Chunkahlunkah Just saw your post when I entered mine. back later--lots to say. Re MFP, I had that same issue--and i cooked chicken so many different ways I would get obsessed with MFP searches. I finally found a 'cooked chicken breast' on there after much searching. imo If you have a some extra calories from protein, I doubt it will interfere with weight loss.
Sundove - Thank you for the MFP reminder! I used to be careful about always weighing meat raw and using that entry. (I trust its precision more than searching for a cooked one, and often I haven't been able to find one labeled as cooked.) I took a tracking break though, and when I returned to it, I'd completely neglected weighing meat raw. So you're right--I had more protein than I'd thought! And calories lol. Over the past month, I've been eating a lot of fish. That I have been weighing raw, but I've also been eating a lot of chicken, and I've only been weighing that after it's been cooked. I also ate a lamb chop the other day and weighed it as cooked. Thank you so much! I went back to yesterday's diary entry and added 20% (as a rough estimate) to my chicken serving. Going forward, I'll try to measure raw as much as possible.
Oh good--you're welcome! I'm glad that helped! I just logged back onto MFP today after a long break. It was making me nuts. But I love looking things up and using it to plan my food. I tend to get obsessive with the calorie tracking and eventually rebel. But it does get me into the accountability zone.
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Originally Posted by Chunkahlunkah
I think I struggle to get my protein high because I'm not a consistent meat eater. I was a pescatarian for about 6 years. During that time, I'd sometimes eat "sea meat" up to 3 or 4 times a week but, more often, I'd eat vegetarian for weeks at a time. Although I've been eating meat again for years now, that eating style lingers. It's been my norm to have meat only once a day (often not at all), and my other protein comes from dairy, beans, and nuts. They're decent sources, but only Greek yogurt really rivals the protein bang you get from meat for the calorie buck. I don't think I'll be able to sustain 90+ grams long-term. I'll stick with it for all of July. After that, I'll probably need a daily protein shake to even break 80 grams consistently, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about consuming so many shakes. For my shakes, I really like Blueblonnet. Quality ingredients and it dissolves very well, even in just a shaker cup. Their chocolate has sucralose. For my next order, I've chosen plain and will add my own chocolate. I don't like that sucralose taste.
Your WOE sounds very healthy, imo. I've been assured over & over by vegetarians that it is easy to get enough protein without meat/eggs/dairy. In my early 20s, everyone around me was vegetarian (lacto/ovo). We couldn't afford meat and cheap organic produce was readily available. I noticed when I didn't eat meat that i din't need to use deodorant. (honest!) It makes me think that's a good way to go-cleaner, somehow.
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Originally Posted by Chunkahlunkah
I'm swooning over your mind! I love that you value education so highly! What incredible studies you've already engaged in and your current/future interests are fascinating. It's so cool seeing interests and talents manifest in different ways over the years, with your bio and language backgrounds finding expression in evolutionary bio and Native American languages. If you ever feel in the mood to muse on those subjects here, please do. I know nothing about any of that and would eat it right up!
My strong instinct is to shrink in my seat and brush away your awe comment, but I've been working on taking a compliment with grace (for about a decade now, slow learner ), so I will instead say, thank you!
You are welcome. I remember when you reported here that were starting your PhD program, so the awe has been there a while It's good to cultivate that skill of accepting a compliment. I have that discomfort too, and also have a hard time accepting gifts with grace. Even slow progress is progress!
Speaking of compliments, thank-you. Yes I like my mind, it's fun to be curious, isn't it I'll gladly tell you about my interests (be careful what you wish for I hope you'll do the same. What areas of English and Philosophy interest you? I think I recall your graduate program is English Lit.? Do you choose your program by genre? Author, etc? Is it something you like to talk about, or the opposite?
I'm a little work-fried, and so far I've deleted what I wrote. It was all so clear when I was thinking about it on the way to work! Do you have a time of day when you are sharpest? I feel that my mind more & more goes into sleep mode in the evening as I age, though I love to read at night. But writing is a morning task for this 17-24 yr old-mind-in-the-body-of-a 65-yr-old.
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Originally Posted by Chunkahlunkah
Oh, that reminds me, what I've found most different between college and the graduate programs I've done (before this was law, that's a whole other story! ) is the time demand. In college, my classes were reading and writing heavy (English and philosophy dbl major), and typically required 3-5 hours of homework per class per week, with significantly more when a paper was due. Not bad at all. I'm guessing science had a higher time demand with all those labs! Grad school, ime, is typically 10 hours of hw per class per week. So with papers and projects (plus class time, teaching, meetings, etc), it easily adds up to 50-75 hour weeks. It could be less if I skimmed and slacked more with my coursework, and I'm aiming to do that for my final 2 years of coursework. I think I could make things easier on myself than I have been.
