Day 14 - Epic Fail...sigh.

If I were the sail boat,
this picture would say it all for me today!

Ugh. Ever just want to take a break from it all and lie in bed all day and finish reading your book or watch TV ALL day and of course, just eat whatever food you want to your heart's content? Right now I just want to stop doing everything and go hide somewhere and not worry about how fat I will be come tomorrow morning because of all the retarded things I just put in my body. Ugh. Heh, if you can't tell yet, today was definitely a bad day for me to say the least. I guess this is my first blog-recorded all-out binge. When I say all-out I mean I basically ate enough food in one night and one day to probably undo the 2 pounds I worked so hard to loose for the past 2 weeks. Ugh. Why do I do this to myself.

There are 3 main things that trigger over-eating tendencies in me, at least these three are what immediately come to mind, I'm sure there are far more and i'm sure they're all complex in some twisted psychological way, but anyway they are, 1) boredom, 2) lust after food I know to be bad for me and 3) social nervousness.I'd say this binge was triggered by social nervousness. When I'm with people I tend to eat much less if we go out together. I think it's cuz I am paranoid about feeling full. I tend to associate the feeling of fullness with the fear of being fat - as in, if I don't feel hungry, I must have overeaten...Why, oh why, does the happy medium of contentment continue to elude me?!

So last night, I ate way too little for dinner when I was out with my old friend from the states and then when I got home and away from her and all my nervousness, I couldn't help but nervously and self-sabotage-idly (uhuh...it's totally a word...I swear) eat practically everything in sight. Ugh. Why do I do this to myself? How do I stop doing this?! What I hate is that I feel that I know the answers already. Obviously all I have to do to loose weight is keep my stinking mouth shut. heh. how simple is that. just keep it shut and no food can physically go in. I wish I could keep my mind shut sometimes. I swear I lust after food....yeah, that's right, I wrote "lust after food!" Heh, is that even a real condition? Ugh, I wish I could stop. How to Enjoy Food But Not Become Enslaved By It, By Jenny Taylor...heh, the title of my new best seller....Wow, I'm suddenly super duper tired. I totally wasted this Sunday by going to bed at 3:30 a.m. Saturday night...

Alright...I'm not going to let this past 24 hours get me down. I'm going to move on. I'm going to stick with my plan and just move on. I don't know what else to do. I know the definition of "crazy" is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But the thing is I know this is a good plan...I just need to learn how to stay more motivated over the stinking weekends...I need to learn how to eat in social settings and not feel insecure about the amount I am eating so that I actually do get enough food and don't completely overeat later on from pure starvation! alright, i'm done ranting. Tomorrow is Monday-Weigh-In-Day....heh...yeah...

Day 13 - Crazy Hectic...

So I did Friday night at some friend's house and the guys barbecued some ribs out on the deck. Oh man. They were good. Super good. I had planned earlier not to eat any of them and eat some lean grilled chicken instead, but oh man, once I smelled them all lathered and dripping in sweet, tangy barbecue sauce and watched how crispy-carmely they got on the grill I gave in and ate some. That was the beginning of the end. Like I said before, it's the little things that lead to the big binges. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I ate so much that I gained any serious weight back - I still think I will have lost one pound for week 2 come my Monday weigh-in, but I still gave in to cravings - and mentally that's not good. Ugh. I still think I need to do this though - eat desserts on Friday. I just need to learn to have more discipline. (heh, thanks for your super nice support though, Tina!!! :) )

As for today, I went out to lunch with some friends of mine who are from Canada. They are teachers over here, working at a high-end international school here in the Philippines. They're super nice, but I think they were sort of stressed out today. Anyway, we went to a Persian restaurant and the food there was pretty good. I tried to order low-cal food but I just never know. I ended up getting curry-seasoned chicken kebab's served with grilled onions, tomato's and two home-made pita bread wrap things. I only ate one of the wraps, and I don't think there was more than 3 or 4 oz of chicken total for both kebabs, so I think I did pretty good and it was still super satisfying because of all the spice. I just hope the curry sauce on the kebab's wasn't super fatty because i know they use coconut cream in it usually. Oh well, normally I wouldn't mind and just eat less tonight for dinner, but it's just that tonight I'm going out again with another friend who's visiting the Philippines for three weeks. sheesh. I'm meeting more friends from home than I did at home! So we're going out. Perhaps I can find something low-cal to eat at some random restaurant...hopefully.

