The journey of how I, who kept saying 'Ice cream is a separate stomach♡', achieved 'relaxed balance' ⑤
〜Meals I could keep up with even though I'm lazy and busy〜
The first thing I want to say here is,
I,
“perfect meal management”
didn't change because I was able to do that.
It's actually the opposite; because I couldn't do it properly,
I started creating a
“minimum line I could stick to”
for myself.
I used to think that
dieting = living on salads
in my head.
But in reality,
I'd come home exhausted after work,
and couldn't make fancy diet meals.
So in the end,
“forget it”
I'd have high-calorie meals eating out,
or eat snacks,
and the backlash would come.
I repeated that over and over again.
But now,
“eating habits that are easy to balance without trying too hard”
I am conscious of.
I only focused on these three things
① 'Add' rather than 'subtract'
Before,
・No snacks
・No white rice
・No late-night meals
I only thought about 'subtracting', like that.
But with that mindset, I always wanted to eat.
So now,
I think about 'adding' first.
For example, adding miso soup, adding a boiled egg, adding natto, or adding a little bit of vegetables. By doing that, it naturally becomes harder to overeat.
In fact, just by stopping skipping breakfast,
my binge eating at night decreased significantly.
② Stop the 'all or nothing' mentality
Before, the moment I ate a snack,
I thought, 'It's over'.
But that way of thinking,
was really dangerous!
Because once you slip up,
you think, 'I'll just give up on everything for today'.
So now, I allow myself: ・To eat snacks ・To eat out ・To have convenience store food on days I'm tired.
Instead,
“I adjust my next meal a little bit.”
That's all.
Since changing to this mindset,
I've become less likely to rebound.
③ Don't aim for 'high-consciousness meals'
This is actually quite important.
The beauty meals I see on social media,
honestly, have a high barrier to entry.
Stylish plates, colorful vegetables,
careful home cooking.
Of course, it's wonderful, but
it's impossible to do every day.
So I decided,
'It's okay to get in shape even with convenience store food.'
For example, at a convenience store: ・Boiled egg ・Salad chicken ・Miso soup ・Natto roll ・Cut fruit, even just these make a big difference.
Instead of '100 points',
I focused on
'keeping up 60 points'.
Real 5-day menu I actually ate
※Calories and carbohydrates are estimates.
(※'Not calculating too strictly' is also a trick to keep it up♪)
Monday
Breakfast
Natto egg over rice + Miso soup
[Ingredients]
120g of rice
1 pack of natto
1 egg
Miso soup (instant is fine too)
[How to make]
Just put everything on top.
[Calories]
Approx. 420kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 48g
Good things about having this breakfast
I used to skip breakfast before, but
I ended up snacking all the time before lunch.
But when I eat properly in the morning,
my cravings for sweets have decreased significantly.
Dinner
Salmon bowl + Tofu miso soup
[
[Ingredients]
100g salmon sashimi
100g rice
1/2 avocado
Tofu miso soup
[Calories]
Approx. 520kcal
[Carbohydrates]
approx. 42g
Point
'Sashimi is the best on days when you're tired.'
Just slice it and put it on top, and it's already delicious!
My skin condition was good too♪
Tuesday
Breakfast
Banana + Greek yogurt + a little honey
[Ingredients]
・Greek yogurt
・1 banana
・Honey to taste
[Calories]
approx. 300kcal
[Carbohydrates]
approx. 35g
Point
Prioritize 'eating easily'
over 'not eating'.
Don't push yourself in the morning.
Dinner
Shabu-shabu pork + frozen broccoli + a little rice
{
[Ingredients]
120g pork
Frozen broccoli
Ponzu sauce
80g of rice
[Calories]
Approx. 480kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 30g
Point
Broccoli is
really easy when frozen.
It saved me on
'days when I had no energy to cut vegetables'.
Wednesday
Breakfast
Toast + boiled egg + cafe au lait
[Ingredients]
・Bread
・Boiled egg (convenience store)
[Calories]
Approx. 350kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 38g
Point
It's okay to eat bread.
Once I stopped
'completely banning the things I love',
my binge eating actually decreased.
Dinner
Kimchi natto tofu + rice + grilled salmon (convenience store)
[Ingredients]
Tofu 150g
Natto 1 pack
Kimchi
Rice 100g
Grilled salmon (convenience store) 1 slice
[Calories]
Approx. 560kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 45g
Point
A staple for days when I have zero motivation.
Just not using the stove makes a huge difference in how easy it is to keep up.
It makes it much easier to continue.
Thursday
Breakfast
Rice ball + Miso soup + Boiled egg
[Ingredients]
- Rice ball
- Boiled egg
- Tofu
[Calories]
Approx. 390kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 45g
Point
Convenience stores are fine too.
Instead of thinking "It's a convenience store, so it's over," I focused on "just changing how I choose."
Dinner
Chicken breast soup + mushroom rice porridge
[Ingredients]
Chicken breast
Cabbage
Egg
Mushrooms
A little bit of rice
[Calories]
Approx. 450kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 32g
Point
Eating warm food made it harder to overeat.
Especially on days when I was tired from work, soup was very important.
Friday
Breakfast
Oatmeal banana porridge
[Ingredients]
30g oatmeal
1/2 banana
Soy milk
[Calories]
Approx. 320kcal
[Carbohydrates]
Approx. 34g
Point
Rather than for beauty purposes, it continued because it was "easy".
"It's easy"
continued.
Dinner
Day to eat whatever you like
This is quite important.
I only did this on Fridays,
I was relatively free.
Because it's Friday night✨️♪
There are days I eat pasta,
and days I eat sweets.
But,
when you decide "It's okay to eat today,"
it's actually harder to lose control.
Like before,
the cycle of daily restriction followed by an explosion has decreased.
Starting the day with breakfast on weekends too!
Just that is wonderful♪
Things I realized
Dieting isn't about
the people who can 'try hard' succeeding,
I think it's the people who
"found a way they can continue"who end up succeeding.
Because I'm lazy,
I couldn't keep up with the health-conscious meals seen on social media.
But,
Adding miso soup
Eating a little in the morning
Using convenience stores on tiring days
Not aiming for perfection
Even just doing this,
I've changed quite a bit from before.
And it's strange, but
stopping the 'I shouldn't eat this' mindset
actually calmed my appetite.
The old me
was desperate to lose weight,
but was always controlled by food.
But now,
I feel much more at ease than before.
For those struggling or unable to keep it up,
lower the bar as much as possible at first
and try to be mindful of just your breakfast.
It's okay to rely on convenience stores for an easy breakfast!
If you keep it up for a week,
you might start to feel a change in your mindset.
In the next chapter,
I will write about 'what I used to do when I felt like overeating'.
I'll summarize the realistic coping methods
that stopped me from ending with
'I ate too much again...'
I would be happy if you continue to support
Mochiko as I slowly grow♪