I never realized you could quantify the time per course--that makes a lot of sense to structure your studying. It sounds like a marathon--mentally and physically both. Good that you are strategizing when to ease off a little, and also that you are having this break now.
Fri
B coffee, half/half with protein shake, protein bar
L salad with chicken breast
D turkey chili
S cucumbers, pickle, coffee with my lightener concotion, cabbage steaks.
Goal for today: 1. drink 2 L water 2. no night time snacking
Goal 1 is met, 2L water, Goal 2 is in progress.
Exercise 4,000 steps, usual back exercises. They are helping my back and I can feel strength coming back in my quads.
Still moody--I'm taking it was as a positive sign for being on the right track with food.
Sundove - Thanks to you and the additional protein in my chicken , yesterday I had room in my day for something less protein-heavy that I love--natural almond butter. Mmm, hadn't been able to fit that in for a few weeks.
I've noticed the same thing about less/no meat and no deodorant. I personally would find it hard to get enough protein w/o meat, eggs, dairy. It could probably easily be done if I gave more soy products a try, but I've never gone that route. And don't really want to. Stuck in my ways, I guess. I'm also a little scared of soy (though I eat it in so many products), even though I've read that sources like tempeh aren't a problem at all. I've done a few practice runs on MFP for what my food budget will allow when I'm back in school next month. I'm spending a disproportionate amount of my stipend and scholarship on rent bc I wanted a nice place that's a short walk to campus. That doesn't leave me as much for food as I'd like, but I'll make do. Food and travel are the only areas of my life where I'd really love to go hog wild with spending.
I'll PM you soon about my program, thank you for asking!
Oh, I hate the accidental deleting! That's happened to me here a few times. I tell myself it's lesson in impermanence but rly it's just frustrating. I completely hear you on being work fried! I also write best in the morning. I don't know if that's innate, or if I conditioned myself into that during undergrad. My practice then was to wake up at 5 am on the morning a paper was due, have some tea or coffee, and keep writing until I was done. Although my papers since then aren't typically 1 day projects like that, I still work on them more often in long spurts beginning in the wee hours. I like to write before my mind's noticed anything else that day other than my project. I find it easiest to focus like that.
A marathon is definitely an apt metaphor! I have to remind myself to stop sprinting during parts of it.
Chunkahlunkah Yay on the protein! Great that you have arranged to live close to campus---I place commute time right up in the top quality of life indicators. It sounds nice to live in a comfortable place & get creative with food. Housing is sure expensive nowadays.
I too avoid soy. It's a shame because Tofu is such good protein: non-animal, and easy to use in so many recipes. My goose is cooked on that score because I have consumed a ton of it. Where I live, there is a wonderful brand called HODO. It is organic & non GMO, and no additives. I can eat a whole package of it, just plain. What made you decided to avoid it, and do you know why Tempeh is considered ok? I work with kidney stone researchers and one of the prevention guidelines is to avoid large portions of animal protein at any one meal. I don't have stone disease, but I think less carnivory is in the cards for me for a lot of reasons.
First, I wil happily report that I did not succumb to evening grazing yesterday--yay!!! It wasn't hard because I got busy in a project. It's amazing how much I think I'm hungry when I'm actually just idle, maybe bored. Note to self....
B coffee, half/half protein shake, HB egg, cabbage steak, pickle L cabbage steak, protein bar S protein bar, Costco snacks--~TBS nuts, 4 bite-sized pieces pieces of sausage; a bite of
cheese/turkey roll up. D chicken breast, stir-fried cabbage, garlic coco aminos, sesame oil S HB egg
Water-- 1 L
Exercise Project has occupied me most of the day--engaging for the mind but not the body. I'm glad I didn't spend the whole day fighting the urge to snack, and I avoided parking right by the doors of stores. A good day so far.
Sun
B will be in a restaurant. Probably an omelet. I'm committed to sticking to my low carb plan. I'll see if there are subs for the sides, or may have a bite & leave the rest. I don't want to call attention to my diet. Some friends don't care but this one will then bother about her own, and I just don't feel like going there. I am dieting incognito I ate a large serving of breakfast potatoes along with a fluffy sausage omelet, no cheese. It was baked like a soufflee & I could not taste any oil. Hence, I didn't think the omelet would hold me & the potatoes were really good. Although I'm doing low carb, I know that these detours will help prevent the side effects I get from strict low carb, like sleep disruption, dry eye, & moodiness. I ate the entire portion and then felt a little overfull. I would like to better recognize when I've had enough. We went for a walk afterward.
L will be protein bar because it will be a hot day, away from home, and won't need much after big breakfast. The protein bars are handy. Yesterday I had a stomach ache all day-, blamed the 2 bars I ate. Today I'll see if they are the culprit or not. One bar is better than 2!
D A big salad with chicken. I love lettuce-based salads--the day doesn't feel right if I don't have a big salad. It's hot today so I'll skip the planned broccoli. I need to include more dark green vegs.
