Need encouragement & new ideas

[JB3215]

This is my first post although I have been following since March 16. My question/concern is I just moved to rural SE Asia and I am having a really hard time coming up with meal & snack ideas and feeling discouraged. I would love any thoughts.

 

the background is- my starting BMI was nearly 47... I did my first whole40 in March and ended in May. It ended because of a family vacation and during. That two week period I had only 3-5 meals which had any possibility of non compliant foods (a pre-dressed salad,a BLT lettuce wrap from a cafe, etc). I didn't lose any weight the first 40 days but my husband encouraged me to stay with it because he thought my  figure had changed. So I went right back and from Mid may did another whole50 after about 50 days I stopped asking too many questions about additives in restaurants (but seldom eat out) and would eat at friends without making a fuss but was 95-99% compliant until mid Oct. during that time I ended up losing 20% of my weight. I have never done a reintroduction. Mid October took a two week trip to Israel again had 2-5 meals that had blatantly non compliant foods (a half of pita with hummus, feta cheese, etc) but still stayed compliant as possible.  I went back home and stayed on my 95+% compliant whole30 diet. And mid Nov I moved to SE Asia. I thought it would be easy here but I am really struggling. Most things I ate regularly at home I have a hard time getting here or cannot get at all.  By the time I moved here my BMI was down to 35 having lost >25% of my body weight. In the last couple week I have gained 10 pounds and feel icky. I am trying to be compliant but have lost inspiration. I still have a good amount of weight to lose and would like to stay on the whole30 plan because I felt healthier.  Sorry a long story but it is both a success story and a plea for new ideas and inspiration. 

 

My caveats to the whole30 for people encouraged by my success this far:  I (before moving to Asia) had a smoothie every morning (vegetable heavy with an apple or pear and prunes). I never quite got in 3 meals a day but would get a good snack in. I loved tahini in my plan. I never got 8 hours of sleep and I swam as exercise when the weather was nice enough but haven't had a serious exercise plan. I kept (unintentionally) pretty low carb. I had not lost any weight on a 1000 calorie diet which I was on for 3-5 months prior. I had never rated so much fat... it was hard to get used to.

 

more background: Things I cannot get too easily (or at all) here:sweet pepper, celery, purple eggplant, zucchini or other summer squash, kale, spinach, spring mix, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, snap peas, green beans, spaghetti squash, the meats are not really organic or grass fed, only chicken and pork are available (not easy to get ground anything- unless we dice the meat ourselves). Tomatoes here aren't good for eating just to put in a soup. Avocado oil, ghee, tahini,  spices (oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, Indian curries). There are lots of fruits but mainly tropical sweet fruits no berries, few apples, no pears). No almond butter and almonds are hard to get and expensive. Cashews only come coated in sugar and other nuts are really hard. Definitely no Rx bars. 

 

Thank you you so much for reading my long long post and for any new ideas you have.

 

 

 

[laura_juggles]

Starting off, 1000 calories a day is barely enough to stay alive so it's not surprising you didn't lose any weight during that period of time. 

After that, you body first had to get used to the fact that you were actually feeding it, then you could start to move toward losing weight. 

With regard to your move, sounds like the best thing to do would be to embrace the local food culture and cuisine. Find out what's in local recipes and see how you can tweak them to fit the way you want to eat now. Embrace cabbages...they're pretty much just giant brussels sprouts. 

[NoMoreCrunchyCravings]

Can you see about trying to buy your own meat grinder? That way you could make your own sausage with the pork and chicken. Do they sell any fish locally? That could be a way to increase variety and nutritional interest. What types of vegetables do they use? I love to go to the Asian grocery (mostly Korean) near my home and experiment with the different types of leafy greens and squashes there - so many I'd never heard of but are super delicious. I simply steam or sautee with oil and add salt/pepper.

Can you go to a local market and ask any of the people there (shoppers or workers, if they speak English) how they might cook a particular ingredient they are standing near? I've done that before in the different groceries I frequent when I see something I've never cooked or eaten before. People also ask me the same questions, in different stores too, so I know it's not too weird of a thing to do.

Let us know how it goes.