Tag Archives: Hunger

Foodie Friday Turns into Saturday

Posted on by Renée
1

I had every intention of getting my Foodie Friday post up yesterday, then I ended up going out for “a quick drink” with colleagues and it turned into me getting home (station) at 9pm. Well, you only live once right? :)

So Food went a tad better this week – definitely had WAY less sweets and crap, but at some point we were celebrating 3 birthdays on my floor at work and they all brought AMAZING food. One colleague brought some asian snacks – vegetarian loempias, some fried veggie and meat thing and sticky rice rolls with coconutty-chicken. Oh. Em. Gee. Another colleague brought homemade lemon bread (cake) and another picked up some amazing cakes at a dutch bakery. Yes, I’m weak. And I’m totally ok with it!

I had in fact packed my lunch and snacks for that day, but I just kept them for the next day. Less prep and more sleeping for me the next morning!

Was hungrier than normal this week too – and it’s nowt to do with eating less because I’m not eating the holiday crap, it’s ALL about lack of sleep. What would this journey (ugh, I still hate that word) be without having learned something along the way? I know by now that when I’m REALLY tired, I also seem to have a hunger that nothing can truly satiate. So in the coming week, I’m going to do a little experiment. I’m going to get 7-8 (that will be tough but minimum 7) hours of sleep each night, or at least attempt it by being in bed by 10pm each evening. I will know probably immediately if this is what is causing my hunger because when I don’t get enough sleep it’s an immediate effect (meaning more hunger).

I’m trying to eat plenty of protein these days as well, and complex carbs. I feel like I still am eating too much, so next week I want to supplement my protein/carb snacks with some veg. This week I did manage to snack on some delicious cherry tomatoes and yesterday I chopped up 150g of cucumber slices. Some people call it rabbit food, I just happen to like that stuff!!

Been trying to get all my fruits in as well – normally I have a yoghurt with fruit, but I’ve switched to kwark (or quark or fromage frais) as it has more protein. I only have half a banana and measure out 50g of mixed berries (from the frozen section) and throw in a mandarin or two. I’ve been adding seeds and nuts as well (Lucky me, Lynda sent me Chia Seeds). What I find the most difficult is the balance of what I eat, the amount, and the actual calories. For example, I bought these Wasa Spelt/Dinkel crackers but they are 100cals each cracker!! I find them healthier than a Wasa “light” or a matze cracker AND more filling. So what’s the best decision there, you know? Hmmmmm.

I wasn’t feeling so hot on Monday morning when I woke up – had a scratchy throat so I thought this would help

Veggies and Eggs (for breakfast) – this is a good bulky breakfast and actually I had steamed the broccoli AND cut up the veg the night before so it’s not a difficult thing to do in the morning.

End Result, eaten in the train of course :)

Leftover Lasagne (yeah, not uber healthy but not horrible either)

I made salmon, string beans and rice one evening – salmon I love and is SO good for you!! This is just with sea salt, black pepper, fresh rosemary and 1TBSP sesame oil mixed with lemon juice. DELICIOUS (when cooked,obviously)

Bob’s 7 Grain Hot Cereal – included chia seeds, Neal’s Yard Omega 3 Nut mix, 1 TBSP peanut butter and banana chips)

Had a couple of amazing lunches as well, but keep forgetting to take my phone with me when I go for lunch. Funnily enough, yesterday I was sitting next to a new colleague (who brings her lunch AND also happens to be a runner) and I noticed her lunch looked incredibly similar to what I was having a few weeks back… kamut, roasted veggies and chicken and I said to her as much. The look on her face was priceless – she was so surprised I even knew what kamut was! Another foodie doing her best to eat healthy!

So, there it is. Not 100% in the groove yet. Will probably not do a week in review simply because…

TOMORROW IS EGMOND AAN ZEE (10.5K)!!!

Yes, hubs will be driving me to Egmond aan Zee where I will participate for the 2nd time in the Quarter Marathon part of the race. I’m excited to say the least!! This is my first race since June when I had to stop for 5 months for my knee to heal. Things are different now – I’m running with no pressure at all in my head about being faster or better or does my butt look bigger than that person’s, etc. I’m running because THANK YOU UNIVERSE, I CAN!!!! It’s a massive relief to be able to do this again.

If I’m lucky I will also get to run with or see Donna who’s flying over from London and Alinda who lives here in the Netherlands as well (and is an expat like Me!!). Donna and I met last year prior to Egmond (along with Scott over at Your Inner Skinny) and then caught up with each other after the race!

I have done one run this week, just over 6KM – it was a rough week for commuting and weather. Usually weather doesn’t stop me at all since, well, I live in the Netherlands and it is what it is! But gale force winds are not something I want to run in. Plus I nearly got blown over just walking from the bus to home one evening (heard from a friend that her DOG actually blew over on his side!!!). Tomorrow is 10.5KM – since there’s no pressure then it doesn’t really matter what my time is – I’ll be sure to update though if the situation is any different than last year.

I have some other news I want to share with you, and that WILL happen tomorrow – I’ve already slightly let the cat out of the bag on Twitter, but not fully here yet. It’s VERY EXCITING though, it involves TRAVEL and RUNNING (hopefully some beer in there too and then my life is complete!) and I’m really honoured to have been chosen to be a part of an AMAZING team…

Never Mind, Moving Along

Posted on by Renée
7

So once again the best laid plans and all that… no chance to get the rest of the posts up that I wanted to accomplish. Never fear, a post about October is here.

