Daily Thoughts on Food

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

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space
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Daily Thoughts on Food

Post by space » Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:53 am

I think I do much better with developing good habits when I ramble on about them in a semi-public space on regular basis, so here I go.

I decided to start this 'diet' at lunch yesterday, but failed immediately. As some background, I'm working as a contractor overseas at a remote location and basically, my only food options are from a cafeteria style kitchen which serves 3 meals per day and has some grab-and-go options at all other times. The food is free. It's seasonal work but I gain a TON of weight every season, I guess due to the free food. I usually lose the weight fairly rapidly after going back to the states, but I took a much longer contract this time so the weight is just piling on and starting to cause some problems.
Anyway, I was in my room eating the lunch I'd grabbed while reading about fitness habits online when I stumbled across this site and forum. I decided to give it a shot.

Only they were serving REALLY AMAZING veggie wraps yesterday. I HAD to have another one. Due to our remote location, the food tends to be really awful so I felt like I couldn't let this amazing food opportunity pass me by. So I seriously walked all the way back to the cafeteria to grab a second half of a wrap to eat at work that afternoon. So much for willpower or discipline.

Failed again at dinner. There's another facility not far from ours and we're allowed to visit for their (much more delicious) meals once in a while. I was signed up for dinner there and it was Indian night. Again. Couldn't let that amazing food opportunity pass me by so I had a second round of veggie curry. I my defense, both helpings were somewhat small-ish.

Today went much better. My portions were still too large, but I at least followed the rules.

Probably would have ate but didn't: a pastry that I for sure would have grabbed at breakfast (and potentially would have grabbed a second for a mid-morning snack,) a brownie that I would have potentially grabbed at lunch, and some butterscotch thing I most likely would have eaten with dinner. None of the non-desert options today were all that great so I probably wouldn't have gone for any seconds.

All those things that I would have maybe grabbed probably would have been around 1000 calories. So even if I only would have eaten only half of those things, I'd guess I'm already 'down' 500 calories. Honestly, I probably would have eaten all of them. I'm addicted.

On the flip side, I feel like I grabbed a few extra french fries over what I would have previously. Normally I'd skip them or just take a few. I took like a quarter of a plate full since it wasn't actually breaking any rules. Whoops! Oh well.

sharon227
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Post by sharon227 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 12:56 pm

After about a month here at No S, I've found that I do best when I have complete control over my food and my schedule, and worst when I'm at the mercy of someone else's food and schedule. I suppose that's pretty obvious, but it's useful for me to actively understand.

It's worth thinking through "How do I want to deal with days when the food is unusually good?" If that happens twice a month, maybe you decide that you'll have some extras and just call them additional "red" days. If it happens twice a week, though, you probably want to start thinking about other strategies. If you really do want to follow the plan, two small-ish servings definitely aren't as good as one large one where you can see at one glance how much you're eating.

You're not going to be perfect the first week. The whole point of No S is to build up habits, so you don't need to reply on "willpower and discipline." Which definitely makes it hardest at the beginning.

You're probably never going to perfect, actually, but definitely not as you're learning your way.

Good luck on your No S journey!

space
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Post by space » Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:25 am

sharon227 wrote:After about a month here at No S, I've found that I do best when I have complete control over my food and my schedule, and worst when I'm at the mercy of someone else's food and schedule. I suppose that's pretty obvious, but it's useful for me to actively understand.

It's worth thinking through "How do I want to deal with days when the food is unusually good?" If that happens twice a month, maybe you decide that you'll have some extras and just call them additional "red" days. If it happens twice a week, though, you probably want to start thinking about other strategies. If you really do want to follow the plan, two small-ish servings definitely aren't as good as one large one where you can see at one glance how much you're eating.

You're not going to be perfect the first week. The whole point of No S is to build up habits, so you don't need to reply on "willpower and discipline." Which definitely makes it hardest at the beginning.

You're probably never going to perfect, actually, but definitely not as you're learning your way.

Good luck on your No S journey!
Yes. Having little control over food is definitely part of my problem while I'm here.

The "unusually good food fallacy" is also a thing for me! I'm like "Oh, this food is actually healthy. THey never serve healthy stuff. I should eat a ton of it!" Then the next time "Well, this isn't healthy, but wow, it's actually delicious for once. Better eat it all!" and so on. It all just turns into me giving myself excuses to over eat a bunch of crap. The good stuff happens more often than I think.

Thanks! I'll need some good luck!

space
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Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Day two

Post by space » Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:36 am

Alright. Day 2. or really day 2.5.

I started out okay. Breakfast was moderately sized. I managed to avoid the sweet pastry again. Also chose to skip the chai tea because I always add creamer and honey and went for the mint because I drink that straight.
Later, I realized that technically I was "allowed' to break some rules today because it's Saturday.

That realization didn't change my lunch any. I ate almost half a plate full of broccoli, some roasted potatoes, and a bit of eggplant Parmesan. Totally acceptable.
Then I was working on a pretty big project in a building I don't usually work in and noticed a bunch of snacks. Not usually much of a snacker, but I felt like I needed a little reward or something because I wasn't super into this project and it was saturday afternoon. Hard to be motivated. Ate one of those super sweet granola bars. Wasn't even good. Shouldn't have done that.

Dinner was kind of a fail. Filled a bit portion of my plate with peas and carrots and didn't eat many. Also grabbed some potatoes (but weird fake potatoes) and they were awful so I didn;'t any. Most of what I ate was garlic shrimp with white rice (actually good) and a HUUUUUUUUUGE piece of cheesecake. Whoops!
Now, I'm eating some peanut m&ms. I am seriously straight up completely addicted to sugar.

Even though that's all not so great, it was super interesting to see all the crap I ate after I realized I was "allowed" to. The ONE day so far that I've actually followed the no s rules, I didn't really feel like I was missing out on anything. Then the day when I told myself I didn't have to follow that rule, I ate a crap ton more when I really didn't need to. Definitely an interesting learning experience.

Let's see how out of control I go tomorrow.

