I am going to start this early, so that I am accountable right away today!!!
I have switched to counting calories - I'm shooting for 1600.

8/22
210 - Zone Perfect Bar
130 - Banana
250 - South Beach Turkey bacon wraps (and Jello)
80 - pluot
130 - All bran Bar
480 - chicken ravioli with pesto
200 - 2 breadsticks
0 - spinach salad
20 - parmesan cheese
1500 - TOTAL

15 min walk.

Good for you, Sandi! It's great to see you in this thread. I've just had brekkie so far so I'll add the rest later.

Mon 22/08:

Breakfast: ½ cup Kashi Go Lean, ¼ cup 0% milk.
**Edit**
Lunch: 3½ oz chicken, spinach salad with mushrooms, red pepper, tomato, & ½ egg, 1 tblsp. LF dressing
Dinner: 6" Subway Club on wheat with FF honey mustard sauce.
Snacks: 43 g packet Dutch Crunch Kettle Chips, ½ packet some snacky thing (185 kcals), 2 small digestives.
Drinks: 1½ litres coffee, 2½ litres water, 355 ml tin diet Pepsi.

Total kcals: 1316

Exercise: 3 miles WATP.

Sandi, darlin'! So glad to see another one return to our little flock - welcome back and let's stick with this to the end!

Thanks for starting the thread, Ali. I'm up to my ears here!

Yay Sandi!! It's so good to see you posting here! Maybe now that things are settleing down a bit, you'll feel free to really focus again. You can do it sweetie, just stick with it!

Beverly

WB Sandi.

Well I had planned on having soup and sandwich for lunch but I've been having bad "vibes" with the job so I decided instead to go ahead and eat out with my two coworkers to see if I was just being paranoid or if there was truth to it. Turns out I'm just hormonal but I'll take my extra gazillion calories I had today with Mexican food over still feeling like I was unloved and trying to be shoved out the door at work any day.

Here goes.
B-egg/egg white omelet w/green pepper and muenster cheese
MS--the zone lemon bar
L--salsa, chips, chicken tostadas, sour cream sauce, beans, rice
AS--none too full from lunch
Props. dinner--tuna helper w/mixed veggies and sugar free jello for sweets
Calories: 1961 but it is probably higher since I don't know the exact values of the food.

I walked 1 mile WATP this morning. Depending on my energy will try and walk more this evening and am planning for 1.5 miles in the morning.

August 22, 2205
B: peanut butter sandwich
L: jr. whopper (no mayo, no cheese)
D: whole wheat pasta with marinara and a sprinkle of grated parmesan; 1 slice mozzarella garlic bread; huge garden salad with cheese, fat free croutons and calorie free ranch
S: 14 chocolate graham sticks; 1 oz string cheese
Beverages: 10 oz soymilk; 70 oz water; 20 oz diet mt. dew; 20 oz diet coke
*****Total Calories=2339*****
(Man, who'd have though a jr whopper with no cheese or mayo would be 390 calories! WOW)
Exercise: 1 hour Tae Kwon Do class

I have a bowl of peaches and cream oatmeal in the morning with a cup of green tea. (110 calories), a glass of water between breakfast and lunch, a cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch with a cup of green tea (approximately 210 calories), a glass of water between lunch and dinner, and for dinner, a lean tv dinner of pasta and a cup of green tea (approximately 270 calories). I drink a glass of water during the evening and usually snack on some fruit or cheese rice cakes and I have a glass of green tea just before bed.

I SHOULD ADD THAT THIS IS NOT GOING ALONG WITH MY ORIGINAL PLAN. THIS IS AN ACTUAL DIET I'VE BEEN TRYING THE LAST COUPLE DAYS. I'M GOING TO TRY IT FOR ANOTHER WEEK AND SEE IF IT WORKS FOR ME. IF I START FEELING HUNGRY, I AM GOING TO GO BACK TO MY CUTTING PORTIONS OF REGULAR FOOD AND TRYING TO SUBSTITUTE HEALTHY THINGS BEFORE I BINGE AND PIG OUT!

Welcome to the new posters (and old posters returning! ).

I KNOW I won't post tomorrow - it's my daughter's 4th birthday and it's going to be a CRAZY day! We are serving dinner - I'm making everything and it's all good and yummy - I probably won't be able to count calories per se (but I'll try). Mostly I'm aiming for just NOT overeating!! Honestly, though, I'll be so busy that it probably won't be a factor.

