Treasure's new life: a journal

[cangal]

Good job on getting your meals in.

As far as monthly shopping, I would just load up on protein (leans meats, powder & eggs). If you can only shop once a month, I would stock up on some frozen veggie mix too. If you're still having soda cravings you could look for some SF soda water or green tea.

My fav meal right now is spaghetti squash. It's super filling and I make a meat sauce with lean ground turkey and loads of veggies. You can spice it up to your liking. Pretty low cal and leaves you satisfied.

 

[kitstreasure]

It's not so much that I can only shop once a month, it's that once a month shopping is easier on me due to the distance traveled, etc. I mean it's an hour's drive to the nearest city of 35,000 people, and the state capitol only has 225,000. So, once a month I go to one of those two places and buy in bulk most of what we need. Once every six months, I travel to Houston or Dallas or Atlanta to get the things I can only get in a major metro area. At the small grocery store in the town where my husband works milk is currently $5.22/gallon, while at the store I hit in the city of 35,000 it's at $3.78. So, the simple things that can be found most anywhere my husband picks up for me on his way home from work, and everything else is bought on the monthly trip.

Right now, I'm trying to decide whether or not to pick up some rabbits from a local farmer, and whether to put beef back in the diet or just stick with chicken, fish, and rabbit (if I pick some up). I buy my beef by the head from a guy that raises them a couple miles from my house, so at least I know the source and what it's been fed.

My current shopping list:
Chicken Breast 3 Cases (= 15 flats = 12ish breasts per flat)
Sweet Potatoes 50-100lbs
Eggs 15 doz (this is a restaurant size single package)
25lbs Purple Hull Peas
15lbs Onions
5lbs Carrots
15lbs Bell peppers (Frozen to make storage easier/more reliable)
Assorted Veggies 5-10lbs each variety (changes based on what my store has in stock in the 5lb bags)
50lbs Brown Rice (This will actually last me 2 months sometimes more, but this is what my kids eat instead of cold cereal)
Cilantro
Garlic
30lbs Swai Fillets
5 Salmon
Protein Powder
Squash (I love Winter squash)
Frozen fruit
Rabbit (?)
Grapes (?)

How's that look? Am I missing anything crucial?

 

[kitstreasure]

..

 

[cangal]

Looks great Treasure . Looks like you're setting yourself up for success!

 

[cangal]

Com'on Treasure! Give us an update!

 

[kitstreasure]

Sorry for the dead air, guys. When we got home from grocery shopping (a half day excursion), I was helping unload when I slipped on the ice on my back porch steps, spraining my right ankle and breaking my phone. (I tether to my phone for internet.) I just got my repaired phone back.

My freezers are filled with salmon, rabbit, chicken, swai (a flavorless white fish), crawfish tails, a couple lean cuts of beef, broccoli, spinach, green beans, greens, purple hull peas, bell peppers (pre-diced to save time), onions (also pre-diced to save time and tears), and a few other odds and ends. I picked up 4 3lb bags of Chocolate Muscle Milk (my local stores don't carry the vanilla). I also have 25lbs of brown rice, 20lbs of black beans, and multiple pounds of various other beans. I picked up some salad greens, fresh carrots, LOTS of salsa, some chipotle peppers, LOTS of eggs, quinoa, millet, whole grain bread, rye flour and whole wheat flours (I make a lot of our bread), and did my best to otherwise get all the junk out and nothing but good stuff back in.

Sunday, the hubby and kids came down with the flu. (Can I catch a break or WHAT?) So my intake became nil (not good I know). For the last several days, I've been drinking my meals again in the form of whole food vegetable juices, chicken broth, and muscle milk. I'm back to solid foods today. (This has led me to seriously considering intermittent fasting once I get a bit more established on the diet.)

So to date, I have lost 12.5lbs and 2.8%BF. Not too bad for the first month on a new eating plan, especially considering the time of year and challenges I've faced. I think I'm happy with my progress so far. Now, if I can keep the forward momentum, that'll be great! One of my little ones reset my food logger, so I've lost all my food logs from before I started this log until now. (Except of course what I have here.)

Thanks for sticking with me, Cangal!

 

[cangal]

You should be happy with your progress so far! 12.5lbs in a month is good! Imagine what you could do if you didn't have all of these little road blocks! Keep it up Treasure!

 

[caligirl85]

Great work and I agree with Cangal...12.5 lbs in a month is definitely respectable, especially over Christmas. Good job!

 

[kitstreasure]

Thank you, Ladies. I have to say, ya'll are keeping me honest. I'll think about being bad and then decide against it cause I don't want to have to tell ya'll I've been bad.

Out of this, I do seem to be developing some standard meals. My breakfast, for instance, has gotten fairly standard with 1 egg, 5 egg whites, chicken breast and depending on my mood, onions, mushrooms, and spinach. Lunch is starting to shake down to a salad of some kind, generally with chicken, salsa, cilantro, fruits (sometimes), nuts (sometimes), and lime juice. My junk food item lately has been the veggie chips by Sensible Portions or chips by Terra. I still have a HUGE "fuggit!" mentality when it comes to food. I'm just really not interested in food, but knowing it's one of the things I HAVE to do to meet my goals, and having ya'll makes it easier. When it comes to my sweet tooth, the muscle milk made with light chocolate soymilk seems to be doing the trick. I wish I could get the kinks knocked outta the system when it comes to fruit smoothies. My other weak point is getting in that water. I don't drink anything else most days, but I'm still not drinking enough. I'm fairly sure that if I could crank up my water intake, my weightloss would step up with it.

Okay so today's intake so far:
Breakfast:
1 egg
5 egg whites
6.4 oz chicken breast
1Tbsp Lime juice
1.5 Tsp cilantro paste
Totals: 361 calories, 3g Carbs, 10g Fat, 63g Protein

Snack:
1oz Veggie chips
6 Celery Sticks
2oz Avocado
3Tbsp Salsa
Totals: 256 Calories, 27g Carbs, 17g Fat, 2g Protein

Lunch:
6oz Chicken Breast
4.7oz Romaine Lettuce
1/4c Salsa
1Tbsp Lime juice
1.5tsp cilantro
Totals: 220 Calories, 8g Carbs, 5g Fat, 38g Protein

For midday totals of: 837 Calories, 38g Carbs, 32g fat, 104g Protein.


So thanks again, ladies, for your encouragement and reading this. It's a big help!

 

[needtogetaas]

Keep killing shit!!