Vivian Vana Stevens
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Everything We Ate: November 2019

12/2/2019

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On November 7th I was done. I was following my "Last 90 Days" plan of drinking more water, cutting out candy, and all of the other things that go along with it. But as the work day on November 7th came to a close I was disgusted with myself. Then, I saw a reddit thread about Intermittent Fasting (IF). Adam has brought up the idea before, but we were thinking of it as something that would cut out dinner. We were eating breakfast every day so we figured going 7am-3pm or 8am-4pm to accomplish a 16:8 fast seemed impossible. I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but as I read through it clicked that we could limit ourselves to just eating from 12pm-8pm and it would work for our lifestyle. 

Now, I know the thought of skipping breakfast can be taboo for some, but for us the idea of skipping dinner and going to bed hungry or not refueling after a work out was worse. I can't say we have been perfect since starting the 16:8 IF cycle, we have had days where we are 30 minutes-an hour off, and one day we did not follow it all together, but we've also had days where we have made it closer to the 18:6 mark. While our weight-loss has been minimal/slow, it has been steadily taking effect without a ton of effort on our parts. We have been exercising alongside starting IF and it has not caused us to be tired or have any sort of muscle fatigue because we are still working to fuel ourselves within the set amount of time. 

The benefit I think Adam and I have appreciated the most is the simplicity of only worrying about 2 meals a day. Before when we would meal prep it felt like we needed to spend hours making 3 different meal options to mix up; but now that we are only worried about two meals a day we have gained a lot of free time back. Cooking (something we always have and still enjoy) has been even more fun because we can focus our energy onto one big dinner-like meal to spread out over the whole week vs. trying to make two or three. You can definitely see some of our good days and some of our bad, as well as where we missed out on our own training regimen. But for reference I also included the exercise we did on the days we did it with the lists of what we ate.
November 8th:
Black Coffee
Egg Bake Piece
Bagel
Thin Sliced Cheese
Soba Noodles w/ Chicken
-16:8 Fast-
November 9th:
Black Coffee
1/2 Waffle
2 Eggs
Bacon
2 Slices of Pizza
Gelato
2 Glasses of Pinot Grigio
​-16:8 Fast-
​*5K Run*
November 10th:
Black Coffee
2 Slices of Pizza
Asian BBQ Chicken
Cauliflower Rice
1 Tiny Cup of ​Sake
​-16:8 Fast-
November 11th:
Black Coffee
Egg Bake
2 Pieces of Toast
Thinly Sliced Cheese
Asian BBQ Chicken
​Cauliflower Rice
​Small Cup Sake
​-16:8 Fast-
*Elliptical and Treadmill*
November 12th:
Black Coffee
​Egg Bake
2 Pieces of Toast
Thinly Sliced Cheese
Hawaiian Chicken
Cauliflower Rice
​2 Cookies
​-
16:8 Fast-
November 13th:
Black Coffee
​​Egg Bake
2 Pieces of Toast
Thinly Sliced Cheese
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Cauliflower Rice
​-
16:8 Fast-
*2 Mile Walk*
November 14th:
​Black Coffee
​​Egg Bake
2 Pieces of Toast
Thinly Sliced Cheese
Hawaiian Chicken
​Cauliflower Rice
​-16:8 Fast-
November 15th:
​​Black Coffee
​​Egg Bake
2 Pieces of Toast
Thinly Sliced Cheese
​1/2 Order Tonkatsu Don

