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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:23 am
by automatedeating
Seems like we are well into the cold & flu season. So many people struggling with these colds! Feel better soon!

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:29 pm
by oolala53
fooled again... :wink: The voice that asks for ice cream is pretty sneaky.

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 7:12 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: pizza, cucumber, grapes
Dinner: sweet potato and chickpea curry with naan bread

The coughing continues. Sometimes I think it's cold season for me from September to July :lol: But I seem (fingers crossed) to just have one symptom at a time, which drags it out but means I'm never actually that unwell. So I've had a sore throat for a week, a few days of sneezing and now I'll probably have a cough for a week. The joys of working with germ spreaders. I mean children.

Managed to quieten the voice that was calling for ice cream today.. even though I still haven't really slept properly. Cough.

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:18 pm
by flyingpig
Monday
Breakfast: a banana
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, grapes, carrots
Dinner: fish fingers, rice, peas, sweetcorn and cauliflower

So last week was a bit of a sleep-deprived, coughing blur.
The cough continues, and has now been joined by stomach cramps. Could be period-related but also combined with pulling my stomach muscles from coughing. I can't stand up and cough without wincing, been doing some very sedentary teaching today. Wheelie chairs are amazing..

Any natural cough suppressant suggestions welcome. I can't bring myself to buy expensive cough medicine when Dr Google says honey is just as good, so I've been having a lot of honey in my lemon tea, but I really don't like honey. And it doesn't seem to make that much difference...

Anyway, today I have very sensibly chosen to medicate with plain food rather than ice cream. Probably spurred on by having put new batteries in my scales. Unsurprisingly, not lost any weight since the summer, but at least I haven't put any on.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 3:00 am
by automatedeating
Hang in there. You sound really really sick! So sorry about the pulled muscles from coughing! Horrible!

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 4:50 pm
by jenji
Have you seen your doctor for the cough? That sounds really awful. I think if you do honey as a cough suppressant, it's supposed to be a teaspoon of honey undiluted, not in your tea. But honestly I think you may be beyond the power of honey.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 6:41 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwiches, grapes, carrots
Dinner: chicken, veg, roast potatoes

Thanks for all the sympathy! The thing is I really don't feel that ill, I just struggle to fall asleep because of coughing and then don't sleep very solidly. My throat doesn't hurt, I had a headache last week but it's gone, everything else is fine, it's just an annoying cough.
My stomach is feeling much better too, so think that was unrelated to the cough.

I'm not actually even registered at the doctor's at the moment :shock: :oops: I'm so rarely sick that I both make a big fuss when I am a bit under the weather and completely forget that being registered with a doctor is probably a good idea. I'll look into it for if the cough doesn't get better this week - I have next Monday off work so easy for appointments if needed.

Oh and that's sad about the honey thing. I really don't like honey so not sure I could stomach a spoonful of it...

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:09 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwiches, grapes, carrots
Dinner: chili beans and rice

I foolishly said "wow, I haven't coughed all morning" and then proceeded to cough all afternoon....

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2018 6:48 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: cheese pastry and a banana
Lunch: selection from buffet
Dinner: sweet potato and chickpea curry with naan bread

Had two plates at lunch time but only because everyone sat down in front of the food before I got there so I leaned over heads long enough to get a few things then had a few more later. Didn't take anything sweet though, my buffet behaviour is much improved!

There's been an illness development- been sneezing the last few hours. We'll see if it lasts or changes anything in terms of coughing.

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 7:19 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

I supplemented my very boring packed lunch with some buffet leftovers. I could maybe have been fine with keeping that green but then I solved my life's stresses with cake and ice cream after dinner. Ah well.

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:30 am
by automatedeating
then I solved my life's stresses with cake and ice cream after dinner.
Ha! That is what I did with a fast-food drive through this afternoon! Life! It's always clever at finding ways around our best intentions. :-)

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 7:44 pm
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: scrambled egg in a tortilla wrap
Lunch: cheese and bacon burger and chips

And now my stomach really hurts. I'm wondering if it's connected to the cough (still ongoing) as I never really have a stomach ache usually and this is the second time in two weeks. When I woke up this morning my stomach muscles felt achey, but they seemed better during the day. I did eat a really big lunch though (had a random day off work so went out for lunch with my sister, cousin and their babies) so it could be that. I'll go back to sleeping propped up and have a nice early night...

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 6:38 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad wrap, grapes
Dinner: chicken soup, cheese and onion slice, slice of bread

Well, in good news, the stomach ache was just a temporary thing. However the cough is still going strong . All the doctor websites/doctor-y people I've talked to have said you've got to wait three weeks before a doctor will do anything... Counting down the days! I miss a solid night's sleep! This evening I have the added bonus of a headache - but that might just be from the stress of having to go back to work after a three day weekend... Feeling quite head-coldy generally though. Maybe it's the peak of this horrible virus and I'll feel full of the joys tomorrow. I can but hope.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:06 pm
by Soprano
Hope you feel better soon

Jx

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 8:59 pm
by flyingpig
Thank you, so do I! She says, still coughing.

Wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad wrap, grapes
Dinner: sweet potato and chickpea curry

I'm bored of coughing and I'm bored of talking about coughing. So in other news, now I've got new batteries in my scales, my weight seems to be slowly going down again. Haven't really lost weight since May/June. Had kind of plateaud, but it was starting to creep up so I'm glad that's been nipped in the bud. Ideally, I'd like to lose another 5-10kg. And perhaps a dress size, though I haven't been a size 12 (I'm currently a 14, though I was getting towards a 16) since I was about 12.. Anyway, main aim is to eat more sensibly and at the moment that's going well.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:48 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad wrap, grapes
Dinner: fish fingers, roast potatoes, cauliflower, peas, sweetcorn

In good news, I didn't wake up coughing in the middle of the night. For the first time in a fortnight, I actually slept a whole night! Still the odd cough during the day today but definitely better. Hooray! Unfortunately the disadvantage to not going to bed at 8pm (as I have been doing a lot recently) is that there's a lot of evening to be hungry in... I'm on to my third cup of tea. Probably doesn't help that I have very boring marking to do.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:18 pm
by automatedeating
I'm sitting here doing very boring marking. :?

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:16 pm
by flyingpig
I'm very much regretting letting it build up... Hope you've got further through your pile of marking than I have!

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:53 am
by oolala53
Oh, so many essays to go, though I'm not looking at any tonight. They're so discouraging to read!

But in case you haven't seen my thread, these are my last essays! Retiring December 31st. It sure makes things easier.

But I remember when I couldn't even conceive of it all being over.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:04 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, grapes
Snack: chocolate biscuits
Dinner: chili beans and rice, chocolate cake and ice cream

Fridays are my nemesis. Especially when I make a stupid mistake at work at about 4pm and there's a box of biscuits in the staffroom.

At least this weekend has been reasonably restrained and I'm ready for a green Monday. And all my books are marked up to date- now just got to keep them that way and not end up with three weeks worth to slog through.

A bit jealous of your impending retirement, oolala! Still at least 30 years till I can consider that option. One of my co-workers likes to remind us that we don't have to stay in teaching our whole careers... But I can't really think of anything else I want to do even though sometimes it's so stressful!

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:36 am
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: weetabix with peanut butter and banana
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, grapes
Dinner: pasta with lentil sauce and cheese

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:54 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: toast and a boiled egg
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, cherry tomato, grapes
Dinner: chili beans and rice

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 7:03 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: croissant and a banana
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrots, grapes
Dinner: fish fingers, roast potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, cauliflower

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:33 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana sandwich
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, carrots, grapes
Dinner: mushroom risotto with kale and butternut squash and a kiwi

Christmas is hurtling towards me at an alarming rate. It's assessment week at school, so lots of data to do as well as the usual (you know... teaching... I phoned a parent at 5pm today and she told me I should go home- as if I ever go home before 6!). Real life is busy too - church craft evening, Christmas presents to prepare, dishes to prepare for joint meals. I've got no time to be hungry!

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 3:34 am
by oolala53
I can't believe people with families teach. I couldn't have pulled it off. I can barely pull it off for myself. I"m determined to put a few decorations up this year. At least I don't have to bake.

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 6:12 am
by flyingpig
I don't know how they do it either!

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 6:10 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana sandwich
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, carrots, grapes
Dinner: chilli con carne and cous cous

Might be a bit premature in declaring it green as I'm about to go to a craft evening where there will be canapes. I'm considering making it an s-event but nibbles are dangerous...

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:41 pm
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: sausage, bacon and stuffing sandwich, carrots and grapes
Dinner: sausage and chips

Today's dinner is my reaction to the Ofsted call. I know another forum member had them visit recently, but in case you don't know about the English education system, they are school inspectors and we have one coming tomorrow. So I was at school till 8pm and then ravenous. Now dinner is done, time to make sure my books are marked. A week before Christmas is not ideal timing, let's put it that way! Also got to avoid the inevitable chocolate/cake/deliciousness that I'm sure will appear in the staff room once we're done..

My colleague has been teaching 20 years and this is her first Ofsted. I've only been teaching three- life's not fair! We weren't due it until next September so everyone's rather taken aback. I'm sure we'll survive though, and he's only in for a day- how much can one man really see in one day?

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:39 pm
by flyingpig
So Ofsted happened...

Tuesday
Wednesday


There were also many buffets... It was a series of unfortunate events! But today someone asked me if I'd lost weight, always a good motivator.