Day 13
(6:30 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(1:30 p.m.) Lunch: 4 oz curry-chicken, 2 servings bread (in the form of: 1 tortilla/pitta bread), 2 grilled super small tomato's, grilled onions, 12 oz water
(5:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 apple, 6 almonds, 8 oz water
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: (not sure yet...but hopefully) 3 oz of protein, salad greens of some kind, and 1 cup of vegetables...hopefully...hah, who am I kidding..i won't find that anywhere...sigh. I'm so making a restaurant that gives people basic, healthy food with nutritional information on the side!!

Day 12 - Woah, That Was Fast!

Yes, I use a Mac...So sue me. ;)

Wowzer!! It's day 12 already and my hunger hormones or whatever they are called have been acting PSYCHOTIC! haha. Last night after eating dinner, I was super hungry. I was scrounging around looking for something to eat in the kitchen even though I knew I wasn't supposed to eat anything. It ended up with my walking aimlessly around the kitchen, opening up the fridge, the cabinet, looking at Women's Day magazines at recipes. Heh...now that one is like looking at food porn. haha. I really shouldn't. Resorting to looking at pictures of food and reading food recipes is just...low. hahahah. So yeah, I walked around like a zombie and finally went to bed...Triumphant at least so that's good. But then, oddly enough, right this second at 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon I do not feel hungry at all. It's kind of scary. It reminds me of like a calm before the storm type thing. What storm is that? Why, the weekly, Friday-Night-Special-Treat storm.

As I've intimated earlier, Friday nights are basically the worst time for me in regard to keeping my new life-style dietary change. And yet, I still think I need to enjoy a piece of cake or whatever dessert there may be on hand on this day simply because 1) desserts taste good, but also 2) because I do not want to be afraid of food. I know I have the tendency to fear food and was mildly anorexic just one year ago, weighing 103lbs. I'm 5'4 with a small frame so according to the what the government says, at least for Americans, I can way as low as 110-112 and still be healthy so that's what I'm pushing for.

So yeah, I wasn't super anorexic by way of physical health, I mean, I only weighed 7lbs below what I should have (as opposed to others I've read about who weighed like 80 lbs and were 5'8! Crazy sad) but mentally I know that tendency is there to simply fear eating food and I don't want it to be. So eating a dessert once a week has really helped in this way. I'm hoping it will force me to realize that I can eat whatever kind of food I want, as long as I do so in moderate portions and with discipline. Ugh. It really is hard, though. Part of me just wants to officially mandate that I can never eat anything with refined sugar again and be done with it! But another part of me feels, and I believe rightly so, that this method of dealing with food is also unhealthy. So, as for now, I'm going to have to suffer with learning how to be disciplined in the face of temptation by eating one dessert every Friday night. I'm hoping this will teach me not to fear food, and not to view cake as the alluring forbidden fruit. When something seems off-limits that makes me want to go there and makes the mental, and hence physical fall even harder to recover from. Wish me Luck! :)

Day 11 - Life Is Looking Good

I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday! Yikes, that came by quickly, where has this week gone! But I am feeling super good today. I feel very alert and physically active, I like it! :) I survived the chocolate no-bake dilemma, too! I hope I don't splurge too much tomorrow which, is of course, treat day! I think one of the girls is either making or buying some kind of chocolate mousse cake thing. Sounds good. But like I said earlier (click me), I need to remind myself right here and now that I am only allowed 1 piece of cake, and 1 scoop of ice-cream tomorrow by way of a special treat!

Annoyingly, I feel like making the decision to splurge tomorrow right now, because the feeling of "oh who cares, you feel great right now, you resisted eating those delicious looking no-bakes yesterday -- you deserve something extra tomorrow" keeps passing through my mind...ugh. I really need to keep motivated, and not give in to these lies!! It becomes especially hard to do so as I start to see results. I know it should be the opposite. I know that when I see results I should be more motivated to keep on course. But for me, when I start seeing how quickly my body has changed, I get overconfident and lazy and that's when my motivation crumbles and I loose all that I've worked for in one gigantic Binge-Fest-Weekend...oh, they're lots of fun while they last, but once they're over they're the devil! Yes...I have had many in my life's history. Ugh. I hope, hope, hope, that doesn't happen this Friday. Wish me luck, I have a feeling I'm going to need it!


