Lissa's Better Eating Journal

[DCLissa17]

Thanks!

Today I have been very good. Work has been insane so I missed my 1st snack of nuts but we ordered in pizza for the staff since no one was going to get to eat otherwise and I didn't have any! I told myself I would eat my soup that I had brought and if I was still hungry I would have a tiny slice but I wasn't hungry. Yay! I have an extra job after work (just a quick one) so I'll be getting home a bit later than normal. Maybe will do a short walk with the dogs if it's not raining, otherwise I'm going to do the Phase 1 exercises.

Today's meals:

Breakfast:
1 HB egg
1/2 cup fresh veggies
cubed ham bites
veggie juice
Snack
didn't get one, coffee
Lunch:
Beef, bean, veggie soup
coffee

Still to go:
Snack:
cucumber slices and string cheese
Dinner:
chicken chef salad
nuts
Snack:
yogurt

[DCLissa17]

Well the rest of yesterday went well. Added a small cup of the soup from the other day to my salad and did the Phase one exercises. Today I am soore! Not sure if it's just from the exercises vs. not enough sleep vs. "diet" pains. I feel pretty tired but that's not such a difference from my "normal" during a busy workweek with not enough time for sleep!

Today:

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs
3 slices turkey bacon
glass veggie juice
Snack:
string cheese, coffee
Lunch:
chef salad w/ ham
cup of beef/veggie/bean soup
coffee

Still to go:
Snack: veggies w/ hummus
Dinner:
Chili
green salad
milk
Snack:
2 TBSP peanut butter!

I may take a walk this am if its not raining or maybe just go up and down the 3 flights of stairs in the apartment building 2-3 times. I am pretty sore and wiped though so I might skip today and just rest a bit. We'll see..... one more workday this week! I need to make a plan for my days off this weekend so I am up and moving, not laying around the house in pjs jonesing for munchies and cocktails.

[Chris55]

Welcome back to the boards, Lissa! It looks like your menus are great and you have a handle on what you need to do. We all know what we need to do, it's the doing that's the hard part! I usually try to spend part of my weekend planning food and cooking a bit ahead for the next week. I'm trying to get back on track after holiday indulgences, so I've got lots of veggies on hand again and am clearing out the bad stuff.

Sleep is a wonderful thing - make sure you're getting enough!

[DCLissa17]

Hi Chris!

Thanks for stopping by. I make out the week's menu "plan" and then take it meal by meal. If a meal made more portions than I originally planned (usually with soups as my recipes are less distinct), then I incorporate and/or replace other meals later in the week. And if I really don't feel like eating something in particular, I will substitute something different. I've found that this system works well to give me an outline to work off of without feeling completely restrictive.

As for sleep, I'm catching up this weekend. I work 13 hours shifts (3 normally, but 4 this week), so not so much time for sleeping in between!

[DCLissa17]

Ugh, not sure if I've got the SB "flu" or a touch of food poisoning/bug but I've been nauseous for 2 days. Last night was real bad, but I had looked at a bunch of stuff on the microscope which always gets me motion sick. Unfortunately, it didn't go away. I drank a couple glasses of milk and made chili for dinner in the morning which helped a little. This evening I scrapped my breakfast plan and had a cup of chili and green salad with milk. But still just a twinge unsettled. Hopefully whatever it is will go away soon!

Other than that, trapped at work with NOTHING to do....a long 6 hours ahead of me before the weekend starts. I REALLY hope that I stay on track this weekend. Tomorrow will be a downtime day catchin up on sleep & shows. But Sun & Mon I need to get out of the house. I need to go grocery shopping, to Rite Aid, take the dogs to the groomers, go ice skating, visit my friend Ashley, find a business accountant, and make some dinner presentation plans for my biz. Mostly I need to NOT sit around the house in my PJs watching TV online, munching mindlessly and wishing I was drinking rum. I'll let you know how it goes.

For today:

Breakfast:
cup chili
small green salad
Snack:
yogurt
Lunch:
bowl chili
small green salad
coffee

Still to go:
Snack:
veggies w/ hummus
coffee
milk
Dinner:
tilapia
cauliflower "rice"
green beans
Snack:
nuts, LC wedge

[DCLissa17]

Well the good news is that I'm not wishing I was drinking. Have felt too tired/nauseous all weekend for that! I do lapse into the "if I just eat some Valentine's candy I'm sure I would magically feel better" but I know that's a lie! So not too hard to deny.

