Thursday, September 1, 2011

Monster Month - Day 4

Today was harder than yesterday. I found a bag of pretzels in my desk at work, and decided I wanted those with my hummus instead of the carrots I brought with me. I checked the ingredients and decided they were 'good enough' and ate those for my snack this afternoon.

I left work late, but wasn't hungry when I got home. By the time Hubs got home and we were ready to head outside for some yard work, I was hungry. I was feeling like a cheeseburger, beer and some wings. Nothing in the house was looking good to me; I was craving fat and salt. I didn't give in. Instead I had some cheese and crackers and headed out to garden.

By the time I got in from gardening I was barely hungry. I was headed for some yogurt with pecans, but found the yogurt had modified corn starch and decided to pass. I decided on a bowl of cereal with almond milk and honey. It was really good! I wanted more! It took some convincing that I wasn't hungry and just needed to say 'no' to myself, but it worked. These are the hardest times for me, well and when I just want a cheeseburger. Interestingly when I wanted the cheeseburger, I mentioned that I apparently can only make it through 3 days of Monster Month. What's wrong with that comment?!

1. Cheeseburgers are fine, as long as I know what's in the condiments (ketchup at a restaurant would surely have high fructose corn syrup, and I have no way to know what's in the hamburger bun) and side dishes. Given the difficulty of that, I would have to make some adjustments for a burger out in a restaurant (topped with salsa? no bun? grilled onion and mushroom added to it? baked potato instead of the french fries and the roll?)

2. I was just a few minutes into a craving and I had already made up my mind that I was going to give-in.! Telling myself (and Hubs) that I apparently can only make 3 days of Monster Month is an awful, defeatist, unsupportive thing to say. I keep coming back to this, but it's true - I would never say that to someone else. Why do I say it to myself!? If Hubs or anyone said something like that I would remind them of their goals, offer them something different, distract them for the recommended 20 minutes to let a craving pass; anything, but never would I tell them they had already lost!

3. All or nothing won't work. Sometimes I just have to make the healthiest decision for where I am and what I want. I can say no to certain things 100%, but there are others that I can be a bit lenient on (like Kashi cereals) until they are finished and buy something different (or stick to the oats). The big thing on deck for this weekend is making bread! Yeah!

Today's summary:


Food Summary
MealCaloriesFatCarbsProtein
Breakfast57013.7g77.2g41.6g
Snack #11914.5g25.7g11.3g
Lunch1914.5g25.7g11.3g
Snack #270521.8g109.8g17.2g
Dinner3213.3g76.0g7.0g
Total
Percentage of Calories 1
197847.8g
21%
314.4g
62%
88.4g
17%

   1  Typical Percentages: Fat 20-35%, Carbohydrates 45-65%, and Protein 10-35%.

Breakfast was the usual smoothie. My snack/lunch were the same, just spread out over the course of the morning and lunch time (the last of my frittata with 1 cup of brown rice and salsa). Snack two includes the cheese, crackers, dried mango and the hummus with pretzels. 

I'm feeling less sore, but actually wore my old Brooks to work today for extra support. I am hoping to do a short run tomorrow and then try for my 12.5 miles on Saturday. I'm listening to my body tell me how tired it is this week, and turning off the light to get some sleep now. 

How do you deal with cravings? Do you wait the 20 minutes? 
Do you have trouble forcing yourself to be distracted? 

4 comments:

  1. I can usually distract myself with a cup of coffee - sometimes I'm just looking for comfort and a warm mug of coffee or tea works fine. Although if I'm really craving a food, like a burger, I know I need to have one eventually or the craving will go away. But, I'll plan in into a future day - not just go and gobble one down without thinking.

    Keep up the good work, love the nutrition breakdowns. Isn't that an interesting thing to follow?

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  2. Sometimes I find myself craving something specific, like ice cream, when really what I want is something with fat in it and some avocado or whole milk yogurt will do the trick. When I start craving red meat (burgers, bacon, beef chili) I'm generally borderline anemic and my body is simply trying to let me know.

    As for dealing with the cravings, sometimes I do better than others. Currently I'm not doing so well with not giving in to the ice cream craving, but I'm working on that. Mostly I just don't buy it so it's not lying around in my freezer when I have a craving and I've found that to work rather well. Or else I'll have something else sweet like fresh fruit (easy right now) or a smoothie (with frozen fruit) or a piece or two of some good, dark chocolate.

    I applaud you going for this Monster Month...and I'd be interested in learning a bit more about the general idea. I hope your leg bruise heals soon and you're back on your feet and out the door again!!

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  3. Thanks Maggie! The bruise is better, but still not healed enough to run on. Maybe today? I totally agree, certain things just don't come into the house to tempt me. I'm hoping that what I learn this month is going back to real food (it's so sad how far away I've gotten away from it, even with all the 'organic' stuff I buy and the farmers' market trips we make).

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  4. You're right Carrie, the nutrition information is so interesting. I've learned over time which numbers to ignore (such as cholesterol from 2 eggs, though I eat/prefer the whites over the yolks) and the fat numbers. Fats are tracked as fats, regardless of whether or not they are good fats.

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