At Goal & Successfully Maintaining. So Why Am I Doing This All Over Again?
Replies
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@springlering62 "I discovered Tillamook cheeses when I visited the kids in CA last week, but it’s available here in GA. I can’t beleive the difference in taste versus other cheddars. And it’s the same calories. You could easily get away with half a serving, it has so much flavor."
Sorry I dont know how to highlight your quote?
Anyway, I finally made it to the grocery store tonight and bought the Tillamook extra sharp cheddar. Yes Yes Yes MMGood!. Picked up some Skylar to try also. You @springlering62 are a great resource for new food products.
Thank You so much!
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fatty2begone wrote: »@springlering62 "I discovered Tillamook cheeses when I visited the kids in CA last week, but it’s available here in GA. I can’t beleive the difference in taste versus other cheddars. And it’s the same calories. You could easily get away with half a serving, it has so much flavor."
Sorry I dont know how to highlight your quote?
Anyway, I finally made it to the grocery store tonight and bought the Tillamook extra sharp cheddar. Yes Yes Yes MMGood!. Picked up some Skylar to try also. You @springlering62 are a great resource for new food products.
Thank You so much!
Skyr is expensive but sooooo easy to make. Two ingredients: skim milk and rennet. The only special things you need are a bottle of rennet drops and something to drain it with (cheesecloth, nut milk bag, or a mesh draining tub. A mesh colander isn’t fine enough). And the whey that drains out is amazing in baked goods in lieu of milk or water.
I made a batch a couple of days ago and set a single serving aside to drain further. It made a super cream cheese for my pancakes this morning. I’m calculating 10-12 calories for 17 grams.
Sadly, dairy departments in my area (north of Atlanta) have been empty for months of cream cheese, blue cheese, and my much loved (and very low cal) Green Mountain Greek cream cheese. The thickened skyr is a very acceptable substitute.
Next up, a thickened skyr cheesecake?7 -
@springlering62 I received my Ninja Creami a few days ago. It took some finagling with recipes, but now I am completely enamored with it. I did one with 1 cup of plain skyr, 1 tbsp of allulose, and 1.5 tbsp Walden Farms caramel sauce. It’s like a powdered frozen butterbeer, and I LOVE it. Super refreshing and only 100 calories!
Do you have any fun recipes to share?0 -
@springlering62 I received my Ninja Creami a few days ago. It took some finagling with recipes, but now I am completely enamored with it. I did one with 1 cup of plain skyr, 1 tbsp of allulose, and 1.5 tbsp Walden Farms caramel sauce. It’s like a powdered frozen butterbeer, and I LOVE it. Super refreshing and only 100 calories!
Do you have any fun recipes to share?
Please share more!
And what the heck is allulose?
Here’s four. Pudding mix seems to be the secret ingredient for a really creamy ice cream. Mix on lite, then remix and remix again if needed. The chocolate is terrific with salt on top. I just bought a big jar of flake salt just for ice cream.
Each recipe fills one Jar except the apple, which does two (for four servings). We share a jar per night, so serving size is 1/2 recipe.
The graham crackers are an “add in” after creaming the ice cream.
Also, try just a can of pineapple tidbits in juice and run on sorbet, and then remix. It’s amazing.
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@springlering62 Excellent! Thank you for sharing. I have a few sugar free pudding packs in the pantry as well as plenty of skyr, so I’ll be trying that today. We tried the pineapple, and it was super similar to Dole Whip which is one of my favorite Disney treats.
Allulose is a very low calorie sweetener. It’s a type of sugar that’s found in nature in small quantities, and our bodies can’t break it down, kind of like a fiber. The things that make it unique are that it’s about 70% the sweetness of sugar (so it’s not overly sweet like some artificial sweeteners) and it behaves a lot like real sugar in baking. It can give your baked goods the right texture without all the calories. It browns at a slightly lower temperature, so you should adjust your baking temps down about 25 degrees F when using it.
