Shelley's Food and Exercise Diary

[ganymede]

To keep myself accountable, I will start logging my food each day on this forum. It's the only way I'm going to break this bad pattern I've stumbled into.

Breakfast -

1/2 cup of oats
1 cup of skim milk
2 teaspoons raw sugar
1 cup of tea, skim milk, no sugar

Morning Tea -

2 x mandarins
1 x jarrah hot chocolate

Lunch -

Steamed vegetables

Afternoon Tea -

15 almonds

Dinner -

2 x fillets crumbed fish
Steamed vegetables

Exercise -

45 minute walk

[Blitz]

How did you go today? What worked for you and what tripped you up?
Examine then review and then put the thought out change into place.

My how you must love those steamed vegetables!

A few suggestions that may be helpful...

I see the sugar is back. It is hard to give it up in one go, so why not try cutting it down slowly each day until you can do without it? My brother in law one day went to visit a friend. Asked how much sugar he would like in his tea; replied with three teaspoons worth! Went to drink the brew only to discover that it tasted horrid and sickly sweet. He accused the host of playing some mean joke which he vigorously denied. My sister then had to step in before it got out of hand. She confessed that she had been slowly reducing her husband's sugar every time she made him a cuppa. He thought that he took three teaspoons of sugar when in reality he hadn't had any sugar in his tea for months!

Jarrah coffee are nice but unfortunately loaded with all sorts of things that don't help you trim your waistline. The very worst of them is the Jarrah Hot Chocolate. Probably something you should ditch from the menu line up while you are trying to lose weight. If you must have hot chocolate (I can understand the attraction - the weather is perfect for it now); get the very best drinking chocolate instead. But...use sparingly - it's got teeth! I myself stay clear of hot chocolate even in these maintenance days...so be careful.

I see the almond count is up as well. I understand this totally...of all the snack choices I make these days...this is the one that can blow out for me (they are tasty aren't they?). Here's my radical suggestion...have only ten almonds but have two lots of them ( ) - one in the morning and one in the afternoon (but only if you have had a controlled eating day)! My thinking is this...they are very good and healthy for you, it will stop feelings of being deprived, be used to govern less healthy choices and everybody deserves an occasional small treat!

Very good work creating this thread to explore this area of your journey. Good work - and good start!

Kim

[ganymede]

I went well yesterday though a few foods changed throughout the day so here was the final tally:

Breakfast -

1/2 cup of oats
2 teaspoons of raw sugar (I ran out of bananas to have with my vita brits! will try easing up on it day by day though)
1 cup of skim milk
1 cup of tea, skim, no sugar

Morning tea -

Jarrah hot chocolate (so bad yet so good! Will have to work something else out as you suggested Kim)
1 and a bit mandarins (one was going a bit yucky so only had a couple of wedges)

Lunch -

Well, as suspected the thought of having steamed vegetables made me feel extremely depressed

So I had:

1 x large pear
1 x slim right shake with a splash of milk but mainly water (bad I know but it was the best calorie wise at the time)

Afternoon tea -

15 almonds (I upped the amount slightly because it gave me that good energy feeling to get in a really top work out that even involved some jogging)

Dinner -

Lean Cuisine Thai Green Chicken Curry
2 x slices of wholemeal bread ( gotta work on this! May put carbs in the middle of the day to avoid this happening again)
1 x milo on water with a splash of milk (was craving something sweet but didn't want to overdo it - another thing to look into!)

Exercise -

40 minutes walking with some jogging in between


TODAY:

Breakfast -

1/2 cup of oats
1 cup skim milk
2 teaspoons of sugar (I know, have to work on this!)
1 cup of tea, skim, no sugar

Morning tea -

1 x orange
Jarrah hot chocolate (I forgot to pack fruit and I only had an orange in my bag and knew it wouldn't cut it til lunch )

Lunch -

2 x wholemeal sandwich bread toasted
1 x tin of salmon (trying to put my hit of protein and carbs in the middle of the day, hopefully will help me not crash in the afternoon/night binge)

Afternoon tea -

15 almonds (will have to sort this out, whether I eat something different and cut back the portion to 5 almonds with fruit maybe...not sure)

Dinner -

Thai green chicken curry
Steamed vegetables (add some bulk to the meal and avoid having bread and hot chocolate again!)

