Midnight's journal

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

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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:25 pm

This week is going really well so far :) I've been eating either oatmeal or sweet potatoes in the morning, pasta and veggies for lunch in an oil free tomato sauce I made from tomato paste. Dinner the last couple nights was red lentil chili over sweet potatoes, tonight though I made a curry (it did have coconut milk in it), and I'm planning on eating a larabar tonight too, so more fat today for sure. I've also been eating lots of fruit too. Absolutely no nut butter has been consumed :)

I also went to the gym in the morning twice this week so far. I think I can get that habit to stick, I think I just need to rework my breakfast a bit. Monday when I went I don't think I ate enough breakfast afterwards and I was hungry all day. Today I made a point to eat more and I felt a lot better, but eating steel cut oats, even though I'm just heating it up in the microwave takes a bit of time and I'd like a little more time to relax before going into work. I think I may try soaked rolled oats or muesli, that way I can keep it in the fridge and just grab it, I don't have to do anything else. I'm planning on taking tomorrow off from the gym again, and going Friday, so we'll see if my plan for breakfast works better.

Looking forward to seeing how this works. I'm still walking at night or doing body weight exercises so I'm hoping the gym really gives me a boost. I notice it does help me get in a better mindset in the morning which is good, hopefully that'll help me make better decisions too. I'm actually kinda looking forward to weighing myself later this week to see if this will actually work :)
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Sun Sep 09, 2018 11:13 am

I'm happy to report I'm at 219.7. I think this is from getting rid of the nut butter, minus tahini which I use solely to eat salad. I've still got areas for improvement for sure, but I think I'm finally getting on track. I'm currently wearing some jeans that didn't fit a few months ago, and I tried on some shoes earlier today too that were too tight a few months ago too and they fit comfortably as well. You know you've lost weight when your shoe size changes lol.

I'm still trying to get more consistent with exercising in the morning. I have to do some overtime this week, so I'm not planning on going to the gym probably until Thursday and Friday. I'm trying to save up some money for a trip in October so I'm planning on doing some overtime the next few weeks.

This week I want to focus on my breakfasts some more, I kinda got into eating bagels last week. I was eating them with pb2, I know not the greatest, but it's keeping me away from peanut butter. I'm making some savory oats right now, so hopefully that'll help out next week :) At least I'll have a good option available.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby Idgie » Sun Sep 09, 2018 12:24 pm

Congratulations!
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:18 am

I've been getting off plan again the last couple days, I had the brilliant idea to try making vegan pizza with vegan cheese. It was good, I'll keep it in mind for a once in a blue moon treat, but I noticed I definitely didn't find it satisfying. Getting back on plan today, I have leftover enchilada bake and savory oats to eat up the next few days. I need to pick up more oatmeal and sweet potatoes, the sweet potatoes I got were bad so I had to through them out. I think I might splurge and go to the health food store for organic sweet potatoes, they always have good potatoes :)

Anyways, I'm actually working a little overtime this week. I'm trying to get more money for my trip in October. I did a couple extra hours yesterday and it wasn't too bad. I'm got more OT today, and I may schedule a few more either Thursday or Friday depending on what I feel like. I think I'm going to shoot for 44 hrs a week if I can for September, it'll depend on if OT is offered or not.

Tomorrow I've got handbell choir. If you play an instrument, consider joining a handbell choir, it's fun :) Plus you get a little strength training out of it, especially if you play the heavier bells.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:05 am

Handbell choir! cool! The music they make is so beautiful, and watching them perform is entertaining. I imagine it must be fun, and yeah...the upper body workout :thumbsup:
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:21 am

Boy I'm glad it's the weekend. Last week I felt like I could have planned better for sure, I ran out of oats in the middle of the week, and I had bad luck with some sweet potatoes that were bad. I'm still off the nut butter, but I did get into a little processed food last week, I had some left over pita chips and caramel corn for a snack a couple evenings last week. I actually haven't had pb2 the past couple days which is good. I was eating that way too much, the weird thing is I don't even like it that much. Anyone else crave something processed, and then when you eat it you realize it's really not that good? Weird isn't it, I guess it's because of the calorie density.

