Thursday, February 17, 2011

What's for Breakfast?

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I find that when I eat a very hearty breakfast, I am less hungry the rest of the day. Sometimes, I even still feel full through lunch and forget to eat lunch. Don't worry, I am making a conscious effort not to skip meals. I also feel more energetic and think less about snacking. This morning I had:

mashed pinto beans
2 eggs (over easy cooked in Pam)
salsa
1 slice of multigrain bread
a little neufchatel
black cherry raspberry blood orange preserves (1/2 the calories of regular preserves but very yummy)
a large cup of coffee
creamer

Total calories: approx. 500 calories

Some of you are probably saying, "Whew...that's a lot of calories for breakfast!" You would be right, but considering I will only have a salad which consists of baby spring greens, zucchini, tomato and some oven baked turkey for lunch, it balances out. Sometimes I'm still full that I will only have a banana for lunch. If you would also notice that most everything above is very healthy. Pinto beans is a great lean protein, eggs have protein and other beneficial nutrients, even the preserves have a ton of antioxidants.

The calories that I am allowed to have in a day is 1500. That is when I am able to work out 60 min. a day, 6 days a week. The weight loss is not fast, but is easier to maintain. With the extra strength training that I am doing I'm finding I need more calories to have the energy to do the exercises correctly.

If I just have a bowl of cereal and fruit, I find that I am hungry through out the day. Food is constantly on my mind, and those are the days that I seem to give in to more snacks. Having a hearty breakfast sets me for the rest of the day and snacking is really brought to a minimum.

Keep in mind that everyone is different. I know some people that just hate breakfast, and that's okay. God created us as unique individuals. Do what works for you, but make sure it is working.

What do you have for breakfast?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds great! I love big breakfasts and I am always trying to find different proteins to add in. Love the idea of pinto beans for breakfeast actually.

Thanks for taking time to explain it all to everyone. I think it´s very important to explain about the calorie intake too.

Dani Joy

Maribel said...

Wow! I love it!
I have very little time to have breakfast, and then a "food break" at 10:15, where I normally eat something, so I like to think it's my breakfast split in two. I have a hard time with my afternoon. I eat the main meal of the day at school, at 1pm. Since we eat later in the evening (supper in Spain, due to schedules, is late) I end up craving food all afternoon, I eat healthy stuff, but they're calories all the same. Do you have a good suggestion to counting calories easily? Thanks for your inspiration!
Maribel

CindyP said...

I have been looking for more protein ideas for breakfast, especially since the kids and I are home everyday for meals. We end up eating cereal and I am always hungry.
We are just starting to add beans to our diet...not sure that I could get everyone (including me) to eat them in the morning. :)

Charlie said...

Hi Maribel,
I like to use the calorie counter in everydayhealth.com. If a particular item is not in their database it allows you to enter a new item. It's pretty accurate. If of course, I already have the package of the certain thing I'm going to eat then I use the package calories instead.

I cook alot of my food at home from scratch, in this case I look at the ingredients I put in and calculate the calories that way. Basically I add up all the calories for all the ingredients then decide how many servings that dish will make and then I divide the total calories by the number of servings. This will give me calories per individual serving. I know it sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it,it's pretty easy.

If you keep a notebook of everything you eat, then at the end of the day you can enter it in the calorie counter and find out how many calories you consumed that day. Then you can make adjustments accordingly the next day.

Counting calories is not something you have to do for the rest of your life. When you do it long enough to get a general idea of how many calories certain foods are you will have a good guestimate in the future.

I hope this makes sense.

Charlie

Charlie said...

Cindy P,

I know it sounds strange to have mashed beans in the morning, but it really is good. I learned it from a Mexican friend of mine. Only they have a tortilla and cheese with it too. It's called Huevos Rancheros. I just modified it for my taste buds. Remember a little beans go a long way. LOL

If you try it, let me know what you think.
Charlie

CindyP said...

How do you cook your beans properly?
I have been trying to use the dry beans b/c they are cheaper and take less space, but they don't seem to come out right. Maybe I am expecting them to feel like canned beans???

Charlie said...

I use the dry beans too. I just sort through them just to make sure there are no wrinkled ones and split ones or anything funny in them. I wash them, then add water. I usually add approx. 3 cups water to every cup of beans. It also depends on if you like it soupy or a bit drier. Then I add fresh minced garlic and onion to it. Let it boil, then simmer for a few hours. I like mine really soft so it may take about 4 hours or so. If I can't be home when I'm cooking it then I'll put it in the slow cooker in the morning at by evening it's good to go. Sometimes I will add turkey bacon to it. Oh don't forget to add salt to your liking. That's it. Very easy.

Charlie

Donna said...

I make granola that I can have on the go. It's high calories, probably, but it's very filling. I sometime eat in yogurt, or just dry. Whichever I have time for. I make it myself. Recipe on my blog singlyunique.blogspot.com.

Charlie said...

Donna,

I'll have to check it out.

Charlie