The rest of work Friday night got REAL busy when a critical case came in,so didn't get to my veggies snack. By the time I got home I was starving! Had the tilapia dinner I had planned. By 1pm I was asleep. I got up twice to take the dogs out, grab a drink of water and a spoonful of PB, but didn't get up for real until 8a Sunday morning. When I got up I was super weak and nauseous, I could barely walk back up the stairs after taking the dogs out again and my hands were shaky. I think I was hypoglycemic! I ate a bowl of chili and had a big glass of milk and pretty much collapsed on my chair. Didn't feel much better until the afternoon. I've come to the conclusion that this is NOT the SB flu because its gone on so long even though I've been eating exactly what I should. So I guess it's just a regular minor flu-bug thing. Ugh. My meal plans got all screwed up what with the super long sleeping and feeling so nasty, so basically I just skipped Saturday entirely. Here was yesterday/Sunday:

B: Bowl chili, glass milk
S: 3c. veggies w/ hummus
no real lunch
S: 2 wedges LC cheese, 2T pb, diet sierra mist
D: remainder of beef/bean/veggie soup from earlier this week, glass milk
S: slices of cheese

And back to bed! Went to bed around 1am, dogs got me up at 10am. I had a lot to do so I figured I'd get up, even though I still felt tired. Settled in my chair with breakfast and after eating, went back to sleep until 2pm. Just finished lunch and now trying to convince myself to get up, take a shower, and get out of the house like I planned to today. We'll see how it goes!

Today:
B: 1 HB egg, 1 wedge LC cheese, glass milk
S: SF jello
L: Bowl chili
still to go:
S: veggies w/ hummus, nuts
D: tilapia w/ riced cauliflower and green beans
S: yogurt, SF jello

Thankfully it's back to work tomorrow so I'll have time structure to fall back into regarding meals. That always helps. But good news, Week one Phase one done!!! I'll be glad next week when I can start adding back starches.....

[play-doh]

Hi DCLissa,

I've never had the SBD flu, but I can't imagine it would make a person feel as awful as you did. Anyway, I'm glad you survived it, whatever it was. I hope you have a great week?

P-D

[DCLissa17]

Thanks play-doh! Doing better today for sure. It's my first night back to work of the week, so my schedule is always a little wonky. Was up since 1pm so the eating schedule was off for the first part of the day. Basically I got an extra meal! Feeling good though and I didn't really exercise this weekend like I was hoping to, but I did walk to the bank and do the Phase one exercises yesterday, so that's something. Got a lot of my other weekend tasks done too AND didn't break the diet. Feeling good about that! I weighed at work and am basically the same which is good I think since I don't have a lot to lose and I haven't really gotten to get into the meat of exercise yet.

Today: (tuesday)
AM: get up, take dogs to groomer's
Breakfast: HB egg, turkey slices, veggie juice
go back to sleep
1pm: get up, pick up dogs from groomer's
Snack: veggies w/ hummus
Lunch: spaghetti squash w/ chicken & broccoli
Snack: SF jello, 2 TBsp PB
go to work, tea
Snack: nuts
Lunch #2: spaghetti squash w/ chicken & broccoli, coffee
Snack: yogurt

still to go:
Dinner: pork chop, cauliflower mashed 'potatoes', green beans
Snack: string cheese

[DCLissa17]

Well was exhausted after work & massage yesterday. Ate the rest of the chicken/broccoli/spaghetti squash alfredo and a glass of milk and went to bed instead of cooking something new. Today doing good. No pizza or candy which abounds at work tonight. Feeling strong and easy in the diet choices, now just trying to kickstart the exercise portion. I found a home for one of my dogs yesterday (he couldn't adapt to apartment life) so down to one dog and 3 cats which means I can actually go for my exercise walks WITH the dog instead of wrestling with two of them at once. Plan on doing Phase one exercises and half mile walk with the dog this am after work.

Today:

B: turkey slices, yogurt, veggie juice
S: nuts
L: chef salad, coffee
S: veggies w/ hummus, coffee

To go:
D: pork chop, cauli mashed "potatoes", brussel sprouts
S: SF jello, string cheese

[DCLissa17]

Argh so annoying my computer freaked out and I lost a whole long post. And you know how that goes...its so overwhelming to write a whole thought-out rambling post all over again!

