11 April 2106

me time looking for a kindle - unsuccessfully

Getting ready for Korea - yay.

Breakfast was half of this not-very-nice concoction.

very healthy but not to be repeated.. I am not counting calories but this breakfast was under the count. Coconut water, plum and 1/4 frozen banana - tarty tart tart tart.

Lunch however was V nice! Turkish Lamb Burger on assorted greens, with avocado.

And dinner was an egg and salmon salad.

The morning was very good food wise but the day wore on and I limited my picking to <300 calories I think. Grapes, and a few bits and pieces.

10 April 2016

First day on new diet.

1 dose of Vitamin 'ME' a day. (thank you Gippsland Health Coach Lynda Western)
No counting calories. (thank you Richard) - maybe counting processed foods as a deterrent
Go the less stress path. (thank you Alexander and Seung Hwa)

Slept in until 6.

Breakfast - Egg White and Tomato Omelette with Homemade Apple Juice

Lunch - Stir Fried Tofu and Vegetables (no rice or noodles)

Snacks - a few grapes and 3 Brazil nuts and some pistachios.......and a passionfruit (home grown and rather large).

Vegetable soup and Sweet Potato Chips

now for a vitamin me soak and read

physiological - still working from the fitbit and keeping intake less than recommended or allowable recorded as per activity. Best guess anyway. I can handle hunger and like the feeling of a little bit hungry and prefer it really. I do have a tendency to feel hungry rather than thirsty and have to consciously decide to drink rather than eat. Water is the 90% choice (and I do become tired of water...) but not being a tea or coffee drinker, the rest of the options are limited or tainted. Green tea occasionally...

psychological - I snack. I don't always. I can go without for hours and hours. I can snack and not eat meals. I like nuts but my handy "this is how much a handful looks like = 250 calories" display beside the nuts helps me say no. I like fruit. I like the odd packet (100 calorie) of chippies. I really like chocolate and my own desserty type cooking. I limit my culinary efforts to the cause of good now. My husband snacks too. The handy nut calorie reminder assists him too, even though he is trim and has no trouble with his weight. It was good to realise that I snack. Graze really - snacking is (more....less?) conscious, whereas grazing is part of the cook/taste tester/mother thing. Little bits on the go. More like picking really...but it all adds up, sneakily.
I like comfort food. I sometimes eat to achieve a feeling of 'job done'. or to appease anxiety.

social - preparing for lots of eating out in Korea. Great food. Healthy food. Food provided. Not much choice....we will see.

economic - will have to buy food on the go. Money may be more of an issue. Hate paying lots of money for lettuce, bread or chips. Found some good healthy food outlets in Victoria. Maybe there are more options out there in the big wide world now.

9 April 2016

Blood test this morning.
Weight 83.4
Remembering what it was like 'before'.
Remembering feeling like I wanted to lose weight 'then'.

Optislim for breakfast  (152 calories) official count

Lunch Egg Salad.         (300-400?) best guess

Afternoon drink - (100 calories) official count

A few grapes and 2 Brazil nuts ....?

My dance with calorie counting is soon to end. 

I have been on this for nearly 6 weeks.

Heading overseas for a quick visit.

Thinking of something else to try.......

Will still keep a record just for fun and for reference.

Now...what for dinner that is under 200 calories.....

Char Siew Chicken with Gingered Kale on Cauliflower and Corn in Oyster Sauce - not a 200 calorie meal, but yummo

Let's just say this is an 'over' day

8 April 2016

Thinking of the therapeutic nature of blogging (rather than 'why do I have to keep proving this') and taking the accountability as positive - even if only to me.
I had to resist the feeling of guilt when I ate a few extra cherry tomatoes and felt like I had to record them last night.

So - a post script from last night - let's say snacking - add an extra...whatever - let's add - whatever you like - even if it was 200 then I am still below 1000 and I should be losing weight - and cherry tomatoes should not instil guilt.

My husband commented last night that my day off had me looking more relaxed...even beautiful! and younger.
Normally I would be on granny duty - early rise (4.45) and a trip to Sydney. Back on the afternoon train and shopping, housework, dinner and ready for work on Friday. This is never a chore and I look forward to the time spent with my girls.

so - today's progress so far.

