Moonwatcher's Primal/Calorie Counting Adventure!

moonwatcher

Gold Member
Hello!

In the last couple of years on minis I have managed to accumulate a diary in several different sections! I started on SW, and have travelled around WW, JUDDD, Atkins and then back to WW again. After years of on/off dieting I decided last year to do a metabolism reset to try and give my body a chance to get back to some sort of normality. Then followed Christmas and New Year, so I now need to work on losing what I have gained and then some more!

My calorie starting level will be around 1750. The basic idea after the reset is that you reduce your calories only a small amount and lose really quite slowly but hopefully steadily, to avoid getting back into that vicious spiral of having to reduce your calories more and more to keep losing.

Sadly, I lost my brother to bronchial pneumonia last week, so it is a tough time at the moment, It has made me feel that this is the year to tackle this weight once and for all though, as you really never know what is round the corner. I'm prepared for a slow loss rate at that calorie level.

That's probably enough for now, apart from quickly adding that I work as a Learning Support Assistant for special needs pupils at a local high school and sixth form college (although I am at home today with a bad cold - lost my voice!) my diet is gluten free, and I enjoy cooking.

I look forward to 'meeting''you all!
 
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Evening Moonwatcher. Looking forward to keep up with the new diary. And the promise of more pictures of food :) I suppose I should probably move my diary over here once I have finished my whole30 adventure.

Glad you all agreed on Bat Out Of Hell for your brother. Sounds like a clear choice if all three of you agreed.

Hope the lurgy clears up soon.
 
Failed miserably on the photo front today Atomic - ate late and was so keen to eat it I forgot about a photo until afterwards!

Off to bed now, so will update with food tomorrow.
 
Monday 13th January

Breakfast - 100g greek yogurt with 10g toasted coconut and level teaspoon dark brown sugar (204 cals)

Lunch - tuna sandwich on two pieces gf bread, with pickled jalapenos, beetroot and mayo (335 cals)

Went to Funeral Directors late afternoon and then picked up a new TV, so by the time we got that home and in position it was quite late. Was very tempted by a takeaway, but managed to resist and made a speedy risotto...

Dinner - sweet chilli Philadelphia, onion and garlic risotto with butternut squash and tomatoes, roasted in a little basil olive oil and smoked paprika, all topped with chopped smoked feta and sweet chilli cheddar cheeses. This was absolutely delicious and much better than a takeaway! (694 cals)

Drinks - milk in earl grey and vanilla chai teas (90 cals), water, one can of dry cider (158 cals)

Snacks/other - small banana (72 cals) 3 Murray mints and 7 fruit pastilles (161cals)

Total calories 1714/1750, so a good day.
 
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Looks like a really fab day back counting calories. That risotto sounds amazing and it seriously making me re-think my "no cheese in January" promise! Far better than any take away I imagine.

How have you found it? Been hungry at all as you've cut your calories a little lower? I am thinking its likely I will return to calorie counting post whole 30, maybe with some more paleo-based meals though. Am enjoying eating so much veg, think that might be a habit to keep.
 
Hi Moonwatcher, I am also sorry to hear about your brother... and I just want to wish you good luck with your new diet.

That was a good first day, I am also doing calorie counting so we are in the same boat :D
 
Looks like a really fab day back counting calories. That risotto sounds amazing and it seriously making me re-think my "no cheese in January" promise! Far better than any take away I imagine.

How have you found it? Been hungry at all as you've cut your calories a little lower? I am thinking its likely I will return to calorie counting post whole 30, maybe with some more paleo-based meals though. Am enjoying eating so much veg, think that might be a habit to keep.

I haven't been hungry apart from first thing in the morning, which is good really. Mind you, I haven't been in work as I still have this cold/cough/ear-ache thing and have no voice. I might find I feel a bit hungry when I am doing more back at work, but hopefully not, on as many as 1750 cals. That TDEE figure is with no formal exercise, so there is room to increase it when I start exercising again.

I think that generally the paleo/primal menus are very healthy ones and plenty of veg has to be a good thing! I am gradually working through my cheese stash on your behalf!

Hi Moonwatcher, I am also sorry to hear about your brother... and I just want to wish you good luck with your new diet.

That was a good first day, I am also doing calorie counting so we are in the same boat :D

Thanks Cactus and welcome. It is never an easy time, but fortunately the three of us (me, my sister and my brother) are all supportive and are in agreement about how to handle everything, which makes it a lot easier.

Subscribing :)

Hu LilEm and welcome.

Will update yesterday's food after a cup of lavender earl grey with milk! Then I'm off to have a look through diaries in this section and subscribe to a few.
 
Tuesday 14th January

Breakfast - one oz gf crunchy nut cornflakes with milk (186 cals)

Lunch - gf onion bagel, toasted, with 1 1/2 oz castello blue cheese, pickled green jalapenos and three cherry tomatoes, small cox apple (467 cals)

Afternoon snack - small slice of home-made carrot cake with sultanas and cranberries, lemon cream cheese icing and a drizzle of cream (377)

So, yesterday was new TV, today washing machine! After OH had fitted the washing machine we finished re-organising some furniture because of the new TV, so it was another late evening meal, but I managed to resist the lure of the takeaway again!

Dinner - marmalade and orange pork with jerk flavoured roasted butternut squash and red peppers. The pork was absolutely delicious. It was based on the recipe from last month's BBC Good Food mag, but I added some orange juice because I wanted to cook the pork slices in the slow cooker for a whIle and needed a but more liquid. (489 cals)

Other snacks - small banana (72 cals) one Murray mint (23 cals)

Drinks - milk in vanilla chai and earl grey teas (60 cals), 150 mls orange juice (65 cals), water, some with a squirt of fresh lime juice (3 cals)

Total calories 1742/1750
 
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Oo that pork sounds delicious mmm

It was divine! The original recipe is online here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/marmalade-pork.

I just added a bit more stock and a little orange juice so there was enough liquid in the slow cooker. I browned and cooked the pork steaks in a pan with the garlic, like it says, then bunged the whole lot in the slow cooker, only for a couple of hours. Then I just tipped most of the sauce into a saucepan and boiled it down to reduce it, and thickened it with some xanthan gum (or you could use cornflour). It was about the same thickness and texture as lemon sauce from the Chinese. We'll have it again - maybe with chicken or duck next time.
 
Wednesday 15th January

Still at home with this awful chesty cough etc. Plenty of time to gaze at recipes though!

Breakfast - same as yesterday - gf crunchy nut cornflakes and milk (186 cals)

Lunch - two egg herby omelette with chestnut mushrooms, ham and an ounce of whisky cheddar, plus two pickled onions - a slightly random veg addition but the plate looked a bit bare! A small apple (419 cals).

Dinner - gf spaghetti with a cheese sauce (one ounce of cream cheese and two of cheddar with a little milk, a squirt of mustard and some nutmeg), with roast peppers and one ounce of chorizo, one gf roll made into garlic bread on the side. Followed this with a chopped pear, mini meringue nest, big teaspoonful of greek yogurt, a drizzle of chocolate sauce (made out of cocoa powder and syrup)and a sprinkle of toasted coconut (1088 cals). A lot of calories in that meal, and a lot of cheese, but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Drinks - water, milk in rose earl grey, jasmine earl grey and a vanilla chai tea (60 cals)

Total calories for the day 1753/1750
 
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