What did you eat today?

[shootingstar]

Today:
b- cornflakes with dollop of plain yogurt and pre- homemade rhubarb, raspberry, blueberry and Saskatoon berry compote sweetened with maple honey, milk, tea
snack - cantaloupe small slice, muffin with nuts, cornflakes, coffee with milk, tea with milk
dinner- small lobster veggie chowder, crackers, potato-truffle gnocchi, sautéed asparagus with onion and garlic garnished with fresh basil and balsamic vinegar.

[Crankin]

Catrin, I am sure the fasting is what has messed up your body's response. We need to eat. Of course, this is from a person whose family motto is "food is good, man must eat."
B: whole wheat tortilla, grilled with chicken breast and a little cheddar, salsa. sliced mango, coffee, then rode to work 5.2 miles
L: chef salad and an apple
S:a slice of spelt raisin bread and cashew butter at 3, Lara Bar at 6, before I rode home which was 5.9 miles, with a very heavy pannier!
D: I unfroze some left overs which I think are chicken thighs with a spicy tomatillo sauce. I ate 2 very small thighs, sliced jicama, the rest of the mango. 2 squares dark chocolate

[Catrin]

Crankin it wasn't anything extreme. I just narrowed my "eating window" to 10am-7pm. Two meals rather than 3, without changing my calories. This does work for a lot of people, but apparently not me! Some have told me that I need to tough it out for a month, but I don't think so. I think my body didn't know what to do with the larger meals.

Interestingly enough, there has been some recent studies that show that 2 larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch for the study in question and same caloric intake), is an effective way to lose body fat. The summary I read of those studies didn't mention if any the participants had the same problem I did in the first week. It was worth the experiment, I won't go more extreme than that. I am too active to make large changes! I am (or was until the last few days) happy with my weight. I don't really care about the number and that is going to go up as I progress in my kettlebell sport training, my focus is to get that BF% down a few percentage points.

[Crankin]

rest day
B: small cup of Harvest grain (mostly quinoa) cereal and almond milk, blueberries, small chicken leg, coffee
L: cup of curried zucchini soup, salad with quinoa/mushrooms, chicken, an apple
S: spelt bread/hummus
D: went out with a friend to a restaurant that has pretty healthy food. I had a salad, sautéed haddock on spinach in a balsamic reduction and a sweet potato, glass of red wine. However, I think the sauce on the fish had a lot of salt, as I woke up today up a pound or more and feeling weird.

[Catrin]

Down 1.8 pounds today :-) My coach thinks the real problem is an undiscovered food sensitivity that really got my system's attention when it received more of it than it's been accustomed to. This actually makes sense, and may explain my inability to drop my BF% regardless of my efforts and work. I DID increase my egg intake last week and I do consume a lot of them. Dairy was up a bit, but not much. I've factored out everything else, I get enough sleep, stress is much better than it once was, I am fueling my activities appropriately. It may be worth my while to conduct a 21-30 day egg elimination test - as much as I REALLY don't want to do that (I love eggs). This isn't the first time I've wondered about this, it might be time to finally check it out.

Yesterday:
B: Brekkie casserole, coffee with cream
Intense kettlebell solo session, focusing on volume building. 30 minutes of pure over-head work not counting rests AND my shoulders are quite happy :-) Followed by protein shake (the one I use post-intense-workout)
L: Meeting schedule precluded lunch, had a Quest bar (the only commercial bar I will eat), and later in the day had a Tera's Whey shake (much simpler shake then the post-workout version)
D: Roasted Kale, Butter lettuce-leaf roast loin 'wrap'

Didn't quite meet my calorie goals, but not too far from it. I need to hit the store for veggies tonight!

[Catrin]

Weight is the same today as yesterday - and I will TAKE IT! My digestive system is still recovering but all feels much better. If it IS a food sensitivity it is either dairy or eggs, and I need to figure that out. First, however I need to figure out what to have for brekkie and still get what I need out of it, but I will figure that out. Certainly I can have chicken, sausage, whatever, the thing is, I LOVE having eggs for breakfast! Thankfully I've got to finish what is in the fridge first :-)

Yesterday:

B: usual breakfast casserole, coffee
S: Cappuccino (double)
L: roasted chicken thigh, sweet potato
S: Protein shake (testing a new brand to see if it is palatable)
D: Roasted chicken, swiss chard, steamed carrots, small banana

Today:

Breakfast: more brekkie casserole, coffee
Early morning KB volume-building workout (at home)
Followed workout with left-over steamed carrots
L: Chipotle salad with chicken, fajita veggies and salsa (the only fast food place I will consider - didn't have any food to take for lunch)
S: small banana planned
D: I need to go shopping first, thinking about a couple of Trader Joe's yummy chicken sausages along with some roasted Kale, sauteed Swiss Chard and last of the steamed carrots. I've a LOT of both Kale and Chard in the fridge...

[Crankin]

yesterday: 1/2 a banana before boot camp
B: another Korean "rice" bowl, using the quinoa and mushrooms I bought at the natural foods market. No avocado, though, as the ones I bought aren't ripe.
L: I ate really late, at 2. Had some home made chicken salad/walnuts/cranberries and the rest of the curried zucchini soup, and an apple
D: I thought I wouldn't be hungry, but at 7 I had some egg whites, green chili salsa, and cheddar with an orange.

Today is our last theatre night for the season. Going to one of my most favorite restaurants. At least I rode 21 miles.

[Catrin]

What are you seeing, Crankin? One of these days I need to go back to the theatre.

