The Hobbit Hole

[hobbitgirl]

Well, this little hobbit is on day 2 and was struggling with an idea for dinner. I found something in Well Fed that will work with just about everything I have in the house. Tonight I am making:

Blue Ribbon Country Captain Chicken. It sounds delish and I got a bunch of organic chicken legs and thighs at costco on Saturday.

The most difficult thing for a hobbit is not to eat 6 meals per day, and not to snack, even on approved items. I am trying to get the sugar monkey off of my back. Last night was tough, and I confess to nibbling on some grapes, but no where NEAR as many I would have sat down to in the past. Ate them slow and listened. Kept asking my body, ok..are we done now? I was able to even ignore the second wave of cravings that were calling me (dang fresh cut pineapple sitting in the fridge). Fruit acts too much like sweets for me so I'm trying NOT to use them as a crutch.

[Lyn1]

I know what you mean. I also like to eat 6 meals a day and sugar is a big bugaboo for me. What I've been doing is never eat fruit by itself. I will either eat it with or at the end of a meal, or put nut butter on it (if I'm having it as a snack). It's day 16 for me and I'm only just now getting to the point where I don't want to snack in the afternoons. Hang in there!

[hobbitgirl]

Yup, last night I wanted a little sweet so I had some raisins, but also tossed in some nuts...and not NEARLY as much as I would have munched in the past. Just ate, then sat and listened.

Day 3. 45 minutes on the treadmill at varying inclines

Breakfast: Coconut milk iced coffee delishiousness, emergency protein (grass fed ground beef, sweet potato, spring onions, broccolli)

Lunch: Leftover Blue Ribbon Country captain chicken and a bit of curry spaghetti squash

Dinner: NY strip steak and asparagus (still a work in progress. Dinner options seem to evolve as the day goes on but I took the steaks out of the freezer, along with the asparagus).

Emergency crunchy snack - sugar snap peas

[hobbitgirl]

HELP HELP! Massive munchie attack at 3pm. Gonna go into my sugar snap peas but GRRRR.

[Carie Skeahan]

Hang in there...it will get better. Make sure you are eating enough at each meal.

Eat three meals a day. Base each meal around your protein source. All protein sources should be roughly the size of your open hand. Fill the rest of your plate with veggies. Occasionally add a small amount of fruit. Add fat as recommended below:

all oils - 1-2 thumb sized portions

all butters - 1-2 thumb sized portions

olives - one open heaping handful

coconut flakes - one open heaping handful

nuts and seeds - one closed handful

avocado - 1/2 - 1

coconut milk - between 1/4 and 1/2 of one 14oz can.

Use this as a baseline, and don't be afraid to increase your portion sizes if you are particularly more hungry, to help keep you full. It could help with the cravings too.

You could consider adding in a pre/post workout meal as well.

For pre-work out, include a small amount of protein (1/2 a meal size or smaller), and (optionally) a small amount of fat (1/2 a meal size or smaller). Do not add fruit or carb-dense veggies to your pre-workout snack. When you train first thing in the morning, something is better than nothing. I workout in the evening and I eat about an hour before I do. My pre-workout snack usually consists of whatever protein I had for lunch and some avocado or some olives. Since you workout in the morning, you could have some leftover protein from the night before or a hardboiled egg or two.

For post-workout, try a meal sized easily digestible protein, up to a fist-sized portion of carb-dense veggies and little to no fat. Do not use fruit as your primary post-workout carb source, but rather choose sweet potato or yams or squash or pumpkin or beets. Your post-workout meal is a bonus meal and should not replace breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is designed to help you recover from a high intensity workout. I like to bring leftover protein from lunch, which is usually leftover protein from dinner the night before and a yam or sweet potato.

Lastly, do not give into those sugar demons. Try eating a snack that includes protein…not fruit or anything else that is sweet.

Hope this helps!

[hobbitgirl]

Maybe that is the issue. I get up at about 4-4:30 am, and head to the gym/work (my company put in a very nice gym last year when they built another building onto our complex). So, I am working out on an empty stomach. Top it off with I don't eat anything until I'm showered, changed, and up at my desk (I relax by eating slow and reading this forum actually).

Maybe I need to have a little something in the morning on the way in. Maybe egg muffins? A little egg with maybe some sweet potato, spring onion and mushroom?