Soprano
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Post by Soprano » Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:59 am

Using food as a reward is something to think about, ultimately it should be to satisfy hunger and your nutritional needs :)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

space
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Post by space » Sun Jun 17, 2018 6:11 am

Soprano wrote:Using food as a reward is something to think about, ultimately it should be to satisfy hunger and your nutritional needs :)

Jx
Yes, true! Although, if I'm totally honest, I would say that using food as a reward isn't even my problem. It's more just mindless eating and then later I try to to help rationalize by saying "Oh, well, work was hard/tedious today, so it was a reward!" but in the moment, I don't have that thought. It's just mindless.

Day Three.5

They do a big brunch meal on Sundays so I skipped breakfast and had a very large and unhealthy brunch. Large serving of veggie breakfast casserole, some cheese and crackers, AND an entire waffle with lots of syrup.

Skipped lunch (because I ate brunch)

Dinner was a generous serving of oatmeal with brown sugar and chia seeds.
Now I'm having a glass of wine.

Not great sustainable eating, but if I only did it on Sunday, I'd accept it. I think I burn quite a few calories at work, so it's reasonable for me to eat fairly large portions, but not quite like I am. And I definitely don't need nearly as much sugar or carbohydrate in my diet.

But alright. Time to really dive into healthy eating tomorrow!
Game plan is especially light meals, preferably with a bit of protein in there somewhere.
I have a pretty slow metabolism and tend to be fine eating very little or even not eating at all. Sometimes I think my body actually appreciates the break from processing food. So as long as it doesn't end up being too physical of a day at work, I should be fine eating very little tomorrow as a bit of a break.

space
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Just can't Get It Right!

Post by space » Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:04 am

Okay, today I went overboard in the other direction I think.
I had a bit of juice and water with chia seeds for breakfast.
At lunch I had some other things i wanted to do, so I figured I would just skip instead of doing a light meal.
Then I thought about how fasting is frequently used as almost a spiritual thing and decided to experiment with just not eating so I skipped dinner too.

I don't think it was my finest idea. I ended up not eating anything else today besides the chia seeds and juice. I don't feel awful, but I can definitely tell I didn't eat enough. I work in a very cold climate and plus had to do some outdoor stuff today and I just Could Not Get Warm. I STILL feel cold.

Though any disordered eating problems that I might have swing in the other direction - OVER eating - I can absolutely see how people could get trapped in under eating. Even though I can't stay warm and I can tell my body wanted more calories today, there is a satisfying feeling of being in control that came once I made the choice to not eat and remains after I successfully fulfilled that choice.

But anyway, that experiment is through and tomorrow is a new day! I'm excited for my small, healthy meals!
Even though I don't think it was my best idea, I do think I can learn from this experience and find a similar feeling of satisfaction and control by consciously eating in a more healthy and reasonable manner. I can eat more mindfully, chose less sugar, and smaller meals on days that I'm not doing a lot of outdoor or physical labor and larger meals when my body needs it.

space
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Today was good

Post by space » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:58 am

I've felt pretty awful and off all day - much like I felt yesterday. I'm not sure if it's residual effects from under-eating yesterday? Or maybe I'm getting sick? I'm not sure but I don't like it.

But as far as my meals go, I think I did fine. I had a fairly large breakfast - 3 eggs with some veggies and cheese, a handful of crappy/frozen breakfast potatoes, an apple and some English breakfast tea with powdered creamer and a tiny bit of honey. I had to eat it very slowly because it made me feel pretty full after not eating enough yesterday but it was delicious.

It was taco day for lunch, my least favorite day. I made myself a large cheese quesadilla, then had some corn and red peppers. I'm not a huge bean fan in most contexts and especially not in the paste form they serve on taco day, but I forced myself to add a couple spoonfuls to my plate because nutritionally, it seemed like a wise addition considering my other choices.

At dinner I was at peak weird/foggy/not right feeling. I took some of the awful frozen vegetable mix we're forced to deal with almost every day (and selfishly picked out as much broccoli as I can because it's the only part of the mix that I find palatable,) added just a few noodles, then a large piece of halibut, which was surprisingly good compared to the food normally served here.
I know I don't usually get nearly enough protein. I rarely eat meat and it's almost exclusively fish when I do. The couple times in my life that I've tried to actively eat enough protein, I've felt soooo much stronger and could hike so much further and lost a somewhat significant amount of weight without otherwise trying. Unfortunately, I don't LIKE most protein sources, especially the ones I have available to me now, so it's hard for me.
But anyway, it felt good to be able to eat (and enjoy) that big chunk of fish.

My only lapse was having a cup of hot chocolate with some coconut milk powder right after lunch. That didn't fit with my goals of eating less sugar, but I'm still counting today as a win.
Still pretty large portions, but I don't think they were completely inappropriate considering my activity level and how little I ate yesterday.

space
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Post by space » Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:42 am

Definitely not perfect, but I'm counting today as a success too.

I had oatmeal with chia seeds, brown sugar, and a bit of shelf-stable milk for breakfast. I made too much and couldn't finish it all so I'm going to try to make a smaller portion next time. Since I don't have access to a kitchen, I can only cook oatmeal in my room on this electric hot pot thing. It's hard to gauge volumes and hard to evenly cook small portions. I might try measuring in the future. Or maybe try overnight/soaked oats instead of cooking?
Anyway, I could have done with a smaller portion and less brown sugar, but it was fine.

As I mentioned before, almost the only access to food I have is a cafeteria style kitchen. Well today the there was a massive coolant leak and the whole kitchen flooded. I'm shocked they managed to get any food out for us in time for lunch.
They did get some options out, but greatly limited compared to what is usually there.
Still, I wasn't too disappointed. I had a tiny bit of veggie chili, a bit of canned fruit (we're almost out of fresh and only get more when flights come in and flights only come in every few months and they don't always have room for fresh food,) and some tuna salad on some great homemade bread (unfortunately, our baker is FANTASTIC. The breads and deserts are always amazing.)

