Everyday Systems

Hi everyone, I'm Cindy and I'm new here as of 2 days ago and I think I'd like to do a daily check in. Seems like there are a lot of supportive people on the boards, I'd like to be one too!

I'm 47, 5'10", female (married, working mom of 2 teenagers, Long Island NY) and I went from 212 to 165 about 2 years ago doing pretty strenuous exercise and calorie logging. Since then I've gradually stopped logging, changed my exercise routine several times due to back injuries, and gained back about 20 lbs. I'm sitting right at 186 this morning and want to lose back those 20 because I can't fit into last summer's shorts and I'm cheap and don't want to buy more LOL.

I'm doing vanilla No S plus 2 mods: reduced carbs on No S days, and allowing myself 5-6 almonds between breakfast and lunch ONLY if my stomach growls out loud and it's more than 1 hour til lunch. My morning snack habit is a well-established one, and I'm kind enough to myself to give myself time to get used to it. Adding some bacon or avocado to my breakfast seems to help.

Anyway, 2 green days so far and I'll start my daily check ins tomorrow. :waves:

Oh how I lied. I'll start my check in today.

So last night we had hamburgers for dinner--I skipped the bun so I could have some potato chips--so we have some nice leftovers.

Breakfast: "cheeseburger omelet" with leftover hamburger, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, and muenster cheese

Lunch: "cheeseburger salad" with the other half of the burger, lettuce, spinach, tomato, carrots, cucumber, parmesan, and caesar dressing, plus strawberries and peaches with a dollop of vanilla greek yogurt

Dinner: will probably be frozen chinese from Trader Joe's--I'll probably only take a small spoon of rice and will saute up some extra veggies that the kids will ignore (more for me)

Edit: Success!

Hello, knita peace! I " met" you over on the June challenge thread. Glad to see you've started a daily check in ! I hear ya about being too cheap to buy new clothes! I like how you used your leftover cheeseburger. Very creative! I often have leftovers for breakfast. I have a stomach of steel. Haha. It's not uncommon for me to have chili or taco salad for breakfast. Welcome again!

My first No S weekend, wonder if I'll pig out or show some restraint?

Fridays I usually get pizza for the kids; last week because I was low-carbing it I got myself a salad and some chicken marsala, which gave me some weekend leftovers. I think that's going to be tonight's plan too, and I'm going to try not to include Friday night as an "S" night in order to really appreciate Saturday and Sunday. We're having a dinner party with friends on Sunday and I'm in charge of dessert...I want to be able to enjoy it!

Breakfast: eggs with ham & cheese, vanilla greek yogurt with grapes
Lunch: Friday lunch with coworkers, probably Mexican, I may get a salad
Dinner: Chicken marsala and salad

Edit: success

My first No S Monday, my first No S full week. I'm ready! I did go a little overboard on the Saturday, eating when I wasn't even hungry and paying very close attention to how I felt afterward...kind of sick, bloated, not "satisfied" just full. Yesterday was much better, had a dinner party with friends and didn't eat any of the before-dinner noshes but ate a hearty dinner, drank a couple of glasses of good beer, and enjoyed dessert. I feel like I can enjoy good food under the No S plan this week and refrain from the sweets until next weekend arrives.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, ham, Colby Jack, avocado
Lunch: Salad with turkey and avocado, fruit with vanilla greek yogurt
Dinner: Chicken fajitas

EDIT: SUCCESS!

welcome, cindy!
and glad you finished succesfully your first noS week!

fridays can be also tempting for me to make them an S-something, mostly because it is my day off and also because of socialising that often takes place on fridays... but actually i have decided not to do it and rather let myself fail occasionally... but that is a small price of learning more about myself... and opportunity to bring normal eating habits into my off-routine days...

How did you do today?

I feel you re Fridays...Friday is always my favorite day, so it will be interesting to see how I manage with my "Friday is a party!" mindset.

Good morning Emmama and kaalii!

Yesterday was a success, no snacking and no sweets! (I don't generally go back for seconds anyway so that part has been easier.) I did have a little stomach growling around 11:30 but I made another cup of coffee and that helped me hold off until lunch. Today is basically the same as yesterday except WOOP WOOP DANGER DANGER I have no idea what's for dinner. I don't like being without a plan, makes me all twitchy. I have a lot of work to get through this morning but afterward I'm going to figure this out.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, ham, American cheese
Lunch: salad with turkey, hummus, and dressing; strawberries, peaches and grapes with vanilla greek yogurt
Dinner: ACK! I DON'T KNOW YET!!