Once again, busy busy. However, a couple of things:
I was going to quit my gym. My company has now a sponsored membership at another national gym that I could join for less than what I’m paying now at my gym in Velp. I was annoyed this summer – every time I would finally make it to the gym, they would be closed for “summer hours”. OK I know they are a small gym, and definitely not a chain, but this is just not convenient for me. I want to go when I can go, not have to go during limited hours, you know? So, my annoyance was already built up some, when they phoned my husband (cue more annoyance; he doesn’t even WANT to go) to find out what they could do to help him be motivated to work out at least once a week and that was enough for me. Why didn’t they call me? I’m the one who wanted to be there! I wrote a letter immediately stating that I wanted to end my contract and I sent it along with my membership card a few days later. I was done.

A few days later I get a call and they ask me if I’m really sure I want to quit. I explain I could have a cheaper membership somewhere else where the hours are better for my schedule. We talked quite a bit about my annoyance regarding their summer hours (well, I had them on the phone, so…) and that on the weekends it’s really hard for me to get there before 1pm (when they close) because I’m not only tired, but the weekends are in general the only real time I have to take care of stuff that I can’t get to during the week because of work and commuting! The woman then asked me to just reconsider, to change my membership to just one time a week and then work with one of the personal trainers to help me keep my weekly appointment with myself and work on a program that fit my schedule. I caved and said “ok”.

That means, since October 1st, I have been consistently to the gym every week! I went on the 1st to meet up with my trainer Nico and we did an analysis and fitness test and these were the results:
Bodyfat Percentage: 36.9% – too high
Body Moisture Content: 45.23 – optimal
Blood pressure: 83/124 normal
Static Hand Grip Strength Test: 47 low
Technogym Bike Race Fitness Test: 43.5 outstanding

So what does it all mean? Pretty much that I’m very fit, but I could work on getting my body fat percentage down and that I could benefit from building up strength in my arms/upper body. To be honest I was extremely happy with these results, especially the “outstanding” result in the overall fitness test. Some days I find myself very frustrated and angry with how this whole “journey” has gone the last two years – now I just need to remember my weight, the number on the scale, is not the be all and end all. I’m 43 years old and very fit for my age! It could be worse! I could have never started at all! I could have given up completely! But I didn’t, I’m still trying, I’m still focusing on it every single day even when it may seem I’m not!

Anyway, plan is to continue for now at one time a week at the gym, though I don’t honestly know that I will really stay, it just depends. The other membership would mean I could go anywhere in the Netherlands where that gym is located, this could potentially be handy to go straight after work for example or later on a Saturday or Sunday.

I have also been tracking more consistently on My Fitness Pal but I could definitely improve on this. One thing I find quite challenging still is calculating food that we’ve made at home and determining the portion size. I’ve started to “trick” myself a bit with some types of meals (the curries my husband makes are divine and I tend to overeat with them) by using a small bowl instead of a “normal” bowl and then splitting out one portion into two to make me feel like I’ve been able to go for seconds.

Another thing that I’ve found to work better for my hunger levels is to eat breakfast later. I am usually up at 5am, so breakfast at 6 was normal. Now I’m focusing on bulky breakfasts, with a lot of protein (so let’s say scrambled eggs with steamed broccoli and mushrooms) and I’m taking that with me to eat in the train at 7am. For lunch again bulky with lots of veg, protein and a good fat and then a snack of fruit and yoghurt or cottage cheese, tomatoes and Wasa crackers. I’m still hungry-ish but it’s a lot less. It’s not perfect and I can tell you I definitely can’t sleep past 5 if I’m going to take a cooked breakfast with me, but it’s helping.

One other thing for October: I recently joined a challenge to do burpees every day for 30 days with no excuses. Though I didn’t make every day because I was well and truly sick last week (I missed 3 days), I resumed and have added 1 burpee each day. This challenge came from Scott over at Your Inner Skinny

Don’t know what a burpee is? Click on the link to see a video from beginner to mega-advanced to just downright insane! I started off as beginner at 5 and as of today I’ll be doing 15 adding one each day. I thought to myself, how hard could it be??? Well, let me tell you, I can seriously feel it in my CORE. This is a great exercise that anyone can do at any fitness level using just your own body weight and strength. I’m so annoyed with the fact that I can “only” do the beginner ones, that I’m going to keep doing these things until I can do the advanced ones!!

So that’s kind of this month in a nutshell. I hope I still have one or two readers left (but if not, that’s ok too :) ) – I’m planning more posts for November, ferreals!!!!

That thing about Weigh-In Day

Posted on by Renée
4

To be honest, I saw this pattern a long, long time ago and yet I still let it mentally bother me each time it happened.

Whenever I would weigh-in, I would somehow, somewhere throughout the day go overboard with food. It’s like whatever the message was on the scale, subconsciously my brain decided I was going to overeat.

Lost weight! Whoo! Brain thinks it has “room” to eat a bit extra.
Gained weight? Bummer. Screw it, have a treat.
Maintained! Well, nothing new there. I may as well have a (insert whatever food item you like here).

