R2: Day 17/30 of Cooking More and Avoiding Ultra-Processed Food
Hi! It's been a while since I posted, mainly since this round is much better than my last round in regards to eating less processed food.
I realized that I can't keep things at my house, and I don't want to deprive myself, so single-servings are the best, especially made from home! That's curtailed binges - I just have 1 chocolate cookie made in the microwave and it's great whenever I crave sweets!
I did get a semaglutide, but didn't end up using it. It's good for the rest of the year, but I heard horror stories of the muscle loss and I don't want that to happen. I want to see what would happen if I stuck with avoiding ultra-processed food. My new nutritionist noted that I tend to do better with sticking to a high protein diet if I eat more fat and less carbs. I tried berberine as a way to start some weight loss - it backfired and made my blood sugar so low that I had headaches and nausea even 2 days after quitting. And then it made me crave fruit roll-ups, which I haven't even had since I was a kid. I went through the entire box within 2 days.
The nutritionist has mentioned Inositol - I'm sure I do have symptoms of PCOS, of which one of the symptoms is insulin resistance, and that seems to historically work with her patients. My doctor just said to do semaglutides first as the first resort, which seems to be a bit extreme. For the muscle loss, they said to take it anyway and then build muscle after losing it, but that doesn't really work that way. The only reason why I look like I'm normal weight (even though I really am not), is because of having high muscle mass after decades of dance and weight lifting - it's hard to build that, smh. I was so affronted that I started weight lifting with a new Powerblock Set after almost a year of avoiding it for Pilates.
I think my real issue, even more so than the food noise, is how much I can't stand my manager and stress-eating while trying to get through insanely lofty targets. That has made it hard to have a decent WLB and probably has been the biggest deterrent regarding energy levels and binging sweets.
I think I've always realized that, but I was thinking about it recently - I don't want my health to suffer because of a job and manager I don't like. In 6-8 months I will leave the job. It was made abundantly clear when I had to work from home due to low blood sugar and nausea, and was asked to provide a doctor's note on why I couldn't drive in to upper management, even though I have overworked a bunch. Will definitely be doing the bare minimum now and focus on interviewing, which might be hard since I'm in the office and sit next to my entire team for 9 hours a day. Any advice on how to do that would be fantastic!
I did have a few interviews recently and it didn't go well because of having low blood sugar and nausea at that time from the Berberine. However, I do know where I need to improve upon, and am excited to try! I think that if I take care of my health, I'll be able to have a better chance of having the energy to apply and do better in interviews. I've also been seeing friends/making new friends weekly, so that's been good! I've been having 7-8 hours of sleep, though I struggle to fall asleep, so I take melatonin/Ashwaghanda and then have a hard time waking up in the morning.
I've also been reading books when having huge cravings or even drinking peppermint tea. If that doesn't work, I'll make the microwavable cookie.
I've had a harder time with cooking from home - I've made scrambled eggs for the week and broccoli, but I usually just have it during dinner. I bought a bunch of prepared Keto meals from a restaurant nearby that have been helpful for stressful times. I also have 1-2 servings of chia seeds in a day, too! I think that for stressful work times, it's easier to prepare by getting prepared food versus Doordash.
As sad as it sounds, I've had to block DD on my CC's side because it's too convenient for me since I don't really like driving (have to do too much for work).
I have been grocery shopping every week, but have been putting them mostly in the freezer (salmon, vegetables, chicken), since I always run out of time to cook them. I don't think I'll go grocery shopping next week since I don't have that much more freezer space. I really like cheese sticks wrapped in bacon or ham - weirdly, that's been my favorite snack.
Since I'm stressed out, highly unlikely that I'll be cooking, at least until next Wednesday. I do have cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast most days. And sometimes with yoghurt. I think that's my energy level for cooking until my deliverable is done. I've been thinking of trying Factor out or something similar since that's probably cheaper than buying from a restaurant.
I'll be continuing to track time - I think tracking time and energy is really helpful, especially with stressful work times!