EDIT: SUCCESS!

Hi knitapeace/Cindy!

Your meals look delicious! And I really like your almond mod, too. Coffee also helps me fight off the stomach growls and keeps me on plan.

What did you decide on for dinner?

Hi Life! I think tonight will be beef & broccoli with only a small amount of rice for me. As usual, I need it to be quick because Eldest and I have to go shopping for clothes for camp!

I agree that your meal plan sounds delicious...good luck with the shopping!

I guess I need to get some more avocado, because the tummy growls have already started here at 10:00 in the morning. Three hours til lunch???!!!

Breakfast: 2 eggs, mushrooms, ham, American cheese
Lunch: Salad with tomato, cucumber, carrots, parmesan, almond slices, italian dressing, and topped with leftover beef and broccoli from dinner; fruit with vanilla greek yogurt
Dinner: Again I'm not sure! Eldest and Husband aren't home for dinner, so it's just me and Youngest. Not sure if I'm going to take him out for something like sushi, or just make the hot Italian sausage that's defrosted. It WOULD be a good excuse to make some "zoodles" with the veggie spiralizer I'm borrowing from my officemate... EDIT: took my son out for sushi.

EDIT: FAIL

Your meals look yummy! You are doing great. Keep checking in!

knitapeace wrote: It WOULD be a good excuse to make some "zoodles" with the veggie spiralizer I'm borrowing from my officemate...

Have you tried these before? I keep wanting to make zucchini pasta...

your meal plans are so delicious-sounding!

Emmama wrote:

knitapeace wrote: It WOULD be a good excuse to make some "zoodles" with the veggie spiralizer I'm borrowing from my officemate...

Have you tried these before? I keep wanting to make zucchini pasta...

your meal plans are so delicious-sounding!

i am making zoodles often...i make them in the wok with some onion and plenty of spices...
but i also cook a little bit of spaghetti on the side and mix everything up in the end...
plus any sauce, pesto etc.
i strongly recomend as it is a great little device that makes kids eat more veggies, too...

I just got my spiralizer (we are trying to cut down on all carbs because my husband's blood sugar is up a bit) -- and I love it! I have used it for zucchini and carrots and just last night made a big batch of cucumbers. It really does make the food more fun for some reason! (Mine looks like a big pencil sharpener).

Librarylady, that's the exact one my coworker is letting me borrow! She has a hand-cranked one that she likes better; says the manual one needs a lot of muscle but I wanted to try it out before I invest. I'm not sure anyone in my family besides me is interested in "zoodles!" Although part of the reason I'm cutting back on carbs is because of my husband's blood sugar...now if I could just get HIM to cut back LOL.

kaalii I love the idea of mixing the zoodles 1/2 and 1/2 with spaghetti! I'm not doing "no carb," just "reduced carb" so I can have some pasta.

Emmama I haven't tried it yet. I'll let you know how it comes out!

Thank you for the kind encouragement Haleybeaa!

I just marked yesterday as a fail day. I don't really like that word, but I'm trying to approach it from a "Spock-like" attitude of "Well, I did not succeed at following my plan 100% and therefore I failed to meet my goals." But I don't really consider the day a failure because I did follow my plan to a great extent.

I was super hungry during the day, and my 5-6 almonds between breakfast and lunch was more like 20. Then, the people I walk with at lunch were ready to go before I had finished eating so I left my fruit for after the walk, technically a snack I guess. When I got home from work the kids were eating chips and I ate about four. And lastly, my son got a dessert of fried banana at the sushi restaurant and I had a bite. So while I know it wasn't the world's worst eating day I can't in honesty call it a success day.

Today will be better! I noticed that Monday and Tuesday were really busy at work, so I was able to ignore hunger better. Yesterday was fairly quiet and I think I got hungry out of boredom.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, deli ham, mushrooms, muenster cheese (2 slices)
Lunch: My regular veggie salad topped with leftover chicken marsala, parmesan, almond slices, and caesar dressing
Dinner: Zoodles and pasta with italian sausage and tomato sauce

Edit: success!

knitapeace wrote:I just marked yesterday as a fail day. I don't really like that word, but I'm trying to approach it from a "Spock-like" attitude of "Well, I did not succeed at following my plan 100% and therefore I failed to meet my goals." But I don't really consider the day a failure because I did follow my plan to a great extent.