Due to the kitchen flood, dinner was even more depressing than lunch. Pretty much just pizza. I had two and a half pieces and now I'm having some cider.

Oh, I also had one tiny spoonful of Nutella between lunch and dinner.

I was actually hungry by the time dinner was approaching, which is great, actually. It makes me like the food more, even when it's not all that great.

Merrygoround
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Post by Merrygoround » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:50 am

Hello Space. Welcome to the forums. Are you down on the ice?

No control over food is not easy at all, and it sounds like fresh food is at a minimum too (powered or uht milk, frozen veg.....)

However, the beauty of no s is how simple it is. This is meal time, I fill a plate and eat. This is not meal time. I don’t eat. This is mealtime, I fill a plate and eat, rinse and repeat. I think you will find it easier to get into that habit if you don’t worry too much at the moment about the content of the meal. Pick what you like best from what is on offer, put it on a plate and eat it.

With treats, perhaps if you really want that bag of m and m’s save it for the weekend. Are treats available all the time, or do you have to grab them when they are on offer? If available all the time, make a list. This weekend I will have a breakfast pastry, waffles, m and m’s etc. keep adding to the list every time you want something. Tell yourself you can have it Saturday, you just need to add it to the list. Then Saturday you can have anything you want off the list! You might go wild once or twice but it settles down. I’ve not been at this long, and it’s settling down already.

Good luck
Merry

space
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Post by space » Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:13 am

Yes, Merry. I'm enjoying a dark, cold winter. Which is kind of why I didn't really care that I was getting extra fat... until i started not fitting into my clothes all that well and realized I can't buy new clothes until October.

I think you're right about the sugar addiction issue. Telling myself that I can just go for it on the weekends does make it a lot easier to not go for it all the time. "Eh, I just have to wait until Saturday, that's not problem." It's shockingly effective. I'm sure I'll go wild sometimes, but at least now I'll be going wild while eating in a less crazy way for the majority of the week.

Alright, I think I'm already at Day 7.
Pretty epic failure. Breakfast was okay, very small by my standards.
A tiny bit of fake eggs, some yogurt with coffee and brown sugar, and I think a hardboiled egg with balsamic? I can't even remember. I know that's probably a big breakfast for most people, but I eat a lot normally!

Lunch was super disappointing. They;re still trying to fix the kitchen so the food is even more limited than usual. I had part of a veggie wrap (It was so bad I couldn't eat more than a few bites,) a tiny bit of tuna salad with some oat bread, and a bit of some quinoa salad that was actually pretty good. I should have gotten more of the quinoa salad because I was still pretty hungry after all that.
I guess because I was still hungry, I ended up buying some Cheese Its. They're usually not available here. I was planning on just eating a few but once I started I couldn't stop. I ate damn near the entire giant bag right after lunch!
I'm partially blaming the kitchen flood because I'm sure I wouldn't have done that if I had felt more full and satisfied from lunch, which would have been easier if there had been something good offered. I also should have broken the no seconds rule to get more quinoa since I didn't end up eating the wrap.

I failed again at dinner. I had a veggie burger pattie with cheese (it was cold and sad and not good,) and then absolutely could not resist a VERY generous portion of creme brulee. Honestly, it was so good that I don't think I even regret it. But I MAYBE regret going and getting a second round of it. But also maybe not. It was SERIOUSLY good.

Also I was working on a big boring data entry project at work, so very little physical activity today. My watch says just 8000 steps and none of those were really hard labor steps, just wandering around and walking places steps.

So yeah, not a good day at all. Buuuuuuuuut, I don't really feel that bad about it. I think I've done well for most of this week so far, and certainly better than my usual, less mindful eating. I also think my "weaknesses" today were caused by still being hungry after meals which should be an easy to remedy problem now that I'm aware of it and less likely to happen in the first place once I have a few more food options available again. Hopefully they get the kitchen up and running again soon. Even though it's been pretty terrible, I'm actually really impressed they've been able to do as much as they have. The flood looked really awful.

So I'll try again tomorrow!

Soprano
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Post by Soprano » Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:37 pm

If you can look back to how you used to eat and see improvements that's great. The first few weeks are a huge learning curve. Not everyday will be perfect be kind to yourself and relax in to the Nos journey :)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

space
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Post by space » Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:56 am

Thanks, soprano! I'm pretty content with ANY improvement in my diet and especially any progress with eating less sugar. I think I'm DEFINITELY achieving less sugar (even if I still have lots of room to improve,) so I'm happy.


Day 8 I guess?
I did really well today until the evening when I bought and ate a candy bar. But at least that's better than yesterday, and still better than before I started trying to eat better.

Ha. Is it cheating to call every day a win, even when I mess up?

I still feel really snacky, but not actually hungry. I can definitely wait until morning.

Soprano
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Post by Soprano » Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:48 am

You are free to set your own standards as to whether it was a green day :)

I fell very easily in to the 3 daily meals and NOs rules but my journey to the point I started it will be different to everyone else.

You know when you are fooling yourself, if you are slowly improving your eating habits that's got to be a win in my book..

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

space
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Post by space » Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:21 am

Thanks Soprano. Hopefully you're right about knowing if I'm fooling myself. I don't think i am so far. But I guess I'm not taking it as seriously as I could be since I assume I'll lose weight/start eating better once my contract ends and I go back to the states, since that's what usually happens. But I could probably ditch that excuse and be a little more careful.

Anyway, just checking in to say that I've totally been going wild this weekend! Eating EVERYTHING. We do a really big/nice/delicious dinner here to celebrate solstice. Most people are about halfway through their contracts at this time. It's a big celebration and the kitchen puts a lot of effort into making a nice meal so I felt fine going wild with it.

This morning I ran a (very, very short and very very cold) race and ate a tonnnnnn afterwards. Not yet sure if I'll eat dinner tonight. I'm sure I ate enough at brunch to sustain me! Hopefully I'll keep tomorrow somewhat light.

space
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Day Eleven

Post by space » Mon Jun 25, 2018 5:20 am

Welllll, today was a half win? Maybe? By a stretch?

