Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Fast day is here again.  I really wanted to have a Mtn. Dew (my true weakness), so the "food" aspects of today will be a little bit light.  My weight is currently down 4.5 lbs. and I'm really excited to lose 3.5 more (hopefully within the next 3 weeks) and see a number on the scale I've not seen for about 9 years!   First though, I thought I'd share some of what I've learned in the past few weeks.

1.  I frequently eat more than I need to.  I have become more aware of my bodily needs.  Take yesterday; I was out running errands and was incredibly hungry.  I hadn't eaten since noon and since that time had put in a rigorous 30-minute workout, painted cabinets, cleaned my kitchen, made dinner and priced 3 large boxes of children't clothing for a garage sale this weekend.  8 pm. rolls around and I'm done with my grocery shopping and staring McDonald's in the face.  I ordered a small fry and a cheeseburger.  Not the worst thing you can get there (also, not the best).  As I ate, I realized I could have gone with just the cheeseburger or the fries; my body didn't "need" both.

2.  Being hungry doesn't really bother me.  This has been the biggest revelation to me thus far.  I feel freed in fasting.  I'm hungry, and that is okay because I SHOULD be hungry.

3.  I have more than sufficient energy on my fast days.  I get A LOT of work done on fast days.  One of my biggest problems is that I frequently snack because I'm bored.  Well, I don't want to be bored and feeling snacky, so I do stuff.  I sew, paint, do laundry, take walks, read- you name it!

4.  Because we eat fairly healthy as a family, it isn't too difficult to plan an evening meal that we can all eat, and we're still enjoying some family favorites! 
7:04 AM Macy
Fast day is here again.  I really wanted to have a Mtn. Dew (my true weakness), so the "food" aspects of today will be a little bit light.  My weight is currently down 4.5 lbs. and I'm really excited to lose 3.5 more (hopefully within the next 3 weeks) and see a number on the scale I've not seen for about 9 years!   First though, I thought I'd share some of what I've learned in the past few weeks.

1.  I frequently eat more than I need to.  I have become more aware of my bodily needs.  Take yesterday; I was out running errands and was incredibly hungry.  I hadn't eaten since noon and since that time had put in a rigorous 30-minute workout, painted cabinets, cleaned my kitchen, made dinner and priced 3 large boxes of children't clothing for a garage sale this weekend.  8 pm. rolls around and I'm done with my grocery shopping and staring McDonald's in the face.  I ordered a small fry and a cheeseburger.  Not the worst thing you can get there (also, not the best).  As I ate, I realized I could have gone with just the cheeseburger or the fries; my body didn't "need" both.

2.  Being hungry doesn't really bother me.  This has been the biggest revelation to me thus far.  I feel freed in fasting.  I'm hungry, and that is okay because I SHOULD be hungry.

3.  I have more than sufficient energy on my fast days.  I get A LOT of work done on fast days.  One of my biggest problems is that I frequently snack because I'm bored.  Well, I don't want to be bored and feeling snacky, so I do stuff.  I sew, paint, do laundry, take walks, read- you name it!

4.  Because we eat fairly healthy as a family, it isn't too difficult to plan an evening meal that we can all eat, and we're still enjoying some family favorites! 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Saturday was a crazy day for me- my husband was busy doing "house work" and I was painting rooms and it was just really busy!  Around 3pm. I felt a little bit hungry, realized I hadn't eaten since my bowl of cereal around 8 am., so I grabbed a couple slices of leftover homemade pizza and got back to work.  7 pm. rolls around and I'm a bit hungry.  I did some quick math and realized I'd had just under 500 calories for the day so far.  I decided to work through the hunger and finished my fast.  This was a GREAT fast day for me.  The whole day felt easy because I didn't decide until more than half-way through that it would be a fast day.  In essence, it only felt about 3 1/2 hours long- because I went to bed at a decent time ;)  It was a great way to squeeze in my second fast day for the week since Thursday and Friday (days I usually choose for my 2nd fast of the week), were NOT going to work out. 

I'm a few weeks into my fasting routine and down 4 pounds.  I'm encouraged and this feels like something I can continue doing.  My non-fast days haven't changed much, although I am considering skipping lunch a couple times a week to reduce my caloric intake, or just reducing lunch to an apple- something small.

If anybody is acutally reading this blog, I'd love to hear some feedback.  Thanks!
9:42 AM Macy
Saturday was a crazy day for me- my husband was busy doing "house work" and I was painting rooms and it was just really busy!  Around 3pm. I felt a little bit hungry, realized I hadn't eaten since my bowl of cereal around 8 am., so I grabbed a couple slices of leftover homemade pizza and got back to work.  7 pm. rolls around and I'm a bit hungry.  I did some quick math and realized I'd had just under 500 calories for the day so far.  I decided to work through the hunger and finished my fast.  This was a GREAT fast day for me.  The whole day felt easy because I didn't decide until more than half-way through that it would be a fast day.  In essence, it only felt about 3 1/2 hours long- because I went to bed at a decent time ;)  It was a great way to squeeze in my second fast day for the week since Thursday and Friday (days I usually choose for my 2nd fast of the week), were NOT going to work out. 

