Picture Dump

Why hello, there!  Sorry for the absence, but I've been busy and also out of town for a wedding, which was very lovely.  Now, of course, I feel a bit behind!  I have a few pictures to share that were originally going to be individual posts, but to catch up I'm going to do one big post :)

(Hot tea, Fiber One cereal, Apricots)

This is a pretty typical breakfast for me, although I usually eat a smaller portion of cereal.  What's pictured is only one measured cup, however I found that to be way too much and ended up throwing some out.  Now I cut back a little.  The tea is a Lipton Yellow, which is a brand that I have only ever found in stores in Japan, but can be easily bought online.  I really loved it, so I brought back a whole bunch with me.  (though I'm starting to run low!!)  The apricots were bought from a local fruit stand, and were marvelous.  

 (Japanese curry over white rice, fried egg and scallions)

This was without a doubt one of my favorite foods in Japan.  Curry may originally be Indian, but Japanese curry tastes very different in my opinion.  It's usually less spicy, and the flavor is different in a way that I really don't know how to describe.  You'll just have to make some and try for yourself :)  I made my curry using only vegetables, and added the egg on top for some protein.  Eggs are eaten on a lot of main dishes in Japan, not just for breakfast, and I find I really prefer it that way.  I'm usually an oatmeal or cereal kinda breakfast girl, so I save my eggs for other purposes.

 (Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing, Apricots, Udon with Fried Egg)

This is another example of putting egg where you may not expect.  Udon, if you've never tried it, is a rather thick noodle, usually served in a hot soup.  (Other various are yakiudon, which is like a lo-mein, or curry udon, which pours curry sauce over the noodles).  This soup comes from a package, which is pretty fair on calories, but of course loaded with salt.  One day I'd love to learn of a good homemade recipe for it.  

(Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing, Tuna on top of Whole Wheat Toast, Fiber One Yogurt)

Leaving Japan, this is a pretty normal lunch for me.  And I have to admit, this was quite filling.  It took a little time for me to get used to eating tuna without slathering it with mayo, like my mom always made, but I think I've transitioned well.  

Well, there you have it :)  I think I'm doing pretty well so far, and I hope to keep going and start to really feel great about how I look and feel.  

Oh, and before I forget!  A quote!

Quote #3 "Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections."  Saint Francis de Sales

Keeping it up!

My new eating habits are going well.  What I miss most, I think, is the carbs.  I'm a carb-o-holic, and I know it.  Bread, pasta, rice, you name it, I want it and in huge amounts please.  So cutting back on my carb intake is really very difficult for me. 

I've also given up drinking soda, even the diet kind.  Even though all diets I've looked into (Weight Watchers, Nutra System, etc.) seem to allow diet soda in whatever quantity you want, I'm not comfortable with all the fake sugars, dyes, and what not.  Besides, drinking water is great for you, so I'm feeling good with the decision.  :)

This evening my dinner started with a salad (as usual) and then was followed by two small chicken tenders cooked in tomato with garlic powder and onion, along with a small amount of potatoes with onion and steamed broccoli and green beans for my veggies.  Really delicious and really filling. 

Quote #2: "Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can." -Unknown

Dinner!

Here was my dinner this evening:

(Steamed Spinach, Noodles, Tilapia, Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing)

I bought a new salad dressing today!  It's Sesame Ginger--a little sweet-sour type tasting, and at only 45 calories, I'm pleased :)  I'll still have to use up my remaining Caesar, but this is a much healthier switch.  The Tilapia was cooked on the grill (you can see the remnants of the foil used to cook it) with garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and some spring onions on top.  I absolutely adore fish, and all seafood really, so I have a particular fondness for the meal.  The noodles?  Probably not very good for me, but my mom made them for dinner and I didn't have time to make me an alternative carb so I just ate what she made. 

I'm feeling really good today, after having ran this morning and eaten well all day.  I've also gone ahead and made a Weight Loss book for myself.  Basically, I took a nice notebook I had lying around and on the first page wrote down what I was allowed to eat for each of the three meals during the day, followed by a list of acceptable snacks.  I also wrote down a list of everything I could think of to busy myself, to help prevent snacking.  I fully recognize that many times I eat just because I'm bored and there's nothing to do, so hopefully my own personal activity list will help inspire me to do less unhealthy things :)  There's also a page dedicated to my actual weight, which I will record every Sunday.  Sundays, by the way, are my "day off," from dieting.  Not that I can go wild or anything, but I don't run on Sundays (mainly because church in the mornings prevents me and it's far too hot in the afternoon) and if I want to treat myself to going out to eat, I can.  I've read many articles and books that say if you don't give yourself certain times when you let yourself indulge a little, you'll never keep up with your diet.  

