Week 4 of 52 small changes - all welcome

[OddSocksHighHeels]

So we are now onto week 4! Carrying on with getting our daily water intake, aiming for 7-8 hours of sleep and getting in routine activity.

This week: keeping a log of what you eat and drink in a day.

Track each item that you eat or drink in a day. Measure food if necessary to get correct information.

Don't skip a day just because you think you haven't done well.

Evaluate your appetite from 0 (extreme hunger) to 5 (stuffed full) and aim to always be at 1-4.

Monitor how you feel before eating - stressed, bored, happy, etc.

Things that you can mistake for hunger:

1. Not eating a good balance of nutrients. Try having a snack of fruit and nuts (not the chocolate bar!) and see if that helps.

1. Emotional hunger - try going for a walk, chewing gum, listening to music, whatever works for you.

1. Sleepiness - take a 10 minute walk, drink a cup of green tea or eat a healthy snack

1. Thirst - see if having a glass of water gets rid of the hunger you're feeling.

Link to last week: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2544980-Week-3-of-52-small-changes-getting-more-active?pg=1&order=

I sort of low carb/paleo but can't manage the bootcamp!

So, my healthier eating today is:
Buckwheat pancake (diet doctor recipe) with berries, greek yoghurt and linseed mix
Spicy tomato soup and green bean, cashew & avocado salad, rest of pear crumble from yesterday.
Mil coming for "tea" but have been inspired by Pointlessfan and tried egg muffins with avocado and bacon, I will try to avoid the sausage rolls and biscuits.

I made a batch of pancakes as dcs love them and we can reheat for breakfast tomorrow. Soup was ready made and salad was from leftovers.

Thank you oddsocks. I'll confess that I've not been 100% on board with any of the previous weeks, but done my best which is far better than I'd previously been doing! I drink more water, am concious of getting enough sleep and am more active. This week will be a challenge, but I'm going to try. Is MFP a good tracker? I've ener used it before.

Yeah, I find MFP really easy to use and it breaks down into carbs/fat/protein as a percentage of your overall day as well as telling you how much vitamins and stuff you've had. I haven't tried anything else to compare it to but it works well for me! So far today I've had 2365 calories, I aim for 2500 so should manage it. My iron intake is ridiculously low though!

I think doing your best is being 100% on board Gazelda.

One of the things I've liked about this whole exercise is that there are no specific targets for anyone to hit, or miss.

It seems to be about being more aware of what you do and quite gently trying to improve, on your own terms.

There are no gongs for achievement or penalties for falling short, it's just about personal awareness.

Hope I've got that right

Anyway, I walked about half a mile in howling wind to a fabulous,tiny Italian restaurant. Had some divine soft cheese, salami and ham followed by seafood casserole.

And a carafe of white wine, and double espresso.

Then walked same howling half mile back to the car.

No breakfast, just 3 cups of tea.

Won't eat tonight, will continue with the wine though.

Not a very good example am I?

Actually bewitched there was going to be a lifetime supply of wine for anybody that did it all yeah, doing your best for you is all it's about!

Your Italian sounds amazing! And you got your walk in there too. This week isn't really about eating healthier so much as being aware of what you're eating anyway.

That sounds delicious Bewitched, I love Mediterranean food. Enjoy your wine.

Successfully did a full day logging food onto mfp. Was all excited to see the bar code scanner. I assume it takes less time once you have been on it a while and have your usuals on it? What's the difference between fat and cholesterol on it does anyone know? Does cholesterol include the so called 'good' variety or something?

Not a great diet day - cold sausages with loads of hummous for lunch didn't help :) Kind of made up for it this evening by making spag bol that is chock full of loads of different veggies and blended so dd doesn't realise she's eating them.

Other than that not much sleep last night as dd had nightmares and problems going back to sleep. Did some HIIT this morning and shopping which surely counts as an activity

I'm not logging what I eat, partly because I do a meal plan each week anyway so I pretty much have it recorded already. I am thinking about my hunger on a scale of 1-5 though which is very interesting and I actually said no to chocolate this afternoon as I was still at 4 after lunch! Have eaten lots of fruit and veg today too.

Hello, thanks for new thread. I will be trying to track the items that I'm eating but I'm not measuring amounts. Tried before and it sends me into an OCD/AS fuelled tizz. Not gonna happen!

BUT this will be useful as I am also wanting to meal plan this week.