My hubs made some peanut butter icing with it because the powdered sugar had gone stale, and it turned out amazing. He ended up using half for the brownies and half to scoop and eat with graham crackers. (He is bulking right now. It’s been an interesting contrast between us in the kitchen.)1 -
@springlering62 Excellent! Thank you for sharing. I have a few sugar free pudding packs in the pantry as well as plenty of skyr, so I’ll be trying that today. We tried the pineapple, and it was super similar to Dole Whip which is one of my favorite Disney treats.
Allulose is a very low calorie sweetener. It’s a type of sugar that’s found in nature in small quantities, and our bodies can’t break it down, kind of like a fiber. The things that make it unique are that it’s about 70% the sweetness of sugar (so it’s not overly sweet like some artificial sweeteners) and it behaves a lot like real sugar in baking. It can give your baked goods the right texture without all the calories. It browns at a slightly lower temperature, so you should adjust your baking temps down about 25 degrees F when using it.
My hubs made some peanut butter icing with it because the powdered sugar had gone stale, and it turned out amazing. He ended up using half for the brownies and half to scoop and eat with graham crackers. (He is bulking right now. It’s been an interesting contrast between us in the kitchen.)
Wait. Sugar goes stale?
I use dry sugar free pudding mix. It gives “body” to the ice cream. I’ve got a much lower calorie version of the apple pie ice cream freezing for tonight.1 -
I’ve been reviewing by a few peoples’ diaries lately (by request). Relatives, other MFP‘ers .
Make sure you’re careful logging. And don’t pick the first entry you see. If there’s a ton, either Google for usda or choose one that’s in the middle.
If you choose an entry that says Hershey’s Chocolate Bar 15 calories (and I’ve seen that) you’re only fooling yourself.
I saw an entry for Shepherd’s Pie that looked odd. The user chose someone else’s entry, presumably a recipe someone had entered. They had no idea what was in it and probably overcharged themselves.
Someone had found an entry for 6 oz of shrimp at 18 calories. Ummm, if true, I’d invest in a shrimp boat.
This morning I went to look up sirloin top round steak and found everything from 4 oz for 100 calories to 400 calories per ounce. Yikes! That’s quite a range.
Someone had charged themselves 150 grams of cheese spread because they didn’t feel like dirtying a dish to weight it. That was several hundred calories above what they actually ate, but didn’t notice til I asked if they were sure they’d eaten over five servings.
If you’re weighing something sticky or messy, you don’t have to dirty up dishes: either put the product container OR your plate on your scale and zero it (this is called “tare”).
If removing product from a container, the negative weight is the portion you’ve used.
If adding product to your plate, the additional weight is the portion you’ve used.
This may sound ridiculously obvious, but for me, beginning it wasn’t. I would carefully pull out plates and bowls and dump stuff on them to weigh.
Your scale should have a tare button.
Also, learn your equivalencies so you can be more accurate. 15 gr is a tablespoon of most products. 240 gr is a rough fluid equivalent of a cup.
An ounce is generally 28 grams.
When you get to things like flour, sugar, cornmeal etc, they vary. Simply ask Siri or Alexa for a quick response.
If I ask my Apple Watch, I have an answer in less than a second:
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In all honesty though, for most people just starting, logging consistently is more important than logging entirely accurately. Important to know you might be inaccurate but I am STILL waiting for my half-*kitten* 'choose an entry that sounds kind of right and/or roughly matches my math based on packages' methods to be a problem.
And for 70 lbs and months into maintenance, weighing any food 3 or 4 times EVER (versus cups/spoons and eyeballing it)... it's still absolutely fine. If you're hitting trouble, sure, tighten it up. But don't feel like you need to do all of the things right to bother doing them. Anything worth doing is worth doing BADLY (versus not doing it at all because it's just too much).
Especially if you're very overweight or obese. You have enough of a deficit AND allowance that differences will probably not - even at 100s of calories several times a week - be enough to stop loss or have you eating too little for health6 -
In fairness, some of my entries look sloppy even though they're based on exact weight just because that's how it shows up, probably as a result of how the entry was written when it was created. My salads always appear as cup measurements but X cups = 100 grams on the package's nutritional label. So my very precise 173 grams ends up in my diary looking like a volume measurement. Not that it matters in my case because no one else is looking at my diary, just something that I have noticed along the way.