Thursday

Breakfast: bread and butter
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwiches, grapes, carrots
Dinner: pork pies, chicken wrap, berry smoothie

Not the best dinner, popped into the shop for bread, bananas and peanut butter (my breakfast foods all ran out!), came out with a meal deal instead. Guess it'll have to be porridge for breakfast tomorrow! Hopefully I have some bread in the freezer for lunch.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 6:56 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Glad this week could be rescued in the end

Breakfast: porridge with nuts and cinnamon
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, grapes, carrots
Dinner: fish fingers, roast potatoes, roast veg, baked beans

I ate a lot of dinner- I was really hungry! Perhaps because I'd eaten my lunch 40 minutes earlier than usual and then served children Christmas dinner for half an hour... Thank goodness that's over, though it was a lot more fun than last year when I didn't eat my lunch before and then ran out of time to eat it and got rather grumpy about the whole affair.

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 11:48 pm
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: porridge with walnuts and banana
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, red pepper, grapes
Dinner: gammon, broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, bread

Snack: cashews and caramel sauce (not together...)

I should definitely have finished my Christmas gift prep yesterday. I made a million gingerbread men (and ate a few too) at the weekend but they were no temptation compared to the caramel sauce. I would have been ok with a few cashews to check they were nice, but I ate more caramel sauce than can justifiably have been "testing". Ah well, at least I didn't eat any chocolate at school...

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 12:11 am
by Octavia
Wow, you are doing brilliantly, Flying! Coping with Ofsted and sticking to No S. Well done for getting through it! :)

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:25 pm
by flyingpig
Not sticking to it that well, but thank you for the encouragement.

Tuesday
Breakfast: weetabix with walnuts and a banana
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, red pepper and grapes
Dinner: mushroom risotto with kale and butternut squash

Half a day more of school left. So ready. People keep giving me chocolate so now I have chocolate stashed in random out of the way places... I also managed to ice faces on about fifty gingerbread men this evening without eating them. Great sense of achievement.

Now I've just got to make it through a long drive to my parents tomorrow (I'm planning on saving some of my lunch to nibble on if needed - snacking is the main way I get through long motorway drives, especially when I'm by myself.) Then I've got to steer clear of all the many snack opportunities that my parents' house offers, especially at Christmas!

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:03 am
by automatedeating
Your post is a great reminder to me about my upcoming visit (Sunday - Thursday) at my in-laws. I need to make some clear plans ahead about boundaries, S Days, etc.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:58 am
by oolala53
Funny, fp, long driving stints are some of the easiest times for me not to snack. I used to look forward to getting coffee when stopping for gas. (In hot weather, I'd splurge on diet soda.) That meal even farther down the road was a reward, too. I'd just go ahead and have whatever was around when the time came.

I hear ya on the problem of having the snack foods available at other people's houses. My parents had both died before I committed to No S. The few other people I've stayed with are a lot less likely to try to impose any eating on me. At one place, I've wished I got offered food more!

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:46 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: porridge with walnuts and banana
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, carrots, red pepper, grapes
Dinner: raclette

So I survived the drive. Only stopped once in the end and just got a drink. Dinner wasn't really on one plate- raclette is cheese that you make under a grill thing in a tiny pan with bacon/veg then eat it with a potato. So you get one potato's worth of cheese at a time- slow and sociable. But I didn't stuff myself so I count it as green.

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:19 am
by flyingpig
Thursday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and toast
Lunch: two slices of bread, ham, cheese, salmon, grapes
Dinner: beef stew, bean stew, a dumpling

Only had to say no to a mince pie twice. And I'd made them so at least I didn't feel guilty turning them down. My mum keeps apologising for doing meals that aren't easy to have on one plate, but dinner was fine today and lunch I plated in my head. My vague plan at the moment is to only have Christmas Day as an s day, but I am considering having birthday cake (it's my sister's birthday) tomorrow. But it would be very easy to save my slice of cake for breakfast on Saturday. We'll see.

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2018 1:40 am
by oolala53
Very sane and moderate thinking and behavior.

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:14 am
by flyingpig
S is for special day
Breakfast: poached eggs and toast (my parents have chickens, and so does my sister - there are a lot of eggs!)
Lunch: quiche, salad, potatoes
Dinner: little slice of quiche, soup, bread, ham and cheese
Desert: birthday cake

I'm so impressed- I had one slice of cake and then nothing else. No snacks, no mince pies, no gingerbread men. The (food) flood gates didn't open. The cake was nice and it felt right to join in having a slice while my sister opened her presents, but mostly I'm pleased that I managed to have an s-event rather than a wild s-day.

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 4:46 am
by ladybird30
Well done for a moderate S event.

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:14 am
by oolala53
That IS a feat.

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:27 pm
by Octavia
You’re doing great, FP!

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2018 12:15 am
by flyingpig
Thank you for the kind words

After a weekend that was the polar opposite of moderate, but very enjoyable, today just about counts as green...

Monday

Breakfast: scrambled eggs on toast
Lunch: oatcakes (they're a bit like pancakes/crepes) with bacon, cheese and tomato and salad
Dinner: pizza and a little orange

The reason it almost wasn't green is that I ate way more pizza than I should have, but it was homemade and delicious. Also, for some reason I volunteered to get people's desserts ready (it was just leftover cake/ice cream) and I may have eaten some of the bits of cake/icing that fell off as I sliced/plated.

