Low Calories Snacks and Then Some!

Here I go again!  I am looking at my midsection and realizing that my half-butt way of exercising and eating, then not paying attention as I should be, is only hurting me, not helping.  So I went to the doctor.  Well, I originally went to the doctor because I strangely broke out in hives from a night cream that I have used on and off for months.

After prescribing me some medication to take away the inflammation in my face (not mid-section haha), my doctor asked me if I had any more questions.  I think the look on my face was apparent that something was bothering me.  I told her that I am gaining weight, and I have this “problem area”.  After checking my history and giving me a bit of a sideways look, I explained that I know I am not “obese” but I am young (right?) and have two beautiful boys that make me want to be as healthy and fit as I can.  My BMI is OK – cool.  My weight is OK for my frame – cool.  My mid-section is the killer.  I know I harp on this, but I can’t tell you how many times a stranger (or not so strange person) comes up to me and asks if I am expecting.  Seriously?!?  Every time someone says something to me, it reverberates in my mind, over and over and over.  Damn you…

I know that this is probably the worst time of the year to begin watching my waistline, but if I can do it now then I can do it anytime!  My doctor said that as I mature into my latter 30s and then 40s, I need to start exercising more…I can’t depend on my used-to-be super-fast metabolism to let me slide by with a not-so-healthy lunch/dinner/meal/extra glass of wine.  A recommendation that I knew and had started to do but stopped was to count my calories…use an app that will help.  I use Lose It! and I really like it.  It’s user friendly and a bit addicting.

The app’s database has a lot of popular brands of food and restaurants’ menu items…if you can’t find what you are looking for you can just enter it in manually.  Every morning I enter in my weight and all of my meals and exercise.  It is plain as day – I am only cheating myself if I don’t enter something honestly, etc.

How did I divert from the original topic of this post!  Back on track!  I am in search of low-calorie snacks.  At work it is the hardest for me – I am sitting at my desk practically all day…sometimes looking for something to munch on.

Here are some great snack ideas I unveiled in my research:

• 1/2 cup grapes and one stick of low-fat mozzarella cheese (easy as I stock the cheese sticks and grapes for the boys…I’ll just add some more to the shopping cart for me!) = 102 calories, 1g fiber, 7g protein, 3g fat
• Half of a cucumber, sliced with 3 tbsp. hummus: I love both! = 98 calories, 4g fiber, 5g protein, 4g fat
• 1 small whole-wheat pita with 1tbsp marinara, 1 oz part-skim mozzarella, oregano, and basil: delish = 160 calories, 3g fiber, 10g protein, 6g fat
• Nature Valley Granola Clusters: 7 of them are only 140 calories, 2g fiber, 4g protein, 7g fat.  I need to try these…I’ll keep you posted
• Newman’s Own Organic Hi-Protein Pretzels – I need to find these too!!

As I find more, I’ll post them too!  Do you have any snacks that you’d like to share?  I’d love it!