It’s amazing that after all these years I am still psychologically affected by this stupid mechanical machine that rarely ever gives me the answers I want. There have been periods where I just don’t get on the scale, days, weeks – simply because I don’t want my mind played with in this way. And I lived! Imagine that!

There are those who will argue that the only way you can get real control over that number on the scale is to be consistent with calories in vs. calories out AND weigh yourself at the same time every week (in the same way). Some people weigh themselves every day (I remember when I used to do that – after I lost weight with WW and was on maintenance) – I think this particular method would send me into a frenzy.

At least I know myself by now. Weighing myself every day is not going to help me mentally at all. Monthly weighing gives me too many excuses not to try my best every day. So what about weekly?

I was thinking that on my weigh-in day (which I’ve now officially chosen as Wednesday) I should just leave it as an open day. I guess some people call it a cheat day but I don’t like the term “cheat” as it implies I am “bad” or “wrong”. 90% of the time I am really conscious of what I am eating, even when I am over-eating! I’m conscious that I’m making that decision to have whatever it is at that moment. I think if you looked at my food journaling you would also see that what I’m overeating is not exactly “bad” stuff, most of the time it comes from my evening meal – like too much rice, or pasta. Everything else you see is fruit, vegetables, low/no-fat dairy, lean meats, good oils, whole-wheat bread. So if I just tell myself, Wednesday is an open day, I wonder if that would help, or if the brain would say it’s a free-for-all?

Well. I’m just going to try it. I think also one of the reasons it happens is because for several days I’m working very hard on being at or under my calorie goal for the day and I get pretty hungry. So by Wednesday, nothing is really making that emptiness go away – I have to actually eat more to stop that feeling. And I’m not saying stuff myself, I’m just saying eat something reasonable.

I have tried very hard to convince myself that there is nothing wrong with being hungry. And there isn’t. I’m not starving by any means. But there are times when I really physically don’t feel well – headache, dizziness, and even sometimes confusion. I don’t actually understand at all how people can eat so little (or the Eat Stop Eat “method”) and not feel awful. (or maybe they do feel awful but they don’t admit it?)

I know everyone is different. I just find it so amazing that some people have what looks like an easy time with the physical part of weight loss. Perhaps it’s a good thing that this is taking me so long so that mentally I can develop and learn as well.

Apparently Complaining is Good For You

Posted on by Renée
8

I didn’t get the memo otherwise…

This whole past week has been on long bitch session. Every single day fighting with my body and it’s hunger. Thinking about how long it’s been since I actually lost any significant amount of weight. Today I even did my measurements and there is no change. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? I really have no idea. Maybe I’m measuring totally wrong. I don’t know. I specifically went out yesterday to by a new measuring tape (since I can’t find my old one) and then no change. I don’t get it. I’ve run. I’ve biked. I’ve walked. I’ve gone to the gym. My clothes are fitting fine. I bought new boots yesterday (and it’s been years since I could get a pair of boots over my calves. All of these things are GOOD THINGS. That I am not complaining about. That I am PROUD of.

However, I have EVERY RIGHT to be pissed that my numbers haven’t changed. I KNOW that it’s not the be all and end all. I think I rock and am totally awesome 90% of the time. The other 10% is important too. I AM STILL IN AN OVERWEIGHT BMI CATEGORY PEOPLE!! That means where I’m at now, with my weight, and fat percentage is not completely healthy. I am about getting healthy here and with a BMI of 29, I am officially NOT healthy.

After tracking all week – with the exception of the 3 glasses of wine I had on Friday night – I discovered that I was over ProPoints by an ENTIRE DAYS WORTH of points. That’s not normal. Or at least it doesn’t look normal. The only thing that was outside my normal, healthy way of eating last week was the BBQ I went to. I just guessed at the points and maybe I overestimated. Better to think “over” than under, right?

I have to say, from all my complaining, I got so many great suggestions via Twitter and also email. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate that! And as I complained that I am not losing weight, I did get on the scale on Saturday (my new weigh in day) and I lost 900 grams (2 lbs). You see? I lost 900 grams from all the bitching and moaning I did this week! Hubs set up our scale so I could look at a few other numbers as well.

I don’t fully understand it, but my scale measures body fat, moisture, Resting Metabolic Rate, Basal Metabolic Rate, Muscle Mass Percentage and bone weight. I’ve amateurishly pasted together two photos for your viewing pleasure (hey, I DID say amateurishly):

To break it down:
weight: 79.5KG
Moisture: 48.6% (“good” is 40-60% “excellent” is over 60%)
Fat: 33.5%
Muscle:31.2%
RMR: 1517 calories needed if I just laid in my bed all day
BMR: 2478 calories needed based on my activity level to maintain my current weight
Bone mass in KG: 8.7 (don’t really understand this, since when Hubs did his, it said 120KG???)

So, this explains why I am often hungry. My body requires a lot of calories to maintain my current weight. And just to be clear:

YES it’s real hunger.
NO I’m not thirsty, but I do still drink about 3 litres of water per day
YES I eat a protein rich diet
YES I load up on veggies and I eat the recommended amount of fruit servings a day

I think it’s also important to note that I do not have cravings. Not for anything at all. Not for sweets, not for chocolate, not for cakes, not even for burritos or pizza. When I want junk it’s for purely emotional reasons. I am totally aware of this. I don’t make excuses either, but I don’t need to, because I rarely do it. At the BBQ for example, I wanted the things that I eaten for the “emotional” reason of not having had those things in so long, but I STILL ate those things in moderation. So. Yeah. Again, maybe I overestimated the ProPoints on those items, but it’s hard to tell. Usually I don’t even eat cookies, for example, so I don’t even know how many points they actually have.

