Bonnie's ad-hoc check-in

[bonnieUK]

Healthy Vegan on No S diet here (yes, even on a healthy vegan diet you can overeat and put on weight).

Target - loose about 3-4 kgs (6-8 lbs) as part of a general bid to get fitter, counteract the sedintary office worker lifestyle and get back to my usual healthy weight.

I doubt I'll be able to check in everyday, and I'd risk becoming too obsessive about it so I've decided to check in on an ad-hoc basis to track my progress.

Today is day 12 on No S. So far so good. Have adjusted to not having seconds, already finding my single plate meals much more filling and satisfying.

Cutting down on the snacks too (that was the tricky bit in the begining!).

Yesterday I was off sick (with a stomach bug) so didn't eat much.

This morning I could only manage a small bowl of branflakes with hot water (couldn't even face soy milk). I thought the small breakfast would have me on the snacks later, but it's almost lunchtime and I've been fine on just green tea and water - I guess my appetite is low because of the stomach bug.

My relationship with food has definately changed. I have always been a foodie (even as a baby apparently!) and love eating. I still have that feeling but now that I'm getting out of my over-eating habits, food seems even more enjoyable. I'm now thinking "what food can I look foward to later?" rather than "what I can eat next?".

I'm going to a college re-union at the weekend which will involve a meal at a Chinese restaurant. I'm looking forward to treating myself with a variety of nice foods, maybe even a desert if they have anything non-dairy

[bonnieUK]

Just ate 2 cookies because I got stressed at work...must get control of emotional eating!

Oh well, will be good for the rest of the day. At least I now know a good brand of organic cookies to buy on an S day LOL.

[bonnieUK]

Just thought I should add. The cookies were nice, but not satisfying because I knew I shouldn't eat them. What I should have done was though "mm, those cookies look nice, I'll get some for myself to have on Sunday" rather than sneakily eating 2 and then not enjoying them. Oh well, lesson learned for the future. I'm still considering this day 12 of no S because I think the reduced amount of food I've eaten today and yesterday due to stomach bug gives me a *little* margin for the cookies. Also, I'll be good on sunday to make it up. Looking forward!

[bonnieUK]

Today is day 16 on No S.

Saturday
Ended up as an N day, I'd been "budgeting" for a luxurious chinese meal out but ended up not having much, didn't even have dessert. Oh well, it makes up for a cookie slip up on Thursday!

Breakfast: Muesli with soya milk.

Lunch: vegetarian chili with rice.

Dinner: A small vegetable spring roll, half a bowl of steamed rice, some curried vegetables - (the service was slow, we finally ate at 10pm! they also forgot some of our orders, there wasn't enough rice to go around, we couldn't be bothered to order more food as we didn't want to be there all night LOL).

Sunday

Breakfast: Muesli with soya milk (2 bowls!)

Lunch: baked potato, hummus & salad

Snack: yet another bowl of cereal with soya milk - muesli overload!

Dinner: Felafels, lots of steamed vegetables, very small serving of pasta (1 tablespoon), lots of olive oil added.

Dessert: devoured some vegan honey & oat cookies (had about 6 I think!).

I think my S days were quite sensible! Hoping to be good on my N days this week.

[bonnieUK]

Accidentally posted same post more than once.

[bonnieUK]

Accidentally posted same post more than once.

[bonnieUK]

Accidentally posted same post more than once.

[bonnieUK]

Accidentally posted same post more than once.

[bonnieUK]

Monday failure - Was good all day but had a slip up after dinner (oops!)

Breakfast - bran flakes with soya milk.

Lunch - leftover steamed vegetables & pasta.

Dinner - a bean burger, small serving of millet grain, peas, steamed red cabbage plus a carrot & cucumber salad.

Naughtiness - ate 4 small honey cookies after dinner.

[bonnieUK]

Tuesday - sucess

Breakfast - 3 weetabix with soya milk.
Lunch - bean burger with steamed veg & millet grain.
Dinner - wholewheate pasta with soya mince in tomato sauce and a large salad (with lemon juice and olive oil dressing)

Helpers - decaf coffee with soya milk x 2 - helps fill that gap between meals - also good because I'm trying to cut down on caffeine.

[bonnieUK]

Wednesday - Success

Breakfast: 3 weetabix with soya milk

Lunch: Hummus, carrot and basil sandwich on wholemeal bread. A banana.

Dinner: 1 bowl of homemade pea soup - small serving of unsweetened soya yoghurt with flax seed oil & a sprinkling muesli.

Helpers: decaf coffee with lots of soya milk to help with the gap between meals.

[bonnieUK]

Thursday - SUCCESS!

Breakfast - 2 weetabix with soya milk.
Lunch - homemade pea soup, 4 rye crackers with vegetable margarine.
Dinner - vegetable chili & rice, a couple of felafels, 2 pieces of flatbread, hummous & cucumber salad.

Today is day 20

[bonnieUK]

Friday

SUCCESS

Friday was another good day! can't remember exactly what I ate but it was all good and healthy.

[bonnieUK]

At the weekend I didn't feel the need to have snacks or seconds, which is great. I did eat lots of dark chocolate gingerbread though (after meals).

I think this No S ing is gradually reducing my appetite. I used to pack my lunch and 2 healthy snacks (fruit, nuts, crackers etc.) for the work day and I'd feel a bit anxious if I didn't have at least 2 snacks in my lunch pack. That anxious feeling has now gone and I feel fine with just lunch.