Pulled this from another thread because I didn't want to derail that one:springlering62 wrote: »Me, I have a thing about lotion of any kind. Can’t abide the feel on my skin. Drives her nuts because she lectures me about SPF every time she sees me, and tells me horror stories from the clinic. But….no. Yuck yuck yuck, no.
I've been a sunscreen devotee for several decades because I have very fair Celtic skin that doesn't like the sun, and I've needed to have precancerous growths removed. I'm fine with lotion but I found it altered my skin's ability to perspire and that made outdoor activity really miserable when I hit menopause. And I didn't like leaving white chalky smears on everything I touched.
Then I discovered UPF clothing. I can't stand hats, they irritate my scalp like crazy, but I found several light UPF 50 jackets that have hoods with wide brims. I thought wearing long sleeves would add to my misery in the heat but they actually keep me cooler. No more sticky chalky lotions!5 -
@springlering62 Excellent! Thank you for sharing. I have a few sugar free pudding packs in the pantry as well as plenty of skyr, so I’ll be trying that today. We tried the pineapple, and it was super similar to Dole Whip which is one of my favorite Disney treats.
Allulose is a very low calorie sweetener. It’s a type of sugar that’s found in nature in small quantities, and our bodies can’t break it down, kind of like a fiber. The things that make it unique are that it’s about 70% the sweetness of sugar (so it’s not overly sweet like some artificial sweeteners) and it behaves a lot like real sugar in baking. It can give your baked goods the right texture without all the calories. It browns at a slightly lower temperature, so you should adjust your baking temps down about 25 degrees F when using it.
My hubs made some peanut butter icing with it because the powdered sugar had gone stale, and it turned out amazing. He ended up using half for the brownies and half to scoop and eat with graham crackers. (He is bulking right now. It’s been an interesting contrast between us in the kitchen.)
I had never heard of allulose, so I looked it up, and the research is very interesting. It appears to not only not raise blood sugar in diabetics but also improve the metabolism of other glucose consumed with a meal. I absolutely hate the taste of most sweeteners, so I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the info.4 -
Learning about the tare button has made a big difference for me. I'm still trying to figure out the grams conversion to ounces. Asking Siri will make a huge difference. Great tips! Now I just need to add a Creami to the wish list.
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28-30g per (dry) oz is the primary conversion you need, maybe that plus the first few multiples of 28. Fluid oz are not the same thing - I consult Google when I can't find an entry with a mass measurement for a liquid or when the grams entry for a liquid looks sus. Like, a tablespoon of water or chicken broth weighs 15g, but oil is about 13g and change per tbsp, so even if I'm weighing out my 15 grams of oil, if I'm using an entry with volumetric portion sizes, I'm shorting myself by about 20 calories if I log it as "1 tbsp." Not much if it happens once, but do that every day for a month and that's 600 calories unaccounted for.
Grams = Dry Ounces
28 g = 1 oz
56 g = 2 oz
85 g = 3 oz
113 g = 4 oz (~1/2 cup)0 -
On a semi-related note, it annoys me no end that Canadian-made ice cream is only quantified as a volume measurement, usually 1/2 cup or 125 ml. How imprecise!1
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BL had his six month follow up doctors visit yesterday. (That’s the one where I whispered in his ear I want him around as long as possible.)
He began watching what he ate and following MFP after that visit, and amped up exercise, adding more walking and aquafit classes to his Tai Chi.
He’s down 28 pounds since last visit. While still inside “obese” BMI range, his A1C reading is so vastly improved he can go completely off diabetes med.
His blood pressure is down so much that if he’ll send a daily report to the doctors office, they expect to be able to take him off BP meds in 4-6 weeks.
So I’ve set a calendar reminder to remind him to check every day.
Yes, he’s still obese. About 13 more pounds to get to overweight status. But, he’s so much thinner that people are like “Wow! Look at you!” and it’s easy to see his health is so much better.
Perfection? No. Not yet.
