Forget everyone else; love, care, and cherish yourself first. Let 2019 be the year of Ease, Comfort, and Appreciation!
It has been a while that we have been like this, right?
Am I the only one who piled up fat during this social isolation period?
I do not like myself with these extra pounds and I want to go back to my regular weight.
Damn, it is difficult.
Do I go keto? Vegan? Low carb? Low fat? Low protein?
What do I do?
Many things have been going better lately and I have been feeling better as well 🙂
Notably:
My short and disrupted sleep pattern have been reversing slowly. I can now sleep till 7-8 am. I still wake up during the night and have fragmented sleep, but the improvement is that I can mostly go back to sleep.
My anxiety levels are almost leveled… This is amazing. It can come back (and sometimes I do feel that it is), but as long as I stop stressing myself about stuff and write my worry journal, I am in a more comfortable state. It is strange to notice that my anxiety flares up as soon as I think “I do not know what to do“.. Duh… Classical trigger of anxiety. Nevertheless, I am very grateful for this period of time.
I feel very confident and have self-respect, admiration, and esteem. Wohaaa 🙂 This is HUGE. I owe it to a number of changes in me lately;
1) I am more initiative (such as in initiating new projects) and motivated to expand my skills to new areas. I do not try to calculate risks anymore – only big ones, not the small things that made me busy, anxious, and less initiative in the past few years. It goes well so far, I am forming new collaborations, I can ask people for favors of involvement easier, and I believe that all is much better now with these skills. I also appreciate my development and efforts more, knowing that this way I will be able to grow and do better professionally. I appreciate myself extra because these also takes guts. Seemingly, I have them 🙂
2) I believe the reason I am less conserved and introvert and more initiative is that I care less.. Yes, you heard right. The less I care about the potential and negative outcomes (e.g. failure, being rejected, etc.), the better I do and get responses. Strange but works! 🙂
3) These are all possible because I finally realize to take time for myself and my own value, personally and professionally. Good times 🙂
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I am one of these individuals that benefited from self-help books. Not all of them, but some were quite influential. The idea of worry journal, feeling better with detaching from my immediate issues and seeing the bigger picture in life, reading positive messages and feeling better as a result, etc. were all good to me. I am not naive enough to think that I have a life-long habit of thinking and feeling better, but at least I know that these strategies can be re-applied, if needed in the future.
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I have other areas in my life that I must focus, though. My diet is not the healthiest, my weight increased lately, I hardly exercise, and my spending habits are still harming my saving goals.
One way to help implement them in my life is to write specific goals. So here I go:
My diet: Aim for eating 6 different foods each week; stop pizza and eating out; eat more protein; buy and eat more veggies, especially crunchy ones.
My weight: once I start eating better and walking everyday, I know that it will decrease to its usual amount. Also, stop eating pizzas, peanuts, and junk food!!
My exercise: I can walk in the evenings quite easily. I can also start walking in the morning (to office). Weather is nice and once I start it I know I will enjoy it. I can also do light exercise at home – like my back exercises and light weights.
Spending habits: If I lose the junk food, I am sure I will be in much better shape financially. I also need more specific goals….
MORE to come.
I have been looking for doing something different the other day and I found a book of mine about worrying. I have had the book for over 4 years. I had forgotten it existence.
One of the things this book suggests (the author, to be exact) is to have a worry journal where you jot down whatever goes through your mind during the episode. By analyzing and logically facing the situation/thought that creates the worry, instantly it helps with the feelings. I have been trying it for two days now and I carry a little journal with me. It is amazing how fast it fills, but not everything is negative. I happen to also note down potential solutions and how well I can take things.
Today and yesterday I have had 2 worrisome thought trains each day. They are separate issues and mostly related to work. My worries, as they seem so far, happen both at home and at the office. Most of the time, they are logically manageable. They also humble me and help me develop/remember compassion not only towards myself but others. Writing helps see and materializes these.
I like the fact that I am looking for ways to make my life and mental health better. I love the fact that so far this practice has been going well and useful. I hope to be able to see the patterns over time should I continue to keep journaling.
One of the ideas of this practice is also to identify the triggers and noticing body sensations. I for the first time noticed how faster my heart pounds when I go through a worrisome state.
Another way to deal with worries, this book suggests, is to have a “worry space”. There is an example in the book about a lady who chose a fire escape at the work place for this purpose. By attaching this particular place with the worrying, the lady was eventually able to not worry outside of this place. Is this not wonderful?
Not everything is dark. There are positive things happening at the same time, if we just can look at the situation with a logical, but not emotional mind. It is not easy or possible all the time, but it is worth giving it a try.
The book’s title is “The Worrywart’s Companion”. The author is Dr. Beverly Potter.
I have not posted my healthy – life style journal yesterday.
The fact that I am tired of not doing as good as I wish to do. Plus, in the last 3 months while I have eaten better, I did not lose much of a weight. So noting what I have eaten or how much walking I have done per day does not satisfy me anymore.
I am ending it for now. I may start later sometime should I see a benefit in it.
Thank you all of those who commented and supported me through this journey. You guys helped me keep going 🙂
Amazingly, I feel free, too.
Interesting….
Free from drafting it everyday, picking up multiple tags and categories, cluttering my blog with these daily posts…
I have more interesting stuff to write about.
Now, I will go enjoy my newly found freedom.
Well, at least I managed to snack better at noon and to cook for myself for dinner today 🙂
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar; many cups of it
noon: 1 can of fish, 1 hard boiled egg
dinner: green lentil meal with 3 slices of bread. I also ate many small and toasted breads commercially available. they are crunchy and great with soup, but I also love eating them as they are. This product will be a challenge to manage…
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: 5 min (yay!)
By working long hours at the office, coupled with the snow on the roads cost me not walking today at all, but that is okay. I knew once the snow started, my walking would be limited. I should make plans as to how to otherwise exercise now..
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: two cans of fish
dinner: 2 hard boiled egg, large salad, and 4 slices of whole wheat bread. Since I came home late in the evening, I did not cook anything tonite…
late-night snack (added later): 8 small toasted bread
exercise: none
supplements: vit D and calcium after dinner; missed taking the iron today; hoping to take it before the bed time.
stretching: none
It is the end of November already…
I have been eating better and healthier in the last 3 months, with little weight loss. Quite a failure if you ask me. Quite frankly, this resistance to weight loss is puzzling me but I continue to appreciate (generally) better food and healthier life – style that I have since September.
I have not noted this journal yesterday. For those who are curious is it is that because I ate almost completely unhealthy yesterday. 2 bagels in the morning with coffee, sesame crackers and salty trail mix in the afternoon, a big green salad (the best meal yesterday) and some other unhealthy food in good quantity that I cannot even remember now (or, maybe I do not wish to…).
Anyways, here is today’s count:
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: coffee with cream and sugar, 1 can of fish
dinner (planned): boiled carrots with 6 pieces of fish with lemon juice
late-night snack (to be added later):
supplements: iron at the evening, vit D and calcium after the dinner (planned)
exercise: 30 min of walk in the afternoon
stretching: none
Well, one of these days again where I have indulged into food.
On the positive side, I walked for 30 min in the morning – that feels good 🙂
breakfast: coffee with cream and sugar, one bagel toasted with butter
late lunch: beef and potato meal, 3 slices of bread. 1 banana
dinner: cucumber and cheese, which was very refreshing. Then fried cheese and two eggs as a treat, together with 3 slices of bread. I have over-done this one, but it was so yummy. Nevertheless I am noting my resentment and hoping this high-calorie and fatty meal will not show up on my diet for a long time.
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 30 min walk in the morning
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: none
A beautiful day where I surprised myself by walking longer than usual 🙂
It is nice that sometimes I have meetings first thing in the morning; if the venue is close to my home, I directly walk there. That is what I have done today (30 min). Then I walked back home, worked a little bit and then needed to go back to office to sign a document. From home to office and then back, I walked another 1 hour today 🙂
breakfast: coffee with cream and sugar, 1 tea biscuit
lunch: 1 banana
dinner: beef and potato meal, 4 slices of whole wheat bread
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: walking 30 min in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: 5 min in the evening
Well, not too much of a progress today. Lots of coffee and cafeteria food enjoyed with colleagues. I am okay with that.
breakfast: coffee with creamer and sugar
lunch: coffee with creamer and brown sugar, beef and cheese sandwich
late-afternoon snack: another coffee and 1 tea biscuit
dinner: green salad and 6 pieces of breaded fish pieces (frozen, cooked in oven) with lemon juice. This is my all time favorite dinner.
late night snack (added later): 2 hard boiled egg, a small can of black beans with olive oil
exercise: 10 min in the morning.
supplements: iron at noon, calcium and VitD taken later tonight
stretching: none
Another day; great in terms of the healthy food I consume. My irregular eating habit still continues, though.
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 1 hard-boiled egg
dinner: green lentil and veggie meal (yummy!); two bowls; mango-berry juice
late night snack (added later): Â another bowl of the lentil meal, 50 grms of cheese
exercise: 10 min walking in the morning, 30 min walking in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium to be taken later tonite
a great day 🙂 I am loving it so far.
breakfast: 1 coffee with creamer and brown sugar. I had my breakfast with me but forgotten to eat it in the morning.
lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
dinner: I prepared an interesting meal; I first cooked minced beef in tomato sauce and topped with cut green onion. Also I cooked instant oats with turmeric in a pot. Then in a bowl I mixed both of them. Delicious and filling meal. Very interesting, too 🙂
late-night snack (added later): another bowl of the meal above, mango-berry juice
exercise: the highlight of the day; walked 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon. Yahoo :))
supplements: iron at noon, no vit D and calcium supplement yet.
stretching(updated later): 5 min of stretching, mostly to relive my back pain
Well… well… well.. for some reason I run out of appetite again 🙂
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, tea
dinner: 1 bowl of red lentil soup (this has been the 4th night I have had this soup – I am grateful for food, but I guess I will just freeze the remaining portion for later consumption. I also learnt that I should use less lentil than before to do this soup in the right amount..), 3 slices of bread, 30 grms of cheese
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 10 min walking in the morning, 30 min walking in the afternoon
supplements: iron after the dinner, no calcium or vit D supplement today
stretching: none
better choices – feeling good 🙂
breakfast: 1 bagel with butter, coffee with cream and brown sugar. I must confess I wanted to have a second bagel, but made an effort to not. It paid off.
lunch: veggie meal; 2 slices of whole wheat bread
dinner: roasted egg plants served with yogurt, olive oil, and chilly pepper. This dish was something I have done to limit my food waste; I had eggplants that were about to go bad. Cut them out, sprinkle with olive oil, two cloves of garlic and salt;  bake in oven at 350 C for 30 min. Serve with yogurt on top, olive oil, and chilly pepper. Yum 🙂
late night-snack: veggie based meals during the day were not enough – I got hungry. So I also ate two hard-boiled eggs with 3 slices of whole wheat bread.
