresh salad w/o dressing	9.5
Garden Fresh salad with dressing	3
Chicken and Gnocchi soup	7
Minestrone	2
Pasta e Fagioli	3
Zuppa Toscana	3

I Didn't Want to be That Mom, So I Wore a Bathing Suit

Last weekend we took the kids to one of our local high school pools that has open swim on Saturday.  It never even crossed my mind that I'd be in the water but that it was my husbands responsibility to do that because I wouldn't be caught dead in a bathing suit right now.  My kids loved the open swim and I'm totally impressed my husband managed to wrangle two toddlers for 40 minutes in the water!  But as I was sitting in the bleachers, I was thinking about Roni over at Roni's Weigh posts about getting over your fear of wearing a bathing suit in order to go have fun with your kids, and over those 40 or so minutes I seriously regretted not being in there with them.  Living in Alaska, we honestly do not have a lot of reasons to be in a bathing suit.  It's rarely warm enough to lay out in the sun in just a bathing suit and really the only pools are at the high schools so it's easy to avoid squeezing into bathing suit.  I haven't worn a bathing suit in Alaska since 1998!

So yesterday my husband reminded me that he had promised the kids he'd take them to the pool again.  At $5 an adult and $1 per kid, it is some serious cheap fun that involves physical activity which is great!  I said I'd get my bathing suit and towel and we could go.  My husband was actually shocked and said I didn't have to if I didn't want to and I just told him I could care less how I looked in the bathing suit, I wanted to swim with my kids.  Because quite honestly, I don't want to be that mom, you know that one that sits on the sidelines and cheers on their kids but doesn't actually participate because they are out of shape or uncomfortable in front of others. 

When I went to find my swimsuit, I was shocked to find I own five!  You know why, because everytime I went on vacation I would buy a new one thinking it would make me look slimmer than the last one... it never did though.  I own a Miracle Suit that is anything besides a miracle but I did find my Land's End tankini with ruching in the front you know to disguise my tummy fat and it's black because black is slimming.  Well I took a picture before we left for the pool.  I am posting this picture to provide you with proof that black is neither slimming and the ruching does not disguise a darn thing!

I'd say the swimsuit fit as well as it could and stayed in place and I was pretty comfortable in it.  And swimming with my kids.......well it was a blast and probably one of the most fun activities we've done together and I really can't wait to go again!!  My friend's son is even having his birthday at a swimming pool next month and I'm totally okay with going and participating.  I refuse to sit on the sidelines until I lose 60 pounds.  Plus, I really could use the extra exercise:)

Do you fear wearing a bathing suit in public?  Do you have a favorite swimsuit brand/design I might like?

Eating Out Healthy: Boston's Pizza and Subway

Well, I made it!  Eating out twice in one weekend was successful!  I told my husband my plan to eat out twice this weekend and then five times during the week for lunch and the first comment he made was, "You can't eat out healthy."  He didn't mean that I couldn't but that everyone couldn't and that you go out to eat and you pretty much have to eat bad because of what's on the menu.  It kind of irked me especially coming from someone that eats large sized value meal every single day and sometimes twice a day and makes  no attempt at eating healthy.  It wasn't exactly the support I was looking for but oh well!

I told my husband he could choose where we went to lunch on Saturday as long as he told me the night before and they had to have an online menu with nutritional info.  He picked Boston's pizza.  Last time I went there I ordered the chicken pesto flatbread pizza (907 calories, 44 g. fat, 88 g. carbs, 26 WWPP) but this time I looked for a healthy option and it was very limited but I settled on 1/2 of Margherita Flatbread pizza (8 Points), dinner salad minus croutons with reduced calorie Italian dressing on the side (0 Points), and iced tea (0 Points).  For 8 points plus I had a filling meal.  I'll say the pizza wasn't the greatest because it had way too much basil on top which got super crispy when cooked which gives it an odd taste.  Next time, I think I'd choose the Pesto pizza and eat 1/3 of it because the flavor is so much better.





On Sunday we meant to go to IHOP but we had a slow start to the morning and I couldn't have the kids wait any more for breakfast so we decided we'd eat out for lunch.  I asked to go to Subway because we had vollyeball in just a few hours after that and I wanted to make sure I had a healthy filling lunch.  I chose the 6"club on 9 grain wheat, no cheese, lots of veggies and light mayo and mustard (8 Points).  We had cheddar potato Pop Chips (3 Points) at home along with water to round out the meal!  I admittedly do love the steak and cheese at Subway and would normally order that along with a bag of cheddar Sun Chips.  Here's my 11 point lunch!

