Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Shabbos is coming

We're so happy!
Actually I am happy to have Shabbos, a welcome break from the week. And what a week it was.
Anyway, this week I have been on track, dieting and exercising and it all has potential to go downhill on Shabbos. But, I will not let that happen.
Because I now have so many people rooting for me (I appreciate it so much) I am going to have a fabulous weekend and I hope not to disappoint you all on Sunday's blog.
I have been reading the comments and I was talking to people at work and we all have the same struggles. We can all do this by sharing our frustrations and giving each other tips. It really helps me stay focused.
As a shout out, I owe a tremendous yasher koach to Sigmund Food for having me over to hang out last night and she did not offer me food at all. She was not even insulted when I quickly ran the nutty chews out of the room so fast that her husband had to ask " what's wrong, are you allergic?" I said YES I AM!!!!
Nutty chews are the death of every girl that has ever become fleishig in order to help her diet.
More on that subject at a later date. And I hope to find all sorts of ideas to combat some of the ideas discussed in the comments without being too boring.
I begin with the sage advice of Zehava(who apparently got the dominant genes in her family) who knows how to eat and she knows how to diet too, so you can trust her. I have added my own comments in parentheses.

1) drink a lot. Diet Soda, coffee, tea, water. Whatever does it for
you. I started buying Fresca and filling a big huge cup of it and
drinking it at night when I watch TV (what's that?), it really fills you up.
2) always eat veggies to fill you up. (I used to graze like crazy when
I came home before I went to the gym, now I dole myself out one spoonful
of hummus to eat with carrots and I let myself eat as many carrots as I
like and I have on 100 calorie sorbet bar and that's it before going to
the gym, instead of eating everything in sight.) I recently became
obsessed with turnips. :) ( as I have become with asparagus-but I won't eat those raw-Z probably would)I know they aren't for everyone, but I'm
sure you can find some equivalent.
3) Don't buy junk and don't have it around. Don't make cookies. If
it's not around you can't eat it. Simple as that.
4) become in tune with hunger. I can literally eat for hours beyond my
point of fullness, so much so, that I really didn't know what it meant
to be full. Now I try and pay attention and not eat beyond that point
(this especially comes into play at a Shabbos meal.)
5) Try to stay away from carbs as much as you can, especially at night.
I don't really eat any carbs at night besides for one fruit or a slice
of challah on Shabbos.
6) give yourself slightly more leeway on the weekends so you can enjoy
your Shabbos. I think that some of Shira Isenberg's ( our resident expert dietician) and strategies can
really work on Shabbos, though I don't know if you need to be that
extreme. I basically just try to eat more of the salads and veg side
dishes and stay away from all carbs as much as I can and never under any
circumstances have more than 1 piece of challah. For desert, have fruit
if they have and if they don't just skip it all together. Generally,
people will offer tea, which definitely helps. On Thanksgiving I went
with Mike to his sister and before the meal they were all sitting around
with chips and guac and stuff like that and I was just drinking the
Fresca and diet coke. ( BRAVO, Z!!)

Thanks again to all for your tremendous advice and encouragement this week. It has really helped me stay focused. I appreciate all of your links and posts so please keep them coming!
SK
PS Don't forget Vsain Tal U'matar starts today

13 comments:

zehava said...

Yay! I'm famous! I completed 6 succesful weeks yesterday and am T"G still going strong. (Though this did include 2 seperate Saturday night incidents, one involving pizza bagels and one involving chili, but I made it through to the other side.) That's another good tip, don't let yourself become all or nothing (though this is so my personality), if you have one slipup don't let it deter you. Get up the next day and continue on your path to success! Have a great Shabbos!

SaraK said...

On Thanksgiving I went
with Mike to his sister and before the meal they were all sitting around
with chips and guac and stuff like that and I was just drinking the
Fresca and diet coke. ( BRAVO, Z!!)


Wow, Z! I have such a hard time resisting things like chips & dip in a social setting. If it's an occasion like Thanksgiving or a party where it's acceptable to bring something, I try to bring a veggie platter and only nosh from that. I guess drinking or chewing gum can also be a good deterrent.

All great hints! I only disagree with the soda idea, I am a water only gal, but I'm not going to argue with you guys. If it works for you, OK. In the interest of healthy, I would just suggest that maybe you can substitute 1 of your servings of soda with water flavored with fresh fruit.