The dog is back. Found a rescue group to help me place him and he's going to "sleepaway" camp (daycare + overnight boarding) for the 3 days a week that I work until I find a new home. He'll be happier because otherwise he is stuck at a kennel at work for 13 hours and I'll be happier because I won't be hearing him shriek all night and feel guilty and/or come home and/or wake up to "accidents" all over the house because he is mad at me for being a lousy owner. "camp" starts this next week, whoo hoo!!!

As for SB, Phase one is winding up. On one hand, I am excited to start adding fruits and starches back because the options open up widely for meal planning. On the other hand, I am doing so much better this time around on Phase one with not feeling like I'm being cheated. I think I've found a lot of new veggie options and I don't know, it's just been easier this time. I only stuck with Phase 2 for like 4 weeks last time (cheating widely with alcohol through everything) so I'm worried that opening up options will make it easier to slip back into the processed foods and sugar bingeing.

My weekly meal plans have been helpful though I by no means stick with them religiously. snacks and whatnot get changed depending on my mood. I think for Phase 2 instead of using the weekly meal template to specify each meal and snack, I am going to make a series of lists for the week to choose from. and then the next week I'll make a new list of stuff and so on. While I am transitioning from Phase one to two, I will just plan out how many fruits and starches I am adding and to what meal/snack of the day. For example:

Entree List (7-10): turkey chili, chef salad, chicken alfredo, steak, baked salmon, tuna casserole, beef soup
Veggie Sides (5-7): glazed carrots, steamed broccoli, roasted cauliflower/brussel sprouts, cauliflower "rice", green beans
Starch Sides (2-3): mashed sweet potato, sweet potato fries
Breakfast List (7-10): HB egg, scrambled eggs, WW bagel w cream cheese, WG cereal w/ milk, ham, turkey bacon, WW waffle, WW toast w/ PB
Snack List (7-10): nuts, SF jello, string cheese, cheese slices, veggies w/ hummus, yogurt, PB w/ WW crackers, fruits (w/ protein)

Day 1: one starch to breakfast
Day 2: one starch to dinner
Day 3: one starch to lunch, one fruit to snack
Day 4: one starch to breakfast, one fruit to snack
Day 5: starch to dinner & snack, fruit to breakfast
Day 6: starch to lunch & breakfast, fruit to snack
Day 7: starch to breakfast & snack, fruit to breakfast

I want to make sure that I transition slowly so that I keep the principles of SB firmly in hand and don't go all hog wild with freedom. Also, I want to keep eating a large variety of veggies and keep my meals fresh and wide-ranging. And I think that in the long-term, I will try and plan at least one meal a day with no fruits or starches in it.

As for today, it's harder to avoid snacking since it's a day off, but my snacks are SB friendly at least...

B: Bowl turkey chili, veggie juice
S: SF jello, nuts
L: FINALLY actually made that pork chop, baked cauliflower mashed potatoes,and brussel sprouts, diet Sierra Mist mixed with V8 Fusion (this drink is very similar to the sparkling cranberry juice vodka "martinis" that I would have 2 or 3 of with meals at home. It gives me almost the same taste as the martinis and I have them in a fancy glass so I don't miss the alcohol as much.
S: SF jello, one piece of chocolate, wedge LC cheese, another glass sparkling V8 fusion (gotta think of a name for this)

to go:
D: probably gonna have another bowl of turkey chili w/ a green salad. Just realized I haven't had any dairy so will have a glass of milk
S: yogurt, 2T PB
Didn't have either! Ended up zonking out in the chair and waking up around noon. Took the dogs out, got some water and a spoonful of PB and went to bed.

And then I work tomorrow night (extra shift whoo hoo!) I work 3-4 extra shifts a month routinely (keep in mind my 40hr workweek is (3) 13 hour shifts so I have lots of days off). Until Tristan (the dog) gets a new home and he goes to sleepaway "camp", I will need to be taking 2 additional extra shifts a month. So you can see how that is not a good permanent solution for me. At least I like my work!

Exercise....*sigh*. I admit, I am sucking this time around with the exercise thing. I WILL do the Phase one exercises today. right after this post.I did the exercises! yay me! I hate cold so it's nearly impossible to convince myself to go out and about walking outside. And I've tried the gym thing before, I could never convince myself to go. It's all about a determination/willpower thing. Right now I have poured all my determination into the correct eating habits and not drinking. Which is going incredibly well. I am frankly deeply amazed that I haven't been jonesing for alcohol. I do enjoy a little wine or a martini or two and look forward to adding them back to my life but I am worried that I will slip back and it was getting worrisome before. I may just get those little bottles of wine and that way there is an obvious stop point, similar to breaking meals down into single servings right away so you aren't as tempted to take 2nd helpings. Hopefully soon I will be ready to pour my willpower into exercising. I'm not stressing too much about it!