I mentioned it before, but in case you are just joining me, I think part of the reason I’m hungry is also because I am up and awake for many, many hours a day. My stomach schedule goes something like this:

5am – out of the bed after 2 snoozes, usually hungry
drink water and prepare lunch and snacks, shower, start getting ready for work

6am - eat breakfast. I used to eat things like eggs/egg whites with veggies, then the dietitian I saw at the gym told me I shouldn’t do that, that I should eat Swedish Crackers (knackebrood) instead. So I started eating that with light cream cheese and cucumber or with a slice of chicken on top. This week I got several suggestions for oatmeal with peanut butter and banana and that I would be “filled up for hours” and while I find it extremely tasty there is no real change in hunger.

8am – not quite at work yet. Start to feel a bit hungry on the train. Drink water.

9am – arrive in the office, have a milky coffee drink. Hungry.

10.30am – really feeling hungry now, take a break and go get a very large herbal tea.

11am – ravenous. Have a piece of fruit.

11.15am – Oh my god, is it lunch yet???

12.00 noon – about to fall over or kill someone who is in my way to the lunch room. Eat one or two sandwiches depending on what else I have to eat (a salad maybe), usually load with twice the amount of veggies as the bread weighs. Feeling much better now.

somewhere between 2 – 3pm – starting to get that feeling in my tummy again. Drink water or have another tea.

4pm - yep it’s that time again… fruit with cottage cheese will help.

5pm - leave the office. And I’m hungry again.

5.30pm – on the train. If it’s not too busy and I get the chance I’ll eat my Fage 0% Yoghurt, fruit (blueberries, strawberries and a mandarin) and almonds. If it’s really busy and I don’t have a seat to myself for a while, I’ll wait and maybe eat just a mandarin, drink water (though I hate to do this at this stage in the day, because I drink so much I’m in the loo every 45 minutes. My commute is two hours. That means I’m bursting anyway by the time I get home), or chew some gum.

7pm – home. and…Hungry!!!

8pm - dinner. Usually something with rice, meat (chicken, turkey) or fish, and a vegetable. Sometimes couscous instead of rice. Hubs cooks and has Weight Watcherized his recipes.

If we run, we have a snack (was a peanut butter sandwich, but I’ve gotten some new great suggestions now), we run, we eat later, like 9 or 9.30pm even.

10.30pm bedtime. If I’ve eaten at 9.30 I will wait until 11pm.

So, if you’ve gotten through all that, I thank you :) You can see for yourself I’m getting around 6 hours of sleep each night.

OK. How about something different now?

I had a goal this month to run 85KM. I have definitely achieved this goal with my run today. I had a “meh” run on Friday – I was just tired and my legs weren’t having it – and I really wanted to go out and do 16KM so my brain could register that I CAN DO THIS. Our 16KM run that we are participating in is in just 3 weeks. Between now and then there isn’t tons of training time, so I wanted to be sure that I could do it under two hours. For the challenge I’m participating in on Nike+, I was 4th place on Friday; I’ve now moved up to 2nd place.

I think I’m fairly awesome. I wanted to quit this week. Like seriously give Weight Watchers the old Fuh Q but I decided against it. I didn’t even want to try my run on Friday and I got out there and did it anyway. I tried many of the suggestions that people gave me. I decided actually that I’m not going to quit. I may not track points for a while but I’m not going to give up on myself. Weight Watchers still teaches me about moderation and portion size and I need that. For the fabulous Drop Dead Gorgeous by December challenge I took the following photo:

I WILL never give up!!!!

Oh, hello Rumbling Stomach

Posted on by Renée
18

I have the hunger again.

Whenever I run it’s normally at least 6KM and anywhere up to 12KM. This number is going to increase. That’s a given. Especially since I have a 16K in just 4+ week’s time.

I can not eat enough. I’m hungry. I’m hungry before I run. I’m hungry after. And the next day? Oh my god, I can’t eat enough.

Thing is I don’t know what to eat.

I’ve done different combinations – like smoothies with fruit and almonds, peanut butter sandwiches, banana and cottage cheese, or even just having some chicken lunch meat. Before and after runs. This in addition to my normal everyday food.

I don’t know what to eat.

The next day – because often runs are at night – I am ravenous. Yesterday I really wanted to be within my points, so I started off with a small breakfast like I normally have (some Swedish crackers, light Philadelphia cream cheese, and some roast beef) – and I was working from home, so breakfast was at 9am – by 11:30 my stomach was rumbling so loud I thought the neighbours might come over and ask if there was construction going on in my apartment. I then decided to have a pretty bulky lunch – 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, spinach, tomato, mushrooms and feta cheese scrambled. I ate slowly, even though I was hungry enough to have scarfed it down. Within 30 minutes my stomach was rumbling again! Later I had a sandwich with low-fat cheese and chicken lunch meat and some cucumber to bulk it up and before dinner another cracker with some peanut butter. I felt like I could have eaten the whole day and never really been satisfied.

I got very little sleep the night before – in fact the reason I worked from home was because I literally slept a half an hour before my alarm went off. Sometimes I wonder if lack of sleep leads to being hungry.

