Meal Planning to Lose Weight

Yesterday I posted about how I am starting to log all of my blood sugars again.  That is not the only thing that I am logging.  I am also starting to log the foods that I am eating as well.  Meal planning and logging my foods helps me lose weight.  I am trying to keep my calorie intake to 1,200 calories a day.  I know that sounds like very few carbs, but I have done it before and I can still get all the nutrients that I need.  In order to keep track of how many calories that I am eating, I have to log everything.  You don’t really realize what you are eating until you right down every thing that goes into your mouth.  It also helps me stop eating things on the go and just random chips or cookies or something that I shouldn’t be eating.

Eating healthier like this does require some mental toughness for me because I am used too eating so much food that when I eat a normal meal, I get hungry a few hours later, so I need to create small, healthy snacks.  My favorite healthy snack is to have cucumber slices with a little french onion Lite dip.  It is healthy, and its under 75 calories, can’t beat that for a snack.

The items that I keep track of in my log are the type of food, calories, carbs, fat, and fiber.  Bottom line is that 1 pound is equal to 3,000 calories.  So if I cut out 3,000 calories from my diet, I lose one pound.  I tend to eat a low calories, high fiber diet.  I don’t cut down too much on the carbs, it just comes naturally.  Basically, if something has a lot of carbs, chances are it’s going to be high in calories also, so if I eat low calorie foods, the carbs will be cut as well.

Here is a picture of a normal, new lunch for me.  It consists of 9 grain sandwich thin, 2 slices of ham, 2 slices of cheese, mustard and 1 cup of salad with fat-free dressing.

What are your favorite snacks?

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