Improvement? You betcha!!!
Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not leaping past goals like a hurdler. Improvement is improvement is improvement.
He’ll never read this. The very thought of this thread annoys the *kitten* out of him, but I’m soooo proud of this man.27 -
Can I chime in and say that even if your husband is annoyed by this thread, it is incredibly useful for others in the MFP community? @springlering62 , your comments are insightful, entertaining, and well written, making it a joy to read. I've been reading this thread since November, and often thought that it would be great if my husband would make an effort to be healthier. One of his friends pointed out his "Covid30," and now my husband is on MFP/eating healthier train. Your comments about how you let your husband do all of his data entry and meal selections have been instrumental in me not managing my husband's MFP account. It's been fun to watch my husband learn the same lessons that your husband did (most recent example -- he logged a side of Chipotle chips and salsa as 120 calories instead of 560 calories, lol).
Congratulations to your husband-- that's fantastic news, and it is impressive to see his progress! And thank you again for keeping us all updated on his progress -- there are likely many of us cheering him on virtually.10 -
springlering62 wrote: »He’s down 28 pounds since last visit. While still inside “obese” BMI range, his A1C reading is so vastly improved he can go completely off diabetes med.
His blood pressure is down so much that if he’ll send a daily report to the doctors office, they expect to be able to take him off BP meds in 4-6 weeks.
Congrats to him!!! That has to be so rewarding for him to see tangible results for all his effort!1 -
Yes! Down in weight AND getting to say goodbye to some meds? That's just fantastic! Even if this thread annoys him, send him our Congratulations anyway!
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You know that expression that everyone can be an example? Some are good examples and some are just examples of what not to do?
Fifty years ago my father was what they called at the time "a borderline diabetic". He worked at a physical job and didn't have an ounce of spare fat on him. So the diagnosis wasn't as a result of what we now consider the usual lifestyle factors. He was able to control his blood sugars through his diet and it ended up being pretty much a non-issue in our house. We just all knew that Dad didn't eat any sweets (or what we now call "refined carbs").
Fast forward to my husband... When he was first diagnosed with T2D it was also suggested that a change in diet and activity level could make a difference, which my husband chose to completely ignore. Instead he is now on many medications to control his T2D, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.
One day I realized that if I didn't get my act together, my future would be the same as my husband's. Over the next 3 years I increased my activity, started using MFP, and lost 90 pounds.
@springlering62 This is my way of saying what a great example you and your husband are. I hope that through you, your husband inspires other people to make positive, long lasting changes. Thanks for opening up this window on your family's journey to better health ♥️
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springlering62 wrote: »@springlering62 I received my Ninja Creami a few days ago. It took some finagling with recipes, but now I am completely enamored with it. I did one with 1 cup of plain skyr, 1 tbsp of allulose, and 1.5 tbsp Walden Farms caramel sauce. It’s like a powdered frozen butterbeer, and I LOVE it. Super refreshing and only 100 calories!
Do you have any fun recipes to share?
Please share more!
And what the heck is allulose?
Here’s four. Pudding mix seems to be the secret ingredient for a really creamy ice cream. Mix on lite, then remix and remix again if needed. The chocolate is terrific with salt on top. I just bought a big jar of flake salt just for ice cream.
Each recipe fills one Jar except the apple, which does two (for four servings). We share a jar per night, so serving size is 1/2 recipe.
The graham crackers are an “add in” after creaming the ice cream.
Also, try just a can of pineapple tidbits in juice and run on sorbet, and then remix. It’s amazing.
Just a drive by check in. I read this thread most days but don't post often. The pudding comment intrigued me, though. I have a full fat homemade vanilla ice cream recipe from my mom. It also calls for a box of vanilla pudding mix. I've made it several times - sometimes with pudding mix - sometimes without. I didn't notice any difference, but the ice cream is very rich anyway. Would like to compare side by side, but I don't need two gallons of homemade ice cream in the freezer. HAHA!😁🍨🍨1 -
@springlering62, it just occurred to me: Your husband maybe is now an internet-influencer-by-proxy!
