Fri 7/15

1...Woke up and, as expected, feel like total poop. I'm not hungry, so I don't eat until I get hungry, which is about noon. I'm doing LC today. Why? B/C I know that I'll start to feel better, and FAST, if I do that. It's a short-term fix designed to just get me thru today. My plan tomorrow is to go back to the IRBOA plan.

Sat 7/16

1...Back on the perverbial wagon today. Trying something new...5 small meals, 3 hours apart. We'll see how it goes. Of course, I like eating so often! But I hate all that preparation and clean-up. It's also hard to come up with 5 totally different things to eat every day. I may have to just eat the same thing at a couple of them. Luckily I had lots of leftovers in the fridge, so today has been easy.

Here's what I ate today, so when I can't remember what to eat, I'll have it on record. Meals are Protein/Carb 2oz/10g, 2oz/15g, 2oz/10g, 2oz/15g, 1oz/10g. I'm not weighing and measuring, just eyeballing.

9am..3 Bacon, 1 egg, 3 T chickpeas, green tea, stevia, fish oil supp (realized tonight I could have a eaten a few green beans with it)
12pm..2 oz pork chop, 1/2 C cauliflower, 1/2 avocado, green tea, stevia, GLA supp
3pm..egg salad (1 egg), 2 ry crisp, pork chop (1 oz), 1/2 C baby carrots, 2 T aloutte spinach artichoke dip, multi vitamin & B-complex supp
6pm..2 oz fajita chicken, 10 baked corn chips, 3 T salsa, 1 C romaine/red bell pepper/cilantro, 1 T ranch dressing, Ca/Mg supp
930pm..1/4 C cottage cheese, few pieces canned mixed fruit, drained

It sounds like a lot of food, more than I usually eat. But in reality the only thing I think I'm eating more of is non-starchy veggies, and that's a good thing, I guess. The carb and protein amounts are the same. If I had more time, I'd go to fitday and try to figure it out. My water intake is still poor at only about 4 C today.

2...10 hours of great sleep last night.

3...Found some green tea at Walmart in the vitamin section. I'm not sure why people say it has such a bad taste...I think it's really wonderful with just some Stevia in it. I'm looking forward trying it as iced tea tomorrow. Anyway, I've decided to use it for all it's worth and drink it at breakfast and lunch. Her book says to drink as much of it as it takes to keep you eating well, and that caffeine is better than sugar. I drank an 8-oz cup at breakfast and at lunch. Needless to say, I didn't need my nap today! And I also felt a bit jittery this afternoon. But, I feel good enough to bake my brother-in-laws birthday cake and my kids helped, and it was fun and not stressful, so hey, I'll take it!! Sure hope it doesn't interfere with my sleep!! It's 930 at night, I didn't have a nap today, and I'm not tired at all. Tomorrow I'll do 4 ounces at lunch instead.

4...stretches this AM.

5...Not on HRT, but I do now believe I'm the very early stages of perimenopause, when the body produces higher levels of hormones to keep the ovaries, which are getting tired, ovulating. That would certainly explain my pre-ovulation "PMS"--that my hormone levels are higher than they used to be. The reason I say very early stages is that I'm still ovulating every month and the pre-ovulation PMS just started a couple of months ago. I have no idea what to do about it, if anything, but at least having an idea of what may be going on is helpful.

1...Woke up feeling good this AM. The thing that is surprising me with this new 5 times per day thing, is the return of my appetite! I do feel a little hunger when it's time to eat again. That's OK. Hunger is a 'normal' feeling, and feeling it again makes me feel normal. My 'hunger' had sort of evolved into a sick, weak, panicky feeling. I would often miss it, and not realize I needed to eat, then I'd get ravenous and eat everything in sight. Now, it's a 'polite' feeling, a little rumble in the tummy. Normal. I like that.

Went to my MIL's house for BIL's b-day dinner. I did great on the dinner part, eating the amount I should eat, but that beautiful, wonderful from-scratch chocolate b-day cake I made for him was just too much to resist. I had a small slice with a little bit of ice cream. Not excessive by any means, but technically not allowed on the healing plan. It's always something with me, either a binge or somebody's b-day. Oh, well--baby steps. I'm simply not willing to live the rest of my life without a slice of one of my from-scratch cakes occasionally. I know you're not supposed to skip meals, but I'm just not hungry AT ALL, and I'm just not going to eat my last snack.