This seems wise to me. You can "fail" from day to day, but you are not a failure. So to say that a day is a fail is not a judgment...more like a logical outcome. And your "failures" are so mild that it's reasonable to consider this a success in a cosmic way.

Love your dinner plan

Your meals all sound soooo delicious. And no worries on the "fail" day--getting back on track is as quick as the next meal!

LifeisaBlessing wrote: And no worries on the "fail" day--getting back on track is as quick as the next meal!

this is awesome - maybe you can post it in the "noS inspirational quotes" thread?

Lol kaalii, you're sweet!

Y'ALL. I'm so proud of myself I just have to brag a teeny bit.

Yesterday my eldest texted me at work asking me to stop at the store for some ingredients: ice cream, cake, candies, toppings. I brought them home and she made the most incredible looking dessert. And I asked her to cut off a slice, wrap it in cling wrap, and set it in the back of the freezer so I could eat it over the weekend. I can't believe I had that much self-control! Also I was afraid the locusts I live with would eat the whole thing before I had a chance to get any LOL. Yesterday was a resounding SUCCESS. This morning I got on the scale and saw a drop from 186.2 to 184.6. I don't expect that kind of loss every week, probably mostly water weight from going less-carb, but still nice to be moving in that direction.

Today the plan is a little muddy. Breakfast was eggs, ham, and cheese again, with yogurt and fruit. Friday lunch I go out with coworkers and we don't usually decide where until right before we leave. And dinner is a mystery yet again. We have an unexpected but very welcome guest in our house this weekend and it's been difficult to plan. But I think I have this, and I'll be able to stick with No S.

EDIT: lunch is a favorite Mediterranean restaurant with my favorite coworkers. Ran out of almonds yesterday and forgot to restock, then work got so busy I never even thought to miss them.

Excellent! Good for you!

Yay for you! You're handling the daily food challenges really well. Looks like it's becoming a habit!

you are doing great!
and forgetting about the almonds - excellent!

Good Monday morning all! Quite a nice weekend, did my Zumba class on Saturday and yard work on Sunday, also keeping up with my 30 days of yoga (3 days to go to complete my goal!).

Unfortunately I didn't spend the kind of time I should have getting organized over the weekend. So once again I'm approaching the week without a dinner plan. I really must spend a little of the day today getting myself together so I won't have problems keeping on track. Part of the chaos is that the kids are leaving for camp this week (elder [17] on the staff bus on Thursday, younger [14] on the camper bus on Sunday) and preparations are kind of all-encompassing. Once they're gone, my time will be my own! Not complete compensation for missing them, but not a bad tradeoff. This has been a hard year with the older one and I need the break badly.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, ham, cheese, coffee...I wasn't particularly hungry because we had dinner out last night and it was overly salty, woke up not feeling 100% and didn't finish the eggs
Lunch: Frozen pasta meal, yogurt and fruit...not happy to have to eat this many carbs for lunch but didn't have the wherewithal to get a salad together
Dinner: chicken breast with Mexican spices, roasted peppers, and saffron rice

EDIT: FAIL due to having popcorn while watching Game of Thrones, but not a bad day really.

There is definitely something to be said for time to oneself. And it's nice to feel like you miss your kiddos (I have two teens, too).

Breakfast: really nice omelet with ham, cheese, and avocado
Lunch: Veggie salad with leftover Mexican chicken, dressing, almond slices, fruit and yogurt
Dinner: probably a bowl of some kind at Moe's; last-minute camp shopping

EDIT: Success

Having a blue day, made a mistake at work and can't figure out how, prepping the kids to go away for 7 weeks, feeling just blah and want to eat the world. Hoping my planning and organization will help me stay on track with my eating plan.

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 1 slice American cheese on a tortilla
Lunch: tuna with mayo over lettuce with carrot, tomato, pickle, and almond slices; apple with peanut butter
Dinner: something with ground beef, not sure yet

UPDATE: found out the the information I thought I had misplaced at work was actually misplaced by someone else. So it was found, and I feel much better about myself LOL.

Edit: success

Glad your mind is at peace re the mistake. I think the hardest part is when you can't figure out how it happened!!

Keep up the good work!

