Feeling full

Just a quick note for posterity. Today was my first official day eating food again after 12 weeks (we won't mention the holiday). I had to get bloodwork done in the morning so I didn't get to have my breakfast (a meal replacement drink) until almost eleven o'clock. I did sneak in a Milky Way on the way back to the office from the clinic, though. Not at all in the plan but I felt like I needed to have something to make my mind believe not immediately flip out and start eating all the things.

For lunch, at around half past one, I had a serving of the pumpkin soup I made at the weekend (50.5 kcal, 3g protein) and 50g of feta cheese (136kcal, 8g protein). Total 186kcal and 11g protein. Target is 200kcal and 15-20g protein so not quite there. The 50g of feta was way too much - on paper I had wanted to do 25g but that seemed like such a small amount I decided to go for 50g. 200g is the standard pack size here so that was a quarter of the feta I had bought.

It was really delicious, even if my soup was a bit watery (I wanted to make sure I got 6 portions out of it). Definitely proof that protein is very important when it comes to feeling full, though. I don't think just the soup would have satisfied me. Now, however, it's half past four and I really need to have another meal replacement but I am still full. And normally I would have had a double portion of meal replacement soup for lunch. Mad altogether. 

Anyway, I can wait another three-quarters of an hour or so but I have aquajogging at quarter past six and will definitely need the energy for that. Tai chi then almost directly after that. I normally try to drink a meal replacement drink after tai chi. And then it looks like I'll have to have another one when I get home. I'll have to see if I have enough here to bring two with me. 

Overall, not a bad day. Especially considering some of my experiences during my holiday, I'm kind of surprised I am feeling so full. Need to hold on to this and make sure to keep portion sizes well under control from now on. The bowls that I never used to use at home because they were too small are now the perfect size and will be staying in regular rotation.

 

Buying food

Today is the final day of the 'fasting' portion of the optifast programme. From tomorrow, we will eat four pouches/meal replacements per day and replace the fifth pouch with a meal that has 200 calories and 15-20g of protein. 

I kept to the fasting regime really well, far better than I expected. And then three weeks ago I went on holidays for two weeks and, well, I did not keep to the fasting regime. I mean, I didn't discard it entirely but I did decide to eat some things while I was in Ireland. Not large amounts of things, and I definitely felt it in having an uncomfortable tummy for the day if I did eat, but I probably ate something on more days than not. And in the last two days, I ate quite a bit of chocolate. Still, from the first day back, I was back to the pouches and have kept to it. I presumably lost less weight than I might otherwise have lost but I assume that the bloods I'll be having done tomorrow won't be as good as they might other have been. Most of all, it was good to feel out my boundaries a little bit and recognise a few of the situations and foods that are likely to be problematic. I'm trying to take a more pro-active approach and actually deal with that kind of thing. My therapist is going to work on it with me over the next while.   

And with eating the food comes the buying of the food. Far more than eating, my spending has gotten a bit out of control over the last month or two and I need to rein that in properly now. I've just bought what I needed to get started this week but from next week/the start of November I plan to switch to a cash envelope only for food. My plan is to allocate €150 per month. That gives me €30 per week in 'five-week' months, or, in a 'four-week' month, €30 per week plus another €30 to stock up on things or buy more expensive items, like olive oil or the good balsamic vinegar or meat.

 Meal planning will be the order of the day for sure.