30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 25
As predicted, this day of my first 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet of the year was an easy one to get through.
I managed to fill up some of my free time today by going out with Lyann and running some errands.
We had a letter to mail back to Reader’s Digest, just in case we get selected as their grand prize winners.
I had to pick up a new battery for my Salter body fat percentage scale. Did you know that the medical battery for my scale costs seven dollars? What a rip-off!
We also had some grocery shopping to do today. Instead of heading out to Sobeys like we usually do, we opted to get our groceries at the Atlantic Superstore since it was close to the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy where I bought the battery for my scale. I really did not want to buy the expensive battery, but my scale kept saying “low battery” this morning, so I was somewhat of a captive customer.
It was really surprising to us how much of a difference exists between Sobeys and the Atlantic Superstore. The shopping experience itself is immensely different. The Atlantic Superstore layout is vastly superior to that of Sobeys, due mainly to the wideness of the aisles. We never once felt crowded or pressured while walking through the Atlantic Superstore today. We found that the selection and quality of the produce at the Atlantic Superstore were much better than what Sobeys usually has to offer.
There was a lot more variety in many of the individual products offered at the Atlantic Superstore and they also had bulk containers of many different foods. Sobeys hardly carries any bulk products at all. There were not enough items on our shopping list for me to be able to make an objective price comparison between the two stores, though I have heard from many people in the Campbellton, New Brunswick area that Sobeys is way more expensive than the Atlantic Superstore.
We had enjoyed going to Sobeys in the past in order to collect air miles which could be redeemed for grocery certificates. It looks like we have been spending way too much money for substandard food by frequenting Sobeys up until now. The Atlantic Superstore has its own point reward system which I am sure must rival the air miles program. I would switch to shopping at the Atlantic Superstore just to take advantage of the great quality we found when looking through their fresh fruits and vegetables.
Shopping at the Atlantic Superstore today reminded me of just how much we are creatures of habit, mostly doing what we have learned to feel comfortable with by way of repetition. The only reason we went to the Atlantic Superstore today instead of Sobeys was that it was closer to the Shoppers Drug Mart we needed to visit. I never would have thought of going there otherwise.
Lyann and I were in the habit of shopping at Sobeys for the air miles rewards we collected and just due to the fact that it happened to be closer to our home. Notice that I said this is a habit. Habits can be broken. It may make me a little uncomfortable to have to learn the layout of a new grocery store. We may not like having to travel a little further to get our groceries. However, when there are enough positive reasons for change, a habit like shopping at the same grocery store all the time can be easy to break. Any habit can be broken if there are enough positive motivators involved.
Even as I write this, I can not shake the feeling that I am being manipulated somehow. I know that we make most of our important decisions based on emotion, not logic. Therefore, there must have been some devious way that some aspects of our visit to the Atlantic Superstore played upon our emotions. I can try to justify my reasons for shopping there by talking about the better quality and wider aisles, but I know they are not the real reasons for my new preference.
What really makes me want to start shopping at the Atlantic Superstore is that the wider aisles and better quality made me feel more important as a paying customer. The added elbow room and improved standards for produce told me subconsciously that the people who run the Atlantic Superstore care more about customer service and value my business more. I felt better when I went to their store. That takes some sophisticated marketing techniques indeed.
What I drew from this experience is that it can be very beneficial to break out of your routine once in a while. Going to a different grocery store or coffee shop, walking or driving home by a different route, or even changing the way that you eat for a while can be very eye opening and potentially life changing. It may be quite difficult to consciously choose not to be a creature of habit, but it certainly seems worth the effort. A little unpredictability can be good for your growth.
Though I would like to be a little more unpredictable with my food choices when I stick to my healthy diet, my oral allergy syndrome stands in my way a lot. There are quite a few vegetables and fruits that I cannot eat unless they have been cooked or dried. It is hard for me to build a lot of variety into my diet because I prefer to eat my fruits and vegetables raw most of the time. Even though I have to be somewhat of a creature of habit with my meals, I enjoy them just the same. Here is what I had to eat today:
The calorie content associated with the meal above is as follows:
- 2 cups of Homemade Vegetable Soup with Knorr OXO Beef Bouillon – zero calories. You can eat as much soup as you like without counting calories, as long as your soup is made without oil or cream.
- One 4 ounce serving of Imitation Crab Meat – 130 calories
- 2 Quaker Original Rice Cakes – 70 calories
- 2 Tablespoons of Kraft Reduced Fat Smooth Peanut Butter – 160 calories
- Tossed Salad – zero calories. Salad is usually mostly iceberg lettuce, which is mostly water. Water has no calories.
- 30 grams of Compliments Old Style Cheddar Cheese – 120 calories
- 3 Tbsp Kraft Sundried Tomato and Oregano Dressing – 105 calories
- Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Dill Pickles, Clementines and Seedless Green Grapes – zero calories. These are all considered negative-calorie foods.
There are a few reasons why this meal was lighter than the one I ate last night, even though they look quite similar. The Imitation Crab Meat I ate tonight contained 10 less calories than the Brunswick Boneless Herring Fillets I ate previously. I only ate two Quaker Original Rice Cakes instead of three, so I saved 35 calories there. I saved 50 calories by not having any Kraft Parmesan Cheese on my salad tonight.
