Menus/Planning/Accountability #2
 

Okay, I'm feeling all bright-and-shiny today after my meeting and feel totally motivated. And one outcome of that is me being a busybody around the forums :p Our old Tracking Menus thread was pretty hefty so I figured we were due for a new one.


Feel free to jump in and track in this thread. You can use it as a place to plan for the upcoming days, or you can use it as accountability (post what you ate after you've eaten). People tend to use this thread to get meal ideas, also, so if you want, post the points value of your foods eaten so people can get an idea of foods they can fit in their plan!

hmm.. Well I never used this thread before, how about I post my awesome breakfast I just had, it was mmm mm good!

Whole Wheat Tortilla - 2pts
3 Egg Whites - 1pt
Mild Salsa - 0pt
Cheddar Cheese - 2pts
1/2 Sausage - 2pts
Oils to cook with - 2pts
Coffee with sweetener - 1pt

a whopping 10 points, which might be a little much for breakfast, but I didn't get up until 12 today (had a late movie night) hope someone else tries these because they're soooo good!

Saturday, March 15th:
(beware the ides of March? Isn't that today?)

B1: Fiber One bar (2) --> post WI at the meeting
B2: 1c blackberries (1), 1/2c lf plain yogurt (1.5), 1/2c Fiber One cereal (0)
L: leftover Moroccan Chicken and Lentils (crock pot recipe) (6 pts), grilled cheese with 2 slices WW bread (1), 1 slice FF american cheese (0), popcicle (1)
S: another Fiber One bar... bad choice... (2)
D: Went to Ruby Tuesday's. What I got from the salad bar was probably 2 pts, I ate half the french fries they gave me (DWLZ says a serving is 7 pts, I'm going to count 5 for what I ate), then I had the turkey Minis without mayo or butter on the buns, and I picked off about the equivalent of one of the buns (DWLZ has the turkey minis at 13.5 points for them just as they come -- going to overestimate and say 10 pts even with my changes).

=31/27, BUT earned 3 APs, so really only used 1 FP :D

Welcome Tendalaya, that breakfast does sound good! It'd probably be really good as a breakfast-for-dinner too. Mmmm. :)

hmmm what kind of cans of tuna do you get that is only 2 points?? i am interested.. well here's my menu for the day.. or what i ate so far.

breakfast -
fruit smoothie - 1/2 cup skim milk, ice, few frozen peaches, couple strawberries, scoop of protein and some sf pink lemonade (SO GOOD) - 3 pts
coffee with coffeemate and splenda - 1 pt

lunch -
fajita wrap - 1 whole wheat tortilla, some refried beans, sauteed peppers and onions (cooked with pam spray), small amount of low fat shredded cheese, mild salsa and some ff sour cream - 6 pts (again so yummy)

haven't had any snacks and dunno what i'm gonna have for dinner yet, depends if i meet up with my bf early or later... (looking like early cause he's so bored he says haha). i was thinking of making TACO SOUP that i found a recipe for.. 2 points a cup and sounds absolutely delicious.. but darling bf doesn't eat .. anything... but junk. so he prob won't like it. HAHA. so i'll keep ya updated :)

do you mind giving me the recipe for taco soup? sounds really good

I believe there are several versions in the recipes section here. I've tried at least 2 of them and both of them are yummy

This one is very good

TACO SOUP

1 can black beans, undrained
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can pinto beans, undrained
1 can white beans, undrained
1 small can chopped green chilies (optional)
1 can chopped tomatoes (16 oz)
1 pkg. Taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. Ranch Dressing mix

1/2-1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed

In larger size pot, saute onion and garlic in Pam. Add beans, all undrained, tomatoes, taco seasoning, (I would start with 1/2 the package, and add to taste) and Ranch dressing mix.
(I have actually not added the dressing before and it was good too....) Simmer for about 30 min to blend flavors. If you think it's too thick, add a little water. Good with a little FF sour cream on top, too

1 cup= 1 point (without the sour cream)


There's also one out there that has FF refried beans and salsa in it that it tasty and makes a BIG batch

Hmm, I'd be slightly suspicious of that recipe being 1 point/cup. I mean, beans are generally 2pt per half cup (some are 1 pts per half cup), and since there's not a lot of anything to break up the beans (no veg aside from tomatoes, no broth aside from canned bean juice?), you have to be careful with how many beans you get in your one-cup serving. But since I've never made it that's all just guessing :)

As for the canned tuna - 4 oz (or 1/2c) = 2 points. I measure my drained tuna and if there's a little too much (sometimes I get 4.5 ozs out of a can) I give the excess to the kitties :p

here's the recipe i saw.. not sure where it's from. but i'm also a little weary of one cup being 2 points because of the beans and beef.. but if you add water/broth i think it's possible. i was gonna make it be about 3 or 4 to be safe anyways. but here it is, haven't tried it yet.