Ok...so here is what I am eating today

Breakfast: Emergency protein, which I'm starting to think I don't have enough veggies in it and it's too protein heavy (or at least the ratio is off, so tonight I may cook some extra veggies to toss in the bowl); Slargning all morning on my iced coffee with coconut milk (I add a ton of ice so it lasts me all morning. NUMMM)

Lunch: Garden cucumbers (yup, from my own carden) and tomato salad with olive oil, red wine vinegar and herbs; chicken and egg salad made with Olive Oil mayo, and an avocado on the side if I decide to have it.

Emergency snow peas

Dinner: Not sure...something using the chicken breasts I took out last night.

I am finding that in the evening I am really craving something sweet. last night I gave in a little and had a small portion of grapes and some walnuts. I REALLY have to get this sugar demon off my back and I know that's going to be my hardest struggle. Maybe I'll brew up some mint and lemon balm tea (and it would be on plan, since all I would be doing is going in the yard and picking some mint and lemon balm, and then pouring boiling water over it). Thoughts?

[limejuicy]

The sugar cravings will get better, but try not to be so hard on yourself. Concentrate on eating enough good food and making good choices and I think you will see the rest will follow. Try to make sure that if you do grab a snack that it's got some protein and fat. That will help - I know that if I only have baby carrots or snap peas for a snack I'm hungry like 3.5 min later! I will often throw some leftover meat (or even cold cooked bacon!) into a baggie w/some veggies for my emergency snack at work. Sometimes a spoonful of coconut butter will do the trick as well just because of the fat content.

I also agree w/preWO and postWO meals. When I have them, I am not ravenously hungry all day on workout days. preWO = protein + fat (no carbs) and postWO = lean protein + starchy veg (NOT fruit) and eat a regular sized meal 75-90 min later. These formulas work. I have found that just a handful of raw nuts is enough for me as a preWO meal (can't stomach an egg that early).

[hobbitgirl]

Hmm...I just bought coconut butter but I haven't started using it yet. But I guess tomorrow I'll start having some sort of preWO meal.

Dang this surgar monkey! GRRR..I will defeat it. Funny, but it wasn't until I began this journey that I very quickly realized how adicted I am to surgary sweets, even if it was just fruit.

[hobbitgirl]

OK...stupid me didn't pack the emergency snow peas (LOL...try explaining that sentence to ANYONE who isn't on this sort of program), but I bought a veggie try for the office yesterday so I'm gonna grab some of that for my emergency stash.

Just rediscovered the joy of the Uber-simple. My salad was dressed with nothing more than EVO, red wine vinegar, and some dried herbs from an herb grinder (checked, and no preservatives or sugars of any kind hidden in there). I'm gonna have to make a little bottle of that to keep at the office. NUMMM

[hobbitgirl]

^{LOL...so day 4 and um...FINALLY POOPED. Don't think I'm done either given the pressure I feel on my left side, but I won't 'force' the issue. LOL.}

[Derval]

Congrats on the poop baby!

[hobbitgirl]

Hmm..this is odd. I have trouble drinking just plain water. I tried using a lemon on monday. Meh. Used some fresh juice from an orange yesterday....meh. Today I switched cups and I'm using a double walled cup with a lid that has a straw. Very iced water. This is dumb, but I seem to be able to drink plain water this way.

[hobbitgirl]

Well day 4 ended strangely.

Dinner: chicken breasts marinated in evo and tuscan seasoning, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots saute'd in evo, salt, pepper and a little italian herbs. Warm ghee on the table in case hubby wanted some (and oddly enough, he didn't. He was fine with the veggies just this way. He's not doing a W30, but he's at least fine with eating anything I cook).

Desert...if you can call it that...small hand full of grapes and almond butter.

I fell asleep way too early for my liking. I was out by 8pm. So, tonight I simply must do something to stay up. Even if it's folding launndry while watching TV.

HUGE storm during the we hours of the morning, woke me up at around 3:30. you know it's a bad storm when it's in your dream that it's storming and the mutual thunder wakes you up. I drempt that we thought we saw a tornodo coming and then looked close to see that something in Chicago had exploded (again, that was in the dream). I get up this morning and while I'm on the treadmill I hear that there was an explosion in Lyons from a gas main break. OK...that's really weird.

Anyhow...today's eats stack up like this....

PreWO (giving this a shot). A couple of grapes...I don't know...maybe 10...and a spoonful of almond butter.

