Living the Life Style - Friday November 9

savignr

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for November below:

Monday - Imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - Jimb376mfp (Jim)
Thursday - EliteCoachKal (Kal)
Friday - savignr (Bob)

Today's Topic: Meal preparation

Who is the cook at your place - you or your partner, or both? Is meal preparation planned out, or is it whatever tickles your fancy at the moment? Do you strictly follow recipes, or can you take stuff out of the fridge and turn it into a meal? How often do you have a "screw it" moment, and decide to go out or order in?

Alternate topic: Favorite cookbook or source for recipes?

savignr

I am the chief cook here. DW can cook (now that I've taught her the smoke alarm is not a timer), but completely dislikes it. Meal prep is planned out; I plan seven meals, make a shopping list from that, and buy accordingly. I am strictly a recipe cook; I really envy people that can throw a great meal together ad hoc. Even though we are in metro Houston, we live in a fairly remote area, so spur of the moment meal decisions are fairly rare.

Alternate: I get Cooking Light, Taste of Home, and All Recipe magazines, and have a shelf full of cook books I've purchased over the last few years. Taste of Home.com is also used frequently; they have a "recipe of the day" email feature which has led to several good meals. Cook's (America's Test Kitchen) has some very good cookbooks, but I've given up on them until they start to include NI with the recipe.

88olds

DW does most of the cooking heavy lifting. But our meals are pretty basic; a protein source, veggie, and salad generally.

Protein is usually pre cooked, Then it’s just a matter of me putting the protein and veggie in the microwave. Sometimes DW will make something special in the slow cooker.

I rarely have a “screw it” moment. Even my splurges are thought through.

To expand on “screw it”, my last real screw it was the much discussed face plant into the dessert table at a cookout. Contrast that with my position on Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Try as I might, I couldn’t make pumpkin pie fit within what I felt was a livable, workable plan. So I go ahead and eat the pie and enjoy. It just ends up being a high calorie/point day. I don’t think that process equates with “screw it. “

cakeman21k

I am the cook in the house, my DW does not have the ability to not get distracted away for the kitchen and leave things to burn. We do have many great resturaunts here in the Va. tidewater so we do have eff it nights when we go out unplanned.

I am a big fan of the Rocco DeSpirito "eat This not that series" I also often use the WW site for menu's and when all else fails I can just google a recipe. I am a good recipe cook, but not a good throw it together type.

gadgetgirlIL

DH & I are the odd couple. It is rare that we ever eat together as we are on completely different schedules. We also have different ideas of what constituents a meal. He eats a lot of frozen meals or take out. I do nearly all my own cooking, primarily in bulk. Other than breakfast, nearly all my food is consumed at work. I rarely eat when I come home and I go to bed early as I get up early.

We do eat out, maybe once or twice a month, but it is planned in advance. We went to a high end Chinese restaurant a couple weeks ago when I got back from a long bike ride.

As for recipes, I tend to make the same things over and over again. I've found several of my recipes via Google! For desserts, I have a couple of GF/DF cookbooks that I use but also have found recipes on the web.

podkey

Amen Bob (savignr) and Cakeman my wife too doesn't seem to want to stick around the kitchen long enough to cook things just to barely done. She does about 25% or so of the cooking. I seldom plan out meals and like to wing it. Mostly I use staples and cook simply.
I did "go crazy" and add some garden basil to my veggie omelet this a.m.
I do recipes on rare occasion but usually change them up and season to taste.

Al_Howard

Who is the cook at your place - you or your partner, or both?
Usually, we make our own breakfast (oatmeal and fruit), TOL makes rollup sandwiches for lunch, and I make dinner.

Is meal preparation planned out, or is it whatever tickles your fancy at the moment?
We plan in the morning, based on day of the week, what's in the freezer for meat, how the WW week's going, and how we feel.

Do you strictly follow recipes, or can you take stuff out of the fridge and turn it into a meal?
I have a few "go to's", but often modify as I feel fit. Because there's just us, we seldom have leftovers (good planning), but I can usually whip something up, if necessary.

How often do you have a "screw it" moment, and decide to go out or order in?
About once a month. We usually "plan" to go out once a month.

Alternate topic: Favorite cookbook or source for recipes?
Other than what's in my computer files, I'll Google for ideas.

imastar2

In our case DW is the cook. I can cook I just rarely am the one that has the time and walks in the door. We usually are on our on for Breakfast and most times for lunch. I do my best to take something for lunch but I must admit I go out a lot for lunch. Usually a salad or sandwhich or a mixture of both.

For dinner DW usually makes all the decisions for the evening meal. Very few recipes b/c DW doesn't have time to figure out recipes since she works from home. She knows my likes and what I need to eat so it's usually a protein, with a light carb and a vegetable or 2 vegetables or a combination of both. Rarely do we cook anything that is frozen and already prepared because of the sodium. So frozen prepared commercial foods are mostly off limits. DW does cook most items from scratch. There are more screw up times than I care to admit. For example last evening she called as I was on the way home at 6:45 and asked me to stop by Chick fil a and get dinner. I got my usual Chargrilled sandwhich and substitute the fries for a side salad with light italian. Last night I got a large chicken noodle soup and as I was recording it I was reminded why I don't get the soup. It had 1760 mg + of sodium fortunately it didn't totally destroy my Friday weekly WI. We had breakfast out this am because I had a CV Ultrasound Addomen appointment to check out my carotid arteries. Hope this screening turns out ok. I can't come up with times we screw up and just go out but it's not more than 4-5 times a month if that.

If DW had a favorite cookbook I think it would probably Southern Living? maybe not sure and if I need to come up with something it's usually from allrecipe online.

SW 400.8
CW 342.8 🙂- 1.6 lbs
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

58.0 lbs Total Loss

minimyzeme

Who is the cook at your place - you or your partner, or both? Is meal preparation planned out, or is it whatever tickles your fancy at the moment? Do you strictly follow recipes, or can you take stuff out of the fridge and turn it into a meal? How often do you have a "screw it" moment, and decide to go out or order in?

I consider myself a "fork pounder": I pound my fork and my partner creates and produces the meal she serves me sometime later. Of course, she's already done the shopping, meal prep, etc. by the time she serves it. I didn't (and still don't) just assume it's going to be this way. She was doing WW for awhile but not anymore, so we don't necessarily eat the same things.

We do discuss menu for shopping purposes--planning 75-80% of dinners a week ahead. That leaves a little room for flexibility but enough of a known base of food-on-hand to keep my plan alive. This becomes a bit more critical in the Winter when we can get snowed in or the roads are too lousy to go out unless we have to. While the recipes are not necessary anything sophisticated or complicated, most of the time there is some adherence it one. On the other hand though, pulling something out of the fridge and warming it up or building a sandwich of sorts is still fair game.

There's no ordering in here. If we're going out, we have to drive at least 15 minutes to do so. That in itself isn't a big deal other than it gives me enough time to figure out if I really want to do so. We pretty much limit our restaurant visits to nights we're in town anyway (ironically, usually after WW).