Day 11
(6:40 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(11:40 p.m.) Lunch: 3 oz fish with white wine and butter sauce...yummers.
(3:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium orange, 4 walnut halves, 12 oz water
(5:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup chopped carrots (raw)
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: 3 oz chicken (oven baked), 1 cup salad greens, 1 cup vegetables (steamed), 1 cup 2% milk

Day 10 - Chocolate No-Bake Cookies!

So, it's Day 10 already. And I'm starting to get excited because I can definitely see a change in my body even though I've only lost a little over one pound! Heh, I guess that's the advantage of only having to loose 10-15 pounds - each pound off is significant. Anyway, last night I had a rather flavorless meal - turkey patty, salad, broccoli and milk. Why? I had to stay at the office last night until 11 p.m.! But, the good thing about eating at my office is that I usually don't crave for more food once I've finished with my meal. When I'm at home something about the cozy atmosphere or the idea that there's food in the fridge that I could nibble on always causes me to pine (if that's the right word) for more once i'm done with dinner. But what's doubly great that I had to eat dinner at the office is that last night one of my roommates made chocolate no-bake oatmeal cookies.

Oh man, those cookies are to die for. I could eat twenty of them in five minutes! However, since I wasn't at home and didn't even realize she was making them, I didn't crave them or worse - have to sit at home and die as the the wonderful smells of chocolate being mixed with butter, peanut butter and oats wafted through the entire house. In fact, I didn't even realize she had made them till this morning when I looked in the fridge to get some breakfast and saw a few sitting on a cookie tray. Luckily, I know by the time I get home tonight they will all be eaten up - those cookies don't last long! So that's good. While staying at the office till 11 was a bit lame, I'm glad I got to miss out on at least one temptation to throw caution to the wind and binge on chocolate no-bake oatmeal cookies! :) 10 days down clean and counting... :)
Day 10
(7:00 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium (disgustingly MUSHY) green apple (so gross), 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(12:30 p.m.) Lunch: 3 oz fish with butter and wine sauce (yum), 2 pieces whole wheat bread (toasted), 12 oz water
(3:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium (super crunchy) red apple (SO GOOD!), 6 almonds, 12 oz water
(5:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup sliced carrots (raw), 12 oz water
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: 3 oz chicken breast (grilled), 1 cup salad greens, 1 cup steamed vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower), 1 cup 2% milk

Day 9 - Put Your Food On A Plate!

Alright, it's Tuesday already...the second day of Week 2. Last night was a bit hard. I was doing great until I got home and was too lazy to actually cook myself some nice lean chicken breast on the George Foreman grill. So, I resorted to picking at some leftovers I had in the fridge that no one else seemed to want. Whenever I resort to "picking" or "nibbling" bad things happen! I get this psychological craving that I better eat a lot while I'm not keeping track so that I can .... I don't even know what... gain the weight back that I lost the previous days? Perhaps it's that animal side of my brain that I talked about earlier (click me) trying to get out. Heh, anyway, I didn't overeat or anything, I had alloted myself 4 oz of protein and I think I ate that much, if not less. But the result was that I kept questioning whether or not I really did eat enough and whenever that pyschological barrier is crossed I get panicky and prone to binging. Thankfully, like I said, I didn't overeat last night, but I still had to fight the craving to do just that. Annoying. Doubly annoying because I know how to prevent it as well.

Moral of the story:
Make sure you see for yourself just how much you are eating via putting what you eat on a plate so that you do not double guess yourself and con yourself into eating more.

Day 9
(6:40 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium green apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(12:35 p.m.) Lunch: 3 oz turkey patty (grilled), 2 pieces whole wheat toast, 12 oz water
(4:20 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium orange, 4 walnut halves, 12 oz water
(5:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup sliced carrots (raw)
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: TBD - but on a plate this time! :)

Day 8 (End of Week 1) = Monday Weigh-In Day!