Today is day 24! So far so good

[bonnieUK]

Monday SUCCESS

Good all day, lasted well on a small breakfast and small lunch (because I was disorganised and hadn't prepared in advance!), which made me appreciate dinner much more.

[bonnieUK]

TuesdaySUCCESS

Another succes. Had a bit of a dodgy moment at dinner though, I made a huge vegetable & seed loaf and it was tempting to eat seconds, I also ate a little piece of the crispy edge when I was transfering the loaf into a container to go in the fridge - a bit naughty!

[bonnieUK]

Last Wednesday to Friday - SUCCESS

Was good all last week I even had Saturday as an N-day, purely because I just didn't feel like having any S foods. Was busy all day doing housework anyway. Ate some S foods on Sunday though

[bonnieUK]

Haven't logged in for a while, but all going well. Haven't had any failure days! Haven't noticeably lost weight yet, but feeling a bit more comfortable in my clothes - must be a good sign

[bonnieUK]

Haven't checked in for a while, I've decided I'll just check in if I have something new to report or if I have a failure.

It's definitely true that including a good protein source with each meal is the best way to avoid slip ups, I've had one failure and some other near failures as a result of eating a meal that is light on the protein and left me hungry!

I'm starting to see a little weight loss now too

[bonnieUK]

Checking in again after about a month!

I have had 3 failure incidents this month:

1 - ate a few oatmeal biscuits mid morning one day.

2 - ate a packet of crisps one day, it was almost lunch time but not quite so I'm considering that a failure.

3 - I'm sure there was a day when I ate seconds, but can't remember the specifics.

I think I'm still on track but think I need to keep meals full and varied in order not to have slip ups - there is a pattern that temptations occur when meals are plain and not very filling!

[bonnieUK]

Just thought I should probably check in as I haven't in a while.

I seem to remember 2 failure days in December, which involved giving in to the temptation of eating a cookie or mince pie (or both!) that were around in abundance before Christmas.

Over Christmas I didn't snack much at all because meals were more elaborate and luxurious than usual so I didn't want to spoil them. I also didn't have many sweets due to being too full from good meals

There are only 2 problem areas for me that come up occasionally:

1. Wanting to eat seconds - I need to ensure my meals include enough variety or I don't feel satisfied. I sometimes allow second servings of vegetables though if I still feel hungry, or a very small side plate of plain wholegrain crackers.

2. Mid-morning hunger - this only happens if I don't have a substantial enough breakfast or if I have too much caffeiene. I can generally get in control of this though if I'm organised and have time to eat breakfast properly (rather than eating something quick while rushing out the door!).

Other than that, all going well and according to the scales I seem to be on average 2kgs lighter than when I started No S.

[bonnieUK]

Wow - haven't checked in for a while!

Double wow - I didn't realise I'd been doing No S for almost a year

I'm generally on track, have on average about 3 failure days per month (usually in the form of snacking and having seconds on a weekday, I generally don't go crazy with the sweets though, even at weekends).

My weight has stayed the same for a few months I think, proabably because I don't have a strong motivation to lose more. I think my main issue is that I'm slim, but just out of shape as a result of too many deskbound days and a far too sporadic exercise schedule.

I've just re-discovered Callanetics (again) and as usual, don't know why I always get lured away to other exercise programmes - Callanetics works and gives faster results than anything else, and I do enjoy it for it's ballet like feel and the fact that you don't get hot and sweaty. I think I just get bored doing the same thing for more than a couple of months.

I've decided to lighten up and stop being such a control freak about exercise, as ultimately I rebel against my own strict schedules then end up doing nothing at all for weeks or months even (e.g. my attempt at doing a strict 45 min Ashtanga yoga session everyday - that lasted about 3 weeks until I got bored senseless and racked with carpal tunnel syndrome).

So, I'm aiming to do Callanetics 2x per week, with a bit of yoga thrown in for enjoyment (and just the parts of yoga I enjoy, no more tortous up & down dogs which hurt my wrists!) - not too punishing a schedule methinks! Walking a few times a week just happens whenever, so I'm not going to put any strict controls on that

[bonnieUK]

I've mentioned elsewhere on the boards that due to some health issues I've had to abandon the "mostly vegan" diet I was subsisting on. I basically had to make a decision between my mind (believing in vegan ethics) and my body (which has given clear signals that a vegan diet, even with supplements, just isn't enough)

I'm not sure what to call myself these days, as I now eat mostly plant based with occasional eggs, and I plan to include some fish occasionally too. I guess that is something like macrobiotic or pescatarian.

While going through some health issues (mainly chronic fatigue/lack of energy) I had many a cheat day, often reaching for a quick sugar fix as a result of feeling so fatigued (which of course is a short term quick fix with long term negative consequences!).

Anyway, since tweaking my diet to include some animal foods, I'm back on track and feeling healthier. Including a fourth mini meal mid morning helps too!

[blueskighs]

Bonnie,

sympathies I had to also abandon my mostly vegan diet, it is hard because philosophically there is a lot of thoughtfulness and caring for animals and planet involved, i am taking the lessons i learned from my vegan years and eating only organic free range stuff ... as my husband points out, in the wild other animals go in for a "quick kill" to get the food they want to eat and the torture and torment used in current animal farming industry is simply inexcusable, and then on the health side all that stuff pumped up with antibiotics and hormones ....

so I will still shop for belts purses and shoes at our vegan store here, not wear fur, and try to live as consciously and humanely is possible with respect to all creatures on the planet,

Blueskighs