[DCLissa17]

Well after zonking out before dinner yesterday, I felt nice and rested when I got up this evening! Things have come along pretty well this weekend and I am pleased. Tonight I'm working an extra shift and it's very quiet. I've planned my shopping trip to RiteAid for Tuesday, posted on my blog, checked my email, and now here I am! Tomorrow I have a busy day as the dog is going into the daycare for evaluation, I have to treat all the spots on the carpet, clean the bathroom, do the laundry, then the accountant is coming over in the afternoon for a consult to help me get my business stuff set up, and hopefully making dinner for my friend and her husband! I am in a bit of a quandry regarding that. If they DO come for dinner, I will probably cut Phase 1 short by a day to make the meal planning easier and might make a beef stirfry w/ brown rice. Though I might just do a noodle soup of some sort and they can just add the noodles to theirs and I won't to mine. Chances are they won't come for dinner because they kinda suck like that.

For today I'm being good!
B: HB egg, greek yogurt flavored w SF jello powder (OMG THIS IS GOOD! I don't like greek yogurt usually but with the jello powder it is almost like a dessert! I am so going to keep eating this from now on), turkey slices, veggie juice
S: Cashews
L: pork chop, cauli mashed "potatoes", brussel sprouts, coffee

to go:
S: veggies w/ hummus, coffee
D: probably a cup of turkey chili + green salad, glass of milk
S: SF jello

Since I will be staying up all day I'm going to be on a day schedule again so just pretend my dinner is also my breakfast! Monday's plan:

B, S1: see above
L: turkey roll-ups! raw veggies, sparkling V8 fusion I actually ended up not eating my dinner/breakfast of chili until around 11am, had some nuts on the way to daycare instead. So this meal didn't happen at all!
S: yogurt, sparkling V8 fusion
D: see above....soup w/o noodles, beef stirfry w/o rice, or more chili! we'll just see what happens

As for exercise....since the "trouble" dog will be at daycare, I think in the afternoon as long as it's not raining I will go for a nice mile long walk with the other dog.

See ya later!
~Lissa

[DCLissa17]

Two posts in one day... My work schedule is weird and the transitions on and off often make for some interesting eating/sleeping schedules. Not so great for me, I know. I just figure, if I'm awake, eat a snack every 2-3 hours with a meal every 6-8 hours. Here's what happened today.

8a- got off work, drove home
9a- took dogs out, changed clothes, gathered stuff and took dog to daycare
10:30a- back home. Had breakfast/lunch: turkey chili + green salad + milk
11a- took a mile walk with the dog - Yay exercise! We are both so out of shape that we were wiped by the end of it
11:30a- cleaned house,did laundry
1p- found out my meeting w/ accountant needed to be rescheduled (drats!) for tomorrow. So tired so I'm ok with that. Had a snack of greek yogurt w/ SF jello powder (OMG still SO good. Must get more greek yogurt) and a sparkling v8 fusion. Read in book.
2-5p- napped (been up since 5p the day before)
5:30p- Went to pick up the other dog from daycare, nibbled on nuts on the way there. Still don't know if my friend is coming for dinner. ARGAIHGIEGH!!! I am about done with this friend and her flakiness. And she's my business partner. Trying to figure out how to get out of THAT before the business actually starts getting off the ground. *sigh* the foolish decisions we make.
7p- back home. Soo hungry. thought about another bowl of chili but I'm kinda done on chili right now. Thought about making something...seemed really timeconsuming and I knew I'd be munching on something or other before I got it done. Had an "antipasto platter" instead....which is just kind of a catchall description for various munchies almost buffet-like. This one had a couple slices of turkey & roast beef (oscar meyer carving board lunchmeat....OMG amazing! got a ton on a huge sale last week), mixed raw veggies, a few black olives and dill pickles, and slices of LF cheese. Its tasty and fun and super fast.
Dunno what I'll have for a snack tonight. Probably some sf jello and PB. pretty tired so just going to mellow out watching a show or two and go to bed. Not a lot of energy for mindless snacking so that's a good ending to Phase 1!

