October Diet Thread - Hallowe'en Candy Hell!

[weese17]

I forgot to mention - usually I work out mid-afternoon or around 5pm. I try to get a bit of a carb boost for energy a couple of hours in advance - if it's midafternoon, I'll usually eat a sandwich for lunch. If it's 5pm, I'll eat a mini bag of pretzels or the like. After my workouts, I eat another small snack - maybe fig newtons or a cup of 1% milk.

- Lucy

[Lauren_]

Originally Posted by weese17

A typical day might look like this --

Hi Lucy! Mind if I comment on this?

You'll discover this for yourself on fitday, but there's more carbiness going on here than you realize, and not enough protein. Those two pieces of toast & juice for breakfast are not very 'nutritionally dense.' I can see you're still eating dairy & eggs, I did too when I was vegetarian. An egg and one piece of toast with a piece of fruit would get your carb ratio down and your nutrients up (esp. protein, but other nutrients as well). I also love to take frozen or leftover vegetables and make a quickie omelet with one egg plus an egg white.

Your serving size of mixed nuts/light trail mix seems reasonable though. Good job, it's tough not to overeat on things like that.

Switching to a light dressing is going to help a lot with your lunchtime calorie intake. Again, if you're really accurate with your measuring & recording, you'll see what I mean. It's super easy to create a salad that might as well be a Big Mac for calories & fat grams. Some other ideas for getting protein into your salad: canned beans (I like garbanzo & black beans on my salads when I'm eating vegetarian) or a bowl of lentil soup alongside the salad (Progresso makes a yummy vegetarian version if you don't want to do homemade). Split pea soup sans ham is also a good choice.

Dinners -- hmmm, that's harder. Looks like that's where you're having the most trouble. If you like to cook, bit pots of soup or stews or pasta salads made with whole wheat pasta, lots of veggies, and beans (black, white, garbanzo) are good to have on hand for quickies. You can also make your own hummus pretty easily from canned garbanzos, garlic & lemon juice -- add very little oil and tahini to keep it lowfat & lowcal. Then you can dip veggies.

Whether you like to cook or not, for me it's nearly impossible to diet if I can't have my kitchen stocked with good choices that are easy to reach for. Canned soup & frozen meals get me through the rushed times (there's a frozen beans & rice entree made by both Weight Watchers & Lean Cuisine, not much else vegetarian). As a vegetarian, you're already used to not being able to drive through & get an easy fix when you're hungry, so this just adds a layer of difficulty.

Congrats on the workouts, wow! No wonder your pants are sliding off. That's huge.

[miriamgamal]

Barley is also really good to cook with and fills you up for a while. You can also make couscous in the microwave in less than 5 minutes. If you have them at your local supermarket, Amy's makes some really yummy vegetarian frozen items for meals in a pinch.

[weese17]

Hey Lauren!

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I know I need to balance things out a bit. Frankly, I'm just soooooo sick of beans! I made soups and stews with beans upon beans upon BEANS a few months ago, and my Lord, I just beaned out! And I do need quite a bit of carbs for energy for and after my workouts. But I need to figure something else out when it comes to protein. The problem is that, for me, protein has never done anything in terms of sating my appetite, contrary to most folks. Pasta works a lot better!

- Lucy

[danidance]

On the frozen food front, I discovered something I just love - the Amy's Organic Indian meals. They are around 300-350 calories and so good. I also discovered the gluten free frozen foods at Whole Foods - very yummy.

If you're happy with Lean Cuisine type portions then the above will satisfy you. They aren't more or less filling.

On Nuts:
They are great for you but depending on your two palms worth true size - one day try to put those two palms in a measuring cup to see exactly how much it is - 1 cup of most nuts is around 600 calories. that's a big snack.

I'd recommend buying nuts in controlled portions if possible - Trader Joes, if you have one close - has almonds in individual baggies measured out at around 150 calories I think.

[Lauren_]

Originally Posted by weese17

Hey Lauren!

Frankly, I'm just soooooo sick of beans!
- Lucy

HAHAHA! Been there done that. I did better adding a handful of beans or lentils to salads, pasta salads, vegetable soups. I got sick of them FAST if I ate too many.

You're getting a fair amount of dairy, you might be getting enough protein after all -- fitday will tell. You only need 10% of your calories from protein.

[weese17]

The good --

I kicked my own ASS at the gym yesterday. 20 minutes of intense cardio, and then 45 minutes of leg, ab and core work. Most of it was done on the exercise ball, and if you've never done crunches on the ball before - WOW. My entire abdomen is sore today!

The bad -- I left work at 5 for class and didn't get home until 10. I was starving, so I ended up eating just a bunch of little snacks to get me through - an apple, fig newtons, a pack of peanut butter crackers, and then a hella lot of trail mix (because it was all I had left!) Then I came home and ate two fish sticks. Carbs carbs carbs carbs carbs....

The good - I tucked my shirt into my pants today for the first time in ages -- and my stomach looks GOOOOOD! Flat, fit and trim!

The also good -- I've been doing Suhaila's butt squeezes to try to equalize my left and right glutes (beware, one-sided dancers -- it can really mess up your body), and my butt is not only rock-hard, but it has gotten really shapely! Ooh la la!

Now if only the durn scale would budge. I know I look like I've lost about ten pounds, and I've definitely gone down from a 12 to a 10. And yet, the scale stubbornly refuses to change. Bah.

