Artslim, weight, life, health management.

 
 
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Yesterday was my second day ot the 12 week body transformation program I an doing.
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This photo was taken alongside our camp.

Today I did part of my fitness assessment.

Instead of doing the 400-meter jog, planned as my 'final burst', for the day I did a timed one-kilometre run.

This was supposed to be timed on a flat surface and done at the same place ever four weeks and I am in the mountains, there is now where flat in Tarra Valley or surroundings, so I took the last timed trial I did as my starting entry level.  I recorded an 8.8 kilometres for 1 kilometre last November, on the flat, pushing myself as hard as I possibly could.

I also did my ‘’how many push ups could I do in one minute test and I disappointed myself by collapsing in a heap after 15 push ups from the knees and 35 seconds

The caravan step and those adjustable weights were my main exercise equipment for day two.

 
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That is Reg, beside the camp fire at our camp, eating the Thai Curry, I cooked as our evening meal, yesterday. It was delicious and HOT.

With Reg and Indigo relaxing today beside Tarra River and our caravan home, I did three sets of fifty step ups on to those caravan steps in the photo, holding those weights.  Reg was most impressed, reminding me that a few years ago I could not have stepped on to those steps without holding on to the door handle and hauling myself up them or asking for help.

I also told myself that if I thought three sets of 50 step ups and down, were hard to do, I would need to be fit enough to do 2,500 of those step ups if I was to be fit enough to climb to the top of the Pinnacle in the Grampians Victoria, ever again :-). Wouldn't that be a thrill to achieve once more?

I did the series of upper and lower body weight exercises, I have been doing on alternate days, since last May, I just upped the intensity a litte, doing three sets of eight each.
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300 to 350 Calorie Breakfast.
Half a large banana, 1/3 punnet blueberries, 8 strawberries, 30 gram of Aldi organic Muesli, 100 gram of low fat, unsweetened, live culture, natural Greek style, yogurt.
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100 to 150 calorie Snacks x two, Morning and afternoon tea: 
Morning Snack was:-Fresh summer harvest juicy white flesh, peach and a few seseme seeds and the skim milk powder I add to my morning coffees. 
Afternoon snack, (see photo) was an assorted salad with my favorite measured quantity, Paul Newman, Classic Salad Dressing on it and the skim milk in my afternoon cup of teas.

Contrary to advise for most people, I have the lxury of drinking tea and coffee with my meals to block iron absorbtion, as I absorb too much iron.
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300 to 350 calorie Lunch was 2 slices of toasted Burgen Lin Soy bread. with low fat ricotta cheese topping, carrot, tomate, spring onion, rocket leaf and capsicum, sprinkled with extra sharp parmisan cheese and freshly grated pepper.
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300 to 350 Dinner 
Thai Curry at Tarra valley.
It was too hot for my taste, so Reg ate the larger serve of it, I had about 1/3.  Reg he loved it. :-)

Tarra Valley ~ Thai Curry

Brown in a non stick sauspan, 200 gram lean minced meat, carrot, capsicum, onion, add I packet of fresh bean shoots and 1 tin of Valcom authentic Green Curry (Gaeng Keow Wan).

Contents, Cocout extract, Bamboo shoots, Eggplant, Chilli, Shallot, Lemon grass, Garlic, Galangal, Sweet basil, Kaffir lime, Shrimp paste, Coriander sead and things I don't like but will accept as a once in a while inclusion for convienience. 

 
We finished a perfect day, in bed together, in the caravan, all three of us, Reg, Indigo the poodle and I, watching 'CATS', on DVD. :-). 
 
 
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My weekly shopping, description and pictures, of a typical weeks food supply for two and our dog.
I shop for fruit and vegetables in season and meat when it is on special and I usually buy canned food at the SPC factory outlet in trays of 12 that last me a year, not in the shops.  I did this shop up from a shopping list and I found it cost me at least $50. extra to shop for set items in a one week quantity and not necessarily on special and I also found shopping with a list was terribly time consuming.  As I am not a person to impulse buy junk food and I understand the concept of healthy nutrition and calorie management, I may only do this shopping to a set, modified, shopping list for a while. It's main advantage is that I can record, what Reg and I eat over a week.
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My weekly shopping

I have planned our menu a week ahead based on simple, nutrition’s and easy meals I can prepare in the caravan and  I have brought a new recipe book to try out, the Michelle Bridges, Crunch Time, cookbook.  

