Midnight's journal

[midnight87]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking on these boards for quite some time and I finally decided to join. A bit of background on me, I'm 31 years old. I feel like I've always had weight problem, but it really started to get out of hand around high school and then worse as I was in college in my 20s. When I was in college I reached a high of 245lbs. I'm 5'9"...I was pretty shocked when I saw that on the scale. I managed to lose about 25lbs doing the low carb thing.

After college I gained the weight back, plus some for a new high of 255 around my mid 20s. Around this time though was when I first started looking into vegan diets and came across Dr. McDougall. I wanted to follow a vegan diet but I really did not know what to eat, and normally I would revert to being vegetarian and eating things like cheese sandwiches and cheese pizza.

Finally in 2016, I started to make some progress. I decided to try out a vegan meal plan for a while, and it did work. I'm down about 35-40 lbs. In 2017 though, I hit the plateau of plateaus. And, I'm still stuck lol. I'm not on a meal plan right now, I do remake a lot of things from the time I was on that plan, but I think I've got some other issues tripping me up. So I want to try writing a journal on this forum to be honest with myself about what I'm eating and how much.

I'm definitely not 100% compliant, sometimes dairy still sneaks in my diet. I also eat overt fats, I'm trying to figure out what good balance is for me withe overt fats.

Over the next few days, I'm just going to be logging what I eat. Hopefully I'll notice a trend and maybe posting on here will be motivation enough for me to clean things up lol. Feed back is appreciated

Yesterdays food:

Breakfast:

Sesame bagel with peanut butter and jam
Banana
Coffee with almond creamer

Lunch:
Whole wheat penne pasta
Mixed veggies
Home made "cheese" sauce
banana

Dinner:
Brown rice
steamed cruciferous crunch mix
peas
dressing made with tahini, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and agave
left over nice cream

Kind of a high fat day for me yesterday, and I probably ate too many bananas. I'll post what I eat today later

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Midnight, I also recently came out from lurking! Good luck to you with reaching your goals! Sounds like you are off to a great start...

[midnight87]

I got a few things taken care of today. Went to the dentist, took my cat to the vet, returned some library books. I also got a walk in even though it rained most of the day here.

I like to do a lot of my cooking on the weekend, haven't started that yet. I'm thinking about going to aldi tomorrow and stocking up on a few things, I'm getting low on staples like oatmeal.

Anyways, today is probably kinda similar to yesterday in terms of food...

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats
Cocoa powder
Peanut butter
Brown sugar
banana
coffee and almond creamer

Lunch:
Whole wheat pasta
Lots of veggies
Home made vegan "cheese sauce" (basically it's just oats, nutritional yeast, and spices blended together and then thickened on the stove)
beans
Banana

Snack:
Larabar

Dinner:
Oven fries
Steamed broccoli

I may have another piece of fruit later, we shall see.

I did some thinking about what I want to focus on next week. I need to get back to my oatmeal and fruit or sweet potato breakfast. I need to not buy peanut butter for awhile, it's just such a trigger food for me. I'm thinking cocoa powder might need to go too, when I use it I tend to end up adding a lot of sugar to whatever I'm eating. I'd really like to get off coffee at some point but I don't think that's realistic for me right now, however I think switching to plant milk in my coffee instead of almond creamer would be a good place to start.

[midnight87]

The weather was slightly better today here, no rain, but boy was it windy. I went to aldi and did a bunch of cooking. I bought a bunch of sweet potatoes and other staples. For some reason I always forget to grab sweet potatoes when I'm shopping, finally got some today and I already baked them in the oven.

I made a big thing of red lentil chili, I used the recipe from chef aj, I absolutely love that recipe! I like eating it over sweet potatoes. I also cooked up some white beans in my instant pot too.

Here's what I ate so far and what I'm planning on eating yet:

Breakfast:
home made blue berry breakfast bread and a small amount of maple syrup
banana
coffee and almond creamer

lunch:
The rest of my mac and "cheese: and veggies over spinach

Snack:
peanut butter and oats....almost done with the peanut butter, I'm thinking about tossing the rest. I have to admit, it's not the first time I've tossed peanut butter. I really need to just not buy it. I didn't buy any today.