S TJoe's samples: 1" square of brioche with jam, 2 veg puffs with humus.
Considering what I was thinking of doing--"I already had carbs, may as well have a lot more"-- these samples were were mere blips.
W not much
Movement back stretches and 7895 steps yay, this was not incidental as part of the work/errands. It was intentional exercise
Yay, I get so excited Sundove when you hit your no nighttime snacking goal! That's a hard habit to break, so I'm always rooting for you when you mention that.
Soy...I'm probably just going by mass hysteria and unwarranted fear. You hear in the news about how soy products aren't good bc they increase the chance of breast cancer. I'd read at Dr. Mercola's site (totally reputable, yeah? ) that fermented soy products like tempeh pose less of a risk than the unfermented kind. (I don't recall if he was specifically talking about breast cancer or if it was just less bad in general that way.) Idk if there's any truth to any of that. If I were to eat more soy, I'd want to only get organic. The only soy that I really like a lot is edamame. I eat it infrequently rather than making it a staple bc I just can't shake the fear that it might be bad. Guide me with your science.
Last edited by Chunkahlunkah; 07-08-2018 at 04:32 PM.
Hi Sundove, great job on your steps yesterday! Have you noticed if extra steps invigorate you? Btw, what's the exercise project you mentioned on 7/7? I'm glad the one protein bar didn't result in a stomach ache.
Yesterday I chose to indulge in some Haagen-Dazs while with my family. It was delicious (obviously ), and I stayed in my calorie goal. But bc I spent so many calories on that, I didn't have enough left for protein.
Chunkah Firstly, your comments re soy pretty much reflect my knowledge & thoughts on the subject. I remeber reading something credible that made me decide to lay off soy, but i've eaten so much already. I'll try to find whatever source I read. Yeah, it wasn't Mercola
Re Haagen-Dazs yum! Glad you enjoyed it and bravo for staying in your calories goal. In the big picture, the blips don't amount to much. (Note to self: It's only when they creep in and take over).
Yes yes yes the baby steps of exercise are invigorating. Amazingly so. It's counter-intuitive to me that I become more fatigued by being sedentary and more energized by moving. As a result of the exercise and healthier food, I'm using better posture and remembering to engage my core muscles when I'm out and about.
The project I mentioned was a computer project for work, a teaching guide. After I spent hours and hours on it, I decided to start over
Monday
B coffee, lightener concoction, just one cup instead of usual 2. Instead, 2 slices of deli turkey. A lot of cooking prep for the week and I tasted enough to constitute a light breakfast.
S steamed broccoli
L salad, vegggies, chicken breast, evoo/coco aminos
D turkey chili --ground turkey, onion, bell pepper, diced carrots, Hannah yam, La Victoria thick & chunky salsa.
S I was so busy today that wasn't hungry!
Water 1 liter--forgot my water bottle.
Movement 6016 steps, will add some stretches.
Whatever the scale says, my body is experiencing a whoosh. My face is thinner, clothes a little bit roomier. I never thought I'd be so happy to see wrinkles re-emerging.
I used to be careful about always weighing meat raw and using that entry. (I trust its precision more than searching for a cooked one, and often I haven't been able to find one labeled as cooked.) I took a tracking break though, and when I returned to it, I'd completely neglected weighing meat raw. So you're right--I had more protein than I'd thought! 
And calories lol. Over the past month, I've been eating a lot of fish. That I have been weighing raw, but I've also been eating a lot of chicken, and I've only been weighing that after it's been cooked. I also ate a lamb chop the other day and weighed it as cooked. Thank you so much! I went back to yesterday's diary entry and added 20% (as a rough estimate) to my chicken serving. 
up to 3 or 4 times a week but, more often, I'd eat vegetarian for weeks at a time. Although I've been eating meat again for years now, that eating style lingers. It's been my norm to have meat only once a day (often not at all), and my other protein comes from dairy, beans, and nuts. They're decent sources, but only Greek yogurt really rivals the protein bang you get from meat for the calorie buck. I don't think I'll be able to sustain 90+ grams long-term. 
I'll stick with it for all of July. After that, I'll probably need a daily protein shake to even break 80 grams consistently, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about consuming so many shakes. For my shakes, I really like Blueblonnet. Quality ingredients and it dissolves very well, even in just a shaker cup. Their chocolate has sucralose. For my next order, I've chosen plain and will add my own chocolate. I don't like that sucralose taste.
), so I will instead say, thank you! 
That's a hard habit to break, so I'm always rooting for you when you mention that.
Chunkah Firstly, your comments re soy pretty much reflect my knowledge & thoughts on the subject. I remeber reading something credible that made me decide to lay off soy, but i've eaten so much already. I'll try to find whatever source I read. Yeah, it wasn't Mercola 