I figured posting my food plan for the day on here would help me stick to it, so here goes. Please keep in mind that I’m awake 20+ hours per day, so it’s going to look like I eat a LOT (6+ meals per day), but this is unavoidable due to the fact that I can’t survive more than 4 hours without eating SOMETHING.
Breakfast #1 (2am):
– Medium Green Apple (80 calories)
– Cage-Free Hard-Boiled Egg (60 calories)
– Gummy Prenatal Vitamin (20 calories)
– Gummy Biotin Vitamin (15 calories)
– Coffee w/ Light Cream (45 calories) — technically, the cream isn’t Paleo [no dairy permitted], but I haven’t made it to Whole Foods yet this week to pick up the delicious coconut creamer.
P.S. I know it’s absolutely ridiculous that I still eat gummy vitamins at 30 years old, but it’s the only way I stay consistent. Who looks forward to a chalky pill every morning? No one. A delicious, sour-apple flavored vitamin? Yes, please!
Breakfast #2 (4:30am):
– Celery Stalks (25 calories)
– Cucumber Slices (30 calories)
Breakfast #3 (9am):
– Grilled Chicken Breast (110 calories)
Lunch #1 (12pm):
– Broccoli and Kale Trader Joe’s Salad, no dressing (260 calories)
Lunch #2 (3pm):
– Baby Carrots (35 calories)
– Grapes (105 calories)
Dinner #1 (6pm):
– Mango GemWrap (15 calories)
– Spring Mix (15 calories)
– Rotisserie Chicken Deli Meat (60 calories)
– Bolthouse Cilantro Avocado Dressing (20 calories)
Dinner #2 (9pm):
– Pan-fried (with Coconut Spray) Swai (130 calories)
– Steamed Butternut Squash (65 calories)- Garlic Cauliflower (80 calories)
Miscellaneous:
As you can see above, this adds up to about 1,050 calories, so I’m allowing myself a flex/cheat of approximately 150-200 calories to use at my leisure throughout the day. I’m not going to name it here, as I’m not sure what it will be yet! I’m not going to restrict myself on this cheat, with the exception that I’ll try to keep it as close to Paleo as possible: no grain, no dairy, no soy. My bet is that I’ll splurge on the leftover mango I have at home, or maybe steal a piece of two of extra dark chocolate from the office. We shall see!
I’ve struggled for a while to stay under 1,600 calories per day (impulse-eating, not planning out my meals), so I’m hoping this extra diligence and planning will serve to keep my calorie consumption in check!
The Memoirs of a Yo-Yo Dieter 
Hope you reach your goals!! 🙂
I can’t like this post, I wish I could. Your heart is in the right place, you’ve just fallen and trying to get back up, clawing your way till your nails scrape themselves against the rock surface and bleed.
But you’re missing out on the elevator that would only be a few steps to the right from the rock surface you’re trying to claw your way up… The elevator might be slow, but painless and guaranteed trip to the top, instead of trying to climb a rock surface with your nails and no security ropes or nets in place when you fall and fail to do so.
You are literally killing yourself, I cannot like this post and I wish you’ll wake up soon – before your body gives out from under you.
I worry about you and I wish you success, but long time success will not be found with starvation, loss of sleep and piling stress on top of stress – is that truly what you wish for or think will make you succeed, or where did the idea to do that come from? Is that really what _you_ want to do with your life?
In my eyes it will drain you and cause irreparable damage to your brain. Not even kidding with that, sleep deprivation kills brain cells, and they won’t be coming back.
I definitely agree with you: what I am doing (in terms of the two jobs/ lack of sleep) is very unhealthy. And not sustainable. I can tell you I have NO intention of maintaining this long term …I’m taking a big risk (and sacrificing much of my time/health/sanity) to break into the entertainment industry. In less than 6 months, I’ve gone from an intern …to a staff writer …to a producer. My hope is that I will make it to Executive Producer within a few months, which would not only fulfill a major dream of mine, but also pay enough that I can quit my second job and return to being a normal human being.
I know that this is a punishment to my body, and I’m trying to make up for it by exercising as often as I can, eating as clean as I can, and grabbing cat naps whenever I can sneak one in.