2 BBQ Pork Steam Buns
1 Tiny Sake Cup
4 Small Cookies

Peppermint Tea
​4 Cookies
-15:9 Fast-
November 16th:
Black Coffee
Eggs Benedict
Hawaiian Latte
​1/4 a 3 Cheese Platter
Crackers
2 Chicken Pot-stickers
​2 Glasses Pinot Grigio
​2 Cookies
-15:9 Fast-
*4 Mile Walk*
November 17th:
Black Coffee
1/2 Peanut Butter Waffle
1/2 Pecan Waffle
1 Egg
1 Bacon Strip
1 Cup Green Bean Casserole
1/2 Cup Deer Nuggets
​​White Claw
​-
16:8 Fast-
November 18th:
Green Apple Tea
Black Coffee
Cheese Stick
1 Cup Green Bean Casserole
1/2 Cup Deer Nuggets
1 Cup Hunter's Pie​
​-16:8 Fast-
*Work Out Class*
November 19th:
Black Coffee
1 Cup Green Bean Casserole
1/2 Cup Deer Nuggets
1 Cup Hunter's Pie
15 Mini Pretzels
​1/2 Cup Berries
Chamomile Tea
​-16:8 Fast-
*Work Out Class*
*2 Mile Run*
November 20th:
Black Coffee
​1/2 ​Asian Sesame Salad
Cup Broccoli Cheddar Soup
2in Baguette Slice
1&1/2 Cup Hunter's Pie
1/2 Peanut Butter Sandwich
Chamomile Tea
​-16:8 Fast-
​*Work Out Class*
November 21st:
Black Coffee
Salmon Fillet
Bagel
Thin Slice Colby Jack Cheese
Fried Egg
1 Cup Hunter's Pie
12 Blueberries
5 Raspberries
Mini Package Fruit Gushers
​-16:8 Fast-
*Work Out Class*
November 22nd: 
​Black Coffee
Salmon Fillet on Bagel
Thin Sliced Cheese
Fried Egg
Mini Almond Joy
1/2 Cup of Panera Mac&Cheese
1/2 Turkey, Apple, Cheddar Sandwich
1/2 Short Bread Cookie
Coffee
​-16:8 Fast-
*Work Out Class*
*Walk 1.5 Miles*
November 23rd:
1/2 Turkey, Apple, Cheddar Sandwich
Black Coffee
​1/2 Cup of Panera Mac& Cheese
1/2 Short Bread Cookie
1/2 December Bokksu
Green Tea
Affogato
1 Cup Spaghetti Squash-Carbonara
​-16:8 Fast-
November 24th:
Black Coffee
​1 Waffle
2 Small Chicken Strips
1/2 Banana 
Syrup, Whipped Cream, etc
2 Soft Fajita Tacos
13 Tortilla Chips
Homemade Guacamole
Cheeze-Its & Cookie
Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
​Bowl of Ice Cream​
November 25th:
Black Coffee
2 Slices Small Pizza
2 Mac&Cheese Bites
1 Cup Carbonara
​1 Mini KitKat
8 Tortilla Chips
​Homemade Guacamole
​-16:8 Fast-
​*Work Out Class*
November 26th:
Black Coffee
2 Slices Small Pizza
1/2 Tonkatsu Don Bowl
1 BBQ Pork Steam Bun
1/2 M&M Cookie
-19:5 Fast-
*Work Out Class*
November 27th:
Black Coffee
Chips & Guac
1/2 Grilled Cheese
1 Wine Spritzer
​1 Granola Bar
-16:8 Fast-
November 28th:
1 Brioche Baguette
1/2 Gingerbread Cookie
Black Coffee
Egg Casserole
Veggies from a Tray
Mimosa
3 Glasses of Wine
​Thanksgiving Meal
​Pecan Pie
*5K Run*
November 29th:
Coffee with a little Cream
1/2 Sweet Potato Hash Bowl
2 Bites of Chocolate Pancake
Italian Ice
Turkey Sandwich on Baguette
​2 Old Fashions
November 30th:
Coffee with a little Cream
​​1/2 Sweet Potato Hash Bowl
1/2 Gingerbread Cookie
1/2 Chicken Mac & Cheese Bowl
​1 Piece Peppermint Toffee
2 Glasses of Sprite
Pesto Chicken Penne

December 1st:
Black Coffee
1/2 Gingerbread Cookie
Sesame Bagel
Egg
Thin Sliced Cheese
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Roll
Corn
Pumpkin Muffin Top
-16:8 Fast-
You may notice that there came a point in which our lunches started consisting of lighter foods. That is for two reasons: one is that our second week on IF we ate a lot of red meat and it caused me to have terrible acid reflux in the middle of the day. This was a huge issue and we also realized that it would not help us reach our goals of a 18:6 or the One Meal A Day (OMAD) Intermittent Fasting style if we kept having two heavy meals vs. putting more emphasis on one of the meals. 

You will also notice that as we hit thanksgiving week things got a little out of hand. We were not able to keep up with fasting but we went in to those 3 days knowing that would be the case. To show that this is not the end but only the beginning of our journey I included December 1st, which was our first day to really get back to intermittent fasting and today we are getting back into making overall healthier choices. I am grateful for what IF has done for me so far and I am excited to see how it continues!

Overall Adam and I have continued to follow the "Last 90 Days" to the best of our abilities! I think two things that have stuck with us the most are drinking more water and taking time to say what we are grateful for each day. IF has sort of replaced the cutting out a specific food, which has been helpful. Reflecting on the thanksgiving holiday and this time of year, what are things in your life you are grateful for?
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    I am a student affairs professional, an amateur chef, and an adventurer at heart.

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