I'm a few weeks into my fasting routine and down 4 pounds.  I'm encouraged and this feels like something I can continue doing.  My non-fast days haven't changed much, although I am considering skipping lunch a couple times a week to reduce my caloric intake, or just reducing lunch to an apple- something small.

If anybody is acutally reading this blog, I'd love to hear some feedback.  Thanks!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I tried a new tactic for delaying my first meal- sleep!  I stayed up really late last night watching the NCAA championship - Go Cardinals!!!!!!  After I got the little lady off to school, I crawled back into bed, a tiny bit hungry, but I did get another hour of sleep.  Luckily the little kids didn't tear the house apart while I snoozed!  I haven't fasted for over a week, and I'm anxious to get back to it.  I'm positive I've put on a few lbs. as my jeans are a little more snug.  Here's the game plan:

Noon:  1 hard boiled egg - 78 calorie
             Gala apple- 74 calories
             slice of whole wheat toast with 2 tsp. apple butter - 93

1 pm.:  This is the hardest part of the day for me - the hour or two after I've eaten.  I just want to snack.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to forgo food altogether . . .

3:30 pm.  A little 76 calorie piece of chocolate.  It was delicious!

6:30 pm  4 oz tilapia 108 calories
                1/3 c. homemade parmesan risotto  78 calories
                1 c. broccoli  30 calories

I used THIS recipe for risotto, but did make some modifications.  I reduced the amount of butter by half and used only 1/4 c. parmesan for the entire dish.  Still REALLY delicious! 

Kittencal's Creamy Parmesan Risotto. Photo by An4ik
4:10 PM Macy
I tried a new tactic for delaying my first meal- sleep!  I stayed up really late last night watching the NCAA championship - Go Cardinals!!!!!!  After I got the little lady off to school, I crawled back into bed, a tiny bit hungry, but I did get another hour of sleep.  Luckily the little kids didn't tear the house apart while I snoozed!  I haven't fasted for over a week, and I'm anxious to get back to it.  I'm positive I've put on a few lbs. as my jeans are a little more snug.  Here's the game plan:

Noon:  1 hard boiled egg - 78 calorie
             Gala apple- 74 calories
             slice of whole wheat toast with 2 tsp. apple butter - 93

1 pm.:  This is the hardest part of the day for me - the hour or two after I've eaten.  I just want to snack.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to forgo food altogether . . .

3:30 pm.  A little 76 calorie piece of chocolate.  It was delicious!

6:30 pm  4 oz tilapia 108 calories
                1/3 c. homemade parmesan risotto  78 calories
                1 c. broccoli  30 calories

I used THIS recipe for risotto, but did make some modifications.  I reduced the amount of butter by half and used only 1/4 c. parmesan for the entire dish.  Still REALLY delicious! 

Kittencal's Creamy Parmesan Risotto. Photo by An4ik

Saturday, April 6, 2013

I've been away from home since last Thursday- no fasting on vacation for me.  Prior to my hiatus, I had lost 2 lbs.  We'll see if that stuck :)  My guess is no- Easter candy was on sale!!!!

8:42 AM Macy
I've been away from home since last Thursday- no fasting on vacation for me.  Prior to my hiatus, I had lost 2 lbs.  We'll see if that stuck :)  My guess is no- Easter candy was on sale!!!!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The days leading up to the fast I've been reminding myself how easy these fasts are.  I've done it twice- I was a bit uncomfortable at times, but I didn't die or anything.  When I'm in the middle of it- it is more challenging.  Particularly 1-2 hours after I've eaten I'm really tempted to eat more.  I'll have to work on my food balance.

Up at 7 am. to get the little lady ready for school.  The last thing I ate was a handful of Cheezits last night around 10:30 - healthy, I know.  I started feeling a little hungry around 9 am., so I decided to do some cleaning.  Cleaning has become my copint mechanism for hunger.  It gets me moving and my mind is not on food.  When I'm sitting in front of the TV or computer (like now) my mind tends to wander to food, as that is usually the time when I'm snacking.  I did weigh myself yesterday, and I was 1.5 lbs. lighter.  I don't know if that is due to the fasting or just the normal fluctuation of my weight.  Time will tell.

11 am.- 1 cup Pasta e Fagioli (mentioned in yesterday's post)- 115 calories with
             1 Tbsp. Parmesan-20 calories
             1 boiled egg - 78 calories,
             1 Gala apple- 74 calories

I've been feeling hungry, a lot.  This has not been an easy day so far.  I'm getting ready to make pizza for my family and the dough I made earlier today is smelling divine.  I've stated before, I don't like the idea of making something different for my family, and we had food that needed to be used up and pizza is a great way to clean our produce out.

