Week 7 - Not Perfect, but Still Better
So I just ended Week 7 of Lean Eating down a total of 5 pounds and 5 total inches. It's nice that I seem to be losing the girth in my waist and bust. Today I even saw the tiniest bit of shrinkage in my ginormous thighs.
Oops. I said ginormous thighs, didn't I? Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to end that negative self talk.
The latest habit is to include lean protein in every meal. This one is semi-easy for me. I'm pretty carnivorous, so putting protein in my meals isn't difficult. The hard part is that "lean" part. What is lean? They gave us a list of acceptable protein sources. It includes "lean" meat (beef, pork, veal, game), chicken, beans, cottage cheese or unsweetened Greek yogurt. eggs or eggs whites (in other words we're not forbidden to eat the fatty but nutritious yolks), and protein powders. Obviously my most favorite meats like duck, lamb, and bacon aren't mentioned. The rest seem rather up for grabs. What chicken is acceptable? Obviously I would be allowed boneless, skinless chicken breast, but those have so little flavor and need a lot of work to taste good. A whole roast chicken, on the other hand, only needs some salt and pepper to be delicious.
I still struggle with learning to understand my body's satiety signals. I have not eaten until stuffed for the past month, but just because I'm not quite stuffed doesn't mean I'm not a bit beyond the sensible level of fullness. I haven't always eaten the most sensible meals this week either. I didn't eat anything terrible. I didn't have cheeseburgers or lasagne. I did have Japanese noodles with almost no vegetables with it for example. I know it's a learning process. I also sometimes swing in the opposite direction. I will decide that I'm not hungry since I'm not feeling any pangs and then stop eating. The problem is I'm not really satiated. I'm just not feeling hunger. One morning I decided I wasn't hungry, but really didn't eat enough food to sustain me. I was hungry by the time I arrived at work in the morning and that sent me scuttling to the coffee shop where the pastries loom large. I can only say I ate my pastry to the point of 80% fullness (I didn't finish it). Right now I just try to use the standard trick of leaving something on my plate at every meal. I know I'm doing better than I was. The scale is proof. It's just hard to believe in yourself sometimes. When you have eaten the wrong way most of your life, it's hard to accept that you might be doing something right.
Oops. I said ginormous thighs, didn't I? Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to end that negative self talk.
The latest habit is to include lean protein in every meal. This one is semi-easy for me. I'm pretty carnivorous, so putting protein in my meals isn't difficult. The hard part is that "lean" part. What is lean? They gave us a list of acceptable protein sources. It includes "lean" meat (beef, pork, veal, game), chicken, beans, cottage cheese or unsweetened Greek yogurt. eggs or eggs whites (in other words we're not forbidden to eat the fatty but nutritious yolks), and protein powders. Obviously my most favorite meats like duck, lamb, and bacon aren't mentioned. The rest seem rather up for grabs. What chicken is acceptable? Obviously I would be allowed boneless, skinless chicken breast, but those have so little flavor and need a lot of work to taste good. A whole roast chicken, on the other hand, only needs some salt and pepper to be delicious.
I still struggle with learning to understand my body's satiety signals. I have not eaten until stuffed for the past month, but just because I'm not quite stuffed doesn't mean I'm not a bit beyond the sensible level of fullness. I haven't always eaten the most sensible meals this week either. I didn't eat anything terrible. I didn't have cheeseburgers or lasagne. I did have Japanese noodles with almost no vegetables with it for example. I know it's a learning process. I also sometimes swing in the opposite direction. I will decide that I'm not hungry since I'm not feeling any pangs and then stop eating. The problem is I'm not really satiated. I'm just not feeling hunger. One morning I decided I wasn't hungry, but really didn't eat enough food to sustain me. I was hungry by the time I arrived at work in the morning and that sent me scuttling to the coffee shop where the pastries loom large. I can only say I ate my pastry to the point of 80% fullness (I didn't finish it). Right now I just try to use the standard trick of leaving something on my plate at every meal. I know I'm doing better than I was. The scale is proof. It's just hard to believe in yourself sometimes. When you have eaten the wrong way most of your life, it's hard to accept that you might be doing something right.
Comments
Post a Comment