Taco Soup
1 pound ground turkey or lean ground beef
1 onion -- chopped
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix -- (small)
1 pkg Taco seanoning Mix
1 can white kidney beans -- (16 ounce)
1 can pinto beans -- (16 ounce)
1 can corn -- (16 ounce)
1 can stewed tomatoes (mexican) -- (16 ounce)
1 can stewed tomatoes -- (16 ounce)
Brown meat with onion, drain excess fat, add all ingredients, simmer to blend flavors. If you like it soupy, add water.
NOTES : 2 points per 1 cup serving

I think that recipe is 38ish points total, so for 2 pt servings divide it up into 19 even portions. Or divide 38 by the number of portions it makes. But I'm guessing at the points, not looking in my books. Looks yummy though, I've never used ranch dressing mix in soup!

Sunday:
B: 1/2c homemade ff yogurt (1), 1/2c FiberOne (0), 1 c blackberries (1)
L: white bean salad (4), baked sweet potato w/mango raita (4)
S: various snacky things :o (13)
S: FiberOne bar (2)
D: Portobello mushroom cap stuffed w/spinach and blue cheese (2), quinoa pilaf (5)

=32/27 - the snacking in the afternoon got me. Gar. But it was all healthy stuff, really, so that's a little better. And it only put me five into my FPs, which is actually pretty decent.

If I get time, I'll run the one I posted through the recipe builder over at WW and report - There's also a lot of fiber in those items so my guess is that MAY be the reason for the 1 pt

Wow - you're right - a rough calculation shows it at 3 pts

Here's a post on Taco soup from Mom 767 at WW

Two recipes (Points value for this has been refigured and debated extensively in the past. I think the point’s debate comes from the WW change in the fiber cap…now that fiber grams allowable in points formula are capped at 4 grams; it comes out to be higher point.)

Sante Fe Soup
POINTS® value | 7
Servings | 12

Cheese, sourcream, green onion toppings not included in points.

2 pound 90% lean/10% fat raw ground beef
1 large onion(s)
2 serving Ranch Dressing Mix
22 oz Green Giant White Shoepeg Corn, Canned
10 oz canned tomatoes with green chilies
14 1/2 oz canned tomatoes
16 oz Bush's Black Beans
16 oz Bush's Pinto Beans
16 oz Bush's Light Red Kidney Beans
2 cup water
2 1/2 oz Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix

Combine and simmer 2 hours or cook in crockpot on low for 8 hours. Good with grated cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions on top. Serve with Cornbread or corn chips.

WW Taco Soup

1 pound lean ground beef
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can of Rotel tomatoes
1 can of ranch style beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of corn, drained
2 cans of water
1 pkg. of dry ranch dressing mix
1 pkg. of taco seasoning

Put in crock pot for few hours until done. Make sure you drain meat well before adding to crock pot. 1 cup = 2 or 3 points by the old WW rules, more like 4 by the new. ..check for yourself using NI on ingredients of your choice and point’s formula of your choice and then you’ll be satisfied with the numbers!

i am so making this stuff.........thanks guys

I made a big batch of the second one today. It freezes well too

Monday planning:

B: Forgot breakfast! Grrrr! Went and got a scone.... (8?) :o
S: 1/2c homemade ff yogurt (1)
L: leftovers - portobello, spinach, blue cheese, quinoa pilaf (7)
S: 1oz almonds (4), couple of dried apricots (1)
S: cookie (3), coffee w/cream (1), 1/2 fiberone bar (1)
D: Went for Thai... dumplings (6), 1/2c rice (2), chicken and veg in brown sauce (5)

=39/27. Stupid forgetting breakfast. Threw off my day from the start. Could have done without the cookie, cream in my coffee, and the fiberone bar -- all that was the result of poor decisions. Could have also done without the thai dumplings. At least I made a good choice of entree. Anyway, 12 FPs does not break the bank, I'll count it as my "high day" and move on!