Breakfast: Emergency protein with additional leftover veggies from last night. MMMM....this tasted WAY better. Nom nom...CARROTS. What is it about cooked carrot anyway? And cooked baby carrot? MMMMMMM ok...sorry...getting off track

Lunch: chicken and egg salad made with leftover chicken from last night and olive oil mayo. Garden salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing. I've got an extra egg and a small avocado if I think I need it at some point, but I never ate them yesterday.

I've got my iced coconut milk coffee but I made WAY to much this morning. I had the wrong cup with me and when I measured it all out at the office I've got twice what I normally drink. I shouldn't drink both but I'm not sure what to do. Put one in the freezer maybe?

Dinner is a total mystey. I've got some chicken sausages from costco down in my cube freezer and I think I'll cook them up for something different. Any suggestions?

45 minutes on the treadmill. This week is all cardio, but next week I would like to add something to it. I'm going to send some emails and see if I can get an early am trainer or training partner in our gym. Not many early risers so it's not that easy.

[hobbitgirl]

So has anyone had this happen? You sit down to lunch, and you take a bite, and you can HEAR your own tastebuds saying to you "OMG, THANK YOU". You practically feel your body go, YES...this is just what we needed.

I had an avocado in my lunch kit today, and for some reason decided to cut into it and add it to my eggy-chicken salad. OMG... Thank you Lord for creating the Avocado!

[hobbitgirl]

WOW...I couldn't eat my salad. I'm honestly feeling stuffed after the avocado and chicken/egg salad.

[Carol]

That has happened to me too! Especially with the coconut milk or coconut butter, they seem to do an awesome recharge of whatever it is that needs recharging.

I have been adding avocados to lunch and dinner...they are so good, and it is astounds me how filling they are.

[hobbitgirl]

Day 5 and into Day 6

Well, dinner turned into something different because hubby went into the office and had a big lunch. So, he just wanted fresh veggie juice for dinner. Ok, no problem there. I can certainly work the juicer for him while I whip something up for myself. So dinner was a W30 hash like thing of 1/2 of a sweet potato diced, spring onions, mushrooms, organic mixed kales all saute'd in ghee with a bit of sea salt and garlic. Then I poached 2 eggs in the microwave. NUMMM. Ok, the eggs were only slightly over done but I haven't eaten a poached egg in 20 years, and I have NEVER actually cooked one.

Evening snacky thing: 5 grapes, iced vanilla roobios tea coconut milk latte.

I managed to stay up past 9pm which is very good.

Today is day 6 and my big challenge is an evening out at a fund raiser. YIKES. It doesn't start until 7pm and from what I can see it's drinks and horse dovres (or however you spell small food that's REALLY bad for you). Luckily it's at a nice steak place, and I've looked over the menu and I'm confident I can order something and stay on plan (granted, I'm going to make our server nuts with (no butter, olive oil and vinegar only on the salad, can you just steam those veggies?).

Meals for today:

PreWO - 10 grapes, 1 tablespoon of almond butter

45 minutes on the treadmill

Meal 1 - Emergency protein (finishing it up today) (grass fed ground beef, leftover steak bits, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower)

Meal 2 - chickeny egg salad made with olive oil mayo, an avocado, cucumber and tomato salad (olive oil, red wine vinegar, herbs).

[hobbitgirl]

Well today is day 9 and I must say that the last few days have been interesting.

Friday I attended a fund raiser with my husband. I knew this would be difficult, but it was heald at a steak house. So, we got there early and ordered dinner. They had a wonder kabob, and I just asked for steamed broccoli on the side and to make sure they don't rub butter over the kabobs (claiming a dairy alergy), and then ordered water with lemons and limes. I must wonder how a place can mess up steamed broccoli. It was still almost raw. It hadn't even changed to that wonderful bright/dark green yet. Oh well. My meal had 2 huge kabobs, but I only ate one and saved the other for home. Then for the evening, the tough part was not indulging on my typical chocolate martinis. Just water with lemon thank you. I watched people going back to the appetizers during the party, and I know they weren't actually hungry...just eating because the food was there. Wow....I realized how much I would have done that very thing in the past.

On to Saturday....breakfast on the run as I had a 3.5 hour drive starting at 6am. Grabbed a scrammbled egg and a bit of chopped steak and onions and hit the road. Lunch was a grilled chicken salad with oil and vinegar, dinner...some chicken sausages we had picked up from costco and a really quick vegeitable fry up.