Monday:

Breakfast: Kashi & 1% milk
Lunch: Granola bar, grapes
Dinner: Chuck E Cheese: Pepperoni & mushroom pizza, salad (lettuce, egg, cheese, carrot, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, lite ranch), 32 oz cola
Snacks: sunflower seeds, cheese
Drinks: (cola above), water

Cal: Around 2,000 (not sure about parts of the salad, but I think I'm pretty close)

Exercise: 3 hours at Chuck E. Cheese plus 3-4 hours of cleaning and cooking for tomorrow

Hey y'all...I'm back. Obviously, I've been gone because I've been BAD! :0 I will spare you some of the details because I don't remember them myself, but here's a brief account of yesterday:

breakfast - 2 slices of wheat toast with 2 tbsp sugar-free peanut butter, 2 string cheese sticks

lunch - South Beach pork with pecans (it's my favorite!)

Dinner - 2 slices of wheat toast with 2 tbsp sugar-free peanut butter, 2 string cheese sticks, a tomato, a fat-free jello snack

Then it gets hairy. After I came home from my first night of master's classes, I ate a cup of shredded pork bbq, 1/2 potato salad, the rest of a bag of Tostitos, and about half a bag of Ruffles. Then I finished off the half of a half-gallon of strawberry ice cream in the freezer. (At least it was "light" ice cream! )

Really, though, it's not funny. Binge eating is how my eating disorder manifests itself. I give myself a little leeway when it comes to PMS (which is what threw me off the wagon last week), but it's no longer PMS time. I think I am worried about my master's degree pursuits. All students in the degree program I'm in are admitted "conditional," which means that in order to stay in the program I have to have a 3.3 GPA after the first nine hours. That's two B's and an A - which I'm perfectly capable of doing - but I am worried that I will end up stressed out and burned out. And then, of course, there's that little guy who lives in my head who tells me that I'm never good enough or smart enough and that I've been lucky enough thus far to be able to fool everyone into thinking that I am good enough and smart enough, but it's gonna come crashing down on me someday. (Think "The Wizard of Oz"..."Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!")

If I would just lean on my faith to get through this instead of trying to handle it all by myself, I know I would be fine. I've been "dealing" with it by myself for so long, though, that it's hard to give it up to God.

Meanwhile, all this crappy eating has left me feeling like - surprise! - crap. My stomach is constantly sour and my face is greasy and I am sluggish and dull. I am also now only two pounds lower than my all-time highest of 242.5.

Today, I concentrate on paying attention to my TRUE hunger (i.e., growling tummy) and eat when I'm HUNGRY.

Forgot to post yesterday, but I went way off-plan thank you to stress and hormones--stress should be soothed today after receiving a phone call around 10-11am...

Yesterday:

• 2.5 turkey sausage links
• pineapple chunks
• salad w/honey mustard dressing
• entirely too many low-fat cinnamon graham crackers w/low-fat butter
• a million pistachios
• half a thing of pistachio ice cream

Today (and I have to work both jobs, so no time to eat anything off-plan!):

• slice of ham and pineapple chunks
• 1 turkey sausage link
• salad w/honey mustard dressing
• strawberries & cream instant oatmeal (low-fat, low-sugar, made with water instead of milk)

Welcome back Sandi!

Here's my food from yesterday...not the greatest food day, but I did manage to stay somewhat on program, at least within my points.

2 - coffee
1 - egg whites
5 - zone bar (ran out of Luna bars)
1 - 1 pt cake
5 - zone bar
6 - grilled chicken
5 - french fries
25 points

Tonight, I'll practice yoga in Breast Cancer Survivor class, no I'm not a survivor, but I know the teacher from my Intro class and she told me I could join them. I did last week, it's a small group, so we each get alot of attention and it's a very positive, supportive atmosphere.

Have a great day everyone!

Wow, Venus, by my reckoning that's less than 800 calories. I hope that's not a typical menu on this diet of yours. That's a very restricted diet, and in some people it can make your body think it's starving -- thereby making it hold onto fat for the famine it senses.

I don't want to tell you what diet to follow. Just be careful, okay? Quick results are not worth messing up your metabolism for.

