Market Basket $49.30
The HH went to the grocery store with a list of 4 things but apparently he was hungry and threw a bunch of other stuff in the cart. Funny how that happens, don’t you think?
*****
So. I was thinking about Mrs. HB and how she’s trying to lose weight and how we {all of us, YOU included} probably don’t really stop and think about every.single.thing. you consume each day. I know I sure don’t. So this week, instead of just posting a picture of what we ate for dinner, I decided to really go for it and take a picture of literally everything I ate.
Partly as a way to convince myself that I eat pretty well {HA HA HA} and partly because I don’t understand why I can’t lose those last few pounds. Now I know. 😉
I weighed myself as soon as I woke up last Monday morning, and again this morning and guess what? I weighed EXACTLY the same weight. So, my point I guess is that the pictures you see below… are my normal. I don’t really think about food. Some people live to eat and others eat to live. And me… well, I just don’t know, I guess I live for tea and sugar.
Monday
- Breakfast: Beans and a fried egg {oh how I love a good fried egg!}
- Lunch: Chicken salad with {stale} dried cranberries and sweet relish
- Afternoon Cuppa & 3 cookies
- Dinner: Fish sticks {gag} Brussels sprouts and rice
Tuesday
- Breakfast: Raspberry and cream cheese danish yum yum yum
- Lunch: Taco salad
- Afternoon Cuppa & Fully Loaded Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars
- Dinner: Beans and a weenie
Wednesday
- Breakfast: Cinnamon roll
- Lunch: Copy Cat Panera Creamy Tomato Soup and Ritz
- Afternoon Cuppa & Fully Loaded Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bar
- Dinner: Toast with Carrot Cake Jam
Thursday
- Breakfast: Steel cut oats with dried {stale} cranberries, brown sugar and milk
- Lunch: Eggs Benedict with the ladies
- Afternoon Cuppa & nothing 🙁
- Dinner: Chicken Soup
Friday
- Breakfast: Tea and 3 cookies
- Lunch: Bread and cheese
- Afternoon Cuppa & Fully Loaded Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bar
- Dinner: Spaghetti and meatball and bread with butta
Saturday
- Breakfast: None
- Lunch: 8 Can Taco Soup
- Afternoon Cuppa & Hershey bar with almonds
- Dinner: 2 Eggs, cheese, hummus, carrots and canned beets 🙂
Sunday
- Breakfast: Granola
- Lunch: Cheese spread and crackers
- Afternoon Cuppa & Hershey bar with almonds
- Dinner: Turkey, Brussels sprouts and potatoes
So. What do you think? Is there any room for improvements? 😉
I hope you have a great day,
~Mavis
Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries and Bakery Treats We Brought Home $49.30
- Total Spent in February on Groceries and Bakery Treats $189.11
- Total Spent in January on Groceries and Bakery Treats $346.47
- Total Spent on Groceries and Bakery Treats in 2020 $535.58
You can go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories
Meals we are planning on making in February:
Breakfast
Toast with real bread from the bakeryCream of Wheat- Bakery treats
- Waffles
- Bacon and Eggs
- Shirley’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread {as soon as the kitchen is done!}
Main Dish
- Lasagna
Turkey Dinner- Turkey Pot Pies
- Turkey Soup
Pulled PorkPork Soft Tacos- Pork Nachos
Saturday Night Beans – New England Styleand Maple Syrup Corn Bread- Copy Cat Panera Chicken and Rice Soup {freezer meal}
- Pizza
Chicken ChiliPickety BitsRitz Cracker ChickenLeftover Mississippi Pot Roast Stew or Beef Pie- Big Salads
Desserts
- Rum Cake
- Homemade Chocolate Cake for Valentine’s Day
New Cookie Recipe
If you have a big family, or your’e looking to make a boatload of meals all at once {or in batches} One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Mel wrote an AWESOME post a few months ago on how she made 4 months worth of freezer meals. You can find her post HERE.