Dinner:
Sweet potato and chili (if I get hungry)

I've got my sweet potatoes and oats ready to go for next week so I should be able to get over my nut butter issues. I've gone through this cycle a few times of realizing it's an issue, going without for awhile, then it creeps back in. I've watched a few Dr. Lisle videos so I'm aware that my environment is messing me up. I'm hoping this journal helps me get back on track and stay accountable. I live by myself so I don't really have anyone to call me on my bad habits. But, on the plus side, with a few small exceptions, I literally have 100% control over what's in my environment.

I'm looking forward to next week and making some improvements

[midnight87]

Today was a long day. I work on a help line for bankers, and I swear, I was wondering if tonight is a full moon. So many weird questions lol. It's good to have days like this though that are more challenging.

I did better with food today. Yesterday I learned a good lesson. Fat= bad menstrual cramps. I haven't felt that bad in quite awhile. I had to get out the heating pad. I feel much better today so I think I'm over the worst of it.

Breakfast:
Blueberry breakfast bread
Maple syrup
Coffee with soy milk
banana

Lunch:
Red Lentil Chili
Sweet Potato
Grapes

Dinner:
Vegetables in curry sauce and tofu over rice
more of that blueberry breakfast bread

Dinner was a little higher fat, the curry sauce I used had coconut milk in it. Not too bad of a day for me. Had a bit of cramming after dinner with the blueberry breakfast bread but at least that did not involve nut butter.

I'm feeling optimistic about tomorrow. I'm planning on working on getting my calorie density down

[midnight87]

Great day today! I feel like I'm getting back on track

Breakfast:
Steel cut oats
mixed berries
banana
flax seed meal
cinnamon
coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
Red lentil chili
Sweet Potato
grapes

Dinner:
Brown Rice
Vegetables and tofu in curry sauce (contains coconut milk)
Banana

Hooray! No nut butter and no refined sugar for me today Just gotta keep this going now.

[midnight87]

Today was an off kinda day

Breakfast:
2 sesame bagels
PB2 powder- about a 1/4 cup
2 tbsp of peanut butter
banana
coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
Red lentil chili
Sweet potato
grapes

Dinner:
Brown rice
Vegetables and tofu in curry sauce (contains coconut milk)
Pineapple

[midnight87]

Ugh, I'm really tired. I decided to try adding a little jogging with my ususal walk. I generally go for a 3 mile walk after work, but I've been getting bored with it so I tried jogging part of the way. I'm pretty happy with how I did, but I can tell it wore me out more lol.

Breakfast:
- Sesame bagel
- PB2 powder, around 1/4 cup
- 1 tbsp regular peanut butter
- strawberries
- coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
- small sweet potato
- red lentil chili
- grapes

Dinner:

I was pretty hungry after that walk/jog so....
- Whole wheat pasta
- Marinara sauce
- Broccoli
- Sesame bagel
- a full avocado....
- Lemon juice and salt and pepper for the avocado
- 5 dates

I'm actually not a big avocado fan, but it was pretty good on that bagel. Glad I got rid of it. I need to remind myself that they're really not worth buying, they generally go bad before I get around to using them Waste of money and calories and fat really.

Glad tomorrow is friday I'm planning on weighing in, will post how I'm doing.

[Suey51]

Hi midnight!
Spotted your post about nut butter on the weigh in thread, so though I'd drop by. Like Amy, I also had to cut nut butters out of my diet to achieve my weight loss goals. When I first went plant-based (before adopting the McDougall Program) I ate lots of it so I can empathise with how you are feeling. Best to keep it out of the house; the results will be worth it

Good luck on achieving your goals!

[midnight87]

Hooray for friday!