Hey Suite: I bought a box of Fiber one cereal today at Target...I am going to give it a try tomorrow!

I looked everywhere for the Fiber One Cereal!!! Darn Atlantic Canada!!!

I'm pretty much in love with it :p Of course today I managed to forget breakfast as I dashed out the door so my plan has to be revised a bit. But really, all that fiber keeps you full for a long time! It doesn't look like it would taste good but I really like it. Let us know what you think, vday! Tendalaya, I'm surprised you can't find it, it's not like Atlantic Canada is some crazy third world country. You're still civilized! :D

okay I just ate some...and I didn't really like it! =(
It was kinda too cardboard-y for my tastes, hahaha!
It was good for 0 points though!

really? That's funny, DH thinks so too, but I find it to be very sweet and I really like the flavor of it! That's so weird... :p But yeah, for 0 points, it'll save you in a pinch!

Tuesday planning....
B: 1/2c fiber one, 1c almond milk (1)
S: half a fiber one bar (because it was here) (1), apple (1), coffee w/milk (1)
L: leftover Thai food... 1c rice (4), 1c chicken and veg in brown sauce (5ish)
S: bean salad (2), hardboiled egg (2), grapes (1)
D: stir-fry pork and veg (4), 1/2c rice (2), popcicle (1)

=25/27. Will add something to bring the count up later.

Well, still couldn't find fibre one. But, I'm rathering the 3 pt bowls of All Bran Strawberyy bites, mmmmm!

Decided to put up my days worth of points today, maybe you can see something I should be shying away from? BTW - popcicles are one point? I'm in love!

Breakfast: coffee (1)
Brunchish: 1 cup pasta (3) w/ low fat pasta sauce (1) and thawed veggies (0)
Dinner: Lean chicken burger (3) (cooked in oil {2}) on whole wheat english muffin (2) with ff miracle whip (1), ff cheese slice (1) and a chopped mushroom (0) - garden salad with parmesan cheese (1), bacon bits (1), and ff cesar dressing (1)
Supper: Smart One's frozen pasta (6), 1 glass of milk (3), 2 rice cakes (2) and a small piece of hard cheese (1)

Well that's it, and WI tomorrow. EEEP!! :dizzy:

Check the box of popcicles before buying. I buy no-sugar-added ones... the fruit kind are actually 2 per point, and the chocolate ones are a point each. They feel dessert-y to me without being terrible for me :)

As for your plan, it looks fine to me, except why aren't you eating breakfast? :p

umm... I didn't have breakfast cuz I slept till 12.. lazy me today :). I heard all the snow blowing a gale this morning so knew WI was going to be put off a day so stayed nice and warm in my blankies hehe.

I'm gonna see if I can pick up those popcicle things though, because as of right now when I want something for dessert I usually nuke one of those Smart One's 4 point brownies, and it's basically for the chocolate aspect... so chocolatey popcicles sound like a good fix for me! Making my shopping list because I know I'm going for groceries tomorrow, so I'm peeking around all kinds of threads to find different foods to buy. That'll be one of them!

just a note: extremely jealous that you got to cuddle in bed until 12 yesterday!! :-P

LOL - I don't work right now because I'm in the process of moving within this month, so I can sleep in everyday if I want! :carrot:

As I wrote in the other post, 3 pounds less at weigh in today, so in a Great mood!

Got the mushrooms and blue cheese and spinach at the store to try the mushroom caps, GOD that blue cheese is expensive! Had a greasy mushroom melt from Dairy Queen for lunch, (I treat myself to a cheat MEAL, not cheat DAY every time I lose..) and couldn't finish the fries, so I'm starting to notice my appetite going down due to the adjustments to smaller portions. All in all, good mood today and hope everyone else is having a good one as well. :)

Yeah, blue cheese can be that way! We get ours at Sam's Club so it's slightly cheaper. DH loves the stuff so I say what the heck. We all have those certain foods that we compromise price-wise on.

Today was a good day -- planned to go into my FPs to balance yesterday's low-point day.