My diet is high in multi coloured vegetables and fruit. Low in refined highly processed carbohydrate, it contains neither added sugar nor white flour products. I do not buy processed food like muesli bars; I do eat fresh unsalted nuts and seeds.

I add low fat dairy, usually powdered skim milk (powdered because of our caravan lifestyle), low fat cheese and unsweetened natural live culture yogurt.  

 
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  I include animal, poultry and fish, in my diet in moderation along with plant protein sources, legumes, nuts and seeds.  I value the plant proteins in my diet as the high vegetable-based diet helps maintaining a pH conducive to protecting bone density.

There are many reasons I try to avoid processed food. I have read that the high heating of cereals to make breakfast cereals and biscuits renders these carbohydrates carcinogenic over time. I also find that a great deal of commercially processed food will have refined dead nutrient value sugar, salt, very unhealthy corn syrup or saturated fatty acid, added in the processing. Not the healthy way I want to eat. So-called health foods, and breakfast cereals marketed for their added nutrient value have things like mineral iron, added which is frankly TOXIC for some people, including myself.  Yes, some people need extra iron.

Mineral iron is not, the best way to get extra iron if your reserves are low, so much better to get it by eating the foods it occurs naturally in like red meat, sardines, apricots, plus not drinking tea or coffee close to meal times. You further aid the absorption of iron, by having some high Vitamin C foods with your naturally iron rich foods, I actually do the reverse of that advice as I have an iron overload.
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Nuts and seeds are a well-balanced food; they contain protein, carbohydrate and fat and have a pH that assists bone mineral absorption. One thing, I have learned, in recent years, it is not how much nutrient, we take into our body, but how well we absorb that nutrient. Nuts and seeds remain a valuable addition to my food intake, even though they have a higher calorie value mainly due to the fat content, which, must be allowed for, in a weight loss, or weight management-eating plan.

My favourite bone density-protecting nut is almond and seeds, is sesame seed, because it is high calcium and low pH, encouraging the absorption of calcium into the bone. I have recently discovered Flaxseed, which is high in nutrition and my interest in it is in its anti-inflammatory properties. I am trying many foods with anti-inflammatory properties, such as ginger, now, to help my husband with the fibromyalgia he has. I add seeds and nuts to the muesli, I make us from my rolled oat base and when I can buy flax seed, I include this in our muesli. If you are buying flaxseed, it looks very similar to sesame seed, a little larger; there is no nutritional difference between the brown and the golden varieties of the flaxseed. . “What is flax?”

Because most seeds and nuts are rich in omega 3 oils and as I smile -) recalling Michelle Bridges, say ‘your bum does not know the difference between good oil and bad oil’, I always weigh and count, portions. I add nuts and seeds to muslie, stir fries or salads or eat them as part of my fruit, seed and nut snack. Like avocado, raw fresh unsalted nuts and seeds are a storehouse of the fat-soluble vitamins essential for the health of the body.  Just be aware that even good fats pack double the calories per weight as any other food group and watch the portion control so you can enjoy the addition of nuts and seeds in your eating plan, without reducing

While I read healthy recipe books, I do not usually use recipes, I have been cooking for so long, I just look in the fridge, choose a combination I think will work well, prepare and cook. That usually works well.

I am working on providing three meals a day, of about 300 to 350 calories per meal. In addition, two snacks a day of 100 calories each, these are usually a piece of fruit and a few seeds or a couple of nuts.

I have a 100-calorie allowance for the skim milk I do have in my coffee or tea, which I have with my meals for the very reason most people are best avoiding drinking tea or coffee with meals, because it inhibits the absorption of iron, of which I absorb too much.
 
