Monday
Feeling well-rested after yesterday's hike.
B vanilla shake, coconut milk, coffee; bacon, cheddar egg muffin
L salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal dressing
D grilled chicken, Brussel's sprouts
S think thin bar

Calories 1002 Net carbs 35 steps 4703 miles 1.7

Hi Sundove! I hear you on the bread and starch! It’s good to know what we get energy from. When I was eating wheat, it did give me a mood boost, but also it often made me feel sleepy. Not being a big fruit person probably helps you make smart choices. I am also not a big fruit person. I would rather eat veggies over fruit. Green mango and green banana are sustainable starches, so I do feel comfortable eating those in the morning. Berries are my other go to fruit in the morning. It sounds like you really have planned out your WOE. I am enjoying reading your menus too! I love how organized you are! Kudos to you!

You are right about the conditioning in the beginning of PP. I took it very slow and did not jump in cold turkey. I did Atkins a long time ago and I cannot easily forget how bad I felt on that diet. Low carbs or no carbs are not for me! Ever since that experiment, I am cautious when starting a new life plan. So I eased into this one. It took me about two weeks to fully switch over my eating and get used to shopping differently. I took my time getting off of wheat. I did it over a two week period. I went down to one serving a day until I was not eating any bread by the end of the second week. In this way the withdrawal from wheat was minimal. I probably had four days in which I felt symptoms, and they were extremely mild, a mild headache one day, leg cramps another, crankiness for a couple days. I took magnesium potassium aspartate for the leg cramps for maybe a week or two, then left off with it. The magnesium interestingly also helped my mood. Ha, ha! After that I felt really good. My weight came off by 2 to 3 pounds a week in the first few weeks and now it’s slowed down to about 1 to 2 pounds a week, but still going. It's nice to feel the weight loss when I get up in the morning.

I know you are busy! I’m sorry for these long discussions! Keep up the fight! Keep up the good work!

Have a lovely day!

Hi Magistra! Nothing to apologize about--I really appreciate your comments I'm surprised to read about your adjustment to the diet because it sounds like adjusting to low carb, and I hadn't thought of your WOE as low carb. Mostly I'm thinking when I read it that it sounds delicious, haha, and satisfying. I'm thinking dates might be a good carb for me. I avoid wheat, except the indulgence days. I don't feel well when I eat a lot of fat, and some fats upset my system even in small amounts: avocado oil, butter, cream. I'm looking forward to phasing off my packaged diet in Sept and your WOE is on my radar. I do best when I have have few decisions to make about what to eat, and when my food is "good but not too good."

PS Your account of swimming & saving the bee was as lovely to read as your menus.

Tues
B 160 vanilla shake, coffee, bacon, cheddar, egg muffin
L 161 salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal italian vinaigrette
L 130 broccoli cheese soup
D 349 grilled chicken, Brussel's sprouts
S 222 bbq soynuts, cabbage, chicken

calories 1022 net carbs 29 steps 4256 miles 1.6
postponing WI until later in week but heartened by looser pants & top this morning.

Wed
B 180 vanilla shake/coffee, egg, bacon, cheddar muffin
L 161 salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal Italian vinaigrette
L 130 broccoli cheese soup
D 403 grilled chicken, cabbage steak
S 271 protein bar, bbq soynuts, cherry tomatoes

cals 1095 net carbs 40 steps 3426 mi 1.4

The last 2 nights have included eating extra food. Yesterday I felt exhausted and hungry. Today I feel energized. NSV is I don't need to suck in my abdomen to zip up my pants--pretty flat all on its own. Perfect timing for a motivation boost!

B 75 coffee, coconut milk, vanilla shake
L 291 egg, bacon, cheddar muffins, salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal Italian dressing
D grilled chicken, braised broccoli
S 190 protein bar

Yesterday got off to a good start but ended up being very trying. At one point I was thinking wistfully of my go-to comfort foods, the ones when I am in the specific difficult situation in which I found myself. For the first time, I realized I preferred to be clear & present for whatever came up instead of anesthetizing myself with rich food. It was an epiphany. But by the end of the day, at home, I over ate a lot of food on my plan. Calories were probably about 2000.