The best reason why my meal turned out lighter tonight was due to a new product I decided to buy today. I love peanut butter and have been including it in most of my meals since getting away from the cashews I had been eating earlier in this 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet. However, I had been eating the regular peanut butter without realizing that there was a lighter alternative. Here is the product I bought today:
I never knew that Kraft offered a reduced fat version of their smooth peanut butter until I visited the Atlantic Superstore today. I was glad to find this product though, because it contains 10 calories less per tablespoon than the regular Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter. Here is a picture of the nutritional information for this product:
The reduction of 10 calories per tablespoon works out well for me because there are times where I like to include 3 tablespoons of peanut butter with my meal. Finding this reduced fat version of Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter means that I will be able to transfer 30 calories to another part of my meal while still enjoying the peanut butter I love so much. There is no other peanut butter. Kraft is the best.
The strangest thing I have noticed about food labels lately is blatantly obvious on the front of this particular product. Instead of having a label that tells you where to find the nutritional information, food labels like this one have begun to tell you where to find the nutritional benefits of the product. If you think you have never been a victim of psychological manipulation before, then look out for this tactic.
The manufacturers who use the phrase “nutritional benefits” are implying that there are no negative qualities associated with their products. They use the word benefits so that you automatically assume the product must be good. Using the phrase “nutritional information” leaves the consumer to their own devices when evaluating whether or not a product is good for them. Using the phrase “nutritional benefits” takes that power away from the consumer. The choice has been made for you, without your consent. Our product only has benefits. It does not have any drawbacks. Buy it, it is good for you. Be a good little mindless consumer.
Since my main meal only amounted to a total of 585 calories, I needed to consume something else in order to top up my total for the day. I treated myself to a bigger than usual dessert by having two of my Hint O’ Mint Squares tonight. Each square contained 115 calories, so my dessert totalled 230 calories. Adding this total to the 585 calories from my main meal, we get my total calorie intake for the day, which was 815 calories.
Here are my current stats:
Weight and Body Fat
My weight has been rising steadily for a few days now. Though I know that the volume of my meals has something to do with the increase, I also suspect that the low battery signal I was getting from my scale for the last little while was also responsible for what may have been erroneous readings. I can rule out any problems with my scale tomorrow morning now that I have replaced the battery.
My Salter body fat percentage scale showed me weighing in at 150.4 lbs this morning with a body fat percentage reading of 20.1% today. Then, the battery died. That is why I am not so sure that today’s numbers are accurate. It probably will not matter anyway because one day of weird readings will not matter compared to having 29 days of accuracy to look back on when this 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet is over.
It is best not to get obsessed with what the scale tells you anyway. I only step on the scale each day so that I have a number to plot on my weight loss graph. I do not really care what the number says. I just keep a close eye on the trends that my weight loss chart shows me. If I see my weight trending up for too many days in a row, then I try to make the necessary changes in my diet to level out the rise in weight or make the trend move downward for a time. The numbers the scale reveals are irrelevant.
Summary
It is always interesting to challenge yourself in ways where you are not completely confident of success. I remember back some twelve years ago when I first started down the weight loss path how unsure I was that I would ever be able to make a difference in my physique and acquire the body image I desired. There were a lot of failures prior to the success which I currently enjoy. I would not have made it to this successful point in life if I had let my fear of failure get in the way.
One new way in which I am challenging myself and facing my fears lately is by applying for various jobs that I do not think I have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting hired for. I figure the worst they can do is say no, so what is there to be afraid of? Maybe someone will actually say yes.
I decided to change my approach to job hunting recently by raising my standards. I made a promise to myself not to accept less for pay than I thought I was worth. That resolution meant re-evaluating my decision making process regarding which jobs I deemed worthy of applying for. I have since applied for various jobs paying in the $80,000 – $150,000 range. Maybe I will not hear back from these companies, but maybe I will. I would hate to see backward in time someday and find out that I could have had one of those jobs if I had only possessed the courage to ask for it.
Do not let your fear of failure get in your way. Define some new standards for yourself where your diet is concerned and start failing as soon as possible. Every day you spend earnestly trying to learn something new about weight management will bring you one step closer to your goals.
I am now only 5 days away from reaching my second major goal of 2009. I am already nearly one-sixth of the way to reaching my ultimate goal for 2009 which is completing my 12 consecutive 30 Day Weight Loss Diets. How close are you to completing your goals? Get started now.
Technorati Tags: 30 Day Weight Loss Diet, Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet, 800 Calorie Limit, Healthy Meals, Weight Loss, Food, Personal Development
Related Posts
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 1
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 2
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 3
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 4
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 5
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 6
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 7
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 8
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 9
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 10
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 11
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 12
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 13
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 14
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 15
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 16
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 17
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 18
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 19
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 20
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 21
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 22
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 23
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 24
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 26
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 27
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 28
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 29
30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 1: Day 30
Leave a Reply
Donations
If you find that anything here has been tremendously helpful to you, I would appreciate a donation in any amount. Thanks for visiting and God bless you!