 
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I have had fun setting up my carvan pantry, fridge and freezer this morning before heading out of the suburbs, to Phillip Island where we set up our caravan site beside a solar heated swimming pool in a lovely bushland setting caravan park.

This is my pantry, fridge freezer basics shopping list.


Shopping List
  • Pantry Essentials
    • Anchovies *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
    • Canned beans (e.g. red kidney, chickpeas, butterbeans)
    • Canned tomatoes
    • Canned tuna, salmon, sardines
    • Capers
    • Chilli sauce (low sugar)
    • Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
    • Couscous
    • Dried beans
    • Dried pasta
    • Fresh tomatoes
    • Dried herbs (e.g. mixed herbs, paprika, dried basil, oregano, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg)
    • Light soy sauce
    • Low-cal hot chocolate powder (make sure there are no trans-fats)
    • Low GI cereal (eg Special K) *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
    • Olive oil spray
    • Olives
    • Oyster sauce (msg free)
    • Pepper grinder full of black pepper
    • Rice (basmati or brown)
    • Rolled oats
    • Seeds (e.g. sesame, pumpkin, sunflower)
    • Sesame oil
    • Stock (cartons or cubes – check the sodium content)
    • Sultanas
    • Tomato paste
    • Tomato-based sauces (no added sugar)
    • Untoasted muesli
    • Vinegar for dressing (balsamic, red wine)
    • Whey protein powder *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
      apples
      oranges
      bananas
      Fruit in season.
  • Freezer Essentials
    • Free-range, skinless chicken breasts
    • Fish fillets - not the boxed kind! (e.g. white fish, salmon)
    • Lean red meat (e.g. beef fillets, kangaroo fillets, kanga bangers)
    • Frozen peas
    • Frozen berries
    • Multigrain, rye or soy and linseed bread
      onions
  • Measuring Tools
    • Kitchen scales
    • Measuring cup
    • Measuring spoons
  • Fridge Essentials I won’t go into too much detail here as you will be getting your week one shopping list soon and I don’t want your food to spoil. To give you an idea, apart from fresh fruit and vegetables, you will need:

    • Low-cal cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
    • Low-cal (skim) milk or soy milk – high calcium is best
    • Low-cal yoghurt, no sugar
    • Meat for sandwiches
    • Multigrain or soy and linseed bread
    • Parmesan cheese (strong flavoured so you use less)
       Free range eggs
      cellery,
      carrots.
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I add more variety to this, in my weekly shopping, but these items are usually in my caravan pantry

We have just picked up the caravan from caravan court in Springvale where we have it serviced and had a new wind up TV antenna fitted and where we would get any rv repair. Work we need done, completed.  I was amazed at just how much I was able to stack into this pantry cupboard.

I have bought fresh pots of growing herbs, mint and chives and these travel with us to add extra flavour to our meals.

 
 
 
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Balancing my energy needs, when dining out.

I used to eat whatever is served when I dine out and while I do believe that where weight loss is concerned ‘it isn’t how much you eat, but when (when hungry) and how much (portion control), that counts’, when the food I eat is not nutrition dense and it is loaded in refined carbohydrates, I tend to overeat . It is very hard to portion control when food is laden with unseen fats you are not aware of.

So when my youngest daughter asked me to buy Create a Meal, which was frozen vegetables in a sauce to make the stir fry dinner, I bought that for the family meal but I also bought, plain frozen vegetables to cook in the microwave for me to eat instead.

Create a meal-contained sugar, salt and full fat coconut milk powder, and the thickener, 1422 xanthan gum. None of which I normally choose to eat and I cannot see the point of adding to my diet when I only want the vegetables and can add my own fresh spices or low sodium condiments, if I wanted to spice the vegetables up.

The family also had white rice as the meal base. Since I have been portion control aware, I have cut my rice servings from a former copious, one and a half cups to a more realistic for my energy needs, half a cup and I try to eat the most energy dense, whole grain rice, not the polished white rice, so I skipped the rice part of the meal.

Therefore, my own selection of the meal consisted of grilled chicken breast and the crisp micro waved vegetables and I ate it with chopsticks while the family, who are all slim and can afford to eat the extra calories, ate their white rice, sauce coated vegetables and the chicken.