7 pm.- 1 slice homemade pizza- 125 calories
           1 c. Sinfully delicious oven-roasted broccoli - 85 calories 


Sinfully Delicious Oven-Roasted Broccoli -89 calories

This is an admittedly high-calorie way to eat broccoli, but it is a delicious treat and worth the extra calories.  If you have picky eaters in your family, they may just like this!

1 c. broccoli florets- 30 calories
1 tsp. olive oil - 40 calories
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced- 4 calories (I keep my garlic pieces larger and don't acutally consume them)
2 tsp. Aldi brand grated parmesan cheese- 14 calories
tiny bit of lemon zest
1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice - 1 calorie

Preheat oven to 425.  Toss broccoli with olive oil and garlic.  Place in a baking dish in a single layer and roast for 10 minutes.  Stir and continue roasting an additional 10 minutes.  Edges of broccoli should be lightly browned.  Remove from oven and add lemon zest, juice and parmesan.  Toss to coat.  **TIP**  If your broccoli is not completely dry, it may be a little limp and not have as much snap to it.
4:45 PM Macy
The days leading up to the fast I've been reminding myself how easy these fasts are.  I've done it twice- I was a bit uncomfortable at times, but I didn't die or anything.  When I'm in the middle of it- it is more challenging.  Particularly 1-2 hours after I've eaten I'm really tempted to eat more.  I'll have to work on my food balance.

Up at 7 am. to get the little lady ready for school.  The last thing I ate was a handful of Cheezits last night around 10:30 - healthy, I know.  I started feeling a little hungry around 9 am., so I decided to do some cleaning.  Cleaning has become my copint mechanism for hunger.  It gets me moving and my mind is not on food.  When I'm sitting in front of the TV or computer (like now) my mind tends to wander to food, as that is usually the time when I'm snacking.  I did weigh myself yesterday, and I was 1.5 lbs. lighter.  I don't know if that is due to the fasting or just the normal fluctuation of my weight.  Time will tell.

11 am.- 1 cup Pasta e Fagioli (mentioned in yesterday's post)- 115 calories with
             1 Tbsp. Parmesan-20 calories
             1 boiled egg - 78 calories,
             1 Gala apple- 74 calories

I've been feeling hungry, a lot.  This has not been an easy day so far.  I'm getting ready to make pizza for my family and the dough I made earlier today is smelling divine.  I've stated before, I don't like the idea of making something different for my family, and we had food that needed to be used up and pizza is a great way to clean our produce out.

7 pm.- 1 slice homemade pizza- 125 calories
           1 c. Sinfully delicious oven-roasted broccoli - 85 calories 


Sinfully Delicious Oven-Roasted Broccoli -89 calories

This is an admittedly high-calorie way to eat broccoli, but it is a delicious treat and worth the extra calories.  If you have picky eaters in your family, they may just like this!

1 c. broccoli florets- 30 calories
1 tsp. olive oil - 40 calories
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced- 4 calories (I keep my garlic pieces larger and don't acutally consume them)
2 tsp. Aldi brand grated parmesan cheese- 14 calories
tiny bit of lemon zest
1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice - 1 calorie

Preheat oven to 425.  Toss broccoli with olive oil and garlic.  Place in a baking dish in a single layer and roast for 10 minutes.  Stir and continue roasting an additional 10 minutes.  Edges of broccoli should be lightly browned.  Remove from oven and add lemon zest, juice and parmesan.  Toss to coat.  **TIP**  If your broccoli is not completely dry, it may be a little limp and not have as much snap to it.

Monday, March 25, 2013

I'm planning my fasts for the week again.  I'm oddly looking forward to tomorrow's fast.  My last one seemed so easy, and I'm anxious to enter my second week and see if I'm actually going to lose weight doing this.  I'm sure I need to- I spent the weekend out of town eating at A&W, P.F. Changs and a great new Thai place in town.  I made a new recipe for dinner last night that will fit well into my fast-day dinner rotation.  I don't really like the idea of eating a seperate meal from my family, so I'm in the process of finding new recipes and evaluating a lot of the recipes in my aresenal of "family favorites". 

I've never had Pasta e Fagioli, and I wasn't that excited about it, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was tasty and filling, and as a bonus, my kids REALLY loved it!   Also, it will be a great fast-day food.  1 cup has just 115 calories!