Today
B 100 vanilla shake, coffee

Yesterday got off to a good start but ended up being very trying. At one point I was thinking wistfully of my go-to comfort foods, the ones when I am in the specific difficult situation in which I found myself. For the first time, I realized I preferred to be clear & present for whatever came up instead of anesthetizing myself with rich food. It was an epiphany. But by the end of the day, at home, I over ate a lot of on-plan food. Calories were probably about 2000.

Today
B 100 vanilla shake, coffee
L 251 leek soup, salad, HB egg, avo oil, 0-cal Italian dsg
S 400 Costco samples Whoops!
D 382 chicken

cals 1142 net carbs 50 steps 5916 mi 2

Sat
B 216 coffee/vanilla shake; tomato mushroom egg scramble
L 411 grilled chicken, salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal italian dsg
D 169 leek soup, broccoli, mushrooms
S 1091 vanilla shake/coffee, low carb ice cream


Plan for the day: exercise video

Saturday reflections. I weighed today and am in the same place as 10 days ago. I think it's artifact, as my body is clearly smaller. My friendly scale has given me a good reality check. I have been veering off lately. On one hand, it's been good to loosen things up and avoid boredom, deprivation, my low-carb issues. All of those objectives are met and I want to recommit to a more structured WOE for a while and work harder to separate food from emotion. I am pleased that, when I have turned to food for non-fuel reasons, it has mostly been on plan food. That's real progress.

I have about 25 lbs to go to get to my favorite size & clothes.

Today will be an off plan, but not crazy-eating day. I have a luncheon and if I try to be strict at social things, I boomerang. I will need to get right back to the stricter plan tomorrow, as I've been lax this past week. I will account today, but it's tedious to assign calories to restaurant food. I'll make my best guestimate at the end of the day.
B coffee, shake, store bought egg dish with salsa, cheese & breakfast potatoes.

L
D
S

Weekend was the good the bad & the ugly. I did not do the exercise video and ate too much yesterday. The good included a lot of walking & what I overate was on plan food. I learned that I will do better avoiding low carb ice cream--it seems to throw me off kilter and stoke cravings.

Monday
B 145 bacon, cheddar, egg muffins, coconut/protein shake in coffee
L 157 salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal italian dsg
L 130 broccoli cheese soup
D 340 grilled chicken, broccoli
S 293 BBQ soy nuts, egg white omelet w/ cabbage
Off the rails additions after work, many calories

Uh-oh a day in food wilderness. I'm not sure what's going on but I think it was anxiety--about the news, about some positive feedback (go figure), food boredom. The mornings are noticeably darker now and that tends to kick up my carb cravings. I am looking forward to getting off the packaged diet foods--might be time to stop and save the remainder for another time.

Tues
slept soundly, the sleep of the carb-loaded.
B vanilla shake/coffee
L salad, HB egg, evoo, 0-cal Italian dressing
L broccoli cheese soup
D grilled chicken, broccoli
S BBQ soy nuts, omelet with cauliflower

Wed
I have had a run of off-plan days. Today I am working my back, in the usual way. First withdraw from fast carbs (sweets & bread). Then ratchet down the calories. It may be time to add more healthy carbs into my plan, but first I need to get back on the wagon. There have been unexpected treats at work, and some stress-related forays into food. The things is, I turn to food even when something good happens. I think food is my drug of choice for smoothing out my emotional state.

B omelet at work cafeteria with egg mixture, sausage, bell peppers, spinach, salsa, some sort of cooking oil.
S BBQ soy buts
L Asian slaw with peanuts,, broccoli w cheese, avocado slice, 1 new potato, rotisserie chicken from hot food bar

Lol!

Sunday
I have met the enemy & it is me, haha. I have hit a wall of feeling unmotivated and deprived. I am not succeeding at white-knuckling it so far--my diet food that I love is suddenly unappealing. I have gone off the rails every day for one reason or another. and included sweets. I am keeping my plan to get over the sweet craving--no sugar no flour, eventually it will stick. I want to work out a sustainable WOE for now that I can live with.
Tomorrow will be
B frittata cheddar & veggies, coffee/lightener
L salad, HB egg, sunflower seeds, soup
D chicken, broccoli
S dates, figs