The calorie difference would have been 500 calories. There was 800 calories in the adult serves for the cooked for the family meal and my similar but just the nutrition dense food version of the meal, was only 300 and it was very satisfying.

It was not too conspicuous, a thing to do, to arrive before dinner, bringing my own vegetables for the meal. It was not difficult to heat my vegetables on the side in the microwave, (in fact Reg did this for me while I was blogging J ),  I took my chicken before it was mixed into the sauce mixture and I really enjoyed my dinner, and knowing I was sticking within my energy needs, for the day and not exceeding them.

My youngest daughter is a naturally active person, she walks and rides a bike, works hard, and even takes time to exercise on top if this by using her Wii fit plus. She encourages, healthy activity in her family, her and her husband walk the dog for an hour when he comes home from work most nights and her meals are mostly nutritious.

 I am not as active all day, as she is, so I have a lower energy requirement.  Blogging does not burn up the energy in half a bowl of rice, easily. J.  I felt really pleased, when I woke this morning, knowing I have tidied up this one last, slack eating area in my life, finding a good way to get around, eating out at other people’s homes and not overeating, over consuming energy, in the process.

Here is the convenient one serve size pack of mixed frozen vegetables that I found convenient to bring to the meal, for myself, photographed, on the sink beside the Kohler faucets.

 
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Eating nuts as part of a healthy and portion controlled eating plan is a natural way for humans to eat, so it makes a lot of sense that this readily available food should be good for us and the only secret to weight management, is to eat a healthy variety of all food groups, to suit our energy needs, and to move our bodies in a healthy way. 

One food item that continually presents itself as a great food for people if eaten in moderation is nuts and seeds. While they are not a fat burner supplement, it has been proven in research that people who regularly eat small quantities of nuts and seeds every day, tend to be slimmer than non-nut eaters.  

Nuts help to satiate "true hunger" much better than any oil, due to high fibre and nutrient levels. Eating the same calorie value as refined carbohydrates and you find yourself with food cravings and low blood sugar causing false hunger signals as your body tells you it is hungry when in fact it is starved of nutrition.

 Nuts and seeds also contain about 1/4 the calories of oil. This is important because most of us think of nuts as a high-calorie, high fat food. Remember that the objective of optimal nutrition is nutrient density, it is wrong to think that all oils and all carbohydrates are unhealthy. There are healthy oils and healthy carbohydrate s and we need the good oil and carbohydrates in our diet in order to maintain optimum health. When you consider the fat-soluble vitamins play a large part in maintaining the health of the respiratory and reproductive tract, you can see how unhealthy a very low fat diet is and it is the natural fats in plants rather than the solid animal based fats that are our healthy option.

Consumption of raw nuts daily reduces cholesterol and  the risk of heart disease, there is also a decrease in diabetes.

Nuts are a valuable source of protein, and because they grow, encased in hard shells, they are less likely to be, contaminated, with environmental poisons. 

My tip if you initially cannot resist overeating in quantity, when you purchase a large bag of fresh nuts, is to place these in mini, press seal bags in quantities of 8 to 20 nuts.  I find 8-10 nuts os a great snack with a piece of fruit or added to my rolled oats breakfast and 20 nuts with some vegetables makes a fast food lunch.  20 nuts, on hand, in your bag or in the car is a healthy meal, stand by, if you  are caught out when hunger hits and there is no healthy choice to buy or make, where you happen to be. It will satisfy until you can get home and add some vegetables to balance the meal, nutritionally. 

If the idea of vegetables does not appeal to you, have you tried a large grilled mushroom or Mixed vegetable salad or Microwave for 3 minutes bunch of asparagus, all served with sesame and sunflower seed sprinkle? Stir-fry in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, or steamed vegetables with nuts?

I am nuts about fresh raw, unsalted, wholesome nuts J

Research fererence:- Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health found three times as many people trying to lose weight were able to stick to a Mediterranean-style moderate-fat weight loss diet that included nuts, peanuts and peanut butter versus the traditionally recommended low-fat diet. (International Journal of Obesity, Oct. 5, 2001). 
 