I was really tempted to buy almond butter yesterday, because "I want to use it for salad dressing" right lol? That's like playing with fire with me, I know that's going to end up on bread or bagels and it'll be gone in five days or less. Not good. So I didn't buy it, yay! I'm planning on making some hummus this weekend for salad though, I do want to try to up my veggie intake, I've been very starch heavy this week.

I'm planning on weighing myself tomorrow morning, I kinda doubt I lost weight last week. I need to get myself back on track.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:04 am

Let's see I was at 219.7 this morning. Happy I'm slightly out of the 220s. 15 lbs till I'm no longer obese. Last weeks successes included avoiding dessert the last 2 nights, no nut butter, not even tahini for salad dressing. I'm trying not to focus too much on my weight and more on how my clothes are feeling. I know it hasn't changed much the past few months, but I noticed my clothes getting a little looser, took some measurements and sure enough they're dropping. I've been trying to push myself more with the strength training and that's probably what is going on.

I'm going to keep a list of my goals to comment on in my posts to keep focused.

Current Goals:
-No nut butter, except tahini: on track with this last week
- Go to the gym in the morning at least 3x a week: been off track with this the last couple weeks, been busy with overtime at work
- Walk in the afternoon: I was off track with this last week, it rained most of the week
- Strength train at least 3x a week: I've been averaging about 2x a week with this
- Eat more vegetables: I'm eating what I normally do, I tend to steam my veggies but I'd like to consume more raw veggies. I tend to eat veggies at dinner in addition to my starch and lunch is generally just starch because I'm lazy. I'm looking into some better lunch containers on amazon so maybe I'll be more apt to actually pack some veggies.
- Avoid refined sugar: needs work lol, I tend to consume the most a breakfast and I noticed a few crashes last week actually where I would get hungry at like 9:30 am. Need to watch that.

One of my problems with trying to lose weight is I lose focus on my goals. I think listing them out like this will help.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Fri Oct 12, 2018 4:58 pm

I keep forgetting to update in here. I'm currently sitting at 219. I'm kinda surprised, I really didn't do very well last week and ate some off plan crap. I'm kinda nervous about next week, I'm going to be visiting my sister out in Utah. I don't mind airplanes, but I dislike the whole concept of getting to the airport and then trying to navigate it. Hopefully the lines wont be too long. I'm not worried about food, it's about a 3 hr flight. I'll probably bring a larabar or something with me in case I get hungry. I am planning on indulging a bit next week too. I think my goal is to just not gain weight for the time being lol. We'll be doing some hiking so hopefully if I don't get carried away my weight will be okay.

So what did last week look like lol? Wine, chocolate, tortilla chips, peanut butter...ummmm which is why I'm kinda surprised I didn't gain anything, maybe the gain is just "in process" lol. I don't know, in any case I need to get my act together and make sure I don't get out of hand next week again.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:08 pm

Wow, it's been over two months since I posted in here. Yes I got off track but I'm working on getting back on. I suppose it's best just to write down what I'm eating:

Breakfast:
grapenuts and oats soaked in almond milk with brown sugar
banana
coffee and soymilk

Lunch:
Split pea soup
apple

Dinner:
Simple salad with dressing made from balsamic vinegar, mustard and agave (still trying to find a balance I like here)
2 home made whole wheat biscuits
Mixed vegetables in a sauce made from white beans
2 glasses of wine
2 pieces of chocolate peppermint bark

I threw out a bunch of stuff again yesterday. The holidays didn't go the greatest food-wise for me. I tried, I brought food with me but I still ate quite a bit of junk. I paid for it too, major female problems over Christmas, I woke up in the middle of the night it was so bad.

I also went to the doctor in November, found out my iron was super low so I was taking a supplement for a while. I'm trying to look at my food here though and make sure I'm getting enough iron, I may need to stagger my coffee in the morning so I it doesn't impede the iron absorption. Probably whats really causing it though is me eating too much fat and then ending up with a heavy flow. I guess I officially have a reason to eat better besides weight loss....never would have thought my iron was low. So anyways, I think it's even more important for me to post in here what I'm eating and how I'm feeling so I can figure this out.