R2: Day 17/30 of Cooking More and Avoiding Ultra-Processed Food
Hi! It's been a while since I posted, mainly since this round is much better than my last round in regards to eating less processed food.
I realized that I can't keep things at my house, and I don't want to deprive myself, so single-servings are the best, especially made from home! That's curtailed binges - I just have 1 chocolate cookie made in the microwave and it's great whenever I crave sweets!
I did get a semaglutide, but didn't end up using it. It's good for the rest of the year, but I heard horror stories of the muscle loss and I don't want that to happen. I want to see what would happen if I stuck with avoiding ultra-processed food. My new nutritionist noted that I tend to do better with sticking to a high protein diet if I eat more fat and less carbs. I tried berberine as a way to start some weight loss - it backfired and made my blood sugar so low that I had headaches and nausea even 2 days after quitting. And then it made me crave fruit roll-ups, which I haven't even had since I was a kid. I went through the entire box within 2 days.
The nutritionist has mentioned Inositol - I'm sure I do have symptoms of PCOS, of which one of the symptoms is insulin resistance, and that seems to historically work with her patients. My doctor just said to do semaglutides first as the first resort, which seems to be a bit extreme. For the muscle loss, they said to take it anyway and then build muscle after losing it, but that doesn't really work that way. The only reason why I look like I'm normal weight (even though I really am not), is because of having high muscle mass after decades of dance and weight lifting - it's hard to build that, smh. I was so affronted that I started weight lifting with a new Powerblock Set after almost a year of avoiding it for Pilates.
I think my real issue, even more so than the food noise, is how much I can't stand my manager and stress-eating while trying to get through insanely lofty targets. That has made it hard to have a decent WLB and probably has been the biggest deterrent regarding energy levels and binging sweets.
I think I've always realized that, but I was thinking about it recently - I don't want my health to suffer because of a job and manager I don't like. In 6-8 months I will leave the job. It was made abundantly clear when I had to work from home due to low blood sugar and nausea, and was asked to provide a doctor's note on why I couldn't drive in to upper management, even though I have overworked a bunch. Will definitely be doing the bare minimum now and focus on interviewing, which might be hard since I'm in the office and sit next to my entire team for 9 hours a day. Any advice on how to do that would be fantastic!
I did have a few interviews recently and it didn't go well because of having low blood sugar and nausea at that time from the Berberine. However, I do know where I need to improve upon, and am excited to try! I think that if I take care of my health, I'll be able to have a better chance of having the energy to apply and do better in interviews. I've also been seeing friends/making new friends weekly, so that's been good! I've been having 7-8 hours of sleep, though I struggle to fall asleep, so I take melatonin/Ashwaghanda and then have a hard time waking up in the morning.
I've also been reading books when having huge cravings or even drinking peppermint tea. If that doesn't work, I'll make the microwavable cookie.
I've had a harder time with cooking from home - I've made scrambled eggs for the week and broccoli, but I usually just have it during dinner. I bought a bunch of prepared Keto meals from a restaurant nearby that have been helpful for stressful times. I also have 1-2 servings of chia seeds in a day, too! I think that for stressful work times, it's easier to prepare by getting prepared food versus Doordash.
As sad as it sounds, I've had to block DD on my CC's side because it's too convenient for me since I don't really like driving (have to do too much for work).
I have been grocery shopping every week, but have been putting them mostly in the freezer (salmon, vegetables, chicken), since I always run out of time to cook them. I don't think I'll go grocery shopping next week since I don't have that much more freezer space. I really like cheese sticks wrapped in bacon or ham - weirdly, that's been my favorite snack.
Since I'm stressed out, highly unlikely that I'll be cooking, at least until next Wednesday. I do have cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast most days. And sometimes with yoghurt. I think that's my energy level for cooking until my deliverable is done. I've been thinking of trying Factor out or something similar since that's probably cheaper than buying from a restaurant.
I'll be continuing to track time - I think tracking time and energy is really helpful, especially with stressful work times!