 
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Mushroooms have been one of my most successful weight management foods.

I love the large meaty flavoured mushrooms. I love that they are low calorie and one medium sized mushrooom, grilled or seared until brown in a hot pan over a teaspoon of oliv oil, become an excellent, healthy taste and texture substitued for a steak and they leave me feeling I have eaten a substantial hot meal, not just a 100 calorie snack.

Mushrooms are the great all rounder, useful vegetables in most people's shopping baskets.   Economy tip, I find Aldi stores the very best for use imediatelly sliced mushroonms and use with three days small button mushrooms. I prefer the fruit shop or IGA stores for the large meaty flavoried mushrooms.

Cup, button and Swiss brown. - Great for adding flavour to stews.

Chestnut:- Nutty flavour, firm texture.

Portabello - My snack meal favorite, its large size and meaty flavour makes it a great lunch, grill, BBQ, bake or pan heat sear it.

Enoki and Shimeji:- Asian delecacies that I have bought but I have not been able to get used to the flavour of, perhaps an aquared taste.  These are used raw or lightly cooked in soups and stiir fries.

Shitake:- Firm and meaty flavoured, used in  Asian dishes, I have enjoyed these.

Oyster:-These come in pink, yellow and grey.  As a child I harvested the yellow oyster mushrooms from a paddock, the mushroom collectors I was with called them continental mushrooms and they were very familiar with them.  My mum refused to allow me to eat them as she was only familiar with the common paddok or field mushroom that grows well after rain, in Victoria.  It was a wise move, many people are poisoned every year eating what they believe to be field mushrooms which are in fact poisonus toadstools.  If in doubt, throw it out.

Nutrition.

100 gram = 25 calories.
Vitamin B group, Vitamin D

Avoid slimey or shrivelled mushrooms, they should be firm and dry.

Store in brown paper bag in fridge and use withing a few days.

Musrooms are ideal for lightly cooked meals or eaten raw and can be added to almost any meal.


Vegetables in general and fruit in moderation are natures weight management tools.  Vegetables are low in fat and only avocado is high in fat and even that is highly beneficial in moderation I have up to 1/3 of an avocado as my oil serve for the day. All vegetables and fruit, contains fibre especially if you eat the skin and this is filling as well as healthy for the digestive tract.

Here is a list of great healthy eating vegetables, get to love them, use them generously, use the sweet versions like blueberries as lolly and sweet substitutes/ Remember that potatoes and corn are not fattening in themselves it is what you add to them that makes them fattening or in the case of potatoes, how you cook them.  These foods are our friends.

From 'Simply in Season'
 
 
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Now I have your attention, lol, J , this is one of the most motivational things I have read in a support forum all year.  An inspirational slimming acquaintance of mine won a year’s supply of Tim Tams.They arrived yesterday, all 52 packets of them.She donated the unopened box full of Tim Tams, to the Salvation Army. She said she did not even peak inside to see what flavours there were.

One of the best things I know to do, when I want to achieve any goal, is to surround myself with positive people. I go to gym as much to be near, slim fit seniors who I can look at and be inspired by, positive trainers, as I do to do the exercises. I could work out at home.  I understand the benefit to me of positive influence from others.How can I not be motivated to care for myself when surrounded by such strength of character people I mix with.I am so inspired too when people take the time and effort to comment on my posts.   


Thank you everyonewho gives me such positive motivation. J.    

 
 
 
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Healthy fried rice

Olive oil, 1 teaspoon(s)

Egg(s), raw, 1 42g egg(s), lightly beaten

Shallot(s), peeled, 3 shallot(s), sliced diagonally

Carrot(s), 0.5 small carrot(s), thinly sliced

Broccoli, 0.5 cup(s), chopped

Baby sweetcorn, canned in brine, drained, 25 g

Bamboo shoots, canned in water, drained, 0.25 cup(s), drained and rinsed

White rice, cooked, 0.5 cup(s)

Soy sauce, 0.5 tablespoon(s)

Sweet chilli sauce, 1 tablespoon(s)

Beef fillet, lean, raw, 50 g, sliced into strips

White wine, medium dry, 1 average wine glass(s)

Mixed Nuts with Dried Fruit, unsalted, 30 g, 1 snack pack

Preparation

1.        Lightly grease a non-stick wok or frypan with oil. Pour in the egg and swirl so that the egg covers the base. Cook for 2 minutes or until set. Flip onto a plate and when cool, roll up egg and slice.

