I hate Wednesdays.

GRAR.

Today was not a good day zone-wise. First, I didn't have enough fromage blanc for my normal breakfast, and since the girls are home all day, I couldn't make any sort of eggs or anything to make up for it.

Second, I made myself an awesome and perfectly balanced lunch because I don't like pasta, it's not zone anyway, and that's what the girls were having. However, one of the girls refused to eat the pasta because it was green (basil ravioli), so I had to eat a few to show her it was good, and man was it ever! Coupled with my too-small breakfast hunger, I couldn't help but have a few more.... so not zone. Managed to at least balance it out pretty well with the other food I had a lunch so that was relatively damage controlled, but then, the Third and worst part of today was that....

I am out of zone pancakes. Again, since the girls were home all day, I couldn't make another batch, and thus was not at all prepared when the Chocolate Craving of DOOM struck this afternoon. It resulted in me fighting and fighting - having healthy snacks of egg whites and cinnamon with some almonds, etc., walking around, trying to distract myself (couldn't leave and go for a walk or run or drive or anything since, you guess it, the girls were home)....then finally cracking after having to serve 4 girls fresh baguette with nutella on it... which ended in me eating 6 cookies and 4 pieces of chocolate over the span of 3 hours. Grar. I know it shouldn't be an excuse to eat SIX cookies, maybe TWO or something, but the problem with a chocolate craving, at least for me, is that if you cave it just gets stronger.



It's frustrating considering all the ice cream bars I've said no to over the past month (and I really LOVE ice cream bars) and I cracked on cookies, chocolate, and pasta, none of which I really even like that much.... a big waste of a cheat meal!

Anyway, new leaf. Wrote down my notes from how I felt before I caved and then after, and so next time I'll be able to look back in my workout log and say 'See?, SEEE how crappy you felt after those cookies? You don't even like them. How about I promise myself an ice cream bar for friday night instead?' and I'll be able to back away from the ledge, so to speak, and then I'll be able to keep a clean week and have my reward on the friday.

THANKFULLY, the girls are back at school tomorrow, so I can get prepared for anything that comes up during the rest of the week and the weekend (things like Julia's birthday party which will come with lots of cake, chips, and baguettes no doubt!).

I also know what we're having for dinner tomorrow (ahead of time for once), so I can plan out the rest of my day's blocks a little more accurately! (I have a suspicion that the chocolate craving may have been a combo of not having had enough blocks yesterday and having too small a breakfast today - my body wanting fast energy - and plus the stress of dealing the the girls for 10 hours straight made my brain crave the endorphins I usually get from crossfit.... those combined and triggered by nutella = out of control chocolate craving)

RESET as of dinner tonight - carrots and eggplant with a protein shake chaser should be nice and balanced, and so NO EXCUSES is back in business. Gotta finish the week strong and hopefully show some changes in my measurements and pictures as early as possible!


Remember team...

DÉFI DIET 3

Après in petit déj trop petit (il restait que 100g de fromage blanc), j'avais un faim de loup à midi, et après mon repas bien zone et plein de légumes et chèvre, j'ai craqué sur quelques'uns des raviolis que j'avais fais pour les filles... mais pas si pire que ça en faite!

Avec l'étiquette,j'ai calculé que les 50g (vraiment pas beaucoup par contre) que j'ai pris = 0.5 protéines, 1.5 glucides, et 1 lipide. Des blocs Défavourables, c'est vrai, mais au moins j'ai pu bien équilibré mes blocs avec bloc plus de fromage!

En plus, ça fait pas mal de fromage dans un seul repas, donc ce soir je vais l'éviter en faveur de protéine en poudre (j'ai déja pris un oeuf pour chaqu'un de mes 2 'snacks') Demain je gère mes propres repas donc je peux rester parmi les ailiments favourable pendant la journée, et je peux préparer quelques recettes pour être bien armée contre les tentations de vendredi et le weekend qui s'approche!

Je prépare un liste de recettes à essayer demain et vendredi, donc je vais vous tenir au courant sur celles qui marchent et celles qui sont pas terrible...

À demain!!

DÉFI DIET 2 - recette petit déj gourmand

pour un petit changement ce matin, et car j'avais des blancs d'oeufs à manger, j'ai créé une petit déj qui pourra être preque un 'cheat meal' c'est si bon!

Oeufs Perdus:

4 blancs d'oeufs   [2 pro]
1 oeuf   [1 pro]
cannelle à volunté
un peu d'eau (environ 1-2 cuillères a café)

1 cuillère à café d'Huile de coco  [3 lip]

1 1/3 verre de framboises congèlés, rechauffés dans la micro-onde   [2 glu]
2 cuillères à café de sirop d'érable (pure, pas synthetique)   [1 glu]

total: 3 blocs

Faire melanger ensemble les blancs, l'oeuf, et l'eau, puis faire cuire ce mélange à poêle (dans l'huile) comme on fait les oeufs brouillés, ajoutant autant de canelle que vous voulez.






