December's pink food thread!

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Originally Posted by suregena

Yeah... I'm having a hard time getting the levels all within limits... I can keep the calories within limit, sure, but then I'd surely go over protein... which is why my calories the previous two days were so low. It's tough to balance. :/ I'm sure it'll just take practice, considering this is new to me. I never even dieted before in my life. I'm a normal healthy weight at the moment, so obviously don't want to drop down TOO much (I weigh less than I did before my son as it is, which was a result of breastfeeding and just stayed that way), and have been vegetarian for yeeeaaarrrss. But it's still hard! All my favorites are gone, ha!

After today I'm going to share dinner with my husband and just have a smaller portion and have the big bad no no tomato & mushroom sauce and not stress about it, and tomorrow I will start again.

I think the only way I could probably make this work is come up with some sort of meal plan so I'm not counting up everything I eat to try to make something 'within range.' That will just make a person crazy. :/

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Somewhere Atomic stated her preferences that it's better to go over on sodium/etc provided you get your calories up - I had issues with not eating enough too initially. I think protein is easy to keep within limits if you avoid meat

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

Somewhere Atomic stated her preferences that it's better to go over on sodium/etc provided you get your calories up - I had issues with not eating enough too initially. I think protein is easy to keep within limits if you avoid meat

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Okay, I'll approach this slightly more relaxed tomorrow... fingers crossed.

I did check nutrients in everything to begin with but after a while I just scribbled down the calories/protein/sodium in 3 columns on a scrap piece of paper and made sure each of my 2 main meals was somewhere in the region of 500 cals/20g protein/500mg sodium - then I grabbed a handful of sweets as a treat in the evening.

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

woah that's hardly anything! how long have you been doing the diet for? how much weight do you have to lose?

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Only two days, don't worry! (I'm not counting today, the third day, because it was bad.) But two days was enough for my body to slap me and say, "It isn't RIGHT!"

I'm trying to organize myself into something that works for me on a daily basis with little stress. I am also breastfeeding and I do not have a car, so I suppose I drop calories elsewhere on a daily basis on top of it all (so maybe I shouldn't try so hard!) And already a vegetarian. And my husband is already a vegetarian. Both for many years.

So... I probably weigh about 115lbs at a really rough guess (after my son it went to 108 but I've gained some back since I went back to work. Before I had my son, I was about 120. Before I moved to the UK and was in the US, I was always about 130.) I am only 5"... so I don't really have weight to lose, per se.

Suregena - I agree that you definitely need to eat more. You're right that your body's trying to tell you something. Back when I started the diet last May, I had a lot of trouble keeping protein and sodium down while eating enough calories too. I think things changed when I stopped trying to eat 'normal' things like pre-packaged stuff, store bought bread and yogurt. Now I eat plenty of food, rarely feel hungry and am almost always within limits (unless it's a cheat day).

I do things the same way Z used to - eat at 12, 5 then a snack (usually candy or ice cream) when the kids go to bed. I go to bed happy and satisfied instead of already feeling hungry - if you are, it's a looooong wait until 12 the next day.

And as for the tomato sauce? That's totally acceptable on the LE diet - just try to buy a low sodium one.

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Originally Posted by suregena

Only two days, don't worry! (I'm not counting today, the third day, because it was bad.) But two days was enough for my body to slap me and say, "It isn't RIGHT!"

I'm trying to organize myself into something that works for me on a daily basis with little stress. I am also breastfeeding and I do not have a car, so I suppose I drop calories elsewhere on a daily basis on top of it all (so maybe I shouldn't try so hard!) And already a vegetarian. And my husband is already a vegetarian. Both for many years.

So... I probably weigh about 115lbs at a really rough guess (after my son it went to 108 but I've gained some back since I went back to work. Before I had my son, I was about 120. Before I moved to the UK and was in the US, I was always about 130.) I am only 5"... so I don't really have weight to lose, per se.

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you sound a lot like me then - I started the diet when I was 104lbs at 4'11" and I'm still BF too (3 times a day at the moment)
especially if you're BF you might want to eat more calories and definitely more protein or you could find your milk supply really suffers too. Raspberry leaf tea is safe to drink when TTC - it has some benefits such as lowering pH, improving milk supply, and improving your uterine lining so implantation would be easier.... but some find it increases CM as well (I haven't found that)

are you planning on doing the diet for 6 weeks before TTC? I lost nearly 9lbs in 6 weeks and know that this time I'll have to keep the diet up until I get a BFP as it seems I don't regain weight post-diet as fast as I lose it! hence thinking of TTC after just 3 weeks on the diet this time around...

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

you sound a lot like me then - I started the diet when I was 104lbs at 4'11" and I'm still BF too (3 times a day at the moment)
especially if you're BF you might want to eat more calories and definitely more protein or you could find your milk supply really suffers too. Raspberry leaf tea is safe to drink when TTC - it has some benefits such as lowering pH, improving milk supply, and improving your uterine lining so implantation would be easier.... but some find it increases CM as well (I haven't found that)

are you planning on doing the diet for 6 weeks before TTC? I lost nearly 9lbs in 6 weeks and know that this time I'll have to keep the diet up until I get a BFP as it seems I don't regain weight post-diet as fast as I lose it! hence thinking of TTC after just 3 weeks on the diet this time around...

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Yeah, not sure. Originally was going to try this cycle (I'm on my period now) but felt that would be too little time spent on the diet and too little time on licorice root for my husband (I thought it might be worth giving his system a go through on AF to O but not try and then do it again the cycle we try, though it probably makes no difference I guess!) So I opted to start the diet now and try the cycle after this one.

I didn't end up going out for supper yesterday, so no big cheats yet for me.

6am: coffee
12pm: rice with balsamic vinegar, homemade low fat/low sodium banana muffin
4pm: 1/2 cup hot apple cider (we cut down our Christmas tree and I couldn't resist it after being out in the cold)
5:30pm: homemade vegetarian lasagna (eggplant, zucchini, leeks, mushrooms, low sodium sauce, lasagna noodles, low fat ricotta, a bit of parmesan, spinach and part skim mozzarella) - it was veeeery yummy
8pm (at the movie): Nibs, Mike & Ikes
10:30pm: raspberries (I know - bad girl snacking late at night, but I was a little hungry and couldn't resist).

Calories: 1203
Protein: 35.8g
Sodium: 857mg

I think I'm going to have my cheat night soon. I still don't know whether or not I have af, but all this confusion and stress is getting to me, and I think I need a big treat!

Instead of just 0% yogurt for lunch, I increased my calories at lunch and had a low fat cream cheese and skinless cucumber sandwich on weight watchers bread. Haven't looked at numbers, but hopefully it leaves some room for dinner.

Sounds good, suregena!