Moonwatcher's Primal/Calorie Counting Adventure!
- Thread starter moonwatcher
- Start date
MinnieMel
Why Be Normal?
moonwatcher
Gold Member
I was surprised quite how low the carbs were to be honest. I always look to the calories first and the carbs are simply ' what they are.' I do seem to get a better result when the carbs are down.
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Haven't added up food for today yet, but here is pic of tonight's meal - lamb steak with tamari citrus roast sweet potatoes, spicy roast cauli, garlic chestnut mushrooms and herb cream sauce with chilli
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moonwatcher
Gold Member
Thursday 20th March
Breakfast - greek yogurt and soft dark sugar (151 cals)
Lunch - canteen ham salad with coleslaw, fresh fruit salad (337 cals)
Afternoon and evening snacks - half an avocado with herb and chilli yogurt sauce, four squares dark mint chocolate, ten black grapes (394 cals)
Dinner - lamb steak fried in a little butter, chestnut mushrooms with garlic, tamari citrus roast sweet potato wedges, roast spicy cauliflower, herb and chilli cream sauce (leftover from the salmon the other night - added chilli!) (691 cals)
Drinks - water, milk in earl grey teas and coffees, one coffee and cream (178 cals)
Weird day at work today - rather a lot of unsettling stuff going on.
Tomorrow is a multi day for Sports Relief - the kids can wear sports gear of their choice if they wish. So can staff. I usually enter into the spirit of things for these kind of days (Christmas jumper day, home - made woolly wig for Comic Relief etc.,) but the only sports gear I have is my trackie bottoms and a t shirt, so think I will give it a miss tomorrow!
Breakfast - greek yogurt and soft dark sugar (151 cals)
Lunch - canteen ham salad with coleslaw, fresh fruit salad (337 cals)
Afternoon and evening snacks - half an avocado with herb and chilli yogurt sauce, four squares dark mint chocolate, ten black grapes (394 cals)
Dinner - lamb steak fried in a little butter, chestnut mushrooms with garlic, tamari citrus roast sweet potato wedges, roast spicy cauliflower, herb and chilli cream sauce (leftover from the salmon the other night - added chilli!) (691 cals)
Drinks - water, milk in earl grey teas and coffees, one coffee and cream (178 cals)
Weird day at work today - rather a lot of unsettling stuff going on.
Tomorrow is a multi day for Sports Relief - the kids can wear sports gear of their choice if they wish. So can staff. I usually enter into the spirit of things for these kind of days (Christmas jumper day, home - made woolly wig for Comic Relief etc.,) but the only sports gear I have is my trackie bottoms and a t shirt, so think I will give it a miss tomorrow!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Decided on hoodie, jeans and trainers. It is for charity after all and I need to be appropriately dressed for the staff v pupils 'row the channel' competition. I'm watching of course!
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Atomic pink
Gold Member
Cauliflower cheese sounds like a perfectly exciting accompaniment to cold roast pork to me! Yum! Food looking very nice and you have got quite low on the carbs for the last couple of days. How do you feel when the carbs are that low? When I was doing whole30 I found I really struggled with some of my gym sessions when the carbs got that low so I've made a conscious effect to keep them higher at the moment, around 100-150.
How was jeans and hoodie day at work? I think its really awkward sometimes in schools when they do these "fancy dress" days. I know they are all in a good cause but I think it creates a bit too much of an opportunity to single people out. And there was no way in hell you would have caught me dead wearing sports wear when I was at school!! Stripey tights and army boots maybe.
How was jeans and hoodie day at work? I think its really awkward sometimes in schools when they do these "fancy dress" days. I know they are all in a good cause but I think it creates a bit too much of an opportunity to single people out. And there was no way in hell you would have caught me dead wearing sports wear when I was at school!! Stripey tights and army boots maybe.
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Hehe. Yes that's what I thought. It was also a very lazy and laid back start to the day to simply throw on jeans, hoodie and trainers - no wrestling into tights, selecting boot heel height to match the lessons (lots of standing or walking V sitting with pupils), no 'is scarf covering cleavage?' check (being rather well endowed and spending a lot of time leaning over a desk, a cleavage check is essential!)
moonwatcher
Gold Member
I haven't noticed any change in energy levels on the lower-low carb levels, although my exercise at the moment is only walking. If I was doing more strenuous stuff that might make a difference.
Sport Relief day was very good. A lot of the pupils just wore things like sports hoodies, jeans, football shirts etc with 'normal' clothes. A few wore full sports kit - like netball gear, football gear, martial arts outfits (my favouites). One teacher wore a wetsuit! We do notice a difference in behaviour when we have the mufti days, but it isn't negative behaviour towards other pupils - more 'high spirits' which is why we usually have them on a Friday! The kids don't have to wear multi if they don't want to and a few choose to stay with their uniform. Often the ones we work with will wear their uniform because they either can't see the point of it (to them, it is a school day, on school days you wear uniform, it is the rule, end of discussion!) or because they would find it hard to cope with that personal change to their routine. They don't get any flak for it though. It is one of the things I am pretty proud of in our school - that we work hard to integrate the 'different' kids within the school, as much or as little as they can cope with, and to educate the other pupils about SEN needs so that the other pupils are very accepting of those differences.
We had a Sports Relief school bake off on Wednesday evening - mixed pairs (one staff member and one pupil), we raffled the cakes, had a rowing competition yesterday where people could buy a ticket for what they thought the winning time would be and the usual money in the pot for a non uniform day. During the week we have had BBC Look East in, the local paper in twice and BBC Radio Norfolk in yesterday so it has been quite a week!
Back to 'normal' next week. Two weeks to the Easter Hols and then Year 11 exam countdown starts in earnest!