Later: 1 pear, 3 slices of bread with butter and honey, and 1 can of corn
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: none
I have not noted my healthy – life style activities (or frustrations) yesterday; here they are 🙂
breakfast: 2 bagels with butter,, coffee with cream and brown sugar
lunch: 2 bowls of red lentil soup with 3 slices of whole wheat bread
dinner: this is where I have done too much 🙂 fried minced beef with onion and egg; this is a practical meal but usually has a high fat content; 4 slices of whole wheat bread; 1 pear
late-night snack: 1 tall glass of milk, 1 pear
exercise: none
supplements: iron at noon; did not take the vit D and calcium supplement
stretching: none
Almost forgotten to write this one post 🙂
Well, some good choices made today. Overall, not a bad day at all 🙂
breakfast: food forgotten at home as usual; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 1 pear
dinner: 2 bowls of red lentil, onion, carrot, and turmeric soup with 5 slices of whole wheat bread, raw leek, 1 hard-boiled egg.
I am lucky that I have a blender that made this soup possible. Do you know what else I am planning? To have bean (after boiling slightly; not necessarily to much) and veggie patties using the blender. Any food, even scratch food, can be mixed and consumed this way. technology is awesome. I have so much dry food in my pantry that have been waiting to be consumed; I finally found a way to eat them and I am excited about this 🙂
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 30 min walking in the morning and then 30 min in the afternoon. Yahoo!! felt good at both times. I even took a longer path this afternoon. I am in love with myself for the walkings today 🙂
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon, calcium and vit D (recommended) after dinner
stretching: none
So-so day..
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar. Lots of coffee..
lunch: one can of fish, coffee
dinner: yogurt with cucumber and olive oil dip, raw leek with 6 slices of whole wheat bread
late night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron (prescribed) in the afternoon, vit D and calcium later at night.
stretching: 10 min in the evening
After eating all the great(!) left overs from the dinner at the weekend and ranting about my inability to keep up with healthy eating habit, I am glad to say that I am returning back to eating better today.
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: beefy eggplant meal with 2 slices of whole wheat bread
dinner: pasta with yogurt and cucumber; 2 apples
late-night snack (added later): 30 grms of cheese, 5 table spoon of honey. For some reason, I am craving for sweets. I must say it is likley because of the high carb eating lately. got ta get back to limited carb eating..
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon; calcium and Vit D after dinner
stretching: 5 min! Yay! I did stretch today. Listening to relaxing music and relaxing my muscles, even for a short time like 5 min, felt awesome 🙂 I am glad I have kept this category in my posts so far; it helps me to remember this one activity
I am in a state of self-pampering and lifting off the imposed restrictions nowadays. This directly reflects on my diet and behavior – I do not care of eating better or not eating fatty food at all. I do not.
I am rebelling.
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: two cans of fish
late-lunch: 3 slices of whole wheat bread and beefy eggplant meal
dinner:Â 3 slices of whole wheat bread and beefy eggplant meal; chocolate
late-night snack (added later): yogurt, cucumber, and olive oil dip with whole wheat bread
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: none
A regular work day with missed breakfasts and lunch… Oh, well.. You know my eating habits. One day, my friends, one day, I hope to convert them for a better and healthier type.
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 20 grms of train mix (I am lucky to find this; otherwise I had nothing to eat)
breakfast: 1/2 cucumber, 2 bowls of red lentil soup, 2 slices of whole wheat bread
late-night snack (added later): bread, walnuts, chocolate
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron (none yet: i forgot to take it today too), vitamin D and calcium (after the dinner)
stretching: none
Well.. I have eaten high-carb today, very sugary.
I have had guests over for a dinner yesterday and that meant I purchased and cooked meal that I would usually not consume; that means tasty bread like baguettes (I love them), sweets like frozen yogurt, etc. That means the first couple of days after such dinners, I eat left overs which are not only different from what I usually eat, but also hearty and rich in calories.
I keep saying that I keep eating the same things over and over; that is true. My diet is usually simple and does not have much diversity (although I strive for it time to time). Perhaps it is the best for me, as the other food I cook (for others) are usually high in calories… Dilemma…
breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar, red lentil soup with baguette
lunch: red lentil soup and baguette
dinner: frozen yogurt with walnut – a lot of it
late night-snack (added later): 1/2 avocado, 1 pack of chips
exercise: 10 min in the morning
supplements: none yet
stretching: none
I had friends over for dinner; that meant cooking a lot during the day. Also eating and enjoying it with great company 🙂
breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
lunch: 30 grms of cheese, 1/2 slice of bread
dinner: lettuce salad with avocado and olive oil; red lentil soup, pasta with cheese, a slice of pumpkin pie, and ice cream
late nigh snack: none
exercise; 5 min walking in the morning
stretching: none
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon; no opportunity to take the vit D and calcium supplement today
Not a bad day.
breakfast: breakfast forgotten at home again; coffee with creamer and brown sugar only
lunch: none (I was working; what an excuse…)
dinner: carrot, onion, and meatball meal with a dash of black bean sauce and 3 slices of whole wheat bread. Later for some reason I craved for raw leek, which was yummy 🙂
There is something nice about the raw food that my body likes. Any ideas what it is? I am curious…..
late night snack (to be added later):
exercise: 30 min walk in the morning and in the afternoon 🙂 well done; very relaxing activity. My mental clarity increases as I walk. It also relaxes me. The weather is just perfect; not too cold, not too dump. I wonder how long I will be able to have the pleasure of walking.
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon, calcium and Vit D (recommended) after dinner
stretching: none
My disinterest in food continues.
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg (yay for not forgetting it), coffee with creamer and brown sugar. Lots of it.
lunch:Â 50 grms of trail mix
dinner: 1 tomato, 1/2 large cucumber, 100 grms of cheese, 1 avocado, 2 slices of whole wheat bread
late night snack (added later): 2 glasses of milk, 1 apple, 2 slices of bread
exercise: the highlight of the day! walked 30 min in the morning and then another 30 min in the afternoon 🙂 Yay!! 🙂
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon, vit D and calcium (recommended) after dinner
stretching: none
Another day with irregular eating; both eating carbs and then not.
I am not as careful about carbs as at the start of this journey; I keep telling myself it is because I am not afraid of carbs anymore, I tend to eat other healthy food almost everyday, and even though IÂ slip back to carbs, I keep bringing myself back to the protein and raw veggie side.
I also must add that my weight does not change much. If I really want to lose weight, I will have to do something more drastic in the coming days/weeks.
I once had tried eating small meals 6 times a day; it does work, dear friend, yet I really have no time to implement it. I can hardly remember taking my breakfast (which is usually 1 hard-boiled egg); how am I supposed to remember to pack with me not only this but also lunch and snacks?
Every single day, I must add.
I may be a hopeless lazy person. Or someone who does not really care.
Why can I not care about my weight loss? I am over-weight (obese I guess, based on BMI scales). I have near border blood sugar levels that keep scaring me time to time, I am getting older and as such my metabolic rate is getting lower (i.e. I am likely to gain more weight with the same amount of calorie consumption).
I kinda think it is because there are so many things in life that I must face and work on, I choose the ones that are either manageable or at the top of the priority list.
If my weight loss is not on the top of the priority list, for very good health reasons, then that means I am doing something really wrong.
My health should be on top of my priority list. This healthy life journey should be on top of my priority list….
breakfast: 2 bagels with butter, 1 cup of cream with brown sugar and cream. I met with my friends at this beautiful Remembrance Day holiday. This was my breakfast at that meeting.
lunch: none (I was working at home)
dinner: half green cabbage half lettuce salad with olive oil; 6 pieces of oven-baked frozen and battered fish pieces.
I forced myself to eat these fish; after 1 piece I was done. You may think I am over-eating, but no. The total calories I consume for today is not at the healthy level. That is why I ate the other pieces.
My lack of appetite is continuing to worry me. I usually would have a big appetite in the evenings. Not anymore. Together with my iron deficiency, I am scared that this points to a sickness…
late-night snacks (to be added later):
exercise: 15 min walk in the morning to the cafe I met with my friends.
supplements: iron ([prescribed) at noon, vit D and calcium (recommended) after dinner. these, at least, I am consistent with.
stretching: none
well, not a bad day 🙂 thank you all that supported me yesterday.
I can do this!! 🙂
breakfast: got my breakfast (1 hard-boiled egg) with me (good job!) before I left home, but forgotten to eat it at the office :)))) Coffee with brown sugar and creamer as usual (I never forget this one, do I?) 🙂
lunch: I was busy with work, so only another coffee with cream and sugar
dinner: pasta (left over from yesterday). I was very conscious about it being solely carbs (which is not good for my weight loss aim). So I decided I would eat something healthy after that. That is how I ended up eating 2 bunches of broccoli, raw, with a garlicky yogurt  as a dip. Yum 🙂
late night snack (added later): 2 small glasses of milk, 1 hard boiled egg, 3 slices of whole wheat bread
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron (prescribed) late afternoon, calcium and Vit D (recommended) after dinner
stretching: none (would be appreciated if I started this again)
Like the idea of dieting and the (same) types of food I consume, I am getting bored of writing this journal…
Pew.. I did not feel as bad as I thought it would 🙂
It is okay, dear reader; occasional ranting is a feature of mine – nothing serious 🙂
Here is today’s account:
breakfast: remembered to take my breakfast with me! Yay! It was 1 hard-boiled egg. Of course, with it I have got coffee with creamer and brown sugar.
late-lunch: 1 cup of chicken-vegetable soup
dinner: carbs. carbs. carbs.. Well, I am not afraid of carbs anymore, but it would be nice if I had not eaten them too much, like before. Pasta was the dinner today, together with lettuce salad with olive oil dressing. Yummy.
late night snack (added later): lazy bean salad; mix a can of beans with a small onion and add a dash of oregano, salt, and olive oil. Vola! 🙂 (no milk tonite – does not look like a fit with the bean salad)
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning and 30 min walk in the afternoon.
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon, vit D and calcium (recomended by my doctor) after dinner
stretching: none
there has been changes in my body, which incidentally overlapped with the time I started to eat less carbs and more protein.
As a person good with observations and patterns, I could not help but think whether the carbs were not so bad after all; perhaps they help and are required for certain body functions?
Perhaps I have not done well by limiting carbs that much; but I can tell you this; the amount of carbs I was eating was above normal limits too.
So even though I have had this conflict in my mind, I will keep limiting the carbs and continue to eat better. I just will not get crazy about occasionally eating carbs.
