Recent Changes to My Diet: Higher Protein

It's been a month since Tim left and I have been experimenting with a

high-protein diet and vitamin D3.

 

Weekly, my meals used to include

- pasta (in tuna sauce w/ broccoli),

- sandwich (tuna + avacado),

- the Korean jjigae with rice,

- mapo dofu with rice,

- sausage with beans, and

- mackerel (grilled w/ white flour tortilla).

 

They were not bad but most were relatively high in carbs. We often had

shepherd's pie, too, in cooler days of the year. I occasionally had steak.

 

Training four to five days a week, I thought I burned enough calories but

controlling weight was still a struggle. After the noon snack and between the

evening meal and bed, I craved for food, especially sugar. My body weight inched

up to 160 lbs in August. I had chalked it up to muscle gain.

 

The past few weeks, my staple meals included

- lentil curry and eggs,

- chicken curry,

- mackerel with quinoa,

- scrambled eggs w/ wood ear and quinoa, and

- mapo tofu with quinoa.

 

That is, I have replaced rice and white flour tortilla with lentils and quinoa

for their higher protein content. Curry was simple and fun to cook and quinoa

was even easier to prepare than white rice.

 

The biggest difference was that I stopped craving for food. My body weight has

stayed comfortably at around 157 lbs. I hope a higher-protein diet, over time,

will help building muscles.

 

I took one gel of vitamin D3 a day, following my coaches, and felt more

energetic and rarely needed the 15min afternoon nap, even after hard training.