Sunday was my funday. I love sunday breakfast because it's time to use all of my leftovers. I made myself a garbage hash of whatever was in the fridge (1 leftover sausage, the veggies, some steamed broccoli, chopped onion, etc) and then poached 2 eggs to go with it. Hubby got a scramble of my leftove kabob all chopped up and 3 eggs.

it's amazing because honestly, I'm not hungry for lunch after church. Hubby went out to run errands and I started cooking for the week.

Steamed 2 heads of broccoli

riced (but left raw) 2 heads of cauliflower

fried up Emergency Protein for breakfasts for the week (organic ground beef, chopped red onion, chopped carrots, broccoli, tomatoes)

Sauted a mess of kale in olive oil and garlic

I also prepped dinner, which was a stuffed pork roast stuffed with apples, raisins and cinnamon. I seared the roast in melted ghee seasoned with a bit of cinnamon, removed the roast to a pan and fried up the remaining apples, raisins and cinnamon in the drippings, and then tossed them into the pan with the roast. This made a lovely dinner. Served it up with cauliflower pilaf.

Relaxed on the couch with iced Vanilla roobios tea and coocnut milk, about 10 cherries and some almond butter.

Day 9s meals stack up like this

PreWO 8 cherries, almond butter

Breakfast Emergency protein, side of sauted kales

lunch egg salad with olive oil mayo, 10 cherries, an avocado, cucumber salad

dinner - chicken breasts (not sure how I'm preparing them just yet)

50 minutes on the treadmill completed

[Derval]

Your fruity pork sounds delicious.

Have you tried the best ever chicken from well fed? Do!

[hobbitgirl]

^{You know what it is? Between this program, and the fact that I LOVE to watch Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef, I'm having WAY too much fun in the kitchen now. I feel like experimenting with flavors. I taste as I go (hmm...that could use a bit more curry powder, or it needs salt...hmm...wonder what would happen if I added a dash or two of cinnamon).}

^{Oh, I also made the tosted cinnamon shredded coconut from Well Fed yesterday afternoon. OMG! How does this taste so much like popcorn? I mean, you would swear it's been sauted in butter because I swear I taste butter and salt. Just amazing!}

[hobbitgirl]

^{YEAH!! Day 9 and I finally pooped again. Not to keep track, but I certainly hope things will regulate and I'm not just going to go every 4-5 days.}

[Emily]

Yay pooping!

I hope you will regulate too! Sorry I don't really have any ideas . . . this isn't a problem that I've experienced.

The title of your log makes me smile every time I read it.

[hobbitgirl]

_{I just ordered some digestive enzymes, so I'm hoping that will help. I'm eating pleanty of fat and veggies and such, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Could be worse I suppose...I could be gassy. LOL.}

[hobbitgirl]

Well today is Day 10. Last night dinner was rather simple

Chicken breasts dredged in seasoned coconut flour, fried in coconut oil (a little dry, I think I over cooked them a tad)

Green salad of garden veggies with oil vinegar and herbs

Steamed Broccolli with sea salt

evening snacky - some cherries, macadamia nuts and a little barney butter

I really do need to get that night time snacking under control. For some reason yesterday at around 4pm I felt RAVENOUS. I could have gnawed off my own foot. Not sure what that was about.

The challenge of Day 5: Cutting down/eliminating caffiene

Today I will NOT have my morning iced coffee latte with coconut milk. Coffee has been replaced with iced Vanilla Roobios over coconut milk.

Pre WO - A small apple and a bit of almond butter

Breakfast - emergency protein

Lunch - chopped up leftover chicken breast from last night, and a mashed up avocado. I'm not sure about this because I seasoned it while I was sleepy and I think I may have over salted. I guess I'll see what happens at lunch; Also have some macadamia nuts, and leftover garden salad.

Dinner -- I took out a sirloin tip roast.

50 minutes on the treadmill this morning

I watch people more closely it seems and the things I see people put into their mouths just amazes me. I watched one girl hop onto the treadmill, and instead of water...she had an iced latte of some kind from Dunkin. YIKES!

Something must have kicked in me because sometimes when I'm craving something it isn't sweet that I want...but just a few spoons of my emergency protiein. Still, I don't want to give into a snack attack.

Tonight we head back to costco because I need a fruit tray for work, and hubby's rear tire has a bit of a squeak. I may pick up some more organic ground beef while I am there.

[Renee Lee]

Hey Hobbitgirl,

I noticed that your pre workout meals are generally devoid of protein. We generally like to stick to protein + fat preworkout, and protein + carbs postworkout, but if what you're doing is working for you, keep with it! Just thought I'd mention it in case you're in the mood for some more experimenting!