Today’s diet reflected this.
late breakfast: 2 bagels with butter, coffee with cream and brown sugar. I ordered two bagels to test myself; nope, they are not as tasty as before so I am glad I have done that. the way they are toasted has not been great lately and that strengthens my choice of not eating bagels anymore. The coffee is not tasty either; I never liked this cafe’s coffee – so why do I keep drinking it? the answer is that it is in my favorite cafe. The cafe is my favorite because of its bagels and its staff, not the coffee. I decided to change the cafe from now on; it will also help me with seeing different places and having different experiences. A great step towards breaking a habit and the routine in my life. Exciting! 🙂
late lunch: 2 bowls of vegetable chicken soup
dinner: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 tomato, and half a large cucumber with 2 slices of bread. I was too lazy to cook and I wanted to eat raw veggies. I am glad I ate the tomato even though it is not one of my favorite veggies. It was from the last week and I am glad I have eaten it before it started to go bad. Cucumber, as always, was a delight to eat.
late-night snack (added later):  1.5 glass of milk; 10 rice  cakes with caramel. Totally too much. Yet felt good. Like when you are at school and they tell you not to eat during the class. Or laugh. Or talk to our peers. And something prompts you to do it anyhow and miraculously you do not get caught. I am not sure whey I am rebelling against healthy eating (am I bored?), but mentally I am feeling good.
exercise: 10 min in the morning
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon; vit D and calcium (recommended by my doctor) after dinner
stretching: none yet
Interesting day..
breakfast: 1 bagel with butter, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
late-lunch: vegetable soup in chicken stock
dinner: hah! here is the fun part. 1 can of corn and 6 chocolate chip cookies. I was at a store and could not resist buying and then eating the chips. What prompted me to eat them I have no idea. I guess it is one of those days when I find some freedom in my choices. As a matter of fact, with my budget as well I am a little bit relax nowadays. I guess I will wait and see how this episode will develop.
late-night snack (added later): 300 grms of yogurt and 4 slices of bread; 5 more cookies
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning and another 10 min in the evening
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon, vit D and calcium after dinner
stretching: none
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: two cans of fish
dinner: breaded flaky fish pieces (4 of them – it is delicious; how do they do it? this was a frozen meal and certainly yummy 🙂 ), a big red cabbage and celery salad with olive oil and lemon juice; This salad was the healthiest thing I have eaten this week. The raw veggies; especially those that are hard to digest (such as red cabbage, lo bok, cucumber) are good for my body. I know it as I feel it.
late-night snack (added later): 5 slices of whole wheat bread and 350 grms of yogurt. I craved for yogurt tonite – it happens time to time. I did not want to eat that much bread but then as long as it helped me to eat yogurt I did not mind (maybe I should have?)
exercise; 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron at noon (prescribed) and vitD and calcium after dinner (recommended to me by my doctor)
stretching: none
Not bad today 🙂
breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar; 2 whole wheat bagels toasted with margarine
lunch: no food; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
dinner: I turned the left over crack-wheat salad into another meal; basically I had one large onion sauteed in olive oil; added a little bit of hot sauce, 3 eggs, and celery stick together with the left-over salad and cooked for 3-4 minutes. It turned out to be tasty 🙂
late-night snack (added later): 1 big apple (yummy 🙂 ) and a tall glass of skim milk
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning, 30 min in the evening
supplements: iron at noon, vitamin D and calcium after dinner
stretching: none
It is a good day in terms of eating healthy food; I still need to implement strategies that will help me eat more in the mornings and at noon.
breakfast: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 100 grms of trail mix, coffee with creamer and sugar
dinner: cracked wheat salad with tomato, pepper, cilantro, olive oil and lemon juice. This is an easy and nutritious salad that is also filling. I have a large bowl, which I am working on time to time.
late-night snack (added later): one hard boiled egg to eat something enjoyable, which I had hoped would bring back my appetite (I love eggs); later 1 apple and a tall glass of skim milk 🙂
I am not sure why I do not have appetite. I usually would have a great love for food, especially at the evenings and nights. It is good at one hand as by not eating too much at nights, I am doing a favor to my body. On the hand hand, the low counts of calories I have been getting in the last one week or so means I am involuntarily slowing my metabolism. Hope to resolve this soon.
exercise: 30 min walking in the evening
supplements: iron (prescribed) at noon and vitamin D and calcium tablet (recommended by my doctor) after the dinner.
stretching: none today (I better re-start this – it is so enjoyable..)
breakfast: forgotten to pick my breakfast from home; 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar. As usual, I am not feeling hungry in the mornings. I must do something new to encourage myself to have breakfast..
lunch: 1 can of fish, 50 grms of trail mix, coffee with creamer and brown sugar. I must say I have been reducing my sugar intake in the last while. That is good news 🙂
dinner: 1 pear, 3 eggs fried with 50 grms of cheese in olive oil, 3 slices of bread. The fact that I do not cook nowadays is working against me… Fried eggs help me to gain weight. Making a mental note again to start cooking at home.
late night snack (added later): 1 apple, 3 slices of whole wheat bread, 300 grms of yogurt sprinkled with a generous amount of olive oil and dried mint. This yogurt is a very refreshing dip – give it a try if you like the taste of dry mint with yogurt.
exercise: 30 min walk in the morning; climbing up 4 stories of stairs. Ok – when I arrived at my building this morning, the elevators were not working – so here is my extra exercise for the day! 🙂
supplements: iron at noon (prescription), vitamin D and calcium table after the dinner (recommendation by my doctor). I decided to note the prescription and recommendation to this list, as I do not want anyone else to get inspired and take these supplements without their doctor’s recommendation. Please have your doctor’s opinion before taking supplements.
stretching: none so far….
Another low appetite day, which worries me. If I am not wrong, low calorie intake is not good – eventually makes the body feel like on starvation mode, which later helps with gaining more weight upon returning to regular diet.
I am trying to eat as much as I can today.
breakfast: forgotten my meal; 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: no meal; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
dinner: 1 pear, 1 cup of left-over rice from yesterday, cucumber and yogurt sauce with olive oil. 3 slices of whole wheat bread
late night snack (added later): 1 tall glass of skim milk
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon (yay! walking is great and I have not been able to do so in the last 10 days or so; very grateful)
supplements: iron supplement at noon, calcium and vitamin D supplementation after dinner
stretching: not done this yet; hope to find time to do some light stretching tonite, while also listening to relaxing music 🙂
it is surprising to notice that I have been keeping this journal for 2 months now.
Since I am eating and nourishing my body with better food and necessary supplementation, I am glad I have started this journey.
Today has been a good day in terms of good eating; cannot complain 🙂
breakfast: one bagel with butter, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
lunch: turmeric rice, cucumber and yogurt sauce with olive oil and dried mint
dinner: the same as the lunch
late-night snack (added later): 50 grms of trailer mix
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning
supplements: iron at noon, vitamin D and calcium after the dinner
stretching: none today.
Hoping to walk and stretching tomorrow. Good that I have not forgotten my supplements so far 🙂 Rice is usually does not agree with my system, yet is a welcome change in my diet. Yogurt and cucumber are always awesome to eat and the addition of mint has given a fresh kick to the meal 🙂
late breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream and sugar
lunch: 1 pear
dinner: soup, fish, salad, pasta, and bread. A generous amount of rice crackers and a little amount of fruit. I was invited for a dinner with great friends. I enjoyed being with them. the food was amazing 🙂 I feel bloated and like eaten too much 😦
exercise: 10 min in the morning
supplements: iron supplement at noon, bit D and calcium supplement at night
stretching: none
It a beautiful crispy and sunny fall day again 🙂
The beauty around the weekends (or no work day) is the freedom that it gives in terms of how you would like to spend your day, the absence of rush of the work or work environment, and the possibility of having nice conversations and get-togethers with friends and family.
I also like the feeling of “taking care of myself” feeling – whether it is shopping for grocery, cooking a nice meal, cleaning my house, or handling other stuff related to our daily life.
Taking care of ourselves is a must and although I often times forget this, especially when I work, I love doing the activities that remind me that I am on track.
I used to have a great relationship with food, always looking for diversity and nutrition. It was a pleasure going to the stores and finding excellent veggies, fruits, and others. I would find myself often grateful for everything that is available to me and for being able to afford them. I am still hugely grateful for these, but something is missing really…
Over the years, my priority changed from taking care of myself to taking care of work. It is a mistake if you ask me. Those who follow my blog knows that I love my job; it is interesting, keeping me engaged and being productive, the work I do I believe benefit many people and humanity as a whole. The satisfaction coming out of it is incredible and I am very grateful for having this work-line.
I have been feeling, rightfully, though it is now time to switch to “taking care of myself” mode. I have been struggling with this for some time (my healthy life-style journal and breaking the routine page is a good example) but I keep going. Not everything is perfect but I am putting a continuous effort. I am determined to do better for myself and although I lack better and newer ideas, I believe I will do better over time.
They say it is not the end point but the journey that matters, that is valuable. Perhaps that is true in my case. I have seen quite positive changes with my other efforts (conscious spending plan is an excellent example) – I have more or less functional plan that excites me and yields positive and immediately observable outcomes. I need to see over years how it goes and how it helps me to handle financial problems and enables me to retire comfortably. I am grateful for doing this so far and the hope and confidence it gives me now.
Of course, I would like to see the same progress I have with my conscious spending plan with the healthy life style plan. I have been thinking; I am not sure what the reasons behind me not losing weight as I used to, but age is one factor. And of course I should not forget the effect of the trips and my mentality that promotes unlimited eating freedom during the trips (I seem to have gained 8 pounds back in a week). I wonder why I can do so well with the budgeting but not better life style?
Perhaps it is the fact that with budgeting I can see a progress in my finances in a week, while with the weight loss, it is kind of tricky. I remember when I had walk on to the scale a couple of weeks ago and seeing an 8 pound difference and how it had made me feel accomplished and more motivated to keep doing…..
Going back to the idea of “not the end points but the journey matters“, I believe that what I am going thru with my healthy life style plan should be a teacher for me, I should be noticing things about myself and my life as a whole. Perhaps I am aiming for the wrong things (i.e. weight loss) than the beauty of having a healthy life, with great food, exercise, and stretching. Perhaps I am hard on myself and put the weight loss as an indicator of the success of my plan…..
Considering that is possibly the reason (I have implemented many good things as part of this plan, such as walking more, especially in the morning, started stretching, eating whole and healthier food, cutting out bread and carbs from my diet, and supplementing my diet with calcium and vitamin D and milk, both of which are great help for my bone health) is in fact an eye opener.
Perhaps what I should focus on is all the good things I have done for my body and physical health, rather than the mere weight loss.
have a great weekend everyone 🙂
I record my weight on Tuesdays; so here is the moment of truth 🙂
I am 202 pounds, 8 pounds less than when I started my healthy eating on Sept 1, 2015.
It is not a substantial loss, but a loss nevertheless. I can do nothing but being appreciative of this and hopeful that I will continue to lose the extra weight over time.
breakfast: forgotten my breakfast at home; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: one can of fish, coffee with cream and sugar, and 1 tea biscuit
late afternoon; 3 soft meatballs
dinner (added later): I do not have an appetite today, either but I will force myself to eat a little so that I do not consume less calories than my body needs to. I have eaten 3 slices of whole wheat bread and 50 grms of cheese. I have noticed that I have been eating these very frequently. I also remembered, through the conversations in the comment area, that I have not been eating enough veggies. Hence, I have also eaten a large cucumber. Life is good 🙂
late night snack (added later): 1 apple
exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon (no walk in the morning today – it was raining so I took the cab)
stretching: 10 min in the afternoon while listening relaxing music 🙂 it was great!
supplements: iron supplement in the afternoon, Â calcium and vitamin D supplement after the dinner.
A beautiful day 🙂
I do not have appetite today, so I have not eaten much during the day yet. I have no idea I will have at dinner, either. I will take it easy and all will be fine.