Cathy says
I thought you had a great metabolism and can eat fabulous stuff I dream about, I walk past a bakery and gain 5 pounds . I just eat vegetables and chicken and some beef. With fun food for holidays
Lissa says
Shredded iceberg ? hahaha
Mavis Butterfield says
I guess I should have been more specific. 🙂
Danni says
I’m in the same boat. I don’t really gain weight, the harder I lift weights the better I look, but I have stay at the 125 lbs for the last 20 years.My husband has been trying to lose ten pounds so he looks ahreaded like when he was 20 rather than 40. We go over our meal and diet and there is just so little run to improve. I have always been a made from scratch kind of food buyer/grower. We do not eat pastries often, only once a month maybe. I have sugar in my tea and and I make an Americano with white chocolate powder everyday. I do love chocolate though…..
Deborah says
Cut down on the carbs, and sweets? I’m not that good with diets. After all, the first three letters say it all . . . DIE.
I’ve never really had to try and lose weight. Until, my thyroid quit working right. After I went on meds, I lost the weight. I don’t eat breakfast until about 11-ish. Then I eat the last meal of the day around 5. I do drink a lot of water. One cup of coffee with sugar free non dairy creamer in the morning. Then water, occasionally, I’ll have a cuppa herbal tea in the afternoon. No caffeine after morning coffee. I don’t usually snack, but do some.
Kari says
I’m curious how many miles you would estimate that you walk a week?
Your meals look great! Unfortunately, I gain weight just by smelling those pastries. 🙂 Luckily I can live vicariously through you.
Thanks for sharing!
Deb K says
I was impressed that you do so little snacking in between meals and you always stop at three cookies. Good job on those. Like a lot of us, you like the chocolate, though. I think that’s a woman thing. We all do. 🙂
Mrs HB says
My plate would have been filled instead of just one meatball and spaghetti . Do you great on portion size . Maybe I should do this ?
Rose says
I was going to say the same. Great portion control! Please do this again, It would be so good for reinforcing small plate sizes and servings.
Marcia says
It’s funny you mention the spaghetti. When I first lost weight in my early 30s (I was 182 lbs at 5’2″), I used weight watchers. It worked. I remember having dinner on a trip when visiting my in laws, and it was spaghetti and meatballs. They were asking me how WW was going (this was probably 6 months after I hit goal weight), and I mentioned portion size. Basically, my portion of pasta was about 1 cup, with 3 meatballs (about 3 oz), and then I filled up on salad. They didn’t think portion size should matter that much, but literally everyone else at the table had 2x as much on their plates! (They weren’t obese, but were interested in losing 10 lbs).
Often when my friends get older, they do cut portion size (just don’t get hungry), but I think fruit and veg and protein get cut! I still see plenty of sweets, sugar in coffee/tea, and bread.
Diana says
I eat plant based so of course I would say add in fruit and veggies! I know that is easier when your garden is growing. I live in San Diego on 1 1/2 acres so I can grow year round and eat from the garden.
Laura Z says
Even though you have lots of tea and treats, you are really great with portion control (except maybe that giant pretzel. 🙂 ) Good job!
Come spring, there will be yard work and salads aplenty. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for!
Cheryl says
Well as a diabetic, I would have very high blood sugars with all those carbs. I eat salads almost every dinner meal. Very little carbs and lots of veggie. You do well and I wish my portion control was as good as yours.
Lana says
Add a big green salad every day and fruits and veggies. Get some pH strips and check your saliva. If you are too acid, and you have to be on all those carbs, then you need to work to correct it with diet. Being acid destroys your health. The thing is that you can go from great to sick pretty quickly when the body can’t deal with it anymore.
Mable says
Nonsense.
Lana says
Do some research. I speak from experience.
Shannon says
Seems like you eat very few fruits and vegetables, especially fresh fruits and vegetables (potatoes, pickles/relish, pasta sauce, and jam/jelly don’t really count in my book). There was at least one day where you didn’t eat a single fruit or vegetable (besides pasta sauce).
That might be a great place to start! I struggle with it as well while trying to pack quick lunches for work (my go-to’s are carb/starch-heavy frozen meals).
Elle says
Well, you did ask for suggestions. If I had eaten all of this, I would have gained at least 5 pounds.