Yesterday I was off my schedule and it pretty well showed in my eating. I ate a lot more carbs than I wanted, and my husband offered to take us out for ice cream after dinner. We had the dog with us so I stayed outside while he and my son went in to get the ice cream. I asked him to get me a small vanilla cone...the pile of ice cream was about 1 1/2 times taller than the cone it was sitting on..."That's a SMALL?" I tried to give some of it to the dog but my husband said it was bad for him so I ate it all. :sigh:

Anyway today is a new day, I had a nice breakfast of whole wheat toast and peanut butter along with fruit and a dollop of yogurt. I can stick with my plan for the rest of the day and feel good about myself when I go to bed tonight.

knitapeace wrote: Anyway today is a new day, I had a nice breakfast of whole wheat toast and peanut butter along with fruit and a dollop of yogurt. I can stick with my plan for the rest of the day and feel good about myself when I go to bed tonight.

And so you should and thank goodness we start fresh each day.

I have the hardest time when people offer me sweets.

Yesterday required nuts between meals twice. Otherwise, SUCCESS.

Yesterday was quite good, very hungry before lunch but a few nuts handled it. No snack needed between lunch and dinner. Trying to change my mindset about hunger...it has no control over me, especially when it's not "real" hunger.

Success!

Great job! I like your mods. I keep on the lowish side with carbs mainly to support my diabetic hubby but I do think it's helped with my weightloss perhaps.

Your body will definitely adjust to the set mealtimes. I used to have to white knuckle it between meals but I can't remember the last time I felt more than a mild hunger before meals.

Keep up the good work!

Linda

Thank you Linda! I hope one day to find only mild hunger between meals. The busier I am the easier it seems, and work has been very slow so...not a good thing!

Thursday was a rousing success with delicious meals; only needed a small number of almonds at around 11:30 to get me through til lunch.

In addition to my daily yoga practice, my husband and I are going dancing tonight! And tomorrow is my Saturday Zumba. So lots of physical activity to supplement my eating goals.

my husband and I are going dancing tonight!

Lucky! I hope you have a great time!

I'm pooped after this busy, busy weekend. I'm also feeling a little depressed, because even after dancing, yard work, heavy cleaning, and zumba, I still feel like I'm not making any progress weight-wise. I enjoyed several snacks and treats over the weekend and I just feel like my clothes are getting tighter. But I want to stay consistent and keep trying. I had a healthy low-carb omelet for breakfast and packed a salad and fruit with yogurt for lunch. Dinner will probably be leftover spaghetti with meat sauce. Did my yoga and took the first walk with the dog. There will be a fast walk at lunch with coworkers and probably another dog walk when I get home from work. Hopefully just eating "like a normal person" and keeping active will soon start to show some results. I'm just a little dejected right now.

knitapeace--I know how you feel! In the beginning especially, it's tough to push through the "down days" as I like to call them. But you're doing great--I think having nuts and concentrating on protein are all good things. Even with my mods, I do find that it's important to get that protein in for its satiety and hunger-battling effects.

Another thing that I found personally worked for me is not to overly rely on activity to contribute to weight and fat loss. When I eased up on physical things and felt less tired overall, I noticed the scale moved in the direction I wanted it to. My two cents: unless you're training for a specific sport or activity, too much activity can backfire in the weight-loss department. Just something to keep in mind.

Thank you Blessing, your words really are a blessing! I guess I still feel locked into that mindset of calorie counting and having to "work off" a certain number of calories in order to stay within a normal limit. But you're right, sometimes overworking just makes me hungrier! A miserable Catch-22! I'll definitely work on changing my mindset.

You're welcome, knitapeace. And oh my gosh--you just described my mindset exactly from a few years ago! :O This is a true story: I remember overindulging in a bunch of those giant store bought chocolate chip cookies (they come by the dozen in the hard plastic see-through sealed box). Realizing how many calories I'd just eaten, I panicked, thinking, "I've got to work off all those calories I overate!!!" I grabbed my jump rope and started jumping like crazy for 15 minutes straight. I ended up nauseated with a belly ache like I used to get as a kid when I played hard outside too soon after eating. I remember lying on the floor, sweaty and anxious, thinking that there has got to be a better way than this. It was exactly like you said, a Catch-22: work out to burn off those calories, but eat more since the intense workouts made me hungrier. Ugh. Thank God for eventually finding NoS and sanity. I've said this before, I wish I had discovered all of this sooner. I think of all the wasted time and energy that I could've been doing other things. Maybe I needed to go through all of that so I'd be ready for doing it the correct way? Definitely some food for thought there!

knitapeace wrote:I guess I still feel locked into that mindset of calorie counting and having to "work off" a certain number of calories in order to stay within a normal limit.