2.        Stir-fry shallots, chilli, carrot, broccoli and corn until just tender. Add bamboo shoots, rice and sauces. Stir to combine and set aside.

3.        Add beef strips to the pan with a drop of oil if necessary and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan and serve with rice and vegetables.

4.        Enjoy with a glass of wine and snack on your fruit and nut mix when you like!

603 calories total

TIP: This meal makes great leftovers, so double up the recipe and enjoy for lunch tomorrow!

 
 
 
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Lunch in the park.

Sharing food is a perfect way to express feelings of love and pleasure at being in the company of people we love. That is partly why we can be tempted to turn to food for comfort in times of loneliness and boredom. 

This is a long blog post, but it's about a subject that I feel passionately about and I hope it reaches someone who, like me, is also learning to both, make friends with food and to become master of their own weight.

Food is about pleasure, expressions of love and fulfilment. It is one of your best friends, not the enemy :-), join with me and celebrate, 'food glorious food'.

Becoming naturally slim is about loving yourself, this includes eating delicious nutritious food, it isn't about deprivation dieting.  

Love yourself

Kathy  xxx
I ate a lot of food yesterday, so I ran it through the SparkPeople food diary and assessed t against my recommended calorie intake for my size and height and desire for healthy excess fat loss, of between 1,410 and 1,760 calories The Biggest Looser Club would set me as needing 1,800 calories for healthy weight loss. CalorieKing sets me at what is in my opinion a too low calorie requirement for long term eating and that's the sort of deprivation eating that in my opinion creates reactive binge eating.

This ample big day of eating, for me came in at only 1755 calories  lol, that was closeJ, That was close to my top allowance of 1,800 calories and it would be easy to trim 500 calories from that day and still not feel deprived. Eating like this example of one of my igger eating days, was enjoyable and satisfying and combined with an active lifestyle, it does allow for healthy gradually excess fat reduction.   Faster  though still healthy weight loss could be achieved by reducing the fat, and skiping the wine, the wholegrain bread roll, halving the oil I used and eliminating using the sauce dressing. 

The only deserts I eat most of the time, is natural fruit. I love foods too much to use up calories rapidly consuming high calorie foods like sweets which I find don't satisfy, they just leave me wanting to eat more.  I suspect they are addictive foods. It's one addiction I try to guard myself against by not even sampling what I term junk food.

No disrespect to people who feel they can eat those foods, out I do not believe for my health and weight’s sake, that I can or should

 I measure the high calorie items like fat, in my diet, as these quickly add up the energy value for the day and as I tend to allow myself to go from days when I eat more, like today, while trying to stay within my top calorie allowance, and then this is made up for by days when I don’t feel like eating as much and I and closer to the lower level of the energy balance that is healthy for me. 
Overall I am able to maintain weight eating well and I can release weight when I focus more intently on ensuring I do not eat when not hungry or just for the enjoyment of eating as I do love food. J Because I eat what I enjoy, when I am hungry, and allow myself whatever I want, I have no need to binge eat.  I try to satisfy my emotional needs in a wide variety of ways, not in self abusive ways like overeating or overspending. 
This is all part of my action plan to be naturally slim and healthy. I am aiming for my 80 cm waist while retaining my full passion for 'food glorious food'.


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Here is an excellent article Never Binge Again By: Michelle Fiordaliso, MSW, CNC from ‘Shrink Me’. 
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Wake up
My favourite, Vittoria ORO Espresso coffee with skim milk iand a couple of glasses of filtered water is my start to the day. Usually one or two cups of coffee, sometimes none and never would I exceed four. I don't have any 'set rules' on this I try to limit my coffee but not feel I need to cut it out.  Coffee is not the best substance for someone with osteoporosis, it depletes a small amount of calcium so it's one more reason why I watch I get adequate calcium through the day as I am reluctant to cut this out alltogether and my dietician, is OK with my having it, in moderation.