I drank lots of water. I remembered what so many people have said “Maybe you are not hungry, maybe you are just thirsty”. This really didn’t help. Well, at least I got my water in, right?

I know I’m not a seasoned runner and I don’t run bazillions of miles/kilometers a week, but I’m doing at least 20KM a week, trying to run minimum 2 if not 3 times a week.

I want to eat to fuel myself for running, but I want to lose weight as well! It seems I can not have both.

My regular argument with myself over the scale numbers not being the be all and end all is in full swing over here, people. I DON’T WANT TO WEIGH 80 KILOGRAMS!!! I want to be LESS. I don’t need to be skinny, I’m not asking for that. No matter what anyone says I AM STILL IN THE OVERWEIGHT CATEGORY. I don’t want that.

Yes I know I need to be patient. I have to keep trying to find what works, but throw me a bone here universe, will you? I need help. I don’t know what to eat anymore. I don’t eat junk, I eat all my fruits and vegetables, I drink all my water, I get my dairy and good fats in. What else am I supposed to do?

I don’t vary eating much during the week. Here’s a typical workday:
Breakfast: 2 Swedish Crackers with something on them: filet americain, Philadelphia light, chicken or roast beef, coffee
Snack: large non-fat latte at work (with 1 pump sugar free vanilla), some fruit if I’m hungry before lunch
Lunch: two slices of brown bread, some sort of lunch meat, filler veggies (tomato or cucumber), “greek” salad – 2 tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar
Snacks: cottage cheese, banana, yoghurt with berries and almonds
Dinner: usually something chicken or fish, always veggies and sometimes rice or couscous

How do you fuel yourself as a runner? Have you also lost weight very slowly because of running?

Vlog Fail and The List

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
5

Yesterday I made another Vlog.  I decided I would try to do this for a while, do a vlog and try to connect using this medium instead of just writing.  Hubs goes to school on Thursdays, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to do the vlog at home without him doing something to distract me or jump behind me making weird faces.  Yeah, he would totally do that.

 So I made this Vlog and I uploaded it to YouTube even though I still am very critical of myself (I think I look tired, weird and need a makeover, but I probably see it worse than others do – oh and on a side note?  I think I need those injections they give you to make your lips fuller.  I’m officially a Muppet.  What happened to my upper lip???) And what happened?  It’s too long!  I did not know that there was a 10 minute limit on uploads to YouTube.  It shows you just how much I need to learn about blogging, vlogging, etc.  So.  No Vlog.  Sorry guys.  I am definitely not going to have a chance to do it again until next week and unless I become savvy overnight with video editing, then that vlog is pretty much going in the bin.

I wanted to tell you guys a bit about the list – and because I need to translate a few things I don’t have the list to show you just yet (or I could do w/out the translations, simply because I probably wouldn’t eat those things anyway and therefore don’t need to know what they are) – there is a “Preferred” column and an “optional” column on the list.  There is also an “only if necessary” part but that column the Dietician crossed off completely.

What I find very odd are a few things:

1)      Under fats and oils, there is nothing listed.  Nothing.  Like, not allowed.  I don’t get this because from what I understand, a body needs good fats.  Keeps the factory working smoothly.  You don’t drive a car around without oil, why would you cart your body around without any oil? It is allowed when cooking, but not as a part of a salad dressing, for example.  Certainly the linseed oil I was using in my yoghurt is a no-no.  Oh and nuts, seeds, avocado, peanut butter.  Definitely NOT on the list.

2)      For someone who was insistent upon me eating bread and crackers, there is no grains section on the list.  So I’m eating bread that I think is acceptable and whole-grain knakebrood (Swedish Crackers like Wasa).  He did say I needed to eat “thick, dark, heavy” bread, so I’m eating German Rye Seed (not allowed) bread.  It costs me 9.5 ProPoints for this bread which I think is a LOT (my protein/grain/veggie salads usually cost me around 8, including fats and maybe even feta cheese on top of protein/grain).  So no bread listed, no rice, no couscous, no pasta (does this mean it’s not allowed??)

3)      Under meats there is a lot of pork.  I don’t really eat pork and not for any other reason than I don’t really like it.  I was a vegetarian for about 9 years (quite a few years ago) and I am still just not really interested in pork on the whole.  There are occasions that I do, but they are very rare.  Bacon in an English breakfast whilst IN the UK, Ribs out with friends, the occasional piece of salami or pepperoni.  I’m more open to it when I’m in other countries if that’s the main type of meat people are eating or that is available in restaurants (or hey in Spain?  Spanish tapas anyone?  In Germany too – the sausages are divine…).  So yeah.  I’m definitely not going to eat ham or pork chops or any other type of pork on purpose, at home.

4)      There is fish on the “optional” list that is deep fat fried.  This I do not get AT ALL.

5)      Chocolate sprinkles are also totally allowed, though on the “optional” list.  Same with honey, jam, apple and/or pear syrup.  These are bread toppings.  Sugar Sandwich anyone?

6)      There is no real list of legumes.  I can not live without my kidney beans and chickpeas.  So, again, not allowed?

7)      I’m also instructed to vary what I eat as much as possible.  I do not know how this is possible when I have such a short list.