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with brown sugar and creamer
lunch: did not have much time to eat; munched on peanuts
dinner (added later): 1 apple, 1 slice of whole wheat bread, and 50 grms of cheese so far.
late-night snack (added later): 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 1 avocado
exercise: did very well today 🙂 30 min in the morning and another 30 min in the evening. Yay! 🙂
supplements: iron supplementation at noon. I took my calcium and vit D supplementation after dinner (they are fat-soluable, so they should be taken with food).
stretching (new): stretched my back, neck, arms, and legs while listening to a relaxing music!. Good job 🙂
Almost no exercise, but the food I consumed so far has been great 🙂
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, one cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar. It is amazing that although I keep going to the same cafe, I have no difficulty not ordering bagels anymore. Yesterday the staff at the cafe had asked me whether I would also get bagels as usual 🙂 I said I was limiting carbs and he understood it. He even said “sorry, I did not mean to remind you them!!”. How nice of this young gentleman 🙂
lunch: soup with 3 slices of bread
dinner: soft meatball, leek, and carrot meal; I am in favor of not cooking veggies a lot and make them mushy. I think cooking breaks their fiber and fiber is what we all need. So I cooked first the meatballs and  then added carrot and the leek. I turned off the stove before the leek lost its crispy feel.
late-night snack (added later): 1 big apple (delicious 🙂 ) and 1 tall glass of milk
exercise: 10 min in the morning.
supplements: iron supplement before the lunch and calcium+VitD supplement after dinner.
My pharmacists told me that iron supplementation could cause constipation; one remedy is to take it with food/drinks that contain vitamin C, such as orange or apple juice. Apparently, vitamin C helps iron to be absorbed by the body. I thought I would share in case you also are recommended to take iron supplements.
I am grateful for all the food I have in my pantry, fridge, and freezer.
I am trying to eat a little bit better today and also give my body a rest; I still have the cold but it is getting better. Soup and warm drinks are really good; so is water.
I felt discouraged this morning, as the total weight loss I have had in the last 6 weeks is only 5 pounds…. I had thought I would lose more. It is partly because of the trip I have had lately I guess (eating more and different food, and long flights), but I have two more trips to come, meaning I can expect a similar pattern…On the other hand, with this plan, I have more energy, I walk more, and I eat really well compared to before. I know I am doing much better in nourishing my body.
I hope to see more weight loss soon to at least have some more motivation to keep going. It is too much to think that I will have to cut out calories, eat different things, or exercise more should I not lose weight on this plan.
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
late-morning snack: 1 pear
late lunch: salad with tomato, cucumber, green pepper, onion, and olive oil. That was really healthy 🙂
dinner (planned): fish bits, frozen and cooked at oven.
late-night snack (added later): 1 large apple, 1 tall glass of milk, 350 grms of yogurt sprinkled with cinnamon and a small spoon of honey – warming and lovely; give this a try 🙂
late-late-night snack (added later): 2 slices of whole heat bread and 50 grms cheese
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning. that is probably all for today, though I am contemplating about walking in the evening. I will see how it goes..
supplements: 1 iron supplement before lunch, 1 calcium and vitD supplement after salad
Pretty relax day…
I started walking in the morning; I walked for 10 min or so then one of my good friends here gave me a ride. I could not possibly say “no, friend, I am going to walk“. I enjoy her company and we always have sincere and fun conversations. So it is well worth it 🙂
When we got to our building, I realized how hungry I was… Hmm.. So I went to the cafeteria for unhealthy food.
I know well why I do not have my breakfast at home; I gotta leave the house right away upon waking up. I know this is a peculiar habit, but this is what it has been and I have no interest to tackle it. However, I do not know why I do not pick up my breakfast with me before I leave home; that would be wonderful as I almost always have something healthy to grab. Sigh… 🙂
breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with cream but no sugar (there was no brown sugar at the cafeteria so I thought “When I go back to the office, I can add brown sugar“). Of course I have forgotten that, too. So I drank the coffee without sugar 🙂 That is interesting as I never thought I would drink a coffee like this… But I guess what helped was the two carrot muffins I have bought and ate, together with the coffee.
I know… I know…. It is so not me. First, I do not actually have a sweet tooth (I am lucky). Second, muffins are not healthy at all (not nutrition-packed and full of sugar, which I am trying to limit to help my blood sugar levels).
lunch: 1 banana, 1 bowl of soup, 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 1 cup of tea, 2 small tacos with tofu.
late-afternoon snack: 1 pear
dinner: 1 bowl of soup, 2 slices of whole wheat. I do not think I am done yet. I will try to eat some raw veggies, such as cucumber or tomato, to get my body some nutritious food. Plus, for some reason raw veggies always help me lose weight.
late-night snack (added later): 1 big apple, tofu squares dashed with honey, 1 tall glass of milk
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning, 30 min walk in the afternoon
supplements: iron supplement at noon; 1 tables of calcium and VitD after the dinner.
I keep eating the same things over and over. Are you not bored of the food I consume? 🙂
You should and I finally am. So from this week on, I will try to consume at least one other fruit in addition to apples and 2 veggies that I have not had in the last week.
That plan made me feel good 🙂
breakfast: 1 bagel with butter, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
lunch: 1 bowl of chicken noodle soup
late-afternoon snack: 1 banana (yep; something I have not eaten lately 🙂 )
dinner: 1 bowl of chicken noodle soup, 3 slices of whole wheat bread, lots of raw carrots. I bought carrots as part of the new plan of eating a variety of food. I am glad I have. The young carrots (thin and crispy ones) are excellent snacks; I also love them in salads (grated). Yum, yum, yum! 🙂
late-nigh snack (added later):Â 1 bowl of chicken noodle soup, 1.5 glass of milk
exercise: Walked a little bit longer today 🙂 30 min in the afternoon, followed by another 15 min walk, and then 45 min walk after that. (I try not to sum all up like 1.5 hours of walk. The reason for that there is a difference between a walk here and there and then a continuous walk; I believe a continuous walk would be the one that make me sweat most, but I keep hearing interval training is also great. Your choice 🙂 ).
calcium and VitD supplement: 1 tablet after the dinner
I cannot believe it is mid-October 🙂
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
late morning snack: 50 grms of peanut
lunch: 2 cans of fish
dinner: cucumber. tomato, and onion salad with olive oil, 3 slices of whole wheat bread, chicken noodle soup with lots of lemon juice. I have got a cold; so the chicken soup is my best medication right now. I also feel like raw onion does help with it. So the dinner today is full of healing nutrients 🙂
late night snack (added later): 75 grms of cheese. I am not drinking milk tonite; at least I have got the calcium to be obtained from food (not supplement) by eating cheese, even though I did not have enough daily Vit D today.. oh well, tomorrow then 🙂
exercise: 1o min walk in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon. There was a function that I needed to attend in the morning somewhere close to my home – I managed to leave it before the coffee and pastry/muffin type of snacks are served (good job! 🙂 ) – a colleague of mine gave me a ride to office, which I appreciated very much. The muscle I pulled the other day has not healed yet so walking is a little bit challenging time to time.
supplements: 1 tablet of calcium and Vit D after the dinner
Today is the day I record my weight: it is 205 pounds. Only 5 pounds less than the start on Sept 1, 2015.
It is going slow; I am not demotivated yet; I know that little by little it will go, maybe it will take longer than what I projected at the beginning, but I will continue to have a healthier diet and physical exercise; they help me nourish my body and exercise is vastly important for feeling good 🙂
breakfast: I have forgotten to take my breakfast with me; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: 50 grms of peanuts; it was a day full of meetings and thus I could not find time to eat better.
late-afternoon: coffee with creamer and brown sugar
dinner: 3 hard-boiled eggs and cucumber salad with olive oil; 3 slices of whole wheat bread
late-night snack (added later): 2 apples, 1 tall glass of milk
exercise: walking 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon 🙂
supplements (calcium and Vit D): I forgot to have one during the day; I do not think I will have another tonite as I just took medication for my back pain. I should make sure to have milk tonite to get a little bit of calcium and VitD.
What a great day – happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and happy Columbus day to my American friends. I hope you all are having a great, relaxing and peaceful day full with sweet moments with family and friends.
I have so far done really well with my healthy life-style plan today. I walked for 50 min in the morning! I did not even take my purse with me; I just left with my key, focused on walking, the rhythm of my body as I walked, and the scenery. I kept pretty much a faster than average speed and I loved seeing how well my body handles it (i.e. without straining itself) and how it made me sweat. Sweating is good; for some reason I am feeling much better when my body works to this extent. I am very grateful for today being an off day, which allowed me to have this wonderful experience.
I know I can do this more often and I know that I do not feel tired as I used to time to time in the past. Starting to walk for leisure again is positively affecting me and I am very excited about this 🙂
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of coffee with cream and sugar
lunch: green beans and beef meal (left-over from yesterday)
late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
dinner: red cabbage and hard tofu cubes salad with olive oil
late-night snack (added later):Â 1 apple, tofu bits sprinkled with brown sugar, 1 tall glass of milk
exercise: 50 min walk in the morning 🙂
supplements: 1 calcium and Vit D tablet after the dinner
The scale says I gained weight during my trip; if I know my body (and I do), I will lose 2-3 pounds of it in the coming days. I believe this extra weight are mostly water retained in my body due to different types of foods I consumed and the long flights I took. so even though I have eaten during the trip more than I usually do here at home, I am not too worried;Â the weight I have gained will be lost soon.
breakfast: none (got up late)
lunch: 1 bagel (toasted and buttered), 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar
dinner: green beans, onion, and minced beef meal in oven; 1 slice of bread
late-night snack (added later):Â 1 apple, trail mix
exercise: none
supplements: 1 tablet of calcium and vit D after the dinner
breakfast: 1 slice cake, coffee with cream and sugar, one small yogurt
lunch: none (forgotten)
dinner (to be added later): IÂ am invited to a dinner this evening so I will be e.a.t.i.n.g.
late-night snack (to be added later):
exercise: walking 15 min. It is so hot here…
Boy; a long day and I am hungry 🙂
breakfast; coffee with cream and sugar; 1 cheese and avocado sandwich (2 slices of bread and 1 mashed avocado) as well as egg salad sandwich with orange pepper
later; coffee with cream and sugar
lunch: spicy thai soup with one bagel (toasted and ligthly buttered), 450 ml milk
later; 1 apple
dinner: Caesar’s salad, tortilla chips with cheese, guacamole, salsa, and some other dips
second dinner: one small roll of bread, small salad, chicken, and brownie with tea
late-night snack (added later): trail mix, tea
exercise: walking 15 min
supplements: None – I believe milk and food I have had today had enough levels of calcium and Vit D
I have little appetite today; great after a weekend of little indulgence 🙂
breakfast: forgotten food at home; coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: coffee with cream and sugar; a can of fish
dinner: 6-7 fish bits cooked at oven (left over from yesterday); 1/2 hard boiled egg, 1 apple
late night – snack (added later):Â 1 apple, 2 hard-boiled eggs and two slices of whole wheat bread
exercise: yahoo 🙂 walking 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon (i am so loving the morning walks. Wish the weather will be permissive for a very long time so that I can keep doing this. Please. please. please. 🙂 )
supplements: 1 calcium and Vit D tablet after the dinner
Almost no exercise today, but here and there I have eaten quite well 🙂
breakfast: a small piece of cheese, coffee with cream and brown sugar
late-morning snack: 1 pear
late lunch: green bean meal, 1 meatball, 2 slices of whole wheat bread
late-afternoon snack: around 50 grms of trail mix
dinner: oven-cooked breaded fish-bits; a large salad with 1 tomato, 1/2 head broccoli (raw), green onions; salad dressing: a little bit olive oil, garlic and yogurt. Give this a try; it is fresh and tasty. After enjoying raw broccoli and garlicky yogurt yesterday, I could not help; I had to have this combination again. I am glad I have – it was really nice 🙂
time to time I crave for garlic; I wish it was more frequent than this as the health benefits of garlic may be more than I thought . Some info on garlic here and here.
late-night snack (added later): around 150-200 grms of trail mix and sunflower seed mix. Ok – I have eaten too much of this…. I think the sweetness of the dried fruit helps me not eat other sweets (like dessert) and the crunchiness of the nuts/seeds is just an amazing feeling, but I better watch out for the calories in this mix.