My 3:00 p.m. snack today:
a medium green apple and six almonds...yummers

So it's been an entire week since I started this blog and my life style change. Consequently, with the close of Week One comes Monday-Weigh-In-Day! I've decided every Monday I am going to weigh myself and post the results on here. Oh lucky you! So, stepping on the scale, this somewhat delightful Monday morning, I was a bit apprehensive. I kept thinking of all the food I had eaten during the interesting and surprising festivities of this past Friday (click me) and Saturday (click me). But I stepped on anyway and found I weighed 124 lbs. - I had lost one pound. I should be happy about this, I mean, I lost some weight rather than staying the same or even gaining and yet, I was a bit upset - I wanted to loose more. One stinking pound does not sound like very much when compared to how much I felt I had to give up on Friday and Saturday. It makes my resolve waver over the doubts on whether or not I can really do this for three more whole months!

But then, reading back in my first entry for this blog (click me) I reminded myself that my original plan was to loose exactly that - one pound per week. So, in reality I guess I should be glad that I carried out my original plan. I suppose for me, having this mindset is super crucial. As I think about past, failed diet plans, almost all of them were blown to smithereens because I became too impatient or over-zealous about losing the weight; I tried to loose too much weight in too short a time. And this always would cause my body to crave high energy, sugary foods which inevitably lead to massive binges on my part. My mental resolve would be completely broken down by my insistent, insatiable urge to eat and feed my body the foods I was denying it, foods my body would insist were urgently needed - cakes, cookies, apple pie - anything that allows your body to gain back the weight it lost, quickly!

Therefore, I need to be patient. I need to be happy when I've reached my goal, even though it is one in which I will not see changes immediately, and I need to not be upset when I do not exceed my goal's expectations for each week. I need to be careful not to cut back on the amount of calories and foods that I've resolved to eat each day in hopes of loosing more weight in the same amount of time. Why? because I know that those cut backs, in the long run, will only set me back further in my desire to be healthy. This is a life change - it's a marathon not a sprint! :) Eventually, 14 weeks from now to be precise, I will be the weight I desire to be now. Interesting.

Day 8
(7:00 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(1:20 p.m.) Lunch: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces toast, 12 oz water
(3:20 p.m.) Snack: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 12 oz water
(5:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup sliced carrots (raw), 12 oz water
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: 1 cup salad greens, 1 cup vegetables (steamed), 1 cup 2% milk, 4 oz protein (not sure what yet)

Something is so right about the flavor combinations of
nutty almonds and sweet crisp apples. :)

Day 7 - Eating Out

Alright, well, as I mentioned in my previous post (click me) a co-worker of mine had a party. I think I did ok in regard to watching how much I ate. But the problem is everything was super caloric that night so I probably ate too many calories even though I didn't feel like I was eating a lot of food. Sigh. The meat that we had though was grilled lamb chops. Very tasty, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are also very fatty. So yeah, caloric, fatty food...plus I didn't end up getting to bed until around 2:00 a.m. heh. so much for a healthy lifestyle. Ugh. Hopefully next weekend won't be as packed full of surprise, sugary foods and late nights up. heh, I
also hope that I don't end up saying these same woes come the close of every weekend!!
Anyway, as for today (Sunday), I woke up super late for me, so I had to cram breakfast down on the go as I rushed to catch my ride into the city with some friends. We ate lunch out at Sbarro's. Being part Italian I really love Italian cooking, so I appreciated going there while being in the middle of Asia. But then again, who doesn't love Italian food. Anyway, I ordered Chicken Romano without the pasta. It was pretty good, I just have no idea how many calories it had or what kind of dietary exchange it gave me either. Ugh, the hardships of going out to eat. Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Tomorrow is "Monday Weigh-IN" day for me...I hope I lost one pound...I guess I'll know tomorrow.

Jenny :)

Day 7
(9:00 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 green apple, 6 almonds
(12:10 p.m.) Lunch: 1 order Chicken Romano, 12oz coke zero
(5:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 12 oz water
(7:00 p.m.) Dinner: (Salad w/ hard boiled eggs and cauliflower) 2 cups salad greens, 1 cup cauliflower, 2Tbs. French Dressing, 2 hardboiled eggs, pepper, salt; 5 oz 2% milk

Day 6 - Surprise Birthday Party

So, I just found out that one of my co-workers is turning 67 today. We're throwing him a surprise party and I'm excited for it because this guy is like super nice and just so wise and grandfatherly cute. But I totally didn't prepare for this in way of my diet. Heh. I feel so pathetic even mentioning it. I mean, should this even be a problem? I should totally put people before I do myself...right? And yet, I'm afraid. I've been so good and I don't want to blow off an entire week's worth dieting work...and usually when I get tripped up I just keep tripping. Hm. I really don't know what to do. I've already eaten my Only-One-Treat-A-Week rule.