It's difficult to get away from that mindset for sure. What really gets me is that the diet industry uses the same basic calories-in/calories-out formula for everyone - despite the fact that we're all unique in almost every other way. Metabolism and the ability to maintain the balance of fuel and energy are just as unique as our fingerprints. We fret over the calculations so much that if we don't see the results according to lab rat studies, we spiral into further depression and anxiety about the issue.

Best wishes with No S!

Well I had to go out for my lunchtime walk because I had to try out this new Pokemon Go game. I felt like a crazy person, 47 years old walking around trying to catch imaginary animals in my phone...

You're not crazy! We love the Pokemon Go game! My two grown kids are really into it--I think it reminds them of playing Pokemon when they were little lol. It's super-popular here, and from what I hear, has turned into an overnight phenomenon. It's kind of addictive and cool at the same time!

Monday SUCCESS!

Actually I did a little test and charted my meals in my old My Fitness Pal account just to see how much I'm generally eating on NoS days, and it was about 1400 calories. That's a lot less than I was eating a year ago, when I was the thinnest I've been since high school, but I was doing HIIT and strength training back then. I just wish the scale would start to turn around a little, oh well I give the advice to other people to ignore the scale but I can't take my own advice! LOL! Just keeping consistent and letting mother nature do the rest.

knitapeace wrote: Just keeping consistent and letting mother nature do the rest.

Yep. We can only control our actions. The result is up to nature. Keep up the good work!

knitapeace wrote: I just wish the scale would start to turn around a little, oh well I give the advice to other people to ignore the scale but I can't take my own advice! LOL! Just keeping consistent and letting mother nature do the rest.

Same here, but 1400 calories a day should yield results over time. I'm close to your age (49) and have done so much dieting and regaining that I wonder if it might take some time for the body to adjust to sensible eating...

Congrats on your habits!

PS - Pokemon Go is crazy popular in Texas, too

Tuesday SUCCESS!

I've had the Instant Pot pressure cooker on my Amazon wishlist for months now, and yesterday it went on super duper sale for Prime Day and I ordered it. It should be here tomorrow. The past day and a half has been spent avoiding work and watching recipe videos for it. LOL

Hump Day meals are all planned and delicious. Working toward another green day!

I'll be interested to hear how that works for you. I was going to get one, but now I'm looking towards the NuWave oven.

I'm an infomercial junkie.

Congrats on the "green" day!

Oh! going out dancing...it's been about a year since we went. It is one of my very favorite things in the world. Hope you had loads of fun!

Have fun with your new toy, too...and don't worry about the stupid scale. Stupid scale is stupid. Worthless piece a junk.

But your positive attitude is inspirational. Keep on going!

Wednesday SUCCESS! Logging today even though it's not over, in an attempt to avoid eating any more before I go to bed lol.

Yay--great job!

Btw, I'm always afraid I'll jinx myself if I post to early in the day. 😊

Thursday SUCCESS!

great job!

Friday SUCCESS

Weekend BACCHANALIA. OK maybe not that bad but I did eat ice cream twice, flan once, and the ribs we made in the pressure cooker were SO good I ate SIX. So this morning I find I have a real desire to get back to some simpler, "cleaner" eating. It's going to be a good week.

LOL! I ate three bowls of ice cream but zero flan so I guess I joined your BACCHANALIA.

And I agree...it was nice to come back to normalcy on Monday. I have to think the urge to eat ice cream will abate eventually...right?

I also had ribs and ice cream on my S day. I've really been hooked on vanilla ice cream topped with caramel popcorn! I thought it might slow me down a bit to have it on top of a sliced banana. I think it worked...I still wanted another bowl but had to admit to myself that I was actually full. But here it is Monday, and I'm still thinking about how good it was!

Monday was a RED day, but I'm not beating myself up over it. That ice cream called me from the freezer and I had a bowl after dinner.

However on the plus side, I immediately thought "As long as it's already a red day I'm going to have some popcorn later." But when later rolled around I recognized that I had absolutely no desire to eat, so I didn't. That by itself is a win: in the past I would have eaten just for the taste of it, even if it made me miserable physically and emotionally.

Oh PS I was just hunting down the thread about the "personal Olympics" because I was feeling a little disappointed in not getting to my 21 day streak. But I remembered something about that thread and how certain allowances for your humanity still let you feel pride in your hard work. So with only 1 non-weekend "slip up" I'm still on track for GOLD this month!

