Jano thank you thank you thank you
My book has arrived today, will let u know how i get on!!

I've just PM'ed you, Jano...

Right - well, no, I don't count fat grams (too complicated to mix that with calories) but I do aim for a low fat diet - basically an average week day is

Breakfast: (200 cals) Half a grapefruit followed by 2 ounces of porridge made with my half pint skimmed milk allowance or a Muller Lite Yoghurt or a boiled/poached egg with unbuttered toast. Or perhaps 200 cals worth of a high fibre cereal with the milk. If I don't have the milk at brekkie I will have it hot before bed at night.

Mid morning: Couple of satsumas

Lunch: (140 cals) a small 100 cal roll or cream crackers totalling 100 cals with perhaps Low Fat Laughing Cow triangle or low fat cream cheese with a very thin slice of smoked ham and (perhaps) a bit of salad if we had it the night before and have some left over. An apple.

Mid afternoon: A pear or an apple or a couple of plums.

Dinner: 5 ounces of meat (250 cals), 10 ounces of roast potatoes (300 cals) made with 10ounces of potatoes turned over in half a tablespoon of olive oil and then baked for an hour or so, lots and lots of veg, gravy (50 cals). Or basically any other dinner I can think of that is low fat and totals around 600 cals.

Evening snack: slice of melon and maybe a few grapes.

Total: 940

If I save a bit on dinner then I might have a bag of Netto potato snacks in the evening as a snack (75 cals)

The grand total - including fruit, veg and milk is usually around 1500 cals. The nice thing is that it is flexible - I have a totally different calorie arrangement at the weekends - a nice cooked brekkie, no lunch and a larger dinner. I have an extra 200 cals on Saturdays and Sundays which I 'spend' on alcohol.

I hope this is helpful - its sometimes interesting to see how other people eat on a daily basis.

Sarah - you'll loove the rebounder. I just wish my video would arrive - aaarrrggghhh and how on earth do you weigh all that food out??? Do you weigh it and then cook it or vice versa?

You don't happen to know if you're supposed to weigh a baked potato before or after it's cooked do you? that's puzzled me for about 6 years the weight difference before/after cooking is amazing.

Hiya

I've got a pair of electronic kitchen scales which I can re-set to zero after I put a food item on the plate (which I balance on top). Posh scales in the kitchen, cheapo ones in the bathroom!! Anyway - when I started off I used to cook the same amounts of rice or whatever as I had always done - then I weighed mine directly on to the plate balanced on the scales, dished up whatever Kevin wanted and the dog got the rest. But I am getting a bit more accurate now so the dog doesn't get quite so much. It gets very easy after a while - but I think it has got a lot to do with practice and some very good scales.

I have got a 20 year old Slimming calorie listing book (very battered and torn) which gives the weight of things both raw and cooked - so I usually choose whichever is more suitable for what I am cooking. For instance, if I am starting off with a raw potato I will just multiply the raw potato per ounce rate by the amount of ounces my potato weighs and the same with a cooked one (with the cooked potato per ounce rate)...

If a recipe calls for, say, an 8 ounce baked potato - then I assume that they mean the weight that the potato weighs AFTER it is cooked - unless it says otherwise. But I could be wrong...... LOL

Sarah, I think you are really patient doing that every day, but it works and you are obviously used to it by now. I will copy the
book for you asap and send it off, I have your address.

TQ, Glad you received you book, have you seen the link I postd earlier about re-bounding?

Delaney, yours was posted on Saturday so I expect it will be with you in the morning. Let me know, - have you not got that video yet?? Mind you there has been a run on them of late ;-)

Janet

Janet - I promise you its no more difficult that dishing up a normal dinner.

Once a week (Thursdays)I sit down and work out a menu for the following week and then I make up a shopping list based on the menu. Then, in my diet diary, I just put the day at the top of the page and work out the calories of the meal I had planned for that day. Menu, shopping list and calorie calculations take about 45 minutes all told because my portion sizes tend to stay the same (10oz potatoes, 9 oz rice/pasta, 5oz meat/fish/chicken, etc).

Then on the actual day I have got a selection of breakfasts and lunches with similar calorie values - so it is just a question of picking one of each.

It really is quite easy - the main problem is boredom, but I think that is a factor in all diets after a while. I am trying to solve that by 'theming' our dinners at the moment. This week it is TexMex.

Thank you very much for copying the booklet for me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.... I got the book about 5 minutes ago and I've been flicking through it - I shall start exercising on Thursday when the house is empty.

STILL NO SIGN OF THE BLASTED VIDEO aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sarah I couldn't plan my week's eating like that - I know it would go to pot. It doesn't help that the kids only eat reconstituted chicken in breadcrumbs shaped in the latest fad ie Bob the Builder or a dinosaur!! Also DH is often late or not here at night so I find I have to go on the spur of the moment which is probably my biggest downfall.

LOL - I have got a strange feeling that when (if) Kevin and I finally get approved as foster carers that my nice, orderly menus and shopping lists will go straight out the window, hopefully my diet won't though!

Kevin and I decided that from the start we will have our meals with the children in our care (our reasoning is very complex, but primarily we need to get these children to TALK) - so it looks like I might have to introduce myself to the finer points of children's cuisine.... I never knew reconstituted chicken came in so many shapes! Bob the Builder???????? I saw Barbie tinned spaghetti the other day - this is a whole area of nutrition I have never explored - I might need your help with this when the time comes.... LOL!!! Vicki always liked 'grown upl' food - her favourite meal is and always has been (from the age of 2) those thick cut butterfly lamb chops with Jersey royal new potatoes, petit pois and steamed asparagus tips liberally coated with melted butter! I don't think I could afford to feed us like that nowadays, let alone us and 2-4 foster childen!! Just shows how times have changed.

Melissa - can't you cancel your video order and get it from somewhere else. Amazon are brillliant: I got the Robbie Williams at the Albert Hall video from them and I ordered it on a Thursday and it arrived 2 days later on a Saturday.

Hey Sarah don't hesitate coming to me with ideas for kids menus -I am the queen of the tin opener

I'm going to e-mail bol and see where this video is AGAIN...

Melissa - really seriously - I will take you up on that - Vicki just wasn't normal when it came to food so I haven't got a clue about what normal kids like! Obviously reconstituted chicken shapes, fish fingers and (probably) pizza but apart from that I will definitely need help!!!!!!!

Just ordered 2 cardio bounce vids, one from bol and one from amazon will let you know if and when they arrive, I am keeping everything crossed!!

Sarah I've got a couple of kids cookbooks which are great and desingned to fit in the maximum amount of good stuff combined with great looking food. Sprog #1 was a very fussy eater (still is) I used to go the Drs nearly in tears that she hadn't eaten in days - these 2 cookbooks are by the same woman (can't remember her name).

Good luck TQ!!!

Melissa at least yours eat chicken. Mine would live on sausages & home made cheeseburghers. I have managed to branch them out into tomato soup & scooby snacks - what ever I have in the fridge, usually cheese, ham, cucumber, grapes, cherry tomatos, crisps, etc on a plate, eaten in front of the telly. Really healthy !!

I'm stuck like you are 2 weeks out of three I eat on my own after running the boys to various clubs, then feeding them, doing homework & putting them to bed.


Wish I had time to plan.

Carol