kaqphin (Super Cat's) Mentor group - CLOSED (Page 11)

Great run Brit!!!!

How's everyone doing on they're goals of eating healthy?

I resisted dessert and a box full of chocolates that sat in front of me for 2 hours during a meeting.. pretty proud of that. 

But I am feeling the effects of not eating enough calories to make up for my pretty hard workouts this weekend so I am wondering if anyone has any good meal ideas. As I said I am a grad student and our kitchen is closed after breakfast on friday til dinner on sunday night.  I have a fridge and a microwave in my room so I would love some cheap meal ideas that I can eat on weekends- since weekends are now also going to spent on club rides!! My challenges are that things like peanut butter and cheese are my "binge foods." I have been known to take a spoon to a jar of peanut butter in the past. I do have access to a kitchen, but 100people cook in there and its kind of nasty so I would like to avoid it as much as possible.

I thought since we're all trying to eat healthy we should share some of our favorite snacks, lunch and meal ideas. 

And I will share first:  I love nonfat cottage cheese on toast or mixed with grapes or apples. Its satisfying when I find other foods leave me craving for more. 

Great job on the 2 more pounds!  You are making great progress!  I don't really have a fav recipe yet.  Mostly, I am not avoiding specific foods, I am keeping my cal intake between 1,200-1,500 daily.  I do my best to make those the most nutritious calories that I can.  This is the first time I have done it this way.  It seems to be much easier.  So, I can eat things that may not be as good for me, but as long as it fits in my cal intake, I don't feel guily about it.  I am going to do this for a while, and then over time, clean up the diet even more.  I don't go to fast food places or intentionally eat things that are bad for me.

I just discovered the sugar free/fat free jello pudding and it takes exactly the same as regular pudding.  My fav things to eat are egg white breakfast burritos with whole wheat tortillas and ground turkey.  Also, I eat the weight control oatmeal with cut up strawberries.  I am still experimenting with the healthy recipes.

Congrats on the weightloss Lyssa!

I must admit you seem to have a lot more 'diet' foods in the US then we do here... fat free, sugar free EVERYTHING from the sounds of it!!!

Im a pretty simple girl my healthy eating consists mainly of: smoothies, a variety of muesli/fruit bars, Fruit (especially bananas), the occassional coffee and meat and vegetables.

I do make a point of buying the best quality meat from a butcher and going to a fresh fruit and vegie market so I have the very best I can get in terms of flavour... much easier to eat salads etc when the produce is fresh and tastes good!

Also try to aim for variety... if you eat the same foods everyday the eating healthy is going to be a lot harder longterm!

For emergencies I always have some potato and low fat sour cream and a couple of WW frozen males (the chicken lasagne is to die for) so I dont wimp out!

Here's some of the things my mom the WW leader does.

1)Every morning before eating anything she drinks a large glass of water.. then has breakfast. She says it helps her feel full all day long.
2)She has my dad hide all her favorite binging foods if she's having a bad week. He puts the Peanut butter in the back of the fridge somewhere and puts the chocolate chips (he and my sister like chocolate chip pancakes on weekends) under the bed in the guest bedroom. Her favorite is cheerios so he hides behind the pots and pans. This is a bit extreme but it's the out of sight out of mind concept.
3)She also keeps a picture of her old self vs her new self on the fridge or taped to the shelf in the pantry so it's the first thing she sees when she goes for some food. She also recommends posting your goal weight to the fridge or pantry instead of a picture.
4) If she has a snack she cuts it up into little pieces so she can nibble on it for a while. Breaks up a granola bar into little pieces. Slices and apple into bitesized peices instead of just 6 slices type of thing. This one actually works really well for me.
5) She also tries to just get out of the kitchen. Her craft room is upstairs so she will go up there and work on something to get her mind off food for an hour. Or she packs a snack and goes for a walk for 20 minutes.

Pam- great swim tips, thanks!! I'm going to totally remember that!! Thanks for the encouragement on the run too y'all!! I thought my legs were going to revolt when I was done, but today they felt just fine! Yippee!! That is training paying off I guess! 

