Yesterday ended very badly. Somehow eating some extra carrots after dinner led to a chocolate covered espresso bean fiasco. I'm not sure how eating carrots leads to eating chocolate covered espresso beans, but I think I ate 500 calories worth. But I keep telling myself that is only 1/7th of a pound. It could have been worse. And now the container is low enough that it will noticeable if I eat more, so hopefully that will keep me out of them.

Today is not off to a great start. Just had breakfast and I'm still hungry. Starving really. I don't know why I can't satisfy my hunger but it's really not fun. I'm going to log all my food for the day in a minute and see if I can eat some more. I'm also thinking that I may just put Operation Two Pounds on hold until after my conference. I think maybe trying to lose two pounds and deal with all the last minute conference stress is too much. It is unfortunate though, because I'm going to have a lot more than two pounds to lose once the conference is over.

Barbara Maybe a bit of a gain at the conference will then help you "kick-start" a loss after it's over? Metabolism is a strange beast. You might be so adrenalized by the stress that your body is in overdrive and thus hungry all the time. :dunno:

Or maybe your body thinks it's starving and is not co-operating. Perhaps the addition of a bit of fat/protein to change the way your body is burning the food? :dunno:

Dagmar :yay:

Another hungry day
 

I'm thinking this must be partly psychological on my part. I've got less than two weeks to go til my vacation and my brain :devil: is now instructing my body to self-sabotage by telling it it's hungry.

Either that or the damn aliens got to me ;) and are reprogramming me to gain weight for their interspecies breeding program :p.

I'm starving and it's not nearly close enough to dinner time. I'll be up above my 1400 limit if I eat any snacks now but I don't think I can hold out for another hour. And there's the bedtime snack to factor in too.

I think I'll try a cup of soup thingie - 30 calories - and then I'll go for a walk to the mailbox and back. Hopefully this will hold me til 7 p.m. and dinner.

Dagmar (too chatty today)

Hey Guys,

Had a better day today. Probably a little high in the carb department but it's a start. For all of you having hunger trouble maybe you guys should add an extra protein. A good idea maybe to have a high protein breakfast. I find that this really starts my day off well.

That's all for now.

I eat a pretty high protein breakfast. Every day I eat 1 cup of nonfat yogurt (20g of protein) plus 1/2 cup of high fiber cereal (1.5g protein and 4.5g fiber). Today I also added 1/4 cup egg beaters (6g protein) and 2 slices of Canadian bacon (6g protein). All in, that's almost 34g protein all before lunch, yet I was still hungry. So I don't think protein for breakfast is the problem.

I think the problem might be white potatoes. We've been having this new recipe for dinner--Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary. The recipe called for baking potatoes. Now, normally I sub sweet potatoes for the baking potatoes but I thought that Yukon Golds would taste really good in this recipe. And they do taste good. But I eat white potatoes so rarely these days that I think maybe they are throwing my blood sugar levels off, making me feel hungry. It also could be that TOM is coming up next week (that would certainly explain the weight gain). Plus the stress of the conference next week. Plus I am on a new medication that could be impacting my metabolism.

But I'm feeling much better now. I just got back from working out and it has changed my whole perspective. My eating was a little out of control during the afternoon but I feel like I am back in control now. I think I can bring everything in at 1450 calories for the day. Which is 150 calories higher than where I'd like them to be, but at least it's a maintenance level not a gaining level.

Hey Barbara,

You may also trying sipping on hot water with lemon. It really helps to flush the system. I find it very helpful with water weight during TOM. This is a trick my nutritionist recommended.

Geans--I've tried hot water with lemon and I just can't stomach it. I'm just not a water drinker. It's all I can do to choke down a glass of cold water with lemon every day. I force myself to drink it with lunch; it's sort of reminiscent of when I was a kid and forced to drink milk with dinner. But I drink a lot of fluids during the day, so my system is pretty well flushed and hydrated. I literally have to pee every time I stand up and it is not unusual for me to have to pee several times a night.

Barbara With everything happening in your life right now this sounds like an excellent plan. You are so good at figuring out what's going on with your diet. I hope to get to that point someday.

Dagmar :yay:

Even though its half way through the week already I thought I would add my little bit of planning up to the 7th :)

Aiming to be half a kilo (about 1 pound) down
Keeping calories to between 1200 and 1400 daily
Exercise at least 10 hours over the week

So far can't say with the weight as it has been stubbornly clinging to one number for about a week now...right down to the .whatever lol. My body fat percentage HAS been going down steadily though.

Food wise - average is about 1300 so thats been really good. No complaints there. I haven't been feeling hungry through the day which is great, except of course when I should like lunch and dinner time! I've switched to having an omelette with a piece of wholegrain toast for breakfast and I have noticed it keeps hunger at bay right through to lunch.

Exercise is also on target

I've really kicked myself into gear the last two weeks so I am really really hoping to see some movement on that scale (and NOT up :P) this friday (my weigh in morning)...fingers crossed!