Exercise -

40 minutes walking

Lunch

[Blitz]

You are making some good choices.

I wouldn't worry about the almonds too much...they are healthy and if you are having them just before some exercise they won't do you in too much.
Ten is the recommended number not five or fifteen. Although the Australia variety is generally smaller than the Californian ones (that's why I do 13 of them if they are on the small side).

Try getting some fruit into you for your snacks or adjuncts to your meals. The bulk of the fruits will give "gut satisfaction" - and good energy for exercise.

Ran out of bananas! Gosh that reminds me of the time years back when my brother came home half cut one night and knocked off my dad's last beer in the fridge. It was his morning "start the day" beer (did I mention he was an alcoholic?). That following morning World War Three broke out at our place!
Bananas have a similar place in our household at the moment. My wife and daughter know enough (now) to leave at least one banana for my breakfast. One of my chief concerns of each day is to keep the banana supply to our house up.

Doing a grand job...keep it up!
Kim

[ganymede]

Here is my actual score for the day, whilst there was 1 thing in particular I didn't do to great with, I was glad I didn't have a huge binge and eat an entire pizza Baby steps again is what I need to focus on. Small changes. Today was rough, just feeling extra touchy...

Breakfast -

1/2 cup of oats (edited: I originally wrote 1/2 a cup of coats which had me in hysterics )
2 teaspoons white sugar (we ran out of raw sugar at work)
1 cup skim milk
Tea, skim milk, no sugar

Morning tea -

1 x orange
Jarrah hot chocolate (due to forgetting to pack another piece of fruit, I have two pieces packed ready for tomorrow though!)

Lunch -

1 x can salmon
2 x slices of wholemeal toast (found the carbs in the middle of the day helped once I got to mid afternoon feeling hungry and still having my walk ahead of me)

Afternoon tea -

10 almonds (I did it! I had the recommended serve!)

Dinner -

Yep, here's where things went a tad wonky... My parents go shopping Tuesday night and they always buy fresh bread rolls. White rolls with sesame seeds, for some reason, is a weakness of mine! I don't particularly like white bread but the sesame seeds make them irresistible!

So here's dinner:

2 x bread rolls
1 x pear
Jarrah hot chocolate (I promise to ease off these, I do but seeing as I've been struggling so much lately, I'm trying to ease out of my bad habits slowly so I don't throw this journey into the too hard basket)

Whilst I could be a Narna Nazi, seeing as I'm living under my parents roof again, I can't really chuck a hissy fit for them NOT buying enough bananas I have a car and money, I could just buy more myself BUT shops = temptation and I'm not ready for that just yet. Would prefer 2 teaspoons of sugar for the time being

For tomorrow the plan is:

Breakfast -

3 x vita brits
1 banana (we have bananas in da house again! )
1 cup of skim milk
tea, skim no sugar

Morning tea -

1 x mandarin
1 x pear

Lunch -

1 x tin of salmon
2 x wholemeal toast
Tea, skim milk, no sugar

Dinner -

I WILL eat my chicken curry with extra veges and NOT eat bread rolls for dinner. Bread is not a dinner, it's a lazy person's dinner! Or woman with a mad obsession with sesame seed bread rolls kind of dinner

I will however still throw in my hot chocolate because I'm weak and I find it really does help, at least for the short term. Or at the very least, on days where I'm so close to inhaling a packet of Iced Vovo's due to stress/heartache/blubbering like a baby.

Now to add in a new part:

Things I resisted today

- salami (I don't even HAVE any salami but I was dreaming about it at 6:30am this morning )
- Jelly beans (I keep a tiny packet in my console in the car as a couple of times when I got back into things I would get quite faint after exercise so just to make sure I didn't pass out)
- A third bread roll
- Bad things from the lolly and chip donation boxes we have at work (all it took was someone jiggling coins and I'm like "chips and lollies!?")
- Eating an entire pizza (pizza seems to be my thing at the moment. Especially after quite possibly eating the best pizza of my life on Friday night plus an entire bottle of wine but we won't go there...)

I'll call today a partial success. Whilst I was still under calories, I shouldn't have had bread rolls for dinner. I just find it so hard sometimes not being able to eat meat and being a lazy cook, sometimes I settle for bread rolls or eggs on toast. Will work on this.

[Blitz]

When I was losing weight (and even in these maintenance days) I try to limit my intake of bread to one slice a day (generally lunch or very very rarely dinner). I love bread (and ate mega amounts of it) as we all do but it is a small thing to get rid of for a big result.

Meet me half way when the bananas run out...have only one teaspoon of sugar (did you know that raw and white sugar both have the same amount of calories - 67cal?...brown sugar is 50cal).

You are right about tackling changes in your food in paced way. You are trying to build good eating habits...slow and sure wins this race.

Feeling a little faint after vigorous exercise is pretty usual when you are also restricting your calorie intake. That is why some fruit before exercise is good. Also keeping your liquids up during and after exercise is a bright idea as well. A lot of that faintness is directly caused by fluid loss (sweat). Adding SOME orange or lemon juice to your water will also help. No real need for the jelly beans if you take these other steps. Jelly beans are ok if you're a diabetic needing a sugar hit but for weight losers this type of sugar is too processed. Keep monitoring your faintness...if your body is getting a little bit too "thin" (easily done as we balance between the worlds of giving our body just enough but not too much) - eat a good red piece of steak. The protein hit from that usually gets the body back on track.

Kim

[ganymede]

You've got yourself a deal, Kim! 1 teaspoon it is for next time

As for the bread, I've only taken one slice today and will have a piece of fruit instead. I've kept my afternoon tea as 10 almonds for now but if I find I'm still a bit faint I will maybe swap my serve of almonds with a piece of fruit from another meal of the day.

As for the steak... While I'd love nothing more than to devour a good steak, I'm allergic or have a bad reaction to red meat and chicken so I will have to find my kick of protein else where.

[ganymede]

Okay, here goes. The final score for today! Some successes, some failures, some lessons learned etc.

Breakfast -

3 x vita brits
1 x banana
1 cup skim milk
Tea, skim, no sugar

Morning tea -

2 x mandarins

Lunch -

1 x can salmon
1 x slice wholemeal toast
1 x large pear
tea, skim, no sugar

Afternoon tea -

10 almonds

Dinner -

Thai green chicken curry
1 x slice wholemeal toast
Jarrah hot chocolate

What I did right today: Banana instead of sugar, pear with lunch instead of TWO slices of bread, stuck to my 10 almonds, did my 40 minute walk and burnt more calories today than yesterday, resisted a hot chocolate at morning tea so kept it to one cup today

What I need to work on STILL: the second slice of bread at dinner time!!!! It's a work in progress...need to add veges to dinner and leave it at that.

What I resisted today

- a muesli bar (really felt like it tonight)
- more than 2 slices of bread in a day
- Mcdonald's fillet o fish (I didn't go to Maccas or any where near one but I remembered they existed today and I love them so...)

Been a rough night/day for my emotions, was a blubbering mess last night but managed it without reaching for something in the pantry to "comfort" me. A sneaky peak on the scales this morning shows a decrease of 200g this week which considering the apocalypse of bad food I was partaking in the past week minus the now 3 days I've been good, I'm pretty happy with that and it just goes to show what you can do if you just keep your head in the game.

Day 3 down, day 4 to come... goal is to reach next Thursday weigh in, then onward from there in small leaps!

[Blitz]

It is starting to come together now...good work so far.

so I will have to find my kick of protein else where.

Looks like you'll be eating lots of mushrooms and...almonds

Keep chipping away at it each day - and you will see the results on those scales.

Kim

[JP1]

Nice going Shelley, I've had a bit too much portion the last couple of nights but it's been pretty healthy food so no shakes plus I've put in on the exercise front so it's all good..

I smiled looking at the details of your 'resist' list - apart from pizza on Sat night and pizza again on Tues l'm not really at the stage where l am either hungry or craving anything and I try not to think about it too much, I dunno I've never really obsessed over food, just eaten exactly what l have wanted and it just so happens that most of that just isn't really healthy for me

Anyway this is about you so well done on being able to list out your daily intake and I see Kim is giving you tips to refine your decision making, I hope it continues to work for you and that you stay on track..

[ganymede]

Kim, alas, I hate mushrooms!!!! I have tried, oh how I have TRIED to eat them but they are just revolting! Lots of almonds it is And fish

Thanks JP and I know what you mean. Once I'm on a roll, the cravings pretty much stop but when I'm particularly hungry my mind just drifts to epic proportions... I will keep battling through.