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning
supplements: calcium and vit D supplements; one after lunch and one after dinner
relatively good day 🙂
I think I have seen some weight loss on the scale this morning 🙂
breakfast: 1 bagel with butter, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar. You may remember my love for bagels; I left the home without thinking about having a healthier breakfast and thought, “ok, what the hey; let’s have a bagel”. I did and I did not even think that I missed the bagels 🙂
late lunch: green beans meal and meatballs; 1 slice of 12-grain bread, 1 English cucumber (too much? well, so be it; it was crunchy, juicy and just fantastic! I am glad I have had it)
late afternoon snack: 1 apple
dinner (updated later): red cabbage salad, cheese sandwich with 2 slices of whole wheat bread
late-night snack (added later): 1 pear, yogurt.
Later at night I craved for broccoli.
Can you imagine?
Have you ever craved for broccoli dear friends? I doubt it 🙂 but if you ever have, please drop a line to say so that I can know I am not the only one 🙂 Anyways, enough with this; just because I do not like broccoli does not mean you do not. Honestly, I loved eating raw broccoli dipped with garlicky yogurt. It was awesome 🙂
I am glad I craved for it and it was fresh and crunchy; I know it is also very healthy. I am grateful for it.
exercise: 10 min walk in the morning
supplements: calcium and Vit D after the late lunch
breakfast: forgotten again at home 😦  coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: the best meal of the day: chicken sandwich and salad, coffee with cream and sugar
dinner: 3 hard-boiled eggs and two slices of 12-grain bread
supplements: 1 calcium and Vit D after the dinner
late-night snack (added later): 1 tall glass of milk, 1 apple 🙂
exercise: 30 min walking in the morning; no walk in the afternoon as it was raining.
Looking at the title of the post, you might have thought this post is about the useful tips that can help you.
Well, this is not the case. The title of the post a genuine question I have in my mind.
I have a couple of trips to make in the coming weeks. I am excited about them (I like to travel), but of course the time away from the office means extra work before and after the trip, which can explain my stress levels nowadays 🙂
Anyways, since I am on two plans; budgeting and healthy life-style, I wonder how these trips will affect me.
To tell you the truth, I have a tendency to relax, and eat what I want and buy what I want (mostly little gifts for people I love) during my trips.
I have progressed quite a bit with my budget and it is more or less in the right direction, but I still have a long way to go. In addition, my healthy eating and losing weight plan does not work at all. I need to come up with a good strategy and have some motivation and dedication to keep going with these plans.
I am planning to have snacks, fruits, and sandwiches with me on the first day of my trips; at least I may be able to eat one day good, without indulging into eating at my destinations. I am of course planning to taste different food and whatever I like but cannot find where I am (Chinese and Japanese food for example) once I arrived my destinations.
My other challenge would be how to not eat the free food (to be offered at the meetings I am taking the trips for); they are my weaknesses and I am certainly concerned….. Argh… why the snacks and other food offered at professional meetings are not healthy type? Like broccoli. Or milk. Or, I do not know, something other than the pastries, cookies, and sweets?
The only things I am not concerned about are walking and my supplements (calcium and VitD); i will have my supplement pills with me and I am sure I will find milk to drink wherever I go. Also, generally I am very energetic while on trips, partly because I love to explore the cities I am visiting; so walking will not be a problem, either.
So, wish me luck with my trips.
But at the same time, please tell me if you have any tips and strategies that can help keep my budgeting and eating plans on track while traveling 🙂
Walking in the morning is going well – it is a very appreciated habit now 🙂
I also have had a nice lunch; I was at home working and took the opportunity to prepare myself a nice, hearty sandwich. Cannot complain 🙂
breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
late-morning snack:Â small amount of trail mix
lunch: cheese and avocado sandwich with 2 slices of bread, cheese, and 1 mashed up avocado
late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
dinner: 3 oven-baked battered fish pieces, salad with tomato, cucumber, pepper, and olive oil.
late-night snack (added later): 1 tall glass of milk, two apples, 1 slice of bread and a little piece of cheese
supplements: calcium and Vit D after lunch
Exercise: walking 30 min in the morning and 30 min at noon 🙂
I have attended a workshop in the morning somewhere away; so no walking in the morning. I did not walk in the afternoon either; I had a meeting till 7.30 pm and luckily one of my colleagues gave me a ride. So no exercise today.
Eating has not been great, either. In the workshop there were unhealthy snacks which I happily ate. What is it about free food and eating in excessive amounts? I would like to know.
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled eggs, 1 slice of bread, coffee with creamer and sugar; 4 small packs of chocolate cookies or granola bars.
lunch: 1Â can of fish.
late-afternoon snack: a lot of trial mix
dinner: kale meal, 3 pieces of battered fish with lemon juice
late-night snack  (added later): biscuits, 1 tall glass of milk, 1 apple
calcium and VitD supplements: forgotten to take after the lunch
exercise: none
Tuesdays are the day that I record my weight; after 4 weeks of healthy eating, my weight did not change much . My weight is 207 pounds (still). Total loss is a mere 3 pounds in 4 weeks.
Ok; I know that a few days back it was 205 pounds and I am suspicious of water retention because of the introduction of new food to my diet this week; oat and milk. I will see in a couple of days whether that is what it is. Otherwise, I am discouraged but am determined to continue to eat good food.
I know I still need to work on the practice of eating a hearty breakfast and lunch so that I will need less calories in the evening/night; I am almost certain that this will help me to lose weight. We will see how I go with this.
Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: 1 can of fish, trail mix.
Dinner: kale meal with olive oil, tomato paste, and chili. well, it was tasty but not enough, so I also ate two hard-boiled eggs with a dash of olive oil on top and 3 slices of 12 grain bread
late-night snack (added later): 1 apple, 1 tall glass of skim milk
exercise: walking 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon (at least I am doing this right 🙂 )
Time to time, change can come quite easy. Not always, but sometime. Especially if you enjoy doing/having the new change.
This is the case for me; I walked to the office from home again this morning 🙂 I did not even think about not walking 🙂 See, there is no mental judo here for me (I had mental judo before; while having quite a difficulty in deciding to take the bus rather than the cab every morning at the beginning of my conscious spending plan implemented 4 months ago).
I used to walk for hours every day prior to I moved to my current city. I mentioned this a couple of times that our weather is a little bit challenging; our winters are long and we can get rain anytime year round . In addition, in winter the sidewalks are usually icy if the temperature is below 0 C for extended time periods and it is not unusual to see the snow banks occupying them, too. These two reasons make walking in my city quite challenging (walking on the road when the sidewalks are not permissive is not a safe practice; trust me). Also, although for some reason I am usually okay walking in the afternoon, as a non-morning person, I am not in the mood to walk in the morning. This was also accelerated with general lack of energy in the mornings. Or, that is what I have thought so far.
Anyways, I am very happy that I have the joyful activity of walking in the mornings lately. I know there will be times that I will not want to do this (e.g. when it is too cold, too dump, or too rainy/icy), but until then I will enjoy doing it 🙂
Good job me! 🙂
On the other hand, I am not sure how my new eating plan is going. I gained 2 pounds yesterday; I am assuming it is the new food types I am consuming (oat, milk) that help retain water in my body (and hence the extra pounds), but I you can guess it is quite demoralizing….
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch:Â did not have time to think about eating a proper lunch – munched on trial mix
late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
dinner: meatloaf and 1 slice of 12 grain bread
late-night snack (added later): 1 tall glass of skim milk, 1 apple, 2 small cucumbers. Later: 3 slices of bread and cheese
calcium and Vit D supplements: 1 after the lunch
walking: 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon 🙂
I ate a lot yesterday night; argh!!! And kind of unhealthy today.. Another argh..
well, I try to convince myself that every once a while it can be okay. I hope, though, I will keep it with “every once a while”…
On the other hand, I am pleased with my decision to drink milk everyday (see below).
Breakfast: 50 gr cheese, coffee with cream and brown sugar
Lunch: waffles.. what is it about waffles that I crave for? Simple – it is their crunchiness. I went to shop and could not resist buying one. Lots of calories, minimal nutrition….
Dinner: mixed salad with red and white radish, cucumber, green onions, tomato, and olive oil.
Late night snack (planned): Skim milk. My doctor’s office sent me a booklet yesterday about the calcium and Vit D intake. It was very useful – thanking them very much. They recommend getting a maximum of 50% of the daily requirements for calcium and Vit D from supplements – the rest better comes from the food I consume.. I loved this. There is quite an information about the food that contain these two micronutrient. I noticed that it is the milk that has the highest amount of both. I am not a fan of milk, but I bought some today and am planning to drink every night. It will feel good (knowing that I have done really good) 🙂
As snacks, I may also get apples or the honey-cinnamon-granola bars I have tried at home for the first time today 🙂
added after the post: ate the granola bars; then I craved for salty stuff and ate a little bit of cheese and 1 slice of bread.
Exercise: 15 min walking in the morning.
Not bad so far; I managed to cook for dinner (yay!) and had a nice lunch with friends 🙂
Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 cup of coffee with cream and sugar
Lunch: veggie omelet with fries (I know… I know…) and fruit, coffee with sugar and cream. This lunch was awesome. I was with friends, the view and the cafe were great, and the meal tasted really good. Finishing the lunch with fruits, to my surprise, was very nice. Great that I have eaten a variety of fruits today 🙂
dinner: I am cooking meatloaf with tomato, peppers, onions, and broccoli on the side. I placed everything in an oven dish and then boiled water with tomato paste and added it to the dish. As per broccoli, I do not think it is the best companion in an oven dish, but I tasted it (the meal is still cooking), and to my surprise it actually tasted well 🙂 I am glad I added it to this dish and did not just waste it.
late-night snack (added later):Â yogurt and 3 slices of 12 grain bread, 2 small apples
exercise: sporadic walking here and there. Nothing specific.
Supplements: Calcium and Vit DÂ (x1)Â taken after the dinner.
Yours truly did it again and walked from home to the office in the morning! 🙂
Yay! Could not be happier of myself. Seriously. So well done 🙂
Eating during the day, on the other hand, is still challenging.