Anyway – I’m on Day Three of a sort of modified plan.  I’m still eating my fats. I have had Philadelphia Cream Cheese (Light version) the last couple of days.  I’m trying to eat a kind of cheese “product” (yeah, cheese spreads always make me think they can’t be totally real), but the other cheeses I’m allowed, I’m not sure I’m going to go there, just because of the lactose thing (let alone the trigger).  I have been eating fruit first thing in the morning, waiting a half an hour, then eating my crackers + toppings, and then drinking coffee.  I’m still pretty much totally ravenous 3 hours later when I arrive at work, but I’ve armed myself with gum which takes the edge off until I can eat my yoghurt and fruit.  I do this now at my desk ask I’m logging in and checking my emails that came in while I was sleeping.

I’ve been hungry again around 10, but I try to drink enough water to push me through to 10.30 and then I get a really large (Venti) tea.  By 12 I am really hungry again so I go to lunch.

Here’s the funny thing.  Eating this particular bread with the toppings I’ve had has been all right.  And I haven’t even really gotten hungry again for at least a good 3 hours, whereas there were days that I’d have my salad and be hungry an hour later.  So, maybe there is something to eating bread at lunch.

I’m having more yoghurt in the afternoon (0% fat) and a banana.  I haven’t eaten bananas in at least a year so it’s kind of funny to be eating them again.  And of course I have my veggie snacks for the way home, but the last several days I’ve also bought a fizzy mineral water to drink in the train.  I used to drink Diet Cokes when I was hungry – the fizz made me feel less so – but I don’t really want to drink pop, especially not caffeinated pop after 5pm.

Tonight we are going running – which means I will most likely have a snack of crackers and peanut butter beforehand.  I know… I’m such a rebel ;-)  Hey, I have to find my own way, taking in all of the information I get and seeing what works for me, right?

The So-Called "Experts"

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
8

I’ve been a Weight Watcher for over 10 years now.  In fact that’s just since the 2nd time I became a member, in September of 1999.  The first time was somewhere in 1991 or 1992, I don’t remember exactly.  Back then I thought I was Lady Lardo and I only had 25lbs to lose.

 Since 1999 I have learned a lot about food.  Or at least I’m interested in learning about food.  There are tons of experts out there.  There’s a “way of eating” out there for every day of month if not year.  So many different “diets”, plans, programs. To be totally honest with you, I never really tried any other “diet” than Weight Watchers because frankly I last like 2 hours and then I’m fed up.  I don’t understand restricting yourself from the things that you like.  If you like them, there should be a way to incorporate them into your life.  This is why I don’t agree with plans like Atkins, because I don’t WANT to not eat pasta, rice or potatoes for however long the induction is.  I want to eat what I want to eat and think about other things like variation, portion size, good fat vs. bad fat, that sort of thing.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I am NOT Dutch and yet I am NOT totally American either.  The way I eat is probably a combination of two cultures.  One thing I have to say (again) – I do not want to eat loads of bread because I do not feel satisfied with bread.  The Dutch love their bread for breakfast and for lunch.  That’s fine for them.  It’s NOT fine for me.  If you detect a tone of resistance in my blogging voice you are not wrong, it is there.

 You probably remember that several weeks ago I tried to eat “Dutch”.  And I was hungry.  Really hungry.  Why should I be hungry? (No, it wasn’t thirst either and I drink plenty of water during the day).

 I don’t like to eat a lot of sugar.  I think this is a pretty healthy habit to have.  Do I eat sugar on occasion?  Yes, I do.  I’m not going to lie or pretend that I am something I am not.  The Dutch like to eat sweet things on their bread.  Jams, honey, syrup, even chopped up strawberries with sugar on top.  A favourite is hagelslag, which is chocolate or fruit “flavoured” sprinkles.  I don’t really want to eat a Sugar Sandwich.  It spikes my sugar up to the Heavens and then I’m hungry again a half an hour later.

I don’t eat a lot of cheese.  There are two reasons for this.  1) It’s a trigger food and 2) I have some issues with lactose;  I’m not completely intolerant, but sometimes I don’t feel really well afterwards.  So why should I eat cheese???  The Dutch love their cheese.  Trust me there is good reason for this – the cheese is absolutely divine here.  I could eat a wheel of cheese in one sitting if you presented it to me. Really.

Yoghurt on the other hand I can stomach which is great because I absolutely love yoghurt.  I could even eat it more than once a day.  After the advice I got yesterday, maybe I should.

So, how does one go about eating and living a healthy lifestyle in Cheese and Bread land?

 I go by what I like, portion control and fitting everything into my Weight Watchers plan, 29 points a day.  I make sure I eat all my fruits and veggies (it doesn’t always work, but during the work week I’m pretty structured).  I eat the dairy products that I can eat without binging or feeling sick.  I eat good fats.  I eat lean meats.  Seafood – good oil fish and shrimp usually. 

What difference does it really make if I eat 100g of rice or pasta or 3 slices of bread, truly?

Well according to the “expert” I spoke to yesterday, my lunches are much too heavy.  I should eat BREAD with various toppings – CHEESE, tomato, sandwich spreads. 

 He asked me “where are your dairy products?”  (I gave him my food diary from last week)  Um.  Right in front of you?  Yoghurt at breakfast, 1 coffee with steamed milk per day, cottage cheese?  Is that not enough?