Ready for a non-stop food fest tomorrow but I'm sure I'll be glad of a return to normal eating patterns come boxing day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 11:43 pm
by flyingpig
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Mine was great, and I ate almost all day but I didn't feel at all guilty about it. I think that's new, I think I usually have a little voice saying "should you really have that?", but I just ate what I wanted, when I wanted.

Today was a little trickier but I'm going to count it as green...


Wednesday

Breakfast: banana (I got up late, it was nearly lunch time)
Lunch: Turkey curry and rice, a little orange
Dinner: bread, Turkey, salmon, ham, stuffing, cheese, treeselets (they're little cheesy crackers in the shape of a Christmas tree)

I probably ate more at dinner than I should have, but it's hard when there's such a lovely selection of things to have on bread. I did only have two slices of bread, but a lot of stuffing. And salmon. Maybe I need to get a bigger plate for such meals and just put it all on, but then I might eat too fast and find myself just sitting there.

What do other people do at meals that involve taking things from a selection? I'm fine with main meals, it's the meals that are, as we call them in my family, "bread and things" that I struggle with. I don't have this problem at home because I just make myself a sandwich and eat that, and I don't have 63 different delicious options to choose from...

My problem might be solved for a bit anyway as we finished quite a few bits off today and there are going to be fewer people here now until new year so next time I get to such a meal there might not be as appetizing a selection.

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:40 am
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: fried eggs on toast
Lunch: sausage and veg casserole with bread
Dinner: Turkey soup, bread, cheese, ham
Desert: chocolate cake and a couple of chocolate truffles

I'd walked up a big hill and then driven for almost two hours in the afternoon and it tired me out. Holiday me has no stamina... So I really fancied chocolate. But I was still tired out after chocolate and ended up going to bed early, which I definitely could have done before eating chocolate cake.

Oh well, one extra slice of cake in this weird "Twixmas" period is not the end of the world. Onwards and greenwards!

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:06 am
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: veggie lasagne, lettuce, tomatoes
Dinner: bread, ham and cheese, treeselets, grapes

Once again I probably ate too much dinner, but it is a minor miracle I didn't snack. My bit of lasagne was probably too small and everyone else had seconds plus a few nibbles during the afternoon so noone else was really hungry for dinner. I was. At least it made me very proactive in helping lay the table/get things ready. My parents make their own bread and normally the slices are massive but my dad did it in a smaller tin today so the two slices of bread I tell myself are a plateful were not that substantial. I'm actually quite hungry again. Even though I ate loads of cheese. Oh well, will soon be Saturday!

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:20 am
by automatedeating
This has been a hard week for moderation!

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:03 am
by flyingpig
Saturday and Sunday were s-days and so was yesterday (new year's eve- we had chocolate fountain).

So I've now officially done a whole year of no-S. My first ever new years resolution that has stuck! Let's see if I can make this January as green as last year's!

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:51 pm
by automatedeating
This is a HUGE deal! Yay for a successful NoS year!

Also, is a chocolate fountain what it sounds like? People actually put their cups in liquid chocolate and then drink it?

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:08 pm
by flyingpig
A chocolate fountain is almost what you're imagining, but you put fruit on a stick and hold that under the melted chocolate. We also had marshmallows to "dip", but my dad drew the line at chocolate cake in case it fell in and clogged up the pump.

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:17 am
by flyingpig
I'm going to say

An S Tuesday

Breakfast: croissant, banana
Lunch: rice, chicken, chilli, quiche, little oranges
Dinner: quiche, salad, humus and veggies, smoked salmon things

Really almost green, but let's set high standards for the new year. I had seconds at lunch time (my mum was dishing food out for twelve people, I couldn't exactly give my plate back saying "I need more rice please" before I'd started...) Then I asked for just rice for seconds and ended up with chilli too. Also the quiche was sitting just in front of me so I ate more than the one slice I'd virtually plated.

However dinner was all on one plate before I started eating. And I turned down so many snacks and desserts. No thank you is finally starting to become my default reaction to a biscuit.

From tomorrow it will be just me and my parents so no more busy meal times with hundreds of options. And on Friday I'm going back home to normality.


Food related things I'm considering for the new year :
-slightly more deliberate vegetarianism, or maybe even veganism (but what would I have for lunch with no cheese? And are milk alternatives really the same in tea? (plus they have their own ethical issues)). I cook mostly vegetarian for myself anyway and am quite happy to carry on eating meat other people cook for me, but can't decide how strict I want to be with myself on that occasional roast chicken or pack of bacon
- s-events rather than s days
-reducing plastic. I don't know how people do no plastic for food if they don't have loads of time /fancy shops nearby, but I'm considering giving it a go. I want to bake my own bread more often (two weeks of fresh bread at my parents' has convinced me), so that would be fine, and I'm sure I could source plastic free fruit and veg... Not sure about milk though, and apparently pasta is tricky.
[/list]

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:30 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: scrambled egg on toast
Lunch: pizza and vegetable crisps
Dinner: quiche, tomato, cashew nuts, cheese and crackers

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 1:01 am
by Losingthediets
I'm very new(Day 8 today), but I think at least Saturday and Sunday should remain S days, even if you only end up having a treat or two! Having that kind of break is really a good way to balance things out. But S events instead of NWS days seems like a good idea to me! I would have probably preferred that method with the holidays, but as I'm just starting I didn't want to do much more than vanilla no S and mess myself up.