Breakfast: forgotten my breakfast at home; contemplated about eating from the cafe but decided against it (good job – no junk today, either), munched on trail mix, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: cheese sandwich, 1 apple
Dinner: hamburger on bun and salad (eating out with friends) – good job choosing salad over fries 🙂
Late night snack (updated later): 1 apple
Exercise: walking 30 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon 🙂
Supplements: calcium and Vit D (x1)
Today yours truly did an excellent job and walked to the office from home in the morning!
I was not really in the mood, but then the weather was so nice, and the sky was clear and shiny. Because of the morning walk yesterday, it was in my mind anyhow, so I could not resist the idea. And I made it 🙂
I am very excited about this – I guess not only walking but in fact enjoying is the key; I enjoyed walking yesterday morning (from a meeting venue to my office) and walking today (from home to office).
I wish to continue. There are a couple of things to consider:
Anyways, let’s hope the coming days I will keep walking in the morning, too. With the walk in the afternoon (which I was pretty consistent except it rained too much or it was exceptionally cold/icy outside), that means I will be walking a total of 1 hr every work day. Yay! 🙂
Breakfast:Â I forgot to have my breakfast again!! where am I going with this I do not know. I should find practical ways to implement it. Maybe I should start having it at home. Or place the lunch box in front of the door so that I can remember it. Coffee with creamer and brown sugar as the only breakfast today (do they count as breakfast? I do not think so….).
On the positive side, I contemplated about buying tea biscuits or another junk food in the morning, but then decided against it – that is a good sign 🙂
Lunch: peanuts and a can of fish.
Dinner (updated later): 3 pieces of oven-baked fish (from yesterday), 1 slice of 12 grain bread, 1 apple. I am not done yet; I am still hungry. I am not sure whether I would get an omelet or a large salad.
Update: 3 hard-boiled eggs with a dash of olive oil, 3 slices of 12 grain bread. I probably did not do good eating that many slices of bread – my skin got itchy; I am thinking – is my body reacting to this type of bread (allergic reaction)? Maybe. On a separate note I am happy about my consumption of olive oil (we all need healthy oils) and the eggs. These additions helped me not to drop my calories below 1,200 cal/day limit (less than that creates a starvation mode in the body, stimulating fat storage).
Late night snack (added later): 100 grms of trailer mix.
Exercise: 30 min walking in the morning and 30 min walking in the afternoon (Yay!)
Calcium and Vit D  supplements (added later): 1 pill today. I need to bring them to my office to take a pill after the lunch.
Okay; eating during the day is still a challenge for me, but dinner was great today 🙂
breakfast: forgotten my breakfast at home, 3 cups of coffee with creamer and sugar
lunch: 1 can of fish, green tea
late-afternoon snack: peanuts
dinner: a large salad with lettuce, cucumber, fresh cilantro, and olive oil. 3 pieces of battered fish pieces (oven baked, frozen)
late-night snack (added later): 1 apple and two pieces of fish. Later, yogurt with brown sugar
Exercise: I have done great today 🙂 walking 30 min in the morning. It was so nice, so peaceful that I decided to give it a try every morning (weather permitting). I am excited (good to see that I have energy; last May I had tried and I was really tired in the mornings, so I had left the idea then). I also walked in the afternoon for 30 min.
Supplements: my doctor recommended calcium and vit D supplements for me recently. Okay; I started yesterday (twice a day).
Sometimes awkward, sometimes great day in terms of eating 🙂
Anyways; it has been 3 weeks that I have been trying to eat better. Since then I lost 6 pounds. Not too much, but considering the fact that I actually gained a couple of pounds within the first week, I will take this as something to cherish 🙂
Breakfast: forgot my healthy breakfast; as a matter of fact I remembered about it as I was leaving home, but did not feel like going back (that is how I relate to breakfast during the week-days. sigh..). Then I bought a cup of coffee with cream and sugar and while on it also a tea biscuit. Well… It was delicious. Consider this one of the “reward me” days (how many have I had lately?)
Lunch: 30 grms of cheese. I was working and did not feel like eating lunch.
Late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
Dinner: that was not bad. I worked till late so I did not have time to cook. So I decided to eat a large (I mean, really large) salad with tomatoes, cucumber, onion, green peppers, and olive oil. Also had 2 hard-boiled eggs to compensate for the lack of adequate amount of calories to be consumed for today.
Late-night snack (added after the post): 1 can of corn, yogurt with brown sugar. I crave for sugar late nights sometime. I wonder why. I also wonder whether it has anything to do with eating less bread (i.e. less carbs).
Exercise: walking – 10 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening.
Breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: vastly forgotten; munched on peanuts and coffee with cream and sugar
Dinner (planned): oven-cooked frozen fish pieces – they look like breaded. Ok. lettuce salad with olive oil and lemon juice.
Late-night snack (added later): 1 apple. Okay I love apples but I guess it is time I bring in some variety to fruits. I will try pears next week.
Exercise: walking; 10 min in the morning, 30 min in the afternoon.
Breakfast: 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread, 1 hard boiled egg, coffee with cream and sugar
Lunch: 1 apple (was working and I did not have time for lunch)
Dinner: chicken noodle soup and red cabbage salad (no olive oil)
Late-night snack: 2 apples, 1 bowl of soup. I am eyeing the yogurt as well 🙂 (added the next day: well I did that; ate yogurt but it tasted sour a little bit; so added 1 table spoon of brown sugar and enjoyed it a lot 🙂 I know… I know… sugar is not that good. I am trying 🙂
Exercise: walking. A lot! Thanks to the Terry Fox Run walk, I got to walk around 1 hr 45 min today. Yay!
Awkward day 🙂
breakfast: hard boiled egg, coffee with cream and brown sugar
lunch: totally passed that out – I was working at home (house chores + work on computer)
late- afternoon snack:Â 1 apple
dinner: fish with veggies, fried onions, and strawberry short-cake. Ok – I went out to dinner with a friend and that was an amazing, decent meal 🙂 Also very pampering; why did I eat the cake? it would be better without it, but hey..
late-night snack (added after the post): 2 small cucumbers. I feel a lot better if I do consume raw veggies. So I ate cucumbers even though I was not hungry. I kinda believe that they will neutralize (or reduce) the effect of the short cake I had at the dinner. Right or not, I cannot know 🙂
(added once again after the post): I also ate 4 slices of whole wheat bread and 40 grms of cheese late at night. I believe the cake increased my appetite – will be careful not to have desserts again 🙂
Exercise: walking 10 min in the morning, and 30 min at late evening after the dinner.
I did not eat as much as I am supposed to today; gotta be more careful about not dropping the daily calories. Anyways, here is what I have done hopefully to improve my life – style:
Breakfast: forgot to have my breakfast with me again. this is a recurring theme. Not sure how to implement it as a habit. Coffee with brown sugar and creamer
Lunch: 1 can of fish, around 100 grms of peanuts. Coffee with creamer and brown sugar.
Dinner: 1 apple, stir fried leeks and the roasted chicken. I decided I could not eat another piece of roasted chicken as it is again…I must confess I could not eat the entire meal. The leeks are gone, but the chicken is still lingering. I am not sure what to do with it, except that I know I am not going to waste it.
Late-night snack (added later): Cucumber – my goodness; it was never that delicious. I needed something to take the taste of chicken out of my system – what is better than the refreshing cucumber sprinkled with salt? Yummy. Also cheese and 1 slice of whole bread. Okay – I know I keep eating the same things ad I certainly like cheese, but I really wanted to eat something that increases my daily calorie and I was not in the mood to cook. Cheese sandwich is a very practical option for me.
And just around the mid night I craved for sweets; yogurt with brown sugar. Would be better without the sugar, but hey; it was delicious 🙂
My lessons learnt: NEVER buy whole roasted chicken again; it is good in terms of down-regulating the appetite, but I cannot do this anymore. I will rather have pieces (like legs and thighs) and make meals out of them. At least these parts I am okay to eat.
Exercise: Walking; 10 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon, both of which were at high speed. good job 🙂
I think about two things:
Anyways, here is what I have done to improve my health today:
breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
lunch: did not have time to eat much – I was working on something. So I munched on roasted chickpeas. Green tea.
dinner: a piece of roasted chicken, left-over sauteed greens from yesterday, 1 slice of whole wheat bread, 50 grm of cheese
late-night snack (added later): 1 apple, 1/2 cucumber. Eyeing yogurt 🙂
The total calories I have consumed today is low. That is not good – they say I should have at least 1,200 cal/day; otherwise my body will think that it is starving and will start storing fat. I gotta be careful about under-eating.
Exercise: 10 min walk in the morning and 30 min talk in the afternoon. The afternoon walk was not slow and made me sweat. That is good 🙂
Not too bad so far 🙂
breakfast: forgotten to take my breakfast with me again. So only coffee with creamer and brown sugar (three cups)
Lunch: two cans of fish, vegetable soup, and a slice of white bread
Late afternoon snack: none
Dinner (updated after posted): roasted chicken and sauteed greens with olive oil, onion, and dash of chili pepper. One apple. Since I ate the legs, now it is the breasts of the roasted chicken I am left with – the part that absolutely lowers my appetite. I estimate that I will completely eat it within the next two days. I will not waste it. I should not forget to give my thanks to this chicken who died to nourish my body.
Late-night snack (added after the post): yogurt – yummy 🙂
Exercise: walking 30 min in the afternoon – considering it was a rainy and misty day, not bad – well done 🙂
This is the end of my so-called “healthy life-style plan” week. That means I took measurements to see any progress.
My experience with measuring my waist and hips is that it is tricky and does not match with what the scale says. Thus,  from now on I am sticking with the measurement of my weight.
Today my weight is 207 pounds. It is 3 pounds less than two weeks ago. I am not overly excited about this (my weight can fluctuate 2-3 pounds within a day – not sure what the reason is; thinking either my scale is not sensitive/accurate enough or my body retains water – I guess both of these are quite possible). I need to see the same weight over a week to finally become confident about what my weight is.  Therefore I am not treating this as a weight loss; rather I see it as a positive sign that at least I did not gain weight this past week 🙂
What have I eaten today?
Breakfast: one hard boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: two apples
Late-afternoon snack: roasted chicken.
Dinner (updated after posted): 2 slices of whole wheat bread, around 100 grms of cheese, and raw lo bok. Lo bok is white radish often found in Asian stores. I am fond of it because of its juicy texture and light taste. I have been thinking; it is good that nowadays I am not having salad, but rather consuming veggies as they are; overall I consume less olive oil this way.
Late-night snack (added after posted): yogurt – good job 🙂
Exercise: None – it was raining today, so I took the cab/bus.
A relatively better day, but it is not over yet – so I am not keeping my hopes high. Nevertheless here is the account of today:
Breakfast: one hard-boiled egg, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: munched on peanuts and roasted chickpeas (give it a try – they are not fatty but quite filling; lots of fiber)
Late afternoon snack: 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Dinner: roasted chicken. Chicken is not my best type of animal protein – I like beef more. This one was purchased from a store; I usually consume it in around 4-5 days. Honestly, I do not like the chicken breast at all, which is supposed to be the healthiest part. Anyways, I am planning to have salad later.