I skipped breakfast and lunch was awful. I dished up some mashed potatoes and tempeh and dumplings and it was soooo salty, I only ate a bit. I also dished up a generous portion of not-too-great steamed veggies and I ate all the broccoli and most of the rest. I also had a bit of quinoa salad but they've been serving it for about a week now and I'm getting sick of it.
They also had some of the deserts left over from this weekend's big dinner. I broke the rules and ate some of that. And then a little bit more. Whoops!

Feeling still hungry after eating this not-so-substantial and very sugary lunch, I also grabbed a hardboiled egg and ate that.

I'm still feeling somewhat sated so I think I might skip dinner tonight or maybe grab a tiny bit of soup.

So fail in that I broke the rules AND ate a significant amount of sugar. But win in that I didn't eat three giant meals. I also tried to run most of my errands today on foot instead of using the truck. Although this still only allowed me 9,000 steps, according to my watch and it's already 5pm. I doubt I'll do too much more walking today, especially because the weather is pretty awful.

Side note, I realized today that I basically don't drink water. Like seriously MAYBE twice or three times per week. But I do drink tea by the liter. I ordered a bunch of top-shelf tea before I came down here and I'm slowly working through my stash. I'm so thankful to have it!

space
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Post by space » Wed Jun 27, 2018 7:28 am

The last two days have felt pretty mediocre. Yesterday I ate desert TWICE, but otherwise did okay. Today I had a(n amazing) cookie and a sugary drink. I'm still failing on sugar, but I DO think I'm doing betting than before I started trying.

But I think I could do better still.

I've been a bit more busy the last few days and I don't think that has helped. But I'll keep trying!

Soprano
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Post by Soprano » Wed Jun 27, 2018 8:21 am

Reducing your sugar intake will have a lot of benefits. Why not try limiting to once a day to start with?

Then when you have that under control every other day :)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

space
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Post by space » Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:27 am

Soprano wrote:Reducing your sugar intake will have a lot of benefits. Why not try limiting to once a day to start with?

Then when you have that under control every other day :)

Jx

Might not be a bad idea.

It just seems so absurd that I can't just only eat it on weekends! I can do better!
And I'm not even talking eliminating all sugars and starches, just the MOSTLY sugar things.


Anyway, broke all the rules today. Had a sugar snack and snacked a ton but I also had to have burned AT LEAST 6000 calories at work. Super grueling physical labor day (but super fun too,) so I'm calling it a win regardless. I needed the snacks so I could keep working.
Now on to tomorrow! No desserts!

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Octavia
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Post by Octavia » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:57 am

Hi Space,
Sounds like you are really determined to make No S work. You will get there! Control over sugar will come. I found this really hard at first, as I was used to using sweet treats as a pick-me-up all day long. One thing that helped me was when I discovered these amazingly delicious strawberry milkshakes from M&S, the store we Brits rely on for our high-quality goodies. It was better than having a dessert! They helped me in the early days as they are technically green, so so didn’t feel like I’d failed when I had one. I also had hot chocolate almost every night! Sometimes even with cream on top!!!! Oh, yes! 😉 Non-No S dieters might think that’s ridiculous, but it helped me get into the Vanilla habit, and later I found I could manage without. It’s such a gradual process, but you will find you are gradually taking in fewer calories, without even trying to eat ‘lightly’.

Soprano’s gradual reduction of sugar plan sounds good to me.

....sounds like you are burning PILES of energy at work, and you need to take in more energy than desk-bound, cerebral snowflakes like me. It’s good that you gave yourself a Green yesterday!

Good luck and have a great day!

space
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Post by space » Fri Jun 29, 2018 9:39 am

Too tired to ramble on, but today was a big fail. I did fine until the evening, then candy. Ugh.

Oh well. Start again tomorrow!

space
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Post by space » Fri Jun 29, 2018 9:22 pm

Thanks Octavia!

Eh, a lot of days I just do desk work and don't use hardly any energy. But I do frequently have some control over how active I am, which is nice. I can either task other people with the more active things that need to be done, or chose to do them myself.

Sugary drinks were also helpful to me, especially in the first week or so. I like hot chocolate or chais once in a while, though really, I don't even have all that many sugary drink options available to me at the moment.

But anyway, so far so good today. I decided to skip breakfast. Even though it's Saturday, I'm going to try to skip major sugars today since I cheated a lot this week.

space
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Post by space » Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:07 am

I rreeeeeeaaaallllllllyyy wanted to report a solid win yesterday, but I didn't! I had some salted caramel nut bark stuff for lunch. It was soooo good and I couldn't resist.
I did fine otherwise, so trying not to be too upset, but man. My complete lack of ability to turn down sugar is legitimately embarrassing. I was aware of it previously as I've tried and failed to quit other times previously. I think my record was four days. This time I'm not even being as strict and still failing!
Despite how utterly awful I'm doing, I do think I'm doing better than my normal state, so it's still a win in that regard.
But oh well. Onward. Just going to try harder next week.

Today was okay. I had some crackers and cheese, a little bit of eggs, tiny bit of unhealthy breakfast potatoes, chai tea, some pastry thing that wasn't too sugary and a waffle (which was sugary.) Sounds like a ton, and it was a lot, but it was tiny portions of all of these things over a couple hour-long leisurely brunch with my friends. I'll probably skip dinner (or maybe have a little bit of oatmeal) but maybe have some wine or a cider with friends tonight.

But ugh, I am so ready to get out of here and go back to the states and actually eat real food and cook real meals!

space
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Post by space » Mon Jul 02, 2018 8:45 pm

Predictably, failed again somewhat yesterday!

I had some overnight oats for breakfast. I tried using a mixture of normal milk and some coconut milk powder and I don't think the coconut milk powder worked with it. I might try it again but without. I also didn't have any yogurt and I think that would help a lot, so next time they have yogurt out, I'll try to stock up to try again.
I also added cinnamon, brown sugar, and chia seeds.