Moderation in all things, enjoying those foods and drinks you love, in a balance, and no deprivation dieting, helps me maintain or release weight, as I choose, without ever feeling I need to binge eat or drink.
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A big filling breakfast of 30 gram of home made cereal mix of refined sugar free rolled oats, wheat bran, corn and rice flakes, with a few raisins, walnuts, served with no fat milk and no fat live culture natural unsweetened yogurt and half a banana.  Calorie value, a little over 300 calories.  
This breafast also is ideal to split into two or three smaller meals. 1./ cereal and skim milk. 2/ Banana (I eat half and share the other half with Reg. 3/ Yogurt and a few nuts.
If I am going through a time when I desire to eat frequently, I would eat this as three small meals and I do usually split this size breakfast into breakfast and morning tea, eaten when I am hungry. 
After my lunch of calcium fortified orange juice, nuts and seeds, I was putting some nuts and seeds on a plate to photograph to show what I had eaten, with the intention of giving Reg the juice and putting the nuts and seeds back in the container. Good intentions but I misplaced the container, so I ate the extra nuts and seeds, and turned a just under 300 calorie lunch a 500 calorie one, eaten 'on the go', in a blink of an eye.  That's the sort of behaviour that once made me obese. It wasn't eating junk food or bingeing, it was 'unconscious, unplanned and repetitive grazing and overeating'. 
Not exactly a binge but as I wasn't hungry, it was overeating.  No big deal, nothing to feel guilty about, I give myself permission to enjoy the small tasty snack and I just use my Observations and Corrections tool and observe that it was more nutrition that I needed right now and apply the corrections I need to ensure that this is a once off overeating, not a slide back to bad self abusive overeating habits and I simply wait until I am hungry again before I eat, which may or may not, make dinner a little later today. 
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Light Lunch 100 mils of calcium fortified, freshly squeezed orange juice with almonds and sunflower seeds. Almost 300 calories  and almost as many calories, as in the big filling breakfast above, yet not as filling, or convincing to the brain that you have eaten a meal. Easy to want to overeat on the nuts and seeds and end up having eaten more calories. Easy to pour out another glass of juice, (I have done that before today), because it is delicious, convenient, there in the fridge.
A healthy enough lunch, protien, carbohydrate and fat, plus vitamins and bone density protecting minerals, however if I had eaten a whole orange including all the fibre and some of the white pith would have been more filling,more nutritious, (assuming I added my calcium magnesium requirement as a supplement) and I might not have eaten extra nuts as my desire to chew, to enjoy the sensation of eating would have been satisfied.

I now try to plan nutritious and satisfying meals ahead of time so I do not repeat what does not work well for me.   My breakfast formula, has always worked and would be hard for me to improve on, I just vary the fruit and usually the cereal is plain, no name,  rolled oats.
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Dinner and Wine 600 calorie (the Hollandaise sause and the oils the highest calorie value items), a better slimming option would be to have added lemon for the garrnish on the fish and even skip the wine if I wanted to eat more food.
Dinner is 125 gram of fresh ocean trout, seared in a teaspoon full of ‘good oil’, in a hot non stick pan. Served with a salad of iceberg lettuce,  sun ripened full of flavour tomatoes, celery, parsley, snow peas, beetroot and cooked portabella highly flavoursome, mushroom. A dessertspoon of Hollandaise sauce is served on the side, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing on the salad and ground black pepper.
This made two meals. I ate most of the meal at 6pm and put a little aside to eat around 9pm or 10 pm if I was hungry then as I usually work through until 12 midnight.