Exercise: walking 10 min in the morning; 30 min in the afternoon. Both walking at a faster speed – hoping to increase the energy expenditure a little bit this way,
Things I have done right so far today: having something for the breakfast, walking faster, and roasted chicken (lots of protein)
Late-night snack (added after the post): 2 slices of whole wheat bread and around 100 grms of cheese. Did i mention I love cheese? Hmm. Nevertheless, two things are clear: a) chicken seriously down-regulates my appetite; and b) I am not reacting that badly to eating bread as long as it is not >5 slices a day and as long as the calories from the food consumed during the entire day is not huge. Okay – I have made peace with eating a small amount of bread finally.
Turn of events (see the end).
Breakfast: Forgot to have breakfast at home and directly went to the cafe. What did I get? A bagel with cream cheese, one large cup of coffee with cream and sugar. I do not know why I ordered bagel again, but one thing is clear – if I do not have breakfast at home, or if I do not bring it to office, I either eat unhealthy stuff (like bagel) or do not eat at all (at the office).
I do not know why I do not have an habit of having breakfast at home.
Lunch: I went out to shop so I missed to eat something at home. I ate nuts (cashew – yummy but also fatty I assume).
Dinner: Chicken noodle soup, 4 slices of whole wheat bread, cheese, tomato and red radish. I did not feel like cooking something or preparing salad.
Bread and bagel have found their existence in my diet once again.
Anyways, enough with the rant.
Maybe I am doing it wrong; maybe I should not feel frustrated only because I ate bread or bagels. Maybe what I should be focusing is what I have done right. Intuitively rewards are much more motivating than punishment. Hence;
What did I do right today? Eating raw veggies (at dinner), protein (cream cheese at breakfast, cheese at dinner). Cashews are supposed to have protein, fiber, and fat (hopefully good type). Since I did not have salad but rather had the veggies as they are, that means I did not have the calories that would otherwise come from the olive oil (I always have olive oil in my salad).
ok – now this feels better.
exercise: walking, 10 min in the morning, 15 min in the afternoon. better than nothing.
Yesterday late-nigh snack: 1 apple, two slices of whole wheat bread, cheese, yogurt with 2 tbs of brown sugar. I was craving for sweet yesterday night. Try yogurt with brown sugar; it does not dissolve much and you can feel it 🙂
Today – breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, 2 cups of coffee with cream and sugar
Lunch: I had a late lunch today; 1 hard-boiled egg. I thought that would be enough till dinner (I was working and did not want to spend time to have a large lunch). Yet, it just made me more hungry… 2 chicken legs (boiled), 1 bowl of chicken noodle soup with lemon and black pepper (delicious).
Dinner: White rice with yogurt. I over-ate it – I do not usually eat rice. When I eat, I eat multiple plates…
Late-night snack: 2 apples. At least I did not eat too much late at night. That is a success 🙂 Also no bread or bagel today.. hmm. that was a great day even though I ate too much white rice.
On thing goes well another thing not so well. Well..
Exercise: 10 min walk in the morning – that is all.
Okay; getting back to eating raw veggies (as salad), but still no breakfast or lunch today..
yesterday – late night snack: cheese, yogurt, and 5 slices of whole wheat bread (argh..)
Today: breakfast: none (forgot to bring with me to office). 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar.
Lunch: none.
Late afternoon snack: 40 grms of nuts, 1 apple, 1 cup of green tea (yay! something healthy and relaxing)
Dinner: 6 pieces of battered fish with lots of lemon juice; salad with 1 tomato, 1/2 (raw) zucchini, 2 celery sticks, lettuce, and olive oil. This is the third time I am eating raw zucchini in salad and I can tell you it does not have much of a taste. good in terms of having fiber I guess. But would not recommend it as a salad material to anyone, including myself.
I am preparing my hard-boiled eggs now to be consumed at (or, as) breakfast for tomorrow and the following mornings. I thought if I do not have them, tomorrow I can go back to eating bagels for breakfast. refined carbs need to go..
Exercise: 30 min walk in the afternoon
I am doing better today after my burst-out in the last two days.
Yesterday – dinner: yep, I have eaten the pastry filled with blueberries 😦
Late-night snack: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 5Â slices of whole wheat bread, cheese
Today – breakfast: I forgot again to bring breakfast to my office;Â 4Â cups of coffee with cream and sugar (I really needed a large amount of creamy coffee today)
Lunch: none
Dinner: Stir-fried leek with sesame seeds, olive oil, hot sauce, and soya sauce. It was delicious – a simple but tasty meal.
Slowly I am getting back to my healthy eating plan, but not having breakfast or lunch (which is a long-time habit for me) is not good. Gotta plan better.
Exercise: walking 30 min in the afternoon.
Eye-care: I strain my eyes by reading a lot and for extended periods of time. I think limiting to use my reading glasses will help my eyes a little bit. So I finally come up with the idea of increasing the zoom on the monitor of my laptop. I can see things away from me and my eyes adjusting just fine.
After learning my defeat against losing weight yesterday (I know; it has just been a week that I started my healthy-eating strategy, but would it hurt not to gain weight during this time?? No…), I went down big time. I am not giving up yet, but this is really demotivating. I promised myself this to be an honest journey, so here are what I have done to further gain weight since yesterday night (irony is high here):
Yesterday dinner: 1 big sweet pastry filled with apple, presumably very unhealthy, purchased from the convenience store. I am not sure what else I ate; did I have salad? probably. eh..
yesterday late-night snack: 1 apple, 1 egg with 2 slices of whole wheat bread, and maybe other stuff that I do not remember right now. The only good stuff I have done was to drink a cup of green tea – it was delicious.
Today: breakfast; forgot my breakfast – munched on peanuts at the office. Coffee with creamer and brown sugar as usual.
Lunch: none
Late-afternoon snack: another apple-filled pastry… In case you are wondering, I bought another one filled with blueberries and am very likely to eat it tonite….
Dinner: not planning anything right now, meaning it is going to be unhealthy; see above.
Exercise: 30 min walking in the afternoon (at least I did not let this one go).
I am not writing this to be a bad role model for those who would like to lose weight by eating right. Please DO NOT eat like this. I am just frustrated with many other stuff in life right now. It is not an excellent excuse, but I know that is an expected hurdle that I will eventually overcome. Over time..
Till then.
Ahem… It has been a week that I started to try to eat better; less bread and bagel, more and diverse salad and protein resources.
I cannot complain about these changes; they seem to be good for me. It is just that I am not sure whether this eating style works for me. Why? Because based on my measurements, it seems like I actually got bigger 🙂
My shoulders and my waist seem to have expanded 2 cms and my hips 1 cm since last week.
Ahem… Ahem…
Gotta be a little bit more careful then – maybe eliminate extra calories (e.g. limit olive oil in the salad)?
Arggh. Anyways, here is what I have done to live healthier:
Yesterday – late night snack: 1 apple, yogurt, 3 slices of whole wheat bread
Today: breakfast; 50 grm of unseasoned peanuts, coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: a can of sardines in tomato sauce, green tea
Late afternoon snack: 75 grm of peanut
Dinner: large salad with lettuce, red radish, pepper, zucchini, and olive oil. This is the second time I am eating raw zucchini – I must say the idea is weird but raw zucchini tastes just fine.
Exercise: walking 30 min in the afternoon.
Yesterday dinner: I did not eat the salad I had planned yesterday; I rather had one tomato, 5 red radish, and 3 slices of whole wheat bread in lieu of salad; I felt not like preparing salad.
Yesterday late-night snack: 1 apple, yogurt
Today – breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, coffee with brown sugar. Since no cafe is open today (labor day), I brewed my own coffee and had it with no cream.
Lunch: Lazy cauliflower meal (recipe can be found here) 🙂  I completely made it up and I am glad I have, as it turned out to be an awesome meal. Very surprising as cauliflower has never been among my favorite veggies. Anyways, I also had yogurt at lunch. Additionally, I  craved for garlic and ate 4 big cloves together with the meal. Yum. Seriously. If eaten with meal, it does not upset my stomach and while its smell always increases my appetite, considering its health benefits, it was well worth it 🙂
Late-afternoon snack: Left-over lazy cauliflower meal
Dinner: I am planning a large green salad with tuna, spices, and olive oil (modified this a little bit while preparing it; added white onion, celery sticks, a can of corn kernel, and 1/2 lemon juice. It turned out to be quite hearty and stuffy).
Exercise: None.
Eye care: I really need to prevent straining my eyes by wearing the reading glasses for long times. Today while I continued to read and write, I hardly used my reading glasses. Trying to give my eyes a break from the glasses. Hope to massage them at night with tea bags.
Yesterday – late night snack: yesterday night was another over-eating night. I was hungry so ate 2 hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, 2.5 slices of whole-wheat bread, and 2 table spoons of olive oil….
Yesterday night – eye care: I have reading glasses and since I use them a lot my eyes ache after a while. I remembered that putting wet and warm tea bags (best after brewing your tea) over eyes for 5-10 min would soothe them. I did this three times yesterday. It certainly is very relaxing to eyes.
Today – breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 cup of coffee with brown sugar and cream. Did I mention I eat a lot of eggs and I should change this? Yep…
Lunch: went out to a cafe with my friends. As a result I have a heartier lunch than I would have if I was by myself. Turkey, cheese, arugula, and cranberry sauce sandwich on baget, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar. And a little tart – I could not resist the tart, even though I usually do not eat sweets…
Late afternoon snack: 1 apple
Dinner (planned): 2 medium size meatballs, salad with tomato, raw radish, lettuce, onion, coriander, and celery sticks with olive oil.
Exercise: 30 min in the afternoon. I did some house chores this evening and as such did not notice the time. I went out shopping but the store was closed. I wanted to try another one on walking distance. While the second store was also closed, this helped me with walking around 30 min. Yay!
Doing good in some parts, not so good in others 🙂
Late-night snack: 1 apples, 3 table spoons of sunflower seed (I love seeds and nuts, but I need to remind myself that they are not only healthy but also are packed of calories). Nevertheless, I am glad I did not eat too much yesterday night (not that I was not tempted to).
Today: breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar. Today was the second time I have been to my favorite cafe but did not eat their delicious bagels! Good, good, very good 🙂
Lunch: None – I was too busy decluttering the house. Gotta have lunch no matter what.
Late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
Dinner: Salad with tomato, lettuce, raw cabbage, cucumber, radish and olive oil. Meatball and cabbage meal with 1 onion, black-bean sauce and olive oil.
Exercise: 10 min in the morning – in addition I have been working at home non-stop for 6 hours. I hope that counts as some calories consumed.
Yesterday – late nigh snack: yogurt, apple, and 5 table spoons of sunflower seed
Yesterday – super late snack: 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 table spoons of olive oil, cucumber, and 3 slices of whole wheat bread!! What happened? I can tell you what; I went to bed and could not sleep. Came down and made myself pacified and sleepy by eating…. That is something that I have been doing for many years; it is not healthy at all… The only remedy for a good night sleep is to make the body tired… So where is my exercise?
Today – breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, 2 cups of coffee with brown sugar and creamer. I should find alternatives to egg; too much of nothing is good.
Lunch: none (was working)
Late afternoon snack: around 100 grms of non-seasoned peanuts
Dinner (planning): 6 pieces of battered fish pieces (frozen, cooked in the oven) with a generous amount of lemon juice, a large salad with tomato, 1/2 avocado, a big (I mean really big) green onion, lettuce, and olive oil.