Lunch was some vegetable pot pie with brown rice but failed and had two sugar cookies.

Dinner could have been better. Some gross steamed veggies, two herb rolls with butter, and some fried shrimp. The shrimp were not that good and could have been omitted completely. But dinner was a win in that I was still feeling like I wanted to keep eating - not actually hungry, I guess just bored/snacky, but I ignored it and it went away.

I think I'm still making steady, gradual improvement, even with all these little failures. That's a win in and of itself.

Breakfast this morning was yogurt with some sweetened strawberries and some "super greens smoothie boosters" powder that my friend gave me. I think I'll skip lunch.

I've at least been doing pretty well with not snacking. Prior to this, I thought I wasn't muck of a snacker, but now that I've made a rule of not snacking, I can tell that I actually was doing it quite a bit. I'd usually eat mindlessly after dinner, and sometimes I would grab a pastry or something to unnecessarily eat between breakfast and lunch.

space
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Post by space » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:13 am

Finally! A real win! And I had to fight for it. I ended up having lunch. A quesadilla with some salsa, olives and onions.

Dinner was a giant pile of asparagus, an amazing French roll, a quinoa veggie patty, and some buttered noodles with soy sauce. Again, large, but at least following the rules.
After dinner, my friend was going to grab a second roll because they were so amazing and asked if I wanted another. I did! But I said no.
Then another friend was eating this peanut butter dessert that looked really good. She asked if I wanted the last few bites because she was finished. And I Just BARELY managed to say no.

I feel like the solid win days were a bit easier in the first week. :/
But still, solid win!

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Wed Jul 04, 2018 7:26 am

I'm calling today a win too. I manged to turn down peanut butter crackers and peanut m&ms.

Skipped breakfast, skipped lunch

Dinner was a little bit of a grey area as far as breaking rules goes. I was really hungry from skipping lunch and dinner and I grabbed a tiny bit of a few different things that were available. One thing was so salty and dry I couldn't eat it. The 'fake' potatoes were also awful and I couldn't eat them. I tried some soup with rice and it was sooo bland.
So I went back and kind of got seconds, but not really since I ate so little initially.
I ended up having some italian chickpea mix thing, a TON of mushroom risotto, and some rice with brown sugar (definitely a cheat but...)
ALSO grabbed a piece of pizza for some post dinner food. Also a cheat.
So yeah, a bit of a binge, but A.) It's Independence day which sort of counts as a holiday, right? and B.) I didn't eat anything the rest of the day so going over is probably somewhat okay?

sharon227
Posts: 292
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Post by sharon227 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:00 pm

I don't want to sound harsh, but what you described for your day yesterday doesn't sound like habits you'd been hoping to develop at the outset. And you may be fine with that! (In which case please ignore the rest of this post). But if you are interested in trying to follow the plan, counting yesterday as an S day because of the Independence Day holiday seems to me to be the better way to go, instead of considering what you described to be an N day.

Why? As I understand it, the major point of the No S Diet's "one plate per meal and no snacking" is so that you can easily see how much you're eating. When you take 2 smaller portions and then grab something later, you can't easily see the total of what you ate. It is too easy to fool yourself into thinking that you didn't really eat as much as you did. When it's all piled up there on one single plate, you know for sure.

Why are you skipping breakfast and lunch? Unless for religious reasons, you probably want to try to eat your three meals a day so you're not "really hungry from skipping lunch." It is much more difficult not to overindulge at dinner if you are ravenous from not eating all day. Why make it harder for yourself?

space
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Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:40 pm

No worries, not harsh at all!
And yes, I think you're totally right. I think I'm sort of failing a lot and playing mind games with myself to convince myself that I'm not because I HATE failing and I know I'll quit trying if I don't keep thinking I'm making progress.

And yes. I definitely need to not skip meals. Like one is fine, but two consecutively is not ideal. Breakfast was skipped because I slept later than I usually do so I had to chose between doing my morning stretching/yoga and breakfast, so I figured skipping breakfast wasn't a big deal and chose that.
And for lunch, I had a few different things going on and ran out of time. I probably could have got something quickly and stuffed my face super fast (and maybe should have done that) but I didn't WANT to do that, plus I wasn't really that hungry yet. But then when dinner time hit, I was totally starving.

I'm not sure of a good way to remedy this. Obviously I could have snacked and counted it as a meal, but the only snack options I had available were more or less candy.
Thankfully, these days where I'm too busy to fit in a normal meal and/or sleep in are very rare so it shouldn't be a long term problem.

Anyway, so far, so good today. Yogurt for breakfast with some "super greens" smoothie booster powder my friend gave me and some frozen strawberries. I'm trying to add less sugar than usual, and I think it's working...
One bit of fair and true progress: Totally cut the trash breakfast pastries out of my diet. I've been sort of keeping track of how many I would have eaten prior to this. It's probably about 4 or 5 per week. Some weeks more, some weeks less. They have almost zero nutritional value and aren't even THAT good, so cutting them out of my diet has been a solid win!

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:53 am

Another complete win!

Breakfast: Yogurt as previously described

Lunch: Broccoli, just a few sweet potato fries, 2 hard boiled eggs and a few fake/vegetarian chicken nuggets

Dinner:Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, veggie burger with cheese on a pretzel roll, a few spoonfuls of tofu paprikash, a few french fries.

It was also a somewhat physical day at work so probably a net loss as far as calories go, even if my meals were fairly large. Also, I haven't been able to go to the gym for a while due to a medical issue, but I think I can probably start again if I can find the time and motivation.

Today I feel like I'm finally learning the skill of wanting some unhealthy thing (french fries in today's case,) having it, but having just a few and actually feeling satisfied and content with that. Usually I want like half a plate full of french fries (or whatever not-so-healthy thing) and if I take a reasonable, small amount, I just want more and I don't at all feel satisfied by the few. We'll see if this continues. Hopefully it's not just an anomaly of the last week or so.

sharon227
Posts: 292
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 12:13 pm

Post by sharon227 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 1:07 pm

Sounds like a great win and a healthy day! Congratulations! I think your day is the secret of traditional eating that Reinhard wants us to get back to: 3 balanced meals, sometimes including small amounts of not super-healthy things but in reasonable amounts.