I'm still on track for GOLD this month!

Yes, you are! And perfection is not our goal, right? Just getting to moderate habits, and "good enough." That's where you are...oh man and ice cream is so yummy. Hadn't ever heard of adding caramel popcorn to it!

Good work...keep on keeping on!

Tuesday was a SUCCESS! I got in two walks and my yoga, actually did some meditation for the first time in over a week, and made a lovely dal makhani in my pressure cooker that came out SO good. I soaked the lentils and kidney beans for almost 2 days first and I guess what they say is true, that really does help make them more gentle on your digestive tract. After shopping for things to take to the kids on Visiting Day at camp, I got home and dinner was pretty late so snacking in the evening wasn't an issue.

Onward!

Yay sounds like a great day!

Oy I wish my kids were going to overnight camp this year. I'm about to go insane. 😁

Here's to another good day tomorrow!

Linda

Wednesday, another RED day. Well at least there isn't any more ice cream in the freezer to tempt me, womp womp.

Today will be better.

The dal sounds so good...would you be willing to share your recipe? I don't have a pressure cooker but I could probably make it in a crockpot.

Just keep on keeping on!

e-lyn wrote:The dal sounds so good...would you be willing to share your recipe? I don't have a pressure cooker but I could probably make it in a crockpot.

Here is the pressure cooker recipe that I used:
http://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-dal-makhani/

But here is another one I referenced, which doesn't require a PC:
http://www.food.com/recipe/punjabi-dal-makhani-301613

I used the lentil/red kidney bean blend that the second recipe suggests but then followed the directions from the first.

Emmama wrote:Just keep on keeping on!

I sure will, thank you!

Thursday was GREEN thank goodness.

Thanks for the links to the recipes! I'll be making it as soon as the weather cools down a bit. My sister recently gave me a Vita-clay pot so I might try using that.

Friday was GREEN.

This weekend I visited the kids at camp and had a lovely picnic lunch with them. Enjoyed without stress.

Monday was GREEN. I wanted a leftover brownie after dinner but worked through it by analyzing my feelings mindfully and realizing it wasn't hunger but more habit that made me want it.

I had a really good pressure cooker meal last night: chili lime chicken breasts cooked with no oil, shredded and turned into a chicken taco salad. YUM! Lots of leftovers too, so I have a great lunch as well.

Tuesday was GREEN!

wow! That dish sounds amazing! I have a pressure cooker that I have yet to use, I confess it intimidates me!

My pressure cooker is new--I was one of the 215,000 people who bought an Instant Pot on Amazon Prime Day--so I'm using it a LOT to test out its capabilities. So far I've learned I CAN make yogurt, after many failed attempts doing it the 'old-fashioned' way, it makes incredible risotto in a fraction of the time, it makes lots of other dishes I love without heating up the kitchen, but it's not my preferred method for making spaghetti. I'm looking forward to soup/chili season to see what it can do there. And this weekend when my S days roll around I'm going to try making a cheesecake in there.

Yesterday was a bit of a struggle and I ate more potatoes than I probably should have at dinner, but I'm glad I indulged in "real food" at a meal rather than snacks and sweets after dinner. That's progress for me.

Wednesday was GREEN.

Felt like I was white-knuckling it a couple times this week, but the S days are mere hours away. I used my pressure cooker to make a lovely cheesecake for my husband and me, and when the weekend is over I'm going to put the remainder in the freezer where it's less likely to OOPS fall into my mouth on a NoS day.

Thursday was GREEN!

knitapeace wrote:Felt like I was white-knuckling it a couple times this week, but the S days are mere hours away. I used my pressure cooker to make a lovely cheesecake for my husband and me, and when the weekend is over I'm going to put the remainder in the freezer where it's less likely to OOPS fall into my mouth on a NoS day.

Thursday was GREEN!

Good for you!

LOL, love the image of cheesecake "oops" falling into your mouth, ha!

How was the cheesecake?

Congrats on sticking to it....you are doing great!

The cheesecake came out pretty good; I think I would leave it in for just a few more minutes next time because I prefer the drier "New York" style over the creamier version. I had lots left over and cut it into portions and froze it to save for next weekend.

Here's to a green week, and a green August!