Cookies, cinnamon roll, Chocolate Oat Bars, a lot of bread…..that is a ton of sugar no nutrition in any except bread-if it’s whole wheat/whole grain.
I suspect you could lose that last 5 simply by eliminating or significantly reducing the sugar.
Women should use no more than 100 discretionary calories on sugar per day. This is around 25 g or 6 tsp of sugar.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324673#recommended-limits
Load up the veggies. I don’t see a lot of veg in the week as a total.
Arlene Gomes says
Hi ! I would say your diet is not bad but you do eat alot of sweets it seems. Good for you if you can handle that and not gain alot weight. I would say that maybe more fresh fruits and veggies like others have said already. I have a hard time adding fruits to my day. I don’t hate them but I just don’t crave them.
Mrs. C. says
Well, if you want to lose the weight, it way back on a lot of the carbs and increase the protein, while keeping calories more or less the same. So, for example, if you want a cinnamon roll for breakfast, go for it! Enjoy it! But stop eating carbs after lunch. Fill up on protein and low carb veggies.
Linda Sand says
I saw cashews and cranberry sauce that weren’t listed. That made me wonder what else you might have overlooked. 🙂
Karin says
You look fantastic so I would say you are doing great! To heck with the last couple pounds you think you need to loose. I’m sure you know you eat a lot of sugar but as others have mentioned your portion control is excellent! I wouldn’t worry about anything unless your doctor says you have any health issues.
Kris says
Hi Mavis – I eat just like you except I had dark chocolate with almonds bars my dh bought. LOl! I always weigh 125 after menopause – that is an eleven pound gain from my “normal”. I am trying to incorporate more plants. This morning we had cheese omelettes with bacon and on the side I gave us beans, rice and Kimchi. We finished off your loaded chocolate chip oatmeal bars. Those are a keeper. Yum! We eat a big brunch most days and we don’t snack after dinner usually. We both carry around an extra ten pounds some of which gets worked off in the summer on our outdoor projects.
I love your blog and i am going to try to grow food this year. Last year earwigs ate everything (except a few herbs) that sprouted. I hope I got rid of enough of them to try again.
jj says
Hey Mavis, I know it can be frustrating, but I wouldn’t worry about the last few pounds. Gardening season is fast approaching and I am sure you will lose the extra. Besides, you look good as is. Thanks for all you tips, recipes and just day to day banter. It keeps me coming back for more.
Debi says
My doctor always tells everyone that to lose weight, limit the 5 P’s. POP, PIZZA, PASTA, PASTRY, & PARTY FOOD.
Gina says
In my opinion, you don’t need to lose weight. That being said…because you asked…you had only one low carb meal…the taco salad. Everything else was carb heavy which is fine when you are gardening and will burn all your carbs before your body will start burning body fat for fuel. Here, the chicken soup had beans, the chicken salad had cranberries, the taco soup looks like it was served with a sandwich, the eggs benedict was served with potatoes. Great food. But maybe having one low carb meal a day will help your body burn any stored fat for energy. If every meal has carbs, our bodies will first burn the carbs before it needs to burn fat.
Teckla says
Mavis, you have quite the sense of humor! I’m still laughing! I think almost everyone missed your tongue in the cheek.
On the serious side, your portion control probably saves you a lot of headaches. But I would agree with those who suggest adding a lot more salads/veggies and fruit. You eat a LOT more sugar than my dietician recommends and quite a lot more carbs. We are all different, tho, so what works for your body may not work for someone else. And you do get a lot more exercise than many of us do, so that also balances things out. Have fun and enjoy your life!