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:15 am

Okay, today was a fail, but only a light fail.
Breakfast was yogurt (not too much sweetened strawberries added,) and a bagel with cream cheese

Lunch was rough. There was NOTHING good and none of my fallback plans (basically hard boiled eggs or tuna salad) were available. I had a quesadilla, a pretzel roll, a couple spoonfuls of mashed potatoes with vegetarian gravy and a couple spoonfuls of some kind of bean "salad". The term "salad" is thrown around pretty loosely here.

Dinner is where the fails happened. There was an Independence Day (observed) party this evening and no normal dinner or normal plates so I could put together a full meal.
I had a bit of vegan chili, a veggie burger, and some pasta salad. Even though it wasn't all together at the same time, it was probably fair game and should count as one meal.
But then I also had a couple hard ciders (sooo sweet) and cotton candy. This was a total novelty. Who knew there was a cotton candy machine here??
I think I would have been fine if it weren't for the party.

The good news is that it was another fairly physical day at work so at least I burned off some of what I ate.

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:42 am

So the weekend wasn't fantastic. It felt like I was quickly reverting back to eating just because I "could." The problem was exacerbated by some truly awful weather so leaving my room to venture forth for a proper dinner meal was not an appealing prospect.

but today is going well! I think something finally clicked because I managed to turn down three things that would have made today a failure. All three looked really delicious and all three were things that I don't often have access to. Scarcity or perceived scarcity of good foods and desserts has clearly been a problem for me in the past days and weeks so turning down three "special" foods is progress. One was really well-made, bakery quality almond croissants that I had on the weekend. They were made available for breakfast but I manged to just eat boring eggs, potatoes and canned fruit instead. Canned fruit is definitely a grey area as far as breaking rules goes, but we're out of fresh fruit so I'm calling it acceptable as long as I'm keeping the portions reasonable.

Lunch was also fairly blah as far as my satisfaction level goes. Some kind of veggie bake, some steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, and a pumpkin roll. I avoided chocolate cake and a "maple butter tart" that all my friends were raving about. Maple is one of my favorite flavors. I almost grabbed one to refrigerate until the weekend, but I figured that it wouldn't be that good by then and the mental fortitude required to not eat it would likely crumble before saturday anyway.

So if I can manage to avoid desserts at dinner and avoid post-dinner snacking, today will be a win.

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Thu Jul 12, 2018 2:19 am

Monday and Tuesday were wins and pretty solid. Wednesday fell apart and was a total loss. Today is shaping up to go well. A coworker and I discovered we both have Garmin watches and got into a week long step battle. Today is day one and I can already tell it's going to be ROUGH. Work has been pretty sedentary lately, so I'm going to have to make up a lot of steps after work, probably at the gym. MUST WIN!
Also, it's literally -40 degrees outside right now. Also, fun fact, -40 is the same temperature in celsius and fahrenheit.

Anyway, hopefully I don't start eating a ton because of this step war! I know I get more hungry when I'm more active and I'm already eating fairly large meals.

I've also been allowing myself drinks with calories and I'd eventually like to phase that out or limit it severely. I mostly have a glass of wine or a cider in the evening, but occasionally I'll have a soda or hot chocolate.

Anyway, I feel like my self-discipline/will power/whatever is improving a bit. Yesterday's failure felt different somehow. Like a CHOSE to do it instead of merely being unable to resist (which is usually how I feel.) I know that's a subtle distinction with the same end result either way, but it seems like progress.

sharon227
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Post by sharon227 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:40 am

Sounds like you're making good progress!

space
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Post by space » Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:52 am

I hope so!

Yesterday was a success and today is good so far.

Huge breakfast with tator tots, tiny bit of fake eggs, lots of yogurt with frozen berries and I think I had a few canned pineapple slices too. Can't remember.

Lunch was too big too. It was a VERY full plate, little bit of vegetarian chilli with sour cream and cheese, some french fries with mayo and ketchup, normal gross steamed vegetables, some pasta with tomato sauce and fake/granulated/out-of-a-shaker parmesan (God, can't wait to buy quality cheeses again!)
none of it was even that good.

Felt a little bit bored/snacky in the afternoon and normally I probably would have made some instant ramen, but I resisted. I think dinner will go well then I'll probably spend a bit of time at the gym.

But, I TOTALLY need to start eating smaller meals. Now I'm not breaking the rules regularly, but still filling every inch of a large dinner plate. I should probably focus on losing weight and in that case I really need to start actually eating less.
If I were to guess, I would suppose that my weight is leveling off since I've started posting here. I doubt I'm losing, but I'm probably not gaining like I was either. I did try to weigh myself a few times, but the only scale I have access to is A. In a public place B. One of those manual slider ones C. totally variable depending on if you stand in the exact center or like one or two inches forward or back. It seriously changes it by 10-15 lbs so I probably wouldn't be able to notice any loss until it hits almost that much.

But anyway, if I want to be able to fit into my normal clothes when I return to the states, I probably should focus on losing what I've gained. That will also help me get back into shape before leaving so I don't have to spend all my time off getting into shape instead of actually enjoying hiking, kayaking, skiing, snowshoeing, etc.

I've never been great with portion control. The only times I have really lost weight have been times that I've been really active which is hard to do in my current circumstances. I should definitely start visiting the gym more and do some treadmill runs but also I need to make these three meals smaller!

Soprano
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Location: UK

Post by Soprano » Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:02 am

I think you are right to get the snacking habit sorted first. I agree it probably is time to look at portion control. Why not tackle it one meal at a time?

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

space
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Post by space » Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:11 pm

Good idea, Soprano.
I'm trying to tell myself that even baby steps are better than nothing as long as I'm actually achieving them.


