I'm aiming for 59kg

Thanks penguinita. I must admit, the scales bounced hugely back up this morning when i hopped on to 63.4kg. I am not very worried or upset though. I think it's from the running i did yesterday and i am used to the fickleness of the scales. It will go down again soon. Its just seems a shame that I couldn't enjoy the 4kg scale reading loss a bit longer on consecutive days. Anyway, all in all its going well so i am happy.

I think you must have done an ashtanga class if your legs felt like that. That is quite fast and very cardio. Very strenuous. I've only done one like that once. I like strenuous but i don't like getting hot and sweaty too much. I like a bit of aircon too if its needed. Standing on your head is strenuous. Did she make you do that? I love it but of course i can only do it against a wall.

Anyway its all good.

One thing you might keep in mind, I find that I bloat up the day after an really tough work out. I'm not sure why, so maybe the fickleness on the scale was just extra water weight.

As for the yoga class I don't remember the kind. There wasn't any standing on the head, he had us hold poses for long periods of times and kept walking by to make sure you're breathing right and the pose/stance is correct.

Thanks for the yoga links. ;O you sure know how to cook! The most complicated thing I can make is white rice, LOL and that's just adding water, salt, pepper, a little oil and the rice and wala!
 
Thanks again Penguin. Its gone up again today. Yeah i've always thought when this happens its water. Maybe my water levels were unusually low the other day and now they are back to normal. Whatever, its all good.

I hope you learn how to cook at some point. I can't see how anyone can sustain long term low weight without know how to do it.

A lot of times people don't try the cooking because of a lack of confidence. I remember living with a woman like that. I mean its not serious to screw up a recipe. You just chuck it out and eat something else. And believe me i have had my share of failures.

I think if you don't know how to cook, get a basic recipe book by someone renowned for good home cooking. Someone like Delia Smith i think would be such a person.

Meanwhile why not join our vegetable dish cooking club. You can learn with us. And pretty soon you will be quite the whiz in the kitchen.
 
Lovely video of ashtanga yoga. Beautiful indian scenery from some places i've been to in Southern India. This demonstration features strength and flexibility.
 
I think it all looks good and fairly balanced but you don't seem to be having a lot of water. I have a tip for you on that which works well for me:

I take a 1 litre drink bottle to bed with me and only have a few sips during the night (chinese bladder), then I sip it whilst doing my hair and make up, have breakfast then drink more on my 35 minute drive to work. I've usually consumed 1 litre before 8am! I started doing this because the antideps were giving me a dry mouth but have found it to be excellent for rehydration.. I sometimes have a second bottle and finish that by 9.30 so I've had 2 litres by that time.
The weekends are different though and I really only drink water when I'm exercising.
 
Lil that's a huge amount of water you are drinking. It must be related to your meds which brings us back to that article about holding water while on meds and sodium and stuff. But also the dry mouth syndrome. I don't have that. I go to the loo quite often and my pee is clear so i know i am not dehydrated. There's no way i could drink two litres of water in so few hours.

Maybe you do need to try one of the more modern types of antidepressant. i haven't heard many people complaining about dry mouth in relation to it on my depression site.
 
I sometimes have up to 4/5 litres a day, fortyfour--Some people I know have even more! I'm just always thirsty I guess and water makes me feel energized and refreshed. I've heard before that if you wait until you are thirsty to drink then you are already mildly dehydrated by that point so I try and drink allllll day! Water is good :D
 
April 17 Day 16

Weight: 63.6kg

7.30am light yoga
...using the video link i posted yesterday. It was easier to follow than i had expected. The routine is pretty easy but a nice way to start if someone is not very fit or a nice easy wake up routine. There’s emphasis on balance, gentle stretching, a little bit of strength, general flexibilty and relaxation. Although i am not good at doing things on a regular basis for long, I am going to try to do this regularly. I will probably search around for routines as I go on and get bored with this one too. But hopefully it all leads me back to a real class and more yoga.

8am: Breakfast
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup milk**
1 pear
1 apple

** I reduced the milk quantity today, though i topped the cereal liquid quantity up with water. The milk didn’t taste watery which surprised me. It still tasted creamy. Though think i prefer my oats with only one piece of fruit so tomorrow i’m going to return to that. I reduced the milk because I want some yoghurt later and I would prefer to keep my overall milk consumption to about 1.5 cups per day. However, i forgot to have it.

