⋆˚࿔ my may diet plan 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

may is really the last month before summer begins which means no more excuses, no more laziness. i decided to come up with a diet plan for this month, one that is more likely to work for me. i'm not telling you to do this diet plan, this probably won't work for you, it is purely based on tips i've received from others and information about what does/doesn't work for my body. this is going to be quite long, sorry ! >:3 𐙚 meals omad doesn't work for me, it almost always leads to a binge. i've realized this after trying to make it work for a long time. instead of forcing myself into something that is going to lead to self-destruction, i want to work with my own body/mind. breakfast - it isn't something i often do, i just prefer to wake up later and can never fit it into my schedule, but i think it might help me a lot. getting some energy into my body before school will help me feel less zombie-like throughout the day. sticking to the same meals every day is quite boring, but in the mornings it's hard for me to want to make anything. i'm going to be sticking to a greek yogurt bowl filled with fruits, granolas, etc. this is a super filling meal !! on the weekends, i might switch it up a bit, but we'll see. dinner - seeing as i live with my family, i don't have a lot of choices when it comes to dinner. i'm not often the one cooking the meals which does make it a bit hard to control the calories. this definitely won't be as uniformed as my breakfasts, but i'll make sure to track it as much as i can !! not allowed at all - sodas/coffees + noodles 𐙚 exercise

my biggest struggle fr. i am terrible with actually putting in the effort to work out, but it will make weight loss so much easier. i'd love to just be lazy and not do it at all, but i want to try to at least stick with it for a month. maybe not every single day this month, but at least 4 days a week. walking - getting steps in is so important. there are so many days i just spend rotting in bed because i'm too lazy to get up, but that is so unacceptable. it is difficult for me to get a lot of steps in because i can't go on walks alone (don't attempt suicide, kids.) so i will just walk back and forth in my room. my room isn't very big so it takes about 30 minutes for me to get 1,000 steps in if i'm walking at a regular pace, but if i try hard enough i can do about 1,300 steps in 30 minutes. youtube workouts - i will be trying out different youtube workouts, i'll probably post about which ones i'm doing each day. i have knee issues so the workouts i do probably won't work for you ! make sure to do workouts based on YOUR body. 𐙚other

distractions - being distracted is so so so important for me! i often eat because of boredom which is actually why my weight got so heavy in the first place. i will probably make a separate post about my favorite ways to distract myself. water - drinking water before meals is the best way to prevent overeating. since i am trying to cut out sugary drinks completely, i want to increase my water intake. i'm often dehydrated, but water helps with weight loss so much! being in the right mind - i think to actually do something, you really need to believe in yourself. if i'm constantly telling myself "oh, i'm not going to lose the weight", i am just ruining my own progress because those negative thoughts become reality. i don't think i'm going to become my ugw in a month, but i do believe i can make some good progress this month! MWAHHH!! tysm if you read this whole thing, i yapped a lot. come up with your own diet plan, each body is different, but i hope my diet plan inspired you! :D

Intermittent fasting day 36

It's been 36 days! Over a month!

So fasting with my work schedule has been very easy. I wake up at 7:30, start work at 9, eat breakfast and drink coffee at 12, have my lunch anywhere between 3-4:30 and then have a snack at 6-7 and then my final meal at 8. It can be a slightly bit more challenging on the weekends, so I switched my window start from 1 to 12 and that really helped.

I do get hungry and my stomach does rumble from 9-12 before I break my fast. I had a 4 hour assembly in the lab yesterday that ran until 1 and I was definitely tired and hungry.

I've been pretty much eating the same stuff everyday. On Saturday my sister's friend came over and decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies at night. It was past my feeding window, so I did not have any. I didn't feel very deprived either.

I had some cookies on Sunday as well as a caramel latte from a local new cafe (1 pump). I normally enjoy dark chocolate with some of my snacks, so this time I did not have any and had plain Greek yogurt with my berries because I already had a cookie and latte. I didn't want to consume too much sugar and chocolate.

I do like to enjoy snacks and treats towards the end of the week, from Wed-Fri (especially on Friday). That's perfectly fine, I just need to learn how to fit this in with my intermittent fasting schedule because I am eating less within a shorter time-frame now, so I have less room for food in my stomach and get fuller. So I don't treat myself as often. I'll have a mocha with some dark chocolate caramel pieces as a treat instead of something heavier like a cookie and a brownie. I also like having pizza or chicken tenders, but I want to learn how to portion it and fit it into my feeding window so I'm not full and overeating. I also like white cheddar popcorn and sweet potato/pea puffs from Whole Foods. They are low in calories, but they're so good. Again worth looking into portioning them and fitting them into my feeding window. Also worth planning my week knowing I like to enjoy these foods towards the end of the week (on Friday mostly).