I cut up peppers and cucumbers in the beginning of the week to have on hand. This helps when you want to snack on something while dinner is cooking. or to grab on your way to work or when you're going to be in the car. Hot-air popcorn is also good for this.

I have definitely been working on the 1 slice of challah rule. I also like to bring my own whole wheat bread with me. It forces me to eat just 1 slice because that is all I have with me and I also know what I am eating vs eating the fattening while challah that is served.

SaraK said...

white challah, I meant, not while challah

[My word verification is mishmish - no joke! :)]

zehava said...

SaraK,

Do not despair, I drink tooooons of water at work and when I work out, at night though I like something sweet. I actually finished 1.5 liters of Fresca on Monday night so I haven't had any since. Oops. :)

I have two settings generally: resist all or resist nothing. When I am in either mode I am absolute. I know its bad and I'm trying to work on it. All or nothing is a bad trait for life in general. But it did help on Thanksgiving, since I'm in quite the nothing mode at the moment, it really wasn't much of a challenge for me....

She-nerd said...

z, it's BAGEL pizzas...
congrats on your great success! and sarah, i know you'll do fabulous this weekend. this was the first time i was called extreme, btw...i'm usually told i'm quite the liberal dietitian!
one more food that i consider a freebie - pickles!

SK said...

I am so with you Z on the all or nothing thing. Its just that if I have just a little I want more. I have no idea how to have one and be satisfied. As my Mom said tonight (we were actually on the phone and not only communicating via blogosphere)its too hard to have just one piece of challah. But I remember good advice from Shira that helps and I know its going to sound weird but I think it works.
When I am showering before Shabbos I try to imagine my meal. I imagine and picture myself eating one piece of challah, skipping the fish, asking for a only a little soup and all those things. That way when I get to the meal I am mentally prepared. Try it and tell me what you think.
Have a great Shabbos guys. Thanks for sharing and I am okay with you sending the blog on to friends that you think would enjoy it.
A full update on my progress will be here sometime after Shabbos!!

Yedida said...

I'm sure you'll do great. I've never actually tried this, but I think it might be fun to give yourself a little Shabbat treat that is unrelated to food. That way you could have something to make your Shabbat special and not feel like your diet is ruining your oneg Shabbat. Good luck. Shabbat Shalom!
Yedida

SaraK said...

I lost 1/2 lb! My Shabbas treat is not to ruin this loss! Shabbat Shalom, ya'll.

Anonymous said...

Oy am I feeling guilty about all those guac dishes - sorry people - I mean, it's just a vegetable - but maybe at the Chanuka party I will make guac with veggies to dip instead of chips?
Thanks for the shout out, SK - I am always happy to help (tho its a struggle not to feed pple, oy now we see where it all comes from) and will try to keep up the good work.
I thought of you this shabbos - I made challah muffins (which means I took the dough and put it in my muffin tin, voila, twelve cute litte muffins) for 'portion control' - each person got a role and because they were somewhat dense one was enough. This sounds rather nazi-ish - to be honest I did it because when I just make challah challah, most of it gets thrown away and even in making two batches we still dont have lechem mishna. Anyway I thought you would appreciate my indirect contribution to the cause.
I am so happy to hear about your loss/victory! BTW how do you feel about meeting up for walks in the evening or morning?

Anonymous said...

Also - I wish I could drink water. I really do. I know I can when I am eating out,or tis very very cold and I am very very thirsty, but at the end of the day I just want the sugar. No idea how to change that and I am sure it would make a huge difference.
I am trying to remember some of my WFM tips - certainly cutting up vegs for the week as laziness is one of the biggest diet killers, and also having supportive friends - which you've got covered - but I was thinking, maybe when you eat for SHab offer or insist on bringing a dish that you love and is healthy, something you can have lots of and not feel bad - asparagus or something - so you know for sure there is something you can eat and be happy with and it wont seem weird because you are simply 'bringing' something.

SK said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SK said...

Well I love those ideas SF and I you are very smart about not making the large challahs. As a matter of fact, my mother told me that when it is just she and my father for Shabbos she makes a very small challah and then they don't waste and they don't feel the need to eat more.
As far as walking, I would love to do that once a week if you are up to it. I get a better work out a the gym, honestly, but it would be a good way for us to shmooze without the looming threat of cookies in the house.

Anonymous said...

Oh yay I would love a weekly walk, I could definitly use the exercise and the fresh air - you know it's hard for me to push off the pjs but it would be worth it.