Une fois cuit, versez les framboises chaude et le sirop sur les oeufs, et dégustez!








En autres nouvelles, voici in site-web (en anglais) pour expliquer les differents variétés de protéine en poudre... un supplément très important pour les végétariens!




http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/all_about_protein.htm






À plus tard ou je vais décrire mes défis de hier soir et ce soir pour manger Zone quand je prépare pas mon propre repas...

DÉFI DIET - 1

Eeeeeeettttttt c’est parti!

Aujourd’hui j’ai pris mon p’tit déj typique : 200g fromage blanc (2pro), 1 pêche (1glu), 2 almonds effilées (0.5 lip), et un grand café....

puis je me suis lancée en cuisine pour préparer quelques recettes Zone à base d’aubergines que j’ai inventée hier soir. Lorsque ce blog peux aussi pratiquement être appelé ‘La Chef paresseuse’, j’ai utilisé les aubergines grillé de chez Picard (aka congélé)… un sac de 300g m’a donné assez d’aubergines pour 2 blocs de glucides (1½ verre d’aubergine cuit par bloc).

Ingrédients:

Recette 1 : Parmigiana aux aubergines [3 blocs]

1 ½  verre d’aubergines [1glucide]

1⅓ verre épinards cuit (aussi de Picard) [1 glucide]

1 tomate [1 glucide]

28g de fromage râpé [1 protéine]

1cuillière de café d’huile de coco [3 lipides]

100g de tofu firm – ecrasé avec une fourchette [2 protéine]

Recette 2 : Mini-Pizzas à base aubergine [3 blocs]

1 ½  verre d’aubergines [1 glucide]

1⅓ verre épinards cuit (aussi de Picard) [1 glucide]

1 tomate [1 glucide]

28g de fromage chèvre [1 protéine]

1cuillière de café d’huile de coco  [3 lipides]

100g de tofu firm – coupé comme tu veux [2 protéine]

Directions :

pour les 2 recettes:

-       -   Faire réchauffer les aubergines à la pôele avec l’huile (tout, pour les 2 recettes), puis divise en 2 parts égaux

-       -   Faire cuire les tomates avec épices et herbes aux choix (j’ai utilisé du corriandre) jusqu’au point qu’ils soient presqu’un sauce.

-          Recette 1 : fait des couches avec les aubergines, épinards, ‘sauce’ de tomates, et tofu, puis fini par un dernier couche de fromage râpé.

 Recette 2 : met les aubergines sur un plaque et les traitent comme base de pizza par mettre du ‘sauce’, des épinards, des morceaux de tofu, et des morceaux de chèvre là-dessus. 

      Et voilà, deux repas végétarienne de 3 blocs chaqu’un, à base aubérgine. Si vous voulez éviter le fromage, du fromage soja pourra être utilisé à la place du fromage dans les deux recettes.

The final Countdown...

Last day before the défi!

Today I sent in my pictures and measurements for the challenge. I have to do the same at the end of each week to see if the diet is working or not, and to 'compete' to change the most over the span of 8 weeks.

Today also involved a revamped breakfast. I made it a proper 2 blocks all around by subtracting the cereal and the almonds from my fromage blanc, and after calculating that 100g was 1P, 0.5C, 0.75F adding a peach and 2 almonds worth of slivered almonds to 200g of fromage blanc. Very tasty.

Lunch was a picnic by the lake for me of 4 Blocks protein powder, 1 orange (2C), 1 pear (2C, and 12 almonds (4F). I had a hard time eating all that fruit, which means that 4 blocks might be a bit much for me all in one meal.

I got hungry about an hour earlier than I expected (probably because the liquid protein is digested much faster than solid proteins), so I decided to allow myself my final 'cheat' meal before the diet begins tomorrow and had a big Mcdonalds Salad which would be allllmost zone if it didn't have fried onions and if the goat cheese wasn't breaded and deep fried too. I also had a piece of toast with a borderline obscene amount of nutella on it and a cup of chocolate milk (which is 1 block protein, and 2 carbs, so I can theoretically incorporate it into my diet on occasion if I add a dash of protein powder or a boiled egg). And voila,with both fast-food and chocolate fixes taken care of, I'm now ready to face this 2 month challenge!


Tomorrow I'll be back on track for the whole day. Starting with grocery shopping for some more tofu and protein powder, boiling a half dozen eggs, and making another enormous batch of Zone pancakes, and so on. Tomorrow will also be my first day attempting to balance out my dinner with a protein shake, as well as attempting to keep portion sizes appropriate to block sizes without being able to weigh or measure, or without knowing how much of ingredients like olive oil or cheese are actually going into the dish. I guess I'll see after a few weeks if the attempts to compromise dinner are working or if it's not balanced enough to prevent night-time fat storage...

Anyway, to any an all preparing for this or any other diet challenge, bon courage!

Day 12 - learning more about the zone and getting sad news about my breakfast...