Eggs – I apparently eat too many eggs.  I shouldn’t eat an egg in the morning, I should eat CRACKERS.  And I should never drink my black coffee on an empty stomach.  I have been doing this for 20 years, I can not imagine what sort of difference this will make, but OK, I will eat before I drink coffee.

 I should eat more vegetables, he said.  So.  I guess 300 – 400g at lunch time is not enough?  I should eat fruit as my snacks.  An apple.  OK.  An apple when hungry actually makes me feel even more ravenous.

Oh and I don’t work out nearly enough.  I have to do a minimum of 2.5 hours a week.  That cycling I do back and forth to the station? That doesn’t count.  That’s just “normal” daily movement.  I have to do 2.5 hours of hard work exercise.

He gave me a list of foods I should eat for my age and to assist in losing weight.  I didn’t really go to the dietitian to go on a diet!  I went for some non-food related advice.  I want to know – is my travel, commute, too-long days and too-short nights standing in the way from losing weight?

This is the second dietitian I have been to that has given me the same standard advice. They are NOT open to other cultures.  They are NOT listening.  They are NOT open the fact that maybe eating bread and cheese doesn’t work for everyone.

I will try this guys list of foods to eat for the next two weeks.  I will take his advice to exercise more.  I will not drink my coffee on an empty stomach.  I have another appointment with him on the 31st of May.  If he still won’t listen to me, then I’m going to check with my doctor if I can go to a different dietitian (one not at the gym, but at the medical centre around the corner from me) and keep trying until someone will listen to me and actually ask me RELEVANT questions and give me ADVICE that fits ME and not every other person in this country.

If it’s not already apparent, I am so very frustrated.  And to top it off, I ate my crackers this morning (with filet americain; it’s on his list) before my coffee at 5.20 this morning;  as I’m writing this it’s now 8am and I am absolutely ravenous.  But what’s new, eh?

The Hunger: Part Deux

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
10

I wanted to follow up a bit on my post from yesterday. Coincidentally, I am listening to the Two Fit Chicks podcast where the first question that they are discussing is about Hunger during weight loss. It’s nice to know that there are others who struggle with this. Well, not “nice” but you know what I mean.

To clarify a few things: Normally, while following the Weight Watchers program I have very often had very different things to eat from day to day. This could be breakfasts of egg/egg white omelets with veggies, cereal and light soy milk, a piece of chicken from the dinner before to even soup. I don’t distinguish foods based on when we are supposed to eat them! Prior to probably 2 months ago I had a snack in between breakfast and lunch, generally only consisting of fruit. Lunches were always a combination of a carb/protein/veg; brown rice with shrimp, avocado, tomatoes and a dressing of Dijon mustard and lemon juice, or 100g of leftover penne pasta with some tuna, olives (exactly 5), tomatoes and a light dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. There would be snacks in the afternoon of fruit and yoghurt, and raw veggies (cucumbers, carrots, etc). Dinner is provided by the Hubs, but he is always thinking about my program and lets me know what’s in the meal if it’s a new recipe. Otherwise, it’s normally always a healthy combination again of carb/protein/veg.

There was nothing really wrong with what I was doing. I love food so I had no issue making up nice lunches and tasty snacks. There was and is pretty much still no junk in between (I made it out of my 2+ week chocolate frenzy finally). The only issue? I haven’t lost any weight since November (sorry for those who know this – I know I’m repeating myself, repeating myself).

So I went to 3FC to get some feedback and received the following:
I was eating too much fruit
Wasted calories from my daily latte
I needed to eat even more vegetables to fill up
I was eating too much in general
Too many carbs
I should try counting calories since it seemed WW wasn’t working for me.
Dinners were clearly going over my budget.

The actions I took from that advice:
I stopped eating so much fruit.
The only morning “snack” I’m having is now a double short non-fat latte (I was having a triple tall).
If I get really hungry I drink a large tea.
Afternoon snacks: try to hold out until I leave work (I would have PM snacks and then be hungry again on the train home, then I would eat more fruit)
Dinner – non-exercise days: weigh and measure everything and keep an eye on portions

I tried, very feebly admittedly, to count calories, but I don’t see the point really (ha-ha, the POINT, get it?) when it’s pretty much the same as Weight Watchers. If I know that I have a budget of 29 points and I want to keep 10-15 for dinner, then I split the rest out. Calorie counters do the same thing with their budget.

What my life looks like:

I get up latest 5.20 every weekday morning.
I eat breakfast (after coffee) at around 6 am. (Hunger level is pretty high)
I arrive at work at 8.50am
I have my only latte at 9am (I am generally hungry again at this point)
I may have a tea around 10.30 to tide me over until lunch.
I eat lunch 12 sharp (or I am a cranky mofo)
I leave work at 5pm, hungry
I eat my snacks on the train home I arrive home around 7pm. (at this point I am hungry again)
If I am running, I will have a snack like a peanut butter sandwich or PB and crackers. If I am going to the gym, I will eat dinner first.
After running, or just when I get home, dinner (between 7.30 – 8.30pm).
When I am preparing food and actually bringing stuff to the office, I will normally do this after dinner and before bed.
Bed between 10-10.30pm If I go to the gym, there is no food prep, though I may then get up at 4.30am to do it (depending on how tired I am).

