Eating & Tweaking

[choufleur]

I'm reviewing my plan from yesterday and it was close to what I planned with some minor differences. For lunch I ended up eating the rest of the 12 oz sugar snap pea bag, plus some carrots, followed by the rest of the lentil/potato curry with brown rice. It was sooo good and I just kept eating more. I think I ate too much (to the point of feeling stuffed) because I didn't want to eat my apple after I was done. For dinner, I had 3 russet potatoes with homemade pesto, some lentils, and broccoli. Later in the evening I had about 4-6 oz of a hard cider my partner wanted to share with me.

This morning I got up early to go swimming and remembered to use their scale for the weigh-in. My weight read 113.35 lbs, which is about 1.5 lbs than I thought I was using my analog scale at home (115 lbs). I know I should be weighing on the same scale for accuracy, so we'll just see what next week says using the digital scale at the swimming pool.

So now starts the "hard" part. I usually can do OK during the week when routines are established but the weekends are sometimes a mess. I need to make a plan like I've been doing this week and stick to it! Also, Friday lunches are challenging because work provides lunch and in my position, I should go and eat with everyone and socialize. The admin knows I'm vegan and goes out of her way to get special stuff for me, but it almost always has oil and high salt content. I still haven't completely figured out how I want to navigate this situation.

[Idgie]

I have faith that you'll manage that difficult social hurdle. Some things that have helped me are to push food around the plate and not eat (but eat plenty before and after going), to lie and say I have bloodwork the next day so I can't eat anything, or to tell the truth, say it's not on my diet, and order something for myself (and pay my own way). I was amazed at how admiring some co-workers were, and how hostile others were, but everyone's gotten used to me now. Did the same thing at the Arby's drive-through with mom and my partner today. She was weirded out that I didn't want anything (not even potatoes? no thanks, mom, they're fried), but they coped and I ate when I got home.

[VegSeekingFit]

Also, Friday lunches are challenging because work provides lunch and in my position, I should go and eat with everyone and socialize. The admin knows I'm vegan and goes out of her way to get special stuff for me, but it almost always has oil and high salt content. I still haven't completely figured out how I want to navigate this situation.

Hi,

So relate to where you are coming from here. I always find work / business eating the most challenging situation with adhering to this lifestyle - 1) when people order "special" for you (but it's not really what you eat, but they went out of their way ) and 2) in business situations, never want eating habits to impact anyone's perception of you... (including where it's event you need to attend)...

Not sure if this is helpful, but on lunches ones that you need to attend - I've handled by eating a bit beforehand (that I packed) to minimize hunger in that situation -- and then picked at the meal... Seemed that many times people aren't too focused on what others eat (sometimes they are...)... if they are, then I claim a stomachache...

Wishing you well in finding approach that works for you!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[choufleur]

Thank you so much for the suggestions Idgie and Stephanie! I was able to handle today OK, mostly because the admin wasn't there and so there wasn't anything special that she ordered for me. But next time I'll try eating before/after and pushing the food around...

[choufleur]

Today was a great day eating-wise despite my concerns. Although there were vegan things at the work-provided lunch, they had way too much salt and probably oil so I steered away from them and ate the food I brought from home. Since some people know that I am vegan, I did get at least one comment about some of the food being OK for me, and questions on why I wasn't eating it.

B - green beans, oatmeal, tomatoes
L - some carrots before really sitting down and eating, then steamed kale, about 3 huge russet potatoes, some lentils and some no-oil pesto (I made a batch last weekend and it's going very slowly ), small apple
D - while preparing food, I steamed some more kale and ate with a small spoon of pesto. Then my daughter and I had tacos with spiced cauliflower, Spanish rice, white beans, and salsa. I had about 3 tacos and a bowl of the fillings.

My daughter loves to help me in the kitchen right now. While I was cutting the cauliflower, she asked to have some of it. It was raw and I wasn't sure she'd actually eat it, but she did, and then asked for another big piece before we put the rest in the oven. She also asked what I was eating when I heated up my kale and I showed her. She asked if she could have some, and I gave her a small spoonful. "Do you like it?" I asked. "I like it!" she said. I love it so much that she likes these foods right now and is a good eater.

[choufleur]

Quick update before I forget. Low on veggies but otherwise MWL.

B - oatmeal with some blueberries
L - (leftovers from yesterday) Spanish rice, white beans, spiced cauliflower
S - large russet potato
D - brown rice, white beans, rest of the no-oil pesto
E - ran about 30 minutes, slowly

[choufleur]

Forgot to add the following from Saturday: munched on raw carrots on the way home from the pumpkin patch, and had a small amount of hard cider (partner wanted to share with me) later in the evening, about 4 oz.

Sunday was going OK until dinner. I was watching 3 kids (playdate) and I hadn't really planned out dinner (my first mistake), and ended up eating what the kids ate. It was whole wheat pasta (not MWL) with store bought marinara sauce (not compliant: had oil, too much salt).