Today we had a meeting at the Box about the diet and the challenge. It is 2 months long, Starts Monday, and involves sending in pictures and measurements weekly.

I also learned ways that this challenge is going to be harder and ways it will be easier than I thought given my current living/eating situation in the evenings. First of all, it will be easier because of the addition of Protein powder to my evening meals when I go to my room after dinner means that I can manage to almost balance out dinners like what we had tonight (Tarte au roquefort and pâtes au carbonera...eg. 10 tons of unfavourable carbs and fats, zero healthy fats and almost no protein)... however bad news is I am not measuring the things like crème fraiche and grated cheese that are going into these types of dishes, so I actually have NO idea of the proportions I'm eating to be able to accurately get the 40/30/30 balance of (respectively) carbs, proteins, and good fats.

I did get a handy list of foods and their zone block amounts so that I am not constantly having to bring my computer into the kitchen to cook, and we chatted a lot about different things - including how to calculate your block needs for the day:

Sedentary:  weight in Kg x 0.75 = _____, then /7 = # of blocks
Moderately active (2-4 workouts a week or so): Kg x 1 to 1.5, then /7  = # of blocks
Very active (5-7 workouts a week or so) Kg x 1.5 to 2, then /7  = # of blocks
Insane: (8+ workouts a week) Kg x 2 to 2.5, then/7  = # of blocks

(the workouts numbers are just my guesses based on the categories... you may need more or fewer blocks depending on workout intensity, the rest of your daily activities, etc.)

Anyway, I have calculated myself around 14.5 blocks using 1.3 as my 'activity' number, so we'll say about 14.

Sad news about my breakfast...We also talked about fromage blanc, which is what I have been using as my breakfast protein. As it turns out it is not just a pure protein block - depending on the composition (eg. say your FB is about 7g protein, 4g carbs, and 3g fats), you have to take into account the other nutrients as blocks as well (eg. that FB would be 1P, 0.5C, 1F)... which means tomorrow morning I'll have to take a look at my brand of FB and adjust my daily accompanying foods accordingly.

Anyway, looks like this is going to be QUITE the challenge after all....especially with the aforementioned lack of control over dinner... but one quote in the Zone presentation struck me particularily today, and that was the following:



Coupled with the new Crossfit Montpellier NO EXCUSES shirts I'm seeing all around town (natually, as I go all around town with montpellier crossfitters), it made me realize that if I don't even try I won't have the chance to be surprisingly successful, or even just half successful... so I'm gonna try everything in my power to control what I can and manage what I can't as best I can, and hopefully I'll still see some results over the next 2 months!

Some food for thought for all of you too I guess... now speaking of food, my last cupcake before the challenge starts awaits! (Juuuuust kidding...after all that pasta and cheese at dinner I already feel like I ate a sponge)

And so, talk to you folks tomorrow!!

Ah, and ps. ce blog va aussi être de temps en temps en français  pour que les autres BAMs (Bad Ass Montpelliérains) sur le mission 'Défi Dièt' puissent aussi le lire et apprendre de mes obstacles et succès en essayant de manger Zone sans viande ni poisson. Pour ces lecteurs francophones, svp ne me jugez pas trop pour les erreurs grammaticaux, les phrases un peu maladroit, ou les mots inventés... Je vais faire de mon mieux, mais je suis à base bien anglophone!

Day 11 - the 'Défi Dièt' has begun!

Hi all!

So after a bit of a lax week, the Défi Dièt (Zone Diet Challenge) has officially begun at the gym, so I'm back to being strict on my zone blocks and avoiding processed foods etc.

Today I had my usual 2 block breakfast - fromage blanc, almonds, and a wee bit of Trésor cereal (so not healthy... but so so good) with black coffee.

I then launched into creating a big ol' stirfry using tofu, mushrooms, and packets of mixed frozen vegetables (peas, snow peas, broccoli and spinach). It was while I was trying to figure out how many blocks each things was that I realized how massive blocks of vegetables are compared to blocks of grain carbs etc.

For example, 1 block of flour is 1.5 TEAspoons, but for that same one block, you can have 3 cups of mushrooms or 4 cups of spinach! So my stirfry, which has 4 blocks of protein, I figured would end up 4 or 5 blocks of veggies when I started, but to actually get that many vegetables in there I had to add a cup of mushrooms because I wasn't going to get there on the frozen veggies alone - even with peas which are only 0.5cups to a block. The end result being my stirfry is HUGE and only 4 blocks, so I can either eat it in two 2-block meals, or as one 4-block meal if I'm super hunger after crossfit this afternoon.



Seriously though, lesson of the day: EAT YOUR FRIGGEN VEGETABLES. First of all, you get WAY more food out of it, and second of all you get way more nutritional value in terms of vitamins etc., plus the water content helps keep you hydrated... basically, there is way more benefit to eating cups and cups of veggies than there is in eating a weesie little serving of grain carbs.

Lesson learned for me, so I will definitely be working to incorporate more veggies and fruit into all my meals and snacks from now on....