Food today:

9am: 2 turkey sausage links, rice pilaf (1/3 C brown rice, 1 oz chicken, about 1/2 C total of green beans, mushrooms and onion), 8 oz green tea, stevia
12pm: 2 oz chicken chz roll (chx breast, cream cheese, chives, bacon), 1/2 C green beans, 1/4 C lima beans with butter)
3pm: 2 oz chicken breast, 1/2 C grilled marinated zuchini, 2.5T black beans with cilantro and chili powder
6pm: 1 large meatball (~3 oz) with a little red sauce and some mushrooms, ~2 C Ceasar salad, small slice (~ 3/4 in) Celebration Day Cake with ~ 1/4 C vanilla ice cream

2...I didn't feel tired when I went to bed last night at 1030, but I feel asleep very quickly and slept pretty soundly (only remember briefly waking about 2 or 3 times---soundly for me!) for about 9 hours. Church today.

3...8oz of hot green tea with stevia at breakfast and 4oz of iced green tea at lunch. I have abandoned my old favorite, HV Ranch salad dressing. I'm just going to make my own. DS does recommend Annie's dressings, but the Cowgirl Ranch has sugar in it, so I can't help but wonder why it's on the list. I have a recipe for ranch that is super simple and is very good (although, sadly NOTHING beats HV Ranch)...and no chemicals. I am still using Hellman's mayo. Maybe someday I'll make the switch to a cold-pressed mayo, but it costs so much more. I've switched from Cardini's Ceasar to Newman's Own Ceasar (recommended in the book), and I really do like it better. I bought some Drew's (also recommeded in the book) Soy Ginger to try. It doesn't contain any sugar or sweetners, so I can't help wondering if it'll be any good!

4...stretches this AM

I don't think you are eating alot of food. I eat way more than that, so don't feel as if you are eating too much. I'm also losing about 2 to 3 lbs a month now, while weight training, and I think it is predominantly fat loss. You wouldn't think 2 lbs is alot, but my husband and I both really notice it. 5 small meals is definitely the way to go and you can get away with eating more calories this way. It might seem like a pain at first, but it will become second nature in time. I'm limited right now because I'm doing a candida cleanse, but other meal or snack suggestions are plain yogurt with berries and ground flax seed, I sometimes add some whey powder because my protein needs are fairly high due to activity, various nuts if you can tolerate them (they already have all the protein carb and fat you need), you could add a fruit to the nuts, hummus with veggies for dipping, nut butters on slices of fruit or celery, cheese if you do dairy. Actually I'm finding it a little challenging to get the amount of protein I want now. Hopefully the meals will carry you a bit better throughout the day.

I have most definitely noticed an increase in energy levels in the 2 days I've done the 5 meals, or, really, 5 snacks, a day. I really really like it, but Mark has been home these last 2 days. The real test will be when he goes back to work tomorrow, and I have to spend so much time fixing and cleaning up these "snacks." I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you can't turn your back on 3 children under 5 years old for more than a few minutes at most...

Hi Elle,

Just wanted to let you know that I am enjoying reading your daily posts (tho I've been gone for a week and then sick so couldn't).
Am sure curious what alot of your abbreviations are tho. I've no idea.
Congratulations on the 5 meal deal! That is my goal.
Good for you!!

Keep up the good work!
Mindy

Can you guess them from the context? Not sure which one's you mean. MIL is mother in law. BIL is brother in law. HRT is homrmone replacement therapy. HV is Hidden Valley. B/C is because.

Glad you like reading them! I really love writing them. But I often wonder if they make me look unstable! I have my ups and downs, that's for sure.

Mon 7/18

1..Another on-track day. 5 good meals. Water intake still down, only about 4 cups in, not including my green tea.

9am: chicken, brown rice, grilled zuchini, green tea, stevia
12pm: bacon-wrapped shrimp, romaine/green pea salad w/ homemade ranch, green tea, stevia
3pm: hamburger, baked tostitos, salsa
6pm: pork chop, potato w/ sour cream, broccoli w/ butter
9pm: cottage cheese

I am a little concerned about the fact that my feet/ankles have been feeling very tight the last few nights. No visible swelling, but I can "feel it." This always happens when I've eaten too many carbs. While I like the program, I'm beginning to question the carb levels again. This has been a 'sticking' point for me since the start...it just seems like too many carbs--approx 100g (60g countable + about 40g if one were to eat all the non-starchy veggies SP recommends) at the very least for the IRBOA plan and going up from there. Today I dropped my carbs a bit, to 40g from all sources, and I feel no swelling at all tonight.

2..not great sleep last night. Woke often after 3 am.

3..nothing new here.

4..stretches this AM, and plan to do a few before bed

I get those tight feelings in my feet too. Sometimes I can tell that I am retaining fluid because I see it in my calves and feet. Other times it is just a feeling. I will also wake up with burning extremities and I used to have problems with morning stiffness. I also look very different from morning to night. In the am before eating, I look normal. As the day goes on I get this dimply appearance from the belly button down, like I have lots of cellulite or something. My size doesn't change much and I don't have to loosen my belt or anything, it's just a really yucky appearance.

Maybe you will have to work your way up with carbs very gradually.