The final pages of my book are dedicated to quotes that I find particularly useful in helping me stay on track, so I've decided to share one with you everyday as well.

Quote #1

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall." - Confucius

Ouch!

Today I started running again, and my body is certainly reminding me that I've taken the last month and a half off.  Back when I was still in school, I was running 3 miles straight, and working my way up to 4, but today I couldn't even run a single mile without stopping.  I did run an entire mile, but I had to take a couple breaks.  Slightly upsetting, but I'll get back into it.  Gotta keep a positive attitude, right?

New Beginnings

I'll admit it--I fell off the wagon a bit.  Not reaching my goal of getting into my "Wish Dress" as I call it, was extremely depressing.  I felt like such a failure, even though by the end of school I had dropped 21 pounds.  But like so many people, I ended up focusing only on the bad and not at all on the good.  Well.  The past is past, and now it's time to more forward.  Starting right now.

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of Fiber One cereal and strawberry Fiber One yogurt.  A lot of fiber?  Yep.  Trust me, I need it.  I also fully recognize that flavored yogurts aren't the best of foods to be putting into my body.  Artificial sugars, dyes, etc. are not my ideal choice for food, but being lactose intolerant, I get very little calcium in my diet.  However, yogurt contains a natural enzyme that allows me to digest it even though it is made from dairy milk.  What about Greek Yogurt, you say?  Three words:   I hate it.  In truth, I really don't like the taste of yogurt, and I only enjoy eating the flavored kind because it masks that sour-tangy taste. 

Anyway, here's a picture of today's lunch:

(Salad with Caesar Dressing, Campbell's Chicken Mushroom Barley Soup, Clover Roll)

I've done this diet before, in the months prior to when I left to study abroad for a year in Japan.  I ate a salad and a bowl of Campbell's soup everyday for lunch, which was a bit monotonous, but really worked.  So I'm starting again.  This soup is a part of Campbell's "Light" options, which I find reduce the fat and calories a little and the salt a lot.  I'd never tried this particular variety and I found it to be okay.  Not my favorite, but I did enjoy the mushrooms and barley.  Oh--and the little roll in the corner is homemade by myself :)  I'd like to try whole wheat one day, but we only had white flour in the house.

Anyway, I feel better about myself now that I'm trying again. 

Unrealistic?

I think perhaps I've set myself an unrealistic goal.  As I've said before, I've been praying to get into my "wish dress," a dress I bought specifically too small, to wear at graduation.  (less than 2 weeks away now).  Although I have made progress--I weighed myself yesterday and have officially lost 21 pounds--I had my friend help me try on the dress yesterday, and she informed me that although I was close, it was probably impossible to get into it by graduation.

I have to say--I'm devastated.  Truly devastated.  It feels as if I've worked so hard for so many months, for what?  It's all very depressing.  I knew it would be hard, this dress is made only of cotton, so there's not even an option that it'll stretch a bit.  But I guess I just have to face reality and hope that one day this summer I'll be able to wear that dress as a nice summer dress.  For now though, I'm just exceedingly unhappy that I will apparently not be meeting my goal.

Lunch 04/27/11

Today while I was working out in the gym, we were made to stop and seek shelter because of a tornado.  I was only in the beginning of my workout, so I was glad when after only 15 minutes or so we were allowed back in.  :)  I got in a really good workout today, although whenever it rains the gym becomes so humid, it's really awful.  Oh well, no pain, no gain, right? 

Here was today's lunch:

 

(Salad and Corn Muffin, Pasta with Shrimp and Broccoli, Steamed Squash and Zucchini)

If this seems like a lot of food--it was!  But it was famished after working out today.  This was another day when I had to get creative.  My pasta was something I created using two of the lines today.  I took the shrimp from the line serving "Shrimp Po'Boys" which essentially looked like a lot of mayonnaise based dressing on top of shrimp on way too much bread, and added to the macaroni being served at the "Macaroni and Cheese Bar."  Yes, a macaroni and cheese bar.  You could have either neon-orange cheese or alfredo sauce.  I opted for neither of course, and instead placed about a teaspoon of margarine in the plain noodles.  The bar also offered a choice of broccoli and sauteed onions and peppers, as well as various (and in my opinion very greasy looking) ground meats, to add on top.  