I'm sorry that the existence of this thread annoys him (for his sake), but maybe it's a little counterbalance that he's having a good effect on others without investing of his own personal effort in that?
This is a great thread: Like I've said before, kind of a fun travelogue view of weight-management methods and success!3 -
I should explain why my halo is askew. When husband was diagnosed T2D twenty or so years ago, he changed his diet, lost a lot of weight.
I was about as unsupportive as it was possible to be. I was “that” spouse who pretended not to notice. Brought oodles of sweets and carbs in the house, didn’t bother to hide them or not eat them in front of him. Eventually he gave up, although he never really ate sweets much afterwards.
I’ve always felt terrible about that. So I never rode his butt when I started calorie counting myself. That wouldn’t have been fair at all.
It is amazing to be on the same path now, together, as a team, and planning stuff together,
For example, we’ve started planning late lunch/early supper on Friday, so we can combine the calories for both meals into something special like pizza or Mexican.
I sincerely regret not having joined him all those years ago and having pretty much been an epic fail of a wife in the food/eating/health department.18 -
Well, we live, we learn - it shows great growth as a human being 🙂7
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Better late than never!springlering62 wrote: »I should explain why my halo is askew. When husband was diagnosed T2D twenty or so years ago, he changed his diet, lost a lot of weight.
I was about as unsupportive as it was possible to be. I was “that” spouse who pretended not to notice. Brought oodles of sweets and carbs in the house, didn’t bother to hide them or not eat them in front of him. Eventually he gave up, although he never really ate sweets much afterwards.
I’ve always felt terrible about that. So I never rode his butt when I started calorie counting myself. That wouldn’t have been fair at all.
It is amazing to be on the same path now, together, as a team, and planning stuff together,
For example, we’ve started planning late lunch/early supper on Friday, so we can combine the calories for both meals into something special like pizza or Mexican.
I sincerely regret not having joined him all those years ago and having pretty much been an epic fail of a wife in the food/eating/health department.
My first go round my husband was unsupportive and the weight crept back on as I gradually ate more and more like him. Worst of all, he’s the sort who always orders more food than he can eat, then offers it to me. When I was diagnosed with diabetes one of the things that happened was a “come to Jesus meeting” during which I told him that diabetes was a condition which dramatically lowers your life expectancy, and increases the risk of heart attacks, amputations, strokes and blindness, and that I didn’t plan to die or be disabled and would treat as a mortal enemy anyone who didn’t share my priorities that my life was important. That meant never offer me food again, never ask to eat out at a fast food joint instead of eating a healthy already-planned meal, unhealthy snacks were to be kept in his cabinet not in the shared one, no whining about wanting to do something else together when I needed to work out, and no eating in front of me except at mealtimes. And to give credit where it’s due he has been nothing but supportive ever since, and one of the side effects has been that he lost thirty pounds as well.
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If only life had a rewind button for all the regrets we have. Sadly it does not. However, we have reflection and from that comes personal growth.
I have been married for almost 35 years. I have not always been the most supportive spouse, but with age comes wisdom (right?). I think it is so awesome that in our golden years, we pay closer attention to one another's health, needs, desires, etc. I would give up a (insert anything here) for another second of our precious time together.
@springlering62 you and your BL are both inspiring and loved by this community. Thank you for sharing the good the bad and the ugly (wish I could cue the music at this moment). Reality check is much needed and appreciated.9 -
BL asked me this morning,”what kind of milk is in the little glass jar in the fridge?”
It’s skim milk decanted into a pint jar, just enough to make a week’s worth of froth for chai.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not drinking enough of it to go through a gallon any more. It saves me 198 calories a day.”
Not to worry. The other 3/4 gallon goes straight into the pot to make skyr.
He’s started dabbling in plant-based milks now when he wants a bowl of cereal. Cereal consumption is way down, too, though, after he realized he could have a nice, protein rich plate of filling French toast made from homemade bread for about the same “cost” as his old bowl of cereal with a generous helping of milk.
