Week 3, Day 6

It is weekly consult day *and* I got a new menu plan today, so I have lots to get out of my head.

First, the most important thing!  I've been avoiding wearing jeans for the past couple of months because they were just so uncomfortable (I would *not* go out and buy new jeans because I had gained 10 lbs).  Anyway, last night I laid out some jeans, since it was calling for a cooler morning.  I put them on this morning and have been wearing them very comfortably all day (with a belt, no less).  That is huge for my self-confidence!  I'm sure there's still some muffin-top action going on (hopefully not for long), but at least it doesn't hurt to wear my jeans anymore.  This is especially important with fall approaching ;)

Here are some quick points I took from my consult this morning:

1. He said I'm more active than most people he works with.  That boosted my mood.  I'm very much someone who needs positive feedback when I'm doing something like this, and a comment like that is encouraging.  I asked about having no energy at night to do my workouts and, while he didn't tell me to eat carbs (sigh), he did change my after-workout snack to a protein instead of fruit.
2. He emphasized I really can't skip any food on my plan.  I missed probably 7 or 8 snacks in the past week, which is dropping my calories too much.  I have to get everything in, space my food out over the day while still eating the bulk of my calories in the earlier part of the day, and don't go more than 4 hours without eating.  That is my challenge for next week.
3. Here's the kicker - on my new menu plan, I only get to have one serving of grains a day!  That is insane to me.  So, 4 days a week I'll have a grain at lunch, and 3 days a week it will be at breakfast.  I guess I already had 4 days a week with just the grain at lunch, but I'm scared of the days with no grains past breakfast time.  This is such a huge adjustment to me - grains (and starchy vegetables like potatoes) used to be the backbone of my diet!  He said it's only a drop of about 300 - 400 calories a week, but that it should force my body to adapt to a change.  I told him I was nervous about this change but that I would give it a shot.  I remember from a previous consult that this menu plan is supposed to last for a month.
4. The recipes on the new plan look much more like 'diet food' than the last ones (i.e. cauliflower 'rice,' and more beans in the recipes).  I'm not overly happy about that.  The good news is that I'm still allowed to keep using the old recipes, so I've picked 4 new ones to try in the upcoming week and the rest of the time I'll stick with what I've been eating.  I did notice the veggies are incorporated into more of the meals, so I hopefully won't have to come up with my own veggie side dishes as much.  That will be a welcome change.  The meat is the same way - more of the recipes are complete meals that incorporate the chicken and veggies into them.

I'm hoping to get to Moose Jaw tomorrow to pick up the groceries for the week.  I don't need a ton of things, but there's enough produce there that it warrants a trip up (I'm not even sure you can buy things like bok choy in town).

It's almost supper time and then it's time for Insanity again ...