Breakfast smoothie - (100mls?)almond milk(30c), kale (I'm not counting the kale), 1 tab blueberries(30), 1/4 banana (30) - 200mls - say 100  best guess.

Good start to the day and then the meal replacement with dessert started. Not quite Optislim.

The Stage 5  Class had to be assessed - on ice cream.

It had to be done.

Some were average, but the top right hand pink one was pretty good. We all agreed it was the best. I stopped counting calories here.

I also stopped eating here. I had a taste of all of them. Not too much - just a spoonful each....but.....

Dinner by candlelight.

Ricotta, Dill, Spinach and Avocado Rounds, Corn and Fried Tomato with Basil and Prosciutto.

Didn't bother counting the calories after the ice cream.

Fairly light meal. Rounds cooked in egg rings. Butter on the corn would have been nice. Maybe next time.

Fasting in the morning for a blood test. Serves me right!

7 April 2016

I have been dieting on and off for years now.
The latest diet is the Michael Mosely 800 calorie diet.
I have been on it for 5 weeks now.
I have been strict.
I have had 2 or 3 days where I went over. Consciously over.
Even up to 1000 calories that day.
I have lost 1.5 kg according to the scales when I saw the doctor today.
She advised I keep a food diary. I will add pictures when I get organised.

My diet is low in sugar anyway, no bread or white stuff, no alcohol, low fat and low other stuff.
There are days where I have to assess student work. (I teach Food Technology and English as an Additional Language.) I cater for this.

Heading into the school holidays this will be less of a factor.
Heading overseas on Tuesday 12th which may cause a suspension in the count and accounting. Back home Thursday 21st. I will see...

I have a fitbit.
I have 'taken out' the exercise from the equation, walking an average of 5 km a day, just to concentrate on the food aspect.
The fitbit also tells me the calorie equivalent of what I could eat based on my activity levels. I have set it to weight loss. I eat around half of that or less.

My husband says "It is not the food!!" He has seen what I eat and has at times 'ordered' me to eat or drink. He is insistent that my weight gain started as soon as menopause started. He has seen me eat less and less, exercise very well, follow nutritionist's eating plans, go to the gym....and still gain weight. He wants me to stop counting calories. He is over the whole dieting efforts and my failures. He tells stories of Weight Watchers and other diets and how I managed these whilst travelling. He wants me to stop dieting and just eat the healthy food we always eat. Vegetables, meat, fruit, nuts, and low sugar, fat and carbs.

I will record other factors, so as to add to the bigger picture.

My husband says I rarely snore.

...so here we go....
Today I feel really depressed.  I want some results. I want to look good in clothes.
My sugar was 7 this morning. Before breakfast. Blood test on Saturday for thyroid function.

breakfast - 1 Optislim                                     (152 calories) official count
lunch - salad vegetables and a little chicken (130 calories) official count
8 grapes (green)
5 cherry tomatoes                                              (<100) best guess
butter chicken and vegetables                        (400) official count

why I eat what I eat

physiological - hungry enough but not ravenous, would have liked some carb foods - feeling a bit empty. Probably need more calcium and protein. Have to remind myself to drink water. Will take a multivitamin and a calcium tablet tonight.
psychological - choosing organic where possible, my tendency to pick is recognised as unhelpful even if the food is healthy. I want to look nice in the clothes that I wear (not to be thin or fat - it is more vanity and my sense of what I like to look like). I recognise I like to eat to make myself feel like I am achieving and also to feel good - comfort food (soy hot chocolate, nuts etc) but urges resisted (and it is not that hard and I even went shopping around lovely smells for a significant part of the day).
social - no pressure to go along with social niceties today,  although Wednesday night family dinner I will eat more (less during the day in preparation, but more than the allocated 400 for the night. No desserts, but slightly bigger portions (even though they are small by normal portion sizes).
economic - I can afford to buy better quality food and do so. Salmon, lean meats, organic foods, free range eggs, mushrooms, almond milk and nuts. I have been buying packaged portions where I can (far more expensive) that provide nutritional information so I am not second guessing about calories, fat and salt. I have weighed food so have an idea of portion sizes.