B - oatmeal
S - two cooked potatoes, made into baked fries
L - Spanish rice, white beans, salsa
S - another cooked potato
D - 3 bowls ww pasta with non-compliant pasta sauce, plus a treat I gave the kids (vegan, not compliant)

Yesterday evening was a deviation and I'm feeling guilty enough not to let it happen again in the near future. I just have to be careful that I don't go down the path of, "I can't do this, I might as well give up..." with my tendency to sometimes go into "all or nothing" thinking.

I'm pleased that overall, I had more MWL meals and "regular McDougall" meals than I can remember. Things to work on this week:

• Plan out the day(s) - if I don't have a plan, I'm more susceptible to going off-plan
• Up the veggies - I did well during the week eating some veggies before my meals, except on the weekends. I'll try to prepare some easy to eat veggies to leave in the fridge for the weekends, when it's more busy

[choufleur]

A picture of one of the tacos we ate on Friday.



The taco spiced cauliflower is from Vegan Richa and the Spanish Rice is from Brand New Vegan. I made slight modifications so it wasn't spicy for my 3 year old (mostly leaving out anything hot). She tried both but something was too spicy for her and she eventually had tacos with just avocado and beans (after having 1 with rice and beans). Now that I'm looking at the photo, I realize we had a broccoflower, not a cauliflower.

[choufleur]

Report for today. I'm happy that even though I was "snacky" after lunch and before dinner, I didn't have any compliant food, so I didn't eat anything (and didn't eat the junk food at work). I also cooked a huge pot of vegetable soup after dinner today so I could try having some before meals.

E - swam 1 hour
B - green beans, then oatmeal
L - kale (1/3 bunch), Spanish rice, white beans, tiny apple
D - 5-6 baby bell peppers (while making dinner), this Dal Tadka over potatoes and a bit of brown rice (about 3 bowls), a bowl of the veggie soup I made (to try)

I re-listened to one of Jeff's lectures on calorie density in the car on the way home. I think listening/watching all I can helps me to reinforce the ideas.

[Idgie]

Woo-hoo! Good job.

[choufleur]

Thanks Idgie!

It was late yesterday and I was making my daughter's lunch for today (potatoes and falafel pieces) and I ended up eating the 1.5 small potatoes that were left. I didn't needthe potatoes (not really hungry) but they looked good and I ate them anyway. Not the end of the world, but it reminds me that I should really pack her lunch after we finish dinner, when nothing looks good to me because I'm FULL.

Today's plan:
B - vegetable soup, oatmeal (already ate this)
L - vegetable soup, dal tadka with brown rice
S - baby bell peppers
D - vegetable soup, kale and potatoes

People have started putting up Halloween decorations on their houses and lawns in our neighborhood so I thought maybe I could convince my daughter to sit in the jogging stroller after I pick her up today and I could walk/jog around. That way I could get a little exercise today and she could have some fun looking at spooky stuff.

[choufleur]

I mostly followed my plan today. I had some baby carrots with mustard while waiting for the potatoes to cook (in addition to the soup). I also added some leftover lentils and corn to the kale and potatoes mix. I didn't add any seasonings to this mixture and it was delicious. I love how simple and good the food can be. I also had a small apple after dinner.

I didn't run/walk with the stroller because my daughter and we were too hungry and I wanted to start making dinner, but I did convince her to walk around the block with me after dinner and it was better than nothing.

[choufleur]

The morning hasn't started particularly well so far. My daughter woke up around 5:30 am (while I was trying to leave the house) asking for Mommy to stay with her in bed. She's been coughing and is a little sick, so I felt bad and stayed for a bit. Luckily my partner took over for me while I packed up the car and left for the gym. Then I got to the gym to swim only to find out the pool was closed for maintenance and wouldn't re-open until tomorrow. Gah!! I would have run or done some alternative workout at the gym, except I didn't have any suitable shoes since I was wearing flip flops! I am disappointed, but I got to work super early.

Food plan for today:
B - vegetable soup, followed by oatmeal (already ate)
L - leftover dal tadka with brown rice
S - mashed potatoes with kale
D - unplanned for the moment, but I need to make something that we can eat tomorrow also

[bunsofaluminum]

oh too bad about the pool! But I'm impressed that you got up and going to the pool to begin with! at 5:30 a.m. no less. wow! Hope your little one feels better soon. Good looking taco, btw. I never saw a taco with broccoli in it

[choufleur]

oh too bad about the pool! But I'm impressed that you got up and going to the pool to begin with! at 5:30 a.m. no less. wow! Hope your little one feels better soon. Good looking taco, btw. I never saw a taco with broccoli in it

Thanks! I've been off/on as a single parent since my daughter was born so when I actually can exercise, I take the opportunity. I never had tacos with cauliflower with them either until now, but I think I can probably put taco seasoning on anything and eat it in a tortilla, haha.