I've done a lot of nutrition study in the past year plus.  Eating WHOLE foods (fresh, whole grain, etc.) is really important for all of it.  Stay away from the refined sugar stuff and I assure you it will help with weight loss.  With working out in the past year I lost about 20 lbs, and at the same time really toned up a lot.  I'd still like to go down another 10, but now size vs. weight is more important now.  Keep fresh veggies, fresh fruit, dried fruit (big dried apricot and peach fan here...great vitamins in this) around to munch on, and I find that some nuts really help quench the munchies.  I don't take normal "vitamin" supplements, but rather something called Juice Plus+ that is literally just 17 fresh fruits and vegetables completely dried with all the sugars, juices, etc. taken out and in two capsules I take in the morning and evening. I am not a distibutor for this stuff, but if you're just interested in the info, PM me and I can get you more...but enough of that:

WHOLE foods
WHOLE GRAIN (must say whole GRAIN not just whole WHEAT
If there is high fructose corn syrup/partially hydrogenated oil or any trans fat, don't touch!
Often when you are hungry, you are actually thirsty...drink water! or drink green tea, or drink flavored (but no cal) water
Munch on a few nuts
Sugar craving? Munch on a couple of pieces of dark chocolate
Fish is WAY healthy when it comes to meats (just don't eat too many too often that may be high in mercury)

I have lots of different recipes and experiment all the time, so I'll try and post some as I get some good ones or my Mom does (we're in the healthy kick together ). I'm a BIG garbanzo bean (chick peas) fan! (I'm also a BIG Kashi fan, check out their stuff!)

Makes 4-6 servings

1 (9 oz) can tuna, drained, flaked
2 (16 oz.) cans Garbanzo beans

Hey guys...my better eating is doing well..granted the first week is mostly water weight gain, but I'm actually down 5.5 pounds since last Wednesday...wonder if I can make it an even 6 by the 1 week mark.

As for a good snack, one of my favorites is celery and laughing cow lowfat cheese (or put it on wasa crackers too if you want some grain in there). I usually eat 2 stalks of celery with 2 wedges of the cheese.  The celery has next to no calories and the wedges are 35 calories each.  Very good because of all the crunch and the good cheese flavor (I really like the garlic and herb).  Not cheap, although you can get a 3 pack of the cheeses at Costco for something like $7 or so which is way cheaper than the grocery store (definitely off on a pilgrimage to Costco this Friday because paying almost $4 for 8 wedges at the grocery store is just too expensive for me).

Congrats on the weight loss Kelley thats phenomenal!!!

My eating is better but after my sugar crash yesterday (I worked through lunch then had to resort to whatever I could get my hands on - not much) Im thinking I might need to up my calories in the morning!

That's awesome for a first week!  I lose so much the first week because I have so much to lose (like a little over 100 pounds to get to my ultimate goal, although after seeing some of those American Gladiators who are my height I might be willing to go strong and lose maybe 90 pounds instead).

Oh and I found something great for my sweet tooth.  Kozy Shack makes sugar free pudding now.  Only 90 calories, and it has some nutritional value, unlike the jello sugar free puddings (it even has like 4 grams of fiber!).  Just tried the chocolate but it's awesome (and not as sweet as Jello brand).

And as for what my training looks like it goes like this:

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: AM strength (lower body and core), PM run/walk
Wednesday: AM strength (upper body), PM short bike on stationary bike, short swim (drills)
Thursday: AM strength (lower body and core), PM run/walk
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: strength (lower body and core) and run/walk (usually all AM)
Sunday: strength (upper body), short bike on stationary bike, long swim (swim and bike AM, strength whenever I feel like it)

And I'm starting to do a full body stretching routine every day in the morning with a lot of emphasis on ankle flexibility since my kick gets me basically nowhere in the pool and I know it's because my ankles are like rocks and will only get worse with the running if I don't keep them loose.  I also stretch my troublesome calves a few times a day but never record that in my training log.

Kelley - swimming with swim fins (the short ones like zoomers) can help with ankle flexibility, just treat it like a drill and start with swimming a few lengths of the pool...

I hear you on the calves though... every physio Ive ever seen has been trying to work out why I have such tight calves, I blame heels but so many other women have to wear them too!

X2 on the tight calves. I got orthodics for my shoes since walking in a knee brace for months completely changed my stride and they would only give them to me if I promised to stretch and stretch and stretch.

 I'm down 3lbs as of today and hit a nice milestone of 180lbs.  My weigt fluctuates a lot so it will probably be up tomorrow but overall there is a downwards trend!!

I'm still trying to figure out my eating to have energy.  I've got the pre and post exercise snack down and I am getting really good about staying hydrated.  But this week I've been having complete energy crashes in the afternoon.   Part of it is that I'm a morning person and the afternoons have always been a bit of a write off, but these days it's a lot worse.

I am trying to swim first thing in the morning if it's scheduled or I go on a bike around 11am after I have a mid morning snack, since that's when it's brightest outside. Yes it is good to have a student's schedule. So I'm usually done my workouts before lunch. Daylight may be part of it since our days are pretty short right now. It's gray and gloomy by 2:30pm and dark by 5.