Ha! The freezer is our friend

I had a weird moment yesterday. I had come home from work and needed to do some yard stuff. After I was done I realized my stomach was growling and my brain kind of went, "Yeah, big deal." The smallest amount of discomfort didn't immediately spiral out into "MUST EAT NOW", which is new. It probably sounds dumb to people who have a good relationship with food, but knowing it's OK to let myself experience actual hunger before satisfying it is kind of revolutionary. Not to the point of an even more disordered mindset though...balance.

Monday was GREEN!

Hello Cindy,

I've had a couple of those "weird moments", too. And they like to hit me after work when I have to go grocery shopping because I have three Vikings at home (a.k.a. "teenagers") and weekends are woefully short.

I think it is wonderful! Not only have we built the habit of just getting used to being hungry, or should I just say, "empty"?, it frees us up to FINISH STUFF without getting cranky.

Good luck. Sounds like you are doing great.

Tuesday was GREEN!

More yard work, and another late dinner, making it easier to avoid snacking before bedtime. Wednesday was GREEN!

Thursday was GREEN! I was feeling extremely nibblish after dinner so I had a glass of white wine instead. That did the trick!

I see a lot of GREEN days happening here. You're doing great!

Friday was GREEN and the weekend was pretty tame by my usual standards LOL. Enjoyed some treats but didn't go overboard.

A can of sparkling water (unsweetened) helped to derail after-dinner cravings, so Monday was GREEN!

Yesterday my husband was invited to the sneak peek opening of a new restaurant in town where you build your own pizza, and I was his "plus one". Delicious FREE dinner that carried me right through until this morning. Tuesday was GREEN!

Sadly I was feeling very firm and fit this morning so I thought it would be a good time to step on the scale...WELL. Despite all these green days I was up a few pounds and felt myself deflate. How sad, I was feeling so good and let a stupid number make me feel bad. It's probably from all the sodium in the pizza, but no matter what it's not important. I just have to keep telling myself that today!!

Sparkling water after dinner really has helped me to work through some not-actually-hungry-just-craving-dessert issues. Wednesday was GREEN!

Tonight's going to be a challenge though. My husband has a networking "cruise" that's probably going to entail dinner and an open bar. Time to test out my new moderation skills!

Hello Knitapeace,

Hmmm... I might be tempted to call your Husband's "networking cruise" an S day. I assume this is for work? It's important....

Best of luck!

Hi Lady! I suppose technically I could call today a planned S day because technically it's my son's 15th birthday. He just doesn't happen to be here because he's away at camp but why should I be punished for that???? LOL!!!

knitapeace wrote: technically I could call today a planned S day because technically it's my son's 15th birthday. He just doesn't happen to be here because he's away at camp but why should I be punished for that????!

LOL! No you definitely should still be allowed to celebrate. I mean you gave birth on that day 15 years ago and we all know that's no walk in the park!

Good luck on your cruise!

Linda

So I'm calling yesterday a planned S evening. I stuck with NoS for the entire day up until the cruise. They had sandwiches, salads, fruit, and cookies. (I decided to skip the alcohol, not sure if I would get seasick or not). I had a big plate of salad and part of a sandwich at about 4:30. When we were leaving, they asked us to take some leftover sandwiches with us so I had another sandwich at home around 7:00. I really don't think I would have been able to make it to this morning having eaten "dinner" at 4:30.

This is the part where I don't feel very great about my decisions: I had a bowl of ice cream while watching the Olympics later. Evening snacks are probably my biggest downfall and I used the fact that it was an "S evening" to justify it.

So yesterday was a planned S event, sort of. But I kind of wish I had done it differently.

Sounds like you did an awesome job of moderation while on a "S" day, with so many tempting goodies on the cruise. Why beat yourself up over a bowl of ice cream at night? Sometimes, I think we would be more successful if we dieted like men - screw up on something and then move on and quit worrying about it

Happy Birthday to your son. Is he allowed to get a driver's permit in your state at 15?

Best of luck!

LadyEngineer

Lady: in NY they have to be 16 for a permit and 17 for a license. My 17 year old doesn't even have a permit yet and to be perfectly honest I'm OK with that: the drivers on Long Island are certifiably insane and I'm not sure either kid is mature enough to handle it yet.

Thanks for the support about the dessert too...I agree I need to just move forward and not stress over it.

Friday was GREEN and the weekend was a little out of control where sweets are concerned. Also I've started to feel those feelings of "you don't have to be so strict, you need to enjoy your life" that tend to throw me off track. Not sure what to do about that right now, but today's meals are worked out and on plan. One meal at a time I guess.