 I'm going to put this out there because my husband doesn't read this blog and either do our family and friends because I don't tell them about it...........but sometimes I want to just shake him and tell him that he is killing himself by eating fast food every single day and that yes, he has gained significant weight in the last 4 years, post-military career,  even though he says he's the same weight and that it scares me to death his family members are extremely large.  His brother weighed over 450lbs a year ago and has managed to get under 400lbs now and both his parents are diabetic and still eat like crap and he is the father of my children and I'd love to see that he makes being healthy a top priority so that he can be around for a really long time for them and for me.  And that losing a days worth or work and pay because his back is messed up could be related to carrying quite a bit of belly weight and not being in great health.  But since I'm overweight and most of my family is, we don't express concerns to each other about our weight and health.  I know they say to just take care of yourself and worry about yourself but I wish I could take care of myself AND have him on board to take better care of himself!  Sometimes my concerns for his healthy come out like bashing when we finally try to discuss it and then I feel bad and he feels bad and within 2 days it's back to old habits.  All I can do is keep moving forward with my journey and hope that some of my good habits rub off on him and the kids.

I'm Scared to Eat Out!

In the past couple weeks I was able to pin point a major dilemma in my weight loss journey- I'm scared to eat out and get major anxiety from it.  In 5th grade my family ate out 6-7 nights a week and multiple times a week we stopped at fast food for a snack of ice cream or some fried food.  That year, I gained over 30 pounds and went from buying clothes in the girls department to wearing double digit sizes in the junior department.  That's when my life really changed and food and weight became a constant struggle. 

My family owned a business where my dad didn't close up shop until 7:30 and my mom hated to cook so we met my dad at his shop and went straight to dinner.  I always ordered the same thing- salad with ranch dressing, soda, New York steak, and baked potato with all the fixings.  How and why my parents allowed that I'm not sure.  But I think that year was really the root of my anxiety when it comes to eating out because I never ONCE chose a healthy option when eating out, never limited my proportions, nothing!  Even in high school once I was 16, my friends and I went out to lunch at fast food places every single day.  A lot of times they would split a value meal or just order a couple tacos but I'd order the value meal and eat it all myself. 

Fast forward to my life now, I avoid eating out.  I go to great lengths to make sure we have a nutritious homemade dinner 6 nights a week and I may eat out once a week but I get excited when we don't eat out at all.  My husband on the other hand eats out at lunch every single day and most mornings and would love nothing more than to eat out every single meal on the weekends.  I usually only go out to eat when I can eat most of my weekly allowance points so that I'm not forced to make a healthy choice and I feel less guilty about the crap I eat.

I get anxiety walking into the restaurant and sitting down and then looking at the menu where I have to battle thoughts of 'make a healthy choice, make a healthy choice' and then the waiter comes and I blurt out my order for a heavy calorie meal.  Fail.  Then it takes me about 4 days for my weight to drop back down to what it was before I ate out which is slowing down my weight loss (by the way I've lost 3.2, 1.6, 1.8, and .8 pounds at the last 4 weigh ins at WW which I'm super excited about!!).

In 3 months we are headed to Oregon for 2 weeks of vacation including a wedding and I'm so nervous.  I usually gain 10 pounds while on vacation and it usually takes me 6 months to a year to lose it because I'm so wrapped up in being disappointed in myself, it's awful!

So next week I'm giving myself a challenge.  I'm going to eat out at fast food 5 days in a row and I must preplan what I'm going to order before I go and it must be 11 points or less in order for me to still eat normal the rest of the day without going over my 28 points for the day.  Also, I will eat out lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday at a sit down restaurant and again must order my meal for 11 points or less.  I've been working on a cheat sheet for the fast food restaurants and I'll do the same for the restaurants so that when I'm on vacation, I can reference the chart.  I won't be eating out this much for the next 3 months, but I need to give myself a test once in a while and identify problems I run into while I'm eating out and try to get over my anxiety. 

Even eating out with friends or family, which should be enjoyable, becomes a dreaded task and at some point I just have to face it and learn how to change it.  I'll post my cheat sheet on her when I'm done with it and let you know how next week goes!

Are any of my blog friends successful in eating out and choosing a healthy option or is that usually your splurge/cheat meal?

Freezer Meals for February!

Last month we did a full month of freezer meals, preparing them all in one day, and it worked out so so well that I did it again this weekend!  With two toddlers that have their "witching hour" between 4-6:30pm, it was becoming impossible to cook on the stove without having them grab at me or getting to close to the stove which is very unsafe and in turn makes me a little cranky! 

It has also been really helpful to plug all the recipes into Weight Watchers recipe builder and put my dinners into my tracker right away! 