I enjoyed being vegan- it didn't help my health as much as being keto, but I still consider veganism sometimes out of general repugnance to the knowledge of where what I eat comes from. but I'm neither right now. I'd love to see how you work with vegetarianism or veganism, whichever you do!

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:37 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: cheese and ham croissant
Lunch: turkey soup, bread, humus and a tiny bit of cheese
Dinner: egg fried rice

So I've had a bit more of a think. I'm going to try not buying myself any meat (so some meat may feature, especially in the next week as I have ham from my parents (they're going on holiday tomorrow)). I don't want to go vegan though.

Milk I'll get from the milk man (not sure if it's any different for the cow but it comes in a glass bottle rather than plastic), and I'm going to bake my own bread (no plastic).

S days/events I'm still thinking about. I really just want to avoid the "I've had a piece of cake so now I can eat a packet of cookies" mentality but not sure what the best way to achieve that will be.

Part of me thinks "if it ain't broke don't fix it", but the other part of me thinks that I lost 9kg from January to March last year, and have only lost 1kg since then, so something might need to change.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:32 am
by automatedeating
I wish we had a milk man in our neighborhood! I do find some great local milks though, although they are not all in glass bottles.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:13 am
by Losingthediets
It's natural for weight loss to be faster in the beginning, if you think you're outright stalling I see trying to mod it a little!

As of now I only plan to mod my S days if a) I consistently binge/make myself sick on them or b) I find I'm eating things out of anxiety about not being able to eat them on N days, rather than because I'm actually really wanting them. In both cases I think I'll need a couple more rules to really get myself in line, but as of right now I'm trying to trust the adjusting process since I'm so early in.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:59 pm
by flyingpig
I just had a sad statistics moment and worked out percentages of green days for every month this year (I've used a paper calendar to mark days green/S/red).

Perecentages are out of possible green days only and, in case anyone is interested, here they are:

Jan 91%
Feb 85%
March 77%
Apr 81%
May 75%
June 62%
July 82%
Aug 50%
Sept 75%
Oct 65%
Nov 68%
Dec 67%
Average: 73%

Quite interesting...

August makes sense - the other half of the month was holidays so all S rather than red. I didn't realise July was so good and Oct/Nov/Dec were so low in comparison! I was ill for quite a lot of Nov so that might be an explanation, and Dec is never going to be the best month. Also, there are only 20ish possible green days in a month so big percentage changes can only be a day or two.

So having considered that, I think I might not change anything about S-days until I have a few more months over 70% under my belt.

And even though I haven't actually eaten dinner yet, to save myself posting again:

Friday
Breakfast: sausage/bacon/egg sandwiches (oops - very much not vegetarian)
Lunch: cheese and ham sandwich, humus and celery, flatbread thin crisps
Dinner: lasagne (and maybe some veg/potatoes)

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:15 pm
by automatedeating
I love the stats! Thanks for sharing them, along with your reflections and insights on your patterns.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:33 pm
by Imogen Morley
Wise decision. In my opinion (supported by almost 9 years of experience) tampering with S-days without solid NoS habits in place never takes you where you intended to be. As a data junkie I find your stats inspiring, though - a great tool to see progress in black and white. Use it well and you I'm sure you'll succeed!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:30 pm
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: porridge with peanut butter, banana, walnuts and cinnamon
Lunch: ham salad sandwich, carrots, little orange
Dinner: scrambled egg, beans, bread, cheese

Back to reality with a noisy (thanks to the 30 children in my class who have forgotten how to listen over the holidays) crash. But I made it. Even in the face of m&ms (kindly given by a colleague, I threw them in a desk drawer somewhere- hopefully I don't rediscover them on a day I'm feeling hungry) and a staffroom full of birthday treats. I forgot how long it is between each meal on a working day. And how dark it is at 6am! Four more days till the weekend...

In other news, my homemade bread is delicious but tiny slices (didn't seem too much of an issue with lunch - I had a lot of carrot to munch through so felt full/ran out of time to eat). I must remember to only bake it on S days because it's very hard to control myself around fresh bread. Milkman milk arrives tomorrow.