Anyway, I decided to add another baby step. No more drinks with calories besides social events. I'll use "social events" loosely, like watching a movie with a couple friends, but I've been a bit hermity lately, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I'll miss my glasses of wine and chai with honey and powdered milk in the mornings, but I have lots of tea without calories and I can still enjoy wine on the weekends and with friends. I don't think I'll miss any of the other calorie drinks I have on occasion.
Oh, I might also still allow juice with chia seeds as I occasionally have that as breakfast and if we ever get mail, I should have more chia seeds on the way.

Also going to focus on going to the gym on all the days that I mostly work in the office and don't get a lot of activity in at work. I'm not going to have as much time off as I'm used to this year and the more I think of spending all that time getting back into shape, the more motivated I am to get into shape BEFORE I leave so I can actually enjoy my time off without huffing and puffing and making all my friends wait for me all the time.

Lastly, yesterday was a success and today is starting out okay. Breakfast was kind of big and sweet -big serving of yogurt and big serving of canned fruit, but not too bad. The step war with my friend has been good motivation to start going to the gym again after I couldn't for a while.

space
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Post by space » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:26 pm

Weekend was okay, but did involve some heavy drinking and staying up all night. Now my sleep schedule is totally messed up and my appetite is very low. Not sure if that's related to my messed up sleep? Anyway, both Monday and Tuesday were wins, even despite going to a little party where they were serving good food, snacks and desserts. Today is starting okay but I slept WAAAY in because I'm so exhausted so I had breakfast at work - just a bowl of yogurt. I hope I can fix my sleep quickly or the rest of this contract is going to be pretty rough.

I've also been really active both at work and outside of work so I'm sure this week is shaping up to be a net loss as far as calories/weight go.
Today I think I'm going to have some super physical tasking and if it's anywhere as difficult as last time, I'm right now going to call that snacks are acceptable, especially with my low appetite, it will be hard to eat enough at lunch to power me through the rest of work. I also have to take lunch early so I'll be extra not hungry.

But anyway, maybe this week can be my first solid success! I haven't had a real failure since last wednesday.

ALSO my pants are fitting again! but I'm not sure if that's just because they've stretched out? But either way I'm REALLY glad I can work in them again because things were getting kind of rough there for a while with how few work clothes I have!

space
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Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Fri Jul 20, 2018 4:00 am

I'm calling the last few days good and successful, though I wasn't strictly following the rules. But I had 2 very physical work days with an abnormal schedule that didn't necessarily allow for normal, structured, 3 meal eating.
Also, I was burning enough calories that I needed a bit extra when I had the time to get it. BUT I still managed to avoid major sources of sugar which is SUPER impressive for me. Certainly not sugar-free by any means, but I'm not trying for that anyway.
On top of work, I did around 10 miles on a treadmill over three days.

I also found another scale that seems at least a little more consistent. And even using the difficult manual scales, it appears that I've lost at least 5 lbs, though I suspect a lot of that may have come recently and as a result of doing so much exercise. Anyway, getting closer to the weight I was at when I left the states almost a year ago.

ALSO we finally had a flight which means mail! A friend sent some candy including some candy that I have randomly been craving a lot lately (she had no idea. She must be psychic) and it is taking ALL my willpower to not snack on it. In fact, the only thing keeping me from doing it is knowing that I can eat it tomorrow with less guilt. ha.

Oh, update, I just got MORE of my mail and my dried mangos came in. COULD NOT RESIST. But can it count as a special occasion since I've been fantasizing about them for months and months? And where can I hide the rest so I don't eat them all over the weekend?
Last edited by space on Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

eschano
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Post by eschano » Fri Jul 20, 2018 5:51 am

Well done on avoiding sugar. I need to catch up on your thread as I am intrigued about why you need to wait for mail.
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

eschano
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Post by eschano » Fri Jul 20, 2018 5:53 am

Oh wow you are confronted with a free for all cafeteria food very day. Hat off to you for doing NoS
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

space
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Post by space » Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:42 pm

Ahh! I've been too busy to post here which I think makes it easier for me to have little mess ups.
The weekend wasn't too bad. I definitely binged on the candy my friend sent a little bit, but only on Saturday. Also hitting the dried mangos pretty hard. But over all, the weekend wasn't awful.

Monday was a failure, but not a hard fail. I grabbed a banana(!!!! FRESH!!!!) with lunch but didn't eat it and then had it as a snack in the afternoon then I had just a couple of slices of dried mango at some point too. I think it was otherwise a pretty decent day food wise.
We had a work barbecue thing. Apparently there were grilled mushrooms but they were all taken before I dished up and since I don't eat steak, it was a pretty disappointing and light dinner.

Yesterday WAS a hard fail. I had an entire second plate of lunch. They had some fresh looking salad thing and I asked if there was cilantro in it because I HATE cilantro. When they said no, I dished up a ton of it. Turns out it definitely had tons of cilantro so I didn't eat any of it. I can't remember what else I ate, but it was a pretty small amount so I ended up going back and grabbing a plate of chips and melting some cheese on them and eating them with (FRESH!!!!) onions, avocado, and some salsa. I've also failed once or twice on my no drinks with calories except when socializing thing.

But other than that, I've been doing fairly well. I'm somehow managing to avoid most major sugar sources which is huge for me. I've also basically just been eating giant salads for every lunch and dinner since the flight. In fact, I've been trying to remember to have some chia seeds now and again because I feel like I'm getting zero fiber and protein. And it's not like they're the healthiest salads either - mostly just light lettuces since they get what will last the longest, sometimes with a few cucumbers, carrots, or tomatoes, then I add a ton of olive oil which is almost a year old now, but doesn't seem to have gone bad? Then some shitty balsamic.
Seriously so excited to eat real food again in a couple months, but this salad and fresh fruit is holding me for now.

I've also been super busy at work and averaging about 8-10 miles per day, according to my watch and that includes lots of shoveling, lifting, pulling, pushing and carrying. I'm hoping today will be a little more lax and I can catch up on computer/paperwork stuff, especially since the weather is crap, then I might go to the gym in the evening. But I'll skip the gym if work is really physical again.