Started logging today including a weigh in. The number is not good. Not as bad as it could be I guess but not healthy at all. To be a healthy I need to lose in the region of 100 -110 pounds!!!
However I won't let that number scare me. I'm feeling quite good about how I look at the moment so will keep hold of that.

Water going well, sleep terrible.
Activity getting there. DS1 has swimming lessons all this week so I'll get in the pool with DS 2. And walk and stuff in the water.

Bewitched that sounds really delicious! I am trying to eat healthy and delicious food . Mindful eating sounds good and I like the idea of making small, good choices.

We had a nice Sunday morning with a late brunch of pancakes followed by a play in the park. Sunny, bright and cold here today.

Went for a walk this morning at a local National Trust property. Just lovely in the snow.

Water not quite so good - it never is at home

I fibbed

I've had 4 minstrels.

Did stick with the wine though, well someone has to.

Bewitched I don't think it means no chocolate! I had some dark chocolate with coconut that dp brought back from the supermarket. Chocolate and coconut are both very good for you... I did only have 2 squares.

Isn't it about making choices about what you eat, so deliberately choosing a small amount of chocolate rather than scoffing a whole bar. I am not into guilt-tripping about food, it usually backfires. Choosing something because it tastes delicious and is nutritious is good motivation for me. I am definitely more like to exercise and eat better if I feel it is for health/feeling good than if I do it to be thin/deprive myself.

Chocolate contains potassium so all good in my book.

Horrendous nights sleep last night. I'm a light sleeper as it is and not helping dd is very restless atm. Even tried going down to the sofa last night and she followed me within five minutes. Went out and bought nytol and earplugs today Know it's not proper natural sleep but I can't cope with this little for much longer. Was nearly in tears this morning, haven't felt like that since the wee ones were smaller.

So water is taking a back seat to coffee today. Been out for a two hour walk this morn and cleaned for an hour when I got home. Food ok but I'm starting to see I really need to make an effort vitamins/minerals wise, eat more veg as snacks rather than my usual oatcakes/toast/cheese etc. Toss up between tomato and mozzarella risotto or green thai curry tonight.

Marking my spot.

Oh, Sirona I have had days like that. Dd2 woke at 4 something am, but both she and I must have got back off, as she then woke me at 6am. So 6 1/2hrs and definitely a 2 coffee day... and maybe some more dark chocolate. Early night tonight to try and get my 7 1/2hrs average.

Did yoga camp, a couple of hours cleaning and already 10 000 steps (Monday Dd1 is at a club, so 2 pick ups). I have drank a lot of water/green tea as all the activity makes me quite thirsty!

I have a chicken casserole in the slow cooker (will be latish back from picking up dd1) with loads of veg in. I had some very green soup for lunch and some salad.

The green Thai curry sounds very tempting...

I always have 2/3 cups of tea and a cup of coffee in the morning, no breakfast.
Had 2 crumpets with butter and Marmite and a small banana for lunch. Was feeling sorry for myself actually as I had to have a root canal filling this afternoon.
Worst bit was the rubber lining thing they put in my mouth, ugh, made me feel really claustrophobic.
Just had a couple of spoonfuls of cottage cheese and a Swedish meatball!
Only to test the new tooth you understand.
Am going to cook some more meatballs with spaghetti and ratatouille tonight.
And wine of course
And maybe a couple of Mintsrels later.
Walked just over a mile, to and from dentist.
Not talking about water

If you'd told me about the lifetime supply of wine OddSocks I would have been a paragon haha!

Ugh I hate going to the dentist, think you can eat as much as you like after a root canal!
I forgot to take my usual mid morning banana to work so ended up having 4 biscuits to keep me going. They in no way filled me up and I've felt hungry all day. Have eaten healthily otherwise and had plenty of water though.

Ugh, dentists! I've never seen one they scare me too much!

And I haven't logged my food for today, off to do it now!

1820 cals. Too low. Will wine help?

A glass of wine in each hand is a balanced diet.

OddSocks you must go to the dentist darling.

At your tender age you will avert so many horrible problems later if you just have an annual check.

Especially as you smoke. It buggers your gums, amongst other shit obvs.

It's far more scary when something goes wrong and you don't have a choice.

Good example for kids too. ahem, not smoking would be good example too

[clink][puff]

My parents had an anti-dentist thing it still puts me off even though I know I need to go! But shush with the smoking