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:24 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: ham salad sandwich, an apple, a carrot
Dinner: chickpea curry and rice

Milk arrived this morning, way more exciting than it should be. My apple didn't make my mouth itch, so I might get a couple more apples next week (I'm trying less plastic -wrapped alternatives to grapes). That's all the food news for today :P

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 7:37 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, a carrot and a kiwi
Dinner: blackbean burgers, normal potato wedges, sweet potato wedges, peas

Half the week down, only two days to go.

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:37 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: porridge with peanut butter, banana, walnuts and cinnamon
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, carrot, little orange
Dinner: broccoli quinoa bake

My dinner was about as boring as it sounds. Unfortunately I have four more portions of it in the freezer. The joys of batch cooking-trying new recipes is a risky endeavour. It was better this time than the day I cooked it because I added a lot more salt and pepper before freezing it. Oh well, I'll just spread the portions out till they're finally finished and never make that again...

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:20 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: pancakes, peanut butter, banana
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, a carrot, a kiwi
Dinner: ham, parsley sauce, broccoli, carrots and (quite randomly) baked beans

Baked beans wouldn't be my carbohydrate of choice but I've run out bread (hence the pancakes for breakfast) and was too hungry to wait for anything to cook while the frozen ham/veg was microwaving. I was so hungry I may have eaten half the beans cold, out of the tin. But as I was seriously considering fish and chips, it seemed a better option.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 7:08 pm
by flyingpig
Ah the weekend... Less said the better.

Saturday featured a buffet and Sunday I ate chocolate and gingerbread men for lunch and then two dinners...

Monday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, red pepper, kiwi
Dinner: bean burger, sweet potato and normal potato wedges, cauliflower, green pepper and humus, mango

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 6:11 pm
by Octavia
Hi Flying! I too have been experimenting with veggie recipes. Made a spaghetti thing from a Good Housekeeping supplement - it had grated courgette, garlic, chilli, and lemon. It tasted like spaghetti in washing up liquid. Thankfully I didn’t batch cook.... :lol:

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 6:41 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: ham sandwich, red pepper, mango
Dinner: chickpea curry and rice

Oh no, Octavia, sounds delightful! Luckily (as everything I cook is batch cooked) my other new recipes have been much more successful - particularly the black bean burgers, they almost taste meaty although they do fall apart a little once frozen and reheated.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:39 pm
by flyingpig
Well...

Wednesday
I had M&Ms at the end of school (just the thought of a data-related staff meeting and I run to chocolate, knew I should have hidden them better!). Then I ended up eating a few tiny cakes at my church group and tasting a lot of brownie batter..

Thursday
Birthday baking again, caught me out again. Way too much cake batter consumed to count as taste testing.

Friday
Friday was my birthday eve and there was free pizza at work (to celebrate us getting our ofsted feedback). I took the aforementioned cake and brownies to work and proceeded to eat them. And a lot of pizza. But it was planned(ish) so an S day.

Saturday was my birthday, Sunday I was finishing off birthday food.

I did turn a multiple of ten, and that does only happen once a decade so I'm going to excuse myself. And worse things have happened than three cakey days...

Plus normal service has now been resumed (even though there is still cake in the staff room - a lovely parent volunteer brought me in cake too).

Monday
Breakfast: scrambled egg on toast, a banana
Lunch: cheese and tomato sandwich, celery and red pepper with humus, grapes
Dinner: my favourite (not) - broccoli quinoa... There can't be many portions left in the freezer, can there?!

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:25 pm
by automatedeating
Happy Birthday!
My wish for you is for the broccoli quinoa to be gone from the freezer, haha!

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:46 pm
by flyingpig
Thanks!


Tuesday
Breakfast: porridge with walnuts, banana and cream
Lunch: cheese and tomato sandwich, cucumber, red pepper and grapes
Dinner: chickpea and butternut squash curry with naan bread

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:55 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese and tomato sandwich, cucumber, red pepper and grapes
Dinner: fish fingers, baked potato and beans

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:59 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: fried egg on toast
Lunch: cheese sandwich, red pepper, cucumber, carrot
Dinner: tuna pasta salad, cheese and onion crisps.

Plodding on. Literally - we're doing a walking challenge at work where each person in your team has to walk an average of 10000 steps a day. Day 2 today. I did nearly 14000 yesterday by walking to work, but I did get a lift home. Managed over 10000 today by walking round and round the supermarket because I kept forgetting things. Maybe going shopping tired isn't the worst idea in the world...

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:29 am
by automatedeating
LOL walking around and around because you are forgetting things in the store. Been there. Thought I was the only one. :shock: :lol:

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:55 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana sandwich
Lunch: cheese sandwich, cucumber, red pepper
Dinner: roast veg with black beans, cous cous and quinoa

Well, much prefer quinoa when it's "diluted" with cous cous and flavoured with all the herbs and spices. Quite pleased with my random invention, loosely based on a harissa roast veg and cous cous recipe but very much improvised. I should cook at 10pm more often (I made it last night because I realised I'd be quite busy this weekend and I'm running out of freezer meals that aren't chickpea curry).

