Oona's Ogham

[OOnaOwl]

Saturday's log!
B: oats with blueberries, coffee with seed milk
S:basmati rice, brussel sprouts & chopped kale
L:basmati rice, brussel sprouts & chopped kale
S: sweet potato with honey mustard sauce (tsp. maple syrup in mustard).
D: puffed brown rice cereal with banana & almond milk
S:
Will be back later to fill in the rest
Digestion is starting to speed up as of today.
Still feeling a bit more energetic, this is very encouraging. Might try some more vigorous exercise tomorrow morning!

[OOnaOwl]

Here again today. Zero weight lost still, still on plan!
Food log:
B: oats with blueberries, coffee with hemp milk
L: basmati rice, brussel sprouts, kale & zucchini
D: basmati rice with broccoli
S: banana, almond milk & puffed brown rice cereal
Had some very stressful turn of events today. Not going to elaborate.
Hoping to see some more positive changes from this diet in the next week or so.
My morale in general is a bit low!
Back again tomorrow...

[OOnaOwl]

Todays log!
Well there are still some pretty sucky things happening behind the scenes here today. No elaboration, just making brief note.
B: oats with TBSP carob powder (for chocolate like flavor), banana, coffee with hemp milk
S: none
L: basmati rice with cauliflower & kale
S:
D:homemade red lentil vegetable stew over basmati rice
S:
Read some great info from Dr. Lisle about how fat weight loss happens, which is helping me not feel so desperate for faster results. As long as I am not getting bigger or heavier I can be patient with this now I think. That's the plan anyway! As I type this I can hear a barred owl outside my window singing "who cooks for you, who cooks for you?" Haha, just me mainly, sometimes my partner.
I do have a soft goal of being 10 pounds lighter by summer I hope. That would put me at 1 pound loss per week. We will see!

I should add that I do spice all of my food on top before eating. My meals are plain, limited ingredients but I add spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, nut. yeast, salt, cinnamon etc. usually powder spice shakers.

I made enough of the red lentil vegetable stew to have again tomorrow and possibly the next day (there are 2 or 3 generous servings in there). I spiced it with garam masala, ginger, gold onion, turmeric.

[bunsofaluminum]

Mmmm, lentil stew! Makes me want to get cooking

I like the insight you gained about weight loss...if we're not gaining, then our bodies are responding to our efforts. Right? Gosh, I'd love to hear owls asking me about my cook

Looks like you're doing pretty good. Big batch cooking is an important part of success with this, for me anyway. Keep it up

[OOnaOwl]

Mmmm, lentil stew! Makes me want to get cooking

I like the insight you gained about weight loss...if we're not gaining, then our bodies are responding to our efforts. Right? Gosh, I'd love to hear owls asking me about my cook

Looks like you're doing pretty good. Big batch cooking is an important part of success with this, for me anyway. Keep it up

Hello! Thank you so much for dropping by! I usually do a few days of one dish batch cooked like a soup or stew in Autumn and Winter. Think I will start making grain & vegetable dishes for Spring & Summer, like grain/veggie salads & grain/veggie risottos etc. I do not really love cooking & since I have less energy these days it's even more of a challenge. But I can come up with a few simple things to rotate through twice a week!
I may possibly have lost a pound or two (based on scale weight past 2 days), if so then I am 5-10% of the way there
Wishing you health & happiness!

[OOnaOwl]

Todays log!
I am adding daily measurements which will include tape measurements as soon as I find the tape measure! I am using a weight watchers digital scale, not sure about accuracy? It seems pretty accurate to me based on how I look w/o clothes. This is the fattest I have ever been, a bit shocking. My former healthy weight/BMI is around 100 pounds and BMI 19 or 20. Ok, not going to focus solely on this, but including it on my road to health & fitness.

Weight: 119.0
Body fat: 27..2%
BMI: 23.3


B: oats with carob powder, banana & cinnamon, coffee with hemp milk. green powder drink & water.
S:
L: vegetable lentil stew & a Qrunch burger patty
S:2 oat bites
D: steamed broccoli & basmati rice
S:
S:

Oh I made McDougall style oatmeal cookies last night & ate one before bed. Just rolled oats, 2 bananas, raisins, cinnamon, salt & puffed rice cereal. Added a little almond milk to make it all mix together. Today I find I may have lost a pound or so! Time will tell. Back later with more meal details etc.

Went for a 30 minute run/walk today, the first one in weeks. I finally felt well enough! Running is a huge passion of mine, so this was a very good day. Won't go again until Thursday. Tomorrow will do yoga in the a.m. 30 minutes at home. I ate a Qrunch patty with lunch as I was out of time to make rice. They have oil in them but they are plant based. I made extra rice tonight so I have enough to last through tomorrow .