I understand if you think I’m being reckless or unrealistic, but the entertainment rarely opens its doors and, right now, I have a foot over the threshold: it’s too close now to give up.
I get that, I really do. In the very least… eat right.
Eating right is not eating like a rabbit and portions that belong to an 8 year old. You’re a grown woman with 2 jobs, in constant movement chasing after a dream, that I know you can and will achieve. You need the energy though – You will burn out, and it will be very, very painful to see your dream pass you by because of it, when it happens. Do notice I used the word when, not if. A few months is a long, long time. It will happen if you don’t change this.
I cannot stress this enough… eat enough while going after your dream. I worry about you, I want to see you make it and succeed. You’ve motivated me through your kind comments and interest towards my own journey and your own has touched me as well.
I do not want to see you crash down, because you keep thinking food is this big bad goblin and that there is nothing but black and white when it comes to food. Eat. Eat enough.
I know you have a lot of traumas and mental blocks in your mind when it comes to food and your self-image – we all have our own mountains to climb. You’ve been to various spectrums of obesity and eating disorders. You have come a long way and now it’s time to make that change.
Do it right. For you and your dream that is so close, so close you can almost touch it.
You are not overweight anymore, you do not have to chase after those 10lbs as if your life dependent on it to get it off as soon as possible. That mentality does nothing but cause you to self-destruct.
Chase after your dream with energy and a smile.
At least… that’s my opinion on it, I hope – even if you won’t follow my advice, that it’ll serve as food for thought.
I guess the hardest thing for me is that my weight is up, and up substantially. In fact, as hard as this is to believe, I went from 130.1 last week to 136.6 Sunday and again this morning. I have a noticeable pooch around my waist, as if all of this fat just suddenly appeared around my belly like a ball and chain.
That sort of dramatic physical shift – literally, to go from 130 to 137 and see the fat suddenly locked down around my waist – is horrifying and it triggers everything in my brain that is dysfunctional to spring to life.
As horrible as this is to say, if I had the will power and the strength to abstain from food 100% right now …I would. Terrible, I know.
This is the main reason why I’m trying to use the blog more religiously again. I’m hoping that my transparency will force me into treating my body better. I don’t want everyone to read my posts and be concerned, so I’m trying to make a conscious effort NOT to freak out over my weight. And I’m not going to lie on here (what’s the point?), so I guess your reaction is the kind of hard truth I need (and want) to hear. I can quickly get obsessive, and I’m grateful that my appetite is too strong to be forced into anorexic submission.
You know, in my youth I had suicidal depression and I was a cutter, my body is riddled with scars (and probably why I’d never take a shirtless side picture if it wasn’t off of my right side, since on my left arm… well from elbow to shoulder it’s all scar tissue)
I know exactly what it is to walk down a self-destructive path, and I’d consider the stance you have with food and your weight to be far worse than what I had and did.
Make a conscious effort to change it, and you will. You’re a strong willed woman that is capable of chasing down your dreams in the hardest industry imaginable and if you’re capable of doing that, you’re capable of eating right.
You love writing, you’re good at writing so I’d suggest you start writing your thoughts down completely. Analyze the why you feel the way you do. Ask yourself constantly, why am I this way, why does this happen, why is my relationship with food this way, why, why, why.
Once you’re done with the why, start asking yourself how. How to change it, how to do it right, how to make sure I never get there again, how, how, how.
You’ve probably done something very similar in the past, multiple times even. Do it again, again, again.
You’re worth the effort you require to get your mind set right. Once and for all.
P.S – Didn’t you have that same thing happen to you on New Years, where you said you gained all fat etc yada yada, then dropped like 10lbs in 2 weeks? Proving that it was water all along, since fat consists of 3500kcal of energy, it is physically impossible for all of it to be fat. Bloated stomachs are fascinating and can alter physical appearances drastically even in the span of a day. Many fitness models before and after pictures are taken during the _same day_, due to water bloating, sodium intake etc. Individual differences do apply, but do keep that in mind and repeat it to yourself till you believe it, since I know you don’t right now.