Clean eating and regular training

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:41 pm

First week progress (days 1-7)

I mostly succeeded in restriction of sweet processed products and oil, moved to healthier food and as a result my weight today in the morning was 106 kg. It was plateaued on 107-108 kg for 6 weeks before.

I did 3 runs, 2 strength traning sessions and walked a lot.

My motivation for continuing is very high, I don't feel myself deprived of anything, well nourished and rested.

Day 8 - failed

Breakfast: oats, raisins
Lunch, Dinner (not home): a lot of oven roasted potatoes with oil, several pieces of cake, candies, 3 apples.

Activities:

Walking: 60 minutes
Running: long run 102 minutes, 15 km in winter forest through snow.

Fail happened because of bad planning. A friend of mine asked me to accompany him in the long run to snowy winter forest, there're a few days of winter left with negative celsius weather and good snow. It will be a dirty mess soon. I didn't do such long runs for a few weeks, so at the end I almost hit the wall. We started from not far to my parents' house, not my place. So I decided to make a visit after a run. And right at this moment there were guests, a lot of food and sweets. I was super hungry, tired and thirsty after the run, so my body and brain just wanted me to get something without meat or milk in it. I ate a lot. But the good thing is that during the run I burned a lot of energy too. :)

Conclusion: be prepared, think ahead. In this situation, I could drink several glass of water, eat few pieces of bread and fruits while cooking a lot of pasta without oil.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:12 pm

Day 9 - failed

Breakfast and lunch: a large bowl of oats soaked in apple juice with raisins
Dinner (not home): sweets, sugar, a lot of bread, buckwheat with fried mushrooms, onions, carrots, + later more buckwheat, steamed cabbage and carrot.

Walking: 90 minutes

I didn't recover fully from yesterday and was super tired mentally and physically. Went in the evening to parents to help with some household stuff and couldn't resist all food that was available. Tomorrow I think I'll be better and will return on track.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby Ruff » Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:52 pm

Konstantin, don’t beat yourself up over those ‘failures ‘. You are new to this and it takes time. How long would you train for a marathon? And would everything go according to plan during that time? But you would learn and adapt, learn and adapt during that time!

So, you seem to be keeping vegan? Many of us sigh and ‘well at least I kept it vegan!’ after things have gone to custard on us! The problem seems to be when eating at your parents house? Is there a workaround, or do they want you to eat the food they are eating? Eat before.....I know you got caught out on a run that time, it happens. It’s happened to me, and I’m sure it will happen to us again! But otherwise, eat before visiting your parents, so you can be more relaxed when eating there?
Katie

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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:57 am

Ruff, thank you for encouragement! I don't really see it as a failure, probably "fail" is a too strong word. I see it rather as chain of cause and effect. After a really tough training session there's always a huge drop in will power and huge increase in cravings for something oily and sugary. This behaviour was expected and I wasn't prepared. Next time I'll prepare huge good recovery meals before attempting any serious activity.

Day 10 - excelent

Breakfast: oats, raisins, 2 apples
Lunch: Rice, steamed beets, sauerkraut, 2 slice of bread
Dinner: boiled potatoes, sauerkraut, lentil soup, 2 slice of bread.

Activities:

walking: 30 minutes
calisthenics: 30 minutes
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:48 pm

Day 11 - good

Breakfast: oats, raisins
Lunch: buckwheat, potatoes, lentil soup, 2 slices of bread
Dinner: more buckwheat and bread, banana, apple, 2 cups of sweetened tea (shouldn't be a problem)

Activities:

Walking 80 min
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:00 pm

Day 12 - not good

Breakfast: oats, raisins
Lunch: rice, cabbage carrots, lentil soup with bread
Dinner (not home): fried potatoes in oil, smallish vegan garlic pizza, bread, jam and 3 cups sweetened tea

Activities:

Walking 80 minutes

At least I keep it vegan :) But if I continue eating fries, bread, jam, drinking sweetened tea, it will slow down my progress or stop it completely.

I'm listening to an audiobook 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson. Just in the beginning of a second chapter. The author mentions an interesting fact. People too often take better care for their pets than themselves. They can neglect doctor's advice, but not vet's advice. He advises, in his words to "treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping".

A couple of years ago I was very deeply into buddhism. Listened to a lot of talks (Ajahn Brahm, Joseph Goldstein mostly), read a lot of books and articles. It changed my perspective on many things and made me more emotionally stable and relaxed person. There is one interesting thing in buddhism. So called metta meditation. The goal is to cultivate loving kindness towards yourself, family, other people and all living beings including enemies.

They especially mention that in western societies it is too prevalent to be overly critical toward oneself, too dissatisfied over many inevitable mistakes. And over the years this attitude creates more tension and problems. For example, as I understand it, for recovering addict it is recommended to not regret deeply about his addiction, accept it and let it go. Deep negative emotions can strengthen addiction, letting them go and replacing with acceptance and kindness will weaken it. And when a person developed this ability, he won't harm himself anymore.

