At Goal & Successfully Maintaining. So Why Am I Doing This All Over Again?

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:

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.

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.