New year's resolutions, in October!

Just because I cannot wait New Year, can I.

This morning was my wake-up call. I had finally gathered the courage to step on my scale, which confirmed what I already knew. I have gained weight. Even being vegetarian (mostly vegan) doesn't help your waistline if you're not being careful. I'm back on my pre-vegan weight and I don't like it one bit. But the funny thing is, my measurements are still way off and quite steady. So right now, I'm not very sure what's going on, I've gained weight, but the meter doesn't say so.

It all goes back to my Corsica holiday, when I switched vegan for vegetarian, just because otherwise I would have almost nothing to eat. Oh well, I'll be honest. I gave in to cheese and croissants, just because I was on holidays. The menus were so abundant that even a midday fast didn't help, because then dinner would come, followed by croissants in the morning. In the end I had the feeling we did nothing but sleep, eat and sightsee at a leasure pace. No wonder it shows. Then, add some PMS time with a combination of freezing temperatures, hard mental work that DEMANDS chocolate and stress by being back at work and overloaded,... and there you go.

These past days there's been a lot of this:

 Tofu & Broccoli pasta in soy cream

 Banana cake, of course

Vegan pizza with plenty of veggies: zucchini, eggplants, bell pepper, corn & vegan cheddar cheese.

Red wine, too. Oink oink.

Some of this, too:

 Getting ready to cook, big style

Barley minestrone with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes. I ate this for 3 days straight, because I made a whole lot of it.

Well, it's time to stop.

I've decided I'm going back to some menu planning and a food diary, just to stay on track on the food I consume. It helped the first time back in February, so it might help me again. What doesn't help is the food I'm having is just simply delicious and before I know, I'm taking another spoonfull.

My diet started in fact Saturday, when I started documenting again. I think I've lost some grams since though, since I don't feel so bloated today.

Next, I'll be cutting my portions by a third, God willing. Instead of a whole plate of pasta, there'll be a third less. Yeah, uhm. In theory.

Next. No eating after 7pm. :=) Go to bed by 11pm. :=)

Drink WATER. Plenty of it.

Cut the whites. White sugar, white bread, white pasta. I generally don't eat white bread, but there's wheat flour in almost every bread. So I'll just try with cutting back the regular white pasta, stop adding sugar to tea, and such. I'll keep my 3g of sugar in my black coffee, thank you.

Enlrage intake of veggies. Is that even possible? :=) Well, try less pasta & pizza, more salads again & leafy greens, more rice, more veggie soups as a replacement to a meal.

Increase exercise, of course. Go for a walk or run everyday, or at least every other day. No need to do more, this will be just alright. Or maybe, if you're in the mood, do some push-ups at home. Really, that's all it takes. Just, you know, give a try!

And lastly. Seriously. If you're not hungry, truly hungry, just DON'T EAT. It's good to go hungry. You don't die if you're hungry for a couple of hours.


MY GOAL: Want to lose 7 kg :) By New Year, if possible, pretty please.


Saturday, 15/10/2011
breakfast: pancakes with marmelade (4 of them!!, couldn't help, they were soooo good and fluffy)
lunch: vegetable stock soup, 3 small grain burgers and a large autumn salad (salad, raddichio, chinese cabbage, green bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, pumpkin seeds, crostini, thousand island dressing for the first time ever ever)
dinner: roasted chestnuts & 1 dcl red wine

That's not all of the salad there was. There's a whole bowl of it next to the plate :)

Saturday I made pancakes for breakfast just because it's been a long time we were both home for a weekend and it felt a special occasion. I made pancakes with soy milk and they turned out so so good like I've never made them before. I saved some of the batch for Sunday as well. Waste not.

At lunch we were still a bit full from breakfast and I had many veggies to put to use or to garbage and I opted I'd make a huge salad with a side of mini burgers for me and some fried chicken for my partner. We were so full of fibres that after a whole day of cleaning the house, laundry, ironing and stuff come dinner time we were still quite full. So we went for an evening walk to the town, bought roasted chestnuts, sat down at a bar and ordered some red wine to go with the chestnuts. Walked also back home, glad for heating and soft linen! :)

Sunday, 16/10/2011
breakfast: pancakes, 3 of them :o
lunch: leek & potato soup, garden risotto with tomato, carrots and zucchini, some leftover salad
dinner: muscat grapes, a huge apple, some pistacchios and a few home-made cookies. Ugh, I almost forgot: a whole lot of wholegrain rusks (or zwieback) with a dairy lactose-free spread. UGH. Right. No wonder.

Sunday my parents decided to visit and I started the morning by preparing lunch. They arrived at about 11am and we immediately went for a walk to town, looking for the market that turned out to be closed. Just our luck! Had a nice long 2-hour walk with our beagle, though (and she was super good in the crowds!), just enjoying the last of the sunny warm days. I cooked lunch for all and my mom just couldn't believe the food and stuffed herself :) When they left me and my partner finally had the afternoon to ourselves and with the clothes ironed and the house clean, I could just stretch my legs and enjoy me some movies. It was M.'s time to do the dishes! :)