Sorry if that was TMI, any ladies reading this have a similar issue? I'm not thinking it really has anything to do with trying to eat plant based, I think this has been going on for years.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:23 pm

Here are a couple food ideas to increase your iron (I’ve had low iron, too);
- avoiding coffee/tea (this one is probably the hardest)
- eat high iron foods with high vitamin C foods
(Such as beans with salsa, hummus with bell peppers, etc)
- eat 1/2-1 c cooked greens

It’s just little tweaks to what you are already doing. Your menu looks great. Love the split pea soup.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:15 am

I know what you mean about heavy flow, and yes, I think eating on plan makes all of that better. Now I am in menopause, but when I was menstruating I know my periods were so much easier the closer I was to 100% compliance. For me now, when I eat high fat my joints get achy. So yeah...fat is not our friend.

I hope you get your anemia thing figured out. Not fun.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Sat May 04, 2019 8:53 am

After getting off track a number of times the past few months, April actually went really well for me. I tried to eat closer to Mary's mini, mainly potatoes, veggies, fruit, and beans then slowly added grains back in. Funny how when you actually follow the plan it works lol. I lost about 10lbs last month even though I still had a few slip ups. I want to do even better this month :)

I've been getting more into strength training the last few months too, I actually splurged on a couple personal training sessions but I think it was worth it, I feel a lot better about going to the gym now.

I think my iron deficiency is getting better, one thing I kinda noticed but didn't want to admit was that my hair was thinning. Since I've been working on making adjustments, I've noticed a lot less loss in the shower and my hair feels fuller when I got to put it in a pony or bun. I should get a another blood test at some point, but I'd say things are headed in the right direction.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Tue May 07, 2019 7:05 pm

The weight is still falling off. I'm trying not to weigh myself so much but, it's hard for me not to. It's too easy for me to step on the scale lol, I think I may need to try hiding it until Friday.

I'm a little disappointed with the gym, they're making it a requirement if you do personal training sessions to have them 3x a month, which would be kinda expensive for me. I really liked the sessions I had before, but I dunno, that seems kinda steep, you'd think they'd take my money for one session a month, but noooo lol. I dunno, maybe it'd be worth it? I'm thinking it over, and I think I wanna just see how this month goes for now, minus the personal training. Gotta make sure the diet is on point, or I'd just be throwing money down the drain.

I'm still eating lots of potatoes, lots of veggies, some fruit, grains and beans. Pretty much MWL, I have been including a few larabars here and there, and I ate some cashews over the weekend, but I measured those out to 1/4 cup. I think it was most likely nut butter I had an issue with, not so much nuts. The degree of processing definitely has an effect on me. I'm not planning on eating nuts everyday or anything, but I think I can use them as a treat. I can keep them around without feeling an urge to eat them like I do with nut butter. I suppose I'll have to see how this goes as a lose more weight, there will be a smaller margin of error. If I need to I can cut them out again if needed.
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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby bunsofaluminum » Wed May 08, 2019 3:21 pm

Wow 10lbs off! Well done!

I struggle with nut butters too. Thankfully, cashews are extremely rough on my IBS so they aren't a temptation, but plain ole pnut butter is a real temptation for me. But aren't you doing amazing! Keep on going :nod:
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Midnight's journal

Postby midnight87 » Thu May 09, 2019 6:06 pm

Doing good. I figure I'll actually post my food today :)

Breakfast:
Sweet potatoes, a little maple syrup

Snack:
Banana

Lunch:
Brown Rice
Steamed kale, red cabbage, brussel sprouts
peas
soy sauce and sweet red chili sauce
Grapes

Dinner:
Salad with spring mix lettuce, carrots, cucumbers
Dressing made from dijon mustard, balsamic glaze, balsamic vinegar, agave syrup
Split pea soup

I think I need to come up with a new idea for breakfast, I'm getting sick of oatmeal and sweet potatoes :-( I'm thinking maybe I should try making muesli for awhile, still basically oatmeal, but a different texture. I'm down more, I was at about 210.7 this morning. Crazy how quick the weight is coming off, I'm down about 12 lbs now from the start of April :)
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