Bleagh - ALC night last night
 

Tried all the tricks to keep away from the kitchen last night but it didn't work.
I'm surprised at all the stuff we have that can wreck a diet. I've been buying all healthy foods but there are still things (maple syrup, raisins, brown sugar, stale Halloween chips :o) left over from BD (before diet).

Back OP today (no way I'm going near the scale) and threw out all of the aforementioned stuff.

Somehow I thought I would get over the old habits with practice. As soon as I sat down in front of the TV (we have cable again) I started snacking. Part of it was that I was too tired to do anything else but I was bored and lonely too. How is it that with so much listed on TV it's still boring as heck?

Dagmar

I have a tendency to want to snack while watching TV too. It's not so much that it's boring--I like the shows that I watch, it's that it doesn't keep me occupied enough. My mind is still able to wander (and when it wanders, it likes to think about food). I also think the food ads and seeing people eat on my shows makes me want to snack. So I keep a stack of magazines and catalogs next to my chair and flip through them while I watch my shows. I look at the catalogs while the shows are on and read the magazines during commercials. If I have clean laundry I fold it while watching TV and I also sometimes pay bills. If I'm doing something else while I'm watching TV (especially something that keeps my hands busy) the urge to snack is much more easily controlled.

I also keep a couple bags of sugar-free candy around and allow myself to suck on up to four pieces while I watch TV (one after the other, not all at once :lol:). And I have one planned snack during TV time that I save calories for.

Hi girls,

I'm finally getting a chance to check in. Yesterday and today weren't nearly as bad for me as Monday as far as HUNGER goes. I am still slacking on the exercise, but I'm doing better with the eating. Today is the only day besides Friday this week where I don't have a gazillion things to do after school; things which have been putting me home around 8 with no exercise (bad, I know).

So, I am going for a walk/run here in a few minutes. I would really love to see the scale say 136.__ anything on my Friday morning weigh in. That will be the lowest I've weighed in a long time.

Kim - good job on hitting your low weight! That must feel so good. Sounds like it's time for you to go shopping (if you haven't already!!

Barbara - Glad to hear you have gotten a handle on your hunger. Interesting detective work about the potatoes and blood sugar levels; it makes very good sense! Are you ready for the conference? I hope it all goes well and that you can have some fun too.

Dagmar -- I do exactly what you are talking about with the self sabotage. If I am rolling along, doing well and feeling good, I have a weird tendency to then GAIN weight before a big event, especially one that I really want to look good for. I have not been able to pinpoint why I do this, but I have done it many times. Maybe you can just focus on maintaining the 133 instead of losing until your trip... like you said, you look great at 133!

Allison - Good for you planning another morning run! I HATE getting up early (I'm a hardcore night owl), and I don't think I could ever run before work (I have to be there at 7:25... ugh!). Maybe you'll get cooler weather soon.

Geans - Way to go sticking to your treadmill run. That would be a bonus if you burned more calories!

I wonder where Nic is? Maybe busy with school... And Susan - she's in Alabama, right?

And welcome to Lyria - you sound like you are really working hard. You look very fit in your avatar. I bet you'll be at goal soon!

Have a good evening, ladies!

Oh, I didn't tell you! I think I have finally convinced DH to run with me!!! I keep dropping hints about his health and well-being. His grandfather had a heart attack at about the age he is now (GF is now mid 80's) and I don't want DH to go the same way. He is so similar to his GF--they both are (were) owners of very successful albeit stressful companies. He keeps telling me about so-and-so who died of this or that or so-and-so who is in the hospital with this or that and I keep saying "that's why you need to exercise more so you get healthy and don't die young." Anyway, his new reasoning why he can't run--"I don't have an iPod." Well, I just told him that I'm no longer using the iPod for running (after about week 5 of the C25K podcast, you get very little verbal encouragement). Lately I've been running my usual 2 miles-ish so I know where to start and stop and I don't need the guy telling me anything. So I told DH that he can use my iPod! He says he'll start Tuesday with me!!

How awesome!!!! I am happy for you both, and I wish mine would do the same.

He is complaining that he is getting 'fat.' He is not at all; he's 6'4" and low 190s, but he is being very stubborn about exercise. He will go on these little spurts (very little... about 3x a year) where he'll go to the gym regularly, and in the summer he'll bike with me, but otherwise, he's pretty stubborn about it. He believes yard work and drumming are GREAT exercise and all he needs. NOT. I just wish I could convince him that walking a few nights a week with me, or going to the gym even 2x a week, would help him a lot. And, of course with his type 1 diabetes, he NEEDS TO EXERCISE! Rant over.

My DH is fat (calls himself the walrus) but I won't post his stats as he'll kill me. He won't even do the drumming and yard work right now. Keeps saying that, when he's out of his current job (end of Oct.), he'll start "to get serious". 4 different gym memberships over the last 5 years - never more than two months. I think he's going to need a serious health problem to actually do something about his body.

And you know what? I've stopped pushing and nagging and dragging myself out for a workout with him that I absolutely don't need. I do take him for a walk (no leash necessary :D) on the weekend and we kayak whenever we can. I can't save him - he has to do that himself. I am setting an example and that's all I can do. I have my own health/sanity to maintain.

Dagmar :yay: