Plumfoodie's diary and ramblings

[irish molly]

Any one food plan will be devised so as you lose weight on it. In my opinion if you mix and match from plans then you need to keep an eye to overall cal intake.
As I adopted general gl principles without following one plan I also watched my cal intake for a few weeks. I used myfitnesspal to log cals. It will calculate your intake for you based on how much you want to lose each week. I then chose GL foods . I was able to easily lose 2-3 pounds a week with little effort and never feel hungry. I am now a year maintaining my GL losses too.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks! That makes perfect sense.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Argh. Had to buy a different porridge this week as they were out of my normal one and after eating this one discover it has added sugar. Bah! Really need to get organised and make up my own porridge mix with different rolled grains.

On a positive note, really enjoying fresh apricots at the moment. We got some lovely ones and one chopped up into porridge or with a blob of yoghurt and mixed seeds for a snack is delicious.

 

[irish molly]

Yep, Patrick Holford et al are emphatic about using just porridge oats. No ready processed or added sugars.
The addition of just one finely chopped apricot really makes the porridge lovely!!!
Keep at it hon! You are doing great.

 

[Plumfoodie]

I have to admit it makes me cross when manufacturers add sugar to things that really don't need it! I could tell straightaway as I started to get that buzzy sugary feeling about halfway through eating. I should have checked the box sooner but was in a rush.

Hope you're having a nice weekend Molly. (as always, thanks for the encouragement!)

 

[Plumfoodie]

Ahhhh. I've done really well this weekend at eating smaller meals/snacks with protein and carbs together every 3 hours or so... husband has come home from visiting his mum for the weekend and am now waiting for him to finish doing Something in the garden so we can have tea. 1/2 hour late now according to my stomach and although I've had my salad already (to stop gnawing my own arm off) I'm SO HUNGRY. Really struggling not to grab a 100cal-ish snack but haven't got any spare calories left today. (I know that 100cal in the grand scheme of things won't kill me and if he doesn't come back soon I will grab something but was really hoping to keep to my totals this week.)

The downside of eating smaller meals/snacks at regular intervals seems to be that you don't have much reserve if you're late for some reason. Anybody else find that?

*gnaw gnaw gnaw*

 

[Plumfoodie]

Having a good day today, found wholemeal bagels in Tesco (half of one with scrambled eggs at breakfast was very nice) and also a quinoa/bulgur wheat blend that cooks in 10 minutes that made a tasty base for my Quorn/veg stirfry at lunch. And the Ginger Bread Nakd bars are really lovely! Chicken and white bean stew for dinner later and I've wound up with enough spare calories to have a tiny Green and Black's choccie bar for afters. Hoorah!

 

[irish molly]

Am really loving your food today! Yep those ginger bread bars are fab! I buy Nakd bars in bulk from team nutrition. They work out cheaper. Especially as I have converted OH to them instead of choccies etc!
Hope the rest of the week is just as good!

 

[Plumfoodie]

I was looking at the Team Nutrition website the other day; good to hear from someone who has used them! I do like to buy from our local independent healthfood shop but they cost 90p there and it all adds up!

 

[irish molly]

I'm afraid in Ireland the Nakd bars are very pricey. Health food shops charge about EUR1.25 each for the small bars! Buying them from TN incl postage works out at about 80 c each. Would love to shop local but they don't make it easy. I enquired about a discount if I bought them by the box but the health food shop wouldn't budge!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Yikes, EUR1.25 is outrageous! And to turn down your offer to buy a box... sometimes I wonder how we're supposed to keep small businesses going if they aren't willing to work with us!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Had a foggy brain moment and calculated my dinner calories wrong today! Wound up about 130 cals under for the day but really don't fancy eating anything else now (oh, I'd have killed to know I had these calories yesterday when I was starving...). That's partly down to my bungled maths and partly down to an unexpected fit of energy that saw me do 2 minutes on my airwalker and 15 minutes of lying-down-on-the-floor Pilates (not sure how that burns 70 calories but not going to argue). Ho hum.

Lentils and quinoa/bulgur mix on the go now for lunchtime salad tomorrow/Wednesday, to include plenty of veggies and some feta and seeds, and veggies have been chopped for Hungarian Goulash to go into the slow cooker in the morning, which will make enough to freeze 4 portions as well as being our dinner. Instead of having with mash or rice/pasta we're adding some red kidney beans (although I suspect husband will still have some mash as well).

I don't often have such fits of organisation but like to use them when they come along!

 

[irish molly]

Food looking great again. Don't worry about not using up all your cals. Don't eat just because you think you have cals left. Eat because you genuinely feel hungry, not think youre hungry iykwim.
After all, if we are eating the right combo of GL foods our bodies just won't overeat. I know that when I'm eating the right foods, hunger or cravings do not come into the picture.
It's the inclusion of too many White carbs/sugars that drives us to excess. It is in that context that we might watch overall cal intake, if that makes sense. Again, if I include too many sugary foods I pick more and then overeat slightly for that day.
Well done on all the precooking. I find it keeps me on track. I always have a portion of spicy bean stew in the fridge.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Hi Molly, I know you what you mean about the calories and in most cases I would agree with you not to eat them just for the sake of it, but I have to be a little bit careful as it doesn't take too much to throw my ME into a wobbly! Thus I can't cut them down too far in the first place and also must be careful to eat them all. It would be nice if my system reacted and behaved like a normal system but unfortunately that ship has sailed!

Goulash looking good, although we couldn't find the 'right' sort of paprika (I like the sweet smoked paprika for goulash). Used to have it in all the stores here but this weekend it wasn't anywhere to be found! Very pleased to already have tomorrow's lunch in the fridge as well.

And it's really true what you say about the sugar/white carbs making you more hungry! They really do. If I have something with simple sugars in it early in the day then I just spend the whole day eating! And it's always rubbish that I crave on those days as well!

 

[irish molly]

Oh ! Forgot about the ME and didn't realise the importance of maintaining calorie intake for it. You've got it sussed on all fronts.
Hope the goulash is good.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Goulash turned out quite tasty! Bit heavy on red meat but as an occasional thing very nice. I may have been sneaky and had a tiny scoop of multi-veg mash in addition to my saintly cabbage... ;-)

Tomorrow is looking very similar to today: porridge and a boiled egg for breakfast, more quinoa/veg/lentil/feta/seed salad for lunch, and a Nakd bar and oatcake+cheese for snacks. Not too sure about dinner yet! I'll be working from home and have to be a little bit careful during the day as it's so easy to wander into the kitchen and grab something to eat!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Probably won't be posting for a little while; have had a bereavement. Currently don't feel like eating anything at all, hope I will get back to healthy meals right away and not start binge/comfort eating. The healthy meals make me feel better which can only help me cope better, I guess.

 

[irish molly]

Oh dear! Sympathies to you on your sad news. Hope you cope over the funeral period.

 

[Splenda]

Hi plumfoodie! Just been catching up on your posts, you're doing really well!!
Sorry to hear about your sad news, take care!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks all for the kind words.