B: fiber one, almond milk (1)
S: fiber one bar (2) ---> boy am I getting my fiber or what?
L: lean cuisine (4), chili (3)
S: skim chai latte (3), honeybunch cookie thing (4?)
S: bean salad (2)
D: went to CiCi's pizza... had a big salad dressed with vinager (hth do you spell that?) (0), three pieces of veg pizza (9), and one piece of the apple pie dessert pizza (4). Took care of my pizza craving :)
S: piece of dark chocolate (1)

=33/27, 6 FPs used. I'm a little low on my FPs this week -- I think I've only used 15 of them, usually by this time I'm closer to 22. So it goes! EDIT: Okay, I totally have a selective memory. Good thing for this website. I went back to my previous posts and turns out I'm at 24 FPs used for the week -- :o That's a good number for me to be sitting at for now, but I sure am glad I went and recounted so I don't accidentally go over!!

Sam's Club eh?.... Must be another one of those places imaginary to those of us suffering here in Atlantic Canada... hehe.... Oh BUT! I DID see a fibre one bar at Petro Canada today? *Gas Station* It's not a cereal but like a snack bar? LOL

Went over like 10 points today, but that's just 10 of my weekly points, and is totally normal for the day I have my 'cheat meal'. Never got to make the mushrooms, going to try tomorrow with that super expensive fancy schmancy blue cheese. BTW - you wrote you had 3 pieces of Veggie pizza for 9 points, where and how is this possible?!? :)

All in all had a good day, and super motivated to have a good week. Hope all is well with you guys! And I must leave you all with a question, alright.. for those of you with men around, does your man have a shirt that he wears, not even that he has to wear outside of the house mind you, that you want to secretly hide or burn or shread or..... LOL - just a thought. ;)

Yep, there are Fiber One snack bars in addition to the cereal. They're a little sweet for me, but we have a box of em at home so I'm eating them anyway. You'll have to check the points, some have 2, some have 3.

As for the pizza, the slices at CiCi's are very small :) They have their nutritional info up on the website and I calculated from there, so I trust it! I think the three pieces I ate were probably the equivalent of one or one and a half slices of a large pizza from other places. More satisfying to say I ate three though! :p

And as for the shirt, YES -- DH has a couple of shirts like that :p He had this stupid South Park one (note the past tense, "had") that had Eric Cartman as a police officer and 'respect my authoritah' on it. I mean, I love South Park and all, but for a 30+ year old man to be wearing it was a little off-putting... I made that one go away. We made a deal - i take that one, he keeps his other stupid one that has the "Viking World Tour" (with a picture of some vikings on the front and places they invaded in the B.C. time on the back). Men. :lol:

I love this thread. It gives me menu ideals, eating out ideals, etc. LOVE IT!!!

B: 1/2 c milk (1), 1 Fiber1bar (2)
L: 1 slice bread (1), 2 slice ham (2), cup of 0pt soup, 1 banana (2)

S:1 Fiber1bar (2)
S: cup of 0pt soup

D: 4oz chicken breast (3), 1 c red potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary (3), 1 cup broccoli (0), 3 T Hollandaise sauce (1)

S: bag of popcorn (1)
Thanks for any other ideals.

glad you like it, lovemylife :)

Thursday --
B: 1c almond milk (1), egg (2), two slices WW bread (1), 1 tsp marg (1)
L: 6" subway club on wheat w/o cheese or mayo (6), reese's thing (5) :o
---enter 'eat everything in sight' mode---
S: Fiber One bar x2 (4)
D: 2 grilled cheese - 4 slices WW bread (2), 2 slices FF cheese (1), 1 tsp marg (1); cup of soup (3), glass of almond milk (1), popcicles (1)

=29/27 - not too bad, actually. good thing i avoided the desire to get a giant hamburger and a milkshake. stupid emotional eating.

Slept late again today - :dizzy: - So, so far today I had a whole wheat english muffin and light cream cheese.. But last night I was really snacky and ate all kind of things (eep!) like a banana, WW brownie, 100 cal pack of cheezies, and some turkey.. But still managed somehow to stay within my points. Hope everyone has a healthy week!

Friday - day at home, gotta be tough on my snacking urges.

B: 1c kashi (4), 1c almond milk (1)
L: 1/2c tuna (2), mayo (1), pickles (0), WW bread (1), chicken noodle soup (3)
S: fiber one bar (2)
D: boca burger (1), 2 slices ww bread (1), a pile of sweet potato french fries (5), broccoli (0)

I will find a way to bring myself up to my base target at least. eating has been low since I'm not feeling well and spent a lot of time today in bed.