I've never really practiced metta, though I have a lot of practice in traditional vipassana. I'm going to reserve 15 minutes a day for metta practice and track it in this journal.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby Anna Green » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:40 am

Hello! Love your last post. The comment about treating myself as if I was someone I'm taking care of was surprisingly helpful. I thought about it and all of a sudden I felt gentle towards myself and positive. Every morning I wake up and I think about what I did or didn't do the day before and am generally dissatisfied if I didn't get it all done whatever the it is but it always includes consuming healthy things and laying off the bad. Through the eyes of caring for myself I could see how well I've been doing. Was down another lb today but I hadn't felt good about it really until now. So thanks. Loving your journal and wanting the best for you.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:16 pm

Took a couple of days off from journaling, practiced meditation and reflection.
Days 13 and 14 were still very far from the perfect diet. Ate a lot of sugary and oily food, tried to restrict myself, unsuccessfully.

Second week progress

The first week was a breeze because of the initial motivational boost.
The second week was really hard. The long run in the beginning depleted a lot of my mental and physical energy, I couldn't keep myself in check, ate super clean at home, but I was out almost every night, that's where all the bad things was consumed.

Activities:

1 long run, 1 strength training.

Goals for 3rd week:

1) Follow stricter diet. The preferable diet still is MWL, so no more bread at home, but some lean bread when eating not home is ok.
2) Run 4 times. ~30 minutes - 2 runs already done.
3) 2 sessions of calisthenics.

Day 15 - mostly good

Breakfast: oats, raisins
Lunch: a lot of potatoes with garlic and onions.
Dinner (not home): 4 slices of bread, beets with tomato puree, onions, carrots, lightly fried; 2 cups of sweetened tea.
Later: large bowl of pasta with garlic and onions.

Some meals contained oil in it, I estimate it at 1-1.5 tbsp for the whole day.

Activities:

Running: 35 minutes

I was thinking a lot about why I cannot follow the diet strictly. I eat as much as I want, never limit calories. But still when I'm in front of something sweet with high caloric density, I too often become helpless. I can even eat non vegan things, like candies or cakes, perfectly knowing that they contain some eggs, butter, cream or milk. Though meat, fish, eggs, milk, butter are all very unappealing to me. Basically it's the real reason why I don't eat them. I'm fully aware of benefits for health, environment and animals, but I doubt that it would be enough for me to stay on track.

I think I should find a way to make sweeter things less appealing. Maybe I should mentally dissecting them into parts and see that every part in itself is really not appealing. For example, I see a cake, and dissect mentally it into flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cocoa, oil, some fillings. Every part is not appealing by itself. Then I see that it's made and looks tasty, but in the sense it's still that mixture of unappealing things. And the only reason I crave it now, is that my primal brain is tricked. But this craving is also not so real, it's just consequence of my previous experience and my biology. I feel it very real, but if the stimuli will be removed, the craving will disappear too.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:15 pm

Day 16 - excellent!

Breakfast: Oats, raisins
Lunch: Rice, cabbage, carrots, onions
Dinner (not home): 2 apples, 2 bananas, boiled potatoes, vinegret, 2 slices of bread, plain tea without sugar
Later (at home): pasta with tomatoes, onions, garlic

Activities:

Walking: 80 minutes

Today I happily succeeded in avoiding sweets when they were easily available. It wasn't hard, and I was really surprised myself. Something shifted in my mind. One part of me still wanted to enjoy a treat, but the opposite part this time was way stronger. I just felt that it's really wrong to eat that thing or to add sugar to my tea. I have a feeling that it wasn't an exception.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby Ruff » Fri Mar 30, 2018 12:38 am

Just popping into say I am a huge Ajahn Brahm fan too.....
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:18 am

I'm back! :)

I have many excuses for not to writing, but they're all obviously silly.

Day 17 - 4/5

breakfast: oats, raisins
lunch: rice, vinegret
dinner: potatoes with garlic, onion, apple, 2 slices bread, 1 tbsp honey
later: bean soup with tomatoes, small handful of croutons

walking: 80 minutes

Day 18 - 3/5

breakfast: oats, raisins, prunes, 1 tbsp sugar
lunch: few chapattis, light vegetable soup, 3tbsp honey, 1 tbsp jam
dinner: rice, vinegret, bean soup with tomatoes

walking: 80 minutes
running: 35 minutes

Day 19 - 4/5

breakfast: oats, raisins
lunch: rice, cabbage, carrots, onions
later: veggie soup with bread,
dinner: potatoes with garlic, onions

Day 20 - 4/5 - yesterday

breakfast: oats, raisins
lunch: dumplings with potatoes, tomato sauce
with friends: 3 cups of tea with sugar, 4 smallish pancakes with jam
dinner: potatoes with garlic, onions

I was a little bit sick with light cold for a couple of days. My tricky mind convinced me that it's a good excuse to allow myself some honey, jam and sugar. Like it's a good remedy. But later I drank a lot of herbal tea, ate veggie soups. It helped.