Almond milk and the really good (and neutral tasting) Silk cashew/almond blend are 25/cup, versus 80 for skim. Yes, skim is higher in protein and Vitamin D, but we eat a lot of protein elsewhere, and the “New Us” spend a lot more time outdoors, inadvertently soaking up rays of D.
It’s almost like new habits reap unexpected rewards which beget more new habits, reaping even more rewards. It’s like a perfect little personal cycle of “Yay! You go, You!”.
This will be yummy homemade skyr by tonight, with a side of spreadable thick low cal cream cheese by tomorrow, and should yield 6-8 cups of liquid whey, too. Super easy to make. Requires no magic kitchen skills. Whey instead of water or milk makes baked goods super light and fluffy, and makes a homemade loaf of bread taste richer, without as much work as sourdough.4 -
When my kids were young I always made my own yoghurt but have never made skyr. Is it thick like skyr? Or thinner, like regular yoghurt? Please tell me more. I'd love to try making a batch.
I used to use mostly plant based milks in my smoothies and cereals and it was an easy way to cut a few calories. But I found that I always struggled to reach the bare minimum of my protein requirements, so now I'm back to using more dairy. Except for my hot chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate almond milk with a couple of dashes of stevia always hits the cozy spot for me (even more so with a splash of Bailey's 😉).2 -
I had a weird thing happen where I stopped dairy milk and used substitutes and then... went back to dairy milk, but in absolute fairness even after all this time I struggle with protein intake so it's basically skim milk or drinka protein shake and the couple of cups of milk lasts me longer.
Still WAY less than I used to use though and I imagine eventually that cycle will swing back.2 -
I think both @springlering62 and @ridiculous59 are combining to make a great point here, that I'd like to underscore: These food choice tradeoffs will differ individual by individual, so IMO it's better for each person to give it some personalized thought, and make his/her own best choices. Following rules that work for others may not be ideal for YOU.
I totally get what Spring is saying, about cutting milk-source calories (within taste preferences) if there are ample other sources of protein.
But I'm more like Ridiculous59, I value my milk as a calorie-efficient protein source, since I'm a vegetarian who needs to pursue protein at the margin to hit my nutritional goals. (I drink much more milk in my coffee - and use a wonderful hand-frother** since Spring posted about it in another thread - when I'm managing my calorie intake.) To me - in contrast to Spring - plant milks are calorie inefficient from an overall dietary/nutritional standpoint, even though lower in calories than dairy milk.
IMO, personalization - tailoring food choices to our own situation, among other things - is key to happy and successful weight management.
** For your amusement: My Garmin clears my move counter goal when I pump that li'l guy vigorously.9 -
ridiculous59 wrote: »When my kids were young I always made my own yoghurt but have never made skyr. Is it thick like skyr? Or thinner, like regular yoghurt? Please tell me more. I'd love to try making a batch.
I used to use mostly plant based milks in my smoothies and cereals and it was an easy way to cut a few calories. But I found that I always struggled to reach the bare minimum of my protein requirements, so now I'm back to using more dairy. Except for my hot chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate almond milk with a couple of dashes of stevia always hits the cozy spot for me (even more so with a splash of Bailey's 😉).
Skyr is made exactly like yogurt except you use skim milk and you add a few drops of liquid rennet after it cools to 110, same time as when you stir your starter.
You can make it as thick or thin as you like- depends on the draining time.
It’s a protein powerhouse.
I’ve also been setting some aside to drain extra extra well to use in lieu of cream cheese on pancakes.
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springlering62 wrote: »Skyr is made exactly like yogurt except you use skim milk and you add a few drops of liquid rennet after it cools to 110, same time as when you stir your starter.
You can make it as thick or thin as you like- depends on the draining time.
It’s a protein powerhouse.
I’ve also been setting some aside to drain extra extra well to use in lieu of cream cheese on pancakes.
This is awesome! Thank you for the inspiration. May be time to try my hand at making skyr. I’ve just been buying it when it’s BOGO at Publix. I’ve been brewing kombucha for years, grind my own wheat to bake bread, and just started growing blue oyster mushrooms- I’m all about foodie DIY!1
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