Alright, so I just finished making my contribution to the party - fruit platter. It has mangoes, pineapples, kiwi's (imported and EXPENSIVE!), and grapes (also imported and expensive!). heh, not that I mind, this guy is totally worth it, he's been so good to me. I just find it funny what fruit costs here when compared to how much I spent in California. But the mangoes here are divine. Not the nasty orangish ones you get from Mexico, but a beautiful golden mango. Oh man. I've never had anything so good, sweet and tangy. I mention the fruit platter because I love fruit so I ate some - when I shouldn't have. I justified it though because I had missed my 5:00 p.m. snack of veggies...But that one difference in my daily routine made me nibble at last night's peanut butter chocolate chunk pecan pie (haha I love spelling that whole thing out) which was still in my fridge even though I didn't even make it! Anyway, I almost threw caution to the wind and ate a whole slice - and who knows what all after wards. I'm not even joking. It's the small givings-in that always lead to a break down in my resolve. And what helped me? This blog! Crazy, I know. But amazing. It's like a catharsis for my urge to eat. I hope I keep it up. We haven't actually started the meal yet, but thankfully this guy doesn't eat desserts so there won't be anything to really tempt me too bad.

Day 6
(8:00 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(12:30 p.m.)Lunch: 3oz turkey patty, 2 pieces bread, 12oz water
(3:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 8oz water
(6:00 p.m.) Snack: 1/2 cup of chopped mango, grapes, kiwi and pineapple
(8:30 p.m.) Dinner: 2 cups Greek Salad (yummers), 1/4 cup Rice Pilaf, half a triangle of cheese boreg, 3 oz fire-grilled lamb chops, 4 oz chamdor sparkling peach/white grape juice

(10:00 p.m.) Dessert: 1/4 cup of Peanutbutter Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie (nibbles...heh..yeah, nibbles = bad Jenny!)

Day 5 - FRIDAY BINGE!

So, it's Friday night, and I'm getting ready to go to bed - as in, my daily consumption of food is over. I am aware that my title is provocative - binge eating, I know, is not healthy eating, but Friday is (or rather, was - because it's technically Saturday morning now since I'm up so late) my special treat day where I got to eat sugary, starchy unhealthy products!

Today's special treat was something my friend made for a few of us girls for our traditional Friday night girl's night! Oh yes, it's sacred, it's special, it's fun, it's girls watching movies together and eating junk food till the crack of dawn...Not really. I mean, we did order pizza, and there were soft drinks and tons of bags of chips everywhere as well as cookies and dessert, but I mean, while I love pizza, and I enjoy watching TV for a time, I honestly don't like how I usually feel the next day from the combination of lack of sleep and unhealthy food. And thankfully, that dislike has always been a sort of help to me even before I started this new life change in my diet, in that, while I like doing those things, I like feeling healthy the next day just a little bit more...heh, most of the time!

So, in regard to the food, surprisingly, although I ate more than I originally wanted to - I told myself that I could only have one sugary treat and a half a cup of ice-cream. But sadly, a few hours before the girls came over, I ended up eating three chocolate chip cookies! bummer. However, I did not feel as though I were completely out of control - the essence of binge eating - so that's good. Hm...therefore, I will consider this Friday night a moderate success, because I know in the past I have eaten WAY more than that on Friday nights. But I plan on being a little more disciplined for this next Friday night. I am resolved to sticking to the Only-One-Sugary-Treat-Tonight rule...I think I'm going to remind myself, via this blog, of this resolution everyday starting Tuesday so that I hold to it come Friday!

Day 5
(6:30 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium green apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(11:30 a.m.)Lunch: 3 oz. grilled Porkloin, 2 pieces whole wheat toast
(3:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 green apple, 6 almonds, 12 oz. water
(5:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup sliced carrots (raw)
(6:30 p.m.) Snack: 3 chocolate chip cookies
(8:00 p.m.) Dinner: 2 cup salad greens, 3 oz. grilled porkloin, 1 cup 2% milk, handful of cheddar cheese Sunchips, (forgot to take vitamins and supplements...oops.)
(9:00 p.m.) Special TREAT: 1 slice peanut butter chocolate chunk pecan pie, 1 scoop vanila almond ice-cream.