[OOnaOwl]

Today's log.
Scale wouldn't read anything but weight today for some reason.
Weight: 119
B: oats with carob powder, banana, cinnamon. coffee with plant milk
L: basmati rice, steamed broccoli, leftover red lentil veggie stew.
S: 2 oat bites
D: basmati rice with leftover red lentil veggie stew.
S:
Exercise: 20 minutes yoga

I stocked up on food yesterday. Much cheaper to eat this way, but damn the groceries are so heavy! Walking them home was too much, will need to plan trips with weight in mind in the future. I forgot how heavy they are eating this way....
I thrifted some large gray ceramic bowls a few weeks ago. They are perfect for this lifestyle, no need to heap up second servings. Everything fits in the same bowl! They are a flat medium gray by Mainstays. I also got matching large mugs. I call this my "Troll-Ware" as I can imagine a family of trolls eating their supper out of these due to their large size! The mugs hold 16 ounces of liquid alone!
I find I am not craving fats the way I thought I would. Also not missing the extra protein from animal products. I think my body is remembering when we used to eat this way for so long & really enjoying the return. I can't believe I ever fell so far away from this lifestyle, I could have saved myself so many years of grief and poor health etc. I just got so freaked out by perimenopausal symptoms and fell for media hype about how to deal with it-and guess what, none of it worked! Here I am ten years later trying to recover the damage done, returning to what worked for me before for over a decade! I hope if I should ever become so delusional again I will re-read my words here today & find my way again.
I am so full tonight! I may have to cut back my portions tomorrow & then just go back for more if I am still hungry. I still have one more serving of my red lentil veggie stew for tomorrow. After it is gone I may make something else like it, not sure what yet. Been craving Thai food but don't want to use any overt fats like coconut milk. Also been wanting to make a spring risotto dish and also potato leek soup.
Back again tomorrow!

[OOnaOwl]

Today's log!
I got a new scale today, a RENPHO smart scale. I have read it over-estimates fat percentages, I sure hope so! If not, well I knew I was fat & my BMI was high but DAMN...this is the largest and fattest I have ever been! oh well that is part of why we are even here on this forum.
Weight: 120.8
BMI: 23.7
BF: 27.9
B: oats with carob powder, banana, sea salt & cinnamon. coffee with plant milk
L: basmati rice with leftover (the last of it!) red lentil veggie stew
S:
D: basmati rice with bok choy, spring onion & asparagus
S: 2 oat bites (last ones left)
Exercise: 30 minutes running/walking
So excited to be exercising again! It's been a few weeks because I was benched by migraines & accompanying symptoms. I am probably going to get another within this next week, but at least I have gotten 3 consecutive days of exercise this week! Have to celebrate victories as I can, and menopause doesn't last forever! So eventually I hope to be able to do consistent exercise with much fewer or zero migraines (they are hormonal & cyclical kind). Appetite is again less today, body is adjusting to this way of eating again! Back later to fill out the rest of today's food.

[OOnaOwl]

I was busy yesterday & didn't make it here to document.
Yesterday's meals were all MWL compliant, log from memory:
B: oats, carob, banana, cinnamon. coffee and plant milk
L: sweet potato, black beans broccoli rabe
D: quinoa zucchini garbanzo beans.
S: brown rice cake with mustard
I did 20 minutes yoga yesterday for exercise.
Today's log!
B: Oats with carob powder banana & cinnamon. coffee with plant milk
L: black beans quinoa and broccoli
S:none
D:2 yellow potatoes (small) black beans & 2 qrunch patties.
S:none
Weight: 119
Very tired with migraine today, probably no exercise happening.
No exercise happened, feeling very low energy with hot flashes, migraine, cramps & other fun menopausal symptoms.
I couldn't be bothered to make a proper dinner so I ended up eating Qrunch patties with black beans and potatoes. Now I have a stomach ache from the oil & processing in addition to my other symptoms. Back on track in the morning! It was my first slip up in weeks. If I had had more food prepared I wouldn't have erred. Yesterday ended up being to busy to batch cook. Hopefully I will feel well enough tomorrow to make a stew or something! Back again tomorrow.

[OOnaOwl]

Today's log:
Back on track today, feeling slightly less wretched also.
Weight was up a half pound which I expected with those pre-made patties.
Feeling motivated & hopeful even though I have seemingly had little to no progress in fat/weight loss in a whole month.
My PMS symptoms were less this month & energy is a bit improved still in general. It looks like I am ever so slightly thinner
in the ribcage/abdomen area. Hoping to see more measurable results by summer! I am enjoying the non-scale victories (clothes
are still not any looser though) but eventually I will get discouraged if no fat loss is happening. Also made choice last night to cut back on alcohol intake after reading the Jeff Novick posts. I am a light but frequent drinker, so cutting that back to occasional light drinker now. Will switch to herbal tea in the evenings instead.
B: oats, carob, banana, cinnamon. coffee and plant milk.
L: 3 yellow potatoes & 1/2 head of cauliflower boiled and mashed. topped with b. yeast, salt, and added a few drops pepper sauce.
S: puffed brown rice cereal almond milk and banana
D: mashed sweet potato (orange yam) and brussel sprouts
S:
Back later to complete the day.