[damiena]

Lucy - because of all the working out, the scale weight might not drop as rapidly. You might want to try recording your measurements as well! I know that I am heavier on the scale now as a size 8 than the last time I was an 8, but it is due to the muscle I am building. I want to drop another 10 pounds and get to a size 6 so I am jumping back in the weight loss challenge as well. I have been lucky, I have not gained anything back in the past month or so, still hovering around 143-144, but I have not lost anything either...

[Lauren_]

Don't even worry about that scale, Lucy. Trust your pants. You're doing fantastic.

I had to solve the problem of convenience foods because of my teaching schedule. I've learned to love slimfast bars (though I'm not on the slimfast diet). I try to limit myself to one per day, and I buy the meal bars, not the snack bars. I keep them in my house, purse, car and desk drawer for emergencies. At home, I try to always have canned soups and frozen diet meals, hummus and cut up veggies for emergencies.

Of course, you've got to find what works for you, but it helps so much to anticipate those emergency feedings when your evenings are nuts!

[weese17]

I know, and I should have anticipated it better, but we didn't get to the grocery store this weekend and work ended up being insane. Anyway - it was just one night, but I obviously need to have some other solutions up my sleeve. The problem is that I don't really feel "fed" unless I either eat a hot meal or something substantive like a sandwich - even if I ate a thousand calories' worth of mixed nuts, I wouldn't feel like I'd really eaten dinner.

Thanks for the encouragement on the weight - I'm not stressing about it overmuch, but it's just annoying! I seem to remember this happening before, though - my physique will obviously change, but the scale won't budge - and then two months later, it'll all of a sudden show 20 pounds' difference. So weird!

Lucy

[yasmindiab]

I weighed in today, and I put 2 ounces back on.

I know. Its not much at all. Really, not a huge deal, but I'm so FRUSTRATED! If I would have just kept better track of what I was eating, I wouldn't have had this problem. Oy.

Oh well. Its fixable. :)

And I've resolved to get back to the gym, too. My starting goal is once a week. I can do that, no problem.

Oy. I hate these little hang ups!!! But, I can do it. I'm not going to let myself be upset about 2 stupid ounces.

[Lauren_]

Somebody talk me down. I have a whole bag of candy corn on my lap.

[Lauren_]

*sigh* never mind, I ate it.

Lucy, I'm sorry. I was so eager to be helpful, I think I came off as lecturing. Comes from too many years of being a mom, I guess.

[mish_mish]

I've eaten so much in the last two weeks, it's not even funny.

Just shoot me.

I did send the leftover candy we didn't give out with hubby to his Halloween show tonight--his band is playing a dead rockstars tribute show. The guys in his band are going as Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, and Cliff Burton.

[ozma]

Originally Posted by yasmindiab

I weighed in today, and I put 2 ounces back on.

I know. Its not much at all. Really, not a huge deal, but I'm so FRUSTRATED! If I would have just kept better track of what I was eating, I wouldn't have had this problem. Oy.

Oh well. Its fixable. :)

And I've resolved to get back to the gym, too. My starting goal is once a week. I can do that, no problem.

Oy. I hate these little hang ups!!! But, I can do it. I'm not going to let myself be upset about 2 stupid ounces.

You're worried about 2 oz? My body weight fluctuates through the day and week depending on water intake, bloating, time of day/month, and so on. This is normal. 2 oz is nothing to worry about and may have nothing to do with what you eat. Don't beat yourself up. Take that frustration and pour it into something good for you, like your menu planning for future diet triumphs! Or an improptu "I'm frustrated dance!" or agressivly scrubbing something.

[gwyncara]

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Somebody talk me down. I have a whole bag of candy corn on my lap.

It's alright Lauren. You're not alone. My neighbor busted open a bottle of wine and then my 10 yr old gave me a full size Snickers bar! (two of my biggest downfalls) From there, it just went downhill. 2 bottles of Apricot Ale, 3 shots of Cornish Mead, a Sugar Daddy, some Swedish Fish, and 2 or 3 tootsie rolls.

[Lauren_]

Originally Posted by gwyncara

It's alright Lauren. You're not alone. My neighbor busted open a bottle of wine and then my 10 yr old gave me a full size Snickers bar! (two of my biggest downfalls) From there, it just went downhill. 2 bottles of Apricot Ale, 3 shots of Cornish Mead, a Sugar Daddy, some Swedish Fish, and 2 or 3 tootsie rolls.

I was so good, didn't even buy candy this year. I went to my mom's to help her hand out candy and ate nothing. My son gave me a handful of candy bars & such, I handed them out to little neighbor kids at the bonfire up the street.

Then somehow I wound up eating a whole bag of candy corn. I don't even know where it came from.

[mish_mish]

Candy corn is vile, too.

I ate a lot of Mounds "fun" size. Help me. I usually don't even care about candy.

[weese17]

Originally Posted by Lauren_

*sigh* never mind, I ate it.

Lucy, I'm sorry. I was so eager to be helpful, I think I came off as lecturing. Comes from too many years of being a mom, I guess.

Oh Lauren, you didn't come off that way! I appreciate your insight and experience.

Lucy

[Lauren_]

Hey, I found a great way to control your appetite!

1) Get a hideous cavity that goes all the way into the pulp of the tooth, so the nerve is exposed and f