Help.. food prep and my story... :(

[trishieness]

Hi, I'm Trish.. Before I go on with my inquiries, I'd like to share with you my journey..

I started the program on February 23, all is well, I was on afternoon shift that time, 4PM - 1AM, so I had enough time to prepare my meal for the day every morning before coming to office.

Sometimes, it gets frustrating when the weigh is not that right, and when I cook 3 meals all at one, sometimes, I'm having a hard time to breath, maybe because of too much heat.

There are also times when the food sucks, especially the cheese and asparagus, I don't know how much time it should be cooked. But I was able to go on for a week.

Come Sunday, I went out with my family. They're gonna eat at a Filipino stall. *drool* so I just went down to grocery, to buy food for my Eating Plan.

I kept avoiding them when they eat, and it's kinda depressing.

On the start of my 2nd week, I shifted to Morning shift (8am - 6pm). For the first few days, I was just eating, egg + cucumber, squid + cucumber, prawn + cucumber, with spices like: white pepper, salt, apple cider vinegar.

On Monday morning, I felt pain in my tummy. I lie down for few minutes, closed my eyes, and the pain go away. I even felt dizzy that time. I asked my consultant, and she told me to eliminate Vinegar.

So sad.. First, I can't eat a lot of fish because it's sooo hard to deskin the fish everytime. It's time consuming.

So, Tuesday, I didn't put any vinegar in my breakfast, just egg + cucumber with spices. But still, I have felt a slight pain in my tummy.

Wednesday, I was on leave, my friend came over here in Singapore. I ate at 8am for breakfast (egg + cucumber), after 5 hours, I haven't eaten again yet, except for my fruit allowance + 2 crackers. I can't eat immediately because I'm considering that she wants us to eat together.

When we were on the beach side, taking pictures, my tummy starts to ache so bad, I can't stand straight, it went down to my rectum. :'( I can't fart, can't burp, can't release my waste on the toilet except for pee. We went back to our hotel room.

I lie down, I can't calm, it hurts so bad. My consultant asked me to go to doctor, but I can't since it still hurts so bad I can't move. I was thinking of calling my sister to bring me to emergency. But I just endure the pain on my own.

That's when the deviation started (March 4). After few hours of lying down, tossing and rolling on the bed, the pain go away slightly. I can't afford to feel that pain again during that time since I won't be able to accompany her given that my friend flew all the way here from Philippines. So I joined her and ate from the resto as well instead of eating my packed lunch I prepared as part of my meal plan. The taste of the food feels so new to me, I didn't like it.

March 4-15, I have deviated. But later, I will start to buy my groceries and will start again on March 16. Although, I'm still confused how people are able to prepare their food for 1 week. So here's my question, how do you store it? Do you have special food storage and label? How much time do you spend in cooking good for 1 week when you have to cook each meal separately? And have you ever felt the same lower abdominal pain? For veggies, what are the easy ways to prepare? For cheese? For the food weight, if it's 80g, you ensure it is no 80.5 or 80.1g? Or you just let it be anyway? If you have pictures to share, that would be great too!!

All your answers will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Ciors]

Trish, definitely see a doctor. On Cohen's some people do have constipation issues - a good thing to talk to your Dr about. I liked to use psyllium husk - teaspoon in water - tastes disgusting but works, it can also be added to food which tastes better but take some practise to get the quantities right. Drinking your 3L of water should help also.

Everyone preps and stores their food differently - there's no right or wrong. I used to do a big cook up and freeze meals in zip lock bags with the numbers written on the bag. I like my veg steamed, or sauteed with spices. There are heaps of recipes on this site have a look at some of them in the recipes thread

It is, however, important that you do weigh your food accurately, to the gram, not over, not under.

[trishieness]

Thanks so much Ciors for your reply! I will see a doctor tomorrow and inform her about my Meal Plan.

I'm planning to buy 21 containers for my 7 week meal so I can refrigerate it. Thank you so much!

Also, regarding my water intake for that week. I do make sure I took more than 2L. Maybe, you're right, I'll increase it by 3L.

Anyway, the next day (March 5), I found out I have a period, maybe that's the reason for my lower abdominal pain. I just creeped out because the it was so painful.