Friday, March 19, 2010

Lunch!

This question merits its own post... 
chicagogoebel (http://chicagogoebel.wordpress.com) left a new comment on "Define "Wrong"":

Amy -

I've been on the straight and narrow for 2 weeks now and I'm -4! It feels so good!! I love livestrong, so thank you so much for the recommendation!

My question is this...what are your go-to lunch meals? I'm doing pretty good staying within my calorie goal, but I've eaten A LOT of Subway over the last 2 weeks and need a bit more variety. :) I don't always have time to pack my own lunch and try to grab lean cuisines, but again, would like to have variety. Just thought I'd see what you've found to be tasty.

Congrats on nearing -50! I'm so looking forward to blazing past -10 and to never.look.back.
GOOD FOR YOU!  I am so excited that you've lost 4 pounds, that is SUPER!  Starting is the hardest part.

Lunch is my favorite meal.  I'm going to go back through Livestrong and tell you what I've eaten for the past week:

Today:

Progresso Light Beef Pot Roast Soup (80 cal), with leftover cooked red potato (100 cal) and carrots (35 cal) from St. Pat's Day - total calories - 215.  (I used spray butter and salt and pepper on the potato, so this meal was only 1 gram of fat, too!)

Yesterday:

Half a leftover chicken breast - (4 oz, or 120 calories), 1/2 cup corn (80 cals), 3/4 apple (because Claire stole 1/4 of it!!  60 cal) - total 260 calories.

Wednesday:

Progresso Light Beef Pot Roast Soup (80 cal), two slices of Aunt Millie's Light Bread (35 cals each) and one slice of fat free Kraft Single "cheese" (25 cals) cooked with I Can't Believe... spray for a light grilled cheese.  Total 175 calories (I was saving up for corned beef and cabbage that night!).

Tuesday (at my friend Casey's house):

KFC Chicken Breast without skin (140 cal); sweetened applesauce (90 cal); 1/2 cup canned green beans (20 cal); 1/4 tbsp margarine (in the beans - 25 cal).  Total 275 calories.

Monday:

Homemade chicken noodle soup (guesstimated at about 150 calories); 1 oz of tiny twist pretzels (100 calories).  Total:  250 calories.

Are you seeing a trend?  My lunch trick is SOUP and LEFTOVERS!

I'll tell ya, those Progresso Light Soups are a freaking miracle.  Yeah, they're high in sodium (but so is Lean Cuisine!), so if you're watching your blood pressure you probably want to go low-salt or make your own, but they're filling and hot and full of vegetables and all kinds of healthy goodness.  You have a microwave available if you're doing frozen dinners, so just take a bowl and a spoon and a can of soup.  It's cheaper than Lean Cuisine too.  I got my soups 4 for $5 last time I went to Kroger, without a coupon.

I usually have a snack at 3 pm, something in the 100 - 200 calorie range, generally a piece of fruit and one of those "100 calorie" packs of cookies or something.  I agree that my 200 - 300 calorie lunches aren't going to keep you full until dinner.  They aren't meant to.  As Sarah said in her comment on Facebook, lots of small meals are healthier than two or three large meals.

As long as we're being specific, I've been eating Vitatops for breakfast with my coffee.  I nuke 'em for about 20 seconds.  Yum!  It's like eating a brownie for breakfast, and they're more nutritious than an apple.  SOLD!

I'm still in the habit of dinner being my largest meal, which isn't what's recommended anymore, but it's a lifelong habit that's hard to break - particularly when I don't have time for a big breakfast most days. 

So there it is, let me know if you have any other questions, and GREAT WORK!!

7 comments:

mwiesjahn said...

Just want to share my favorite snack. It is one piece of wasa bread (45 cal.) with a single serving brick of colby jack cheese (80 cal., I got the Target brand). 125 calories and it packs a lot of nutrition in the bread and protein in the cheese to tide you over. Yum! Pair it with a Hersey kiss and you have sweet and savory for under 150 calories!

mwiesjahn said...

I forgot to mention that you have to nuke it for about 15 sec. to get the cheese all melty.

Sarah said...

How many calories are the vitatops?

Cassondra said...

OK, I signed up for livestrong and started using it today. I also bought a few of the Progresso soups, which should be helpful!! Good luck to everyone.

Amy said...

Sarah - Vitatops have 100 calories (at least, so far, all the ones I've tried have been 100 calories).

Good luck Cassondra!!

Heather - The Wanna-be Super Mom said...

I love that pot roast soup...just had it today for lunch. SO filling and totally tastes like its more than 80 calories.

Erin said...

I know I am catching up late, but my lunch trick is leftovers. Sunday night I make a ton of food and then portion it out into tupperware for every day. In the morning, I grab lunch and go (to work). It is great. I usually make 4-8 chicken breasts sunday night, take 1/2 for lunch each day, and we eat whole ones for dinner. For sides I take salad and couscous or some baked veggies and half a baked potato (also made sunday night).