I have decided to keep a few of our favorite meals but change up the rest so we don't get too bored month after month!  It takes me about an hour to pull recipes and make a grocery list and then about 4 hours to cook approximately 28 meals!  Most of our meals are 4 servings only which has cut down tremendously on leftovers that went to waste!  I buy the side dishes weekly such as a broccoli, taco toppings, etc. So here we go with February's Dinners:

Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie (Weight Watchers)- I used store bought rotisserie chickens and I froze without the crescent rolls on top since I will add those right before I put in the oven.
Marinated Flat Iron Steaks (Allrecipes.com)- We make one batch of marinade, divide into 4 gallon baggies, and cut a flat iron steak in half and add to the bag.  Thaw 24 hours in fridge, broil 3 inches from heat source for 13 minutes, cover with foil and let rest 10 minutes before cutting into slices.
Green Chile Casserole (Cooking Light)- Made one batch and divided it into 2 8X8 dishes.  Also used store bought rotisserie chicken.
Cheesey Meat Loaf Minis (Cooking Light)- Doubled the batch, put all 12 loaves on a cooking sheet, covered and put in the freezer for a couple hours, then pulled them out and bagged 4 to a bag, making sure to leave seperation between each.  When thawing, make sure to place bag on a flat plate or pan in the fridge so loaves don't mix together!
Crock Pot Potato Soup (Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour)
Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos (Can You Stay For Dinner?)- Double recipe and used a 3lb loin which I divided into 4 bags after cooked!  Easy to reheat in microwave after it's thawed for 4 hours.
Pizza Dough made in bread maker- I cannot remember where I got the recipe but here is what I use, in order of how I place it in the bread maker:
2 tsp Rapid Rise yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons slightly warm water. 
Turn on dough cycle, after done move to a lightly oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with oil, let rise for 30 minutes....or if you are going to freeze, divide dough in half after removing from dough cycle, freeze in a baggie.  Take out dough in the morning and place in the fridge.  An hour before you need to use it, move to oil bowl covered with sprayed plastic wrap to let rise some more!
Spaghetti Sauce-
Enchiladas- I just make them with corn tortillas, chicken breast diced up, enchilada sauce and colby jack cheese.

Babies are God's Gifts, or Are They?

*before anyone reads this, I just want to say this is my blog, my personal space to share my thoughts and even if you and I do not agree, I don't ever want to worry about censoring myself as to not offend my readers*

My friend finally posted this past weekend on Facebook that she was expecting her first baby in July and I've known for over a month now.  She's about 15 weeks pregnant already which in my experience you have the women that tells as soon as that test gives them a BFP or the women that wait until the 12th week to post.  So to post at 15 weeks in my opinion is odd and instantly begs the question, 'Why did she wait that long?"  I know for my friend it was probably because she knew everyone was going to be shocked because I'm sure they never saw this coming.  A quick backstory- my friend first met her baby's daddy in March and then he left for a mission with the Army and came back in August 2012.  They found out she was pregnant at the end of November, 36 hours before he was set to deploy for 10 months.  My friend is 29, her boyfriend was 23 at the time and this came way out of left field for all of us that have been friends with her for over 20 years as far as the guy she was dating and that she was pregnant.  They are eloping this month when he comes back for his 2 week break from his deployment because she "wants this baby for free and doesn't want to pay anything for her delivery."  I've never agreed with getting married just to get someone's benefits but seeing as how my husband was in the military for 14 years, I've seen this happen a lot.  Which brings me to the comments on my friend's FB page and her mother's page after the announcement. 

More than a dozen times people are telling her babies are a gift from God, you are so blessed!  I just do not agree.  I admit I do not go to church, both mine and mine husband's families do not attend church or read the bible.  When people ask about my religion I tell them I do not have one but that I was raised with good values.  Because it's true, my family are great people because we were taught really great values.  So when I see people who are in loving, stable, long term committed relationships go through miscarriages, still births, failed adoptions and not being able to get pregnant ever I wonder how someone could think God has anything to do with who gets a baby and who doesn't?  I think it's plain biology if you ask me!  I think if someone prays and attends church and that provides them with a way to figure out a better way to deal with the pain of infertility, then that is great!  I read people's blogs and when they write verses from the bible that are helping them in a trying time, I think that's great!  But I don't think God wanted my friend to have a baby right now in this situation- I think it's the fact she took her BC pill sometime during the day but rarely at the same time (she said a lot of times it was 8 am and the next day 8pm) and she had lots of sex before her boyfriend left and BAMMM, she got pregnant. 

And does God ignore and when her boyfriend writes "a women should be so lost in god that it takes finding jesus before you can ever find her" on his FB page one day and then the next few days is leaving comments to his friends such as "college pussys", "Eat it Dick", "Kind of like your sex life, not enough action."  Come on people, for real????  God gifted a baby to a man that talks like that and when he is home goes to church every Sunday?  If He's gifting babies doesn't he care more about the day to day actions and thoughts than 2 hours on a Sunday? 

Yes, I get a bit amped up when I see certain people get pregnant that I do think it's the wrong time and place only for them to act like it's God's gift!  What about my son AJ's mom?  She couldn't take care of her first 2 kids, so He gifted her with another baby where she did drugs while pregnant and she lost that baby too? 

Really this discussion has nothing to do with not being happy for someone that's pregnant but this weekend, my dear friend just experienced her second miscarriage and so I just don't understand why people believe it's completely in God's hands when they do or do not get pregnant, isn't it just biology and chemistry?