9am expresso with 1/2 cup milk

12 Lunch
Lentil salad
1 cup canned lentils, 1tbsp cup cooked rice** , 1 tomato, lettuce, 1 slice of beetroot, 1 slice of red onion, juice of half a lemon

**The rice in combination with the lentils makes a complete protein though i am really not sure how necessary it is for my diet. I probably get enough of the missing proteins in lentils from milk and eggs.

5pm Walk

7.15 Glass of white wine

Dinner
Fried rice w 1 chipolata

1/2 cup cooked basmati rice
1 cup steamed cabbage
1/2 cup steamed carrot
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
1 chipolata, cooked separately and cut into slices
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce

Heat the oil in a wok to a high temperature. Remove from heat and saute the garlic for a minute off the heat. Return the wok to the heat, add the onions and sausage and cook til onions are tender. Avoid burning. Add the rice, and other vegetables and sliced sausage. Heat through, add the soy sauce. Mix through, and serve.

Exercise:
20 mins Yoga and walk 8km
 
Water

Sunflower, i think that much water is a crazy quantity. I am sorry but that's what i think. Ask your doctor about it. I have noticed that people who sip on water from a bottle all day, always feel thirsty. I think it must be the drinking that causes the constant thirst. You cannot be dehydrated if you are drinking anywhere near this much water unless there is some other unusual factor in play like medication, a health condition, extreme heat and exercise and who knows what else.

It is a fact that if your urine is pale yellow or clear, you are not dehydrated. You are dehydrated if your urine is dark yellow.

I am not sure now how much i am drinking at the moment but i am not thirsty. I drink before i am thirsty usually. But if i do work in the hot sun i am thirsty by the time i get back to the house which might be within an hour. And that's cause i am sweating a lot.

But i agree, water is good.

Oh, i just remembered one more thing. Do you know that drinking excessively causes electrolyte imbalances too. That's how those girls who died from ecstacy died. That drug makes you really thirsty. I'm not saying that you are drinking enough to cause death or anywhere near it because I don't know how much you need to drink to cause death. Athletes have also died from drinking too much water. A lot of cyclists are addicted to their water bottles and think they need to drink constantly. We don't. If you are peeing often you can't be dehydrated.
 
Ill be honest fortyfour your the first person ive come across that has concerns about drinking too much water. Ive read up on a lot of diets and most suggest around 3 litres a day is fine - especially if you are heavier than you should be.

I did see one guys youtube video (related to strength training, that I wish to undertake after I've lost weight) and he said he had up to 2 gallons a day! wow!
that might be a bit too much lol.
 
There is such a thing as water poisoning- water, as everything else, can kill you if you drink too much of it- but I imagine it's pretty rare. (Wiki link: Water intoxication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

My feeling on the matter is that you should drink how much you feel comfortable with, aiming at about 2 litres a day (presumably if you anywhere near approached water poisoning levels you'd begin to feel some discomfort and ease off)
 
Just thought I'd link to what the mayo clinic has to say on water: They reiterate a lot of what has already been said actually but it's a short article and worth a read I think.

I think I drink about 1.5 litres a day because my cups are big (500mls) and I usually have 3 a day, at least!

Your food is looking great fortyfour; very healthy!I think your appreciation to full fat milk is similar to how I feel about cheese: I just can't do the low cal stuff! I'd rather have less of the full fat version. Although I've got to say that I've always been a drinker of semi-skimmed milk myself.
 
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Yeah, the BBC says "most healthy adults need between one and a half to three litres a day, so aim to drink six to eight medium glasses of fluid daily. Beverages such as tea, coffee and fruit juices count towards fluid intake, and may bring with them other nutrients or benefits."

And that's a healthy adult. Not someone who is carrying around more than recommend weight so I think my water intake is fine. It never makes me feel sluggish and it makes me feel good. I don't have any health conditions or anything either so it's not that. Guess it's different strokes for different folks :)
 
Also, I've read (can't find the site but will look if people want citation) that the average person needs to drink close on 2 gallons of water in under 2 hours to get water poisoning so don't think I'm in any harm :p

Also, @Holly, I'm the same. I'd rather have less of the fatty stuff than more of the low-fat stuff :p
 
OH no Sunflower, i wasn't suggesting you were going to die any minute. I just thought it was an interesting point to make that people have died from too much water.