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:12 pm
by Octavia
...your improvised recipe sounds yummy. I did a pasta thing tonight called Spicy Chickpea Gemelli - got the recipe from an ancient magazine - and I improvised by throwing in extra veg. It worked quite well. I do like my chickpeas!

Hope your weekend goes well, Flying!

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:45 pm
by flyingpig
Ooh, sounds interesting. I do like chickpeas, but there's only so much chickpea curry I can cope with, never tried them with pasta!

Speaking of chickpeas:

Monday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: soup, bread, an apple
Dinner: chickpea curry and rice

And I had a really stressful afternoon, someone offered me a brownie and I said no :o :D

We had a pretty funny conversation about it actually.
Colleague 1: oh, go on, have one, they're only tiny
Me: no thanks, I'm trying not to solve my problems with chocolate, and it'll open the floodgates
Colleague 2 (taking a bite of her brownie): the floodgates of joy and happiness

... Well there are other ways to cheer myself up. Lovely colleague 1 helped me mark my tests, lovely colleague 2 listened to me moan, these things both helped. And chatting to friends has also cheered me right up. More than a brownie probably would.

Now I just need to think of something to do for the evening that'll take my mind off work... Do I sort out my bedroom or make a pasta bake? Dilemma...

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:02 pm
by flyingpig
Tuesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: soup, bread, an apple
Dinner: macaroni and cauliflower cheese with spinach

I'm so cheery this evening. Its amazing what a difference a day makes. Glad I chose to make the pasta yesterday though - I got back from work late and hungry and it really hit the spot. Right, tidying time!

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:29 am
by automatedeating
I know what you mean about being cheery - then not - then again. I guess we should just revel in the moment when we are happy. :-)

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 10:42 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast:weetabix with hot milk
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, red pepper and an apple
Dinner: bean burger, roast sweet potatoes, cauliflower and spinach

Still cheery but very very tired... yet not asleep despite having been in bed for 40 mins...

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:50 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: porridge with peanut butter and cinnamon
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, red pepper, cucumber and an apple
Dinner: chilli beans and rice

Everything crossed for a snow day tomorrow

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 9:09 pm
by flyingpig
Friday
Breakfast: beans on toast. I think.
Lunch: I really can't remember...
Dinner: pizza

It was a snow day. I stayed in my pyjamas till 2pm. It was amazing.

Saturday and Sunday

Monday
Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, cucumber, apple
Dinner: falafel and humus wrap, crisps

I was off work sick, but not a kind of sick to affect my apetite. Except I did fall asleep before I'd eaten all my breakfast, so I finished it off at lunch...

Tuesday
Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, a carrot, red pepper and a kiwi
Dinner: macaroni and cauliflower cheese

Still kind of sick (headachey, all the wrong temperature and exhausted despite sleeping nearly 10 hours last night), but missing work is too stressful so I went in anyway. So, off to bed now.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:11 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich, red pepper, carrot and a kiwi
Dinner: butternut squash "sausages", baked potato, sweetcorn, peas, spinach

The "sausages" were an attempt at vegetarian food to have with potatoes/chips. Surprisingly tasty, a bit like chorizo in flavour but not pretending to be meat (more like a mashed potato/bean burger texture). Will probably get them again, although I still like fish fingers better.

Thursday

Breakfast: porridge with banana and pumpkin seeds
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, red pepper, carrot and an apple
Dinner: broccoli quinoa delight

I think that's the last of the quinoa! I still feel a bit wobbly at times, so actually the plain quinoa rather hit the spot this evening.

This week is flying by, only one day till the weekend!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 10:29 pm
by flyingpig
Friday

Breakfast: porridge with banana and walnuts
Lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwich, red pepper and a carrot
Dinner: bread dipped in olive oil, haloumi and sweet potato stack and chips

Had dinner out with work friends. I so nearly had pudding, but I'm glad I refrained because I still feel full nearly two hours after getting home. I had a cup of tea instead, much more what I needed :P

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 10:42 pm
by automatedeating
Good job on choosing tea!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:45 pm
by flyingpig
Oops, missed a whole week

It went :
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

You can tell it was the week before the holiday and I was tired!
This weekend I'm up at my parents' "celebrating my birthday", a month late. So this has been a weekend of gluttony with lots of cake. But on a more healthy note, I went jogging with my mum this morning and she said I seem a lot fitter than last time we jogged together (probably a year or two ago). As I haven't done much more exercise recently (I have been walking a bit more but nothing intense), I can only conclude that being a bit less heavy makes running easier.

Normal eating resumes tomorrow.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:20 am
by automatedeating
Well, your mum sounds quite fit herself!!! How old is she?

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 11:01 am
by flyingpig
She's in her 60s, but she was definitely the fittest out of all of us (me, her, my two sisters). She's only really (re)started jogging this year but she's always walking etc. Though to be fair, none of us are really into sport etc so she didn't have much competition.

