Sites of the week

Avert your eyes from today’s food diary.
It’s 4PM and I am already seeing that it’s going to be one of *those* days.
You know, the one where you find yourself wandering back into the kitchen every half hour because you’re “hungry.”

I think I know what triggered this kind of day, though. First – I woke up very late (around 11 AM) and skipped breakfast. I didn’t take my vitamin mix until about 3PM or so. I ended up taking a cap nap at 3:30…yes, a cat nap – even though I woke up at 11.
Obviously my body is a little off today. I tried tricking it with a healthy lunch, but it ended up seeking out lots of popcorn and sugar-free chocolates a few hours later.

Blah. Okay, I’ve dealt with days like this before and the best thing to do is to stay mindful of the cravings. Acknowledge them and negotiate with them.
“Okay, body – here’s your popcorn, but I’m adding a few slices of low-fat cheese and an apple slice, too. Protein and fiber to keep me fuller longer.”

“Okay, body – you want chocolate? Have 3 little pieces of sugar-free chocolate and I’ll take a 15 minute walk around the block later to celebrate the happy snacky occasion.”

lol…yes, my body and I converse. Not often, mind you, but it’s a necessary part of weight-loss.

In any case, don’t be too alarmed at what you see in the food list below. It’s going to be an interesting day…

Mood: Tired

I kind of guessed at some of the the things I ate today – I tracked this at 10PM and I don’t think I remembered some of the food correctly.

It was one of those crazy days when I am running around, so I wasn’t as careful with tracking. Tomorrow is a little quieter, so expect a little more accuracy (and less coffee – I had two large cups today instead of my usual tea. I could have used those calories on something a little healthier, I think.)

Today’s weight: 118

Blah – it’s 2PM and I only have 200-something calories left for the day. If I want more, I better do some exercise. I think I have to give up on the coffee while I’m trying to lose these 4 pounds. The calories from the cream just aren’t worth it.

UPDATE: Okay, this kind of stinks. Since my daughter has been on her special diet, I have been needing to taste test all the dishes I make for her…since I’m such a lousy cook and all. Because of this, I am using up so many calories.

*Sigh* What am I to do?
I have to keep my meals really light early in the day to save them for my dinner testing. In a few weeks, I should have all my meals already chosen and I’ll know how to make them properly, but in the meantime, I have to be careful. Maybe this just isn’t the best time to try to lose those 4 pounds again….hmmm….I don’t know.

Mood: Tired

Okay, okay – I know the calories really REALLY stink for today, but I slept until 4PM. I’m not being a bum…seriously. I honestly feel like I am fighting some kind of illness.

I guessed on the calories for the chicken soup. I made it myself, but didn’t feel like calculating it exactly. I’ll make sure to work on doing that tomorrow because I’m sure I’ll be having it a lot this week as leftovers.

Today’s Weight: 119
Ratio: 55 Carb/25 Protein/ 20 Fat
Sodium: 2169mg
Fiber: 26g

Mood: Happy

Yep – I’m tracking again today. I’m trying to figure out why I gained a few pounds in the past few weeks. Maintenance is a tough little bugger, I’ll tell you that much. When you are at your goal weight, it’s so easy to gain the weight back, but it takes so long to lose it again.

I’ve been at my goal weight for almost 18 months. It has been pretty effortless and I am fairly certain I will NOT be one of those statistics in weight-loss failure rates, but something is a little off, so I am trying to figure out what it is.

I have been dealing with a lot of pain and fatigue lately – back pain, side pain, etc. I wonder if my body is just not working well because it isn’t feeling well. Can it do that? Can physical pain and stress actually affect metabolism? Or perhaps, the pain is affecting my eating habits and I haven’t really noticed. Well, that’s what the tracking if for…to see what exactly my eating habits are.

The best part of all of this is that I know how to lose weight and know how to maintain weight. I know what works. I just need to trust the process…and attempt to figure out what might be interfering with that process right now.

UPDATE: Okay, I think I may I may partially know what is going on. At some point in the month of January I gained about 3-4 pounds. That is an awful lot of weight to gain in a short period of time, but I think some of that weight was definitely from eating over my maintenance caloric goal.
I know this because as I tracked today, I had to really cut back on my calories just to keep them at maintenance. If I hadn’t been tracking, I would have definitely gone over maintenance. This means that I must have been going over quite a bit during the month of January. (Not by too much…maybe 200-300 calories a day.)

The rest of the weight gain may be due to my health being really poor lately. Lots of sleeping, fatigue, pain, ickiness.

I truly believe that weight loss/weight gain is affected 90% by calories in/calories out and 10% by hormones/chemicals/emotional/toxins, etc. If a person has trouble lsing weight and they have been diligent with their tracking, I truly believe they need to start figuring out whether their 10% is negatively affecting their weight loss attempts. Sometimes the body just gets really stingy about giving up the fat…and many times there is a logical reason for that.

So, the plan of the next month is to lose one pound a week by eating the prescribed 1240-1300 on my non-exercise days and eating more than that (about 1450-1600) on my exercise days.
It’s healthy, slow, and effective. I’m also being really diligent in taking care of my health. I have a few doctor’s appointments this week to figure out what the heck is going on in this body of mine. This should get me back on track again, I hope.

Today’s Weight: 119 lbs.
Ratio: 40 carbs/ 40 fat / 20 protein
Fiber: 38g
Sodium: 840mg

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 small tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 1/4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (optional)*

*Most Candida diets do not allow for dairy products.
In order to make the recipe “Candida-Friendly” for my daughter, I did not add the cheese.

Preparation and Baking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place squash on a baking sheet, and bake 40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, cool, and shred pulp with a fork.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a casserole dish.
4. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in the green pepper, red pepper, red onion, and garlic. Continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.
5. Mix the shredded squash and tomatoes into the skillet, and season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through.
   
6. Remove skillet from heat, and (optional: mix in 2 cups cheese until melted.) Transfer to the prepared casserole dish.
7. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven. (Optional: Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and continue baking 5 minutes, until cheese is melted)

I will take a picture and add it to the post the next time I make it, but I will say that this was the first dish I made for my daughter that she actually ate since starting her Candida diet.  She is allowed to have corn chips, so she put a serving of this casserole in a bowl and surrounded it with 5 or 6 corn chips.  It reminded us a little bit of a taco – a bit mushier because of the spaghetti squash, but definitely just as tasty.

It makes about 6 servings.
The nutritional information for each serving is below:

Calories	Fat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbs	Sugar	Fiber	Protein
151	5g	66mg	78mg	10g	2g	2g	17g

Weight Watcher’s Points: 3