I weighed in today, currently at 221.4 lbs, last week I was at 222.5, not bad. Next week I want to do even better

Breakfast:
Sesame bagel
1/4 pb2 powder
maple syrup
1 tbsp peanut butter
orange
coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
Red lentil chili
Brown rice
larabar

Dinner:
brown rice
cruciferous crunch veggies
peas
tahini dressing


I'll probably have some dates later, I'm running low on fruit hence the larabar and dates. And yikes! Overt fats at all 3 meals? I gotta plan better lol. I'm going to go grocery shopping tomorrow

[midnight87]

It's raining here today, I thought I could get out for a walk but it looks like it's just going to keep raining lol. I'm planning on doing some body weight exercises today, I kinda neglected that last week. For body weight exercises I'm currently doing:

- 2 sets of 12-15 dolphin push ups
- 2 sets of 20 girly pushups on my knees
- 2 sets of 10-15 tricep pushups
- 3 20 second planks
- 3 sets of 20 crunches with my feet in the air
- leg scissors and leg lifts (however many I feel like I can do)
- a Pilates workout that targets the hips

I've been having issues with my knees so I've been avoiding squats and lunges. My workout can kinda vary depending on what I feel like, but these are the most common exercises I do. My main goal with this is to make sure I'll be able to stay functional the rest of my life lol.

I went to target today and picked up some stuff. I finally stocked up on sweet potatoes, I swear I can never have too many lol. I also checked out an Indian food store that's near me too. It was kinda small but the prices were pretty good. I got a big bag of red lentils and chickpeas for just a little over $10. I'll be going back there again

So far today I ate:

Breakfast:
Blueberry pancakes and maple syrup
Coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
Brown rice
vegetables in curry sauce with tofu (contains coconut milk)
banana

Dinner:
Oven fries
mixed frozen veggies
5 dates
banana

I did end up getting a walk in today too

[midnight87]

I've been thinking about last week, and I think it's clear that I've been eating too much peanut butter. My peanut butter is officially gone now (I had the rest with breakfast). I have a week of vacation coming up in July and I may let myself indulge a bit then, but in the mean time I want to keep these things out of the apartment. This will be challenging, but I think it'll be worth it. I noticed my acne is starting to flare up again, so I want to get that under control.

I'd say I probably lost a pound just by eating a little less than normal last week. Journaling on here definitely made me think twice before I ate something, I'm trying to be as honest on here as I can or it's not going to work lol. I also did some walking last week too. I'll be curious to see how this week goes.

Breakfast:
Whole wheat pancakes
PB2 powder
The last of my peanut butter (around 2 tbsp)
Maple syrup
banana
coffee and soymilk

Lunch:
Whole wheat pasta
marinara sauce
nutritional yeast
salad with romaine, peppers, green onion, spinach salad, and saurkraut and bbq sauce
larabar

Dinner:
red lentil chili
sweet potato
banana nice cream

[keithswife]

Peanut butter is one of my biggest weaknesses. I love to slice up an apple and dip the pieces in PB. Heaven, but not good for weight loss

Looks like you're doing great.

[midnight87]

Good day today

Breakfast:
whole wheat pancake
raspberry jam
banana
coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
Pasta salad over greens
banana

Snack:
banana (really need to get some variety lol, I'm waiting for my peaches to ripen)

Dinner:
Split pea soup

I'll probably have a larabar later

[midnight87]

Today started off good, but I had a slip this evening. Maybe I didn't eat enough at dinner...

Breakfast:
- Steel cut oats
- Flaxseed
- Berries
- 2 bananas
- Coffee with soy milk

Lunch:
- Whole wheat pasta salad over lettuce
- Banana

Snack:
- Banana (I really need to find another snack food...)

Dinner:
- Black bean and beet burger
- Whole wheat bun
- oven fries
- broccoli

And then...
Oats with pb2 powder and cocoa powder sweetened with sugar

I suppose it could have been worse. I was hungry when I ate that, but I was still trying to satisfy a sweet craving too. Sometimes fruit doesn't quite cut it for me when I have a sweet craving and I want something starchy and sweet, hence the oats. I did my walk/run earlier so that might have contributed to the craving.

I'll keep working at it, I had some success last week for sure with my evening cravings, but I felt like I was white knuckling it the whole time. I suppose it's just going to take some persistence and time.