[Lyndzie]

Hi Oona. I saw you mention you regularly drink. That could be all you need to shed the stubborn weight! Those liquid calories can be so sneaky.

[OOnaOwl]

Hi Oona. I saw you mention you regularly drink. That could be all you need to shed the stubborn weight! Those liquid calories can be so sneaky.

Thanks Lyndzie! I don't think so, it has been at most 1 drink a night. I stopped for weeks a while ago & lost no weight so I resumed again. Other times I have stopped for lengths of time & no weight lost then either. This time I am cutting back again for health (those times I was hoping for weight loss only!) after reading the forum's posts about the risks of even light drinking as I did. Maybe some weight will creep off from it over months though, time will tell. Thanks for your input, I do appreciate it very much. I am swapping out some of the basmati rice for more servings potatoes & sweet potatoes in hopes that inches the fat off.

[OOnaOwl]

Today's log:
B: oats with banana cinnamon & tsp. maple syrup
L: basmati rice with brussel sprouts
D: basmati rice with broccoli and broccoli rabe & green peas

Feeling less than stellar again today, another migraine. Mood is low too, just so weary of this hormonal stuff. No exercise today, I was all dressed for a run then the migraine showed up. No weight lost yet either still. I am not giving up on any of this. I re-read some of my earlier posts & see that to lose any weight I had to do the rapid weight loss style of MWL. At least I think that is what I read, will go back over it again when I don't have a effing migraine! I hope to be well enough for at least one run this week and some yoga. Today was a write-off though again .

Took some extra Xiao Yao Wan/Free & Easy Wanderer-what I call my "chinese chill pills" for the migraine & anxiety. They help cool and calm "liver fire" which can manifest as migraines and anxiety among other symptoms. They are also good for menopausal symptoms, so I have started taking them every day that I have any symptoms. They are tonifying & safe to take in this manner in case anyone ever reads this and is wondering about it. Back again tomorrow!

[OOnaOwl]

Still dealing with migraine symptoms today so no exercise again. Hopefully will have some migraine free weeks ahead starting in a few days or less. Still no weight lost, still sticking with this. Today was a mostly Mary's Mini style of eating as most of my days have been. I really hope I can lose the excess weight I have gained. Anyway, I generally have a bit more energy since I returned to this way of eating (with the multiple exceptions of migraine days/nights) and I feel a bit healthier in general somehow. I weighed myself this morning again with new scale but I forgot I had to have my phone unlocked for it to record. Tomorrow I should have full report of the scale's stats to add to my log.
Today's log
B: oats with banana carob powder sea salt and cinnamon, coffee with plant milk
L: basmati rice with brussel sprouts and butternut squash
D: basmati rice with broccoli and zucchini
No exercise
Weight: 119

[OOnaOwl]

Today's log.
Still dealing with migraine/menopause symptoms. No exercise again today . Hoping for improved health tomorrow! No weight loss again. Mood still quite low. I have become a stranger to myself during this perimenopause. I miss the healthy slim energetic person I was! I was hopeful & optimistic, had a social life even. The women I know who remember their menopause swear to me that energy returns & life is good again after this, I freaking hope so! I know I had some good days as recently as last week because I wrote about them here. Right now that seems like an eternity ago!
Still on the eating plan, hoping for positive changes within a few more weeks or less.
B: oats with cinnamon salt & maple syrup, coffee and plant milk.
L: red lentil vegetable stew & basmati rice
D: red lentil vegetable stew & basmati rice
S: brown rice cake
I wanted to make a small shredded veggie salad to have today but I had no energy to hand shred the vegetables. I will get a food processor when I move sometime in the next few months, but until then I must hand shred. I also plan to get an air fryer and an instant pot. We don't yet know when/where we are moving to (still looking for job) so I am trying to keep stress low by decluttering items & not buying more to pack later.

Recipe for lazy red lentil vegetable stew if anyone is interested:
1 cup red lentils
1 cup frozen kale
1 chopped zucchini
3 chopped carrots
1/2 chopped gold onion
1/2 chopped celery bunch
Cumin, turmeric & italian spices to taste.
Cover with water & bring to boil, cover & simmer for 30 minutes or so. Add salt, spices at table to taste if desired.