I do think that part of my problem is that my waking hours are too long compared to my sleeping hours, but given my commute, there really is not much I can do about this (I think) I do not think that I have a super-fast metabolism, but I don’t know how to test that (if I did, would I still be fat???). In any case my metabolism is probably faster than it was a year ago, because I’m a lot more active.

Regardless, I have had this hunger problem for as long as I can remember! 10 years ago, 20 years ago, I remember always struggling with this! So I can pretty much eat what anyone would think would satisfy and I would still be hungry. What I have learned from all of this though is that just grabbing something doesn’t help either, so I won’t eat just anything.

Last week and this week I am pretty much eating a sandwich (2 pieces of multi-grain bread, 10gr of light mayonnaise and filet americain or chicken lunch meat) for breakfast, and for lunch 2 sandwiches (one with multi-grain bread, light cream cheese, 20g of lunch meat, and one with celery salad, mustard tomatoes). I have had a 0% fat yoghurt in the afternoon, some fruit and maybe some raw veggies if I’ve had time to prepare. That’s it. And guess what? That? Costs me almost my entire daily allowance on Weight Watchers. Clearly this will not work for me, so next week I’ll go back to planning and prepping and bringing lunches and snacks again. This sandwich thing is an attempt to eat like a typical Dutch person (though my toppings are probably not completely typical). This is exactly how my husband eats, though he has yoghurt in the morning and after lunch (what I’m doing today).

The question still remains: Why am I not losing weight when I eat varied and use my points in a more fulfilling way, fill up on veg, snack only on fruit, protein at every meal, only good carbs, etc? I am less hungry eating the way I was before, but a dull hunger is still there. Now I’m eating what I find to be very little in volume, and too much in points and I’m ravenous.

I would really love to know what it feels like to not have this empty feeling in my stomach and lightness in my head. I’m not making this shit up. As I type this, it’s 7.45am, I’m on the train to work and I am STARVING. I would like to fit properly into my size 42 jeans and possibly lose up to 12KG more. It will never happen though if I have to keep eating to feel like I’m not going to fall over or possibly eat off the nearest body part.

I hope that provides more information. I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this. All I know is, I can not continue this way – it’s not healthy and it’s not pleasant to feel like this all the time. A little bit of hunger is ok, I can accept that. I’ve been doing this a long time though, I am pretty sure my adjustment periods are way over by now.

The Hunger

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
5

What is it about hunger that makes us feel so uncomfortable?

What is it about hunger that makes ME feel so uncomfortable??

I can not ever remember a time in my life where I worried about whether I would have a meal or not.  I mean I know, when I was a kid we were poor and we didn’t always have huge amounts of food to eat. We also ate things like cereal for dinner, and cheap meals like macaroni and cheese, pork chops and apple sauce and tinned vegetables.  But it’s not like we missed meals all together.

I feel like I complain about hunger a lot.  I don’t like to be hungry.  I don’t like to be late for my lunch.  I don’t even like not having something to eat every couple of hours, though lately I have been skipping a morning snack all together in the hopes that my stomach/head will adjust to the difference and deal with it accordingly.

I don’t really feel like I’ve adjusted at all though.  I have the feeling now that I’m just suffering through until lunch.  That if other people can make it without eating surely I can.  I’m not going to die, after all, just because I’m “empty”.

I’ve also been trying to eat “like a Dutch person”.  The Sandwich Phenomenon.  I wrote about it on my other blog.  These are not like “American” sandwiches, with the works, these are literally 2 slices of bread, a very thin layer of margarine (that I’m not doing) and a slice of cheese or lunch meat and that’s it.  So let’s say a Dutch person would have two “sandwiches” (an American “half”) for breakfast and four for lunch with various different toppings. I’m not knocking this entirely, I swear, even though it may seem like a broken record to some.  My husband eats like this.  Every day without fail.  Toppings may include peanut butter as well, or Nutella, or butter/margarine with chocolate sprinkles.

 So, I have been eating an American sandwich for breakfast and two for lunch.  And this costs me a LOT of points.  A LOT.  Bread itself is 3 points per 50g.  NO slice of bread out there (that is worth eating, to me) weighs only 25g.  I would say the average that 2 slices of bread weighs is around 65 – 70gr.  This is costing me 4.5 – 5 points. 

Keep in mind I could eat an entire tub of yoghurt for 5 points.  A pound of yoghurt.

I could eat 2 eggs for 5 points.

I could eat 250 g of chicken for 5 points.

So this is just bread we are talking about.  Then I add something to the bread.  This is leaving me VERY little points for dinner.

 So my question is (and it’s purely rhetorical, I am sure) how on EARTH do people eat ONLY sandwiches during the day (and I’m not having peanut butter or Nutella by the way) and have a normal meal in the evening AND STAY SO FREAKING thin/normal weight???

 I am absolutely STARVING.

Yes I know I shouldn’t say that.  I’m not starving of course.  But I’m uncomfortably hungry.  Really, really hungry.  No it’s not thirst.  It’s not emotions.  It’s not stress.  It’s pure, unadulterated hunger. 

I really have no idea how I am supposed to keep my body fueled so that it doesn’t feel like this, but I’ve really got to find a solution soon.

I’ve just calculated all my points for today pre-dinner.  28 is the total.  I get 29 per day.  So, if I’m THIS HUNGRY when I feel I’ve had so little to eat, could something be wrong?

How do YOU deal with the Hunger?