Eating helps only slightly (as of 3pm today I've consumed over 1300 calories), coffee is currently doing nothing, and sometimes a cat nap will work but then I have trouble getting to sleep later.  Yesterday running at 4:30 completely pulled me out of it but that's an every other day thing to save the knees. Usually dinner completely revives me.  I don't know if its the massive intake of calories or the conversation with friends at dinner that does it. 

Any suggestions? 

A couple of thoughts...

When do you get up?

Im thinking maybe you need to front load your calories more in the day and have a light dinner to keep your energy levels...

Are you having snacks as well as meals?

What are you eating during the day? Are you focusing on foods that provide long lasting energy such as wholegrains with a small aobut of protien?

So many questions! Nutrition is so individual but some indication of the types of foods you are eating and when mights help....

Another thought is  that post lunch time, if you are having a big meal, your energy may slump while it deals with digesting the food...

What are you doing for training nutrition during your workout? Are you having for recovery nutrition? Has your trainin volume or instiy increased significantly recently?

Im so sorry for all the questions!

Questions are good. Part of my challenge is my meal plan and knowing I will have a big dinner every night.

I get up between 6:30 and 7. Yesterday swam from 7:30-8:15 and had an apple before the swim and breakfast right after.

Here were my meals for today:

at 8am:
Apple with 1 cup Cottage Cheese
2 small peices of homemade bread with a hard boiled egg white and a touch of butter
And there were cheese scones so I couldn't resist!! shame on me shame shame
cup of coffee
estimating I ate about 700 calories- I splurged cause I knew I would be on the bike

10am
1/2 cup of cereal with some skim milk before my ride (200 calories)

11-12:15 went for a ride, burned around 800 calories probably although my HRM says 1100.
drank 16oz during the ride and another with my following meal

12:30 after the ride I had 1/2 a deli sandwich I scored from a luncheon yesterday- grad students hord free food
apple with 1 tbs peanut butter
estimating about 500 calories

at 2pm my energy crashed
drank water

3:30
ate the other half of the deli sandwich and had a cup of coffee another 300- 400 calories

I don't feel hungry but just like I don't want to do anything.

4:30 pm went for a 10 minute walk to run an errand
the walk helped but as soon as I was back at my desk felt blah again

at 5:30 I start feeling hungry and drink water

At 6:30 the menu for tonight is:
salad made up of baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers carrots and plain balsamic vinegar as dressing
Edamame & Butternut Squash in a Roasted Tomato Sauce w/ Whole Wheat Penne- I love our chefs! but that will probably be an 800 calorie meal.

I will attempt to resist the dessert and head to bed between 10 and 11. (so about 2500 calories today)

I am also naturally more of a snacking person than a meal person during the day because usually I do know if I have a big lunch I will get sleepy in the afternoon.

I have recently completed the sprint training plan and am using the sprint to olympic bridge so the training has gone up and my runs are getting longer although I am thinking of cutting back the run plan to save the knees. I am also back to the slightly more stressful life of research and school.

The workouts have completely saved and continue to save my mental sanity because I am research and working with aboriginal teens who have some really intense lives. Currently I'm editing a film I am making with them and transcribing their stories so training basically lets my mind get away from it and keeps me emotionally sane.

Ok you train really well and Im pretty sure that 2500 calories is perfect except for on BIG training days! Its up to you to judge that one for now but it sounds very realistic to me! (I can pull out a book I have at home and try to do some calorie calculations but Im sure youve worked it all out youerself!)

You eat pretty well! Wow! i dont think what you are eating is an issue its probably more likely to be the timing of when you are eating...

Some advice I was given was about when to eat... actually easier said that done! Some of the basic guidelines I was given was to try and eat about ever 3 hours as a basic rule... of course there are lots of exceptions to this..

The other rule I try to abide by is in regards to timing for training and recovery nutrition, this might help you.

First: try to eat something small pre workout (if you can stomach it)

Second: Eat/drink 100 cals per hour (ish) for every hour you workout beyond 60 minutes, if you are training longer distance HIM, IM then increase this to reflect what you would consume during racing (usually up to 300 cals an hour depending on what you can stomach)

Immeadiatley post workout (within 30 minutes if possible) eat something small... a smoothie is good, half a sandwich etc

Within 2 hours of finishing your workout have a meal - sandwich, meat and vegetables etc that includes some protein and some carbs (i try to time these with meals ie dinner)

This might help as there is a 3 hour gap between you finishing your workout and your next meal which is also associated with the teim you have your sugar crash so maybe this will help...

You will need to juggle around with the calories and how much you eat when, as well as timing but it just might help!

I will have some more thought but this is my initial idea from first read through!