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moonwatcher
Gold Member
WI was this morning and I have lost 1.6 lbs this week. That means since the beginning of the year (11 weeks WIs) I have lost 7.4 lbs in total which, although it has been up and down, averages 0.67 lbs per week (to two decimal places - sorry, occupational hazard!) It also shows a decent loss on a proper Primal week, so I'm quite happy! Celebrated with a small piece of cake and sausage and chips today. Am just about to have a late gin and tonic while watching some old Hammer Horror Films, or 'ammer 'ouse 'o 'orror as they are known in our house/'ouse, as they always seem to feature a dis-proportionate number of Cockney or West Country characters who drop every H and have lines like 'Naaargh, there baint be no werewolves in these 'ere wooooods. Stayin' at the old manor 'ouse then are yer?' Great fun!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Evening!
My foot op friend is always wearing a scarf for the cleavage cover bit. Never had that problem.
I only bother in school. Out of school they take their chances!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Congrats on your loss. Enjoy your fright night!
Thanks Mel. Gin and tonic cocktail with elderflower cordial and lime at the ready!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Thanks Em.
Atomic pink
Gold Member
Great scales news! The loss so far this year is also really promising. Half a stone is not to be sniffed at. And its probably been a little easier to stick to than previous diets I presume?
Sounds like your school has really got a handle on things as far as the kids' behaviour and attitude is concerned. Nice that everyone enjoyed the sports relief events.
Sounds like your school has really got a handle on things as far as the kids' behaviour and attitude is concerned. Nice that everyone enjoyed the sports relief events.
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Thanks Atomic. It is certainly easier to stick to. To be honest, on that calorie level, it doesn't feel like a 'diet' and I think I have perhaps found my 'niche' with the (mainly) Primal approach. It did hit me a bit yesterday that I am around the same weight I was two years ago, having gone down and up in between, and that made me feel a bit glum, but on the other hand I don't have any eating guilt with this current approach. There is no pressure to be 100% now and as long as the general trend is downwards I'm feeling quite settled. I won't deny that I am looking forward to the time when I can again say I have lost 3 stone! That could well be the end of the year I suppose, which will make my long term average a stone a year, so only another five years to go to target!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Food for yesterday was absolutely non Primal! Calories were about 420 over and carbs were 172. Some of the calories were used up walking at the coast and a mammoth shopping trip. Actually, looking at that carb level, it is higher than what is now my normal, but not excessive. Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed a whole day 'off' and now I seem to be able to tolerate some wheat products here and there too. It made a nice change...
Breakfast - greek yogurt and dark brown sugar
Left car at car park car wash while we went for a long stroll round Tesco and did a bit of food shopping. Plenty of veg, some fruit, meat, cheese... the usual stuff. I picked up a bottle of EVOO truffle oil, only to Google it when I got back to see that chefs appear to think it is just about one step down from the devil in cooking now! Oh well, I will wait until I have tried it and see what I think!
Lunchtime, but not really lunch, was an iced latte at Costa with a slice of their iced Tiramisu cake - ok, but not as good as their lemon cake, or their gf brownies IMO
Later we drove out to Wells-next-the-sea and sat on the quayside. I decided to really push the boat out (quayside...push the boat out...I am such a card!) and have unbattered sausage and chips. Their sausages are probably not gluten free, although they are very 'real meaty' and also the chips may be cross contaminated from batter in the same oil. I had a slightly uncomfortable stomach later in the evening, but none of the other effects like in the past, so I think the last eight months gluten free has worked to de-sensitise me. I still won't risk bread, and for the most part will stick to gf, but it is nice to know I can indulge from time to time. I am sure if I went back to the amounts of gluten/wheat/grain food I was eating before that it wouldn't be long before I started to suffer badly again. We have gf sausages on the menu today, so maybe not the best choice for variety, but I wasn't going to risk actual batter.
We went for a walk down to the beach (brrrrh - was very cold as it began to get dark) and then came home to strawberries and cream, a few squares of lemon dark chocolate, and a gin and tonic with a splash of elderfliwer liqueur and some lime juice to finish the day!
Breakfast - greek yogurt and dark brown sugar
Left car at car park car wash while we went for a long stroll round Tesco and did a bit of food shopping. Plenty of veg, some fruit, meat, cheese... the usual stuff. I picked up a bottle of EVOO truffle oil, only to Google it when I got back to see that chefs appear to think it is just about one step down from the devil in cooking now! Oh well, I will wait until I have tried it and see what I think!
Lunchtime, but not really lunch, was an iced latte at Costa with a slice of their iced Tiramisu cake - ok, but not as good as their lemon cake, or their gf brownies IMO
Later we drove out to Wells-next-the-sea and sat on the quayside. I decided to really push the boat out (quayside...push the boat out...I am such a card!) and have unbattered sausage and chips. Their sausages are probably not gluten free, although they are very 'real meaty' and also the chips may be cross contaminated from batter in the same oil. I had a slightly uncomfortable stomach later in the evening, but none of the other effects like in the past, so I think the last eight months gluten free has worked to de-sensitise me. I still won't risk bread, and for the most part will stick to gf, but it is nice to know I can indulge from time to time. I am sure if I went back to the amounts of gluten/wheat/grain food I was eating before that it wouldn't be long before I started to suffer badly again. We have gf sausages on the menu today, so maybe not the best choice for variety, but I wasn't going to risk actual batter.
We went for a walk down to the beach (brrrrh - was very cold as it began to get dark) and then came home to strawberries and cream, a few squares of lemon dark chocolate, and a gin and tonic with a splash of elderfliwer liqueur and some lime juice to finish the day!