Third week progress:

The week marked very big shift. I finally found myself not wanting to eat something sweet, and wasn't feel deprived. Huge improvement over second week! But because of small cold, I wasn't been able to meet my training goals and did only 2 runs instead of 4 planned. Though it was a good strategic decision. I'm a little bit addicted to running and often it's harder not to run, then to run. Even tough Russian weather rarely was a reason to avoid running.

Goals for this week:

1) Keep following stricter diet. Today there'll be a test, I'm meeting with my friends.
2) Reflect daily on why it's good to follow a stricter diet.
3) Keep posting here.
4) Run 3-4 times 30-40 minutes.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:04 pm

Day 21 - 2/5

1) Oats, raisins
2) Pasta with tomatoes, some potatoes, rye bread
3) Rice
4) A lot of chapattis (made with oil), dumplings with potatoes, lentil, tomato/cucumber salad, banana, several large dates, chocolate candies, a piece of cake

Walking 80 min
Running 40 min

Yesterday there was a family gathering at my parents house. My parents, my brother with wife and two kids, me. It's been always time for feasting. When I tracked my intake, these days were always 4000+ calories.

Day 22 - 4/5

1) oats, raisins
2, 3) rice, tomato/cucumber salad, rye bread
4) Dumplings with potatoes, 2 candies, handful of raisins, banana
5) rice, lentils

Walking 80 min
Running 40 min

I wasn't hungry much today. On the day after feasting hunger is always lower. But for some magical reason I still allowed myself to grab 2 candies and raisins.

My weight is still 106 kg, no changes in 2 weeks. I think there're up to 20 kg to lose and I need to make major changes in my approach. May be instead of limiting certain products, to eliminate them completely.

There're also going some major changes in my life. I'll probably move to another city (2 hour ride from my home town) and start a new career. Anticipation of this adds some stress and makes it harder to resist the urges. Tomorrow I'm going for a job interview there. I think there won't be any MWL eating option in cafes or bakeries. I'll try to keep it healthy as much as possible.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby SilverDollar123 » Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:43 am

You are doing great! Keep up the good work! I bet you feel much better & (Lighter). Good luck with the interview.
Let us know what kind of job it is...If you want to share. I'm doing home care nursing. RAS
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:32 pm

Yes, it's time to make an update for the last two days:

For the last few years I played online poker for a living. I was too young and not very smart and hoped for quick and easy money. The good thing: I didn't become addicted to gambling in years of playing and sustained an OK living for a few years. The bad thing: I'm not really qualified for current games. My income lowered over the years. The field became over-saturated with new aspiring young players looking for a quick money. Being hard working, disciplined and emotionally stable is not enough. There're too many such players. To succeed in this field, a person must posses some unique combination of personal traits, which I don't have. And in the end the only who benefit from the situation are the organizers of the games and their partners.

But I've always loved programming. I did many hobby projects, but never considered it as a career path. 6 months ago I decided to make a switch from poker to programming. I've studied hard and worked hard to improve my skills and yesterday I was on my first interview for programming job in the capital city of our region, it's 2 hour bus ride from my home town. I think the interview went well, but now I need to do a test project to prove myself.

So, yesterday looked like this:

Day 23 - 4/5

- at home -
1) oats, raisins
2) rice
- bus ride -
3) in cafe - focaccia with olive oil (vegan), coffee without sugar, a piece of pear cake (not vegan)
- back at home -
4) pasta with garlic and dill, and some oil, tomato sauce.
5) few pieces of rye bread (100% whole) with lentils

walking 2-3 hours

I need to explain why I ate a pear cake. I know it's a silly excuse. But my another big hobby is cooking. I have very huge experience cooking for myself for all these years of being vegetarian/vegan and deep understanding how different ingredients play with each other. And sometimes I found myself tasting some pastry, to get a comparison point for my future experiments. But I think I've already made so much such comparisons in my life, that I can stop doing it now. It's just a silly excuse to eat something sweet.

Day 24 - 5/5

1) oats, raisins
2) lentils, rice, water fried sauerkraut with garlic and onion
3) 2 lattes with oat milk at my friend's place - no sugar here, oat milk was awesome
4) buckwheat, 2 slices of bread (mostly whole wheat)

walking 60 min
running 70 min

It's becoming easier to following a good diet. Yesterday after being very tired I declined an offer to eat some sweets. Today after a big run I didn't add sugar to my tea. It's becoming a new norm. Writing this journal definitely improves my eating behavior.
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Re: Clean eating and regular training

Postby kostya » Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:10 pm

Day 25 - 4/5 - the day of pasta

1) oats, raisins
2) pasta with kidney beans, tomatoes, garlic, onion, carrots, rye bread
3) pasta with butternut squash, onions, garlic
4) 2 cups of black tea with 2 tsp sugar, white bread

Walking 100 min

Weighed myself today. The scale showed 104.5 kg. The last time it was 106 kg.
Consistency is the key to success.
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