Tomorrow's plan: (not going to plan snacks specifically anymre)
breakfast: yogurt, turkey bacon, HB egg
Lunch: chili, green salad
Snack: Had a celery stick w/ LC cheese while dinner was cooking
Dinner: Beef stirfy over brown rice! YumM!
And I am going to totally have a rum lemonade with dinner. Just try and stop me.
Ok I had one and a half rum lemonades so not bad. Need to get some single-serve wines for drinking with dinner as I was just rereading the Phase 2 info and realized I'm not supposed to add hard alcohol until Phase 3.
After dinner dessert: greek yogurt w/ jello powder
Evening snack: 1c. carrot sticks, sparkling v8 fusion, peanuts

[DCLissa17]

Ok I have developed my official plan for this week, Week 1 of Phase 2. I think I will slowly transition over 3-4 weeks back to 3 starch and 3 fruit a day. Like a said a few posts before, I am not planning out each and every meal because I just end up straying from that strict of a plan. So I just listed out a few lunch/dinner meals and then figured out what starch/fruit I wanted to add which day and to which meal. Breakfasts and snacks are easier and much more "on a whim" so I'm not worrying about planning those.

Entrees:
Beef stirfry over brown rice (4)
Chef salad (1)
Steak (2) + mashed sweet potato + roasted cauli/brussel sprouts
Tuna casserole (2)
Salmon patties (3) + glazed carrots + green beans
Turkey Chili (leftover) (1) + side salad

Tues: starch to dinner: stirfry rice
Wed: starch to lunch: stirfry rice
Thurs: starch to breakfast: _Cheerios!_, fruit to snack: apple w/ PB
Fri: starch to dinner: _tuna casserole_, fruit to snack: 1/2 mango
Sat: starch to lunch: stirfry rice, starch to snack: WW crackers w/ LC, fruit to breakfast: kiwi
Sun: starch to lunch: _tuna casserole_, starch to dinner: stirfry rice, fruit to snack: 1/2 mango
Mon: starch to breakfast: __WW waffle_, lunch: _mashed sweet potato_, fruit to snack: apple w/ PB

So far, so good! See my post above for tuesday's meal. My dog goes off to "camp" before work tomorrow so I'll have a peaceful week. Have an interested home so maybe by this weekend he'll be placed! That would be so awesome!!! Plan to take mile walks with the other dog after work on Thurs & Fri mornings. This weekend I'm going to try and go ice skating! and maybe I'll even bust out some yoga....really need to follow through on the exercise part of this!

[DCLissa17]

Phew! Worn out this morning. Was called in late to work because it was slow. Of course, as soon as I got there it stopped being slow and started being crazy! Running from one disaster to the next all night. We had a brand new relief vet too so that makes everything more complicated. She was pretty awesome though, I was definitely impressed. Glad to be home and SOO glad that the one dog is at "camp" I just don't have the energy or mental capacity to deal with him today. It's great to know that when I go to sleep I can sleep without worrying about him or hearing him whine at me. Considering the train wreck of my worknight, it's amazing that I didn't grab any of the candy at work...or dip into the Valentine's candy at home....or really feel like having a drink. These are ALL things that I would have done 2 weeks ago....all together most likely! And today, I think about eating these things, but more in a habitual absentminded kind of way, not with any actual desire or cravings with it. I LOVE that!

So instead, stayed late at work about an hour because one of the day shift people called out sick (helped to make up for coming in 2 hours late), got home and took the dog on a 1/2 mile walk (even though it was sprinkling a bit!), and have a new dinner cooking while I type this. I'm going to eat dinner, watch an episode of TV, and go to bed probably around 11:30am. Which means 6 hours sleep, decent on a work day. I'm so proud of myself!

So here was today:

B: greek yogurt w/ jello powder, 2 scrambled eggs, veggie juice
S: cup chili + glass milk (eaten before I left for work since called in late ~8p)
L: (was so hungry since snack was early and lunch got taken late) beef stirfry w/ brown rice, coffee
S: (no real morning snack was too busy) carrots on the way home
D: salmon patties, roasted cauliflower & brussel sprouts, sparkling lemonade
S: nuts, LC cheese

[Hellonurse23]

Hi,
Im on maternity leave right now (in Canada we take a year) but when I return I will be working nights again. I know its hard to work out the whole 'when do i eat supper/when is breakfast thing'. I do not miss those 12 hours staying up all night and Im really trying to make use of my time at home to lose the majority of weight. I gained so much from working nights- so much food lying around so you start eating to stay awake!
Good luck to ya, Ill be picking up tips that I can use when I go back in June.
Sonya