[Crankin]

The play is called "Smart People." It's written by a well known African American playwright from Boston, who had another hit play that actually went to Broadway a couple of years ago. It's about racism in the context of a group of very smart, Harvard affiliated people of different races. It was really good. We've been doing this theatre subscription for about 8-9 years and it's getting better every year.
B: tuna, sliced tomatoes, melted cheddar
S: had a slice of spelt bread and almond butter at 11:00, as I was starting my ride at 11:30.
L: Had what essentially amounted to a pile of lettuce, with some chicken at lunch on my ride. It was supposed to be a salad.
D: had a tuna tartare appetizer, which was awesome, but salty. Had scallops for my dinner. 3 huge scallops in a chili infused broth, with all kinds of veggies. Glass of rosé.

[Crankin]

B: 2 buttermilk waffles, walnuts, dried cranberries, 2 turkey sausages, strawberries, 2 cups green tea, half a cup of coffee.
S: so, our ride we were leading started at 12:00. We had the above big breakfast at 8:00. At 11:30. I ate one slice of bread with cashew butter. I just couldn't eat a full lunch before a 30 mile ride.
During the ride, I ate a Lara Bar and drank a bottle of Skratch lemon lime and some water. This strategy worked, except for the last 5 miles, my stomach was rumbling and I should have had a Shot Block when we stopped with 8 miles left. I was sweeping and the 3-4 people that i was with got pretty slow near the end, so I just kept drinking. It was hot, but I did OK, despite the fast pace (for me) of this ride. Had some whole wheat pita chips and hummus when we got home.
D: after a shower and changing, we went back to Verrill farm for a catered dinner. I had 2 glasses of red wine, and a couple of appetizers. I sampled some pulled pork with no bun, one piece of bbq chicken, cole slaw, and some eggplant parmesan. Then we went out for ice cream, where I had a kiddie sized cup of chocolate chocolate cookie dough.
I felt like i needed all of this food and amazingly, my weight is still in the 107 range this morning. I was down to 105.6 at one point this week, which is my lowest in over a year.

[Catrin]

Back up 2 pounds today - sigh - but I know what it is from. I ate a few things yesterday that is guareenteed to cause bloating and temporary weight gain. I KNEW better...back to normal today. I volunteered at a women's mountain bike clinic yesterday - it was a lot of fun!

B: usual baked casserole brekkie
Ran/walked 4.4 miles on a mountain bike trail (I consider it my first unofficial trail 5K)
S: Quest bar
L: 6 small pasta noodles (first grains in 2 years, and the last!), way too many yummy meatballs, marinara sauce. They also had huge trays of double chocolate brownies and I succumbed. More than once or twice It is only at events like this when I am even tempted to eat things I know I shouldn't. Oh well, such is life. I was STARVING after my run, even with the Quest bar, and that made my susceptible to brownies!
D: sauteed chicken over raw spinach, cucumbers (also at event, unsure what the chicken was sauteed with but it was good)

[Crankin]

B: scrambled eggs, salsa, cheddar, 1/4 avocado, coffee
L: whole wheat tortilla cheese crisp with cheddar and chicken, green chili salsa. an apple
went on a 21 mile ride, hilly, but not too fast. Drank a bottle with Nuun and a bottle of water. It's hot and humid.
S: half a banana
D: glass of rosé, one chicken breast with balsamic glaze and grape tomatoes, whole wheat orzo with zucchini and mushrooms, roasted Brussel sprouts. 2 squares dark chocolate

[Catrin]

I wasn't sore today, but was tired so I took a rest day. I was planning on that anyway but my legs were just dead heavy this morning. Guess all that running that I've not been doing is behind that after my attempts to act like a goat yesterday on 4.4 miles of single-track!

B: Last of the brekkie casserole, tomorrow morning starts my non-egg experiment! Coffee
S: Quest bar - didn't have lunch until 2:00
L: small amount of roasted chicken thigh, Trader Joe's Broccoli slap, a boiled egg (last of THOSE), fermented veggies and a bit of home-made garlic mayo for dressing
D: Smoked Alaskan Salmon wrapped around bits of avocado, small amount of roasted butternut squash and also some roasted eggplant/zucchini
Wanted some wine, but not until my weight stabilizes back where it SHOULD be.

[Crankin]

half a banana before boot camp
B: endive leaves stuffed with lox and light cream cheese, avocado. An orange, coffee
L: salad with chicken, left over whole wheat orzo, red pepper, avocado, vinaigrette. an apple
S: a Lara Bar at 3, a slice of spelt bread and cashew butter at 5:30
D: stir fry of chicken sausage, red pepper, artichoke hearts, mushrooms over brown rice. glass of rosé

[Catrin]

I did NOT eat enough for my efforts yesterday, though my macros are fine. Overall calories were too low.

B: Grass-fed ground beef and mushrooms over a a heap-o-wilted-baby-spinach. The first of my eggless brekkies. Coffee with cream.
Early lunch (due to training schedule): One Trader Joes garlic chicken sausage, smallish baked sweet potato
Kettlebell training class - my coach had me working on my own to test my endurance with two sport lifts. 24 solid minutes of lifting with two 2 minute rest breaks. My endurance is coming along & my shoulders & neck were/are quite happy! The weight was light, of course, and I followed with a protein shake
S: another Trader Joe's chicken sausage (went home early to supervise some kitchen work in my apt and I was starving - so much that I ate it cold)
D: roasted chicken thigh over butternut squash and fermented veggies

I've my kitchen back so I can actually cook properly tonight.