Day 4

So I don't know what's up with my time zone thing on my blogger account. I think it's because I made it when I was in Australia visiting, but now i'm in stationed here in the Philippines with an NGO. Hm...Everything is like a day, or at least several hours off on this blogging archive thing. It's officially 3:39 p.m. Thursday afternoon here, but when I post this I know it will say "Wednesday" and some random time. Hm. Annoying...sort of.

Anyway, as for my diet..ahem..I mean, new lifestyle, last night was super hard for some reason. I went to bed feeling very hungry but at least I went to bed without giving in to my somewhat intense desire to eat something so I'm glad about that. No time for pictures, though. I have an intense work load right now, hopefully it will keep me too busy to think about feeding my shriveling (hopefully) fat cells! ;)

Tomorrow is Friday, a.k.a. treat day...nervousness. Trigger foods which lead to binges vs. self-control and portion control. I think I need to learn portion control and learn that I can eat sugary things in moderation. I don't want to be the person who is afraid of what they eat. I hope I don't regret this come Saturday morning!

Day 4
(6:20 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(11:30 a.m.) Lunch: 1 3oz turkey patty, 2 pieces whole wheat bread, 12 oz water
(3:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 9 oz water

(snack and dinner) To Be Announced....

Day 3 - No Refined Sugar...EVER?!

So today, so far, has been going well, but it's only 3 p.m....I have a ways more to go before the day is through - especially considering the evenings are the hardest part in the day for me in regard to feeling hungry and wanting to give in. I was recently reading this blog found here (click me) and in it the author talked about trigger foods and staying away from them completely. This is something that I most definitely understand. There are some foods which cause my motivation to stay slim to run out the door at, I'm sure, olympian gold medal speeds. My weaknesses in regard to food, are cake of any kind and for some reason chocolate chip cookies - yummers. heh... no...bad! haha.

So, as this friday is rapidly approaching, I am getting a little anxious. As I stated earlier (click me), I've decided to let friday be my "special" day and have decreed (yes, decreed!) that I must have one piece of whatever dessert my family is serving that night. As you can tell, I still am not sure about cutting refined sugar out of my life completely. It's definitely a tough decision to make. I'm going to see if I can manage some self-control this coming friday and rather than pretend cakes do not exist, enjoy a slice, but restrict my portion. Hopefully this won't trigger a binge on my part. Nervousness...


Day 3:
(6:30 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(11:30 a.m.) Lunch: 3 oz Pork loin, 2 pieces whole wheat toast, 12 oz. water
(3:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 apple, 6 almonds, 12 oz. water
(5:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup carrot slices (raw)
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: 1 cup salad greens, 1 cup vegetables (steamed), 3 oz chicken breast, 1 cup 2% milk,
Supplements: Calcium pill, Multivitamin pill, Vitamin D pill...yuck...but necessary yuck...although personally I think the only thing these supplements actually do is make my pee more expensive...heh...oh well. I'd rather be safe than whatever that alternative might be...osteoporosis...broken hip when I'm seventy...who knows!

(Snack and Dinner info added later...just..you know..so you all know :) )



Hm...weird to think that there's a picture of something which is currently in my stomach floating around. hah. That's gross. Anyway, surprisingly that was one of the best tasting apples I've had in a LONG time. Weird. It was super crunchy, which I love - who doesn't! But it was also nice and tangy. Yum. 3:00 o'clock snack, I love you. :)

Day 2 - Hungry...Already?!

So today is day 2 of my diet...or should I say, of my new "lifestyle change". Last night after dinner I got really super duper hungry. I didn't even know why, really and it had only been 20 some hours since I started my diet! But something I read earlier that afternoon really helped. The article said that the brain was segmented into to groupings, the animal grouping and the intellectual one -- at least that was the gist of it, I know the terms aren't right, and I know the concept was not original because I remember reading it in psychology.

