This post is a little different than my normal posts here. First of all the photography was (obviously) not a priority and all photos were quickly snapped with my iphone. Also, this post specifically is being written for my own benefit and that of my fellow Noomers. Brief explanation for those of you who follow me or happen to wander upon this post and have no idea what I’m talking about. Noom is a weight loss (and weight maintenance) program that I have been doing since the beginning of September. I plan to write a post giving more specifics on my experience and opinion of the program once I hit my goals and will explain more of how it works then, but this post is just about things I commonly eat on an average day. It is the first of at least 3 posts I will write. My next one will focus on Motivation, Inspiration and Fitness and then another on How to Eat Out.
So if you are a fellow Noomer, Welcome! And a disclosure: I don’t claim to be an expert at Noom but have had fairly consistent success so far (just starting week 11) and have gained a lot of ideas and tools that work for me and might help you too.
SOOOO…..WHAT DO I EAT?
First of all I should say that I think it’s important to look at what your Pre-Noom eating patterns were and what meal or snack times were most important to you and what you are willing to change. For me, as long as I had my black coffee in the morning I didn’t really care if I ate breakfast or not. I was usually starving by lunch though and that would cause me to eat a very large lunch. Now I do eat breakfast so that I’m not as hungry at lunch time however I keep it small (usually around 150 calories total) so that I can have more calories left for the meals that are more important to me.
BREAKFAST
My most frequent breakfasts consist of a combination of any of the following:- A slice of Dave’s Killer Bread with a teaspoon of country crock spread
- Yogurt- vanilla greek with some blueberries and granola on top, Activia Strawberry or peach, or Light and Fit
- Thomas Whole Wheat English Muffins with a teaspoon of veggie cream cheese
- Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, canteloupe, or honeydew)
- A bowl of Better Oats oatmeal (This also makes a good snack if you are craving something sweet!)
- Eggs or the Spinach Egg White Frittatas from Costco (above)
LUNCH
Most days I eat lunch at my desk at work. I know Noom says not to do this but I work part time for just a few hours a day which happen to be through lunch so I don’t really have a choice. One thing I have found that really helps with the hassle of tracking and logging my lunch at work is measuring it as I pack it in the morning (or if I’m doing really good the night before) and either writing all of my calories and or weights on a piece of paper and including it in my lunch bag or sometimes, especially if I know I’m going to eat everything, I will go ahead and log it before I leave for work. I ALWAYS bring a big bottle of water to work and sip on it all day even if I bring another drink for lunch. Another thing I should point out is that there is a good example of both how to modify your Pre-Noom normal and also not be deprived in my lunch choices. Shortly before starting Noom, one of my favorite restaurants; Schlotzky’s opened in my town. I had been praying for this to happen for a while so when it did and I heard the first 200 people in line would get free sandwiches every week for a year, you can bet I was there. After standing in line for a few hours I got my free sandwich card and then a few weeks later I started Noom. It didn’t take long on Noom to learn that my biggest issue was portion control though and both my portion sizes and appetite decreased quickly. So I continued to get my free sandwich every week and eat half (it’s yellow and half is only 281 calories) and save the other half for either dinner or the next day’s lunch! So now it’s like I get TWO free sandwiches every week. The only downside is I’m getting a little tired of them.😢
My frequent lunches:
- Wontons from Costco (pictured above)
- Peppers or a few pita chips and hummus
- Salad (I like a big ole bucket of mostly green stuff from the grocery store salad bar with fat free Italian Dressing)
- Leftovers from a healthy dinner
- Wrap Sandwich using Tumaro’s Garden Veggie Wraps,thin turkey or chicken deli slices, a thin slice of provolone or mozzarella and sliced black olives. I like to throw this in the microwave for a few seconds.