Holly, i have to admit i haven't even tried eating low fat cheese. I just can't bring myself to think its worth eating. I like hard cheese like parmesan anyway and i don't think that comes in low fat. Hard cheeses are the best for dieting because they have the best calcium in them. And the flavour is very concentrated so you don't need so much to be able to taste it. However, for me, even with this stuff, i love it too much and eat too much of it. I find without cheese, i still enjoy my pasta and vegies. I don't miss it though i know if it were in front of me, i'd want to eat some. When i go near the cheese fridges at the supermarket, i try to walk past them as quickly as i can or stay out of them, just as i do with the lolly aisle. It just isn't worth allowing myself to think about them too much because i am afraid i would succumb. I think if i went out to a restaurant, i wouldn't worry about a bit of cheese but i would stay away from western style pizza. The italians have a yummy version of pizza which has no cheese. I shall try to make it one day.
:iagree:

2 gallons of water a day is getting scary. I'm gonna check out Amy's link now.
 
Notice in that last example in the wiki link that the actor was drinking 8 litres (which i think is 2 gallons) per day and suffered water intoxication. Luckily for him, he survived.
 
Daily, I can have ... though a taller or larger person would have at the upper end while a shorter person would eat from the lower end of the scale.

4-6 serves of breads, cereals, rice and pasta
4-7 serves of vegetables and legumes
2-3 serves offruit
2-3 serves of milk yoghurt cheese
1-1 1/2 serves of Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts,legumes
0-21/2 serves of extras (see below)

Fruit .....One serve equals:
1 medium piece (apple, banana, orange, pear)
2 small pieces (apricots, plums, kiwi fruit)
1 cup canned fruit
4 dried apricot halves
1½ tablespoons sultanas.

Vegetables and legume... One serve equals:
75g (½ cup) cooked vegetables
75g (½ cup) cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
1 cup salad vegetables
1 potato.

Meat, poultry, fish and eggs...One serve equals:
65–100g cooked meat or chicken (½ cup lean mince, 2 small chops, 2 slices of roast meat)
½ cup cooked dried or canned beans, lentils, chick peas or split peas
80–100g fish fillet
2 small eggs
1/3 cup peanuts or almonds
¼ cup sunflower or sesame seeds.

Breads and cereals...One serve equals:
2 slices of bread
1 medium bread roll
1 cup cooked rice, pasta or noodles
1 cup porridge
½ cup muesli
1 1/3 cup breakfast cereal flakes.

Milk, yoghurt and cheese...One serve equals:
250ml (1 cup) fresh, long life or reconstituted dried milk
½ cup evaporated milk
40g (2 slices) cheese
200g (1 small carton) yoghurt.

Extra foods
‘Extra foods’ are those that do not contain significant amounts of nutrients and are considered not to be ‘core’ to the diet. They often contain high levels of fat, sugar and/or salt. Examples include margarine, butter and soft drinks.



Breakfast
1/2 cup oats or 1 cup porridge
1 serve fruit
1 cup milk


mid morning: 1/2 serve milk for coffee ie 1/2 cup

Lunch
2 bread, 1 roll or 1 cup rice
1/2 cup cooked beans or lentils (protein allocation) or 1 duck egg
1/2 cup cooked beans or lentils (veg allocation) or 1 cup cooked veg or 1 cup salad veg
1/2 cup cooked vegetables (1/2 serves)
oil for cooking
4 prunes
1/2 serve yoghurt (or have 1/2 cup milk at night to use in cooking a white sauce maybe)

Deviation: Glass wine instead of 4th serve of breads/cereals/ pasta etc.

Dinner
1 cup pasta
1 cup salad
1 cup cooked vegetables (2 serves)
oil for cooking
1 serve fruit



Well it looks pretty close to what i've been doing. I'm a bit surprised that they only allocate 1/2 cup lentils for a serve of protein though. And surprised about how much rice.
 
April 18 Day 17

Weight: 63kg
Down again, 600g.

7.45am light yoga

8.30am: Breakfast
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 pear
4 prunes

10.45am expresso with 1/2 cup milk

12 Lunch
Dal with rice and tomato salad

1 cup split pea dal (as above)
1/2 cup basmati rice
1 medium tomato
1 tbsp parsely
slice of red onion
1/4 lemon for the salad and 1/4 lemon for the dal

5pm: Glass of white wine

7pm: Dinner
Dim Sim w steamed vegies w oyster sauce
cup of tea 1/3 cup milk

4 Dim Sim, steamed 15 minutes - these are a good deal all around. A bag of 35 for the freezer is a bargain. And not outrageous with the calories either. 400kj each, whatever that is in calories.
1 bok choy - chop roughly
1 carrot - cut into matchstick size (big ones)
1 tsp oyster sauce to make the vegies more interesting.

Exercise: light yoga before brekky.

One of my neighbours grows hydroponic vegetables. Today i went over there for the first time in many months to buy some green vegies, ie the bok choy. And only $1 for a bunch. I'm lucky. I also bought a kos lettuce and he found a rocket plant growing wildly in his garden which he gave me. I love rocket. I think i forgot to ask if he had parsley. Oh well tomorrow then.

