what i used to eat.

back in august, diane from fit to the finish wrote a post on how she managed to fit 3000 kcal into her day. that post - like so many of her posts - hit very close to home: i ate that much as well. sure, my thyroid went bust and slowed down my metabolism, but i got fat because i ate too much and moved too little.

so here's what would have been on my menu on a typical work-day in early 2008.

breakfast
2 pretzels (7 pts.)
1 chocolate roll (4pts)
0,7l apple mango juice (6,5pts)

lunch
1 pretzel (3,5pts)
1 large cheese roll (9pts)
piece of cake (5,5pts)

afternoon snack
150g gummy smurfs (8,5pts)

coming home snack
1/2 pack of pringles (11,5pts)

dinner
rice (4pts)
creamy spinach (7pts)
fried veggie fingers (8pts)

dessert
1/2 pack of choco crossies (10,5pts)
soy pudding (2pts)

late night snack
package of roasted cashew nuts (14 pts)

total: 101 pts
at 90kg, i probably wouldn't have needed more than 26 points or so to maintain my weight. sure, it's an extreme day. but day like this, was, by no means, unusal. the weekends, especially with the ex, were just as crazy. tins of wasabi peanuts, outrageous mac'n'cheese with three types of cheese, endless breakfasts with omelettes and three bread rolls.

oh, and add at least 2 litres of diet coke to that. i firmly believe that (work stress, loneliness and general unhappiness aside) diet soda (coke zero, diet coke, pepsi max - i loved them all) had a lot to do with my overeating. it's one thing where i really disagree with the ww belief system, btw: their love for artifical sweetners. i hate that they use so much of it in their recipes, and that so many people in their crazy forums share insane sweetner loaden and basically nutrient-free recipes (fluffed up sweetener semolina pudding, anyone?) as if they were weight loss magic. these days? i avoid artifical sweetners like the plague.


these days, a typical workday menu looks like this:

breakfast
carrots (until i am full) (0 pts)
low fat herb quark (3,5pts)

snack
1 amaranth bar, covered with dark chocolate (2pts)

lunch
1 tub total yoghurt (1,5pts)
all bran (2,5pts)
1 teaspoon honey (0pts)
1 apple (0pts)

afternoon snack
1 apple (opts)
1 kiwi (0pts)

dinner
piece of baked, marinated salmon (4pts)
lentils (until i am full) (3pts)
broccoli (opts)
glass of wine (1pts)

dessert
2 pieces high quality choc (1,5pts)
espresso (0pts)

total: 19pts
i get 19 pts a day right now, while still being on the losing track.

other typical snacks are whole wheat rolls with vegemite (2 pts) or 4 rice crackers with 1 teaspoon almond butter (3pts). for dinner, the bf and i often have soups or stews from 101cookbooks, veggie pasta with tomato based sauces or risottos. when i eat by myself (happens at least once a week), i usually cook up some whole wheat pasta, a giant amount of broccoli and only add fresh ground pepper and parmesan.

comparing these two diets, it's pretty obvious: these days, i get much more protein, much more fibre, much more vitamins. not really surprising that i am a much happier me.

[disclaimer: ww programs & points calculation differ from country to county. round here, you get lots of fruits and veges at 0pts, and you can eat a variety of carbs (like pasta and potatoes) and proteins (certain fish, low fat quark, legumes, etc.) until you're full for a set number of points (carbs=4, protein=3). i try to include these so called 'fill-up-foods' into at least one meal a day; also very useful when eating out!]