Pasta E Fagioli from Budget Bytes-  This makes 15- 1 cup servings.  I made mine with Ditalini pasta.  The total calorie count for the recipe is 1,625.  If you did one of the variations listed at the bottom of her post (like adding bacon-YUM), you would need to adjust the calories accordingly.
pasta e fagioli

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/12/pasta-e-fagioli-812-recipe-135-serving.html
10:07 AM Macy
I'm planning my fasts for the week again.  I'm oddly looking forward to tomorrow's fast.  My last one seemed so easy, and I'm anxious to enter my second week and see if I'm actually going to lose weight doing this.  I'm sure I need to- I spent the weekend out of town eating at A&W, P.F. Changs and a great new Thai place in town.  I made a new recipe for dinner last night that will fit well into my fast-day dinner rotation.  I don't really like the idea of eating a seperate meal from my family, so I'm in the process of finding new recipes and evaluating a lot of the recipes in my aresenal of "family favorites". 

I've never had Pasta e Fagioli, and I wasn't that excited about it, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was tasty and filling, and as a bonus, my kids REALLY loved it!   Also, it will be a great fast-day food.  1 cup has just 115 calories!

Pasta E Fagioli from Budget Bytes-  This makes 15- 1 cup servings.  I made mine with Ditalini pasta.  The total calorie count for the recipe is 1,625.  If you did one of the variations listed at the bottom of her post (like adding bacon-YUM), you would need to adjust the calories accordingly.
pasta e fagioli

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/12/pasta-e-fagioli-812-recipe-135-serving.html

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I thought I would be dreading today, but not so much.  I went to bed last night without feeling the need/desire to gorge myself in preperation of my fast.  I knew I would be hungry, but it certainly won't kill me, and I know I can do it.  Once again, I say it feels really liberating to be hungry for a purpose.  I'm not hungry because I'm on a diet that doesn't give me enough food or satisfy me (like it claims it should); I'm hungry because I am fasting.  I am hungry on purpose.  So much easier to deal with! 

A couple of "coping" tips I'm carrying over from Day 1 :  stay busy, drink lots of water, go to bed earlier on your fast day.  Sleep is not only really good for you, but you're not hungry in your sleep.  On Day 1, I was counting down the hours until bedtime; evenings are such a bad snack-time for me.

Around 9 am. I was seriously considering "faking" my fast for the day.  That has passed and I'm back on the wagon! 

11:00 am - 201 calories.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal (127 cal) - I only ate half of what I made.  It didn't taste wonderful.  It certainly wasn't bad, but I like my food to be delicous and this was just okay.  I wouldn't be excited to eat it again.  I think I'll do more research and get a better recipe together.  I decided to take the rest of my calories in the form of a Gala apple (74 cal).  It was tasty, although one half was considerably sweeter than the other.  Have you ever run into something crazy like that?

6:30 pm - 260 calories.  Delicous!  I eat this meal all the time, I just opted not not eat it on rice noodles this time.  Pot Sticker Burgers.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about this recipe.  It is divine.  Eat up!



Chocolate PB Oatmeal - 253 cal.

1/2 c. Old-Fashioned oats, cooked in water (150 cal.)
1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter (95 cal)
2 rounded tsp. cocoa (8 cal)
Splenda to taste (0 cal) - I suspect Splenda brown sugar would make this better
6:35 PM Macy
I thought I would be dreading today, but not so much.  I went to bed last night without feeling the need/desire to gorge myself in preperation of my fast.  I knew I would be hungry, but it certainly won't kill me, and I know I can do it.  Once again, I say it feels really liberating to be hungry for a purpose.  I'm not hungry because I'm on a diet that doesn't give me enough food or satisfy me (like it claims it should); I'm hungry because I am fasting.  I am hungry on purpose.  So much easier to deal with! 

A couple of "coping" tips I'm carrying over from Day 1 :  stay busy, drink lots of water, go to bed earlier on your fast day.  Sleep is not only really good for you, but you're not hungry in your sleep.  On Day 1, I was counting down the hours until bedtime; evenings are such a bad snack-time for me.

Around 9 am. I was seriously considering "faking" my fast for the day.  That has passed and I'm back on the wagon! 

11:00 am - 201 calories.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal (127 cal) - I only ate half of what I made.  It didn't taste wonderful.  It certainly wasn't bad, but I like my food to be delicous and this was just okay.  I wouldn't be excited to eat it again.  I think I'll do more research and get a better recipe together.  I decided to take the rest of my calories in the form of a Gala apple (74 cal).  It was tasty, although one half was considerably sweeter than the other.  Have you ever run into something crazy like that?

6:30 pm - 260 calories.  Delicous!  I eat this meal all the time, I just opted not not eat it on rice noodles this time.  Pot Sticker Burgers.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about this recipe.  It is divine.  Eat up!



Chocolate PB Oatmeal - 253 cal.

1/2 c. Old-Fashioned oats, cooked in water (150 cal.)
1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter (95 cal)
2 rounded tsp. cocoa (8 cal)
Splenda to taste (0 cal) - I suspect Splenda brown sugar would make this better