But anyway, the idea was that when you feel hunger it's your animal side speaking up, but when you suppress that hunger or deny it, then that's the logical side of your brain working. And to get the logical side to become more active, more pressing upon your senses than the animal, you need to make sure you are receiving enough oxygen. So the suggestion was to take ten deep breaths when you feel the urge to eat something and supposedly it will help let your intellectual side of the brain kick in with the over-surge of oxygen to the brain and consequently suppress that animal urge to eat.

Well, I tried it. And it worked. Fancy that. Hope it works for you! Oh, and those picture of oranges and walnuts were my afternoon (3:00 p.m.) snack. This is basically my most favorite time in the day. I love snacking at this time. I love oranges and walnuts too! They seriously taste super good together. So far day 2 has gone well. :)



Day 2:
(6:20 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup 2% milk
(12:50 p.m.) Lunch: 1 turkey patty (3oz), 2 pieces whole wheat bread, 12 oz water
(3:10 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium orange, 4 walnut halves, 12 oz water
(5:00 p.m.) Snack: 1 large carrot (sliced and raw), 8oz water
(7:20 p.m.) Dinner: 1 turkey patty (3oz), 1 piece whole wheat bread, 1 cup 2% milk

(Dietary Exchange for 1000 calorie plan)
Protein - 6/6 servings
Bread/Starch - 3/3servings
Vegetables - 2/4 servings :( -- couldn't be helped...i had to eat dinner at my office tonight! hence practically the same meal for dinner as i had for lunch! UGH!
Fruit - 2/2 servings
Dairy - 2/2 servings
Fat - 3/3 servings

Apples and Almonds! :)

Apples and Almonds....my 3:00 o'clock snack. Yummers. Seriously, I think everyone should try this combo, it's super good and keeps me full for at least two hours.

Day 1: Yikes, Constant Vigilance!

So, I was reading a blog during lunch time today, the url for which is found here (click me) and I came upon a statement which was associated to a study done regarding breakfast eaters vs. breakfast skippers. The study concluded that those who ate breakfast gained less abdominal weight than those who skipped breakfast. But what caught my eye was this quote -

All the participants gained weight as would be expected of most people who are not taking any specific measures to control their weight.

That statement was almost casual, as though this were a law of nature. Is it true? I'm starting to believe that it is. I've always thought that there were just some people who never had to think about losing weight because their bodies were just naturally in-shape. And I even believed of myself that once I reached my own goal weight that I would then not have to think about maintaining that weight -- that somehow something magical would happen once I reached my goal weight and I would never have weight troubles again.

Naive...I know. So, I guess one of the first things I have got to get straight in my brain is that losing weight and then keeping healthy is an active, ongoing, CONSTANT activity. I will always have to "take specific measures to control [my] weight." That stinks. But it's always good to know the reality of life. :)

Day 1:
(6:00 a.m.) Breakfast: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 1 cup of 2% milk
(1:30 p.m.) Lunch: 1 turkey patty (3oz), 2 pieces whole wheat bread, 12oz water
(3:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 medium apple, 6 almonds, 8oz water
(5:30 p.m.) Snack: 1 cup chopped (raw) carrots
(7:30 p.m.) Dinner: 1 cup salad greens, 1 cup carrots (raw), 3oz ground beef in spaghetti sauce, Calcium supplements, multivitamin supplement, vitamin D supplement.

So, I'm planning on loosing 10-15 pounds and every article that i've read says it's important to one have a plan, and two, to write about it or make a contract with yourself so that you can stick to that plan.

so, my plan: to loose one pound a week for the next 15 consecutive weeks. and my contract, is as follows:

I, Jenny Taylor, promise to eat 1,000-1200 calories a day for the next 15 weeks. I promise to eat:

6 servings of protein -- chicken, pork, turkey, or fish
2 breads/starches -- 2 slices whole wheat bread
4 servings of vegetables -- 1 cup carrots (raw), 1 cup broccoli (raw), I cup salad greens
2 servings of Fruit -- 1 medium apple, 1 medium orange
2 servings of Dairy -- two 8oz glasses of 2% milk
3 servings of fats -- 6 almonds, 4 walnuts, (+ fat from milk)

which equals, surprisingly around 1000 calories a day.

I promise to pace/walk for at least one hour five days a week.

I promise to eat in addition to my regular food intake, one small to medium slice of cake on friday night.

I promise to eat only regular food on saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday.

love, Jenny :)