What's kashi? And is almond milk better for you than skim?

Kashi is a kind of cereal. I find it in the organics aisle in my grocery store. It's got a good amount of protein, high fiber, low sugar, and tasty :)

Almond milk isn't necessarily better for you (unless you want to get into the whole "adults shouldn't consume dairy" debate). It's lower in calories, though -- 1 cup is only 40, with 2g of fat, making 1 cup 1 point (instead of 1 cup of skim for two points). I don't really like the taste of milk and never have, and I couldn't adjust to the taste of soymilk - so this is a perfect compromise for me, since I enjoy it more than regular milk and it's lower points too. It comes in a couple different kinds, sweetened and unsweetened, vanilla or chocolate flavors (I haven't seen 'plain'). I get vanilla unsweetened. If you decide to try it, be forewarned, there is nothing sweet about it. It'll make you see just how sweet those natural dairy sugars are.

Wow... I really don't know what I was thinking, because I was writing my skim milk as 0's... Glad you typed that in there!! Probably will take the point or two though, I don't know what I think about the idea of Vanilla - unsweetened milk just yet.... And I'll take a look for kashi next time I get groceries, I like the sound of it, kashi, haha. Kinda like sushi, I LOVE sushi, and could only get it in Vancouver when I lived there, not here, deprived of yet something else. :dizzy:

Today I ate...

B: Whole Wheat English Muffin and Light Cream Cheese (4)
S: Real Fruit Frozen Bar (2)
L: Whole Wheat English Muffin and Light Cream Cheese (4) and Coffee with Twin Sugar (1)
S: Banana (2)
D: 2 Whole Wheat Tortillas (4), 1 Can of Tuna in Water (3), Fat Free Miracle Whip (0), Marble Cheese (4)
S: Coffee with Twin Sugar (1), 2 Chocolate Rice Cakes (2)

And I added 2 points for the picking I did today thanks to the little poem, lol.
So 29/29. But thanks to the loss last week I'm supposed to be 28, so I went over like 1 point. Oh well, all is good, did my workout today which I usually don't eat those points but no harm no foul right? And didn't get close to all my fruits and veggies today, another goal for tomorrow I guess.

I'm forced to write L: for lunch and D: for dinner because I can't put S: for supper all so it make's sense to you and not me lol. Where I'm from it's Breakfast, Dinner and Supper. Oh me. Have to be difficult lol. Hope everyone is in good spirits!

This is my attempt at planning out Easter dinner. Ack.

B: Oatmeal (2) with dried cranberries (1), 1 cup of Chocolate Almond Milk (2)
L: Melba Toast (2) with antipasto (1), baby carrots with salad dressing (0.5)
S: Martini (3)
D: 1/4 cup stuffing (2), 1 slice turkey (3), teeny bit of gravy (1), 1/2 cup baked potatoes (1.5), asparagus, probably done in oil (1), thin slice ham (1.5) with mustard (0)
S: Jello (0.5)
= 22/23

Well, I made it through the dreaded Easter dinner I was so nervous about, and suprisingly I'm very proud of myself! There was this huge bowl of yummy Skor Bar Truffle, and Cherry Pie oh my! BUT, to keep myself away from it, I volunteered to help serve, so then no one was really bothering to ask me to have some, and I poured a cup of coffee for my dessert. Everyone assumed I had it and managed to steer clear of the pressure. It was alot easier then I had thought so that made me feel good. I can't hardly believe it, I might actually get through Easter without having had ONE piece of chocolate!

Easter Dinner - 13 points! :D

Green Peas (1) -Carrots and Turnip (1) - 1/2 Potato (2) - Bit of Stove Top (3) - White Meat Turkey (4) - Bit of gravy (2) and Asparagus (0)!

All with a coffee for dessert (2). I never thought this would happen in a million years haha. I'm usually the one who digs into the sweets first! Oh well, one tough holiday accomplished!

:carrot: Happy Easter Everyone! :carrot:

so ... bombed this weekend.

won't talk about what i ate...

let's just say i didn't count but used all my flex points and then some i can guarantee. but my weigh-in day is saturday which is almost a whole week away so i plan on staying OP for the rest of the week no flex and staying at least with some maintanance. putting it behind me and moving on :)