I still consume the majority of the calories after evening (i.e. starting with dinner). It is good that I am eating some food before dinner now, but eventually I will have to have hearty breakfast and lunch during the day and reduce over-eating in the afternoons/nights.
Exercise: walking only – 30 min in the afternoon
More or less I am keeping up with my new eating strategy, albeit not perfectly. And I guess that is okay too because I do not wish to have a restricted, straining diet that after a while will prompt me to eat more and worse kind of food: my psychology and the long-term sustainability of this eating style are also important. So I am taking it quite easy.
Yesterday – late night snack: I overdid this: around 150 grs of cheese, another bowl of green bean with minced beef meal, and one apple. Sleeping without consuming carbs (such as bread) was, however, not difficult.
Today – breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 cup of coffee with cream and brown sugar. The interesting thing is this: I went to my favorite cafe whose bagels I love. But I did not crave to eat one today, that gave me confidence and a sense of accomplishment 🙂
Late lunch: 1 slice of whole wheat bread, mashed avocado (1/2), and cheese
Afternoon snack: None
Dinner (planned):Â A large salad of tomato, pepper, coriander, and lettuce with olive oil and sunflower seeds. The left over meal from yesterday.
Exercise: 10 min walking in the morning only 😦
Yesterday – late night snack: 1 apple and yogurt. It is quite a success that I did not eat bread (though I was very much tempted to).
Today – breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Lunch: 1 can of sardines, 2 cups of coffee with creamer and brown sugar
Late-afternoon snack: 1 apple
Dinner: tomato, cucumber, and green onion salad with olive oil. Green beans with minced beef and olive oil. No bread (yet).
Exercise: Walking only – 30 min in the afternoon
————————————————
Forgot to write my specific aim yesterday: I would like to lose 25 pounds. I have no time-frame assigned, though I am aware at the beginning the weight loss (mostly water) will be faster than the later days. I am okay with that. I also do not think I will never have bread or other refined carbs – I will. Otherwise I do not think that I can sustain such an eating strategy. Mine is more of a chance to turn the balance from high-carb, limited variety, and irregular eating to balanced, more variety, and regular eating (breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.).
Okay, so today is the first day to start eating a little bit better 🙂
Mainly I am aiming for reducing the carbs (bread, bagel, etc.), eating salad with raw veggies at least once a day, and integrating more protein and veggies into my diet.
Numbers: I am noting my baseline weight and measurements below: I was very hesitant to write these numbers here. But, to honestly record and track my progress, I felt like it was the right thing to do. Also, I agree with Focused on Family that I should be accepting, not ashamed of, my body (if you like to read her wonderful post, please see https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/35588223/795132452).
weight: 210 pounds, shoulders: 111 cm, waist: 98 cm, hips: 122 cm
Healthy eating:
Late breakfast: Bagel and coffee with cream and brown sugar: Instead of two bagels, I have had one bagel this morning (working at home in the last two days prompts me to go to cafe for breakfast – I better go back to my office). While I am not proud of eating bagel (where is the dedication to healthy eating?), I am happy to see that I dropped it from two to one.
Lunch: None
Afternoon snack: None
Dinner: A large green salad with olive oil, 6 pieces of breaded fish pieces (purchased frozen and cooked in the oven) served with lemon juice. I can tell you; that salad was delicious – good job. And as per the fish; it may be frozen and breaded, but I like it, it is protein, and it is easy to prepare. Considering the fish prices here, it is also very affordable. And let’s not forget the most important thing; I had no bread at dinner!!! 🙂
Late-night snack: I am not there yet; but am hoping to have apples or yogurt. That will be the most challenging part for me as I happen to eat carbs to sleep. Will see….
Exercise: Walking only – 10 minutes in the morning and then 30 minutes in the afternoon.
I have known my eating habits for a long time – I know that if I eat regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner and consume food that agrees with my body, I lose weight. I feel more energetic and overall better about myself. Now that I am mid-40s and a couple of years back my doctor had warned me about my high-blood sugar levels, I have no longer have the (silly) option to run away from eating and exercising better and losing weight. Plus, I really want to see myself thinner, like many years ago. It is a good feeling that subsidizes the feeling that comes with aging 🙂
The followings is my primary and abstract plan for eating better; I will adjust and detail it later as I move on with it.
1. Mental work: Yep, I would like to lose weight and it is not gonna happen unless I do something about it. I know the reasons that make me gain weight and overall under-nourish my body. I also understand the very negative consequences of my weight – metabolic syndrome that I possibly have; it can easily turn into diabetes. Who wants this disease? It makes you live less, encourages heart disease and other circulatory problems, kidney problems, and so on. Seriously, do I want to have such a disease? Do I want to have insulin rejections and checks every day and think about the possible consequences in future? NO, NO, NO! (that is pretty scary – perhaps I gotta read more about diabetes so that my mind can get conditioned to take the steps to reduce my diabetes risk…).
2. Shopping: I need to eat a variety of food and also more protein in my diet. Time to start buying different veggies and fruits each week. Also I need more veggies to use in cooking. I should be experimenting with beef and chicken dishes and hopefully cook tasty meals.
3. Cooking inspirations: The timing could not be better; I started sorting out my books to donate. I have a number of cookbooks that I can get inspired from. In addition, there are so many bloggers out there that provide recipes; why not to set time everyday and get ideas? I have already done this this evening; I tried lightly stir-fried kale with garlic, olive oil, and soya sauce. It was practical, tasty, healthy, and did not take more than 10 min to prepare. Way to go. I just need to be resourceful and trying different meals; I know myself if it gets too dry, uninteresting, or routine, I will not want to eat the meal. That is why it is important for me to start experimenting with not only different food and their combinations, but also with different spices, sauces, or cooking methods; re; cooking methods, I hardly use the oven to cook meal. Perhaps it is time for me to start using it. Variety this way will make it interesting for me.
4. Breakfast:Â This is going to be challenging for me, as I do not have an habit of having breakfast at home. But, this does not mean that I can not prepare breakfast food at home and bring to the office. My favorite items on the list will be hard-boiled eggs or chicken/meatball/cheese sandwiches. I think I can do this.
5. Lunch:Â I may either bring in sandwiches or buy soup at the cafeteria. Purchasing lunch may increase my weekly expenses, but I guess it is well worth it (saving from preparation time and the food).
6. Dinners:Â Protein based dinners look like the best for me; something that will not increase my blood sugar right away and keep me feel full longer than carb-based meals. raw salad should also be an integral part of it.
7. Snacks:Â Whenever needed during the day, nuts, dried fruits, apples and other low-GI fruits, cheese sticks, milk, or yogurt (wow – there are so many alternatives; that is pretty good. Looking promising).
8. So what to do when hunger or emotional eating hits? Drink tea, eat fruits or other snacks, go out for a walk, floss and brush your teeth (read that somewhere; obviously gives a mental break and helps with diminished effect of wanting to eat), work with the dumpbells first (1 set of 10 reps of biceps and triceps and see whether the need for hunger subsidized), do a light house chore (clean the dishes, fix the mats, pick up the garbage, replace the hand-soap or the toilet paper, declutter somewhere!!).
9. How to assess and record the efforts, food consumed, and weights lost (if ever)?:Â Keep up the “healthy-life style journal” running everyday. Record foods consumed, and the weight and the dimensions of waist and hips everyday.
So it all starts tomorrow. By writing these I know I am making myself accountable. Oh, I will rant along the way, eat unhealthy food probably, will not have time to shop or cook, or will eat just to forget everything. But I know that at least time to time I will keep up with it and if I see a drop in my weight, that will further motivate for me to continue.
So wish me luck 🙂
The simple truth is that there are so many details that I need to be thinking all at the same time (work, house, my life-style and relationships) that my mind, whether I like it or not, prioritizes to work on specific issues and targets. And you can also relate, since I have a limited capacity of mental work, depth, or hours to focus on things during the day, these two reasons, as expected, factors in delayed tasks and unfixed issues.
Well, while there is nothing much I can do to increase my mental limits or the hours in a day, there is one thing I am capable of doing (at least time to time): it is to focus on one thing, examine and clarify the issue, reflect on ways to tackle it, design a strategy to take steps, and monitor the outcome after each steps. This “plan” is well implemented if it is clear, set, and remembered (sadly if I fail to remember my plan, it is usually one thing that sends all my efforts in to the garbage).
That is why I like to write, draw, flow-chart, or simply discuss with others my plans; it focuses me, helps me to reflect in more detail, clarifies my mind, and most importantly, makes me remember it.
You are probably aware of all of these based on your experience or education; IÂ simply need to write them so that I focus, design, and remember my plan – so bear with me when I tell you the very well-known story of planning.
Anyways, now that I have the motivation to finally take care of the long-waiting issues, namely healthy-eating and exercise, I need not only a plan, but also something that reminds me about them each day. That is why I am opening the “healthy-life style journal” page, where I will record my daily efforts, accomplishments, weight loss (if ever – grrrr), or struggles and frustrations.
So, what is my plan for healthy eating? I have been thinking about the pattern of my diet that I think is useful in designing my new, healthier diet:
1. Canned food: I noticed that I eat too much canned food (canned beans, chickpeas, lentils, and fish). Too much of a something cannot be good (in this case the exposure and possible contamination of the food with the can chemicals). Second, since they present themselves as affordable and easy meals, I prefer them but that also keeps me away from making an effort to cook and eat a variety of foods. So from today on, I implement a shopping freeze for canned food.
2. Wheat-products: I know what does not agree with my body and makes me gain weight or accumulate water in my body: bread, bagel, or any other wheat products that are conveniently sold in cafes or stores. From today on, I eliminate bagels and others from my diet and limit my bread consumption to one bread/week.
3. Cheese: if consumed in small amounts over time, cheese is very likable. Yet, I happen to eat the entire block in two days if I can. Thus, from today on I limit cheese consumption to 50 grs/a day maximum.
4. White rice and pasta: Nope; they make me bloated and eat more and more. I hardly eat both of these, so I am in good track.
5. Sweets: I do not have a sweet-tooth; thus sweets are not a problem for me (the majority of the time).
6. Candy, chocolate, ice cream, soft drinks, chips etc: I am lucky in the sense that I only occasionally consume these.
7. Meat and chicken: I am not a big meat eater; yet I kind of think that the lack of adequate levels of protein food in my diet may be contributing to my weight gain. So, IÂ decided to eat more of these.
8. Veggies and fruits: I usually consume a limited variety of veggies and more so of the fruits; I think I am malnutritioning and thus need to bring in diversity to the food I am having.
9. Eating pattern: I usually do not have breakfast (except the weekends), light or no lunch, and multiple dinners in the evening. It is not surprising that I am having multiple dinners; one of the dietitians had said long time ago that such an eating style would starve the body during the day and prompt the body to eat a lot later to compensate for all the calories that are missed earlier in the day. So, I gotta start having breakfast like any other person, prepare and pack (or buy) my lunch, and bring snacks to my office. I also need to cook at home nutritious meals.
Now, time to plan.
to be continued
Life as I interpret it 