One thing that I'd like to point out about this meal is this:

 

(Corn Muffin close up)

These are the magical corn muffins served at my school.  I believe these are the "low-fat" kind, although I didn't actually check the sign.  Still, they are one of my favorite food items served at my cafeteria.  Unfortunately, they are probably not the healthiest thing in the world, so I limit myself to one.  However, I know many people take at least two, if not three or four.  I actually see many strange food choices in my cafeteria, and I often wonder if students would eat better if the constant supply of pizza, cakes, burgers, and fries were gone.  Just the other day, I witnessed a boy take two cookies and sandwich a brownie between them for his dessert.  Ugh!  

On another note, and I don't think I've mentioned this before, but in my Junior year of college, I studied abroad for 10 months in Tokyo, Japan, and so I was able to note some interesting aspects of Japanese food culture.  So look for a couple entries about Japanese cuisine in the coming days!

Back from Vacation!

My vacation was exceedingly nice, especially since my semester has been particularly rough.  I'm not certain if I mentioned this before, but I'm a senior in college, so this is my final semester.  This means thesis writing, papers, tests--all on top of preparing for graduation and entering the "real world."  It's overwhelming and exhausting, really.

Anyway, I will admit that my food choices were certainly not the healthiest over my vacation.  However, I did walk quite a few miles and swim over the holiday, so I won't say it was completely awful.  As I graduate in 2.5 weeks though, I need to really start hunkering down and focusing on my eating habits.  Earlier last year, I bought a white eyelet dress that is 1-2 sizes too small for me.  I did this for two reasons, one--it's really pretty, and was only around 10 dollars.  And two, if I want to wear it to graduation, I'll have to lose weight.  I call it my "wish dress,"  and over the year, as I've made healthier choices and exercised on a much more regular basis, I'm to the point where I'm actually quite close to fitting into it.  :)

Also--Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today!  :)  I really love Easter, it's such a happy holiday in my opinion.  My friend's mother who I stayed with over the break organized a little Easter egg hunt for my friend and I, which was so much fun and also gave us Easter baskets.  Which brings me to an issue--what to do with all this Easter candy?  I don't mind eating a couple pieces, it's a holiday after all, and I don't eat candy very often.  But I have a whole little container full of chocolate in all its various forms.  Throwing it away seems wasteful.  Any suggestions??

More Food Updates

Here's what I ate for dinner the other day.  Actually, I ate exactly the same thing for lunch and dinner.  This happens a lot for me when the options that day don't appeal to me.  I'll generally just have soup and salad instead.  Anyway, here's the pic:

(Seafood Gumbo with Rice, Pesto Orzo, Salad)

The seafood gumbo is actually one of my favorite options served at my cafeteria.  It's flavorful, a little spicy, and quite filling.  There's rice underneath the gumbo, even though you can't really see it.  The gumbo itself has sausage, shrimp, tomato, and okra in it.  I confess that I really don't enjoy okra--that slimy texture has just never been something I could get over--so I picked the biggest pieces out.  The pesto orzo is also really good, and I wanted to eat it while it was still offered.  Such options are "special" offerings, and usually come and go fairly quickly.  Wouldn't you know it, there was none today?  The salad was nothing special, just lettuce with shredded carrots and purple cabbage.  Normally, I would put tomato on it as well, and maybe even have some tomato slices on the side, but because the tomato shortage has caused their prices to soar, my cafeteria hasn't been offering them much at all =(

After the meal, I decided to grab something sweet:

(Cupcake?)

To be honest, I picked this up because I had no idea what it was.  There was no sign, but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be chocolate angel food cake.  At least, it mainly had the texture of angel food cake and because of the brown bits, I imagine it was supposed to be chocolate flavored.  It mainly tasted of air and sugar.  Not worth it.

I'll be out of town starting tomorrow.  I'm going on a mini-vacation to visit a friend for Easter.  I probably won't be posting during that time, but look for some great pics when I get back :)

Cafeteria Break-down

I think it's necessary to explain how my cafeteria works.  First of all, I go to a private university, and the cafeteria is open from 7:00am until 9:00pm (although food is not served after 7:00).  Although there are various meal plans to choose from, I bought what is most common -- 225 meals for the semester.  Since I live in a dorm where no kitchens are provided for the students (in fact, any cooking device beyond a microwave specifically borrowed from the school is forbidden), I have to rely on the cafeteria for all of my food.  For this meal plan, I pay $1,899.