In other news, for the second Monday in three weeks, I woke up feeling terrible. I think I need to tone down my weekends. It's like a food hangover or something. I feel a bit better now after a plain breakfast and a lot of tea/water, but maybe I should learn and have a bit more restraint at the weekend.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:25 pm
by automatedeating
That is so cool about your mom. And it sounds like you have sisters? Wonderful! I have 2 and there is a secuirty in knowing they would do anything for me if I truly were in trouble. My brother too, actually.

Have you tested your blood sugar? The "food hangover" was an early sign of prediabetes for me (in hindsight). You can buy a super cheap kit online and just test for a few days - fasting as soon as you get up, and then you could try testing after a few of your typical meals. That's how I started learning how various foods affect my blood sugar. Even people without any kind of prediabetes sometimes have funny spikes in response to particular foods. The research is showing that we all are very different in how our blood sugar responds to even the very same foods! I believe that every human deserves to know their blood sugar numbers. :-) I see a day when we all can have a continuous glucose monitor -- lol -- nerd alert.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:27 pm
by flyingpig
I have two sisters (and two brothers-in law) and a brother, so always lots of people to call on!

That's interesting about the diabetes link - my housemate actually has diabetes so maybe I'll get her to check my blood sugars every now and again. And if it keeps happening (on a Monday) then definitely deal with my weekends. But I have had a few celebratory weekends (lots of big birthdays) so hopefully the next few (more socially empty) weekends will be more sensible, food-wise.

Anyway,

Monday
Breakfast: croissant and a banana
Lunch: bread, cheese, ham, lettuce, a tiny piece of quiche
Dinner: a selection of curries, rice and naan bread

Tuesday
Breakfast: a fried egg on toast
Lunch: bread and soup
Dinner: beef and bean stew with dumplings, pineapple

Back home from my parents' tomorrow, but still half a week off work yay!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 7:37 pm
by flyingpig
Wednesday

Breakfast: a fried egg on toast
Lunch: pork pie, salad, crisps, a little orange
Dinner: broccoli quinoa stuff (turns out I did have another portion in the freezer, what a welcome home treat! :roll: :lol: )

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 11:14 pm
by flyingpig
Thursday

Breakfast: fried egg on toast, apple and peanut butter
Lunch: fish finger and lettuce sandwich and crisps
Dinner: random made up vegetable soup, mostly with peas in

Urgh, full of cold. Sneezing all over the place, when I'm not sniffing or coughing. Maybe Monday was nothing to do with eating too much and just the start of this illness. I also had an allergic reaction to something while gardening and my eye swelled up quite alarmingly. Spent the rest of the afternoon in bed feeling very sorry for myself and nearly didn't bother with dinner but glad I improvised a soup - it made me feel much better. And my eye is almost back to its usual size.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 11:32 pm
by margot17
Hello FP! sorry for your cold, and isn't it funny that it's just when you catch a cold that also the allergy wants to get to the party? well a soup was very a great idea. Hope you'll feel better tomorrow!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 6:18 am
by Soprano
Hope you have a better day today and feel better

Jx

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:52 am
by automatedeating
Am I getting mixed up on people on the thread, or have you basically been sick on and off for months now? Maybe I'm just mixed up, but if that is the case, I'm starting to be a little worried about you!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:06 pm
by flyingpig
Aw thanks for the concern! I had a cough for most of November, but I've been fine since then till a couple of weeks ago when I had a quick 24 hour headache/dizziness bug and now I have a cold. I think it's just the joys of primary teaching! And the fact that I complain a lot when I'm ill so it probably seems like I'm more ill more of the time.

Luckily the weather is beautiful at the moment so I'm very cheery with my sniffles, keeping me active. But sadly not keeping me green :oops:

Friday
It was all going well till I made bread. And ate lots of it. And then caved into chocolate cravings. Should have saved my bread making for the weekend!

At least I've been reasonably restrained so far this weekend...

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:56 pm
by Staff Assistant III
I’m all about weekend bread making lately. My sourdough starter is maybe 6 weeks old. It’s tough not to eat it when you know how good it is!

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 6:27 am
by Soprano
I do crave carbs when I have a cold, your body must need it...

Jx

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:22 am
by flyingpig
Monday

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: pizza, cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes and a kiwi
Dinner: chickpea and butternut squash curry with naan bread

Cold is almost gone. One day of work down. Definitely not counting down the days till the next holiday...
It's still beautiful weather, summer in February. Makes me happy, though must avoid the ice-cream calling.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:00 pm
by automatedeating
Can you remind your general location? Getting summer already? I woke up to light snow.

Re: flyingpig checkin

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:53 pm
by flyingpig
I'm in southern England. This is not normal weather - been the warmest February on record apparently. Last year we had snow at the start of March. This year it's almost 20°C with blazing sunshine all day and not a cloud in the sky. It's weird, but it's lovely.

Tuesday
Breakfast: peanut butter and banana on toast
Lunch: pizza, cucumber, red pepper, cherry tomato and an apple
Dinner: chilli beans and rice