- Half of a sandwich from Schlotzky’s (Original) or sometimes Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom
- Black Olives
- Dill Pickle Spear
- Fruit (usually cuties or grapes)
DINNER
One of the reasons I always had trouble sticking with eating healthy in the past was because it’s hard enough to feed a family of 4 and please everyone, let alone try and make healthy and/or low calorie meals at the same time. I used to say I refused to make two separate meals so everyone would just have to eat what I was eating (and then came the complaints) OR I would just go back to making hearty comfort foods that made my family happy and give up but I have learned it doesn’t have to be so black and white. For instance on taco night I throw some chicken, salsa, black beans and seasoning in the crockpot in the morning and then for my “non-chicken-loving” husband in the evening I make regular beef taco meat. My kids like to eat a little of both. Yes, I end up with a lot of extra chicken but YAY…there’s lunch! For pizza night, I found a great recipe in the NOOM APP for a spinach pizza on whole wheat pitas that I make for myself and let them order whatever OR if we pick up some frozen pizza’s I found these:
Other favorite dinners the whole family enjoys:
- Pulled Pork
- Salmon
- Lemon Chicken
- Grilled Pork Chops
- Soups
- Zuchinni boats (look these up on pinterest…yummy!)
- Butternut Squash Risotto side
- Veggie Tots
- PIZZA! Look up the “Pita Party Pizzas in the Noom recipes. Only 192 calories for two and they are 70% GREEN! I replace the black olives with Kalamata! I also enjoy the Pizza shown above from time to time or sometimes just a slice or two of good ‘ole fashioned carryout pizza.
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Pretty much anything in moderation. I do save most of my calories for dinner…the one meal my family sits down together most of the time.
SNACKS:
I don’t snack often and when I do I try to stick with fruits and veggies and things that won’t use up my calories for the day however I believe one of the things that makes this program so successful is that nothing is off limits and you don’t have to deprive yourself. Having said that, it can be tricky to both fulfill hunger and cravings AND stay within your calorie limits. Here are some ways I do that:
SWEETS
I keep a bag of Ghiradelli dark chocolate and sea salt squares out of reach of the kids…just for me. If I’m not hungry, but am craving sweets just one 50 calorie square usually does the trick. Other favorite sweets are dark chocolate hummus with strawberries, or after dinner I occasionally enjoy a YASSO bar for dessert. I feel like almost every Noomer has heard of these at this point but if not, they are 100 calorie greek yogurt bars that come in a wide variety of yummy flavors. My daughter and I also stumbled upon “Oreo Thins” this week which are only 35 calories per cookie and could possibly become an occasional special treat. I do try to not only keep things low calorie, but also healthy most of the time but once again…everything in moderation and no deprivation are the keys to long term success here.
Other snacks I enjoy:
- Tuna Infusion Cups
- Grapes or cuties
- Yogurt
- Pepper slices with hummus
- Fruit and Grain Bars
- Applesauce snack pouch
DRINKS
I lucked out a little in the drink department because three of my favorites happen to be water, unsweetened iced tea and black coffee. BUT I do get on Dr. Pepper kicks every once in a while and when I do, I start craving them daily. This is one of those times that I know that it’s important for myself to not feel deprived or like I will never get to eat/drink normal which is exactly the kind of thinking that will lead to throwing in the towel. So I have learned to modify this treat. I buy the little 12 oz. bottles of Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper and keep them in the garage fridge. That way they are out of site and out of mind and I don’t grab one just because I saw them and got “triggered”. When I really am wanting a soft drink or am having a craving, I get one and know that I have not screwed up my calories for the day. Yes, I know that soda in general is not healthy and artificial sweeteners are the devil and ironically enough I refuse to use them in any other aspect of my family’s diet. (Have you tried Monk Fruit Sweetener? It has 0 calories, is diabetic friendly and 100-250 times sweeter than sugar!! Great for those of you who don’t love your coffee black). But for me, my diet has changed for the better SO drastically on NOOM that if a little diet coke every so often will keep me going…it’s actually a healthy choice. Another thing I have learned to love and sometimes use to curb a soda craving is Kombucha. My favorite is the locally made Watermelon Hibiscus flavor that our grocery store caries. It’s a little fizzy and sweet and full of probiotics and good for the microbiome!