By splitting breakfast into 3 small meals, eating lunch and then splitting dinner into a dinner and a supper, I am eating six delicious meals a day today and feeling very satisfied and still have a calorie allowance which I will usually use as 1 cup of skim milk through the day in espresso coffee in the morning and in tea in the afternoon, then I might have another cup of skim milk in the evening, as milk, rarely but occasionally as a cocoa and sometimes as a couple of cups of tea.
Snacks
This nuts and seeds I ate without thinking today, add an extra 200 calories to my energy intake today.
An extra 1 cup of skim milk today used in drinks, 2 espresso coffees in the morning and the rest in tea or as a small milk drink near bed time

Exercise and activity
I walked around Lake Dorothy and the full estate today, did some heavy digging gardening and I'll do some active, housework tonight so I will have had my quota of exercise and tomorrow is my day to do weight training at gym.
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Lake Dorothy, is on the estate where our warm weather, Northern Victoria, home and caravan is located.  Indigo our poodle, loves the large expanse of grassland and walking tracks on our property and it is a 30 minute brisque walk to the letter box, lol, :-), the joy of country living.  I love it here.
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A satisfying under 100 calorie snack or supper, I often have is hot non stick pan sizzled in one teaspoon of olive oil, mushrooms or I microwave asparagus for 2 minutes then melt one thin slice of very low fat cheese on this. Both snacks contain protein, fat and carbohydrate and are hot, filling, delicious and don't push the calorie levels for the day up very high.  Just watch the fat content in the cheese and measure the oil, the vegetables are low calorie.
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Supper.
Around 10pm a lot of work arrived in my email in box that needed to be attended to straight away, and so I made myself a healthy supper of almost 400 calories, most of those calories were in the multi grain, soy and linseed bread roll and the teaspoon of olive oil I cooked the mushrooms in.  The mushrooms, carrot and tomato were a negligible energy value.   I worked though until 2.30 am again so I needed this meal and I was able to sleep through until 10 am so I’ve caught up on sleep and feel great today, skipped breakfast and ate lunch when I was hungry at 1pm.  So my day after my big four meal day, looks like being the compensatory, fewer calorie day, that is usually the day when i need to take my calcium, magnesium zinc, and vitamin d supplement in the evening because if I skip my breakfast it is still easy to get my minimum calorie requirement but it is hard to get sufficient of those nutrients in my remaining meals.

I do not often take the time to do a food diary and check the amount of calories I am eating, but I always ‘roughly’, keep a running tally in my head of my basic nutrients for the day.  Health is of no one importance to me. I can’t achieve any of my other goals if I do not set being in the best health I can achieve, as my number one goal. 
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The basic nutrition balance of this day's food intake.
In this graph, proteins are green carbohydrates are grey and fat is orange

I eat a slightly higher proportion of protein in my diet than that recommended by Spark People, but it is recommended that seniors do have a higher protein requirement that younger more athletic people so I don’t consider ,my protein intake excessive. I am usually close to the recommended good fats intake and I do include a lot of healthy carbohydrates in my diet but slightly less than that recommended to allow for m slightly higher protein intake.

I aim for 1,500 mg of Calcium a day and I supliment if I do not meet this with my food choices. 

Please don't fear or deprive yourself of food.

Less than three years ago I was morbidly obese, size 22 to 24. Today I am a size 12 to 14, even fit into a few size 10's.  I just controlled the portion sizes I ate, cut out the small amount of junk food I occasionally ate and said, 'just his once doesn't matter' and realized that for some people, including me, that all those, ‘just this once’, times, do matter. I also became a more active person.
I am also learning to take care of my emotional needs in ways that do not necessarily involve food.  It will always be a work in progress, never finished, like the garden, getting easier to work and even I, like that garden look heaps better for the work I've put in over the last two and 2/3 years.  

I write this healthy life and slimming blog, not to preach at you, but to keep me motivated, informed and conscious of my actions and if I can help one person overcome an eating disorder and being stuck in a sedentary lifestyle, like i once had, then that will be the only icing on the cake J I'll ever need. :-). 

Lots of love,

Kathy xxx
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For expert nutrition advice look no further than an
Accredited Practising Dietician.

For expert information to help you eat healthier and feel better, you can find an Accredited Practicing Dietician )APD) at www.daa.asn.au, or call toll free on 1900 812 942