This is something worth experiencing with. Also I started walking a lot since the snowstorm ended and I've been getting minimum 8k steps daily, which includes my pacing around at work, walking my dogs, and my own personal brisk walks. Walking and IF pair very very well, so I'm happy I'm able to walk. I'm going to keep it up. I'm glad I no longer do my more intense workouts. I got tired of them.

I'm going to keep this up and experiment and pay attention to any trends I noticed in my eating, hunger cues, and walking. But so far things have been going very well.

Intermittent fasting - day 1

I ate the meals I mentioned in my previous post. I started at 2. Later I had some Greek yogurt, chia, blueberries, and dark chocolate at around 8:30. I was going to have dinner but I went out for a walk and had a long conversation with the police officer in my neighborhood (cops here are warm and friendly and laid back unlike American cops). So I missed out on my dinner and had some party mix so I don't take my nighttime supplements on an empty stomach and so I had something to eat at around 10 (it was moreso 10:30 but it's okay).

Not the most filling thing in the world, but it's okay. I'll live. But ideally I would have went for the chicken, veggies, and sweet potato leftovers. Perhaps I can have that for lunch tomorrow and eat the cooked fish in the evening for dinner. I know that my fasting window began. I am relatively full despite not having the most filling "dinner". But I'm not going to eat now. The trick is to eat filling whole foods that are rich in protein, fats, and healthy carbs as well as vitamins and minerals instead of eating empty calories. Otherwise I'll never be full. Even when taking supplements.

So I'm pretty full now, but again I'd go for a filling dinner. But I'm perfectly fine and plan on sleeping soon. I'm pretty sleepy now. I'll see how that goes and then I'll report back here. I'm eating tomorrow at 1 and I'll see what time I'll be up.

I used to count calories and eat empty calories, so it's obvious I wasn't full. Switching to whole filling foods and using my feeding window as a method to keep my portion in check is a good approach.

I'll see how hungry I am in the morning between when I wake up until when I can eat. I'll see how hungry I get. I used to drink a lot of tea and chew sugar free gum and drink coffee with sugar free syrup to suppress my appetite back then. I might look for a new method that is healthier and sustainable. Those are fine, I just don't like the sugar free syrup because it's a gimmick and just keeps you craving sugar. Unsweetened is best. I chew sugar free gum for the xylitol only which, despite being a sugar alcohol, is good for my teeth. But I'll figure this out. I slept in this morning so it isn't the best reflection of how my mornings will typically be especially at work.

Like I said I'm ditching the intense workouts and am sticking to walking for now. This is also the only way I can reduce my calf muscle bulk. There is no way I can do HIIT while intermittent fasting (at least for now but I'm not making it a goal). Walking as much as I can is my goal here.

Also it's best to eat whole filling meals and avoid snacking and grazing. If I'm not satiated I'm going to graze. My dad grazes, me not as much. But it may be an issue if I am not full and satiated.

From my experience coffee is very filling. I don't want to use it as a meal replacement of course. But it can help me in my fast. In the morning in place of breakfast before work. I drink it with almond milk and a tiny hint of coffee syrup; but I don't know if this disrupts my fast. But coffee itself is very filling and this is a better alternative to the sugar free sweet coffee I would drink in college. Along with the diet sodas I would drink often for the taste and suppressant qualities, though it wasn't as suppressing as coffee. Diet sodas were suppressing to a degree, but coffee was most effective in my case.

Edit: almost 40 minutes later and my stomach is gurgling. It wasn't the case yesterday because I had a very filling meal beforehand. Again like I said my meals need to be filling and I cannot snack on empty calories. Though sometimes it's fine. I just need to be mindful of the results.

I want to do intermittent fasting also for mental clarity and anxiety and see if it helps. It helps give a sense of structure and discipline which can help me psychologically.

Edit: so I was staying up and had terrible stomach growling and hunger pangs. I used to get these often during my ed days and it is an awful terrible feeling. I get so hungry. Anyways I went to the kitchen at 3 and had some white aged cheddar cheese. Now I feel much better. Yes I "broke" my fast, but I would rather do that than deal with the super uncomfortable hunger pangs that are reminiscent to my ed days just because I didn't have a filling dinner.

And it's great that I went for cheese. Back then I would have went for a diet soda or coffee. I ate a whole food that is a great source of protein.