Cecile says
I say this with only support intended since you asked if there was room for improvement. When you are banging out 120-14 hr days outside in the gardens I can understand you needing all those carbs to keep your energy level up but in the winter months but in the winter when you yourself have admitted there is less to do, maybe cut back and have more than one meal without carbs. My doctor likes to bring up as I am reaching those dreaded menopause years that carbs are not our friends! lol Shedding weight is so much harder as you get into pre menopause as well as during menopause. I don’t know why they make carbs so good when they are so bad for us! lol
Jennifer says
All I could think as I looked at your daily pictures, was, Where are all the other snacks??? So clearly I eat far too many snacks between meals!!! All I could think was, “Does she really only put food in her mouth 4 times a day?” I am a teacher so that might have something to do with it… very early breakfast, snack at snack recess, lunch, snack after school in my classroom, snack when I get home with my husband (also a teacher) and son, then dinner, and perhaps a bit of ice cream before bed. Clearly you have given me something to think about! And like the others, I think you are missing a few fruits and veggies, but in the past when you show what you eat and shop for, you do have LOTS of plants so maybe it was just this week? Or the fact that it’s winter and not as much fresh stuff around? Anyhow, thanks for the share, and you have given me lots of food for thought! Pun intended!!
Stephanie in Utah says
Am I the only one trying to figure out what were the 4 items on the list? I’m guessing lettuce, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, and Almond milk.
Sharon says
I tried to guess,too!
Dee says
i think the best thing about your diet is, because you prepare so many meals yourself, that you can regulate your additional sugar and salt intake. Many people don’t know how much salt there is in sweets and how much sugar there is in savory foods (Meats, Sauces etc).
Someone said you didn’t have that much fruit and vegetables in your diet, but I’m sure come harvest season you will adjust your diet.
I do think, you have a bit much of white bread and pastries, but that seems to be a phase, you testing out all of those bakeries (i’m so jealous). Since you have half a house-husband now, why don’t you get him to try his hand at baking full grain breads. I heard those a hard to find in the US. I’m from the worlds bread country (Germany) and I can’t imagine living without it.
Jen says
Well, everyone else has the carbs and veggies issue covered… A doc I know suggested a very plant-based diet, and to limit the number of hours in the day that you’re consuming food. It’s not just what you eat, but when you’re eating it that matters. Studies support this. Same calories eaten across fewer hours of the day equates to less gain/more loss of weight. I try to eat only between 7am and 6pm. Could do better. Ideal would be at least 15 fasting hours in a row.
Marcia says
Ha! Well, maybe fewer sweet, more fruits and veg. I personally gained 15 lbs last year. Stress and stress eating, plus weight lifting. In January I realized I needed to lose my muffy. I did a few things: 1 stopped the chocolate habit. Not eating ALL chocolate, I just realized it had become a daily thing. So I cut it out to 2x a week. 2. Stopped snacking after dinner. I wasn’t hungry, it just got to be a habit. Usually it was chocolate! 3. Intentionally added more fruit/ veg as mid day snacks at work, to fill me up.
I lost 6 lbs pretty quickly. Not sure how long it will take to lose the next few – because of the weightlifting, I don’t plan on losing all 15. Maybe only 9. Actually, my work pants fit again mostly (my normal is 2 that are loose, 3 that fit, 2 that are snug, and I’m back to there).
I’ve lost weight quite a few times (when obese and after babies), and once I get to steady state, I don’t have to think much about what I eat because I just eat the same things. Then stresses come, and sugar gets added, and then I have to really concentrate to lose it again. It probably didn’t help that last year I was almost always training for some kind of run, which makes me eat more carbs, and not necessarily the good kind.
Laura L. says
Looking at what you ate in a day, I’m seriously thinking of taking pictures of all I eat in one day to truly see (no fudging, pun intended) just how much of the wrong foods I consume in a day. I have a habit of eating a modest breakfast and then around 4 p.m. I’m famished and have snacks which usually consist of cheese, pretzels, sometimes a cheese spread on crackers, etc. and then a full dinner at around 8 p.m. So, just looking at your 1 day food intake, I’d say you eat a lot less than I do in a day, and although I’m maintaining, I need to lose a good 20 pounds. I think overall, you’re doing pretty good, and feeling well, and I know from being a long time fan of your blog, you definitely get more exercise in a day than I do, so keep up the good work. ☺
Renay says
I say you eat like a normal person and why try to lose the last 5? You look great and you live well!
Sharon Brotherton says
No Pie? Lol
Mavis Butterfield says
They have cream pies!
Cat says
You have a lot of sugar and processed food in your diet. Eating whole foods would help with your weight and give you more energy. Add more fruits and veggies.