So, today's efforts:

Breakfast -

3 x vita brits
1 x banana
1 cup skim milk
Tea, skim, no sugar

Morning tea -

2 x mandarins

Lunch -

1 x can salmon
1 x slice wholemeal toast
1 x orange
tea, skim, no sugar

Afternoon tea -

Banked my calories from the almonds for dinner

Dinner -

2 x fillets of crumbed fish
100g of oven baked chips
Small dollop of tomato sauce
Jarrah hot chocolate

I really need to work on my vegetable intake, I KNOW. And despite eating chips, it was well within calories and I found it worked for me last challenge to have 1 meal on a Thursday night after weigh in that was slightly more "hearty" without breaking the bank. It gave me a "treat" without it really being a treat, something to look forward to. Next week I will make sure the fish is fresh and that I have veges too I'm just so lazy when it comes to cutting up veges and frozen ones are much to be desired... Not so bad when having the frozen meals as they have veges but I didn't have any tonight so need to make sure tomorrow I definitely do!

Things I resisted

- Pizza....again! It is my main daydream of late
- cheese and tomato toastie (which isn't really bad but still, I wanted about 3!
- more chips than I needed
- a second slice of bread today! One victory at least...
- a hot chocolate at morning tea
- Beer....delicious frothy ale. To wash my pizza down with

I'm quite proud, really. Because today I had so much going on in my head with solicitors and blah blah blah and I was feeling so overwhelmed. But I didn't back down and I didn't just go "bugger it!" and organise a list of foods I was going to get at the shops to drown my troubles in I just thought of the bigger picture and thought of each day being one small step and that at the end of this one, I'd put all that stuff out of my mind, go to sleep and be ready to face it again tomorrow. I also thought about the fact that whether I eat bad food or choose not to, my problems will still be there. Eating a packet of biscuits doesn't miraculously fix my woes. And eating an entire block of chocolate certainly won't take away my pain or make me feel any less worried or stressed. In the moment when I'm munching on down on some ice cream, I can trick myself into believing that it "calms" me and "makes me feel better" but it doesn't. Not really.

The things that are better for my mind are going for long walks with my music and amidst nature. Eating the right foods often and working towards something great. It has taken me awhile but I suddenly have a tiny glimpse of clarity about the entire thing. For the sake of my mental health and being able to deal with this tough time ahead, I need to look after myself. And the health benefits will come and I know some days I will want to give up. But I had the worst night of blubbering and just gut wrenching misery was over me the other night and instead of eating away my sorrows, I had my hot chocolate (I know, a work in progress! lol) and got all the pain out then went to bed for a good night's sleep.

Anyway. Epic rant... Until tomorrow.

[ganymede]

Oh, I also resisted a bacon and egg roll at work this morning. Even though they were cooking them downstairs and all I could smell was delicious bacon...and then sausages at lunch. So unfair!

[Blitz]

Oh, I also resisted a bacon and egg roll at work this morning. Even though they were cooking them downstairs and all I could smell was delicious bacon...and then sausages at lunch. So unfair!

Are you just saying that to get up JP's gander? You know how he enjoys his bacon.

Don't like mushrooms?...what's this world coming to? My daughter doesn't like them either...it makes me suspect that she may have been switched at birth (unfortunately she looks too much like me and my mum to get away with this thinking). I have a passion for mushrooms...both me and the hobbits.

I think you did very well today. I don't even think that the chips were a bad idea. They were oven baked and in the scheme of things well managed in a healthy meal. Even the jarrah hot chocolate isn't too "bitey" in this context.

The idea is to have things you like but in controlled serves and settings. When my daughter was young she learnt about the food pyramid. On top of the pyramid were the kinds of food that usually gets us "fatties" into trouble. Those got labelled as "sometimes food". It is a good way to think of these foods. They aren't things that we can't have ever but rather things that we should have sometimes (infrequently) and in controlled serves.

Kim

[JP1]

Love mushrooms and guess what am munching on a Bacon and Brie crusty roll as we speak

Sorry Shelley

[ganymede]

Mushrooms are the bane of my existence! Oh JP, that sounds incredible. I'm having my porridge then off for a walk yesterday was another success. Lots of cleaning to burn cals, ate well during the day and banked my almond cals and had salad wraps for dinner, yum! Did a 1 slice of toast after with a tiny smear of honey and my hot choc. I feel satisfied!