I am really enjoying my diet i must say. I always do feel good when i eat like this. Makes you wonder why i slip off the rails. I sorta know why. Usually some change of routine like starting a new job, or an emotional crisis. Or something else that i can't remember.
 
Just looking at recipes and thought you might enjoy this (or an alteration if you know any, it's a moderate rather than a low calorie recipe): I'm sure it's not authentic but it might be easier to get your hands on the ingredients.
 
April 18 Day 17

Weight: 62.8kg
down 200g

7.45am: Breakfast
1/2 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 pear

1.45pm: Lunch in the city
1 apple
Pho (Vietnamese Beef and noodle soup w side salad of been sprouts)

2.30 Cappucino

5.15 1 apple

5.30pm Glass of white wine (at friend’s house)

9pm: Dinner
1 cup baked beans on 2 toast
I’m too tired to bother with more or anything more complicated.

Exercise: none today. A big day in the city.

I resisted lots of temptation and strengthened my resolve to keep off sweets and other temptations. What i am going through with my thought processes is extremely similar now to the things I thought when i gave up cigarettes. The great thing is, I was able to ditch that 13 years ago so i think its going to be possible here too. I just really don’t need cake and icecream and chocolate in my life. The pleasure of it are temporary and the harm is longlasting. My life is better off without these things altogether.

That said, things like cheese and other other more savoury high fat temptations will have a place in my diet in the long term. For me, they are not so devastating as sugar foods. So here’s the plan. When i reach my goal weight (which i have recently decided to change anyway to 55kg, the same weight as my slightly taller and very sporty sister), I will reintroduce cheese and other savoury temptations. Things like hot chips, savoury biscuits such as jatz and barbecue. These things i don’t eat a lot of normally but i like them occasionally. And then the way I will control how much i eat of these things, particularly cheese is in relation to the allowance in my diet as described above in the list. I can see that this could work very well. So I will be able to eat quiche, pizza with cheese and so on when that time comes. But not before. I don’t actually think that time will be too far away if i continue with my weight loss program as I have been so far. It depends on badly i screw up if i get hormonal craving. Oh and also butter can come back if i want it. But i must say, that at the moment, i am not even missing butter which surprises me a litttle. I think you miss it if you have a sandwich or soemthing with butter and remember how good it is. But as it is, i think i’ve forgotten and i enjoy my own sandwiches even without it. Avocardo or a small dob of pesto are excellent replacements when needed.

In town today, i was pleased at how often i could turn my thoughts away from temptations. Yeah i thought about food a lot. I couldn't eat lunch early because i had a dentist appt at 11 which delayed me somewhat. If it weren't for that i probably would have wanted something even before 12 but I was pretty busy from the time I got up to the time I got home, though i did have a few breaks along the way.

I went shopping this evening on my way home. By that time i had already stopped to visit a friend and had wine and the apple for a bit of fortification.

Of first, before i got there i had to get petrol. This was at 5pm and i was feeling hungry as i walked into the petrol station. In the past, here is where i would buy two magnum icecreams to eat on the way home. One right after the other. Today i saw some salad sandwiches and headed over to take a better look. But i didn't really want eating a sandwich to mean missing out on dinner later so when i saw the apples, i bought one. I paid $2 for it!! Something that I do not like to do but sometimes its worth it. It wasn't even a really fresh apple but i am glad i spent the money on it.

So then back to shopping at the supermarket. It must have been about 6.30 by then or later. I skipped the sweets aisle but my god, there is temptation all over. I managed to divert my eyes away from all of it and my thoughts too before any desire took hold. Its funny how some people find the difficult time with their diet is on the weekends when they are at home all the time. For me its when i go to town. At home, i've got good food on hand and not much in the way of temptation. Dad and I have separate fridges. Sometimes i see him eating dessert or cheese but we have lived with separate food and fridges for about 5 years now - gee that went fast - and i am used to. I guess i respect his food as his for the most part.

So that's my food story for today. Pretty much anyway.
 
How much protein should I eat?

The average adult needs 46 to 56 grams of protein a day, depending on weight and overall health.

I got this from the mayo clinic website on a page about protein shakes. It looks like a very useful website for nutrition and weightloss info.

I've been wondering how much protein i should be eating for my weight. Working it out when you only have a percentage looks like hard tiresome work, so i've resisted it. Even figuring out how much i am eating involves a lot of work but for now, at least i have this little bit of useful info to think about.
 
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