I'm going to try to be more strict with myself on following the rules today. Part of my problem has been that I've been taking my salads back to my room so I can add my olive oil instead of eating them in the cafeteria and that just makes it hard to eat a whole meal normally in one sitting. I've also been busy so trying to eat quickly.

space
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Post by space » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:12 pm

Yes, Eschano, the free for all cafeteria can be rough! It helps that the food is usually not super high quality, but still hard.
And now that I'm getting used to it, I'm worried that going back to real life and having so many options and being able to make my own food is going to be hard to adjust to. I'm sure my first week or two back will be a total bingefest, and I guess that's okay as long as it doesn't last too long!

space
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Post by space » Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:17 am

Wow. An ENTIRE WEEK of failure. Most (or at least half?) were small failures - a couple slices of dried mango, a salad (that would otherwise go bad) after a very small dinner that I didn't really have time to finish. Others were larger failures like tons of candy on Friday.

But Monday is a new week.
And I've still been super busy at work so hopefully all the physical activity minimized the damage.

eschano
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Post by eschano » Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:51 am

I remember having weeks like that when I did NoS last time. Hey happen. Mark it and move on and enjoy your S days
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

space
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Post by space » Wed Aug 01, 2018 7:55 pm

Oh my gosh, after 1-2 good weeks, I'm failing like CRAZY. I need to do some kind of hard reboot. Not sure what that means, but I'm going to figure it out and do it!

So far, breakfast was good. One egg with cheese and bell peppers, some yogurt with frozen berries and chia seeds, and a few crappy frozen potato chunks.

Due to my failure at even the basics, I'm eliminating my no caloric drinks (besides with friends) rule and I had chai with honey and creamer powder this morning.

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Tue Aug 28, 2018 11:18 pm

Eh, still not doing well. I never do as well with things like this when I don't "check in" and haven't had great internet access lately, so that hasn't helped. I've also been super busy and fitting meals in when I can, which is a bit harder.

But how about another reboot?

Breakfast was not healthy, but fair. Some fake breakfast potatoes, 2 biscuits and chai with honey and creamer.

I just had a little bit of candy that somebody sent me. Whoops. It wasn't even good and I didn't really even want it. But let's move forward and no more!

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:39 am

Mark it and move on -- that's the NoS way!

Reboot. I like that.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

ladybird30
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Post by ladybird30 » Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:13 am

Hi space - hang in there. You have challenges down there which most of us don't face.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Fri Aug 31, 2018 8:39 pm

Thanks everybody!

Making progress again. It's definitely easier if I can stay mindful and "check in". Yesterday was successful.
I am allowing one cheat right now. I rarely have access to fresh produce and we just got a bunch in. I'm sure it's almost gone by now, but I've been allowing myself to eat fruit between meals since it's such a luxury.

I've started adding chia seeds to my breakfasts again, and I think that's helpful. It's a little bit of protein and fiber that I wouldn't get otherwise.

Lastly, I've been having AWFUL rash/hives problems for a few months now. At first the doctors thought it was probably a contact allergy but now they think it's more likely a food allergy. I sort of think it's just an effect of living on one of the least hospitable environments on Earth. I'm kind of expecting it to just go away as soon as I get back to the US.
But anyway, since it's really difficult to do an elimination diet here, I've just been trying to avoid a few likely suspects. Right now I'm trying to avoid nuts and especially peanuts and almonds, which sucks because somebody just sent me some almonds and I really want then. I might have some this weekend and see if it comes back/gets worse because so far it is definitely getting better.

space
Posts: 38
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Post by space » Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:15 am

Ugh, already messed up today. Lunch was awful. There was nothing good. So after I ate a few chunks of steamed broccoli and a couple bites of some overly salty carrot pesto bake and a bite of some gross pizza, I ended up throwing most of my meal away and was still hungry. I ended up snacking on a piece of chocolate.
I need a better plan for "this food is unpalatable" days. I used to just eat oatmeal but it appears we've even run out of the good oatmeal and they just have the super processed kind that gets super mushy when you cook it.

On the plus side, at least breakfast went okay. Yogurt and chia seeds, a bit of instant scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese and some chai tea.

I might skip dinner if I can't find anything good. I think I don't usually sleep as well when I don't eat dinner, but maybe just some chia seeds and juice would help that?

Thankfully my contract is almost finished. I FULLY intend to have a week of binging when I get out of here and then after that, I suspect healthy eating is going to get way easier. I always eat much healthier when I'm not here.

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:48 pm

Sounds like you will be VERY happy to get home for awhile!
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:56 pm

Ugh, yes, at least out of here and into civilization. I seriously CANNOT wait. But, I have to.

Anyway, I did bad with dinner yesterday too and ate quite a bit and never really felt satisfied. I just kept snacking on things.

I haven't messed up so far today. Breakfast was terrible. Canned grapefruit and mandarin oranges with chia seeds. I had also ordered a cheese and mushroom omelette. Usually they have spinach but today it was collard greens which I realized I don't actually like. ALSO they accidentally put some bacon or ham in it so I ended up throwing it away.

So now it's almost lunch time and I'm already pretty hungry. It's taco day, so I have a feeling I'm not going to love it. I'll probably have some corn and a cheese quesadilla.

Tonight I'm having a little party so it might be hard not to snack. If I end up drinking, I might allow myself a sneaky fourth meal, but if so, I need to plan it beforehand so I don't go overboard.

space
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am

Post by space » Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:10 am

Okay, mostly doing a bit better, though still failing a lot. Yesterday was a win. Today I made it part of the day, but just had some buttery popcorn. Not sure why I gave in. But I'll try to remain strong through dinner.

Counting down the days until I'm out of here and then I'm not even going to try to eat reasonably for at least a week. After that, I suspect I'll have a lot fewer failures and be eating higher-quality meals as I always eat better in the states. I'll probably be a bit more active. Hopefully that doesn't make me want to eat more.

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