Jennelle, I can totally sympathize with you. I eat to deal with stress, too, and have been known to eat an entire box of Cheez-its at a sitting. With slices of cheddar cheese. In looking at your dinner that night, it seems pretty light on "satisfaction" value. PB toast and cheese feels more like "lunch" or "diet" food to me. Maybe on your school nights you may want to try something that feels more like "dinner". I know that often makes me feel fuller, and I'm less likely to pig out if I can tell myself "stop that! You aren't hungry, you already had a nice dinner". I also find that if I wait until the "growling tummy" stage, I'm more likely to binge by eating whatver I can find as quickly as I can. If I make myself eat at the beginning edge of hunger, I can control it a little better, and make healthier choices.

Here's mine for yesterday. I've been creeping up in calories the past week or so, and it's showing. So I'm working my way back down to 1500-1800 a day again.

MONDAY

Breakfast:
walnuts (pre-commute)
yogurt
plum

Lunch:
taco-less salad: seasoned diced chicken breast, salsa, lettuce, a few black beans, cheese, sour cream
okra w/tomatoes
green beans

Afternoon snack to keep the Beast at bay:
protein shake: milk, fruit, protein powder

Dinner:
zuchini casserole

Snacks throughout the day:
mozzarella cheese stick

Drinks:
water
coffee w/flavored creamer
diet soda

Calories:
about 1400

Exercise:
walking, stairs, gardening

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. It's good to be back and on plan.

Dawnyal - I think you have it right by walking in the am. My plan is to Walk in the evening with Jacob, but to be honest it's more like a stroll and I stopped to talk to new neighbors and stuff and that would be great if I had already done some structured exercise in the am. I already get up at 5:00 am - I guess I'll see what 4:30 am feels like.

Jennelle - I know what emotion triggered the binge, but what food fueled it? There are some foods I can't even have 1 of, because it triggers me to binge and I just eat mindlessly. It also doesn't seem like you had eaten all that much all day - and then a light dinner. Do you think some healthy snacks might have helped?

8/23/05
210 - Mint Zone Perfect Bar
130 - Banana
120 - Pretzels (they were SUPPOSED to be my afternoon snack!!)
350 - Lean Cuisine Pizza
130 - All Bran Bar
420 - 2 Tacos
150 - 3/4 cup rice
100 - FF Pudding
1610 - TOTAL

No Exercise

Jennelle--I can see where you would get stressed with all that. I'm with sandi and maybe plan a couple of extra snacks in there.

Synger--that zucchini casserole sounds delicious.Care to share the recipe?

today is a better day for me. I started it off with a 1.5 WATP walk.
Here's my eats and proposed eats
B- egg/eggwhite omelet, 4 oz. unsweet OJ
MS-100 c. bag popcorn
L-Chunky soup and toast
AS-sugar free jello
D-TBD. It's jeff's night to cook so as soon as he tells me what we're having, I'll enter it.
Calories without dinner: 675

*chuckles* The zucchinis have taken over my garden, so I've been eating it every which way. Zucchini soup, with tomatoes, pureed. Sauteed with onions and mushrooms. Marinated in vinagrette and grilled. Cooked up with tomatoes and eggplant into a low-fat ratatoille. Made into pancakes -- like potato pancakes, only with zucchini. Shredded and added to muffins.

This casserole is from the Joy of Cooking. It's kinda like a crustless quiche. I don't have the exact recipe handy, but it's fairly simple.

Shred a couple of zucchini. Set in a colander, sprinkle with salt, weigh it down and let it weep for half an hour. Meanwhile, saute onions and mushrooms in a little fat to slowly develop the flavors. Rinse zucchini and squeeze out as much moisture as you can (it's an annoying step, but if you don't the batter will be much too moist). Grate up a potato.

Throw all the veggies into a bowl. Add a couple of eggs (the recipe called for three, but I think I'd use two next time) and half a cup of shredded cheese (I used a 2% sharp cheese for maximum flavor). Add some hot sauce, or just black pepper. Herbs if you want them. Mix it all up (I used my hands. Gem thought it was great fun). Pour it into a greased casserole (I used Pam spray). Top with another half cup of cheese. Bake at 350 for an hour until set. Let cool 30 minutes before serving.

It's a great vegetarian luncheon, or a nice veggie/egg breakfast. I really have no clue about the calories, as Fitday only has a zucchini with cheese casserole at 200 calories a cup, which seems a little high for what I put into it. The egg and cheese are the main calorie culprits. It's not really a "cheese sauce".

It's very tasty, and gives me another way to eat my zucchini.