When you enter the cafeteria, it's an all-you-can eat type of thing, even though lunch ladies still serve you.  You can go back through the lines as many times as you want.  There are three main hot food stations--one is vegetarian, one is 'classic' American foods, and the other is usually something a little different, generally more 'international' cooking.  There is also a sandwich station, where a lunch lady will you make you either a sandwich or wrap to order.  In addition, during the week there are always two soups to select from (one on the weekends), a salad bar, bagels, a dessert station, a pizza station, and the grill, which serves burgers, chicken patties, fries and the like.

So really, my school has a lot of options available.  However, I feel that a lot of the food can be quite fattening.  They usually post the caloric content of each dish, and sometimes the dish with the highest calories come from the vegetarian station.  I think that this is because the vegetarian station offers some form of cream sauce of cheese-covered option quite often.

This brings me to another issue--as a lactose intolerant person, I sometimes find it difficult to eat the food in my cafeteria.  For example, when they offer lasagna, they usually offer it at both the classic station and the vegetarian station, which eliminates two of the hot food stations for me entirely.  Then if the international section is serving quesadillas, all of the hot food lines are gone for me.  Sure, I could have a sandwich or salad, but that gets old day after day, and sometimes you just want a hot meal.  Those that make the food will make it without a sauce or the cheese if you ask, but in the case of the lasagna of the quesadilla, that's simply impossible.  There are no cheese substitutes (such as daiya cheese) available, although soy milk can be had upon request.

All in all, I really don't think my cafeteria is that bad.  There are certainly plenty of unhealthy choices, but if you're careful, they're easy to avoid. 

I forgot my camera to take a picture of my lunch, so I plan on photographing my dinner instead :)

Today's Lunch

Here's what I ate for lunch today:

 

 (Salad, Pesto Orzo with artichokes and black olives, Eggplant Parmesan)

 After I ate this lunch, I was still a bit peckish, so I also ate small orange.  I was very excited for the salad, because our school hasn't been offering tomatoes for over a month now, but I was able to have some today :)  Tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables/fruits, so I've sincerely missed them.  The Pesto Orzo is also new to the school, I've never seen it in the four years I've been here, and I really enjoy it.  It was really flavorful.  My only problem is that they mixed in some feta cheese, and as I'm lactose intolerant, I had to pick the little hunks out.  (I can eat parmesan cheese with no problem).  The eggplant parmesan is also another of my favorite entree options.  It's a bit small, but has a lot of flavor.

(close-up of the eggplant parmesan)

Overall, I really enjoyed this lunch, although I found myself really hungry by the time I could eat dinner.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I work out in the gym, consequently I feel a bit hungrier those days.

You may have noticed the lack of meat in my meal--no, I'm not vegetarian.  But I have decided to try and participate in the "No Meat Mondays" movement.  (Meatless Monday Website)  While I knew that most Americans were consuming far too much meat, I had no idea the percentage was as high as 45%.  So in an attempt to cut down, I'm going to attempt to refrain from eating meat on Mondays.  Luckily, my school always offers a vegetarian option, so I don't think I'll find this very hard to do.

For the next post, I'd like to further explain the specific options my university offers daily.

First Post!!

Hello!  My name is Miss W, and I'm a senior in college.  I've decided to blog about my attempt to change the way I eat.  I've been inspired by others, such as the Let's Move Campaign by Mrs. Obama, as well as other bloggers and friends who are doing much the same.

I've named this blog "No More Self-Control" because of something a friend said months ago as we were eating in our school's cafeteria.  She had finished her meal, and was simply waiting for the rest of the table to also finish, when she suddenly got up and announced, "Since I have no self-control, I'm going to visit the dessert table."  It was funny at the time, of course, but later I began thinking--it's true.  We have lost the ability to simply refuse to eat something if it's there.  We eat like it's a holiday, everyday.

As an overweight girl myself, I have long struggled with eating.  I began eating a lot when I was about 12 or so, because my parents were going through a nasty divorce and food was simply comforting.  I fully recognize that I still find it a comfort, but I also understand that I need to find other means of finding that feeling that don't including consuming hundreds of calories.

Thus, I am starting this blog, to help encourage me to keep up with what I'm about to undertake.  Which is, by the way, not a diet.  A diet is something people go on for a time with the eventual hope of eating "normally again."  No, I'm changing how I think about food and what I put in my body for my life, so that I can live longer and healthier.

I plan on updating with some pictures of my cafeteria food every now and then, so you can see what the type of food we're served at the college level.  Bon Appetit!